Maebius Musings

We just watched a very, VERY awesome movie that I had rented via NetFlix, called Kirikou and the Sorceress. I did not know anything about this film, but it showed up in a random sample of children’s/international movies. All I can say is, I highly recommend it for anyone wishing to step outside the usual Disney films and expose your family to a bit of multi-cultural flavor.

(Trailer is here)

The movie does a great job translating my pre-conceptions of a good African Folktale into an animated movie, and seems to remain really true to the culture. The colours are bright and vivid in many scenes, which contrasts the barren landscapes shown in some other segments. The storytelling is very engaging and can easily be broken up into a number of shorter mini-segments if you want to spark off an educational discussion regarding the plot.

The plot, without giving anything away, follows a small baby, Kirikou, who is born fully self-aware and speaking, and learns that an Evil sorceress has cursed the town and eaten all the men. He goes through a series of adventures to save the various townsfolk, using his wits and child-like love to overcome the obstacles in his path. Eventually, he confronts the Sorceress through several teachable moments, and important lessons, such as not letting mean people get to you, and understanding that the way someone treats others has more to do with them than those they are hurting. Kirikou remains child-like and small of stature throughout the film, but is never “childish”.

For very young children, there are a very few slightly disurbing scenes, such as the initial meeting of the Sorceress being kinda scary (similar, I suppose, to the old Disney character, Maleficent, who was not a nice witch!), and later a weasil-like creature hunting smaller chipmonk-ish things. However, these scenes are not overly threatening, or gory, and the tension is mostly felt through dramatic music and a close-up of angry faces/flashing of teeth.

I’ve seen worse on daytime TV commercials, but the engaging nature of the story means we all got drawn into the world much more than a TV commercial would, and thus jumped a bit at the sudden angry-sorceress scene (it only lasts a second or two). Sensitive children may also need to be spoken to about the fact that wild animals hunting in nature are not always nice, (though there is never any prey killed overtly on-screen), and the situation is presented more as an “environmental hazard” to avoid during Kirikou’s journey.

One thing that probably kept this movie off my radar until now is the fact that it contains…*thematic drums: Dun Dun DuNNNN*…. nudity. That is to say, the kids of the village run around naked, and the women of the tribe are topless (no adult male nudity depicted, just little kids au naturale). However, this does not make the movie eroticized in any way. It merely presents the tribe-folk as they are, and in my mind, is part of the wonderful multi-cultural experience.

The sprogling giggled and commented on how the other kids got to run around “nudie-butts” like we did at Starwood, which opened up an excellent discussion of that lifestyle compared to our current American one.

After the second watching of the movie, our kid also really seemed to connect with a few of the lessons Kirikou learned in the process of helping out the Tribesfolk, who got themselves in trouble by acting selfish or thoughtlessly. The lessons throughout the story are not over-done, and merely presented in an easily believable way, allowing good opportunity to show the issues and offer short discussion of solutions before the characters work things out with Kirikou’s help. This is benefited by the overall “african folktale” style of the movie, and really does make a great ‘teaching tool’, beyond being a wonderfully entertaining film.

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Kirikou_and_the_Sorceress/60000485?trkid=188469

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181627/

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Shh, don’t tell anyone, but yours truly got a kids code-book for Christmas so I can now become a full-time spy. If I don’t write as much this week, it’s either due to the holiday travels to visit folks…or I’m off saving the world.
While most of the cryptography is written at a middle-school level, I tried introducing a simple letter-swap code to the sprogling (A=1, B=2, etc). So far, he likes the IDEA of secret codes, but might be just a bit too young to get the idea fully. He tends to write random numbers and say it’s specific words. Still, it’s a fun little game we’ve played yesterday.

Since I also wanted to flex my programming skills that have grown severely rusty, in order to work on a new browser-based game idea I had (inspired slightly by the code-book), I figured I’d whip up a very generic little page to translate the number-code we were using to letters, and vice versa. Here it is: http://everthorn.net/Misc/translate123ABC.php
Enjoy!

-9- -16-18-15-13-9-19-5- -14-5-24-20- -2-12-15-7- -16-15-19-20- -23-9-12-12- -3-15-14-20-1-9-14- -1-3-20-21-1-12- -13-21-19-9-14-7-19- -15-18- -16-8-9-12-15-19-15-16-8-9-3-1-12- -20-8-15-21-7-8-20-19- -18-5-12-1-20-9-14-7- -20-15- -19-16-9-18-9-20-21-1-12-9-20-25- -15-18- -15-20-8-5-18- -5-19-15-20-5-18-9-3- -20-15-16-9-3-19-

-8-15-23-5-22-5-18- -20-8-15-19-5- -23-9-12-12- -8-1-22-5- -20-15- -23-1-9-20- -21-14-20-9-12- -20-8-5- -16-1-18-20-9-5-19- -1-14-4- -8-5-3-20-9-3- -22-9-19-9-20-1-20-9-15-14-19- -1-18-5- -4-15-14-5- -14-5-24-20- -23-5-5-11-

-1-12-19-15- -23-5- -1-18-5- -8-5-1-4-9-14-7- -20-15- -4-9-19-14-5-25-23-15-18-12-4- -9-14- -20-23-15- -23-5-5-11-19- -19-15- -1-18-5- -6-21-18-9-15-21-19-12-25- -7-5-20-20-9-14-7- -16-1-3-11-5-4- -6-15-18- -20-8-1-20-

-8-1-16-16-25- -14-5-23- -25-5-1-18-

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This weekend, our original plans were to drive south and visit the family in PA.

Here are a few pictures and two short movies taken when the weather “got better” and enabled an actual camera-snap that did not just look “white”.

Enjoy!

Videos of the Front Yard, and the Back yard here…

Both videos and pictures were taken within 5 minutes of each other, and the snow keeps going from “not much” to “a lot” every few seconds. The main concern is it’s still coming down and it’s windy, so teh roads her in town are miserable. I’m sure the main highways are much better, but why risk it on such a long trip…

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Quick post, just to jot down some thoughts before the Blizzard of 2008 crushes all life as we know it in the northeast US. (Seriously, the way folks are acting around here, closing schools, letting businesses off early, and it only JUST started snowing 15 minutes ago?!)

To those non-gamer readers, sorry if the following makes little sense to you. Just try to extrapolate the facts into real-world possibilities.

Fact: In a rather popular computer MMO game, you manage to acquire a rather rare recipe, that allows your character to make a nifty vanity-item. Lets call this item a set of “Red Holiday Clothes“.

Fact: Holiday season is upon us, and in-game, the place is decorated with festive things. This is a limited-time event that will be gone in two weeks, when the patterns are no longer available.

Fact: There are other patterns available, and if your character is wearing all three items, they get a special little bonus, but nothing permanent. The three separate patterns are used by different character-types, such that MY character with the clothes can not make the boots, or the hat.

Fact: Since the gathering of all three items requires a minimum of three different types of character, it encourages cooperation, (or at least coordination) among players. Since it is a social game, this is probably a good thing.
Given this information, the relative cheapness of materials required to make the items in question, and the apparent demand for these items during this limited time….

• Do you charge an exceedingly inflated price to make the items for random people in the trade channels, thus maximizing the opportunity, and enabling you to accumulate gold? Gold is obviously very very useful for high-end things in-game and somewhat hard to come by through casual game-play.

• Do you offer to make the items available freely to anyone who provides the necessary materials to you, Optionally, suggesting a tip for your service? This generates a lot more business, and smaller individual profits, but potentially increased net income over (limited) time.

• Is there a third compromise option available?

It’s an interesting question, and since I am no business consultant, I see validity in each argument. I also have a marked preference for one of them.

* * *

In reality, I have been acting out option B. If other players come to me with the necessary materials, I will gladly make them an outfit for whatever they feel like tipping. I’m just collecting virtual gold here, not real money, and I’d rather strengthen my reputation as a helpful character, rather than a selfish greedy bastard. (I have another character who is much less hesitant to steal and press advantages in-game… I love Roleplaying servers!)

The strange thing that prompted this post, is that these actions have drawn an unexpected amount of flack from some other characters. Presumably those who were trying to sell their items at the current inflated market price. I’m willingly “undercutting the market” by a decent percentage. I’ve even been accused of “fixing the market” by essentially driving out all competition and setting the market price at almost null-level.

These self-described business-people are simply unable to compete, except when I am offline, and thus I am ‘criminally‘ preventing them from playing the game of economics as they feel it should be.

It’s a really deep topic, and not one I have time to fully ponder out right now. But its interesting enough to blog about here.

Am I doing something ethically wrong, by trying to be helpful? Is my presumed good Karma actually harming the player-driven economy?

It’s a little thing, I’m sure, and the long-term markets will balance out just fine once the limited-time event is over for the year. But does that make it right to be doing?

In the real world, I almost think such an activity would be almost illegal for some obscure tax-code reasons, and definitely somewhat unlikely to work due to being for “real money” and the potential to lose money over time.

Since crafting real-world items takes much more time than pressing a few buttons in a computer game, the economics are skewed much differently. Hmmm…..

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I was tagged with an award-meme from Nettle. The Tree of Happiness. I like it a lot.

Here are the rules:
• Link to the person who gave the award to you.
• Post the rules on your blog.
• List six things that make you happy.
• Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
• Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
• Let the person who awarded you know when your entry is up.

Here are my six things:

This was actually kinda tough, as some of my first thoughts sounded really shallow compared to the usual postings here. But happiness is as happiness does, right?

• I’ll steal a line from everyone else here and say “My Family”. Not just the people in it, though that is a HUGE part of what family is. But also the stability and network of folks in my life. Family here to me almost includes my circle of immediate friends, who I know I could call if there were ever a Disaster, and would help move the bodies. /wink

• My land, and the opportunity to go hiking in wilderness not far from it. While I’d love more trees in my own yard, the pastureland we have has plenty of opportunity for gardens, little wild weed-beds, and a soon-to-be-completed labyrinth. While I do not have the Bhodi Tree to sit under, this land is just as enlightening.

• Music. In all forms, and in many different ways, the appreciation of a lyrical score or primal drumbeat can cheer me up on the worst of days, or make me irritated if it goes against my mood. Still, the fact that music can affect our emotions so deeply still makes me “happy” overall. It crosses languages and touches lives.

• Roleplaying games. Not really the single-player RPGs like Final Fantasy ##, though they were obviously fun to play. But tabletop games like AD&D, or my current MMO World of Warcraft. Getting a bunch of scattered people grouped up for some fantastic goal, stretching our creativity and living another life, is fun. Beyond simple escapism though, such adventures are deeply Happy-making to my soul. The creative muse thrives in such environments.

• The Internet. Related I suppose to #1, #3, and #4, the internet allows my network of friends, family, and game-kin to keep in touch regularly. Communication is important for a social network. Also, the internet is a rich source of amusement, entertainment, (and only occassional /facepalms). Where else but a publically shared portal to the imagination could you find this or this?

• Life, the Universe, and Everything. Yes, it’s a cheesy stolen line from a book, but it has validity. As an optimist at heart, and for all the crap I see in the world in the form of people and events, there’s just too gosh darn much good here too. Look up at a clear night sky, and the troubles of the day melt off you. Happen to see a bit of trash dancing on the wind, and marvel at fluid dynamics and the cofficient μ (Mu). See some cute random stranger smile on the bus, and thank Creation for making us all uniquely special.

Well, since Nettle, and those who tagged her already got the people I would betagging myself, I’ll be forced to break the rules and non-tag the Readership of this Blog. If I have to tag someone, I’ll make it: Meme, The Kitchen Witch, Varulv, Kelz, Carioca Witch, and Emily

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It is the holiday time of year again, here at Everthorn Farm, and that means COOKIES!

This year we tried one of my family’s recipes for “Sand Tarts”, which is a traditional thing from my grandmother. Each winter season, my mother and aunt have a mini-contest to see who gets over to Nan’s house first, and then call the other one to say “I ate three Sandtarts! Neener-neener!”

It’s a simple recipe, but was quite a lot of work. If you’d like to replicate the adventure, see below:

• 2 lbs all-purpose flour
• 2 lbs granulated sugar
• 1.25 lbs (5 sticks) butter
• 3 eggs.

Mix everything up in a big bowl BY HAND. Apparently the By Hand is extra-important and is repeated twice, underlined, and circled on the original recipe from my Great(x2) Grandmother.

So mix everything together well, toss flour on the table, then roll out ultra-thin. The contest is to get the dough transluscent-thin. Thick cookies are not Proper Sand Tarts.

Cut out shapes using your favorite cookie-cutters. We like stars, bells, holly, etc.

Brush the top of cookies with egg prior to baking.

Accent the tops with sprinkles, coloured sugar, or crushed nuts (or a combination)

Cook at 350F until done. This is highly dependent on the thickness of the cookies.

The best Sand tarts are thin, and get crispy-cooked in about 5 minutes. Watch for them to just start turning brown around the edges.

Let cool.

Eat! Enjoy! Brag you your siblings.

Happy Holidays!

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Inspired by a light-hearted post from the Bored Gods, she was giving away some trinket to a random person who commented on her blog. The only caveat was to be creative in your comment. The actual description was below:

Here’s how it works: All you need to do is leave a comment, begging for the unique item. Pull out all the stops, spare no compliment, because if you are the most eloquent petitioner, you will win this coveted prize!

This inspired me to try creating a meme of my own, to flex our inspired creativity, and have a little wild-abandon fun with words. Taking something of relatively lesser value you see, and gifting it with epic energies and praise. It’ll be fun.

My Ode to a “Yankee Candle Porcelain Snowman Ornament with fragranced oil“. is as follows.

From the halcyon days of Yore, when innocent hearts embraced the winter chill with merriment and joy, comes, as you described, that most archetypal icon of the yuletide season.
Snowmen, while being full of whimsy and wonder, are sadly a transient work of Art, too quickly torn asunder by unenlightened bullying, or the harsh Oak King’s rays as the Wheel turns.
Yet I read here of hope, for such a hero of the winter fests. A snowman of our own, immune to both outdoor agents and the warmth of spring. Still further, harnessing that most ancient and primitive sensory power to scent our lives and homes.
Such a thing, while likely humble in stature, would assuredly fine a place of honor among the altar of winter. Such a thing would be Blessed.
Such a thing should be mine.

The meme rules are as follows.

1) Find some random object near you. Could be on your desk, in your pocket, or on the shelf over there. Best to use an everyday or otherwise nondescript object that doesn’t hold a place of importance in your life.

2) Post a creative and overly epic Ode to that object on your blog (or in the comments on one if you have no blog).

3) Link back to the person you were tagged by.

4) Tag whomever you want, or not. It’s all good fun anyway.

There you go!

See how much fun (and subtle happy-Karma) can come from uplifting the mundane in your life. It may be silly on the surface, but such an act is powerful magic.

Happy Holidays!

I’ll tag, Nettle, Wren, Meme, The Bored Gods, the Magic Hills, the Celestial Enchantris, Mahud, and anyone else reading this blog.

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A number of years ago, when my wife and I were a fairly new couple, and long before the sprogling came around, I had surprised her with a felt “advent solstice Calendar”.

It is in the shape of a giant pine tree, with 21 little pockets sewn onto the back, and decorated with cut-out ornaments. It is meant to be hung up, and begin at the bottom on December 1st, so that the final “sun-like-star” atop the tree is opened on the day of the winter Solstice (or there-abouts).

(Here is a quick video. Sorry for being sideways. If anyone knows a decent free-ish video editor for Windows, let me know.)
Lately, with a kid with us, it’s becoming a wonderful tradition, and some mornings it is a struggle to delay him rushing to the tree before breakfast. This, of course, is mostly because each pocket now contains either a small bit of candy, a shiny quarter, or a little toy from those machines at the mall.

Originally, I had used the calendar to leave little romantic notes, trinkets, and such, which was fun. now, it’s a great teaching tool, and we are finding that doing homework or chores can be easily rewarded with “ok, you can open today’s Advent pocket”.

After discussing the whole ‘what is the solstice’, our little one’s been watching the sun set (well, noticing it getting dark) and mentioning that he can’t wait until it gets light again so he won’t have to go to sleep right away. It’s cute.

Even if you don’t ascribe to the original “Advent holiday” as formulated by the Church-going crowd, it makes a great secular, or other-spiritual tradition due to being easily adaptable, and wide-open to interpretation. After all, it’s merely a good way to count down the days until a specific holiday.

Our culture seems to get Christmas stuff out earlier and earlier each year (I’ll still fight against christmas music before Halloween gets here…yes, I heard it on a store speaker on Oct 30th!!), but the countdown to a holiday is a good way to get into the spirit of the season. Just keep it within reason.

And while I ponder this, I think I might make something to hang up for Midsummer. Maybe a big bonfire with felt “flames” to build up each day and circled by StJohns wort flowers? We’ll see what I whip up this spring.

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Warning, this post is more a thought-experiment, and you may not necessarily agree with the view in this post. Musings here are not always “right/wrong”, but can inspire some self-reflective thoughts. Debate and commentary quite welcome here, regardless of your stance.

I found this article from the LA Times, regarding Ahmed Ressam, the “millennium bomber” convicted of plotting to blow up Los Angeles International Airport. I’m not sure which angle to view the subject from, as explained below.

On one hand, as stated on FARK, the story could be summed up as follows:
1) Arrest terrorist,
2) Give terrorist light sentence in exchange for cooperation,
3) Spend years interrogating and isolating terrorist to the point where he can no longer cooperate
4) Increase sentence because he is no longer cooperative

We may have him in custody, and as a result are a bit safer than if he was out plotting more bombs, but I don’t see us having the upper hand.

However, without defending the actions of terrorist activity, I can see this as a moral win for Ahmed. He had been convicted of unlawful activity, and offered to cooperate, but now, withdraws that cooperation and is quoted as saying: “Sentence me to life in prison, or anything you wish,” he told the judge. “I will have no objection to your sentence.”

As a result of this recanting of prior testimony, a few other individuals who were to be tried for criminal activity may just be released. One attorney was also quoted as saying “Ressam has provided no indication that he has repudiated the goals of terrorists to inflict harm on the United States. His decision to end cooperation raises the specter that he continues to pose a real and serious threat to the United States,“.

What struck me immediately, was how this situation seems unable to be defused or resolved without the cooperation of “the terrorist”. For all our judicial authority and efforts to keep our contry safe, it all crumbles to bits if those in custody simply say “Oops, my bad, I’m not talking anymore.”

If jail is, at it’s heart, meant to reform criminals as supposed, (it does NOT, in this country, I feel), what defense does it have when the ‘reformed’ refuse to conform? Waterboarding, naked pyramids, and solitary harassment aside, is there any way to both protect the security of our citizens by both isolating them from society, and trying to coerce cooperation?

In this particular case, I see Admed Ressam as defiantly standing “in the lions den” and allowing himself to be a martyr for his cause. In his mind, with this action, he wins.
I may not agree with the results or reason for his stance, but I can respect the dedication to his ideals.

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Just a bit of light humor that amused me. Strangely enough I’ve never heard of these guys until this week, so forgive if it’s old news for you folks.

Flight of the Conchords

My favorite songs…

• Bowie Song

• Shes so Hot Boom

• Business Time

• Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros

• Issues

Enjoy!

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