I have a few different web servers. Holycow.com and most of my newer sites are hosted through the excellent Liquidweb.
But I have an old account with a company called Ace-Host (.net) that was really cheap. They’ve been a bit shaky with some downtime, but I couldn’t really fault the price.
Until today. Their server blew up (or something) and they lost everything. EVERYTHING. I’ve got backups of the files, but the SQL data (in Jessica Pink, and Rev. Gored’s blogs, for example) is ALL LOST.
I’m currently trying to get them to get a data recovery company to salvage what they’ve got but they’re just apologizing and offering a free year of hosting on a server with remote backup. THAT DOESN’T CUT IT.
If you’re one of the people whose blog we lost, I’m really working hard to get them to recover the data. All hope is not gone yet, but it’s a dark day and things don’t look good.
I’ll come right out and say it: It’s not great.
But it’s not bad either. There were a few laughs, a few excellent performances (Sam Rockwell as Zaphod Beeblebrox stands out) some nice effects and new ideas and gags even for hardcore fans of the series.
But the comedic timing was a bit off. It felt like Arthur Dent (played by The Office’s Martin Freeman) was being held back from being “too British”. Some of the gags weren’t delivered right at all, others were left for the audience to figure out well before the payoff was given. I blame the director, really. His framing seemed pretty stale as well, with mostly two shots against boring backgrounds and some really obvious closeups used to hide that the movie wasn’t actually very big budget.
It was still an enjoyable evening out, and worth seeing. I give it 7 Zarquons out of 10.
Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy starts Friday, and the gang and I are going! Here’s the info if anyone wants to meet up:
Langley Colossus, 7:35 PM Show.
We were trying for a later show, but the next one after that is 9:45 and that’s just too late for some people (who work real hours).
I work from a home office. It’s pleasant enough, especially with the minifridge full of Diet Vanilla Coke, but the sunshine and warm weather outside has tempted me. And this year I’ve got the goods to maybe go enjoy it and still get some work done.
Not pictured: iPod.
However there were some drawbacks to this plan. The picnic table wasn’t all that comfortable to sit at for extended periods, and the wood seemed to be causing a rash on my arm. It probably picked up something gross sitting out there over the winter so I’ll have to give it a thorough pressure wash.
Also, the notebook’s screen didn’t work that well in sunlight. I moved the table more into the shade and it was much more usable.
But in the end I moved back in doors and just opened up some windows. It’s still not so hot that I need the AC(Air Conditioning) on, so this is a good compromise for now.
Yes, an anti-rant. No, not a rant against ranting, but a “damn, this is all good” post.
The weather has finally stopped being crappy and the extended forecast is for sun, sun, sun. Road hockey is on the menu for both Wednesdays and Saturdays, and Mel & I will be having a BBQ this Saturday (if you want to come, drop me an email to get info, or come play hockey and find out).
Oh, and more good stuff — we went to Fraser Valley Meats and picked up several items of dead animal flesh for searing and charring over an open flame. Mmm… steak. (Vegetarians: For every animal you don’t eat I’ll eat three.) They had a special on that with every $35 you spent you’d get a free pound of garlic coil and it’s so good we had some last night and I had it again this morning.
As writing this, blast-from-my-past Andrew Smith phoned me asking if I’d sub in for him teaching at the Chilliwack School of Performing Arts. He can’t make it one day and wants me to teach the kids some improv and theatresports for him. I had to decline though because in addition to my work for AEG (which is stepping up with three new gamelines with new sites going up) I have another big contract that I have to start soon and make my main priority. I’m going to go from a fairly relaxed work week to Crazy Busy as soon as this gets going, but it should be both rewarding and cool.
So the CRIA(Canadian Recording Industry Association) claimed that music piracy (aka: peer-to-peer file sharing) has cost the industry $2 billion in the last five years. Too bad it’s a number pulled totally from their asses.
Apparently they lied about it being $2 billion and also decided to say that the only reason they could possibly be selling less is due to piracy. This has been brilliantly debunked by a law Professor at the University of Ottawa.
The CRIA has routinely upped their loss estimates in order to gain headlines. Currently they argue that piracy is costing the industry Canadian $450 million a year, to the tune of nearly $2 billion for the years 1999 to 2004. However, if one looks at 1999 as a paradigm year, what you see is that since 1999, sales figures have decreased, but only $432 million cumulatively. If every year since 1999 had been as good as 1999, then $432 million would be the amount “lost” in decline up through 2004. The other $1.5 billion in “loses” is simply made up: you can’t document it because it is based on assumptions and politicking.
Where is this $432 million oss coming from? As far as the music industry is concerned, only “piracy” causes loses. But once again, an actual look at the numbers tells us otherwise. The decrease in CD prices alone accounts for $50 million of this reduction in a single year, as large retail outlets exert pricing pressure on the music industry. Those same retail giants, which sell more than half of all CDs, also don’t carry a large stock, focusing instead on new releases. And wouldn’t you know, there are fewer new releases today than in the past. The last nail in the coffin (were that it true) relates to the starving artist claims. The private copying levy, a kind of tax on blank media, generates millions in revenue each year, which is distributed to Canadian artists.
Of course, the CRIA knows this is all made-up or extremely exaggerated bullshit. Nobody is going to make them stop doing this simply by pointing out they’re wrong because the reason they hate peer-to-peer file sharing isn’t because it costs the industry money, but because it threatens to remove THEM from the equation. The Internet allows artists to directly market and distribute to consumers without needing to sign away their music and their lives to the recording industry itself.
Again, for more information check out DownhillBattle.org
Just got back from Sin City. I give it 4.5 stars out of 5. My only complaints were that the melodramatic delivery of a few lines were rather rightfully snickered at by the audience and I think I joined them in on one.
Most of the time you’re right inside the world of Sin City and you can absolutely accept that yes, in this black and white world of murder, deceit and ultraviolence that people talk that way. It’s just that every once in a while you slip out of the world and hear something that sounds just a bit silly.
But it’s a minor complaint and only stops the movie from being truly perfect. Mickey Rourke *is* Marv. Bruce Willis is a fantastic Hartigan. Rosario Dawson and Jessica Alba are the two hottest women on the planet. Oh, and they’re really good in the movie too, but c’mon, I’m a guy and they’re thermonuclear hot so it has to be mentioned first.
A note to those with kids — this movie is for grownups. I said “ultraviolence” and I meant it. Every gritty gory bit from the Sin City comics is in there and it’s adult and unapologetic and, as long as you’re an adult who knows fantasy from reality, wonderfully entertaining. But don’t bring your kids in to this R rated movie. It’s rated that way not just because they say bad words or show boobies.
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