First they rip off my movie ideas. Next they rip off my blog posts. Remember when I wrote about Starship Troopers and how it was a misunderstood and underrated movie? That was back in March of 2011. Well now the Atlantic is working a swagger jacker as well.
Starship Troopers is satire, a ruthlessly funny and keenly self-aware sendup of right-wing militarism. The fact that it was and continues to be taken at face value speaks to the very vapidity the movie skewers.
But I said it better:
Some people think the movie is pro-war. Some people think the movie is
satirical and is anti-war. Why do you think they dressed Doogie Howser
like Dr. Mengle?
I think Calum Marsh, aside from making an article based on my uncredited work, misses what is the real charm of the movie and why critics don't give it is a break. Critics bash the movie because it was so radically different from the book. But just forget about the book and judge the movie based on its own merits as a stand alone film. And also keep in mind the way that we see and view wars today and how that was changed after the film came out. The bugs launch a terrorist attack against civilians and there is a jingoist rise to wage war against them. We watch the war passively through video clips and embedded journalists while the enemy's mastermind is hunted in the caves in the mountains. And even if we catch the mastermind the war will go on, doesn't it?
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Friday, November 8, 2013
Ripped Off
I told you to mark it here. That's right, I came up with the idea for a movie about Somali Pirates way back in 2011.
But it would be an inside look at the lives of Somali Pirates. The gritty stories of desperately poor young men searching for riches the only way they can might have some resonance with the entertainment audience.
And now they made it. Starring Tom Hanks or some shit. Come on Hollywood, pay me.
But it would be an inside look at the lives of Somali Pirates. The gritty stories of desperately poor young men searching for riches the only way they can might have some resonance with the entertainment audience.
And now they made it. Starring Tom Hanks or some shit. Come on Hollywood, pay me.
Monday, November 4, 2013
From the bargain bin: Nature Quest CDs
Do you remember the 90s? Like really remember the 90s? If you do, then you remember that New Age music was big. Oh, maybe it was bigger in the 80s I don't know. But in the early 90s it was still going strong.
During the twilight of the New Age there were a lot of "relaxing" CDs pressed. But not all of it New Age music. In fact there were quite a few albums of straight up classical music with the "sound of nature" mixed in.
This is a safe place, right? Ok, I'm going to tell you I really dig these albums. That's right, these are Amazon's gems. You can get these discs for a buck. They have solid classical music and some decent nature mixed in.
Yeah I know, right?
Check out Wolf Song. You won't find any info online, but it is all classical music with howling wolves interspersed. I don't recognize a lot of the songs, but I recognize a few like Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughn Williams. Not New Age at all.
Some of the others feature the ocean with Pachelbel, Handel, and Bach. Or the ocean with lots of Debussey.
At a bargain bin prices I am stocking up before these beauties disappear forever and become horribly overpriced collector's items. Maybe you should too?
During the twilight of the New Age there were a lot of "relaxing" CDs pressed. But not all of it New Age music. In fact there were quite a few albums of straight up classical music with the "sound of nature" mixed in.
This is a safe place, right? Ok, I'm going to tell you I really dig these albums. That's right, these are Amazon's gems. You can get these discs for a buck. They have solid classical music and some decent nature mixed in.
Yeah I know, right?
Check out Wolf Song. You won't find any info online, but it is all classical music with howling wolves interspersed. I don't recognize a lot of the songs, but I recognize a few like Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughn Williams. Not New Age at all.
Some of the others feature the ocean with Pachelbel, Handel, and Bach. Or the ocean with lots of Debussey.
At a bargain bin prices I am stocking up before these beauties disappear forever and become horribly overpriced collector's items. Maybe you should too?
Friday, November 1, 2013
DIY true tone flash
So if you've seen the new iPhone's camera, you know it has a "true tone" flash. One is the regular blue and one is yellow for warmer light conditions. Kinda cool. Pros have been balancing the color of their flash for years with gels. You too can do this to your camera phone with these simple instructions.
1. Buy some gels. Back in my day grocery stores used to sell colored cellophane. I didn't see any so I guess this is a "back in my day" story. So instead you can order some from Roscoe. In fact they often have a multi color sampler pack for cheap. The samples are more than enough for your camera.
2. Cut the gel into the right size. Basically you'll just cut out a square big enough to cover the flash on your camera.
3. Tape it over the flash. Pretty easy, right? But what if you want to switch colors? You can try the Velcro trick. Instead of taping it directly to the phone, tape it to a strip of Velcro. Cut it down to the right size and put another strip of Velcro on the phone. There you go. Customized true tone flash for any camera phone with a flash.
1. Buy some gels. Back in my day grocery stores used to sell colored cellophane. I didn't see any so I guess this is a "back in my day" story. So instead you can order some from Roscoe. In fact they often have a multi color sampler pack for cheap. The samples are more than enough for your camera.
2. Cut the gel into the right size. Basically you'll just cut out a square big enough to cover the flash on your camera.
3. Tape it over the flash. Pretty easy, right? But what if you want to switch colors? You can try the Velcro trick. Instead of taping it directly to the phone, tape it to a strip of Velcro. Cut it down to the right size and put another strip of Velcro on the phone. There you go. Customized true tone flash for any camera phone with a flash.
Friday, October 25, 2013
False Flag
I used that website to see if the new iPhone is in stock. It said the phone was in stock. I went to the Apple store, because I want to get the trade in credit. They said they don't have any 5S in stock. None. I went home angry. I checked the website - this time the Apple website - and they said they have it in the store I just returned from. This is the third time this has happened. Three strikes and you're out. Well the first time my mobile carrier went down and they couldn't sell them. So two stupid strikes. Maybe it is a sign.
So I'm thinking again about the Android. I recently read that not only can I ditch the awful iTunes but that you can plug your DSLR directly into your phone and then load the pictures and post them to the webs. How awesome is that? For these two things alone it might be worth it.
*sigh*
Wish I could just put Android on the iPhone. Because nothing beats the iPhone for looks. If it is just going to live in a case then who cares about little details? Flat back, flat sides, and rounded edges; just the overall shape is perfect. Well it also has that awesome camera. Photo noobs take note: bigger megapixels are better. The new iPhone camera has bigger megapixels and the lens has a wider max aperture. It is possibly the best camera in any cellphone.
Two years is a long time to commit to something. I would like to have a phone with a bigger keyboard and be able to do some Androidy widgety things. Maybe Apple Store shenanigans is a sign?
So I'm thinking again about the Android. I recently read that not only can I ditch the awful iTunes but that you can plug your DSLR directly into your phone and then load the pictures and post them to the webs. How awesome is that? For these two things alone it might be worth it.
*sigh*
Wish I could just put Android on the iPhone. Because nothing beats the iPhone for looks. If it is just going to live in a case then who cares about little details? Flat back, flat sides, and rounded edges; just the overall shape is perfect. Well it also has that awesome camera. Photo noobs take note: bigger megapixels are better. The new iPhone camera has bigger megapixels and the lens has a wider max aperture. It is possibly the best camera in any cellphone.
Two years is a long time to commit to something. I would like to have a phone with a bigger keyboard and be able to do some Androidy widgety things. Maybe Apple Store shenanigans is a sign?
Friday, October 4, 2013
Time to buy a new phone
It's that time of year. Time for a new phone. The current Godmachine is the iPhone 4S, so it is time to upgrade. This year's Apple offering is the iPhone 5S. It is a nice looking phone, but iOS 7 has a few bad features in with the new features.
But before that, let's take a look back at the first iPhone.
Love or hate them, Apple changed the cellphone market forever. While they didn't create the first smartphone (and never claimed to), the first iPhone was truly revolutionary. Look at how phones changed. I also find it useful to compare this video with Microsoft's response.
The first thing he has to say is that it isn't a good business phone. Because back in 2006 the only people who had smartphones like the Palm and the Blackberry were business people who often were assigned their phones by their jobs. So Ballmer is here thinking that because businesses won't buy them (because they won't be as efficient for typing emails) that they won't sell well. He doesn't seem to realize the consumer potential.
Okay now let me bitch about the new iPhone!
First they have disabled the music player from playing podcasts. I hate this "feature" because I listen to a lot of podcasts. Music podcasts, comedy podcasts, and educational podcasts. All the while I mix in some regular old music. Switching apps is a chore and the podcast app sucks.
Pastels?
Yes, pastels!
I give this phone a lot of credit though. The iPhone is the most stolen cell phone. Theives target it because of the high resale value. They call it "Apple picking". Apple decided to add a fingerprint scanner to stop this. They didn't have to, and I give them a lot of credit for doing it and making it work fairly well. If your phone is stolen I imagine it is a race against time between you and the theives to see who can get to a computer first. You try and get to a computer to brick it. They try and get to a computer to hack it. If it takes a few extra hours for them to hack your phone that gives you precious time.
Still, having flaws gives me pause. Maybe it is time to look around and size up the competitors.
Android phones:
One thing I like about Android phones is that they are so customizable. You can change just about everything regarding the look and feel of the UI. In a way, that's part of the problem with these things. Many of the handset manufacturers have loaded their own UI over Android. I've played around with a few of these and so far I don't like what they've done. Maybe the "pure" Android with my own custom crap would be good, but some of these don't look that great - like Touchwiz - and some don't respond so well - like the Nook.
There are some other nice looking features, like freeing me from iTunes (which I still hate) and being able to add widgets. Because I hate that the lock screen on the iPhone doesn't display the date and there is no way to make it do that.
All in all I'm not really sure if the pros of Android outweigh the cons. Android updates are so disjointed that there is no way to know if your phone will even get the next update. But I'm sure that the iPhone 5S will get next year's iOS update. I'm also not sure that I want to spend a lot of time figuring out a new OS and how to customize and maximize the darn thing.
That's just the software. So the only ones that look like something to compare with the iPhone from a hardware point of view are the HTC One and the Moto X. Also I'm not into really big screens because I don't carry a purse around, so I'm not interested in things like the Galaxy. I can't really say if they are better hardware or not. Pretty good specs. I'd lean towards the HTC One because of the aluminum body and square edges. I like that the iPhone lies flat when I set it down and that I can rest it on its side to use the flash as a minilamp. You'll understand when you get married.
Microsoft phones:
I really wanted to like these. They seem like they work well. Like most Microsoft things, they are very poorly marketed. Remember that commercial that had the thesis that it freed you from your old phone, which was too consuming.
When you watch this commercial, without seeing the Microsoft tag at the very end, it would be easy to imagine this commercial was made by someone who hated smartphones. Showing you people who loved their phones too much; it was like they were trying to get you to use a new product like google glass or trying to convince you to take a vacation and unplug from the Matrix. I mean really? What idiot dreamed this up? Oh right...
The best quote is from the youtube comments
Great commercial! Really highlights how if you get a Windows Phone you won't even want to use it like those other suckers out there. My friend actually leaves his Windows Phone in a drawer for weeks at a time.
So the actual Windows phone, which they don't even bother to show you in this commercial, isn't bad. But I don't know if I could ever really like the hub and tiles. I like that they tried something different. But if pastels were bad then big color blocks aren't much better. I'm old and boring and I don't need to have live tiles constantly update. There won't be updates and that will just depress me and remind me of how boring my life is.
My brother, the other Mister Booze, has one and likes it. But he likes the XBox live stuff. I hate games and would have no use for it. It doesn't look any more customizable than the iPhone.
So it looks like my choices are iPhone or Android - most likely the HTC One - and I'm leaning towards the iPhone. Maybe if we complain enough Apple will let us customize some more things (remember when they finally gave us custom text tones) and fix the music player. Remember when the first iPhone came out and you could only sync music, you couldn't even manually manage music? And it didn't have a landscape keyboard or cut and paste?
Speaking of which, I understand that the young kids stream all their music these days. And I get that. I do. But if you were me you wouldn't stream music either. I work downtown where the network is bogged down and speeds over the 3G/4G whatever are terrible. There isn't a free wifi network near my desk. And I stupidly tried to save a few bucks and dropped my unlimited plan back when I did have a free wifi network at my desk and only used a few hundred meg a month. And now I'm too cheap to bump up my monthly data plan. So yeah, stream that music kids. Grandpa booze over here will be doing it the old fashioned way and upload mp3s to his phone.
But before that, let's take a look back at the first iPhone.
Love or hate them, Apple changed the cellphone market forever. While they didn't create the first smartphone (and never claimed to), the first iPhone was truly revolutionary. Look at how phones changed. I also find it useful to compare this video with Microsoft's response.
The first thing he has to say is that it isn't a good business phone. Because back in 2006 the only people who had smartphones like the Palm and the Blackberry were business people who often were assigned their phones by their jobs. So Ballmer is here thinking that because businesses won't buy them (because they won't be as efficient for typing emails) that they won't sell well. He doesn't seem to realize the consumer potential.
Okay now let me bitch about the new iPhone!
First they have disabled the music player from playing podcasts. I hate this "feature" because I listen to a lot of podcasts. Music podcasts, comedy podcasts, and educational podcasts. All the while I mix in some regular old music. Switching apps is a chore and the podcast app sucks.
Pastels?
Yes, pastels!
I give this phone a lot of credit though. The iPhone is the most stolen cell phone. Theives target it because of the high resale value. They call it "Apple picking". Apple decided to add a fingerprint scanner to stop this. They didn't have to, and I give them a lot of credit for doing it and making it work fairly well. If your phone is stolen I imagine it is a race against time between you and the theives to see who can get to a computer first. You try and get to a computer to brick it. They try and get to a computer to hack it. If it takes a few extra hours for them to hack your phone that gives you precious time.
Still, having flaws gives me pause. Maybe it is time to look around and size up the competitors.
Android phones:
One thing I like about Android phones is that they are so customizable. You can change just about everything regarding the look and feel of the UI. In a way, that's part of the problem with these things. Many of the handset manufacturers have loaded their own UI over Android. I've played around with a few of these and so far I don't like what they've done. Maybe the "pure" Android with my own custom crap would be good, but some of these don't look that great - like Touchwiz - and some don't respond so well - like the Nook.
There are some other nice looking features, like freeing me from iTunes (which I still hate) and being able to add widgets. Because I hate that the lock screen on the iPhone doesn't display the date and there is no way to make it do that.
All in all I'm not really sure if the pros of Android outweigh the cons. Android updates are so disjointed that there is no way to know if your phone will even get the next update. But I'm sure that the iPhone 5S will get next year's iOS update. I'm also not sure that I want to spend a lot of time figuring out a new OS and how to customize and maximize the darn thing.
That's just the software. So the only ones that look like something to compare with the iPhone from a hardware point of view are the HTC One and the Moto X. Also I'm not into really big screens because I don't carry a purse around, so I'm not interested in things like the Galaxy. I can't really say if they are better hardware or not. Pretty good specs. I'd lean towards the HTC One because of the aluminum body and square edges. I like that the iPhone lies flat when I set it down and that I can rest it on its side to use the flash as a minilamp. You'll understand when you get married.
Microsoft phones:
I really wanted to like these. They seem like they work well. Like most Microsoft things, they are very poorly marketed. Remember that commercial that had the thesis that it freed you from your old phone, which was too consuming.
When you watch this commercial, without seeing the Microsoft tag at the very end, it would be easy to imagine this commercial was made by someone who hated smartphones. Showing you people who loved their phones too much; it was like they were trying to get you to use a new product like google glass or trying to convince you to take a vacation and unplug from the Matrix. I mean really? What idiot dreamed this up? Oh right...
The best quote is from the youtube comments
Great commercial! Really highlights how if you get a Windows Phone you won't even want to use it like those other suckers out there. My friend actually leaves his Windows Phone in a drawer for weeks at a time.
So the actual Windows phone, which they don't even bother to show you in this commercial, isn't bad. But I don't know if I could ever really like the hub and tiles. I like that they tried something different. But if pastels were bad then big color blocks aren't much better. I'm old and boring and I don't need to have live tiles constantly update. There won't be updates and that will just depress me and remind me of how boring my life is.
My brother, the other Mister Booze, has one and likes it. But he likes the XBox live stuff. I hate games and would have no use for it. It doesn't look any more customizable than the iPhone.
So it looks like my choices are iPhone or Android - most likely the HTC One - and I'm leaning towards the iPhone. Maybe if we complain enough Apple will let us customize some more things (remember when they finally gave us custom text tones) and fix the music player. Remember when the first iPhone came out and you could only sync music, you couldn't even manually manage music? And it didn't have a landscape keyboard or cut and paste?
Speaking of which, I understand that the young kids stream all their music these days. And I get that. I do. But if you were me you wouldn't stream music either. I work downtown where the network is bogged down and speeds over the 3G/4G whatever are terrible. There isn't a free wifi network near my desk. And I stupidly tried to save a few bucks and dropped my unlimited plan back when I did have a free wifi network at my desk and only used a few hundred meg a month. And now I'm too cheap to bump up my monthly data plan. So yeah, stream that music kids. Grandpa booze over here will be doing it the old fashioned way and upload mp3s to his phone.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
I'm so bad I party in Detroit
This used to be a t-shirt slogan in the 80s. Might still be available at some hold in the wall Army surplus store. Do they still have surplus stores?
So bad!
Yolo! Don't ask what building this was, I don't know. It was pretty rad. Detroit has quite a unique attraction; I'm not sure why Detroiters are so intent on chasing away tourist dollars. They act like they don't need the money or something.
It sure looked like they could use the money when I went there. And I was near the "up and coming" Eastern Market.
I feel real bad for the people who live in these places.
I saw a few kids in the neighborhood and I can't even imagine growing up in this sort of place. It seems really dangerous. And statistically speaking, it IS really dangerous.
So bad!
Yolo! Don't ask what building this was, I don't know. It was pretty rad. Detroit has quite a unique attraction; I'm not sure why Detroiters are so intent on chasing away tourist dollars. They act like they don't need the money or something.
It sure looked like they could use the money when I went there. And I was near the "up and coming" Eastern Market.
I feel real bad for the people who live in these places.
I saw a few kids in the neighborhood and I can't even imagine growing up in this sort of place. It seems really dangerous. And statistically speaking, it IS really dangerous.
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