Jack’s Old & Busted Blog

Yet another classic bites the dust. I’m not one of those sticklers that constantly complains about movies not being “like the book”; LOTR and the Bond flicks probably would not have sold well as faithful adaptations. But H2G2 is part of High Geek Culture, and so demands not to be messed with higgly-piggly-wise.

(planetmagrathea.com): And this film, I’m very sorry to report, is bad. Really bad. You just won’t believe how vastly, staggeringly, jaw-droppingly bad it is. I mean, you might think that The Phantom Menace was a hopelessly misguided attempt to reinvent a much-loved franchise by people who, though well-intentioned, completely failed to understand what made the original popular - but that’s just peanuts to the Hitchhiker’s movie. Listen.

Yet another talking budgie site. I’ve been making recordings of simple phrases (using GarageBand) to help Kiddo learn to say a few things. Or make him hopelessly neurotic. No luck so far, but he does make a lot of complex chirping noises and seems to mime the motions of speech when I talk to him.

(blog): Louie was “born” February 14, 2001. Hand fed until weaned. Started “mumbling” at 2 months and clearly started speaking words and fragmented sentences at 2 1/2 months. It was then I started to realize he wasn’t your average budgie and recorded his first sentences at 3 months.

When I was seven or eight I ordered a “monster magnet” from the back of a comic book. Much mischief can be made with a powerful magnet, it turned out.

(gaussboys.com): The largest most dangerous magnet that we offer. Absolutely frightening to handle. You will sweat! Each magnet can lift at least 400 lbs. You must take extreme precaution when using this magnet, or you will learn a painful lesson.

More magnet warnings!

I’ve noticed cow-orkers are now naming their shared iTunes lists zany things like ‘K-ROCK’ and whatnot. I think it’d be funny to make playlists like “What I listen to drown out J—’s incessant complaining.”

(livescience.com): Office workers who share music via Apple Computer’s iTunes software track their coworkers’ comings and goings and form opinions about them based on their playlists.

I’m a closet Clive Cussler fan, so I’m pretty excited about the April 8th release of Sahara. I’m almost afraid to see it, though, because it might not live up to my expectations. Maybe I should wait for a new Matt Helm movie instead.

There’s been a mild Internet backlash recently concerning the muchly-hyped Podcasting. I’m ambivalent about it so far, but I haven’t heard any content compelling enough to subscribe to any feed. The real test will be when iTunes starts aggregating podcasts. There’s not a lot of talk radio that targets GenX, unless you’re into sports or wingnut politics. Maybe podcasts could find an audience here?

I’m a big fan of abandoned building/dwelling photography.

(thederelictsensation.com): Derelict spaces have a strange power and fascination. They stir up strong memories and cause us to question our sense of the permanence of the built environment that surrounds and shapes us, and our ideas about utility, market values and heritage.