Ploafmaster General

I just discovered an excellent set of pages on Wikipedia: the entire collection of "...in film" pages.

For example, you can view a page summarizing the awards, events, and theatrical releases (by month and day) for the year 2007. This has already helped me glean films that I missed in theaters which I can add to my Netflix list. Replete with the usual links to nearly everything, these pages are also great springboards into further nerd research about actors, directors, etc.

While the pages are weighted almost exclusively towards American and British releases, they're still capacious resources for me (and many other of my readers, I'm sure) since most of the cinema I watch is American or British.

There's a master list as well for jumping to any decade or year you choose.

It's pretty effortless to laugh at the martial artist and would-be actor Jean-Claude Van Damme, but I don't think I've laughed so much at him as when I read Grady Hendrix's homage in Slate.

Eschatological: having to do with the end of the world.

Scatological: having to do with excrement.

Escatological: when the $#!% hits the fan?

I thought weekends were supposed to be relaxing. At least that's my middle-class-white-collar-American perception.

So last night Valerie and I drove up from Richmond to her mom's house in Northern Virginia. Her sister was arriving at 11:16 last night from Florida, just for the weekend, and we were going to pick her up at National Airport. We took Valerie's Jetta (which is a year older than my Jetta), which had just been serviced and had a fresh oil change.

We arrived last night with no trouble and ate a nice dinner with my mother-in-law. We decided to hold off until close to 11 before leaving to pick up Elizabeth since were were just going to pull up to the terminal when she was ready at the curb. We took Val's car, and I drove. This was both good, and horrible.

I think when I say it was good, I really mean that it was less horrible than it would have been had the same magical adventure occurred on our way back to Richmond.

About ten miles from my in-law's house on I-95 a loud beep issued from the dashboard and a flashing red temperature light began to blink as the temperature gauge quickly climbed all the way to the right. I had to pull over quickly and shut off the engine before doing permanent damage to the car. Within minutes, a highway services vehicle flashed his yellow lights and pulled up behind us. The driver checked the fluids with me and noticed the coolant was a little low, but not empty. He topped it off with water, and we started the engine. No dice; the temperature climbed back up again. This means, most likely (and hopefully), that there's a thermostat issue. Which means we'll be over charged for somebody to examine it and fix the problem.

Hooray.

Additionally, this meant we couldn't pick up Elizabeth on time either. Or at all, really, because we didn't know how long it would be until the tow truck arrived. So Elizabeth took a shuttle home while we took a $127 ride home in a truck cab. We figured Elizabeth would be home shortly after us. Except she had the crappiest ride home ever with a driver who didn't know where he was going and had all the charm of a slime ball.

Now all four of us here are running on a few hours of sleep, crappy happenings, and miffed tempers. That sounds like a recipe for an awesome weekend.

I can't wait to go back to Richmond.

If you don’t have the knowledge of the history of the image you’re looking at then it’s actually nearly impossible to “see” history unless there’s a written reference. For instance, if you look at a picture of a block of wood then to most people it’s a block of wood. If someone tells you that a hundred people have had their heads chopped off on it then it takes on a different meaning completely. I think many Irish people would see their history in these images.

That's Jackie Nickerson as interviewed by The Morning News' Rosecrans Baldwin on her project, Faith. Below is my favorite from the photographs included with the interview:

Just in case you thought all humor had drained out of my blog today, here's a fine video involving bird poop, as you probably expected:
[youtube [www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RI0UGy7kTI&w=425&h=350])

Okay, so my initial follow-up isn't about bird poop or anything like that.

I just finished reading an intriguing article in Slate about the influence of social class and music - a vague tie-in to my discussion of economic divide, but hey, I'll go with what I've got :-)

Even though Slate itself caters to a largely white, upper-middle class audience, Carl Wilson's discussion of socio-economic impacts on hip-hop and so-called indie rock was fascinating and thought provoking.

Have you seen that new All Bran ad on TV? No? Check it out below...there are some really great visual...um...metaphors...
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwX8MzOKOzI&rel=1&border=0&w=425&h=366]

It was a day late, but yesterday after work I went straight to Plan 9 Music in Carytown to purchase Kenna's latest work, Make Sure They See My Face.

I am so far not disappointed.

I'd classify Kenna's music as Dance-Rock-o-tronic, and whereas New Sacred Cow sounded almost completely electronically generated, this disc appears to have some real instrumentation here and there backing up the vocals. The sound of real distorted guitars on some tracks lends to the rock feel and balances out the club/pop sensibilities you expect from production work by The Neptunes.

This album is hot, and it's in heavy rotation through my headphones right now.

You might say the strange words that are the title of this post were, collectively, the catch phrase for the whole trip to Atlanta this week. That being the case, I think it's finally time I shared it's origin, whether you like it or not :-)
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-CFKWCRAAA&w=425&h=350]

That, my friends, is from "Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job" - a seriously demented show that typically airs on Adult Swim too late for me to watch. If you get a chance, look for their clip about child clowns, too. You may or may not regret it, depending on how many neurons are misfiring in your head right now.

Holy crap on toast...as of this writing, the latest story on Apple's Hot News page declares that an iPhone/iPod Touch software development kit is on the way.

Delicious Library on an iPhone, anyone? Please?

These past two days I've driven over a thousand miles, watched my favorite NFL team win an away game, and discovered a tiny glimmer of what appears to be a really cool Southern city.

Dave, Chris, Nate, and I left Richmond yesterday at 5:00 am and headed south primarily along I-85. Along the way we moaned about how much of North Carolina we had to drive through, took pictures of many hilarious signs in North Carolina, and champed at the proverbial bit as we covered the last leg in Georgia. The Georgia Dome was an excellent stadium, MARTA is a clean and efficient metro system, and I just became conscious of my redundant sentence structure :-)

Ultimately, I had a great weekend with some of my best friends. It's my sincere hope that I can make many more such "mini road trips" with my friends, because the break from routine was just what I needed. I also hope to attend more NFL games, because this was a reminder of just how exciting it is to attend a major sporting event. Go Big Blue!

Driving back was better than I expected, too. Between the music on my iPod and the conversation with my friends, it was easy to stay awake. We made sure to stop in South Carolina so Chris could snag some fireworks (and the rest of us grabbed some peach cider), and met my friend Robert in Greensboro for an early dinner at New York Pizza. I am glad to finally be at home now, however, in the company of my lovely wife.

The bonus surprise for me when I returned, however, was discovering a link from 37signals' Signal vs. Noise blog for my "Screens Around Town" submission about Facebook. It's cool enough to be linked up by one of my favorite blogs...but having my crazy mug visible for the world to see? Hilarious!

There's a nifty article about the redesigned five dollar bill over at A Brief Message.

Personally, while I think the new five-spot looks fugly I believe it's a step toward more visually interesting (and useful) currency. So many other countries have a number of difference color schemes to their money that make different value bills easily distinguishable.

Of course what I'd really like to see is a variety of bill sizes.

After extremely satisfying new albums from Radiohead and Beirut this week, I have high hopes for Kenna's new album releasing on 10/16. If that album is at least a little awesome, I'll feel as if I've hit the musical trifecta this month.

I only fear that I'm setting my expectations too high...

The BBC reports today about an suicidal Italian tourist treated with vodka in an Australian hospital when the medicinal alcohol ran out.

I'd like to go out drinking with those doctors.

Beirut's new album dropped yesterday, but I couldn't snag it because I was preparing the camera surprise for Valerie.

I just found out today, however, that there's a special website for the new album, The Flying Club Cup. This site contains a filmed performance of nearly every song on the album (as of this writing there are 10 videos up) produced by the excellent folks from La Blogotheque, makers of the excellent Take Away Shows series.

If I have the time, I'm gonna see if Plan 9 has this new disc on my way home. If so, it'll be a good day for my musical tastes!

Here's a treat for the day, and make sure you read it right before you grab a bite to eat.

I guess that technically counts as a sarcastic warning :-)

This morning I received my download code for Radiohead's latest, In Rainbows.

I've been rockin' out to the new joint since about 7:59 here in the office, and I really enjoy it. I agree with the band when they indicated it was pretty spare, but I can't say I agree with the BBC's Ian Youngs who feels like Radiohead is stuck in a musical rut. While I wouldn't call this album particularly groundbreaking, I don't believe this is too much like any of Radiohead's prior efforts.

So far, some of my favorite tracks include "Bodysnatchers," "Weird Fish/Arpeggi," and "All I Need." I bought the download for 1 GBP, but I do want the discbox (Christmas present, Valerie?) so I can have that second disc, the artwork, and the ability to rip at a higher quality than 160 kbps (yeah, I'm irrationally picky).

Good job, blokes. I think this is a good day for Radiohead fans around the globe.

I watch too much television. I admit it.

Now that I've got THAT out of the way...

I think I finally saw the first "reality competition" show that I enjoy - Food Network's The Next Iron Chef. I believe it airs on Sunday evenings, but I recorded it while I was out of town and finally got to watch it this evening. I know, I know...I'm biased. I love cooking, and I love the Food Network, and I watch pretty much any show with Alton Brown. But there are structural reasons why I feel this competition program fares better than the rest.

The first standout is the collection of contestants. It's rare to see so close a correlation between the entrants and their goal. Every competitor on this show is a real chef - most of whom own and operate at least one high-end restaurant. These are not simply athletic people trying to survive on a deserted island. These are not people who are simply pretty enough to be on camera. These are trained artisans trying to prove which is the best...trained artisan.

What I enjoy the most, however, is the relevance so far of the challenges. No attempts by business students to sell crap out of an Airstream trailer. The first episode consisted of two main events. The first was a test of speedy food prep skills. Chefs had to race between an ingredient station and food prep tables earning points for the quick filleting of fish, frenching of a rack of lamb, and extracting coconut water. Such an activity is straight out of Iron Chef (or a real kitchen for that matter) and practical preparation for competitive cooking. The second challenge was a test of creativity; entrants developed their own recipes for two desserts - one traditional and one with a savory ingredient (squid, tripe, or beef anyone?). Once again, this test was 100% relevant to the goal of the contest. Competitors on Iron Chef are forced to develop recipes on the fly all the time, and quite often from unconventional components like ground beef or sea urchin.

You may not like Iron Chef or cooking, but it's quite refreshing for me to see a show in this genre which actually seems to prepare it's contestants for their prize. Give it a shot if you like cooking shows - it's quite entertaining.

Oh yeah, and pardon my excessive use of alliteration in this post - it's hard to think of synonyms for "chef" and "competition" while I'm watching TV :-)

Okay, so here's the big news, and I'm sure to some of you it's no big deal...but I'm excited.

You may recall my mention of a certain lost picture taking device last month...

Well today I received as good a replacement as I could hope for. I purchased a 1969 Nikon F with Photomic T finder on eBay last week, and after thorough testing to ensure it's in fine working order, I surprised Valerie with it when she arrived home today. She was pretty psyched, and I have to admit that I'm just as excited. Taking the test shots this afternoon got me jazzed up again about manual photography and fine optics.

I never expected this camera to take the place of the original, but I'm glad Valerie is happy with it, and now we have two SLRs again (her N65, remember?) so we can both go walking around taking pictures together. Of course, the old school camera has a much better lens :-)

Big News, coming soon.

And no, it has nothing to do with work or babies or the Lottery.

I'm just too excited not to post anything about it now, but I can't spill the beans yet. I'm giddy!

The Sneeze made my day with the long-overdue return of "Steve Don't Eat It."

It's 10:54 PM as I start this entry - Sunday night, before Val and I head back up the highway to Virginia.

It's been a fine weekend, but I'm not looking forward to a day spent in the car and a return to the office on Tuesday. Here's how the weekend went, however:

In general (Ploafmaster General?), we hung out with Val's sister and one or more of her room mates who were all pretty cool. Actually they were all pretty goofy which suited me just fine as it allowed me to be my eccentric self. Yesterday, of course, we attended the Florida State University football game...or at least until the lightening delay late in the third quarter. I must say, attending such a spirited sporting event made me wish even more that VCU had a football team. The sight of tens of thousands of fans pouring into the castle-like stadium made me excited enough to be a vicarious Seminoles fan, standing up and cheering heartily at every first down, tackle, and score.

It's all temporary, of course. At least I have VCU's men's basketball season to anticipate.

Oh well, bed time, and I have a long drive ahead of me. I'll be back to my usual internet shenanigans soon enough.

My posting will be a little slim for the next several days. Val and I are making our second trip to Florida this year (and we have two more after that! Really!) to visit her sister at FSU in Tallahassee.

Tomorrow we shove off at the butt crack of dawn - 5 AM - and make the 12 hour drive down the Atlantic Coastal Plain. We'll hang out, we'll eat out, and we'll see the Florida State Seminoles take on the NC State Wolfpack. Then we'll make the long drive back to Richmond on Monday, hopefully in time to catch Heroes :-)

I'll have the laptop with me since I plan at least to write up the football game. This'll be only my second major college game (I caught VT at UVA when I was in high school), and I'll try to get into it despite my alma mater's lack of team.

Anyway, enjoy the weekend everybody. I'll enjoy not working tomorrow and Monday.