Orange Is The New Black - Season 3

I would ask that when you start talking about an episode that hasn't been talked about before, start by putting the episode number in "<b>old" tags.

Like this:

Episode 1

Thank you. That is all.

I learned something about Scandinavia (& Finland)

It was with a heavy heart that I watched Norway get eliminated from the world cup by England over breakfast yesterday. It's not that I have any great love for Norway; it's just that I take a perverse pleasure from seeing England and The United States lose. I'm such a terrible person.

Anyway, one of the things that caught my attention during the match was the commentator talking about how the Norwegian team had released a video on Youtube as a response to some of the "disgraceful" commentary that had been in the Norwegian media of late.

Of course, I got curious and looked it up …

And of course, this led to me going off on a tangent of watching videos made by Scandinavian people, talking about their lifestyles and culture. Did you know that Scandinavians (as well as Finns, who are technically not Scandinavian) are renowned for being introverted? I found dozens of videos talking about this phenomenon, as well as testimonials from Scandinavians (and Finns) talking about times in their lives when they've been "freaked out" because somebody they didn't know talked to them. I also found a video by a religious missionary from America who described Norwegians as an infuriating people who tend to believe in logic and themselves (people power), rather than spiritual things. Also, a video by a Danish woman who thought Danes were a generally happy and contented people because they don't "reach for the stars", preferring to set achievable goals and have reasonable expectations. Apparently Finland even celebrates National Failure Day.

But perhaps the most entertaining video was from this Danish lass, who gave this pithy little assessment of her home country …

On my darkest, grumpiest days, I'd probably describe it as a massive vortex of narcissistic wankery; but truth be told, I love that there's a place where I can go to see videos of people on the other side of the world talking about who they are and where they come from.

God bless the interwebs.

My Slack Weekend (aka: I liked the new Mad Max movie)

I decided that this weekend I was going to have a go at getting into watching the women's soccer world cup. I don't know whether I can say it's been a successful endeavor, but it certainly hasn't been an unpleasant one. All told, I've enjoyed some really impressive exhibitions of athleticism and teamwork. I've also fallen asleep … a lot. In fact, it's hard to tell whether I've spent more time watching or more time napping. Probably the latter.

Having said that, I did manage to stay conscious long enough to go and see the new Mad Max film. I was going to wait and see what Melba thought of it, but I guess she hasn't got around to going, and it looked like the run was winding up at the cinema here. I haven't decided yet, if I'm happy with my decision, but I'll get back to that later.

Primarily, I'd like to say that I thought it was a good, solid action flick; however, it did have a few peculiarities that, while I thought they worked in the film's favour, may not be everyone's cup of tea. Firstly, there was very little dialogue, and almost none of it was used to move the story. So, while there's a decent amount of character development, and a surprising amount of emotional heft for an action flick, most of that gets achieved through the visuals. It's a very visual story. Which brings me to the way things look; specifically that most of the action looks like it's either slightly sped up or slowed down, and there's a lot of quick cutting. Thankfully, this isn't done in a "Matrix-y" kind of way. Instead, it gives the movie a SLIGHTLY "unreal" dreamy/nightmarish feeling. I might even go so far as to describe it as a post apocalyptic fantasy vibe. Also, yes, the movie really is just one extended chase sequence, with 90% of scenes taking place in, on, or beside a truck in the middle of nowhere — which also makes it kinda feel like a bit of a road movie.

I do have a few quibbles: The performance from the bloke playing Max was kind of underwhelming, there were a few visual effects here and there that felt out of place, and some of the Aussie accents were a little jarring; but really, these were pretty minor distractions. The big question for me is whether or not it was worth the admission price of $18, and honestly, I haven't been able to make up my mind. It's definitely worth $10. It's probably worth $15. But for $18, I want to see something pretty bloody top-notch, and I feel like this might have just been one or two notches below that mark.

Still, it's really good, and if you get the chance to watch it on video or telly, you definitely should. No doubt about it.

As a side note, I'd also like to mention the bizarre wave of nostalgia that hit me while I was watching this. Even though the landscapes don't look at all Australian, the images of burning around on dirt roads in old frankenstein vehicles, while hanging off the back/roof and shooting at things … well, it really made me think of being a teenager again. Also, the way the "war boys" overcame their fear of death by huffing aerosol chrome … but maybe the less said about that the better.

Oh, and one last thing I'd like to mention about my trip to the cinema: The ads. I've mentioned before that I thought the preview for this movie made it look like a steaming pile of dung. Well, after today's outing, I'm going to put forward the theory that all modern previews make all movies look similarly execrable. I saw previews for a Marvel Comics action flick that looked ridiculous; an Amy Schumer vehicle and a sequel to that talking teddy-bear thing with Marky Mark, both of which looked like the most juvenile and puerile forms of comedy imaginable; and some crap about male strippers that was pitched at the female demographic in such a manner that it felt like someone was purposefully attempting to insult my intelligence.

Seriously, preview makers, lift your fucking game!

And while I'm having a whinge about the pre-roll — the regular ads weren't much better. Pretty much all of them were for mobile phones or mobile data plans — one of which appeared to be selling the idea of people (children, teens, adults, oldies) going through their entire lives staring at their phones and tablets while oblivious to the world around them. That imagery doesn't make your product seem appealing, it makes it seem fucking horrifying! Also, Samsung, your ad was such a wanky load of pretentiously artsy bollocks that I didn't have a fucking clue what you were trying to sell me!

Oh, and a message to the cinema — the music you were playing when I came in and sat down had some cunt rapping about how he was going out to score drugs and if his bitch missus didn't like it he was going to smack her in the mouth. And yes, I appreciate that you were playing the "radio friendly" version of the song that had the name of the drug and the word "bitch" muted out, but frankly, I doubt that was really what was going to cause the most offense to the most number of people.

Since I'd rather not end this post on a sour note, I'll finish with what was possibly the most positive thing to come out of my foray into the world of women's soccer. Remember how I said the musical act they had playing at the opening ceremony sounded a lot like '80s synthpop? Well, it turns out they're a pair of Canadian identical twins named Tegan and Sara, who go by the name "Tegan and Sara", and that one retro synthpop song comes off an entire album of retro synthpop songs … and it's actually pretty decent. Even the videos for the songs are surprisingly good. Enjoy!

Online Advertising

I use a number of different "sandboxes" when I access the internet at home. What this basically means is that individual tasks (eg: banking, shopping, blogging, email, general browsing) are done in their own individual browsers that can't interact with each other, or with the wider operating system. It's primarily a safety measure, but it also means that advertising networks, which track you across multiple websites, see me as a bunch of different people rather than a single user.

There's a couple of sandboxes I use for accessing sites that are, shall we say, a little bit less than reputable; and one thing I'm finding interesting at the moment is how the advertising between them differs. See if you can spot what I'm getting at …

In one, I see a lot of pictures like this:

With captions like this:

• Female body-builders you won't believe.
• Make real money working from home.
• Types of men you should definitely avoid.
• Mistakes you're making with your bra.
• Best looking men in sport.
• Sleeping positions explained.

Along with A LOT of weight-loss ads. Somewhat disturbingly, however, these particular ads have gone from looking like this …

… to looking more like this.

So … the old after image is … the new before image?

The ads in sandbox #2 tend to be a little less diverse. However, like the weight-loss ads in sandbox #1, they have also changed noticeably over time — sorta. The pickies have always looked like this …

… but the captions that accompany them, have progressed through the following stages:

1. Find hot single women in your area.
2. Meet desperate single women in your area tonight.
3. Desperate married women in your neighbourhood are looking for sex right now.
4. Join if you are willing to fuck ugly bitches at a moment's notice.
5. STOP BEING LONELY!

Which kind of makes me wonder; does this reflect a changing opinion of what the ad networks think of me in particular, or is it a shifting trend in how they advertise to the other 50% of the population?

… Kind of a depressing thought, isn't it?

What kind of ads do you get from the sites you visit; or are you a blocker?

From The News

SCIENCE NEWS

Science journalist tests hypothesis that the "female brain" is bullshit:

Scientist tests hypothesis that science journalism is bullshit:

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YANK NEWS

Counter-terrorism and the cobra effect (Further reading here):

Police apprehend suspected shoplifter:

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ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT

I thought I might watch some of the FIFA Women's World Cup this year. This was part of the opening:

Is '80s synth-pop making a comeback everywhere, or just in Canadia?

Anyone else planning to watch any World Cup?

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WEATHER

Warm days, cold nights. Looks like it might rain, but I don't think it will. Unless I want to do something outside. Then it'll rain for sure.

How's it with youz?

Making money from something people get for free.

As a sort-of follow up to last week's rant, I'd like to say that I'm very happy to see that the next release of Krita has been fully funded.

If you don't know (and I'm guessing you don't), Krita is a very nifty, FREE AND OPEN SOURCE, painting application that funds its development through community contributions. Every six months or so, they announce the features they'd like to put in the next release, then they ask the Krita users to chip in and raise the money to pay for a professional coder to make it happen. For every additional €1500 raised, contributers get to vote on extra features they would like to see implemented.

And if the money doesn't get raised, the work doesn't get done; simple as that.

In this round, they raised over €10,500 more than they were asking, so if they're working true to form, the next release should be packed full of extras. Looking forward to it.

Now, I don't usually talk about software projects, since I'm guessing nobody's particularly interested in hearing about them; so you may well be wondering why I'm talking about this one, and how this all relates to the rant on intellectual property. Well, you see, my general thinking is that this sort of thing is probably going to be the way forward for artistically minded people who want to make a go of it too.

… Wishful thinking? Time will tell, I guess. And at least it's something nice and positive for a change — so I'll take it.

New Science Podcast Is A Bit Shit. Also, Google Photos.

The ABC has a new science podcast called Science Vs. I know this because Australia's premiere tech podcast, Download This Show, put A LOT of effort into plugging it in their latest episode. I've listened to the first two releases, and what I've gathered is that each one will be devoted to debunking some sort of fad or myth. So far, we've got:

1. The Paleo Diet.
2. The Concept Of Race.
3. The Female Brain (upcoming).

I thought I might mention it, mainly for your sake Squib; although, I don't really know how keen you are on podcasts. In the spirit of Download This Show, the subject matter is interesting enough, but the coverage is so shallow, it comes off as being a bit shit, really. Maybe it might be alright for younger people — I dunno.

Also, I have no idea why an ABC funded show is being hosted on SoundClound. It seems a bit fishy to me. In any case, the RSS feed is here if you want to subscribe.

Neither of the first two episodes contained anything that I found particularly surprising; although, I do wish the first one had gone a little bit further and talked about ketosis specifically, instead of just "paleo". It's something I've had a bit of a fascination with for a while now, and I find that I do tend to feel better when I eat more fats and less carbohydrates.

Do you know anything about this phenomenon, Squib?

Oh, and the other thing they talked about on Australia's premiere tech podcast this week: Google Photos. Apparently Google is now going to let you store an unlimited amount of photos in their "cloud". Also, their algorithm will go through all of them, recognising objects, locations, and individual people's faces, and tag them appropriately.

I guess this is an extension of what I said earlier about being reluctant to share things publicly, but the idea of doing this with all my photos freaks me the fuck out. Am I alone here? How do you gals feel?

When I hear about this stuff, I often think about the number of nude children that are in my mum's photo collection and wonder how many grandmothers end up getting "looked at" for possession of child pornography when they use these services.

Also, has everyone forgotten "The Fappening" already?

*EDIT*

I found this website, Retraction Watch, through another, unrelated podcast, and thought you might get some use out of it too, Squib.

Light & Fun

After Sunday's effort, I decided to cleanse the palette with something light and fun (and kind of a pointless waste of time, but let's not concentrate on that part, okay?).

Anyway, I was reading an old British comic, and there was a story in it featuring a Scotsman and a Welshman. Now, given my family, I don't have much trouble imagining a Scottish accent, but I was having a wee bit of bother getting a lock on the Welshman. So, I decided to look up Welsh accents on the Youtubes, and ended up finding this Welsh lass talking to her Scottish step-mum about slang and pronunciation.

Apart from finding this both informative and adorable, it also got me thinking about the younger generations and their attitude towards being "public". Now, obviously I don't have any step-children to worry about, but it made me wonder; if one of my nieces or nephews for instance, wanted to become a "Youtuber" and start putting their life up on the web for everyone to see, how would I feel about that, and would I be okay with appearing in their videos? I can't imagine I would. To be honest, the thought seems kind of horrifying. I noticed the woman in this video seemed at least a little bit uncomfortable too. It's a generational thing, I guess.

What's your thoughts on this one?

Oh right, light and fun. … So, I also came across this video of a girl talking about swearing in Irish Gaelic, which I thought was both funny and interesting.

I especially like, "Donkey shit be upon you". Anyway, I thought this video was funny and charming enough that I began watching some more of her stuff. Here's a few of the ones I liked the best.

This one's about outdated laws which are still on the books in Ireland.

And this one's for those opposing the same-sex marriage referendum on religious ground (of course, we all know how that one turned out).

This one's about the EU election candidates in Ireland.

Here's one that covers the topic of "sexy halloween", which we have discussed here before.

Misogynist Lyrics.

One particular offensive song, which I had to look up, because I wasn't familiar with it. I ended up watching this one twice.

Quotes from users of the dating website Tinder. Or dating app. Or "hook-up" app. Or whatever the fuck Tinder is.

And quotes from people who have left comments on her Youtube videos.

Which is almost as good as this video, which is from a different source, but happens to be a beautifully dramatic reading of one of the most hilariously illiterate and nonsensical pieces of online abuse I've seen.

Finally, this is for you Melbs. I was looking at movies on the SBS website, and noticed they're promoting the fact they've currently got "600 movies available" (sponsored by Stella Artois, apparently). Anyway, I found this one called Tiny Furniture. It's written, directed & starring Lena Dunham, and from the description and cast, I'm guessing it's some sort of proto-GIRLS. Probably not my cup of tea, but I thought it might be well up your alley — assuming you haven't already seen it.