As I've mentioned several times before, I'm a total Web2.0 junkie. I'm a sucker for trying out all the fun new toys, gadgets and gizmos. Some catch on and keep my attention for prolonged periods of time, while others kind of fade into the background as I devote my time to other things. Time is a limited commodity, even when I stay up way later than my wife & daughter most nights, I still can't fit everything in.
So, to blatantly steal an idea from Warren Ellis, here's a quick update on where I am, relatively actively, around the Internets as of late June 2007. Most of these are linked in the sidebar, but just in case you're not paying attention.
The Darkside - my personal blog. Containing typical bloggy-type things. Such as, for example, this post. You're reading it right now. Presumably. Maybe.
Facebook (profile not linked directly, just search for me there if you want to find me). I probably check on Facebook a little more frequently than MySpace, but neither are ignored (or obsessed over, for that matter).
the Columbus Underground , (fairly regular poster in the forums, as "shroud" naturally.
I think that's a pretty fair compilation. At least of stuff I check into "actively". (Which varies depending on the service. I obviously don't have new movie reviews to add daily or even weekly, but when I do, I add them one or both of those places. And last.fm is basically passive scrobbling for the most part.) If you're interested in any of that stuff, be sure to add me as a friend - the one thing about my web2.0 addiction is that I can always use more "friends" on all these social services. Ever the wandering loner, eh?
Anyways, it's a good time, and as far as addictions go, better than most. Something tells me that it's not going to net me any government assistance though.
A heavy metal fan in Sweden is so obsessed with his favorite music that the state of Hässleholm in the southern part of the country has deemed him psychologically impaired and eligible for financial assistance from Employment Services.
According to Blabbermouth.net, the story was first printed in the Swedish publication The Local, which reported that 42-year-old Roger Tullgren underwent psychological analysis after losing numerous jobs because he stayed out late at so many shows he couldn’t make it to work the next day. He claims to have attended almost 300 rock shows last year.
“The fact that I am so into music has affected my work situation to the extent that I have had to quit some jobs,” he said.
Tullgren started seeing a psychologist when he was fired from his last job and went on welfare. When the analyst realized the severity of the man’s situation, he had Tullgren sign a paper that indicated his “heavy metal lifestyle” was a “disability” and the man became qualified for a wage supplement.
I'm not totally sold on the veracity of this (the initial mention coming from BLABBERMOUTH seems a little suspect), but seriously... being SO METAL the government has to PAY YOU. Well played.
Well, thankfully (as far as I know) so far I've managed to avoid all the personal information/social security breaches, including all the credit card company leaks, OSU leaks, etc. But when the story broke last week of the backup tape with the personal information and social security numbers for all state employees and their dependents I figured it'd finally happened to me too.
I know several folks who have had their information compromised, and have been acquainted with some folks who have actually had their identities stolen. It can be a painful process getting everything cleaned up. Prevention & remediation plans are underway in pretty much every sector at this point to try and stem the tide, but it seems like there's still SO much to be done.
So anyways, the good news... I've been digging through all the news reports of this State leak since it first came out, and thankfully saw the news I was looking for today:
But the state has confirmed that the tape contains the names and Social Security numbers of all 64,467 non-university state employees. If they were enrolled in the state's pharmacy-benefits management program, their address and phone numbers also are included, as well as the names and Social Security numbers of 75,532 dependents.
So one more break. Don't know how long it'll last, but good news for me and many of my friends and family for now at least. If you were one of the state employees who WERE affected (or a family member of), I'm assuming you'll be getting a letter in the mail soon (if you haven't already), and I'd strongly recommend taking advantage of the ID protection services they're offering. See the State Employee Identity Protection website for more info.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are going to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history!!
Before I get to that though -- I have to back up a step. Sadly, I slacked off and never got around to blogging about LeBron's INSANE performance in Game 5.
There's dominating performances and then there's totally putting a team on your back and carrying them through to the win. Scoring 29 of the team's last 30 points. 25 points straight. All the scoring for the team in BOTH overtimes. EVERY. SINGLE. POINT. He was driving and dunking and no one could stop him - the entire Detroit team, coaching staff, and every fan in that building knew who was getting the ball - but they just couldn't stop him. Even the few times they DID keep him outside he threw up shots that had NO RIGHT to go in, but did anyway! If you missed this game, you missed an unreal performance.
So how do you follow-up a performance like that? Well, you can't really expect to TOP it... but it's important not to relax -- after all, last year the Cavs were in a VERY similar situation -- drop the first two games in Detroit, win the next two in Cleveland, go back to the Palace and steal a win... only to lose in Game 6 at home, then, hearts broken, get crushed in Game 7. Well, NOT THIS YEAR!
Things started out pretty close, then the Cavs got into a great rhythm at the end of the 1st, only to go cold during a 21-MINUTE TECHNICAL DELAY. It's ridiculous they let it go that long. Detroit kept it close, and LeBron did pretty much all his scoring from the line. The rest of the team did a GREAT job in stepping up to fill the gap.
The game stays close until the 4th Quarter... when not LeBron, but "Boobie" Gibson, the ROOKIE takes over. Draining 3 after 3... It was GREAT to see them finally pull away and knock it home. An absolutely great moment. a 21 year old rookie out of Texas, only 1 year younger than LeBron, but he looks like he's 16, and standing next to the big guys it's a riot - he looks like a freaking hobbit standing next to Z. But his play is HUGE. "Boobie Trap" indeed.
Great game, great night, great team! Gotta love it.
Been staying up a little later the past few days and playing around with lots of different sites out on the Internets. Feeding my bizarre Web2.0 addiction primarily -- I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff, as I'm sure you know by now, and I've found a lot of fun sites there to feed said addiction lately. Most of them things which have been around for a little while that I just hadn't gotten around to previously.
I'll call your attention to the right-hand sidebar there, where you'll hopefully notice two new additions:
The Aggregated Darkside --Followed a link/brief write-up from Warren Ellis to Tumblr, and decided to sign-up. Tumblr is apparently a site for "tumblelogs". As they put it, if blogs are journals, then tumblelogs are scrapbooks. Essentially, it's blogging without the commentary - just a collection of links, pictures, videos, etc. And Tumblr has a really nice interface for importing whatever RSS feeds you want to throw at it, as well as pre-made import scripts for common sites like Digg, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, etc. So, as you might guess from the name, I've set it up to import my stuff from all over the webosphere2.0. Plus some extra pics & links thrown in just to share. If nothing else, it's hopefully an easy one-stop-shop feed you can subscribe to to keep an eye on all that is Max. Or something.
Last.FM -- I've known about Last.FM a LONG time... but never bothered signing-up for it because I listen to my own iTunes music the vast majority of the time, and already have so much crap imported into iTunes that I didn't really see much need for Internet radio, social or no -- but then there's the whole AudioScrobbler thing they've got going. Basically, you can download a utility which CAN play their Internet radio (tag channels, friend channels, specific bands, whatever), but can ALSO pay attention to what you're listening to in the audio player of your choice and write it out to your profile, so you can build nifty little "recently played" lists like the one on the sidebar there. Or, if you rather, you can do "top plays", or whatever. It's pretty fun. And hey, I've even got two friends there already! (Thanks Gary & norb). FWIW, I already turned OFF my last.FM feeds to Tumblr because it was just too much - in comparison to everything else, the songs I listened to (per song) were just drowning the other content.
I also broke down and signed-up for Twitter today. I honestly don't know if I'll have much use for it at the moment, but it seems to be the current rising wave, so I want to at least poke around at all the different things you can do with it. The basic premise is that Twitter answers the question "what are you doing RIGHT NOW?" -- kind of like the Facebook "status" field, only even more immediate. You can add friends to a feed, and see all their updates automagically in your stream or RSS, or you can get the updates pushed to your phone via text messages (you can update via text msg as well!), IM, custom desktop apps, etc. It's apparently "really addicting" -- I suppose that depends on having friends using it too, and ATM, as far as I know, I have none. :P (heh)
So yeah, I love me some web2.0. I'm such a sucker.
Anyways, more fun from around the Internet, random link edition:
Belly Dancer gets half her butt liposuctioned away:
A German belly dancer has been given twice as much compensation as she asked for - after a plastic surgeon accidentally sucked away one of her buttocks instead of reducing the size of her thighs.
What to do with that wedding ring after a failed marriage? Why, GIVE IT A PROPER BURIAL, naturally.
That's all for now. Gotta get back to watching the Cavs fight for an even playing field heading back to Detroit. Let's go Cleveland!! Can you FEEL the excitement Z?
Season 4 of The 4400 (the series) hits USA (the channel) on June 17th (the date). To rev up, they appear to have put quite a bit of work into a viral marketing campaign, including several themed websites, videos (hosted on YouTube, naturally), etc.
What's a real shame is that the first I heard about any of this is when Googling around this afternoon trying to find a premiere date for the new season. With all the work that went into it, why is the only thing I saw on it a Sci-Fi Wire news blurb from May 23rd? Now admittedly, per that story they just launched things on 5/21, but still - have we already become so jaded to viral marketing like this that no one cared enough to notice? Or are they going to ramp it up and get the word out a bit louder in the next week or two as the actual premiere gets closer? I would think some actual TV spots for the ads would be pretty cool -- though it might be a hair too realistic & freak people out, possible backlash, yada yada yada. Still, wouldn't it be fun if they ran something like this. That one won't embed - here's a shorter hack version from the ad company on YouTube:
I'm really pretty impressed with the amount of stuff out there. These aren't simple, quick one-page sites, they've actually put some effort into them. Here's what I've dug up so far:
Each site seems to have plenty of videos (the article mentions at least 80). I like the commercial-type spots a bit better than the "dispatches".
One thing they seem to be doing differently from some other viral marketing, is that they're actually ENCOURAGING roleplaying - non-paid, non-affiliated people joining up, typing stuff in character about their own stories, their own abilities or exposure, etc, etc. Though it's a pretty early 4th wall break for the site, the PromicinTerror has this "Contribute to the Cause" link which explains it a bit more:
Play a character and become a part of The 4400 universe -- tell us the part of the promicin story that only you can create! Take a look at some of the videos, articles and photo-illustrated stories on Promicin Info, Promicin Terror and Promicin Power. Then decide what new promicin story you'd like to tell and how you'd like to tell it. See suggestions below for creating a great submission.
They've even got forums setup on PromicinInfo where there's all kinds of folks posting in character, about promicin/4400y things, and some of THOSE people even link back to their own in-characterpersonal blogs... of course, some of them link to unrelated sites, and some link to in-character blogs that BREAKcharacter... I was able to register for an account on the forum & post a reply to one of the threads (I made it neutral enough that it wouldn't break kayfabe)... very cool touch, but as the word gets out, I'm assuming it's going to take some AGGRESSIVE moderating to keep griefers out. Because lord knows the Intarwubs luvs them some griefers.
So if you're exited for the new season of the 4400 to start, or if you're just a fan of viral marketing and fan-involvement, check it out!
EDIT: Unfortunately, their "embed video" links for the non-YouTube flash vids don't seem to work so well (with Blogger at least), so I had to cut out a couple. Be sure to check out the "Protect our Children" video on the first page of PromicinTerror.com - it's quality.
So our deck is done! (Well, the CONSTRUCTION of the deck is done).
We went ahead and loaded it all up last night with our brand new outdoor furniture (including Evie's own little picnic table Grandpa got her) and our old grill. Take a look:
I think it's great! And done in time for a Memorial Day cookout even! Too bad it's supposed to rain this weekend... We'll also have to UNLOAD the entire thing within a week or two and seal/stain it, but for now we're living it up!
If it does rain, then at least I won't have to regret missing the great weather if we wind up seeing PotC: At World's End (which I definitely hope to do). Can't wait, should be a good one! (Though the threequels haven't been working out so well for other franchises... but I have hope.)
Gotta run - but I also wanted to share this PG edit of 300:
I'm still here. Things are going pretty well in Maxville. VERY busy at work lately, but that's a good thing - keeps things focused, yet busy means it's not all one thing and doesn't get boring. It also helps the time fly by very quickly.
Outside of work, our deck is almost done! It LOOKS done, but there are a few minor details I'm assuming should be polished off tomorrow. I'll get some pics up once it's all finished. (Of course, the "finish" (sealing/staining, etc.) won't be for another week or two). Not exactly looking forward to that, but you do what you gotta do. I AM looking forward to the deck itself - it looks awesome.
The title up there would be tonight's Cavs game. The boys put up a tough fight up in D-town, but fell JUST short at the end. The upside to the loss (if there is one) is that they went for the WIN instead of the tie at the end, LeBron driving the lane before kicking out to Donyell Marshall for a nice open look at a game-winning 3 that was JUST off... If they can take one of the games in the Palace before coming home to Cleveland, they'll be in GREAT shape. I believe.
Been having fun Yelping it up too, throwing up several more reviews tonight, and getting the beginnings of my favorite restaurants list together. I'll fill it out as I get more places reviewed. Hopefully soon. I threw a link to my Yelp Reviews over in the sidebar there. Still only have ONE friend there so far (thanks Irene~!)...
Last but not least, this week I FINALLY got around to checking out 24 Hours, the Kleptones double-album that came out LAST YEAR. It's not as thoroughly awesome as A Night At The Hip-Hopera, but it's still some solid Kleptones goodness... well-executed mashuposity that is definitely worth your time.
Well, after looking TERRIBLE in their first road game of the series in Jersey Saturday (and ruining my ALL SWEEP, ALL THE TIME master plan, the Cavs took back control of the series with a squeaker-win tonight in Jersey, 87-85, and will head home to the big C to get the job done. Gotta hope the Bulls can do their part tomorrow night and get another win against D-Town so they don't get TOO fresh on us waiting for the conference finals to start. Better yet, force that series to game 7 so that the Cavs can polish off the Nets AND get some rest.
The ESPN gallery's currently a little thin (give 'em a break, the game just ended), so no EmotiBron tonight. Instead, Z brings you a LITHUANIAN KARATE CHOP!
Hi-YAH! Take THAT Mikki Moore! What kind of a name is Mikki anyway?
So someone over at the Columbus Underground forums mentioned this social restaurant/store/entertainment review site called Yelp. It's kind of like Yahoo reviews or Citysearch-meets-Web2.0. A dash of social network, a dash of local reviews, etc. Just my kind of new toy to play with, and very similar to the previously mentioned Trusted Opinion (ref'd here) or to a lesser extent LibraryThing (ref'd here). Only, you know, with a much larger base than just movies or books.
So I checked it out, and it seems like as good a place as any to throw my opinion out there. After all, I definitely enjoy checking out new restaurants, and have tried my hand at reviews in the past. Well, this is a much less formal, more social way to do so. I've only written up a few reviews so far, but I'm sure more will be coming - it fits a good niche, and is "flashier" than the other options. Here's my page. If you sign-up, be sure to "friend" me - I look so lonely with no friends there! ;)
In other news, the Cavs are up on the Nets 2-0! Only 10 games away from an NBA championship baby! That's right - I'm calling for the Cavs to SWEEP the ENTIRE NBA playoffs! It could happen, right?
What do you think LeBron, can you & the boys make it happen?
The Cavs finished off their sweep of the (starless) Wizards tonight 97-90. Lots of sweeps going down in the first round this year. They're getting knocked for kind of slinking by most of the games in this series (especially given the Wizards being without their superstar and another of their top players)... but a sweep is a sweep.
Next up is the winner of the Toronto-New Jersey series, which the Nets currently lead 3-1. You ready for the next round LeBron?
Ok, ok, take a few days off and rest the ankle. They still need to finish up that other series anyway. In the meantime, let the Pistons & Bulls start softening each other up for the finals!
NFL Draft 2007! Your refreshing breath of football in the midst of the NBA & NHL playoffs and (sigh) baseball season.
Now, the Browns are pretty well known for horrendous draft picks since returning to the league. With such AWESOME first-round picks as Tim "home sitting on my" Couch, Willie "fell on a knife" Green, Courtney "ouch" Brown, Gerard "big money" Warren... and the Dynamic Injury duo of Kellen "Motorcycle Soldier" Winslow and Braylon Edwards. Jeff Faine at Center is in there somewhere too... while not as uber-bust as the other early picks, he's still got to be considered a loss.
So this year the Browns craftily managed to land themselves drafting third overall. Lots and lots of hot air was spent the past few months talking about who they'd pick... Adrian Peterson? Brady Quinn? Joe Thomas? When the time came, they played it safe and went for the area that arguably needs the MOST help for the team, picking up Joe Thomas from Wisconsin for the key Left Tackle spot. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed, but it definitely WAS the safe pick, and you can't argue that the Browns O-Line has been BAD. Still, I was bummed because this was a good pick for the future, but doesn't build any real excitement for NOW.
Then... the magic happens. Miami heads to Buckeye City and bites on Teddy Ginn WAY ahead of projections, instead of taking care of their gaping QB problem. And that means Brady slides further... and further... (they even took him off to a private room so he didn't have to deal with the "doesn't that suck" close-ups after every team that DIDN'T pick him).
And at #22 the Browns trade-up, back into the first round and land him after all. Two top-5 rated picks for the Browns in one year. NICE. And, Brady, like a champ, comes out & puts on the hat and holds up the jersey, being the last guy actually in attendance who hadn't done so at that point. Of course, he was holding up the wrong jersey - so I had to do a little editing work for you. Not at all noticeable, I'm sure. ;)
Honestly though, I'm really happy about this - this is probably my favorite top 2 picks for the Browns since they returned to the league. They filled a much needed hole and STILL managed to get someone that we can hopefully ask to carry the franchise forward into the future. As long as he doesn't get sacked into oblivion first.
So I say, in the enternal mantra of the Cleveland sports fan, "This is the year!" ;)
Yeah, I'm still here. Been a little busy lately, what with Amy being nasto-sick this week, and being out of the office at work Tuesday, Wednesday and half of Thursday for a training thing out in Dublin.
I DID get to hit up Tropical Bistro for the lunch buffet Tuesday (excellent as always) and finally got to try Benny's Cheesesteaks for lunch Thursday. I'd have to say I definitely enjoyed the cheese steak (I even opted for the cheesewhiz, going for the more authentic). I'm obviously no South Philly person, but at least one person who IS enjoyed it. I'd definitely go back, but given how freaking way-outta-the-way it is for me from home OR work, I don't know how often that'll be realistically.
So, in other news, after poking around in Trusted Opinion a bit more this evening, rating some more movies... that prompted me to hit-up IMDB and look for what movies were coming out this Spring/Summer/later this year that I was interested in checking out. (Those that I've already heard at least something about, of course...)
Sadly... or maybe predictably, most of them were sequels or adaptations. What's REALLY odd is the sheer number of the THIRD installments in a franchise coming out this year. While Hollywood may be "out of ideas" as the common criticism goes, they sure seem to have hit on quite a few successful franchises lately to be cracking out this maybe #3s.
Here's what made my list, roughly in order of expected release:
So, you'll note the FIVE starred third installments listed above. As well as a FOURTH installment (Die Hard) and a FIFTH installment (Harry Potter). I'm sure there are other movies coming out soon that I'll be interested in seeing, but scanning ahead through IMDB's coming movies list, these are the only ones that really caught my attention so far.
I also saw two OTHER third installment movies coming out this year... Resident Evil: Extinction and Rush Hour 3. I have really NO interest in seeing Resident Evil. I'm sure I'll end up seeing Rush Hour 3 at some point, but I'm pretty well Chris Tucker'd out for the time being. His shtick got old REAL fast.
What movies are you folks looking forward to seeing the rest of this year?
Well, that's been here and gone by this point. Still, I had a great time. I posted by full review on a couple different forums, including the Sci-Fi Marathon forum and Columbus Underground. Not that it's really all that in-depth, but go there for a longer recap. For the short version - attending (in our extended group): me, Dad, Gary, Hutch, Randy, Jeff, Angel, two of Jeff's friends I don't really know, and Mike F. Always a blast hanging out with everyone, and this was no different. One of the best get togethers of the year, IMO. Best & Worst:
Best Movie I'd Already Seen:Flash Gordon. MAN, I love that movie. It's a CRIME it's out of print.
Worst Movie I'd Already Seen:Star Trek: The Motion Picture *yawn* pan-pan-pan "here's the outside of the Enterprise" pan-pan-pan "here's the outside of VGER" pan-pan-pan "here's the audience napping" pan-pan-pan
Best Movie I Saw For the 1st Time: Fido. A fun new take on zombie movies.
Worst Movie I Saw For the 1st Time: Automatons. SWEET MERCIFUL JEBUS MAKE THE BAD MEN STOP. Someone hand me a knife - even the MEMORY of this movie makes me want to gouge my eyes out. I'm not sure, but I think they may have been trying to make some political statement? Maybe?
Best Food: Fully Loaded Gateway Fries. YUM!
Worst Food: Greek Wrap. My fault for not paying closer attention, but it contained no meat. Not bad as much as just not what I wanted.
So yeah, the Marathon's over for another year. Back to normal life. In which I STILL haven't ditched the damn cough that's been nagging at me for a couple weeks now. It got better for a bit, and most all the other symptoms are gone, but this shit is getting old, man.
Take your mind off the doldrums with some fun games:
And if Flash games aren't your speed, see Emily Short's Interactive Fiction games. The only ones I've played at length are Galatea and Glass, but they're both very well done, immersive interactive fiction (that's a fancy way of saying "all text") games.
The 24th Annual Ohio Sci-Fi Marathon is this weekend at the Drexel Gateway theater! Noon Saturday to (roughly) Noon Sunday. I'm totally psyched.
My Dad & I have been going to the Marathon every year since the THIRD annual marathon back 1989 at the Drexel North! (Don't do the math, it doesn't work out.) Well, sadly, my dad actually missed one year, but I haven't missed one since. We cut out early a couple of the early years (I was still very prone to migraines those first few years), but we were there. We even got our pictures in the Dispatch while waiting in line one of those years at the Drexel North. To see a history of all the years, locations, and films shown, check out the Marathon History link. Suffice to say I've seen Them! on the big screen far too many times.
Over the years, we've picked up quite a few other folks for the outing - Gary (for quite some time now), Hutch, Randy, Featherstone, and many others have dropped in from year to year. We're doing our part to try and keep it alive at least!
Well, for anyone in the area, after a gorgeous start to the week with highs around 80, it SNOWED last night and earlier today. Gotta love Ohio weather.
If you're stuck inside thanks to the crappy weather, I give you yet another option for killing time. EVERY South Park episode EVER, streaming straight to you, thanks to the miracle that is the Intarwub.
Check out AllSP.com while you still can. They don't host the vids, but even still, you know this one has a limited shelf-life. This is actually one that really irks me, because if Comedy Central's "on demand" offerings through the cable company were any good (see the HBO On Demand model), I'd GLADLY watch the shows there... but instead all you get are 5 minute clips of Stewart & Colbert, and a random smattering of 1-2 episodes of each of their 4,000 shows.
If you can make it through the extreme traffic, Video Hybrid is another site worth checking out.
In case that's just all too much for you to handle, you can always head to the righteous side of the 'net:
Believe it or not, there are actually MULTIPLE Christian-themed YouTube clones out there. Check out GodTube ... the obvious choice, but if that's not enough for you, how about GospelTube? I guess with the popularity of YouTube, endless clones like this (with targeted audiences) were inevitable, and hey - they do serve a good purpose for their niche audiences. And this isn't really a particularly SMALL niche, either.
If watching videos and making online connections isn't enough for you, you can facilitate off-line connections through MyChurch.org - self-described as "Facebook for Churches". Somehow I don't think that means you can use it to invite everyone you know to your kegger of biblical proportions, but I suppose it WOULD help you figure out the name of the girl you hooked up with behind the pews last week...
Finally, I'm sure most of you have already seen this one before, but check out Conservapedia, for "A conservative encyclopedia you can trust." Beacause one Wikipedia wasn't enough, now you get your wide-open editable, in-depth but not likely to be well-referenced information in multiple flavors of bias!
Anyways, have fun... as for me, I'm finally over the death plague acquired by way of Amy last week... though Evie was running a mega-high temperature yesterday and had to stay home from daycare today, so I would up working from home this morning while keeping an eye on her.
So apparently, though the deal hasn't been finalized yet, they're working on a promotional deal which would turn some 7-11s into Kwik-E-Mart reproductions to help promote the Simpsons movie. Not only would it copy (at least some of) the look, but you'd also be able to get some classic Simpsons products, like Buzz Cola, KrustyO's cereal and Squishees!
