If you came to this site because you got some junk email with the ‘reply to’ address set to some random letters@wildbluesky.com – it wasn’t me. However, since you’re already curious and looking, I will offer a reward if you find out who actually sent it. Yes, I’m placing a bounty on a spammer’s head 🙂 I’m not sure what the reward will be… fame, money, surplus computer equipment… I don’t know. I saw one copy of one of the variations, and it looked to come from magic.fr – and that does seem to be some service provider. So, maybe you have something similar? Good place to start.

I was watching 24 last night when Jack (the main character in the show, for those of you not watching) gave some other guy his cell number. He didn’t “555…” it, so I called the number he gave. I’m a dork, I know. It gave a ‘mailbox full’ message. Instead of a person’s name, it said “Nextel phone for 24” New trend in advertising for cell phone companies? It’s even better than product placement because it requires the viewers to actually do something. I wonder if anyone actually got a real message before the mailbox filled up. I should Google that…

Speaking of Google, it looks like it’s crawled a few pages but the site search still doesn’t work worth a crap. I found a page the other day that ranks Adsense keywords and how much they’re worth. “Yahoo domains” was at the top of the list. So was a bunch of stuff for laser hair removal. Strange.

Not a lot else exciting going on… it’s warm again, so the skydiving season has started (yay!) Finally jumped my new Wings… don’t really like it that much. Still want a G4 (sorry Treeboy!)

I guess I haven’t written much about movies lately… here’s the ones I’ve seen lately:

Flight of the Phoenix – I realize we all have different perceptions and expectations and likes/dislikes… but I’m really not sure how anyone liked this movie. I gave it 1/2 star. Some people on blockbuster.com actually rated it high. Maybe they were. Here’s what I wrote on there:
“Easily on the Top 10 list of worst movies ever. It was horrible – so many plot holes, no character development. They try to take you on a rollercoaster ride and just fail miserably. It’s one ‘climax’ after another, with no real substance . Unbelievable situations get thrown in just to create action. Complete waste of time.” F-

Y Tu Mama Tambien – Back to the foreign films for a moment. It translates to “And your mother too” No dubbing, you have to read subtitles. The director, Alfonso Cuarón, went on to direct one of the Harry Potter movies after this one. That’s a pretty big swing, considering some of this film could qualify as soft-porn. There’s not a whole lot to the story, but it’s still interesting and seems very real. I’d give it a “B”

After the Sunset – I was supposed to watch “Before the Sunset” (and of course, “Before the Sunrise”) but I got distracted by this one. I mean, hello? Salma Hayek? Fun movie, that’s about it. C+

Paparazzi – Another generic ‘fun’ movie. Nothing great about it… your typical revenge story. C-

True Romance Now here’s a good movie! Written by Quentin Tarantino – actually the first screen play he ever finished. This was long ago, so it’s more “Reservoir Dogs” and less “Kill Bill” – thank god. And the all-star cast: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, Chistopher Walken, Val Kilmer. The fight between Arquette and James Gandolfini (Tony from HBO’s Sopranos) has to be one of the most brutal ones I’ve ever seen. And the whole scene with Hopper and Walken ranks as one of the best scenes ever. Go watch this one. A-

Get Shorty I had never actually seen this one all the way through, and I want to see Be Cool which is the sequel. Good one-liners, good story, almost perfect casting… all around decent flick. B+

Ray Go watch this movie. Jamie Foxx is flawless as Ray. It’s amazing. He, and the movie, deserve every award they won. I was really amazed – I wasn’t expecting to really like the movie, but I loved it. I can’t really say anything else about it, you just have to see it to understand. A

Incredibles I’m a big Pixar fan. I see most of these for the laughs as much as to marvel at the technology that goes into it. I’ve always been fascinated by 3D animation – you almost forget that’s what this is. It’s good for the kids, the ‘grown-ups’ will be laughing at a lot of things the kids will miss… which is fairly normal with these. B-

Ok… I guess I’ve wasted enough time today…

A few weeks ago I got a ticket for jaywalking. Yes, evidently the Sinclair Community College Gestapo has nothing better to do. Granted, they’re probably pissed off with their life: They ride around on bicycles, have about 3 blocks they can ‘patrol’, never get to use their guns, never get into high-speed chases, couldn’t make it as a real cop, and spend all day having to watch people that are doing something useful with their lives. They should just put on bright orange vests and hold up a stop-sign for all the helpless adults crossing the street. The night I got one, they must have handed out 30 of them. At $70 each, that’s a healthy revenue. Oh, but that’s right, “It’s not about revenue” Bullshit. If it’s about ‘protecting the people’ and ‘teaching them a lesson’ then try handing out a few warnings here and there. Especially the first week of classes. Or better yet, if you’re standing right there, instead of watching them cross then handing out a ticket, how about saying something before someone ends up a super-dangerous situation…. like crossing a deserted street. Or would that just stamp the ‘Glorified Crossing Guard’ title on a little too much?

To top it all off, I don’t even think I was jaywalking.

I crossed the street using the crosswalk. I’ve worked downtown for 8 years, so I know that cars don’t pay much attention to the crosswalk so I’m usually looking down the street for traffic. There was none. So I can’t with 100% certainty that the light was in my favor when I actually stepped into the crosswalk, but it was when I was about 10 feet from it. It might have changed while I was crossing, but I assume that it works like traffic lights do for cars – as long as you’re in the intersection before the light turns red, you’re fine.

Who knows… the cop was a prick too. There were dozens of people walking all over the place, he probably saw me as he was writing someone else a ticket. I don’t even know where he was, but he had another officer stop me and ask me to wait for him – I guess he has a quota or a rep to create, she didn’t. I just assumed it was a warning and ‘don’t do that again’ thing. When he pulled up a few minutes later on his tricked-out Schwinn, he just started writing a ticket. At least you’re moving up Mike – they probably don’t let you carry a gun at your job as library security guard. (No really, that’s his previous or other job, library security guard) You’ve already got the makings of a great OSP officer.

I did a little research and found out that the handful of people (out of the billion jaywalking cases) that knew enough to plead ‘no contest’ got off with a $25 fine. I really wanted to be a prick right back and make him have to show up for court, but he’s one of those hardons that probably enjoys that crap. I’ll pay $25 to save myself the trip. That, and I didn’t want anyone to steal a book while he was in court.

Google Wants Your Homemade Porn Videos

In case you haven’t seen Google’s video search, you can find it here – it’s actually pretty cool.

How cool would it be to search through programs I have recorded on my Tivo?