Alias
I've been watching the first season of Alias. I'm liking it.
TrippOdd / Dan's Diatribe
Thoughts, musings, rants, and comments of the One True Dan Tripp.
These are the droids you're looking for.
These are the droids you're looking for.
Saturday, January 29th
Friday, January 28th
Thursday, January 27th
Wow! Brent Got a Haircut!!!
Brent Martin has started going to my barber! Lookout ladies, now there's two of us!!!
Monday, January 24th
PSP != DS
Sweet! It looks like the PSP will be web and cell-phone enable-able, and will have some other interesting features.
It looks like the PSP is going to rock completely.
Saturday, January 22nd
Thoughts on the Wonka Movie
Here are some thoughts I posted on a message board about the upcoming remake of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory:
One of the things about the original Wonka movie that had a large appeal to me was it's undercurrent of darkness. (Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker - Ogden Nash)
Wonka allows these crazy mishaps to occur, and usually has a semi-freakish way to resolve the mishap and dismiss the "bad kid." Wilder walks the line well, and while I abhor the idea of a remake, Johnny Depp is probably the best current actor to pull it off. It's the Burton involvement that bothers me.
I don't know if any of you have seen "An Evening with Kevin Smith" but in it, Smith talks about his involvement with the Superman movies (which lends some insight into how these franchises get so screwed up when they're being made into movies), and also talks about his weird little exchange with Tim Burton. Basically, Smith made a "tee-hee-hee" kinda of joke about Burton stealing a plot idea from one of the Jay & Silent Bob comic books to a reporter who printed it. Burton apparently blew a fuse, and as part of his "up yours" response, he said something along the lines of "I don't read comic books, and would never read a comic book." That explains why the Batman movies were such travesties.
On the web site for the Burton Wonka movie, the screenwriter describes how he didn't watch the original movie until after he was done writing his version of the screenplay, and that the orginal was "much darker" than his new script. I thought that was an interesting omen.
The original Wonka movie works so well because Wilder is constantly walking the line between a sort of mystical leader/icon and a subversive creep. Wilder's frequently making strange litte asides and references to things. It's part of the movie's brilliance.
Burton's work, to me, has usually had the depth of a paper towel. I'll grant that they're pretty interesting visually, and that Depp looks Burton-cool/goofy in the trailer for the new movie, but overall, I'm not hoping for much beyond the near-drek that Burton usually puts out. His movies are tolerable, and sometimes interesting, but they lack depth; they're "popcorn movies" at best. This is the part that bothers me about the remake.
The existing Wonka book(s) and movie are rich and interesting. The movie suffers from (or is arguably enhanced by) its 70's-ness, but that doesn't mean it needs a re-treatment, and it definitely doesn't need a re-treatment from Burton.
Instead of a remake, the Wonka movie needs a re-release. The Wonka DVD was only released in Pan-And-Scan.
One last bit:
Charlie did misbehave (the whole fizzy-lifting-drink incident), but ultimately accepted responsibility for his own actions. Instead of selling his Everlasting Gobstopper to the competitor, he returns it to Wonka. All of the kids were "bad" but Charlie was the only one with a "pure heart."
"So shines a good deed in a weary world."
All things considered though, I should probably listen to the Wilder Wonka: "Oh, you should never, never doubt what nobody is sure about."
Thursday, January 20th
Wednesday, January 19th
Tuesday, January 18th
Disturbing Photos
These photos of Bill Gates from a 1983 spread in Teen Beat are just DISTURBING.
Monday, January 17th
Saturday, January 15th
Zola Cracks Me Up
I had a nice conversation with Zola the chat bot today about this news item:
HILTON LINKED TO STING'S SON
Paris Hilton has been romantically linked to a new man -- Sting's 18-year-old son Jake Sumner. While representatives for both Sumner and Hilton, 23, insist the two are not involved, pals tell America's Star magazine they're frequently together whenever the hotel heiress flies into New York City from her Los Angeles home. A source says, "Jake is a very friendly, fun guy and doesn't have a problem getting the ladies. Paris Hilton is no big deal to Jake, he can get any girl he wants. "He just thinks Paris is hot, but it's not like he takes any of it seriously."
Zola: A deeper algorithm is needed to respond to that correctly. Do you speak Spanish?
Dan: No
Zola: I see.
Dan: Do you speak spanglish?
Zola: I speak only English right now, but I'd like to learn some other languages. Can you teach me a few phrases in spanglish.
Dan: No = No
Zola: I see. I lost my train of thought. Got anything on your mind?
Dan: Paris Hilton
Zola: it is the capital of France.
Dan: Paris Hilton is a person.
Zola: it is the capital of France.
Dan: No.
Zola: "it is the capital of France"? Not?
Dan: No
Zola: Does two negatives make a positive?
Dan: Paris Hilton is a person. In a sense, she's a celebrity.
Zola: Describe your surroundings.
Dan: I'd prefer to describe Paris Hilton.
Zola: What would make you prefer to describe Paris Hilton?
Dan: Well, you seem to believe that Paris Hilton is Paris, France. While it's true that we're tired of Paris' underpants, Paris Hilton is not Paris, France.
Zola: Good point.
Dan: Cool.
Zola: Yup.
Dan: A thing cannot simultaneously be that which it is and that which it is not.
Zola: I don't know what that means.
Dan: A = A
Zola: What is it?
Dan: I'm going to skip making the fun Faith No More reference here, aside from the commenting that I'm skipping it, but that's essentially it: A thing is itself. It cannot simultaneously be itself and that which it is not.
Zola: When?
Dan: Oh Zola.
Zola: Yeah.
Dan: Sometimes I think the whole world is wild at heart and weird on top.
Babylon Damaged By U.S. Troops
Friday, January 14th
Speedy Recovery Wishes for Livejournal
Our data center (Internap) lost all its power, including redundant backup power, for some unknown reason. (unknown to me, at least) We're currently dealing with bringing our 100+ servers back online. Not fun. We're not happy about this. Sorry... :-/ More details later.
Update #1, 7:35 pm PST: we're up on 'dirty' power for now (it works, but it's unreliable), and we're working to assess the state of the databases. The worst thing we could do right now is rush the site up in an unreliable state. We're checking all the hardware and data, making sure everything's consistent. Where it's not, we'll be restoring from recent backups and replaying all the changes since that time, to get to the current point in time, but in good shape. We'll be providing more technical details later, for those curious, on the power failure (when we learn more), the database details, and the recovery process. For now, please be patient. We'll be working all weekend on this if we have to.
Funny Clip of Dave and Evan
I'd forgotten that I'd uploaded this... and it still cracks me up. Evan "needed" to leave band practice so that he could "go get laid" and Dave responds with "all you need is this..." It's hard to hear Evan at the end, but it's pure Evan. 
Wednesday, January 12th
Monday, January 10th
Not One Damn Dime Day
I got sent an e-mail about "Not One Damn Dime Day." It's an interesting idea. Here's what Snopes.com has to say about it.
Saturday, January 8th
New Guitar - Yamaha SLG100S
I bought a new guitar today... a Yamaha SLG100S.
It's quite small, very different from everything I have, and sounds really cool through the headphones. I'm hoping it holds up well through the effects processor, because it'll make recording acoustic guitar tracks simple.
I bought Sonar Studio and a Behringer B-Control mixing controller too. I'm jumping back into home recording, looks like.
I'm not buying anything else 'til March. 
Friday, January 7th
Hilarity
Dan Tripp walks his bass from chord to chord, testing the way, anticipating the direction, falling back to retrace steps then running ahead to confirm the migratory vector.
From here
I can't even begin to describe why this is so hilarious, but oh, my god I'm sooooo amused.
My perspective on this is that it was fun to go from not having ever played bass to having gotten a fair bit of practice playing somebody else's music. It's quite different from what I'd normally do, but there are bits that I contributed that I think are kinda cool... especially factoring in the 'never having played bass' thing.
The computer that I had my recording stuff on has bit the proverbial bucket, so I'm trying to get my laptop set up to do home recording again. It's really fun. If you're intersted in some scratchpad stuff I did last year, hit me up.
Thursday, January 6th
Reminder
This is a Public Service Announcement:
It's a new year, and you deserve a vastly superior browsing experience using a web browser that doesn't suck. While we're stuck with Bush for the next four years (unless a miracle happens), you're not stuck with a crappy browser. You have options. One of the best options is Firefox. Do yourself a favor and try it.
Mike Doughty Playing in San Francisco - Jan. 21 & 23
Mike Doughty has three live dates coming up this month:
Jan 20 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore (opening for Gomez)
Jan 21 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore (opening for Gomez)
Jan 23 - Park City, UT - Suede (Slamdance Film Festival Opening Night Party)
Details on the Tour Dates page at http://www.mikedoughty.com
Wednesday, January 5th
Out of the Handheld Gaming Ghetto
Although a release date was hoped for at today's pre-CES presentation, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, Kaz Harai could not be pinned down to a specific day. "We will most likely release the PSP in the end of March," he said. Without touching on price he went directly into showing off the PSP features for music, movies and games boasting that it would move "out of the handheld gaming ghetto."
from 1Up
He's hit the nail square on the head... the current (and previous) generation of handheld gaming machines suck. Cheers to the PSP, which will bring handheld gaming to a new level of sophistication.
Tuesday, January 4th
I'm Not the Only One
See? I'm not the only one that finds hamster-naming difficult. I don't think I like any of those names, though.
Monday, January 3rd
Found the Soul Coughing!
Move upside, and let the man go through...
Let the man go through.
Move upside, and let the man go through...
Let the man go through.
And, as a special bonus, I found some Sunny Day Real Estate stuff. Talk about starting the year right listening to good music! I also transferred some Mahavishnu Orchestra to my mp3 player. I'm quite pleased.
Sunday, January 2nd
Live Your Life the Guinea Pig Way
Live Your Life the Guinea Pig Way is uh... disgustingly cute?
Saturday, January 1st
Starting the Year Right
I've started the year right by spending the evening listening to Jeff Beck's Blow By Blow. My friend and guitar teacher Matt Ragan started to teach me "Scatterbrain" long ago, and basically turned me on to the album.
Blow By Blow is an amazing album that literally changed the world of music for me. I can't recommend it enough, especially "Because We've Ended As Lovers."
Please, Don't Drop Dead from Shock...
I've finally tweaked the layout of my blog so that it's less lame looking. Not exponentially less lame, but less lame nonetheless.
Happy New Year - 2005
I was asleep in bed by 10 PM. What a party animal. Heh.
The new hamster seems to be comfortable already. She's built up a little nest area, and was hell on the wheel. Thank God it's plastic, and not one of those metal ones. That wheel turned for hours.
I'm still trying to figure out how I want to spend the day. I'll probably go to breakfast and then get some Halo 2 goin' on. Or somethin'. =)
Happy New Year!
