Monthly Archives: December 2007

Dec282007

New Look for the New Year

Hey, kids, if you’ve been hanging around the blog today, you may have noticed some weird stuff happening format-wise, culminating in this new three-column arrangement. I’ve been wanting to try a three-column format for some time now; basically, I haven’t liked the aesthetics of all that sidebar information stacked up in a single place, and I also suspect a lot of people never scroll down and thus miss out on stuff. (Perhaps I underestimate people’s willingness to scroll, or overestimate the significance of my sidebar crap, or both. Still.)

Anyway, a little bit of tinkering from me and a big assist from Jack resulted in what you now see here. It’s not perfect — I’d prefer not to have all that white space below the sidebars, and there may be some problems for people using smaller displays (but isn’t pretty much everybody on at least 1024×768 monitors these days?) — but I’m going to give it a go for awhile, especially since Jack has advised me that switching back isn’t the easiest thing in the world.

Let me know what you think of the new look, especially if you’re experiencing any big problems. I’ve tested it on both Firefox and Explorer, so browser choice, at least, shouldn’t be an issue…

Dec282007

Something That Bugs Me: “Bare” vs. “Bear”

You remember the character Cyclops in the X-Men comics and movies, how if you take off his magic sunglasses, his “optic blast” superpower sprays everywhere, uncontrollable, until he shuts his eyes? That’s what it’s like to be a professional proofreader sometimes; you just can’t help but see the errors people make when they write, even when you’re not on the clock and you’re just out and about in the real world, trying to mind your own business. The really annoying thing is that you tend to see the same damn errors over and over again, too. Stuff that really isn’t that hard but which, for some reason, consistently trips up otherwise intelligent and well-spoken people.

Case in point (you knew I had one, didn’t you?): I was just perusing some reader comments over at the Tribune web site and I see that someone thinks that “Draper [City] has a huge cross to bare.” (Italics mine.) So… that would be an undressed cross? Perhaps you mean one that hasn’t been varnished or painted? Or perhaps the expression you’re really searching for is “cross to bear.”

It’s very simple, people: “bare” means naked. You bare your body, you bare your soul. “Bear” means “to support, carry, or endure.” You bear your load (which is what that old cliche about cross-bearing is getting at), you bear children, you grin and bear it. See how easy? Sheesh…

Dec272007

How Could They Let This Go Out on the Air?

My corporate overlords have shuttered the offices this week to give all us serfs a much-needed rest, so the last thing I want to be think about during my time (as Mr. Hand in Fast Times at Ridgemont High would call it) is anything that remotely resembles proofreading (which, if you’re new around here, is what I do for a living)… but man, sometimes I just can’t help it. Like when I see a caption on my local news broadcast that’s listing various things you can do to maintain healthy skin and among the bullet-pointed suggestions is something called “Excersize.”

Excersize? Could they possibly have meant exercise? Come on, people, this is not a difficult word! And even if it is beyond the mental capabilities of the interns who are writing the news and the blond-and-blue-eyed announcer-bots who are reading it, doesn’t the text that appears on-screen ever pass through a spell checker?

I don’t expect much from local TV news — too much of the average 20-minute broadcast is devoted to sports, weather, and pointless “cute” banter for any actual news to make it through — but this sort of thing is really just intolerable. Excersize? Good lord…

Dec252007

White Christmas

As some of you may suspect from what I’ve written lately, I’ve been having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. Well, I always have a hard time with that, but this year has been unusually grinchy for various reasons. That’s probably why I’ve been writing about it so much, because I was trying to convince myself to be more enthusiastic or something. It hasn’t worked out so well, to be honest.

However, my mood improved quite a bit this morning when I opened the front door and beheld this:

Click to enlarge and experience the full effect of the wintry goodness. I can’t remember the last time we had a genuinely white Christmas around here — seems like it always warms up two days beforehand and we end up with a muddy Christmas instead — and it’s also delightful not to see or hear any traffic out there on what is usually a very busy road.

I hope Santa brought everyone something good…

Dec242007

Christmas With You

You know how I said a few days ago that there are no good or memorable modern Christmas songs? I may have been wrong:

Ordinarily, anything with too much of a “support the troops” theme makes me very twitchy, because that slogan is all too often freighted with unpleasant political baggage (i.e., the idea that supporting the troops means stifling any dissenting opinions, and anyone who does speak against the validity — or even just the practicality — of the war must be an unpatriotic, traitorous, generally rotten human being who surely enjoys molesting kittens). But I think this song is just lovely, and it manages to sweetly (and apolitically) recognize that there are a lot of good people who are far from home and hearth this night, and we shouldn’t forget about them regardless of what we may think of the policies or the administration that put them there. In fact, I see this as a companion piece to one of the handful of classic holiday songs I enjoy, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” That, too, was a cry of loneliness and hope that came out of wartime, and which in the end isn’t so much about the war as it is about simple human yearning to return to those we love. Yeah, I think this tune, unlike so many other attempts at writing a “new classic,” may actually be around for another Christmas or two (and no, it isn’t just because it was written and performed by my main man, Rick Springfield… although that doesn’t hurt).

Incidentally, Rick’s newly released Christmas album (of which “Christmas with You” is the title track) is great, a heartfelt, unexpectedly spiritual set that ends with a slam-bang version of “Deck the Halls” played Surfaris-style. I highly recommend it; buy it here.

And now my friends, I think I’m going to sign off for the rest of the night. If you’re still out there reading this blog — and if you are, you really should back away from the computer and go find some realspace friends or loved ones to interact with — I’d like to wish you all peace.

Dec242007

Christmas Eve Quiz-o-Rama

I’m home from work today and I really should be wrapping presents right now, but instead…

You Are Pop Art

When it comes to art, you’re definitely not a snob.
You can appreciate the mainstream aspects of culture, even if you need to twist them a bit to make them your own.
Whether you’re into comics, retro pinups, or bold colors, you embrace what’s eye catching and simple.
As far as most other art goes, you consider it a little too elitist and high brow for your tastes!

What Art Movement Are You?

Huh. That’s surprisingly accurate. Read on for more useless but entertaining time-wasting quizzes and their results…

Dec232007

The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz

From Jaquandor comes the latest silly Internet quiz. This one is something a bit different, as it asks you to identify sound clips from various sources rather than simply answering questions. And my results are:

	I received 92 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?
Take the Sci-Fi Movie Quiz canon s5 is

Weird. I thought sure I’d gotten all of them. I even identified most of them before the end of the clip. Oh, well… I suppose I should take some comfort in the fact that not even I am 100% geeky.

Dec222007

2007: A Musical Review

As I mentioned the other day, this is the time when everybody starts recapping the previous 12 months, trying to gain some perspective on the year just winding down or at the very least remember just what exactly has gone on lately. In that spirit of recollection, have a look at this:

***VIDEO MISSING***

Love those boys at JibJab. Extra credit to them for playing off Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” a song that I always loved because I knew what more of the events referenced in the lyrics actually were than my friends did. (I’m all about establishing my own intellectual superiority.) In fact, I think Billy ought to revisit that tune once a decade or so, to keep it all up to date. Think of it, Billy Joel, the keeper of recent American history! That’s a much more impressive title than mere musician…

(Hat tip to Brian Greenberg, who probably found this specifically because of the Billy Joel connection. It is your destiny, Brian…)

Dec222007

Things That Suck About Living in the 21st Century

‘ve been thinking for a while now that I really ought to start a new series of curmudgeonly rants here on Simple Tricks called “Things That Suck About Living in the 21st Century.” Now, to be fair, this is a pretty amazing time we find ourselves in. We have technologies and luxuries undreamed of only a few decades ago: we can carry thousands of songs around on objects the size of a pack of smokes (or smaller, depending on the model); DVDs and hi-def TVs are a boon for movie fans (although they arguably come at the price of losing — or at least drastically transforming — the communal theater-going experience); the InterWebs give joe-schmoes like me a public forum to talk about any damn thing we wish, as well as a means of tracking down all those obscure Star Wars collectibles we missed out on as children; and the new Dodge Charger is a pretty damn nice-looking car. (That last one was for Anne; enjoy, honey!)

But there are also a lot of stupid little annoyances these days, stuff that can only be explained as a result of somebody, somewhere, abandoning all common sense. It’s like some evil, shadowy cabal somehow gained control over the workings of our society and decided to redesign all those everyday items and mundane procedures that used to work just fine for the express purpose of driving people crazy.

My first example: cash register receipts.

Dec212007

That Which Endures

Wil Wheaton’s been watching classic Trek, specifically the episode where Kirk fights the reptilian Gorn, which Wil hasn’t seen in years:

I’d … forgotten about Spock’s suggestion that maybe the Gorn were protecting themselves when they attacked the human outpost on Cestus III, and Kirk’s initial refusal to consider it. It was pretty brave to put the idea out that someone you automatically assume has evil intentions may have a very good reason — from their perspective — to think the same thing about you. A big part of American mythology is that we’re always the Good Guys who are incapable of doing anything evil or wrong, and I thought it was daring to suggest — on network television in 1967, no less — that maybe it’s not that simple.

Even though Star Trek frequently looks silly and cheesy, I think it says a lot about the writing and the stories that audiences have not just overlooked that, but embraced it, for the last 40 years. I’ve seen movies that spent more on special effects for one shot than Star Trek spent in an entire season’s worth, but I didn’t care about the characters, and the story didn’t stay with me for one minute after it was over. We know it’s just a guy in a silly rubber suit, but when Kirk empathizes with him and doesn’t kill him, it’s still a powerful moment, and the message it sends about compassion and empathy is a powerful one that’s just as relevant now as it was then.

Yep. That’s why Star Trek endures. It’s got nothing to do with the dated special effects that everyone seems to be so concerned with these days. It’s the one quality that classic Trek consistently had and which all its successors achieved only intermittently, and that’s good storytelling that actually has something to say. Something that, more often than not, remains relevant — or at least interesting — even after 40 years. God, I love this show… and I’m thinking that maybe I’ll throw a few of my Trek DVDs onto the agenda for my holiday break…

(Incidentally, if you didn’t catch it, this post’s title is a play on another classic Trek episode I’ve always especially liked, “That Which Survives.” Lee Meriwether turning sideways into a two-dimensional line and shrinking into a dot, the way the picture on the old black-and-white TV I had as a kid used to when I turned off the set, really freaked me out when I was young. Still does, actually… a very eerie effect.)