AMC's much-promoted revamp of The Prisoner concluded last night. After watching both hours twice-over now I am going to say that that, acknowledging that while mine is going to be in the minority of opinions, that I very much enjoyed it and thought it was time well spent. And I will likely be getting the DVD of the series when it becomes available. But I will say that AMC way over-hyped The Prisoner. And so much so that I have to wonder how much...
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
International Space Station transits the Moon
Bernhard Christ, an amateur astronomer from Germany, put himself in just the right spot on the Earth's surface (a testament to his mad plottin' and plannin' skillz) and using a digital astronomical camera produced this sequence - made in less than 0.4 seconds - of the International Space Station transiting across the Moon...That's five shots of the ISS taken at equal intervals....
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
"...Only to God and woman."
Last week President Barack Obama met with Akihito, the titular Emperor of Japan. You might have heard about it: Obama made a ceremonial bow to Akihito and it's purportedly caused a lot of his political enemies to seethe with outrage...Interestingly, many if not most of these same critics defended George W. Bush when in April 2008 (when he was still President) Bush not only...
Auto-Tune as explained by Rocketboom and "Weird Al" Yankovic
Depending on you who listen to, Auto-Tune has become either a boon or bane to music production. The Rocketboom Institute for Internet Studies examines the Auto-Tune phenomenon in their latest video, with some rather scholarly assistance from visiting professor "Weird Al" Yankovic!Thanks to Geoff Gentry for the heads-...
BioShock EVE Hypo Prop Replica (yes, you can BUY this thing...)
Got a small daughter or know where to borrow a little girl (legally 'course)? Wanna have some fun freaking out the neighbors? The officially licensed BioShock EVE Hypo Prop Replica from Play.com is just what you need!According to this "toy"'s description, "EVE is the lifeblood of the underwater city of Rapture, the setting for Bioshock and Bioshock 2. It is the substance...
Just finished watching the second installment of AMC's THE PRISONER
We had the first run-through (or "stumble-through" as it was officially called :-) of both acts of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever last night, so I was late getting home. But I had the DVR whirring away recording the second two hours of AMC's remake of The Prisoner and I just finished watching 'em.I know that I'm in a solid minority here, but I am absolutely digging the heck out of The Prisoner! To me, it's the same theme going on as the Sixties...
Monday, November 16, 2009
A tiny lil' musing this afternoon
The smallest sincere kindness mocks every cruelty of the world enti...
Edward Woodward has passed away
The sad news is coming out of Great Britain this morning that Edward Woodward, the accomplished actor who rose to prominence with the television series Callan in the late Sixties and his role as Neil Howie in 1973's The Wicker Man, then scored even more fame during the Eighties with the television series The Equalizer, has passed away at the age of 79.Woodward was a very,...
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Just watched the first two hours of AMC's remake of THE PRISONER
Hmmmmmm...Well, it's unarguably not The Prisoner of Patrick McGoohan's day. And I knew that it wasn't going to be that either.But, I think that I wound up liking it quite a bit.Need to watch it again before tomorrow night's two-hour installment. Maybe even two or three more times.Now you gotta admit: that is what good The Prisoner should compel you to do ...
Tommy Burst toy commercial ("From Mattel, it's SWELL!")
There is no way that a TV commercial like this would ever be made, much less allowed to broadcast, in 2009. But once upon a time when boys were allowed to play "cops 'n robbers" there were fewer toy weapons as kewl as Mattel's Tommy Burst arsenal. For three bucks you could get the revolver and for seven you got the Detective Set complete with handgun and holster, toy bullets, badge and one neat-o machine gun!Behold the commercial from about 45...
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Hey, live near Reidsville, North Carolina? Want a professionally-fried turkey for Thanksgiving? Read on!
Lots of this blog's readers are well aware of my obsession with/addiction to deep-fried turkey. I first heard about it nine years ago this month and then spent two more years studying the technique and getting brave enough to attempt it. With that first succulent bite in 2002, I knew that Thanksgiving would never be the same for me again. I'll never go back to basted turkey...
Friday, November 13, 2009
I've gone mad for Monsterpocalypse!
A lot of you probably remember how over the summer I made this video on behalf of HyperMind - that groovy game store in Burlington - for a contest entry. It was for the Monsterpocapalooza event sponsored by Privateer Press for that company's Monsterpocalypse collectible miniatures game. Well as is usual whenever I'm about to get involved with something, I research the bejeebers...
A Dr. Horrible fan-film?! HORRIBLE TURN is pretty darned good!
While we're waiting for Joss Whedon to deliver up some more Dr. Horrible goodness, here's something that will both entertain and astound ya: Horrible Turn. It's an hour-long unofficial prequel to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog!Sometime in the early Nineties, young Billy is pining for a cute Australian exchange student at his school. He's also wound up helping a fellow student...
This is a photograph of the sun
Many of us in this part of North Carolina no longer remember what it looks like. There is a rumor about that today we might finally see it again.(Curse you Hurricane Id...
DVD, made of stone, that lasts a thousand years
Startup company Cranberry has unveiled its DiamonDisc: a DVD that stores your data by etching it in stone... literally. The disc is composed of synthetic stone that a high-intensity laser burns the data into, creating a DVD said to be perfectly compatible with all DVD drives and players. But amazingly, Cranberry claims that the DiamonDisc will keep your data safe for a...
Man arrested for phone sex calls... to 911
The Smoking Gun has published the mug shot and police report of one Joshua Basso, a Florida man who's currently in the pokey after making numerous telephone calls to a woman, asking crude questions about her breast size and then queried her about engaging in erotic activities.That's gonna land him in court for sure. Except that Basso also made all of his calls to 911. There's gonna be a bunch more charges against him for abusing the 911 system.Why...
MPAA shuts down town's entire Wi-Fi over one download
Coshocton, Ohio is a town without free Internet. Thank the Motion Picture Association of America, which successfully turned off Coshocton's Wi-Fi connection to the world because, allegedly, one person used the wireless access to download a copyrighted movie.In addition to being of great benefit to out-of-town tourists and business people, the Coshocton County Sheriff's Department personnel have found the Wi-Fi service to be a tremendous convenience...
