Caddickisms

Back in January I wrote a bit about Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture”:

Everything about this recording is interesting to me:

• From a technology standpoint, what he has achieved and set in motion
• From a teaching standpoint, how he delivered the lecture - the design, “tech elements”, and presentation style
• From an emotional standpoint, how he pulls it together in the end. Absolutely perfect.
• From a personal standpoint, how he comes across as completely genuine and open. Someone you’d really like to get to know.

I never met the guy or heard of him before, but he is now one of the most impressive people I’m aware of.

Randy died yesterday, succumbing to the illness that informed his lecture and made it so poignant. It seems fitting to bring the lecture back again for those who may have missed it.

Another piece of his legacy is the groundbreaking “Alice” programming instructional tool. I wrote more detail about that in a previous post. The genius of it is that it entices kids (even more specifically, girls, an under-served demographic in that area) to learn how to program by introducing story-telling and fun into the learning process.

Take a few minutes to watch the lecture. It’s worth the investment. If you’re pressed for time, I have links to shorter versions on the original post - but I do encourage watching the longer version if you can.

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I just saved myself 12% in interest fees in a 10 minute conversation.

I’ve been working in earnest to get myself out of credit card debt for a few years now. Back when the economy was doing a bit better, I found a great deal with CitiCard to pay 3.99% on my balance transfer per month for the life of the balance. Naturally, I put as much of my existing debt on that card as I could. Since then, I’ve paid just a little above the minimum on that card while I concentrate on the higher interest balances. So far, this has worked out pretty well, and I’ve made a significant dent on my overall debt.

This month, I screwed up.

Despite the alerts and warnings I set up for myself, I missed one due date by 12 hours. It was stupid, and my fault. Today, I got a message that my APR for that card jumped from 3.99% to 15.99%, and I received a $40 late fee.

That would put a serious crimp in my payoff plans. I called CitiCard and told them I was sorry for missing the due date by 1 day, and emphasized that I had not ever been late in paying them before. Then I asked them to reinstate the original APR - and offered to pay the late fee. After a few minutes on hold, and with no argument, they agreed.

I could probably have talked them out of the $40, but I accept that I missed the date, and that’s a valid punishment (even if I do think it’s exorbitant). I’m willing to take that hit. But the more important thing is that I avoided a 12% increase long-term. That’s going to save me some serious money.

Calling the credit card companies can work!

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I recently experienced one of the things on this list. See if you can figure out which one it is:

Things that don’t go together easily:

• Oil and water
• Drinking and driving
• Fine wine and a Philly Cheesesteak
• Peanut butter and soap
• My wife and parachuting
• Children and obeying
• Weed-whacking 5 foot high grass and weeds on a 70 degree incline for 2 hours in 90 degree weather and the lack of foul language

That’s all I’m saying.

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I don’t have it in me to write everything I think about this movie right now, but I wanted to get something down.

Just like Spider-man 2, this sequel takes an amazingly good predecessor and improves on it.

And just like in the Spider-man franchise, the key is focusing on the character’s development. Bruce/Batman learns a lot about himself and his chosen line of work - the limits, the responsibilities, and the consequences.

Heath Ledger, for anyone wondering, actually deserves the praise he’s getting for this role. It’s not a posthumous sympathy vote. I wouldn’t call myself a Heath Ledger fan, generally, but I simply can’t imagine anyone else playing this role this well.

In my last post I counted Wall-E out of Best Picture contention, despite rumors to the contrary. The Dark Knight, however, is a serious contender - if the Academy can get past the whole blind spot it has for Sci-Fi/Fantasy films.

I may come back to this later for a more thorough review.

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As may be appropriate for a movie with few spoken lines, this review should be pretty short.

Amazing technical achievement. The visuals here are phenomenal. There were times that I forgot I was watching an animated film. Simply brilliant.

The story was pretty simple, which isn’t a knock. Sometimes the simple stories are the best. However, while it was heart-warming, it didn’t get to me as deeply as some other Pixar offerings. Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles all rope me in more than Wall-E did. (Heck, I’m getting choked up just thinking about the ending to Monsters Inc.)

I’ve heard rumors that some think this should be considered for a Best Picture Oscar. I don’t think it’s nearly that good. It’s very good, don’t get me wrong, and I’d even go so far as to say it’s ambitious in what it sets out to do with almost no speaking parts - but it’s not Best Picture material.

I’d be surprised if it doesn’t come away with Best Animated Feature, though.

Oh! And I absolutely loved the idea for the end credits. What a great way to cleverly tell more of the story.

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What is wrong with parents?

Today, my wife and I went to see two vastly different films, Wall-E and The Dark Knight (reviews to follow). In both films, there were families in the audience that made me want to go up to the parents and say “What are you thinking?! You have an important role to play as a parent, and you’re screwing it up!”

For the family in Wall-E, that would have been a bit of overkill, I grant you. The father was there with his two boys, probably around 5-7 years old. I don’t have any problem with kids being in that theater - in fact, I expected kids to be in attendance for that one. The problem was that the younger boy was repeatedly, and loudly, talking during the movie. I don’t blame the kid (much). He was just excited and wanted to show his dad that he understood what was going on (it’s possible that he’d seen the movie before, judging from some of what he said). The problem is that the father didn’t take the opportunity to teach the child to be quiet, and courteous to others. Eventually the brother said something to him, and then his dad chimed in, somewhat ineffectively, in telling the boy to quiet down. That’s just backwards. Why was the brother taking the lead there?

There were also a pair of older kids - teens - loudly bounding up and down the stairs and across the front of the seats, so that may have made me a bit more irritable toward the talker. But still… if the father doesn’t teach their kid to be courteous now, he’s just setting the kid up to become that bounder in a few years.

But the one that really bothered me was the family in The Dark Knight. They didn’t bother me because they were disruptive, mostly, but because they were there. These parents brought a 2 or 3 year old girl to an extremely loud, very violent movie. The second the movie started, she began to cry. And who can blame her? The noise alone was an assault to her senses! The parents didn’t take her out of the theater. They did comfort her in her seat, but come on… for the first 10 minutes of the movie, every time the audio quieted down a bit (which was not often), I could hear her crying. Eventually, that stopped, but I am still really disappointed that these people would subject their young daughter to sitting still that long (3 hours, from the time they first sat down) without relief, let alone for a film that is so clearly not something she should be seeing. It’s just wrong.

Parents have the responsibility for teaching their kids, and for protecting them - in big ways, and small ways. These examples are two of the small ways. Sometimes the small ways bother me more, because they’re easy to overlook, but add up to more problems later.

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J. Michael Straczynksi, the creator of the 5-year TV series Babylon 5 in the 90’s, has been doing little side stories from the B5 universe on and off since the show ended. A few TV movies, a canceled series (Crusade), a backdoor pilot (Legend of the Rangers - LOTR), and a direct-to-DVD anthology (B5: The Lost Tales - TLT) were all made, and none of them really reached the same level of quality as the original show. There was also a theatrical release (B5: The Memory of Shadows - TMOS) in the works for a while, but that fell through before even pre-production. There was a proposal for one more D2D starring fan favorite Garibaldi, but after the announcement JMS just made, it looks like that won’t happen, unfortunately:

B5 as a five year story stands beautifully on its own. If anything
else is to be continued from that story, it should be something that
adds to the legacy of B5, rather than subtracts from it.

As well intentioned as Rangers and TLT were, as enticing as it was to
return to those familiar waters, in the end I think they did more to
subtract from the legacy than add to it. I don’t regret having made
them, because I needed to go through that to get to the point where I
am now psychologically, but from where I sit now, I wouldn’t make them
again.

So I’ve let everyone up here know that I’m not interested in doing any
more low-budget DVDs. I’m not interested in doing any low-budget
cable things or small computer games. The only thing I would be
interested in doing regarding Babylon 5 from this point on is a full-
featured, big-budget feature film.

It’s that or nothing.

And if it’s nothing, I’m totally cool with that because the original
story stands on its own just fine. I’m not lobbying for it, I’m not
asking fans to write in about it (nor should you) because such
campaigns never really have much impact…that’s simply the position
I’ve taken up here. Lord knows I don’t lack for other things to do
these days. I’m busier on more prestige projects with terrific people
and great film-makers than at any other time in my career.

At the end of the day, for me, it’s not just a matter of getting more
B5. It’s a matter of getting more *good* B5 that respects what came
before it and doesn’t have to compromise visually or in terms of
action. The original show deserves better than that, the surviving
cast members deserve better than that, and the fans who have supported
it over the years definitely deserve better than that. A lot better.

So, barring a big-budget movie, which is pretty unlikely, Babylon 5 will see no more stories. That’s a shame, because JMS had created a universe rich with story-telling potential, and there’s a lot left that could be done. But then again, aside from the vast potential snuffed out in Crusade, I’d have to agree that the other efforts suffered greatly when compared to the original series. He’s right in saying that the 5-year story stands on its own. And if it has to end, then I’m okay with that.

And as he says, he’s got plenty of other stuff to keep him busy.

Still… I wouldn’t mind a couple more book trilogies…

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Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along blog

I made a quick mention of this once before after seeing the trailer. I just saw the first act (which was so popular it brought down the servers on its release). This is hilarious.

Joss Whedon's internet-only superhero musical

Go watch this. Seriously. It’s only about 13 minutes. I thought the viewer email section went on a bit long, but it was still funny. It really gets good when the singing starts. Neil Patrick Harris does a great job. I can’t wait for Act II.

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As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve recently reconnected with a lot of friends from my high school youth group through the wonders of Facebook. It’s been a lot of fun. There are now over 40 of us, and over 150 pictures, many of which are proof that the 80’s should never return.

But all of those pictures are of teenagers having fun - even the couple that show us in serious mode in Bible studies. We were enjoying learning how to apply the Bible to our lives, and simply being with each other. But most of the pictures are of someone doing something odd or funny (there are a surprisingly high number of cross-dressing photos… almost all of which were part of skits). We had a lot of fun.

Predictably, this has had me reminiscing a lot about those days, and about what it felt like to be a teenager. It’s been a long time and I don’t think about it often. When I do, it’s usually the moments that make me cringe that come to mind. But in truth, it’s a mixed bag of experiences: awkwardness, isolation, triumph, and togetherness all collide in both messy and wonderful ways. I remember the excitement of what it felt like to have a crush on someone, yet be unable to act on it because of fear. I remember feeling inferior in every athletic experience I had (because I usually was), yet thrilled when I somehow pulled it all together to win a game against the top player or be a useful part of a winning play. I remember feeling completely alone in a crowd, until someone caught my eye and genuinely smiled, happy to see me.

Now I’m a father, and in my mind’s eye I’m watching my two daughters grow up to be teenagers. Right now they are two and three years old. They’re playing in the park with their friends. It struck me today that it’s likely that at least some of these same friends will still be around when they reach their teen years. In ten years, will they have a crush on one of the boys they’re playing with now? Will those friends feed or starve their sense of self-worth? Will they be sure enough of themselves to have fun acting goofy, or will they be too worried about what others will think?

Will they want to spend any time with me?

I’m getting ahead of myself. I know that. I can actually influence a lot of those situations with what I teach my girls and how I treat them. I look at those pictures on Facebook and I pray that my daughters will grow up to have the quality of friends and fun that I had.

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I joined Facebook almost a year ago, if I remember correctly. I joined as an exercise for work. I was hearing a lot about how Facebook and similar social networking tools could be used within a corporation as a learning and collaboration tool. I understood the theory, but I wanted to see how well it was implemented. Could I really figure out some way to bend it to fit our corporate environment? The answer, I swiftly realized, was “no.”

So my profile sat there. I checked in on it every once in a while, connected with a couple online acquaintances and colleagues, and looked at some of the applications to see if anything struck me as useful. Every once in a while I’d see something intriguing, but nothing that I wanted to spend much time with.

Connecting with a few friends from church spurred some activity. It was fun to learn a little more about their lives as they chose to summarize it in their profiles. But for the most part, I spent my free time on other projects.

Then Walt showed up.

Walt led the church youth group I was in during high school. He also has an amazing talent for keeping in touch with people. When he created the Facebook group for our old youth group members (and yes, I mean old… it’s been 20+ years, sadly), I joined. By the end of that week, I was catching up with 25 people I haven’t seen in 20 years. Then the photos showed up. Photos like this one (those are approximately 20 marshmallows in each mouth):

I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. I’m talking to people I haven’t seen in decades, and it’s like I just spoke to them yesterday; we’re picking up right where we left off. The group is continuing to grow.

Now I have a problem. I’m spending all my time on Facebook. I’m constantly checking to see who else has joined, or what photos have been uploaded, or what comments people are making. It’s getting out of hand. I gotta step away, or I’m not going to get anything else done. The lawn’s not going to mow itself!

It’s a lot of fun, though. This is a group of people I genuinely care about and have missed (as opposed to almost everyone else I knew in high school).

Hey, Walt… thanks for the new addiction. I sincerely appreciate it. My wife would like to thank you, too… next time you see her, guard your shins.

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