one bee - June 2008

Mon, June 30

After WALL·E

If you've seen WALL·E, you may enjoy some of these reviews, articles, and interviews about it. If not, avoid them until after! (Read more.)

7 comments with related links

Fri, June 27

WALL·E

A brief and spoiler-free take on my first of many WALL·E viewings. (In short: it's a very, very good movie.) (Read more.)

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Thu, June 26

What follows is decidedly unfinished. It's something I began toying with a few weeks ago, just to try out a few concepts. I probably won't do much more with it – just apply what I've learned to something else. I decided I'd better go ahead and post it today because even though it isn't much, starting tomorrow I'll likely be cursing myself that I haven't done a lot more.

What Should Happen whenever I have an idea or even an inkling of something that might be interesting to work on is I should begin immediately, throwing rough elements together, and just see how far I get with it.

What Does Happen is I start thinking about it and realize it'll take a lot of effort to get the result I want, and it might involve having to set up some unrelated thing I don't really want to fool with right now, so I'll just watch TV for a while instead.

This is the textbook definition of Ze Frank's brain crack concept, and if real crack is anywhere near as tough a habit to kick, I have a new sympathy for those people.

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Mon, June 23

Baldwin/Fey All the Way!—10:07 AM

In a desperate attempt to retain viewers, NBC Universal has launched an "Emmy campaign" in which people can go online to order free buttons to support their favorite shows in the upcoming Emmys, pretending that actual people vote for Emmys rather than the cabal of subterranean plutocrats who really run this country.

The Nominate '08 site allows you to choose which buttons you receive, but I only chose The Office and 30 Rock (I didn't even see the one for Life) and I received all the buttons in the mail. I suppose it's less expensive to simply prepackage the whole set and ship it to everyone – the order form is just a quick way for NBC to gauge which shows have the most fan support.

Fine by me. I'll happily show my support for House and Conan. But what am I supposed to do with these three pieces of shit?

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Tue, June 10

We've Arrived—10:41 AM

This is it. The big time. Stephen Colbert gave a shout-out to the now-defunct Athletic Reporter in his show's opening Thursday night.

I can only interpret this as a reference to our site; there's no way Colbert's writers, all on their own, could have hit on this obvious pun that I came up with in two minutes. It's a sign. He likes us. I only wish we weren't so defunct.

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Mon, June 9

I'm a Wii Baron!—4:02 PM

With the advent of Wii Mario Kart and Spielberg/EA's silly and engaging Boom Blox, it was time enough for me to acquire a Wii. When all the research was done, it was clear that I'd have to get very lucky to get one from eBay at or below retail price. So, when ten of them showed up at Target, I saw a money-making opportunity. Why not buy a couple extra, and turn a tidy profit?

Turns out the time to do this was last Christmas – I'll end up with a profit, but only a wee one.

Item	Income (Expense)
2 Wiis (Wiii?)	(499.98)
Target REDcard discount	50.00
Sales Tax	(31.50)
Auction sales	602.00
eBay fees	(21.14)
PayPal fees	(18.06)
Shipping	(28.22)
Total Profit:	53.10

The point, kiddies, is don't quit the day job.

During the same period, some units sold for $20-$30 more than mine. Probably just luck of the draw, but it might be because I refused to add flashing graphics and garish colors to my listings. (Then I got a little cute with the language.) But surely nobody bases their purchase decision on that stuff, right? They're just dying to buy a Wii – any Wii will do! For definitive proof, I'd have to run more auctions and try all the variables, but I'm retiring from the Wii-flipping biz. The margins are too slim and the graphics are too flashy.

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The envelope please...—10:58 AM

One of the fun things about Netflix (at least the way I do it) is the surprise when you open a new red envelope: you never know what you're going to get, but you know it's a movie you're interested in seeing (or were at some point).

The result of that is you don't always know what kind of mood you'll be in when you watch a given movie. (With no due dates or late fees, you're not forced to watch the movie right away, but it's best not to take too long.) Sometimes Netflix will serve up a movie that's not what you thought you were looking for that week, but it really hits the spot. Other times, it will be eerily attuned to your mood.

So, it worked out well to receive Harold and Maude this week – although I hadn't related the two, I have been in a very black mood lately, much like Harold. I won't say watching the movie saved my life, but Maude's wisdom gave Harold and I both a little perspective. (Also, I hadn't watched the film all the way through since before Rushmore came out. It's surprising how much of the Wes Anderson aesthetic has been wholly co-opted – at least we can give him credit for not denying it.)

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Tue, June 3

Enough with the age jokes already!—11:11 PM

Another for the file of unfortunate collisions between advertising and editorial content.

Still doesn't beat the CNN story about a grisly train derailment, paired with an ad for Trane air conditioners: "You can't stop a Trane."