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Review: Batman Begins

Needless to say, I’ve been looking forward to this movie ever since I heard they were making it. As you know, I’m a fan of comic movies, but those last two Batman atrocities were too much to bear…and thankfully, this one was about as far from those as is possible…

Batman Begins, quite simply, is probably the best movie I’ve seen in recent memory (eat your heart out Episode III…). This movie marks the return of the Dark Knight to where he belongs: as a brooding, vengeful hero who’s willing to bust some heads for what he thinks is right. Christian Bale even takes it to the point where we believe Batman, as a character, actually has a reason to do what he does…something besides just avenging his parents…something more than that…something beyond himself, which is what the previous Batman movies really centered upon. Previous portrayals of Batman, even including the Michael Keaton version (widely considered the best…), simply pitted Batman against some evil villain, someone who threatened the people of Gotham City. This movie, on the other hand, goes much deeper into Bruce Wayne’s reasons for doing what he does: not only revenge, but also in an effort to live up to what his parents believed and the lives they led, and also realizing that setting an example for the people of Gotham is more important than just beating up the bad guys and bringing justice to the masses.

So yeah, I’m not going to spoil the movie or anything…just gonna say the following: Batman Begins restores any and all lost faith in the Batman franchise, delving so much deeper into the character of Bruce Wayne and his background, as well as offering a few twists and turns throughout the movie to entertain just about everyone. The one complaint I have is, much like Episode III, many of the action sequences are a little too close up and don’t show you a full view of what’s going on…but that is minor compared to how well this movie blows you away…

Go see it. It’s awesome. You’ll love it. And if you don’t, I probably hate you anyway. 😉

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…what’s worse than packing?

Yeah, I’ve been packing up everything I own…and this is no small task… Bear in mind that I’ve lived here for 3 years now…and I’ve been collecting an insane amount of stuff throughout that time, most of which I’m throwing away (or giving to Nathan and Jerry for their new place…). I had to figure out how to take apart my desk again today, had to unplug all of the electronics in my room (a small fire hazard…), remove the stuff from my closet (I officially have too many clothes…), and am finding live dust bunnies under my bed (never seen one? they’re like jackalopes, but without horns and their made from dust…no…seriously…).

So yeah, the other part of this is that I’m going to have to disconnect the web server on Thursday morning and transport it to Columbia, where it will remain until after the wedding…whenever I can come pick it up… We won’t have DSL set up in St. Louis until after the wedding’s done, so we need an internet connection for the server to operate… Therefore, the server will be down for most of Thursday while I take it down there, set it up, etc….I’m sure you’re all worried…but you’ll live…

Oh…and Batman Begins starts tomorrow…and I’m ever so excited… 😉

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…what's worse than packing?

Yeah, I’ve been packing up everything I own…and this is no small task… Bear in mind that I’ve lived here for 3 years now…and I’ve been collecting an insane amount of stuff throughout that time, most of which I’m throwing away (or giving to Nathan and Jerry for their new place…). I had to figure out how to take apart my desk again today, had to unplug all of the electronics in my room (a small fire hazard…), remove the stuff from my closet (I officially have too many clothes…), and am finding live dust bunnies under my bed (never seen one? they’re like jackalopes, but without horns and their made from dust…no…seriously…).

So yeah, the other part of this is that I’m going to have to disconnect the web server on Thursday morning and transport it to Columbia, where it will remain until after the wedding…whenever I can come pick it up… We won’t have DSL set up in St. Louis until after the wedding’s done, so we need an internet connection for the server to operate… Therefore, the server will be down for most of Thursday while I take it down there, set it up, etc….I’m sure you’re all worried…but you’ll live…

Oh…and Batman Begins starts tomorrow…and I’m ever so excited… 😉

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All Good Things…

That was the title of the final episode of Star Trek: TNG, widely regarded as the best of the Star Trek franchise television shows…and it is representative of where I sit today… As of 3:30 pm this afternoon, June 10, 2005, I will no longer be employed in the Truman ITS department… I think this is of significance for a few reasons. First of all, this is the longest amount of time I’ve ever worked at a job (4 years, almost entirely without stopping…there was one summer I didn’t work up here…). Secondly, this is the highest I’ve ever advanced in a job (…promoted to “lab manager” after my first year…worked in that role ever since…).

The third reason, however, is the clincher… This marks the cutting of my final umbilical connection to Truman State. After today, I will not attend class here, will not work here, will not need to be at Truman State for any reason (besides visiting folks, of course…). Today marks the first day in 5 years that I will never have to be here…ever…again… Today marks the end of an era of my life, the final chapter in perhaps the most exciting volume thus far… Subsequently, the next volume promises to encompass a much wider scope, including marriage, graduate school, and insurance in my own name…and it’s going to be weird…

…but in the end…it’ll still be a good read…

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The **AA can suck it…

So yesterday, I worked on a laptop here at the HelpDesk (everything was in Japanese…so it was a little interesting navigating Japanese Windoze XP…) and noticed that the girl had WinMX installed, which is a P2P program… Now, I heard about WinMX, like, Freshman year…back in the days before Napster was shut down (old-skool Napster, not this new “legal” crap), so I didn’t expect anyone to still use it… Then, the same day, I see this article.

The gist of the article is that the NPD Group recently released statistics saying that Apple’s iTunes music service is used as much as popular P2P services. It is actually ranked second (surveying the number of users on the service) in programs used to download music …behind WinMX… Kazaa, Limewire, etc. are all apparently used less than iTunes to download music…and eDonkey is not even on the list (even though you can log into it right now and find 4 million users…as opposed to the 2 million users on WinMX…). The real kicker here is that the RIAA and the MPAA both use the NPD Group for their statistics…

So yeah, essentially, the **AA pisses me off tremendously… I actually did a speech on this subject for (you guessed it…) speech class a few years back, so that research pissed me off even more… As the article points out, the NPD Group uses old school statistics to survey data and extrapolate for the general population…but you’d think they could, oh, I don’t know, actually log into the services and see how many people are using each service at a given time? It seems these fools do everything they can to distort the facts (namely that they aren’t losing money at all due to file-sharing and that they are, in fact, perhaps even gaining revenues…) just to keep ahold of a system that has been in place far longer than it should have been… I’m thinking that the era of CDs in stores should be over and everything should be electronic as soon as possible, ’cause these lawsuits, etc. against people like Gertrude Walton is silly…

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…w00t…OS X on my PC…

Yeah, so Steve Jobs officially announced that Apple will now start using Intel chips in their systems beginning in mid-2006 for their lower-end systems and 2007 for their high-end systems…

I guess there are two likely possibilities for this move:

  • Apple will increase their user-base by getting their millions of iPod customers and Photoshop aficionados to use Mac OS X on their PC.
  • Apple will lose their user-base because the hardware is now sub-standard (like many PCs today…and all Dells…) and their target market (people my age…) will be able to download OS X for free to install on their PCs, thereby relieving any need to ever buy a Mac

So yeah, I dunno about this. I mean, it’s cool that I’ll be able to have a sweet OS on my PCs (besides Linux…although, OS X is essentially Linux anyway…which is even sweeter…), but at the same time, it’s more than likely that Apple will fold over this…and also possible that they’ll exist in the future only as a software company and iPod company, no longer making computers…since I’ll now be able to build my own Macs… I dunno, it’ll be interesting to see how this paradigm shift plays out…

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Moving on…

So I’ve been going through closets, etc. getting ready for moving in 2 weeks…kinda crazy the stuff I’m finding, honestly… For example, I was going through a box of old computer stuff from Freshman year and found my move-out clearance slip from the dorms (there wasn’t any damage, for the record…I was a good tenant…). I also ran across an old 4 MB video card and then an old (fried…) 16 MB card, too…the former was ISA (everything now is PCI or PCIe)…so yeah, old stuff that should have been cleaned out years and years ago…

It’s kinda weird moving out, honestly… I mean, I have lived in this apartment for 3 years (including summers) and have accumulated lots of crap… I can only imagine what it’ll be like when I eventually own a house and have even more stuff sitting around…guess I’ll have to be a bit more organized in the future… The really crazy thing is that it’s finally sinking in that I’m actually leaving… As early as July, I’ll be in a new apartment, a new city, a new school, and a new wife… Lots of stuff changing, so who knows how I’ll deal with all of it… “As according to one’s gifts” I guess, as Spock would say (Star Trek II)…

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Another Bushism…

“That information came from people who hate America,
people who have been trained to dissassemble – that
means not to tell the truth.”

— George W. Bush; regarding Amnesty International
“accusasions” that the war in Iraq
isn’t going so well, as recorded by
the Daily Show (6/2/05)

For the record, it’s “dissemble,” not “dissassemble”
…secondly, Mr. Bush, you’re a flaming idiot…

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Hose: The Album

Quothe Steve Hosack (away message):

Well, I’m a standing on a corner
in Winslow, Arizona
and such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford
slowin’ down to take a look at me.
Come on, baby, don’t say maybe.
I gotta know if your sweet love is
gonna save me
We may lose and we may win,
though we will never be here again
so open up, I’m climbin’ in,
so take it easy

*Let’s adapt this to Kirksville*

Well, I’m rounding First and Normal
in Kirksville, Missouri
and such a dismal sight to see
It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford
slowin’ down to proposition me.
Please leave, lady, don’t say maybe.
I gotta know if your assault is
gonna give me herpes
I may lose and I may win
though I can still outrun your fat friend
so keep drivin’ or I’m off like the wind
so take it easy

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The Linux Mob

In this article posted at TechNewsWorld, Rob Enderle suggests that Linux has reached the point globally that others only wish they could achieve… He cites examples of situations where Linux users have formed coalitions (ex: The Union of Free Software Professionals), have organized to meet their goals (ex: bashing SCO with denial-of-service attacks), and controlling the media (ex: influencing a column published by Sys-Com Media that initially tried to discredit Groklaw’s founder, but was later pulled for “lack of evidence”). The only thing needed, says Enderle, is strong leadership.

I guess I’d have to agree on a few points with the article… I mean, I read a decent number of postings on Slashdot every day and see what kind of responses the posts get. Slashdot readers alone could probably organize a decent DOS attack against anyone they wanted…if they wanted to…and if they wanted to stoop to Microsoft’s level (…of bullying, that is…). I guess I’m glad to see that Linux users have a decent amount of power and organization, but at the same time, it would be nice to have some leader step forward (IBM? Novell?) and control the masses a bit…so they do more good than damage…