PROGRAMMING : mini java compiler

OK, so you could probably use one of the many java scripting languages to acheive the same goal, but I get really frustrated by how slow (and unJITable) reflection stuff is. So you could use Janino to compile up a little bit of code to do the call, and then just keep on evaluating the call over and over at a very high speed.
This would also make it possible to do an AOP/J2EE style creation of generic 'method decorators' that execute fast, but don't have to be precompiled (instead compiled at run time. (method decorator adds some functionality to all the methods in a class, like logging, security or transactions)
BTW is www.theserverside.com any good?

LIFE : The Hydra raises its head

The awefull dispute between Allen and myself has raised it's ugly head again. Why is it that we promise ourselves we won't make deals with mates, and then go ahead and make deals with mates. And why is it we promise ourselves we won't make deals without contracts, and then go ahead and make deals _without_contracts.
Anyhoo, due to a massive misunderstanding Allen is now threatening to take me to court - the discrepancy between his and my understanding of the arrangement we had coming to 22k5, not a small amount.
Hopefully this time I will have learnt my lesson.

LEGO : For adults!

My god, check out this article. It talks about online services to build machines and PCBs that you design with their software. Initially menat for small runs and experiments, it can go bigger. What ever you design is costed immediately and manufactuered/sent within days of you paying for it.
Cool

COMPUTERS : G5 iMac

Please give me one!!! Must have a 20inch screen...
Oh, and Ars have a new article introducing Mono. I will read this as I know very little about the whole thing and really should know what's going on - especially since some of the Linux specific stuff sounds interesting (GTK#)

MOVIES : King Arthur

(Still annoyed I missed "Saddest Music in the World" :) )
Ok, so I didn't expect this to be great, and it lived up to my expectations. I never felt any connection with the characters, or cared it they lived or died. And for that matter, I never doubted they'd win, so I didn't really _have_ to care.
And it seemed to be aimed at a PG rating or something because it had a lot of violence, but managed to cut just before anyone connected with anyone else. That sort of obvious editing really pisses me off.
All in all very plain, I wouldn't bother if I was you.

LIFE : Back in BrisVegas!!

We'll I've finally made it back!
I might have gotten up at 2:30 this morning (Bris time), my plane may have been delayed by an hour, I may even have had to pay $375 for my 25kgs of excess baggage, but I'm here now.
Dwayne and Dad met me as I skirted immigration (I had nothing to show, but my huge bags would have taken hours to unpack and repack, so I breathed a sigh of relief). We came back, had a chat, and then went off to King Arthur.
Yesterday I borrowed Greg's car to race around and try to freight the rest of my luggage - another 40kgs. First I tried the post office who said they'd take the size, but not the weight, then I tried some container shippers who would only charge by the minimum size - which was 8 times the size of my item- and would only accept cash, which I have NONE of, and finally (after spending a few hours dro[pping the bike in Takapuna and catching buses home) went to Qantas and had them air freight it for me - the first people to actually make my life easy!
After that I picked up Greg (late) and then went for my final farewell dinner. Brendon, Di and Kev made it, as did Dunya, Alessandra, Mei and Marriana. I was delighted that Oli and Sintia also came along. So it was a merry, if long winded, dinner at La Porchetta's.

LIFE : Quick

Quick one - about to run out of time
Missed "Saddest Songs in the World" because I thought it was at 6:30, not 1:30
Brendon is looking after the buggy, bless his little cotton socks.
gonna cost me lots to freight one box. Oh well.
Having a final farewell dinner tomorrow night at La Porchetta's, Hobson street at 7

SHOW : Buena Vista Bar

Went and saw this last night, it was OK, really skilled musicians, the script was about as good as dad can do in a couple of days, but that's not what we're there for.
I always find that kind of thing, where the audience is really supposed to be part of the fun, doesn't work well in a stage/audience situation - you can't get up and boogy. And last night was just like normal.

MOVIE : Super Size Me

7th, In the sky city cinema :P Monday 12/7 at 6:15
Yeah!
This one rocked. Documentary about McDonalds, the 'selling point' being the guy who is making the documentary has to eat only Macers for a month, and if he is ever asked if he wants to super size he has to say yes.
No need to say that his vegan girlfriend was not impressed!
Anyway, apart from being a pretty cool documentary, a little more conservative than a Mike Moore one, the dude ends up doing as much damage to his liver as if he'd gone on a 30 day drinking binge, and putting on 15% of his original body weight... which took him over a year to then loose.
I thoroughly recommend this one.

PROGRAMMING : Excellent Martin Fowler article

All about mocks not being stubbs... I'll let you read it :)

MOVIE : Traveller's and Magicians

film 6, Sun 11/7 1:00pm
A bit unfair seeing this after Touching the Void ;)
This was done by the guy who did The Cup, about monks watching the world cup. the guy is himself a monk, and I quite enjoyed his first film, though not as much as everyone else seemed to.
What I like about his stuff is how gentle it is, and the parables that he includes in the story. And these aspects were in this film as well. And it was OK, but nothing to really catch you. I found the change in the main character was never really justified, except that it had to happen for the story :)
Maybe I didn't have the background to understand it properly.

MOVIE : Touching the Void

5th film, Sunday 10/7 10:30 am
woah.
That was the most amazing film, definitely the most amazing of the festival so far. It's a documentart/dramatisation of the amazing story of two guys doing a huge climb in the Andes, and everything goes wrong. Joe brakes his leg (yes dad, you'll have to block your ears for a bit while that is described :) and as they try to self rescue him, he gets caught over the side of a cliff - the only thing his mate could do to survive was cut the rope....
An amazing story, and the voice overs of the actual people involved in the incident makes it incredibly real, moving and powerful. I am still reeling from it.
Wow.

MOVIE : Bad Santa

4th film, Sat 10/7 9:30pm
Woo hoo!
This great (and aweful :). Billy Bob Thornton played a shoplifting, alcoholic Santa who (surprise surprise) comes good. While largely predictable, because of the approach of the film you never really know where they are going with the story - you always know Rambo will win, but Santa may not...
Just really well done, very funny, some truly horrendous jokes, some nice irony. Definitely worth seeing if it comes near you :)

MOVIE : Hero

Third film, Sat 10/7 at 6:45. Met Alessandra and Max beforehand which was cool (BTW spent the night with Dunya and then met up for afternoon tea too...hmmmm)
This is a martial art flick by the guy who did Raise the Red Lantern. It shows. I think he was asked to create the next 'Crouching...Hidden...' or something.
It is beautiful. Just like Raise the Red Lantern was.
It is not my cup of tea. Just like Raise the Red Lantern wasn't.
Basically story of a hero who kills off the three assasins who are out to kill the king. He goes to receive his reward, and recounts his adventures as he does. There are lots of (obvious) plot twists, and rewritings and (boring) martial art fights.
But it is beautiful :)

MOVIE : The Motorcycle Diaries

Second film, on Friday the 9/7 at 7:30.
This was the opening film of the festival, and was packed out. I got an alright seat but not fantastic.
The movie is about the road trip that Che Guevara took which turned him from a middle class soon to graduate from med school boy, into a leftwing revolutionary man. It was OK, not a bad story, good characters, nice milestoning of the things that turned him, how he got his name and so on.
There was one bit about being a 'good man' that pulled my heart strings, but I think that's a place I'm at at the moment.... I would say it was worth seeing, but nothing that's going to change _your_ life (I had already decided to go on my trip before hearing about the film.... ;)

MOVIES : The Control Room

First movie of the festival that I saw, this is a doco about the Al Jazeera coverage of the US invasion of Iraq. As such it was pretty good, tried really hard to point out that all sides of the media had their own agenda. Presented some really positive views of people from the arab world, especially some of the Al Jazeera reports.
Also presented some pretty damning stuff about the 'spin' and 'short memories' that are inflicted upon the media. Especially the bit about when 3 Arab media companies all have their reporters in Iraq murdered by US military air strikes all on the same day, but this gets overshadowed the next day by, apparently, enlisted non-iraqi's to pull down the statue of Saddam.
The most annoying thing about this movie was the audience. They were all there tutting away, and laughing in that knowing way, because they are privy to the world's secrets and know all the answers! I can't deny that I used very emotive language in the previous paragraphs, but I really wanted the people around me to take more notice of the central point of the film - don't believe what you see on the media, always ask questions and, most importantly, think about what you are being told.
Laughing at Bush isn't going to help matters, and doesn't expand your own understanding of the world one iota. And doesn't Bush want us all to remain as ignorant and unopen as we can?

LIFE : I'm unemployed!

Or at least I will be in 11 minutes or so.
And at the moment I couldn't say I feel any different - except maybe for the $1100 credit card bill I can't see me paying off anytime soon...

LIFE : Last few days...

Last friday was my 'leaving' party, couldn't have it this weekend because I am too busy what with film festivals and so on... Anyway it went really well. Heaps of people came, and they mingled to a certain degree, and I got to say 'hi' to everyone. Even a couple of people (thanks Mike and Julie!) turned up without anyone they knew being there - always a challenge, and much appreciated.
Saturday I went and got my bike, no capoeira again - what is it with me and capoeira, I just can't commit to it :( Then I saw Spiderman 2 (see review) and Thirteen (see other review). Did I mention I actually cried in S2? I think I must have been tired/ emotional from the party :)
Oh, and I bogged the hole in my car.
Sunday. Final Maestro performance, and went for a final climb with Ken.
Monday was crap. Car wouldn't start, took a huge roll to finally turn over and then it stalled every time I put the clutch all the way in - took a lot to warm up. Then it popped constantly out of 4th, then I got to work and drove it into a bin, ripping the fibreglass. Yay. At least I got my WOF. Drove it home and didn't hurt it too much, even though it was really windy. Went climbing with Mike, but took the bike...
Yesterday I opened my UK bank account, which required a deposit of 1500pounds, which sapped my NZ bank account to $360, and I still have 1150 owing on my credit card... so I am feeling very skint until I sell one of my vehilces - still have to pay Greg for rent.
Didn't end up going to impro or climbing last night after getting drenched riding home in the rain - but did go to the pub with Jenn to bid her adieu with all her kayaking buddies. Had a great chat with James who I get on with quite well - seems like a really cool guy.
And now I'm here...

PROGRAMMING : Good article on Swing

Interesting from an 'implementing a swing component' point of view... gives a little bit of insight to us Swing novices. ScrollableBar or the original site

MOVIES : Thirteen

A little different from Spidey :)
I saw this with Sharon (the irish woman) and Greg. It's written by a 13 year old (who also plays a support actress) about the usual decent into hell because of drugs of a 13 year old girl.
It is quite well done with a really excellent performance from Holly Hunter, and a pretty damn good performance from the lead girl (We'll call her tracey). The emotions and pain the family experiences as Tracey gets worse and worse are really well conveyed - a lot of time is spent making you empathise with the various members of the family and the complex relationships, and strains thereon, that exist.
My favourite acheivement of the film was the way they got you so angry with Tracey, but could fully understand that Holly still loved her and wouldn't ever let her go. The love was so strong, and is testament to Holly's acting.
Why did I not think this was great? Two small things

1. it's the same story again. Go ask alice. A story that needs to be told, but there wasn't anything fresh to differentiate this from any of the others of its ilk


2. Really important choices are glossed over, while lots of time is spent on less improtant stuff such as
   
   
   • At first the girls hate the prima donnas, but suddenly Tracey is trying to emulate them and get into their group. When and why did she make this choice?
   
   
   • A boyfriend of Holly turns up. Is this the estranged Dad? Why does Tracey hate him so? These important questions remain unclear for an unreasonable period of time.
   
   
   • Suddenly Tracey rejects the drugs, and her girlfriend, and tries to become 'good' again. Why? I saw little reason she would do this (there were little reasons, but none that I think would have swayed her)
   
   
   
   Spidey was all about examining people's choices and their consequences - really hard choices. This film was too, but didn't actually look at the decision - only the consequences.
   

MOVIES : Spiderman 2

Ok, so the end won't make very many Spidey fans happy but I, for one, thought this was one of the best action films I have ever seen. The first one was excellent, and the second surpases even that.
Why? Because it fufill's Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey perfectly, but without feeling like 'every other' implementation. Because it has two characters dealing with the same problem, but making different choices and thereby demonstrating the outcomes of those choices. Because it deals with issues seldom covered in actions films - those of sacrifice and duty to ones own ideals (not blind duty to ones country).
If you are at all interested in story telling, go and see this film to experience one of the best renditions of the the Hero's Journey I've ever seen.

COMPUTERS : 3D Interfaces again

Greg has pointed out the croquet project. This is a 3D interface, but more from the point of view of navigating through a networked world rather than an efficient place to do work (although the collaboration work was interesting).
In fact this is stressed by the fact that you can expand an entity in the 3D space to fill your entire screen, thereby turning it into a 2D space.
The main examples they give are all operated on a plane that you surf across - like being _in_ the 2D space rather than looking down on it.

LIFE : Got my licence yesterday

What do you have to do to fail your driving licence test?

Because I got mine...and I did the following

1. when starting the test the first thing I did was pull out in front of a car as I exited the testing centre. It wasn't right on my arse, but it definitely had to slow down to let me in.
   
   
2. then a short while later I was asked to turn right into a street. Approaching was another car, it's left indicator on. In NZ this means he gives way to me. Cool. So I turned, only to have him speed on past behind me - his left turn indicator being incorrect. ie I almost killed my tester. He remarked and made me pull over and explain myself. How did I not instantly fail?
   
   
3. turning right at a T intersection which was painted to imply everyone turns right, I put my right turn indicator on - he considered this to be an incorrect signal. I disagree but whatever.
   
   
4. At one point, 30 seconds after I had broken the speed limit and slowed down, he asked what speed I was doing - and I was doing smack bang on the right speed, which I told him. He said it was more like 55, so I am happy he hadn't seen my speed when I _had_ been speeding...
   
   
5. We have to give descriptions of the hazards we see and what we are doing to compensate for them at certain sections of the test. I did this, but _every_ time he told me off for not talking enough, and not describing what I am doing in response to the hazards enough.
   

5 major things, and I still got my licence!

On other good news, I had a guy get really excited about my buggy this morning. He knew all about the types of cars, so I know it's going to a good owner.

Tiest

COMPUTERS : 3D user interfaces

Sun have just released the source to Looking Glass, a 3D user interface. The basic idea is that normal applications are drawn onto 3D rectangles hanging around in space. The user can easily rotate their view to observe different applications in different 'places' - using a bit of spatial memory to remember where they are.
So how is this supposed to be superior to a 2D interface? I don't know, because you _don't_ have the ability to rotate completely up and down (as you would find yourself upside), and I don't think you can rotate the screen around it's centre (to get back to being rightside up).
In fact, from a topological point of view this is exactly the same as a 2D plain. Admitedly one that wraps at the top bottom and sides.
The big advantage of a huge, zoomable interface is that of spatial memory, and grouping. You can easily just plonk apps/documents down close to each other that are related, zoom out to a long way and then zoom in on another clump that you are now interested in. You can't do this in the 3D version because there will always be something behind you.
So what is the point? Bring on the massive 2D zoomable interfaces I say!! (Anyone wanna program one with me?)