the-inbetween.com

To Four More

This fad. This short-lived, boredom induced (and boredom inducing), often abandoned trend. This home of web-based diversions and, sometimes, random thoughts. This weblog; it is four years old today.

The first ever post -- months before I had a domain -- is dated December 31st, 1999. The last day of the 1900s. And what a day it was!

I'd rather forget it.

Ignoring that, I do have to say: damn man, who'd have ever thought that this stupid shit would last into a fifth year. You'd think that I'd have improved by now! Anyway, to those that do celebrate International Calendar Switch Day...

Cheers.

Celebrate with some free Iszoloscope mp3s (er, ignore the "Unplugged" track) and a picture of Masuimi Max (one of many). Or, if you're not into that sort of thing, here's some Boglin history.

Partial Recall

The WayBackMachine now has a beta text search called Recall. It's still very beta-ish, as the results aren't that great, but the ability to search the archives by text content rather than URL is interesting. Personally, I like the little zeitgeist like graphs they provide, which show good historical trends.

The above search should be an obvious one: "y2k". A sudden and massive upswell in "Y2K" related content just before January 2000, followed by a very quick decline upon the realization that fuck-all happened.

The above search is for "al-Qaeda"; the graph shows related terms. There is an obviously massive increase in activity after September 2001, but what's interesting is the "al-qaeda" spike in late 2000 (USS Cole Attack) and the late-2000, early-2001 increase in the term "holy war".

Maybe it's just me, but I find trends, patterns, and memetics like this really fascinating.

The Dude

The annual festivus came and went as quickly and painlessly as possible. Luckily. Among the presents that I did receive -- even though I insisted that I wanted (deserved) nothing -- was a robe. This robe, along with a shaveless month (and the resultant facial growth) and the recent upswell in hermit-like behaviour (torn pants and all), has left me a little, as the French say, hoboesque. The following photo is a good approximation of what I currently look like:

Then again, equating myself with The Dude isn't necessarily apt. For one, I don't bowl. Anymore. Secondly, I haven't had sex with any pretentious feminist artfags.

Yet.

Other than that -- and excluding various adventures and encounters with nihilists -- the parallels are there. Come to think of it, I now know what my new year's resolution will be...

Moviefest

Shit man, it's going to be a busy week:

Yes. Eight rentals.

Random Movie "did you know"s

Do you know that state Governors Ventura and Schwarzenegger have appeared in three films together? Predator, The Running Man, and Batman & Robin.

Do you know that The Land Before Time (confession: I saw it in the theatre) has had nine sequels? Some guy at Amazon calls the tenth installment slunlishy. Apparently, XI is in production too; they should be at the land during time already*.

Do you know that the voice of Solid Snake, David Hayter, is the writer of X-Men and X2?

And so that you'll know when you inevitably come across it (if you haven't already): the Apple-like iRobot commercial and all its tie-ins are part of a marketing campaign for the film version of Asimov's I, Robot -- starring Will Smith. ugh.

* I've used this lame joke before.

Gehry + AGO

Looks like it's "official" now, even though the news has been (sort of) out there for over a month. Frank Gehry will be redesigning -- transforming, if you will -- the Art Gallery of Ontario. With everything else that's being built, I hope that by the next decade Toronto will no longer be one of the most architecturally boring metropolises in the world. If anything, I should hope that the new AGO will counter-act and counter-balance that god awful OCAD design.

XHTML doesn't have the proper tags to fully emphasize just how awful it really is.

The scary thing is: OCAD is right next door to the AGO. God, that's going to be some serious contrast of styles.

id3 + Winamp 5

To this day, I hate id3 tags. They're just too inconsistent, and changing them (unlike renaming a file) is a hassle-and-a-half. Now I know what you're thinking: "if you download songs from different sources, then of course it will be inconsistent." Which is true, and expected, but that is illegal and we'd never admit to such things. No. The point is that entries in the CDDB are inconsistent, so when you are ripping your own CDs (and querying the CDDB) you still have to deal with that crap.

There are many things about id3 that annoy me, including: song info in ALL CAPS; song info completely lowercase; track numbers in the track title (there's a track # field for a reason); off-the-mark genres. This one's particularly annoying as many programs default to "Blues". If you can't think of the proper genre, or hate labels all together, leave it blank! Don't put in something completely random. No matter what your outlook, Skinny Puppy is NOT Blues; incomplete tags. I'd much rather have no id3 tags than just the artist name; and, finally, wrong information. I hate clicking on "song X.mp3" and having "Artist A - song Y" show instead.

I mention this because Winamp 5 is (officially) out and like any modern audio player it contains a media library. A media library that, like all that I've seen, organizes your media based on id3 tags. As is to be expected, it comes out as a complete mess. Finding songs in this id3 jungle is a chore.

So I wonder to myself: why bother? Why deal with the inconsistent hassles of and id3 database when I already have the best means of organizing my music: the filesystem. Is something like /MUSIC/BAND/ALBUM/XX-TrackName.mp3 too complicated? That alone gives me all the information I need without the necessity for an overly bloated database. Plus, it's easy to organize and search through.

To me, the only things that the Media Library adds are play counts and song ratings. Both of which aren't that useful. Both of which could be achieved with WinAmp plug-ins anyway.

Stupid id3 tags.

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New Google Features

There's some new Google features. Complimenting the sometimes useful calculator is a new definition engine. Just type "define whatever" or "define:whatever" to get it.

Kinda useful, especially if you have a Google search bar embeded in your browser. However, if you're using Mozilla/Firebird this is negated by Quick Search Keywords. Just type "webster whatever" in your address bar and you get a superior definition to the ones google provides.

Next, Google should find a way to exploit Diebold's voting machines so that you can vote for your favourite candidate from the comfort of your browser! vote:Candidate.

Your Anus, The Magician

The question is: how do you get into something for which you lack the proper knowledge or vocabulary to explain what it is that you like about it? This topic on the newish ask.metafilter helps a bit, but I need something more direct. I think I like Prokofiev and Holst. I probably like deeply layered orchestral stuff. I think I like things that use the harpsichord and/or the organ. I think that's primarly Baroque, but I really don't know.

Then you get some 30 recordings of the same thing by 30 different symphonies, and I get even more lost. Oh so lost.

Somebody hope me!

Related note. After using Google as a fact/spell-checker, I came across this: a playable LEGO Harpsichord. Cripes.

Unrelated note. An interesting discussion about Canadian magazines (or lack thereof) at Mefi.

Yule Time Trap

I do not hide the fact that I loathe the holiday season. I make certain to mention it every year on many, many occasions. It's stupid and pointless. I'd be rid of it if I could.

Unfortunately, there exists a Yule Time Trap. Here is how it starts: I very clearly and very emphatically point out that I, sincerely, do not want anything for Christmas and I do not want others to waste money on this retail scam; I repeat this fifty times as people tend to not believe me; I make a verbal agreement (I don't get you anything, you don't get me anything -- we both save money, we both win); I repeat this verbal agreement fifty times to make sure it sinks in.

That is where it all breaks apart.

Because I know that no matter how sincere I am in my non-wants, that these people will buy something. And I know that if they do that, they will be upset or disappointed or just outright pissed-off if they don't get something in return -- so I must buy something. Thus, I am consumed by this perpetual trap from which there is no escape. A trap that benefits no one except the retailers.

And to that, I say: bah humbug.

Snowman Attitude

Create a Snowman. If you build it they will come... and make crude snow penises and snowmen engaging in various sexual activities. Such are the inevitabilites of the internet. I had to partake, so here's my crude and rude snowman.

Since being blown-out by Philadelphia on the first of November, the Leafs have played 18 games (most of them on the road), losing only four -- and two of those were overtime losses. Since making that big trade, the .500 Raptors have won five straight. The stampede onto the bandwagon is fiercer than the rush for a $29 DVD player at Walmart. It is a good time for Toronto sports. Hopefully, it'll stick through the playoffs this year.

I'm not holding my breath, though.

90s Fox "Coolness"

Somewhere in a stream of conversation, I realized that the sitcoms of my youth have been getting the DVD treatment. Season one of Married with Children is now available, as is the complete set of the short-lived Ben Stiller Show (the recollections are vague, but I remember it being good. I don't know why these two, but an Oliver Stone spoof and a guest appearance by Flea are the only things that I *do* remember).

Jokingly, with a touch of sincerity, I mentioned that Herman's Head and Get A Life should get the DVD treatment too, as if to complete my childhood. They were the first random Fox sitcoms that came to mind and, quite likely, the most memorable of the second-tier early 90s Fox sitcoms. Herman's Head is probably best remembered for sharing Thursday nights with The Simpsons along with some prominent voice talent -- Hank Azaria and Yeardley Smith. Chris Elliot's Get a Life is, to this day, the thing I most associate with R.E.M.'s "Stand".

They weren't the absolute greatest series ever, but they were funny at times. Enjoyable even. Definitely worth a look if the chance were to present itself (then again, maybe nostalgia portrays them in a more favourable light).

Then, as I was refreshing my memory, came a surprising revelation: Get a Life is available on DVD! Hmmmm. Worth a look, eh? No word on Herman's Head, though.

Browsing this *incomplete* 90s Prime-Time TV grid has brought out many repressed Fox memories. Some good: In Living Color and Parker Lewis Can't Lose ("Gentlemen, synchronize swatches!" -- sheeeit, remember that show?); some really bad: Woops! and Matt LeBlanc's god-awful Married with Children spin-off; some vague and unknown: Bakersfield P.D. ?; and others, completely forgotten (probably for the best).

It's probably a fruitless endeavour, but TVShowsOnDVD.com lets you vote for those great, forgotten shows -- including the Dana Carvey Show. (But no more voting for In Living Colour, as that's coming early next year!)

Innocence

Five pages of stills from the new Ghost in the Shell movie, Innocence. There's a trailer, too. I didn't even know they were making a follow-up, so it's news to me. The art looks pretty good, but hell if I know what it's about.

I'm trying to figure out a way to integrate my delicious feed into the main weblog here, but: 1) I'm not good with perl, so modifying Movable Type might be problematic; 2) Out of consistency, I never bothered to upgrade MT's database to MySQL -- further adding to the complexity. So if something fucks up around here in the next few days, blame that tinkering.

Signs and Portents: More B5?

JMS: More Babylon 5 coming?. Came across that on Fark, of all places, and my interest was instantly piqued. Curious, I checked around a bit.

Ignore the following if you have no interest in Babylon 5 (you degenerate):

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Mimir

What ever happened to the RSS Reader that I said I'd make?

It is alive and already proving itself quite useful! The preliminary version is up at dev.the-inbetween.com/Feeds. That was the first look I was going for, but after some tweaking I'm starting to favour the alternate look. It's more compact and efficient, and with some more compacting it might make a good Firebird sidebar. The floating descriptions are powered by kryogenix's nice titles script. It's dhtmlicious!

There's still some bugs, some features still need to be added, and a lot of optimization is required, but the early results are positive and I'm hoping that will be my motivation to get it completed.

As for the name: Mimir. I like the etymology of it, but I'm undecided as to whether the actual word is good. Something about saying "mee'-mir" doesn't sit right. It's a smidge too "tinny." A "woody" word would be more apt.

Midway Arcade Treasures

I've been pleasantly surprised by Midway Arcade Treasures. Normally, I don't bother with such collections because I don't think they're worth it -- especially when they have a mere 4 to 6 games. However, in this case, I felt compelled.

For one, I've been playing a lot of Robotron over the last year; ever since I discovered it (it was before my time). As such, I wanted to have some of my cash go to Midway as a sign of thanks. Before the discovery of the free Shockwave.com version, there existed MAME guilt. This purchase puts an end to that. Besides, I'd get to play it on a proper controller on an actual television.

Secondly, the compilation has 24 games and comes at a very reasonable $30 CDN price tag ($20USD). About a dollar per game! That's a bargain when you consider that many of these games were designed to eat quarters, and many of them have consumed considerably more than a dollar in mere minutes. Of the 24, there are some real gems. My favourites are:

• Robotron: 2084
• SmashTV (with 2-player support)
• Marble Madness
• Paperboy
• Rampage (with 3-player support)
• Spy Hunter
• Super Sprint

For me, those games are worth the price of admission, but you also get: Defender, Defender II, Gauntlet (4-players), Joust 1 & 2, Bubbles, RoadBlasters, Blaster, Rampart, Sinistar, 720, Toobin', KLAX, SPLAT!, Satan's Hollow, Vindicators, and Root Beer Tapper.

As is the norm with such packages, it comes with some interviews and media (kinda interesting, but nothing major.) One addition to the set, and this is the cool part, is XBox Live Scoreboard support for all the games! It's a really nice use of Live and when you think about it, it is a no-brainer. These high-score focused games are made all that much better by this added competitive element -- you're no longer competing against your own highscore, but other people too.

Some of the games don't translate to the XBox controller as perfectly as they could have (the dual sticks feel too loose for the dual joystick games like Robotron and Smash TV), but they do the job. The controls might require a little bit of adjusting here and there, but after a little practice they feel quite natural.

Overall, it's a nice little set with a bunch of added value; definitely worth the $30 price tag.

Note: it's also available for the Playstation 2 and (soon) Gamecube, but if you have a choice get the XBox version. In addition to the Live Scoreboard, the XBox version emulates SmashTV perfectly (the Playstation 2 version apparently has some slow-down issues). I have no idea how the GameCube version will be, but I can't imagine the controller being as good for the dual-joystick games.