Archive for January, 2005

January 28, 1986

Published by Pyrofenix under Main on January 28, 2005
Today marks the 9 year anniversary of the Challenger disaster. A very sad month for NASA overall with the anniversary of the Apollo 1 launchpad fire that claimed astronauts Edward White, Virgil Grissom, and Roger Chaffee on January 27th, 1967. While I was too young to witness any of the Apollo missions, this day in 1986 stands vividly in my mind. It was the first instance of NASA’s TISP program. The Teachers In Space Program gave Christa McAuliffe a chance to visit the stars.

I recall that day vividly. I was in first grade at the time and as most little boys at the time was fascinated with space and going to space myself some day. I remember having a toy shuttle that I would play with all the time. As a special treat, my teacher gathered us on the carpet and rolled in the television so we could watch Challenger launch live along with everyone in Cape Canaveral, FL. I was really excited about this - i’d never seen one go up live before. As any anxious little kid, I couldn’t sit still as I waited to be whisked away with the crew so I could go into space with them. Then came the countdown.

10.
9.
8.
7.
6.
“We have main engine start”
4.
3.
2.
1.
“and Liftoff.”

click for shuttle launch video

More was said, but I couldn’t tell you what without going back and finding a video. So I sat there, with my mouth partly opened in awe as I watched this giant ship hurl itself farther and farther into the sky. When Challenger exploded, I don’t think I moved. My teacher gasped - I remember that, but I don’t know what any of my classmates were doing or saying when it happened. My dream of being an astronaut one day sank into my chest as I realized how dangerous it was and how brave those 7 people were. Over the next few days I recall seeing the explosion over and over on TV and being sick every time I saw it. I couldn’t understand why they would keep showing it. Very similar to the constant replaying of the second plane crashing into the WTC.

My hat goes off in remembrance of the crew of the challenger: Mission commander- Francis R. (Dick) Scobee; Pilot Comander - Michael J. Smith; Dr. Judith A. Resnik; Dr. Ronald E. McNair; Lieut. Col. Ellison S. Onizuka; Gregory B. Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe.

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Lyrics to chew on

Published by Pyrofenix under Main on January 27, 2005
Good and evil…
And their merits.
Men have argued through history
As well they should!
My philosophy
Any child can see -
Good is evil -
And therefore
All evil is…
good

How do you tell evil from good?
Evil does well - good not so good!
Evil’s the one that is free everywhere
Good is the one that they sell!
You must decide which is heaven
Which is hell!

Good maintain evil’s a curse!
But it is plain good’s even worse!
Evil’s the one that they tell you to shun
Good is the one to embrace
Say that and Satan will laugh right in your face!

The battle between good and evil
Goes back to the start
Adam and Eve and the apple tore Eden apart!
The key thing about good ‘n’ evil
Each man has to choose!
Heaven ‘n’ hell
Is a helluva gamble to lose!
But as I peruse
This world we abuse
It’s hell that we choose
And heaven must lose!

Evil is everywhere
Good doesn’t have a prayer!
Good is commendable
Evil’s dependable!
Evil is viable
Good’s unreliable!
Good may be thankable
Evil is bankable!

Evil’s for me - you can have good!
Doesn’t suit me to be Robin Hood!
S’easier by far, from the way that things are,
To remain good ‘n’ evil
Than try to be evil and good!

Sung by the character, Lucy, from Jekyll & Hyde

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Support the VCR! Save your Tivo!

Published by Pyrofenix under Main on January 25, 2005
I was just reading an article over on Zdnet about how The Bush Administration along with the RIAA and MPAA are filing arguements with the Supreme Court to make Peer-to-Peer file sharing programs like Morpheus liable for copyright infringement that is commited on it’s network. All the P2P software programs have fought in lower courts (sucessfully) to limit their liability by pointing to legitimate uses for the software and using a 20 year old decision to protect them.

Sony vs. Universal Pictures made way for everything from CD burners to DVD recorders to Tivo and Ipod. When the case was initially heard, Sony was fighting for the right of the Videocassette Recorder to be sold legally while Universal said that it could be used to copy protected movies and, therefore, should be made illegal. The court ruled that because the VCR has legitimate uses, it can not be liable for how a VCR user uses the technology. The same arguement that Grokster and Co. are making for their P2P software.

Now, if this 20 year old court ruling is reversed basically all personal media players made since 1985 will be illegal. This will no doubt be one of the most important cases the Supreme Court will hear this year as it could effect 20 years of technological innovation in a variety of markets and account for billions of dollars each year.

I am not one to support the illegal sharing of music and video (or any other copyrighted material) over these file sharing networks but I hope that the Supreme Court will uphold the Sony decision.

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Oscar Nominations are out

Published by Pyrofenix under Main on January 25, 2005

This has been a pretty tough year for picking the Oscars - anyone, especially in the Leading Role categories can win. Though I haven’t seen the film, it’s my impression that Jamie Foxx should get the statue for “Ray”. Hilary Swank should also be picking one up for “Million Dollar Baby”, which will have a good chance for Best Director as well because, besides being a great film, ‘Dirty Harry’ is amazing behind the camera.

With that said, I’d love to see “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” win for Original Screenplay and “I, Robot” win for visual effects because that movie was absolutely stunning to watch.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Don Cheadle - HOTEL RWANDA
Johnny Depp - FINDING NEVERLAND
Leonardo DiCaprio - THE AVIATOR
Clint Eastwood - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Jamie Foxx - RAY

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Alan Alda - THE AVIATOR
Thomas Haden Church - SIDEWAYS
Jamie Foxx - COLLATERAL
Morgan Freeman - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Clive Owen - CLOSER

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Annette Bening - BEING JULIA
Catalina Sandino Moreno - MARIA FULL OF GRACE
Imelda Staunton - VERA DRAKE
Hilary Swank - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Kate Winslet - ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Cate Blanchett - THE AVIATOR
Laura Linney - KINSEY
Virginia Madsen - SIDEWAYS
Sophie Okonedo - HOTEL RWANDA
Natalie Portman - CLOSER

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
THE INCREDIBLES
SHARK TALE
SHREK 2

ART DIRECTION
THE AVIATOR
FINDING NEVERLAND
LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT

CINEMATOGRAPHY
THE AVIATOR
HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT

COSTUME DESIGN
THE AVIATOR
FINDING NEVERLAND
LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
RAY
TROY

DIRECTING
THE AVIATOR
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
RAY
SIDEWAYS
VERA DRAKE

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
BORN INTO BROTHELS
THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL
SUPER SIZE ME
TUPAC: RESURRECTION
TWIST OF FAITH

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
AUTISM IS A WORLD
THE CHILDREN OF LENINGRADSKY
HARDWOOD
MIGHTY TIMES: THE CHILDREN’S MARCH
SISTER ROSE’S PASSION

FILM EDITING
THE AVIATOR
COLLATERAL
FINDING NEVERLAND
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
RAY

 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
THE CHORUS
DOWNFALL
THE SEA INSIDE
YESTERDAY

MAKEUP
LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
THE SEA INSIDE

MUSIC (SCORE)
FINDING NEVERLAND
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
THE VILLAGE

MUSIC (SONG)
“Accidentally In Love” - SHREK 2
“Al Otro Lado Del Río” - THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
“Believe” - THE POLAR EXPRESS
“Learn To Be Lonely” - THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
“Look To Your Path (Vois Sur Ton Chemin)” - THE CHORUS

BEST PICTURE
THE AVIATOR
FINDING NEVERLAND
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
RAY
SIDEWAYS

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
BIRTHDAY BOY
GOPHER BROKE
GUARD DOG
LORENZO
RYAN

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
EVERYTHING IN THIS COUNTRY MUST
LITTLE TERRORIST
7:35 IN THE MORNING
TWO CARS, ONE NIGHT
WASP

SOUND EDITING
THE INCREDIBLES
THE POLAR EXPRESS
SPIDER-MAN 2

SOUND MIXING
THE AVIATOR
THE INCREDIBLES
THE POLAR EXPRESS
RAY
SPIDER-MAN 2

VISUAL EFFECTS
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
I, ROBOT
SPIDER-MAN 2

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
BEFORE SUNSET
FINDING NEVERLAND
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
SIDEWAYS

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
THE AVIATOR
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
HOTEL RWANDA
THE INCREDIBLES
VERA DRAKE
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Comparing Apples to Oranges

Published by Pyrofenix under Main on January 19, 2005
I found this article through Slashdot and had to share. I’ve made several posts recently around Apple and their new Mac Mini. I can’t wait to see one in person (and possibly adopt one) but apparently some reporters are already on the kick that the cheapest Mac isn’t any cheaper than the cheapest windows computer (Dell). This article from Macworld does a great job comparing the two and while it is a Macworld article, no surprise on the ending, it does give a fairly objective comparison of a $499 Mac Mini and a $399 Dell.

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The Aviator Soars

Published by Pyrofenix under entertainment on January 17, 2005
The Aviator This is late in coming, but I went to see ‘The Aviator’ recently and was absolutely blown away! DiCaprio is amazing - giving his best performance since ‘The Basketball Diaries’. Early in his career, I considered him a pretty face with not a whole lot of acting chops but in the recent years he has definately chosen the right roles and stretched his acting muscle in roles in ‘Gangs of New York’ and ‘Catch Me If You Can’. Both performances were rather good but his portrayal of Billionaire recluse, Howard Hughes, is incredible.For those not familiar with who Hughes is, during the 1920s Hughes took his millions from oil in Texas to make Hollywood Movies. His biggest passion, besides that for the famous starlets of which he found himself around, was the airplane. As an aviator he held all major speed record for flight and was regarded as a brilliant designer and pilot. For each of his successes, came a greater reclusion from society. He had a distinct fear of germs which led to a mental breakdown. Many of Howards’ endeavors still exist today where Hughes Space and Communications is the largest maker of orbiting satellites in the world.Scorsese hits a home run with this movie! The entire 2hr 35min epic is alarmingly realistic in depicting Hughes inner battles as well as his external battles with TWA airlines, the movie industry and just about anyone else who got in his way, even the Federal Government. DiCaprio as Hughes is stellar but the performances around him are equally impressive. Cate Blanchett (Katharine Hepburn) and Kate Beckinsale (Ava Gardner) are wonderful in their roles bringing real people back to life in the glory days of Hollywood. I just can’t say enough about the performances from the entire cast. The story, while true, seems too fantastic to be a reality and yet when it comes to Howard Hughes, fantastic is his middle name as is evidenced by potentially his greatest personal accomplishment - creating and flying the immense wooden aircraft as proof to the government and everyone else that it could fly.

This film provides a bright glimmer into a reclusive mans’ psyche and allowing the viewer a vastly entertaining experience throughout the duration. If you haven’t had the pleasure, I highly recommend taking a weekend afternoon to enjoy one of the years best movies, and a bucket of popcorn.
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Missing

Published by Pyrofenix under Main on January 14, 2005
In my Junior year of high school, I took a theater class. On the first day, I was sitting next to a cute girl and we soon got to talking. Turns out we had a lot in common. We became fast friends and were inseparable all through that year. She and I performed in at least 2 productions together, The Wizard of Oz & Rehersal for Murder, along with several small performances for various groups. Outside of school we were just as inseparable and I can now admit that I had a huge crush on her. Unfortunately our friendship drifted a bit when her father, a chaplin in the military, was transferred to Augusta, GA. We went our separate ways but fate or chance or dumb luck brought us back together when she moved to the Baltimore area with her family (in 2000?).Our friendship flaired up but again we were split up and haven’t found each other again, yet. This is where I hope the power of the internet comes in, hopefully. Melissa Vermont (unless she’s married now) should be about 24 years old. She wanted to go back to school to do Theater Make-up and I know at one point when she lived in Georga she was attending Valdosta and was in a Sorority (I’m not sure which). I’m including the photo that reminded me of her, taken in 1997. It’s the best i’ve got.

Melissa Vermont circa 1997
 

I’m immensely curious where life has taken her and what she is up to. If you know her, met her, went to school with her of know someone who dated someone who has a Cousin who saw her once, I’d love to hear from you. E-mail me.
Oh, and bonus points if you get Melissa to e-mail me directly!

Have a good Weekend.
-Tim

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Let’s try this again.

Published by Pyrofenix under Main on January 13, 2005
I’m going to try this again. The GMail bonanza I was offering earlier is going back up. Call me stupid (because I know better) but i’m going to pretend people online will be decent and obey the rules. The rules are this - if you don’t have a GMail account, click the link below and grab yourself one. If you know someone who doesn’t have a GMail account - call them, e-mail them, text message them…whatever….let them know where they can find one, and y’know you can have one too.

But please don’t take 4 accounts in a row for yourself. You don’t need 4 GMail accounts, do you? Does anyone need 4 e-mail accounts of any kind??

So from now on, all my GMail invites will go on the page HERE. As of right now, I have about 75 invites up for grabs, so enjoy and no pushing.

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Keynote complete!

Published by Pyrofenix under Main on January 11, 2005
I spent most of my day here at work fixated on the irc chat led by Leo Laporte via his Sidekick II from within the Macworld keynote conference. He and a few others in attendance provided up to the second information on what Apple puppetmaster Steve Jobs was saying and showing. The first hour and 20 minutes of Jobs’ speech focused on the upcoming version of OS X, Tiger, as well as the new features of Apple’s Ilife ‘05 suite and introducing Iwork ‘05 - a brand new software suite that includes Keynote 2.0, Pages (an advanced Word Processor), and Cells (a spreadsheet program). Each application suite will be available on January 22nd for $79.

As is now tradition, the newest, most rumored items, were held off until the last possible moment when Steve Jobs says “Oh, One more thing” and displays the most anticipated item of the show. This year, that honor was held by two devices. The first, and most exciting for me, is Mac Mini - a miniscule computer about the size of a lunchbox featuring a 1.25 or 1.42Ghz G4 processor w/ 256mb of ram and a 40gb/80gb Hard drive. The machine, which measures only 6.5″ x 6.5″ x 2″ is priced well below Apples other desktops starting at $499 for the 1.25Ghz/40gb version or $599 for the 1.42ghz/80gb version.



The second item, and last item before the conclusion of the event was the announcement that Apple plans to take the Flash based audio player market like it has taken the hard drive based market. The newest Ipod, the “Ipod Shuffle” comes in two sizes - 512mb and 1gb. No matter which size you get the dimensions are the same at about the size of a pack of gum and weighing less than 1 oz. The device has a USB plug built in with a cap and does not include a screen but does have a click wheel that mimicks the style of its larger brothers. Costing only $99 for the 512mb or $149 for the 1gb varient will no doubt make this as hot an item as the ipod and ipod mini have been this year! Oh, and they are available NOW…

All images owned by Apple Computer and reproduced here only due to the fact that Apple’s site is being creamed by traffic - so please don’t sue me Apple!

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Macworld SF keynote starting soon!

Published by Pyrofenix under Main on January 11, 2005

Steve Jobs should be taking the stage in approximately 30 minutes to show us all the awesome new toys that will be coming soon to an Apple Store near you! One of the biggest rumors this year is the headless (no monitor) mac, or iHome, or one of a dozen other names it’s been called in the media. Several site have been showing ‘leaked’ photos someone took confirming the new low cost machine will be called the iHome. Most likely they are fake but the photos are pretty good and if the machine really does look like that then I’m impressed.

So i’ve created a page that shows all the photos as well located here.

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