General

General

Munich

By on Monday, February 13, 2006

If you are familiar with the killing of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists at Munich during the 1972 Olympics, you would think Munich is a movie about that event. You will partly be right as this movie uses that event as a backdrop. But mainly, it focuses on the Israeli reprisal operation against the brains behind the attack. The story has almost the same storyline as Sword of Gideon, an HBO movie. This is understandable since they are based on the same book, Vengeance. Of course, there are some differences with Munich. A notable one being the extra effort taken by Spielberg to show Palestinians airing their side of the issue. Of course, you really shouldn’t expect a movie to make things clearer on this complicated issue. Also, they did not explain either why they prefer attacking innocent civilians. Another notable difference is that Munich delves on the experience of killing, how it changes people, what kind of person you need to be. It also delves on the moral question of assassination as a tool: Are such reprisals immoral? Doesn’t it bring you down to the same level as your enemies? I think not, but it’s up to you to judge for yourself.

Rating: 5/5

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General

Serenity

By on Wednesday, February 8, 2006

Serenity provides closure to the Firefly TV series. It can actually stand on its own (I think) but the experience would definitely be better if you have seen the series.

In the movie, the crew decides to find out what is behind the angst of River, the ship’s resident psychic. Hot in their heels is the Alliance who are after River, blocking their way are Reavers, vicious buggers straight out of Cannibal Holocaust. This situation leads to an action packed movie full of fighting: hand-to-hand combat, swordfights, gunfights, anf even ship-to-ship combat wherever you go. It is definitely more of an action movie than anything else. Still, it is a fitting end to a pretty great sci-fi TV show.

Rating: 4/5

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General

Firefly

By on Sunday, February 5, 2006

Space… The final frontier… These are the voyages of the Starship Serenity… Okay so maybe starship wouldn’t actually be an apt term for a rickety old transport. But quite a lot in the Firefly universe is in worse condition than the protagonist’ Firefly class transport ship… sometimes it’s down to horses and six-shooters.

Set in a dystopian universe 500 years in the future, the series follows the adventures and misadventures of a bunch of misfits across the outer fringes of civilized space where the primary language is english, the invectives are chinese, and the fashion is old west. Each member of the crew has his or her own story which got developed more and more as the series proceeded. Most of the episodes are interesting, sometimes even exciting. It shows that good story-telling is much better than whoopee doopee technological gadgetry and special effects. I actually like it better than Star Trek and its spawn. Shame that it was discontinued.

Rating: 4/5

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General

Zeagle Scout

By on Tuesday, January 24, 2006

The Zeagle Scout is a back inflation bouyance compensator (BC). With back inflation BCs, the inflating part of the BC is located only at the back. Because of this, you won’t experience squeeze as in jacket-style BCs when you fully inflate. As an added advantage, this configuration allows you to more easily keep a horizontal orientation underwater. This is the best position for minimizing drag when moving along.

In terms of features, the Scout has minimal padding at the back, simple quick release straps, two what could be called pockets along each hip, a dump valve, and the requisite inflator/deflator hose which also acts as a dump valve. The only “extras” would be the retractor bungees (which you can remove) and the integrated weight pockets (which are supposedly just trim weight pockets). It’s a minimalist BC. And guess what? It’s great!

The Scout is definitely not for everyone. Because of its light weight and compact size, it is probably good as a travel BC or as a BC for the minimalist diver. Probably the only more minimalist BC would be a backplate with wing system. Incidentally, the wing is removable and, I suspect, used with a backplate. Now that’s a future project :)

Rating: 4/5

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