Awesome.

First off, as an action/super-hero movie, it has everything. It could have done a little more mutant fighting and special powers, but over all it was nice because it wasn’t over the top. Not much CGI (and the bits that exist are very well done) so it’s believable. No MAJOR plot holes, logic fails, etc and it was pretty engaging. There was a point that I thought it was getting a little long, but it cleaned it up nicely.

I have to admit though, this one is going to make the die hards a little upset. If you love the x-men franchise, meaning, know all the history from the comic books, be prepared to fork off your understanding of everything. Without giving too much of the movie away, it doesn’t stick to the historical context of the comics for magneto, charles (Professor Xavier), or a bunch of other characters.

The big realization that I had after the movie though was that the x-men franchise that I know and love is in danger! Professor X and Magneto are going to need to die here, and right quick. They’re old! The whole franchise is going to need a story arch and reinvent leadership. Maybe I’m just ignorant of the new comics, but since we’re given specific years, and the assumption that these certain mutants are also mortals, there needs to be a transition to new leadership, and eventually we need to run into the mutants and characters from the future, like sentinels (I LOVE SENTINELS!).

Anyway, it was nice not to see a movie blow it’s budget on big names and give a solid and entertaining story line.

5 feet out of 6.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270798/

LEGO is a very popular medium for stop motion videos.  LEGO even makes their own cameras and software for content editing.  Here’s one of the more popular music videos with LEGO:

Pittsburgh is confirmed as the filming location for the new batman movie!  I’m stoked.  This is one of the biggest movies to be filmed in Pittsburgh for a long time.  I’m also noticing that Anne Hathaway is slated to be in the movie…I wonder what that means for Kallie…people are going to be extra jumpy about sightings.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11095/1137149-348.stm

Someone needs to invent the technology to record dreams. I have so many ideas and write so many songs in my dreams that I can’t remember when I wake up. This is one of the ideas that I do remember.

I was involved in the creation and marketing of a device that added realism to movies. It was a simple box that could hang on the back of a movie theater seat or get placed on a stand in front of the movie watcher. The box (2 feet wide, 4 inches tall, 4 inches deep) had things like a water sprayer or mist creator, a fan, and even digital “voting” panel. It all sounds cheap, but it was put together well. Anyway, me and a few other people were marketing this thing to movie theaters as a cheap way to “upgrade” their movie theaters.

The idea is that when someone splashes some water in the movie, the audience would get a little spray from the box. The movie could also have “alternate stories” or something where the audience could vote what happens next and the movie would show that story line. This technology already exists when you go to theme parks like disney world and the “4d” shows that interact with the audience, but that’s the only place for it. My group was trying to break that into the real world theaters and even in homes by putting it in one simple box that was inexpensive. It would require some pre-production work to get signals sent to the device to sync up with the movie, but for theaters, you could even just have a man in a booth doing all the work for all the devices.

Anyway, I think it was catching on in the movie.

Kallie and I went to see “The Social Network” yesterday, and I was surprised to see a lack of emotional tensity or even having the story being “Hollywood-ized”.  The story was fairly believable and down to earth.  I can’t comment on the accuracy of any of it, but from what I was already familiar with, it seemed like they got it as best as anyone could without breaking some non-disclosures.

I came home and did a little research.  On the drive home, I wondered, what ever happened to Tom?  Seems like he’s pretty much out of the limelight at this point.  The reason I thought about him though, was that Myspace turned out to be exactly what Eduardo Saverin seemed to be envisioning with facebook.  Ads.  Who gives a flying crap about Myspace now?  The corporation that owns it, that’s about it.

The movie puts emphasis on Mark Zuckerberg‘s stance on how things “should be” and not what will make him the most money.  To this day, Mark’s been offered upwards of 1 billion dollars by Yahoo! for facebook, but he has turned down every offer.  Why?  Because it’s his baby, he says.  He takes pride in it.  He’s not your typical money hungry entrepreneur.  He’s different, and that is why I respect him, despite any poor tactics.  In this New Yorker article (I highly recommend/require you read it), it’s not hard to deduce Zuck knew his actions were unethical from a legal standpoint, but I don’t question his motives.  To this day, he is showing that he did it because he was going to pour his heart and soul into it, making it his life’s work, and for that, there is nothing that can hold you back.

The movie also reminded me of one of my ideas back in Jan 2005.  Thinking about it more today, one of the latest crazes is to “check in” at bars and cool spots you go.  What if that data was tracked and indexed, especially large events like concerts, parties, sports games, etc.  You would be able to find out if you and someone else were ever at the same place at the same time.  Practically speaking, Kallie’s been to Pittsburgh before, I wonder if we “checked in” while we were here, how close we ever were to each other.

Anyway, this turned out to be not much of a review.  If you’re interested in the story of facebook at all, I’d say go see it.  Even though it’s really based of a book and the characters are stories are just augmented to fit, it’s a good depiction of what probably transpired in the creation of one of the most successful websites ever.  I’d label it inspirational to see someone be passionate about something they believe in, despite having extreme costs of losing best friends, girls, and a lot of freedom.

Hockey is great.  Hockey fights are sweet.  Hockey fights reach epic status when the goalies fight too.

I had a pretty wicked dream last night about my step dad, Chris.  It was more like a short film itself.  It took place in this old time chinese town, with a royal family.  The first scene had this mother in a kimono at the door of a house on a rainy night, kissing her ~6 year old son good bye.  She was sad to see him go, but there was an urgency for his safety that he had to get away.  The boy is taken away by a guy in a long cape.  There was a guy with camera across the street that kept trying to take pictures of the boy, but was never able to get a shot of his face.  So there’s this theme of mystery around the son of the lady.

Next scene is years later, and a 20 something year old man, who is trying to find out if the lady is his mother.  They walk down a narrow path behind some houses with a waist high white wall to their left and these 1 story white houses/apartments with big windows to their right.  They’re walking and talking about their history, and she knows who he is, but she can’t admit who he is right away.  So, I’m like this bodyguard person walking with them, and every time we pass one of these large windows, I throw out my arms, grabbing my cape and blocking people from inside seeing the two together.  Then, one window has the same camera man behind it.  I bust through the window and try to chase him down, but I’m not successful.  He’s not able to get a shot of the man’s face though.  So I’ve done my job.

Then, we flash to modern day in my mom’s house.  I’m sleeping downstairs and I hear a noise upstairs.  I rush upstairs all ninja like, check the back bedrooms are clear, and when I come to the main door, it’s open.  Someone made their way into the house.  I’m yelling for Chris to let him know that the camera man is in the house.  I locked the door and start to make may way through the livingroom into the back bathroom.  Then I see the guy with the camera standing in the door way.  It’s friggin creepy to think about it right now.  So i lunge towards him, he goes into Chris’ room, where Chris and I try to corner him, but he slips back into the bathroom, still not being able to take a picture of Chris’ face.  When I go back into the bathroom area to find him, he had disappeared into piles of garbage bags of clothes that are all over the floor.  Our old dalmation, Dante, is there, and he sniffs him out and the dude jumps up out of the bags with his camera in hand and I throw out my arms with my cape and block a picture of Chris again. 

I woke up somewhere after that.  This dream is a little foggier than some of my dreams I write about, but the concept seemed pretty cool.  I could see a little short movie being made where the identity of the heir to the throne must be kept safe.

I’ve taken a few pictures of the sti(c)kman.  I first saw him in Philly with Kallie.  Then down in DC, and I think I saw him somewhere in pittsburgh too.

I recently came across a similar work of graffiti art called the "Toynbee tiles".  I vaguely remember seeing something on the street at the corner of Smithfield street and Forbes Avenue, but I never paid much attention to it.  Apparently the tiles are in a lot of major cities, and speculative roots are in philly.  It’s this weird license-plate sized box that makes reference to toynebee‘s idea about striving towards the future and always having goals that are almost impossible.  There’s also something in there about colonizing Jupiter like the movie 2001 space odyssey.

Here’s a link to the post gazette story – http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06151/694320-42.stm and to the wikipedia article – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toynbee_tiles

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ slogan this season is "defy ordinary".  Might not be all that great of a sports team promotion, but this little video they put together is a pretty good ad for Pittsburgh life in general.  CMU, Andy Warhol, South Side Works, Consol Energy Center, and a bunch of other key landmarks are highlighted.

It’s been a while since I posted a personal update.  Things in married life go well.  New job goes well.  Thinking about going back to school in the fall.  That might be the level of detail you get in the updates going forward…not really sure.  I don’t really want to write about my life with Kallie without her involvement.  What you might see this category turn into would be a opening of the way I think or the way I act, or who I am despite my surroundings.  We’ll see how that works.

One thing that bothers me sometimes is that Kallie will get bunches of people reply to facebook status updates for her.  Sometimes, it’s people that she’s connected through me, but I don’t even talk to on facebook.  It’s not that I want the attention, it’s that I don’t understand why people are compelled to post to her messages in such volumes and so quickly too.  It lead me to believe it’s her.  Some how, people are connecting with her through her update.  She’s reaching them in a way that I’m not.

So we give science a try.  I put the blinking cursor in my status update field and told Kallie to post something as me.  Post something that she would say, if she were me in that moment.  She wasn’t allowed to reveal it was her.  We’d test if it was the content of the status updates or Kallie’s "aura" that people were drawn to.  Within seconds, we had a reply to "mmm, my house smells like freshly baked bread.  I love my wife."  Then another.  Then another from a person I barely know.  I think we found our answer.

It’s me.  I don’t know how to connect with people, or I don’t give them a clear path to understanding me to be more precise.  I wrap things in metaphor, vague allusions, or esoteric references.  Recently, my mom replied to one of my facebook status updates saying she didn’t understand my messages, and she wanted to know if it was her or even her age.  I’m fairly certain it’s actually me.  With this post though, perhaps I can shed some light on to how my mind works and even give some examples to help you better understand what I mean when I say or do something.

We’ll take it back to the days when I first started to post away messages on AIM.  I constantly got asked what they meant.  Well, I’ll tell you now and perhaps it will help you to predict my behavior.

Most of my messages were drawn from lyrics –

"I dream that she aims to be the bloom upon my misery." – This comes from a Soul Coughing song called "I Miss the Girl".  That’s basically what I was saying.

"I feel as if i’m looking at the world from the bottom of a well." – This comes from a Mike Doughty song.  It just meant that I was sad, or I felt trapped, away from the world.

"Getting lost in the fall, glimmer, sparkle, and fade." – This came from Everclear’s album, Sparkle and Fade.   I thought it was a pretty sentiment to describe moods where I felt like a life of a star; people were lucky to catch a glimpse of a falling star, marveled at it’s glimmer and sparkle, and then it fades away.  I used it to express that I had just done something I enjoyed but probably won’t do again.

  "True dreams of Wichita." – More Soul Coughing.  Meant I wanted to travel or that I had a weird dream.

"I’ll be your best kept secret and your biggest mistake." – lines that follow "can I lay in your bed all day?" by Fallout Boy.  Usually meant I liked a new girl.

"Need more friends with wings, all the angels I know put concrete in my veins." – Billy Talent lyrics.  Means I missed people or felt crappy without friends.

"Looking at the man in the mirror and telling him to change his ways." – Michael Jackson, but taken quite literally when used.

"the world through a windshield is callous and cheap.  i toss and i turn but i can’t get to sleep.  counting the hours the days that turn into weeks" – The New Amsterdams lyrics.  Usually meant that I felt like I was just waiting for life to happen.

"Some times, it causes me to tremble."  – My favorite hymn, "Were You There?".  Usually an Easter away message.

"I’m shoulder high in crap and my water wings are flat." – President of the United States of America lyrics.  Usually meant I was stressed about something.

"I remind myself of some body else’s song." – Lifehouse lyrics.  Tongue and cheek mostly.

"Awake and dreaming." – Finger Eleven lyrics.  I was being reflective.

"This is the part where we start to feel better." – Gratitude lyrics.  something was making me sad.

A lot of my messages were my own creation –

"I’m allergic to the sun.  It makes my skin change color."  – This message was usually used when I didn’t want to go outside.

"I’m a pretty shallow guy deep down."  - It’s true.

"Warning:  This aoler may be potentially unstable.  Proceed to message with caution." – I was probably livid about something.  "Livid" was also used as an away message.

"projectiling a bee of fris across a botanical plane in attempts to approach and ultimately arrive at the X axis’ limits, while not offending the Y axis’ limits, at which point those efforts are reciprocated by an opposing force." –   I was playing ultimate frisbee.

"Let’s go get stoned.  Just like how they did in the Bible." – Just thought it was funny.

Some were direct quotes from movies or literature–

"The moments we shared are lost in time, like tears in a rain storm."  -This comes from the movie "Blade Runner".  I found it profound and quite beautiful.  It’s deep, thinking that there’s no use to cry when it’s raining.

"Closing my eyes and opening my mind in the clarity of passion."  – I’m not certain which source this came from, but it may have been from the movie "Atonement".  I usually used this one when I was falling asleep content to ponder life’s questions.

"Cheyne Stoking." – This comes from an excellent movie called "Dead Man Shoes".  At one point in the movie, the main character paints those words on an apartment wall of some "bad guys" while they’re not there.  It’s a medical term to describe periods of irregular breathing; most commonly the last grasps for breath.  I liked the phrase, so i put it up.  Possibly meant that I thought I was going to die sometime/eventually/inevitably.

"In the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo." – This is from T.S. Elliot’s poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.  I just used it to say I was talking to my smart wiminz.  Another away message I used, partly inspired from Keren’s song and the poem, was "Measuring out my life with a coffee spoon."

When I’m with you, %n, we stay up all night, and when you’re gone, I can’t get to sleep.  Thank God for these insomnias, and the differences between them."  – Remember, %n was replaced with the viewer’s screen name.  That was fun.  Anyway, I saw a performance at Heinz Hall of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and in between pieces, they would have readings and this was one of them.  I have no idea of the origin, and can’t seem to find anything through google.  It means I was in love or at least infatuated.

"James 4:8 " – The verse is "Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."  This was my personal motto.  Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.  Life is that simple.  When I was searching for why I felt so disconnected from Christ, I simply have to [go to church, volunteer, call a friend to talk, pray] etc.  I needed this scripture during that time of my life.

"Super perfundo on the early eve of your day." – This comes from my favorite movie, Waking Life.  It’s a phrase that one of the characters has said to him in one of his dreams, but even he doesn’t know what it means.  It’s basically used as just a greeting/farewell.

"Perhaps I am a man of exceptional moods.  I do not know how far my experience is common.  At times I suffer from the strangest sense of detachment from myself and the world about me; I seem to watch it all from the outside, from somewhere inconceivably remote, out of time, out of space, out of the stress and tragedy of it all.  – H. G. Wells" – Pretty much the only good line from War of the Worlds.  I resonated with this deeply.

The rest were either weird, boring, or a mix of the above categories –

"He’s a maniac, maniac, on the floor, and he’s cleaning like he’s never cleaned before." – This meant I was cleaning.  Taken from the Flash Dance theme song.

"This away message is fleeting human contact.  both of us lost, but for a moment we’re lost together.  I wonder who you are." – I believe this to be an internet meme, but I can’t nail the true source.  It may have been that simply substituted "away message" in for grafitti.  see XKCD.

"Falto Algo." – Spanish for "Something is missing".  My boss used to say this. 

"Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother’s house I go." – I was visiting my grandmother.

"Home again, home again, jiggity jig." – I went home.

Ofcourse, there are the ones that meant I was sleeping…

"Dead.  At least to the untrained eye."

"Sleep with all the lights on." – Dashboard Confessional lyrics.  Most appropriately used when sleeping during the day  ie: night shift.

"some where between the sacred silence and sleep." – System of a Down lyrics.  Usually meant it was really late and I was still up for some reason.

"Under the Tahitian moon." – Porno for Pyros lyrics. 

"Stress Level Elimination Exercise Plan" (SLEEP)" – own of my originals.  Paired with:

"Stress Induced Narcoleptic Seizures (S.I.N.S.)" – another original that I still use.

So, I hope this provides you with a little bit of a road map on being able to predict what I may be trying to convey in my own mysterious way.  Default to it being lyrics for something.  Then think that I just saw/read something that imbued me.  I’m not all that hard to figure out or predict.  I think.  Did this help?