As I recently Pulsed, I just saved a TON of money by switching from GEICO. Seriously.

The numbers speak for themselves:

IronChef Foicite: well, there’s a lot of reasons
IronChef Foicite: i mean, roses only last like a couple weeks
IronChef Foicite: and that’s if you leave them in water
IronChef Foicite: and they really only exist to be pretty
IronChef Foicite: so that’s like saying
IronChef Foicite: “my love for you is transitory and based solely on your appearance”
IronChef Foicite: but a potato!
IronChef Foicite: potatos last for fucking ever, man
IronChef Foicite: in fact, not only will they not rot, they actually grow shit even if you just leave them in the sack
IronChef Foicite: that part alone makes it a good symbol
IronChef Foicite: but there’s more!
IronChef Foicite: there are so many ways to enjoy a potato! you can even make a battery with it!
IronChef Foicite: and that’s like saying “i have many ways in which I show my love for you”
IronChef Foicite: and potatos may be ugly, but they’re still awesome
IronChef Foicite: so that’s like saying “it doesn’t matter at all what you look like, I’ll still love you”

Nothing bothers me more than movies that only get limited release and then go straight to home video. It’s not that I don’t “get it”–on the contrary. There are some movies that the suits just don’t think will make money in the theater, so they decide to print a bunch of discs and hope they can sell them to some big box store and let them get stuck trying to offload the merchandise.

Take Brick for instance. That was an indy film that was done right and could have made money in the theater if marketed right, but Brick was another one of those movies that the suits just didn’t know how to market because it didn’t fit nicely into a category. It was a high-school drama, a mystery, thriller and noir all in one. Granted, there wasn’t a lot of star power in the film. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was the film’s biggest star by far, and yet, I’m betting that if I didn’t go down the list of his filmography you wouldn’t know him. That’s a shame too given he’s made some pretty damned good films.

The Weatherman was another example of this phenomenon. I still haven’t stopped scratching my head over this one four years later. The Weather Man starting Nicolas Cage, Michael Cane and Hope Davis (amongst others) was directed by Gore Verbinski. There was plenty of star power in this film. Verbinski had just finished the first Pirates movie so there was no reason for this film to get play. It was supposed to come out in March of ’05, but I vividly remember the release date slipping at least three times. When it finally came out in October, it only played at the art house in town for three weeks then left. The DVD was also a soft release.

So now we come to Choke staring Sam Rockwell. The trailer looked great and had everyone stoked since Q3 last year. It was an adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk’s book of the same title. Now granted, it was a first time writer/director at the helm of the project, but we’re talking about a project based on a book by the guy who wrote Fight Club. How could it be doomed to fail?

The business is getting screwy I tell you. Remember Opie’s Ron Howard’s film Frost/Nixon that was supposed to come out at Christmas but didn’t do so until well after the first of the year? It got one showtime a day in town. I didn’t get to see it because of the poor scheduling. The Soloist got bumped as well–now we’re looking at an April 24th date, the third such date for the film! (If you’re looking for the music in the trailer, click here.) Hell, even Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler had a hard time finding a wide release date.

So as much as I’d love to talk to you about Choke today, I’m afraid I just can’t do that because I haven’t had the opportunity to see the movie until today–the movie’s DVD release date. Some days, I feel like the studios are to release dates what Elmer Fudd is to hunting rabbits.

The cross-post nature of this post may get interesting.

Remember when I asked for comments seeking out things to put in my profile so that people would know a little more about me? Well, with lizheartshakespeare‘s help, I have started to put together the profile that I have dreamed about for four years. It’s not as full as I want–I want to include some quotes that are very near and dear to my heart along with some Tomasims–but it’s getting there. Now when people look at my profile on LJ, they have a better understanding of who I am.

Those of you on Xanga, however, must suffer through my shameless self-promotion because Xanga does not convert new line characters to <br />’s, nor does Xanga’s profile support HTML. I know the proper thing to do is open a trouble ticket regarding this issue to report through the proper channels, but I want to mention it here because of the discrepancy between the two sites.

I thought I was going to be able to write the profile once and copy/paste it to LJ, Xanga and Facebook, but that is not in the cards.

Speaking of Facebook, I haven’t seen any traffic come from Facebook, nor has anyone commented on my blogs there. Please, if you read my blog via Facebook, leave me a comment somewhere (either there on Facebook or here on the actual blog [preferably the actual blog]) so I know that somebody‘s reading, else I’m going to deactivate the account again.

Writer’s Block
There are a plethora of topics that I have put in my notebook to write about over the past several days, but work has been too emotionally draining to write anything. I feel I’ve let each and every one of you down personally. I keep thinking that if I already had my MacBook, I would have written more because I would have had the ability to leave the house and write electronically as well as have the ability to get comfortable on my futon and write.

Yes, I’ve changed my mind again slightly: I will get the Whitebook if that is all I can afford. In a recent post, I think I quoted the price as $14xx. I think I forgot to add tax to that. The Whitebook fully configured to my liking is $1597. If I get the low end unibody, we’re looking at $1920. The compromise here is that either way I still won’t have an illuminated keyboard and if I can’t get the lighter, more durable, more aesthetic machine, I’ll still have a kick ass lightweight lappy that will last me for the next couple of years.

Now, if things were going as good as they were back last summer and fall, I would have already made my purchase, but as it is, that’s just not in the cards. I feel more wiped out after an 8 hour shift than I did after the 16 hour days I used to put in. I’m driving a bit more at nights to try to get some extra cashflow, but it’s slow going. I need some real revenue.

I have a plan to go back to school and retake the Intro to Unix class which is really hurting my GPA because when I left, I didn’t withdraw and so there’s this incomplete sitting on my transcript. I have practical experience with the subject material now, so minus the final project which requires writing a program in Perl, I can ace the class which is the right way to ease back into school. Having three *nix distros on a laptop could come in handy or at the very least allow me to compare and contrast how each OS handles certain things differently.

Regarding the revenue stream for this purchase, I don’t need a bailout from Washington nor do I need Obama’s help that isn’t help. As an American, I choose to earn my keep, and this situation is no different.

I can perform a plethora of services, but I think that the one that I can most readily provide from my chair here and one which my customers will be able to peruse before the purchase is my writing. If you know of anyone that is looking for a writer to hire, please have them send an email to professortom[at]gmail[dot]com with Write for Me in the subject line. I greatly appreciate any referrals and will be willing to pay a finder’s fee based on the size of the job.

As many of you know, I’m not a big fan of the Bamster. In fact, I think his policies suck and have stated as much publicly and will continue to do so. I haven’t been as aggressive about this on my blog as I have wanted to be–keeping up with the Left takes too much energy sometimes.

Last month, Rush Limbaugh was asked to contribute 400 words on his “hope for the Obama presidency” to which Rush responded, I don’t need 400 words, I need 4: I hope he fails. Ever since that event, I’ve been calling for I HOPE HE FAILS buttons, much like suspoo’s button:

Now, for those of you who didn’t hear about the town hall meeting yesterday in Florida, I’ll hit the highlights for you.

First, there was Henrietta Hughs who had this plea to Lord Barack Obama:

I have an urgent need, unemployment and homelessness, a very small vehicle for my family and I to live in. The housing authority has two years’ waiting lists, and we need something more than the vehicle and the parks to go to. We need our own kitchen and our own bathroom. Please help.

To which Obama responded:

Well…I…listen, I…uh, what’s your name? Ok Miss Hughes, well, we’re gonna do everything we can to help you, but there are a lot of people like you. And wer’re gonna, we’re gonna do everything we can…but, I–I’ll, uh. have my staff talk to you after the uh Town Hall.

So Obama promised her a hand out, not a hand up. Henrietta Hughes is a winner of life’s lottery because she was chosen to ask The Messiah for what she wanted…and he came though…despite the fact that Lord Barack Obama, The Most Merciful was there to flog Nancy Pelosi’s bill.

Then we had a guy ask for full salary on his unemployment check so he’d never have to work again. Lord Obama said he was going to raise unemployment benefits by $100 “wich doesn’t sound like a lot, but that means an extra bill that you can pay.” This unnamed diciple went away sorrowful that Obama wasn’t going to pay him to sit on his ass henceforth at full salary.

Then the pièce de résistance: Julio Osegueda rambles on and on about how he’s worked at McDonald’s for four and a half years and how he wants better benefits.

Lord Obama:

The fact that you are working as hard as you’re working at a job that doesn’t always pay as well as…some other jobs, I think that’s a source of pride for you…we’re going to offset your payroll tax.

BUT JULIO GOT NOT MONEY! He has, however, been given a one-time shot at being a color announcer for the Fort Myers Miracle some 59 days from now when everyone has forgotten all about him.

[For an in-depth analysis of the Q&A at the Fort Myers Town Hall Meeting, check out these links. Also, you can keep up with whatever undisclosed handout Henrietta Hughes' receives compliments of your tax dollars here.]

But Obama’s no answers and burning through taxpayer money isn’t the biggest problem, it’s what he and Congress are trying to sneak into the stimulus porkulus bill: National Health Care.

No, I’m not talking about the government just spending your money and you getting shitty care, we’re talking about a national electronic database of health records that are used to asses how much treatment for your ailment will cost, divided amongst the life expectancy post-treatment. If you’re above the cost threshold, you don’t get treatment.

This bears repeating: This National Electronic Health Record Database isn’t a separate piece of legislation, it is in the stimulus porkulus bill.

Chuch Schumer thinks that you won’t care:

But I think that you do. I don’t for a moment think that any of my readers seriously think that Lord Barack Obama is going to give them a new house or a new car or a job. I don’t think you’re going to call the White House and ask for a handout.

And I think that you didn’t need this little post to tell you what you already knew. But I do think that you want to vent your frustration and amazement at how lawmakers on the Hill are ignoring your phone calls and emails and letters. I think you want change that you can believe in.

I’m not one to sit around hoping that Lord Barack Obama The Most Merciful gives me a better job or a larger check or some other kind of government handout where I’m going to have to keep voting my meal ticket back into office. I get up off my ass and go to work every day to earn my keep.

And I take initiative and this issue is no exception. I said I wanted my buttons, so I commissioned them. Here’s the prototype:

Now, if you want to have the government decide what kind of healthcare you can and can’t receive, please ignore this post. If you are marching to Washington to get a better job from the President, this isn’t for you. But if you’re already sick and tired of being hoodwinked and treated like you’re too stupid to take care of yourself, then please download this button and put it on your blog. Email it to everyone you know so that it will make a difference. Let those of us who pay the bills in this country have our voice heard.

If you’re against the stimulus porkulus bill, spread the word.

I HOPE HE FAILS.

Note: I’m currently in negotiations to having this be not just some .png graphic, but turned into actual buttons that you can buy from Cafe Press. Stay tuned.

As I travel through the interwebz, I have found that lately it has become common practice that if you are going to quote or link to a blog you leave a comment on the original source with a snippet of how you utilized the piece, perhaps with the title of your post. To me, if you quote a blog, link to it in your post and then leave a comment on the original blog letting the author know that you quoted them, you have a higher form of the citations and bibliographies we were all taught to create when in school, because not only are you citing your sources, you’re also letting your sources know that they have been cited.

To me, this is a perfect example of what living in the Information Age is all about. Let’s say that I write a piece, link it in my post and then let the OP know that I have been inspired by his work. He now has a direct link back to my piece where I quoted him and there exists the possibility of open communication between the both of us, further expanding upon the ideas that were put forth in his blog. Because we are discussing something that the original author himself wrote about, I don’t have to worry about drawing him in; he should come ready to see what I have said about what he said and give an immediate reaction if he thinks my thoughts merit such a response.

Recently, I wrote a couple of different pieces where I was combining a whole bunch of thoughts and resources, but in my haste to post and cross-post, I forgot to go back and let the author know that I had used his work. Yes, I linked to the original piece prominently, but I feel bad for forgetting to let the author know I had used his work. I don’t feel like I’ve plagiarized, but I regret that the authors won’t have a chance to react to my piece while it is fresh. By failing to properly comment them, I have also deprived them of interacting with my audience and reacting to my reader’s reaction to my piece.

I wonder what is the proper way to handle this situation now that I’m aware of my blunder.

What is proper etiquette: comment the blogs like I just posted only to let them find that the entry has long since past or not comment that I’ve used their material?

Mills

I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.

If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.

Taken was a movie that I wasn’t entirely for sure what to expect going into it. The Europeans on the film’s IMDB boards were all gung-ho about how great a film Taken was. They talked about how it was action-packed, fast-paced, damned-fine entertainment.

I tried to get as many people as I could to go, but unfortunately that meant that I went to see the film with only Jeremy.

I read the IMDB newsfeed Friday which meant that the reviews for the new releases for the week were in the feed. Despite the praise that Taken had been given by sites such as firstshowing.net, the Americans hated it. Roger Ebert went so far as to criticize co-author and producer Luc Besson claiming Besson “turns out high-quality trash.”

We get enough Bryan Mills’ (Neeson’s) character’s back story to know that he was either in the Special Forces, CIA or Secret Service. He still hangs with his ex-co-workers and has retired from whatever thrilling career he had to be closer to his daughter. Apparently Mills was never home for his family, which lead to a divorce and his wife marrying some rich prick who turned the whole family into snobs.

The plot is as simple as it it was presented in the trailer: Bryan’s daughter Kim goes to France and immediately gets kidnapped. What’s not quite evident in the trailer is that this film centers around human trafficking. (For a more complete look at the topic of trafficking, I heartily recommend the intense three hour, two-part TV drama Human Trafficking starring Donald Sutherland and Mira Sorvino.)

Per the trailer, while the kidnapping is in progress, Mills tells Kim to get under the bed and then shout out as many details as possible when they take her. Based on the recording he makes of the horrifying conversation, Mills has his one of his buddies run it through the system only to hear that his daughter has been captured by big players in the trafficking business and he only has ninety-six hours to find his daughter.

From here the action takes off. Mills goes to Paris and systematically walks through the crime scene gathering clues and calling in favors. Mills can physically hustle at the metaphorical speed of lightening. There is no part of his being that isn’t sharp and ready for action. He thinks quickly and is very resourceful. His empty hands are just as deadly as when they are holding guns. From tangoing with the French government that he used to render service to in his old career to soliciting a hooker’s service to draw her pimp out in the open and give him a way into the trafficking business to start picking off the flies one by one, Neeson takes you on an adrenalin ride in Taken. Mills has one goal and that is to get his daughter back safely.

The bulk of the film feels like a cross between the Bourne trilogy and Quantum of Solace which explains the European’s high praise of the movie. Unlike Quantum of Solace this is a highly entertaining experience without all the WTF moments or poor character motivations, which makes the American critic’s take on Taken a real head-scratcher. A nice fly in the buttermilk for Ebert & Co. is that Taken took top place at the box office on it’s opening weekend and I dare say it will stay there for at least two more weeks until My Bloody Valentine 3D debuts.

Despite there being a plethora of movies playing in the theater that originally had a holiday timetable for release but only played limited engagements last year in order to be considered for Oscar nominations, I am willing to wait for the majority of those titles to come out on DVD and will willingly pay to see Taken at least twice more before it leaves the theater.

ehowton and I had a discussion based on the trailer. He had not seen it, but I had described it to him. He mentioned that the first three Liam Neeson movies he saw, Neeson played ineffectual characters that were unable to accomplish the character’s goals–unable to protect his family or to kill the good guy. We discussed this facet of Neeson’s career at length, concluding that Neeson’s character would likely succeed in finding and killing the killers but would likely see his daughter murdered in front of him as a direct consequence of his actions. Of course, I won’t reveal if Taken follows that course of speculation or not, but I will reveal that he does see his daughter sold in an blind auction where she fetches $500,000 as she is a virgin.

Taken took me for an adventure I want to be a part of again. I think the main reason there was so much criticism in the American media is directly proportional to the discomfort level with the driving element of the film; human trafficking. This film raises awareness of simple, stupid choices that young people make having hugh consequences on the rest of their life while at the same time reminding American audiences how well they are protected from the evils of human trafficking.

So I was reading an article about how to promote yourself for a job in a a down market in the 21st century. That got me to thinking…

I did a vanity search and found out that what comes up to the top of the list is a comment I left on Amazon. My minimax0r Xanga tag was fifth in the list with no other mention of my Xanga. My Live Journal doesn’t even appear in the first 100 results. Bummer.

That reminded me that I really, really need to fill my profiles out on both Xanga and Live Journal. Fuck Stalker Book Face Book.

But more to the point, it got me to thinking….

I get more traffic off of my political posts e.g. than I do off of my computer posts e.g.. The odd thing is, I think more about computers than I do about politics. In fact, I tend to think I write more about computers than I do politics.

I read a lot of sites. I can’t think of one political news feed I have other than fellow bloggers (i.e. truntthepaige,reality_hammer, and gothelittle. I would include The Theologian’s Cafe in the list, but he is more of a newsfeed than a place to get a political take on things.)

I read many more computers sites. I’m following linux, ubuntu_users, macintosh, unixadmin. I’m also subscribed to Engadget, Coding Horror, and John. C. Dvoark’s PC Mag columns.

Apparently, computer blogs are only for those who get them and then you have to be an expert to be read. We could talk about Microsoft initiatives for hawking their products as the best thing since sliced bread and self-proclaimed gurus who think they are computer gods because they know how to double-click an icon in Windows, but that’s beside the point. I read a lot of tech stuff, comment occasionally and record my tech thoughts on my blog less frequently than that. I labor over my posts, hoping I’m giving the best presentation possible but instead I get lambasted for it.

The oddest thing is that despite all the tech stuff that I’m into, I’d like to think that I’m more into film. Granted, I don’t write about it the way that swashbuckler332 does and that pisses me off. I did write film reviews for the Exponent, but those were rushed and shitty at best, not the quality stuff that swashbuckler332 turns out. It’s funny too, because swash and I usually have the same thoughts on the films that we both watch. I just don’t have his stomach for Star Wars. The point is that it pisses me off that I can write good reviews and yet I don’t. I should, because at the very least I’d be able to put together a list of reviews if I wanted to make some extra cash, say writing reviews for the local paper.

I think that the reason my political posts get such better remarks is that a lot of my readers and I have the same views on politics and when I get as passionate about a subject as I do with my politics, I let ‘em have it. Perhaps it’s this quality that people are reacting to rather than my viewpoints. Nevertheless, it was something I thought about today, had a theory about and wanted to see what you my adoring audience thought.

What kind of my posts do you like: political? tech? film? random craziness? Other (please specify in the comments)?

Also, do you think my theory that my political posts get more response than anything because of the passion behind the writing is correct? Discuss.