Archive for the category “Pix and Flicks”
Why Did Bill Murray Keep Going Back in Groundhog Day?
In honor of Groundhog Day, the proverbial question, why was Phil Connors trapped in a repeating loop? Purgatory, karma, bad juju? This article sheds some light…. in the end, I’m glad they leave it up to my imagination.
Why Did Bill Murray Keep Going Back in Groundhog Day?.
During all of the many times that I’ve watched Groundhog Day, I never considered the question of WHY Phil Connors was trapped in a repeating loop. In reading the article referenced above, I was glad that the decision was made not to blame the trap on a vindictive ex-girlfriend. I agree with you Tom, it’s better left up to our own imagination.
The reason I never considered why Phil was in this repeating loop, is that I always viewed his reoccurring day as a metaphor for reincarnation. As the article states, “Some Buddhists have adopted the film as a modern symbol of their religion. One keeps “coming back” until they finally evolve into a “perfect state,” at which time the endless “coming back” ceases.” The fact that it happened to him wasn’t because he was special or bad. It happened, in my opinion, to highlight the true nature of life. We all have the free will to do whatever it is we want, but in the end, being the epitome of love is our true nature and it is being this that ultimately breaks the cycle of life and death.
Hats off to Harold Ramis for taking such a metaphysical concept and turning it into a mainstream, entertaining movie.
Jack White To Appear On American Pickers
Yes, I am a Jack White fan—after watching It Might Get Loud, it was hard for me to not to be a fan. I’m also a fan of American Pickers—the banter between those guys just cracks me up. So, when I saw that Jack White is to appear on American Pickers, how could I not be excited about that? Hopefully Mike and Frank can score some interesting rock tidbits from Jack.
Be sure to catch them on Monday, Jan. 9 at 9 p.m. EST on the History Channel.
What’s next for Mobile Me?
I’ve been a long time user of Apple’s .mac and mobile me services and specifically have relied on the Mobile Me gallery to share pictures with my friends and family. I’ve also used the other features, idisk, sync and mail, on a limited basis. None of these features wow me, so I’m not upset that Apple is going to pull the plug in June and push me to their iCloud.
What is upsetting is the fact that apple has not come out with any info on what they will provide in place of the gallery. They have shared info about Photostream but this seems to be geared towards people that use their iOS devices to take pictures and doesn’t really explain how the pics will be displayed and integrated with pictures you take with non-iOS devices.
Since I’m mostly concerned with sharing photos with my family and in the course of hosting a gallery over the past 8 years, not once has a family member or friend uploaded a photo to my gallery or subscribed to my photo rss feed, I’ve set out to find a simple, inexpensive and iphoto-integrated gallery solution.
Here’s a quick run down.
Dropbox – provides a simple gallery and 2gb of storage for free (you can purchase more storage for about $120 a year). No iphoto integration here, you’ll have to export your photos into a folder and then use the dropbox upload feature to get them into your gallery.
Photoshop.com – provides 2gb for free with multiple upgrade options starting at 20gb for $50 (annually) and as far as I can tell, no iphoto integration.
Smugmug – provides unlimited uploads, gallery themes and an iphoto plugin for $40 a year. I think this one is a winner and I’m trying out the demo. Stay tuned for more analysis.
As a user of SmugMug for a few years now, I really don’t have any complaints at all about the service. What sold me originally was the Aperture upload plugin. The plugin allows me to convert my RAW pictures to JPG and upload them to a SmugMug album all at once. You can also upload your RAW photos to SmugMug using their SmugVault option (although there doesn’t appear to be a gallery option for displaying RAW images).
I also ran across ZangZing – A free, group photo sharing site. I’m not sure about the details, as it looks like you have to sign up to learn all of the ins and outs.
Movie Pick – Heartbreaker
I stumbled across the movie Heartbreaker on Netflix (available via Streaming and DVD), and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. The movie stars Romain Duris, Julie Ferrier, and François Damiens, who all earn money breaking up relationships. It’s a romantic comedy, and yes, it is in French (with English subtitles of course). It’s a good watch–let me know what you think!
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