Category: Miscellaneous

Pittsburgh has a more heavily mustached population than I’m comfortable with.

My grandmother sent me up to bed. All is well.

The movie came out last week, so I think I can finally talk about it. In case you haven’t been paying attention, I saw WALL•E two weeks before it was released up at Pixar’s headquarters in Emeryville. As a condition of this pre-release screening, I agreed to keep my comments about the film confidential until after release.

Here’s my quick review:

Pixar’s Campus
Awesome. It’s not in the greatest area, but behind those gates is a green and clean paradise. It reminded me of going to Johns Hopkins where the campus was like an island in the sea of Baltimore. They have references to their films all over the place, and it’s obvious they’re really proud of their work. There’s a Cars logo in the driveway, visitor badges make a reference to “a stanger from the outside,” and they even have a huge version of Luxo Jr. outside (with its ball) which lights up at night.

Inside, the building is very clean and modern, jazzed up with plenty of art. It had a feel similar to Apple’s campus. I wasn’t allowed to go into most areas, but from what I could see, it looks like a fun place to work. In one corner, they had a display of WALL•E merchandise, which was set up as Nelson’s dream bedroom. Other fun features included a large model of Sulley and various physical props.

The theater at Pixar was the reason I went there in the first place after searching for digital screenings of the film. The room itself was spotless with comfortable red seats as you’d expect, and the digital projection and sound produced an ideal presentation of the movie. I noticed a computer station in the middle of the theater which wasn’t used for the screening, so I assume that it’s for cases where an animator wants to pop in and see something on the big screen without having to run back into the booth. Besides the technical quality of the equipment, my favorite part of the theater was the lighting. When the lights were first turned off for the show, stars (I’m assuming fiber optic) appeared on the ceiling with the sound of crickets. And then to top things off, there were some shooting stars for those who watched carefully. After that, the stars faded out and there were no lights in sight. The curtain rose and the film began right on cue.

WALL•E
I don’t want to spoil the movie for those who haven’t seen it yet, so I’ll keep this short. I liked it. Everyone has their own taste in movies, but I personally consider WALL•E as my favorite Pixar feature so far. Monsters, Inc. is now in second place, followed by Toy Story. WALL•E is like a robot version of Nelson, and I mean this in a good way. That’s all I’m going to say. I’ll be away this weekend, so maybe I’ll try and get out after work sometime this week to see it again in a regular theater.

Oh, and enjoy Presto, the short before the feature. It had us all laughing out loud.

I have a drinking problem. Not with alcohol. Like Ted Striker.

My arm (from the bee sting) is killing me and I just saw a scary spider in the bathroom.

I recently became the proud owner of the first comment on Nelson’s new blog at nelsonbradley.com/weblog. Now, I’d like to take this opportunity to be the first person to announce the launch of nelsonbradley.com to the world. That picture on the homepage is of his desk. He likes toys.

I’m a guy and I cross my legs. I just learned today that this is not normal.

Photo credit: Reinoud

Tonight, I saw Kung Fu Panda. No, not at Dreamworks, (although maybe someday Rachel can hook me up), but at a regular theater. I didn’t go in with any great expectations as I thought it would be a silly children’s movie. Turns out it was a silly children’s movie, but it was hilarious and I loved it. Here’s the trailer.

I made a couple of people frustrated last night when I initially declined to provide my opinion of a song. I’ve generally felt that listening to people talk about their tastes in music is as interesting as hearing their political opinions, so I’ve never felt compelled to contribute to such nonsense. I listen to what I like, and I don’t force it upon anyone else. But, since I was given such a hard time for not expressing myself, I’ll dedicate an entire blog post to some of the music I enjoy.

Instrumental (or mostly instrumental)
I’ve often thought to myself, “If this song didn’t have those annoying vocals, it would be pretty good.” There are too many musicians who believe that it’s necessary to have lyrics in their songs. Well, as creative as professional musicians are with writing notes, they tend to be remarkably unoriginal with words. I think 99% of all songs have lyrics about finding/getting/losing a girl or guy. I’m sure the verses are really touching for the person the song was written for, but for everyone else, and perhaps especially for the chronically single among us, they’re not something we need or want to hear.

I like all different kinds of instrumental music. One of my favorite groups is Blue Man Group, especially their first album, Audio. It’s neat. I also like the Animusic tracks, but they sound better with the visuals. Mannheim Steamroller is instrumental, but I’ll talk about Christmas music later. I’ll even listen to techno/club/electronica if it’s catchy enough. Some of this stuff has vocals, but they aren’t the focus. Recently, I’ve been listening to Daft Punk over and over. I like more acoustic stuff like piano pieces from George Winston or Philip Glass. I also like orchestral movie soundtracks. Or orchestral versions of non-classic music. Those can be fun, like the London Philharmonic playing The Who.

Classic Rock
Speaking of The Who, I like some classic rock, or I guess just regular rock. I don’t really know the difference. But I can listen to stuff by The Who, Styx, Rush, Boston, U2, Coldplay, Electric Light Orchestra, Yes, Van Halen… I put those all in the same category. Some songs I love and others I can’t stand. I like to start “Fire on High” at 1:31.15 in iTunes, and then really start paying attention at 2:43.

’80s Pop
These songs just make the ’80s sound like so much fun. I have this weird feeling that if I was a teenager in that time, I might have actually been one of the cool kids. But probably not. Gotta love the great use of synths. And now I even like modern pop songs, which I used to never be able to stand. Maybe it’s because pop stuff at least has high production values, and I often enjoy technically sound art, even if it’s lacking in the creative department.

Comedy
I don’t have a lot of stuff in my library that’s comedy, but there are a few choice tracks which I enjoy.

Christmas
No matter what genre the music itself is, I love Christmas music. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. My favorites are the classics as well as Mannheim Steamroller and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. And “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town” by Bruce Springsteen.

So there, that’s some of the music I like. Just don’t ask me who I’m voting for.

Let me get two complaints out of the way here:

1. I got an email today informing me that I can no longer have the power company automatically charge my credit card for my monthly bill. Apparently this service was only a “pilot program.” It’s 2008. Shouldn’t stuff like this be standard. Now I have to mail a check.

2. I was double-charged for DSL on my most recent bill. I’m busy during the day, so it’s a challenge for me to remember to call before they close. I finally did tonight, and after looking at my bill, they said I need to call a different number. I called and they were closed. Ugh.

Now hold onto your pants, I have something fun to write about. Keep refreshing.