Okay, so iTunes is really starting to get on my nerves.

It was already on my nerves because it seems to be incredibly slow. Even on my new spiffy mega-mondo desktop it feels bloated–it's got that bad-comedian-in-a-fat-suit slowness going on. I was all excited at the prospect of a 64-bit iTunes…but after running it for a while I wondered why it had gotten slow again. Then I discovered that the installer was the only 64-bit part. The regular iTunes was still 32. Now I'm not a technical guy (not anymore–I don't count myself in that particular club) but why in the hell would you want the installer to be 64-bit? The only reason I can come up with is that the 32-bit version wasn't playing nice with a 64-bit OS.

Anyway, so that was annoying.

Now I found today I had somehow turned on a feechur I'd never witnessed before nor desired: that of "album ratings." I have MP3s that I've pulled in from God knows where–a lot of old-time radio files, audiobooks and other things. As a result, I am missing a lot of artist and album titles (which I use this previously mentioned method to go through on the run).

[[ Continued ]]

Hi. And welcome back.

So here's the shot: you might have noticed that the website went into a bit of hibernation there. And the reason was simple: I had no idea what to put on here. In an effort to boost content on Needcoffee and boost the audience for that content, most of my stuff has gone there.

However, in recent weeks it's become clear that not everything fits over there, even as free form and chaotic as Needcoffee is. Sure, I can rant and rave over there as long as it's aligned with the core mission of Needcoffee, which is to entertain.

One thing that's not very entertaining, though–or at least hard to make entertaining–is looking for work. And talking about the things that I work on. So while it's fine to talk about, for example, Twitter and how it's amazing in the context of something like Bad Movie Club, it's another thing to talk about Twitter and why you need it for your business. I mean, a lot of people will tell you their reasoning for that, but a lot of it's rehashed and isn't thought about from the standpoint of normal people.

Let's face it: I run websites and can think in HTML and PHP code and, if you gave me the chance, could crank out content all day long. That's not normal.

Normal people don't want to have to think about this crap, nor should they. Normal people have lives. They are busy running businesses in the real world. They, you know, sleep.

This blog is now going to be about all the stuff that I should be getting paid for. All the stuff that I had to learn in order to publish and run a website and even a server. And the stuff I've learned working for somebody else.

So if you have a question–and I do get them from time to time–e-mail me at widgett at one tusk dot com. Or send me a message via Twitter @widgett. And let's see what happens.

I want to take him on tour with me.

Sitting at the gate awaiting my flight. On the airport wireless because…well, I'm me. And over the PA I hear (paraphrased) "Folks, I know there's a lot of people in the gate area waiting for standby seats. And I want to let you know that the chances are slim to none that that's gonna happen. The Pope was in town this weekend and everybody came in to see him and now they're trying to get home again. Your own hope is that there are people who checked in at home on their computers and we don't know if they're actually here at the airport or not. So as Jesse Jackson says, 'Keep hope alive!'"

As a P.S. to the coda, there was a booth at Comic-Con that was selling Exorcism Kits. "The Pope needs your help!" Priceless.

Cleaning out file folders from the old desk. Found these.

Yes, cassette labels created for my old band, The Frame.

Copyright 1992, 1994. Life was so much…something then.

Um…a dude named Gorbichov gave me a thumbs down because I'm NOT Kevin Smith? WTF is that about? Did I portray myself as Kevin Smith and he was disappointed that I lied to him? No! Or is it just he's on a mission to thumbs down everyone who ISN'T Kevin Smith? Pretty rude, man. Pret-ty rude.

You're not the only disappointed that I'm not Kevin Smith. I'm pretty disappointed about it myself.

I'm on StumbleUpon here, BTW. Friend me if you're on it.

So I started responding to a post over at Sore Eyes regarding George Clooney as the Last Movie Star and then I realized it would be rude to leave a small essay as a comment, so here goes. Go read that first.

I agree that Mr. Smith has been in some eminently forgettable films. I AM LEGEND and I ROBOT spring to mind. And I think that among his action flicks, ID4 will probably be remembered as fondly as any other Irwin Allen film or perhaps as the 90s version of something like DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. But, in Smith's defense, while he knows that the cash comes from his stint as Action Guy, he does still strive for things like ALI and PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS. He did work for Redford in BAGGER VANCE and although Schepisi might have a warm spot in only my heart for ROXANNE, Smith was in his version of SIX DEGREES.

But Clooney's box office has come from mainly the OCEAN's series (which was driven by star power) and *cough* BATMAN. So yeah, my question would be what kind of deal does Clooney have so that he can be in a string of films that don't have huge box office gains and yet still basically pick and choose whatever he wants. Maybe he makes that much money off of ER reruns? I have no idea. I wanted to say it's because the small films he's in still turn a profit because they *are* small, and maybe that's the case. SOLARIS underperformed given its budget. But SYRIANA almost doubled its production budget in worldwide box office, THREE KINGS made a profit worldwide, PEACEMAKER doubled its budget worldwide, and the rest…well, Box Office Mojo doesn't have budgets listed for them and I'm too lazy to go hunt them up right now. And I'm sure Clooney is who sold the tickets to those.

Clooney does have star power. And I think he's an excellent actor. Even though I'm one of the five people on Earth who didn't enjoy O BROTHER, it's still the film in which (among his that I've seen anyway) he does the most acting and isn't playing his usual Clooney on-screen persona.

I'm not quite sure if I even made a point in here. And I don't feel like formatting this properly. Just had to put this somewhere. And oh, that's what this is for, isn't it?