Auld Lang Syne

Here's to 2008 with its ups and downs.

Here's to hoping that 2009 brings a brighter future and positive progress across the world.

Here's to all of us, still trying.




Hat-tip to FlickFilosopher, link at the right.

Echo

Echo

Echo

Quack.

...

Nov. 4th is time to get served.

EDIT 10/27/08: Apparently removed... lame. It was a Obama McCain dance off, and it was well done.

The Wonders of the Internet Pt. 2

Great Videos:



and another

The Wonders of the Internet

I should probably try to learn some basic html editing, but for now I can copy and past gadgets all around. I just saw this mixtape thing on another site, thought I'd try it. I'm not even sure where it gets the source music from...

Many of the songs seem to be live versions. You can click onto the next song when the current one finishes and continues into cheering and clapping...for long periods of time.

The band is The Mountain Goats, I was introduced to them awhile ago, and it seems they're polarizing. Either you're annoyed by the singer's voice and literary songstylings, or you love them. I fall into the latter.

Maaaaannn

Well rule number 1 if you visit comic-con, spend weeks planning every move you'll make or you just end up wandering; numb to the amazing amount of people, the size of lines, and general information overload.

As part of our road trip vacation, my friends and I hit up one day (Friday) of San Diego Comic-con... with no idea what to truly expect. There was the requisite nerds dressed up, the spectrum of nerd voices from the nasal to the judgmental. But, we severely underestimated what was required to see any panels that interested us. Most had lines going around and around, weaving in and out. In the end we managed to see half of The Spirit panel, the Star Wars panel showing clone wars stuff (ehh), and the film-makers panel with Kevin Smith, Judd Apatow, Zack Snyder (director of 300, and the upcoming Watchmen), and Frank Miller. It was all kind of exhausting, and I would argue the convention has reached its size limits. None-the-less, I get some geek/nerd cred, and attending the biggest con must have hardened us for any lesser ones.

I'd really like to attend as an exhibitor/part of panels; I think that would be a more enjoyable if just as exhausting way to experience it.

It's all relative

Technology Use in America

The link is to research pointing out that about 1/5 of Americans have not used the Internet or rarely do so, nor do many use computers much at all. It's always good to gain perspective. Because though the Internet feels ubiquitous, that's not the case for part of America.

Granted half of those were people over 65, like my grandma, who have no real need for computers and the Internet overall. She doesn't really use the email set up for her, and she prefers calling people and writing notes. Who's grandma doesn't still take the time to send cards out to people for events/birthdays probably 2/3rds of the year. Not that she won't embrace parts of it, we helped her buy a treadmill online. She just never will have computers and the Internet be such a dominating influence as they are for the majority of younger people.

Firefly

I don't have a lot to say except that every time I think of Fox canceling this show, I get angry. It's the perfect blend of everything for me. Western, Sci Fi, bad ass anti-hero-heroes. Great chemistry for a fairly large ensemble cast. An interesting history that could be explored. I hate you Fox. Even if the genres I mentioned above don't usually fall into your viewing choices, I think spending an hour with the show will change your mind.

I don't really like Joss Whedon's other stuff. Buffy the Vampire slayer never clicked for me. But this one did, and with the measly one season and a movie, it makes you wonder what could have been. Because it was that good right off the bat, it'd only get better.

Fox's batshit crazy approach to programming seems to kind of bring in the extremes of the spectrum. You get lots of crap that you don't care for, but they seem to take the most chances on more out of the way stuff, if only they'd stick with it. Arrested Development falls under this as well, damn you Fox. damn you.

Edit: I suppose we could add Futurama, but it at least got a few years.

Dr. Jones

OH Indy.

Maybe it's just a confluence of events that results in near perfect movies; circumstances that can never be repeated or recaptured. But it certainly hasn't stopped people in Hollywood from trying over the last few years.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is not a terrible movie, but even if you do your best to hold back lingering expectations from the first films, it doesn't hold up so well. The script for another Indy movie has been bounced around and remade and redone for a long time now, and that indecision seems to show. There are all the winks and throwbacks that make us laugh or think back to the other films, but whats the point. I'd prefer a solid film to a tacked together nostalgia trip, where no on seems to know what exactly to do.

And that's the problem, it feels like they got everyone back together, and they're all kind of awkwardly shuffling their feet, unsure of the next step. There are scenes or moments when it all comes together, but most of it is a mishmash. And some of the scenes are so far over the top, that they seem out of place, or laughable.

The original movies (save #2), had a great balance. The action was over the top but never out of bounds, the supernatural was present, but not ludicrous, the amount of characters and plot you had running at any one time was sometimes complicated but didn't feel weighed down.

Here... nothing feels as crisp or lean, or even real. The film's just a little cold, missing some of the life that was breathed 18+ years ago. I've read two separate reviews, one going my direction, and one with glowing praise. The comments on each review tend to point to many many people putting on their fanboy blinders. I love the Last Crusade, its a movie I've watched over and over again, but even I can admit this new film didn't hit the mark.

I'm certainly going to give it a chance on DVD, but I know a better Indy film could be made.

I would walk... maybe 3.5 miles..

Well on my full 8 hour shift, which was an evening one this week, I managed about 6000 steps by the end of the day. It seems like one good walk to the store could put you on your way to the 10k goal, or maybe my pedometer is just boosting my ego. Though with my sample size of 100 steps, I ended up with like 96, which I thought was good, but I'd guess it varies with less normal movements.

Today I had a day off, and I managed maybe 2000 steps, and most of that came in a tiny chunk of movement after 5pm.

The point of the 10,000 steps goal is probably to prove how tiny changes around your normal day can increase your movement to a respectable level, and it's succeeding in that regard.

I think at the beginning of the 2weeker or somewhere on the site, Mike puts forth the general idea that the first week is kind of testing the concept out, and the second week is where you can adopt strategies. I couldn't agree more seeing this week in action.

Extra: I present to you the candidate of the future. FUTURE! (post from 2006)

Ehh

I don't have much. My boss quit, dangled the possibility of me taking over part of his responsibilities, only to tell me they went another direction. It was intriguing mainly to do something different and to be paid more, life moves on.

Indiana Jones needs to be pretty good.

I'm going to try this new 2weeker . I've half been following the previous ones, where my own choices happened to coincide somewhat nicely with each 2weeker. (Drinking no soda, and I collected some writing into a mailable form) This is the first one I'm directly checking out, thanks to a free pedometer "they" hand out to fat people like candy.

I know I barely move on the job, so I'm going to guess my 10,000 steps will have to come outside of work.

EDIT: I failed today. I was doing a 4 hour shift, and managed around 2000 steps. Extrapolate, and I'd manage 4k steps a day at my job, which broken down is watching TV most of the day. I knew I didn't walk that much, but I know I probably walked more today just knowing it was on my hip. It seemed to be more accurate then I'd expect for a freebie pedometer. I work 8 hours tomm, so I may have to walk mid-morning before my shift to try and reach the 10k goal. I'd guess with walking before work, and after work at home, i might have totaled 4500 steps.

Zing!

The amount of work someone did to make this, research and then editing, is rather amazing.

Offen go A-rye

This all started while reading a blog thread at www.pajiba.com that had people post their pet peeves for mispronunciations or their own mistakes. We all have them. Words we read as a child, never heard anyone speak, then one day in class our own version is heard and laughed at. Or as happened to one friend, where he inadvertently said "In-eee-veet-able" instead of "Inevitable" and was mocked mercilessly.

I am a casual grammar-nazi. Only in the sense that sometimes people will mispronounce or have terribly constructed sentences, and in my mind, I'll scold them. In reality, I am terrible at grammar. I don't remember rules; I throw in commas left and right. My spelling has degraded over the years due to spell-check and online dictionaries (how many times do you just mash your search terms into Google because you know it'll figure out what you wanted...) I'm sure you'll find examples of this throughout my posts here.

As such, I generally get annoyed and angry with true grammar-nazis. People who correct you mid-sentence, or post comments lambasting the author, giving mini-educations on what's proper. I used to get really really angry. Now if they do it nicely, I'll accept it.

The old argument is "these are colloquial", its the evolution of language, accept it, and learn it. It's what I used to say, and still sometimes argue for certain points. But the reality is that grammar/spelling does serve a purpose. Words do have value, and to have them maintain value, there has to be boundaries and rules. If we allow everything to mis-mash, to become vague or have multiple meanings, we lose the the efficacy of language. This goes for speaking as well as writing.

I tend to look for a balance. Accept that the beauty and curious nature of language, written and oral, is that it evolves and changes to reflect the time and place of it's people. But realize that word choice, sentence construction, and your own speaking abilities, really do have a large effect on how the world views you as a person. Perhaps the clash of the the colloquial and the rules-lover is the way we keep language from going the way of Idiocracy, but still allow it to continually evolve.

However, don't be a dick about it.

Classic Internet Hatred Post

Remove him forever

When asked about an online petition to get him out of the film business, which had 18,000 signatures at the time, Uwe Boll said, "18,000 isn’t enough to convince me,” he said, adding that it would take more like a million signatures."

You click that, you sign it, you get others in on it. The quote from Uwe is not a guarantee, but if there are a million signatures, what a definitive statement for him to go away.

Honestly

5th-grader finds error

The story is about a 5th grader who found a small error in a Smithsonian Exhibit. The real key to the story is the name of the boy.

Kenton Stufflebeam.

You heard me. Wow. Wow.

Yea Yea

Every so often I get hooked on a movie trailer. I realize its as much the content as the music behind it. A long time ago it was Road to Perdition and the great piano theme, right now it's Street Kings. While the trailer has some moments that don't seem so great, I consistently seek it out or stop to listen to it. This time specifically because of Lupe Fiasco's "Put you on Game".

My experience with Lupe Fiasco is limited to guest spots on Kanye West albums and my younger brother telling me he's fantastic. I'm no expert, no true aficionado of hip hop, though I do have a passing knowledge of what seems like more talented acts/people. I am a white boy from the suburbs, but good music is good music.

I'm not going to go into a debate, if there is one, on commercializing hip hop with movies or mainstreaming, but its enough of a clip to go seek out more about the album The Cool (And I suppose Food & Liquor as well.)

Speaking of things I enjoy, I was watching my 30Rock Season 1 DVD and it's still funny. Alec Baldwin gets so many great lines, and sells them so well, completely quotable. To the point of pissing people off.

I also have a small addiction to Top Chef. I'm really not into the whole foodie trend. I enjoy trying to cook my own dishes, but they're never complicated, or employ ingredients that were flown from around the world. I also don't like many of the contestants, and don't enjoy reality show formatting. Yet for some reason... I seek it out, and won't change the channel when the new episode is on.

Oh the irony

Lets ignore the fact that I snuck in a bag of brownie bites to see the film Run Fatboy Run.

If you don't know about it, the film is the latest for Simon Pegg, who starred in the hilarious Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz. It was directed by David Schwimmer (who knows how that happened), and was written by Michael Ian Black, with I think a rewrite from Simon Pegg. I've read other reviews that lament the fact that the usual Pegg collaborators were not involved. I don't know if they just want copies of Shaun of the dead, but I think too much expectation about how the film should behave is disingenuous.

It contains signature Pegg mannerisms, but to begin a list of Pegg cliches lessens the impact of his abilities. He really has a face full of expression, and uses this to great effect. He manages some really touching moments in the film, with his son and his almost-ex-wife, and that kind of points to the type of film this is. It's more of a blend of romantic comedy and his previous efforts, where an average guy is stumbling to get by. Only near the end did everything become a little too sappy for my tastes, perhaps reflecting the American humor/film influences. (Trivia!: The original script centered on the running of the Los Angeles Marathon. Once a UK production team decided to make the film, the location was changed to London.)

It was funny, it had touching moments, it was worth seeing it at matinée price.

Pimp out my untimely popular cliches

You'd think being a semi-nerd; I would have more of a grasp on the inner workings of the Internet, but I'm html/programming illiterate. As such this blog is barebones.

If you can handle a slower pace, ie. not a.d.d., try watching Rocket Science. It's a tiny film, that seems like it should follow the trend of quirk running through "indie" movies, but it manages to avoid that fate. What really struck me about it, was it conveyed the confusion and pain of being on the outside without too many extremes, cliches, and over the top situations. Even when the main character, HS kid with a stutter, kind of climaxes in rage/frustration, it feels like a natural conclusion.

So I turn 24 a month from tomorrow, that's kind of scary, and sad, and weird, and informative.

100% Authentic Blog Post

Authentic. Authenticity.

You're going to hear these words more and more. They already describe products and services, and NEWSWEEK profiled an advertising book written about the topic. "People are looking for authentic things" "Authentic local cultures and recipes" blah blah, etc etc.

It's accurate for the swing I think the American people are on right now. We have so much media saturation, that nearly everyone knows what to say, how to say it, how to work the game when a camera is pointed at them. Almost like a play where everyone learned their lines since birth. It's becoming obvious how little it takes for people to put whatever they want, with no concern for accuracy, onto a world stage (blogs included). Media is so pervasive in everyone's lives that it's nearly the apex of staged information.

This is not to say that there was some long forgotten time when all journalists were moral people, who fact checked everything, and checked their bias at the door. I think now people are just finally demanding that buzz word, authentic.

What does it mean or should it mean? When marketing gets a hold of it, as is already occurring, its supposed to mean quality, real, unprocessed, somewhat exotic (relative to current tastes), and something to trust.

I want it to mean transparency in motivations and origin. How do we know where you're getting it, and what you did to it before it got to us. It'll will probably end up being both, though more of the former.

The singular quality of American Advertising is to make a product/service out of anything.

Bee the movie

"Jerry Seinfeld will promote Bee Movie within Bee Movie"- Josh Shin

There certainly were far too many promotions for Bee Movie. Cross-promotional (pollinated, yuk yuk) ads for laptops, and Seinfeld's head popping up everywhere, combine this with a lot of negative press/reviews, and the bar was set low for Bee Movie.

It wasn't spectacular. But it was worth a rental. End of review...

The animation is as good as most films out these days, and some of the imagined goings'on inside a bee hive were pretty cool. There were quite a few jokes, especially in the form of back and forth zings that were funny. It all was kind of neat and clean, and small.

The biggest problem was sometimes it felt like Seinfeld suddenly remembered it was a kids movie, and pushed things to be far too simplified, instead of finding a good balance. The plot was also a little choppy; needing smoothing out. Theres no need to describe more, most animated films these days fall into the categories of somewhat enjoyable to fantastic, rarely a full blown dud in the bunch. Bee Movie meets the middle of the road mark.

It gets kudos for ending the film with a cover of one of my favorite beatle's songs, "Here comes the sun".

I voted for John McCain

Yes... Yes I did. Out in Arizona during college, I voted him back into the senate. He gets like 80% of the vote anyway...

Why vote for someone when you don't agree with their policies, or most of them? Because he seems to like to stir up trouble. While I tend to follow a more relaxed, gradual path, like erosion or the tides, I believe we need a few people who's job is just to piss people off, to do what they feel like. I don't know how much of that guy McCain is, politickin' is an image business, but I'm not looking for him as a president. Rather on the periphery, whacking people on both sides of the aisle sometimes to get a few things done.

Since he's the de facto republican candidate, and Obama and Clinton are still so close in the race, it'll be interesting to see what McCain does over the next few months. He has no-one to fight against, though as Jon Stewart pointed out... what was his competition? A crazy eyed preacher, robot, 9/11, and boss of Sam Waterston.

Who will Eric vote for? Whoever will pay off his student loans.

This has to have been said before...

I was in between having things to do at work the other day, so I watched our CNN feed, which happened to have Larry King interviewing Jon Stewart. As always, Mr. Stewart impressed with his mix of humor and frustrated yet optimistic observations on America and the media in particular.

I tend to reject outright/cult-like love for any particular entertainer, even when the back of my head is gushing with "gosh that guy sure is good." (apparently my subconscious is from the 1950's) Yet every time I see Stewart interviewed in a non-humorous fashion; I can only think of how I really want him to have an even more prominent role. It seems like he'd be a good choice for the next Larry King [insert Larry king is ageless joke], but perhaps slightly more involved in his guest's discussions. He is knowledgeable, asks pointed questions when needed, and I think in that role would strive to be fairly neutral.

I don't think he'd do it though. Comedy Central offers the shield of humor, where he can get away with a little more. Everyone laughs, even when underneath they know how close to the truth the joke is. Stewart is aware of this, and has commented on it.

However, it's time for me to turn on the TV, other than comedy central, and find a person I can trust to handle the responsibility. More and more we're going to find that the sources of information younger people turn to, will have to be more openly honest and accessible about their biases, for them to be judged as worthy of anyone's time.

It sure is purrty.

Valentine's Day is here. While I am single, many of you non-readers could possibly be getting your love on as we speak. If you aren't, perhaps you forgot to indulge in the capitalistic flurry that marks Feb. 14th; you forgot a gift. tsk tsk.

You could buy Walgreen's jewelry, last minute cheap chocolates, maybe a wilted flower. Or, you could scramble to make something beautiful.

Here are a few tips from someone who has been down the homemade road before (for all holidays):

1) Stick to crafts you know. If you try to learn something new, and don't give yourself enough time, all you end up with is a lopsided key-bowl or construction paper monstrosity.

2) Following this, the cute factor of a crappily made gift with "love" can work to a certain extent, perhaps a terribly composed poem; a dinner you kind of screwed up. But if it's something to display, wear, or otherwise let other people see, you really have to bank on the person receiving the gift, and their capacity to love the cheese.

3) Profess hatred for the holiday, and make up your own anti-one. This serves the purpose of letting you plan a night full of whatever you make up beforehand, while simultaneously letting you make a special evening. Plus you up your hipster-cynical cred ten-fold.

4) Leave a string of articles around the few days before, with stories of terrible lovers, horrible partnerships, and lackluster gifts. (Mention these in conversation as well) Then your simple well made dinner, and tastefully chosen card will be a stark, positive contrast to the onslaught of examples.

5) Chloroform + Clock/Calendar Changes

6) Run away in tears at the mere mention of Valentine's Day (really any holiday). Later, recount terrible tale of dread on said holiday. Deaths, kidnapping, clowns, all fair game.

7) Right as you meet your significant other, exclaim you have a case of the "24-hour comas" and pass out. Don't "awake" until the 15th.

With these tips, you'll ensure a special day. One that truly shows how much you care.

Show me your WAR FACE! AHHHHH

Note: I wrote this about 4 months ago, and never posted for whatever reason. It seems unfinished or too obvious.

Does anyone.... anywhere, enjoy the coverage provided by cable news channels. It's terrible, and annoying, and overloaded, and tiring. It doesn't matter what network, fox news, cnn, msnbc, I can't watch it for more than 3 minutes. And in that time... I begin to tune out the talking head and read the ticker.

THE WAR ROOM: With Wolf Blitzer. Is this magical world full of floating graphics, large tv's, and an interactive table that allows the WOLF, to analyze and plan his tactical strategies for delivering you stories. My work constantly has a small television carrying the CNN feed, and at some point in the day, I always glance over and see this show, and WOLF delivering some breaking news. We happened to turn the volume up on it one day, to hear him telling us about Larry Craig, and its WOLF saying " Larry Craig says he's not gay" and then the graphic under him says the same thing, and its repeated over and over, cutting in footage of Craig at various times. Theres no more information, beyond what you glean in 10 seconds watching the show, or reading a headline online; it's essentially the same coverage constantly.

Yes, cable news, as the same goes for ESPN, isn't meant to be watched all the time for hours on end, but the lack of content is astonishing. The same goes for local news, so basically, I'm questioning any television newcast.

I could give more examples of useless content, from the fake no-spin vortex of ego and opinion that is Bill O' Reilly, to the insane, rather ugly (cheap shot) Nancy Grace, but in the end, lets label the majority of cable news as unwatchable and unhelpful.

The problem is not that there aren't enough newsworthy items; I think its more the approach to delivering the stories. Logistically, and mentally, it's easier to whittle down the news of the day into 3 or 4 main stories that have the most visual bite, and lend themselves to being cut up into tiny chunks. Setting up stories and productions and scripts and everything, everyday, is not an easy job, but in the end that's not an excuse.

Maybe we just don't need 24 hour TV news coverage. Maybe we need to replace the blowhards that can dominate tv news. Maybe we all just need to read more.

The Ledge

Well damn. Here's to Heath Ledger, who seemed genuine, who wanted to act, to try a variety of roles, who wasn't just "riding the paycheck." ... Who let me nerd out immensely pouring over The Dark Knight trailer.

Love to his family, and anyone dealing with the always tragic loss of a human life.

Apparently he directed this Ben Harper video, ledger's first and last:





Note: I was reluctant to post anything, because of my loathing of celebrity obsessed media, but I felt like who gives a crap, its my blog, very few people see.

If you could be come in, that'd be great

Next week, a supposed "ball-busting" corporate manager type is coming in to check up on the place that I work. Apparently, he knows enough technical information that he won't be appeased by platitudes and random bs'ing (damn). I'm told he also will sometimes cause problems to see how people react to them, and that with him here "everyone's job is on the line... but don't freak out." I've not been at the job long enough to know this guy, so he may be better or worse than I hear.

The question is, if the rumors are true... what's the point?

I have no problem with corporate wanting to send people to check out how our business is running. I have no problem with someone wanting to ensure the people they pay are doing a quality job, and have a good knowledge of whats going on. The problem I have is how it's gone about. These one or two day stress fests rarely result in an accurate portrayal of what is going on. The floors are polished, the lowly employees are warned and told to clean up, and everyone is on edge. The quality in work will somewhat spike, but it's artificial, and probably unrealistic for the long run.

There isn't a realistic way to check in unnoticed, but if you talk to employees in a relaxed and candid manner you'll have a good idea of what they know and how they work. By coming in and grilling people, you also send the message that you don't trust your other managers to have hired quality employees, or to have fired employees that were not good for business.

Luckily, I no longer work for a large corporate franchise, so this time around, I won't be forced to hear the corporate approved phrases to describe how employees should behave/work. I was actually told in private, with my normal manager, that "speed is life." I lost any respect I had for him at that point. Using those phrases during a corporate review is one thing, but to tell me them during a one on one conversation ... I could barely stop myself from rolling my eyes.

I think younger employees now are too savvy to accept normal management bullcrap, the games and whatnot. We've read too much, heard too many stories. I think the way to go about it now is to just be honest, respect who you talk to, and most employees will be fine with semi-annual audits, and the realities of running a business.

And if they can't handle that... well you can always fire them.