"Give It A Rest."

That's what the parents of Megan Meier were told when they confronted the person who is responsible for the events leading up to their daughter's suicide.

The culprit has been named Lori Drew, a mother of the daughter who actually knew Megan. This adult woman uses an 18-year old to set up a MySpace page to emotionally toy with and psychologically destroy a vulnerable 13-year old girl. If that isn't evil . . .

Adding insult to injury, there will be no prosecution:

"The actions of the Drews and Grills are not criminal under existing state law, because their intent was never to harm, stalk, endanger or harass," said Jack Banas, St. Charles County prosecuting attorney in Missouri.

WTF?

I don't think I would ever get selected to serve on a jury. The justice system is so flawed with loopholes and people get away with murder. And I'm not just talking about O.J. So they might as well stop sending me those jury duty notices.

But now there has been deliverance and it's called cyber justice.

Somebody had posted personal information about the Drews on the Web, including their phone numbers and even information about Lori's business, Drew Advantage.

http://www.lawrenceconnor.com/lori_drew.html

Lori and her husband, Curt, have been getting death threats, their house vandalized, a brick thrown through their window, and the list goes on.

I admit. It brought a smile to my face when I heard this.

There is a powerful vehicle to utilize so justice can be truly served.

*puts on a pair of sunglasses, and walks away into the sunset*

---

Movie Pic of the Month

"I broke my own rule. I started to give a fuck."

Tears of the Sun - I've always had a fascination with elite military forces, particularly the U.S. Navy SEALs. The first movie I ever saw that depicted them very accurately was G.I. Jane directedy by Ridley Scott (American Gangster, Gladiator, Thelma & Louise, Alien). Tears of the Sun is about a SEALs team who started to question their own motives and actions during a mission in Africa.

My Left Foot

I'm always putting my foot in my mouth. Sometimes, I put both feet in my mouth. If I had a third foot, it would probably go into my mouth, too.

You ever say or do something you regret so much? I've lost count. Unfortunately, "Control-Z" doesn't work for real life.

Case in point, I've been trying this online dating thing. I was delighted when I immediately got some responses. After a little flirting, they said I just needed to go their websites and sign up with FREE registration if I wanted to see more pictures. So I registered.

But then I was asked for credit card information. It's only for age verification, right? For "AshleyIsHere" in Oakland, I had to pay extra to respond to her E-mail. According to her picture, profile and message, she seemed like such a sweet and attractive person, like someone I really wanted to know. So, I said, "Oh, what the hell."

Didn't hear back from any of them again.

That kind of hurt. Used and abandoned. That's the story of my life. Can you hear the violin?

Naive is one word I would hardly use to describe myself. But I really got suckered. Yep, I got social-engineered.

Well, at least cancelling registration/membership was just as easy as signing up. Otherwise, I would have resorted to canceling the card or disputing the charges. I'm not stupid, you know.

I try to learn from my mistakes, not dwell on them.

---

Movie Pic of the Month

"Have you no decency, sir?!"

The Contender, a superb political thriller with an all-star cast. Jeff Bridges is excellent as always, but it's Gary Oldman--playing yet another character in which you almost don't recognize him--who stole almost every scene. This is one of my favorite movies because I can identify with the main character, Congresswoman Laine Hanson, who had become a target of character assasination.

Music

Many years ago, Blockbuster tried to get into the music retail business. One of the chains they bought up was Sound Warehouse. I remember walking into one of these stores in Michigan one day only to be surprised it became Blockbuster Music.

I just moved back to the state to go to college, and I was going in to apply for a job. Shortly after the interview, I got a call from the manager telling me I got the job. It's kind of pathetic but it was one of the happiest days of my life. I always wanted to work at a Sound Warehouse store.

Back in my breakdancing days, every weekend, I went to the local Sound Warehouse in New Orleans to check out the latest 12-inch records. I remember buying records solely based on the information of the cover or label. A lot of hit and misses, but mostly misses.

One hit I got, though, was Public Enemy's debut album, Yo! Bum Rush The Show, which was executive produced by Rick Rubin, co-founder of Def Jam Records. Rubin also produced Run-DMC's Raising Hell and Beastie Boys' License To Ill. The guy deserves Hip Hop's Lifetime Achievement Award.

My influence of music came from my family, mostly my brothers who got me hooked on Classic Rock from the '60's and '70's. I took up piano lessons but wasn't really good at it. I was just a little kid, my hand-eye coordination wasn't that good, and I didn't really know about the expression of emotion through music.

But I sure knew about emotion in music in my later years--anger to be exact. I used to listen to a lot of Ice-T and Nine Inch Nails.

But I've grown up, more mellow now. Wiser, I guess. Or maybe I'm just getting old.

With the Internet and an iTunes account, my passion for music now has more avenues of discovery. Lately, I've been enjoying Jazz, particularly Smooth Jazz. I like listening to "Watercolors" (what a name), the Smooth Jazz station on XM Satellite Radio on my DirecTV. Try it. It's very therapeutic.

But every once in a while, I like listening to some "Old Skool" rap or a little Reznor. :)

I must have the strangest taste in music. How many people can say they have Barry Manilow and Nelly in their music collection?

I didn't think so.

---

Movie Pic of the Month

"So close, yet so far."

Imagine if John Woo directed E.T. No, I'm not kidding. Throw in a little bit of The Terminator and The Matrix, and you have this Japanese sci-fi action flick, Returner.

Fade To Black

Shit.

I've committed financial suicide. Inadvertently.

MBNA found out about my little startup, and without any steady income thought I was a high risk. It doesn't matter that I make my payments on time, or that I have an excellent credit history. They closed down my line-of-credit and credit card accounts--over $40,000 worth. Bastards.

There goes funding for the next few months. Looks like I'm going to have to find a job and do the business part-time--if I can juggle between the two.

Or . . . or maybe this is it.

*"Taps" starts playing in the background*

Maybe this is the end to having my own business.

*tear slowly rolls down the cheek*

So if you see a panhandling Asian guy with glasses on the streets of San Francisco, wearing some worn out Pumas, you'd spare him a few bucks, won'tcha?

---

Movie Pic of the Month

"Fuck your rules, Nathan."
"Okay. But tonight, they saved your life."

Spy Game, not only is it one of Tony Scott's best films, it made Fredtimbo's List for the Top Ten Movies Of All Time. It's that good!

Next Life

What happened to TechTV is highly debatable. But not to dwell on a topic that has been beaten to death (pun), I have wanted to see some sort of revival of tech-related programming on television.

It's the entrepreneurial spirit that drives enterprise and innovation, and it was hoped that Leo Laporte and other personalities from ZDTV and TechTV would be at the forefront of this revival.

I never got around to meeting with Leo Laporte. For one, I was busy (surely likewise for Leo), but mostly because I wasn't sure how I would have been received--if at all.

Nevertheless, here are a few things I would like to see on a TV network dedicated to technology.

• Mac Show - Co-produced with Apple. It would be like a combination of popular shows Call for Help and The Screen Savers, but for the Mac platform.


• Home Theater Show - The home theater industry has exploded since the early 90's. This informational show could be co-sponsored with one of the popular home theater magazines, like Home Theater, or Sound & Vision. Segments would be about properly setting up a system, calibration, installation, THX, interviews with filmmakers, movie soundtracks, new audio/video formats and technologies--basically anything covered in those magazines.
  


• Hack/Mod show - A show about hacking and modding, featuring Kevin Rose, Yoshi, and Dan Huard. It could be an import of Systm to TV with a lot of how-to type segments and gadgets.
  


• HDTV - High Definition is the future of television. Even though the official switchover to digital TV has been delayed to 2009, the current NTSC system will become obsolete. Most televisions being sold today are widescreen HDTV's and HD-Ready TV's. If seeing imperfections in people's faces is a concern due to the higher resolution, then how different would it be if audience members saw them in real life? With extremely limited High Definition programming, people are thirsting for quality HD content. Once High Definition appears on movies in some consumer video format, people will not want to go back to Standard Definition. The transition to HDTV is analogous to going from black & white to color TV.

There is an opportunity not to be missed. Somebody should being offering more tech programming in the U.S., because, even if it's only a niche, there is a demand for it.

Bringing back Call For Help on G4, owned by Comcast, was one of the best things to happen to tech fans since the G4/TechTV merger, and a huge step forward. Comcast upper management finally got rid of G4 CEO Charles Hirschhorn, who, ironically, had become a detriment to his own creation.

G4 has undergone a lot changes in the past several months, particularly its programming line-up. With shows like Call For Help, Fast Lane, G4TV.com, Attack of the Show!, The Man Show, and Anime Unleashed, it's not clear as to what category this channel should fall under. I'm waiting for them to add a cooking show.

With financial backing from Comcast and some direction, maybe G4 should just become that gaming and technology channel that was promised to millions of viewers:

"This merger is a win for G4; a win for TechTV; and a win for our advertising and affiliate partners. The result will be one compelling TV channel that showcases the smart and edgy side of games and technology with the distribution necessary to achieve broad appeal." -Charles Hirschhorn, 2004

And now back to our regular scheduled programming . . .

Movie Pic of the Month

In The Next Life

Midnight Run, a classic action comedy with a lot of heart. It's Robert De Niro in his comedy debut and doing one of his finest performances. Directed by Martin Brest (Beverly Hills Cop, Scent of a Woman), the movie also features one of the best music scores by Danny Elfman. The story is about a bounty hunter who gets chased by the mob and the FBI while trying to bring in a score. But there's nothing special about that premise. It's De Niro's character, Jack Walsh, and the comical relationship between him and his captive that truly hold the movie.

Random Play

I must be an object of such sexual desire. Sometimes I catch people looking at my butt. Unfortunately, that includes males. As long as I don't end up in prison, I should be all right.

The Director of my local Chamber of Commerce asked me to model for this fashion show they're sponsoring with a local menswear store. It's not everyday I get to dress up and work with a fashion designer. Now, I feel inspired to become a model and a dancer at Chippendales.

But, no. There's a grave matter I need to address first: I'm becoming an eBay addict, an eBay-aholic, if you will. It all started innocently with a search for a Betamax VCR. Next thing I know, I'm bidding on Out-of-Print CD's and accessories for my Atari 5200. I need to seek help, or I may end up filing for Chapter 7.

But there other people who need help more than I do, so I donated money to the American Red Cross for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. What did I just do!?! Oh, the irony!

Special props to all the celebrities, major and minor, who donated their money and supported those poor folks down there. Dr. Phil, I got your back!

So what else am I doing? Oh, yeah. I'm going to Florida next month to get THX Home Theater Certification.

Movie Pic of the Month

"Every age is the same. It's only love that makes any of them bearable."
-H.G. Wells, Time After Time

Sarah Lane and Kevin Rose--before they broke up. I know, I know. The picture is not from the movie. But the quote is so fitting, no?

New Orleans

I don't have much to say this time, except my heart goes out to the people suffering from the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Some of the stories are truly heart breaking, like the man from Biloxi, Mississippi, who lost his wife after they lost grasps of each other. She told him, "You can't hold me . . . Take care of the kids and the grandkids."

No event has affected me this much since 9/11.

This one hits me personally because I lived in New Orleans for about 10 years. In fact, our house was less than a few miles from the levee. New Orleans has so much history and culture, and there is a lot of people I know who are still living in the city.

But there are many organizations where people can offer their help:

Network For Good

I hope everyone over there is safe and doing OK, and they ought to know that the world is watching and cares.

Movie Pic of the Month

"To quote from Whitman:
'O me! O life! . . . Of the questions of these recurring
Of the endless trains of the faithless--of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?'
Answer.
That you are here--that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.
That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.
What will your verse be?"

- John Keating, Dead Poets Society

"Do You Feel Lucky?"

That is perhaps the most misquoted line from a movie. In Dirt Harry, Clint Eastwood's character actually said, "You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

I really don't care for gambling. I'm usually an unlucky person. In fact, 13 is my lucky number.

But a funny thing happened when I was in Vegas. I was passing by this slot machine and saw there were a few credits in it. So I played it for a bit, and won 50 cents. Woohoo! Take THAT to the bank!

But being the saint that I am, I decided to leave the ticket on the machine, thinking that maybe someone would return. Well, time passed and no one showed up, so I started playing that machine again. I ended up winning $20.

Talk about luck. Now if there could only be more defective slot machines . . . :)

Speaking of luck, my business hasn't officially opened yet, nor have I done any serious marketing. Somehow, I have customers already calling in. They said they found me on the Internet. Cool.

I got one customer with an order. But just when I thought I had taken care of everything, I realized I didn't get a Seller's Permit to pay sales tax in California. DOH!!!

I'm usually thorough, but for some reason, that slipped through the cracks; I was either misunderstood or someone misinformed me. Luckily, I was able to get the permit on the same day I applied. Whew!

Luck has been my friend. Thanks, Luck!

Movie Pic of the Month

The Double Whammy On A Stick Kick

Brotherhood of the Wolf, a little known French movie also titled Le Pacte Des Loupes. A monster terrorizing villages, colonial France, martial arts action. How strange of a combination is that? It's a definite must-see.

Nerd Humor

Guy walks into an electronics store to return a Macintosh computer he just bought. He said it's crap because it's too slow, and he boasted how Microsoft Windows is a far superior operating system.

He was trying to play Doom 3 on the Mac using Virtual PC.

Get it? Trying to play a first person shooter on a PC emulator? Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

OK, maybe I shouldn't quit my day job.

Oh, but wait. Too late! . . .

I went online in search of sample letters of resignation. I found what I was looking for, but I came across this site that actually sells software that helps you write resignation letters. It claims to have "powerful" sample letters, and ironically the ad says, "Our software provides you the choices you need to get the job done."

Ummmmmm, is that supposed to be a pun?

Give me a break! :/

Soon someone is bound to make software that does your laundry.

Did I just make another joke? Hahahahahahahahahahaha. Oh, I just kill myself sometimes.

Movie Pic of the Month

SURPRISE, Surprise, Surprise!

Blue Thunder, an oldie, but goodie. It's got almost everything you'd want in a movie: great action, casting, performances, sex, car chases, and a government conspiracy. Before Top Gun and before CG effects were so ubiquitous in movies, Blue Thunder had some of the best real-life aerial combat shot on film.

Size Matters

So I finally got my camera phone, an LG VX8000, and I can dig it. It has excellent display, user interface and features, and I'm not even done reading the manual. However, it's pretty big! BIG, I say! But that's cool, 'cuz now I can see the buttons and display better.

I got a PDA on one hip, my phone on the other. Now I look really geeky in public, walking around like a gunslinger. I'll try to post more pics to my moblog.

In other news, I saw Episode III: Revenge of the Sith--on opening day, of course. I didn't wear a costume, though. My Chewbacca costume was at the cleaners, and plus they charge extra for Wookie fur.

Just kidding.

Revenge of the Sith (a waaaaaaay better title than The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones) is certainly different from the two previous films. It's a very dark movie, visually and thematically, which is appropriate for the story. Interestingly, it's also very humanistic, perhaps even most humanistic of all the Star Wars films.

One of my initial thoughts to the movie was similar to that of a few other fans: George Lucas has redeemed himself as a filmmaker. Sure, there were a few things that could have been done better, but overall the movie deserves a thumbs up. And compared to the other prequels, it looks like the overall quality of acting went up a notch. Natalie Portman's performance was most notable in some scenes. There was a lot more light saber action, too.

Bravo, Mr. Lucas. It appears you do listen to your fans and critics.

One thing that has remained consistent with all the Star Wars movies is George Lucas' uncanny ability to come up with some of most interesting and memorable characters, especially ones that have little or no dialogue, like Boba Fett, IG-88, and Greedo. Something about those bounty hunters. (Yeah, I'm aware that Jar Jar was not too popular with some folks, but, believe it or not, he actually has some supporting fans.)

Lucas also comes up with some of the coolest spaceships and vehicles, e.g., Millenium Falcon, X- and B-Wing fighters, Imperial AT-AT walker and shuttle.

That's the cool thing about Star Wars: The size of its universe will never be limited as long as people's imagination nurture it and expand upon it.

This month's Movie Pic of the Month is of one of my favorite Star Wars villains.

Darth Maul

I love this part in Episode I when he ignited both blades from his light saber.

Now, if I could only finish the story for my idea of this Star Wars spin-off . . .

Favorite Movie Quote

From Crimson Tide:

"God help you if you're wrong."
"If I'm wrong, then we're at war. God help us all."

How Low Can You Go

Debt-to-Income Ratio.

Sounds impressive, doesn't it? Well, it didn't sound so impressive after realizing how it kept me from getting the credit I needed!

To determine debt-to-income ratio, basically, you take all your credit debt (from credit cards, car loan, etc.) and divide it by your gross annual income. For example, if you have a debt of $14,000 and your income is $40,000, your debt-to-income ratio is 35%.

Will banks give you a loan if you have a debt-to-income ratio of 50% or more? Most unlikely.

How about 40%? Eh.

30%? Aaaaaaah, now we're getting somewhere.

In short, don't think an excellent credit history and FICO* score of, say, 700 and above will get you that loan.

Luckily, Washington Mutual is not as asinine as most banks in giving credit. That is, they are more lenient and don't question your integrity as much. They're also extremely fast with the application process. Kudos.

Thanks to my refunds from last year's tax returns, I was able to work down my debt and get the line-of-credit I needed.

*sigh* Finally, I can start my small business.

Movie Pic of the Month

Defiance

* FICO = Fair Isaac & Co., the company that developed the credit scoring system

Brain Cuisine

Food For Thought:

When you burn bridges, you pay a heavy price, and usually there's no refund policy.

Me So Corny

"We are most destructive to ourselves when we stop caring."

This could be interpreted in a number of ways and used in a variety of contexts, but mostly I like to think that 'we' represents the human race. Perhaps some people will recognize some value in its meaning, especially with the events going on in the world today. I want this quote to be in my epitaph--unless I come up with something else, of course. :)

I was very moved by the Anheuser-Busch "Thank You" commercial aired during the Super Bowl. It takes place in an airport where you had people waiting around, going on with their business. Suddenly, people started turning heads and applauding. It was a group of U.S. soldiers walking in from an arrival flight. At the end, the screen said, "Thank you." The use of music was especially effective, and it had quite an emotional impact.

My description of the ad doesn't do it justice, but it can be viewed from either of these links:

Anheuser-Busch "Thank You" Commercial (iFilm.com)

Anheuser-Busch "Thank You" Commercial (HeroSalute.com)

I'm curious who directed this commercial, because the music and slightly faded color tones reminded me of a sequence from The Insider, with Russell Crowe and Al Pacino, another one of my all-time favorite films.

Based on a true story, The Insider is about a former tobacco company executive who took enormous risks and suffered tremendous hardships in doing the right thing. The real life Jeffrey Wigand among others were interviewed for the behind-the-scenes featurette on the DVD. Dr. Wigand and the 60 Minutes producer he befriended, Lowell Bergman, are true unsung heroes, and their story is very inspiring.

Movie Pic of the Month

"To a network, probably, we're all commodities. To me, you're not a commodity. What you are is important."

Here's a little movie trivia: The Mississippi Attorney General in The Insider was played by Michael Moore himself (no, not THAT Michael Moore!). ;)

Drop It Like It's Hot

I E-mailed my satellite TV provider, DirecTV, and told them that they need to remove G4 from their programming lineup. The bandwidth and electricity can be put to much better use, like for more high definition channels.

Comcast, the nation's largest cable TV provider, bought TechTV and merged it with their gaming network. Under the infinite wisdom of Comcast and G4 executives, the "merged" network has been turning into @#$!&%^* that's barely watchable.

Synchronicity

Weird. One day, I was thinking about that Apple commercial that was aired during the Super Bowl in 1984. Then shortly after it was mentioned on Wednesday's episode of The Screen Savers.

The landmark commercial was directed by Ridley Scott, who also directed notable films like Gladiator, Alien, Blade Runner, and Thelma & Louise. He's brother to one of the most underrated directors in Hollywood, Tony Scott (Enemy of the State, Spy Game, Crimson Tide, Beverly Hills Cop II, Days of Thunder, Man on Fire).

Speaking of movies, which is one of my hobbies, I'm going to keep up this blog with a Movie Pic of the Month, memorable scenes and/or quotes from my favorite and not so favorite films.

This month's pick (no pun intended) is from one of my favorite Michael Mann movies, Heat.

Testament to Loyalty: No One Gets Left Behind

Post Potpourri

Over the weekend, I was in Pasadena, home of the Rose Bowl. The town sure has some beautiful woman, but they're not as beautiful as I am. (Heehee)

I spent a day at the Videomaker Expo on Saturday. High Definition is the future of home video, but for videography the technology is still in its infancy. Although the convention was relatively small, I thought it was strange that JVC and Sony were not exhibiting. Go figure.

I'm not really into watching sports, because I'd rather be playing them than watching them. I did catch bits and pieces of the Super Bowl, though. The half-time show with Paul McCartney was spectacular, and it's got to be one of the best half-time shows I've ever seen. Those stage ramps displaying video were too cool. Performing classic hits (including one of my favorites, "Live and Let Die"), Paul did a great peformance, and he's looking good for his age.

Hey! Don't get any funny ideas. I'm very heterosexual. OK?

Not too long ago, in a city not too far, far away, I saw George Lucas and asked him for his autograph. He signed my company badge. Looka'



That was a highlight in my life.

(If you're wondering, I have a friend who used to work at TechTV and she gave me her lanyard.)

The next time I see Mr. Lucas, I'm going to pitch him my ideas about this spin-off movie from the original Star Wars trilogy. :)

In other news, two of my posts got deleted in the G4TechTV message boards. Outrageous! I, Fredtimbo, had my posts deleted! There was nothing wrong with them! You hear me? NOTHING!

Well, there was this little part where I kind of flamed a moderator. You think that could have been it? :o

Still, it was not necessary to delete my posts in their entirery, because my other statements were not in violation of message board rules.

By the way, if anyone is reading this . . .

*crickets chirping*

. . . I'm looking for a mostly friendly, mature online community for fans of ZDTV/TechTV. Long Live TechTV, a Yahoo! group, was not the community I thought it would be. There are a few jerks there, like this one guy who just likes to contradict other people, and some members use the message board for tech support which is not the intended purpose of the group. Any suggestions are welcome.

ADDENDUM (Feb. 9, 2005) --- I didn't mean to sound disparaging to Long Live TechTV. I wish no disrespect to Mark Laymon, who created the group. His passion for TechTV and his initiative to start Long Live TechTV are commendable. By the way, Mark is no longer the owner of the group, but still contributes to it. If you're a fan of TechTV, you might want to join Long Live TechTV and see if it's for you. Here's the link:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Long_Live_TechTV/

In The Beginning . . .

Whuh? How did I get here!?!

I was trying to post a comment on someone else's blog and ended up creating my own?

Oh, well. It looks like I got one now.

Look out, World! Here I come!