Spurred, in part, by a dying Tivo Series 2 and in part by the obsolescence* of a small 2-inch TV Jena had been using as part of her morning rituals, we at the Edwards' household are in the midst of a Media Center creation, or rather coalescence project.
While I didn't quite plan it this way, the first part of the media center is now in place, a 37-inch Samsung LCD. Samsung is a great choice for LCD's as they have great reviews and are generally innovators in their TV production. I briefly flirted with the idea of the LED but the smallest was 40-inches and for this particular room and space we needed it to be no larger than 37-inch. As it turns out, I was able to talk myself out of the more expensive 37-inch model primarily because I really do not like the Auto Motion Plus 120Hz™ feature that is supposed to smooth transitions between frames but ends up making everything look like it is shot on a hand-held HD video camera. Also the higher-end model achieved at least part of its 100,000:1 contrast ratio by shining up the screen surface, which in our house, like in the store, resulted in significantly more glare being produced. In this case, going to the store to see the products in action** also saved me money as I got this TV for just under $800 rather than the $1200 I was ready to spend.
NEXT UP: HD Antenna Selection
* The little LCD TV served us well for over 10 years, but the idea of getting a digital signal converter for it made me throw up in my mouth a little. So I installed a 22-inch LCD upstairs for her and connected the set to a hidden HD antenna with Scott's help.
It was hard to take the latest blaspheme hurled in the Beatles direction with American Idol contestants, by and large, butchering Beatles songs for two straight weeks. Sure there were some standouts such as Brooke White's rendition of Let It Be, Carly Smithson's version of Come Together, A Day In the Life and Across the Universe by Michael Johns, and Yesterday by Syesha Mercado but nearly all the other performances were bizarre? What do all those songs have in common? They are good. Hello? Why pick the crappiest Beatles songs to sing? If I Fell, Michelle, I Should Have Know Better, Day Tripper, The Long and Winding Road, She's a Woman, Back in The U.S.S.R., and Eight Days a Week are all terrible.
I've Just Seen A Face (Chikezie) and You Can't Do That (Amanda Overmyer) are two possible exceptions, as I thought they took poor songs and at least made them interesting.
Almost without variance the judges and the call-in voters like performances more if they like the songs being sung. That is why there are cover bands. That is also why, according to the Guinness Book of Records, "Yesterday" has the most cover versions of any song ever written. The song remains popular today with more than 3000 recorded cover versions.
As I sit in the office today listening to the songs I have heard thousands of time before, I am reminded of how good the Beatles were and how good their music still is. Here are a few achievements, feats, and fact from various Wikipedia entries on the Beatles and their music:
The Beatles are the best-selling musical group of all time, estimated by EMI to have over one billion discs and tapes sold worldwide.
The Beatles have notched up the most multi-platinum selling albums for any artist or musical group (thirteen in the U.S. alone).
The Beatles have a record six diamond-selling albums (10 million copies): Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles, Abbey Road, The Beatles: 1962-1966, The Beatles: 1967-1970, and The Beatles 1.
The Beatles have had more number one albums than any other group (19 in the U.S. and 15 in the United Kingdom).
The Beatles spent the highest number of weeks at number one in the albums chart (174 in the UK and 132 in the U.S.).
The most successful first week of sales for a double album (The Beatles Anthology Volume 1, which sold 855,473 copies in the U.S. from 21 November to 28 November 1995).
The Beatles have the fastest selling CD of all time with 1. It sold over 13 million copies in four weeks.
The Beatles have had more number one singles than any other musical group (23 in Australia, 23 in The Netherlands, 22 in Canada, 21 in Norway, 20 in the U.S., and 18 in Sweden). Ironically, the Beatles could easily have had even more number ones, because they were often competing with their own singles.
In terms of charting positions, Lennon and McCartney are the most successful songwriters in history, with 32 number one singles in the U.S. for McCartney, and 26 for Lennon (23 of which were written together). Lennon was responsible for 29 Number One singles in the UK, and McCartney was responsible for 28 (25 of which were written together).
During the week of 4 April 1964, The Beatles held twelve positions on Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the top five positions, which has never been accomplished by any other artist. The songs were "Can't Buy Me Love" , "Twist and Shout", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", and "Please Please Me". Furthermore, two Beatles tribute records appeared on the chart: "We Love You Beatles" by The Carefrees (at #42), and "A Letter to the Beatles" by The Four Preps (#85).
The next week, 11 April 1964, the Beatles held fourteen positions on the Billboard Hot 100.
With their performance at Shea Stadium in 1965, The Beatles set new world records for concert attendance (55,600) and revenue. This was the first time in the history of popular music anyone had played in a proper stadium as opposed to a theatre or concert hall.
The Beatles broke television ratings records in the U.S. with their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show with over 70 million people viewing.
Some may remember the photos I took at my friends Brent & Annette's wedding cake. They are among my most popular photos with this one having 82 views yesterday, 528 views this week, and 156,585 views in total. 564 people call it a favorite! The cake has appeared in several magazines and online stories and now the makers of the cake, Gateaux, Inc. will be appearing on the Food Network Challenge this Sunday at 7pm. They are competing with 4 other cake makers to make the best Dr. Seuss themed cake. Nerds, set your TiVos!
DO NOT watch this 4 minute recap of the first 4 seasons of The Wire unless you are ABOSULTEY POSITIVE you aren't going to watch the full seasons - serious spoilers are in effect.
I watched the first two episodes of the new season of The Wire and it was great as always. It is good in ways that are overt and in many ways that are more subtle. The parallels between characters struggling with things in their lives are often shown sequentially. Cuts from one scene to the next underscore many of these similarities without being in your face about it. It is simply brilliant. One of the best things about the show is how they are not afraid to add new elements and change up major aspects of the show. This year for example they have added a newspaper/media angle. In the past they have had a large union storyline, a story involving schools and kids, and they continue to emphasize the political aspects of the story in addition to the street crime and police/detective bits. This continual evolution of the show is one of the main reasons why it could last for years. That is why it is particularly disappointing that they have said this is the final season.
Besides it ending too early, there is one more gripe I have with the shoe: it's name. It should clearly be called The Game. There are references to playing the game or being in the game constantly by all types of characters. It is a much more broad name that can be used by gang members, cops, politicians, and the like. I have tried to tell myself that "the wire" can refer to more than the surveillance that is being done, like these people are living on the edge (of a wire), so to speak, but that is more than a little weak.
The last episode of Clark and Michael will be posted today (expect delays in loading) which makes me sad. It won't be too long until all the best video content will be online and independently produced, but we're not there yet. But when shows like Arrested Development cannot stay on the air and we must rely on the weak-minded, short-sighted TV executives and advertisers to choose our programs for us, there is bound to be those who take matters into their own hands. Clark and Michael have been doing just that for 10 minutes a week and it has been great. It is amazing to see what two kids and some cameramen can produce. Why can't the networks figure this out?
Two new series on VH1 really have gone a long way in justifying my decision several years ago to drop cable. As if Rock of Love: Bret Michaels in which women compete for the affections of the former (current?) front man of Poison wasn't bad enough there is also the incredible (in a bad way) series, Scott Baio is 45 ...and Single, aimed, I am sure, at all the women of my era who have loved Baio since he was in charge as Charles. When will Nicole Eggertget her own reality show?
Last night I watched the last episode of the TV series, The OC and afterward, felt is was time for a more personal diary-like post here on Alt Text; a post where I get to provide a bit of a window into my soul, however embarrassing that may be. It has been a while and that isn't good.
Yesterday, I was quite surprised to hear that the series was ending. Not only that, but the series finale was on that night. Now, I haven't watched The OC in a while - at least two or three seasons - but I will admit that it made its way into, an albeit guilty, region of my heart. Yes, despite being the type of cheesy, teen drama that I so often ridiculed I couldn't stop myself from caring about these (mostly) rich Orange County residents, many with very few redeeming qualities. I could try to play it cool now and say that I like the show for the hot girls and great soundtrack* , but the truth is, it was more than that. Mind you not much more, but in almost every episode I saw, there were moments of honesty and emotion that seemed so very contradictory to the backdrop and to the personalities of the characters.
Like so much of seasons' past, however, the finale had many gag worthy moments, actually many more than the average episode. This is due in part because the show, more even than it usually did, mocks itself mercilessly. The writers and creators of The OC know what it is. They know they aren't creating art. That is part of the reason they ended the show after 5 seasons (undoubtedly another part is ratings drops though I haven't checked into that). They understand that the show is cheesy and, for most viewers over 18 (a vast majority) a guilty pleasure.
In this, the final episode, the ridiculous builds upon the plain stupid toward the crescendo ending that isn't. Part of the plot supposed the viewer feel sorry for this wealthy family because their mansion on the ocean is deemed unsalvageable after an earthquake. They even cut to each family member's face as this news is delivered, creating the ultimate in cheese. Other plot points, try to draw out drama from whether a serial adultery and marry-er decides to marry her second 60 year old, husband, or the guy who player Hercules in that UPN show of the same name. Clichés and inside jokes fly out of the character's mouths for about 40 more minutes until they they settle into a series of flash-forwards to see what becomes of our heroes and heroines. All of this is quite predictable and rather boring until, in classic OC style (if not somewhat predictable as well), in the last scene the troubled kid from the wrong side of the tracks (who is now all growed up) is leaving his job site and sees a kid who was just like himself when The OC began. He knows where he is and he asks him if he needs help. This moment, too, is high on sappiness, but, with the music in the background and the history I have with this show, I can't help but feel good about it and even though I gave up watching years ago, I couldn't help but mourn a little for the loss of The OC. Just knowing it was there has been a comfort to me I guess. Ugh.
* For a while, the show provided me with a lot of exposure to new music including introducing me to some of my current favorites: Imogen Heap, Rouge Wave, Death Cab for Cutie, Matt Pond PA, Keane, Super Furry Animals, and many more, and was honestly one of the primary reasons the show resonated with me as it did. They did a great job finding songs that really matched and enhanced the emotions of the scenes with which they were coupled.
I don't really like Bill Maher. I think he is smug, pompous, mean-spirited and generally unfunny. It may seem odd then, to have two posts quoting him in such short order, but occasionally he cuts right to the bone of an issue. Here is one such case:
Of industrialized nations nearly all have universal health care and none doubt evolution
We are no longer inventing as we once were, and now we will be losing out on the breakthroughs of stem cell research because some people think it is is like cloning or abortion. (see our ranking in literacy)
We owe China 1 trillion dollars and we are even in debt to Mexico.
Great nations do not torture people and hold them without trial.
We are #1 in something however, cocaine consumption.
* "According to the World Health Organization the United States ranks 77th in the world in terms of the impact of our spending on the health of our people. Why is the American health care system is so inefficient? How is it that we succeed in spending more than twice the money other industrialized countries spend on health care per capita and yet rank below them on overall health care statistics?" [Connecticut Green Party]
Let me start by saying that I was impressed with the way the LOST season 3 premier started out and, for the most part, how it went from there. I have yet to check out any LOST sites or speculate much with friends so despite my new theory on "the others" being pretty basic and even obvious from the show, it is still mine, so far. If you have time-shifted your LOST watching and haven't seen the new episode yet you probably shouldn't read any further. For speculation and spoilers, continue reading.
Some people may think that LOST is just a hit show on ABC. Those people don't know about the huge amounts of fans that debate its theories - yes there are LOST theories. LOST is actually something of a phenomenon. Just take a look at the number of sites out there - there are over 40 million results in Google for "LOST ABC". There are several very thorough sites like LostPedia and, …and found. LostPedia has over 6,000 total pages in its database. There have been a total of 12,214,121 page views, and 48,231 page edits since the wiki was setup. That comes to 8.02 average edits per page and 253.24 views per edit.
Major new sources have got into the act, furthering the theory frenzy and speculation. Here is one of the best (according to some) but certainly one of the most elaborate.
In addition to the TV series, there has been a real concerted effort by the shows producers to fan the flames of these fans (or fanatics). There is a real novel: Bad Twin, written by fictional Gary Troup, one of the passengers on Oceanic Flight 815 (the flight that crashed in LOST. It is even read on the show by one of the characters and fans believe there are clues hidden in its pages.
Not only that, but there are websites set up for companies in the series, such as the Hanso Foundation and Oceanic Airlines, each with plenty of intrigue and speculation of clues contained within them – seriously, view the source of the Oceanic site and really explore and interact with the Hanso site – there was some real time put into those.
4, 8, 15, 16 ,23 or 42 – this is the ever-present sequence of numbers from the show totaling 108 - this post was made today because LOST Season 3 will begin in exactly 108 days just one day after the October 3rd release of Season 2 to DVD.
If I am a liitle late to the party on this you can blame a lot of people but you can only blame Mark for me actually participating.
Four jobs I've had
Stocked shelves and helped people feed their consumerism at the very first Target Greatland store
Called cabs for drunkards at the long defunct Mississippi Live group of bars and clubs
Decided the fates of small, short-term student loan applicants
Part of a team of people, who if together today could be doing really great things, that helped two less brilliant people make fistfuls of cash
Four movies I can watch over and over
Any movie containing at least 15% hobbits
Blazing Saddles
Army of Darkness
Rushmore
Four places I've lived
A room in a house shared with a crazy, roid-rager who would throw his furniture around in the room next-door.
A small room atop a run-down fraternity house in Minneapolis
A large concrete co-op (where I served as president) in Dinkytown (Minneapolis)
Mexico for 4 months, 3 weeks (cumulative)
A town home in New Brighton (Minnesota) where I spent the first nights married to my beautiful wife and playing with my crazy puppy. (those were separate occasions)
Four TV shows I love
Arrested Development
Lost
The West Wing
The Daily Show / The Colbert Report (not cheating as one is basically an extension of the other)
Four places I've vacationed
Europe (Paris, Amsterdam, Bruges)
Wisconsin Dells
The Dominican Republic (where I proposed to Jena)
Hawaii
Four of my favorite dishes (soooo many things!)
Dark chocolate truffles and milk
Lobster scampi
Sushi (though not sashimi)
Authentic Mexican tacos (al pastor)
Four sites I visit daily (I am assuming mail.google.com doesn’t count)
Bitterpill.org (I enjoy disappointment)
Flickr.com
RobotWisdom.com
AltText.com (I am kinda of a narcissist)
Four places I would rather be right now
On vacation (New Zealand, Africa, China, Cuba top the list)
In bed
Playing basketball, volleyball, kickball, tennis or nearly any team sport
Anywhere with my best friend and wife (having that be the same person really saves on expenses)
Looks like TiVo is rolling out new features at quite a clip. Some have reported that they now have support for podcasts ad I have seen local weather and traffic and other features in conjunction with Yahoo! There would also seem to be sharing of photos with Yahoo! (Flickr integration coming soon?) Maybe this Yahoo!/TiVo partnership is going to be more worthwhile than first speculated...interesting.
More features being rolled out:
- Browse movie information/buy tickets from Fandango.
- Discover new music on Live365.
- Overlap priority (for those shows that begin or end at strange times)
- Movies on demand with Netflix (ok so this one is still wishful thinking)
* If you ever corner me in a bar or such place have me tell you the story about Bob Sagat that Paul Provenza told the entire theater at SXSW 2005 after the preview screening.
Hillary should stop trying to make political hay and start grooming her image to be something other than an also-ran. I would like to see her pick up the baton on other children's issues like stopping companies from targeting them with ANY ads.
I must admit that the new design of Alt Text is a bit limiting to me, especially, when considering the way I want to post. I am trying to figure out some ways to get around it, but right now Alt Text just isn't set up for the type of linking to interesting things that I have been doing lately. Of course, I knew this while I was designing and implementing the new design but I thought that I would just expand on a link here and there and turn them into real (single) posts (rather than in bunches). Then a strange thing happened. I wanted to post more often than once per day, introducing yet another drawback of this design...it is harder to browse backwards through entries, as well. I am going to make it easier on the archive pages and so on, but I need to figure out a more global solution, and soon.
Here are some posts I have been holding back on because I wanted to have at least 3-5 for aesthetics:
The Family Guy's Peter Griffin a real person? Well no.
Eminent Domain abuses and challenges. I really hate the way this has been going. I don't think economic development should be considered a legitimate reason to invoke eminent domain, when considering whether or not to bulldoze granny's house.
Great looking photo of Toronto skyline - not only is this a great photo but all the photos on the site are - and the best part is he shares his secrets of how they are made in many cases.
PostSecret - send in your secrets in the form of postcards. Some of these are very poignant.
Fad Watch: Video Googlewacking with salacious videos like this one.
If Fiona Apple's new video (click free link) is any indication of her new direction, I am thinking the Free Fiona campaign may free her from any future record deals once and for all. I am a Fiona fan but if her new sound is 20's retro, I won't be listening to much of it.
100 Bearskinrug One-Offs - is a great site featuring a great collection of single pane drawings and comics. Think The Farside if Gary Larson had been a manic depressive.
OurMedia - is a site that provides free storage and free bandwidth for your videos, audio files, photos, text or software. Forever. No catches. But will it last? Check out some of the featured videos. Good stuff.
Ben Strunk's Website - I only wish I had a site this good, though to be honest, my first site wasn’t too far off from this.
Though I would like to believe I am watching an anthropological experiments when I watch shows like Frontier House, 1900 House, and the new BBC production Surviving the Iron Age, I know they will all soon most closely resemble Jerry Springer. I even have the same dirty feeling after I turn off the set. [Related site]
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Men's Fitness Magazine recently ranked Minneapolis, MN as the 11th fittest in the nation, which leads me to believe that we are one fat country. In Minneapolis, according to their findings, people watch less TV than in any other city, and have the highest levels of exercise and sports participation.
I think this is a great idea: Servas (U.S. Affiliated site). You can host travelers in your home and build "credit" for when you want to travel. This will resolve a huge issue for me when I travel –not meeting local people and learning about their culture. Tourist attractions are all well and good, but I would like to at least get a small hint of what it would be like to live in the place I am visiting.
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I am primarily linking to this site now so that I remember the URL when I actually get around to updating and ranking my Amazon wish lists. The original source of this was Kottke.org but I do not like Jason's new Weekly remainders idea as the links tend to be gone when I go back to look for them.
Lucas really couldn't be THIS evil. Plans to change and release the original three Star Wars movies again with inserted scenes with Natalie Portman and ... (cough) Jar Jar Binks. It can't be true.
This guy has some rather large cajones. He plans to launch himself into space (or at least 30 miles up), from his backyard, in a rocket he is making himself. Here is the slash dot link.
I vacillate when it comes to loving and loathing cars. In many respects I ridicule our system of transit and find little point in owning expensive automobiles that perform like racecars, however there is still something about certain cars that stir something in me. It happened the first time I saw the new VW Passat (which they have since "updated" to be less cool looking), the Audi TT and now has been repeated with this car, the Bugatti EB 16-4 Veyron [source: VW Vortex].
At 16 cylinders and over 1000 horsepower, I don't expect this car to ever be available in the U.S. but man is it gorgeous. Those German's sure know their cars (and beer and sausage, don't forget the sausage).
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The sun even shines on a dog's ass some of the time.
I happened upon a show a couple months ago called Trading Spaces on TLC and have been watching it with TiVO's help, in part because I am building a home (a much slower process than I would like) and so, am interested in interior decoration currently.
Little did I know that I was riding the crest of popularity for this obscure little show, where neighbors switch houses for 2 days and makeover one room of their friends' homes. So far most people are very happy (mostly due to hideous rooms to begin with) and I have only seen two people cry (out of anguish) at the results. I am not sure what makes for better TV, between the two outcomes.
I watched something like 6 hours of teevee today and I am feeling pretty guilty. I did spend five hours at the Science Museum of Minnesota today with my little brother which may explain my need for relaxation.
I like little Kelby and up til today I had really enjoyed spending time with him, but MAN is he hyper. He had me running around, going up stairs, and carrying him out of exhibits all day. I really have admiration for the 4th grade teachers who have to deal with him and all his friends everyday - and I think I will stick with the weekday night events for awhile longer (maybe 3-4 years) since it seems that he gets most of his energy out at school.
This new show, The Osbournes looks to be pretty funny. I may have to remind TiVO to record it.
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T-minus 4 days until SXSW gets underway. Be sure not to look at me too weirdly if I come up to you and say I love your site. I will be staying at the Homestead Austin - Downtown at 507 S. First St. Look me up or call me (512-476-1818) if you have a hankering (I have to start talkin' like a Texan)
First some Super Bowl comments: The game was good. The underdog won - I love that and there were a couple decent commercials (and no Pepsi and Britney weren't in any of them)
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My wife and I are moving forward on plans to build our first "real" house. Living in a townhouse the last 4 years has become a drag - with the militant association and all making sure our Christmas lights are down 10 days after the holiday and that we only have 1 wreath up at a time. We decided to build because we could really get what we want without a lot of waste. The homes they build nowadays are all so big. Some call them "starter castles" but I like McMansions myself. We found a great lot in the area we were interested in and are making an offer today. Wish me luck! (consequently this process is one of the primary reasons I have been so behind in posting to the site these past couple months. To compensate I plan on posting the status of this endeavor frequently - consider that a threat)
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I am equally excited about volunteering with the Big Brother Big Sister program. I go to meet my "little" tonight. This is something I have always wanted to do but have kept putting off. I love to teach and be there when people experience new things so this volunteering gig pays me something - maybe even something more than the kid gets out of it - although I hope he gets a lot as well.
After what seemed like years of waiting for The Tick to hit primetime TV, I am now officially disappointed in the first 2 episodes. They simply are not playing as well in live action as they did in animated format. Despite my loving PATRICK WARBURTON Patrick Warburton in the title role I just do not find it very funny yet. I am still going to give it some more chances to get the kinks ironed out, I just hope Fox does too. I remember many shows that were never appreciated until they were gone (New Radio, My So Called Life, Cop Rock :P )
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After watching and enjoying the original Iron Chef shows I could tell people were going to be sorely disappointed. The elements from the original that make it great are the ridiculous voice-overs and the stoic chefs doing crazy things. The Japanese are just plain weird, they don't have the hang-ups that their American counterparts do. I was hopeful with Bill Shatner being cast but I just knew they couldn't pull it off. Too bad.
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I just beat the buzzer for registration for SXSW yesterday. Sure you can still sign up but now it will cost you a bit more. I will be attending the Interactive and much of the Film festivals and will be in Austin from Thursday March 7th to Wednesday the 13th. Please let me know if you plan on being down there, I would love to meet you.
Much of today has been spent most non-productively downloading and viewing many a Celebrity Jeopardy skit from Saturday Night Live. I still cannot find the latest one with Sean Connery, Robin Willams (Jimmy Fallon), Cathrine Zeta-Jones (Lucy Lui), but any of these are liable to bring tears to my eyes if I try to make it through the whole skit.
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On a sad note for me, I had my first bit of, what I can only describe as "hate mail" via my site in over 5 years of running a website. It was regarding some of my views on the job our president is doing. Politics seem to divide people and affect people much more profoundly than many other issues and characteristics seem to do. Why is that? Why do people care so much about the minor differences between America's Democratic and Republican parties? They really are minor yet people can get so worked up about things. Politics, religion, and race in America tend to cause the most conflicts yet really matter very little when it comes to two people getting together and talking about issues facing the world today.
I am offline for a couple days and they release the first season of the Simpsons on DVD! It has all the episodes of the first season as well as unaired footage, sketches, BBC feature “America’s First Family” and the Tracy Ullman short “Good Night”. All that for only $27.84 and free shipping - that's the best DVD value I have seen in a while.
Spurred, in part, by a dying Tivo Series 2 and in part by the obsolescence* of a small 2-inch TV Jena had been using as part of her morning rituals, we at the Edwards' household are in the midst of a Media Center creation, or rather coalescence project. 
It was hard to take the latest blaspheme hurled in the Beatles direction with American Idol contestants, by and large, butchering Beatles songs for two straight weeks. Sure there were some standouts such as Brooke White's rendition of Let It Be, Carly Smithson's version of Come Together, A Day In the Life and Across the Universe by Michael Johns, and Yesterday by Syesha Mercado but nearly all the other performances were bizarre? What do all those songs have in common? They are good. Hello? Why pick the crappiest Beatles songs to sing? If I Fell, Michelle, I Should Have Know Better, Day Tripper, The Long and Winding Road, She's a Woman, Back in The U.S.S.R., and Eight Days a Week are all terrible.
I vacillate when it comes to loving and loathing cars. In many respects I ridicule our system of transit and find little point in owning expensive automobiles that perform like racecars, however there is still something about certain cars that stir something in me. It happened the first time I saw the new 
