nervous blogdown

i'm at a loss. been under the weather for the last few days. haven't seen any good flicks. only crap t.v. swim fan and i spy on pay-per-view (god's gift to the couch bound). swim fan was seriously bad. bad. bad. bad. released sometime last year it was billed as a teen homage to fatal attraction. unlike cruel intentions (a teen take on dangerous liasons) this film wasn't even close to the original. that said not sure the original was quality inspiration. so is the quality of an homage dependant on the quality of the original? example: smiths - please please please let me get what i want covered by the dream academy. check quality box for both. austen's emma covered by hollywood (clueless) also quality on both counts (although i'm sure many would disagree on the latter). another literary classic jane eyre covered by jean rhys (wide sargasso sea). check - check. not sure how many folks stumble onto this site, but i wish i had a comments section. i'm genuinely interested in hearing some other examples of this especially since it seems that there is more an more repackaging of previous content going on these days. which leads me to comment on something else that has been bugging me. i would genuinely like to post a mail me link on this site, however, with the harvesters (i picture the spider creatures in minority report) crawling the web grabbing email addresses for spamming i hesitate. saw something on the news last night that microsoft, aol, and yahoo are currently working together (wow) to address the whole spam issue. fingers crossed people. tony hawk count for today: 2 (doritos commercial, simpsons episode from sunday night). b.

counter culture.

saw this today. the satellite description reads "Documentary (2003) The counterculture festival takes place in Nevada annually during the week of Labor Day." i'm not convinced such a thing exists anymore. kurt vonnegut doing tiaa kref commercials. i think burroughs did a nike commercial a few years back. b.

potpourri.

better luck tomorrow. tried to go see this last week. happy to have seen it tonight. an original. the acting from the main actors was superb. especially the actor who played virgil. he should get a round of statuettes during awards season next spring. if not i'll chalk it up to hoop dreams part deux. franklin covey training. found out this week that i spend most of my time living below the line, moving around little rocks with a dull saw. mix tapes. flowers and candy of my generation. every mix tape every boy gave me was filled with the music of that time for me. trip down memory lane. fred = enya. gary = massive attack. matt = dinasour jr. eric = dave matthews band. robert = cyprus hill. five down. ten to go. i'm 73k steps closer to 220k steps. b.

fried.

color me. back tomorrow. b.

shift.

a friend sent this to me today. j-walk is not the first person to point out my propencity for using lower case. there is a reason why i steer clear of the shift key in some cases. working on, around, and with computers is an 8-12 hr. a day gig for me. it's not just something i use at work, but it's also the focus of my work. i know folks who work at four star restaurants but choose mcdonalds on the weekend. or people that work with kids all week but choose not to have their own. when i get home i still use a computer, but i want to have it be a separate experience from my work day. i don't take my work machine home. i have silly applications and wallpapers on my personal machine. at any rate, i guess skipping the shift key is the way i get out of work mode. work = thinking about how i word my ideas, checking my spelling, making sure what i write and say is professional, concise, and well-expressed. home = not being afraid to sound foolish, having a bit fun, and hopefully not causing too much trouble. b.

jackass.

i'm relatively late to the game obviously, but i just saw my first episode of jackass yesterday. i liked it. i laughed a lot. i feel somehow like i've lost i.q. pionts. then it hits me. it's just one more reality t.v. show. i guess it's time for a little blogfessional: reality t.v. shows that i have tuned into at some point ~ listed by genre: dating desperation: the bachelor (seasons 1-3 full run) joe millionaire (all of it - every mindnumbing moment) single in ny and single in la (they call this women's entertainment) and finally ~ looking for love bachelorettes in alaska (as described by one of my favorite web sites: Looking for Love: Bachelorettes in Alaska might not have been the worst "reality" show ever produced -- a title for which there's healthy competition. It wasn't the first show to cause people to despair for all humanity, and it unfortunately won't be the last. But for six inglorious episodes in the summer of 2002, it was easily the worst thing on television. None of the husband-seeking women went home with a ring, and no one who watched the show did so without a few (or several) pangs of guilt. And the show defiled Alaska's breathtaking beauty as badly as any oil spill ever could.) just plain bizarre: surreal life (could only handle two episodes ~ but read every recap on twop) anna nicole (i tuned in for the second episode of the first season ~ took me a few days to recover) mtv: the real world (up to new orleans - i have standards you know) road rules (first season) real world/road rules challenge (the one when puck got married) sorority life (full on season one - having a hard time with season two) true life (this is acutally pretty good t.v. - well done mini-documentaries) osbournes (season 1) punk'd and jackass (the two sort of blur together - and it's only been two times for each at this point) competition craziness and hijinx: survivor (an episode here and there over the years) fear factor (the one with eating all the gross stuff - although i hear that happens on a lot of them) that's a pretty long list. then again there are many ~ many of these that i've skipped: temptation island, mr. personality, big brother, high school reunion, the mole, i'm a celebrity get me outta here, making the band, love cruise, scare tactics, baby story, wedding story, dating story, ad naseum (thanks to - and a big shout out to the snarky twop for a fairly comprehensive list) oh and finally - have you checked out cnn or msnbc lately? i don't know but it seems to me like they are both fast becoming 24hr daily doses of souped up, newsy, a bit-more legitimate reality television networks. b.

robots.

saw this today. there's a lecture on microsoft campus this week: Robotic Pets and Human Lives: A Value Sensitive Design Investigation. it's being presented by Batya Friedman & Peter H. Kahn, Jr. both from the University of Washington. i have three robot dogs: scooter, audrey and possum - they are each sony aibos. lots of folks are really keen in the aibo community to get their hands on the next gen sony robot. we're in the early stages of developing the world that william gibson, phillip k. dick, frank herbert, isaac asimov and so many writers envision in their novels and short stories. i'm curious to see if there is eventual tension between humans and machines as we move away from what are percieved as harmless robot dogs to fully functional a.i. beings (hello mr. data). i received a copy of the velveteen rabbit as a gift this week. also saw battle for the planet of the apes yesterday. robots, rabbits, roddy mcdowell. the theme of disparity between groups and desire to be considered of value - equal in the eyes of others ran throughout my weekend. b.

top 10 words for today.

first anime internet gumball ramifications leak pink nap steak competition fill in the blanks. it's been a strange day. it's been a strange week. i strive to be this interesting. b.

blog block.

aaaargh. tap tap tap. click click click. erase. repeat. i don't suppose anyone but me finds it interesting that the saturday night fever soundtrack is perfect for a 60 minute elliptical machine workout. it is. spend a day counting how many times you hear people say: like. i guarantee you will never feel the same way about that word again. tap tap tap. click click click. erase repeat. must go reboot. my brain. b.

curling.

how is it possible that i can be so tired from an afternoon of curling? not sure why but I'm incredibly happy that sportbrain rewards are back. i'm currently slated to walk 5 miles a day just for a latte mug. took the segway up to the tea house today. amazed at how nice folks are. also amazed that losing over 10 lbs. seemed to make the ride seem so much smoother. since my current goal is to lose 35 more i'm thinking i might be able to fly at some point. yipee! what i'm reading. links to. i've seen 9 out of the 10. curious to find out if my buddy eric can tell me which one it is. b.

pen.

i've been using a fujitsu tablet pc for over two months now. it's a stylistic 4000. a lot of folks assume this is a perk of my gig with microsoft, but in this case i shelled out my own dough. i already had a perfectly good dell supplied by work, however, i became obssesed with getting a slate tablet pc after the new year. after much research, site surfing, and forum trolling it looked like the fujitsu was the best fit for me. i was on the phone with a buddy today and going on and on about the "zen of pen" as i like to call it. what occurred to me is that in the last two months i have used my own handwriting more than i have in the last five years. i missed it. sometimes i used to return to paper and pen at work, faithfully carrying a little sprial bound notebook with me to all meetings, half-heartedly scribbling a note or two only to forget i even took them once i returned to my desk and computer. i even stopped journaling in my personal journal, doodling on napkins, i don't even think i carried a pen in my purse. i'm not denying it sounds a bit extreme, but other than a stack of powerpoint copies that i usually filed away never to be retrieved, a people magazine on the seattle to nyc red-eye, and a daily dose of direct mail in the home box, my only regular interaction with paper is whatever book i keep by my bedside (which btw at the moment is Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami), as far as pen and paper go that's pretty much limited to the check writing/bill paying ritual that i save for sunday mornings. must admit i enjoy that ritual enough that i've never made the leap to online bill paying. i like the return to the tactile experience of writing, i also like driving with the pen rather than the mouse. i remember having a wacom with my powermac back in 93 and wishing i could have done more. now i can. i have to say i am anxious for v2. at this point i see even more possibilities for integration. i'm curious to see how old-school i can get with this new-school technology. b.

lily and luther

here they are. miss lily and mr luther b.

pet blogging day

i can't wait to get home and post pet pictures. thanks jay for the inspiration! stay tuned, i'm heading home from work in about an hour. b.

this is a shout out to my friend chris

who is helping me sort out my rss feed. b.

three kings. first saw it in 1999. watched it again tonight. for some reason i wasn't surprised to find this new york times review dated 4.11.03. b.

ffr. one person's timesuck is another person's nirvana. b.

gba sp. thirteen 411 calls - $3.25 two gallons of gas - $3.98 one gba sp platinum $99. finding the last one in the seattle metro area at 9:30 p.m. on a friday night - totally worth it. b.

identify. while on the net i've posted/registered/logged-on/lurked-in lots of sites with lots of names/email-addys/avatars. and who am i? i am flashgoirl on these sites: segwaychat tabletpcbuzz macrumors .mac sportbrain i am beth from microsoft on these sites brighthand pdabuzz pocketpcthoughts i am b. here. over time ~ many more to follow i'm sure. b.

retro. currently in my 6 cd changer. pearl jam vitalogy. pearl jam ten. pogues very best of [import]. id (japanese). children of dune sdtrk. tom waits used songs (1973-1980). two of the six contain music written after 1994. scary to think anything written before 1994 is dangerously close to qualifying as retro. sample of shows on my pvr (for the record i am equal opportunity pvr'er - ultimate tv running upstairs - tivo running down). law and order reruns. square pegs reruns. absolutely fabulous reruns. csi season one reruns. sample of dvds on my shelf. my so called life the complete series. red dwarf seasons one and two. upstairs downstairs the complete series. buffy the vampire slayer seasons one and two. tron. fast times at ridgemont high. black adder the entire series. twin peaks the entire series. cleopatra 3 disc set. apocalypse now. ferris beuller's day off. the godfather trilogy. sample of records stacked near the stereo. every husker du ever released. r.e.m. up to life's rich pageant. violent femmes violent femmes. talking heads burning down the house. sample of games in the game nook. trivial pursuit. othello. scrabble. mastermind. cribbage board. pente. retro - comfort food for the masses during times of uncertainty. b.

documentaries. b.

bullshit. good friday night t.v. lives again. b.

moviegoer. there was something about this book. i thought about it on sunday after watching a movie. a movie i liked so much i didn't want it to end. i remembered that in the moviegoer the main character often felt desolated, near panic, sitting in the theater as he saw the movie coming to an end. i tend to watch movies at home. b.

wifi. some time last year i took the plunge and signed up for both wayport and starbucks/t-mobile wifi accounts. the thing is i hardly ever get to use them, but somehow i feel comforted knowing i could have internet access at almost anytime. one big snafu; i can't seem to get my act together. for example, last night i was in a bookstore looking for a book of which i neither knew the author or the title. now a decent google or amazon search could have certainly unearthed the information i needed, and indeed there was a starbucks five doors down from the bookstore. the main problem was i had no internet access acoutrement with me. i'd left my tablet pc at home and my pocket pc at the office. i did have an internet enabled phone but there was no way i was going to t9 my way through a comprehensive search. at any rate i had to wait until i got home to discover the book I was looking for (which by the way is called "Food and Loathing - a Lament", by Betsy Lerner who edited Elizabeth Wurtzel's 1994 Prozac nation. i digress). other times i have happily had my tablet in hand with nary a starbucks or wayport location within miles - which in itself seems odd being that starbucks is becoming as ever present as McDonalds or Wal-mart. i'll be curious to see how this all plays out.... b.

conundrum. where are all the ebooks? i have the tablet, the reader, i'm willing to pony up the $$ and i have nothing to buy. top 3 books that would be fitting as ebooks: 1. dune 2. neuromancer 3. microserfs b.

gnomedex. i have three words for you: pack your bags! Seriously, one of the best events I've ever been to. if any gnomies have managed to stumble onto the now resurrected bdot, I'm happy to say I'll see you again this year! b.

movies. there are movies I'm convinced i'm not going to like. not sure if it's the previews, the actors, the premise, or some non specific ick factor. about a boy is one of those flicks. in the things going for it column were the author nick hornby and the actress rachel weisz (the mummy anyone?). however in the detractor camp was hugh grant, hash grant, and well high grant. (ps_ those are total tablet pc typos but they were too funny to correct) any rate it's worth a watch if for nothing more than a rousing live performance of killing me softly. kudos. b.

history. you can catch up on bdot posts from 2002. august early september mid september late september early october mid october b.