July 2006 Archives

Watching Lebowski for the umpteenth time the other night (first time in HD though), I noticed a couple things.

1. Aimee Mann plays the female nihilist (aka, the one who sacrificed her toe). So, the table at the pancake house features Flea, Mann, Peter Stormare, and Torsten Voges, whose career certainly peaked with that 1998 performance. An excerpt from an Onion interview with Mann from 2000:

O: Do you have any proper lines in that movie?

AM: Um, he says to me, "Do you have the key?" And I say, "No, you have the key." We had an argument about who had the key. "Well, you had the key, you locked the door!" "No, I didn't lock the door, it locked by itself." It was really stupid. Then the waitress comes and we order pancakes.

2. Also, David Thewlis plays Maude's excitable friend, a man more well-known for his Harry Potter performances, even though I always confuse him with Alan Rickman.

Yesterday I attempted to ignore the heat while watching the made-for-TV movie "Mission Of The Shark", about the USS Indianapolis, a  battleship lost in the Pacific Ocean towards the end of WWII, shortly after dropping off a vital piece of the atomic bomb.  Anyone who has seen "Jaws" will hopefully remember the scene towards the end of the film where the three main men are drunk and Robert Shaw's Quint character describes how he was on the ship that sank and watched his fellow crew members get picked off by sharks.  There was even talk about making one of the Jaws sequels a serious prequel regarding this incident.  However, that never happened and instead we are left with this tame film. 

The subject of the boat's survivors being abandoned and the subsequent court martial of the captain (along with the delivery of the atom bomb) is quite fascinating, and should have made for a decent historical war film.  Of course I wasn't expecting much from something custom-made to insert commercials, and the story is therefore way too condensed.  Also, adding sharks to the mix is kind of an afterthought to the maker's of "Mission", and it would be nice to see this story remade with a decent budget. 

Whoa. I totally just turned on my beloved adidas.

Since I'm always searching for new ways to motivate my running routine (I think part of me still wants to believe I'm just getting into shape for soccer) I caved in and went all-out for the new Nike + iPod partnership.

First I had to pick up an iPod nano, so I checked out the PSU bookstore to get in on their discounted student rate (saved $20 on a 2GB iPod nano). Total spent = $179.00

Next I went to the Apple store to pick up the sport kit and armband (although I would later find out both of these items were available at Nike Town). Total spent = $ 58.95

Now I had to pick up the shoes at Nike Town with the special sole insert. They really try and sell you on the flashy Air Zoom Moire, which I tried on but ultimately felt the toe box was too tight. I suppose I could have used them as cross-trainers for soccer, but I instead opted for the more traditional Air Zoom, which were actually Lance Armstrong 10/2 branded in the specific colorway I chose. Total spent = $100.00

Finally I figured I would find some shorts and a shirt to "complete the look" (the turncoat). For this I went to trusty Ross and picked out a classic tee and some possibly soccer-style shorts. Total spent= $22.98

So let's add up the cost of getting into this club. Hmmm--$360.93! Although you could make a good argument the shorts and shirt were extra, it's still quite the investment. Enough about the gear, how does this stuff actually work?

After spending a lot of time upgrading my iPod and iTunes software, and dealing with the too-new and slightly buggy Nike+ site, I made my playlist, picked my power song, and set off....in 100 degree heat. Wow, that was rough. Still, it was quite neat to hear the pleasant lady come on (the music fades in and out) and tell me how far I had gone, and then later to let me know how much further I had till I reached my goal. I only went a modest 2.5 miles due to the conditions, but it was certainly cool to see a visual graph of my run. Now I can see exactly when I faded away, and will be anxious to see how I fair when the conditions are a bit more reasonable. (I will probably end the workout when I stop running, instead of leaving it on for the cooldown and lowering my stats.)

Finally, a few nit-pick notes. I thought the sensor seemed a bit loose in the sole of the shoe--the initial rattle was slightly unsettling. Of course it wasn't a problem once I stuck my foot in and laced up. However, the insole seemed a bit oddly shaped and bothered me at first, but I have a feeling I just need to break them in a bit. Also, while I understand the design of the armband allows the iPod to stay mostly moisture-free, it did seem a bit difficult to change the volume and selecting other buttons on the click-wheel were a bit of a guessing game.

Finally, I can blog again. Switching to this new template proved a bit more complex than anticipated, and I left a stripped-down Digest blog in my wake (still slightly red-faced about that). I welcome any feedback about the color schemes I've chosen, which strangely still do not feature the lovely kelly green. Can you even see the subtle grid-background?

Also, in the interests of "content" (in this case, posting lyrics), I'm concerned not enough people are familiar with this LL Cool J title track (featuring multiple Titanic refs and something equating the Gotti family to a shark?!), as featured in the classic film "Deep Blue Sea."

Deepest, bluest, my hat is like a shark's fin

These waters are waist level
The hallway's flooded
Lost your scuba gear
The killer's cold - blooded
His name's LL
You don't really want it
I ate your ancestors
The ocean is haunted
I'm closing in cause I'm supposed to win
How the cold steel feel when it froze your chin
Should of stayed on dry land
Stroke while you can
Cause now you under pressure in the land of the damned
Abandoned pirate ships
Eels and sod scum
Fish that glow in the dark
The Titanic's hub
Underwater storms
You're blood is so warm
You're life vest is off
And that turns me on
Killer for centuries
The Gotti of the deep
In the next millennium
I'm still gonna creep
Sand under my belly, ocean over my head
Through the light in the shadows
You become the living dead