Although I'm generally a Google products enthusiast, I'm wondering if I should be a bit more antsy about monopolizing so much of my cloud information on one company's servers. Still, in general my experience with their products tends to be better than most of the competitors, so it's hard to stay away.
Maybe a year and a half ago, I switched from Mozilla Firefox to Google Chrome as my primary web browser, but I still use both on a daily basis. Just for fun, I figured I'd chronicle my reasons for switching and the pluses and minuses for each.
Why Chrome?
+++ The biggest feature that Chrome has that Firefox hasn't implemented yet is a separate process for each tab, and for various sub-processes/functions. This was my primary pain point with Firefox that Chrome solved - whenever a page in FF got unwieldy or started running away with memory and CPU, I had to restart the entire browser. In Chrome, I can pull up the process manager and kill Flash or the offending webpages, then refresh them, without losing all my good tabs. This feature alone, and the amount of mental well-being it provides, was enough for me to switch.
+ The tabbed interface for Chrome has some nice features - being able to drag a tab into a new window lets me group like tabs together much more easily than in FF.
Why Firefox?
+ A feature of Firefox that I miss in my daily web-browsing now is the "Awesomebar". In Firefox, the location bar will do on-the-fly pattern matching in your history, bookmarks, etc. and it is incredibly useful to pull up pages that you looked at a few days ago. Chrome is beginning to implement this and it's gotten better since the first release, but FF is still better.
+ Another FF feature that is easier to use than on Chrome is the keyword bookmarking feature - basically, saving various searches as keywords so that I can go to the location bar and type "wiki [search term]" to find something on wikipedia. Chrome can do this but it isn't as easy to implement.
+ I was never that into the multitude of extensions that FF provides, but it's nice to have the option.
+ The history on FF is much easier to navigate than on Chrome. Oddly enough coming from Google, the search function in history didn't seem to work well - there's no hierarchy of ranking search results (i.e., if I'm looking for "NBA" in the history, I don't want it to return all the non-NBA ESPN pages I browsed just because there was an "NBA" term somewhere in the text of the page).
+ Interestingly enough, Yahoo! Mail works really badly on Chrome, while working just fine on FF.
+ Finally, FF tends to be tested and supported by more commercial/financial websites, since it was the first "successful" big competitor to IE, so sometimes I'll switch to FF or IE for personal finance stuff, etc.
Anyway, those are some of my reasons. If FF were to ever implement the features I mentioned in Chrome above... I might switch back.
Here are Lifehacker's reasons for one or the other. Which one do you prefer?
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
I ain't got time to (not) bleed
One of my favorite "community service" type activities that I've taken up these last few years is blood donation. Since I'm in OK shape, not overly squeamish about needles, and have humongous veins running down my arms, I try to go every couple of months - my last trip was a week ago, and over the last few years have been able to donate over a gallon of A+ blood (my blood type, not my perception of my blood's quality, mind you).
I typically visit the Stanford Blood Center at Hillview. Here are a few reasons why...
- The technicians are pretty good - never had any bruising or mistakes. I probably make their lives easier with my prominent left elbow vein though.
- They have free wi-fi - I can connect to work through my laptop during the wait/procedure.
- Since I've moved up to doing a "double red blood cell" donation (takes twice as long, need to wait twice as long before coming back, hopefully twice as useful!), they've given out some free T-shirts. You can never have too many T-shirts.
- The cookies in the break room are quite tasty.
- The cherry on top of this bloody sundae is that if you donate on Mondays, they will often have a promotion giving away 1 (or sometimes more!) AMC Silver Ticket vouchers.
I highly encourage you to donate! It feels good to "change the oil" in the body every so often, so to speak.
On a somewhat related note, any action movie fan should be able to identify where I got my inspiration for this post title (which came to mind as I had the inspiration for the blood topic). Here's the other quote that came to mind:
"Wipe yourself off. You're bleeding."
I typically visit the Stanford Blood Center at Hillview. Here are a few reasons why...
- The technicians are pretty good - never had any bruising or mistakes. I probably make their lives easier with my prominent left elbow vein though.
- They have free wi-fi - I can connect to work through my laptop during the wait/procedure.
- Since I've moved up to doing a "double red blood cell" donation (takes twice as long, need to wait twice as long before coming back, hopefully twice as useful!), they've given out some free T-shirts. You can never have too many T-shirts.
- The cookies in the break room are quite tasty.
- The cherry on top of this bloody sundae is that if you donate on Mondays, they will often have a promotion giving away 1 (or sometimes more!) AMC Silver Ticket vouchers.
I highly encourage you to donate! It feels good to "change the oil" in the body every so often, so to speak.
On a somewhat related note, any action movie fan should be able to identify where I got my inspiration for this post title (which came to mind as I had the inspiration for the blood topic). Here's the other quote that came to mind:
"Wipe yourself off. You're bleeding."
Saturday, June 26, 2010
NBA thoughts
Couple of quick thoughts on the recent NBA draft and the upcoming free agency period...
- The Warriors make me sad. Out of Udoh, Randolph, Wright, Biedrins, and Turiaf, considering a big man rotation is 3 guys playing big minutes and maybe one other backup, I definitely pick Turiaf (good contract, solid locker room guy, good defense). I have no idea of who I pick out of the other four.
- Since the sale is taking so long, I think the W's will probably have to write off all hope of improving much this season. If they can get the team sold and get a competent ownership/front office in place, then spend the season developing Curry and the other young talent, that's about as good as we can hope for.
- Warriors master plan:
- Sell to Ellison
- Hire a younger, competent GM who apprenticed for other successful front offices like Presti or Morey
- Sign Lebron since he's buddies with Curry. Okay, maybe that won't happen.
- I hope Lebron goes back to the Cavs. From what I've read about his impact on the city, and the tortured psyche of Cleveland sports fans, it would be the best for the general level of happiness in the world, methinks. The Cavs' beat writer made the good point that most of the current Cavs fans are young (teens to 30-somethings) who aren't old enough to remember the old frustrations of the Browns, Cavs, and Indians, so Lebron leaving would create a lot of embittered people.
- That being said, my head guesses that he'd most likely go to Chicago. Too much talent, and they could pick up a PF too with the cap room available.
- I think Wade will entice Bosh or Amare to come to Miami. Whoever doesn't goes to Chicago.
- I'm interested in seeing the Spurs make a run at Mike Miller, but they won't be able to do anything without moving Jefferson's contract, so not much will happen.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Gender-specific decision making
Two years ago (wow, it's been that long already?) when we were just beginning wedding planning, something S and I discovered that she would more likely want to research lots and lots of options (photographer, florist, and so on) - not because she enjoyed it, and certainly not because I enjoyed it, but because she was afraid of not doing enough homework and missing out on some really great vendor/service/bargain. As this was causing both of us some undue stress due to the amount of work going into just one item on a long to-do list, I came up with the (wise, I think) compromise of primarily researching only the vendors that our friends recommended.
This was one instance of many in our relationship where I found that just from the way she's wired, on relatively minor decisions, I sometimes need to step in and make decisions up front in order to narrow the scope of a particular choice or speed up the action. A lot of times, my decision ends up being pretty arbitrary as the choices on the table are all pretty good, and S is just needing some direction to move forward. "Should I wear blue or green?" "They both look good, so, uh, green."
At dinner tonight with a few other couples, we found that this relationship quirk wasn't unique to us - in a few other couples it was also necessary for most minor decisions with good options to be made quickly by the guy.
Is this characteristic for anyone else? If so, why do you think this is?
This was one instance of many in our relationship where I found that just from the way she's wired, on relatively minor decisions, I sometimes need to step in and make decisions up front in order to narrow the scope of a particular choice or speed up the action. A lot of times, my decision ends up being pretty arbitrary as the choices on the table are all pretty good, and S is just needing some direction to move forward. "Should I wear blue or green?" "They both look good, so, uh, green."
At dinner tonight with a few other couples, we found that this relationship quirk wasn't unique to us - in a few other couples it was also necessary for most minor decisions with good options to be made quickly by the guy.
Is this characteristic for anyone else? If so, why do you think this is?
Thursday, June 24, 2010
An amusing look at church names...
Been a long day and the posts I have in mind to write will take a bit more time to develop, so here's today's fun/humorous link for the day: A Church By Any Other Name. As new churches have sprung up in the last 15-20 years, trying to differentiate has become harder and harder, leading to more and more creative names. Since I recognize a lot of these names, this was a fun read, and something to not take too seriously, as the author poked equal-opportunity fun at how some of the names could be interpreted. Some of my favorites:
3. Radiance (Where the female vocalists all glitter like Mariah Carey.)
4. Elevation (U2 songs every bloody Sunday.)
8. enCompass (Wii th-|-nk [outside] the box. We R crAtiVe.)
9. Epiphany Station (Next stop, Conjunction Junction!)
14. The Rock (If film producer Michael Bay ever created a church…the pyrotechnics are amazing.)
30. Tapestry (Our pastor really loves that “the threads don’t make sense until you turn the cloth over” illustration.)
37. Warehouse 180 (If we can’t grow a church we’ll start a nightclub.)
46. The Well (The un-well best worship elsewhere.)
47. Jacob’s Well (Where bachelors hang out to find their future wives.)
51. Mercy Street (Where Sesame Street characters go for rehab. Cookie Monster has checked in 7 times.)
63. The Upper Room (Where we cling to our guns and religion and hide from the authorities.)
70. The Pursuit (Speed dating every Wednesday at 10 p.m.)
76. Compass (Our sermons have four points.)
84. Scum of The Earth (Finally some honesty in advertising.)
89. Overflow Church (For those who couldn't find a seat at the megachurch down the street.)
94. WestPoint (Praise the Lord. Pass the ammunition.)
3. Radiance (Where the female vocalists all glitter like Mariah Carey.)
4. Elevation (U2 songs every bloody Sunday.)
8. enCompass (Wii th-|-nk [outside] the box. We R crAtiVe.)
9. Epiphany Station (Next stop, Conjunction Junction!)
14. The Rock (If film producer Michael Bay ever created a church…the pyrotechnics are amazing.)
30. Tapestry (Our pastor really loves that “the threads don’t make sense until you turn the cloth over” illustration.)
37. Warehouse 180 (If we can’t grow a church we’ll start a nightclub.)
46. The Well (The un-well best worship elsewhere.)
47. Jacob’s Well (Where bachelors hang out to find their future wives.)
51. Mercy Street (Where Sesame Street characters go for rehab. Cookie Monster has checked in 7 times.)
63. The Upper Room (Where we cling to our guns and religion and hide from the authorities.)
70. The Pursuit (Speed dating every Wednesday at 10 p.m.)
76. Compass (Our sermons have four points.)
84. Scum of The Earth (Finally some honesty in advertising.)
89. Overflow Church (For those who couldn't find a seat at the megachurch down the street.)
94. WestPoint (Praise the Lord. Pass the ammunition.)
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Hate-T&T addendum and other happenings
Well, we finally got the internet back up. Turns out that the new account they accidentally switched us to was incompatible with the original jacks that the DSL modem was connected to, so they had to send a technician out to fiddle with a few things outside our house.
Thanks to a few folks for suggesting other internet providers like sonic.net - we'll take a look at them. Any other suggestions? Also, we were planning on getting a land line at some point - given this experience, we'd prefer not to open a new account with AT&T... but aren't sure who else we would be able to go through. Anyone have recommendations?
On a less-negative note, some recent happenings:
- In our community group, we finished a study of the book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Pete Scazzero, of New Life Fellowship in NYC. It's been eye-opening to consider the role of emotions and contemplation in my life to help me to love God well, love others well, and love myself well. I'll try to write more in-depth about this in a separate post.
- S and I have found that an easy, somewhat unique, and tasty way of entertaining folks for a meal (small group, 4-6 people) is to buy some pizza dough at Willlow Street Pizza, pick up toppings at Trader Joe's, and use our pizza stone to bake up a few pies. We had my parents and some of my aunts over tonight (one on her first trip to America from Taiwan) and they were a hit - margherita, chicken pesto, and mushroom/onion/fontina.
- We finished season 1 of Chuck. Highly entertaining and it was nice to get back to some light-hearted fare after Lost and Dexter. Reminds me of a not-so-serious version of Alias. I can totally relate to Chuck's geek-ness and have already begun annoying S with quotes from the season.
- Some people might remember my rather-irrational refusal to get into the Harry Potter series during the height of its popularity. Well, I've finally caved. 2 books down. Also nearly done with "Band of Brothers."
Thanks to a few folks for suggesting other internet providers like sonic.net - we'll take a look at them. Any other suggestions? Also, we were planning on getting a land line at some point - given this experience, we'd prefer not to open a new account with AT&T... but aren't sure who else we would be able to go through. Anyone have recommendations?
On a less-negative note, some recent happenings:
- In our community group, we finished a study of the book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Pete Scazzero, of New Life Fellowship in NYC. It's been eye-opening to consider the role of emotions and contemplation in my life to help me to love God well, love others well, and love myself well. I'll try to write more in-depth about this in a separate post.
- S and I have found that an easy, somewhat unique, and tasty way of entertaining folks for a meal (small group, 4-6 people) is to buy some pizza dough at Willlow Street Pizza, pick up toppings at Trader Joe's, and use our pizza stone to bake up a few pies. We had my parents and some of my aunts over tonight (one on her first trip to America from Taiwan) and they were a hit - margherita, chicken pesto, and mushroom/onion/fontina.
- We finished season 1 of Chuck. Highly entertaining and it was nice to get back to some light-hearted fare after Lost and Dexter. Reminds me of a not-so-serious version of Alias. I can totally relate to Chuck's geek-ness and have already begun annoying S with quotes from the season.
- Some people might remember my rather-irrational refusal to get into the Harry Potter series during the height of its popularity. Well, I've finally caved. 2 books down. Also nearly done with "Band of Brothers."
Monday, June 21, 2010
A local staycation
This past weekend, I took Friday off so that S and I could get out of town for a few days to San Francisco. We were able to get a decent rate on a hotel room off of Priceline. It was nice to get away, as the weeks since moving into the house have been filled with busyness at work, housework, ministry items, social engagements, etc.
We tried to spend as much time on our feet, walking around the city, as possible, rather than driving all over the place. Combined with taking Friday off, I found that it actually felt more like we were on vacation in some faraway city, rather than being just an hour from home - we could have just been in a harbor city like Sydney. I think walking up and down the hills and streets of SF enabled us to get a better feel for the people and the life of the place. Didn't hurt that the weather was gorgeous and we could visit farmer's markets, street fairs, and just mingle with people at parks.
We went to the Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park, which had a neat rainforest exhibit that reminded us somewhat of the rainforests in New Zealand, checked out a meter that estimated our carbon output, and unfortunately missed out on the planetarium exhibit because we made the tactical error of not going to get tickets immediately after getting in the door. Remember to do that if you ever go.
Over the entire weekend, we did a lot of walking to eat at places on the list of 100 Things to Try Before You Die. SF really is a good foodie town. We ended up visiting:
The Taco Shop at Underdog's (excellent fish tacos)
Tartine (the fruit pastry for breakfast was meh, we probably didn't order the right thing)
Bi-Rite Creamery (salted caramel and balsamic strawberry are both unique and tasty, but I'm still a chocolate fiend)
Arinell Pizza (cheese slice)
Wexler's (Scotch eggs, skate stuffed with pulled pork)
Rolli Roti (porcetta sandwich, awesome, but super long line, at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market)
Hog Island Oyster Company (clam chowder, very flavorful clams)
Chapeau (reasonably priced French menu)
Fisherman's wharf
Tommy's Joynt (lamb shank)
It was good to get away, and the copious amounts of time to walk gave us time to talk about how things were going in life, God, relationships, work, and what's next. Plus, it helped offset some of the calories we ingested. All in all, a better than expected time away from SJ.
We tried to spend as much time on our feet, walking around the city, as possible, rather than driving all over the place. Combined with taking Friday off, I found that it actually felt more like we were on vacation in some faraway city, rather than being just an hour from home - we could have just been in a harbor city like Sydney. I think walking up and down the hills and streets of SF enabled us to get a better feel for the people and the life of the place. Didn't hurt that the weather was gorgeous and we could visit farmer's markets, street fairs, and just mingle with people at parks.
We went to the Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park, which had a neat rainforest exhibit that reminded us somewhat of the rainforests in New Zealand, checked out a meter that estimated our carbon output, and unfortunately missed out on the planetarium exhibit because we made the tactical error of not going to get tickets immediately after getting in the door. Remember to do that if you ever go.
Over the entire weekend, we did a lot of walking to eat at places on the list of 100 Things to Try Before You Die. SF really is a good foodie town. We ended up visiting:
The Taco Shop at Underdog's (excellent fish tacos)
Tartine (the fruit pastry for breakfast was meh, we probably didn't order the right thing)
Bi-Rite Creamery (salted caramel and balsamic strawberry are both unique and tasty, but I'm still a chocolate fiend)
Arinell Pizza (cheese slice)
Wexler's (Scotch eggs, skate stuffed with pulled pork)
Rolli Roti (porcetta sandwich, awesome, but super long line, at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market)
Hog Island Oyster Company (clam chowder, very flavorful clams)
Chapeau (reasonably priced French menu)
Fisherman's wharf
Tommy's Joynt (lamb shank)
It was good to get away, and the copious amounts of time to walk gave us time to talk about how things were going in life, God, relationships, work, and what's next. Plus, it helped offset some of the calories we ingested. All in all, a better than expected time away from SJ.
Hate-T&T
Our DSL internet has been off since last Thursday, leading to a gradually increasing level of frustration with a certain company that rhymes with the title of this post, and an inability to keep up with my weekdaily posting. Here's the chronology of events:
Last Tuesday: S calls the company regarding our account's bill, and to change the name on the account. For some reason, unbeknownst to us, the account rep doesn't make a modification to our current account, but actually puts in a delete order for our current account and sets up a new account for the new name.
Thursday morning: Internet is off. I spend 2 hours on the phone with technical support thinking that there's a problem with the modem. We're unable to get it to work. The technical support people don't think to check the status of our account.
Thursday afternoon: S takes over and finds out that our internet is off because of the aforementioned snafu with deleting and then creating a new account. Nobody seems to know how to get the new account to work with our new modem, or to re-enable the old account. Then the office closes at 5 pm EDT.
Fri-Sun - out of town
Monday - S calls again and is put on hold for an hour, after which point she needs to go back to work. I call again and find out that nobody is available after 2 pm PDT/5 pm EDT.
Couple points of frustration here:
1) Not having internet is really inconvenient in this day and age. I'm not able to work from home, it's a lot harder to access information/connect with people, less access to entertainment.
2) They caused the problem and haven't been able to fix it. After this gets resolved we still need to be compensated for the days of missing service.
3) We're tempted to try switching to another broadband internet provider that rhymes with Tomcast, but we've heard equally bad comments on their customer service, so we may be stuck.
Last Tuesday: S calls the company regarding our account's bill, and to change the name on the account. For some reason, unbeknownst to us, the account rep doesn't make a modification to our current account, but actually puts in a delete order for our current account and sets up a new account for the new name.
Thursday morning: Internet is off. I spend 2 hours on the phone with technical support thinking that there's a problem with the modem. We're unable to get it to work. The technical support people don't think to check the status of our account.
Thursday afternoon: S takes over and finds out that our internet is off because of the aforementioned snafu with deleting and then creating a new account. Nobody seems to know how to get the new account to work with our new modem, or to re-enable the old account. Then the office closes at 5 pm EDT.
Fri-Sun - out of town
Monday - S calls again and is put on hold for an hour, after which point she needs to go back to work. I call again and find out that nobody is available after 2 pm PDT/5 pm EDT.
Couple points of frustration here:
1) Not having internet is really inconvenient in this day and age. I'm not able to work from home, it's a lot harder to access information/connect with people, less access to entertainment.
2) They caused the problem and haven't been able to fix it. After this gets resolved we still need to be compensated for the days of missing service.
3) We're tempted to try switching to another broadband internet provider that rhymes with Tomcast, but we've heard equally bad comments on their customer service, so we may be stuck.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Quick thoughts on Lakers-Celtics game 7
A few quick thoughts...
- Player of the game = Ron Artest. The Celts doubled Kobe and Pau aggressively, and Ron killed them, then gave a shout-out to his psychiatrist, which was awesome.
- Ugly game, but intense all the way through. No big leads.
- Kobe was carried by his teammates in this game. After stinking up the first half, I think he took a third as many shots in the second half, which was helpful because Fisher, Pau, Odom, and Artest all hit big shots that swung momentum.
- In the post-game congratulations, Magic said something like, "To the greatest fans in the world - Laker fans!" to which I muttered, "Maybe about a third of them at most would count in that upper tier of great fans. The rest are front-runners."
- Follow-up to the last point - I'll have more respect for you as a Laker fan if you can name the starting lineup of the Laker team in the '00s that didn't make the playoffs, and much more respect if you can name most of the starting lineups in the early 90's before Shaq and Kobe arrived.
- That being said, all credit to LA - they beat a tough Boston team in a tough, tough game to win it all. Congratulations to the franchise, and I'm happy for my friends who are indeed real fans.
- That being said, the Gasol trade is still a ridiculous rip-off.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
The philosophy, morals, and vision of the oil spill
To be honest, and a bit shamefacedly, I haven't delved too deeply into the Gulf oil spill crisis outside of the initial news outbreak and then headlines since then. I suspect that there's some part of me inside that is in denial. Even though I play a part in the spill every day when I drive to work, when I use plastic, and probably other unconscious habits, I don't want to think about the ramifications of my actions and lifestyle and would rather live in blissful denial.
I read two articles today in response to President Obama's speech. In "Oil spill: Do we need another hero?", the writer tries to comment on the cultural and philosophical aspects of the crisis and its impact on the US. Some quotes:
"The trouble Obama faces now is that this becomes a crisis with no real heroes -- people America not only can but should fall in love with. That is depressing. And the spectacle of a presidency sold on the basis of America's self-love struggling in that oily morass would make for the biggest depression of all.
... This crisis needs a narrative, but is inherently resistant to it. It's got villains, but no heroes. It's useful to think about why that is. The reason is that this is apparently not a crisis that can be dealt with via heroic action -- either heroic intellectual effort (think Apollo 13) or heroic bravery and application of force. We seem to have met a crisis that cannot be "solved," only endured. This is very hard for us Americans to deal with. We are used to being able to flood the zone with know-how, with money, and/or with force, and getting the job done. The BP oil spill crisis resists that.
... This crisis is not at its heart about solving a technical problem. It's about: What's happening to us? How is it we're now to be? We look to the president to frame the crisis like this for us."
The barrels of oil still gushing into the Gulf act as a mirror to us as a nation, a people, a culture. How is it we're now to be?
Brian McLaren takes a stab at defining what we could be down the line in this article about a potential vision, requiring some bold commitments, that could ultimately lead to a more sustainable stewardship of the world.
The vision is outlined in the first 3 points, with some ideas for implementation in the last 3 - ideas that I am not at all equipped to evaluate as to how realistic or how good they are. But the vision is interesting:
"1. We have to envision a new and better way of life. We have to imagine that 30 years from now, virtually every roof of every home and building will be an energy-producing station. We have to imagine every window and every wall being replaced or upgraded for improved efficiency. We have to imagine new generations of transport, heating, air-conditioning, and lighting technologies. This will mean we will retool our manufacturing and home-building industries so they contribute to this new green economy. Doing so will stimulate the economy in the right way — creating needed jobs and making a lot of good money (as opposed to dirty money) for wise entrepreneurs and investors. I believe that it will prove more profitable in the long run (in the best sense of the word “profit” — not measured in dollars alone) to be the planet’s wise stewards than to continue on as its reckless, short-sighted, and greedy plunderers.
2. We need to divert creativity, entrepreneurial energy and money away from building new oil rigs and coal mines and from fighting wars in oil-producing areas. We need to decrease expenditures on weapons — which are non-productive assets. And why invest in nuclear plants — which take decades to build and are ripe for their own kinds of disasters — when that money could produce better and longer-term results when invested in the research and development of solar, wind, tidal, and biofuel (algae- and grass-based, not corn-based) technology?
3. We need to direct creativity and money and education toward a new solar-based economy. It will take an innovative government-business partnership (the kind the Japanese and Koreans pioneered in jump-starting their auto industries) to turn this thing around. We have to imagine a different America — a new American economy. To get us there, again, we need to make an unprecedented investment in research and development, and we need to open-source the most promising breakthroughs so as many companies as possible can work with them."
Found this thought-provoking. What does everyone else think?
I read two articles today in response to President Obama's speech. In "Oil spill: Do we need another hero?", the writer tries to comment on the cultural and philosophical aspects of the crisis and its impact on the US. Some quotes:
"The trouble Obama faces now is that this becomes a crisis with no real heroes -- people America not only can but should fall in love with. That is depressing. And the spectacle of a presidency sold on the basis of America's self-love struggling in that oily morass would make for the biggest depression of all.
... This crisis needs a narrative, but is inherently resistant to it. It's got villains, but no heroes. It's useful to think about why that is. The reason is that this is apparently not a crisis that can be dealt with via heroic action -- either heroic intellectual effort (think Apollo 13) or heroic bravery and application of force. We seem to have met a crisis that cannot be "solved," only endured. This is very hard for us Americans to deal with. We are used to being able to flood the zone with know-how, with money, and/or with force, and getting the job done. The BP oil spill crisis resists that.
... This crisis is not at its heart about solving a technical problem. It's about: What's happening to us? How is it we're now to be? We look to the president to frame the crisis like this for us."
The barrels of oil still gushing into the Gulf act as a mirror to us as a nation, a people, a culture. How is it we're now to be?
Brian McLaren takes a stab at defining what we could be down the line in this article about a potential vision, requiring some bold commitments, that could ultimately lead to a more sustainable stewardship of the world.
The vision is outlined in the first 3 points, with some ideas for implementation in the last 3 - ideas that I am not at all equipped to evaluate as to how realistic or how good they are. But the vision is interesting:
"1. We have to envision a new and better way of life. We have to imagine that 30 years from now, virtually every roof of every home and building will be an energy-producing station. We have to imagine every window and every wall being replaced or upgraded for improved efficiency. We have to imagine new generations of transport, heating, air-conditioning, and lighting technologies. This will mean we will retool our manufacturing and home-building industries so they contribute to this new green economy. Doing so will stimulate the economy in the right way — creating needed jobs and making a lot of good money (as opposed to dirty money) for wise entrepreneurs and investors. I believe that it will prove more profitable in the long run (in the best sense of the word “profit” — not measured in dollars alone) to be the planet’s wise stewards than to continue on as its reckless, short-sighted, and greedy plunderers.
2. We need to divert creativity, entrepreneurial energy and money away from building new oil rigs and coal mines and from fighting wars in oil-producing areas. We need to decrease expenditures on weapons — which are non-productive assets. And why invest in nuclear plants — which take decades to build and are ripe for their own kinds of disasters — when that money could produce better and longer-term results when invested in the research and development of solar, wind, tidal, and biofuel (algae- and grass-based, not corn-based) technology?
3. We need to direct creativity and money and education toward a new solar-based economy. It will take an innovative government-business partnership (the kind the Japanese and Koreans pioneered in jump-starting their auto industries) to turn this thing around. We have to imagine a different America — a new American economy. To get us there, again, we need to make an unprecedented investment in research and development, and we need to open-source the most promising breakthroughs so as many companies as possible can work with them."
Found this thought-provoking. What does everyone else think?
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Lakers-Celtics Game 6 Running Diary
Some running thoughts on game 6...
1st quarter
12:00 - Just realized that the Lakers gold/yellow and the Celtics green is the same color combination as at Sam/Sarah's wedding a few weeks ago.
10:38 - 2 possessions in and the Lakers' spacing is already worlds better than in game 5. Ball is zipping around and no one looks scared.
8:04 - The Celts are still taking advantage of the offensive sets that put Allen right underneath the hoop for a quick catch and layup. The Laker guards are too used to chasing Allen that they can't deal with him when he stops. Since Kobe isn't playing up on Rondo, it's an easy lob pass.
5:24 - Perkins is down with a knee injury - those are never good, especially for burly guys coming down on fragile ligaments.
2nd quarter, Lakers up 10
10:00 - Looks like Robinson learned the "run into the guard after a rebound and fall down" flop from Pierce to draw fouls.
8:03 - Nice hustle play by Farmar to dive for the loose ball, ironically from Rondo, who did the same thing against Orlando and became a folk hero in Boston
7:19 - Better off-the-ball movement by the Lakers already - maybe Kobe won't need to score 50.
7:16 - One of the problems with being a celebrity hangout is that Laker crowds are just not going to be as insane as at other arenas. The Boston crowd would have blown the roof off by now with this lead. All the good Laker fans are priced out of being at the game.
5:33 - Farmar just dunked on the break before KG could chase him down. The Laker bench plays superbly when the Lakers are ahead, not so much when they're down and scared. Lakers up 18.
3:55 - You know it's the Lakers' half when Artest does his "dribbling across the entire key and shoots a 23 foot jumper" routine, there are no gasps of horror from the crowd before the shot goes up, and it goes in.
1:43 - Rondo blows a baseline dunk - this team can't make anything. He makes up for it by forcing and winning the jump ball against odom though.
1:01 - Lakers doing a nice job of interior defense so far - Odom and Gasol are able to use their length, and the refs are letting them play.
Halftime
- The Celts are seriously missing Perkins. If he can't come back in the second half or in game 7, they'll be in serious trouble.
3rd quarter, Lakers up 20
8:47 - Big Baby just flew into a scrum going for an offensive rebound on a shot that actually went in. The way he throws his bulk around, I'm afraid he'll land on someone and snap their spine.
7:05 - Tough drive by Kobe for the and-1, absorbing the bump from KG. I was watching some youtube clips of Jordan in the finals against the Suns in 1993, and it struck me how most of his points were coming within 15 ft from drives, layups, jumpers, while Kobe can catch fire from outside but they all seem like harder shots. Kobe is really working the boards, though.
1:09 - Despite some solid shooting by KG, the Celtics can't cut into the lead. After Rondo hit Artest's forearm with his face, 3 by Vujacic to put them up 22 - this game might be over.
0:00 - 51 points by Boston through 3 quarters?
4th quarter, Lakers up by 25
10:46 - Starting the 4th quarter, all the Celts' Big 3 are out and Kobe/Pau are still in.
8:55 - Love how Gasol keeps the ball high on the offensive rebound and quick-dunks it back in. Nate Robinson was skying for a potential block there, which he may have gotten on someone like Dwight Howard who likes bringing the ball all the way down before going back up again.
6:31 - Lead down to 21 after Allen's free throw on Kobe's technical. Big 3 is back in. How is this game not locked up yet? Think it's about time to wrap things up early.
Post-Game Thoughts
Well, that wasn't competitive at all. No real coaching adjustments made, the Lakers just went out and played far better on both ends of the court. Game 7 it is.
1st quarter
12:00 - Just realized that the Lakers gold/yellow and the Celtics green is the same color combination as at Sam/Sarah's wedding a few weeks ago.
10:38 - 2 possessions in and the Lakers' spacing is already worlds better than in game 5. Ball is zipping around and no one looks scared.
8:04 - The Celts are still taking advantage of the offensive sets that put Allen right underneath the hoop for a quick catch and layup. The Laker guards are too used to chasing Allen that they can't deal with him when he stops. Since Kobe isn't playing up on Rondo, it's an easy lob pass.
5:24 - Perkins is down with a knee injury - those are never good, especially for burly guys coming down on fragile ligaments.
2nd quarter, Lakers up 10
10:00 - Looks like Robinson learned the "run into the guard after a rebound and fall down" flop from Pierce to draw fouls.
8:03 - Nice hustle play by Farmar to dive for the loose ball, ironically from Rondo, who did the same thing against Orlando and became a folk hero in Boston
7:19 - Better off-the-ball movement by the Lakers already - maybe Kobe won't need to score 50.
7:16 - One of the problems with being a celebrity hangout is that Laker crowds are just not going to be as insane as at other arenas. The Boston crowd would have blown the roof off by now with this lead. All the good Laker fans are priced out of being at the game.
5:33 - Farmar just dunked on the break before KG could chase him down. The Laker bench plays superbly when the Lakers are ahead, not so much when they're down and scared. Lakers up 18.
3:55 - You know it's the Lakers' half when Artest does his "dribbling across the entire key and shoots a 23 foot jumper" routine, there are no gasps of horror from the crowd before the shot goes up, and it goes in.
1:43 - Rondo blows a baseline dunk - this team can't make anything. He makes up for it by forcing and winning the jump ball against odom though.
1:01 - Lakers doing a nice job of interior defense so far - Odom and Gasol are able to use their length, and the refs are letting them play.
Halftime
- The Celts are seriously missing Perkins. If he can't come back in the second half or in game 7, they'll be in serious trouble.
3rd quarter, Lakers up 20
8:47 - Big Baby just flew into a scrum going for an offensive rebound on a shot that actually went in. The way he throws his bulk around, I'm afraid he'll land on someone and snap their spine.
7:05 - Tough drive by Kobe for the and-1, absorbing the bump from KG. I was watching some youtube clips of Jordan in the finals against the Suns in 1993, and it struck me how most of his points were coming within 15 ft from drives, layups, jumpers, while Kobe can catch fire from outside but they all seem like harder shots. Kobe is really working the boards, though.
1:09 - Despite some solid shooting by KG, the Celtics can't cut into the lead. After Rondo hit Artest's forearm with his face, 3 by Vujacic to put them up 22 - this game might be over.
0:00 - 51 points by Boston through 3 quarters?
4th quarter, Lakers up by 25
10:46 - Starting the 4th quarter, all the Celts' Big 3 are out and Kobe/Pau are still in.
8:55 - Love how Gasol keeps the ball high on the offensive rebound and quick-dunks it back in. Nate Robinson was skying for a potential block there, which he may have gotten on someone like Dwight Howard who likes bringing the ball all the way down before going back up again.
6:31 - Lead down to 21 after Allen's free throw on Kobe's technical. Big 3 is back in. How is this game not locked up yet? Think it's about time to wrap things up early.
Post-Game Thoughts
Well, that wasn't competitive at all. No real coaching adjustments made, the Lakers just went out and played far better on both ends of the court. Game 7 it is.
God's "still, small voice"
A bit late with my daily posting today...
My thought for the day comes from some contemplation on Scripture at the Internet Monk on the Christian cliche, God's "still, small voice" from 1 Kings 19:11-13, where the prophet Elijah, after doing some miracles and being chased/persecuted for several days, finds himself at the same mountain where Moses encountered God face-to-face. Depressed, frustrated, and lonely, Elijah complains about his plight to God, whereupon God responds with fabulous displays of power - a mighty wind, a powerful earthquake, and a raging fire, but "the Lord was not in the _______." Then after these, there is a still, small voice.
The common church interpretation/teaching of this passage is usually something along the lines of, we need to tune out the noise of this world to listen to God's still, small voice for direction, comfort, and assurance. However, the article writer does an interesting job of presenting an alternative perspective: rather than revealing a way that God speaks to us, the passage is instead a story about how God will typically not use spectacular displays of power to give us a "mountaintop experience" when we're depressed and down about life circumstances. Instead, it is "a call to simply go back to work, doing what God has called us to do, relying on his promises; trusting that the work is his and not ours to define and achieve."
I appreciated the challenge in the reading to consider context and the bigger story more deeply rather than locking in a particular phrase and adopting it as my own, and this particular call to go back to work that God has called me to do, trusting that the work is his and not mine, is an encouragement in the midst of what has been a difficult year.
My thought for the day comes from some contemplation on Scripture at the Internet Monk on the Christian cliche, God's "still, small voice" from 1 Kings 19:11-13, where the prophet Elijah, after doing some miracles and being chased/persecuted for several days, finds himself at the same mountain where Moses encountered God face-to-face. Depressed, frustrated, and lonely, Elijah complains about his plight to God, whereupon God responds with fabulous displays of power - a mighty wind, a powerful earthquake, and a raging fire, but "the Lord was not in the _______." Then after these, there is a still, small voice.
The common church interpretation/teaching of this passage is usually something along the lines of, we need to tune out the noise of this world to listen to God's still, small voice for direction, comfort, and assurance. However, the article writer does an interesting job of presenting an alternative perspective: rather than revealing a way that God speaks to us, the passage is instead a story about how God will typically not use spectacular displays of power to give us a "mountaintop experience" when we're depressed and down about life circumstances. Instead, it is "a call to simply go back to work, doing what God has called us to do, relying on his promises; trusting that the work is his and not ours to define and achieve."
I appreciated the challenge in the reading to consider context and the bigger story more deeply rather than locking in a particular phrase and adopting it as my own, and this particular call to go back to work that God has called me to do, trusting that the work is his and not mine, is an encouragement in the midst of what has been a difficult year.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Baby media
With an ever-increasing number of my peers entering into the realm of parenthood, I've been around babies and toddlers more and more. With that exposure comes a corresponding rise in the amount of "baby media" I run into - songs, TV shows, movies, books, etc.
I can see the value in these. Exposing kids to music, words, and images can help them learn, develop, and so on. If and when S and I are able to start a family, though, I will have to confront a difficult truth - my brain has a hard time dealing with a lot of baby media.
Apparently babies will often request the same kiddie song to be played over and over again, especially to be well-behaved in the car. I may need to invest in earplugs in the car, or just have earphones plugged into my iPod rather than listening to VeggieTales on repeat.
I may go crazy having the same kiddie TV shows showing over and over again, unless I'm able to distract myself somehow by playing something else on the screen in my brain, or maybe I'll try to be productive and memorize Bible verses or something.
I know, I know - if we have a kid, the baby will probably get what he wants. But I'll try my darndest to get him at an early age to listen to U2, hymns, and Mozart; learn the nuances of the NBA, and think longingly to the days ahead when I can finally read out loud The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings.
I can see the value in these. Exposing kids to music, words, and images can help them learn, develop, and so on. If and when S and I are able to start a family, though, I will have to confront a difficult truth - my brain has a hard time dealing with a lot of baby media.
Apparently babies will often request the same kiddie song to be played over and over again, especially to be well-behaved in the car. I may need to invest in earplugs in the car, or just have earphones plugged into my iPod rather than listening to VeggieTales on repeat.
I may go crazy having the same kiddie TV shows showing over and over again, unless I'm able to distract myself somehow by playing something else on the screen in my brain, or maybe I'll try to be productive and memorize Bible verses or something.
I know, I know - if we have a kid, the baby will probably get what he wants. But I'll try my darndest to get him at an early age to listen to U2, hymns, and Mozart; learn the nuances of the NBA, and think longingly to the days ahead when I can finally read out loud The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Voices in my Head
Link for the day - "Is This Noise Inside My Head Bothering You?", from Seth Godin's blog. Specific excerpt:
"I think these voices (and a few I missed) determine which career we choose, how good a job we do, where we shop and what we watch. Here are a few:
Interesting list. How would you rank these voices in order of the loudest to softest in your head?
Mine would probably be something like...
"I think these voices (and a few I missed) determine which career we choose, how good a job we do, where we shop and what we watch. Here are a few:
- The ego--seeks applause and recognition.
- The lizard--seeks safety, wants to fit in and not be rejected or criticized.
- The artist--wants to be generous, creative and make positive change with impact.
- The boxer--wants to poke and be poked, seeks revenge and ultimately victory.
- The zombie--wants to turn off and be entertained.
- The carpenter--seeks to do useful work, and finish it well.
- The philanthropist--wants to help, anonymously.
- The evangelist--wants to spread an idea.
- And the hunter--wants to successfully track and bring down a target."
Interesting list. How would you rank these voices in order of the loudest to softest in your head?
Mine would probably be something like...
- zombie
- carpenter
- lizard
- evangelist
- philanthropist
- artist
- ego
- hunter
- boxer
Maybe in a future post I'll try to explain why...
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
On sports "hating" and the NBA Finals
In today's knee-jerk instant-judgment internet world, it's very easy to apply labels that ultimately stick because most people aren't going to take the time to really get to know someone and their interests. So, if I root for the team playing against, say, the Lakers, I'm automatically a hater. If I criticize someone's viewpoint or someone's performance, then I'm a hater.
In this ESPN article, the writer makes the point that because of the Lakers continued success over the last decade (making the finals 7 times since the year 2000!) they've become the most hated franchise in the NBA by anyone except for the Southern Cal region, LA expats, and bandwagon fans. Even traditional hate-doms like Philly fans are pulling for the rival Celtics because they loathe LA. Hate in sports, it seems, is primarily a function of "jealousy and the fatigue of losing."
As a diehard NBA fan, it makes watching this Finals series a bit tricky. Frankly, I don't like either of these franchises, because on my human sports fan level, I am jealous of them and fatigued by all the losing on the Warriors' part (the Spurs are still decent but no longer contenders). On top of that, the injustice of the Gasol trade, embarrassment of riches that each team's roster contains, and the general thuggish Celtics attitude rub me the wrong way constantly.
On the other hand, I can't say I'm rooting against either squad either. I'm a big fan of Gasol's and Allen's games and professional, team-first demeanor. As a basketball junkie, I love watching the triangle offense run to perfection, the double-high-pick and roll that the Celtics have been running, Allen's jumper, Gasol's spin moves and hooks with either hand, KG's help defense, Rondo's quickness to loose balls, Kobe's footwork.
So, I guess I'm just rooting for a series that goes 7 and leaves me with a load of snapshots of memorable basketball, like Allen's 7 3s in game 2, Fisher taking over the 4th quarter of game 3, etc.
In general, on hating, the last NBA team I truly hated were the Shaq-Kobe Lakers. So much arrogance and thuggishness (Shaq and Fox) on one squad. There have been plenty of other players I dislike for being general knuckleheads.
In this ESPN article, the writer makes the point that because of the Lakers continued success over the last decade (making the finals 7 times since the year 2000!) they've become the most hated franchise in the NBA by anyone except for the Southern Cal region, LA expats, and bandwagon fans. Even traditional hate-doms like Philly fans are pulling for the rival Celtics because they loathe LA. Hate in sports, it seems, is primarily a function of "jealousy and the fatigue of losing."
As a diehard NBA fan, it makes watching this Finals series a bit tricky. Frankly, I don't like either of these franchises, because on my human sports fan level, I am jealous of them and fatigued by all the losing on the Warriors' part (the Spurs are still decent but no longer contenders). On top of that, the injustice of the Gasol trade, embarrassment of riches that each team's roster contains, and the general thuggish Celtics attitude rub me the wrong way constantly.
On the other hand, I can't say I'm rooting against either squad either. I'm a big fan of Gasol's and Allen's games and professional, team-first demeanor. As a basketball junkie, I love watching the triangle offense run to perfection, the double-high-pick and roll that the Celtics have been running, Allen's jumper, Gasol's spin moves and hooks with either hand, KG's help defense, Rondo's quickness to loose balls, Kobe's footwork.
So, I guess I'm just rooting for a series that goes 7 and leaves me with a load of snapshots of memorable basketball, like Allen's 7 3s in game 2, Fisher taking over the 4th quarter of game 3, etc.
In general, on hating, the last NBA team I truly hated were the Shaq-Kobe Lakers. So much arrogance and thuggishness (Shaq and Fox) on one squad. There have been plenty of other players I dislike for being general knuckleheads.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
TV Unplugged
I have some unfinished thoughts on the Lakers-Celtics series that will go up tomorrow. In the meantime, wanted to ask the larger community about an issue that many of us might face...
After getting married, we've intentionally been going without TV for the last 1.5 years. No antenna, basic channels, cable, etc. For the first time in many years (college days?), I don't have the ability to flop down on the couch after work and veg away hours of sports, reruns of movies, foodie shows, etc.
Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing. I recommend it for anyone getting married in the future - not having TV removes an easy excuse not to talk to your new spouse, and it's a good thing to try for a year. However, we've noted that even just being able to get broadcast channels (stuff we could get over an antenna) would help us work out more (we both have habits of exercising while watching, like situps/pushups/pullups during commercial breaks) and sometimes it's nice to watch major network shows on a larger screen than on a laptop playing Hulu.
So, we've been trying to figure out how we could best partake in media now that we've moved into our new house. We're tentatively thinking of installing a rooftop antenna around the time that we replace our roof this summer. However, some hanging questions include:
- Can we go without paying for TV and rely on DVDs/Hulu?
- What will I do for NBA purposes? Should I sign up for League Pass online?
- If we don't have cable TV, is it really necessary to get a nice big flatscreen (once our CRT burns out) primarily for video games and DVDs?
- Are there TVs that we can hook up laptops to, or that can play directly off the Internet?
- Is it worth looking into streaming media like Netflix online? If so, how big of an internet pipe is needed for good performance?
- Is there any truth to the rumors that with so many people hopping off of cable plans that run from $40-$100 a month, cable companies will eventually need to cave and go to a pay-per-channel model?
Some links I've skimmed but haven't researched in depth yet:
http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2010/01/04/paying-for-tv-one-way-or-another
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/01/your-guide-to-cutting-the-cord-to-cable-tv008.html
After getting married, we've intentionally been going without TV for the last 1.5 years. No antenna, basic channels, cable, etc. For the first time in many years (college days?), I don't have the ability to flop down on the couch after work and veg away hours of sports, reruns of movies, foodie shows, etc.
Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing. I recommend it for anyone getting married in the future - not having TV removes an easy excuse not to talk to your new spouse, and it's a good thing to try for a year. However, we've noted that even just being able to get broadcast channels (stuff we could get over an antenna) would help us work out more (we both have habits of exercising while watching, like situps/pushups/pullups during commercial breaks) and sometimes it's nice to watch major network shows on a larger screen than on a laptop playing Hulu.
So, we've been trying to figure out how we could best partake in media now that we've moved into our new house. We're tentatively thinking of installing a rooftop antenna around the time that we replace our roof this summer. However, some hanging questions include:
- Can we go without paying for TV and rely on DVDs/Hulu?
- What will I do for NBA purposes? Should I sign up for League Pass online?
- If we don't have cable TV, is it really necessary to get a nice big flatscreen (once our CRT burns out) primarily for video games and DVDs?
- Are there TVs that we can hook up laptops to, or that can play directly off the Internet?
- Is it worth looking into streaming media like Netflix online? If so, how big of an internet pipe is needed for good performance?
- Is there any truth to the rumors that with so many people hopping off of cable plans that run from $40-$100 a month, cable companies will eventually need to cave and go to a pay-per-channel model?
Some links I've skimmed but haven't researched in depth yet:
http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2010/01/04/paying-for-tv-one-way-or-another
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/01/your-guide-to-cutting-the-cord-to-cable-tv008.html
http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/01/espn_on_xbox_360_tipping_point_for_cable_workarounds.html
http://lifehacker.com/5475091/how-can-i-ditch-cable-and-watch-my-tv-shows-and-movies-online
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/10/03/26/155255/Whats-the-Best-Way-To-Get-Web-Content-To-My-TV
How about the rest of you? What do you do for media intake on the small (computer) or big (TV) screen? In particular, what do you do for live sports?
http://lifehacker.com/5475091/how-can-i-ditch-cable-and-watch-my-tv-shows-and-movies-online
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/10/03/26/155255/Whats-the-Best-Way-To-Get-Web-Content-To-My-TV
How about the rest of you? What do you do for media intake on the small (computer) or big (TV) screen? In particular, what do you do for live sports?
Monday, June 07, 2010
"Lost" reflections
Why did I faithfully watch Lost these last 6 years?
One of my personality quirks is that I tend to be too much of a loyalist. I don't easily drop my fandom of something, and I give a lot of grace - perhaps too much so - for subpar efforts and mistakes. This might explain why I'm still a Warriors fan. Combined with being a completist, I've "stuck it out to the bitter end" on various things that, in retrospect, weren't entirely satisfying.
Having been a fan of Abrams' Alias, I was fully aware that Lost could very well fall into the same trap - come up with intriguing mysteries without any solutions, ending on a hand-wavey whimper and no sense of resolution. However, after the creators of Lost were able to negotiate an end date to the show, and seasons 3-5 were more tightly plotted, I had a bit more hope.
How did I feel after the finale 2 weeks ago? The best way to describe it would probably be to draw a contrast with another sci-fi story - the Matrix series. In that trilogy, they started with a tightly plotted action movie with a mythology that wasn't exactly original, but was pretty intriguing and had a sense of closure. When the movie succeeded at the box office and the creators were contracted to make 2 more movies, they proceeded to inflate the mythology way too big in the 2nd movie (remember the conversation with Colonel Sanders at the end?), and eventually weren't able to resolve all the big mysteries in a very clear way, so ended with an unsatisfying conclusion.
The reason why I left the 3rd Matrix movie with a bad taste in my mouth was because while the action was good, the mythology ended up being a dud of sorts, and I didn't care enough about the characters to ultimately redeem the trilogy (I figure you need to be positive on at least 2 out of those 3 areas for sci-fi/mystery to consider it a success).
Contrasting this with Lost: while ultimately the mythology ended up falling prey to over-inflation and leading to a personal sense of dissatisfaction at the end of the entire series due to unanswered questions, the fact remained that I cared about the people. After 6 seasons of character development, drama, tragedy, flashbacks and flashforwards, I genuinely wanted to see closure for the people, and for better or worse, that's what we got. As mentioned elsewhere on the interwebs - it was basically an emotionally satisfying cop-out.
I am kind of disappointed at the number of unanswered questions, but listening to interviews with the creators and writers, I can understand some of the reasons - needing to be set up for an unknown number of seasons, actors leaving the show (they had a big plotline planned for Mr. Eko), and other uncontrolled circumstances can play havoc with your story. Anyway, for the real Lost geeks, here are a few links I've found chronicling the unanswered questions, as well as one guy's stab at coming up with reasonable speculation for answers that I found pretty sensible.
"The Idiot's Guide to Lost":
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b183078_idiots_guide_lost.html
"Unannswered Questions in Video Format"
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1936291
One of my personality quirks is that I tend to be too much of a loyalist. I don't easily drop my fandom of something, and I give a lot of grace - perhaps too much so - for subpar efforts and mistakes. This might explain why I'm still a Warriors fan. Combined with being a completist, I've "stuck it out to the bitter end" on various things that, in retrospect, weren't entirely satisfying.
Having been a fan of Abrams' Alias, I was fully aware that Lost could very well fall into the same trap - come up with intriguing mysteries without any solutions, ending on a hand-wavey whimper and no sense of resolution. However, after the creators of Lost were able to negotiate an end date to the show, and seasons 3-5 were more tightly plotted, I had a bit more hope.
How did I feel after the finale 2 weeks ago? The best way to describe it would probably be to draw a contrast with another sci-fi story - the Matrix series. In that trilogy, they started with a tightly plotted action movie with a mythology that wasn't exactly original, but was pretty intriguing and had a sense of closure. When the movie succeeded at the box office and the creators were contracted to make 2 more movies, they proceeded to inflate the mythology way too big in the 2nd movie (remember the conversation with Colonel Sanders at the end?), and eventually weren't able to resolve all the big mysteries in a very clear way, so ended with an unsatisfying conclusion.
The reason why I left the 3rd Matrix movie with a bad taste in my mouth was because while the action was good, the mythology ended up being a dud of sorts, and I didn't care enough about the characters to ultimately redeem the trilogy (I figure you need to be positive on at least 2 out of those 3 areas for sci-fi/mystery to consider it a success).
Contrasting this with Lost: while ultimately the mythology ended up falling prey to over-inflation and leading to a personal sense of dissatisfaction at the end of the entire series due to unanswered questions, the fact remained that I cared about the people. After 6 seasons of character development, drama, tragedy, flashbacks and flashforwards, I genuinely wanted to see closure for the people, and for better or worse, that's what we got. As mentioned elsewhere on the interwebs - it was basically an emotionally satisfying cop-out.
I am kind of disappointed at the number of unanswered questions, but listening to interviews with the creators and writers, I can understand some of the reasons - needing to be set up for an unknown number of seasons, actors leaving the show (they had a big plotline planned for Mr. Eko), and other uncontrolled circumstances can play havoc with your story. Anyway, for the real Lost geeks, here are a few links I've found chronicling the unanswered questions, as well as one guy's stab at coming up with reasonable speculation for answers that I found pretty sensible.
"All the Lost Mysteries - Answers, Reasonable Conjectures, Nitpicks, and Missed Opportunities" - well worth the time to read
"The Idiot's Guide to Lost":
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b183078_idiots_guide_lost.html
"Unannswered Questions in Video Format"
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1936291
Friday, June 04, 2010
Another year older and deeper in bad habits
I used to write on this blog relatively prolifically in the first half of this decade. I realized recently that my decline in writing corresponded with the era where it became supremely easy to waste 10-15 minutes at a time on the internet - through youtube, through digg, through countless sites providing top 10 lists and interesting (but ultimately irrelevant) content.
Being an input junkie and a fast reader, I loaded up my RSS feeds and began consuming tidbits of information in bite-size chunks at all hours of the day, leaving little time for contemplation and the personal wrestling on life that inherently need large chunks of time.
I kinda miss the me that would write, back in the day.
So, as I begin my next year of life, I'm going to be a bit ambitious and aim to write a post each weekday for the rest of the month of June, to see if I can get back into a habit. I'm trying to give myself the freedom to not be particularly polished, especially starting out. I'll try to write about life, faith, interesting things, questions, and a list of other stuff I've archived but haven't really processed.
Hope you'll join me, but I won't be offended if you choose to block me from your feeds. It might do you some good to reduce the amount of input in your life too.
Being an input junkie and a fast reader, I loaded up my RSS feeds and began consuming tidbits of information in bite-size chunks at all hours of the day, leaving little time for contemplation and the personal wrestling on life that inherently need large chunks of time.
I kinda miss the me that would write, back in the day.
So, as I begin my next year of life, I'm going to be a bit ambitious and aim to write a post each weekday for the rest of the month of June, to see if I can get back into a habit. I'm trying to give myself the freedom to not be particularly polished, especially starting out. I'll try to write about life, faith, interesting things, questions, and a list of other stuff I've archived but haven't really processed.
Hope you'll join me, but I won't be offended if you choose to block me from your feeds. It might do you some good to reduce the amount of input in your life too.
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