Entertainment/Reviews Archives

The Internet’s Own Boy an important documentary about Aaron Swartz

I think the Internet is something most of us take for granted. I certainly do. Sure, I was quick to share anti-SOPA messages, and I generally understand the importance of initiatives like the Creative Commons and the EFF. But day to day? Daily it’s mostly just a tool and a time suck. It has become …

July 12, 2014

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Review: Upside Down — no amount of fictional science could right this film

Watched Upside Down last night. I can’t go so far as to say it’s a terrible movie, but it’s a nearly terrible movie. I’m disappointed, as it has so much that I thought I would like. Sturgess, Dunst, and the always enjoyable (but terribly under-utilized) Timothy Spall; sadly none could save this film. It’s shot …

December 27, 2012

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Things Well Done: Tim Minchin / Storm

Last weekend I was introduced to comedian Tim Minchin by my friend Nicki. Thanks to her I’ve spent the last few days firmly entrenching myself in the Tim Minchin fanclub, watching damn near all his videos on Youtube, as well as his “Ready For This?” DVD last night. Minchin’s act is a combination of comedic …

October 25, 2011

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iFantastic – Atomic Tom rockin the iPhone

Sometimes you see something inspiring that just sort of makes you go, “Ah hell, this work will still be here tomorrow — I need to go play some music.” If you’re outside of China, I’m sure if you just search YouTube for “atomic tom iphone” you’ll find this video.

November 2, 2010

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Video: How To Be Alone

The following is a beautiful poetic video by Halifax poet/performer Tanya Davis (filmed, edited and animated by Andrea Dorfman). I caught the following video on MSN’s video site (which streams surprisingly fast here in China). Unfortunately it doesn’t allow you to embed all videos, and I couldn’t find this on Vimeo either — so YouTube …

August 9, 2010

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Amazing: Blu’s Big Bang Big Boom

Between work and new daddyhood, I’ve still not much time to make some proper updates on here… but this is amazing: As seen on Wooster Collective, h/t to Ric.

July 14, 2010

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Jane McGonigal’s +20 Crazy Idea

The counter-balance to yesterday’s insane video, this is game developer Jane McGonigal’s TEDTALK. It’s absolutely brilliant. Key take-aways: Gamers have spent 5.93 million years (collectively) playing WoW and solving its problems. By 21, the average kid in a country with a strong gaming culture will have spent 10,000 hours playing games (read Outliers for why …

July 11, 2010

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WoW WTF…

Though I consider myself a gamer (I’ve got an afternoon of Neverwinter Nights planned for today) and have played most all of Blizzard’s early stuff, I never got into WoW. It appears I’ve been missing out. I have no idea what a “guild” is, but this is the most amusing thing I’ve seen in a …

July 10, 2010

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If you eat food, you should watch this movie

I just finished watching Food, Inc. — a sobering, yet hopeful, documentary about the modern industrial food machine. It’s an incredible film and I don’t think anyone should take another bite before they watch it. It makes me appreciate that a lot of my food happens to come from small “farmers/wet” markets. Cheers to Ben …

June 6, 2010

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Tom Carter, author of CHINA: Portrait of a People @ Suzhou Bookworm

For all the Suzhou folks that have weathered my blog’s migration from “Suzhou/China commentary” to “all about the baby”, here’s one for you — head down to the Suzhou Bookworm tomorrow night for a talk by photojournalist Tom Carter, author of CHINA: Portrait of a People, an amazing book of photography capturing every corner of …

May 28, 2010

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Nothing To Envy: Fascinating book about North Korea

Living in China you can’t help but be exposed to whispers of the “old days” pre-reform. Whether it be the portraits of Mao in taxis and Tiananmen, the massive USSR-inspired government buildings, the general apathy most people over 40 have towards their job (well, actually, that might be universal). The guidebooks give crash courses in …

February 6, 2010

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Playing For Change: One Love

My mom sends me LOTS of e-mail forwards. Some are hilarious, some are retarded, and some are just super fantastic. This is the latter. Here’s the song that kicked it all off: Be sure to check out Playing For Change‘s Web site. They’ve got a bunch more episodes.

October 29, 2009

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