the world needs more hamburger phones

Tonight I saw Juno, a comedy which fits into the quirky category along with the likes of Little Miss Sunshine. When I first read the synopsis it wasn’t a movie at the top of my must see list. A sixteen year old gets pregnant, backs out of an abortion, then seeks adoptive parents for the unborn baby. Parents of the 16 year old are disappointed but not too judgemental and are ultimately supportive of her and her decision.

 A friend encouraged me to go and I’m pleased I did. Packed with witty one-liners it kept me amused from beginning to end.  Every time Juno (Ellen Page) used her hamburger phone I did have an 80s novelty phone cringe.

I’m such a West Wing fan it took me a few moments to stop seeing Alison Janney as CJ and see her as step-mom Bren. Bren’s manic obsession with dogs, cutting out pictures for her scrapbook soon gave me the mental shift I needed. While the ending was basically happy it wasn’t sugar coated and had a few moments getting there.

The indie-based soundtrack is worth a mention too. It has been a while since I’ve purchased the soundtrack for any movie but this one might just find its way onto my ipod.

facebook – stop bugging me and my friends

Facebook seems to be lurching from one annoying feature to the next. When I decided which social networking site to sign-up with Facebook was my choice for its tidy clean design – just the basics and not too much clutter. Now it rivals myspace and bebo on the hideousness stakes. I can choose what I add and don’t, so to some extent the clutter on my page is of my own making.

Now Facebook got in trouble last year for its beacon advertising and after an uproar changed the way that works. Now there are a couple more things to annoy us. Do you hate those ads at the bottom of the screen? The ones telling you someone has a crush on you. You are looking for the next page of the latest silly quiz, scarcely able to contain your excitement to find out what vegetable you are.  A big button in facebook blue with ‘continue’ in large letters is right there beckoning to you.  But that button is a conman, tricking you to the world of advertising. The link you want is further down in a smaller discrete text.  Grrr, death to the continue button.

The other thing annoying me with facebook right now are the apps which wont let you play with them unless you invite 10-20 friends first. I don’t care, I’m not playing your silly game.  A Just Say No group has popped up on Facebook petitioning for the ban on forced invites.  Apparently Facebook are clamping down on those developers so maybe there is hope.

was it really love?

I’ve just seen episode 8 of series 5 of Shameless.  It screened on 12 February 2008 on First Look in the UK but its official screening date will be 19 February 2008.  If you haven’t seen it yet and don’t want the surprise ruined read no further. I’m a huge fan of Shamelss but I’m a little bit traumatised by this episode. Frank Gallagher falling in love and actually considering his appearance – how can this be? Of course the object of his love is not his heavily pregnant wife but a random antique dealer he meets on the bus. What does she see in him and how can she get past the smell which I imagine flows from his every pore?  I’m guessing she had an itch to scratch as we eventually learn her husband has senile dementia and is in a home.

Two other story lines continued alongside. Debbie tries to earn money for a family holiday by taking in religious students from the USA. Of course they turn out to be miscreants about as religious and well-behaved as the Gallagher brood.

The third storyline has PC Carrie Rogers deliberately flunking her seargeant’s exam. She has a debt which Paddy Maguire has acquired. She has no cash so he wants it paid in information. The three storyliunes weren’t as well knitted together as they usually are and I found myself watching and thinking, this can’t be Frank, he doesn’t have a caring side.  Some of the previous episodes have been extremely violent and black so maybe it is the contrast which bothers me.  Not my favourite ep but I’ll still be back next week.

all about the experience

When I picked up my conference bag I noticed a couple of things. Pleasingly there was very little in the way of gumf cluttering the bag and deforesting the world. So often when I go to a conference the bag is stuffed with leaflets I’ll never read. I always walk round the vendor displays but if I’m interested in something I’d rather talk to the vendor and if I’m really interested I’ll pick up a leaflet from the vendor.

The second thing I noticed in my bag was a curious little key. What is it for I wondered? The key had a tag attached with a company name and website so I probably had the answer if I’d been near a computer. Day one of the conference I was so busy I didn’t get time to walk round the vendors but I did notice one had an interesting collection of robots. Later that evening my brain finally connected the key with the robots.

Day two I set out to claim my robot. The thing about the vendor’s display and for that matter all the vendors at webstock was that it was about the experience of interacting with them.  The opportunities for interaction were many.  It wasn’t the traditional displays to observe and pushy salespeople exchanging the opportunity to win something for the details on your business card. In fact the robot stand was remarkably clean and uncluttered. They’d also set up a photobooth with a camera taking four photos in quick succession. You could print them out and agree to them being uploaded onto Flickr. You couldn’t help but leave with a good feeling and a desire to round up a few more friends for another silly photo. How subtle, getting you to bring other potential future clients to meet them. I knew what they were doing, tempting me in, giving me something for free, entertaining me while I was there and then persuading me to spread their message and I’ve linked to them in this post. Still this experience was more satisfying than the times I’ve dropped my business card at some stand only to be pestered for months after the conference. In fact this vendor doesn’t have my email so I feel great about that. They did talk to me and we both realised pretty quickly that where I currently work there’d be little opportunity to use their services so there’s little point to putting lots of effort into maintaining contact with me. The experience though was good enough that I will remember them.

more tubes needed in 2010

So, so, so much love to the organisers of this year’s Webstock conference. The second day was even better than the first. I did plan to blog from the conference but the wifi was a little dodgy – too many people all trying to claim their share and for much of the day I couldn’t get connected. More tubes for the next webstock please. Connectivity problems aside the webstock team deserve so much kudos and thanks for bringing so many talented presenters to NZ.  It was as though every session was a keynote.

geek <3

Webstock 2006 inspred me greatly and this year’s conference is heading the same way. So many excellent speakers with excellent presentations. It seems a shallow thing to say but I just love that it is so styley.  Take the conference bag – so many conferences have boring black laptop bags with the conference names and a hundred sponsor logos plastered all over the front. You use it for the conference then never use it again. But the webstock bag – so much love. Modelled on bags made from recycled canvases it features the fabulous webstock artwork.  The fabric’s been printed and cut up like the canvas bags so each bag is a little different from the next. It has a good piece of foam inside to protect your laptop and is an ample size, perfect for a few other items along with the laptop.

The coffee, the wonderful coffee, essential at a geek conference. The queues are long but it is worth the wait and it is free – how good is that?

 The other thing I think is just fantastic is that the presentations are all being signed. Three sign language interpreters have been busy all day. It is funny to watch the interaction between them and the presenters.  One presenter mused on whether the interpreter would be editorialising and telling everyone his presentation was boring.

Powerpoint, I just have to mention it. I hate it with a passion when it is done poorly – filled with crappy clip art and more text than your average novel. Boy do the webstock presenters know how to do powerpoint. I had to laugh though, it seems it is now almost compulsory to include a lolcat slide whether relevant or not.

about bloody time

Australia finally apologises. I don’t know what John Howard was thinking, how could he sidestep this for 11 years. Sorry doesn’t magic away the race relation problems Australia has to recover from but it gives them permission to start working on it. A wise move for Kevin Rudd to have placed this so far up his to do list.  I did cringe that his name for the policy is “closing the gaps”, where have we heard that before?

how far can one’s eyes roll?

Today was one of those days that had me in a state of uncontrollable eye-rolling. A group at work has change its name – big deal I hear you say.  The thing is, its one of those annoying, following the latest trend type changes. Once upon a time we had a personnel department, then at some stage it morphed into human resources. I didn’t regard it any differently – it was the same department.  Now it has changed again and we have people capability. Are they serious? Why can’t we just pick a name and stay with it? Do we have to keep reinventing ourselves?

And I’m not just picking on HR either – I thought it was just as silly when the Librarians got their buns in a twist and Libraries became Information Centres.  Job title like knowledge advisors and cybrarians just add to the stupidity.

Everyone wants to feel good about their job and valued for what they do.  There will always be someone who just doesn’t understand how important your job does – get over it. The problem is their’s not yours. Changing names just seems silly if the point is to try and make your clients better understand you. You need to put the time into understanding your client more than the reverse.

RSG is back

I may be crazy but I’ve decided to revive RSG. She gave up on blogging for a couple of years but she’s back now.

 The last week or so has seen the return of a few faves to the tele and few new shows as well – who has time I say. Last week I thought Pushing Daisies showed promise. A little cutesy but not enough to annoy me completely.  This week I’m not so sure, there’s just nothing subtle about American programmes and the smiles are all so fake. Nine episodes were made before the writers strike intervened.  Here’s hoping it is resolved soon.