November 2008 Archives (14 posts)
Top 14 Top Gear Moments
The Top 14 Top Gear Moments should take a bite out of your productivity today. If you’re a fan of the show then you’ll probably find a few clips from episodes you missed over the years. The Ariel Atom and Darts with Cars had me laughing out loud. (Link via Dave King.)
Posted in Television at 12:35 PM
Clueless HDTV Owners
How is this for scary? Almost 1 in 5 HDTV owners can’t tell the difference between HD and standard definition TV!
According to a recent study by Leichtman Research Group, 18% of HDTV owners were watching standard definition programming when they thought they were watching HD programming. In June of this year, only 45 per cent of HDTV owners knew what Blu-ray was according to a survey by the NPD Group.
I see a lot of people watching stretched standard definition programming on their widescreen HD sets all of the time. To make matters worse I’m guessing that a lot of people aren’t setting up their Blu-ray players properly, myself included.
I was so excited and in such a rush to use my new Blu-ray player this past weekend that I watched half of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull before I realized that I was watching everything in 480i instead of 1080p.
At 480 lines interlaced, things look better than my old DVD player. At 1080 lines progressive, the video looks outstanding!
The default settings on my Sony BDP-S350 Blu-ray player set all video content to widescreen. I was watching Hitchcock’s Sabotage (1936) last night had to muck about the settings to display the movie in its proper aspect ratio of 1.33 : 1. The default settings on the player don’t detect the aspect ratios of video content and will try to display everything in a 16 : 9 ratio that stretches everything.
Posted in Technology at 10:13 PM
Happy birthday
Today it is a friend’s birthday. He’s 39 years old, works at a video game company, and he gave this website its name.
Posted in Photography at 2:03 PM
IT Crowd returns
The third season of IT Crowd began last night in the UK. I just watched the first episode and found myself laughing out loud several times.
Posted in Television at 2:14 PM
Canada on 30 Rock
I got a chuckle out of Steve Martin’s lines on 30 Rock last night:
Cheap cholesterol medicine from Canada. A Paris Hilton film released only in Canada. Come with me to Canada… Toronto is just like New York but without all the stuff.
By the way, as a resident of Toronto, I can attest to the fact that Toronto really is like New York without all the stuff.
Posted in Television at 2:01 PM
PC Magazine discontinues print edition
Ziff Davis is going to discontinue the print edition of PC Magazine. It will continue to publish online at PCMAG.com. Times are tough for the magazine industry.
I never read PC Magazine but occasionally (once a year) I may pick up MacWorld. Computer magazines are out of date as soon as they hit the stands. You can get more up to date information from their websites which is why we no longer have MacUser, MacWEEK (my favourite), MacAddict, BYTE and Compute!
Posted in Technology at 7:25 PM
Quantum of Solace
Forget about all of the mediocre reviews that say the latest Bond film is too dark, too grim. Quantum of Solace (2008) is a very satisfying follow up to Casino Royale. I found the film to be exciting and very entertaining.
Anthony Lane at The New Yorker says:
Quantum of Solace is too savage for family entertainment, but, as a study in headlong desperation, it’s easier to believe in than many more ponderous films.
The violence is relentless but I didn’t find it pointless. It takes the Bond character in a different direction which isn’t a bad thing. Would you rather have invisible cars or Bond skiing down another mountain in the French Alps? At the risk of being boring, this film tries to be a little more believable with the plot and I think it works well, even if things get a little confusing at times.
My biggest complaint is that director Marc Forster cheated with many of the action scenes. Showing the viewer a set up rapid cuts creates a frenetic pace and builds tension but it also creates a jumbled mess that leaves you wishing you had a rewind button to press.
I can’t believe that critics like Roger Ebert are complaining that the female lead has a plain name (Camille) instead of Pussy Galore. Instead of Goldfinger or Scaramanga the villain is simply one Dominic Greene. Again, I don’t understand why people want crazy villains with unrealistic goals. This film tries hard to be believable and it’s just as entertaining as a Goldfinger if not better in my opinion.
Is the film as good as Casino Royale (2006)? No, but come on. Casino Royale is one of the best Bond films to date. You can’t hit a home run every time.
If you’re a fan of the Bond franchise then I think you’ll enjoy the film. If not, then maybe Bolt (2008) in 3D will get you excited.
Films are rated from 1 to 4 stars.
Posted in Movie Reviews at 1:04 AM
SuperSpeed USB 3.0 is super fast
The spec for USB 3.0 indicates that it will be 10 times faster than USB 2.0 which is currently used in your tortoise-like external hard drive.
- USB 1.1: 9.3 hours
- USB 2.0: 13.9 minutes
- USB 3.0: 70 seconds
Now that Apple appears to be dumping FireWire in their laptops, there has been speculation that USB 3.0 might be taking its place. Unfortunately the final spec for USB 3.0 won’t complete until next year. From there it could take another year before we see USB 3.0 in new Macs if at all.
For more information see 25GB in 70 seconds with USB 3.0.
Posted in Technology at 10:23 PM
Let’s give it to ‘em in black and white
I love this clip of Satchmo from the Johnny Cash Show. Oct., 28, 1970. (Via kottke.org)
Posted in Music at 9:29 PM
TextExpander TinyURL time saver
TextExpander is a typing shortcut utility (for the Mac) that saves me time. I just discovered that the software has a TinyURL shortcut that I find to be really useful.
Let’s say you want to email a website link to somebody that looks like this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081110/pl_nm/us_usa
_obama;_ylt=AiapVR_Fvw9UNo42uSPCMfSs0NUE
If I Copy the URL from my web browser then type the shortcut /tinyurl in my email program (or any program), TextExpander will send the URL to TinyURL, get a shorter version of that URL and insert it into my email program as http://tinyurl.com/6omh86.
I’m not a heavy Twitter user but if you are, you’ll find this shortcut to be invaluable.
Posted in OS X Software at 4:36 PM
SuperDuper! backup to the rescue
My wife spent several hours capturing video on my Power Mac G5 last night. I went to use it this morning and couldn’t get the computer to reboot. Coincidence?
Running DiskWarrior didn’t fix things. My computer would startup, display the Apple symbol and proceed to a blue screen where it would hang. Luckily I cloned my startup drive using SuperDuper! a few weeks back and I could restore a copy of my system software. Apple’s Time Machine provided me with rest of the backups that I needed.
Don’t forget to backup your files if you use a computer to run your business. This is the second time in 10 years that having a backup system in place has saved my butt.
Posted in OS X Software at 4:19 PM
Leek and Chickpea Soup
It’s November and that means that the leeks in your vegetable garden can be yanked out of the ground and made into a delicious soup. I’ve adapted a recipe from one of Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks that is perfect for a Sunday lunch with some crusty Italian bread.
18 oz can of chickpeas
1 medium potato
5 medium-sized leeks
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons of butter
1/3 cup dry white wine
3 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
Parmesan cheese
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Peel the potato, wash, cut into quarters and boil in a pot of water until soft.
Rinse the leeks well with cold water to remove any dirt. Peel off the outer layer and finely slice.
Heat up a pan with the olive oil. Add the butter and let it melt. Toss the leeks and garlic into the pan, coating it with the oil and butter. Add a pinch of salt and cook gently for about 4-5 minutes until the leeks are tender. Add the wine and cook for a few minutes until the alcohol has evaporated.
Add the chickpeas and potato. Cook for a minute then add 2 cups of the stock and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.
Purée the soup in a food processor. Add the remaining stock to the mix until it has the consistency you want. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Serve into soup bowls and add some freshly grated parmesan cheese.
10 minutes prep | 25 minutes cooking | Serves 5
Posted in Recipes at 8:16 PM
Gator
Gator (1976). Directed by Burt Reynolds.
If you need any proof that Burt Reynolds is a lousy director then look no further than the film Gator. This is the dreadful sequel to the White Lightning. The plot is thin — this time Federal agents convince Gator McKlusky to bring down a dangerous criminal named Bama McCall (Jerry Reed).
To make things worse, most of the film is pan and scan except for the opening and closing scenes that were shown in a letterbox format (2.35:1).Try to watch this on cable or satellite where some have reported that is show in its original widescreen format.
Jerry Reed does a good job of playing a homicidal crime boss with his sawed-off shotgun but Burt hams it up a little too much and the film slowly loses its way. Reynolds and Reed are much better in the Smokey the Bandit films.
There are a couple of odd characters that you’ll find amusing — a weasel named Smiley and a giant named Bones played by 7’ 3” William Engesser. Unfortunately this is weak film that is slapped together with stunts, explosions and a few cheap gags.
Posted in DVD Reviews at 1:16 PM
White Lightning
White Lightning (1973). Directed by Joseph Sargent.
White Lightning is a classic 1970s action film. Burt Reynolds plays an ex-con named Gator McKlusky who teams up with federal agents to break up a moonshine ring. Ned Beatty plays a corrupt sheriff named J.C. Connors who is responsible for the death of Gator’s brother. Naturally, Gator wants revenge.
Reynolds plays the role of Gator McKlusky seriously, without the silliness that he’s know for in Gator and Smokey and the Bandit. You tend to forget that Reynolds can be a very good actor. This is one of those rare performances.
Unfortunately this DVD is a fullscreen pan and scan version of the movie. The film is nicely shot and would have looked great in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1.
White Lightning was supposed to be Steven Spielberg’s first feature film as a director. According to IMDB he spent months on the pre-production. It turned out to be Laura Dern’s first film (uncredited) probably because her mom Diane Ladd (pictured above in the car) was Reynolds love interest in the film.
There is a realism to this film that I found quite enjoyable. It’s shot in the steamy south where the characters are always dripping wet. The dirt race track, the bayou, the southern church, the swamp and the country porch create a world that transports you back in time. White Lightning is definitely an underrated classic and one of Burt Reynolds best films.
Posted in DVD Reviews at 6:06 PM
