In memory of SNL’s “Dear Sister” which happened to be a parody of the season finale episode of Fox’s teen drama show, The OC. Some nice guys decided to do their take using Family Guy instead. Put on a comment if you don’t find it funny. 
And in case you’re interested, the song featured is “Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap.
So from all the exciting stuff on TV it’s now down to TWO shows until summer hits us – Knight Rider on NBC and Dexter on CBS and they’re BOTH airing on a boring Sunday, February 17th. WTF is up with that? Well we do have Simpsons (Fox) airing inconsistently on Sundays at 7pm too. So what shall we watch?
First off, Dexter on CBS sounds like a hot prospective to fill in the gap left by the WGA (Writers Guild Association) strike only to find out that the show will be heavily edited for content. If you’re unfamiliar with Dexter, it’s a hit ShowTime tv show based on a novel where the main character plays a psycho serial killer. Lucky for Dexter, he also works with the Miami Police Department as a blood analyst ironically taking pictures of the crime scenes he was involved in. I love this show but can’t imagine how badly CBS is going to butcher it just to make it OK for the masses. The one good out of having it on CBS is I get to see it on high-def compared to the standard def format of ShowTime on my network. So, will it remain the same Dexter that we all know and have come to love? I guess we’ll just have to wait and find out on Sunday, February 17th @ 9PM Central time. Ummm not sure if they’re going to show Season 1 or 2 on CBS but below is a recap of Season 1 compiled and shortened for your tastes.
Knight Rider will feature a 2-hour pilot movie to kick-off the season on Sunday Feb 17th but does not have a time fixture on NBC yet. It’s pretty much going to be similar to the old ’80s original Knight Rider show with minor changes like the transformation of the KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand) Pontiac Firebird to the KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand) Ford Shelby GT500KR Mustang as duly reported in a previous post on this blog. Basically KITT is the computer AI so all that was done was a revised and revamped KITT and transposed into a new body. Does the KR at the end of GT500KR stand for Knight Rider? No clue. Might be just a coincidence but the Hoff’s son who is also coincidentally named “Michael” (or “Mike” as he prefers to be called) takes over as the new dude and as the 2 minute trailer on YouTube below shows, it’s just a continuation of the series.
As for NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice (Thu 8PM central) with “Dr. Strangehair” Donald Trump and his daughter might be interesting but the key word is “might” so there. The MTV reality show crazy bitch Omarosa is still there but the firing of Gene Simmons (KISS) and playmate Tiffany Fallon now leaves behind a lackluster might we say “boring” team which includes the likes of the useless Stephen Baldwin. Speaking of which, the dude’s a total douche bag as noted by countless actors, people who’ve met him, and acts it out on camera if you’ve ever seen the show Scare Tactics on SciFi, and to top it off, a real Nazi in matters concerning religion. He’s still hanging on there in the show meaning I won’t be watching it until he gets dropped. Here’s to hoping Stephen Baldwin gets bitch-slapped by Omarosa.
Despite all the hype and Summer Glau’s charming robotic demeanor in Fox’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Mon 8PM central), this show isn’t doing it for me. The pilot was great but now that it’s down to the regular shows, it’s kinda lame to be honest. Almost kinda like Bionic Woman. Sarah Connor’s role appears to be that of a weak defenseless woman and they focus too much on the female terminator instead of the bad dude or side plots or any real action for that matter.
As for the rest – American Gladiators (NBC), The Biggest Loser (NBC), 1 VS 100 (NBC), Deal or No Deal (NBC), Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? (Fox), Moment Of Truth (Fox) – they are truly horrible shows. The Jeff Foxworthy show about being smarter than a fifth grader has got to be the dumbest show I’ve ever seen to be perfectly honest and the biggest loser is just plain sad and depressing. Moment Of Truth (FOX) is all about passing the lie detector test and winning some money. Boring. American Gladiators rocked when I was a kid and it’s ok to watch it but why are all the men dressed up in man-bras? I hate when people use this phrase but it’s kinda gay.
The worst of all will be this year’s Superbowl XLIIVIIDCM. We all know who is going to win this year. The lucky-go-happy New York Giants up against the unbeatable New England Patriots. Feel sorry for all who purchased the tickets to see the game in Arizona. At least the bastard Packers would’ve given the Pats a good run for the money like how the Chargers put up a fight against the evil Empire. But when you put Eli Manning against what he’ll be facing there on February 3rd at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, you’ll be betting on by how many points the Pats are gonna whoop the Giant’s ass.
Just came to the sad realization that I missed the airing of the final 2-episodes of Chuck on NBC last Thursday, Jan 24th. Nah not that retard from Texas Walker Ranger or the sadistic possessed doll. So, before the WGA (writers guild association) came out with their strike, 2 more episodes for the first season of the Nerd Herder CHUCK made it to production but for some reason was not included until last week on the schedule. It’s almost like the producers said – “Whoops. We looks like we forgot to include the final 2 episodes.” and then brought them two out over a month after they were due.
Season 1 for Heroes and Chuck both ended prematurely because of the strike but rumors of those 2 episodes had me all excited and now it’s gone. WAIT.
You can still watch those episodes on NBC’s website online – Episodes 112 Chuck Versus The Undercover Lover and Episode 113 Chuck Versus The Marlin. Of course, there are commercials placed within the show but the good thing is you can know when one’s coming up because on the time display scroll thing, there’s little indentations to let you know. The one thing I never quite got about Chuck is why he never got the “flashes” when he came face to face with Agents Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) and John Casey (Adam Baldwin). Well it’s a funny show nonetheless.
Been seeing those new Toyota Sequoia SUV ads and how it reminds me of my childhood. Kinda makes me want to rewind myself back into those days and be able to see the starry starry sky in all it’s glory. Nowadays, I need contact lenses or glasses just to be able to see stars. And the city lights don’t help either so would need to get out far away from home to get a better view of those million shiny lights illuminating the night sky.
The video for the commercial shows 2 guys taking their kids out to the mountains and meet up with their extended family or something. Some old dude with a telescope looking at the moon and sharing it with the kids. How nostalgic. Makes me appreciate nature more but SUVs aren’t the ideal way to say “I love you” to mother nature. Still I’d want to get out there in a rental Honda Element (I don’t know why but I love those things) and get a camping compartment tent thingy for the rear.
Enjoy the ad and be prepared to get brainwashed.
FYI, the name of the song is “Whichever Way The Wind Blows” and it’s by some folk-rocker named Peter Droge. Great song and perfect for the spot.
According to Reuters, a CCTV (closed circuit tv – security camera) operator in Shanghai China called his buddies over for a LIVE video of a couple making out at a subway station. Somehow, it was recorded and leaked out to the internet in the form of the ever so reliable YouTube and some other video sharing websites. The couple are now looking at legal options against the operator.
China is well known for spying on their own citizens through all means. They started out in the electronic age with the CCTV and strangely enough, even their most popular tv station goes by the same name (but it probably stands for “Closed China Television”). So you walk on the streets, there’s CCTV, you go home and turn on the TV and there’s CCTV again. So in conclusion, we can admit that in China, CCTV owns joo (pronounced YOU)!
This topic has been bothering me lately. I have a friend who works in the audio/video department of a company involved with Disney World in Orlando which was why I was surprised by a few comments he made in respects to the popular high-definition (HD) video format market. I tried explaining the difference to him but sometimes it gets real hard to explain when you’d downed 8-9 beers within the hour at a bar and your team’s losing on TV (HDTV ironically) and the screen’s right in front of you.
My sober answers are all based on a summer full of physically experimenting LCDs, CRTs, HD-Ready, HD, and SDTVs with a wide array of cables and a nearly a year of research on them. This is just an attempt to reach out to the masses to clear up some confusion because if a video technician can be so wrong, what about the rest of you out there confused and puzzled about these things. Home improvement through purchasing a screen that can output high definition is what you do these days.
The pictures below from my tv are proof to him that I can see shows on both SD and HD formats through a standard coax-cable. If you’re not sure what that is, it’s the regular kinda cable you plug coming from a tv antenna or the plug-in on the wall.
Friend: HDTVs and HD-Ready TVs are the same. Just different names.
Truth: No. HDTVs come built in with both a digital and analog tuner. The digital tuner is able to output video in the range of 480p, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. HD-ready TVs only come with analog tuners and would require an external HD-tuner device. Both TVs however can output digital video, but only one has a tuner allows high definition broadcast video through coax-cables.
Friend: Ask any Best Buy employee and they will tell you both TVs are essentially the same because HD-Ready TVs can play 1080p video through BluRay players just like HDTVs.
Truth: Of course. They’re looking to sell their products. Both HD and HD-Ready TVs have digital output and are built like computer monitors and more. They can accept digital and analog signals from dvd players depending on the type of cables used.
Friend: Component cables aren’t high definition compared to HDMI.
Truth: Err sorta true. Component (aka YPbPr or RGB) and HDMI can both channel high definition data. The former is based on analog transmissions and there can be some minor (unnoticeable unless you’re a resolution nazi) loss in quality if the cable is beyond 6ft in length and has a max output of 720p. The latter is full digital so it either makes it to the output screen or it doesn’t and it’s output can be taken all the way to 1080p depending on the data.
Friend: 1080i is better than 720p or 720i.
Truth: Our high definition broadcast standards require “high definition” to be in a wide-screen format and starting at 720p. As far as I know, I haven’t seen or heard of 720i since an interlaced screen is basically halving the resolution leaving it at an unacceptable 360p which is even lower than EDTV (Enhanced Definition) resolution of 480p.
480i or standard definition format could be termed as 240p if you’d like because when standard definition video is being outputted to the screen, it skips every other line. So when you compare 1080i to 720p, remember that 1080i has the same amount of video you could see on a 540p resolution (540p screens do not exist) screen which is obviously lower than 720p.
Friend: You’re not watching REAL HDTV channels.
Truth: WRONG! A high-definition channel is any video feed that is being outputted at a resolution higher than 480 pixels tall or anything higher than the EDTV (enhanced definition) format, 480p. A video may not have to be considered DIGITAL if it’s not being fed through a direct digital physical connection. Just make sure it’s HIGH DEFINITION.
Do note that the above results won’t be possible through an HD-Ready TV unless you buy/rent a digital tuner box which will set you back by around 80 bucks a piece. Also, my TV has a max output of 1080i meaning it should be able to output 480i/p, 720p, and 1080i.
You would think an email from Healthcare Associates would go straight into your Inbox folder in your email. Been getting quite a few emails from HACU (Healthcare Associates Credit Union) in the past few days all going straight to the “Junk” folder. Strange for me to receive their emails since I’m not a member but Kaci is. Enabled the content just to see what was going on with it.
Looks perfectly normal. The “FROM” looks good, the names are spelled correctly. The email address looks legit. The graphics all look good. Right? Not quite. Usually when you have a blank “TO” portion, things might not be right. Also, when I put my cursor over the “CLICK HERE” portion, on my “status bar”, I was shown another website (infohacu.org) instead of HACU.ORG which would be the real deal.
The “Status Bar” is a real life preserver in most phishing (ie. online scam) cases because you don’t really have to click on the link to find out where it’s going to take you. You can choose to right-click on the suspicious link and click below on “properties” to see where it’ll take you but having the “Status Bar” saves you that extra bit of energy and time. So enable your “status bar” and it should be under VIEW > STATUS BAR to get it running on the bottom portion of your web-browser.
I opened a new tab on my Firefox2 web-browser and went to www.hacu.org to see what’s up and found out that they’d posted this notice:
Security Alert- January 14, 2008
Members and Non-Members may have received an e-mail or phone call that “appears” to be from HealthCare Associates Credit Union. This is an e-mail/phone fraud attempt designed by hackers to obtain your personal information. The e-mail has a link that sends you to a site similar to our Internet Branch site or a phone number to call and requests you to supply your debit card information. We urge you not to follow the links or enter any account information over the internet or phone.
We are commited to safeguarding your personal information and it is important that your account stays secure. The e-mail addresses and phone numbers used in the scam were not obtained from HealthCare Associates Credit Union. We will never initiate calls or e-mails requesting your personal or account information.
If you have any questions, or if you have given out any personal information on this fraudulent site or phone system, please contact us immediately at 630.276.5555 or 800.942.0158 (outside Chicagoland).
So please be aware everybody. If an email tells you to renew your personal information or anything that requires you to re-enter your personal id stuff, DO NOT click on the LINK. Rather open a new window or tab on your browser and go to the official website like “www.tmobile.com” or “www.ebay.com” and login how you normally would to see if you have any updates there or reminders.
Thank you and have a good night.
People say there is only one way to eat fast food and that is to eat it. For the money, it’s usually the best deal unless you live near China Town and can scavenge off $5 buffet meals. Alright, I’m here to tell you that there actually is a way to eat fast food and I’m only sharing this portion of my age old wisdom due to a stagnation of wages, increase of inflation from 3.4% to 4.3%, energy costs, grocery food prices, and unemployment.
This tip is only for those who wish to:
1. Buy less and fill themselves faster.
2. Save money on fast food cuz you buy less. (duh!)
3. Live healthier because you eat less but enough to reach your daily calorie quota.
Analyze the picture below and spot the mistake this beef-cake is making.
Well here’s what he’s doing wrong:
Starting off his meal with a burger!
.
.
.
The rules of eating fast food are:
1. Light sip of soda to wet the appetite.
2. Fries first because fries go bad quickly and also because it helps in expanding your stomach which in turn prepares your body for the large mass of beef/cheese/fat that is to follow.
3. Burgers follow only after you’re done with your fries.
Following the above rules will usually result in you “feeling” full rather than eating burgers first and then fries. Eating is a psychological experience. It is also a physical experience. All the energy expended in eating fries will make you tired and your stomach happy.
But before we go anywhere, let’s start-off with when you walk in to a fast food restaurant and your hungry stomach is telling you to get the largest. Remember Godzilla. Big doesn’t always mean you live the longest. The puny humans outlived that crap of radioactive waste.
So, something to know before placing an order:
Never order a meal! The drinks that come with the meal will usually add $1+ on your meal and they fill you up very quickly. In essence, they’re not worth the money you spend on ‘em. Instead ask for water. It’s free and does the same as soda only healthier. You can take a quick sip of it and continue with #2 and 3 from my rules list.
Eating cheap at Burger King and McDonald’s?
Order the dollar menu. We all know about the dollar menu so why aren’t we using them?
1. Burger King has the Jr Whopper and Spicy Chicken Sandwiches (bigger than the Whopper Jr) for $1 which they usually do not advertise. Or try swapping the burgers with McDonald’s McChicken or the Cheeseburger (doesn’t really fill up anybody).
2. Get 2 of them with fries and a cup of water and it should be all within $4 after taxes.
Now that you’re loaded with this piece of garbage information, hope you take heed to the GIGO formula of Garbage In Garbage Out. Fast Foods are garbage but then again, for the economically and culinarily challenged, the above hints will help you ease your troubled diet consisting of ramen noodles and peanut butter sandwiches along with the occasional Totinos (or other cheap $1) pizzas.
Click your heels together and join in the cacophony of JT’s “… I’m loving it!” chorus.
On January 14th, SOMETHING HAS ARRIVED – the movie details revealed.
Only just over 3 days left before this JJ Abrams monster movie is out in theaters but doesn’t hurt to write about it. Alright this isn’t exactly the review but an “alleged review” by a screener so this MAY or MAY NOT be a SPOILER. Continue reading ONLY if you do not care. One thing that needs to be cleared up is that the fictitious Japanese soda Slusho (slusho.jp) DOES have a role in the movie but not quite as much. Also, this movie is NOT about the Chtulu or Cthulu or Godzilla or some other existing monster as I’d previously blogged about.
WARNING – READ BELOW – POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!!!
So here’s what happens in the movie. This Japanese company Tagruato (maker of Slusho) is involved in deep sea mining and exploration and at the same time trying to promote a new drink in the US. The main character “Rob” as seen in the trailers gets tricked into thinking his friends hooked him up with a surprise going-away party but in reality, it was a Slusho presentation for Rob who’s chosen as one of the top persons to market the drink. Mind you that this whole thing is going on in New York City. Of course. Where else would all this kinda destruction take place. And most important, the camera dude is Hud, buddy of Rob.
Something that might not be shown in the movie are Slusho underwater vehicles awakening the Cloverfield sea monster possibly using explosives etc causing the creature to surface. I figured this out from the movie screener review where a news reporter asks for a comment from our very own Rob for the deep-sea explorations by Tagruato which maybe hazardous. According to the director, JJ Abrams, in this excerpt from an interview, “He’s a baby. He’s brand-new. He’s confused, disoriented and irritable. And he’s been down there in the water for thousands and thousands of years.” That’s what comes out of the waters.
Now the whole movie is pretty much with Rob trying to find his girl Beth. But before all that, when the monster first strikes the area, some chick going by the name of Jamie, self-proclaimed hottie, who turns into the most annoying character since Jar Jar Binks of Star Wars Episode I, gets killed when the giant head of the Statue of Liberty crashes down on her cab. There’s a lot of 9-11 like images in the footage taken from a portable camcorder.
Description of the creature – Many internet sources have varying descriptions but most of them go with the “scaly humanoid” face and “red eyes” while some report a whale-like head as shown in the above fan-art. The front limbs are like inverted crab arms/legs. The size of this monster is ginormous and when it brushes past the buildings, thousands of parasitic creatures fall out.
Back to the movie. So Beth is apparently trapped under the rubble of a collapsed structure. Cops are running helter skelter and when one of them radios in to help out a victim, a car falls smack squarley on him. Meanwhile, this female cast Marlena was one of the few who actually drank a Slusho right during the party in the beginning. She gets visibly sicker as the movie progresses and then physically explodes. Out of her body comes out some nasty looking creature that goes out on a human feeding frenzy. She gets shot multiple times.
While Rob and his buddy Hud are in the subway talking, Hud says “Rob, I’ve seen it… Rob, it’s a loss.” contrary to what we thought we heard in the trailers where it sounded more like “it’s alive.” Then a loud crash and the monster is dead. WOW. A close-up of the face reveals our description.
Then people from the party who drank the Slusho drink are now bleeding from their eyes and their bodies are expanding. Some blow up with blood-thirsty creatures jumping out. So Rob outlives Hud and video records the whole incident. Cops in helicopters come swirling down rescuing as many survivors and as they’re lifting off, a loud explosion goes off. The creature is back up and moving and attacks the choppers. “It looks possessed, angry, *beep* crazy. Its teeth look like machetes and its eyes are now a darker red than before.” Then the bridge gets destroyed and Beth and Rob run into Central Park and say their I love yous as the camera battery starts to beep due to low battery. The movie ending in the review is terrible. Supposedly, the last words of Rob while filming himself are, “My name is Robert Hawkings…” and then the monster’s crashing footsteps get closer and with Beth screaming in the background and all of a sudden, the battery is dead. The End.
Fak that shit. Well I only hope that was all just crap he posted and not the real thing. So far, it looks too close to what might be. JJ Abrams, tell me this ain’t true. Tell me please!
This is a bit late but had gone on vacation to Orlando which kept me at bay. The weeks before and after the trip were crazy meaning I didn’t have much time to post blogs up here either. I’ve been slowly injecting posts into this blog to fill in the gaps here. This post won’t make sense once that’s all been done.
Some things I’ll talk about soon – concept cars, my speeding ticket and taking the driver’s awareness program, St. Paul’s Emergency Snow Plow rules and how they are the scum of this planet, some Orlando stuff, and the usual daily (if not weekly) social commentary on life in general.
Regardless, hope you all had a safe and fun-filled New Year’s celebration and the Force be with you for trying to keep up with your resolutions for this year!
Recent Comments