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August 30 Random NotesToday I watched Ponyo with my 5 year old. I loved it. If you follow the Japanese tradition of hand drawn cartoons and knows a little bit about their folklore, the movie is as linear as they come, G rated and beautifully done - a complete pleasure. A friend of mine that is a big movie buff mentioned a twist in the middle of the movie he could not follow. I swear I looked for it, but there is no twist on this movie I could find. I need to ask him about it in more detail.
On a negative note, Rubens Barrichello is back to normal. After a perfect F1 race which he won with great driving, strategy and luck, he was back to his normal self today. He stalled his car on start and ended in last position after one lap, on a race he started in third position. He did a very good job, talented as he is, to recover 12 positions during the race.
With about 2 laps to finish his engine was producing a thick black cloud behind him. I think he should have one of those on top of his car every race, as a warning to others, but today it was a regular oil leak. Immediately after he crossed the finish line, his car caught fire and before he stopped in the boxes it was covered in flames. You read it right - his car was in flames before he could jump out of it. So with his normal "luck" back I can't wait to see what will happen in Monza next weekend. Maybe he will be hit by 'blue ice' falling from an airplane. Or the first natural turducken will get stuck in the engine. I can't wait to see how his bad luck will hit him. He is like the Alex Rodriguez of F1.
On a positive note, now I can safely consume Nestlé products again - they do not advertise on Glenn Back anymore. I was heartbroken when I found Perrier water is distributed by Nestlé in the US. As a good left wing elitist I cannot live without Perrier water. A long list of other advertisers followed suit and dropped that nutcase, see a good report on marketwatch.com.
August 29 HoroscopeToday my horoscope said I was going to make a mistake in a certain way. And I did - just like the horoscope said I would. So did I do it because I read it on the horoscope?
If I had to write a horoscope entry I don't know what I would go for. I could write something pretty generic so people would read whatever they were pre-determined to read and, on average, my horoscope column would be somewhat trusted. This is the same approach of developers that create iPhone apps and give them away for free in exchange of ad revenue. They really want volume, what we call "seats".
But it is more likely I'd try the high value, low penetration approach. Just write something very specific and see if you can freak someone out. Sagittarius: today you will run over Martha's cat. Crap John - you should not drive the Miata before adjusting the mirrors. Can you imagine John's face after running over Martha's cat? Even if he was driving a Jetta instead of a Miata. This is the approach I'd take for an iPod application - build something like 'hot pictures of beachgoers' and charge $4.99 for it. Then include 5 pictures randomly picked online. I wonder how many I'd sell, but I'd laugh really hard for each license.
And yes, I really read my horoscope daily. It is more precise than economists and less work than reading pigeon entrails. You can consider this my homage to the randomness of life. But enough of this, I have a zombie movie to watch. August 15 Do Something, Boycott Fox News AdvertisersI am a big fan of the First Amendment and I think everyone is entitled to their opinion. I think people should be protected even when they are wrong and offensive. Since it is very difficult to differentiate disagreement and misinformation from intellectual dishonesty and lies, it is very hard to regulate the right to free speech.
I also happen to believe in proportional responsibility. The more power a corporation has, the more education an individual has, the more responsibility they have. It is not a matter of protecting the ignorant from consequences, but to have the most privileged contributing to their community. I might lose some folks with this one, but yes - I do agree with progressive taxation.
Fox News, in my opinion, is intentionally spreading false information and inciting violence. By doing so they fail their considerable responsibility as a news outlet. I don't think anyone should try to regulate Fox - we already have enough laws to imprison anyone in the US - but I feel responsible. So I will do the little I can do - I will stop purchasing products from Fox News advertisers.
I did not purchase a single Nike product for 10 years, until they addressed the issue of child labor. They still not totally fair, even after addressing the issue, but neither is the world. I now buy their products again, but I keep following the idealists, just in case Nike dips below my own standards.
Maybe consumer pressure can force Fox News to become more reasonable, less treasonous mega corporation. I would greatly welcome a conservative voice on the news I can watch and disagree with. How to find their advertisers? Very simple, Bing it: http://www.bing.com/search?q=boycott+fox+news.
I will start with Glenn Beck because he begged Bin Laden to explode an atomic bomb in the US, incited his audience to poison Nancy Pelosi and said Obama is a racist that should be "dealt with". You can find a list with his advertisers here - I will miss Nestle
 The more assholish thing to do would be to start a campaign to outlaw foreign control of the media. I think the right wing nuts would like that and until they figure out Fox News is owned by an Australian it would be too late. But I digress.
I am entertaining boycotting Sean Hannity's advertisers next. Hannity and Glenn Beck make Bill O'Reilly sound reasonable.
August 06 Clip ShowsI love clip shows. They re-hash the crappiest content human kind can produce and come up with something interesting. Something like Rap, but for video.
My favorite clip show still The Soup (channel E!). The host, Joel MacHale, grew up nearby Seattle and was a member of an incredibly funny local show called "Almost Live!". He is now heading to a heavily promoted new show "The Community" on NBC. My favorite clip from his show is 'Stains'.
One notable new show is Tosh.o on Comedy Central. The host is another very funny comedian, Daniel Tosh. He pushes the envelope way more than 'The Soup'. See my favorite clip below to have an idea:
August 03 Back From HawaiiI came back from Oahu last Thursday after the best vacation I took on the last 10 years, easily. It cost me a lot of money, but it was worth every penny. My wife, daughter and I stayed on at the Marriot in Waikiki and, despite being a bit dated; the hotel couldn't be in a better spot. Urban, but still quiet enough and family friendly. We did our home work and asked for a room on the tower with better views (thanks TripAdvisor). Having a Marriot fidelity card didn't hurt either and I got a room upgrade to partial ocean view - nice.
I went to the beach every day and drove around the island during peak sun hours. We decided to upgrade our rental car to a full size car that was equipped with a Hertz Neverlost GPS unit, by Magellan. Another somewhat costly upgrade that was worth every penny. It worked flawlessly and it was a huge help finding both parks and restaurants. It was very nice to literally 'get lost' and find our way back.
The South side of the island has the best beaches IMHO, with good swimming, snorkeling and my favorite - floating - opportunities. Lanikai was especially nice (thanks Adriane!). Kailua beach was great for my 5 year old try her body board. My wife was stung by a nasty jellyfish and I run for help on hot asphalt - she was fine, I burned my feet - but nothing too serious. It gave me a nice excuse to check her ass out in public
The famous North Shore is not as nice. Don't get me wrong, the bays are awesome and if you like kayaking or snorkeling the place is hard to beat. But during summer there are no waves. Zero, zilch. I have to go back there during winter to see the big waves.
The one negative on the trip was the food. Hawaii is where bland meets expensive when it comes to food. It *blows*, except for fruit. Another oddity are the ABC stores - they're worse than Starbucks. My hotel had two, and every adjacent block too. Every block on Waikiki has at least one for the 3 miles extension of the main avenue.
My favorite aspect of the trip was that it felt like traveling back in time. Not only because of the decor (seriously guys, it is time to redecorate), but because it looks so much like Rio de Janeiro, minus the violence and crowds. When you drive to the countryside it looks like Parana, my home state.
My second favorite was the Polynesian Cultural Center. They have some pretty tale about everyone there being a student and the profits covering their tuition. No way - it is much more likely a mix of students and professionals. We saw a show from "Uncle Benny" that was sensational and very informative. His daughter is a gold medalist - she won gold on female soccer over Brazil so I climbed the stage at the end of the show to chat with him and he was extremely nice. At end of day as I was leaving he called me from the distance and waved - I am still amazed he remembered me.
One thing they teach us is the meaning of 'Aloha'. It goes more or less 'how can I be the essence of life to you?' My wife noted that on the range of salutations 'Aloha' and 'Namaste' are on the deep end of meaning and humanity. On the other extreme we have the Seattle standard 'Hi, there'.
By the way, they pronounce the name of the islands 'ha-vah-ee', closer to how we name it in Portuguese. About 10% of the island population is indeed Portuguese, they came with the pineapples (not a joke). |
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