rethinking. is a remake an homage?
b.
nervous blogdown April 29, 2003
i’m at a loss. been under the weather for the last few days. haven’t seen any good flicks. only crap t.v. swim fan and i spy on pay-per-view (god’s gift to the couch bound). swim fan was seriously bad. bad. bad. bad. released sometime last year it was billed as a teen homage to fatal attraction. unlike cruel intentions (a teen take on dangerous liasons) this film wasn’t even close to the original. that said not sure the original was quality inspiration. so is the quality of an homage dependant on the quality of the original? example: smiths – please please please let me get what i want covered by the dream academy. check quality box for both. austen’s emma covered by hollywood (clueless) also quality on both counts (although i’m sure many would disagree on the latter). another literary classic jane eyre covered by jean rhys (wide sargasso sea). check – check.
not sure how many folks stumble onto this site, but i wish i had a comments section. i’m genuinely interested in hearing some other examples of this especially since it seems that there is more an more repackaging of previous content going on these days.
which leads me to comment on something else that has been bugging me. i would genuinely like to post a mail me link on this site, however, with the harvesters (i picture the spider creatures in minority report) crawling the web grabbing email addresses for spamming i hesitate. saw something on the news last night that microsoft, aol, and yahoo are currently working together (wow) to address the whole spam issue. fingers crossed people.
tony hawk count for today: 2 (doritos commercial, simpsons episode from sunday night).
b.
counter culture. April 26, 2003
saw this today. the satellite description reads “Documentary (2003) The counterculture festival takes place in Nevada annually during the week of Labor Day.”
i’m not convinced such a thing exists anymore. kurt vonnegut doing tiaa kref commercials. i think burroughs did a nike commercial a few years back.
b.
potpourri. April 25, 2003
better luck tomorrow. tried to go see this last week. happy to have seen it tonight. an original. the acting from the main actors was superb. especially the actor who played virgil. he should get a round of statuettes during awards season next spring. if not i’ll chalk it up to hoop dreams part deux.
franklin covey training. found out this week that i spend most of my time living below the line, moving around little rocks with a dull saw.
mix tapes. flowers and candy of my generation. every mix tape every boy gave me was filled with the music of that time for me. trip down memory lane. fred = enya. gary = massive attack. matt = dinasour jr. eric = dave matthews band. robert = cyprus hill.
five down. ten to go. i’m 73k steps closer to 220k steps.
b.
shift. April 22, 2003
a friend sent this to me today. j-walk is not the first person to point out my propencity for using lower case. there is a reason why i steer clear of the shift key in some cases. working on, around, and with computers is an 8-12 hr. a day gig for me. it’s not just something i use at work, but it’s also the focus of my work. i know folks who work at four star restaurants but choose mcdonalds on the weekend. or people that work with kids all week but choose not to have their own. when i get home i still use a computer, but i want to have it be a separate experience from my work day. i don’t take my work machine home. i have silly applications and wallpapers on my personal machine. at any rate, i guess skipping the shift key is the way i get out of work mode.
work = thinking about how i word my ideas, checking my spelling, making sure what i write and say is professional, concise, and well-expressed.
home = not being afraid to sound foolish, having a bit fun, and hopefully not causing too much trouble.
b.
jackass. April 21, 2003
i’m relatively late to the game obviously, but i just saw my first episode of jackass yesterday. i liked it. i laughed a lot. i feel somehow like i’ve lost i.q. pionts. then it hits me. it’s just one more reality t.v. show. i guess it’s time for a little blogfessional:
reality t.v. shows that i have tuned into at some point ~ listed by genre:
dating desperation:
the bachelor (seasons 1-3 full run)
joe millionaire (all of it – every mindnumbing moment)
single in ny and single in la (they call this women’s entertainment)
and finally ~
looking for love bachelorettes in alaska (as described by one of my favorite web sites: Looking for Love: Bachelorettes in Alaska might not have been the worst “reality” show ever produced — a title for which there’s healthy competition. It wasn’t the first show to cause people to despair for all humanity, and it unfortunately won’t be the last. But for six inglorious episodes in the summer of 2002, it was easily the worst thing on television. None of the husband-seeking women went home with a ring, and no one who watched the show did so without a few (or several) pangs of guilt. And the show defiled Alaska’s breathtaking beauty as badly as any oil spill ever could.)
just plain bizarre:
surreal life (could only handle two episodes ~ but read every recap on twop)
anna nicole (i tuned in for the second episode of the first season ~ took me a few days to recover)
mtv:
the real world (up to new orleans – i have standards you know)
road rules (first season)
real world/road rules challenge (the one when puck got married)
sorority life (full on season one – having a hard time with season two)
true life (this is acutally pretty good t.v. – well done mini-documentaries)
osbournes (season 1)
punk’d and jackass (the two sort of blur together – and it’s only been two times for each at this point)
competition craziness and hijinx:
survivor (an episode here and there over the years)
fear factor (the one with eating all the gross stuff – although i hear that happens on a lot of them)
that’s a pretty long list. then again there are many ~ many of these that i’ve skipped: temptation island, mr. personality, big brother, high school reunion, the mole, i’m a celebrity get me outta here, making the band, love cruise, scare tactics, baby story, wedding story, dating story, ad naseum (thanks to – and a big shout out to the snarky twop for a fairly comprehensive list)
oh and finally – have you checked out cnn or msnbc lately? i don’t know but it seems to me like they are both fast becoming 24hr daily doses of souped up, newsy, a bit-more legitimate reality television networks.
b.
robots. April 20, 2003
saw this today. there’s a lecture on microsoft campus this week: Robotic Pets and Human Lives: A Value Sensitive Design Investigation. it’s being presented by Batya Friedman & Peter H. Kahn, Jr. both from the University of Washington. i have three robot dogs: scooter, audrey and possum – they are each sony aibos. lots of folks are really keen in the aibo community to get their hands on the next gen sony robot.
we’re in the early stages of developing the world that william gibson, phillip k. dick, frank herbert, isaac asimov and so many writers envision in their novels and short stories. i’m curious to see if there is eventual tension between humans and machines as we move away from what are percieved as harmless robot dogs to fully functional a.i. beings (hello mr. data).
i received a copy of the velveteen rabbit as a gift this week. also saw battle for the planet of the apes yesterday. robots, rabbits, roddy mcdowell. the theme of disparity between groups and desire to be considered of value – equal in the eyes of others ran throughout my weekend.
b.
top 10 words for today. April 18, 2003
first
anime
internet
gumball
ramifications
leak
pink
nap
steak
competition
fill in the blanks. it’s been a strange day. it’s been a strange week.
i strive to be this interesting.
b.
blog block. April 16, 2003
aaaargh. tap tap tap. click click click. erase. repeat.
i don’t suppose anyone but me finds it interesting that the saturday night fever soundtrack is perfect for a 60 minute elliptical machine workout. it is.
spend a day counting how many times you hear people say: like. i guarantee you will never feel the same way about that word again.
tap tap tap. click click click. erase repeat. must go reboot. my brain.
b.
