Gran Torino

January 25, 2009

The following is free of spoilers.

Clint Eastwood’s (in every sense as director, producer and lead actor) Gran Torino is simply excellent.  I wish he’d act in more films these days.

He plays Walt, a Korean-war veteran who is openly unaccepting of a neighbourhood largely taken over by Asian immigrants and non-caucasians.

We see him progress from ignorance, surely using every racist Asian term known to man, to familiarity and understanding and finally to acceptance and genuine friendship with his Hmong neighbours.  He even gets to kick some ass along the way.

HMR: 5/5


The Daily Show on Obama’s Inauguration

January 23, 2009

English: The last line of defense against malware?

January 13, 2009

The other day my mum-in-law called and was worried about her PC.  It was displaying messages that there was a virus and asking what to do about it.

So I figured I’d have to try and find out where these notifications were coming from.  Were they from a legitimate source like Windows Defender or an antivirus program?  Or was it some web site displaying hoax popups, trying to get the user to download and run some nasty piece of code?

But I didn’t have to go down that route, as she went on to say something like, “But what it says isn’t even correct.  It says, ‘A virus on your computer has been founded’.”

That was enough to convince me that it was a hoax.

So to all you malware authors out there in my blog readership:  If you want to trick someone into downloading your nasties then work on your presentation, grammar and spelling.


Hollick 2004 Cab Sav

January 13, 2009

I was delightfully delighted by this Coonawarra drop.  It has an intense (in a good way) taste that pleasantly lingers.  Apparently it has excellent potential for cellaring so I may just have to acquire some more of it!

HWR:  4/5