District 9 - Poor or Impressive?

District 9 is a South African Science-fiction film created in 2009. It is directed by South African Neill Blomkamp, and produced by New Zealander Peter Jackson (Lord of The Rings). The film follows the life of protagonist, Wikus van de Merwe who is the field officer of MNU (Multinational United). Wikus' job is to relocate arthropod-like aliens that have been living in a slum called District 9.

The aliens arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa 20 years prior, famished and malnutritioned. MNU helped the aliens (Derogatorily named "prawns") by allowing them to live in district 9 and by allowing them equal rights to humans. MNU take matters into their own hands as conflicts between prawns and humans become substantial after many years. They begin relocating the prawns in District 9 into a new area just outside Johannesburg called District 10. While trying to relocate a prawn named Christopher Johnson, Wikus unknowingly ingests alien fluid. The alien fluid begins mutating Wikus into a prawn, and he is taken to MNU, but escapes after having undergone much experimentation. He pleads with Christopher the prawn to cure him, and he is given hope. Wikus and Christopher then venture into MNU to retrieve the fluid - which is the last remaining fluid available to fuel Christopher's space ship. Christopher makes a deal with Wikus that he will use the fluid to return to his home planet, only to return three years later to cure Wikus.

At first Wikus is enraged at the news, and turns on Christopher. Later, however, he learns to let go as the forces of the infamous Nigerians as well as the MNU are after him and Christopher. The plot plays on the theme of xenophobia, and is historically linked to the event of Apartheid (which occurred in South Africa as an act of racism).  Effectively, the humans show contempt toward the aliens - even though the laws protected them, they were still vulnerable to human superiority.

Poor or Impressive?
District 9 has awoken the originality within me that I thought had disappeared a long time ago. As a South African, I feel proud to review a film so controversial and original that I would never have thought about it myself. The film evokes heart felt emotions toward the end, even tough it is not intended to be a movie as such. In addition to this, District 9 was also funny as it displayed typical South African habits and personalities. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I truly believe it to be the "movie of the year."

Viva Wikus!

Hubble Telescope - The Amazing Universe Through New Eyes

NASA's nineteen year old Hubble Telescope is back after being refurbished. The telescope is fitted with a new powerful spectrograph - which enables it to see galaxies and stars billions of light years way. The new Hubble Telescope is now more light sensitive meaning it is quicker for distant objects to be observed. The telescope will focus on several things that will give insight into our universe. It will focus on the population of asteroids in the Kuiper Belt (which exists at the end of our solar system), the formation of new planets as well as stars, and will view planets in our solar system through their atmospheres (giving us insight into other planets). In addition, the Hubble Telescope will explore Dark Matter with more intent.

Dark Matter:
An invisible matter that is speculated to be the cause for the universe's mass. It was first theorized by Swiss astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky, of the California Institute of Technology,1933.

The following photos were taken on September 9 2009. They are a beautiful sight to behold.
Above: Butterfly Nebula - 3800 light years away
Below Top: Colliding Galaxies - Several Million light years away
Below Middle: Stephan's Quintet - 290 Million light years away
Below Bottom: The galaxy Messier 74 - 32 Million light years away

Additional information:

• Hubble Site - View all 57 new pictures
  
• Wikipedia - Dark Matter
  

Amazing but weird disfigurement - TREE MAN

 

Dede Kosawa (37) - also known as "tree man" is a man with a strange disfigurement. His body is covered by several kilograms of warts. These warts give him the strange tree shape appearance he has, and is a disease known as  Epidermosdisplasia Verruciformis. He contracted the disease when he scraped his knee at the supple age of fifteen. The gash soon sprouted warts and these soon spread around his body.

The Indonesian man makes a living by working in the circus, by performing in the "freak show". The term is horrible, but describes the performance accurately, as he is joined by many others with similar bizarre disfigurements.

Kosawa has been interviewed by Discovery Channel, as well as Ripley's Believe it Or Not. Incredibly, he has already undergone surgery several times and has had more than four pounds (1.8 kg) of warts removed from his hands and feet. After the surgery he reported being able to see the outline of his toes for the first time in several years. An American, Dr Anthony Gaspari, has taken it upon himself to attempt to cure Kosawa's disease. He has taken several skin biopses and hopes to help the poor man to continue the rest of his life in normality. He says he wants to meet a girl, get married, and get a proper job.

"Tree Man" after having 4 Lbs of warts removed from his body

Additional Information:

• Wikipedia - Epidermodysplasia verruciformis
• Discovery Channel - Half Tree, Half Man
  

Half life 2 Episode 3

For all those people who played Half life 1 or Half life 2 would have noticed that they were market changing games. Meaning that Half life 1 was the first game that was a first person shooter to be well received by consumers. When Half life 2 was released there was complete amazement and shock at how deep and interesting the storyline was. The graphics on both those games were completely unheard of at the time and even for a few years afterward.
Half life 2 episode 1 and 2 were released about a year apart. Valve used the Source engine for all of the games.
Although nothing much has been said about Half life 2 Episode 3, there are some things that valve have said to confirm that it is in existence and are working on it.
For instance, When Valve was questioned about Half Life 2 Episode 3 they did not deny that they were working on it.
Also Valve have recently stated that they will be learning Sign Language. They said that they would use this to explain why Dog and Alex can sign to each other and can "talk" to each other while no one else can understand what they are saying. This sounds like a interesting twist to the story.
I am very excited to see this latest installment for myself, and I hope that Valve will release early 2010. If it is anywhere near as awesome as any of the previous episodes I will definitely say well done to Valve.
Here is some concept art of how Half lIfe 2 Episode 3 will look.

Xbox: Project Natal

"This is a pivotal moment that will carry with it a wave of change, the ripples of which will reach far beyond video games"

STEVEN SPIELBERG

Xbox has recently announced the launch of a new product at E3 convention, namely project natal. Simply put, it is a video camera type peripheral that can be added to the xbox 360...Replacing the need for a controller! Essentially, it detects all motion as well as facial expressions and gestures, adding an all new aspect to gaming, never before experienced. It was released as a response to Nintendo's wii remotes. Playstation released a similar concept (Eye Toy) in March 18, 2005; however, these concepts are entirely different. Project Natal serves to completely mimic the actions of the gamer, immersing them in the game completely by use of smart technology that responds to your actions appropriately. 

In one example, Microsoft shows a scene where a boy preferred to ride on his own skateboard in a skateboarding game. He simply holds up his skateboard to the camera, commands it to "scan", and voila! Instantly his deck is in memory and he begins to skate away, the motion sensor detecting his movements as though he were really skating. Amazing. I can just imagine Gears of War 2 being played around my living room. Dipping and ducking behind the furniture would provide me with the ultimate adrenaline rush, and not to mention a completely new way of irritating all family members within the vicinity.

For more info:

http://www.xboxnatal.net/

Kite Surfing: The ultimate adrenaline rush

The feeling of wind in your hair. The feeling of gliding above the water, seemingly weightless. The feeling of power in the grasp of your hands. These and many more are the feelings that you experience while doing one of the most amazing sports that have ever been created in recorded history.

Although kitesurfing is a relatively new sport (only really saw a boom in the south African economy around 2 years ago) the amount of people that have caught on obviously suggests that it is not only highly enjoyable but also has other benefits such as muscle building and the decrease in risk of heart problems.


In the short time period that I have been Kitesurfing I have seen many people above the age of 60 going out into the water for a 2 hour session.


Although this seems highly unlikely, the art of true kitesurfing is not the high jumps or elaborate tricks that most people affiliated with Kitesurfing, but more the smooth passage of your body been easily pulled across the water.

There are many forms of Kitesurfing, including doing tricks, riding the waves or just gliding over the water.  
Kitesurfing is a relatively expensive sport to start (Full kit costing an average of R16 000 zar) but once all the equipment is bought you are free to go out and enjoy yourself any time that you want. The only thing that limits you will be your partner and the wind.
Kitesurfing is so addictive that a few people have rather left their spouses than give up their Kiting.
There is only one main problem with Kitesurfing, and that is that while you are in the water it is very difficult to tell how long you have been in for. My average session is about 6 hours, and everytime I get out of the water I am suprised at how long I have been in for. Therefore it is recommendable that a watch is worn while kitesurfing. Also never tell your partner that you will be home at a certain time, rather say that you will be home as soon as you can.
 
I have done many things including Bunjy Jumping and in my opinion I have never experienced an adrenaline rush that can be compared to when I am kitesurfing.

New joining: Jonathan... !!

Hello my fellow bloggers. I have just started as a blogger. I will be writing on Edible mince along with Davis. I hope that in the future I can write some informative posts that will help you to conquer your everyday battles between life, and well living. 

Due to the fact that I am new at blogging do not be afraid to comment on my posts or give me advice on things that could be written better.

Thank you, hope you enjoy my stay here at Edible Mince.