Friday, July 30, 2010

tilting at windmills

I can't think of a better metaphor to describe the current Minister Of Communication's fetish with cleansing the Indonesian web sphere of porn just in time for Ramadan this August. He certainly has his windmills lined up. But who is he kidding really? By his own lieutenant's admission his ministry is incapable of blocking more than 3000 porn sites per day. The Internet porn business creates some 4 million sites per day - created by some of the most Internet-savy people on the web. So, according to  my math. the government may at best be able to block some 40,000 sites before Ramadan. That leaves only a mere 39, 960,000 porn sites for the porn crazed, sex staved, uberhorny, morally challenged rakyat to nibble on before their annual month long abstinence.  This solution will be as much use as issuing spoons to Jakarta residents to prevent flooding during rainy season. I'm not even going to bother with the sms text porn,sms picture porn and cell phone porn movies flying around the country for years now. You don't even need the Internet for that shit.

Here is some free advice for the good minister. You wanna limit the effects of porn? Start with your kids. Watch a porn video with them or at least sit them down for a nice chat. Trust me, they will probably be so creeped out from watching/discussing porn with their parents that any possible mystique will be totally  and irretrievably lost. Failing that you could foist off your kids sex education on the public school system or leave it to the dvd merchants in glodok. Implementing blanket bans may garner the morality vote but really its a fig leaf covering your own inability to deal  sensibly with the problem.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Things Missed

Its time to go back to work. I've enjoyed this little trip to Canada even though I nearly froze to death.

Certain things you just can't take with you.
Here are some in no particular order

Good music and bookstores - I've missed shopping for Cd's. Buying music online just isn't the same.
Morning crosswords - nice way to take your coffee
Boats and big brothers - I  enjoyed the unscheduled lesson on sailing without the rudder, but I really don't care to try that again.
Large furry animals - you know who you are.
Old friends. Funny how you can pick up with them where you left off the year before.
Working Bureaucrats (especially the folks that helped with my passport).
Big skies and cruise control  - no better way to see the province.
Hot rum toddies - nothing better after a cold day on the water - or a cold day for that matter - Well, come to think of it, anytime is a good time for these babies.
Alberta Beef - I think I haven eaten an entire cow (bit by bit) over the last three weeks. Cutting my steak with a spoon and washing it down with a nice Italian red - heaven!
Hi Speed Internet - Oh the joy of it!
Family

Did I mention large furry animals?



Jake the oversized puppy

waffle...latest addition to the clan

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Addictions

I read The Hobbit in eighth grade. In that time I was travelling in the Kananaskis country and perhaps it was the combination of story and scenery that did me in. I was hooked. Upon finishing The Hobbit I immediately sought out The Lord Of the Rings and spent the next year reading it over and over again, ever trying to squeeze out the last bits of trivia from its appendices. A few colleagues from school shared my addiction and we would happily debate the geography of Midde Earth or how to pronounce Osgilliath, Mithrandir, Orthanc and other names and places from Tolkien's World. But if I thought I was an LOTR geek, than these guys take the cake. Imagine making movie prequels - this is geekism on a whole new level. I actually sat down and watched both these films, the first concerning the heritage of Aragorn, and the second centered on the hunt for Gollum. For actors working on a pretty low budget - the project cost only $40,000 or so - I thought it was a very reasonable effort. Enjoy the films - they are after all still free.