Author Archive for Jonathan Puddle

I was a bit behind schedule this year in getting my New Years’ mix down. My apologies to all… being a Dad is busy work sometimes. But the mix is ready for your listening pleasure! I chose to feature this mix on the Tastyfresh Homegrown podcast (which I am the host of), so it’s available exclusively from there. There was sooooo much good music this year, it just doesn’t stop!

Here’s the download link: http://www.tastyfresh.com/rokdownloads/podcasts/homegrown_ep10.mp3

Tracklist:
Calvin Harris – Flashback (Eric Prydz remix)
BT – Rose of Jericho (Sultan and Ned Shepard remix)
DBN ft. Madita – Asteroidz (Sultan and Ned Shepard remix)
Calvin Harris – I’m Not Alone (Deadmau5 remix)
Morgan Page – Fight For You (Beltek remix)
Jerome Isma-Ae – Hold that Sucker Down
Ferry Corsten feat Novastar – Because (Original Extended remix)
Chris Lake, Marco Lys – Violins
Neelix – Round One
Boom Jinx & Andrew Bayer – To The Six (Matt Lange Remix)
Super8 & Tab – Irufushi
Gareth Emery – Metropolis
Menno de Jong & Leon Bollier – Last Light Tonight (Extended mix)
Be: Gold – Starstruck (Jochen Miller remix)
Sunny Lax – Miss Grey (Adam Nickey remix)
Adam Szabo – Falcon
Josh Gabriel presents Winter Kills – Deep Down (alex morph remix)
Breakfast – Remember

The RIAA and others use ridiculous headlines such as mine, to try and explain their economic troubles. Piracy is always to blame. Strange that 2009 saw the biggest holiday records broken once again, despite the “rampant” piracy.

Here’s a great and humurous perspective on the matter.

Apparently, over 2 billion books were “loaned” last year by a cabal of organizations found in nearly every American city and town. Using the same advanced projective mathematics used in the study cited by Publishers Weekly, Go To Hellman has computed that publishers could be losing sales opportunities totaling over $100 Billion per year, losses which extend back to at least the year 2000. These lost sales dwarf the online piracy reported yesterday, and indeed, even the global book publishing business itself…

…From what we’ve been able to piece together, the book “lending” takes place in “libraries”.

Andrew Gazaneo quoted a comment from Marc Driscoll, about perspective, which I liked:

“You can pray for a woman I just met. Got off alcohol only to get on prescription drugs, just lost her 2 little kids to the state, & her husband got arrested for beating her. Meanwhile, some people are really frustrated that their 3G connection is slow. Perspective is a great gift.”

I just finished a poll for Avaaz, a worldwide human action network. And the results from 40,000+ members trouble me slightly:

I don’t care about the specifics of global warming (or cooling), or climate change perse… but I am committed to being less wasteful and destructive on this planet. But not if it means I must turn a blind eye on HUMAN issues. I think Avaaz is a good organization, but it troubles me how their members have prioritized the above list.

By far the biggest event for our family this year, was adding a third member. The XKCD comic from a few weeks back was thus. I felt it appropriate to share with you all.

Happy new year, everyone! From the four of us here in Finland.

Many people and organizations have released their best 100 or best 50 films of the last decade already, which are available elsewhere. I’ve decided to distill my own favourites into 10 of the best cinematic experiences. So that means the Lord of the Rings trilogy are grouped into one, as they truly are intended to be a coherent cinematic experience, but Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are separate. This is not what I think to be the best of the decade, just the ones that I personally enjoyed the most.

1. Lord of the Rings (a masterpiece)
2. Avatar (Avatar will literally and figuratively usher in the next 10 years of cinema)
3. Little Miss Sunshine (if you haven’t seen this, go see it now, it’s the best “family” movie not suited for families, ever.)
4. Gladiator
5. The Dark Knight (special mention also for The Prestige, and Batman Begins. Christopher Nolan is a genius)
6. Big Fish (special mention also for Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)
7. The Simpsons Movie (I was looking for nothing more than a regular episode stretched to 90 minutes, and that’s what I got. Fantastic!)
8. Inglourious Basterds (special mention also for everything Tarantino did this decade: Kill Bill Vols 1 & 2, and Grindhouse)
9. The Bourne Trilogy (I had to think hard about this. Having read the Bourne novels, the films really pale in comparison. But as films go, they are pretty excellent.)
10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Other special mentions:

• Star Wars Episode II and III – awful. It’s worth mentioning how awful they are. I recently re-watched all the prequels, and they’re just so bad, it’s painful.
• The Matrix Sequels – I re-watched them all recently, and I think they were judged quite harshly. They are enjoyable films, and I dare say, good filmmaking.
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – Wes Anderson was in top form here, as was Bill Murray. I have yet to see Fantastic Mr Fox, though I’m told it’s excellent.
• Wall*E – I’m not a huge fan of Disney/Pixar films. I enjoy them, but they generally don’t rank high with me. Wall*E was the one I enjoyed the most, I did not see Up.
• Everyone tells me I would love Pan’s Labyrinth. I never got around to seeing it.

Highlights of the coming years?  I’m definitely looking forward to The Hobbit and it’s accompanying film, the Tin Tin film(s), and the rumoured Alien 5 helmed by Ridley Scott. Here’s to 10 more years of exciting cinema!

As a cryptography and computer security expert, I have never understood the current fuss about the open source software movement. In the cryptography world, we consider open source necessary for good security; we have for decades. Public security is always more secure than proprietary security. It’s true for cryptographic algorithms, security protocols, and security source code. For us, open source isn’t just a business model; it’s smart engineering practice. – Bruce Schneier, Crypto-Gram 1999/09/15

CNet UK has a great writeup comparing our modern technology and lifestyle with the arcane wizardry of the past. Quite witty :)

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gadgets/0,39029552,49303991,00.htm