Installing Python on a local Windows-based, Apache, server

• October 7, 2006
• James Skemp

In this article, we'll be installing Python on our local server via ActiveState's ActivePython. You can download the current version of ActivePython (2.4.3.12), as well as a select number of previous versions, from http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePython/

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Movie review: Being John Malkovich (1999)

• October 6, 2006
• James Skemp

It's unfortunate that I didn't watch Being John Malkovich, my third movie through Netflix, sooner. Unfortunate because it's one of the most interesting films I've seen in a very long time ..

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Photoshop is fun!

• October 5, 2006
• James Skemp

Duh. Unfortunately, much like Google Video, you can get sucked into the program and end up spending hours (2 and a half in my case) goofing around, getting nothing of real value done. Of course, that begs the question of whether experience, as experience, is of any value. Do we, simply by experiencing, benefit? I suppose when it comes to use a technology, like Photoshop, any experience is a good experience.

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Movie review: Seven Samurai: Criterion Collection (1954)

• October 3, 2006
• James Skemp

My first Netflix movie was Urusei Yatsura Movie 2: Beautiful Dreamer, and my second was another Japanese movie, albeit one a little more well known, Seven Samurai.

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Movie review: Urusei Yatsura Movie 2: Beautiful Dreamer (1984)

• September 28, 2006
• James Skemp

At their best, the Japanese are one of the few groups that can create, again and again, movies that touch upon great philosophical questions and ideas. Urusei Yatsura Movie 2: Beautiful Dreamer, is one of those great philosophical movies that you could watch again, just for the dialogue.

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'If you surf around, you're bound to run into nothing but junk ...'

• September 27, 2006
• James Skemp

So, the Isthmus picked up my post on Netflix.  That's very nice of them (I wonder how it was picked up?).  In the course of looking over the Isthmus' site, I noticed another post title "Dear City of Madison" Ouch. Reading his post first, and his profile second (which included his location), the title of this post came to mind. Years ago, when both my sister and I were living at home, we'd fight, as siblings under one roof and with only one TV, often do.

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Netflix shipping, for Madison WI

• September 26, 2006
• James Skemp

Over the next couple of weeks, at least, or over the next couple of months, if I'm happy with Netflix, I'll be posting here information about where I received my Netflix movies from, what kind of turn-around I've received, and etcetera. My hope is that this information will be beneficial to other Madison folks who may be interested in Netflix.

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My first video to Google Video?

• September 25, 2006
• James Skemp

Yesterday, I did multiple takes for a video on how to create snippets in Dreamweaver 8. The video ended up being pretty good, I think, albeit the video size was a bit large, and the resolution was a bit small (640x480 is what Google recommends).

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Is it past time for Microsoft to open IIS?

• September 23, 2006
• James Skemp

There's a reason PHP and Apache are so popular on the Web. It's the same reason that most beginner's, especially those that have no formal training, start with these technologies. In a word, both technologies are not only open source, but free to use. With the right guide, a user can be up and running with Apache and PHP in a couple of hours. Unfortunately, Microsoft's IIS (Internet Information Services) is something that few home-grown Web users have the honour of using.

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Installing Subversion and TortoiseSVN to a Windows XP, Home Edition, SP2, local machine with Dreamweaver 8

• September 16, 2006
• James Skemp

The Subversion aspect has been updated for Windows Vista. So too has the TortoiseSVN installation. The Dreamweaver aspect has not been touched. I also have an article about using Subversion.  When projects become large, or you have the need to keep information on what files you've modified, for any coding project, you may look for some kind of version control system. There's software like Microsoft's SourceSafe, but that can be costly, and according to some, it's a clunky solution.

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