It would seem that Roy's pretty much abandoned his blog, and so I've removed it from the link to the left.
I've started reading Dent's very funny blog off late. Seeing as how he's very kindly linked to mine, I think I should reciprocate.
Speaking of which, has anyone heard from Vee? I don't think she's sent out her new phone number.
You know, my life has become this big blur. I kid you not. I couldn't even tell you what I had for dinner a couple of nights ago.
Sigh.
It's just stress out of this project in Atlanta. It's not the travel mind you ... Well, I don't think it's the travel, at least. It's the insane hours of work that's most likely the cause. This last week, I was up at 1am taking a conference call with the client's developers in India. Bloody Indians ... they make life so difficult for people sometimes. :-)
I had an all-classical-purchase weekend too. I bought mostly tracks from various soundtracks ... the Superman theme (triggered off by watching the trailer to the new movie; I dare you to tell me that listening to that track does not cast your mind back to your childhood of wearing a towel round your neck and jumping off the bed.), the Indiana Jones theme (seeing as it's John Williams too), "The Clash of Lightsabers" (which is basically Imperial March, only slower, and more menacing), and the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky (triggered by scenes from V for Vendetta last weekend; also, note to studio execs: classical composers of bygone centuries did not have "Greatest Hits" ... there was no Billboard back in the 1800's ... as far as I know).
So lets see, what updates do I have from my side ...
I watched V for Vendetta last weekend. Pretty good movie ... which made me all the more curious as to why the certified genius/insane Alan Moore (the line is fuzzy. Read his biography here) had his name taken off the credits. The scenes of London's landmarks blowing up to the strains of 1812 Overture are ... well, lets just say they brought a shiver of awestruck pleasure. It's like your first sober rock concert ... you just sit there with slackjawed, wondering how people could produce such ... ART!
Speaking of art, I bought the new Joe Satriani album, Super Collossal, last weekend. A few good tracks on there. Very radio-friendly & concert-rousing album actually. If you listen to podcasts, you'll know that Satriani had a podcast every week leading up to the album release. In each little "episode", he would introduce a different track, by playing a few bars on his guitar, then talking about what the song was meant to convey (these are instrumental, remember?), and then the videocast would outro to a sample of the song. If nothing, that's a pretty novel way to market an album, and I applaud him for it! I hope more artists follow his lead.
I don't know why it is, but Satriani's really lost his hold over me. Maybe it was that whole teen/mastubatory guitar-play phase I was in in college. I remember lapping up his albums - live, and studio - till about 2000 ... I think Engines of Creation was the album at that time? I remember lapping up Surfing With The Alien, Flying In A Blue Dream, and a host of other Satriani, Vai, and Malmsteen albums, but now ... eh, big whoop.
Which triggered off another train of thought. When in college, I air-guitared like crazy. I was notorious for it. And then, sometime around 2000-01, I abandoned air-lead in favor of air-bass. And now, I air-drum. Which means that I now listen & focus more on the drumming than on the melody or rhythm. It's weird! But it shows my musical evolution! ;-)
Oh, Randy & I attended the taping of The Colbert Report on Tuesday afternoon. It was an interesting experience - I've never attend a show taping before. Admitedly, I wished it was The Daily Show, but Stephen Colbert is funny in his own way. A couple of things struck me about the taping though - the size of the audience (about 70, tops), and the size of the studio ... er, the size of a one-bedroom apartment. I was expecting something ... grander, certainly. And it was all one-take stuff. I thought they'd be a rehearsal, followed by the actual taping. As it turned out, they only had to reshoot about 5 seconds of material as the feed was corrupted or something. Very impressive - shows you how confident and self-assured these guys are. Comedy's a serious business, eh?
Forget the fact that Microsoft won't ship Vista to consumers until January 2007 (corporate bastards get their hands on it in November 2006 ... Hmm, I wonder if I can incorporate myself in Delaware)!
Check this out! ... I can hardly believe it ... Dell is going to sell PCs with AMD chips. Dear God, it's a sure sign of the Apocalypse.
The dinner I had tonight has got to be the best one I've had in a YEAR. Also suffice it to say that I have had 2 very, VERY large, and VERY strong rum drinks in funny shaped glasses. You know that's dangerous, livin' on the edge shit y'all.
I had this barbequed duck dish ... I sincerely hope that the duck went to the big pond in the sky for bringing so much joy to the world. At the very least, I hope his wish to be reincarnated as a swan came true. An hour later, and I can still taste the .... oh, so heavenly taste of barbequed duck. This duck was like the Uncle Scrooge of duckydom - rich. This duck was definitely no quack.
You project managers, consultants, and IT support folks know what I'm talking about. How does one release a change to an environment. Currently, there are 2 schools of thought:
1. The "Big Bang" approach (and I'm not talking about Pam & Tommy, nudge nudge): Replace everything overnight
2. Phased approach: Run 2 systems in parallel, and gradually retire the old system.
Lets just say that after seeing 3 major IT rollouts, and managing 2, that I'm a big fan of the Phased approach.
Now why do I bring this up here? Its not to talk about IT/Software Engineering (or Softee as we used to call it in BITS). Before I elucidate further, let me make one thing very clear: the idiot who thought up the Release program for Atlanta's MARTA to switch over from the token system to the one-use card system should be flogged in public before being covered in honey and buried near an anthill. And that's if the jury decides on leniency.
Basically what they've done is to replace the old token machines with the new card machines, and corresponding gate turnstiles one station at a time. Which means, given on where one is travelling from/to, one has to carry a combination of tokens and cards. In fact, they've disabled and/or taped up token machines at stations with the new card machines. Which means that at an "old" station, one has to buy tokens, then at the new station, swap the token for a card. The "old" station won't let you in on cards, and the "new" stations won't let you in on tokens.
When one flies into Atlanta, you have to go to the manned counter at the airport, buy a load of tokens, then go to the card machine and one at a frigging time SWAP TOKENS FOR CARDS. WHAT THE FLYING F**K PEOPLE?!
Oh, and the cards are masterworks of genius too. You wave the cards in front of magnetic readers. After he gate lets you in, the card is essentially useless. I haven't seen any "old card" collection buckets anywhere, and none of the gates captures the card on the last use. DID ANYONE EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT OF RECYCLING TO MARTA?
Gah! I'm too pissed to write more.
Studio Briefings on IMDb on March 9th:
Latest iTunes Deal: A Month of 'Daily' Shows for $9.99
The Apple iTunes Store, which has attempted to maintain a standard
price of $1.99 for each download of an available television episode
available on the site, is altering its model somewhat with the addition
of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report
from Comedy Central. In an announcement on Wednesday, the iTunes Store
described a new option called Multi-Pass, which will allow a month of
episodes of the two daily shows to be automatically downloaded to an
individual's personal computer the day after each episode airs for
$9.99. Individual episodes will still cost $1.99. Sixteen all-new
episodes will be delivered each month; repeats will not be. "It's the
immediacy of the iTunes service that make it perfect for these shows,"
Comedy Central GM Michelle Ganeless told Bloomberg News.
The Daily Show link in iTMS can be foud here, and The Colbert Report link here.
Live from my living room, its the televised Oscar Awards on ABC! You know, I'm kinda ashamed of myself this year ... I haven't watched most of the movies up for the 4 major categories. A stark contrast to last year.
8:05 .. .Heeeeeeeere's Johnny!! (Oh come on! How could I pass that up?) That was actually a pretty funny opening riff on the Academy's hunt for a host. Doesn't match up to Billy Crystal's montage a couple of years ago, but its one of the better ones I've seen (does anyone remember Chris Rock's?). Gotta love that self-deprecatory Jewish humor. And yes, I know it's JON Stewart.
8:06 ... Yes, Jon makes the obligatory "Death To Smoochy" reference!
8:08 ... It's odd, on The Daily Show, Jon always seems awkward when standing and presenting a piece. Doesn't seem to have too much of a problem here. But you gotta hand it to him, he's been funny so far.
8:12 ... Ooh, Jon Stewart just said Walk The Line is Ray with white people. Did you catch Joaquin Phoenix's look? Pure daggers.
8:14 ... Obligatory, but still funny montage of cowboy flicks that have gay innuendo.
8:16 ... Best Supporting Actor this quickly? It's one of the 4 big ones ... I haven't seen ANY of the movies here. :( .. But I'm all for Clooney! And the Oscar goes to ... Yaay! Nicole Kidman looks sweet too. Since when did they start the "get of the stage" music from the moment the winner walks on? That's disgusting! ... Wow, Geogre Clooney's really turned serious these days, huh?
8:20 ... Funny clip about overlong speeches, but you know what would have been funnier? Halle Berry doing that. After all, who can forget that marathon snoozefest of an acceptance speech a few years ago? My god, that woman would NOT shut up, and forced the Academy into that stupid "Get off the stage" music.
8:26 ... Damn Ben Stiller can be silly ... Best Visual Effects ... Hmm, OK I've seen all movies. I vote for King Kong! And the award goes to ...Yes! Woohoo! Thanks include Andy Serkis. Damn straight. The man's rewriting the rulebook of film-making.
8:31 ... Best Animated Feature ... They're all so GOOD! But my heart belongs to Wallace & Grommitt. But Howl's Moving Castle is a close second! ... Tim Burton's wife doesn't look happy ...And the award goes to ... YES!! Wow, I called 3 of them so far ... I should've bet in the office pool ... Wow, those are pretty gay bowties, eh?
8:43 ... Hmm, the Wilson Brothers are presenting Live Action Short. I believe they're available now on iTunes Music Store. I'll probably buy the winner. Which reminds me, where does one watch the animated shorts? ... OK, the winner's Six Shooter.
8:45 ... Oh dear God, what a poor choice of presenters for Animated Short ... OK, thats a funny bit about animated ducks and pants. I take that back ... thats a REALLY funny bit about Disney's not putting pants on Donald Duck. And funny presenters! Hooray for Zach Braff as the voice of Chicken Little! The award goes to... The Moon and The Sun. I should get that somehow.
8:50 ... I love Jennifer Aniston. She's ... radiant. Maybe that's because Brad Pitt left ;) ... Best Costume award will probably go to Pride & Prejudice .. and it goes to ... Memoirs of a Geisha. Er ... that was my second choice! It was!
8:58 ... Will Ferrell & Steve Carrell present makeup nominees. Odd choice ... you'd think it'd be someone who was glamorous, or ethereal in appearance, like Nicole Kidman. But these guys crack me up with their intro :D ... I miss Will Ferrell in SNL ... Interesting only 2 nominees are Sci Fi (as opposed to all of them) ... Huh, Narnia won ... Well, OK, considering that the other contender was Revenge of the Sith ... and I think people have grown leery of space battles. People seem to prefer sword-and-sorcery these days ... Hey, how come the "Get off the stage" music didn't come on till the end? Prejudice!
9:04 ... Nicole Kidman doesn't look too amused by the Russell Crowe jab (Roughly, it was Jon saying "I'm surprised Cinderella Man didn't win. I mean, it's tough to make Russell Crowe look like he'd been in a fight")
9:05 ... Why is it that scientific awards are held in a seperate event, of which like one or two of the clips are shown at the Awards? More evidence of the de-scientification of America, I tell ya!
9:06 ... Morgan Freeman stumbled in his intro to Best Supporting Actress! Amazing! ... Huh, I never realized - leading lady from The 40 Year Old Virgin is a nominee ... Rachel Weisz looks a bit old :( ... But she wins the Oscar :)
9:16 ... Woohoo! Daily Show style piece on Best Actress nominees!
9:22 ... March of the Penguins takes the award for Best Documentary, as expected. I've got to watch it, but I admit the whole Chritian angle on the whole thing's really dampened my enthusiasm.
9:24 ... Dear Gods, why J-Lo? Why God, why?! ... Oh, OK it's for another of the nominated songs.
9:32 Sandra "Ms. Congeniality" Bullock & Keanu "Whoa!" Reeves walk out together. She looks like she's got some allergies ... He looks as wooden as ever ... Is this the first time they've "performed" together since Speed? I think it is. Hmm, Oscar for art direction. I would go for King Kong, but Pride & Prejudice looks good too. And the Oscar goes to ... huh. Memoirs of a Geisha. Go figure.
9:36 ... Damn, Samuel L Jackson doesn't walk. He ... swaggers!
10:04 ... OK back from my phone call with Mon & Dad ... thank Gods for my DVR :) ... I pick up at 9:44 :)
9:44 ... DAMN! SALMA HAYEK IS HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT! Dear Gods, she's ... popping out of that gown!
9:49 ... Brokeback Mountain takes it's first award, albeit for musical score :)
9:56 ... Jake Gylllllenenenhall (seriously, that name is like "banana" ... you have to learn WHEN to stop!) walks out ... you know, it's surprising that he didn't get recognized for his role in Jarhead ... Hang on, did they just shop a clip from "Back to the Future" in the "Epic Movies" category?! They did!
10:00 ... Is it my imagination, or is Jessica Alba really that skinny? .. Hmm ... best sound mixing ... ooh, Walk The Line is a good nominee here ... as is King King. I'm going with Walk The Line. And the award goes to ... King Kong. Huh .. well, I still called it! :)
10:05 ... So who's this fruitcake up with Meryl Streep? And why are they babbling on? Shut it and get on with the honorary Oscar to a great director (Robert Altman)! Beautiful analogy he just made - filmmaking is like building sand castles!
10:16 ... Nice AmEx ad featuring M Night Shyamalan :)
10:19 ... Dear Gods, ABC is actually censoring "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" with silences ... Huh, iTMS doesn't have the song. How odd.
10:23 ... Academy awards Best Song to a rap song for the first time. That's history, dawg. Damn we got rappers with the bling on stage next to white folk in evening gowns & tuxedos. This moment is pure history. Relish it! :)
10:26 ... Oh yes, yet another Daily Show-esque clip about Best Sound Editing.
10:27 ... Dear God, what is Jennifer Garner wearing. Alright, you Hollywood women, get this - a flowing robe makes you look a) pregnant, or b) fat. Deal with it .. Of course if she really is pregnant ... er ... you look lovely, Jennifer Garner.
10:28 King Kong takes the best sound editing award. Why isn't Peter Jackson at the awards? Does he feel snubbed cos he didn't get a Best Director or Best Picture nominations this time?
10:35 ... Oh yeah, the Tribeca Film Festival's coming up at the end of April. Must check it out.
10:37 ... Will Smith presenting best foreign film. Seems like he's becoming a international goodwill ambassador, eh? He worked quite a bit on Live 8 as I recall. Tsotsi wins the award. Been hearing a lot about this movie. I really should check it out.
10:41 Ziyi Zhang's hot. She's presenting Best Editor. Wow, I've watched only 2 movies in this cateogry. Shameful. The award goes to the dude who edited Crash.
10:44 ... Hillary Swank's on to present Best Actor (wow, only 15 minutes to go!) ... Huh, Heath Ledger's got a Johnny Depp goatee look! ... I havent seen most of the movies here but I'm rooting for Joaquin Phoenix, although David Strathairn was good too. Cool, Philip Seymour Hoffman won it. I really should watch Capote ...
10:54 ... John Travolta is a 2-time nominee? Really? I gotta look this up! ...He's presenting Cinematography ... Memoirs of a Geisha takes it. This movie's won most of the technical categories,tonight right? ... OK, Travolta was nominated for Pulp Fiction (really? Not BMF?) and Saturday Night Fever.
10:57 ... Jamie Foxx walks on to present Best Actress. Is it odd that 2 of the 5 nominees are British ... I mean, for an essentially American awards show? Even though i haven't seen the movie, I'm supporting Kiera Knightly on the sole basis that she's the hottest (hey, it's as good a reason as any!) ... Oh but there's Reese Witherspoon as well ... OK that movie I saw ... Alright, Reese Witherspoon is my choice! :) ... Hey it's my blog! ... And the award goes to ... Reese Witherspoon! Hah! OK she's going on a little bit long ...
11:07 ... Alright I've had to start recording "Eyewitness News"! It looks like we'll be here for a while!
11:08 ... Dustin Hoffman presents the award for Best Adapted Screenplay ... History of Violence is a graphic novel? Damn, I've got to read it! ... Alright, Brokeback takes its second award. Speaking of graphic novels, yet another Alan Moore graphic novel is being made into a movie - V for Vendetta. I do not look forward to it. I mean, there's been just ONE good Alan Moore adaptation, From Hell. League of Extraordinary Gentleman was an unmitigated disaster.
11:12 Uma "Kill Bill" Thurman walks on to present the award for Best Original Screenplay. Crash takes this award.
11:18 ... Tom Hanks comes out to present Best Director. Man all these movies are pretty good, it's going to be close, but ... yeah, Ang Lee won for Brokeback Mountain.
11:21 ... Jack Nicholson walks out. Damn, he's a 12-time nominee? Wow, I ... I ... I can't handle the truth! What's with those sunglasses he always wears, BTW? He's presenting Best Picture ... another close race ... And Crash takes it, winning 3 of its 6 nominations. Who was that excitable woman in the orange gown who kept jumping up and down before realizing her gown was strapless (I kid you not, there's a fleeting shot of her having to pull it up!)
10:28 ... Wow, it's over ... it's what, 30 minutes too long? :)
Wow I'm bushed! I'll write up a little more about my thoughts tomorrow. I'm keeping the 3.5 hour recording on my DVR so that I can watch it and enjoy it ... I've been swivelling around from my TV to my PC these last few hours!
I've often wondered what it would be like to ... explore other desires.
I'm a consultant working & living in New York City.
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