The act of traveling by commercial airline used to be kind of fun. These days, it's just miserable.
For starters, you have the overzealous security measures implemented since 9-11-01. Believe me, I'm all about fighting the war on terror. I'd endorse an invasion of Pakistan at this point if it would kill more extremist Islamic terrorists. But this garbage of having to take my shoes off at the airport after enduring a 30 minute wait at security and then suffering random pat-downs while not being able to carry on a nail clipper or anything liquid is stupid. Honestly. We're punishing everyone who rides an airplane, no the terrorists here. We should just do what the Israeli's started doing 30 years ago - putting armed pilots behind an armored cockpit.
Then there's the failing airlines trying to prop up their bottom line by throwing fees at EVERYTHING. Checking luggage, getting a window seat, having a soda in-flight, requesting a pillow, all that stuff costs more money. If you don't walk on the plane with 50 bucks cash, you aren't getting anything but a middle seat that won't recline and I hope you're not thirsty or planning to enjoy an in-flight movie.
And these are just the "new" pains of air travel. You still have to deal with traffic, crowds, delays, lost luggage, and all the other general discomfort that comes with it.
To top it off, if it's a business trip, you don't even get any reward for the effort. You're going to work. I get to do this miserable exercise twice in three days just so I can attend a meeting.]]>
Well, I've written short stories. But they weren't much to get excited about.
So the other day I'm at Borders and I pick up a small paperback simply titled "Teach Yourself Writing a Novel" by Nigel Watts (Annoyingly, the title and even author name are all lower case. But I digress.)
Surprisingly, it's a very good, very simple, and very practical guide to getting off your butt and writing a novel. No gimmicks, no hokey feel-good-about-yourself pep talk, just sound advice from a guy who's had modest success as an author. I think the reason why I like it so much is that a lot of it reinforces what I already know.
Now, you're wondering, why would I want a book that tells me what I already know?
Simply put, it's for the reinforcement. I'm a lot more likely to feel like I'm doing it right if someone has a book published saying so.
So, one of the suggestions in the book is to make a daily exercise of writing. About anything. Just sit down, set aside a period of time, and write. And that's what I'm going to do. The blog will be a small part of it. I might just cry about how bad the Redskins are, review a movie I've seen, talk about my kids, or crank out an odd short story. I don't know. But I'm going to spend at least half an hour a day writing something. Anything. And maybe while I'm at it, I'll get some work done on my novel.
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A year.
I fail at blogging. ]]>
Wow. The golden age of comic book movies continues.
View it in Quicktime here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/ironman/
tags: Iron, Man, Trailer]]>
(Of course, the downside is the enormous amount of garbage being flushed through the same pipeline, but let's save that for another column.)
By far, the best site for original media (or, media that you might have otherwise missed out on during its original broadcast) is YouTube. Recently consumed by Google, the site still manages to provide a ton of great content with relatively little interference from most media conglomerates. Below are a few of the best videos I've found on there over the last several months:
Exhibit A: The Covers
Every now and then, somebody covers a song, and actually does a better job than the original. In some cases, the result is downright hilarious.
Our first case study comes courtesy of Alanis Morissette, who's cover of "My Humps" by the Black Eyed Peas will help you understand how truly stupid popular music really is these days:
In the same vein, we can see how Benny Hill rolls... In Da Club:
Moving right along, we have an acoustic cover of a rap song that was already a parody of the genre in the first place (intentional or not), and the result is brilliant:
Finally, we have George W. Bush covering U2:
Exhibit B: The Commercials
Ok, this is pretty much the Nike section. Yesterday, I pointed out the brilliant new Nike Football spot that is currently airing during NFL games, but there are a few old ones worth looking at again:
First, there's the immortal Michael Jordan. If this commercial doesn't give you goosebumps, you probably hate sports, or have been living under a rock for the last 20 years:
Then there's this bit, which is not only an effective marketing tool, but also points out the most glaring plot hole shared by every horror movie ever made:
Exhibit C: Miscellaneous
There's some stuff that just defies categorization:
First, we have a wedding reception that was a lot cooler than yours. I promise:
For our final exhibit of the day, we have the spectacular collision of two of the most powerful forces in geekdom: World of Warcraft and Weird Al Yankovic:
tags: Best, of, YouTube]]>
(By the way, you can see it more clearly at: http://www.nike.com/usnikefootball/)
Anyhow, I recognize the music from "The Last of The Mohicans" and think to myself, "Hey, I should get that soundtrack. And maybe the DVD."
Well, a quick search on Amazon reveals that the soundtrack is no longer in print, and the only DVD version available in the U.S. is some monstrosity of a director's cut that Michael Mann puked all over (incidentally, Mann directed the Nike commercial).
So, I resort to "Plan B," which is to try and find the .mp3 online somewhere. I don't do file sharing programs anymore, but there's a decent root directory search utility available here that sometimes yields decent results. Sadly, there's no luck this time around.
On to "Plan C." Or, as I like to call it, the YouTube contingency. Most any popular musical track ever made has been used in a YouTube video at some point. The trick is to find one with decent audio quality, and then rip the sound. In order for this to work, you need to shut off everything else on your PC that makes noise, and then record the audio while you play the video using a utility like Audacity (it's free). After a little editing and exporting, you've got yourself an .MP3 of marginal quality that will hold you over until you can find your rare track at a used music store or something.
Incidentally, I guess the tune in question is also called "The Gael" (although everyone refers to it as "The Last of the Mohicans" soundtrack), and you can find all sorts of bizarre variations on YouTube... from an accordion cover to a techno-dance remix.
tags: Nike, Leave, Nothing, Commercial, Music, Soundtrack, Last, of, the, Mohicans, Redskins, Eagles]]>
Anyhow, as is my annual tradition, I’m writing up a quick and dirty set of predictions for the pending NFL season. I’ll basically gloss over all 8 divisions, then make a set of picks for this week’s games.
AFC East
It’s the Patriots to lose. I don’t see any other team in the division giving them a run for their money, unless Brady goes down. The rest of the field here is mediocre, at best.
AFC North
I like the Ravens here, but the Bengals could also be a factor. Brady Quinn will be the Browns starting QB after their bye week (if not sooner).
AFC South
The Texans might give the Colts a run for their money, and I think they’ll at least be a Wild Card contender. The Jags have QB issues, and Tennessee will miss Adam Jones.
AFC West
The Broncos win the division, simply because Norv Turner will regress the Chargers (although talent alone should secure the other AFC Wild Card spot for them), Herm Edwards will melt down the Chiefs, and the Raiders will be a disaster (again).
NFC East
The only division I really care about. I’m picking my Redskins to get it done with an improved defense (thanks to the addition of Fletcher and Landry), and a more mature offense guided by Jason Campbell. The Eagles will win the Wild Card behind a resurgent Donovan McNabb, New York will be shopping for a new coach in the offseason, and the Cowboys will soon miss Bill Parcells.
NFC North
Unless the Bears find a miracle at quarterback, the Vikings are primed to steal this division. They have a young quarterback in his second year in the current offensive system, a spectacular rookie RB, and a very solid defensive front seven. Green Bay keeps putting off the rebuilding for the sake of Favre, and the Lions are still the Lions.
NFC South
If Brees stays healthy, it’s the Saints all the way to the Super Bowl. But keep an eye on the Panthers, and don’t count out the Falcons just because their overrated and overpaid quarterback is awaiting a jail sentence.
NFC West
Toughest division in the league here. All four teams have a realistic shot. If I had to pick, I’d take the Seahawks, with the Rams a close second.
Now, on to this week’s games:
New Orleans at Indianapolis: Big matchup to start the season, but I don’t think it’s going to be very close. The Colts offense is a well-oiled machine with a very, very confident QB running the show now. I expect the defending champs to win big.
Philadelphia at Green Bay: The Brett Favre farewell tour starts here. Pick: Eagles
Atlanta at Minnesota: Adrian Peterson ought to run for about 200 yards this week. Pick: Vikings
Miami at Washington: It’s the 25th anniversary of Super Bowl XVII. It would be heresy to pick anyone but the Redskins.
New England at New York Jets: The Chad Pennington Era is almost over in New York. Pick: Patriots
Tennessee at Jacksonville: Del Rio is on the hotseat. He probably needs a win more than any coach in the league right now. Pick: Jaguars
Denver at Buffalo: Meh. Pick: Broncos
Pittsburgh at Cleveland: I don’t like the Tomlin hire by Pittsburgh. I think they should have kept the job in-house. And I don’t think Tomlin has ever been a head coach anywhere. Pick: Browns
Carolina at St. Louis: Bill Simmons made a good point… it’s pretty messed up that Michael Vick might be out of a job for good, but Leonard Little is suiting up this week. Pick: Rams
Kansas City at Houston: The Chiefs will be a train wreck this season. Mark my words. Pick: Texans
Tampa Bay at Seattle: Same as above, except replace “Chiefs” with “Bucs” and “Texans” with “Seahawks.”
Chicago at San Diego: This probably should have been last year’s Super Bowl matchup, if it weren’t for Marty Schottenheimer’s rotten luck in the playoffs. Pick: Chargers
Detroit at Oakland: Let’s see… the Raiders won 2 games all last year… they have a head coach who’s younger than some of his players, they have the #1 pick in the draft holding out, they cut the first pick of the third round of the draft, and rather than starting Daunte Culpepper at QB (who would own an MVP trophy if it weren’t for Peyton Manning), they’re going with Josh McCown. It’s a good time to be a Raider hater. Pick: Lions
New York Giants at Dallas: Wow. Both teams look like disasters waiting to happen, and I couldn’t be happier about it. I’m giving the edge to the Cowboys; their coach isn’t really any better, but the Giants have no confidence in theirs at all anymore.
Baltimore at Cincinnati: Could be the best game of the week. I’ll take the home team. Pick: Bengals
Arizona at San Francisco: As trendy as the Cardinals seem to be these days, I just can’t get over my loathing of the Bidwill family. Pick: 49ers
tags: 2007, NFL, Preview, Week, One, Picks]]>
Yes, I know my Photoshop skills are inferior. But that's the best illustration I could come up with to describe the situation over at AMD right now. First, Henri Richard leaves... now another sales exec is gone... just days prior to launch of their highly-anticipated (and oft-delayed) Barcelona chip.
What does this mean?
Well, if I had to guess, it means one or more of the following three things:
1.) Barcelona is due for another delay. Unlikely, as they'd probably announce that by now; given the history of the chip's deployment, though, you wouldn't find me surprised.
2.) Barcelona has performed poorly in early internal benchmarks, or it's outright defective. More likely, and potentially devastating to AMD at this point. If the chip doesn't match the current offering by Intel, or at least get close, there will be a collective sigh of disinterest amongst AMD's customer base. If it's really bad, or defective, it could be the nail in the coffin.
3.) Pre-Sales figures for Barcelona are dismal. This is the most likely scenario. There are no advance orders for the chip, the sales team is going to take a hit for it anyway, so the top dogs are bailing out while they can.
Any way you look at it, it's bad news for AMD. They're going to release a chip in 5 days that is supposed to stop the bleeding of their market share, and now they have nobody to lead the sales force that's supposed to move it. How confident is anyone in that organization right now? How confident are their clients?
**Update** - I should also mention that it appears Barcelona is already a generation behind, a week before release.
tags: AMD, Barcelona, Sales, Chief, Resigns, Intel, Chip]]>
Remember Stevie Wonder before he started making sugary love ballads in the 80's? I don't know what's harder to for me to believe... that Stevie Wonder used to rock out like this, or that he did it on Sesame Street.
tags: Stevie, Wonder, Sesame, Street, Superstition]]>
It's year three. Campbell is the undisputed starter and future of the franchise. He's had two full years in an understudy role, and now he needs to be a consistent player at the most important position on the offense.
From what I saw in the first half against Tennessee, he's not there yet. And that alarms me.
Campbell has few excuses. He wasn't thrown to the wolves as a rookie. He's had the same coaching staff for over a year. He's got talented backs and receivers. You could point a finger at the deficiencies in the offensive line (and they were substantial), but I hope that's the only reason Campbell wasn't able to engineer a scoring drive.
Campbell fumbled twice, and lost one of them. I don't think he completed a pass to Chris Cooley, and the TE/H-back is supposed to be a featured option in the Al Saunders offense. He was 6-14, with a QB rating of 68.8. He held the ball too long in some cases, and in others, had the dreaded "happy-feet syndrome" indicative of quarterbacks who are jittery and indecisive.
The only fact in his defense was the poor play of the offensive line. The starting running backs got nowhere on the ground. With Chris Samuels absent, Campbell's blind side was suspect all night. But he's not a rookie anymore. He's not a sophomore anymore. He's a third-year quarterback who's had all off-season to prepare to be the starter, and he needs to be better than he is right now.
I can't even get too excited about what appeared to be solid play by the Redskins defense, as the Titans started without QB Vince Young. Offseason acquisition London Fletcher appears to have been worth his money, and rookie LaRon Landry seems to show no ill-effects to the paintball he took to the pills a while back.
The highlight of the evening was probably punter Derrick Frost making a jarring tackle in punt coverage; although it should be noted that the returner probably had no business getting as far as the punter in the first place. Every cloud had a grey lining, it seems.
tags: Washington, Redskins, preseason, game, Jason, Campbell, Tennessee, Titans]]>