I just finished a split shift at work. 16 hours in an office chair over a 24 hour period is no fun. I hope I never have to endure that ever again. You know you’ve spent too much time at work when you get home, use the bathroom and expect your toilet to auto flush like the ones at work do when you stand up.
Artists in Wonderland : How would you like to hang out in this place. Talk about a techy/musicians/filmakers dream. Drool factor 12, Commander Data. Three words: All fiber baby!!! And I ain’t talkin Mini Wheat.
These Are Definitely Not Scully’s Breasts : I think this guy just gets his jollies off the free porn but hey he’s old and retired and he can do what he wants. As a recovering X-Files fan (back when the show was really good) and a Scully/Jillian Anderson fan I had to post this article with a title like that. The guy claims to be legitamately concerned for the slighted actresses reputations but come on dude. Let’s call a spade a spade. You’re getting you jollies off man. Just admit it.
I’m faced with an interesting choice as of late. To see or not to see. November was sort of a fall no man’s land as far as movies go. I saw a couple of movies that month but if you asked me to recall them I’d fail miserably. But December is upon us. Ah December. My movie savior. December has brought with it the release of two movies I’ve been looking forward to for months, The Lord of The Rings: Return of the King and The Last Samurai. LoTR has of course been anticipated since the last installment of the series. I’ve been looking forward to The Last Samurai since I saw the first preview for it back in April or something. Now that these two movies are here you’d think that I would have rushed out and seen them the second they were out but if you thought that you’d be wrong. It’s December 28th and I still haven’t seen either of them. I haven’t had the time and am not sure I’m willing to make the time investment in the near future. 3.5 hours for LoTR? Similar epic length for Samurai. Normally I would jump at both but lately not so much. I’ve got other stuff going on. Life is happening. I’ve got a girlfriend now. I’d rather spend time with her than sit in a dark theater alone. That is of course if she’s not with me. I’m hoping to take her to see Cold Mountain and maybe even Paycheck (John Woo says in addition to being an action flick it’s also a love story. Hopefully I can convince my girlfriend of this and get her to go with me) this coming week. I’ll see the big epics eventually but they’ve lost the priority they once held. Last week I went to see Love Don’t Cost A Thing (a guilty pleasure movie fix since I hadn’t been to the theater in almost 3 weeks) instead of seeing The Last Samurai. It was a lot shorter and allowed me to get my laugh on which is always good. Between work, my family being here, and having a girlfriend I guess I actually have a life now. My love affair with movies is taking a back seat. It won’t go away completely. I’ll just need to find creative ways to incorporate it into my other activities. It’s nice having other activities to have to incorpate it into now.
The Second Coming of Phillip K. Dick : As I sit here yet again bored out of my mind working the graveyard shift at work I find myself struggling with the eternal paradox that has become my working life. I want it to stay quiet so that I don’t have to do any real work and yet if it gets busy I’m somehow happy because at least it gives me something to do. From time to time during these slow periods I wander over to Wired.com so see what’s cooking. I really need to subscribe to that magazine. Their articles never cease to intrigue and peek my interests.
The December edition of Wired has a feature story Phillip K. Dick. As a semi-sci fi afficianado (I realize my love of the genre is dwarfed several times over by many fans out there) I’m ashamed to say that I just discovered the man. I found it strange that I was starting to encounter references to the man all over the place while perusing various media recently. Wired.com provided the connection. The new movie Paycheck starring Ben Affleck is inspired/based (loosely or otherwise) on a story of the same name by one Phillip K. Dick. He seems like a really interesting guy. Dude had issues but don’t we all? I’m just excited to have found another author with a treasure trove of works to explore. Between his 30 novels and more than 150 short stories my reading calendar for 2004 is quickly filling up. I may have to squeez a Dick novel in between my latest reading adventure, the Harry Potter books. I know I know. I’m always late to the party when it comes to these trends. Give me credit for at least making it to the party. Better late than never I say.
Merry Christmas everybody. Happy Holidays. I’m looking forward to tomorrow because I’ll get to spend it with my immediate family and a good chunk of my extended family for the first time in recent memory. Many smiles, jokes, and laughs will be had by all I’m sure. The only thing that would make it even more special would be if my girlfriend could spend it with me. There’s always next year though. I hope you’re able to spend the holiday with family, friends and people who love you. Feliz Navidad!
Old School Concept Transcribed Into The New School
The Great Library of Amazonia : This should interest all my fellow book readers out there. It talks about how a new feature being implemented on Amazon.com is getting us one step closer to the Universal Library of Human Knowledge envisioned by the people of ancient Alexandria. This breakthrough is of course being done for the sake of profit with any over-arching social benefits being mere icing on the cake. Yet another Jeff Bezos (Amazon CEO) innovation. The man is an Internet/Technology genius.
The Real Mob : This is a short but interesting glimpse into the real, unglamorized mob. Mob and tech aren’t usually uttered in the same breath but this story does that and then some. It’s the story of a mob technology specialist. Very cool stuff. Most mob operations still operate on old school technology. This guy is bringing the operations into the 21st century. It’s further proof that technology, when properly implemented, can make any operation, legal or not, more efficient.
It’s Baaaaack!!!!…. Almost. Peep the Spiderman 2 teaser trailer. In a word….. Wow!!!! I’m so there. It’s too bad we have to wait until 4th of July weekend to see it. Why can’t it be May 3rd like the first movie? Oh well watch the trailer. It’s impressive. If you can watch the whole thing and not leave with your jaw slacked and drool poring out put two fingers on your wrist and make sure your heart is still beating.
Oh Happy Day!!!! My parents and brother are here in the States. This marks the first time we’ve all been on the same continent at the same time since summer of 2002. It will mark the first Christmas we’ve spent together since 1999. Needless to say I’m happy. I get to see my baby graduate on Saturday. Looking forward to seeing my surprisingly decent Memphis Grizzlies tomorrow night with my Dad and brother (and hopefully Mom). Life is great. Oh happy day indeed.
Random Thoughts and Utterances Are The Norm