Movie: V for Vendetta

In some ways, this is a movie with some very serious points, examining the effects of slowly giving away civil liberties in exchange for security. In this futuristic world, 1984 has come about because the public voted it in, scared by the prospects of terrorism. In many ways this new world is a lot like Nazi Germany, with a high chancellor (played briliantly by John Hurt), segragating people because of their sexuality and their religion. It is also a movie that briefly explores the issues concerning genetic engineering, and the masked hero V (played by Hugo Weaving of Mr Smith in the Matrix fame, and unlike other masked heroes, he never actually reveals his face) is a product of genetic engineering.

On the other hand, it is also an action movie, but the action never really dominates the movie, and neither does the special effects. Most people will go to watch the movie because it is an action movie, but the serious plot is the bedrock to the movie and it is rare to see a movie that can merge the action and the serious so flawlessly.

CocaCola Massive Mix

I first posted about the massive rock concert here. Since then, Metallica were added to the mix, the golden circle ticket price went up by R100, and it all took place on Saturday. It was by far the longest single music event I have been to (the Levi's AIDS concert series last year and Obs Fest were around 9 hours while 46664 was about 6 hours) and, in my opinion, featured the best lineup between the lot!

Of the locally based South African bands (i.e. excluding Seether), I found The Finkelstiens to be the best. Their performance was really bad while supporting Offspring, but Saturday brought back memories of their awesome performance at a beach festival in Durban about 3 years back. It is ironic, but looking back, I think their type of performance really works well with smaller crowds - mainly because of their on stage antics. Arno Carsten and Nude Porn were good, but it is nothing like their Springbok Nude Girls days. As for Seether, their songs were brilliant, but their stage presence was not really what I expected - rather lethargic to be honest. But that did not really detract from the actual music.

Of the international acts, Simple Plan were really awesome. Of the bands on show, they were the only band that I did not really know too much about; but their on stage performance, their interaction with the crowd were top notch. They also seem to have huge "teenage girls" fanclub considering the screaming going on. The Rasmus were also great, but sadly most of the crowd were not too familiar with their music, and as Sarai commented - we need to watch them in Europe to really appreciate their performance. Collective Soul were also great, but to be honest, I think most people were trying to regain their energy after Seether and preparing for Metallica.

Metallica started late by about 15 minutes, but the wait was worth it. Even a power problem minutes into their act (which brought down all the insturments) did not dampen any spirits and in fact every one just rocked harder. Their energy on the stage (I have never seen such an energetic bass guitarists ... Rob Trujillo puts most performers to shame on that front) was amazing, and they played for over two hours, mostly from their older albums, including a number of songs from Kill 'Em All.

It was a great night (and day), spoiled (only a bit) by some really rough moshers (if you can really call them that) and lazy assholes who wanted to try squeeze into the front because they couldn't be bothered to pitch up earlier. The organisation was awesome and the music was great - I hope 5FM (and others) can organise a similar concert next year! A special mention also to Quintin Cloud, a friend I made through the Paddock Club at AtlasF1, and eventually met on Saturday [yes those things actually happen ;)]

The Multilingual Salesman

On Tuesday evening, I went to the "A.R.T. Gallery" in Kalk Bay for the opening of a small photographic exhibition by Sean on his mad cycle trip from Kenya to Mozambique. While it was a small exhibition (featuring only a small subset of his photos), the quality was remarkable none the less, which was not really surprising, considering Sean is quite an accomplished photographer.

On the way back from Kalk Bay, I met a salesman at the station. The train was late and the few passengers got talking to pass the time. Turns out, that the salesman can speak at least six of the eleven South African languages fluently and also knows atleast 3 other foreign languages. The fact that he had a fluent conversation with four different people with four different languages (English, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Sesotho) did lend some credibility to his claims. Turns out, that while selling sweets and biscuits on the train is his job, he spends a lot of time teaching, without pay, languages esp Xhosa and Afrikaans at different primary schools. He is trying to get a proper teaching qualification so that he can actually make a proper job out of it and his ambition is to master every official language in South Africa.

It is a bold ambition, but it was amazing to meet someone who, despite his own difficulties (after all selling sweets cannot be that much of a decent living) has so much to give to others. In hindisght, I realise that I should have tried to at least get his name ...

Movie: Syriana

It's a complex movie, a bit like Traffic (no wonder ... same people) and Crash, with a number of different threads that all link up together. Unlike Crash however, the story is a lot more controversial, promoting the view that the US government through he backing of major oil companies are more interested in money and oil for the US rather than peace and stability in the world. It's not a new allegation, but the story is very powerful and features some superb acting esp. from Clooney. It is also a very "heavy" movie, and not exactly a fun, exciting movie - but then movies of this subject type are rarely fun and exciting.

Fallen Heroes and the American Cricket Fan

It did not even take a week before the South African cricket team came back to earth with a bang - loosing the first test match within 3 days. In my opinion, it all started with fear and wrong decisions -- after all, after a good night's rain (in fact it even rained early in the morning), heavy cloud cover -- all indications of a good bowlers wicket, why on earth would any one choose to bat? Understandably, Graeme Smith was wary of Shane Warne bowling on the last day -- but still -- if you are not going to take him on, why bother to play in the first place?



But to be fair, batting was slow going for both sides, and for once the bowlers had a good match. But regardless, it was pretty bad viewing for Saturday when Tim, Justin (Aaron's brother and a UCT Radio DJ) and I went in for the third day - hoping (actually more like praying) for a South African fightback. Alas, it was not to be - although bad umpiring decisions did not help the South African cause.



Justin's valiant effort in the rousing the crowd (with the help of an inflatable sheep and my big SA flag), was well, valiant. It did not help that the security guys seemed to be on a power trip - constantly taking down posters (ok they were a tad offensive including ... but the players laughed) and generally pissing everyone else off. As for the pictures, we started off sitting in the Oaks embankment (pic 1), but moved to railway embankment (on the opposite side) during the lunch interval (to get more shade). There was a large contingent of people wearing SAB gear ... presumably got a company day outing or something, and were one of the more vocal supporters.

We also met the unknown - American cricket fans (well the guy loved cricket, the two girls thought it was better than baseball but not as great as basketball or American football). Not the migratory Indians and Pakistanis who have made America their home - but born and bred American who also tend to like American Football and Basketball. One of the girls works for the US embassy in Turkmenistan and had quite a few interesting stories to tell about the country and its madcap dictator. I think Tim put her into a tight corner asking her about her opinions on US foreign policy, which she declined to answer.

[I had more pics, but uploading pics has been a nightmare ... so none of the "action" shots ;)]

Hero Gibbs se Babelas

That was just one of the headlines I saw this morning on my cycle ride, and for once, Zuma, baby Jordan and the powercuts were off the front page. Sunday's cricket match was remarkable - not only because of the number of runs scored, but also because of South Africa's spirited chase and victory. But Cricinfo's label of the match as the greatest ever ODI is just wrong in my opinion. After all, a cricket match is a battle between the batsmen and the bowlers, and in Sundays game, other than Nathan Bracken, bowlers did not even feature in the game. To be honest, I think that neither Gibbs nor Ponting really deserved the man of the match - because while their performances were good - it should be expected that at least one batsman will make a lot of runs on that pitch. On the other hand, Bracken took 5 of 14 wickets that fell on Sunday - a greater contribution percentage wise than any other player.

As for the greatest match - I think the 1999 semi final between SA and Australia still ranks as the best ODI ever - it featured everything about cricket - runs, wickets and great fielding.

Movie: The New World

The New World is a beautiful movie. Unfortunately, that is the only good thing that can be said about the movie (although the music wasn't bad). It is extremely long (ok not as long as King Kong), has a very simple plot, almost no conversation and is extremely boring. In fact, Carl confesses to have fallen asleep during the movie. The movie is basically the story of Pocahontas, so if you are really keen on knowing the story (white man comes to America in 1500's, meets a native american princess, fall in love etc), you are better off watching the Disney movie.

Interestingly enough, there is a shorter version (by about 20 minutes) available ... why on earth was the extended version not released as a DVD? All said however, its cinematography is top class ... but I cannot really recommend it as a movie.

The Big DRM Mistake?

In his column, Scott Granneman calls DRM a mistake; mainly because of its many current shortcomings and also because of the restrictions posed by DRM to consumers. In my opinion, that is not the big mistake about DRM - the mistake is how badly DRM has essentially been marketed, including its vilification in the GPL 3 draft.

Fundamentally, DRM is a about persistent access control - it is a term for a set of technologies that allow for data to be protected beyond the file system of the original machine. Thus, for example, the read/write/execute access control on most *nix file systems will not only be applicable to the original machine but to all machines. DRM is not perfect yet - that is the reason it is still an active research area; but a claim like "it will never be perfect" should not be a reason to investigate and prove that such a claim is false.

And most of the problems with DRM is not about technological failure - but a failure of communication and bad marketing. Granted The SONY-BMG saga was about technological failure - because fundamentally it was bad technology. But it was also about a miscommunication - customers should be told that they are buying a DRM enabled CD. Similarly, my criticisms on Vodafonelive (which I made to the INDICARE Workshop in Budapest this year, and in a law paper I co-wrote with Thomas Bechle last year) are based on the failure of Vodafone to make the consumer aware.

And fundamentally - many of the fair use issues are not a matter of given right. Just because a traditional CD allows me to give to a friend should not imply that any future format will allow me the same freedoms. Fundamentally, DRM enabled CDs are not the same thing as non DRM enabled CDs and should be labeled as such. It is like selling a German book sealed in an English cover without warning that the contents are in German. It is a case of bad trade practices and bad communication - and if consumers don't like the restrictions, they shouldn't buy it, but they need to be given the choice.

At the end of the day I believe that DRM does have a place - it can be used to protect sensitive data that needs to be highly regulated - for example, your health records. trying to advocate the DRM should not be researched because of possible misuse is just plain wrong.

Movie: The Matador

Ok, Pierce Brosman is known as an ok actor - great as a James Bond or a jewel/art thief but not really someone who can really play a totally of the wall character. His portal in the Matador is, as a reviewer on IMDB put it, "coming out party for Pierce Brosnan the actor".

The story is about a hitman, Julien Noble (or as he describes himself, a facilitator) and his life with no connections to people or places and his meeting with a small time businessman trying to make the deal of his life. It is a comedy, but the humor is very twisted - not really dark - but not exactly the normal mushy romantic comedy stuff. And the movie is not very politically correct either - after all it is a movie about a hitman.

Highly enjoyable, and although I doubt Pierce Brosman will win the Oscar - it is a definitely a well deserved nomination. Oh, just as an example of how politically incorrect and twisted the humor can be; just have a look at the quotes page on IMDB.

Movie: Walk the Line

For the most part, I do not really like country music ... except when it comes to Johnny Cash ... I even own an album of his! To be honest, I first heard Johnny Cash when Barney Simon played a number of songs after his death ... and I was intrigued, because it was not like anything I had heard before. I also like his song "Satisfied Mind" on the Kill Bill soundtrack.

The movie, now known for its number of awards (or nominations) is the story of his life before he married his second wife June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). Like Ray last year, it was a celebration of a musician's life and how the artist overcomes their various obstacles. Like Ray, a large part of the film is devoted to substance abuse, and how Johnny Cash overcomes his "pills" and "alcohol" addiction and takes control of his life once again.

The acting performances are really outstanding in this movie and convincing. It is well worth watching and maybe you will also go buy a Johnny Cash album, just to hear Folsom Prison Blue ...

Movie: Derailed

This is not a movie I would normally go to watch - seemingly a romantic comedy/thriller starring Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston. At its core, it is a story about an affair, followed by blackmail, and then how Clive Owen's character comes to deal with the blackmail. It was very predictable to be honest - I have just read too many real news stories with a similar plotline (to start off with anyway). But, it was well acted, had good character development and was, as my flatmate would put it, a good effort. Nothing spectacular, but a good effort.

Who Broke Up AT&T

As some of you know, lat year, I participated in an electronic law course given by Prof Julien Hofman. That was essentially e-Law 1. Anyway, yesterday afternoon, I wanted to talk to Prof. Hofman on a separate issue regarding contract law, and ended up participating in his e-Law 2 class. The class is very different to most courses offered at UCT (well it is a MLB/MPhil level course) where the students are going to tackle a specific part of electronic law and deliver a report of approximately 150 page (this can then later be used as their minor dissertation). This report will also be condensed down to approximately 30 pages, and all the summaries will be combined to create a book on the electronic law landscape in South Africa. While I do not have the time to participate in this process, I am still invited to attend the seminars etc. making up the class.

Anyway, yesterday afternoon, the lecture was given by a Mr Ray G Besing (pronounced Bee-sing), who was introduced as a US lawyer and author of the book "Who Broke Up AT&T". He gave a very interesting lecture on monopolies, the legal and the economics, with particular focus on Telecom monopolies - esp considering that telecommunications have become a cornerstone in modern life. His comparisons to the price of Telkom rates to other countries was not new, but he stressed that it is up to the public to force monopolies to lower prices, because ultimately, regulatory bodies like ICASA have a mandate to serve to public. The major part of his lecture revolved around the breakup of the AT&T monopoly, a case he is familiar with simply because he was the lead lawyer in two of the three major cases involving AT&T and their breakup.

Prof Hofman and Mr Besing intend to run a course on telecoms law - a course that could be very interesting and should be relevant to many people in South Africa ...

Powercuts

Since Sunday morning, the Western Cape has been experiencing powercuts - primarily because of a breakdown of a turbine at the Koeberg Nuclear power plant, but also due to other capacity issues. Off course, Eskom has been warning of the potential problems for years - and has been proposing a new nuclear power plant for the last 5 or so years to alleviate some of these issues, but no would listen. What is really ironic off course, is that the turbine was due for scheduled maintenance next week, and the Monday Paper (UCT run newspaper) actually has an article encouraging energy conservation to alleviate power problems.

Anyway, I meant to phlog about my birthday braai held on Saturday, hours before the start of the blackouts - but lack of power has meant a lack of network availability, which has also implied a very slow network once it is back up ... so I will not waste precious bandwidth on such frivolity ;)

Identity

From a suggestion I made in Carl's blog, this post is a mind dump, a rant, bitching, moaning ... whatever the term is. I am not even sure that my post makes any sense. You are forewarned. However, I can assure you, unlike Carl's posts, my post has no romantic traumas ;) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Identity is a problem I have grappled with for a long time in my research. After all, what exactly is a user of a DRM system? And for that matter, what exactly is being protected? And what about the rules - how does the rules match up to the users, and the data? The problem is, identity itself is a very difficult concept to define, even when restricting itself to the digital realm. Even RFC 2828, the security glossary (which has become my de-facto second dictionary) does not give an adequate definition.

So, in a recent paper attempt (attempt because the paper was ultimately rejected), I had to fall back on the Oxford English Dictionary to define the term identity, which states:

1. a. The quality or condition of being the same in substance, composition, nature, properties, or in particular qualities under consideration; absolute or essential sameness; oneness.
absolute identity, that asserted in the metaphysical doctrine of Schelling that mind and matter are phenomenal modifications of the same substance.

b. with an and pl. An instance of this quality.

2. a. The sameness of a person or thing at all times or in all circumstances; the condition or fact that a person or thing is itself and not something else; individuality, personality.
personal identity (in Psychology), the condition or fact of remaining the same person throughout the various phases of existence; continuity of the personality.

b. Personal or individual existence. rare. ?Obs.

10. c. Belonging or relating to identity (sense 2), as in identity crisis, a phase of varying severity undergone by an individual in his need to establish his identity in relation to his associates and society as part of the process of maturing. Also transf.

Colloquially, identity is simply - who are you? But as discussed in Sophie's Choice, it is a very difficult question to answer. If identity seeks to define who or what something is, it becomes very difficult to pin down. Does identity then depend on the person's cultural heritage? moral compass? their geography? their political compass?

I first started thinking about this while leaving Cape Town International Airport for my trip to Budapest. The passport controller looked at me very strangely, and then asked rather curiously why I have a South African passport. It was not because I am of Indian origin, but rather because I was born in Nigeria? In fact, many times on overseas conferences, I have been asked how come an Indian guy carries a South African passport - a question I think many of my South African Indian friends could find offensive. I have found the idea of granting nationality purely on the basis of where a person is born to be rather stupid -- after all what does that have anything to do with it? So I qualify for a Nigerian passport because I was born there?

As for cultural identity - it is a difficult question for me. I have been brought up by fairly devout Hindu parents, and my broader family were once very devout Hindus - but then most Indians in India are rather devout. But many of my values differ greatly from my parents (and even greater difference to my other relatives in India). But much of my identity is not South African per se, as much of my beliefs etc. have been from my own extensive readings in all sorts of things. Although, I have spent about half my life in South Africa, I have also spent large amount of time in other countries.

This brings me back to my original question - what is identity? At the end of the day, does identity really matter? If a fingerprint, or iris scan represents an almost unique (identical twins problem) reference to a person, shouldn't that be enough to define what identity is? Why bring in other aspects to muddy the waters?

Movie: Tsotsi

This is a movie I have been waiting for, ever since I saw the trailer about 10 months back. The trailer came with a tag line something along the lines of: "You can't choose how you come into this world, you can't choose how you leave this world, but you choose how you live in this world.", and is a very apt description of the story.

The movie is sad - it is sad to see how Tsotsi (gangster) becomes who he is. It wasn't his choice. It is also funny how the Tsotsi interacts with the baby at first. At its core, it's a movie about hope, hope that maybe it is possible to escape the cycle of poverty and crime. It is by far the best South African movie I have ever seen and has one the best movie sound tracks ever. It also shows that it is possible to create a South African movie without relying on big name stars. The authenticity of the accents, the settings, the actions make it a very believable and engaging story, something that is missing from other recent South African movies like Drum.

Like Yesterday, the movie also steers clear of apartheid. It is a story about modern South Africa and the challenges facing us today. The past should not be forgotten, but it is also worthwhile in examining the present.

Movie: On The Waterfront

It is regarded as one of the best movies ever made, and stars a very young Marlon Brando as a dock worker cum thug for the local waterfront union (which control the offloading, loading of ships in the harbour and is thus more like the mafia). It is a love story, it is a story about worker's rights and it is a story about the law succeeding in breaking a crime ring.

What has always impressed me about many old movies is how much these movies depend on acting, and story telling; as opposed to special effects. I am not sure if this kind of a movie would succeed in the modern times, but if you get hold of the DVD, it is well worth watching.

Movie: Titus

Looks like SABC 3 is having a Shakespeare month and screening quite a few movies of the great bard's plays. This is the only one I have watched so far (while I was still in Durban). I later read up in a Shapespeare Companion book at Exclusive Books that Titus Andronicus is his bloodiest play, his first tragedy and is one of the least performed plays because of some of its content.

In many ways, this is a very a weird adaptation of William Shakespeare's Roman tragedy, Titus Andronicus. Unlike Romeo+Juliet, it's not completely modern and features horses and swords alongside motorbikes and loudspeakers. In many ways, the movie environment is similar to post apocalyptic worlds like Mad Max.

The play itself is twisted - featuring a sadistic woman hell bent on getting revenge, an equally savage general (Titus Andronicus played by Anthony Hopkins), cannibalism and some really twisted torture - all wrapped in a very interesting story. It's unlike any other Shakespeare play I have ever seen (or read) and features very little in terms of a morality tales of good overcoming evil and is almost hellbent on focusing on the power plays between characters who can be called twisted at best. Very enjoyable - if only because I enjoy such twisted tales - the bard really knew how to spin a tale.

Movie: Munich

Steven Spielberg's movie has come under a lot of criticism - from both the Israelis (because the movie gives Mossad a bad name) and the Palestinians (because some incidents like the killing of an inocent palestinian by the Mossad squad) were left out of the story. The movie is about the story of a Mossad squad sent to assasinate various Palestinians who were involved in the murder of 11 athletes during the 1972 Olympic games.

Like most Spielberg movies, it is about the people - and how the people react to the situation and how they change as people. In many ways, the movie questions the validity of the past Israeili approach of fighting fire with fire, and questions whether Israel is still true to the original tenets of its creation. Like Paradise Now Munich has tried to be unbiased, as much as possible.

However, unlike Paradise Now, Munich is a very dark movie. It is a movie that everybody should (and probably must) watch - but it is not a movie that can really be enjoyed. Like Paradise Now, it is a movie that needs to be absorbed, and maybe we will all live happily ever after.

Movie: 40 Year old virgin

Like Ilan, this was also a movie I watched on the plane back from London (on my Hungary trip). The plot is simple, and I generally don't like watching romantic comedies - but this was hilarious. Incidentally, this movie was a sleeper hit - and many people did not expect it to do so well at the box office.

Movie: The Constant Gardener

Based on the John le Carré novel, the movie explores a conspiracy involving drug testing in the third world and how the western governments (where the HQ of the companies are) not only know the details of these drug tests, but are also active players in helping them set up and covering up when human rights groups try to investigate.

It is a dark story, although highly enjoyable movie and was great viewing on the flight back from London (yes this post is very late)