Wild Ones...

One of my all time faves...

Karaoke Coral...

This gal must really hate Coldplay: A Coldplay fan has been beaten up following their rendition of "Yellow" in a karaoke bar. The incident took place in Seattle on Thursday (August 9) at Changes. As the unnamed man took the stage to sing the song, a woman reportedly declared: "Oh no, not that song. I can't stand that song!" She then leaped at the would-be singer, shouted expletives at him and told him his singing "sucked," while expressing the same opinion of the song, according to a Seattle police report. She pushed the man and punched him, all in an effort to stop his singing. Other patrons went to the singer's aid and hauled the 21-year-old woman outside. Robert Willmette, one the barmen at Changes, said: "It took three or four of us to hold her down." According to the barman, the woman "went crazy" when she got outside, punching him twice in the face. The police were called and blocked the whole street off. The officers took the woman, whom Willmette described as "a little hippie girl," to the ground. She assaulted the police officer and was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of assault, reports the Seattle P.I. paper.

Testing, Testing...

Word has it that the latest build of Mac Leopard has gone out to developers for testing and such. According to the article at AppleInsider, Apple wants them to test it out rigorously. They also informed developers of a dozen known issues that they have to work out of Leopard yet - plus anything new that comes up from testing. And they still say they're going to make the October release. Something tells me there'll be lots of updates to download in short order once Leopard is released. Not to mention being a programmer at Apple these days is probably pretty demanding...

Earthbound...

Just something I made up...can grab the bigger version here...or listen to the song/vid here...

Seven Up Cops

I've never heard of this movie, but I've got to track down the DVD. A 70's Cop thriller, "The Seven Ups" is apparently about a detective in an elite New York City unit (the Seven Ups, I guess) trying to find out who killed his partner, but stumbling on something bigger. What caught my attention was this fantastic car chase sequence I found on YouTube. It's pretty good car tire squealing action and a slam bang finish.

Dell vs Mac

Just for kicks, I went to the Dell site and custom built a laptop as close to a MacBook Pro specifications as possible to see what the price difference would be. It came out to about $1808 for a Dell Inspiron vs $2199 for a MacBook Pro. (Canadian $$) And that's Windows Vista Home Premium vs Mac OS X / ILife '08 for your software. There were some minor differences in hardware, obviously, but there you go. Interesting.

Say No To DVD Format War...

Word has it that Paramount and Dreamworks have now gone HD-DVD only in the current format war. I believe they had been supporting both, but now having done "market research", they decided that HD-DVD is the way to go, and have given Blu-Ray the boot. This means that movies like Transformers and Shrek 3 will only be available on HD-DVD in the hi def war. (Regular DVD will be there, of course, and it is certainly good enough.) The kicker is that rumor around the web is that Microsoft paid them a total of 150 million to get them to do this. How's that for market research. This comes on the heels of places like Target and Blockbuster saying they will only stock Blu-Ray. And so the war rages on, and the smart consumer says "So What?" Save your money, hope both these flop, and stick with good ol' regular DVD. And whether you go Mac or Linux with Open Office, run - run! - away from Micro$oft...

New iMac Apart...

For those like me who might be curious, here's a sight with pictures of a disassembled new iMac. Doesn't appear to be any glue (screws and magnets for the glass), so one can get to the hard drive. But it ain't easy.

Open Your Wallets

Heads up Browncoats (and fans of good movies). The 2 disc Special Edition of Serenity hits shelves on Tuesday. Normally, I don't support double dipping, but this is an exception. You've got the movie, of course, and then a whole new disc of extras including commentary by Joss Whedon and cast. Of course this is what we should have had to begin with, but in this case I'll be supporting the cause and adding it to my collection. You can't stop the signal! Then elsewhere, there is news that Bruce Springsteen will be reuniting with the E Street Band for a new album being released on October 2nd called "Magic". This is great news, as its the first album of new material from Bruce and the Band since 2002's The Rising. He did the solo album Devils and Dust and the folk themed Seeger Sessions in between, but this should be a return the well known rock 'n roll that is Springsteen music. Can't wait.

Christmas in August!

My latest Amazon package is in - this time around we have hardcover Punisher Max Vol 3 (finally! And from Amazon Canada - stateside Amazon didn't have it. Go Canada!), and a bunch of DVDs including the 300 2 Disc special edition, Seasons 1 & 2 of House at half price, the dialogue minimal car chase filled crime thriller The Driver, and the Warner Bros Film Noir Classic Collection Vol 4. It has ten movies, commentaries and extras, for something like 40 bucks. It's like 4 bucks a movie to own! And the disc packaging has the movie posters of these old movies on the DVD case covers as well. Classic stuff, can't wait to wade through this noir greatness. Besides how's this for a one line description of "Where Danger Lives": A corpse behind. A dead end ahead. Woozy Robert Mitchum and Faith Domergue are on the run!

Ketchup On Your Burger Skills...

The never ending adventure that is the Wendy's drive through continues. Went over there tonight and ordered my usual Spicy Chicken combo - #6 to be exact. And how did they screw it up this time you ask? Well, they put ketchup on it instead of a tomato slice. What the hell is that?! Ketchup does NOT equal tomato slice, especially on a spicy chicken burger. I still ate it, but Leo Getz was so right about drive thrus.

Cash, Downloaded.

How did I not know about this? Found a new website - stage6.divx.com - that has a whole bunch of highly encoded DivX vids available for viewing...and download! And they make it easy with an actual download button. The great thing is that the vids are higher quality, not the compressed into oblivion of YouTube. Sure, the selection isn't the broadest, but what they do have is pretty good. I downloaded a bunch of music videos, and even got the whole Johnny Cash at San Quentin concert that was televised in 1969. I'd seen it before on MuchMusic, but now I have my own copy. It's a fascinating hour of viewing, with Johnny Cash and June performing with inter cut clips of the prisoners and staff of San Quentin talking to the camera. It's a chilling bit as they cut back and forth of clips of a prisoner and guard talking about the death row experience with Johnny Cash singing There'll Be Peace In The Valley. Worth the watch, even for non country fans.

"Let Off Some Steam"

Gotta be kidding - their putting out a Directors Cut of the movie Commando on Sept 18. Sure, it's a Arnold Schwarzenegger action "classic", but more for the cheesiness, one liners, and camera/editing goofs. Still, it's a lot of fun to watch. On the new DVD, you get a director's commentary, both the theatrical versions and the new extended version (5 more minutes!), a couple featurettes, and deleted scenes. Let's not all stampede Best Buy at once to get this...that way no one will be in my way in line at the checkout :)

Shuffling

I'm really liking my new (well, refurbed) shiny blue iPod Shuffle. For 59 bucks off the Apple website, it's great. 200 plus songs on shuffle, and I found out tonight that when I press pause and then shut it off, when I turn it back on it picks up right where it left off. Cool. And I play it in my truck through my cassette deck and a cord, and then I quickly unplugged it, put my headphones in, and went shopping through Sobeys at 2 in the morning listening to my tunes. It's so small, and with the built on clip, it goes anywhere and I don't worry about it falling out of my pocket. Neat little thing, glad I bought it.

Mac Attack Again!

Oh man. My decisions just got a bit harder, and a bit clearer, all at once. I will be getting a Mac, but which one? As I had read earlier, Apple was ready to ship the new iLife, so I held off a new computer purchase till I saw what was in store. Today, it came to light. Apple has upgraded the iMac line, and the Mac Mini's, came out with iLife '08, and iWorks '08 all in one day. The hardware got an upgrade overhaul much like the laptops did in June, so it's apparent that everything is being prepared for the new Leopard OS in October. More CPU horsepower, more RAM, more hard drive, more graphics - but surprisingly for a better price in some spots, or at the least the same price for better hard ware. The 24 inch iMac is now affordable at least. And the outsides have been overhauled as well, and the keyboard is redone too. I went and downloaded the video tour for the new iLife '08 from the Apple website. It's a 20 minute presentation of the new goodies, and I found myself saying "oh man that's cool" to myself several times while watching it. iMovie is a total overhaul and totally sweet. And for those wondering why anyone would pay $100 plus bucks for a .Mac account with 1GB of space, you now get 10GB of space. Don't know if it's worth the money, although the one click publishing from iWeb is pretty slick for those HTML weary. Then in iWorks, there is finally a spreadsheet Excel equivalent called Numbers, along with upgrades for Pages and Keynotes. However, if you're going to use an office application, go get OpenOffice or NeoOffice. It's free and legal, and works great. Now, I gotta decide how much MAC I can fit in the budget. What I'd like is a 24 inch iMac on the desk for my main machine horsepower and sweet monitor, and the low end MacBook for when I want portability. Bit much, I'd suppose. One can dream though. Of course, while we're waiting for Leopard in October I'll have to pay close attention to reviews and reports about this new hardware and software. Is it as good as it looks, or are there hiccups under the hood? Time will tell.

Dead Funny...

Check this out. Mickey Mouse was depressed. Apparently, it's true that in the 1930's Walt Disney ran comic strips featuring Mickey Mouse trying to kill himself (bemoaning the loss of Minnie Mouse to some other dude) and failing in different, humorous ways. Although the final silent panel of the first strip with Mickey reaching for the shotgun is a little surreal. Who knew?

A Shaky Ultimatum...

The Bourne Ultimatum hit theatres this weekend, and seemed to have strong reviews. For the story, acting, and action that is. Seems the shaky cam is in full effect, though some are reporting it isn't as bad as The Bourne Supremacy. Theatre goers weren't put off apparently as it made 70 million on its opening weekend. For me though, I'll be waiting for rental for something I would have liked to see. I'm not paying 10 bucks to feel nauseous from shaky cam, though. It's a real shame too - we get a spy/action thriller that isn't a CGI fest and the only way to make it watchable is to take a couple of Gravol first.

Get Yer Trailers...

Two new movie trailers here in Quality Quicktime. One is a revenge flick starring Kevin Bacon (looks like something the Punisher movie should be like), the other is a kinda different drama / romantic comedy starring Billy Crudup and Mandy Moore. Can you guess which is which? :) Download and enjoy... Death Sentence - 480P Dedication - 640W

Marvel Minutes...

Reading through highlights of the SDCC Marvel X-men panel via Newsarama, hear are some of the things that caught my eye: Mike Carey talked about X-Men, with the cover of #204 (with Rogue and Gambit) shown. Carey said, as the cover hints, it'd be the first time Rogue and Gambit met "face to face" in a long time. I haven't been a fan of the art on the X-Men title so far between Bachalo and Ramos, but maybe Choi will be better. Still, I have been following the storyline via the web and I’m glad that Mike Carey has finally brought Rogue back to respectability. Guggenheim talked about his upcoming Wolverine run with Howard Chaykin, saying it'll follow-up on his Wolverine run during Civil War. "Wolverine's rogue's gallery has been reduced to at least one recently," said Guggenheim, alluding to the events of this week's issue of the comic. Guggenheim said there's going to be a new villain named "Shogun" introduced that will "kill" Wolverine, leading to a fight for his soul. "How are you going to do a comic where you kill the main character?" joked Captain America-killer Brubaker. Good one, Brubaker. Not a fan of Guggenheim on Wolverine, nor his whole “Logan Dies” approach to the character. I’ll follow it online. Way gave a sneak of things to come with Wolverine: Origins, saying that he's "tired of seeing Wolverine getting his ass handed to him." Way continued that there will be more about Weapon X revealed, and that you'll also see a character that Way personally has a great affinity for - Deadpool. Right on Daniel Way! I’m tired of Wolverine getting his ass handed to him too. Let’s see some old school Wolverine and some butt kicking SNIKT! Action. I’m a bit worried about Way bringing Deadpool in though. I’m used to Nicieza’s version of him. McCann paused to congratulate Brubaker on the two Eisner Awards he won Friday night, with Brubaker saying in a joking tone, "You all should read Criminal [Brubaker’s ICON series], it's the best new book, officially." Right on. Everyone should be reading Criminal. Excellent writing, art, and story. This should be a movie or HBO TV series someday.

Just Say No To Grindhouse DVDs...

After the other day's post of a rare DVD purchase recommendation (300 & Hot Fuzz), here's a no brainer from the other camp. Do NOT buy the upcoming Grindhouse movie DVD's. Yes, that's right, plural. In the theatre, it was ONE movie. A feature movie each by Robert Rodriguez and Tarantino, with fake trailers in between. Now on DVD, they are going to split the movie into two full price releases - without the fake trailers on either disc. Sure, they'll be extras, including extended cuts of the movie, but this stinks. They expect people to shell out what will probably be upwards of 40 bucks to see what they didn't pay $10 to see in the theatre? Talk about a rip off. Now, if you read into some of the web rumors, it looks like the Weinstein brothers - the studio behind the flick - seem to want it to fail in a grudge match with the directors. Either way, with a blatant rip off like this coming along, they're just begging for it to be downloaded. Studios need to stop complaining about movie piracy when they're pulling dumb moves like this.

Nobody Asked...

In other news nobobdy cares about... Whoopi Goldberg is set to replace Rosie O'Donnell on The View. Yeah...so...um, ok. Now you know. You can continue to flip right past it on the channel surf. Barry Bonds is one home run away from tying the all time record. I don't understand why anybody is still pitching to him. I wouldn't want to be the guy who gives up that homer. All the pitchers should band together and decided that he'll never get the record. One away from it, they should all just intentionally walk him for the rest of his career. Even if it walks in a run. Even if it loses the game. At least it'd be a loss with honor, and Mr. Steriod's name wouldn't sully baseball with the record. Nathan Fillion will be joining Desperate Housewives. Poor guy. From the shortlived greatness of Firefly/Serentiy, to the movie Waitress that noboby saw, to the Fox chopped Drive, to Desperate Housewives. Ouch. At least it'll be a regular paycheck. Until it's cancelled. The Spice Girls are having a reunion tour. Just a sec........ok, I'm back, though I may have broke a rib from laughing so hard. I blame David Beckham for the injury. Maybe he can spot me some of his painkillers. They keep him from having to earn his paycheck, maybe they'll work for me...