• Action movies in a digital age

    While growing up I was taught how organized crime works. Not because of any real life experiences but because of the movies and shows I've seen on television. Of course they are the bad guys, but wouldn't it be awesome if they could really rob three casinos at the same time?

    These media reflections of some of the more dark sides of the world shaped our worldview of how these things work, whether they are accurate or not. These views guide me whenever I see something in the news about organized crime. Not only in a way that enhances my enjoyment, but also in a way where I can better digest the facts surrounding the stories that sound so familiar.

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  • NOVUS ORDO INTERRETE

    NOVUS ORDO INTERRETE on the mainstage of #tnw2013

    Yesterday I volunteered at a webtech conference called The Next Web. It's a pretty big here in Amsterdam and it was an awesome experience.

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  • Bitcoin and some of its misconceptions

    I've been watching the Bitcoin community for some time now, I think the possibility of creating a whole way of thinking in terms of currencies is extremely interesting. However since a couple of weeks mainstream media has caught on to the story and has tried to explain it while making a lot of basic errors, for example:

    • You can make free money with your computer.
    • Bitcoin is not stable.
    • Bitcoin crashed because it got DDoSed.
    • Bitcoin is a ponzi scheme.
    • Bitcoin is anonymous.
    • We can't trust Bitcoin because we don't know who created it.
    • Bitcoin is for buying drugs and other illegal stuff.
    • Bitcoin is only for geeks because you need to understand a lot before you can mine your own bitcoins.

    The Bitcoin Wiki also has a page devoted to Common Myths.

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  • Detropia

    A confronting documentary about Detroit, one of the biggest promises of last century.

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  • First thoughts on famo.us

    Famo.us is a new 3D framework for the web. When I came across it for the first time a couple of weeks ago my first reaction was: no way this will work.

    I'm not so close minded as my first response anymore, now I'm just curious wether this will work as advertised. A new article on Forbes just came out explaining the tech tool to all the non techies out there. The article is extremely positive towards the framework, a little positive is good, but to prophecize a new revolution might be a little early.

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  • Animatrix

    I was still a kid when the first Matrix movie came out. Though I can still remember the debate my parents had when I asked if I could watch it: Is he ready for it? The movie itself was quite mind opening for it's time (for a Hollywood blockbuster atleast), but my parents were probably more afraid of how I would interpet the movie. I was the day dreaming kind of kid and would this 'question reality' concept do me any good?

    It was only until a couple of years ago I began to better study the whole philosophical concept behind the trilogy, which is extremely fascinating. I just came to the realisation that the debate of wether I should be aware of such theories is still perfectly valid today.

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  • Turning into a zombie

    Rob Heaton describes a feeling a bit to familiar:

    Too often I feel like spending time doing things right or at least defensively wrong is intellectual self-indulgence. Get it done! Ship it! But bad code slows you down far more than good code does. It's too easy to write something crap, be forced to write several layers of crap on top of that, shout "LEAN STARTUP" at anyone who questions you and make a shamble for the exit. You need a very good and immediate reason to write bad code, and a vague feeling of pressure or lethargy is not enough.

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  • Sleepwalk with me

    Sleepwalk with me

    A romantic drama about a standup comedian, do I have to say anything else?

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  • Waste Land

    Sometimes we need a little reminder of how lucky we are compared to some people on the other side of the world. It's hard to not look away at the problems we create ourselves only but affect others.

    pickers on the largest trashpile in the world

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  • Melancholia

    Justine in Melancholia

    When the end of the world is being featured in a movie you can be pretty sure it is an action movie like 2012 or something big to say the least. But how about a wedding with very complicated and entangled relationships with most of the people there? This is only the prologue of this drama / sci-fi movie filled with artistic and classical screenplay.

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I'm Mike, a student from Amsterdam. I work on a boat and live in an old school building.

This is where I post all the bits and pieces that make up me.

@mikevanrossum