cXML – the tool you need in your IT tool box…

I probably get about four or five calls a month from recruiters asking about if I would like a job based on my knowing what the heck cXML is.  It’s one of those skills that you never think about being important – until people start calling you and asking if you’d like a job because you know what the heck it is.

In the current economic state where every edge in getting a job counts – cXML is one of those tools you want to put in your tool box where you can find it.  The funny thing is – it’s basically pretty easy to work with and understand.

So … what is it and how can you find out about it? Well it is a protocol – that was created by Ariba for eProcurement.  Now if you don’t know what Ariba is you probably need to go back to eCommerce school and take class 101 - “How web sites sell things”.  Ariba pretty much created much of the concept of B2B back in the late 90’s, in fact they were one of the first B2B companies to go public and cXML is one of the reasons for their success.

cXML isn’t just a fancy version of XML.  For anyone who doesn’t know how commerce on the internet works you the customer, log into a web site, you find something you like, you click on it and an order is placed and you miraculously get your product.

What happens behind the scenes in this scenario that you don’t know is that it really works something like this You – the user – clicked on a link for a book – say on ArugulaBooks.com, and the link to that book is really just an item in a catalog, and that item was picked from the catalog and added to your “cart” the cart being your order.

But Arugula for example, doesn’t create books do they?  And they’d go broke pretty quick if they had to keep copies of every one of those books you see on their site sitting in a warehouse.  So what really happened is Arugula Books has probably a couple hundred or more catalogs of books from different manufacturers of books. When you clicked on that link to put the book in your cart – this really incredible story began that interacted with several different businesses. 

First you and Arugula created an order on their system – that order generated an order to a book distributor – and the book distributor received that order and arranged to have it shipped with FedNext shipping directly to your house, and Arugula also sent another Invoice message to your credit card company. 

All you see on your card – all you know – is you clicked on a link – and you got a book 2 days later. 

But the story of cXML is the story of how all that happens.  A “proper” cXML order has room for all the fields necessary for those transactions.  It has in it’s header all the info needed to communicate who the company is placing the order, who the company is that’s filling that order, where it’s supposed to be delivered, how it’s supposed to be delivered, the kind of item you ordered, credit card info, heck it even knows every item by it’s UNSPSC code.  

So if you can learn to read a cXML document – and you can learn what it takes to make one work with all these different systems – you pretty much have a solid chance at landing a very good very solid job.

You can find out more about cXML at some of these links … and I’ll cover more about how to read it, what rules are required to make a good cXML document – and even a tool I created to test them in the next few blogs.

• cXML.org
• cXML version 1.2 Spec and samples 
• cXML FAQ’s 
• cXML at Wikipedia 
• cXML User's Guide  
• cXML Solutions Guide

.Now – I’m not going to dig in too deep but you should find the next few blogs here a good starting point for understanding this amazing and sometimes complex process. 

That’s your reading assignment for this week…

Boredom leads to adventures…

So I’ve been pretty bored of late.  Over at work I’m working on eCommerce issues – mostly dealing with the various choices vendors have in linking to our network and they all involve XML based products.  You’d be surprised how many top notch IT departments have grown so reliant on tools by Oracle and others for their procurement solutions they literally click buttons and fill in forms without knowing how their tool really works. 

Not that I’m an expert on procurement (well actually I suppose technically I am) but it seems to me that any time you’ve sufficiently automated yourself to the point that you don’t know what kind of XML you’re pumping out, how it gets to the other guy and what kind of an output you need to put out… your over adapted to your technology and now dependant on it.  Which is never a good thing.

So naturally – since I handle a lot of post-production troubleshooting these days… I automated things with a few tools.  I’ll detail these out in a future blog since I’m pretty sure most people have never had to deal with cXML or understand the difference between it and standard XML, and I’ve encountered several “Oracle Gurus” who keep insisting that what Oracle pumps out is “XML”… it is – but not in the classical sense anyone else would expect.

So I’ve started a couple projects there to make it easier for people and those are forth coming…

I also… decided to do a bit of video fun and that… is how I fought off boredom this weekend.  Did two bits you can find here

 

and here…

 

Who watched the Watchmen?

I think by now everyone knows – I’m a fan of Alan Moores the Watchmen.  I also think that there’s a fair chance a lot of people have seen the movie.  Experienced it. 

The graphic novel is a very powerful story that you either get – or you don’t.  As they went to the effort of creating the world of the Watchmen on film they were so very careful to keep the detail of the visual.  Zach Snyder the director – is great for those kind of details.  And he did – he pegged it visually almost perfectly So where the movie works best is in replicating that world. 

Where it fails is in those areas that don’t fit on film.  The subtle nuances that can only come from a book.  What we are left with on screen from his efforts can best be described as a visual feast – an optical orgasm – a color filled three dimensional… turd.

(If you have not seen the movie – turn back now – spoilers ahead)

I am not a purist.  When I heard that the original ending wasn’t used I kind of wanted to cut Zach a break because all of the visual elements of the film were done so well in the pre-release scenes we got to see.  Now I have to admit that by removing the original ending and substituting Doc Manhattan as the “big evil” that the world must fear to draw us together.  Now not only didn’t this work as a plot device but there is a rule about monkeying with a classic story – if you’re going to change the plot – change it for the better.  So – all of that was a waste.  Zach’s attempt to provide us with the message that the only reason we’re decent humans is our fear of Dr. Manhattan (substitute “God” for Dr. Manhattan and you’ll see what Snyder was shooting for and missed) – this message almost everyone missed who wasn’t watching for Dreibergs lines at the very end.

And the hinting that – perhaps – maybe – there could be “more of the story” a … sequel?  That’s just incredibly poor taste.  For those who missed these hints – trust me it’s all there.  It was blended carefully … hidden, almost like a subtle threat - but it’s there.  Snyder sold any die hard fan out with that ending.  The original, would have made far more sense.  I had to ask several people if anyone else caught the supposed logic of tying the nukes to the death of the inmate Rorschach “greases” in the film. 

With the supposed logic that when he died – the prison would go insane – and this somehow would be the trigger for Dr. Manhattan’s global attack.  Umm… yeah… that… is a lot more believable to the world and will bring them together than being attacked by an alien life form which wipes out all of New York, and causes madness for miles around. 

The film was rushed – and although visually detailed – the story was so lacking as to cause a feeling as if we, like Dr. Manhattan, are merely observers to this world and have no real emotional stake in it.   And I can’t blame the actors who did amazing jobs on this.  Each understood their characters so well and brought them to life adroitly – with the exception of Ozymandias.  Who was, card board – a cut out of the book’s character and not a very good one at that. 

If it were not for Jackie Earle Hailey’s stabilizing presence of the character Rorschach this film would not even merit discussion.  It’s his complete and total ability to sell the character of Rorschach that allows the film to work even on a basic level.  He’s supported of course by the other performances that are damned good, but it’s his time on screen both with the mask on and off that really sells this movie. 

Even the death scene works without going over the top, and he brings to the role the sensitivity and an empathy needed for us to buy the meaning to his death.  This is where the film really works – in the scenes with Rorschach.  Here Snyder can wring out of the story something close to what the story really is, his attempts with Manhattan, and NiteOwl are well intended but they’re only “good”.

This is not a movie that can get away with “good”.  You either have bought into the premise presented and are going along with it or you haven’t.  Which frankly is where it fails and falls flat. It’s the insecurity of Snyder’s need as a director to reinforce the world he’s created that moves it from allowing us to accept it to rub it in our faces.  It’s in his need to keep beating us over the head with “Hey this is an alternate 1985” or “Hey did you notice I can put yet another blue penis into this shot in spite of the fact that it wasn’t in the book… I just thought it’d be cool to show a blue man’s penis so you’d know he has not concept of or the need for clothing…”.  So instead of just having these details where they belong – they become a gaudy display, they rub our noses into this world. 

Instead of acceptance it becomes a struggle to accept.  The actors have given us their all, the sets, the crew, all have provided us with a perfect replica of the world needed for us to fall into this reality … and then the Director has to screw it up by forcing this world on us rather than letting us see it, accept it, and not need to have storied aesthetics that add nothing and make us go “Huh?  What? – Why… Wha?” and before we can digest it – have the story move on again to a moment which seems not to make any more sense than the words before.  As a result … It’s a long movie that ambles all over the place trying to make a point and in trying to make so many points - it’s doubtful if it ever does. 

Others may judge this film differently but to me – this was a film that needed to be made in 3 films – and to take your time.  But that’s not what we got.  It was pretty.  It was kind of deep.  But it was not… the Watchmen.

Grumblings from the field…

In a bit of a hurry this morning so this’ll just be a cap up of what’s going on.

The Job Market in the Pac Norwest for software development and IT has definitely taken a blow – but there’s still a lot of work out there.  I still receive about 4 or 5 job requests per week (my resume is unusual as I have job skills that are uncommon).  But most of these for the last three weeks are not ones I’d really look into unless the economy is bad.  The practice of sending out contact emails for positions with unrealistically low or unrealistic job requirements (usually both) for the purposes of being able to say, “We couldn’t find anyone here in the USA qualified” is still pretty rampant.  I’ve seen about 6 of those in the last month.  (When was the last time you saw an honest request for a Program Manager with a background as a Sr. Developer with 10 years experience for $25/hr??  Yeah – they seriously want to fill that position.)

It’s insulting and disgusting that companies will go to that length to justify hiring outside the US, and it’s more annoying that the offers come from respected legal and recruiting firms.  I won’t say who I’ve seen use this the most – however you might be surprised their one of the longest and major supporters of Open Source software and similar initiatives.  I’ve said it before that one of my core dislikes of the OSS community is it’s naiveté regarding the fact that their largest supporters exist because they’re too cheap to pay for software and have always felt software had no value.  It becomes pretty obvious when a companies true motivations for greed and being cheap are so thinly veiled behind the cloak of “We’re one of the good guys!”. 

Let’s face it – if you’re not making your money off the development of the software that people use, then you have to be making it off the process of selling it or supporting it.  In a model such as that the guy on the low end of the totem pole will always be the guy who created it in the first place.  They are the ones who’s efforts are not perceived as having value because it’s their efforts they place as having little or no cost associated to them.  (If you’re not charging anyone for the hours it took to develop  product – which is where that model places the cost recoup at – then the developers and creators are effectively valued at ‘zero cost”.)

So where do these companies place value?  They place it on the management end of things and the sales end of things.  The sales of the software, and over a long term the sale of the software support, or the sales of the software as a service.  Bottom line – the jobs they really care about are managers and sales people.  For the people who come up with the software, who spend the hundreds and thousands of man hours to code it to test it and to bring it to life?  Well, they’re a necessary evil – one which if they can find anyone to do it cheaper – they will.  Which is why yes… they do send out emails to people here in the USA looking for jobs, people they’ve often

laid off or let go, giving unrealistically low, or unrealistic job requirements, or in some cases just bizarre job requirements, all so they can be turned down.  They can then go before the US Congress and Senate and say, “We looked for people here in the USA for these jobs – but there aren’t any who meet the qualifications!  Can we go overseas and get them without losing our tax breaks???”. 

The HR departments of these companies can sign up for (and line up for) classes to learn how to do this.  And this doesn’t burn you up – the fact is this is not the “American Job” vs “Overseas Job” issue that drives this, and those probably hardest hit are – as incredible as this may seem – overseas wokers.  Overseas, in places like Hyderabad, Beijing and the former Soviet Republics you’ll find the amount of fraud based job services there is a full blown industry not all that different than Coyote hustlers that tell immigrants they can sneak them through the American border but take their money and leave them, often with no hope of survival.   Now, if you say, “Hey we’re cracking down on these bastards”, I’d like to point out – they busted 11 people and companies.  11 of them is not even a band aid on this gaping wound.  11 busts isn’t even lip service to the literally billions being spent on this.  The fact is that as long as it’s profitable for these companies to treat the people who create products you use like dirt (and for many of us – that person is us) they will continue to do so. 

So – hey – support the open source movement - make software free to everyone.  It is after all, just someone's idea – it’s not like has value right?  Anyone can do it, and with the right sales model we can recoup the loss by selling maintenance, and services.  While you’re at – you may want to head down to Walmart and buy a nice coat made by children overseas to keep warm in on that unemployment line.  Just some food for thought. 

the tale OF ALIMONY jakobson…

 

Several years ago, my then very small daughter, wanted a dog.  I didn’t want another pet.  We had too many pets then, and adding another was, well, just nuts.

So naturally – we got another dog.  Not just any dog… but a 2 time loser.  A dog who, as a puppy, was so unable to be house broken or trained it had been returned to the animal shelter twice.  It was actually marked by animal control to be put down on site if returned again.  My daughter saw her at the animal shelter on the day of her final return.

There was something between that dog, and my daughter that clicked.  My daughter didn’t pick her, so much as the dog picked my daughter.  Which, frankly was how that little dog’s mind worked.  So it came to our home.  When I was told about the dog’s history, my only request was that I got to name it.  I told my wife that if we kept it the dog’s name would be “Alimony”.  And if she brought home anything else it was going to be named “Child Support”.   So – in part out of spite – and in part because it was cute – the dog was brought into our family and was it really was registered with the name “Alimony”, or “Allie” as we came to call her. And for most people, and for most dogs, that would be the end of the story.

But this story is a long one, the dog’s uncanny bond to my daughter was such that for a dog that was to be put to sleep for it’s unwillingness to be obedient – my daughter could get it to do seemingly anything.  It would ironically become my daughter’s 4H project, and a show dog, go to State Fair and receive a blue ribbon, not once but twice, showing for my daughter.  It would win many ribbons, and it would dance and come alive in front of crowded stands, never once taking it’s brown eyes off my daughter… except for those occasions when it was trying to pick a fight with dogs much larger.

It became my daughters friend, and in many ways a mentor. There is a spirit, a stubbornness, that comes with being a very small terrier.  It allows them to take on animals much greater than themselves and never flinch.  Genetically, her breed was meant for fighting badgers and large rats.   They have, no idea that they’re little, they have an objective - and they don’t give up.  Size, shape, condition, odds, none of that matters to a terrier.   And they project an odd set of qualities that causes them to think they can win, and often do, against all odds.

It’s part courage, part bravery, part determination, and part just incredible stubbornness to never give up, never give in, and never think the battle is lost, or worse – not worth winning.  I suppose, if dogs are like their masters – well perhaps that’s where my daughter gets that quality.   You have to develop that kind of heart from somewhere, that drive.  It doesn't’ come naturally to humans.   

My daughter if she learned to be that way, well it was from Allie.  Whose loyalty to her was incredible, and whose love, was boundless to the very end.  Alimony out lived two of her younger dog peers (of course we had more dogs after we got her… this IS our house… if animal is lost, hurt, bewildered or just plain strange it winds up here… and for all my grumbling… I’ve yet to say no.).  She got to be loved admired and adored by many, many people. 

Admiring people aside… she had something that was the most important thing in the world to her – and that was my daughter.  So despite the fact that she when given any chance would raid he garbage, or commit a dozen unspeakable acts to my things, all she had to do to get my approval was see my daughter – and wag her tail.  There was a level of love there – that frankly – it wouldn’t matter what she did, for being that loving and loyal to her master… well, what’s a little garbage right?  It picks right up off the floor y’know??

Allie developed some lumps a while back, in places where, well, dogs shouldn’t have them.  And as she got older and older her arthritis kicked in,  and on the not so good days, hopping up to lie on the bed wasn’t really something she was up to either.  So, we’d help her up to her favorite places.

But she still, even on her worst days, would pop up, hop off where ever as if there wasn’t a thing wrong with her… and trot after my daughter whenever she heard her.  She would grow older and more and more senile – often I’m fairly sure she had no clue who I was and I’d double the bet that she wasn’t really sure who she was, but she was cheerful about it.   On several occasions we’d take her to the vet thinking maybe it was time.  But it wasn’t.  She still had things she wanted to do.  She still had just a bit more enjoyment out of life, a few more tail wags, a few more barks, a few more French fries to steal and garbage cans to knock over. 

But even the most vivacious of lives, comes to an end.  Allies was very much like her entire life.  It was cheerful, and full of zest, and even when you’d have thought she was gone – she heard my daughters voice, and her head came up, and her tail wagged one more time.  As if to say, “I am so glad to hear your voice, and it’s okay.”, and then she laid her head back down. 

Alimony’s life, was if anything, about what you could do with a life – if someone gave you the chance.  She got her second chance – and she made the most of it.  Doing things no one believed she could, never taking anything from anyone else, never backing down, never slowing down, never giving ground, never giving in.    She was my daughters best friend, best ally, and in many ways, her best teacher about all that you need to learn to succeed in life.

She will be missed.

Some great shorts…

In keeping with the last post I thought I’d share a few keepers of films I ran across while doing some research.

 

First up is a fun little flick called “The Seance”  by Arun Vaidyanathan, which is a nice little work.  Two people – very compacted dialog, good delivery and very simple but effective camera and lighting work. 

Its not a film that relies on trickery or abusive visuals – it’s got a very simple story and that’s what it tells.

All in all it’s worth the 6 minutes of your life required to watch it.  The only downside is that quite frankly they had such nice characters and such a good story they never finish it. 

It’s really hard to pace a film down to 5 minutes and keep the quality even.  This is a nice even film – which sadly is just cut 30 seconds short of the blow off for the tale.  Over all this is a great little film and I can see why it was an award winner.  Which… compared to my next choice makes this oscar winning material.  Our next entry was a Sony Award winner.  Why – I have no clue.

Burning Life… is first of all – not a film.  It’s not really a documentary and it’s not really a narrative and it’s not really anything more than a guy and his girlfriend burning a small pile of his crap – sorry his life – in his backyard as some kind of protest. 

He then starts to strip and there is a gratuitous use of bad filters and bad video effects for color channels and he breaks most if not all the cardinal rules of even amatuer camera work and … it’s really amazing this won an award of any kind and it just goes to show you that if you toss enough “I’m clueless” around people can, and will assume you’re some kind of artist.  Hate to say it but … it is largely true.

Which… leaves us to … the gem of the post.  A short film that is done soooo well you almost can see this getting the Oscar it’s been nominated for.  Our Time Is Up… is funny – it’s actually way past funny.  And at the same time there’s so much more going on with this film. 

This film … sheesh – great – just… shut up and go watch it.  All I can say is … this is what people who do short films need to set as a bar to shoot for – and let’s face it… how does that make you feel? 

the stories the thing…

And may Shakespeare forgive me for that unbridled paraphrasing of the immortal Hamlet in a blog title, but like so many things in life, it had to be done.

See I just got back from a weekend of rummaging through youtube, hulu and several other video outlets for amateur videos out there and I was amazed, amused and befuddled by how many really talented people there are out there making videos.  I was also feeling a bit like Simon Cowell after a bender with Paula Abdul at how many talented people there were making videos that really didn’t need to be made.  Kind of reminded me of my mothers sage advice that “Just because you can do something… doesn’t mean you should.”.

I began this quest because for some time now, I’ve said I wanted to get back into doing at least some small projects with film.  Nothing fancy but some good stories.  So … I stated out by seeing what others had done.  I won’t slam anyone out there for making an amateur film.  Anyone who does get to the point of where they’re actually shot something deserves props. 

But I will say that before I even shoot a frame – I’m going to have a good story. 

Not a good script… because there are a lot of really great scripted videos out there that, well let’s be honest here, they are not going to win any awards.  Actually I’ll take that a step farther there are a lot of great videos out there that have won awards that really are almost painful to watch – and all the awards on the planet won’t change that.

What every great script / bad film out there seems to be missing is a good story.  I don’t mean they aren’t well written or clever or artistic.  I mean to say they have no story.  A 3 minute film can have a great story.  A epic length movie may have no story at all. 

The story is the key.  It’s what it’s about and it doesn’t matter the genre or or the words.  It’s what is happening.  Does it grip you?  Does it make you care about the character (no matter how bad the acting is)?  I mean, look at “The Happening”.  Really its not bad acting on the part of Wahlberg and company and the script … well the script is horrid but where the real horror started was with the story itself.  There isn’t one.

See most people will say the story is about Wahlberg and the world having to survive mother nature’s culling of the evil humans on the planet.  No… that is the plot of the movie.  The story – would have been about the relationship between Wahlberg and Zoe Deschanell, or the story would have been about some other character.  But to say that any of that existed beyond even the most anemic form is to give credit where there is none.

A plot, and the dialogue support the story.  But the story needs to stand on it’s own or everything is just window dressing.  To make a great little film or a great epic film… one needs a good story or you’re just wasting video.  So… before I start this little project of mine… I need a good story.

 

Here’s my story short list of what I need to keep in mind while I work on it.

• I have a really limited budget.
  (Not gonna be able to rent equipment, locations, or people.)
• I have a really limited shooting schedule that is impacted by environmental conditions. 
  (Rains here a lot, I work a 40 hour week, and I can’t guarantee who I’ll have available.)
• I have a very limited cast.
  (Depending on the story – it may even only be me).
• I have a very limited amount of quality equipment.
  (One – two cameras, lights are very limited, going to be hand held or limited amount of boom and stationary shots.)

Now that I have that list … I can file it under “NOT IMPORTANT”.  Because none of that will affect a good story.  A good story … doesn’t need a budget.  It doesn’t need to worry about schedules.  (See: American Graffiti – for decades it held the record of dollar for dollar being the highest grossing film ever made. Lucas shot it for next to nothing, on a schedule that no one would have considered.)

And cast frankly – doesn’t matter.  A great story makes up for bad acting.  In fact, a great story often covers up bad acting.  Limited equipment and a lack of shot choices… pfffaw.  Look up the Seventh Seal some time.  Look up anything by Hitchcock or Howard Hawks.  Look up Treasure of the Serria Madre or the Maltese Falcon or Casa Blanca. 

And then … go hit Yutube… and Hulu… and Atom… then sit down with a big cup of coffee and a empty note book, and a clear head… and think of great stories.