Friday, June 27, 2008

Time Wasters

Of course everyone has the right to protect their interests. If you write and perform a nice song, somebody else shouldn't just be able to take credit for it. If you spent time and effort to bring a handy product to the public, somebody else should compensate you for it.

However the way music labels, software publishers, movie studios have decided to protect their interests is bordering on the ridiculous. One recent prime example is here. One game has a specific install limitation that prevents people from installing it on several different computers. However, even if you have legitimate reason to reinstall your game (you have a new hard disk, your computer crashes, you temporarily need the space for something else, or god forbid you want to play the game again after several years) the game does not recognize it as such. Therefore if you run out of installs you have to buy the game again!

Again, I respect the rights of people to protect their properties, but the way they're doing it is unsavory. They are pretty much deciding how we should be using our time, control the way we should act.

People will and should do everything in their power to prevent that. Otherwise an innocent hobby is quickly turning into a time waster.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

More sports observations

  • Tiger won another one. Apparently he won after coming back from tons of shots down on day one. And he did so playing on half a knee. And instead of golf clubs he used a tree branch. Aren't the media playing this up more than it needs to be?
  • I'm surprised the media didn't play up the revenge aspect of Holland - Romania more. I mean Romania did beat Holland for top spot in the qualification group right? Especially since Holland didn't have anything left to play for, having already qualified for the quarter finals, they could have used another reason for motivating the troops. Instead the media only discussed whether or not Holland would throw the game. Interest in the game waned because of it. Too bad. The momentum from the Italy and France games could have been used here as well, and would have carried into the quarter final match.
  • Celtics won another one, contrary to what I expected (11-4). There's a simple reason I missed this prediction: I underestimated how good of a player Paul Pierce would be in the series, overshadowing everybody else, including Kobe and the Big Ticket.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Excuses to meet

We didn't need many reasons to meet when we were little. You could come over simply because the new album of NSync came out, or the newest NES game. We could have study nights, sleepovers, birthday parties. We could go to the movies, skating rink, or the park. In fact, no excuse was needed to meet.

So much harder things are now. I always mention the big three reasons for people to visit each other again during adulthood: weddings, birthdays (or births), and funerals. (You could also add moving into a new home or a nationally televised football game to the list, but I haven't noticed that everybody uses these excuses universally to meet). I don't count Christmas and New Years, because those have fixed dates on the calendar.

Other excuses don't seem to be serious enough anymore. And it is true, no other reasons are serious institutions. Institutions I see as ingrained events in the social collective mind, traditional and heavy on rituals, and which are so important companies (should) have special arrangements for their workers for these. Nobody questions the authority of these events. People even get mad if they are not even considered for invitation to the event. And I do think only these three events fit the bill.

It's a pity though. We apparently had so many more reasons to meet when we were young, often making up our own institutions (beer night, initiation week, formula one grand prix, etc.). But when we finally grow up, we get stuck with the same institutions we always had. It's sad really. We basically cut off most of the opportunities to get into contact with the people we should keep in contact with. Now everything becomes a battle of priorities, personal schedules, responsibilities in the workplace and in the home, and also energy and health.

However, it is my solemn goal to create as many new, valuable institutions as possible, for as many friends and family as possible. I'll let you know, when I find them.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Random observations

  • So you don't want me to tell you what you need, but to tell you what you already want... that's not really fair is it.
  • You know what destiny is? It's not getting a goal disallowed which in any other game would have. It's having every drop of the ball fall your way. It's leaving the goal open for a score, and not concede one. That's destiny.
  • If you can't commit, don't look as if you can. Don't trick people into thinking that. They deserve better.
  • Apparently it only takes one game, one win, to bring an entire nation of career pessimists to change their apathy into ecstasy. It also takes that much to pretty much slash their collective IQ scores in half, as well as their ability to take rational decisions.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

A little farfetched

After about a century's worth of movies, television shows, literature you'd think scenario writers have run out of new ideas. Most of what we now get are sequels, rehashes, retellings, retcons, resets, prequels or just plain carbon copies. And after awhile people notice that trick, hence they find their way to more interactive kinds of entertainment like GTA (of which you have at least six games in one series).

To draw in the viewer to your story, scenario writers are taking things a little bit too far. Crystal Skulls? C'mon. Bruce Willis downing a jetfighter with a handgun? Yep. Freakin Mummies in China? Come and get 'em.

Few stories come out with even an ounce of realism. People are stuck with trick vehicles like real-time (24, Before Sunset), or flashbacks (How I met your mother, Memento). But a truly unique story? Can't find them. Haven't seen them. Or you would have to mean the artsy stuff (although that's more intended to shock rather than actually being intelligent).

So, if you have a link to a genuinely original story, please post it here. If I find a story similar to it, if it's part of a series, if I find it in a religious manual, it is disqualified.