Saturday, October 30, 2004
The Michigan/Michigan State football game was on network television. This is not a surprise considering it's a big rivalry. The interesting thing is, after watching a few minutes of it on network TV, I was flipping through the on-screen channel guide and noticed that one of the available Sports Pay-Per-View games was the Michigan/Michigan State game.
Do the powers-that-be at the cable company believe that football fans of Michigan and Michigan State (the only people who, one would think, would pay to watch the game) would pay to watch it when it's on free TV. Essentially, I suppose, they'd be paying to not have commercials, which, if one can afford it, is not unreasonable. On the other hands, live sports events often have the best commercials, mainly because of an abundance of beer ads and a lack of household cleaning products ads.
Do the powers-that-be at the cable company believe that football fans of Michigan and Michigan State (the only people who, one would think, would pay to watch the game) would pay to watch it when it's on free TV. Essentially, I suppose, they'd be paying to not have commercials, which, if one can afford it, is not unreasonable. On the other hands, live sports events often have the best commercials, mainly because of an abundance of beer ads and a lack of household cleaning products ads.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
The whole Ashlee Simpson SNL thing is now being blamed on Acid Reflux. The screw up is not on the same scale, but I find this explanation funnier than "Wardrobe Malfunction".
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Did anyone see what just happened on Saturday Night Live? Ashlee Simpson is the musical guest. She did her first single, "Pieces of Me", for the first song. When she was introduced for the second song, the music heard was also "Pieces of Me". Her vocals on that song starts very soon at the beginning of the song, so the vocals came quickly but despite being able to hear her singing, she obviously wasn't singing. She was standing, looking confused about what to do. The band seemed to be trying to get in sync with the music. Then the pre-recorded music faded and the band was playing what, I assume, was the right song, but at that point Ashlee had already walked off the stage. A cut to commercial followed.
At the end of the show, when the host says good-bye, Ashlee explained her band played the wrong song. I find it hard to believe a band good enough to get a gig on live network tv playing only two songs would screw it up and play the same song twice. Also, there was definitely vocals heard and the band couldn't be blamed for that. The band didn't play the wrong song. Some guy in a booth played the wrong tape.
While on the subject of tv. I watched "Lost" tonight. It's a really good show. I'm not going to put it on my must-see list, but if I'm home on a Saturday night, which is unfortunately likely, I'll probably watch it. One thing that confused me, though, was the show starred Emile de Ravin. All day, I had been watching the second season of Roswell, which also had Emile de Ravin in it. The thing is, after watching her all day looking and sounding like a normal American teenager (partial alien DNA, not withstanding), watching her on Lost as a pregnant woman with an Austrailian accent was kinda off-putting. Also, despite the IMDB saying she is from Austrailia, after being used to her american accent, her austrailian accent seemed fake.
Bydaway, I was the only one left in the suicide pool who was still able to pick the St. Louis Rams and they're playing the Dolphins. I picked them, so, if the Rams win and Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Seattle, and Denver lose, I win.
At the end of the show, when the host says good-bye, Ashlee explained her band played the wrong song. I find it hard to believe a band good enough to get a gig on live network tv playing only two songs would screw it up and play the same song twice. Also, there was definitely vocals heard and the band couldn't be blamed for that. The band didn't play the wrong song. Some guy in a booth played the wrong tape.
While on the subject of tv. I watched "Lost" tonight. It's a really good show. I'm not going to put it on my must-see list, but if I'm home on a Saturday night, which is unfortunately likely, I'll probably watch it. One thing that confused me, though, was the show starred Emile de Ravin. All day, I had been watching the second season of Roswell, which also had Emile de Ravin in it. The thing is, after watching her all day looking and sounding like a normal American teenager (partial alien DNA, not withstanding), watching her on Lost as a pregnant woman with an Austrailian accent was kinda off-putting. Also, despite the IMDB saying she is from Austrailia, after being used to her american accent, her austrailian accent seemed fake.
Bydaway, I was the only one left in the suicide pool who was still able to pick the St. Louis Rams and they're playing the Dolphins. I picked them, so, if the Rams win and Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Seattle, and Denver lose, I win.
Friday, October 22, 2004
Last week I watched Dr. Vegas because there was nothing else on and I didn't feel like sitting up and stretching the three feet from my bed to my tv to put a dvd on.
The show is actually pretty good. And how can you not love Joey Pants in anything he does, but the role of someone who runs a casino seems just made for him. Rob Lowe and Tom Sizemore are pretty much typecast as a nice, but troubled guy and a gruff pit boss, respectively.
Plots so far are somewhat predictable, but it's still fun to watch.
The show is actually pretty good. And how can you not love Joey Pants in anything he does, but the role of someone who runs a casino seems just made for him. Rob Lowe and Tom Sizemore are pretty much typecast as a nice, but troubled guy and a gruff pit boss, respectively.
Plots so far are somewhat predictable, but it's still fun to watch.
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Only a week to go on the countdown. Everybody have their old age jokes and smart-ass comments ready?
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
One thing I forgot to mention while talking about the new Team America movie in a recent post was the three types of people speech. I don't want to go into details, but it's one of the funniest monologues in a movie in recent memory. If I remember, I'll talk about it after the movie has left the theatres.
I went bowling tonight. The place has a brand new automatic scorer. It had animation that was a little too much and often annoying. The thing I like though was it told you the speed of the ball. The only house ball I found that comfortable enough was a 16lb ball, so I could only get the speed up to 19.04 mph, atleast of the speeds I noticed. That one did go for a strike, though. If I start bowling with a lighter ball, I can probably go over twenty easy. I need to go to a lighter ball anyway. The way I throw, the heavier ball wears on my arm and thumb by the third game.
I went bowling tonight. The place has a brand new automatic scorer. It had animation that was a little too much and often annoying. The thing I like though was it told you the speed of the ball. The only house ball I found that comfortable enough was a 16lb ball, so I could only get the speed up to 19.04 mph, atleast of the speeds I noticed. That one did go for a strike, though. If I start bowling with a lighter ball, I can probably go over twenty easy. I need to go to a lighter ball anyway. The way I throw, the heavier ball wears on my arm and thumb by the third game.
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Here's a question I've been pondering for almost a decade: isn't voting for the lesser of two evils still voting for evil?
The Steelers won tonight. I got to the sports bar right as the first set of games, including the Eagles game, were ending. Since the Cowboys are in the same division as the Eagles, so the Philadelphia fans who stuck around were rooting for the Steelers. It made me question whether I would want to go to any sports bar in the area in three weeks when the Steelers play the Eagles. Hopefully, I’ll get a ticket to the game and won’t have to worry about it.
The Bills beat the Dolphins so I’m still alive in the suicide pool, although I haven’t logged in to check to see if anybody got knocked off.
I’ve been watching Desperate Housewives. It’s a good show. However, one thing that confused me at the start was, in the very first scene, a character, played by Brenda Strong, kills herself. From that point on she became the narrator. The thing that confused me was that I didn’t know Strong was going to be in the show. I’ve always gotten her mixed up with Marcia Cross; who I did know was in the show. So, right off the bat, I thought they had killed off one of the four major characters that they used in all the advertising.
Tomorrow night, I’m going to join a bowling league that a guy that I work with is in. It’s an informal, not-too-competitive league, which is good since I haven’t been in a real bowling league since before I was old enough to drive.
Am I'm the only won who finds the Burger King breakfast commercial involving a guy waking up to find a guy with a big ceramic head beside him in bed extremely disturbing?
I have every other Friday off. The three day weekends just make the two day weekends seem so much shorter.
The Bills beat the Dolphins so I’m still alive in the suicide pool, although I haven’t logged in to check to see if anybody got knocked off.
I’ve been watching Desperate Housewives. It’s a good show. However, one thing that confused me at the start was, in the very first scene, a character, played by Brenda Strong, kills herself. From that point on she became the narrator. The thing that confused me was that I didn’t know Strong was going to be in the show. I’ve always gotten her mixed up with Marcia Cross; who I did know was in the show. So, right off the bat, I thought they had killed off one of the four major characters that they used in all the advertising.
Tomorrow night, I’m going to join a bowling league that a guy that I work with is in. It’s an informal, not-too-competitive league, which is good since I haven’t been in a real bowling league since before I was old enough to drive.
Am I'm the only won who finds the Burger King breakfast commercial involving a guy waking up to find a guy with a big ceramic head beside him in bed extremely disturbing?
I have every other Friday off. The three day weekends just make the two day weekends seem so much shorter.
The Steelers game isn't on until after 4pm today, so I'm in no hurry to get to a sports bar. I think the game might be on network tv here today, but I'm still going out to watch it. They are 4-0 in games I've gone out to watch them either live or at a bar. They're 0-1 when I've watched them at my place.
I need to reinstall windows on my computer. I'm thinking of switching over to Linux, more specificly Mandrake. A guy at work has had good luck with it. Anyone who knows anything about it haved any opinion on it?
When the net went down here and before I found out it was the whole building, I was looking for a particular piece of paper I got from the cable company and I ended up finding it, but not before finding two other things I had been looking for. I found my Ray Ban sunglasses and the instructions to something I had borrowed and had returned without the instructions.
I went to see Team America: World Police yesterday. It was one of the funniest movies I've seen this year. It made fun of alot of people and things, but it's main targets were Micheal Bay-type movies, the U.S. going into places to save people and doing their share of destruction in the process (aka: the current administration), and those who think the U.S. should never go to war (aka: those who hate the current administration).
The songs in the movies are hilarious. There's a gung-ho action song called "America, Fuck Yeah!", a love song: "(the movie) Pearl Harbor sucked and I miss you", and a montage song with the refrain "We need a montage." Interestingly enough, the soundtrack isn't scheduled to be released until November.
Originally, the movie was rated NC-17, but they edited down a sex scene. The MPAA should get a life. All the characters in the movies are puppets. The faces are disturbingly real, but the bodies aren't. They have no genitals. They rated a movie NC-17 for a sex scenes between plastic people with no genitals. Also Matt Stone and Trey Parker said that they were forced, I believe by the MPAA but it may have been the studio, to make the trailers G-rated because they're puppets. Because of the trailers, they've ran into parents who told them they planned on taking their kids to see the movie. This movie is as appropriate for kids as the South Park Movie was.
Anyway, on the Tom's Movie Rating system, I give it a definite pay full price. I'd even go see it again.
And speaking of full price, the local Lowes theatre stops matinee prices with any movies after 5pm. They also, on fridays and saturdays, jack the price up to $9 after 5pm. So I paid $9 for a movie ticket for the first time.
I need to reinstall windows on my computer. I'm thinking of switching over to Linux, more specificly Mandrake. A guy at work has had good luck with it. Anyone who knows anything about it haved any opinion on it?
When the net went down here and before I found out it was the whole building, I was looking for a particular piece of paper I got from the cable company and I ended up finding it, but not before finding two other things I had been looking for. I found my Ray Ban sunglasses and the instructions to something I had borrowed and had returned without the instructions.
I went to see Team America: World Police yesterday. It was one of the funniest movies I've seen this year. It made fun of alot of people and things, but it's main targets were Micheal Bay-type movies, the U.S. going into places to save people and doing their share of destruction in the process (aka: the current administration), and those who think the U.S. should never go to war (aka: those who hate the current administration).
The songs in the movies are hilarious. There's a gung-ho action song called "America, Fuck Yeah!", a love song: "(the movie) Pearl Harbor sucked and I miss you", and a montage song with the refrain "We need a montage." Interestingly enough, the soundtrack isn't scheduled to be released until November.
Originally, the movie was rated NC-17, but they edited down a sex scene. The MPAA should get a life. All the characters in the movies are puppets. The faces are disturbingly real, but the bodies aren't. They have no genitals. They rated a movie NC-17 for a sex scenes between plastic people with no genitals. Also Matt Stone and Trey Parker said that they were forced, I believe by the MPAA but it may have been the studio, to make the trailers G-rated because they're puppets. Because of the trailers, they've ran into parents who told them they planned on taking their kids to see the movie. This movie is as appropriate for kids as the South Park Movie was.
Anyway, on the Tom's Movie Rating system, I give it a definite pay full price. I'd even go see it again.
And speaking of full price, the local Lowes theatre stops matinee prices with any movies after 5pm. They also, on fridays and saturdays, jack the price up to $9 after 5pm. So I paid $9 for a movie ticket for the first time.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Went home last weekend. I wasn't even to the first rest stop on the turnpike when the truck in front of me kicked up a stone and put a nickel-sized ding in the windshield. It didn't break all the way through. It's in the middle of the windshield, so it's not in my view. I couldn't find anything in the NJ vehicle code about a nick in the windshield if it doesn't obstruct the driver's view. So I'm not planning on getting it fixed if it doesn't get any worse. Also, a guy at work said he's had a similar thing in his windshield for years and they've never said anything about it at inspection, not that that matters anyway. My inspection is 23 months away and I don't expect to have that car then, atleast not as my primary car.
I went to the Steelers game and got to see them beat up on the Browns. Interesting enough, of the five games this year, they've won two games when I was there, two games when I've watched at a bar, and lost the one I watched from home. Thus I'm not watching any more games at home.
In what is probably going to be the easiest suicide pool pick this year, I correctly picked the Patriots to beat the Dolphins. There are a total of nine people left in that pool. I have used both the Eagles and the Patriots now, but so have six of the other people left. Only one person hasn't picked the Pats and one person hasn't picked the Eagles. On the other hand, I've managed to use the Bengals already this year. It's always great to use a team that you won't be tempted to use again this season.
I've picked the team playing Miami every week so far except when they Played the Steelers. It was Big Ben's first start, so I used the Eagles that week. This week they're playing Buffalo, who hasn't won a game all season, so I probably won't be following the whomever-plays-miami strategy.
Yesterday was a good day. I'm actually on schedule on my project at work. And turns out that the project doesn't have to be done for the big thingy that's happening the last week in October. Turns out we're doing the first internal release near the end of November. Then I came home and this was in my mailbox:
That's right. Katherine Heigl is on the cover of a magazine promoting her new tv show. All this while I'm in the middle of watching the second season of Roswell on dvd. Life is good.
Tonight, my internet went down. Turns out the internet is in the whole building. So I'm sitting down in the tv room using the internet. Turns out the common area wireless internet is working, but the cable internet in the apartments isn't. So, since, I'm not going to be online again tonight, I'm going to turn the Bill Countdown down a couple hours early. But, if you're reading this on thursday, be aware, the day is only two weeks away.
I went to the Steelers game and got to see them beat up on the Browns. Interesting enough, of the five games this year, they've won two games when I was there, two games when I've watched at a bar, and lost the one I watched from home. Thus I'm not watching any more games at home.
In what is probably going to be the easiest suicide pool pick this year, I correctly picked the Patriots to beat the Dolphins. There are a total of nine people left in that pool. I have used both the Eagles and the Patriots now, but so have six of the other people left. Only one person hasn't picked the Pats and one person hasn't picked the Eagles. On the other hand, I've managed to use the Bengals already this year. It's always great to use a team that you won't be tempted to use again this season.
I've picked the team playing Miami every week so far except when they Played the Steelers. It was Big Ben's first start, so I used the Eagles that week. This week they're playing Buffalo, who hasn't won a game all season, so I probably won't be following the whomever-plays-miami strategy.
Yesterday was a good day. I'm actually on schedule on my project at work. And turns out that the project doesn't have to be done for the big thingy that's happening the last week in October. Turns out we're doing the first internal release near the end of November. Then I came home and this was in my mailbox:
That's right. Katherine Heigl is on the cover of a magazine promoting her new tv show. All this while I'm in the middle of watching the second season of Roswell on dvd. Life is good.
Tonight, my internet went down. Turns out the internet is in the whole building. So I'm sitting down in the tv room using the internet. Turns out the common area wireless internet is working, but the cable internet in the apartments isn't. So, since, I'm not going to be online again tonight, I'm going to turn the Bill Countdown down a couple hours early. But, if you're reading this on thursday, be aware, the day is only two weeks away.
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
I reserved my first trip on a train today. I'm driving back to Pittsburgh this weekend, but when I go back for Thanksgiving, I'm taking a train. For not much more than the cost to drive, less even if you consider wear & tear on the car, I won't have to worry about driving in bad weather or getting caught in traffic due to construction or car accident. I can sit in a seat, watch dvds, read books and enjoy complimentary beverages. Also, unlike when I take a plane, I don't have to deal with security guards who see my last name and "randomly" choose to search through my baggage.
Happy Birthday Tiff!!!
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Thank god I installed a firewall on my computer. Somebody somewhere has got my ip address in some sort of search program. The firewall has detected over 8,000 attempted intrusions since friday, including almost thirty "high-rated" attempts.
I'm still alive in the suicide pool. I chose the New York Jets this week. There are now only eleven people left. So far, I've stayed alive by following one rule: while you can only pick a team once per season, you can pick against a team many times. Three of my four picks were playing the Miami Dolphins the week I picked them.
Going against the Dolphins also helped me in my fantasy league. My defense was on their bye week last week, so I needed a defense for this week. I picked up the Jets' defense and Miami's offense was nice enough to keep sucking. So far, the only defense that hasn't scored a touchdown off of Miami this year has been the Steelers and that's only because their safety dropped a easy interception.
Going against the Dolphins also helped me in my fantasy league. My defense was on their bye week last week, so I needed a defense for this week. I picked up the Jets' defense and Miami's offense was nice enough to keep sucking. So far, the only defense that hasn't scored a touchdown off of Miami this year has been the Steelers and that's only because their safety dropped a easy interception.
