Saturday, December 29, 2007
Friday, December 28, 2007
I want pancakes!
This looks potentially osm:
The music quickly reminds me of part two. Luckily, from what I read, the series will take place right after the events of part two as Sarah and John Connor become criminals on the run. This is gonna need some good story writers to prevent it from being another franchise cash in. I'm still hooked on that music, though. That soundtrack was menacing and mechanical at the same time which I believe really captures the feeling of dread during Judgment Day. I see this as a positive sign so far for the tv series and I hope they keep that sense of panic and lurking evil for the storyline. Check out this trailer and this clip from the series which contain the great music I was talking about. You may recognize the girl Terminator from Firefly and/or Serenity. It would have also been cool if Linda Hamilton returned to the role of Sarah Connor but Lena Headey so far seems to get into the role pretty well. Sarah Connor now seem more nurturing and human than the eerily robotic quality that she had in T2, perhaps to show an evolution in her character after the events of that movie. More info on the wiki.
Here's something else:
I remember I first saw a preview of this before the lame Transformers movie although back then it was only a teaser and there was not name for the movie. It's getting quite some hype even though the monster has only been glimpsed between the two buildings in the trailer. Hopefully it lives up to the hype. More info here.
The music quickly reminds me of part two. Luckily, from what I read, the series will take place right after the events of part two as Sarah and John Connor become criminals on the run. This is gonna need some good story writers to prevent it from being another franchise cash in. I'm still hooked on that music, though. That soundtrack was menacing and mechanical at the same time which I believe really captures the feeling of dread during Judgment Day. I see this as a positive sign so far for the tv series and I hope they keep that sense of panic and lurking evil for the storyline. Check out this trailer and this clip from the series which contain the great music I was talking about. You may recognize the girl Terminator from Firefly and/or Serenity. It would have also been cool if Linda Hamilton returned to the role of Sarah Connor but Lena Headey so far seems to get into the role pretty well. Sarah Connor now seem more nurturing and human than the eerily robotic quality that she had in T2, perhaps to show an evolution in her character after the events of that movie. More info on the wiki.
Here's something else:
I remember I first saw a preview of this before the lame Transformers movie although back then it was only a teaser and there was not name for the movie. It's getting quite some hype even though the monster has only been glimpsed between the two buildings in the trailer. Hopefully it lives up to the hype. More info here.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
I remember this!
I watched the episode of the 1940s alien baseball player in Roswell, the carnivorous subterranean fungus, and the hillbilly kid with the lightning bolt power (with appearance by Jack Black). It made me remember a time during the 90s when I was really into UFOs and aliens. I read books, I watched the documentaries, I watched the films based on actual events and I watched the X Files.
One film that really scared me was "Fire in the Sky". I ended up watching it by myself which, at that young an age, wasn't the best idea. The realistic probability of the film, the horrible experiments, and the look of the freakin aliens messed up my head. The endless tunnel was also horrible to watch. I think I imagined myself confined to it and couldn't sleep. What freaked me out even more was the fact that, according to the film, it was based on actual events.
Of course, now I like the film and have researched the backstory that it is based on. Man, I have a book that outlines the steps to do IN CASE one experiences an encounter of the first, second, and third kind. I still keep in mind the tips I read in case I ever happen to film a ufo or extraterrestrial being. I can remember the various hotspots in the US for alien and ufo activity.
I remember how excited I was when, on a return trip to Mexico with my family, we stopped at Roswell, NM. The very town where, during the 1940s, a ufo is said to have crashed at and left one surviving alien. All of which was reportedly covered up and "explained" by the US government. I went to the museum, got a book, and a t-shirt. It's kind of weird that the incident has been commercialized but I guess the small town has to cash in somehow.
It's a strange turn of events that I now reside right next to Area 51. The place that doesn't exist but if you step past a certain boundary you'll be shot on site. It is now reported that this military installation is a testing site for new and classified technology. Of course, others believe that it holds deeper secrets and has something to do with reverse engineering alien technology. Others say actual alien beings work and/or live there.
Anyway, all this remembering of my past interests got me thinking about a general sense of a comeback. I mean, a lot of things are being remade or reimagined or sequel-ized or remixed. These are really the years of the comebacks. The Spiderman films are based on a comic from the 70s. So are the X-men films and the other Marvel films. The Lord of the Rings films are based on an old series of fiction. Street Fighter IV is development, which brings back memories of quarters spent at the arcade. Battlestar Galactica has been reimagined. Led Zeppelin just performed their first show since years ago. Even the X Files is getting another shot. Of course, these are just examples of some of the good comebacks. The other cash-ins on nostalgia are just that: cash-ins.
Which makes me think that this phenomenon is probably not limited to just this decade. I mean, things come back all the time. Street Fighter IV is the third sequel to an old arcade fighting game (which still has some old arcade cabinets still taking quarters). The comics have several stories reimagined and updates are made constantly. And most big bands or musicians always attempt a "reunion" or "comeback" at some point in their careers.
One film that really scared me was "Fire in the Sky". I ended up watching it by myself which, at that young an age, wasn't the best idea. The realistic probability of the film, the horrible experiments, and the look of the freakin aliens messed up my head. The endless tunnel was also horrible to watch. I think I imagined myself confined to it and couldn't sleep. What freaked me out even more was the fact that, according to the film, it was based on actual events.
Of course, now I like the film and have researched the backstory that it is based on. Man, I have a book that outlines the steps to do IN CASE one experiences an encounter of the first, second, and third kind. I still keep in mind the tips I read in case I ever happen to film a ufo or extraterrestrial being. I can remember the various hotspots in the US for alien and ufo activity.
I remember how excited I was when, on a return trip to Mexico with my family, we stopped at Roswell, NM. The very town where, during the 1940s, a ufo is said to have crashed at and left one surviving alien. All of which was reportedly covered up and "explained" by the US government. I went to the museum, got a book, and a t-shirt. It's kind of weird that the incident has been commercialized but I guess the small town has to cash in somehow.
It's a strange turn of events that I now reside right next to Area 51. The place that doesn't exist but if you step past a certain boundary you'll be shot on site. It is now reported that this military installation is a testing site for new and classified technology. Of course, others believe that it holds deeper secrets and has something to do with reverse engineering alien technology. Others say actual alien beings work and/or live there.
Anyway, all this remembering of my past interests got me thinking about a general sense of a comeback. I mean, a lot of things are being remade or reimagined or sequel-ized or remixed. These are really the years of the comebacks. The Spiderman films are based on a comic from the 70s. So are the X-men films and the other Marvel films. The Lord of the Rings films are based on an old series of fiction. Street Fighter IV is development, which brings back memories of quarters spent at the arcade. Battlestar Galactica has been reimagined. Led Zeppelin just performed their first show since years ago. Even the X Files is getting another shot. Of course, these are just examples of some of the good comebacks. The other cash-ins on nostalgia are just that: cash-ins.
Which makes me think that this phenomenon is probably not limited to just this decade. I mean, things come back all the time. Street Fighter IV is the third sequel to an old arcade fighting game (which still has some old arcade cabinets still taking quarters). The comics have several stories reimagined and updates are made constantly. And most big bands or musicians always attempt a "reunion" or "comeback" at some point in their careers.
Friday, December 14, 2007
"Hello! Please give me all your money."
I really don't like talking to telemarketers. Whenever I do end up talking to one after I answer a call, I'll come up with some absurd story or comment or change my voice to throw them off. It's funny to me.
For a time, though, I used to be on the other end of the line. I spent about two weeks during the summer of 2003 at a small call center conducting surveys to businesses in the US. I felt like some kind of irritating insect talking to small business owners in an attempt to harvest marketing data. Every time I heard the line ring on my headset, I hoped for any reason to not have to talk to anyone. But most of the time someone answered and I'd have to go straight into reciting a scripted greeting trying to get that person to answer a series of questions.
It all would have been a little less mind-numbing if one was allowed to go at his/her own pace dialing each person. But, as anyone who has worked these sorts of jobs knows, telemarketers are hooked up to an automatic dialer. Companies want continuous outcalls.
So here I am repeating the same lines until they start becoming meaningless to me. This goes on for about four hours, then lunch, then four more hours. Monotony, day after day.
After that job, I somehow ended up at another similar position working for a company that is designed to "build credit" by giving people with bad credit scores a high limit credit card. Hmm. Anyway, it was another automatic dialer job repeating the same script to people although in an inbound call center. I got more varied responses ranging from people yelling at me for sending them an activated card in their name (its not activated) to people joking that they wanted this card to pay for another card (I bet they weren't joking). I talked to some of the strangest people during that job. These were usually the highlight of the day as any response out of the ordinary snaps me out of my zombified state repeating scripts all day. Some were just downright stupid. Every time I argued with someone on the phone I had to laugh. That didn't help my relationships with the supervisors but it was either that or I was going to snap from the frustration and scream my head off. Yep, it's real fulfilling to perform a job you hate day after day.
The last call center gig I had was at a company that managed the collections department for a telecommunications corporation. I won't tell you which one. But it was, and still is, a major telecommunications corp. Now, this job wasn't like the last two I talk about above. You see, there's a difference between a customer service department and a collections department. Customer service wants to (or at least they should want to) help you. When you call the customer service department of a company, they are supposed to solve your problems. They are supposed to treat you well and keep you satisfied so that you keep your business with the company. That's why they have the power to make offers to keep you as a customer.
The collections department is not customer service. You owe the company money and they need you to pay it. My job was to collect. That's not to say that I was a jerk to customers or that I treated them badly. The point is that bills had to be paid.
See, when someone falls past due on their cell phone bill they received from this company, their service is shut off. The only number that can be dialed on the cell phone now is the one that leads directly to the collections department. Mostly everyone that I talked to was three or more months past due. So, they do have some leeway in terms of how long they have service if they don't pay up on time. But after three months, I need to get a credit card payment.
A lot of people deny being that far behind on payments. But collections operators have access to a client's information including including their payment history. That made this job different from the two jobs I had before because the main goal was to collect. I didn't have to persuade someone to buy something or listen to a survey. If they didn't pay up, they didn't get their phone turned back on and eventually their delinquent account is reported to the three major credit bureaus. After being told this, people's attitudes change from rude and belligerent to accepting and calmed down. At that point, almost everyone comes up with the dough. I learned to be unwavering in the pursuit of collecting money. I mean, when you think about it, a cell phone is a luxury. Sob stories didn't work and neither did yelling, cussing, lying, or death threats. It wasn't the most glamorous job but hey, I called the shots this time.
After four short months, word comes down to the cubicles that our services will no longer be needed. All of the collections operators had done a swell job of harvesting the clients' money. But the corporation found people who would do what we did for a lot less. Yep, our positions were outsourced to Panama and India. But, hey, what did I care. I was starting my junior year in college two weeks from then. I got an end of term bonus and learned an important lesson. I never want to work in a call center again.
For a time, though, I used to be on the other end of the line. I spent about two weeks during the summer of 2003 at a small call center conducting surveys to businesses in the US. I felt like some kind of irritating insect talking to small business owners in an attempt to harvest marketing data. Every time I heard the line ring on my headset, I hoped for any reason to not have to talk to anyone. But most of the time someone answered and I'd have to go straight into reciting a scripted greeting trying to get that person to answer a series of questions.
It all would have been a little less mind-numbing if one was allowed to go at his/her own pace dialing each person. But, as anyone who has worked these sorts of jobs knows, telemarketers are hooked up to an automatic dialer. Companies want continuous outcalls.
So here I am repeating the same lines until they start becoming meaningless to me. This goes on for about four hours, then lunch, then four more hours. Monotony, day after day.
After that job, I somehow ended up at another similar position working for a company that is designed to "build credit" by giving people with bad credit scores a high limit credit card. Hmm. Anyway, it was another automatic dialer job repeating the same script to people although in an inbound call center. I got more varied responses ranging from people yelling at me for sending them an activated card in their name (its not activated) to people joking that they wanted this card to pay for another card (I bet they weren't joking). I talked to some of the strangest people during that job. These were usually the highlight of the day as any response out of the ordinary snaps me out of my zombified state repeating scripts all day. Some were just downright stupid. Every time I argued with someone on the phone I had to laugh. That didn't help my relationships with the supervisors but it was either that or I was going to snap from the frustration and scream my head off. Yep, it's real fulfilling to perform a job you hate day after day.
The last call center gig I had was at a company that managed the collections department for a telecommunications corporation. I won't tell you which one. But it was, and still is, a major telecommunications corp. Now, this job wasn't like the last two I talk about above. You see, there's a difference between a customer service department and a collections department. Customer service wants to (or at least they should want to) help you. When you call the customer service department of a company, they are supposed to solve your problems. They are supposed to treat you well and keep you satisfied so that you keep your business with the company. That's why they have the power to make offers to keep you as a customer.
The collections department is not customer service. You owe the company money and they need you to pay it. My job was to collect. That's not to say that I was a jerk to customers or that I treated them badly. The point is that bills had to be paid.
See, when someone falls past due on their cell phone bill they received from this company, their service is shut off. The only number that can be dialed on the cell phone now is the one that leads directly to the collections department. Mostly everyone that I talked to was three or more months past due. So, they do have some leeway in terms of how long they have service if they don't pay up on time. But after three months, I need to get a credit card payment.
A lot of people deny being that far behind on payments. But collections operators have access to a client's information including including their payment history. That made this job different from the two jobs I had before because the main goal was to collect. I didn't have to persuade someone to buy something or listen to a survey. If they didn't pay up, they didn't get their phone turned back on and eventually their delinquent account is reported to the three major credit bureaus. After being told this, people's attitudes change from rude and belligerent to accepting and calmed down. At that point, almost everyone comes up with the dough. I learned to be unwavering in the pursuit of collecting money. I mean, when you think about it, a cell phone is a luxury. Sob stories didn't work and neither did yelling, cussing, lying, or death threats. It wasn't the most glamorous job but hey, I called the shots this time.
After four short months, word comes down to the cubicles that our services will no longer be needed. All of the collections operators had done a swell job of harvesting the clients' money. But the corporation found people who would do what we did for a lot less. Yep, our positions were outsourced to Panama and India. But, hey, what did I care. I was starting my junior year in college two weeks from then. I got an end of term bonus and learned an important lesson. I never want to work in a call center again.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
THIS BLOG IS CANCEROUS
Do not read this because this blog is cancerous. Also, since I am now going to mention video games, it is DOUBLE cancerous.
Video games are cool!
I am part of the corrosion of society. Read.
Video games are cool!
I am part of the corrosion of society. Read.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
R3M1X3S
So, there's this site you should check out at remix.nin.com. It's a remix community site where anyone can upload their own NIN remixes. Of course, I would have joined immediately after I got the Year Zero Remix album but for some stupid reason I wouldn't get my registration email at my hotmail account. Is it just hotmail messing up? I checked for days and couldn't register or log in to the site. Finally, I re-registered today using my old UW email account and finally logged in!
Now, given Reznor's attitude against the entire music industry and the way music is provided for people, multitrack files for some of his songs are available for download to edit. Another great feature I like is that pretty much any remix posted on there is downloadable. This is great to hear how songs are redone by other fans. But what got me excited is that there is a "Rare and Unreleased" feature playlist on there. Awesome! I mean, there's a few tracks on there that even I have never heard and I've hunted down most of them since 2002! So of course, I downloaded the Butch Vig remix of "Last" and the Aphrodite Mix of "The Perfect Drug". Yeah!
Now, given Reznor's attitude against the entire music industry and the way music is provided for people, multitrack files for some of his songs are available for download to edit. Another great feature I like is that pretty much any remix posted on there is downloadable. This is great to hear how songs are redone by other fans. But what got me excited is that there is a "Rare and Unreleased" feature playlist on there. Awesome! I mean, there's a few tracks on there that even I have never heard and I've hunted down most of them since 2002! So of course, I downloaded the Butch Vig remix of "Last" and the Aphrodite Mix of "The Perfect Drug". Yeah!
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