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May 30, 2007
Yes, he's an Ewok
We've had Chester about 4 and a half weeks so I think it's about time I write a little something about him.
In a nutshell:
Name: Chester
Nicknames: Chester A. Barker, Chesterfield, Buddy, Bonesy, Buster, Mr. Bitey Pants
Born March 6, 2007
Breed(s): Shih Tzu / Bichon Frise mix
Age when we picked him up: almost 8 weeks
Time it took for him to go to the door to be let outside for the first time: one week
Percent house-trained: 90%
Favorite thing to chew: everything
Teeth: pointy
Favorite food indoors: Milk Bone
Favorite food outdoors: Dirt
Favorite band: R.E.M.
Favorite Star Wars Character: Wicket
How'd we pick him? Aimee and I took a half dozen trips to the Animal Rescue League in hopes of rescuing a dog. We were pretty close to getting a small terrier -- until we saw him jump. We were pretty concerned about the birds, so we decided a dog with short legs would be best. We thought a puppy might be smart, too, so we could train him from an early age that birds aren't for eating!
We still didn't know what kind of dog to get, though. We considered Miniature Daschund, Basset Hound, Shih Tzu, or something else. In the end, we're happy with the Shih Tzu / Bichon Frise mix. He gets mistaken for a Shih Tzu a lot, and I now notice a lot of people around the neighborhood own one.
Walking Chester has been interesting. It's a good way to meet neighbors because every single person you walk by will comment on him. We've been going on walks around here for years now, and we talked to more people our first time out with him than all other walks put together.
Chester is very sociable so far. He loves strangers. He hasn't been too "barky" in trying to protect us like my family's dog, Sadie. He has barked a couple times, usually when he's not quite sure about something, like the creepy dog statue at the vet's office. He's met quite a few dogs, including:
Aimee's aunt's Shih Tzu
The lovable neighbor dog, Rudy
And Cooper Siskow
Like all puppies, he likes to chew. He's been good most of the time about not destroying our new house, but our hands look like we've been taking a stapler to them for fun.
He's somewhat learned his name and he knows how to come and sit, but usually only when he thinks you have a treat for him nearby.
He likes to play hide and seek: Aimee will go off in another room with a plastic cup with dog food or bits of dog biscuit. I'll say, "Where's Aimee?" and she'll shake the cup. The first time we played, Chester would always run to the spot where she (or I) was last, look around with a confused look, then run to the sound of the food.
He's been pretty good about going on walks. Sometimes we have to carry him to get him going, but he is usually very good about walking home. He's not excited to go on walks yet when he sees the leash, we'll see if that changes.
Overall, I'd say the first couple days were the hardest. It was jarring going from a schedule of doing whatever we wanted whenever we wanted to planning our day around him. It's better now, but it will be nice when he's out of the puppy stage and can be out of his kennel most of the day without us worrying about what might be destroyed or used as a bathroom.
May 21, 2007
Children of Men
We just watched Children of Men the other night. It was a pretty good movie, even if it was more of a chase movie without a lot of plot. Even so, it had some amazing long takes (here's the ingenious "Ambush" shot, not safe for work) and the production design was like unlike anything I'd seen before. There are a couple images that I wanted to talk about; others have talked about, some not. Spoilers might follow if you haven't seen the movie yet. Click on them for a bigger image.
The movie's premise is that the human race has gone infertile. The last baby was born 18 years ago, "Baby Diego," who we learn is now dead. The above image reminded me a little of the flowers for Princess Diana after her death.
In the movie, Theo (Clive Owen) has a well-off friend who has apparently saved the statue David from certain doom, since society has collapsed pretty much everywhere but Britian. In the extras, one of the production designers mentions that this image was based on this ad:
The ad has to do with raising awareness for Italians losing their cultural heritage through loss of artwork - which is pretty clever if you think about it: Italy is the shape of the missing foot. More on the ad here.
Most people spotted the Pink Floyd "Animals" album reference. Children of Men has a lot of animal references overall. In part, dogs and cats have replaced babies. See this link for a short video on some of the other visual elements in the movie, which includes a funny ad for clothes for pets.
In one of the most exciting sequences, Theo and Julian walk down some stairs. Ok, maybe it wasn't that exciting. I don't know if this was done on purpose, but the baby carriage at the bottom of the stairs reminded me a lot of the Odessa Steps baby carriage from Battleship Potemkin (link to full movie). The Odessa Steps sequence has been referenced in tons of movies (including The Untouchables), but this time there is no baby... just the wreckage of the carriage. (Maybe the baby was thrown clear of the wreckage? Sorry- in-joke) I thought it was a clever take on the often-seen homage.
A lot of people caught this one too - if you click on it and look at the guy in the upper left hand corner, he's in the "Abu Grhaib" pose. As Jon Stewart says, it's not torture, it's freedom tickling!
This one was kind of subtle, and I'm not sure if there is anything to it. The broken class in the middle of the frame sort of looks like an upside-down, mirrored image of Africa (or maybe South America?) Take a look:
It would make sense if it were Africa, as that's where humans started out... and things are pretty much starting all over for humans at this point in the movie. But maybe it's a stretch.
Anyone notice anything else?
May 16, 2007
Free Netflix
Anyone want a free month of Netflix? I have a couple coupons - first come, first serve.
Yes, you do have to put credit card info in but it's really easy to cancel online after the month is up.
Shoot me an email.
May 15, 2007
Walter B.
Someone on Ain't It Cool News (yes, it's still around) posted a rant about how the new Die Hard movie is going to be terrible because it's rated PG-13 instead of an R.
A guy named Walter B. shows up and starts defending the movie: "But as someone who worked on the picture, and has seen a cut of it, I would suggest that all the yakkin' over the PG-13 issue hang onto their weapons for now. This episode if Die Hard is as good, if not better than the first Movie."
Then he went on to suggest that he was actually Bruce Willis...
...of course no one believed him so he offers to do a video chat with someone via iChat.
...and it was him. (read more on MeFi or another roundup here)
I guess this story isn't really a huge deal but you don't often hear about celebrities trolling forums, but you know they do. On the Simpsons commentary they talk about how they would keep up with the newsgroups. And of course Wil Wheaton has his own webpage and trolls Fark and Slashdot... Mythbuster's Adam Savage hangs out on Metafilter.... and Steve Wozniak also showed up there to comment on a post about himself.
I don't have any less nerdy examples, but I probably would if I hung out on MySpace where every celeb can be your friend! Unless you're Woodsie and they have a restraining order against you.
May 06, 2007
"Awww" videos edition
...and a smart crow making a tool to get food.
Oh heck just head over to cute overload.
Update: Twin Baby Tigers and Orangutan Babies... will form an alliance and take over the world in 3... 2...
Update: Hippo/tortoise friends after tsunami
Update: Tortoise playing with (attacking?) cats
Update: (Thanks Jon for a bunch of these) Hamster, Snake best friends at Tokyo Zoo
Update: Finnegan, the baby squirrel dog
Update: Fawn and dog
Update: The real Bambi and Thumper
Update: Tiger cubs and oranutans
Update: Pretty much every combo you can think of
(keep sending cute animal links.. we'll see how long this can get)
May 04, 2007
You write the update
In the great tradition of choose your own adventure, I'll let you, the reader, write up the reason I haven't posted in so long. Click on comments and start writing...