New lease on life

This is my very neglected blog, because blogs just seem silly to me. However, I've recently had a new lease on blogging, finding art blogs heavily interesting. I systematically check thedailywh.at and boingboing.net a couple times a day.

I've also decided to sweep up this blog and start posting interesting things that will not be read by many, but will be around for posterity.

the great phone dilemma

I have a Katana II with Sprint. It's a decent phone. I like Sanyo phones, which is why I went with it in the first place. I bought it outright on ebay last October for $180 bucks. Recently, I've had problems with it. People on the other line can't hear me very well, and I fade in and out. This sucks. I went into the Sprint repair shop in Orem, UT and had them take a look. They couldn't fix it, so I am getting a replacement in a week or so. It only cost 37 bucks. Pretty good deal. Hopefully they'll let me keep my current phone and the new phone, so that I can take advantage of the Sanyo warranty coverage as well, and get two new phones for $37 bucks. This time I'll have a back up phone in case the new one breaks.

I'm giving my wife the Sprint line and taking her AT&T line, because the contract on that line has expired. With that, I'm going to buy the new 3G iPhone July 11th in Provo. I've also lined up buying an old iPhone from someone who is upgrading. I'm only paying $100 bucks for an old 8 gig model. This is cheap, considering he probably paid $600 for it a year ago. SO, when I get that old iPhone, I might jailbreak or unlock it and keep it as another back up.
(Speaking of which, listen to me rant about the 3G iPhone in the latest Geocentric podcast HERE)

I think I'm standing on top of the cellular industry right now. If only I could get a job at a cellular store.

Wall - E Summary

I just got back from seeing "Wall-E", Pixar's newest film. It was great, definitely recommend it. I'm not going to give you a whole plot synopsis, but you might want to put off reading this review until you see the film yourself. Here are some spoilers.

I liked how much fun the sound design team must have had doing this film. They took some Star Trek sounds, the old Mac boot up sound, and this and that.

The social commentary on how stupid, fat, and lazy the future Man is unnecessary. I guess it moved the plot line along pretty well, but was a little lame. I just don't see us as a society doing that to ourselves. I suppose the whole premise of the film is a little far fetched for a reason.

I like how the "wall of captains" started with an actual human actor and progressively became a cartoon fat guy. That was a Pixar first: having real human actors.

The short that ran before the movie was great: It paid homage to Warner Bro's Bugs Bunny style shorts. Good call, Pixar.

I was pleased with the film in general. It's not my favourite Pixar release (Toy Story 1 and 2) but it's definitely a DVD buy.

-Ethan

made redundant

I was made redundant today at my lousy job. That's a double whammy, being laid off from a job you didn't want to keep in the first place. It's one thing being fired from, like, Pixar or Disney. That would suck. Being let go from selling cell phones in Sam's Club? I still don't know where I quite stand on this yet.

It's let me step back a second and familiarize myself again with the talent I've put on hold for some time. I forgot I can draw cartoons. I'm starting my New Yorker strips soon...

Hopefully I can find a job that won't suck the life and weekends out of me. I wouldn't mind, at this point, being a Temp. I want 9-5 mon - fri mindless work. Watching Office Space makes me hesitant to apply, however.

I need to publish more stuff on the web.

I love you, Western Digital

Rightfully so, Western digital has entirely won me over as a customer, ten fold even. Here's my story, which I plan on inputting in a few places. (amazon.com, ebay, etc.)

I bought a 400 gig hard drive on ebay from a reputable power seller. (the only way to go.) I paid $90 bucks, and got the internal hard drive installed. It wasn't working. I went to the western digital site and walked through a few different trouble shooting processes, and downloaded testing software. Long story short, I fill out a return form and send off my hard drive. It took them about 3 weeks, but I got a replacement hard drive back factory direct. I thought it was nice that they would even exchange a faulty hard drive, considering the source of which I made purchase. I get the hard drive, and to my utter amazement, the hard drive is a 750 gigger. Wow. Thank you so much, Western Digital, for bumping my order up. I'm not sure what I did to deserve that, maybe my hard drive's model was old, but having 350 gigs more than I started out with was a sweet suprise. I'm a Western Digital HD fan for life. Since then, I've gotten another hard drive, and will recommend that brand to everyone I help out. (I'm probably going to reapply to work at Best Buy again.)

So, do yourself a favor and buy WD.

art

I've been up to some good lately. I'm finally getting time to work on art. Although it's quick and simple stuff, it's got merit.

My buddy Ian is releasing a EP next year. I created this cover for him to go over. If he likes it, time to work on posters, back cover, etc.



I think it's beautiful. It's a photograph from the library of congress, so it's copyright FREE! That's right. I can make posters and cd's out of any photograph the library of congress owns and I don't pay SQWAT! They owe me, considering I had a 45% tax cut out of my bonus this year. Freakin' aye man. I'm just trying to support my wife and I while we're college students. You think they wouldn't take a whole 45% out of my BONUS. BONUS means EXTRA, not MORE TAXABLE! Honestly.

And lastly, here's a poster for a show in NYC. One of my favourite bands is releasing a new cd, and I made a poster in their honor!



Check out the band at matadorrecords.com

I'm still working on a logo for my sister's band. That'll take a bit more time, I suppose.
-Ethan

I hate this time of year. Not the holidays, but the pre-holidays. (Nov. 1-Thanksgiving) I love the upcoming holidays, but Christmas seems to come earlier and earlier every year. I think it's because the stores, like the Sam's Club I work in (not AT, by the way.) want the "holiday rush" to get the 4th quarter to a running start. I've become depressed with consumerism and commercialism. I thought this was a relatively new problem, but the original "Miracle on 34th Street" film mentions commercialism being a problem as well.

Now, this December everyone needs to patronize the theater that is willing to show the following documentary:

"What Would Jesus Buy?"

This is produced by the same genius who starred and directed "Super Size Me". I love his documentary style exposition films, and eagerly await this next gem.

I just realized something: there's no spell check on myspace blogs. I'm almost done with them entirely. For future reference, www.ethanwc.blogspot.com is the new blog site.

Done for the day. Actually have the rest of the day off from working cell phones. Thank goodness.