» I've added links to my personal Google Calendar to Track Geek things and MeeTeeVee, which has some of my TV picks (and MeeTeeVee recomendations), to the Sidebar of this blog. Or you can click on the previous two links.
Let's Go Surfing
» Recently I've come across a couple interesting "wannabe internet tv networks". These sites are periodically featuring various reoccuring television style programs under one banner site name.
Revision 3 is put together by Digg.com. the show production values are well done if of mixed quality. Pixel Perfect, a Photoshop tutorial show, and InDigital (feat. Wil Wheaton), a Techtv Fresh Gear style show, both of those are worth your time.
Channel 21 has several interesting looking shows, the only one I've watched so far is the Superhero meets Clerks style show: The Defenders of Stan, It's quite good.
» VibeStreamer is a very cool windows web server/mp3 streamer. Stream MP3s to any computer on your network, via webbrowser, and control access by users and passwords, even build playlists. Very Slick.
» This How to Be a Happy Personarticle snippet from Wired a couple months back was pretty good:
» Watched the premiere of NBC's Heroes last night. Not bad, lots of interesting interconnected characters and stories, even if they were a little over done at times. The characer Hiro was the most interesting, and I thought the subtitles worked well for him. I can't imagine Buffy fans not liking the Cheerleader either. All and all liked it, and am looking forward to next weeks episode.
Also saw this weeks Studio 60, which although not as strong as the pilot, was still a very good show. I loved the addition of the clock. NBC's new must see TV night, Monday Night. Good Stuff.
» Watching Cartoons. Saw WB/CW's new Tom and Jerry, it was almost good. At least Tom and Jerry don't talk. Also saw some of the new Shaggy and Scooby Doo Get a Clue, Themesong was really bad, rest of the show was eh. Also watched the new Legion of Superheroes.
LSH picks up from Smallville fairly well as Clark is still in, but about to leave Smallville, and hasn't learned to fly yet. The show is definently targeted at kids, adult fans are going to have to overlook alot to enjoy this show. Justice League it is not. It's about on a par with the current The Batman and the new Fantastic Four. The first episode at least is not as good as the better Teen Titan episodes but is better than the worst Teen Titan episodes. Looks like the creators are going give references for the fans though, as this background moment still, from the scene where Clark visits the future Superman Museum, of a certain mueseum worker and his robotic sidekick can certainly attest. A truely Gold moment, some would say Boosterific!
» Chris Matthews: I Have Been Against This Bullsh-t War From The Beginning
» 'Tickle Me and watch Me Spaz Out Hysterically' Elmo
» Some guy, Noah, takes a picture of himself everyday for 6 years and then stitches them together. Interesting Idea, but he looks to be in his twentys to early thirtys so the change isn't as dramatic as if it would be is someone did this with a kid.
» The treadmill video that was featured on Colbert Report, ain't new, but it's the first time I've seen it, in it's entirety.
» This Philips Textile Illumination technology MUST be incorporated into a Green Lantern T-Shirt. MUST MUST MUST. Are you out there DC Direct?
» New Line of Beat-Up Matchbox CarsFor Sale, coming to Wal-mart (and probably other places) in December. Looks like they would make nice Heroclix props.
» Ok Comic Fans the silverware you didn't even know you were waiting for has arrived: Wolverine Style Finger Forks. UK site, I'm going to keep an eye out for these in local stores.
» Guiding Light is tying in with the Marvel Universe? I read the article and I still don't fully get this.
» Check out this new upcoming Neuros Media Center. Records directly to USB Stick too, cool. More information on their wiki as well as Thinkgeek. They have also set prizes for the Open Source community to develop various software features for the hardware too (they ain't large prizes but it's still cool and more companies should do this.)
» DriveThru Comics is positioning itself as an iTunes for comic books (actually they're just selling Indy Comics as PDFs for $1.99 each.) Neat Idea, but two problems. One, you've got to have probably a 21" or better screen to be able to read these well. Two, they are too expensive at $2. $1 tops and older stuff really should be less. For $2 you might as well spring the extra dollar and get the printed version. Nice idea though. Take a look at the format, they have some uninspiring FREE Titles available. (Lastly, on a design note, they really need to get rid of the comic sans font on their site, looks BAD!)
» Posted a link to my Lex and Darkseid pictures on RTM's buzzboard and 250 people stopped by to look in the first 3 hours... that's alot of folks looking at toys on a Monday night.
» Someone reposted my link to another toy/comic/geek board and when I followed the referer, I found a post by a guy in New Hampshire that has a Green Lantern Room. Neat.
» Saw CBS's The Class tonight and the first episode wasn't bad. Very Friends like, not too sitcomy. Will watch again next week.
» Also saw NBC's Studio 60 tonight. Not bad, so far I like the actors better than I like the show, which could very well turn into too much 'Hollywood Navel Gazing' but I think I'll be watching it for the season. Good Start.
DC Comics Previews Solicitations for December 2006 - BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #1 - Young Bats vs Young Lex Luthor, could be interesting BATMAN #660-661 DETECTIVE COMICS #826 CATWOMAN #62 NIGHTWING #127 ROBIN #157 ALL STAR SUPERMAN #7 ACTION COMICS #846 SUPERMAN #659 - Krypto gets a solo cover SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #2 - Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale SUPERGIRL #13 - feat. Power Boy (So um, Power Girl is known for certain attributes, so for Power Boy, you wouldn't think they'd.... nah.) SUPERMAN/BATMAN #32 SUPERMAN: EMPEROR JOKER TP 52: WEEKS 31-34 THE ALL-NEW ATOM #6 AQUAMAN: SWORD OF ATLANTIS #48 BIRDS OF PREY #101 - Manhunter in Birds of Prey, Blech, although I like Manhunter. BLUE BEETLE #10 THE CREEPER #5 THE FLASH: FASTEST MAN ALIVE #7 DCU INFINITE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL - Infinite Christmas Special? Well that's a title. GREEN ARROW #69 CONNOR HAWKE: DRAGON'S BLOOD #2 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #7 GREEN LANTERN #16 GUY GARDNER: COLLATERAL DAMAGE #2 HAWKGIRL #59 ION #9 - According to the blurb someone very close to Kyle is Dying.... You mean there's someone close that's not dead yet? JUSTICE #9 JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #1 JSA CLASSIFIED #20 JLA CLASSIFIED #30 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #5 THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA HEREBY ELECTS' TP MARTIAN MANHUNTER #5 MYSTERY IN SPACE #4 MANHUNTER #26 OMAC #6 THE OMEGA MEN #3 OUTSIDERS #43 THE SPIRIT #1 SHADOWPACT #8 SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #25 SHOWCASE PRESENTS: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD -- THE BATMAN TEAM-UPS VOL. 1 TP SHOWCASE PRESENTS: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA VOL. 2 TP TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #3 TEEN TITANS #42 UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS #6 WONDER WOMAN #4 WILDSTORM FINE ARTS SPOTLIGHT ON JIM LEE ASTRO CITY: THE DARK AGE BOOK TWO #3
DC Direct - 52 SERIES 1 ACTION FIGURES: Booster, Batwoman, Isis, Supernova and Animal Man (Getting all 5) INFINITE CRISIS SERIES 2: ACTION FIGURES: Wonder Girl, Donna Troy, Wonder Woman, Punchy Superman, Ripped up Batman and Black Firestorm. (Getting Everyone except Bats and Supes, and undecided on Wonder Woman) JLA COVER TO COVER STATUE: GREEN LANTERN - Saw this at Wizard Chicago this year, it's very nice $60 isn't too bad, undecided but likely.
» Meijer had the newest DC Superhero Wave. Picked up Lex and Darkseid (even though as you can see I pretty much had the characters covered already). There was a Brainiac also but it too looked very similiar to the DC Direct Crisis version, and I decided I didn't need two of him :)
Random Non-Sequiters
» Watching CNN this week, I'm amazed that the Republicans have turned themselves into the alternative to the Republican Party. Simply amazed.
» There is a scene in Garden State where Natalie Portman jumps up and down and makes a funny noise and explains her concept of a truely original moment. I like that scene.
» I miss the Friends tv show. The concept that there would be this group of six friends that would drift into and out of this coffee shop all day long, was really cool. Try to do that with six friends, post college, you'll spend a week and a half trying to line up schedules and then two people still won't show.
» Mathew Perry is going to be starring in a new show with Bradley Whitford from the West Wing Producer/Writer this Monday: Studio 60 on NBC. I hope that show doesn't suck.
» I read Green Arrow #65 last night (yeah i'm still a month behind). In it Green Lantern offered to take down this large wall dividing Star City. Green Arrow turned him down. "You're Call", GL said.
Neat scene.
» I also read Ms. Marvel #6. It's one of a handful of Marvel titles that I pick up. I was interested in it because the character is 30 something (I think) and that is an interesting change of pace in superhero books. The whole Iron Man Civil War Super Hero registration thing officially crept into the book in #6. I haven't been following that story. The argument central to the plot is so F'ing stupid, and I realize that I'm making this statement about characters that fly around in spandex.
» I got this book Babes, Beast and Brawn: Sculpture of the Fantastic, the Acton-figure Art of Steve Kiwus and Eightball Studios. Nice book, nice pictures, would have been more interesting if the how-to-section wasn't so skimpy. It's also a fast read for 160 pages. It's good though and hopefully it does well and the authors create a how-to sequel with the same production values.
» Watched some movies over the last few days, nothing too remarkable. Mainstream movies really telegraph their punches a mile before they swing them don't they. People seem to like that though.
» I read another online post on a film site about Snakes on a Plane. I don't know why it bothers me that most people don't get that it was supposed to be a bad movie, a good bad movie. I find myself strongly arguing that at the screen, as I read these things, as if somehow repeating it enough out loud will cause the concept to sink into the world's collective concience.
» Speaking of other movies that people should have liked, Superman Returns. It was really good, yes he didn't hit enough things, but it was still really good, when does it come out on video?
» There's no Suncoast in my third tier metropolitain area. We've got Two major Malls and four different major strip mall shopping drags, but nowhere to browse that obscure movie memorbillia and merchandise.
» I read this paper that says that language and gossip developed to fulfill the same function in humans that grooming eachother fulfills in apes. Language and gossip being more efficient builds trust in larger groups than one on one grooming can. The paper went on to discuss that although blogs also can serve this function of building trust through communication and gossip, they really don't work well since you don't actually know who is reading the blog. Information is dispersed, but becasue of the anonymity, trust is not developed in the same way as with conversaton.
» There are organizational structures in my workplace that are excited about the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I've had the book for some time, read half of it at one point and I decided to pick it up again and read some more of it this past week. I randomly turned to a chapter with a parable about this father setting expectations for his home's lawncare with his son. "Clean and Green" was the expectation. Anyway, there is this whole thing about not threatening his son to keep the lawn "Clean and Green", instead there are excercises where the author/father shows how he transfered a 'sense' of responsibillity and ownership over the lawn to his son so that his son would, of his own freewill and not via constant authority directed pressure, maintain the lawn: "Clean and Green". It's a nice parabable, the father actually through no overt action had the son crying and vowing to take care of the lawn. And indeed the son eventually did take ownership over the care of the lawn. The son even enforced it's care and maintence when dealing with his siblings. I was left with the thought after reading the story, that it's still not the son's lawn though, it's the father's lawn, and although unsaid and unstated in the parable, I felt that the outcome was predicated strongly on the son wanting to please the father and not disapoint him. The management structure in this home lawn maintence seemed to me built atop stunting the son's emotional growth to point where the son would act primarily out of a desire to please the father and execute action upon the illusion of responsibillity for owning something that he in did not own. I'm sure outside the bounds of the story the father does many things for the son and it's quite likely that the son maintaining the lawn was a fair quid pro quo and positive contribution to the family's collective advance, but within the story the author is actually teaching manipulation tricks without calling them such and obscuring the real cause and effects of the situation, and well that seems ethically, not a good thing.
» Hot Topic has cool Battlestar Galactica Tees. both kindof are in the style of athletic "Property of" type shirts. One has the Battlestar Galactica ship's circular crest. The other has a Vigilante Fighter Squadron logo. Cool.
» Bought this out-of-package clearance floor model Liteon LVW-1105GVC DVD Recorder from a Major midwEst retaIl SupeRstore ;) It was only $30, great deal I thought. Remote however didn't work, went online and found a picture of the remote, which looked different than the one that was taped to the top of mine, bummer an employee must have mixed them up. Anyway, I picked up a Universal remote for $8 that listed the DVD Recorder Brand as a supported model. Contrary to the remote box, according to the 1-800 rep, the remote actually doesn't support the Liteon DVD Recorders, only the Liteon DVD's. Looked for an exact manufacturers replacement online. A website had the remote listed for $37. Hmmm.... bummer, not really worth it. Interestingly though on this DVD recorder, only two buttons are located on the unit itself, power and eject. Not even a play button, the menu screen looks nice though. Update: Liteon emailed me a link to a site that had a replacement remote for $15 + $5 shipping. A little better I suppose.
» I watched Face the Nation today. Bob Schieffer is one of a handful of halfway decent newsmen on TV. He does nicely and politely call politicians on their bs when they are on his show, I wish he'd take it a step further and turn off their mikes though. I know some of the crazy's do that on Fox, but wouldn't you love to see a Bob Scheiffer, a Tom Brokaw, Tim Russert or a Brian Williams just cut the mike on some of these politicians when their mistruths stray blatantly away from the facts? At the very least they need to take a couple minutes after ushering the crazy's off the set to set the record straight.
» Watched Bowling for Columbine for the first time yesterday. Michael Moore is at the top of the heap when it comes to manipulating the facts, and he's certainly an ambush artist. His ends are often correct but you've got to have a critical eye on his means. All that out of the way, The fear, subplot point of the documentary was the most interesting part of the film to me. Fear. Alot of American life can be boiled down to that word can't it? A popular Vegetable/green can kill you, find out what it is after these messages. Did anyone see the Daily Show bit on Question Marks last week? Same sortof idea. Fear.
» I use the word though too much, like however, like a little disclaimer after every thought. It's not really intentional though.
» Why does the Chief VP of Ford, that's been all over the TV the last several days, talking about the 'Way Forward' still have a mullet? I know Ford is based in Metro Detroit, but if your job is to be on TV and communicate the 'Way Forward', well I think you should drop the mullet, It sends a mixed message.
» You know what would be realy cool, a microwave that works in reverse. In the 80s microwaves rose to prominence on their abillity to instantly cook hotdogs and popcorn. I think the killer food for a reverse microwave would be Jello. How cool would it be it make cold Jello near instantly? Someone needs to invent this. (and yeah, I know you can buy Jello already in the little cups, it's not the same though)
» The joy of an american Wal-Mart culture where all the basics of life are so affordable, is that you can sit around and discuss and blog all these mindless musings in your spare time, yet few people use their time to really think about the philosophical and technological questions of our time., like instant reverse microwave Jello and the Ford "Way Forward" VP's Mullet.
» Did you see the newstory on CNN where some radical muslims killed some Italian Nuns in retribution for the Pope quoting a middle age king who stated that Islam is built on some violent tenets? (Granted this is from a guy who holds a position formerly responsible for directing the crusades, so yeah it's pot/kettle but...) is there no understanding of Irony in the world?
» I saw brief mention of another newstory that stated that combined American Millitary and American Civilian casualties in Iraq have now past the number of people who died in the the World Trade Center Disaster. Sure you can argue Eye for an Eye in going over there, but it's now been a right eye for every left eye, at somepoint you would think that people wouldn't See the point. (And of course this doesn't take into account Iraqi civillian casualties or the fact that their country didn't have anything to do with 9/11 in the first place.)
» On a similiar topic, I saw three guys in crisp Marine uniforms hanging around the mall doing the recruiting thing this weekend.
recruit v.
1. Register formally; as a participant or member
2. Seek to employ
3. Cause to assemble or enlist
» There is some absolutely beautiful weather outside in Michigan today.
» I don't follow football. College or Pro. But I do watch the Superbowl. Big event, weird rock band combinations, offbeat commercials, patriotism and pageantry, halftime shows on other networks. I don't watch football but I look forward to the Superbowl.
» There was this big plastic Little Tykes playground set sitting outside of Toys R Us, you know the type, three rung ladder, little slide 3 foot off the ground etc. It had four different signs on it roping it off from use and prohibiting kids from climbing on it due to danger to the retailer. Again, Irony, if it's so dangerous, why are they selling it?
» I do love living in a society where I spend most every day with conscience concern over eating too much food, and having too much food choice. How cool is that, when you take that in the context of the history of mankind.
» Lonely Girl got to be on the Tonight Show last week. When is ZeFrank going to get some time on the Daily Show or Colbert Report?
» I've been reading alot online about Microsoft and Sony's new tech offerings lately. Specifically Microsoft's Zune and Sony's PS3. There is some great technology in both that is being made completely worthless by a whole lotta internal corporate DRM paranoia which is hobbling some great innovation with flaming user experience hoops they expect customers to jump through. It's too bad their companies are primarily run by lawyers now.
It must be very frustrating to work as programmers and engineers in those companies' divisions.
» Man, a nice random non-directed rant on a Sunday afternoon can be very cathartic, 'course posting such a rant online, well that's of dubious benefit isn't it. In fact it could be argued to not be beneficial at all. All comes down to the Amen versus WTF count comparison I would imagine.
Let's Go Surfing
» Absolutely brilliant comedic instructional video on how to Talk Like A Pirate
» Toyfare has some great shots up of DC direct's upcoming 52 Action Figure Line's: Animal Man and Booster Gold (Who comes with a removeable collar and Skeets!) This past weeks' magazine also had shots of the new Batwoman and Isis Figures from the same line. All look to be really good sculpts.
» I saw Apples' iTV set-top box announcement today. Didn't see what the price was going to be, but if it's $200 or so, I could see that being a real paradigm shifter. Sure putting Video and Audio from the internet on your TV is doable now, but making it plug and play for the masses, well that's a different beast all together. Plus they just showed video games will be available for the iPod, I imagine there is nothing stopping simple games being available for this iTV too.
I think the internet is still mainly a thing people use in their dens and at work. Many companies have been wanting to move it into the living room, and Apple may pull this move off with iTV. Having the internet in your den or at work keeps it mostly a one or two person activity. Put the internet on televison in your living room and you end up being able to involve entire families and groups. As a bonus the commercials, news programs etc. on regular TV that invite you to check out their websites become instantly actionable too.
Microsoft tried all this with WebTV years ago, but they were too hung up on the subscription model and just too far ahead of the curve on this. It looks like Apple is going to sell the hardware and sell the content individually or "in packages" but subscriptions seem to not be their focus. I think that's a good thing, people aren't ready for another monthly "subscription" bill for TV. In anycase, I think Cable TV is going to have a serious competitor soon, but I don't think that $10 movies are going to work.
You can buy most older movies for around $10 on DVD now and a $10 DVD feels like a better value than a $10 downloadable movie. $10 movies feel more like pay-per-view to me, and I think there will be light interest in the movie feature at that price (Netflix will probably continue to be the choice in this realm for awhile).
$2 TV Shows on Demand and Streaming Internet Video Podcasts for even less or Free, that's the killer app for this device. People will probably buy it for the movies, but TV and Internet Video will probably be the features that they use the most. Miss the Evening News? Catch it on iTV. Miss last nights Game, Catch it on iTV. Just Finished Daily Show on Comedy Central? Follow it with ZeFrank streamed off your iTV. And the mind buzzes at the possibility of the average consumer being able to surf YouTube on their television.
Maybe TV shows a day later (or immediately following broadcast) with director or cast commentary on iTV. Or viewing an alternate ending to your favorite show? Or seeing a 20 minute longer celebrity interview instead of the 5 minute version you just saw on the Today show? People will by it for the movies, but the short form possibillities and the niche alternative programing will be the real value.
2007 the year Apple changes the American TV living room? Maybe. (But one last thing... Apple, my tv electronics are black and silver, ditch the white.)
» Fall TV. So far I've seen two shows on my Fall TV to check out listVanished and Standoff. Vanished I saw the first two episodes of. Basically a cross between CSI and 24. The show was well produced, but just didn't grab me. If you're into this type of show you, might want to wait for the DVD (if it makes it that far) than an episode a week.
Also watched Standoff a hostage negotiating crime show starring Ron Livingston (of Office Space fame) Livingston as in Office Space is an involving actor, but the show itself is "just another crime drama". Nothing to see here... unfortunately.
Thirdly, Saw Katie Curic's deput on the CBS Evening news tonight. I also watched today's NBC Evening News. CBS's format had less news and less depth on the same stories when compared to the tonight's NBC broadcast. Couric in my opinion brought a morning news feel to the program, and overall Courics' view of the news to me felt cheerier and lighter weight than Brian Williams.
» Crocidile Hunter death. Too much coverage.
Let's Go Surfing
» Odd Little Transforming Cube Computer Area which is making the blogging rounds. Interesting, but seems terribly impractical. I have a hard time figuring out why you wouldn't just put a laptop on it without unfolding it at all. You would seem to have more workspace that way.
I don't spell check and my grammar, sentence and paragraph structure on this site leave alot to be desired. Most times I forget to go back and reread a post to see if it makes sense. Sometimes I type the word "Fnck". Flip the "n" over... I don't have a problem with the word myself, I just type it that way to slip it past overzealous work censorship programs and for the benefit of those that are sensitive to that sort of thing.
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Wikispace
I have set-up a ckarath wikispace. I have no idea what I'm going to use it for yet. At the moment I'm toying around using it to keep a Lexicon of my own personal slang and made up words.
Reccomend Link Bar: » I have a Live Journal.
At the moment I don't plan on posting much in it, but do plan on posting a Link each month to the new page on this site, so if you're a Live Journal user and you want to add me to your friends list so that you get a once a month reminder to view my site, you can do that there.