Novels
Movies
Currently reading: "Cryptonomicon"
by Neil Stephenson
From an editorial review:
In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse - mathematical genius and young Captain in the U.S. Navy - is assigned to detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a handful of people know it exists, and some of those people have names like Churchill and Roosevelt. The mission of Watrehouse and Detatchment 2702-commanded by Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe-is to keep the Nazis ignorant of the fact that Allied Intelligence has cracked the enemy's fabled Enigma code. It is a game, a cryptographic chess match between Waterhouse and his German counterpart, translated into action by the gung-ho Shaftoe and his forces.
Fast-forward to the present, where Waterhouse's crypto-hacker grandson, Randy, is attempting to create a "data haven" in Southeast Asia - a place where encrypted data can be stored and exchanged free of repression and scrutiny. As governments and multinationals attack the endeavor, Randy joins forces with Shaftoe's tough-as-nails grandaughter, Amy, to secretly salvage a sunken Nazi sumarine that holds the key to keeping the dream of a data haven afloat. But soon their scheme brings to light a massive conspiracy with its roots in Detachment 2702 linked to an unbreakable Nazi code called Arethusa. And it will represent the path to unimaginable riches and a future of personal and digital liberty...or to universal totalitarianism reborn.
A breathtaking tour de force, and Neal Stephenson's most accomplished and affecting work to date, CRYPTONOMICON is profound and prophetic, hypnotic and hyper-driven, as it leaps forward and back between World War II and the World Wide Web, hinting all the while at a dark day-after-tomorrow. It is a work of great art, thought, and creative daring; the product of a truly icon
Books I've recently read
Digital Fortress
by Dan Brown
This is my 3rd Dan Brown book. In summay, the National Security Agency, (NSA), has a top secret, totally invincible code-breaking machine called TRANSLTR, that has about 3 Millions CPUs in it and is especially effective against advanced electronic terrorism. An ex-NSA employee, Ensei Tankado, is a genius computer programmer and author of encryption algorithms. He has written a program that creates unbreakable encryption ciphers (there are no unbreakable ciphers, mathematically proved), named Digital Fortress. He claims that DF can never be broken because it uses a concept called changing strings.
Changing strings means that this encryption algorithm can never be broken because the plaintext is always changing: in a brute force attack, a computer tries all posible combinations of a key and compares the result to a potential plaintext. In this case, brute forcing would never work because the plaintext is always changing !!
Tankado is using this program to blackmail NSA, he wants a public disclosure of TRANSLTR. He claims that this multibillion dollar wonder machine that supports the CIA, FBI... and traces & monitors encrypted terrorists emails and chatting on the Internet, also violates human rights. It is able to open, decrypt and read everyone's email and reseal it without public knowledge. The US government has the capability, with TRANSLTR, of violating the privacy of computer users around the world. And Tankado is sworn to protect the peoples' right to privacy. Sounds like a terrific plot, right? That's why I bought the book.
Angels & Demons
by Dan Brown
I started reading Angels & Demons, after I read The Da Vinci Code, so I was used to the way Dan Brown plots his novels. If you like religious thrillers, I highly recommend you read this book. Similar to The Da Vinci Code, this book deals with a secret scientific brotherhood (The Illuminati), religion, dark assassin, and of course, Robert Langdon, Harvard's professor of Religious Symbology.
What is the Illuminati? In the middle ages, scientists swore revenge against the Catholic Church in retribution for the Vatican's crimes against scientists. Although the Church actively hunted these men, few were found, and it is now believed that many took refuge deep within the secret brotherhood of the "Illuminati".
I have learned a whole lot about the Vatican and Rome from Brown's extensive research in this book. There is plenty of information in this book it will definitely satisfy your need for knowledge in both science and religion: matter and antimatter, CERN, Gianlorenzo Bernini, Galileo, the swiss guards, the Vatican map, Castle St. Angelo, the Sistine Chapel, what's under St. Peter's basilica...
The Davinci Code
by Dan Brown
Once I began reading this great book, I could not put it down. I remember, one day I spent about 6 hours reading continuously !! This book is much more than a thriller. Dan Brown takes us beyond the main plot and leads us on a quest for the Holy Grail. In this book, the author introduces us to aspects and interpretations of Western history and Christianity that I, for one, had never known existed...or even thought about. I found myself, unwillingly, leaving the novel, and time and time again, going online to research Brown's research - only to find a new world of historic possibilities opening up for me. And my quest for knowledge and the answers to questions that the book poses, paralleled, in a sense, the quest of the book's main characters. What a trip! What a read!
A violent murder is committed in the Louvre Museum. The museum's chief director, who is also the head of a remarkable secret society that has existed since the death of Christ, is found dead on the floor near The Monalisa. In the minutes before he died, this very complex man was able to leave clues for his daughter to follow. The daughter, a brilliant cryptographer, along with a famous American symbologist, follow her father's codes and leads, hoping that he will, through his death, finally tell her what he wanted to confide in her while he lived. The secret society included members such as: Leonardo Da Vinci, Boccelli, Gallileo, Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, Jean Cocteau, etc. These folks really Did belong to this society, which Really existed! This is when I first began my online search.
The mystery takes us through England, France and far back in time. We learn about the secret of the Knights Templar, and the symbolism in many of the world's best paintings, as well as architectural symbolism in some of history's most sacred churches. The great thing about this book is the question mark about Jesus Christ and his relation with Mary Magdalene... I highly recommment this book.
Memory in the flesh
by Ahlam Mosteghanemi
This book has won the Najib Mahfouz prize for Arabic literature. This is a novel, a love story, a long poem and a symbolic historical fact. Every word in this novel has its place, the whole book is a superb work of poetry. On the first level, we have the author's experimentation with ideas: the writer writing about a writer who is writing a novel about her!! On a deeper level we have a symbolic relationship where a woman had become a country. The author's use of language couldn't have been any more superb. Every word is meant to trigger a whole stream of memories and emotions in the reader's mind.
Greatest Movies
Clockwork Orange
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick is one of the greatest filmakers of the 20th century. His greatest movies are Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining
A Clockwork Orange is an Adaption of a novel by Anothony Burgess. Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is one of those films that you will either love or hate. The film centers around the character of Alex DeLarge (played to perfection by Malcolm McDowell) a 15 year old "droog" who with his friends Pete (Michael Tarn), Georgie (James Marcus), and Dim (Warren Clarke) form a small gang or "droog" and who drink Milk mixed with drugs at the local "Milkbar" and then go out on the town at night, doing horrible things to people, from robbery to rape...
Due to a fall out with the rest of the gang, Alex is caught by the police after commiting murder, and condemned to spend 14 years in jail. Looking for a way to get out of jail early, Alex volunteers for a ground-breaking experiment, that supposedly transforms criminals into law-abiding citizens. He is chosen, and "conditioned" against violence, the end result being that he feels so sick only by the idea of committing a violent or sexual act. A secondary effect is that he now hates the music he had always loved, Beethoven's 9th symphony.
As a consequence of all this, Alex gets an early release from jail, and is thrown into the world without any kind of defense mechanism. The truth is, he has to be a model citizen because he doesn't have any other option. In a way, Alex is like a machine (a "clockwork orange"), because his actions are preordained. But how will the world treat this new Alex? And do his actions have any kind of merit, if they aren't inspired on free will? You can answer one of those two questions quite easily if you watch "A Clockwork Orange". The other involves a conclusion you will have to reach for yourself after watching the movie and reflecting on it for a while.
The performance of Malcolm McDowell as Alex is great. The entire movie revolves around him. McDowell was in his late twenties when he made this movie. In the novel Alex is 15 years old. So although being much older then his character McDowell plays the adventureous youth wonderfully. Suprisingly McDowell was not nominated for an Academy Award.
Another really strong element is the music. Music plays such an important role in this movie, a typical Kubrick movie: Gioacchino Rossini's "The Thieving Magpie" during the fight scence against the rival droogs. "The William Tell Overture" played 5 times too fast during the orgy scene and the use of Ludwig Van Beethoven's "Symphony no. 9" are just a few examples of how music plays an important role in this film.
Finally I want to add that this movie includes many explicit sex scenes, lots of violence, and parts that will make you feel disgusted. Even nowadays this movie is not for sale to persons under age 18 and is banned in Lebanon. When it was first released in 1971 it received an "X" rating.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Another Kubrick work. For me, this is the best Kubrick movie !!
The story begins in the prehistory and ends in the future. It begins with pre-men consciousness and ends in mystery. (Note that the last sequence in the movie is labeled in part as being "beyond the infinite"--whatever that metaphysical notion may mean.)
In my opinion, "2001" approaches the theory of evolution. We begin at The Dawn of Man sequence. We see that our ape-man ancestors are driven by curiosity. At this point, man is weak and stupid, but he is also adaptable and energetic. A monolith appears and as the film progresses, we see how the apes learn how to use a primitive bone as a tool, hence the evolution of technology, and the apes eventually evolve into man. As one of the apes throws the bone into the air, a jump cut ensues, bringing us to the film's present time. Another monolith is discovered which descends from Jupiter, and it's on the moon.
At the beginning of the "Jupiter Mission" sequence, astronauts David Bowman and Frank Poole, along with three scientists, who are in hibernation, set off for Jupiter on a spaceship named Discovery One, controlled by HAL 9000, a new, revolutionary computer system. The Discovery One is being sent to Jupiter - namely to find out what the monolith's transmission means, and where it goes. When HAL endangers the crew's lives and begins to malfunction, it's up to Dave to disconnect the computer, in order to save his life, then set forth to the home of the new monolith. We then enter the "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite" sequence, as he is then sent into another dimension, where we see that his human body is laid to rest and he is reborn as a new member of the next evolutionary species: a starchild.
I'll admit the movie is hard to appreciate, but if you can appreciate it for what it is, it is probably one of the most beautiful composed films in cinematic history. This movie can deliver so many different messages without a word.
I think Kubrick/Clarke has said that if anyone has understood this film, they (Kubrick and Clarke) have failed. You are not supposed to understand the ending, especially not the first time. I think the point of this film is that your are supposed to think about it for a long time. I like to think that Kubrick and Clarke left the ending open for everyone to interpret their own opinion on upcoming events after David Bowman is reborn as the star child. Also, you should check out the film "2010", which is a follow up to this movie (not directed by Kubrick - it was directed by Peter Hyams).
An interpretation of the ending would necessarily include the idea of time as being something other than we think it is. We see Dave as an astronaut in his thirties, and then as a middle-aged man dining in something like a very expensive Parisian apartment, and then on his death bed, and finally as a soon-to-be-born fetus returning to earth. I think it was wise of Kubrick not to attempt to explain what he clearly points to as unexplainable, as "beyond the infinite."
As usual, with a Kubrick movie, the soundtrack was phenomenal. It started with the Johann Strauss Blue Danube Walz to show the dancing of space vehicles, and it proceeded with a choral piece that indicated uncertainty and danger, and ended with a very strange orchestral piece that was perfect for representing the metaphysical aspect of the adventure. At times, the sound effect was that of quiet and sometimes only breathing, which emphasized the sense of isolation.
2001 A Space Odyssey explained
The Shining
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
The film opens with the Torrance family: father Jack (Jack Nicholson), mother Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and their son Danny (Danny Lloyd), driving out to the Overlook hotel for the winter, where Jack took a job there as the winter caretaker, which is a big task considering the resort resides high up in the mountains where heavy snowfall assures his family will be snowed in for months.
A struggling writer and recovering alcoholic, Jack sees this opportunity as a great way to write a novel: he would abe alone with his family in that hotel during the winter and all he's got to do is keep the lights and heat on, call in to a ranger station on the radio every few days, and he can sit back and collect a paycheck.
Problem is, spending five months alone in a hotel surrounded by snow hight in the mountains can bring on a powerful case of cabin fever resulting in weird behavior. It happened before at the Overlook, actually, as Jack learns during his job interview with the manager of the hotel. One previous caretaker slaughtered his entire family. Fun! Jack doesn't think he would ever do something like that!
Jack Torrance has absolutely no idea of the supernatural horrors in the Overlook hotel, but his son Danny does. It seems Danny has the ability to "shine" or read people's thoughts and see things that the rest of us don't see. And what he'll see at the Overlook hotel are: suicides from years past, rivers of blood pouring out of the elevators, and the deceased daughters of the last caretaker appear as if by magic in front of the terrified Danny. One of the worst horrors resides in room 237, a room a departing employee named Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) tells Danny to avoid like the plague. Hallorann has the ability to shine as well, and is fully aware of the powers the Overlook can unleash with ease. As the days turn into weeks, Jack descends into total insanity, terrorizing his stricken wife and son even as he falls under the spell of the spirits in the hotel.
This is a classic scarry/psychological thriller. Kubrick, as usual, really delivers in this film. It is so weird and yet so wonderful!
The first time you watch, you may miss many of the subtle touches of Kubrick throughout the movie: on the drive up to the hotel, listen for the sound Danny's tricycle in the hallway. Also notice that Jack is not looking at Grady when he is talking to him, but rather in the mirror at himself. Also note that when there is a ghost, there is always a mirror or window behind them. Finally, the final maze has a lot meanings.The Shining is an experience to savor.
21 Grams
Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
How many lives do we live? How many times do we die? They say we all lose 21 grams... at the exact moment of our death. Everyone. And how much fits into 21 grams? How much is lost? When do we lose 21 grams? How much goes with them? How much is gained? How much is gained? Twenty-one grams. The weight of a stack of five nickels. The weight of a hummingbird. A chocolate bar. How much did 21 grams weight?
They say we all lose 21 grams... who will be next?
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