Author Archives: brad

Here are some amazing pictures from the California fires. Thanks to Anji for the link.

I’m working on a new look for truetech.org. I really liked this design when I first came up with it, but I don’t think it’s aging well. I’ve worked up a couple scratch designs since then, including one based around a Mac Classic. But I believe that last night, I hit upon the look I want. Here’s a hint:

Last night, Jen and I went back to The Mill for the first time in probably five years. Steve Bridgeman, formerly of the Rainchildren, had a release party for his long awaited solo CD. Rainchildren broke up in 1998 (same year as Anonymous Joe and countless other local acts); we’ve been waiting on Steve’s solo work ever since.

It was worth the wait. Steve is a Jam Master and one finger away from being the next Phil Keaggy. If you know me and my affinity for Keaggy, you know that this is not a compliment I give lightly. Steve is that good. On top of his amazing talent, he has a gentle and humble spirit that many people could learn from. On stage, he’s shy and silly, making jokes and saying the nicest things about his friends, other performers, even the audience. I’ve had the pleasure to talk with Steve several times, and he’s a great guy.

The show also featured acoustic sets by Michael Ferrari of Unsettled and Marty Shaughnessy, also formerly of the Rainchildren. Marty fronted the Rainchildren and handled the vocals, rhythm guitar, and the bulk of the songwriting. Also a great guy. It was good to see and hear him again last night.

Michael would probably never admit this, but he was Anonymous Joe’s lead guitarist for about a month back in 1997. He played one show with us, then moved on to other projects. He was 18 at the time, I believe. Michael is a tremendously talented guitarist and songwriter, and a genius to boot. At 18, he impressed me as one of the brightest people I’d met (also not a compliment I give out lightly).

The last time we were at The Mill, it was for a private show that Anonymous Joe had been hired to do. It was toward the end of the band’s time together, but it wasn’t our last show. Jen and I seemed to remember that it was a good show, but we may be biased.

At any rate, the show was great; it was wonderful to see people and hear music that brought back memories of a time in our lives so long ago that it seems like another life. If you like instrumental guitar music, pick up Steve’s CD from his website. You won’t be disappointed.

I need to start playing again.

OK, here’s the deal. The focus is not on technology and geekiness, but on snide, sarcastic comments and links to other connected movies and television shows. Although we certainly wouldn’t shy away from poking holes in ideas/theories/plot elements that are not technically feasible. Bill, you would fit right into this stuff. You, too, Josh.

Perhaps Tech Theatre wouldn’t be the best name.

Some examples.

During Sleepy Hollow, there were many references made to Constable Crane’s earlier assignments in local urban high schools (reference to 21 Jump Street for those who are keeping score). Of course, several times, it was also assumed that Constable Crane would neatly dispose of the horseman with his scissor hands.

Fellowship of the Ring: Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson (Hugo Weaving rules).

During 28 Days Later:
Brad: You know, I liked this better the first time I saw it… when it was called Night of the Living Dead.
Nicole: You can tell this is a European film, becuase most of these scenes aren’t doing anything to move the plot forward at all. Like that one. They’re just driving in a car and staring out the window. They wouldn’t have that scene in an American movie.
Brad: Or if they did, there would have been a kickin’ song playing in the background.
Nicole: Exactly.
Dave: That’s what’s better about non-Hollywood films. They have these character moments that just…
Mike: Suck?
Dave: No. They don’t have to be like American movies, which are…
Mike: Interesting?

Mike provided a play-by-play during Transformers, The Movie, most notably the scene toward the beginning of the movie where most of the good guys are brutally and rather inexplicably killed. “Oh, Ironhide’s tough. He’ll take them out… Oh, maybe not. I guess he’s dead. Well, here comes… Oh, never mind. He’s dead.” Although, truth be told, we were all at a loss for words during the scene that was accompanied by Weird Al Yankovic’s “Dare To Be Stupid.” That was just weird.

During Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance, well, actually this is a bad example. Mike and I could only stomach about three minutes of this nightmare. It’s awful. It’s worse than playing Myst, which, interestingly enough, also took me about three minutes to tire of.

And finally, the off-color example I don’t think I should post but I will anyway. In Attack of the Clones, when Anakin and Amidala are reunited, Anakin says, “I thought about you every day.” Mike added, “Sometimes twice a day.”

These are just the ones that spring to mind. Hopefully my Tech Theatre costars will provide more examples.

The Winnie-the-Pooh Bandit.

Cereal Killer.

Sweetness and light.

Creepy treat ,30200-12863870,00.html”>babies.

Preaching to the choir.

“Run Away From the Dots.”

So, we’ve found our calling. Remember Mystery Science Theatre 3000? We’re going to take that idea and move past it: Tech Theatre. We’ve discovered that, as a department, we’re really, really good at watching movies and making snide, sarcastic comments. What better way to contribute to society than by filming ourselves watching movies and making snide, sarcastic comments for all the world to see?

We’ve yet to reach a final concensus, but I don’t think we’re going to have robots on our show. I think it would be too obvious. But Tech Theatre is definitely the working name for now.

I think this could work.

Thoughts?

Mac OS X 10.3 (aka Panther):

Most excellent release of Mac OS X. It was a much smoother transition from 10.2 to 10.3 than it was from 10.1 to 10.2 (for starters, QuickMail didn’t fight 10.3 the way it did 10.2), although there were a few incompatibility problems, most notably Silk. I also don’t know if anyone has successfully compiled and/or run PostgreSQL on 10.3 yet. Remote Desktop 1.2 seems to be working, which is a pleasant departure from past upgrades. Tragically (and I’m not being sarcastic), Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 is unplayably slow. That one hurts.

The new Finder is nice, although it’s taking me more time than I expected to get the hand of it. The metal interface is cool and all, but it’s an awful lot of chrome (no pun intended) taking up space. I think I may actually prefer the 10.2 Finder. The threading in Mail is exceptionally well done. Safari 1.1 is there, but I haven’t noticed a difference from 1.0 yet. iChat AV is no longer a beta version. Exposé is wicked cool, and the new Command-Tab switching is implemented well. The overall look is much more polished. I especially like the new tabs, much more than I thought I would.

The big news? Mike and I have successfully authenticated Panther against Active Directory at login without using a Mac OS X Server. Woohoo! Now all we need to do is figure out to map home directories to the network and we’re golden.

iTrip:

I also received my new iTrip yesterday, the one for the third generation iPod. So far, I really like it. Dan, Mike, and I immediately went out to the VUE to test it, and it passed with flying colors. Mike then ran a completely unscientific test showing that the range on the iTrip is about 20-25 feet, at least in our parking lot using my radio. Dan tried it in his car and got decent reception considering his antenna is broken off. Mike was able to pick up the iTrip’s signal in his car while it was still in Dan’s car.

We were especially pleased with the bass; it was much boomier than we expected it to be over an FM signal.

Overall, it sounds pretty good. It certainly isn’t as clear as a line in, or even a cassette adapter, but considering it was my only real choice, it’s pretty good. Jen even gave it a thumbs up.

Now to purge my car of compact discs…

The Saturn Snobs
Me: Geez! Did you see the way that guy just cut me off?
Jen: Mm hm.
Me: Man. And that was a Saturn, too. He doesn’t deserve a Saturn.
Jen: Oh, please, it was an Ion.

Alumni
Jen: So we took the kids over to the Millersville pond today. They collected pine cones and acorns, and for some reason, seashells.
Me: Seashells at the pond?
Jen: Yeah. I don’t get it.
Me: So you went to the Millersville pond at school today, Gracie?
Grace: Yeah.
Me: Can I tell you something about Millersville?
Grace: What?
Me: Did you see all the big buildings around the pond?
Grace: Yeah.
Me: That’s where Mommy and Daddy went to college.
Grace: Yeah, I know. Millersville University, right?
Me: Um, yeah.
Grace: I knew that, Daddy.
Me: Maybe someday, you’ll go to college there.
Grace: [rolls eyes] I don’t think so, Daddy.
Me: [laughing] Yeah, that’s what Mommy and I used to say, too.

Garage Sale
Mother-in-Law: Well, if the garage sale starts at 7:00, you want to be out here by 6:00. It was listed in the paper as starting at 7:00.
Me: It starts at 7:00; I’ll be out at 7:00.
MIL: But the real bargain hunters will be out at 6:00.
Me: But it starts at 7:00.
MIL: They like to come out early.
Me: That’s sick. If it starts at 7:00, it starts at 7:00, not 6:00. I don’t get these people who get up at the crack of dawn to go to garage sales before they even start. It’s sick! These people are mentally deficient.

Reuters: A British couple have been forced to move house because of the shame caused by the name of their street — Butt Hole Road.

Butt Hole Road. That’s great!

Of course, I’ll bet you didn’t know that this was a real town, either.

Top Eleven Cartoon Spinoffs: Gilligan’s Planet only amassed twelve episodes, mostly because that’s the gamut of shows the public could’ve put up with before wondering why the gang built a space ship instead of, you know, a BOAT.

50 Reasons Why Lord of the Rings, As They Say in America, “Sucks”: Every time Frodo or Bilbo went invisible with the ring they should have also gone BLIND.Your eyes cannot function unless light is reflected off the cornea.If light passes through it (as must be the case with invisibility) sight is no longer possible.Also, rings do not turn you invisible.

Top 34 Signs That Irritating That Hacker Last Week May Have Been a Mistake: You recieve your death certificate in the mail.

Jim Croce’s List of Things It Would Be Imprudent To Do: Talk back to your mother, go swimming right after eating, return to work without washing your hands, leave your pet in the car on a hot day, mess around with Jim.

Recent Unpatriotic Thoughts, Canadian Edition: As a solution to the Mid East peace crisis, suggested to several friends that we give Saskatchewan to the Palestinians.

The FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives: Osama bin Laden.

Top Ten Urinals:Hong Kong Shertaon Hotel and Towers, Hong Kong.

Siskel & Ebert’s Top Ten Lists.

Top Ten Web-Design Mistakes of 2002: Links that don’t behave as expected undermine users’ understanding of their own system. A link should be a simple hypertext reference that replaces the current page with new content. Users hate unwarranted pop-up windows.