Numb3rs, or my latest TV addiction

When I first heard there was a show about a mathematician who helped solve crimes, I was immediately sent back to “3-2-1 Contact” a children’s show that featured a sketch called “Mathnet” where mathematicians served as well, crime fighters.

As much as I loved “Mathnet” as a kid, this latest iteration didn’t feel like as good an idea.

Going on the advice of my TiVo, I decided to watch an episode of Numb3rs. Featuring a math whiz college professor and his FBI brother. While maintaining his status at the college, the professor helps his brother and the FBI fight crime by using patterns and statistical analysis.

I’m not much of a math person, but I’m intrigued by the process. The show melds the procedural cop drama with intellectual flights of fancy. Unlike shows like CSI, Numb3rs works on character development and the unique situation to create a distinct feel.

If you enjoy a good show like Bones or CSI, I recommend Numb3rs. I’m working on season one on DVD myself now.

Congrats to Kevin Garnett

I was a Minnesota Timberwolves fan at one point. Then they traded Kevin Garnett and they officially lost any faith I had in them. Tonight KG just won his first championship … with the Boston Celtics.

Congratulations Kevin, you earned it. Timberwolves, see I told you — you screwed up BIG TIME by trading him. He finished with the best team in the league and you finished as the worst. Go figure.

Indiana Jones blog on the Independent

The following is a re-posting of a blog I wrote in responce to a co-workers blog about the latest Indiana Jones film. The original blog posts can by found on the Marshall Independent Web site.

Indiana Jones and the Cranky Sports Editor

I grew up loving the Indiana Jones film franchise. I started with the second, “Temple of Doom” and spread my wings further, finally catching the first movie shortly after.

In 1989 a dream came true, I got a third Indiana Jones movie “The Last Crusade.”

The excitement I felt as a kid for the third movie is actually similar to what I felt when I heard they were making a fourth.

A few years ago the news reached me that a fourth film starring Indiana Jones would be hitting the big screen.

It took a few years and a number of “it’s never going to happen” doubts, but we finally have the new movie.

I didn’t make it to the theater right away to see it, I was busy that weekend, but the following weekend I was sure to have a ticket for the movie.

Before I ever got to see it, co-worker and sports editor Andy Rennecke told me he hated the movie. He later expanded on his displeasure with the film in his blog post “Bad Indy.”

By that point I had heard a few voices express displeasure with the movie including a few film critics but I had actually heard more positive reviews.

The Web site Rotten Tomatoes, a site that compiles film critics reviews and determines how “fresh” or “rotten” a movie is, scored “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” a 77 percent fresh rating. To translate, most critics really liked the movie.

Even the highly critical movie fans that frequent the Internet Movie Database rated the movie a 7.5 out of 10.

Unlike my fellow blogger here at the Independent I will not be posting any spoilers in my write up about the movie, some of the fun in this franchise and this film are the surprises.

What I will say is the obvious, Dr. Henry Jones Jr. is growing up. He’s no longer that kid just discovering a whip on a circus train. He’s no longer that middle aged adventurer who saved small villages and discovered lost relics. Instead Dr. Jones is a seasoned adventurer who never stopped exploring and discovering over the 20 years that we’ve missed him.

It’s the 1950s, a different world from the one he rode away from in the Last Crusade.

In his blog, Andy complained about the opening sequence of “Skill,” which had our hero captured without any explanation as to how that happened.

I’d like to remind Andy, that’s pretty much how all the Indy movies have started. How did Indy find himself at the edge of a temple ready to discover an idol only to find himself face to face with his nemesis. How did that happen? What brought Indy to the table with bad guys who were ready to poison him? And how did a young Indy find himself in the middle of a desert where he would face off against the bad guys on a train?

The movies (and even the television show about the young Indiana Jones) have always had an edge of cheese. They’re based on old serials from the early days of film. Each serial picked up where the last one left off.

I think that is one of the problems some people have had with the movie, in some ways it doesn’t feel like the same world that Indiana Jones first explored in.

It’s a little more modern, but there is still the dangers and mysteries around.

Jones has always been running from improbable traps, shying away from snakes and fighting over-the-top bad guys.

That’s all here in this latest film.

I think sometimes we remember movies from our youth a certain way and we’re not willing to accept newer versions of them.

“Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” has a lot of supernatural elements, but remember that too has always been present in the franchise.

Andy suggested waiting to see this movie on DVD or just skilling it all together.

I think that’s a mistake. If you’ve been looking forward to this movie I say go see it in theaters. If you were going to wait for the DVD, that’s on you.

It might not be the best of the Indiana Jones movies, but Skull has a lot going for it.

It’s a really good time.

Andy cited Steven Spielberg and George Lucas as part of the problem with the movie. The two film makers that created Indy and have virtually shaped film making to how we see it today.

Spielberg and Lucas have been both praised and lamented for their choices in movies. The one thing that can’t be disputed is many film makers have tried to emulate their styles and storytelling.

I think that might be where some of the concern actually stems from. What might feel like something we’ve seen 1,000 times can actually be traced back to these film makers.

I’m glad to have Indy back, I just hope it’s not another 20 years before we get another one.

Andy is free to his opinion, he just happens to be wrong on this one.

Playing around with videos

I’ve been playing around with the idea of posting some video, as filmed by my digital camera and also the iSight on my MacBook. At this point it’s still an experiment but I figured I would give it a shot.

I uploaded the following video on Vimeo.com/rjw3.

Sponge Bob Square rips his Pants from Robert Wolfington on Vimeo.

I’m not sold on using Vimeo, I could move to YouTube, but we’ll see.

Spider-man, Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk

I’m sorry, but this was too awesome not to share with everyone. Enjoy.

I love Twitter but …

Like many tech philes I have been enamored with the service “Twitter.” It’s a difficult thing to explain but I think this video does it as good as anything.

Video by Common Craft.

I have been using Twitter myself for quiet a while, since it was just a little birdie as it were, going back to early February 2007. Since that time I’ve only actually known a couple people who Twitter and yet, I have seen my viewers swell to over 80 people.

I now have a goal to expand that to 100 people by the end of September. Not sure how I’m going to do it but so far the people who follow me just seem to do it on their own, I’m going to let it happen organically. I’ve gone up over 20 people in about a month so it’s not unlikely.

The problem I find with Twitter, and a complaint that many users have, is the constant instability of the service. It is almost constantly down. That makes for a difficult user experience. And yet almost all of us continue to return to the simple social networking service.

I lost interest in FaceBook before I started using it and the MySpace experience is awful. It’s all about Twitter — at least when it works.

You can follow me right from my blog, otherwise friend me up on twitter.com/rjw3. Let me know if you do and I’ll follow you back. It’s worth it I swear.

It’s finally summer 2008

I’m sitting on my sofa watching the Red Wings and Penguins fight it out on the ice for the Stanley Cup while I have a blanket draped over my legs — that’s right it’s pretty much summer. OK, maybe not really summer, but for all intents and purposes it is that season we all truly love.

This summer there are a handful of things I’d like to do/accomplish including short trips, house cleaning and the like. One of the trips is something I’ve done a few times but I would like to actually chronicle at least once.

It’s a Minnesota land mark that we all know and love.

It’s the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota. Yup, that magical mystery in Darwin. I’ve seen it a few times but I think it’s about time I truly give it the justice it richly deserves.

I’ll give you the low down once I finally get around to making the short trek. That’s right, I don’t live that far from it.

View Larger Map