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November 2000 Archives
I talked briefly last night with Matt about this, so I will mention it here. There are certainly a lot of people out there who you feel like you know, despite the fact you really don't know them at all. I was thinking about this at Burger King yesterday. I guess BK is second only to the bathroom in terms of where I do my deepest thinking (scary thought). I was thinking about it because I feel like I know the cashiers at Burger King. I know each one's habits and which one will motor through the line the fastest. (For some reason this has never worked at McDonald's). But in fact, I have no idea who these people are. For all I know, they are matriarchs of powerful families in the area or just someone trying to make ends meet to send themselves or their kids to college.
The Internet hasn't helped, especially through blogs. There are a few people I feel like I know, but in reality have no idea who they are. This led me to thinking of people who actually read this website. I get about 2,000 hits a month to this site from domains around the world (so I know it is not just me), yet I have little interaction with the users (save the occasional correspondence from the Gorn or Disneyland Paris pages). So all of you out there send me an e-mail with some info on you or a link to your website - I'd like to get to know you.
Yesterday, a copy of Jarre's 1979 Place de la Concorde concert arrived from Barry in the UK. This concert was one of the first videotapes ever produced in France and is extremely hard to come by. The concert itself was the first of his outdoor concerts (fully realized later in his career in Houston, Lyon, London, Paris, and Moscow). Now all I need to do is find a place that converts PAL to NTSC. Shouldn't be too hard in LA.
As a result of the new acquisitions, the Jarrepalooza section was updated and a PDA version of my Jarre collection is now available!
Oh, the joys about living in the LA Area. Last night I was driving home from Phoenix when I ran smack dab into the middle of a traffic jam on I-10 near Palm Springs. My guess it was the huge influx of people from the Coachella Valley going back to LA. Whatever the cause, it was still a bizarre sensation to be in bumper-to-bumper traffic in the middle of the desert.
For the trip, I rented a 2000 Chevy Malibu from Avis. Crapx2. Mom: "The back seat is a good position if you are getting your hair shampooed but not for any kind of road trip." Roger: "My lower back will never be the same." I liked the car's acceleration, but found that the build quality was at the usual GM standards - i.e. crap. The sound system was pretty good - nice bass and volume which came in handy since we needed to drown out the sound of the screeching fan belt and the mystery sound from the left front wheel. When I returned the car, the Avis lady said that most Malibu renters had said the same things I did. Go figure.
The Best After Thanksgiving Special: Best Buy who had 11.99 DVD's. I chose Mission Impossible 2.
Last night's entertainment was How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It was fun to see on the big screen, but I still prefer the animated short. Jim Carrey was the best part of the whole movie - which is saying a lot since I usually don't go for the Ace Ventura stuff.
Tomorrow I am off to Phoenix to spend some quality time with the family. The drive to Phoenix is nothing to crow about, but it sure beats the heck out of the drive to Sacramento via I-5. I will try and post updates while I am away, but no promises. Have a good Thanksgiving. For those of you who don't like the history behind the holiday (Here come the Pilgrims, there goes the neighborhood) be at least thankful that it is one of the few holidays that isn't overly commercial and is still about being with the family.
One last quick note: Happy Birthday Mark!
Man, domain moves are a pain. I spent a good chunk of my non-working hours today trying to move Concorde Travel Management to its new server. It's not just the HTML folks, its all them CGI forms and E-mail accounts as well. Oy.
I also had some dental work done today. It continually amazes me the advance in dental procedures that have taken place in the last 10-15 years. It seems they take leaps and bounds, but I think it might be a matter of perspective since I only go once every six months. I highly recommend the non-drill drilling. (Don't ask me to explain it, but its very cool - no pain!)
The majority of the weekend was spent watching the supplemental material on my Fantasia Anthology DVD. I really think that Classic Fantasia got the short end of the stick. It seems like they rushed to put it out with Fantasia 2000. The supplements for each section pale in comparison to those for Fantasia 2000. However, the presence of Walt Disney (via some old footage from the classic "Disneyland" show among others) as well as storyboards-to-music versions of some proposed segments as well as the complete Claire De Lune almost make up for it. The extras for Fantasia 2000 are full of alternate versions and interviews with the segment directors and such. I still recommend the complete set, but I still hope that somewhere there is a person with the Deems Taylor audio sitting around so they can re-do the DVD and add some more extras.
The other choice of entertainment this weekend was Charlie's Angels. If you check realism at the door, this is a great way to spend a few hours. I don't know what you pay for movies these days, but in Burbank the going rate for adults is $8.50. I am sure New York and even some theaters in LA are over $10.
In Clubjosh news, thanks to Dave Haber, I am pleased to announce that the Club Josh Mobile Edition v1.0 is now available. Dave helped out by adapting a Perl program to take my update file and breaking it up to cell phone length. Duly inspired, I added the Walt Disney World Trip Diaries to the phone as well. Europe '98 should follow soon thereafter, and then the others. In the back of my mind exists an application for the Gorn page. We�ll see if it springs up...
It is amazing what a turnaround that Jack-In-The-Box has done since the mid '80's horsemeat scandals. Ever since they got the new commercial campaign in the early '90's they have been on a roll. One of the most inspired things they have done was creating the Meaty Cheesy Boys last year. This fall, they re-launched the site for the 1.99 Ultimate Cheeseburger promotion. Just the fact that they have their own web site with music is way cool.
I received my Fantasia Anthology DVD set this week. It is amazing how much better the video is on the DVD of Fantasia compares to my laserdisc. One thing that does bite is that the audio of Deems Taylor's narration was not found. The version of the narration is the original 1941 road show of Fantasia (the road show was the original version of the movie in theaters with "Fantasound") and the original audio was lost. I always thought highly of Taylor's work and that it greatly enhanced the movie. The new narration is flat and uninspired. For that reason, I am keeping my laserdisc. Fantasia 2000 has no such problems and is an amazing DVD (as good as Bug's Life and Toy Story). When I watch the anthology disc extras, I'll pass along my opinions.
Network Time Wasters: Dack got a link in his Inbox from Andy Baio, a fan of the site AmIHotOrNot who was disappointed by the inability to get ratings and created: AmIHotOrNot broken down by subjects' scores titled Are They Hot or Not. Simply staggering that people accuse me of having too much free time.
In ClubJosh news, a mobile site is up and running, although its still a v.99. Just point your phone to www.clubjosh.com and admire the lack of content. I'll keep you all posted on its progress.
Here in Los Angeles County, every place that sells food-related items is rated by the County of Los Angeles Department of Health Services - Environmental HealthThe ratings range from "A" to "C" and those that fall below 70% are not rated. I never realized that the list was published on the web. Last night, I was walking past Rite Aid and it was rated a "B". Must be some bad ice cream. Must be from the same vendor that gives it to the Baskin-Robbins in Santa Monica that is also rated a "B".
Day Eight - America Held Hostage. The light at the end of the tunnel is the headlamp of an oncoming train. The Sacramento Bee has an interesting article on how History bodes ill for winners of troubled elections.
Dan passed around a link to a map of the vote for president by county (thanks to Megnut for having a link to a more detailed version). What I really find fascinating is the correlation between Voters for Gore and the frequencies of natural disasters. Draw what conclusions you want to, but I think it is a darn good masters thesis. I wonder what George Kennedy would say about all this?
Well my grandmother has narrowed her car selections to the Acura 3.2TL, BMW 330Ci, Cadillac (anything with night vision), or the Lexus ES300. We saw all of them at the Auto Show. Not quite as good as Edmunds Live! where you can drive the cars, but still a good time. Also made another trip to Disneyland to see the new fireworks and snow effect. Everyone oohed and aahed at the snow. It was very cold at the park and we were glad to have the Indiana Jones ride to keep us warm.
Day Six - America Held Hostage. Maybe we need Regis to settle Who Wants to Be President? It does however look like our long national nightmare will be over by next weekend. Here's hoping.
Haim sends along another Network Time Waster: The Lego Star Wars Trilogy.
Through some miraculous fold in the space-time continuum, I have added the Walt Disney World Trip Diaries to the PDA site. Just giving more credibility to those who say I have too much free time.
Day Three - America Held Hostage. We still have no idea who is going to be the next president, but Dan passes on a link to the Washington Post article on the eerily similar election of 1876.
This weekend I am off to the California International Auto Show. Not nearly as exciting as the LA Auto Show in January, but I love any show or convention with mountains of free stuff - especially t-shirts.
One medium size Condo building in South Florida is all that separates Bush and Gore. One wonders how history will recall this election, and more than that, only a good leader will be able to be an effective president with this close of an election.
I have updated the PDA site to include a better version of the Daily Update archives as well as the first Trip Diary - the oft-delayed Europe 1998. It is now called Club Josh Handheld Edition - a name I think blows. I am trying to think of a catchy name for the site, but nothing has really stuck. I also added a permanent link in the left nav to download the site via AvantGo.
It amazes me that here in the year 2000, we are still awaiting the outcome of a Presidential Election. Regardless of who wins, this is still a fascinating election. 1200 people in Florida may decide who is the next president. Just some perspective: There are more people in my office complex than the number that will decide who wins. Other interesting tidbits: A dead guy wins the Senate seat in Missouri, Gore could lose the election and still win the popular vote (and thus becomes the Samuel Tilden of our time), and a sitting first lady wins the Senate seat in New York. Who says elections are boring?
In other news, Alex or (Artificial Life form Engineered for Xenocide) sent along a link to the Cyborg Name Translator.
Long time users of Clubjosh.com will remember at one point I used to have my video collection online. Cooper sent me a new video catalog program called CATVids2000 which looks nifty. I still pine for a windows version of Sandd Software's immortal shareware movie guide by Mark Wyatt - Mark are you out there?? I still use this program, but CatVids is the first one I have seen in a long time that gets close to the power of the Sandd version. If only CATVids had a simpler UI.
Yesterday, Gabe Catalfo Fields were dedicated in Berkeley, CA. Gabe is the son of Phil Catalfo who I have e-mailed a few times over the years. Gabe died in 1998 from leukemia after almost eight years of battling the disease. Phil wrote a touching article about those eight years entitled Gabriel's Journey. It is well worth the read. I never met Gabe, but his story moved me - in part because one of my friends died from leukemia in 1993 and also because he is a Catalfo, and no matter how distant of a cousin he is, he still seems like family.
My readings lately have included a few interesting LA related issues: Valley Succession and the demise of the Pacific Electric Railroad (or as Angelinos refer to it - the old Red Line). My opinions are as follows: Making the San Fernando Valley portions of Los Angeles their own city is a great idea. It might be a royal pain for the people south of the Santa Monica mountains, but there are enough high-income communities (such as West LA and Beverly adjacent) that it will even out nicely.
As far as Light Rail in LA, I am continually amazed at the decisions that were made in the 50's and 60's by the local government regarding public transportation. Looking back, I can understand why the people made the decisions they did. Who could have predicted what the much heralded "freeway" actually would do for LA namely increase traffic to a saturation point and then not fund infrastructure improvements to keep up. The real kicker is that if they would have let Alweg build the Monorail System (courtesy the Monorail Society) or kept the Red Car running, life in LA would be completely different. There are some sites out there that want to bring back the Red Car in Downtown and possibly expand it and incorporate it into the Metro Rail system. I think it is a neat idea, but public transportation and acceptance in LA in this day and age is doomed unless they build a line to the West Side (Beverly Hills, Westwood and UCLA, Santa Monica, the rest of the beach cities, and yes, the west valley.) The worst traffic in LA is the 405 Corridor hands down (though I-10 is the busiest). Until they come up with a light rail/subway solution it is not going to get any better. The worst part is that even if they started right now, it would take 5-10 years to build.
Somewhere, some time ago, weblogs have become blogs.
I am still struggling with my PDA site. I am trying to lay it out as simple as I can, and at the same
time make it accessible via all sorts of handheld devices and cell phones. Where I want to go is to have
a Club Josh Handheld edition that includes some trip diaries as well as my daily update.
Not much sleep last night. I went out to West Hollywood to their annual Parade - which is not really a parade, just a bunch of people wandering up and down Santa Monica Blvd. Most popular costume seemed to be either Tigger or Pooh. A close second had to be superheroes in general - most of who seemed to be going with the "Superhero at the 10 year reunion" theme. Some of those Wonder Women weren't very wonderful at all. Come to think of it, most of them were not women either.
Parking lot note: we parked in the Pacific Design Center's parking lot which took us 30 minutes to exit due to the backlog. This is a problem with most parking lots built because they compound the traffic by forcing each floor to empty onto each other. Universal Studios has the same problem with their garages. Once it took me over an hour to exit New Year's Eve. Disneyland has just built the largest parking garage in the USA (maybe even the world). They were smart enough to give each floor its own ramp down and out of the structure significantly reducing exit times. I am not sure if any other garages currently do this (Beverly Center has a similar approach), but if you happen to be an architect and are designing a garage, think of us poor souls trying to exit at midnight.
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