I need to not be so boring. I need to start acting on my impulses and going a little crazy.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Yay technology!
So today I was forced to reformat my laptop after my Windows installation mysteriously corrupted itself and became virtually unusable. Besides killing 2 hours of my night, this normally wouldn't be that big of a deal, except that this is far from the first problem I've had with computers in recent history. My previous laptop, an HP Pavillion dv6045nr, broke down approximately 4 times in the past year alone, ultimately resulting in it being replaced by Best Buy with my current notebook (an Asus, never again will I purchase an HP computer), so naturally I was scared that I had somehow come into ownership of yet another lemon.
Luckily, it turned out that the problem was fixable merely through reinstalling the OS, but the timing of this event has made me question much about myself. Recently I've been having serious doubts about whether Computer Science is the correct field for me to be in. I'm starting to think that all of my computer troubles of late are a sign from some higher power that I need to be doing something else with my life, perhaps something more meaningful. But what? I don't have any real passions about anything, and changing majors on a whim would just cost me money and fuck up my graduation date. It would be awesome if these higher powers that are watching over me would just send me an e-mail explaining what they want of me, because it seems I just can't take a hint.
Speaking of which, it seems that OpenOffice.org is refusing to install on my computer now. This is especially nice since I have a Philosophy paper due tomorrow. Sweet. I guess I need to go figure out what's wrong...
...oh wait, I already know what's wrong. Computers fucking suck
Luckily, it turned out that the problem was fixable merely through reinstalling the OS, but the timing of this event has made me question much about myself. Recently I've been having serious doubts about whether Computer Science is the correct field for me to be in. I'm starting to think that all of my computer troubles of late are a sign from some higher power that I need to be doing something else with my life, perhaps something more meaningful. But what? I don't have any real passions about anything, and changing majors on a whim would just cost me money and fuck up my graduation date. It would be awesome if these higher powers that are watching over me would just send me an e-mail explaining what they want of me, because it seems I just can't take a hint.
Speaking of which, it seems that OpenOffice.org is refusing to install on my computer now. This is especially nice since I have a Philosophy paper due tomorrow. Sweet. I guess I need to go figure out what's wrong...
...oh wait, I already know what's wrong. Computers fucking suck
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Boycot @ Washington
WE MADE IT ALL THE WAY TO WASHINGTON!
MAYBE NOW WE WILL BE HEARD!!
WE ARE TECHNO-SAVY AND WE SAY NO TO SYFY.
Airlock Alpha, Bitches
Note: I figured I'd riff off Joe and title this post the new "way cool" "badass" name for the "Syf"y" website.
----
So I went to Las Vegas for my 21st birthday. Anything you hear is heresy.
----
Battlestar Galactica is over. Or at least the main show is. The universe is going to live on in some TV movie and that Caprica prequel thing, but for the majority of people, this shit is done.
I've had something of a love/hate relationship with this show. Basically, I kind of enjoy the show and it weaves a good yarn, but it can get fucking boring and, at least for me, the later seasons seemed to make little sense and got away with murder because it's "critically-acclaimed" and "loved by all." The story just got more convoluted as it reached its conclusion, but to completley shift gears and complement the show, it actually reached a conclusion.
I admire that.
This entire 75 episode show (with plenty of webisodes and other excess) told a singular story from beginning to end. It had well developed characters. It had Edward James Olmos with a moustache.
And the ending's fucking awesome.
I think that ascent from being all "it's fucking boring" to "it's fucking awesome" truly shows off my love/hate relationship with it.
It was good. Let's hope Syfy can make another good show before it gets killed off by an angry robot who hates stupid fucking names.
----
So I went to Las Vegas for my 21st birthday. Anything you hear is heresy.
----
Battlestar Galactica is over. Or at least the main show is. The universe is going to live on in some TV movie and that Caprica prequel thing, but for the majority of people, this shit is done.
I've had something of a love/hate relationship with this show. Basically, I kind of enjoy the show and it weaves a good yarn, but it can get fucking boring and, at least for me, the later seasons seemed to make little sense and got away with murder because it's "critically-acclaimed" and "loved by all." The story just got more convoluted as it reached its conclusion, but to completley shift gears and complement the show, it actually reached a conclusion.
I admire that.
This entire 75 episode show (with plenty of webisodes and other excess) told a singular story from beginning to end. It had well developed characters. It had Edward James Olmos with a moustache.
And the ending's fucking awesome.
I think that ascent from being all "it's fucking boring" to "it's fucking awesome" truly shows off my love/hate relationship with it.
It was good. Let's hope Syfy can make another good show before it gets killed off by an angry robot who hates stupid fucking names.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Syfy? Seriously?
While perusing the headlines from my news feeds today, I came cross the following story.
For the TL;DR crowd, the executives of the Sci-Fi Channel have decided that their name is too nerdy and that a change is needed. According to Tim Brooks, TV historian and a founder of the Sci-Fi Channel, “The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular”. As inaccurate and offensive as that comment is, the name they came up with is somehow even worse. And what, you may ask, have they determined to be the best candidate for this new name?
One word: Syfy. Yes, you read that right. Syfy.
20 minutes later, I'm still not sure if that looks more like one of the more clever typos from Lauren's blog or some weirdo's pet name for his/her syphilis infection. It's that bad. (no offense Lauren, I <3 your blog.)
Really, what were these assholes thinking? To paraphrase the article, Sci-Fi is coming off their best year ever. Their programming is as good as ever, covering the full spectrum of Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek and Sci-Fi Channel original movies. What more can anyone ask for from network television?
Possibly the worst part of the article was when they mentioned the public's reaction.“When we tested this new name, the thing that we got back from our 18-to-34 techno-savvy crowd, which is quite a lot of our audience, is actually this is how you’d text it. It made us feel much cooler, much more cutting-edge, much more hip, which was kind of bang-on what we wanted to achieve communication-wise” (Dave Howe, Sci-Fi Channel president).
As someone who uses Firefox, writes in a blog and has Twitter, I think I can safely speak for all members of this "18-to-34 techno-savvy crowd" by proclaiming this as one of the biggest crocks of shit ever spoken. What kind of self respecting technophile would ever use the word "Syfy" in a text message, outside of "Syfy is a fucking retarded name"? Certainly none worthy of being associated with, that's for sure.
To conclude this rant, I extend an open invitation to all of my fellow geeks to protest this horrible decision in whatever way you deem appropriate. Organize sit ins, march on the White House, refuse to use this horrible new word, even boycott the channel if you can survive without your Start Trek fix; I don't care what, as long as we band together and show these fools what happens when you isolate your fanbase.
For the TL;DR crowd, the executives of the Sci-Fi Channel have decided that their name is too nerdy and that a change is needed. According to Tim Brooks, TV historian and a founder of the Sci-Fi Channel, “The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular”. As inaccurate and offensive as that comment is, the name they came up with is somehow even worse. And what, you may ask, have they determined to be the best candidate for this new name?
One word: Syfy. Yes, you read that right. Syfy.
20 minutes later, I'm still not sure if that looks more like one of the more clever typos from Lauren's blog or some weirdo's pet name for his/her syphilis infection. It's that bad. (no offense Lauren, I <3 your blog.)
Really, what were these assholes thinking? To paraphrase the article, Sci-Fi is coming off their best year ever. Their programming is as good as ever, covering the full spectrum of Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek and Sci-Fi Channel original movies. What more can anyone ask for from network television?
Possibly the worst part of the article was when they mentioned the public's reaction.“When we tested this new name, the thing that we got back from our 18-to-34 techno-savvy crowd, which is quite a lot of our audience, is actually this is how you’d text it. It made us feel much cooler, much more cutting-edge, much more hip, which was kind of bang-on what we wanted to achieve communication-wise” (Dave Howe, Sci-Fi Channel president).
As someone who uses Firefox, writes in a blog and has Twitter, I think I can safely speak for all members of this "18-to-34 techno-savvy crowd" by proclaiming this as one of the biggest crocks of shit ever spoken. What kind of self respecting technophile would ever use the word "Syfy" in a text message, outside of "Syfy is a fucking retarded name"? Certainly none worthy of being associated with, that's for sure.
To conclude this rant, I extend an open invitation to all of my fellow geeks to protest this horrible decision in whatever way you deem appropriate. Organize sit ins, march on the White House, refuse to use this horrible new word, even boycott the channel if you can survive without your Start Trek fix; I don't care what, as long as we band together and show these fools what happens when you isolate your fanbase.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Stop your bitching; it's a comic strip movie.
I know my whole, "Hey Billy did you read the comic strip Watch Man before we're seeing the movie?" was a joke. But, and I'm sorry Neal, but what is a comic book than a series of interesting comic strips that don't come in the newspaper in daily, 3-panel format?
And that's def not meant to criticize anything at all; whenever I'm home I read the comics every morning, and have been since I was, well, I don't know, knee high to a pig's eye.
And here's where I'm going to walk a fine line between insulting and embracing comics. Let's get some facts about my opinions straight:
1. Previously stated, I love comic strips and while they may be "Low art" there is still a museum in Boca Raton that I have been to. My favorites include Get Fuzzy, Beetle Bailey, Baby Blues and Adam @ Home.
2. I don't read comic books and I don't read graphic novels. I began to read Y: The Last Man and intend to before everyone and their mother finds out it's coming to theatres. And I wanted to read Superman: Red Son but Billy stole it. Not really but it's a convenient excuse.
3. I would like to read SOME comic books/graphic novels even though I don't want to read many.
4. Iron Man was maybe my least favorite comic book movie; it wasn't bad at all.
5. I'm still trying to figure out why comic book movies are so damn popular. Maybe we're reverting back to our 1940s questioning the meaning of all the death and war, but instead of inventing superheros of our own we just jeep off of the ones that made literate young hooligan boys into the people that are blogging about why the war in the Middle East just plain sucks. Just like we jeep off of everything.
So I went into the Watchmen not knowing a damn thing about it, and the things that Neal told me, well I don't remember anything he tells me until it's applicable. "Lauren, the guy who made 300 is making The Watchmen." ".....oh." After the movie: "Lauren, the guy who made 300 made The Watchmen." "Yeah, I knew, duh." (not really.)
So what are people's major complaints on the movie?
1. The gore. Gore that I can recall: people getting the absolute crap beat out of them, bruises, blood, cuts, defeat, bones protruding from limbs, shot pregnant women, violence against women, sawed off arms, etc.
Here's why you shouldn't bitch about the gore: IT'S NOT REAL. On top of that, it's based off of a comic book, something that is so far removed from reality (enter thin line) that it's irrelevant.
Even more importantly, we see so much violence in other movies that it's not even worth it to bitch about it here just because it's unabrashed and "more graphic" which just means "exquisitly computer generated."
2. The sex. I don't know what everyone's issue was about the sex scenes, especially paired with the Hallelujiah chorus.
Let's get real: it's a comic book and the demographic is teenaged boys and young men. And I don't think they really want to see (in comic or film form) a guy getting all into it and a girl not.
And personally, I am plain out tired of seeing men take the lead in the bedroom in movies like they have been for the past, I don't know, sixty years, probably more? And whatever, I bet it put everyone into an awkward, three-minute long mix of humored, turned on, and embarassed.
(Unable to find a screenshot from the movie!)
You really can't complain about much else.
And I know everyone and their mother has been gushing about the opening sequence, but let me tell you something:
I have never been so moved by a movie in my entire life as I was in the opening of The Watchmen. Get this: I am a history major, I have read and learned and heard from my Dad and professors about almost all of these events. I have seen the real live footage of Kennedy being shot through the head, but I was never really phased by it. In that theatre, I almost cried when Kennedy was shot, and I never before felt so inconsequential not because I am so small, but just because everything before me was so big.
So next time you want to open your mouth to bitch about a comic book movie, just remember it's a comic book movie. And if it's directed by Zack Snyder, remember it was directed by Zack Snyder who can employ a team of graphic designers like no other. Enjoy it, becuase you wouldn't spend $9.50+ on a movie that's just like real life.
Inspired by:
Watchmen Reviews: 'Maybe It's Better to Grow Up'
And that's def not meant to criticize anything at all; whenever I'm home I read the comics every morning, and have been since I was, well, I don't know, knee high to a pig's eye.
And here's where I'm going to walk a fine line between insulting and embracing comics. Let's get some facts about my opinions straight:
1. Previously stated, I love comic strips and while they may be "Low art" there is still a museum in Boca Raton that I have been to. My favorites include Get Fuzzy, Beetle Bailey, Baby Blues and Adam @ Home.
2. I don't read comic books and I don't read graphic novels. I began to read Y: The Last Man and intend to before everyone and their mother finds out it's coming to theatres. And I wanted to read Superman: Red Son but Billy stole it. Not really but it's a convenient excuse.
3. I would like to read SOME comic books/graphic novels even though I don't want to read many.
4. Iron Man was maybe my least favorite comic book movie; it wasn't bad at all.
5. I'm still trying to figure out why comic book movies are so damn popular. Maybe we're reverting back to our 1940s questioning the meaning of all the death and war, but instead of inventing superheros of our own we just jeep off of the ones that made literate young hooligan boys into the people that are blogging about why the war in the Middle East just plain sucks. Just like we jeep off of everything.
So I went into the Watchmen not knowing a damn thing about it, and the things that Neal told me, well I don't remember anything he tells me until it's applicable. "Lauren, the guy who made 300 is making The Watchmen." ".....oh." After the movie: "Lauren, the guy who made 300 made The Watchmen." "Yeah, I knew, duh." (not really.)
So what are people's major complaints on the movie?
1. The gore. Gore that I can recall: people getting the absolute crap beat out of them, bruises, blood, cuts, defeat, bones protruding from limbs, shot pregnant women, violence against women, sawed off arms, etc.
Here's why you shouldn't bitch about the gore: IT'S NOT REAL. On top of that, it's based off of a comic book, something that is so far removed from reality (enter thin line) that it's irrelevant.
Even more importantly, we see so much violence in other movies that it's not even worth it to bitch about it here just because it's unabrashed and "more graphic" which just means "exquisitly computer generated."
2. The sex. I don't know what everyone's issue was about the sex scenes, especially paired with the Hallelujiah chorus.
Let's get real: it's a comic book and the demographic is teenaged boys and young men. And I don't think they really want to see (in comic or film form) a guy getting all into it and a girl not.
And personally, I am plain out tired of seeing men take the lead in the bedroom in movies like they have been for the past, I don't know, sixty years, probably more? And whatever, I bet it put everyone into an awkward, three-minute long mix of humored, turned on, and embarassed.
(Unable to find a screenshot from the movie!)
You really can't complain about much else.
And I know everyone and their mother has been gushing about the opening sequence, but let me tell you something:
I have never been so moved by a movie in my entire life as I was in the opening of The Watchmen. Get this: I am a history major, I have read and learned and heard from my Dad and professors about almost all of these events. I have seen the real live footage of Kennedy being shot through the head, but I was never really phased by it. In that theatre, I almost cried when Kennedy was shot, and I never before felt so inconsequential not because I am so small, but just because everything before me was so big.
So next time you want to open your mouth to bitch about a comic book movie, just remember it's a comic book movie. And if it's directed by Zack Snyder, remember it was directed by Zack Snyder who can employ a team of graphic designers like no other. Enjoy it, becuase you wouldn't spend $9.50+ on a movie that's just like real life.
Inspired by:
Watchmen Reviews: 'Maybe It's Better to Grow Up'
new song
hello friends. i have recorded a new song. please take the time to dl and listen and rate.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/7gt73u
thanks
love jen
http://www.sendspace.com/file/7gt73u
thanks
love jen
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