A fair bit has been said and written about the three strikes policy of ACT and the National Party. Of course it will frustrate judges, and endanger the lives of victims and make it even more difficult to mitigate the social cost or maximise any social benefit from rehabilitating offenders. So I won't rehash that lot. I have been given pause by thinking about domestic violence though. What does a beaten partner do when a conviction for assault will see their partner in prison for a minimum of 25 years? How on earth does that help that family get the help they need? What are the odds that it will simply stop the initial complaint to the police, making the whole situation inevitably worse.
Particularly ironic given that the vast majority of the increase in violent crime statistics has been due to victims of domestic violence actually reporting to the cops, and the cops actually having a policy of recording and doing something about it.
Meanwhile, Avatar is doing quite well.
I used to think that Computer Graphics were interesting, but fundamentally about either displaying graphical information (e.g. election results and cricket statistics) or as curiosity pieces. They never seemed to me to amount to much as a visual extravaganza.
I have been forced to change my mind. The crop of recent movies, and Avatar obviously, have been so good I didn't notice the effects. Which is extraordinary in its own right. But this short film (http://www.vimeo.com/7809605?hd=1) the third and the seventh makes me think CG is now a fully-fledged technique in film-making. Almost even a sub genre in itself?
In watching this clip, I found myself noticing that the level of control executed by the film makers was of an extraordinary level. When you think that they didn't just search for a cool camera, they actually created everything about it - the details involved become much more significant. Given they could have chosen any sort of leather - why that particular look? Why make the concrete appear exactly like that? I suppose (coming late to the party on film analysis), that this over-constructed film reflects the lengths we go to to create built spaces. And in that reflection, it starts to make me reconsider built spaces and my relationship to them.
Also, I can listen to the music even without looking at the film.