Sun, 8 November 2009  I'll be posting these randomly as I find them: Be Her Mighty Night Predator Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 9:03 PM Comments[1] |
Wed, 28 October 2009 Boy, for someone who just wrote about not enjoying writing about movies, I'm sure contradicting myself quick. Last night I watched Ronin for what must be the 50th time, and like every other viewing it still strikes me how good a movie it is. I'm always amazed at how unknown this movie is to many people, and if I remember correctly when it came out it merely did ok at the box office. What a crime. What I like about Ronin, what makes the movie for me is how un-movie like it often seems. Now don't get me wrong, I've never been an intelligence operative or worked in special ops, but the movie sure seems real enough to me. Among the things that stand out, and one feature of the film often talked about, is the car chases. For one thing, they use real cars. No Minis, no Porsches, no James Bond supercars, just Audis and Mercedes, cars that have the muscle but don't scream 'Hey, I'm about to be involved in some shit here!' In addition, when the car chases occur, there are no huge explosions or insane jumps. To spotlight another smart choice, even the weapons used are used sparingly and without any amazing Rambo-style stunts. The characters themselves are shown to be fallible and vulnerable, as their plan doesn't work out perfectly on the first try and one of the principals gets shot. Beyond these authentic touches, at least to the layman, what the film refuses to do is pander to the audience. Not everything is explained, and the motives of characters are murky at best in most cases. To quote the film, though, 'there is something more.' I think one of the most appealing aspects of Ronin is the interjection of spirituality, for lack of a batter word, into a world often portrayed as flashy and empty. Take the last few James Bond movies, for example, where Bond is largely a brutish machine, showing moments of emotion but mostly relied on for fists and fury. Ronin takes a different path, with several scenes of discussion between Robert De Niro and Jean Reno on the nature of what they are doing, who they are doing it for and why. Even more critical, there are no real answers. Speaking of the two leads, what a team they make here. So often these spy movies try for the buddy angle, or the straight man and loose cannon combo, and in many cases both archetypes feel forced or just boring. Ronin, again, takes a different path. Sam and Vincent will clearly never be vacation buddies, but each instantly sees a kinship in the other that bonds the two. As the film goes on, there is a sense of professionalism that develops into something as close to friendship as these men can truly have. By the end, it is clear that the two have each others backs covered, and it makes complete sense. I could really go on about this movie for hours. I haven't even touched the subtly wonderful score, another I bought right after seeing the film. If you want to see a modern spy movie that asks you to think a little, take the time to watch Ronin. It really does deliver something special. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 11:51 AM Comments[7] |
Tue, 27 October 2009 I think I mentioned recently that I have removed the 'Last Saturday Movie Reviews' from the site. It's not that I don't have a lot of reviews already in the can, it was more that eventually I'd run out and there just aren't that many movies lately that I've felt the need to review. There are always exceptions, however, and recently I got a chance to see a really beautiful little movie called Moon. To give the briefest of summaries, it's a film about a near future where mankind mines the moon for energy. On the moon, a solitary operator keeps things going for 3 year stints before going back home to Earth. Sam Rockwell stars as Sam Bell, who is a mere 2 weeks from going back to his wife child and is beginning to feel the weight of his isolated stay so far. The story really picks up when Sam has an accident out on the surface, then finds himself back in the infirmary with no idea how he got there. I won't go into more detail so that you can experience the story on your own, but beyond the plot points is the real heart of the film. What this movie is really about is our existence as people, and what tethers you to our humanity. One of the great things the movie does is play with our conceptions of what makes a person. Good example of this GERTY, the A.I. that operates the base with Sam and is charged with his safety. In the extremely minimal cast of the film, GERTY gradually becomes another person, as much a character who we connect to as Sam. The amazing part of this is that GERTY is quite clearly NOT a person. He is designed as a throwback to the older 70's conception of a robot, big and blocky with hardly any ability to convey expression besides a simplistic LCD that shows a few smiley or frowny faces. Even as this very simplistic automaton we begin to regard him as another being in the space with Sam. Unlike, say, R2-D2, who has some quirky mannerisms that evoke a child but never seems anything BUT a robot, GERTY evolves into a true presence. As the film progresses, you'll start to sense real motive behind his actions, something that seems a simple accomplishment but really isn't for a non-human entity. Beyond GERTY, Sam Rockwell does an astounding job in a movie that really demands he act with himself most of the time. There are long periods of complete lack of interaction, like the movie Cast Away, where the actor must fill every inch of the frame with himself. We luck out in that Rockwell manages it very well, and portrays the struggle of man trying to keep his grip with true realism. None of this would work, in my view, without the stunningly sparse score provided by Clint Mansell. The music works with the film in laying out the vast emptiness of the moon, yet still manages to punctuate the often intense moments that come in Sam's story. I ordered the soundtrack almost immediately after the movie ended. In the end, this movie is very simple but deeply moving. It's a great examination of the human spirit, and for fans of films like 2001 or Logan's Run, it will provide a welcome break from the usually special effects heavy but thematically light sci-fi fare that has become the norm. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 7:14 PM Comments[3] |
Mon, 26 October 2009 Man, there sure has been a lot in the news and on the web lately about companies profiting off of dead people and what the ethical implications are. All these talking heads and blog commenters have had their say, so why shouldn't I cast a couple of pennies in? To get an idea of what I'm talking about, here are a couple of recent articles on the subject, the first being about Kurt Cobain appearing in Guitar Hero 5 and another about a new DirecTV commercial utilizing footage of Chris Farley. There's been a lot of chatter about this in the last few months, and I'm consistently amazed by how many people find this to be some sort of desecration of the dead. Really. You think so? Let's start with the ideas of the uses themselves. I assume there must be some kind of legal release that needs to be granted here, you can't usually just employ a likeness for commercial use without someone giving the ok and getting paid. That being the normal route these things take (and both articles indicate that some type of use was indeed granted), it seems if simply using the likeness of these people was so disturbingly morbid that those in charge of them would simply have said "No." But here they are, so clearly someone inked something ok'ing it, so there goes that first argument. That out of the way, we get to the actual uses of the likenesses. The main complaint against Cobain's appearance in GH5 was that he could sing along with any song, so inevitably videos were made showing the dead singer bouncing around ridiculously came out. Yes, it's silly looking. Does this now pass as desecration? It's not as if at the end of the song you could trigger a bonus move where he blows his own head off! Then, I could see people being irritated. On the other hand, what a way to finish the tune! As for Farley, the grumbling seems more about the pure profit being targeted with his use. Once again, I fail to see the reason for the uproar. They left Farley unaltered, instead just having David Spade saying new lines about DirecTV. This is hardly Fred Astaire dancing with a vacuum, which I can somewhat see some people looking askew at. Even in that example, it's a stretch. In either case, this is not desecration of the dead. Please people, get the hell over it already. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 9:38 PM Comments[0] |
Sun, 25 October 2009 I've often heard people lament the loss of 'survival skills.' It's a theme often explored, from the film Fight Club to the book Emergency! I can see the benefit of being able to 'rough it,' but I'll tell you right now: I'm not one of those people. I enjoy convenience. I like having technology that works. I don't need that gritty nature feel. This all stems from the weekend trip my wide and I just took to Point Arena, California. We stayed at the Coast Guard Historic Inn, a bed and breakfast about 500 feet from the Pacific Ocean. The Inn itself was run by a very nice couple who brought us fantastic breakfasts the two mornings we were there. They were welcoming, made dinner reservations for us and pointed us to some great sights. All in all, a great stay. That said. The boathouse we stayed in was very small. Some would call that cozy. The cellular service was non-existent. Some would call this a welcome break from the constant connectivity of the modern world. There was no TV. Some would no doubt love a break from the 'boob tube.' The boathouse was a landmark, so it had no fans, and minimal heat. Some might enjoy this more rustic setting. As the boathouse was largely unchanged from when it was built, insects were everywhere. Some could see this as being in touch with the natural world. All of those 'Some' statements, well none of those apply to me. Luckily I had 2 laptops with me, one to provide noise to sleep to and another to watch movies on. Even my wife, who loved the setting, agreed it was nice to WATCH something other than the ocean. Make no mistake, the ocean was beautiful. The other folks staying at the B&B were nice, and our dog loved being on a trip with us. We really did have some great moments there, and I'm not sorry we went at all. The problem is, and always will be, that these secluded getaways have so much baggage. Let me run down what I mean. We stopped in a coffee shop to get some hot chocolate for my wife, and the hippie yokels were so busy having a discussion about some local BS that we waited a good 10 minutes for them to tell us the hot chocolate machine was out. Great, thanks for that. Yet another reason you ain't ever gonna find me living in a small town. The drive there and back were experiences in hell on earth. The roads are windy, right near cliffs and sometimes so narrow I genuinely worried that we might have an accident. On top of that, my wife gets very carsick and the turns were not helpful. Anything you'd want to buy was more expensive, seeing as how the whole town is about 500 people. It's just north of being a pure tourist trap, but there's just not enough town to support that. Hey, don't get me wrong. If you're into that 'go see nature, be one with the land, rough it like they used to, who needs toilets that work' kinda thing, enjoy baby! But as for me, I'm happy being dependent on certain assumed variables. When the nuke hits, or the quake shakes, or whatever apocalyptic scenario you like lands, I'll guess I'll be cattle feed. Maybe, maybe not. I do watch all the Mad Max flicks quite regularly, so maybe some necessary survival skills are lying dormant. Perhaps one day I'll find out. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 9:22 PM Comments[3] |
Wed, 21 October 2009 I've often been accused of being anti-authority, and just as often branded as someone who likes to argue just to argue. These are fair and valid points in some measure, but they are often made in a way that makes these traits sound bad. I disagree with this assessment, and in fact I would argue that any group or company NEEDS someone who wants to pick apart most ideas. I recently read this article which subscribes to this negative view of the naysayer. I say, Champion The Naysayer! As long as those individuals have a basis for their dissents, stoke those fires and make sure that you've got someone keeping people around awake and ready to defend their ideas and beliefs. Since when is it so bad to disagree? Are we so scared of the fragility of being incorrect that we have to deny any contradiction to our theories? Now don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that there's value in every disagreement, but I think that life shows us that having to fight for your belief (in a verbal sense) might actually make you refine it. And beyond that, what if the naysayer ends up denting your previously untarnished view? Is that bad, or is it good that someone has forced you to address a weakness in thought? If doing this show week after week has taught me anything, it's the importance of trying to base my views on the broadest spectrum possible. In that vein, it's a good thing to have that base shaken once in while, to have a nice seismic rumble now and again to make me evaluate why I feel the way I do. Nature abhors a vacuum, and what else could you call it when you are so settled into a line of thinking that you never stop to consider anything outside the walls you're comfortable with? Dissent is desirable. Feed it! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 7:39 PM Comments[3] |
Tue, 20 October 2009  I am not one of those people that would ever be accused of being a huge sports fan. I don't know stats, can't tell you every name of every member of the ball club, can't give you the last list of the last 10 managers of one of the greatest teams in baseball. Is that what is needed to be a fan? Is it not enough to try to follow as many games as possible, to root for the team in good times and bad, to be confident in the ability of the club to rebound every year? If it's not, I guess I'm not a fan. That said, if I'm not, I do a mean impression. I'm writing this during game 3 of the ALCS series, where the Yankees are ahead by 7 in the game itself and up by 2 in the series. Wait. Make that up by 9, and I couldn't be happier. True, I missed some games this year. Then again, I know diehards who give up on the team within a month of the season opening because the pitching isn't up to snuff. Still, there will be those who say I'm a 'fair-weather fan.' There are worse things. All I can tell you is that right now, I'm as hung up on seeing the next pitch as the season ticket holders who never miss a game. To me, that's what matters. Diehard or once a year, a fan's a fan. Be a fan of something, it can be rewarding once in a while. For example, when your team is stomping a bunch of dirtbags from Anaheim 10-1. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 11:22 PM Comments[1] |
Mon, 19 October 2009 One of the many things I took away from Blogworld last week, alongside the fact that truly anyone can produce web content now, is that there is a new form of activism that is finally gaining real traction. I think many of us in the States had started to see this already with the Howard Dean campaign in 2004, but with the election of Obama and the deterioration of print media I think it is becoming more and more clear that the future of activism will be online. As much as Twitter is beginning to become overweight with hype, it does highlight how quickly a truly appealing movement can gain traction and produce results literally within days. Don Lemon of CNN spoke at one of the Blogworld keynotes, and during that session he asked all of us there to start including the tag #beatcancer in our Twitter updates. The idea was to build up exposure of the cause and set a Guinness world record in the process. Sure, not exactly the purest aim, but awareness is awareness. What makes the story a lot cooler is that a number of corporate and private entities picked up on this and started pledging money based on the response. In the end, what started out as a mostly benign publicity grab turned into some positive action. This is a powerful, tangible outcome from what can be a very frivolous. nonsensical medium. This was just one of many things I saw at Blogworld, as well as talking to people who are getting some important voices heard, that has convinced me that this forum is the future. New media, whatever facet of it you subscribe to, has the ability to cross all borders and reach all corners. Our biggest need now is access for all. Too many people still do not have access to these great avenues of expression and discussion, and some of those who remain silent may have the most relevant things to say. In my last Blogworld special, I talked about trying to do my part to address these access gaps. I don't have millions to dole out to areas with poor internet penetration, but I can keep our door open to people who have a worthy cause and want to promote it. That's what I can do. Like we've always said, do what you can do. It may actually matter. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 5:08 PM Comments[0] |
Sat, 17 October 2009  Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[0] |
Wed, 7 October 2009  And now for something that will pay off a bit in the future. I want to know what movies you guys would like to hear my commentary on. Think of a Director's Commentary feature from a DVD, except in this case I'm doing the commenting. I've got a plan for these requests, so I'm hoping you guys come up with some good picks. Get to it and give me some good titles to work on! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 1:00 AM Comments[13] |
Thu, 24 September 2009  Now it's my turn to enlist YOU for the next thirty. You guys have come through for Lando with some great stuff, now I want to know what you want in my next thirty minutes! As with Lando, any idea is up for consideration, so post anything you can think of in the comments below. Get to it soldiers, your podcast is depending on YOU to do your part! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 12:00 AM Comments[5] |
Mon, 21 September 2009   This week, Lando is looking to YOU for help. He's getting ready to do another 'Midnight Ink' segment, and he wants to know what you want in it! Any idea is up for consideration, so post whatever comes to mind in the comments below. Get in there, he's leaving it to you to help craft the show! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 11:31 PM Comments[13] |
Fri, 4 September 2009 Almost forgot to post this! We're taking this week off, but we'll be back as usual next week. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[11] |
Mon, 3 August 2009 Got this question from David, one of our listeners: Hey Joe, I was just wondering what kind of sentence you'd give this kid. Harsher or more lenient? Well, seeing as how the maximum term for manslaughter in Australia is 20 years, that's what I'd hit him with. I understand that this was not an intended death, but the fact remains that a death resulted. If we are to be an accountable people, then the penalty must match the crime. People will say that's harsh and it was only an accident, but that's not the issue. A human being is dead due to the actions of another, and that must be addressed. Good question David, feel free to fire more along. Maybe I'll make this a recurring segment if I get enough questions. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 8:00 PM Comments[2] |
Mon, 3 August 2009 I'd almost say 'Thank God,' but that might be a bit hypocritical on my part. Father Guilty In Prayer Death Case. Fucking morons. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[4] |
Mon, 20 July 2009  40 years go today, at 20:17 UTC, one of the greatest moments in human history unfolded before a planet that was no doubt largely riveted to their radios or televisions. In a stunning example of how fear can drive innovation, the result of the Soviet-American space race came down to three men surviving a venture that spans roughly thirty times the diameter of the planet we all share. Looking back now, there can be little doubt on how perilous and grandiose this undertaking was. From the amount of planning and coordination needed just to compute how to make the trip to our planetary dance partner to the skill and courage of the men making the actual journey, it is a story that should never fail to captivate. In this age of technology advancing at what often seems the speed of light, it's easy to overlook what the moon landing involved. At any time public support could have faltered, as it almost did after the deaths of three astronauts during a test simulation in the Apollo 1 spacecraft. Instead of sever scares such as the Apollo 13 mission, the technology could have simply not worked. In place of the brave men who made possible the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs we might have had less capable men who would have cracked under the pressure. The reality is that this was far beyond an American achievement, but instead speaks to the possibilities that we have within ourselves to make what many would think impossible happen. Regardless of our religions, nationalities, race, gender...we all share the commonality of being human beings on the planet Earth. Perhaps one day when that becomes what we as individuals define ourselves by first and foremost, the petty concerns with which so much suffering and hatred arise will fall away. It's a dream, no doubt. But so too was the notion of a human being standing on the Moon, and we sit 40 years beyond the realization of that goal. for that reason along, this is an important date to remember for all of us. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 1:17 PM Comments[5] |
Thu, 18 June 2009 Somedays, we get welcome surprises. Somedays, you get a chance to learn something you didn’t know. Somedays, you get to ask a legend a question. Cory Doctorow posted an article on BoingBoing a while back, allowing people a chance to ask Micheal Moorcock a question. For those of you who don’t know who that is, stop what you’re doing and get yourself to a bookstore. Moorcock is one of the genius science-fiction writers of the age and is one of the writers who inspired me growing up to think harder and dream further. Well, I left my question posted, number 18 on the list. Today, I was happily surprised to see that mine was one of the questions chosen. Chosen and answered, 13th question down. I just wanted to share my elation to you our listeners, because, I’m not always doom and gloom. This makes me happy. I have a new reading list, handed down by a master wordsmith, and only better days can lie ahead. Bless the internet for giving us access to people who once seemed impossibly far away. Are any of you guys out there Moorcock fans? Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 1:52 PM Comments[1] |
Fri, 5 June 2009 One of our longtime listeners alerted me to this cool little site:  Very cool. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 3:47 PM Comments[1] |
Mon, 1 June 2009  The frequent listener may have noticed that there was no show this week, and if that person visited the web site they may have further noted that there was no announcement about the missing show. Nothing ominous or worrisome in this case, folks, I just got hit by drive-by jury duty. I just didn't have time to finish editing in time for Friday, so we're pushing that show out to this week. Until then, enjoy the newly minted month of June! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 1:53 PM Comments[1] |
Sun, 24 May 2009  OK, for our second game night I'm going to need input from YOU. What times (let's go by GMT/Zulu since that's the standard) will work for you guys? We're going to schedule it for 3 weeks from today, so that's plenty of time to either comment or email with some options on times. Depending on out schedules, we may all be on or it may be 1 or 2 of us at a time. The game: Team Fortress 2. Once we have some times locked down I'll do another post and Twitter blast letting you know when we'll start. More to come as details get filled in! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:10 AM Comments[4] |
Fri, 1 May 2009 Originally I thought we'd be off for 2 weeks 2 weeks ago, but it looks like just this week we'll be off. Nothing more than me running out of time on editing, new puppy-ness just ate my time up this week. We'll see you back here in 166 hours or so! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[0] |
Thu, 19 March 2009 Normally I don't like to get into these stupid cross-blogging snipefests, but normally Gizmodo is a pretty decent blog. Normally. Then there's this post. Know what? Suck my dick, Matt Buchanan. I can't use chopsticks, but I do like teriyaki on my rice. Sorry if that makes me 'lousy,' but fortunately we don't have to eat according to your standards. These fuckin' guys. Listen, I know we say some harsh shit on our shows, but I think we always temper things with some open-mindedness (possibly not a real word) so it's not the same as this shit. And that's what it is: SHIT. That's my rant for today. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 7:33 PM Comments[0] |
Tue, 3 February 2009 I'm sure many of you have read or heard about the recent flap with Michael Phelps after a photo of him with abong surfaced. Phelps ended up issuing a big apology for his actions, and as learned more about this I couldn't help thinking that this seemed an awful lot of attention over something pretty stupid. Then I read this article today and decided to post some thoughts on it. In some ways, this all goes back to the whole 'role model athlete' idea. Those who make it big in professional sports are supposed to be 'role models' for kids, or some nonsense like that. I've always thought this was a pretty silly notion, pointing to a famous athlete and saying, "Now Johnny, be like him!" Sure, there's a good reason to point to someone successful and tell your kid to strive for that, but isn't the idea of the 'role model athlete' a bit much? Are you really sure that having your child think he can be Michael Jordan is a good thing? The problem with many of the finer examples of athleticism is that they're so rare. For every Michael Phelps you have a Dennis Rodman, for every Michael Jordan a John Rocker. Barack Obama, on the other hand, makes sense as a person to try to emulate. It's highly unlikely you'll be President, but the effort to get there will still put you ahead in life. Studying, working hard, community service...all good things to be a part of. Trying to be a pro football player, though? Well, hope you don't blow that knee or be driven so hard in a school practice that you die. And even if you work really really hard, without the natural gifts most top athletes have, you probably won't make it. I'm not saying I'm against sports, they can be great socializing activities and they do contribute to a pursuit of excellence. What I am saying is that we need to stop making these people out to be above the rest of us in anything other than what's on the playing field (or swimming pool.) Michael Phelps, the top gold winning Olympian of all time, should not have to apologize for smoking pot. It's his life, let him do what he wants. Joe Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 1:03 PM Comments[8] |
Fri, 16 January 2009 Hey loyal listeners, No show for this week, mostly my fault due to a business trip and just falling behind on editing. Aside from that, though, had an idea that I wanted to float on by the masses: Ozone Multiplayer Weekends. Those of you who are gamers and want to hop on for a few hours of gameplay with your hosts, we just may be able to make that happen. First, on the PC side of things: Lando is a bit on the limited side here as he currently only would be able to play Team Fortress 2, but I'm up for TF2 or Left 4 Dead. Anyone out there with a PS3, that's just me but a lot more options: Burnout: Paradise, LittleBigPlanet, Metal Gear Online, GTA IV, Tekken Dark Resurrection or Super Stardust HD. So what's the opinion out there? Sound like something interesting or a dud? Comment or email and let us know, and we'll be back next week with a new show. Joe Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[3] |
Wed, 19 November 2008 Hey guys, just wanted to drop a quick line and let you know we're taking this week off. I was in Vegas until late Monday, and Lando has been fighting sickness that made him sound like a swamp witch. We'll be back next week at our normal time. Catch ya then! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[2] |
Tue, 4 November 2008  I sat tonight and watched the coverage of the national election, and for a good portion of it I didn't really react. The recent past has shown that polls are unreliable, and coupled with my inherent view of most people as small-minded and cruel, I didn't have much faith that things would go the way I had hoped and voted for. Still, I watched and waited and as the night went on things started to look good, then really good. Before long it was pretty clear that barring a huge upset there would be a moment of significant American history happening. At around 8:00 PM Pacific Time, the announcement came: Barack Obama would be elected President of the United States of America. Being someone who most days sees little to hope for in the world, I must tell you this was a welcome change in my view of my country. This election will be a moment remembered alongside the moon landing, the Kennedy assassination, the Berlin Wall and other significant slices of time where something truly momentous has happened. For me personally, this is one of the great moments of my life where I see the future I hope for starting to emerge into possibility. I have long seen the terrible faces of hatred, greed, and apathy. Many days those faces were right in front of me. There are the great monsters of humanity, men like Hitler, Pol Pot and Stalin, that we all know and rightly despise. It is the smaller monsters, the ones living next door, that we should be twice as afraid of. Those who would kill others in the name of life. Those who would look to isolate others who do not share their concept of sexuality. Those who look upon whatever faith is not theirs and see it as less. Those who view skin color as a reason to fear and hate. These are the true threats to us as a race. The insane butchers tend to be easier to spot, while the quiet rot of the basic evil of man creeps ever closer. Tonight marks a small but important step in the fight against that disease. As a nation, we have now signaled that there is no place in this country that any of us cannot go. Does this election mean the end of racism? Unfortunately, no. As long as ignorance and fear rule over reason and intelligence, racism can never die. But this does mark a day where we have said as a nation that the idea that a person is defined by appearance is past, that it is more important to value a person for what they are than what they appear to be. There's no way to predict the future, and indeed no guarantee that Obama will fulfill the promise of his election. But even if he fails as a President, there can be no denying what he has succeeded in proving for us as a nation. Victory. History. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 11:35 PM Comments[6] |
Tue, 4 November 2008 Voted baby. Oh yeah!  Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[4] |
Sat, 25 October 2008 THIS is what we need instead of more debates! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 4:48 AM Comments[1] |
Wed, 10 September 2008  Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[0] |
Sat, 6 September 2008 Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[1] |
Mon, 1 September 2008  Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[2] |
Sun, 31 August 2008  Hey guys,Just finished a new illustration that I'm planning on submitting to the Threadless Drawing Contest:  Below is the finalized version after some Photoshop cleanup:  If you want to see the creation process, just click on the picture. Oh yeah, once my first drawing comes up I'll be asking you guys to vote on it (if you're Threadless members) to help me out! UPDATED: For legal reasons, I have changed the drawing a bit so if you remember it looking different that's why. I altered the finished product to avoid the whole 'model consent' problem. Joe Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[0] |
Thu, 28 August 2008 My Gods this is is funny, especially if you work in IT.The Website Is Down Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[3] |
Wed, 27 August 2008 Well, doesn't look like we're going to get anybody special on for show 100, but Lando came up with an intriguing idea for the show that I think we'll run with. I'll keep it under wraps, but a decent hint is that it will probably be exactly the opposite of what you normally expect out of us. We're looking to record it this week for a next week release date. Sorry we went a little long on getting the new stuff out, but it was in hopes of doing something extraordinary. Even so, I have some ideas for some future contests and possibly some new types of content for us to give you all, so with any luck show 100 will be the start of some bigger things from us. Hope that whets the appetite! What the hell kind of word is 'whet' anyway? Talk to you all soon! Joe Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[4] |
Thu, 21 August 2008 Hey all,A while back I did an illustration for Ben Grundy at Mysterious Universe, which was originally going to be used (I think) on a special DVD he was going to put out. Since the site unfortunately looks quite dead, I went ahead and submitted the design for critique over at Threadless. My wife's quite a fan of the site, and I have a big liking for the community way they pick shirts. Head on over and give me some feedback on the design, and be honest! I want (if selected) this shirt to be kickass, so tell me what you think of the layout. Thanks! Oh yeah, if you want to see how the design came about, just head here. Joe Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[2] |
Mon, 18 August 2008 Totally slipped my mind, but that survey company (see button to the right above the RSS 2.0 button) is running a contest for anyone who fills out the survey! Even if you did it already, fill it out again or have someone you know do it and you could a iPod Touch among other things! Sorry I was so late letting everyone know, contest ends on 08/30. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[1] |
Thu, 14 August 2008 Came across this post this morning, thought of a slightly more fitting tweak on the image: Gave me a chuckle. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[2] |
Sat, 9 August 2008 So far, it's been a bad year for comedians I admire.As if losing George Carlin wasn't bad enough, today the word came out that Bernie Mac has died after contracting pneumonia. I remember when I read about his illness, and I worried with his existing lung problem if it would be something he might not recover from, but my thoughts were more towards damage to his lungs, not death. When my wife came in this morning with the news, I was shocked by it. I first discovered Bernie Mac when my Tivo accidentally recorded his show instead of another I had scheduled. I watched the show and was so blown away by the stark honesty of the material I instantly got a Season Pass to continually record the show. That Pass still runs as I write this. The show was a brutally honest (and funny) fictionalized take on Mac's real life experiences. Like Roseanne, another show I've come to truly enjoy, The Bernie Mac Show was greatest when it mixed humor and seriousness within the same episode. More than anything, Bernie Mac himself was always entertaining and genuine. After the show, I started to seek out some of the shows Mac had done, and as I mentioned in our last show (our topic timing has been very strange occasionally) I had recently picked up and listened to two of his audiobooks and was impressed with how each book was a vastly different take on the same material: his life. Mac grew up in rough conditions: a mostly absent father, impoverished, and struggling to find success. Along the way, he lost two of the greatest people in his life, his mother and grandmother. It's very poignant that many times in both books he takes several opportunities to mention them both, especially when talking about getting through life's many hardships. Early last year, I saw Bernie Mac on the Tonight Show and he was discussing an impending retirement. I thought right away that if he ever came through an area where I could get to, I'd make sure I saw his act before he stopped doing it. Like Carlin, that possibility is now gone. In a world where we seem to be increasingly paranoid about how we speak and if our words will be used against us, Bernie Mac never stopped speaking honestly. Just within the last few weeks he had caught a little heat from some edgy material at a fund raiser for Barack Obama, and when I read about it I was so annoyed that people expected him to curtail his comedy to be "safer." That was never his way, and in interviews lately he had made a point that the overbearing "political correctness" that has infected our culture was part of the reason he was retiring. Isn't it sad when our fear of frankness leads us to make someone give up what made them great out of disgust?  Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[1] |
Wed, 23 July 2008 Mash-ups are often boring, but once in a while they strike comic gold! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[2] |
Mon, 23 June 2008 This morning brought some
truly sad news for me, which I’m sure many of you already know: George Carlin
has died. I’m not old enough to know of Carlin’s early work, instead I
discovered him in the mid 80’s when he had already established himself as a legendary
comic with a fantastically cutting wit.The discovery of Carlin was a major developing point in my life, one which helped shape my harsh view of the inequities of life as well as my political outlook. I really credit two comedians in forming my view of the world, Carlin being one and Dennis Miller being the other. While Miller was the mold in which I fleshed out my way of thinking, my “inside my brain” voice if you will, Carlin provided a sense of true analytical disgruntlement, a focused laser of making fun of the world while being angry with disappointment at it. The issues of class, race and poverty that Carlin often touched on have become some of the things I feel most vehemently about today. While Miller has changed his views in many ways, Carlin stayed defiantly concrete in what he felt was the failure of us as a race in general. While I occasionally found his anger a bit too dark even for my liking, in general he merely put on display the things that we all know deep down are true. While we as a people have moments of divine beauty and powerful benevolence, the shadow cast by these acts is no less black at times. One of the moments that summed up Carlin for me came during his appearance, naturally, on Dennis Miller Live. The topic was the military, and as always Carlin was being his brutally honest self. At one point he suggested to Miller that what the soldiers of the various military outfits of the world should do is simply refuse to report en masse. When Miller proposed that punishment for such an action could include death, Carlin responded with “What are they gonna do, shoot them all?” To me, this encapsulated for me the alternate view that Carlin saw everything through. He had let go the convention of a “necessary” military and instead suggested a world without armies. Naïve? Possibly, but it makes you wonder what a world free of the threat of armed conflict might be like. Certainly, we would still have problems but isn’t the notion of a planet without global conflict on the scale of a World War a good one? When I think of the hole left by Carlin, it is his mind and his ability to see things differently that I grieve for. We have not lost a great comic, we have lost a great mind.  Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[1] |
Sun, 15 June 2008 Well, I'd planned to do a solo show but time slipped right by me, so we'll just release a standard show in the coming week. Sorry for the gap, was not intended. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[1] |
Wed, 4 June 2008 No words necessary Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[6] |
Fri, 23 May 2008 Hey everyone,Power outage kinda rocked the timetable a bit, but the show will be out either late tonight or tomorrow. Have no fear, the show will be here (soon)! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[0] |
Tue, 20 May 2008 See, it's times like this I feel stupid for giving the benefit of the doubt. A few weeks ago I posted an entry where I tried to take a balanced look at 2 stories involving possible police brutality. Then I read this and have to wonder if we shouldn't outfit every cop with a helmet cam just to make sure he doesn't commit murder-by-stupidity.Just makes you angry. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[4] |
Thu, 15 May 2008 Important things to be aware of folks:Jury Clears Former Galveston Photographer Nice score for the 1st Amendment here. Case Leading To DA Resignation Finalized Wait, abuse of power that isn't whitewashed? Are pigs flying? For all the negative things we see, there are still those rare, beautiful moments where justice is served and our rights are protected. Shame it doesn't happen more often, but it's nice to see it at all. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[1] |
Wed, 7 May 2008 No words can express how funny this was to me. Even if I wasn't for Obama, this would be a gut buster. The force choke on Dean is a masterstroke. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[2] |
Fri, 2 May 2008 So after a frank (and appreciated for it) comment by Crescendo on our Twitter presence I really sat down and thought about whether there was any real benefit to the site from Twitter.The answer? No. Therefore I have ripped itf out and replaced with something that might actually benefit us: possible sponsorship! You'll notice to the right a giant shiny button that is a link to a survey that could actually get this shipwreck some financial stimulus, and all we need is your help. To get our site considered, we need at least 250 responses and while out audience is small, it is loyal and it's more than that number so this can be done. If you enjoy the show, please take a few minutes and complete the survey. For those who only listen to the show, I'll be mentioning it over the next few weeks. Again, this could really help us out on supporting the show and I don't like the donation model so this is the only other way I see any income to support and grow the show. Help out if you can! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[4] |
Tue, 29 April 2008 Hey guys,Just wanted to drop you a line and let you know what the schedule is looking like for this week. There won't be a regular show on Wednesday, instead I'll be helming a solo GTA IV special that will probably come out on Saturday. I need to have adequate playtime for the big game, and let's hope mine doesn't lock up as some people are reporting. We will have a regular show next week, but in all honestly this week is GTA week for me and I want to sit back and hopefully enjoy the hell outta this game. If not, I also picked Mario Kart for the Wii just in case. Oh yeah, we're now on Twitter! Not sure how much of the output will be worth reading, but feel free to follow us. Have a great week! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[3] |
Fri, 25 April 2008 Today I've had two stories on my mind, both really making me question how I feel about the concept of justice in this country. It's a difficult issue for me, since I have conflicting opinions based on both direct experience and things I've read. Police brutality and abuse of power are some of the worst 'gray areas' we have to wrestle with, since there is no clear way to either classify the problem or solve it.I'm not sure how many of you outside of the United States are aware of the Sean Bell verdict, which has sparked outrage in my home state of New York today. The basics of the story are that a 23 year old black man named Sean Bell was shot 50 times outside of a Queens nightclub in November of 2006 by 3 police officers, one of whom fired 31 rounds. The officers have said they believed that one of Bell's companions was reaching for a weapon, although once the smoke cleared no weapon was found. The judge in the case who cleared the officers today said that the testimony was simply not convincing or consistent. Apparently part of this is in relation to a large wrongful death suit being filed by the family, with the intimation being that some of the witnesses called being motivated more by money than truth. The verdict sparked anger within the black community, once again raising the specter of racism within the police force. The other story that caught my eye today was that of a Chicago man who has died after being tased by police officers outside of a bar. This is an ongoing story and not all the facts are out, but if nothing else this is another story that emphasizes the fact that the Taser is potentially as lethal a weapon as a gun. In this case, the police have said that the man was not obeying orders and was in fact fighting with officers. Again, this story is in the early stages and there may be more facts to follow on exactly what led to the Taser being employed. Both of these stories make me truly struggle with my opinion on the police, and by extension the notion of justice, in this country. We have seen story after story detailing the excesses and mistakes by those in uniform, and we have also seen countless stories showing courage and valor and the true conflict lies in discerning what happens in between. From the one angle, the Bell and Chicago stories both could be read as officers using necessary measures to ensure their safety, and I believe that an officer must place his safety as a top priority. Can any of us look one of these men or women in the face and honestly say, "I think you should err on the side of being hurt just in case you're wrong?" I know I can't. As many of these stories as we read, we also know that officers are shot in routine traffic stops and gunned down trying to protect the innocent. That said, I must tell you that I found it remarkable that during the after verdict press conference only Detective Marc Cooper seemed to display emotion and actually apologize to the family sincerely. The other two officers and the man who conducted the press conference seemed indifferent to the man killed, if not defiant about the verdict, saying "I spell 'relief' N-O-T G-U-I-L-T-Y." Now I realize that the police department is a family, and this man is happy to see that a brother has been acquitted, but is this really the statement to make in the case of an innocent man being killed by the police? Yes, it's very possible this was a mistake but the victim was unarmed and was due to be married in a few hours. Could they not manage a little bit more sensitivity, if only for the public? To me it smells of a sense of police infallibility, and maybe that should tell us something. As for the Chicago case, since the details are still emerging I have less of a sense of who was more in the wrong here, but there have been an increasing number of these Taser deaths that at the very least should make them the last resort just before drawing a gun. While they may not be lethal by design, they clearly have a lethal potential. It is really only intent that separates the Taser from the Glock, the potential is equal in both weapons. The Taser simply should not be used as casually as it seems to be. Is it really any wonder most Americans don't believe in law and order anymore? We face frivolity and disgrace in the courtrooms and potentially murderous behavior from those sworn to protect. Again, this is not the rule but any system must be judged by the weakest of the links that form it and by that measure we have a lot that needs fixing in the "greatest nation in the world." I wonder if we'll have the bravery and maturity to do it? So what do you think? Have any of you experienced either the true promise of justice or the dark side of the perversion of law? Please comment and let me know, or just chime in with your thoughts. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[2] |
Wed, 20 February 2008 No show this week. I ran out of time for even recording, much less
editing, so we'll be back next week. Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel. Enjoy
your week! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[0] |
Thu, 31 January 2008 OK, so here is the details of the desktop wallpaper contest: we're
looking for a desktop wallpaper to make available on the show site for anyone
to download and use. There are basically no restrictions to the design, we're
looking for anything and everything. Below this post you'll find some of the
imagery used on the site that you can re-purpose for the wallpaper or make something
entirely independent on your own. Once we have all the submissions in, we'll
post them here and have the community vote on a winner. The vote will be done
by email, a secret ballot of sorts, and the contest deadline is now March 1st
since I was so late posting this entry with the details. Entries can be sent to
the show email, linked into a blog entry, or made available as a download
either Lando or myself can get to. The prize is small but significant: our
first show themed silicon wristband and a prominent place as the official
wallpaper of the show. Be as creative as possible and email any questions if
you have them! Enjoy!Lando Post Art Joe Post Art Header Source Photo Boombox Art Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:42 AM Comments[1] |
Sat, 5 January 2008 Just
checking in with a small update. You've probably already guessed that we're not
going to have a show this week, which is largely my fault as I didn't
anticipate that my traveling would wipe me out so much. We should be
back as usual next week, but I'll be at CES in Las Vegas this week so we may
have a push there too. My trip back to NY was a great time, got some relaxation
in and also managed to hit the most fantastic Chinese Food place on the
planet, which I always make time for when I'm back east. I actually made
sure to post a very favorable review of the place on my Yelp! page. Yelp! is an
awesome little site that has some brutally honest reviews of restaurants,
stores and other stuff. I've found that while I have no tolerance for generic
social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook, more specific social sites
have a lot to offer. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 9:44 PM Comments[0] |
Mon, 17 December 2007 Yeah baby! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[4] |
Mon, 5 November 2007 Hey everyone,I got miserably sick with stomach flu this weekend, so we didn't get to record since I figured an hour or so of vomiting and moaning wouldn't exactly be much fuel for discussion. We've got a dynamite show planned for next week though, so stay tuned! Joe Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 7:02 PM Comments[3] |
Thu, 27 September 2007 Hey all,We didn't forget to post a new show, I'm just a little behind after getting married last weekend. I'll have the new show up within the next couple of days. Take er easy, Joe Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 2:36 AM Comments[5] |
Wed, 12 September 2007 So hot on the heels of our last show, I've been reading about the release
of the newly altered Manhunt 2 video game. For those who aren't gamers,
the original Manhunt was essentially a mix of the survival horror game
genre and a dose of the film 8MM. In the game, you were the star
attraction in a maniac's live snuff film, where you fought to the death against
an assortment of freakish games in a real world deathmatch. The game was
grindhouse gaming, emphasizing gruesome executions that were graphically
displayed. The sequel made some headlines back in June when it was banned in
some countries and given the AO (Adults Only) rating by the ESRB. AO is
equivalent to a film getting an X rating, and soon after the game developer
Rockstar announces they would change the game to lower the rating. The first
post change reviews have come out, and the difference amounts to blurring the
death sequences so you can't specifically make out what you're doing to the
person you're executing.I was quite interested to get the game before the changes were made, and now that I've read how it's been altered I wouldn't take a free copy. I can't blame Rockstar for making the changes it did, since the rating would no doubt impact some sales, but it still irks the hell outta me. These blurs are just as empty a statement on the content of the game as when people alter curse words to make them socially acceptable. For example, I know people who use the phrase "jacked up" instead of simply saying "fucked up." It's just a silly example of how we superficially look down on something while accepting it context wise. If we all know what the person is really saying when they say "jacked up," why can't we just let them say what the phrase is code for? Have we still not come far enough to value the context of language? The same vacuous reasoning applies to Manhunt 2: so by obscuring the method in which you kill someone, have we suddenly found that execution is more tolerable? Why not just sit your kids down and let them know that violence is acceptable only as long as they don't look at who they're hitting? Hey, wait a minute. This game isn't meant for kids you say? Then WHY CENSOR THE GAME AT ALL. Are adults not able to decide what to buy or not to buy? And if the worry is that young kids will buy the game, why not put the burden on the stores and the parents to ensure they don't? Oh, hold on. Someone might buy the game and then let a young kid see it. Again, why not place the burden on parents to make sure their children know right from wrong? Then again, why not simply make society the responsible party for children being raised properly. That so often works out well. Just take a look at our polished foster care system. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 9:59 AM Comments[2] |
Thu, 28 June 2007 Hey all, Just a quick note to let you all know we're taking the weekend off. Life and work piled up this week, so instead of a thrown together show we're taking a week to unwind before we hop back on the train. Enjoy the last weekend of June 2007! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 12:31 PM Comments[0] |
Wed, 27 June 2007 It only takes one bad apple to
make you forget those who serve selflessly, so keep in mind that a lot of cops
are great people who really do just want to protect and serve. That said, I
encourage anyone who finds this video as maddening as I do to do exactly what I
did today: write this police department and express appreciation for those who
do good work, but anger and disappointment in this power tripping moron:Contact info for this officers' department can be found here. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 1:18 PM Comments[3] |
Tue, 19 June 2007 The following is one of the greatest articles ever written:Real Men Love The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension The truth finally revealed for all! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 3:17 PM Comments[2] |
Tue, 29 May 2007 Hey all,I've seen a few posts about iTunes not updating. I've been looking into it, and the problem is definitely on their side. To be honest, I've had nothing but issues with iTunes since we started the show and they have never given me a response that has helped. I can successfully ping the show, and it is updated through show 42 but we don't seem to be in the main listings anymore and 43 hasn't appeared. Not sure what more I can do, I've emailed their tech support and we'll see what they say. Until then, I can only offer the direct download option for iTunes users. I'll update you guys when and if I hear anything from the Jobs boys. UPDATE: OK, so I've changed a few things around and re-submitted the show with a new RSS feed. I'm waiting on Apple to confirm it's there, but the new RSS feed does already show the new shows in iTunes, so my guess is this should fix the problem. Please comment on this post and let me know what you guys experience with the new feed. UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: A new RSS feed is born! http://ozone.libsyn.org/rss Use this feed to replace what you have now, and future updates should be instant and the former iTunes weirdness should disappear. Thanks for the patience and emails, all is appreciated. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 2:06 PM Comments[4] |
Mon, 28 May 2007 It is positively creepy how pertinent this was for me to find, especially considering our latest show:And now watch this to see that this tripe is noticed by many people: Comic GOLD people! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 3:03 AM Comments[3] |
Wed, 16 May 2007 Hey guys, we're going to be recording a show soon where we'll be pitting
characters from movies, comics, literature, myth, etc, against one another to
see who would win. We're posting 5 of these matches ahead of time to get your
input on them. Here are the 5: All the James Bonds (Last Man Standing match) Gandalf vs Darth Vader Battle Angel Alita vs Motoko Kusanagi John Constantine vs Doctor Strange vs Hellboy (Last Man Standing match) Wolverine vs Manji We want your thoughts on these fights. Who wins? Why? How? Not only that, if you have some good matches you think are worth talking about, post them! There's plenty of time before we record the show, so take a good few days or even a week and let us know what you think. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:00 AM Comments[7] |
Mon, 7 May 2007 Hey guys, just wanted to chime
with a couple things I think are worth mentioning. It's hard to throw a rock
anywhere and not hit someone who's had a terrible customer service experience,
but how often do you hear about really GOOD service? Today, I give you not one
but TWO such stories! Both of these examples come from companies I have shopped
with for a long time, and both examples are the only times I've ever had
problems with either. Kinda weird they happened within weeks of one another. "I understand you’ve received a
bootleg copy of 'Hard
Boiled: The Criterion Collection’; I also noticed that the same seller has
two other copies listed on our site. If possible, I’d like to send you a
pre-paid shipping label so you can send the DVD you received to us. We will
review it, and remove that seller from our site once we’ve confirmed that it
is a bootleg. lease reply back and let me know if you have a printer, and
I’ll email you that shipping label so you can send that bootleg to us without
incurring a shipping charge. Doug CSR" Now this
is completely reasonable, I don't expect them to take my word for it and
they're acting on it fast. Already I'm happy. Here's my response:
Thanks for your reply. The images you’ve sent are quite enough – we appreciate you passing those along. We’ll deactivate that seller today. Let me know if you ever have any problems or questions in the future, and I’ll be happy to help you. Doug My second example comes from Amazon, a site I'm sure a lot of you already know about. I ordered a PS2 Capcom Classics Collection, which was supposed to arrive within the usual 3-5 days. The email confirming shipping that came had an invalid tracking number, but I chalked that up to a mistake in sending, which I'd had happen before and could always find the right number in my account info. I tend to like to see where my things are, so I generally check on their progress once a day. I went into my account to get the correct tracking number, but found that the number there was also invalid. Amazon has this cool support feature where they call you, instead of you hanging on the phone waiting, so I had them call me. This was where the service initially was extremely bad. The person I spoke to not only didn't bother to research the bad tracking number, but also assured me the package would be to me by the end of the week. Now the lack of any effort to get a valid tracking number bothered me, but it wasn't a critical item so I figured I'd just wait it out. By the end of the week, still no package. Amazon had sent a along a follow up service email, which I responded to with my irritation about the lackluster interest in helping me and the unfulfilled promise of the item arriving. Nothing nasty, just the facts and my opinion on the shoddy support work. Within a day of sending out that follow up, I received this message: "Thanks for writing to us at Amazon.com. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 7:24 PM Comments[1] |
Wed, 18 April 2007 
You can call this a public service announcement if you like. I know that at
first the title seems silly. “Of course I think, how else would I be able to
wake up and get out of bed in the morning, shower up, get out the door in time
for work, and then drive my car to work.” But you see that’s really not
thinking so much as reacting to the environment and carrying out learned
programs. Wake up program – complete. Get out of bed program – complete, and on
and on. It actually amazes me sometimes how much of life is really just
carrying out learned patterns. What I’m talking about is actually stopping for
a moment and considering just what is going on in your head. And don’t get
smart with me, I know you could say, “There’s a spongy mass electrocuting
itself over and over in my head.” All wit aside, what are you thinking?It’s such a silly question and yet one that for a moment arrests you as you try to figure out just that. My point in this is that a lot of people don’t stop and think. It’s one of our biggest problems as people, we carry out patterns or react quickly without paying any thought to just what we are doing and the implications it may have. You might find that if you spend a certain amount of the day paying close attention to how you think, you’ll be surprised. Some days I find myself thinking the most odd things as I go through my morning ritual. It is important to be aware of our thoughts because they are closely connected to our feelings, which in turn prompt our actions. To understand why you do what you do on a daily basis is actually a Herculean effort. When you pay attention to how you think before you react, and I know that’s hard, you may start to really wonder at your reactions.With understanding our thoughts and our reactions comes a certain level of responsibility. Suddenly saying “I don’t know why I did that” doesn’t work anymore. Suddenly you know what you are doing when you are doing it. That’s a lot to come to terms with and it’ll affect everyone differently. A serial killer could suddenly come to the full realization of what he is doing and say, “Hey, I’m okay with this.” Just because you start to understand how you yourself think will not make you a better person, but, you will hopefully take responsibility for your actions and respond with more logic and understanding. Once you start to understand how you think and react, you might be able to start figuring out other people. Wouldn’t it be great to actually understand why certain people in close proximity do what they do? Ask them. I ask people what they are thinking all the time. It helps me to gauge them, to understand them, to better socially navigate the seas around me. We are not all born the same. We are not all powerful or weak or unbreakable. We are strange organic machines running the most advanced operating system this planet has ever known, and as much as those systems run similar programs, the level of individual customizability is through the roof. Therefore, I find it imperative to understand what you are thinking, and what others are thinking.In short, please think. They say that every action has an equal reaction. Never forget that your reactions also incur a reaction. Let’s get it under control and get the species out of the psychological stone age, there’s a whole universe to conquer and destroy out there. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 12:07 PM Comments[0] |
Wed, 11 April 2007 Hey kids, just stopping in for a quick bit of business. As of
Friday night, I'll be taking down the three smaller versions of the Benjamin
Grundy interview, mostly because it's just enough to put me over my storage
quota until next week, which would mean no new show for this weekend. I'm not a
fan of being late, and I'm guessing most people have heard the interview by now
anyway but if for some reason there's a massive demand for the smaller segments
to come back I'll get them back up. The full file will naturally stay
permanent, but I figure at this point it's better to free up space for the new
show rather than wait a week for my quota to refill.
Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 6:22 PM Comments[0] |
Fri, 6 April 2007 Hey guys,I've got a small request on behalf of myself and one of our listeners. I've put a link to a song that I'm assuming comes from a Bruce Lee movie, which I badly want to find and get a good clean copy of. The audio file posted is from the fun little website I Know Where Bruce Lee Lives, which lets you record a fight scene from a collection of Bruce Lee sounds. If you know what movie this song is from, or better yet what the real name of it is, please comment and end my endless search! The Unnamed Clip I'm counting on you guys, go out there and make me proud! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 5:50 PM Comments[3] |
Thu, 5 April 2007 This entry is a quick report on a funny little true story.I'm sitting at work today waiting for a billing report to process, wandering the internet to fill the time when I come across a very funny collection of celebrity cameos in crazy Japanese commercials. While doing this, I have NPR running in the background since it makes for a very good background stream of information. As I get to the final video on the list, starring the singular Charles Bronson pimping a brilliantly named product called MAN DOM, NPR comes on with this story featuring an interview with Florida's Agricultural Commissioner. His name? Charles Bronson. I'm not saying it means anything. I'm just saying, it's weird. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 7:18 PM Comments[4] |
Mon, 19 March 2007 Leave it to NPR, the often parodied and dismissed non-profit organization
of U.S. public radio stations, to take a stand against the bloated and greedy
members of the RIAA. Recently, our fine government has decided to increase the
fees that internet radio stations must pay the record labels for playing songs.
Not only have the fees almost tripled, but they are retroactive. This ludicrous
action means that many great online music sources face bills they simply can't
pay. Pandora, a fantastic site we have
covered before in our show, is just one small company that can't hope to
survive the revised licensing costs but by no means does this action affect
only small companies. This fee hike is hitting all online music
broadcasters, including National Public Radio. NPR has decided to draw a line
over this, and rightly so as they are now being asked to pay a vastly superior
amount of royalty money for their online music use as opposed to their
traditional radio cost, and for an audience that is a fraction of their radio
count. This
article on Medialoper has the full story. If you listen to NPR, Pandora, or
anything else online than write to your Congressional representative and
protest this action. Without hearing from us, our elected officials will no
doubt let this go without any intervention or scrutiny.In relation to this story, I recently listened to an episode of This Week in Media, a fantastic podcast that often covers areas of copyright and new media. In it, they talked about the fact that the RIAA is in name a misnomer: there is not "one" RIAA, it is a conglomerate of large record companies. By calling it the RIAA, we take away the accountability of the companies that make it up. For example, most people would probably recognize that the RIAA sues people, but those same folks would probably not attribute those suits to, say, Warner Music Group, even though the company is a member of the RIAA. On that TWiM episode, they joked it would be a good idea to create a poster that made people aware that the RIAA is in fact the following companies: Warner Music Group, Sony BMG Music Group, EMI Group and Universal Music Group. I think it's a very important idea, and over the next week I'm going to try to hammer out a design for that very poster. In the meantime, the always great Consumerist has posted the names and contact info for the members of the RIAA. Make your displeasure known, folks, that's the only avenue of fighting these behemoths of greed. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 7:16 PM Comments[1] |
Fri, 16 March 2007 Hey all, just wanted to let you know there will be a show posted this
weekend. Lando was out here to visit, so I wasn't wasting time with editing
while my friend was around. So sit tight, a new show is just around the corner!
Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 5:25 PM Comments[0] |
Tue, 27 February 2007 I just happened to stumble across this
article at the Consumerist detailing what is a sadly common experience for
people who go to the Geek Squad (owned by Best Buy) for computer repair. As
someone who worked for the Geek Squad in 2005, I can tell you that the quality
of workmanship there can be sadly lacking, but there are circumstances beyond
tech experience that can lead to these stories. Unfortunately, it's not that
everyone there is a moron or that no one tries. Like anywhere else, there are
good people who do their best and there are also complete wastes who are just
there to occupy space for a few hours. What doesn't help, at least in the
stores I had contact with, was the lack of management support for the workers.
They would have techs take in 20, 25 computers in a day with only three people
working and then expect one of those people to always be available to talk to
people. That means two techs who can do steady work, and even then the managers
would pull one if people were waiting too long to pick something up or pay.
Wait times of 2 weeks or longer were common, and while many customers wouldn't
like to hear it this was almost never the fault of the techs. There's no excuse
for sloppy work, but equally there should not have been tolerance for managers
who wanted to see profits from the repair shop and encouraged techs to trump up
cost. What's worse, if you got a customer who was angry at coming back to pick
up a machine and learning that the repair cost was $200+ for virus / spyware
removal, the manager would basically blame the tech. The techs, by the way,
were at no time even consulted on pricing or exceptions so they had no ability
to help the customer and were made to look bad when the managers threw the
blame on them. The prices were set for maximum profitability, and the
guidelines of the store made it impossible to bend these rules. This means if
someone dropped off a machine and it had a Weatherbug program running (a minor
piece of trash programming), then it was an automatic $59 to remove it. Yes,
$59 to go to the Control Panel and do a standard Add / Remove. Sometimes we
could try to tell the customer to do it themselves, but it was a risk as
management would threaten firing if they overheard anything like that. Instead,
a customer might come in, see the inflated price for minimal work and demand to
speak to a manager. That manager would come out, after the tech has repeated
that the prices are set and there's nothing that can be done, and drop the
price. That makes the tech look like a liar and a fool, but for the manager it
avoids conflict. Sure, a store doesn't want to alienate customers and that's
fine, but backstabbing your workers is cowardly and only encourages lackluster
performance and resentment. It's really sad on both ends: the customer loses
and the tech is made to look incompetent, which is sometimes true but often is
just the image portrayed by a manager trying to avoid a hassle. What's even
worse is that the Best Buy juggernaut never showed any interest in our input
concerning these issues, in most cases at our store there would just be a
rotation of management. Ah, corporate structure. How I love it. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 6:42 PM Comments[3] |
Wed, 21 February 2007 Hey everyone, I've got some excellent news concerning our little
show. Within the last few weeks I extended an invitation to fellow
podcaster Benjamin Grundy to come on our show to do an interview, and he has
graciously accepted! If you don't know who Ben is (and you should), he runs the
Mysterious Universe podcast. MU is
one of the better shows I've run across, from the consistently interesting
topics to the high production quality. Ben covers the boggling spectrum of the
things in this world beyond our understanding, from UFOs to the paranormal. Not
only that, but he does so in an objective fashion by not preaching but instead
reporting, which is a fine line to walk for the content he covers. He recently
moved the show past simply a free version to include a premium edition that
offers additional content for $5 a month, and for what you get that's a great
deal. I have to say I'm quite excited for the interview, as Ben seems like a
genuinely interesting fellow and surely he has some great stories to tell about
his show. We're looking to cover a lot, including the journey Ben has traversed
from the creation of MU, it's current evolution, and where it's going. In all
honesty I'm hoping there's enough content to possibly fill two shows! As we
move ahead in the process I'll post updates here to keep you all informed, but
I hope this gives you something to look forward to in the coming weeks beyond
the shows we normally put out.
Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 7:09 PM Comments[2] |
Tue, 13 February 2007 Hey guys, I'm just popping on to give a small update on things.Firstly: There was supposed to be a show posted for last weekend, but two events collided that have delayed it for this upcoming weekend. Originally I was just behind because of my birthday, but the true show stopper was the plumbing deciding to go completely bonkers. We had to call out a plumber on a Sunday (fun), then he broke a pipe underneath the house (more fun.) Due to all that, I didn't get the show finished on time. Sorry about that. The show will go up for this upcoming weekend, which is good because I'll be on vacation and probably would not have been able to record a new show. Secondly: I believe Boston has secured its place as the stupidest city in the country. In case you haven't heard, Boston flipped out over some advertising for the upcoming Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. Apparently after pooling as much brain matter as possible to have their raggedy baseball team break the curse in 2004, they still haven't recovered that intelligence and feel that innovative means of promotion are a crime. Did people seriously think that these LED signs could be terrorist tools? Really, guys? No wonder they call it "Beantown": apparently beans are what people have in their skulls instead of brains in The City On A Hill. Thirdly: Anna Nicole Smith. Why does anyone care? This woman ranks just behind Princess Di as another famous person we shouldn't be mourning. It's a sad sign of our culture when we place those who are undeserving on pedestals of worship and keep the spotlight off truly important individuals to better light the worthless. Finally: Good news! The mighty, incomparable Kid Icarus was released on the Wii Virtual Console this week. Icarus is one of the titans of NES gaming, and also among the hardest games I've ever played (no save feature!). Guiding Pit through 3 punishing levels (the last level is so easy it's almost laughable) can drive you insane as thoroughly as it gives you a true sense of reward. The fact that it uses Greek myth as a starting point for atmosphere also earns it big marks with me. In relation, my current choice for greatest game of all time has got to be God Of War. A sequel is due early next month, and every indication and early review makes it sound equal (or superior) to the first game. Kratos, the faithful await your return as the Cod Of War! Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 5:36 PM Comments[0] |
Wed, 31 January 2007 I've been a big advocate of Flickr
since the very beginning of the site, as it provides a great way for me to put
my photography out on the net for what it is really a very low cost. I think
the feature set is not only robust but very useful, and the site as a whole has
only improved over time.I remember hearing about Yahoo acquiring the site, which I had hoped would be nothing more than an acquisition without any change of the core structure. For a while, it seemed like that was exactly what it would be, but this week I received what I view as a very bad omen for the future. I opened a message in my Flickr inbox and it was essentially a notice that starting in mid-March all Flickr users would be forced to either use a pre-existing Yahoo ID or to generate one to continue using Flickr. My issue here is that Yahoo has always struck me as a crap web portal, popular but largely useless. If in fact this is just the start of a "yahoo-zation" of Flickr, I will be quickly departing and my sense from various forums around the web is that others feel the same way. I don't usually care much for "community driven" sites, but Flickr was one of the exceptions to the rule. It's still entirely possible that this change is simply a streamlining measure, meant to ease the login process down to a single ID type as opposed to two. If that's the case, and Flickr maintains it's high quality and independence from the Yahoo machine, then I'll be pleasantly surprised. If not, it will simply be another bright light smothered by the corporate machine. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 7:26 PM Comments[0] |
Wed, 24 January 2007 For
my first official post here on this lovely site I wanted to establish to our
listeners and now readers the facets of the age we are said to be living in,
which is that of the Postmodern age. Since my forte is literature, I sought to
explain the idea of postmodernism in reference to literature. But have no doubt
that these idea can be attributed to all aspects of the current culture that we
inhabit. "Why are you telling us this Lando?" you are no doubt
asking. Simple. We are living in an age akin to cyberpunk. Cyberpunk has been
considered postmodern. We are living in a postmodern age, and we should really
know just what in hell that means. Here is my attempt at it, I hope it makes
sense. Don't worry, I will probably never unleash such a long post on you all
as this. Buckle up, lock and load. I
take on the precarious task then of explaining what Postmodernism is. It's not
an easy task by any means, because Postmodernism is itself a term in constant
flux. At the root, Postmodernism eliminates the final say of the critic and
empowers the individuals opinion. This means the reader is correct
dependent on his or her perception. Progressing out from literature to
nearly every walk of life, Postmodernism has been referred to as a hydra which
straight forward philosophical thought will never be able to cut down. As soon
as you define it in one genre or art form, it evolves into something else,
somewhere else. There are themes however which become prevalent in
Postmodernism which I will try to explain. One
of the first themes that comes to mind is that of how the importance of
"high art" is broken down. By "high art" I mean the
classics: the paintings of Michelangelo; the music of Bach; the writing of
Hawthorne, etc. In the past, the critics had a strong control of what was and
what was not considered "high art", critics could distinguish and
attribute worth, deciding what deserved hanging in a museum. With
Postmodernism, the critic has been neutered. The state of art is determined by
the individual, and everything has a subjective value whether it is a painting
of the Virgin Mother done in menstrual blood or the works of Norman Rockwell.
"High art" and popular culture have collided violently into each
other, shading and sometimes eliminating the boundary. The
next theme I'd like to discuss has to do with something called a Simulacra.
Jean Baudrillard is a phenomenoligist philosopher who proposed the theory of
the Simulacra. A simulacra is a simulation of the ideal apple; a thing that is
more real than the thing it represents. For example, when one thinks of an
apple, they think of a shiny red apple with waxy skin that you can almost see
your face in. When given a real apple right off the branch, it is often not so
shiny or well presented. In fact, it can look kind of ugly and unappetizing. In
this, the idea of the apple is the simulacra; we feel it is more real than the
reality that has been provided to us. Another example would be when we go out
for Mexican food. What passes for Mexican food in the United States is really
just an idea of what Mexican food should be like; it's a simulacra of Mexican
food. For those of us who have actually traveled to Mexico, we know that the
reality is very different than what you most often end up with in the US. That
said, in the realm of the Postmodern, we are presented with the Third Order of
the Simulacra. In
the Third Order of the Simulacra, there is no reality. The public is presented
with a hyperreality that is completely fictional. A good example of this is in
the way movies are being made now with actors walking across massive green
screen sets, where in the scenery is added later. The hyperreality would be the
scenery which technology looks so real and yet is completely made up by the
special effects artists. The places depicted don't exist anymore or, in other
instances, never have. This phenomenon evolves further by the creation of
digital, who act alongside live actors as if they were actual beings. Gollum in
the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Jar Jar Binks from Star Wars are perfect
examples of this in film. These characters do not exist, they are constructed
from programming, and yet we act as if they are living, breathing actors. The Japanese
have their own version of this in their Idorus. An Idoru is a made-up pop star,
usually animated, that is presented as if it were a real pop star, selling
music and movies. The closest thing we have in the United States to that is the
pop band, The Gorillaz. The Gorillaz are a band which is made up of constantly
changing roster of musicians who are fronted by an animated cartoon band that
always remains the same. Another
theme in Postmodernism is the way style takes precedence over substance. A
novel is written which has no plot and no arch, but the manner in which it is
written is so unique that it is trumped as genius and put on a pedestal. In the
age of Postmodernism, style is the draw. Style makes things sell, style make
actors bankable, style is what people want to buy in order to become stylish
and "in." In the age of postmodernism, the cover of the book can
matter more than what is behind it. In
Postmodernism there is a great deal of recycling of old ideas. Whereas in
Modernism a great emphasis was made on new ideas and stories, Postmodernism is
conforming to the mold; the basic structure us coupled with a formulaic idea to
repeat the original genius: How many times has Frankenstein been
rewritten and refilmed in some slightly different way? Mary Shelly, Dean
Koontz, Robert Deniro. Shakespeare has been reconceived in the modern day, the
future and across a multitude of cultures. Why is it there are no new
Shakespearian-level works? As we see in the movie world, there are more remakes
than new ideas. Characters such as Superman and Batman are made into countless
movies while also heading up comic book series. The series are without
new ideas; the writers are afraid what may happen if they kill their characters
off and then have nothing to follow with. Heroes used to die, now they just
keep going till we get bored with them. The last theme I would like to explore is that of Postmodernism's lack of metanarrative. The French philosopher and literary theorist, Jean-François Lyotard, has said of Postmodernsim in a popular quote, "Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodern as incredulity towards metanarratives." (1984) A metanarrative can be explained as a story with a point or lesson; it's a story that tells a vast vision of human history. Sometimes a record of human events, other times the tale of one man's progression toward knowledge, the metanarative has a very important place in human social and literary history, a place that Postmodernism ignores or outright attacks. The postmodernists are skeptical of the lessons a metanarrative wants to teach and therefore they disregard it, then attempt to discredit it, and finally they ignore it. In this, no new metanarratives are being written; writers aren't concerning themselves with those types of tales. And when they do, it is only to display them as parody. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 1:57 PM Comments[1] |
Mon, 22 January 2007 Hey guys, just want to note a couple of things here after reading the
comments on the last blog post. I'm real happy about the feedback we got on the
new design: there is now a redirect page at the old site location and the empty
categories have been fixed. I also fixed a text display issue with the show
subtitle, so hopefully that's showing up straight for everyone. You'll also see
an email link on the page now, so if you have show ideas or just something to
say, punch that button. Finally, there was a comment / question on the last
blog entry about whether we ever get down about not having more feedback for
the show. Honestly, we never thought anyone would even listen to the show, and
we do get regular emails and now comments on the new site, so I can't complain
a bit about participation. We've even had show ideas emailed our way, and
hopefully there will be more coming. And we all have lives, and we're all busy,
so it never bothers me that we're not flooded with email. We're perfectly
content that there are listeners at all, so numbers and activity don't really
factor in. So whether you're a passive listener or an active fan, we're happy
to have you.
Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 7:32 PM Comments[2] |
Sun, 21 January 2007 Hey everyone, this week we'll be off. Between updating everything with
the homepage and just regular life, the time just wasn't there. Now that
everything is in place, we should finally be on a good, regular
schedule. See you next week!
Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 1:18 AM Comments[27] |
Sun, 1 January 2006  So who is the lunatic pictured above and why does he put this show out, anyway? No big mystery, really. I've always been a loudmouth opinionated person, and really what better forum for that than a weekly podcast? I started this show mostly out of boredom and a desire to try the medium, and once Lando came on board it just took on a life of its own. Before this, I went to school for illustration and then realized I would have to do real work to make money. I still love art, and I do it when time and creativity allow, but it became clear very quickly after graduation that it was not the career for me. There's a fair amount of irony that a proudly native New Yorker would end up meeting his wife as far away as possible: California. I've never been the type to be too tied to where I am, so when the time came for one of us to move I was the one who uprooted and split. While this state is most decidely weird, the weather is outstanding and all in all I've adjusted. Deep down, though, the Empire State will always be home. Not much else interesting about me besides that, guys. I do IT work, pump out some artwork here and there and muddle about in amateur photography. Beyond that, this is where I spill the overflow from my brain. It ain't much, but hopefully it's entertaining. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 12:00 AM Comments[0] |
Sun, 1 January 2006  There’s a funny story about Joe and I from the first year of our having met. Joe lived in a college suite with some friends of mine while I was living in blessed isolation in the single rooms across campus. I was working on my BA with a double major in English and Psychology and hadn’t yet discovered the desire to learn everything, though it was bubbling. I did however discover a rather comprehensive personality test in the Psychology Office’s library, which, I then administered to most of my friends in Joe’s suite. Afterward, I administered the test to myself, waiting to score them all together so that I wouldn’t slant my own answers based on subconsciously desired results. After several hours of crunched numbers, I ended up with a set of results for my friends and Joe. What I saw was a group of people with very common personality traits, you might almost call them stock personality types, which make up most of the population. What I had not counted on was that Joe and I would fall into a personality type that was shared by no one else in the suite, and in fact only shared with three to five percent of the population. It was a leadership type, a personality that refused to take orders blindly and which sought to instead discover its own path. What made it funnier was that Joe and I were counter point inside the type. Joe was a leader who preferred to lead from the shadows and remain out of the spotlight, effecting control of the world without demanding recognition. I was a leader who did not want control but through effect of personality drew people to me and created tribes. A drastic simplification of the types of course, but the point was that I had met someone like me, just on the opposite end of the pendulum. This show is the interest on years of friendship between two people of a less common personality type who refuse to be led and instead lead themselves. Joe went the way of Art and I went the path of English and Psychology. I have a MA in Writing, and MA in Psychology, and a MA in Literature. I believe that knowledge is the greatest wealth and would keep myself in education forever if I could. Instead I read a lot and subject myself to college courses on tape in a constant struggle to learn, well, everything. I was raised on Fantasy and Led Zeppelin and matured into Cyberpunk and Techno. I am the child of immigrants who themselves stepped out of the common roles their parents expected from them, starting a tradition of rebellion. These days I read every genre but my love of the sea is always the seas of Science-Fiction, or as some have started calling it, Speculative Fiction. Beyond my education and reading I don’t have much more to say, I never really liked the idea of bios and the like. I have been writing since I was eleven, and one day I do hope to touch the minds of others the way my mind was touched at a young age, starting me off into the lands of mind and question. Gibson’s Neuromancer was more than just futurist crime fiction, it taught a boy like me that life could be very different from what the everyday dictated. I hope this gives our listeners some better ideas of their hosts. Oh, and one more thing, I am confident that Theodore Roosevelt would kick Ernest Hemingway’s ass in an old style fistfight. That said, enjoy the show and thanks for your time. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 12:00 AM Comments[0] |
