Recently in General Tomfoolery Category
It looks like we're to be treated to a most random Christmas special, courtesy of Stephen Colbert and it will air on November 23rd. At least this is what Pitchfork tells us. Please check out the link for some amusing/disturbing photos.
I haven't seen any movies in a little while, but I do think I'll be checking out Ghost Town, this weekend. It's gotten some good early reviews and well, it's Ricky Gervais...
That's about all.
This past Saturday, I hit the links in Niagara, to help a close friend celebrate the last remaining days of freedom he'll ever have before he ties the knot. On the positive side, I managed to regain not only my swing, but the confidence to use it fully. I hit most shots straight and long and with a remarkable amount of percision. Especially remarkable, because of how much beer was consumed. On the negative side... Well, let's just say that I made a few errors in judgement that were amusing to those around me and I'm glad to have provided some entertainment, courtesy of previously mentioned beer consumption.
Now about this article... Lately there haven't been many links posted, so I hope you'll keep that in mind and take a good look at the following. It's a stark reminder of the uphill battle that Barrack Obama faces, when it comes to the old and uneducated electorate. Frankly, it's depressing as shit.
In Flag City USA, where false Obama rumors fly - MSNBC.com
I like golf, which means I occasionally visit the PGATOUR.com (caps only please!) website. Over the last year or so, they decided to do a site redesign, which came with an unwanted 'feature'. When visitors arrive at the site, a video auto-starts, getting you up to date on the latest happenings in golf and does so without any warning. It's annoyed me for a long while now, but after forgetting about the 'feature' on a recent visit (when I had the volume turned up nice and loud), I decided to let the site know how I felt.
__________________________________________________________________________
From: dotcomfeedback@pgatourhq.com
Subject: Re: Website from Stephen Johnson
To: johnsons1@hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:40:17 -0400
Thank you for your feedback and for using PGATOUR.com. Your opinion is important to us and we are very interested in how our fans feel about PGATOUR.com, TOUR Players, and PGA TOUR events. At this time there is no way to turn off this feature. However, we are constantly trying to improve our website so your feedback is very important to us. Please don't hesitate to use the feedback link to express your opinion at any time. Thanks again.
Sincerely,
DotComFeedback Staff
johnsons1@hotmail.com
06/24/2008 06:16 PM |
|
Name: Stephen Johnson
Subject: Website
Email: johnsons1@hotmail.com
Comment:
Stop auto starting the videos on the right of the website, when the user first arrives to the site... It's INFURIATING.
Browser: MSIE 7.0
OS: Windows Vista
Resolution: 1280x720
Flash version: undefined
User status: registered
_____________________________________________________________________
Uh, there is a way to turn it off, it's a line of code, not... gravity, or... the sun. Damn you, PGATOUR.com... Damn you.
These days it's truly a rarity for me, but I had quite the busy day. I attempted a run, but only made it 4.5k before my 'good' knee gave out, Then it was off to do a bike ride for a while, before returning home to paint for about 7 hours (awesome... awesome). Today I'll be doing nothing at all and enjoying every minute of it.
There's so much to fix in this heap of a house, that sometimes it's hard to take one step forward towards changing anything. Combined with a family that all have two left hands, you may be surprised to know that I'm the only one doing anything to get Chez Johnson ready for it's closeup. After this is done, my parents and I are even. They brought me into the world - I turned their crap into gold.
It's funny to think that people are paying $90 for the (free) privilege of exercising, but I don't look at it that way. Personally I hate going to the gym, because I hate people. That $90 investment allows me to cut out the bric-a-brac and frees me up to butcher that side plank exercise, without having to see some person look quickly away, with that "poor thing..." look on their face. I don't want your pity, asshole! Exercising without scrutiny is a wonderful thing and if I have to work within the limitations of a 'game' to enjoy that privacy, that's certainly something I can accept.
I also picked up a bike, seeing as my last one was stolen during the lovely eight months that I spent in the city. Walking is great, but sometimes you need to get where you're going with a bit more urgency and the lack of a bike was really limiting my already limited options. Other than getting a sturdy lock and a kickstand, the only thing left is a new seat. The current seat is immediately uncomfortable on first sit. Enough so, that the 30 minutes I spent on it was probably enough to ensure that kids won't be in my future, while hemorrhoids will.
On that pleasant note, have a lovely day.
Clearly I'm not paying attention, when my own website isn't working for 7 days...
As an unnoticed malfunction might imply, I can't say that there's too much going on at the moment. I was supposed to do a cross-country trek to BC, which didn't pan out. Other than that, I've been doing some occasional work and spending some quality time with my Wii... Not exactly the kind of thing one needs to give daily updates on, right?
Right.
About the only useful thing I'm up to at the moment, would be trying to fix my parent's home. It's going back on the block and this time the idea is for it to be less 'au natural' and more pleasing to the eye. That means saying goodbye to the two-thirds of the house that still wears the original eggshell white builders paint (18 years and counting!) and also repainting the other third. There's also the matter of ripping up the tiles and linoleum in the kitchen, bathroom and hallway and replacing it with something that isn't ugly.
So far I've ripped down a bunch of ugly wallpaper borders, patched walls and scraped popcorn stucco off of ceilings. Now it's time to paint and make it look like I'm doing something, even though I am doing something.
I watched 'Iron Man', last night and I thought it was very well made. All of the major roles were cast nicely and it was well directed. Scanning the Rotten Tomatoes reviews, one critic put it best, when he said "...Robert Downey Jr is the film's best special effect.". I was skeptical of him playing a superhero, but I'm not aware of any other known actor who could have, as it required the colonel's special blend of 11 secrets herbs and spices, including 'asshole', 'arrogant' and 'aggresive sarcasm' and with that kind of assiduously applied alliteration, how could I possibly be wrong in my assessment?
Anyway.
I have a personal message for one M. Bay. Have you seen this movie yet, guy? Bring a notepad and have your assistant take some notes (as I fear you can neither read nor write), before slowly reading them back to you. When compared to your 'work', it manages to do a 180 and then go another 360 degrees, for good measure. Proof that movies can make a lot of money, without appealing to the lowest common denominator of 'Ohhh... Shiny! Bright! Explosion!'
Off to bed for me, as I have an early start to the morning, but I leave you with this gem:
It's clearly been a little while, since I've posted, but there's not been much to mention. I find myself in Whitby, with my work contract now completed. I was set to start my marathon training this week, for Ottawa, but a cold has sidetracked that effort. Hopefully I'll be out and about, by Monday. Mind you, even if I was feeling better by tomorrow, I wouldn't want to miss a second of The Masters, so running would be put aside, anyway.
So how have I enjoyed my first few days of truly leisurely activity? There's been a lot of walking, a lot of Wii-playing and a lesser amount of movie-watching.
Needless to say, I'm already bored.
I haven't put up any links in a whlie, so here are two. The first one is about a rather remarkable camera, that The New York Times' David Pogue has humorously reviewed. Be sure to watch the video.
The second is a 10-year-old story about the Russian shuttle program and how they 'stole' all the information they needed, from the US. 'Stole' finds itself looking like that, because none of the information regarding the US shuttle program was made classified, while it was in development. Great success!
A Camera for the Shot You Missed - The New York Times
How the Soviets stole a space shuttle - MSNBC.com
