For those of you who wait with baited breath for the next update on my life, I did in fact get laid off and they will close the studio at the end of April. This sounds bad, but it is actually very good. I actually asked to be laid off since I would not be moving to California. I have a new job waiting for me, and I will probably get out of all this with 3-4 months of pay on top of any work I do between now and the end of April. That means, I will likely be able to pay off most of my remaining student loans and my car. Both good things. Here is some info about it here. Change is good, and now I will no longer be working at night.
24
Feb 04
Can I please get laid off?
There are rumors abounding that the studio I work for, part of a huge corporation, is about to be shut down. While I was in Oklahoma this weekend a friend of mine called to tell me he had the inside scoop on this and that it was all but certain to happen as part of plans to consolidate back in California. Luckily for me, the day before I had been called and offered a job at a competitor. I wasn’t sure I’d accept as I wasn’t happy with the pay, but I did really want to move and have something with more normal hours. After getting so far with interviewing with UT, I had my mind all ready to start something new and I had trouble getting my head back into working at the same old job. So, if they’re going to close us down, I hope they do it this week. At least, they could axe me. I don’t want other people to be laid off, but if they’re going to do it, I hope they do it soon. That way….I can get severance and start a new job. Pie in the sky? I hope not!
20
Feb 04
God Lives Underwater
Here are some of the channels I watched in Nullsoft Streaming Video:
- Cesko’s Room: A webcam, music, and a mic brought to you by some guy in Italy. He seemed to be working at his computer but would occasionally look into the camera and start chair dancing to the eight or so viewers watching.
- A video stream comprised solely of BattleField1942 videos. Mind you these are videos taken in-game usually involving stunts with jeeps, tanks, and planes with a group of players as the stuntmen. There are also people producing movies using the setting, props, and models of the game as the visual pallette of a particular story or plotline with a soundtrack, sound effects, and voice acting edited into it. This is really interesting to me since it puts filmmaking in the hands of almost anyone. Not surprisingly, most of these films deal with the subject of war. By the way, this game is awesome.
- Another channel showed commercials from the 50’s. That got old fast. Another played educational films from the same time period dealing with issues like ‘acting your age’. They also had some Dragnet episodes on the same channel.
- There are lots of streams for music videos, many are techno while some are Korean and Japanese pop. XRM is probably my favorite of this bunch probably because he has it set up where the chat from the XRM irc channel appears on the screen using the subtitle function so that while you’re watching a music video someone will chime in about how hot someone looks in the video or making an incredulous remark about how old Paul Oakenfold is.
- There are a few live TV feeds as well, people using their TV tuner cards to broadcast to the internet. Live Headline News, Pakistani TV, Polish TV. One guy was just rebroadcasting his local NBC affiliate from San Francisco.
The best part about all of this is that there are basically no commercials and it is international in aspect. Anyone in the world can broadcast their video this way which could ultimately democratize video broadcasting.
20
Feb 04
Good goth radio
I found a good streaming mp3 station for goth/punk music. It’s really gotten me interested in that and related genres. Try it out.
That reminds me, I really encourage people to use Winamp 5.0 (which is free) to listen to their mp3’s. I have seen a few friends using other programs like Windows Media Player, Real Player (evil, pernicious), MusicMatch Jukebox (eh, unless you’re a subscriber), or Quicktime Player for Windows to play their mp3s. Now, hear me out and just trust me that it is better and full of the important features you need and will use. Winamp version 3.0 was bloated and crap compared to versions 2.xx due to AOL rushing development and pushing crap features after they purchased Nullsoft, but in interviews I’ve seen with Justin Frankel (the developer) they’ve gotten their act together, skipped version number 4.0 and have put out a good full-featured yet sleek player again. Download it.
Oh, another cool thing they’ve released is Nullsoft Streaming Video…so I may be getting together a little internet TV project going here soon. One more project to add to the pile, but it’s exciting to consider the potential. In the current version of Winamp you can view ‘Internet TV’. Earlier this evening I was watching a channel with Japanese Pop Music Videos (jpop). I saw a jaw-droppingly absurd rendition of ‘Amazing Grace’ by a girl who obviously does not speak english. She was singing phonetically, but the part that made it so horrible was that the video was so earnest and schmaltzy. I wish I could show you.
19
Feb 04
Fashion trends of the younger generation
I’m now too old to classify myself as college age or early-post-adolescent so I have been regarding those in the 18-22 range with curiosity, watching how they act, seeing if I can find characteristics that make them different or similar and I’ve been noticing a few things for a while about the way they dress that I wanted to document and fashion trends that seem to be popping up.
One of the first things I noticed was that longer hair seems to be back for men in that shaggy 70’s way, hair hanging in the eyes, general scruffiness and greasiness. Although some people look good this way I have noticed a lot of big, gross, poofy hairdos.
With winter still lingering I have also seen those tight fitting beanies on male heads. Those seem to be somewhat popular as well. And who can forget the annoying plastic web backed trucker hats that have been popular for a little while. You must wear them at a rakish angle for full effect and they should have some label sufficiently retro and hip. A Gap trucker hat just will not do.
And finally, for women, the cavegirl styling, sheepskin Ug boots. I saw at least two girls with these on at UT last week. Since they stand out, you may have noticed them too. These look good on women with good-size legs and calves which may explain their appeal somewhat, but otherwise it’s an interesting and novel choice. I wonder if they are, in part, some response to vegetarianism or veganism since wearing Ug boots are basically animal skins wrapped and stitched with little dying and preparation.
19
Feb 04
Curious?
Washinton Post: Microsoft Threatens Code Sharers With Lawsuits:
“The people you don’t want to have access to that source code are not going to get it on Kazaa,” said Eric Garland, chief executive of Big Champagne, an Atlanta-based company that tracks file-sharing network activity. “Newsgroups IRC, semi-professional closed networks — they communicate among themselves in ways that a threatening letter to the ISPs will never begin to address.”
Garland said that according to Big Champagne’s analysis, there are approximately 50,000 people sharing the source code. Microsoft said people searching file-sharing networks for the source code will pop-up messages warning that downloading the code is illegal. Microsoft’s Pilla declined to discuss the technology behind those messages.
Did they release an update dealing with this? Hmmmm….. Oh, by the way, if you need a login for most news sites go here, Bugmenot.com.
18
Feb 04
Procrastina…..
For those afflicted (like myself) by serious bouts of procrastination here is an article I found quite helpful as it discusses the issue at length with helpful suggestions for change. Here is a taste:
Just Do It! Confronting Procrastination and Getting Things Done
Who is likely to procrastinate? There is no research evidence that gender and intelligence have anything to do with a tendency to procrastinate. Age may have something to do with it. A recent study has found that procrastination peaks in the middle to late twenties, decreases for the next forty years and then increases again in the sixties. Other research has found that people who feel overwhelmed and cannot calm down readily tend to put things off. Similarly, there is a relationship between anxiety and procrastination. It is no surprise that people who fear failure have the problem, as well as people with low self-esteem. People with a poor tolerance for frustration or difficulty delaying gratification, of course, find it difficult to stick with a task until it is completed, and the same holds true for those who cannot concentrate for long. Those who have conflicts with authority figures and are rebellious have been shown to have procrastination proclivities. People with depression, who may have low energy and hold negative thoughts about their ability to get things done, frequently have problems with procrastination. And then there is the perfectionist. Those perfectionists who set their own standards seem to have no problem with “sloth,” but those who have adopted the standards set by others do have trouble completing their work. This is because they are sensitive to the evaluations they might receive from others ? they want to avoid social disapproval.
Who knew there was so much involved in putting things off?
17
Feb 04
Life and its little bits
Being in an antsy, fidgety mood, I don’t think I can muster the focus to write anything too long, but I wanted to update this thing with what I’ve been up to, if for no one else but me. With no further ado, some of the details that provide the reference points of my life:
- Friday night there was snow, the first snow I have seen since I was last in New York several years ago. I left work early at 1:30am and drove down 360 at about thirty miles per hour. I could only see about twenty feet in front of me. I stopped along the way to try to help a woman in a Miata push her which had gotten stuck. Somehow she had slipped back going uphill and had gotten mired in the snow wet grass. She kept giving the car too much gas and with rear-wheel drive was just not having any luck. Pushing it didn’t seem to help much so once she arranged to get pulled out by one of the highway trucks I took off. The snow was great and an unexpected treat. When I got home I made a miniature snowman on my old car that is parked on the street. Then I went over to wake Jody up so she could see it before it melted and to give her her presents for Valentine’s Day. We played for a little while but then it was getting cold playing with snow so we went back inside. I love the snow.
- Saturday we went to see “The Triplets of Belleville” this neat little French animated film that made me want to start drawing again. I liked how everything had this grotesque quality to it. Jody and I bummed around for a while at the mall afterward and then went out to Fry’s to look around. We then went to the Arboretum where we ran into Sara and Jason who were on their way to see….The Triplets of Belleville.
- Sunday we went to see The Phantom of the Opera play at the Bass Concert Hall. We got all dressed up which was fun since I don’t get to do that often. A woman came up and told Jody that she looked ‘absolutely stunning’. The show was great. I’ve never really experienced anything like that. I really liked the way they did the production, with the flash paper and the set pieces and the fog. After the final curtain when all the actors came out there was a standing ovation that lasted so long that I don’t think I’ve ever spent that much time clapping. And the music, of course, was great too. I would like to see things like that more often.
- Yesterday kinda sucked as I was in a bad mood. I had a meeting with one of my clients that went well and then I basically came home and played UT 2004 until I went to bed after midnight. I did find a copy of The Complete Essays of Michel de Montaigne at Half-Price Books, though. Generally, ‘Selections From the Essays’ is what I’ve come across so I grabbed this one I was looking for books by Otto Weininger or The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton which I didn’t find until I went to Book People today.
- Today, I didn’t do a whole lot, but I did make twenty bucks raking leaves. I needed the exercise and it was kinda fun in a weird way. I have to do the other neighbor’s leaves soon too.
13
Feb 04
The Station Agent
Jody and I met up with Sab to see The Station Agent at the movie theatre the other night. It was probably one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. It’s a quiet kind of movie, but one you hoped would last a little bit longer so you don’t need to leave the company of the cast and story. It’s really a movie about friendship. I would give it four stars.