Owner: Chris Makarsky's blog URL:www.chrismakarsky.com Join Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 16:42:16 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A website created by Chris Makarsky, for Chris Makarsky, and all about Chris Makarsky (but not really) -- discussions on web design, music, video games, programming, Charlottesville, academics, food, and whatever else fills my life. Site statistics:Click here
Sky blew sky 2007-05-23 14:00:11 Wilco’s newest album, Sky Blue Sky, opens with the soaring “Either Way,” a song that embodies a classic-rock soundscape one hopes awaits the listener for the remainder of the album. Unfortunately, things never really pick up after the first track, and save for “Side With the Seeds,” it sounds as if Tweedy merely went through the motions for this latest release — he’s rehabilitated, sure, but a little more geriatric as well. Sky Blue Sky isn’t necessarily a bad album, but it’s a disappointing Wilco album, and it’s a big step backwards from the legacy established by Yankee Hotel Foxtrot over five years ago.
Dishing out the good stuff 2007-05-23 11:05:28 I saw Spoon in New York City (photos) last year; it was a good show, but it wasn’t terribly different from a Spoon show I saw at the 9:30 club a year before that. However, the NYC setlist included a number of new songs which ended up being the highlights of the show. I figured they’d eventually make their way onto Spoon’s new album, and lo and behold, they’re all present on Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. The album has the makings of a perfect summer album, with gems like the Billy Joel-esque “The Underdog” throughout, but it opens and closes on the best songs, with Britt concluding the album on a request: “All the weird kids up front, tell me what you know you want.” I don’t know if he’s talking to me, but I think I got exactly what I wanted.
Read more:stuff
I guess I mastered something 2007-05-21 12:29:17 You cannot plan the rest of your life. In our culture, it’s all plans. It’s all written down — our daily calendars, our monthly planners. We put all this stuff in our laptops and our smartphones and our BlackBerries. We waste so much time making plans, and the plans don’t work because life has other plans. John Lennon said life is what happens while you’re making all those plans. Think about today and tomorrow and next week — maybe. Have a goal. Don’t confuse planning with dreaming. Dreaming is a worthy pastime. Planning is a waste.
— John GrishamUniversity of Virginia 2007 commencement
Throughout my undergrad career at UVa, I was repeatedly told about the magic of graduation day and reminded of how beautiful it is to walk down the lawn, and I expected it to be a day I’d remember for the rest of my life. But when the 2003 graduation finally arrived, it also brought with it rain, rain, and more rain — I certainly remember it still, but it wasn&rsq Read more:something
StarCraft II the rescue 2007-05-19 11:14:11 There was a game that pretty handily dominated my free time throughout my junior and senior years of high school, and on into my first year at college: StarCraft. On any given night, I’d likely be logged onto the Battle.net servers, engaged in yet another four-hour epic match with other addicted fans lasting until the early morning hours. And I loved every second of it — in fact, it’s the only PC game I ever really, really, really loved.
It’s been almost ten years since the original game was released; in the meantime, Blizzard Entertainment appeared to be devoting most of its resources to the Warcraft series, notably World of Warcraft. I guess it’s hard to argue against the business sense of serving over eight million subscribing players, but it’s been a regrettable direction in my opinion, since I’ve never had a desire to play any entry of the Warcraft series.
Yet it turns out that StarCraft wasn’t entirely left behind: Blizzard official
Scoop on the pizza cone 2007-05-15 12:15:00 I was checking my email earlier today when I noticed this sponsored link from Gmail: conopizza - The new way of eating pizza on the go. looks great, taste great!
Haphazard capitalization aside, I was intrigued. New way of eating pizza? On the go? And it looks and tastes great? How can I be eating one right now? In an attempt to answer these burning questions, I clicked on the link for Conopizza — like any good consumer — to learn more about their offerings.
Like all great innovations, Conopizza is shockingly simple. Conopizza is just what it’s called: a 6-inch-tall savory cone, created from delicious flaky dough complete with a drip-free bottom. The cones come in a variety of appetizing flavors. The Cones could be filled with almost any food or dessert, enabling consumer to eat a delicious, satisfying meal while talking on the phone, driving a car, or walking down the street. The Cones will reinvent the experience of eating on the go by enabling people to enjoy the Read more:Scoop
Mirrored reflection 2007-05-10 13:06:15 There’s something about the term “math rock” that makes me go “hmmm.” It’s not necessarily a bad association — after all, who doesn’t like cool rhythms and complex musicianship? — it’s just that the songs from this genre are usually… not so great. But perhaps that’s why the first LP from Battles, Mirrored, is so impressive — the math rock label still applies, but the group manages to fill the album with songs that are… pretty great. The single “Atlas” is good, but stand-outs also include “Tonto,” “Rainbow,” and “TIJ.” And the best part is that they’re apparently even better live, which means there’s no reason to miss their June 13th show at the Satellite Ballroom… see you there.
Read more:reflection
Have your sea and cake it too 2007-05-10 12:38:16 The Sea and Cake’s last album was released more than four years ago, and while I enjoyed their previous output, I quite frankly hadn’t thought about the band in almost as long — so when I found out that their new album, Everybody, was finally released, I wasn’t exactly the first in line. But after a few listens, it’s definitely a solid album — it appears the band spent their hiatus learning how to make catchier, more accessible songs — tracks like “Up on Crutches” and “Left On” are more rockable than just about anything from their previous catalogue, and I’m not talking about the bad type of rock, top-40 hits style — I’m talking about roll-down-the-windows-and-sing-along rock. As anyone who knows me will attest to, that’s almost never a bad thing.
Don’t read too much into this 2007-05-09 13:33:25 I don’t read anymore. I feel I should change this.
“Anymore” isn’t meant to imply that I was ever a reading machine — it’s not as if I used to plow through novel after novel. But at least I used to read occasionally; now I can’t remember the last time I sat down and read something with a front cover, a back cover, perhaps a cover jacket, and pages of text within.
Perhaps I should change my claim to “I don’t take the time to read good literature anymore,” because sure, I still “read.” It’s just that lately, my literature of choice has been restricted to reference dictionaries and Harvard Business Review cases (yeah, hardly the definition of stimulating reads). I also enjoy a number of magazines; I’ve got a Newsweek subscription for the bathroom, Bruno’s copy of The Economist for the gym (when I can remember to steal it), and work’s copy of Wired when I’m not working. And I read a lot of
Boo to Borat 2007-05-08 11:36:33 In keeping up with the latest Hollywood offerings from years past, I finally saw Borat
: Cultural Learnings something something Kazakhstan. This was very much a see-it-because-everyone-else-did flick; I wasn’t a fan of Da Ali G Show, and now I’m just wondering how the hell it scored a 97% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. I mean, I definitely laughed at certain parts, but there was a tad too much Socratic irony for even my tastes — and not in that good, Colbertesque-style either.
Of spiders and men 2007-05-04 21:32:45 I’m not a huge fan of Spiderman 1 or 2. Don’t get me wrong, they’ve not bad movies; I just feel most people like the movies much more than I. So I wasn’t really excited about Spiderman 3… yet it’s been out for less than a day and somehow I’ve already seen it.
While I was in as receptive a state as ever for a fun time, I didn’t really enjoy the movie. For one thing, it’s damn long at 140 minutes — but even with all that time, the plot is rushed (and surprisingly lame). The direction faces the (predictable) problem of trying to split screen time between three villains, and yet they included that whole emo-Parker terribleness. Was that supposed to be character development? I don’t know what to think now, except that maybe 1 and 2 are even worse than I remember.
Read more:spiders
Feeling a little Flick’d off 2007-05-25 10:30:03 I like Flickr, and I’ve said as much numerous times in this spot. I feel it’s an impressive service, one that makes it easy to organize my photos while allowing others to view them; on top of that, they employ plenty of best practices with respect to their interface, and they provide a good API. I have most of my photos uploaded to Flickr, along with a Pro account extended until July 2009.
In short, I’ve yet to use an online service as worthy of my subscription dollars as Flickr. However, something disturbing happened to the Flickr community two weeks ago (and I’m on top of the story, as always). Another Flickr Pro member, Rebekka, discovered that her photos had been stolen by a canvas prints store, only-dreemin, and that the company had made thousands of dollars from selling her work. Rebekka was understandably peeved and posted a long explanation of the situation through her Flickr account, complete with comparisons of the original photographs and the products Read more:Feeling
, little
To the midweek drink 2007-05-31 20:23:32 That said, even lackluster gameplay couldn’t stop the aforementioned Guadaritas from making it a most-excellent Wednesday. Strawberry, lime, whatever — I love you all.
Partied out 2007-05-31 20:06:40 It had the makings for the best Wednesday ever: double helpings of jumbo margaritas at Guad, multiple cases of beer, and tickets for a show that evening — but along the way, Mario Party 8 made its way onto the schedule. As the latest installment in the Mario Party series and the first version to grace the Wii, MP8 is… well… it’s a Mario Party game. That’s not a totally bad thing; drinks were drank and doled out by all. Yet the game isn’t the slam-dunk winner it could’ve been: there’s a noticeable lack of polish throughout, game mechanics are especially clunky in certain games, and you’re still forced to watch the same damn animations over and over and why the hell isn’t there a way to skip those fucking text prompts by now?!!?! You’re skating on thin ice, Nintendo.
Knocked out 2007-06-04 11:12:46 I remember watching Judd Apatow’s show Undeclared during my second year at UVa and thinking, “man, it’s kinda weird that I’m in the same situation as the characters on this show.” I ultimately lost interest, and apparently others did as well, as the show was canceled before even a second season. Then came Apatow’s flick The 40-year-old Virgin; despite the buzz and good reviews, I only found it mildly entertaining. And now there’s Knocked Up, which again digs deep into Apatow’s trademark humor and cast of characters, but which I actually found pretty entertaining — much moreso than Virgin — and worth my $9 entrance fee (ticket prices in Charlottesville have apparently reached that last milestone before the Hamiltons start dropping).
The movie’s one big problem is its length — I again find myself complaining about a two-hour-plus running time, and while I’m really tired of repeating myself, here’s my plea
Left out at the debate 2007-06-04 10:54:20 I ended up watching the majority of the Democratic Presidential debate last night, the result of my regrettable decision to cancel HBO before the final season of The Sopranos; thus, instead of watching how Tony’s story concludes after all these years, I got to watch eight political contenders try desperately to differentiate themselves from one another. Fun stuff.
It was a little difficult to articulate their differences of opinion with the lazy lobs Wolf Blitzer was throwing out — “Do you support the children?”, “Would you support a mandatory draft?” — but ultimately, it doesn’t appear that this round’s front-runners are as revolutionary from previous years’ candidates as one would like to believe. As Hilary noted, “the differences between us [Democrats] are minor. The differences between us and the Republicans are major.” That’s unfortunately all-too-true.
The main issue, of course, is Iraq, and the only tw
Logo love 2007-06-03 10:54:16 I was a little Flick’d off regarding that photo deletion episode at Flickr last week; I’ve cooled down since, and it now appears that Flickr’s trying to further smooth things over by amending their logo ever-so-slightly:
How am I supposed to stay stay mad at a logo like that?
Zipping over previous assignments 2007-06-02 19:03:29 I wrote the following in 30 minutes as an assignment for school. I got a B+. It’s the story of my life summed up in two sentences. I’m reprinting this because I don’t feel like writing anything new right now, the article was already in a digital format, I’m testing the water on blog entries with subheadings, and it pushes that previous post re:drinking closer to the bottom of the page. No worries here, potential future employers!
Per your request, I have completed an initial analysis of the UK-based company Zopa. The company has an interesting business model that could very well be adapted to other audiences and regions; in addition to a brief overview of Zopa and an outline of their current strategy, an analysis of risks and suggestions for the future follow.
How Zopa works
The name “Zopa” comes from sales and negotiation term “zone of possible agreement,” which refers to the “intellectual zone between parties where an agreement c
A penny saved is a worthless coin 2007-06-07 10:29:54 Lacking a significantly better place to store my loose change, I’ve saved
the quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies collected over the years in various alcohol-based receptacles (empty liquor bottles and the like). It’s a system that, although without any interest-bearing dividends, has kept my monies fairly safe, disregarding that year at UHeights when I pillaged and decimated its quarters store for the laundry machine.
However, per my pending desire to pare down my current material possessions (having already discarded two huge bags of worthless accumulated junk, with another four bags filled with clothing to be donated), I finally decided it was time to exchange my coins for something a little more portable.
I phoned my local Wachovia branch earlier to see if they had some sort of machine to do the counting on my behalf. The first representative I spoke with assured me they did, only to be later corrected by a second representative, who helpfully informed me that, althou
This little Wiggie said what? 2007-06-10 22:54:11 Originally aired on October 15, 1995, “Lisa the Vegetarian” is the fifth episode of the seventh season of The Simpsons. The plot focuses on Lisa’s struggle with vegetarianism and eventual identification as a vegetarian; about midway through the episode, Lisa faces the moral dilemma of dissecting an earthworm for class. As she ponders the situation, Ralph Wiggum, her fellow classmate, has the following exchange with their teacher, Miss Hoover:
Ralph:
Umm, Miss Hoover?
Hoover:
Yes Ralph, what is it?
Ralph:
My worm went in my mouth and then I ate it… can I have another one?
Hoover:
No Ralph, there aren’t any more… [shaking her head] just try to sleep while the other children are learning.
Ralph:
Oh boy… sleep! That’s where I’m a viking!
Ralph’s last line, “Oh boy… sleep! That’s where I’m a viking!”, is an oft-quoted and fairly well-known Simpsons quote, recognizable to self-proclaime Read more:little
Last name impressions 2007-06-13 14:25:48 Having enjoyed using Textmate for some time now, I went ahead and purchased a copy yesterday, being the conscientious and responsible Mac user that I am. The checkout was fairly standard: name, email address, Paypal information, and done! — a personalized license key was immediately mailed to me.
Textmate requires you to enter your name and license key to finalize registration, but I couldn’t get the program to accept my information. I tried entering their four-line, 206-character license key in as many different combinations as I could imagine, and finally fired off an email to Macromates, complaining about the invalid key. And then I noticed my misspelled last name in the receipt email.
Oops.
The company was nice enough to grant me a new key, associated with the actual spelling of my last name, but here’s the lesson I’m imparting today: always try to spell your name correctly. It prevents one from having to explain to strangers that you’re an idiot and c
One man’s fight for reason 2007-06-12 13:08:43 Al Gore’s latest book, The Assault on Reason, is a compilation of essays that deal with our country’s lack of debate in matters at the heart of democracy nowadays. Everything Gore argues resonates strongly with me, yet I almost wish the book was written by someone else — I like Gore, but the people who most need to read his book will likely steer clear because of the name on the cover. And it’s a shame, because Gore stays fairly restrained in his partisan beliefs for the most part, instead focusing on the root causes of today’s destruction of democracy (a problem perpetuated by both parties) and puts forth some initial steps in regaining our ability to think critically about what’s best for ourselves, our country, and our world. Plus, it’s chock full of Thomas Jefferson quotes — who doesn’t love those?
Read more:fight
A Sopranos finale 2007-06-12 12:57:48 <spoiler alert>
In the last scene of The Sopranos
finale, the family arranges to meet at a diner: Tony arrives first and waits for the rest of his family, who come separately — first Carmela, then AJ — but as Meadow finally runs up to the diner (after spending a good chunk of the last few minutes struggling to parallel park), the screen cuts to black, leaving viewers to wonder what happens next — does Tony live relatively happy for the rest of his life? Does the abrupt end represent Tony’s off-screen death at the hands of one of the shady-looking diner characters?
I don’t agree with the reviewers and fans who say the ending was underwhelming. Creator/Director/Producer David Chase remained true to the show’s style, wrapping up certain issues while purposefully deciding to leave others unresolved. Whether Tony dies or not is irrelevant — after all the trials of the past seven years, the series ends with the family sitting together, munching
Evan’s alrighty 2007-06-14 21:22:41 Staying up far too late for my own good after the Battles show yesterday, I decided to take it easy today. I had daydreams about being in bed by seven earlier at work, but was then offered a ticket to the Evan Almighty premiere at The Paramount. So I ended up delaying my slumber for a few more hours — one only gets so many chances to act like Hollywood elite here in Charlottesville [+1].
Director, UVa alum [+1], and Jim Carrey buddy-buddy Tom Shadyac (who seems like a genuinely nice guy) introduced the film, sequel to 2003’s Bruce Almighty, calling it a different movie, a “Bible parable” (oh!) and a family film (rated PG, down from BA’s PG-13 rating). While it wasn’t an earth-changing comedy, it managed to be a very likable film with some genuinely funny parts — and it didn’t star (nor even mention) Jim Carrey’s character from the previous film [+1], instead featuring Steve Carrell and a solid supporting cast.
The movie itself, sho
Eye spy 2007-06-23 13:03:58 I visited my optometrist this past Friday for a regular eye appointment (in addition to repairing the glasses I sat on a few weeks ago and was only so successful at readjusting). While there, I had pictures taken of my eyes as a baseline for future appointments… seems reasonable. I asked if I could have a copy and the office sent me the pictures via email.
I don’t know this one is the left or right eye (I have both), but I’m assuming people in-the-know know.
According to the EXIF metadata, the machine holds an adapted Canon 10D camera body using a special lens and a few unusual settings.
Creepy.
Equal but not 2007-06-21 12:52:58 I just visited reddit to check out today’s hottest stories. The number one story was a scan of an average, not that funny (and certainly not top-story worthy), response in a newspaper advice column, while an article about “Retro LOLcats,” with that idiotic speech inserted into old-timey drawings of anthropomorphic cats, is one of the top-ten stories at this moment.
Just a few days ago, one of the big headlines on both Digg and reddit was an actual newspaper article on these damn cats. As we know, I’m not fond of LOLcats — they’re stupid and almost always unfunny, and my sincere hope is that this article signals the mainstream embrace of this phenomenon, thereby demonstrating the stupidity of this craze to current fans. That said, these stores, like all others, become popular on Digg and reddit through the community — registered users have the opportunity to vote on stories, and stories receiving the most votes are slowly pushed atop the pile, t Read more:Equal
Bye-bye My-MySpace 2007-06-25 20:08:39 I recently deleted my account with Myspace and I’m feeling pretty fine. It’s a liberating moment, receiving that email from MySpace
to confirm your account cancellation, and I’m just happy to rejoin my rightful position with those who don’t MySpace (go MySpacing?) — we should all get together and have a cookout one day.
I registered for my account two years ago to see what all the commotion was about. I resisted for a few years prior to that, but after Rupert Murdoch’s $550 million spending spree and the site’s continued appearance in mainstream media outlets, I finally started to wonder if perhaps my unfounded prejudices against the site were unwarranted, that the site perhaps did provide some sort of benefit to its users.
However, I quickly discovered I wasn’t wrong at all, and after putting minimal effort into branding my user page, I happily left the site, destined to never return.
I was good on that claim until recently. Just a few m
Crooks and liars 2007-07-03 12:45:32 I’m a lazy blogger. I read and see things and usually think, “hey, that would make a great topic for an upcoming post!” And if I’m feeling motivated, I sometimes make it to that “Write Post” tab in Wordpress, jot down a few sentences on the topic for reminder, give the post a temporary title, and save the draft with good intentions to come back and finish the entry.
Unfortunately, the expectation of eventually “coming back” is rarely founded, and what actually happens is that I end up with a bunch of little snippets which would’ve made for good posts had I spent the time to finish them. But they’re either out-of-date by the time I “rediscover” them or my interest has waned (or both).
Case-in-point: When the attorney-firing scandal was at its high-point a few months ago, I wanted to write a scathing, politically-charged condemnation of the current administration and their patented method of politicizing even those i Read more:Crooks
Cracked side view 2007-07-09 16:36:09 I discovered a few days ago that someone, somehow, cracked the driver’s side mirror on my car.
Somehow, indeed.
Punk kids — I know it had to be punk kids. They deserve a good slapping-around, and if I weren’t moving, I’d hunt them down and do it myself (my move being a good excuse to make bold claims as such).
According to Toyota, the side mirror isn’t just any regular mirror, but some fancy-schmany heated mirror — meaning it’s harder to ice over, but also meaning one can’t slap just any old replacement mirror in there. Nah, it requires the special mirror costing about $200. Plus labor.
Someone at work told me that it’s karma — not the play on words I initially assumed (”car”-ma), but rather retribution for the bad things I did to peoples’ properties when I was a punk kid. If that’s the case, and the $200 is my payment back to society, then I suppose I’m getting off easy… but I don’t Read more:Cracked
Hiya, San Francisco 2007-08-15 14:46:43 I’ve been living in the Bay Area for a few weeks now and I’m finally starting to get the hang of things. I’ve done the touristy stuff, I know where the BART and Muni lines go, and I have a good sense of the bars in the area. It’s just hard to make myself do any real work; I’m still in vacation mode.
(more…) Read more:Francisco
, San Francisco
Later, Charlottesville 2007-07-27 19:25:23 This is likely the last post I’ll be making from Charlottesville
, for at least a little while. At this time tomorrow, I’ll have my car packed up, my coffee in the cup holder, and my iPod attached via the tape deck connector, and I’ll be starting the first leg of my trek towards the West Coast.
(more…)
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