Checksum Arcanius

I decided I’d finally release Bernzilla Comments, the WordPress plug-in that I first mentioned a little while back. While writing up the page about it, I realized that it wasn’t very customizable in its present form, but I could very easily make it more so. So I spent about an hour removing dead code and rewriting the function so that it would be much easier to fit it to other blogs. I like the result.

Go check it out, and feel free to use it on your own site, or modify it to suit your purposes!

Bernzilla Comments is a recent comments plugin that I developed after I was inspired by the behavior of the recent comments section on Bernie Zimmermann’s website. To be honest, I thought that his recent comments list worked rather poorly when multiple recent comments were made on the same post. For example, three recent comments on the same post would make it so no other recent coments would show up. I thought it would be a lot better if multiple recent comments on the same post were collapsed into a single heading (see my comment). I tried to get that effect, but ran into issues with MySQL’s refusal to allow the LIMIT clause in subqueries. So I rethought my direction and arrived with the WordPress Plugin that it now in use on this site.

I began with a recent comments plugin that I happened to be trying out at the time, Mt. Dew Virus’ recent comments by Nick Momrik. However, I was uninspired by the plugin’s output, so I completely rewrote it, using the original only as a template. At any rate, you can see the plugin in use on this site in the sidebar, on the left hand side as of this writing.

I have now made available the source code as well as a gzip file with the plugin. I wrote it so that all parameters are optional and the default output looks like this site’s. There is no documentation included, but I did try to make the code self-documenting, as you can see in the function declaration below:

function bernzilla_comments(
        $number = 5,
        $before_block = '<li>',
        $after_block = '</li'>',
        $before_title = '',
        $after_title = '<br />',
        $before_author = ' &raquo;',
        $after_author = '')

On the way back from watching Aeon Flux with Dan tonight, I though back on the movies I had recently seen and realized that I hadn’t blogged about any of them… so here’s my attempt to make up for that…

Just before another Dan and I infiltrated (here too) Lincoln Square, we went to see The Legend of Zorro, which I expected to be a formulaic but enjoyable sequel to The Mask of Zorro, a movie that I recall enjoying. Instead, I discovered, to my disappointment, that I had paid to watch formulaic crap (as opposed to a formulaic gem, you see). Understand that I don’t mind formulaity in and of itself. However — perhaps just because I wasn’t in the mood, or perhaps because the movie really did suck — I just found very few redeeming qualities about this one. Its plot didn’t do anything remotely intriguing, and it was pretty long to boot. I can only be entranced by Catherine Zeta-Jones’ breasts for so long; eventually I need plot twist if I am to continue being enthralled. It never came, and I got lost somewhere between the 973rd and 1092nd predictable plot element. Grade: D+ (1.5/5)
The next movie I saw, if I recall correctly (no guarantees at 1:18 am), was Stealth, which I watched with Jon on DVD shortly after Thanksgiving. I expected mindless action that I would soon forget. Instead, I saw familiar plot elements twisted in new and interesting ways. Yes, we started out with the standard human-versus-self-created-machine-that-becomes-superior idea that has been around forever, and yes, I guessed many of the twists before they happened — with one huge and delightful exception. Nevertheless, the fact that the twists were there, even if they were well forshadowed, made this movie a lot better than I expected or could have reasonably hoped. Oh, and Jessicia Biel is hot in a flightsuit (and a swimsuit in the movie as well). Grade: B+ (3.5/5)
Last night (Friday), after the regular Friday lunch with Courtney, I helped set up for the state FLL tournament, and then hung out with Courtney and her new-boy-obsessive (but redeemingly hot) friend Ann. We somehow ended up bringing home John Cusack in Better Off Dead. Apparently one of Courtney’s all-time favorites, I found it strange to be laughing at most of the gag jokes that are now so hackneyed as to be almost useless. While I am no scholar of the ’80s, I think I figured it out: this movie was still funny with these “old” jokes because they weren’t old at the time. They really were funny, and since they were new, it was ok to take that kind of humor seriously. And that made it actually funny as opposed to the reprocessed junk that is so common these days. Nothing to write home about, but probably worth the rent. Grade: B- (2.5/5)
Finally, to tonight. It was time for another mindless action Flic with another hot babe — this time, Charlize Theron in Aeon Flux. And again, I was wrong in one of those respects. It was less mindless that I expected (like the other one could even be questioned). In fact, I found some real depth and importance within the Island-esque underlying world created for the film. Of course, Charlize was hard not to like as well. Grade: B (3.0/5)
Alas, that last paragraph reminds me that I didn’t ever write about the Island, which I saw with Scott and Dan back whenever it was that it came out in theaters. Aside from several glaring plot holes, and a plot that could be understood, more or less, by watching the trailer a few times, it wasn’t too bad. Scarlett Johansson was a nice touch as well. Grade: B (3.0/5)

Updated with numerical grades

Today, December 3rd, 2005, is the Washington State FIRST Lego League tournament. Middle School students from around the state will compete for a chance to move on to the FLL World Festival, held in conjunciton with the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship.

If you have some free time, come on by between 9 and 3 to cheer on one of the TRC‘s squads. This year we have two — The Neptunes and the Sea Monkeys. As an added bonus, you can even chat it up with me while you watch the action. I’m likely going to be the pit manager at the event. The tournament takes place at Highland Middle School from 8 to 4 pm today.

My apologies if this story comes out somewhat hashed up — it came out in pieces. If its really bad, I might fix it up later…

Ok, so my experience isn’t as horrible as Thomas Hawk’s recent story. I never had anyone threaten me, yell at me, swear at me, or try to sell me additional unwanted merchandise. However, my monthlong wait for two laptop power adapters that I ordered at Priority Electronics I think deserves it own posting.

On November 2nd, 2005, at about 1:50 am (if the clock on my camera is to be trusted, but that sounds right), the power adapter that came with my laptop, “Kleinoscope,” gave up the ghost…
Read the rest of this entry »

Ah, the thrills of living in the mountains. Indeed, driving home from work today was an experience both frightening and exhilarating. A sure sign that the road is slick is when my 4×4 truck goes up a hill at an angle that isn’t quite straight. Still, I find the experience to be quite a bit of fun when I feel like I’m still in control — more or less — of the vehicle. On the other hand, those times that I’m not so sure I’m in control — even for a split second — are downright spooky. Fortunately, I was able to minimize the later on the slip-‘n-slide up the back side of Cougar Mountain, and the whole experience — including climbing a hill at an angle — turned out to be positive. We’ll see if I still feel this way about it tomorrow morning. :-)