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The drill: These are, of course, either opening or closing lines to movies. Comment here and give your answers.

Google is cheating. Asking for hints is not. I will provide you the director, actor, actress, or year of release if you ask.

1. “I believe in America.”
2. “Saigon. Shit! I’m still only in Saigon. Every time I think I’m gonna wake up back in the jungle…”
3. “Rosebud.”
4. “They’ve shut down the main reactor.”
5. “My name is Lester Burnham. This is my neighborhood; this is my street; this is my life. I am 42 years old; in less than a year I will be dead. Of course I don’t know that yet, and in a way, I am dead already.”
6. “There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening. The Korova milkbar sold milk-plus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom, which is what we were drinking. This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence.”
7. “Oh, no! It wasn’t the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.”
8. “The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of.”
9. “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
10. “Madness. Madness.”
11. “Well, nobody’s perfect.”
12. “Mein Fuehrer, I can walk!”
13. “…Eighteen months ago, the first evidence of intelligent life off the Earth was discovered. It was buried forty feet below the lunar surface, near the crater Tycho. Except for a single, very powerful radio emission aimed at Jupiter, the four million year old black monolith has remained completely inert, its origin and purpose still a total mystery.”
14. “But Charlie, don’t forget what happened to the man that suddenly got everything he always wanted.”
“What happened?”
“He lived happily ever after.”
15. “This was the story of Howard Beale, the first known instance of a man who was killed because he had lousy ratings.”
16. “I’ll be right here.”
17. “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. And like that, he’s gone.”
18. “You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry: you will someday.”
19. “They say they’re going to repeal Prohibition. What will you do then?”
“I think I’ll have a drink.”
20. “I’m too old for this.”

Good luck.

Filed by Adam College at 4:21 pm under Movies
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Long time, no post. Been busy. ‘Nuff said.

Here, let me do my 2.0 things for everyone:

1.0) I don’t feel comfortable sharing 20 random things about me. It’s not about time, or worrying that I don’t have interesting things to say. I don’t feel comfortable because I don’t want anything I say to come back later and because I would much rather you ask me about my life than me just tell you something.

2.0) I worry that my attitude above makes me sound haughty, callous, and cold.

What else? Hmm… Family was here this weekend, and now I feel like I barely got a chance to see them, even though I made myself a little crazy by spending every minute I could with them. Part of it is I didn’t really get a chance to have a real talk with them. Thanksgiving will be better. I can’t wait to go home.

Everything is good now. Everything is fantastic, even.

Filed by Adam College at 7:35 pm under Life
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A few people have mentioned Pandora around, and after checking it out, I’ve got to give them props (and most likely $36 when my free trial ends.) It’s good stuff, and I think my favorite part is breaking down an artist or song into little keywords like “subtle vocals, tonal melodies, etc.”

Wackiness definitely ensues when you cross two unrelated artists. I popped in Thelonious Monk and Franz Ferdinand. The Hank Mobley/John Coltrane track that’s playing now is frickin’ sweet. For serious. I must own this.

A side note: 85-year-old guys who stop in the middle of the intersection because they’re lost should not be allowed to drive. Ever. (I plan on being dead long before 85, or in the home. A message to my future grandkids, who will undoubtedly read this in 2060: Do us all a favor. Put the pillow over Grandpa’s face. If anyone asks you why, blame the Communists on TV. I’m sure that will still work.)

My mom just called me from the ER back home since such an elderly gentleman did such a thing, even though the light was green. Naturally, he’s driving a Lincoln Land-Tank(TM). Guess who’s car gets totalled AND who goes to the ER AND who gets the ticket? That’s right. Mom. Guy could have been going backwards and foaming from the mouth and my mom would have still gotten the ticket.

Filed by Adam College at 12:10 pm under Web
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Long Columbus Day weekend coming up. Here’s what I need to do:

Edit: It’s Monday 12:18. Here’s what I still need to do before tomorrow/this week.
* Finish My Resume
* E-mail Resume to IBM
* Discrete Math Test (oh crap… just remembered this one)
* Comp Arch Lab
* Comp Arch HW

And the stuff I did or didn’t feel like doing:
* Mail Tax Return (Friday 10:50 AM - DONE!)
* Wash my Car Forget this. It’s going to rain until 2009.
* Get a Haircut
* Dry Cleaning (isn’t this always on a to-do list? It’s like having a baguette in a grocery bag. It’s always there. I’ve never in my life eaten a baguette. Apparently, I am alone in this.)
* Playing Basketball
* Going out for dinner and a concert (it’s a cappella over at BC, Liz, if you’re still wondering.)
* Playing Football Nix nixed this. (Ok. That’s the only time I’ll ever use that joke.)
* Cheering on my NFL team
* Cheering on my NCAA team
* Cheering on my NHL team
* Cheering on my National Lacrosse League Team (well, maybe not….)
* Shopping? (Maybe next weekend)
* Something Else I *did* do something else. It was a fantastic something else.

In other words, this weekend is going to be long.

Edit: In other other words, I procrastinated all of the stuff that *really* needed to be done until Monday. Kudos!

Filed by Adam College at 12:10 am under Life
1 Comment

Lately, I’ve just been in a good mood. I don’t really want to think about it: I’m enjoying it hugely, and I don’t want it to end. I have positive thoughts, I catch myself smiling, I dance when people aren’t looking (and sometimes when they are). I think it’s the people I’ve connected (and re-connected) with in the past week. It’s something I didn’t realize until now: It’s good to have friends that don’t go to Olin.

I’m sure sometimes it seems like I don’t post happy stuff on here: I’ve commented before on how much easier it is to vent on a blog than it is to post when you’re in a good mood.

I hope this feeling lasts.

Filed by Adam College at 12:45 am under Life
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Last night, a large number of e-mails were sent to the randomness mailing list. (Of course, if you’re just hearing about this, welcome back from your coma.) These e-mails, a long thread on politics, the seperation of church and state, the ten commandments, and so on, were all pretty tasteless, right from the beginning. At the expense of not getting everyone who should read this to read it, I’ve opted to talk about it here rather than innundate the mailing list with another barrage of e-mails.

A lot of things made last night worse than it should have been: people looking for distractions from work found it in, of all places, their e-mail inboxes. Randomness has long been touted as “the place where all other e-mails go”, but flamewars have no place anywhere, including Randomness. People will disagree. People will taunt you if you disagree with them. With lots of smart, fast-typing people, this effect multiplies. One of the great lines I’ve heard another Oliner say about Oliners is “We’re all a little too smart. Whenever we get into an argument, we’re already thinking about the next thing we’ll say in response to what they’re saying now.” Last night proved this.

What made me so mad? The fact that, for a large part, people didn’t care how much they were abusing the list. Thing the first: If you’re going to respond to an e-mail 30 seconds after somebody else sent it, take the time to delete everything they said. I have it already from their post. Even if you’re directly quoting someone, take that small snip and put it in the body of your message. Most of us have basic time-telling skills. If I don’t understand your post, I’ll assume it’s either 1) total bullshit or 2) referring to a previous e-mail.

Point 2: Think about what you’re saying. Flamewars happen because of the anonymity of the medium you’re using. Would you really tell someone to fuck off if you were looking them face-to-face because you disagreed with what they were saying? Probably not. And, directly related to this, think about the audience you’re trying to reach. There’s no way to win a flamewar. Regardless of how thoughtful, well-put, and well-researched your point is, the other side is pretty stuck on their convictions. They’re not asking for your opinion. 99 times out of 100, their mind is already made up. Don’t waste keystrokes trying to change it.

Third: Personally, I think it’s total crap to tell people to go elsewhere. Don’t tell people to sign up for the politics mailing list. Instead, tell people to send e-mails back and forth with no lists in the subject group. In other words, the “Reply to All” button is sacred. If you can’t tell the difference between “Reply” and “Reply to all”, ask me and I will gladly remove the button from your toolbar.

Fourth: Most important to this particular discussion, remember that Olin is a community built on openness to change, understanding, and respect for others. Not everyone at Olin is Christian; not everyone here believes in God. I, for one, respect your right to believe what you want provided that you never force that belief on me. Don’t insult me by trying.

Maybe you feel this is excessive. Maybe it is. But these are my views on the subject. If you read and agree, pass the message on. If we don’t talk about it, it’s likely to occur in the future. I doubt any of us want that to happen.

Filed by Adam College at 11:16 am under Olin
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When someone asks me for my musical tastes, I get caught like a deer in headlights. I’m sure this will come off as haughty, but it’s really tough to explain how varied and rich my musical tastes are in the normal course of a conversation - I think I could give a three hour lecture on the subject and still only scratch the surface. Usually, I give the most terrible of cop-out answers: “Everything”. Which is, more or less, true. I really will listen to anything once, and given how cheap storage is, I have a hard drive full of music both mainstream and unique. If I could save only one thing in a fire, this music drive would be it.

But, in reality, “Everything” is just a way to avoid what would happen if I rattled off my favorite artists: blank-stare central. See: I pretty much like everything, provided that the “everything” in question hasn’t been played on the radio in the past 5 years. Sometimes, this means it’s old (as is the case with the Blues, Jazz, and Folk I like), most times, it’s just too obscure or too niche to make it to a big-market radio station. Classical music and Classic Rock are the only things that don’t fit this profile.

I’m (like a segment of the population that’s fortunately growing) driven away from the Top-40 mega-pop stations with the fake artists that lip synch on SNL and have fan clubs and full-page pullouts in Tiger Beat. That would be a good way to describe my musical tastes: I like bands that don’t have fan clubs. I need to remember that for next time.

I could say I’m repulsed by pop music because it’s about the money and being famous, but some of the music I like (U2, Queen, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles) has transcended the “art” category into money-making land. Most of the music I like though, especially Jazz, wasn’t really about making money. I almost through Classical in there, but, in a sense, Classical music is all about making money: the most prolific composers were the ones who were able to make their craft artistic as fast as possible and sell it to the highest bidder. Hmm, now that I think about that, I’d like to investigate the rise and fall of classical composers.

There are some nights when I love to throw on a Bernard Herrmann score, or a Miles Davis LP, or Frank Sinatra, or a hundred other artists that lived (and in many cases died) before my time. Where does this strong connection to the past come from? I don’t know, but I love it.

Again, I really do like everything. I’ve got tons of current albums. But the music I *really* like, the CD’s that find their way into my playlists time and time again, are ones most people haven’t heard of.

And that’s just the way I like it.

Filed by Adam College at 9:36 pm under Media
2 Comments