Posts Tagged ‘Square Galaxy Store’
Tree Meeting
I’ve been in a lot of meetings that have failed. I’m not sure sure how to make meeting work, but I’m beginning to understand why they fail.
Forget the time cost of meetings. Take the number of people in your meeting and multiply by the time of the meeting. 12 people in a short 20 minute meeting costs the same as a half a day by one person. To make your meeting fail, never consider this calculation; always have the most people in the longest meeting possible.
Have meetings just because. Yesterday’s meeting failed, so there needs to be another meeting today. Have another meeting tomorrow to keep the trend going. We all know that meetings are essential for work, so make sure you have as many as possible.
Communicate 1-0n-1 in large group meetings. If you have a lot of people to talk to, tracking them down and talking to them individually would make too much sense. Instead, gather everyone you need into one large meeting. During that meeting, go around the room and have a one-on-one discussion with each person. Everyone else will surely be bored to death while they listen in on your discussion with someone else.
Darken the room so everyone can’t see you. You prepared two whole slides to use during your hour long presentation–you better turn off the lights for your whole 30-minute presentation so people can see your slides and not you. You want to make sure you place undue importance on that slide containing inspirational quotes that probably could be skipped all together. Making people squint to see you in the dark will help your meeting fail. Lowering the lights will also have the added bonus of helping people feel sleepy during the meeting.
Avoid assignments. If you want your meetings to fail, about the last thing you want to do is to ask people to prepare for the meeting. People should walk into a meeting with no idea of what it is about, and with no ideas, topics, or research to share. Additionally, avoid making assignments during the meeting for work to be completed outside of the meeting.
Don’t read this book: Successful Meetings: How to Plan, Prepare, and Execute Top-Notch Business Meetings by Shri Henkel. Of all the books I found at the library to improve meetings, this one was fairly short, straight forward, and easy to follow. Anyone looking to have bad meetings should stay far away from this book. It is available from Amazon.com or from the Square Galaxy Store.
Review of Fringe
Posted in Reviewson Sep 17, 2009
Imagine a modernized version of The X-Files with a little bit of CSI, Alias, Eureka, and Lost. What is in your imagination mixer might be similar to the Fox television series, Fringe, beginning its second season tonight.
In Fringe, a team composed of FBI agents, a mad scientist, and his son, investigate weirdphenomena categorized as both fringe science and terrorist activity. Whether the team investigates weird paranormal activity, reads the mind of a dead person, or hunt down people who can pass through solid walls, Fringe is a weird but intriguing mix of science, fiction, and crime drama. Following the pattern of other J. J. Abrams television series, there are season long plots and unanswered questions, always haunting the viewer to watch more. While a common complaint of Lost was that it was too complicated requiring full viewership, Fringe has a good balance of single-episode-resolution and series-long-mystery.
Peter Bishop talking with Phillip Broyles
From season one, we learn there is a series of weird activity happening over the globe referred to as The Pattern. We learned that the bio terrorist group, ZFT, seems to be responsible for the strange occurrence, but their zealous attitudes have viewers questioning if they are really the good or bad guys.
Last summer I was traveling through Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada when I walked by some filming of Fringe on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Filming of Fringe moved to Vancouver for season two as a cost cutting measure. I’ll be watching Fringe this season very closely to see if I can identify the scene of which I saw the filming.
The filming of Fringe behind me
You can buy the first season of Fringe at the Square Galaxy store.
- (3) Comments
- Tags: Square Galaxy Store, tv
Reasons for Stargate Atlantis failure
Posted in Reviewson Feb 9, 2009
Source: Wikipedia
Sci-Fi show, Stargate Atlantis, endured 5 seasons before it was canceled. While I felt slightly empty after its predecessor, Stargate SG-1, got canceled after 10 seasons, my reaction to the end of Atlantis was much more subdued. I never felt like Atlantis really got going as an excellent Sci-Fi series.
Much of the problems behind the show’s failure was that it seemed like the producers were trying to follow a Sci-Fi formula rather than breaking free and creating something original. I believe originality and exploration of new ideas is one of the attractive features drawing fans to Science-Fiction television. With various technologies, episode plots, and series developments, Stargate Atlantis followed more than it lead.
Another major problem was an inconsistency of cast. Of the 10 main characters listed on Wikipedia, only 3 of which were cast for all 5 seasons. The series saw two doctors, three commanders, and a replacement of one of the main military guys. Such cast turnover prevented fans from building a long relationship with the characters. Additionally, a few of the characters who transferred to Atlantis after the SG-1 series was canceled had major personality changes–again causing character inconsistencies.
Stargate Atlantis at times seemed to be “Science-Fiction, minus the Science.” One of Sci-Fi’s appeals is that it allows writers and viewers to imaginatively explore new ideas and concepts by setting the show in some technologically advanced state. Atlantis disappointed in this respect because rather than reasonably using technology to explore new ideas, the writers simply invented new technology or unrealistic events simply because they thought it would make the plot more interesting. For example, in the very last episode, the crew used a never-aforementioned “Wormhole Drive” to jump across the galaxy in a second to save the day
Stargate Atlantis, while at times was interesting and many episodes illustrated great Sci-Fi drama, the series as a whole slowly failed itself into cancellation because they forgot what it takes to be a great TV show, and what it takes to be a great Sci-Fi series.
Clarification: Some point out that a show that makes it 5 seasons isn’t a failure, which is probably right. I should have said something like, “Stargate Atlantis failed to make my list of all-time great Sci-Fi shows,” or “Stargate Atlantis failed to be as great as Stargate SG-1.”
You can buy the second, third, or fourth seasons on DVD at the Square Galaxy Store.
- (5) Comments
- Tags: scifi, Square Galaxy Store, stargate, tv
Review of Criminal Minds
Posted in Reviewson Nov 6, 2008
Source: Wikipedia
Criminal Minds is another one of those TV crime dramas, not dissimilar to CSI. However, in Criminal Minds, they use behavioral analysis to solve crime mysteries rather than lots of forensics like the do in CSI.
Initially, I was really interested in Criminal Minds. I felt like I was learning about behavioral indicators and analysis. However, I found that as the series, now in season 4, developed, it incorporates less science and more drama. Read the rest of this entry »
- No Comments
- Tags: Square Galaxy Store, tv
Movie review of Eagle Eye
Posted in Reviewson Oct 16, 2008
If there is a level of “over the top,” then Eagle Eye begs for this level to be well defined.
Eagle Eye is an action file directed by D.J. Caruso. It features a young man and a single mother who are brought together and coerced by an anonymous caller into carrying out a terrorist cell’s plot.
As an action film, Eagle Eye was pretty typical, yet fairly exciting. You get your standard explosions, exchange of gun fire, high speed car chases, and suspense. However, there were a few too many, “yeah, right” moments becaues of too many far fetched ideas in the story fundamentals.
While not a “movie of the year,” Eagle Eye was more enjoyable than watching cable TV re-runs. To my friends, I would probably recommend that they watch it at the cheap theater.
You can purchase a copy of Eagle Eye in the Square Galaxy Store.
Little did he know…
Posted in Reviewson Dec 4, 2006
Stranger than Fiction was a funny, original, and somewhat intelligent film that was mostly refreshing in these days where it seems just about every new film is the same old same old. The movie stars Will Ferrell as the IRS auditing main character, Maggie Gyllenhaal as the cookie baking Ana Pascal, Dustin Hoffman as an English professor, and Emma Thompson as the narrator. The premise of the movie is that that a novel writer is unknowingly narrating Harold Crick’s life, from work, to love, and even to death.
The movie is one of the most intelligent films I’ve seen, with many subtleties to be picked up on by intellectuals and smart people. If you want to see a movie with stupid humor, go see Borat or something, but if you enjoy finding humor in hidden subplots, then you might enjoy this movie.
This film is for the nerdy: math nerds, environmental nerds, space nerds, and literary nerds can all connect with some of the character traits presented. This provides for a lot of the humor as you can laugh at just how nerdy we all are as presented by the characters.
This movie, while rated PG-13, is not as uncomfortable as walking across a liberal college campus. It makes a great date movie, especially if you are going out with a that girl or guy from your English class who knows how to laugh.
You can pick up a copy of Stranger than Fiction in the Square Galaxy Store.
- No Comments
- Tags: english, movies, Square Galaxy Store
Recent Comments