Chris Lee

it's time for the "I Hate Marco Show!"

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 05:26 -1000

So it's been playing for a few weeks now, and I just felt that it needed to be shared with everyone who reads this blog:

Dexter.

I don't really know exactly how to put it into words, but there is something that is sick, and twisted, and oh-so-right about this show that makes me laugh. The writing, as aseigo noted is amazing, and the plot throughout Season One so far has been gripping.

If you have a weak stomach, you might not like it. It's definitely not a show for the young ones, either - strong language, some nudity, lots of very graphic scenes. The really amusing thing to me, at least, is that the really graphic scenes are not even of violent acts; whoever is handling the visuals for the show is an absolute genius. Simple acts like tying shoes and pulling on a T-shirt somehow take on a much more sinister undertone.

I highly recommend checking this show out. It is, by far, my favorite new show this season, so far even moreso than Heroes. Heroes keeps leading me along and throwing me a bone every now and then, but Dexter has been delivering since Episode One and I haven't been disappointed yet.

qotd

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 15:14 -1000

<clee> how the fuck is dobey still on planet GNOME?
<clee> (though I admit I am amused by the response to his "please stop talking bad about us" post.)
<ajax> gnome isn't just about fucking ugly software
<ajax> it's also about fucking ugly icons

(note: yes, I read Planet GNOME. And a dozen other Planet sites.)

qotd

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 14:01 -1000

<ajax> god. i'm really getting used to this monitor
<ajax> i don't know what i'm going to do when it gets taken away
<keithp> ajax: what monitor is that?
<ajax> keithp: dell 30"
<clee> ajax is a whore
<ajax> a whore with a nicer monitor than you

yet another python rant

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 16:40 -1000

I hit another case of "Python really makes me angry" today and I thought I would share it with you all, since I know how much you love reading about things that enrage me.

I have a chunk of code that (while being significantly more complex) looks like this:

def baz():
    print kitties # This works fine.
def bar():
    print kitties # This one throws an exception!
    kitties = 'delicious' # The exception is because of this.
def foo():
    stuff = {'kitties': 'squishy'}
    for k, v in stuff.iteritems():
        globals()[k] = v
    baz()
    bar()

This is another example of Python's scoping being weird, and in my opinion, broken.

Let me explain, in case you didn't bother copy & pasting that into a python shell and running it.

baz() will execute properly. bar() will not. But the error you get from bar() is worthless - it tells you that you're trying to read from an unassigned local variable, except you're trying to read from a global variable. The problem I have is not that bar() fails - it's that it is inconsistent with baz() working. I realize that adding a global kitties makes bar() work properly; but I think that in this case, the error should really be when you try to reassign a global variable that hasn't been declared as global.