It’s episode #128 of Scattercast … Happy New Year!
A shortened holiday episode … that got recorded twice.
A new decade is starting, lets make it a friendlier one.
More about CES and how there may be no episode next week.
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“What is CES?”
I have been getting this question a lot as of late as I prepare to head off to the event next week. CES is the abbreviation or the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It is a trade show that covers all of the Las Vegas Convention Center and spills over into several of the casinos. For four days a year the electronics companies descend on Vegas and show off all of their wares for the upcoming year, announce new services and basically make you drool all over yourself with all of the pretty new gadgets.
The show officially runs next Thursday through Sunday, but those of us in the press get in earlier in the week for press briefings, keynote speeches, preview events and so on. I will actually be getting into town Monday afternoon and start things off bright and early on Tuesday morning. From there on out its a rocket sled ride until I leave the following Monday.
While I have attended many trade shows over the years, most notably the International Toy Fair in New York City, this does sound like the largest I will have ever attended clocking in at 1.8 million square feet of display space. Comfy shoes will definitely be in order.
I’ll be covering the show for TechnoBuffalo.com, so you can follow all of my posts over there, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some thoughts don’t spill over to here also.
I used to fall for the whole, “I need to make New Year’s resolutions!” thing, but as I’ve gotten older I have come to the conclusion they are totally meaningless.
I am all for people making positive changes in their lives, but why do we feel the need to set these changes to some sort of date? Most people get discouraged with them after a couple of weeks and think, “Oh, well, no one keeps to their resolutions, so I might as well drop it.”
No, how about instead you just think through out the year, “You know, I really need to change aspect X in my life” and you just do it? You don’t need to wait around for a certain date to happen, you just get up, you get it done and you keep at it.
I have chronicled my battle with weight loss on this blog more times than I care to remember, and trust me there are many days I just want to throw in the towel. I do not enjoy going to the gym as it is just not a generally pleasant place, but I keep going. Why? I like the results I see and it is about the only time every day where I get a quite hour to myself. I put on the iPod, fire up a podcast, and I zone out for 30 to 60 minutes. There are no instant messages, no e-mails, no Tweets, no phone calls, it’s just me working to better myself.
Perhaps if this had started as a New Year’s resolution I would have given up after a couple of weeks, but instead it was just something I woke up one day and went, “Forget this, I’m going to lose weight,” and I did it. I am healthier than I have ever been, have more energy and I look better. Yay.
It isn’t just weight loss, however. Is there something in your life that you could change for the better? Of course there is. Instead of waiting for that magical date of Jan. 1st to roll around, why don’t you just do it now. You want to curse less? Just stop. You want to go to the gym? Just go. You want to find a better job? Start looking. But pick something, tell yourself you’re going to do it, and do it. Stick with it until you reach that goal, and then keep going if you can. Just don’t tie it to some stupid date.
Now, excuse me, but I need to head to the gym.
The National Film Preservation Board has made their annual announcement of which films are being added to The National Film Registry.
For those unfamiliar with the project, each year up to 25 films are selected for preservation in the Library of Congress. Each film must be at least 10-years-old, they do not have to be feature length, and they do not have to have received a theatrical release.
This year’s list includes:
As with each year there are a lot of early movies on here I have never heard of, but the real stand outs this year are Airplane!, The Empire Strikes Back and Saturday Night Fever. Almost every year there is one or two that I feel don’t fit with the charter for the National Film Preservation Board which says eligible films have to be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films” to be included in the registry. However, this year? I think I agree with all of them. This really is a stellar lineup of films.
Any movies on the list that confuse you?
You can send in up to 50 films for the 2011 list, get to it folks!
You can also check out the additions for 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
As long time readers of this blog know, I pride myself that I’ve blogged every day since March 12, 2005. Seeing as I don’t leave town very often this has been a fairly easy process, but what do you do when you have to go on a trip you know will be crazy busy?
I’m leaving on Sunday, Jan. 2nd for Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show, and won’t be back until Tuesday, Jan. 11th. A lot of bloggers who give tips on prepping for a trip say to advance write posts, and that you should always have a week’s worth of posts in your drafts, ready to go. The problem is on a personal blog is that feels a bit like cheating to me. Just because I post on a day doesn’t feel like I actually blogged that day to me. I’ve done it once or twice in the history of this site, but I’ve never thrilled to it.
In the case of this trip I will be writing until my fingers are numb for TechnoBuffalo, so the idea of coming back to room each night to write a post for this site is less than appealing. With this in mind, sadly, I’m going to prep some advanced posts just to be safe, but I would much prefer write fresh content each day.
The solution for every blogger will of course differ with what makes them comfortable, but sometimes you don’t have any choice but to break out of your comfort zone. I certainly don’t want to break a streak that is this close to hitting the six year mark, so out of my comfort zone I shall go. Hopefully I won’t have to use those backup posts, but you just never know how things are going to shake out when you’re on a business trip.
And to the umpteen people who keep wishing me fun in Vegas … HAH! If you could see my schedule you’d be wondering when I’m going to eat and sleep, let alone have “fun”.
Over the years I have come to the conclusion that for all of its build up, Christmas really needs to be more than one day.
There is a certain melancholy that comes with Dec. 26th when you realize it’s all over. You spend literally months in a frenzy of preparing for the day, rushing to buy gifts, being bombarded with ads and never really getting to enjoy “the season” as it were. Then you get to the actual day and it’s more rush, rush, rush as you open gifts, cook the big meal, get to the right house and so on, leaving you drained.
And then it’s all over.
The music stops, the lights come down and the tree is tossed out or put back in the attic. Life returns to “normal” on the 26th without you ever having gotten to take a breather and actually soak in the celebration we all just killed ourselves over.
Luckily this year the 26th falls on a Sunday so you can take a moment to breath, but why don’t you not worry so much about ending the festivities? For years my family has left Christmas decorations up year round not out of laziness, but because working in retail we never really get to enjoy the time. We also launched a blog called Remembering Christmas so we could talk about it all year long. Why should an event we wait all year for be restricted to just one day?
I say fight those doldrums, leave your tree up for an extra week if you want, who cares if it’s mid-Jan. and the garland is still on the mantle? Are the Christmas police going to come and bust you for it? Do what you want with your own home. (Although I do recommend taking down exterior decorations just to protect it from sun damage) Don’t let others dictate to you how you keep the Christmas spirit going.
As for me, I do it year round … and I don’t care what anyone thinks about it.
A total of 32 published this week. Yay holidays!
Any fan of Doctor Who has often dreamed of having a working TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space), but now there’s some motivation to build your own.
BBC America is having a contest for those who wish to show their love for the Doctor’s vehicle and you can win a private screening party or a ton of DVDs. I’ve wanted to build one since I was a kid, but lacking any sort of woodworking skills, or the time, I’ve never gotten around to it. (I do, however, have a 16-foot long scarf my grandmother knitted for me in honor of the fourth Doctor, Tom Baker) If I had the skills or the time I would certainly be getting in on this contest … of course I would want my TARDIS to actually work, but that is neither here nor there.
Head over to WheresTheTARDIS.com for more info, and enjoy their infomercial.
It’s episode #127 of Scattercast … Merry Christmas everyone!
Sorry this is late … my podcast host was being a pain.
More prepping for CES.
Tales of a quick drive to Kansas City
What makes a movie “a Christmas classic”?
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I’ve been a fan of Kevin Smith’s films since I saw Clerks in 1994. While he’s had his rough spots (-cough Jersey Girl cough-), and his films certainly don’t appeal to all tastes, he’s turned into a darn good filmmaker. Mr. Smith is almost as well known for his growing Smodcast network as his films these days, and he has said multiple times that he feels his film career is coming to an end, he seems to still have a few tricks up his sleeve.
This is the first teaser trailer for his newest film, Red State. Described as a horror film, what is known so far is it is loosely based on those lovable kooks over at the Westboro Baptist Church. While I was immediately drawn to this production by Mr. Smith and the subject matter, I am blown away by this teaser. If Mr. Smith hadn’t published this trailer himself, and removed his name from it, I would have never guessed this was made by him.
While the trailer is filled with quick cuts that don’t leave you much time to focus, this is a whole new look for Mr. Smith. You can almost feel a new maturity coming from these shots, and the general sense of uneasiness and claustrophobia lends to you seeing him grow into a seasoned filmmaker.
Will this movie be for everyone? Heck no. It is still Kevin Smith writing and directing this film, and he is not one to sugarcoat his sensibilities and world view. It will offend a great number of people, and that’s just the way things are.
Mild language warning, but I encourage you to check it out. (look at it this way, this replaced my annual post about Festivus)
Did Jimmy do something good at home last night? Maybe did the dishes without being reminded? Cleaned his room? Perhaps you would like to reward him with a fun sized candy bar in his lunch for school.
Forget it if you live in St. Paul, MN.
According to The Star Ledger, the St. Paul school district has declared its schools to be “sweet-free zones”, and no candy or sweets of any kind will be allowed on school premises. This includes bringing anything in for a child’s birthday party, throwing a candy in a kid’s school lunch and selling anything for fundraisers.
In other words, the St. Paul school district has decided to take decision making out of the parent’s hands.
The decision was made four years ago based on the recommendation of a panel of parents, teachers, school nurses and administrators. The ban is only going into effect this year due to several changes in school administration, but by the end of this school year the ban will be completely in place. This is being driven by recently hired superintendent Valeria Silva who was shocked to learn that 40 percent of the fourth graders in the school district are considered to be obese.
Jill Gebeke, principal at Chelsea Heights Elementary, told the newspaper, “We have these kids for 6 1/2 hours a day. We want to put this message front and center.”
I’m sorry, but have you ever met children?
These kids have just been told that something is forbidden to them, that is going to make them even more interested in it. How many convenience stores do they pass on the way home? How much candy is in their homes? Are you also teaching them about the perils of fast food? No, instead you are telling these kids, “We know what’s good for you more than your parents do, and so what we say goes.” You aren’t teaching them a thing, you are simply taking over something you should have absolutely no say in.
I can understand the removal of sweets being sold by a school, even if I feel the way it has happened is heavy handed, but having any sort of a say in what a parent deems as appropriate for their child is just beyond the pale. You have absolutely no say in what a parent sends for their child to eat, and to think otherwise is is insane.
There is a point where this nanny state malarkey has to come to an end. Government has no right to dictate in how we conduct our private lives. Unless a child is showing signs of abuse, the school should have absolutely no say in how a parent decides to raise their child. Period.
Thanks to Jo for the tip.
It seems that terrorists may have a new target in mind when it comes to how to throw us into a tailspin: buffets.
CBS is reporting that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the same group that recently attempted to blow up cargo planes that were flying into major U.S. cities, has come up with a plan that would see them spreading poisons across multiple locations in numerous cities on the same weekend. The method of delivery would be pouring ricin and cyanide into buffets and salad bars. The initial symptoms would show up as food poisoning, but it wouldn’t be long before it was discovered what would really be happening.
Apparently this is part of something that is being referred to as “Operation Hemorrhage.” Propaganda about the operation reportedly says that the plan is about “…attacking the enemy with smaller but more frequent operations” to meet the ends of “add[ing] a heavy economic burden to an already faltering economy.”
This warning was issued to hotel and food management operations, but was not yet supposed to make it out to the general public so as not to panic them. Gee … thanks.
In less than two weeks I am heading to Las Vegas for a week on business … you know, the land of buffets? Guess what I won’t be eating while there!
Honestly, I’m not surprised by this news. I’ve worried for years about how one crazy person with a little bit of knowledge could get a thrill from sticking poison in a buffet or salad bar. Oh, and now everyone has the idea, so who knows could go about doing this same thing. I hate to say it folks, but I don’t think going anywhere near a buffet is the brightest idea for at least a few months. Don’t worry, your waistline will thank you.
