The SjN Chronicles

It's a wonderful life...

Such is the life of Frank. Play a bit, fall asleep in the toybox.

I wish I were a dog...

A splash of color in an all too gray world...

Monday. 10:30AM. I'm sitting on an American Airlines plane heading to Alabama. I reach into the magazine pocket and pull out the American Airlines Magazine and start flipping through it.

I come upon an article titled the Peter Pan Syndrome. It told the story of a Brooklyn freelance photographer and street artist named Katie Sokoler. What this woman does is nothing short of amazing! I've always had an eye for art and I love the occasional touch of whimsy. That pretty much sums up Katie Sokoler. As the magazine says "One artist has a mission to keep  New York young — one daydream at a time".

Two of her projects completely blew me away. The first came to life by Katie wondering what the people on her subway were thinking while chugging along on the B train. She began cutting out thought bubbles from construction paper and adding whimsical pictures to the bubbles like hearts, flying people etc. She would then paste the thought bubbles around her Brooklyn neighborhood and then lay in wait for some unsuspecting passerby to fall into her art trap.

SNAP! A camera shutter went off and presto, instant art piece! It's so simple, yet elegant. Katie just brings a real "feel good" emotion when looking at her work.

I mean, how fitting is this image? Some random guy walking past a bakery thinking about cupcakes. She definitely stirs a different feeling other than the humdrum commutes everyone takes blindly during their days.

I don't think I've ever quite seen art the way she portrays it. Women thinking about love, dogs dreaming of that ultimate bone, men lost in thought over that perfect woman. You name it and Katies' brought those thoughts to life somewhere in Brooklyn, New York. Her work really is amazing. I'll be honest, it's very seldom that someone can show me the side of humanity that feeds off of the good and whimisical things in life. All too often, especially in these times, negativity abounds. It's not healthy. People like Katie Sokoler are tiny sparkling gems in the sea of humanity. When you find one, hold on to it.

I'm not letting Katie go anytime soon.

Oh, here's another one of her projects that I absolutely love. She was inspired by Peter Pan's shadow playing tricks on him for this project. She merely cuts out human shapes from construction paper and pastes it to a wall. She then lays in wait armed with her trusty camera. Again, unknowing passersby contribute greatly to her pieces.

The outcome is extraordinary!

Seriously, if you need a pick-me-up then head over to her website - Color Me Katie. Then prepare yourself for a trip through wonderland! I've never experienced anything quite like this - EVAR!

Well, let me know what you think of my little discovery! Going to go find some construction paper. I think Katie has inspired me to try some of these ideas out for myself!!

Till next time!

Shawn

Hungry For Star Wars?

Then dig in for a nice helping of this fan film I discovered recently. Not sure how long it's been out, I believe chapter one came out a few years ago. and chapter two released just last month but I was stoked when I finally found it!

It's called I.M.P.S - The Relentless.

I.M.P.S stands for Imperial Military Personnel Stories as told by troopers stationed aboard the Revenge Class Heavy Carrier - The Relentless.

The fan film really manages to bring out a personal side to the life of Storm Troopers. Your typical military unit, lewd, crude and ready to kick ass. This is a really well done film setup almost like a documentary. If I'm not mistaken the narrator appears to be Peter Cullen of Optimus Prime fame but I could be mistaken. Sure sounds like him though!

Here's a teaser for chapter one-

Anyway, GO CHECK OUT THIS FILM! You can download the episodes from the site or you can just head over to You Tube and find them posted. There are currently two chapters released so far and the website looks to have a total of 8 chapters planned so there is much more to see from I.M.P.S - The Relentless!

-SjN

Avatar: An SjN Take,

For starters, I loved it. I won't go into any details of the movie in the event you haven't seen it but for two hours and forty minutes, I was lost on a distant planet with nigh a worry about terrorism, health care, my job or the fact that my truck needs an oil change. For a few precious moments, the world I know had disappeared.

I just watched my friend Herbert Midgley's review of Avatar. In part I agree with him. Story is key. Acting, special effects etc... come in second. However, there are points where I must respectfully disagree with his critique.

You see, I personally gauge a movie by how well that movie manages to lose me within the individual frames of the film strip itself. In Avatar's case, a search party had to be dispatched to find me! Yes, story is key but the story is only one aspect of multiple facets of a movie that are responsible of "sucking you in" to the film and holding you there. Pulp Fiction comes to mind. The story was all over the place yet the film still worked because the other aspects of Quentin Tarantino's genius were able to come through and hold you there.

The same in Avatar's case. The story was there but the other aspects of the film kept you glued there.

Yes, I've heard the arguments over predictability, overused plot lines etc...etc...etc... The fact is, that basic plot line forms the basis of many, many, many movies yet, it still works. Pocahontas, Fern Gully, Dances with Wolves to name a few all share that same basic plot line. It's how you wrap the entire package and tie it with a beautiful bow that makes a good movie. I believe James Cameron was able to pull that off with Avatar.

Now, regarding Herbert Midgley, for those that don't know him (and you should, after all he is THE Internet Legend!!), Herbert is a professor of music and makes his own films having taken film making classes. I have read many reviews from many film makers. There is one very important point that film maker reviews have taught me. NEVER go to film school! It seems that once someone goes to film school, they tend to lose that fantasy "inner child" side of their brains. Film makers, rather than sitting back enjoying and having fun with the "absurd" instead spend the entire time in their seats, eating popcorn and dissecting every shot, every angle, every aspect ratio, every F stop of the film wondering why the director decided to do "this" or do "that". Seems kind of depressing to me.

Especially in times like these, the economy in the toilet, the world hell bent on wiping Americans off the face of the Earth, bombs in underwear, global warming or whatever... For a few moments, none of that existed. For a few moments, it was Pandora, some 10 foot tall Smurfs and crazed marines whisking me away on a fantasy adventure. If you too just need an escape. Need to get away. Need to decompress, have fun with this film. For it truly sends you into the realm of fantasy.

That, my friends, makes a good movie.

-SjN

Ah.... A Christmas Classic

Christmas.

A time of joy. A time of cheer. A time to reflect on the year and how well you contributed to all that is good in the world.

For me, this holiday just isn't the same without injecting some good old, proven science into the legend that is Santa Claus. For it is not wise to assume the existence of such a legend as fact without applying Santa to the rigors of the scientific method. So, for your reading pleasure, I give you an old Internet classic -

The Physics of Santa Claus:

1. No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are some 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.
2. There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million according to the Population Reference Bureau. At an average census rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.(Though I would argue even that nowadays).
3. Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, and assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of his sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course we know to be false but for the purpose of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75.5 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc.This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.
4. The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized Lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (refer to point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal load, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh to an astonishing 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.
5. 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance. This will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy per SECOND, EACH! In short, they will burst into flames almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centripetal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250 pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.

In conclusion - If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's most assuredly dead by now.

Merry Christmas....

Politics Today, Sesame Street Style!

Was given this toon today and thought it was simply awesome. Leave it to Sesame Street to put all of the craziness in today's politics into perspective!

This strip was created by cartoonist - Mike Luckovich and it really sums it all up in an amazing piece of artistic work.

I'm keeping it short today but felt I just had to post this! Click on the image for a full size version!

Oh, and SUPPORT HEALTH CARE REFORM!!!

Para-UNnormal?

Ahhhh... The Ghost Hunters. T.A.P.S - The Atlantic Paranormal Society. For those that don't know, T.A.P.S is a paranormal investigation team that started this "little" show a few years back called the Ghost Hunters on the SyFy Network.

I've been a fan from pretty much the beginning. Loved the tech involved and the way they went about the investigations. However, I've always taken the paranormal footage generated with a grain of salt. I guess that's the whole scientist side of me keeping me in the realm of fact.

Today however was a bad day. You see, there is information coming to light that may paint a dark picture over the whole "science" of paranormal investigations.

While perusing Twitter, I came across some mentions of an interview conducted by a radio show called the Ghost Divas. They interview people in the paranormal business. They recently interviewed an investigator named Donna LaCroix who used to be a starring investigator on the show Ghost Hunters.

Take a listen to DONNA'S CONFESSION here.

It would seem that things are not as they seem on the Hit paranormal show. In a way I'm disappointed but on the same side of the coin, I can't say I'm surprised. I place paranormal investigation in the realm of crop circles, aliens and big foot. To which I quote the late great Carl Sagan:

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence..."

Yes, the T.A.P.S team produced some great evidence but if there is the slightest injection of doubt, you have to throw it all away. You can't believe just for the sake of believing. Donna's interview has the potential of doing some damage to the show and the field. We'll have to see how it plays out.

For you die hards out there, don't be too disappointed. Watch the show for the entertainment value. It's a great show but don't take every bit of evidence they gather as gospel. It is just a show after all.

Give it a listen. It's well worth the time! Oh, there are a few bad words riddled through out the interview so for those with sensitive ears, take heed.

SjN

And on the Eighth Day...

God created TiVo.

I gotta tell ya, for the past couple of months, I've been in a real rut when it comes to my home entertainment system.

I recently upgraded my cable service for HD content and am absolutely loving it. There was one problem however.

My trusty Series 2 Tivo doesn't support HD programming and hence, I had to disconnect it. At the time I thought to myself "Meh, I'll never miss it..."

How wrong I was.

As with most TiVo owners, I had become accustomed to not being chained to my TV any longer. Gone are the days of having to rush home to catch the latest episode of The Big Bang Theory or The Simpsons. Nope, schedule it and forget it. Having an HDTV with no Tivo is like having cake without frosting or a sundae without whip cream and a cherry.

So what did I do about that little situation?

Well, I called the cable company. They offer a "DVR" upgrade and all I had to do was go down and pick it up. I figured what the hell, so I made plans to head to the cable store on Monday. Enter the universe. I was as checking mail yesterday and as the Universe usually does, it guided me to a new course. I swear, if there is indeed a god, I have no doubt that it is the universe. But I digress.

Got an email from TiVo yesterday stating that if I upgraded my service to an HDDVR, they would knock a hundred bucks off the price! I scored a Tivo for only a hundred bucks which was good since I also tacked on the lifetime service!

So now I have a shiny new TiVo en route to my hot little hands! I CAN'T WAIT!

Then, this morning I was perusing the TiVo website and found this - A FREE WIRELESS ADAPTER! I called up TiVo and told them that I just bought an HD DVR and wanted to see if I could get in on this free action. About 5 minutes later, BAM! I have a WiFi adapter on it's way! That's one thing I have to say about TiVo, their customer service is fantastic!

So, why TiVo and not my cable companies DVR? Aside from the obvious recording, how about:

• Video on Demand
• Podcasts!
• Photo albums and video albums
• Multi-room video sharing
• YouTube at it's finest!
• Direct access to Fandango to check movie times and buy tickets
• tons of music channels

I could go on and on. Bottom line?

I LOVE TiVo. So should you...

Humankind's Last Stand

The date was May 1st, 1983. There had been advertisements airing on NBC for weeks about a new science fiction mini series known only as "V". The ads were somewhat cryptic and because of that, anticipation for the mini series grew. People weren't sure what to expect.

I fondly remember sitting around the television that night, armed with a Swanson's TV dinner (salisbury steak rocks!) and a cup of Kool-Aid preparing myself for the science fiction goodness that was about to befall me.

I gotta tell you, the series didn't disappoint me at all. It made quite the impression on my young mind. The idea of an alien race descending on Earth with peaceful intentions and then building up to realize that there are underlying overtones of world domination really captivated me.

One aspect of the series I loved were the parallels of Nazi occupation that went along with the film. There was even a Jewish family portrayed in the film that touched on the similarities between the Visitors and the old Nazi regime. It really got the gray matter working.

I won't go into too much detail in the event that you actually haven't seen it yet but at the time, the series definitely made it to my personal top ten list of must-see sci-fi flicks to catch. Heck, it could have made top ten for the kick ass visitor uniforms alone!

Fast forward 26 years. Saturday, October 17th, 2009. I'm sitting in my living room scanning my plethora of DVD's wanting to watch something. I come to my V Mini series DVD. I pull it from the shelf and slam it into my DVD player. I cooked up a giant batch of kettle corn and cracked open a root beer. Soon, I was relaxing on my couch munching away and getting lost in V. Now granted, the film DEFINITELY is showing it's age. Some of the special effects (well, a lot of the special effects) leave something to be desired. But hell, give the movie a break, it was filmed in 1983 after all! But surprisingly it still managed to captivate me and keep me there. I had a great time. As a matter of fact, I will be watching the second half "The Final Battle" today!

Style-wise, everything about the film was just so extremely cool for 1983. The uniforms, the ships, and this unbelievably awesome logo. To this day, I would LOVE to get this as a tattoo. Upon learing that it is actually a "science-fictionized" swastika however, I'm not so sure anymore.

I still think is cool ;-)

Anyway, if you haven't seen V, take a day or two, rent it and sit down for some good old science fiction fun.

Oh, watching the original might make the new series more enjoyable! Wha? New series?

YES!!

ABC is preparing to air a brand new series! Get ready, I'm hoping this turns into a GREAT remake of the original! Getting TiVo ready to rock and roll!

Well, I'm going to head downstairs and get ready for V - The Final Battle! Have a great Sunday everyone!

-=SjN=-

Children - It's okay not to like them

Children...

In today's society, it has become taboo to even utter the phrase "I don't like kids". Children have been placed on this unattainable pedestal that even god himself would have trouble conquering.

Well, I am here today to set the record straight. I don't like kids. Call me pathetic, call me self centered, call me a #&#^$#@! Whatever. I don't like them, I've tried to like them but you know what. I JUST DON'T! There, I said it.

You know what? It's okay. It's perfectly fine to not like children. It doesn't make you a monster, it doesn't make you any less human. It makes you someone who doesn't like kids. Period.

I would venture to guess that a majority of people feel this way yet stay quiet about it. Even parents! For every "cute" thing your kid does, I am 100% positive that there are a thousand things that your kid does that drives you up the wall. It's a fact of life.

One of the reasons for my disdain of children is that unattainable pedestal society places them on. Just today I was watching the news about a bus crash. All the news could report was the fact that some kids got injured! Paramedics, police, firefighters rushed to the scene to help the children!!! Finally at the end of the broadcast you heard this - "Oh, and 15 adults were injured and the driver died..."

Like adults are any less F'ing important.

I remember when I was a kid, I could run outside and do crazy things like ride my bike without helmets, elbow pads and knee pads! Imagine that! I broke bones, scuffed my knees daily and got bloody noses. It's part of being a kid. Life lessons are a very important thing growing up! Today's kids lack that. They are so sheltered and protected that they ultimately grow up being evil little monsters. Yesterday there was a news report that 3 teens, in their infinite wisdom decided to douse this other kid sitting by a swimming pool and set him on fire. ON FIRE! What the hell?

Nope. I seriously don't like kids.

And yes, I can hear you now. "Don't blame the kids, blame the parents" True. Totally true. But at some point kids must share the brunt of responsibility. They are not untouchable little angles. Parents today are not allowed to discipline their children anymore. Go ahead and try it. Spank your brat in the grocery store and see what happens. You'll either stir up a flash mob or you'll be visited by CPS. It's absolutely ridiculous. Then there are teachers. The poor teachers. With the absence of discipline in schools, kids run rampant. Schools are full of drugs, guns wayward sex and all kinds of vile activities. Give the teachers their paddles back and lay down some laws.

Now, to be fair, there are good kids. Kids that do what they are told, obey the rules and go on to be productive members of society. I applaud them. My problem is that number is incredibly small. I fear for our future.

Finally, if you don't like children, it's okay. Like George Carlin once said, "Children are like any other member of society, some winners and a whole lot of losers". It's just a fact of life. There is no rule written anywhere that states you MUST love children at all costs.

Go forth in your feelings. Don't hurt them, be nice, that's a part of being a respectable member of society but stay true to your feelings.

One last thing, it may be unfair to say I don't like kids as it's not 100% the kids fault. What really causes this feeling towards children is how we, as a society raise our children. Rearing kids without discipline, is a recipe for disaster (and NO, Timeout is NOT discipline). A good crack on the ass does wonders and establishes boundaries. Something that kids today know nothing about.

That is all,

-SjN