Comments on: Currency wars enter new phase

By: Golem XIV - Thoughts

Golem XIV - Thoughts — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 17:56:28 +0000

That makes sense.

Most of France didn't use much credit either. They had debts and local monet lenders. But there was rent more than debt.

By: 24K

24K — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 17:35:40 +0000

Rob in 1,000 years it will still be the same but we'll be commenting on GOLEM MMXVIIVI's blog about the great Mars property bubble unless we can get the herd to look up for more than one second in the ad break beamed via wi-fi directly into the brain and show them hard bitesize facts in an easy format like a leaflet that's easy to read with a bit of colour. If we can do that Martin Luther King jr will be chuffed.

He could see it, i can see it, i know G can see it and Robbie baby i know you can too.

By: Tam

Tam — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:15:42 +0000

By the way, since we're talking films here, I'll mention something intriguing which I learnt from watching the German epic Heimat, (which follows the ups and downs of a village from 1918 to the late 60s) recently.

There are lots of comparisons currently being made with the economic situation in the 30s, but what was noticeable was that the Germans, (and presumably other Europeans) only started getting access to credit in the 30s, (it was a novelty in the village in 1933 at any rate) when there was already a recession in swing.
I'm not sure if this was a good thing or not, (WW 2 was about far more than just economics) but at the very least it's interesting to note that the debt cycle and economic cycle were out of sync that time around in contrast to now...

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:01:40 +0000

I re-read the Foundation books recently. It's a bit dated now, but it made me laugh considering that we cannot even predict what will happen in 2 weeks time, let alone 1000 years.

By: Golem XIV - Thoughts

Golem XIV - Thoughts — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 08:45:38 +0000

OK Tam, I'll try both. Am reading Iain Bank's latest at the moment.

By: Tam

Tam — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 07:57:33 +0000

Cryptonomicon is the best story about maths and geeks (as opposed to nerds, if you need clarification on the difference, look here) there is and it's written by someone who understands the subject, unlike certain pretentious literary types I'll refrain from naming here. If you consider yourself a geek, you'll love it. Don't be put off by its size although its even more massive prequels are more of an acquired taste.

Not sure if you'd like the remake of Solaris. If you love Tarkovski, you'd probably keep making comparisons when you watched it, but I though it was wonderful and very powerful in its own right. It's one of the few stories in which the characters' responses to an incredible situation is utterly believable; the imagery and sound are low key but haunting, and afterwards I felt really calm and cleansed, like I'd done yoga or a long mediation session.

By: Golem XIV - Thoughts

Golem XIV - Thoughts — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 07:23:27 +0000

24K,

Glad you approve of Tarkovski. I love Stalker. I shamelessly aped its brilliant opening when I made Soul Searching.

Tam,

I haven't seen the Cluney version of Solaris. Should I? Neither have I seen Together. I shall try to find it. I loved "My life as a dog". Sentimental perhaps, but then so am I.

Cryptonomicron is one of his I have not read. I loved Snow Crash. In fact its opening 30 pages are among my favourite pieces of modern writing. It contains so much insight about America and the present, never mind the future. The Deliverator!

Life of Brian - a gem.

By: 24K

24K — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 22:07:36 +0000

Sorry about turning your blog into imbd for the night but the funniest film about society is Monty Python's Life of Brian.

Still fresh and it's over 2,000 years old.

Bankers grrrr 🙂

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003A4OYAU/ref=asc_df_B003A4OYAU1038877/?tag=shopping-hg-21&creative=22110&creativeASIN=B003A4OYAU&linkCode=asn

Look at that bad boy! Dual use, manure and bankers! I'm getting you that one for christmas

http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/300468781015?ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&rvr_id=152185758971&crlp=1_262531_281231&UA=WXF%3F&GUID=3fdf468112b0a47a27033283ff7c4c24&mt_id=635&query=%7Bquery%7D&fitem=300468781015&linkin_id=8001609&kw=%7Bquery%7D&ff4=262531_281231

By: Tam

Tam — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 21:12:35 +0000

Also, if you love maths, have you read Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon? (I'm kind of taking it for granted you've read Carl Sagan's 'Contact', given your family…)

By: Tam

Tam — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 21:10:09 +0000

I know it's sacrilege, but the remake of Solaris is one of the few remakes that improved on the original, after they chopped out all that tedious bloody pondering outside the summerhouse.

Since you didn't ask, my favourite film of all time is the Swedish film 'Together'. It's a brilliant feelgood film, without being remotely emotionally manipulative. Like a cross between 'Happiness' and 'About a Boy', it's very funny and has some important things to say about where today's society came from.