Here's to you, John

May 29, 2009

Only passingly familiar with his work, I found myself for some reason (Zach Galifinakis -> Fiona Apple -> P.T. Anderson -> Boogie Nights) reading the Wikipedia page for John Holmes. It's an interesting story (obviously, since Boogie Nights was loosely based on him), but I only want to highlight one sentence:

Using his status as an informer [for the LAPD], Holmes systematically had his competition in the porn industry arrested, leaving him as one of the few free porn stars in Los Angeles.

I love it. What a brilliant business strategy!

Also, can anyone verify whether this aspect of his life was in Boogie Nights, and I've just forgotten it?)

Anyway, here's to you, John, not necessarily for your porno work, but for this amazing business strategy!

posted by joem | 0 comments

My destiny is clear

May 27, 2009

(Photo shamelessly nabbed from The Big Picture. Click it. I dare you!)

I know now what I must do: chase a cheese wheel down a wicked steep hill.

It's my calling, I'm sure. I accept that I will probably break some bones (as many do). It is worth the risk, and the breaks, for the prize is the Double Gloucester round itself.


(Also, this post introduces a new tag into my cache called internet-popular without my help. This tag will now allow me to post stuff that has surely been around the block a few times already, without the need to apologize for posting such despicably trendy stuff. Rejoice!)

posted by joem | 0 comments

I think I love movie trailers more than I love movies

May 25, 2009

This trailer for Hausu (a.k.a. House (not that House, mind you)) is wonderfully paced, so please watch it all the way through.

posted by joem | 3 comments

Why, photo galleries, why?

May 21, 2009

Perhaps I've only seen a strange subset of online photo galleries, but it seems like almost every photo gallery I've seen will say there are (for instance) 19 photos. When I get to the 18th, the photo and its caption imply or indicate that it's the last photo. Then I click the 'next' button to go to the 19th picture, and it's just a page saying "Click here to view the gallery again." Why? Why do this? And more importantly, why do they all seem to do this? Do I really need the online photo gallery equivalent of a "The End" card?


I suppose this is a follow-up rant to this post by Lin Swimmer (and my follow-up to that).

I promise my next post will be non-rant-like. (I'm in a good mood, really. I fixed my DVD drive! My hard drive no longer claims to have zero bytes free!) I also promise my next post will feature videos and/or photos, for what it's worth. Also, it might be about Babylon 5. (Thanks, Mike Noble and Dan Feder!)

posted by joem | 1 comments

CSI, I don't entirely hate you anymore.

May 13, 2009

(Just a quick note today.) Finally, some good has come of all those crime scene procedural shows that seem to flood network's lineups: kids are getting into science! For the whole story, see the NYT article that just ran about the growing popularity of forensics classes in high schools, but if you're squeamish you might want to avoid looking at the decomposing squirrel.

posted by joem | 1 comments

I've been doing it wrong

May 09, 2009

All these times that I've needed to pre-game, so I just mix a bit of all the almost-empty bottles on top of our fridge together, I've been mistaken. For an easy (even in this recession) $2.50, my favorite of the millions of bodegas within a 2 block radius of me has 40oz High Lifes. This is a much much better option, even if I do have to deal with the wino who holds the door open for me, the aggressive corner guy (who assumes I'm a rich white kid who doesn't live around here) who starts calling me racial slurs while mockingly pretending to be my friend, and the rich white hipster kid (with the unfairly hot girlfriend!) who does not (in fact) live around here who tries to be my friend so the previously mentioned fellows don't bother him.


Fuck it. I'm drinking the Champagne of Beers. I'm going to see Star Trek. I'm using italics.

Yeah, fuck it.

posted by joem | 3 comments

Oatmeal cookies are the best ever.

May 07, 2009

It's a fact.


Which is why I am saddened to report that Wikipedia does not have a separate page about oatmeal cookies. Nor does it have a "history" sub-section in the "oatmeal cookie" section of the general "cookie" page. In fact, it doesn't even have an "oatmeal cookie" section on the general "cookie" page!

(I suppose this means I will have to invent my own history.)

Being the scholar and baked goods aficionado that I am, I've been tasked with learning the history of the oatmeal cookie. What adventures lie ahead? Where will this road take me? Who would task you with such a... task? Without revealing too much, for this history is shrouded in mystery, I will say this much: preliminary investigations indicate that it was an accident, akin to LSD. Shhhh! I may have said too much already. Hopefully I'll be able to put in another installment of this series later.

And by the way, Vern, I ate one of your cookies.

posted by joem | 0 comments

Cinco De Mayo Census

May 05, 2009

BTW, if any of my 4 readers has a problem with the amount of posts I've been averaging for the last week, let me know. Right now.


Otherwise, onward I go...

posted by joem | 0 comments

In today's episode of I Don't Care How Old Or Popular It Is...

It's video time!

It seems only appropriate that I feel extreme love and hate while watching this video. I'll try to make this the only appearance of Ms. Hilton here ever, but I can't promise anything.





Sure, we've all seen Jizz In My Pants (I swear, this is almost a song I'd really listen to) and I'm On A Boat, and they're pretty good... but "vintage" Lonely Island is pretty good too, like this and Stork Patrol.




This one would totally break my heart if it weren't for the voice-overs.




Ah hell, since I've broken into the "animal video" realm, I might as well end with an animal video which NEVER ceases to amuse me. I'll be watching this one until I die, I swear.

EVERYONE NOT INTO POPULAR YOUTUBE VIDEOS: Fear not. The next post won't be as bad. And you really should watch the Bizkit the Sleep Walking Dog one.

posted by joem | 0 comments

Pretty much everyone reads more books than I do

May 03, 2009

And that's why I need your help. I'm curious about well-designed books. Basically, I'm interested in any aspect except the covers and the spine. Perhaps you know of a book that isn't all that well-designed except it has a wonderful table of contents? I'd like to know. Maybe a book you read has a particularly nice page numbering? I want to know. Or maybe you absolutely love everything about how certain book looks? You must tell me!


I don't care if you work in publishing or if you read even less books than me. I don't care if you own The Elements Of Typographic Style or if you've never even thought about design. I'll take your input, whoever you are. What looks good? (But Comrade Liu and Comrade Swimmer, I'm especially hoping for responses from you, be it here or in person.)

Finally, if you can get me a link to a picture of what it is you like, that would be super cool.

I guess I'll start it off.

Lessig

This whole thing started because I just downloaded Lawrence Lessig's Remix (available for free thanks to Creative Commons licensing) and I think I like the page layouts for the normal text, specifically the amount of text per page and the typography. I also think I like the typography of the TOC. But that's just it... I think I like it. I haven't seen it on a paper page yet, nor have I attempted reading it seriously, so I'm not certain of the extent to which I like it.

Tufte

Some book design that I am certain I like would have to be Edward Tufte's books on visual communication. Tufte, for those of you unfamiliar, has a very practical style. It is often mistaken for minimalism, due to his deft omissions of unnecessary visual data, even though he advocates maximizing the data-per-visual-area ratio. And I absolutely love his footnotes-in-the-margins thing. (Note 1: I am not one of his cult-like followers. I agree with some of his opinions and disagree with others.) (Note 2: I've never really read one of his books, so I'm a little unsure how much of the design of his books is his own doing and how much is a hired designer. However, his books tend to have a unique and consistent design, and he deals in visual communication, so I'm assuming he at least has a hand in it.)

Well, now that I've shown my ignorant book design knowledge, perhaps you'd like to share?

posted by joem | 5 comments

One Of My Biggest Weaknesses: "Nouveau" Alien Movies

May 02, 2009

Maybe it's not really a trend worthy of a pretentious made up name, but I like them anyway. As panned as it was, I liked M. Night Shyamalan's Signs (see Fig. 1) a lot. It had a fresh perspective on the alien invasion situation, and it had some awesome suspense (and Macaulay Culkin's little bro, and a pre-crazy Joaquin Phoenix).

Figure 1
The recipe for Signs

While one viewing of Cloverfield was certainly enough, I still enjoyed it. Hell, even Spielberg's remake of War Of The Worlds was pretty fun. And although it was a remake, it was definitely more this-gen than last-gen. It didn't have any childhood nightmare-inducing scenes like the original's revealing of the aliens, but the destruction was harder-hitting than the original's soundstage-y look. (Speaking of remakes, that reminds me: I still need to see the remake of Day The Earth Stood Still... but, uggh, I really find Keanu (see Fig. 2) hard to stomach.)

Figure 2
Keanu now-and-then. Or then-and-now? Does it matter?

Hmmm. Maybe there's not really a nouveau trend. I also want to lump Fire In The Sky in with all these, and maybe even Independence Day. Maybe I've just got a thing for all alien movies...

Regardless, I'm really looking forward to District 9. Peter Jackson (see Fig. 3) has his name all over the ads and trailers (you can find a trailer here) and stuff, but I think the props should really go to Neill Blomkamp. Check out his short (or is just a trailer for his short?) Alive In Joburg for a pretty good preview of what to expect from the movie. If the movie strays from the tone and concept of the short, I'd be surprised.

Figure 3
Never forget: before LOTR, there was MTF.

Now, what I really wanted to talk about is how America (see Fig. 4) is handled in District 9. From what I intuit, it's going to take place in South Africa. That is definitely a refreshing change of pace for sci-fi. But from the trailer, I saw very few (if any) Americans. Now, I am definitely not America-centric, but America itself certainly is. So, if aliens were to visit Earth and hang out in South Africa, you can bet your ass the American government would get involved.

Figure 4
Typical Americans

So, how will District 9 handle America? Unless it just ignores the subject, I don't know how it could explain US non-involvement. Maybe the trailer was just a little misleading.

posted by joem | 2 comments

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