Ryan & Amanda Keefer's Personal Site: Cycling, Family, Tech, Music, Software & Game Reviews, etc.
// January 31st, 2005 // Comments Off // Music
Man, why can’t they get their media to play on a Mac. Another reason to get my PC back up and running… got a new case today so that should happen in the next few days. But regardless, I want to hear how Kelly sounds in this session:
// January 31st, 2005 // Comments Off // Personal Crap
Man, I haven’t posted in a couple of days! I’ve been trying to finish up a freelance job and now the FTP server won’t let me connect. WTF? I just want to finish this crap and get it behind me.
Edit: 40 minutes later.. site’s all updated finally. All I’ve got to do is add a few more new products and get their image randomization working like it is on my site. whew! The check for doing all this should be great. I can use it to pay off my G5 and get Amanda a North Carolina license plate finally.
// January 26th, 2005 // Comments Off // General Posts
Man, I haven’t had Jolt in years. It’s neat that it has a resealable closure and that it has the thermo chromic ink that changes with the temp. I’m going to have to try to find one of these:
// January 26th, 2005 // Comments Off // Music
I almost forgot to wish Edward Van Halen a happy 50th birthday today. Happy birthday, Ed! Here’s to another studio album with Sammy after the current tour finishes!
// January 26th, 2005 // Comments Off // Funny Stuff
Man, this is funny. I’m not sure it’s legitimate, but it’s good humor.
// January 25th, 2005 // No Comments » // Film, Movie Reviews, Reviews
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Kevin Smith and his films and humor in general. Take a look at any college dorm room’s video collection, and you’ll quickly see that I’m not alone.
Kevin Smith’s newest film, “Jersey Girl” represents the first departure from his Askewniverse flicks (“Clerks,” “Mallrats,” “Chasing Amy,” “Dogma” and “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”) and their colorful cast of Jersey characters that have become so popular on campuses. But Smith hasn’t gone too far away from what he knows. “Jersey Girl” is still has Smith’s flavor and is a great initial departure from his Askewniverse history.
The story centers around Ollie Trinke who has what he regards as the perfect life in New York City, working as a PR bigwig and married to the beautiful Gertrude Steiney, played by Affleck’s former real-life flame, Jennifer Lopez. Gertrude ends up getting pregnant and they prep for life with their first child. I don’t think I’m ruining it for anyone by telling you that Lopez’s character dies in the first 15 minutes of the film, due to complications during child birth.
Ollie is left having to juggle the loss of his beloved wife, and raise a child as a single parent, while trying to keep up with the demands of his job. He ends up moving back to Jersey with his father, played by George Carlin, and to his dismay, he has to quit his PR job and work locally in Jersey. The circumstances surrounding his change of vocations is amusing, but see the film to get the details there.
While back at home in Jersey, Affleck meets Maya, played by Liv Tyler, a local girl who works the mom and pop’s video store (ala “Clerks”). To no one’s surprise, they hit it off after Affleck gets over his initial locking out anyone but his deceased wife and a pseudo friendship with undertones of more ensues and it’s obvious where it’s going long before the movie ends.
Ollie Trinke struggles throughout the flick with dealing with the loss of his true love, and always being there for his daughter, Gertie. Gertie, played by big screen newcomer, Raquel Castro does a wonderful job in the movie and is not over the top cute or annoying, like a lot of Hollywood’s child actors. She does a good job of dealing with the range of emotions and situations in the movie.
A lot of people don’t like Affleck, but I think the guy is a competent actor and does a great job of portraying the Jersey single parent and widower. A nod also has to be given to George Carlin. His role is pretty serious and he does a great job playing the father aiding his son in being a father in his own right.
Kevin Smith has always been known for loading up his cast with personal friends and “Jersey Girl” continues the tradition. View Askew veterans Ben Affleck and George Carlin obviously have big roles, but others also pop up, such as Matt Damon and Jason Lee. It was funny though to look around the theater audience and realize that Jersey Girl had more of a broad audience, and most didn’t recognize the View Askew cameos; not that this is a bad thing though. Wider appeal means that more people will see it and aren’t as connected to the director. Regardless, it was a nice nod to fans who have seen his other five films.
It’s hard not to compare “Jersey Girl” to the other Kevin Smith flicks and on one hand, it’s its own beast that’s very different. It’s a little cutesy, but it’s still got that Smith flavor and humor to it. Rather than being a straight out comedy/adventure comedy like most of his previous endeavors, “Jersey Girl” is Smith’s second romantic comedy (“Chasing Amy” being the first). Smith says he doesn’t feel that “Jersey Girl” is all that much different than “Chasing Amy” and that they just swapped out the lesbian for a 7-year old. I tend to see the separation a little more substantial, but both are worthy of viewing. If you can get over Smith’s latest being a bit syrupy sweet, it’s a very enjoyable film worth checking out. “Jersey Girl” also has the added advantage in that it could give Kevin Smith a broader audience — great for us hardcore Kevin Smith fans for future movies.
// January 25th, 2005 // Comments Off // Internet / Web
Google releases another search technology into beta. This is one that is definitely still in its infancy. I did a lot of searches and most didn’t come up with too much relevant on the visual side. The text was pretty good though:
// January 25th, 2005 // Comments Off // Apple
Man I can’t wait for OS 10.4, Tiger. Sure spotlight will be great. Sure iChat’s new version is going to be cool. Safari RSS could even be cool (though I’ll probably continue using Firefox). What I’m most looking forward to is better .Mac integration. I can’t believe how often my iDisk has problem syncing between my work and home machines. It’s become increasingly more and more unreliable. Yesterday, it crashed both my work and home G5s. Please tell me Tiger is right around the corner!
// January 24th, 2005 // Comments Off // Apple
This could be another cool product from Grffin. I’ll definitely be getting one of these when they become available to integrate my iPod better with my Celica’s tape deck:
Jeff also sent me this link for a cool interface.. doesn’t work with our current cars though:
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