300

So, people think that this movie has political overtones . .. so what.

i didn't like it as much as i thought i would.

I think of 300 as an over-hyped Troy. I didn't like Troy. The only scene worth watching was Brad Pitt (bad choice) yelling at the whole city of Troy for the other guy to come out. White guys flying with spears. Didn't anyone tell white guys that woody harrelson dunking was camera angles and springboards, not the real thing?

You have to realize (well, you don't have to) that this wasn't just any story, it was a comic book adaption. Therefore, though it had a sound story-line, the real grit and substance of the movie was in the presentation of it. For that i give them an A. It was the graphics, scenes, camera angles, picture speeds and backgrounds that set a very different feel for the movie. Almost real different from other war flicks. In other war flicks the sky was dark grey, here it was bad shoeshine brown.

It was a very well-produced movie, but nothing groundbreaking. And perhaps that was the point, to do so much so well, that it seems natural, like Minority Report.

And who's this gerard butler cat? He's good, He's new. hey may even be a breakout But he's no antoine fisher (who has fallen into cinematic history as a one-hit wonder . . what's he doing these days?)!

theBiz

Truth in Credit Charges

apparently congress is just getting around to looking at the credit card industry and all of its fees [link at bottom]. That's good, but everything they're doing is hacking away at the branches of this evil tree, and not the root. The root of this is un-information. The credit card companies make goo gobs of money by using un-informed people to fatten their paychecks. What we need is more information.

Remember when the FDA mandated nutritional information to go on foods. The food industry gulped, yelled and eventually relented. We need the same thing for credit card companies. I think something like this should be mandated:

Total principal You owe:	Monthly payment	Months to pay off the debt	Total interest to pay
	Minimum: $XXX.XX
	Min + $10
	Min + $25
	Min + $50
	Min + $100

and that should be placed prominently on any bill that you get that charges interest.

I think that if/when people see this on a monthly basis, they'll get perturbed and start paying down their credit a lot faster.

Sure, just because we have the nutrition information on the sides of boxes hasn't actually decreased the average weight of americans, but at least that information is a step in the right direction.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070307/ap_on_go_co/congress_credit_cards;_ylt=Aq3dUdPBvR1lL0ZDk_cBvfKs0NUE

hooray for Microsoft

I've been playing around with the ofice 2007 program.

I'm smitten.

hard

I've been a microsoft fan since mice came out. I used to play around on windows 3.1 and jump off and do some dos stuff in Norton Commander (yeah, i'm old). I actually like microsoft a lot more when i read bill gates biography back in the early-mid nineties (before he was popular as a person, not just a company). As of late, i haven't liked microsoft so much. But now i'm back on board.

This is a bit of a confession from a google lover. I think one of the reasons i love google so much is because of their beautifully functional user interface. I'm spoiled. But now, office 2007 has a beautifully functional user interface. I'm spoiled double.

So in the upcoming wars, do you know who will win? the company that makes their interface beautiful. I've even read a book or two on design of tools (the design of everyday things by Donald Norman) and related things (the existential pleasures of engineering), so i have a sweet spot for design.

I mean, office 2007 is beautiful.

I love the interactivity. It's like web 2.0 for your desktop!

But i'm very wary of vista. Right now i'm in the market for a new laptop, need it to help out on the job. And i don't want vista. Matter of fact, when i get up, i'll go down the hall and ask my tech guy how can i get one. I can't seem to find a laptop with XP anywhere (unless its a refurb on tigerdirect). So i want XP and office 2007.

Anyhoo

office 2007 rocks.