Notebook

My Notebook features over 500 posts across over twenty years, covering everything from movies to ethics to personal stories to random links. Browse recent Notebook entries below, or use the category buttons or search to go deeper. The “Clip File” category contains my favorite writing.

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  • The obligatory “please hire me” post won’t come for a few more weeks

    Oh yes, so last Friday was my final day at the job I’ve held for the past two years. I am currently unemployed! It feels good, and only a bit scary. Thanks to my former employers for two years of often enjoyable, occasionally hectic experiences. I am happy to be drifting along, however long or…


  • Sorry, CNN.

    I can gather all the news I need from the weather report.


  • I hate to say it, but…

    I just finished watching Empire Falls. My grade: F. A school shooting? …a school shooting? F, Russo. F.


  • Star Wars III…

    Going to see it tonight with my Dad. UPDATE: Short review: It was pretty damn good. One thing that’s been bothering me over the past few weeks as I’ve been following all the reviews was the sheer extremity of the opinions. Some critics loved it, others hated it, and as time went on, I didn’t…


  • Tales from The Long Tail: an interview with the co-founder of Peerflix

    Today’s Tales from The Long Tail link is an interview with Peerflix co-founder Billy McNair by my closest-in-geography-blogger, F-Stop Blues‘ Tim Coyle. In the interview, Peerflix is explained (if you don’t know what it is, read the interview!), and its founder talks about the service’s bright future: Currently people mail DVD’s to one another. Do…


  • Hammersley’s new RSS book

    Thanks to my affiliation with the Media Bloggers Association (disclosure: I am a board member and web developer) and the organization’s book review copy distribution program, I came home the other day to find a free copy of Ben Hammersley’s new book, Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom, waiting for me. I’ve only glanced at…


  • Congrats, Jeff

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    One of the media/tech gurus I look up to, Jeff Jarvis, has quit his big-media job at Advance.net to strike out on his own as Buzzmachine, LLC. Among other things, Jeff will consult for The NY Times Company and is working on a “stealth-mode” citizen’s media startup. I first became a fan of Jeff’s when…


  • Watch this trend: Service blogs and feeds

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    I’ve been following some “Service” blogs and RSS feeds of late (my definition for a “service” blog or feed is one that provides some time of factual info, such as movie releases, weather forecast, dvd releases, etc). Recently, two new sites along these lines launched, and both look to be quite interesting: * Chicago Crime:…


  • Instapundit: New Star Wars movie insta-stinks

    Ouchie! The Professor reviews the new Star Wars movie, and let’s just say that he wasn’t a fan: Actors’ words didn’t always sync perfectly with their lips, nobody even tried to capture room ambience to match the settings, and the lines often sounded dubbed — delivered as if into a microphone while reading hurriedly from…


  • Win a Flickr Pro account! (CONTEST IS OVER)

    It’s a contest!* UPDATE: The contest is over. Congrats to the winner. Please don’t email me regarding this contest! Thanks! I have 1 gift Flickr Pro account to give away. I will give it to the first person who can correctly identify the location of the photo used in the header of this website. Some…