Categories of Transhuman technologies.

While studying public reactions to Transhumanism for my dissertation I discovered that people viewed the permissability of different elements of Transhumanism very differently. This is when the problems with defining Transhumanism become clear. Is Transhumanism any technology or technique used to design oneself? Is it already among us? Is plastic surgery an example of Transhumanism? Is caffeine? Is training? Is this too many questions? Has it got to the point where it's ridiculous? Has it? Have I? Have you???

In order to help somewhat I propose the following categories for describing various transhuman techniques in terms of the actual procedure and physical cange involved. I have also arranged them roughly in terms of current perceived acceptibility (or my perception of the perception...or something). Please quote me if you wish to use the terms in your own articles:


Repairing - Potentially Transhuman technologies used in a non-transhuman way.

Advanced training/Lifestyle adjusting - Extreme training techniques that go outside the realms of casual fitness such as becoming ambidextrous, calorie restriction, weight lifting or omni training.

Augmenting - A removable attachment that enhances capabilities, such as a hypothetical 'Iron Man' armour or to a lesser extent speedsoles or even a watch.

Boosting - A temporary measure such as caffeine, steroids or non-insertional gene doping.

Embelishing - a permanent or semi-permanent external change that serves no real purpose such as a piercing or tattoo.

Restructuring - rearranging external or internal elements of a human, for example plastic surgery.

Replacing - permanently replacing an organ or limb with something such as bionic legs. Often here the Transhuman aspect might be more of a side affect than the intended purpose of the procedure (intended as a Repairing procedure but resulting in enhancement).

Adding - permanently integrating something additional into the human form such as a brain chip.

Altering - where the actual biological structure of the human is changed, such as when modifying DNA.

Redefining - a change so great that the person is unrecognisable as human, such as a consciousness upload.

Transhumanism Focus Group Take 1

As some of you may know, for my dissertation I'm doing the 'public perception of Transhumanism' (read as 'Adam's mates talk about Superheroes' - how did I pull that one off???). There are lots of journal articles available on the web that discuss the permissability of Transhuman technologies from a scientific perspective (download a whole zip file of them here: www.the-biomatrix.net/Transhumanism.zip), but there has thus far been nothing on what the general public make of these ideas which is a problem as it is the general public who will get the final say on whether or not they become mainstream. That's where my study and I step in. Interesting stuff.

To achieve this I am using focus groups - semi-structured conversations between 5-8 people - and the first took place last Tuesday. I was pretty nervous about this at first as I'd never done anything like this before. I actually used to be the go-to guy for speeches and presentations at my old sixth form but that all ended in flames when I gave the gaduation speech on 2 hours sleep. Turned out I had my qeue cards in the wrong order. Obvious thing to do in that situation? Read them in the random order I found them in. Could have gone better...

Anyway I woke up at 7am to prepare my handouts and was shitting myself. I decided to OD on caffeine tablets too which may not have been the best idea. Although with my i-Phone, caffeine tablets and springboost shoes and springback speedsoles I was something of a testament to human enhancement myself.

Printing out the handouts in the libray I started dancing to my music though which greatly improved my mood. When I then arrived in 16AD04 and saw the set up with the cameras, recording devices and one-way glass I suddenly went on a power trip that dispersed the last of my nerves. I realised that all this was was a conversation with my mates, except better because everyone had to talk about what I told them to.

So how did it go? Actually it went pretty fantastically and ran over to be twice as long as anticipated (and as I'd promised my participants... :-S). I have literally tonns of data to work with (and to transcribe... joy).

One thing that was clear from the start was that generally no one has heard of Transhumanism. For such a potentially transformative subject (no pun intended), it's suprising how little is known. When asked to speculate as to what Transhumansim was, most people were along the right track (except those who thought it was somehow related to cross-dressing or sex changes... come on guys, why would I be doing my dissertation on that??), and parralells were drawn to science fiction. So far, the general concensus seems to be that Transhumanism isn't cool. As a transhumanist, this is kind of upsetting. Especially as the study might be being published. Am I going to inadvertantly be the guy who puts an end to a movement I've followed with great interest? Am I going to be the guy who pisses all over the great bonfire of Transhumanism?

The objections were varied. One of the issues that was raised was the idea that enhancement technologies ('surplus' advancements as one participant described them), would lead to a greater class divide as only the rich and wealthy gain access to the ability to be faster and smarter. I however pointed out that this was already the case in many ways as the rich afford better cars, computers, clothes, medicine and food. I put it to the group that really Transhumanism was no different. The counter argument for this, which was interesting, was that Transhumanism could be used as a weapon - and that was how it was different. This was a theme that actually came up regularly, along with a general mis-trust of the government and any other powers that might be put in place to regulate the technology. Could this be inspired by science fiction stories of dystopian futures brought about by genetic technology?

Afraid I was becoming the boy who killed Transhumanism, we moved onto the vignettes. Here the group were presented with little hypothetical scenarios in which an individual might turn to Transhuman technologies. Here it was still mostly considered wrong, with participants claiming that it took the struggle out of life and potentially the competition out of sport. If everyone made themselves perfect it was speculated that it could even elliminate individuality. This actually made me think, and I'd read a similar article in a journal. My response was jotted down on my iPhone:

Transhumanism - more instant gratification, no challenge or variation?No, this is when humanity turns to art & other challenges/forms of expression. And supreme individuality will arise from transhumanism for those who want it. Many people are gaining weight thanks partly to computers, but those like myself who value physicslity can still use a gym to attain higher levels of fitness. For the first time our outward image & our physical body will represent exactly what is inside. Like an online avatar. For the first time we will truly be able to excell in any field. For are not our individual weaknesses essentially disabilities? When is abnormal shortness shocking enough that it warrants treatment? Only the individual, with his own dreams, aims & experiences can make this decision.

More evidence that I am completely insane? Yes. I'm not even sure if those are my views, but they certainy offer an interesting counter argument (if I do say so myself). But still there is no doubting that it's an interesting topic and I'm excited to hear the issues raised in future groups. The next one is on Monday and I currently have two participants... shit.

Want to see just how much damage I do to the field? Stay tuned!

Immortality and the economic crisis

This just in: The economic crisis sucks!

Sure I heard people complaining about it and saying how bad it was for people in finance and banking and the like, but I was pretty sure it wasn't actually going to affect me. I thought it was just another one of those doom and gloom stories like the 'Bird Flu' scare where the media make out the world is ending and we're heading for a post-apocolyptic Terminator style future... but then it turns out to be dissapointingly boring and there are no explosions and I have to carry on doing my work as opposed to wearing a vest and throwing grenades.

I mean everyone would be losing money at the same rate right? Sure you'll get poor but then so will everyone else... Sure the value of your house will drop but then if you buy any others they'll be cheaper too... And then when the economy rights itself again (hopefully thanks to Super-Obama!) everyone will be back to square one. The media weren't helping by scare mongering as that was what was causing the problem in the first place. If only I'd written this article sooner we could have avoided this whole sordid affair... I'm the boy who could have saved the world...
People, here me: there will almost certainly be no explosions and definitely no killer robots. Boring I know. Calm down and buy stuff (preferably my e-book...)

But then the severity of the issue hit home - one of the advertisers on the Biomatrix.net went bankrput and so (understandably) stopped advertising on the site... Shitty Man Nipples...
That's 10 pounds a month I'm losing! That ten pounds was a night out for me here in Surrey, and with Tuna Paste prices soaring I can barely afford to eat. The other day I had to buy Tesco value mayonaise!! It tasted like rabbit sperm!!

Maybe I was hasty in my nonchalance... Maybe the end is infact nigh... Maybe the T-100s are coming... My laptop has actually already started rebelling.

So I am making preparations for the apocalypse. Being the forward thinking transhumanist editor of the Biomatrix.net I of course have a solution... I am creating a free talking avatar!

Bet you didn't see that coming. You see according to Martine Rothblatt, this is the first baby-step toward uploading a consciousness (the eventual goal of many transhumaists).
It's kind of like facebook but with a 3D image of yourself that learns to behave like you do. This actually works better than I expected and your avatar includes a photo of your face and you can talk to the AI (it speaks out loud). It gets some of its information from personality tests you do etc. I wouldn't say mine is indistinguishable from me but it's certainly worth checking out...
Then at the same time you can document your life experiences for all to see... a kind of personal time capsule.

So when the inevitable economic end results in the break down of society, and you die of the resultant bird flu and robot invasion, at least you will live on in a way online. Imortalised in cyberspace. Sure, it's not quite as good as not dying... or even actual mind uploading... but then again it is charming in its own way.

Read a fuller article here: http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/custom/today/bal-to.rothblatt18nov18,0,1422693.story

Or check out the actual thing here: http://www.lifenaut.com/

Well that was a bit of a ramble... I'm in a pretty dark mood today... At least it was kind of topical.

Six rounds with Rocky Balboa

There's already a Rocky Balboa review on the Biomatrix and I think it's pretty obvious from the content of the rest of the site that generally all things Rocky are to be worshipped. There wasn't much more to say on the matter until recently Nathan and I embarked on a daring project that would help us to see the Rocky films in a whole new way - by watching them back to back in just one day. It was a mammoth undertaking, a fool's errand, but there was no way around it - it had to be done... because otherwise... hmm... it just had to okay? For the motivation the series has offered to bodybuilding, athletes, boxers and others alike I felt it deserved to be watched in its entirety.


Putting in the first disk we were full of energy and raring to go. I had some Newcastle Brown and was looking forward to seeing a film I hadn't seen for quite a while. In my buzzing mood and with gaps in my memory this first installment went down a treat, even more so than on previous occasions. This film more than any other really shows how truly under-appreciated Stallone really is. The script is witty, entertaining, filled with likeable and relatable characters and a decent plot while Stallone's acting is on par with greats like Marlon Brando (not my words). You really feel for Rocky, both in his love life, his training and in the ring (I love it when he describes Adrian as 'filling gaps' (not a euphamism by the way)). Anyone with any kind of humanity will route for him so much it'll be hard not to jump out of the seat during the training montage and fight scene. Then there's the music... so far so good. During a brief interlude I got myself another Newcy Brown and we moved on.

It was a bit strange watching the end of the first film again immediately after seeing it the first time, but this was something we came to quite like as it showed the continuation and really nailed the home that this was a series we were watching.
The second film however I found harder to swallow. I didn't realise how similar it was to the first film, but with none of the direction or the freshness. It also seemed somehow over-long. I did cheer up towards the end when the new and improved training montage kicked in (I love the unique training methods - inspiring stuff) but even the fight was a bit lame, particularly with the bizzarre ending.
On its own 2 is an okay film that just doesn't live up to its predecessor, immediately following 1 however it almost had me down for the count.

Fortunately three offer a change of pace and as soon as 'Eye of the Tiger' kicked in I was back in the game and Nathan showed similar rejuvination. That tune never fails to get me psyched and this was no exception. The incredible definition Stallone achieved at 3% bodyfat also woke me up - inspiring stuff.
There was none of the drama or emotional stuff seen in 1 & 2 but to be honest I'd had enough of that. 3 is pure comic-book style over-the-top 80s action. Class. Throw Mr T and Hulk Hogan in there too and you've got a winning formula.
Actually there is one emotional bit - the death of Mickey. A touching scene for me that's accentuated by a touching score from the ever present (except in four) conti. When Rocky cries it sends shivers down my spine. It's even more heart wrenching after just seeing these two form a bond for five hours. Unfortunately Nathan kind of mocked the performance which sort of ruined it for me this time round but hey... I'm not bitter... not bitter enough to remember it and write about it two weeks later or anything...
Pumped and reinvigorated we swapped the beers for protein shake and whacked in the next disk.

During four I had again reached saturation point. The weird thing is that four is normally my favourite but I suppose that was the problem - I've seen it over 50 times and at 6 hours in I didn't feel the desire to see it again. In reality this installment is really just one long music montage, which is great to whack on during a workout (my normal use for the film) but not so great to concentrate on if you're completely brain dead. While the Slyman was fighting the cold war I was fighting to keep my eyes open - and losing. I'd been hitten hard and protein shake, nor beer, nor even tea would do it... I'd need a strong coffee if I was going to keep moving forward.

I don't know if it was the caffeine boost or something else (perhaps the fact that I hadn't watched this one for over a year) but by five I suddenly found myself more awake than ever before. I can't really comment on Nathan's state of mind, but if I had to I'd put it at zen-like concentration.
Five has always gotten a bad rap which I think is unfair. Sure it's a bit soapy and it's kind of contrived that he should lose all his money and end up back in his old house from the second film, but the point is that just like Rocky himself the film is going back to its routes. And while three and four were fun I think five is actually better for it.
It's also at this point that we were beginning to notice how impressive it is that we've followed this character through so many life changing events - his first win, his marriage, the birth of his child, the growth of his child... it's almost like you know the character and again this just helps you route for him more. Especially during the street fight where the steaks are raised and the bad guy is even more of a dickhead than usual.
The little nods to the old films start to appear here too - such as the priest from the first film, and even a return to the boxing arena that we saw in the first scene of Rocky 1 (something I'd never noticed before). All this really helps to keep the illusion of a believeable world and made our (thus far) 8 hour vigil seem (slightly) more worthwhile.
Sure there are flaws in the continuity - I mean Rocky's son seems to age like ten years while he's in Russia. And it's funny how his bad eye is only an issue in the second film... but these plotholes are actually pretty few when you consider the scope of the series.
Another nice thing to see is the return of Mickey. I seem to remember that I worked out the flashbacks must have been filmed specifically for this film (not collected from discarded footage). I can't remember how I worked this out so you'll just have to take my word for it.
I also didn't pick up on all the father-issue stuff that's in the film previously. See, even after the twentieth watch you can still spot new things in a Rocky film. 'Get up ya' bum - Mickey loves ya!'.

It was Rocky Balboa that I had been looking forward to the most perhaps. After four it's my favourite Rocky, but it's also more modern and more serious.
One thing I didn't like was the lack of the serial style 'recap intro' that graced the beginning of the previous films. Nathan protested that showing the end of five would completely not make sense in the context of the film - but I felt a little summary of the previous five would have been nice for old time's sake. I suppose that's why this is 'Rocky Balboa' and not Rocky 6.
Rocky himself has changed slightly in this installment too as suddenly he seems wiser than before - passing his knowledge on to his son, a girl from his block, a random kid called 'Steps' and anyone else who'll listen. While the change is noticeable however it isn't out of place - as it stands to reason that the extra years and a life of action would leave him with a different perspective.
And that said though, it's still impressive how true to form the film is and this time there are even more retro nods - such as the re-appearance of Spider (the same actor and all) and even the very same turtles from from Rocky 1. It's impressive too that Appollo's trainer manages to grace every episode. The fact that Stallone could get so many actors and places involved and committed throughout the series is a testiment to the quality of the films and again really makes you believe that you've watched someone's whole life. At the beginning of the series who'd have thought that Appollo's trainer would be training Rocky to fight in his 60s? I doubt even Sly would predict it but in the context of the series it all makes sense - even in the cartoony middle films the overall plot follows a natural and organic evolution that can only occur when you have such well developed characters. Even Rocky's body has changed and adapted over time.
Six also demonstrates more than any other film how the films have mirrored Stallone's own life - how he went from nothing to overnight success, how he lost his way for a while, and how he returns after a long hiatus to successfully reclaim his glory days. And always against insurmountable odds.
Having seen the whole series through and now being introduced to Rocky at his lowest ebb, you want him to bounce back more than ever. And when you see him training at that age (to get those abs) you realise that no challenge is too great to Rocky or Stallone. It fills you with determination and pride.


At the end I was sad to see Rocky go, and sad that Stallone swore never to do a number seven. Then again he also swore never to do a five, or a four, so perhaps there's hope. The way I see it 'Rocky' is no ordinary series of films - it can break outside of the accepted trillogy format just like Bond. And though it pains me to say it I think there's one chapter left in Rocky's life. I think we need to see him die.

Whether or not this comes to pass however the experience has left me with a confirmed love for the series and the great man himself as well as a rejuvinated enthusiasm for the gym and the great gym of life. I think it's fair to say that Nathan felt the same. Not any film can do that to a guy - Rocky is my bible.

'In the warrior's code there's no surrender - though his body says stop his spirit cries 'never!''

I could have been doing work...

Meditation

Several years ago I was on a trip to France with my 6th form Media class and staying at the Disney Land Paris resort (the ‘ranch’ type one). During the day we went on lots of rides while pretending to be doing work while in the evening we snuck out and went exploring.
We met girls, found alcohol and did flips into bushes. Then we threw a tennis ball at each others crotches. I decided I was in love with one girl in particular but as usual ballsed it up and came back to my room at about 3am yearning but still buzzing none the less.
Without thinking I flicked on the light to be greeted by the site of my roomy. I felt pretty bad - I’d forgotten this guy had opted to stay in. He wasn’t sleeping though, he was just sitting their frozenonto the spot. I waved at him and got no response. I thought this was odd but decided he’d probably had some kind of epileptic seizure. Unsure what to do I decided to look around for a pen to draw a willy on his head or perhaps some other amusing image (I’ve matured since then... maybe...).
As I crept closer with the pen in hand his eyes suddenly flickered open like something out of a horror movie. I let out a loud yet manly scream then collected myself.
‘Sorry if I’ve disturbed you...’ I said pretending to be writing on the wall.
‘No don’t worry,’ he said, ‘I wasn’t sleeping.’
‘Ah okay...’ I sat in silence for a moment before my curiosity got the better of me. ‘Just sitting... and... doing nothing then eh? Nothing better than a bit of sitting and doing nothing while everyone else is out exploring Paris...’
‘Meditating.’ he corrected me. Freak.

This event had put me off the idea of meditation for several years. It seemed to me that the only people who did it were weirdos and social rejects. I still suspect this may be the case.
However, having thought long and hard I remembered that I actually was a weirdo and as I got into this whole self-improvement malarkey the idea began to spark my interest.
Meditation has been said to have many benefits including clearer thinking, better moods and energy and even gains in intelligence. Some practitioners also speek of reaching different states of consciousness which sounded trippy and interesting. I decided then to put my preconceptions to one side and give it a go.
Sticking to the format of my previous experiments I decided that once a night for a week would be long enough to determine whether or not this was for me. So on the Monday I read up on the topic and learned the basics. There are various different ways you can meditate but the most popular way is to sit somewhere quiet and focus on a mantra. This being a word or sound that you repeat to take you mind off distracting thoughts. Other methods can include focussing on a point in your mind or a sound such as your own breathing.
Some people do it by just not worrying about the thoughts. They don’t purposefully start new threads but they don’t stop thoughts that do float by either – they just let them pass through and kind of ‘observe’ them from an outside perspective until they eventually stop being a problem.

The first thing I noticed when trying to meditate is that I instantly become thirsty, then itchy and then I need a piss. My back aches from sitting up and it feels like everything is against me. I’m certainly not used to sitting still for more than ten minutes without bobbing around, yelling obscenities or worse, singing. I go to the toilet every thirty minutes and constantly clear my throat which is a strange and annoying habit that makes me seem nervous and little bit mental. Basically I’m not a very relaxing person to be around and I find it very hard to sit still and unwind.
Writing this article right now is the closest I ever come to chilling out and later I plan to do a workout. If I’m lucky I might let myself play Bioshock for like an hour before bed.
The way I learned to overcome this problem was the same way I learned to improve my sleep (read the article) – to not worry about it. Basically I realised that when you’re meditating you’re allowed to itch your face if necessary and slowly this becomes less and less necessary anyway. Once you finally do enter into a peaceful state it starts to get weird. I recommend that you do sit in the traditional pose with your legs crossed and your fingers forming the little circles (your index fingers lightly touching your thumb). It’s important to be sat up so that you don’t fall asleep (although I personally like to lean against something to prevent back ache) and the two touching fingers give you something else to focus on and give you a strange sensation once thing start getting trippy.

To get to this stage has taken me a little while so don’t be put off if you don’t get the same effects immediately. Basically what starts to happen is that areas of your brain will be shutting down while others remain active – this is what puts you into the ‘trance’ or whatever and has been attributed with feelings of ‘oneness’ or ‘enlightenment’. The effects are actually very similar to certain types of drugs and they can be pleasant, healthy and productive. The coolest part is the feeling that you have no body – the oneness that makes hippies believe they are flying or one with mother nature (you’re not). This is because you have become completely unaware of your own body. To accelerate this experience you can actually imagine yourself expanding outwards and just being ‘everywhere’. Try it, it’s weird. Although it becomes old fairly quickly too...

Doing this regularly for 10 minutes a day for the past week has also lead to me feeling more calm in general and perhaps a bit more clear-headed. I guess this might be ‘zen’…
They have also left me with slightly more energy – acting as kind of power naps without the feelings of grogginess and fatigue that those bring.

I haven’t achieved any states other than the aforementioned one-ness, but as you get further some people have reported seeing vivid colourful patterns, having the sensation of an OOBE (out of body experience), reliving memories or gaining new perspectives.
The problem is that all that stuff sounds mental and also I can’t really be arsed with it. If you want to dedicate tonnes of time to it then go ahead, but I’m perfectly happy with just a bit of focussed chilling every now and then (it also recently helped me out when I was trapped in the back of a van. I thought ‘what would Bruce Lee do?’ so I sat there meditating in the pitch black. That’s how I was found – I looked well cool (in that sense it is a cool way to preserving energy)).

So try it if you want, I just won't be joining you. Whatever you do though don’t miss out on Disney Land because of it.

What is NLP?

When it comes to NLP (which stands for Neuro-Linguistic-Programming) people generally tend to fall into one of two camps: those who think it’s this amazing tool that can totally change your life and get you everything you want, and those who think it’s a cult full of weird idiots along the lines of Sceintology; neither is completely true.
From what I can gather it’s a few money grabbing con artists who have given the practice a bad name (and some dubious attempts to connect the principles to wider pseudo-scientific theories);
and this is a shame as there is actually a fare bit of useful information to be gained from it. Many of the ideas revolve around the use of communication, language and gestures to understand cognitive processes and build a ‘rapport’ with another individual. In particular it is useful for sales people as a means to help persuade a potential customer to buy a product.

NLP was co-created by Richard Bandler and linguist John Grinder in the 1970s and contains several key areas:

Modelling
Modelling is the broad term for the systems used by a ‘modeller’ to adopt their client’s gestures, patterns, beliefs and more to make themselves more agreeable and persuasive.

The Meta Model
The Meta Model focuses on errors and assumptions in a client’s language to gain insight into the speaker’s thought processes and looks to respond to the construction or a sentence rather than its meaning and content.
For example if you were to say ‘everyone loves me’ the NLP expert might respond ‘everyone?’, or ‘what would you say love is?’. In other words – annoying.

The Milton Model
The Milton Model has the NLP practitioner using language that is purposefully vague or ambiguous to allow the listener to project their own meaning onto what’s being said and so almost certainly agreeing.

Representational systems
This is the idea that we use visual, auditory and kinesthetic methods to understand ideas and that different people prefer to use different ones. Our language is supposed to give away which we are using – for example people who say ‘I see’ or ‘see what I mean?’ might be visual types, while people who say ‘you hear what I’m saying?’ might be auditory.
By adapting our behaviour and language to suite the representational system of the intended
recipient it is thought that we can build a better rapport more quickly.
Personally I believe that they have left out an important fourth option that being lexical – where ‘know what I mean?’ might be an indicator. I’m fairly certain that I’m that type.

Accessing cues
Accessing cues refer to the way our eyes give away our thought processes where basically we look up and left or right when visualising, level and left or right when processing sound, or down and right for kinaesthetic.

Mirroring
Mirroring is a technique by which you subtly mimic the posture and body language of whoever you’re talking to thereby building rapport. This is also taught in crappy self-help dating books as a technique for pulling.
Apparently it can be very powerful but subtlety is really the key here – make it obvious and you will find it has the reverse effect with people just ending up pissed off at you.
NLP also has various techniques that use these principles to therapeutic effect. These include ‘Anchoring’ by which you associate a word or movement with a positive memory as a way to instantly recall a good mood or feeling; and ‘Framing’ where you try to change the way you view or remember a painful event or anxiety inducing thought. For example you may re-frame the image of a phobia with a comedy soundtrack and all in pink so that when you visualise it it causes humour rather than stress.
This is only really a taster but it gives you a basic understanding of NLP’s key principals. A lot of it from there is common sense.
Bare in mind that the methods have little scientific verification, but the rapport building stuff at least is widely used in business and generally accepted as effective.

Never Back Down Review

Having just bought the DVD I have recently re-discovered the awesomeness that is 'Never Back Down'. Unfortunately it seems the majority of reviewers fail to share my enthusiasm of the film (at the time of writing Rotten Tomatoes has it at around 20%) and so I felt I needed to give it some love right here.

There's one way I can get you to see why the film is pure class. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So here goes:

Serious, how can you not love a film with that in it??

Amber Heard aside however, the main problem most reviewers seem to have with the film is that it's uninspired in that it very closely follows the conventions of the fight film. That is to say it ticks all the boxes: wise guru, father issues, romantic sub-plot, revenge as the motivation, training montages and final showdown. In this sense they claim the film offers nothing new that we haven't seen before in Rocky or The Karate Kid.

My point however is: what's wrong with that? The genre is one that very rarely sees a new entry and as much as I love both Rocky and The Karate Kid I feel that an update is long overdue. For fans of those films Never Back Down offers everything you could hope for - a contempory take on a classic formula that plays down the cheese and plays up the stakes, the brains and the acting skills. This is a mixture of Fight Club and Step Up but structured in the familiar Karate Kid formula.

And to say it offers nothing new at all is also unfair. For starters this is the first time we've seen MMA in a mainstream film, something which was long overdue and which makes for spectacular, visceral fight scenes.


The film also offers a fairly in-depth meditation on the ethics of combat, using some clever imagery and literary references to make its point. Other reviewers have again missed the point here reading the film's message as 'sometimes it's better not to fight'. For this reason they complain that the fight at the end is contradictory and caters only to the studios with no thought for integrity. The title of the film alone however should be enough evidence that this is not the case. My understanding of the message is that sometimes you do have to do something - to fight - if only to prevent yourself from having to fight in the future and to protect the things you care about. Like the shield of Achiles.

The slightly deeper nature of the film is also reflected in the characters who aren't your usual two dimensional stereotypes. Each one has their own 'fight' in the film and each is likeable and charismatic in their role. Our protagonist Jake in particular is a very well fleshed out character, played with gusto by Sean Faris, and his problems are easy to identify or at least sympathise with making you route for him all that much more when he goes up against bad guy Ryan.

Throw in a rocking 'high school' style sound track, an awesome cast and some nifty directing and editing (both of which nicely compliment the contempory setting and technological themes) and you have the best film for getting pumped since Rocky 4.

*****

My Week Without Caffein

Allot of people/wesbsites have advised that I give up caffeine. 'Why?' I ask them. 'Because it's good for your health.' they answer. 'How is it?' I ask intrigued. 'Because of... the health...' they mumble. Thing was, despite allot of people knowing it's good for your health, few people seemed to really know exactly what the advantages are. Search on Google 'giving up caffeine' and you'll get hundreds of relevant links. Search 'reasons to give up caffeine' however and you find far fewer results show up. I decided that there was only one way to find out exactly what the effects were - try it myself. So here it is - my diary from my week without any caffeine. Just to put this experiment into perspective you should know that I was really hooked on it up until this point. I mean I would drink about four cups of coffee at work, then five or six cups of tea when I got home. That's one big caffeine injection. This challenge certainly wasn't easy. No Caffeine Day 1 It's day one of my week without caffeine and I already want to die. It started badly when I arrived at work and a colleague had already made me a coffee. I had to actually poor it away, which was painful but also like a symbolic commital to my fast. People didn't like it either. I'm known as one of the guys who always has a hot drink. When I refuse they just look at me like 'you've changed...' Drinking tea and coffee is a social thing aswell, you don't notice that until it's gone. By 12 I already had a headache, which is terrible. Normally I'd be on my 3rd drink by then. I was all stressed out too about my MOT which was booked for 5pm. I'd have given anything for some caffeine... injected straight into my eyeballs preferably. So at lunch I decided to buy some decaff coffee. It's better than nothing as I enjoy just the calming effect of any hot beverage, but it still tastes like dirt in mug of water. Mmmm dirt... It's like a mockery - sacrilege - against real coffee. And it's expensive. I prefer tea anyway, and I don't think you can get de-caf tea can you? And green tea is just like putting a leaf in your drink - pointless. No Caffeine Day 2 So today was the second day of my caffeine fasting and it's again been a struggle. I did find it marginally easier to get out of bed this morning but that could just be down to the fact that I went to sleep an hour earlier - because of the headache I was suffering due to lack of caffeine! It reached its worst point at work when at 12 it became almost unbearable (not helped by Rachel taunting me). At lunch time I just ambled around then sat on a step with my head in my hands like a tramp. I wanted to cry... Fortunately for some reason it actually improved by about 2 but then my day just got really weird and stressful and tested my vigil to the full. All I wanted was to go home and sleep, maybe vomit a bit, but sadly that was not to be as I ended up at some horrible weird gypsie party that was going on next door. Alcohol actually helped however as did the fear which took my mind of my caffeine problems. When I got back though I was full of nerves (I'd snuck out and was hoping they weren't going to come looking for me) and found I have never wanted a mug more. I held out though. No caffeine day 3: Or middle actually. It's more the middle of the tunnel seeing as it's only the third day. It's light though as I haven't had a headache today, and have actually been feeling quite healthy. Except randomly I've been feeling crippling pain in my bad wrist/hand (and also my back actually), but I don't think those are related. Part of the solution I found was milkshake. I've always loved milkshake, and its actually even more soothing than tea during my Adam time. The other thing that helped was to look at it as a challenge. Even if I'm not sure about the reasons I'm doing this, it's still an opportunity to test my will. My iron will. Just like the gym. I've made it through the rain - just like Barry Manilow. I'm still planning on going back to drinking tea and coffee after the experiment but maybe I'll drink a bit less if it means I'll always have this extra energy. No Caffeine Day 6: Day six of my no-caffeine challenge and I actually feel pretty good for it. I feel loathe to admit it, but I seem to have more energy and my body clock is now almost like that of a normal human. I'm pretty sure I sleep better (and I've been having some bizarre dreams - Saturday night I joined the 'Labrador resistance movement' (I was the only non-dog member)) and I feel more awake as a result. I feel less of a jittery wreck and have been relaxing more too. Saying that I did still lie-in until 2pm on Sunday, but Si had been round the night before and didn't leave until 4am which is late even for me. Without my usual caffeine boost I was nearly comatose by the time he left. I've possibly been less productive overall, but that's a good thing in a way as I was beginning to tire myself out. Infact I'm so pleased with the results that I'm strongly considering staying this way and being a permanently decaf guy. No Caffeine Day 12: Although this was meant to be just one week it actually seems to have become nearly two without and with no clear end in sight. I've finished the test now so I can drink as much as I want but I've found I quite like feeling a bit more fresh and a bit less jittery. You know how you drink alcohol to loosen up and be more sociable? Well if you're really hooked on coffee I find it's kind of the opposite of that... I'm a lot more relaxed now and my body clock is no longer that of an owl. Conclusion: Well it's now day 15 and I'm still going strong having had only one weak mug of tea when I had a particularly bad headache (I don't really count chocolate as the amount is so small). The way caffeine works is by blocking receptors in your brain that normally tell you you're tired. In other words you're still tired, but your brain thinks you're not. This obviously isn't particularly good - our body gives us cues for a reason and ignoring them will only worsen the problem. I'm still going to have a mug of tea every now and then because I love it. But I'm not longer going to be hitting myself with 4-5 coffees at work and tea will now be just a special treat. So here are the reasons that I found first hand to give up caffeine. If they seem appealing to you maybe try giving it a go: Better sleep More normal body clock More energy in the mornings Less jittery and more relaxed When you do have caffeine you feel the effects more Additionally if you're one of the unfortunate people who have high sensitivity to caffeine it could even cause heart palpatations, panik attacks and insomnia. Not cool.