Michael

I think I first have to say that I read the book after watching the Swedish film and since they were so similar it was almost as if I didn’t need to read the book at all. Both the films are very similar to the book and I think both are very well done.  I just wanted to point out what I thought was most interesting.  Spoilers after the break.

First I think that it’s hard to tell just how hard Lisbeth falls for Mikael.  Her inner monologue explains that she feels different and considers that she is in love.  The film can’t really portray just how much time they spent together while Mikael was writing his comeback article.  I think Lisbeth comes across cold in the film because from the watcher’s point of view she develops feelings very quickly, too quickly for them to be serious and she tosses out the gift.  In the book she is devastated and she gets angry at herself for being so childish.

Another place the American film was lacking in explaining what happened to the sex dungeon. They kind of just left that out there and in the book Lisbeth actually destroyed all the evidence that she was there.  It was a big deal that they covered it up.

Anyway that’s the two major parts, it’s a great film and you should watch it.

Currently I’m using http://flixster.com and it’s “meh”.  I don’t really care for the layout or the look of the site.  My profile kinda sucks, searching for movies isn’t that great, and quizes?! sigh.  So the search for a better site starts.

I first need to decide what I’m looking for.  It should have a good search and make it easy for me to rate films.  Simplistic wouldn’t hurt either but with a spot for me to save some words about the film.  A nice profile page is key, I don’t know who I’m sharing this with but that’s the point.

http://www.flickchart.com/ The basis for this site is that you rate films against other films.  That’s the only rating system so I just have a list of my top films.  I just can’t handle this kind of rating system, trying to match up some of the films is impossible!  If you make a mistake though you can’t do anything but reset everything, that is unfortunate.  I really like the fact that it shows you how much time you’ve spent watching movies and the site design is nice.

http://www.criticker.com/profile/peppage Why did I have to change the picture I wanted to use to a jpg, lame.  Despite this I actually like this site a lot.  It’s got a fairly clean design and being able to rate movies on a 0-100 scale is something I can get used to.  Pairing me to people that have similar tastes in films doesn’t seem like something I would use much.  The main problem I have with the site is that there are many ads and a whole tab to purchase a movie you’re looking at. Ad-block does save me on the ads though.

http://www.icheckmovies.com/profile/peppage/ Use this service. I like this site a lot as you only have to check that you’ve seen the film.  It’s quick, simple, and doesn’t require me to think of a rating.  The lists are nice and may help me dodge bad films.  The profile shows which films I’ve watched recently and you can see how I’m doing on the lists.  It is a lot like achievements which I’m a bit of a sucker for. 

Aaaannnd here’s where I should stop. There are so many choices (Jinni, Moki.tv, Movie Tracker, and hellomovies) and it would probably take me forever to get through them all.  I started using icheckmovies.com and I like it so much I can’t imagine using another service.  Also I checked over 1,000 films and I didn’t have to put a rating, whew.

I started by reading a lot of information on the wet shave, as you probably are doing right now.  I also read so many reviews and forums on products it would probably drive a normal person to insanity.  I’m hoping that you found this post before that has happened.  Getting started if you haven’t found it yet leisureguy has written an amazing post with a lot of beginner information.  For reviews and a forum check out http://badgerandblade.com/ (B&B) although I have to assume you’ve found that already, it’s the first google result for wet shave.

I purchased everything from http://www.bullgooseshaving.net/ and couldn’t be happier, they had the best prices and the best selection of blade sampler packs.  Everything I read on the internet pointed me to buy a sampler pack of blades.  This is the best way to test them all and make sure to pick the right one for you.  I’m new to wet shaving so I can’t tell you if this is bullshit or not but it seems everyone has their brand.  

First you need a razor, this is an easy choice, the Merkur 34C (HD) is the standard for beginners.  Next I went with Taylor avocado shaving cream, you can check the reviews on B&B but people love the smell and the way it feels on their face.  This also goes for the Proraso dopobarba aftershave balm, I choose this because it doesn’t have alcohol and I wanted something to moisturize my face.  The brush is also very important and while the price can become astronomical I went with the Edwin Jagger best badger brush because the general consensus is real badger hair is important.  I picked the medium size, I didn’t want to break the bank just yet but I also wanted something decent.  For the blades just pick a sampler pack that suites you; the MVP pack had all the ones I wanted to try and, of course, I suggest that one.

That’s the bare minimum to get started wet shaving.  Sure there are a lot of different products to try and everyone seems to have an opinion about something.  You can pick up a stand if you want and a shaving cup if you need one.  The good news is you really can’t go wrong if you stick with the Merkur HD.  Don’t get too wrapped up picking out products but I hope my list helps you.  I tried to pick great items for beginners that had the most positive reviews.  Look for a future post about my first time using them all.

This required quite a bit of effort and all the information I found on the topic was very misleading. Do no use the weird programs that are suggested, coverter203 or whatever silly name they’ve come up with.   Some good old fashion tools work perfectly.

Slowly but simple

The slowest way is to do it in realtime.  That means if you are converting a 40min file it will take 40minutes.  Yeah that sucks but you can always leave it running at night and it’s easy.  First install AviSynth and VirtualDubMod then create a new file with notepad to contain DirectShowSource(“PATH TO FILE”) where PATH TO FILE is the actual path to the file. You have to make sure the file name containing the one line has the extension .avisynth so VirtualDubMod knows what to do. That one line when loaded into VirtualDubMod will start converting the file.  You will have to specify a place to save it.

A Bit Quicker but complex

You’re going to need VirtualDubMod, avc2avi, mkvtoolnix, BeLight, and MKVExtractGUI.  To set this up you should place the MKVExtactGUI files into the mkvtoolnix folder.  Keep track of the output directory for this next step.  Using MKVExtract you must separate the video and audio parts of the file. Then with BeLight you will convert the audio, which is the .ac3 file, to an mp3.  You can leave all the settings default in BeLight, if anything you can change the quality on the mp3 tab to 100.

Now that the audio is converted open a command prompt, “cmd” in run, and navigate to where the avc2avi.exe file is saved.  The command you will use will look something like, “avc2avi.exe -i inputFile -o outputFile”. The input file is the .h264 file that was created using the MKVExtract.  The output file will be an avi file.  Note: You might have to set the frame rate, the default is 25fps however usually files are 29.97. The flag to set the frame rate is “-f”.  If you notice the audio is off on the final file then your frame rate is probably off.

Now after you have the .mp3 audio and the .avi video files combine them in VirtualDubMod and make sure you pick Direct Stream Copy in the audio AND video settings. This is what makes it fast, since everything is already converted all VirtualDubMod has to do is combine them into one .avi file.  After it is combined you’re done!

With the recent password controversy on lifehacker I’m happy I started using keepass a few months ago.  At the time I was more focused on getting my passwords setup than choosing the right manager.  It’s time for me to go back and reevaluate my choice.  I’m only going to be looking at the three most popular keepass, 1Password, and lastpass.

Keepass

This manager is a free option if you want to store your passwords on your own computer.  The database is a regular save file and nothing has to be uploaded unless you want it to be.

The bad

I have to admit this program was such a bitch to setup. I wanted to sync between my work and home so I had to install a plugin. Getting the plugin setup was difficult and it still gives me problems today.  The actual layout of the program is not nice to look at and I wish it grabbed the icon on the website.  Browser integration is a pain too, I had to install extensions there too.  There are a few intricacies in the program that make it difficult to just pick up and go.  It’s a little slow too.

The good

I said a lot of bad stuff but the program does exactly what it says it does.  I like that it works with every browser: firefox, chrome, and even opera! It even works with applications in Windows.  The password generator is intricate if you really want to get in there.  You can even set an expire time to remind you to generate a new password. It’s free and it works like it says it should.

LastPass

A web-based manager that is mostly free (premium: $12/yr), all the passwords are stored online. This is excellent if you want to sync and you could even install portable browsers with it installed. It works with all browsers too but with extensions.

The bad

Why does this cost money? Ok ok, if you want to use it moble or for applications it costs money. I want to use it for applications, that’s an important feature but $12 a year! that’s a lot of money. It’s also a hassle to find the advanced options, the password generator isn’t powerful. You can’t set auto logout for this type of manager. I wish the online password vault looked like the local vault. You have to be very careful when changing passwords on the website and generating a new one.

The good

Extremely easy to use and setup. Install plugin and go, I already have it running on two different browsers.  It can even autologin for the lazy and it works perfect. I like going to a website and the information is already there for me to login.  It also has forms and credit cards if you wanted to store that data too. Installing just an extension is nice.

1Password (windows)

This manager is the most complicated in terms of payment, the least you can pay is $40 and the max is $60 (mac home/PC work) or even $75 if you want to use it on your iphone. That is quite the investment! 1Password has a locally stored database.

The bad

Wow this program is just a lot of money, I would be able to buy it now for $30 and use it at home and work which is quite the deal compared to home mac users.  You will have to setup your own sync by using dropbox and having some knowledge of that. Doesn’t work in Opera, UGH. The biggest problem is that it only works on web browsers, not in third party applications.

The good

Even when I first login the interface is awesome, this is exactly what I’m looking for.  Logins in once place, then other passwords in their own category. It’s great to see it go get the icons for websites. It does auto backups and the documentation on the site is great.  Did I mention that the interface is good and easy to use and everything is well integrated?

The Bottom Line

I’m personally going to have to stick with keepass. The ability to save passwords for programs is very helpful when I log into games.  For the syncing I would suggest using dropbox, having to click sync every time is tedious.  If you need a more mobile solution I might suggest using keepass on your computer and then uploading an export to LastPass. I would absolutely use LastPass if I didn’t need third-party support. It works great and I would say it’s the best solution for laptops. It was the easiest to setup too.

Using a password manager is a great idea if you sign up for a lot of sites and helps you keep track of old logins. I suggest you download one of the free ones and check it out, don’t get discouraged though, it is an important step in your online security.  You can’t go wrong with any of these three.

I have for a while pondered using a separate email client for accessing my mail. I can see the benefits but with Gmail increasing its features everyday I just can’t make the switch.

Using a client all your email is stored on your own home computer and all your contacts are very handy. I already use Firefox and love all the addons along the same lines I could enjoyThunderbird. (Note: all the outlook people need to get on the Thunderbird bandwagon now!) Thunderbird also integrates well with Sunbird, a calendar application. If Thunderbird is so great why can’t I just make the switch? Well it’s not that simple! Gmail has been in beta for 5 years, that’s a long time, but it’s service has always been amazing. Constant uptime, new features, and huge storage. I remember when getting an email account with 10MB was amazing. right now Google is telling me “You are currently using 256 MB (3%) of your 7316 MB.” Holy crap! At this rate I’m never running out of space. The labels and offline features are changing the way people use email and if I already have a web browser open at all times why should I run another program?

Instant access on my phone or through the web Gmail is always there. I’ve tried to think on multiple occasions why to switch and I’m still stumped. I think I’m letting this one go. Now if only I could get rid of Lotus Notes.

I know, I know. I’ve not been updating the site, I seem to move from one site to another. I’ve got twitter which is really as good a blog as I need. Considering I just don’t have much to say and every time I try and keep this going it fails. I don’t see how people twitter and then write on a blog. Perhaps they have people that read the blog but they don’t talk to them on the phone. Maybe I’ll think of some new crazy idea to put here or I’m wide open to suggestions. I already have another project here for http://wheresgeorge.com which ishttp://pepptastic.com/george.

I think a photo album thing is out, flickr does such a good job without me. There are too many other sites that do whatever I need already. I’ll just post links to each of them on the front page. Oh Social networking how you ruin the need for me to have a website.

I’ve been using twitter a lot more these days and not posting here. It’s easier to put in what I’m doing and it’s only 140 characters. If I littered this area with those besides having in the bar —> right over there it would probably get very annoying.

Anyway I’ve been trying to make a screencast in Ubuntu. I have to admit that there are only two things I have found nearly impossible to do in Linux. Making a screencast is definitely one of those two. First I had to find software to record my screen, I wanted a GUI just to make it easier on myself. I found “recordmydesktop” to be suitable and it records audio and you can choose to have it record only part of the screen.

Editing it together with myself talking through the video as a normal screencast should have, has proven to be more difficult. There is no good editing software available for Linux and with other pure screencasting applications for Windows that can record and edit with some amazing features I have to admit defeat. I can’t believe how difficult this has been and I am finally at the point where I must complete my mission. I have one program that is too basic and the other too complicated. Where is a programmer when you need one to write a copy of a good Windows application? Oh wait…

I seriously don’t understand a word she is saying.

I have been known to take an accidental nap here and there but I swear it isn’t my fault. The server room at work must be the best generator of natural white noise in south Jersey. I’ve been nudged and made aware of me falling asleep in the server room on more than one occasion. I’ve also been caught by a coworker while I was really out. I tell them that it isn’t my fault and that the servers are must be creating some sort of “super” white noise that I cannot resist. They seem to agree that it is some very potent sound. I don’t think I’m going to be in any sort of trouble over this, although it seems to amuse some people.

I’ve made an attempt to capture the raw power of the sound however it isn’t my fault if transferring it to digital medium made it lose all of its strength. I did not listen to the sample because I’m afraid of falling sleep and waking up hours later. I’ve found out from my lawyers that I have to put up a warning label just in case anything happens.

WARNING: This sound clip may put you to sleep. I hold no responsibility for anything happening to you or anything around you while you are out cold. If you miss the chance to feed your cat, turn off the oven, or are so asleep people mistake you for in a coma/dead you can bring no legal action against me.

Sound clip removed.

It’s a weird group activity that most people don’t like to partake. They feel the need to get wasted and get up there and break my hearing. Now don’t get me wrong I feel that their is some social qualities to karaoke.  If you’re going to get up there on your own without the help of beer courage then I applaud you.  Just please try and sing in your range.

I was recently at one of these karaoke nights and there was some people there that sang the “safe” songs.  The songs I consider have a low voice and all the same tone where you could just hum along and it wouldn’t sound half bad.  A few people chose to flaunt their non existent singing talent.  One bitch even told a guy that he was off on some parts.  What gives her the right!?  I saw/heard her sing and it wasn’t much better.  In fact sitting here now I wish I had taken a video because she was taking it waaay too serious.  I still don’t understand public singing.

A movie coming out soon, Taken looks great.  I might be a sucker for thrillers because they are the closest things to horror movies I can watch.  This one seems to have a decent plot and some good acting.  What more could I ask for?  I can only hope it lives up to my expectations.

Right at this moment I worry about the safety of my ass. How am I suppose to go in to the bathroom and feel comfortable doing my business? If you move the slightest bit away the from the flushing sensor *whoosh!* it’s flushing and you’re getting wet.  I’m definitely not exaggerating the real flushing horsepower of this toilet.  The water is moving so fast it splashes out of the bowl and onto an unsuspecting user.  So that means you can’t lean forward or stand up or move at all.  Once that sensor is set there can be absolutely no movement, none(I hope I’m clear here).  I’ve often arrived at the stall with some sort of cover pre installed over the sensor so obviously other people have this same problem.

Today I didn’t bring anything to protect myself against the sensor.  Usually by the time I arrive the situation has already been taken care of.  I managed to flush the toilet four times in a matter of minutues.  It was a frightening experience!

The bathrooms at my place of employment to the untrained eye may seem inviting and clean.  However, underneath the shine there is a complicated and scary world to traverse for the weary worker in need of some relief.

Well to sum it up I graduated college, found my first job, and traveled for my first job.  That seems like a win to me.  I also watched waaay too many TV shows, acquired a crackberry, saw MC Frontalot live, and ate some really great food.  Some really great times were had.  I know it’s cliche but I miss living at school and classes.  Even with my job, my studies supplied some really great programming problems.  At least I’m not missing how much I used to eat out.

It’s late and I ran out of stuff to say, this is just a small list of what I want to attempt in 09, nothing too spectacular.

And now the short list for 2009

• Use less tables and more CSS
• Travel out of the country
• Learn more anything
• Make money off the internet
• Go on a date with Natalie Portman

I’m a big fan of twitter.  I think the website and people are great.  It allows the community to share links and pictures.  There are so many great websites like this and so many websites to bring everything together.  I actually just sat here and by accident pulled up over 3 different video community sites in association with Kevin Rose’s seesmic.  I think I have an account on almost every site possible.  I just set up that friend feed and damn all these insance “web 2.0” companies making me sign up for their services.

Friday night I went to go see MC Frontalot in Philadelphia and he was very funny.  Also ate at this amazing sushi restaurant Zento (website has sound).  It has square sushi and I just had to get it with a spicy tuna roll and some miso soup.  I must admit it was the best sushi I’ve ever tasted.  The problem with the city though is that the place was SUPER tiny and we had to wait to get a table.  Parking is also a problem but not because I couldn’t find a place but because it’s just so damn expensive.  You could feasibly spend more money on parking then just around the city, what kind of madness is that!

Google is a funny thing

“how to love” 7,930,000
“how to love god” 390,000
“how to love yourself” 201,000
“how to love women” 7,800
“how to love your mom” 3,290
“how to love men” 1,760
“how to love your dad” 5
“how to love star wars” 1
“how to love the internet” 2
“how to love your monkey” 0
“how to love google” 0

This just goes to prove that loving a man, your dad, and Star Wars is easier than loving any women so the internet has a limited knowledge base on these things.  Who doesn’t love Star Wars right?  Monkeys on the other hand are just lovable no matter how you look at it and if you own one you obviously love it.  There was some crazy stuff that people wanted to know how to love on google but no one needs to learn to love google.

I’m a machine.  There, I just wanted to get that off my chest right now.  Normal sandwich making practices were getting boring so it was time to mix it up.  As you can see there are now five liverwurst and extra sharp cheddar (yellow) cheese sandwiches ready to be devoured for lunch this week.  It takes almost the same amount of time to bring to life five sandwiches as it does one.  Mass production is definitely the way to go here, it makes me rejoice knowing it will now take me less time in the following days to prepare these delectables.  Damn there sure are a lot of kinds of sandwiches.

I went to the Verizon store last night to acquire a phone upgrade.  I talked to Ed Bang and he did not have the LG Dare in stock which was annoying but I gave him my information so I could come in today and get the phone.  I realized it wasn’t that late though and I went to the other (real) Verizon store and purchased my Dare instead.  Mission Accomplished!

There was a slight problem though, Ed thought it was in his best interests to call me today to let me know that he now had the Dare in his possession to sell to me.  His first call was at 12:43pm and he left a voicemail saying I can come in tonight and purchase this awesome phone.  No problem I thought, I can just ignore him, that was nice of him to call me and let me know.  However again at 2:42pm he called but now instead of leaving a voice mail he texted me “hi mike it’s ed at verizon in berlin…i have ur dare so u can come and pic it up…will u come in today?”  OK, this is getting little intrusive, how did he know what my texting plan was, I could be paying for this! Also that was such a professional sounding text, was he even trying?

I figured at this point he would have other work to do then call me a third time but I was wrong, so very wrong. At 4:50pm he again called and no voicemail but texted me after, “Mike call me when you get a chance…ed” (at least this time he capitalized my name).  Since he didn’t call again around 6:50 I hope this barrage of harassment is over, at least he was very timely about it.

In the words of John Stewart “Here it is, your moment of Zen”

I finally ditched that broken chair I’ve been using but in all fairness I was waiting for a deal like this one.  Initially I thought the chair was going to be $45 with a floor mat and a protection plan, two things I definitely did not need, but when the employee totaled the sale it came to $26!  I was so surprised that this originally priced chair of $80 was marked down this much.  It is very orange which is a color that most people would not be thrilled with but I could care less.  It was mentioned that if the chair was used on carpet it would void the warranty but as Joe correctly stated the carpet is not the chair’s kryptonite. I believe only an idiot would have problems with a chair on carpet.

I enjoy the game of poker and I have purchased a sample of real poker chips.  The people I have lived probably have something to say about this but I enjoy playing with them, it’s loud.  I can do a few “tricks” but shuffling them is by far the loudest.  I don’t have a video of me shuffling but here is a little bit of what I do, these are really easy and I didn’t buy them to impress anyone with my amazing skillz.  It’s cool to use clay chips and now it’s just something I do anytime they are in front of me

I do have a poker tournament tonight, should be interesting!