This Happens Every Time I Ask for an Address

Two Days Left

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Professor

My unexpected response to an innocent prompt in a facebook status update.

Q: What are some of your favorite things that your professors did to make classtime effective or fun? Please share!

A: The best professors were the ones who respected me and spoke to me as an equal. I studied and performed well for those classes. If a teacher EVER talked down to me, [expletive] them. It drove me crazy if I ever thought a teacher was talking down to me. I got in to the [expletive] school and in to this [expletive] program and in to your [expletive] class, don't you DARE talk to me like some incompetent child. Were you ANY better when you were in my shoes millennia ago?

The ones who believed in me and showed that faith in what they said and did, to them I will forever be sincerely and unfailingly grateful.

Probably more than you wanted, but that's my answer.

TV Torture. Day 2.

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Funny thought

If I had a wooden leg, there are so many funny things I could do. Like do a butterfly knife show for the talent show, then top it off by stabbing myself in the wooden thigh and screaming.

Remember, Vote Early and Often!

Everybody, I need your help.

I've entered a contest to win the most fantastic job I've ever heard of.

And I'm absolutely perfect for it.

I'm pulling out all the stops. Time to blitz the World Wide Web.

Check out the TV Torture Blog.

Follow the progress on Twitter.

Join the Facebook Event.
(this is how you can get updates and reminders)

And believe me, I'm just getting started. I'm going to get this gig if it kills me.

High Adventure

Last Week I was in New York, for the first time. It was a lot of fun. We were filming, but I don't really think I should upload any of the footage. You'll see it soon enough. We got home late Tuesday night.

Wednesday, I went to see Inception. It's not a perfect film, but a very strong one, and well worth it's box office take and your seeing.

The visuals are stunning. The acting us superb. Christopher Nolan undertook a tremendous world to try to explain during the duration of a feature length film, and both he and the viewer have to move quickly to keep pace. He's a talented story-teller, as evidenced by his previous work, but even still, this is stretching. With as intricate a world, the story may have lent itself better to a series (a la LOST).

All the same, it's stunning, and I will be seeing it again in theaters.

Nolan's films offer homage in the best fashion. It's clear where his inspiration came for a lot of his work, but it never feels like a rip-off. He alwasy frames his borrowed ideas and aesthetic in a new enough context that it feels original. Inception was clearly a heist film, with all the tropes of the genre. It's the last job, the final steal before our protagonist can set life straight and move on. He assembles the team. They outline an intricate plan, with precise roles and timing and objectives. But it's more than a heist movie.

Think of it like The Italian Job meets The Matrix meets Solaris. The New York Times has some other comparisons as well. The New York Times always has interesting supplemental material to the best movies.

Thursday I went to the Twilight Concert Series for the first time this summer. It's always a good time, and free, but I've been out of town up till this point. Beirut was playing.


If you're not familiar with their sound, it's distinctly gypsy. Funny to think of what these guys must have been like in high school. They play trumpet, accordian, and trombone, among others. I can't imagine they were the "in" crowd, yet here they were at the Twilight Concert Series, playing a packed show, with people cheering for them like rock stars. It was a lot of fun.


The album version may give you a better indication of their sound.


The below videos are from last Friday, July 23, 2010, on BYU Campus. It was much more chaotic and painful then you might expect, but very fun. Ladies and Gentlemen, the World's Biggest Water Balloon Fight.






Saturday, I went to a pond outside Alpine UT. It doesn't sound like much, but man-o-man, is it fun with the right equipment.
This isn't a video of me or my friends, but it's the same thing in the same place, and gives you a good idea.

That night we went to Fiesta Days in Spanish Fork. I didn't make it to the rodeo, but I did see the fireworks.

Last week, all I did was play. I need to work a lot during this coming week to make up for it.

We collected the signatures; Now the fight begins

I don't even live in Connecticut, but I'm very interested in this race. I hope Schiff takes it, it'd be a big deal for this country.

Hello Everybody, We did it! Thanks to your overwhelming support our campaign team collected and submitted well over the 8,500 signatures required for the petition. Although we are awaiting the official certification of these signatures, we are confident that my name will appear on the ballot August 10th. And we could not have done it without you! Whether you knocked on doors, made phone calls, waited around train stations and shopping centers or made a generous contribution, you made the difference. I have no doubt that we have what it takes to win this election. But the fight has just begun. The next 2 months are critical to positioning our campaign for victory on November 2nd. But first we must win the nomination, and I'm counting on your continued support to make sure that happens. There are 5 ways you can get involved in the campaign, and I hope you will participate in at least one of them. Make a one-time or monthly sustaining contribution Order official Schiff for Senate gear today Support Schiff for Senate on Facebook Tweet about Schiff for Senate on Twitter; and Volunteer your time to knock on doors, make phone calls or help out at headquarters I'm ready to give this race and our country my all. I hope you will be right beside me fighting for the free market and making sure that I head to Washington in January to save America. America is counting on you and so am I. Peter Schiff Republican U.S. Senate Candidate P.S. Thank you for making our signature petition drive a success. I hope I can count on your continued support whether it's making a contribution, spreading the word about our campaign or volunteering your time. Thank you again.

Paid for by Schiff for Senate Schiff for Senate P.O. Box 3647 Milford, CT 06460

Debt

We're all eyeball deep in financial trouble.



It's not like we weren't all given fair warning.

Eat well, Live long.

I'm not crazy about his speaking skills, but this is just good advice.


Same goes for this.

Fwd: News Alert: Rand Paul Wins Republican Senate Nomination in Kentucky

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: NYTimes.com News Alert <nytdirect@nytimes.com>
Date: Tue, May 18, 2010 at 5:05 PM
Subject: News Alert: Rand Paul Wins Republican Senate Nomination in Kentucky
To: Austin

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Tue, May 18, 2010 -- 8:04 PM ET
-----

Rand Paul Wins Republican Senate Nomination in Kentucky

Rand Paul, one of the early leaders of the Tea Party
movement, won the Republican nomination for Senate in
Kentucky on Tuesday night, delivering a powerful blow to the
party's establishment and offering the clearest evidence yet
of the strength of the anti-government sentiment simmering at
the grass-roots level.

Mr. Paul, the son of Representative Ron Paul of Texas, easily
defeated Trey Grayson, the secretary of state from Kentucky.
Voters turned against Mr. Grayson even though he had the
support of the state's best-known political leader - Mitch
McConnell, the Senate Republican leader.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com?emc=na

-----
Now get New York Times breaking news alerts sent to your mobile phone.
Sign up by texting NEWSALERTS to 698698 (NYTNYT).
-----

About This E-Mail
You received this message because you are signed up to receive breaking news
alerts from NYTimes.com.

To unsubscribe, change your e-mail address or to sign up for daily headlines
or other newsletters, go to:
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Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company

Cure Cancer? Sure thing. Turns out it's a lifestyle choice, even more than you thought.

It isn't easy to manage what your diet consists of. Anybody who'se tried to lose (or gain) weight can tell you that. But it's a primary factor in the length and quality of your whole life. Think about that, your entire life. Worth making an effort. It can directly save you from eventual heart disease, and, it turns out, cancer. Those two account for over half the disease deaths in the United States. Think about that, you will live much longer if you eat right. Why aren't all of us intensely studying this subject? I need to learn more.

Here is a good place to start. Take a look at how changing your diet can prevent cancer in an almost sure-fire way. Fascinating.

LOST

LOST is almost over. It's been a fun ride. If you want to catch up, it's not too late. You could watch some 90 hours of DVD or streaming video, which is what I did last summer. Or you could watch this 108 second clip. Either way.

The Grand Illusion

This is a great film. I watched it several times for my "French and Itialian Cinema" class, a course that frankly changed my college career. I wrote a paper about The Grand Illusion that I wish I could now find.

It's a Critic's Pick in the New York Times right now. Well worth watching their take. Watch all the way through to the end, I promise, you'll be glad you did. I laughed audibly.

The Critic's Pick: 'The Grand Illusion'

I Want

Someday, sooner than later, I'll need to curb my materialism. I want too many things. There has always been a latent part of me that wants a motorcycle. I don't think I'm anywhere closer to fulfilling that desire now than I ever have been, but it is a thing I think about. "If I were to get a motorcycle", I ask myself, "what kind would I get, and why?"

And, more often than not, I answer thusly.

I'd get something classic, timeless, even anachronistic. Anything but new. Modern, maybe, but in the vein of modern art. That's really what I'd want. Form as prominent as function; a ride that's equal parts expression as it is transportation. The above bike meets those requirements, and, not-withstanding their differences, virtually any motorcycle from this blog.

From pipe-dream to commercial reality, I'm well overdue to replace my phone. I'd like to say the G1 was a faithful companion, but it wasn't half the sidekick that my dear old Sidekick was.

My breaking point was a year ago. I'd defended the G1 when it was made fun of. Sure, it didn't always work like it was supposed to, and wasn't as fast or have as many apps as an iPhone. "But come on, people!", I would say, "Does everything have to be an iPhone?" There are plenty of reasons to avoid getting wholly in bed with Apple, but that's neither here nor there. My decicion was deliberate, principled, and I was standing by it.

Then, last summer, probably eight months after I first got the G1, I was getting a girl's number. We didn't have anything in common, and I never even called her, but it just seemed like the proper thing to do at the time. She began reciting the ten digits she'd probably given out more times than she'd ever wanted to. "Hang on", I said. "My phone is... slow sometimes." I was ready to take the number. The G1 was not.

"What kind of phone is that?"

"It's the G1, it's the phone Google came out with. It can do a lot, but it's a new system, and is still slow and buggy."

"Oh... why didn't you just get an iPhone."

At any moment during the previous 8 months, if she or anybody had asked that, I would have spouted off a fruitless tirade about openness in development and the virtues of competition and individual customization. It wouldn't have gotten me her number, but that's neither here nor there. The point is, I didn't do that. There was no tirade. There was a quiet moment of reflection.

Why... didn't I get an iPhone? An iPhone would have worked. This whole time.

If I had gotten an iPhone, I wouldn't be defending my hardware from ridicule. It wouldn't have broken down repeatedly. It wouldn't have force closed half the programs. I wouldn't have had to wait for firmware updates so I could simply use the hardware for what it was designed for. I wouldn't have had to deal with single touch interface, even though the hardware is perfectly capable of multi-touch. I wouldn't have had to buy an adapter on eBay so I could plug headphones into the thing, and then have that adapter malfunction (but not entirely break) just enough so that I'd keep trying to use it, even though it would cause songs to restart and jumble around my playlist for no apparent provocation at all. I wouldn't have had to buy an extended battery pack that turned my new shiny tech into a brick sized Zach Morris style walkie-talkie, just so I could actually use the thing throughout the day and not have it completely die before 3:00 p.m., and then have the backing on that battery break off. I wouldn't have had to buy a MicroSD card with 16GB on it so I could actually use it for some mobile storage, and then have the card get corrupted.

I wouldn't be waiting to get this pretty girl's number.

Why didn't I get an iPhone?

As it has completely broken a couple times, I'm on my 3rd G1. That's not to say it's stopped breaking, it's just that the malfunctions now are more of annoyances; little things that are usually solved with a reboot. But should I have to reboot my phone regularly, daily, mid-day, mid-use? Sometimes it just reboots itself. I think it must be a self-defense mechanism, like a boot camp trainee who curls into a fetal ball when he can't handle his drill sergeant anymore. I wouldn't have thought I was asking too much of the thing. After all, I'm only using it for what it's purportedly designed for, should be up for the job. Man up, soldier. Your momma ain't here to wipe your nose anymore.

I coddled it so when it was new. Made sure it stayed nice, clean, shiny. That was then. The other day, I dropped it from 5 feet up. The screen cracked, and I didn't even care.

Also, since my review of T-Mobile isn't exactly glowing, I think it's time to move on. I've payed an obscene amount of money to them over the past 5 years, for virtually no customer recognition. I thought maybe this would be like a country club; you pay a fortune, but they treat you like royalty. Nope. Every time I've had to deal with T-Mobile, they've politely treated me like an annoyance. That is, they've hardly fixed anything for me ever, but they smiled the whole time. Yup, time to move on.

Enter the Sprint EVO 4G. Nice, isn't it?

It does everything. It even has that fun kickstand and red accents. For further proof, see the spec sheet here.

We'll see. I've hopefully learned my lesson some, and won't order till I hear the announcement on the new iPhone. That'll probably happen in June. We'll see.

Is anybody reading this? I wouldn't. If you've gotten this far, really reading, I don't know whether to be impressed or startled. If you've read this far, and are still reading, I want you to go to the comments, Now, and leave the two word comment, "octopus foots". Go ahead, do it.

YouCut

"Imagine if your government was JUST as focused on SAVING money as it is on SPENDING money."

I wish I had the money to donate to Peter Schiff. I believe him.

I don't have the money. Maybe you do.

Hello Everybody, America faces a ticking time bomb that is going to explode in the next few years, and that's why I need to be in the U.S. Senate. Washington's profligate ways have run up an unsustainable $13 trillion debt, and there will be an economic collapse far more spectacular that what we've already seen if we do not act immediately. That's why I'm turning to you. Our campaign must get our fiscal conservative message on the air immediately, but ad space is expensive in Connecticut. We need to raise $100,000 by May 21st - the first day of the Republican State Convention - to fund this media buy. Will you help me? Follow this link to make an urgent contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250 or more to our campaign.Please do not delay; time is not on our side! Don't let Washington insiders fool you. The economic growth we've seen this year is phony - it's based on consumption and debt financing. If we do not put an end to Congress' spending spree, there will be an economic catastrophe that dwarfs the 2009 recession. Mark my words... The bond market will collapse. The value of the dollar will plunge. Interest rateswill rise. There will be runaway inflation and unemployment. And the only way to prevent this is to get government spending under control. But I'm prepared to go to Washington and help fix these massive problems before an even bigger crisis occurs, that's why I'm running for the Senate. I understand how government regulation and policy affect the free market better than most people, thanks to my experience in the financial sector. And I can promise you that the federal government is responsible for the financial crisis that continues to plague our country. Polls show that my message and background win the Republican Primary, but I urgently need your help. Not enough voters know about our campaign, and the only way to fix that is to flood the airwaves with our message. That's why raising $100,000 before the Convention begins on May 21st is critical. So can I count on you? Consider it an investment in the economic security of America, and make the most generous contribution you can by following this link. America is counting on you, and so am I. Peter Schiff P.S. Unless we act now, America will face an economic catastrophe greater than anything we've experienced. Help our campaign launch a new media buy by following this link and making a contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250 or more right away. We must raise $100,000 before the Republican State Convention begins in May 21st.

Testimony of the Book of Mormon

There was an invitation on Facebook for Latter-day Saints to blitz this YouTube video.
The idea is that if members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
all congregate upon this video in a single day, there may be enough momentum
for YouTube to recognize its rise in popularity, driving recommendations for
more people to watch via the automated systems that identify viral videos.

I'm not sure if that will happen. We're a global church of broad activity, but still
small by global standards, and not all of our members are active on social media.

But it's still a good one to watch, for all of us, regardless of faith or background.
After all, we're all God's children. Take a look.

Void

I don't really blog that much anymore. Tragic.

Acting Resume

I'm an actor. I can prove it. I have the headshots and resume. See:

Who could have seen that one coming? Certainly not me.

Yikes

Tony commented on my last post that I should check out the Yike Bike. Great minds think alike, and Engadget did a review of the Yike just a day after their review of that Honda oddity.

I'd call it "Willy" (like "Wheelie", get it?)

Looks like it's time for somebody to build Rosie the Robot for real.
Honda has made a single wheeled device that outdoes the Segway in weirdness. I really have no idea how this works.

I'm not sure who will buy these, if it ever comes to market (it won't). Cubicle dwellers? The price point would have to be pretty low.
 See the video HERE.

Please Buy My Camera. Again.

I thought it already sold, but it didn't actually sell. The "buyer" is no longer registered on eBay. Thanks a lot, jdax8xx from Phoenix, AZ.

SEE THE AUCTION HERE, and Happy Bidding.

00004

"El" Tom Perry

Thanks to David for this idea.

[Sent from Google Voice] Fwd: A Voicemail from Sam

The Inimitable Sam Yam, for your listening pleasure.

	Sam Yamamoto
	3/27/10 11:48 AM
Hi mister. Craig, This is Shannon, Yeah. My, My My, My, My My, My, My My, My, My My, My, My My, My, My My, My, My My, My, My, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Hello Joe, give me a call back. Bye. Play message

Don't have a Google Voice account? Find out more on www.google.com/voice.

Please Buy My Camera

I don't use it enough to justify having a sophisticated expensive piece of equipment.

This is the eBay listing.

  

Dragon Hunter Online

Remember when I mentioned my friend Steve's movie Dragon Hunter? I just noticed it's on Hulu. Neat.



P.S. I haven't watched it yet. Certainly checking it out when I get home.

Lessig for President

This video helps me feel much better about identifying myself as a "Conservative" when it doesn't feel like the party has really had it's act together in 20 years.

The Jetpack

The Legend. The Myth.

A few days ago, the Martin Jetpack became the first commercially available VTOL "jetpack" device, a dream of tinkerers and sci-fi enthusiasts since before Buck Rogers.


NOTE: Clever of them to use the ethereal, ambient, vaguely electronic background music. It's far more reminiscent of this age old dream of personal flight than the more natural "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" noise that I'm sure the ducted fans emit.

Just look at it. Its beautiful.

I know, it isn't really a jetpack, per se. The term is generic at this point. Devices more closely mimicing the traditional look and size have been around since the 60s, but flight time is prohibitively short. The device below is powered by Hydrogen Peroxide, of all things.



There have, over the decades, been tweaks and permutations, but none that provided a sustained, practical transportation experience, simply novelty. But that was enough to fuel development.

The Germans' began R&D of the "Himmelstürmer" during WWII.

James Bond used one (for real) in the 1965 production of Thunderball.

GoFast made one as a promotional vehicle, branding themselves as adrenaline junkie bad boys (I think they're missing the point, the larger cultural picture).

Juan Lozano of Mexico built one, no joke, in his backyard. This man is dedicated.

I've mentioned jetpacks a few times before right on this blog, even the Martin Jetpack when it was still very much in development.

Even though the Martin pack is now available, the fact is, I'm not a pilot, and they're dreadfully expensive, about $86,000. I've thought maybe the JetLev would be more practical, but its twice as expensive than the Martin pack, running at 129,000 €, or about $177,478.

It's just machined metal, a hose, and a jet ski.
I wonder if I could make one...



Dreams, dreams. We're all entitled to have them.

As an aside, I think the Martin pack needs to have some sort of foot rest. Don't you think it would be a little annoying to have them just dangling the whole time?

Shirt designs

Don't read too deeply in to these. They just kind of happened. I didn't put a great deal of conscious thought or effort into any of them. It's mostly just fun to doodle.

I'm open to suggestions and thoughts.

Auteurs

I like mashups. It's how pop-culture works today, and maybe always has.





If you can think of other variations on this theme, I'm anxious to hear about them.

The natives are getting restless...

Momentum

An official YouTube blog talked about Orabrush.
Ad Age talked about Orabrush in an article.
Silicon Valley Insider picked it up too.
Neat.

Overhaul

I've been blogging far far less lately. I think I'll give this page a redesign to infuse some new life. This is more for me than the readers, but in all honesty, so is the content.

End of the Digital Detox

I'm done with my Web 2.0 Fast, Digital Detox, or as Angela called it, my facebook diet.

I'll post a reflection on how the digital detox went, but right now, CES is going on.

And I want one of these.