(click to make it bigger)
old thepete.com blog
moral compass online since 1998
Sunday, April 9, 2006
Saturday, April 8, 2006
FRIENDS OF ThePETE:Blogs/Podcasts to Check Out!
Wow--for the first time in years I actually bumped into someone I knew in a public place. It was completely random and it was a friend whom I haven't seen in 5 years. TheWife and I were out bopping around, trying to stay excited about being in LA and, again with complete randomness, ended up at [http://skoobys.com|Skooby's] in Hollywood after looking for places to eat in Malibu and across a good portion of Ventura Blvd. As we started ordering our Garlic Lovers Dogs I glanced behind us to see my old Red Dwarf fangirl friend Heidi--or as she is known on the 'net, Stennie (Stennieville.com).
She totally didn't recognize me (I just have one of those forgetful faces ;) ) but I recognized her right away--though I wasn't entirely sure it was her since the last time I saw her she was a blonde and it was, like, 5 years ago. So we ate our deluxe meals and as TheWife and I were about to leave I went over and said "Are you Heidi?"
To which, she said "yeah?" You know--one of those pregnant "do I (want to) know you?" deals (not that I blame her, I'd be the same way) and I tell her my name and it all comes back to her. I re-introduced her to TheWife and Heidi introduces us to her friend and we chat briefly and were off after I told her I'd stop by her site and drop her an email.
So, today I did both. Her site is mostly reviews of movies but also features a blog of daily trivia questions (which always kick my ass). It also turns out she's got an audio podcast going with her friend Bet. It's called [http://hucklebug.blogspot.com/|Huckle-Bug] and it's really funny. Just the two of them talking about stuff--but with them it's actually pretty entertaining. I feel like I'm just hanging out with them while I listen.
Of course, talking about one friend's blog and podcast reminds me of two other talented friend's blogs. My friends Pamela and Anderw, or collectively: Pamdrew, are two of the most creative and talented people I know. They're both actors and were in my play Director's Cut last year, where we met.
Pamela has a blog at pamdrew.blogspot.com where she blogs about her adventures being an actor in Los Angeles. Among her recent topics are the pole dancing class she is taking, the importance of good headshots and her cool dayjob boss. I think she's actually a very talented writer and hope she keeps her blog going.
Andrew, on the other hand, is completely talentless... NO, NO, NO! I'm just kidding!! He, like Pamela, is immensely talented. He's been developing a puppet-based podcast called The Felties and you can read about his adventures as an actor/writer/puppeteer in Los Angeles at thefelties.blogspot.com. Oh, yeah-he produced and directed his first play (I think it was his first) earlier this year and it was really good. Andrew also has a hillarious vodcast called Disembodied Animal Head Theatre or DAHT for short. It features classic scenes from Shakespeare paraphrased by those animal head puppets that are just articulated little plastic animal heads on the ends of sticks (the same kind you always see at amusement park souvenir shops). DAHT is far funnier than it should be--but that's the kind of talent Andrew brings so check it out at daht.blogspot.com.
Pamdrew are so talented I'm hoping to work with them soon on a podcast--either on one we create together or at least have them on The 5 Minute Show.
OK, that's all for now! I hope you'll check those sites out and I hope you enjoy them, too!
She totally didn't recognize me (I just have one of those forgetful faces ;) ) but I recognized her right away--though I wasn't entirely sure it was her since the last time I saw her she was a blonde and it was, like, 5 years ago. So we ate our deluxe meals and as TheWife and I were about to leave I went over and said "Are you Heidi?"
To which, she said "yeah?" You know--one of those pregnant "do I (want to) know you?" deals (not that I blame her, I'd be the same way) and I tell her my name and it all comes back to her. I re-introduced her to TheWife and Heidi introduces us to her friend and we chat briefly and were off after I told her I'd stop by her site and drop her an email.
So, today I did both. Her site is mostly reviews of movies but also features a blog of daily trivia questions (which always kick my ass). It also turns out she's got an audio podcast going with her friend Bet. It's called [http://hucklebug.blogspot.com/|Huckle-Bug] and it's really funny. Just the two of them talking about stuff--but with them it's actually pretty entertaining. I feel like I'm just hanging out with them while I listen.
Of course, talking about one friend's blog and podcast reminds me of two other talented friend's blogs. My friends Pamela and Anderw, or collectively: Pamdrew, are two of the most creative and talented people I know. They're both actors and were in my play Director's Cut last year, where we met.
Pamela has a blog at pamdrew.blogspot.com where she blogs about her adventures being an actor in Los Angeles. Among her recent topics are the pole dancing class she is taking, the importance of good headshots and her cool dayjob boss. I think she's actually a very talented writer and hope she keeps her blog going.
Andrew, on the other hand, is completely talentless... NO, NO, NO! I'm just kidding!! He, like Pamela, is immensely talented. He's been developing a puppet-based podcast called The Felties and you can read about his adventures as an actor/writer/puppeteer in Los Angeles at thefelties.blogspot.com. Oh, yeah-he produced and directed his first play (I think it was his first) earlier this year and it was really good. Andrew also has a hillarious vodcast called Disembodied Animal Head Theatre or DAHT for short. It features classic scenes from Shakespeare paraphrased by those animal head puppets that are just articulated little plastic animal heads on the ends of sticks (the same kind you always see at amusement park souvenir shops). DAHT is far funnier than it should be--but that's the kind of talent Andrew brings so check it out at daht.blogspot.com.
Pamdrew are so talented I'm hoping to work with them soon on a podcast--either on one we create together or at least have them on The 5 Minute Show.
OK, that's all for now! I hope you'll check those sites out and I hope you enjoy them, too!
Friday, April 7, 2006
Ah, 2001... Hey, Who Did the Voice of HAL, Anyway?
Well, it's the weekend again and it's time for me to chill out.
Last night I watched 2001 on my iPod--I'm sure Kubrick is spinning in his grave :) Regardless, it was still cool. Mind you, I didn't sit there staring at my 3.5 inch screen for three hours. It was on while I was working on a client's website. I forget what inspired me to watch it, but something a couple days ago reminded me of it, so I figured, why not?
Oh and being the completist that I am I had to watch 2010 today. Now, I know what I'm about to say is unpopular, but I have to say it: 2010 is a GOOD MOVIE!
Sure, it's no 2001, but it's got some nice things in it. It's dated, yeah, Russia can barely afford to fly an airplane through the air, let alone a spaceship to Jupiter. Still, taken on its own, it does all right as a standalone film. There are really nice character bits and the way they build up to the big mission back to Jupiter is pretty damn engrossing. There are parts of it that are "eh" and I wish that Peter Hyams, the director and fellow Syracuse grad, had managed to sneak in a bit of that Kubrikian commentary on the absurdity and duality of humanity, but I still enjoy the film whenever I watch it.
I do get a little frustrated when we find out it was the White House who gave orders that screwed HAL up instead of Floyd. I feel that a good opportunity to explore the corruption of man was missed right there. Like the lack of nudity in AI, I don't think Kubrick would have missed that chance to show a more critical view of a man in the position Floyd was in. Yes, I know Kubrick never did sequels, but I think he was short-sighted in that regard. Some stories are worth revisiting and the 2001 series is one of them.
Another thing that tweaked my head about both films was that Dr. Chandra, creator of the HAL-9000 computer didn't have a HAL-9000 in his office on Earth. In 2001 they refer to the track record of the HAL-9000 saying something like "no HAL-9000 has made a mistake or distorted information."
This gives us the idea that there are more than one HAL-9000. Yet, in 2010, just nine years later, Dr. Chandra has already moved on and has a SAL-9000 in his office. This is the part with the tweakage.
I'm listening to SAL talk and I get to wondering who the voice was. I'm usually pretty good at picking out voice over actors and this time I was pretty sure it was [http://www.lesliehouk.com/meg_foster/|the ice-blue-eyed woman] from They Live and the creepy three-part storyline on Quantum Leap, Meg Foster:
However, after a quick visit to IMDB, I discovered it was not--I was surprised, but not shocked, to learn that it was, in fact, Murphy Brown--[http://imdb.com/name/nm0000298/|Candice Bergen].
I know--bizarre, but not bad, casting. I wonder just how the hell she got that gig. Of course, once I discovered who provided the voice of SAL, the next question was obvious:
Who did the voice of HAL, anyway?
Turns out it was a guy called Douglas Rain and according to the website http://www.ArchivioKubrick.it this is what Rain looked like in his somewhat younger days (he was born in 1928, according to IMDB):
Seems like the face I'd expect HAL's voice to come from. :)
If you're a Kubrick fan check out that Italian site I linked to above. It's got some cool stuff despite the fact that most of it is in Italian. There's even an article on Kubrick's AI that Google translator mauls pretty badly. If anyone knows of a better translation please let me know.
Oh and whether you're a Kubrick fan or not, have a go at 2010 and try to think of it as its own movie. It's not fair to compare it to 2001 since well, Kubrick made 2001! Hyams is a perfectly reasonable filmmaker and I think he does a fine job telling the story of the return to Jupiter.
If you give it a try and still don't like it, then you're probably watching too much MTV. ;) Damn kids!
Last night I watched 2001 on my iPod--I'm sure Kubrick is spinning in his grave :) Regardless, it was still cool. Mind you, I didn't sit there staring at my 3.5 inch screen for three hours. It was on while I was working on a client's website. I forget what inspired me to watch it, but something a couple days ago reminded me of it, so I figured, why not?
Oh and being the completist that I am I had to watch 2010 today. Now, I know what I'm about to say is unpopular, but I have to say it: 2010 is a GOOD MOVIE!
Sure, it's no 2001, but it's got some nice things in it. It's dated, yeah, Russia can barely afford to fly an airplane through the air, let alone a spaceship to Jupiter. Still, taken on its own, it does all right as a standalone film. There are really nice character bits and the way they build up to the big mission back to Jupiter is pretty damn engrossing. There are parts of it that are "eh" and I wish that Peter Hyams, the director and fellow Syracuse grad, had managed to sneak in a bit of that Kubrikian commentary on the absurdity and duality of humanity, but I still enjoy the film whenever I watch it.
I do get a little frustrated when we find out it was the White House who gave orders that screwed HAL up instead of Floyd. I feel that a good opportunity to explore the corruption of man was missed right there. Like the lack of nudity in AI, I don't think Kubrick would have missed that chance to show a more critical view of a man in the position Floyd was in. Yes, I know Kubrick never did sequels, but I think he was short-sighted in that regard. Some stories are worth revisiting and the 2001 series is one of them.
Another thing that tweaked my head about both films was that Dr. Chandra, creator of the HAL-9000 computer didn't have a HAL-9000 in his office on Earth. In 2001 they refer to the track record of the HAL-9000 saying something like "no HAL-9000 has made a mistake or distorted information."
This gives us the idea that there are more than one HAL-9000. Yet, in 2010, just nine years later, Dr. Chandra has already moved on and has a SAL-9000 in his office. This is the part with the tweakage.
I'm listening to SAL talk and I get to wondering who the voice was. I'm usually pretty good at picking out voice over actors and this time I was pretty sure it was [http://www.lesliehouk.com/meg_foster/|the ice-blue-eyed woman] from They Live and the creepy three-part storyline on Quantum Leap, Meg Foster:
However, after a quick visit to IMDB, I discovered it was not--I was surprised, but not shocked, to learn that it was, in fact, Murphy Brown--[http://imdb.com/name/nm0000298/|Candice Bergen].
I know--bizarre, but not bad, casting. I wonder just how the hell she got that gig. Of course, once I discovered who provided the voice of SAL, the next question was obvious:
Who did the voice of HAL, anyway?
Turns out it was a guy called Douglas Rain and according to the website http://www.ArchivioKubrick.it this is what Rain looked like in his somewhat younger days (he was born in 1928, according to IMDB):
Seems like the face I'd expect HAL's voice to come from. :)
If you're a Kubrick fan check out that Italian site I linked to above. It's got some cool stuff despite the fact that most of it is in Italian. There's even an article on Kubrick's AI that Google translator mauls pretty badly. If anyone knows of a better translation please let me know.
Oh and whether you're a Kubrick fan or not, have a go at 2010 and try to think of it as its own movie. It's not fair to compare it to 2001 since well, Kubrick made 2001! Hyams is a perfectly reasonable filmmaker and I think he does a fine job telling the story of the return to Jupiter.
If you give it a try and still don't like it, then you're probably watching too much MTV. ;) Damn kids!
BUSH OK'ed PLAMEGATE LEAK
Screengrab from News.Google.Com yesterday:
Yeah, that's all "shocking" and stuff, but you know it won't make a difference--in fact, in just the day since this story broke, it's already sliding off of Bush with the help of the good old press!
The following comes from [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/washington/06cnd-leak.html?ei=5065&en=eccc3b3c2cff0d36&ex=1144987200&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print|an April 6, 2006 article] at NYTimes.com:
Is there bloody well anything Bush can't do? It seems like he just comes along and does stuff that looks illegal and the press and the government just lets him get away with it. It seems like everyone's forgotten the concept of investigating a possible crime. Can we at least make sure this isn't a crime? Are we going to trust the "legal experts" at the NYTimes to get this right or we going to see actual investigators get involved?
SERIOUSLY: Can we see just ONE investigation into the things Bush has done that look awfully suspicious, please?
Whatever, man. All this shit just makes me want to trust precisely nobody anywhere.
What a great "leader" Bush is...
Yeah, that's all "shocking" and stuff, but you know it won't make a difference--in fact, in just the day since this story broke, it's already sliding off of Bush with the help of the good old press!
The following comes from [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/washington/06cnd-leak.html?ei=5065&en=eccc3b3c2cff0d36&ex=1144987200&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print|an April 6, 2006 article] at NYTimes.com:
The president has the legal power to declassify information, and Mr. Libby indicated in his testimony that the president's decision รข€” which he said was conveyed through Mr. Cheney รข€” gave him legal cover to pass on information contained in a National Intelligence Estimate.
Is there bloody well anything Bush can't do? It seems like he just comes along and does stuff that looks illegal and the press and the government just lets him get away with it. It seems like everyone's forgotten the concept of investigating a possible crime. Can we at least make sure this isn't a crime? Are we going to trust the "legal experts" at the NYTimes to get this right or we going to see actual investigators get involved?
SERIOUSLY: Can we see just ONE investigation into the things Bush has done that look awfully suspicious, please?
Whatever, man. All this shit just makes me want to trust precisely nobody anywhere.
What a great "leader" Bush is...
Thursday, April 6, 2006
TheVlog for 4/6/6
Yep! It's another vlog entry from me! Exciting! In this one I talk about the global warming, the Dubai ports deal (old footage from last month), Bush being pals with some nuke-users but not others and MORE. You can also see footage of me on a rollercoaster and two helicopter!! ZOWEE!
thevlog20060406.mp4
Be warned, however--it's a 30mb MP4 and runs a whopping 11 minutes! Special thanks to the guy behind the brilliant mp4 encoder/converter iSquint which shrank that mp4 down from 45 megs. Check iSquint out at iSquint.org (Mac only).
thevlog20060406.mp4
Be warned, however--it's a 30mb MP4 and runs a whopping 11 minutes! Special thanks to the guy behind the brilliant mp4 encoder/converter iSquint which shrank that mp4 down from 45 megs. Check iSquint out at iSquint.org (Mac only).
ThePete is Now TheUncle!
Hey, check that out! It's my little brother and his new baby girl, Siena. This is so trippy and one of the few instances when I regret being broke all the time. "But wait, Pete, he doesn't look like you at all!" Yes, it's true--he doesn't. My little brother is actually my step-brother, which is why he's Italian and several inches taller than me. Growing up we always felt closer than step-brothers, so we just dropped the "step". Anyway, so, I'm an uncle now. So weird--I called my mom up on Tuesday after I got her voicemail that my bro's wife had given birth and my mom says "it's Uncle Pete!" to which I replied: "Hi, Grandma!"
To which she replied: "No, but I'd like to be!"
KIDDING!!!
ANYway, so I don't know what to do really. I guess send them a card or something, huh? I've never had a niece before and there is something a little strange inside my head about my little brother having a kid before me. The stupid irony is that I have very different opinions on having kids from most other people, but I'll save those for another post. Right now I'm just stuck between elation and hesitation. Having a kid is a heavy thing, I haven't been that close with my brother since I moved out to LA, but I think he and his wife, together, are ready for parenthood. From what I understand it's quite a team effort--not to sound too cliche.
Anyway, so that's the good news. Thankfully, there is no bad news. :) Then again, I haven't checked the news yet, today, so who knows?
If you want to read more about Siena before she was born, check out BabySparacin.blogspot.com. I'm sure they'll update it soon with more pics.
So, I Stumble Across this Old Movie of "1984"
One of my favorite movies is this old movie version of the classic novel 1984. A while back I converted it to mp4 for easy watching on my iPod. Tonight I decided to put it on while working on a client's website. The film is surprisingly good for 1955--the year in which it was made. They change a staple of the book, though, replacing the infamous rat cage with simply a room filled with rats. That change wasn't that big of a deal, though I missed the imagery of a rat cage that attaches to your face.
>shudder<
So I'm watching the interogation and reprogramming scene and it occurs to me just how inefficient Big Brother's procedure is for dealing with dissidents.
If I were Big Brother, I would just hire a bunch of talking heads to go on cable TV and "report" over and over again that 2+2=5.
It worked for Iraq and WMD, didn't it?
Hell, you could kind of draw a decent parallel between 911 and the rat cage, now that I think about it. I certainly feel like 911 gets clamped onto my face every time a Republican (and even some Democrats) needs to get something done. And it's use as the rat cage certainly gets people to agree with a lot of stuff.
OK, I'm going to stop thinking about this now...
...or try to...
>shudder<
So I'm watching the interogation and reprogramming scene and it occurs to me just how inefficient Big Brother's procedure is for dealing with dissidents.
If I were Big Brother, I would just hire a bunch of talking heads to go on cable TV and "report" over and over again that 2+2=5.
It worked for Iraq and WMD, didn't it?
Hell, you could kind of draw a decent parallel between 911 and the rat cage, now that I think about it. I certainly feel like 911 gets clamped onto my face every time a Republican (and even some Democrats) needs to get something done. And it's use as the rat cage certainly gets people to agree with a lot of stuff.
OK, I'm going to stop thinking about this now...
...or try to...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)