1491: The Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
While the book was not chock-full of shocking revelations as its publicity implies, it was a very amenable read on the state of the Americas before Columbus. The only really interesting thing for me was its explanation of the population collapse due to disease, something we’ve known but at least I didn’t quite fathom its scale.
Triggers by Robert J. Sawyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Very interesting premise, well-paced plot and an ending that left me gobsmacked for a little while. Minus one star for almost stereotypical characterization in some cases that ended up distracting me from the book. A good effort from the dean of Canadian Sci-Fi nevertheless.
I find it funny how the economic crisis of 1993 is but child’s play to what’s been going on since 2008, but the psychological environment is very, very similar.
As you probably know if you read this blog, one of my passions is food, especially of the Mexican kind. Unfortunately, most of the Mexican food you find outside of North America is not really Mexican, so I make a point of testing Mexican restaurants when I’m traveling to make sure they are more Mex-Mex than Tex-Mex so that I can recommend them to friends.
You can find an abridged list after the map below (they’re listed by how far away they’re from Finland, with the first being the farthest out).
15 years ago this movie would have been a sci-fi piece. Now it’s “just” a contemporary drama with great acting and a very interesting plot.
I lost my interest in American football ever since the Buffalo Bills lost consecutive Superbowls when I was a teen in the 90’s, but I’ve always appreciated the tactical complexities of any game or sport I more or less understand (which is exactly my problem with hockey as I’m not familiar with the tactical variants involved). I’m not a fan of sports movies either, as they’re usually cliched, tacky and generally drab.
This is not such a movie. Based on the unlikely true story of Michael Oher, currently an NFL pro with the Baltimore Ravens, it has brain, brawn and a lot of heart. The social context (inner-city poverty, class lines and racial separation in the American south) binds the plot together and the acting is very, very good. No wonder Sandra Bullock won an Oscar with this one (yes, the same actress who was driving a bus in panic in Speed with Keanu Reeves all those years ago). Listening to her speaking in a southern drawl is a delight.
chat roulette from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.
The video above (via alt1040) explains Chatroulette better than I would. My experience with it has been mixed, but it reminds me a lot of the old BBS/ICQ free-for-all 10 years ago. I’ve read metaphors comparing it to TV zapping with people, but I think it’s more akin a people player in shuffle mode. Some of the nice people I’ve found (after nexting all the flying male body parts) included:
Serendipituous, yes. Extreme, sometimes (but you can also next them or even better report them, jerks!). An interesting study of the human condition, absolutely.
By now everybody and their mother have heard about the “balloon boy hoax“: a kid was feared to have flown away on a balloon kept in his family’s back yard who garnered huge media and law-enforcement attention until it was found that first he was not there in the balloon and then that it had all been staged.
More than anything, I think it is a commentary on the length to which some will go in order to attain “fame”, even at the cost of everybody else. They got their 15 minutes, but could end up with a 2 million USD fine and 6 years in jail.
You know the result, you probably also watched the game. The second consecutive win for Mexico against the US in just a few weeks featured this time the A squads from both sides playing at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.
The interesting thing for me as a Mexico fan was not only the win, but the way it was achieved. After the tactical incompetence of the Hugo Sánchez years and the endless tinkering of the Sven-Göran Eriksson times, it was nice to see a team that had a solid base of players based in Mexico and Europe who understood each other. Furthermore, we saw that some of the U-17 champions of 2005 have made the transition to the senior team well after a shaky start.
The most important lesson, however, was the way this team finally showed (and used) the patience and maturity to win matches against hard-as-nails opposition. While any other Mexican team would have started to panic after going one goal down against the Americans at the cradle of Mexican football, these guys kept their cool, followed their game plan, moved the ball around and finally scored. Maybe Rafael Márquez not being there actually helped as he has a long sad history in situations like these with the national team.
El Tri wouldn’t be in this situation if it were not for the complete lack of long term planning by the Mexican Football Federation, but this victory comes at the right time to steady the ship and qualify for South Africa. We don’t need this rollercoaster the next World Cup cycle, please.