Film Quote of the Day: South Pacific

Bloody Mary: [the ancient Mary is looking him up and down] Lieu-tellen, you sexy man. 
Lt. Cable: Thanks... You're looking pretty... er, fit yourself. 

Farm Silhouette 2

Farm Silhouette 2, originally uploaded by dweidl.

Film Quote of the Day: Pink Floyd The Wall

Teacher: What have we here, laddie? Mysterious scribblings? A secret code? No! Poems, no less! Poems, everybody! 
[class laughs] 
Teacher: The laddie reckons himself a poet! 
[reads poem] 
Teacher: "Money get back / I'm all right, Jack / Keep your hands off my stack / New car / Caviar / Four star daydream / Think I'll buy me a football team." Absolute rubbish, laddie. 
[whacks him with a ruler, growls at Pink] 
Teacher: Get on with your work. 

Fisherman 1

Fisherman 1, originally uploaded by dweidl.

Film Quote of the Day: E.T.

E.T.: E.T. phone home.

Film Quote of the Day (3 of 3): Shoot 'Em Up

Mr. Hertz: Do you know why a gun is better than a wife? 
Man Who Rides Shotgun: Dunno. 
Mr. Hertz: You can put a silencer on a gun. 

Film Quote of the Day (2 of 3): Licence To Kill

James Bond: In my business you prepare for the unexpected. 
Franz Sanchez: And what business is that? 
James Bond: I help people with problems. 
Franz Sanchez: Problem solver. 
James Bond: More of a problem eliminator. 

Burning Up

Burning Up, originally uploaded by dweidl.

Film Quote of the Day (1 of 3): Monkey Business

Captain Corcoran: [describing the stowaways] One of them goes around with a black moustache. 
Groucho: So do I; if I had my choice, I'd go around with a little blonde. 
Captain Corcoran: I said, one goes around with a black moustache. 
Groucho: Well, you couldn't expect a moustache to go around by itself. Don't you think a moustache ever gets lonely, Captain? 
Chico: Hey, sure it gets-a lonely. Hey, when my grandfather's beard gets here, I'd like it to meet your moustache. 
Groucho: Well, I'll think it over; I'll talk it over with my moustache. Tell me, has your grandfather's beard got any money? 
Chico: Money? Why, he fell hair to a fortune. 

Life gets in the way

It has been a busy couple of days for me and I haven't posted in a while.  I'm going to catch up with 3 Film Quotes of the Day today to get me back on track.

Film Quote of the Day: Snatch

Bullet Tooth Tony: You should never underestimate the predictability of stupidity.

Film Quote of the Day: Raiders of the Lost Ark

Maj. Eaton: [sees a picture of the Ark with rays of power coming out of it] Good God! 
Brody: Yes, that's what the Hebrews thought. 

untitled

DSC08357, originally uploaded by dweidl.

My Email to Pan Am Representatives in Support of West Harbour

In case you haven't been following, there has been a great war raging in Hamilton over the site of a proposed Pan American Games stadium that would also be the future home of the Hamilton TiCats CFL team.  Anyone who has been following my twitter feed will know that I'm a supporter of the West Harbour location, a progressive site in the age of Peak Oil, environmental awareness, and urban reorganization.  The TiCats have argued for a site in the suburbs of Hamilton stating that their fans want a "driveway to driveway" experience and that they will lose money at the West Harbour site.  The point of this post is not to argue one way or another.  You can see the differing opinions at the following two websites:

• Our City, Our Future (West Harbour - City's preferred site)
• Go East Mountain (East Mountain - TiCats preferred site)

The folks over at Our City, Our Future have done a tremendous job of running a grass roots campaign for the West Harbour and have amassed over 3,400 supporters to date.  They have asked for supporters to begin emailing our elected representatives at the provincial and federal levels as well as the members of the Pan Am Host Committee.  My email to these representatives is after the jump...

Film Quote of the Day: The Beast of War

Daskal: [the tank is incapacitated. Daskal hands out a grenade to Kaminski and Golikov] You know our standing orders. 
Kaminski: What? 
Daskal: Out of commission, become a pillbox. Out of ammo, become a bunker. Out of time, become heroes. 
Kaminski: You must be out of your fucking mind! 
[He tosses his grenade aside] 
Daskal: Now. Together. 
[Daskal pulls the grenade pin] 

Film Quote of the Day: Persona

Sister Alma: Is it really important not to lie, to speak so that everything rings true? Can one live without lying and quibbling and making excuses? Isn't it better to be lazy and lax and deceitful? Perhaps you even improve by staying as you are. (No response) My words mean nothing to you. People like you can't be reached. I wonder whether your madness isn't the worst kind. You act healthy, act it so well that everyone believes you--everyone except me, because I know how rotten you are. 

Film Quote of the Day: 12 Angry Men

Juror #8: It's always difficult to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And wherever you run into it, prejudice always obscures the truth. I don't really know what the truth is. I don't suppose anybody will ever really know. Nine of us now seem to feel that the defendant is innocent, but we're just gambling on probabilities - we may be wrong. We may be trying to let a guilty man go free, I don't know. Nobody really can. But we have a reasonable doubt, and that's something that's very valuable in our system. No jury can declare a man guilty unless it's SURE. We nine can't understand how you three are still so sure. Maybe you can tell us. 

Film Quote of the Day: Breakfast at Tiffany's

Paul Varjak: [reaches into his pocket at the Tiffany's counter] We could have something engraved, couldn't we?
Tiffany's salesman: Yes, I suppose so, yes indeed... the only problem is you would more or less have to buy something first if only in order to have some object upon which to place the engraving... You see the difficulty...
Paul Varjak: Well, uh
[holds up ring from Cracker Jack box]
Paul Varjak: , we could have this engraved, couldn't we? I think it would be very smart.
Tiffany's salesman: [taking ring and examining it] This, I take it, was not purchased at Tiffany's?
Paul Varjak: No, actually it was purchased concurrent with, uh, well, actually, came inside of... well, a box of Cracker Jack.
Tiffany's salesman: I see...
[continuing to look at ring]
Tiffany's salesman: Do they still really have prizes in Cracker Jack boxes?
Paul Varjak: Oh yes.
Tiffany's salesman: That's nice to know... It gives one a feeling of solidarity, almost of continuity with the past, that sort of thing. 

Film Quote of the Day: City Slickers

Curly: I crap bigger than you! 

Social Media News: Twitter to add new features?

UPDATE: Apparently, @twitteronnotice is not what many have thought it was supposed to be...back to Louis Gray for the answers:

My late-night speculation on Twitter readying a new feature uncovered not a new way for users to send notices to others on the site, but instead, one of the multiple internal-only accounts used to raise company morale and togetherness.

Definitely go to Gray's blog for the hilarious explanation from Twitter.




Twitter has you on notice. Compared to Facebook, Twitter is still a pretty small company with a tiny support team.  With it's explosion of users over the past year or so, this team has been overwhelmed trying to keep up with spam accusations, suspension of accounts, abusive behaviour - you know, your regular mixed cocktail of internet social norms.  According to Louis Gray, respected tech blogger, Twitter might be giving some support to their, ummm, support team.

A new account, called @twitteronnotice, says cryptically "You're On Notice!", featuring an avatar of Uncle Sam glaringly pointing his finger in your direction. The account even calls itself "Minus One", a common Internet tally for somebody or something being modded down by the community. (e.g. +1 and -1)

Get enough negative karma associated with your account, and you might see your account go on notice. While no public details are yet available for this private account, it could be a way for the company to try and avoid user attrition through aggressive account deletions, and put accounts in something of a holding pattern for violating the terms of service.

To add more credence to this rumour, the account is only being followed by a select group of Twitter staff members.  Finally, as many already know, it's impossible to create a Twitter account with the word "Twitter" in it - unless you work for the company, of course.  So it's pretty much guaranteed that Twitter is working on something here.

In other Twitter account news.  Are you an active participant in #FollowFriday?  Twitter might be attempting to make it easier for you to get the word out about your favourite tweeps. The account @TwitterShoutout has also been discovered by Louis Gray, suggesting that the account will be used as a new action to promote your favourite people on Twitter.  Gray speculates that a new list may appear in your profile that keeps track of all the tweeps who give you a "shout out", kind of like recommendations in LinkedIn.  One of Twitter's goals with the explosion of users in the last while has been to promote ways for discovering people as Twitter get's pretty boring if you don't have anyone interesting to follow.

Film Quote of the Day: Maverick

The Archduke: What's greatest Western thrill of all? 
Joseph: Kill Indians. 
The Archduke: Kill Indians? Is it legal? 
Joseph: Oh, white man been doing it for years. 

Quarterback Blitz

The Edmonton Journal has been running a series on the lack of Canadian quarterbacks in the CFL.  I've always said that there is not nearly enough quality and quantity of training available for Canuck QB's to compete with our American counterparts.  But isn't that true for lineman, receivers, linebackers, etc?

People throw around such phrases like "The QB is like the coach on the field" or "QB is the most important position" or whatever meaningless statement about QB's you want to toss out there.  While reading the above mentioned articles, it struck me that many people state things like this, but really don't know the complexities of the position and the thought processes involved.  Whether or not QB is the most important position in football, sports, or whatever...I don't really care.  But I would argue it is probably the most complex position in team sports.

Picture this...


Whistle blows.

The previous play was an utter failure leaving the qb's team at 3rd down with 9 yards to go.  His team huddles while he looks towards the sidelines for the signal of what the next play is.  Since it's the fourth quarter, the qb knows he's supposed to get the signals from the third string quarterback and ignore the signals coming from two other players who are decoys.  After observing the complex hand movements of the third-stringer, the qb deciphers the specific passing play he is to run and heads to the huddle, remembering the specifics of the play and deciding upon a snap count in the process.  In the huddle, he relays the play to his teammates and answers the inevitable question of "what am I supposed to do" posed from at least one of the members within this tight circle.

The huddle breaks with everyone hurrying to the line.  The qb strolls to his spot on the field, surveying the defense's initial alignment to his team's current formation.  He checks the number of safeties, linebackers, and defensive backs, what their relative positions on the field are, which way their hips are facing, and where their eyes are looking.  The qb guesses at what defense they are likely playing and what the coverage might be.  Since the play has option pass routes for the receivers, he guesses which route the receivers may choose and which player will most likely be open.

The qb reaches his offensive lineman and readies himself to receive the snap.  With his eye still on the various defenders, he decides whether or not he should change the play at the line with an audible.  His mind works through the various plays that are available to him, but he decides to stick with the called play.  He begins calling out the cadence which includes a fake audible call.  With the start of the cadence, the defense begins to shift its alignment - various linebackers move up, safeties alter their relative positions and defensive backs press up close to the receivers.  The qb can still call an audible but decides to continue sticking with the called play, instead adjusting his assumptions about the likely defense and coverages, and how the receivers option routes will change, and finally who will most likely be open.

He reaches the snap count, the ball is snapped and chaos begins all around him.  Immediately stepping back on a five-step drop, the first two steps back reveal the actual defense that is being played - a linebacker on the right blitz's, one of the safeties move up to fill, the second safety moves to the center and the corners drop back deep and sit...a cover 3 zone with a blitzing linebacker.  Step 3 of the drop back and the qb has probably decided on an area of the field where he is most likely to make the pass and is determined the proper option routes for the receivers in that area (and hoping they have made the appropriate read as well).  With his fourth step back, the qb decides which receiver is open, ensuring to look generically down field so that defenders can't read his eyes.  Finally, with the completion of his fifth step, the qb shifts his weight forward and uses all of his muscle memory to launch a perfectly tight spiral, not to where the receiver is but to where the receiver will be based on an instinctual computation.

First down.  Whistle blows. Roughly 30 seconds to do it all over again.

The Waiting Game

Waiting.  It's a terrible thing.

As I mentioned earlier, I had a job interview last week and I felt like it went well (but who ever knows about these things, of course).  And now the waiting begins.

Waiting is only a terrible thing if you care enough about what you're waiting for.  So suffice to say, I really want that job.  But it's not that simple.  Taking that job would most likely mean that my wife and I would be packing up our bags and moving from Hamilton to Kitchener.  When I started this job hunt, we agreed that it would be quite the adventure to move to a new city...but that was when we were talking about moving across the continent to somewhere like San Francisco or Vancouver, etc.  Kitchener is even closer to Hamilton than Toronto and that should make it all the easier for us to move, but the excitement of moving is somehow lost with this option.  However, more importantly the excitement of the actual job still persists and really makes me feel more confident in my interest in taking it since it persists in spite of the less than thrilling move to Kitchener (and don't get me wrong about Kitchener...it seems like a really fun place to live, just closer than we were expecting to move, which has stripped a bit of the "adventure" tag from this endeavour).  Really though, this job is cool...amazing space, the people seem great, and the job has that perfect mix of the entrepreneurial and teamwork.

So yeah, the waiting.

Film Quote of the Day: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Blondie: You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.