Browser Tips & Tricks

Browsers are awesome.  If you're still using Internet Explorer, stop.  Get something better.  Like Firefox, Opera, Safari, or Chrome.  A rundown:

• FireFox has the most flexible and extensive add-ons of any of the browsers, including an add on that lets you download YouTube and other embedded videos.  Anything you might want your browser to do?  Most likely there is a FireFox add-on for you.
  
• Chrome is pretty sleek.  I use it because it crashes less on my work PC and I just like the interface.
  
• Safari is nice, though I find it fairly limited in some respects.  But this is mostly a personal preference thing.
  
• Opera is a fairly young browser that not too many people use, but it's also fun.  Has all the major points (tabs, opening a brand new window) and is kind of like the cool thing to do.  It would be the hipster browser.

Here are a few things you might not know your browser can do:

1/ Browser history has gotten a lot of people in trouble, for various reasons.  And sometimes, we just don't want people to know where we've been--like when I bought my imaginary significant other's birthday present and didn't want to leave tracks.  But it looks a little suspicious if you always have a clean browser history, which is why most new browsers come with the option to temporarily turn off the history.

Chrome has an "Incognito WIndow" (open under File --> New Incognito Window).  

Safari turn on "Private Browsing" (Safari --> Private Browsing).

Firefox has "Private Browsing" (Tools --> Start Private Browsing). 

These functions are magnificent.  USE THEM.  And at the very least set your browser history to delete itself ever 2-3 days.  At the very least.


2/ For those that read a lot of websites with long articles or text, Safari has a great option called "Reader."  It's under "View" and it gets rid of distracting font color, images, colors, etc and basically turns the website into an E-Book.  IT.  IS.  WONDERFUL.  (As far as I know, Safari is the only browser that does this.)


3/ Opera, Safari, and Chrome all have "most visited" start/new tab pages that will list your top 6-12 visited sites for easy access.  You can "pin" any site you want (i.e. even if you only visit it a couple of times, you can still get it to stay there), which is convenient.


4/ For those heavily into on-line life (like me), keeping track of things can get difficult.  Which is why I actually have three different browsers on my computer.  One is basically for social media--twitter, facebook, linked in, etc, one is for the various blogs/new sites/media outlets I follow (Safari because of that 'reader function'), and one is for random other stuff.  Or for if I get really, really angry at Chrome or Safari because they're both crashing for no reason what-so-ever.

So there's your mini tutorial/crash course in online browsing.  Questions?

Only in LA

I've figured out why in TV shows, everyone is insanely hot--even the people in the background. It's because here, in LA, it actually happens.

I must say there's a huge upside to having an entire city of wanna-be actors needing day jobs.

My Mac crashed. Gloriously. As in, there's no bootable drive that it can detect and it won't launch from the OSX install DVD. I'm not freaking out because a) I convinced the Apple people they wanted to give me AppleCare even though I'd missed the window by a month and b) I backed up everything right before the crash. So I take my poor, abused Mac into the store.

I'm greeted by two really, really hot women and one cute (but kind of young) guy. This day? Already better than it could have been.

I next wander over to the Genius Bar to try and get a stand-by appointment. They guy who comes to help me? WOW. Yes, please. Feel free to help me out however you want. Can I see you tomorrow? Can my appointment be with YOU? PLEASE?

So after I make my appointment, I think to myself, "This would be a great time to look into AppleCare and see if they'll give it to you despite the fact you're a month late." So one of the hot girls calls a manager who ends up being a hot guy with rainbow eyes. I'm not kidding. His eyes were bands of color, going from brown to light yellow-brown to green to a thin band of green-gold to black. WOW.

He explains that I need to call the AppleCare center to make sure they'll give me the service retroactively, and while I'm waiting Matt will sit with me to make sure everything is OK. Matt is California cute--kind of scruffy, skater/surfer kind of college guy. I can't go wrong in this place. It's like speed dating with electronics. I approve. And I'm going back tomorrow.

It's a Small, Small World

So Roomie and I were relaxing after an excruciating week of Grad school. We literally sat on our couch as watched episodes of Alias and Arrested Development all day. I'm not exaggerating. There may have also been a drink or two thrown in there. Somewhere along the way, we started recounting our random exploits pre-UCLA. We got on the subject of Washington D.C., which is where my roommate's parents currently live.

Roomie's brother is a Yale student; he's uber connected in the rich, influential people arena. We got on Facebook and started looking at pictures of him, when we came across one that was the brother and his two best friends. I looked at one of the friends and said, "Jamie W. Wait, I think I'm friends with that guy!" She looked at me and went, "No way. He's my brother's best friend. They're rooming together next year, there's no way you know him." And I went, "Um, pretty sure I do. Let me check my facebook."

So I logged on and, sure enough, there's Jamie W. We're friends. See, a couple of years ago my best friend and I went to D.C. We were sitting in the Library of Congress when these three guys walked up. They were looking for directions to the Courthouse and asked us if we knew where it was. So we gave them directions and they started talking to us. We figured out pretty quickly it was totally an excuse to hit on us when one of them (the Jamie W in question) told us he was from D.C. and had lived there all his life. Katherine and I exchanged an amused glance and continued with the charade. We ended up going to a party somewhere in D.C. and having a pretty good time. Added the guys as Facebook friends and pretty much forgot about them until the other night. I think I rocked Roomie's world a little bit. Because the chances are high that I actually met her brother at the party we attended. Small world, huh?

Oh, and the three guys totally tell the story of how they picked us up. They refer to us as 'The Smithsonian Chicks.'

Sophia and Blanch Go to a Bar

It's spring break, my friends Jon (of college) and Thibault (of Paris host family) are in town. So we had a great time wandering around Santa Monica and Venice. We walked along the canals, the Venice pier and of course the beach. I also introduced Jon to the wonders of In-N-Out Burgers. So after we meet up with Thibault at Venice, we stop for some food and a drink at this beach side restaurant, then decide to go out. We end up at this hole-in-the-wall bar that doesn't even have a sign out front. My friends Adam and Allison also show up.

It's just your average night out...UNTIL.

Allison is special. She had guys lining up to talk to her. Literally. When one guy vacates, another is right there to fill in. So after guy number two, this Polish guy starts chatting her up. I see him touching her rather...friendly, and step in to talk to her. The guy starts grabbing her around the waist and sort of goosing her. Not classy (though still mostly innocent). Then his short, really drunk friend shows up. He talks to Allison for a while, who introduces herself as...Allison. Well, you may wonder why I'm making a point of saying that. It's because he starts calling her Sophie/Sophia. No idea where that one came from. But I know that he's just...doing it. For no reason. So when his friend makes it apparent that Allison is his, he moves on to me.

The guy pops up and asks me to dance. I'm sitting there going...I dunno dude. So he starts asking me, trying to plead his case. I make him demonstrate his smooth moves and rhythm (of which he only had a little), and the song ends. He also assumes that Adam, who's standing next to me, is my boyfriend. But he still wants to dance with me anyways. But I say, "No, my boyfriend's kind of jealous." He grins and says, "We'll make sure he isn't jealous." I give him a Look and say, "No, I don't think so. He's like, scary jealous. Border-line violent, like almost going to jail violent." He's STILL undeterred.

Since he's so persistent, so I finally give him a chance...as long as he can convince my three chaperons to agree. So he immediately moves over to Adam to convince him to let us dance. They chat for a few minutes, and finally he moves on to Thibault. Adam comes up to me and in a small voice asks, "Um, what was the right answer?" I naturally start cracking up, because the correct answer is there is no correct answer but to just keep messing with his head.

The next thing I know, Thibault is walking away from the guy saying, "No. I will not!" and trying to catch his breath in between gales of laughter. Allison decides that if she has to be Sophia, I get to be Blanch. So when The Dude gets done with Jon, who doesn't so much answer as say, "You can ask her, but don't be surprised by the answer...", he comes up to me and starts asking to dance with me again. So I relent and tell him I'll dance with him...if he can tell me what my name is. So this starts another round of polling my chaperons, and he comes up with neither my real name, nor my fake name. And he starts apologizing for not remembering my name from...yesterday? Apparently, we met when we were checking in at a hotel, and Sophie was with me and three of my other friends were with us, and we all chatted and introduced ourselves.

At that point, we decided it was time to go to bed. So we left the Polish guy and the tiny persistent dude in the bar to sleep and prepare for our next adventure.

I Had to Share...

So my mom called me up yesterday asking if she should go see a movie called 'Doomsday.' And I went...Really mom? You think you're going to enjoy a movie called DOOMSDAY? But I went onto IMDb because I've seen ads for this movie and haven't been able to figure out what the hell it's about (other than it's about Doomsday and, obviously, when it's the end of the world we all go Goth Punk because...well, it's way cooler to live in a post apocalyptic world as a Goth than as a human being struggling for survival AND fashion sense.)

Here's what one enlightened viewer had to say about it:

Full of Action and Blood

This movie was one of my favorite movies of 2008 so far. (We're what, three months into 2008?) This movie reminded me of so many other movies. (That's always a good, original thing) For example: Resident Evil, Stardust, and 28 weeks later. (What the hell is STARDUST doing on that list?) The plot of Doomsday is that a wall is separating the zombies and the non infected people. Except the non infected people are crazy. (Best. Plot. EVER.) The main characters are brave which makes the movie a little more enjoyable. (So...it wasn't a little more enjoyable without your brave heroes? If your heroes were in fact not brave, what would you have done?) There is a big car chase scene in this movie which had some pretty cool deaths. (AWESOME, I'm sold. Yay death hooray death.) Doomsday is more about people that eat other people than zombies eating people. (Um...yummy? Brunch?) They could make a video game out of this movie. (That's how I judge if it's a good movie too.) 10/10 for the good graphics, blood, and action! (MORON.)

Scrubs

NBC comedy Scrubs is moving to ABC for its new season. So it's not over yet, folks.

Headline Variety

"A settlement of the WGA strike appears imminent, but members of the postproduction industry are worried that it's already be too late to repair irreparable harm."

--Variety headline

o__O

(Though, the rumors are by the end of the week, we'll be back in business.)

Awesome Stories

So I occasionally get to hear some really rockin' stories from the people who come in or our profs who have done Stuff. This one is about An Officer and a Gentleman.

Remember the GREAT romance in that story? Paula and Zack and the carrying-across-the-threshold scene? And how Debra Winger and Rishard Gere looked so so so good together? Yeah. They loathed each other. Richard Gere sent her dead roses dyed black when she was nominated for the Oscar.

AWESOME.

Producer-ish Thought of the Day

So from time to time, I find my producing classes infiltrating on my sanity. Today I had this thought:

If I wanted to build an Eiffel Tower (a la the one in Vegas), what rights--if any--would I have to buy?

Think about it. Is the actual design copyrighted? If I added a column or zigged instead of zag, could I get away with it? Is it considered a work of art, even though it's actually just a famous radio tower? (By the way, if you have any pictures of the light show on the E.T., you're infringing on copyright. You have to pay the SNCF royalties.) Questions questions questions.

Eau de New Year

Ah, three weeks away from the hustle and bustle of the City of Angels. It's almost enough to recharge the batteries and prepare to return to the West Coast. So in preparation, some things I appreciate about the South:

--Being able to drive across town in 10 minutes.
--Being the crazier driver.
--Mocking my friends about having 'liquor stores' and not being able to buy alcohol in grocery stores. (To be fair, the first time my roommate and I threw a party and needed more alcohol STAT, I spent 20 minutes trying to figure out where a liquor store was until a native Californian looked at me like I was insane and asked me why I wasn't just going to the grocery store down the street. They thought my resulting awe was 'cute.')
--SWEET TEA.
--Mustard-based barbecue sauce
--CHEERWINE (themed care packages accepted.)
--The queer nightlife, wherein the alternative lifestyle' denizens of the oppressed South go uber-queer and party hard.
--ssssssllllllloooooowwwww living. Makes reading books easier.

But now I am in the land of sun (it rained for the first two days I was back) and warmth (it was freezing, indoors and out) and In-N-Out burger.

Irony of the Trip: The really fat guy wearing a “Property of U.S. Athletic Dept” t-shirt.

Chad Vader

Klaus and the Forklift of Doom

The Potter Puppets

PSAs in Canada

Really, when you think about it, Canadians ARE absolutely terrifying.