Random Gobshite...

Monday, March 30, 2009

GO GO GADGET.....phone.

(Yeah I know-the seller's ID makes the post look lame-ass, but I could not find a pic without one)

So, I got a new phone. I have dealt with a POS former ATT Wireless Go Phone as my main unit for some time. I really hate being reachable all the time honestly, but when I need to reach someone, I want my shit to work. The final straw was when I needed an iTip for it and the Radio Shack guy told me they stopped making them cause LG did the same with 'those old phones'-I'm pretty sure he smirked (if I was sure, you'd have seen them taking the body out on the news). That, and the fact that missing screws inside the damned thing kept causing it to short out on me at inopportune times, like when Dr. Girlfriend had something important to tell me.

Of course, when choices abound, my needs suddenly become legion. I NEED a PDA phone, I NEED the touchscreen/stylus interface, NEED a decent camera to catch the next Phelps bong hit, UFOs and El Chupacabra should I come across them in my travels. As the list of potential phones grows, so does the notion that more of my tax refund is going to go to yet another hand-held gadget sure to completely improve and simplify my life. Fortunately, there is Frugality (and for some, its ugly sister, Cheapness) to rein in such folly.

I got looking on Ebay for starters-since my ATT Wireless account gives me a SIM card, I am able to purchase any phone I want and drop it in. Since I missed the deadline to upgrade this past September, and really don't feel like applying the Big Mark Nasty-Ass Sucks to Be You Negotiation Process at this time, I figured I'd find what I wanted easily enough for less than 200 beans, since the Bastards Formerly Known as Bell wanted $250 and up for most of their PDA-type wares.

There is one other thing about me I neglected to mention-I love having something hard to obtain, or less likely to be had in the US. Little items from far-flung corners of the planet are my Blood Diamonds. I loved import vinyl as a kid-my collection of colored and printed LPs and singles was pretty impressive. My cars had to still have things written in German on them for a time (I got off on saying my car was Schwarz or Cirrusblau, rather than plain old black or light blue), and for a while anything with Japanese or Cyrillic on it caught my attention. Most recently I discovered the taste of Mexican domestic Kahlua is better than the stuff they send us (more coffee, less sugar), and had my poor friend Brent begging his in-laws to keep me sated with the brown gold for my occasional Big Lebowski-themed drinking jags. I guess I liked the idea of feeling like I had gone to those places, and when asked I'd reply "I got it in Russia"-that subtle semantic phrase-bending could have got me in trouble, but if asked I'd always concede I meant "FROM Russia" or whatever country of origin the item happened to hail from.

With this in mind, I quickly began to turn my attention to some of the unbranded imports from Hong Kong-I have had some success with Chinese imports in the past, and since I don't eat my phone I am not to worried about lead poisoning. They ALL emit waves that are killing us, but I could get gunned down by the BATFE tomorrow if they get a hard-on for me. Eventually I found the little dealie you see above. The wallpaper is NOT of Dr. Girlfriend as some have surmised but seems to be Mena Suvari of American Beauty fame. I wonder if she knows-her pic is on the phone, the box, the manual, everything-she may have a great case for a lawsuit.

Meanwhile, the phone has everything I need-it is not as intuitive as the idiot-proof phones for the domestic market, but since MY VCR has the correct time (the very fact I have a VCR denotes I've been messing with this shit a long time, kiddies), I'm not having too much trouble figuring stuff out. And yes, I know of the holy iPhone ( I use an iBook after all), but I don't need internet on my phone, so I'm not going to worry too freakin' much about widgets and apps, as I get my fill when I'm at the computer.

Best part is this one only set me back $83 bucks US$. If I hit any snags I'll let you know, but for now I'm pretty happy with it.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Tires....


Under the category of Random Consumerist Woes, I have to pick up tires for Florence, my 2000 Subaru Outback. WTF?! I'm not one of those whiny tightwads that squawks at the price of everything. But I mean, c'mon, they are just RUBBER, for crying out loud....


So I start out at The Tire Rack (great site btw-they let you compare prices and see what custom wheels look like on your personal car). The tire in question, the General Ultimax HP (highly rated by members of the Outback forum I subscribe to) is priced at $82 each. Nice, right? But wait-as they say when trying to sell you Shamwow's or anything else on TV "There's more". The trick is, you need to find a participating dealer or someone willing in your area to mount and balance your tires. Then, of course, the usual shell game of valve stems, tire disposal, etc., etc. The price goes up at least $20 per tire. Actually I think it's more than that, but my head hurts and I'm not adding it up for all of you cause you probably don't care anyway.


Then comes the matter of alignment-I HAD to have an all wheel drive car, so of course I HAVE to get a four-wheel alignment-not so bad, but tacked on to the tire bill we are looking at over $600 with tax. Yes, the economy sucks, especially for film makers who are trying to eventually quit their regular jobs. Guess I will be at it a little longer.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Films.

As you'll come to find eventually, I am a rabid film fan, and have been since the age of about seven or so. I made my first film, a stop-motion animated feature, at age 12. I acted in my first video production (a remake of Ghost Story) at age 14.



Currently I am in pre-production on a zombie short-we are keeping the lid on it at the moment, but we will disclose more as we firm things up. Meantime feel free to check out our production company web page, where you can check out a few of our shorts from a while back. This next production, however, promises to be our biggest ever, and we are pulling all the stops to make this one our best. I am working out the details of the script, and we have scheduled our shooting for the month of June. Post production should wrap by the end of August.


Our focus is mostly horror/scifi, but I am dying to branch out and work on a documentary eventually. Therefore a lot of my reviews are of documentaries, which I'll post here.



This all sounds very sanitary, and I'm pissing myself off-I'm not this nicey-nice, so if the milquetoastedness of this is turning you off, give it time, I'll have you just as pissed off or laughing really soon, I swear.

Why do I do this to myself?

So yesterday, because I don't already have enough to do, I decide to set up on Twitter. I figure I should have a separate blog for it, since I'll be saying much more than I say on my Suburban Junkyard blog. This will hopefully cover everything else I have not covered there, which, I guess, comprises the rest of this wild life of mine. Stay tuned.