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6.30.2004  

#30 With a Vapor Trail

Say, I've made another little milestone: #30 in Google's potters directory. I know I shouldn't care, but I do, I really do...

 

More Netflix Love

Great quote from a Netflix fan blog (a strange thing to orient a blog around, but who am I to criticize?):
"Netflix subscription: $23 per month.
The joy of stuffing that red envelope in the mailbox and not driving to a video store: priceless."

 

FCP and Me

Friends and neighbors,

I know you've tasted of the sweet waters of the digital video revolution. And I know you're all a-tingly with anticipation...

Did I tell you about the big debacle with that video project I did for the family reunion last year? Ohhhh.. it was misery. I neglected it for exactly one year, like a loser, then recently went back to it, thinkin I'd just make a couple polish edits and build the dvd. Wouldn't you know that the sequence was completely fucked in every possible way? Oh man, I was despondent... something like 20 hrs down the drain. A week went by, and I woke up one morn with the words "AutoSave Vault" hovering in space before my eyes... and yes! Glory Be! There it was, "June 24, 2003", a pristine copy of the sequence just as I'd left it. So I backed it up in 3 places and started in again, this time doing a thorough reading of the FCP training tome as I go. I'll let ya know if I actually get it to dvd this time...

6.29.2004  

Rain, Rain

I had a memorable dream last night*, another one in the Raining Inside category. Apparently, we had bought the house with the massive old barn and I was giving some sort of tour to a school group. Water was streaming down everywhere, like it does during a big summer soaker, and the feeling was more helplessly apologetic than angry or scared. As my old boss Dave Gullickson would say: "Bizarre!"

* I found an item on boingboing.net yesterday about dreams consisting of the thoughts we don't allow ourselves to process while awake, which I related to Cindy before we fell asleep last night. Did that bit of meta-thinking cause the dream? If so, what was the anxiety trigger for it -- the current house in consideration (which, predictably, does not have a barn)?

6.28.2004  

My, Robot

From boingboing.net:
"Sony's QRIO in action... this video clip of four dancing QRIO robots is mind blowing."

I agree! It's a bit slow to start, and very Japanese, but skip to the later sections and it lives up to the hype. Apparently, these are mini-bots, or at least more mini than the Honda Asimo; I guess they'd be handy for retrieving things stuck under the bed, chasing ones pets or harassing neighboring schoolage children. Personally, I'd prefer a freakishly smart spider robot, or perhaps one referring to a classic 80's cartoon. Lord, the world is full of some geeky fellas.

Say... what about one in a style that can also be used to exterminate ones enemies...

 

A Trip to the Archives

I like the idea of archives much more than the activity of creating them, so this article on the stuff Stanley Kubrick left behind got me revved up with an enthusiasm for the idea that will surely dissipate and be replaced by something else within the hour.

I have a soft spot for the lonely, obsessive eccentrics of the world, and feel a psuedo-nostalgia for all those boxes and letters and papers lying around after the man himself is long gone. It's sadly weird, and perhaps a testament to the futility of trying to make things stick around in this world. Even fired clay, given enough time, returns to dust.

A good read, in any case.

 

Thar She Blows! I Mean Rumbles (or Something)...

Apparently, a lot of my fellow midwesterners were rattled (har, har) by this mornings quake in northern Illinois: Magnitude 4.5 earthquake rattles windows as it strikes Midwest. And now I suddenly get the gist of the Jeff Tweedy song New Madrid - outstanding!

This story prompted some searching, which led me to to 6th circuit of blog-reading-and-lost-all-track-of-time Hell - but turned up a great tool for seeing earthquake activity by the USGS. Look at California - the activity from the last week alone is amazing! As a former San Diegan, it'd be pretty ironic to be swallowed up by The Big One hitting Indiana, now wouldn't it?

 

It's the End, the End of the 70's

My horrific childhood memories of 70's pop culture were all reawakened by this astounding group of 10 worst album covers of all time. Yet, somehow snort-inducing funny, too.

6.18.2004  

Stop Asking Me That!

The convergence of Bart Simpson and Google seems like the work of a brilliant mind. I heartily recommend using this handy tool to deflect dumb questions: Just Fucking Google It.

6.16.2004  

Another I-Shoulda-Bought-That-Stock Story

I love Netflix. A trip to Blockbuster last night, for supplemental movie content as all the dvd's at home last night were about Italy and I'm needing a bit of a renaissance break, revealed that the plastic VHS mongoloid Viacom love-child (ok - I bear a slight grudge from a summer's part time employment in college) is starting to feel the heat. $2 overnight rentals??? Did we timewarp back to 1995 and I missed the memo? Flat-fee, no late charges subscription service??? Are they getting their asses kicked this badly, I had to wonder?

A Google News search returned this article (surprisingly on USATODAY - another of my disliked content brands...):
Netflix plans blockbuster future of serving movie watchers

To quote: "Netflix will grow, analysts say, not by creating new movie renters, but by stealing them from Blockbuster and other video stores.
Though Netflix is still a relative speck in the movie-rental industry, here's a testament to its power: In the past year, Wal-Mart, MSN and others have launched me-too services. In May, Blockbuster cried uncle and launched a subscription service."

 

Today

Hey! - my clay site was the Ceramics Today Site of the Week whilst I was out of the country. It looks like a good ceramics reference site with lots of content.. cool!