Keynesian Economics
Posted on | January 28, 2008 at 8:33 pm | 4 Comments
I got nothin’ to talk about today.
The writers’ strike drags on. Heath Ledger dies right before what is surely to be his most awesome performance is released. Spy satellites are falling out of the sky. Britney has “mental issues”. And I don’t even want to know what the President said in his SotU address tonight. The world’s going to hell, I tells ya.
(Although maybe the Prez should base his economic stimuli around Britney.)
In a somewhat ironic twist on the whole car key thing, the body shop repairing my Prius somehow lost the electronic key. I had to drive home in the middle of the day and get my spare. I should be getting the car back tomorrow, btw. With a whole new key.
Which reminds me that one of the Google search phrases that led someone to this blog lately was “how to get keys out of locked 2007 chevy cobalt non power locks”. I do sort of know how to do that, now that I’ve seen it done twice. Too bad I didn’t actually reveal it though.
Another recent Google search phrase that led here: “how to get man super power from devil”. That one scares me. But not as much as “blu wasabi in scranton, pa”. Blu wasabi? Hmmmm, I don’t remember seeing any sushi places in Scranton.
Latre.
New York Is The New Tokyo
Posted on | January 27, 2008 at 6:38 pm | 5 Comments
I saw a theater movie yesterday, which is pretty rare for me these days. It had a fairly standard plot. Tell me if you haven’t seen this one a thousand times:
1) Guy sleeps with his best gal pal and discovers he loves her as more than just a friend.
2) Guy gets a job in a foreign country and decides not to profess his love for gal pal.
3) The two of them have a fight when gal pal brings another guy to first guy’s going-away party; she leaves in a huff.
4) Giant monster attacks the city, disrupting the going-away party and generally destroying everything and killing a lot of people.
5) Girl is trapped and injured on the other side of the city, so guy & his friends go to rescue her instead of evacuating the city like the intelligent people do.
And, oh yeah:
6) Guy’s guy pal is holding a video camera and he records every moment of the action.
I am speaking, of course, of the #1 movie in the country last week: Cloverfield. [Some spoilers follow] I had been looking forward to this one for a long time; I’m a Godzilla fan, so I was interested to see what would happen when someone took that kind of thing semi-seriously. It’s a thrill ride, but you do have to leave your disbelief at home. For example, it’s really, really hard to believe that the amateur guy with the camera would’ve been holding onto it for as long as he did, while also getting such great shots. I’d be like “Screw recording this for history/posterity, I’m saving my own skin!” That camera (and the heroes) sure went through a lot and survived for a long time. I also found it somewhat hard to believe that not only would the guy would go back for the girl, but also that his friends would go with him, especially after he had just lost his brother to the monster. And the brother’s girlfriend (fiancé?) was one of the accompanying friends; neither of them seemed real torn up about the dead brother. And, oh yeah, don’t get me started about the helicopter crash…
I was largely unfamiliar with the cast, aside from Lizzy Caplan, whom I remember from the short-lived sitcom The Class last year (she was the best thing on the show). They all did an adequate job with what must’ve been a pretty tough acting gig. The handheld camera is a bit disorientating at first, but you get used to it.
I’m glad that they did show some revealing shots of the monster; I was afraid it’s true form would remain hidden for the whole movie. The creature was fairly well conceived and animated, though it couldn’t help but look silly sometimes. I wish they had told us where it came from, but I suppose they’ll save that for the inevitable sequel.
I’m sure the ending rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, but I didn’t really see any other way it could go. Feel good movie of the year, this is not!
In summary: I enjoyed it a lot and it had me on the edge of my seat. It was suspenseful but also kinda silly. Good popcorn movie. Reminded me a bit of the original Poseidon Adventure. It moved along briskly and I’m glad it wasn’t any longer. And it did give a bit more closure than the Blair Witch Project, though that’s not saying much. And it’s way, way better than the American version of Godzilla, which also featured a monster attacking New York along with a lot of little monsters.
Oh, and I don’t give a fig about whether it was supposed to invoke 9/11 or not.
Latre.
I’m Doing Science
Posted on | January 26, 2008 at 12:20 pm | 1 Comment
Awhile ago, I promised to list my favorite songs from 2007, but I haven’t gotten around to that yet. One of those would no doubt be one of them there viral Internet sensation songs that just happens to be done by the geektastic dude whose music I discovered and totally fell in love with a little late last year: Jonathan Coulton. The song is “Still Alive” and is the end-credits song for the innovative computer/video game Portal. The song has won all kinds of gaming industry awards and has captured the interest of gamers and non-gamers alike. I haven’t played the game myself, though I intend to one day, probably after I get a PlayStation 3 (Portal is one of the games on the Orange Box disc). The lyrics are a bit cryptic and apparently reveal a twist at the end of the game. The vocals on the original version of the song are performed by game actress Ellen McLain in character as one of the game characters. All instruments are played by JoCo, and there’s also a version of the song floating around with him doing the vocal duties as well. Neither version seems to be available for download on his website, but the Amazon Music Download Store has both of them for 89 cents each on the Orange Box soundtrack (the “JC Mix” is the one with the Coulton vocals). That’s where I got them from.
Anyway, the song is insanely catchy and resonates with you even if you haven’t played the game. Even the arrangement is cool – I like the way it builds. Love it when those electric guitars come in. It’s inspired a lot of YouTubers to cover it (some of which are evaluated here). It even got me to break the guitar out of mothballs last night and learn how to play it. That’s saying something. It’s fairly simple to play/sing, but there’s some fast chord changes.
Here’s JoCo’s chronicle of how he came to compose the song for the game.
Interesting stuff.
Jogged Today: Yes (@ 38°F)
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:
- “We Have Danced the Night Away” (Dreams So Real)
- “Ashes Of Roses” (Bill Nelson)
- “A Sigh” (Crowded House)
- “Bionic Commando-P.O.W. Camp”* (The Advantage)
- “A Bullet for the End” (Baby Chaos)
- “A Passing Feeling” (Elliott Smith)
- “Let Down” (Bif Naked)
* – Synchronistic in light of this blog entry from last week.
Latre.
Album Cover Meme
Posted on | January 25, 2008 at 6:43 am | 4 Comments
I’m not usually into the meme thing, but I thought this one was pretty fun. I found about it through the courtesy of yellojkt over at Foma*, so go check there for the explanation and rules.
Here’s what I came up with (click to embiggen):
(Note: I have removed my photoshopped image because of the copyright issues. But there’s a link to the Flick photo below, so you can imagine how it all fits together.)
Band Name: Tazmamart. I had never heard/seen this word before.
Random Quote: “Why was I born with such contemporaries?” (Oscar Wilde)
Photo by petros_labrakos at Flickr.
I don’t know what it all means, but it was a gas putting it together.
Jogged Today: Yes (@ 33°F). Full route!
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:
- “Barracuda” (People In Planes)
- “How Do You Work This Thing?” (Robyn Hitchcock)
- “Lost Weekend” (Lloyd Cole)
- “Pillar in my Soul” (Ad Frank)
- “Continental” (Alkaline Trio)
- “Shotguns & Pickups” (Poster Children)
- “Star Shaped” (Blur)
Latre.
All Keyed Up
Posted on | January 24, 2008 at 7:02 am | 10 Comments
Pet Peeve of the Day: As I hinted yesterday, the extended weekend getaway to Estes Park was not without its problems. And those problems can be traced to the rental car that I’m still using while my Prius is in the shop after the bus accident. (I won’t be getting the Prius back until the middle of next week.)
Here’s how it all went down. On the way up to Estes Park on Saturday, we stopped at a Noodles & Company in Boulder for lunch. After lunch, we decided to get something out of the trunk of the rental Chevy Cobalt – I think it was the camera. I opened up the trunk and set the keys down on top of the cooler in the trunk while I rummaged through the backpack. When I found what I was looking for, I closed the trunk. That’s when N said, “Do you have the keys?” When I said “No”, she thought I was kidding. She quickly learned I wasn’t. Though it was a sunny day, it was very cold and windy out. Luckily we could duck back inside the restaurant and warm up. Also, luckily, I had my cell phone and PDA on me. And tres luckily, I actually had the number of Hertz Roadside Assistance recorded in the PDA. I called them up and explained the situation. They put me on hold and called GM Roadside Assistance. Hertz was on hold for a long time with GM, but they finally got through. GM called a local service provider, who called me right back and said there was a driver already in the area and he would be there in two minutes. That estimate turned out to be accurate. The driver came and was able to get the door open quickly and pop the trunk release inside. I got my keys and we were back on the road. Total delay was around a half hour. Not bad, plus I didn’t have to pay anything.
So, you’d think by now (as did my girlfriend) that I would’ve learned my lesson and always made sure the keys were on me before I locked up the car. Any normal person would’ve learned that. But if you’ve been reading my blog for long, you already know I’m somewhat addled.
Skip ahead to Monday. It had been snowing most of the day in Estes Park, and we hunkered down in the B&B by the fire and relaxed all day. When dinnertime rolled around, we were pretty hungry, and since we didn’t have lunch, we decided to brave the roads and head on down to town and eat out or pick something up to bring back to the room. By that time it had stopped snowing, and the roads looked pretty much plowed. So I went out and warmed up the car and brushed off the snow. I went inside and told N I was ready to go. As she was getting ready, I tried to open the car door. No go. Yep, I had locked the keys inside with the engine running and the automatic lights on. N stepped out of the room just in time to see me fling the snow brush across the parking lot – I don’t think she’d ever seen me that frustrated and violent.
So, another call to Hertz, who called GM, etc… Luckily, there was a service provider in town who was able to come out pretty fast and unlock the door. The car was running for little over a half hour. We got dinner and didn’t starve, so everything turned out okay. Again, there was no charge for the assistance, which I thought was pretty cool on the part of Hertz. For the whole rest of the trip, whenever I got out of the car and before I closed the door, N would ask me, “Do you have the keys??”.
So what was the problem here? I’m blaming it on the Indestructible Key Ring. The rental car came with two identical keys on one keyring. Both keys can be used for ignition and unlocking. The key ring is a thick wire with a metal fastener:
The metal fastener does not separate and allow you to remove the keys. Believe me, we tried everything: pulling, twisting, everything short of a blow torch. We couldn’t even cut through it. Hertz says they do that so that the keys won’t get lost or stolen or something. But then what’s the point of giving you two identical keys if they’re going to make you keep them together? I’m sure I’m not the only one who has wasted their time and money because I didn’t have an extra key in a separate place. The first thing I did last night after work was dig out the wire cutters and chomp through that ring, which wasn’t easy. Now I’ve got one of the keys on my other key ring.
The other thing I’m blaming it on is the Prius. With its smart key entry system, I never actually need to use a key. I just keep the one key in my pocket. The car senses it, and will allow the doors to unlock and the car to start if the key is near it. So I got used to never dealing with a key. The Cobalt doesn’t even have power locks, and unfortunately it allows you to lock and close the car doors without a key. My Acura had power locks and you had to go through a special procedure to lock the car door without a key. Nevertheless, I did occasionally lock the key inside it, but I also always kept a separate key on my other key ring, so it wasn’t a problem.
I’ll be really glad to get the Prius back.
Jogged Today: Yes (@ 15°F). Not the full route though; gotta work my way back up to that again.
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:
- “Sun” (Popinjays)
- “Highroyds” (Kaiser Chiefs)
- “I Want You To Stay (live)” (Maxïmo Park)
- “Nobody Teaches Life Anything” (Dogs Die In Hot Cars)
Latre.
Hello, I’m Back
Posted on | January 23, 2008 at 9:01 pm | 2 Comments
Man, I really pulled one over on you guys. I’ve actually been gone for days on vacation – a little out-of-town getaway to Estes Park, a tourist town about 70 miles NW of Denver, at the foot of Rocky Mountain National Park. The gf and I went to a B&B up there for an extended weekend of much-needed post-holiday relaxation (movies, books, jacuzzi-soaking, dining, shopping, wildlife-watching). Hey, the fabulous breakfasts alone were worth the trip. It was cold but the fireplace in the room was warm. It only snowed one day while we there, and there wasn’t much accumulation.
We did the same thing in Dec 2006, but I wasn’t posting regularly then, so no one knew I was even gone. No, I didn’t spend part of my vacation composing blog entries. That would’ve been Right Out. Instead, I spent the few days leading up to the trip composing some extra blog entries to post while I was gone, including the blogiversary one, which I knew was going to be the 600th entry. Luckily the Inn we were at had WiFi, so I was able to use my PDA and get on the Internet just long enough each day to hit that “Publish” button. It would’ve been hard to actually compose an entry on the PDA, but doing a little surfing and icon clicking was easy. In a pinch, I could’ve also posted from my cell phone, but that’s kind of tedious. I didn’t bring the laptop with me, because that also would’ve been Right Out.
Ah, the magic of the Internet…
Pet Peeve of the Day: My iHome iPod alarm clock radio has had a problem since the beginning, where occasionally it decides to completely reset itself (time back to 12:00, dimmer all the way up, default date, etc) when I insert the iPod. When that happens, I have to laboriously put everything back to the correct settings. It usually happens about once a month or so, and I can’t figure out what the common factor is in the malfunctions. It might have something to do with how long it’s gone without mating with an iPod. It did it to me last night at home when I inserted the iPod (which I had brought with me on the trip). Unfortunately, the one thing I always forget to reset is the volume. The default volume is very loud. When the iPod went off this morning (playing some Don Dixon, I believe), it was almost deafening and almost made me fall out of bed. Does anyone else’s iHome do this? I have one of the earlier models, so hopefully if it’s a systemic problem, it’s been fixed by now.
Latre.
Tomorrow: What Went Wrong on the trip, which leads to a massive Pet Peeve…
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