THE SWAN POSTETH, AND THE SWAN POSTETH NOT

Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I haven't posted in a little while.  You're ok, you'll get over it.  See, my dear wife and I (see picture to the left) are in the wonderful process of moving.  So, since computers don't seem to work that well when they're stripped from their lifeblood of energy and jostled around in a car for a bit, I might be a bit absent from daily postage.

But while I'm at it, let me speak about moving.  Generally, it's terrible.  Packing up all of your worldly possessions into transportable containers and taking them to another location is always going to be difficult, both physically and logistically.  Then there's this stuff called furniture, which never seems to fit into a box.  Good luck with that.  But the worst part is not just getting your stuff to a new domicile, it's what to do with it once you're there.  In your former residence, stuff had a place, even if it was "somewhere in the middle of pile #3."  In the new residence, you must create new places for the stuff, thus defining it's spacial identity once again.  This process is often called "getting settled."  THAT is the real beating here, because until that's done you're not really home, just stuck in some moving limbo.  The old apartment, however cramped, tiny and poorly laid out, is comfy right now.  The new apartment, however roomy, fresh and better located, isn't there yet.  I know it will reach that fabled Xanadu sometime, but for now, it's just like I'm living in some show-home. 

By the way, let me do you a favor.  See that little thing to the left that says "subscribe to stoplookingswan?"  You should do that.  This way, you'll always know when I put some new tidbits of wisdom up here, and I'll think I'm cool because you care.  It's a win-win situation. 

"I'm the center of attention in the world inside my head..."

GOOD BOURNE HUNTING

Just blending my allegories left and right here.  Like many of you, I'm gently emerging from the fog of a wonderfully relaxing weekend and squinting in the glaring fluorescent light of corporate life.  So, to relive my time off, I'll tell you about the movie I saw with the rest of the world: The Bourne Supremacy.

Given the binary choice of liked it or not, I'll definitely say I liked it.  This movie plays to some of my basic strengths - guy movie, car chases, hand-to-hand combat, secret agents.  Matt Damon is a great actor (see definition below) because he put TONS of time into training, so that when he's just pointing a gun at somebody, you actually believe he would use it.  Bruce Willis in "Last Man Standing" has a similar effect.  It's worth it, too, because it gives Matt's character so much more depth.  I do, however, have to mention the filming style chosen by director Paul Greengrass.  He calls it the "unconsidered" camera, which means this is not your regular Steadi-Cam movie.  He uses a free hand-held camera often, and it makes things a lot more viscereal, jolting, and intense.  If you ask me, it plays well to what the script is trying to do.

In the interest of fair and balanced reporting, check out Mr. Cranky's review - he didn't like it.  Of course, he doesn't like anything. 

I really didn't mean to make this a review site.  Hopefully I'll post something more diverse soon...

GOODNIGHT MOON

Just testing out my PDA onhere - it's got Wi-Fi, you know. Some guy in my complex has a WAP set up, and he was kind enough not to encrypt it. How thoughtful. So, I'm taking advantage of this situation to send my thoughts to cyber-space.

INTERVIEW WITH...

You'll notice below what I'm watching now. 

<rant>
I feel it would be appropriate for us now to have a moment of confession.  Tom Cruise - 100% overrated.  Now, while I'll happily fritter away my hard-earned shillings on movies he is in (Minority Report being the most recent), the guy isn't an incredible actor (no, wait, I lied - the last was The Last Samurai).  Think about it, every movie he is in, he's Tom Cruise as...whatever.  Specifically, I'm watching him be Tom Cruise as the vampire Lestat, but I've seen him as a fighter pilot, a tortured future policeman, a NASCAR driver, a secret agent, a bartender, and even a guy dancing in his underwear.  I'll say he's truly entertaining in about half of these roles.  Overall, Tom Cruise is a machine.  He's famous because he's famous, because he brings together the combinations of actor and director and producer and everything else that makes a good movie.  Mel Gibson is another example - he can even do it while he's not in the movie (Passion of the Christ).

Now, let's talk about a real actor; Gary Oldman.  When Gary plays a character, he IS something else.  Rosencrantz, Lee Harvey Oswald, Dracula, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, that crazy Russian dude that tries to steal the President's Air Force One, Pontius Pilate, Sirius Black - this man does it ALL, and makes each character look completely different. We need both types to make the movie world go 'round, but I'm much more impressed by the latter.

</rant>

LET THERE BE...BLOG!

I like it, think I've got some of the kinks worked out.  Let us post.

 

TELEKINESIS.  Telekinesis, ladies and gentlemen.  My world would be 1000x better if I had telekinesis.  Think about it - I'm sitting at my desk right now wasting valuable time writing this.  If I had telekinesis, I wouldn't have to worry about the impending dangers of carpal-tunnel syndrome and could just type away with the sheer power of my MIND. 

Oh, but wait, it gets better.

Imagine simple tasks like mowing the lawn, tying your shoes, refilling your drink, even driving to work.  ALL could be radically changed with the glory that is telekinesis.

So let me get into something else real quick:

What I like: "My Radiostation" from launch.yahoo.com.  See, there is NO chance your average radio is going to penetrate the stalwart walls of corporate business here, so all musical eminations are thanks to the miracle of the Internet.  Now, this lovely service lets you start out by rating a few different genres.  Then, as you're playing, you rate songs/artists/albums.  All of this information goes into what gets played next.  Burt Bachrach comes up?  Tell your service to never play him again, and skip the song - you have thus exorcised the demon.  It's good times in an otherwise bleak cube farm.

I'VE FINALLY GIVEN IN...

So you hear about it all the time - so-and-so's got a great blog, hey come read my blog, I posted this link on my blog.  Well FINE.  I'm always claiming to be the hip and cool online expert (if you're laughing right now, I know who you are), so it's time I published my written words into the great forum of cyberspace.  This shall be my first entry - I'm sure there will be more, as soon as I look at this one and see how cool it turns out.