And then that happened

So I wasn't planing on writing anything at all. I was sitting in my cube pondering why two things that appear to be equal are claiming not to be equal. I was giving thoughts to the failing economy and what it would take for American car manufactures to win back my business, and then I saw this.

This has to be one of the worst things I have ever seen. People who become infected with a disese like HIV/AIDS should be treated as less then. They should be branded with a scarlet letter a for all the world to track from cyber space*. If this measure is allowed, where does it stop? This has to be one of the most slippery slopes I have ever imagined.



*yes i know all the world wouldn't be able to track them, but I won't let that get in the way of good hyperbole.

Project Managers vs Developers

The Project Manager vs The Developer is an age old battle. Both sides are wrong in some respects, and both sides are right. Though today, I heard one of the most telling differences. My project manager said, "I don't get this people who spend all their time figuring out all this weird computer stuff." My thought on that statement, "Umm...yeah I do. I mean this was my hobby before it became my job." I find it strange not understanding my someone wouldn't want to tackle computer problems. I mean at it's core, software development is nothing more then problem solving and logic puzzles. There's nothing wrong with that IMHO.

Charlie Kaufman

I love Charlie Kaufman. He is responsible for my favorite movie. I think he is easily one of the best big screen writers ever. He might even go down as one of the greatest writers ever when everything is said and done. However, I have to say that his new film left me feeling over whelmed and under whelmed simulataniously. I am not actually sure if that's possible mind you, but it is the only way I know how to sum up how the film left me feeling.

Synecdoche, New York is an amazingly ambitious film, and is hands down the single most meta film I have ever come across*. The film was incredibly hard to follow, and had that trade mark Kaufman style of everything is now and nothing is now at the same time. The passage of time was very hard to follow. Normally I like this kind of thing, but this time it just seemed to drag, and at times bore me a little bit.

Part of me feels that Kaufman should always just get Spike Jones or Michel Gondry to direct all of his films. I agree with what Kurt Loader has to say on the outcome of Kaufman's directorial debut, "The result is a picture that is (a) brilliant, in scattered parts, but also (b) a reminder that virtually every writer needs an editor."

I suppose I could have saved some time and simply written this, "Everyone should see Synecdoche, New York once, and once only. It is a film of true beauty and ambition, that never ever (under any circumstances) needs to be seen again. It wholly depressing and bleak, and leaves you feeling numb."


*I am not all that into uber meta films. I am sure more meta films exist. I am also sure that I don't want to see them

Just a quick question

If it only matters what a baseball player does in September (ala Ryan Howard), then why does it matter that Chase Utley is going to be out the first two months of the season? I mean this doesn't jive with a great deal of the rhetoric I have been reading about the MVP.

Oh wait...that's right those games in the first two months of the season count as well? Oh wait...Utley is their best position player? Man...that could be a problem then. Good thing they have two other players who have won MVP's even though Utley hasn't won one.

Arrays

I don't ask much, but can every computer language please begin array indexing from zero? Please? It's a huge PITA to remember which one's don't.

Ironic?

Do we all remember John Rocker? Well if you don't he was the baseball pitcher who gave one of the single most hate laden interviews of the past 20 years. It was epic. People wanted him kicked out of the game for this interview.

Well, one of my favorite blogs posted a quick little aside today saying that if you search for Monica Lewinsky and CC Sabathia, that one of his ESPN columns would show up. Which in fact happens, but funnier that is this photo of John Rocker that turns up under the image results.

See I really wish I had a large readership

Not really, but if you could encourge your friends (all two of you who may see this) to post what your favorite underrated* Cure song is, I would be greatful.

For me I gotta say it's Jupiter Crash off of Wild Mood Swings

*I think my friend Andrew may on the copy right on wondering if things are over or under rated. If so, please forgive me.

I really am working a lot today

No I swear. I know I am usually pretty tounge and cheek, but I am getting a lot done. I just wanted to say that my iPod is on FIRE today. I just heard, A Day in Black and White followed by Yage followed by Yaphet Kotto solid work Mr. iPod. I salute you. Even though I think your company is evil and values style over substance.*

*Did you really think I wouldn't get a dig in?

In Reverse Honor of Boswell

Yesterday Tom Boswell wrote what can only be describe as the lunatic ramblings of a man completely out of touch. I have an easier time saying this then most of my favorite writers, because I didn't grow up reading and idolizing the guy. I respect everything that he has contributed, but I don't hold him in the same kind of esteem.

The biggest take away quote from the whole thing is the line When stats WILDLY contradict common sense, always doubt the stats.

This is a rather crazy concept to me, since I certainly tend to rely on objective analysis. I do this because I like numbers, and I simply do not know nearly enough about scouting to do it any other way.

Well, all year I have been claiming that John Lester was superior to Daisuke Matsuzaka. I still in my heart of hearts believe this. I watched both guys pitch all year and I firmly believe that Matsuzaka was REALLY lucky with runnners on base. His strand rate bares this out, but after reviewing the numbers it's not nearly as clearly cut as you would think. Yes, this smacks in the face of everything I said in earlier post. In essence, I still think my common sense is right, but I am forced to accept the possiblity that maybe my common sense is biased.

Something They Don't Tell You in College

As a software developer there are tons of little perks that you don't know about until you get the job. One such perk just occurred a moment ago. See a large number of developers are not from America, so you occasionally luck into some amazing "exotic"* foods. One of my co-workers just brought by this flat bread with a tomato, beef, and sausage mixture on it. It wasn't like pizza really because the bread was so different and the meat mixture unlike much of anything I have ever had. God Bless the nerds who can cook.


*Nothing really exotic about this one today, but it was fairly traditional, and often times we have work pot lucks, and the Indian guys in my office NEVER disappoint.

My blood is a boiling

I don't read /. (pronounced slash dot for the newbs) very often anymore. In fact I can very long stretches of time without reading it. However this morning I decided to swing by the ole /. and I saw that my state passed this idiotic law

I wish to very clear in my next statement: This is a completely and utterly idiotic thing to do. I use to work for one of the fine institutions of higher education in this state, and the people charged with policing this kind of stuff were far and away the most corrupt people on campus. I knew of not one, not two, but three servers with terabytes of free movies hosted off of the campus back bone. This is one of the dumbest things ever. Also, I think of way better ways for my state to spend this kind of money.

Point of Order

1) Pelican was amazing
2) I am really bad guitar player
3) I have no idea how to get a good guitar sound
4) I am so tired that I have no idea how I am going to stay away awake today

The Down Side of Aging

So today is my 29th birthday, and I am somewhat amazed how quickly a few things in my life have changed. See this band called Pelican is playing tonight. They are really good, and super nice guys (meet them last time they were here.)However I am not sure if I am going to go to the show. Somewhere the 16-24 year old version of myself is thinking, "How the hell is this even a debate? You once drove to Michigan just to see The Swarm's final show. You drove to Nashville and back in snow storm just to see Sunny Day Realestate. What in the world is the problem?"

Now here is the problem. I know I am still uber young, but I don't recover from all nighter's seeing rock and roll as well as I use to. I don't handle drinking till 2 AM or 3 AM and waking up at 6:30 as well as I use to. Oh wait...I just remembered something, I am not a huge sissy. I will suck it up and see Pelican tonight. So yeah...you should be there too.

Damn it

See, I told myself I wasn't going to care about any sports until baseball season started back up. I knew my VOLS would be bad(not this bad), and I didn't have high hopes for my Titans or Grizz, but now I am sucked in and watching every game. Well, not VOLS games. They are not on TV lately and they are just so damn painful.

The Grizz are looking like a shockingly frisky team. Playing teams tough on the road, and handling things at home. I don't think we crack the 30 win mark, but I do see us beating the Vegas line of 23. I know Bill Simmons dislikes that we keep getting all these "Blue Chip" players, but we actually have a good core, and if we can some how build ourselves up like a small market baseball team would, then we have a real shot.

My Latest Battle

I think I finally got my ACPI settings to behave on my server. What's that mean to you? It means photos are now online. That is by no means all of them. The rest should be up this weekend. The albums need some rearranging, and I leave in even the bad shots, but they are there now for better or worse.

In Honor of Jerry Orbach

I was terrified this entire election process that Obama would lose. Not because he wasn't the better candadite, but solely because he is black. I was racked with fear that America is as backward a place as it is often portrayed. However, it seems I was wrong (this time), and in the spirit of Jerry Orbach, "When I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong."

Now with less rage

Yeah...I wasn't pleased last week when I found out about my voter registration... You can probably tell. I will be swinging by the poles tomorrow to try and vote anyways.

It seems a member of the Descendents passed away on Halloween. I was never a huge fan of the band, and this doesn't hit me nearly as hard as the death of Lance from J Church, but the band was crucial. I was just thinking of them this weekend in fact. I was watching Pump of the Volume, and I saw the sceen where he plays a Descendents song. It made me smile a bit.