Jason Whong: Renaissance Man-in-Training

Transformers: Rise of the Fallen mini-review

Filed under: General — jbwhong @ 11:46 pm

The other night, I watched Transformers: Rise of the Fallen.

To be honest, I was disappointed by the first film. It didn’t spend enough time developing the robot characters. I thought the fight scenes were too confusing. I still thought it was a good film, though, because of the comic relief provided by Mr. and Mrs. Witwicky.

What’s sad is that although I think the first film missed the mark, it was better than the sequel. There was still not enough character development, and it was still difficult to figure out who was fighting with whom. In the Chinese battle scene, some robot sliced another robot in half, but I had to look it up on Wikipedia to figure out whether an Autobot or a Decepticon had been slain.

I hope they don’t make a third. Or, if they do, I hope they get it right for once.

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Grand jury service is done

Filed under: General — jbwhong @ 5:18 pm

Today marked the end of my service on a federal grand jury. I was seated on the jury November 1, 2007, and served through today, when I was dismissed. It was a truly educational experience.

Grand juries are different than trial juries. Instead of deciding guilt or innocence, the grand jury decides whether a serious case ought to be tried in the first place. If no grand jury will indict the person or corporation being investigated, there can be no trial.

The purpose of the grand jury is to make sure no unwarranted prosecution occurs, and (though it rarely happens) to investigate and indict on its own when no prosecution has been suggested by an attorney. The check against unwarranted prosecution is an important fifth amendment protection: no felony is prosecuted without the agreement of a majority of a grand jury.

I enjoyed my time on the grand jury, and my advice to anyone that receives a summons to appear at a federal courthouse for grand jury selection is to go, especially if you are someone that cares enough to ask hard questions of powerful people.

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ERIS QUOD SUM

Filed under: General — jbwhong @ 9:38 am

The name of the seventh episode of Heroes this season is called “ERIS QUOD SUM.” I’ve been wanting to write about NBC’s Monday night lineup all morning, since I noticed that people were looking up the hummingbird position on Google after last night’s episode of My Own Worst Enemy, appropriately titled “Hummingbird”. But I’d rather be opportunist at something new.

So, what does ERIS QUOD SUM actually mean? First of all, it’s in Latin, which explains why it is in all capital letters. (The Romans used what we call capital letters for formal things, like titles of show episodes.) Here’s the rest of what I can get from the rest of my reading:

ERIS - second person singular, future tense of “to be”: You will be
QUOD - neuter singular nominative or accusative pronoun (in this case, I think the accusative): which or that
SUM - most people who have taken latin at least recall the first person singular, present tense form of to be: I am

That gives us a transliteration of “You will be that I am,” which translates a bit better as “You will be that which I am.”

My gut is telling me that there’s a mistake here; I think there is probably some word other than SUM to be used in this sentence, because now there are two verbs wrestling for control of the sentence, as they’re both in indicative mood. I think SUM needs to take a subjunctive mood to balance things out.

The first person singular, present tense form of “to be” (in subjunctive mood) is SIM. Plugging it in to the sentence, we get “ERIS QUOD SIM” as a better rendering of the Latin.

But I think I’ve at least discerned the writer’s intent in translating it to English. Now the mystery remains: Who is saying “You will be that which I am” to whom? Future Peter to Peter? Future Hiro to Hiro? Sylar to Peter? Peter to Sylar? Papa Petrelli to Nathan? The possibilities are endless.

Technorati Tags: ERIS QUOD SUM, hummingbird position, Hummingbird, Future Peter, Peter, Future Hiro, Hiro, Heroes, Latin, NBC, My Own Worst Enemy

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Various goings-on

Filed under: General, journalism — jbwhong @ 7:32 pm

I haven’t updated in a while. Today is the four year anniversary for Erin and I. So, happy anniversary to us! We celebrated on Monday, since that was the day I don’t work.

I haven’t subbed yet this year; I have been called three times, but I had a good excuse each time for not going. I forget what was happening the first time. The second time, I was already scheduled to speak to a journalism class at Ithaca College. And this morning, I had a dentist appointment that I totally forgot about. Doh.

Speaking of speaking at Ithaca College: I spoke to a journalism class taught by friend and coworker Ed Bond. I have a feeling that if we didn’t work together, we would find something to geek out on. So, he let me talk to his class Monday, and it was fun. I told them a bit about the kinds of videos I did for the Star-Gazette.

One of his students blogged about me, and it was pleasant to read what she wrote. So, thanks Julia! it was fun, and I am glad you enjoyed it.

That is all for now. Go see “The Express”.

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Seven rosy angels

Filed under: General — jbwhong @ 8:08 pm

Today, I was in Corning, shooting pictures to go with a story about glassmaking in the city, its future, and such. I had been to two glass studios that morning; nobody was working, but I did get some people shopping. Then I went to Hands On Glass studio, and when I got there, nobody was working or shopping (not that there is a huge shop there - the draw of the place is that you get to work your own glass, rather than buy someone else’s.)

The proprietor suggested other times I could come when she knew she had something scheduled; I told her I’d wait around for a bit and see what happened.

Suddenly there was a swarm of people. A family from Fruitland, Md. (no, not Suitland. Fruitland, in Wicomico County) showed up, as well as a group of seven women who were doing their own college flashback trip - one they do each year to a different part of the country.

Both groups had people that saw my Fenwick Island shirt and reacted to it positively. Most people around here ask “Where is Fenwick Island?” But the women said they loved Fenwick, and the family said they lived nearby. It was highly unusual for me, but now that I think about it, I have taken a few pictures for tourism stories in the last year and a half, and today was the third time I took pictures of Marylanders. It makes sense, because we’re only a day’s drive away.

(Other odd fact: One of the women was from Westminster. I have taken pictures of three people from Westminster in the last year, one of which was while doing a story specifically about tourism; another was during a Ferrari event, and the Westminster family was driving through and saw all the Ferraris, so they stopped for a bit. Of course, last year I could remember the name of Carroll County. This year, I was stuck… Cecil? Calvert? I knew it began with a C!)

These women, who were getting up in their years but didn’t look very old, were wearing matching rose-colored tops. I asked them if they were barbershoppers, but they weren’t. I forgot the name they had for themselves or the name of their college. (because it is in my notes, at work, to be used in the photo that is going to run about August 17 or thereabouts, which is also why I can’t show you the picture.)

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Oh where, oh where has my PageRank gone?

Filed under: General — jbwhong @ 3:23 pm

I used to have a Google pagerank of 6. Or maybe it was 4. I know it was an even number higher than two. Back when it was that high, I received offers from people that wanted to buy ads on the blog.

I think the pagerank was highest when I was blogging about the Virginia Tech incident. That was when I blogged more frequently. Now, I am lucky to get in one post per month. I don’t know why I am so lazy.

Right now, I am at Pagerank 3. That’s still one higher than Chris, but he’s the first hit if you search for whong. I’m the third. whong.org is second.

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Step away from the mic. That’s an order.

Filed under: General — jbwhong @ 7:10 am

DVIDS, which is a U.S. military publicity unit, has a narrated video of an unmanned aerial drone engaging “Anti-Afghan Forces” in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Part of why they released the video is because Pakistan says the U.S. killed 11 Pakistanis at a checkpoint during the bombing. The U.S. military released the footage so they could say that none of their bombs fell near structures of any kind.

I don’t know who is right, but I feel like I need to say something to the people at DVIDS.

Learn to use post production software, and have some common sense. If I am going to look at 5 minutes of video that has maybe two minutes of accompanying narration, spaced out, I don’t want to hear your respiratory system in between. Just because you are in the military doesn’t mean you can’t also have some respect for the medium you’re trying to use. It’s not like you’re working under enemy fire, and you have some excuse for not paying attention to your work. You’re in a postproduction room or an office.

This is not 1954. Video is not a new and mysterious medium. When you are trying to persuade people that you are right, you should do so from a position of strength. For people who make powerpoint presentations, it means to proofread the slides. For people who make video, it means fading the mic in between the voiceover sections so I don’t have to hear you breathe. Or better yet, learn to breathe silently. It’s not that hard if you aren’t a smoker.

Technorati Tags: DVIDS, U.S. Military, video production

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Something to think about

Filed under: General — jbwhong @ 10:05 pm

The Washington Post has a nice 7-photo gallery of a naturalization ceremony held at Arlington Cemetery.

Can you feel the emotion of people becoming Americans? It’s pretty intense.

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Angelaria! Show me yourself!

Filed under: General — jbwhong @ 1:56 pm

I have met a gentleman around town named Caglar Singletary. He is a friendly fellow. I think I first met him at Grace Episcopal Church on the northside; after that I just began seeing him at many events.

Caglar is somewhat famous in some circles on the Internets for some songs he wrote back in the day. He was one of the subjects of a documentary called “Off the Charts,” which was about people who paid to have their poetry turned into music.

I have become fond of the songs that were in the documentary, so I was quite surprised to find the songs available on iTunes.

Clicking the button above will launch iTunes and take you to Caglar’s songs on the iTunes store. I have to wonder whether he gets many royalties from this.

Technorati Tags: music, angelaria, outsider art, novelty songs

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Namin’ dat tune

Filed under: General — jbwhong @ 5:43 pm

Tonight I was listening to Erin’s favorite radio station, 94 Rock. They occasionally have contests. Not the kind of contests I remember from when I was a teenager (”…we’ll take the one hundred seventh caller…”); the prizes are smaller, and they rarely ask for more than nine callers.

Well, anyway, this contest involved taking bits of five songs and splicing them together to make a musical montage or mashup. Callers had to identify all five artists and songs for the $20 gift certificate.

Well, the last song was very popular in 1992 when I was in high school, so I figured I had an edge, but I figured someone else would get it. Plus, there were two songs in there that I really didn’t know anything about, though I am sure Erin could tell me about them. Darn newfangled music.

After the DJ’s third talkset, I sensed he was dying. So I started writing the lyrics from the songs I didn’t recognize, and thanks to Google, I had all the answers.

Then I called, and got through on the first try.

It was too easy.

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Jason Whong: Renaissance Man-in-Training

June 30, 2009

Transformers: Rise of the Fallen mini-review

October 28, 2008

Grand jury service is done

October 21, 2008

ERIS QUOD SUM

October 9, 2008

Various goings-on

August 2, 2008

Seven rosy angels

June 30, 2008

Oh where, oh where has my PageRank gone?

June 12, 2008

Step away from the mic. That’s an order.

June 11, 2008

Something to think about

May 19, 2008

Angelaria! Show me yourself!

April 8, 2008

Namin’ dat tune