The new email?

My poor Gmail account is a little lonely these days. Why? Because of Facebook. I hadn't really thought about it until last night when I heard some friends talking and one said, "Call me; don't use Facebook." In the past, a comment like this would have gone, "Call me; don't email."

In contrast to my email account, my Facebook account has been seeing a lot of activity lately. Not necessarily in messages, but because of the flexibility of Facebook, I've shared and viewed a lot more photos, movie reviews, and short comments with friends than I ever did using email.

Three of the most important things for an online tool are: ease of use, flexibility, and ubiquity (at least among your friends). Facebook has always been easy to use, and is growing rapidly in flexibility and in membership. MySpace started this process, and they were lucky enough to get a generation named after them, but at this moment, in my opinion, Facebook is the superior online community.

That's why, in spite of my empty Gmail inbox, I'm not worried about my popularity standing just yet.

If we're going to fight....

I am against the war in Iraq. I don't know much about war or politics, but I grew up surrounded by pacifist viewpoints, so I still tend to lean that way. It seems like a bad idea to spend so much money on an operation whose goals are dubious at best, and a worse idea to kill so many people.

This article from TIME magazine raises the issue that American troops in Iraq are under-trained and ill-equipped to fight the kind of war they are having to fight. Bringing the troops home would solve the problem, but what I gathered from this article was that we would at least waste less money and fewer lives if we gave our troops proper training and equipment.

If we're going to fight, we should do it right.

An Inconvenient Film?

When I saw the film An Inconvenient Truth, I had a double reaction. On one hand I thought it was a good film and was glad that people in positions of (some) power were speaking up about how humans are ruining the planet. On the other hand, I wished they hadn't made the film, because if you have to argue that global warming is real, that means that maybe it's not, because otherwise why do you need to argue it?

I thought of this again when I was looking on Facebook the other day for a group to join to show my support for solving the global climate change crisis. What I found, instead, was a plethora of groups arguing that global warming is a hoax. The biggest argument is "how can there be global warming if it's -10 F in the midwest, or snowing in the middle of April?!" I did a bit of research and discovered two things. 1) In spite of occasional cold snaps at odd times, average temperatures are still warmer. 2) This heat increases evaporation of water, which means more water in the atmosphere, which means more violent precipitation. (The article below explains it more). To counter the misconception that cold weather disproves global warming, I prefer to use the phrase "global climate change."

I doubt this film is the main reason people are moved to argue against global climate change. A more plausible reason is denial. People don't want global climate change to be real because it's frightening to think of deadly tropical storms, and cities swamped by rising sea levels. It's also possible that many people are using sarcasm as a way to broach the topic. One of the biggest Facebook groups I saw is called "Accelerate Global Warming!" and has a list of things we can do to increase global warming, but many of the responses written are actually about stopping global climate change.

Personally, I've never doubted global warming. It's been scientific fact my entire life, and I've seen it for myself as winters have gotten shorter and warmer, and summers more unbearably hot.

Commercial dentistry?

The other day, I went to the dentist for the first time in about 8 years. What struck me (other than relief that all my teeth were still in excellent condition) was the commercialization of the industry.

First of all, there were the obvious signs, such as the free Crest brand samples of floss and toothpaste I was given, and the prominent Oral B electric toothbrush display on the shelf in front of the chair. But even the fact that the dentist says you should come in every year for a check-up smacks of commercialism.

No doctor has ever said that I should come in every year just to make sure everything is okay. Are my teeth more important than the rest of my body? Obviously I don't need a dental check-up every year, because I've had two in the last ten years, and everything's been fine. My wife hadn't been to the dentist in a few years either, and her teeth were also fine. I can't imagine that dentists actually care enough about everyone's teeth to spend the time and resources making absolutely sure that everyone's teeth are in great condition every year.

The only logical conclusion, therefore, is that these yearly check-ups are a good way for dentists to make money.

The aggressive "excuse me"

I was a little surprised this morning when a coworker, who I met in a narrow hallway, said "Excuse me" and I responded "Okay." Wouldn't it have made more sense for me to say "Oh no problem", or "No, excuse me!"?

When I thought about it more, I realized that I've always used the phrase "Excuse me" in an agressive way. I use it to politely say "Get out of my way", as in, "Excuse me! Pardon me! Coming through!"

I presume that my coworker was using the phrase in the more common sense of "I'm sorry that I'm in your way. Please don't think badly of me." Interesting that my personality chooses the more agressive interpretation.

I could do better than that!

Sometimes, when I'm watching a movie/listening to a song/reading an article I think to myself, "I could do better than that!" Then I stumble across something I've created in the past and realize that it's okay, but not great. So I developed a theory that while I'm not the most promising artist out there, I'm at least reasonably talented.

As I get more life experience, my level of talent may increase slightly, but even if it doesn't, the question I ask myself is, "Am I talented enough to be a professional filmmaker (or singer, or writer, etc.)?" The last time I thought "I could do better than that" was while watching the TV show Star Trek: Voyager. Voyager isn't destined to become a classic, but it's decently well made, and it ran for seven seasons!

If I could make a TV show as good as Voyager, could I make it in the television industry?

Streaming video and audio (or not)

The other day my friend Ryan, who works in the IT dept. at Goshen College, was complaining about the phenomenal amount of bandwidth people at the college were using to watch free streaming videos on YouTube.

Today at work, I was looking for some new songs to listen to and decided to see if I could find free streaming audio. As far as I can tell, there's no such thing. Yahoo has an extensive internet "radio station", but I can't choose a specific song to listen to. Ironically, I can find just about any song I want in video form, (and then just listen to it).

I can't help but marvel at the irony that the video, which takes more money to produce and uses more internet bandwidth, is easier to find than the audio.

Planting doubt

In the last few months I've encountered first a documentary film, then a question that made me double-take. On the surface they seemed innocent, or even positive, but both had an underlying implication of doubt that disturbed me.

The documentary film was An Inconvenient Truth. At face value, it seemed like a good and necessary documentary in the struggle to convince a brainwashed America that global warming is indeed real. But if Al Gore was arguing so vehemently, didn't that mean that it was possible that global warming wasn't real?

The Jan. 1, 2007 cover of Newsweek magazine asked (and I paraphrase) "Is America ready for a non-Caucasian or a female president?" I was horrified; asking the question seemed to imply that we weren't ready. How could a news magazine be so blatantly biased?

When Newsweek asks us if we're ready for a female president, or a documentary tries so hard to convince us of something, what impression are we ultimately left with? As our brains ponder the data, do they carefully separate the bias from the issue, or does everything meld into a smoky haze of indistinct memory....something about global warming being real or not....and something about America being racist and sexist....

Why Goshen is the next Hollywood

A few times over the course of my film internship with Elsewhere, when I mentioned that I was interested in working on more films, people implied that this sort of work would be much easier to find in LA (or, I presume, in New York). I'm sure this is true, but having just bought a house in the merry little town of Goshen, I have no intention of moving any time soon. In any case, I'm not particularly worried about my film career, because I think that Goshen is the next Hollywood.

According to an article on independent film by David Bordwell, companies like Fox and MGM started out as "independents" who moved to the west coast to get away from "the studio" (at the time, the Motion Picture Patents Company). More and more people starting making independent films, and at some point the town of Hollywood, CA became synonomous with filmmaking. New York, and more recently, Chicago, have also become big places for filmmaking, simply because people started making films there.

In the last few years, people have started making films in Goshen. New World Arts has not one, but two short film festivals every year. A few years ago, a Goshen College grad that I went to school with made the award-winning Pearl Diver. Other Goshen residents and GC grads worked on and starred in Corduroy. Actor Steve Buscemi and LOTR star Liv Tyler directed and starred (respectively) in Lonesome Jim, filmed in Goshen and nearby Cromwell. And finally, Elsewhere, the film I worked on, was not only filmed in Goshen, but is set in Goshen, Indiana, and features actors from cult favorite films Office Space and Napoleon Dynamite.

Clearly, Goshen is not only producing film talent, but also attracting it. This is why I fully intend to continue my career in film, not by flying to California (although I do hope to do that some time), but by involving myself in the myriad of film projects that are going to keep coming to Goshen, Indiana.

Yay snow!

I think I probably post this every fall, but here it is again, perhaps in more mature words, now that I'm a year older:

Yay, it's snowing!!!!!!!!!!

At work we have one of those big tins with three kinds of popcorn. Between that and the wind-driven snow, it's starting to feel like Christmas!

The irony of leaf blowers

Having recently had an otherwise pleasant autumn stroll ruined by a noisy, smelly leaf blower, I am struck by the irony of such a machine. Dry leaves scuttling across the pavement is one of autumn's signature sounds. It brings back happy memories of walking in refreshing Autumn air, jumping in leaf piles, or trick-or-treating at Halloween. It's a great stress reliever.

So why would anyone invent a machine that is God-awfully loud, stinks like Hades, and whose sole purpose is to get rid of the beautiful leaves??? Please chastise me severely if I ever purchase one of these horrific devices.

Trivia and me

I just finished reading Brainiac, the new book by Ken Jennings. I enjoyed the parts about Ken's experience on Jeopardy!. The other half of the book, about the history of trivia in Western culture, was less interesting (I skipped most of it), but it did make me think about how much I have taken trivia for granted in my own life.

Besides enjoying to watch Jeopardy!, my favorite board game is Taboo, which relies heavily on trivia knowledge as you try to explain obscure words to your team. (For example, if your team knows that "Jolly Red Elf" is another name for Santa Claus, it's a snap to get them to guess "Santa Claus" without having to say "St. Nick" or "Christmas" or "chimney" or "reindeer.") I never thought about it before, but the friends I play Taboo with most often are also fellow Jeopardy! fans.

Something else I do a lot is quote from movies, or refer to lines or scenes. Gollum/Smeagol is a particular favorite, so that "we often refer to ourselves in the plural", even when I'm only talking about myself. And whenever Ryan, Jamie, my wife and I say "Buh-bye" to each other, it's always followed by, "Have fun storming the castle!" etc., from The Princess Bride.

Finally, I hadn't thought it strange until this book made me think about it, but really, how many people get an Internet connection in their house not so they can check their email, but so that they can research obscure questions that occur to them while eating dinner? I guess I am a trivia freak. Cool :-)

How are you?

"How are you?" is a difficult question to answer. If I'm feeling good, there's no problem. "Great!" is a great response. But "Fine" is too shallow (and invites mocking from anyone who's seen the remake of The Italian Job), and "Terrible" is not what most people want to hear.

At face value "How are you?" means "How is your health/emotional well-being/mood," but face value is a quality sadly lacking in polite conversation. What it often means is "I choose to make rhetorical inquiries into your well-being so as to appear polite, although I really don't care how you are." What's the point of responding to that??

Some people consider it rude to say that you are "having a bad day" or "feel miserable." On the other hand, some people might actually care how you feel, in which case you could tell the truth, but how do you know who does and who doesn't care when they ask the same question?

One idea I had was to answer the rhetorical question as if they had actually asked what they meant. They say, "How are you?" (meaning, "I am making polite conversation, and expect no depth in your response.") You say:

"Okay...."
"Very nice weather we're having...."
"Um."
"I acknowledge your politeness, but recognize your desire not to actually converse with me."
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Oh, you know..."
"Yes."
"Not particularly."
"Right."
"How are you?"

I'll have to try some of these.

Movie director personality

I was talking with my psychiatrist yesterday morning, and she said my personality is perfect for being a movie director. I got similar results from a career personality test I took a while ago. This, combined with my growing restlessness with my current job, is making me think even more seriously than ever about getting started on my real career.

Right now I'm taking the step of signing up to stage manage a show with New World Arts. This will help me make more connections with some people who are or have been involved in filmmaking in Goshen. It will also help build my stamina and stress-tolerance in a similar-to-film "show" focused work environment.

Pushing thirty, and still clueless

In the grand scheme of things I'm not very old, but for the first time in my life, I don't particularly like the fact that I'm turning a year older. Twenty-seven is a lot closer to thirty than twenty-six was, and I have this (possibly erroneous) idea that by the time one is thirty, one should have an idea where one's life is headed. I'm not sure if I know where my life is headed, but here's what I've been thinking of in the last year:

I'm feeling a strong urge to start my "real career" in something arts related. (I always felt that working at the library was only temporary, and they know that.) At the same time, buying a hou$e, and talking about having child$ren has made me re-consider the advantage$ of a $teady job. I want to make a decision about how to balance these two factors, regardless of the fact that I'm pushing thirty. I've also learned that keeping issues in limbo is a very adult thing to do, so I'll try not to panic on July 25, 2009, when I still don't know where my life is headed....

Reasons you might not respond to an email

I started this list as a way of working out my frustration over people not responding to emails I sent. Writing out these reasons has helped me to better understand where people are coming from, and I've realized that *gasp* I have even been guilty of some of these!

Reasons you might not respond to an email:

• you skim and ignore anything not life and death, because....
• you have too many emails
• you consider email to be a lower-priority form of communication
• you think emails are like bulletins: info only.
• you are too lazy to develop an opinion.
• you are too lazy to type their opinion.
• you don't care about the topic or event.
• you forget to go back and reply to an email you read the day before.
• you assume that no reply means "No"
• you enjoy the power-trip of holding the sender in suspense
• your computer doesn't work
• you don't have access to email
• you don't check email often enough, so....
• you don't see the email way down in their inbox.
• the event under discussion is past.
• you share an email account, and someone else has already opened the message, so you don't notice it.

Do you have any additions to the list?
Which ones are you guilty of?

Defining My Genre: Alternate View

You may be wondering why I'm defining My Genre at all, instead of merely saying that I like adventure stories, and listing some of my favorites. Here's why:

I have in my mind a sort of "ultimate story." Every book I read, and every movie I see adds something to that story. The narratives that define My Genre are the ones whose elements most concisely tell my ultimate story.

Now that I've written this series (in a mostly linear fashion, without knowing where I was going) I realize that "genre" isn't really the best word to use. It would be more accurate to say that what I am defining here is "The stories that are most representative of everything I've ever read or watched."

Defining My Genre: Conclusion

When I was young, my preferred type of book was set in the Far North. Man against Nature, or Animal against Animal, Man and Nature. For most of my teenage and adult life I've read almost exclusively science fiction books. But every once in a while, as with the LEGO sets, I take a totally different track. The last three books I read were The Mists of Avalon (classic science fiction), The Dragon Queen (new science fiction), and The Voice In My Heart (an autobiography of a Burundian genocide survivor). I am currently reading The Raven Warrior (sequel to The Dragon Queen).

I've realized there is a common theme: adventure. Surviving in a harsh environment, traveling through space, riding with King Arthur and his knights, surviving a brutal attack: they are all about feats of strength and daring; about brave people doing amazing things.

That is My Genre.

Defining My Genre: Part 3

For most of my life, when I've built stuff with LEGO bricks, I've built space ships. When I was growing up "Space Lego" was popular, and there were a lot of sets to drool over in the LEGO catalog. I couldn't afford much, but I bought a few small ones and combined it with my brother's old LEGO to build what I could.

I built a thousand and one variations on a number of basic space ship designs, dictated partly by my imagination, and partly by the limitations of the pieces I had. Nowadays, when I build with LEGO, I still often built spaceships. They're fun, and the mechanical nature of LEGO is conducive to making machines, even if they only function in my imagination.

Given my 20-year fascination with building spaceships, I'm still not entirely sure why the one time in my life I spent big bucks on a LEGO set, I bought a pirate ship instead of a spaceship. I've analyzed this decision many times over the years, and the one conclusion I can come to was that the spirit of the pirate ship appealed to me. Swashbuckling, climbing ropes, sailing the high seas in myriad adventures.... I'm not sure why I didn't imagine similar fun things about space travel; maybe I was just needed a break from space. Ironically, my fascination with piracy soon faded, and I used the pieces from my new set to build.....more spaceships!

What does this have to do with My Genre? You will see......

Defining My Genre Part 2

These days, I watch many more movies than I read books, but there are similar standards against which I consciously or unconsciously compare other films. These include:

Star Wars (original trilogy, of course)
The Bourne Identity
Pulp Fiction

There are other amazing films that I enjoy, and that, in my opinion, are the ultimate pinnacle of their respective genre, as if all other works in that genre were just rough drafts of these culminary works. These include:

The Lion King (Disney film)
Serenity (Science fiction/Western)
The Matrix (Science fiction/Action)