Two pictures, one Saturday. The first is where I would like to be right now. The second is what I would take with me. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which is which. I’m sure you’ll have no trouble.
Happy Weekend.
Come on, you know you want one.
Browsing Category
Cool Stuff
Alison Brie as Captain America Works For Me
Posted on December 28, 2012In keeping with the Avengers theme going this week, I saw this, courtesy of the fine folks at Fan Art Exhibit, and had to post it.
Alison Brie as Cap. I like it. Quite a bit. Probably a bit too much.
Oh well.
No Good Trailers Today, Some Writing Tips Instead
Posted on December 18, 2012
Yep, that’s right. No good movie trailers were released today. Or, at least not for movies I’m interested in. So there.
On the other hand, I did get a lot of writing done, so today wasn’t a total loss. In fact, I think I’ve finally figured out some problems with a script I’m working on, which is always a good feeling. Of course, fixing some problems can often lead to finding others . . . And so it goes.
Speaking of writing, screenwriter (among his movies is Big Fish, one of my personal favs) and snazzy iOS app developer John August has a great podcast (co-hosted by Craig Mazin) for all you aspiring screenwriters out there. I’m sure I’m late to the party on this and you’ve all been into the podcast from the beginning, but I’ve listened to almost all of the episodes now and I’ve learned a great deal.
Yes, I can still learn. So can you. Come on, you can do it.
Mr. August offers a lot of other advice at his website as well as several examples of his writing work for your reading pleasure. It’s a great resource and one I recommend highly.
I’m not alone in this, of course, but I’ve always believed one of the best ways to learn to write something like a screenplay is to read a lot of scripts. It helps to read good ones, too, as Mr. August’s are. No, that’s not brown nosing. They’re just very good and I don’t mind saying it.
In truth, I’m a big fan of reading in general. I guess if you’re reading this, you probably are too.
From the ‘Want’ Department: The Sonos SUB
Posted on May 22, 2012I may have mentioned I’m a big fan of Sonos and their products. I use a Play 5 every day and it’s an awesome way to listen to music from your personal music collection, Pandora or Spotify. Plus, like my Macs, it “just works.”
Now Sonos has a new piece of shiny I want: the SUB. Check out this video of the SUB in action and tell me you don’t want one too. And no, that’s not CG.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2KP2KUAE1I?rel=0&w=525&h=295]
Post Hump Day Report and a Bit About ‘Sons of Anarchy’
Posted on February 23, 2012
Yes folks, today is Thursday. Yesterday, as you might be aware, was Wednesday. That day is also know as “hump day” in the parlance of our times.
I’m not sure what this has to do with anything, but I just thought I would point it out. It may be relevant to some of you so that’s just one of the many services I try to provide to my favorite readers. Yes, I’m talking to you.
So, what’s been happening? Well, I’ve been watching a lot of a show called Sons of Anarchy for the past week or so. I had initially started watching it when it premiered a few years ago but as is sometimes the case, things distracted me and I wandered off to be transfixed by some other shiny thing. But now I’m back.
Fortunately, Netflix has my back on this one and has the first three seasons available to watch. I’ve gone through all of them and then resorted to Apple and iTunes for season four, which I’m currently in the middle of.
In case you’re not familiar with the show, it deals with a group of Harley Davidson enthusiasts and mechanics who, mostly through no fault of their own, have misadventures. You see, they’re a club, not a gang and they just want to be left alone to pursue their dream of living outside the mainstream.
Sadly, the law sees it differently and tries to impose the collective will of the self-righteous on our band of likable rouges and anti-heroes. Fortunately, the law turns out to be rather inept and for various reasons is prevented from taking any real punitive action and our favorite club is pretty much free to pursue its version of the American Dream.
The show was created and is principally written by Kurt Sutter. He cut his teeth writing and producing another gritty, anti-hero heavy show called The Shield, one of the best cop shows ever to grace the small screen.
With Sons of Anarchy Sutter is able to take things to a high level and spin his Hamlet-inspired tale in his own, unique fashion. In short, the show is very enjoyable and you quickly come to root for the “bad guys” regardless of any nefarious shit they might do.
That’s one of the cornerstones of good writing and good drama. You are able to take these, by some standards, despicable people and not only make them likable but cause the audience to root for them and hope they succeed.
The Shield had this same quality. Even though Vic Mackey and the strike team were, for lack of a better word, bad you really hoped they would “get away with it” in the end. Sutter obviously learned a lot from The Shield creator Shawn Ryan and he was able to take that knowledge, expand on it, shape it and create a show to be proud of.
This post has somehow turned into a mini-review of Sons of Anarchy, but that wasn’t really my intention. What I really wanted to accomplish here is to make sure that when I find great writing, I let people know about it.
Is Sons of Anarchy a perfect show? No. Does it occasionally veer off into melodrama and borderline soap opera territory? Sure, but rarely.
However, for the most part, it’s a well-written, skillfully produced TV series featuring an excellent cast that includes Charlie Hunnam, Maggie Siff, Ron Perlman, Kim Coates, Mark Boone Junior, Ryan Hurst and Katey Sagal and a cool, counter-culture lifestyle based on freedom to do what you want, when you want.
Any really, who doesn’t think about living that life sometimes? I know I do.
Although, maybe with a bit fewer stabbings, shootings, murders and explosions.
Coffee, Macs and More
Posted on February 11, 2012I love gadgets, tech and toys. As I’ve grown older, that love hasn’t lessened. Although, the quantity of gadgets, tech and toys may have decreased slightly, the quality (and the associated cost) has increased, so there’s that.
That’s just the “circle of life” or something. Anyway, that leads me to recent developments. One of these developments has to do with my search for the perfect way to make coffee at home.
Some of you may be shocked and wonder how I could betray my beloved Starbucks, Coffee Bean or various other establishments I frequent. It’s simple, really, I just want to do it at home so I get used to working at home again. I would also like to save some time where I can too.
On a busy morning, if I have to take the time to stop at Starbucks or wherever on the way somewhere else, it can often take quite a bit of time. So, in the interest of efficiency (and to save a buy or two, let’s face it) I’m going to make coffee at home.
During a previous attempt at this I had purchased one of the Tasimo devices that makes coffee from a capsule. The results were less than stellar. In fact, the coffee kinda sucked.
This time around I’ve done much more research and committed to a much better solution. At least I think it is.
I’ve decided that the only way to make it work at home is to get the best coffee maker you can get. That one, if you ask pretty much anyone who knows anything about it, is The Moccamaster
That’s a picture of it right there. Nice, huh.
I expect this little beauty to arrive early next week and I will report back on how awesome it is. Yes, I expect it to be awesome.
In other news, I am also trying something else again that I had tried several years ago: going all-laptop and having no desktop Mac.
At this moment, I have two computers. One is a 27″ iMac and the other is my 13″ MacBook Air. I’m am giving the iMac to a worthy person (selling, actually) and will be using the MacBook Air exclusively from this point forward.
However, this choice does present a few problems. The first of which is my iTunes library is way too big to fit on the Air. So, for the moment, it will have to reside on an external drive. Not ideal.
Second, my iMac also served as the media and print server for the house. With it gone, certain people are going to have to go upstairs and connect to the printer via usb if they want to print. Also, not ideal.
So, that means I will most likely have to get some sort of computer to use as a file, media, print server and iTunes repository. That will most likely mean a Mac Mini.
Before you ask, I’m not considering a Windows or other solution at the moment. We’re too invested in Apple tech at home to try to make that work right now. Maybe if I get some more free time I can put together a nice Windows server instead.
For now, it will probably be a Mac Mini running Apple’s Lion Server that will take on those duties at home. Plus I would like to work with Lion Server a bit more so the new Mini serves that purpose as well.
Of course, if I’m going to be using the MacBook Air as my only machine from this time forward, I kinda think it should be the latest model, don’t you? Just go with me here, okay? The one I have know is a 13″ 2.13 Ghz Core 2 Duo with 256 GB SSD.
I feel a newer 13″ MacBook Air i7
So, lots of changes coming in my tech world. Fortunately, I don’t mind change all that much — especially when it brings newer, shinier toys.
Sunday, Sunday, Super Bowl Sunday
Posted on February 5, 2012Today is the Big Game. Although, to have to call it that because of some copyright or trademark deal is a bit stupid. So, let’s try that again. Today is The Super Bowl. Let ’em come after me.
This means, of course, people are going to be getting together to watch the game at various parties and such. It also means we’re probably going to get some interesting new commercials today.
I like the commercials during The Super Bowl. In fact, this is pretty much the only time during the year I actually watch commercials. The rest of the time I usually fast forward through them like most other people do. Thank the gods for the DVR, amirite?
So far, I’ve seen a few commercials already that are going to be shown during the game. One of them features Matthew Broderick shilling for Honda and sorta pretending to be his character from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
If you haven’t seen it yet, I’ve included it below. I’m not sure how I feel about it but I guess it doesn’t really matter. It’s done. Besides, maybe he needs the money?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhkDdayA4iA?rel=0&w=500&h=281]
For more selections and highlights of commercials shown today as well as those of the past, I’ve been looking at this website. It’s got a lot of good ones and reminds me that at one time, the commercials were very good.
Oh, I’ve also included one other commercial that’s being shown during The Super Bowl. It features Victoria’s Secret model Adriana Lima. I’m not exactly sure what she’s selling but really, who cares? It works.
You’re welcome.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWrJgFjxlS0?rel=0&w=500&h=281]
I Believe In ‘Believer’
Posted on January 5, 2012
I “borrowed” the title of this post from my friend Joe Dilworth but that’s okay, we’re working on the project (and others) together. What is that project you may ask? Well, I’m pleased to announce we’re launching a brand new comic book publishing initiative and a Kickstarter Campaign to, well, kick things off.
Our first project was written by myself and Joe and is called Believer. It’s a hard-boiled detective thriller with a supernatural twist and combines many of my favorite elements into one fun and exciting story. Plus, in addition to the writing, we’ve got some great art to go with it from Kris Carter.
He really does a terrific job and I look forward to seeing the rest of the pages as they are done. It’s an exciting time to be alive and doing creative things. My sincere wish is to see this as the first of many projects and the start of a larger publishing enterprise.
I feel pretty good about it.
For all the important details on the comic, the Kickstarter campaign and more, head on over to the official Kickstarter page for Believer. Also, and after many years in show business and elsewhere raising funding for projects I still feel funny about saying this, if you do feel like supporting us by making pledge of at any level, I would appreciate it.
Plus, you do get some pretty cool rewards for your support, if I do say so myself. Really, I shouldn’t feel weird about mentioning we’re looking to raise money. After all, if you don’t believe in something you’re doing and are enthusiastic about it, how can expect anyone else to be, right? Right.
Things are going to start happening to me now.
My Favorite Movie Poster So Far
Posted on May 6, 2010I see a lot of movie posters, especially these days working with The Flickcast, and I have to say that this one from Robert Rodriguez’s upcoming Machete is probably my favorite of the year so far.
It’s fun and cool and goes a long way to tell you exactly what the movie is about. Which is, of course, everything you would want from a movie poster.
Plus, the movie looks pretty awesome too with a great cast including Danny Trejo, Robert DeNiro, Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba, Jeff Fahey, Steven Segal and Lindsey Lohan. I know, right?
Check it out and enjoy. Also, if it’s still up, check out the trailer for the film over at The Flickcast.
Video Friday — The Trapeze Girl
Posted on January 10, 2009As many of you know, I was at Macworld Expo in San Francisco all this week covering the show for TUAW. Consequently, this video Friday is coming out on Saturday. However, to compensate you for having to wait, I think this is a pretty good one.
This video highlights one of the attractions at this year’s Cirque du Mac party. Yes, that’s a girl on a trapeze. Mac geeks like girls too. Enjoy.