Just stumbled onto the site for this upcoming movie, in theaters on November 10th, and I’m looking forward to it. The screenplay was written by Zach Helm and it was directed by Marc Forster. The really interesting thing about it is the screenplay, and kudos go out to Zach for a wonderfully quirky and original idea. Who’d ever think of coming up with a plot about a man whose life is literally scripted by a down-and-out writer? He hears her voice in his head as she writes his next actions, and it’s driving him cuckoo, but he can’t do anything about it. Should make for a really, really fun movie! Can’t wait for it to come out!
Consolidation lurks in the wings for web development industry
I’m struck by the amount of consolidation that’s taking place these days. Companies are gobbling up other companies in order to scale up, expand horizontally or simply eliminate competition. We in the web development industry have so far been spared this fate, simply because of the amount of incredible innovation and changes that always take place in what we do. Let’s face it, a company needs a solid product that can be sold, and so far, it’s really hard to pin down “products” in web development. Plus, the very nature of our work, which can be done anytime, anywhere, rewards individuals, especially those willing to stretch the boundaries of what’s thought possible and come out with something cleaner, something nicer, something slicker, something cooler.
But, even with all of these road bumps in the way of web development consolidation, it’ll still happen. Don’t think I’m enjoying myself as I write this. I don’t want it to happen! You know what’s going to act as the catalyst? The same thing that’s driven manufacturing companies out of the States: price. Look at some of the free products that are out there, that let you create websites with no cost at all: Google Pages, MSN Spaces, Yahoo (whatever it’s called), etc. They’re not full-featured, but they work to get people started. And they’re really easy to use, to the extent that even a “moron in a hurry” (aka the Apple courtroom test) would know how to use them. I’m not implying that most people are morons, but most people don’t need fancy sites that do lots of cool things and manipulate databases, etc.
If you don’t believe me, look at MySpace. It’s there that you’ll see the tastes of most people: that site is full of tasteless decoration, crowded, nasty-looking things that can’t even be called web pages. And that’s only the content. I’m not even talking about the MySpace-imposed page layout and horribly big, screaming ads. The whole site is gross. But, that’s the idea of a “nice” web page to most people. They don’t understand what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to web development. They don’t understand how to design a site. They have no idea about the stress and hard work that goes on when coding/designing a real site. And they shouldn’t be expected to know this. After all, that’s what web designers and developers are paid to do. But the point is, the masses don’t crave and don’t care about good design, they want the free stuff, and most don’t care if that free stuff is ugly.
As free products like the ones I mentioned get more full-featured, and more complicated systems like WordPress or Drupal get even easier to use and customize (not that WordPress isn’t easy to install and use, it is, but you still need to know how to code and design when customizing it) the needs of more and more people will be met. And as that happens, the market for web developers shrinks more and more. And here we get back to my opening comments: solidification of product offerings leads to consolidation. Once a market develops for a clear-cut product, competition will increase, the main differentiating factor will become the price, and the biggest company will be able to offer the lowest price — hence the catalyst for consolidation. Besides, who can beat FREE stuff? How do you beat that? Who can beat offshore web development, where people can live on dollars a day and can afford to develop a complicated site for a few hundred dollars? It’s really, really sad to see web designers and web developers who aren’t able to make a living in the States anymore. I can understand why it happens, but it’s still very troublesome.
What recourse is left to us, as web developers? I would hope we can find some solution that would allow us to keep our independence while also allowing us to make a living without competing purely on price with Ivan in Russia or Mihai in Romania or Jose in Argentina, because living in the States, we’d lose the price battle very quickly.
I realize the outlook as portrayed in this post is a bit depressing, but I plan to write a counter-post to this in the next few days. I do think there’s light at the end of the tunnel, and there’s hope for those of us willing and able to seize certain opportunities.
Four habits that prevent headaches
If you suffer from frequent tension headaches, like I do, the following list of habits might help you prevent them. These are things that work for me:
- We tend to frown when we’re frustrated or stressed. Become aware of it, and stop it. Relax your forehead, and keep it that way, on purpose, even when under stress.
- Stop clenching your jaws, and stop chewing gum. These are two actions that will cause tension headaches and jaw pain, not to mention jaw clenching permanently damages your teeth.
- Drink water frequently. We should get about 8-10 glasses of water per day. 6-8 glasses is also okay, but it’s better to get more if possible.
- Breathe deeply and get lots of fresh air. Our breathing is usually shallow, and we’re not really circulating the air in our lungs. Breathing deeply helps keep our brain fed with lots of oxygen and keeps the headaches away. If you can open the windows at home or at work, open them. If you can’t, because you work in an office building where that’s not possible, make sure you keep your office door open, and keep your A/C on to circulate the air. Or bring a desk fan and keep it on, to help move the air a little bit. Go outside and take short walks during the day. Make sure to breathe deeply. In your car, don’t keep the A/C on recirculate, let it pull the fresh air from outside. Or open the window or sunroof slightly, to let in the fresh air.
I’ve found that if I do these things, I have tension headaches much less frequently, and I don’t need to load up on Ibuprofen or other headache medication, which is always a good thing.
ChiliBox, the do-it-all machine
I’m pretty impressed with the specs for the ChiliBox. This little machine really seems to do it all, right out of the box, and for a very reasonable price. Given the proliferation of NAS devices these days, you wonder how much functionality you get out of them, and for some, it’s not much. Well, the ChiliBox could be the network server for a small business, eliminating the need for other servers or separate hardware. Have a look at its capabilities below, or check out the full spec sheet:
- Firewall
- NAS File Share (works with Windows, Mac and Linux)
- VPN
- Web Proxy Server
- Remote Administration
- Dynamic DNS
- Wireless Access Point
- NAT/PAT and Advanced Routing
- Backup
- Anti-virus
Do you really need more to run your network? Unless you’re a medium to big company, you don’t. Just plug this in, and you’ve got more than you need to run everything at home or at work. If you need extra storage, just plug in another USB drive. How easy is that!
When I first saw it a few months ago, I said to myself, I’d love to have a small office and have a need to run this thing. Right now, I’ve already spent enough for my existing setup, but boy, I’m tempted to get this anyway…
Troy (2004)
Just finished watching Troy for the first time (yes, I know I’m about two years behind with my movie watching…) and several thoughts are on my mind.
First, how do you tackle a subject as epic as the Battle of Troy? How you handle Homer? How you you compress 9 years of fighting and conflict into a movie, even one that’s 2 hours and 43 minutes long? I would say it’s impossible to carry off, and given the circumstances, I think the director did a great job. I wasn’t happy about the shortcuts taken to shorten the battle, but how else do you compress 9 years into a movie? You take out about 8 or so of them by coming up with the wooden horse a little early, that’s how… What’s more, Homer’s poems are almost hallowed in academia. Yes, they’re dusty, but hallowed. Any re-interpretation of Homer’s work is bound to draw criticism, and from pretty vocal voices at that…
The subject matter itself is depressing. We know how it ends, and it ends miserably for everyone involved. There’s no happy ending anywhere. Mass audiences don’t like that, and they show it by not going to the movie. There are few epic movies to be made these days, since most of them have already been filmed, and plenty have even been re-made. The Battle of Troy (the Iliad) was one of few remaining unfilmed literary works. I can understand the excitement of filming “fresh” material, but if I wanted to make a movie from Homer’s poems and this was choice A, I would have picked choice B, the Odyssey. Now that’s a far better choice: happy ending, hope, though dim, is still in sight, glorious return home to a faithful and beautiful wife — now that’s my kind of movie!
It’s hard to carry a movie on the shoulders of a star that can’t act in a dramatic role. I know that’s really harsh, but I had the hardest time finding Brad Pitt believable in the role of Achilles. He didn’t act, he posed. When he didn’t pose, he glowered and frowned, and generally tried to fill a role that even he knew was beyond him. I could see it on his face. At no time was it more visible than in the scene where Peter O’Toole, as King Priam, begs for Hector’s body, so he could give his son a proper burial. The marked contrast between Peter O’Toole’s and Brad Pitt’s acting was, how shall I put it, very, very noticeable! Peter O’Toole was King Priam, and Brad Pitt was Brad Pitt, dressed in set clothes, trying desperately to find a way to act the scene.
The actors and actresses that really carried the movie but probably didn’t get “star” pay are listed here: Peter O’Toole, Brian Cox, Eric Bana, Sean Bean, and Saffron Burrows. What can I say, Peter O’Toole is amazingly believable, as usual. He is a true actor and a master of his craft. Brian Cox was so believable as Agamemnon, I wanted to string him up for his behavior in all of the scenes he was in. Eric Bana, what a wonderful performance as Hector! He let Hector’s honor, sense of duty, love for his wife and anguish at the role he had to play show through so well, that he was the real hero of the movie. Sean Bean, what a wonderful job as Odysseus, or Ullyssees (as this mythological character is known in Romania). I’m really impressed with Sean Bean. His performances are consistently great, at least in the movies I’ve seen. If I ever get to be in a movie, I’d love to be in one with Sean Bean. Great acting, Sean! I’ve always found Saffron Burrows charming and delightful in her performances. It’s a pity she doesn’t get cast in more principal roles. She seems to be stuck in supporting roles, and when she does get placed in larger roles, it’s usually in crappy movies like Deep Blue Sea, which I wouldn’t watch if I was alone on a deserted island and that was the only DVD around.
No, I didn’t forget Orlando Bloom as Paris. But he just didn’t stand out in this movie, certainly not like he stood out in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, or the Pirates of the Carribean, another soon-to-be trilogy. Maybe it was the script or the direction, or maybe he couldn’t get into the role, but I just couldn’t see him as more than a supporting character. And I also didn’t forget Helen, or “the problem of Helen”, as people put it when the movie came out. How do you find the most beautiful woman on earth? Seriously, people have differing tastes, and beauty varies in different nations and different ages. Plus, it’s really hard to find a really beautiful woman that can act. This is not a stereotype, and no, I’m not talking about blondes. I dare you to go out there and find the most beautiful woman, and see how well she talks, expresses herself, and how healthy (mentally) she is. Most likely, she’ll be caught up in herself, emotionally stilted. And it’s a given that she won’t be able to act. In hindsight, I didn’t like Diane Kruger as Helen, but hey, I didn’t do the casting, and I understand how difficult it really is to find a true “Helen”.
Given all of the issues I outlined above, it’s no wonder the movie didn’t do so well, and it’s still reviewed as average in most places. Yes, I know, it’s easy to analyze something in retrospect, but to be fair, I read one or two reviews when the movie came out, and that was it. I saw it for the first time today, and my impressions are fresh. I still think it’s a good movie, and in time, it’ll become a benchmark for what to do and what not to do in an epic modern production, but for now, it still has to drink its castor oil.
Raoul Pop 