I saw The Pursuit of Happyness yesterday (and no, they “y” in happiness isn’t a typo, and is explained in the movie ) and really enjoyed it. Here’s a quick breakdown:

• What I knew: it was based on the true story of a father trying to better his already unstable and difficult life while still trying to keep his son and himself afloat.
• What I expected: it to be ok, sort of sappy.
• Bottom line: very good, sincere, and interestingly, a lot of it was actually true, as far as locations and events are concerend, versus most films said to be based on a true stories.

Overall: - certainly worth checking out if in need of the kind of movie that really makes you feel for the characters.

Wow, I haven’t laughed as hard as I did in a long time when I watched some of the hilarious video ramblings of Phone Guy the other day.

So who is Phone Guy? Well, this particular phone guy’s secret identity happens to be that of 43 Folders‘ Merlin Mann, but I’m sure there’s at least one phone guy you know of, if not personally. A phone guy, you see, is simply enough the guy who’s always on the phone, wherever you go–restaurants, lobbies, parks, you name it. Of course, in addition to this, a true phone guy will always be talking far too loudly than is comfortable for those surrounding him, and the way he speaks will almost sound like he’s intentionally ensuring you hear his conversation, as if that’s the only way he knows of to get attention.

So, if you’ve got a couple of minutes to spare, and you need a good laugh, then check out the site, and prepare to spend 30 Seconds with Phone Guy.

About 15 minutes ago I attempted to upgrade this blog, which runs on WordPress, to the newest version released today, version 2.1. I had read that the database schema was changed in this release, and that it may render some plugins incompatible. Unfortunately, what I failed to realize was that my stats plugin, FireStats, was incompatible, and when I upgraded, my installation was not only fairly odd-looking in terms of the admin UI, but my main blog didn’t even function. In the end, I had to revert back to version 2.0.7, which thankfully wasn’t all too difficult.

The moral of this story? If you intend to upgrade to WordPress 2.1, I strongly suggest that you first ensure any plugins you use are on the official compatibility list, which can be found here on the WordPress wiki.

Recently, I’ve been reading a few different webcomics, which are prime examples of self-publishing and cutting out the middlemen (syndication companies, publications) on the web. In doing this, you are thus delivering your content directly to your readers and, in a sense, are creating a relationship of sorts with them. I think that’s pretty cool. If you’ve never read any before, some of my favorite webcomics worth checking out include:

• A series as odd as its name, Toothpaste For Dinner
• The long-running Joy of Tech, featuring witty commentary on the world of technology
• “A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language,” as its description reads, the hilarious and quite topically random xkcd is probably my favorite out of the three

Now that I’ve shared my list, what are your favorite webcomics, if any?

After toying around with various non custom WordPress themes for the past month or two, dissatisfied, about two weeks ago I sat down, and with my minimal design chops began constructing what you’re seeing right now. It’s a big change for the site, aesthetically and also functionality-wise (read: there’s actually a sidebar now). In addition, I’ve switched from Textpattern to the WordPress platform to manage my blog’s content.

I really couldn’t be happier to finally have a blog that looks and feels such that I can actually be proud of it.

Sidenote: I’ve done only minimal testing with this design, so I’d really appreciate it if you could either contact me, or leave a comment, if you encounter any issues.

As is now widely known, Saddam Hussein, genocidal extraordinaire, is to be executed within the next 30 days.

In my opinion, executing Saddam just makes him a martyr. In fact, I think it shows just how weak Iraq’s government remains. If they truly wanted to punish Saddam, they’d just keep him in prison for the rest of his life and let him suffer.

I saw Rocky Balboa yesterday. I’ve never seen any of the other Rocky movies, so I didn’t exactly know what to expect, but knowing the general idea of the series, I thought it was pretty good. Come on, the classic training montage with the instantly-recognizable theme song, and the slow-motion fight scenes? Priceless!

Even though some of the dialogue was fairly cliché, and the story was pretty basic, it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re in need of a fun, mindless action flick.

Whether a current user, or unaware of its existence, now’s a better time than ever to check out the social news site Digg.com.

Today the site rolled out a slew of new features. There’s an interesting refreshed/new design with added color and a reconstructed layout, a podcast section, and a built-in video player to display linked videos from select providers directly within the site, among other things.

For a video explaining and demonstrating everything, check out this post on the the official Digg blog.