Western culture

2001 A Space Odyssey

Can you justifiably say something is shit not just from a subjective point of view?

Have you guys seen 2001 a space odyessy?
Well first of all …don’t. Its terrible.
But it like one of those movies that people tell you you just HAVE to watch… because its a cult classic or something
I was trying to argue against a colleague, with me saying that it was shit…. or at least frustrating to watch…. and she keeps saying things like like ‘oh maybe you just didn’t understand it’
Sorry….have you seen the movie?
No?
Well then shut up.

Its 2 hrs 29 mins long … and its slow as hell.. and its one of those kind of movies where you know that it was made for people on drugs.. like LSD or something,  but if you’re not on LSD… its pretty fucking terrible.
And like a good boy, I of course don’t want to give away too much… of why it IS terrible, but now I’m getting insulted because of a predetermination for which she thinks the movie is good because she’s seen some reviews online.

Bah!
Reviews are for idiots!
Why is it that the simple reviews are never taken seriously?
ie.-  Its shit, don’t watch it.
Wait sorry, let me change my review. It’s shit because….. (people always want to know the because) it’s slow, its full of extended 15 minute scenes for which we already got the point in 2 mins, and unless you’re on LSD, I would not recommend this movie.

Perfect!

Here’s a friend’s review for the film…and its more like a watching guide:

Imagine a movie written by a director who thinks he’s being deep enough to create a cult following on his film. Imagine the beginning of time when monkeys roamed the planet, now a plot twist. A rectangle black rock. It appears throughout the film for zero fucking reason. Fast forward time and they will talk about deep space and bush babies. Fast forward for 15 minutes or nauseating coloured lens flares and crappy sound. Black rectangle is seen. The end.

By the way, for those that haven’t seen the film, here’s a little insight…. The first word, the first bit of dialogue is spoken after a full 26 mins.  Before that you’re just watching monkeys behave curiously.
Come on!

Note- I will concede the movie is full of some pretty basic science-fiction concepts that has fuelled ideas to shows that we all know and love, (like Futurama for instance) and of course it was pretty impressive for when it was made, 1968. You will see that I said ‘impressive’, impressive doesn’t necessarily mean good.

 

By the way… In terms of movies that are designed to be watched when you’re as high as a kite, I think ‘Gravity’, ‘The life of Pi’, ‘This is the end’, ‘Pineapple express’ are the ones that I know of….anyone got any others？

Mine site logic

This is an article from my brother, from our home country when in early 2014 he visited a mine site

10 points to those who can guess which one it is.

What does a mine site which already has 3 taverns need?

-That’s right, another tavern.
And can you guess what they decided to build after building 2 gyms?
-You guessed it, a 3rd gym.

All of this would sound sensible provided there was a large amount of people working at this mine site, but….

Well how about a little background information to put everything in context.  This mine site, is currently actually not in production, it’s in its setup and construction phase.
When finished it will take 500 people total to operate.
Of course, those people that have some idea about mine sites will know that the majority of them are located in the middle of fucking nowhere.
As this one is.
In fact most mine sites that look like they have a town close-by, it’s because the town was usually built solely for the mine-site

So how many people does it take to build a facility like this?
Well initially not very much… just lots of heavy equipment.
But because these initial workers need chefs, gyms, taverns and a whole pile of support staff and which of course these people then in-turn need dormitories to live in…..
(there is really nothing out there) everything is built from scratch…

So in the end, its an ever ending process of hiring people to provide services for all the extra people you’ve just hired, at which the end only 500 people will use the facilities in which has now expanded to 5,000. Smart

Of course in a ‘modern, socially equitable country’ you have quotas to provide jobs to people you wouldn’t normally hire. So you’ve got people doing meaningless jobs.

People are employed to sweep dust away from footpaths, which in the this particular area surrounded by sand its the equivalent of trying to keep the tide away with a squeegee.  You’re fighting a losing battle and you look like a fool for trying, however if you’re on $80, 000 plus dollars a year it’s probably you that gets the last laugh.
‘10 000 000 hours no lost time injuries’ – Turns out broken bones and crushed limbs don’t break the lost time injury record.  In fact the only way to lose time from someone being injured is for someone to die.
Aboriginals hired, and which local aboriginal customs forbids certain aboriginals from talking to certain other people….which of course is not that helpful if you work together and communicating is a huge part of the job.
The leasing of certain equipment on a 2 year lease that would take the 2 months of leasing payments to actually own that same equipment.
Occupational health and safety which seems to do such a bad a job that takes 2 days to do needs 2 weeks.

Visiting a mine site in the process of development is just mesmerizing for all these reasons.

Ah… but these pills are natural

Take a look at a box of western medicine, .. for headaches for example and you can note 2 things straight off   It says…

1.)  Active ingredient: Paracetamol Chlorphenamine 500mg  or something like this,  &
2.) Take 2 pills every 12 hours

Now take a look at a Chinese box of medicine… apparently meant to cure the same ailment

  • Contains…. Something….  (perhaps deer antler or something)
  • Take 4 pills every 4 hours
  • The pills are some strange shade of green that you’ve never seen in your life

You will have people saying, Chinese, and foreigners alike..  “ah but it’s natural so it’s better!
All the ingredients can be found naturally in the world, so therefore its better”

Yeah…  sure.   And you don’t think western medicine was based on the same principle?
It’s about the active ingredient you morons!

For example Asprin’s active ingredient is salicylic acid found in 1763 in the bark of a willow tree.  Found… in… nature.

Now would it be logical to just eat the bark of a willow tree, or…  would it be better to take the active ingredient out… replicate it and then consume that?

Now on the rare occasion that these pills do actually work… (although something tells me that deer antler is not a good active ingredient),    it is because there is still an active ingredient that exists somewhere. 

And while it might not compare to the real medical equivalent in which the active ingredient has been solely replicated so that you don’t have any of the bad shit that might be detrimental to your health in the natural substance, It is enough to influence those hippy nut-jobs that  this alternative medicine is in fact working, and that because it doesn’t work quite as well as the ‘real medicine’ equivalent, and because it for some unknown reason has an off-green colour, it must undoubtedly be more natural…
which for some reason in their vacuous minds of theirs almost always translates to better.

[Death by quick bullet to the head, or death by vicious bear attack….concentrated mainly on the face and genital region. ….  Well the bear option… is more natural, therefore it must be better.]

So yes,   the active ingredient may still be there…. but the fact that you have to take so much of it means that it’s nowhere near efficient.

Sure I CoUld eat 3 platefuls of spinach, or… I could eat a steak and get the same amount of protein.

Check out Tim Minchins 10 minutes beat poem on this kind of subject called ‘Storm’

On youku here     (i’m sorry for the ads… its youku, and they’re dicks)

or for you lucky people on youtube here

Quote from Tim Minchin via his ‘Storm’ beat track:

“By definition, alternative medicine has either Not been proved to work… OR…. has been proved not to work….  Do you know what they call alternative medicine that has been proved to work??…
Medicine!”