Shuffleboard 13

1. "Hit" by James Horner from Patriot Games
Yes, James Horner has scored other things besides James Cameron films. I know, it's shocking.
Patriot Games has a interesting Irish-tinged score that's also fraught with action and tense suspense. It's an odd combo, but it makes for an exciting as well as dreary-sounding score, much like the film itself.
"Hit" accompanies the assassination attempt on Jack Ryan's family in the middle of the film. It's a harrowing scene featuring Sean Bean at his most brutal. The track is mostly ambient for the first three minutes, throwing some Irishy strings and flutes, before picking up a little around four minutes in, as the attackers near Ryan's family on the highway. The tension builds, and builds, AND BUILDS, speeding up and adding more flutes or drums or odd synth bass cues along the way.
I can't help thinking of Sean Bean's chilling line throughout this entire track: "How's the family, Ryan?"

Hope and Change

This post is written first to myself, Caleb Sommerville, and then to the tens of people that will read this.
The two words up for the prize of Buzzwords of the Decade.
Hope and Change.
The question no one (seriously) asks of Obama's catchphrase is this: Hope in what? Change of what? What are we supposed to be placing hope in? What exactly needs change and what does that entail?

The Five Weirdest Songs in My Library

As you tens of readers know from my occasional Shuffleboard© posts, I have a ton of music. A ton of really varied music. Over the years I've collected quite a few tunes (I'm up to 9032 songs, 24.1 days, or 42.48GB), so a few of them are bound to be weird, even to my eclectic ear.
Ooo. I'm saving Eclectic Ear for when I have a band.

I'm Leaving Apple (and AT&T)

Come April, when my two-year contract is up with AT&T, I'm splittin' town. My iPhone will remain in service as an iPod Touch, but my cell phone loyalties will be shifting to a competitor.
I can only stomach so much arrogance and buffoonery before I throw up.

Shuffleboard 12

1. "Prelude from Suite No. 1 for Unaccompanied Cello in G Major" by Yo-Yo Ma from Sounds of Yo-Yo Ma
Note: composed by Bach
Nothing better than a great cello. Yo-Yo Ma is the cello, as far as I'm concerned. Like Itzhak Perlman on the violin and John Coltrane on the sax, Ma is the definition of a great cellist.
This is one of the more popular Bach cello pieces. It's definitely written solely for a cello, and Bach certainly challenges the player to play some great sixteenth-note runs. In fact, the song is pretty much one long sixteenth-note run. Ma has exceptional emotion and dynamics throughout the shortish track, and you can't help but feel distinguished just by listening to it. Phenomenal.

Happy Birthday, REACTOR!

That's right, tens of readers, THE REACTOR is one year old, today. On July 29, 2009, I began reacting to things, and I'm still goin strong (and could go admittedly stronger).
So here's some stats (via Google Analytics) to round out Year One:

Total Visits: 3052
That's less than most minor blogs get in one day. Sad.

Average Time on Site: 1 minute, 1 second
Yup, internet short attention span FTW.

Mac or PC?

I wrote this as an application to be a facebook beta tester. 
The age-old question, indeed. And I'm going be weird when I say: both.
(Disclaimer: I have used both extensively)
The ads are vicious, the fanboys even more so. Macs are easier to use, no, PCs are, but Macs don't get viruses, etc. etc. etc.
It really all depends on what YOU need to use a computer for. Your "philosophy of use," if you will.

Sheepish Grin

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I joined Twitter. Seems like just yesterday/last August that I called it stupid. Ah well.
It turns out it'll probably be pretty useful in promoting my blog and getting info from various news outlets and cool people.
Just chalk it up to a guy named Leo Laporte. He's a tech guru who's on top of the latest trends and all that business. He likes to call it "hand-holding on the information superhighway." And he's super dorky, like me. Anyways, he's talked about Twitter being a sort of finger on the pulse of the web, filtering the staggering terabytes of data that pop up on the internet every second. And since I am a journalist interested in such things, I figured I should probably know the vital signs as much as the next person.
I'll mostly be retweeting (posting something someone else has already posted) and promoting blog posts and my photos on it, but that's okay. That's pretty much what it's for, and what it's evolved into.

Shuffleboard 11

1. "The Departure of Boromir" by Howard Shore from The Fellowship of the Ring
Howard Shore. The man is an enigma to me. He came out of nowhere (for me, at least), wrote hours of outstanding music for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and hasn't written anything close since.
Nevertheless, his music for the epic movies is indeed epic in it's own right.
This track is from the "Complete Recordings" album, which adds even more outstanding music to an already outstanding score. It plays during the fight against the Uruk-Hai near the end of the first movie, playing over Frodo's separation from the Fellowship, and Boromir's heroic last stand to try to save Merry and Pippin.
Shore's sad pieces are heart-rending. Mournful strings, absolutely gorgeous french horn parts, eerie choral parts, and bittersweet oboes make for an earthy-feeling lament that is second-to-none.
Listen to some of it here.

Knee-Jerk

This blog is called THE REACTOR for a reason. I tend to be very opinionated (at the very least, in my own mind) about things that happen from day to day. I have knee-jerk reactions to many things, which sometimes I unfortunately write about and publish without a second thought.
Such is the nature of the blogosphere (+10 points for using that word), and it's not always bad. They say that the first initial reaction to something is usually correct. And I have several test scores in college that would verify that statement.
But sometimes, the knee-jerk reaction is cultivated into an almost reflexive hatred of something, or in this case, someone.

Guest Post: Velvet Elvis Review

For THE REACTOR's first guest post, my friend Isaac has written a review of Emergent Poster Boy Rob Bell's book "Velvet Elvis." Isaac is a firefighter, a language-studier, a fencer, a philosopher, a good friend, and an all-around jack-of-all-trades, so I trust his judgement and endorse what he says below 100%.

Shuffleboard 10

1. "'Ta-Ta Charlie" by Michael Giacchino from LOST Season 3
In what was certainly one of the most emotional parts of LOST, Michael Giacchino wrote some of the most emotional music as well. This sparse but strongly emotional (one of Giacchino's strong points) piano-and-string piece is played right before Charlie sets off to sacrifice himself for the sake of the other survivors. It was an extremely sad episode, and Giacchino wrote an extremely touching score to it. Charlie's music is some of my favorite in the whole series.

The Three-Dimensional Gimmick

Home 3D is the next big thing, if you listen to the entertainment and gadget world (or rather, the bigwigs that run the companies that run the entertainment and gadget world). If you listen to common sense, it's a giant load of hooey.

The Oil Spill's Other Story

An oil rig exploded in early May and is still leaking tons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. It's a horrifying ordeal, and one that will likely replace the Exxon Valdez as the Most Notorious Oil Spill in history. Political activists, mostly liberal, have jumped on the spill and Obama himself has threatened BP (the company that owned the rig) and told them he's "holding them responsible." Overall, it's a huge boon for environmentalists who hate Big Oil.
But that's not the whole story.

New Blog!

Yes, I'm super bloggy. I've got so much blog in me that I had to start another blog.
But seriously folks, I started a new blog called Caleb Needs A Job to help promote myself during this ever-lengthening job hunt.
So tell your friends, tell your bosses, tell your potential employers, that Caleb has a blog, and Caleb Needs A Job!

Good Samaritan Stabbed, Ignored

"And I am reminded, on this holy day, of the sad story of Kitty Genovese. As you all may remember, a long time ago, almost thirty years ago, this poor soul cried out for help time and time again, but no person answered her calls. Though many saw, no one so much as called the police. They all just watched as Kitty was being stabbed to death in broad daylight. They watched as her assailant walked away. Now, we must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men."

-The Boondock Saints

Shuffleboard 9

1. "Down Under" by Colin Hay

The original "Down Under," an Australian folk song by "Men at Work," is a weird, catchy, and apparently anthemic-for-Aussies tune straight out of the 80s. The words are strange, but sum up the easy-going life of Aussies.

This live version by "Men at Work" alum Colin Hay is outstanding. It's recorded at a bar (in Nashville, I think), so he jokes with the audience at the beginning and then plays the song.

The stripped-down man-and-guitar sound combined with the odd and haunting lyrics is eerie, especially with Hay's unique and raspy voice. There's no better recording of it.

2. "634-5789" by Wilson Pickett from In the Midnight Hour and Other Hits

Wilson Pickett is one of the pioneer R&B guys from back when there was more emphasis on what the acronym stood for: Rhythm and Blues.

Pickett was responsible for quite a few classic blues tunes of the 60s on 70s, including "Land of 1000 Dances."

This track is a standard blues/soul offering with Pickett backed by backup singers and a small horn section. The lyrics are forgettable, but catchy. You can definitely see The Blues Brothers doing this number.

3. "Caras Galadhon - Featuring 'Lament for Gandalf'" by Howard Shore, from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Complete Recordings

I think we just set a record for longest song/album title ever.

The Complete Recordings has most of the music from the films, whereas the commonly released soundtrack has selections.

This track is featured while the Fellowship are entering Lothlorien after the disaster in Moria, resulting in the loss of Gandalf. It's sad, mournful, even ominous at times, but still manages to keep it's grand sweeping scale that Shore uses to portray the vastness of Middle-earth.

This video only features a part of the track.

4. "Weary Memory" by Iron and Wine from The Creek Drank The Cradle

When listening to Iron and Wine, you feel like you're on a dusty farm drinking lemonade and listening to overall-wearing bearded guys playing on the porch.

I think one of them does have a beard.

Anyways, just like all other Iron and Wine songs, "Weary Memory" features incredibly tight harmonies, an old guitar, and some slide guitar work too. The lyrics on most Iron and Wine songs are rich, but vary little. They all talk about the hard life in the country, which is maybe why they always sound sleepy.

A very good chill-out tune.

5. "Moody Monday" by Damien Rice from O

I happened upon Irish folk singer Damien Rice quite by accident. I heard one of his songs on an episode of House, wondered aloud who it was, and found that my roommate at the time was a Damien Rice fan. I've been fascinated ever since.

"Moody Monday" is perhaps my least favorite Rice song, almost exclusively due to the odd processing he puts on his voice during the chorus. He weirdly pitches his voice up (think Stitch from Lilo and Stitch) while singing "MOOODaaay, MOooooodaaaay..." It's odd and jarring.

Other than that, the song isn't bad. It features the same heartbreak, depression and desperation that makes Rice so unique and powerful.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a youtube video of this track, so here's a 30-second sample.

The Cardinal Sins of Facebook

acebook has become as ubiquitous as Google these days. In fact, if Facebook were it's own country, it'd be the third most populous nation in the world, ahead of the United States and behind India and China.

At the risk of sounding pretentious, I was on Facebook in 2005, the year after it went public (became available to universities outside the Ivy League). I've been able to watch its dizzying ascent to Internet stardom, and at the same time, notice (and possible contribute to) its unwritten set of rules.

As these rules are unwritten, it is easier to point out when they are broken. Thus, The Cardinal Sins of Facebook.

1. Unending Game Requests

When Facebook opened its doors to third-party developers, the Internet itself went crazy. Everyone and their mother's uncle had an app to add. Gaming app developers soon figured out that making users request their friends to complete various in-game tasks equaled a lot more users.

That petered out about a year ago, though. Everyone is now using the apps they want to be using. It has plateaued. Developers are still under the impression that the growth will be exponential, so they haven't tweaked their systems at all. Newbie Facebook users (as well as clueless ones) therefore continue to request you join their mafia, become their farm neighbor, or answer awkwardly personal questions about them. And no amount of begging from you will stop it.

Absolution: If you see a request you don't like, Facebook has gloriously added a "block application" button. Use it liberally.

2. The Baiting Status

I remember a time before Facebook status updates.

Just let that sink in a while.

When statuses went live, Facebook users were all college students. We all experimented with the status function, either updating everyone about every little thing going on in our lives, or just ignoring the feature all together. The usage leveled out to activity updates, newsworthy accomplishments, interesting links, and even the occasional gloating status.

Then Facebook opened its cyberdoors to any and everyone with a email address. Thus, we got a slew of microblogging the day's events, spam ads, and the worst offender of them all, The Baiting Status (aka the Sympathy Fisher).

"really wishes some people would just grow up!"

"feels crappy."

"just wants life to be normal! please!!!!"

The list, unfortunately, goes on forever. These tricky statuses are designed to bait you into asking what's wrong, prompting either a pissed-off "nothing" reply, or a long paragraph you have no intention of reading.

Absolution: DON'T REPLY. If you know the person and are genuinely concerned about them, private message them or call them (and tell them not to post that crap on Facebook anymore).

3. The Copy-and-paste Status

These are the Facebook equivalent of chain letters.

"♥♥♥ put this on your status if you or somebody you know has suffered BABY LOSS ♥♥♥ the majority won't put it on, because unlike cancer baby loss is a taboo ♥♥♥ break the silence ♥♥♥"

I have no idea what that particular status means, but you know what I'm getting at.

When I was "researching" this topic via my own Facebook status, someone said this: "[I hate] copy and paste status updates that guilt you into thinking you don't love your husband, mother, children, sister, God, whatever if you don't paste it as your own."

That pretty much sums it up.

Absolution: If you aren't that friendly with the offender in real life, defriend them and move on. If that would cause unnecessary strife, simply delete them from your News Feed by clicking the "Hide" button next to their name.

4. Old(er) people using internet acronyms from 1998

Seriously guys. Many more people can type quickly these days, foregoing the need for "G2G," "LOL," "AFK," and any number of MSN Messenger-bred acronyms from our middle-school days. The old(er) people on Facebook seemed to have just discovered them, and are therefore using them as liberally as we did back in the day. Shudder.

They're even inventing their own. On one status last week I saw both "PTL" and "WTG" in one status. The first is for "Praise the Lord," and I believe the second is "Way to go."

Really? We need acronyms for that?

Absolution: I dunno, offer to pay for typing lessons for the offender. To prevent yourself from giving in to acronym temptation, just type the same things you would say in person. It usually comes out sounding much more human, and less like a 7th-grader in 1998 on his Gateway computer talking to his friends on MSN.

5. Not realizing the difference between a message and a wall post

While none of my Facebook friends have made this mistake, failbook.com has a large collection of such offenders.

The foremost example is located here, but be forewarned, the language is very, um, private (NSFW).

Facebook (and Internet in general) newbies often complain of "all the stuff." No matter how simplistic and easy Facebook makes their layout, someone is inevitably typing stuff into the wrong box, complaining about changes (see number six), and sending people public posts about private issues.

Absolution: KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. Teach those less fortunate than you.

6. Complaining every time Facebook tweaks its layout

Goodness is this ever an epidemic. Every time Facebook changes its UI, people get in an uproar over "the new facebook." They complain about not knowing where anything is, that it looks stupid, that facebook shouldn't just change without asking people, etc., etc., etc.

Facebook is a company. They own the website. They are allowed to change it as they see fit. I would venture a guess and say that 80% of the changes made are beneficial to users. Whether it's a layout change like moving the notifications to the top of the screen or adding cleaner lines to the New Feed, it seems as if the general public is unhappy. They want things the old way. They want Facebook to never ever change.

If the Internet never changed or upgraded its looks, we'd be browsing News Feeds on something like this:

Absolution: Stop whining. That is all.

LOST Reaction: "Dr. Linus"

Sorry I've been so behind on these.

This week's LOST, "Dr. Linus," was yet another great Ben episode. Ben is either terrifying or weirdly endearing (or obnoxiously evil), and our perception of him seems to change every episode.

Ilana finds out that Ben killed Jacob, which is apparently worse than we thought. She looks like she's about to eat him once Miles reads Jacob's ashes (WTF?) and tells her it was all Ben.

They go back to the beach (once a-fricking-gain), and Ilana forces Ben to dig his own grave. He's penitent seemingly without ulterior motives, which is a first. Smokeylocke sets him free and tries to recruit him, but Ben explains to Ilana, while holding her at gunpoint, that he feels terrible for killing Jacob, and blames it on his distraught state of mind after Alex's death. He seems genuinely sorry, and says he's going to Smokeylocke because "he's the only one that'll have me."

This exchange really intrigued me. Ilana then goes against everything she's already said and accepts Ben. "I'll have you," she says, picking up her gun and heading back to the beach.

Did she forgive him? Does she know that he truly is sorry? It's an intriguing view of forgiveness, and I think it's high time Ben was truly redeemed.

The other Island storyline, with Hurley and Jack running into Richard, was incredibly illuminating. Richard explains that he was touched by Jacob and therefore given a gift. Both Hurley and Jack were also "touched" by Jacob, so what does that say? Are the Losties candidates for Jacob's job, or Richard's?

Richard leads them to the Black Rock where he tries to get Jack to kill him, which doesn't work. It's obvious they both, in the words of Walt, "still have work to do."

As for the LA timeline, I found it be quite interesting. Ben is a high school teacher who deserves more credit then he gets. He's a great teacher, cares about his kids (one of which is his alt-adopted-daughter, Alex), and is friends with a growingly-obnoxious Arzt. Seriously. A one- or two-second cameo was enough. The guy's annoying now.

Anyways, he's trying to get his history club back together (by inexplicably trying to become principal, some weird school politics if you ask me) and tries to blackmail the principal with lascivious emails, only to be reblackmailed into choosing between the principal job and Alex's future. And once again, a alt-timeline Lostie chooses others instead of themselves. He chooses Alex and goes back to being pitiful Dr. Linus again.
I think the alt-timeline characters are proving to be a lot more sane than their Island-bound selves. I hope all the flash-sideways tie together and prove useful, and aren't just filler. I really hope they have something to add to the story, but so far, they don't really have a bearing on the Island timeline.

Time will tell.

The Best Omegle Chat Ever

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

You: What are you?

Stranger: Imm'a machine.

Stranger: Built tough... like a ford.

You: I am a sock.

Stranger: MHMMM yess sir built tough like chuck norris

Stranger: But not as tough...

Stranger: How is that? typing with no weight

Stranger: or strength or anything.

You: I am a prehensile, self-aware sock.

You: FEAR ME

Stranger: OH CRAP!

Stranger: PREHENSILE, SELF-AWARE SOCK VS MACHINE

Stranger: FIGHT

Stranger: MACHINE USES ROCKET LAUNCHER

You: SOCK USES DRYER SHEET, MACHINE NOW SMELLS OF FRESH LINEN

You: *HEADSHOT*

Stranger: LMAO

Stranger: SOCK WINS!
FATALITY

You: You have fought well, worthy adversary.

Stranger: *bows*

Your conversational partner has disconnected.