I had a small birthday celebration last weekend and, to my surprise, a number of people have been asking what music I was playing. The answer can be found as an iMix on iTunes.
My friend has created a website to document her negative experiences trying to take advantage of the “money back guarantee” that Anthony Robbins offers on his motivational courses. Let her know if you’ve experienced anything similar!
This is incredible. And I don’t use the word lightly.
The site in question is the CAP Entertainment Media Analysis Reports. Here you can find hundreds of “reviews” of movies and ratings of how well they conform to one interpretation of good Christian values. They claim that it’s objective but there are a number of opinions about the faith that would not be shared by all.
I think pretty much all of my favourite films do very badly on their scale. I have not checked through all of them yet but two of the best ones so far are for The Incredibles and The Passion of the Christ. They both score roughly the same, yet the former, a typical Pixar movie with all those hallmarks that Disney films used to have, has “…behavioral, moral and value implantation dangers” while the latter, despite depicting a man being nailed to a cross, “…is [only] a movie.”
Most sites have a Frequently Asked Questions section and I don’t want to feel left out. So far no-one has actually asked any questions, so I am just guessing.
How are you?
I find that I annoy myself by saying “I’m good” when asked that question. I’m just not convinced it’s actually valid English. I got into the habit when I found that many Americans stare at you blankly if you answer any other way.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” or so said Arthur C. Clarke. What struck me when I was on holiday a couple of weeks ago is that there’s a level beyond that: when you don’t even notice.
We were sat in a restaurant having dinner and for reasons that I can no longer recall, conversation came round to the first UK hit by the Rolling Stones. ‘H’ said that it was “Come On,” ‘J’ swore that it was something entirely different. This all being at least ten years before I was born I had no real opinion on the subject but I did know a man who would have the answer. I immediately took out my mobile and texted him. A few minutes later the answer came back (‘H’ was right).
On the principle that all publicity is good, here’s a link to my girlfriend’s job-hunting and career blog. She’s into CSR, PR, events management, marketing and, well, go have a look and find out more. Go on, you know you want to give her a job!
We had a bit of a movie binge this weekend. The highlight was undoubtedly Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I’ve always been a fan of Nick Park’s work and this is right up there with his best.
How they manage to get so much emotion into such tiny pieces of clay I have no idea. All I can say is that it works.
I’d like to pretend that I had a good reason for posting this, something other than blatant publicity for a friends website, but no. On the plus side, it is prettier than mine and she blogs far more frequently and eloquently than me…
So much of my favourite music only exists because of this man…
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Music | Obituary: Dr Robert Moog
CNN.com – Synthesizer innovator Moog dies at 71 – Aug 22, 2005
Let’s cut to the chase: if you’ve read and enjoyed any of Joel Spolsky’s ramblings on the web you’ll like this book. Skip the rest of this review and just go buy it.
For the benefit of those that have not heard of him, who is this Joel chap and what is the book and his normal prose about? The “About the Author” section describes him as an industry veteran that writes an “anti-Dilbert manifesto” on his website. I can’t think of a better description, which is why I have shamelessly copied it rather than finding my own phrase…