Diary of a Network Geek

Remember those fancy custom campers from last week?  Small time.  What I really need is an airplane fit for a James Bond villian.

Over at the Guardian, they’re running an article about the “flying palace” that a Saudi prince bought for a cool £300 million.  That’d be something like $500 to $600 million dollars.  The only thing its missing is a shark tank!
Of course, I would need a pretty impressive crew for this.  And an endless supply of oil money.  Hmm, maybe those high-end RVs aren’t such a bad deal after all…

TakingOfPelham1(23)

Originally uploaded by Network Geek

I saw The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 on Friday.

I’ll be honest, I was hoping to talk some folks into going to see The Hangover again, but also, I wanted to get out with some folks I don’t normally get to hang out with. But, those folks were more interested in Pelham 1-2-3, so that was what we saw.

The premise of the movie is simple, a criminal, played by John Travolta, takes over a New York City subway train and holds it for ransom. Ten million dollars worth of ransom, in fact. He leads a team of three other guys, two gunmen and a former MTA motorman to drive the kidnapped train.
The MTA controller at the main headquarters who deals with the kidnappers or terrorists is played by Denzell Washington. He’s got a little secret in his recent past. Travolta’s character takes a perverse liking to him and insists that he be the one who brings the money down into the subway system when the time finally comes. Honestly, sitting here trying to describe the movie, it sounds a little boring, but it was surprisingly good. Travolta plays an apparently unstable and randomly dangerous violent criminal who seems to be out for a little revenge against the city that he feels “done him wrong”. Naturally, there is more to him than meets the eye.

So, in spite of the Scientology connection, with Travolta, it was a pretty good movie. Except for one thing where my suspension of disbelief got totally blown. So, they hook up some kind of wifi relay in the subway tunnel, right? No mention of what or how they tapped into some other line or other outside access, it just magically worked. Then, a computer on the train finds and attaches itself to the network without any intervention. You know, that would be nice and all, but, uh, that’s kind of what I do all day. Connect networks and computers and stuff. And, uh, they pay me pretty good money because, you know, it just doesn’t work that way.

Also, there was a kind of weak sub-plot that was all about manipulating the markets with a terrorist scare. And, of course, Travolta was guilty of a little over acting, but, then, that’s normal for him. Other than that, though, it was a pretty good movie.

Honestly, I still would have rather seen The Hangover a second time, but The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 was a pretty good movie and definitely worth seeing if you like simple action films.

I dream of running away from home in a custom recreational vehicle.

No, seriously, I actually day dream about having a life so simple that I can hook up a trailer, load the dog in a car or truck next to me and just take off.  Forever.
There are people who say that the “geographic cure” just won’t do, that your troubles will catch up to you where ever you go.  I think those people just get tired and stop, eventually.  I think that if I were to just keep moving I could stay ahead of all my problems, writing from the road and selling photographs via a satellite Internet connection when I needed some money.  I think it could work.

And, surely, one of these fine, custom campers or RVs from the slideshow at MSN would make a fine home.  Anyone want to run away with me?  We could join the circus!

No, I’m not talking about leveling up in some game.

I found out last night that my blog has reached a new level.  It’s self-supporting.
Do you see the ads over to the side there, on the right?  The rows of words and phrases that are linked?  Those are ads.  Last night I was checking something at the site where those are bought and sold and where I get the code to allow them to be sold on my website.  When I signed in, I saw that this month, I had finally, after nine years having a blog and four or five of having advertising, finally, I had made more in a month than my hosting fees.  Not much more, but enough that this little hobby, this obsession of words and pictures, this dance of code and graphics, pays for itself, and a little extra.  Enough to buy a latte and a piece of pastry.  Enough.

That may not seem like much for the people who are trying to make a living at this, but I’m not.  In fact, I’ve been hoping to find just what’s happened; that magic balance between effort and reward.  I’ve hit that perfect equilibrium where I post enough, rank enough, and pull enough traffic to pay for myself.
It’s not a big goal, perhaps, but it makes me happy.

Hangover

Originally uploaded by Network Geek

I saw The Hangover Friday night.

I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard at a movie. Seriously.
l mean, yeah, on the surface, it seems like it’s going to be another dumb, “drunk-bachelor-party-in-Vegas” movie, and, well, it is, but it’s also hilarious.
So, as you should have guessed, the premise is simple, a guy who’s about to get married goes for one last, wild night in Las Vegas with two of his good friends and his future brother-in-law. The movie opens with the groom and his future brother-in-law getting fitted for tuxedos and it quickly becomes evident that either Alan, the brother-in-law, is developmentally challenged or has dropped one too many hits of acid. Now, mix these two with a married, but frustrated teacher who steals a bunch of money for a “field trip” from his private school kids to finance his end of the trip to Vegas and a mildly castrated dentist who’s in a loveless relationship with a real bitch. Can you see all the ways this can go wrong? No, trust me, no, you cannot.

Things go quickly from bad to worse when the guys wake up in the morning with no recollection of what happened the night before and short one groom. Oh, and mix in an abandoned baby, a tiger in the bathroom, a chicken and a stolen police car and you have a good idea of what this movie is all about.
It’s a whirlwind tour of what four drunks, accidentally drugged out of their minds, might get up to in Sin City. And, I don’t think it’s revealing too much to say that some of those things include a stripper/escort, a wedding, a naked Chinese gambler, a kidnapping, some amazing blackjack, and Mike Tyson. And, yes, Wayne Newton, Mr. Las Vegas himself, does make a cameo. How could he not?

Seriously, there’s a bit of sex, a tiny bit of violence, and more great lines than you can shake a stick at in this movie. It was so popular, that the show we actually bought tickets for was full and we had to sneak into the next show, which was also over full. And, I’m planning on roping some more people into going to see this again Friday night. It was hilarious!
Obviously, quite adult, but, still, one of the funniest movies ever. I was laughing so hard I almost choked on my own tongue!
Truly, a “must see” comedy this season.

You all know I love me some photography, but I love me some creative Photoshopping even more!

So, now, for the few of you who haven’t seen this, there’s a website, Worth1000.com, that has regular contests, some of which are pretty cool.  I particularly like the Celebrity Vampires contest and the Final Photo contest series.  But, there are plenty of others to fill your Friday afternoon.

Oh, and if that’s not enough?  Take a look at the brilliant work of Ian Pool on IO9.com.  He’s done a whole series of super-heroes in their non-hero lives.  But, what’s cool about that is that he’s used a lot of action figures in super creative ways and, of course, Photoshopped them.

In any case, these are two sites that should dull the pain of having to work a full week at your boring jobs where no one appreciates you.
Happy Friday!

UpMovie

Originally uploaded by Network Geek

I got back from vacation Friday and, after returning my rental car, went and saw Up.

Now, I’m not normally the kind of person who goes to see kid’s movies, but either I’d seen everything else worth seeing, or my friend had, so we ended up at Up.
The premise is simple, in a way. We start with a young boy who’s caught up with a 1940’s adventurer who travels the world in a zeppelin with his faithful dogs. That adventurer claims to have found a rare creature on a lost world plateau in South America, but he can’t provide enough proof of his discovery, so he ends up drummed out of the explorer’s society and disgraced.
On the way home from watching his favorite adventurer on the news reel, he finds an old house that’s been sort of taken over by a young girl, who’s far more bold and, well, adventurous than he is. They fall in love, get married, make plans to go to South America where their mutual hero has gone, never to return, only to have those plans thwarted by life, and her eventual death. As one might imagine, this makes the old man a little less than fun, friendly and happy. Now, add in the developers who are trying to get him out of his house which he shared with his deceased wife and a chubby, little Asian “Adventure Scout” who just wants to help the old man to get his last badge to make Senior Scout and you’ve got a pretty unhappy guy.

Without revealing too much, circumstances turn even worse for the old man and he inflates hundreds of helium balloons to lift his house, like his hero’s zeppelin, and “sail” South to find the plateau where his dead wife wanted to move their house as a child. In his own way, he’s trying to fulfill his wife’s last wish.
They get there, to South America, and animated hi-jinks ensue. And, I’m sure how much I’d be “spoiling” anything by telling you all more of the plot, but I won’t tell you much more. Suffice it to say that the young man and the old man have adventures on the plateau while trying to get the house where it has the view the old man’s wife wanted it to have. They meet strange creatures and, yes, a dog that talks through a collar made by his master. And, along the way to the happy ending you know this feel-good movie has to have, the boy and the man both learn something about happiness and adventure and how our friends can provide the love and support that our family can’t always manage.

If you have kids, I’m sure you’ll see this movie, but it’s cute enough, and filled with enough subtle adult jokes, that you won’t mind taking the kids. Certainly, I was entertained enough by the whole thing that I didn’t mind going at all. It was, after all, a fun movie with a cute message and a happy ending. If you’re an adult, without kids, you may not be quite as excited by this movie, but, trust me, it’s worth seeing. Though, not worth seeing twice.

Oh, and in case you were interested, here are pictures of my 2009 vacation. Enjoy!

Ever wanted to carry your whole desktop in your pocket?

Now you can with PortableApps.
Also?  PC Magazine has some ideas about carrying your PC in your pocket.

I’m not entirely sure I’d rely on a flash drive to carry my life on it, though.  I’ve had too many flaky problems with flash drives and no warning when they fail, either.  Still, as a backup or a temporary, traveling desktop, it might not be such a bad thing to have.  In any case, it’s something to think about.

Oh, and these particular articles focus on Windows, just so you know.

Or are you just happy to be using opensource software?

I never know if I should capitalize “opensource”. Should it be OpenSource? Gah, I hate stuff like that!
But, I love Linux. I may not be incredibly well versed in the ways of Ubuntu, but, that’s okay because now I can download a free pocket guide to Ubuntu in PDF format. Of course, you could buy the $10 print version, but why?

So, c’mon you Linux geeks and wannabe Linux geeks! Go get it!

I saw this article on Boing Boing last week about a guy who’d made a fake DHS Photographer’s License.

At first, it seemed like a great idea.  Right up until I started thinking about the penalties for producing false identification for a police officer.  Not good.  But, I was put in mind of two things that are substantially more useful.

First there’s Bert  P. Krages’ Photographer’s Rights Flier.  Now, keep in mind that I am not a lawyer, and I’m not clear on just how far this can be pushed, but, if I’m taking pictures in a public place of people who have no reasonable expectation of privacy, it should be legal.  Luckily, I don’t have to work that stuff out for myself, though, because the author of the flier is, in fact, a lawyer and a photographer and he’s done a bit of research into this.  He’s also the author of the Legal Handbook for Photographers.  Mostly, if I’m taking pictures from a public space of non-classified areas, it’s pretty much okay.  I’m not sure I’d try to take photos of the C.I.A. Headquarters in Langley, even from a public area, for instance, but, I think you get the idea.

But, I know that having a badge of some kid often makes minimum wage rent-a-cops feel better, so, secondly, there’s the BigHugeLabs Badge Maker.  This would let you make a semi-official looking badge or ID to wear and seem like more than just a hobbyist photographer to slide past most of the low-end yahoos.  Probably wouldn’t do much with a real police officer, but, how often do you really see them these days?  Honestly, I think I see cops at the local theater more than I do anywhere else!  And that one is a dork riding a Segway!  (Okay, actually, in the town I live, surrounded by Houston, I see our police officers all the time, but they’re really nice to me because I’m a resident.)

Also, as a follow-up, if you live in New York, read this article at the New York Post: Shutterbugged.  Then, go to Craphound, Cory Doctorow’s website and download this JPG copy of the New York City Police Department’s operating orders about photographers.  Everybody else, though, should be covered with the other stuff.
Good luck and enjoy!