When I went back to university five years ago I did experince Dunedin rush 15 minutes a couple of times and I have had the misfortune to find myself stop-starting my way around Auckland at the wrong time.

I also got a taste of the frustrations city communters experience when I lived in London but fortuantely have never come across anything like this:

Furious rail commuters in Argentina set fire to a train on Thursday in anger over delays during the morning rush hour.

Television images showed black smoke and flames engulfing the train at the station of Merlo, in the western suburbs of the capital, Buenos Aires. At nearby Castelar, passengers hurled stones at the ticket office and blocked the rails.

"We understand that people get angry when the service is delayed or cancelled, but they absolutely can't attack a public service in this way," Gustavo Gago, a spokesman for rail company TBA, told local television.

And Sr Gago gets the prize for stating the obvious.

By the time your train gets to Shibuya, it's so packed that when the doors open, people just seem to ooze out like toothpaste from a tube.

When they surface, they face off here at the 4-point crosswalk:

American director Brett Ratner (the Rush Hour trilogy) thinks that a movie based on Guitar Hero can be really good, and he wants to make it. Guitar Hero is a bestselling video game franchise launched in 2005 and published by Activision. Basically you have a contoller shaped like a guitar and you "play music" by pressing buttons at the right time. Ratner doesn't have the movie rights (yet), but says:

I love ‘Guitar Hero’ and I think it’s a part of pop culture. I would love to do a ‘Guitar Hero’ movie, if Activision would ever let me. I’m trying to convince them, but why would you have a movie screw up such a huge franchise? Not that I would make a bad movie. So that would be cool, to do a ‘Guitar Hero’ movie…It could be about a kid from a small town who dreams of being a rock star and he wins the ‘Guitar Hero’ competition. One of these dreams-[come-true] kind of concepts.

From what it sounds like, it would be your basic "teen dreams of success and obtains it in the end" kind of story, with a guitar tournament as the means. Sure, but why would you need to buy the Guitar Hero rights for that? Thankfully, Ratner has plenty of projects right now so don't expect a Guitar Hero anytime soon (or ever, hopefully).

Source

He had this to say about it:

"I love ‘Guitar Hero’ and I think it’s a part of pop culture. I would love to do a ‘Guitar Hero’ movie, if Activision would ever let me. I’m trying to convince them, but why would you have a movie screw up such a huge franchise? Not that I would make a bad movie. So that would be cool, to do a ‘Guitar Hero’ movie.

"It could be about a kid from a small town who dreams of being a rock star and he wins the ‘Guitar Hero’ competition. One of these dreams-[come-true] kind of concepts."

So basically, it would be just like that shitty movie, The Wizard, only modernized to center around the Guitar Hero video game instead of an NES and a Power Glove. Oh, and let me guess, the main character ultimately scores a 100% on DragonForce's "Through the Fire and Flames" to win some kind of championship, right? I can't believe that he thinks he wouldn't make a bad movie out of that.

From TechCrunch:

Tweetrush isn’t able to track direct messages or messages from private users, but the numbers are still much lower than anticipated. Either something is wrong with the data, or Twitter usage is far lower than we expected.

The data is coming via Gnip, which was given access to Twitter’s XMPP firehose last month. Tweetrush founder AJ McKee says they believe the data is being under-reported based on scraping checks they’ve done on Twitter, but that for now Twitter isn’t helping them or Gnip correct data usage. Now that they’ve launched, perhaps Twitter will correct any issues.

The site is a demonstration of the technology behind a in-development analytics product for developers called Rush Hour, which will be launched later next year.

INSIDE OUT/RUSH HOUR - greatest hits

As we ride, I realize the little boy is playing with the hem of my skirt - as in, lifting it up and dropping it; lifting it up and dropping it.   I politely take my skirt out of his hands, and smile.  His mother does nothing but laugh.  A few seconds later, he does it again.  Mind you - its rush hour, and its packed.  So there isn't any place I can escape Mr. Wandering-Hands.  The only thing I'm thinking is "Thank god he's strapped into his stroller".  Um, I was wrong.  Next thing I know, he's popped out of his little fold up stroller, and now is 'hiding' under my skirt. Lovely, no? 

I was trying not to laugh, as were the other dozen people who were witnessing this event.  Although the mom and people with the little boy seemed to find no problem in the fact that this 4-year-old was now hiding under the clothing of a complete stranger, which I think was what troubled me most. 

Thankfully my stop was next, and I quickly exited that train, making sure there was nothing still hiding in my skirt.

Quite possibly THE strangest thing that has happened to me on the CTA. Ever.

Nothing obscures sox and crox

Fight transit terror

]]> http://therulesfortwilight.wordpress.com/?p=91 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 05:43:01 +0000 Jessica http://therulesfortwilight.wordpress.com/?p=91 I would be sitting in bed as per usual typing up the fascinating incidents that constitute my day, but as I went to pull up my laptop to write this, I realized that it is sitting forlornly in my car. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

So now I'm plugging out the fascinating incidents that constituted my day on an incredibly noisy keyboard in the wide open loft. Not that you're concerned about the location from which all these majestic thoughts pour, for all you know I'm in the Swiss Alps contemplating flowers. (I'm not.)

I was everything to everyone at work today, making the most of my multi-tasking abilities. I sorted shirts, moved jeans, re and disassembled tables, ran the fits and was a cashier. I felt a little like a superhero, flying around the store with my boots and grandpa cardigan. I steamed shirts, took a survey for my boss, and ran go-backs... and got off an hour late. Hatred. I had told the family I would be meeting them at the exact time I was walking out the doors of my "office". Stupid, stupid, stupid. I call Dad.

I'll be late.

"How late? Five minutes late or fifteen minutes late?"

Fifteen minutes late. I'm idealistic.

The long line at the stoplight should have been clue enough, but nothing can crush my high spirits. I am off work, good songs are on the iPod. I round the bend to merge onto That Highway, and a wall of brake lights shatters my idealism like a bug on a windshield. It does not pay to be idealistic. Being idealistic at rush hour makes you the bug.

I search frantically for the AM radio station Dad claims as a reliable traffic monitor. "Always on the 8's, Jessica." Every day, Traffic on the Eights. They promise. One station with this promise is playing the Boston Red Sox v. the Rangers, the other is a monotoned conservative talk radio host droning on about who will be President. I bounce between the baseball and the conservative until the clock hits a six, and then toggle quickly to see which will be the first to bless me with the sound of a Traffic 'Copter and the latest update on why I will be late for dinner with my family. The eights pass. One station talks of Josh Hamilton and makes me think of Nick (who is also at the restaurant, waiting), the other monotone man has increased his tempo to chant for the Republican party. This entire time, with the toggles, the radio, the baseball and the conservative, I have been stopping and going along the equally depressing frontage road.

I toggle through two sets of eights. Those liars.

Depuis longtemps résident à l'H2O Club en Belgique (boite frontalière du nord de la France) et considéré comme un simple DJ  house pour mega clubs, Fred Hush commence à se faire connaitre depuis peu par le milieu plus pointu et underground à travers son autre facette, celle de producteur. Il sort d'ailleurs regulièrement des maxis sur des labels essentiels comme Rush Hour, Hell Yeah (il y a une chronique de son dernier maxi un peu plus bas) ou notre Kill the Dj  national, notamment avec le morceau Definition track ,repéré par Ivan Smagghe lors de l'un de ses passages en Belgique et qui a entendu Fred le jouer. Il a craqué dessus et l'a fait signé. Il est d'ailleurs considéré par ce dernier comme l'un des meilleurs producteurs actuel (rien que ça!).

La musique de Fred Hush contient tous les élements indispensables à la creation d'un bon (voir trés bon) disque de musique techno moderne. Sa dernière production pour le label  Hell Yeah en est le parfait exemple. Il a un son à la fois sexy, dark et deviant mais tout en restant classe et groovy, un peu comme ses prestations Dj où on ne sait sur quel pied danser. Une chose est sûre par contre, c'est qu'il risque bientôt de devenir incontournable dans le paysage électronique à venir.

http://www.djfredhush.com
http://www.myspacecom/djfredhush

2. Star Wars + Rush Hour:

3. Darth Vader Taunts Luke:

[/caption]

Public transportation is a fickle mistress.

Since our relocation, our bad experiences with public transportation have increased immensely. Riding the train, we've experienced one or more instances of the following:

• foreign gastrointestinal vapors invading our facial perimeter
• ass-to-ass combat
• people who don't understand that we don't want to hear about whatever the fuck it is they choose to blabber on about for 7 stops
• sharing communal air space with people who don't know how to fucking cover their mouths when they sneeze/cough OR who just sniffle constantly.*
• packed trains with empty cars - WTF!!! We're gonna need the transit authority to get on their job
• random outages that turn a 20 minute ride into a 45 minute exercise in patience

WTF?! of the Week #3 (+)

WTF is up with Wordpress not giving you the option to notify yourself by email when there are comments in the spam que? Who knows how many of our readers** feel slighted because their comments were never posted/read.

* This leads us to believe that they are just one mistimed *sniff* away from using the back of their hand - ew.

** Probably all 9 of you. FYI: We don't delete comments. If you don't agree with us, we don't acknowledge your existence and deleting something that doesn't exist... Well, that's just silly.

Meet Jo. Jo is working on her 75^th customer complaint email. It’s two in the morning and tomorrow at ten, she has to work on her second children’s book for her language school. She’s an ESL teacher in Shanghai and also works part-time as a customer service agent for height enhancing men’s footwear (she’s 4’10, if you can appreciate the irony). On top of that she also tutors privately to two Korean kids. She can barely get a few hours of sleep, gets chronic migraines, vomits a lot and now discovers she has trouble mustering a decent appetite for a meal of McD’s cheeseburger and a Super Size Coke. She’s currently back at home in the Philippines consulting five doctors.

Jo’s case is an example of rush hour gone wireless. We usually associate rush hour with the phenomenon of hundreds of civilians sprinting to work, munching their sandwiches and gulping their cups of coffee hurriedly. But in today’s society, it isn’t like that anymore. It’s already invaded your office and yes, even in your own house. At home, rushing for work. At work, rushing for home. At malls where they have the Christmas Rush or the Super Sale Rush.

We’re constantly on the move. We now take our own ball and chain wherever we go especially if you work abroad in countries where the pace of life is so much faster.

Michael works two full time jobs. From 8-2pm, he’s a digital archivist at Stanford. Then at 3-11pm, he’s an IT teacher assistant in a college in San Francisco. Presently, he’s contemplating taking on a third job.

Shirley works seven days without a break. She is a freelance teacher in Shenzhen. On weekends, she would swing into the learning center with just five minutes worth of shut-eye, chug down her caffeine laced Starbucks, pump her fists into the air and announce to the whole world, “Alright! Time for class!”

And there’s me. As a college lecturer in Zhuhai, I start work at 7am till 9:30 pm. During evenings, I mark papers in the office with my colleague, Alma. On my first night, she tossed me a bag of chips.

“What’s this?”

“Dinner,” she said.

I couldn’t believe it. I swore I’d get more proper meals than this but as working late became more frequent, Pringles became my best friend. Sometimes I’d even go without it just to tackle and reduce my workload quickly. I even work at home during weekends putting in a 12 hour work shift making lesson plans and materials. Eating and showering were regarded as mere duties that take time away from my tasks. I just can’t simply be bothered with them. Life was for working than living.

Henry David Thoreau once said, “Why live with such hurry and waste of life?” Sorry Thoreau, I’m stumped for an answer. Come to think of it, ask several others in the workforce and they’d be just as clueless as I am. If we strip down our excuses and alibis to its barest skeletal essentials we honestly don’t know why we’re doing this.

But one thing I do know is that if you continue going through life in the speed of light, it’s going to eclipse what’s important.

Mom: Happy birth—

Me: I just got this urgent email. Wait, hold on. My boss wants us to hand in our class grades within three days?! I have to get on top of this. Mom, can you call me back next week?

Mom: That’s what you said last time.

Me: That’s because you caught me at a bad time. I was up to my neck designing the class boards.

Mom: I only see you once a year and we only talk once a week.

Me: Look, I’m sorry. I’ve just been really busy. We’ve got tight deadlines.

Mom: (sadly) Okay, just call if you’re ever free.

That never happened because once you’re caught in the nefarious cycle of addictive work, it’s almost impossible to get out of it.

If you’re like me and the rest above, when was the last time you had a proper meal? Or talked to your loved one? Or just took a whole day off? Why are we so determined to get burned out in our twenties and thirties before we even reach our fifties? Now I’m not saying to put a halt on your careers or stop chasing your personal goals. Just plant your feet firmly in the ground for once and smell the roses. Put some balance in your life. Learn to experience it more rather than let it pass you by.

Life is not a rush hour. It’s not hundreds of pedestrians making a mad dash at an intersection. The traffic light has to be red for once because life is more than that. And that’s why I’m stopping at last, putting in all the breaks to see and experience what’s all around me. The question is, “Will you make it that way?”

I keep that in mind as I got connected to my mom’s number in the Philippines. “Hi,” I told her. “I miss you.”

1. The fare hike

Always looming over our heads, the fare hike is a constant source of annoyance. The MTA plans to hike the train fare twice in the next 3 years. The proposed fare increase will bring a train ride up 18 percent over the 18 months.

Worse yet is the statement that Howard Roberts Jr., NYC Transit President, made pretty much admitting that the fare hikes won't actually improve the subway systems or the common complaints riders have about service and efficiency. The hike will only maintain the current "status quo" which doesn't really seem to be good news.

The reason for the hike? Well I'm sure we've all seen the articles covering Governor Patterson's concerns about the NY State budget being in crisis. The transit system alone estimates a huge $900 million revenue loss next year. A cost they could have been blanketed by the recently rejected congestion bill that would have charged a toll for anyone crossing the 60th street line during rush hour. And here I, naively, thought it had something to do with improving the environment by discouraging driving. Silly me.

2. Seatless Cars

Well not completely gone but the idea is to change the seats in subway cars so that during rush hour they get locked in an up position making it impossible for anyone to sit on them.

The idea is said to take off in 5-7 months in a few cars on unmentioned lines.

So now not only will people be angrier at rush hour they'll also be packed in like sardines packed into a can of sardines..very very angry achy sardines. Yay for the elderly, injured and pregnant.

With the recent failure of metrocard machines, increasing delays, and poor customer service bikes are looking better and better unless of course you run into a cop or he decides to run into you.

HI hi. Ok so guess what book I got last night? That's right you guessed it! Br-Br-Br-BraBrBreaking Dawn Beeotch! Please excuse that momentary isanity...Yeeeeah... So the book release party wasn't as great as the one I went to for the release of HPDH (of course it wasn't. I went to Barnes & Nobles in Manhan for that). But for this one I went to my local Borders bookstore but it was still nice.

Anyway, I was a little disappointed though because even though they did have a costume contest, it seemed like no one else (save for a few people) were aware of it. I for one was looking forward to it (you should've seen me at B&N 4 HPDH) so I did a little Twilight Vampire touches. All day I was trying different combos of halloween makeup cream to make my skin paler/lighter/whiter etc. But the cream just never looked right and I could never smooth it out evenly when using a lot of it so I settled for using baby powder. But then my mom (thank god for her) helped me apply some of the cream in addition to the powder when she got home.

I swear, my mom is brilliant at halloween costumes. That is her favorite holiday by far and she always goes all out. She's put together (herself) some of the greatest costumes of all time. I don't know why my mom never got into costume design or makeup or something. You see, my abuela (my mom's side) used to be a seamstress and she is still fantastic at it so she taught my mother really great and easy things using fabrics, clothes, etc. Then mix that with my mom's clever ideas and cool fashion sense and you'ave got a great combination going on. Seeing what my mom can do with just ordinary halloween makeup makes my mind explode with that she could possibly do with professional materials. I definitely think that my mom could be a fantastic make-up/costume artist for movies. And I'm not just saying that because she's my mom (believe me, there are also things she's expertly NOT good at lmao), she just has real skill in this. I don't know why she never persued it.. ahh anyway.

so she helped me add purplish/black underneath my eyes (I used a wikihow guide on looking like a twilight vamp). I didn't really do anything different with my hair, I guess I just made a more-prominent part on the side.

Ugh ok time out. I'm watching the news and I just saw a commercial for the Teen Choice Awards and they said 'Miley Cyrus' like 7 times within 15 seconds. I'm sick of the girl because she's a major bitch (watched Youtube much?) and is totally full of herself. She may have talent (if my bffl read this she'll say omg no way and that she's got more talent lol) but she flaunts it way too much. You know somethings wrong when top sellers of little girls backpacks and t-shirts are HSM and Hannah Montana. The reason why this is bad? HSM is a full fledged movie with a huge cast and different personalities and people. Hannah Montana? One Person. Wayyyyy too much attention on the chick. It's a Hannah Monscandal! (WhatTheBuck Anyone?) We're getting high off Hannah and we'll never get enough until we suck her dry and her career will dry. Omg the rhyming, its charming, and harming. Shutup! omg, grrr. SpasmCowCherryTurtle. [Please ignore] Anyway, I don't like her as a person although I am shamely attracted to the show and her occasional song (I hate some I like some, hey don't make fun!) And her drama provides us with something to do (You know you love it. Dear god, wtb is influencing my speech way too much!). Anyway if you haven't heard about ACDC vs M&M (then you are clueless my friend), well you have now. They are the two dance crews that have been battling it out on Youtube (screw ACDC/M&M I'm all for the WhatTheBuck crew! Pull Shapes Baby!) in the biggest online dance battle in history. ...Must I link this? Ugh Fine, here is their live battle announcement (god, wasn't this thing like over?!!) Well anyway, they are taking it to the big screen (therefore totally eliminating the whole 'biggest ONLINE dance battle' tag. Slay me.)

By the way, I totally agree with the following comment (I totally ranted on that like a day ago to my mom while she was making dinner...totally pretending to listen but not lmao)

So I totally agree that it was planned. Oh and for the record.... THE NICKNAMES MILERZ & MANDERZ MAKE ME SICK!!!!! Ahem, now, for the COOLER DANCE CRU! BUCK YEAH!

See, now THAT is POWER TO THE PEOPLE MANNN!!!! I totally wish I would've found out about Buck putting together that collab (I had no idea! I totally would've gotten together some friends and participated!) But, nonetheless, even though I couldn't be in that vid, Im throwing my full support behind TEAM BUCK! EAT THAT MILEY CYRUS! ...ehemm,....haaha yea.......ok... Lol but anyway, as for the real crews involved in the battle, I have to say that the M&M Cru GOT STOMPED! Lmao, ACDC has the BEST celebs backing them up: Chris Brown, Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Bynes, Brittany Snow, Adam Sandler, Diana Ross, etc. Just watch the vid:

and here is the M & M response:

Ok I've lost my point... haha sorry I stopped writing because I watching SNL...

Ok, back to Breaking Dawn lmao, I got totally got side-tracked. So yea, I got the book at the Border's party a little after midnight but I can't read it because I've only read Twilight LMAO. I know!!! I haven't read New Moon or Eclipse (don't bite me!) but I got the book anyway because I thought it would be fun to hang with my friends at Atlas, participate in some fun Twilight-related activites (like trivia or the debate over Jacob vs. Edward) I Filmed the debate! It was heated! Although my friend Marissa totally would've just flashed that pic of shirtless Taylor Lautner (who plays Jacob in the movie) and said "Need I say more? Jacob wins!" and then run off while making out with the photo and possibly doing other unmentionables to it.

Haha, watch me get like a 100 more views tonight from random girls. xD lmao. Ok well anyway I can't read Breaking Dawn until after I read New Moon & Eclipse...which I can't read until after I finish reading the two books I need to read for school next year X_X.

Damn! I keep stopping because im getting distracted by either SNL or my turtle lol.

Anyway, in other news...oh speaking of turtles! A box turtle in washington got a guy arrested! Haha yea. Some box turtles in Rock Creek Park in Washington, have GPS on their shell for scientists to be able to track them and study them. But when one scientist went to go see one of the turtles (finding it using the GPS), they found that the turtle had found a whole lot of marijuana! So when the 19 year old who was the care-taker of the little drug plant came to tend on the weeds, and was aressted. LMAO The news guy asked if the turtle was stoned haha. Because turtles can be drawn to weeds (since they eat dandelion weeds and other greens so it's natural for them to go looking for them).

Oh, another hot story: apparently the MTA are going to try locking the subway seats in the upright (non-use) position during rush hour therefore adding room for approx. 18% more passengers. (talk about literally being packed in like sardines). No news yet as to what lines will be effected but I doubt that many people will be happy about it.

Ok thank GOODNESS Im done with this blog lol...anything I left out? oh uh, that not many people dressed up at the party so I just rubbed off some of the purple. So I was pretty much just pale lol. I had dressed up slightly like what Edward would wear though. Jeans, A black tee, and a blue button-down shirt left open, and black boots. Typical wear I guess, but I added the blue button down for the slight edward look, otherwise I just would've worn the tee. Ok so yea..now im done lol. Now to add the TONS of tags that this post deserves...

This was spurred on a couple of days ago while on the road. I currently work for Sherwin Williams as a delivery driver, at least most of the time, and I was out in Plymouth making one of my many runs for the day. Driving on highway 55 toward 494, I realized I needed to get over in order to merge onto northbound 494. I flipped on my left turning signal with a truck behind me in that lane, and he proceeded to speed up to cut me off. I looked over to glare at the person who could be so unkind and inconsiderate and noted that he drove for the City of Plymouth, meaning he was a driver much of his working day. He was in the same boat as me and yet did not want to allow me in.

And this isn't an uncommon occurance on the streets of Minneapolis/St. Paul and surrounding areas, and I would know, driving commercially. Of course, everyone knows this. We all realize that people out there are just unthinking and generally self-concerned on the roads. It happens all over the country, all over the world. But what about reputations? Does Minnesota Nice really mean anything? No, you're saying to me on the other side of your monitor, it's just something someone came up with to make a joke about the people of Minnesota. We don't even put consideration into the phrase up here.

So why do I bring it up? Well, maybe we should consider it. Maybe the rest of the world who've heard of Minnesota Nice, or some of the people who watched Fargo and thought that it was a city in Minnesota(yeah, its in North Dakota), put a bit of stock in the reputation of Minnesotans. Maybe we should try harder.

After all, the Republicans are coming, are they not? And what does that mean? No, not that. It means that Minnesota is finally going to get a bit of good press. People will look from all over the country and see the city of St. Paul as a major US city, and we need to look good for the Today Show, the Daily Show, NBC Nightly News, CNN, MSNBC, hell, even Fox News.

Henceforth, I give to you the Let Someone In campaign. It's not hard at all. Just let someone into the lane they're trying to enter, or onto the highway when they come off the ramp. Just be considerate. Don't grumble about people being mean and not letting you in and then turn around and do it to someone else. Just be nice on the road. It couldn't hurt. It may even make someone's day. And when you do it, someone else may pass on the favor, and it will continue on down the line. So think about it when you're on the road again, or in traffic, or waiting during rush hour. Trust me, good vibes travel.

And wave to the Sherwin Williams van driver if you see him. It might just be me.

Today's Videos
- You mess with the bull, you get the... headbutt? (Click Here)
- Woohoo! Drunk History strikes again. (Click Here)
- Worst Karaoke Ever. (Click Here)
- Wrestler wants a chair. Gets it. (Click Here)
- Star Wars meets Rush Hour. (Click Here)

Today's Entertainment/Celeb News/Gossip
- Miley Cyrus vows to stay a virgin until she gets married. Or at least until Disney says its ok. (Click Here)
- George Clooney says he gets dumped too often. Aw... boohoo... where'd I put my violin? (Click Here)
- Seth McFarlane and Amanda Bynes are an item. What do they do on dates? Seth tells Amanda what the world was like 12 years before she was born. (Click Here)
- Not only is Lynne Spears a perfect role model to her daughters Britney and Jamie Lynn, but she's good at keeping her vehicular manslaughter record underwraps. (Click Here)
- Child star turned t-shirt vendor turned porn star turned reality TV star turned author. Its the rapture of Dustin "Screech" Diamond. (Click Here)

Today's Pics
- For a bunch of pics of this guy's cockpit, they are pretty cool. (Click Here)
- Bambi 2: There Will Be Blood (Click Here)
- You know that Google Street View thing. Yeah, they got busted. (Click Here)
- Cool pics of that rock that we call Mars. (Click Here)
- Golf (apparently) is all about perspective.... or bad timing... or both... (Click Here)

Star Wars and Rush Hour Mash Up. Courtesy Of Slash Film