After begging my wife to let me watch Fight Club, I finally snuck in a viewing while she was out and the baby was asleep. This wasn’t the first time I had watched the movie, but it was the best. Sitting there, enjoying the movie’s nihilistic approach to manhood, I realized that I probably shouldn’t have been asking to watch the movie. If I followed Fight Club’s logic, I might have burned down my house, stolen a car, and lived the film instead.

Fight Club is the ultimate guy film, and it’s hard not to like. With themes like underground boxing clubs, pointless mischievous vandalism, and showing up to work unkempt, how can you go wrong? Who doesn’t want to blackmail their boss into letting them stay at home and get paid for nothing at all? Sure, the protagonist had beat himself to a bloody pulp to reach that goal, but he probably felt it was a small price to pay once he had blown up his condo and all his worldly possessions.

I’m sure the movie has deep, thoughtful, underlying themes, but honestly I just thought it was fun. It might have something to say about various disorders like narcolepsy and split personalities, but I kept seeing those devices as more of a means to an end: bare-fisted backyard brawling. As long as a movie has characters who are willing to trade their workday suit and tie for an opportunity to slug it out, I’ll be a captivated audience.

In the vein of journalistic disclosure, I should mention that before watching the movie I invited a buddy over to trade some punches in my backyard. It was by no means a fight club. We wore gloves and tried not to get hit, but I did end up with a black eye for my effort. I told my co-workers that I got hit by a Frisbee. My only regret is that I didn’t snap a picture to post here. I guess I will have to do that next time.

The other day, I reached into the dryer, pulled out a freshly cleaned towel, and put it to my face for a giant wiff. Much to my disaapointment, it smelled like cigarette smoke. I often find that clean clothes and towels smell vaguely of smoke. I don’t smoke. I don’t even know anyone who does. Is my sense of smell broken, or do I need to switch fabric softner?

You have to love a good stock photo cliche (via). My favorite on the list has to be this one:

3. The Big Thumbs of Triumph: Good job, ace. You’ve saved the company again.

The pictures add a lot of course.

I love to look up the definition of words. Most likely, I enjoy it because I’m always surprised by what I find, and I love definitive answers. Today, I was reading a website that used the word “intransigent”. I didn’t know what it meant, although I had an idea from the context. And I did exactly what I usually do to find the definition. I searched for it in Google. As often happens with big words like this, the top result in Google is the dictionary definition.

I couldn’t help but think that if the top result for the word (i.e. it’s most cited use) is its definition, maybe you shouldn’t use it… Then again, maybe that’s the best reason to use it.

I just read about NBC’s new line-up, and one line stuck out:

Conversely, gone from the fall lineup are such shows as “Fear Factor,” “E-Ring,” “Conviction,” “Surface” and “Joey.”

Are they sick? Did they really cancel Fear Factor? That show was great.

My buddy Donald sent me a link to his new color wizard. Wow, it’s pretty cool and definitely one of the better color apps that I’ve seen.

I’ve updated my feed list with a few intersting sites:

• Mighty Magic Tricks - all about how to make and perform magic tricks
• Mighty Optical Illusions - I’ve always been a big fan of optical illusions

Via Make

Here’s some interesting renders of how Earth stacks up against other heavenly bodies. Via

Looks like diving around Pensacola is about to get really exciting. Tomorrow, a 888-foot aircraft carrier, Oriskany, is slated to become the next diving hotbed. It will sink 24 miles South of Pcola. I’m pretty pumped about this and wonder how soon I will get to dive on it. Certainly, it will be my diving goal for the summer. I wonder if it has to settle or anything like that.

Anyone up to dive an aircraft carrier?

Since I started my current job, I’ve been taking seven flights of stairs instead of the elevator. At first, I thought it was for the exercise, but I realized today that elevators are really just akward.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good elevator ride, but only when it’s with people I know and clean and preferably has a view. For everyday use, stairs are just better. There’s no wait, you can go at your own pace, and for the most part they are largely abondoned. Plus, I always feel like I’m taking a secret passage-way when I hit the stairs. Besides, do I really need to be in a hurry to get to my desk?

Are you afraid that you have an Internet addiction? Take the Internet Addiction Test (via Lifehacker). I scored a 33 which means:

You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage.

Well, my web host completely came through for me and everything is back up top-notch.

Andy Rutledge, who often writes about web design, posted a design quiz. It’s a well written, fun little quiz. I took it and got 70%, which is pretty bad and shows I have a lot to learn about design.

One of the questions from the quiz is:

17. According to countless studies, aesthetically pleasing designs are widely perceived as being [b l a n k] than less-aesthetic designs.
a. cooler
b. more decorative
c. more Web 2.0
d. easier to use

The answer, of course, is easier to use. I instantly wondered, “If aesthetically pleasing designs are easier to use, then why do so many top, most popular sites look like complete trash?” The answer is simple; “design” is only part of web design.

That may sound confusing but only because the word “design” is in the phrase “web design”. Web design encompasses all things related to building a website, possibly more. The Design, as in aesethetic look and feel, is part of it, but so are things like Content and Functionality.

Let me use my leaky toilet as an example. If you’re looking for information on how to fix your leaky toilet, you may find a very pretty, well built site. However, if it doesn’t tell you how to fix your toilet, how long are you going to spend there before you move to that ugly site with blinking banners, no color, and detailed instruction on how to fix your specific make and model toilet? See, a perfectly reasonable and common example where aesthetic design factors very little into the website’s usage. Which website will you go to next time you’re looking for similar information? Which site will you refer your friends to?

Andy’s quiz showed me a lot of places I can improve my knowledge of visual design, but I have to remember that an effective website encompasses more than just that.

Back when Cingular bought AT&T Wireless, it spent a paltry $4 billion changing its name to Cingular. Now due to another corporate take-over, Cingular is reported to be about to spend $2 billion to change its name back to AT&T. All I can think to say is, “Haha!”

Web 2.0 is one of those buisness buzzwords floating out there that can’t really be summed up easily. At first, I, like many others, want to hate it. It’s a buzzword. It has no real meaning. Then, I find myself using it. Rather than hate myself, I’m coming to grips with the fact that Web 2.0 is a useful term.

So, what does it mean anyway? I have to take a pass at this one. Everyone has a different idea of what it means. For me, Web 2.0 is a mindset. The Web is an evolving technology and constantly changes. By thinking in terms of Web 2.0, you are accepting this change and trying to differentiate from older trends. Current Web 2.0 trends include web standard compliant design, usable interfaces, and an abundance of quality content. Really, that list could go on forever. Many would probably throw AJAX into the mix as well.

The real point, however, is that Web 2.0 is building websites for the future, and Web 1.0 is using methods that have largely been proven incorrect, inaccurate, or aversive. By this line of reasoning, I don’t think there will ever be a Web 3.0. Web 2.0 is always the future while Web 1.0 is the past.