Train A loaded full of kids leaves the station heading east going 40 miles per hours. Â At the same time Train B loaded full of deadly chemicals leaves the station heading west going 100 miles per hour with no breaks. Â With both trains on the same track and neither one able to switch, how long will it take Denzel Washington and Chris Pine to save the day? Â If your answer is between 90 minutes and 2 hours, you are correct! Â Despite what at first glance (and second glance and third glance, and pretty much every glance, long look or deep meaningful stare) appears to be a silly silly movie, it does look like it will be full of action and excitement. Â And honestly, Denzel is fun to watch even when he’s chewing scenery in bad films. Â There must have eleven thousand free screenings of this film and I didn’t manage to get into a single one. Â I really want to see this film, but that said I probably won’t catch it in the theater. Â It will move straight to the top of my Netflix queue the moment it is available.
This movie looks funny and heart warming. Â If the wife were to pick a movie to see this weekend, this would be it. Â And I won’t even pretend to not want to see it. Â The critics who don’t like it are saying things like it being “derivative” and “pandering to the lowest common denominator” which pretty much means that your average movie goer, the lowest common denominator who actually likes seeing the same stories told over and over in new settings with new actors, will love this film.
I want to play this game. Â What? Â It’s a movie? Â Well, it looks cool, I guess. Â No, seriously… this movie looks like a video game. Â Aliens attack and you spend the next ten hours plastered to your TV with a controller in your hand trying to escape from and ultimately defeat the invaders. Â If I were to pick a movie to see this weekend, this would be it. Â But I may not need to as supposedly Skyline is part of a deal with Netflix to bring theatrical releases to Netflix sooner. Â So I may save my $10 and wait for Netflix. Â Or maybe I won’t. Â We’ll just have to see…
One of the things in life I’ve come to be fairly attached to is correctness. Â When I’m wrong, I love it when people inform me that I’m wrong, as long as I am actually wrong and they can tell me why I am wrong. Â I mean, just yelling “You’re wrong!” over and over without explanation doesn’t help anyone. Â But when I post my thoughts here, if I’ve made an error, if I’ve got bad data, I want to know. Â I tend to do the same with other people. Â Most times when I post a comment on another blog it’s either to say “I agree!” or to point out somewhere that I feel they’ve made an error. Â Sometimes, even when I point things out that I think are wrong, it can turn out that I’m wrong.
Tami Baribeau works in the gaming industry, specifically the social gaming arena. Â I read her blog because I want more insight to that world and she provides it (she’s not the only one I read, to get all my info from one source would be wrongheaded). Â She posted a list of 10 reasons why Facebook Game wall posts are not spam. Â Reading her list, I felt that three of her points were in error, based on my experience, and posted a reply. Â It turns out that two of my points were addressed with changes in Facebook policy I was unaware of and so were not errors. Â In one case, however, I was correct and Tami acknowledged that. Â This is the sort of stuff I love.
Of course, on the Internet, this sort of discourse is rare. Â Well, rare-ish. Â I see it quite often, but only because I stop reading blogs where the authors just want to spew and don’t care about being correct. Â But it means I do filter a lot of blogs out. Â The main reason, I think, for this is many people still believe that the Internet is separate from “Real Life”. Â Even when they are in a forum where their real identities are well known, they act as if their online persona is different from themselves. Â It leads to a lot of waving off errors under the belief that “this doesn’t really matter… it’s only the Internet, it’s not Real Life.” Â And most often it is that they don’t care about the details. Â If you still agree with their main thrust argument, why should the facts and figures matter?
If a politician were to give a speech and state “We need to bring our troops home from Iraq!” he would probably get a lot of support. Â It’s an idea that many people can get behind. Â If he were to follow that up with “We need to bring them home because thousands of our boys are dying every day! Â And thousands of woman and children are being cut down in the crossfire every day!” … well, both of those things are completely not correct. Â Yes, soldiers have died and are dying, and yes, civilians have been injured and killed because of the war there, but those numbers are just way way off. Â Thousands are not dying per day. Â For me, that politician would lose my support (unless his opponent was a raving loon who was insisting that we needed to leave Iraq now… so we could nuke it into oblivion). Â If I really wanted to support that politician, I’d write a letter, or even stand up right then and try to get a correction. Â Because worse than someone making an offhand error is someone fully believing that the error is true and correct. Â I’d want to know where that politician stood. Â Was it an honest mistake? or is it more than that?
Or maybe, just maybe, I’m wrong. Â If I am, I want to know. Â And I suppose that that is the main thrust of this post… owning mistakes. Â If I make one and it is pointed out to me, the very first thing I want to do is acknowledge that, and then either explain why this new information doesn’t change the point I am making or adjust my position based on the new data. Â But the acknowledgement is important to me. Â And it irks me when people don’t do that, when people just wave it off and don’t admit to having been mistaken.
Do you write? Â Do you listen to music while you do it?
I do. Â In fact, I’ve learned over the years that silence is the most distracting thing in the universe. Â Once it’s just me and my thoughts, my thoughts win. Â It’s like a category 5 storm of random things crashing around in my skull. Â But if I have sound playing in the background, the winds die down and I can focus on my work. Â But it has to be just music (perhaps with the occasional commercial), not video. Â When I hear things that I know also have a visual component, my eyes are drawn to the visual. Â I need to see what images go with the sounds I am hearing. Â As my eyes pull away from the page or laptop screen, writing stops.
But what music works best?
For me, the best writing music falls into three categories…
Music that I know by heart.
This music works well because I don’t have to actually listen to it.  I know every work, every note so well that my brain just latches on and follows along.  I’ll subconsciously tap my feet or bob my head.  Sometimes I’ll even begin typing to the rhythm of the songs.
Music that I don’t know at all.
Because it isn’t music that I love, I’m able to just sort of block it. Â I know it’s there and it still achieves the goal of calming down my brain, but I don’t care enough to learn the lyrics or feel the beats. Â It’s just on.
Classical music.
I’m sure there are studies out there that will show you that brainwaves become more calm and allow for more creativity while listening to classical. Â But for me it falls almost into category 2, only I do know quite a bit of it. Â It’s just that there are no lyrics to sing along with. Â At best, there might be some humming, but not often.
The worst music for me are song by bands I know, or ones I’ve heard before, I sort of like but don’t know well enough for them to be automatic. Â This is why applications like Pandora or Slacker or Last.fm just don’t work for me as writing tools on anything but the classical music stations. Â Too many times a song will pop up in the play list that drags me out of the zone and forced me to consciously listen, and the writing stops.
So, this month, as I make my way toward 50,000 words, I’ll, more often than not, be listening to classical music.
I had never played paintball. Â So, when a deal popped up on Living Social a while back, a few friends and I (who had also not played paintball before) bought in. Â It took a long while, but we finally went.
In a word… meh.
I suppose I can see the draw that some people have to it. Â Being able to shoot other people isn’t something you get to do very often. Â But overall, it was fairly lackluster. Â First off, there were four of us and we mixed in with a larger group, and they put two of us on one team and two on the other. Â Frankly, I’d have had more fun with my friends being on my team since I had no desire to shoot my friends. Â Next, they lead a team to each end of a field which was dotted with forms of cover. Â They counted to three and said “Go!” Â People ran to cover and then started shooting.
The first round we played, my team won. Â I didn’t shoot anybody. Â In fact, I spent most of the time trading shots with another guy who eventually got shot by a teammate of mine. Â We had spent nearly the whole time swinging out, shooting and then ducking behind cover. Â Then, suddenly, we just sorta won.
The second round we played, my team lost. Â I got shot… kinda. Â I mean, my gun got shot. Â I didn’t even see it happen, but a ref told me I had been hit and there was paint on my gun. Â Umm… okay. Â I watched from the sidelines as a repeat of the previous game happened. Â People hiding, swinging out to shoot occasionally, and when one team was down enough players one dude ran out from the side and shot the last two players on the losing team.
The third round, I can’t tell you who won, because I don’t know. Â The full seven minutes ran out and they called it off. Â Not that it mattered. Â I got shot in the first fifteen seconds. Â By my own team. Â I ran forward to a position (we were on a different field this time, larger, more cover, a spot of trees in the center, and more people too), I was crouched over, and then felt the painful sting of being shot, right in the gap between my shirt and my pants, right on the skin. Â If I were so tattooed, I’d have been shot on the tramp stamp. Â The girl who shot me (and I know it was a girl because the only people behind me were three girls who refused to leave the original, completely out of range, bunker) was no more than ten feet away. Â That freakin’ hurt! Â Team kills count, so I was out and I walked off the field and walked off the pain.
Round four, same larger field, other side. Â We found good cover and began shooting our foes. Â Minutes went by of a pitched battle, and I think I shot someone… I don’t know, because with like thirty people on each side and so many paintballs flying around it gets hard to tell if it was me or some other shooter. Â All was going well, and then someone on the other team, who was sitting out of traditional range, switched to mortar fire. Â He couldn’t hit us firing straight, so he started arcing his shots. Â I’m going to pause here and tell you one of the rules of the field: if someone is hiding behind a low barrier, you are not allowed to come over the top and shoot them from above. Â This rule exists for two reasons, 1) shooting down on someone’s head can really hurt them, and 2) them shooting upward at your chin (and by virtue of the equipment, the gap between your face and mask enabling them to possibly hit your mouth and nose) can really get you hurt. Â So back to the mortar moron… if he’s arcing, that means that the paintballs are coming from above, you know, as if he was shooting down on us.
Right on the top of my head.
Yeah. Â Some people suck. Â That really hurt.
Anyway, despite how much I’ve written here, the day was basically a check mark. Â Play paintball? Â Check. Â No reason to ever do it again.
As always, I remain not a fan of Tyler Perry’s work. Â I’m sure other people like it, they must since he keeps on making movies, but it just isn’t for me. Â If it’s your thing though, I’m certain it’ll be worth the money to see it in the theater.
Animated kids movies are all the rage. Â Seriously. Â When I was growing up I don’t recall there being so many. Â Maybe I was too busy buying tickets for Transformers: The Movie and seeing Aliens instead. Â And every single animated kids movie is in 3D. Â This certainly looks like a lot of fun though. Â I may not catch it on the big screen or in 3D, but I’ll definitely watch this the first chance I get.
In Hollywood, movies are often pitched by shorthand. Â You say, “This movie is like Die Hard, only it happens on the Goodyear Blimp!” or something like, “It’s like Steel Magnolias meets The Godfather!” Â I imagine the pitch for this film as being, “It’s as if Planes, Trains & Automobiles and The Hangover had a baby!” Â And if that was the pitch, if that was the intent, then this movie delivers. Â Two guys traveling cross country together. Â One just wants to get home to his wife for the birth of their kid, and the other is going the same way, is a little weird, and really wants to be friends. Â And the whole story is told with the comedic style and tone of The Hangover. Â I got to see a screening of this last week…. I laughed. Â I cried (with laughter). Â I wet my pants (when I laughed so hard I peed, just a little). Â To say that I loved it would be an understatement. Â It was fantastic. Â Well worth your hard earned dollars.
In the wake of many subscription MMOs going to a Free to Play model, it got me to thinking. Â Why can’t Cable TV do the same thing?
Instead of charging me $150 a month for 300 channels, most of which I’ll never watch, how about letting me have “free” cable, where I can watch PBS and other local stations in real time with commercials, and have everything, and I mean everything, available on demand as a pay per episode/pay per season service? Â The infrastructure is there. Â They already do sell programs on demand, they even ofter free on demand for many network and cable shows. Â They already provide Internet service and have the bandwidth. Â Just expand it. Â Sure, some people might just watch the free stuff, just like some gamers only play the free parts of free to play games, but the people who pay and buy the extras will far outweigh them in the long run.
As an added bonus to this sort of design, TV execs can stop trying to guesstimate viewers and DVR watchers and whatnot and actually get hard purchaser numbers. Â Even better, shows can stop competing against each other. Â Many shows have tried to go up against juggernauts like American Idol or Dancing with the Stars or even some scripted shows, and even if they get a few million viewers, it isn’t enough to keep the show on the air. Â Even when there are lower rated shows on the network, because sometimes it isn’t how good your show is but only how well it did versus someone else’s show. Â What if, instead of seeing your show get a paltry 2 million viewers while 28 million tune in to some other network, you could see that within a two week period 18 million people watched your show, 16 million of whom, if forced, would choose another show but when given the freedom to watch whenever they want without being forced to choose will happily watch and enjoy your program? Â Wouldn’t that be better?
And really, they don’t even need to go so far… I’d gladly watch the commercials during programs or special “sponsored by” spots before an episode if I could just watch all the shows I want when I want to watch them. Â I’d settle for having everything, with commercials, available on demand, and having the cable company charge me for the channels I want to select from a la carte. Â Rather than $150 a month for 300 channels, 282 of which I will never ever watch, ever; charge me $20 bucks a month and let me pick 20 or so channels I want to have. Â Make it a dollar a channel, with discounts the more I select.
Anyway… those of the rambling thoughts that are rumbling around in my brain today.
I’m actually a couple days late with this. Â I’m also off to a pretty poor start. Â In any event, I’m participating again and am now working my way toward 50,000 words. Â Last year I broke 5,000 words, which is the farthest I’ve ever gotten and double the year before. Â My goal this year is really just to break 10,000. Â Of course, I’d love to get the whole 50k, but I also like setting manageable expectations.
This year I’m actually dusting off an old idea and I really want to finish it. Â I’d like to get this idea down on paper, and maybe stop having it hang around in the back of my head as one of those things I really should write.
My profile, as always, is here. Â Feel free to add me as a writing buddy. Â And to throw a little inspiration your way, enjoy this little music video…
For the first time in weeks I'm not itching to get home and play Minecraft… RDR: Undead Nightmare is out! #
How many times do I have to turn of Lexulous' turn email notification off before it stops sending me emails? I'm over 20 so far… #
@Krystalle I'm still Minecrafting, and waiting for the Halloween update. Dead Rising 2, Red Dead Redemption's Undead Nightmare DLC… in reply to Krystalle#
@Critus Don't know what you are talking about… *goes back to playing Left 4 Dead 2* in reply to Critus#
@lexulous They come from a facebookappmail.com account, but are signed "The Lexulous Team". There is a link to disable emails, they are. in reply to lexulous#
