What is the future of 3D?

I read an interesting letter from Walter Murch, a respected editor and sound producer, written to Roger Ebert, movie critic extraordinaire.  The piece was entitled, "Why 3D doesn't work and never will.  Case Closed." (blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2011/01/post_4.html)

In his letter to Ebert, Murch draws on his extensive experience to tell us that 3D does not work in cinema because, essentially, he does not like it.  His explanation was very technical and, to the average person, sound - but was his conclusion correct?

I was just a boy when television came into being.  It was a tiny image, with no colours and had a tendency to go fuzzy and flicker.  I wonder what Murch would have said about television in 1952?  Just like any technology, it gets better over time.  3D cinema in 2011 is better than television was in 1952 and it will get better as technology improves.

But will improved technology ever come to market or will it be sidelined by corporate interests?  Can't happen?  Remember back to the Beta versus VHS battles of the 1980/90s.  Beta was a much better technology but it was sidelined by corporate interests.  It is humerous to see that producers and editors worked with Beta technology right up to the point that their work was published in VHS format.

I can guarantee you that neither Murch nor Ebert has seen real quality 3D without glasses, technically called autostereoscopy.  It is a game changer, addressing many of the issues that Murch brings up, and is ready to launch next year.

The death of 3D cinema is not upon us.  A new day will dawn.

Bad morning to be Canadian

I woke up about 6:00 this morning, still a little sleepy but, as much as I can be, ready for the new day.  I dressed, put out the garbage, had breakfast and settled down with the newspaper to inform myself about the wonders that are my life.  That was when everything changed.

David Pugliese is one of my favourite writers.  He specializes in stories about DND.  So what was it about our wonderful men and women in Blue, White and Green that set off my day?  Well it wasn't necessarily the ones in uniform... it was the bureaucrats and the politicians that pissed me off.

It is a bit of a conundrum that thousands of Canadians died around the globe in two world wars and recently 160 died to bring democracy to Afghanistan - but here at home - we have what is fast becoming a fascist state.

The information censors at DND and in the Minister's office (and you can be very sure that the PMO had a hand in this) decided that the sensitive minds of Canadians should not be burdened with the news that $600,000,000 of their tax dollars was being spent to upgrade the newly-acquired Nortel building in west Ottawa.  Why suppress the information?  "There is no context for the expenditure and the Minster will get asked question that we do not want to answer," says the minster's office.  Why hide the information.  They bought a building that was built for a purpose different from their own - certainly it will cost to retrofit it.  The fact that they want to suppress the information leads us to wonder what else is going on?

This follows on the heals of the $470,000,000 expenditure on an American satellite program that the minister's office deemed not to be of interest not only to Canadians but to parliamentarians... the ones that should be approving the funds.

So that is over $1 billion already.  Combine that with the past revelations and stories that have not yet emerged and this government makes the Sponsorship Scandal look like chump change.  Oh, I know what you are thinking - that Sponsorship Scandal included funneling money to party hacks.  Well stay tuned because that shoe has yet to fall on these DND follies.

Next up?  The F-35 contract and maybe something on the CH-146 maintenance program?

Enough is enough

At what point in time do Canadians rise up on their two hind feet and yell at the top of their lungs. "Enough Is Enough"?

Since the beginning of Canada we have been seen and used as a source of raw material.  Beaver pelts, trees, coal, oil, fish... you know the list.  It is a rare occasion that we call upon ourselves to demand that we refine our resources into products - a process that creates jobs and raises the value of the resources.  But every time we do rise to the occasion we are pounded back down by either our competition or OURSELVES!

Case in point?  The Oil Sands.  Here we have a natural resource that we dig out of the ground and extra the oil from the bitumen.  We then sell the oil at a price that is higher than the bitumen.  Good deal.  But what happens now?  Welcome the Keystone XL pipeline, promoted by Canadian industry and our government.  The goal of the Keystone pipeline is to take the bitumen and ship it to the US where they will extract the oil, refine it into fuels and ship some of it back to Canada.  Some of what, you may ask?

If you know any of your history, you will recall that a few years ago there was a push to get countries who supply raw uranium for nuclear reactors to repatriate the spend fuel back to their own countries for disposal.  The jury is still out on that issue.  But assuming that logic, can we extrapolate that the US can extract the oil from the bitumen and then ship the refuse back to Canada?  Now wouldn't that just be good thing?

So let's see what we have here.  We mine bitumen and extract the oil in Canada.  Now our government wants to help build a pipeline to ship the unrefined bitumen to Texas.

Sounds about right! 

The legal profession gets a slap-down

I am not a fan of the legal profession.  That is not to say that I do not like lawyers, I have a brother-in-law who is a lawyer, and I like him.  I am also not too fond of accountants... but that is another story.

There is a case currently winding its way through the tortures of the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) which I am watching in awe.  A certain Ontario Paralegal was disbarred in 1989 by the LSUC  for allegedly over-billing of the legal aid system.  Legal Aid investigated the allegations and found that the Paralegal was not guilty of the charges of over-billing.  They sent a cheque for $150,000 as payment for services to the Paralegal.

Not satisfied that their allegations were found bogus, the LSUC decided to pursue the Paralegal through an internal LSUC procedure to expell the Paralegal from his profession.  The LSUC is failing miserably because they have no case.

So why is the LSUC pursuing this Paralegal?  It is simple.  They want to control paralegals to the point where paralegals cannot act without the consent of a lawyer... a lawyer who will also bill the client for the overseeing - even if they do no work.   It is GREED.  Simple GREED.

That is what the Occupy movement is all about.

You can read more on this case at: http://harrykopyto.ca/2011/11/18/law-societys-case-of-kopyto-as-fraudster-falters

Companies the world over.

I have done a lot of work all across the world.  I have worked with British companies and Canadian companies and Japanese companies and American companies, and I have found that they are all different.  Generally, British companies are innovative and fun to work with.  Canadian companies are timid and Japanese companies are overly regimented.  American companies are arrogant to the point of becoming their own worst competitor.

Truth be told... there is a recession

I have been in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for the last week.  If you look around this place, with boarded up businesses and foreclosure sales of homes, you understand that the recession in the US is real.  Government is out of money and people know it.  Contrast that to the Republican candidates debates where every debater blames one man for everything.  Obama, of course.  Congress, the Senate, state and local governments are out of control... and that is Obama's fault?

And what happened to American patriotism?  They crap on their president like he is a middle-eastern oil sheik with an AK-47.

The US is a dying empire.  They just haven't come to grips with it yet.