It’s been awhile since I logged a ride in, but not to worry, I have been doing a lot of riding. I’m in the process of creating a new section to my weblog for my travels. I’m currently toying around with calling the section Travelogs (Edit: discontinued). That’s where I’m going to post my rides […]
Author / Michael Ashby
Bike New York
I’m all packed up and headed off to the Big Apple. I’m going to ride in the Bike New York event on Sunday, so I’m flying in to Baltimore this afternoon and driving the rest of the way with Dan. Tomorrow we’ll ride 42 miles through all 5 boroughs of New York City without any […]
When Did I Become Old School?
I’m only 35, but in the past few weeks I’ve noticed more and more that in some aspects of my life, I’m a bit old school. Some might call it being a fuddy duddy, old fart, or even a stick in the mud. Call it what you will, but in my book, I’m simply old school.
What strikes me as funny about this is that I’m a computer consultant by trade so I’m always involved with new technology on a consistent basis. Everyone has heard of the cutting edge, but in most things related to technology, I’m considered on the bleeding edge. For example, I have close to 30 handheld devices and typically carry at least 3 with me at all times. In my office I’m running Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless networks. The 802.11b network has been up for over a year and the bluetooth network for close to 6 months. Both my main workstation and my laptop both dual boot to Windows XP Professional and Red Hat Linux and as I type this I’m downloading Red Hat 9.0. 🙂 Continue Reading
New Stuff Posted
Even with the ‘Male Obsession Bug‘ running rampant in my system, I did make time to post a few new things around the site. In the books section, I have a review of The Sterling Huck Letters by Sterling Huck and a review of Trading Spaces Behind the Scenes by Meredith Books. In the movies […]
Double Jeopardy
Director: Bruce Beresford
Writer(s): David Weisberg and Douglas Cook
Category: Thriller
MPAA: R
Runtime: 105 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Year: 1999
Tagline: Murder isn’t always a crime.
Plot: Framed for her husband’s murder, Libby Parsons (Ashley Judd) survives the long years in prison with two burning desires sustaining her: finding her son and solving the mystery that destroyed her once-happy life.
Review: Predictable, shallow and without any flavor. That is how I would characterize this movie. You’ve seen it before and you know what’s coming throughout the entire movie. I feel like a patrol cop telling the crowd “keep moving, there’s nothing to see here.”
Ashley Judd gives another lackluster performance as a well-to-do wife who gets sent to prison for 6 years. You’d think she was sent to the time out corner instead. Judd portrays the same character leaving prison as she DOES when she enters. Wait, I take that back. Her character does do some sit ups to prove that she’s tough now. Please. %)
Trading Spaces Behind the Scenes by Meredith Books
TLC’s Trading Spaces is like crack to a new home owner – you watch the show once and you’re hooked. At least that’s how it happened to me. 🙂 One Saturday afternoon, I was scanning the television and stumbled upon the show and instantly fell in love. For those that haven’t seen the show, two sets of homeowners swamp houses and with the help of a designer do a two-day room re-design armed with only a $1000 budget. As you might imagine things can go wrong as the designers pull and tug the homeowners into doing sometimes outlandish things to their neighbors spaces. It’s a great show that can give you a lot of inspiration and ideas for your own home.
I was in Home Depot looking for a book on Tiling for a project I’m working on, when I stumbled upon “Trading Spaces Behind the Scenes” book. If you love the show, this book is for you. However, if you’re looking for Tips and Tricks, then keep looking because this book is more about the “behind the scenes” than anything else. In it, you’ll learn about how the show is put together from start to finish. There is a chapter dedicated to each member of the cast as well as a large glamour photo. Fans of Ty Pennington the hunky carpenter, won’t be disappointed.
Bitten By The Male Obsession Bug
I’m out of control. I have fallen back in love with bicycling and I have a full-on outbreak of the ‘Male Obsession Bug.’ If you’re female, you’ve seen it in action and if you’re a guy, then you know what I’m talking about. 🙂 The Male Obsession Bug can strike at any time, on any subject. for some it’s sports, for others, it’s a recreational hobby. Regardless of the obsession, the affects of the ‘bug’ are easy to detect.
For one, the infected subject can’t stop talking about his new obsession. In my case, this is cycling. So, regardless of the conversation, I can find some relevance to cycling and will use any excuse to divert the topic to cycling. For example, let’s say that someone brings up the subject of the new Palm Zire 71 handheld. Now, how in the world could a Palm OS handheld have anything to do with cycling? Well, a man’s infected brain might mention the fact that there is a product called the Bike Brain that can connect a Palm device to the bicycle for recording all sorts of information. Then he might mention that he’s thinking about using Bicycling Journal to record his rides for posting on his weblog.
Damn Lights
I got started a little late on Monday. It was after 6pm before I left the house, but I had my light system mounted, tested and ready to go. So, I figured I was ok. However, anything could be farther from the truth. My plan was to ride to Brentwood, visit the REI store and […]
Magnolia
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Writer(s): Paul Thomas Anderson
Category: Drama
MPAA: R
Runtime: 188 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Year: 1999
Tagline: Things fall down. People look up. And when it rains, it pours.
Plot: From director Paul Thomas Anderson comes a mosaic of American life woven through a series of comedic and poignant vignettes. Through chance, human action, past history and divine intervention, an eclectic cast of characters (including Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy and more) weaves and warps through each other’s lives on a random San Fernando Valley day, building an unforgettable climax.
Review: This movie is not for the faint of heart. I made the mistake of starting this movie at 10:30pm thinking that it’d be the usual 1.5 hour movie. I should have looked at the sleeve more closely, this movie is over 3 hours long. Not to mention the fact that Anderson pushes the boundaries of storytelling by interweaving a multitude of characters to tell one story, or message. This is a “thinking man’s” movie and not something to just flip through like so many movies released today.