benajohnson web log

Plant Cages & Blu-Ray Player

2010-08-14T20:26:00.000-04:00

As you may recall, about a year ago [original post] I planted a vinca vine and some rosemary in some pots. Over the last year, they've done well, and had become somewhat unwieldy. I'd been hoping to find a small tomato cage to wrap them around and support them with, but I was unable to do so.

After a lot of searching I finally went to Michael's and bought some 12 gauge copper coated aluminum jewelry wire [example] and some 5" and 7" craft rings. I then used the wire to join the rings and create legs.

What could have improved these is a slightly stronger wire for the legs. The 12 gauge wire is almost two flexible and has a bit too much give. The measurements between legs is a little off as well where in some places it was tighter than in others leading to weird bumps in the look.

Overall I'm much happier with the way the plants look now. The vinca especially was growing out of control, and I'm hoping the cage will help it fill out more along the vine rather than such long stretches it currently has without leaves. The rosemary too should benefit from the cage and fill out nicely (and now straight too).

This weekend is the tax-free weekend in Massachusetts. Largely to help people prepare for back to school shopping, it's also largely used to buy big expensive televisions and electronics. With that in mind, I put a Best Buy gift card I had to some use and purchased a blu-ray player. I'm not certain I plan on buying any blu-ray discs at this point in time, but I rented a set of five movies from Captain Video (can't beat the employee discount of free) to test it out. Star Trek, Fools Gold, The Fifth Element, Starship Troopers 3, and House of Flying Daggers will help judge if it's worth it.

So far the picture is very nice, but I'm not certain I can tell the difference between blu-ray and an up-converted DVD. I'm only two movies in though.

Also, I've said it before: I really like the new Star Trek.

Tired Old Queen At the Movies

2010-06-16T18:42:00.000-04:00

A while ago, I stumbled upon a YouTube series done by Steve Hayes (you may know him as the guy who sang "Como te gusta mi pinga" in the film Trick) called "Tired Old Queen at the Movies." It's a really fun look back at a lot of films from the 40s and 50s in Hollywood. I recommend subscribing to his channel.

I also compiled a list of his recommendations from the first 35 episodes. I've seen only a few, so it looks like I have some work ahead of me. I've bolded the ones I have seen.

Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954)
Lodger, The (1944) & Hangover Square (1945)
Kings Row (1942)
Maltese Falcoln, The (1941) & Brick (2005)
Written on the Wind (1955)
Vertigo (1958)
Sudden Fear (1952)
Stranger, The (1946)
With a Song in My Heart (1952)
Bishop's Wife, The (1947)
Desk Set (1955)
Furies, The (1950)
Them! (1954)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Greatest Show On Earth, The (1952)
Letter, The (1940)
Bad and the Beautiful, The (1952)
Place in the Sun, A (1951)
Black Narcissus (1947)
Victim (1961)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Titanic (1953)
Auntie Mame (1958)
Portrait of Jennie (1948)
Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
Rains Came, The (1939)
Torch Song (1953)
Big Clock, The (1948)
Lifeboat (1944)
Red River (1948)
Niagra (1953)
No Way Out (1950)
Harvey Girls (1945)
Long Hot Summer, The (1958)
Laura (1994)

Storm damage!

2010-05-27T13:47:00.000-04:00

The last two days have been insanely hot here in Western Mass, and after yesterdays 95 degree scorcher, we had massive thunderstorms... like more than one National Weather Service advisory level thunder storms. Apparently they took out power and trees all over the area, and while I didn't see any get knocked down in my apartment complex, one tree directly outside my apartment was partially uprooted. and is being taken down today before it falls in the next storm and ruins everyone's cars.

Hick Truck

2010-05-20T02:40:00.000-04:00

I was behind this truck today, and I took a picture because it was my first time seeing Truck Nuts in real life. Upon further examination, it turns out there was a lot going on. My favorite part of this truck is that it contained a Patriotic scene in the rear window but a confederate "4x4" flag on the drivers side. This truck also had several "I hate non-Chevy trucks" stickers, but only one on the back. This truck is mostly notable as I live in Western Massachusetts... a well known liberal haven.

Kevin Costner to the rescue

2010-05-20T01:56:00.000-04:00

A recent New York Times article about the BP oil spill in the gulf mentioned that actor Kevin Costner has developed (or more accurately: financed) a machine that separates oil from water, and will be deploying it to help clean up the gulf. Apparently Waterworld went to his head. This is crazy, but good job Costner!

Hollywood Upstairs Medical College

2010-05-17T17:26:00.001-04:00

Dr. Nick: Instead of making sandwiches with bread, use pop tarts. Instead of chewing gum, chew bacon.
Bart: You could brush your teeth with milkshakes.
Dr. Nick: Hey, did you go to Hollywood Upstairs Medical College too?

I made this today. I want it on a hoodie with the big college letters saying "Hollywood Upstairs Medical College" above and below it.

Miss Hoover Stole My Lesson Plan!

2010-02-21T22:03:00.003-05:00

From tonight's The Simpsons it's Miss Hoover's lesson plan.

3-Way Calling on the iPhone

2009-10-27T12:50:00.003-04:00

I have recently tried on a few occasions to initiate a 3-way call on my iPhone only to have it fail to merge my calls. I was rather frustrated as it would make the move to merge but simply move back to putting one of the parties on hold. I then turned to the source of all knowledge (Google) to solve my problem.

It turns out, the fine folks at AT&T have done the great service of advertising the iPhone's easy call merging feature but have not activated 3-way calling by default on accounts. So, whereas my online list of features includes 3-way calling, my account set-up did not. It took me a great deal of time to find the way to fix this easily, but I finally found a website that explained the process and more information easily. It can be found here at MacYourself.com. If you too have an iPhone, but have never tried the 3-way calling, I suggest you follow these steps at a time before you actually need the 3-way feature.

In other news, the iPhone is great and I love it. It's merely annoying that the folks at AT&T neglect to have this feature activated for all their customers, just as they throttled the ability to receive multimedia messages until September of this year.

Note: Kev, if you leave a smart ass comment on this, I'm afraid my "iPhone" will suddenly and inexplicably "lose the ability" to call you, or answer your calls.

More Captain Planetry

2009-09-07T18:58:00.007-04:00

I was thinking about Captain Planet as I do from time to time, and I did a Google search to see where my blog turned up in the current rankings. I'm blissfully off the first page for a "Captain Planet Movie" search, but when one switches to images, it's a completely different story. What's more, I discovered that my mock-up teaser poster had been used (with credit, so I'm not complaining) by another site. It makes me feel almost like a graphic designer. Take that Kvn!

The same site also had news of another image that had surfaced recently as more of a hoax than a tribute (as I like to think of mine). This person obviously had greater graphic design chops than I do, but it's unfortunate it's a hoax.

Hey Warner Brothers, you own DC comics and the Turner properties, how about greenlighting this little Legendary Picture? (PUNS!)

[Edit] Looking closer it's quite obvious that the creator of that poster used the image below to create their outline of Captain Planet by also searching for "Captain Planet Movie."

[Further Editing] On closer examination of the Apple Trailer site photo, it's obvious whoever made those photos used some of my casting choices as Aisha Tyler, Seann William Scott, and Gael Garcia Bernal are all listed in the cast.

Quick and easy tortilla pizza

2009-08-26T15:14:00.005-04:00

Those who follow my twitter know that I think the Food Network is the Devil. I've been watching some more the last few days as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are on a three week hiatus. The danger of watching Food Network late at night though is that it makes you insanely hungry. Last night it was the The Best Thing I Ever Ate episode "Pizza" that put me over the edge.

I decided to make some "pizza" with those few ingredients in my kitchen. In lieu of dough, I used a flour tortilla. I also had some tomatoes and some red onions. Last night I used some thinly sliced Velveeta cheese, but this afternoon (when I used up the last of my sauce) I used some fat-free Cottage Cheese.

The first thing I had to make was the sauce. This is my family's recipe for pizza sauce that we've been using for home made pizza my entire life, but you can adjust it with seasonings of your own:
1 can tomato paste
1/2 t. Worcestershire sauce (I used Soy Sauce since I didn't have any)
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. basil
1/2 t thyme
1/2 t. oregano
1/4 t. celery salt (I added this because I love it)
1/4 t. pepper (see above)
2 or 3 drops Tabasco sauce

Spread the tomato paste on the tortilla getting it as close to the edges as possible (this helps to keep them from drying out and getting burnt too soon). Then add some diced onion and tomato. I then spread my Velveeta/Cottage cheese randomly over the tortilla and then covered the entire thing in Parmesan cheese.

Broil the "pizza" until the edges start to brown. At this point, you could cut it up and eat it, but I found that the center of the pizza is still kind of moist at this point, so I fold it in half and broil each side until the tortilla starts to bubble and brown.

I then cut the "pizza" into quarters. The double layer of tortilla helps to add stability, keep the ingredients contained and makes it feel as if there was a bit more crust to the "pizza." This also gives it a nice wedge shape we associate with pizza.

It's a very simple recipe that I could have added some different ingredients based on what's in my kitchen. Were I to make this with "premium" ingredients I would probably use the same sauce and tortilla, red onions, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, some good Parmigiano-Reggiano, and a little shredded Robusto cheese. But that's not what I had in my kitchen. Try some of these "pizzas" sometime.

The sauce makes enough for four 10" tortillas, so you could easily make a light lunch for four (paired with a nice Caesar salad perhaps).

Air Brushed Much?

2009-08-06T12:35:00.003-04:00

I was working on new release stuff for next week, and this poster for I Love You, Man^* really caught my eye. It seems normal enough until one realizes that Jason Segel hasn't been that thin for quite a few years (at least since the start of How I Met Your Mother, and that may even have a heavier Segel). It's kinda crazy. It's not as if people haven't seen him completely nude, and don't see him without a shirt on in the movie. He's definitely not this skinny.

Paul Rudd, I'm assuming is that handsome though.

* Oddly, IMDb doesn't list Segel in even the top five actors for the film, even though he's clearly the co-star. Additionally, IMDb doesn't have a photo for him, which is odd given that he's starred in at least two major movies in the last five years in addition to a successful TV show and many supporting film roles. Jason: get your agent to fix this!

HRM Rex Goliath Pinot Noir

2009-07-16T19:31:00.006-04:00

I bought some wines today for the next few weeks. I bought to reds and two whites. I opened the cheapest first. It's a HRM Rex Goliath Pinot Noir.

It's okay, it smells of alcohol when I smell it. The wine itself is smooth, and has a sweet flavor to it, but as a whole, it's not particularly great, which is unfortunate as Pinot Noir is typically my favorite wine. AT $9.99 for the bottle, I think I'd rather spend a few dollars more and get a better Oregon Pinot Noir.

Theoretically I'll say more about the rest. Theoretically...

Aww

2009-07-06T19:03:00.000-04:00

Somebody got tuckered out on our walk.

Vagina art

2009-07-06T13:31:00.000-04:00

I was at the Amherst town hall when I saw this painting. My first
response was, "Of course Amherst has vagina pAintings in its lobby."
My second response was "That must be by a woman." And, it is. Some
lesbian who named this one "Spring." I guess the spring is generally
moist too.

Logical Frustration

2009-06-22T16:56:00.003-04:00

One of the dangers of watching Hulu is that you'll be subjected to the same four commercials almost exclusively. After about the eighth time watching this commercial, I was so filled with logical frustration, that I felt compelled to blog about it.

The commercial involves a group of Lost style survivors of a plane crash on an island. One of the castaways is able to jury rig an internet connection. While the castaways are ecstatic at this news they can now contact help, the man who performed this technological miracle, takes the time first to customize his Capital One credit card with a photo of himself eating a gigantic hamburger. Another of the castaways so overcome with hunger attacks the screen destroying their opportunity for being saved. As a result, that castaway is exiled in an inner tube by the other survivors.

While I know this is simply a commercial and meant to be humorous, the real criminal in the commercial is the castaway who took the time to customize his Capital One card. What purpose could customizing a credit card on an island, ostensibly without stores, provide? His first effort first and foremost should have been to contact help, particularly given the tenuous nature of his connection. Instead he introduced temptation to other islanders. Though the islander should not have tried to reach for a photograph of a hamburger, the foolishness of the man who did not immediately seek help is the castaway with the greater blame.

I know this is stupid, but after a hundred viewings of the same idiotic commercial, I feel compelled to rant. Meanwhile, Cheetos has been largely successful in getting me to eat their products with some great commercials. I don't even like Cheetos.

Donkey!

2009-06-14T18:42:00.000-04:00

Leela was very afraid.

Is this progressive?

2009-06-11T13:20:00.005-04:00

So, we've all seen Jean Kilbourne's Killing Us Softly wherein she dissects advertising's images of women. Kilbourne illustrates the ways in which women's bodies are often subordinated in advertising by the dominance of men. So, when I saw the poster for the third season of The Tudors on Showtime, I was a little surprised. The fact that Jonathan Rhys Meyers is sitting on a thrown of people isn't surprising, the fact that they're both naked women and naked men is surprising.

This advertisement is surprising for two reasons: first, that both nude men and women are portrayed and being subjugated; secondly this heterosocial pairing of subjugated nude forms could imply a pansexual orientation for Meyers.

Kilbourne demonstrates the many ways in which women are often the sole nude, subjugated, and objectified people in advertising. She argues that though we've seen an increase in the male body being dissected and objectified, the context in which it is done still is less damaging than what is done to women's bodies. In the case of this advertisement, Kilbourne could argue that while men and women are being dominated in largely the same way, the context of a patriarch dominating them all tips the balance towards men in the end.

Heterosexuality is the hegemonic paradigm in advertising. While lesbianism can be tolerated when it is for the benefit of the male viewer, gay males--outside of certain niche publications--are entirely invisible. Though there are an equal number of men and women in this shoot, insuring heterosexual pairings, the potential for homosexuality exists in a way that one rarely sees in advertising. Were Meyers sitting entirely on a throne of women, as one would expect to see, his heterosexuality would be obvious and inarguably paramount. Yet the addition of nude men potentially undermines this.

Is this ad progressive? Maybe. However, in the end, it reflects patriarchal domination of objectified sexual beings, and a sexuality based not on equality but that is intrinsically unequal.

Further Adventures in Sushi

2009-06-07T21:07:00.003-04:00

My second adventure into sushi making was considerably more successful than my first. For one, I used much less salt and regular sugar when making the rice, so the general flavor was better. I also used a greater variety of vegetables this round: avacado, carrot, cucumber, and red bell pepper. I also bought some wassabi and some pickled ginger. I think at present the weak links are my method of rolling (Ziploc bag with a paper towel in it) and cutting (regular chef's knife). The bag doesn't roll uniformly, so there's a bit of unevenness in each roll. I used my Salad Shooter to shred the cucumber and carrot making it easier to spread across each roll. That said, the cucumber roll still gave me guff and didn't quite work out right.

When I was done I had some remaining vegetables, so I chopped up a little celery and tossed them with some olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette and a little Parmesan cheese to create a salad. All said, I think it was a successful meal.

New project for this blog.

2009-05-25T21:23:00.002-04:00

In an effort to light a fire under my ass and get to work on my comprehensive paper, I'm going to be using this blog as a way to keep track of some notes for readings I've done. Similar to my movie blog, I'll read a book/article and use this space to make some notes about the arguments, evidence, and other things about the resource in question. My hope is that this will allow me to keep track of my work as well as keep me on task. Essentially that will mean both movie blog posts and regular "booknote" posts. So enjoy if you're so inclined. If not, feel free to ignore.

I think I really liked Star Trek...

2009-05-21T16:41:00.003-04:00

Last Tuesday I went to see the new Star Trek film with two of my coworkers. At the time I thought I liked it and only had one real complaint about it.^{Spoiler note 1} But as the weeks have gone on I've found that I keep thinking about it, and I've decided that I really enjoyed the film, and should probably see it again. I also recommend that everybody goes to see it in theaters, even if they're not big Star Trek fans.

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of all things Trek. I own the complete series of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, with hopes of some day adding Star Trek: The Next Generation to my collection. I also own all ten films. The last few fiction books I've read have been DS9 relaunch books. But even with this obvious love of Star Trek, the one series I've never seen in its entirety is the original.

Though this may be shocking, I think in large part it has to do with Captain Kirk compared to all other Starfleet captains in the other series. Kirk's solution to all problems seems to be to shoot first and ask questions later. And when he's not shooting things, he's bedding them. In general he seems to lack the sort of ethical considerations and respect for life that is a strong part of all other captains in Trek lore. He embodies the sort of hegemonic masculinity that I have a great deal of disdain for.

In the new Star Trek film, Christopher Pine does a fantastic job of reinterpreting Kirk. While he still plays Kirk as cocky and impetuous, it doesn't come across as terrible, though it verges on precociousness, which is nearly as annoying as hegemonic masculinity. The rest of the cast does a fantastic job as well. Zachary Quinto makes an enjoyable Spock for a few different reasons, and Karl Urban virtually channels the late DeForest Kelly in his portrayal of Dr. McCoy. The only character who could have used some beefing up and a feminist consciousness is Ohura, but in general almost the entire Star Trek franchise could be given the same criticism.

Go see Star Trek in theaters. It's good, and maybe I'll see you there on my second visit.

Notes:
1. SPOILER: I really hated that Kirk went from a Starfleet cadet to second officer of the Enterprise to Captain very quickly. In order for this to happen, he not only had to pass up all the other cadets aboard who weren't on probation, but also all the Starfleet officers aboard. As a result, he's an untested commander who makes risky decisions that the crew should have no confidence in. If he'd at least been an officer before he'd have proven himself to the crew and would have had the leeway needed to do crazy stunts.

Home made sushi.

2009-05-19T20:17:00.001-04:00

I made my own sushi tonight for the first time. I followed a combination directions from the rice package and from Alton Brown's Food Network recipe. However, because I did not have regular sugar, I had to use brown sugar, and because I did not have kosher salt, I had to use ground sea salt. I think this affected the eventual flavor, it wasn't as sweet as I'm used to with sushi. I also halved the recipe. As it was, half made six rolls, which is far too many for one sitting.

In the above photo you can almost see the order in which each roll was made. The first couple cucumber rolls fell apart. I definitely need a sharper knife. I also need some pickled ginger, because the powdered ginger I used didn't taste the same.

I figure three cucumber and three asparagus rolls would normally run me about $21, so I did have some major savings by making it myself. I'm definitely going to have to experiment more and make some different rolls.

Snowflake Flowers

2009-05-13T15:05:00.006-04:00

I was bouncing around Wikipedia today looking up crystals, when I found an image of a snowflake that I found particularly striking. I decided to try and recreate it, and was somewhat successful, though I think the result shows my lack of knowledge in using Photoshop.

Part of what I think struck me about it was that it reminded me of the Tudor Rose (below). So I colored it similarly. I just thought I'd share it here.

Kal-El

2009-05-09T13:39:00.004-04:00

For years I'd been trying to find screen caps from the Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman episodes that had Clark Kent/Superman/Kal-El in his black Kryptonian suit, but I was unable to find them, so not too long ago, I made one. I found a panning shot that sent up Dean Cain's body to his face, and used PhotoShop's photo-merging to turn it into one solid image. Unfortunately, as they panned up, they zoomed in, an in order to get the image to work I was forced to re-size it. The result is that Dean Cain looks a little out of proportion, but it's the best I could do.

As far as I can tell (at least via several Google image searches) this is the only and most complete photo of this outfit. You're welcome, Internet.

Cher Guevera

2009-05-02T12:10:00.005-04:00

I saw this image and thought it would make a fun wallpaper, so for those of you who have a 1280x800 widescreen display, enjoy. The rest of you can re-size and crop on your own!

¡Viva la Revolución!

In honor of Northampton Pride which is today:

Disney joins Hulu

2009-05-02T11:33:00.004-04:00

So, Disney recently joined News Corp (Fox) and General Electric (NBC) in the Hulu experiment. Is this because I'd recently complained about the fact that ABC was not on Hulu? I think so. The only major companies missing now are Viacom (CBS, Comedy Central, etc.) and Warner Bros. (who are joint owners in the CW, along with Viacom). [Read about it here.]

While I'm normally a critic of the fact that there aren't very many media corporations, the fact that their are so few creates Hulu as an insanely viable outlet for all your TV needs on the web. Now Hulu simply needs to develop a Netflix-style set-top box, and TiVo needs to develop integrated Hulu usage.

My only fear is that as Hulu becomes more popular it will require more ad revnue to keep the service viable which would extend the length of commercials from the current one per commercial break to potentially the 2-3 minutes broadcast television uses.