Quick Update

Podcast Spot is ready to test! All except for one single thing that I haven’t been able to figure out for a couple hours now. I am going to go sleep for a while, maybe I’ll have better luck solving it after a little shut-eye. Anyway, if you were expecting to wake up to a test account in the mail, sorry. Hopefully this evening!

REVIEW: Snakes on a Plane

Post ImageThis is the post I know you’ve all been waiting for – I just got back from Snakes on a Plane! Tonight was definitely the night to go, as everyone in attendance was cheering and shouting and super excited for the movie. Someone even had one of those big snakes you can get in the kids section at Ikea. And even better, we were first in line! To put it simply, the movie exceeded my expectations, which were actually fairly simple: there must be snakes, a plane, and Samuel L. Jackson. In addition to those three things, Snakes on a Plane delivered violence, coarse language, nudity and sex. And perhaps most awesomely, a surprising variety of snake attacks!

The movie started out a little oddly, but I soon realized they were just setting up the plot. As crazy as it sounds, they actually had a decent plot behind the movie. Better than some that I have seen anyway (such as every Batman movie except the first Tim Burton one and Batman Begins). It didn’t take long to get the plane in the air, snakes and all. And as soon as the snakes got loose, and the mayhem began, I was happy. I think the entire theater was (despite a few empty seats).

I wish I could have been there when they came up with ways for the snakes to attack and kill people! They had just about everything you can think of, and then some. They had all sorts of passengers too – kids, babies, a lady with a dog, a guy deathly afraid of flying, a grumpy business man, a spoiled music star, etc. I am so glad they trashed that PG rating and went straight for R – they held nothing back! I couldn’t even watch at some points. Of course I did anyway.

Samuel L. Jackson was awesome. He had some great moments in the movie, and when he delivered the now infamous “I’ve had it with these motherfuckin snakes on this motherfuckin plane!” the entire theater erupted into cheers and applause! Smartly, he doesn’t say it until near the end. Speaking of the ending, it was actually pretty good!

Now let’s get one thing straight – this movie is not meant to please critics or be realistic or any of that crap. It’s meant to deviate from the norm, and deliver the literal greatness that is its title. Snakes on a Plane does not disappoint in that regard. If nothing else, I hope the movie shows Hollywood they can be experimental and try new things, even if they sound crazy at first. I am willing to bet this won’t be the last movie that borrows lines or ideas from the community.

I thoroughly enjoyed Snakes on a Plane. If you’re afraid of snakes or flying you might want to avoid it, otherwise, I think you’ll enjoy it too! I expect most people won’t see the movie in the theater, which is fine, because I think it will make a great DVD rental. I intend to buy it when it comes out. It’s the perfect kind of movie to sit around and watch with a bunch of friends, though there’s probably too many snakes to turn it into a drinking game.

I dunno what I am going to do now, I’ve been waiting for this movie for so long! I guess there’s always hope that Samuel L. Jackson will make “mo’ motherfuckin snakes on mo’ motherfuckin planes!”

Read: Snakes on a Plane

Snakes on The Daily Show

Post ImageWhat could possibly be better than Snakes on a Plane? Samuel L. Jackson talking with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show about Snakes on a Plane! You can watch the clip at YouTube. Apparently Samuel L. Jackson can “negotiate his ass off” for the sequel, because he didn’t sign any sequel contracts. Don’t you just love the ‘L’ in Samuel L. Jackson? Makes him so much more badass.

You know, I never watch The Daily Show on TV anymore. I pretty much only watch clips and segments on YouTube now. Welcome to 2006.

Read: YouTube

BlogosphereRadio Archives

Post ImageLong time readers of my blog will know that BlogosphereRadio was my first foray into podcasting, created way back in September of 2004. In my initial post about the site, I said it would probably always be a work in progress. I guess that was sort of correct – the site has been dormant since roughly March 2005. The idea has lived on though, as BlogosphereRadio was definitely the inspiration for Podcast Spot (at least in the beginning).

I have been doing some cleanup work on some our servers lately, and I realized that I hadn’t touched BlogosphereRadio in a very long time. Things were broken, etc, so I made some changes. The forums are now unavailable, and the “play” links don’t work. I fixed the download links however, so you can now download any of the shows in both WMA and MP3 format. I also stuck a little “dormant” message at the top of most of the pages.

I can’t see a revival of BlogosphereRadio being likely, but never say never. My intent for now is to leave the site up for archival purposes and nothing more. I won’t be adding to it, so don’t bother subscribing to the feeds.

If this is the first time you’ve heard of BlogosphereRadio, download my favorite episode.

New Speed Test Service

Post ImageAnother tool gets Web 2.0-ified (well sort of, it’s just Flash, though it is marked beta). No longer are speed tests boring! Thanks to Speedtest.net, you get an interactive map and speedometer-like gauges to see how fast your Internet connection is. From Blog Esoterica:

The site allows you to select servers to ping from around the country on an interactive map and graphically displays connections as they travel with varying speeds along the way. It also lets you store results of tests for your computer and sort them by date, time, speed and distance.

I tried it out, and it seems pretty good. I wish there was something more to the service though. Basically it’s just a flash interface on the same speed tests that have been available for the better part of a decade. That said, if you like fancy graphics, Speedtest.net might be just what you’re looking for!

Read: Speedtest.net

Largest Consumer Electronics Recall Ever

Post ImageThis is one record you don’t want to be setting. Dell has announced what the Consumer Product Safety Commission is calling “the largest safety recall in the history of the consumer electronics industry.” That’s right, 4.1 million laptop batteries installed in Dell machines between April 2004 and July 18th, 2006. Is yours one of them?

Dell’s press release states the recall covers the following machines, so be aware! Dell Latitude D410, D500, D505, D510, D520, D600, D610, D620, D800, D810; Inspiron 6000, 8500, 8600, 9100, 9200, 9300, 500m, 510m, 600m, 6400, E1505, 700m, 710m, 9400, E1705; and Dell Precision M20, M60, M70 and M90 mobile workstations; and XPS, XPS Gen2, XPS M170 and XPS M1710. Also, you’re to go here, and to pop that batt post haste.

Even worse – the batteries were made by Sony, not Dell, which means other laptops might also be at risk if they too use Sony batteries (creative sabotage?). I’m pretty confident my Toshiba is safe. Keep an eye on this story!

I wonder what they do with the returned batteries? I think they should put them all in a big pile and explode it. That would make a great video! They could use it as a PR stunt of some sort. Though I’m sure the environmentalists would have a field day. Oh well.

Read: Engadget

Revealing The Hidden Terror: Snakes on a Plane!

Post ImageIf you haven’t had the pleasure of talking to me in person for a while, you might not know just how excited I am for the upcoming movie Snakes on a Plane, which opens Friday (though I have tickets for the Thursday screening). I mean there’s snakes, a plane, fear-stricken passengers, and one extremely badass FBI agent, better know as Samuel L. Jackson. Just check out the summary:

On board a flight over the Pacific Ocean, an assassin, bent on killing a passenger who’s a witness in protective custody, lets loose a crate full of deadly snakes.

And with much cussing and violence, I fully expect Samuel L. Jackson to save the day. You just can’t go wrong with a title like Snakes on a Plane!

Another interesting aspect of the movie is the huge community of fans who have created “fan media” for the movie – fake trailers, posters, websites, fake scripts, etc. There’s really an amazing amount of stuff available. You can find links to some of it as well as some good background on the movie and the community at Wikipedia.

Which brings me to the point of this post – to show you fan media created by myself and Andrew! We went to the Edmonton International Airport yesterday, to interview people about the hidden terror; the terror the media doesn’t want you to know about. Snakes on a Plane. What we found was shocking – no one was aware of this growing terror! Among those we talked to were a security screener and a baggage person, and it was clear from our conversations that there is no plan in place to fight the snakes. The ban on liquids is good, but what we really need is a ban on snakes!

Watch the video at YouTube!

The video turned out to be a little longer than I had hoped it would at seventeen minutes, but I wasn’t sure what else to cut. It has its funny moments, especially in the latter half, so if you have some time to spare, check it out! We find out if people are afraid of snakes, if they trust Samuel L. Jackson, and if they are planning to see the movie. It was fun to make!

Read: YouTube

Soon I'll Create My Own Xbox Games!

Post ImageAh, I have been waiting for news like this ever since I got my Xbox 360 back in November. Microsoft will be releasing a set of tools that let “college students, hobbyists and others create their own games” for both Windows and the Xbox 360 console. The tools will be demonstrated for the first time at Microsoft Gamefest. A lighter weight version of the company’s XNA tools for professional developers, the hobbyist suite is dubbed XNA Game Studio Express:

“The tools we are talking about make it way easier to make games than it is today,” said Scott Henson, director for platform strategy for Microsoft’s game developer group.

In the first incarnation, games developed using the free tools will be available only to like-minded hobbyists, not the Xbox community as a whole. Those who want to develop games will have to pay a $99 fee to be part of a “Creators’ Club,” a name that is likely to change. Games developed using XNA Game Studio Express will be playable only by others who are part of the club.

The current plan is to have a completely open system three to five years down the road, where anyone can make a game, and the community decides what sucks and what rocks. This will drastically change the gaming landscape if Microsoft can pull it off. Finally regular people will be able to build things for a console!

I always figured Microsoft would eventually release developer tools like this for the Xbox 360. They are, after all, a platform company.

Read: CNET News.com

Notes for 8/13/2006

Another week, another round of notes!

  • So Dickson left this last week, and thus, I am slightly behind on getting the testing started. I also took a little break today to work on something else – more on that tomorrow.
  • Went to see Step Up tonight. The critics seem to have hated it, while the users (the fans) seem to have loved it, judging by the Rotten Tomatoes ratings. I thought it was like most other dance movies (a poor guy makes something of himself through dance) but it was enjoyable! I was surprised to see that Mario had a role. Oh and that one girl from all the Missy Elliot videos too. If you just want to sit there and see some cool dancing, this is the movie for you.
  • You know how I like wireless everywhere. Now, behold, environmentally friendly wireless everywhere!
  • I realized just how big MySpace.com has become the other day, when I saw players in a public TFC server using MySpace addresses as their gamer tags. For those of you who don’t know, TFC is Team Fortress Classic, a mod for the original Half-Life. I used to be in a clan, a long time ago. I don’t ever remember seeing websites as gamertags!
  • As my Mom pointed out to me, the PC turned 25 years old on Friday! It’s kind of hard to imagine how the world would look today without computers.
  • I’m not sure I’ve used any of these, but apparently they work – ten sure-fire headline formulas that work.