Friday, May 27, 2005

Warped Reality TV

Yahoo! news report: LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representative Majority Leader Tom DeLay accused NBC on Thursday of slurring his name by including an unflattering reference to him on the NBC police drama "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

DeLay's name surfaced on the show's season finale, which centered on the fictional slayings of two judges by suspected right-wing extremists. In the episode, police are frustrated by a lack of clues, leading one officer to quip, "Maybe we should put out an APB (all-points-bulletin) for somebody in a Tom DeLay T-shirt."

"This manipulation of my name and trivialization of the sensitive issue of judicial security represents a reckless disregard for the suffering initiated by recent tragedies and a great disservice to public discourse," said DeLay who during the
Terri Schiavo events, had said, "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior."

Producer Dick Wolf, creator of the "Law & Order" franchise, took a swipe at DeLay in his own statement on Thursday, saying, "I ...congratulate Congressman DeLay for switching the spotlight from his own problems to an episode of a TV show."

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

In Bush's Own Words

We should not use public money to support the further destruction of human life.

Of course he was talking about not funding work on stem cells and not the war in Iraq or 'improved' nuclear 'bunker-buster' bombs, curbing pollution....
The l33t Stages of Grieving

Stage 1: OMG
Stage 2: WTF
Stage 3: :(
Stage 4: kthxbye

Thx to Out of Ambit/ Diane Duane
iPhoto 4 Must Die

Well lovely - I just spent an hour backing up pictures onto a CD from within iPhoto only to find that apparently for several pictures I have only the thumbnail image. Seems at some point the original image was deleted. Now this may have been my doing, I did have several duplicates and merrily went and removed them - but apparently I should have then left the Organize Tab and switched to Edit before I emptied the trash.

So what looks like ~1000 pictures is in reality more like 800 pictures with and 200 thumbnails that go nowhere.

Granted many of them are of our cat but what you don't understand is that we have the world's cutest cat!

Frankly this is the kind of behaviour I would expect from a Microsoft product, not Apple. Maybe iPhoto 5 prevents this sort of thing but I am sticking with Image Capture exclusively from now on.

Hmpf!

Monday, May 23, 2005

Andy Bell from the Erasure Concert


Pics from the Erasure Concert, originally uploaded by Hanee.

Flickr picture from the Chicago show - can't find any SF pictures.

"...less of an Angel and more of an albino moth... just came in because of the light..."

iPod Shuffle Killer?

iPod Suffle Killer?

iPod Shuffle Killer
originally uploaded by idogcow

Looks like Sony has finally made a Walkman that is cooler than an iPod, has anyone told Jonathan Ive?

Now how well this plays with OS X and iTunes remains to be seen, I might be off to the Sony Store at lunch today and see what I can play with.

Friday, May 20, 2005

Cheap Cheap

Some discounts for your week-end shopping pleasure:

Borders is having another 'sale' with coupon, 25% Off the Regular Price
of One Item. Discount on electronics and video games is 10%

DisneyDirect is knocking the price of pins down by as much as 60%.
The Saga Ends

And so last night Star Wars, Episode III brought the cycle to a close. I will say I had my doubts at first given the last two, given that there was going to be a planet of wookies and given that you almost knew how everyone would turn out. (Is it a spoiler to tell you that Yoda is not going to die?)

In short: I liked it. Bit slow at times ("Oh, Annie"), bit silly at times (oh those wacky droids), but avoided obvious traps and answered most of the questions -just enough left to discuss on the ride home from the theater.

Go see it, there certainly are worse movies going to come out this summer and right now my bet for that one (ie: the US 'Godzilla') will be "War of the Worlds."

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Serve and Protect

BBC NEWS: US rejects ban on women in combat: "Republicans in the US Congress have ditched a flat ban on women in combat.

The House Armed Services Committee watered down proposals which would stop women from serving in support teams which back up front-line combat troops.

Advocates of the plan say the women get too close to the fighting, but the US army, facing problems with recruitment, was opposed to the move.

Senior officers said they would have had to pull 22,000 female soldiers out of their jobs to replace them with men.

They also warned of damage to morale, with the army's vice-chief of staff saying in a letter that the plan 'would cause confusion in the ranks'.

So which do you think is the more pressing reason?

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Just a Pipe Dream?

Pipe Corner

Gas for under a buck? Not in the US of A anymore, you would have better luck trying to find gas for under 2 dollars. Now with this mashup of Gasbuddy and Google Maps - you can see just how far you'd have to drive to save (and if it'd be still worth it).
When a Book Becomes an Event

With less than 2 months to go until the next Harry Potter book is released, PotterParties.com is live.

Seems several of the Potter fan sites got together and have a sort of MeetUp.com for the Wizarding set. Quite the comprehensive listing with bookstore locations, hours, prices as well as recipe and costume ideas.

If you are going to only buy one book this year, here's a great way to have fun doing so!
Super 8 is Dead - Long Live Super 8

Like the demise of the slide projector, Kodak announced they will discontinue sales of its S8 KODACHROME 40 film.

All is not lost to those who favour the retro, in the place of KODACHROME comes the "super-saturated, fine grain KODAK EKTACHROME 64T Color Reversal Film 7280." It should be available in August 2005.

"Introduced in 1965, Super 8 film has found new life with each new generation of filmmakers that continue to embrace the format," said Bob Mayson, general manager and vice president for Image Capture products, Entertainment Imaging division at Eastman Kodak Company. "Forty years after its introduction, this small-gauge film still provides an easy, inexpensive way for students and enthusiasts to work at film resolutions and color depths as yet unmatched by the latest digital technologies."

Suggested listening: Paul Simon

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Another Book Comes to Silver Screen

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as done by Disney/ Walden Media.
Better Movie Guide

If you downloaded the previous iCal movie guide, a better one now exists with details about each film, and links to the full NY Times review and movie trailer on apple.com (if available).

Thanks to Jason Kottke and Peter vanDerbeek!
Don't Count Them, Do Them

Jason Kottke (kottke.org) has compliled a list of 50 Fun Things To Do With Your iPod .

To quote him, "Actual number of fun things you can do with your iPod may not equal 50. No refunds."

Monday, May 16, 2005

For Over a Thousand Generations...

You do have your Star Wars tickets, right? Well, even if you don't, spend 5 minutes watching a sci-fi supermarket saga, "Store Wars: The Organic Rebellion".

Follow the adventures of Cuke Skywalker, Princess Lettuce, Chewbroccoli and other organic rebels as they battle with Darth Tader, the evil lord of the Dark Side of the Farm.

Store Wars is the brainchild of Free Range Studios, makers of the 2003 smash hit The Meatrix (www.themeatrix.com), an online movie seen by more than 10 million viewers, translated into four languages and honored at the Webbys, Sundance, South by Southwest and a dozen other prestigious festivals and contests.
Blog Post Yield Poster Change?


I am sure you have all seen this poster by now, but did you know But it seems several fans on various Harry Potter web sites noticed the copyline at the top of the teaser poster was missing a comma: Difficult times lie ahead Harry.

The studio published a new revised version of the advance one-sheet on the film's official website, with a comma magically added: Difficult times lie ahead, Harry.

Friday, May 13, 2005

There Goes the College Fund


A stupendous merchandise collection in support of Disneyland's 50th Anniversary this summer.

Better break out the wallet, selections include: Adventureland pin set, Tomorrowland 1967 Ticket Booth & pin, Enchanted Tiki Gods Figurines (set of 5), Haunted Mansion Stained Glass Lamp, Small World Animated Clock and a Matterhorn Mountain Pin Advent Calendar.
Magnet Fun

Support Our Ribbons has great premade ribbons as well as a make your own ability.


Here is one you can buy today, personalized ones may take a bit longer.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Attention Summer Movie Fans

Jason Kottke (purveyor of fine hypertext products) has nicely put together a (partial) list of the US Summer Movie openings from data taken from the NY Times calendar of summer movie openings into iCal.

Apple also has a a movie releases calendar that you can subscribe to but that one apparently doesn't have each movie as a separate item.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Cool Disney ebay Auction

Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress premiered at the 1964 New York World's Fair and was moved in 1967 to Disneyland, where it remained until 1973.

The attraction showed the importance and advancement of electricity within the American family and now Disney is selling the Carousel of Progress Scale Model.

The singing, dancing robots can still be seen in Florida but for >US$700 (current bid) this model can grace your coffee table and astound your friends.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Dial Down the Middle

Wonkette today reports of a sales pitch used by United American Technologies, a "Christian-based phone carrier" based in Oklahoma.

Seems they are "the only carrier that is taking an active stand against same sex marriages and hardcore child pornography," even going so far as to claim MCI has, "a pedophile Web site for men who love boys. It's a Montréal based Web site...." and Verizon is known to, "train their employees to accept the gay and lesbian lifestyle."

Monday, May 09, 2005

Food And Drink From WalMart

Two freebies via mail from Wal-mart:
Links now working -thanks Jim!

Special K Red Berries

Crystal Light On the Go sample

Your complimentary sample(s) will be mailed to you within 4-6 weeks.
Music To Your Ears

I was going to try the new 25 songs a month from Rhapsody.com only it seems that Mac users (and older Windows users) aren't allowed to play.

iTunes backlash, going after 'low-hanging fruit', or lazy programming?

Guess no:

  • 25 full-length songs per month - FREE
  • Your choice from 1,000,000+ songs
  • Completely ad-free radio stations
  • Software to manage all your music

    for me, although I guess bullets #3 &4 are no great loss!
  • Friday, May 06, 2005

    Democrats Excommunicated

    Quoting Daily KOS:

    "For those that thought that there has not been a full scale war launched against liberals; for those who didn't take the radical rights promise to "eradicate liberals" seriously, I present to you, Exhibit A: East Waynesville Baptist Church has just kicked out all its Democratic members.

    Yes. You read that right. If you didn't vote for Bush, you had to "repent your sin"."


    Read reports from people in the area and video from WLOS-TV.
    DIY Media on the Rise

    Viacom owned San Francisco AM radio station KYCY (1550 AM) is switching from talk and "Young Country" to K-YOU and becoming an "open source" station and has begun accepting files in all the usual formats (MP3, QuickTime and WMA [Windows Media Audio File]).

    Joel Hollander, the CEO of Infinity (which is part of the Viacom Inc. (VIAB) media conglomerate that also owns CBS and MTV), said the station would run material submitted by listeners but screened to make sure it conforms with federal broadcasting standards for decency, adding that the change in formats is something of an "experiment," and the company had not decided how long it would try it before deciding whether to keep it. He

    The station won't charge or pay for the podcasts contributed by listeners.

    So far the only response from Clear Channel Communications Inc. (CCU) is to try and lure listeners back in by reducing the amount of commercials.

    Al Gore's Current.TV channel, which consists of citizen-produced video, seems to be taking a similar approach on the television side of things. Current.tv should begin broadcasting to almost 20 million homes later this year.

    Flickr Gallery of Disneyland's 50th (Sneak Peek)


    it's a small world, originally uploaded by giddygirlie.

    Thursday, May 05, 2005

    Disney PodCast

    See if you can get this to work, I can't.

    Could be nifty if it works!


    UPDATE: Use this link inside iPodder or something similar instead.
    Happy 50th Walt

    Disneyland unveils golden castle at 50th fete says Yahoo! News.

    "For the celebration, Walt Disney Co. trimmed the Sleeping Beauty castle in gold and added a gold vehicle to each original ride, including a golden boat on the Jungle Cruise and a golden flying Dumbo."

    There seems to be one small picture and apparently former Mousketeer Christina Aguilera sang "When You Wish Upon a Star."

    More pictures as they filter in, hopfully!

    Closing the Gap

    Soderbergh and Cuban close the movie release gap: PVRBlog

    Steven Soderbergh and Mark Cuban are planning film release experiment – they plan to release new films in theaters, pay-per-view, and on DVD on the exact same day, leaving it up to customers how they would like to see the film.
    Reading in Fundamental

    For those who have the alternative to the PS2 by Sony:
    A free subscription to XBox Nation.
    Free Hershey's Take5 Today Only

    Will TAKE 5® Make 5? The 5 Million Candy Bar Giveaway Challenge

    Sign up and get free chocolate, but hurry!
    [05/05/05 -get it?]
    A Gift for Mom (or You)

    If it's for Mother's day or just for yourself, save 25% at the Body Shop:

    Wednesday, May 04, 2005

    Laura Bush: Jokester; Bush Twins: Grokster?

    New York Time report of Laura Bush's routine at the White House Correspondents' Association's annual dinner noted how everyone was in stitches.

    Perhaps what the Times didn't mean to report was either ABC has provided the White House with an advance copy of the DVDs or the twins have been on the internet again, "[...]In Mrs. Bush's case, playing off 'Desperate Housewives' was a natural, even though Ms. Whitson said that Mrs. Bush had never actually seen the racy ABC hit show. Ms. Whitson said the first lady had heard about the characters and plot from the Bush twins, Jenna and Barbara, who are fans, and was planning to watch the entire first season on a DVD she has at home."

    Emphasis mine, not the Times'.
    Shocker: Jeb Bush Abides By Law

    BBC NEWS reports yesterday the news that the 13 year old Florida girl's abortion will be allowed.

    Told last week she could not have an abortion as she "lacked the maturity" to make such a decision, she was given the green light after the same judge that blocked the procedure reversed his order late on Monday, after "LG" (as she is listed in court documents) underwent a psychological evaluation.

    Florida Governor Jeb Bush said the state would not fight the judge's decision, but expressed sadness about the situation, "It's a tragedy that a 13-year-old child would be in a vulnerable position where she could be made pregnant and it's a tragedy that her baby will be lost."

    As Florida state law specifically does not require a minor to seek parental consent before an abortion, LG's lawyers argued that meant the state (as her legal guardian) could not block it.

    Seems to me that a 13 year old girl carrying a child to term in and of itself would be a 'tragedy,' much less having to make the decision to keep it or put it up for adoption. And to the groups that were looking to raise the issue of child molestation, here's some news: kids are always going to find a way to have sex, the important thing is to educate them about the risks and ways to prevent unwanted children.

    Suggested listening: LaTour
    Funeral First, Truth Later

    Investigators knew that ex-NFL star was killed by own troops, but kept lid on facts, reports SFGATE.com among others.

    "The first Army investigator who looked into the death of former NFL player Pat Tillman in Afghanistan last year found within days that he was killed by his fellow Rangers in an act of gross negligence, but Army officials decided not to inform Tillman's family or the public until weeks after a nationally televised memorial service."

    [...]

    "The family learned about Tillman's fratricide over Memorial Day weekend, several weeks later. Commanders felt they could not hold onto the old version because the Rangers were returning home and "everybody knows the story," the documents show."


    Another case of managing the reports of the war to suit Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney?

    Tuesday, May 03, 2005

    Show Tunes

    iTunes now has the soundtrack to Monty Python's Spamalot.

    Time to use up those Pepsi iTunes codes if you still have any!
    L.A. Star Wars Line in Lego

    Those crazy kids lined up to see Star Wars III, revenge of the Sith have been imortalized in Lego at Legoland California from a report over at Blogging.la.

    Pictures are small so you might have trouble seeing everything but check it out!

    Monday, May 02, 2005

    Music to Install MacOS 10.4 (Tiger)

    From James Duncan Davidson comes the info that the Mac OS X Install Jingle for Tiger is Bytecry by Weevil on the album Drunk On Light. You can find it on the iTunes Music Store or by typing:
    $ open /System/Library/CoreServices/Setup\ Assistant.app/Contents/Resources/TransitionSection.bundle/Contents/Resources/intro-sound.mp3


    The video is at:
    $ open /System/Library/CoreServices/Setup\ Assistant.app/Contents/Resources/TransitionSection.bundle/Contents/Resources/intro.mov


    For you Panther and under (or Windows people) see the assembled movie here.
    Life, the Universe and Everything

    Just saw the (new) "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," and I would have to say 3.5 stars out of 4. Would have given more but much of it is 'old' and the fun of hearing it for the first time was missing. Of course, if they had changed much I would be complaining about that - so there you have it.

    Alan Rickman ('Phil Allen' in "Blow Dry, 'Severus Snape' in the Harry Potter series, 'Dr. Lazarus' in Galaxy Quest) cast here as the voice of 'Marvin the Paranoid Android' is a particular standout. This is one actor who can alone make me want to see a movie.

    Be sure to stay into the end credits and check out the bonus 'Guide Entries' over at iTunes Music Store. If I may say so, here is a particularly funny entry.
    idogcow. Get yours at bighugelabs.com/flickr

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