Gonna divide this into three sections: Good or at best "normal" movies, terrible movies you and your friends can drunkenly riff on, and TV show series.
NOTE: I haven't watched most of what I'm listing, these are more notable things that are on IW and were added in the past week.
Normal Movies
Stagecoach - A classic western.
Fargo - Do I need to explain this? If you haven't seen it, see it.
It Might Get Loud - A documentary about three musicians. I hear most of it is really good. It was in theaters last year.
Bad Movies
The Gay Bed & Breakfast Of Terror - I had the pleasure of watching this with some friends and it is awful. One of the worst movies I've seen. It covers just about every gay stereotype and every conservative Christian stereotype (right down to having pictures of GW Bush and his cabinet next to Jesus), makes no sense in parts, and in the end, the only two people left alive, who are gay, become straight and continue to kill gays. It's pretty over the top, and the actors look like they never kissed anyone of the same gender before filming. I'm sure it was made in jest, and if it wasn't, then I wonder what audience this was made for. Not humans, at any rate.
The Glimmer Man - Do you like Damon Wayans? Do you like Steven Segal? No? Well too bad. This is a hilariously bad action movie, with Segal still trying to pull the Bhuddist pacifist act but not enough to kill thugs with razorblades hidden in credit cards. Damon Wayans is the forced partner, who has a love for Casablanca and... oh who am I kidding, you've seen this cookie-cutter plot a million times. It's pretty funny though.
TV Shows
Party Down: Season 2 - Party Down is a great show that's unfortunately on its way to being canceled. They've been putting up the new episodes on Netflix soon after they air on TV. So while there's only one episode here, there's more to come. In the meantime, watch Party Down season 1, which is also on instant watch.
Friday, April 30, 2010
NBC Thursday Night 4/29: Is Marchtember Oneteenth good for you?
Community S1E22 "The Art of Discourse": As to be expected, Community was pretty great last night. Pierce makes an ass of himself and Shirley makes a stand, either she leaves or Pierce does, to which Pierce walks out. But not before Abed smashes Pierce's guitar and whips out a bucket list of fraternity movie tropes he wants to complete before graduating. Jeff and Britta wind up dealing with some high school students going to Greendale for college credit, who want to know how to live their life so they don't end up in their 30s back at community college. This escalates into a shouting match which is embarrassing for humanity, ending in a food fight.
Is there really a winner here?
There has been some dissension in the ranks about this episode, but mainly with the Duh-Off towards the end. Which to me was so absurd and silly you couldn't help but laugh at. Abed straight up says "Man, this show is sloppy." and I lost it. As a big fan of Animal House, Abed and Troy acted out some of my favorite bits, although I'm not sure what movie a robot named Boobtron 4000 is referencing. There is a recurring theme showing that all the characters, regardless of age, are pretty childish. But if you've been following this show, you don't need an episode devoted to it to know that. The writing and acting was so good that when the high school kids taunted Jeff and Britta, you wanted to punch them in the face, and really while some episodes don't feature some characters over others, this gave everyone an equal share. This is, of course, ignoring Senor Chang, who stopped by to steal cookies from Girl Scouts.
It's really hard to sum up Community in a short block of text, but as I will say till the end of time, if you're not watching this, you're missing out. Next week's episode, titled "Modern Warfare", looks like it will be the best one of the season.
Oh, and you get to see how stupid "pwn" sounds when said outside the internet. As if it wasn't already.
Hulu: Community S1E22: The Art of Discourse
Parks and Recreation S2E21 "94 Meetings": If you gave P&R a shot in the first season and didn't like it, I beg you to watch the second. It's vaulted into one of the best newer comedies out there, and keeps getting better. This week, Ron finds out he has to attend 94 meetings because his secretary, April, booked them all for March 31st, since she assumed March has only 30 days in it. So Ron splits up the meetings among the staff (and the non-staff, as Ann and Andy are there) to get them done with. Leslie tries to stop a Pawnee historic house and gazebo from being destroyed, a landmark of Pawnee's first interracial marriage, followed by families of both sides murdering each other. After a mess of disastrous interviews, April finally quits working for Ron, to which Ron seeks her out and gets her to come back to work, teaching her a couple things about how to ensure Ron never has to have a meeting with anyone.
"TOM, SACRIFICE YOUR TINY BODY"
Every character on this show gets more endearing every week. Chris Pratt is just adorable as Andy and there is not a bad moment when he's onscreen, let alone the callback to the fake FBI agent he played during the Halloween episode. April's family was amazing, moreso when they showed her sister Natalie, who is an exact clone of April in looks and demeanor. It was like looking into a window of the early episodes. Overall this episode was very chaotic and I'll probably have to watch it a few more times to fully catch all the jokes. With the hectic pace that is dealing with 94 postponed meetings in a single work day, the humor was rapid fire and didn't take time to breathe at all. I feel I'm not fully qualified to try and contain this one.
Also, Councilman Hauser... isawyourpenis.
Hulu: Parks & Recreation S2E21: 94 Meetings
The Office S6E26 "Body Language": I'm not a huge fan of The Office so I don't want to get into too much detail. I might be missing a few callbacks or references or even things like not laughing when someone does something that's so "them." That being said, this episode wasn't very good. It was about a deal with a laser printer manufacturer and their rep is a very attractive woman, to which Michael Scott is confused if she's removing more of her clothes during the meeting because she's interested in Michael, or if she's flirting to get a better deal from Sabre. In the meantime, Dwight is trying to get Kelly to sign up for a minority executive training program so Darryl doesn't get it.
Shut it, paleface.
They spent way too much time on Michael staring awkwardly at everyone else. Really, the whole printer deal plot was poorly thrown together and built on a pile of being uncomfortable, but failed to do so. They drilled in the fact that the rep was hot a bunch of times and there was a lot of gaps without dialogue that didn't achieve anything in the acting/emotion to make up for that. The second plot with Dwight, however, was fairly funny and had a few good moments. It didn't save the episode or stand out compared to say, last week's episode, but I guess if you're a fan of the show it's better than another clip show.
Hulu: The Office S6E26: Body Language
30 Rock S4E19 "Argus": I don't care what the naysayers tell me, but 30 Rock this season has been great. This week, there is a quarrel as Grizz is getting married, but both Tracy and Dotcom want to be the best man, to which Liz has to play the problem solver yet again. Jenna has a new boyfriend (Will Forte) who Liz feel uncomfortable being around, and after thorough investigation, finds out he is a drag queen who dresses up as Jenna. Which for Jenna, is the perfect thing since she can finally truly be in love with herself in a way she wasn't before. Jack gets a peacock named Argus from Don Geiss' last will and testament, and is feeling a bit lost without Geiss being around anymore. In the end, Liz winds up having to be the best woman to three weddings in order to shut everyone up, and Jack assumes Argus has the soul of Geiss, and gets several problems off his chest as he slips the peacock a glass of whiskey.
HOW DID HE GET UP THERE SO FAST
This was a really happy, sweet episode. Apart from Liz, everyone got what they wanted in the end. I wish I had a gif of Jack experiencing the 5 stages of grief in a matter of seconds. It didn't have a lot of content in terms of plot, and was more of a character exercise. I know this isn't a lot of text devoted to this episode, but it's one that leaves you laughing, but you still smile and go "awwwwww" afterwards. As much as one normally does when seeing someone do a duet then make out with themselves, anyways.
Hulu: 30 Rock S4E19: Argus
Is there really a winner here?
There has been some dissension in the ranks about this episode, but mainly with the Duh-Off towards the end. Which to me was so absurd and silly you couldn't help but laugh at. Abed straight up says "Man, this show is sloppy." and I lost it. As a big fan of Animal House, Abed and Troy acted out some of my favorite bits, although I'm not sure what movie a robot named Boobtron 4000 is referencing. There is a recurring theme showing that all the characters, regardless of age, are pretty childish. But if you've been following this show, you don't need an episode devoted to it to know that. The writing and acting was so good that when the high school kids taunted Jeff and Britta, you wanted to punch them in the face, and really while some episodes don't feature some characters over others, this gave everyone an equal share. This is, of course, ignoring Senor Chang, who stopped by to steal cookies from Girl Scouts.
It's really hard to sum up Community in a short block of text, but as I will say till the end of time, if you're not watching this, you're missing out. Next week's episode, titled "Modern Warfare", looks like it will be the best one of the season.
Oh, and you get to see how stupid "pwn" sounds when said outside the internet. As if it wasn't already.
Hulu: Community S1E22: The Art of Discourse
Parks and Recreation S2E21 "94 Meetings": If you gave P&R a shot in the first season and didn't like it, I beg you to watch the second. It's vaulted into one of the best newer comedies out there, and keeps getting better. This week, Ron finds out he has to attend 94 meetings because his secretary, April, booked them all for March 31st, since she assumed March has only 30 days in it. So Ron splits up the meetings among the staff (and the non-staff, as Ann and Andy are there) to get them done with. Leslie tries to stop a Pawnee historic house and gazebo from being destroyed, a landmark of Pawnee's first interracial marriage, followed by families of both sides murdering each other. After a mess of disastrous interviews, April finally quits working for Ron, to which Ron seeks her out and gets her to come back to work, teaching her a couple things about how to ensure Ron never has to have a meeting with anyone.
"TOM, SACRIFICE YOUR TINY BODY"
Every character on this show gets more endearing every week. Chris Pratt is just adorable as Andy and there is not a bad moment when he's onscreen, let alone the callback to the fake FBI agent he played during the Halloween episode. April's family was amazing, moreso when they showed her sister Natalie, who is an exact clone of April in looks and demeanor. It was like looking into a window of the early episodes. Overall this episode was very chaotic and I'll probably have to watch it a few more times to fully catch all the jokes. With the hectic pace that is dealing with 94 postponed meetings in a single work day, the humor was rapid fire and didn't take time to breathe at all. I feel I'm not fully qualified to try and contain this one.
Also, Councilman Hauser... isawyourpenis.
Hulu: Parks & Recreation S2E21: 94 Meetings
The Office S6E26 "Body Language": I'm not a huge fan of The Office so I don't want to get into too much detail. I might be missing a few callbacks or references or even things like not laughing when someone does something that's so "them." That being said, this episode wasn't very good. It was about a deal with a laser printer manufacturer and their rep is a very attractive woman, to which Michael Scott is confused if she's removing more of her clothes during the meeting because she's interested in Michael, or if she's flirting to get a better deal from Sabre. In the meantime, Dwight is trying to get Kelly to sign up for a minority executive training program so Darryl doesn't get it.
Shut it, paleface.
They spent way too much time on Michael staring awkwardly at everyone else. Really, the whole printer deal plot was poorly thrown together and built on a pile of being uncomfortable, but failed to do so. They drilled in the fact that the rep was hot a bunch of times and there was a lot of gaps without dialogue that didn't achieve anything in the acting/emotion to make up for that. The second plot with Dwight, however, was fairly funny and had a few good moments. It didn't save the episode or stand out compared to say, last week's episode, but I guess if you're a fan of the show it's better than another clip show.
Hulu: The Office S6E26: Body Language
30 Rock S4E19 "Argus": I don't care what the naysayers tell me, but 30 Rock this season has been great. This week, there is a quarrel as Grizz is getting married, but both Tracy and Dotcom want to be the best man, to which Liz has to play the problem solver yet again. Jenna has a new boyfriend (Will Forte) who Liz feel uncomfortable being around, and after thorough investigation, finds out he is a drag queen who dresses up as Jenna. Which for Jenna, is the perfect thing since she can finally truly be in love with herself in a way she wasn't before. Jack gets a peacock named Argus from Don Geiss' last will and testament, and is feeling a bit lost without Geiss being around anymore. In the end, Liz winds up having to be the best woman to three weddings in order to shut everyone up, and Jack assumes Argus has the soul of Geiss, and gets several problems off his chest as he slips the peacock a glass of whiskey.
HOW DID HE GET UP THERE SO FAST
This was a really happy, sweet episode. Apart from Liz, everyone got what they wanted in the end. I wish I had a gif of Jack experiencing the 5 stages of grief in a matter of seconds. It didn't have a lot of content in terms of plot, and was more of a character exercise. I know this isn't a lot of text devoted to this episode, but it's one that leaves you laughing, but you still smile and go "awwwwww" afterwards. As much as one normally does when seeing someone do a duet then make out with themselves, anyways.
Hulu: 30 Rock S4E19: Argus
Thursday, April 29, 2010
It's Me, The Stupidest Android App
I was browsing the Goondroid Wiki for various apps for my HTC Hero when I noticed GentleAlarm. It's pretty clever in that the free version doesn't work on Wednesdays, so you buy the paid one.
Let me take a second to tell you about my alarm setup. I have one set at 7AM, and one set at 7:30. One goes off, I judge how tired I'm feeling, I choose to go back to bed and wait for the second alarm. Given I've had sleep issues, the description of this app intrigued me, especially this "sleep cycle" function.
Hey there gentle dream traveler, let me waste your time. (image courtesy Androlib)
So you start the app and it throws a wall of text at you talking about sleep cycles. I say whatever and set an alarm for 7:30. It sets a pre-alarm for 7. Hang on a minute. Isn't that what I have been doing for the last month? Using the alarms that come with my phone? But I digress, maybe it's got a funny sound or makes beeps in the night to help me sleep or something.
7AM! Buzzing from flashy thing on top of large box. Ung look at flashy thing. Ung see lots of symbols and wall of text. Ung just touch flashy screen until sound go away.
It spouts a bunch of text at you when the pre-alarm goes off. Now I don't know about the rest of you, but when you immediately wake up from an alarm, is the first thing you do read a bunch of words, let alone words telling you what a pre-alarm is? It was like I was holding a lost piece of alien technology. I snoozed the alarm, woke up half an hour later, and uninstalled it.
I really don't think there's a substitute for what I have as my current alarm.
Let me take a second to tell you about my alarm setup. I have one set at 7AM, and one set at 7:30. One goes off, I judge how tired I'm feeling, I choose to go back to bed and wait for the second alarm. Given I've had sleep issues, the description of this app intrigued me, especially this "sleep cycle" function.
Hey there gentle dream traveler, let me waste your time. (image courtesy Androlib)
So you start the app and it throws a wall of text at you talking about sleep cycles. I say whatever and set an alarm for 7:30. It sets a pre-alarm for 7. Hang on a minute. Isn't that what I have been doing for the last month? Using the alarms that come with my phone? But I digress, maybe it's got a funny sound or makes beeps in the night to help me sleep or something.
7AM! Buzzing from flashy thing on top of large box. Ung look at flashy thing. Ung see lots of symbols and wall of text. Ung just touch flashy screen until sound go away.
It spouts a bunch of text at you when the pre-alarm goes off. Now I don't know about the rest of you, but when you immediately wake up from an alarm, is the first thing you do read a bunch of words, let alone words telling you what a pre-alarm is? It was like I was holding a lost piece of alien technology. I snoozed the alarm, woke up half an hour later, and uninstalled it.
I really don't think there's a substitute for what I have as my current alarm.
Scared Yet?
If you read the posts that i write you probably have noticed that i am not a big fan of Facebook. I think they are kinda evil. The link below is a time line of the various privacy changes that Facebook has made over time to the Terms of Service.
Adjust Your Tinfoil Hat
Damn!
Adjust Your Tinfoil Hat
Damn!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
First?! More Like My Fist in Your Face!
You know what pisses me off in all its incarnations? People that post “First” in the comment sections on the internet. This needs to stop, and as soon as possible. If I had a platform where people actually listened to the thing is say I would scream this from the top of that platform as loud as possible (whoa extended metaphor Batman!)
Posting “First” is just about the more useless thing ever, I mean I sort of understood when it was a big thing over on I can haz Cheezburgr but it extends beyond that, I have seen it on totally random web pages on the internet. I have the ability to figure out what the first posting on a web page is, its pretty clear, you don’t have to waste my time and yours by posting “first” in that comment. I mean if you are really really feel the need to do this, maybe work it into an interesting post. For instance you could start your post with something like “First off I would like to say I am a total and complete fan boy” that way you are getting the inane satisfaction of putting “first” into the first post but you are contributing something to the discussion. I personally think that this should be a banning offence everywhere on the internet. In fact I think someone needs to write a Firefox add on that filters out all these “First” posts.
Posting “First” is just about the more useless thing ever, I mean I sort of understood when it was a big thing over on I can haz Cheezburgr but it extends beyond that, I have seen it on totally random web pages on the internet. I have the ability to figure out what the first posting on a web page is, its pretty clear, you don’t have to waste my time and yours by posting “first” in that comment. I mean if you are really really feel the need to do this, maybe work it into an interesting post. For instance you could start your post with something like “First off I would like to say I am a total and complete fan boy” that way you are getting the inane satisfaction of putting “first” into the first post but you are contributing something to the discussion. I personally think that this should be a banning offence everywhere on the internet. In fact I think someone needs to write a Firefox add on that filters out all these “First” posts.
Fine, I Guess I Will Write About the iPhone Fiasco
Originally I wasn’t going to touch this topic with a 100 foot pole, but I guess I will write up my views on it anyway. Of course I am referring to the fiasco over the iPhone 4 and Gizmodo. Now let me start out by saying that I do like Gizmodo, I think their coverage of tech is pretty decent, they have a wide variety of writers that cover a gamut of topics, and hell you can’t go wrong with the Hobomodo for getting free shit (like the Google sticker that is now on my laptop, I am a certified fan boy), I think that CNET does a better job of being objective, but Gizmodo is a great place for keeping up on what’s going on with tech.
Ok, so a dude, I am going to take a page from Leo Laporte and not use his name that works at Apple was out for his birthday in a German beer bar, getting sloshed, and he happened to have what looked like an iPhone 3g. Like many a drunken person he left his phone at the bar. I can’t really fault him for that, I used to leave my phone at parties in college (it’s fun to try to figure out where it ended up), I have left my wallet in a cab while drunk, one year I thought it would be a fun idea to balance my phone on the rim of a pint glass, guess what happened next? It fell into the pint glass, which was full of beer. The next morning the phone was dead. We all make mistakes, however in this case his 3g was actually a disguised iPhone 4, so he left a prototype phone, a phone that was not his at the bar. On top of that the phone belonged to Apple who is security nut jobs of a company, nothing they don’t want the public to know is let out of the bag till Steve is good and ready, they play the media machine like a harp, but like every tightly held secret the harder you hold on to it, the more likely it is that something will slip out, and that is exactly what happened. This dude left the phone at the bar, someone that was sitting nearby grabbed it, they say they attempted to give it back, and when that was not achievable he held on to it.
This dude basically figured out that the phone was not in fact a 3g and shopped around for someone that would want to purchase it off of him, he tried Wired, they took a pic and left it at that, he tried Gizmodo and they wrote him a check for $5000 for the phone. Gizmodo then dismantled the phone and posted all the details to their web page this past weekend. I heard that in 1 hour Gizmodo received something like 1 million unique visitors. That is a massive amount of traffic for 1 hour for any web page.
Apple contacted Gizmodo about getting the phone back, and Gizmodo, told them the only way they would get the phone back was to officially request it, this basically would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the phone was real, which they did and Giz sent them the phone back.
In the after math of this the police raided and confiscated a number of computers and electronics from the Gizmodo editors, who did the article on the iPhone4, house as evidence. The local police are treating the incident as a theft and are investigating.
I find a couple of things interesting with this situation; firstly, should the Apple employee be fired?
Personally I don’t think he should be, he made a mistake that is very common, and I think that Apple should realize this and have a bit of a sense of humor about the whole thing.
Next, does this do damage to Apple?
It could be argued that it does, the cat is out of the bag, we have some idea about the iPhone 4 now, and it takes some of the “wow” out of the announcement. This might hold a bit of water, but I think from a practical stand point it really does not hurt Apple at all, anyone that follows tech news knew that there was going to be an announcement this summer and that the announcement was almost guaranteed to be about the iPhone 4. I heard an argument that this might hurt Apples 3g sales since people will not wait till the 4 is official, but we all knew this anyway so I don’t think this leak changed the minds of anyone looking to purchase an iPhone. Either you were cool with getting the 3g now or you were going to wait anyway.
Should Giz, and other blogs, be considered journalists and should they be entitled to the protections associated with that title?
I think that Ryan is going to take a stab at this topic since he is a journalist where as I am just a blogger. I did want to touch on one part of this, and it specifically pertains to the discussion of this on TWIT this past Sunday. One of the panelists said that this would never have happened at one of the big news organization. I totally agree, but I also think that that is part of the problem with the big news organizations. Granted Giz is not small, but you have to start somewhere, why does being owned by a massive corporation make things more legit than being small. I have some strong opinions about the press in general, but I will try not to get all heated here (that’s for a different post), but I do think that new entities that are owned by large corporation kinda hurts the message of that news entity, because now the news is all wrapped up in corporate politics. Giz is like a teenager, young, fresh, rebellious, bucking society’s pressures, playing in an industry of senile giants, that in a lot of ways are too big and ponderous to get out of their own way, and when the young kid shows up they basically yell “get off my lawn”
I would like to consider myself an upstanding person, however if I was the person that found the phone I might have done the same thing. Had I done the right thing and returned it to Apple I imagine my world would have become a nightmare of non-disclosure agreements, and other scary legal documents, which may be the fate anyway of the dude that sold the phone the Giz. I hope he kept the $5000 around for lawyer fees.
Finally, who is to say that this is the final prototype, yes Apple confirmed that it is a prototype, but for all we know it was a prototype for a particular purpose. The kid that was testing I believe worked for the part of Apple that designed the cell phones radio. It could have been a prototype for that any only that, I find it hard to believe that Apple who basically required the construction of a bunker in order to give developers access to an iPad would be letting the fully developed iPhone 4 walk out the door, but who knows stranger things have happened.
Ok, so a dude, I am going to take a page from Leo Laporte and not use his name that works at Apple was out for his birthday in a German beer bar, getting sloshed, and he happened to have what looked like an iPhone 3g. Like many a drunken person he left his phone at the bar. I can’t really fault him for that, I used to leave my phone at parties in college (it’s fun to try to figure out where it ended up), I have left my wallet in a cab while drunk, one year I thought it would be a fun idea to balance my phone on the rim of a pint glass, guess what happened next? It fell into the pint glass, which was full of beer. The next morning the phone was dead. We all make mistakes, however in this case his 3g was actually a disguised iPhone 4, so he left a prototype phone, a phone that was not his at the bar. On top of that the phone belonged to Apple who is security nut jobs of a company, nothing they don’t want the public to know is let out of the bag till Steve is good and ready, they play the media machine like a harp, but like every tightly held secret the harder you hold on to it, the more likely it is that something will slip out, and that is exactly what happened. This dude left the phone at the bar, someone that was sitting nearby grabbed it, they say they attempted to give it back, and when that was not achievable he held on to it.
This dude basically figured out that the phone was not in fact a 3g and shopped around for someone that would want to purchase it off of him, he tried Wired, they took a pic and left it at that, he tried Gizmodo and they wrote him a check for $5000 for the phone. Gizmodo then dismantled the phone and posted all the details to their web page this past weekend. I heard that in 1 hour Gizmodo received something like 1 million unique visitors. That is a massive amount of traffic for 1 hour for any web page.
Apple contacted Gizmodo about getting the phone back, and Gizmodo, told them the only way they would get the phone back was to officially request it, this basically would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the phone was real, which they did and Giz sent them the phone back.
In the after math of this the police raided and confiscated a number of computers and electronics from the Gizmodo editors, who did the article on the iPhone4, house as evidence. The local police are treating the incident as a theft and are investigating.
I find a couple of things interesting with this situation; firstly, should the Apple employee be fired?
Personally I don’t think he should be, he made a mistake that is very common, and I think that Apple should realize this and have a bit of a sense of humor about the whole thing.
Next, does this do damage to Apple?
It could be argued that it does, the cat is out of the bag, we have some idea about the iPhone 4 now, and it takes some of the “wow” out of the announcement. This might hold a bit of water, but I think from a practical stand point it really does not hurt Apple at all, anyone that follows tech news knew that there was going to be an announcement this summer and that the announcement was almost guaranteed to be about the iPhone 4. I heard an argument that this might hurt Apples 3g sales since people will not wait till the 4 is official, but we all knew this anyway so I don’t think this leak changed the minds of anyone looking to purchase an iPhone. Either you were cool with getting the 3g now or you were going to wait anyway.
Should Giz, and other blogs, be considered journalists and should they be entitled to the protections associated with that title?
I think that Ryan is going to take a stab at this topic since he is a journalist where as I am just a blogger. I did want to touch on one part of this, and it specifically pertains to the discussion of this on TWIT this past Sunday. One of the panelists said that this would never have happened at one of the big news organization. I totally agree, but I also think that that is part of the problem with the big news organizations. Granted Giz is not small, but you have to start somewhere, why does being owned by a massive corporation make things more legit than being small. I have some strong opinions about the press in general, but I will try not to get all heated here (that’s for a different post), but I do think that new entities that are owned by large corporation kinda hurts the message of that news entity, because now the news is all wrapped up in corporate politics. Giz is like a teenager, young, fresh, rebellious, bucking society’s pressures, playing in an industry of senile giants, that in a lot of ways are too big and ponderous to get out of their own way, and when the young kid shows up they basically yell “get off my lawn”
I would like to consider myself an upstanding person, however if I was the person that found the phone I might have done the same thing. Had I done the right thing and returned it to Apple I imagine my world would have become a nightmare of non-disclosure agreements, and other scary legal documents, which may be the fate anyway of the dude that sold the phone the Giz. I hope he kept the $5000 around for lawyer fees.
Finally, who is to say that this is the final prototype, yes Apple confirmed that it is a prototype, but for all we know it was a prototype for a particular purpose. The kid that was testing I believe worked for the part of Apple that designed the cell phones radio. It could have been a prototype for that any only that, I find it hard to believe that Apple who basically required the construction of a bunker in order to give developers access to an iPad would be letting the fully developed iPhone 4 walk out the door, but who knows stranger things have happened.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Achewood
Webcomics are a topic near and dear to my heart. The very first two webcomics I read were, like for a lot of people, PvP and Penny-arcade. These two comics are still around, their art has improved, their fan bases have grown and they basically defined the genre. One of the comics that I really love that I got into a little bit later was Achewood. Sadly it doesn't seem to possess that knack for staying power that these others have.
Achewood was always weird, I mean how do you describe to someone that you are laughing at a comic strip about some stuffed animals and a cat who wears a speedo and ray bans all the time? It was love or hate for a lot of people. It had a sort of avante garde, whimsical humor to it. It would create these ridiculous and often terrifying characters and places. It created a world where if you made a deal with the devil you could become a millionaire, first by your skills on the piano but later through your knack at making products that could only be sold in skymall. Where C.S. Lewis opened a door to the magical world of Narnia, Onstad opened a door to the secret menu at taco bell and an ebay only for the idiotically rich.
It was truly a magical time. But much like in the magical land of Narnia, all good things must end.
Where once was the childlike innocence of Phillip, there is only a dark cynicism of Roast Beef. Roast beef at first was originally depressing in a funny way, but it eventually gave way to being so depressing you start to worry about the guy making the comic. Wondering if each time he failed to update for a week or longer, he'd finally given up.
Yes there is still that knack for creating fantastical situations, for instance I am amused by the character Steve Denueve in the recent arc. I hold hope for Achewood returning to it's former glory in the same way I still secretly hope that Weezer will produce another decent album.
In that I really don't expect it to happen, but if it did it'd make me very, very happy.
CBS Could Use A Little Work In The Scheduling Department
How I Met Your Mother, at least to me, is the only reason to watch CBS apart from sports. It's consistently funny, has a ton of original humor and jokes, and also has four new episodes left for the end of the season.
Since January, showing new episodes has been sparse. While I understand the Olympics put a crimp in everyone's TV schedules, this year CBS has only shown 9 new episodes of the current season. When you factor in that there's been 17 weeks since the new year, something doesn't seem right.
This is how CBS makes decisions.
They've been hammering in reruns like nobody's business, which for a lot of fans of the show, is making every new episode feel lackluster or not as good as it could be. As someone who watched the whole series in one huge chunk, it flows together from episode to episode nicely, so having a constant break every other week in the schedule interferes with that.
There's also been concerns that not too many episodes focused on the overarching plot. Robin's relationship with Don is barely touched upon, and only 2 episodes this year have been about Ted's future. The whole season's been great, but just because you keep getting picked up for new seasons doesn't mean you have to drag it out.
I guess in the end, I'm not going to complain if CBS wants to show Slapsgiving 2 again like they did last night. But at the same time, I have DVDs I can watch if I want to do that, and I don't want to be left hanging. Maybe I should watch House when I know this is going to happen.
Thankfully, starting next week, CBS will air the remaining 4 episodes of the season for the month of May.
Since January, showing new episodes has been sparse. While I understand the Olympics put a crimp in everyone's TV schedules, this year CBS has only shown 9 new episodes of the current season. When you factor in that there's been 17 weeks since the new year, something doesn't seem right.
This is how CBS makes decisions.
They've been hammering in reruns like nobody's business, which for a lot of fans of the show, is making every new episode feel lackluster or not as good as it could be. As someone who watched the whole series in one huge chunk, it flows together from episode to episode nicely, so having a constant break every other week in the schedule interferes with that.
There's also been concerns that not too many episodes focused on the overarching plot. Robin's relationship with Don is barely touched upon, and only 2 episodes this year have been about Ted's future. The whole season's been great, but just because you keep getting picked up for new seasons doesn't mean you have to drag it out.
I guess in the end, I'm not going to complain if CBS wants to show Slapsgiving 2 again like they did last night. But at the same time, I have DVDs I can watch if I want to do that, and I don't want to be left hanging. Maybe I should watch House when I know this is going to happen.
Thankfully, starting next week, CBS will air the remaining 4 episodes of the season for the month of May.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Community S1 E21: Contemporary American Poultry
Community is the best new show this season, and several years down the road I can see this show being talked about in the same vein of Arrested Development, in that it's innovative and balances its style of humor with a heavy splash of physical comedy. Oh, and nerds love it.
Thursday night's episode, "Contemporary American Poultry", starts off innocently enough with the study group with less concern on studying, and everything to get to the cafeteria in time for the best chicken fingers ever. This is also more important than Brita's dying cat. This is a great bit of work to do in a take as everyone but Brita and Shirley dart off like madmen:
"If it was cool to eat God, He'd be a chicken finger."
But getting in line it turns out the chicken fingers run out too quickly, and the fry cook, Star-Burns, is hoarding some for his friends. It's nice to see Star-Burns get a bit more screentime as he's sort of the show's only recurring villain, at least until Anthony Michael Hall comes back for more blood. Suddenly, Jeff gets a plan, and this is where coal starts getting shoved post-haste into the pop-culture train. Freeze-frame, and Abed narration.
"As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to be in a mafia movie."
From here's it's literally a direct Goodfellas parody. They get Star-Burns fired for hoarding chicken, and Abed gets the job. Abed makes a deal with Senor Chang, which the group doesn't like, but changes their minds quickly when the find out it was for a 10% bonus to everyone's tests. Everyone abandons Jeff and starts following Abed as the leader. The chicken operation starts to get serious now. Everything leading up to this point is masterfully orchestrated and shot so well that if it wasn't a socially awkward study group trying to create an empire based on chicken fingers, you might wonder what movie you were watching.
Everyone has a role in the chicken mafia. Abed makes the chicken, Troy smuggles it to Brita and Shirley for separation into individual boxes for their clients, then passes off to Annie. With this amount of power the group benefits insanely well. Pierce gets an entourage, Brita gets a hairdresser, Annie gets an expensive backpack, and Troy gets a pet monkey, named Annie's Boobs. But over time, Abed finds his team is starting to get unruly in that all their new amenities aren't good enough. In order to teach them a lesson, Abed takes away all their newfound toys, angering the group into seeking out Jeff and ending Abed's deep-fried reign of terror.
"He's gone from lovable Johnny 5 to evil HAL."
With the help of Star-Burns, Jeff gains a key to dismantle the fryer for good. He breaks into the kitchen at night, to see Abed frying up tater tots, and looking to find new ways to start the cycle of the mafia anew, since everyone is sick of chicken. While one-on-ones and inadvertent group hugs are the sort of thing that ends every episode, it's almost like Abed is trolling the characters by being able to easily drop whatever he's doing for something else. Jeff just wants to end it, Abed agrees, but only being allowed one movie reference at a time, Abed chooses to eat a final meal of chicken fingers in the style of 16 Candles.
This is the only episode so far that retained it's theme for almost the whole time. While the other episodes made movie or TV show references to tie the whole thing together at random intervals (usually the very beginning and the very end before the credits), this stayed the course of keeping all things mafia-related. When they are explaining how they smuggle chicken out of the cafeteria, it's mirroring a scene in Casino. When the group discovers their possessions are being destroyed, Layla plays loudly in the background to mirror Goodfellas. This episode knew what it set out for and rode the Absurdity Express to the bitter end, finishing it by going back to how life used to be, also known as Abed's standby of John Hughes.
The attention to detail is another element most people overlook. The board in the background with everyone's wants and needs is filled out for everyone and is hilarious if you pause and read it all. The main plot was set up perfectly, and nothing has changed with every element of the show, right down to the surroundings, being important and funny in their own way. Even the credit sequence was icing on the cake.
Troy attempts to make Abed look like the better fry cook candidate.
If you're a Goodfellas fan, this is probably going to be one of, if not your favorite episode this season. It's my #2, as nothing's topped Physical Education so far (like anything can top a naked Joel McHale). But each new episode amazes me with a different take on an old idea or sitcom cliche, and strives to fill a niche sense of humor possessed by us children of the 80s who spent the last 20 years filling their brain with TV and movies. If you're not watching it, you're missing out, plain and simple.
Link: Hulu: Community S1E21
Thursday night's episode, "Contemporary American Poultry", starts off innocently enough with the study group with less concern on studying, and everything to get to the cafeteria in time for the best chicken fingers ever. This is also more important than Brita's dying cat. This is a great bit of work to do in a take as everyone but Brita and Shirley dart off like madmen:
"If it was cool to eat God, He'd be a chicken finger."
But getting in line it turns out the chicken fingers run out too quickly, and the fry cook, Star-Burns, is hoarding some for his friends. It's nice to see Star-Burns get a bit more screentime as he's sort of the show's only recurring villain, at least until Anthony Michael Hall comes back for more blood. Suddenly, Jeff gets a plan, and this is where coal starts getting shoved post-haste into the pop-culture train. Freeze-frame, and Abed narration.
"As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to be in a mafia movie."
From here's it's literally a direct Goodfellas parody. They get Star-Burns fired for hoarding chicken, and Abed gets the job. Abed makes a deal with Senor Chang, which the group doesn't like, but changes their minds quickly when the find out it was for a 10% bonus to everyone's tests. Everyone abandons Jeff and starts following Abed as the leader. The chicken operation starts to get serious now. Everything leading up to this point is masterfully orchestrated and shot so well that if it wasn't a socially awkward study group trying to create an empire based on chicken fingers, you might wonder what movie you were watching.
Everyone has a role in the chicken mafia. Abed makes the chicken, Troy smuggles it to Brita and Shirley for separation into individual boxes for their clients, then passes off to Annie. With this amount of power the group benefits insanely well. Pierce gets an entourage, Brita gets a hairdresser, Annie gets an expensive backpack, and Troy gets a pet monkey, named Annie's Boobs. But over time, Abed finds his team is starting to get unruly in that all their new amenities aren't good enough. In order to teach them a lesson, Abed takes away all their newfound toys, angering the group into seeking out Jeff and ending Abed's deep-fried reign of terror.
"He's gone from lovable Johnny 5 to evil HAL."
With the help of Star-Burns, Jeff gains a key to dismantle the fryer for good. He breaks into the kitchen at night, to see Abed frying up tater tots, and looking to find new ways to start the cycle of the mafia anew, since everyone is sick of chicken. While one-on-ones and inadvertent group hugs are the sort of thing that ends every episode, it's almost like Abed is trolling the characters by being able to easily drop whatever he's doing for something else. Jeff just wants to end it, Abed agrees, but only being allowed one movie reference at a time, Abed chooses to eat a final meal of chicken fingers in the style of 16 Candles.
This is the only episode so far that retained it's theme for almost the whole time. While the other episodes made movie or TV show references to tie the whole thing together at random intervals (usually the very beginning and the very end before the credits), this stayed the course of keeping all things mafia-related. When they are explaining how they smuggle chicken out of the cafeteria, it's mirroring a scene in Casino. When the group discovers their possessions are being destroyed, Layla plays loudly in the background to mirror Goodfellas. This episode knew what it set out for and rode the Absurdity Express to the bitter end, finishing it by going back to how life used to be, also known as Abed's standby of John Hughes.
The attention to detail is another element most people overlook. The board in the background with everyone's wants and needs is filled out for everyone and is hilarious if you pause and read it all. The main plot was set up perfectly, and nothing has changed with every element of the show, right down to the surroundings, being important and funny in their own way. Even the credit sequence was icing on the cake.
Troy attempts to make Abed look like the better fry cook candidate.
If you're a Goodfellas fan, this is probably going to be one of, if not your favorite episode this season. It's my #2, as nothing's topped Physical Education so far (like anything can top a naked Joel McHale). But each new episode amazes me with a different take on an old idea or sitcom cliche, and strives to fill a niche sense of humor possessed by us children of the 80s who spent the last 20 years filling their brain with TV and movies. If you're not watching it, you're missing out, plain and simple.
Link: Hulu: Community S1E21
Hulu is down?!
Ok so i am working from home today. One of the nice things about working from home is that when i eat lunch i can watch Hulu. I was looking forward to a little SG-1 and pasta and i got an error on every episode i tried to watch. The error is pictured below
I took a look in the Hulu forums and there are apparently a bunch of people all experiencing this issue. I could not find any mention of it anywhere else right now.
Edit: It is now working for me again. I wonder what happened?
Edit: I took another look at the forums and Hulu as responded and is fixing the issue
I took a look in the Hulu forums and there are apparently a bunch of people all experiencing this issue. I could not find any mention of it anywhere else right now.
Edit: It is now working for me again. I wonder what happened?
Edit: I took another look at the forums and Hulu as responded and is fixing the issue
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