Haiku of the Week: Time

Daylight Savings Time.
A twice annual hassle;
Time to spring forward.

I Watched the Watchmen

I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of this film since seeing the trailer last summer. Well, it has arrived, and while I think the movie has its flaws, overall I enjoyed it very much.

My primary complaint is one that I've been anticipating since seeing that first trailer. What's with all the slow-motion? The use of slow-motion in various places throughout the movie was a stylistic choice that I found a little annoying. To be fair, it didn't bother me quite as much as I would have expected, but still, I could have done without it. I also felt that the pacing of the movie got a little bogged-down in the middle section. This is where I think the reviewers who have complained that the movie was too faithful to the book may have a point, because there are places where the pacing feels more like that of a 12-issue comic series than of a 2-hour (or whatever) movie.

Those complaints aside, however, I'm very pleased with how the movie turned out. The cast was spot on and the art direction and costumes were great. I have to give credit to director Zack Snyder (and whoever else may be responsible) for the biggest deviation from the original story. Without getting into spoiler territory, I think the change in the ending works quite well, and I think I may even prefer it to the original (maybe, I'm still working it over in my mind).

The movie certainly matches the source material for denseness (in a good way), so much so that it will probably only be after additional viewings that I'll be able to solidify my thoughts on it. As I said, I definitely enjoyed it, though I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't already read the book. If you have read and enjoyed it, then the movie is probably worth a look.

Haiku of the Week: Clog

The snot clogs my nose.
Sniffle, cough, cough, I am sick;
Head colds do so suck.

Haiku of the Week: Sleepless

Brain will not turn off;
Sleep will not be forthcoming.
Put time to good use.

Customer Survey

I was catching up on my "This American Life" podcast episodes, and came across this one from January 2nd. The final act of the show was about a salesman who, as part of an exercise from some training seminar, had his wife complete a brand marketing survey about him (I'd encourage you to listen to the show, my crappy description is not doing it justice).

I liked this idea. So I decided to post a customer satisfaction survey. Being lazy I just found a generic one on the web and replaced the product name with my name. I encourage any family, friends, and random Internet wackos who feel so inclined to fill it out.

Part One: Product Overview

1) What do you consider to be the best aspects of Jonathan?


2) What do you consider to be the worst aspects of Jonathan?


3) Please rate the following features of Jonathan, with 5 being the highest rating and 1 being the lowest:

Attractive Appearance
Helpful User Documentation
Great Customer Satisfaction
Customer Service Support Staff
Low Cost


Part Two: Product Usage

4) How many times a week do you use Jonathan?

Hundreds of times a week
More than 100 times a week
More than 10 times a week
More than once a week
Less than once a week

5) Did you own any previous models of Jonathan?


Part Three: Product Expectations

6) All of us here at Jonathan's Journal want to know if Jonathan has met your person-related expectations. Please choose from the following selections:

Jonathan has greatly exceeded my expectations
Jonathan has slightly exceeded my expectations
Jonathan has met my expectations
Jonathan has fallen short of meeting my expectations
Jonathan has completely failed to meet my expectations.
Other:


7) If Jonathan failed to meet your expectations, could you please tell us what the problems are?


8) I would recommend Jonathan to others.
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Undecided
Agree
Strongly Agree

Haiku of the Week: Game

Playing the long game;
It must be done with great care.
Will I have patience?

A geeky internet quiz after my own heart

I found this post over at Newsarama. Someone created a quiz inspired by the story arc running through the Green Lantern books. Which Lantern Corps wants you? As a lifelong GL-nerd I was gratified to get Green Lantern Corps as my result, though I would have expected to be more of a Blue Lantern. For those not in the know, here are the different colors and what they're supposed to represent:

Green - Willpower
Blue - Hope
Yellow - Fear
Orange - Greed
Red - Anger
Indigo - Compassion
Violet - Love
Black - Death