Britney Minutiae
Do we really, really need the play-by-play of Britney's self-destruction?
It's sad what can happen to a person who isn't properly nurtured and prepared for a life in the spotlight. Some say that a person in the spotlight deserves whatever they get. They benefitted from the spotlight, the spotlight has turned on them, and hey, more fun for us.
I don't see it that way at all. I think it's inhuman to kick a person when they're down. Frankly, I think the massive scrutiny and attention she's receiving is part of the problem, and at the very least exacerbating a bad situation.
We make fun of the Chris Crockers of the world, but the boy has a point. What business is it of ours that the girl is falling apart?
What kind of people are we that we enjoy watching her become a spectacle? If this was your daughter would it be so fascinating? Would you understand that, hey, she's a big star, so all this attention is just A-OK? I think not.
I think the constant pressure of having every move, every slip-up, every drink, every word become headlines on the gossip rag would be a debilitating burden on just about anyone. When you take someone who has been exploited by their mother instead of prepared and nurtured, you have a disaster on your hands.
Sadly she might have a better chance of making it if the rest of us weren't so damn fascinated with the possibility of her not making it. An increasingly voyeuristic society has got to take some responsibility for this, if for no other reason than contributing to an environment that makes it nearly impossible for her, and others like her, to get the help she needs with the seclusion and separation it would take to get her head on straight.
Please, no more Britney headlines. Not for my sake. I don't precisely care, except that she's a human being, and I just can't understand why anyone thinks treating another human being this way is in anyone's world okay.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
LOLCat of the Week
How many music groups can make an innocuous platitude such as "All You Need is Love" into an instantly recognizable title? A title that makes you think about the band before you ever think about the words themselves?
Nobody like them Beatles, baby.
Enjoy the kitty. See you tomorrow...
Posted by Looney @ 9:37 PM
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Technology Sux
Well, my new weekly feature is gonna hafta wait.
Sucks to be you.
Don't buy JVC cameras. Just don't. I'll explain later.
I don't understand the desire some companies have to go proprietary. Well, wait a minute, I do understand, but knowing what I know, I don't understand why they would actually do it.
Let's say you make a decent camera. It works well, takes pics and vids, the usual. Then you package it with your editing and playback software, which is shit, or at best, shit+1. Now, you know that most people who want to edit and organize their pics and vids are using very good, widely distributed software that is somewhere between shit+4 and shit+50, all of which depend on widely used pic and vid formats, like mpegs and avi's and such.
Problem is, even your upgrade version of the software is maybe shit+2.5 at best. But still you decide to specially encode your pic and vid files, esp. the vid files, so that people who want to edit and produce and burn their videos have to use your fucking useless software to do it, or at least use it to arduously convert the files to something actually usable.
With all of that, tell me why I, as a consumer, wouldn't take my $770 camera and come on up to your office and shove it clear up your grainy ass?
I can think of one reason, anyway, in that I'm certainly uninterested in touching your ass. Otherwise, well, I don't know. I think I'll put this thing up on ebay and get a Sony Handicam. At least I know my Sony Vegas will be able to read the file.
So, keep an eye out next Friday, and we'll really have my new feature.
Love you all. Never change, baby...
Posted by Looney @ 11:24 AM
Thursday, January 24, 2008
LOLCat of the Week
Well, I've been flat on my back fighting the flu and fever for five freakin' days. I haven't been this sick in ages. I didn't know you could get this stupid-sick with the flu anymore. Ah, such is medical ignorance.
Anyway, I'm not a big fan of cats, but I like the LOLCats a little too much.
So I decided to pilfer random pics and a few of my own and make my own LOLCats, maybe one a week.
Oh, and come around tomorrow too. I'll have a new weekly feature (or as weekly as I can make it) to show off that you'll either enjoy or totally hate.
Cheers. Gotta take some more Tylenol. This fever has GOT to go away...
Posted by Looney @ 10:08 AM
Monday, January 21, 2008
As a Dog
I'm sick as a dog.
That seems like a stupid phrase to me. I don't know many dogs who really get sick that much. And the ones I have seen sick just sort of slow down. They don't really seem all that bad off.
The World Wide Words website says this:
So, in other words, nobody has a good excuse for even using such a stupid phrase.
Except that when you're really sick, it just seems to work.
I'm not good a being sick. I'm a whiner and a groaner. I want to be catered to and doted on. I get pissy about being sick and lapse into "Why me, Why now?" quite easily.
ForEx: I'm supposed to be in LA tomorrow night for a hockey game (Red Wings at Kings) then back in LA Wednesday night for the NBA (Kings [different Kings!] at Clippers.) So why now? Why not a week ago when I had freakin' nothing going on?
Who knows. I'm just whining. I'm going to have to cancel a rehearsal tonight that I and a few friends really need. Not sure what to do about this...
Anyway, I'm off to whine some more. And watch LOST. I'm trying to get caught up and am almost done with Season One.
Only because I laid in bed and watched eleven episodes yesterday. ELEVEN! Ladies and Gentlemen, that is roughly 465 minutes of LOST yesterday. 7.75 hours.
I hate being sick...
Posted by Looney @ 8:48 AM
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
What is "Cloverfield"
Well, just for SG.
In the comments he asks, what is "Cloverfield."
Did he NOT see my Film Freaks post? I mean rilly.
I confess that the next 48 hours is gonna be long-long-long. I don't think I've looked forward to a movie with this intensity for many a year.
For those not paying attention, Cloverfield is a JJ Abrams (he of LOST fame) flick that has been brilliantly marketed and slowly unveiled in a cunning viral campaign that really kicked off with an untitled trailer before the Transformer's movie that showed a clip and nothing but the release date.
Which happens to be this Friday, January 18, in the states.
In the UK it's February 1. I'm not sure about the continent, SG.
I've been following the campaign on Cloverfield Clues run by the gregarious Dennis Acevedo.
The real beauty of this marketing campaign is that it is taking place in real time. Abrams's people set up several websites that at first glance look to be only what they're about.
A radical environmental activist group.
A monolithic Japanese conglomerate.
Slusho: a new slushy drink (Bet you can't drink just 6!)
Not to mention that the movie's characters have their own Myspace pages.
Slusho drinks have appeared in episodes of Heroes, among others.
The connections are everywhere. Things appear online as they have supposedly happened. All the little threads converge to the date of the "event" chronicled in the film itself.
A monster the size of a skyscraper attacks New York City. Rather than a standard slick production, it is filmed Blair Witch style from the point of view of a group of friends who have to try and survive, find each other, and escape the city.
Speculation has been rampant, and those of us who refused to be spoiled by the dorks who get into early viewings and try to stroke their warped sense of self-worth by ruining the mystery of the movie for everyone else have stuck with Cloverfield Clues, a spoiler-free zone.
Following onto this, I've gotten sucked into Lost. Abrams really is a clever, creative fellow, I believe. Well, yeah, there was Felicity, but what can you do. Here's a glimpse into the mind of Abrams, speaking at the TED conference. Priceless stuff for those of us who fancy ourselves writers, and well worth the 18 minutes viewing time.
Well, you know where I'll be on Friday evening. Who's with me?
Posted by Looney @ 9:27 PM
Looneysphere Redux
Well, well, well...
I don't know how, but the Rant was reset by Blogoogler to public, after I'd set it to private in August, to make my exit clean and permanent. Come to find out that Joe was able to see it as late as December.
So in the spirit of all things chaos-y, I've decided it's time for round two.
I have no idea what that really means. I just know that in the past few weeks I can count nearly a dozen times when I've said to myself, "I should blog about that."
Then I said to myself, "I don't really have a blog anymore."
Then I said, "Well, I sort of do, but I put it on hold."
Then I said, "I don't really know if I want to go through this whole 'starting over' thing just to blog about soccer/cloverfield/cops/romney/idol/etc."
Then I said, "Ooh, look, Cheez-its!"
So, ruminating, I wondered if I needed a new design? Or clear out and archive the old posts so only the new ones show up? Or...
Doesn't matter, right? It's not like I'm selling something or somesuch.
Therefore, the Rant is officially back. I've got things I feel like jabbering about and I really just want some attention. I've cleaned up my blogroll a bit, so if you're missing and it's making you a little crazy-stalker-like, then let me know and we'll read each other again.
Now if only I could think of something to blog about.
Posted by Looney @ 9:11 AM