A few weeks back, I wrote about my desire to update the look of this blog by choosing a new template. The current template you see here is derived from a standard template that was available to the public from around 2002. I've made my own modifications to it since then and you can bet your ass she'll make point five past lightspeed.
I was still in the process of looking at new templates when I received an e-mail from Blogger, the blogging service I use (who are owned by Google). It turns out Blogger is removing the option to do FTP publication for blogs after May 1. If you're curious as to what "FTP publication" means, I'll let you in on how this little dog and pony show works. When I want to write a post, I log into Blogger and then type my grade school vocabulary words into my browser. I then hit the "publish" button. That causes files over at Blogger to be created and then those files are transferred over via File Transfer Protocol to my own web server. The great thing about this is that all my posts and my blog files are stored on my own server. Should anything happen to Blogger or Google, I have all the files in my control.
Blogger is now going to remove the option to do FTP publication. Instead, they want to publish all blog files to their own servers. Some of you may have seen blogs hosted on the blogspot.com domain. This is where Blogger wants me to put my blog now. All blog files going forward will now be stored on a server that I don't have any control over. Also, I'd have to go through some hoops so that blog.erwintang.com would still direct you to my blog. As you can see, there are some drawbacks to this development.
At this point, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I have two choices. First, I can go ahead with the Blogger migration and move my blog over to their servers and try to make the change as transparent as possible for my readers. Even if it is transparent to you, my loyal readers, I still don't like the idea of my blog files being stored elsewhere. My second option is to move my blog to another blog service which allows me to retain full control over my blog. This sounds great in theory but the change over requires a bit of effort. I'd have to setup up my new blog and also ensure that my old blog is still accessible. Ideally, I could convert all my old posts into the new format. If I were to go this route, WordPress would be the likely candidate for my new service.
I need more time to explore each of those options and weigh the pros and cons. Thanks for your patience. In the coming weeks, you might see some interesting changes around here.
I usually don't watch the Academy Awards on TV but I tuned in tonight for final two awards. Those awards were "Best Director" and "Best Picture". The reason I decided to see who won those awards was because I wanted to be sure that James Cameron didn't win either.
Yeah, it's a pretty crappy thing to do, not wanting someone to win something but let me explain. There is no doubt Cameron is a truly talented and visionary director. I will always be in his debt for bringing to the world Terminator 2 and Aliens, both of which are among my favourite movies. Unfortunately, Cameron acts like such a dumbass sometimes. When he accepted the "Best Director" award for Titanic, he proclaimed himself "king of the world". Dude, for starters, don't try to shoehorn specific lines from your movie into your acceptance speech. Also, don't proclaim yourself better than everyone, because everyone already understands that. You just got the damn "Best Director" award, we get it, you're the best director for that year. Last but certainly not least, proclaiming yourself the king of world because you made a movie about hundreds of people losing their lives tragically is a douchebag way of going about things.
Ok, so maybe that was a long time ago and perhaps we can forgive Cameron for that. Whoops. Cameron just had to spice up his acceptance speech at the 2010 Golden Globes with a quote using his made up Navi language from his movie Avatar. That was dumb. It just makes him seems self-absorbed with his own creations. Things like that prevent people from taking fantasy and sci-fi films seriously. Consider this. How many times did Peter Jackson drop some Elvish lines the multiple times he went on stage for the Lord of the Rings trilogy? That's right, none. Is it coincidence that The Return of the King won "Best Picture"?
In the end tonight, Kathryn Bigelow and her movie, The Hurt Locker won "Best Director" and "Best Picture" respectively. This made me quite pleased. To be clear, I haven't seen either Locker nor Avatar but the fact that we didn't have to hear Cameron yammering on stage was good enough for me. Plus, she beat out her ex-husband at the very thing that he is so passionate about. Ha!
To be fair, I think Bigelow is a very talented director and her win tonight stands on her own, with or without the Cameron subtext. One last thing, if anyone can figure out how, at the age of 58, she manages to look like she's still in her late 30s, please let me know.
The last time I used my dishwasher at home was sometime in June when I got all new dishware, utensils, and glassware for my new apartment. It was a lot of items to have to wash, so it made sense to load up the dishwasher and let modern technology do the work for me.
Since then though, I never really found any justification to use my dishwasher. As I live alone and don't have a wife and a brood with me, the number of dishes, cups, glasses, pots, pans, and utensils I use in a day is very limited. While I could use my dishwasher to clean four plates, two forks, three knives, and two glasses after one day of use, is that the best way? By washing by hand, I save water, energy, soap, and the environment. I suppose I could just wait until my sink just piled up with enough dishes that using the dishwasher would be the better way to go but I think that's kinda gross. At the rate, I use things, it would take a good five to seven days to get to that point. I really don't like letting my dishes sit any more than two days. Any leftover food starts to get funky at that point.
I am concerned, however, that not using dishwasher for long periods of time is not good for it. It contains many mechanical parts, some of the complex variety. Much like a car, I believe it's good just to run it once in a while just to keep things in good working order. I wonder though how many of you are like me who own a dishwasher but don't use it. Do you run yours once in a while?
Thanks for reading this entire post, which essentially described me wondering if I should use my dishwasher.
On Monday, Jay Leno returned to The Tonight Show desk, after displacing Conan O'Brien in a move that cemented his reputation as a late night weasel.
Leno re-took his spot as host of The Tonight Show after his spectacular failure in prime time. His failure was of such magnitude it cost NBC millions upon millions of dollars in revenue because of his low ratings. NBC affiliates were screaming at NBC executives to do something about Leno. In a move that only TV executives could make, they rewarded Leno for his failure, installing him back on The Tonight Show. This would be akin to me gambling away people's retirement money then being rewarded for doing so with a truckload of money.
Sadly, middle America, with its bland sense of humour embraced Leno once again because they couldn't get enough of his underwhelming monologues. They clambered for his crutch, the Jay-walking segments, where the apparent source of humour is asking questions to people who are ironically, just a few IQ points lower than the people watching. Leno's ratings were good enough to beat David Letterman but we'll see what happens once the weeks go on and things settle down. I'm afraid that middle America will continue to reward Leno for playing it safe night in and night out. They wouldn't know real, genuine humour even if it hit them like a Ford Taurus SHO going at full speed.
I will always remain a fan of David Letterman and eagerly await Conan O'Brien's return to television. On Monday, Dave gave me a reminder of why he's still one of the best in my books, as evidenced in the video above.
It's amazing how quick the biggest party that Vancouver has ever seen can end. On Monday, it was almost as if the Olympics were never here. How odd it was to not see huge crowds in downtown Vancouver anymore. Didn't we always party on Monday nights?
I bet there are more than just a few people going through Olympics withdrawal right now.
According to reports, 80% of Canadians watched some part of the men's ice hockey gold medal game on Sunday. That's over 26 million people who tuned into watched one of the greatest hockey games the sport has ever put on.
As with such legendary games, people will remember for years to come where they were when Sidney Crosby scored the gold medal winning goal in overtime. For many people across Canada, that place was a packed bar. People got up early on Sunday morning, hours before bars even opened to line up to ensure a good seat once the game started. Some watched at LiveCity Downtown and LiveCity Yaletown, standing throughout most of the game, packed shoulder to shoulder with their Canadian brethren. Others made Robson Square their place to watch, again close to other Canadians.
I watched the game alone at my home, which surprisingly I found out later that a lot of other people did the same. The night before I had been downtown until quite late. I didn't get to bed until 4am and the thought of getting around 9am to go line up in front of a bar did not appeal to me.
I woke up at noon. Though I was still slightly groggy, the sheer importance of the game made me nervous from the minute I opened my eyes. I immediately turned on the TV. As the players warmed-up, I brushed my teeth and washed my face.
There I sat in my PJs on my couch until the end of the first period. I only made some breakfast during the first intermission. I quickly scrambled three eggs so as to not miss any of the action. I was on edge the entire game. It felt like I was writing a university final exam again.
When the US tied it up at the end of regulation, I was disappointed but not deeply so. Of course, I only became more nervous though. I've watched enough hockey to know that OT goals can be scored in the most surprising and seemingly harmless ways. It could end badly on the most innocent of plays.
As it stood, Crosby ended the game in such quick fashion that I did not even comprehend what I was seeing at first. Usually, the sight of a puck entering the net tells me a goal has been scored. This time around, it was the sight of thousands of red clad fans jumping to their feet that signaled to me Crosby had scored.
As the players from Team Canada piled around each other, I instantly became thankful I was alone at this moment as I shed the first of several tears. There would be more tears over the next few minutes, especially during the playing of our national anthem. Who knew I loved hockey and my country so much?
Over the last day or so, I've discovered where others watched the game. Some watched in bars. Some were like me, who watched at home. No matter where anyone watched though, for that one golden moment we cheered together. I wish we could have measured the elation of the entire country at that moment.
I'm too tired to post anything coherent tonight as it's been a long and emotional day (plus I went to a party tonight). I will, however, congratulate all the athletes, officials, coaches, VANOC, the volunteers, the people of Vancouver, the people of Canada for doing their part in making these Olympics the best Winter Games ever.
It will take days, months, possibly years to understand what the last two weeks will mean to Canada. I'm hoping it will be good things.
