Web Standards, Accessibility & More

Last week, my wife Carey and I went to a Cirque du Soleil show, KOOZA, in downtown San Jose. I gotta say, it was well worth the $90 per seat we paid! Incredible performances, great stage set, and great music. It’s just so spectacular and entertaining, and the clown acts are hilarious. It was longer than I expected too; about 2 1/2 hours including the 1/2 hour intermission. If you ever get a chance, go see Cirque du Soleil. This year the KOOZA show is coming to Hartford, Philly, Chicago, and Boston.

I had high expectations when I went to see the new movie Beowulf last weekend, and man, I was not disappointed. It was awesome! I saw it in IMAX 3D which made it even more incredible. Although there were a couple major changes to the original plot of the epic Beowulf poem, I think it was for the better.

Factoids:

• Beowulf is an old English epic poem thought to have been composed sometime in the middle ages. The poem tells the story of Beowulf and his battles against three different adversaries.
• The only surviving manuscript of Beowulf is the work of two, rather than one, scribes who transcribed the poem from another earlier manuscript and it now resides in the British Library.
• The truly epic poem Beowulf has survived through the centuries and is the only surviving example of Anglo Saxon heroic poetry.
• Despite being a mainly Scandinavian story with most of the storyline taking part in Scandinavia rather than England it has risen to become a national English epic.
• The poem consists of no less than 3,183 lines and the events described in the poem take place during the 5th or 6th Century.

OK, I admit it. I am a judge show junkie. When possible, I watch a lot of those cheesy courtroom TV shows. They usually feature a charismatic judge (almost always a minority) and many times some pretty weird and stupid people. Anyhow, here are my favorites:

1. Judge Judy – She rocks. She’s stern. She doesn’t give a break to these morons in her courtroom. Gotta love her.
2. Judge Mathis – Judge Mathis is a cool dude. He went from a troubled childhood to becoming a lawyer then judge.
3. The People’s Court – The show that started it all! In the new version, Judge Marilyn Milian is a nice judge. Sometimes almost too nice. But she’s fun and fair. More about The People’s Court

Here are some good songs that are in another language (other than English):

• “Der Kommissar” (Falco, Greatest Hits) German
• “Jardim” (Henri Salvadore, Room With A View) French
• “Girl From Ipanema” (Antonio Carlos Jobim, Finest Hour) Portuguese
• “El Clavo Y La Cruz” (The Plugz, Repo Man Sountrack) Spanish
• “Tour De France” (Kraftwerk, Tour de France Soundtracks) German

Here’s some TV commercials I think are really good:

• Burger King – The latest TV spots use that big, goofy “King” character in different situations. They’re kinda weird, but quite memorable. Here’s a low-quality bit of the BK football commercial.
• Any Victoria’s Secret commercial – Professional, tasteful, and sexy. A recent features legendary model Heidi Klum singing along to a cute holiday jingle. [view Victoria's Secret ad]
• Casino Royale – The commercial for the new James Bond film does a great job of (and the movie’s good too). Couldn’t find the video on the web, but here’s the Casino Royale trailer.
• Pepto Bismol – The classic stomach remedy has a great ad with old-school monsters and superheroes, and a very funny but effective jingle. [view Pepto Bismol ad]

Bad and Overplayed TV Commercials >

I really like the following bands, and at least one point, listened to each one a lot. But here are some songs they did that were very disappointing!

• The Cure “Friday I’m in Love”
• David Bowie “Bluejean”
• Nine Inch Nails “The Hand That Feeds”
• Smashing Pumpkins “1979″
• Duran Duran “Wild Boys”
• Tori Amos “Me and a Gun”
• Madonna “Cherish”