Specifically, they point to the heavy load of comment spam we get: disabling access to the commenting script seems to solve the problem completely. I remember hearing news that other servers have had to remove MovableType because comment spammers were causing it to crash their servers. It seems the same with us. There is a new version of MovableType with better spam fighting features, but it'd cost me a few hundred dollars.

So here's the deal: I'm going to migrate people to use WordPress instead of MovableType. It's nifty. It also has something called comment moderation; comments will not appear unless the owner of the blog tells them to. Once approved, theoretically the person who posted the comment never has to be reauthorized on that particular blog again.

I haven't heard too much of WordPress spam crippling servers, and with comment moderation it's not really a in the spammer's best interest to attack WordPress, so hopefully this will work.

I'll set up a communal test blog for you all to check out soon.

Specifically, they point to the heavy load of comment spam we get: disabling access to the commenting script seems to solve the problem completely. I remember hearing news that other servers have had to remove MovableType because comment spammers were causing it to crash their servers. It seems the same with us. There is a new version of MovableType with better spam fighting features, but it'd cost me a few hundred dollars.

So here's the deal: I'm going to migrate people to use WordPress instead of MovableType. It's nifty. It also has something called comment moderation; comments will not appear unless the owner of the blog tells them to. Once approved, theoretically the person who posted the comment never has to be reauthorized on that particular blog again.

I haven't heard too much of WordPress spam crippling servers, and with comment moderation it's not really a in the spammer's best interest to attack WordPress, so hopefully this will work.

I'll set up a communal test blog for you all to check out soon.

As it turned out, the competition was a blast. The problems are the sort I find fun to try to do, and there was free pizza and pop. I'm normally not a very competitive sort, but sometimes you feel like testing yourself to see how good you are. While the fact that we were in teams made it more difficult to gauge this, I can say that at least I didn't hold my team back.

There were 8 problems total. I was a little disappointed that we only managed to finish 3 problems, because it felt like we could have easily had 4 more. What ended up happening was that we seemed really close with only minor bugs for 2 of the solutions. I had 2 others written down on paper in pseudo-code, and Jason had another half-worked out. Sadly, we were "really close" for over an hour and a half and never got them working exactly right; it's always hard to tell how long debugging will take. And since there was only one computer to use, I never got to type out my code my two pseudo-coded solutions at all. Of course, it's quite possible that my logic was flawed and it would've ran into the same "almost there" syndrome, but it's fun to imagine the possibilities. Judging from the performance of the other teams, it seems likely that they ran into bug issues as well. As it was, I had already contributed by sumitting a correct solution for problem B, so I didn't feel like dead weight.

It was commented that this competition encourages bad coding practices. And indeed it does; you get points for nothing other than the correctness of the output and whether or not the program finishes in the alloted time limit. My solution for B was probably at least 4 times longer than it needed to be. Tactics include declaring that your methods throw Throwable, or writing tons of useful macros in the beginning of every problem. A previous competition problem involved printing out all the Mersenne primes below a certain number; the winning team's source code was just a series of print statements. I imagine the team had an inefficient way of finding the primes that didn't fit under the program execution time limit, so they just ran their program in the background and wrote down what it outputted while working on others.

I found it all hilarious. But anyway... the results of the competition.

A total of 11 teams competed. In first place was "Little Man Davis", with 7 out of 8 problems—the scoreboard shows 6 because they submitted the last one at the last second and no one bothered to update the scoreboard afterwards. Second place was "Minion", with 4 problems finished. Third place was "Team Megabyte" with 3 problems finished in the least amount of time. That was us! The top 3 teams get to go to regionals in Bellingham, so that's where I'll be November 5.

(Note: Jeff's DM, I play Dorin, and Julie plays Elin.)

Night falling behind them, three travellers approached the trading village of Hobal, ready for some food and rest. They had journeyed far to reach the Cabal mountains, and Hobal lay at the entrance to one of its passes. They would need to pass the mountains to get to the king, with whom one of the party had business with. So far, nothing too exciting had happened, which was surprising considering the odd mix of companions.

In the front was a greying dwarf, looking quite well-protected. Clad in battleworn platemail, his armor that was much heavier than most humans could bear. Apparently deciding that wearing thick pieces of metal was not enough, the dwarf also carried a huge shield that was nearly a portable wall. Engraved on the shield was a picture of a large warhammer and anvil; the symbol of Moradin, god of the dwarves. A smaller version of the warhammer hung at his side, looking as if had seen many battles. However, there was an aura of calm about him that suggested that he never fought unless truly needed. He was Dorin Stonefaith, son of Garin Stonefaith, a cleric of Moradin.

Walking slightly behind him was a young female elf. She had a wild look about her—with moss in her hair and a garment completely made of leaves. Occasionally, she would smile as if something funny had happened without any seeming reason to. Other moments, periods of seriousness would furrow her brow. At all times, a glimmer in her eyes gave careful observers a hint of the great talent that belied her years.

She was Elin Siraeyu, a druid. She worshipped Obad-Hai, god of Nature. Her forest was being encroached upon by humans who wished to use the land to build a city. Years of "discouragement" organized by Elin had failed to chase them off. Bears raiding the market place, birds targeting the heads of nobles for their business, even the very plants themselves attacking the walls of buildings—it just didn't seem enough. The city grew ever larger, and Elin was finally forced to come to the conclusion that she could not do it by herself; at least not with great harm to both the townspeople and her friends in the forest. Talking with the city leaders yielded one option: to pay the king in gold, who supposedly "owned" the forest, to get the rights to the land. Only then the people would grudgingly leave.

Dorin owed a large debt to Elin's parents, who were also druids, and so at their request chose to accompany her to reach the king. She seemed an odd one to him, but the other druids of the forest indicated that she was a prodigy in druidic powers. Dorin knew her when she was a child, but hadn't seen her for decades. Elin was curious at first as to the details of his relationship to her parents, but after Dorin said that now wasn't the time to discuss it, she seemed content to wait until later.

The third member of the group was not a person, but Elin's animal companion, who Dorin was quite uneasy about. He was forty foot giant viper. Named Marvin. Elin had named him herself. She was quite at ease with the monstrous snake and would play games with it, but Dorin had worries that it might sometime decide to play a "game" of swallow-the-dwarf.

"Well, there's the town," Dorin commented.

Elin snapped to attention. "What's its name?" she asked curiously.

Dorin answered. "Hobal."

"Hobal? You're kidding me! What sort of name is Hobal?" Elin laughed hysterically.

Dorin shrugged. The elven lass had named her giant viper Marvin. Hobal didn't seem too bad to him. "Well, I'm about ready for a meal. There's an inn over there. Leave your viper out here and let's go."

With that, they entered Hobal and headed toward the inn…

Well, how about watching the first nine minutes of the movie, streamed from the net? You'll have to let it install the Vividas plug-in, but it took less than a minute for me and it worked fine with Firefox. Check it out! And please go see the movie if you like it so they can continue the series! ;-) (Can you tell that I like Firefly?)

[Note: Reports indicate that this doesn't work in Linux, but it does work in Mac OS X, and of course, Windows.]

As a friendly reminder about why DRM should not mean Digital Rights Management as much as it should be Digital Restrictions Management, the IFPI (an international version of the RIAA) seems to have come up with a music CD that doesn't play on computers unless it runs Windows. After people have complained, this is what Tommi Kyyrä, head of IFPI Finland has said (translated):

"Now, we need to understand that listening to music on your computer is an extra priviledge. Normally people listen to music on their car or through their home stereos", says Kyyrä and continues; "If you are a Linux or Mac user, you should consider purchasing a regular CD player."

I maintain that DRM is not inherently a bad thing. But it is getting abused by greedy and short-sighted corporations, and this is a clear example.

(Incidentally, I turned 21 yesterday. Hurrah for survival!)

It is not one of those movies where the trailers reveal everything. Still, I would avoid seeking out the trailers just because it does flash certain scenes kind of quickly that you might recognize from watching the movie, in which case certain surprises will be lessened.

If you haven't seen Firefly, well, my perspective is a bit skewed. I never saw the series originally aired on television, but once in a while I would hear from random sources how it is the very best sci-fi show ever and that Fox cancelled it. When you hear so many different sources all saying the same thing, you kinda want to check it out. So I did. And I ended up buying the DVDs. I will probably buy the DVD for the movie, too.

I imagine that it is very good for those unfamiliar with Firefly, but not earth-shatteringly so. Firefly has basically nine main characters—ten if you count the ship—and it's impossible to really flesh them all out and show the relationships between them all in the span of a movie. Serenity does a pretty good job, though, in providing background. If you have the chance, watch the series before viewing the movie. Serenity will still make plenty of sense without doing so, but it won't have the same level of impact. If you're a friend who lives around the Seattle or Olympia area, I might be able to lend you the DVDs. If you don't have a chance to watch the series, I think that it is still a pretty good movie that is worth going to.

Now the rest of this review is a little more specific, though it doesn't reveal any of the plot. But don't read it if you are sensitive to information before watching a movie. You have been warned.

So all this says is that there's at least one very emotional part in the movie, but I cried a bit during the movie. It's not terribly difficult to make me teary eyed, but actual tears are rare. I don't think I would have if I was not familiar with the series.

Most of the movie was awesome, but I do have a few quibbles. One of Firefly's signature effects is the lack of sound in space. It seemed a bit inconsistent to me during the movie, though I am not sure. Some fo the situations where there was sound seemed a little iffy to me. But I know Madge did not notice any problems with it, so I could have been oversensitive to it.

Another is that there was much less of a cowboy western feel to the soundtrack than in the television series, and more orchestral I chalk it up to it transitioning to a big-screen movie, and the challenge that the crew faces is larger than anything they've dealt with before.

Finally the biggest thing that bothered me was that Mal seemed to be harsher than usual. I don't think the movie explored well enough why the crew is so loyal to him. My largest worry is that people who have not seen the series will not connect with Mal. His devotion and respect for the crew of his ship are not exhibited as much as it should have been; so people might be left just thinking that he's more of a jerk than he really is. He does do a variety of noble actions, but I don't think the movie does a very good job of protraying that it is Mal's commitment to what is right as his main motivation.

From the looks of it, it seems like the Talking Points Memo readers are getting a different deal than the "conservative" bloggers. Or at least the deal I found from Instapundit. It doesn't seem like they have to be bloggers themselves, and they get an exclusive screening at a different date. By excluse, I mean only TPM readers and not KISW radio station listeners or Science Fiction Museum members, which comprised most of the screeners at my showing. I can imagine Firefly being more popular among the true conservative, though, with individual freedoms and independence from a meddlesome government being core values of the Firefly crew. But the timing between conservative and liberal blogs doesn't really seem like much of a big deal to me. Hey, I voted for Kerry and I still found out about this. And Joss Whedon himself supposedly voted for Kerry.

I was uneasy about what exactly they implied by "seating not guaranteed". Had they overbooked a significant amount? A small amount? Were they just doing a CYA thing? I assumed that they would in good faith provide you with the best chance possible of getting a seat, but after reading Al Hawkins entry, I felt that perhaps I was thinking naively. As it turned out, they actually underbooked. Bloggers got to form their own line in front of the other people. There were definitely quite a few empty seats at the side and a couple of rows at the front for the movie. They didn't check me for cameras; instead, they gave me a free Serenity poster.

As far as marketing goes, I think giving away things is the sort of marketing I think is great. Much better than television advertisements or banner ads. The effectiveness of giving away a product relates a lot with how good the product actually is. If it sucks, giving it away will just generate negative reviews. There is some amount of bias to watch out for, because people tend to be more positive about free things, but I think as long as bloggers disclose that it was for free…and I think most will. I don't feel beholden to give something a positive review just because it was given to me for free. The instructions to link to the Serenity movie was gaming Google, though. That's definitely not the best.

So about Grace Hill Media being a Christian values entertainment company… I laughed when I first heard this. Firefly might be conservative, yes, but Christian? From the television series:

Mal: "You're welcome on my ship, but God ain't." River: "Bible's broken. Contradictions, false logistics… doesn't make sense." Inara is a courtesan. The entire crew regularly performs crime, which reminds me of another set of quotes. Zoe: "…something's not right." Wash: "Honey, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail."

It just doesn't seem very Christian.

Not as many people at the screening dressed up as I expected. But there were a few very cool Kaylees.

Congratulations! You are one of the lucky bloggers to be chosen and confirmed for the screening of SERENITY for the time, date and the number of guests that you have requested. Please note, this confirmation DOES NOT guarantee you a seat at the screening.

To significantly increase your chances of getting into the screening, you MUST do the following:

• You MUST include the film's synopsis on your blog (synopsis below) and you MUST link your blog to the SERENITY website (which has the trailer and production notes) http://www.serenitymovie.com and featured artwork. After you have screened the film, please discuss it on your blog. Please provide us the links to all of your blog posts on SERENITY at serenity@gracehillmedia.com
• Print out and bring a copy of this confirmation.
• Arrive at the theater AT LEAST 45 minutes before the show begins.
• Upon arrival at the theater, please find a UNIVERSAL PICTURES representative and inform him or her that you are part of the SERENITY BLOGGER BONANZA. The Universal rep will then instruct you as to what to do next.
• DO NOT bring in a camera or a cellular phone that takes pictures. They WILL be confiscated, and you will NOT be allowed into the screening.
• Have a great time!

Your Screening is: Monday, September 26, at 7:00 P.M. at Oak Tree Cinemas

So, I managed to select the wrong theatre in my excitement. I had sent them an email requesting to change to the Metro, which is just a short walk away from UW, but the Oak Tree is just 30 minute bus ride away. The question is, how early should I arrive? Seats are not gauranteed :-( The browncoats are a bit crazy in their devotion; I remember reading about how a secret screening was announced at a certain number of locations, and the fans launched a campaign to find out which theatres by calling all of them. They figured out the entire list before the locations were publically divulged.

In fact, if you are a blogger and haven't already signed up… I'm sorry to say that the TownHall page that I used to sign up says they're already fully booked.

Well. Here's the promised official synopsis:

Joss Whedon, the Oscar® - and Emmy - nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE, ANGEL and FIREFLY, now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future in his feature film directorial debut, Serenity. The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family –squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

And the link to the official movie site. It has artwork, and trailers and such.

Now for some artwork presented here:

That's the international poster above.

This is the one I've been seeing around here.

Now the question remains… how early should I arrive?

Serenity is the movie from the awesome Firefly series by Joss Whedon. It was an ill-fated series cancelled by Fox; they aired the episodes in the wrong order and pre-empted several episodes with baseball playoffs. But Firefly maintained a now legendary fanbase which showed through DVD sales that they were willing put money to their hopes. So they decided to make a movie out of it.

A bit more background? Part western, part sci-fi, Firefly is set in the future post galactic-civil war. It's about an eclectic crew's adventures about the galaxy while the core worlds are in a police state. In the future, there's been a fusion of cultures, leading to some very colorful worlds and where everyone knows how to swear in Chinese.

I hadn't seen it while it was being aired, but so many people mentioned how great it was that I checked it out. How good did I think it was? Let's just say that I ended up buying the DVD set too. I've never done so with any other show.

Browncoats rise again! Thanks to Keith Devens for the announcement.

It's a more full-featured web browser than Firefox (if you don't want to bother with extensions) and includes an email client. It's also very fast and supports web standards. Try it out. Save the web developers! Use anything other than IE!

• Store keys, digital certificates, passwords and data securely in hardware
• Enhance network security
• Protect online commerce transactions
• Help protect against viruses, worms and other malicious attacks
• Protect digital identities
• Provide authentication between systems and networks
• Allow for single sign-on to systems
• Enable digital signatures for financial and other transactions
• Support regulatory compliance for Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA and other federal requirements

Trusted Computing sounds good, doesn't it? [lafkon.net] Check out a well-done animation why it's not [lafkon.net].