Movie Review: San Andreas (2015)

Tremors.

I can sum up this blockbuster action disaster flick in just one phrase: The Rock vs. the Fault.  Dwayne Johnson and the San Andreas, that is!  Johnson's established himself as an action movie star of the first order long before this flick, and he'll be one long after it.  That's good, because San Andreas is pretty much a huge, noisy, bombastic CGI cartoon of geological mayhem and mass urban destruction.  (Weather forecast: Cloudy with a chance of storage ship containers.)  I'd be lying, though, if I said that I wasn't stupidly entertained for 2 hours, because I was, and that's due almost entirely to the Rock's own irrepressible personal charisma.  Is the movie preposterous in a dozen different ways?  Yes, it is.  Did I have fun anyway?  Yes, I did.

Taiwan: Driving In The Rain

This happened yesterday in the Old Country in Keelung. Wait for it ...

Flooding in Central Europe

Photos of the terrible weather and its effects.  #13 especially caught my eye.

Rescue Me

Tales of real-life heroism and derring-do from 1939 to 2009.

Thank Goodness It's a New Week

Last week was almost unremittingly horrific: the Boston Marathon bombing, the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas, the earthquake in China.  The admirable behavior of decent common folks who rushed to help in bad circumstances was almost (but NOT) outshouted by the incredibly awful behavior of some news media and partisan pundits looking to score cheap points.   Let's not give any more time to people behaving badly; instead let me encourage you to donate to one of the many charities who are working in the aftermath of these disasters.

The highlight of the entire week of dread is that the bombing suspects did not escape.  Add the funeral of Maggie Thatcher, not that it happened, but that it was a reminder of that great lady, the first woman to be head of a major Western nation.  We're all emotionally exhausted.  Here's looking forward to a new week, as I wish you all the very best.  I'm not feeling too well, so there might not be too much posting.

Remembering the Japanese Quake and Tsunami

It has been one year.  Commemorations are underway.  Spare a moment to remember the estimated 19,000 who were lost that terrible day.

History Lesson: 100 Years in 10 Minutes

This is an interesting compilation, though I do take issue with the fact that the selection is often desultory and that it focuses too much on the negative and does not include enough mention of humanitarian, scientific, medical, artistic, and other forms of achievements.  (No, mentioning the founding of Greenpeace does not count.)   It's so pessimistic, complete with the depressingly doom-tastic soundtrack.  I also found it a little odd that the founding of Israel in 1948 was not included, even though this moment in history is hugely important both to supporters and opponents.  Well, still, whoever made this took the time and effort to do this, so props to them.  Maybe I should make my own video.

A Look Back: 45 Memorable Images of 2011

A picture says a thousand words.

7.2 Earthquake in Turkey

Breaking.  Just heard from a friend of mine who studied in Turkey.

Smoke Should Be Only For Barbecue

Take a look at this terrifying map of the current wildfires sweeping across Texas, courtesy of La Parisienne.  The Lone Star State's disastrous drought -- the worst in 50 years -- has made it a tinderbox ready for wildfires.


UPDATE 2:  See just how fast the wildfire at Bastrop can move:

UPDATE 1: The map was scary enough, but the video ... Here is footage from the fires at Bastrop outside Austin.  Overall in the last week, some 1000 homes and 100,000 acres have gone up in smoke.  Utterly horrifying.

*Insert Tumbleweeds* The Texas Drought

Not good at all.

Japan: Cleanup Continues

Here are some encouraging before-and-after photos of Japan's massive cleanup and rebuilding efforts after the March earthquake and tsunami.

Tornado in Taipei!

Michael Turton links to this amazing video footage of a twister in the middle of Taipei.  It caused only minor damage, but it still was, as you hear one person say in the video, "So scary!"  No kidding.

Tornado in Tuscaloosa

Tornadoes have struck all over the southern US with a death toll now over 300, and this is one example of the twisters wreaking havoc.  YIKES.

Perspective: Japan's Crises Nuclear and Humanitarian

Lately there's been overwhelming and near-hysterical media frenzy about the Fukushima nuclear reactors (which, by the way, cannot become nuclear bombs), and the frenzy is fed in part by the fact that there's a lot of scientific ignorance and misinformation about nuclear power and radiation (here is, for instance, the usually flippant xkcd doing yeoman's work with its explanatory graphic of everyday radiation levels).  I don't want to underplay the very real concern.  See also information on nuclear reactors, radiation, and Fukushima posted by the blog of MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering.  (I'd also like to point out its comment on nightmare scenarios flooding the media -- they have "varying degrees of scientific merit," which is diplomatic Nerdish for "there's a lot of BS out there.")

But amid it all, though, I can't help feeling that the Fukushima coverage has all but forgotten the much greater and far more terrifying crisis everywhere else in Japan: the humanitarian one as millions of Japanese struggle to cope amid the devastation.  

Aid and relief workers are piling in (here is a riveting account by an Australian aid worker), but the need is unfathomably vast ... and every little bit helps.  Let the specialists keep on  Fukushima, but for God's sake, let us all please do what doesn't require such expertise -- and by that I mean everything we can for the folks.  The next time you're tempted to flip out about Fukushima, I challenge you to give $5 to a charity working in Japan.

How "Tsunami" Entered the English Language

When and how?  In 1896 in National Geographic.  

PSA: Sandra Bullock Is Kinda Awesome

I might make snarky comments about her fashion choices, but Sandra Bullock is kinda awesome.  I think I'm so used to seeing celebrities act like self-centered idiotic basket cases that I'm actually surprised when one behaves with understated grace, generosity, and consideration for others.  Sandra also gave much to relief efforts after the Haitian disaster and Katrina. Good on you, Sandra!

A Tale of Two Tsunamis?

Hmmmm.  Well, OK, but in the increasing criticism of Obama as "the president who wasn't there" and his foreign policy as being composed of "the missing presence of the US," it brings up another issue: Here's the world you wanted, those of you who wanted a world without the US as the robust, resolute, active leader -- big bad warmongering imperialist America.  Life without America?  Be careful what you wish for.  You just might get it.  Especially if there's a photogenic but empty suit in the Big Chair.  Related: Libya, duh.

Photos from Japan: Horror and Hope

More photos of unimaginable devastation ... and amid it all, a tiny, precious glimmer of hope.  UPDATE:  A tale of two dogs.

6 Minutes from Trickle to Flood

This video of the post-earthquake tsunami in Japan will leave you stunned.  There are no words.