Monday, July 31, 2006
How NOT to Photoshop
When I heard that Kari Byron from MythBusters had done a 4-page pictorial for FHM magazine (in the July '06 issue) I knew I had to find those pictures.However, when I found them (at least the ones online), I was a bit disappointed.
So, in the interest of science, try the following yourself:
- Take a moment to imagine what such a pictorial could look like.
- Then check out the pics.
My thoughts: this is an example of how you photoshop someone to the point of making them look worse.
Ken said "She is young and hot but in those pics she looks like the winner of a hottest moms contest." I agree.
Ken also pointed out the obvious photoshopping done - check out how the lines of the tile grouting aren't straight when they go behind her legs.
Philosophy of Life, Pt. 1 of many
My ontology, in no particular order (yet; I'm just putting it all down and will sort it out later):- "Universe" is a word that we use to describe the set of everything that exists.
- "Existence" is a quality of of parts of the universe.
- "Existing" means that a part of the universe can be examined and has limitations, either in space or time or both - a beginning and an end - or is converted from, or into, something else.
- "Space" is a property of the universe and describes volume in 4 dimensions. Physical objects in the universe take up space. All events take place in space.
- "Time" is a property of the universe and describes continuity, stability and linear, past-to-future existence.
- Everything in the universe exists and has limitations. (This statement might be a circular statement, or a tautology, but what the hell. I'm not a philospher by trade.)
- The universe, being made up of things that exist, exists only as long as its parts exist. However, it's impossible to say whether the universe as a whole has limitations in space and time, since space and time are properties of the universe. Parts of the whole do have limitations in space and time.
...more to come later.
Feel free to add your comments.
Lessons learned
I found out that Apple announced a World Wide exchange program for the batteries from the 15" MacBook Pro.Hey, I've got one of those... although they did already exchange the battery for me when it went in to the repair depot a couple of weeks ago. But when I read it, I decided to double-check the serial numbers to make sure I got one of the newer batteries.
My new sexy thing was plugged in, so I closed the lid, putting it to sleep. Then I flipped it over, and pulled out the battery. I was then going to flip it back over, open up the lid and wake it up from sleep. The webpage with the information on the
However, the damned MagSafe power connector was not-so-MagSafe. It caught on the edge of the table and pulled off! If one were to pull it straight out from the power port, it takes a bit of effort to remove it. However, any tug at an angle and the damned thing comes right off, no problem.
(Adam and Jamie ran into the same problem when they tried to use magnets to climb a metal wall, by the way.)
AAACK! No battery + no power = shutdown! I hadn't saved anything! Stoopid MagNot-So-Safe connector! I plugged it back in, and opened it up and tried to wake it from sleep the normal way (any key on the keyboard). No go. Sure enough, it's shut down but good.
Wait, though... when I hit the power key to start it up, I got a different kind of progress bar, and no startup chime. Yay! It was waking from "Safe Sleep"! Safe Sleep brings me back to exactly where I was when I slept the computer, including any unsaved documents and open applications.
Primary lesson learned: Safe Sleep trumps MagNot-So-Safe connector.
Secondary lesson learned: Yeah... I already have one of the new batteries.
Friday, July 28, 2006
"Little Miss Sunshine"
Got a chance to see a sneak preview of "Little Miss Sunshine" last night. Didn't know much about the movie other than Greg Kinnear and Steve Carell were in it, and that it was a road movie. But, hey, free movie.The showing was packed, which is always fun. The energy level of an audience can raise my own enjoyment of a flick. Unless I'm grumpy. But that's so rare... Heh.
The movie is a road movie, but it's also one of those dysfunctional family movies. The family's 7-year-old, Olive, has managed to get into a beauty contest via default, and the whole family packs into their old VW bus to drive from Albuquerque to Redondo Beach in two days to be there on time.
Kinnear plays a hapless motivational speaker hoping for a book deal to make all his dreams come true; his wife, Sheryl, played by Toni Colette, wasn't well-developed but was essentially the long-suffering type. Carell plays Frank, Sheryl's gay, suicidal brother. Carell's normally-blank, deadpan delivery works well in a darker mode, making Frank's pain all the more evident in the humor he finds.
Alan Arkin plays the coke- and heroin-addicted grandfather, and the one who has worked with Olive on her presentation for the beauty pageant - which, once Arkin's character is established, raises the looming specter of what on Earth he could have taught his 7-year-old granddaughter, a rising note of tension which resolution made for a laugh-out-loud conclusion.
Comedies thrive on conflict and this one is no exception. I think the directors, Jonathon Dayton and Valerie Faris, along with the writer Michael Arndt, did a great job of balancing the serious parts necessary to bring teh funny.
I recommend the movie.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Drunk posting
I used to think that the worst thing to try to do while drunk was take my contact lenses out. Trying to get the motor control to successfully pull out tiny flexible pieces of plastic from my eyes without losing them or damaging them (either my contacts or my eyes) just seemed a near-impossible feat. So every time I've been successful has seemed like a little miracle.Which is why, tonight, before I settled in with a good book, some Storm Large on the teevee, and my old pal Johnny Walker Red, I was smart enough to take my contacts out first.
By the way, Storm rocked the house hard. Of course.
But on my way to bed, my lack of recent vacuuming brought about a whole new level of excruciating.
I got a sliver in my big toe. Ow. Ow, ow. Owie.
Yeah, just try to take one of those out while buzzed.
Update
I did it! Yay, me! I'm king of the world!
Monday, July 24, 2006
Good news
I didn't have a heart attack this weekend!Although the doctor did say I should probably cut back on the caffeine.
Silly doctor.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Poor options
Internet connection is broken at home. No word from Comcast beyond "We're working on it." Combine that with a lack of central air conditioning and an abundance of hot, muggy air, and that equals finding another place to be.Unfortunately, the only free wireless that's open late has a really annoying and loud folk-musician playing and he's getting on my nerves. Folk music should not be loud and amplified, people. Or maybe I'm just irritated at the heat, tired from lack of sleep, and angry at not being able to surf at home away from all the frigging people. I can't think and write in this atmosphere.
Well, at least it's nice and cool. And eventually the loud-folk-guy will leave. Right? Right?
Blockage
I have a story idea... And it's all in my head but I'm not sure where to start writing.Here's the thing: it's basically a mystery. I have a plot, a conspiracy to commit tax fraud and funnel pork into three unscrupulous pairs of hands. They share a connection to each other, but are keeping the connection secret in order to indulge in a little old-fashioned corruption. It's all about the Benjamins for them, but then they get scared, go a little too far, and someone who may or may not have been investigating them gets murdered. It's "ripped from the headlines", as they say.
Unknowingly, a cynical semi-innocent guy finds out about the murder, and because of his background, starts turning over rocks to see what he can find out... and eventually uncovers the whole plot and brings it to light.
That's the short version. Right now, I'm trying to decide if I should outline the plot and the characters involved first, then start writing at the point where the hero of the story first gets involved.
Or should I outline all the characters first, on both sides (pro- and an-tagonists)?
Or should I just start outlining the whole thing, and then once it's all down in skeleton form, pick the best place to start writing and consider the rest "background", to be filled in in detail as I need it?
Or should I screw all the planning and just start writing scenes and then string them together later when I've got some narrative flow going?
Every time I sit down to start one approach, I get so far, then start over-thinking like crazy and scrap it to go back and try one of the other approaches.
Dammit. I hate being all non-decide-y.
Porn name
It was way too hot.She stood there, proudly, defiantly. It was a pose and she did it with humor and grace.
"Women don't sweat," she said, and tossed back her hair from her face. "We glow." She emphasized the curves of her body with her hands, still looking into the distance, chin-up. "I'm covered... in a sheen. I'm glowing - profusely!"
Me, with awe in my voice: "You're... Sheena Profusely!"
She broke out of her proud attitude and laughed with me.
I continued, "Sheena Profusely! Wouldn't that be an awesome porn name?"
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Less cool?
I've posted about Backspace before. I love it. Well, I loved it. They've re-arranged things so now it's much less cool than it was before.For their Third Anniversary they moved all the couches into the back, to clear space for the live bands. And then they haven't moved the couches back.
Having all those couches in the front, by the huge picture windows, was the best. Comfy couches, surfing, iced mochas, great music (take a look at what's playing right now), and people-watching. There was no better place in Portland to hang out.
But with the couches in the back, around the pool tables... Scratch people-watching from the list because only the really really dorky people play pool. And they get all stupid when they do it, like thinking they're some kind of fancy pool-playin' fool and jumping the balls off the table.
...where they bounce into the comfy couches. Or, say, into an expensive laptop. Or even someone's noggin.
Don't worry. It hasn't happened yet. My new sexy laptop and noggin are both safe. But I've had at least one near-miss already, and that makes me sad. I don't want to think of Backspace as less cool. I want them to stay and remain the coolest place in town.
I sent them an email outlining my concerns, even offering to chip in for more couches, and Drew (at least I think it was Drew - he signed it "-d" which [warning: geek joke ahead] is the default switch for Drew-ness) responded and validated my concerns, agreeing that people are idiots when they play pool, and saying that they're getting more couches. So, here's a big Yay! to Backspace for listening to their customers!
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
They found me
Well, after running this blog with comments for a while, I was blessed in not getting comment spam.Tonight they finally hit me.
So I had to turn on captcha in the comments. My apologies. I didn't want to but I only want real comments, from actual people.
KIRF
Sometimes I go to the farthest limits of the internets, places where sanity and rationality take a backseat to absurdity and Dadaism*.
No, I'm not talking about Fox "News". I'm talking about the really really weird stuff.
Words can't describe what I see on those far-flung internets.
But I'm so glad I've found a Keepin' It Real Frog. He's there for me.
Really.
No, I'm not drunk right now. Stop looking at me like that. That frog is keepin' it so real.
Think about it - if the Keepin' It Real Frog is what I take along with me as my anchor, my touchstone - what must those hinterlands of the internets be like?
* The thing about Dadaism, is... once it's been done, it's pretty much over. It was funny for that split second before everybody got it, though, I'll bet.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Action
"And if de-elevator tries 2 bring U down,go crazy -
Punch a higher floor!"
- Prince
Reflection
Happy iCal Day!
Users of Mac OS X may recognize that the application iCal displays today's date on its icon. (In the Dock when the application is open it displays the current date.)
What is the significance of today's date? It's the day that iCal was first shown to the public, in 2002, back when there was a Macworld Expo in New York City.
As the Wikipedia article says, some Mac fanboys and -girls celebrate today as iCal Day, a day for reflecting on all the things that Apple does that delight us and piss us off.
Here's a couple from me:
Delight me
- Everything they design is so sexy.
- It just works better.
- Stock price just keeps going up and up (AAPL opened this morning at $51.73 - I bought it at around $35).
Piss me off
- My new sexy thing is way warm. As in 160° F warm.
- Mail doesn't always display the count of my new messages.
- Apple tries to force upgrades on a regular basis. Latest example: "Replace the battery in the Nike+ iPod Sport Kit? Why, just buy another one! They're cheap!"
Feel free to add any of your own in the comments.
Bird correction
By the way, the bird pictured in the post below is an osprey, not a bald eagle as I'd thought.I went googling for images to try to track it down. Bald eagles have no dark stripes on their heads at all, the tops of their heads are smooth, and their beaks are orange-yellow.
Ospreys have a swooped-back flare of feathers on their heads, they have dark stripes around their eyes, and their beaks are black.
So now I know. Still frickin' cool, though.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Eagle hunting
Earlier this week, when I went on a 6 mile run, I made a discovery. While running along the Springwater Corridor Trail I spotted a rather large and obvious nest, high atop an electrical tower. I didn't spot the bird or birds that built the nest, but I assumed (with my admittedly limited knowledge of birds) that it was something large like an eagle.Today I packed my trusty Olympus camera and hiked down into Oaks Bottom to see what I could see. And it turns out that the occupant was home.
Click to go to the full, uncropped image.
That picture is the cropped version of the best I could do with my 2.1 megapixel digital camera. I'd love to go back with a better camera sometime and wait around long enough to catch some shots of it flying in or out of the nest...
The whole series of pictures from that hike are here.
Ten times longer
If I don't write a novel over Labor Day weekend, I can try it in a slightly longer time-frame in November.Saturday, July 15, 2006
I'm so doing this
Write a novel in three days?Sure. Why not?
Anger release
I was out late Friday night with a friend, did a little drinking but didn't think I was all that drunk when I got home, but went to bed late and tired. When I awoke the next morning, I unlocked the screen saver on my new sexy thing, and found the following written up and prominently displayed. I do not recall writing it, but since the only other explanation is that someone (this "Fred", presumably) snuck into my home sometime last night, guessed my password, and used my computer to write this up... well, that seems preposterous.Perhaps this is fiction, perhaps not.
Presented as I found it, links and all. - Brian
ANGER RELEASE
Goodbye, anger. I've known you for a long time, years even, and it's time to let you go, give you the long kiss goodnight and go our separate ways. I'm going cold turkey from Substance D.
I couldn't believe my own luck. An opportunity I had been fantasizing about for years had finally occurred. Standing at the end of a long aisle in the Blue Room of Powell's City of Books, I saw Donna and Bob walk past me.
Well, first I heard her voice, ingrained on my brain and immediately recognizable despite the long time since last hearing it. She said, "I don't care what you're doing. I'm going up to the Purple Room to browse. How about we meet in the coffee shop in, say, an hour?" Her tone still had that snap to it that I recalled that seemed out of proportion to her petite frame and dark eyes.
"Uh, OK," Bob sounded a bit put out and taken off-guard, but didn't argue. They both walked up the stairs into the Gold Room.
I put down the Theroux book I was considering and circled around to watch them. Bob was tall, balding, chubby, with a goatee. He stood in the main aisle while she reached up and gave him a perfunctory peck on the cheek then dismissively turned and headed further into the store. Bob stood there a moment, getting his bearings, then ambled down the first aisle to present itself.
I walked up the stairs and approached him, my stomach full of butterflies. I had to say something. Normally I'd overthink this and manage to lose the nerve. This was an abnormal time, however.
"Excuse me... is your name Bob?" I asked him.
He turned around quizzically, putting down the Phil Dick book he'd been holding. "Yes?"
Heart pounding, I had to raise my voice to keep going. "You may not know me. You may and you may not. But I know you. Or, rather, I know your... girlfriend?"
He smiled cautiously, head tilted. "Fiancée actually. You know Donna?"
"Yes. My name is Fred. I, uh, started dating her before you knew her. I think." I shook my head at my own careful language. "But anyway, yeah, I know her. And until just now, I knew she was dating someone but wasn't sure I even knew your name. You see... the Donna I know is a liar."
His face turned a bit red at the insult but he didn't contradict or correct me. "Go on" he said flatly.
I rushed to explain further. "I know you don't know me, and you've been dating Donna for a while, so I may not have much credibility right now. But I can document much of what I'm about to tell you. If you're going to marry her you need to know this." More importantly, I thought, I need to tell this. To him or someone. "I said that she's a liar. She lied to me, and I would catch her in it and she'd never even acknowledge it. Maybe I was a jerk sometimes but I always tried to give her the benefit of the doubt and I could eventually talk myself into rationalizing her lies, like it was somehow my fault or something. It's... it was about trust, I guess. On both our parts."
"But it felt like... like betrayal. And even when caught in a bald-faced lie she'd never back down. Her fallback position was always that I was somehow abusive for even pointing it out>. Of course I was angry - anger is a rational response to a lie from someone you're close to." I paused to catch my breath. I was getting a bit rant-y. "Don't you think?"
"It all depends, mate. That was your thing, between you and her. We've had our troubles like any couple but over time we've-"
"I said she lied to me. And you're right, that's between me and her. Too much bad blood between us for that to ever work out well, after all this time. But the part I need to tell you about... Well, I think she lied about me, as well. To you."
I paused to let that sink in.
He didn't respond, although his face did get a bit more red.
"See... you know that tattoo of hers? Her first tattoo, the one right above-"
"I know it." Again spoken flatly.
"OK, then. I know she got it a couple of years ago, on a vacation in Las Vegas, and I have no idea what's happened since then. But... see, she was with me when she got it." I reached out and touched the Phil Dick biography on the shelf next to us. "I gave her a copy of this for her birthday. She was reading it on the plane ride home. She'd almost left it behind in the hotel but we were able to get it... back..." I stopped. I was digressing. Damn Substance D.
"That's" he began, then closed his mouth and thought a moment. He looked at me intently. I wondered what he saw. Before he could speak again, I plunged ahead.
"What she told me about you is that she and you were serious, and that you wouldn't take lightly to the idea of her being in a strange city with a former boyfriend. What I don't know is what, exactly, she told you - who she claimed to be with or any of that. I also don't know if the story has come up since then." I paused and looked at him expectantly. He gave no indication either way. "What I do know is that she ended up in my bed that night, that same night she got that tattoo. We were sharing a room but had separate beds. But she didn't stay in hers that night. Which is only understandable considering how we'd been acting during the day. Drinking, I did a little gambling. Oh, and we'd fought like wildcats on the flight there. Over her intentions in being there with me in the first place. It wasn't that difficult to convince her to go there with me in the first place. In fact, it was a shared idea. You were busy that weekend or something." I think I successfully kept the leer out of my voice.
"You're still not saying anything," I prompted.
"Why should I believe you?" he asked.
"Well, I can document some of it. I have pictures from the trip, although she insisted I take none of her. I can show that she and I stayed in the Luxor that weekend. I can show phone calls from her cell to mine during that weekend. I have souvenirs from that weekend, although admittedly I could have gotten those anywhere. But if push came to shove I could produce some evidence." I took a deep breath. "Bob, she lied to you, at least about this and quite possibly about other things as well. Maybe she lied about her friend Freck, too?" His face clouded at that name but it wasn't defensiveness. At least I wasn't sure what it was.
I took a guess, though and continued. "I can see it in your face, although, honestly, I would not want to play poker against you. She lied to me, too, about many things. I know she lied to me a lot and I only found out once I stopped automatically trusting her. She's had a couple of years to build up trust and a relationship with you, so maybe you can forgive her for her past. If you can, I'll be honest, you're a bigger man than I am. We've all got our weaknesses..."
Shoulders slumped, I felt the weight of carrying my anger at her all these years. "I know I botched things with her by how I reacted. Maybe, in her own weird way, she was testing me, and I failed. Or maybe my initial instincts were correct and she did it all maliciously. I'll never know. For a long time I was hoping she'd at least admit the lies... although I still acted out of anger and attacked her - verbally, I might add - at every opportunity. But now, whatever. I'm moving on." I chuckled. "Probably long past time for that.
"But, seeing you, running in to you and her today... I just had to say something." I pulled out a business card of mine and handed it to him. He took it from me, stared at it, looked back up. "I don't expect you to feel very good about the messenger, and I know you have a lot of reasons to mistrust me. Like I said, I can find evidence to support this lie, and some of the others. But give it some thought."
I turned to walk away, then turned back. "One last thing - pay close attention to how she responds when you bring this up. If you bring it up, I mean. Does she just see it as an attack, and turn it around and make it about you, or about me? Or does she admit to it and accept responsibility for it? And... depending on her answer, is that really a woman you'd want to marry?"
Revenge is a dish best served cold, but there is very little satisfaction in it for the cook, when all is said and done.
I left him, and my cold dish, standing there.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Whole again
I could tell that my new sexy thing was back in Portland this morning. Don't tell me how, but a quick check of the repair status page and the DHL tracking page showed me to be correct - as of 9:07 AM it was on the truck to be delivered to the store.At lunchtime I walked in to the Apple Store Pioneer Place and double-checked the status on one of their computers. Yep, it showed that it was signed for as of 11:48 AM today.
I walked back to the first available staff person (not a Genius - those are only the folk behind the Genius Bar) and said, "I believe you've got my repaired MacBook Pro."
The guy looked confused for a moment while he processed that. "Uh... did we give you a call?" He was over 6' and chubby but had a baby face. He looked like a giant 12-year old. I'm sure he's a nice guy, though.
"No, but according to DHL it was delivered over an hour ago. I'd like to pick it up, please."
"Uh... when we get them in, we have to verify the repair first, then we call you-"
First rule of Customer Service - the customer does not want to hear about your "process". Why is he telling me about their "process" for repairs?
"Well, since I'm here already, why don't I verify the repair?" I asked.
"Uh... OK, I'll go check" he pointed with both index fingers over his shoulder to the door behind the cashiers "in the back."
"Great!" I poked around the store until he came back out.
"Uh... when it's delivered, it's not delivered" he pointed, again with both index fingers, directly at his feet "here. It's delivered" both index fingers shifted to his left "a couple of blocks away, and she has to go get it and bring it" fingers returned to their downward-pointing position "here. It's gonna be 10-15 minutes. Plus we have to verify the repair." They must have covered that extensively in his training.
"Really? 10 or 15 minutes? OK." I thought I was being kind of pushy but couldn't stop myself from adding, "I just want it back."
I waited around for maybe 5 minutes, total, near the Genius Bar until a guy came out, wearing a regular green t-shirt instead of the normal Genius black t-shirt, carrying a MBP and some paperwork. "Brian?" he called out.
I stepped right up. He told me to log in but I was already doing it. It was so hard not to go all Gollum on him, but I found the strength of will to resist for just a moment. I logged in while he told me what they'd done: replaced the main logic board, temperature sensors, battery, and RAM.
Whoa. Whatever, as long as it's fixed. I thanked him, apologized for being a little pushy (he demurred and brushed it off like it was no big deal - and having worked in customer service jobs for a long time, I know that I was nowhere near the limit, but I still felt a bit guilty for aiming my snark at a couple of guys who didn't really deserve it) and then I was on my way.
I've been using it for over a half hour, off the battery. Got Mail, Safari, Adium, and a couple of other utilities open. Both AirPort and Bluetooth are working. CoreDuoTemp shows 56° C which seems about 10° C lower than it would have been prior to the repair. The battery showed a full charge when I logged in at the store and now it shows 2:12 remaining... I'll probably have to re-calibrate this new battery but otherwise that seems the same as before.
And the most important thing is: I am whole again.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Self-correcting
I picked up Thom Yorke's solo album "The Eraser" today (and if you downloaded the illegal copy, of course you've now purchased a legal copy, right?), and when I got to track 4 I discovered that this was the song that played over the end credits of "A Scanner Darkly".I guess I should have researched it more, after posting earlier about the songs not being on the soundtrack album, but over on At Ease they list the four songs Richard Linklater got permission to use in the movie:
- "Amazing Sounds of Orgy" and . "Black Swan"
- "Fog"
- "Skttrbrain" (Four Tet RMX)
- ...and "Black Swan" from The Eraser.
No, no, don't tell me. I'll find them... eventually. I'm good at finding things out. It's my special talent.
PS: "The Eraser" makes great running music for me. I had a great time tonight in the cooling evening air listening to Mr. Yorke's thin reedy voice...
Monday, July 10, 2006
Score
I love Everyday Music.I stopped in there tonight to see if they had the "A Scanner Darkly" soundtrack. There were no less than four new (at least new to me) Radiohead songs listed in the credits, including on called "Black Swan" that played over the end credits.
Everyday Music had the soundtrack - but none of the Radiohead tracks were on it. Maybe Thom and Jonny are saving the songs for their unreleased album? I don't know. I was just bummed about them not being easily accessible.
At any rate, I poked around in the bins while I was there. Seeing the trailer for the Leonard Cohen biopic several times now, I checked out what they had on him. One old "Best of" album, new not used. I got it because I'll start with the "Best of" stuff and then if I like it I'll run down some of the others.
But the bestbestbest find of the night was a "promotional copy / not for resale" of the Long Winters' as-yet-unreleased album, "Putting The Days To Bed". Score!
When I plunked it down on the counter, I said to the cute record-store girl, "I feel so naughty buying this!"
She just looked at it, puzzled, then back at me and shrugged. She didn't get it. "Nah. It's OK."
If flirting is a test, then she failed mine. Oh, well, I'm sure she's a very nice person.
Pirates don't read EULAs
Oh, and I forgot to mention that I saw "Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest" over the weekend, also.Was the first one as stuffed full and confusing as this one is? There's so much going on and it seems so disjointed. But the big set-pieces are very good - I particularly liked the rolling fight on top of the water wheel. And they did a great job on making Bill Nighy look as if he's just naturally got an octopus head. It didn't ever look like a special effect to me.
And I think I'd pay money to watch Johnny Depp read a software licensing agreement.
Nitpick time: why is it in pulp movies like this that the monster can take just a few seconds to eat inconsequential characters, but it takes them minutes and minutes longer to eat major characters? The difference has always seemed odd to me. Any AD&D players out there, though, will recognize that the process of eating a higher-level character means reducing their hit points down to zero first... OK, I just geeked out. I'm not saying it's right I'm just saying that's the rationalization.
Anyway, "Pirates" is a good summer action movie and just as fun as the original.
What does a scanner see?
Go see "A Scanner Darkly". When it comes to your town, I mean. 'Cause it's not playing in Portland yet. I drove all the way to Seattle this weekend to see it and I'll bet you're jealous because you didn't think to do that. Aren't you?It's the best, most faithful film adaptation of PKD's work ever. It made me laugh and sad in all the same places the original book did. It's amazing.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Awakening
Have you ever woken up from a dream, convinced that the dream held the secrets to the universe, that you'd had an epiphianic moment and that sharing that dream with others would lead to amazing, wonderful things?And then, after you'd been awake, maybe you'd tried to write it down, or tell someone else about it... and as you tell, the dream fades from gold to dull, gray lead. You can't get down on paper what made it so wonderful. Or as you try to describe it to your friend you and they realize at the same time that the dream was silly, or simple, or worse of all incoherent, and you feel that sinking sensation in your chest that tells you that there are no amazing dream-solutions to everyday problems.
Well, last night I had the most amazing, mind-blowing dream. During the dream I felt as if on the verge of an intellectual and creative breakthrough. Even during the dream I knew that this would make an amazing story, or even the jumping-off point for a story, of phildickian enormity.
I awoke and spent several minutes in bed, going over and over the details, trying not to lose them, but waiting for that moment when I would either lose the feelings of awe, or the details would fade from my mind and become part of the background noise of my life.
And another lovely thing happened. The dream stayed coherent. The idea remained amazing.
It stayed amazing even as I wrote it down on paper (tsk - two years since my last paper journal entry). Now it's part of my story ideas collection and I can flesh it out.
I know I must seem a horrible tease but I don't want to post it here on the internet. Sure, all my writings are protected by the Creative Commons license but I still don't trust it.
Email me and if I like you and trust you I'll send you the story fragment...
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Baby's at the doctor
Sad news. I had to ship my new sexy thing off to Apple Repair today.A couple of weeks ago, it started shutting down abruptly when on battery. First time it happened I assumed the battery was low, but then it did it with the battery well over half - might have even been over 75%.
My first thought was that it might be software-related because both times I was actively using a chat program called AdiumX at the moment it shut down. So a weekend or two ago, I backed up, wiped 'er clean and reinstalled the OS and only those programs I absolutely needed.
But in the last couple of days it's done it three times. One time yesterday just before I was going to see a new client. Um, oops. I poked around some online forums and they all suggested I send it off to Apple. It's still under warranty and some thought it might be a problem with the battery that's supposedly a silent recall.
I made an appointment at the Apple Store Pioneer Place Genius Bar, and today I talked to Brent. He poked around, reset the PMU/PRAM, and while trying to look at the system logs - it shut down on him. Total time at Genius Bar: 4 minutes, tops, and less than 2 minutes after restarting it. I did a happy dance, because, seriously, how often does it happen that the intermittent problem shows up when you're showing it to the tech?
Brent said it's the main logic board, not the battery. Me sad. But I knew when I bought this that I was getting a version 1.0 product and it might have some problems. It's not like I didn't know that in advance.
So it's off to repair depot (I think that's still in Austin but I could be wrong) and I'm without my laptop for a few days. Hopefully there aren't any parts backorders or anything. Brent said typical times are 5 days (not business days but actual days) but I know they can do it faster if everything's in alignment.
My apartment seems a colder place without my MBP here.
Literally, colder. The thing ran at 150° F under normal load...
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Naggy taggers
Got this from Akiko Sakura, a.k.a. Christi Lee. Ugh. Damn taggers.1. Who are you? - Brian
2. Are we friends? - Yes.
3. When and how did we meet? - Technically, we haven't met yet. But we talk and chat all the time, ever since you replied to a political blog Caleb and I started prior to the elections in 2004.
4. Do you talk to me a lot? - Almost every day, in one way or another, although there have been times when we've gone up to a week without some form of contact.
5. Am I fun to talk to? - Yes, you are smart and funny, even when you're complaining about your boy troubles...
6. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it. - For tonight you are Princess Naggy, because you're nagging me to do this even though I only got up and signed on because I was waking up to let Smacky in and I was plugging my computers back in because the thunderstorm I'd feared earlier hadn't actually happened.
7. Describe me in one word. - Complicated.
8. What was your first impression? - Honestly? I wasn't sure you were who you claimed to be. But I'm a suspicious person that way...
9. Do you still think that way about me now? - Oh, no. You're definitely very very real.
10. What reminds you of me? - Lots of things that we like in common: Radiohead, taking pictures, how fucked up the country is...
11. If you could give me anything what would it be? - More decisiveness.
12. How well do you know me? - Personality-wise, I think I know you pretty well after two years of conversation.
13. Whats one thing that we had and was only ours? - Our short-lived political satire blog. I think it died because the Bush Administration satirizes itself.
14. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't? - May-be.
15. Are you going to put this on your blog and see what I say about you? - Duh. Here it is!
