Newest Alien film

Yesterday I went to see the latest Alien film. Like the others it feature Sigourney Weaver as a woman, who, just like was the case in the first Alien film, has been employed by a heartless corporation, which sends men and women into the far reaches of space, exposing them to extreme dangers, with only one motivation: Profit!

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Very early in the film it is made clear that conflict with the aliens already populating the planet, called Pandora, is inevitable. All the time I must admit that I was hoping for some of the humans to act responsibly and just say:

I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

That should have wiped out the alien menace once and for all – but of course, just like all the other Alien films, the people in charge make all the wrong decisions. However the lack of nukes being launched does make for a much more entertaining film.

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The film, and in particular the special effects used to produce the landscape and the aliens, is stunning. There is a high pace throughout and although it lasts over 2 and a half hours, the film never gets boring.

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Definitely worth seeing.

COP Kreative 2009 & Jacque Fresco

I lørdag var jeg til COP Kreative på Holmen. COP Kreative er danske designstuderendes bud på hvordan design kan bruges til at ændre verden – specielt afhjælpe de klimaproblemer vi har. Det skal dog ikke være nogen hemmelighed at den primære grund til at jeg havde sat X i kalenderen lørdag og cyklede ud til Holmen var for at høre Jacque Fresco tale om The Venus Project.

Jacque Fresco (højre) og Mads Brügger
Jacque Fresco (højre) og Mads Brügger

Det var jeg bestemt ikke den eneste der havde gjort. Der var så vidt jeg kunne se ingen ledige siddepladser i den store sal i Arkitektskolen da han talte. Det er mit indtryk at Jacque og The Venus Project har fået en meget stor tilhængerskare siden hans medvirken i internet blockbusteren Zeitgeist: Addendum, og rigtig mange af dem var mødt op på Holmen.
Grundlæggende er jeg meget enig i Jacques observationer og ideer. Vi har adgang til ressourcer og teknologi i dag, der burde gøre det muligt at afskaffe næsten alt manuelt og rutinepræget arbejde, samtidig med at vi kan levere mad, vand, lægehjælp, bolig og uddannelse til alle mennesker på jorden. Det primære problem som Jacque peger på står i vejen for dette nærmest utopiske samfund, er vores nuværende økonomiske system. Men sociale og kulturelle konstruktioner, som f.eks. religion, og et uklart sprog fuldt af flertydigheder er også medvirkende til forskellige uheldige aspekter ved vores samfund og de fik også et par kærlige ord med på vejen – hele tiden ledsaget af små historier og anekdoter fra Jacques eget liv.

Jacque Fresco var inspirerende at høre på, havde mange gode pointer og mange spændende anekdoter. Det var dog tydeligt at Jacque er vandt til at holde sit oplæg i USA. Mange referencer var til det amerikanske system.

Men under Q&A sessionen mistede Jacque efter min mening lidt af sin skarphed. Specielt spørgsmål angående overgangen fra vores nuværende system og til den verden som skitseres af The Venus Project følte jeg ikke Jacque havde klare svar på.

Men det var ikke kun Jacque der talte på COP Kreative, der var også designstuderende. Nogle af deres projekter virkede lidt svage, bl.a. virkede det som om en del af projekterne, som havde til formål at ændre holdninger og adfær, kunne koges ned til ‘vi laver en viral kampagne på Facebook og YouTube, så begynder de unge at spare på strømmen‘. Men der var også mange spændende ideer, bl.a. var jeg meget imponeret af to projekter lavet af studerende fra Arkitektskolen i Århus. Det ene projekt ville levere energi til hele Danmark ved hjælp af tangplantager i havene omkring os. Meget ambitiøst!
Et andet projekt var H2GO, som måske var blevet pålagt en lidt søgt klima vinkel, men som ville erstatte alle engangsflasker med kildevand, med en praktisk og veldesignet flaske i hård plast. (Find det på http://catebangfloe.dk/ -> Portfolio -> Studieprojekter.)

Nixon for president!

I went to see The Watchmen yesterday. I have never read the original comics and I more or less expected something similar to X-Men. However I was in for a pleasant surprise. The characters and their internal relations were described in much detail, giving life and substance (beyond the good/evil label) to the humans behind the masks.

The Watchmen is properly the first film that several times while watching has made me think that sure is a cool soundtrack. It consists of famous tunes from the last century underlining the story being told in an elegant way.

If the film is as pleasant an experience for the true fans as it was for me I will let others judge, but it was great entertainment for me on a Tuesday night.

“I am Megatron!”

I finally got to see the Transformers movie. I ‘missed’ it at the cinema but caught it with Søren Wednesday night. And what do you do after seeing a movie a Wednesday night in Copenhagen?

I know what I did. I went to Studenterhuset, The Moose and Basement (in that order) to get drunk. And looking back I can only say: “mission accomplished”.

At The Moose I ran into a couple who claimed the were going to open a restaurant with french cuisine just down the street I live in. It might have been a big fat lie (I’m very gullible – especially when drunk), but if the do I guess I really should stop by and see if it is any good.

Zeitgeist, the Movie

Ahh, internet. Er der nogen anden kilde til underholdning, tidsspild og konspirations teorier?

Jeg har lige brugt det meste af min aften (som jeg vist egentlig skulle have brugt på at forberede det sidste af undervisningen til i morgen) på at se Zeitgeist, the Movie (torrent)

Filmen kommer vidt omkring. Så nu sidder jeg bare og venter på at ‘de’ skal dukke op så jeg kan få implanteret min chip…

New Years in Sweden

I celebrated new years in Malmö, Sweden this year. Joe (and his brother and girlfriend) had invited some family and friends (I fit into the last category) to eat, drink, dance and all the other new years stuff.
Although most members of the party were danish some of the subtle differences between how Swedes and Danes celebrate new years became very obvious. While we were inside watching Dinner for One just before 12 o clock, the Swedes were outside shooting fireworks. After watching the televised strikes of the town hall clock of Copenhagen we went outside, only to realize that the fireworks display was almost over by then.

I had forgotten about this parody called 80-års fødselsdagen (in danish) and I didn’t get to watch it this year, but today I (re)found it. Thought I would share (and get some video onto this blog). You might like it or not…

Happy new year!

Choices, so many choices

So, a lot of things going on right now… well, not really a lot. A lot of important things… well, in the big picture maybe not that important.

Anyway, I’m trying to figure out what courses (not) to follow the coming spring. I just found out that I have very few ECTS points left to spend on courses, so picking which ones not to follow turns out to be the hard part. I have until December 10’Th, before I have to decide.

My flatmate has informed me that he has found a dorm room, and will be moving out in January. I had a bit of doubt regarding what to do with the extra room. Should I rent it out again, or would the extra space actually be nice to have?
For now I have decided to not rent it out, but if I start to need the money, of course that can change in the future.

Now, I just need to finish my dinner (chicken and rice) and then I’m off to watch Babel with some friends.

Another weekend

I have just gotten in the door after spending a few hours at Østre Anlæg, where I was attending Stella Polaris . Rasmus and I had planned to go to the beach, but instead we ended up at Østre Anlæg. Was quite nice just relaxing in the sunshine with chill-out music playing.

The rest of my weekend has been used for consuming quite a lot of alcohol. Most of my Saturday was wasted just laying on the couch with a hangover. I did however do some things that I have been postponing for way to long.
I finally signed up for Erimitageløbet, and I finally put up the two last lamps in the living room.

Before going out for a few beers Saturday night we watched Superman Returns at Imperial. I wasn’t really impressed, but it was more or less what I had expected. Kevin Spacey did a great Lex Luthor, but what surprised me the most was that Louis Lane and Superman had a child together. According to my biology classes that means that they have in fact had sex at some point… or as Thomas pointed out after the movie, maybe Clark Kent had dragged a very drunk Louis Lane into the copy-room during a company party at the Daily Planet. But I guess that is an aspect of their relationship that will never make it to the big screen. Maybe for the best.

If all goes well I should be going running with Rasmus in one hour or so, when it gets cold enough, and I guess that ends a though but fun weekend.