Blogography

Communigate

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 06:56:41 -0800

If you’re using Communigate Pro for your email server and are constantly getting “mailbox in use” errors when attempting to manipulate or delete or rename folders, try using an iPad or iPhone. When Apple’s Mail client or Communigate’s webmail interface fails, it’s iOS to the rescue! At the very least, you can delete a stubborn mailbox there. I have no idea how it works when working directly with Communigate doesn’t, but there you have it.

Progressives Must Stand up to the President

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:54:57 -0700

Progressives Must Stand up to the President:

Somebody has finally encapsulated my feelings on President Obama perfectly.

This is why bigots will lose...

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:34:50 -0800

This is why bigots will lose...

I loved my brief time in Egypt. Nothing would make me happier...

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 09:59:41 -0800

I loved my brief time in Egypt. Nothing would make me happier than to visit again one day.

The Ugly Truth

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:31:14 -0700

The Ugly Truth

Faux

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 17:41:29 -0700

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Perfect Fries Recipe

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:02:29 -0700

Perfect Fries Recipe

Sweet "Empire Strikes Back" Photos!

Tue, 18 May 2010 14:33:12 -0700

Sweet "Empire Strikes Back" Photos!

The Best Thing I've Read All Year

Thu, 13 May 2010 15:05:00 -0700

The Best Thing I've Read All Year

When Wiser is Stupid

Mon, 10 May 2010 12:00:00 -0700

Obviously, I’m not surprised at the massive acclaim for Betty White’s stunning performance on Saturday Night Live. As a long-time fan, it was just a given to me that she would blow the doors off the place. It’s what she does. It’s what she’s always done.

But even with such a huge outpouring of praise, there are bound to be haters… this is the internet, after all. And that’s fine. Not everybody likes the same things and I respect that. Yet when it comes to blatantly ignorant haters, it’s more difficult to remain calm. Especially when they claim to be a professional television critic.

Case in point, an article titled Betty more foul than funny on ‘SNL’ by Paige Wiser at the Beacon-News.

Wiser is listed as a “television critic” but is so woefully ignorant about television that it has me wondering if she purposely wrote her asinine article as link-bait just so she can get some hits to her column (Oh noes! It’s working!). The alternative would be really embarrassing, but unsurprising. Anybody can be a critic on the internet, no matter how (un)educated they are on the subject they’re writing about.

The “review” is short, so I’ll just take it apart…

“America — via Facebook — demanded that she host after she was featured in a hilarious Snickers ad during the Super Bowl. During her opening monologue, White admitted that she’d never heard of Facebook. ‘Now that I do know what it is, it sounds like a huge waste of time,’ she said. That was pretty much the last ladylike thing she said.”

— And we’re already off to a bad start here. SNL had Betty White on to be FUNNY, so when you criticize her for being unladylike, it just shows that you don’t understand the concept of the show. SNL is, and always has been, crude, rude, shocking, foul, and sometimes even blasphemous. If you don’t “get” that, then I can only assume that this is your first time watching SNL. If it’s not, then it begs the question… did you honestly expect SNL to change what they do just because Betty White was on? What would be the point of that?

“White had the writing talents of the “SNL” staff at her disposal, not to mention special guests Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Molly Shannon and Maya Rudolph.”

— And here is where the ignorance begins. Apparently Paige Wiser thinks that when a guest host appears on SNL, they are the ones who take the reigns of the show and orchestrate everything that ends up airing. Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but they don’t. Hosts pretty much show up, perform the material given them, and leave. Sure they can make suggestions or veto material they don’t feel comfortable with… but they don’t have anybody at their “disposal” nor do they determine what other performers get to do (or not do). To imply that Betty White was supposed to show up and take control of the show is categorically absurd.

Even so, the jokes for White invariably fell into one of three categories:
1. Betty White is old.
2. Betty White has a filthy mouth.
3. Betty White is happy to promote the “SNL” tie-in movie “MacGruber,” no matter how many skits it takes.

— This is where I totally lost it, because we transcend ignorance and head straight for dumbassery. First of all, NEWSFLASH: BETTY WHITE IS OLD! Were the writers supposed to ignore this fact and treat Betty as if Angelina Jolie were hosting? Creatively, exactly how would ignoring Betty White’s age make for a better show? By writing age-appropriate material, the writers were only making use of the guest-hosts attributes and abilities to write the best sketches possible. It’s what they do every week. When Justin Timberlake hosts, should they ignore the fact that he’s a singer? When Peyton Manning hosts, should they ignore the fact that he’s a football player? Are you stupid? Second of all, NEWSFLASH: BETTY WHITE HAS ALWAYS HAD A FILTHY MOUTH! You’d think that Paige Wiser would have done some fucking research before writing her column, but apparently that would require her to get off her ass and actually work for a living. “Playing blue” is what has made Betty White beloved by her millions of younger-generation fans (and many long-time fans alike, including this one). If you only know Betty from her role as sweet and innocent Rose Nylund on Golden Girls then you’re ignoring some pretty significant history. Fortunately, the writers at SNL actually knew WHO THE FUCK BETTY WHITE IS when they wrote for her. Because if they were as ignorant as Paige Wiser, we would have had an hour-and-a-half of sweet Golden Girls parody bullshit. That’s NOT why people wanted Betty on SNL. Lastly, NEWSFLASH: MACGRUBER HAS ALWAYS RUN IN THREE PARTS!! Again, I am compelled to wonder if Paige Wiser has ever watched a single episode of SNL before this one. The “catch” for MacGruber is that he blows up at the end, and yet they pick up with the next installment as if nothing ever happened. So when Paige Wiser has the fucking audacity to imply that Betty White appeared in the three-part MacGruber sketch because she’s happy to whore out a movie… well, it only goes to show that this TV critic is about as stupid as a box of rocks. Might try actually researching something before writing a column next time… otherwise you just come off looking like a pathetic link-baiting whore.

It was funny when White was talking trash during the Snickers ad. It was not funny when “SNL” had her get more specific with “crotch massager,” “The Wizard of Ass” and an extended muffin metaphor. She’s a Golden Girl, not Hit-Girl.

— Wow. Just wow. Apparently Paige Wiser is not only an ignorant fucktard, she also has a real problem separating reality from television. YOU DO FUCKING REALIZE THAT GOLDEN GIRLS WAS FICTION, RIGHT? Again, “Rose Nylund” was just a part Betty White played… it’s not who she really is. It makes me wonder what would happen if Paige Wiser ran into Christian Bale on the street. Would she think he was Batman? Here is a level of dumbassery that just makes me sad. SNL knew EXACTLY what to do with Betty White… let her fucking BE Betty White! It’s even more disturbing to realize that Paige Wiser is also professionally confused between advertising and television. Ads are family-friendly fare that are run during daytime hours. SNL is FUCKING LATE-NIGHT TELEVISION! There’s a reason that the show starts at 11:30.

“At least the crowd gave White some love with drawn-out applause, and even Jay-Z dedicated “Young Forever” to the “most incredible” 88-year-old. And while the comic opportunities may have been sub-par, White herself has never been more game — whether sporting a white afro as part of a “Scared Straight” program or donning sunglasses for every punchline of CSI: Sarasota.
‘You think we’ll ever catch this guy?’ asked Dratch.
‘It’s like my underwear,’ said White, fumbling with her sunglasses. ‘Depends.’
You think Betty White deserves a better tribute? Definitely.”

— And here is where Paige Wiser’s reputation as a television critic is completely obliterated. Those lines she’s quoting from “CSI: Sarasota” were a dead-on parody of David Caruso’s laughably bad one-liners from CSI: Miami. The fact that Paige Wiser is either too stupid to see this (or hasn’t seen an episode of CSI:Miami) pretty much tells you all you need to know about her career as a television critic. ‘Cancelled’.

I know I should just ignore ignorant shit like this when I see it, but Paige Wiser is correct about one thing: Betty White deserves better. Even from critics who have no fucking clue what they’re talking about. If you didn’t like the show and Betty White turned you off because you didn’t appreciate the foul humor she performed, then that’s your opinion and so be it. As I said, not everybody enjoys the same thing, and I’m fine with that. But don’t go ripping into SNL and Betty White because they didn’t change who and what they are to meet your personal expectations. Your job as a critic is to comment on what things are not what you imagine them to be.

So fuck you Paige Wiser. Fuck you sideways you ignorant slut.*

*A joke which will probably be lost on Wiser, because she is blissfully unaware that Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtain used to host the Weekend Update on SNL long before Seth Meyers. It’s called research, Paige Wiser. RESEARCH.

Frustration Overload

Thu, 06 May 2010 10:12:00 -0700

Here is a note I just sent to Media Temple about their hosting my main blog…
I have been trying to approve comments on my blog all morning. Half the time, the page times-out before I can even load it. Then, IF I manage to get in, half the time the approval times out. I visit the System Status and it says that “Maintenance is Complete” but I am still having horrendous problems. Everything is glacially slow.

Can I just know… will these problems EVER be fixed? You have been working on Grid Server issues for YEARS and all we get are more problems. I’m sure this is as frustrating for you as it is for me, but I’m PAYING for your “uptime promise,” and am getting increasingly irritated that I can’t write in my blog, update my blog, approve comments, or even access my site in a timely manner. And never-mind that the backup tool, which has been promised for over a year, has yet to materialize.

I used to LOVE Media Temple before you went to the “Grid Server” which we were assured would give us a better experience. Well, it just doesn’t work. Your old hosting method was far superior. At what point are you just going to declare your “Grid Server” a failure and go back to something that actually works? I honestly don’t know what to do here. I just renewed for a year of service, but there’s no way I can keep going through this.

You just announced your new (ve) service… congratulations. But when are you going to fix the services you already have?

I mean, holy crap. Exactly how long to they expect people to put up with this shit?

Make Your Own Pop-Tarts!

Mon, 03 May 2010 22:38:19 -0700

Make Your Own Pop-Tarts!

Senseless Flash Injection

Sat, 01 May 2010 10:32:00 -0700

With all the uproar over Apple’s refusal to allow Adobe Flash on their iPhones, iPods, and iPads, it’s easy to overlook the plight of everyday people having to suffer with Flash’s bullshit on a daily basis. Thursday night I received a notice that Adobe’s Creative Suit 5 (the most important software package in the universe for anybody in design) was available for customers to download. This is a singularly awesome event, marred by the fact that Adobe is eating their own dog food and using Flash to power their online store.

Here’s what I get when I follow the link to my account for the download…

Some inexplicable error has popped up which even Adobe’s own system doesn’t know how to deal with, giving a blank message box where my only option is to be “OK” with the problem. After that, I get this…

Just think of how much easier this would be if Adobe would have just provided a download link on their site and emailed me my serial number. But nooooooo… they have to shoehorn Flash into the mix, adding unnecessary complications and problems to what should be a straightforward process. After 15 minutes of failed attempts, I eventually moved to a different machine where the downloads miraculously proceeded without incident. What’s wrong with my laptop that it won’t work? Who knows.

I understand that there are areas where Flash is a necessity, and it would be difficult (or impossible) to implement them without using it (games being a good example). But I will never understand choosing to use Flash for tasks that can be handled without it. Flash for the sake of Flash is just senseless… even for Adobe. The chance of things going terribly wrong are too great to justify the risk.

Comic Book Meme

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:51:00 -0700

It’s a cool comic meme I found over at Quit Your Day Job!

Did you read comics as a kid? Not really. I didn’t pick up my first comic and start my obsession until I was in junior high school.
Who bought you your first comic? I did. I bought The Flash #277 and Green Lantern/Green Arrow #121 at the local drug store in 1979.
Did you take any time away from comics? Why? Yes. I continued buying the titles I had been collecting (out of habit), but pretty much stopped reading them sometime in the mid-to-late 90’s. All the crossover bullshit was getting old, and good stories were being sacrificed in the process.
What brought you back into comics? Robert Kirkman’s Invincible. The reason I stopped reading comics was because everything was getting overly-complicated, and you had to buy a dozen series just to keep up with all the latest bullshit they were putting Batman through. If you only wanted to read the Batman books, you’d be lost, and that was just greedy and stupid (I am saying “Batman” here, but it went for most comics at the time). I had heard good buzz about Invincible and so I decided to buy issue #4 when I wandered by Golden Age Collectibles in Seattle. That book exemplified everything I loved about comics (GOOD STORIES WITH NO CROSSOVER INSANITY), and I jumped back in. Of course, now comic publishers are going back to exactly the crossover bullshit I hate, so I’m kind of falling out again.
Do you prefer getting comics monthly or in trades? Monthly if it’s a book I love. Trades if it’s a title I can live without.
Do you know the name of your Local Comic Shop (LCS)? My most-local shop is Galaxy Comics, but I rarely get there. I’m more likely to visit Golden Age Collectibles when I’m in Seattle.
Does your LCS know your name? The local guy would probably remember me. Golden Age wouldn’t.
Do you own any old number 1 comics (must date before 1980)? Some. I started collecting in 1979, so I was buying all the new #1’s I could get my hands on, plus filling in a few series I was late to the party on.
Do you own any original comic art? Yes. The highlights being pieces by Curt Swan, George Pérez, and Art Adams.
Do you bag and board your comics? Not really.
Where do you store your comics? Comic boxes in my closet. Archive boxes in a storage unit.
How many comics do you read right now, in either floppy or trade format? READ? About a dozen titles. I buy about double that, however.
What would be your number one, all-time desert island, favourite comic series? Currently, that would be Invincible. Historically, it would be The Legion of Super-Heroes (original series).
Do you follow comic creators on Twitter? Yes.
Do you have a favourite comic creator? That is such a difficult question. I love Watchmen more than any other book, but the sheer joy I got from the Keith Griffin run on Legion of Super-Heroes cannot be denied. I follow many books just because George Pérez or Art Adams drew them, so they’re probably the best answer.
Do you harbour any aspirations to create your own comics? Doesn’t everybody? I have a comic project that’s been on the back burner for decades. Maybe one day I’ll actually find time to work on it.
Do you access comic news online, if so where? Mostly from Comic Book Resources.
Marvel or DC? DC (Batman? Superman? Legion? DC is where they be!).
Superman or Batman? Batman.
Spider-Man or Wolverine? Spider-Man (though I don’t really read either character).
Iron Fist or Luke Cage? CAGE!
Nick Fury normal or Nick Fury Sam Jackson? I’ll go with Samuel L. Jackson every time. In this case, doubly so, because I always thought that the comic book Nick Fury was pretty lame.
Spandex or Real Life Stories? Spandex.
Golden Age or Silver Age or Modern Age? Silver Age.
Digital or Paper? Paper.
Gotham or New York? Gotham City.
Hero or Villain? Hero.
Cape or No Cape? Cape!
Cowl or Domino Mask? Cowl.

Blogocalypse

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 10:10:50 -0700

I am THIS CLOSE to just starting over with my blog or dumping it entirely.

My web hosting company, Media Temple, is horrendously bad. When I first moved there, they were awesome in both service and support, and totally worth the premium I was paying to have them host my blog. But then they moved everybody to a “Grid Server” system that has been an ass-sucking pile of shit since day one. Not a week goes by that my domain is down completely or running so slow that it might as well be down. Technical glitches pop up all the time. For the past two days, accessing the MT Control Panel for my blog takes MINUTES. Hell, just approving a comment can take up to FIFTEEN MINUTES. Media Temple says they’re working on the problem, but that’s what they say every damn time something goes wrong, and the overall problem of up-time, speed, and stability NEVER IMPROVES.

Why Media Temple can’t just declare their Grid Server a colossal failure and go back to something that works is beyond me.

It’s easy for everybody to say “Well, just move to a different hosting company!” But the reality of moving to a new hosting company is not so easy. First of all, I’ve been booted off two previous hosting companies because my blogging platform (Movable Type) “uses too many system resources.” And then there’s the migration itself… Movable Type does not export a lot of critical information when you move, so you have to do a database transfer which has never worked for me.

It’s all just such a huge load of crap and I’m tired of messing with it. Why do I continue to torture myself with a blog that just makes my life miserable? It’s a question I’ve been asking myself for a while now, and I’m running out of responses that convince me to keep going.

I should have never strayed from MySpace.

All-Encompassing Douchiness

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Do you know what most people would do if they found a phone that somebody had forgotten at a bar? THEY’D GIVE IT TO THE FUCKING BARTENDER SO THAT WHEN THE POOR BASTARD WHO LOST THEIR FUCKING PHONE REALIZES IT, THEY’D KNOW WHERE TO FIND IT!!

You can candy-coat it all you like, but everybody involved with the whole STOLEN iPhone G4 drama is a douche.

The guy who found the phone and didn’t hand it over to the bartender? DOUCHE!
The same guy who decided to STEAL the phone when he realized it was an Apple iPhone prototype? BIG DOUCHE! (Bitch, please, you KNEW what it was when you found it which is why you STOLE it… don’t think you’re fooling anybody).
The same guy who then decided to sell the STOLEN phone for $5000 to Gizmodo? COLOSSAL DOUCHE!
Gizmodo editor Jason Chen agreeing to buy STOLEN PROPERTY to get blog traffic? GALAXY-SPANNING DOUCHE!
Gizmodo’s never-ending stream of lame-ass excuses to justify THEFT? DIMENSION-SHATTERING LEVELS OF DOUCHINESS!
Gizmodo publishing the name of the poor Apple employee who lost the phone when it was completely unnecessary and only served to cause them additional torture? GOD-LIKE, ALL-ENCOMPASSING DOUCHINESS!

When a blog has to resort to STEALING to get clicks, it’s all over. Because THEFT is just the beginning. If Gizmodo is willing to STEAL to get this story, heaven only knows what travesties they’d be willing to commit (or people they’d fuck over) to get the next one.

Gizmodo has been deleted from my feed-reader and I’m going to do my level best to try and forget that I ever read their piece of shit blog. What a group of astoundingly massive gaping assholes.

It’s astounding how quickly people will shit all over The Golden Rule… failing to treat others as they themselves would want to be treated… and for what? $5000? Pathetic. Fucking pathetic.

I weep for the future.

You’d think that FOX News would get tired of looking like...

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:30:00 -0700

You’d think that FOX News would get tired of looking like a bunch of total fucking dumbasses all the time… but I guess their viewers just don’t care how outlandish something is so long as it attacks President Obama.

100 Places to Visit Before You Die

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 08:15:00 -0700

Thanks to A Malaysian Abroad for finding this list… I’ve marked the places I’ve visited in bold italics

Pyramids of Egypt
Chichen Itza
Pompeii
Mont St Michel
Great Wall of China
Petra
Kashmir Valley
Topkapi Palace
Taj Mahal
Nile River Cruise
Prague Old Town
Carnival in Rio
Serengeti Migration
Easter Island
Golden Temple
Stonehenge
Galapagos Islands
Cappadocia
Amalfi Drive
Angel Falls
Grand Canyon
Colosseum of Rome
Meenakshi
Yellowstone National Park
Machu Picchu
Fjords of Norway
Chartres Cathedral
Santorini
Antarctica Cruise
St. Peter’s Basilica
Mezquita Cordoba
Matterhorn
Iguazu Falls
Egyptian Museum
Damascus Old City
New York Skyline
Bali
Borobudur
Dubrovnik
Marrakesh
Amazon Rain Forest
Valley of the Kings
Uffizi Gallery
Eiffel Tower
Ngorongoro Crater
Hong Kong
Rio Panoramic View
Ladakh
Great Barrier Reef
Sistine Chapel
Golden Pavilion
Niagara Falls
Angkor Wat
Burj Khalifa
Delphi
British Museum
Victoria Falls
Alhambra
St. Basil’s Cathedral
Burj al Arab
Forbidden City
Louvre Museum
Abu Simbel
Yangtze River Cruise
Bagan
Canals of Venice
St Mark’s Basilica
Yosemite
Karnak
Versailles
Florence Cityscape
Ayers Rock
Teotihuacan
Carlsbad Caverns
Kremlin
Hermitage Museum
Banaue Rice Terraces
Mecca
Varanasi/Ganges
Chambord Chateau
Bora Bora
Kathmandu Valley
Li River Cruise
Lijiang/Shangri La
Acropolis
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Shwedagon Stupa
Neuschwanstein Castle
Potala Palace
Mt Everest
Sahara Desert
Banff National Park
Jerusalem Old City
Temple of the Emerald Buddha
Leaning Tower Pisa
San Francisco
TerraCotta Warriors
Hagia Sofia
Baalbek
Portofino

Let's say you find a machine which has the ability to change peoples minds, on a simultaneous global scale, by implanting concepts and ideas which you preprogram, into human brains, in effect making all humans on earth think as one on a set of causes.
Would you be morally justified in using that machine to force everyones hand, for the greater good? (This is a one-time effect, each new human born would have to be re programmed, if not done via traditional indoctrination)

Mike

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 20:57:03 -0700

That’s a tough one. On one hand, if everybody thought the way I wanted them to, we’d have a really peaceful existence. But… if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my travels, variety is what makes this world such an interesting place. I think that even though it make world peace unlikely, I’d prefer people to be left to their own devices for the greater good.

Me with my super-sweet custom Encom badge. It’s a promo...

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:03:53 -0700

Me with my super-sweet custom Encom badge. It’s a promo item from TRON 2 you can win by playing a game at http://www.arcadeaid.com/challengingstage/