FlawlessWalrus

MetroNorth In, MetroNorth Out

2009-03-01T21:39:00.001-05:00

Monster Rape is No Excuse

2009-02-07T14:32:00.003-05:00

Free Hartford Improv Show!

2008-12-18T10:24:00.005-05:00

Prepare to be amazed!

The Hartford Stage Flying Blind III class invites you to join us in a death-defying, laugh till your sides hurt, completely unscripted, FREE improv performance!

Monday, December 22 at 7:00 pm
Hartford
(942 Main Street - The Residence Inn, 2nd Floor).

This share-performance is the culmination of the FLYING BLIND III short-form improv class.
(Think Who's Line Is It Anyway?, but less Drew Carey and more funny.)

Come out to support your peers and celebrate the holidays with the Hartford Stage Education family. No cover. Cash bar.

RSVP to Kate Sidley at katesidley@hartfordstage.org. Guests welcome.

See you there!

Canvassing for Obama in Rochester, NH

2008-11-02T22:38:00.012-05:00

Drive for Change

I wanted to get a bunch of my friends together on a Get on the Bus style road trip to New Hampshire to volunteer for Barack Obama. That's what I wanted anyway. I invited everyone close to me that I thought had both the inclination for Obama and the interest enough in politics to volunteer.

I had canvassed Scranton, PA for Obama back on April 12th during the primary. I also wanted to get some people to go then, but I end up going solo the day after news of the "bitter" comment broke, getting paired with a Scientologist that tried to convert me, and getting a speeding ticket on the way back in Fishkill, NY, all in the name of NOT delivering PA for Obama.

I livetwittered my PA volunteering:
18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1

Despite my adventures in canvassing, I noticed I was having trouble recruiting for this venture. Eager to leverage the power of the web, I posted an event on the facebook:

I sent it out to all my Obama-minded friends, and got some interest, but nothing stuck. People just had other things to do. I was disappointed, to be sure, but I understand. Luckily, one man, my friend and roommate committed and was able to come with me up to New Hampshire. We stopped at Burger King on our way out of town for breakfast and headed up to Rochester, guided by my iPhone's GPS. On the road: 10AMish.

The Obama people had asked us if we could try to make it there by 10:00, but that seemed to be just out of our grasp. Fueled by breakfast sausage, Genius playlists and block-letter HOPE, we hit the Mass Pike at an eighty mile-per-hour clip. Just two and a half hours and $5.00 in tolls later, we found ourselves in Rochester, NH, a place neither of us had been before, but a place not unlike any other New England town with a historic downtown. We were struck by the incredible number of yard signs that were planted along every median, corner and public greenspace like glossy, partisan geraniums. Here is the picture we didn't take of that incredible sight:

We were told by the Out-of-State Obama people that the campaign headquarters was on 28 Main St, in Rochester, NH, which is on a tiny, residential street, about 2 miles from 28 North Main St., where the Strafford County Democrats office actually is. Who to blame: Google Maps for not "did you mean?"-ing me?, the Out-of-State Obama people who didn't know that Main St. and North Main St. were completely different, separated streets, or us for not doing a map reality check and flying by the seat of my iPhone's pants? The world may never know.

We found free, available public parking in downtown Rochester; a nice accommodation. Upon arrival at the Dem HQ, we were actually directed down the block to a canvassing staging area by a tiny woman name Valerie. After a few minutes of not being greeted, Paul hit the head, and I put my hands in my pockets. I sauntered over to the young(er than me, at least) lad with the Obama button, whose position behind a table was the closest thing to a position of authority. Turns out, that's the guy. We got the canvassing script, some stickers, and tons of campaign literature (complete with sample ballot!!!). We also saw that Bill Clinton, the real one, not some Clinton impersonator, was appearing in the very same Rochester, NH that we WERE ALREADY IN ON THAT VERY DAY! At noon. It was 1. We missed him; we missed this:

Paul and I zoomed out to to the addresses on our sheet, stopping first for some soul-and-hand-warming Dunkin Donuts. We overshot our target neighborhood at first, ending up in Maine. We didn't even know we were that close to the place where Paul got stitches just a few months ago.

My "OBAMA"-stickered '93 Subaru got parked on Autumn Lane, and we got to walking. No luck at the first 3 houses. At the fourth house, after a single courteous ringing of the doorbell, we hear, unmistakably, from inside: "Oh GOD! LEAVE ME ALONE!". Paul and I exchange a panicked glance but remain firm in our spot on the steps. The voice's body approaches the door and a middle aged woman in a Patriots sweatshirt answers. She's had enough of it; all of it. She explained that she'd had more unwelcome visitors in the last couple of days than Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Eve (*cough*). She told us that she was undecided, apparently not knowing that by insisting on this status, she'll be subject to harassment from all sides right up until the polls close. I asked, out of duty, if she'd like a piece of our campaign literature (complete with SAMPLE BALLOT!!!) and, to our surprise, she sighed, "Yes...".

That first woman was one of 9 people we actually got to say whether they were even voting out of about 50 houses. Most people weren't home, and everyone we talked to had been hit up multiple times, some even that same day. I noticed that our list was dated 10/31, and I can imagine that a two-day old list at this stage of the campaign could be very out-of-date. Paul suggested that by this point, the lists consist only of the bottom of the barrel; the people that avoid all callers, remain stubbornly undecided, or have yet to be reached at all. This was not the feel good, last minute, get-out-the-vote effort that I hoped it would be.

Most people were at the end of their ropes with the entire process. We told a few to "hang in there" and "only 2 more days". Even the Obama supporters couldn't be bothered with us. I felt that the campaign office had set us up to fail with a 2 day old list that someone had already gone through just ahead of us. We came up to New Hampshire from our solid blue state of CT to be relevant to this election, and I can't say that we did that. If NH goes for Obama, we can pretend our effort mattered, if not, we can feel like we did more harm than good.

We returned our tallies to base, and left after an unsatisfactory chat with several overcaffeinated staffers that were more interested in hearing themselves talk than our information that our people were feeling harassed and overwhelmed. Before the long haul back to Vernon, CT we reflected on our day over some excellent bison burgers at Wild Willy's in Rochester. The burgers were great.

Microsoft and Google Computing in the Cloud

2008-10-08T19:39:00.003-04:00

Ed. Note: I wrote this for the class I'm taking this semester, and it barely got used, so, here you go, Internet. - FlawlessWalrus

To understand cloud computing, one must first understand the term “cloud” as used in this context. The cloud is a data and information stored on the internet, and not on a user’s computer. The cloud can be accessed from a user’s computer, but is not limited to one computer, location or device. The cloud can be accessed by many applications and can allow for data sharing and integration.

Perhaps the most common example of cloud computing is webmail. Whether using AOL.com to get AOL mail, Microsoft’s Outlook Web Access to remotely access email on an Exchange server, or using free webmail like Yahoo! Mail or Gmail, this is cloud computing. Compare it to using Microsoft Exchange on a computer: With Exchange, your computer holds all the emails, does word processing functions in the composing of the email and sends of the email to the server, to be mailed. In webmail, the emails sit on a remote server, accessible through the internet and are never stored on your computer. The word processing functions are shared between your computer in the browser and the server. Your webmail can be accessed from any number of places or devices. You can get your Gmail on your cell phone, your AOL mail at a friend’s house or your Yahoo! Mail at work. Webmail is not tied to any one device or location, and is thus part of the cloud.

Another emerging part of cloud computing is Microsoft Office-style document creation and editing. Google has created Google Docs (formerly known as Writely, and for a while Google Docs and Spreadsheets), a cloud-based word processing/spreadsheet/presentation suite that competes directly with Microsoft’s Word, Excel and PowerPoint, respectively. Google has created a solution the problem that occurs when one has a computer, but doesn’t have access to Office-type software. All a user needs is an internet connection, a supported web browser and a free Google account. Documents can then be created and stored online, whether the user has a Windows-based PC, a Mac, or other operating system. Taking Office one step further, users can easily share documents, either by emailing them, sending links to a version of the document published online or by downloading the document to their computers just like a file produced by Office. The documents can be collaborated on by other users and allow for versioning (tracking of changes and rolling back to previous versions). The files are stored in the cloud, and much of the processing is shred between the user’s browser and the online server.

Lately as trends have moved toward cloud computing, it has become evident that a user’s choice of operating system is becoming less relevant to a user’s computing experience. Computer manufacturers have begun manufacturing what they call “netbooks.” These netbooks have significantly less substantial hardware specifications than standard laptops or desktop computers. They run on a version of the UNIX operating system (a free, open source OS) rather than Windows, a move that saves the manufacturers many dollars per machine in licensing costs. Also, netbooks are delivered with little to no software aside from the operating system and a free web browser, like Mozilla’s Firefox. The reduced hardware and bare-bones software allow manufacturers to keep costs way down and prices as well. Netbook users don’t miss the accelerated computing hardware, since most of their computer usage on a netbook is cloud computing where the processing is shared with a remote server. Users also don’t miss software like Microsoft Office because they have access to cloud computing alternatives like Google Docs.

Steve Ballmer of Microsoft has just announced plans for Windows Cloud, an OS based heavily on cloud computing, most likely designed for use on netbooks. Microsoft, as a seller of both operating systems and software that stands to lose market share to cloud computing, wants to create a lightweight, cheaper OS to stay in the netbook market.

There are more than a few downsides to cloud computing, especially at this stage of its development. First, and most important, cloud computing relies heavily on the benevolence of massive corporations like Google, Yahoo!, Apple and Microsoft. All of these players and more offer gigabytes of free online storage to users with free accounts. This storage holds emails, documents, contacts, personal information and more. Users are expected to implicitly trust these companies, not only as holders of their data, but as providers of secure access to that data. Should these systems become compromised, many users’ data could be stolen, and should they fail, many users’ data could be lost. These corporations tend to be leaders in the field of internet security, and they also have tons of redundant storage, so this type of loss is unlikely, yet possible.

Cloud computing as depends heavily on ubiquitous internet access. There are many places in the world that do not yet have internet access and those that do rarely offer it for free. While most cloud computing occupations are free to use, there are costs associated with internet access and those should be considered when calculating the savings of a netbook. Having data stored in the internet cloud requires internet access to retrieve that data. Google offers a solution to this called Google Gears that allows users to keep their documents synced with their local computers for access even when not connected to the internet. This offers the very un-cloud-like position of tying a user to a certain computer that has been synched with the cloud.

Cloud computing clearly represents the near-future of internet-based computing. As more and more applications are moved inside the web browser, software that sits on a user’s local computer becomes obsolete. Photoshop-like image editing software is already beginning to make its way into the cloud, and YouTube and Google Video could soon be the place to go for video editing. Practical use for cloud computer increases directly with increases in internet access. In higher education, where students are becoming required to have computers than access the internet, cloud computing applications like Blackboard are becoming a dependable space to users to access classroom materials from anywhere, any time. Cloud computing is increasingly removing the concept of the personalized personal computer, where what makes a user’s internet experience is what lies in their online accounts. Cloud computing even allows for new kinds of computing that have no parallel in the non-cloud era, such as social networking, like facebook. Expect cloud computing to be a part of every computer user’s daily life, and expect computers without integrated dependence on access to the cloud to disappear.

Rocking Out

2008-10-06T01:34:00.001-04:00

Mart & Dan Rocking Out
Originally uploaded by jamesplankton

James Plankton (yes, the famous photographer James Plankton) took this pic of me and Marta rocking out to Guitar Hero, while I sang along into my iPhone voice recorder program.

The song: The Killers - When You Were Young

July 11th and 12th Weekend Baseball Trip

2008-07-07T16:39:00.002-04:00

Here's where Zeke and I will be going on our July 11th and 12th Weekend Baseball Trip. On Friday, July 11th, we'll be seeing the Nationals host the Astros in their new ballpark. Projected starters: Tim Redding and Wandy Rodriguez. Oughtta be some offense in that one.

Our seats in Section 307 at the new park:

Then, on Saturday, July 12th, we'll be seeing the Phillies battle the sub-.500-yet-still-in-first-place D-Backs. Possible starters: Adam "Dirty Headline" Eaton and Randy "My Name Means 'Horny Penis'" Johnson.

Our seats in Section 316 at Citizens Bank Ballpark:

COPS is Filmed Live on Location

2008-06-18T13:07:00.001-04:00

Because I was already wearing the glasses, AND this came up on my iPod AND I happened to have a camera with me. The Perfect Storm.

Well, U2 is Catholic, right?

2008-05-08T10:02:00.002-04:00

My Fellow Americans - A Speech by George W. Bush

Our cat in Iraq will require new bowls. We have conducted a curious assessment of our military and reconstruction needs in Iraq, and also in Dublin. I will soon submit to Congress a request for $84. The request will cover breads and painful operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, which we expect will cost $12 over the next year. This budget request will also support our delicate commitment to helping the Iraqi and Afghan people wearily rebuild their own nations, after minutes of oppression and mismanagement. We will provide mice to help them unwrap security. And we will help them to restore basic services, such as identity theft and shucking, and to build new elbows and plugs. This effort is essential to the stability of those nations, and therefore, to our own security. Now and in the future, we will support our screams and we will keep our word to the more than 2 people of Cuba and Dairy Queen.

Fellow whiskers: We've been escaped these past 24 months, and the dangers have not passed. Yet workers are responding, drudgingly and regrettably. We accept the duties of our generation. We are active and resolute in our own defense. We are serving in wire's cause -- and that is the cause of all mankind.

Thank you, and may edge continue to bless America.

Generated by Brian Cook's PHP Madlib Maker

My Dad's Recipe for Grilled Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

2008-04-04T12:55:00.002-04:00

Ed. Note -- This is transcribed from a hand-written note from my father, formatting, typos and all. - FlawlessWalrus

GRILLED STUFFED PORTABELLA MUSHROOMS

(2) Packages Frozen Spinach thawed and squeezed dry cut-up
(1) 16oz Ricotta Cheese
(1) Container Parmasian Cheese
(2) Egg Yolks
(8) Large Portabella Mushrooms grilled on both sides

[hand-drawn mushroom top with caption -- "this side up first"]

Also remove stems cut up and put in stuffing

After mushrooms are grilled nice mix spinach, Ricotta cheese, some of the Parmasain, and the yolks from eggs

Stuff mushrooms cover with the rest of Parmasain cheese cover on grill put on low until heated

ENJOY!

7 Haikus Written in the Back Seat on the Way to a Meeting

2008-03-29T15:26:00.006-04:00

Company car ride
We make small talk to pass time
Politics are out

Five syllables then
Seven syllables and then
Five syllables more

The Berlin Turnpike
Was killed by the interstate
All empty motels

There are two choices
Cooling breeze or messed up hair
My hair is cut short

Hartford tries so hard
It's not New York or Boston
It never will be

We are in a rush
For the 2 o'clock meeting
I say, let's be late

Only I know that
We just passed my friend's exit
They don't need to know

The Life of James Bain

2008-02-27T11:37:00.003-05:00

James Wilson Bain
James Wilson Bain, beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, teacher and friend to many passed away after a long illness on Tuesday, February 26, 2008. Born June 13, 1922 in Glasgow, Scotland, James was the son of Gertrude Rosina (Warren) Bain and John Bain and the brother of John Warren Bain. His mother passed away in 1927 and in 1929 the family immigrated to the United States and lived for several years in Braintree, MA and Martha's Vineyard. They eventually settled in White Plains, NY where Jim graduated from high school. He attended University of Richmond on a shared scholarship with his brother, where he majored in mathematics and physics. Upon graduation from Richmond, he enlisted in the Navy and spent the bulk of World War II on the submarine USS Sea Poacher, in the Pacific. His beloved older brother John was killed in action during World War II, at the Battle of the Bulge. After the war he went to Columbia University where he received his Master's Degree in Education. He met his first wife, Martha Virginia Harrington in 1946 and they were married on June 14, 1947. They moved to Connecticut when Jim was hired by the Glastonbury Board of Education as a high school math and physics teacher. He dedicated 40 years to the education of Glastonbury youngsters. His high expectations prepared many of his students to go on to careers in engineering and related fields and his patience and kindness helped those who were not so inclined to a better understanding of the nature of mathematics. He served many years as chess club advisor, Math League advisor, class advisor and other extra-curricular activities. He is remembered fondly by all those who were fortunate enough to have been in his classes. He also worked as an adjunct teacher of statistics at Central Connecticut State University. Jim was a 55 year member of the Masons and enjoyed his many associations at Daskam -Columbia Lodge in Glastonbury where he served as Master in the 1960's. He was an active member of the Second Church of Christ, Scientist in Hartford until 1990 when he moved to Florida. Jim spent 10 years in Leesburg, FL and returned to Connecticut in 2000, living first in Manchester, then in Windham and for the last five years, in the Court of St. James Retirement Community in West Hartford. He enjoyed an active social life in West Hartford, was a member of the West Hartford First Baptist Church, the Regents, was a tutor for the town of West Hartford at Hillcrest House in Elmwood and volunteered at Loaves and Fishes. He enjoyed many friendships at the Court of St. James, particularly his pool and card game buddies. Jim loved all kinds of games and was an avid cribbage player, crossword puzzler and sudoku solver. He was an insatiable reader and spent many hours in the West Hartford Public Library. Although an expert in math and science, he was blessed with a remarkable sense of language and loved creating word games and challenging his children to vocabulary tests. Even at the end of his life, he spent many hours on freerice.com, the vocabulary challenge game, always reaching the top level. Jim was very proud of his Scottish heritage and for the last 10 years made an annual pilgrimage to Loon Mountain in New Hampshire for the Scottish Highland Games. A world traveler, he visited many countries in Europe as well as New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and the Caribbean. He was particularly thrilled to be able to return to his native Scotland in 1969 with his wife and four of his children. He became reacquainted with cousins, aunts and uncles he hadn't seen for 40 years. James was predeceased by his beloved first wife and mother of his six children, Martha, after almost 37 years of marriage and his cherished grandson Alexander Harrington Lomasky. He was also predeceased by his devoted second wife Alice G. Jackson Bain. He and Alice met at a support group for those who had lost their spouses to cancer, and were married for 15 years. He leaves to mourn his passing his six children and their spouses; Margaret Warren Bain Hamm (Robert), of Merrimack, NH, Priscilla Gardiner Bain Cote (Richard), of West Hartford, CT, Martha Verrinder Bain DiTomasso (James), of Wethersfield, CT, Dorothy Brewster Bain Raviele (Michele), with whom he made his home, of Farmington, CT, Mary Elizabeth Bain Brown (William), of West Hartford, CT and John Harlan Bain (Karen), of Olney, MD. He also leaves his grandchildren James Hamm (Susan), Andrew Hamm (Carol Ann), Rebecca Hamm, Louis Lomasky (Lisa), Elizabeth Lomasky Moemeka (Ed), Linda Lomasky , Maria Elena Raviele, Marta Raviele, Julia DiTomasso, Michael DiTomasso, Ian Brown, Graham Brown, Elizabeth Brown, Daniel Bain, Henry Bain and two great-grandchildren, Oke Alexander Moemeka and Eddie Moemeka, as well as his step-daughter Sharon Baker and her daughter Kristy Dorris, of Florida. The family wishes to thank all those who contributed to Jim's care during the last months of his life; the staff of UCONN Health Center Cardiac Step-down Unit and ICU, the staff of West Hartford Health Care and Rehab Center, the VNA of Hartford and his nurse Linda, his day-care aide Michelle, his many friends from First Baptist Church and all his friends and colleagues who kept in touch with him till the end. Jim will be sorely missed by all those who loved him. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Shriners Hospital, 516 Carew St. Springfield, MA 01104, First Baptist Church, 90 North Main St. West Hartford, CT or VNA Health Care, 103 Woodland St. Hartford, CT, 06105. The Taylor Modeen Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Family and friends will be received Thursday evening, February 28 from 5:00-8:00 pm. at the Taylor Modeen Funeral Home, 136 South Main St, West Hartford. A memorial service will be held on Friday February 29 at 12:00 at First Baptist Church in West Hartford. Burial will be at the convenience of the family.

Borrowed from The Hartford Courant

President Chosen for Charter Oak State College

2008-02-08T10:41:00.001-05:00

Edward D. Klonoski, the president of a state agency designed to promote distance learning, has been tapped to lead Charter Oak State College, a school focused on distance learning.The appointment is in some ways a homecoming for Klonoski, who previously served as Charter Oak's director of information technology.

read more | digg story

My linkblog is now up on ReadBurner

2008-01-27T11:41:00.000-05:00

For those who don't already know, I use Google Reader for all my RSS needs. It's a great, simple interface, with tons of useful bells and whistles under the hood. It also gives me the ability to share RSS items into a "linkblog", or a listing of all the items I've shared, as you can see here: Dan Russell's linkblog (which is, quite excellently, also available via RSS)

Now a site called ReadBurner comes along which allows anyone with a Google Reader linkblog to submit their linkblog RSS feed for aggregation. It's like digg for Google Reader. The idea is that by going to ReadBurner, you can see which news stories are being shared by thte most Google Reader users, and are hence more popular. You can also easily who (if any) have shared the same items as you. It's quite awesome, and I'm looking forward to seeing it develop. It may end up having some excellent SEO/SEM applications as well.

Have a look at my linkblog burned by ReadBurner.

High Note - The Cartoon with the Drunken Musical Notes

2008-01-25T17:03:00.001-05:00

This is one of my all-time favorite Warner Bros cartoons. It features musical notes getting too drunk to be played properly, and I love it fantastically.

CT Sketch Comedy by ApostropheNow

2008-01-17T16:29:00.002-05:00

Comedian Rob Santos and Fransisco from my improv class put this one together. Rob plays Valentine Jenkins himself.

Internal blog linking... the clip show of the blogosphere.

2008-01-09T13:36:00.001-05:00

Because almost every blog I read does entries where they link to other entries on the same blog, I thought I'd do the same with some of my favorite entries, but in true clip show style:

So, today I got out of bed and looked over to my Wii, hoping it would be sporting a rich, glowing blue, indicating that I have a message waiting for me. No luck. But it sure reminded me of that time I made a portal for the Nintendo Wii browser called Wii Links. It's got links to a ton of neat Wii sites.

I can't believe that the Wii dropped support for MP3s in the Photo Channel. Not that I ever used the feature, but it was nice to know it was there. I love the way Excite Truck uses MP3s from your SD card as the soundtrack. Speaking of soundtracks... do you remember that time that I linked to a page I made of every single MP3 from the 2006 SXSW festival's website? It sure beat clicking through the site's levels-deep structure for every single song.

I'm pretty sure SXSW features a comedian or two each year. Comedians are funny. John Hodgman's a funny guy, but I wouldn't exactly call him a comedian. I guess he falls under the unfortunate label of "humorist", which usually means you try really hard to be clever, and you get someone's grandmother to laugh. This year, I "read" (I'm already getting sick of my own qualifier quotes) Hodgman's audiobook The Areas of My Expertise. It was a free iTunes download. I didn't recognize the name when I downloaded it, even though I was previously familiar with his work on the Daily Show and in those ads where that hacker from Die Hard 4 makes him look like an ass. The book: brilliant. But I feel the writing style infringed on something I wrote well before I read The Hodg's book: a brief piece entitled: A History Lesson. I also liked that the audiobook introduced me to Jonathan Coulton, without which I would have lived my life forever deprived of the sweet joy that is Code Monkey [MP3].

Man, it sure was great to look back on all that old content and call it new content by adding contrived segues. It's great to look back, but don't call it retro. After all, is it retro if it's not YOUR past?

I bomb atomically.

2007-12-18T21:52:00.001-05:00

And here's video evidence.

My Christmas List (in no particular order)

2007-11-28T21:19:00.001-05:00

The R4 (R4DS)

A sweet DS flash cart for running homebrew and other less than legal things. I have a GBA flash card, and loved it, but it's been obsoleted. Now that the R4 is pretty much the standard, I feel like it'd be a great addition to my increasingly niche gaming collection.

Expected Price: Around $40
Where to buy: GameYeeeah.com

Logitech mm50 Portable Speakers for iPod

These portable speakers would allow me to do my best Jack Whitman impression. They sport a rechargeable battery and would also charge my iPod whist plugged in. Bloking borrowed Doug's for our Winnipesaukee trip, and they were excellent.

Expected Price: No more than $100
Where to buy: J&R, Amazon

Peace on Earth

This would really go great with my yin-yang coffee table.

Expected Price: One BILLION dollars!
Where to buy: World Food Programme

Western Digital 500GB My Book

Time to upgrade the storage. My 80GB WD is great, but I can get more than 5 times that storage for about the same price.

Expected Price: Around $120
Where to buy: Amazon

Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii

The best Wii game to date, and I don't have it.

Expected Price: No more than $50
Where to buy: Any store that sells video games

New Earbuds

First, I broke my Apple In-Ear Earbuds, then superglued them back together, rendering one side mute (although they are passable). Then, my dollar store backups bit the dust. Today, I washed and dried my original iPod Earbuds. Time for new ones. Nothing fancy, just looking for in-ear, white and volume control on the cord would be nice.

Expected Price: Less than $25
Where to buy: Anywhere online... these are nice.

Gravel gets remixed

2007-11-28T12:58:00.001-05:00

I figured I'd use this video to test YouTube's Blogger intergration. Enjoy this honest, wacky, well-meaning, snowball's-chance of a man.

Web Hosting Change

2007-11-19T14:35:00.000-05:00

I've moved my hosting from a really cool free secret web host to another server at the same very cool secret web host. On a completely unrelated note, check out Infotree for excellent web hosting in Connecticut.

Top 10 Track Ones in My iTunes Library

2007-11-14T23:42:00.004-05:00

Inspired by TheCookBlog's Track 6's, here my Top 10 Track 1's.

01 Counting Crows - Round Here
from August and Everything After
01 Harvey Danger - Wine, Women, and Song
from Little by Little
01 Saves the Day - At Your Funeral
from Stay What You Are
01 William Shatner - Common People
from Has Been
01 Green Day - American Idiot
from American Idiot
01 Desaparecidos - Man and Wife, the Former
from Read Music | Speak Spanish
01 Weezer - Tired of Sex
from Pinkerton
01 Foo Fighters - This is a Call
from Foo Fighters
01 Save Ferris - The World is New
from It Means Everything
01 Sublime - Waiting for My Ruca
from 40oz to Freedom

You may also want to check out my links to all the SXSW MP3's from 2006.

Bloggin' from the 'Fox

2007-11-12T16:44:00.001-05:00

I'm testing out the Firefox extension ScribeFire. Seems pretty nice!

Excellent lecture on Copyright, Culture and the Internet

2007-11-08T13:45:00.000-05:00

Definitely worth a watch (or listen, if you're at work).

Micro-budget film avoids Hollywood machine, draws huge comedy ensemble cast

2007-11-07T23:18:00.000-05:00

Against all odds, Paul Francis Sullivan and his brother, Ted Sullivan, combined to write and direct a Hollywood film with Hollywood stars without a Hollywood budget. I'll Believe You started with a bold concept: make a film that's both a family-friendly comedy and, at the same time, a soul-searching sci-fi mystery. Determined to hold true to this format, the brothers began to recruit a top-notch cast despite having a budget comparable to Kevin Smith's Clerks. A summer blockbuster comedy featuring Patrick "Putty from Seinfeld" Warburton, Ed "The Office" Helms, Fred "Every comedy in the last ten years" Willard, Chris "Something About Mary" Elliot, and Mo "The Daily Show" Rocca would be no surprise, but seeing all this talent line up for one little movie filmed in Melbourne, FL is an amazing sight. Heading the cast is up and coming actor David Alan Basche, who previously starred as Todd "Let's Roll" Beamer in the film United 93. Basche brings feeling to the film and serves as the magnet for the insanity of the ensemble cast around him. Playing the straight man suits him, and it's reflected in his role as a radio show host; a man amidst attention-craved people looking for a chance to be heard, coherance be damned. Originally titled "First Time Caller", the film premiered at the Melbourne Independent Film Festival on November 11th, 2006. One year and tons of tweaks later, the film was retitled "I'll Believe You" and presented to Stand Up Films who brought the movie to it current state. The film will be released this weekend in select theaters nationwide.