Fight Club Book Review

I just finished reading the book ‘Fight Club’ by Chuck Palahniuk. I don’t know how I’m supposed to talk about this book when the first rule of Fight Club is that you don’t talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB!

Well, I guess I am a rebel because I am going to talk about it anyway. I am a big fan of the movie and thought the book would be a fun read. Truth is that I have found the book just as enjoyable as the movie. Not any better or any worse.

I have heard lots of people say “The book is much better” when comparing books to their movie counterparts, but in many ways the Fight Club book meshes pretty well with the movie. Reading Fight Club feels like the extras or behind the sense of what should have been on the DVD’s spacial features. I think the book gives the characters more depth. This is something I don’t think people even question or think about when they are watching the movie unless maybe they have seen it a several times.

The book also answers questions I had about Project Mayhem and what all was happening in the background that they don’t really show or talk about in the movie. I guess you could say loose ends are tied up if you felt there where any in the first place.

The book is not a necessary read by any means. But if your a fan of the Fight Club movie you will find this book just adds to the movie. It does not leave you as a read feeling cheated for not having read the book before seeing the movie. It’s kind of a nice feeling that way.

Video Killed The Radio Star

I truly hate cable television. There are so many shows that are on T.V. that do little more then act as a tool to keep the masses parked at home on their asses. Cable T.V. is such a waist of time and a mental mind suck. This newly found hatred for the shows that I have no interest in seeing has been brewing for a while now and I’m slowly learning how to deal all the wasted time that goes with turning on the television. (see my post on Cognitive Surplus)

Yes, there is the occasional show that is worth watching. Shows like Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, The Dean Martin Show, Family Guy, and South Park, are all great shows. But are they worth planning your week around just to see them with commercials for products you really don’t care about jammed in-between the show every 15 minutes?

I think not.

To avoid this, I just wait till these shows come out on DVD. I am a big fan of buying shows on DVD. You can then watch them anywhere you want as time allows without having to interrupt your life or planning your day around when it airs. You also don’t have to deal with commercials when you by the DVD which to me is a HUGE plus to me.

Since my hatred for television program has been gowning, so too has my liking for podcasts. Podcasts consist of audio or video programs that you can download onto your computer or iPod and be played back whenever you like. There are programs on just about every thing imaginable and in my experience not just mind numbing tripe that seems to occupy 90% television today. It makes me wish I had an Apple TV to watch them on.

I am a big fan of tech news podcasts like This Week In Tech, Webb Alert, Tehzilla, and g4tv’s ‘The Feed’. I also enjoy a podcast on cigars call “The cigar Nation” and X-play’s gaming podcast. I want to encourage everyone to check out some of these podcasts. Especially those you who have a long commute to work. Podcasts; even audio books are a great thing to listen to.

The 4th Of July In Juneau

The 4th of July in Juneau Alaska is a little differnt from any other way I have ever calibrated the holiday. Yeah there is a city parade and a fireworks show for all to see. That aspect of the holiday calibration is the same. What is not the same is the time Juneau rolls out the fireworks.

Because Juneau Alaska is so far up north the city gets more sun light in the summer time then the rest of the lower 48 States. Infact it dose not get dark till after midnight around this time of year. Because of that the city puts on their fireworks show at midnight.

The local Juneau Empire has a little write up on the festivities going on around town.

The day had started out awesome. Sunny and warm. But by mid day we started seeing clouds and rained drops. That however did not stop us from going to see the fireworks display. Hannah and I got in our truck and headed down town to our favorite spot right on the city’s water front at about 10:30pm. The place was packed with people and even one of the cruse ships decided to stay docked till after the fireworks show. Everyone seemed to be all smiles as locals started shooting off their own purchased fireworks. Hannah and setup our folding chairs, I lit a cigar, and we sat back and watched the evening sky light up with colors from all around us.

When the city fireworks show started, I pulled out my camera and snapped just a few photos.

The whole show lasted 30 minutes. It took the two of us another 30 minutes to make it home. A drive that normally takes us 10 minutes on a bad day. That gives should give you some kind of an idea how how many people and cars were in the area.

It was a really fun night. I hope the rest of the 4th is just as great.

North Sound Safety’s Website Redesign

Occasionally I get ask to do some website work. It does not happen all that often, but I am happy to do it when it comes in. Recently I finished the redesign for North Sound Safety’s offical website.

North Sound Safety is a motorcycle training company located in Washington state. They are professional at teaching riders young and old, beginner or seasoned, the importance of Motorcycle safety.

Their old website was very consistent with it’s navigation. However, the pages (the homepage particularly) had a lot of stuff going on and could make it hard for the user to focus on what he or she was looking for.

Old North Sound Safety Website

My first redesign design attempt was to just clean things up and tighten the over all look and feel of the website. I do most of my design work exclusively in PhotoShop.

First Redesign

My client really liked the new look and feel of North Sound Safety’s new design. He had a few changes he wanted made before I could go forward with writing out the HTML for the site. The finished product looks like this image below.

New North Sound Safety Website

The final product incorperates Google Maps, as well as Flash. The whole top banner graphic is a Flash animation. I need to thank Jason for givng me some lessions in flash so i could create that rotating banner. The completed website can be viewed at www.NorthSoundSafety.com. Take a look around. Let me know what you think.