anti piracy ads cause piracy

Ironic really. That you only ever see the anti piracy ads on legitimate movies eh? Like you needed an excuse to download your movies. Ha

linkage: image borrowed from binary bonsai

howto download movies and software

So you’re a pretty savvy computer user. You know how to change your desktop wallpaper, you can remove spyware and keep your computer updated with Windoze update. You’ve mastered files and folders, and haven’t lost anything in age. You’ve got the hang of mp3’s, and have watched some video’s online with YouTube. You’ve heard that you can download anything from the Internet but you haven’t had much luck by googling for things to download.

Today I’m going to walk you through how to use Zuedo aka. Azureus, a BitTorrent client to download files from the Internet.

The first thing you will need to do is download the latest version of Azureus (4MB). Install i. If you see this message

then you don’t have the Java Runtime Environment installed – and you’ll need to click the Download (10MB) button to get it. It will install automatically then the Azureus installer will carry on. On all the screens just click next, accepting the agreement when prompted. The install will take a couple of minutes. Click finish and Azureus will start.

hitch hikers guide to the galaxy, adventure game from the 80’s

I enjoyed the remake of the Guide a lot. I thought that the did a very good job. The casting was excellent and it managed to retain the BBC look of the original.

I’m not sure if you ever played text adventures when you were younger? I stumbled across a remake of the classic text adventure game from the 1980’s. It has had some graphics added to it but keeping in spirit of the original game.

mind deprogramming, 7/7 mind the gap

How much do you believe? Do you have any doubts? Mind deprogramming might just be called for.

7/7 Mind the Gap is an interesting documentary about how the Intelligence Services have played a role in the London bombing. The story is compelling so I recommend taking a look.

MI5 whistleblower David Shayler presents new evidence to demand London bombings enquiry. A very detailed and well evidenced documentary

linkage: mind deprogramming 7/7 mind the gap

cg society, effects from pirates of the caribbean – dead man chest

I have just stumbled upon the website of the CG society. The have lots of nice  eye candy on their site but I was  particularly interested in their article on the CG effects from the Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Mans Chest movie.

Spolier Alert! Don’t take the jump if you don’t want to see characters from the movie

stargate sg1 to end?

Just came across a posting that said Stargate SG1 was going to be wound up at the end of it’s 10th season next year. I have been a big fan of SG1, since my brother started collecting them on DVD. It makes such a difference to be able to watch a series as and when you want (without any ads). We started on the way back machine at Season One, Episode One and worked through about five seasons (or 14 odd DVD’s) before having to relinquish the DVD’s as we left the country.

mathieu raynault – another matte painter

Well the article on Dusso seemed pretty popular so here is a link to another of the big matte artists, Mathieu Raynault. His works have been used in Kong, LOTR, Day afterTomorrow. You get the idea.

sample and link after the jump

stunning background, sith etc

Dusso, an artist for backgrounds in major movies has some inspiring massive pictures to look at. His personal gallery hold some pictures with a slightly darker bent.

Sample picture and links to full size after the jump

pirates of the caribbean – dead mans chest

Last night we wandered into downtown for the first time (not counting eskimo disco trance) at around 9pm. The city was certainly a buzz with life. Lots of beautiful people whizzing about dressed up doing their stuff. Us? We were in there to catch a late night viewing of Pirates of the Caribbean.

how to link to a youtube video in wordpress

There is a good post in the FAQ that tells you how to insert a YouTube video. It is a pretty straight forward cut and paste. Just take the v=XXXXXXXXX part and paste it between [ youtube= and ] and you’ll see the clip once the page is saved.

Kind of like this:

[ youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6960jAGCkiA]

(^—remove the first space)

linkage: wordpress faq, YouTube

two movies and a beard trim

I feel dubmer already. See. Dumber already. Why do all the wise old men have long beards I ask you? There is something about having a hair or beard (especially beard!) trim. I think brain cells disappear with the old hair. Still I was well due for a small touch up. Apparently you can see my chin again.

Watched The Corporation last night. Pretty good film in three parts about the inherent evilness of corporations. Profit before everything and all that. Scary stuff. Felt so mad after watching it. Powerless as well. One of the most memorable comments was right at the end, some footage at a public meeting. A man was saying something like ‘I don’t think corporations are a real problem, if I don’t agree with their method I vote in the best way I can, I don’t shop there’. A reply to this was from a young activist, granolla eating hippie type, ‘The problem with that is that you have more votes than I do’. Anyway another good film that everyone should watch (Thanks for the recommendation J). Especially all the unconscious capitalists in our midsts. Friends and family, anyone in marketing etc.

Tonights follow up was a documentary Wal-MartThe High Cost of Low Prices. Not nearly as shocking but good none the less. Not quite so releveant to me but interesting facts in there for sure. Wankers through and through.

linkage: The Corporation, Wal-Mart

an inconvienient truth

Wow. What a good movie we saw tonight, An Inconvienient Truth. A film by Al Gore about global warming. I guess it is nothing that I didn’t really already know, but the good thing is that there is a chance people who aren’t already converted will get to see it. One of the guys we saw it with said his conservative Father has had his eyes opened to a harsh new reality. Apparently he was blown away by the statistics mentioned about whether global warming indeed is man made. In science journals 0% of articles deny, as opposed to the mass media where 58% deny.
Please drag along anyone you can to see it. Especially your parents or other conservative types. The time for a mass change in perception is now.

linkage: climate crisis, 10 things you can do .PDF

fast films

A full day fast today. A solidarity fast in this instance. Although I guess I needed it as well. The time since getting to Canada has been a slow progression from eating virtually nothing upon arrival to living it large on the farm complete with a bounty of phat loot from the treasure hunt.

Fasting is hard work. But feels good none the less. You forget how often food plays a role in your random daily thoughts. A fast is the only way I know of getting back in touch with that aspect of the mind.

I read a statistic from a Canadian monthly last night that said the average person consumes an additional 187 odd calories every hour while watching TV. It came as no surprise that watching a movie tonight was difficult then.

Was a good film but. Edukators. One I downloaded after seeing it in last years film festival magazine. Well worth a watch. Hot on the heels of another weirdly interesting mockumentary I saw last night called Project Grizzly. Also well worth a look – especially if you were intrigued by Napoleon Dynamite.

It has been a good few days getting ever more accustomed to Vancouver. Went for a walk down Commercial Drive today, our local main street. So good to see nice shops with organic food, fair trade goods, and vegetarian sausages scattered amongst the smoke shops, coffee shops, cafes, and vegetarian restaurants and even an Indian movie theatre if we feel like some Bollywood. At first glance it looks likely we will look for a place to live in this area. Looking forward to it.

We managed to find two good condition double futon mattresses over the weekend so that was a good score as we had just been talking about some. Amazing what happens when you put the thoughts out there and the universe provides. How does science explain that I ask?

Sleep beckons then break-fast.

ENRON: The Smartest Guys in the Room

Well I have just finished watching this movie. Quite informative. I must admit to my knowledge of the ENRON story before this being sketchy at best, so a nice way to find out what the heck happened. What a bunch of arrogant assholes. So many banks, law firms, politicians and traders all on the take, creaming millions and millions off the top of shady deals. How about manufacturing an energy crisis to ‘win big’ in the energy futures market where they had ‘predicted’ a rise in prices? They were in up to their eyeballs in politics including Schwarzenegger, and Bush, I and II as well. A crazy crazy web of deals, schemes and lies. Worth a watch for sure.