The Rasterbator

In our new apartment Chris and I have huge amounts of empty wall-space. Anything other than a mural would be swallowed up by these walls. Unfortunately, big art comes in big prices.

Enter the Rasterbator.

Upload any image file and this web program will instantly send it back to you in the gigantic size of your choice, neatly divided into up to 20 meters' worth of 8x10 paper.

It's awesome and it's free. Let the creativity begin!

The Illusion-less

Last night Mike and I went to see The Illusionist. We were excited that Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti had opposing roles. We were sure the movie would be delightful. "A twist ending like I've never seen," is one of the things I read. I also read that Jessica Biel does well in comparison to the two male leads, two actors whom I consider to be among the best alive today.

What a disappointment. As the plot gets rolling, we're introduced to an obvious set-up for a twist ending, but I held in there. Surely the twist would be far better than the false, fake-out twist they were setting up.

It wasn't. The twist that you see coming by midway into the movie is the only twist there was. "Twist ending like I've never seen" might apply if this movie came out before The Sixth Sense, before Fight Club. But in this post-twist world of movies, The Illusionist was a big yawn.

I am hardly ever disappointed by movies. I usually find something about them that I like. I am hesitant to say I dislike anyting. "It was entertaining," Mike said, "even though you knew exactly where it was going."

My money was better spent the night before last, on Jackass Two. At best performance art and at worst a bunch of morons just trying to get rich, it was entertaining. The audience alone made it fun. There was a drug-bust midway into the movie; police officers removed five baggy-clothed kids. I was carded on the way in, as were lots of other people. Parents had to accompany their kids but often didn't sit with them. During the previews, two teen boys sat down on the other side of Mike and immediately began chugging bottles of cough medicine. The mother and father on the other side of me kept whispering to each other. She covered her eyes through 20% of it.

It makes me feel young to have enjoyed Jackass more than the stylings of Norton and Giamatti. And it makes me feel old to have had that thought.

Strunk & White say "Rain all day"

Boston.com Weather says,

Sunday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 9am, then a chance of showers between 9am and noon, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between noon and 3pm, then showers likely after 3pm.

Amazing Races

Call me a sucker for a gimmick. I haven't watched Survivor since, I think, season two, but I tuned in last night for the premiere of season 13, the one where they've divided the teams by race.

My first thought when I saw the commercial was one many other people probably shared: "Are they really doing that?" I'll hand it to CBS -- it was a pretty ballsy move. We don't even like to talk about race in this country, never mind create situations where four different races would openly compete.

Survivor, however, calls them "ethnicities" rather than "races," and in a weird way that makes the whole thing more palatable, doesn't it? To me, ethnicity suggests ancestry, where race is all about DNA. And race is almost irrelevant since, as far as I know, the DNA of a white person is all but indistinguishable from a black person or an Asian person or a Latin American.

And the gimmick turned out to feel mostly irrelevant too. Sure, there will probably be a tendency to want to read symbolism into which team wins and which loses, but with only five representative people per team it would be hard to take any of that seriously. What struck me the most was how American all these people are. Being American somehow supersedes color. So it's probably a lot less scandalous than CBS had hoped. They're just dopes on an island, after all, no matter what color they are.

They're going to have to show more of Ozzy shimmying up palm trees if they're going to keep me watching, because the race thing is old news already. I'm happy to say: Who cares?

Overheard Excerpts

Two Overheard in the Office exchanges I liked today:

Little girl looking at Ann Coulter's Godless: Who's that lady, dad?
Dad: She's a crazy lady who doesn't know what she's talking about.
Little girl: She looks like she should be in movies.
Dad: [Shocked silence]
Little girl: But not very good movies.
Dad: Ha! That's my girl.

Manager: So why do you want to work in a book store?
Teen: Um...I love reading books.
Manager: What's the last book you read?
Teen: Uh...Umm...I don't...[Giggles]...Umm...
Manager: Well, what's your favorite book?
Teen: Um...
Manager: Okay.

A Find

I was thrilled to find this Vera Wang dress on a recent comb through a discount store. According to various websites, it retails for over $800. I paid $40. It was the only one they had, it was my size, and it's actually long enough for me! And it wasn't a frivolous purchase - I can wear it to my friend's upcoming wedding.

I would have purchased it whether it was Vera Wang or not, ( I don't care about designer names) but the fact that it is gives me a little extra pleasure.

Aw, crikey...

I guess if you have to go, and you're a crocodile hunter, getting stabbed in the heart by a stingray is just about the best way it can happen.


Still really sad, though. I don't think there was anyone who disliked this guy, if only because he was a such a passionate and crazy mofo.