Patrick Norton has a blog
Patrick Norton, of The Screensavers fame (back when it was actually a good show.) now has his own blog. It only took him several years and a bet from his Screensavers co-stars Kevin Rose and Leo Laporte. Good job Patrick. Welcome to the typepad neighborhood.
Ok, now I have to go to a meeting with my managers and pitch them stuff. What fun.
Later.
One more news bit . . .
Some friends of mine have pointed out that in my last suedo-political post I forgot to mention the Scott Peterson murder trial. He was found guilty of murdering his wife, Laci, and their unborn child. His sentence, death. Can’t say I’m too broken up about it.
Entertainment News
As I like the movies and tv, I thought I would throw down some movie and tv news (mixed with a little commentary, of course). So here goes:
Joss Whedon, creater of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, “Angel” and “Firefly”, will write and direct the new big-screen version of “Wonder Woman”. He likes strong female characters so this makes sense. I like women who tie you up and make you tell the truth so count me in too.
And, in case you missed it, actor Robert Blake of “Beretta” fame (man, I loved that talking bird) has been found not guilty on charges that he killed his wife. The jury did not think the evidence was strong enough to convict him. I wonder if we will start bumping into him at Vitello’s again, now that he’s a free man.
Also, the musical version of “The Lord of the Rings” (yes, I said musical) will debut in Toronto next year with an eye to move to the states later.
And, in a story close to me (not for the reason you think. I almost made a movie in India and have friends in the business there) In a clip aired on India TV, film star Shakti Kapoor is seen telling an actress, “All actresses have slept with directors. I want to make love to you and kiss you. You must do this or else I won’t be able to help you.” The footage has caused an uproar in Bollywood. Kapoor denies the charges. So, the casting couch is real, eh? At least in Bollywood. I’m sure that would never happen here.
And, last but not least, I recently had occasion to visit some people working on the new “Miami Vice” movie. All I can say is that with Michael Mann directing and from the stuff I saw, it is going to be pretty cool. Plus, I really loved the original series so it was even more fun to see some of the ways in which it will be updated. Time to pull the white suit and blue t-shirt out of the closet.
Just when I think I’m out . . . (with apologies to Mr. Coppola)
As many of you know, I have been trying to stay away from politics subsequent to the presidential “election”. But, just when I think I’m out, I get pulled back in. So, I want to mention what happened here in California because I know it will give President Bush and all the other hate-mongers a stomach ache for at least the next few days.
A judge ruled that the state cannot bar gay marriage and that specifying that marriage is between “a man and a woman” is unconstitutional. Here’s the money quote from Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer:
“No rational basis exists for limiting marriage in this state to opposite-sex partners”
There you go. Of course, the decision will be up for appeal.
And while I’m here, there were a couple more things that happened in the last day or so that made me smile but also made my stomach hurt a little too.
First, a new poll (reg required) regarding the war in Iraq shows that 53 percent of Americans said the war was not worth fighting, 57 percent said they disapprove of the president’s handling of Iraq and 70 percent said the number of U.S. casualties, now just over 1,500, is an unacceptable price to pay.
Where were these people during the election? If you don’t like the way the guy is doing the job, don’t vote for him again. It’s that simple.
Also, Bernard J. Ebbers, former CEO Worldcom, was found guilty on charges of fraud. His contention that he was ignorant of the illegal accounting practices that pushed his telecom company into bankruptcy apparently did little to persuade the jury. Ebbers faces a maximum of 85 years in prison.
Now, if the same thing happens to Ken Lay, we may really be on to something.
Just when I think I'm out . . . (with apologies to Mr. Coppola)
As many of you know, I have been trying to stay away from politics subsequent to the presidential “election”. But, just when I think I’m out, I get pulled back in. So, I want to mention what happened here in California because I know it will give President Bush and all the other hate-mongers a stomach ache for at least the next few days.
A judge ruled that the state cannot bar gay marriage and that specifying that marriage is between “a man and a woman” is unconstitutional. Here’s the money quote from Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer:
“No rational basis exists for limiting marriage in this state to opposite-sex partners”
There you go. Of course, the decision will be up for appeal.
And while I’m here, there were a couple more things that happened in the last day or so that made me smile but also made my stomach hurt a little too.
First, a new poll (reg required) regarding the war in Iraq shows that 53 percent of Americans said the war was not worth fighting, 57 percent said they disapprove of the president’s handling of Iraq and 70 percent said the number of U.S. casualties, now just over 1,500, is an unacceptable price to pay.
Where were these people during the election? If you don’t like the way the guy is doing the job, don’t vote for him again. It’s that simple.
Also, Bernard J. Ebbers, former CEO Worldcom, was found guilty on charges of fraud. His contention that he was ignorant of the illegal accounting practices that pushed his telecom company into bankruptcy apparently did little to persuade the jury. Ebbers faces a maximum of 85 years in prison.
Now, if the same thing happens to Ken Lay, we may really be on to something.
Another “and I thought I was a geek”
I wish this kind of thing had been around when I played all my role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. My friends and I might have done something like this if the technology was available. I can see how it can make the gaming more interesting. Isn’t technology cool?
The High Violets wrapup
Ok, I went to see brother Sam’s band, The High Violets, last Wednesday night at King King, which is a cool space, btw. As I said in my previous post, I had never seen him live with this band before and I was looking forward to it.
Well, the vote is in and all I can say is “fantastic”. I really liked it. They did a great job. I know, we are related and all but rest assured, if he sucked, you folks would be the second to know (I would tell him first, of course).
I want to encourage the kid and would have probably put it better than “well, that really blew” but I would have told him what I think. He deserves the truth. I would expect no less from him. Although, I never do anything that someone could say “that blew” about so no danger there.
So, it is with great pleasure that I say his show rocked! If I had anything bad to say it would be that the set was too short. I wanted more and so did the audience. They were in to it.
The band needs more songs. I know they are working on more and will have a CD out soon so expect me to be pushing that when it becomes available. I also tried to take some photos with the Treo and you can see those at the flickr moblog. Although, the Treo is not a very good low-light camera. I’m dumb and didn’t bring the good camera. Oh well, live and learn. Maybe next time.
Cheers.
Some TV is good TV aka my love for 'Deadwood'
Man, I really like Deadwood. What a great show. I know, they do tend to throw around some pretty harsh language and some harsh violence and some sex too. It’s just all done with such style and quality. The characters are so well-drawn and acted with such gusto and talent. I really feel like I in that town, living with those people. Just a really great show. I’m going to go watch it again right now.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Well, just saw the new trailer at the end of the O.C. (yes, I watch the O.C., what of it?) All I can say is the movie looks pretty dark and evil and is not going to end well for many characters. I like it and will definitely be at the Chinese Theater on May 19th, as always.
I won’t comment on the editing or pacing of the trailer or the content, but I did enjoy it and have watched it at least five times now. What can I say, I’m a Star Wars fan. Always have been, always will be. Is there anyone who isn’t going to see this movie? Maybe a few but I can say with 100% confidence that this movie will be huge, a blockbuster to end all blockbusters. Maybe even bigger than Titanic (although Hayden is no Leo, sadly).
If you want your own copy of the trailer and didn’t TiVo it like I did, check out this site for links to quite a few torrents. If you don’t have bittorrent, get it here. Enjoy!
The Wednesday night place to be (and other stuff)
My brother Sam and his band, The High Violets, are playing tonight here in LA. They will be at King King in Hollywood and I expect this to be a great show. I say “I expect” because I have never actually seen them live before. Although, the music on their website is great. So, come on over and check it out. Oh, and buy tons of drinks as I think they get part of the booze sales. Maybe some of the gate too. Either way, just come on out and support local music (even if his band is really from Portland).
In other news, it seems the Israeli army frowns on Dungeons and Dragons players. The Israeli Defense Forces say players are “detached from reality” and are automatically given a low security clearance. Now, I played D&D for a long time when I was a kid and I don’t think it made me detached from reality. Although I did end up in the movie business which is kinda detached from reality. And, I have never had a typical “real” job in my life working in an office or a bank or fast food or something. I don’t think I am detached from reality at all.
Now where did I put my +3 Vorpal Sword so I can go smite those fools?!
Tiger versus Longhorn
As a devoted Mac user and fan of Patrick Norton (formerly of Tech TV’s The Screensavers) I read this article with keen interest. He makes some excellent points without talking about things he probably can’t talk about, due to various NDA agreements.
Sadly, I am under many of those agreements as well and can’t elaborate at the moment. Suffice to say that the new version of OSX, Tiger, is going to rock. I think it will be a must-have upgrade. I can’t exactly say the same for Longhorn, yet. I am looking forward to the 64-bit version of Window XP, however. At least it has an actual release date (so far).
Sin City
New trailer for the movie version of Frank Miller’s Sin City. Looks like it has a great deal of potential. I’m looking forward to it.
Life with the PalmOne Treo 650
I have had a chance to use my new Treo 650 from Palm One for about a week and a half and am ready to make some observations and comments on it. First, a little background. As before, I am using T-Mobile in Los Angeles. I purchased the Unlocked Treo 650 directly from Palm One before their unfortunate decision to raise the price a hundred bucks.
As I have already ranted about that, I will spare you it again. My transition from my previous smartphone, the Sony Ericsson P910i, was simplicity itself. I took my SIM card out of the Sony and put it in the Treo, turned on the phone application in the Treo and was able to make calls immediately. Also, my internet and wap settings were preserved and i was able to browse the web from the Treo, using the included Blazer web browser, and send text and picture messages. All without having to enter any new settings.
All in all, a good start for the Treo 650. Then, I began the process of setting up my Macintosh desktop, a Dual 2Ghz G5, to sync with the Treo via iSync. As this is a Palm-based device, this too proved to be very simple. I installed the Palm Desktop software and the Palm conduits (you need them even if you intend to use iSync later). Then, i installed the iSync Palm conduit, went to the conduit settings and enabled iSync for my Treo (which is cleverly named chu, after me).
Then, in the iSync application, the Treo icon appeared and I set it to sync my address book and ical calendars. I then connected the sync cable, navigated to the hotsync icon on the Treo and went for it. Unlike my previous experiences with the P910i, I am happy to say that they first sync went off without a hitch. As it was the first time, it took several minutes to load all of my contacts and ical data. Subsequent syncs have gone much, much faster and have resulted in no errors so far.
The Treo 650 comes bundled with some applications such as Documents to Go for viewing word, excel and powerpoint docs, Versamail, for sending and receiving email and a web browser called Blazer. All of these apps are installed the first time you sync as well, which also contributes to the long duration of the first sync. And, as this Treo 650 has bluetooth, it has also synced via that interface with no problems. However, sync takes even longer that way so if you plan on installing any software or moving large documents, its better (and faster) to use the usb cable.
Now, a few bad things. First, the included email software, Versamail, is not very good, at least for me. It has the bad habit of downloading every email each time it syncs, even ones that I have deleted and told it to delte from the server. That gets annoying. Plus, I have had it set to retrieve my email from my main two accounts at one hour intervals throughout the day. Unfortunately, it is only successful about half the time and twice it has frozen to the point that I have had to perform a soft reset of the Treo to get it to work again. Not so great.
So, I dumped it in favor of another email program called SnapperMail. So far, SnapperMail has performed perfectly and has done exactly what I want an email program to do. Get my email. SnapperMail, sadly, is not free but for me, its worth the price. Your mileage may vary and you may find that VersaMail is enough for your needs. It just wasn’t for me. My intention is for the Treo to mitigate the necessity for me to carry around my Powerbook all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I love my 12“ Powerbook. It rocks. However, the Treo 650 is much smaller, lighter and has a good battery that can be recharged in the car, if necessary.
While we are on the subject of batteries, the Treo seems to have a pretty good one. I use the Treo 650 every day to make calls, check email, browse the web, take photos and for many other things. I have yet to run out of battery power during the day. I do charge it every night but even after a ful day of use, the battery is usually only about half gone, if that much. So, that’s pretty good battery life in my opinion. Plus, with the new file system, if I did run out of power, I would not lose the items stored in the memory of the Treo 650.
This is a great improvement over the Treo 600. Although, this feature has angered some treo 650 users because although the new file system has this one big advantage, it also makes programs and files take up more space so consequently, the Treo 650 actually has less usable memory than the Treo 600. While I applaud Palm One for making improvements, would it have killed them to up the internal memory to 64 mb or even more? Even the P910i had more internal memory. Maybe that will come in the next version of the Treo.
In the next installment, more usability stuff along with web browser comparisons and IM clients.
TPS = Funny
A great mash-up of vintage “Superfriends” video with audio from the movie “Office Space”. Watch it and have a good laugh. This is some funny sheet.
Testing (yes again)
Still trying out mo:blog and posting directly from the Treo 650. So far, so good. It is a little easier than sending the entry via email and it offers more flexability as well.
And believe me, I likey the flexability. Even if I don’t have much myself.
Waiting is the hardest part
But here I sit. I feel a little like a traitor as I am writing while enjoying a cold beverage at Coffee Bean. Yes, I said Coffee Bean. Sadly, a Starbucks was just not near enough to where I am.
I am waiting for a meeting that got pushed back. But I am already here so I found the nearest place to hang out and wait. Fun. At least its only for a short time. I hope nobody sees me here. Crap, here comes someone I know.
Can you see me?
Nope. Not if these guys have their way. Can you say invisibility shield? They can. Now if they could just perfect those x-ray vision goggles I would be set. Of course, this would have really helped when I was a frustrated high school freshman thinking about a way to get into the girl’s locker room. Sadly, I never made it. You can’t have everything I guess.
George Lucas is special
Because when he goes to Disney World, Mickey Mouse dresses up for him. In a Jedi costume no less. Now that’s power.
Testing Again
Trying another blog app on the Treo. So, you can ignore this post as well. Now, back to the Oscars. Chris Rock is doing a fine job. Enjoy.
Test post from HBlogger for Palm
Test post from HBlogger for Palm. Sent from the Treo 650.
Please ignore.