Wow, Roger Ebert.

[Isaac Sauvage]

suddenly gone. unbelievable what he went through the last few years. talk about a brave and well-adjusted human being. shit.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/17320958-418/roger-ebert-dies-at-70-after-battle-with-cancer.html

 

[sleepy]

Yep. That was shocking.
Yahoo! reported just yesterday that his cancer had returned and that he was facing another fight.
And then Today. Gone. BANG!

I have a story to tell. I bought an opening night ticket to Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" in 2005 at the box office, on "Roger Ebert Day" at The Hollywood Walk of Fame, the day he got his Star on Hollywood Blvd. in front of the ABC studio where
Jimmy Kimmel Live! is broadcast, and across the street from The Chinese Theater.

These ceremonies are often for has-beens seeking a final career boast, often as a last ditch effort to promote what is often their last film.
The crowd turnout is often a small handful of cultists and nostalgia seekers trying to revive their better days while the news crew cameramen and the press scramble to group their shots of the pitiful numbers of admirers to make it appear that there were many in attendance.

But Roger Ebert Day was different. On a warm and sunny day around 11 A.M. there were thousands who turned out. The Friendship duties were delivered by Werner Herzog. There were thousands more across the street on The Chinese side.
And me, a skinny old runt in a t-shirt among the thousands of onlookers and admirers on The Chinese side across the street from the ceremonies. And as Mr. Ebert finished his speech and stepped down from the podium, he stood on the crowded streets of thousands and looked straight at this unremarkable person of whom I appear to be. And he smiled for 5 minutes, from across the street while never breaking eye contact.

Now, maybe I was just "a pretty boy to him", but I do think Mr. Ebert knew something.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

okay, let's work with that.

and now that you've had time to think about the various celebrities who this has happened to you with (the long stares, smiles, etc), what is your working interpretation of the meaning?

what do you reckon the message being delivered is?

 

[sleepy]

Ah. That they appreciate the help.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

like... you're sending them positive energy and they appreciate it?

 

[JonPurpleHaze]

I was surprised to see and hear about the terrible shape he was in, didn't know he had cancer.

okay, let's work with that.

and now that you've had time to think about the various celebrities who this has happened to you with (the long stares, smiles, etc), what is your working interpretation of the meaning?

what do you reckon the message being delivered is?

Maybe he believed in marriage equality and sorta likes sleepy?
Just a Joke but the way sleepy described it who knows?

 

[LeeVanCleef]

To commemorate Mr.Ebert (both the normal one and the later scary robot one), I highly recommend Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, a movie written by Roger himself. Truly one of the greatest bad movies of all time... The Plan 9 of the hippie counterculture. And directed by Russ Meyers, so you know what that means... big boobies! Lots and lots of big boobies!

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

I was surprised to see and hear about the terrible shape he was in, didn't know he had cancer.

it was unbelievable to me what he went through, losing his lower jaw and all. TBH i don't think i'd have the strength to carry on through that. although i guess being appreciated by so many ppl helps out greatly.

Maybe he believed in marriage equality and sorta likes sleepy?
Just a Joke but the way sleepy described it who knows?

hehe, jon... but living near hollywood seems pretty crazy and depressing from what i gather. probably hits creative types a lot worse than the average joe.

To commemorate Mr.Ebert (both the normal one and the later scary robot one), I highly recommend Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, a movie written by Roger himself. Truly one of the greatest bad movies of all time... The Plan 9 of the hippie counterculture. And directed by Russ Meyers, so you know what that means... big boobies! Lots and lots of big boobies!

god... i need to finish my HD project, get on newsgroups, and start watching movies again. i'm such an effin idiot about all that, although life has been pretty overloaded for me, last few months.

anyway, got it! so then, the playlist for that night:


- the perils of gwendolyn in the land of yik-yak
- beyond the valley of the dolls
- and maybe the original valley of the dolls?

but either way, i'm starting with this, mofos!
Andy Kaufman on Letterman Part 1 - YouTube

 

[sleepy]

like... you're sending them positive energy and they appreciate it?

No. It's probably because I'm smiling and staring at them.

And yeah. And yeah. And yeah. And yeah. And yeah.
Life in these parts is definitely bent at times.

And I was also shocked by the physical trauma.
Saw a post-remission picture of him and his wife today and
he looked like Leonard Maltin.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

and that is never a good look.



so you smile and stare at celebrities and they fixedly stare right back, sometimes smiling, sometimes not as their moods chance.

you must have an interesting smile! i daresay a VERY interesting smile.

 

[GSGregg]

The long smile was because he thought, "Just for the hell of it, I'm going to apply to join BMI".

 

[sleepy]

Man, I don't have the musicianship for looking at BMI.
I'm just local.

Did I mention that I crossed paths with Roper on opening night for WotW?
But he just walked past.

It was very surreal. I was on the 3 story escalator coming up from the darkness,
from the lower bowels of the Metro Red Line subway and into the light and the
specter of The Pantages Theater with Bruce Springsteen on the marque for the night.

I turned toward Vine St. heading west to Chicken Delight and a slice of what turned out to be their worst reheated pizza ever, and he walked past.

 

[sleepy]

Chicken Delight on Hollywood Blvd. was the best cheap slice on the block,
but CD closed some time ago. Urban renewal.

Doc Lecter gave me the stare at CD one night,
but he wasn't smiling. It was Brilliant.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

some days i go out and i catch people staring at me, one after another. sometimes it seems to be in a relatively benign way, but sometimes they seem a bit alarmed. granted my health fluctuates, and indeed, my face can look pleasant in certain lights and harsh in other lights, so maybe that's it.

other times? completely ignored. that's why it's nice to have various waitresses and store people around the square who are used to me, and we can flirt, BS it up or make each other laugh. but even with them... some days they wanna keep their distance.


second adolescence here, however... so it's quite possible i'm providing the cues unknowingly and they are merely reacting to the unspoken language being spoken.

so keep at it, my boy, and you should figure it out eventually! that, or just let it slide off you harmlessly.

you know how it goes. :)

 

[sleepy]

Well, it could be worse.

It could be something like...

http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cage-gifs-monster.gif

Please note that I've ripped this image link from a member over at http://worldofkj.com/forum/

It wan't me.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

that must have been a PITA, you being on dialup. thanks, mate. :)


btw, does the price truly leap up that much to go to DSL / cable in your area?
maybe gregg knows a good deal? (granted, CA is huge so i could be making a fool of myself on that one, hehe)

are you spending all your loose coin on expenses and vet bills for your kitties, perhaps?

 

[sleepy]

No, I've been wasting my time on Placer Mining.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

in that case, please send my regards to 1849.

 

[sleepy]

Will do, but I'll tell 'ya, it's a bitch with paint and bird shit in the way.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

and what else is new? :)

 

[GSGregg]

maybe gregg knows a good deal?

'Frayed-knott'---my first taste of the internet was when I signed up with AT&T in Sept. '09 (Why not? They already had a wire into my house for the phone) and I opted for the HSI Pro, with download speeds up to 3.0 MBps, for $30/mo. The next tier down was speeds up to 1.5MBps for $25/mo.

There's a reason I've italicized the words, up to; the 'fine print' mentions things like 'throttling down' during periods of high traffic, and other lame excuses for delivering less than 3.0, but I figure to get downloads at somewhere between 1.5 and 3.0 (wouldn't you?), but after seeing everything from VPF, IRP, PN, and others coming in at 140-175kbps, I found out about Speed Tests, ran a shitload of them to a shitload of destinations---and NOT ONCE have I reached 1.5MBps, let alone double that.

So, I've been paying an extra $5/mo for almost 43 months, and since I've been able to live with the slower downloads, I no longer give a phuck about having them increase the speed---I want my $215 refunded so I can buy a nice Video Card! (How do you like my chances?)

So today I got this letter from AT&T with a message on the outside:

"Call Now to Prevent Internet Service Interruption"

WTF? Did the Post Office lose my bill payment the way they lost one of my car's engine mounts I had shipped back east for revulcanization? (Go to V8Buick.com, 'Da Nailhead' if you're curious)

The letter turned out to be a notice that they "can" provide a better internet experience by transitioning you to our advanced AT&T U-verse network with fiber-optic technology. Unless I'm missing something, nowhere is it said that this change is mandatory; but there is no mention of a way to opt out.

I'm a dinosaur; I'm content with my land-line phone, VHS recording, over-the-air TV, and my current (though over-priced) internet service which comes through a modem which I had to buy (the promise of a rebate disappeared from subsequent versions of Terms of Service), still works, and will be useless with the new service. I do not want or need U-verse, fiber-optics, or the 'opportunity' to bundle a bunch of superflua (I made that up!) for "Our Best Price" for 12 months.

So, sorry, Ike; there may indeed be a bargain out there, but to it I am not privy. Hmmmm.....speaking of the Privy.....

Gregg

 

[sleepy]

GS, you can try Time Warner High Speed Standard @ 6 Mbits/sec.
Ask them for the $30 introductory special. New customers.
That might get you $30/Mo. for 12 months with no contract commitment
(you can quit anytime with no penalty),
but then they want you to pay $48/Mo. for the same service.
Note that, if you have bad credit, Time Warner will want you to pay an additional
up-front $50+ as a deposit for 'the free modem'. If you have a credit card,
they waive 'the modem deposit'. When you cancel and successfully return the modem in good working condition, they will cheerfully return the deposit, else apply it
to any remaining charges.

You don't have to upgrade to U-Verse. In fact, AT&T has been selling stock landline DSL as "U-Verse".
The AT&T fiber-optic U-Verse deal also depends on availability. We get the same offers because we're using AT&T for phone but not for Internet.
The fiber-optic lines aren't even installed in the area around here.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

wow, gregg.

my AT&T story is that when i moved in and ordered service a couple years ago, they offered the first year of DSL for $20/mo as an intro, understood to return to the standard pricing of $40/mo after that. meanwhile, time warner (cable, faster) is the other provider in area and offered standard price across the board of $40/mo.

so i figured i'd be 'clever' and start with AT&T, then switch over to time warner after a year. life stuff happened, i forgot to do anything, a year and a half passed, and one day i went back and re-checked one of my old bills. turns out i never got the promised deal, so i was paying double what i thought ($40 instead of $20) right from the start. i must have looked at the first few bills wrong or something, not sure.

when i called CS to bitch and moan, they basically gave me the bureaucratic run-around. "talk to this other dept, pls wait, nono wrong dept let me transfer you, pls wait, i don't know anything about it, pls wait, you need to call this other dept and ask for supervisor, etc etc" you can barely play that kind of game on my (otherwise excellent) smartphone without having to change batteries midway through.

in the end i recall leaving a message for a super to call me back and nobody ever did. i have no complaints with the service (i'm a light user, like liteuser), but they basically scammed me out of $240.

seems the right way to handle this shit these days is via twitter. make a fuss, get lots of retweets, and suddenly your voicemail will be jammed with supervisors offering you refunds, free perks, etc. maybe a smooch from halle berry, i don't know. maybe just a basket of strawberries. :)

anyway... adapt or get steamrolled, i guess. oldest lesson in the book.

 

[sleepy]

But, if you are paying the standard subscription rate, then is that the same rate
as the one they offer "with no commitment"? If so, then maybe you can argue that the same rate should allow cancelling the service without penalties.

And then, if and before you do, call Time Warner and offer to subscribe for the 6 Mbit High Speed for $29.95 as a new customer with no commitment, as a current AT&T customer, but remember the $50 modem deposit, if needed.

Does AT&T still offer 'free Newsgroup' service? The ones that you read through Outlook Express? Back when I had Worldnet (now discontinued; now it's just AT&T Dial-up ISP) they did, but Time Warner doesn't.

And something else. The Digital Cable TV Boxes that I found won't work on a Time Warner Internet subscription.
You might also need to subscribe to Time Warner Digital Cable so that they remove the Cable Block filter which they attach to Internet-Only subscribers at the outside box.

Please note that this information is provided "as-is" for educational purposes only.

 

[GSGregg]

Hi, Ike;

"Wow, Gregg", is it? I'll bet that's what Roger Ebert is saying---followed by "STOP TRAMPLING MY THREAD!" Sorry, Roger, but we have to take AT&T down, or at least try to make them feel bad. I think we're almost done.

My steamrolling started with an AT&T promotion of $19.95 x3 bill credits for all internet packages; when all was said and done, the $25 service effectively cost $5.05/mo. for the first three months, my $30 service $10.05/mo. , and so on, for new customers only. In addition, if the customer didn't have a compatible modem (I don't remember the particular particulars particularly well), they had to buy one for $50, which would be rebated after a period of uninterrupted service and faithful paying of the bill---maybe six months, maybe a year, I don't recall.

Anyway, the rebates were applied to the bill beginning with the third month, and after the required period I began expecting my $50 rebate---which never came. You know the drill; the equivalent of "next window, please", so I pulled up the 'fine print' and found that the modem rebate required signing up for some service called I-forget-what by which AT&T somehow manages your accounts, bills, and such. A service the likes of which I would have never wanted, anyway, but I an ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that no such requirement was in the Terms of Service I spent hours examining when I was trying to make up my mind.

So I called CS and requested the previous version of T of S and was told that none of "that old stuff" was available because of some changes going on in the company (What!? the new secretary shredded the wrong memo or something? You and your ancestors are all Politically Incorrect!)

Anyway, after a few days I just gave the finger to whoever was missing one and metaphorically drained a bottle of V.O.


Hi, sleepy;

Isn't it amazing how everybody's prices are the same? Their overheads must be identical as well, then. AT&T is dropping the two services below mine, and the new deal is---you guessed it---$30/mo. for the first (twelve, I think) months, although for established customers it's probably higher.

Anyway, I've lived with 1.35Mbps til now and don't need the 6Mbps, especially at $48/mo. I don't necessarily need "cheap", though, either; I just wish they'd drop the price, of whatever they're selling, to something reasonable based on cost-plus, and KEEP it there.

Oh, yeah---my Thirty-Dollar DSL; now up to $38 in less than 3-1/2 years. Whoopeeeee!

EDIT: Didn't know you were posting, sleepy---and no, I haven't read it.