I am back, a bit earlier than I orginally thought, but home and safe.

I have tales to tell, but right now need to get laundry started and sleep.

1. Your username. 2. Your favourite band. 3. Draw a heart. 4. Your favourite person. 5. How are you today? 6. Tag 5 people.

Feeling: good
Listening To: eels (Souljacker): Woman Driving, Man Sleeping

Those bastards had no idea what was coming…

Feeling: nostalgic
Listening To: Everclear (Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile): Unemployed Boyfriend

I mentioned a little while back that I was going to start work on a Cocoa version of Phoenix, but was waiting on Realbasic to get their act together as far as Cocoa support. I've gotten a bit frustrated with RB's Cocoa timetable and have decided to go ahead and start over from scratch and write version 2 in Objective-C Cocoa. There are some pros and cons to this decision.

Pro:

• Program will be written in Apple's official language and will have access to all the neat features therein (built-in Spellchecker!)
  
• A lot of the old code was written by me before I had any formal education in programming and is sort of hackneyed and held together by luck and duct tape, so starting over from scratch means better code and more stability.
  
• Program could become available in the App Store (if you're into that sort of thing)

Con:

• It's going to be a little while before there's a remotely usable Beta, as I'm learning a new programming language and framework set
  
• Version 2 will be missing some of the features that Version 1 currently has (Some would eventually make their way back, others wouldn't (Audion Support, for example)).
  
• PowerPC Architecture would no longer be supported. (New version of Xcode no longer supports Universal Binaries)

I don't have any sort of official timetable yet, but when I'm programming I try to update my Development twitter (@phoenixlj). I'll be redesigning refining the user interface, since I'll be rebuilding it. If anyone has any complaints or things they really like about the current interface, I'd be happy to hear them. You can comment here, tweet @phoenixlj, or email me (Command-9 in Phoenix).

~Chris

Feeling: productive
Listening To: Nine Inch Nails (Still): Adrift and at Peace

I watched the Oscars last night and was pleasantly surprised that outside of Director, Picture, and Actor The King's Speech didn't dominate the night. The most delightful win for me was seeing Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross win for best score. It was a bit weird to see the domestic Trent Reznor, with his (hawt) wife and his tuxedo, but it's not like I expected him to show up in leather pants either. It's interesting how big of a fan revolt there was when Trent Reznor had a twitter account and, shock of all shocks, came off as a pretty normal person. People were upset that he was posting stuff like "I love my Fiancee!", instead of, I don't know, emo poetry? I guess the point I'm getting towards, is that it wasn't weird to see him in a Tux with a wife because I didn't think he had a life outside of music, but because it's honestly the first time I've seen that side of him. I was happy that Christian Bale finally won an Oscar, that Darren Aronofsky finally got nominated (though I am bitter that he didn't win), and that Inception did pretty well despite people saying it wouldn't. Also, I think Kirk Douglas owned the ceremony.


Today I bought an Apple TV (I'm sorry, an TV), which is the sort of endgame of me converting all of my downloaded shows and movies into MP4 and putting them in iTunes. I gotta be honest, the one thing that really threw me off about the device is how incredibly small it is (as pictured). But yeah, it streams Netflix, Youtube, and all of the Files on my Computer and cost less than a hundred dollars. So, I'm sold. The longest part of setting it up was finding a place to plug it in to my power strip. Otherwise, works like a breeze.

Despite the mediocre time I had last time, I think I'll hit up the Karaoke this evening. I've got a stack of movies and tv shows to watch, but they'll still be here when I get back. I rented Animal Kingdom, The Social Network, and Easy A. I've also downloaded A Serbian Film, which I hear is incredibly, incredibly offensive (so, of course I have to watch it). I was waiting patiently for it to get released, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon, so I snagged it from the tubes. Can't wait.

I'm also downloading It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Wire, the two shows I'm told I "need to watch now" whenever I mention that I haven't seen them. Though I have 81 episodes of Deadwood, Peep Show, and Life on Mars I need to get through at some point...

While I'm prattling on about media, I've got a quick recommendation. Snuff Box, which is barely describable, but is my favorite show ever to come out of Britain and one of my favorite TV comedies of all time. There's only six episodes, and I'm sure the humor is a matter of taste, so your mileage may vary. But, there are only six episodes, so you're only out a little over two hours of your life if you hate it.

Oh, also after looking for a picture of Mariqueen Maandig for the above link, I found out that the How To Destroy Angels album is nearing completion! Also, the Trent and Atticus are going to do the score for the American "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" remakes, nice.

Speaking of remakes of Scandinavian films that are perhaps less than necessary... I watched Let Me In the other day, the remake of the excellent Let the Right One In. It was a really well done film, and I enjoyed it. It reminded me of Insomnia in some ways. Both versions of Insomnia are really well done. However, you can see the calculated attempts at Americanizing the films. By looking solely at the parts they changed, you can get a sort of tenuous grasp on how Hollywood views American values and sensibilities. I don't feel like writing a full thesis on it, but it says something that in the American Insomnia the corrupt cop had to sacrifice himself at the end to atone for his crimes and forces the morally upright cop to uphold her morality instead of protecting him, where in the Norwegian Insomnia the morally upright cop hands over the evidence and the (slightly less) corrupt cop more or less takes off into the sunset. It seems like the filmmakers felt the American audience would be offended if the corrupt cop wasn't punished for his crimes, even though he had more or less good intentions. There was some similar stuff at play in Let Me In, but it's still within the statutory limit of spoilers and I've got a new gadget to go play with.

Also, I was surprised that Let Me In pulled in twice the amount of money ($22M) Let the Right One In did ($11M). By all accounts, I heard Let Me In was an unabashed failure, but it managed to pull in $2M over it's budget. I guess that's why they remade it.

Feeling: talkative
Listening To: Dandy Warhols (Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia): Sleep

The weather outside is fantastic today. High in the 50's, nice and sunny, not a cloud in sight. I've got the windows open and the heat off to air out the house a bit. Best of all, all the snow is gone!

Woke up with a bit of a sore throat this morning; I'm also worried that I might have an ear infection. Sound coming into my right ear is muffled and there is a constant buzzing in that ear. Hopefully this will clear up soon, the buzzing makes it hard to fall asleep.

Sign that I really didn't like my customer support job at Cingular: In front of my ID Badge is a fortune reading "In silence man can most readily preserve his integrity." Eloquently sums it up, no?

Listening To: The Bird and the Bee (Please Clap Your Hands): Polite Dance Song

I know you've been waiting with bated breath for Part 2 of the Puppet Posse vs. Chatroulette, so here it is:




Enjoy!

Feeling: drunk
Listening To: Hum: Little Dipper

Now that I have a comfy computer chair I'm going through my computer todo list and clearing items out.
Today I edited our Puppet footage and composed the first of two youtube videos. So here, for your enjoyment is "The Puppet Posse vs. Chat Roulette (Pt. 1)".



Hope you enjoy!

Feeling: productive
Listening To: Philip Glass (Book of Longing): Puppet Time

Got a new computer chair yesterday, oh what I difference it makes. I can comfortably sit at the computer for more than five minutes, crazy talk!

Looking forward to sunny skies and temperatures above freezing this weekend. Though I need to get my sump pump fixed before all this snow melts.

This is a little old, but worth it if you haven't seen it:

The best part about crock pots (well maybe aside from the general ease of them) is that they make your whole house smell delicious. Cooking up some Italian Beef right now; and let me tell you, the worst part about the crock pot is that your house smells delicious hours before your allowed to eat anything. Do want.

Feeling: hungry
Listening To: M.I.A. (Kala): Hussel [Ft. Afrikan Boy]

You know what would be awesome? Breakfast delivery. I want to be able to call up someplace and get some bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, and pancakes to show up on my doorstep. Maybe if I'm feeling a little more exotic I could get a quiche or a breakfast burrito.

How about it science?

Feeling: hungry
Listening To: Everclear (Sparkle And Fade): Santa Monica

Menards is putting up their christmas decorations today... o.O

This job listing amuses me to no end:

We have reached the point of civilization like the Incans reached when they had gold roads and the Egyptians reached when they had, like, magical buildings and secret things
So, what you do is you go kiss whoever you kiss, grab whatever you grab
Because these truly are the good old days and it does not get any better than this
And when it does you wake up and you’re dead

Listening To: Socalled (Ghettoblaster): (These Are The) Good Old Days

The Phoenix website has finally been updated and taken out of the digital stone age. Turns out these things called CSS have really come into their own in the last nine years and using tables for layout is kind of poor design. I've added a twitter account to follow along with development progress and to post quick notes. If there is anything you'd like to see added to the website let me know!

During my four-year development hiatus, xstylus graciously stepped up and fixed some bugs and made improvements to my code (Super-thanks!). He's released, as he calls it, the unofficial version 1.10.0. It's the official 1.10.0 now. This is the same, great release that xstylus released last year. If you're using 1.9.6 or an older version, due to some unfortunately lazy programming on my part, you won't receive a new version notice. This will be fixed in 1.10.1, at which point everyone will receive a notice in some regard.

As for the future, I plan on implementing some minor bug fixes in the 1.10.0 release, releasing 1.10.1 and 1.10.2 if necessary. This will be the end of the Phoenix 1. After that, I'll be working on Phoenix 2. Phoenix 2 will be a Cocoa-native application, so right off the bat it will get the biggest feature request automatically: spell checking as you type. I'm still waiting for REALbasic to finish their Cocoa-implementation, but it sounds like it should be available soonish, which will allow me to develop in Cocoa.

Phoenix 2 will be an OS X-only release. Unless Livejournal breaks their client functionality again, 1.9.6 will be the last version for Classic Mac. I am sincerely sorry for having to leave classic users behind. However, since classic support was disabled in OS X, it makes it pretty infeasible for me to do any sort of development for that platform. I'd still be happy to provide support to any users that are still on the Classic platform, though. Unsurprisingly, I'm also canceling Phoenix Lite to focus on development of regular Phoenix.

Lastly I'd like to say thanks to all of the users who've stuck by throughout the years, even when I've been mostly absent. It's much appreciated!

Feeling: excited
Listening To: Socalled (Ghettoblaster): (These Are The) Good Old Days

My iTunes collection passed 10,000 songs today. Taking the honor of #10,000 was a song called "Little Bird" by the eels. It's weird to think that I could listen to music 24/7 for a February and never hear the same song twice. Anyway, I somehow missed that Prodigy released a new album last year, so I'm listening to that now. Two tracks into it, pretty good so far.

Test three came back with zero, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for number four in two weeks.
Maybe I'll be re-employed by then :/

Feeling: blah
Listening To: Prodigy (Invaders Must Die): Omen

I have steak on the mind.... Next time I'm in Chicago, I'll have to get some kobe-style beef.
Should hopefully be watching the lost finale tomorrow with Laura. Almost made it through the whole week without it being spoiled.

I'm quiet, but still alive.

Listening To: Queen (Greatest Hits II): The Show Must Go On

I'm going to see Leonard Cohen again next Saturday!!! That is so fucking awesome!!!

Feeling: super-excited!! (and a little drunk)

Football Robot, for the win.

At: work
Feeling: amused
Listening To: Nine Inch Nails (The Fragile (Left)): The Fragile

After watching the tape, I definitely feel like I did better than I thought I did. It was just a pretty dead audience and, having just started out, I hadn't had to deal with that before. It really threw me off on the stage and caused me to miss more than a few of the jokes I had planned, but the audience doesn't know that. I gotta remember that.

Anyway, you can judge for yourself by watching the following videos. Feel free to leave honest criticism in the comments.


Oh, and today it is definitively, unequivocally Autumn.

At: Work
Feeling: happy
Listening To: Meatloaf: Paradise by the Dashboard Lights

I'm not sure how the stand-up went tonight. My first reaction was one of overwhelming negativity. But, Laura has encouraged me to go back and review the tape before I make a real judgment. She thought it was really funny, so I may just being to hard on myself.

Which reminds me, at some point I need to tell you who Laura is.

Also, Benis: We should talk. I'm going to reply to your entry soon, but feel free to give me a call sometime. (Number is on Facebook).

At: Home
Listening To: The Four Postmen (What the Hell Happened?): Get Off the Stage!

Oh, I don't think I ever mentioned this here. But I got signed up for another Stand-up gig!

I'll be opening for the same comedy group as I did last time, a week from tomorrow. I'm planning on doing about half old stuff and half new stuff. Hopefully I can get the funny up to about 80%, versus the 45-50% it was last time. For those of you in the area who didn't see it on facebook: I'll be at the Canopy Club at 7 on Friday Sept. 25th.

I'm planning on youtubing it this time as well, for those of you that can't make it.

Tags: standup-comedy
Feeling: excited
Listening To: Prodigy (Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned): Girls

I was doing my quarterly, narcissistic googling of myself, when I found out that a journal entry I wrote a couple of years ago ended up being quoted in a cnet news blog article.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-6094655-7.html

Neat!

Listening To: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (Love Their Country): I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

Overall I think I did a good job for my first time. I really enjoyed doing it, and the fifteen minutes or so I was up there went by really quickly. Friends and strangers told me I did a good job, so I'm going to try and believe them:)

The jokes were hit and miss. Some I think could be salvaged by better delivery, some were D.O.A., and some went over better than I thought they would. I'm really glad I taped it, as I can go back and objectively judge on what I need to improve.

Let me know what you think (and be honest, criticism is a necessity)!

At: Home
Feeling: happy
Listening To: Tenacious D (The Pick of Destiny): Master Exploder

Apologies to those one facebook who are hearing about this twice.

But... if you live around here, you should come see me perform Stand-Up comedy this Saturday at the Canopy Club. It's my first time ever doing stand-up, so a warm audience would be awesome. I'll be doing a 15 minute set at 7pm, opening up for the funny sketch-comedy group, Fishing With Dynamite. I think there's a $5 cover at the door.

Come laugh at me:)

Feeling: Doug Funny has the perfect Sta

Champaign and Urbana are separately considering dumping Comcast as our cable provider (see story link below). If you're half as excited about this prospect as I am, I encourage you to contact your district/ward's representative to voice your opposition to renewing Comcast's contract with the city:

Champaign: http://ci.champaign.il.us/city-council/contact-city-council/
Urbana: http://www.city.urbana.il.us?URL=/urbana/city_council/members.asp
(Map of Urbana's Wards: http://www.city.urbana.il.us/urbana/city_council/Ward_Map/Main.html)


http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2009/08/17/champaign_council_ponders_denying_cable_renewal

Feeling: excited / hopeful

I wonder if you could write-off a large black dildo if you used it as a prop in a stand-up comedy act?

In that same vein, I would be hella-curious to see what Carrot Top writes off in a year.

Yes, Yes, Oh Gods Yes

Courtesy of tyrdinjer

At: Work
Feeling: amused

I saw this mannequin today and bust out laughing....

( You ever seen Team America? )