Canned Goods

This site has been abandoned for the last few months due, mainly, to working on my prelims (and a couple other reasons), and I’ve moved over to new digs. Please stop by for a visit.

The new Canned Goods.

I can’t remember the last movie I saw in a theatre (Netflix rocks!), so sharing that three of us (I won’t reveal their identities without a signed consent form) are making plans to see the new Transformers movie demonstrates how nostalgic I am for my 1980s childhood (have you noticed all the 80s fashions reemerging?). We’re prepared for it to be disappointing, and we’re going anyway. If you 22 minutes, check out the first episode of the Transformers (Thank you, YouTube):

And a bit from the Movie, starring Eric Idle, Judd Nelson Leonard Nimoy, Robert Stack, AND Orson Welles. You gotta love the bad 80s rock music (is there someway to turn it off?).

I was listening to some of Brian Eno’s ambient music (Thursday Afternoon) which in my iTunes is followed up by his “Prophecy Theme” for David Lynch’s DUNE on the motion picture soundtrack (which includes the rest of the music by Toto) which led to me to a search for it on YouTube (not sure why, just a whim) which led to finding a video of the Toto song “Take My Hand” (taken from the movie’s credits) which led to this amazing, acoustic, solo version of their song “Africa” (and, I might add, the music video for “Africa”) [add: yes, I own the soundtrack to DUNE; one of the signs of a g33k]:

Kate and I were awoken around 2:30 last night to the sound of a large crunch and a woman’s scream (the kind that makes me think it’s programmed into our genetic code to instantly recognize sound like this). Crunch! Scream! (The time it took to read those two words is how fast it happened.)

Drowsily I walked out of the bedroom, grabbed my glasses and cell, and parted the living room curtains. A car was sideways in the road, directly in front of my Willy St. house — its right front corner smashed in and the bumper lying down the road. A few other people were already at the scene, and from the way they were acting, I thought one of them was in the crash and walked away okay. There wasn’t anyone in the car. And there weren’t any women out there. From whom did the scream come?

The car had apparently veered from the east-bound center lane of Willy St into the outer lane, where cars park during off-peak hours, hitting a minivan (the neighbor says it’s totaled), scraping along the side of the next car, and finally spinning sideways and rolling backward across the street into the rear quarter-panel of another car (no more than 30 feet in total).

Where was the driver? Witnesses saw him running away from the scene. The police, still haven’t found him (I’m assuming they can from the registration, unless it was a stolen car). And, as far as I know, no attribution for the scream.

All that’s left are bits of plastic and glass.

Books I’m reading this week:
1. Zizek (Sublime Object) - as part of a reading group with Scot, Adam, and Tim
2. Rickert (Act of Enjoyment) - also part of a reading group with Scot, Adam, and Tim
3. Jenkins (Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers & 3.5. The WOW Climax)
4. Selber (Multiliteracies for a Digital Age)
5. The Rhetorical Tradition

Books I wish had time to read this week:
1. Dick (Ubik)
2. Boulle (Planet of the Apes) - found a $.65 copy at Vinny’s; always wanted to compare it to the movie
3. Jeter (Noir)
4. Allen (Projecting Illusion) - Would make a nice edition to reading group: Section I, Althusser, Lacan, and Film Theory
5. Nunes (Cyberspaces of Everyday Life) or Weinstone (Avatar Bodies: a tantra for posthumanism)

5 movies I’d like to see (but know I’d be disappointed, so I’ll just wait to Netflix them):
1. Spiderman 3
2. Transformers (okay, I’ll go see this one . . . with Scot, Adam, & Tim(?))
3. Harry Potter 5?, 6?
4. The Simpsons Movie
5. Ocean’s 13

5 movies I know I never need to watch but want to anyway:
1. Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer
2. Live Free or Die Hard
3. Pirates 3 (still need to see 2)
4. Superman Returns
5. Ghost Rider

5 things I (recently) watched and recommend:
1. Zizek
2. The Worlds Fastest Indian (K. still liked it a lot, even though she was expecting it to be about a Native American rather than a motorcycle)
3. Lost (finale)
4. Heroes (finale)
5. MIT CMS 2006 Futures of Entertainment Conference (video podcasts)

5 things I wish I could watch (but I don’t have cable):
1. Season 3 of BSG (x 5)

With still another 5.5 days left to this trip (K.’s sister is getting hitched Sunday), added to the 8 we’ve already been away, we’re sure Q is getting very lonely and in need of a long sit on my lap and brushing once we return. Thanks to Jhondra for taking care of her in our absence.

:)

Thought I’d give this a try, but it takes quite awhile to train it with responses (I did some greetings and the personality test). One of the benefits? Possibly sending him out for job talks and interviews at MLA?

One of my students, Andy, linked the following video from his blog this week. Games being one of my interests, I find the concept of taking advantage of human “cycles” for computation fascinating–basically, getting needed work done by layering it under a veneer of fun (If I could only get those hours of Super Mario Bros back). The bit on circumventing captchas was enlightening, too–reminding me of WoW’s “Chinese farmer” problem–Chinese working from China in WoW to sell the goods (loot) to Americans.

So it’s 2:30. I don’t think I’ve accomplished anything today, and my workout time is at 3pm.

Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
An if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know