Category: Consumption

The Amazing Race 19 contest

~ m ~ Leave a comment

Amazing Race returns, and let the next contest begin!

  • Pick the team you think will win, and pick the team you think will be eliminated next.
  • If your winning team is eliminated, you have to pick another. Least picks wins!
  • If your losing team is eliminated, you score, and get to pick another. Most scores wins!

The two prizes will be huge Trader Joe’s Belgian dark chocolate bars, or better if I get creative! Good luck, ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!

Team Symbol
Andy & Tommy – snowboarders S
Laurence & Zac – father/son Z
Kaylani & Lisa – showgirls K
Ernie & Cindy – engaged E
Liz & Marie – twins T
Jeremy & Sandy – dating D
Bill & Cathi – grandparents G
Justin & Jennifer – siblings J
Amani & Marcus – married A
Ethan & Jenna – survivors U
Ron & Bill – domestic partners P

PICKS

Viewer Ep01 E/(G)
 Ep02 S/U&P
 Ep03 S/K
 Ep04 S/(T)
 Ep05 A/T
 Ep06 S/(A)
 Ep07 S/J
 Ep08 E/Z
 Ep09 A/?
 Ep10
 Ep11
 Ep12
Larry U/D A/D
Jane S/J S/A
Andrea Z/D G/D
Mike S/G
Wren S/K S/D
Reiley S/D
Nick U/P S/K S/D
Legend
Winning choice won this leg of the race (used for tiebreaker)
-1 Winning choice lost this leg of the race (pick again)
+1 Losing choice lost this leg of the race (pick again)
+1 Winning choice won, and losing choice lost – PERFECT!
-1 * Selection change
-1/+1 Winning choice lost and losing choice lost (double elimination!)

9.0 The Scarlet Pimpernel

~ m ~ Leave a comment

Andrea and I, and her book club, read this short classic recently, and I told them I was sending a copy to Guy Ritchie, it was so tight. If you can get past the anti-semitic language… I excuse it only because it ends up being the fatal flaw that… well, I’ll leave that for you to discover.

Reiley throws a bash

~ m ~ 2 Comments

Reiley had a very belated birthday party this weekend – 24 people total including Wren and Olivia – all playing Just Dance at the same time, whoop.

20110919-084631.jpg

A really nice group of kids – they rode horses, we had a bonfire, pizza, ping pong, basketball, all under a heavy mist reminiscent of our days in Scotland. Even the parents had fun. :>

9.0 The Island

~ m ~ Leave a comment

The Island

A visually delicious action movie with a surprisingly solid scifi storyline. I didn’t expect much and had to keep picking my jaw off the floor.

NOTE: From here on out I’m trying to keep my reviews simple and spoiler-free. Even rating the movie invites the Heisenberg principle, and I won’t abide further spoilage. In this case, this also affects the screenshot I chose – there were better ones but they violate my ten inch that you enter the movie with a clean slate. Critics suck! You be the judge! :P

A specific example of broadband frustration in North Carolina

~ m ~ 3 Comments

Governor Perdue,

My newly-purchased house is 700′ from the road where Time Warner’s cable runs. Because they have a virtual monopoly, they want me to pay $3250 to run cable to my house before they will ALLOW me to pay for service on top of that.

I would like to express my outrage that you did not veto the recent bill that restricts municipalities’ ability to develop broadband solutions. It is abominable that you vocalized your disapproval of the bill but did not find the backbone to veto it. Many of us contacted you with our concerns but were not heard. Special interests have taken further root as a result, and our state will pay the price and lose further technological footing. I am now directly, severely impacted – along with many others. The Time Warner rep claimed that they are getting many people to actually pay these kind of extortionist fees to fund the build out of their own network – further increasing their monopoly.

Broadband service is of such fundamental importance to our communities that we must find a way to do better. Not vetoing the municipality restriction bill was a major step backwards for us all. I hope you can find a way to move us forward again.

I’ll be posting this to my blog, facebook, etc. and getting the word out wherever and whenever possible.

Thanks for listening,
Michael

Addendum: Yes I am using Time Warner services to host this blog. Yes they have provided me with great service for 11 years. But some corollary of Murphy’s Law applies to broadband access. It should be getting better and cheaper at a faster rate than their monopoly allows.

Would I be writing this if I happened to get an easy service hookup? Probably not. But I did send a previous note to the Governor when I heard about the ridiculous bill.

The bottom line is that broadband internet access is too fundamental a need of the people to be left to a few corporations and a bought-off government. Just like with other basic utilities, the people’s government should ensure that everything is in place, including free market competition as well as government oversight, to provide the people with the best-possible service over shared resources like easements and lines. Municipal broadband, where the people come together to create something good, is an excellent means to that end.

9.5 Beastie Boys: Make Some Noise

~ m ~ 2 Comments

Yes I am a Beastie Boys fanboy. As Johnny Cash said so well, “until you know my shame you really don’t know me”. I grew up on New Jersey playgrounds, cursing (not “cussing”, that’s what rednecks in FL did) my head off since I was ten. To me, my brother’s actual name was jerk-off. I just didn’t know any better. I hit punk right on the mark around the age of 12 – I remember my dad walking into my room and hearing someone on my favorite NY radio station say something rude and what in the world was I listening to and me replying “I don’t listen to the words, just the music”. New wave was next and swept us all up, smashing molds and bringing sweet melodies and new sonic fabrics. And then came hip hop in the form of Run DMC and Beastie Boys and Public Enemy, and it was loud and strong, and continued to rip the fabric of everything that came before it – literally in this case. The industrial music of Ministry and Meat Beat Manifesto was the last great one for me. From then on, everything else was just recycling – Grunge, Shoegaze, LoFi, whatever – I’d heard it all before.

I guess this is the definition of being old. I have become one of those “classic rock” fanatics that I never understood during my youth. But when we were young, each of those early changes meant something to us, ripping off the lid on something brand new and knocking us to the floor, winded.

And I could feel my roots when I turned up the Beastie Boys. They are smart-ass New Yorkers with ADD. Like FAMILY. :P

If your sophomoric sense of humor remains intact, you may continue to enjoy their craft. This album went through extra refinement (due to MCA’s cancer battle, keep on good man) like a fine wine. Peace out to life-lovin’ cancer-fightin’ vegan-tryin’ Yauch, who directed this joint… WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT, this is not for women or children or anyone else with any sense or maturity whatsoever. Self-parody at its finest. And check the crew they brought for this one, stellar.

8.5 Rise Against: Endgame

~ m ~ Leave a comment

I didn’t think I could ever warm up to this kind of over-produced hard rock.

Even if it is labelled punk rock. PUNK?? What the… cmon this is NOT PUNK. This is fast-paced arena rock. It has NOTHING TO DO WITH PUNK ROCK. Thin Lizzy was writing this stuff years before the Clash existed.

But something about it caught my attention. Lyrical strenth. So i wikied the band. And discovered truth. Straight-edge vegan truth. Rockin! So I opened up and listened. And the lyrics don’t get any stronger. The videos are inspiring. And once I got that far, it became most excellent running music – I ran the hardest few miles of my life on this stuff yesterday.

So I guess I have to let it be lumped in with other dispensers of truth – like my favorites, Consolidated, who have spun into outer orbit. Oh yeah! Truth comes in many strange forms. :>

Amazing Race 18 scorecard

~ m ~ 8 Comments

Amazing Race returns! As do the contestants – they are all previous losers. I think that’s a great idea – I am sure they have all discussed the details for hours, and have all kinds of strategies to try out. Looks intense so far!

  • Pick the team you think will win, and pick the team you think will be eliminated next.
  • If your winning team is eliminated, you have to pick another. Least picks wins!
  • If your losing team is eliminated, you score, and get to pick another. Most scores wins!
Team Symbol
Jet/Cord – Cowboys C
Gary/Mallory – Father/Daughter G
Margie/Luke – Mom and deaf son L
Amanda/Chris – Engaged E
Keisha/Jen – Sisters S
Kent/Vyksin – Goth couple V
Flight Time/Big Easy – Globetrotters F
Jaime/Cara – NFL Cheerleaders N
Ronald/Christina – Father/Daughter R
Zev/Justin – Friends H
Mel/Mike – Gay Dad/Son M

PICKS

Viewer Ep01 G/(C)
 Ep02 H/E
 Ep03 H/M
 Ep04 L/(V)
 Ep05 C/N
 Ep06 G/L
 Ep07 F/R
 Ep08 H/(G)
 Ep09 H/C
 Ep10 F/V
 Ep11 G/H
 Ep12
Larry F/L F/H F/H F/S
Jane C/N C/L C/F H/*V H/F G/F
Andrea M/L V/L V/R S*/V S/F
Mike R/G S/G
Wren F/N F/R F/V F/S
Reiley F/N F/R F/V F/S
Nick F/L F/R F/V F/S
Betty G/S
Legend
Winning choice won this leg of the race (used for tiebreaker)
-1 Winning choice lost this leg of the race (pick again)
+1 Losing choice lost this leg of the race (pick again)
+1 Winning choice won, and losing choice lost – PERFECT!
* Selection change (-1)

9.0 Zynga scrabble crack

~ m ~ Leave a comment

I swore I would never touch Zynga again after Mafia Wars took over my facebook life (and RL). But I have a soft spot for all perversions of Scrabble on my smart device, dating back ten years to pass-off games on my Zaurus (man I loved that thing, so far ahead it was like I was from anothet planet). Gary and I have been having trans-city late night duels into the wee hours. Just what I needed, more Zynga crack… Continue reading “9.0 Zynga scrabble crack” →