I rarely go to a full-priced movie theater.  I’m perfectly fine with not getting caught up in the hype and choosing to see movies on 75 cent Tuesdays at a theater that is 15 minutes from my apartment.

As an experiment I decided to cave and go see a movie at a full-priced theater this weekend.  I went to go see the Dark Knight with my family who didn’t mind seeing it again for my sake.  After seeing the movie I just felt annoyed that I had payed for an experience that wasn’t really all that great.  The seats were coke stained, the lights where left on during the movie and the screen never expanded to adjust to the size of the actual picture.

Needless to say the experience at the cheap theaters isn’t always perfect but at the same time I feel that it adds to the character of going to a cheaper semi-rundown theater.  It still has surround sound and the picture still looks fine.  Plus I get to see more movies for my money and if I don’t like one I’m not pissed about dishing out so much cash for it.

Overall I like the fact that a cheap theater causes less stress of me trying to get my money’s worth and worrying about service and flips my attitude to one of gratitude for a theater like that staying open for people like me to enjoy movies I would never see in theater otherwise.

For the most part I am against using drop-down menus.  This is probably because most of the time they are done incorrectly.

- MTV.com does a decent job at having quick loading dropdowns though the “Shows” drop-down extends beyond the bottom of my screen.

If you do choose to go with a drop-down navigation scheme I would follow a couple of easy rules.

- Don’t list over 6 sublink.  After that it gets way too long.

- Make sure that your drop-down surface isn’t teeny-tiny with subsections.  I don’t want to have to guide my mouse carefully over a psuedo site map of a drop-down menu.

- I hate waiting for a drop-down menu to load so make sure that your code is smooth and your menu loads fast.

I was watching some XLR8TTV on the revision3 network and saw a episode featuring RATATAT.  I dig’em.  They are deffinitely something I would like to listen to while designing.  Check them out.

This is an awesome app for splicing youtube video.

Awesome Results:
Pop Smack!

About a month ago at work someone was talking to me about a show on TV where hip hop dance crews faced off against each other on a weekly basis for a cash prize.  This was a pretty awesome concept and I’m so glad that it is available over the internet because if I could only get it through cable I would never see the show and I would have never learned about these guys, the JabbaWockeez.

These guys take the art of hip-hop dancing to another level and make it about more than just rep’n your hood or somebodies ego.  These guys take their art into the abstract with original dance concepts and fluid motion.  There is so much I love about these guy’s it’s hard to single out one thing that makes them great. They not only entertain but they memorize and it’s like watching ghosts on stage.

These are definitely one of the most versitile groups I’ve seen escpecially after watching their performances on the first season of ABDC.  I hope that they keep growing and keep pushing their limits.

I wanted to take a quick moment and address a few things necessary to be a leader. A leader is the most vital person of a group. They are the one that holds everything together even if they aren’t the best at everything individual task. They know how to bring people together and mold them into a cohesive team.

While playing Ultimate Frisbee the other day I saw the team leader of a local club team.  The way he led his other teammates was interesting to watch.  He gave them pointers but at the same time identified with them on a personal level.

Encountering this form of leadership on a very basic level got me thinking about my current work situation and the person who leads the company I work for. It seems that there is no cohesive glue, as a team, that makes us stick together besides the loathing of our boss. Our boss is a man who’s main focus is on generating revenue while trying to take advantage of the good will of his employees.  In many situations in his view making money will cancel out making his employees happy because money cures everything.

The seven deadly sins of a bad leader:

• Defocusing your team: Changing the direction the teams focus by leading them in several different directions once again hurts the team and cause a lot of frustration in the group
• Failing to integrate policies and guidelines:  As a team starts to grow there will be a need for more organization and guidelines.  If these guidelines are integrated properly they come off more as being frustration builders or are viewed as rules being forced on them.
• Putting your team first: A leader is the first to arrive and the last to leave (so to speak). Put your team first before yourself and even before the company in some cases.  Take care of them the best you can and in many cases they will take care of you.
• Becoming “One of the Guys”: Leaders that become just “one of the guys” often come off as superficial. Don’t think that the same team your trying to fit into doesn’t know that you write their paychecks. There has to be some level of separation and with it the respect of your team.
• Failure to Respect your team: If you don’t respect your team members for their strengths and what they bring to the company then they won’t respect you as a leader. If you are condescending towards a younger subordinate instead of supportive they will despise you later on.
• Failure to Communicate: Communicating effectively in a none condescending way is one of the most powerful things a leader can do.  By identifying with people on a personal level and respecting them open communication will be established.  Employees that are afraid to communicate with you hurts the growth and productivity of your company.
• Lack of Discipline:  If your going to expect everyone on your team to be respectful you have to be the first example of your guidelines.  If you want people in at 9:00 you better be in at 8:00.  Your workers look up to you; whether it is as a dictator or as a friend is up to you.

It’s never been a better time to introduce yourself to the awesome music of the NIN than now. With Trent Reznor giving away “The Slip” in a better than CD quality format for free I see this as a breakthrough in distributing music online. I’m not greedy so I settled for the MP3 quality since I only really stream music from my PC Speakers anyways.

It’s a great album so try to stop by and pick it up. I can’t wait to hear some of the encouraged remixed versions.

In honor of this momentous occasion I’ve uploaded one of my favorite songs from the album.

Song: 1,000,000 (8mb)

I haven’t really figured out the best place on the web to submit a movie review but I thought that “In Bruges” deserved a post of it’s own. It’s a great dark comedy which takes you to the town of Bruges (in Belgium) where two hit men have been sent to hide out.
Now I don’t know about you but when I goto a movie I’m all ears, eyes, and mind, meaning that the movie needs to have a great story line, visuals, and sound effects. I’ve been in the process of getting so bored of big budget movies with all these great actors that end up looking like they were written by highschool dropouts. The movie StreetKings and Vantage Point were one of these.
In Bruges we in a nice place from the hollywood norm with Collin Ferral playing a young guy more concerned with making money unlike his partner that takes to the the art and history of Bruges. Without giving away any of the story line I just wanted to say that I recommend this movie for people who are into DarkComedies and might be interested in the future.

I know that I have mentioned this to people in the past but I love WebbAlert. It is by far one of my favorite vlogs. It’s hosted by Morgan Webb who I remember from the days of her bleached hair on the ScreenSavers and short lived success on GameOver. It’s funny how so many people from ZDNet/TechTV have gone on to do great things.

I caught on to Webb Alert during its early days and have stuck around ever since. A constant drum but on daily material (except Fridays) keeps me coming back. I don’t know how many people they have producing the show but I have to give them credit that the writing is great and Morgan isn’t bad either. ;-P

Even though the video quality isn’t top notch the content is spot on. I like the idea of waking up and digesting a 4-5 video clip of the quick facts instead of having to scroll through a hundred RSS feeds to try and find the juice. I really think Webb Alert, in the way that it is produced, is pioneering the way we get our morning news over the web.

I know that CNN and MSNBC rebroadcast their shows online but screw that. I don’t want to watch stories online. I want a 5-10 minute round-up on either Tech News, Wall Street, Politics and then be able to link from there.

I’m finding out more and more with my job that it is really hard to keep remote people engaged at all times in an attempt to get things done. Anyone who is not physically at my place of business or a contractor seems to have the tendency to drift off into other things that are totally unrelated to what we hired them for.

My definition of “Engaged“:

• Constant communication: I cannot stress this enough. Whether it be e-mail, chat, or a phone call. If it can’t be constant then set something up that works.
• Take the initiative and call me if you come to road blocks instead of waiting for me to call you and then giving me a fucking excuse. That’s unacceptable!
• Take an hour and do some independent research and develop ideas/questions on your own. There is no honor in ignorance. ASK QUESTIONS!

If anyone knows how to make this process less painful then let me know. I’m starting to see that the word managing translates more into “checking up on people in an effort to keep them engaged” and less of delegating in an attempt to make things easier. In the end more things get done but 50% of your time gets eaten up just checking on people. This leaves less time for your own projects let alone trying to research or learn anything.