Tivo, Netflix February 6, 2007
After I ditch both Tivo & Netflix, they make some pretty large announcements (the Netflix one is so old, I won’t be linking to it).
Tivo, Amazon offer video downloads.
In reality, I wouldn’t buy anything from Amazon Unbox anyway, and surely these things will be leaps & bounds better in a year or so.
Dancing at Lughnasa January 25, 2007 4 comments
My sister’s play, “Dancing at Lughnasa” opens this weekend at Theatre West in LA. It runs from Jan 26 to March 10 and there’s a delicious pre-show dinner spot right next door (10% off w/ your tickets to the show)! I saw Heather in this play a couple of months ago, and while the script does involve rape & heartbreak (it’s most definitely a drama), watching live theatre is really quite an experience, especially with the talent in this one.
Watch the trailer for Dancing at Lughnasa:
Netflix sets my schedule December 5, 2006 1 comment
I watched three movies this weekend, I present them here, in the order of their goodness.
Superman Returns conjured warm memories of my reading the comics many years ago, and actually wearing that headband that came with the famous, Superman dies issue. This movie is great fun and is way better than you imagine.
Running With Scissors is an actual instance of “The book is waaay better”. Apparently it’s not that easy to capture the mood of such an outstanding book, and while the film depiction has very, very, tiny instances of goodness, Running With Scissors embarrassingly falls flat on its face. Don’t bother with the movie, but everyone should read this book.
Clerks 2 was the most the disappointing of the bunch. I’ve heard such great things about Smith’s latest offering and was so excited to get to watching. I even made this delicious baked cream cheese & chili chip dip that requires just enough work to be reserved for only the most special of occasions. Boy was I let down. The entire film provided me with maybe five or six laughs and boatloads of disappointment. I still think Kevin Smith is funny, he’s just way too immersed in his own movies to ever again write something that can scratch his once displayed comedic genius of Clerks or Mallrats. He’s too into providing everyone around him with a movie to pretend to be an actor in to ever again focus on the story at hand. Jersey Girl was better than Clerks 2.
Tata for now Tivo, or, Core Features Please November 16, 2006
I’ve been a Tivo user for the past 5 years or so. I’ve been an HDTV subscriber for about 5 months now. With HD, I tended to use Tivo less often, because I’d rather see programs in high definition, and Tivo can’t record HD content.
There were a couple of options. I could cough up at least $600 for the Tivo series 3 which can record HD, an outrageously high price if you ask me. I can then suck up the additional $7 a month charge every single Tivo user is about to face, raising Tivo service from $13 to $20 a month. The second option was to ditch Tivo altogether. I’ve always known about those DVR’s the cable companies offer, but remained loyal to Tivo, until now. I’ve switched from Tivo to a generic DVR, and saving $20 at the same time!
I had an additional cable box just for Tivo which I can now ditch and move that $5 to the new DVR service and drop the $20 a month for Tivo service! Not bad for switching to a box that can actually record High Definition content, and record two shows at the same time while watching a third! In core feature comparison, the Tivo was quite crippling. Right now HDTV is just that much better.
The biggest thing Ill be missing out on is the Online scheduling through tv.yahoo.com, and the interface niceties I’ve grown to love (wishlist searches are pretty innovative). Then of course there’s all the extra fun stuff, such as the RSS reader, and Home Media Engine applications, my favorite being Audio Faucet.
Core features won me over.
Update: When I called Tivo to cancel, they offered to lower my monthly rate to $6.95 a month for life, even if I added a series three Tivo in the future, which I’d love to do as soon as the prices come down. Not a bad offer, especially because there’s no contract involved, I can cancel at any time. I accepted, and will move my Tivo into a spare room, while still returning the extra cable box to save that $5. If anyone is thinking of “pretending” to cancel in order to get that savings, I shared with the rep just how disheartening my decison to cancel was, you may need to do the same.
Preparing for Election Day November 6, 2006
To prepare for tomorrow’s election, watch HBO’s Hacking Democracy in full on google video, and know that your vote counts!
MTV Spot October 28, 2006 1 comment
My youngest brother, who’s both taller and better looking than me, is in this environmentally conscience commercial currently airing on MTV. He’s wearing his favorite necklace, made of white shells. I’m no director, but why didn’t they put him in a hummer? It’s a 3MB quicktime file titled fallen-hero.mov. I grabbed this video from the director’s site, collarsup.com.
How Does Howie do it? October 23, 2006
How does Howie Mandel deal with the contestants on this hot (not so new) program titled “Deal or no Deal”? Sure, I can change the channel, but I’m engrossed with Howie’s ability to ignore the whining, sniffling idiotic players. These people get offered more money than they’ll make in three years at their current full time job, and yet they seem to think they have some kind of special power that will enable them to beat the odds and strike it rich.
Stop telling me about how you’re starting over, how you’re just a secretary and how you’ve got two young kids at home with no father, and say “deal” already. How can Howie not break down on these people? please, offer them a backhand, tell them how he and everyone knows that they’re really white trash and the overweight friends they’ve brought along as financial advisers don’t know jack, and to take the god damn money? Howie’s friendly, yet somehow not fake, demeanor suck me in whenever I’m just trying to pass by. How does this guy do it?
Mo October 17, 2006
The film won’t be coming out till whenever the next film festivals start, but they do have this poster together (not a bad “under construction” image, really). Mo is a a true story about a Long Island kid that has Marfan Syndrome played by Erik Per Sullivan, better known as Dewey from Malcolm in the Middle. Mark is the last guy on the right. I hear the screening is in a few weeks and only finishing touches are left on this directors first offering.
The Departed October 10, 2006
Very close to a 5, on a 5 star scale, or a 24.9 on a 25 star scale. Two thumbs up, way up. Easily the best movie of the year. It does have it’s awkward moments, like all the camera time cell phones get, but is jammed packed with fine performances, clever dialogue and spine tingling suspense. As much as Jackass should have been clips on you tube, The Departed is made for the silver screeen.
Law & Order SVU September 25, 2006 1 comment
Mark has a couple, quick lines in tomorrow nights Law & Order SVU episode titled Clock. He’s the goof in the middle right of this screengrab from the episode preview. Im assuming these are his first lines in a national program and consist of the following:
“like what”
“yeah? we already do that ”
“and electing a little girl like you is gonna get them to do that?”
It starts at 10pm, Tuesday, on NBC.