Uh....

My favorite Futurama episode

condensed into 3 and a half minutes.
"Of course I've been up all night! But not because of caffine, it was insomnia. I couldn't stop thinking about coffee."
Ding.

via videosift.com

One for teh 573v3.

Terry Gross interviews Nick Cave and that dude is dry as a dust martini.

Paul is dead

Another true Ronin's battle is over. It's the peasants who win.

Team Hole in the Wall
Newman's Own

My carbon tiptoe.

It is easy being green. You just have to do it. Being "fiscally responsible" made me look very closely at my expenditures. I found that most of what I could trim would also reduce my so-called carbon footprint, which gave me double the satisfaction. I realize some people might find some of these measures draconian. I, personally don't and have even found the tertiary benefit (after frugality and environmentally conscious) of making me physically and mentally stronger. Here are the the macro details:


No air-conditioning.
I did use a window unit 4 days in early august when it was touching 107º outside. That's it. By toughing out the heat and humidity, I could take more of it and found that I could remain comfortable without problem or complaint up to the mid-90's with relatively high humidity.
I do have an attic fan to help me thru the tough spots. That draws a fair amount of electricity, but not anything like the compressor of a 110 window-unit. My lights don't dim when I turn it on.


Mellow Yellow
I don't flush every time. I know this may sound repugnant to some, but the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks, which I admit exist. I estimate that my toilet tank holds 5 gallons of water since I do not have a low-flow. On average, I flush 1 out of 6 "visits". Estimating a dozen visits a day for 18 hours, I potentially save 50 gallons a day. On my own.
As far as the drawbacks, I do have to clean the toilet more often and occasionally get hit with that ammonia smell, but living with a cat (box) for 20 years got me used to that. And cat pee is way worse smelling than people pee.
I flush when I feel I need to, leave the house and go to bed… or the smell is too pungent. The brown always goes down.


Low light.
I don't keep many lights on. The only full-watt bulb I routinely use is my front porch light, which is 40w and has a light-sensor that turns it off automatically in daylight. I am somewhat fortunate that my eyesight works best in low and non-direct light conditions. This means at night, I am able to use mere 4w plugin lights (and desk lamp) to see very well. Each of these have automatic light sensors too. I even have the ability to use a 4w in my bathroom on the wall switch. The rest of my lamps contain only 40w bulbs, are on dimmers, and are only used when needed and not for longer.


Lowest settings
Both my refrigerator and my hot-water tank are on the lowest settings manageable. This summer, I was able to turn my water tank to "vacation" with no loss of comfort and remains there today. The refrigerator currently stands on #3, which only affects the duration of milk storage. I simply do not buy any more milk than I can use in the time it remains potable, which can stretch to a week and a half. Easily done. The pilot on central heat will remain off until it is needed.


Ye olde clothesline
Generating heat is a big draw on electricity. While I do dry shirts and underwear in the dryer (medium setting), I dry towels and jeans on the clothesline. I sacrifice fluffiness and speed for frugality. I don't miss it.


Power down
Leaving the house or going to bed always gets the "power-down" routine. That means the computer (and monitors) get put to sleep and the speakers get turned off. My secondary computer monitor is switched completely off when one monitor will do nicely. I listen to NPR a lot, so I use a mono clock radio most of the time instead of my surround sound system, which draws at least 50w for the subwoofer alone. Doing this along with the other practices of no air conditioning, low lighting and low refrigerator settings keeps my electricity bill slightly over $50 per month. I doubt many other Americans can say the same.


Pedal power
When I need to run to the convenience store or somewhere local, I pedal. It's great cardio. I see much more and get to experience the outside. It heightens my balance, endurance and stamina and strengthens my legs, heart and lungs. It's fun. I estimate I ride about 25 miles a week and saves me a tank of gas a month. If I bike to the store, I take a backpack and don't buy more than I can fit in it.


Most of it is common sense duh. Some of it is a little sacrifice well within tolerable limits. I could always do more. Eventually, I'd love to have some things like a waterless urinal that uses a chemical filter to contain smells. Even a regular urinal would save hundreds of gallons of water a month, since it only takes a splash to clear it and leave my bathroom much cleaner to boot. I'd like a wood-burning stove for heat. Farther out, I'd dig a solar water heater and a wind generator. Wouldn't it be great? What if everyone did the same? It could be done. We could bring our power usage down to the point to where we only generate what we need ourselves. I want to live as cheaply as possible and find that doing that makes me environmentally conscious as well.

The Definitive top ten.

The movies I can watch at any time, and have. I present here, my top ten movies.

Honorable Mention: Apocalypse Now

With the process of making the film as crazy as the film itself, how could I not love this movie. This film made me love Robert Duvall as much as it made me hate Dennis Hopper.
Never get off the boat.

10. Brazil

Darkest of dark 1984-ish future with the definitive non-hollywood ending. Robert DeNiro the ninja vigilante plumber, jackboot police, Gilliam's extraordinary visuals. What's not to love?
We don't make mistakes.


9. Cowboy Bebop

Purely personal. Not the greatest story or the best written, I'll admit. But the personal investment with the best-written television characters made it number 9. I actually saw the world differently when I walked out of this film like it injected my brain with animation. Seriously beautiful with the climax at a halloween parade. Seriously.
Is it a dream? Or is their world the real one and the world where I was, the dream?

8. Yellow Submarine

An animated psychedelic vehicle for Beatles videos with unique, Peter Max style animation. Definitely in the top ten.
My dear friend... let us not forget that heaven is blue. Tomorrow the world!

7. The Incredibles

Best. Superhero. Movie. Ever. Starts with a superhero fight that introduces the characters, gives back story, establishes relationships and kicks ass at the same time... all in 8 minutes of the opening credits. It took Pixar to figure that forehead slap out. Duh.
Designers note: chock full of future-retro mod style awesomeness and it also features the coolest business card design ever. Oh, Mirage, you fashionable, toothpicky vixen.
No capes!

6. The Matrix

The action movie that changed action movies. Still the best 20 minutes in action movie history. I'll never defend Keanu's acting. I will defend the choice of this movie. 2 scenes are directly pulled from Masamune Shiro's Ghost in the shell, which is a kick-ass movie in itself. Even my chosen quote is an excellent direction to Hollywood:
Stop trying to hit me and hit me.

5. Howls Moving Castle

It's beautiful. Like most Miyazaki movies I see something new every time I watch it. The starring role is an old woman. It's steampunky. Even though it's relatively new to me, it breaks the top 5 because I want to animate stuff just as beautiful. I hate to say it, but Studio Ghibli's partnership with Disney (distributing) was the best thing they could have done. Mainly because Disney has no say in the story or animation. They did, however, make it possible for the english dub to feature Jean Simmons, Christian Bale, and awesome performances by Lauren Bacall and Billy Crystal. It's deep, sometimes dark and has themes that you would never find in a Disney movie. I'm almost sorry it couldn't go higher than number 5.
I'm such a big coward, all I do is hide. All of this magic is to keep everybody away. I can't stand how scared I am.

4. Seven Samurai

Ronin. Poor but noble. A story so good it's been remade innumerable times. I hold it as gospel.
What's the use of worrying about your beard when your head's about to be taken?

3. The Godfather (1-2)

Both count as one 5+ hour epic. Epic.
BadaBING! You blow deah brains alovaya nice clean suit.

2. Casablanca

Classic. Rick is one of the all-time greatest movie heroes. Dark, hard, smart and wounded. Smoking is as prevalent as the great dialog. It features one of the hottest women of all time, has Nazi's for villians and a great ending that has never become cliche.
Go ahead and shoot. You'll be doing me a favor.

1. Bladerunner

A dark future where there is no daylight and all the rich people have moved off planet?? Yes, please. A dark, hard, smart and wounded hero? More, please. Super future noir with flying cars, asian neon and smoking? Seconds on that. A private-dick apartment covered in Frank Lloyd Wright tile? Absolutely. Oh, Did I mention that Deckard's first name is Rick? Did also I mention all of this being a vehicle for fighting / loving goth style robots? Looks as good today as it did in 1982. Nothing comes close.
The light that burns twice as bright burns for half as long - and you have burned so very, very brightly, Roy. Look at you, you're the prodigal son.

The path of the true ronin

I wanted to embed the video of Jim Henson's beginning. I'm doing commercials now too and hope to achieve a fraction of his creative success. I'm not the salesman he was, so it will have to be my independent shorts to currently highlight my creativity, and my paid work to highlight (and strengthen) my technical abilities. You were a true ronin, Jim. Love the dark violence too. Shoot that muppet in the head! Shoot it!

Theme Meme

Since George and Kev both have tributes to NY today, I figured I would add my own of my own taste. Here's to the city I have never visited.


Nuff said.

I cannot wait to fight robots in the streets.

Especially ones like these.



Like fighting Striders but x2+2 and for real. Wicked.