New Posts on IBL abnormally capturing life

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Mossy

“Mossy” (c)Lawrence A Capozzolo

SWB Bad Poetry at it’s best:

Mossy,
in the morning a little bit glossy.

Slick,
it ain’t gonna help you light a candle wick.

Slippy,
nothing giving that super tight grip.

Green,
well … it’s usually green.

It’s a slick mossy rock,
you expected more?

-SWB

We decided to compliment your “case of the Mondays” with our “case of bad poetry” ….. enjoy. You gotta admin – the pic is cool, though.

Blue

“Blue Life” (c)Lawrence A Capozzolo

Skies blue,
red occasional few.

Never seen below,
but controlling many a tide.

Floating through life,
free of all anguish.

Glowing with guidance,
a creature followed rarely.

It’s free mind,
never staying behind.

Never restless, never lost,
happiness acquired without any cost.

Hands out reaching to distances unknown,
always making its current place home.

A blue life it seems would be sad,
a blue life always rejoicing to be had.

-SWB

Review: Intel ISEF (International Science and Engineering Fair) Public Day

 

(c)2018 Intel ISEF

Review: Intel International Science and Engineering Fair

Us knowing ISEF was in Pittsburgh started out by attending a tour of CCAC. The one professor my step-daughter talked to strongly suggested that she check out ISEF on the public day (as he would be judging one of the areas). We’d like to thank Abiraman Srinivasan for that.

Keep in min my step-daughter goes to one of the most highly rated public school districts in the area. Nobody informed her of this opportunity, nobody knew about it when asked for permission to miss part of the school day. It took one professor that did not even have my step-daughter as a possible student yet to take interest enough in that student to alert them to what was really out there.

The event was completely and unbelievably impressive. When you see a student’s eyes light up when they realize what opportunities are really out there – it makes you overjoyed that you took the time to act on a suggestion.

Half way through the event, I asked my step-daughter if she would have handled high school differently if she knew what opportunities were out there she said “yes”.

The problem is when events like this happen very few schools get their students to them. Sadly this does create a lack of inspiration in our young to have any ambition for higher education. You have to know about the goals to have ambitions towards them.  Kudos to Intel for making this possible … even if you don’t like their processors. This is truly a company giving back to the community.

The only bad side to the event was the realization of how far behind the US is in education. A family member works for a very well-known tech college in Pittsburgh and many times you rumors of them only seeking out international students. After talking to many of these students at this event – I now know why. I spent half of my day having conversations with high school students from other countries and felt like I was speaking to seasoned scientists and researchers. When I talked to the students there from the US they were smart … but it seemed like I as speaking to high school students. Got back to the 60s, 70s, and 80s and this situation would have been flipped. I’m not bad-mouthing the US students, just indicating that we may need to get rid of the entitlement thing big time in this country so we can do some catching up.

In an unexpected and enlightening realization – this even also proved one thing. When there is a very strong common interest or goal people from all walks of life have absolutely nothing against each other. In this even where people of persuasion that the news depicts as absolutely hating each other.  Not a sign of any discomfort between any students, their parents, volunteers, or attendees. None. All of then had one common goal – advance science. We need to learn from this.

In summary – this was an amazing even from a multitude of viewpoints. If ISEF is happening and it’s not in your area and you have a student trying to figure out what to do with their higher education that may give them a real opportunity to actually pay for that education and still have enough left over for a real life – fly them to it.  It’s worth the cost of plane ticket. ISEF if an immense opportunity to simply expose students to the information about careers and opportunities that exist in current times and the future.

Give people opportunities and peace will happen automatically by giving the ability to have food,shelfter, and quality of life.

Big Kudos to Intel for sponsoring this event!

-SWB

 

Memories Unbroken

“Beehive SouthSide” (c)Lawrence A Capozzolo

Clear in my mind,
words spoken enter the light.

Smells of fresh flakes of coffee,
grab the sounds romping in my mind,

The colors around,
from life being poured by the pound.

Many a state of mind,
created in the midst.

Memories that bind,
enduringly enrapt in my mind.

-SWB

The Movies

“The Warner” (c)Lawrence A Capozzolo

Warner Centre in Pittsburgh PA. Click here for a great article from The Post-Gazette on it.

Basically where I first viewed “Empire Strikes Back”. Memories.

I remember standing in line with my mother waiting to get in and hit the snack counter. A Star Wars fan … but still a kid. Sweets trumped getting a good seat. Besides – like everyone else I would see it at least 75 times (today’s cost over $800).

“The Movies” are something everyone remembers, and although they are coming back, today they lack the same sentimental memories. I mean those memories of friends huddled in the theater  annoying the other patrons, your buddies throwing popcorn at the back of your head during the film, and occasionally getting kicked out – which is why you probably needed to see the movie 75 times (you weren’t a fanboy or fangirl – you just saw the movie a few minutes at a time … and you could afford to do that in times past).

The movies also lost a little bit of art in them.  The art of physical editing, photography based on the chemical methods of development and how it affected the end result on the screen (still done today for specialized shooting), and the low clicking and hum you could still hear from the projectors in the back of the room. It all added to the experience.

Even with theaters popping up in communities new it’s still a little different. Drive-ins are still recovering (the ones that can with the forced upgrades to digital projection). New film makers are finding their footing (all digital, back to film, or hybrids). “The Movies” are truly in a transitional stage – which will last for years.

Maybe things will reset … new isn’t always best, or always desired.

If you see “The Movies” coming back in your community … support them. They may be the sentimental memories you need when you end up in that rocking chair on the front porch.

-SWB

 

Screaming Weasel

Yep … that’s us!

A bit about “us” – since many have only been introduced to us recently, and nobody ever reads the “about” tab – and honestly, some time we just put things in it to be goofballs.

Most of the time it’s me, the author, Lawrence Capozzolo (signed SWB). An American, or Italian/German American, or mutt, or one of the people that’s paying a mortgage to house my step-daughter’s four furry critters (two dogs, a cat, and a rat). We’re pretty sure the animals had their lawyer get their names on the deed for the house too. They may have taken ours off at this point.

SWB started originally started in 2006 when I purchased my G4 iBook and it had iWeb on it. I made my first posting after I noticed a blog called That’s Church (I’m pretty sure that was still its title back then – but I’m getting old, and memories fade fast now … so I could be incorrect.) The person writing “That’s Church” eventually went on to write for Pittsburgh Magazine.  Although my blog become popular in about fifteen countries doing about 1.2 million hits a year, I chose getting back into I.T. work (I could have been smarter and went back to school for carpentry or plumbing or HVAC …. but NO, I stuck with I.T.) therefore still writing but not keeping it up eventually doing it professionally.

The blog was started, like others at the time as a rant blog (humorous rant). I figured people would find humor in the annoying blabberings of us tech types, and I was right. Now that I’m close to 50 (ok …. REALLY close) I’m getting back into writing for it and doing photography for it again (unless otherwise stated – those photos are really mine) basically because of ageism (tech is becoming like the NFL … if you didn’t get your first Ferrari right in the beginning, the youngin’s aren’t going to give you a chance to get one now … you’re too old to work in tech) I’m back to writing. I like doing it anyway.

I don’t know if I’ll get my numbers back up or if I’ll ever get a donation (but although I’m not a non-profit, please keep in mind I have to replace two cars, a furnace, and put a kid through university – so have a heart, consider donating).  Right now I do a little sound engineering work, etc – waiting to get back into tech if I ever do.  If I just end up writing, better yet.

Back to SWB. It will continue to be a showcase for humorous rant, really bad poetry, attempts at legitimate poetry, and whatever gets thrown into it. Some others may write for it (if they do you will know). If you like the writing, please like the posts or blog – if you really like it – follow, if you think I should put it into a book – donate. Remember, books still do things like enabling me to generate enough money to donate to others that love to do what writers love to do.

The photography is also part of the showcasing in SWB, I’ve been doing this since the age of 13 …. so 36 years. You’ll notice various formats (slide, digital, modified, etc). The other site I write for Pittsburgh By Mini Cam is designed to be for low-res photography.

Yes … we do on purpose write badly, strangely, and horrendously (this is different from “badly” as it indicates a “graduate” level of “bad”). We try to make you think by readings that make you feel that Scotty forgot to but a few brain atoms back into you after beaming you up.

We just have fun.

… and we do consider padded rooms to be ultra comfy posh places. The straight jackets are slightly annoying though – especially when you have to type with your teeth.

We are the late show, art gallery, literary short, stand up comedian, sitcom, political humorist, poetm, life loving, opinionated schmucked (buggered for the British folks) up oxygen breathing carbon based units that you will hopefully learn to as least like. If not, click the “like” button anyway – people lie all the time.

-Lawrence A Capozzolo

SWB – “making legimate writer groan in agony”

Review: DUST Movies on YouTube

Logo (c)DUST

Two links you need to know if you like SciFi and/or good production in general:

• Youtube Link
• DUST Main Website

I remember the old days of good SciFi paperbacks … and publications like Analog, that showcased some of the greatest SciFi shorts of the time. BTW … Analog is still around. Many things like that just dissolve into memories you cherish in your rocking chair (or perpetual motion glider chair). The great thing is DUST, being one of the better online venues, became the modern upgrade for lovers of great fiction … in video form.

I have yet to see a single short on their YouTube channel or site that I would not want to see as a full feature motion picture. Many of these talented film makers work production for many of the commercial length movies you watch at the theaters … some are independents. Regardless of the situation … curating on DUST is outstanding. Check them out … you won’t be disappointed.

Kudos from SWB!

Keep it up and keep us entertained.

Experience the future …. watch DUST!

-SWB

National indie bookstore day

Take note tomorrow is Indie Bookstore Day (April 28, 2018) – click here for info. Despite the fact that “they” have deemed bookstores a dying breed … I completely disagree.

I do believe that hands are being changed from the Wally World sized mega libraries, back to where books belong … with the indie dealers that love them, and know them. I don’t care who you are, but the experience of buying something from someone that actually uses the product, or in this case, has read it …. makes a big difference.

I like going into my indie bookstore, where the shop keep (yes, I watch to much British TV) might have a bit of a intellectual “attitude” because they actually read their books on something other than a pad or phone (which means they actually comprehended the book too). I like the fact that they can hold a conversation with me on an author, a subject, or an issue – and have a clue.  Try that at Goliath Books!

We have a great indie store near where I live called The Penguin Bookshop. Great selection, and it sort of reminds me of Black Books – except the people at Penguin are actually sober.

If it’s in stock tomorrow I will be buying Alan Alda’s new book on communicating.  Check it out here.

If you aren’t buying books, buy one tomorrow (or maybe today) …. start a habit!

-SWB

Art All Night 2018

Yep .. it’s back. It’s moved slightly over across the river, but it’s back …. and it needs volunteers.

Art All Night is something SWB has always supported when it can (although this year I can’t … my apologies ahead of time). If you want a perfect example of nondiscrimination under any guise, Art All Night is it. All art, all music, all styles are welcome – regardless of where it came from. It’s an awesome place to agree to disagree about the art, and still go out for pizza and beer afterwards (oh … wait, that’s during – I guess maybe wine afterwards, then?)

The point is this is a non-censored show (yes, all kids are welcome … but parents do have to be aware and have common sense [control what your kids see, but please don’t teach them discrimination while doing it]).

If you really want to see the available creative talent in Pittsburgh – this is the place to go. Currently the dates are April 28th/29th. Volunteers are always needed, to please Click Here to get to their website if you want to do so, or just want to get info on the event.

Although I’ll miss the Lawrenceville aspect of Art All Night …… SouthSide could use its presence – so please continue to support it outside of L’Ville.

Support Local by supporting your fellow artists.

-SWB

Netflix AMC Halt and Catch Fire – a late acting surprise gem.

From IMDB

Most of the fan base for this tech history drama  were basically included the techno geeks of all ages, and all generational labels … the true geeks, and the closet ones (we know you …. Big Brother watches you playing your Atari 2600 behind your wardrobe!).

The main reason most watched it … the techie history (or so we thought). In general it was really cool trying to place the fictional company with the real innovative company of the time during each episode (of course seeing the gear was fun too). An yes, I too did wince when the ceiling dust fell into the mainframe due to the partying techs on the floor above.

The characters, in general, were spot on to their stereotypes of the day. The appearance of women heavy in influence in the beginnings of the industry also had much truth … many forget NASA butt being saved prior to the computing golden years by women who learned how to program on their own. Many of the female characters were not put in the show just to get viewership … many times, it was really like that.

In the beginning the show seemed to be more the design of a lite docu-drama about computer history in Silicon Valley. Later it seemed to expand into a hodgepodge of dramas (including the required sex scenes concerning all applicable lifestyles to give the typical cable and streaming series message of “you can watch our show … we’re very PC” – this is the only thing where I see TV hurting these days, when good acting starts to be over-shadowed by the political need to do on-screen CYA). Seasons 1 and 2 were great …. and to the the credit of the writes, if you skipped any scenes you didn’t think applied to the show, the story lines still continued very clearly. Season 3 took me a while to get through, and I even mentioned to wife that it was neat seeing the companies portrayed in seasons 1 and 2 were very cool, but season 3 seems to lack in keeping me interested and I didn’t see a real direction in the writing.

Then season 4 hit. It seems to almost be a continuation of the writing in season 3, but more into the relationships (including family) that were forged and destroyed by the industry – a very real thing. The acting was always decent, but you noticed a higher caliber come into play in season 4. The ending episodes of season 4 brought in a level of writing and acting I haven’t seen in years. If you are a fan of good theatrical acting, but don’t care much about the techie stuff … at least watch the last 4 episodes of season 4 (starting with “Who Needs a Guy”). This is where Gordon passes away due to his health issues. The real highlight is in the last episode where Donna and Cameron go through a dialog about their startup – in about 4 minutes they describe a complete cycle of a company, their relationship in it, and their moving on … in a way that is theatrically award worthy.

Emotionally the last 4 episodes are on the caliber of The Cryptogram. The writers did such an excellent job of making you completely immersed into the families (tech and otherwise) to the point where you felt like you were the one getting on a plane to move away and start over. Emotionally you will be spent.

Don’t miss it …. this is truly one of those gems everyone will end up buying on DVD or digital download in a few years and treasuring (like Heart of Dixie, or All The Rivers Run).

-SWB

Thinking Inside The Box

You read it right … “think inside the box”.

It’s the new buzz phrase around the water cooler (or Redbull dispenser – whichever you have).

Confused? Yes – Good. I don’t have throw my coffee cup away yet.

Here is a little bit the chew on. We’ve been thinking so hard “outside the box” since the latter 80s that, well, “thinking outside the box” is now THE BOX.

The idea behind “thinking outside the box” is doing things differently than everyone else, or truly failing differently than everyone else has been years before you to discover newer, better ways to do the things you do (hmmm … that sounds like a tag line for a really bad millennial commercial). Just to be specific … a really bad millennial commercial is one of those ones where you reach the end, and if there isn’t a company brand floating all over the screen you basically end up thinking “WFT????????????????????? (not WTF … see, now THAT’s being different – we think outside the box here at SWB on a regular basis).”

Considering I work in two ever changing tech fields (Information Technology and Sound Engineering), thinking differently with a good baseline of a solid box to sit new advances on is critical. It’s the only way solid advances are made – along with a little bit of user beta testing and QA processes. Oops, sorry, too many corporate words in that sentence … get over it, and don’t judge me (this is a free country and I’m allowed to enjoy my stereotype).

Want an example? (you guessed it, I’m going to pick on the millennial kiddies again):

Well, whether you like it or not here it is: The big news item on millennials is them living in shared housing. Guess what?  That’s hippie communal living ….. from the 60s. Yep, the newbies couldn’t think of anything but what was already done. If there a difference between the two groups?  Yes – the millennials, even though living in a shared enviro are still materialistic entitled nerds trying to look like they are helping the world by living in a shared environment (filled with many things created with manufacturing processes that are massively toxic). The hippies actually lived together to try and help each other live off the land and share resources, in theory bettering the world (then they discovered mini vans and some of them became hot soccer moms, so that ideal went south). Basically the hippies in today’s world became the box. The millennials are the box too, they just built one that was translucent so they could be in denial about being in it (ya know – if you can’t see it, it’s not there).  BTW …. lots of corporate people do that too.

To get a grip on things – thinking outside the box became the inside of the box and the only way to actually think outside of the box was to get back in the box thus avoiding the outside of the box standard issue thinking that was actually inside the box and in reality only a facsimile of the outside of the box which is limiting your ability to create and innovate inside the box while trying to claw your way out. Simple.

{{place confused dog head tilt here}}

This is not insanity … hang in there, we just bought a new bag of treats and we’ll give you one once you “get it”.

The latest big deal is gamification. See we’re already doing it here at SWB … you get a “treat” if you “get it”. Goal!!!

Keep in mind this doesn’t mean we have to “get it”, just as long as you do. We’ll have no idea what you are actually “getting”, but what the heck, we’re too old to care.

Gamification …. for those not familiar, it’s basically setting a goal and leaving a trail of chocolate chip cookies to it. For those that may have issues getting to their goals because they may be allergic to the chocolate, or the nut particles that may have ended up in the cookies … they can always get a second mortgage on their house to purchase an EpiPen from Mylan helping them get back on track.

Granted, with all of the millennials around me, I was starting to feel left out … so I ordered myself two boxes of trophies from Oriental Trading to make up for all the ones my teachers, coaches, and parents never handed out to me {sniff!}. I want gamification too … hopefully today’s trophy will be a Pez dispenser filled with cola flavored candies.

So, do you get it? … I know you’ve chewed a bit (and we do realize that might be your own tongue you are chewing … you might want to realize that too) … which means you have to be close to “getting it”. Remember, we have fresh treats.

Got it?

It’s all a game of making your outside the box thinking last long enough to allow you to make a difference before someone defines you as “the box”.

… or you can just grab a coffee, go fishing, and allow someone else to stroke out over it.

-SWB

• Reality shows were initially created to give you a peak into someone else’s real life freeing you from the typically scripted shows with tons of writers … now the reality shows are massively scripted with more writers than a sitcom of the same length. Reality shows are now hated and have become a box that’s worse that the previous box.
• A great film maker named George Romero was best known for creating an entirely new film experience – zombie movies. The Walking Dead did an excellent job of thinking outside the box and improving on George’s innovation in an actual TV series … then everyone copied and created endless amounts of copy cat zombie movies … enough to induce vomiting by 1 in 5 people on a daily basis. Overkill made an even thicker box that may never be broken out of.
• IBM created and innovation called the “PC” by thinking way outside the box of their room sized behemoths that even large corporations struggled to afford. Others thought even further outside of the box making those “PCs” the mainstay of data centers, but drove that into a level of overkill that convinced IBM to go back to their old “in the box” creation “the mainframe”.  Guess what you are on most of the time when you use “the cloud”? BTW … the cloud is an innovation that’s been around since about the latter 80s.

The big screen from the past taking on an 8mm cast.

So, the predictions of the big screen being gone due to the lcd bigs screens blowing them away seems to be much less of a valid vision in modern times.

The pic on the left is a new theater in a small community (Sewickley) being built from scratch containing a community room (for about 145), a 160 seat theater, and a 90 seat theater. along with that many communities like Lawrenceville, and Zelienople, etc have remodeled old theaters, or old buildings refitting them for theaters realizing that dinner and a movie in your own community is still better than dinner with a two hour wait at a corporate restaurant, moving to park again, and a thirty minute line for the movie, along with waiting in traffic to get our of the theater parking lot.

In other words spending a whole days with friends, dinner, and a movie is still loved a bit more than jockeying your car around to get to the dinner and a movie – spending most of the time complaining with your friends how long it took.

So, this is cool. With losing many traditions for families and friends, seeing one brought back (other than sports, drinking, sports, drinking, sports, drinking) is great. Even movie directors and film geeks are following suite in their own way … with a what was though to be dying along with the local theaters, the Kodak Super 8 film camera.

How so?

Well Kodak, thought to be a dying company is catering to the wishes of a current batch of film makers and directors that want to shoot with the inspiration of 8mm film, just like their mentors from the past did. Sort of like current artists producing vinyl, because they came to the senses and realized digital takes away from natural sound(unless you have a small super-computer the size that most medium level governments can’t afford). The pic to the left is (c) Kodak and a shot of their new hybrid super 8mm camera. You get a digital copy of the film from the film after it is developed. If you still shoot still film, you understand as a photographer that light passed through actual film differently than an lcd and images on paper differently than a paper producing more natural shading and color tones. The way an image is projected onto a screen is also affected by this. Surprisingly, even the newest of film makers have to be given credit for realizing this.

But a clueless award has to be given to the movie industry as a whole to forced small theaters to invest 60k or more in refitting completely to digital …

 

but kudos to those theaters that decided to keep some of their old analog projection gear in place – and even one or two new theaters are rebuilding and placing some of the older projection equipment to accommodate film makers truly wanting to use and project on film.

If you have a local theater reopening or remodeling, please support it … most of the films they most likely chose will be much better than the ones the corporate clones show (and most likely make it to Netflix free within a month anyway).

A couple of theaters to check out:

• Rowhouse Theater in Lawrenceville – movies and craft beer, you can make a mistake here.
• The Strand – a 1914 theater in Zelienople PA, revamped around 2005.
• Village Theater – a brand new, created from the ground-up theater in Sewickley PA coming soon!

Support your local theater, and keep your family memories on film!

Add any local theaters you know of via the comments!

-SWB

 

The Mascot, The Poodle, Stereotypes, and the quest for readership

You guessed it … it had to happen … one of the pets of a SWB writer became the mascot.

Was this because of the old, wise-dog look of an 8.5 year old pup?

No.

Was it because she did something terrible, like eating the toy poodle sitting next to her and we’re trying to clear her name?

Possibly.

Here’s the truth … we’ll stoop as low as possible to get readership … as most blog owners will. It’s just reality. When you are competing against tens of thousands of other writers than can’t write, along with another ten thousand legitimate journalists with blogs, resorting to a pic of a cute pup enjoying the day at an outdoor coffee shop works …

at least with the women (yes, that was a sexist statement … we know it … but it’s true, so we’re still using it). We couldn’t find a football to stick next to the dog, so we know the guys will care less about the post (stereotypes are our thing).

No we didn’t feed the dog coffee, well … at least we didn’t until she held the poodle hostage.

Hmm …. actually, maybe we should have let her keep the poodle as a hostage as leverage to see if we could get her signed as the mascot for the Riverhounds (oh wait … they don’t make enough money yet). Maybe we can get a deal with the Steelers … on the other hand, they already have a dog (Ben).

We need a sports team that wants a mascot so I can make a ton of money off the last few years of this animal, buy a new house, and stop writing this crap.

Maybe the Pirates (they’re resembling a country dog now …. lay on porch, do nothing).

… or the Penguins (wait …. I can’t pick on them – Mario only lives a mile from where I’m writing this, and he’s bigger than I am).

Dreams.

Yes … she ate the poodle – said it tasted like cat hair.

-SWB

P.S. We hope you enjoyed the mindless sanctuary your brain went into when you were reading this – it will help your therapist enjoy your next session.

P.S. P.S. PLEASE tell your friends you actually read this garbage … the more people we dumb down, the smarter our blog looks 🙂   Cool, huh? Modern marketing at work.