maybe i should split these up...

they seem to be all over the place...

blood diamond

another movie review, this time of blood diamond, which i've just seen. blood diamond is a very powerful film about the world of blood diamonds, and the problems in sierra leone during the latter years of the last century. blood diamonds, or conflict diamonds, literally refer to diamonds mined in places under conflict. the problem with conflict diamonds is how they are mined and produced, and they have been banned internationally for a long time.

the film stars leonardo dicaprio as danny archer, who gives a very solid performance, despite being leonardo dicaprio. for me, i think the issue i have with leo isn't that he's a truly poor actor, as a matter of fact, he's done quite a few films i've really enjoyed, it's the fact that he's got a teen beat sort of fame that just sort of bothers me.

leo plays a man who's lived the hard life in africa, and after being in the army for many years, only to discover it's futility, he decided to get his, and became smuggler.

in one failed attempt to smuggle diamonds out of the sierra leone, he fails to bribe a soldier and ends up in a jail cell, where he overhears a conversation between an ruf soldier and solomon vandy, played by djimon hounsou, where an extremely large diamond is being sought after. when released, dicaprio goes after vandy in the hopes to getting his diamond. he offers to help the man get his family back after hearing the story vandy tells of being captured by the ruf, seperated from his family, and forced to pan for diamonds as a slave. he also tells of what is likely one of the largest uncut diamonds in existence.

the story follows these two, and a young reporter (jennifer connolley) who's taken a fancy to leo, and also wants to break a big diamond story, a win-win. they travel across the country, and you can see a fairly accurate representation of the world a african civil war.

the tale draws you in very well, and, throughout the entire thing, you begin to feel very close to the characters. most notably, you can't help but to be moved by vandy's repsonses to certain stimuli, such as finding his family, only to discover that his son is still missing.

one of the biggest things i've heard against this film are in regards to dicaprio's accent, but in all honestly, throughout the entire film, i was actualy very convinced that he was, in fact, of africa, white or otherwise.

i definitely recommend it. it's powerful, it's moving, it's shot well, and acted well (even leo).

chad vader - episode 5 (holiday special)

they finally released the next episode.



epa to change the way it's rates mileage...

i found an article about vehicle mileage esitmation. it seems that some of the amazing numbers we've been seeing are about to start coming down to a more realistic value. it appears that most hard hit by these new values, however, will be the hybrids:

Hybrids will be hit harder because the new test eliminates some of the all-electric driving that helped them produce impressive results under the present system, Wehrum said.

the new tests will be more real world, closer to the ways that cars are actually driven:

In part that's because the agency's current test doesn't include much stop-and-go traffic or lead-footed acceleration. Air conditioners — notorious for lowering mileage by sucking up engine power — aren't turned on, and all testing is done under conditions that simulate a 70-degree environment.

The new system will use more high-speed driving, partly in 20-degree cold. Air conditioning will be on some portion of each driving cycle, and there will be more stop-and-go and rapid-acceleration driving.

The mileage for gas-electric hybrids probably will be 20% to 30% lower than present estimates for city driving and 10% to 20% lower on the highway. These vehicles quickly lose their all-electric advantage when operated in cold weather or quickly accelerated, Wehrum said.

and amazingly, testing will be required for the larger medium duty pick-ups, vans, and suvs.

some music to check out...

someone i know from the interwebs is in a band called theripoffs. they just played glasgow's notorious king tut's wah wah hut, which is akin to new yorks cbgb's in terms of famousness, a place where bands like oasis got their start, and like radiohead have graced the stage. you can check out a video of white wine and angels being perfromed there on youtube, it's actually not bad. ;)

the secret world of comic book artists

sean galloway (aka cheeks-74) is a solid (gold) comic book artist, a younger guy who's most recently worked on the book teen titans go #37, his full issue in the world of comicdom, was plugging a new flick by a guy named howard shum. his blog has a number of links, and it's in your interest to follow them. ;)

the secret world of comic book artists looks to be humerous in the vein of kevin smith. the acting doesn't look exactly stellar, but it seems like the screenplay is written fairly well, and filled with humorous, although dated, pop culture references. it looks like it's worth a watch, whenever it gets around to being show someplace someone might be able to see it.

here's what's been posted on youtube, check 'em out.
















in news of me...

there really isn't any... i've been reading anansi boys, listening to tons of music on my zune, and now that there's a little more room, i've been adding music to my collection left and right (i finally got around to checking out fort minor, good shit... and there's a new the shins album coming out, and it's not bad).

made a new wallpaper for the first time in a while... it's different than all the photography i've been doing...


lost in the agenda by ~fyrephlie on deviantART