The improbability of World War 2

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Josh

I don’t recall where I first saw it (kottke.org? RSSmeme?), but this post about “programs on the so-called ‘World War II’” on the History Channel is 13 kinds of wonderful.

A few of my favorite bits:

Let’s start with the bad guys. Battalions of stormtroopers dressed in all black, check. Secret police, check. Determination to brutally kill everyone who doesn’t look like them, check. Leader with a tiny villain mustache and a tendency to go into apopleptic rage when he doesn’t get his way, check. All this from a country that was ordinary, believable, and dare I say it sometimes even sympathetic in previous seasons.

And:

So they invent a completely implausible superweapon that they’ve never mentioned until now. Apparently the Americans got some scientists together to invent it, only we never heard anything about it because it was “classified”. In two years, the scientists manage to invent a weapon a thousand times more powerful than anything anyone’s ever seen before – drawing from, of course, ancient mystical texts. Then they use the superweapon, blow up several Japanese cities easily, and the Japanese surrender. Convenient, isn’t it?

I love it.

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Google Voice has a go at transcribing a low quality call

Posted on June 20, 2010 by Josh

A friend of mine called my Google Voice number accidentally when her phone was in her pocket. The call ended up leaving a rather lengthy voicemail. She was with some friends and a few kids, with a fair amount of background noise going on. Despite the rough sound quality, Google Voice picked up on the voices and tried to transcribe the voicemail. This is what it came up with:

Right now hey you. Okay bye. Yes, Hi. Hi  Josh, This. Goodbye  okay. Give  me  a  matter.  Yeah, Hello that. Yeah yeah if it yeah. Goodbye hello, this is possible. Hello, Well hello.  E Hi mate, Al  house. Hey delivery down, hi hey matter of fact, I’m alright. Bye. On mon  house. As far as going on. Hello Hello. This is hello hi hello Hey, Cool, Hello Hi Heath.

So apparently Google Voice is ran by a mix of Beatles fans, Jamaicans, Australians, and former UPS delivery men.

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The end of Lost

Posted on May 22, 2010 by Josh

(If you’re not up to date on Lost, don’t read this. Some spoilers ahead.)

A few months ago, I started watching Lost from the beginning. I had been interested in watching it for a while, but finally took the plunge one evening, starting the first episode on Netflix Watch Instantly. I became quite enthralled by it, occasionally watching three or four episodes a night.

I finally got caught up to the present airing just this past weekend- just in time to watch the next to last episode on Tuesday. And of course, the big series finale is tomorrow.

I’ve enjoyed the show a lot, for the most part. There were a few missteps along the way, and I honestly hated season 5 with all of its time travel stuff. I’ve found it really cool that, whether planned or not, the monster from the very beginning of the series is playing such an important role at the end. I would like to know more about the island and what’s up with the light, as well as more about Jacob, the Man in Black, and their mom.

But I’m honestly not sure if I’m going to get all of that. Despite having really loved the show, I’m quite afraid that we’re all going to be “Stephen Kinged.” That is, the ending will be like many of Stephen King’s endings. In The Stand, he spent hundreds of pages having a team of good guys trek across the country to fight the bad guys, only to have the “end” be a nuclear bomb going off accidentally, killing all involved. In the Dark Tower series, he spent seven whole books having Roland chase the tower, only to have him thrown back to the start of his quest once finding it and getting inside. Ultimately, King seems to be good at writing really good stories, just not particularly good at finishing them.

I’m worried that’s going to be the case for Lost. A wild ride, but with an ending that just doesn’t bring much closure. After Jack was “made to be like Jacob,” they could even have the show end with Jack basically taking the helm of the island, holding out against the monster indefinitely into the future, until he can pass the torch to someone else.

I hope that isn’t the case, and I hope that the finale answers most of the questions that have been left hanging. But I won’t be placing any bets…

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“Have you two met?”

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Josh

This past Saturday, I took the kiddo to a birthday party. On the way there, there was a guy in a big van who was driving like a complete idiot; he was driving alongside me, and kept drifting into my lane. He very nearly ran me off the road.  I honked at the guy, sped up to get away from him, and gave him a dirty look as I went by. He just gave me a smirk.

Lo and behold, when I arrived at the party place, bad driver fellow was there. Not only was he there, he was the brother of the birthday boy’s dad.

Suffice to say, when the mom introduced us to one another and asked if we had met, we just smiled and shook hands. Awkward, awkward…

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Tim Curry is Nicholas II of Russia

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Josh

I was just now trying to find some accented history books in Russian, and while looking, I saw a picture of Nicholas II of Russia. When I saw it, I noticed that, wow, Nicholas II looks a lot like Tim Curry.

Nicholas II of Russia

Tim Curry

Tim Curry

See? Granted, Tim Curry looks like he might be a bit more fun, but still.  If someone would drum up some interest for a movie about Nicholas II, they’ve got the man for the part.

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