Ender Series

I first read about Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, when commentary about the movie started appearing on the web. Intrigued, I read the first chapter at Exclusives, and then got hooked - so got the full series. 

While it is sometimes a straight forward science-fiction novel, what I really like about the series, is the intersection of philosophical discussions on alien interactions - something that is not only applicable with regards to interactions with other sentient species (whose numbers are now far more probable) but also species that seem to be non-sentient. It effectively turns the idea of animal rights on its head - does the fact that humans don't understand communication of other animals on Earth imply that they are not sentient - but rather that we merely can't communicate with them. 

The other key idea is the concept of life itself - specifically, when should a computer program, without a physical presence be considered alive. I did not particularly like the eventual descent into metaphysics of what is the soul - but the very idea of an artificial program that could be alive and is alive in all senses but for the fact that there is no physical body; is a great construct.

It is a brilliant series, and the series had amazing foresight - given that many of the technologies such as the Internet, mobile devices, social media etc. did not exist (or existed only in a very early form) when the series was written. I especially enjoyed the second (Speaker for the Dead) and third (Xenocide) books - and the full series is well worth reading.

Movie: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

For many trilogies, the second book is often the bridge with a lot of plot development but little in terms of action. In the Hunger Games series, the second book, Catching Fire, IMO, is the most interesting. The first book introduces the reader to a very impressive dystopian world, and the third book's plot line is rather expected. The second book is a bridge - but the brutality of the Hunger Games world is amazing in its depiction. The movie is quite true to the book's depiction, although not as much time is spent on the game itself. It is a very worthy sequel, and a worthy film translation.

Goodbye Madiba ...

The first email notification I saw this morning around 5am, on my iPad was an email from J, titled "Nelson Mandela". I didn't read the email then - I was quite sure what it would be about - and it was confirmed when I opened Flipboard - and every other newsite/app. Even Fox News has an obituary - and the only one I saw that referenced the fact that he was listed as a terrorist by the US government.

It was not an unexpected event - he was 95 years old, he was critically ill for a year - but it was a somber day nonetheless. Colleagues even mentioned how quiet and somber it was - not only in the office we were in; but also in other offices.

I don't have a Madiba story - but modern South Africa, is in itself the Madiba story. The remarkable progress made by South Africa is almost unparalleled in other parts of the world that has seen opression - or still have opression in one form or another. That is his biggest gift - and if others can emulate, his biggest legacy. 

Thank you Madiba.

Movie: The Butler

Based on a true story, The Butler recounts the very inspiring tale of a black man who flees the opressive American South in the early 1900's to eventually become the most trusted Butler in the White House. Forest Whitaker delivers an amazing performance, and is ably supported by a superb cast including Oprah Winfrey (as the alcoholic wife) - superimposing the struggles against racial inequality, the American civil rights movement, and the Butler's front row seat in the heart of the political machinations.

The problem of the movie however, as extensively documented in Wikipedia and elsewhere, is that the story is quite far removed from the truth in many details. The movie is based on a Washington Post article, and the real story, by all acounts is very much worth telling - without embellishment. The fact that so many distorting story naratives are introduced; the actual power of the true story is somewhat lost. It does not take away from an excellent movie - but it does tarnish the real story's power.

Suitcase

Guitar duo CH2 and cellists from "The Paz Consort", combined to give a great concert melding classical and contemporary music together. It was really a dark, stormy night - maybe a factor in a half full venue at University of Johannesburg's Arts Centre; and it certainly deserved a full house. The guitar work of CH2 is amazing, especially in the virtuoso pieces - but the melding of genres was very impressive. It was certainly worth braving the downpour!

Parklife Festival - Nov 2013

Planned to celebrate summer, Parklife Festival is set to be a bi-annual concert series; the first one taking place in March this year. While there was a great lineup of bands; SA super band Seether was the real attraction. The organization at Marks Park was excellent, and although the rain threatened throughout (including a few drops), it stayed away.

I had originally thought to go fr Desmond and the Tutus, but M and I went to lunch at 44 Stanley instead; but did make it for Taxi Violence. It has been a long time since I last saw them, and didn't really enjoy them today; so we didn't stay too long. So instead we headed off to the main stage to start staking our places.

One man band, with a few mates, Jeremy Loops was the act before Seether on the main stage. He is certainly a great musician, combining loops of harmonica, vocals, guitar and beat-boxing (all recorded live) - it is quite impressive to see it all come together. The lyrics are fairly simple (and not much to speak of); but he is an interesting act to see live.

There was no point to go see The Dirty Skirts; and rather we decided to et a really good place to see Seether. The Seether set was largely acoustic, and devoid of the stand and deliver approach of the previous shows. It was rather sedate in their standards (after all, in Opikopi last year, Shaun Morgan finished by smashing his guitar) - but it was more interactive, more engaging - and overall a perfect performance for a Sunday afternoon.

 

Starting the show with the Saron Gas standard - Gasoline, it was really hit after hit. There was a strange lul when they played a cover of a Neil Young song, but every Seether song was sung with gusto by the crowd.

The encore was interesting, as one of the roadies, Brian, joined in for the performance Remedy. It was another great performance by Seether and hopefully the Parklife Festival brings in more great bands in the future.

ZaCon 5

If ZACon 5 was a true representation of the security practitioners in South Africa, it would seem that there are next to no women - after all, only 1 lady in the audience of 100 plus gives a pretty skewed demographic. Perhaps this is a phenomenon more in the hacker community itself? Perhaps it is due to the fact that the event is on a Saturday? I have commented on diversity of ZACon before, and in other respects the audience was far more diversified, be it race, organisations or age - so, it seems like gender is the final frontier :) 

Organisationally, this was the best ZACon yet - better signage, better communication, up to date scheduling (even if it did run late, and the scheduling did changed a lot), AV and sound set-up etc. As Dominic commented, ZACon is growing up, and it seems to be sustainable footing - and this is a local security conference that deserves to continue. The content was also impressive, covering a variety of interests, although there was a strong "electronics" theme. 

Dimitry started off proceedings on the use of Markov chains to create more efficient password attacks. In principle, it is a great idea, but his actual demonstration and training data was did not make sense. Password complexity rules have almost ruled out the use of plain dictionary words as passwords, and thus the solution did not have the gravitas that it could have.

Jason presented the most interesting talk, on Mains Signalling. Basically, Mains Signalling is the use of signalling on the electrical grid, allowing for controlling of electrical systems. The technology is old, undocumented, and very topical with regards to the move to Demand Side Management, across the world. Through literally years of effort, and off the shelf components, Jason managed to decode some of the signal codes - including that of traffic lights, street lights and geysers. Given that there is absolutely no authentication or authorisation built into the system, anyone with the capability to send modulated signals on the electrical grid can cause havoc - and this is something that, to my knowledge, is not addressed as part of next generation grids. Yes, it is a far more local attack - but also far more economically damaging.

Jeremy ("Panda") presented an interesting investigation on the command and control servers for the Poison Ivy botnet (and two others). Through interception of communication, NMAP and tracking IP addresses and domain registration records; and managed to identify a number of additional domains and command and control servers. And amazingly, many command anc control servers are themselves vulnerable to many attacks, due to bad configuration and vulnerabilities within the Poison Ivy system. The approach will not work for all botnets, but this is certainly a good step forward in combating botnets.

Brazilian Marcos (studying at UJ) presented the most complex talk on detecting obfuscated obfuscation routines.  The use case is better detection of malware, but could also be used to attack software that uses obfuscation as a protection mechanism. Detecting and reversing good obfuscation is difficult and although the presentation is very much in initial stages; it does have good promise.

Rhodes MSc student Adam talked about his research on active honeypots. Traditional security technologies, like firewalls and anti-virus systems have high cost in detection, but low cost in carrying out enforcement. Conversely, honeypots have low cost in detection, but high cost in actually carrying out meaningful actions. The presentation was therefore on building a converged system - low cost of detection, and low cost of enforcement. In some respects it is a better IPS - and the approach is interesting; though probably not completely scalable. 

Dave from MWR's UK office gave the scariest talk of the day - on how it is easy to hijack ad networks to infiltrate ad-supported apps on mobile devices; most notably on Androids and jail broken iPhones. Ads are effectively webkit implementation within apps; but through bad design, vulnerable implementations, intentional wish to hijack data, bad sandboxing, and ads inhering permissions of the underlying apps, ad networks are effectively able to pull various types of data, or take actions such as sending messages or making calls. This means that the attacker can effectively hijack legitimate ads for their own purposes (since ad network traffic is often unencrypted) or in an easier (but potentially tractable) attack, launch an ad campaign that sets out to attack their targets. It was  truly fascinating insight into the problems with the current mobile advertising landscape and the lack of real incentives to address the problems.

Mark, also from MWR, but the SA office, gave an insightful overview of Control Area Networks (CAN), specifically in the cars. While there was some exploration on possible vulnerabilities, it was more of a discussion on reverse engineering. There are interesting avenues to pursue - especially remotely via avenues such as keyless entry or telemetry broadcasts for race cars. 

In the past year, Robert, started a conversation on building a data diode - or a one way transmitter of data. Considering the massive cost (some over 100's of thousands of Rands) of commercial systems, Robert's solution, costing less than R5000, is therefore an amazing hack; and one that works as advertised. 

The last talk was by Shcalk, on designing a low-gain directional Wi-Fi antenna; but was really mostly about 3D printing and house-4-hack. The 3D printer itself has got awards, and this is a good showcase of entrepreneurship. It was a good follow up to Roelof's (from Paterva) talk on the basic building blocks for building a successful business. It was a good way to close off a fascinating day.

Blood Brothers

David Kramer's adaptation of the Classic English musical, which has been transferred to Take place in District 6 instead of Liverpool. The story itself doesn't focus on the politics, or race, but rater differences in economic backgrounds. 

It's a story of a struggling mother who gives up one of her new born twins to her well off employer. The boys discover each other, become friends, grow up, but remain unaware of their relationship. Eventually the story ends in tragedy, and the story is very much focused on te guilt trip of both mothers, as the narrator keeps reminding the audience, "the tokoloshe has your number".

The performances are amazing. The brothers, played by Eprahim Landrew and Dean Balie, give very believable performances across different ages, from 7 to 25. The standout performance is by Bianca Le Grange, as Mrs Johnstone (the biological mother), and although M doesn't agree, I also enjoyed the narator's performance in bringing the story together.

It is a brilliant performance all round, and David Kramer's adaptation to South African cultural references is amazing. It is show definitely worth watching. 

JPO's 2nd 2013 Season, 6th Concert

Given the difficult year for the JPO, the final concert of the year started with a few words of thanks - both from the CEO of the JPO and the concertmaster. I think that the JPO needs to do a lot more to overcome its challenges, but that is a post on its own. The concert itself, for me, was a bit underwhelming.

Schumann's Manfred Overture started the proceedings off. Unlike the programme notes, I did not think that the piece conveyed "effectively the urgent despair of Byron's work" - not that I know the poem that the piece is based on. While it certainly had a melancholic ending - there are certainly other pieces that I have heard that evoked sadness than this piece. 

Violinist Yura Lee performed Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto; a very popular piece that I have heard on radio numerous times, in pieces, but not as a full work. Unlike some concertos, it does not seem to require significant individual brilliance; but it is a great piece to listen to; and got great appreciation from the audience.

Brahms' Symphony No 2. ended off the evening. It was certainly a nice piece to listen to, but I found that it was hardly memorable. There was no specific piece that got stuck in my mind, and I don't think I would recognise it if it was played. It was nice; but not great.

The Pudding Shop

The Pudding Shop, in Parktown North, aspires to be a vegan friendly restaurant. That means, the menu is largely vegetarian or vegan (although it is not that easy to see which is which) but also has a few fish items for those that must have some animal protien. The food is delicious, the decor is interesting and it is a great lunch venue; especially on a lazy weekend. And best of all, it doesn't have the preachy holier-than-thou attitude of other vegan/vegetarian places I have been to (outside Asia).

That said the service is quite poor. The waiters didn't really know the menu; and for a vegan/vegetarian venue, their selection of food and drink is actually quite limited. It is not that the waiters are unfriendly - in fact they are very hospitable - but their lack of knowledge of the food being served does not help; especially when the menu is mixed.

Wooden Buldozer

The Rosebank rooftop market restarted last week, and this time it feels a lot more spacious with somewhat better quality. A Malawian stall had hand carved wooden toys; and the bulldozer really stood out. All the parts are movable, including the arms and the tracks. Really impressive craftsmanship!

JPO's 2nd 2013 Season, 5th Concert

Sibelius' 2^nd Symphony is awesome, not only the finale, which is very rousing (and as per the commentary, seen as the unofficial Finnish national anthem) and loud; but also the second movement, which has a very interesting start with the double-basses and cellos; and everything else just seems to fit together. No doubt, part of the success of the performance was due to the conductor Yasuo Shinozaki's experience with Finnish music; and it was one of those magical performances where the music just seems to come alive.

Unfortunately, the first part of the concert was more mundane. The first part of the concert was rather short, lasting just over 30 minutes. Proceedings started with Mozart's La clemenza di Tito Overture, followed by Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme played by Russian born, South African cellist Polina Burdukova. Neither performances were bad - just boring. The symphony did make up for it though!

Macbeth

It's quite cool how some traditional artistic companies are leveraging new technologies to reach new audiences - the Metropolitan Opera and the UK's National Theatre being at the forefront. It opens up their productions to new audiences; and gives different avenues for movie theatres at the same time.

Ster-Kinekor is currently screening National Theatre's production of Macbeth starring Kenneth Branagh. Performed in a deconsecrated church (how is a church deconsecrated?), the "stage" is in the centre of the church, with the audience sitting on either side. The action is fast paced, with no time taken for scene changes; and there is a very earthy; middle-age feeling about the play - particularly in the beginning with the water effects (for rain) that turns the stage into a muddy field. 

It is minimalist; at the same time quite impressive in the use of effects. The performances are brilliant, not only by Kenneth Branagh but also by Ray Fearon as Macduff and Alex  Kingston as Lady Macbeth. 

I saw Macbeth in school, as part of the set work - this is the type of production that makes Shakespeare amazing, even when it is not part of schoolwork :)

Meze, Mira and Makeup

A play with only one cast member can be difficult to pull off; and Taryn Papadopolous Louch did an absolutely amazing job in portraying a wide range of characters in the life of Kalomira (Mira) from birth, through to end of her University degree. Although very much rooted in the immigrant Greek experience, I don't think the experience itself is specific to Greek culture - but rather a wider take on immigrant life in the new home; and the difference in experience between the 1^st and 2^nd generation immigrants.

The acting is absolutely amazing - especially in how well the characters are portrayed; and the play is hilarious. The accents and the exaggerated character effects are well portrayed and the performance got a well deserved standing ovation.

Soil

The Auto and General Theatre on the Square is hosting a month of Greek flavoured SA plays. The playwright of the first (Soil) and the director of the second (Meze, Mira and Makeup), Renos, is part of M's writing group; so we got an invitation to the opening day. It was my first time at the theatre, and being effectively next to the parking lot, has its disadvantages - mainly in hearing car doors slamming and alarms going off. That said, the acoustics are pretty good - so you don't struggle to hear the actors on stage.

The first play of the evening, Soil is based on a true story of a South African of Greek-Cypriot descent's return to the house of his grandparents, and meeting the Turkish-Cypriot lady living in the house - a house given to her father by the occupying forces of Turkey. Effectively it is a story about land rights - and although not directly explored - the history of Cyprus (as encapsulated on Wikipedia) it is a long running saga of multiple occupations and settlements.

The play's structure of three parts, makes it a bit difficult in terms of pacing - dragging on the topic a bit. This is particularly notable in the very end - a part that I thought was completely unnecessary; as the conclusion in the story had already been reached. 

It is a topical, and partly political play. However, it doesn't really have a take on the actual answer - the encounter is so specific; it does not really highlight any meaningful solution to the wider problem. It was still good theatre.

Halloween - JPO's 2nd 2013 Season, 4th Concert

I love live music because of the experience - be it the audience, the unique performance or just the sound. Last night's JPO concert had all of these, and was one of the best.

It started with the performance of Musorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, a piece that has all the hallmarks of horror genre. The lights were switched off, lights flashed for lightning, and as dawn broke through lights grew brighter, gradually. It was a totally immersive experience that is needed more often.

Tchaikovsky's long 2^nd Piano Concerto was next, featuring Francois du Toit as the pianist. It was a mesmerizing performance, with a lot of highlights even though the piece itself was not particularly memorable. It had some sorrowful moments, but did not really continue the theme.

Saint-Saens' 3^rd Symphony featuring an organ and a piano rounded off the evening. The organ's notes had an amazing vibration even though it was not a full blown organ that one would find in a cathedral. 

It was a great evening, and I hope JPO can repeat similar experiences more often.

Movie: Blue is the Warmest Colour (Adele Part 1 and 2)

I bought tickets more on the reputation than anything else really - and it was a very last minute decision. It was being screened as part of the annual "Out in Africa" festival, so it was a special screening before a wider South Africa release.

It is a simple movie premise - following the life of a young woman (starting in High School), Adele, through to her late 20's; through the cycle of one serious relationship, with an older woman, Emma. From the incidental meeting at a traffic light, through to "living house", through to a rather impressively acted dissolution, and a few years after; the movie has amazing atmosphere.  The movie uses quite a few clever ways in representing time (through the course of 10 plus years); but sadly the visual appearances of the two main characters remain the same and in some respects there is actually little change in how the characters act and behave in this time period.

The major talking point (and associated controversy) is the very long, quite explicit first sex scene between the two characters. While it starts of as erotic, and manages to convey a lot of passion, it carries on for too long - so much so, that an audience of predominantly lesbian women, starts laughing. It becomes tedious, and together with a number of other long lingering scenes, it contributes to the overall slow paced, tediousness of the movie brought on by its length. 

Overall, it is a good movie, with some good acting, and a good script - but too long. I am happy that I went to watch it; but I wouldn't want to again.

Johannesburg International Motor Show

I have been mulling over on whether to buy a new car, but my current one if working fine, so there is no motivation to really buy a new one (other than having a new car). That said, the Johannesburg International Motor Show was a good opportunity to see what is coming out in the recent future; and I was specifically interested in the electric cars that may be coming to SA soon.

Of the cars, the most imminent is the Nissan Leaf, which is launching next month. But it is not a car that looks like it is worth just under half a million Rands. In looks to other similar priced cars - 3 Series BMW, Audi A4, C-Class Mercedes - and this just doesn't stack up. It does have all the gadgets; it is fairly comfortable and quite nice to drive (I took the short test drive on offer); and the promise of incredibly low fuel costs does provide some of the positives. It has a 24 KWh battery, and a range of approximately 195 KM. Based on current SA electricity price of approx R1 per KWh, this translates to an incredible 12c per KM of fuel costs - far less than any petrol/diesel equivalent. But with a general lack of charging stations (right now at least) and the high investment cost; it may be better off to get a highly economical diesel.

Mahindra was the other "low cost" vehicle manufacturer with an electric car on show - which looked a bit like a bulkier golf car to be honest. Interestingly none of the other Asian manufacturers had hybrids or electric cars on show; except for existing offers from Toyota (and Lexus) and Honda.

The feature car that all the papers were talking about was the BMW i8 due to land in SA end of next year/early 2015. It is a great looking car, but there wasn't much on performance or price (although the agent did comment that it was going to be at the R2 million mark). The BMW i3 is also expected to be launched next year, but at the reported price of R1 million, it is worth two Nissan Leafs, and looks worse!

The i8 was not the only hybrid/electric stunner on the floor. Honda's new NSX is absolutely beautiful, though no other details were available, and is still in a concept phase I think.

There were a few interesting, non electric cars to see also - Chevrolet's Camaro is a classic American Muscle Car, but no further details were available. Giniel de Villier's Dakar Rally Car, a Red Bull F1 car and the Lexus LFA (which Top Gear called best car in the world).

JPO's 2nd 2013 Season, 3rd Concert

The program notes that Japanese conductor Yasuo Shinozaki spent considerable time leading orchestras in Finland. It was therefore apt that his 3 week tenure as the conductor of the JPO started with Jean Sibelius' Finlandia, performed with great gusto. It is a great piece, especially performed live.

Violinist Matthew Trusler performed Benjamin Britten's Violin Concerto, which was a stark contrast to Finlandia's exuberance. Written during World War 2, it is a melancholic piece (although I am not clear on whether it is mourning the event of a war, or the outcomes of the war); and although there are clearly passages which require great skill to perform (especially in the second movement), it was not a very enjoyable piece in itself. It was amazing to see it being performed - but I am not sure I would like to hear it again.

Rachmaninoff's Symphony No 1 rounded up the evening, which was yet again very boisterous. I really enjoyed the piece, especially the various contrast between the strings and the brass and percussion elements. It was loud, it was interesting, it was happy - almost all the things that the violin concerto was not - and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Movie: Gravity

There are movies that are cinematic masterpieces, and then there is Gravity which sets up an even higher bar to achieve. It doesn't matter that the visuals of the movie were mostly computer generated - it is an amazingly beautiful spectacle. The science may not be perfect and the plot could have focused less on moving from one disaster to another (I was wondering, almost hoping that a great white shark would appear). 

The great acting performances (especially by Sandra Bullock as the survivor in empty space), the masterful depiction of weightlessness and the amazing cinematography are pull together to make an amazing movie.