phraseology: dead reckoning

If this were a magazine or some kind of legit periodical I would probably call this the start of a new 'column' or 'feature'. I write a lot and I enjoy hearing new and interesting phrases. I kind of collect them, I suppose. For titles of stories or to pepper in conversation or whatever. Never know when you might need a new phrase. I also like finding out their origin, because if I understand it, I'll remember it and know how to use it.

So from time to time I think I'll post new phrases I encounter and find interesting. For my purposes, I'll refer to memes and terms as phrases. In addition, I have a thing for neologisms, which Wikipedia defines as

a newly coined word that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language

Anyway, my latest phrase discovery, if you haven't already guessed from the title of this post, is

dead reckoning

Kind of rolls of the tongue and curls up in your ear, doesn't it? It sounds biblical. It sounds, well, serious like death is serious. Might make a good episode title of some future show. Might not. According to Wikipedia, 'dead reckoning' is

the process of estimating one's current position based upon a previously determined position, or fix, and advancing that position based upon known or estimated speeds over elapsed time, and course.

Basically, navigating that relies on knowing where and how far you've gone since the last time you knew where you were. Not based on, say, the stars in the sky or somesuch. There are two accounts of where this comes from. One is that it is short for 'deduced reckoning', which is pretty straightforward. The other is that stellar navigation is considered 'live', so not relying on the stars would be 'dead'.

It's also the name of a Humphrey Bogart film, two separate bands, and the original title for Land of the Dead.

technology fail

I'm having a rare (lately, at least) moment where I'm actually trying to write something. I write almost exclusively in screenplay format. I use a legitmate version of Final Draft, with a legit serial number. IE, one that I paid for. The catch is, because I bought an academic license, I can only have the software 'activated' on one computer at a time. I am using my 10+ year old Powerbook G4. It's only good for word processing and browsing the nets. I cannot open Final Draft because it's not accepting my serial number. You need to deactivate it on another computer before you can activate it to use on another. I did that. It's still not working.

Fucking. Stupid.

This is the kind of stupid bullshit that punishes legitimate users from using products that they paid for in the way that they want to use them. I am pissed.

what's with all this god in my television?

Spoilers to follow for the finale of Battlestar Galactica.

I've been a huge fan of Battlestar since the mini, and it only got better and better from there. I met Ronald D. Moore. I gave him scotch and a pack of smokes. My fan credentials are legit.

Overall I thought Friday's finale, "Daybreak," was a fitting end. However, the more I think about it, the less and less satisfied I am with the "god did it" hand-waving explanation for some of the show's long-running mysteries. There was too much emphasis, too many red-herrings, for that to be it. Yes, 'god' has been an element of the show from the beginning, so this is not a case of deus ex machina, no matter how much the fanboys like to scream that. And yes, I realize most any other explanation would probably have been unsatisfying. I can relate. In college, I created a serial for the campus TV station that had an on-going mystery central to the premise of the show, and the longer it went on, the more it got away from me. By the end, after thinking of almost every possible permutation, vague and mystical seemed the way to go. I was never happy with that.

I get a similar impression from Battlestar and where it ultimately ended up. It's clear the 'improvisational' nature of the show left too many dead-ends and loose threads to be tied up in a perfect little bow by the end. Which is fine, I suppose, I was just expecting more. In fact, I think we were led to expect more, which is the real problem.

But ultimately, I was satisfied, because in the end I gave more a shit about the characters than the 'mythology' of the show. But even in that regard, I feel the Starbuck story missed the mark. I can't help but feel cheated by her disappearing act. I really do. And I have tried to rationalize it, but I can't. I feel let down. And that sucks, but what are you gonna do, right? Though, truth be told, I can't really come up with an alternate end for her character that would be that much better.

Looking back, I think all my problems with the show can be traced back to the introduction of the concept of the 'final five' Cylons. That never sat right with me, and in the final analysis, where it took the show wasn't worth it. But you win some, you lose some. The show took many narrative chances that paid off in spades. I can't really fault them for making a gutsy call that didn't pan out completely to my liking.

The other thing that really goads my nad about the finale was the realization that the whole 'god' thing really went against the whole 'naturalistic science-fiction' that the show was supposed to embody. It's just not consistent with the DNA of the show, I think. Though I suppose that all went out the window when Roslin started having visions way back in season one. Who the fuck knows. If anything, this just puts the final nail in certain sci-fi tropes for me. I never want to write anything with prophetic dreams, ancient prophecies, or visions. I think it's all bullshit. Narratively, that is.

Anyway. BSG is over now. That's sad to me. Surprisingly, the new show Kings on NBC has really grabbed me. It's the kind of high-concept series that you'd never expect a network to take a chance on. But NBC is hurting and hurting badly these days, so I guess they're willing to try anything, including something crazy like putting some adult, challenging, ballsy television on their air. From what I've read, the ratings are in the shitter, so they'll probably can it before they finish their 13-episode run. Fuck TV.

What I realized watching the second episode last night is the not-so-subtle divine presence in the world of Kings, striking to me because of the Battlestar finale two nights earlier. Though I suppose it makes more sense for this show, since it's based on the Biblical story of David, so, I mean, what are you going to do. What's with all this god stuff in my TV lately? Are we being primed for His ultimate return?

dNLd

I walked past my television the other night, and there was a weird thing displayed on the cable box. I realized it was downloading something. That's fine. Back to sleep.

Yesterday I turn on the TV, and my guide has an all new interface. Well, technically, it's the same interface, but they changed the graphics. I don't like it.

It's like when they changed Facebook on me again last week. I'm in the minority camp in support of that one, but I haven't yet acclimated to it. Facebook finds itself in a strange situation where it has become, very rapidly, an integral part of an entire generation's (and then some) daily social activities. I'm sure a good portion of Facebook users check the site multiple times a day, sometimes without even thinking. It's almost second nature. So, when a change is made on the scale of the recent Twitterizing of Facebook, people take it personally. It's like you painted their bedroom a color of your own choosing while they were at work. And then the 'NEW FACEBOOK FUCKING SUCKS' groups pop-up, and everyone's status messages are all aflame with faux-but-not-so-faux outrage. People want the old feed back. Which is funny, because if you'll recall, there was the same kind of WHAT IS THIS NEW FUCKING BULLSHIT reaction when they made that change as well.

I remember that. When they added the 'feed' thing to the home screen, and all of a sudden you saw what everyone else was up to. Nobody liked it. I didn't like it. I didn't want to happen upon pictures of my ex-girlfriend drunk at some party making out with dudes, or catch douchebag guys posting on my ex-girlfriend's wall, or being reminded in any way that my ex-girlfriend was alive and doing anything other than hating herself for breaking up with me. Back in the halcyon days of my freshman year, the equivalent was compulsively checking your ex's away message on AIM. Back then, AIM was Facebook, basically. But now Facebook was putting that shit in your face. It may seem a small difference, but it was a big change.

But then I realized something after reading an interview with Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook wouldn't work without the feed. Before that change, the only way you knew what someone was up to would be to actively check out their profile page. You didn't check everyone's page every time you visited, nor would you want to. This made Facebook something only slightly more than a dynamically updated yearbook. The addition of the feed turned Facebook into a real social tool, poised to become an integral part of social interaction for the netgen. ('Netgen'--did I just make that up? Either way, it's a neologism, something I've been meaning to write a post about on its own.)

Anyway, the point is, I'm not totally on board with the new, Twittery Facebook. I had just perfected the art of the Josh is... status message, even though they no longer required the 'is' and even now you can still type in the 'is', but you're forcing it. But I'll get used to it, and everyone else will, and it's not your website, there's a reason for the change, if it really sucks that bad they'll change it to something else, so shut the fuck up.

This thing with my cable box turned into a weird Facebook rant. Getting back to that for a second: not only did the GUI change, but I swear to god that some of my old DVR'd recordings that I had deleted came back. Is that possible? Does that mean that there's some kind of record and/or back-up of my box's hard disk? What the fuck.

high concept

I just read a great definition for the term 'high concept', specifically as it relates to a story/movie:

the premise is the reason it exists.

A movie like Minority Report is high concept because it's about what would happen if you could see crimes that hadn't been committed yet. That's why it exists. Not because it's a movie about a father who has lost his son.

Actually, I may have just complicated that simple, elegant definition by being partially wrong with my example. I don't know.

Food for thought provided by John August.

I am from the Future

You may have heard, but two days ago amazon.com released their Kindle app for the iPhone. I had some time to kill so I downloaded it while waiting for a friend to get out of a meeting.

Immediately I was downloading sample first chapters from the Kindle store. Books that I would never go out and buy, but if they were sitting around, I'd probably pick up and read. I read the first chapter of Malcom Gladwell's Outliers. When I got home, I bought the full book for $9.99. Yesterday, I finished it.

I read an entire book on my iPhone.

amazon.com has made a genius move, if I am any indication. I like the idea of the Kindle, but it's too cost prohibitive. By offering their Kindle app for free, I now have access to their almost 250,000 e-books. And I am actively reading and buying from them. I don't own a Kindle. But now I really want one.

I realized something else from my Kindle/iPhone reading experience. I had no concept of how long the book was. They have some kind of 'position count' thing but it doesn't seem to correspond to page numbers. (But I'm probably just an idiot on that front.) This made me realize that, despite all my years of reading books, I still experience a subconscious intimidation by page count and book thickness. There's still a little voice in the back of my mind, some strange holdover from elementary school when reading an entire book was a daunting prospect, that says "this is a lot to read, you'll never finish it." Weird huh? The point is, this disappeared when reading on the iPhone. I had no concept of how long the book was, and I didn't care. I was just into it and kept on going.

There's also the added convenience of carrying multiple books in your pocket on a device that you always have on you. I'm not one of those people that carries a book with them everywhere to read on the train and such--in fact, unless I know I have a good chunk to devote to reading, I won't bother at all. But, again, this changed with the phone. I got in two chapters on the subway. I read a few more pages while my friend was taking a phone call from her mom. I read more before sleep with all the lights out, made possible by the self-illuminated screen.

I don't know, this is just crazy to me. I read a book. On my phone. And I found it a perfectly enjoyable experience. Still, if there was a book that I really wanted to read, I would still buy a hard copy. You know, an actual bound book. I still want there to be real, bound books printed on paper. But I never would have bought Outliers. And even if I did, once I read it, it would be just another over-priced hardcover taking up space on my shelf.

I downloaded sample chapters from books that I had a slight inkling to read but knew I probably never would. One is Nixonland. Let's see if I get into it.

back inaction

My last attempt to maintain a personal blog fizzled, but now I'm back to it for reasons I don't know. Actually, that's not true, it's a combination of things: first, I've been extraordinarily entertained by my good friend Russ's blog for some months now, and it reminded me how fun it is to give voice to random thoughts and observations that would otherwise remain trapped and forgotten in my mindbrain. Second, I want a reason to write something. I've felt the urge to write lately, but for some unhappy reason, that hasn't translated into starting a new screenplay yet. But the desire to write remains. So here we go.

Since my last posting two whole calender years ago, I have done several things. I've quit two jobs. I've moved from my parents' house to Astoria, Queens. I have finished the feature movie I wanted to make. A black man is president.

Lots has happened, lots of good. Some bad too, both personal and macro-economic, but lots of good. I should feel accomplished and happy with what I've done and where I'm at, but I'm not, and that's no good. I'm trying to work on that.