Think Happy Thoughts

The Namesake

nobody@vox.com(Jackson Fox) — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 20:50:26 -0400

Went out last night and saw The Namesake, based on the Jhumpa Lahiri novel. Translating a novel that covers 30-years in the lives of one family is never going to be easy, but Mira Nair did a commendable job. You don't get to know the characters as well as you do in the novel, but we get to the know them as best we can. The main themes of the novel -- family, the immigrant experience, loss, love -- are still strongly felt. The ending is a slight departure from the novel, but I think it works well.

I consider myself a fan of Mira Nair, I loved Monsoon Wedding, but was rather indifferent about Vanity Fair, so I was very happy that The Namesake turned out so well.

Kal Penn does a decent job as Gogol, but not as good a job as I was hoping. Penn's strength seems to be more on the Harold and Kumar end of the dramatic spectrum. Don't take that as too strong a criticism, I loved Harold and Kumar. The real star of the movie was Tabu as Ashima, the scenes when she wakes up to a cold, snowy winter morning after having arrived from India are wonderful.

I highly recommend you take time to see the movie.

Now it's time to go re-read the novel...

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SXSW 2007

nobody@vox.com(Jackson Fox) — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 10:36:21 -0400

This is the first post in a series I call "Where The Hell Have You Been?"

Voxtrot

Well, I've been traveling, and my first stop was Austin, TX for SXSW 2007. Lulu had a booth in the exhibition hall (we were the ones next to the Army and across from Firefox) and I was invited along as the web geek translator. I don't want to bore you with the details, so here are the highlights:

Arrived in Austin, TX
Checked in to lousy hotel
Checked out of lousy hotel and in to nice hotel
Had tacos and cervezas
Booth duty
Put a Firefox tattoo on my forehead
Asked very insightful question about the role of personas in activity-centered design
Had some tasty mojitos
Voxtrot and Dennis Jay
Had giant ribs, then more giant ribs
Gawked at internet famous people
Twittered
Flew to Hong Kong

I have blurry camera phone pictures to prove ~~all~~ most of this.

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So Much For Spring

nobody@vox.com(Jackson Fox) — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 22:04:37 -0400

WRAL:

A Freeze Warning is in effect again tonight with at least 3-5 hours of freezing temperatures expected.

Our weather has gone haywire.

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The Comics They Are A-Changin

nobody@vox.com(Jackson Fox) — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 10:30:35 -0500

So, I found out today that Foxtrot and For Better or For Worse are both ending. Foxtrot is going to a Sunday-only format Real Soon Now, and FBoFW is being retired next Fall. Oh, and apparently Aaron McGruder finally pulled the plug on the Boondocks strip to focus on the cartoon version. Will the comics page ever be the same? I doubt it, especially since I also found out that Diesel Sweeties is being syndicated. Isn't that surreal? A pixel art comic about a robot dating a retired porn star will be in newspaper.

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Austin, TX

nobody@vox.com(Jackson Fox) — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 10:21:45 -0500

The Best Wurst
Originally uploaded by jacksonfox.

So, I was in Austin, TX a few weeks ago for the ASIS&T 2006 conference, and found this stand on 6th Street called "The Best Wurst".

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NC State Fair!

nobody@vox.com(Jackson Fox) — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 02:08:36 -0400

My Buns

The annual pilgrimage to the NC State Fair for fried sugar products has once again been completed. This year I finally got to try the legendary deep fried Twinkie. There were also deep fried Oreos (which are incredible), a deep fried 3 Musketeers bar, lemonade and a large polish sausage. We watched the pig races and checked out the prize winning veggies and animals. Fun was had by all.

We followed-up the deep fried foods with vegetarian homemade pizza to clean out the ole' arteries. After dinner we imbibed Lindeman's Framboise and relaxed with several games of Fluxx.

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World Beer Fest

nobody@vox.com(Jackson Fox) — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 09:49:06 -0400

We did it! We missed it four years in a row, but this past Saturday we finally made it to the World Beer Fest. What follows is a list of the beers I tried. Well, at least the ones I can recall trying. Which is not to say I got drunk -- all I had was a mild buzz -- only that I didn't take notes.

Arcobrau Bavarian Wheat
Atlanta Brewing Co. Peachtree Pale Ale
B.B. Burgerbrau Original Lager
Carlsberg German Pilsener
Charleston Brewing Co. Half Moon Hefeweizen
Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery Brown Ale
Fort Collins Brewery Major Tom's Pomegranate Wheat
Fullers Brewing Co. London Pride
Great Divide Brweing Co. Wild Raspberry Wheat
Green Man Brewing Co. Belgian Wit
King Brewing Co. Weissbier
Kuhnhenn Brwery Creme Brulee Java Stout
Lakefront Brewery New Grist
Lakefrton Brewery Belgian White
Lindemans Farm Brewery Framboise
Lindemans Farm Peche Lambic
Lion Brewery Lager
The Old Samuel Smith Brwery Organic Ale
Ommegang Brewery Hennepin
Wolaver's Brown Ale
Pyramid Breweries Snowcap Ale
Redstone Meadery Black Raspberry Nectar
Top of the Hill Brewery Old Well White
Unibroue Ephemere Apple
Verhaeghe Brouwerij Duchesse de Bourgogne Flemish Ale

Most memorable beer (in a good way) -- Ephemere Apple, Lakefront Brewery New Grist (tie)
Most memorable beer (in a bad way) -- Duchesse de Bourgogne Flemish Ale (worst beer EVER)

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We Love Cotton

nobody@vox.com(Jackson Fox) — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 01:20:44 -0400

A very, very new side project: We Love Cotton is a weblog about t-shirts. Think of it as my personal t-shirt wishlist, only with comments and trackbacks.

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This Old House

nobody@vox.com(Jackson Fox) — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 09:45:51 -0400

What's the most memorable building you've lived in?

When I was in elementary and middle school my family lived in Tucson, AZ. Our house was just below the foothills of the Santa Catalina mountains. I loved that house and I loved living in the dessert. It had the best backyard in the world -- a huge patio, a pool, a play area, and almost an acre of open dessert to play in. If we got bored playing in the backyard, we could walk to the end of our development and hike up into the foothills.

The house it self was open and sunny. Being Arizona, it was also warm, even with the AC on. I remember how our cat hated the spanish tile in the kitchen because his claws could never get any purchase. There were huge windows overlooking the backyard where we could watch wildlife (including the bobcat that tried to eat the cat).

I hated leaving that house.

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Georges Rousse

nobody@vox.com(Jackson Fox) — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 10:00:04 -0400

Blue circle

Erica and I were out running errands on Saturday and got a chance to stop by the Georges Rousse installations in downtown Durham. We saw the Liberty piece at Centerfest, but this was our first chance to catch the rest of the pieces. I really liked the blue circle at Bargain Furniture and the four-color squares at Baldwin. The rest were impressive, but the effects weren't quite as interesting. The Baldwin piece was nice because Georges was able to use natural light to achieve his desired effect. As a result, you could really get a sense of the finished photograph -- the other pieces needed careful lighting, which we didn't have. The Liberty piece in particular lacks impact with the ambient light in the warehouse. Tuesday (9/26/2006) is the last scheduled showing, I highly recommend going.

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