I’d Join You In The Fight For My Rights, But I Hate Social Situations

An Introvert Stands Up for The Right to Stand Alone

Not until my early 50s did I make a startling discovery: Most of my close friends are introverts. As I brought up the subject with one after another, we spoke in low, confessional voices of feeling numb with fatigue following workdays or social outings we’d otherwise enjoyed, of frequent longings to retreat to a quiet place.

Why was I surprised? Why did it take me decades to figure this out? Because we are introverts, which means we don’t reveal ourselves by working through problems out loud or by talking much about how we think or feel.

Goddam, it seems everybody Out There has to open their yaps. Especially to total strangers. And especially to me me me! I’m sick of it! Shut up already! I have my own fucking problems. I don’t need and don’t want to hear yours, goddammit! Take a pill — take a fucking bottle of pills! — if that’s what’s necessary to get your mouth to stay shut. You fucking pathetic crybabies! Just wait til The Real Shit hits the fan. You’ll all be leaping out of windows. Make sure you don’t land on me me me, you bastards!

Reference: OS X Web Browsers

A Guide to OS X Web Browsers

The largest dilemma I continue to face coming from Windows to OS X is an ideal web browser. For Windows users, it’s an obvious choice, Firefox. It’s fast, it’s got tabs, extensions, themes, inline searching, spell checking, you can even run IE as a tab within Firefox, it has everything. Why would you use anything else?

–linkswipe via digg

Jaysus. What Do Investment Counselors Charge?

On2 needs to land Goog, Youtube and Myspace

This is the second time one of my posts has wound up on an investment message board.

I hope someone’s making money. It sure ain’t me!

Maybe I should do up an amazon Wish List or some shit like that? Gifts welcomed…

Scotty, I Need More Power! This Kid Won’t Die!

Wil Wheaton’s Geek in Review: WILLIAM FUCKING SHATNER, Part I

Captain James Tiberius Kirk, of the Starship Enterprise 1701, and Enterprise 1701-A, the only person in Starfleet to ever defeat the Kobiyashi Maru, the man behind the Corbomite Maneuver, the man who took the Enterprise to the Genesis planet to return Spock’s katra, the man who I had admired since I was eight years old, was immediately transformed into WILLIAM FUCKING SHATNER.

Oh, what a story! I can’t wait for next week’s Part Two!!

–linkswipe via digg

Reference: Wii Games, Best And Worst

The best and worst so far

We’ve had enough time now with the Wii to discover some real gems (how many hours have you put into just Wii Sports so far?) … but like any system, there are also a few duds, particularly within the launch window. If you’re looking to expand your collection, or if you’re one of the Wii-less trying to figure out how to budget when your day comes, we’re here to help you find the best and the worst of the Wii so far.

Prior coverage of the Wii in this blog:
Wii: Shit Or No Shit?
Sony Flails While Nintendo Sails
Good Thing It’s Not Called The Wii-Wii
Wii Wowws, Cann Bee iPPod Too Gaames?
Bravo, Nintendo! Now Can You Please Do A PDA?
Wii Maan
Cue Bob Dylan: The Times They Are A-Changin’
Mother Of Mercy, Is This The End Of Ken Kutaragi?
Wii Partiies
Wii Wee-Wees On Nokia 770
Wii Wiinniing Buuzz Baattle
Nintendo: Great Ad Line!
You Mean It Won’t?!!?

Wii: Shit Or No Shit?

The statement:

Definition 6 Developer Blasts The Wii

He then followed up this statement with a slideshow titled ‘Fear of the Planet Wii’, before telling the audience “Everybody loves the Wii. ‘Oh, God, the Wii, we love the Wii so much’… The Wii is a piece of shit.”

Then the retraction:

Chris Hecker Doesn’t Really Hate The Wii

I do not think the Wii is a piece of shit. Nintendo needs to be applauded for trying to interface on the controller front, the user interface front, on making games accessible, on making a console that you don’t need to mortgage your house to afford.

Oh! So he then takes a slap at the PlayStation 3!

In the first article:

Zelda creator Eiji Aonuma was quoted saying “I don’t feel that games can necessarily be considered art. There’s nothing wrong with that; our goal is just to make games that are fun.”

Hecker responded to this, stating, “This is not good enough for people who are leading our industry… If we’re going to make games the art from of the 21st century, we need people who care more than just, ‘I’m going to make some fun toys.’”

Art? Games as … art?

I’m still waiting for this:

E.A. was founded in 1982 by Trip Hawkins, a former marketing manager at Apple Computer, as “the new Hollywood,” and it was at first supposed to be a haven for video-game auteurs. Hawkins proposed to treat designers, who had hitherto been regarded as mere engineers, as artists, and to design sexy packaging that would evoke album covers, with the names of the creators emblazoned on the front. “Can a video game make you cry?” was one of the company’s early challenges.

— from Game Master: Will Wright changed the concept of video games with the Sims. Can he do it again with Spore? (I use this link because Google failed me in turning up a JPEG of the ads that ran at the time. I was around then. I saw those ads.)

Prior coverage of the Wii in this blog:
Sony Flails While Nintendo Sails
Good Thing It’s Not Called The Wii-Wii
Wii Wowws, Cann Bee iPPod Too Gaames?
Bravo, Nintendo! Now Can You Please Do A PDA?
Wii Maan
Cue Bob Dylan: The Times They Are A-Changin’
Mother Of Mercy, Is This The End Of Ken Kutaragi?
Wii Partiies
Wii Wee-Wees On Nokia 770
Wii Wiinniing Buuzz Baattle
Nintendo: Great Ad Line!
You Mean It Won’t?!!?

Funny Trailer. Go See.

A Dog’s Breakfast — embedded YouTube video on page.

There’s also a very interesting essay for first-time filmmakers. Such essays, while well-intended, often give me the creeps. Define “the market” for, say, Repo Man. Trust me, I would have never been in any pie chart you would assembled for its possible audiences. I saw a review on one of the original Siskel & Ebert shows and was hooked. I doubt Alex Cox did any “market research.”

It all reminds me of the old adage, “Half my advertising is wasted, the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

Never Miss A TV Episode Again: Especially If It Doesn’t Air In Your Country!

Meet EZTV, The Leading TV-torrent Distribution Group

TorrentFreak: Do you think that sharing TV-shows might have a positive impact on the TV industry?

Boggibill: Yes I do, the only possible impacts I can see are positive ones; free publicity, which may lead to higher ratings when people “discover” new shows and also larger numbers of DVD purchases – it is my understanding that many of the people that download TV shows from us are avid TV fans and will usually buy DVD boxsets of shows they like. Many of these are foreigners, that can’t view the shows normally. This is free money for the industry. I don’t understand why they would be upset with that. Moreover, the BitTorrent way of distributing material is the future, not only of filesharing, but of information distribution in general – be it television content, movies, games and other software. We firmly believe this to be true.

Damn right. I’m waiting for the US DVD release of Gerry Anderson’s New Captain Scarlet and Torchwood. Both of which I could not have seen except via P2P!

Hey, TV Suits! The Internet Is Your Pimp! For Free!

Some getTRIO.com Links

From the daily getTRIO.com email newsletter:

Apartment Therapy — among other things, pictures of places better than I’ve ever lived in.

tv squad — blog about TV.

The Millions (A Blog About Books) — a blog to make me feel guilty. “I see. Working when you could have been reading.” — Lee, by Tito Perdue.

Act Fast! RARE Gerry Anderson On YouTube!

Someone put up one of his early, early series: Four Feather Falls!

Four Feather Falls : Gerry Anderson ( Pre Title Intro)
Four Feather Falls : Gerry Anderson
Four Feather Falls : Gerry Anderson pt1
Four Feather Falls : Gerry Anderson pt2
Four Feather Falls : Gerry Anderson ( End Credits)

Wow. The puppets are really weird looking. And the absolute outrageousness of a marionette horse! Only Gerry Anderson would try that. The dog looks like it fell to earth from Mars! Don’t look at this if you’re one of those twisted PC types. You won’t like the portrayal of the Injuns. (There, I said it!)

Wonderful Barry Gray music not heard for possibly over fifty years! And Gerry does an over-the-shoulder tracking shot of Tex on his horse that is just killer.

Someday, when the Internet Finally Triumphs, these will be available for legal download (there will probably never be a US DVD release). Til that bright and shiny and victorious day, Download Helper is your best friend!

Update as of 3/12/07: Too late! “This video has been removed by the user.”

Prior coverage of Gerry Anderson’s puppet TV series in this blog:
New Gerry Anderson On YouTube
Thunderbirds: The First Abomination
Gerry Anderson’s Joe 90
Gerry Anderson on YouTube
Gerry Anderson as blog Category