Peek-a-boo!

My family and I are driving down Lamar on the way to a combo Anthropologie/Book People run. Just a normal day, right? I guess we happened to be at the right place at the right time.

So the first time we passed this brave soul I saw him and pointed him out to my wife just as we passed him. We had to turn around and check him out a second time. Of course by this time I need to take a picture for my blog, so we go by him a third time, but the picture didn't turn out. We ended up parking so we could get a good shot the fourth time he passed us, the cheeky bastard.

Allow me to ask you a question, gentle reader. When wearing a thong and flip-flops, where would one carry their keys? Observant readers may have picked up on this guy's ingenuity.

Keys? Check. The wallet, though....

Technorati Tags: Thong,Austin,TX

Interesting recommendation from Netflix

So we use Netflix, and we love it. With kids and a full schedule, it's nice to cut out an errand whenever possible. I check the mail every day on my commute, so it's win-win. Commercial over.

We are pretty slow in our movie-watching, though, as we are on the two-movie-at-a-time plan, and one of the movies is always earmarked for Friday's movie night. One grown-up movie at a time and you can see why our queue is 285 movies long.

Anyway, somewhat recently I added Hancock (Peter Berg + Jason Bateman FTW)to our queue, and Netflix has a handy feature that shows you a list of movies that, based on you just clicking Movie A, here are Movies B - G that you also might enjoy due to their similarity. I'm not exactly sure about this one, though.

Hmm....Hancock is a superhero. Fantastic Four and Spiderman 3? Check. I Am Legend? Obvious. Uh, Brokeback Mountain?

We saw Brokeback Mountain, and it is a really good movie. I don't recall superheroes in it, though. No Will Smith connection either.

Am I missing an obvious connection? Are cowboys really that super? Is there some submessage in Hancock? Is it just and unfortunate naming mismatch?

Technorati Tags: Netflix,Hancock,Brokeback Mountain

A new year...

...and I've missed the first four hours of 24? Crapola! At least they have the full episodes on their website, and I'll try their "new player" to see no stuttering and no buffering.

I've got a lot of catching up to do, so grab your mantyhose and let's go!

Autodesk acquires Softimage??????

I'm browsing around some random graphics sites, when I see a news item. It seems fake, but I follow it, look around, and it looks legit!

Autodesk Signs Agreement with Avid Technology to Acquire Softimage

Whoa! This may not be a big deal to you, but it is crazy in the 3D Graphics world.

In October 2005, Autodesk, home of AutoCAD and more important to this discussion, 3D Studio MAX (a 3D graphics package) acquired it's biggest competitor, Maya.

Now it looks like one more competitor is being pulled under the Autodesk umbrella - Softimage.

Who is left to compete against Autodesk products now? Newtek Lightwave? Luxology modo? Maxon Cinema 4D? Side Effects Houdini? Anybody?

I'll have to try and track down some people to talk to about this - it's crazy!

Technorati Tags: Autodesk,Softimage,3D Studio MAX,Maya

Superheroes from spam

So I got an interesting sounding spam email a while back, and either these spammers are also trying to get me to run a Mutants & Masterminds supers campaign, or they are randomizing their subjects to try to sneak in under my radar!

I think it is the latter.

Technorati Tags: Spam,superheroes

VP debates flubs

I'm sure there will be a lot of this stuff on YouTube, but at ~8:35pm CST, Gov. Palin referenced "Senator Obama and Senator OBiden."

Ouch!

We had to rewind it just to make sure, but it's there.

Star Wars Holiday Special

Wow. Where to begin?

Somehow I managed to acquire a copy of this...masterpiece...on DVD. It's a transfer from someone's VHS copy, but unfortunately it lacks the commercials, making for less of a time capsule but more of a study in the art of pain.

I mean, I knew this thing was bad, but I didn't realize how bad it really is until watching it.

It aired once in 1978, but that was enough to warrant a cult following. We get to see Chewbacca's family, which includes his son, Lumpy, and his father, Itchy, who has an intimidating underbite.

I could go on and on about this, but there is a lot of material out there already. I mean, Tony an Golden Globe winner Diahann Carroll as a holographic prostitute? Check. Emmy and Golden Globe winner Harvey Korman as a robotic, multi-armed cooking instructor (among three roles)? Check. Jefferson Starship as a holographic, uh, Jefferson Starship giving off purple energy waves and singing into a short lightsaber? Check. Bea Arthur even makes an appearance singing and dancing with Greedo! Wait - it couldn't be Greedo, as Han shot first. It must be some other Rodian. Upon further painful review, it seems like she is calling the Rodian "Ludlow."

Is there anything positive we can draw from this trainwreck? Yes! It marked the first appearance of Boba Fett!

If you can find a copy, pick it up! It's better if you can get one with the commercials, just for the late-Seventies references.

This thing is painful to watch, but at least one viewing should be necessary for Star Wars fans, completists or purists. I haven't shown my kids yet, as I just found my copy, but I'd be interested in what they thought, as they love anything even tangentially related to Star Wars, and Wookie Humor should get them going.

!! I forgot to add that there is a Rifftrax for the Star Wars Holiday Special. If you like Mystery Science Theater 3000, get it here. !!

Technorati Tags: Star Wars Holiday Special,Boba Fett,Diahann Carroll,Harvey Korman,Bea Arthur,Wookies

Security: FAIL

At work we have these "secure document" shredding bins, where you drop stuff - dark, personal secret stuff, or technical documents - and it gets shredded so nobody can get to it.

It needs to be cleaned out, eventually, and presumably shredded.

Fail.

Technorati Tags: Iron Mountain,shred,fail

Most Humiliating Spam.

So here I am, just minding my business when I notice some mail in my Junk/Spam folder. I try to scan them since the filter can be a little aggressive in shielding me from email it thinks is spam.

Most of the time it is pretty good. The emails follow spam trends (how many Nigerian princes are there really?), but this is one that I hadn't seen before.

Ouch! Is this supposed to shame me into getting a prescription, or turn me away from using it at all?

Technorati Tags: spam,Viagra

Demoscene screening

From wikipedia, a demo is a non-interactive multimedia presentation made within the computer subculture known as the demoscene.

What I knew about the demoscene I found out in college, so it's been a while since I've even thought about it. I was used to very small, early 90's era graphical programming examples that were cool, but I never got into it. What I saw at the screening blew my mind!

So what's the big deal? The animations below aren't rendered with some sort of animation package - they are done in a miniscule amount of memory, usually 64k, and done in realtime. These guys really know their stuff.

Oh yeah. I had been away from demoscene for so long that I was totally unaware of the advances that have been made. Once the demos started playing, I was convinced that they were showing the incorrect footage. I mean, this couldn't be real-time, right? I actually got up out of my chair and talked to two people asking them if they were playing the correct footage. All they could tell me was that Demoscene was listed as starting at 4pm, and we were currently in the allotted time. They asked me what I thought should be playing, and I said I didn't know but I thought what was playing was too good!

I went back to my seat stunned, totally caught off-guard.

Five demos were shown:

Metamorphosis, by Andromeda Software Development

Beyond the Walls of Eryx, also by ASD

Debris, by Farbrausch & Nero

Route 1066, by UKscene Allstars

Lifeforce, also by ASD

Technorati Tags: demoscene,demo,Andromeda Software Development,Farbrausch,UKscene Allstars,SIGGRAPH

Softimage Party

Since we went to the Autodesk Users Group Monday night, we thought we could see what Softimage, the biggest competitor to Maya and 3D Studio MAX, had to say. Softimage has something new called ICE - Interactive Creative Environment.

We were expecting to get some info about the software, production houses talking about using it, demo reels, etc. Nope! Just a party at Club 740 in downtown LA. We met a Softimage reseller on the way to the party, and we thought we were close to getting VIP passes, but no such luck. They gave out one free drink coupon to everyone, but I didn't know what it was (I thought it was a raffle ticket), so I didn't use it for the first two drinks. Uh oh!

We weren't sure what to expect at a party with a company delivering a new product called ICE, but we soon found out.

Vanilla Ice! I'm not kidding. He came out along with Clint Eastwood on drums and DJ Dirty Chopstick on, uh, DJ. I'm still not kidding. It was actually a pretty good show! He started with some new music, downloadable for fee at his website, and then hit some of the classics.

 

The DJ brought out two cases of bottled water and put them at the front of the stage. I thought that someone is going to be performing for a loooooong time, but it seems like Vanilla's gimmick is to spray the crowd periodically with water, drink water and spit it out on the crowd, drop kick water bottles and douse the girls that jump up on the stage.

Oh yeah. I'm not sure how they got the signal, but all of a sudden Vanilla held his hand out and started pulling girls up on stage. Of course, they start dancing, and then start dancing with each other. Finally one of the girls decided that she really wasn't in to the other girl and was trying to keep it like regular dancing, but the other girl wouldn't hear of it. Hilarity ensues, and the girl jumps back down into the crowd just to be replaced by someone else.

Here is Softimage's coverage of the event. We're famous! Look for us in the pictures - David's wearing a green shirt and I'm wearing a yellow shirt, and we're in the first three rows. I got dissed, hard, for a fist bump. Twice.

Oh yeah. Ron Jeremy was there. The connection with Softimage? Unknown.

He's up there on the walkway. They never put a spotlight on him, but sharp-eyed viewers should be able to pick him out.

I thought that the Autodesk party had a lot more information about the applications, the business, etc. This was fun, but I was hoping to hear how Softimage is positioning itself in the industry and against its competitors.

Technorati Tags: Club 740,Softimage,Vanilla Ice,Ron Jeremy,SIGGRAPH

Speed Racer

Wow.

A few nights ago we caught Speed Racer at the dollar show.



Call us crazy, but we actually liked it!

I had heard that the reviews were terrible, so I went in to it not expecting it to be double-billed with The Shawshank Redemption, so perhaps our sights were lower than the average critic.




Psychedelic-trippy-more-than-exist colors? Totally. Sometimes there was just so much going on in the scene that I had no idea what was what, who was winning or if we had just gone plaid.

The acting was okay for this type of movie, and I actually laughed out loud a few times, which surprised me. Our kids definitely enjoyed the racing scenes and crazy stunts and tracks, but they got a little restless in the extended dialog scenes.

What's funny is I went through the whole thing thinking Val Kilmer played Rex Racer, but apparently it's this dude! Some people on the forums apparently also think that he looks like Val Kilmer, so I guess I'm not the only one.

I really like the car designs too.

McDonalds commercials

Man, over a month off of blogging and I come back for my 250th post with some McDonalds commercials?

Yes!

The only thing we like about McDonalds is the ice cream cones. And an air-conditioned playscape. The two things we like about McDonalds are the ice cream cones and the air-conditioned playscapes. And RedBox drops. Okay, I see where this is going. While we don't eat there, I really liked their commercial featuring Line Rider, a great game that deserves some posts of its own.

I love the "music" on the first one.



I didn't know there was another one until I searched for the first one.



Last night my boys and I are watching a little SpongeBob...do we really need a link?...and I saw another commercial that has moved up in my favorites list.



These girls can dance! It looks like the motion has been sped up slightly in a few places, or some frames have been removed reminding me of some really old-school MTV VJ techniques. I made my boys sit through the commercial about five times before relinquishing control back to SpongeBob.

Besides their technique, which I'm trying to copy to perform at work, I love their facial expressions.

Personalized gift cards

We get occasional "On the Spot" instant bonuses at work, usually around $50, and you can pick what kind of gift you want - usually I select a Visa gift card. Once you log on and verify the code number, you have the option of adding a personalized message to the card face, which I did.



I got zero response from any vendor to whom I presented the card. My friends thought it was funny, but I guess all the merchants' sense of humor has been ground down to nothing.

I know what you're saying - "$48? I thought you said $50?!" Yes, it is a $50 gift minus a $2 processing fee for the privelige - nay, the honor! - of getting one of their cards. Lame.

A vintage Halloween pic

Vintage? Really? Halloween was only what - six months ago? Is that my timeframe for blogging? Can there BE any more questions (or Chandler references)?

Anyway, we cut a pumpkin on Halloween. 2007 - please. Wait...does the act of cutting the pumpkin turn it in to a jack-o'-lantern? I think so, but let's see. Wikipedia to the rescue!

Yes, it does.

So we made this jack-o'-lantern, and I kind of forgot about it for a while. Maybe just a week, but the spirit of Don King...you know, that traditional apres-Halloween visitor...came by and, well, this is getting out of hand. Picture, please.



Wow, that's a lot of buildup. Hmmm...I meant buildup in terms of raising expectations, but I guess it works in the hair/mold sense as well.

Speaking of cheeseburgers....

Okay, you're hiking. Somewhere remote...rugged terrain...carrying everything you need in your pack. The tent is pitched, campfire blazing, perimeter secure. What's this? Hunger pangs? What sounds good?

Trail mix?

No.

Can of beans?

No.

Granola bar?

No!

There's only one thing that can satisfy camping hunger. What do you turn to when you're sleeping on rocks and putting your food in a tree away from bears?

Cheeseburgers.



Specifically, cheeseburgers in a can.

Check out this website for all your shipped cheeseburger needs. Something tells me that what comes out of that tin when the seal breaks won't look exactly like the picture.

If they could combine those burgers with the self-heating coffee can technology, I think we would have a winner.

Thanks Cale!

I can has cheezburger?

What do you get when you combine cats, cameras and bad grammar? I can has cheezburger!

This website contains photos of cats (and other animals) submitted by people on teh interwebs with captions, usually from the animal pictured. Some of them are so-so, but some are FUNNY! I showed my wife some the other day, and she was moderately amused, at best, but I couldn't stop laughing...and looking at more...and laughing...etc. She had to practically shake me off the computer. This is the picture that started the website:



This internet phenomenon was dubbed "lolcats" and originated on some message boards before the aforementioned website.

Darth Vader Harmonica Bayou

Really, I never knew he was so talented!



Thanks Louis!

You mean I can get a new rate...AND syphilis?

I got a nice email the other day. Whoever this person is seems pretty helpful! Who wouldn't want a $200,000 loan for $626 per month?



Something tells me that the "gift that keeps on giving" isn't a good rate. If this person actually followed my blog they would know that I'm used to getting mail from unusual people. Something like this almost doesn't even show up on my radar!

Happy Thanksgiving from...THE VIOLATOR!

I was flipping through a Bed, Bath and Beyond circular in the mail the other day. Imagine my horror and surprise when I stumbled upon this...product.



Luckily online viewers aren't treated to such a sight.