The danger of veganism

Over the past few years, I have become convinced that you can eat a vegan diet that is mostly healthy, while minimizing your carbon footprint and contributing less to animal suffering.

So that is a good thing.

Still, I was always a bit uneasy about the whole thing.

The problem is, veganism has a name. A cutesy (though somewhat stupid), easy to remember name.

That makes it incredibly easy and seductive to change your diet (as hard as that is), and then to think, that's it, now I've got that whole ethical lifestyle thing down.

Where there's a name, people like to identify with it. People don't incorporate veganism into their lives - they ARE vegans. That's dangerous business.

Just do a youtube search for veganism and try to determine how many channels there are, just about that one topic.

The truth is, of course, that nutrition is only one part of a much larger set of issues. You will never have that ethics thing down, because that is an ongoing process, and you will always have to weigh the proposed benefits against your convenience, your resources, and your preparedness to actually change yourself.

You will never live a perfectly ethical life. You will never reduce your footprint to absolute zero. As long as you are alive, you will produce suffering.

So now you don't eat meat. But you drive a car. Or maybe you don't own a car, but you use public transport, and then there's that rare instance when you call a taxi. And that money you have in your bank account? You can be sure that some part of it will be invested in a company (which will invest it in another company, etc), and somehwere down the line it will end up in some field office of the mafia. You can try and buy your clothes from some "fair" company, but good luck checking their actual practices, and better luck not buying any gas or electricity that has any bad impact.

You will always have your hands dirty. It's unavoidable. That is the one catholic teaching that I, strangely, agree with.

A list of short (horror) films

HORROR
=======

Skypemare (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIFkut11Xpc)
7:09

I really liked that one. It's not your usual slasher story, and I totally didn't see the twist coming.

genre: horror
overall rating: 9 *********
scare factor: 7 *******
acting: 9 *********
plot: Two girlfriends have a video chat on Halloween, while a killer is on the loose...

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2AM: The Smiling Man (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u6Tt3PqIfQ)

A really good, short, scary/funny horror film. Well executed and with good atmosphere, and a nice unconventional basic idea.

genre: horror
overall rating: 10 **********
scare factor: 9 *********
acting: 8 ********
plot: A man on a lonely alley has a scary encounter with an uncanny smiling man.

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Vienna waits for you (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_hsU2O_o50)

In Vienna, you don't rent apartment. Apartment rent you.

This is intense, well written, intelligent and quite scary. The only downside is the less-than-optimal SFX, especially towards the end.

genre: horror
overall rating: 9 *********
scare factor: 8 ********
acting: 6 ******
plot: A young woman moves into an old apartment that not only has a will of its own, but also seems to change its tenants.

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The Cut (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46BhPSCvnAI)

I clicked on it because I fell for the clickbait. Otherwise it's just indistinct.

genre: horror
scare factor: 4, but that's only because of the music; the video itself is a 0
acting: undecidable due to constant darkness.
plot: A man shaves in his apartment.

---

So pretty (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwLWAkZCUzM)

It wasn't really scary, but a pretty refreshing take on vampires.

genre: horror
scare factor: 2 **
acting: 9 *********
plot: In the subway, a woman and a man relate over a "Twilight" book.

---

Apartment 41 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_dBw7Npsq8)
6:37

Watchable. The basic idea is quite fine, but the unbelievable twist ruined it, and the topic has been done to death (haha).


genre: horror
overall rating: 6 ******
scare factor: 5 *****
acting: 5 *****
plot: A woman moves into an apartment and gets terrorized by a ghost.

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Audition (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwR-3AzzoXE)
14:20

I didn't find this scary, but it has atmosphere and style and is based on a somewhat not-too-bad idea.

genre: horror/thriller
overall rating: 6 ******
scare factor: 2 **
acting: 7 *******
plot: He invites her for an audition, but his intentions are less than noble.

---

Blink (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Ichw5xq44)
12:36

Yeah, well. Whatever

genre: horror
overall rating: 5 *****
scare factor: 4 ****
acting: 8 ********
plot: A man's terrible nightmares invade his real life.
comment: There's really not an awful lot to say. You'll guess the plot twist after 2 minutes.

---

Cougars (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CphvRVK0EpU)
15:00

 More funny than scary. Lesson learned: If you don't have a budget, don't try special effects. Some good atmosphere stuff going on in the beginning, but it ultimately builds up to nothing.

genre: horror
overall rating: 5 *****
scare factor: 1 *
acting: 6 ******
plot: Young girl's mother is a cougar. Turns out the daughter ain't much different.

---

OCD (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0c_f0bDUJY)
7:09

I'm sure this works great as a piece of narrative, but the off-screen narration ruins the movie, and the acting is mediocre.


genre: horror
overall rating: 5 *****
scare factor: 1 *
acting: 3 ***
plot: Guy with OCD has an incident.


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now,here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74piN4xAdIY)
5:30

A pretty good twist, a neat location and a cute girl... But the production values and bad, bad acting make it stink, sink, and rot.

I wrote a comment on that video on how it might be improved. Find me there... Do you agree with me?

genre: horror:
overall rating: 5 *****
scare factor: 2 **
acting: 2 **
plot: They go to a derelict house for a photo shoot, and bad things ensue.


SCI-FI
=====

Project Arbiter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MWQHBsalOM)

As of writing, I haven't even watched this to the end, but it looks pretty darn good.

genre: sci-fi
overall rating: 9 *********
acting: 7 *******
plot: Something about WWII and the Wunderwaffe. Frankly, I didn't pay too much attention because I was so caught up in admiring the visuals. The only annoying thing is when they try to talk german. I'm a german native speaker, so this really took me out of it.

---

ENVOY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3-21AMbFFk)
9:14

Nicely done, to the point and simple.

genre: sci-fi
overall rating: 9 *********
acting: 8 ********
plot: A young boy and his older brother discover something alien lurking in a field.