It's More Than Waffles They've Got There.

Oh, I almost forgot, thanks to the fish, the weird flash movie was recovered. It was Belgian, not Dutch, hence my failure via google. So, I present to you, with all due reverence, the Belgian farting pig.

Jane Austin Sings!

I seriously need to see more Bollywood movies. My brother introduced me to Lagaan a while back, which was great, and last night there was a screening of Bride and Prejudice, which is the Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice (big surprise there). It was absolutely hilarious. Basically, what is so wonderful about it is that it’s like the old Hollywood musicals. Think Singing in the Rain or Brigadoon. Think sappy romantic stories with huge song and dance numbers.

This ought to sum it up nicely – the leads are walking along the beach in LA, and a song starts up. The camera follows them to reveal that there’s a gospel choir on aluminum risers on the beach singing the song. It’s so visually incongruous that it’s funny, but because it’s built into the genre, it doesn’t detract at all. The movie is poking fun at the type, but without stepping outside of it.

It’s just a riot.

I will say that although the movie is trying to play against some of the gender and racial stereotypes, there is a lot that they end up playing into by virtue of adapting P&P, and by virtue of the genre itself. I wasn't too bothered by it, but it might be because I'm a sucker for this kind of sap.

Bride and Prejudice – 7/10

Oh, yeah. I’m also madly in love with Aishwarya Rai.

Thus It Begins

I was told that I should be getting in touch with prosepective PhD departments and the folks I would like to work with, so I've started sending off emails to my heroes. One of the profs here told me to 'look for a person, not a school,' and I think that's pretty good advice, but I feel a little awkward just coming out of the blue and asking them about their programs.

Dr. 'wrote a book that I would have loved to write' would probably be choice #1, but she's at a uni that I don't think would accept me. Well, ya don't know unless you try, right? and what's a hundred bucks or so for the application fee among friends, right?

Dr. 'wonderful researcher but at a uni that I'm not terribly fond of' would be great to work with, but I've heard that grad folks just get completely ground up over there. I think I would be more happy at a less 'prestigeous' school that one of those big name cutthroat schools.

Dr. 'Young and full of incredible new ideas' would be ideal to work with, but he's also at a very top tier school, and is doing so much right now that I probably wouldn't ever see him even if he were my advisor.

Then there are the departments that have two or three people I'd like to work with. Problem is that so would every other PhD applicant.

Then there are the schools that look really great, with really nice departments, but with faculty that don't quite cover what I want to do. I think that's the kind of place I'll end up. It's not such a bad thing. What I'm doing is relatively new, and the kind of mentoring that I need could be done by someone who isn't doing exactly what I'm doing.

The fact is that in all honesty, I would happily anyone's anything for a fully funded PhD slot. Pathetic, but true.

Link Dump-eroo! Err... Literally.

Ok, cat stuff first:

This really should be on epinions. It's a product review of a kitten. Written by a geek (should I even need to say that?). I thought it was hilarious, and the pictures are funny, but hey, I'm a geek too.

Tut the barking cat. This is just odd. Funny, but odd.

Non-cat stuff

Very difficult web-based adventure type game.

Everybody Poops, sure, but have you ever seen such a peppy Flash video?

which reminded me of another Flash video via the Fish. Some people really love eggs.

A cute rabbit singing about how unexperienced he is.

There was one other Flash thing about a farting Dutch (?) boy and the chickens that farted into their eggs. Or something like that. Be glad I can't find the link :)

Who would have thought that this blog would end up as a dumping ground for links that I would otherwise forget about. Is this the beginings of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? If so does that mean I will finally clean my office?

Moon Day!

Happy Moon Day!

36 years ago, man first set foot on the moon. Go outside and take a look at it today and allow yourself to get lost in the awe of that.

I’m sure that everyone who would go to this site (from the good folks at Google) already has, but I’ll link it anyway. The Fish would like to request that you make sure to zoom in to the closest level.

Oh Crap.

quoting Josh Marshall, "Bush swings for the fence."

10.96 km - 1:07'00"

The time ended up a lot faster than I thought it would. It felt like my legs were completely dead after only one lap. It's really hot out there too. I think I dropped 5 pounds in liquid weight. Eww... This was another run where I started out really slowly, so I ended up running long. I got a more consistant km pace time throughout the run though. I think that's a good thing.

That, and Sting and the Police might need to be moved to the bottom of the running music list.

I actually listened to the radio for after the first lap. It was weird. I can see what my sister says about commencials since she's gotten TiVo. It's just really odd to hear commericals again. That, and when they play something crappy, for some strange reason, the button that should send me to the next song doesn't work. Very odd.

Also, there were two kids out in the trails, maybe 12 or 13. One of them kind of jumped when I came around the corner, and then he turned around, back toward me. Their conversation stopped. On the next lap around, the kids were gone, there was a big wet stain where the stood, and the entire area reeked of beer. I wonder if they got caught by the roaving parental groups that keep blocking my trail, or whether they poured it out and went elsewhere of their own accord.

Potted

I did finish Harry Potter, but I won’t say much about it here.

Basic take:

• I liked it quie a bit
• I'm angry that I read it too quickly because now I have to wait for the next one.
• I'm angry that all the women in the books have become complete two dimensional cut outs, not that they were much more than that before.

Finally, much spoiling and thoughtful pondering is going on over at the Scribbler's Pixie Hut. Everyone else is linking there, and I want to be cool, so I will too.

Crashed

Ok, first off, Wedding Crashers.

It’s not a good movie. No one really expected it to be, I guess, but over at Rotten Tomatoes, I was surprised at its score. It looks like it’s doing better than I would have thought. I’m not going to give a full review, because anyone who has seen the trailer already knows as much as you’ll ever need to know about it.

It is funny, but only in the way you expect this kind of movie to be funny – you’ve got your sex jokes, and your jokes about sex. Then there’s some sexual humor, then there’s a lighthearted moment during sex. Later, there’s a man who falls in love with a woman under false pretences. The woman finds out the truth and is hurt, and the man tries all he can to get back together and they do (can we please lay off of this plot for a year or so? It's been working so hard for so many, I think it needs a little rest). And there’s some jokes about sex in there.

So, funny, but probably worth waiting for. By that I mean that it’ll be on expanded cable in less than a year. 6/10

Also, for all you gals out there, is Owen Wilson sexy? Why is it that beat up pug-men who can’t seem to comb their hair are in? Please tell me we aren’t going to do the 70’s all over again. I don’t think any of us needs that.

Bueller...Bueller...

I went to a Digital Workflow seminar in the city in place of the photography lecture. Wow, was it bad. At first, when the guy started talking, I thought he was mocking the Chris Farley ‘down by the river’ guy. Seriously. At the end of the seminar, I think he ran out of material, so he just started rambling on about CMYK and sRGB. For about 30 minutes.

Another example of another type of badness – he tells us that opening, altering and recompressing a photo in JPEG doesn’t really degrade the file, even if you do is several times. Ok, good information to know, right? But then he decides that he it would be better to show us. So he hooks up the camera, takes a picture of someone in the audience, downloads the file, moves it in from RAW to JPEG, makes an alteration, closes the file, opens it up again, makes another alteration etc… he did that four times.

Ye gods.

There was some good information, but it could have been delivered in a pamphlet. I think I was the only one from class who made it through the whole seminar, and I didn’t even win a door prize. None of this was helped by the fact that I only got a couple hours sleep, thanks to Mr. Potter.

Papercut - Check

Yesterday

11:00am - work
4:00pm - Wedding crashers
6:00pm - Harry Potter book bought
7:00pm - dinner with book in hand
2:30am - sleep

Got to run to class (a photo workshop in the city - woohoo!), I'll report more on all of the above when I get back.

I've Got A Golden Ticket!

The other thing I did yesterday was go to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I loved it. I remember watching and loving the original, but, as I’ve said, I’m used to Hollywood co-opting and abusing my childhood, so I tried to go in to the film with an open mind. I should say that I have always liked Johnny Depp, so I’m biased there too.

Some folks have said that this movie is darker and weirder than the original, but I don’t really think that’s true. It’s not true only because the original was a very deeply odd movie. It’s true that this is very much a Tim Burton movie, and that is a very good thing, but it also means that the weirdness of the movie is a la Burton. If you’ve seen his other movies, you’ll understand.

I was a little worried about the Oompa-Loompas, because I thought that would be the most difficult to translate. They set the Oompas’ songs to very modern tunes, which I think is probably a good thing, but sometimes didn’t seem to mesh well. This may be an age thing though, because I liked the hard rockin’ Oompas just fine.

Johnny Depp is a wonderful Wonka. He’s not Gene Wilder at all, but many of the things I liked about Wilder are still there in Depp. Charlie is well-cast and fittingly enthusiastic and empathy inducing. I didn’t know her but for the graces of IMDB, but Missi Pyle, the mother of Violet Beauregarde, was just amazing. She’s the super-pushy mother of the must-be champion child. I can’t tell if she’s a good actress or maybe she just has her shtick down well, but I just couldn’t keep my eyes off her. Like a car wreck. Wonderful. (I was also happy that they kept the line "Violet, you're turning violet!" I'm a sucker for that line)

Highly recommended, especially for fans of Burton or Depp, but hey, you were probably going to go see it already, right? 8/10

Oh, one big negative – the CG was ok in general, except when Violet turned into a violet. That looked bad. Just bad.

Also, you get a new trailer for Corpse Bride, Tim Burton’s next stop-action film. It looks incredible. Can’t wait for that one.

Amazon and Otters and Wizards, Oh My!

First, there are more zoo photos over at flickr, if you are interesting in such things as yawning otters.

Next, much sadness. I ordered the Harry Potter on Amazon.com, but I forgot to pick the correct shipping option! So no Harry Potter for me! What’s worse, is that when I came home, there was an Amazon box waiting for me, but it was filled, not with wizards and danger, but alas, with thesis fodder. So sad. Maybe I can fit Harry into my thesis somehow… In any case, the fine folks at Giant Megaconglomocorp Book City say that they are going to be releasing some of the reserved Potter books at 8 tonight. So, I’ll try that. If that works, I can read all night, be groggy and confused all day tomorrow!

Something Tells Me It's All Happening At The Zoo

I defy you to not enjoy a yawning otter.
More to come later

I Wore The Hat

WIDTH="88" HEIGHT="130" ALT="Want to Get Sorted?" />

I'm
a Ravenclaw!
via Phantom Scribbler

I remember taking this (or a similar one) a while ago and being a Gryffindor. I've obviously changed :)

Second Critique

Just got done with the second photography critique. It went better than expected, but I feel like I've cheated the fates somehow. I feel like everyone just didn't see the gaping problems. They did however, point out some problems I hadn't thought of, so that's good. I'll try to get this one online somehow so you can see the depths of my failure.

Anyone Know A Good Witch?

grrrrr… I think I tempted the fates by saying I was happy.

I ordered a camera toy last week. It was supposed to be here last Thursday, then last Friday. Then it was supposed to be here yesterday. The UPS guy put a note on the door saying he couldn’t leave it without a signature and that he would be back tomorrow, so I signed the back of the card and put it back on the door.

I just checked online and the package hasn’t been delivered because there wasn’t anyone there able to sign for it.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe the evil realtor people took the little signature card down. If they did, I will most certainly hex them with a nasty hex that uses blood and chicken feet and a newt.

Speaking of newts, a guy walks into a bar with a newt on his shoulder. The bartender says, “Wow, that’s a cool little thing. What is it?” and the guy says, “He’s a newt. His name is Tiny.” The bartender says, “Why’d you name him Tiny?” The guy says, “Because he’s my newt.”

You might want to read it out loud.

I Smile, Is That Bad?

Here’s another odd thing. Prof Article asked me why I’m always so happy. It was almost accusatory. It’s not the first time I’ve been asked this. I get asked it all the time. It’s starting to make me wonder. Today was a new one though - she asked if I was on anti-depressants. Why am I more conspicuously happy than other folks? It seems that people see me as being too happy. I admit it, I’m happy.

It’s not like I don’t have problems: financial, personal, physical, academic, you name it, and I’ve probably got related problems, but I’m not going to put them out in front of everyone that I see every day.

Now I’m becoming self conscious about it. Am I coming across as manically happy? Is being happy a bad thing in academe? Should I wear my stress and angst on my face so that everyone will see that I am properly suffering as a grad student should? Frankly, I’m not sure I could do that.

Sweaty.

10.99km – 1:05’57”

whew. that hurt.

I was going to just do 3 loops, but then I thought, Aw, what the hell, let's do 4! That’s what testosterone will do for you, kiddies. Just don’t do it. Another argument against running? Nipple burn. No kidding, I mean ouch. (now let's see how many google searches lock onto that phrase)

Still, it’s kinda cool, right?

A Snapshot Artist

My father was a photographer. He was a serious photographer with a great deal of talent and skill. The house I grew up in even had a darkroom. I remember playing with the lights and the huge sinks as a child. It was a place that we weren’t really supposed to be, I guess, but at the same time, I don’t remember ever seeing it being used so I probably didn’t think it mattered.

My father had cameras of all kinds. When he was younger, he entered his photos in contests and at least one traveled around the world in an exhibition. The odd thing is that I don’t remember him taking pictures. I remember him taking snapshots with simple cameras, the film to be developed at a regular photo shop, but never photographs. By the time that I became inquisitive about photography, that part of his life seemed to be already over.

What I do remember is the photographs themselves. They were all taken well before my memory, and most likely well before me. I remember the one that traveled in the exhibition. It’s a photo of my brother, looking slightly tired, posed leaning over a Mother Goose book. I remember a study he did of a giraffe that hung on the walls for a long time. It was done in harsh black and white, with the giraffe’s spots and neck in sharp contrast.

I don’t think it would be too far from the truth to say that my dad and I weren’t that close. It wasn’t that we didn’t like each other; I just don’t think we ever really got to know each other. I was always a bit dismissive of what he did with his life and his skills. When I would feel lazy or feel like I could just make do with what I already had, I would think about my dad, because I always thought that that’s what he did, and I had trained myself to think that I needed to do ‘better’ than that. So, by thinking of my dad, I could scare myself enough to work harder. It’s really a very cruel thing to use as motivation, but it has been effective.

Last week though, I went to the darkroom to develop my first roll of black and white. Ilford 100. I tried not to think about it as a way of communing with my dad, but that’s the way my brain works, and the more I tried not to think of it, the more settled it became in my mind. After awhile, I gave in. I tried to imagine him in his darkroom. In my mind, this image of him was of long before I came along, and he was just a guy trying to put his image in his mind on paper. The scene was there. A lanky man bent over the sinks, then pinning prints to a line with clothespins. But I didn’t have a frame of reference for him in this mode, so he seemed undefined. As I got deeper into the process of developing the prints, my mind wandered elsewhere.

I was developing shots that I had taken downtown. A shot of a jazz musician. A shot of people walking purposefully down the sidewalk. Then two shots of children. As I looked through the magnifier to check the grain before I exposed the paper, I realized I could make out features of the little girl, even at the grain-level. The image was entirely gone, completely reduced to the piece of an eye that I could see. The image of my father changed. He was looking at a photo of his daughter. My sister.

I’d like to say that I felt a little closer to him at that time, but I’m not sure I did. I’m not even sure that that is something I want. I certainly don’t presume to say that I know him better today than I did before, and I’m not sure that that is what I want either. But I can say that while I was looking at the grain on the face of that little girl, I remembered the picture that, of all his pictures I’ve seen, is my favorite. It’s a picture of the whole family. My mom, my brother, my sister and me. And my dad. We’re all sitting on a fence in the back yard of the home where I grew up. It’s a snapshot.