Not my shtyle

Do I feel like an idiot today! An internet idiot, no less!

I did a not very bright thing. My only defense is that I did it with the best of intentions. The kind of thing with with the road to hell is paved.

It all started this morning when I got something from my friend N. Actually, it wasn't from her, it was from a website called shtyle.fm. (I am not making it a link because I don't want any of you to make my mistake.)

"Check out my photos on Shtyle.fm," the note said. "I've created a profile on Shtyle.fm to upload my photos, share files and make new friends and I want to add you as a friend."

N hasn't sent me any photos for a long time--the last one I got had her standing on a porch or along a street. It was some time ago. So, OK, a new photo. Cool. I hit the link.

It took me to Shtyle's website, which asked for my name and email and birthday. OK, so I become a member of a site that I visit once in a blue moon--it's happened before. What's the worst that could happen?

I got my answer later in the day when I got notes from S and B, accepting my friend request from Shtyle. The only thing is, I hadn't sent out friend requests to them or to anybody else. All I did was go to N's page on Shtyle, found out that she had not posted any photos there, hit a link or two and then closed the page.

Apparently Shtyle (how shtylish a name!) wants to be the next Facebook or else the next big thing in social media. Communities, songs, quizzes, jokes, video sharing--apparently it's got it all. Including my e-mail contact list.

So far, I haven't gotten any negative feedback. Not yet, at least. Maybe I won't. But I'm not very proud of myself. The thing is, they're my friends, and I want to protect them from bad stuff. Like predatory websites.

****
We have had a quiet Easter weekend, after an astoundingly warm week for late March. Normally in March, we are impatiently waiting for the last piles of snow to melt and the first robin to hit town, wearing a heavy scarf around his neck and steam coming from his mouth when he sings.

Not this time. The entire month of March was incredibly mild. We had highs in the 50s. We had highs in the 60s. We had a few days in the 70s. The snow melted away humbly--we didn't get any measurable snow during March. The first time that's ever happened.

In a normal March, we have a couple nights when temperatures drop below zero. We did get down to single digits several times. But the next day, we were back in the 40s or better.

Last week, I went out to get photos at a Little League tryout. It was mostly sunny, and temperatures were in the mid 70s. The kids and their parents were in T-shirts and shorts. It's the earliest they have ever held tryouts, one of the coaches said. The season won't start until the last few days of April--that's normally how long we have to wait for all the snow to melt and the frost to come out of the ground.

I told one of the coaches, "Well, I just hope the weather is this nice when we get to May." We both laughed.

Back to Easter. The temperature is a bit cooler now. Today it got up to about 60, which is still well above normal. We also had a little shower, the first rain we have seen for quite some time. It's really dry here, and authorities are worried about wildfires now that all the snow has melted. The grasses and fields are still dry and yellow from last fall.

Today, we went to church, and after that we stayed home. David came over and spent the day with us. For supper, we had ham, green beans and mashed potatoes. Certainly nothing elaborate, but the ham was tasty.

The highlight of my afternoon was that I had quiet time and remembered a favorite movie I wanted to see again--"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." An incredible film, for many reasons: a fascinating story, interesting characters, beautiful photography and music and mind-blowing action sequences. Plus, this was the first time I could play it on my multi-region DVD player, which gives me a great picture and sound.

During March, I learned that TCM was broadcasting many of Akira Kurosawa's movies to mark his 100th birthday. I had my DVD recorder working hard all month. I had earlier bought a number of Kurosawa's films on DVD--"Seven Samurai," "Rashomon," "Yojimbo," etc.--but many others I had only heard about. So I made the most of my opportunity and recorded everything onto DVDs for my own enjoyment.

I'm a fan of samurai and Japanese movies (including, yes, the monster films). I first was exposed to serious Japanese cinema back in the '70s while living in Milwaukee. The low-power PBS station in town (the one carried on UHF in the days before cable) carried international films including a series of Japanese films introduced by Edwin Reischauer, former U.S. ambassador to Japan. I watched as many of them as I could and got to know Kurosawa, Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura and other stars of those films.

The development of cable, movie channels and DVDs has been an incredible blessing to film buffs like me. I finally got to the German impressionist films by Murnau and Fritz Lang, along with the Japanese directors' creations. Today, I have three different versions of the story of the 47 Ronin, including one partly made during World War II.

Not that I have any (ahem) yen to visit Japan someday. Let me work on getting out of the Upper Midwest first.