Well, I finally got around to giving Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) a whirl. I started out just wanting to allow people to send me text messages via the side bar of this blog and got it working (with PHP) in about 2 minutes, but then I thought… “It works, but I hate reloading the page for something so simple.” That’s when AJAX popped in my head and it seemed like a great first script.

So off I went to grab the latest version of SAJAX (Simple Ajax), and boy were they right about the “simple” part. Within about 30 minutes, I had a functional script that you can now find on the side bar. Before you try it out, please use the demo page, as I don’t need everyone sending me text messages just to see how it works.

Having just finished watching the controversial film, “Elephant“, I’ll have to say that it was a very good, and also a rather haunting movie in which people will either love or hate. Some say this movie was Gus Van Sant attempting to portray the Columbine shootings, however I believe it is fairly obvious when watching the movie that it is was more inspired by Columbine as well as all the other high school shootings in recent years. Those were events that really engrained the reality and trauma some kids endure throughout high school, and the actions they can sometimes take.

I just finished watching the documentary “Overnight“, featuring Troy Duffy’s overnight rise and fall in Hollywood. If you don’t recognize the name, he was writer and director of the cult hit “The Boondock Saints“. Boondock really was an entertaining movie and from what I understand has had rather impressive DVD sales for being a low budget independent film. The sequel has “been in production” for quite some time, but likely won’t ever be made.

It’s amazing how you can waste hours of your day playing around with the brand new Google satellite maps. Here are a few interesting locations I’ve come across…

Over the past week, I had the pleasure of seeing two documentaries exposing two cultures in American society rarely seen up close, “Born Rich“ and “Devil’s Playground“.

Produced by 21 year old Jamie Johnson of the Johnson & Johnson family, “Born Rich” was a look into the lives of himself and his peers, a handful of the heirs and heiresses of Americas wealth. By watching, it’s clear that Johnson doesn’t have much experience making films, but that didn’t detract from the film and the courage it took for a kid of his background to make a film solely about the wealth of his peers. In their culture, Jamie’s dad says that money is a taboo subject to be discussed publicly and reiterates over and over that he is not comfortable with his son making a film of this nature. The family lawyer also recommends he not make this film as well. But still… he rounds up a dozen or so of the nations wealthiest youth and grills them on a variety of questions ranging from their aspirations in life to their fears of being cut out of their inheritance.