I was playing around with Photoshop today and created these new page headers. How do they look? I've also got these new banners on my homepage, The Movie Critique, and Fun With Dead Trees. Well, they'll take a little getting used to, I'm sure. Especially on the homepage because of how big the old logo was. Oh, well. This is officially my last entry of 1998. Happy New Year!!

[editor's note: I don't think I still have these banners anywhere. As in recall, by today's standards, they're pretty horrendous. But as a Photoshop n00b then, I was quite proud.]

I was reading a pretty interesting site today about the new DivX technology. For those who don't know, DivX is a way of presenting movies that is relatively similar to DVDs. DivX movies come on CD-sized discs and cost about $4 or $5. After you install them in your DivX player, you have 48 hours to watch them. If you go over that time limit, your player will send a message via modem to a service provider that indicates that you should be charged an extra $4. Yeah, a modem. You have to register your player with a service that keeps your credit card number on file so they can bill you. If you like the movie enough, you can upgrade it to a permanent play level for an extra $25. However, you can only play it on your player. It won't work on any other players unless it has been registered for the $4 charge. So, a movie can now cost a whopping $29+. Isn't that a load of shit?

[editor's note: keep a credit card on file online?!?! Who would do such a thing?!?!]

Merry Christmas all!! Have you noticed lately how so many good movies are being released right on Christmas Day? I think it's kinda cool, but it just seems kinda weird as well. I generally think of Christmas as a time to spend with your family by the tree in front of a fireplace. I know that my description is rather Norman Rockwell-esque, but, that's just what I'm used to.

Anyway, several good ones were released today... Patch Adams, A Civil Action (albeit in limited release), Stepmom, and The Faculty. Huh? No, wait... The Faculty shouldn't be on that list. Yes, it was released today, but to consider it a "good one"?!? Funny, but that's what some reviewers have said. Isn't that pathetic? Reviewers actually considering a movie about a school whose faculty has been taken over by aliens ala Invasion of the Body Snatchers to be good? I know I'm in the Twilight Zone now. Yuck! This one should definitely get Wildmage's Golden Suck Award.

[editor's note: if I recall correctly, Wildmage was a friend of mine in grad school who also lived in my building. He gave out his "Golden Suck" award to the worst of the worst in multimedia.]

I know that today is Christmas Eve, but get a load of this horseshit... at a time of year when we should be opening and reading Christmas cards from family and friends, I get an envelope from my school. It was marked "Bursar's Office", so right away the warning sirens are going off in my head. I opened it and found a bill for Spring semester student fees, etc. Happy friggin' joy joy. Thanks a pantload NIU! What's even worse is that if I got this envelope, and my brother got this envelope, then so did everyone else who is attending NIU. Nice of them to hit us up just as we're getting Christmas checks, eh? Conspiracy? I think so.

I can't believe that there are only four days left until Christmas. Where did the year go? Dang. Oh, just to let you all know, I went on a vinyl spree today. I bought 10 records for my collection. Pretty damned good choices too. Only cost me a whopping $10 to top it all off. ELO, Jackson Browne, Fleetwood Mac, and the like. 'Tis quite cool.

[editor's note: I don't even have a working turntable anymore.]

Oh, yeah, did I tell you all that I got married? I'm just kidding. Wanted to see how you'd react. Not that I can actually see your reaction, of course. I'd just like to take this opportunity to say hey to my "wife" Katie. Howdy, hon! If you don't already know the inside joke that I'm talking about, then don't bother trying to figure it out.

[editor's note: I don't remember this inside joke at all but I admit to being curious if the Katie reference is to my wife, Katie. This post is dated six days before we started secretly dating so the probability is there just not sure why I would've made such a public declaration, even if it was a joke.]

Well, my damned finals are finally over with. I took my last exam last night and I didn't do so hot on it. I did so-so on the short answer section and then I completely blacked out on the essay section. Dammit. The thing that makes this worse is that I was reading the section that the essay was about right as she was handing out the exam forms to us. Double dammit. Oh, well. C'est la vie. Shit happens.

On Sunday night I went with some friends to see Gus Van Sant's retelling of Psycho. Yes, I know everyone is really worried and thinks that it is a stupid idea to remake such a classic movie. I was worried, too. However, I really did enjoy it. Vince Vaughn was great as Norman Bates and the supporting cast on a whole was great. Pay careful attention to one thing though. When Marion Crane (Anne Heche) is driving through Los Angeles to sell her car, on the right side of the road is a sheltered bus stop. On one of the walls of the bus stop is a poster for Anne Heche's last movie Six Days, Seven Nights. Coincidence?... I think not!

Two term papers down... one to go!!

[editor's note: talk about brevity. I rarely have Tweets this short these days.]

Howdy all! Welcome to December!! Okay, just to inform you of what happened with the exam that I took last week... I got a B- on it which is not exactly how I expected to do. Well, I did expect to do not-so-hot walking in to take it. However, once I started getting into it, I thought I was doing pretty damned good. Guess I didn't do as well as I thought, eh? Well, at least I have a solid B in the course. That's a good thing, I suppose.