If you can read this, then GeekMan's World is now running on my old PowerBook G4.

Posted at 01:16 PM | Comments (4)

Wooo! New 1-18-08 trailer on Apple. It's now known as "Cloverfield", the production code name.

It's funny. In 1999 a little movie came out you may remember called The Blair Witch Project. I know, I know, we regard the memory now with tepid emotions: the ending was terrible and you could only really watch it once. But let's face it, no film had ever entered the mainstream consciousness before that used this kind of concept (careful sticklers, I said mainstream). That is, the camera, usually a camcorder which conceivably is carried by one of the characters, acts as a roving eyeball. We, the viewer, are not spoiled with the near-omnipotent vantage point of the typical action or horror flick. Instead, we're placed on the ground, with the protagonists, forced in the same crawling-worm perspective as them. Suddenly, something which may not be particularly scary from an omnipotent viewpoint (such as a monster attack on a New York City... hint hint) becomes terrifying. We are drawn in to the helpless predicament of the characters as they struggle with lack of knowledge and fear, scrambling to survive. It's a brilliant, and relatively simple advance in storytelling. I look forward to seeing it evolve, and sincerely hope that Cloverfield will be part of that evolution. If you're still scoffing, well, it sure as hell beats the traumatizing blood-and-guts shock tactics of most modern horror films.

Moving along.

Had a nice bonding experience with Martha on Friday. She brought chocolate-chip peanut butter cookies and we spent hours talking about stuff. Now I'm indoctrinating her into the BattleStar Galactica fold.

I finished Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay recently. For anyone looking for a good, modern-day fantasy read, I heartily recommend it.

Christmas is coming, so gift suggestions are welcome. Could the stores please hold off on all those awful, mouldy Christmas songs for another two weeks, please? Maybe this year I'll get the majority of my shopping done before it gets too crazy. Here's hoping...

Posted at 05:12 PM | Comments (0)

If you have not followed this story in the news, I suggest you start.

Almost a month ago now, Robert Dziekanski, an arriving passenger at the Vancouver airport, became agitated while detained in customs. He started throwing chairs around, and eventually security called in the RCMP to handle the situation. The confrontation was brief and ended with Dziekanski's death. He was tasered by officers and did not survive.

The details have been unclear for almost a month. Paul Pritchard, a bystander who videotaped the event, has been fighting tooth and nail to get his tape back during that time. Now, thanks to the efforts of that young man, what really happened has been unveiled to the public. And it's disgusting.

When four RCMP officers arrived at the scene, they were informed by security that the man spoke no English. It was less than 30 seconds after their arrival, with Dziekanski in no way threatening them, that one of the officers taserd Dziekanski. They hit him three or four times. He falls to the ground, convulsing.

This gross lack of judgement and excessive use of force is disturbing enough, but what is even more unsettling is that the RCMP lied to the public. They claimed that three RCMP officers approached the man, that he was still throwing chairs around when they confronted him, and that they tasered him twice. These are all lies. The truth is that four RCMP officers with incredibly poor judgement got away with murder because they wanted to try out their taser and finish the situation quickly, rather than do their fucking jobs and talk down a frightened civillian who didn't speak English.

The video aired tonight on CBC news, and I have never been so sickened by an abuse of police power in my entire life. I for one will never trust the RCMP again unless these sorry excuses for officers are dishonourably discharged. They don't deserve to wear the uniform.

Posted at 06:30 PM | Comments (6)

I'm still busy, as always. Stayed late today. Probably will stay late tomorrow, as well as trying to get in extra early. But its time for a post, regardless of whether I have any terribly coherent stream of thought.

First and foremost I'd like to thank all the kindness visited upon me by my friends. Thanks to my parents for all the kitchen accessories they got me. Thanks to my all my friends who showed up to celebrate my birthday. Thanks to Martha for making all those buttertarts and spending so much time with Angela and I. Thanks of course to my lovely girlfriend for getting me Mario Party 4, 7, and 8. I feel loved.   :-)

I got a new laptop. Yes, it's only been two years since I got my last one. I felt very left behind when I bought my Powerbook G4, only to see Apple switch to the much more powerful Intel Core 2 Duos mere months later. Plus, Future Shop was having a lovely deal on the current line of MacBooks, trying to make room for the very slightly improved newer models. And, lucky me, it came with a Mac OS X Leopard upgrade DVD. As for my old laptop, I have plans for it. You'll see...

I've come to the realization that talking about computers bores the hell out of a lot of you. Let's be honest, most of you just aren't very... well... enthusiastic about technology. Sure, a fair number of you are competent computer users, but that's not going to make you interested in how I tweaked my Postfix config files to fix that e-mail transport problem. That's why I've registered (the oh-so remarkably yet-unregistered domain name) IT-Blog.ca, to make a site documenting all the questions I asked as a technology enthusiast and IT Manager but had trouble getting the answers to. I'd tell you to stay tuned... but like you care.

That's all I've got time for right now. Ciao.

Posted at 06:32 PM | Comments (2)

I took a walk this evening, to clear my head and get some exercise. It's dark out there, very dark. And I've just been reading a book about spirits and ancient rites and old gods spilling into our world with malevolent intent. So understandably I'm a bit on edge. When the dark is all around me, quiet and thick; when I'm walking through it, feeling introspective; it seems then that the darkness is both frightening and seductive. It seems that it's going to reach out and grab me; the prey instinct. It's an exhilarating fear because it's primal, and yet the logical mind tells me that in the suburbs a 6+ foot tall man has very little to fear in the way of predators. So the dark also becomes seductive: there are moments when I just want to jump into the darkness and disappear; cease to be Jesse, if only for a while, and just skulk around as a creature in the shadows.

From the top of the hill, the skyline of Vancouver is beautiful in the clear night. I realize I need a better camera.

At a point, I sense there is a presence behind me. I don't recall having heard anything, though my hearing is poor these days. Nevertheless I know that there is something behind me, not someone. Fearfully, I turn around and scan the darkness. When I see something moving, my eyes widen and my body jumps with a start, just as my mind notices it's just a cat trotting towards me. Seeing my fear, it stops in it's tracks and whirls around... presuming something behind it has startled me. Amusing.

I greet it with the typical half-hearted cooing I reserve for cats. It doesn't rub against my leg or meow, it just stands beside me waiting. I take a few steps. The cat moves in front of me and walks until I stop, then looks back at me, expectantly. "Ah, I'm to be an escort, then." Our neighbourhood plays host to packs of racoons and solitary coyotes; there is much for the domestic feline to fear. We walk for blocks. I refuse to cross streets until cars are well out of the way; thankfully the cat heeds my caution. Every once in a while the little cat stops, reacting to some sound or sense, looking intently into a bush or under a parked car. I keep walking, around the cat if necessary, saying "psst" or jingling my keys in my pocket as I go, as if to say, "there really is nothing I'm worried about, move along."

We continue several blocks in a straight line. I begin to get worried that the cat isn't as bright as I've presumed and that I'm leading him or her further away from home. I stop at corners and look at the cat quizzically, "This way for sure? You'd better know where you're going." But eventually the cat very decisively turns a corner and my faith is restored. Halfway down that street it turns into the walk of a house and stops. I keep walking for a bit and look back at the cat. "Home then?" We stare at eachother for a bit until the cat sits down on the walk with an apparent sense of ownership. So I can be reasonably assured that cat has reached its destination.

"You're welcome," I think to myself as I walk myself home.

Posted at 09:49 PM | Comments (2)