It’s written for Vista PCs using Firefox, but it would likely work with other sets up too. The WordPress version is 2.9.1.

It Has Been Said That Using A Short, Snappy Heading That Is Catchy, Witty And, Dare I Say, Thought Provoking Is The Best Way To Entice People (And By People, I Just Don’t Mean Family And Friends And Co-Workers And The Neighbours And The Neighbours’ Dog And His Puppies Who Are Pretty Damn Cute But That’s Besides The Point, And Not Very Relevant At The Moment) Into Reading Your Entire Posting As Opposed To Just The Heading, And Once The Readers Have Indeed Been “Drawn In” So To Speak, Those Readers Need To Be Rewarded With Something That’s Relatively Amusing And, Fingers Crossed, Mildly Entertaining.

And like a lot of Sebastien’s excellent posts, it has a moral.

I’m using FireFox 3.5.7 with Vista.

A certain Greasemonkey script works on CBC.ca and a few other sites, but not all of them. Does anyone know how I can remove these annoyances from all sites?

Friel: “If God created you and provides everything for you, does he have rights on your life?”

Hitchens: “No. I don’t accept anyone’s right to own me. I created my children and provide for them, but I don’t own them. Besides, would this mean that the sick and starving for whom God has not provided are not owned by God?”

Friel: “Um… next question…”

(Note the category for this post above)

See ya.

— Phillip

From DVD Talk:

In watching Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse again for the first time in a few years, I was struck by the sheer egomaniacal drive that spurred Apocalypse Now director Francis Ford Coppola forward — this is a man who, seemingly quite literally, went incrementally insane in the Philippine jungle… The overwhelming ambition and staggering scale of Coppola’s Vietnam-centric riff upon Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” are relics from another time, an era when filmmaking was a creative enterprise, not a corporate one.

The story revolves around an ad agency in the early 1960s on Madison Avenue in New York. Everybody smokes and drinks all day long. Men are entirely chauvinistic and women have to put up with it. If you happen to have brown skin, then you can count on being an elevator operator, a waiter or a maid. And don’t ever let anyone know you’re gay. Every character seems to have their own story that reflects a certain aspect of the times. The show is renowned for its historical authenticity. Not just the look of the show, but the details of social behaviour, the mentality of the men and the women at that time — it’s all kind of illuminating, like stepping into a time machine.

The first season of the show is solid all the way through. Just to see how people acted back then is fascinating, incredible at times. The show is compelling, dramatic, entertaining — all of it. It’s worth checking out. The 2nd and 3rd season, not so much. The writers ran out of ideas and put too much focus on one character; there are plenty of other compelling characters in the ensemble cast who could have easily been given more attention.

You can skip all of season 2 and most of season 3 and just read the Wikipedia episode synopsis for everything up to episode 10 of season 3. You won’t miss much. Only the last few episodes of season 3 are on par with season 1. Maybe that means season 4 will be better. I’ll wait for the DVDs.

From the linked DVD Talk review:

It’s easy to describe “Anvil!” as a real world version of “This is Spinal Tap,” and the comparison is incredibly accurate… While suitably absurd and prone to spotlighting rock cliché humiliation, “Anvil” is a far more reverberating and loving film than it seems at first glance… [It presents the core members of the band] as sensitive, generous, and terrified men nervously facing the rest of their life without the proper career explosion they deserve, and that potent tension turns “Anvil!” from a cheap laugh to a documentary that’s thrillingly heartfelt and extracts a genuine reflection on life that’s downright poetic.

I didn’t think I’d be interested in it, but it’s a good movie. A good story.

Brilliant stuff.

Alien — Seeing it in a theatre is the best way to appreciate it, even if you’ve seen it 20 times on DVD. The alien will still make you crap your pants.

District 9 — A one-of-a-kind science fiction movie that’s hard to watch at times because it seems so brutally realistic. I’ve never felt so much sympathy for such ugly creatures before.

Pontypool — The best idea movie I saw in 2009 and the most engaging. Language becomes a virus that turns people into zombies. I literally held on to the edge of my seat for half the movie.

Psycho — Another movie that is transformed by a theatrical viewing. Everyone in the theatre knew the shower murder scene was coming and it still made everyone jump. I can understand the criticism that Hitchcock’s movies feel dry, almost academic. Not this one. It goes for the jugular.

Star Trek — A re-imagined, action-packed Star Trek that almost anyone can enjoy. It has good actors (finally), good direction, excellent special effects and a story that respects the best aspects of the original Star Trek while elevating it to a whole new level. Star Trek used to be cheesy, goof ball fun with a message, but it was never this cool. I agree mostly with this review (turn volume down during intro):

I saw more new movies on DVD or through screener copies than in a theatre in 2009. Here’s a list of the highlights:

The Hurt Locker — A nervous movie about a guy working with an American explosive ordnance disposal team in Iraq defusing big bombs that could blow him to bits any second. The bravado is a bit too thick at times, but it’s a powerful movie. Intense.

Moon — A great example of what science fiction can be but hardly ever achieves: intelligent, exciting, empathetic and thoughtful storytelling. You don’t have to be a fan of science fiction to appreciate that.

That’s it. Honourable mentions (because I’m too lazy to write about them): Food, Inc., Milk, Planet Earth, Eagle vs Shark, The 400 Blows, Citizen Kane and The Fly.

Did you see any good movies this year?

It’s his own feet. Either he dropped the camera and it took the photo when it hit the floor, or he’s bending over taking the photo upside down.