All Consuming : Robert Cottrell

Why I want to consume "Marie Antoinette"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 21:47:55 GMT

by Sofia Coppola

Copies of the DVD are for sale in the gift shops at the Versailles palace. A fashion magazine featuring Kirsten Dunst on the cover was displayed at a newsstand a short distance from where the guillotine once stood. I paused to contemplate history while resting against a rock in the darkness of a grotto in the gardens of Marie-Antoinette’s estate.

Why I recommend "Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 21:31:56 GMT

Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software

by Scott Rosenberg

This is one of the frightening books on software development that I have read. Never before have I felt such despair at the complete hopelessness of building software of even passable quality. The personalities, conversations, and decisions chronicled echo uncomfortably close to my experiences at every company I have worked for.

The book follows the “progress” of a fatefully doomed project from its beginning until the author is finally forced to abandon his coverage to get the book published because it has become obvious that the software will never ship. For three years, this revolutionary application was always just another two or three years from shipping….

I am completely terrified of the prospect of googling for the progress made in the last 16 months since the author stop covering the project. Have they managed to ship yet? Does anyone still care?

It may be time to consider a new career. Matt has suggested on more than one occasion that I should buy a farm somewhere in Fife and raise sheep. After reading this book, that is starting to sound like a fabulous idea.

A story about "The IT Crowd - Season 1"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 20:09:50 GMT

The IT Crowd - Season 1

by Graham Linehan

It might not rank amongst the best television series, but the 16 color CGA graphics in the menu alone were worth the price of the DVD. I watched mesmerized for nearly ten minutes before even getting around to playing the first episode.

After watching this, I think I’ve got the skills necessary for a job as an IT technician:

“Have you tried switching it off and back on again?”

“Are you sure it’s plugged in?”

A story about "Hats Off to the Buskers"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 20:06:08 GMT

Hats Off to the Buskers

by View

When I first saw the CD sitting on the display in the music store, I thought it said “Hats off to Buster”.

Why it's taking me forever to finish consuming "Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 20:33:24 GMT

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

by David Allen

I can’t quite seem to find the time to get around to reading this.

A story about "The Last King of Scotland"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 16:20:06 GMT

The Last King of Scotland

by Kevin Macdonald

This movie really confused me. I was expecting some sort of historical drama like Braveheart considering that this year marks the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union that brought Scotland into the United Kingdom. With the exception of a bunch of graduating students jumping into a lake at the beginning of the movie, this film didn’t have much to do with Scotland at all.

Why I recommend "Rocky Balboa"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 16:32:07 GMT

Rocky Balboa

This movie kept me in suspense until the very last scene. I was never sure if Rocky was going to be able to come from behind, rising to the challenge of his rival, and win the fight, or if he was going to slip on the floor during training and break his hip.

A story about "It's a Boy/Girl thing"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 17:22:59 GMT

It's a Boy/Girl thing

by Nick Hurran

Those wacky Aztec trickster gods are always up to one thing or another. You think you’re off to an ordinary class field trip to a museum and the next thing you know, you’ve exchanged bodies with your next door neighbor and hilarious hijinks ensue.

A story about "Eragon"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 17:11:14 GMT

Eragon

by Stefen Fangmeier

CNN recently had a special where they explored the nature of genius. The final segment of the show featured an interview with the author of the book where he talked about how he wrote the book when he was 15 as a practice to see if he could write a real book later.

Yes, the story did feel like it was written by a teenager, but the movie wasn’t that bad.

How "Stranger Than Fiction" changed my life

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 15:10:12 GMT

Stranger Than Fiction

by Marc Forster

Saving the world through cookies.

A story about "Costello Music"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 20:39:42 GMT

Costello Music

by Fratellis

I didn’t know what to expect from this when I bought it. But it was charted at #1 in the Virgin Megastore and there were stacks and stacks of copies of the CD. So either this was going to be one spectacular album or the store severely over ordered.

According to the review on Amazon, this highly anticipated debut from the Glasgow indie trio has references to 70s punk. So there’s something for everyone, no matter where you fall on the indie vs. punk debate.

Why I recommend "DOA: Dead or Alive"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 20:38:24 GMT

DOA: Dead or Alive

by Corey Yuen

Sure, the plot is minimal, the dialogue terrible, and the acting even worse, but how could I possibly pass up a movie based on one of my favorite video games?

Why I recommend "Pulse (2006)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 21:17:11 GMT

Pulse (2006)

Veronica Mars investigates ghosts that live in the internet, but this time she doesn’t quite solve the mystery.

A story about "Barnyard"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 20:55:27 GMT

Barnyard

With all of the animated movies being released this year, some of them were destined to fall short of expectations. This was one of them. While the voice talent for the supporting roles was acceptable, the lead characters just irritated me for some reason.

The story started off slowly and quite painfully. It did get better, and I could almost detect the potential for a decent story if the filmmakers had chosen to develop it. Still, my nephews really enjoyed the movie, so maybe that’s good enough.

A story about "Miami Vice"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 20:43:36 GMT

Miami Vice

by Michael Mann

I’m not really sure whether I should mark this movie as worth consuming or not. With half an hour left in the movie, at the height of the action, the projector went dark. A few minutes later the sound cut out as well. Confused members of the audience stared blankly at the screen, wondering if the theater operators were going to fix the problem. A few minutes later the playback was restored, but they refused to rewind the film.

It was another 10 minutes before they turned the house lights back down. Disgusted viewers yelled comments at the screen. “What happened?”, “Turn off the lights!”, “This is no longer a movie it’s more like television!”. My favorite was when the undercover officer approached the bad guy hideout disguised with as pizza delivery guy: “It’s not delivery, it’s DiGiorno!”

The theater handed out free movie passes to everyone as we left the auditoreum, so at least this will pay for “Snakes On A Plane” later this month!

Why it's taking me forever to finish consuming "Mac OS X Internals: A Systems Approach"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 18:26:58 GMT

Mac OS X Internals: A Systems Approach

by Amit Singh

Weighing in at just over 1,600 pages, the latest addition to my Macintosh programming library stretches the concept of a computer book. I wonder how many of those pages I will be able skim before the material is made obsolete by the release of the next version of the operating system.

A story about "Lex & Yacc (A Nutshell Handbook)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 21:34:02 GMT

Lex & Yacc (A Nutshell Handbook)

by John R Levine

I’ve had this book on my shelf for several years now but never got much past a cursory review of the early chapters. I finally decided to take the time to dig a little deeper into flex and bison and turned to this book for help.

The examples are a little dated-~~a menu generator using the curses library, that so 80’s)~~-but the ideas are timeless. The organization of the big is a little weird. I felt like information that should have been discussed together was repeated and scattered in three different sections of the book. The long code listings can get a bit overwhelming at times but careful study is rewarded with discovery of a few interesting tricks-~~like how to scan a string with potentially embedded escaped quotation marks~~-that really ought to have been called out and discussed in more detail.

A story about "The Benchwarmers"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 17:16:59 GMT

The Benchwarmers

What’s the worst movie you saw in 2006? I know, we’re not even 1/3 of the way through the year. Still, I feel fairly confident that this movie will likely be the worst movie I see this year.

I wasn’t expecting a great movie, just a little mindless diversion. The story had potential that just seemed to be wasted. I managed to laugh a few times during the movie, but it was a mostly forced laugh.

A story about "Thank You for Smoking"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 21:48:06 GMT

Thank You for Smoking

by Jason Reitman

“It’s not a negotiation. It’s an argument.”

This was a surprisingly entertaining movie. The satire was piled on a bit too thick for my taste, a constant reminder that the events in the movie weren’t really real. However, once I let go of my hope for a more serious treatment of a complicated issue I let myself simply enjoy the wacky antics.

I think I want to form my own weekly Merchants of Death meetings. They looked like a lot of fun.

A story about "She's the Man"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 19:58:58 GMT

She's the Man

by Andy Fickman

It’s not a silly high school comedy. It’s contemporary Shakespeare. Every review I read was sure to reference this. Even the opening credits of the movie made it a point to let you know that the story was adapted from “Twelfth Night”.

A story about "Cocoa(R) Programming for Mac(R) OS X (2nd Edition)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Cottrell) — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 19:55:49 GMT

Cocoa(R) Programming for Mac(R) OS X (2nd Edition)

by Aaron Hillegass

I’ve dabbled with Cocoa development off an on for a few years now, but until recently never had a project interesting enough to really put in the effort to truly learn the platform. But now I think it’s time to finally dig a little deeper and get serious about developing applications for the Macintosh.

This appears to be the book to get for Cocoa development. I’m currently working through the early chapters to solidify my mastery of the tools and look forward to getting to the more advanced concepts that will follow.