Bloodsport (1988, 92m, 6.8, 33|74%) is a cult martial arts action film made in the typical American Hollywood style, where the lines delineating good and evil are simple and audiences gather to either watch the fight scenes or the cute hero. It portrays the now-tired storyline of the young Westerner trained by an exotic, mysterious …
Tl;dr: I hacked at my OnePlus 3 for a few days to update from Marshmallow to Nougat, going the TWRP/SuperSU route. I then swapped stock GApps for OpenGApps pico, to minimize Google’s footprint. I ran into several problems, key being the “dm-verity” error message, but it all sorted itself out in the end. This is …
The past decade or so I’ve gotten into some real deep identity-, ethnicity-, and — more recently — genealogy-diving. I was extremely lucky in my search, the timing of it coinciding with the advent of the Internet as a true publicly accessible technology. I started with Poland but very quickly found myself in Germany, Israel, …
I am often asked why I’m so into family tree research, why I’m as deep into it as I am, why my research is so comprehensive and far-reaching as possible. Why not just plan for the future and let generations past stay buried where they are — what’s the point, anyway? Sometimes I’m asked rudely, …
After a surprisingly long relationship with my trusty rusty Nexus 4, I bit the $586.47 CAD bullet and got me a shiny new OnePlus 3. The honeymoon truly was up when I wasn’t able to properly update my custom ROM on the Nexus, but the screen suddenly losing huge chunks of responsiveness was really the …
After wrapping up my sport psychology MSc, I’ve returned to work in Vancouver to continue paying off student loans. That in itself is a different discussion: why does our current system so often leave our brightest, freshest, most enthusiastic and most prepared minds saddled with so much debt? Wouldn’t they be of more benefit to …
Christopher Moyer is a counselling psychologist who specializes in the niche field that is where massage therapy and psychology intersect. I had already cited him in my thesis without realizing he had only started blazing trails in the field. When the RMTABC recommended I check out more of his work, I was thrilled to find …
A Patriotic Man (Isänmaallinen mies, 2013, 97m, 6.3) is a Finnish comedy-drama following one man’s journey in balancing morality with patriotism while complicit in a serious doping conspiracy, loosely based on a true true scandal. It centres on Finnish Nordic skiers’ doping strategy to come out on top after a few years of unsuccessful results …
I just received an invitation to watch a neat video from a friend I made while still active in our university Polish-Canadian cultural association during undergraduate years. I was initially wary of the lightsaber battle because that’s just been waaay overdone, but when I realized the metaphor behind it, it suddenly didn’t seem as bad. …
In the Mind of Plants (L’Esprit des plantes, 2010, 52m, 6.6, 8.83) is a French documentary on the controversial and fledgling field of plant neurobiology. Its central theme is that plants are much more active, complex, and evolved than previously thought. I remember hearing in a genetics lecture that we share upwards of 95% of …
Despite previous speed bumps, I successfully updated my Nexus 4 to Lollipop Paranoid Android! There were many hiccups along the way, most notably an “Unfortunately, <random Google programs> have stopped working” error, and my accidentally deleting everything from my phone in a fit of frustrated curiosity (a dangerous blend) — including all backups, cache, Dalvik …
Intouchables (1:48, 2010, 8.6, 75|93%) is a French drama based on the real events of a rich quadriplegic and his unlikely, tough immigrant caregiver. A strange name, but this is just because the original French title was left untranslated (meaning “untouchables”). This is a nod to how both the disabled and immigrants are often looked …