Pondering Cloverfield: It's About The People, Not the Monster

Cloverfield is not a monster movie. It's a movie about how friends respond to unexpected catastrophe - in this case, a humungous monster possibly released by the Tagruato Corporation as they drilled for the secret ingredient in their Slusho.

A lot of folks walked away from this movie shaking their head. They expected Godzilla rampaging through a cardboard city.

Instead, Cloverfield gave us a gritty, horrifying, alien look at a city being torn apart.

It is not a sideways look at 9/11. Nor is it a commentary on environmental issues. Nor is it like Lost (sorry Maureen).

Cloverfield shows us heroism that's unglamorous, scary, and tragic at times. The heroes make mistakes. They're terrified. They're not fighting the monster. They're just trying to save each other.

Watch Cloverfield if you want to lose yourself in a story. Your neck will hurt when it's over - this is not a relaxing movie. But it certainly makes you think.

Unspeakable Acts, With Fingers and Mice

Several of my staff work on a podcast: The Weekly Geek Show.

If you like intelligent commentary on everything from video games to HD DVD, sprinkled liberally with bursts of hilarious grossness, I highly recommend it. I nearly drove off the road laughing at this week's episode.

But I must set the record straight.

In the post, Chris states that, when at work, he's required to stick his finger up his butt, and that he bills that time.

While that may be true, and if it were it would not be the strangest request from a client, I had to do a LOT of negotiating to get the client to back down on their previous demand: That they get to show up unannounced, sneak up behind Chris and stick THEIR finger where the sun don't shine.

So really, he's gotten off pretty easy.

CEO-ness: A Haiku

Finances eat me,
With small, angry bites, until
All smartness is gone.

Caption this Photo

I dare you.

The Purple Boot from the Sky Lives!

If you're not a gamer, you don't know what this means. And I don't mean a cool video gamer. I mean a hardcore, geeked out D&D and tabletop gamer. The kind of person who can regale his or her gaming buddies with hours of tales from past adventures.

The "purple boot from the sky" is a magical happening, whereby the Game Master (usually one of your friends, who you're harassing constantly to give more treasure, let you bend the rules, etc.) gets so sick of your whining or rules lawyering that you just die.

There's always a reason: The dragon that's 40 levels higher than you, the rockslide, a shipwreck, a giant with a club the size of a VW Bus. But the result is always the same.

Splat.

Well, I was playing WoW today, and lo and behold, the Purple Boot lives!

I found a whole new place to adventure - the Dark Portal. It's been around a while, but I'm old, busy and don't game as much as my geek credibility requires.

I was happily traipsing around, slaying left and right. Suddenly, the ground shook, and a huge PURPLE foot stepped on me.

Splat.

Turns out I'd done nothing wrong, but these 100-foot tall robot demons stroll around, periodically clomping cocky, inexperienced gamers. Dang...

Design Busted

Sorry, I know I broke the design with that last photo.

I'll get around to fixing it, I swear. After I fix two other sites I built for friends, rehab my back, get back on my bike, make level 70 in WoW...

I Want to Ride My Bicycle

I Want to Ride My Bicycle, originally uploaded by oybay.

Simplicity is a beautiful thing.

Wonder how much this bike weighs?

President Huckabee?

No, I can't say it.

I can no more like the idea of a Baptist Minister in charge than I could an orthodox rabbi.

The Bullshit Generation

I've come to a realization over the last few years:

My grandparents' generation defeated the Nazis.

My parents' generation put a man on the moon.

My generation created the iPod.

Wonder what our kids will do?

New Year's Philosophy

I'd rather be a

Than a

Objects in Mirror...

I have a new Toyota Prius that includes a backup camera. This neat gadget displays what's immediately behind my car on a little screen in the dashboard. That way, if a short person is right behind me, I won't squash them.

When I put my car into reverse last week, I nearly had a heart attack. In the monitor was the biggest damned squirrel I've ever seen.

For a second, I thought a rodent the size of a bicycle was about to eat the bumper off my car.

Then it hopped away, and I realized the little bugger was staring right into the backup camera lens, from three inches away.

My car does not include a defibrillator.