Ten Ways to Declutter Your Technological Life

Technology can clutter up your life and make organization complicated.  Here are ten tips to organize your technological life before it over takes your home or office.



1. Add Velcro To It!: It's such a simple idea, but just adding some velcro can be a most satisfying (and affordable) organization upgrade for nearly any corded appliance or device with a long cord.


2. It's Time to Take Shortcuts: Whether you're a Windows user or prefer OS X, keyboard shortcut proficiency is what separates the everyday user from the professional. Using shortcuts also save a lot of time in the long run, so get acquainted with Mac-only Command/⌘ key or the Control key for Windows. There's even a CheatSheet if you need one, so consider this a "must" upgrade to your mind's operating system.

3. So Simple, Yet So Darn Useful!: Sarah Rae was right, adding a second AC adaptor into the mix and adding an extension cord under the sofa can be time savers in the long run. I'm always going back and forth between docking my laptop to a monitor and traveling (or working from bed), so having an extra AC adaptor allows me to keep my docked setup intact, while a second unit is ready for mobile use, proving to both be convenient and preventing misplacing one of the most important accessories in the household.


4. Improve Your Home Theater System Sound In 5 Steps: There's a good chance you might be watching a movie, sporting event, or TV show today, so why not enjoy it with the best sound possible? It just takes 5 steps to calibrate your home theater setup for optimal sound and create your own "money seat". The problem could be solved with a simple tweak to your sound levels.


5. The Coolest Tech Accessory Might Be Inside Your Oven: It may officially be the end of summer, but heck, that sure doesn't mean it's really any cooler. Hot weather is the enemy of most every home electronic device, whether it be your laptop, the internet router, or a video console. Here's an affordable solution for keeping your hottest tech devices at safe operational temperatures with an item amusingly may be sitting inside your oven.


6. Learn How to Trim Coax Cable: How many of us call the cable guy to trim and connect cables? Too many. In reality, trimming your cable/internet coax cable is easier than lacing new shoes with just a few affordable tools. "Why should I learn how to do this?", you ask? Rearranging a home office or the perhaps changing the placement of your home theater often means rerouting coax cable for cable TV or internet access. You may need to shorten or lengthen the cable coming into your home and to their respective devices. Now you won't have to rely upon the reliably always-late cable guy!


7. Take 5 Minutes To Improve Your HDTV 100%: I'm not exaggerating when I promise that all it takes is 5 minutes and your HDTV's remote control to noticeably improve your set's picture like a pro. The secret isn't a calibration service or even a calibration disc...it's a website which lists pre-formulated/tested recommended settings according to the brand you watch. Worked for my HDTV set and also the one I purchased for my dear ole mom.


8. Upgrade Your Home Storage System to the 21st Century: I remember years ago Martha Stewart recommended sticking a photo printout of the contents of storage boxes on the outside. It's a great idea, but one that can be upgraded for the smartphone era. Snap a photo, upload the image to an image hosting site/Facebook/Dropbox, connect a QR code to the image's URL, and finally print out the QR code to affix to the appropriate boxes. This way you can point your smartphone's QR reader at any box and get the 411 of its contents, including multiple photos of the layers inside each box.


9. Maximize the Efficiency of Your Biggest Home Appliance: There are three simple tips for maximizing energy efficiency when it comes to the largest home appliance in the home, the refrigerator: 1. make sure there's at least 2" distance between the fridge and the wall, 2. regularly clean the coils in the back, and 3. if you're living the model lifestyle with only a bottle of Perrier and to-go leftovers inside your fridge, add a couple of gallon milk jugs filled with water, as recommended by one of our readers.

10. Declutter Your Tech Box Collection: You've got one...don't deny it. It's probably lurking in a storage closet. Or maybe it's hiding in your garage...a collection of empty boxes you've had for years all kept under the premise of "maybe I'll need it later". It's more likely than not you do not need the box for that 19" RCA CRT television or the 1999 microwave oven that last nuked a Hungry Man dinner back in college. Tech devices and home appliances are the biggest culprits of storage box bulge, so it's time for an audit to determine what to chuck out/recycle/donate and what to keep for the sake of resale value.



For more information see Apartment Therapy.

Being a Wallflower has its Perks

 Stephen Chbosky is a native of Pittsburgh.  He grew up in Upper St. Clair, and made sure to include his love of his hometown in the movie.  The actors stayed in Bethel Park and had nights at the movies and at Eat N Park.  They experienced what it is like to be a teen in Pittsburgh.  Stephen Chbosky is the writer and director of Perks of Being A Wallflower, something that only a few people in history have had the chance to do.

  If Stephen Chbosky is feeling infinite these days, who can blame him?

Blessed arrivals are all around him. His wife, Liz, gave birth to their darling daughter in August, and he has spent the past couple of weeks crisscrossing the continent to promote "The Perks of Being a Wallflower."

In the rarest of triple plays, he wrote the novel and then adapted it and directed the movie version in his hometown of Pittsburgh, where the story is set.

Chbosky making appearances

If you want to meet Stephen Chbosky or have him sign your copy of "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," you are in luck. The novelist, screenwriter and director is scheduled for multiple appearances:
Friday: Mr. Chbosky will take questions after the 7 and 8 p.m. shows (movie will be on multiple screens) at AMC-Loews at the Waterfront. He also will do a book signing and meet-and-greet at 10:15 p.m. and introduce a 10:45 p.m. screening there.
Saturday: Mr. Chbosky will do a book signing and meet-and-greet at 6 p.m. in the lobby of the Manor Theater, Squirrel Hill. He will field questions after the 7 p.m. show and introduce a 9:50 p.m. screening.
He also will introduce "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" at Dormont's Hollywood Theater at 10:30 p.m. See www.showclix.com/event/RockyHorrorAtTheHollywood for advance tickets, $7.
Sunday: Mr. Chbosky will take questions after the 2 p.m. show at the Manor in Squirrel Hill.

He assembled a cast, led by Emma Watson, Ezra Miller and Logan Lerman, that is hip, hot and highly talented. If someone comes to see Hermione graduate to a new role or revisit the stars of "We Need to Talk About Kevin" or "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief," all the better.
"Emma has been a great advocate of the movie, she's wonderful in it, but what I discovered is the people who go, it's a pretty even split between Emma's fans and the book's fans, and Ezra certainly has a lot of people who love him and Logan has his fan base.

"Look, whatever gets people into the theater, then they can judge for themselves, I'm all for it," the 42-year-old said during the Toronto International Film Festival. For someone who had arrived three hours earlier and is the father of an infant, he looked remarkably well rested or maybe just happy.
Entertainment Weekly has called "Perks" a "graceful and beguiling drama." Teens everywhere are making plans to squeeze it in between homecoming and the SAT, and Pittsburghers finally will get a look at the homegrown movie Friday when it opens at AMC-Loews at the Waterfront and the Manor in Squirrel Hill.

(The movie debuted at four locations in New York and Los Angeles five days ago, averaging an astonishing $61,000 per location, or almost 10 times what "The Master" raked in per venue.)
"Perks" is about the traumatic and triumphant freshman year of Charlie, a precocious student and social wallflower who is taken under the wing of two free-spirited seniors and stepsiblings. He shares, through letters or narration, first-time emotions and experiences, perceptive observations about the people around him and, eventually, heartrending memories that belatedly surface.

In advance of the "Perks" world premiere here, Summit Entertainment set up camp on the 23rd floor of the luxurious Trump hotel to arrange interviews in 9- or 15-minute increments (in most cases) with Mr. Chbosky and the cast.

The Upper St. Clair native recently had been in Seattle where he shared a stage with his mentor Stewart Stern, screenwriter of "Rebel Without a Cause" and inspiration for the model English teacher played by Paul Rudd in the film.

A seminar led by Mr. Stern at the University of Southern California convinced the Pittsburgh teen to enroll in the filmic writing program there. When the famous scribe suffered a major heart attack not long after, Mr. Chbosky wrote him an anonymous letter, much like Charlie does in the book, to say, "Thank you, you changed my life."

The 90-year-old and his wife attended an advance screening of "Perks" earlier this month, and he loved it. "Loved it-loved it," Mr. Chbosky reported.

"When the screenwriter of 'Rebel Without a Cause' gives you any compliment it means something, but he had already read the script, so he knew the script," but didn't know how Mr. Chbosky would translate it. "He said the tone, it's perfect. It's exactly what youth is, and it meant the world to me."

Paying respect to elders closer to home, Mr. Chbosky cast his parents in a "Perks" scene filmed in Bethel Presbyterian Church, dressed as a Catholic church, complete with twin Communion lines. He paired Lea and Fred Chbosky with actors Kate Walsh and Dylan McDermott, who play mom and dad to Mr. Lerman's character.

He purposely mirrored his fiction family with his real family, but not everyone got equal screen time.
Talking about his retired dad, he said, "Because it was better to open the scene with Dylan McDermott in a close-up, he's only in the very tail end of the wider shot. So he's bummed. But my mom is right there, and she does a great job." His sister, Stacy Chbosky, also turns up as a young mother.

Most of what Mr. Chbosky shot is in the movie, but some scenes with Charlie's suicidal friend, Michael, and a subplot involving Charlie's sister didn't make the final cut. The individual scenes and sequences are beautiful and the acting by Owen Campbell and Nina Dobrev fantastic, he said, but they proved to be too much.

"One more thing, I think, would have tipped it," he said of the movie's delicate emotional balance. The inclusion also might have robbed the power from other wrenching moments.

Mr. Chbosky's affection for his hometown, evident in the way he uses the city and its suburbs, is boundless. "I love Pittsburgh so much, I have everyone drinking the Kool-Aid," including the cast who stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Bethel Park in spring and summer 2011.

Like real-life teens who rewatch Harry Potter movies instead of starring in them, the actors spent evenings playing music, talking, being silly, going to Eat'n Park or occasionally slipping away to the mall and movie theater across the street.

In a nod to the movie's signature scene, the filmmaker has offered to take visitors through the Fort Pitt Tunnel, music blaring, seat belts firmly in place. Although if the passengers twist around, they might see the vantage point on display early in the film.

"You know when you're a kid and look out the rear window? It's child-like, it's very almost hypnotic, there's something calming about it."

Mr. Chbosky, who is writing a book he calls a loving tribute to Stephen King, is that rare director who doesn't dream of more time or money to tweak his project. He finished the sound mix on the film in April, and the distance has given him the chance to see the project through fresh eyes once more.

"Look, to be a first-time studio director and to finish a movie and to look at the screen and say, if they gave me $20 million and another year to reshoot anything I wanted -- or gave me almost like a magic wand -- I wouldn't touch a frame of the movie.

"I wouldn't change a cast member, I wouldn't change a song and I'm really grateful to be able to say that, and I'm proud to be able to say that. I'm not saying it's a perfect movie, by any stretch, but even the mistakes became part of what I think is charming about it.

"I think it's an authentic celebration of what it means to be young, and it's everything I wanted the movie to be."


Read more at the Post Gazette.

Dark Knight Rises is the 10th Highest Grossing Movie of All Time

Dark Knight Rises is now in the top ten highest grossing pictures of all time.  The movie has passed the $600 million mark. The success of the movie continues globally where it has earned $1.041 billion.  All these figures make this movie the 10th highest grossing movie of all time. 

A quick ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ box office update for ya! The Wrap bring word that the exhilarating conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman saga has passed the hefty $600 million mark at the international box office, having earned $603 million – well ahead of the $469.7 million international haul of ’The Dark Knight.’ 

As of Sunday, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ has earned $437.8 million at the US box office for a worldwide box office total of $1.041 billion. The two previous Dark Knight instalments, ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘The Dark Knight,’ ended their theatrical runs at $372,710,015 and $1,001,921,825 global totals, respectively. ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is currently the 10th highest grossing movie of all time at the worldwide box office, just behind the $1,043.9 billion that ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides′ made in 2011. It has also become the 8th highest grossing movie of all time in the US, trailing the $441,2 million haul of ‘Shrek 2.’

The Dark Knight Rises’ sees Christian Bale returning to the dual role of Bruce Wayne and Batman alongside series regulars Commissioner Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), and Alfred (Michael Caine). Newcomers to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy include Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s John Blake, Marion Cotillard’s Miranda Tate, Matthew Modine’s Foley, Ben Mendelsohn’s Daggett, and Tom Hardy’s dastardly, physically imposing and oddly charismatic villain, Bane.  The story for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is set eight years after Batman took the fall for Two Face’s crimes in ‘The Dark Knight.’ It sees the Caped Crusader resurface to protect a city that brands him an enemy as a new terrorist leader, Bane, overwhelms Gotham’s finest.


Judging by films stunning trailers, its marketing campaign, the first-rate cast, and most importantly; the two previous installments in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight saga, ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘The Dark Knight,’ I always expected something rather special from ‘The Dark Knight Rises.’ Thankfully, for me, it delivered – big time! 

For more information see Flicks and Bits.

One Week Until Perks!

We have one week to wait until we get to learn about what the Perks of Being A Wallflower are?  The premiere happened in Los Angeles a few days ago, and the stars danced the night away after seeing their work.

 

For the young cast of "Perks of Being a Wallflower," fringe benefits were plenty Monday night in Los Angeles, where a red carpet and screening was held at the Cinerama Dome.



 Nestled in front of the Arclight Hollywood, star Emma Watson stunned with slicked-back hair and a nude Armani gown — a nice nod to her own evolution from 'Harry Potter" darling to grown-up star.

A little, shall we say, more liberated in his look: the scene-stealing Ezra Miller rocking wild hair, drawstring pajama pants and an oversized khaki blazer.

Both young stars were without their lead, Logan Lerman, busy supporting the film at the Toronto International Film Festival, but represented him in spirit by dragging a cardboard cutout of Lerman down the red carpet.

After the screening, nightspot Lure opened its doors to Watson, Miller and several ensemble members like Nina Dobrev, Johnny Simmons and Mae Whitman. 

Two notable young Hollywood stars attended the festivities but seemed much more taken with Ezra than the coming-of-age drama: Shailene Woodley and Rumer Willis.

Shailene, of last year's awards hit "The Descendents," rolled into the party with a faded Jansport backpack on her shoulder (perhaps a nod to the high-school-set film?) and chatted up Miller with enthusiasm, even coaxing him to dance at one point.

Later on Rumer, in a floor-length dress with a lace detail, enjoyed a lengthy conversation with Miller at a dinner table. 

Not to be outdone, the film's adults presented a united front: Dylan McDermott and Kate Walsh, who play Lerman's on-screen parents, sat at adjoining tables and chatted with cast and crew close to midnight.

For more information see the La Times.

Wrestlers Needed for Movie

  A new movie being filmed in Pittsburgh is in need of extras who are familiar with the sport of wrestling.  This includes coaches, athletes, referees, score keepers, and others.  There will be a casting call September 15th at Canon McMillian High School. Keep reading for more information.

Wrestlers are needed for a movie filming in the Pittsburgh area.
Bennett Miller, Oscar-nominated director of "Capote," will be in town casting a movie about Olympic Gold medal wrestlers Dave and Mark Schultz.
According to a notice on the Pittsburgh Film Office website, Miller, who directed "Moneyball," wants to ensure authenticity by casting real wrestlers, coaches, referees, trainers and scorekeepers.

A Sept. 15 casting call will take place at Canon McMillan High School in Canonsburg. The casting session will be for extras and some speaking roles. Advance registration is required by e-mailing WrestlingExtras@gmail.com. Casting opportunities also are available for general extras, and wrestling fans, ages 12 to 65, for filming to take place October through January 2013. Minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Internet Movie Data Base reports the movie is tentatively titled "Foxcatcher" and will star Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo and Steve Carell.

Wrestling choreography and consulting for the film will be provided by John Giura, a two-time World Cup Champion, and Jesse Jantzen, a Collegiate National Champion and four-time state champion.

For more information see Pittsburgh Film Office.

Perks of Being A Wallflower Live Interview

Perks of Being A Wallflower comes out in about a month, and everyone wants to know about the cast experience shooting this movie.  The cast became friends over the course of a summer, much like the characters in the book.  The director of the movie is originally from Pittsburgh, and is also the author of the book.  Learn about the cast and director in this video interview conducted right after the trailer was released.

For more information see the Official Website.

A Dream Come True

Outcasts from Pittsburgh coming together to become a close group of friends over the course of a summer.  This book is one that means everything to a generation that became teenagers after 1999.  The director and author of the book grew up in the South Hills, where they shot the movie last year. He talks about how important it was to shoot the movie here and really capture the essence of Pittsburgh from the novel in the book.  Perks of Being a Wallflower comes out in Pittsburgh on October 5th.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a book that means a great deal to an entire generation of people who came of age after 1999, and now, it's a movie starring Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, and Ezra Miller. It's quite the jump and when the movie production hit Pittsburgh, author/screenwriter/director Stephen Chbosky must have been overjoyed. In fact, we know he was overjoyed, because Hollywood.com stopped by the set to talk to him about bringing his 1999 book to life in his hometown. And he had quite a lot to say.

Q: Can you tell us about adapting the book for the movie?
Chbosky: It really is, as cliché as it sounds, a dream come true. I’ve wanted to make this movie—I first thought of the title of the movie twenty years ago this fall. The title of the book and movie. And so, I always felt it would probably be both. And so, it is a dream come true.

So you had intended for it to become a movie when you were writing the book?
I had hoped that it would, yes.

Do you have plans to write another book?
I have some plans. Then again, I would have to love it as much as I loved the first one. Just like I knew with the movie, I would have to love the movie as much as I loved the book in order to do it. So, I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I certainly have some ideas.

Can you talk about shifting the format of the book, which was [told through] letters, to a narrative screenplay? And what changes you had to make?
I didn’t have to make many changes. I just had to be very specific about the execution. You’ll have to see it. It’s hard to describe intellectually. You’d have to just see it. I wrote the book as a series of letters because I wanted the reader to feel very intimately connected to Charlie. So, it was finding a point of view from the film that would lead to the same connection. And luckily, with Logan Lerman, it’s not very difficult to get that sense of connection.

Is Charlie narrating the movie?
You see him write letters. It’s not a straight narration, it’s more of…it’s part of his character. Just like he would write letters in real life in the book, you see him do it.

But the letters are going to be a big part of the film too?
Yeah, it’ll be a part of the film, absolutely.

When you were picking places for filming locations…you’re from here. So, were there any places that were very particularly meaningful to you?
Yeah, quite a few. The place where we shot Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont, that’s the very first place where I saw Rocky Horror Picture Show. And the first place I saw the floor show. And so, going back there, twenty-five years later, was incredibly meaningful. I loved it. I love filming here at Peters Township. I love filming at Kings, where my parents eat breakfast three times a week. Where else? There’s a little field right down the street from here, about five minutes away, where I shot the one movie I made right out of college. It’s this little short film. I had this shot planned for eighteen, seventeen years. And I’ve always wanted to duplicate it because I love the shot so much. And I was like, “Someday I’ll make the Perks movie, and I’m going to put my kids in that shot.” And we’re going to do it. I believe Thursday. So, yeah, there are a lot of very meaningful locations to me.

How did you know that you cast the right people for the roles?
I had a philosophy, we all had a philosophy: don’t just cast actors, cast people. And so, what happened was, everybody basically auditioned. What you’d look for is, not just the individual performances, but how you thought they would fit together. One of the great joys has been watching this fictional group of friends, over the summer at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, become a really tight family of friends. All of them. Emma [Watson], Ezra [Miller], Logan [Lerman], Nina [Dobrev]. Really across the board. So, yeah. It was just an instinctive thing, how we felt people would fit together. And we have an amazing cast. I mean, across the board, there is not a weak link. Not a single one.

Why did you want Emma for Sam?
I wanted Emma for Sam because I think that she has this amazing…she’s luminous, but she’s also incredibly approachable. She’s very down to Earth. She’s very fragile. But in this very beautiful way. To me, that’s all the qualities I always saw in Sam. Plus, she can dance. The girl can dance.

Are you aiming for a PG-13?
Yeah. I would very much love a PG-13 because, considering some of the issues that the book tackles, it would break my heart if some fourteen year-old girl that was struggling with something couldn’t see it. So that’s a very important thing to me.

The film sort of relies on this era of mix-tapes, and actual phone calls, and actual face time. For kids who are maybe going to experience it for the first time, in this era of Facebook and texting, what do you think are those elements that are going to bring them into this era they are unfamiliar with?
The elements that will bring them in is [that it’s] a love story, and a story about a family of friends, and families that are relatable to them—not these fictitious families where parents are complete idiots, which, let’s face it, really isn’t true. It’s fun in movies, but it’s not true. I think what will bring them in is recognizing themselves and their friends, regardless of whatever device is in their hand, or however they choose to communicate.

For more information see Hollywood.com