Wednesday, 1 June 2005
Fifteen Seconds of Fame
Not that I'm especially vain, but on occasion I do check how "I" rank in search engines. For a long time, I've been beaten by a like-named tennis player, some guy writing quack science articles, and closely followed by a musician.
Last week, after hearing that Google had again updated its ranking engine, I ran my little test. Bingo! I'm number one. And on Yahoo. And at MSN. Three major search engines, all using different data. I win.
(click the images for a larger version)
Check it out for yourself (while it lasts):
- "John Keller," as seen by Google
- that yahoo "John Keller" on... Yahoo
- "John Keller," according to MSN
Cool, huh? And oh, so geeky.
Like Two Ships Passing in the Night, Only Not
Just ran into Heather's upstairs neighbor in front of her building. The glare he gave me as he wobbled by on his bike was classic.
Wonder if he's gotten his police summons yet?
Monday, 6 June 2005
It's the End of the World as We Know It...
Wednesday, 8 June 2005
Revenge of the Sith
Last Saturday, Heather and I finally went to see the final chapter in the Star Wars series. There's are no new angles to review for you if you're interested, and there's nothing I could make more attractive about my review if you don't already care.
I have had one thing on my mind since seeing The Phantom Menace. Fans and fanatics alike denounced Lucas's foray into self-indulgence. Jar Jar, midichlorians, Jar Jar...
But when it comes down to it, the movie pretty much was in keeping with the whole series up to that point. I mean, let's face it: Star Wars was no Shakespearean classic. A classic, sure, but no work of art.
The difference was, today's rabid fans (and I) were between 6 and 10 years old when Star Wars first came out. The first movie - and the rest - squarely target at that age group, and to giving the sense of wonder that all things sufficiently "cool" can instill in kids.
To this day, I remember my friend's birthday party excursion to the theatre to see it. I remember lifting my feet off the floor during the garbage serpent scene. I remember knowing that it wasn't real, but still being thrilled by the remote possibility that it could be real.
Yes, I can remember that first time I saw Star Wars, with elementary school friends in lil' ol' Rochester, Minnesota. I'm certain that I'll remember seeing the last episode, with my wonderful girlfriend in Paris, France.
George, you may have done wrong. You may be a hack or you may be brilliant. In any case, thank you for these fun - sometimes cool - films that dotted 28 years of my life.
Leaving on a Jet Plane
Tomorrow morning (early - I really should be in bed right now) I leave for a weekend trip to the U.S. for my friend Anton's wedding. I'm feeling more than a little nonplussed about the travel portion, but I'm really looking forward to the time - short as it will be - to spend with friends.
The last time I flew back, for the holidays, I had a great experience on my return flight. At check-in, I was happy to find that I could get seats behind the frontmost bulkhead in cattle class. Then, I got business class on my Minneapolis to Detroit flight. Score!
While waiting for my connection to Paris, I heard my name among a few called to the counter. Oh no, I thought. There had been a line of people even before I'd arrived - two hours earlier. Surely this was an overbooked flight.
Fortunately, it was. "Fortunately" for me, that is: upon arriving at the desk, I was handed a paper ticket. I thought it was just a reassignment, or something more "official" than my e-ticket. But no; apparently because I had the silver frequent flyer class (the lowest possible), I was bumped up to business class for the Paris flight.
Mmm. Motorized reclining chairs. Half-decent food. Leg room. More leg room. That was the first time I'd ever flown anything but economy class on a transatlantic flight.
All this to say, I really hope that I get bumped up to business class this weekend.