rob.nester

So, I recently got an iPhone and have enabled two new plugins for Wordpress that allow for better viewing and administration via the iPhone. Hopefully this will be the enticement that I need to post more. As of right now there is no way to upload photos directly from the iPhone so the posts from the iPhone will be very text-y I suppose.
I think that pretty much sums up new stuff for right now. Oh, and I got a job.

So, I don't really have cable television at the moment. Even when I did have cable, I never had the IFC Channel, so I missed what I consider to be one of the most important documentaries about American media in a number of years.

Let me start by saying that I like movies. In my younger days I worked at a video store. I loved the job; don't get me wrong, I hated it on certain levels too. By and large, I loved the exposure to movies. With the luxury of unlimited rentals I do have to say I indulged. I had seen a lot of movies however, long before working in a video store. My parents and I had ran through the majority of stock at almost all of the local independent video stores in our town by the time I was a senior in high school. With all this movie watching, I never thought about a very vital facet of movie production: the rating.

This Film Not Yet Rated, directed by Kirby Dick explores both the lack of transparency on the part of the MPAA in the assigning of movie ratings and for the lopsided nature in their views of sex, especially between heterosexual and homosexual or male versus female pleasure, and their views on violence.

I was completely unaware that the members of the ratings board for the MPAA were kept anonymous. The logic put forward for this by folks such as Jack Valenti and Joan Graves is that they must keep these decision makers free from pressure. I wonder if they think that the Supreme Court, members of Congressional Oversight Committees and other folks who have far more weighty decisions should be shrouded in anonymity? If so, it really makes me wonder about this world.

Oh, and if you should happen to rent this film, you can't really return it without watching the deleted scenes. They are great; Kevin Smith's discussion of Clerks receiving an NC-17 rating is funny. One of the most important deleted scenes however, is when Kirby Dick discovers that the MPAA has pirated his film

After talking with Joan Graves, who assures him that no one at the MPAA has a copy of the film, Mr. Dick receives a follow up phone call three days letter from Greg Goeckner, MPAA Lawyer, who states that he did in fact make a copy.

So, if I understand this correctly, the MPAA via it's lawyer, made an unauthorized copy of a copyrighted work. According to the MPAA website, and I quote "[m]anufacturing, selling or distributing motion pictures or television programs without the consent of the copyright owner is illegal".

Wonder when they'll send themselves a court order?

• I can navigate public transit. This is vital considering my van has been put out to pasture, or "it's gone to live with a nice family who has a farm" as I am fond to say. Also, I wouldn't want to have to drive with the folks up here. Is it just me or does it seem to follow that in a Train Vs. Car battle the train always wins? If so, why do Boston drivers attempt to cut off the T on a near daily basis.
• You can talk to someone on said means of public transit without coming off as creepy. Thank god, seeing as I'm too outgoing to be a wallflower. Today I met a screen writer on the way back to Clevland Circle who told me she started out writing a sad script only to discover that the characters kept cracking jokes. I thought it sounded wonderful.
• Guitar Center is now known as "Happy Funtime Land" in my book. Is it bad that I spent two hours in there yesterday?
• On any given day there is something to do here which is either: a) free, or b) very cheap. I took the C line to Copley Plaza, came up from the station and more or less walked into a concert on the square sponsored by 92.9 WBOS.
• Free newspapers (The Phoenix, The Dig) are often more interesting than the ones you buy (Boston Globe, Boston Herald)
• Baratunde Thurston is one of the more humorous writers I've read in a long while. Go read his stuff at his website or on Huffington Post
• You see signs you'd rarely, if ever, see in the South. Ones such as the one pictured here would rarely elicit more than a smattering of honks. This one, a block from Copley Plaza cause a near cacophony of horns as afternoon traffic whizzed by.

So, recently I've noticed something - I'm starting to feel very alone.

I don't know if it's a by-product of my own self doubt and paranoia or if I've done something which makes me less desirable to be around, or maybe it's just the fact that my small group of friends are finding their own lives becoming more hectic.

For example, my best friend, the guy I think of as a brother to me rarely calls me. I'm usually the one who has to make the call. I try to understand that he works a lot, and he is married, but I can't help thinking sometimes that if I didn't make the call, he wouldn't. That idea concerns me.

That seems to be a common trend recently. I feel like, with the exception of about three people outside of my immediate family (i.e., mom & dad), the only time I really talk to people are when I call them. I wonder sometimes - if I didn't pick up the phone, would anyone call?

Maybe this is all just the result of me thinking about leaving town so much lately. Maybe I'm projecting my desire to be gone and it's making folks think I am already or something along those lines. All I know is that I miss feeling the way I used to feel; like I had folks who wanted to hang out with me...

So, Wednesday at the usual dinner spot = cool
new running shoes  = cool
doing two and a half miles tonight = cool
not dying = awesome.

So, I'm incredibly excited by the fact that I'm shaving time off of my two mile time. I'm hoping to get to the point where I can actually run a whole mile at about four and a half to five miles per hour. I think that's going to be my goal for the end of March.

Ok, I really want to write more, but it's going to have to wait till tomorrow.

So, yesterday was productive:

• Gym - Two and a half miles yesterday, didn't die, this is good.
• Laundry - A little tip from your old pal Rob - don't wait almost three weeks to do the majority of your laundry.

Watched the Superbowl last night, along with approximately 90 million other viewers. It looked like Chicago was off to a raucous start, but kind of fizzled out towards the end. (And yes, that concludes my annual discussion of sports for 2007)

I hope that this mindset of wanting to go to the gym daily to walk or workout continues, I like it. One thing I'm going to have to get used to is going to sleep earlier; I can tell I'm not going to be able to stay up as late.

I do like the fact that I feel happier. I mean, it's Monday and I don't even mind...

I haven't written much as of late, partially due to travelling for my grandmother's funeral and partially because I've been busy trying to do some of those resolutions I had written about. I've been reading more, and working on crocheting some hats.

I also joined a gym. I'm glad that for the past two days, despite feeling under the weather, I've still made myself go and walk two miles as well as lift. I came to the conclusion that I had to start doing something to lose some weight. As an aside, why is it that older folks love to point out when you've gained weight?

But I digress. I have updated the site to Wordpress 2.1 and updated the necessary components so that it all works.

On a tangent for a moment, I found out that Wordpress has a multi-user distribution which provides for setting up numerous blogs under one domain. I'm glad to see this development because it make me remember one of the things I've wanted to do for a long time - make a social art/music/writing site. (Yes, I'm sure it's been done ad nauseum, but hey...)