I never knew

I’ve just finished rebuilding all pages of this site. I installed MTCloseComments which automatically closes comments on all entries that have “fallen off” the main page and have been inactive for 3 days or more (for example). That way, hopefully, it will cut back comment spamming to close to zero. As it should be. Bastards! Shouldn’t affect anything else but if you notice problems, email me.

Jobs decides to go at it alone and gives up on Pixar distribution deal with Disney. A good move in my opinion, I think he can get a much better deal with someone else, all the studios will be lining up to offer them their first born. Do you know of any other film makers with no misses? Lasseter and the Pixar crew have had success after succes so far and although Jobs isn’t the creative brain behind the movies this is where he will shine, dealing some studio to a favorable deal for his company.

Just so you know, the Pats will beat the Cardiac Cats Panthers 24-10. And I’m generous with the 10 points. Ty Law or Tom Brady will be MVP.

(nothing farfetched there, just sayin’)

Bone, this novel’s narrator and hero is now up there with my favorite characters. A coming of age story, addiction, troubled youths, an on the road adventure, some philosophy, a bit of a travel, teenager speak, lots of “jamaica mon’”, living off the earth, friendship, self reliance, luck and taking responsibility for your actions. Those are all subjects tackled by Russel Banks and mixed in one superb story about a 14 year old disadvantaged kid who goes through hell, some more hell and some parts of heaven on his way to precocious adulthood.

It might sound like too many subjects and some of those are often badly handled and corny but somehow it all works together and the kid panhandling and sleeping in squats becomes someone you wish you could meet and talk with.

Magnificent… I believed every word of it, forgot I was reading fiction. Russell Banks has created a story that is both shattering and reassuring, and a narrator, Bone, who will stay with me for the rest of my life.—Roddy Doyle

One of the reviewers on amazon titled his review “A Catcher In The Rye For Modern Times”, that’s one of those expressions used and re-used way too often. This time though, it really applies. Threre aren’t that many books that I plan to re-read, this is one of them.

Alexander the Great is one of my favorite historical characters so I was pretty happy when the first two movies based on his life were announced. I was starting to worry when I heard that a third one was planned but since it’s a miniseries I figured why not. There’s now a fourth movie starting production next month. If you thought Bennifer and Paris Hilton were overexposed, think again.

(already mentioned here and here)

Very funny and enlightning flash presentation explaining how True Majority thinks the US can shuffle some money from the Pentagone to some more important issues. Well done.

Some of the funniest moments of the last Golden Globes were the two acceptance speaches by Ricky Gervais of The Office. “I’m from Britain. You know, we ruled the world before you did”. It’s shown on BBC Canada and on that page they say it “returns” February 12th but when I saw part of an episode yesterday they seemed to be saying it’s a new thing. Anyway, funny stuff, I’ll be following I think.

I’ve seen quite a few people linking to this entry by Jason and I agree, it’s very funny. He exagerates of course but it’s an actual problem for the people who have accounts on a lot of services. I don’t get it though, why do people even register to all those things? I’m only on Friendster and I can barely see the use of it, much less the need to be on many of the services. What am I missing?

I’m considering taking out the design switcher for this site. There are various changes I want to make and I’m not interested in making the corresponding updates to all of the css skins so I’m probably (read almost certainly) going to stick to one design. Which one have you been using?

Poll closed Thanks.

When I’m in a coffee shop with my iBook I can sit anywhere and so do other Mac people, like next to the fireplace at the Starbucks on Mont Royal, with an iBook or Powerbook on their knees. That’s exactly why it’s so funny to see the PC guys running around to find a table next to a power outlet! Long battery life rules!!

(I haven’t looked at PC laptop specs much in the last couple of years so don’t go and comment with loads of them that contradict what I said, I know they exist. They just don’t seem to be around!)