grahams’ completely normal radio programme goes public!

Posted on by grahams

For a bit more than 2 years I’ve been doing a mostly-weekly streaming internet radio show called “grahams’ completely normal radio programme“.  Since I kept it private amongst a small group of friends, while you may have heard me mention it on occasion, you most likely haven’t listened to it.  Starting this Monday at 10pm EDT, I’m taking the show public (and legit).  You can find the details to tune in over at http://radio.dosburros.com/ (which will redirect you to LoudCity).

The format is a commercial-free mish-mash of music I’m into, which crosses quite a few genres.  I’m live on mic, and have been known to have guests in-studio or over Skype.  I try to briefly review movies I have seen with the film club. I have real equipment. I have run contests. I have world premiered music. I usually manage to keep technical screw-ups to a minimum.  I even have a terrible auto-tuned theme song that will get stuck in your head.

As you may be thinking, having all of this going on for an audience of fewer than a dozen people started to seem a little ludicrous.  So I decided to figure out a way to conform to the complicated streaming royalty system, and ultimately settled on using the LoudCity platform so I didn’t have to do any hard work.  The only catch is that in order to be covered under their royalty agreements, I need to have all of the links to the stream hosted on their domain.  Which is why the above link will redirect you from dosburros.com to their site.

Obviously the programme’s web presence is limited right now.  I’ve been mulling this decision for a few months but the decision to actually pull the trigger and get it done happened while floating on the Party Barge Regency Edition this weekend.  In addition to the (currently) terrible webpage, you can follow the show on Twitter at @radioprogramme.

The people who have been listening for the past few years have told me it’s a good show.  I hope you’ll think so too.  Tune in one of these upcoming Mondays and let me know what you think.  At a minimum you’ll be able to make fun of me for such a colossal waste of time.

Review: iPad

Posted on by grahams

We’ve had a few iPads at work since April, and one of them is presently assigned to me as I optimize our web viewer for the WiFi iPad and iPhone. While I’ve taken it home a few times to give it a whirl, our Memorial Day trip to Michigan was my first real serious time using it.  I decided to bring it with me instead of my laptop, just to see what it was like using it regularly. My experience was very pleasant.  Here are some random observations:

Continue reading “Review: iPad” →

I was jack’s online journal

Posted on by grahams

Back on June 25th, 2000 I posted my first entry over at LiveJournal.  10 years, 2,778 entries, and 6,347 comments later I’ve decided that it is time to move on.

Realistically, between sites like twitter, flickr, and my bookmarks over at delicious I simply don’t end up posting to my LJ as much anymore.  LJ used to really appeal to me due to the large community and the discussions it generated.  But now it feels more like just another abandoned alleyway on the Internet.  I suspect that most people who read my posts do so through RSS or Facebook anyway.

So i have moved everything over to my new blog at https://sean-graham.com/.  For the time being I will leave a cross-posting script set up to post my entries over there to LJ, but I don’t know how long that will last.  I have disabled comments on my LJ, so if you want to discuss a posting of mine there will be a link at the bottom of each post to bring you back to my WordPress blog.

The edges are still rough at the new place, and while most of the content and comments have imported successfully, there were a few problems (100 or so anonymous comments seem to have been assigned to the wrong posts), but so it goes…  I have been manually going through and fixing these edge cases when I have the time.  The look of the new blog will probably change quite a bit in the near future.

So there it is.  Update your bookmarks, RSS readers, etc.  This is a perfect time to also start ignoring me.  I rarely have anything of value to say anyhow.  :)

HOWTO: Surviving IFFBoston (Updated for 2016)

Posted on by grahams

The Independent Film Festival of Boston is one of the reasons I love living in Boston. In my opinion, if you are a film fan and you live in Boston, you are doing yourself a disservice if you don’t go all-in on the festival. This year, despite seeing a personal-record 20 films in 8 days, I found myself much less wiped out than previous years. This is mostly due to to the all-volunteer staff and crew of the festival tweaking things year-after-year, improving things for everyone. Many festivals are run strictly for the industry but IFFBoston also tries to cater just as much to the filmgoer.

Aside from all of the things the staff does to make things run smoothly, there are many tips and tricks I’ve developed myself. I realize that sharing these after the 2010 festival isn’t very helpful, but I wanted to get these written down for next year. This is mostly to augment my own memory, but hopefully you can find something useful here.

  • If you’re going to be seeing a bunch of films, buy a pass. This year, the “Film” pass was $180 (Update 2016The concepts of “passes” and “memberships” have been merged. Supporter Passes are $350 this year, and now include a membership for year-round benefits. You can buy badges here). Even if you are seeing fewer than 18 films, you have to remember all of the fringe benefits of the pass:
    1. Passholders get to enter the theater first, approximately 15 minutes before showtime. So you usually can sit wherever you’d like.
    2. Sometimes you’ll hear buzz about a particular film while talking to other festival goers, and the pass gives you the flexibility to rejigger your schedule once the festival is going.
    3. Along the same lines, even as well run as IFFBoston is, schedules can slip and Q&A sessions are sometimes too riveting to leave. Being able to decide to leave when you want to as opposed to what your tickets dictate is very nice.
    4. Passes help support the festival.
  • Simply accept that not only will you not be able to see all the films in the festival, but you likely won’t even be able to see all of the ones you are interested in. This year, there were more than 60 films available, but the most any one person can see was 20, as there were sometimes 6 screens running simultaneously.
  • There are two ways to go about scheduling. You can either
    1. Look at the list of films, going through them all and prioritizing films based on your interest. I did this in 2009, and while it worked, it was a little frustrating, as I would get hooked on the idea of seeing a film just to find out it conflicted with another film, or was logistically unrealistic (not enough time to get from the Somerville to the Brattle, for instance).
    2. What I did in 2010, and which was much less frustrating, was to use the grid view of “Festival Genius”. Going day-by-day, look at the first time-slot and pick a set of movies which you are both interested in and which work logistically for that day. You’ll still certainly have some sticky scheduling, but I found it far less frustrating. (Update 2014: RIP Festival Genius)
  • When developing your schedule, try to remember to leave slack for Q&A sessions, schedule slippage, and traveling between theatres or venues.
  • Also remember to leave a bit of slack for you to get a bite to eat!  Most years I’ve found some natural gaps between movies which gave me enough time to grab a quick bite, but review your schedule and make sure you have at least 30 minutes for some fast food (or an hour for real food, which is what I try to do).  Another strategy I’ve fallen into is to plan longer dinners (i.e. my yearly meal at Redbones) during days like Friday or Monday, where you can get the food in before the movies even start.  Save up quicker blasts (Anna’s, Spike’s, etc) for the weekend marathons.
  • After discussing things with several other fest-degens, we all seem to agree that the magic number is 5.  That is 5 films in one day, 6 is just too many.  By the 6th film you will probably be tired, somewhat dreading going into it, and largely incoherent afterwards.  This year the schedule bound Saturday to 5 films and I felt great afterwards.  That said, if I can squeeze 6 into a day next year I probably would.
  • You’ll need to decide whether or not going to the parties is important to you. For me, I want to see as many movies as possible during the festival. Since many of the parties occur while movies are being shown, I almost never go to the parties.
  • Pack, pack, pack. I am a bit obsessive in this department (doctors may say in ALL departments), but I find that a well-stocked backpack makes a crowded day of movies much more bearable. Here are some of the things I stock in my backpack:
    • Reading Material: You’ll likely need less of it than you may think, but a good magazine or small book can be clutch if you have an hour or so between movies.
    • Granola/Clif Bars: As much as I love theater refreshments, sometimes you don’t have time to wait on line between films.
    • Water: Again, my love of refreshments aside, I try to bring one or two bottles of water on the long days.
    • Face wipes: I love being able to freshen up when time doesn’t allow a quick trip to the bathroom.
    • Emergency Power: I tend to grind on my iPhone a lot during downtime between shows, so it never hurts to have a way to give it a boost if the battery starts getting low.
    • Medications: If you take any meds, don’t forget to bring them with you.
    • Layers: Late april weather is insane, so be sure to pack a sweatshirt or leave room in there to stash it later.
    • Small Umbrella: Most lines are outside.  Don’t get wet.
    • Air-activated Handwarmers: I started bringing these this year, but didn’t need them.  A few miserably cold Fenway trips this year convinced me to order a big box of these things.  Might be good ‘last resort’ on a strange cold snap or unexpected wait on line.
  • It’s not the end of the world, but this year I tried to remember to check my wallet before leaving each day and reloading it if necessary. If you’re trying to squeeze in some concessions or a meal into a tight schedule it can be frustrating to need to find an ATM.  If you want to buy merch (supports the festival!) or even a DVD or other swag from a filmmaker, plan accordingly.
  • Thank all the volunteers profusely. They are devoting tons of time to make the whole thing go off, so make sure they know they are appreciated.  And don’t gripe at them if a schedule slips, or if you are waiting on line longer than you want to.  None of them are getting paid, and i don’t believe any of them are crowd control professionals.  Also, often many of the delays are somewhat out of their hands. Imagine a local filmmaker with 100+ friends and family in the crowd, and all of them wanting to glad-hand him after the Q&A session.

That isn’t a complete list, and it is pretty random, but it should do for now…

2009 Films in Review

Posted on by grahams
Better late than never, right?
 

The Movies I Saw in 2009

Posted on by grahams

Here’s the list of movies I saw in 2009…  I saw 147 movies this year, which is just about where I was the year before.  I think the number of films I can see in a year given all of my other interests and responsibilities is right in the neighborhood of 150.  I haven’t really sat down and thought about my "best of" list yet, as I usually take January to try and catch up on acclaimed movies I missed, but my gut tells me it was a pretty good year for movies.   

I think in 2010 I’m going to keep more data about the movies I view, but I also think I may eliminate my distinction between "Theatre" and "Video" in the list I actually publish next year.  We’ll see.

The list is mostly in the order I viewed them, and I tried to italicize any films I had already seen.

My latest contribution to Red Sox Nation

Posted on by grahams

Map of the streets surrounding Fenway Park, in which Yawkey Way and Jersey Streets are MislabelledI was using Google Maps the other day when I noticed something strange. Yawkey Way was mislabeled. It is my understanding (as it was before my time living in Boston) that Jersey Street used to run from Boylston Street to Brookline Avenue, past Fenway Park. In 1976, the stretch of Jersey that ran along Fenway Park (between Van Ness Street and Brookline Avenue) was renamed Yawkey Way, in honor of former club owner Tom Yawkey. But in the Google Map, these two streets are flipped over Van Ness, as seen in the photo here. I contacted GoogleMaps with this problem. This morning they let me know that I was correct and that the map will be corrected within a month. I’ll post again when the fix is made.

Now if only Google could go back and correct Tom Yawkey…

Update: Google has corrected this issue.

Crate dates matter.

Posted on by grahams

Turns out, eggs DO expire!  I had always been under the impression that eggs don’t expire, and boy did I have that notion dismissed fully and clearly.

Last Saturday,[info]coco_b mentioned that she would like to use some elderly bananas we had around for some banana bread.  So I whipped some up from a recipe we had gotten from our friend Audra.  I quickly dismissed the expiration date from some time in September on the egg crate and baked the bread.  Corinna ate quite a bit of it but I only had one slice.  A few hours later I started feeling ill, and an hour after that I started experiencing a very sharp 10-15 second pain in my lower abdomen every 1-5 minutes.  This continued all night, completely eliminating any chances of sleep.  I had hoped that by morning this would pass and we could stick to our plans of meeting up with at Six Flags.

I “woke” up feeling just as terrible as I had the night before, so Corinna called Tom and told him we wouldn’t be meeting him.  I sat around the house in pain all day, pretty miserable.  Tom came to stay at our place after he spent the day at the park, and we just chatted it up for a few hours before bedtime.  He half-joked that he could take me to the hospital in the morning if I needed it.  After another painful, sleepless night, I almost took him up on his offer..   I called my GP who was unavailable, and decided to go to the ER.  It occurred to me that if he drove me to the hospital it would completely eradicate any chance he would have to visit Boston during the day.  So I called a cab at 8am and went to the ER, and Corinna met me there around noon.  After lots of waiting, some X-Rays and CT Scans, and continuing pain, it was determined that I had an inflammation of my ileum.  The ER doctor speculated that it might be Crohn’s disease or IBS, but he deferred to the GI doctor I’d be seeing once I was admitted. After a full day in the emergency room, much of it on a stretcher in a hall, I was admitted in the late evening.

I went up to the 7th floor and put in a room, and like my stay a year or two prior for my appendicitis, I had a beautiful view of the Charles river.  It took awhile for a doctor to come and see me, and a bit longer for the nurse to finally bring something for my pain. Each individual spike of pain probably ranked 6 out of 10, but after feeling it every few minutes for 2+ sleepless days, it was really starting to break me down. The GI doctor I talked to said that he thought I was probably suffering a bacterial or viral infection, likely caused by bad food. He said he had no reason to suspect Crohn’s or IBS given my history (or lack thereof).  He said they would run some tests and keep me overnight.  He also put me on a clear liquid diet, which meant I was able to eat for the first time in 2 days (even if it was broth and jello).

I woke up feeling better, and more importantly, pain-free, and after lunch they advanced my diet to BRAT (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast) before discharging me.  Well, the pain returned after a few hours and they kept me another night.  Fortunately, I woke up without pain again (although still tender) and they once again advanced my diet to BRAT at lunch, and this time I tolerated it just fine. The doctors determined that I had a viral infection of my Ileum, and that it likely came from food, although they said it was also possible it had come through one of your usual viral vectors (handshakes, etc).  It would take a few days to clear up and some continued pain was to be expected while it did.  Finally after 2.5 days in the hospital, I went home with Corinna on Wednesday evening.

When I was first discharged I thought there was no way I was going to make the yearly Halloween Party up near Ithaca.  But after feeling solid on Thursday and waking up and feeling pretty well on Friday, we decided to give it a shot.  And I’m glad I did..  While it was odd not really being able to eat or drink anything at the party (We brought ginger ale and chicken soup for me), it was fantastic getting to see all my friends.  I even did an epic live edition of my radio show/podcast featuring live music.

Back to work today and slowly advancing my diet to normal food…  Still not quite feeling 100%, but getting close.   This would have been much more awful and difficult if not for Corinna.

Quicksilver meet the holy wars…

Posted on by grahams

Was just chatting with Howard, who has literally written the book on Quicksilver, and was trying to figure out why he finds so much more utility out of Quicksilver’s keyboard triggers than I do…  I find myself using the "Command Mode" in most of my interactions with Quicksilver, but Howard makes extensive use of keyboard triggers.  We were chatting back and forth about this, and I struck upon a minor epiphany:

Quicksilver’s command mode is somewhat analogous to the command mode in my editor of choice, Vi.  Keyboard triggers, however, are much more like the meta-keystrokes of the Emacs editor, which is Howard’s favorite editor.  My brain is happy to deal with the notion of different modes for different contexts, where as the Emacs user is much more comfortable remembering a multitude of various keyboard combinations to get their work done.

It’s pretty cool that Quicksilver is this flexible, and in fact it one-ups both of the editors by allowing you to seamlessly choose whichever method appeals to you on a task-by-task basis, and furthermore it’s not mutually exclusive.  I do use a few triggers for some common searches (like IMDb, Wikipedia, etc) but setting up those triggers doesn’t prevent me from executing those searches in command mode.  And in this way, allowing you to choose the solution to a problem from a whole menu of methods (commands, keyboard triggers, mouse triggers, gestures, etc), Quicksilver is also analogous to a combatant in another holy war, Perl.  Perl provides many different ways to express oneself, and generally grants the programmer flexibility in expression.

Another way that Quicksilver is like Perl is that it is very tolerant of ambiguities and tries to resolve them as best as it can.  Type "adress book" into the command window of Quicksilver and there’s a good chance that even though "address" is misspelled Address Book will at least be among the top choices of Nouns/Subjects.  Quicksilver’s stated purpose is to allow the user to "Act Without Doing".  While that motto is a little too metaphysical for me, I think that philosophy is what drove this tolerance programmed into QS.

Myself and many other programmers are frustrated by Perl’s anything-goes philosophy, claiming that by being so permissive it makes reading the Perl code of someone who has a different style than you (or even reading your own code fro a few years ago) a difficult challenge at times.  If I were to try to continue to stretch this analogy, I would say that the Quicksilver version of this gripe is that, as a user, you end up growing so dependent on your specific usage patterns that if you work on a machine with QS configured differently, not installed at all, or science-forbid, a windows box, it can be rather frustrating.  You constantly attempt to invoke Quicksilver and fail, or even worse, learn that your carefully selected keyboard triggers vary drastically from your friends.

I have grown to really love Quicksilver, and I urge all Mac users to give it a swing!  They’ve done a great job of pushing most of the really geeky features under the surface a bit, and it tends to be as complicated as you choose.  I used it for a few years in straight command mode and found it to be super empowering, but over the past year or so (mostly due to prodding from Howard), I have found myself slowly expanding my horizons, and playing with more and more features of this amazingly deep tool.  Not all of the features I play with stick, but when one does, it suddenly feels like your old method of doing something was so antiquated.  For more information:

Update: Here is Howard’s take on this subject.