Shorties

• 14:35 Not 0-dark-30 today #
• 14:36 @renelae yeh we went there last time we were here. Very good. #
• 14:49 twitpic.com/1wr90 #
• 20:19 Pick up show tickets, grab lunch, hang by the pool #
• 22:11 @renelae @aerdin. Penn & Teller #
• 22:13 FYI: it's not a penny machine if the bets are in 50 penny increments #
• 00:17 @pennjillette watching people sign the envelope #
• 00:23 Lenten sacrifice: Six weeks without Facebook, Twitter usat.me/?34351946 #
• 03:21 Decent food, decent show, now in room desert. #

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• 07:21 PIT--->LAS #
• 13:06 Down, safe. #
• 16:08 Lunch Dim sum Carts #
• 00:19 Down 20 #
• 00:19 Dinner: Bobby Flay #
• 02:38 Don't think mesa is making our top ten #

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Shorties

• 13:17 Season announcement: Grapes of Wrath #
• 13:18 Season announcement: How to Succeed... #
• 13:21 Season selection: The Government Inspector (Chemers adaptation) #
• 13:22 Season announcement: Richard III #
• 13:47 @PunkyPicc is there another? #
• 13:54 Greenpage top five: tinyurl.com/d3xpru #
• 14:52 First Peter Cooke faculty meeting #
• 17:49 home, laundry pack, sleep - have to be up soon #
• 05:55 0-dark-30, getting up this early one ought to get to go to Hawaii. #

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Shorties

• 16:16 churning #
• 20:38 disappointing the window guy, bummer #
• 01:21 @PunkyPicc once I looked for my glasses for a half hour while wearing them. #
• 01:22 Possibly just printed something in my office at work from my office at home - not sure if we really need that capability, but kinda cool. #
• 01:24 In case anyone is interested, the newsquiz this week is lame. #

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I Don't Do Windows...

...today anyway.

Do you own your home? Have you had people in to quote work for you? Do they do the "you have to sign now or you don't get the price" thing?

I hate that.

Yesterday a company that we had do some work on the house called and said they were having a special incentive program and did we have anything we might want to do. I told them we wanted to do some window replacements and they said great, and that their guy would come out, do some measurements, and give me a quote that would be good for a year.

Perhaps optimistically I thought that as a repeat customer I would be spared the hard sell. Alas no.

So Gene comes out, measures our windows and quotes me a price - a HUGE price by the way, in case you've never done replacement windows. Then he says he can do me 10% as a repeat customer. To me 10% an incentive program does not make.

Then he trots out the hard sell. The company and the manufacturer have allocated incentive funding that make "a substantial" difference, but you have to sign now.

Hmm. Go jump in a lake.

We chat and chat and finally he trots out the incentive price - one night only - an additional 30%. It's a decent price I guess. I can never seem to get my head wrapped around how much people want for home improvement work. It might even be a price I might pay, but not in a "before-I-leave-the-house" scenario.

Strangely, the work we're looking at is the balance of the job we did with them the first time and the "screaming deal" price this iteration is just barely 10% lower than the remainder on the first estimate. So much for a special incentive program.

I guess we'll see how our taxes come out and then decide if we really want to finish the work now and if we do we'll call and make them an offer. If they want the work, they'll take it, and if not - well they know where to find me.

Shorties

• 13:30 Everyone in Basic PTM needed nap time today. #
• 14:28 @bpeoples I soldiered on. Pretty much the worst teaching experience there is, but we've already canceled too many classes this semester #
• 14:59 Technology brainstorming meeting #
• 19:53 @PunkyPicc don't get too excited. Remember you're at work #
• 20:38 @PunkyPicc why is this night different from all other nights? #

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Shorties

• 13:56 BCSA Meeting - adding Directing #
• 14:34 Debugging The Illusion #
• 15:29 feeds, greenpage #
• 16:44 @PunkyPicc I'm so sure that never happens #
• 16:44 BPTM Prep #
• 18:32 Hanging out for The Six - that's "Scheduling" to you CSSI people #
• 21:28 Running Man or Point Break? A billion dollars per month for cable and that's the choice. #
• 21:29 @aerdin poof! #
• 00:25 late night pet mopping - big fun #
• 00:25 @aerdin but think - now you've saved up a whole show for reruns #

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The Sad State of Action Stars

I watched "The Running Man" tonight. While taking in all the mid 80's film making and thinking about the reboot of "Total Recall" I've been reading about I had the thought that The Running Man would be a good candidate for a remake. There's just something about the casting and the visuals and the story and the concept that seems to me like it would still resonate today and that would benefit from a retooling using today's film making technology.

But there's a problem. Who would be Arnold?

Think about the action stars of today and try to put any of them in something as high concept as The Running Man. Who's out there? Matt Damon? Ben Affleck? WIll Smith? Daniel Craig? Keanu Reeves? Tom Cruise? Johnny Depp? Christian Bale? Viggo Mortensen? Shaq? Really the well of action stars doesn't much include anyone too butch. Orlando Bloom as The Running Man - shoot me now.

Hugh Jackman? Are you serious? I mean Geez, they had Kelsey Grammer play The Beast.

I suppose you could go Vin Deisel or maybe even Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. They both seem to be mired firmly in what for Arnold was his "Kindergarten Cop" phase. They'd be ok I guess. For a moment I thought about Ving Rhames, but he's never really carried his own film. Even TV is a little devoid of the big bodied action star, nobody leaps to mind from Heros, or Lost, or BSG. You don't think too long before saying "Well maybe the remake could have a woman?" Since Angelina Jolie might be the most credible action star of the past decade. But that seems wrong.

So really, what happened that has us rebounding so heavily from Stallone and Schwarzenegger? Where's the new Dolf Lundgren or Carl Weathers? I think I'd even go Van Damme. It's pretty sad.

In their time I don't think anyone would have said those guys were the best actors around, but there was a niche they filled very well, and I am not sure there's anyone waiting to step in right now. How odd.

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WOW

Shorties

• 10:25 Sunday Morning - Interviews - and yet, 26 minutes without applicants #
• 12:12 @aerdin happens - welcome to the US Airline industry #
• 13:18 Lunch break - two grads this afternoon #
• 13:49 @renelae the movie? #
• 14:21 and now - grad interviews: why? why here? why now? #
• 16:19 Time now for snack #
• 20:54 @thespophile yes, bacon goes bad #foodpoisoning #

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