Make a photobook in a month.
Also on Mike's blog, a good article about something I've touched upon myself, the devaluation of useful words, in this case "ignorant". (Also about race horses and how they can't be saved.)
The devaluation of words like "ignorant" (or "liberal") comes about from a words being used as a weapon in heated political (in the widest sense) debates. After a few years of that, the word becomes so tainted with animosity that it just can't be used neutrally in mixed company anymore.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Awkward moments in movies
Isn't it funny how when somebody in a movie needs to draw blood, they will always drag a knife across their palm? It's pretty much the dumbest place you can choose. Either you'll have to bandage the hand into uselessness, or it will take weeks to heal because it will spring up every time you use the hand.
Also when somebody walks into a room/apartment which they know has an armed killer in it, they never look behind the door they walk through.
And the body outlines on the floor. (And in certain movies, on the walls and the ceiling...) It's not done in real life.
Writers have this tendency to sit there in isolation and try to think up stuff. L. Ron Hubbard wrote this great article (the idioms and the numbers are a bit outdated, but heck, it's seventy years old) back in his pulp fiction days, about how one day of research in the real world (the Boeing aircraft plant) not only made his stories much more realistic, but also gave him material for a couple more stories he wouldn't have come up with otherwise.
OK, Hubbard had a huge ego, and he was always trying to appear larger than life, and the scientologists are continuing that tradition. But he was a very good writer, most of the time. And some of his articles are very helpful for writers.
Also when somebody walks into a room/apartment which they know has an armed killer in it, they never look behind the door they walk through.
And the body outlines on the floor. (And in certain movies, on the walls and the ceiling...) It's not done in real life.
Writers have this tendency to sit there in isolation and try to think up stuff. L. Ron Hubbard wrote this great article (the idioms and the numbers are a bit outdated, but heck, it's seventy years old) back in his pulp fiction days, about how one day of research in the real world (the Boeing aircraft plant) not only made his stories much more realistic, but also gave him material for a couple more stories he wouldn't have come up with otherwise.
OK, Hubbard had a huge ego, and he was always trying to appear larger than life, and the scientologists are continuing that tradition. But he was a very good writer, most of the time. And some of his articles are very helpful for writers.
New learning
Isn't it funny how you can keep learning? Sometimes without even taking in any new data, sometimes just by... I don't know, expanding your mind maybe.
For example, this morning I needed a web site I hadn't used for a long while. I knew what I would have called it, approximately, but exactly where I'd stashed it away amongst the hundreds and hundreds of bookmarks I've collected over the years.... ? (Arranged in folders, sure, but still.)
And then I realized that Apple has been putting Search boxes in absolutely everything in later years. Surely they now have a Search box when I'm looking at my bookmarks...
Lo and behold, I opened a bookmarks window in Safari, and there was the expected Search box. I typed in a few characters, and boom, there we had it.
For example, this morning I needed a web site I hadn't used for a long while. I knew what I would have called it, approximately, but exactly where I'd stashed it away amongst the hundreds and hundreds of bookmarks I've collected over the years.... ? (Arranged in folders, sure, but still.)
And then I realized that Apple has been putting Search boxes in absolutely everything in later years. Surely they now have a Search box when I'm looking at my bookmarks...
Lo and behold, I opened a bookmarks window in Safari, and there was the expected Search box. I typed in a few characters, and boom, there we had it.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Iggy Pop interview
Iggy Pop interview.
I love it when he says his art is "Dionysiac". People expect a wild, braindead rocknroller, and he talks like a professor.
This was from the eighties, and it's funny how he no longer looks like the young Iggy, but not yet looks like the middle-aged, furrowed Iggy he became within a few years. He does not look like Iggy at all, in fact.
Here's an early one. He is not making it easy for the interviewer.
I guess he does not like that everybody asks him about bleeding and vomiting on stage, but the question is how much media coverage he would have without it. I like his stuff a lot, but I think that without the records where he was assisted in composing by David Bowie (Lust For Life, The Idiot, and Blah Blah Blah), he would not have much of any great compositions out there.
Update:
Joe Dick ventured:
I think some of the stuff he says is just having fun with the interviewer and can't always be taken seriously.
I'm sure you're right. Rock musicians are notorious for doing that, and worse. For instance Al Jourgenson said once that "The Mind Is A Dangerous Thing To Taste" was recorded in one day. And another time he said it took a year's worth of slavery in the studio. Having fun I can understand, but why would you lie to people who trust you and like you?
He also said once, being interviewed before a concert, that he was wearing diapers, and was pissing himself as he spoke. Diapers? Under the skin-tight jeans musicians always wear? And taking up the amount of pee a beer-guzzling guy is bound to produce? Yeah, right. But the female journalist seemed to take him on his word.
I love it when he says his art is "Dionysiac". People expect a wild, braindead rocknroller, and he talks like a professor.
This was from the eighties, and it's funny how he no longer looks like the young Iggy, but not yet looks like the middle-aged, furrowed Iggy he became within a few years. He does not look like Iggy at all, in fact.
Here's an early one. He is not making it easy for the interviewer.
I guess he does not like that everybody asks him about bleeding and vomiting on stage, but the question is how much media coverage he would have without it. I like his stuff a lot, but I think that without the records where he was assisted in composing by David Bowie (Lust For Life, The Idiot, and Blah Blah Blah), he would not have much of any great compositions out there.
Update:
Joe Dick ventured:
I think some of the stuff he says is just having fun with the interviewer and can't always be taken seriously.
I'm sure you're right. Rock musicians are notorious for doing that, and worse. For instance Al Jourgenson said once that "The Mind Is A Dangerous Thing To Taste" was recorded in one day. And another time he said it took a year's worth of slavery in the studio. Having fun I can understand, but why would you lie to people who trust you and like you?
He also said once, being interviewed before a concert, that he was wearing diapers, and was pissing himself as he spoke. Diapers? Under the skin-tight jeans musicians always wear? And taking up the amount of pee a beer-guzzling guy is bound to produce? Yeah, right. But the female journalist seemed to take him on his word.
IBM Launches Pilot Program for Migrating to Macs
"As further evidence of the growing interest in Macs among enterprise customers, IBM’s Research Information Services launched an internal pilot program designed to study the possibility of moving significant numbers of employees to the Mac platform. The study has already found an enthusiastic response from participants and is helping to drive Mac support for IBM’s business applications."
Article
Article
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Friday, May 02, 2008
Maggie Gyllenhaal
I just had lunch at a place with, today, several very cute waitresses, including one who was the spitting image of Maggie Gyllenhaal. (Movies: "Secretary", "Stranger Than Fiction", and "Adaptation", all good.) Same roguish smile and everything. That doesn't suck! And she seemed to appreciate me mentioning it.
(More pictures of Maggie.)
(More pictures of Maggie.)
Coffee mill
When I was visited recently by a couple of old friends (o, how we laughed and talked), including one who was my boss in the nineties, he one-upped me in the espresso machine department, he's taken courses, has a bigger one (espresso machine that is), and uses a coffee mill.
So I decided to get one myself, seeing as I was not always happy with the quality of my coffee. After some research, I bought a Dualit Burr Coffee Grinder, and I just got it today.
So far I'm very happy with it. It seems like quality, and it's compact, fast, and really easy to use.
And I must say it actually makes a difference to use freshly-ground coffee. I had to have two cups this morning, it was delicious.
Role models
It seems yet another Disney movie star is shocking the bourgeoisie by becoming a woman. Mike Johnston has a suggestion for a solution.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
iTunes unsung songs
I realized it was silly that there are so many songs in my iTunes app which I rarely listen to because I listen to my favorites most of the time. So I made a Smart List which plays songs which I've not yet rated and which I've listened to less than 3 times. Songs which I've bought on iTunes music store, or downloaded, or ripped from old or new CDs. I am thinking I would find a few new favorites to broaden my horizon.
Guess what, that list contains over 2,000 songs!! Jeepers creepers.
Guess what, that list contains over 2,000 songs!! Jeepers creepers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)