If you like pointless blogs, you will LOVE today's entry




The reflection in that picture is William Gibson (hope he doesn't get mad at me for hijacking the image). I didn't even realize he's blogging again (after announcing to the world that if he didn't stop writing online, he wouldn't be able to get his next book done).

A couple years ago, after reading his two classic "trilogys", I found out that he would be finishing up a new book ("Pattern Recognition"). I couldn't wait, and I was able to find a promo copy on eBay. It was pretty good, but not as good as some of his older material, but I was stoked none-the-less to have an advanced copy of "Pattern Recognition" and to be able to finish it months before the rest of the nerds could even touch it. When the book finally came out, I found out that Gibson would be holding a Q&A/reading/book signing in Palo Alto, so I took the day off from work and drove down to the bay to see the living legend and to have my book signed.

He was speaking at this tiny bookstore (no bigger than Time Tested Books), read a chapter from the new book, and answered a bunch questions. It was great. After that, everyone got in line to have Willie G sign there brand new hard-covered copies of the new book. He gave everybody a "thanks", a smile and signed their books, until I walked up with my paperback promo version, where he just kind of gave me a "hope you make a lot on eBay with this" look and hastily scribbled his name on the inside cover. Oh well. I guess he hates me now.

I still have it, and I plan on keeping it. Maybe my great great grandchildren will be hard up for drug money one day and sell it.

puppies never flake on you

I'm a computer nerd, so what?



Anyhow...

I've been really annoyed with movies lately. For some reason, the movies I've been catching up with on DVD that are supposed to be "great" have been letting me down, amounting to nothing more than dull characters, cliche' story lines and television like cinematics. I'll start my tirade today with one I saw recently (warning, I may spoil it for you if you haven't seen it yet, even though the plot is as predictable as any bad TV show...I even found myself saying the next line before the characters in the movie.)

< tirade >
So what's the big deal with the movie "Garden State"?

I finally saw it and for the life of me can't see at all why this movie is supposed to be so great. It was more like an after school special edition of "Scrubs" where Scrubs guy (playing an unconvincing recovering prescription drug addict) goes home, but instead of John Ritter, his dad is now some old dude. He meets some annoying girl who likes The Shins, so they play a lot of Shins songs in the movie during the montage sequences. For some reason he falls in love with her, but can't stand his small NJ town and all his annoying, dead end friends and lame dad, since he's now some actor in LA. He decides to go home and leave his annoying girlfriend behind, but at the last minute, right when you think he's gone and left her on a flight home, he appears in the airport all "I love you...whah whah..gimme a big smooch!" and it ends.

Horrible.

< /tirade >