Netflix has announced that they will be discontinuing HD DVD support sometime this summer. Because of this fact, I have moved all of the movies on my queue that are available in HD DVD format up to the top. Some of these movies would normally not have made it to the top of my queue for at least half a year. I’m motivated to get through these movies before they are discontinued. I think there are only about 25 of them, so it shouldn’t be too difficult. Anyway, just thought it was worth mentioning here. I can’t stress enough how much I hate the fact that HD DVD lost the format war, but what are you going to do? Maybe I’ll do some reviews of these films I have to watch… we’ll see.
Archives: March 2008
Harry Potter News – The Deathly Hallows Film(s)!
According to Variety the final book in the Harry Potter series will be made into two films. FINALLY! The producers of this franchise have finally realized that it’s just too difficult to put everything that happens in these long books into a 2 hour film. Sadly, we have almost 3 years to wait before these final installments will be released. Thankfully, we’ll only have to wait six months between the releases. Hearing this news just makes me happy. At least they’re not going to torture us by making us wait for two full production schedules between releases. The final installment will be filmed concurrently in the same way “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Potter fans everywhere should be looking forward to November 2010 and May 2011 for the story to come to an end on the big screen.
In other Potter news… Just in case you didn’t know, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be in theatres this November. The film is slated for release on November 21st. The last film was released on July 11th, 2007. Almost a year and a half later, we’ll be getting the next film. Not too bad. That being said, it’s going to be a long 2 years between this film and the first installment of the final film. I guess you can’t have everything in life, right?
Anyway, I know some of you are just as excited as I am to hear this news.
12 of 12 – March 2008
[Mike] introduced me to this online “idea” where you take 12 photos on the 12th of each month. It’s called 12 of 12 and you can read more about it here.
Here are my submissions for this month:
06:52 – A cup of joe to start the day.
07:48 – Crap! I’m running late for work!
08:27 – My favorite work drink. Thank you Fresh&Easy!
08:32 - How do you even go 1/2 MPH?
11:33 - On my lunch break, I stop by this store to pickup a lucky ticket.
11:35 - Who knows? Maybe I’ll win?
11:37 - The Waffle House – Gotta love it. I eat here every Wednesday. It’s WHW!
12:29 - I need to run an errand before heading back to work.
18:20 – I’m checking up on my friend’s house while she’s in Washington, D.C. Wow this place is clean!
18:50 - I have to pick up a present before I head home for the night.
18:51 - A typical Arizona sunset. Beautiful!
18:58 - On my way home, I ran across this… can you figure out what it says?
For A Good Clean Feeling, No Matter What
I’m obsessed with Orbit chewing gum. Below are some flavors I have in my house right now and my thoughts about each one. Thanks to the cargo store at work, I have plenty of Orbit to last me quite some time!
Mint Mojito – This has to be my favorite flavor of Orbit. There’s just the perfect amount of sweetness mixed in with a tart, lemony flavor. I also find that the flavor lasts quite a long time with this one. The fact that this isn’t a traditional gum flavor also makes it appealing to chew.
Spearmint – A classic chewing gum flavor done the Orbit way. The aroma given off by this gum is heavenly. I always know when someone is chewing it. This is my second favorite flavor of Orbit. There is the nice mixture of sweet with a tangy mint that follows. I think this is one of the cleanest tasting gums on the market today. If you want fresh breath and long lasting flavor, pick yourself up a pack of Orbit Spearmint.
Wintermint - Orbit’s take on the classic ‘wintergreen’ flavor of other brands. I prefer this to any of the others out there. You have the classic wintergreen flavor mixed every so slightly with a sharp minty flavor. The combination is pure heaven. I find this flavor to be the most invigorating of all and I find that it really gets the mouth clean and fresh quickly. The flavor doesn’t last as long as it does with other Orbit flavors, so you may find yourself switching out the gum for a new piece more often. Aside from that small drawback, this is another solid offering by Orbit.
Sweet Mint – First of all, let me just say this, this flavor is SWEET. It’s almost too sweet. I think they need to cut down on the sweet and add more mint. Anyway, the concept is a good one but the execution could be better. That being said, I still like this flavor. It’s a nice break from the others every once in a while. The flavor doesn’t last long but the sweetness does tend to linger. This is not the best to use if you are trying to clear up some after dinner breath. Think of this as more of a flavor you would chew when you’re bored at work. Anyway, It’s lowest on my list of flavors because of it’s poor execution, but it’s still worth trying.
Maui Melon Mint – This is a new flavor by Orbit that I just picked up today. This is one of those hybrids like my favorite Mint Mojito from above. Here’s the thing, I love this flavor… or at least I did. I purchased this flavor today on my lunch break and shared a piece with my good friend Jenie. She proceeded to tell me that it tastes a hell of a lot like cantaloupe. SICK! I hate that melon with a passion. Now, it may only have a hint of that flavor but now, all I can taste is the cantaloupe. To review this flavor, let me say that it’s sweet, refreshing, and it has a nice tangy mint finishing flavor. I would recommend you give it a try. As for me, I won’t be buying another pack. I’m not even sure I can finish the one I have. Thanks Jenie!!
Gravatars – Get One!
Gravatar - A globally recognizable avatar.
Avatar - A digital representation of a person or being.
Forums have had avatars for quite some time. They have been a way for a person’s message to become more recognizable within a thread. Avatars have also moved into the blogging world giving some flare to comments users post. It’s also a way that habitual commenters can be easily recognized, almost like a signature. The idea behind a Gravatar is that you can have an avatar assigned to your email address that then shows up in any forum or blog that has the Gravatar code. Your avatar now becomes standard across many different sites and allows people to recognize you from other places that you may have posted. I think it’s pretty great and that’s why I’ve included the Gravatar code in my comments. If you have a Gravatar, you will now see it next to your name when you comment on any of my posts. If you don’t , my default “TV” logo will show up. If you’re interested in getting a Gravatar assigned to your email address, visit this link. Have fun!
SNL – Vampire Weekend
On SNL this weekend the musical guest was Vampire Weekend. I’ve heard of them before, thanks to Sirius 21 (Alt Nation) and their playing of obscure bands before main stream radio even knows they exist. Interestingly enough, I had not “purchased” their album after hearing them on Sirius and I had sort of forgotten about them until SNL on Saturday. The songs they sang on the show were not songs that I had heard before. I really like their sound and I now have their full album in my iTunes. Check the two performances out below and let me know what you think.
Everyone Loves the Waffle House!
I was reading this month’s issue of Details magazine and they had a story titled “Breakfast in America” where they list all these high end breakfast places around the USA. The every end they have a sidebar section titled “The Ultimate Classic: Waffle House”. They proceed to list American chefs from some high end restaurants that eat at the Waffle House. Here is part of that list.
David Myers – The Hungry Cat and Sona, Los Angeles – “Eggs over easy with grits and hash browns scattered, smothered, and covered.”
Dean Fearin – Fearing’s, Dallas – “Eggs over easy with bacon, extra-buttery grits, and a side of extra-crispy buttermilk waffles with extra butter and syrup.”
Kevin Rathbun – Rathbun’s and Kevin Rathbun Steak, Atlanta – “Double hash browns double-covered with onions and cheese and topped with two eggs over easy with chili on top.”
“Eco-Scandal”
The read link to this story is below. Here’s the gist. American Airlines is under fire from “Friends of the Earth” for flying a Boeing 777 from Chicago to London with only five passengers on it. Earlier in the day, AA had to cancel one of it’s regularly scheduled flights from Chicago to London, which was sold out. They had to find suitable accommodations for each of those passengers on other flights throughout the day. There were able to successfully find spots for all passengers on other airlines, except for five. The story doesn’t mention how they got a plane to be empty but I’m going to say that it’s safe to assume that the plane these people were on was the one originally scheduled to make the trip from Chicago to London. AA decided to fly these passengers to London and now they are being accused of being obscenely wasteful.
Does this group not realize how the airline industry functions? Without this plane making the trip to London, all the passengers scheduled to take this plane back to Chicago would have been stranded at Heathrow. How would that help anyone? You know if any of them were planning on making that flight, they’d be pissed if it were cancelled. Airlines deadhead planes to various airports all the time carrying only the flight crew. It’s necessary for everything to function smoothly. A waste? Sure… but don’t you want to get home from your vacation or business trip on time?
Read.
Friday’s Song
Better Do Better – Hard-Fi – Better Do Better
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A New Chat – Digsby
Digsby is a new chat client that is currently in beta testing. It allows you to combine all of your IM accounts into one program. Of course, there are many other programs out there that do this like GAIM and Trillian. Digsby, in my opinion, has a leg up on these other programs by integrating the two most popular social networking sites into their program. From Digsby, you can receive alerts from both MySpace and Facebook. The way you are able to view the updates is also innovative and it allows you to just get a quick glance at what’s going on with your friends on those sites without actually visiting the sites themselves.
Also, another interesting feature is the ability to add chat widgets to your own sites so your visitors can IM you directly from your site. You can find my Digsby widget on the right under the tag cloud. If I’m online when you’re reading this, ping me. For those of you reading this in a news reader, follow this link to visit this story in your browser.
The one item to be aware of when making the decision to switch is that Digsby does not support video or voice chat. I’ve yet to find any other pitfalls with this software, but I’ve only been using it for a couple of days. Plan on seeing a review update in a month or so once I’ve been able to truely push the program to its limits.
For anyone who has multiple chat accounts, be it for work or play, I would highly recommend you give Digsby a try. You’ll have to send an email to get an invite code, but they usually respond within 24 hours. If you do decide to test it out, let me know in the comments.