Um, Hi
5 comments (closed), posted on september 30, 2003, tags: me
Lots of things have changed in the past few weeks, and most of these changes have taken up considerable amounts of time. Therefore, like usual, I have left this website hanging in the wind, slowly losing one visitor at a time.
For any of you still interested: I left my job of one year last week, and am currently working on several projects with my own company (a few of you will probably remember this company formation a year ago). It's always a huge decision to leave regular work, since there is rent to be paid (especially when you live with your girlfriend), but I've secured enough work to live comfortably for a time, during which I will also be seeking employment somewhere else.
So now I'm working from home, which is very different (even though I've done it before). I'm not used to the solitude that comes from it. It is nice to see my cats all day, though (even though they seem to feel the brightest part of the day is 'sleeping time').
It's an adjustment, but it's better.
September/October Busiest Months Ever
1 comment (closed), posted on september 16, 2003, tags: me
Right, so I have about 4 big projects going on right now. Sure, two of them are my things (xPad and ManiacalRage redesign), but none the less—I'm really busy. This will probably last into the middle of October, but will be worth it for both me and you. You will get xPad and a new design of this site, I will get monetary compensation for a few of the projects. Yay.
More 'Pulling a Jackie Chan'
posted on september 16, 2003, tags: random
When Shawn and I were talking about this the other day, I forgot to mention that "pulling a Jackie Chan" also works for other life obstacles:
Lost your keys? Locked out? Have a bathroom window on the second story you always leave open that's a few feet away from a corner where two walls meet? Simple—run to the wall, kick off one, then kick off the other side of the corner, and so on, until you reach the window. Then slide through in one smooth motion.
In handcuffs? Jump up in the air, and while in said air, bring your hands under your feet and around to the front of your body. You're still in handcuffs, sure, but now they're in front of you.
On the roof of a three-story building (or one of roughly the same height) and need to get down quickly? Grab that rope over there, tie one end to something that will hold your weight. and coil the other end quickly around that bucket. When it's done, kick the bucket out of the way, step into the center of the coil, and pull the coiled rope up onto your waist. Step to the edge of the building, look back at where you tied the rope and tug on it a few times to make sure it's gonna hold and so some of that powder can fly off it like it always does in the movies. Then, leap off the building such that you're in the air sideways (like you're lying down) and the rope coiled around you will spin you down toward the ground. With any luck, the rope was exactly long enough to place you comfortably on the ground. You'll be dizzy, so cross your eyes and walk crooked for a bit.
I don't even need to mention jumping from building to building over wide alleys, swinging on chains in Nazi gold-storage caves, hanging from a ladder from a helicopter as it rams you into billboards or driving Hovercrafts.
Two Years Ago
1 comment (closed), posted on september 11, 2003, tags: new york
I was supposed to write an entry about September 11 today. Last year I took my site down for the day, and put up a picture I took of the towers just a few days before they collapsed. At the beginning of this week, I started thinking about whether or not I would do the same thing this year, what I would write if I didn't, or if I should just not do anything today.
I still remember September 11, 2001 very clearly. I have vivid images, sounds and emotions from that day permanently etched into my brain. I still remember what I was like to walk through that courtyard every day for months on my way to work. I know what it's like to walk by the empty space every day now.
September 11 still bothers me frequently. Not in the general sense, that it happened, or why or what specifically, but in the sense that it placed a fear, small but substantial, inside my head. Every now and then, when I hear a loud plane when at work, I get a flash of fear. When the blackout started, and our office went dark, I was instantly frightened. I'd like to think I'm the kind of person who doesn't let their emotions or fears inhibit the way they live, but September 11 definitely gave me a serious fear that has yet to go away, even though I find it frustrating and, at times, embarassing.
Obviously I will never forget that day. I don't think anyone will. Will it happen again in the future? I don't know. I never thought it would happen in the first place. I don't want to talk about the politics of the situation. I don't want to talk about whose fault it was, what we've done about it, or any of that today. I just want to quietly remember what it looked like before those towers collapsed, and try not to think about what it looked like from across the street when they were burning.
You are James Bond
4 comments (closed), posted on september 4, 2003, tags: tech
In what can only be described simultaneously as "the most ridiculous" and "best idea ever," a company in the UK called Gibbs has designed and is now selling a new car called the Aquada—the world's first "High Speed Amphibian (HSA).
For the uninformed (everyone on the fucking planet except the insane and/or people obsessed with Transformers), an HSA is a car and a boat. When on land, the Aquada is capable of speeds of up to 100 miles per hour, when on water up to 30 mph (Strange that they write that on their website, which is located in the UK, where they use kilometers per hour... maybe they know the only people stupid enough to buy this car would be Americans?).
I guess this would be a great car for people who live, say, on a river and never built a bridge. "Well, I've lost 5 cars in that damned river, but now I won't have to worry about that." Or, maybe, people who just want to scare the shit out of their friends by buying the car and not telling people it becomes a boat: "Frank, you're going a little bit fast, especially when we're right next to the river. Hey, watch it! What the hell are you doing?! You're heading right for the water! Ahhh! Ahhhhhh! [Shits pants] I'm going to die! Help me Jesu—oh. It turns into a boat. Funny." And, of course, there's rich people who just need to buy everything ("I must have a car that can also be a boat."). But regular people... well, it's a fucking fat chance anyone will buy one.
Still, you've got to admit that whoever started the project had balls—"I'm going to build a car boat!"—and it is neat. If only it had a submarine function, a remote control, missiles, people chasing it shooting at it and guaranteed vaginal penetration with hot women, you would be—for all intents and purposes—James Bond.
I'm Looking for [This]
2 comments (closed), posted on september 3, 2003, tags: site
Inspired by Erik's monthly posting of search referrals to his site, NSLog();, I decided to look into what people have been searching for lately to get to ManiacalRage. Unfortunately, I forgot that when I installed the new version of Refer it set an expiration date of 7 days on all referrals by default. I've changed that now, but in the mean time, I took a look at the search referrals from Google over the past 7 days*.
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MULTIPLE-HIT SEARCHES, LISTED BY NUMBER OF HITS
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17 marshal mathers
12 new ipod review
7 stupid shit
7 verizon sucks
4 ipod review 15gb
3 15gb ipod review
3 britney spears
3 i hate verizon
3 ipod review 2003
3 marshal mathers 2
3 work sucks
2 aim profile tutorial php
2 currently hearing
2 drink piss
2 free wi-fi connection in my apartment
2 ibook + tmobile
2 ipod 2003 review
2 maniacalrage
2 "one rate east"
2 photoblog movable type sprintpcs
2 verizon
2 verizon dsl sucks
A full list of all hits in the last 7 days can be viewed by clicking here. It's always fun to browse some of the weird things people search for to get here. I especially love the multiple hits for 'drink piss' and the single hits for 'add back contextual menu safari stupid shit', 'it sucks being a csr', and 'nano liquid metal robot terminator.'
* Due to differences in spelling and spacing, some duplicate searches do not quite match, and because of that I have not grouped them. If I were to be more forgiving of those differences, the number of multiple hits for certain terms would be much higher (specifically 'Marshal Mathers' and 'iPod Review').
Assimilated
4 comments (closed), posted on september 3, 2003, tags: site
You may or may not have noticed that I've folded in all of the entries from CodeBucket here. I've also added the sidebar links from CB. If you posted a comment at that site, it will still exist here. All the entries were moved over except the first entry, which was useless anyway.
As I said the other day, separating my weblog into two parts was a mistake. I've realized that a majority of what I'm interested in writing about is technology-related. I think I decided to open CodeBucket because I felt the over-abundance of tech stuff here at Rage was boring people, but then I realized that that why people read the site. Granted, the random posts help (and being funny never hurts), but I think most people have been reading for the past few years because they enjoy reading about the same stuff I enjoy writing about.
That said, CodeBucket is no more. The domain will still forward to this site, and emails sent to my CB account will still reach me. I'm sorry to have created trouble for anyone who reads this site regularly. You won't have to visit two sites any longer, and hopefully this will make it easier to write again (having to write for two sites was really hard).
In Case You Were Wondering...
2 comments (closed), posted on september 1, 2003, tags: site
Obviously this site has had a lack of content lately. I'm working on remedying that. It was a mistake to break CodeBucket off into its own blog. I've realized, as I was told before I did it, that CodeBucket is what I blog about. Removing that from ManiacalRage has caused a serious lack of writing here, because I usually don't have much to say outside of technology stuff. I'm going to fix it, though, in the near future. I'm working on things, don't you worry.
Last Movies of the Summer
2 comments (closed), posted on september 1, 2003, tags: entertainment
S.W.A.T., which appeared as though it was 'one of those movies where everyone shoots everything and things blow up and nothing matters,' was great. It's a completely believable film from beginning to end, and believe it or not—it's a character film for the most part. There is action, but it's not even close to excessive. The situations and actions sequences are completely believable, and the film has great pacing and flow. It's the perfect summer movie, and you should definitely see it unless you're the type who only likes movies about 'people' and 'emotion' and 'minus anything that isn't romance.' If you are that type, I'm sorry to have wasted your time in this paragraph. Read below.
American Splendor was a really good movie. It's sort of hard to tell why, though, which is troubling. The best description is that it's just a really solid film from beginning to end. The acting is solid, the script, the direction—all of it. It's possible it might be nominated for Academy Awards, but I don't think it will win any. It's weird. Ebert gave it four stars, and I agree—it's probably one of the best movies I've seen in a long time—but I don't quite know exactly why I agree. I can't describe it, you should just see it. It's a part-documentary about a comic-book writer. I know that doesn't sound great, but trust me—you'll like it. If you don't, you'll probably still like S.W.A.T.. If you don't like that either, read below.
Dirty Pretty Things wasn't all that great. I don't know, the trailers make it seem like a suspense or a thriller, but it's definitely not either. It has a few moments that are 'thrilling' and maybe a moment of 'suspense' or two, but other than that, it's a lot of neither of those things ('drama'). I think it would have worked better as a thriller all the way through. Some of the ideas were creepy but they were tossed aside after 30 seconds of creepy music and then you were transported with a cut to another mood (usually not 'creepy'). I'm sure some people will love it (I know some who did), and if you're one of those, you'll probably really like American Splendor too (that's not to say these movies are at all alike, just that neither of them are S.W.A.T. (see above on both counts)). I wasn't a big fan, though.
Note: I apologize for all the 'single quotes,' in advance (even though you'll read this 'after' you've read everything else (I apologize for all the parenthesis too)).