First Movie Seen In 2010: "2012"

Viewing Medium: Theater
Previously Seen: No
My Overall Rating: D
My Tagline: What can I say, Avatar was sold out.
Recommendation: Skip it.

This was truly a disaster movie. It was also ABOUT a disaster! I seriously think '2012' was the most predictable movie I have EVER seen. *Disclaimer: I have never seen 'Free Willy;' Please don't tell me what happens...* Yes, I expect the basic plot to be predictable in a movie like this, so I can forgive that if the filmmakers offer something new. This movie offered nothing new. The characters and scenarios could have been picked out of a catalog. "Estranged ex-wife and kids, check! Somber president, check! Misguided government official, check!"

The visual effects, which I thought would be the reason to see this film, were decent, but didn't impress me very much. The predictability killed any excitement from the action. The movie was scattered with many extraneous characters (such as the scientist's father) which were obviously intended to create emotions for the main characters (and the audience) when killed off. It didn't work.

Another major drawback is that throughout the flick, the characters' survival is mostly by luck, not because of their own heroic efforts. Sure, they did some good driving, flying, driving again, and then flying again, and then driving again, then swimming, then finally boating to escape the end of the world! But if the earthquake/fireball/tsunami/etc. had been just a few feet closer they would have been toast many times.

Overall, I was bored by the predictability. In this film about cataclysmic violence, the producers would have been more than justified in killing off some unexpected characters, even characters that the audience likes. But first they would have to create some good characters, so I guess that's out!

Now the fun part: I pick apart holes in the plot. ***SPOILER ALERT***

When John Cusack's character brings the kids back early from camping at his ex-wife's request, she invites him for breakfast. He says he's late for work. If he ended he camping trip early, he should still be on vacation.

As mankind is getting ready to evacuate, the Somber President(tm) stays behind to "warn the people." His warning doesn't save anyone (he doesn't even give anyone his place on the escape ship) and he doesn't appoint a new leader, which causes predictable power struggles, endangering humanity's survival.

At the end of the film the floodwaters recede after only 27 days, and they head for Africa to rebuild. I doubt the continent would be habitable any time soon, specially after the flooding and elevation changes they describe.

The governments of 46 different nations kept secret the near-term destruction of earth and the construction of at least 7 super-cruise-liners for 3 years. From the look of the film, these are bigger than aircraft carriers, which take 7 years to build. Here is a good article that breaks down some of the challenges of building such a ship. Even if it was financed by billionaires as in the film, the ships would require an ever-expanding circle of secrecy to build, exponentially increasing the chance of discovery. The more people who know the secret, the more escape tickets you have to provide, and the more worthless currency becomes. What good is a billion euros after the end of the world?

The Facebook Rebellion

Manifesto: We must have an open social stream standard. Something that does for social media what HTML does for the World Wide Web. Imagine if Facebook or something like it was not owned by just one company. Imagine if you didn't have to look at ads just to see what your friends were up to. Imagine if you could choose whatever interface you wanted to view your social stream, and sort the data however you wanted. What if there was a singular way to access your entire social network without being captive by a particular company or site. What if there were multiple, customizable interfaces available to view your social stream?

Is Facebook getting too big for its britches? It is already trying too hard to control the data, the users, the interface, and to compete with twitter, instead of Embracing it. Twitter itself is a good start: LinkedIn and MySpace are already syncing status updates with it, which is cool. But what about syncing contacts, pictures, videos, links, blog posts, documents, projects and everything else? An open social standard would allow ANYTHING to be shared, across different social networks.

My solution: Still use Facebook for now. Still use other social sites until something better comes along. Any true 'content,' I will post somewhere else as well as Facebook. Why should Facebook alone get the sole benefit of our collective contacts and content? I will link to my content on twitter, and Facebook status.

I will still use Facebook for what it's best at: finding and keeping in touch with friends, old and new!

Just Thought This Was Cool

Prague from the TV Tower - 18 Gigapixel Panoramic Photo

I Am A Terrible Blogger

As you can see, until recently my last post was almost a year ago. I think the reason I don't 'blog' very much is because I correctly assume, like most people do, that the worthless drivel I have to say is completely and utterly meaningless to anyone with half a brain, or any sense at all. Obviously since you are still reading, you either do not possess these things, or you don't agree with my statement. Or more likely both! ;-) From here on out, I will make an effort to 'blog' more often, so that the teeming masses out there can benefit from my infinite wisdom.

The real reason (and possibly the only valid one) for blogging, is to serve as a journal to help organize my thoughts, and provide public accountability for my goals. A secondary reason is to create a personal space in the 'socio-digital' landscape. Did I just create a new phrase that will be used by anthropologists 1000 years from now? Probably not, but I think it has a nice ring to it.

P.S. Darn, I didn't coin the phrase first. A quick web search brings up Socio-Digital Systems, Microsoft Research

Oh, well...

2010 Goals, Part #1

"If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time." — Zig Ziglar

I believe in the power of setting goals. Like most people, however, I have failed to do so. A real goal should follow the SMART acronym. Anything else is just a wish or a daydream.

S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Realistic
T = Timely

This post is not to convince anyone of the importance of goal setting, but rather to serve as public accountability for my own goals. I ask only that my family and friends keep me to task to meet these goals. Ask me how I'm doing. Offer encouragement. Comment if you have positively constructive ideas.

Here are a few of my goals for 2010 in several different areas, in no particular order:

Physical: Lose 40 pounds. I currently weigh 195 lbs. All the charts put me at an "ideal weight" between 150-160. I'm not going to let anyone tell me, "You'd be all skin and bones," and settle for less. This is less than 1 pound per week. I will accomplish this by counting calories (I use livestrong.com/thedailyplate) and visiting the gym at the local community center at least 3 times per week.

Financial: My wife Kristin and I, huge fans of Dave Ramsey, have agreed that no matter what, come Hell or high water, we will pay off all our credit card debt during 2010. Without boring you (or freaking you out) with the numbers, lets just say we can gloat about the fact that we are "above average citizens."

Okay, those were the easy ones. My next goal is to create meaningful goals for the following categories: Professional, Marriage, Spiritual, Children and more...

Playing in the Snow

I believe this is Lillian's first time actually playing in the snow. She has seen it several times, but was always too small! We were out less than 15 minutes; It was pretty cold today! Afterward we had hot chocolate which she absolutely devoured!

Yep, It's Cold!

This is what happens when you leave a case of pop in a cold sun-room.
Luckily it was the only one to explode...