Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Jets Release Coles

Or let him become a free agent, or whatever. He's not back next year. I hope this doesn't mean he joins his very good friend Chad Pennington. I'm not optimistic for next year even with a new coach.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Another Season of Smallville?

Smallville has been extended for its ninth season. I think it's time to let this one rest, CW Network!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Mac Crashed

For the first time in 7 months my Mac crashed. I don't know why. I guess that's not too shabby but I hope it's not the sign of things to come.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Guitar Hero: World Tour

Have you seen the Guitar Hero ads with Michael Phelps, A-Rod, Kobe Bryant and Tony Hawk? Sort of a controversial bunch of stars now that A-Rod has admitted to steroids, Phelps recently suspended for marijuana and Kobe with that dismissed rape charge from a few years back. Makes me wonder if Ray Lewis would have been a better substitution for Tony Hawk...

Monday, February 09, 2009

Netflix! Argh!

At the top of my Netflix queue are five movies that all say "Long Wait" or "Very Long Wait." This means that I'm getting my #6 movies in my queue. It's pretty frustrating - the films in question are Wall-E, Pineapple Express, Hulk Vs, Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist and Zack and Miri Make a Porno. I blame Netflix for underestimating the demand for these films and forcing me to wait. My Netflix experience has been pretty positive overall but the wait for these films has been really frustrating.

A-Rod and Steroids

Pinstriped Bible pretty much sums up my reactions to this with "Eleven Reactions to the A-Rod / Steroids Story."

I have a 12th reaction, which is, I'm just annoyed at having to deal with other teams' fans taking joy at finding out that Yankee players used steroids in the past. If we found out David Ortiz used steroids it would still be sad, even though I can't root for the guy at all. My 13th reaction is that as more players are found to have used steroids, it on the one hand, numbs me to the revelation and on the other hand makes it harder for me to follow baseball in general.

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Google - Autofill

I was disturbed to do a google search that started out "best method..." and the first autofill suggestion from google (presumably the most popular) was "best method of suicide." That was followed by the more benign options "best method man songs," "best method of birth control," and "best method to quit smoking."

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Frak Pack

The first night that Battlestar Galactica returned to tv recently, KFC was advertising a "Frak Pack" sweepstakes. I haven't heard much about that since. Maybe the KFC marketing team found out what "frak" means.

Monday, February 02, 2009

Super Bowl Halftime Show

I'm catching up with the second half of the Super Bowl as well as the halftime show.

For my money, the MVP was LB James Harrison, who ran back that 100 yd interception. That caused a nearly 10 point swing and ended up being a huge play in terms of the final score. Maybe I'll change my mind if the 2nd half has some impressive plays.

During the halftime show - did Bruce Springsteen slide crotch first into a camera? Is that the Max Weinberg 7 from Conan O'Brien? I knew Max was in the E Street Band, but to see the rest of the gang there was something new. The bald guy on keyboards looks like David Letterman's sidekick Paul Schaffer!

2nd Half
-Denny's gave away free breakfast this AM? There's a Denny's in Manhattan? Wish I had heard this sooner, although I wonder what the crowd was like there.

-I find the Budweiser clydesdales this year completely unfunny and uninteresting. Are there going to be more commercials with them?

-In the game, Arizona can't get out of their own way in the 3rd quarter. I'm counting 3 personal fouls on the first Pittsburgh drive. Luckily they still hold Pittsburgh to only 3 on the drive with two good goal line stands.

-Kurt Warner's wife has long blonde hair? What happened to the 1999 version of Brenda Warner?


-Briefly annoyed by Chuck ad that claims "flattened" versions of the characters are 1 dimensional because it should be two dimensions.

-Cash4gold.com is a real website? I thought it was a joke!

-Arizona's passing game picking up in the 4th. It looks like what they're able to do is send 2-3 receivers down the same side at different depths, force the Steelers defensive players to commit to showing how they'll cover them and hope that Warner has enough time to spot the open receiver.

-Wow, a safety! Yet I still can't get the 5's I need. Also a rule I never knew: holding in the end zone is a safety. Is that the only penalty that leads to points?

-That the Cardinals kept it close was a huge shock to me. That they even ever got a lead in the 4th quarter even more impressive. I think in order to be successful in today's NFL, a team absolutely needs a huge receiver like Larry Fitzgerald. Just look at the differences that Randy Moss, Terrell Owens and Plaxico Burress have made for their teams.

-After the catch to put the Steelers ahead, I'll change my mind. Santonnio Holmes is the MVP. Great catch and he had 9 catches overall. When the Cardinals were winning, I guess the candidate would have been Warner, or maybe Fitzgerald.

-On the final play of the game, Kurt Warner's play is an incomplete pass in my opinion. Al Michaels called it a fumble because "his arm is not coming forward" but it sure looks like it's coming forward to me. He also cocked his arm back in a throwing position to release the ball.

-2004 looks like it was a great draft year for quarterbacks. Consider quarterbacks drafted in the first round of
2003: Carson Palmer, Byron Leftwich, Kyle Boller, Rex Grossman
2004: Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, JP Losman
2005: Alex Smith, Aaron Rodgers, Jason Campbell
2006: Vince Young, Matt Leinart, Jay Cutler

-Pretty exciting game. I definitely didn't expect it to be this close, but a really strong finish. Why does Joe Namath present the Lombardi trophy? I shudder every time I see him on national television and remember his interview with Suzy Kolber on ESPN a few years back. Oh well, let the 2009 season begin!

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Super Bowl Commercials

I have to admit, because I can't see much of the Super Bowl live this year due to work, I haven't been as excited about the game or the commercials. But thanks to the Internet, I don't even need to watch the game! It appears that in this down economy, the movie studios can still afford to put in Super Bowl commercials, so keep an eye out for Star Trek, Transformers and GI Joe. I'm sure there will be some others but those are enough to get my inner geek going. Who knows if the movies will be any good but something to look forward to this summer.

Watchmen: The Movie

I just re-read the comic series, Watchmen, and am becoming increasingly excited about the movie. The trailers look pretty darn good and there's are some fairly interesting marketing and other media surrounding the movie. First, there's the New Frontiersman website (based on a conservative magazine in the movie). A nice little piece of viral marketing there. Second, there's the "Tales of the Black Freighter" animated DVD that is supposed to accompany the movie and be the story of the pirate comics featured in the books. That DVD is also supposed to include some excerpts or reenactments of "Under the Hood" (a book featured within Watchmen). Finally there's the Watchmen motion comics, which will also be released on DVD. I've watched the first installment of this series and am pretty impressed with how close to the book it is.

My main concerns with the film - 1) It's a hard book to turn into a film, 2) Zak Snyder doesn't have my complete faith. I thought "300" was okay, and there were some parts that seemed a little strange. As it turned out, the "strange" parts were not in Frank Miller's original book, they were added in by Snyder. That goes to concern #3 - the rumors that the ending has been modified. Hopefully not too much. I realize that many books to movies have parts changed, excised and modified, but I'm hoping that Watchmen is more "Sin City" and "Harry Potter" than most other book adaptations.