Ch-ch-changes!
Labels: Blog Appearance, Blog Template, Blog Tweaks
Equilibrium
Equilibrium, a film by Kurt Wimmer, is a yet another movie about a future dystopian society. It struck me as Farhenheit 451 meets Brave New World meets 1984, and even Wikipedia says as much. What Wikipedia failed to add, however, that I will, is that Equilibrium also adds Matrix-like choreography to the fight scenes. Despite all this seeming borrowing from famous novels and movies, Equilibrium is not without entertainment value. I'll admit to having a rather fondness for stories/movies set in a dystopian society. I grew up a huge fan of science fiction of this sort.Labels: 1984, Brave New World, Christian Bale, Dystopia, Dystopian Futures, Dystopian Societies, Equilibrium, Fahrenheit 451, Fantasy, Movies, Steampunk, Steampunkish Fantasy, The Matrix
2009 Goals
Labels: 2009 Goals, Goals
2008 Goals: A Recounting
Labels: 2008 Goals, Goals
Gotta Get Goin' On Some New Goal Setting
Labels: 2008 Goals, 2009 Goals, Wachovia, Wells Fargo
Graphic Rambling
Labels: 2008 Goals, 2009 Goals, Bitching About XRack, Blogging, Flickr, XRack
The Banking Crisis and Me
Labels: Citibank, CNNMoney, Wachovia, Wall Street Journal, Wells Fargo
Don't Break Up My Bank!
"It is going to be a mess trying to divide up the deposits," said Morgan Keegan & Co. analyst Robert Patten. "But the loans that go with the relationships are even more important." He called carving up Wachovia "a horrible idea."It would be nice if these banks, especially Citi, would show more concern for the people most affected by this transaction, instead of concern for our deposits.
More drawbacks face New York-based Citigroup than San Francisco-based Wells Fargo because of opposition from Wachovia shareholders, employees and customers, said analyst Nancy Bush of NAB Research LLC in Annandale, New Jersey.If the shareholders, employees, and customers are not wanting their bank to be broken up by Citi, then why should their deal be allowed to go through? If the shareholders, employees, and customers are not wanting their bank to be broken up between Citi and Wells Fargo, then why should that be allowed to go through, either? Why settle for a complex and messy arrangement when a far more simple one is already on the table? Let Wells Fargo buy all of Wachovia, as they have proposed, but enjoin them to pay Citi for having intruded on their deal. Giving Citi the $2.16 billion they had proposed to pay for Wachovia, plus punitive damages would seem a fair deal to me.
If Citi is to be believed, the purchase of Wachovia's banking assets is not a make or break acquisition for the firm. In the press release about its complaint Monday, Citigroup said that Wachovia "was always a deal Citi wanted rather than one we needed."My personal feelings on the matter are these: if Citi is given full reign, and Wells Fargo is shoved out the door, then I'll be moving my accounts to another bank, most likely Bank of America. If Wachovia gets split between Citi and Wells Fargo, then the results will be the same: I'll still move my accounts. If, however, Wells Fargo is allowed to follow through on their proposal (which, I would think, would require some sort of punitive damages be paid to Citi), then I would leave my accounts with Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo was my bank when I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, and they were a great bank to deal with. They had, and still have, incredible customer service, and they also have the highest rating a bank can receive, which is yet another great commendation for them.
"Citi should fold their tent and leave the scene," said Gary Townsend, president of Hill-Townsend Capital LLC, an investment firm in Chevy Chase, Maryland, that specializes in banks. "Why should regulators agree to a sale where it means taxpayer involvement, when we have another willing buyer who isn't seeking government involvement?"How could I possibly disagree with him?:P
Labels: Bank of America, Bloomberg, Citibank, CNNMoney, Credit Crunch, Credit Meltdown, FDIC, Wachovia, Wells Fargo
Cars, Loans, & Books

This past Wednesday, I took my mum to see Nights in Rodanthe, a movie based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. It's not really the sort of movie that I'd want to see, but because my mum had expressed an interest in seeing it, I thought I'd take her. So, we saw the movie, had dinner, and then went to a bookstore afterwards, whereupon I indulged my book-whorism by purchasing three books.Labels: Book-Whorism, Movies, Nights in Rodanthe, Volkswagen Jetta
Everybody Knows
Labels: Leonard Cohen
An Inconvenient Job Prospect

Labels: Hawai'i, Switch Technician
A New Widget and Cities
the shadow's desires for 2008
· view the original list
· write 150,000 words
(57,338 - 38.2%)
· edit 4 stories (0)
· submit 4 stories (0)
# of stories written: 0
# of stories in-progress: 3
# of stories published: 0
· read 30-40 books
total read (26)
novels/anthologies/plays (14)
classics read (7)
poetry books read (0)
how-tos read (4)
additional books (1)
· books purchased (17)
· To weigh, by 12.31:
150-159 lbs (198)
68,0-72,1 kgs (89,8)
BMI = 31.0 kg/m² (≤25.0)
77th percentile (20th-31st)
Obese Overweight Healthy
· visit Portugal [EDIT: and Italy]
· purchase Cadenza folding bike
· fly in a glider
· learn to brew beer
· save for travel
· accomplish one of my life goals
· save towards buying a new sax
· As Lições de Português
objectivo:
![]()
terminar Oxford unit 5:
a lição: 1.2
as palavras do vocabulário: 27
os verbos: 0
os números: 0
the shadow's photos
the shadow's overseas travels
(by country)
Canada ::: England ::: France ::: Germany ::: Greece ::: Guam* ::: Ireland ::: Italy ::: Japan ::: Philippines* ::: Portugal ::: Scotland ::: South Vietnam* ::: Spain ::: Thailand ::: Turkey* ::: Wake Island* ::: Wales :::
Greece = countries where I've lived
Portugal = countries I've visited
* = airport layovers
the shadow's stateside travels
(by state)
Alabama ::: Arizona ::: Arkansas ::: California ::: Colorado ::: Connecticut ::: Delaware ::: Florida ::: Georgia ::: Hawaii ::: Illinois ::: Indiana ::: Iowa ::: Kansas ::: Kentucky ::: Louisiana ::: Maryland ::: Massachusetts ::: Michigan ::: Mississipi ::: Missouri ::: Nebraska ::: Nevada ::: New Hampshire ::: New Jersey ::: New Mexico ::: New York ::: North Carolina ::: Ohio ::: Pennsylvania ::: South Carolina ::: Tennessee ::: Texas ::: Utah ::: Vermont ::: Virginia ::: West Virginia ::: Wisconsin ::: Wyoming :::
California = states where I've lived
Wyoming = states I've visited
the shadow's worldwide travels
(by city)
Athens ::: Atlanta ::: Baltimore ::: Banbury ::: Bangkok ::: Biloxi ::: Birmingham (USA) ::: Bloxham ::: Boston ::: Cardiff ::: Cheyenne ::: Chicago ::: Dallas ::: Detroit ::: Dublin ::: Edinburg ::: Firenze ::: Frankfurt ::: Gettysburg ::: Houston ::: Knoxville ::: Lisbon ::: Livermore ::: London ::: Mannheim ::: Napa ::: Nashville ::: New Orleans ::: New York City ::: Oakland ::: Oxford ::: Paris ::: Philadelphia ::: Pisa ::: Porto ::: San Francisco ::: San José ::: Shenington ::: Stratford-Upon-Avon ::: Sunnyvale ::: Washington DC :::
Athens = cities where I've lived
New York City = cities I've visited
shadowy bloggers
· An Extraordinary Woman in ashadowy sites
· Absolute Write
· Australian Slang
· comparative-religion.com
· Encylopedia Mythica
· FictionAddiction
· FictionExpress
· Great Wine Capitals
· Insanabile Cacoëthes Scribendi
· Kiwi Words & Phrases
· Luminarium
· New Zealand Stuff
· The Onion
· Portugal-Info.net
· Portuguese Wines
· Scribe Consulting (Aus)
· Wikipedia
· Write Group Ltd. (NZ)
news shadows
· Banbury Guardian (UK)
· BBC News
· CNN
· France2.fr
· LA Times
· London Times
· New Zealand Herald
· NY Times
· Reuters AlertNet
· Sydney Morning Herald
· The Age (Aus)
· The Portugal News
· Timaru Herald (NZ)
· Washington Post
shadowy tongues
· Babel Fish
· Bwrdd Yr Iaith (Welsh)
· French Tutorial
· Google Translator
· Learn Spanish
· Learn Welsh
· Learning Portuguese
· Living Language
· Maaori
· Ojibwe
· Portuguese
· Rosetta Stone
· Verbix
· Wheelock's Latin
for the shadowy traveller
· About Australia
· Brisbane (Australia)
· Cardiff (Wales)
· Christchurch (New Zealand)
· Dolomites World (Italy)
· Great Travellin' Shoes
· Hospitality Club
· Ireland
· Lonely Planet
· Madeira, Portugal
· New Zealand
· O Destino Porto (Portugal)
· Pasporta Servo
· Porto, Portugal
· Portugal
· Round-the-World Travelogues
· Round-the-World Travel Guide
· Swansea (Wales)
· Swansea Bay (Wales)
· Sweden
· Southern Wales
· SouthlandNZ (New Zealand)
· virtourist.com
· Virtual Portugal
· Visit Portugal
· Wales
SHADOWY COPYRIGHT NOTICE
a shadowy quote
Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.
— Author Unknown
about this shadow
Born and raised an Air Force BRAT, the Garrulus has been to 18 countries and U.S. territories on three continents, as well as to 39 of the 50 states. He has lived in places as diverse as Okinawa, Japan; Biloxi, Mississippi; Bangkok, Thailand; and Bloxham, which is in Oxfordshire, in England, not too far from Banbury. (You've heard of Banbury Cross, right? You haven't? Well, where the hell were you in English class? Good God, if you were going to skip class, why the hell did it have to be English? You coudn't've skipped out on something useless? Like wood shop? Dumbass! Serves you right. You could've learned a thing or two about a certain naked woman on a horse, and you might also have learned something about chocolate. Heh. I'll bet that makes you regret skipping English class now, doesn't it?) Too, the Garrulus enjoys comparative religion and mythology, and he loves to innoculate his fantasy fiction with these interests, as well as with various aspects of the different cultures he has experienced around the world. As he has family in Australia, South Africa, England, and the U.S., you might say the sun never sets on his family. Then again, you might not. (He doesn't give a damn whether you say this or not, to be honest.) His friends are the most motley crew, seeing that they're from, amongst other places, New Zealand, Australia, England, Poland, Canada, and Wales. The love of his life is from Portugal. He also enjoys photography, the graphic arts, languages (including foreign curse words, of course), and travel, travel, travel.
[ image hosted by flickr ]
what the shadow hears
[ image hosted by flickr ]
© 1976
Elektra/Asylum/Nonesuch Records
what the shadow sees
[ image hosted by flickr ]
© 2002 Dimension Films
[ image hosted by flickr ]
© 2008 Warner Bros.
[ image hosted by flickr ]
© 2007 Miramax Films
shadowy arts & artists
· Ansel Adams
· Anton Corbijn
· artcyclopedia
· artists.org
· fantasporto
· Lisa Gerrard
· M. C. Escher
· Michael Parkes
· National Museum Wales
· Ottmar Liebert
· Ottmar Liebert's Blog
· Salvador Dalí Museum
· Salvador Dalí Gallery
· Van Gogh Museum
· Yves Klein
recent shadows
Ch-ch-changes! :::
Equilibrium :::
2009 Goals :::
2008 Goals: A Recounting :::
Gotta Get Goin' On Some New Goal Setting :::
Graphic Rambling :::
The Banking Crisis and Me :::
Don't Break Up My Bank! :::
Cars, Loans, & Books :::
Everybody Knows :::
ancient shadows
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ancient feeds
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