Sunday, May 25, 2008

European Song Contest - Was it Political or was it the song?

For me the winner was Ani Lorack. Soon after the results of the Eurovision Song Contest were in, many people started to ask how the results would have been if only the countries that took part in the final had voted. The top two would still have been the same but we can seem some significant changes in the lower positions. The gap between Russia and the Ukraine being only 5 points. The introduction of the Russian singer was good but overall I think that Ani Lorack´s was better. Russia do punish the Ukraine from time to time like Gazprom cutting off the gas etc., You will have noted that if you had watched the show that it was former Eastern bloc countries that voted for Russia. It was also interesting to note that the Russian song was sung in English.
  1. Russia - 142
  2. Ukraine - 137
  3. Norway - 127
  4. Armenia - 116
  5. Greece - 108
  6. Turkey - 88
  7. Serbia - 81
  8. Israel - 70
  9. Azerbaijan - 59
  10. Iceland - 58
  11. Bosnia & Herzegovina - 56
  12. Georgia - 48
  13. Denmark - 44
  14. Latvia - 39
  15. Portugal - 32
  16. Spain - 31
  17. France - 30
  18. Sweden - 28
  19. Romania - 26
  20. Croatia - 26
  21. Albania - 21
  22. Finland - 21
  23. Poland - 4
  24. Germany - 0
  25. United Kingdom - 0


Saturday, May 24, 2008

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Watched the movie "White Noise" last night - fact or fiction?

In common with my viewing last night the principal character John dies as did Julia in Y tu Mamá tambien. Also I did not fall asleep watching either movie:)

The title 'White Noise' refers to the phenomenon known as Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). People believe that you can hear voices of the dead in the white noise of a detuned radio and even see faces from the white noise on the television set. Michael Keaton stars in this thriller as Jonathan Rivers, a man who had just lost his wife in a freak accident. Raymond Price (Ian McNeice) meets with Jonathan and tells him that his wife Anna has contacted him from the other side. Jonathan doesn't believe him until he hears Anna's voice on his radio. Jonathan wants to talk to his wife, and he gets all the equipment. There is only one thing that Jonathan doesn't know, there are also bad people on the other side.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (fiction)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (fact)

White noise is a random signal (or process) with a flat power spectral density. In other words, the signal's power spectral density has equal power in any band, at any centre frequency, having a given bandwidth. White noise is considered analogous to white light which contains all frequencies.

An infinite-bandwidth, white noise signal is purely a theoretical construction. By having power at all frequencies, the total power of such a signal is infinite. In practice, a signal can be "white" with a flat spectrum over a defined frequency band. .......

Being interested in the para normal this could justify further investigation!

Trailer

Friday, May 23, 2008

Watched Y tu mamá también last night - What did other views think of this Mexican Movie?

La nueva y aclamada película mexicana Y tu mamá también habla de sexo de manera frontal, divertida y desenfadada. Pero más que el tema de la última realización de Alfonso Cuarón (Grandes esperanzas, La princesita), las relaciones sexuales explícitas, los diálogos subidos de tono y el erotismo candente son sólo excusas para marcar un punto de quiebre, una transición. El sexo, o más bien ciertas situaciones particulares relacionadas con el sexo, será el inicio del camino hacia la madurez de dos adolescentes, Julio y Tenoch. Situado en la ciudad de México, de donde el director es oriundo aunque hace unos años reside y filma en los Estados Unidos, el cuarto largometraje de Cuarón (ayudado por el guión de su hermano Carlos) resulta un film íntimo, personal y bastante alejado de sus producciones anteriores.

Courtesy of - More on the film
http://www.cineismo.com/criticas/y-tu-mama-tambien.htm
Y tu mamá también - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
I am fluent in Spanish but this version did have subtitles which helped with some of the Mexican dialogue but if you want to know more about it in English go here

Trailer

GoToBaby

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Hot stock - Oil Search - Yesterday I mentioned this stock and today and analyst on Bloomberg tipped it

I did some navigating and found this article


Worth buying? Oil Search may look a touch expensive on traditional valuation measures, with price-to-earnings ratio in the mid-20s for the next couple of years. However, this premium is justified, given the company's attractive long-term growth prospects.

Put simply, there are relatively few petroleum companies in the market with such strong and clear growth opportunities as Oil Search.

to read the full article
http://www.smh.com.au/news/money/hot-stock--oil-search/2008/05/12/1210444336098.html