my.bicycle

The visuals in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus are a return to form for Terry Gilliam. The establishing shots of unusual landscapes, particularly the deserts and mountains, but most especially the monastery, were magnificent on the level of Darnkness' tower from Time Bandits . The contrast and saturation, vertical pans to expose and enforce the cheated perspective, the details layered so thickly they nearly transcend to synaesthesia and produce their own scent, and overall the glory that can be found in false shabbiness -- these are all in abundance. I am so happy to have seen such a feast of loveliness.  The performances are great, all around. Christopher Plummer is fabulous as the doctor, which surprised me -- considering the hullaballoo around Heath Ledger's unfortunate death during production, and his prominence on the cover and marketing materials, I had assumed that he'd be the titular character.  It's the story which has left me cold, in its ambiguity and un...

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" Gamification is also being used in corporate contexts , where employees can earn points for dealing with boring tasks such as updating documentation. Gartner even claims that more than 50 per cent of organisations that manage innovation processes will gamify those processes by 2015. Perhaps I’m old fashioned, but I thought that doing your job actually involved doing your job, and there was no requirement for it to be fun." In other words, "Humbug!" I recall an article predating the use of the term "gamification," and predating 10 years I've lived in Japan, where a research group was tasked with improving a bank's new employee training program. The consultancy used games to educate the new employees. It produced some astonishing results, with greatly improved knowledge retention, greater sense of job satisfaction, and improved communication across the participants. When the results were shown to the executive board which had paid for the study, de...

cherry blossoms , originally uploaded by chronovore .

Batzanne , originally uploaded by Suzanna .

Le muscle du sommeil , originally uploaded by Suzanna .