Showing posts with label jamaica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jamaica. Show all posts
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Staying Alive
That song, apart from being awesome, serves two other purposes. First and foremost, it represents what people in the eastern part of the island are probably trying to do right now, in the midst of all the unrest being caused by the attempted arrest of Dudus. (For those of you who don't know, google Christopher Dudus Coke and Jamaica). Secondly, it represents what I need to do next week, when the bulk of my exams descend upon me. From Tuesday to Friday, I have exams. All long papers. That's Biology, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, all on sequential days. No time to swat during the week. I'm not too worried though.
Thankfully I haven't (entirely) wasted the two weeks I got before these exams. I really feel like I have a lot more Biology in my head at this point in my life than I ever will, including after graduation from medical school. T_T
Bring on the summer!! Now I've gotta go on MSN and have a quick study session with some friends (seriously, studying on instant messenger actually works).
TTFN,
Gavin.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Avatar
Well, as of last Thursday afternoon, I'm away from school on my Christmas holidays. So yesterday I went to watch Avatar. How do you like them apples?
When I saw the preview for Avatar, I KNEW it was something I had to watch. (Not that I'm a Smurf fan or anything...O_o). Anyway, it was a pretty big in Jamaica, since they had a massive premiere on one side of the island(which a friend of mine got invited to, but not me...grrr...), and at the local cinema, they finally realized the joys of 3D. Yup.
To be honest, I sort of spoiled the movie for myself by reading reviews. That's not saying the movie was bad (it was really good actually), but I guess my expectations may have been a bit too high because of all the reviews I read. The 40 minute fight scene at the end was awesome, but in my opinion, it wasn't epic on the scale of Star Wars(like some reviewers said it was).
I'm not one for a love story, but I'll admit that it never got in the way of the film too much. It's not particularly like the story was NOVEL though, those who have played Assassin's Creed might have a rough idea of what one of the main plot devices was. Here's a hint, if it looks like an Animus, sounds like an Animus, but its not called an Animus.....
What annoyed me about the story was its environmental crusading, brought out through its one-dimensional human characters("But Gavin...it's in 3D!!" "Shut up."). You have your stereotypical evil corporate mogul that wants a mineral called, brace yourself for it..."unobtainium". You have his loyal army of futuristic soldiers with all forms of mechs and ships that burn forests and kill natives without remorse (apart from one of the better looking female pilots, how convenient is that?). You have the tree-hugger scientist who is so arrogant, she is convinced that you can just TELL people to kindly move because they're resting on the million dollar ore motherlode. And you have the Copenhagen summit, which...wait...where did THAT come from?
Yeah, I sort of find it a strange coincidence that the film came out during Copenhagen, but ugh...whatever.
Now, I'm going to talk about the computer graphics. The CG in the film is AMAZING. In the Marine base, I could honestly not differentiate between which parts were computer graphics and which parts were the physical set. The forest is even prettier. The forest is vibrant, alive, pretty and just REALISTIC(well, if you consider trees with glowing purple tendrils to be realistic, but please, just play along). I mean honestly...the night scenes in the forest were some of the best CG I have ever seen in a movie.
The Na'vi(read: "Giant Smurfs") run into the uncanny valley problem at a few points, but to be honest, I hardly noticed it in any of the main Na'vi characters. It really shows more in the flat Na'vi characters.
I would definitely tell you to go ahead and watch Avatar, its not like you'll be wasting your money. Watch it in 3D too. Seriously. Avatar, my dear readers, is CG history in the making. Let's hope that the game adaptation of it won't be rubbish.
In other news, since I can't remember if I said this before, but I stopped learning 漢字 by grade. I've just started reading Japanese news online and learning 漢字 as they come. Basically, this means that my vocabulary consists of mostly kanji pertaining to economics, at the moment. Hm.
Now here's the sad news. In a move that can best be described as some sort of perverse parting shot, school has left me with two projects to do. The first, is a Chemistry project on Industrial Processes. A MASSIVE Chemistry project at that too. Also, I have my Caribbean Studies Internal Assessment (a project) to do. Wish me luck.
Later,
Lord Robinson/Gavin/Haze
When I saw the preview for Avatar, I KNEW it was something I had to watch. (Not that I'm a Smurf fan or anything...O_o). Anyway, it was a pretty big in Jamaica, since they had a massive premiere on one side of the island(which a friend of mine got invited to, but not me...grrr...), and at the local cinema, they finally realized the joys of 3D. Yup.
To be honest, I sort of spoiled the movie for myself by reading reviews. That's not saying the movie was bad (it was really good actually), but I guess my expectations may have been a bit too high because of all the reviews I read. The 40 minute fight scene at the end was awesome, but in my opinion, it wasn't epic on the scale of Star Wars(like some reviewers said it was).
I'm not one for a love story, but I'll admit that it never got in the way of the film too much. It's not particularly like the story was NOVEL though, those who have played Assassin's Creed might have a rough idea of what one of the main plot devices was. Here's a hint, if it looks like an Animus, sounds like an Animus, but its not called an Animus.....
What annoyed me about the story was its environmental crusading, brought out through its one-dimensional human characters("But Gavin...it's in 3D!!" "Shut up."). You have your stereotypical evil corporate mogul that wants a mineral called, brace yourself for it..."unobtainium". You have his loyal army of futuristic soldiers with all forms of mechs and ships that burn forests and kill natives without remorse (apart from one of the better looking female pilots, how convenient is that?). You have the tree-hugger scientist who is so arrogant, she is convinced that you can just TELL people to kindly move because they're resting on the million dollar ore motherlode. And you have the Copenhagen summit, which...wait...where did THAT come from?
Yeah, I sort of find it a strange coincidence that the film came out during Copenhagen, but ugh...whatever.
Now, I'm going to talk about the computer graphics. The CG in the film is AMAZING. In the Marine base, I could honestly not differentiate between which parts were computer graphics and which parts were the physical set. The forest is even prettier. The forest is vibrant, alive, pretty and just REALISTIC(well, if you consider trees with glowing purple tendrils to be realistic, but please, just play along). I mean honestly...the night scenes in the forest were some of the best CG I have ever seen in a movie.
The Na'vi(read: "Giant Smurfs") run into the uncanny valley problem at a few points, but to be honest, I hardly noticed it in any of the main Na'vi characters. It really shows more in the flat Na'vi characters.
I would definitely tell you to go ahead and watch Avatar, its not like you'll be wasting your money. Watch it in 3D too. Seriously. Avatar, my dear readers, is CG history in the making. Let's hope that the game adaptation of it won't be rubbish.
In other news, since I can't remember if I said this before, but I stopped learning 漢字 by grade. I've just started reading Japanese news online and learning 漢字 as they come. Basically, this means that my vocabulary consists of mostly kanji pertaining to economics, at the moment. Hm.
Now here's the sad news. In a move that can best be described as some sort of perverse parting shot, school has left me with two projects to do. The first, is a Chemistry project on Industrial Processes. A MASSIVE Chemistry project at that too. Also, I have my Caribbean Studies Internal Assessment (a project) to do. Wish me luck.
Later,
Lord Robinson/Gavin/Haze
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Georgia, Russia, Jamaica, l337ness, Isaac and Much Much More.....
As Russia pushes deeper into Georgian territory, I can't help but wonder if the world is going crazy.
Then, I realize it has. Isaac Hayes has died. A stroke was the cause of death.
If you have no idea who he is, yet he looks familiar, you've probably seen him if you watch Fresh Prince. He was in the episode where Will and Lisa ran away to get married in Las Vegas. He was the ermm..pasto....marriage official.
Anyway back to international news. Russia has sent 20000 soldiers and 500 armoured personnel carriers into Gori, a key Georgian town. Since Monday, they've hacked the Georgian government's website. They want the Georgian President gone.
Yup, they hacked the government website. Now we see where l337ness comes in. That is uber-l337.
Georgian civilians claim that Russian soldiers are torching homes and taking their property. They've ransacked a few military bases too. Foreign journalists have been warned to hurry up and get out of Georgia. Rather interesting. Georgia sits on top of a strategic oil pipeline, which supplies western markets and the oil comes from the Caspian Sea. I'm sure you see where this is going.
There was a fire at Apple Computer Corporation Headquarters. No one was harmed, and I haven't found any information about the extent of the damage.
Anyway, what does the Georgian thing have to do with Jamaica? Well, lets start with the EU. If the EU sends a peacekeeping force into Georgia(remember now, peacekeeping forces are expensive), there will be less money for member states to do other things. Especially buy sugar from Jamaica, since the climate isn't really favourable for sugarcane in Europe, and sugarcane sugar is preferred to beet sugar.
Sugar and tourism are more or less Jamaica's major income earners. Under an agreement, Jamaica can sell up to 126000 tonnes of sugar a year to the EU market. If the average price per tonne of sugar is US$ 330, 126000 * 330 = US$41580000. With the current recession, lets say that they can only buy half of that(and we can barely produce that). Couple this with the fact that oil prices are sky-high right now, and the country is already buried in debt due to loans from the World Bank and such, you know we're screwed.
Also, Iran claims to have built a smart unmanned sub. They've also purchased some submarines from Russia. Nice twist huh? How cool is that.
Then, I realize it has. Isaac Hayes has died. A stroke was the cause of death.
If you have no idea who he is, yet he looks familiar, you've probably seen him if you watch Fresh Prince. He was in the episode where Will and Lisa ran away to get married in Las Vegas. He was the ermm..pasto....marriage official.
Anyway back to international news. Russia has sent 20000 soldiers and 500 armoured personnel carriers into Gori, a key Georgian town. Since Monday, they've hacked the Georgian government's website. They want the Georgian President gone.
Yup, they hacked the government website. Now we see where l337ness comes in. That is uber-l337.
Georgian civilians claim that Russian soldiers are torching homes and taking their property. They've ransacked a few military bases too. Foreign journalists have been warned to hurry up and get out of Georgia. Rather interesting. Georgia sits on top of a strategic oil pipeline, which supplies western markets and the oil comes from the Caspian Sea. I'm sure you see where this is going.
There was a fire at Apple Computer Corporation Headquarters. No one was harmed, and I haven't found any information about the extent of the damage.
Anyway, what does the Georgian thing have to do with Jamaica? Well, lets start with the EU. If the EU sends a peacekeeping force into Georgia(remember now, peacekeeping forces are expensive), there will be less money for member states to do other things. Especially buy sugar from Jamaica, since the climate isn't really favourable for sugarcane in Europe, and sugarcane sugar is preferred to beet sugar.
Sugar and tourism are more or less Jamaica's major income earners. Under an agreement, Jamaica can sell up to 126000 tonnes of sugar a year to the EU market. If the average price per tonne of sugar is US$ 330, 126000 * 330 = US$41580000. With the current recession, lets say that they can only buy half of that(and we can barely produce that). Couple this with the fact that oil prices are sky-high right now, and the country is already buried in debt due to loans from the World Bank and such, you know we're screwed.
Also, Iran claims to have built a smart unmanned sub. They've also purchased some submarines from Russia. Nice twist huh? How cool is that.
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