Planes, Trains and Automobiles

My 2000 Saturn SL1 has not stranded me in land of my youth (Indiana). Thankfully to technology I am able to work remotely and deal with several dealership's service departmetns simultaniously. I think I've even been able to convince and architect a nationwide wireless network for Saturn customers while they are in the shop. Ah, such is life. PS. If anyone would like to donate a 1929 Cord or Packard, I would be gracious and accepting provided it runs and is relaible. I don't care what color. As many of lifes little bumps this one has made me reconsider my original timetable for purchasing a new car. Stay tuned.

Tis The Saeson...

As of 3pm, November 20th, I have started listening to Christmas music for the season. Currently enjoying Everything You Want for Christmas by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. I'm not waiting till Turkey Day this year!

Movie Review: Zathura

In a few words: I liked Zathura. I'm not ready to say the "L" word yet though and the trouble is I think it has to do with a few pieces of dialog that I seem hung up about. More on that later...
The movie is adequately described as "From the World of Jumanji". If the studio hadn't put that in there, a whole lot of people would have easily dismissed this movie and derivative. Which I suppose in a way that would be like describing the Empire Strikes Back as derivative of Star Wars. That is not to say this movie is a sequel, because it isn't. The movie just centers us in a universe where mysterious old board games become reality, disrupt peoples lives and in the end, leave us with a good message and perhaps something for us with siblings to think about.
The movie is visually perfect. Now, that doesn't mean the effects blow everything else out of the water. What I mean is, they fit the mood, era, er, place when and where all the events take place. I'm not going to say anything else because it could spoil it for some. If you've seen the trailer or poster, there is a GREAT retro sci-fi aspect to this film that takes about as much care with an era and genre as did Sky Captain. The young actors, Jonah Bobo, Josh Hutcherson do a fine job as does Kristen Stewart who plays their older sister. Tim Robbins performance as a single dad struck a note with me. It was a scene with him that help anchor the drama aspect of this film and raise the stakes overall emotionally. Dax Shepard, who plays the Astronaut in the film, was a complete unknown known to me. This guy is good and I expect to see him in more films. If you've seen Jumanji, then you know part of the plot. Kids play an old mysterious board game and reality goes haywire. That's where the plot similarity ends. In Jumanji, an entire town and several families lives are all torn asunder. Not here. This movies is very small by comparisons and one of the reasons it shines. It's just the house, two brothers, their sister and an astronaut in need of rescue that are focused on here. At this point I'd be saying it was one of my favorite family movies, and I suppose I should say that it is. What really, really bothered me was some dialogue language used by the kids in the movie. I'm not saying kids don't talk like this. It just really didn't either add any realism or significance for them to say what they did. For some reason this threw the whole movie off for me.
The final words...
See it? Yes.
Will I buy it? Maybe.

Google Analytics, First Thoughts

I'm not going to provide a review for Google Analytics as it would take far too much time and thought given that for me it's little more than a novelty for my website. But it does show again, what Google can do to provide good tools (for free) to those in need.
What is Google Analytics? It's a website analysis tool. It tracks the who, what, when and where (to and from) of all the content on your website. I started tagging my site to allow its use a few days ago and I finally have some data. Most people seem to be coming to my site through Google (big shock) and Yahoo. It is not telling me if they are using an RSS reader, etc. so wish item number one. It is possible that it does tell me that but I wasn't able to find it in the 10 minutes I've been playing around with it. My err and congratulations to the Google team if they have that one covered!
Again, Google uses AJAX to really create a light and good looking application. The interface is clean and simple. The application provides exporting via Excel or XML format. Little things DO matter. So,suggestion number 2, lets see a bigger map, or better yet, a link to Google Maps or Google Earth!

Some picture for your enjoyment.
This first one shows the map where all my adoring fans are! There are some people in England and Texas (Laredo) viewing! Welcome! (who knew?)

Here's their summary view:

Interview With Cameron Diaz

AKA: My Big Post on Privacy, Celebrity, Legality and Bloggary.
Ok, first off, I didn't interview her and second, this post really isn't about the interview but about some of the interesting issues that it has made me think about. Andy got me a subscription to GQ. Now, I'm sure he wasn't suggesting that as a new single man, I needed any help with my style per se;he was simply going to beat me over the head with every 2 lb issue. Thank you Andy. As it turns out, having never actually read an issue of GQ before, I gladly discovered that there were some very interesting articles inside, once you get past all that stuff about what to wear and what not. So one day, the latest issue shows up and who is on the cover? Well, the lovely Cameron Diaz. Thanks to Aaron, and her dancing scene in CharliesAngels, Ms. Diaz will forever be linked to one word : Underoos.
Getting to the point as it were...
This article written by Marshall Sella, was very interesting for a few reasons. First, it was supposed to be a simple celebrity profile which Ms. Diaz set some very interesting ground rules for and second, it turned out to be an interesting discourse on privacy, celebrity and for me, the internet. First, read the article. Go a head, open the link above in a new browser and read it, all 12 pages of it. Really, go read it, the rest of this won't really mean much with out it.
Intermission...
Ok, now that you've read it. You did read it didn't you Jared?. No cheating!
Now the points that Ms. Diaz makes about her life and privacy make sense to me. I'm not really interested in knowing her cat's names. Really. I'm just not that curious but yetI've posted pix and the name of my cat on this blog and my website. I've got pix of my son, family, just about everything but the kitchen sink. Oops, no its there too. The point she makes about celebrity made me start wondering what all this blogging is about. Mine, I suppose is two fold, one is to share with friends and family, what's going on.I never liked writing letters and this is cheaper! Second, it's sort of a public version of a diary. What I write here I'm not tooworried about others reading as you're only getting a slice of me, not the whole pie. Celebrities on the other hand, deal with the invited and uninvited consequences of the profession every day. It permeates into every part of their lives. I sympathize when a celebrity has to fight to keep cameras out of the faces of their children or having to go way, way out of their way just todo some grocery shopping. I get it. I don't buy the magazines that the paparazzisustain. I don't believe in it and I'm not all THAT interested. IMDB suffices for me. So where does the line get crossed from public citizen to celebrity to now journalist? When does someone's private life become public, celebrity even? These questions really never plagued me before, but think about it. I've voluntarilyput a lot of information about me, friends, and family (even you reading this!) What does all this mean? No idea. That's why
I think all of this is interesting and a potential hotbed for future business, legislation, and lawsuits. What are some of the questions facing us bloggers and old fashioned webmasters?
The Big List of Questions
1) When and how does blogging constitute journalism? Does it have the same liabilities and responsibilities of mainstream journalism?
2) When does a blogger become considered a celebrity in the eyes of the law, not necessarily the general public. Here is an interesting discussion on privacy/celebrity issues.
3) All this together, what is the legal status and responsibilities of bloggers? People blog everything from product reviews, movie review, and just plain randomness. Where is the line between personal opinion and paid endorsement? What are the rules, the laws of disclosure?
4) When did does all this stop being fun?

On the last point, I still enjoy writing this, as rarely and as randomly as it seems to be. Many, many people do enjoy blogging. But I think we are seeing the inevitable results of change that affects all things. The genie is out of the bottle again and this time, there are many using this technology medium. I don't thinkblogging will, as whole, be sued or legislated out of existence, but the questions I've listed will have some serious impact of when, how, why, and yes, if some peopleblog. Ok, it is your turn. Post your thoughts on this one as most of the people reading this actually have their own blogs!

Old Friends

Never underestimate the power of LinkedIn or the picking up of a phone. For some reason the past few weeks have been an unpresedented time for me to get back in touch with old friends. A few of the times this has been initiated by me, but mostly it seems random in nature. Now if I truly believed in things like fate, I might try and read into all this some deeper meaning. Truth is, I don't why it is, just that it is. It's not a bad thing so, why worry or try and figure it out. Now of these old friends I haven't spoken to in years 2, 4, even 7 years in a few cases. These were people whom I had lost touch with 4 or 5 jobs and three states ago. Through all this, technology seems to have made that chasm of time and distance fade. I can use GoogleTalk and be chatting (or talking) with Christian back in Indy just as easily as Aaron in Seattle or Ryan right here in Michigan (next door). Doesn't matter. The net does a good job of erasing these physical distances in some ways.
Someone asked me if I had heard from Aarron recently or since he left Michigan. I thought and realized how funny my answer might sound. "Yes", I replied. "Spoke with him last night and just got done chatting with him. In fact, I talk or chat with him about every other day." Now, it's a lot less than the daily regiment we were in when he sat next to me in the office, but, hey... moving across the country has that effect on people. No, as I approach this wonderful and truly American holiday of Thanksgiving, I really do have a lot to be thankful for. In addition to all these wonderful people who I've been so fortunate to have woven my way, if ever so lightly or briefly, into their lives, it is this incredible set of tools and technology that makes it so easy to keep in touch. I mean, how hard is it to monitor my RSS feed(s) and post a note. Wow.
So to all of you reading (and chatting), thank you. Please, do keep in touch, and be thankful, because it's a whole lot easier than it used to be.

If a tree falls...

As the saying goes, "If a tree falls in a forest and there is nobody around, does it still make a sound?". I suppose the same could be said for this blog, except for the fact that I do know that on a few occasions my family has read it to catch up or a few friends in Seattle stop by every now and then do check in. I even have some one from Germany who visits from time to time. So since not everyone is leaving comments, I've installed Google's Analytics to help track who comes by. Don't worry it's painless.

The Broken Appliance (on Vimeo)

The Broken Appliance (on Vimeo), originally uploaded by johnmknight.

I did this little film back in June with some friends and coworkers. I can't tell you why I made this film (I'd have to shoot you or something like that) but can tell you that I had a lot of fun making it. Chris Farah plays the repairman and will go far in his future film career. Just remember you saw him here first.

Videos are now being posted,

I've started posting some videos up on Vimeo so by follwing this link you'll be able to see them in all their glory. The first few are some things I've done for family. Some of the others are simply small videos I've shot while on various trips. I do plan on posting some vblogs there and aspire to do a few shorts (as in short films).

Steve Jobs has my money.

For the first time since I purchased my Apple Newton Message Pad all those years ago, Steve Jobs has manged to wrangle some money from me. This time it was amazing at how fast my money and myself parted ways. The other day it seems Steve Jobs and company announced and have provided videos for download via the iTunes online store. I even read where they surpased 1 million downloaded (and paid for) videos. Well that is incorrect. The number should be 1,000,010 because I've purchase 10 videos (5 episodes of the new Night Stalker and 5 of LOST) in the last 24 hours. Needless to say I liked Night Stalker, a decent X-Files wannabe, and am now addicted to LOST. Again, thank you very much Mr. Jobs for taking my money. This time I won't have to make up excuses for your product like I did with the Newton. The iTunes service on the other hand works like I'd expect and while I haven't purchased a single track of music or an iPod, I've spent $20 on videos. Something to think about and what it to come or rather happening right now. Disruption Happens.