I wrote a BlogML exporter for pMachine so I can get my entries out.
I’ve got an ID conversion mapping utility that runs through the BlogML and maps the old pMachine ID to the new Subtext friendly URL.
I’ve got a URL rewriting utility that takes the ID map and runs through the BlogML, finding any old links and updating them with the new URL in Subtext so cross-post links work.
I wrote a utility to get around a sort of crazy bug in Subtext comment import where newlines automatically get converted to line-break tags and line-break tags that already exist in the comment get encoded so they actually display.
I’ve got a converter that takes the ID mapping and converts it to a PHP array so I can use that array as part of a redirection mechanism that will take people hitting the old permalinks in pMachine format to the new Subtext location.
I’ve figured out how I’m going to handle the relocation of the images in posts and such so things should still work (pMachine has an interesting sort of macro substitution it uses for upload locations so it’s not as straightforward as you might think).
All I really have left to do is a final test install/import of the data. Assuming that goes well, I should be able to do a pretty quick swap and import. I’m really looking forward to it. I already have some interesting ideas of things I’d like to do.
I, like most of America, tuned in for The Sopranos series finale on Sunday night, stoked for a cool ending to a cool show. And, like most of America, I left with nothing.
When I say “nothing,” I really mean it. The show didn’t really have an ending, it just sort of “stopped.” I picked up my remote control and flipped around to see if other channels were still broadcasting, pissed off thinking that I had lost my HBO signal at the last second. That’s not actually what happened - that ridiculous “instant cut to black in the middle of a scene” thing they pulled… that was the ending.
To be clear, after I sat and thought about it for a while and talked to my wife about it, I got it - the whole uncertainty thing, life going on and Tony always looking over his shoulder, never knowing what’s coming next. I get it.
I also get the whole “art vs. entertainment” debate. Was the show “art,” where series creator David Chase just finishes up his creation and calls it done? Or was it “entertainment,” where there should have been more fan service?
Does it even matter? The Sopranos was a great show, primarily driven by great characters, with an intriguing plot. This last season, which we waited a heck of a long time for, sort of jumped the shark by going entirely character driven and really just losing the whole “plot” portion. I watched week after week waiting for something to happen, and it only ever ended up being sort of the way Seinfeld described itself: A show about nothing.
Sure, we see Tony going around doing his mob thing and his family getting worried or going through trauma or whatever. But what actually happened in the last season? Aside from the last little bit where Tony’s crew starts getting killed off and Phil Leotardo getting killed, nothing.
Now, I’m all for great characters and character development. They’re integral parts of great storytelling. On the other hand, the word “story” is actually half of “storytelling,” and you can’t just lose the story part and just have character development.
The end of The Sopranos, to me, was the very definition of anticlimactic. If I had a time machine, I think I’d have to go back in time and tell myself not to watch because it’ll only piss me off. Or maybe I’d have to grab David Chase and force him to call a mulligan and do it over. Much as it might be construed as art on some level, people watch for entertainment.