Monday, January 31, 2005

Crappy action films with formulaic titles

What is it with crappy action films taking their titles from children's songs and nursery rhymes? While looking in video stores over the last year or so, I've noticed it's been done a lot. There was Gingerbread Man, and there was Reindeer Games... Oh yeah, I think there was one called Along Came A Spider.

I guess if you're making a run-of-the-mill, mainstream "gritty" action film and you can't think of a title, just take a couple key words from a nursery rhyme. I don't know if these have already been used, but expect to see movies titled:

Pumpkin Eater
Tumbling After
The Clock Struck One
Four And Twenty Blackbirds
The Little Dog Laughed
The House That Jack Built
Fiddlers Three
Jack Be Nimble
A Crooked Mile

etc, etc...

Monday, January 24, 2005

Folksonomy Sucks

The development discussion list for del.icio.us naturally brings up the topic of folksonomy regularly. While it's easy to find articles praising folksonomy and suggesting it may displace existing methods of identifying and locating information, it's not quite as easy to find skeptical, critical articles about folksonomy. I always like to see multiple viewpoints, so I sought out some skeptics. I've placed a number of interestring articles in del.icio.us with the tag "antifolksonomy."

Then, on a whim I did a Google search for "folksonomy sucks" and found that absolutely nothing comes up. So I've used the phrase here. I am the first!

At long last, I finally have a claim to fame.

And no, I don't necessarily think folksonomy sucks, so don't leap to conclusions!

Friday, January 14, 2005

A Thought On Love

I met my wife in the spring of 1996 on the Internet in an email discussion group for fans of the band Pink Floyd. I flew out to Toronto to meet her that summer, and she came out here to visit me twice before finally moving here.

The Western psychology of love was defined in the middle ages, through great, defiant love stories like that of Tristan and Isolde, or of Sir Lancelot and Guinevere. One of the great medieval poets, Girault de Borneilh, wrote in the 12th century:

so through the eyes love attains the heart:
for the eyes are the scouts of the heart,
and the eyes go reconnoitering
for what it would please the heart to possess.
and when they are in full accord
and firm, all three, in the one resolve,
at that time, perfect love is born
from what the eyes have made welcome to the heart.
not otherwise can love either be born or have commencement
than by this birth and commencement moved by inclination.

—guiraut de borneilh (c. 1138-1200)

Today, in the age of the Internet, it's no longer always through the eyes that love is attained. Now love can start other ways rather than necessarily through sight.

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

When Birthdays Were Fun

image via flickr.com

My 36th birthday is coming up next Thursday, January 20th. When I was a little kid birthdays were so exciting and fun. This photo is from 1977, my 8th birthday. My mom made the snoopy cut-out cake. We all had party hats, favors, and the whole deal. Now, birthdays are just another day. Sometimes I wish I could be a little kid again just for my birthday and for Christmas, so I could feel that happiness and excitement again. This year I didn't even bother asking for my birthday off from work. ...sigh...

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Self-portrait

image via flickr.com

A self-portrait I did just today. When I'm at home relaxing, I'll often wear glasses rather than the contact lenses.

Religion is neutral

"I keep having to remind people that religion in and of itself is morally neutral. Religion is like a knife. When you use a knife for cutting up bread to prepare sandwiches, a knife is good. If you use the same knife to stick into somebody's guts, a knife is bad. Religion in and of itself is not good or bad—it is what it makes you do..." —Desmond Tutu

Thanks to Bina for posting that. I think that statement is absolutely brilliant in it's simple clarity.

Sunday, January 02, 2005

Get your head checked!

One of the wonderful little surprises which is associated with PKD is aneurysms. I always thought an aneurysm was the event: i.e., when a blood vessel near your brain bursts. But it turns out that an aneurysm is actually a thing: a blood vessel which is stretched thin and enlarged like a balloon. An aneurysm can burst, but an aneurysm is the strained blood vessel, not the act of bursting.

Anyway, aneurysms are associated with PKD. About 1 in 10 people with PKD has an aneurysm. Although I've had blackouts now and then ever since I was a kid, those were apparently associated with a heart condition called AVNRT which I had fixed last year with a cathetera ablation procedure. So the doctor feels pretty sure I'm in the clear as far as aneurysms go, but he still ordered an MRI on my head to be absolutely sure.

On Thursday, Dec. 30th at 6:30 a.m. I went to the hospital and had the MRI done. It was a little different from the MRIs I've had done on my torso and kidneys. This time, I was put in head-first, with protective headphones on. Instead of the gentle "whoosh" I've heard in past MRIs, this time the machine screeched like a modem for uninterrupted minutes at a time, then alternately paused to make big "chunk chunk" noises and clicks. The MRI took about 25 minutes, during which I just closed my eyes and did some meditation exercises. It must have worked because not only did I emerge feeling very nice, but it seemed like it only took 10 minutes rather than 25.