Stargate Universe - SGU is to BSG as Parks & Rec is to Office. Uninspired, what passes for melodrama lingers without emotional intensity. Either the show is trying to hard, or not trying hard enough. Either way, it's my biggest disappointment of Fall 2009.
Meanwhile, Dollhouse, spent all summer in the gym and is twice the show it was in 2008. Rather enjoyable.
Second disappointment is Bored to Death. Recent HBO comedies like Hung and now this one continue to disappoint. Not quite absurdest enough for me; neither is it quite subtle enough. The show is only minor chuckle funny.
Heroes is back. Too bad no one cares anymore.
Couple of decent new comedies, Glee and Community. Watchable. But I only have a luck warm reception to these shows.
Modern Family. Best New Comedy. Where I've found most new comedies not hitting the required WTF quotient, this one scores.
FlashForward. I'm surprised how much I enjoyed it. Is it the new Lost, idk, but it's not tragic.
Sons of Anarchy. Favorite show of the fall. Kicks major boottay.
Mad Men. Season 3 is slower than season 1 or 2, but the new stasis in Mad Men is more exciting to watch than... most everythign else.
Dexter is also still a strong show in Season 4. The show has a great supporting cast, and even when the attention turns away from Michael C. Hall, MPD is interesting in and of itself to maintain a quality show.
October 12, 2009
August 14, 2009
Damn It
I don't think I've ever felt so not understood. I might as well be talking to my television. For a person like me who feels like people should be empathetic toward others- to not feel any sense of understanding or comprehension from the other party...
The sad part is I think she might be trying, but I feel she just can't connect in a manner that I want to engage in a relationship with.
The sad part is I think she might be trying, but I feel she just can't connect in a manner that I want to engage in a relationship with.
May 8, 2009
Another Windows 7 RC Post
I can almost fully endorse Windows 7 Media Center. The beta DivX mkv splitter shows some real promise, and if it can one day support high bitrate h.264 video and subtitles, then I'd give it full 100% approval. If a person really wants a stable, turn key HTPC that supports every media type well, it seems like you still have to stick to Vista, but Windows 7 has UI and feature improvements that are most welcome.
- Movie Library for Extenders
- Shared Recordings
- TV Pack features are stable
- native h.264 and .m2ts support
For me personally, I think I'm willing to live with a few minor mkv issues in exchange for those improvements. If I was building a box for someone else though, I'd push them towards 3rd party codecs and plugins to get most of those features out of Vista. As third party develops work on tools like a Media Foundation mkv splitter though, then Windows 7 Media Center will be complete.
- Movie Library for Extenders
- Shared Recordings
- TV Pack features are stable
- native h.264 and .m2ts support
For me personally, I think I'm willing to live with a few minor mkv issues in exchange for those improvements. If I was building a box for someone else though, I'd push them towards 3rd party codecs and plugins to get most of those features out of Vista. As third party develops work on tools like a Media Foundation mkv splitter though, then Windows 7 Media Center will be complete.
April 28, 2009
Shopping for a laptop in 5 easy steps.
#1- Do you have any special needs? If yes, ignore this post. Let your needs do the shopping for you.
#2- What's wrong with a $1300 MacBook?
#3- Could you get away with only having Office, AIM, iTunes, and Firefox on your computer? If so consider a netbook. Asus Eee PC 1000HE Install a 2GB ram chip if you can.
#4- Desire really good battery life? HP Pavilion dv5-1235dx +6 hours max, C-net tested it to be well over 4 hrs in straight video playback. Normally people should cut in half whatever the manufactorer/retailer says (even Apple's claims), but this guy does 2/3rds what's claimed under stress, which is good.
#5- Toshiba Satellite A305-S6916. Power of a MacBook at 2/3 the price. Also available well under MSRP.
#2- What's wrong with a $1300 MacBook?
#3- Could you get away with only having Office, AIM, iTunes, and Firefox on your computer? If so consider a netbook. Asus Eee PC 1000HE Install a 2GB ram chip if you can.
#4- Desire really good battery life? HP Pavilion dv5-1235dx +6 hours max, C-net tested it to be well over 4 hrs in straight video playback. Normally people should cut in half whatever the manufactorer/retailer says (even Apple's claims), but this guy does 2/3rds what's claimed under stress, which is good.
#5- Toshiba Satellite A305-S6916. Power of a MacBook at 2/3 the price. Also available well under MSRP.
April 27, 2009
Windows 7 RC Initial Thoughts
Don't really have much to say on Windows 7 RC1 right now. A few quick notes.
#1 Nifty new Themes
#2 Like new 7MC Splash windows and sounds (sounds are rather TiVOish)
#3 mytv Plugin has a few random startup errors, but works. Check out my WebCollection. Wish it was easier to update. the XML export file does not auto replace it seems.
#4 Codec support
This is the big thing. I used to get around the issue I had with xvid and external subs by renaming some of the default audio codec files. For some reason after reading this tip I used that MCDU app to pick FFDshow audio, but it does seem to give an error with some files when trying to play them. Still Win7 is supost to be able to read natively stopped playing, so I undid it. I might try renamignthe file again and see if that allows softsubs for all xvid videos with external subs.
Also, with my Carnivale S2 x264 encoded files, playback with the default MS h.264 coded have some distortions in the bottom 3rd of the video. I ended up using MPC + FFDShow to watch these files over the weekend. I want to generate screen shots somehow becuase that's a big issue...
More later
#1 Nifty new Themes
#2 Like new 7MC Splash windows and sounds (sounds are rather TiVOish)
#3 mytv Plugin has a few random startup errors, but works. Check out my WebCollection. Wish it was easier to update. the XML export file does not auto replace it seems.
#4 Codec support
This is the big thing. I used to get around the issue I had with xvid and external subs by renaming some of the default audio codec files. For some reason after reading this tip I used that MCDU app to pick FFDshow audio, but it does seem to give an error with some files when trying to play them. Still Win7 is supost to be able to read natively stopped playing, so I undid it. I might try renamignthe file again and see if that allows softsubs for all xvid videos with external subs.
Also, with my Carnivale S2 x264 encoded files, playback with the default MS h.264 coded have some distortions in the bottom 3rd of the video. I ended up using MPC + FFDShow to watch these files over the weekend. I want to generate screen shots somehow becuase that's a big issue...
More later
April 16, 2009
Incoherant Poltical Rant
Just parsing through the text, can anyone take this guy seriously? As much as I don't like Ron Paul and his paleo-conservative distortion of libertarianism, he's genuine, and has built a political career out of fighting Right and Left. Ron Paul demanded government spending cuts equally to tax cuts during Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, and now Obama. I only hear of Glenn Beck talking about government spending cuts when Democrats are in power.
Trillions to foreign wars is ok, but trillions to the domestic economy isn't according to Glenn Beck. And Glenn Beck proposes no way to pay for his foreign adventurism financed by debt.
Where was Glenn Beck when it came to the Patriot Act, or Patriot Act II that eroded the liberties of American Citizens?
Where was Glenn Beck when Bush added layers of Federal Bureaucracy by establishing DHS?
Cap and Trade establishes a PRIVATE MARKET for Carbon emission rights. As the cost to mitigate carbon emissions goes down, those cost savings will be instantly realized by private corporations. It's a more capitalist solution compared to a straight up carbon tax, or set untradeable carbon emission regulations. Why do they deride MARKET based solutions?
Freedom of Speech does not mean freedom from criticism. In fact, it's the opposite. Freedom of speech gives me the right to call him a dumbass free from criminal prosecution. If I'm wrong, he has the right to claim otherwise, and exercises that right daily on Fox News. No one credible is trying to take that away.
Voting to establish a union is not the same as voting in a government election. Why is a regulation saying you have to have a secret ballot good, but regulation that allows for a card check OR a secret ballot bad?
I will however give him credit for citing Medicare Part D. But Bush's Medicare expansion will cost the Government more money and put future generations in more debt than all of bailout money passed by BOTH Bush and Obama. Yet teabagees complain about Obama wanting to spend money to fix the potholes on I-95. Well if government doesn't pay for the Wilson Bridge, who the fuck should? Or should people from Miami drive around the Potomac to get to NYC?
Still though, his relative small grievance against the largest unfunded government mandate passed in the 21st century is a joke. Add to that no mention of the boondoggle that is DHS, and I'll chastise him for only offering scant criticism to Bush's huge contribution to the federal debt.
My working definition of an Astroturf teabagger is someone who complains about bailouts adding debt but overlooks the larger debt Medicare Part D will add to current and future generations... while failing to offer senior citizens complete prescription drug coverage. Thanks to GWB, I get $17 trillion in unfunded liabilities and my parents and grandmother still have exorbitant prescription bills if they fall into the coverage hole.
Only in American Capitalism do we have expensive government run programs that are intentionally designed to not fully accomplish their stated goal out of respect to "market forces", "private enterprise", etc.
Instead of having private markets that work, or government that works, we have shortcoming for private markets and an expensive government unwilling to resolve those shortcoming.
Largest military on the fucking planet that has to pay six figure salaries to mercenaries while US troops make $25K. What The Fuck.
The fundamental failing of Republican governance in the 21st Century was its ineffectiveness to provide for the public good. Katrina. Iraq. Economy. Federal Deficits. That's what Republicans don't get. And Tea Parties aren't the solution when Republicans use the occasion to cover 8 years of incompetence.
Trillions to foreign wars is ok, but trillions to the domestic economy isn't according to Glenn Beck. And Glenn Beck proposes no way to pay for his foreign adventurism financed by debt.
Where was Glenn Beck when it came to the Patriot Act, or Patriot Act II that eroded the liberties of American Citizens?
Where was Glenn Beck when Bush added layers of Federal Bureaucracy by establishing DHS?
Cap and Trade establishes a PRIVATE MARKET for Carbon emission rights. As the cost to mitigate carbon emissions goes down, those cost savings will be instantly realized by private corporations. It's a more capitalist solution compared to a straight up carbon tax, or set untradeable carbon emission regulations. Why do they deride MARKET based solutions?
Freedom of Speech does not mean freedom from criticism. In fact, it's the opposite. Freedom of speech gives me the right to call him a dumbass free from criminal prosecution. If I'm wrong, he has the right to claim otherwise, and exercises that right daily on Fox News. No one credible is trying to take that away.
Voting to establish a union is not the same as voting in a government election. Why is a regulation saying you have to have a secret ballot good, but regulation that allows for a card check OR a secret ballot bad?
I will however give him credit for citing Medicare Part D. But Bush's Medicare expansion will cost the Government more money and put future generations in more debt than all of bailout money passed by BOTH Bush and Obama. Yet teabagees complain about Obama wanting to spend money to fix the potholes on I-95. Well if government doesn't pay for the Wilson Bridge, who the fuck should? Or should people from Miami drive around the Potomac to get to NYC?
Still though, his relative small grievance against the largest unfunded government mandate passed in the 21st century is a joke. Add to that no mention of the boondoggle that is DHS, and I'll chastise him for only offering scant criticism to Bush's huge contribution to the federal debt.
My working definition of an Astroturf teabagger is someone who complains about bailouts adding debt but overlooks the larger debt Medicare Part D will add to current and future generations... while failing to offer senior citizens complete prescription drug coverage. Thanks to GWB, I get $17 trillion in unfunded liabilities and my parents and grandmother still have exorbitant prescription bills if they fall into the coverage hole.
Only in American Capitalism do we have expensive government run programs that are intentionally designed to not fully accomplish their stated goal out of respect to "market forces", "private enterprise", etc.
Instead of having private markets that work, or government that works, we have shortcoming for private markets and an expensive government unwilling to resolve those shortcoming.
Largest military on the fucking planet that has to pay six figure salaries to mercenaries while US troops make $25K. What The Fuck.
The fundamental failing of Republican governance in the 21st Century was its ineffectiveness to provide for the public good. Katrina. Iraq. Economy. Federal Deficits. That's what Republicans don't get. And Tea Parties aren't the solution when Republicans use the occasion to cover 8 years of incompetence.
April 13, 2009
Caprica
It should be telling, that I stopped watching Caprica 20 minutes in to post this. Captures enough attention to be worth mentioning. Not enough attention to keep watching.
April 11, 2009
HTPC Data Check
Using 3TB in encoded video files.
1,791GB used to store 287 HD Movies
366GB used to store 241 SD Movies
870GB used to store 58 TV Series
129GB used to store 29 Anime TV Series
Needless to say, I'm running out of space.
1,791GB used to store 287 HD Movies
366GB used to store 241 SD Movies
870GB used to store 58 TV Series
129GB used to store 29 Anime TV Series
Needless to say, I'm running out of space.
April 9, 2009
So why is it so hard?
SO why is it so hard to have 2 rss feeds to show up in FB?
And seriously... these allergies, are no joke.
And seriously... these allergies, are no joke.
December 18, 2008
Perriello Ousts Goode
There will be a little less xenophobic rhetoric in Virginia and in Congress in 2009. That guy was a loon. Glad he's out.
MacBook Fail!
Funny to hear Leo Laporte's MacBook Pro trackpad failed on him. With that and all the other problems, it should only go to verify one of the truths when it comes to Apple.
NEVER BUY A FIRST GEN APPLE PRODUCT.
Seriously though... don't.
NEVER BUY A FIRST GEN APPLE PRODUCT.
Seriously though... don't.
December 17, 2008
December 9, 2008
Second Run with Watch...
This is my second run. Same run as the first one, but I did it a little faster. This time I have mile splits too. There won't be many more of these posted, unless I have something interesting to talk about.
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
December 8, 2008
First run with ForeRunner 305
Ran down to 18th and back home via Broad. Hmm... I wanted it to do mile splits, but I need to set that in the watch apparently.
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
Summary Data | ||
| Total Time (h:m:s) | 1:00:16 | 8:13 pace |
| Moving Time (h:m:s) | 1:00:15 | 8:13 pace |
| Distance (mi) | 7.32 | |
| Moving Speed (mi) | 7.3 avg. | 12.9 max. |
| Elevation Gain (ft) | +1,843 / -1,866 | |
| Temperature (°F) | 32°F avg. | 38°F high |
| Wind Speed (mph) | N 0.0 avg. | N 0.0 max |
December 7, 2008
Games that play themsevles can sit in the corner and play themselves
Between the dream texts, and the cut scenes... Lost Odyssey is pissing me off. I'm done with this game. Playing this is like hitting the pause/play button repeatedly on a poorly acted movie. I'd rather waste my time on something else.
December 3, 2008
Jack Black is Jesus
Who knew it would take something so unfunny like the denial of civil rights for funny or die to make something funny. Oh the Irony...
See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die
20 (More!) of the World's Weirdest Animal Species
http://webecoist.com/2008/12/02/strange-and-bizarre-endangered-animal-species/
The Glass Frog and the Coconut Crab are insane.
The Glass Frog and the Coconut Crab are insane.
December 1, 2008
The Home Theater Recommended List
Thanksgiving was pretty normal this year. Woody did the fried turkey at his place, so the whole family converged over there. Joy/Rob didn’t come, but normally we don’t really get to see Rob during the winter, coaching gets in the way. There was a lot of food though, the turkey, mac & cheese, and collard greens were right on the money. I didn’t really like the sweet potato though, and other items were on par.
Renee got to see the Popcorn Hour in action at Mom and Dad’s and was fairly impressed. It’s a device you really have to be a video pirate to appreciate, but there isn’t a better device of its kind anywhere, except for maybe the newer model that does even more codecs. It definite deserves to be in a dream home theater setup if you have Computer content you want to view on a TV. The GUI is fairly bare, but its no worse than streaming from a PS3 or 360, and supports more formats without the need of a transcoder.
The real dilemma of any home theater I think is what content do you get on it. Sure everyone wants a big screen, and big sound, but what are you actually going to enjoy? As much as I’m a fan of Media Center, honestly the costs are a bit too high. Considering that a cable DVR can do more or less the same job at $15 per month my HTPC does at $2,000, there’s no debate which is the better value. Now sure I have much more space, more tuners, and a lot more features (it does Netflix, web browsing, gaming, supports every codec on the planet, and everything else you’d expect from a computer), I can see why someone might want to go with a compartmentalized solution, and have their cable DVR (or better yet a TiVO) as one of several devices in the chain. Even if you add all the devices together, your budget will be less than have a fully speced out CableCard HTPC. So if you want all the features, at a fraction of the cost, this is what I’d go with.
Total comes out to $610 in equipment, and whatever your fee for cable/satellite and Netflix will be. Game consoles would change that. A PS3 negates the Blu-Ray player, but there are transcoding issues you’ll run into with Netflix stuff or downloaded computer stuff. Also not having any IR capability means you have to use a controller or buy an extra piece of equipment to use a regular IR remote. The 360 now does NetFlix natively, but you won’t have Blu-Ray, and the transcoding issues will still potentially be there for computer stuff. But if gaming isn’t a concern, that’s what I’d go with. I’d imagine that an Apple whore would replace the Popcorn Hour with an Apple TV, but if you aren’t trapped into their DRM scheme, I’d stay as far away from that device as human possible.
Renee got to see the Popcorn Hour in action at Mom and Dad’s and was fairly impressed. It’s a device you really have to be a video pirate to appreciate, but there isn’t a better device of its kind anywhere, except for maybe the newer model that does even more codecs. It definite deserves to be in a dream home theater setup if you have Computer content you want to view on a TV. The GUI is fairly bare, but its no worse than streaming from a PS3 or 360, and supports more formats without the need of a transcoder.
The real dilemma of any home theater I think is what content do you get on it. Sure everyone wants a big screen, and big sound, but what are you actually going to enjoy? As much as I’m a fan of Media Center, honestly the costs are a bit too high. Considering that a cable DVR can do more or less the same job at $15 per month my HTPC does at $2,000, there’s no debate which is the better value. Now sure I have much more space, more tuners, and a lot more features (it does Netflix, web browsing, gaming, supports every codec on the planet, and everything else you’d expect from a computer), I can see why someone might want to go with a compartmentalized solution, and have their cable DVR (or better yet a TiVO) as one of several devices in the chain. Even if you add all the devices together, your budget will be less than have a fully speced out CableCard HTPC. So if you want all the features, at a fraction of the cost, this is what I’d go with.
- Cable or Satellite provided DVR
- Roku NetFlix Box
- Panasonic DMP-BD35 Blu-Ray player + 1GB or more SD memory
- Popcorn Hour A-110
- Monoprice 4x1 HDMI switch (gotta connect it all)
Total comes out to $610 in equipment, and whatever your fee for cable/satellite and Netflix will be. Game consoles would change that. A PS3 negates the Blu-Ray player, but there are transcoding issues you’ll run into with Netflix stuff or downloaded computer stuff. Also not having any IR capability means you have to use a controller or buy an extra piece of equipment to use a regular IR remote. The 360 now does NetFlix natively, but you won’t have Blu-Ray, and the transcoding issues will still potentially be there for computer stuff. But if gaming isn’t a concern, that’s what I’d go with. I’d imagine that an Apple whore would replace the Popcorn Hour with an Apple TV, but if you aren’t trapped into their DRM scheme, I’d stay as far away from that device as human possible.
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