Shouting Grounds

I’ve always had a problem with people like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, who in my opinion use the stigma of racial stereotypes to simply put themselves in the news.

While Sharpton is just a pile of dogshit, Jesse Jackson surprised me today when I heard about this story on sports radio. Apparently in response to the NBA having crooks for refs, the MLB hired a third party to do background checks on their umps. While investigating umpires from Kentucky and St Louis, the cock knockers thought it’d be sweet to ask the umpires’ neighbors if they new if the ump in question was ever affiliated with the KKK. Nice tact, fuckrags.

The Rev Jesse caught wind of this, and actually publicly chastised MLB and the investigators for profiling southern whites as possible Grand Wizards.

So…good for you Jesse J, thanks for finally playing the other side of the race card for once.

And fuck you, Al Sharpton.

Ok guys, enough’s enough, for Christ’s sake! Stop releasing your software so that when you mount the disk image the finder window, that presents your application, is in simple mode!!! It is especially annoying when you don’t place a complementary link to the local Applications folder.

LOOK!

That is a stupid way of doing things! The finder is so rich and useful now, why the fuck do we need to keep living the < OS 9 days?! Simple-ass windows.

Each time you download an application that behaves like this. You have to click on the button in the top right corner to see the following Finder window, then drag the application to your Application folder:

I know what you’re thinking, no big deal, and you’re right. Although, when you multiply that “no big deal” by 10123123 times you get a pissed off user. A lot of applications are designed to be updated by downloading the whole application over again. Once you have the updated application file, you drag it to the Application folder and overwrite the original. Easy. All you preferences are saved, registration info, etc. The problem is when you have to add a extra step into that process it gets old, quick.

So to all you OS X developers out there, listen up! You are so close to app-install nirvana you are suffering an Icarusarian fall from grace. Keep the Finder alone, ok? I don’t like simple-mode and I never did. Cut that shit out.

Update - 2/1/2008

To clear up any confusion over what I’m actually bitching about. I had unknowingly used the term “simple finder” to describe a finder window with the hidden toolbar option enabled, for lack of a better phrase. So my real beef is with developers who prefer this “hidden toolbar” finder setting, and tend to us this view setting when packaging their application disk images.

Based on this reuters story apparently 1 Million Iraqis have perished as a direct result of the war in Iraq.

What’s wrong with this picture? So they are saying, based on the information we have from how many households there were in 1997, 20% of house hold surveyed now have lost at least 1 member. Am I not correct in remembering that many Iraqi’s left the country prior, during, and after “major combat operations”? So how can that be accurate. If 4 million Iraqi’s have left the country, how can the 1997 estimate for the number of households in the country be used in the equation for casualties? That’s like saying that I gained 97% of my body weight since yesterday because you used my original birth weight of 9 pounds (instead of how much I weighed yesterday) in your equation.

Let me say now that I believe the war to be a mistake and find the lives lost to it to be unacceptable, but we don’t need phony-ass statistics to prove that is the case. All this does is give the morons who agree with the president something easy to refute and cast doubt upon.

When will we learn?!

Well, if there’s one thing signaling me to move on and finally close the doors of EfexTek, it’s eBay’s recent news of “reduced fees.”

Wait, did you say reduced fees? Yep, I sure did…at least that’s what eBay initially stated in a message sitting in my eBay inbox. According to the new fee table, insertion fees will be reduced by $0.05 and gallery fees are free (normally $0.35). That’s all fine and dandy and it put a smile on my face. Then I read further. The final closing percentage has increased from 5.25% for the first $25 to a HUGE value of 8.75%. Eight point fucking seven five percent! Seriously, what the fuck?

This shit pisses me off so fuckin’ bad. People on eBay are up in arms about this bullshit. Check the forums. This new percentage cuts so deeply into people’s pockets that making a neglible profit on small stuff isn’t even worth it anymore. Anything selling for $25 and under is raped up and down with fees. I’m an avid eBay’er, both as a seller and a buyer, and this shit strikes a sour note on my piano.

“So Socrates Points, why don’t you just sell the stuff on your website and shut the fuck up?”

Let’s get one thing straight. My website doesn’t sell products, eBay does…and barely. They provide a good service, I will admit, but 8.75%? Jesus fucking Christ! This new increase basically forces out the small time operators, which basically started eGay. Only PowerSellers and massive online retailers will benefit because they receive special discounts. In addition to these increases, their search function will change, giving more recognition and ratings for PowerSellers. Stupid as fuck. With that in mind, it’s only a matter of time before PayPal ups their fees for receiving payments as well. I’m sure some stupid fuck working for eBay making all the bad decisions is thinking, “if people leave eBay and open up their own storefronts and websites, we’ll just super-inflate the PayPal fees so the people using the FREE shopping cart function will get fist-fucked.”

Not to mention, if you’re looking on eBay for deals, that’s probably going to end soon as well. Naturally, sellers that remain on eBay will up their prices and/or add increased shipping to make up for the difference. So get your shit while the shittin’s good, before it’s too late.

In a close, I would just like to say again…FUCK EBAY.

I know that this presidential race is already fraught with trivialities and nuance but I cannot help but look at McCain and wonder, “Is this guy still alive?”. I don’t mean any disrespect to the man, and I appreciate the times where he’s stood out from the crowd and blazed his own trail. Kudos. Kudos on your defense of human rights in rejecting the use of water-boarding as an interrogation technique.

This all aside, tell me that this man is NOT being animated via electro-shock neural-puppetry…observe exhibit the first…

I really like Vector Designer….did I say that already for Christ’s sake?

Update! 1/29/2008 - This shit is really fun, seriously…

I know you guys are somewhat interested in writing scripts, making short movies, etc. … or at least you were in the past (dancing gorilla, anyone?) … so I thought I’d let you know about this local film festival that a friend of mine put together last year and will be running again this summer. Check it out…

** A foreword: I’ve intentionally kept the spoilers to a minimum although there maybe a few. For more in-depth coverage of the actual events in the move (a.k.a. the spoilers) see Magic John Stone’s review below!! **

….News Flash!!!

-This just in: Giant monster attacks New York City! Again…

-News Update: Statue of Liberty Destroyed! Again…

-Special Update: Buildings explode! People run around in terror and die in horrible ways!! Again…

-Breaking News: US Army arsenal is totally useless!!! Again…

-Live Coverage: Major Hollywood blockbuster over-hyped and under-delivered! Again…

Okay so by now I’m sure you get my point. Yes, despite the months of hype folks Cloverfield turns out to be simply another plain ole’ horror movie, using the same recycled and overused cliches of it’s predecessors.

So what’s different? That’s right you guessed it! NOTHING!!

Now some may argue it’s the films use of “handy-cam” style filming that sets it apart, and for a moment I would be tempted to agree, if not for another horror movie from years past that used the same style of filming, and in my mind more effectively. If memory serves it was called The Blair Witch Project.

So Cloverfield hasn’t really broken any new ground has it? Actually it has! I can confidently say it’s the 1st movie I’ve ever watched that gave me motion sickness! I also intend for it to be the last! DO NOT go and see this movie on a full stomach people!

On the plus side? the special effects are VERY GOOD! Unfortunately they can’t be properly appreciated due to the fucking camera flailing all over the goddamn place! I understand what the filmmakers were going for: they wanted they audience to feel 1st hand the kind of bedlam and confusion a large monster attacking New York would produce. The problem however, and I don’t know if the filmmakers ever considered this, is that THERE IS A FUCKING AUDIENCE!!! This means in order for people to become immersed and involved we have to actually be able to see what the fuck is going on and not busy concentrating on holding down our fucking lunch!

Okay so onto the subject of the monster! How does it look? What does it do? Does it like to single out random people who happen to have indestructible and extraordinarily power conservative camcorders and stalk them around the city? Why yes. Yes it does.

The creature does indeed live up to the promised hype of something unique and never before seen on screen or stage and the quick glimpses we get of it are indeed terrifying. I’m not quite sure how to accurately describe it other than it’s big, knocks buildings over, roars a lot, and for whatever reason is severely pissed.

Or is it? According to the film’s Wiki article the creature’s behavior is actually intended to be modeled around that of a baby elephant that can’t find it’s mother at the circus. Yeah, Whatever the fuck.

Where the movie really fails in my opinion is the attempt at a story and inclusion of classic movie archetypes. Here we have our hero, who sets out on a journey full of peril against an evil foe and insurmountable odds to save the woman he loves. He is accompanied by his wacky best-friend who of course himself is in love with a woman who barely knows he exists but if only she could get to know the real him then maybe…blah fucking blah! We get about 10 minutes too much of this shit in the beginning, to the point I began to wonder if I had mistakingly bought a ticket to watch an episode of the Real World? I’m reasonably certain that anyone who does find the tape later will fast forward through all that bullshit anyway and get right to the carnage. The filmmakers should have as well.

And therein lies the core problem with the film. It contradicts itself by using the handy-cam gimmick to make us feel it’s authentic, while at the same time loading on piles and piles of typical Hollywood cliches! The result is, as you watch more and more, you almost begin to feel cheated.

Now let’s talk about this camcorder for a moment! It picks and chooses when it wants to time stamp video. It NEVER runs out of battery, despite using the built-in light and night vision for large stretches of time. It appears to be virtually indestructible, despite suffering several falls, an attack by giant spider fucking things, constant shaking and jostling, a helicopter crash, several large bricks falling directly on it, and apparently the mother of all bombs itself! But yeah, whatever the fuck.

So my offical recommendation would be to see it yes, but wait for DVD or cable. You’ll want to make sure before pressing play, however, you have clear line of sight to the bathroom.

Rating: 6/10

So Redscape and I finally made it out to the theater to see a new movie…too bad we picked Cloverfield. Warning to all of our religious fans out there, this review is going be be spoiler packed and, just cuz I know so many of you out there are reading this, I promise I won’t pull any punches.

I thought the premise would be good, from what I’ve read and seen of the movie. A twist on the classic ‘huge monster attacks New York’ movie, the whole thing being shot from a handycam by normal people experiencing the event from the ground. Now, as long as the movie is decent, I love a good creature-disaster movie. The last two that come to mind, King Kong (listen to the podcast!) and Godzilla (with Matthew “used it all up on Ferris Bueller” Broderick), failed miserably…so it’s been awhile coming. I also liked that JJ Abrams hadn’t revealed the monster in any of the trailers yet.

Onto the movie. First issue, movie starts out with date and time stamp on the video, which switches back and forth a few times…not a great idea since soon after, the time stamp goes away completely. I’d rather not have the time stamp there the whole time, but stay consistent, man.

So there’s a going away party, people…blah blah blah. The camera gets handed to possibly the most annoying fuckin clown they could have found. Camera shaking is going to be obvious given the environment, but for christ sake, we can’t enjoy the goddamn movie if we can’t see what’s going on or fucking watch it without fucking puking from fucking motion sickness. Throw in the fact that the asshole is screaming “ROB! ROB! ROB!” the whole time like a goddamn half wit looking for his nanny, and I wanna rip my own throat out after thirty minutes.

About 45 minutes in, I think you get your first glimpse of the monster, mostly arms, tails and ass in views caught by news choppers covering the nonsense. The army shows up conveniently fast in full force complete with Abrams tanks and mobile Howitzers. I don’t know how far from Manhattan the Army keeps a fully stocked depot, but I don’t think they could mobilize what they did in so little time. Anyway, it gets to the point where all you want is the silly-old classic monster movie where you see plenty of Monster vs. Army action.

About the same time you accept that since this is a movie the Army could indeed show up faster than Domino’s Pizza, you start to then wonder why it seems like the monster is following our protagonists around the city. The monster drives them down into the subway, the baby monsters are on their heels underground, when they come out of the subway to find girlfriend’s building the monster clambers down the street at them, they escape to a helicopter which the monster leaps at and crashes into Central Park, and then the damned monster finds them there and finally, most satisfyingly eats shitty-camera-douche…but then ignores the other two!?? There’s how many million people in Manhattan, and this creepy bastard chooses these simple shits to chase around? Goddamnit…too fuckin easy.

While I thought I would enjoy seeing the event from the citizen’s eyes, in the end all I wanted to see was the monster breaking shit and the army blazing in and dropping everything we’ve got on the fucker. It’s sad, but after sitting through this I just wanted to see the goddamn monster…not listen to some shitheel scream at “Rob!” the whole time. To quote the Gene over there, “SHUT THE FUCK UP!“

And one more thing, I know we just got glimpses of things, etc…but I couldn’t help but feel like I’d seen certain things from this movie before…
Go see it, to be sure…but take a barf bag with, and leave any sharp objects that you might try to kill yourself with at home.

Am I the only one who finds this amusing in more ways than one???

OK, let me announce my arrival here on Shouting Grounds.

“Hear-ye, hear-ye, oh cometh o blessed Lord, with the light cast through thy heavenly gates, let us pray unto thee. Therefore the one who bringeth who’s daily bread hast not gone to waste, the shadow of doubt cast upon the dead by the light of the Lord, may this day bring new hope and enchantment to thyself. I bring you, o blessed Lord, Socrates Points!”

Now with that out of the way, what is the exact intention of this blog? I think somewhere about 20 posts ago, the main idea was lost. Are we just blogging about anything, or should be go back to movies? You guys are all over the place with topics!

I’m sure chall have read/heard that Heath Ledger died today of what the authorities are guessing is a possible drug overdose/accident. I don’t know for sure what happened. And without granduerising the man after he’s dead, let me say that this guy showed the makings of what could have been one of the great actors of our generation. While I didn’t find myself racing out to see every one of his movies, I still feel a sorrow inside myself knowing that he’s gone.

R.I.P.

I am LOVING this app!

“When Apple introduced the MacBook Air, they detailed a new feature called “Remote Disc” which makes up for the lack of a standard optical drive in the MacBook Air. Remote Disc allows the MacBook Air to wirelessly use a PC or Mac optical drive as if it were its own. Included with this functionality is the ability for the MacBook Air to wirelessly boot off of a Remote Disc shared drive. This means that if your MacBook Air requires an emergency boot or fresh reinstall, it can be done without the $99 external SuperDrive.

This added functionality required changes in the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) and is not presently available on other Macs.

…

Update: We’ve been told that Mac OS X 10.5.2 will bring wireless booting to all Macs. “

Now wireless booting via shared disk, I can use. I wonder what the limitations of the remote disc software will be regarding the amount of clients that can boot. Of course you take a slow medium like an optical disc, then add the lag of a networking framework, probably wouldn’t make sense. Hopefully the rumors about 10.5.2 enabling this feature on the rest of the macs are true, but I won’t be truly excited until they allow boot via a mounted hard drive. The old G5 needs a firewire drive to boot externally and it’d be nice to have some flexibility there, in case I hose the ports with another bunk Lacie disk.