theTodd.com

KEF LSX Speakers Part Three

Sun, 28 May 2023 10:49:27 -0700

Four months ago my KEF LSX speakers died. I was devastated especially since I read on Reddit that it would cost more to repair them than to just buy new ones. I went on a search to find new speakers. I wrote that blog and I posted it to Twitter @‘ing KEF America. And you know what? They reached out to me.

The Problem with Experts

Sat, 13 May 2023 20:54:28 -0700

Today I was looking for a coffee grinder. I wanted something that looked stylish on the counter and was really good at what it does. A friend of mine Tweeted that for Mothers Day she got this one that was at the top of my list. I’m not naming it simply because the name of that grinder doesn’t matter in this story. I decided to get serious about buying this $345 grinder.

KEF LSX Speakers Take Two

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 17:11:44 -0800

My beloved KEF LSX Speakers are dead. A little under two years ago I bought the KEF LSX Speakers and I absolutely loved them. Using them primarily for listening to music and computer speakers they were amazing. Perfect size. Awesome sound. Lots of connectivity. Absolutely perfect. Until one day a couple weeks ago they just stopped right in the middle of a meeting. The main speaker had a red blinking light on it.

Wicked Sensation

Thu, 19 May 2022 17:37:31 -0700

Lynch Mob - Wicked Sensation About a year and a half ago I wrote about the re-imagined Lynch Mob - Wicked Sensation album that came out. Recently I’ve been missing the original so I bought a copy of it from Amazon on vinyl. It sounds great and brings back all that nostalgia that I talk about from time to time. Listening to it on vinyl adds another layer of nostalgia to the whole experience.

Lossless Music

Sun, 23 May 2021 12:27:14 -0700

Fourteen years ago I wrote a post on Director’s Intent. In it I tried to express that director’s have a method to their madness in showing film grain in their movies. Give it a read if you haven’t, but replace HD-DVD with Bluray. So what does this have to do with music? Well Now Apple Music and Spotify are coming out with lossless music. This is probably to combat Amazon Music, Tidal, and Qobuz.

KEF LSX Speakers

Sun, 14 Mar 2021 13:01:30 -0700

KEF LSX Speakers in Green I’ve been getting into stereo systems lately watching YouTube videos from Andrew Robinson and John Darko. This started because I really like their approach to reviews and I wanted to emulate that but I got hooked on the content and thought, “Yeah I can do that too.” So I went out and bought a pair of KEF LSX speakers to enhance my computer setup.

Foo Fighters - Medicine at Midnight

Sat, 06 Feb 2021 11:27:23 -0800

Foo Fighters - Medicine at Midnight Foo Fighters quickly became one of my favorite artists way back in college, and I’ve been anxious to get my ears on every new bit of music they produce. David Grohl is by far one of the most talented musicians alive today. I know that Foo Fighters is more than just him, but back in the day he wrote the entire first album by himself.

Lynch Mob - Wicked Sensation

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 15:04:46 -0700

Lynch Mob - Wicked Sensation In my last blog post I talked about nostalgia and how good it is. Well, another bit of nostalgia came up this week with the reimagining of one of my all time favorite albums being released. This is Lynch Mob’s Wicked Sensation (reimagined). They re-recorded all the songs from the original in a different style. It’s not heavier or looser, it’s just got a different punch to it.

Bill & Ted Face the Music

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 15:45:02 -0700

Bill & Ted Face the Music Nostalgia is a good thing. It helps us remember the past and brings us to happy places when we are in a down place. That’s what movies do for me. I like nothing better than to sit back and enjoy a movie without having to think too much. These two characters, Bill and Ted, are iconic and engrained in our history.

Upload

Fri, 08 May 2020 19:12:19 -0700

Upload Upload is a 10 episode show on Amazon. It is a futuristic story about the afterlife. But it’s more than that. It’s a love story mixed with a murder mystery. The story centers around Nathan Brown’s afterlife. Nathan, a software engineer working on a free version of this afterlife, gets killed in a self-driving car accident. Rushed to the hospital he has to make a quick decision on if he should be Uploaded to the digital afterlife, or risk losing it all and try to be revived.

The Good Place

Sun, 03 May 2020 11:32:57 -0700

The Good Place The Good Place is a show about the afterlife. Now before we go on we should briefly talk about religion. Religion is a tricky subject. What one person believes is different than what another person believes. This is so true that wars from the beginning of time have been fought over it. This show doesn’t talk about religion. In fact I don’t recall a single mention of the word “God” in the whole thing.

Altered Carbon

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 20:24:06 -0800

Season two is here. This is a cyber punk thriller/murder mystery set in the far future where consciousness is stored in a stack and the data can be sent far and wide across the galaxy. Takeshi Kovacs is back, and better than ever. His old sleeve (what they call bodies in this crazy Universe) was played by Joel Kinnaman, Ed Baldwin on For All Mankind. This time it’s played by Anthony Mackie, Falcon in Avengers.

HR MacMillan Space Centre

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 12:52:47 -0800

This weekend I went to Vancouver B.C. One of the attractions that I went to was the HR MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver. I enjoyed walking through their attractions and went to a live show and the planetarium. If this had been the mid-eighties this would have been an amazing time. However, technology has moved on in the past 35 years, but this place hasn’t. The main attraction area hasn’t been updated in a long time.

Zombieland Double Tap

Sat, 15 Feb 2020 09:51:26 -0800

Zombieland: Double Tap Zombieland was a great and funny movie. It was unexpected and the way they interjected the “rules” was really neat. Having said that, I’m thinking that an hour and a half in Zombieland was enough. However, they decided to make a sequel and this movie was a little over the top. Was it funny? Yes. Was it good? I guess it was.

Dubbed vs Subtitles

Mon, 10 Feb 2020 19:47:57 -0800

A long time ago I wrote a post on High Definition and Director’s Intent. I mention this because lately, namely after Parasite won so many Oscars, people have been having an argument over what is better: Dubbed or Subtitled. I feel that the answer comes from the same place that High Definition and Director’s Intent came from: What is the director’s intent? The last movie that I watched for LucasFilms THX was Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away.

Mythic Quest

Sun, 09 Feb 2020 09:47:09 -0800

Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet Apple TV+ is relatively new. It only started in November. This February we saw a new show called Mythic Quest. From the outside it appears to be Apple’s answer to Silicon Valley, but watching the first episode I can’t help but think it’s closer to The IT Crowd than it is to Silicon Valley. What I mean is that it’s a comedy that tries to make fun of the gaming industry.

Knives Out

Sat, 08 Feb 2020 09:53:18 -0800

Knives Out Rian Johnson, better known for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, directed this who-dun-it mystery murder. This movie stars Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Don Johnson. As you might expect from a cast as bright as this, the movie is really good. It’s the story of a patriarch who gets murdered on his 85th birthday. Daniel Craig, a private investigator, is hired by some unknown person to investigate the murder.

Ad Astra

Thu, 06 Feb 2020 00:12:00 +0000

Ad-Astra Sci-Fi? Ad Astra is a movie about a man haunted by his past. Specifically his relationship with a father that left when he was younger. The man is played by Brad Pitt and the dad is played by Tommy Lee Jones. Truly an amazing cast. Now, the fact that all of this takes place in space is just a setting. That doesn’t make this Sci-Fi, in fact it’s closer to Space Opera.

The Girl in the Spider's Web

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 23:57:00 +0000

The Girl in the Spider's Web What is it? Lisbeth Salander is back, but this time starring the Queen… er… Claire Foy. This is the third Lisbeth in this series. Granted this movie is only related to the rest of the series by the characters themselves. The original author of the books died and this is the first book with a new author. What’s it about?

Star Trek Picard

Sat, 01 Feb 2020 22:11:00 +0000

Star Trek: Picard Nostalgia is Good I have fond memories of watching Star Trek the Next Generation growing up. I was never a Trekkie per say, but I did enjoy watching it every week. So when I heard that they were putting the band back together, so to speak, I was intrigued. 30 years later, Picard is that nostalgia come home to rest in my adulthood.

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot

Fri, 31 Jan 2020 16:49:34 -0800

What Can I Say? What can I say? I like these kind of comedy romps. This movie follows along in the footsteps of the first Jay and Silent Bob movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. In this one they find out that a movie studio owns the rights to their name and they decide to go to Hollywood to ruin the movie so it doesn’t get made. Or something like that.

Joker

Wed, 29 Jan 2020 17:25:36 -0800

The Oscars are coming up soon. One movie from last year was nominated for 11 Academy Awards including best picture. That movie is Joker. I didn’t want to see it because really, how many Batman movies can there be? This one is different. Sure it takes place in Gotham City, and the Waynes are in it and you end up seeing Bruce’s parents shot to death right infront of him… oh wait, was that a spoiler?

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Cherry Energy

Tue, 28 Jan 2020 19:19:16 -0800

Coca-Cola has a new line of energy drinks out now. I’ve seen the influencers on YouTube talking about how great it is, but how good is it really? I found them at my local Safeway and bought one to try. This is the Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Cherry Energy drink (pictured below). I’m drinking it warm because I’m impatient and I need some energy now. It’s good, but it definitely has the energy drink taste to it.

Showing Inara How to Blog

Sun, 28 Sep 2014 23:03:15 +0000

I am showing my 6 year old daughter how to blog. This is the first post. 😁

Square Foot Garden Part 3

Thu, 22 Aug 2013 16:58:43 +0000

It may be a little hard to see, but look for the little green spots in the dirt. We have seedlings! Broccoli seedlings

Bullet Journal

Tue, 20 Aug 2013 14:36:59 +0000

It turns out I’m not the only one that uses Moleskines in the way that I do, but this site BulletJournal.com takes it to a new level that I’m going to have to check out. When I was working at agencies I’d have multiple projects going on all at the same time. I’d use my journal to keep notes and important information in a safe location. I would have a Table of Contents for date, project name and major important pages.

Square Foot Garden Part 2

Sun, 18 Aug 2013 19:09:57 +0000

Yesterday I built a box and filled it with dirt. Ten little words do not quite describe the amount of work it was, but it’s concise and it could fit in a Tweet if I really wanted to. Today we added some more dirt and planted the seeds. I also got some lettuce starters because I wanted a little green in the garden. Here are a couple photos showing where we are.

Square Foot Garden

Sun, 18 Aug 2013 03:01:00 +0000

Loosely following directions that Scott Hanselman has on his site, we decided to start a ‘Square Foot Garden.’ This doesn’t mean plant a one square foot garden, it means setup a large above ground garden and for every square foot in there plant something different. Now because it’s above ground and there’s a weed barrier at the bottom it is actually treated like a very large potted plant. So the dirt mix that I have in there is a Miracle Grow for potted plants.

In the Age of Information Quote

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:18:36 +0000

There’s a quote that I heard a while back, “In the age of information, ignorance is a choice.” But I don’t know who to attribute it to. If anyone knows who said it, please let me know @spatacoli. Thank you!

A's are Best Team in American League at 12-4

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 19:35:14 +0000

For the first time since 1990 the Oakland Athletics have started the season with a 12-4 record. In addition to this most people are touting the fact that they have the best record in the American League. However, this 12-4 record includes 6 wins against the Houston Astros. The Astros have just recently been added to the American League and are playing like a glorified expansion team. Meaning they suck. Most people are predicting that the Astros will lose 100 games this year.

I'm Back! Again....

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 19:37:07 +0000

Wow! It has been almost an entire year since I last blogged on here. A lot has changed in a year. My daughter is now 5 years old. She was accepted into Bullis Charter School for Kindergarten this fall. I am starting a new job on Monday working at NOOK. I’ll be one of the software engineers working on their Windows 8 App. Don’t worry I won’t be trying to convince you all to switch from Kindle to NOOK just yet.

The Hunger Games

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 03:00:00 +0000

The Hunger Games is based in a world where the government keeps the peace by killing 24 subjects each year in something called the Hunger Games. Each of the 12 districts picks one boy and one girl between the ages of 13 and 18 to fight to the death. Winner take all. The games themselves takes place in a forest and is televised in a manner reminiscent of The Truman Show only evil.

Super Secret Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe is Gone!

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 22:30:00 +0000

One evening not too long ago we were forced to remove all objects from the cupboards in our kitchen and bathrooms. During this extraction my wife found my super secret chocolate chip cookie recipe. The recipe was on half a 3x5 note card that I’ve had sine I was about 16. I’ve been scribbling the minor changes I have maid to the recipe since then on the card. Being helpful she put the recipe in a safe location.

RockNRolla

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:45:00 +0000

Before I begin this review I have a public service announcement: Thandie Newton is HOT! That is all. So Guy Ritchie who wrote and directed Revolver wrote a new mobster type movie. This one is really good. It’s a story about everyone screwing everyone over in the London underground. Everyone from the Old School guy who owns the town to the lowest of low drug dealers. The cast is amazing: Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, the aforementioned Thandie Newton, Mark Strong, Jeremy Piven, and Ludacris.

Kick-Ass

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:35:00 +0000

Yes it is. Do you need to know any more than that? Yes? Well, let’s see. This is the story of a looser, as most comic book stories are, and this looser has a crush on a girl. But this looser gets mugged one too many times and decides to become a super hero. He dresses up like a schmuck and goes to stop muggers, but gets his butt kicked. Anyway, he doesn’t stop, the girl gets interested in the hero, but thinks the kid is gay.

The Jone$es

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:20:00 +0000

Working in advertising I sometimes wonder if what we sell products to people that don’t really need the product. Stupid idea I know, who needs anything really right? Well this movie takes the idea of advertising to the next level: Real Life Social Marketing The Joneses is just as you’d expect, “Keeping up with the Joneses.” They are a perfect family, living in a perfect (rich) neighborhood, and have all of the latest stuff.

Happy Birthday Baby

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:10:00 +0000

Two years ago at about this time I was standing in a NICU looking down at my two month premature baby girl wondering how the hell I am going to be her father. Two years later I guess I’m still asking the same questions, but I know now that my life changed that day. I’m thankful that my wife recovered, and that my baby girl is amazingly healthy and happy.

Caprica

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 20:50:00 +0000

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a huge SciFi fan. 7 years ago Ronald D. Moore and David Eick made a spectacular production of a reimagining of Battlestar Galactica. This reimagining was an origin story that was shown as a mini series and played on SciFi. It was amazing and fans immediately begged for more. Mr. Moore and Mr. Eick granted the fans wish with 5 years of television that made my Friday nights something to really look forward to.

Surrogates

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 08:25:00 +0000

Bruce Willis leads a cast of characters including James Cromwell and Ving Rhames in this Sci-Fi action/murder mystery. Written by Michael Ferris who also penned such wonderful movies like Catwoman, the Net, and the Net 2.0, you should probably take the hint that this may not be the best movie out there. The movie has some interesting subtexts about humans living in a world where their surrogates (a robot avatar that lives life for them) take risks the human operators probably wouldn’t take.

Moon

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:40:00 +0000

Last year was a good year for movies. I however, haven’t had a chance to see all the really good ones (or any of the really bad ones either). So, I’m playing catch up here. So, this week’s movie is called “Moon” written and directed by Duncan Jones. Moon is the story of Sam Bell (played by Sam Rockwell) who signed up for a three year mission to mine the moon for the LUNAR corporation.

Smokin' Aces 2 - Assassins' Ball

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:10:00 +0000

There are times when you want to be entertained. You want to sit down and watch a 90 minute movie and not think about cinematography or blocking or direction etc. You just want to watch a movie. Some of my friend don’t get that. They laughed at me when I said that I liked watching Smokin’ Aces 1. Then they went through a point by point explanation of why it was a terrible movie… technically.

Domino's Inspired New Pizza

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:15:00 +0000

Friday night is pizza night in my household, and now that there’s a new SyFy show on, Caprica, it’s even more important that we spend a simple family night eating pizza, and enjoying each other’s company. This past Friday we decided to try Domino’s new pizza. They’ve changed the cheese by adding a hint of provolone. They’ve seasoned the crust with garlic, and they’ve changed the sauce with more herbs and red pepper.

Analog Hole

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:05:00 +0000

Yep, there sure have been a lot of people over the past decade or two complaining about Digital Rights Management. For the most part I’ve been a complacent monkey in the whole thing just accepting it as a necessary evil of living in the digital age. For those uninitiated, Digital Rights Management (called DRM) is code embedded in digital media (like digital audio and digital video files) that somehow ensure that the files are only played on the hardware that the owner of the media allows.

Where Is Microsoft?

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 08:50:00 +0000

Three and a half years ago I wrote a blog post on my other blog asking the question, “Where was Microsoft?” This post was talking about the video iPod and asking why Microsoft hasn’t come out with a decent competing product. Since then the Zune was introduced and it has won my affection so well I own three of them, plus I pay for my Zune Pass subscription three months at a time.

The International

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:50:00 +0000

Clive Owen and Naomi Watts team up to take down the man in this classic action drama about an evil corporation and the good Interpol/FBI trying to get the baddies. But is this movie truly a classic? I’m afraid that it isn’t. Clive Owen is starring in another movie right now with Julia Roberts called Duplicity. When I went to see The International I thought I was going to see a better movie, and I’m wondering if Duplicity is what I meant to see.

Respect - Why?

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:05:00 +0000

There are some people on this planet that I’ve worked with or have had some interaction with where I grew to respect them and their opinions. I like to think of myself as a fairly open minded person and I respect that nobody on Earth has the same ideas and values that I do. As such I listen intently when people have vastly differing opinions as my own so that I can understand them.

Introducing INARA.ME

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 23:35:00 +0000

Family members have for a while seen pictures of my baby girl via a web site that I’ve been running here at home. Lately I haven’t had very much luck keeping it running all the time though due to some work I’m doing at home. Because of that I decided to get a host and put the site up permanently somewhere. Well everyone I would like to introduce you to https://inara.

Isn't it Interesting?

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 08:50:00 +0000

Isn’t it interesting how some people you thought were good folk are actually arrogant bastards? I’m not talking about the fine ale from Stone Brewing Co. I’m talking about truly, “I’m better than you” attitude. I’ve been silent in my blogs of recent simply because work calls, I’m not sure of the direction I want my blogs to go, and I’ve been wrapped up in the fairly simple nature of Twitter.

Maybe Starbucks isn't Evil

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:35:00 +0000

I used to hate on Starbucks like everyone else, but lately I’ve really grown to like them. Why? Recently they made a lot of corporate changes and one of them was that they now have the same coffee every day for regular drip coffee. It is called Pike’s Roast and it is really good. Does that mean that I’ve shredded my Peet’s Coffee and Tea card? No, I still prefer going to Peet’s mainly because all the employees know my wife and I.

IE6 Is Now Dead to Me

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Hello out there in Internet-land. There is a shocking number of you coming to my web sites using Internet Explorer 6. I don’t think that you realize that a lot has happened in browser technology since August 27, 2001. You see, that date almost 7 years ago is the day that Internet Explorer 6 was released. At the time it was a fine browser, but that time has passed. It is time to move on.

Zune Software V2.5

Fri, 23 May 2008 20:50:00 +0000

A lot has already been written on the web about the 2.x version of the Zune software. Most of it is negative, mostly I haven’t had a negative experience with the software, but I didn’t use the 1.x software for very long before v2 came out. Recently an update was released bringing some changes that a lot of people should be happy with. For me though the change that I was pleasantly surprised to find is that when you subscribe to a podcast and play an episode, as soon as that episode finishes the Zune will start the next episode in the series.

Ubik is Coming Soon

Tue, 20 May 2008 19:45:00 +0000

Philip K. Dick is undeniably my favorite Sci-Fi author. His stories have been turned into such great movies as Total Recall, Blade Runner, and Paycheck among others. One of my least favorite books of his is about to be made into a movie. This book is called Ubik. Ubik is one of those stories that I consider to be daydream Sci-Fi. It begins in a really cool setting and then just starts going out of control.

Donny Darko

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:40:00 +0000

Out of nowhere a movie started popping up. There was a director’s cut and a lot of people I know were telling me how great it was. That movie was Donnie Darko. I had it on my Netflix queue for a while, but I never bumped it to the top. As a result I deleted it one day when I was cleaning up my queue. This morning I was in bed trying to get my daughter to sleep when I noticed that it was playing on the Sundance channel.

Peet's vs. Starbucks

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 18:45:00 +0000

I prefer Peet’s Coffee to Starbucks. I usually end up buying at least one cup of coffee a day at Starbucks because of how close it is to where I work. Peet’s would be too much of a drive. Starbucks raised the price of coffee today. For a small cup of coffee it is now $1.55. This was particularly embarrassing for me today because I walked in to Starbucks with only 6 quarters in my pocket.

High Definition and Director's Intent

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 00:55:00 +0000

DJ and I just had a brief discussion about the visual quality of movies that have been transferred to HD-DVD. Specifically he was asking about movies that were filmed in 16mm that have a lot of film grain. He said he read some reviews that pointed out how poor these movies looked when re-mastered for HD-DVD. My opinion on the matter is that many of the reviewers that I’ve read online do not take into account what was the director’s intent (or cinematographer’s intent, or director or photography, but I’m just going to jumble them all into the director category because it’s one word).

My DirecTV HD HR-20 Upgrade Experience

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 05:35:00 +0000

Ah, the power of blogging… now if only I had an audience. So Leanne and I recently got a new TV for our living room. This was after giving my old Sony WEGA away as a house warming gift to Dave and Amy. Our new TV displays standard definition TV horribly. This made Leanne agree to let me upgrade our satellite system to high definition. DirecTV requires that you get a new dish when you upgrade to their HR-20 HD DVR.

Kohler Wants You to Flush Stuff

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 23:35:00 +0000

Jo wants to meet your friends There’s this web site that Kohler put up to demonstrate the power of their new toilet. All you need to do is click on the link above and wait for the flash to download. Then because you are probably running IE (90% of all people on the web can’t be wrong) you need to click on it to activate. Then wait a little longer for all the Flash components to download and then you are ready to start flushing things.

What Does Happen When You Put Dish Soap in the Dishwasher

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 16:51:30 -0700

A few days ago I told Leanne that I just remembered her telling me we were out of dishwasher powder. I said that I was just going to use some standard dish soap. “NO! Don’t do that! There will be suds everywhere if you do that!” Oh, yeah, I didn’t think of that. Boy I’m sure glad I said something to her and she stopped me. Now, Leanne is in Peru, and I decided not to go to the A’s game.

Shrek the Third

Mon, 21 May 2007 08:00:00 +0000

What happened to the movie going experience? There was a time when I worked for Lucas Films THX and I would go to movies on opening night and report back on the experience at the theater. That means I would look at everything from the amount of popcorn on the floor to if there were enough paper towels in the bathroom. The reason for this is that it is all part of the movie going experience.

Lost - Would you be upset if Charlie dies?

Wed, 16 May 2007 23:30:00 +0000

I was watching the preview for Lost again today and I had to stop and ask myself the question: Would I really be upset if Charlie dies? I asked that question because Desmond, once again, has a premonition that Charlie will die and says in the preview, “you’re going to die Charlie and this time I can’t stop it.” To be honest, I’m not sure I’ll miss Charlie. The first reason I’m not sure I’ll miss Charlie is that he’s a reformed drug addict.

New Postal Rates

Mon, 14 May 2007 21:35:00 +0000

Today the cost of mailing a first-class letter is going up to $0.41. The USPS is also introducing a Forever stamp that will allow you to use this stamp even if the cost of stamps increase. Buy them for $0.41 each now and if next year they raise the price to $0.50 you can still use it without the need for $0.09 extra postage. Cool huh?

Changes to Ratings - Smoking Kills

Sun, 13 May 2007 21:55:00 +0000

The MPAA added a new criteria that it will look for when rating a movie. They will now look at the amount of smoking in the movie as an indicator to the rating they give it. More information here. My question/request is this: To all the people responsible for movie and TV ratings, why can’t you enforce the use of seatbelts in movies and television? I know that the smoking thing is in an attempt to curb smoking in youngsters, but what good is a bad guy without an evil cigarette or cigar?

The World's Fastest Indian

Sat, 12 May 2007 22:55:00 +0000

Ah, back to what I know best, reviewing movies. This morning Leanne and I watched a true story about a 67 year old man from New Zealand named Burt Munro, played by Anthony Hopkins. The World’s Fastest Indian follows our hero from New Zealand to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah where Burt is attempting to find his way into the record books with the fastest motorcycle 1000cc’s or smaller.

Lost 3.20

Thu, 10 May 2007 19:45:00 +0000

Before we begin, this includes spoilers. Don’t read if you haven’t seen the 9 May Episode of Lost. Is John Locke dead? I think it’s too convenient that Ben just left him in that pit to die. Possibly Jacob would come along and save him. What was with the “Help Me” that John heard? It certainly sounded like Ben, but then all hell broke lose in the cabin and flashing frame by frame clearly shows this man sitting in a chair:

I think my hangover has a hangover

Sat, 05 May 2007 01:35:00 +0000

Think about this. If you left your company right now, would you still be going to their parties 7 years from now? I’m guessing that you probably would not. 7 years ago I left a company called Latitude Communications. Since that time they’ve been acquired by Cisco and many of the people that I knew from the company have moved on from job to job. Yet we still have Latitude parties.

Delmonico's Steak House

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:50:00 +0000

I’m in Las Vegas right now for the Mix07 Web Conference. Tonight I finally got the chance to have dinner at Delmonico’s thanks to Mark’s Stacy’s Sister. ;-) I had a Filet Mignon cooked medium with green beans. The filet was really good. In fact the only way it could have been better is if I’d cooked it myself. Rather than just season it with only salt and pepper, as I do, the chef used what looked like thyme and rosemary.

Hey, Hey, Hey! What do you know?

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 04:30:00 +0000

Greetings and salutations everyone! It has been a long time since I’ve written anything in this blog. For the most part that is because I’ve been working on it. I know you don’t believe me, and that usually what most people say when they are just too lazy to write in their blog. The truth is that what you are seeing is the 5th version of this site that I wrote in the past 2 years.

It was only a matter of time

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 22:00:00 +0000

The former cyber security advisor stated today that developers should be held accountable for security flaws in their code. It was only a matter of time before this would happen. I foresee in the next 5 years that I will have to start paying for malpractice insurance to cover the lawsuits if I get sued for bad code. It’s a good thing though. Programmers should be held responsible for bad code, but the statute of limitations should be small like 2 years.

Where was Microsoft?

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 18:50:00 +0000

Apple today unveiled the video iPod. With its 2.5 inch screen you can watch music videos for $1.99 each or you can download TV programs from last night. I can do this today with my Creative Zen Personal Media Center, but the PMC is a brick. It looks like a brick, it feels like a brick. It is nothing like the video iPod. Also, over the past year I was lucky enough to be one of the first people to get access to the MSN Music site.

I have an Xbox, now I need Halo2

Wed, 20 Jul 2005 21:40:00 +0000

Bungie will remove anyone playing HALO2 using a modded Xbox after a small update to the game today. This is in response to the tremendous amount of cheating that’s been going on. In addition to the removal, the user will be banned from playing forever, and their stats will be removed from the leader board. I assume there’s been a bit of outcry about this, but I personally have to respect a company that includes this in the FAQ:

What Happens When You Put a Cd in Your Computer

Sun, 17 Jul 2005 18:14:38 -0800

When I enter a CD into my computer, I want one of two things to happen : Start playing the CD. Rip the CD to my music collection. When I place a CD in the drive, most of the time, Windows decides to be helpful and ask me what to do. I have even checked the box stating “Do this every time I enter a CD of this type in the drive.

Creative Zen Portable Media Center

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 04:40:00 +0000

I’ve had my Creative Zen PMC for about 9 months now and I use it every single day. I would like something smaller, but the size really doesn’t matter since all it does is sit on my desk. I never carry it around aside from taking it home in the evenings, but it’s convenient to have all of my music with me at work. About a month ago the inline remote stopped working as did the main speaker.

It's Been a Long Time...

Mon, 13 Jun 2005 07:40:00 +0000

Most of what you see on this web site has been changed. I know it doesn’t look like anything has been changed, but trust me it has. Most of the changes are not all that sexy. You see I have changed the layout from tables layout to a CSS layout. I’m close, but not 100% XHTML 1.1 and CSS 2.1 compliant. Actually, I think the CSS will pass the compliance tests, but without valid XHTML it’s a little bit of a waste.

Law & Order - The Bad Ending...

Thu, 13 Jan 2005 10:30:00 +0000

Elisabeth Rohm plays Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn on NBC’s Law & Order. Tonight’s episode was her last on the show. Over the past year her character has had a few ethical arguments with D.A. Arthur Branch (played by Fred Thompson) and A.D.A. Jack McCoy (played by Sam Waterston). These arguments have been getting more obvious with each passing week, but they were never blatantly obvious. Tonight though, D.A. Branch fired Serena because she was letting her emotions water down the evidence against a defendant.

TiVo is not a Noun or a Verb

Mon, 13 Dec 2004 23:30:00 +0000

According to a News.com story you are no longer allowed to say “Oh I Tivo’d it last night.” You are also not allowed to say “TiVo is the greatest invention of all time.” According to TiVo you are supposed to say “Oh I utilized my TiVo DVR to record that program for later viewing.” or “TiVo DVR is a wonderful appliance.” Yeah, I’m going to follow that about as much as I follow Google’s guidelines on using their name.

The Incredibles

Sun, 12 Dec 2004 08:45:00 +0000

The Incredibles is the newest Pixar animated movie. It stars Craig T. “Coach” Nelson, Holly Hunter, and Samuel L. Jackson playing the voices of the world’s greatest Superheros. Until people started suing them for all the damage they cause saving people’s lives. Typical huh? The voice acting was great and the animation is spot on perfect, but what do you expect from Pixar? They always get these things right. I think this would be more of a review if there was something wrong with the movie.

Spider-Man 2

Mon, 05 Jul 2004 19:40:00 +0000

Taking in more than $40.5 Million on the opening day, spurred on by an estimated $5 Million from midnight showings, Spider-Man 2 beat Spider-Man 1 for second place in opening day ticket sales. Number one is Shrek 2 with about $46 Million. Ticket sales do not normally relate to how good the movie is unless you take into account the drop from first week to second week sales. Usually word of mouth kicks in on the second or third week to help sales.

To Space and Back

Thu, 24 Jun 2004 19:55:00 +0000

On Monday morning above a beautiful California sunrise SpaceShipOne lit its rocket for a historic rise to 62 miles above the Earth’s surface. Advanced Composites, funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, built the SpaceShipOne that has achieved the milestone of being the first privately funded craft to reach the edge of space. However, many in the media are skeptical saying such things as, “62 miles is not space,” and my least favorite, “but it didn’t go into orbit.

Dodgeball

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 15:35:00 +0000

Movies are made to entertain people. I have said it numerous times that if you only go to movies to find the secret to life you will be disappointed. Dodgeball is an entertaining movie, but it will not win any awards. If you have seen the movie Zoolander then you may think that most of that character is duplicated in Ben Stiller’s act here. You would be right. Most of the nonsensical things that Ben’s character says sound like clips picked off the cutting room floor from Zoolander.

No Doubt and Blink 182 Concert

Sun, 20 Jun 2004 19:00:00 +0000

One of the New Years Resolutions that Leanne and I have is to see more concerts than we did in 2003. Since we only went to 5 concerts last year this should not be too difficult of a task. Last night we went to our second concert, and it was great. Phantom Planet, whose claim to fame is the theme song for Fox’s “The O.C.” TV show, opened at just after seven o’clock.

Dyson DC07 Cyclone Animal Upright Vacuum

Fri, 18 Jun 2004 19:00:00 +0000

I have in my possession what I like to call my bachelor vacuum cleaner. It is a little Dirt Devil that you could mistake for a small twig from a tree. Since Leanne moved in over a year ago she has been asking me to get a new vacuum cleaner. I think mainly because my bachelor one does not do a good job. This week I was shopping on Amazon looking for a CD that my sister wants, and I found that the Dyson, that I know Leanne secretly wanted, was in the Gold Box special.

Quantum Teleportation

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 20:30:00 +0000

Six long years ago I walked away from Montana State University with a Bachelor of Science in Physics. I promptly got a job in the Silicon Valley writing programs that nobody has ever heard of or used. What have I been using my degree for then? Aside from the occasional DirectX video game (linear algebra truly is important in this hobby along with classical mechanics) I use my degree for tricks at parties.

CQ

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 20:25:00 +0000

The year is 1969 a young filmmaker is an editor on a Science Fiction movie based in the year 2001. When the director is fired because the ending sucks (I wish this happened more often) a new director takes over. This new director quits and the young editor gets his chance to direct. The main concern in the movie is how will he end the movie. Once he figures it out someone takes an exposed can of film.

Coke C2 -- The New New Coke!

Tue, 15 Jun 2004 17:05:00 +0000

Roughly twenty years ago Coke decided to make New Coke and remove the Old Coke from the shelves. This resulted in pretty much every evil act of the mid to late eighties. Coke got the hint and removed New Coke and replaced it with “Coca-Cola Classic.” For those of you not from the US, that is why we have Coke Classic and you have just Coke. Now Coke is getting on the diet bandwagon and it isn’t happy with having Diet Coke, Caffeine Free Diet Coke, Lemon Diet Coke, Lime Diet Coke, Lemon Caffeine Free Diet Coke, and Lime Caffeine Free Diet Coke.

Jimmy Kimmel's show gets canceled over a joke.

Mon, 14 Jun 2004 16:50:00 +0000

I have never watched the Jimmy Kimmel show, but it has a rich tradition of controversy. I believe this was the show that ABC got rid of once before because some people complained that he had audience members drinking beer during the show. I think that was just a publicity stunt to get more viewers. This time, though, he went too far. Jimmy Kimmel, a comedian, made a joke at the expense of other people.

Van Halen's New Song "It's About Time"

Tue, 01 Jun 2004 06:05:00 +0000

Eddie Van Halen is arguably one of the greatest guitarists to ever pick up an ax. At a very young age he and his brother Alex would play together inspired by their father who was a classically trained musician. Eventually Alex and Eddie met up with a bassist named Michael Anthony and an ego named David Lee Roth. Together they changed guitar rock forever. You can hear their influence in just about all Rock and Roll today.

NBC's First Show to End - Ed

Fri, 30 Jan 2004 20:00:00 +0000

The first show on Wednesday nights moved to Friday nights. This is a sure sign that a broadcaster wants a show to fail. Instead of petering out, Ed ends gracefully. After four years Ed finally ends up with Carol. The story began with Ed returning to Stuckyville to ignite a flame with his high school crush. I will miss this show. It was one of my favorite parts of the week for many years.

Rayman 3

Sun, 11 Jan 2004 09:00:00 +0000

Bored with the games that I currently have for the GameBoy I went in search of something new. I had seen a review of Rayman 3 for the PlayStation 2, and it was very positive. However, nothing was said of the little portable version of this game. The screen shots included on the reverse of the box looked incredible. I bought it and plopped it into my GameBoy Advance SP. The screen shots that are included on the back of boxes are not usually a good measure of what the game is actually going to be like.

dn-L the Experiment - Popsicle's

Mon, 24 Nov 2003 20:00:00 +0000

After being totally disappointed with the new 7-up drink I set out to find at least one redeeming feature of this drink. I simply poured the drink out into an ice tray and froze it with a couple of tooth picks floating in them to give me something to hold on to. After freezing for a couple hours I pulled one out and tried it. It was great, wonderful, and very very good.

dn-L The New and Improved 7-up!

Mon, 24 Nov 2003 20:00:00 +0000

dnL or a flipped version of 7-up. Is another soft drink what we really need? How far did they go when they flipped it? Sitting on the shelf of my local grocer that finally got a decent stock of Mountain Dew Code Red was a bottle with the label of a 7-up bottle only the label was upside down. Very interesting. Then the magical word that I dream about popped out to me, “caffeinated.

Leanne and Todd's Photos

Fri, 08 Aug 2003 20:30:00 -0800

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th

Liz and John's Photos

Fri, 08 Aug 2003 20:30:00 -0800

0th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th

Photos from the Original Napa Locations

Fri, 08 Aug 2003 20:30:00 -0800

Napa hf1 Napa hf10 Napa hf11 Napa hf2 Napa hf3 Napa hf4 Napa hf5 Napa hf6 Napa hf7 Napa hf8

Professional Wedding Photos

Fri, 08 Aug 2003 20:30:00 -0800

001 10x8 002 10x8 003 10x8 004 10x8 005 10x8 006 10x8 007 10x8 008 10x8 009 10x8 010 10x8

Has anyone seen my GameBoy Advance SP?