Thursday, September 30, 2010

getting organized

Told the good Frau Doktor I would update my blog sometime soon - this was two months ago. Well, I'll try to update anybody interested soon.

The biggest update of the past week was walking away from Mafia Wars. Facebook game was eating up perhaps as much as 20 hours per week. I'm still doing a few passive games (MouseHunt, Fishwrangler, Ghost Trappers) but it's nowhere near as much time. And with the complete lack of Diplomacy commitments, I have time now.

Sister visited last week, which was cool. Place feels a lot more alive when another person is about.

I wonder if I can whip up a decent post for my nascent science blog. I started a blog called Pineapples in Alaska. I wonder, though, if there's a lot for me to say. I'm not really a content producer by nature. I'm much more of a critic or reviewer. I like sucking in lots of information and comparing it a lot more than producing material creatively. Let's see what I can put up there this Wochenende.

If I were to go into something more journalistic, my talents would be more as an editor, I would think, than as a writer.

Where does that leave me as a blogger?

It seems weird to me that journalism these days has become a business interested more about producing volumes of product than of trying to see what impact the products have. Indeed, that seems to be the guiding light of our professional class.

Obama is really bumming me out. The blame-the-liberals game is getting old, and his penchant for creeping authoritarianism is unforgivable, as far as I'm concerned.

Good films seen recently: Inception, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Girl who Played with Fire. Of the latter two, I liked GDT more than GPF, simply because it fit the format of a feature film much better. The latter film was a bit hampered by the need to cram all sorts of stuff into a film. It didn't really fit.

I've been reading the associated books, and I've decided the reverse is true. The first book takes hella long to get started, while the excess information which drowned the second film fits quite easily into the second book. That brings up the question : do I see Wasp's Nest before I read it or vice versa?

Another film I saw recently which I really like was the Austrian film Das Weisse Band. (The White Ribbon, auf englisch.) It's a film set in rural Germany circa 1914, in a small town where deadly pranks keep happening. For example, right at the start of the film, the town doctor falls from his horse when they run into a wire strung across the entrance to his yard. The acting in this film is tremendous, and in particular they did a great job casting the large number of children's parts. In any case, it's a film far more interesting than 95% of the crap in RedBox.

It occurs to me that I probably should make note when I use a fake word like "hella". Das is nicht gutes Englisch.

Up way too late. Pessimistic about the Pats winning a road game against a good team. But at least Ginger is in great shape. Oh - I ran noch ein Halb-Marathon vor zwei Wochen. Next up: the Army Ten Miler.

Viel Spass noch!