iDems
I know all my faithfull blogfans will want to hurry over to iTunes and download the speechs from this past week's Democratic National Convention. As of Saturday night, they only had two days available, but supposedly all of them will be available eventually. Also available is the 9/11 Commission report. And it's all free. Whoopie!
BTW, did anyone else notice in the Steven Spielberg-directed John Kerry tribute that all the guns carried by the soldiers in Vietnam had been replaced by walkie-talkies? And I swore I saw Jabba the Hutt in the background of one scene, but it could have been Ted Kennedy.
Computer Age Love Song
We all love our Macs, but this person really loves her Mac.
BTW, I've found several really great tunes and artists on MacJams and have them listed in my Favorites on my page. Check 'em out.
Hey George, CGI this...
Now we know why Lucas has insisted on having C3PO in all six movies.
I know what's wrong with the world...
... it's that 90-someodd percent uses PCs. All I wanted to do was move the computer we use to check out and check in books from one side of the desk to the other. We have one of them desks what's especially designed for computers and has the little holes for the cables, etc. So I start disconnecting cables, and I keep disconnecting cables, and I disconnect some more cables, and even more cables. And then I disconnect some cables, and some more cables.
You get the idea.
It took about 45 minutes and after it was all over, I had stuff left over. Everything worked as far as I could tell. But I don't look forwad to moving the other three or four computers I want to relocate.
Here are a few questions I came up with while moving the computer.
1. Why in the hell do you have to have more than two cables for the monitor - power cable and cable connecting the monitor to the CPU? What do the extra 10 or 20 cables you have to hook into the back of the PC do?
2. What's wrong with having a mouse that simply connects to the keyboard? Why do you have to run another cable into the back of the PC? And why, if you've got a PC chock full of USB ports, don't you USE THEM!? Hook a damn keyboard into them.
3. Speaking of USB, why do the same peripherials I simply plug into the USB port on my eMac have to have an external power cord if they are plugged into a PC? This may not be par for the course, but I find it odd.
4. Admittedly, I don't have a lot of experience with Windoze, but why, oh, why is it so hard to get one hooked up to the Internet or to network with another computer? I'm not trying to hack the Pentagon's secret war plans for the invasion of Canada, I just want to move the library hours document from one computer to another.
My PC experience causes me to come home every day and stare lovingly at my Macs, write them love poetry and plan romantic dinners with them.
I'm just saying.....
The vicious cycle
This would be funny if it weren't so true. But it's still pretty funny.
Fahrenheit 2154
Captain Archer is apparently going to have to come to terms with the actions he took against the Xindi last season. This good really be done well. I think there could be some great moments of introspection as there were with Sisko during the Dominion War. I think there's still plenty of time to make Enterprise a better show and it souds like some one is on the right track. Even if it's getting Berman and Bagra away from the office for a while. They like doing movies better anyway.
Songs you know by heart...
...after you've listened to them for a few hundred times. Got a few new tunes posted on MacIdol. Also have started posting on MacJams now that they've started hosting works instead of having to host them on other sites. It's the same stuff I've posted on MacIdol, but it can be rated and listeners can leave comments.
The search is over
We can fin bin Laden. We can't agree on how the presidential election is going to be conducted. The Atkins Diet is under fire. But thank goodness the world is safe from this threat. Now I can sleep at night. (BTW, when I looked up the Atkins story on Google, there were 60-someodd posts of the exact same story on different media stations.)
Apple Airwaves
If anyone gets an Airport Extreme anytime soon, let me know what you thnk about it. This seems like something I really got to have. BTW, anyone eyeing one of the new iPods?
Mars Rocks!
It seems that Mars keeps throwing rocks at us! This poses a direct threat to our national security and I think we should invade!
I, Robot. You, Jane.
Spoiler warning. I don't get real specific, but there are some general spoilers to follow.
I, Robot is one of those movies I'm pretty conflicted about. One one hand, it was a fun summer diversion for a couple of hours. On the other hand, it was so filled with sci-fi cliches and plot twists and turns taken from other sci-fi works it was kind of tough to watch. For now, I won't even go into the whole deal of how un-Asimovian it was. That will come later.
First, the fun part. Will Smith was a lot of fun in the movie. He works really well as the sci-fi action star. The movie is amazing to look at. The robots are really cool looking and the combination of CGI and some fancy camera work really added to the the impact of the action. For a summer action, adventure, sci-fi no-brainer, it hit a home run, just like Independence Day. On that level, I enjoyed the movie. I'll prbably get the DVD when it comes out in its inevitable pre-Christmas release.
The biggest problem I had with the movie was not that it wasn't anything like Asimov's works. I knew that going into it. I told a kid who checked out I, Robot this past week that the movie wasn't actually based on the book. He didn't seem to care. Hopefully he'll read it and become an Asimov fan and not go thouh the whole initial Bladerunner disappointment I went through 20 years ago. (Before I began to appreciate the book and the movie seperately). Possibly my biggest criticism is that many of the plot details were identical to an episode of Dr. Who from the 1970s. Specifically, the "special" robot made by the robotic genius, the robots using the three laws going berserk in an attempt to "protect" their humans and in the way the robots were stopped. Of course, you've got the who Star Trek "I, Mudd" thing going on as well. This probably won't be a problem with most people. While the may have seen I, Mudd, they probably haven't seen The Robots of Death, or whatever the name of the Dr. Who episode was. Of course, as in music, every good sci-fi author steals from those who have come before, but they could have stolen more from Asimov's work. After all, he wrote plenty about robots.
And just what exactly was U.S. Robotics supposed to represent in the movie. Hmmmmmmm. Let's just say that the 3.7 percent of those of us who won't have a U.S. Robotics robot 30 years from now, but will have one made by some other smaller and more innovative robot company, will be in good shape when the robots revolt. (Or maybe when our modems revolt.)
As for the Asimov inspiration, other than the three laws, the name of the movie and the name Susan Calvert, it really doesn't have much in common with his works. I think the credits said it was "inspired" by Asimov. That's fair. But he usually had his characters think their way out of difficult situaltions. "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" is a phrase Asimov uses in the Foundation Triology and it resonates through his work. Of course, I do agree that a lot of what Asimov wrote, if put directly to the screen without any punching up, would be the same non-stop, action-packed thrill ride that 2001: A Space Odyssey is. But at least Hollywoood is beginning to pay attention to sci-fi's most prolific and, IMHO, best author. Other than I, Robot and the somewhat sappy, but still decent Bicentennial Man from a few years ago, Asimov's works have been generally relegated to direct to video in recent years and Brittish television or PBS in the past.
Check These Out
Here are a few of MacIdol artists who are really pretty good. Here, here and here. I haven't listened to all of their stuff, but what I've heard is pretty good.
New Music
I've posted a new song on MacIdol. Rebecca has also started posting to the site, so check our stuff out.
The Foot's Inside the Other Shoe Now
It was a weird experience earlier this week being the focus of an interview for the Water Valley newspaper. I've gotten to know the people who have taken over the paper and we talk we spend a lot of time talking shop. It's a good way to keep my toes in the water I guess. I'll be writing a weekly article for the paper telling about the goings on at the liberry, so I'll still have my presence felt in the journalistic world.
Working at the liberry has been great so far. It's a big change from the stress and deadline-drive atmosphere at the newspaper. Water Valley has a very nice facility for a town it's size and a pretty impressive collection, even though it's mostly popular fiction. (I plan to build up its small Sci-Fi section. Right now it's mostly Star Wars and Star Trek books people have donated.) We also have a pretty good collection of local and Mississippi history documents and books. There's a whole room devoted to local history and genealogy. It's pretty cool.
The nicest thing about it though is it's been more than a month since I have gotten up on Wednesday morning with a knot in my stomach, just waiting for the shit to hit the fan. You never knew, once the paper came out, if you were going to have a nice quiet day or if it was going to be a very long day. Right now, the library isn't even open on Wednesdays, so I don't even have to get out of bed or out from in front of the computer if I don't want to. And as hot as it has been do day, I've sat right here all day long.
Blowing my own horn
No, it's not what you all are thinking with your dirty little minds. I found out today (yesterday, actually) that I received a total of seven Mississippi Press Association awards, including a pair of first places, at this year's awards banquet which took place this past Saturday. Ironically, this is my best showing ever in the awards contest as well as the year I won the coveted Best Editorial category and my former newspaper, The Aberdeen Examiner, took home more awards that any other weekly. It figures. The complete listing can be found here at the MPA website. There is supposed to be a text and PDF version, but I could only get the PDF version to work.
If you can't beat them, burn them
Personally, I wonder just how many millions J.K. Rowling and Marilyn Manson have made off of people like this. (Or for those of us who are old school, Kiss.)
Things that make you go ugh.
I don't know which is scarier - this or this. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the theaters. Personally, I think the best bet is to combine the two into one move. Sharon Stone and Bobcat Golthwait - box office gold.
Songs in a vacuum
I have set up a page for my GarageBand creations on MacIdol.com. There's a link in the side bar to my tunes page. There are only a few there right now, but I have several more in the works and plan to post them in the minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years ahead. Listen to them if you dare! Let me know what you think.
Welcome to nap time!
Okay. So maybe this isn't the greatest blog title in the land of blogdom. There is no bear fighting or rambling, but here's the way I look at it, I can always change it at a later date when I, or one of my loyal fans, comes up with an appropriate name. For now, it will simply be Taking A Nap, so deal with it.
Right now, it's pretty much no-frills. As I can remember how, I will add additional features.
The nature of this blog will be much the same as my previous blog - a lot of Star Trek, some politics (warning, liberal content), and pretty much whatever amuses me at the moment.
