Wow, so okay, there's a alot that can be said about this movie. Unfortunately for Shyamalan, most of it isn't good. Apart from the bad acting, botched-up storyline, rough pace, and unsatisfying end there is one thing that stands (er... crouches out): the cgi - it may be the only decent thing about this movie - aside from the series the film was derived from, of course. Due to its non-entertaining factor along with the above stated aspects, I give this film a big fat D for disaster...
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The United States Cyber Command (started May 21, 2010) is a new government agency designed to aid the US in waging war over the internet. "USCYBERCOM plans, coordinates, integrates, synchronizes and conducts activities to: direct the operations and defense of specified Department of Defense information networks and; prepare to, and when directed, conduct full spectrum military cyberspace operations in order to enable actions in all domains, ensure US/Allied freedom of action in cyberspace and deny the same to our adversaries" (U.S. Department of Defense, Cyber Command Fact Sheet, May 21, 2010 http://www.stratcom.mil/factsheets/cc/).
While this new organization may be a step into the new age for governmental control and regulations, there has been little production so far. Currently the only interesting occurrence with the USCC is it's encrypted logo. In the inner gold band, a series of alphanumerical characters can be seen reading: 9ec4c12949a4f31474f299058ce2b22a. This code is presumably an MD5 hash of their mission statement (or at least a portion of it), which reads exactly as the previously quoted statement. Whether the code is, in fact, a representation of the mission statement is yet to be proven. However, the cyber geek community is definitely abuzz. So, I had a little scare yesterday.
I completely deleted my entire website - blog and all - and I was pretty much freaking out because of the the work I had put into this thing so far. Luckily my hosting site was wonderful, and it restored everything I had lost, archives and all. I hope you can imagine how my emotions went on a whirlwind roller coaster ride from sadness and disbelief to hope, fear, acceptance and finally relief, surprise, and joy. All I can say is I am so glad this worked out! I'll be back to my usual nonsense in no time now! ^_^ Hope all your weekends were amazing and fun-filled. See you next time. s_ro So everyone knows that the Fourth of July is "America's Birthday," but you may not know that many other notable events occurred on this day in history. Take a look at the dates below, and feel free to suggest more if you know any! 1054: Brightest known super-nova (Crab Nebula) starts shining (23 days) 1636: City of Providence, Rhode Island form 1653: Barebones Parliment goes into session in England 1776: Declaration of Independence-US gains independence from Britain 1789: 1st US tariff act 1802: US Military Academy officially opens (West Point, NY) 1817: Construction on Erie Canal begins 1819: William Herschel makes last telescopic observation of 1819 comet 1827: Slavery abolished in NY 1828: Construction begins on Band O (Baltimore-Ohio) 1st US passenger RR 1829: Cornerstone laid for 1st US mint (Chestnut & Juniper St, Phila) 1832: "America" 1st sung publicly 1836: Wisconsin Territory formed 1845: Thoreau moves into his shack on Walden Pond 1863: Boise, Idaho founded (now capital of Idaho) 1865: 1st edition of "Alice in Wonderland" is published 1866: Firecracker thrown in wood starts fire destroying « of Portland, Me 1873: Aquarium opens in Woodward Gardens 1874: Social Democratic Workmen's Party of North America formed 1875: White Democrats kill several blacks in terrorist attacks in Vicksburg 1876: 1st public exhibition of electric light in SF 1881: Brooker T Washington establishes Tuskegee Institute 1882: Telegraph Hill Observatory opens in SF 1883: Buffalo Bill Cody presents 1st wild west show, North Platte, Nebr 1884: Statue of Liberty presented to US in Paris 1886: 1st scheduled transcontinental passenger train reaches Pt Moody, BC 1888: 1st organized rodeo competition held, Prescott, Ariz 1889: Washington state constitutional convention holds 1st meeting 1893: A Borrelly discovers asteroid #369 Aeria 1894: Republic of Hawaii established 1898: US flag hoisted over Wake Island (Spanish-American War) 1903: Pacific Cable (SF, Hawaii, Guam, Phil) opens, Pres TR sends message 1910: Jack Johnson KOs James Jeffries in 15 rounds, ending come-back try 1911: Ty Cobb goes 0 for 4 & ends a 40 game hit streak 1912: Detroit Tiger George Mullen no-hits St Louis Browns, 7-0 1914: 1st US motorcycle race (300 miles, Dodge City Ks) 1918: Altar dedicated at full-scale replica of Stonehenge at Maryhill, Wa 1919: M Wolf discovers asteroid #914 Palisana 1925: 44 die when the Dreyfus Hotel in Boston collapses 1933: Work begins on Oakland Bay Bridge 1939: Red Sox Jim Tabor hits 2 grand slams in 1 game and Yankees retire 1st uniform (Lou Gehrig #4), 1st Old Timers Day 1941: Howard Florey & Norman Heatley meet for the 1st time, 11 days later they successfully recreate pencillin 1942: 1st American bombing mission over enemy-occupied Europe (WW II) 1946: Philippines gains independence from US 1950: Truman signs public law 600 (Puerto Ricans write own consitution) 1954: West Germany beats Hungary 3-2 for soccer's 5th World Cup in Bern 1956: US most intense rain fall (1.23" in 1 minute) at Unionville Maryland 1959 Cayman Islands separated from Jamaica, made a crown colony 1960: America's new 50-star flag honoring Hawaiian statehood unfurled 1960: Mickey Mantle hits career homer # 300 1962: Island Records begins 1966: LBJ signs Freedom of Information Act 1967: Freedom of Information Act goes into effect 1969: "Give Peace a Chance" by Plastic Ono Band is released in the UK 1970: Chartered Dan-Air Comet crashes into mountains north of Barcelona, Spain killing 112 vacationing Britons 1973: In audience with Italian cyclists, Pope Paul VI praises athletes who "offer the magnificent show of a healthy, strong, generous youth" 1975: Bundy victim (?) Nancy Baird disappears from Layton, Utah 1976: Raid on Entebbe-Israel rescues 229 Air France passengers 1977: Nigel Harrison replaces Gary Valentine as bassist of Blondie 1978: L Chernykh discovers asteroid #3332 1982: 4th Space Shuttle Mission-Columbia 4 lands at Edwards AFB 1983: Yankee Dave Righetti no-hits the Red Sox 1984: Yuri Sedykh of USSR throws hammer a record 86.33 m 1985: Tinker Bell's nightly flight begins 1987: Nazi Klaus Barbie, "Butcher of Lyon" convicted by a French court 1988: Steffan Edberg beats Boris Becker for Wimbeldon crown 1990: 2 Live Crew release "Banned in the USA" the lyrics quote Star Spangled Banner & Gettysburg Address 2004: The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower was laid at the World Trade Center site. ps. you may have noticed the temporary patriotic color scheme... ^_^
So I was wasting away my life in front of youtube yet again when I ran into something that intrigued me much more than expected. Now, we all know that the Chinese are known for their gymnastics, but trust me, you don't have a clue. This video is amazing! I've seen multiple Cirque du Soleil shows and nothing really comes close to the feats achieved by the Chinese here. Sure, Cirque du Soleil is more artistic and elegant, but the sheer beauty of human accomplishment is truly something to be revered here. Take a look below! The fish trap exists because of the fish. Once you've gotten the fish you can forget the trap. The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit. Once you've gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words exist because of meaning. Once you've gotten the meaning, you can forget the words. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can talk with him? [Source: Zhuang Zhou, Zhuangzi (c. 350-300 BC); Burton Watson trans.] The student asks the master: "What work will I do as I seek enlightenment?" The master replies "Chop wood, carry water." "And what work will I do once I achieve enlightenment?" asks the student. "Chop wood, carry water" replies the master. [Source: Zen Buddhist Proverb] "Read them," said the King. The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. "Where shall I begin, your Majesty?" he asked. "Begin at the beginning," the King said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end; then stop." [Source: Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) chap. 12] Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. [Source: Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life (1899, 1900) para. 4] Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place, and cried incessantly: "I seek God! I seek God!"---As many of those who did not believe in God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter. Has he got lost? asked one. Did he lose his way like a child? asked another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? emigrated?---Thus they yelled and laughed.
The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. "Whither is God?" he cried; "I will tell you. We have killed him---you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light lanterns in the morning? Do we hear nothing as yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition? Gods, too, decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. "How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whoever is born after us---for the sake of this deed he will belong to a higher history than all history hitherto." Here the madman fell silent and looked again at his listeners; and they, too, were silent and stared at him in astonishment. At last he threw his lantern on the ground, and it broke into pieces and went out. "I have come too early," he said then; "my time is not yet. This tremendous event is still on its way, still wandering; it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time; the light of the stars requires time; deeds, though done, still require time to be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than most distant stars---and yet they have done it themselves. It has been related further that on the same day the madman forced his way into several churches and there struck up his requiem aeternam deo. Led out and called to account, he is said always to have replied nothing but: "What after all are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchers of God?" [Source: Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science (1882, 1887) para. 125; Walter Kaufmann ed. (New York: Vintage, 1974), pp.181-82.] |
AuthorSilent Rogue is a young Creative Designer from Los Angeles. He makes films, writes stories, creates works of art, and appreciates the little things in life. Archives
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