Monday, March 05, 2007

Food/Films/ eh...

Saw Pan's Laberynth(sp) recently.
Good.

Eight year old was in the audience.
I think his father was a bit surprised by the
film.

Not for the squeamish.

4 of 5 stars overall.

**** story
**** camera
**** acting
*** effects
*** music

----------

Babette's Feast.

4 of 5 stars.

**** story
**** camera
****+1/2 food visuals
**** music


Not fast. Clean story. Straight forward.

Forgot how wonderful it was.

Films that make me want to cook:

Tampopo
Babette's Feast
Eat Drink Man Woman

*sigh*

Good night.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

I like wood.

(written 21/09/2006)

Ok, same night as when I finished my last ramble. Too many things to consider, so
I have to limit myself.


Wood.

I love the stuff, but hate the fact that it's so scarce. I guess I have to accept that it's not my grandpa's world.

Anyway, my wife and I are learning a lot about working with wood. We've been putting finish onto some old cheap bookcases and turning them into wonderful things. Used a dark stain with polyurethane (sp?) finish on top to shine it up (and protect it from little cats' feet).

I am also very interested in learning how to build things with wood. Starting small, as my wife reminded me, is a very good idea. I have the habit of getting ambitious and obsessive with my ideas and I tend to lose patience when incapable of executing them. Small (simple) is better. I need to practice dealing with materials for a bit longer and work with simple joining techniques.

First off, X = 23" Y = 18" Z = 23" end table. no legs, just three boards joined together with finishing nails and looking pretty with mitred joints. just three peices.. or one peice of pine 1x18 by @6 feet

whatever I can get ahold of..


---

Funny thing is, all the time I've spent playing Perl has effected me in thinking about wood. With my ambitious (and as yet unlikely) project ideas, modularity has been at the center of my thinking. If I want to build a secretary, I want to have the basic table entirely independent of the rest of the unit. The drawers should be manufactured entirely seperately and be installable and removable with little fuss.

This is markedly different from a drafting table my wife and I put together sometime ago. The table is a beautiful peice of furniture that really is a good tool for those times when you feel extra creative with a pencil. The problem is that it is put together in a mess of peices that interlock in a most inconvenient way. I think this wierd design actually contributes to it's lightness and reduces the materials needed to construct it, but it still sucks trying to put the bugger together. So, it's modular for me!!


goodnight.

Post over a couple of days because I just don't write

(written 13/9/2006)
I never write :(

Not entirely true, but mostly.


Some recent changes include city and state of residence, going to school for teaching certification, and pretending to own a home (sort of)

I think that taking classes has been really an eye-opener in a number of ways (i'll get to that). Not the least of which; I'm old(ish) I am not the same person that I was ten years ago; for that matter, yesterday.

----

much later now... I'm writing this in bits and pieces during the day (now late where I live)

-----

great. now it's 21st of sept. how annoying is that? i feel like i have no time, but the truth is, it's just that I'm lazy and museless. kinda fun typing for an audience of 0. :)
Or am I my own audience.


*yawn*



----

I have been having fun playing more Perl. It's a great way to be creative without having to rebuild/paint/deal with mistakes etc.. but i do miss drawing.. darnitall. oh. yes, dealing with mistakes is there, but not so painful since you can work with them and learn from them without too much suffering.

My wife is listening to music of various sorts while studying her CSS. All great fun.


Back to Perl. I've been playing with Perl SDL. (need to find links to SDL).
The following is an example of programming mediocrity. Still was fun to do.
Who cares that there are dozens of better ways to do this?




#!/usr/bin/perl
use diagnostics;
use strict;

use SDL::App;
use SDL::Rect;
use SDL::Color;
use SDL::Event;
use SDL::TTFont;

use Data::Dumper;#DEBUG
my $XSIZE = 76;
my $YSIZE = 105;

my %rule;



###rules---

# the values are modified in situ. return values are
# reserved for errorhandling



$rule{top} = sub{
my $needle = shift;
my $goal = shift;
my $top = 5; #dist from top of window.
if (($needle->{y} < ($top + 1)) and ($needle->{v} <>{v} = 0;
}

return 0; #for error handling.
};


$rule{bottom} = sub{
my $needle = shift;
my $goal = shift;

if (($needle->{y} > ($YSIZE-6)) and
($needle->{v} > 0)){
$needle->{v} = 0;
}

return 0
};


$rule{brakes} = sub{
#put on the brakes when the needle passes it's goal.

my $needle = shift;
my $goal = shift;
my $goal = $YSIZE - $goal;
if (3 > abs($needle->{y} - $goal) ){
#print "$goal ", $needle->{y},"\n";#DEBUG
$needle->{v} = ($needle->{v} / 1.1);

}

return 0
};

$rule{goal} = sub{
#move toward the level.

my $needle = shift;
my $goal = shift;


my $realgoal = $YSIZE - $goal;
if (.3 <>{y} - $realgoal) ){
if ($realgoal > $needle->{y}){
$needle->{v}+= .1
}

if ($realgoal < $needle->{y}) {
$needle->{v}-= .1
}
}
# if (.3 > abs($needle->{y} - $realgoal) ){
# $needle->{v} = $needle->{v} / 5;
#}
if ($needle->{v} > 30){$needle->{v} = 30};
if ($needle->{v} < -30){$needle->{v} = (-30)};

return 0
};

### END of rules.



my $needle;

$needle->{x}=3;
$needle->{y}=$YSIZE - 3;
$needle->{v}=0;

my $app = new SDL::App(
-title => 'Battery',
-width => $XSIZE,
-height => $YSIZE,
-depth => 32,
);

event_loop();

sub event_loop{
my $event = new SDL::Event;

MAIN:
while (1){
while ($event->poll){
my $type = $event->type();
last MAIN if ($type == SDL_QUIT);
last MAIN if ($type == SDL_KEYDOWN
&& $event->key_name() eq 'escape');

}


$app->delay(5);
draw($needle);
}
}





sub affect{
my $needle = shift;
my $rule = shift;
my $goal = shift;
$goal =~s/\%//;

for (keys(%{$rule})){
$rule->{$_}->($needle,$goal);

}

$needle->{y}+=$needle->{v};
}











#---------------------------

{ #configuration and drawing data

#shared variables for this area::


my ($c_bg,$c0,$c1);

my ($numberfont,$numberfont_b,$numbersize,@numberpos);
my ($textfont,$textsize,@textpos);
my ($errorfont,$errorsize,@errorpos);
my ($titlefont,$titlesize,@titlepos);
my ($debugfont,$debugsize,@debugpos);
my ($data1,$data2);
my ($oldneedlex,$oldneedley);
my ($rect,$oldrect);
my ($debugtext);
my (@oldlines);


sub init_display{
$debugtext = "debugging";

$data2 = 'crap';
@oldlines = ($data2,$data2,$data2,$data2);

$c_bg = SDL::Color->new(
-r => 0,
-b => 0,
-g => 0,
);

$c0 = SDL::Color->new(
-r => 0x80,
-b => 0x22,
-g => 0x22,
);

$c1 = SDL::Color->new(
-r => 0x50,
-b => 0xaa,
-g => 0xaa,
);
$oldrect = SDL::Rect->new(
-width=>25,
-height=>5,
-x =>$needle->{x},
-y =>$needle->{y},
);

$numberfont = new SDL::TTFont(
-name=>"/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType/Vera.ttf",
-size=>8,
-bg=>$c_bg,
-fg=>$c0,
);
$numberfont_b = new SDL::TTFont(
-name=>"/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType/Vera.ttf",
-size=>8,
-bg=>$c_bg,
-fg=>$c_bg,
);
@numberpos = (5,40);

$debugfont = new SDL::TTFont(
-name=>"/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType/Vera.ttf",
-size=>8,
-bg=>$c_bg,
-fg=>$c1,
);
@debugpos = (20,20);

}

sub draw{
my $needle= shift;
init_display unless (defined($c_bg));

chomp($data1 = `apm`);
my @datalines = splitapm($data1);

affect($needle,\%rule, $datalines[2]);

draw_rects();

if ($data1 ne $data2){
$numberfont_b->print($app,$numberpos[0]+35,$numberpos[1],$oldlines[0]);
$numberfont_b->print($app,$numberpos[0]+35,$numberpos[1]+10,$oldlines[2]);
$numberfont_b->print($app,$numberpos[0]+35,$numberpos[1]+20,$oldlines[3]);
}
$data2 = $data1;
@oldlines = @datalines;

$app->grab_input(SDL_GRAB_OFF);
#$debugfont->print($app,$debugpos[0],$debugpos[1],$debugtext);
$numberfont->print($app,$numberpos[0]+35,$numberpos[1],$datalines[0]);
$numberfont->print($app,$numberpos[0]+35,$numberpos[1]+10,$datalines[2]);
$numberfont->print($app,$numberpos[0]+35,$numberpos[1]+20,$datalines[3]);



$app->sync();
}

sub draw_rects {

$rect = SDL::Rect->new(
-width=>25,
-height=>3,
-x =>$needle->{x},
-y =>$needle->{y},
);





$app->fill($oldrect,$c_bg);
$app->fill($rect,$c1);
$app->update($oldrect);
$app->update($rect);

$oldrect = $rect;

}






}



sub splitapm{
my $data = shift;

$data =~ /(.*?)\,.*?(\w+?)\:\s(\d+\%).*?\((.*)\)/;

my @array = ($1,$2,$3,$4);

@array
}

Thursday, July 13, 2006

What the fsck?

Last night I tried to make a post for this weblog for the first time in a long time. I ended up getting a lesson in how to use e2fsck when the filesystem went kapluee. Well, I haven't had trouble like this since the time when I didn't know about shutdown -h now.

Thankfully, a little reading of manpages set me right and here is a post- a post about a post that was never made . *sigh*

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Cafe III

Jazz is playing in the restaurant next door. There is a two drink minimum to enjoy the show directly, but the playing is loud enough to really enjoy it here in the cafe.

Tonight there are three behind the counter. at least two are different from last night. There's a pattern here: two men and one woman mind the shop. Currently there are six patrons plus one who walked in, greeting a pair of men sitting near the brick wall next to the counter.

The establishment itself is on the South East corner of Fifth and Brown Streets; running East West and North South respectively. Its face apears to face the main drag (Fifth Street) although the entrance faces the streetcorner.

There are two small couches in the room: one set against the brick wall and one almost directly opposite taking up the width of a broad wall outcropping which supports the wireless internet tranciever and a security cameral facing the door. That camera looks surprisingly flimsy and may be a prop with a blinking light.

A couple who were sitting in the middle of the room just left. Neither was dressed for the weather. She wore a light green sweater nearly the same shade as the the walls while he wore a tan light jacket. Now situated on a barstool facing Fifth St. is a woman reading and perhaps writing. She sips at a hot drink with whipped cream on top. Her hair's a little messy; perhaps due to the cold and breazy weather. The outside tempurature is about 24 degrees farenheit.

The three characters sitting by the brick wall are all wearing dark clothes. One just asked another if he were homeless. This was partly in jest but the tone
was half serious. The discussion turns to somewhat personal matters of friends and situations. The oldest man seems to be in his late thirties or early fourties and is the one explaining himself to the others.

Time's running out for tonight, but the place seems alive anyway. With the live music next door (there is a conecting hallway between the two establishments) and more lights turned on within the store the place doesn't seem as sleepy as it did the two nights past.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Cafe II

The door's closed today as the weather is less hospitable than yesterday. The spirit of the place is far more exhuberant due to the dialogues of four people discussing sex, prostitution, and the Norman influences on English in its evolution towards its modern form.

Two said people have left and the boistrous atmosphere isn't. Now it appears that the remainding two are leaving.

The noise and mayhem of a few minutes ago are now quite gone. Most of that conversation was certainly interesting but not captured.

The entrance to the establishment is cut into the corner of the building, making the rooms seem larger at first. Facing the main drag (and to the left as you enter) is a row of bar stool arrangements split by faux stucco structural supports. The centre support and the bars themselves are skewed. The bars are elongated triagles pointing to the right with quarter-inch thick sheets of metel bifurcating them; same shape, pointing down.

A nasty laud clanging of metel and maybe ceramic just crashed in the "kitchen" just behind the counter.

Returning to the bar-stools: they are apolstered with backs; not wholely uncomfortable.

A slightly mussed waiter/busboy just popped in wearing a slightly puffy black hat, white shirt (untucked and well used), black apron, and pants. He evidently knows the establishment well and it seems to know him. It took him moments to rush in, wave hello, grab a paper, and rush out again.

While the place isn't full off people, the turnover is fairly constant and to fast to record.

It looks like one of the boistrous couples popped in agian, the woman using the restroom and the both of them leaving as quickly as the waiter had five minutes ago.

Three people in the cafe now, one hour until closing. All three are at laptop computers- one Apple, one Mocrosoft machine and one Knoppix. It's become suddenly lonely. Correction, there are two women who waked in to order some drink (food is no longer served this late unless you want pastries).

One has a pink croshet hat that covers what apears to be pulled up hair. The rest of her pallet is light blue shirt and crochet purse with dark blue jacket and jeans. Her compatriot wears no hat with lighter coloured blue jeans and what looks to be a reddish brown cordoroy jacket.

This time a man walked into the cafe, talking on his cellphone. What's interesting about him is that his right hand is shaking while holding the phone up to his ear. Perhaps the denim jacket isn't enough to keep out the cold.

There's not much time left until the store closes and the fellows behind the counter are laughing with the fellow with the shaky hands. Correction, a woman has appeared behind the counter wearing a black cap; felt with a two inch brim.

The surfaces in the cafe vary wildly from wall to wall and section to section. Brick stands to the right of the counter with moltled sand coloured tiles behind it, giving the serving area the atmosphere of a bathroom. The walls in the "back" of the store (left of the counter) of colours that look vaguely like the innerds of avacados.

In about a quarter hour, the store closes.

last night at a nice cafe (circa 9pm eastern standard time) mailed to my wife:::

there are a couple women knitting shawls and a guy reading the dayton voice on the couch across the room. there's what apears to be a couple at the window (on tall chairs) each with a laptop and the fellow nibbling on a late dinner. there are more people walking in, but the atmosphere remains cozy even though the front door is open to let in the evening air.

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Rocks make definite criticisms.

Ten past Eleven in the morning



Happy Birthday to my wife!!!!

This morning she woke up to something on the bedstand wrapped in tissue......

A new and wonderful translation of Don Quixote- by Edith Grossman! Last year at this time it was published in hardcover form. She saw it on the bookshelf and thought that it gets the peotic sense of the original well. I couldn't resist *grin*.

Yesterday, as a birthday prelude and something everyone should do anyway, we went and saw an exhibition of Petra ruins at the Cincinnati Arts Museum. The work done in that city is/was phenominal; much of it surprisingly practical.

Well, my happy better half is talking to her family; describing to them the weekend etc. She mentioned to them and reminded me of the funny idiosicracies of the critic who wrote the forward to This particular Don Quixote, Harold Bloom. Namely that he seems overly fond of the play Hamlet. Strange- but looking at the Wikipedea entry, Hamlet is barely mentioned. I'd suggest that this would mean that my wife's mistaken, but for the repitition of Hamlet references throughout the introduction to Don Quixote for comparison.

I shouldn't worry oo much, the book itself is wonderful and will finally give me the chance to read it (in spanish in the future).



I need to sleep more and stay at work less :P and sit down and think more often. The household has been full of colds lately and this has made life a bit more challenging- thank the gods for pre-prepared foods!! Canned soupe is a godsend!!!!!

*yawn* *cough*

Friday, December 31, 2004

No Audio? solo... no se

Wanting to upload? well-- will see.. *sigh* enclosures needed.