l-dopa

I can’t really think of any other major television show which would use William Burroughs’ / Material’s “Seven Souls” for a montage like The Sopranos did last night. Kudos to the writers.

At some point soon in your life, someone you know might try to convince you that the show “The IT Crowd” from the BBC Channel 4 is a good television show to download and watch. But it is actually not a good television show to download and watch. Please believe me when I tell you that person is wrong. You might want to put your hand on their leg, look them square in the eye and ask them something like: “How does it feel to be so wrong?”.

I couldn’t make it through even one episode, but for future reference, here some problems I discovered as evident right off the bat:

1. Studio audience/laugh track. That alone should be a deal-breaker in 2006… so unhip.
2. Terrible, ugly, charmless characters. Hard to look at.
3. Stunningly weak script with unrealistic, Three’s Company style “back-and-forth” dialogue; except Chrissy had far better lines than these.
4. Wheezingly tired jokes about computers and computer geeks.

…quite seriously, there are far funnier things in Cracked Magazine.

~jeff

PR NEWSWIRE 02/2006 — Not to be outdone by recent free downloadable network television programming from Apple, Yahoo, and Google, retail giant Radio Shack Corp. (RSH) announced today that they are offering free streaming network television to any and all North American customers using a push technology they are calling ‘antenna’.

“Our ‘antenna’, when positioned just right, will allow viewers to pick up a wide variety of network and local programming,” said Radio Shack CEO Leonard Roberts. “We can deliver hot new television shows such as ‘Lost’ and ‘Skating With Celebrities’ via wireless technology — and using the very same ‘coaxial’ connection that our customers are used to connecting to their cable modem and VoIP systems.”

Roberts went on to hint that in addition to just-in-time streaming delivery of live or near-live content, additional technology will be available to time-shift the streamed content using cheaply available archival backup tapes, with three levels of quality: LP, EP, or SEP. “And of course, all of this equipment will be branded under the ubiquitous and well-respected ‘Realistic’ brand name that our customers have come to associate with the very highest of high-tech consumer goods”, Roberts said.

As of press time, Radio Shack had not decided whether to use the smooth-fitting coaxial connection or the incredibly tedious screw-on kind, but sources close to the company offered that “they were leaning towards the tedious kind”. Additionally, Radio Shack is proud to announce that they have that weird button battery you need, and that RCA cables are now available in lengths of 3′, 6′ and 9.5′.

~jeff

I consider myself a touring motorcyclist, but a bush league one to be sure. That’s why it is so much fun for me to watch Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman do it. They are both avid motorcyclists, and both inexperienced tourers, undertaking a shocking trip around the world, through places as remote and foreboding as Kazakhstan.

Long Way Round is a miniseries documenting this trip, and so far, it has been fascinating. Pick up the DVD and watch an episode for yourself.

TVgasm posts a wonderful series of screen grabs take from “Everyday Italian”. I can relate; this is essentially how I feel about:

• Spaghetti sauce with chunks.
• Mold-based cheeses.
• White sauces.
• Seafood.
• The gristly parts of red meat.
• Red meat.
• Onions.
• Garlic.
• Herbs.
• Bananas.
• Luncheon meats.
• Eggs.
• Mayonnaise.*
• Sour Cream.
• Cottage Cheese.
• Yogurt.
• Veggie Burgers.
• Tofu.
• Cheerios.
• Chili.
• Soup.
• Stew.
• Jelly.
• Beets.

UPDATE: Salsa.

~jeff

*Why don’t you just spit in my mouth.

Oh, this is so great.

(thanks to onegoodmove.org!)

~jeff

Will Forte is the future of comedy. He’s hilarious. I could watch his “Falconer” sketches all day long, and his “spelling bee” sketch this weekend was scientific proof of the “relentless repetition” theory of comedy where:

1. If something is slightly funny,
2. then eventually it stops being funny,
3. but through relentless repetition it will become funny again, and in fact, it often becomes more funny for the journey.

Also very charming was “Christmas-time For The Jews”, and Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg’s goofy white-guy Beastie Boys-style rap in “Lazy Sunday“(WMV fomat, but works fine on Macs). I’ve always been a fan of SNL, so after a couple of truly disappointing episodes lately, it’s nice to see that they’re still capable of bring quality entertainment to my TiVo.

~jeff

Turns out Jon Stewart (of The Daily Show) used to play soccer for William and Mary.

I don’t have anything to say here except:

1. Check out that hair — I had that exact haircut in the early 80’s as well.
2. I really liked it when he was on Crossfire.

~jeff

Along with a bunch of NBC shows (like “The Office”!), now “vintage” episodes of the mid-80’s kids show “Knight Rider” are available at the iTunes Music Store. “Knight Rider”, as a show was foolish, yes, stupid, indeed, remarkably retarded, perhaps, but check out this synopsis of episode 9 (”Trust Doesn’t Rust”) and tell me that you don’t kinda want to see it:

Trust Doesn’t Rust K.A.R.R. – the Knight Automated Roving Robot – was created by Wilton Knight years ago and was rejected as a prototype because its program of self-preservation was too threatening. It should have been destroyed, but instead was simply locked away. Now, Tony and Rev, two petty thieves who accidentally discovered K.A.R.R.’s warehouse and reactivated its circuits, have taken control of the machine. Using K.A.R.R.’s computer analyses, they set out to rob a nearby museum jewel exhibit, kidnapping Bonnie in order to maintain the car’s circuitry. Devon and Michael quickly realize that without K.I.T.T.’s altruistic programming, K.A.R.R. is devoid of a conscience, and, in the hands of people who misuse it, could become an out-of-control menace to humanity. The only one who can stop K.A.R.R. is K.I.T.T. – and the result is a spectacular car chase in which the two computers match wits and technical capabilities.

…I for one can’t click “Buy Episode” fast enough.

~jeff

~jeff

Once a year, Comedy Central airs a South Park episode that, all by itself, justifies the existence of South Park for yet another year.

This… is that episode. It’s well worth watching, if only for the animation that explains Xenu.

~jeff

Fred Armisen does a pretty good Steve Jobs. I saw Fred in the UConn ballroom when he was the drummer for the surprisingly good band Trenchmouth. That was in, like, 1992. GOD I’M OLD

Anyway, link to a fairly decent Weekend Update bit that somebody camcorded off their TV (?).

~jeff

I’ve created a .map file for the Keyspan Express Remote that works with Front Row. You can download it here:

Download.

… or just add this ugly chunk of text to the end of your existing Keyspan .map file:


APPL Front Row

ACT STOP KEY 0000351b 0800 -1 -1 -1 -1 OVR
ACT PLAY KEY 00023120 0080 -1 -1 -1 -1 OVR
ACT PREV_TRK KEY 00007b1c 0100 -1 -1 -1 -1 OVR
ACT REWIND KEY 00007b1c 0000 500 150 10 75 OVR
ACT FAST_FWD KEY 00007c1d 0000 500 150 10 75 OVR
ACT NEXT_TRK KEY 00007c1d 0100 -1 -1 -1 -1 OVR
ACT PAUSE KEY 00023120 0080 -1 -1 -1 -1 OVR
ACT VOL_UP KEY 00027e1e 0080 -1 -1 -1 -1 OVR
ACT VOL_DN KEY 00027d1f 0080 -1 -1 -1 -1 OVR
ACT ARROW_UP KEY 00027e1e 0080 500 150 10 75 OVR
ACT MUTE KEY 00023120 0080 0 0 0 0
ACT ARROW_LEFT KEY 00027b1c 0080 -1 -1 -1 -1 OVR
ACT SELECT KEY 00023120 0080 0 0 0 0 OVR
ACT ARROW_RIGHT KEY 00027c1d 0080 -1 -1 -1 -1 OVR
ACT ARROW_DN KEY 00027d1f 0080 500 150 10 75 OVR
ACT CYCLE KEY 00023009 0180 0 0 0 0
ACT MENU KEY 0002351b 0080 -1 -1 -1 -1 OVR


Then you map the script mentioned here to the little star button on the remote so you can activate or deactivate Front Row with a button press.

It would possibly be easier if Apple would just sell us the damn software, but after actually using it the past few days (to watch episodes of the West Wing with my girlfriend, but only the episodes written by former crack smoker Aaron Sorkin), several things about Front Row have become apparent:

• If you have movies in iPhoto, they’re not playable via Front Row; in fact, the whole “movies I’ve downloaded via iTunes are in iTunes, movies from my digital camera are in iPhoto, movies from my DV camera are in a folder in ~/Movies” thing is awfully confusing, and somewhat dumb.
• The titles of songs and movies need to scroll (iPod style) when truncated on screen. This is a no-brainer.
• It would be nice if some sort of notifier appeared “over” the Front Row interface, for example an incoming IM or email popped a little scrolling bar at the bottom with information regarding the incoming message.

~jeff

The Bluth clan of Fox’s ratings-challenged “Arrested Development” is also headed for the exit after Fox cut the third-season order on the Emmy-winning comedy to 13 episodes.

…

There is a possibility that the show will be shopped around, but its high cost is expected to be prohibitive for a cable network.

Link.

welcome to the no spine zone.