I want a personal portal that aggregates all of my disparate content into a meaningful representation of what’s going on in my life. Jeff Croft has already started doing this with his website but he doesn’t have any plans to release the code he is using to the general public. My ideal portal would allow the owner of the portal to add new data sources through a web page…no configuration files to edit after the initial install. Adding a source of photos should be as simple as typing your flickr api key into a text field and hitting submit. Your pictures would automagically show up on you personal portal with a new heading on the front page and all of the pictures would use the same theme as the rest of the portal. Adding any external content source should be that simple.

I think that kind of portal could be created fairly simply at this point with a number of different web programming frameworks, but they all require to much configuration on the part of the web host and the end user. Installing such a portal must be as simple as installing wordpress. The installation needs to be scriptable to such a degree that Dreamhost can easily create a one-click installer.

In one hour I was able to slap together a fully dynamic website for tracking the movement of tapes from one data center to another while making sure that there are timestamps and users associated with the tape movement. Creating the same fully featured application using PHP and MySQL would have taken me days. I think I’m in love.

The long and short of it is that I enjoyed the movie. I’ve read the trilogy of books written by Philip Pullman and the movie very closely followed the book. The acting was particularly good for what I largely see as a special effects movie. Nicole Kidman does an especially good job playing a complex villainess. She is able to show her own conflicted allegiances without going so far as to make the audience forget she is not to be rooted for.

There are some other good performances turned in by both child and adult actors. Completely outstripping the acting, however, are the special effects. We see an alternate Earth where new technologies are interspersed with what is essentially the 19th century; this is a tastefully done steampunk. Zeppelins and powered coaches are seen alongside paddle-wheeled, sailing ships. There were times when I missed the shift from live action scenes to CGI scenes. Yes, this is another milestone in computer generated scenery in films. It’s amazing to see the companion (called a daemon in The Golden Compass) to the lead character Lyra morph from a sparrow to a mouse.

Despite the large number of things done well in this movie, there were moments throughout that I found my attention wavering because the obvious plot explanation being spoken on screen. Because the source book was so dense it was not possible for the film makers to let plot points come to light through casual conversation between characters. In one scene Lord Asriel, well played by Daniel Craig, explains what he’s doing and why to the great white vastness of the far North so that the audience will understand a particular plot point.

Despite such niggling details you should see this movie.

The walls in the living room, kitchen, and bathroom have been painted and they help to give less of a sterile appearance to the place. Unfortunately, after we finished painting the bathroom, we found out that there is a leak in the ceiling from the bathroom above ours. Grr. The landlord has been contacted, but we haven’t heard anything from him about it. I’m fairly certain that the leak is related to the drain in the bathtub upstairs because the waterfall only happens when the upstairs shower is on. We were told that a plumbing leak upstairs had been fixed before we moved in, but it looks as though the repairs were not extensive enough. Hopefully we’ll be able to get the landlord to use the color we’d already painted the room when the repairs are done.

I have not taken pictures lately and it’s a crying shame. That will hopefully change in the near future as the Harry Potter release party approaches as well as a trip to the zoo. My camera will be coming to both events.

I was playing my rather nice Kanstul trumpet for the parade and found that it didn’t have a place for me to attach a lyre. I think that I should probably watch craigslist in a case a $20 dollar trumpet becomes available. I’d then have a beater trumpet especially for parades (and it would have a place for attaching a lyre). That would be another expense, however, and I’ve had more than enough of them recently….with moving and setting up the 55 gallon fish tank.

Tonight Stephanie and I visited Home Depot and bought a couple of gallons of paint to redecorate our duplex. We’re adding a green color beneath the chair rail in the kitchen, painting the bathroom walls a pale blue, and giving the living room a pale yellow color. Thankfully, Stephanie’s parents have volunteered to help her paint the place tomorrow. They are real life savers.

More to come. Hopefully pictures of the freshly painted duplex and sparsely planted fish tank.

I’m greatly enjoying the greater space of the duplex. Two bedrooms, a real dining room, and a slightly larger kitchen all help to make my life a little bit more comfortable. In fact, the kitchen is about the same size as the living room…which means that the space is very likely to be wasted. Of course, the 55 gallon fish tank is helping to fill the dining room quite nicely. Oh, that’s right. I hadn’t mentioned that I’ve now got a larger aquarium filled with plants and fish. I hope to eventually keep discus along with the smaller tetras, cory cats, and siamese algae eaters that now inhabit the aquarium.

More to come in the near future. I have a new resolution to update regularly.

I used a 5c mouthpiece on my flugel horn and my trumpet came with a 7c. I had a terrible time playing the low notes that I am so frequently required to play because there wasn’t enough room for my lips to vibrate. Unfortunately, my old mouthpiece won’t work on my trumpet because the shank size is different on a flugel horn. I’d rather not make another trip to a music store to spend $30-$40, but I also can’t continue to miss the botton half of the only ocatve I can play. Although practicing will help me hit those lower notes a little, it won’t make up for my big mouth (physically large…not big, but not small enough for a 7c…I’m digging my way out of a hole, aren’t I).

Aside from my mouthpiece issue, I’m enjoying high brass. I get to be loud and play the melody all the time. It’s a far cry from the viola. I relish the roles of both instruments. After I finish playing the trumpet for an hour, I feel like an extroverted version of myself. It’s nice to sometimes break out of my bookish nature. When I wish to continue in my natural state, I can pull out the viola and the Brahms Op. 120 sonatas. Isn’t music great?