Blade Runner, Weddings, Election 2007, Online Modifications

[tcpip]

Excellent weekend; started Friday eve with Blade Runner: The Final Cut at the Astor with imajica_lj, kremmen, hathhalla, ser_pounce, caseopaya and Michael C. all in attendance. The new, digitally-enchanced film has a few minor modifications, perhaps most notable being the extra crowd scenes and the original, more graphic (but not gratuitious), violence. Personally, I still think it's a little weak on that regard, but overall it is still one of the greatest films of all time.

On Saturday severina_242 and _zombiemonkey did the marriage thing, at the Old Treasury Building. Unsurprisingly, they both looked fantastic in their Victorian-era clothing and with their many Goth-type friends, it was all a very appropriate scene. Small dinner gathering afterwards at Pure South was likewise enjoyable. The setting a little modern for my tastes, but with excellent food. Didn't go to the "drinks and dancing" afterwards, but I'm sure it went well. Congratulations to both of you...

Following the Auditor-General's porkbarreling revelations, an assesment shows the Coalition election campaign has been a debacle from start to finish. Just when you think they couldn't get worse, last night Howard brought out the most brain-damaged policy for the entire campaign. Meanwhile, AWA's in action: when you have few buyers of a product and many sellers the price goes down. That's what happens to hospitality and retail wages.

In recent weeks, I've ditched my membership to libertarianism and anarchists. With the former convinced I am some sort of communist and the latter convinced that am sort sort of capitalist and one full of aggressive frat-boys and the other full infantile punks, it is far better to spend time in the quieter, more mature, more pragmatic, socialists community. On a similar angle, having reached the point of boredom on Warbook and frustrated with Scrabulous timing out, I've ditched all my Facebook applications. Suddenly... I have more time.

Comments

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

As much as I periodically despair over libertarianism, I have to say that reading socialists has only convinced me that if I were to habitually comment on it, I would have to spend my entire free time arguing. (This even though I'll give the community the benefit of the doubt here, and assume that the majority of it does not seriously lionise Hugo Chávez's crude rough-and-tumble socialism.)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

The thing is (a) socialist theory is so broad and (b) socialists recognise this so inevitably it means that rather than get into a long-winded argument, they tend to go "Oh, OK, our views differ".

(I reckon Chavez is rough-and-tumble; some of his economic and political decisions are seriously counter-intuitive. But heck, if I was an average poor man in Venezuala, I'd be voting for him..)

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

It's a good thing. Still, I do tend to feel as if there was some vast conceptual wall between myself and the socialist take on things, up to and including entirely different ideas of what the material facts are. But I suppose that may well reflect the limitations in my shade of thinking -- which, as welfarist a streak as it has, is probably still quitenssentially market capitalist in that wishy-washy "Old English liberalism" sort of way. I'll keep on reading, though, because I try to be ecumenical and because it's a rather smart community.

Seriously counter-intuitive

"Screaming bats*it insane" was the sentiment I was searching for, actually. But his fiscal foibles and regulatory heavy-handedness have had a number of extremely beneficial effects, too, and I can completely understand why the rural poor love him, particularly in the small ailing villages where Chávez has poured some of the dwindling heartblood of Venezuela's banks. And Venezuela is a fairly modern country. There is still much to cannibalise, so opportunities to fix things aren't exhausted yet.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

How do you feel about the politics of (lots of German words follow) ordoliberalism, soziale marktwirtschaft, wirtschaftswunder?

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

I come from a Nordic political tradition, so it's not surprising I tend to have a positive view of the German school, particularly its allowance of social provision to create class mobility, and its basic acceptance of antitrust legislation. I also feel it's more tolerant of social democracy, which allows for more leeway in the negotiation table.

That said, I feel the Röpkean crew can occasionally be rather trigger-happy with "efficiency" intervention, turning it into an arbitrary (and occasionally protectionist) anti-success weapon. This is perhaps more true for the CDU and the SPD than the FDP, but then again, Germany works on coalition, and practical policy never happens without either of these leading the show. But my criticism of European regulation practices, and the reasons I don't see oligopoly and monopoly as automatic and disastrous ogres, really deserve a longer discussion.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Overall I'm pretty impressed with the "social market" combination, I must say.. Which is something coming from my political background!

But my criticism of European regulation practices, and the reasons I don't see oligopoly and monopoly as automatic and disastrous ogres, really deserve a longer discussion.

Well they're ogres, but not not necessarily disastrous... IMO it depends more on who controls them and the relative elasticity of the demand of the goods or services they provide...