Cuz We Said So

Funniest Freaking Blog Ever

Go here.

It's a blog defining what it means to be a white American. It is both hilarious and true. This is a representative quote from the post on Recycling:

If you are in a situation where a white person produces an empty bottle, watch their actions. They will first say “where’s the recycling?” If you say “we don’t recycle,” prepare for some awkwardness. They will make a move to throw the bottle away, they will hesitate, and then ultimately throw the bottle away. But after they return look in their eyes. All they can see is the bottle lasting forever in a landfill, trapping small animals. It will eat at them for days, at this point you should say “I’m just kidding, the recycling is under the sink. Can you fish out that bottle?” And they will do it 100% of the time!

A Reputable Source

I am flattered to be referenced in the recent Rolling Stone article on overcompression in audio mastering.  It's about time they caught on.

A Man, A Plan... Wierd Al

HDTV

Heard of this?

I'm kidding! Of course you have. In fact, if you're anyone I'm related to, you probably have one already and look down on me because I don't have HD. Well, now you have to look... over at me. I've joined the Twenty-First Century.

What I didn't realize is how good it really is. I've seen a handful of digital movie presentations in theaters (the earliest I can think of being "Attack of the Clones"), and it was pretty sweet. What's amazing to me is, the TV I just picked up at Best Buy for less than a grand (Samsung LN-T4061F, in case you're interested), has the same resolution as that movie theater! Yikes! How cool am I?

Of course, the theater chains are piloting screens with twice the resolution (4096x2160). I figure it'll be at least six months before these are available to the public for their home theaters.

The Sheer Magic of DynDNS.org

If you aren't yet familiar with DynDNS.org, you should be.

For several years now, DynDNS has offered a free (yes, ma, free) DNS service for people with dynamic IP addresses.  This allowed people with a highspeed always-on internet connection to get a domain name.

See, if you have cable modem or DSL, you really have enough bandwidth to run a light-volume internet host from your home.  The problem is, you can't register a domain name, because your IP address changes from time to time.  Enter DynDNS.  They have software that detects when your IP changes, and it updates their routing table.

Unfortunately, the only domain names you can use are extensions to their preset names (names like myserver.dynalias.net).  For many uses this is enough.  I've been using webculture.dynalias.net for years as a domain name for my company's backoffice server.  It really works, and it's free.

Free.  The word seductively rolls from my tongue.  MMMmmmmm freeeeeee.

But now, DynDNS offers another service that may change everything for me.

For about $25 per year, they'll run a dynamic DNS service for any domain name.  You register the name with the registrar of your choice (say, GoDaddy) and point the domain to DynDNS' nameservers.  That's it.

What you'll find is that if you have a reasonably reliable high speed internet service, you can easily run a web site on your personal machine (or, if you're like me, on your own server at home).  In case you're wondering, Dell sells servers perfect for this sort of light-duty use starting around $350.

If this works well enough, I may even decide to host ProRec.com at home.

The Heat Death of the Universe is Near

From the article David linked to earlier:

In Boltzmann’s time the universe was presumed to have been around forever, in which case it would long ago have stabilized at a lukewarm temperature and died a “heat death.” It would already have maximum entropy, and so with no way to become more disorderly there would be no arrow of time. No life would be possible but that would be all right because life would be excruciatingly boring.

Clearly, we're almost there.

"Knight Rider"

I watched "Knight Rider" as a kid. Because it was a show about a talking car... and I was a kid. But I never fell in love with the thing the way I did other high-concept shows, like "The Incredible Hulk" or "The Six Million Dollar Man".

So I was remarkably ambivalent about the retread. I didn't have the fear that they'd screw over my childhood memories like Lucas did with "The Phantom Menace". Nor, did I expect to be wowed by a fantastic reimagining of a show I never cared for, like McG's "Charlie's Angels". Truth be told, if I hadn't heard about the last-minute recasting of KITT's voice with Val Kilmer, I probably wouldn't have watched it at all.

Well, Kilmer was a huge amount of fun. The rest of the show? All kinds of meh. And I think the producers realized this as well, because in the first ten minutes, we get not one, not two, but four scantily clad lesbian/bisexual women. It was just so smarmy, I wondered what kind of DTV circle of hell I'd fallen into. This is still NBC, right?

Then the "story" kicks in. And it's a good approximation of the kinds of stories that the original show would use... with "cliff hangers" at the commercial breaks, and "surprises", like the fact that Bruce Davison, credited in the opening titles, isn't dead. Really?! Shocker!

The cast is unremarkable in every way. I didn't bother to look up the names of any of the actors I didn't already know. Call the guys Bland Blandington, and the gals Blanda Blandski. Even the lesbians. In fact, the only way to tell the good guys from the bad guys is that the bad guys frown (slightly) more.

If NBC picks up this piece of crap and cancels "Journeyman", I may have to boycott the network!

(Okay, not really. I still love "The Office" and "Heroes"...)

Blu-Ray Wins, HD-DVD is Over?

According to Engadget, the HD format war is over:  “Along with an English translation of the NHK's article (Thanks sfditty!) comes additional confirmation from Reuters sources, it's a wrap. Toshiba is shutting down its DVD manufacturing facilities in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, while official word is expected ‘soon’.”

That said… I still don’t care all that much.  DVD is still good enough, as far as I’m concerned.

Jumper Micro Review

Jumper wasn’t a terrible film, but about half an hour in, I found myself wishing I could teleport back to my TV and watch basic cable until something interesting happened in the theater.  The story is aimless and uninvolving; there isn't so much a plot as there is a premise they let play out for a while.  The protagonists are unsympathetic, the antagonists one-dimensional, and the suggested romantic connection between Christensen and Bilson is unconvincing.  

But the special effects are cool.

The film can best be enjoyed viewed as a 90-minute demo reel for a special effects company.  It's like Transformers, but with less substance.

"Lost"

I'm not exactly sure how I managed to go three-plus years without posting anything about "Lost". I can't imagine anyone would be stunned to hear me say I like the show, and that I think it's one of the best on television. And the show certainly doesn't need my help. It's beyond the point where a grassroots campaign is necessary to keep it on. In fact, the producers had to lobby for an end date, to keep it from dragging on like certain TV shows that just won't die.