Thoughts That Come Unbidden Department

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Tron: Legacy (IMAX 3D)

Let me say this up front: Olivia Wilde is not hard on the eyes. Olivia Wilde in skin tight clothing that features randomly glowing strips of light is especially not hard on the eyes. But even in IMAX 3D she wasn’t the coolest thing about Tron: Legacy.

The coolest thing about Tron: Legacy wasn’t the light cycle races, nor was it the batons that allowed Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) and Quorra (Olivia Wilde) to transform into light cycles or equally impressive individual flying machines in a single pull. No, the coolest thing about Tron: Legacy is the hooded coat Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) wears when he leaves his remote hideaway and returns to “the grid.” Black as night on the outside and glowing from the inside, it’s the perfect metaphor for the movie’s themes and also the perfect indicator of one of the things wrong with Tron: Legacy. [Read more…] about Tron: Legacy (IMAX 3D)

Good day sunshine

Astronomy

December 21, 2010 Rise: Solar Noon: Set:
Actual Time 7:23 AM EST 12:06 PM EST 4:49 PM EST
Civil Twilight 6:53 AM EST 5:19 PM EST
Nautical Twilight 6:19 AM EST 5:52 PM EST
Astronomical Twilight 5:47 AM EST 6:25 PM EST
Altitude -0.8° 27.6° -0.8°
Azimuth 120.0° 180.0° 240.0°
Hour Angle of the Sun 70.7° 70.7° -70.7°
Mean Anomaly of the Sun 346.85° 347.04° 347.23°
Obliquity 23.44° 23.44° 23.44°
Right Ascension of the Sun -90.52° -90.30° -90.08°
Sun Declination -23.44° -23.44° -23.44°
Moon 5:19 PM EST 7:37 AM EST
Length Of Visible Light: 10h 26m
Length of Day
9h 26m
Tomorrow will be 0m 1s longer.

What a great 1 second it will be. And the eclipse last night wasn’t bad either.

Happy winter, everyone!

I’m just that tired

In The Long Kiss Goodnight Samuel L. Jackson plays a broken down private detective who has this habit of singing the things he’s doing. I’m not quite that tired yet but after four hours of curling I had to remind myself not to swallow the mouthwash this evening when I brushed my teeth.

I had wanted to include a dissection of some red hot economic issues as part of NaBloPoMo this year. I did not get to them.

More movie reviews were on the agenda but I haven’t figured out how to do more of them without feeling like I’m shorting the site for which I am supposed to be writing them under my real name.

I’d also wanted to get off my chest a rant about Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook, and the death of friendship. I didn’t get to that either.

I guess not making these goals gives me an excuse to keep blogging into December and beyond. This isn’t a bad thing.

Case of the Mondays

Ah the Monday after a holiday weekend. Nothing like it when you work at an organization teetering on the brink of insolvency to make sleep Sunday night hard to come by.

It’s character flaw, I know, but I’m always convinced after a holiday that I’m going to get back to my desk to find that they’ve decided they really don’t need me and all my crap has been packed into a box and set on what used to be my desk.  I’m sure if BigPharma could find one they’d be marketing a pill to cure random episodes of paranoia and self-doubt.

I also dread Mondays because, at least until the middle of March, Monday is one of two days in the week on which I am forced to go into the office.  Going into the office didn’t used to be so bad.  My room got a lot of sun and I had it to myself.  Alas, both of these conditions now evaluate to false.

My office with no artificial lighting at 8:30 a.m. on November 1, 2010. Nice, eh?

Sharing an office isn’t so bad.  I’m getting used to the headphones again for music and the fact that my officemate has his phone ringer set way too loud.  What I can’t get used to is the fact that for 8 hours a day no matter how bright it is outside I don’t see the sun.

I know I shouldn’t be complaining.  After all, I still have a job and a paycheck coming in, and I do work at home two days a week. In many respects life could be a lot worse. That said, I’m just as happy to not be at my desk in the office.