Fox Sucks

Posted on June 6 2007 by Mickey
    I actually fought my better instincts, swallowed my bile, and forced myself to get interested in the new “reality TV” series On the Lot. I have to admit it sounded interesting, watching a handful of fledgling filmmakers create, direct, and exhibit short movies. Plus, the lure of a Spielberg pedigree was hard to ignore.
    I watched the first few episodes … and within a week the show turned from an interesting documentary style to a hackneyed American Idol wannabe where the contestants stare blankly on a live stage presenting short films which magically got made between episodes. My loathing did not become fully palpable to me until I saw the following post on Television Without Pity:

Lilady     Today @ 8:10 am
And Fox took Drive off after 3 episodes for this crap?
Mind boggling.
 
    I agree.     And so does Drive‘s star…

Nathan Fillion gets word of Drive’s cancellation
Photo shamelessly taken from James Gunn’s MySpace page
Posted in TV | Leave a comment

Photo of the Week

Posted on May 28 2007 by Mickey
    How I spent my Memorial Day weekend? Rescuing a kitty in a tree.
“…Heeeeeeere, Kitty Kitty Kitty…”
    And, by the way, I that’s not my kitten. And, technically, it’s not even my tree.
Posted in Photos | Leave a comment

TV Guide

Posted on May 12 2007 by Mickey
    I originally envisioned this blog post as another diatribe against Fox. I spent the last year becoming totally enamored by a 2002 show named Firefly, a wondeful series Fox thoughtlessly killed off after only fourteen episodes. I was eager to watch a new series, Drive, mainly because it shared Firefly‘s star, Nathan Fillion, as well as writer/producer Tim Minear. After four episodes, in only two weeks, Fox killed it off — just as the series was starting to find its bearings.
    I’ve spoken before about the dichotomy that is Fox. How they consistently greenlight interesting and unique concepts, how these shows attract a rabid fan base, but then get canceled before they can really catch on. It’s as if there’s some huge gulf separating the R&D guys and the marketing guys. (And, especially in the case of Drive the shows are given so little chance you’d think the programmers are ADD-addled kids who can’t sit still. I imagine they’re all on their sixth or seventh marriages and living in half-furnished condos.) The series attract critical raves but never seem to find their audience…until it’s too late and they’re released in some retrospective DVD box set. “How could they have canceled this?!” is a common refrain when watching these DVDs. It happens so often with Fox shows I’d suggest Fox simply give up all their affiliate channels and go into the direct-to-DVD business.
    Drive was Fox’s lead-in to 24, and Fox said Drive was canceled because its low ratings were actually affecting 24‘s ratings. But now, CNN says that ratings are down overall. “More than 2.5 million fewer people were watching ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox than at the same time last year, statistics show.” Some claim this is due to the accelerated Daylight Saving Time change; others cite the increased use of PVR time-shifting. Plus there’s always the underlying suspicion that the Nielsen polling data is poor and flawed. Part of me wants to demand Drive‘s return, seeing as it was removed from the schedule under false pretenses; but since I am a kind-hearted charitable soul, I will instead do Fox and all networks a favor.
    I might not be the average TV viewer — most notably since I abhor all forms of “reality TV” — but I am a dedicated TV viewer. So, for what it’s worth, here is an honest and accurate list of what I watch.

M:  9:00 PMNBC: Heroes (usually time-shifted)
  Fox: 24
 10:00 PMNBC: Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip (back when it was on)
Tu  9:00 PMFox: House
W10:00 PMABC: Lost
Th  8:30 PMNBC: The Office
   9:00 PMNBC: 30 Rock
   9:30 PMNBC: Scrubs
 10:00 PMNBC: ER
F  8:00 PMUniversal HD: Firefly repeats (back when they were on)
 11:00 PMHBO: Real Time with Bill Maher (usually time-shifted)
Sa  9:00 PMUniversal HD: Battlestar Galactica repeats (usually time-shifted)
Su  9:00 PMHBO: Rome (when it was on) / The Sopranos
 10:00 PMSci Fi: Battlestar Galactica (back when it was on, and usually time-shifted)
   
M – Th11:00 PMComedy Central: The Daily Show (usually time-shifted)
M – Th     11:30 PM    Comedy Central: The Colbert Report Show (usually time-shifted)
M – F11:35 PMCBS: The Late Show with David Letterman
    I vouch that these are the shows I consistently watch each week. Please do not cancel them.
Posted in TV | 1 Comment

The Cadbury Egg Controversy

Posted on April 9 2007 by Mickey
    …and I didn’t even know there was a Cadbury egg controversy.
    But here it is — broken by, of all people, BJ Novak of The Office
    [Archivist’s Note: the video originally placed here has been removed from YouTube. Fortunately, a backup copy is available.]
Posted in Food, TV, Video | Leave a comment

Puppetmaster

Posted on April 4 2007 by Mickey
    Except who’s the puppetmaster and who’s the dummy (to mix puppetries)?
    This video was circulating the Internet yesterday, following the President’s press conference. Everyone’s commented about the shadowy figure lurking in the shadows; but I thought the video needed a slight tweak. (Not too crazy about the music though, but it was a rush job.)
    The tweak in question was reversing it, changing a pull-out into a zoom in.
    …Hmm, a pull-out by the White House? One can only hope.
Posted in News, Politics, TV, Video | Leave a comment

Bad Driving

Posted on January 23 2007 by Mickey
    I have to admit I have a weakness for watching car wrecks. Especially ones I’m not in.

    [Archivist’s Note: the second video has been marked private.]

    [Archivist’s Note: the third video is unavailable.]


    [Archivist’s Note: the final video is unavailable.
Posted in Video | Leave a comment

“Witness the Firepower of This Fully Armed and Operational Title Generator!”

Posted on January 22 2007 by Mickey
    Another Mac entry. But this doesn’t have anything to do with the iPhone. It’s much much cooler.
    A Star Wars title generator!


“It is a new age for fanfilm directors”

    Just type in your text and this little utility does all the rest — the 20th Century Fox logo, the Lucasfilm Ltd logo, and of course, the scrolling yellow legend text — everything!
Posted in Links, Movies | 1 Comment

Macwhirled

Posted on January 18 2007 by Mickey
    I haven’t said anything about the Macworld announcement as I really don’t have a lot to say. The iPhone looks very cool but even though I’m already a Cingular customer I’m stuck with my current phone till December. And, in fact, I’m less interested in the iPhone as a phone than I am in it being the world’s tiniest Mac laptop. If they strip out the phone elements but retain all the iPod, iPhoto, and wi-fi features, then this really will be a killer must-have device!
  &nbso; As the days go on and the fabled Steve Jobs “reality distortion field” fades, people are taking a more sober look at the iPhone. I’ve read complaints about the expense of Cingular’s contract and data rates, complaints that the iPhone will not allow third party apps, the inability to use iTunes purchases as ringtones or to buy songs directly through the phone, etc. But the only one to bother me was revealed by C|Net. Their Crave page shows the iPhone’s video-playing capabilities leave a lot to be desired. In fact, you can’t really call it widescreen after all. The screen has a 1.5:1 display, which means fullscreen video will have black bars on the sides and 16×9 video will be cropped — defeating the purpose of a wide screen! The images on the C|Net page don’t really match up, so I created a more appropriate comparison.


Screen grab from Macworld keynote podcast



Screen grab off my iTunes Store purchase. Notice the difference?

    I can only hope this will be addressed before my hypothetical widescreen w-fi iPod is released.
    Another item which had held great promise was the Apple TV box. But the more I find out about it the less attractive it becomes. I am still very interested in the concept of wirelessly transferring video content from my computer to my big new TV, but Apple TV really doesn’t seem ready for prime time. It only plays what is stored in iTunes, which limits what you can play to what iTunes can play. HD content is limited to 720p 24fps (not even the TV standard of 30fps!) and there isn’t even any HD content in the iTunes Store. I’m not even sure why I need to buy Apple TV if all, since it doesn’t seem to do much more than what I can do with my three-way RCA iPod cords — which cost two hundred fifty dollars less. Right now, it looks like the Slingbox is what I want; unless Apple has bigger plans for Apple TV rev2.
    I was really looking forward to Macworld, since I figured iLife ’07 and iWork ’07 would be released, and more details on OS X Leopard would be revealed. What was announced shows great promise, but here I am still left waiting.
Posted in Apple, Gadgets, Tech | Leave a comment

OMFG

Posted on January 15 2007 by Mickey
    hkj;gd   nhrobgwr   jklgfhs;ah   mkdgnpona
    That’s me beating my head on the keyboard. Watch this video and fear for the future of us all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkkbAyibomE

    Update: I totally forgot: Ignorance is strength. A dumbed-down electorate is a passive electorate.
    [Archivist’s Note: the video has been taken down for violating YouTube’s terms of service.]
Posted in Politics, Video, WTF | Leave a comment

Today in Food (2007/01/03)

Posted on January 4 2007 by Mickey
    Happy New Year!
    People have been asking me what my resolution is for the new year. My answer? 1080p, baby. 1080p.
    As is usual for the start of a new year, I’m planning on losing some weight. One of the drawbacks of running a site about fatness is it’s almost like giving me license to a be a fat ass. I’ve grown to monumental proportions over the last few months and I need to drop some pounds before I do structural damage to my house. Also usual for this time, giving up food means I’m constantly thinking about food, and here a couple food-related links I found today. (Both from Boing Boing.net.)
    I was pretty proud of myself, in my youth, that I ate every single meal on the Bangkok Express menu. But these guys are planning on eating at every single restaurant in Toronto, in the order in which the establishments are listed in the phone book.
    And in case I’m considering making a meal of butter sticks, here’s what 200 calories looks like compared between different foods.
Posted in Food, Links, News | Leave a comment