The Legend Of Mor'du
Posted on Jan 16, 2021 at 05:38:46 PM
Y'all, this 8 Minute Short from Pixar on Disney+ makes me wanna roll dice. It's SOOOO D&D. Such a well done video. They packed a lot into 8 minutes and I really want them to do more just like this. A LOT more just like this.
Consulting the experts
Posted on Mar 22nd, 2018 10:20:00 AM
Eminem: His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy…
WebMD: Prolly cancer
Dr House: Nope. Lupus.
I'm already on it
Posted on Dec 28, 2017 at 10:20:00 AM
Every time I see the phrase "Judge Roy Moore", I think to myself, "Um, yeah. I am!"
The Real Mystery
Posted on Nov 23, 2017 at 03:40:00 PM
Like, a group united by their love of solving mysteries just shrugs off the fact that their dog talks? Jinkies, that's weird!
Decisions!
Posted on Sep 02, 2017 at 09:17:00 PM
With the family in Williamsburg, I'm home alone tonight. FB, Netflix, or AMC Theater movie?
Today's Mood: Friends Theme Song
Posted on Aug 19, 2017 at 09:53:00 PM
So no one told you life was gonna be this way
Your job's a joke, you're broke
Your love life's D.O.A
It's like you're always stuck in second gear
When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month
Or even your year, but
I'll be there for you
(When the rain starts to pour)
I'll be there for you
(Like I've been there before)
I'll be there for you
('Cause you're there for me too)
Tune in next week, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel
Posted on Jun 10, 2017 at 09:23:00 PM
Til then, to the Batmobile, Mr West!
My childhood
Posted on May 6th, 2017 8:57:00 PM
Yeah. This about sums up the late 70′s/early 80′s. For real though.
How I suspect it went down
Posted on Apr 17, 2017 at 09:16:00 PM
Klingons: Okay we don’t get it.
Vulcan Science Academy: Get what?
Klingons: Basically, Vulcans are a bunch of nerds but you’re also tougher, stronger, and smarter than humans in every single way…
Klingons: So, why do you let them run your Federation?
Vulcan Science Academy: Look…
Vulcan Science Academy: This is a species where if you give them two warp cores they don’t do experiments on one and save the other for if the first one blows up…
Vulcan Science Academy: This is a species where if you give them two warp cores, they will ask for a third one, immediately plug all three into each other, punch a hole into an alternate universe where humans subscribe to an even more destructive ideological system, fight everyone in it because they’re offended by that, steal their warp cores, plug those together, punch their way back here, then try to turn a nearby sun into a torus because that was what their initial scientific experiment was for and they didn’t want to waste a trip.
Vulcan Science Academy: They did that last week. we have the write-up right here. it’s getting published in about six hundred scientific journals across two hundred different disciplines because of how many established theories their ridiculous little expedition has just called into question. also, they did turn that sun into a torus, and no one actually knows how.
Klingons: O_o
Vulcan Science Academy: This is why we let them do whatever the hell they want.
Klingons: Can we be a part of your federation?
Brock Peters, Star Trek: DS9, Far Beyond the Stars
Posted on Feb 11th, 2017 7:38:00 PM
You are the dreamer and the dream.
Paperclips in the 80’s
Posted on Jan 20th, 2017 4:38:00 PM
Every time I see a paperclip, I just think “lock pick”. Between that and the fact that I expected much more quicksand in my life as an adult, I'm pretty sure 80’s TV broke me inside.
Captain Benjamin Sisko
Posted on Dec 2nd, 2012 9:23:00 AM
There comes a time in every man's life when he must stop thinking and start doing.
Darling, We're the Young Ones
Posted on Nov 25th, 2012 9:32:00 AM
Woman:Do you dig graves?
Neil:Yeah, yeah, they're all right, yeah.
River Tam
Posted on Oct 28th, 2012 8:37:00 PM
People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think, don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome.
The Great Material Continuum
Posted on Mar 20th, 2012 3:50:00 AM
I decided that the Internet needed this, so I made it. You are welcome.
Told ya so
Posted on Jan 28th, 2012 8:56:00 AM
65% of movie industry revenue comes from sources the studios at one time claimed would put them out of business. These people do not get it. SOPA, PIPA, and ACTA, are just the most recent proof of that.
Cheesy biscuits are currently being consumed
Posted on May 22nd, 2011 6:45:00 PM
Cadence is watching Scooby Doo and making a pillow/blanket fort
Posted on Apr 30th, 2011 8:56:00 AM
Cadence is watching Scooby Doo and making a pillow/blanket fort
Posted on Apr 30th, 2011 8:56:00 AM
took my wife to Aldo
Posted on Apr 14th, 2011 8:22:00 AM
Ok fine. So my old TiVo had a hard drive failure. Whatever. Long live my new TiVo. Its failure is my upgrade. Taste it, world. You can't beat me.
Nerdcore Rise Up!
Posted on Feb 20, 2011 at 06:43:00 PM
Tom is more about "The Cape" than "No Ordinary Family". That said, both have their geek merit. It's good to be a geek.
UFO Documentary
Posted on Feb 9th, 2011 8:06:00 AM
One of the better UFO documentaries I've watched. These are the sorts of cases that are ignored by the media due to being too credible.
via vimeo.com
I'm up too late
Posted on Dec 28, 2010 at 11:54:00 PM
but I blame society and the invention of television.
The Ferengi Rules Of Acquisition
Posted on Dec 27th, 2010 5:21:00 PM
Following are the Rules by which all good Ferengi everywhere live their lives profitably.
Rule 001 - Once you have their money, you never give it back.
Rule 002 - The best deal is the one that brings the most profit.
Rule 003 - Never spend more for an acquisition than you have to.
Rule 004 - A woman wearing clothes is like a man in the kitchen.
Rule 006 - Never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity.
Rule 007 - Keep your ears open.
Rule 008 - Small print leads to large risk.
Rule 009 - Opportunity plus instinct equals profit.
Rule 010 - Greed is eternal.
Rule 011 - Even if it's free, you can always buy it cheaper.
Rule 012 - Anything worth doing is worth doing for money.
Rule 013 - Anything worth doing is worth doing twice.
Rule 014 - Keep your family close, keep your Latinum closer.
Rule 016 - A deal is a deal. (until a better one comes along).
Rule 017 - A contract is a contract is a contract - but only between Ferengi.
Rule 018 - A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all.
Rule 019 - Satisfaction is not guaranteed.
Rule 020 - Only give money to people you know you can steal from.
Rule 021 - Never place friendship before profit.
Rule 022 - A wise man can hear profit in the wind.
Rule 024 - Latinum can't buy happiness, but you can sure have a blast renting it.
Rule 025 - There's always a way out.
Rule 026 - As the customers go, so goes the wise profiteer.
Rule 027 - There's nothing more dangerous than an honest businessman.
Rule 028 - Whisper your way to success.
Rule 029 - What's in it for me?
Rule 031 - Never make fun of a Ferengi's mother. (insult something he cares about, instead).
Rule 033 - It never hurts to suck up to the boss.
Rule 034 - War is good for business.
Rule 035 - Peace is good for business.
Rule 037 - If it's free, take it and worry about hidden costs later.
Rule 039 - Friendship is temporary; profit is forever.
Rule 040 - She can touch your lobes, but never your Latinum.
Rule 041 - Profit is its own reward.
Rule 042 - What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine too.
Rule 044 - Never confuse wisdom with luck.
Rule 045 - Ambition knows no family.
Rule 046 - Make your shop easy to find.
Rule 047 - Don't trust a man wearing a better suit than your own.
Rule 048 - The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife.
Rule 049 - Everything is worth something to somebody.
Rule 050 - Gratitude can bring on generosity.
Rule 051 - Reward anyone who adds to your profits so they will continue to do so.
Rule 052 - Never ask when you can take.
Rule 057 - Good customers are as rare as Latinum, Treasure them.
Rule 058 - There is no substitute for success.
Rule 059 - Free advice is seldom cheap.
Rule 060 - Keep your lies consistent.
Rule 062 - The riskier the road, the greater the profit.
Rule 065 - Win or lose, there's always Huyperian beetle snuff.
Rule 068 - Ear stroking will get you anything.
Rule 069 - Ferengi are not responsible for the stupidity of other races.
Rule 072 - Never trust your customers.
Rule 073 - If it gets you profit, sell your own mother.
Rule 075 - Home is where the heart is, but the stars are made of Latinum.
Rule 076 - Every once in a while, declare peace. “It confuses the hell out of your enemies”.
Rule 077 - It's better to swallow your pride than to lose your profit.
Rule 078 - When the going gets tough, the tough change the Rules.
Rule 079 - Beware of the Vulcan greed for knowledge.
Rule 082 - The flimsier the product, the higher the price.
Rule 084 - A friend is not a friend if he asks for a discount.
Rule 085 - Never let the competition know what you're thinking.
Rule 087 - A friend in need means three times the profit.
Rule 089 - Ask not what your profits can do for you, ask what you can do for your profits.
Rule 092 - There are many paths to profit.
Rule 093 - Act without delay! The sharp knife cuts quickly.
Rule 094 - Females and finances don't mix.
Rule 095 - Expand or die.
Rule 096 - For every Rule, there is an equal and opposite Rule, (except when there's not).
Rule 097 - Enough… is never enough.
Rule 098 - Every man has his price.
Rule 099 - Trust is the biggest liability of all.
Rule 100 - If they take your first offer, you either asked too little or offered too much.
Rule 101 - The only value of a collectible is what you can get somebody else to pay for it.
Rule 102 - Nature decays, but Latinum lasts forever.
Rule 103 - Sleep can interfere with…
Rule 104 - Faith moves mountains… (of inventory).
Rule 105 - Don't trust anyone who trusts you.
Rule 106 - There is no honor in poverty.
Rule 107 - A warranty is valid only if they can find you.
Rule 109 - Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack.
Rule 111 - Treat people in your debt like family, exploit them [ruthlessly].
Rule 112 - Never have sex with the boss' sister.
Rule 113 - Always have sex with the boss.
Rule 115 - The best contract always has a lot of fine print.
Rule 116 - There's always a catch.
Rule 117 - Everything is for sale, including friendship.
Rule 119 - Never judge a customer by the size of his wallet, (…sometimes, good things come in small packages).
Rule 121 - Everything is for sale, including friendship.
Rule 123 - Even a blind man can recognize the glow of Latinum.
Rule 125 - You can't make a deal if you're dead.
Rule 126 - Count it.
Rule 127 - Stay neutral in conflict so that you can sell supplies to both sides.
Rule 135 - Never trust a beneficiary.
Rule 139 - Wives serve, brothers inherit.
Rule 141 - Only fools pay retail.
Rule 142 - There's no such thing as an unfair advantage.
Rule 143 - Risk is part of the game… play it for all it's worth.
Rule 144 - There's nothing wrong with charity…as long as it winds up in your pocket.
Rule 146 - Necessity, n. The mother of invention. Profit is the father.
Rule 152 - A lie is a way to tell the truth to someone who doesn't know.
Rule 153 - Sell the sizzle, not the steak.
Rule 162 - Even in the worst of times, someone turns a profit.
Rule 168 - Whisper your way to success.
Rule 169 - Competition and fair play are mutually exclusive.
Rule 171 - Blood is thicker than water, and Latinum is thicker than both.
Rule 172 - Chances aren't what they used to be.
Rule 177 - Know your enemies… but do business with them always.
Rule 181 - Not even dishonesty can tarnish the shine of profit.
Rule 188 - A fool and his money is the best customer.
Rule 189 - Let others keep their reputation. You keep their money.
Rule 190 - Hear all, trust nothing.
Rule 191 - A Ferengi waits to bid until his opponents have exhausted themselves.
Rule 192 - Never cheat a Klingon… unless you're sure you can get away with it.
Rule 194 - It's always good business to know about new customers before they walk in your door.
Rule 200 - If you're going to have to endure, make yourself comfortable.
Rule 202 - The justification of profit is profit.
Rule 203 - New customers are like razor-backed Gree worms… They can be succulent, but sometimes they bite back!
Rule 204 - It takes a Ferengi to cheat a Ferengi.
Rule 208 - Sometimes the only thing more dangerous than a question is an answer.
Rule 211 - Employees are the rungs on the ladder of success… don't hesitate to step on them.
Rule 214 - Never begin a business negotiation on an empty stomach.
Rule 216 - Never gamble with an empath.
Rule 217 - You can't free a fish from water.
Rule 218 - Always know what you're buying.
Rule 219 - Possession is 11/10 of the law.
Rule 223 - Beware the man who doesn't make time for oo-mox.
Rule 229 - Latinum lasts longer than lust.
Rule 231 - There's a sucker born every minute; be sure you're the first to find each one.
Rule 236 - You can't buy fate.
Rule 239 - Never be afraid to mislabel a product.
Rule 241 - Never trust a hardworking employee.
Rule 242 - More is good… all is better.
Rule 253 - Synthehol is the lubricant of choice for a customer's stuck purse.
Rule 255 - A wife is a luxury… a smart accountant, a necessity.
Rule 256 - Accountants do not play the game; they only keep the score.
Rule 260 - Life's not fair. How else would you turn a profit?
Rule 261 - A wealthy man can afford anything except a conscience.
Rule 262 - A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on.
Rule 263 - Never allow doubt to tarnish your lust for Latinum.
Rule 265 - The customer is always right, (…until you get their cash).
Rule 266 - When in doubt, lie.
Rule 267 - If you believe it, they believe it.
Rule 270 - In business deals, a disruptor can be almost as important as a calculator.
Rule 277 - Anything worth fighting for is worth hiding from.
Rule 284 - Deep down, everyone's a Ferengi.
Rule 285 - No good deed ever goes unpunished.
Rule 286 - When Morn leaves, it's all over. (Quark made this rule up)
Rule 299 - Whenever you exploit someone, it never hurts to thank them. That way, it's easier to exploit them the next time. (Neelix made this rule up)
The Unwritten Rule - When no appropriate Rule applies, make one up!
Life's a show…
Posted on Dec 16, 2010 at 03:23:00 PM
…and we all play our part. And when the music starts, we open up our hearts
Pierce Hawthorne from Community
Posted on Oct 6th, 2010 5:24:00 PM
I'll show you the tool that's most important to our survival… but fair warning, it's my penis.
Geek Chic
Posted on Aug 13th, 2010 9:30:00 PM
You'll find no gawkish nerdiness in these pics. The cast is getting their elegance on. Seeing Sheldon like that, though, just weirds me out.
Monk
Posted on Aug 10th, 2010 2:18:00 PM
I’m always surprised about how much the end of a good show can impact the audience.
I’ve been watching the series since it began by netflixing each season as it’s released to DVD. I enjoy the show, probably because of how much I empathize with the main character. His issues, in some sense, are my issues. His neurotic compulsions and anxieties are mine. Watching him work through his issues was cathartic and hopeful.
But now it’s over. I’ve just watched the last episode. The last show wrapped up the series well. It’s not a neat little bow, nor is it all happy, but it is joyful. Adrian Monk makes real progress toward normalcy, he solves his wife’s murder, and we get to see him offer up a rare, genuine smile near the end of the show. Overall, it’s a good ending. We are left with just enough of a wrap up that we know it turns out alright, but not so much that we are led in-hand to a tidy conclusion. We get to invent for ourselves what his happy end state is. I like that.
Sadly, the show was calming to me, and now I’m stuck with the realization that there are no more new Monks to watch. Like the end of Buffy or DS9, it was well done and well timed, but sad in its finality. I’m gonna miss it.
Boooooo
Posted on Jun 28, 2010 at 09:26:00 PM
I just found out that Steve Carrell is leaving The Office after this upcoming season. Suck.
My new show
Posted on Jun 10, 2010 at 07:31:00 AM
Tom is a growth-stunted portugese mental patient and his wife is a self-made millionare, freelance journalist, and professional dog groomer. Together with their limo driver, Lionel Stander, they fight crime. Du Du Duuuuuuuuu.
Sanjaya and Sarah
Posted on May 03, 2010 at 11:52:00 AM
just realized that Sarah Palin is the Sanjaya of politics. Doesn't matter how bad she is at it, she just keeps getting votes.
Because he's more than meets the eye
Posted on Feb 22, 2010 at 09:58:00 PM
I never disagree with Computron.
To continue my latest obsession, I present a new Schoolhouse Rock video called "Pirates and Emporers"
Posted on Nov 16, 2007 at 10:07:24 PM
when I can see the light of day again (work has ramped up a bit in the last month) there will be original content on the blog again. Til then, this video says all I feel like saying right now:
Bruce Lee’s Screen Test For The Green Hornet
Posted on Sep 09, 2007 at 08:57:27 PM
The above video needs no comment other than, "Dude was just bad ass!"
These are a few of my favorite things
Posted on May 01, 2007 at 08:05:22 AM
So, there are 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 things I like. I'll limit this point to 3:
- Linux
- Movies
- High Definition Video
A series of Buffy music videos
Posted on Mar 31, 2007 at 09:03:59 PM
This is Your Life: Here's a music video recap of the whole series
Bitch: Faith kicks a little ass
End of the World: A music video montage of Willow and Oz's relationship
She's My Everything: a music video montage tribute to the relationship between Willow and Tara
Anything but Ordinary: A musicial montage of the life of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Mad World: A music video of a few important Buffy moments
Take me back to the start: A music video montage of the beginnings of the series
It's The Fear: A music video tribute to Dark Willow
Walk Through the Fire: A snippet from the Buffy Musical (a sort of gag episode that turned out much cooler than a gag episode has any right to be)
If the above doesn't squelch your thrist for all things Buffy at this moment (or at least your will to live) then you are insatiable.
Buffy Season 8
Posted on Mar 21, 2007 at 08:09:41 AM
So, BtVS has been off the air for a couple of years, but Joss Whedon (series mastermind) has brought it back for an "8th season" via the medium of comic books. I have issue #1. It's a great book---solid art, and wonderful writing---but it is a very different medium. The difference in medium is evident in the story and the "feel" of the work itself as distinct from the tv series it follows.
So it you are a fan, go yourself a favor is get a copy (if you can find one!). You will be pleased, but don't expect the same audience experience you had watching the show. It goes without saying that it may be as good, but it's quite changed.
What you want, what you need: fans and endings, and narrative satisfactions
Posted on Mar 20, 2007 at 08:41:42 AM
I had the pleasure of reading this blog entry elsewhere that was ostensibly about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but far more about the nature of being a fan, of fiction, and of the needs of the reader. It's one of the few blog entries on the Internet worth reading. Periodically, these come into my field of view and I feel bad about just how wastefully dumb my own blog is. Go. Read. Be Edified.
Oh, and to whet your appetite:
"And there's the painful part: fans tend (here's the broad brush for you) to have a hard time making distinctions between what amplifies the story's dramatic impact or meaning, and what would satisfy them as fans. Get the difference? A fan isn't just a heavy reader: 'fan' is a social category. Wanting the story to continue isn't the same as wanting to know what happens next - one desire takes the text itself (the edifice, the mechanism) as its object, one takes the world of the narrative, the series of (unfortunate) fictional events. One frustrating feature of fan discourse is just this: a lot of the time fans fail to make this distinction."
I'm Linux
Posted on Feb 09, 2007 at 07:50:00 AM
I haven't blogged in a while and yet this is all I'm offering in this entry? I should be ashamed of myself.
"Make Up" or "Make Believe"
Posted on Jan 21, 2007 at 03:07:00 PM
There too he sculptured a broad fallow field
Of soft rish mould, thrice ploughed, and over which
Walked many a ploughman, guiding to and fro
His steers, and when on their return they reached
The border of the field the master came
To meet them, placing in the hands of each
a goblet of rich wine. Then turned they back
Along the furrows, diligent to reach
Their distant end. All dark behind the plough
The ridges lay, a marvel to the sight.
Like the field in the quote above from Homer's Illiad, women in the media are made into an image of beauty. It is not the dirt in the field we find beautiful nor the woman under the makeup, but rather it is the beauty, even the dignity, that our culture bestows on them that makes them pleasing to us. Aesthetic beauty and moral beauty are not easily distinguished. Like the education of our children, we move purposefully from a natural to a cultural state. It's what we do. We transform nature. We make it in our self-image as we perceive it, and when it gets too hard to do on our own, we ask for help---from ploughmen, makeup artists, painters...and each other.
I was leaving the building for the day. A co-worker was leaving at the same time. When we saw each other standing up, we gave our daily good bye's, put on our coats and left our cubes. Hollywood would have the decency to fade to black at this point, but real life is not so interested in transforming nature. No, we'd said all that needed saying. We both got up and left. Problem is, we both went the same way. So now, we are walking to the parking lot together in an awkward silence. No script was prepared. No protocol readied us for the silent walk out. I said, "So it's not so easy to get rid of me, is it?" We laughed. The moment was rescued from reality and given a cultural context---hence a beauty. As a species, we don't like ugly.
So, what does it mean to say someone is a human? I suppose it depends on who you ask, but I would argue that we are not merely complex bipedal mammal. Being human is more than that. It's about stopping to enjoy a warm fire in a winter chill, it's about having a dream, seeking out the things that are pleasing. Being human is about enjoying the beauty that we, each of us, adds to the world in which we live. I could be crass about the Hollywood makeovers in the video above, but I think I'll just be grateful to the directors, the artists, designers, scriptwriters, and air-brushers who are trying to give us a little bit more beautiful world than the one in which we find ourselves. I don't see anything wrong with that.
Phear Mah Toad
Buffy Season 8
Posted on Nov 28, 2006 at 07:28:00 AM
Joss Whedon, head writer and creative force behind the Buffy franchise, has annouced a deal with Dark Horse Comics to write a new comic series that takes place after the fade-to-black of the end of Season 7 of the Buffy series.
While not as good as a new tv show picking up where the old left off, this is still good news for those of us still entranced by the series. I believe I'll be subscribing asap.
In honor of the event, I've taken the Buffy Personality Test (to see which character I am most like). I did this because I have no life and dogged fanboyism is the way of my people. If you wish my tribe to accept you as one of us, you must go there now to take the test as I did. My results follow:
Glorificus
54% amorality, 72% passion, 90% spirituality, 45% selflessness
You probably have a complicated, multi-faceted personality. Kind of like Glory-Ben-Glorificus.
Passionate and driven with a spiritual side that comes out at times, a healthy taste for the finer things in life and a willingness to do what's necessary to achieve your ends. You're assertive and have no problems standing up for yourself. And, push come to shove, you're the closest anyone's ever come to straight-up beating the Slayer and her gang.
The upside of that result? Well, Glorificus was a god. Powerful. Capricious. The downside? Gorificus was raw evil. The sort of evil that steals wheelchairs and slaps the homeless. Glorificus is a survivor, but not in a good way.
I could swear I've taken that test in the past and gotten Xander as a result (which is much nicer, if a bit less interesting!).
The End of the Blockbuster Era?
Posted on Sep 30, 2006 at 00:17:00 AM
Luis Villa, gnome-guy turned law student has a must-read blog entry about the changing role of media in our culture.
The short of it is that he went to see some very smart people talking. He took notes. Those notes are interesting. Lawrence Lessig (one of those guys talking) is a personal hero. He even got portrayed on the West Wing once. That's just how cool he is!
Let the rant flow
Posted on Sep 16, 2006 at 09:31:00 AM
I ordered my Tivo. I paid for next day shipping because I wanted it this weekend. What happened? They screwed up the shipping on everyone's order who ordered the same day as I did (the 12th). It'll likelu ship today and get here Monday. They did, on their own, refund the shipping fee, but I'm still disappointed. I want my new Tivo now!
Tivo is dead. Long live Tivo.
Posted on Sep 13, 2006 at 07:08:00 AM
I've ordered my Tivo Series 3. Have you ordered yours? I requested Next Day Air, because I must have this before the weekend hits. Following is my epic "Ode to Tivo":
Roses are red.
My devotion is spastic.
My Series One is dead,
But Series Three is fantastic.
I should submit that masterwork to the American Poetry Review.
Why are you looking for a Tivo replacement, Tom?
Posted on Aug 25, 2006 at 10:14:00 PM
In my last entry I mentioned looking for a Tivo replacement. Why? Unbelievable bad luck, that's why!
I've been waiting for 2 years for the Series 3 to hit the shelves. I want an HDTV Tivo DVR. It's due out in October of this year (about a month and a half from now) and what happens? A mere month and a half from when I can move to my sweet sweet Series 3 Tivo and the modem dies in my Series 1. WTF? Really? It's like the gods of time-shifted TV have conspired with fate to see me suffer! Odysseus never had it so hard as me! He was only lost for a few years. I'll have no Tivo for over a month!!!
My final solution is to manually record what I want by time/channel until the Series 3 is in my greedy paws. The Tivo works, but without a modem I can't get the guide information, which means no working Season Passes. Seriously, couldn't Tivo have just stabbed me in the gut instead? The betrayal would have been less and my insurance would cover that problem.
Windows Media Center Edition 2005 blows vomit
Posted on Aug 25, 2006 at 09:55:00 PM
OK. It's a bit of an overstatement, but...
When you buy a Media PC with a stereo rack component look and feel that bills itself as a replacement for your Tivo, it should be able to fill that role. Windows Media Center Edition 2005 does not. The system would go into suspend mode and require a reboot to return to normal operation. It wouldn't play many of the media files I threw at it. I understand not playing flac files out of the box (it's a bit obscure, I suppose) but many AVI files and even some MPGs were non-working. All those files, for the record, played just fine in Linux. The guide information was regularly incorrect. And finally, when I finally decided to show it to someone else, I fast forwarded through the commercials of a show only to find that it would not leave fast-forward mode.
Needless to say, the system was returned. I want to be clear, the system, an HP Media Center PC, was not the problem. The problem was entirely Mirosoft's. All the problems had patches which fixed those problems and added new ones. In the end, I found myself performing maintainence on a box that was supposed to be a stereo rack component. I don't have to do this for my DVD player, nor for my extant Tivo. I don't feel that I should have to do it for my Tivo Replacement.
Total satisfaction score: 3 out of a possible 10. The idea has promise, but the software implementation was a miserable failure. I suspect MythTV would have been a better choice for HP to put under the hood.
2006 Craptacular Awards
Posted on Jul 13, 2006 at 09:06:00 AM
And the Award for most head-splittingly ironic thing heard on TV last night goes to...
Hyundai for the phrase "The following program is brought to you commercial-free by Hyundai. Hyundai: Rethink Everything!"
Hey Hyundai. Thanks for the (pretend) effort, but I prefer to have all my programs brought to me commercial-free by TiVo.
Tivo Series 3 HDTV
Posted on Jan 06, 2006 at 10:21:00 AM
My drooling fit has come closer to an end.
At this year's CES, Tivo announced that they will be releasing in 2006 the High Definition Series 3 Tivo unit. This unit will sport two tuners, the ability to be used with or without cablecards, external SATA, ethernet and USB, and a front panel that shows you what is currently tuned in and how much space is left on the drive! There are pictures here to be pawed at.
Gadget fetish engaged: Must. Have. Now.
Soon
Posted on Sep 27, 2005 at 08:01:00 AM
Serenity opens in theaters on Friday, September 30. It's the only movie I intend to watch in the theaters this year. The rest can wait for my home theater. Serenity, however, is different.
Joss Whedon talking about Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Posted on Sep 01, 2005 at 08:01:00 AM
"I designed the show to create that strong reaction. I designed Buffy to be an icon, to be an emotional experience, to be loved in a way that other shows can't be loved. Because it's about adolescence, which is the most important thing people go through in their development, becoming an adult. And it mythologizes it in such a way, such a romantic way—it basically says, "Everybody who made it through adolescence is a hero." And I think that's very personal, that people get something from that that's very real. And I don't think I could be more pompous. But I mean every word of it. I wanted her to be a cultural phenomenon. I wanted there to be dolls, Barbie with kung-fu grip. I wanted people to embrace it in a way that exists beyond, "Oh, that was a wonderful show about lawyers, let's have dinner." I wanted people to internalize it, and make up fantasies where they were in the story, to take it home with them, for it to exist beyond the TV show. And we've done exactly that." (The Tenacity of the Cockroach 375)
VideoCD follow up
Posted on Aug 12, 2005 at 08:02:00 AM
I've since learned that when k3b burns the video to disk it does so based on video length, not file size. Firstly, that's odd because it implies that the video is being re-encoded in some way. I may be misunderstanding what I'm seeing. Secondly, it means I can't fit one week (four episodes) of the Daily Show on 1 CD (I mean, assuming I were to illegally download and try to do such a thing, which I've not done. Nope. Not me. Never.) because the show is just over 20 minutes in length per episode and the VideoCD can only hold 80 minutes of video. That means it inches over the limit by a scant two to five minutes, depending on how many commercials were taken out. So close. Not close enough. The only way to get all of a week's episodes onto one disk would be to open it up in something like Kino to edit the video and cut out the last few minutes myself. That's kind of a pain in the butt. Putting two to three episodes on a disk seems easier to me. It's just that, it'd be so good for my OCD if the episodes could be burned at a [one disk = one week] ratio. I suspect this will be one of those many things that will not be accomodating to my OCD. I think I need some sweet tea now please.
Converting AVI files to VCD disks in Ubuntu Linux
Posted on Aug 07, 2005 at 08:01:00 AM
Since I dropped my paid TV subscription, I've missed the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I'm not saying that I'm gonna start downloading The Daily Show and burning it to disk to watch---because that would be wrong and bad and evil---but if I were to do it, here's how I would go about it:
1) Convert the downloaded AVI files to MPG files.
ffmpeg -i The_Daily_Show_08-03-05.avi -target vcd dailyshow1.mpg
ffmpeg -i The_Daily_Show_08-04-05.avi -target vcd dailyshow2.mpg
etc...
2) Burn the video to disk with k3b (I normally prefer native Gnome applications, but k3b is an outstanding KDE app!). To burn to disk with k3b, I just started a New Video Project, then selected the MPG files to go on the disk, then hit Burn. Simple.
One caveat, k3b gave me a "charset conversion failed" error at first. I went into the k3b preferences, and added the "--filename-encoding=iso8859-1" parameter to vcdxbuild (an app it calls internally). That solved the problem.
One to beam up
Posted on Jul 20, 2005 at 08:02:00 AM
James Montgomery Doohan, who played Scotty on Star Trek, died at 5:30 AM this morning from complications due to Alzheimer's disease. For inspiring two generations of kids to become engineers, for inspiring a nation to work toward a better future, and for fighting for that future in WWII with all he had to give, he will be missed.
Firefly
TiVo's CES announcement
Posted on Jan 07, 2005 at 08:02:00 AM
TiVo has said that they plan to offer TiVo units that accept CableCards so they can bypass cable companies and market themselves as a hi-end DVR. Sounds good to me, but I still want my HiDef DVR, and I want it now, not in 2006 when TiVo plans this rollout. That could be too late for them, and it's definately too late for me.
A great ending to a great show
Posted on Dec 06, 2004 at 08:01:00 AM
"To the best crew any captain ever had, no matter what the future holds for us, a part of us will always remain here on Deep Space Nine."
- Captain Benjamin Sisko
A Monk Moment
Posted on Mar 06, 2004 at 08:01:00 AM
So, I decided after reading a bit about udev that I wanted it. I emerged it. Then, before rebooting, I happened across a forum entry that mentioned that udev will only work if you update to the 2.6 kernel and all sorts of other stuff, otherwise it'll just hose your system. Fuck! So now I fretted rebooting and I backed up all my stuff. I took forever, then I rebooted. Nothing. a small error on boot up but no other issues. The problem, though, is that now my system feels tainted. I know it's stupid, but it does. I need a wipe-n-reinstall to feel good about it again. I'm certifiable. Oh well.
NyQuil
Posted on Mar 04, 2004 at 08:01:00 AM
Still feeling under the weather. I took some NyQuil last night before going to bed. Woke up today 2 hours late feeling like B.A. Baracus after a plane ride.
Public Access TV
Posted on Mar 03, 2004 at 08:02:00 AM
I mentioned to Will yesterday something about being interested Public Access TV and he went off and did some checking for equipment. Cool. Now if only I could get him to do my bidding all the time....