Yet another reason why Netflix irritates me

As though it’s not bad enough that Netflix…

• Has no real competition
• Reduces the quality of your service in subtle ways the more you pay them, e.g., by keeping returned discs for a day before sending out the next discs in your queue and not giving you the option to pay more to avoid that
• Doesn’t inspect their discs before sending them out
• Allocates the same number of lost discs regardless of which plan you’re on and how long you’ve been a customer

…they don’t give you any way to stop the shipment of a particular DVD. Why would you want to do this? Well, I have Entourage Season 4 in my queue. Netflix shipped disc 1 from Orlando, and notified me by email that the disc will arrive at least two days late. They should let you choose if you want to receive discs that come from a remote shipping center. So, if a disc would take more than three days to arrive, they would automatically send the next disc in your queue.

Another Ghostbusters Storage Facility (video)

Apparently a ComEd worker turned off the containment grid and released all of the captured ghosts back into the city.

One Alligator and 50 ferrets

A three-foot alligator was removed from a street in San Francisco and taken to an animal services facility. The alligator has been set up in “an appropriate container” (a Ziploc Big Bag?). The report mentions that a snapping turtle recovered by animal services was taken in by Six Flags in Vallejo last year. What the hell did Six Flags do with a snapping turtle?

Also, “Dan Mulhearn already has put in an order for this fall’s supply of black-footed ferrets. ‘I requested 50,’ said Mulhearn, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who has been spearheading the reintroduction project in Logan County. ‘I highly doubt we’ll get that many.’” Sorry, Dan, but that’s because I used Basecamp to spearhead a reintroduction project for my high-rise condo building. The board ordered 2,000 black-footed ferrets all the way back in December of last year and our shipments just started coming in. Maybe next year you can get a little more organized.

With real cheese

Invisible at the comics store

I’ve been a customer of Graham Cracker Comics on Madison for two years now. Most of the time, I stop in by myself, but sometimes my husband is nice enough to go in there with me and buy me a graphic novel. When my husband pays, the person checking us out totally ignores me, regardless of how many times I’ve talked with them or how many times they’ve helped me as a customer before. I don’t even get a glance. It’s as though I don’t exist.

I make it a point to buy comics and graphic novels at Graham Crackers instead of from, say, Amazon. I’m happy to pay more to do a small part to support a store like that. And the manager there is great. I expect that he would actually acknowledge my existence, and maybe even remember me, when my husband is paying. The staff there is nice enough when I’m there by myself, but this is pissing me off.

Photophores: August 28, 2008

Chicagoan Colleen Plumb has two photos on 20×200 — Tiger Rug, Cabrini Green and Field Museum Sue.

Can you believe it’s that time again? That’s right, it’s the 5th Annual Plastics Processors Conference & Polyolefins Industry Workshop, which brings today’s business person up to speed with language, concepts and key issues in the polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) supply chain, from resin process technology through to finished goods. I’ll be live blogging, podcasting and twittering the event at the Chicago Marriott Downtown, as I network with fabricators, converters and end-users from diverse markets. Just kidding. (But remember, readers, avoid plastics with a code of 7, and try to use only code 2 or code 5.)

Anthony Bourdain, punk rock chef, interviewed. “The tip is, if there’s too many white people eating in a place, there’s something wrong. The best Chinese place is the one that can support an entirely Chinese clientele. It’s the same rule as would apply around the world; those are the places you want to go.

GeekDad reviews the Jim Henson exhibit at the Smithsonian. “For me, though, the highlight of the show was the arrays of hand-drawn cartoons, mostly done by Henson himself, around the walls of the exhibit.  The cartoons showed his thought processes, how he built characters and then built stories around them.” Argh, I want to see it, but it won’t be in Chicago ’til like, 2050.

The Globe & Mail has a piece about Mathieu Saura’s stripped-down videos of musicians.

SFGate writes about the new California Academy of Sciences building, opening in 31 days. “Soon to be transferred to the new academy building, too, are legions of bats, flying geckos, chameleons, ants by the thousands and many more animals and plants.” And I’ll be posting about the inevitable escapes from their transport containers.

Lastly, most plants are left-handed.

Devouring: Man and Bird (video)

I’ve been capturing all this bird footage and finally tied some of it together, with the help of a hilariously bad scene.

Photophores: August 24, 2008

Eight Orange line cars will circle the Loop as a mobile art exhibition on August 30, from 6-10 pm. Three staff members on each car (all of whom have extensive close-combat training and will fuck you up), will talk about the art and ensure its safety. Watch for those nerve pinches.

The NYT writes about Cloud Gate in a piece on public sculpture. “The Kapoor Bean’s giant, mercurylike dollop of brilliantly polished steel gives the phrase plop art robust new life and converts this artist’s sometimes glib involvement with reflective surfaces into an enveloping experience both humorous and almost sublime.”

Illustrator and Eisner award winner Rutu Modan is interviewed about her latest book, Exit Wounds, and her childhood, which seems a little Dharma Initiative.

Tod Goldberg on writing Burn Notice tie-in books: “The difference this time was the show itself: I am a huge fan of ‘Burn Notice.’ It’s smart, funny, visually arresting and has the tone and style of my favorite Elmore Leonard novels.”

USA Today asks if Pushing Daisies can hold on to its first season viewers and attract new viewers for its upcoming second season. I couldn’t wait to see if PD would make it to its second season — I wrote a spec script during the first season.

I love Jamie Campbell’s Beasts of Burden series (with mascot heads).

Lastly, the Patent for the Bubble Pipe: “A bubble pipe, which comprises a hollow tubular member having first and second open ends, a mouthpiece closing said first end and having an orifice therein communicating with the interior of said hollow member, said second end being adapted to support a film of a bubble solution thereacross, and a film divider at the second end for dividing the film of bubble solution carried by the second end, the cross-sectional area of the opening at said second end being about sixteen times the cross-sectional area of said mouthpiece.”

Extra lastly, I should’ve bought this cookbook…

Three with shadows

Gulls Predicting a Storm video

These gulls were making strange noises and looking very nervous, owing to the imminent windstorm that looked like a post-evacuation hurricane (in downtown Chicago). I was walking fast to get inside before the storm hit, which explains the wonky filming.