Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Which country is the largest english speaking nation?
Answer: China.
As at May 2009 - 2 Billion people are learning english as a second language.
As Mathematics is to science and music is to emotion, English is become the language to engage people and communicate.
As at May 2009 - 2 Billion people are learning english as a second language.
As Mathematics is to science and music is to emotion, English is become the language to engage people and communicate.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Playrights to lookout for
Playrights to seek out:
Edward Albee
eg Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Goat or Who is Sylvia? and Three Tall Women
Harold Pinter
eg The Dumb Waiter, The French Lieutenant's Woman
Samuel Beckett
eg Endgame and Waiting for Godot
Tom Stoppard
eg Indian Ink, The Real Thing
Michael Frayn.
eg Noises off
Edward Albee
eg Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Goat or Who is Sylvia? and Three Tall Women
Harold Pinter
eg The Dumb Waiter, The French Lieutenant's Woman
Samuel Beckett
eg Endgame and Waiting for Godot
Tom Stoppard
eg Indian Ink, The Real Thing
Michael Frayn.
eg Noises off
Saturday, May 23, 2009
The worlds we build for ourselves
Went to see Synecdoche, New York last night.
This is complex and confusing
I think it is about the world we build for ourselves and our endless search for meaning. It perhaps warns us against to much self examination. Something that seems to be increasingly popular at the moment. The world gets more and more complex with real people living in the created worlds.
The idea of hiring an actor to play you in a play and then another actor to play the actor in the same play is just crazy. The relationships between the interconnecting worlds cause one to challenge the self imposed rules that I placed on the characters and that kaufman knew that I would.
I think I am become a huge Kaufman fan. I think I need to get some of the DVD's and watch them again:
The house that burns all the way through is just very puzzling. What does this represent?
This is complex and confusing
I think it is about the world we build for ourselves and our endless search for meaning. It perhaps warns us against to much self examination. Something that seems to be increasingly popular at the moment. The world gets more and more complex with real people living in the created worlds.
The idea of hiring an actor to play you in a play and then another actor to play the actor in the same play is just crazy. The relationships between the interconnecting worlds cause one to challenge the self imposed rules that I placed on the characters and that kaufman knew that I would.
I think I am become a huge Kaufman fan. I think I need to get some of the DVD's and watch them again:
- Synecdoche, New York (2008)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
- Adaptation. (2002)
- Human Nature (2001) ... aka Human Nature
- Being John Malkovich (1999)
The house that burns all the way through is just very puzzling. What does this represent?
Monday, March 30, 2009
Email Bankruptcy
When you have like 3,000 unread emails and you know you will never get to them all, you send all unread email senders a note saying you are declaring email bankruptcy and then you delete all the unread emails.......
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Between the devil and the deep blue sea
The combination of cartoon and actor is just brilliant, reminiscent of vaudeville, or silentish cinema
A series of vignettes each different and each very clever.
Wonderful job 1927, great to see creativity so alive and well.
A series of vignettes each different and each very clever.
Wonderful job 1927, great to see creativity so alive and well.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Leaders that pull up the ladder behind them
Strong leaders, people we admire and respect, people who seem to know what to do and when to do it, people with confidence, perhaps a little arrogance which we forgive them for.
These people just seem to do everything right, or at least enough right that the world is a different, hopefully better, place for them and there vision and action. Indeed when they are gone the world is place that how have things that we probably did not even dream before.
I am thinking of perhaps Winston Churchill, John Kennedy, Margaret Thatcher, Martin Luther King, Gandhi
Why is there such a vacuum after them?
Is there really a vacuum at all?
It is inevitable that true greatness is comparative and so inevitable in short supply?
These people just seem to do everything right, or at least enough right that the world is a different, hopefully better, place for them and there vision and action. Indeed when they are gone the world is place that how have things that we probably did not even dream before.
I am thinking of perhaps Winston Churchill, John Kennedy, Margaret Thatcher, Martin Luther King, Gandhi
Why is there such a vacuum after them?
Is there really a vacuum at all?
It is inevitable that true greatness is comparative and so inevitable in short supply?
Sunday, February 08, 2009
When does experience count?
Apparently few mathematics advances are discovered by people over 40 - you don't get to be a better mathematician with age apparently. However Biology related discovers are more common in the over 40's beyond a certain point at least.
Experience counts for one but not the other.
Perhaps some experiences help and some do not. Perhaps experience help in Mathematics but other factors serve to neutralize the effect?
In golf professional golfers peek between the age of 30 and 45, here perhaps experience and physical ability work as opposite interests. As Every golfer knows Golf is more about the mind than it is about physical ability. Tiger Woods turned pro at 22 won his first major at 23.
What about Chess? Garry Kasparov became world champion at 22 which he held until he was 37. Suggesting that intellectual capacity is available and important at relatively young age.
............
Experience counts for one but not the other.
Perhaps some experiences help and some do not. Perhaps experience help in Mathematics but other factors serve to neutralize the effect?
In golf professional golfers peek between the age of 30 and 45, here perhaps experience and physical ability work as opposite interests. As Every golfer knows Golf is more about the mind than it is about physical ability. Tiger Woods turned pro at 22 won his first major at 23.
What about Chess? Garry Kasparov became world champion at 22 which he held until he was 37. Suggesting that intellectual capacity is available and important at relatively young age.
............
Thursday, February 05, 2009
The next bloody idiot award goes to .....
ANZ
Charging me $25 for going over my account balance by $10 at the ATM. Do they have figured out that instead of saying "sorry you don't have enough funds" they just give you the money and charge $25 without warning.
They probably have some analysis that shows that customers:
1. don't blame the bank when the customer goes overdrawn
2. don't leave because of this
They then came to the conclusion that this was money for nothing and they could not resist.
This may be true in the short term, but here is at lease one customer that will not buy more from ANZ because of this. In fact banks have found it very difficult to get customers to buy other products outside the basic normal ones. While customers trust banks and are not unhappy with the service they are reluctant to buy other products from them. In part, in my opinion, because of the types of behaviours in billings and fees that I recently experienced.
Charging me $25 for going over my account balance by $10 at the ATM. Do they have figured out that instead of saying "sorry you don't have enough funds" they just give you the money and charge $25 without warning.
They probably have some analysis that shows that customers:
1. don't blame the bank when the customer goes overdrawn
2. don't leave because of this
They then came to the conclusion that this was money for nothing and they could not resist.
This may be true in the short term, but here is at lease one customer that will not buy more from ANZ because of this. In fact banks have found it very difficult to get customers to buy other products outside the basic normal ones. While customers trust banks and are not unhappy with the service they are reluctant to buy other products from them. In part, in my opinion, because of the types of behaviours in billings and fees that I recently experienced.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
I've Loved You So Long
Last night I went to see this film. Today a melancholy has descended. Why?
The film is powerful as described in the reviews and Kristen Scott Thomas puts out ones of the best performances I have seen in a while. Actually all the actors do a great job.
The story is nothing really special, nothing that we haven't seen you. The prison of the mind blah blah blah.
Why the melancholy? Certainty there is something here about the futility of life and the meaningless of it all. Scott Thomas captures the feels so well and reminds me of some thoughts I would rather forget. For today this film has really struck a chord that will resonates on.
The film is powerful as described in the reviews and Kristen Scott Thomas puts out ones of the best performances I have seen in a while. Actually all the actors do a great job.
The story is nothing really special, nothing that we haven't seen you. The prison of the mind blah blah blah.
Why the melancholy? Certainty there is something here about the futility of life and the meaningless of it all. Scott Thomas captures the feels so well and reminds me of some thoughts I would rather forget. For today this film has really struck a chord that will resonates on.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Customer
Listening to a talk about the music industry yesterday.
The quote to remember - "When you have come to think of your customers as the enemy then you know its not going to end well."
In the example, the music industry resisted online downloading and tried to stop it rather than recognizing it as a great opportunity. They got court out by thinking that they controlled the distribution channels. The technology created new possibilities that they failed to anticipate. This is not usual. Most new Technologies do this to some extent.
Does this apply to financial services also? Perhaps in a slightly different way. Certainly it feels like banks use there position to control what customers can do and they change things in quiet a disrespectful way. Will it change? will technology come the rescue of the ordinary bank customer? Will the any new players end up like the old ones, corrupted by money and laziness?
The quote to remember - "When you have come to think of your customers as the enemy then you know its not going to end well."
In the example, the music industry resisted online downloading and tried to stop it rather than recognizing it as a great opportunity. They got court out by thinking that they controlled the distribution channels. The technology created new possibilities that they failed to anticipate. This is not usual. Most new Technologies do this to some extent.
Does this apply to financial services also? Perhaps in a slightly different way. Certainly it feels like banks use there position to control what customers can do and they change things in quiet a disrespectful way. Will it change? will technology come the rescue of the ordinary bank customer? Will the any new players end up like the old ones, corrupted by money and laziness?
Monday, January 26, 2009
Movies from the Film festival part 1
Young @ Heart
Crossed Tracks
- What a great film, I hope that I am like this at there age
Crossed Tracks
- Nice little thriller
- A man who world falls apart. after the wifes death
- Finland reminds me of Canada
- A bit self indulgent for me
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Bloody Idiot award
Bloody Idiot Awards:
I decided there needs to be an award for people or organizations that are so out of tune with current thinking and culture that the only thing that I can think of is to call them a bloody idiot.
First award goes to Optus for charging you to pay the bill. They charge for all internet and electronic billings but not for cheques.
Second award goes to anyone who thinks Wikipedia is a bad thing.
I decided there needs to be an award for people or organizations that are so out of tune with current thinking and culture that the only thing that I can think of is to call them a bloody idiot.
First award goes to Optus for charging you to pay the bill. They charge for all internet and electronic billings but not for cheques.
Second award goes to anyone who thinks Wikipedia is a bad thing.
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