Rock Over London.

Saturday Matinee at the Grindhouse...

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 17:59:34 GMT

Back again with another movie invitation...Let me know if you'd like to go see Grindhouse at the Regal Culver Ridge at 1.05 Saturday afternoon. Nothing better than a pulpy bloody double feature on a weekend to make you happy...

Comment if you're down.

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 13:07:32 GMT

Forgive me for I have sinned, it's been over a year since my last confession.

Calling all freaks, I'm looking for a crew to go to the Horror Movie Fest the weekend before Thanksgiving at the Regal. 8 Movies, 3 days, and the majority of them look pretty sick.

http://www.horrorfestonline.com/

Leave me a comment if you want to go. Not sure what the cost for tickets is going to be, but when we roll in there, we should roll deep. It looks like a pretty cool way to waste a weekend.

What I did on my summer vacation.

Thu, 25 Aug 2005 16:32:50 GMT

So, it's been forever since my last real bit of content. Here are a few things that have kind of been annoying me lately.

The rise of in-game tutorials. It drives me NUTS to have to sit through some silly "training session" to learn how to play a game and do all the super-uber cool ninja moves that the character will have to employ over the course of the game. Drop me into the game, and let me learn that way, perhaps including popups once I discover a new move/combination/whatever. It really subtracts from the fun of a game. I guess I'm kinda old school with games. When I get them new, I usually spend 15 or twenty minutes reading the manual and getting geared up to go save the world, be a ninja, or simply blow shit up. Then I start the game, and it's boot camp with the disembodied voice and "Press the jump button twice to do the Double Jump." Really? What an advanced control scheme! I'm so glad they hired the guy that used to play the dad on Good Times to instruct me on how to use the same button to do the same thing that's happened in every game I've played in the last 15 years. I'm pretty sure we get it.

The other thing that's annoying me is movies. Movies in general. I have no attention span for them anymore because they've become purely visual driven messes. No characterization, little to no story, and that's it. I'll watch 25 minutes of a movie, and I'm done. Can't handle it. I've got all sorts of classics in my Netflix queue now to try and reintroduce the classics and see if it rekindles my love for it, but right now I'm really depressed by that. At one point, I was going to try and go into filmmaking, and now I can't sit and watch a movie. It's frustrating. Hopefully, The King of Comedy and The Shining will bring me out of it.

I've gotten more into comics again, and that's kind of exciting. I find myself attracted to books that don't take themselves too seriously, like the new Defenders series by Giffen and deMatteis. The new Hellboy was kickass too, but that's just me be ing a fanboy. (I can't really hate anything I'm planning on getting a huge tattoo of.)

In other news, we got the cutest, most annoying, lovable, obstinate, well-behaved, independent dog ever. I love her to death, but I'm pretty sure she knows she's my first dog, so she knows she's got me wrapped around her paw. It can be frustrating, and there are times I don't really want to deal with her. Every so often she come over to me to be petted, or follow me around the house, or just wander by and curl up on the bed behind me and I melt again. So she's obviously smarter than me, but that's OK. (It's also why I know I don't want any kids for a long long time. Sometimes I just really don't have the patience for it.)

so i guess this is the other side then?

Mon, 22 Aug 2005 21:20:36 GMT

Take the quiz: "What 80's Metal Band are you? (with pics)"

Slayer
You are Slayer. You love death, destruction and blood. Speed metal and screaming. Sweat and metal.

w00t. a quiz.

Sat, 23 Jul 2005 17:30:17 GMT

the Cutting Edge

(56% dark, 52% spontaneous, 27% vulgar)

your humor style:
CLEAN | SPONTANEOUS | DARK

Your humor's mostly innocent and off-the-cuff, but somehow there's something slightly menacing about you. Part of your humor is making people a little uncomfortable, even if the things you say aren't in and of themselves confrontational. You probably have a very dry delivery, or are seriously over-the-top. Your type is the most likely to appreciate a good insult and/or broken bone and/or very very fat person dancing.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: David Letterman - John Belushi

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 56% on dark

You scored higher than 81% on spontaneous

You scored higher than 43% on vulgar

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on OkCupid Free Online Dating

I need the scrubs DVDs. Badly.

Sat, 14 May 2005 14:43:25 GMT

"Dr Cox..."
"If the next two words out of your mouth are not 'See ya' then the third is going to be 'Oh my god my crotch, my crotch, you've punched me in my crotch.'"
"See ya."

Genius.

The password is...TWEE.

Tue, 10 May 2005 18:51:36 GMT

I've been listening to all kinds of really "indie" music lately.

I think it stems from having a speaker at my desk at work now...I've listened to Bright Eyes, The Decemberists, Bloc Party and Kaiser Chiefs so far today...I feel like a bit of a twat.

Am I turning into the kid that only listens to silly little twee hipster doofus stuff???

Crisis of faith. But then again, I'm enjoying it. So should I worry about it? Or just let it go and have fun?

Vindication.

Tue, 10 May 2005 13:57:28 GMT

http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/w/weezer/make-believe.shtml

Wow. A 0.4 out of 10. I guess they got the same copy of the record Kara and I did.

The introductory paragraphs say it all...

"If you're one of those poor souls who while away the day job by keeping a scorecard of music review sites, there's one thing you already know: There are two distinct groups of bad albums. The more prevalent kind is the fodder that fills a critic's mailbox, bands with awkward names and laser-printed cover art that don't inspire ire so much as pity. The second group is more treacherous: Bands that yield high expectations due to past achievements, yet, for one reason or another, wipe out like "The Wide World of Sports"' agony-of-defeat skier.

Often, these albums are bombarded with website tomatoes for reasons you can't necessarily hear through speakers: the band changes their sound and image to court a new crossover audience, perhaps, or attempts a mid-career shift into ill-advised territory. Or maybe they start writing songs about Moses in hip-hop slang. But sometimes the bad album in question is none of the above; it doesn't offend anyone's delicate scene-politics sensibilities or try to rewrite a once-successful formula in unfortunate ways. Sometimes an album is just awful. Make Believe is one of those albums."

Later on , he even starts to question why he ever liked Weezer to begin with.

"Hearing a song like "We Are All on Drugs", which nicks the classic melody of the schoolyard "Diarrhea" song (you know, "when you're sliding into first..." and so on) for an anti-drug message stiffer than Nancy Reagan's "Diff'rent Strokes" cameo, it calls into question whether The Blue Album was really that great, or whether it just stood out as a rare beacon of guitar pop in a grunge-obsessed era."

Glad to see we're not crazy, and someone else is just as repulsed by Make Believe as we are.

seksi.

Sat, 07 May 2005 19:35:05 GMT

http://engadget.com/entry/1234000490042605/#comments

Dear God. It's full of stars.

(XOBX360 PROMO)

mmmm...wireless controller, headset...and webcam??? ok, pass on the webcam, but the rest is very nice.

And I'm broke

Thu, 05 May 2005 13:27:32 GMT

Like a bad joke somebody's uncle told at a wedding reception in 1972...

I tweaked my back this morning grabbing a can of soda in the garage. I think it was weakened by moving the grill, and when I reached out to grab the can, it kinda shocked me a bit.

So now I'm on a good bit of Ibuprofen, and hoping to get through this quick today so I can get home.

Wrong Bottle.

Tue, 26 Apr 2005 15:00:10 GMT

I got real dew out of the machine instead of the diet.

i'm vibrating right now.

Sugar+Caffeine+Matt with no soda tolerance=

Weezer. Make Believe.

Mon, 25 Apr 2005 19:36:32 GMT

I just finished my 2nd listen of the new Weezer record.

This is the last one I think we're going to get. This record is the sound of a band in creative bankruptcy. Each song is plodding and derivative with no real movement or any pop flourishes that Rivers Cuomo and crew are known for. In lieu of catchy songs and "rock guitars" we get Adult Album Alternative.

Now, I think it was Pat Wilson who was on record saying that true Weezer fans are ultra-critical and never really like the new. But from a music fan's standpoint (and not just a Weezer fan) there's not a lot here to grab on to. Mostly midtempo, all verse-chorus-bridge, and a lot of meloncholy. The fun part about Weezer was the anthemic quality, the almost-epic rock that you'd sing in the car at the top of your lungs, the drum builds that you put dents in your steering wheel to. There's none of that here.

Make Believe is pretty, and meaningless. It's rock by rote. It's the sound of 4 guys with better things to do, and for that reason it's finally time for Weezer to retire.

Final Five:
Pinkerton
Blue
Maladroit
Green/Make Believe.

AHHHHH!!! R0XX0RZ!!!!

Sat, 23 Apr 2005 15:17:34 GMT

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/8112/Xbox-360-Exposed/

w00t!!!

True Vin Diesel Facts!!!

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 16:21:42 GMT

Vin Diesel killed Bill Cosby. Bill Cosby is not yet aware of this, as Vin Diesel has not chosen to make this death known.

The Legend of Zelda is based on the adventures of Vin Diesel battling Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in World War II.

Vin Diesel actually painted all the works of Michelangelo, but lost them to said "artist" after he bet that he could drink the entire ocean. Diesel almost succeeded, but gagged on a giant squid at the last moment.

Vin once went sledding in New Hampshire and broke the sound barrier by turning his head around and blowing forcefully. As a result of the shock waves, several children died. Vin ascended to heaven and repeatedly punched God in the eye until he brought them all back to life. Every single one of those children are now scientists.

http://www.4q.cc/vin/

Sure, I know they're modified Bill Brasky. But they're all so amazing...

mormons rule.

Sat, 02 Apr 2005 17:39:28 GMT

ok, so today is the annual mormon conference.

we usually carry it on leased access. (palmyra means tons of mormons.)

this year, no conference.

do they gripe and bitch and moan?

nope.

one guy actually said, "aw. dude, that's a bummer. ya think you can put the word in for next year? we really did enjoy watching it on cable."

the other one said basically the same thing, and then complimented us on our service!

I can guarantee that if there were a big baptist, or catholic, or etc. thing on and we weren't carrying it, we'd get unending fire and brimstone, and probably get cussed out too.

so, i might not agree with everything they do, at least their congregation isn't fucking batshit insane.

Flip that script now...COME ON!

Tue, 29 Mar 2005 15:36:29 GMT

So, long time no see.

Here's an update.

Kara now lives in my bedroom. Which has been absolutely awesome so far. It's really nice to just be able to hang out and not have to worry about going home at the end of the night.

Working on getting a job in radio and starting a career, rather than the 9-5 job I've got now. I'm basically an inbound telemarketer now, and that's really not what i'm suited for. So it's time to get something that can get me somewhere, instead of just getting paid.

Easter was spent at Kara's aunt's house in Connecticut. It was a blast. Her whole family is really awesome to hang out with. (and now I really want a dog. Her aunt has the coolest golden retriever ever.)

Next weekend we're headed to the Tdot to see the Weakerthans and the Constantines. It's my birthday, and our 1 year anniversary. Needless to say I'm stoked.

So, there's the update after about a month. It's been crazy. There are more adventures on the horizon though.

Media Consumed Recently:

The Walking Dead-Graphic Novel by Robert Kirkland. Genius. Best zombie story ever.

The Watchmen-Graphic Novel by Alan Moore. Billed as a quantum leap for the genre. I'm not disagreeing, in fact it's really an amazing use of the medium. (I'm still in the midst of reading it, but it needs a shout-out) I just can't see it as a movie.

Ong Bak, The Thai Warrior. A muay thai movie. A muai thai movie starring Tony Jaa, who is an absolutely incredible martial artist. Worth seeing for the best chase in recent memory. And it's on foot.

Black Books. Dylan Moran (David "the twat" from Shaun of the Dead) is caustic, dark, and angry. He's also a very clever comedian who wields the language like a meat cleaver. Together with Bill Bailey, they've constructed a sharp, witty duo that work within a typical sitcom surrounding and elevate it to the next level.

Dylan Moran-Monster. Standup special by the aforementioned. A few glasses of wine, what seems to be an endless number of cigarettes and some of the most biting standup I've seen in a while.

Sage Francis: A Healthy Distrust. Wow. I'm blown away by this record. Amazing rhymes and nice beats. Socially conscious, and very personal lyrics. This should be the future of hip-hop.

Converge Remasters. I've only gotten to hear Petitioning the Empty Sky but I can only say one thing about it. Kurt Ballou is a master producer/engineer. He deserves all the hype he gets. What used to sound cluttered and claustrophobic now sounds so much more open and organic. Bonus points for killing most of the distortion on the vocals.

And that's about it. We're pretty sure the culling song will be sung around here soon, as they've posted new morning shifts and 6 more open positions in the evening. There's no seating space so logistics dictate it's over for some of us here.

YAY for corporate greed!!!

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 21:17:19 GMT

OK, so here's the deal. I have to call Broadway Joe's tonight to see if there are any tickets left for MC Chris tomorrow night. Because if it's between MC Chris and some crap comic at Comix Cafe, I'm going to see MC Chris.

Not only that, but Alkaline Trio is coming in May, and Misery Signals and the Agony Scene are playing the Penny Arcade in April.

An Apple store at Eastview. AWESOME!

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 15:38:05 GMT

http://jobsearch.monster.com/getjob.asp?JobID=27751134&AVSDM=2005%2D03%2D01+00%3A07%3A49&Logo=1&brd=1,1862,1863&lid=552&fn=44&jt=2&tm=1d&cy=US&col=dltci

An Apple store at Eastview!

NICE!!!

For Kara.

Sat, 19 Feb 2005 20:52:46 GMT

Tale of the Tape...

The OC vs. 90210.

http://tinyurl.com/6xuzd

Bill Simmons rules.

Zero to blizzard in 2 minutes.

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 19:57:30 GMT

I hate rochester.

justifiable homicide

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 14:12:32 GMT

chatty cathy will not shut the fuck up today. she wasn't at work yesterday, so she's making up for lost time. i'm getting the play by play for every fucking call she's been on since I got here.

I'm coming close to a meltdown here.

i'm going to go opie on her in a second.

SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!

no one cares about what's happening to you.

you've been bitching about the same call for 10 minutes. enough is enough.

the world is not out to get you. the paranoia is getting completely out of control, and if i have to say, "yep. that's the way it works" one more time, I'm going to rip your face off and wear it as a mask. While wearing the mask, I will probably do a cruel impression of you so you can see how annoying it is.

great. now i'm getting the update from the doctor's appt yesterday. when will it end???

I am Jay Leno

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 13:52:49 GMT

The president is naming his secretary of intelligence today. It marks the first time in this administration that the words "president" and "intelligence" have appeared in the same sentence.

ARROWED!

Tue, 15 Feb 2005 15:29:34 GMT

I think i'm going to stab Chatty Cathy.

I'm in the midst of getting an answer from my super about something I have to do here...and she just starts yelling about some issue she's having, interrupting all of us. We tried to ignore her, but she just got louder about it. She starts asking me questions, as I'm trying to concentrate on what my boss is telling me to do.

So I yelled.

"Ahhh...Too much...I need quiet space!!! My eye just exploded! Aieee! No more talking."

"Oh...did i interrupt you?"

*STAB*

"STAR-TEK: Capitalism Without Conscience"

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 16:06:12 GMT

http://www.rense.com/general62/trek.htm

As trainees moved closer to their first day of call-taking on the production floor, they were trained in' at best, obfuscation' at worst, lying. For instance, should a Customer Care Agent be unable to assist a client they are instructed to tell the hapless caller: "Our system is currently updating and it will take a few moments to access your information. May I put you on hold?" The actual situation is one of poorly trained Customer Care Agents being unable to address the customer's request. Such a circumstance requires the agent to place a red cup on their cubical wall to signal a Red-Hat thereby eliciting instruction for resolving the issue at hand. During my tenure not only were Red Hats, in very short supply they were only marginally better trained than the lost and frustrated agents seeking their help. It was common to count as many as twenty-five cups signaling help from one of only two Red Hats assigned to our group. Customers often found themselves on hold for hours rather than risk hanging up to be once again incarcerated in Muzak jail.

Agents are instructed to take ownership of their calls by resolving all customer issues, but then there is compliance - a seemingly innocuous term used to grade employees as they perform their job. Spend too much time handling a call and the agent falls out of compliance. Spend too much time wrapping up a call by documenting call issues in the customer's account notes, you fall out of compliance. Log onto your system late and you fall out of compliance. Stay on your system a little long and you fall out of compliance. Don't take your scheduled break at the prescribed time, you fall out of compliance. Fail to address or ask if you addressed all the customers, issues, you fall out of compliance. Fall out of compliance and you can be warned, written up or terminated. "It's hell and purgatory rolled into one." Commented an astute LA reporter.

It is not the employee's fault. Training consists of little more than a cursory overview of several wildly complex software programs with several more sub-programs housing hundreds of information pages and tools to help, define, instruct, and resolve customer issues. One system, called CCNET, is non-intuitive leaving employees discouraged, confused, and in may cases, defeated.

If accountability is the thorn in StarTek's side integrity is its Achilles heal. In a written evaluation of StarTek's business principals weighted against current practice a former StarTek management employee gave them a score of ten out of one-hundred. He wrote"Integrity-- This is where I feel the management team is struggling the most. Decisions on a site level, get made without, what appears to be, taking constructive input from the other departments possessing a make-it-happen' attitude. Preparation for change needs to be a focus. Input from those that are affected by the change needs to be taken into deeper consideration as opposed to putting out fires after the fact. False promises get thrown around, the things will change, cliché has become a standard - some form of stability should be in place. People are given promotions, based on unknown criteria, without the benefit of a proper, ethical job bid to determine if there are other suitable candidates available. Information is distributed one way, and changed on a whim. Again structure is needed in order to achieve goals. Knee-jerk reactions to situations should be minimal, and stronger preparations for what if, should be taken into consideration."

So, interestingly enough, it seems that this company uses the same sort of business practices I've been dealing with here...they enjoy a "137% attrition rate every five months." it's got to be getting close to that here. every six months, we get another 40 or so new reps on the floor. and business isn't picking up by nearly that percentage.

Yesterday, we had a meeting about billing. Apparently, the new reps are given a cursory glance at our billing systems. They are then told, "It's really something you need to practice with." Practice. With customers on the line, in a live situation. You have around a 25% chance of getting someone as clueless about your bill as you are when you call in. If there is a change made in the service (charges, etc.) more often than not we're notified by the customer.

Most recently, we started charging for a piece of equipment. I was notified by a customer about these new charges. When I asked a supervisor about it, the answer was, "Oh, yeah. We got the e-mail about that last week. We're sending that out this afternoon to you guys." Two weeks later, we got a system message (equivalent to an IM) telling us about this change in the rate for the equipment. That was the first time that charge had been documented.

The "adherance" standard is another situation where we tilt at windmills here. Timing of breaks and lunches are all dictated to us daily. If we miss the time, we are penalized. For example, Matt has his lunch at noon. He gets off of a call at 11.59 and 3 seconds with calls in queue. The next call comes in 2 seconds later. (11.59 and 5 sec.) In order to "adhere" to the schedule, Matt would have to take care of the customer's issues within 1 minute 55 seconds or less. Ah, but here's the rub. Recommended call time should be 4 minutes and 20 seconds...so the chances of Matt actually resolving the issue within that 2 minute time frame are slim. Also, don't forget, if Matt does manage to take care of that call in less than a minute, he has to take another call. (there's one waiting in queue, you know.)

By the way, our target percent of time "in adherance"? 100%. Along with all other metrics we have, our target is 100%. Availablity is anothe metric we have here that is, to this point, undefined. All I know is that it appears on my weekly report and that it fluctuates wildly. (from 137% to 78%. The high must be from those people i helped out in the line at Wegmans that one week.)

Add to that the seemingly random and arbitrary changes in procedure from day to day with the phone service. The broken beyond repair billing system which forces you to play a version of 3 card monte to make sure that the equipment is working correctly. Along with the growing sense of ambivalence from our direct supervisors, it's no surprise that so many of us here are disillusioned by the job.

But it's not a concern of the UEMF's. They've decided to make this a battle of attrition, and service drones are infintely replaceable. The proles will never make one of the UEMF's quit, but enough "mismanagement" and "incompetence" and they'll be able get rid of the reps who take it on themselves to help the customer, and turn the department into the inbound sales department they so dearly crave.

We try to work within the system to fix it, but it doesn't work. The problem is in the personnel. And there's nothing we proles can do to fix it.

Come in, collect your check and be thankful you have a job. If you don't, I'm sure someone at Star-Tek would be glad to take your calls for you.

"Super Powers Enable Me to Blend in With Machinery"

Tue, 08 Feb 2005 14:47:46 GMT

It's all wrinkled elbow shirts and poker faces on this bus
Back to a nitch dug just like a ditch in this city's weathered crust
but there's something about this city's gray
that seems to say all there is to say
Riddled with regiment, vindictive intent
Faking loyalty and getting paid
Fuck them all
She keeps the variety section and then gives the rest to me
She says she remembers when buses were nicer
"There's no dignity in plastic seats"
But there's something about the way she said
"The only good boss is one that's dead"
These broad shoulders giggled all over the bus
And work ethics crumbled into "them and us"
Fuck them all
And all these specters of the work place
Turned from effigy into reality
And yeah I wish it was that simple
To think a belly laugh is really all we need
But it's the slow decay of the day to day
That says take your pay check, accept your place and fade away
but there was dignity in plastic seats that day

-dillinger 4.