I'm currently trying to find the following movies on VHS or DVD. Some of you may remember these shows, or maybe not. They were pretty 'B' in their time and - from what I've recently read - may not have aged well. But see no reason why that should stop me.
Anyway,
Thursday (1998)
- stars Tom Jane (the new Punisher)
- another Mickey Rourke film
Nemesis (1993)
- is this the only Olivier Gruner film that didn't utterly blow?
- feels more New Rose HotelBurning Chrome than any direct film adaptations of William Gibsons work ever did
Down Twisted (1987)
- am I the only person with fond memories of Albert Pyun films?
If anybody remembers these shows, or believes they can be had via torrent or something somewhere, I'd love to hear about it. If Cinemax (a movie channel in the states) has these movie, doesn't that mean there has to be a digital copy around somewhere?
Throwbacks?
Movie Reviews For The Masses
I'm inviting you to visit my favorite movie review website ThatMovieSite.com
Why is it my fav?
Well for starters it's a Canadian site, and even better it's Western Canadian, based out of Calgary. Another nice element is that the reviewers are mostly regular folks, who don't get any freebies, and don't get paid for putting up these reviews. This site sprung up from a writer's collective a couple of years ago so most of the writing is of excellent quality, as well.
Oh, and I write for the site, so I am somewhat biased.
Some recent highlights for you to view:
The On-Line Film Communities Top 100 Movies of All Time
The Rush Hour Collection
Current Releases
Check it often! The site does tend to focus on theatrical releases, but I am the resident "DVD Guy" so you will see DVD reviews here and there...
More Useless Crap From The Internet
If he was still alive you know he'd be the king of internet shopping madness and probably spend most of his time naked and surrounded by vapid supermodels with breasts designed by these cookies.
Yes, that's right, according to the info at the link the F-Cup Cookies will help girls get bigger boobs. No sane woman would but this shit, but you gotta know that thousands of well-meaning, yet selfish, men will be surreptitiously sliding these suckers into stocking at Christmas time and pretending to know nothing about it.
"Two Returners" on Sunday, August 12
So between Don and I we finally got a date nailed down for this event which has been in the works for a while, but we just didn't have enough info to distribute until recently. Hopefully a big crew can make it like on Canada Day.
"BBQ Party for two friends"
What: Birthday Party
Host: Pepper-Martens' Place
When: Sunday, August 12 at 3:00pm
Please bring chairs if you have a couple. We'll be playing some boche ball, frisbee, tossing a football around and having drinks all afternoon. And let's get more pictures this time, especially of the fireworks show*.
*NOTE: I'm currently looking for people to contribute to the fireworks show, I'm hoping a few people will consider spotting $20 to $40 so we can have a nice display. If you are interested in helping out with that, PLEASE EMAIL ME with how much you can contribute so I know how much to buy before hand.
I'll Be Leapfrogging
This is such a relief! I can skip Vista totally and just wait for the release of Windows 7 sometime in 2010. I knew there had to be an upside to this nonsense hiding around here somewhere.
But I suppose a new Windows OS should be no real surprise. Maybe it will have all the innovative new technologies that were supposed to go into Vista that got the ax so they could spit this consumer raping cash machine out.
We should all dump Microsoft and get ReactOS!
WTF!
I don't even know what to tell you about this video, other than look at the company that put it out. You will see thier name in the bottom left at the end of the commercial.
I suppose it's only natural that the rape of our childhood entertainments continues unabated. After all The Transformers has been a massive success, so much so that we will, in the not-too-distant future, see G.I. Joe, He-Man, Conan, and Dragonlance feature films. And from a past that I still remember (and this is really for you Kyro and Selbonaut) returns the once cutting-edge Reboot.
Keep your eyes peeled kiddies, more blasts from the past are stumbling their way towards a quick bittorrent download...
Future of Email
I enjoy that some companies are trying to find great ways to take something easy, like email, and move it to the future of complex!
I've always dreamed of hanging out beside the pool with my unsorted email. I would delight in watching all my spam being fed to the sharks as well. Although having to wait for all my incoming mail to finish it's conversation with the bouncer, and have it's disinfecting shower may get a little annoying. How to make me enjoy that part, oh, of course, make emails scantily clad females. I wonder how many times I can force them to take disinfecting showers. because I like my email clean, but my games dirty, and this is the first time I can actually combine the two! What other vital apps can I make this change to?
Seriously though, I wonder how much spyware, and other malware junk is nested in this. Looks like a pretty prime app to sucker uneducated high school teens to download. I might download it to a test box, just to find out how much spyware is in there, and for some laughs.
So, I'm almost finished working on a project CD called "Objective" right now. It will have a number of tracks that are somewhat thematically related arranged and put together with finishing touches, track blends, that sort of thing. It has 13 songs, from the past four years (including some final mixes of songs that I may have shown around before).
What I'm at a loss though, is possible cover art designs for the jacket. I thought maybe people around here would take a spin with photoshop (or whatever you use) and throw some ideas at me. If you have anything you think would make good front/back cover art, please suggest/send it to me at my gmail address.
Man In APC: 6 Cell Phone Towers: 0
He's mad as hell and he ain't gonna take it no more!
I know you're thought about it.
Love the Aussies!
Now if only someone would do something similar to -ahem- assist Saskatoon drivers to be more considerate...
RA
It was board games on Friday, Wilkanomics in da house. MRPM + Guest and CPM of course. Got setup and went at it for three Epochs of Egyptian rule!
Took a less aggressive stance in the first Epoch this time around, thinking that would set me up for success in the second and third, but I was careless with my Sun Tiles, and ended up starting the second Epoch with the 1, 2 and 7 (ouch!). The others certainly smelled blood.
By the end, Wilkanomics had soundly defeated us all, by something like 20+ points over the nearest inferior Pharaoh.
All in all, I would still have to give RA two thumbs up. I particularly like it with a full 5 people so it keeps things interesting (although this one does work with 4 also).
Highs:
- diceless game
- no "combat" segment
Lows:
- sometimes you feel like you are a bit powerless to respond to situations when the game changes on you
The Long Walk
Well, I actually did make it out Saturday for the planned walk, and I certainly learned a lot about how the mind and body work (well, my mind and body anyway).
I started my part of the journey at the SaskPlace Husky at about 12:50pm and completed at Ebenezer Baptist Church (fitting, if you know anything about my history) at about 6:45pm. I was very pleased with my progress throughout the day and felt great right up until the approach on Sutherland when my left foot began giving me pain.
The first 10 km's were a cake walk (pun intended), but around kilometer 14 or so, just past the bridge I really started laboring with every step. By the time we reached Eb I was pretty much toast - and I mean that figuratively AND literally, as I was lathered in SPF 45 the whole day and still managed to burn the uncovered tops of my shoulders and unprotected backs of each leg.
High Points:
- hitting km 10 still feeling strong
- Silverwood Golf Course trip segment (beautiful)
- late picnic lunch along Whiteswan (thanks to Mrs. Orange)
- crossing under Sir Sid Buckwold Bridge (or Circle Dr. bridge if you prefer)
- finishing at Ebenezer Baptist
Low Points:
- falling far short of the complete distance (not even a third)
- badgering by a backyard partying hooligan while leaving the golf course
- sun burn on the backs of my legs (ouch!)
- having such an early physical failure given how fresh I felt mentally still after 6 hours
I have concluded a few things also, which I would like to summarize here, but will be happy to go into detail conversationally if asked:
- my mind is far stronger than my body (I guess I sorta thought this already, but it was interesting to have it proven in front of me)
- the circuit might be unachievable for me now in a single day given the combination of my age and health with my ability to make time to prepare (but I'm still going to make one more attempt in a single day next summer with Orange)
- if the single day attempt fails again next year, I will want to make an attempt that is planned over two days with a pup-tent arrangement at the end of day 1
- I want to make an attempt again this summer using mountain/hybrid-road bikes that should be easily completed within a single day at only minor physical discomfort; I'm looking for victi... err... participants for this trip later this summer, mid to end of August I'm thinking
Canada Day @ PM's
Please come out to our place Sunday night for our Canada Day celebration. We want to kick off with BBQ and beers at around 5pm, and plan to have a pit fire, maybe a game or two (or some cards) and some fireworks around midnight.
It's bring you own meat, and if you want to contribute a side dish to the cause, that would be greatly appreciated (but we should only need a couple things, so not everybody should bring - maybe post here, or on facebook if you plan to bring something).
Looking forward to seeing everybody on Sunday, let's hope we get some good weather.
Stupid things that humans do
One might say that I am famous for the stupid things that I do. I'm considered odd at best. Do you want to be thought of as stranger than you already are? Think you know every thing your mother never taught you about walking? Can you drag your ass out of bed at 3:30am on a weekend? Join me in my quest this summer.
Why? Why?
"Oh, do not ask 'what is it?' Let us go and make our visit"
Come on, own the city you live in (or near)
|\/|y G@M3R 7H30RY (Pu|2e G@m3Z)
[click included photos for full size images, fully linked and annotated]
A while back in a living room not that far away but still a considerable drive*, before there was summer and birds (and wicked wrath of god type rainstorms) outside, Wilkanomics Sr. picked up at 360. We played a whole schwack of nifty games until Jr. says, 'hey, wanna check out 360 Live Arcade?' - ya, sure...
Next thing I know we're sucked into 6 hours of Geometry Wars, yeah.... you know, it's Asteroids made by people who've had one to many hits from the hi-def bong if you'll take my meaning, but hey, any game called "Retro Evolved" sounds like its targeted at my demographic. I probably spent the next three or four weeks trying to figure out how to get it running on my PC (where could a version be found?). I saw some brutal clones, but no dice.
So, last night, I'm playing a little Counter Strike: Source (Valve: SteamPowered), when, upon exit, I'm launching into a nifty little promo for GEOMETRY WARS: RETRO EVOLVED for my Windows XP PC!
(you think you're excited! feel these nipples!)
** of mayhem and explosive destruction set to groovy techno music. Booyaah!
You too can nab this gem for $2.50 from Steam if you act before June 22nd - but I hear you say it: 'that ain\'t nothin\'!' (script escape characters just for effect)... well.. yes. GW:RE sure lights the fire and gets the johnson to attention, but does it provide that sense of peace and tranquility that I'm always after? Not so much.
For that I turn to an equally good find, but this time on the PS3 (or, "that Scottish console" as I prefer to call it, as I would never utter the letters P, S, and the numeral three when actually around other electronic equipment, but I digress... ***).
The game I refer to is obviously, flOw (brilliantly made all hi-deffy for that Scottish console by SCEA). . So, after having my inner Nameste touched by this game on said console, I came home to find that flOw was originally designed to run in in Flash by Jenova Chen)!
Into the depths with you! err.. me! Try and follow along:
Hey, what am I doing back at the beginning? I just beat this frickin' thing and now.. now... well, now I'm all spherical and serene, and ohh.... I like it... I like it, it's good.... yeah, pass the hydrator please... "tsshhoooooooo.... 'eeer'! "
You see, I nailed the final foe and ate all his good stuff that comes out when a baddy expires, but then there was no more depths to conquer.
After all this nice nice, I was pretty spent of course, so I went a browsing through some of the demo games at Steam (have I mentioned Steam yet? huh...) and found a killer demo for, yes, modelling defence condition levels and all out nuclear war (it was really only a matter of time wasn't it).
Ever seen that goon Mathew Broderick in War Games? :[brutal!]: Ya, you have.
Now it's on my desktop and waiting for multi-player action. What's it called? DEFCON: EVERYBODY DIES.
My point in all of this? Pure Games. These were pure games, with no deep story, no first person reality simulating perspective. I press start, I play the game, I marvel at the perfection of the game design, I'm eventually defeated by the game (GW:RE) or I defeat the game (flOw), but either way, I had a great time, and I seem to be playing these games lots still. I figure it's because these games aren't work - they are PLAY.
Rainswept had a good point the other night: "maybe that's why it's called 'grinding' in the game", yeah, who needs another grind? I'm gonna stick to things I play.
Some of you expressed interest in when I was playing at the Jazz festival. I would love to see you come out for one (or more) of these shows, if you have time. My apologies for the shameless self plug. For those who are interested as well, there is a beer gardens at the free stage, so you can sit outside, have a beer, and enjoy free live music all week. For information on other shows, please visit www.saskjazz.com
Saturday June 23rd, 4pm to 6pm with Paschall and Dahl at the Star Phoenix free stage in Kiwanis Park, by the Band Shell. (Free)
Monday June 25rd, 7pm to 9pm with U of S Summer Jazz Band at the Star Phoenix free stage in Kiwanis Park, by the Band Shell. (Free)
Tuesday June 26th, with Paschall and Dahl at Beily's. I don't know exactly when, feel free to contact Beily's to find out. Also unsure if there is a door charge or not.
Thursday June 28th 7pm to 9pm with Paschall and Dahl at the 2nd Ave Bar and Grill. Reservations are recommended.
Saturday June 30th Doors at 7pm, Show at 8pm, with Paschall and Dahl, opening for Oscar Lopez, at the Broadway Theater. Tickets are $27 in advance, or $32 the day of / at the door.
Hope to see you there.
Funk-ified Chess
Hey folks... Saw this just a few days ago and thought that those of you who appreciate board games might get a kick out of it. I know that I definitely want one now.
http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/fathers-day/khet-laser-game/index.html
Prophecy?
I am not sure if you are getting sick of the video's that I am posting, but here is another fun one.
Gonna make it a bit easier for you...
Chaos Theory
Hey everyone, not sure if any of you actually checked out that site that I linked a while ago rocketboom, but Tuesday there is a neat little bit on Chaos Theory.
Can't Post?
Send me an email if you used to be able to post and can't now for any reason. I've got it on good authority that re-inviting might solve the problem.
Also, if you have a Gmail account now (but didn't then) you would be best to email me from that requesting the re-invite, as said accounts work much better than anything else.
You can also MSN me (I'm djkyro@hotmail.com) to notify/request if you want.
(why am I asking you wonder? well, AngryParrot said the other day he could read but not post for a time, and I'm hoping to get the situations like that sorted out - it's one of the things on my to-do list, and I'm trying to clean it up)
Video Editing Software Reccommendations?
Do you have any?
I'm looking for an easy to use piece of video editing software that will allow me to mix in a soundtrack as well.
Perspective
No matter how complicated we make things, sometimes all it takes is a simple video to put things into perspective.
The Winerack
Finally a way to combine the intrinsic male preoccupations of booze & boobs!
Oh you clever little Americans!
Google Maps... Best ever?
Hey, could be a bit behind in this, but google just keeps making the coolest stuff.
Famous Quotes
"Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances." -Dr. Lee DeForest, "Father of Radio & Grandfather of Television."
"The Atomic bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives." -Admiral William Leahy, US Atomic Bomb Project
"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom." -Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923
"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." -Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers ." -Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." -The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957
"But what is it good for?" -Engineer at the Advanced ComputingSystems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
"640K ought to be enough for anybody."-Bill Gates, 1981
"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us," -Western Union internal memo, 1876
"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" -David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible," -A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)
"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper," -Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind."
"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make," -Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.
"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out," -Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible," -Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.
"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this," -Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.
"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy," -Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.
"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." -Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.
"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value," -Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre, France.
"Everything that can be invented has been invented," -Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899.
"The super computer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required." -Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York University
"I don't know what use any one could find for a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldn't be a feasible business by itself." -the head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox.
"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction." -Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872
"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon," -Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873.
Content Scrambling System (CSS) "ineffective"
- "According to the court, CSS (the DRM on DVDs) no longer achieves its protection objective. The court relied on two expert witnesses and said that "since a Norwegian hacker succeeded in circumventing CSS protection used in DVDs in 1999, end-users have been able to get with ease tens of similar circumventing software from the Internet even free of charge. Some operating systems come with this kind of software pre-installed." Thus, the court concluded that "CSS protection can no longer be held 'effective' as defined in law.""
So I hope this means that Hollywood will stop picking on Canada for being the supposed leader in movie piracy and start picking on Finland now.
Misguided Food Labeling
mmmmmmm lets recommend food thats over the daily maximums that the same organization promotes....... Left hand meet Right hand.
Red Gopher -- 2 weeks left
What to do on yet another cloudy and cool day of the May long weekend, I wondered. Well, I always used to enjoy checking out the kids' art show at the Mendel, so that is what I did. The show seemed a bit small to me, only taking up the space of one gallery, but I did see some interesting and technically skilled pieces.
I knew, too, that there was an 'Artists by Artists' show somewhere... As I was getting ready to leave, tada, I spied the show in the basement -- you know, by the bathrooms...(!!)
I was intrigued (mostly confused -^) by Yuka Yamaguchi's wall but was equally drawn by Dave Geary's work. (no link unfortunately).
Propaganda posters for Saskatchewan. Entertaining at the very least! My fav: A poster for "Red Gopher -- Saskatchewan's No.1 left-wing deep house danceteria and bar" (I purchased 2 card copies of this poster in the gift shop. Not available on coffee mugs :( but you can purchase a t-shirt with your favourite slogan and image. YAY capitalism!)
Show closes June 3, people!
This looks like something my Dad might even really like. It will all depend on whether or not it comes with enough codec support to literally play ANY video file. So far, seems like VLC is really the Last Video Player I've Ever Needed™, but I guess it doesn't do torrents and stuff.
Not like I have any real bandwidth in my neck of the woods anyway.
What the universe is made of
Dark energy: 75%
Dark matter: 21%
Normal matter: 4%
Source: NASA / CXC / M.Weiss
Both Dark Matter and Dark Energy are so entirely outside my actual daily experience that it seems like a pretty gigantic leap to conclude that the universe is almost totally made up of the stuff. Don't get me wrong, I'm okay with things I can't perceive (gravity, radio waves, etc...) but sometimes when I read articles like this - as I often do to see where modern astrophysics is at - I don't get a deep feeling of satisfaction.
I guess I just need to spend a few more years living in closely controlled laboratory conditions with a strict diet of detailed data or something to really 'get' it.
CPM's Next Musical?
Perhaps I should swing this little number past CPM? Could make for a damn interesting senior level production! Aside from that, I would really love to go see this. Hopefully it is a big enough success that it makes a run across the country (or at least to Calgary/Edmonton/Winnipeg where I could actually drive to see it).
Also on this note, hate to miss the Circe De Soliel / Delerium show this weekend, but can't be helped. At least Clock and Boxers are going to see it, so I should be able to get some good reviews posted on here if nothing else. Anybody else going?
Schnook Busting Loud Mouth
So, I'll grant you that Don Cherry is a schnook buster (as my grandma used to say)... but maybe he's onto something with this ColdFX stuff. I've had enough regular sick/flu/cold experiences to know how they start, and I can feel one trying to gain ground on me - and right before a wedding no less!
I'm no NHL-ian (NHL-er?), but I'll certainly use anything that staves off such a brutal and senseless assault.
The plan:
- Use the ColdFX
- Dose on the Vitamin C (lightly to aid in symptom reduction)
- keep up with the sun salutations each day *
- stay away from the booze and sugars **
I'm through with taking this common cold crap laying down.
I'll let you know if the treatment works (and sorry for the misleading post title).
*
** except don't take my double double away!
Interesting Podcasts
What interesting podcasts have you guys found?
Most that I did listen to have gradually stopped producing shows. The last one left in my playlist is Quirks and Quarks.
Robot Chicken: Star Wars special
Hey everyone, just watched this trailer for a special coming up. If any of you have been up late and watched teletoon then you have seen Robot Chicken. Here is the trailer for the Star Wars special.
So Film Cynic has released their 10 Worst Film Posters of All Time list. I think I agree with their number one pick.
Not sure if I agree with the rest of the list though. There's some stuff on there that I've never even heard of.
To the right is a fun poster I just discovered. Although it is pretty bad...
What do y'all think? What's your picks for the worst movie posters ever
Voice memo to email
Hey everyone, found this site that is kinda neat. Basic idea is that from a phone, you can call a number, leave a message, and it is sent to your email in text format.
The only down side is that I can't get it to work with the 1-800 number. If any of you out there try this and get it going I would love to know what you did.
Junk Food Quiz
Ever been curious as to what is considered junk food? Take the test and find out.
Hi all,
Just thought I'd drop a line to let everyone know I'm leaving London behind to come back home to Canada. I've had a great time, met wonderful people, and seen and done more in the last 2 and a half years then I have over my entire lifetime. Alas, I am homesick and miss my family and friends.
My flight has just been confirmed for July 24 - I'm looking forward to catching up and seeing everyone again.
PS - if anyone wants anything, please let me know as soon as possible - I will probably start shipping my stuff home in the next couple weeks.
Cheers!
Much Funnier than Al Gore
...but still with a serious side. Matrix lovers, prepare to have your hearts ripped from your bodies.
Downlodes
Exploration #4 - Inspired by the novel House of Leaves, this track is an experiment in soundscaping and abstract use of atmospherics. It does have musical elements however - I'm partial to the reprise of the filtered attacking synth toward the end (a few of the shorter stab notes have been dropped and the beat is gone allowing it to really float against the noise in the not to distant background).
Ghostheory - Originally called "Game Theory", this track evolved from minimal techno into a thumping floor burning banger. I'm really fond of the transition from the breakdown to the full on beat and then how it is able to slip out of it again. Also, look for the ghost, it's in there (a subtle moving soft almost organic synth sequence slowly appearing and disappearing in the background).
I gladly accept all criticisms and comments.
Frito-Lay's 'Flat Earth' Announcement
Frito-Lay has introduced, much to its CEO's dismay, a line of fruit and veggie crisps... the article speaks for itself.
Details about the Hippie-Chips are available here
I just saw this, and thought it was too funny. One online company made some decent coin scamming japanese people. My favourite part is that no one noticed until one celebrity whom was scammed was humiliated on TV, then the reports started flooding in.
No one took the effort to google some pictures of poodles to compare them to what they got? Must find some other animal that all the craze in Japan that I can scam people into buying. Who wants gophers?
I came across this video blog that is kind of interesting. She updates daily, and really covers what ever she wants, there is no theme or main topic. The clips seem to be about 3min in length on average. She has links at the bottom of the video to the topics if you want to read more on what she is talking about. Oh, and she is cute too.\
I have been watching it for a week to see if I was actually going to post it, and have had enough enjoyment out of it that I recommend you take a look, but give it a couple of episodes to see if you like it as well, or go back through the archives and watch a few.
Currently
Now Reading:
Just finished:
Ghostheory.mp3 (smooth space techno) - props to Selbonaut for assistance with the final mixdown 2007-04-21.
Listening to:
DownNine Inch Nails singles
Tracks working on:
Exploration #4
Upcoming Stuff:
Giddy Up! / Retro Hard House Set (April 28th, German Concordia Club)
Groove Pusher / Space Techno (May 18th, Vangelis Lounge on Broadway)
Why Vista
I'm a gamer, and I have long said the only thing that'll move me over to Vista is the games that work on Vista exclusively, and how pretty DirectX10 can make things look. Which is a laarge part of why this project interests me so much.
This guy is claiming to have reverse engineered the aspects of DirectX10 that make it Vista specific. Meaning, by his claim, "These libraries allow the use of DirectX 10 games on platforms other than Microsoft Vista..."
I hope it's not a hoax / lie. however since 1) I'm at work, and 2) the actual website is getting pounded, I can't investigate these claims for myself.
Since it apparently compiles things down to assembly, I am excited for the potential on non-windows OS's. If I could play DX10 games on Linux, well, I'd be reformatting soon.
XP Back on the Table @ Dell
This should make folk like Selbonaut happy, as I last heard he was still hunting for a laptop that would come with XP on it still, now we have time to look at different Dell offerings that do.
This BBC article is referenced in the Wired article, I like the bit by Michael Silver, research vice president at analysts Gartner. What a loon.
Cubicle Warfare
A-ha,
Take that annoying man in adjacent cubicle! I don't care if you were told you could listen to music quietly from 9 to 11am, that didn't include friggin' Neil Diamond hour!!
And no, I didn't get the memo on the TPS report!
I hope they come up with a Greek Fire add-on next. If I rub the ammunition on my hemorrhoids would that count as plague bombs...
The Cost to go to Vista
| Del | Item Description | In Stock | Part # | QTY | Price | ||
| In Stock | 23698 | $259.99 | | |||
| In Stock | 22442 | $247.63 | | |||
| In Stock | 21095 | $229.99 | | |||
| In Stock | 19143 | $259.00 | | |||
 |
|
So, I've been loving the re-re-release of this board game at home for a couple years now. I always knew that there were older/different versions of the game out there. Stumbled across this online flash version of an older edition of the game that can be played from almost any machine, anywhere, anytime. Good clean "destroy your stellar neighbour" type fun.
The art in the board game pictured above is much better in my opinion, but this online game is free and easy, and what could be better than that?
Those of you that know me know I'm a Jazz guy. I was reading the announced concerts this year for the Jazz Festival. Some pretty sweet acts coming.
Antibalas, DJ Champion, Joshua Redman, Jeff Healey, Oscar Lopez (Although I don't think that one's announced yet, so you didn't hear that from me), and Herbie Hancock. (Pictured to the right. Doesn't he just scream cool jazz?)
Anyone looking for me the entire week of June 23rd to June July 1st, I'll be at the Bess Gardens.
Gno Imajezz
Once again, the images from the blog have disappeared as the server is relocated to its new (please let it be final) home in East College Park. I was having a thought that it would be handy to upload the images using Blogger or Picasa or something, but it turns out you can't directly link an img src tag to a Picasa image or a blog image (unless I'm just missing something).
Very frustrating.
If anybody knows of a free picture hosting site that is lightweight, free, and can be used to direct link, I'd love to hear about it. Otherwise, I'll just have to wait until I get the new hardware firewall up and running at the folks place and put the server back online. Until then, Gno Imajezz.
Are You Evil Enough To Work For J.W. Wells?
J.W. Wells is a creation of Gilbert & Sullivan; a character in a comic opera called "The Sorcerer," a pre-cursor to their more famous works. Tom Holt, a dark fantasy humourist, and Brit has brought this magical organization into his hilarious world. This organization of magical beings and magic users exists in a number of Tom Holt's books and is the subject of many amusing adventures.
Now you too can determine if you are evil enough to work for J.W. Wells by taking this simple ten question interview. Good luck future necromancers!
Decrapify Your New PC!
Just bought a new Dell, HP, Gateway, etc?
Deeply annoyed at all the included limited time, trial version 3rd party crap that's included on it?
Well, Decrapify it! This is a great little piece of free software that will find all the applets and software that you don't want and give it to you in a nice neat list that you can then pick and choose from. So save yourself some time for, I dunno, boobies!
This seems like it belongs here...
...with us, among the clouds.
Strikes me as something that just might grab peoples attention at internet cafes and the like. Of course the hungry-man among us might need a 100 spindle with two or three well loaded ones.
BTW, anyone know what the storage capacity of the average bagel is? For me it's about 6-8 MB
Boobies! Glorious Boobies! (NSFW)
Want to see breasts in action (no, not that kind of action you pervs)?
Check out this website where you can enter the breast size, an activity, and then compare said breasts movement nekkid, in a regular bra, or one of their uber-bras.
And then try it again, and again, and again, and again...
Delicious
It is Billy's birthday right quick, and he has asked me to come and play at the party he is throwing at Diva's nightclub (yes, that is the gay club downtown). I'm playing early, which is cool by me, from 10 pm to 11:20 pm (or so). I told him I'm going to play "punchy psy-tek", but I really have no idea what that is... it should be interesting. That is April, Friday the 13th (oooh, scaaarryy).
In other news, DJ Rasta (formerly from Saskatoon, currently hailing from Edmonton) has asked me if I'm interested in doing a radio show on Friday's from 6pm to 8pm. Broadcast is over the web. If my Internet connection is fast enough (here's hoping) it should be groovy.
Warcraft 3
Hey, if anyone has retail copies of Warcraft 3 and the expansion, The Frozen Throne, I'd be interested in purchasing them from you. Let me know if you're interested in selling.
Cheers!
20 Million? Schaa, Right, and monkeys might....
Spread this article around. Microsoft is pulling a Sony.
It is amazing how many clowns fit into those little cars isn't it?
Trump on Bush
I don't really like Trump all that much more than I like bush, but I sure like Trump critiquing Bush.
[From Michael Geist's blog]
Number Crunching
Tuesday March 20, 2007
Earlier this month, U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins stepped up the pressure on Canada on copyright. The speech that launched a round of media coverage has now been posted by the U.S. Embassy. The relevant passage is:We are asking the Government of Canada to strengthen your copyright laws. There is a lot of pirating that goes on, a lot of counterfeiting of movies and songs and whatnot. And it is not some effort to protect some high-paid Hollywood star or studio, it is about ensuring that Canadian and American innovators and entrepreneurs are encouraged and protected so they will continue to make North America competitive in the world marketplace.And we are working with the Canadian government now on that issue. We have met with Ministers Bernier and Oda and members of the Prime Minister's staff and we are requesting a stronger copyright bill be introduced and be passed. We are joined by the U.S. and Canadian motion picture and sound recording and computer software industries. Right now the copyright laws or the intellectual property right protection in Canada is considered the weakest of the G-7 countries. So we are asking that be strengthened. And it really does cost the Canadian economy a huge amount every year. It is estimated to be from some $10 to $30 billion per year.Leaving aside the rhetoric, what is particularly remarkable about these comments is the claim that Canadian copyright law is costing the economy between $10 to $30 billion per year. Obviously any estimate that varies by up to $20 billion is not particularly credible. Further, even the low end figure looks ridiculous as it is four times the losses claimed by the MPAA in China and is more than three times the total amount of cultural goods that Canada imports from the U.S. every year. Or considered another way, the $10 billion figure is more than the Finance Minister committed yesterday to new health care initiatives, the environment, education, and special services for armed forces veterans combined. And that is the low end - the $30 billion figure represents nearly 13 percent of total government revenues and nearly equals the total amount of provincial transfers and subsidies. All of this from "a lot of counterfeiting of movies and songs and whatnot?"
I thought some people would get a kick out of this.
I think more judges should determine cases by this means. It's definitely the most fair, impartial system I can think of at this moment.
For those of you heading to court soon, here are some more links to help you out.
http://www.worldrps.com/
Wow. I want to start collecting all my favourite RPS players cards! Check Out Franz's great Scissors toss! Awe inspiring!
Note: Upon further research, his nickname "Hot" appears to be due to a winning streak, and not his moustache like I originally thought.
Future-Retro-Retro (Part 2)
I can't tell you how much I think Hillary is the wrong woman at the right time. The world needs some more female leadership, but it also needs good leadership. I don't know if Hillary is either of those.
Converted Blog is in fact Broken
I dunno about the rest of you guys... but since converting this blog over to the "New" Blogger.. I've had nothing but problems. Really starting to piss me off.
Sometimes when posting I get a "not allowed to post with reference field = null" error, and my typing is gone. Sometimes, pictures don't work. Occassinally, when I edit a post, the comments are all dropped (like the StarCrash post just did).
What does this all boil down to? I'm thinking of deleting GnoSchitt, and creating a GnoSchitt-2 or Son of Gno Schitt or something similar. I'd send out the invites AGAIN after rebuilding from the bottom up.
I love this blog honestly, and follow all links faithfully, even if I don't comment. I hope others are still into it also but I'd like to see it working right.
So, how about some votes on the new blog name?
GnoSchitt2 / GnoSchitt II
Son of Gno Schitt
Still Gno Schitt
[insert your own clever name here]
Best David Hasselhoff Performance Ever!
Any movie that can boast to have the best performance is delivered by David Hasselhoff is a movie I gotta try and see, at least once in my life.
Anybody have any way of locating such a film via some online downloadie thing? I'd love to check this out!
Any takers
Corn Fueled Inflation
Looks like some predictions about corn ethanol are coming true, corn shortages are causing problems with the fuel and livestock industries. I'm assuming we will probably see price jumps in prices in many other products that contain corn, which is actually quite a number of products as its processed into pretty much everything. That being said most of the time it doesn't provide much for nutritional value thus it might be a good thing if overly processed corn gets removed from our diet.
I'm not even going to get into the efficiency of converting corn to ethanol......
In the long run fueling cars with food is probably a bad idea.
The US Administration has more levels of indirection than an Erasmatron. How do you go about obtaining the qualifications to become the Deputy Executive Associate Administrator you figure?
A former Canadian defense minister is demanding governments worldwide disclose and use secret alien technologies obtained in alleged UFO crashes to stem climate change, a local paper said Wednesday:
"I would like to see what (alien) technology there might be that could eliminate the burning of fossil fuels within a generation ... that could be a way to save our planet," Paul Hellyer, 83, told the Ottawa Citizen.
Alien spacecrafts would have traveled vast distances to reach Earth, and so must be equipped with advanced propulsion systems or used exceptional fuels, he told the newspaper.
Such alien technologies could offer humanity alternatives to fossil fuels, he said, pointing to the enigmatic 1947 incident in Roswell, New Mexico -- which has become a shrine for UFO believers -- as an example of alien contact.
"We need to persuade governments to come clean on what they know. Some of us suspect they know quite a lot, and it might be enough to save our planet if applied quickly enough," he said.
Hellyer became defense minister in former prime minister Lester Pearson's cabinet in 1963, and oversaw the controversial integration and unification of Canada's army, air force and navy into the Canadian Forces.
He shocked Canadians in September 2005 by announcing he once saw a UFO.
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...all i can add is: "My name is Joe!! And I AM CANADIAN!!!"
...oh ya...and... "The truth is out there."
What is most shocking is how terrified I felt instantaneously at the mention of having less stuff. It was almost uncontrollable - the thought of less computers, less records, less mixing desks, less video games, less DVDs and clothes.
Althought, I'm telling you, I could throw almost all of my other clothes away and keep only my Lulu Lemon stuff and a few other choice items and be perfectly comfortable.
I wonder what life would be like with only 20% of the stuff that I have right now. Sounds like a nightmare. The real looming nightmare will likely be much more terrifying, because it is so underestimated.
store data with live bacteria
Each hay bacillus bacterium can store two megabits — the equivalent of 1.6 million Roman letters. The scientists can take out the microscopic implants in a laboratory and read them so they appear as ordinary text.
The team at Keio University’s Institute for Advanced Biosciences said the technology needs to be perfected but that it was optimistic about its future uses.
“If I wanted to store my personal diary in these live bacteria and take it with me to my grave, then my story can live for thousands and thousands of years,” head researcher Yoshiaki Ohashi said with a laugh.
In practical terms, the technology could eventually benefit companies such as pharmaceutical makers which want to “stamp” their brand.
“In doing so, the company can detect piracy and protect its patent. They can also store information at one specific area of the gene and retrieve it from there,” Ohashi said.
The researchers insert the data at four different places so even if one is disrupted, there would be backup.
But the team said they still needed to work before the technology could go on the market. In particular, the scientists need to ensure that the DNA will not be altered as live bacteria naturally evolve.
Hay bacillus bacteria are generally found in soil or decaying matter and are especially resistant to extreme weather.
Drm Mchn (OMG)
1) Set your subwoofer enabled sound system to a as loud a level as is comfortable.
2) Follow link
- - - - - CRISPY !
SO you think you can draw?
I'm always amazed by the inner (often hidden) workings of the human mind. This is so impressive - I watched it twice.
stevacek Flickr
Guy has a real eye for pictures. Looks like he does them using a regular camera and then touches them up using Photoshop or something similar.
Pretty amazing!
CBC article on Notices being sent by ISP's on behalf of copyright holders to "IPineers" and other such freebooters.
Has anyone received a nasty e-mail from NBC, the Business Software Alliance or anyone else?
Michael Geist is the media darling of IP law in Canada. Here are his thoughts on the "notice and notice" system.
Friday Night
If interested, I'm playing from 10 till 11, it may be totally empty at that time, but it may not. I'm not playing UK Hard House, I'll be playing some punchy tech'n'trance instead.
Retro-Future-Retro
So, Bill Gates was saying some pretty crazy things about vista - again. Got me reading around a bit - came across that old ad for the "new" Macintosh, circa 1984.
I like the woman personally, her "athleticism", yeah that's it.
Best Internet Radio
So, since I began working from my house I've struggled to find a good internet radio station as my taste in music ranges from ElectroPop to Emo to BritPop... I just stumbled across this site that lets you put in the music you like and it then plays songs from those artists and songs similar in style to your choices.
For some, this may not be new - maybe I've just been living in an Internet Radio-less cave for the last 15 years... but I had to share.
