In the Name of Progress.

Well, here we are.

At less than three months from whence I started blogging. I just added a heap of new pics to my Flickr photoset. I now have nearly 200 pics up and 1,359 views to date (in just over 3 months since I signed up for flickr).

I do NOT make any money off this blog and am not compensated for endorsing anything. I'm not really about self-promoting my photos, either. It's just an interesting log for myself to see the progression.

This blog has now started to grow. It's seen a total of 1,061 unique visitors through yesterday, for a total of 1844 page views. The highest number of unique visitors on a single day is 54. The highest number of page views in a single day is exactly 100. Cheers peeps, I hope my rants are actually able to help some of you find some things: to do, that save you money, or whutever else you're reading it for.

A couple of other classic movie theatres in the Bay Area worth taking note of. The Stanford Theatre plays a lot of classics and runs some various themes; they also include double features and have a mighty Wurlitzer Organ. The Orinda Theatre usually hosts the Orinda Film Festival in the beginning of September, but it has been cancelled for this year 2006. They had the Director (a local) of Dodgeball out at its premier a couple years ago, as a "for instance." They also screened the Top 10 Winners of short films on TriggerStreet.com.

If you haven't heard of TriggerStreet.com and are serious about your passion for the art of film, it is founded by Kevin Spacey and co-sponsored by Budweiser beer. They are a free site to join and offer a diverse range of shorts, animations, and screenplays; all for your enjoyment. And it is community-based, so you can submit your work too. A few are selected and chosen to be made into full-length films, funded by the site. Don't fool yourself before checking it out, there is some quality work there, I've seen it.

More on film, if you just can't stand (like me) the "recommendations" Netflix (or Amazon.com) is "suggesting" maybe I have a new solution for you. No it's not RottenTomatoes.com or IMDB.com. You can't search an encyclopedia for a synonym (huh?). It's a site called Choking on Popcorn. They have some very down to earth reviews. Some reviewers there I agree with more than others, but they go over many films you may have missed or simply never heard of. It's worth a shot, no sign-up required... just browse.

I've blogged about local bookstores closing up. I've blogged about how retail is dead. I just blogged about Borders and Barnes & Noble coupons. Heck, let's just give this whole (retail bookselling industry) a more violent nudge towards the cliff. Another site I like for finding more obscure books is alibris.com. But you prolly already know of them, they've been around and have everything. I mean, The Strand in New York has a lot, but alibris has everything. I swear, every time I went in The Strand looking for something, I spent about 6 hours there and came out empty-handed... Yup, 18 miles of books and they never did have what I went in looking for. I know what you're thinking... Only happens to me.

So, I thought Michelle Wie would have a great chance to win her first Major this week at the Womens' British Open. Windy conditions would be right at home to the native Hawa'iian. But she goes and shoots 74-74 before the weekend. Hmmmm, maybe her time hasn't come yet. Weird thing is, the LPGA.com website doesn't have Wie on its player profiles page. Too much traffic for them to handle? hmmmm.

If you, like myself, do NOT have a USGA handicap, you can use this site BirdieTracker to give you an unofficial one. Granted, it's not official USGA for tourneys and such, but it's a great site, and free. Wait until November when the NCGA (Northern CA Golf Association) membership calendar year begins to get your money's worth on the real deal.

Oh yeah, quickly... SF Giants Dog Days of Summer is, ummm, today. Kira and I are goin'-ta-da ball game! I have to say, the ticketing office made it very, very, very difficult to actually buy tickets. And they were not apologetic about problem after problem after... you get the idea. Maybe I won't be going to more Giants games- ever. But I'll fill you peeps in on the fun anyways. Cheers.

image credits: top photo of New Orleans is my own from my flickr photoset, Stanford Theatre from stanfordtheatre.org, Michelle Wie from TheGolfChannel.com, the SF Giants pic is my own original photo.