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November 30, 2003

I'm finally getting a new computer. I hope this piece of junk can stay alive long enough for me to transfer everything I need off of it (which will not be a fun task, by the way). I don't even have everything here - I think the Front Page CD is still at home, which means there won't be any updates between when the new computer comes and when I get back to New Jersey. Of course, that will probably only be a few days, so it's more of a "what else is new" situation. I guess I need to go out and buy some CD-Rs... or RWs. I'll probably use CD-Rs for the MP3 files (I've only got five gigs of those to save) and RWs for the stuff that I should probably start keeping legitimate backups of. Of course, RWs are significantly more expensive than Rs, which is kind of a con in their book.
I've written all the tossups for my Trash Masters freelance packet. Now I just have to write 25 bonuses in a day. Considering I've written an entire packet in six hours before, I think it can be done, but I'm shooting for a little better quality than that one produced. Plus that packet was just for practice. I think I'll read this one in practice on Monday, assuming I get it done. Alma's been quality control and has approved all tossups thus far - though I wrote seven after she went to bed, so I hope she'll be around a bit to check those tomorrow - so hopefully that means it's a pretty decent packet. At least as far as tossups go.

November 25, 2003

So I'm on Rotten Tomatoes today, and there's a thread about "Top Five Things You Hate About Other Moviegoers." Now, as a rule, I hate all other moviegoers with a passion matched only by my hatred for fascist Republican mouthpieces, so I was all over this thread. My list:

            5. Idiot parents who bring little kids to serious adult movies. Especially late
            shows. Not one but two crying infants/toddlers had to leave my showing of
            Insomnia, which was at midnight. God.

            4. People who think those Fandango ads are funny. My friend used to do
            this thing where, after the commercial would run, there'd be this smattering
            of laughter, and then he'd let out this huge fake guffaw and shame everyone
            who was laughing into silence.

            3. People who don't turn their cell phones off. Unless you're a doctor, you
            will not possibly be receiving a call that important. If it was, you wouldn't
            be at the movies, you'd be somewhere waiting for it, you self-important asshole.

            2. People who talk during the movie. Just watch, will you?

            1. People who answer their cell phones and proceed to talk on them without
            leaving the theater. It's bad enough you're bothering us when the phone
            goes off - but you're staying in the theater? No. If you're going to talk, get
            out. Sometime fairly recently, I was in a theater where someone answered
            the phone and not only talked, but talked at normal voice. And didn't stop
            even when everyone was yelling at them to shut up. I can't even imagine the
            level of arrogance it takes to believe you're important enough to justify such
            behavior. If I'd had any kind of blunt object, I'd have demolished the phone
            right there and then.

That was my list. I think it's pretty fair - basically I'm not a fan of disturbances, though I had to throw that Fandango one in there because when you see as many movies as I do it gets really annoying. And I don't even see that many movies, considering.
Anyway, later in the thread, some guy posts the following (excerpted):

            "I have a friend who does most of the things mentioned. He leaves his cell
            phone on, and if it rings he'll pick it up and let it ring for 4-5 seconds to
            see if anyone will say anything. He also talks on the phone in a normal voice
            and likes to sit at the very top so he can flick off the projector and see it on
            the screen. ... Let me mention, he does all of this hoping someone will say
            something to him because he's a professional kickboxer.. still waiting for
            someone to say something to him, that'll be funny."

"I have a friend who's an asshole" would have been about the same thing, of course. I replied, only half-joking:

The fact that you still consent to hang out with such a loathsome individual
makes you a bad person by proxy. Remedy this matter at your earliest convenience.

Of course, this guy was one of those people you find all too often on the Internet who treats everything you say as though you were just totally dead serious. He responded, saying that that was the "worst advice" he'd ever read and that this guy had been his friend since high school, blah blah, and he wasn't going to stop hanging out with him "just because he's obnoxious in theaters." Then he nailed his coffin shut:

            "And having someone who can take on 3-4 people at once (seen it happen on
            3 occasions) is a great thing. You never have to worry about anything, and
            you always get a little bit more brave when he's around."

Translation: "When I'm hanging out with my asshole kickboxer friend, I can feel free to be as much of an asshole as I want, because he'll kick the ass of anyone that messes with me! Boy, it sure is great to have a friend who will defend my right to be an asshole that much!" I seriously doubt that this person is "just obnoxious in theaters," but is more likely an asshole to everyone he's ever met. He's probably an asshole to this dipshit, and the only reason the guy hangs with him is for protection from the repercussions of his own asshole ways.

Why does the world produce so many people like this? Why are we swimming in smug, solipsistic assholes who believe the opinions of others are not even to be taken into account? I know human nature dictates that individuals are focused on themselves primarily, but what happened to just being a little bit nice to other people? Did it ever exist? And what do these assholes really hope to accomplish, anyway? I think we're well past the days when beating some dude up meant his girlfriend would go home with you, if those ever existed anywhere except surf movies starring washed-up members of the Mickey Mouse Club.

And you wonder why I'm so cynical, so practically misanthropic? The proof is in the pudding.

November 25, 2003

My sleep schedule is about as messed up as messed up gets. I somehow ended up being up all night on Saturday, so I tried getting up at 3:30 on Sunday on seven hours' rest, figuring that would put me to bed at a reasonable time that night. Somehow, it didn't - I ended up being up all night again. I thought I could stay up through class, but that ended up not happening (fortunately, classes this week are almost exclusively exam review). So my sleep on Monday went as follows: 11-10:30. Sounds like a great night of sleep until you realize that that's 11 am to 10:30 pm. Yeah. It's 1:30 pm right now, meaning I've been up for 15 hours. I have a three-hour class from 3-6, which is going to be hellish. On a normal sleeping pattern, imagine you have a class from something like two to five in the morning (and you got up at your regular time that day). Fun, right? The plan is to try and hold out until at least 7 or 8 pm and then sleep until 6 or 7 in the morning, at which point I'll be more or less back to normal. I certainly have to beat this by Thursday, so if that doesn't work I'm pretty much screwed.

November 24, 2003

This is what happens when weekend boredom combines with having a song stuck in your head. I'm calling this one Ode to Catwoman, just to mix it up, but the source material should be pretty obvious.

November 23, 2003

What have I been doing the last three days? Well, not too much. Game Night on Friday saw my team win both Pictionary and Cranium, though I then finished last in Scrabble (even though I was first to go out - hey, you try playing something good with six vowels and a Z on your rack). Best moment: Because in Pictionary your team goes as long as you keep getting it right, Drew and Emily started and raced halfway around the board. They proceeded not to move from that spot as Heather and I went the entirety of the board to win. Drew was, in the manner of Drew, just slightly bothered by this. He and I proceeded to come back to win Cranium based on some destruction of the Word Worm category.
What else have I been doing? Um, writing parody songs with quiz bowl themes? Heh. Remember The Quiz Bowl (by Flax 182)? Well, here's Bowling for Flax with Girl All the Quiz Guys Want and REFlax (FlaxEM?) with Everybody Negs. (Incidentally, shut up.)

November 20, 2003

My unabashed penchant for snacks came in handy tonight. After using the self-check-out of books at the library, I went downstairs and decided to visit the snack machine before I left. As I got to the machine, I reached into my pocket and realized that my wallet was not there. Hurrying back upstairs, it was, fortunately, right where I had accidentally left it, in front of the checkout station. Had I not gone for a snack, I wouldn't have noticed until I got to NMQ, which would have both sucked and reduced the chances that it still would have been there when I returned.
Finally, my sweet tooth, vindicated.

November 18, 2003

That link to Saide's guest column already doesn't work, because the Daily decided to retract it. The retraction ought to prove my point, anyway.

Could it be the worst movie of the year? Maybe. Elephant review ahoy.

November 18, 2003

   Those of you who remember my post of May 29 will remember the end of it, in which I said that an interesting twist would be if the whole incident had been faked for publicity's sake. I didn't think it was, but it made for a interesting story. One so interesting I had tried to make it into a screenplay for class (unsuccessfully because the class focuses on short screenplays, a format to which this did not adapt so well), but similarly one that I thought was perhaps a bit outlandish in real life.
    As it turns out, not so much. Perhaps you remember this story from a mere eight days ago? Xander Saide, Chapin resident and Latino, first had "spic" written on his door, and then was - well, claimed to be, but let's not get ahead of the story - held at knifepoint by attackers who said "Spic, we didn't run away this time" and then tried to write something on his face. So he said. He also said, in that article, "I will survive this."
    Yes, you certainly will. The same day that his editorial, in which he made reference to being the victim of a hate crime, appeared in the Daily, Saide confessed to writing the slur on his own door and making up the attack.
    Really, I'd like to say I'm surprised, but I'm not. The entire story of the attack smacked of fabrication. The line was right out of a cheesy movie, and there didn't seem to be any motivation behind such an attack besides the overly generic "intimidation" (which, had this been real, would seem to have been accomplished, and at much less risk, by writing the slur in the first place).
    So why did he do it? Perhaps the full Daily article tomorrow will have a quote from Saide - here's betting it will, since the only possible answer here is "publicity." Was it supposed to be for himself or for minority issues? I can tell you what I think, and similarly I can tell you that even though it's likely to be the former, he'll probably say it's the latter if he says anything at all.
    The question thus becomes, is it worth it? I'd have to say no. In point of fact, it hurts minority awareness to think that a minority student staged something like this for publicity. Then there's the fact that he's being charged with a felony, and it's quite possible that he'll be tossed out of school. Well done there.
    I guess the moral of the story is, plan it out a bit better if you're going to pull this kind of shit. Better yet, just don't. The world has enough problems without you inventing some to get your name in the paper.

November 16, 2003

I was half an hour early for the movie today, and I put my jacket on a seat and went to the bathroom. When I came back it was gone. The cleaning crew had presumably come in after I left and assumed it was left there from a previous show. But they didn't give it to customer service, so my efforts to retrieve it before the film were in vain. I watched the movie, then went back to customer service. Still nothing. Finally someone retrieved it from the back. Get your shit together, Century.
Anyway, here's the review that trip produced: Runaway Jury.

November 15, 2003

If you took a random sampling of any two people from Minnesota who follow college football even at all, I suspect at least one of them would know what Floyd of Rosedale is. Yet neither Drew nor Rich had any idea. (Answer: The trophy for winning the Iowa/Minnesota football game.)
Last week's Top 20 Poll is finally up, in time for this week's to replace it in the next couple days (hopefully). I also finally caught up on the NFL Picks, though I'm sure only one person is really upset about those having been neglected.

November 15, 2003

Yeah, it's that movie time of year. Review for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is online.

November 14, 2003

This was not an easy review to write, so I hope you appreciate it: The Human Stain.

November 14, 2003

   Ann Coulter, America's leading bile-spewing clone of Satan, is apparently coming to Northwestern next Thursday (BYO Ten Foot Pole). College Republicans, a group only marginally less annoying than Coulter herself, has put flyers up everywhere touting this event by repeating some of her hideous excuses for rhetoric. Some choice bits:
    "Political debate in this country has become insufferable." Mostly thanks to people like you. Although I hesitate to call "liberals suck" actual debate.
    Then there's my personal favorite: "It is an immutable fact of politics in this country that liberals hate conservatives."
   (a) This is massively hypocritical, because for Ann Coulter to suggest that she doesn't hate liberals is about as truthful as, well, me trying to suggest I don't hate Ann Coulter.
    (b) Perhaps liberals hate conservatives because of the things conservatives say about liberals. Coulter has certainly added plenty of content to that part of the spectrum, including accusing all liberals of treason and suggesting that we've been wrong about everything in the past 50 years. This from someone whose all-time political hero is none other than Joseph McCarthy.
    How anyone could take such a flaming neo-fascist seriously is beyond me, especially since it's clear that her only real argument is "Liberals suck" and she backs it beyond the point of rationality. Okay, that's a bit redundant, since "Ann Coulter" and "rationality" are about as far apart as you could get.

November 12, 2003

I would say it's the second-best film of the year so far: the review for Shattered Glass.

November 10, 2003

Long-ass weekend. That drive to Iowa is just sick - though it was only six hours on the way back, or probably a little more than that (6h 15m, perhaps). On the way out it was nearly eight, though we hit massive traffic on both 294 and the East-West Tollway. It is a 350-mile drive to Ames, after all. Am I looking forward to Carleton (420) and Chattanooga (nearly 500)? Maybe not so much.
We did fairly well at TRASH Regionals, though I blew a potential title for us - not hyperbole, it actually ended up coming to this - by sitting on Villanova against Shelby Foote (after owning them last year, we reverted to 2001-02 form). I finished third overall with 53 ppg, my best corporate TRASH performance by about a tossup and a half, plus I hung 100 on Tia and the TRASHmen to set a new personal record for most points in a TRASH round. Not a bad deal. The full results from both the Iowa State Fall Tournament and TRASH Regionals are now up - we're not beating around the bush this week.

November 7, 2003

With the issue resolved enough that I feel okay commenting on it, the results of last weekend's DUNCE tournament are now up. Will that sufficiently whet your appetite over the weekend?

November 6, 2003

Now I can't help but wonder if I'm forgetting something. I said I wouldn't have time for another update, but here I am with an update and it's a review for a movie I spent two hours seeing (a little treat after my midterm, which I thought went fairly well). I don't have any calls on my answering machine, though, and I know I didn't have section today (because of the midterm), so it couldn't have been that important, if it was anything.
Anyway, here's the Matrix Revolutions review. It's... okay, I guess. I've been waffling - I went from unimpressed to liking it a bit more to liking it a bit less. I prefer it to Reloaded, but then it has the benefit of concluding, so I guess it probably isn't that much better in the boss comparison. I'll shut up now - just read the review, it's all there.

November 5, 2003

Apologies to those involved in the poll for its lateness (again) after not even arriving last week. The past couple weeks have been hellish, work-wise - this is only getting done now because the WNUR site is down again, or rather not letting me in, thus momentarily alleviating me of those responsibilities. The good news is, we have all seven voters back. (The bad news: Dave continues to insist on giving his #20 vote to Rutgers. They're 1-3 in the Big East, man!) If you'd really like to know what last week's poll was, you can piece it together from this week's, or check out the October 31 shoutouts on Rudnik's blog.

For anyone who cares - read: pretty much no one - I'm still not sure if I should put up my DePauw recap until I've let the whole story come out via other channels. I don't think this page is frequented by quiz bowlers, but even though I was (apparently) the first to blow the whistle (though not the only, I'm told, which, frankly, makes far more sense than the initial appearance that I was), that was in a private channel. Wash U's Sean Phillips seems intent on playing Fox Mulder on the Yahoo group, so it seems like things will come to the forefront sooner rather than later (Tyler predicted 24-36 hours). Once it's gone public on the group, I won't have any problem talking about it.
So, yeah. Most people who read this already know what I'm talking about anyway, and those who don't probably don't care. Expect the recap early next week along with Iowa State Fall Tournament and TRASH Regionals results from this weekend. And yeah, I'll be away all weekend, so don't expect anything then. In fact, this could easily be the last post you're getting until next week, so savor it.

November 1, 2003

Went to DePauw for DUNCE, "DePauw Undergraduate NAQT Competition Event," on Saturday. (Well, left yesterday, played and came back today.) Justin and I did pretty well as a two-man team, and Colby held his own having to play solo. I was third in overall scoring among people who were allowed to be counted (due to Loyola's flaking out, which was not Alma's fault, because if I don't say that and she reads this, which she will, I will wake up with a horse's head in my bed, Michigan's Mike Philpy played as a solo team in their place, but he's second-year and so was not officially eligible for scoring titles - wow, that was a lot of commas), but #1 among people not playing as solo teams. (As you might expect, playing without anyone to shadow you tends to up your point average.) I averaged about 72 ppg, about two tossups per game behind Colby and Stan, who tied at 90 (Colby won the tiebreaker, whatever it was). Considering Justin averaged something like 35 ppg, it's not hard to see why, had any of our losses been a win instead, we would have won the tournament. We did lose once each to Colby and Stan, though we did manage to sweep Philpy - it's kind of embarrassing losing to a one-man team, even if you only have two. Jan and I have done it before, so this isn't exactly new, but it's never cool. Especially when that person is on your team. At least Colby didn't sweep us, which he threatened to do until we rallied in the first game. The second game, every single tossup was history or politics, or at least it seemed that way, and here it seems extraneous to point out that, in fact, that's Colby's wheelhouse.
Why am I telling you this here? Well, there was what I shall merely refer to as an "issue" at and in the aftermath of the tournament. I can't say any more right now. Rest assured that a full recap on the Quiz Bowl page will be up as soon as this matter has been addressed, but I didn't want to go to all the trouble of a recap until it could be correct.

There's more! View last month's updates.

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This page last updated: Sunday, November 30, 2003 01:14:09 PM