Mulder: Modell put the whammy on him.

Scully: Please explain to me the scientific nature of the whammy.

Excellent Animation. Reminds me a lot of Todd McFarlane's work on Pearl Jam's Do the Evolution and Korn's Freak on a Leash videos

Linkin Park - Breaking The Habit Video

This is a very interesting question my Dad and I have debated a lot.

My Dad has always told me, that salesmen, and more importantly, upper management, doesn't need to have any deep or extensive understanding of their products. He has told me you can abstract the specifics of the product out of the equations, and there are standard ways you run the business (ie ways to promotion, ways to make deals, methods streamlining production, ratios of research dollars vs spending dollar, etc), that work regardless of the product, or at least should serve as a very important guideline.

Personally, this is something I completely disagree with, but I've been searched in vain to explain to Dad why. Best I could do is point out that Bill Gates has extensive knowledge of not only the market he was in, but also its advances. Bill Gates has made more money than any other CEO. Thus, I concluded to Dad, this was an example of my idea being correct.

However this example doesn't really help me put into words *why* I felt my theory was correct. Instead, all Dad see's is a 23 year old guy in a T-shirt telling him things counter to 30+ years of experience has taught him.

I feel this interview of David Crosby, which my Dad can relate to, does an excellent job showing how upper management not have better knowledge of their product can run a business into the ground.

] =It actually happened that way?
]
] Yes. The people who run record companies now wouldn't
] know a song if it flew up their nose and died. They
] haven't a clue, and they don't care. You tell them that,
] and they go, "Yeah? So, your point is?" Because they
] don't give a s---. They don't care. They're actually sort
] of proud that they don't care.
]
] Look at it this way. A couple of years ago, somewhere
] between a fourth and a third of the record business was
] owned by a whiskey company, who shall remain nameless,
] but were notably inept at running a record company. And
] they sold it to a French water company, who shall also
] remain nameless, but knew even less. Now, those guys
] haven't a clue! [laughter] They haven't a clue. And they
] don't care about having a clue. They are trying to run it
] as if they're selling widgets, plastic-wrapped widgets
] that they can sell more of. And they want easily
] definable, easily accessible, easily creatable,
] controllable product that has a built-in die-out, so that
] they can create some more.
]
] By that, I mean, "Get me a lead singer. He's got sort of
] an androgynous blonde hair, very pretty. We need a guitar
] player, sort of hatchet-faced, wears a hat, plays very
] fast, very dramatic. He must be very dramatic. Get me a
] pound of bass player, pound of drummer. I don't think he
] needs keyboards; I think we look good. And we'll call
] them the Bosco Bombers! No. The Bad Dogs... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ]

Do salesmen/Upper management need to better understand their products?

] doing the things they were doing? There were lame attempts to
] explain why Achilles and Odyseus were there fighting in this
] war against Troy for a king they disliked, but they didn't add
] up. Just WHY Helen defected to Troy, but they were
] superficial and unbelievable.

So how close to the myth is the movie? As someone who took Latin for 4 years, I like it when movies try to stay true to the roots.

Do they talk about the golden apple of discord? How much about Paris and his choice to give the golden apple and thus causing the war? Do they talk about how and why the gods took sides? Any sign of Aeneas and his flight from Troy? Does Hector do anything other than be a bad ass? You son didn't know why King Priam ordered the brought the horse in; did they not show the Laocoon eaten by sea snakes for saying to refuse the horse?

The History of the Trojan war is quite cool.
http://www.kultur.gov.tr/portal/arkeoloji_en.asp?belgeno=814

RE: Review - Troy

Janelane won 2 awards this year at Dramatech's annual awards banquet Saturday night!

She won Best Actress for her portrayal of the title role in Lysistrata is fall, as well as Best Actress in a One Act for given birth every night for 2 weeks playing Mary Wollstonecraft in a 1-Act play.

She was also awarded a $1000 scholarship for all her time and energy with the theatre this year.

Way to go!

http://www.dramatech.org - Our Season Next Year

Summer 04 : The Importance of Being Earnest - by Oscar Wilde

Fall 04 : Picasso at the Lapin Agile - by Steve Martin (yes, him)
: Improv / Variety Tech Show
: Group of 3 1-Acts

Spring 05 : To Be Annouced (2 week run)
Cabaret

If anyone likes Bad Religion, they should listen to American Lesion, a solo project released in 97 by Bad Religion Lead Singer/ Song writer Greg Graffin. These songs are quite emotional, and Greg's sorrow and pain drip out the speakers. This is from the song Maybe She Will about Greg's hopes of his ex-wife returning.

] Laws of gravity fight uncertainty
] But I sit here without a clue
] Life had separate meaning and I was only dreaming
] Someone else came to her rescue
] Now she's gone and I am too, but
] Maybe she will
] Want to have me near enough to feel unparted
] Maybe she will
] Ask me for some help to get her new place started
] Maybe she will
] See me around and want to take a mid-day walk
] Maybe just feel lonely and will want to talk
] With me
] In cold and darkest weather, the times we had together
] Come to me and I smile to sleep
] Then clouds dissipate and I soon re-awake
] To such a living tragedy
] I'm resolved to pondering
] Maybe she will
] Call me up to see if I am doing alright
] Maybe she will
] Remember the times when I would hold her so tight
] Maybe she will
] Think about the letters that I used to send
] Someday change her mind and want to find me again
] They all say I'm wasting my whole life away
] But I don't care because I have this candle from our
] courting days
] And it's almost gone
] But dim hope flickers anyway
] Maybe she will
] Look at those old pictures and get teary-eyed
] Maybe she will
] Feel my lonely heartbeat and hear me cry
] Maybe she will
] Help me shovel out of this misery
] One day say she's sorry for giving up on me
] Maybe she will

Bad Religion / American Lesion Maybe She Will

... is a damn fine song!

When the wind turns And blows the leaves from the trees...

I am completely shocked by how incredible this film is.

Unlike most films, this movie doesn't have a resolution of conflict. It is 100+ minute snapshot of how 4 people are consumed by their flaws, and are utterly destroyed by them.

While feeling very sad, I also felt very uplifted by the film. Not in a "at least I'm not ..." kind of way. It is almost as if being able to spot the troubles and warning signs as 4 people self destruct, I can somehow prevent myself from falling prey to my own flaws. The film teaches several lessons, but the on I took from it was this: We can be so blindly focused on our dreams, we overlook whats preventing them from ever happening, and whats slowly killing our relationships and even our very bodies. It can prove difficult to pull up sometimes, and take a breather. Its a skill everyone needs, but very few people can do it.

I have much to learn.

Requiem for a Dream

Jeremy wrote:
] For the last three years, bad news about the music industry
] has been as steady as a synthesized drumbeat. But a turnaround
] that began quietly last fall has become unmistakable with the
] success of Norah Jones's new album, "Feels Like Home."
]
] Recording executives realize that it will take more than a
] Norah Jones album to bring stability back to the industry.
] That is why, in the months ahead, executives will be closely
] watching the public's reaction to albums from Janet Jackson,

[snarfs coke] If I had to choose between being exposed to her music or exposed to her chest, I'd try to stop breathing and die.

] Avril Lavigne

OH! SK80R GRRL J00 SO 31337!!!!!!111 OMG ROTFLMAO !!!!!11

] and the Beastie Boys

... [weeps silently over how far they've slipped]

CD Sales Rise, but Industry Is Still Wary