Norman Richards

For once I don't smell like cigarettes

September is here and the smoking ban is finally in effect. Amazingly the world didn't end, and Austin continues to go on pretty much the way it always has. I was down on 6th street last night and things seemed about like they always have on my weekly trek to the Ritz. I enjoyed my trip downtown much more than I usually do thanks to the smoking ban, and I can't say that I'm sorry I don't smell like cigarette smoke.

I predict that in a year nobody will really care that you can't smoke in bars here, and in 5 years the thought of smoking in a bar will be as foreign as the idea of smoking in a restaurant. It'll be something reserved places like Vegas where people people do strange and dumb things for no apparent reason anyways.

Things change, and life moves on. Austin has changed a lot in the 15 years I've been here. Not everything has been for the better, but this change certainly is.

The best of the "best theatre in america"

I'm a huge fan of the Alamo Drafthouse, and I don't find it hard to believe that it is best theater in america. It really is that awesome. But, it made me think for a minute which of the 6 Drafthouse locations is the best. Here's my stab: (in order, best to worst)

Downtown: Ok, how can you not give credit to the very first Drafthouse? Sure it's dumpy, and even on my scooter it can take a while to find somewhere to park. But, when you want the classic Drafthouse experience, this is the place to go. Walking up the steps is like walking into your own house. It may not quite be a multi-million dollar westlake mansion, but it just feels right.

Lake Creek: It pains me to say that there is anything good about northwest Austin, but it's true. The Lake Creek location is great. The front of the house has a nice Drafthouse feel, with the bar and the sitting room. The theaters are clean all nicely laid out. I think it does a good job of providing a cleaned up version of the classic location. Alamo Lake Creek doesn't get all the special events that the other locations get, but if you just want a place to watch a first run movie, it's a good choice.

West Oaks: West Oaks feels a lot like the Lake Creek location to me. It's clean and bright and has a nice front of house. It can get a bit cramped, especially when waiting for a popular movie, but it's still very nice. Alamo West Oaks has experimented a bit more with theater layout than the others, which makes it a unique experience. Being in a mall, I don't get quite the vibe I do from the Austin locations, but it is still a very good location.

Village: The Village location is the closest thing to the classic downtown experience. Part of it is that it is a bit older of a theater, giving it a similar "well-worn" feel, but it is also because the Village location does many of the big events and even has it's own regular attractions like Videoke. A year or two ago I would have have ranked the Village as the #2 location, but I'm very disappointed by the theater changes they made last year. Theater two, for example, was completely ruined. Seats can only be accessed from one side, and you have to crawl over more people than in other theaters. Many of the seats offer an unpleasant angle to the screen. It's just not the Drafthouse it used to be.

South Lamar: This is the newest Austin location. I heard they spent a lot of time designing it, but I have to say that it was time wasted. Alamo South Lamar completely fails to capture the spirit of the Drafthouse. The boring entry way is a big part of it. They've tried to make it interesting with the hanging decorations, but the lack of a bar or any sort of functional waiting area makes it really boring. It seems designed only as a place to queue up. The theaters are stadium seating. On paper, I'm sure this looks nice, but the tiers make mean that the tables don't have breaks for easy access to seats. I really don't want to have to climb over a dozen people to get to my seat. Ultimately, the South Lamar location is just boring. It doesn't make you want to come back like the others do. On the bright side, I will say that the food at the South Lamar location tends to be better than at the others. I've had some of the best Alamo pizzas there. Lately the food hasn't been that great, but it might just be a function of how busy they are when I've been there.

Westlakes: Well, some location has to come in last, and the San Antonio location is it. If Alamo South Lamar fails to capture the spirit of the Drafthouse, the San Antonio location has sucked all the life out of it and turned it into a zombie theater. I went when it first opened and haven't been back, even though I've been in that part of San Antonio half a dozen times since then and really wanted to watch something there. The floor plan suffers in much the same way as the South Lamar location. It is bland and uninspired, completely lacking in character. While even the worst Drafthouse is better than even the best mega-chain-theater, Alamo Westlakes makes that a much tougher call than it should be.

Doctor Who, first series

Doctor Who was one of my favorite shows growing up. I'd watch it ever Saturday night on the PBS station as they would play through the episodes from the beginning to end. When the series ended, I hoped it would come back some day. When it didn't happen after the McGann movie, I thought it was really the end. But somehow the BBC decided to give the show one more chance.

I was ready to go get cable again just to watch the show, but it's not being shown here. So, I've had to rely on usenet and torrents to get the show. It's a real shame as I would have gladly payed for the episodes. It's too bad there's no iTunes for TV shows. Regardless, the first of the new series is done, and I thought I'd give my thoughts.

A lot has happened since the TV movie. There are vague references to the Time War, in which the Time Lords and the Daleks destroy each other. Gallifrey was destroyed in the process. The only survivor was the Doctor. Being extinct didn't stop the Daleks from making another showing, so I suppose there's still some hope to see the Time Lords again. But, it's not clear where all that is going to play out. It's not even clear what happened. I guess it will be one of those mysteries that works itself out over the coming series.

Chris Eccleston was a great 9th Doctor. I wish he were coming back for at least one more run. He was funny and goofy, just like the Doctor should be. I know some people found him annoying, but I thought he was fantastic. Billie Piper as Rose was even better. I didn't have too high expectations at first, but Rose is now near the top of my list of companions. I'm very glad to see she'll be around at least one more season.

The first series was entirely Earth-based. Despite popping forwards and backwards in time, a core set of secondary characters and locations kept popping up. I thought that was a very nice touch. Unlike others, I actually enjoyed seeing the effect on Rose's family/friends of her decision to travel with the Doctor. It's not something we usually see in Doctor Who. Very nice.

Not all the recurring themes were good. I could have done with less of the Slitheens, and I really didn't like the Captain Jack character much. I thought bringing Adam along for one adventure and tossing him out was interesting. You'd think rejected companions would be a lot more common. Maybe we'll see more of this in the future.

The writing on the series was adequate overall. For the most part I enjoyed the episodes not written buy Russell Davies more than the ones written by him.

Dalek and Father's Day. The first two Slitheen episodes (Aliens of Londoon World War Three) were my least favorite. I also didn't like

Unquiet Dead. I've heard from many people who said that was their favorite episode, but I thought it fell flat.

I'm very eager to see the next series and see how David Tennant plays the Doctor. I'm even more interested to see how Rose handles the transition and how Mickey and her mom react. I'm hoping we'll get more details about the time war. And, I'm hoping that the 10th doctor will finally get off of Earth. The first season was fun, but it's time for the Doctor to get out and see a few alien planets.

end of the year giving

It's that time of the year, so I renewed my FSF and EFF memberships today. If these causes are important to you, why not consider making an end of the year gift and ending the year on a high note? (and if they aren't, go find something that is important to you)

Austin is scooter city #63

According to a recent Austin American Statesman article, scooter sales are on the rise across the nation and Austin was 63rd in scooter sales last year. Given the number of new scooters I've seen around town, (and I don't mean those older "vintage" bikes, I mean new european or japanese scooters) I'm not sure wther to be disappointed that Austin only ranked 63rd or to be happy that other cities are seeing even higher scooter uses.

Besides that tidbit, the article itself wasn't very insightful. It mostly gushes about how wonderful those smelly, unreliable "vintage" bikes are and derides modern bikes as "twist and go" toys. I am sure older scooters are fun, but the growing scooter sales across the country aren't coming from people buying 30 year old vespas for weekend rides. They are coming from people buying (mostly bigger) new scooters for day to day use. Vintage scooters are a hobby. Modern scooters are a lifestyle. I'm biased, but that's how I see it.

Why I hate the Arbor Cinema

The truth is that I hate most movie theaters whose name doesn't begin with D and end in rafthouse(hint). But I don't have high expectations from them either. If I go to the 50 screen theaters, I expect to have a completely average experience at best. But when it comes to the "art" type theaters that show less mainstream movies, my expectations are raised abit. In Austin, there's Dobie Theater and the Arbor Cinema.

I was sad when the original Arbor was closed to make room for The Cheesecake Factory. But they relocated nearby, and even managed to keep those comfortable red seats that the old location had. But unfortunately, the first time I walked into the new Arbor, I was hit with the worst movie experience I've ever seen - The 2wenty. If you've never had to sit through this 20 minutes of drek, it's basically twenty minutes of loud obnoxious advertising for TV shows, pop stars and soda. I was glad to discover today that I'm not the only one who hates the 2wenty

I would expect an art theater to have at least some sense of style and attention to customer experience, but the good 'ol Arbor's corporate masters (Regal) are fully in control making sure it's just as bad as every other theater in town. Worse even, because the others only force you to sit through a couple of dumb slides and a commercial before the trailers. My first experience at the Arbor was bad. The second one made me decide never to return. Seeing a movie should be a pleasant experience. If I wanted garbage, I'd stay home and watch TV. (and since I don't even own a TV, you can probably imagine what the likelihood of that happening is)

Voting FOR someone

I try to avoid online politics, but I ran across an an interesting entry a refering blog that pointed to the absolutely shameful Ralph Don't Run campaign.

The normal justification for this kind of warped political thought is that the current [insert political office] is so bad that we just can't have any more of him. We have to vote AGAINST him at any cost. Sure you might like [insert fringe candidate] better, but come on man, we most defeat [insert political candidate]. You can vote for [fringe candidate] once the Great Evil(tm) is defeated.

Unfortunately the next election cycle there is a new Great Evil(tm) to defeat and we can never quite afford ourselves the chance to vote our conscience. Instead, we cast our LemmingVote for the [insert mainstream party.

It's all a big scam. Here's a clue: Bush isn't that bad. 4 more years of bush won't cause the world to end. Clinton wasn't that bad. The world won't end with 4 more years of the other party. As Evil as they might seem. That's the truth, despite the propaganda that the republicans and the democrats both spew.

I'm happy for the Perot influence that let Clinton in and helped him get re-elected. The Nader influence in the last election was wonderful. I'm continually amazed that in the days of MTV politics that people still have the courage the think for themselves and vote for someone instead of casting their vote out of hate for an imagined Evil.

If you are tired of politics as usual. If you are tired of casting a vote of hate against the other party, then find a candidate/party you like and support them. It's that easy. Sure, you might find out that that evil other guy got into office, but more than likely when you pull your head out of the hate-filed lies that surround both of the major parties you'll probably find the Great Evil a good bit less evil than you thought. Clinton was an OK president. Bush is an OK president. Whether Bush is re-elected or the democrats take office, things will be ok. Relax a bit and think of the bigger picture. The bigger picture is that if you want better presidents and a better country then start voting for better candidates and stop being a pawn of the political machines.

You know he's Norman Normal

There's someone, you've got to meet him
An' you see him every day,
His face will look familiar,
But in a most unusual way. -- Norman Normal

I've been called many things in my life, but I've never quite been considered by anyone to be normal. But, there's a first time for everything.

Chango's gets Wireless

Chango's makes the best burritos in Austin. Whenever I travel, I make a point of searching for new burritos. I've found some great ones, but I've yet to find one as good as at Chango's. In the acknowledgements of my book I even thank "Chango's, for the Maximo Burrito. If you had wireless, I'd live there."

Well, I guess it's time to pack my bags and move in, because Chango's now has WiFi. It appears to be provided by LESSnetworks. It looks like they are helping get quite a few hotspots up all over town. It's very interesting. The best thing is that now I don't have to go to Schlotzsky's in the morning just to get network access. I regularly use the wireless at Schlotzky's, but I dread going there in the morning since their breakfast menu is horrid. (they have the worst breakfast taco's I have ever tasted - even McDonald's couldn't put out something more disgusting)

Do take a look at the access points listed at the LESSnetworks site. Most of them don't seem to appear on the austinwireless.net node list yet.

Nails by Margot

My wife just put up her own site: www.nailsbymargot.com. She does pretty good nail art. She isn't licensed here in the US yet, which is why she is at a school taking the required classes for licensing here. But if you look at her gallery you'll see she's got a bit of talent. (well, I was impressed) If you are here in Austin and have a wife/girlfriend who is into that kind of thing then please pass the word. Until she finishes her class hours, she can only work in the school and charge the school rate. It's be the cheapest professional nail art you'll find.