umdesch4's Semi-random Stuff

FINALLY!!!! Ever since seeing the Japanese trailer for this about a year ago, I've been watching and waiting...occasionally re-watching the first one on DVD just to remind myself of how cool it is. Looks like September 17th is gonna be a day to circle on the calendar.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

Enjoy!
umdesch4

Feel free to skip this one if you don't really care. I'm just thinking out loud...

I was reading some news article today, and they were talking about the US trade deficit.

So I did some digging and found this (for March 2004):

The trade deficit with Canada grew slightly to $5.1-billion. U.S. exports to Canada came to $17.2-billion, a record. Imports from Canada to the U.S. also were at record at $22.3-billion.

Then I found this article with a table of what the monthly trade deficit was (ie. how much more money was coming into Canada from the US, than going out). I added up the numbers, made up a couple average numbers for the last two months of 2003, and came up with $1.0 TRIILLION USD over 2 years!!!

So if I understand this correctly, that means Canada pulled in all that money from the US in two years, and somehow, somewhere in our banks would be a trillion US dollars. Now wait. I understand that we trade with other countries, so the companies that took those briefcases full of US cash probably used a lot of it to buy stuff from China, Japan, wherever.

Is seems like overall though, Canada's exports exceed our imports every month, ie. we have a trade surplus ( recent example ).

So where does all that money go, 'cuz I wouldn't say the average joe Canadian is hanging on to all that cash. Ok, so I figure we're probably paying dividends to our foreign investors, using it to invest in (ok, let's call it "buy a piece of") other countries, and paying some people to work who send the money 'back home' to some other country. Oh, and actually have people spending cash in other countries when they visit/vacation there, or whatever.

But still, it seems like we should all be rolling around in huge wads of cash. Everything else is just money changing hands between Canadians. It doesn't disappear, even if the resources that people spend it on get used up, or work we're paying somebody for gets done.

I'm not really going anywhere with this. I'm just trying to grasp where that money is all sitting, and what exactly it means to the global economy if more and more of the world's money is actually sitting in somebody's Canadian bank account.

Anyone who knows, and would care to explain it to me in layman's terms is welcome to try. Thanks!

umdesch4

I got the CD today. It rocks! Totally awesome. Strong Bad is the coolest. Go buy it NOW! If you don't own this, you're just not as cool as me, end of story.

Strong Bad Sings and Other Type Hits

umdesch4

Ok, so unless you've been under a rock for the last couple of months, I don't have to say much about this movie. I've even seen the trailer for it at the last two movies I went to see at Silver City Metropolis.

Quick recap:
- Won Best Picture at Cannes a few weeks ago with a 20 minute standing ovation
- Has been on Canada's Google News page in the entertainment section every day for the last 2 weeks
- Received similar outrageously glowing acceptance at celebrity screenings in New York and Hollywood
- Was picked up for distribution in Canada by Alliance Atlantis (a Famous Players sub-company) in time for a Friday, June 25th Canadian release
- Is from Michael Moore, the guy who brought us Bowling For Columbine, which pulled in 5.8 million dollars to become the top grossing documentary of all time at the Canadian box office

So...why the heck is it premiering this Friday at a whopping 3 theatres in Canada? Two in downtown Toronto, and one in Vancouver. I don't know about Toronto, but I know the one in Vancouver is Fifth Avenue, which shows mostly rep cinema and foreign films in a small, somewhat dated (but charming) venue.

I don't get it. Something about the laws of supply and demand doesn't seem to jive here.

I'll refrain from any conspiracy theories, but update you if I find a rational explanation for it. Let me know if you stumble upon one yourself, thanks.

umdesch4

It boggles my mind how many useless features they're packing into digital cameras these days. Here's something I think is a cool idea (patent pending):

How about a built-in scale function? You press a button, and the camera figures out, based on the zoom factor, and the focal length required for it's auto-focus, how big something is, and overlays a little ruler display into the picture, so you can get a better sense of scale?

Think it's dumb? How about this: Instead of digging around for a tape measure and trying to figure out if your couch is going to fit into that corner of your living room, you snap a couple of pictures. Gotta go to the hardware store (somewhere outside of New Westminster) and pick up some PVC pipe, but you're not sure what the diameter of those pipes under your sink is? Click, problem solved! Dug a toxic waste pit in your backyard, and you want to post pictures of it online to show off how cool it is, but you're worried about having anyone stand next to it for scale reference because they're likely to get irradiated? Click! Done deal!

Of course, there are probably a lot of guys out there who would be really paranoid about the idea of their girlfriends having a camera with that feature, but that's their problem...

Anyway, if you see a camera that does this, let me know so I can buy one and/or sue them for stealing my great idea.

umdesch4

No, this isn't going to be about how there is absolutely nowhere in New Westminster that you can buy a CD (and don't say 'what about London Drugs or Zellers?', because I checked and they don't) (and also don't try to tell me about that used place up on 12th, because it closed down a couple months ago)

Nope, this is way more useful knowledge than that. I've discovered why this whole town is decaying and collapsing in on itself. I went up to Royal City Center today, and stumped no less than 10 people working in and around there with the following question:

"Where can I find a hardware store in New West?"

Answer: There doesn't seem to be one, or at least not one that anybody knows about. The best answer I got was 'the closest places I can think of are Rona in Burnaby, or maybe Canadian Tire in Surrey'. You've gotta be shitting me!! So if you don't happen to need one of the 4 types of light bulbs carried in London Drugs, Zellers, or Safeway, or you need, say, a replacement tap for your bathtub, you have to actually leave New West. Wow! It's not like this place is a tiny blip on the map either. Apparently there are over 60K people living here.

So if you're the entrepreneurial type, you might consider buying out one of the dozens of used places that sells old, probably stolen or broken TVs and VCRs, and open up a hardware store. Me? I'm gonna go work on my plan for getting out of here...

umdesch4

Ok, I just had a very odd experience. You know if you experience something (in my case it's usually reading quantum physics papers) that leaves you kinda scratching your head and going 'it seems like this is really cool, and I think I'm *just* smart enough to know that my BS detector isn't going off like it would if this was just crap, but I'm not quite smart enough to really understand what the heck it's really about'?

Well, that just happened to me with a videogame. The weird thing is, I'm going to go back and play it again as soon as I finish posting this. I can't say why. I don't even know what the point of it is, or if there even is a point. The 'booing' I hear at the end has me thinking that there's a way to actually win somehow, but I have no idea.

The best part is, I can't find anything online explaining this game either.

But enough of my rambling...go look:
GROW

Enjoy!
umdesch4

PS. See comments for an update.

Finally got a chance to listen to it. First impressions:

Packaging is ultra-sparse. There isn't even a booklet, and the barest minimum of liner notes on the inside cover. Just a listed web link for the lyrics online at matthewgood.org There are no hidden features (other than a not-so-hidden bonus track at the end), no CD-ROM content, no enclosed freebies. I dunno why I was disappointed by that, but after Avalanche, I somehow expected *something*. Oh well...

Overall, the album is a collection of short, straightforward rock and roll tracks. No big orchestral sections or choirs here. It's well recorded, and well produced, but there are very few studio tricks. It reminds me at times of a Tragically Hip album...and like a Tragically Hip album, I suspect that my appreciation of it will grow with familiarity. Right now, after two listens, I just don't feel that it's anywhere near the masterpiece that Avalanche was. That's not to say that it's not a solid piece of work.

In particular, 'Alert Status Red', 'In Love With a Bad Idea', and 'North American For Life' rock hard and fast, with some really sweet guitar work, and nice larger-than-life drum recording. The highlights for me though, are the slower songs. 'Blue Skies Over Bad Lands' has some great ambience to it, and the best lyrics of anything on the album:

What if you could make it so that times weren’t tough?
So every morning when the world woke up
There’d only be weather on the news
[...]
What do you say to your enemies
When you don’t know what it is that could have been
between you?

I also like 'It's Been a While Since I Was Your Man', just because of the harmony on the vocals in the chorus, and the guitar solo work that sounds a lot like 'Love is Blindness' from U2.

I'm not sure about the rest of the album. A couple of tracks depend on whether or not I can get used to pedal steel, which feels too much like country music to me. Otherwise, I think 'Empty Road' has huge hit potential, if people can get past that. That song, and 'Buffalo Seven' have truly amazing bass-guitar work on them.

It's hard to say at this point. I have a feeling this album is really going to grow on me, and everything I've said here about which songs I like best will probably change.

Enjoy!
umdesch4

A new feature. You can actually leave comments now! Thanks to the fine people at Haloscan who provide the comment tracking system for free. It was dirt-simple to set up too! Now you can actually tell me just how crappy and useless my blog really is. ;)

umdesch4

Why is it that the good trailers only come out in Japan? Here's the third time in 3 weeks that they get the scoop:

I, Robot Full Japanese Trailer (Quicktime)

umdesch4

You can take this as proof that a)payola is back, b)record labels are criminals, c)the FCC has no balls, d)radio is dead:

New Method of Payola

Don't tell me you're surprised...

umdesch4

Forget it. They don't exist. But you watch. Whereas a Google search as of today turns up absolutely nothing on the first 35 pages of results, you're bound to hear the term again soon, and it's likely to be a monster in the media that likes to scare guillible parents.

Remember you heard it here first.

...and nope, I'm not going to tell you what they're about. Ask me if you really wanna know, and I might tell you, but it's unlikely.

umdesch4

The new Matthew Good CD "White Light Rock & Roll Review" will be arriving this Tuesday! Less than a week away! Just making sure you all know. If you want to see and/or hear some of it, check this out:

matthewgood.org

Enjoy!
umdesch4

I just noticed this:
Audioblogger

...but then I figured "Hey, I can do that myself!"

Yes, it's finally been released!

Northern Dragons Pilgrimage 2004 Party Invitation

Note: You probably want to change the resolution to 1024x768, and the textures to 32-bit before running it.

Enjoy!
umdesch4