Sounds of Space, Questionable Business, Questionable Politics, and Some Movie Stuff

This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

With Comic Con passed, there are a lot of movie announcements floating around out there now.

Sequels, reboots, spin offs, and even some original properties that all sound really interesting.

The problem, of course, is that most of them are a year or more away.

I remember the “good old days” when you wouldn’t hear about a movie being made until maybe a few months before it came out. Rarely was something even rumored (let alone hyped) for two years (and, these days, sometimes two years before filming even begins).

The publicity machine is kind of insane.

And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve checked the upcoming releases list and thought, “Wait… didn’t that already come out, like, a year ago?” Nope. I’ve just been hearing about it for so long that it seemed like it had already been here and gone.

That strikes me as a little counter-productive.

But it’s not just movies that do it.

We’ve seen that kind of creep in politics, too.

Now, almost as soon as a Presidential election is over, the “news” outlets start speculating on who’ll be running in the next one–even before the President-elect takes his oath of office. And then the actual race for any given position more or less starts two years before the actual vote will take place.

That’s two years where politicians are doing more campaigning and image building than actual thoughtful governing. (Though these days, I wonder if they ever spend any time doing that.)

Then there’s also the inevitable “Christmas Creep”… where those trees show up earlier and earlier in the stores every year. Last year I saw stuff in regular stores (not craft stores, I understand them getting stuff out there early–people need time to actually make stuff) in early September.

And, back at the beginning of July, everyone was already talking about Back to School shopping. School just got out in mid-June. Has summer break been reduced down to roughly two weeks?

Why are we always pushing so hard to speed up the recognition of these things? Why can’t we enjoy not knowing what’s on the movie schedule two years from now? Why do we have to start pushing Christmas before October even begins? Why can’t we let politicians do something other than just plan their next campaign? And, perhaps most importantly, why can’t our kids get more time to just be kids during a lazy summer?

I don’t know. But I do know I haven’t much cared for that compression and acceleration for a long time now. I think it’s part of a larger problem and the root of a good number of troublesome things…

Anyway, here’s the feed…

A Bit of Science, Some Literature, A Tune or Two, and Some Crazy News

This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

I spent most of my day today, neck deep in code, tweaking Drupal API bits on a data entry form to bend it to the will of my client.

I am not exactly a programmer, so this isn’t my idea of a good time.

But, it needs to be done, and so it gets done. And there’s still a lot more to do, and a ticking clock hanging over every keystroke.

That’s how a lot of our life is–full of things that need to be done that we aren’t all that thrilled about doing. It’s a shame, really. I know people who love the bulk of what they do, but the bulk of people I know slog through the day, pulled forward only by the sweet promise of release from the drudgery of the day and the solace of a cold beverage or a few fleeting hours with their significant other/family/friends before they have to bed down and do the whole thing again tomorrow.

Time is, indeed, the most limited resource we have. (And according to one of the links below, it may literally be running out… that’s kind of trippy to think about… if you have a minute to spare.) Because of that, we should all be well aware of what we do with those precious moments we have where we are in control and can do what we want.

…and that’s about as deep as I have the time to go, since I need to get off to sleep as that code won’t write itself.

https://www.facebook.com/kierduros/activity/10152031641295981