The Engineered Boulderer

I know it’s a little late to post a link to an article after it’s been on Digg, however, I think this article is the closest I’ve seen to revealing the secret of why Pixar is so successful.

“All these other animation groups want to be like Pixar, but they steal the wrong things from them. They don’t steal the actual process, which is take your time, hold out for the good stuff, which is kind of what `Ratatouille’ is all about.’ Don’t just stuff yourself with bland garbage. Wait for the good stuff.”

Pixar perfectionists cook ‘Ratatouille’

I have twice managed to catch part of The Corporation on Swedish TV. Through the Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company SVT often send programs of social relevance, The Corporation is one of these programs.

A few weeks ago I saw most of the first of three parts, in which the pathology of the corporation is analysed. Essentially, the corporation exhibits traits that would in humans be characterised as sociopathic/psychopathic. Since corporations in the US have been seen as people in the legal sense since the 1800s, this comparison is more apt that you would initially seem. While there are corporations that do good, and most corporations don’t do bad, the examples of corporate behavior that is pulled forth is nothing short of chiling.

Today I saw some of the third part. The scenes I saw discussed how we, as consumers and citizens, can influence the corporations that work in our countries. As examples we were told the story of consumer groups in the US that exposed the child labor practices of GAP and the clothes line of Kathie Lee Gifford, as well as the story of Beltech who had bought the rights to the water in Bolivia, and how the people of Bolivia revolted to regain their most precious resource from a company whose only obligation is to its shareholders (as is the obligation of any corporation).

It is times like this that I realise that my socialist “heritage” is not as far away as I would usually believe. I can recommend The Corporation, and hope you will get driven to gain a better understanding how corporations are influencing our lives, as I have.

We went to see War of the Worlds last weekend. All in all a good movie that I would definitely recommend.

I knew that there would be aliens and such in the movie, but the trailers had cunningly kept the appearance of the aliens and their destructive machines hidden. The effect was that the first sign of the aliens was totally unexpected, very cool.

The fact that Tom Cruise is also just a simple man trying to keep his family alive, and not some “super” hero like we’ve seen in movies such as Independence Day, also helped make the movie more believable. I’m not saying it’s the most realistic movie, but until the last 10 minutes when Spielberg shifted into Happy Ending mode it was a very good movie. I’ll give it two thumbs up.