« January 2008 | Main | March 2008 »
Totally Uninspired.
February 27, 2008I'll be honest, I just haven't felt like writing anything at all lately.
Ever since the publisher came over to my work area and grilled me about my participation in a forum website based on the online comment section of the TRN, I just haven't felt like contributing to the blog space on here.
So... maybe one of these days this week I'll think of something.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Free College at Stanford.....wow.
February 20, 2008I found this juicy nugget of news online today...
Stanford Univ. will eliminate tuition for families making less than $100,000.
That's some kinda deal....
I think. It doesn't say if you have to still pay room/board (which still runs about $11,000). I'll have to dig around some more for this one.
PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) -- Attending Stanford University next year will be a lot more affordable for some undergraduate students.
The university said Wednesday it plans to eliminate tuition for students with annual family incomes totaling less than $100,000. It also will pay most room and board for students with families making less than $60,000.
Financial aid director Karen Cooper says the move comes as middle-income parents express concern about paying for a Stanford education.
Stanford tuition is expected to rise to $36,000 in the fall. Room and board will cost about $11,000. About a third of the university's 6,700 undergraduates are expected to qualify for the tuition break.
Well... it didn't take long to find a better story....
Families earning less than $100,000 a year will no longer have to pay tuition for their sons and daughters attending Stanford, university officials announced today.
In addition, families earning less than $60,000 a year will no longer have to contribute to tuition, the costs of room and board or other expenses.
The new program also eliminates the need for student loans.
Current combined tuition and room and board for undergraduates is $45,606 a year, with the tuition being $34,800.
"We are committed to ensuring that Stanford ask parents and students to contribute only what they can afford for an education we believe is one of the best in the world," Stanford President John Hennessy said.
"By devoting more resources to financial aid, we seek to underscore what has long been the case -- that no high school senior should rule out applying to Stanford because of cost. We understand how families face serious financial pressures, and we are doing all we can to assist them."
Stanford will allocate $114 million to its financial aid program for the 2008-09 academic year. To help pay for the tuition assistance, the university is increasing its payout from its endowment to 5.5 percent. Stanford also plans to double the fund-raising goal of its current The Stanford Challenge campaign to $200 million.
Three of every four Stanford undergraduates now receive some sort of financial aid from the university.
There was no immediate estimate from Stanford officials of how many students will be affected by the changes in the tuition program. Stanford is one of the few private universities with a "needs-blind" admission policy, accepting students regardless of their ability to afford tuition.
"Although Stanford's tuition has gone up over the last five years, thanks to our increasingly generous financial aid program, families with incomes of less than $150,000 will find a Stanford education much more affordable than it was five years ago," Stanford Provost John Etchemendy said.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Lunar Eclipse Time
February 19, 2008Yeah, I'll admit it. I'm a bit of an astronomy nerd.
I have always been interested in that kind of stuff... and in case you haven't heard, there is a Lunar Eclipse Wednesday night.
Good thing about this one... it's going to be at a time where you can get your kids out and watch it happen. Now, it'll be a little later than some folks bed time for their children, but I suppose you could make an exception for this one.
I mean, it'll be the last Lunar Eclipse that we'll see until Dec. 2010. May as well enjoy it.
Here's a chart showing you the times to be outside looking. They are all on central time so you don't have to figure it up in your head.
I'd like to try my hand at photographing it... but I'm really just not sure of what all I'll need for that. I think I might just sit back and enjoy it.
Here is a website full of good information and animations about the eclipse.
Here is one of my daily reads. Spaceweather.com usually has a wonderful forecast for night sky events like meteor showers and whatnot.
That is... as long as it's a clear night, which we're never completely assured of. Booooo clouds. Yay moon.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 01:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
How'd he do that?
February 18, 2008I'm sure many of you may have seen the Sunday Sports front page portrait of Andrew Swinhoe and wondered that very question.
How did that happen?
Well, I'm here to tell you.
That is the very front page in question. And a wonderful feature of the Archer City kid who was in a life-threatening accident 10 months ago. He's returned for the Wildcats in what would surely be a comeback player of the year situation in any league.
To help with the amazing story, I wanted an equally amazing photograph... so my adventure to find something really awesome started.
Okay... story first.
Swinhoe pitched the first inning for the Wildcats... and struck out the side. Then batted in the bottom of the first and picked up an RBI with a ground out to shortstop. But he drug his toe on the rehabbed leg and couldn't even make it to first. He pulled himself from the game, but still got a standing ovation.
Now the technical data... So, I knew that I'd want the lights nice and even. I had seen a similar technique used on the Strobist blog a few weeks ago, but didn't think that it really matched the atmosphere for that shot.
So... using my trusty monopod, superclamps, ballheads and flash plates, I rigged them up to be fired with the PWs...
The rig works, it was pretty heavy, but not too bad. Heck I'm used to carrying around huge camera lenses, so this was nothing. Then it was a matter of finding out what flash angle/power I should use to get a nice starburst effect... turns out 1/16th power with the flash head at 24mm worked perfectly (except for the green goblins)
The plan was to use a silver umbrella to light up Andrew from the side front... and then with the long shutter speed... walk behind him firing the strobe stick at intervals.
The umbrella test was perfect at f10 with the flash as full manual power about 4-5 ft. fired with a PW on Ch.1... the strobe stick was fired on Ch.2 with the transmitter in my hand as I walked behind him.
So... knowing that I had everything set the way I wanted... and knowing that the flashes in the background would do what I wanted them to do... I went to work.
Final result.... 17mm, ISO 200, f16 at 10 seconds.... and a cool looking shot.
Perfect?... of course not but pretty freaking cool if you ask me.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Jack Bauer....NOOOOOO.
February 15, 2008Well... it's official I guess.
Monday nights officially suck now.
Fox's "24" has been canceled for this year and will resume next January.
I need a Kleenex.
Here's the official word....
NEW YORK (AP) -- One fallout of the Hollywood writers strike is that fans of Fox's drama "24" have to wait until next January to see Jack Bauer again.The network has committed to air a full season on consecutive weeks and had been planning to start last month. If it had started airing new episodes soon, the season finale would not have taken place until the summer, when TV networks rarely show their high-profile programs.
Even though eight episodes for this season had already been filmed before the beginning of the writers strike, producers would have had to ramp up production soon to complete the season.
So "24" represents this television season's most prominent casualty due to the writers strike.
A January 2009 start seemed the best way to comply with viewers' wishes that a season's episodes run without interruption to conclusion, Fox said on Thursday
Really, the only reason that they're going to wait is because they want to run continuous episodes with the season ending during the May sweeps. It's a ratings ploy.
I'm sad... 'course, I guess I could watch any of the first five seasons on DVD... I don't have the 6th season yet (hint hint....birthday present).
Oh well, I guess I can't use that as an excuse to get out of watching American Idol with my girlfriend now. :-)
Posted by Jason Palmer at 08:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Never thought I'd say this...
February 13, 2008But God Bless Devean George.
In case you have no idea what I'm talking about... the long-time Laker nixed a potential trade between the Dallas Mavericks and the New Jersey Nets that he was included in.
The headliners of the trade were former Mav and current old guy Jason Kidd for young Devon Harris and Jerry Stackhouse (both injured at the moment, but major major contributors to the depth of the Mavs).
I'd hate to bore you with details, so you can read all about in on ESPN or the Star-Telegram (Fort Worth) website. But I'm happy, and I'm sure Mavs fans everywhere else are happy too.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 09:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Writers strike over.... Thank God.
Well, it looks like the Writers Guild of America said its members voted Tuesday to end their three-month strike that brought the entertainment industry to a standstill so to speak.
Actually, the entertainment industry has been cranking out all kinds of television shows... but most of them have been the dregs of society that I call "reality television."
Friends... I can't possibly explain to you how much I hate reality shows... but I'll try.
Actually... not all reality shows are bad. I honestly do enjoy a couple of them. Mainly, it's the reality game shows and 90% of the rest of them that make me want to punch somebody in the face.
Among the "reality" shows that I actually do enjoy:
VH1's Celebrity Rehab - Dr. Drew Pinsky has a great show going here. Sure it's a bunch of b-list celebs. on drug rehab, but it really is a captivating show to watch. Seeing these icons of television and screen talk about some of the torture they've gone through with drugs is a real eye-opener. VH1 gets major major props for this show....
Sadly, the other attempts at reality television like Flava of Love 3 (upcoming) and Rock of Love 2... and Scott Baio is 46 and Pregnant are meaningless dribble. If it weren't so obvious that the writers were on strike and they had a band of monkeys in there writing those shows, I'd have to swear off the entire network.
Travel Channel's No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain - Basically.. this guy takes tours of places (i.e. Greece, New Orleans, Peru, etc.) looking for good food. He doesn't always find it... but eats it anyways and provides his hilarious commentary throughout. I mean, I guess it straddles the line as far as true reality television goes, but it works for me.
Also... I love any of those wild cop video shows. The new network Tru TV has a great slogan. "It's not reality... it's actuality."
Other than that.. I'm pretty much out. Don't care for American Idol, don't care for any of the game shows on right now.
I can't tell you how much that lie detector test show makes me want to turn the channel and not go back.
But for me... the biggest casualty thus far has been "24" on Fox. It's my fave. show on television, except it's not on right now. They finished filming eight episodes (like some of their competition like ABC's Lost) but decided not to start airing them fearing a prolonged strike that would cause an interruption in their series. For the last several years, 24 has prided themselves on a continuous January to May run every Monday and not skipping any weeks.
So, instead of showing them and giving me something worth watching on Mondays... Hopefully now.. Jack Bauer can return to killing bad guys in even more inventive ways soon.
With any luck, they'll start airing "24" immediately and start production on new episodes will soon begin.
Until then... I can catch up on Lost.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 07:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
RIP Roy Scheider
February 12, 2008In case you missed the news yesterday...
Roy Scheider, best known for playing the police chief in the Jaws movies, died Monday at the age of 75.
Jaws was one of those movies that really paved the road for the "blockbusters" genre. I will never ever forget how scared I was to even look at a lake or swimming pool after seeing that one for the first time.
Granted, I wasn't even born when the film came out so I can't tell you about the experience of seeing in the theatres with a full crowd all screaming at the same time....
But I'll bet it was freaking intense. Movies like that are meant to be seen on the big screen. Movies like that aren't meant to be chopped up into 10 minute segments with 2 minute commercial breaks.
His portrayal of the scared sheriff really helped drive the haunting past of seeing a shark as a child home.
In case you haaaaaaaaaven't seen Jaws... here is one of the funniest bits on the internet then. A 30-second remake of the movie, with animated bunnies.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Bad Blogger I know...
I literally just didn't feel inspired to write anything last week. I had no ideas for blogs, nothing in the news I felt like commenting about.
I basically just didn't care.
That's changed a bit this week already....
Posted by Jason Palmer at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Why you should see "No Country for Old Men"
February 04, 2008I'll admit, I didn't watch the Super Bowl.
Actually, I watched about the last 2 minutes of the first half and the halftime show at a restaurant in Grapevine, but the audio wasn't up so I couldn't hear Tom Petty.
That's probably a good thing... I'm pretty sure that Tom Petty died in 1995. And my girlfriend they glued a beard to his mummified face.
Instead... her and I jetted down to the metroplex for an afternoon of goofing around town and eventually went to a theater and watched "No Country for Old Men" by Joel and Ethan Coen.
Now... I want to tell everyone right off the bat that this movie isn't for everyone. This is a film for people who enjoy a discerning film experience.
But I am a big Coen brothers fan. Some of their other movies include some of my fave. movies of all time.
Raising Arizona
O Brother where art though
Fargo
...among others.
I have to say though... I think this is their greatest film. Everything about it is really really awesome, although it stays within the boundaries of their normal themes in film-making.
Everybody who wants to see a great film should go see this one. What's funny is, I wonder how many of the 15-20 other people in the theater last night really GOT it. The ending is relatively... classic Coen brothers, which is quick and nearly confusing.
It certainly leaves you wondering... was that it? Of course, any veteran of the Coen brothers knows that is pretty much their mode of operation.
But the stats speak for themselves. I found out firsthand why this film is up for so many Oscars this year. There's a good chance that this is going to win multiple awards.
It's up for:
Best Achievement in Cinematography
Best Achievement in Directing
Best Achievement in Editing
Best Achievement in Sound
Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Best Motion Picture of the Year
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
I'm pretty sure that it's going to win at least one of the major awards. Probably best directing. Most likely best supporting actor.
Javier Bardem's portrayal of the scary Anton Chigurh (who's body count in the movie is pretty high) was about the creepiest thing I've seen in a long time.
I'm not saying... I'm just saying... that may be the best character ever from the Coen brothers. And that's saying something.
Do yourself a freaking service and go watch this film. Then go watch "There will be blood." That's next on my list since it's probably the only real competition to "No Country".
Posted by Jason Palmer at 07:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
