Loose Change: A few cents short of a dollar.

I recently had the pleasure of viewing the very special Loose Change DVD. For those unfamiliar, it's a documentary about 9/11 and the conspiracy theories surrounding it. I recommend that everyone watches it. Then immediately after read the wikipedia page about it and realize the kids who made it were a bunch of fuck-ups that say a lot of things and prove nothing.

Obligitory Net Neutrality Post

So this video about Net Neutrality is horrifying. I can't believe they'd be allowed to air such blatant propaganda. People are going to believe it too, despite that it offers no fact and is spouting pure lies. Not even half-truths or slanted opinions, the video is pure, simple lies.

If you're confused, watch this video: What is Net Neutrality

Real web developers don't use Dreamweaver.

So this blog post made me furious. Here's a quick rundown:

A friend of mine just asked what I use to code my web sites and I triumphantly stated that I use Dreamweaver, a program that I deem one of the most fantastic pieces of software I’ve ever owned.

That's about all you need to know. This guy continues on to prove he doesn't know anything about HTML or Dreamweaver. He says basicly says that coding in Notepad makes more work for yourself. I'd argue the contrary. Dreamweaver creates so much excess code and such a headache for real web developers I can hardly image it being used in a professional environment, even though it's used quiet often. That's right, I just implied that real web developers don't use Dreamweaver, and it felt good.

I do agree with his point, however. Coding in Notepad is stupid. There's a million other free editors available that are much, much better. But Dreamweaver? Really? That's like telling someone the best way to drill a hole is with a jackhammer. The scariest part of the whole debacle is this statement made by one of his commenters:

I think it totally depends on the size and scope of the sites you are building. I could totally code everything by hand in notepad if I wanted to. But a lot of the sites I work on are large, and very complex. So I take advantage of all the tools available to me.

I don't understand why people think Dreamweaver is somehow better at handling large sites? If you're building a 60+ page site shouldn't you be more concerned with, oh I don't know, data management? Elegant navigation? Not producing 60+ pages of bloated, unmaintainable HTML?

Luckily some kids (Josh and Oliver, respectively) have their heads on straight and posted these comments:

I use Dreamweaver and I have used it for a long time, until I started a new job and I was required to use VIM or Emacs. Needless to say after using VIM for 2+ years, I prefer VIM over Dreamweaver any day.

and

At my friend’s suggestion I learnt to code in Notepad before I ever learnt to use DreamWeaver. Result? I know how to code decent mark-up and how to bug-hunt without relying on the software.

It doesn’t make you clever but it sure as hell helps you out to have a more rigorous environment when you’re starting out.

God, I can't believe this got Dugg.

UPDATE: The quote above was actually not from Edd, the original author of the article, but just a commenter. Now that's my bad. I changed it accordingly.

This blog is now about Apocalypto.

Wired.com's Table of Malcontents had a great post about Apocalypto. Here's a clip:

MYTH: Mel Gibson is a homo.

FACT: Mel Gibson directs movies about mostly-naked men smeared in oil and blue paint who often run really fast so we can see their muscles flex or bend over and show off their ass cracks.

Apocalypto is quickly become this year's film to hate! Link

Mel Gibson is just a no good guy.

I saw Apocalypto last night and there's something I don't understand. How is a film that consists solely of cardboard-thin characters being forced through a series of cliches getting such good reviews?

There's about 15 minutes of character development near the beginning of the film. Clever dialog, good characters and all that jazz. The rest of the film, however, is these said characters being tediously forced to move around in pure silence. The most likable character just disappears for nearly an hour. The first few minutes of the film doesn't provide us enough reason to care about these characters through the rest of the film. It just doesn't.

Also, the violence in the film moves quickly from shocking and grisly to humorous and unnecessary. Audience members were laughing more then gasping at, what should have been, a wanton display. Mel doesn't let up through the entire film, adding more and more unnecessary scenes of gore. By then end you hardly care about the characters since the film has already established that they are all disposable. Not to mention the fact that after 2 hours of watching gruesome acts you are so desensitized that nothing else they throw at you could possible shock or upset you.

How someone could sit down and write some of the scenes is beyond me. Scenes so improbable and over the top that Mel Blanc would blush. I have an indelible vision of Farhad Safinia wandering into the room and asking Mel Gibson "What's the worst thing that could happen to a woman in a well?" Mel Gibson thinks for a while and thoughtfully replies: "Childbirth, of course." I'm not joking here, folks.

Lastly, there is the incredable series of cliches the characters must endure. It's hardly worth mentioning here but I'll give you these three: Hero trapped in quicksand, Child trapped in well, Hero gets saved from becoming a human sacrifice by solar eclipse.

It seems to me that Mel Gibson has now produced two consecutive films that are nothing more the an expose of human suffering. Not as an artful display, or to make some kind of statement, but displays of suffering for pure entertainment. And that's why I think Mel is a no good guy.

Web 2.0 Reduces 15 Minutes. Now 15 Seconds.

So Web 2.0 is changing the internet, right? We can all just uninstall our Words and Excels. We can shut down our HAM radios and recycle our Atlases. Web 2.0 beat us to the punch. We can now publish our videos on a global scale, get our radio broadcasts heard half-way around the world and sell our wares to the global marketplace.

This is all well and great but frankly, this much competition gives me complexes. My pitiful blog posts are up against the likes of Rands and Tom Coates. Thanks to myspace, the music I produce in my bedroom is being displayed next to MTV's latest sweethearts and I don't mean that in the good way. With all the content being produced, how do I possible set mine apart?

Can I?

No. But when has insurmountable odds ever stopped me.

Point is, I'm going to start blogging. Aren't you excited?