Following Grant Hutchinson's lead, I'm forgoing resolutions in favor of reflections. These are some things I noticed last year:

• Everyone is a bit crazy.
• The difference is in how hard they try to hide it.
• A challenging job with responsibility can be tiring.
• An easy job with nearly no responsibility can be numbing.
• I don't want to be numb.
• The Internet is finally getting a little older.
• Blogs are very young.
• Friendship comes from the strangest of places.
• Life is what you let it do with you.
• It always comes back to love.

2003-01-01 10:52:34 Good Old 1996 Mr. Gomen has an archive of nearly all the email he's ever sent/received. While looking through some old stuff, we found this. Originally sent to me and then forwarded to him. It still makes me giggle.

Hell is rough.

a lot of time if youre trying to eat a steak it'll get right off the table and run back onto the carcass of the dead beast.

The RIAA has security problems. Edit their site (won't work for long no how no way).

2002-12-30 12:34:06 Degrading XHTML Matt Haughey on real world XHTML useage:

The Creative Commons site is the biggest site (in terms of traffic and exposure) I've ever done in fully valid XHTML 1.0 ... I haven't received a single complaint about the layouts in Netscape 4 browsers (I hide all CSS from NN4 users).

Fan fiction gets some mainstream press...

Professor Henry Jenkins from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has studied the fan fiction phenomenon.

He argues it is part of our civilised life and the internet has created a revolution in grassroots creativity. [BBC]

...without a mention of one of it's most common themes - Pop culture icons having sex.

Hip hop has become Steven Seagal in a do-rag. - Pierre Bennu (AppleSauce)

For some unknown reason, this page is refreshing it's self. Over and over and over and over. As long as you let it sit there. I'm not sure why. There's no code telling it to. I think it want's attention. I'd ignore it's flickery attempts to gain a little quality time, if only it wasn't eating up so much bandwidth.

Update: Haha! Problem solved. The newest version of Kung-Tunes ate my formating template... and spit back a full html page with a meta refresh tag. Not nice. But I'll forgive it.

Christmas leftovers.

I saw the Two Towers for a second time today. This time with much better seats. It's a good movie. If not entirely for me. Too much fighting and not enough adventuring. The Helm's Deep battle is epic without becoming silly. Which also makes it intense. It's broken up with the occasional dwarf joke or cut back to the forest.... but it's not enough to settle people down. It's a lot of violence. Violence with weight to it. The struggle is hard and constant. Making it all a bit much for me.

On the other hand, Gollum is incredible. Charles Taylor called him the "Most amazing movie creature since Yoda's debut in 'The Empire Strikes Back'". I couldn't agree more. He puts other rendered characters to shame. All at once he's disgusting and repulsive and dangerous.... while somehow helpless and frail and tortured. The scene where his good side argues with the bad, is brilliant. It's impossible not to love him once the good wins. And hurt for him when the bad re-appears.

It's a shame more time wasn't spent on the Frodo/Gollum relationship. Gollum as a mirror and Frodos need to fix it are far more interesting than the details of Helms Deep. So I say.

Really, it's a minor complaint. All and all, it's a great movie. I'll certainly be seeing it again..... and probably again and again. But not until it comes out on DVD. Twice in one week is going to last me awhile.

iPod Purse photos @ Antipixel.

It's time to go buy some records: Pitchfork - Top 50 Albums of 2002

We may have a new roommate. Two interviews went well last night. Very opposite girls... but both were friendly and nice. It was tough to pick one. Hopefully she won't disappear like the last.

A Disturbance in Film's Force

Efforts such as Soderbergh's do not sit well with Eastman Kodak Co., the world's largest maker of photographic film. The company greets the idea that digital cameras might replace film with all the enthusiasm of a guy digging a canal trench who looks up to see the first steam locomotive chugging by. Which is why Kodak has launched a public relations blitz designed to keep the film manufacturer from becoming a technology casualty of the early 21st century -- or at least to stave off what may be inevitable a bit longer.

Polaroids are creepy.

IHT: For CIA suspects abroad, brass-knuckle treatment

U.S. officials have said little publicly about the captives' names, numbers or whereabouts, and virtually nothing about interrogation methods. But interviews with several former intelligence officials and 10 current U.S. national security officials - including several people who witnessed the handling of prisoners - provide insight into how the U.S. government is prosecuting this part of the war.

The picture that emerges is of a brass-knuckled quest for information, often in concert with allies of dubious human rights reputation, in which the traditional lines between right and wrong, legal and inhumane, are evolving and blurred.

Please pet this innocent tissue to be used without any complain every day.

Douglas Rushkoff on how malls manipulate.

Already tired of Christmas? Try a little Google Search I Ching.

Happy Deal Everyone!

A shuttle came at 4:30 this morning to whisk Lane off to the airport... and back to North Carolina. It's an odd time for goodbyes. Especially when you're barefoot, in your pajamas, and it's 40 degrees outside.

Once I got back inside, I couldn't sleep.

We had a wonderful time. Details are all over her blog. With pictures in some cases. I've got pictures someday. Right now I've got to blow my nose. And take a nap. In an uncomfortably empty bed...

Still busy.... Beta test is near. Lane is almost here. So many things to do. And it's all worth it.

Quinn - Tetris for OsX.

Found While Working: Life in the Freezer

I'm in Antarctica and will be posting updates for friends and family here!