Newness

Posted on September 14, 2005

NEW! Google Blogs. Google has released a search tool exclusively for blogs. I guess that makes it "Bloggle?" I'm not very impressed... at least not yet. The search results often look totally random, even when sorted by date. In addition, problems I have with the comeptition... namely, Technorati, have not been fixed with Google. For instance, when I search for my name, my own blog doesn't show up in the results. This is despite the fact that my name appears in the sidebar of every single page here. WTF? Of course, the advantage Google has over Technorati is sheer speed. Technorati is glacially slow and non-responsive, and has been for a long time.

NEW! Bankruptcy. Today both Delta and Northwest filed for bankruptcy (or, to make it sound pretty they are calling it "restructuring"). This is kind of sad, because if our major airlines start crapping out, it's going to be really interesting trying to go anywhere when you have to string together a bunch of uncoordinated hops on small carriers. United Airlines, who has gone through bankruptcy itself in 2002, shows that surviving is possible... but operating conditions are getting progressively difficult. My guess is that fares are finally going to start climbing to levels where people are not going to be able to afford it. This, in turn, will cause airlines to shrink or die. Entire tourism industries to fold. More people to lose jobs. We are trapped in a downward spiral and nobody seems to be trying to find a way out. I'd say this is a job for our government but, well, you know...

NEW! Hero Cards. I've received quite a few emails wanting to know how to make hero cards. Just in case anybody is serious, click here to download a ZIP archive with a blank card in both Adobe Illustrator and GIF format. The GIF blank requires you to add your own text... the Illustrator files have text in place. Have fun.

NEW! Television. I just realized that I'm going to be gone as most of the new television season is starting up. Even worse, my TiVo doesn't have room to record everything I'm wanting to see. Even worse than that, my TiVo appears to be dying and I can't find a dual-tuner replacement. And just when you think you can't get any worse, it's been revealed that TiVo is going to start allowing networks to limit how long you can store their shows and disallow you from transferring them to tapes or DVDs. As if TiVo couldn't suck any worse after having canceled their Mac version of TiVo2Go, now they are actively hostile towards their customers. Hopefully DirecTV will come up with another option soon, so I can drop TiVo and tell the dumbasses to bite me.

NEW! Transporter. I am a huge fan of the first The Transporter film. Jason Statham kicks major ass, and tears through a fight scene better than just about any white guy I've ever seen. And when you get down to it, fight scenes and killer car chases are what an action film is all about. It helped that the script was actually worth a crap, but I suppose I should have expected as much from Luc Besson. Keeping all of this in mind, I was freaking out when The Transporter 2 was announced, and Statham and Besson were both back onboard. This time, the action has moved to Miami, and "Frank" is a hired as a fill-in driver for a powerful politician's son. But when the son is kidnapped, the plot grows a bit complicated, and more sinister motives are revealed. Is it as good as the first movie? Not even. There's too many slow moments that attempt some really forced drama, and a few of the stunts go way past the relm of believability. But, as far as action films go, it's still pretty good. If you were a fan of the original, it's worth a look just so long as you keep your expectations in check.

UPDATE: Bwaaaahh ha ha haaaah! Thanks Susie! I have no doubt that a bitch could kick my ass... it's been done too many times before...

UPDATE: Now Patrick has a really cool card up! I think "1EE7 H4X0R" would make for a sweet battle against "Tube Dude" by hacking his nuclear-powered remote control!

Comments

It wasn’t the price of jet fuel, or market forces that brought down Delta Airlines. It was a culture of arrogance among management and an adversarial relationship with the equally arrogant pilots. The management at Delta believed their own rhetoric that they were better than everyone else and incapable of failing. In the end it was their air of superiority that blinded them to a changing market. Early on they felt no need to compete with new upstart carriers that would eventually run rings around them.

Posted by Ken Bingham on September 14, 2005 | Reply

   

Aloha! I don't know how I got here but accidently...I saw cute guy on the header and thought" how cute!". Then I started to read some pieces on your blog and I find this really interesting so I wanted to say hi and you have such a fine looking blog! You have a good day and t'care

Posted by Yvette on September 14, 2005 | Reply

   

It looks like Google's blog search is indexing RSS like files. So your name in the sidebar won't do much good.

You're too pessimistic about the airlines. Perhaps flying will (and needs to be) a bit more expensive but not so much that nobody will be able to do it anymore.

Posted by ssp on September 15, 2005 | Reply

   

Got here thru Run Jen Run. Fantastic site - I'll be back soon!

Posted by Vivian to Some on September 15, 2005 | Reply

   

For anyone who hasn't see it, a Transporter Spoiler (if you want to call it that) follows ...

What??!! You don't think a guy could hit a ramp in a car, do a spin, and scrape an explosive off the bottom of the car a split second before it explodes?

Still -- the movie was very good. I like the Transporter's style.

Posted by delmer on September 15, 2005 | Reply

   

Ditto TiVo. If you come up with an alternative, let me know.

Posted by Nez on September 15, 2005 | Reply

   

For some reason I never knew that Besson had made the Transporter, so when I saw the sequel I just had to see the first one. This is action when it's the best. Both movies begin just brilliantly and Statham is really cool - much as he was in Snatch.

Posted by Patrick on September 15, 2005 | Reply

   

I know it's not as cool at Tivo, but you could just tape the shows with a VCR, couldn't you?

I'm realatively certain hey can't stop you from doing that.

Posted by Peggy Archer on September 15, 2005 | Reply

   

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