Buh-Bye Big

 

Well, I was sad to see late last night, the news break that Chris Noth will be leaving Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

I guess I will still check in with the show when replacement Jeff Goldblum joins the cast, but it won't be anywhere as good. For me, the Logan character was the saving grace of CI. The Goren character has just become too Sherlock Holmes/unrealistic for my taste. I like the regular tough guy, street cop approach that the Logan character represented. I don't know how you could bring Goldblum in as any kind of character other than a quirky detective (wait, didn't he just play a quirky detective in a failed tv show last fall???).

Let's face facts - Christ Noth is a much bigger star these days. Since becoming Mr. Big in Sex & the City and reprising the role in the movie, he just represents that kind of new all American guy. I hear he has a movie with Renee Zellweger coming up, so it sounds like he knows where to concentrate his efforts.

New Kids are now New Old Guys

I was quite worried for them when I heard they were re-uniting and releasing a new album. There just seems to be no respectful way to return from "Boy Band" status.

That being said they have two things going for them:

First, they are all amazingly still very good looking. More importantly, the song is actually really good. Here's the song via YouTube

Too Many Secrets

 

I have some concerns with John McCain lately because he seems to be having a lot of secret meetings with all kinds of folks.

A few days ago there was the report that he met in secret with the head of the Log Cabin Republicans. Today I hear he sent an email to the group fighting the California gay marriage law. He wrote giving his support. This weekend he is stopping by to visit some holy rollers. You can't have it both ways John!

The John McCain of 2000 was a great guy. He had no interest in the far right and he recognized that people from across the isles respected him for that. He is no more a social conservative than the man in the moon. Is he really going to sell his soul to the right to win? I have some concerns.

Those Whacky Video Geeks

Well what can you say. I laughed out loud. It is funny (albeit a little creepy too). I am actually surprised at how well all of the McCain inserts rhyme with the song.

Playing nice

 

So today in Unity NH (don't you think people get sick of these blatant PR things) Obama and Hillary got together and pretended to be best friends.

If I were Hillary I would have been tepid at best. I think she and her husband can afford to be distant. She should have been a the nominee and I suspect she really would like to run again in 2012. So why not just sit around and let him run and loose?

She has a great line - "...and I am proud that we had a spirited dialog. That was the nicest way I could think of phrasing it." It got a laugh and a sense of truth ringing through.

I really am sad that she did not win.

Limmy

One of my favorite sites FOREVER has been Limmy.com. The guy has always done some cool art, fun multimedia with flash, etc. In the past few years he has expanded to a VIDEOBLOG and, apparently, a multi-media show. I wish I lived in Glastonbury so I could go.

He's odd - but I like it. It's a rather warped view. Here's the video for his show.

I liked him ever since I saw his photo manipulation called "Homo-orgy"

Ewww

Mini-Me Verne Troyer makes a sex tape - I have nothing to say

See for yourself

Fat Matt

Stuff like this just amazes me. So here's 2007's Sexiest Man Alive Matt Damon, who has gained a ton of weight and stopped working out so he can better play a role in the upcoming film The Informant. How the hell can people put on so much weight and then be super fit and hot again just like that? Amazing to me.

I really worry about people

Umm - when did this become a gay commercial? It is nothing more than a British farce. Oh and by the way - it was funny.

So today Heinz pulls the ad after, wait for it...approximately 200 people called or emailed in about it. That's right - I said 200. So what does that get you? The most loud and over-reacting gay groups now offended and boycotting.

It would be funny if it wasn't so absolutely sickening.

Guns In the Streets

The Supreme Court has said there is a right to bear arms. I'm cool with that. They specifically talked about handguns - "you can hold it on the attacker and dial the phone for help."

The NRA is all excited. Perhaps this will get them to loose that paranoia that the government is coming in the middle of the night to take their guns.

I am not sure that gun legislation advocates should be too up in arms. The court did not say that you have unfettered access to them. They focused on shotguns and handguns for the most part. They didn't come out and say "Oh and everyone is entitled to a machine gun." And isn't that the real issue?

Guns are fine. I think that you should be able to have one to protect yourself. What is important is to keep them out of the hands of the proverbial "bad guys." I'll be honest - I am not sure how this impacts waiting periods. I have no problem with a week long waiting period, or however long it takes to do a comprehensive background check to make sure the buyer is a real, law abiding citizen. It really isn't about an arbitrary time period as much as it is about the verification. If you could come up with a system that scanned a fingerprint, checked every database and did all the checking instantly, then there would be no need for a waiting period.

This is certainly a big indicator as to how the Supreme Court is moving these days. The Second Amendment was last discussed by them in the 1930's. They were willing to over-turn standing law. Interestingly enough, yesterday they said that you can't kill a child rapist. I suspect this kind of pissed off conservatives.

Like Sybil at the Voting Booth

So today it has been leaked that John McCain spent some time in a super secret meeting with the head of the Log Cabin Republicans. Of course, it had to be secret because God forbid the rest of the Republican party get a wind of it. How ridiculous.

Thinking about this election I almost feel like Sybil. There's the business guy who does not use public programs and always gets screwed on taxes who really believes McCain is the better choice. I worry an Obama Presidency will result in higher taxes and expanded government that does absolutely nothing for me but certainly costs me money. I also think that security in the most broad sense (I am not talking Iraq here) is better assured with McCain. That general security issue just resonates with me because I do believe that we have an ongoing battle with terrorists. I think that they are actively planning things and that the only reason something hasn't happened is because the Bush administration has been so hawkish. I don't think that Democrats, in general, really see it as such an ongoing imperative. I think they see the republicans as fear mongers. So this personality probably wants to vote for McCain.

Then the gay guy personality shows up. The one who sees the gay marriages in California and thinks "how great is that." The one who turned on the Catholic church because it just felt like it had a big sign saying "No Gays." The one who sees those horrible people who say things and demonstrate with such vehemence to the most visible and most  vulnerable members of the gay community. I then think about the Supreme Court and the sharp rightward move. There is simply no way that the gay personality could vote for a Republican. It is sad to say but if you are in the minority group then you are not well served by the party. That one will vote for Obama.

So which personality will win in November?  You would think that the McCain news about the Log Cabin Republicans would be a big plus for John McCain. Yet two minutes later you see this gay advocacy group's ad against John MCCain and you think - "Oh I just can't."

What a conundrum!

McCain Video

Gotta Love Him...

I don't know - I watch this and I chuckle and think about the things I like about George. Personally, I think he is just a no-nonsense, hell of a lot of fun guy who could charm the pants of of just about anyone he wanted to. Believe me, his Presidential performance is not high on my list since his second term, but I can separate the two. I have never understood how people can look at him with such dislike. He is very likable.

This clip of him talking about the chef at the White House being a Philippine American is getting play today. People are mocking him saying it was tasteless. I didn't see that at all. I thought it was a complement - plain and simple. I have read at least three sites already that have said things like "You can't write stuff like this." I couldn't disagree more.

My Dog - from my new Sony Alpha DSLR

I love my new Sony DSLR. It's the Alpha350 and it just rocks. I took some continuous shots of my dog zipping through the yard. How cute!

Click any for larger image:

Bill Gates Annoyed By XP

An email from Bill Gates to the XP Team was discovered by a reporter this week. It indicated that Gates was a bit annoyed with some of the things that XP was doing. I think it is interesting to see. I also think it is kind of a "gotcha" - I know I have been in companies where I have written emails to my employees about the software and been horrible about everything wrong with it. But it is from those diatribes that one typically culls the ideas for improvements.

Here's the email:

---- Original Message ----

From: Bill Gates
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 10:05 AM
To: Jim Allchin
Cc: Chris Jones (WINDOWS); Bharat Shah (NT); Joe Peterson; Will Poole; Brian Valentine; Anoop Gupta (RESEARCH)
Subject: Windows Usability Systematic degradation flame

I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don't drive usability issues.

Let me give you my experience from yesterday.

I decided to download (Moviemaker) and buy the Digital Plus pack ... so I went to Microsoft.com. They have a download place so I went there.

The first 5 times I used the site it timed out while trying to bring up the download page. Then after an 8 second delay I got it to come up.

This site is so slow it is unusable.

It wasn't in the top 5 so I expanded the other 45.

These 45 names are totally confusing. These names make stuff like: C:\Documents and Settings\billg\My Documents\My Pictures seem clear.

They are not filtered by the system ... and so many of the things are strange.

I tried scoping to Media stuff. Still no moviemaker. I typed in movie. Nothing. I typed in movie maker. Nothing.

So I gave up and sent mail to Amir saying - where is this Moviemaker download? Does it exist?

So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated.

They told me to go to the main page search button and type movie maker (not moviemaker!).

I tried that. The site was pathetically slow but after 6 seconds of waiting up it came.

I thought for sure now I would see a button to just go do the download.

In fact it is more like a puzzle that you get to solve. It told me to go to Windows Update and do a bunch of incantations.

This struck me as completely odd. Why should I have to go somewhere else and do a scan to download moviemaker?

So I went to Windows update. Windows Update decides I need to download a bunch of controls. (Not) just once but multiple times where I get to see weird dialog boxes.

Doesn't Windows update know some key to talk to Windows?

Then I did the scan. This took quite some time and I was told it was critical for me to download 17megs of stuff.

This is after I was told we were doing delta patches to things but instead just to get 6 things that are labeled in the SCARIEST possible way I had to download 17meg.

So I did the download. That part was fast. Then it wanted to do an install. This took 6 minutes and the machine was so slow I couldn't use it for anything else during this time.

What the heck is going on during those 6 minutes? That is crazy. This is after the download was finished.

Then it told me to reboot my machine. Why should I do that? I reboot every night -- why should I reboot at that time?

So I did the reboot because it INSISTED on it. Of course that meant completely getting rid of all my Outlook state.

So I got back up and running and went to Windows Update again. I forgot why I was in Windows Update at all since all I wanted was to get Moviemaker.

So I went back to Microsoft.com and looked at the instructions. I have to click on a folder called WindowsXP. Why should I do that? Windows Update knows I am on Windows XP.

What does it mean to have to click on that folder? So I get a bunch of confusing stuff but sure enough one of them is Moviemaker.

So I do the download. The download is fast but the Install takes many minutes. Amazing how slow this thing is.

At some point I get told I need to go get Windows Media Series 9 to download.

So I decide I will go do that. This time I get dialogs saying things like "Open" or "Save". No guidance in the instructions which to do. I have no clue which to do.

The download is fast and the install takes 7 minutes for this thing.

So now I think I am going to have Moviemaker. I go to my add/remove programs place to make sure it is there.

It is not there.

What is there? The following garbage is there. Microsoft Autoupdate Exclusive test package, Microsoft Autoupdate Reboot test package, Microsoft Autoupdate testpackage1. Microsoft AUtoupdate testpackage2, Microsoft Autoupdate Test package3.

Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up.

But that is just the start of the crap. Later I have listed things like Windows XP Hotfix see Q329048 for more information. What is Q329048? Why are these series of patches listed here? Some of the patches just things like Q810655 instead of saying see Q329048 for more information.

What an absolute mess.

Moviemaker is just not there at all.

So I give up on Moviemaker and decide to download the Digital Plus Package.

I get told I need to go enter a bunch of information about myself.

I enter it all in and because it decides I have mistyped something I have to try again. Of course it has cleared out most of what I typed.

I try (typing) the right stuff in 5 times and it just keeps clearing things out for me to type them in again.

So after more than an hour of craziness and making my programs list garbage and being scared and seeing that Microsoft.com is a terrible website I haven't run Moviemaker and I haven't got the plus package.

The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind. I thought we had reached a low with Windows Network places or the messages I get when I try to use 802.11. (don't you just love that root certificate message?)

When I really get to use the stuff I am sure I will have more feedback.

Oh Boy - this is not good...

Ralph Nader is a complete liberal nut case. Add to that - ignorant son of a bitch.

I'm sorry, so don't say things about Obama like "the only difference is that he's half Arfican American...he wants to talk white, he doesn't want to sound like Jesse Jackson"

Is that blatant honesty or blatant ignorance? I am opting for the later.

Oh Puke...

 

Oh for God's sake...this rockstar treatment on Obama is getting on my nerves. Apparently on July 10th he will grace the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine again!

I guess now he can tell me what kind of music he likes. Perhaps he will say he listens to hardcore rap but he never heard it when it was demeaning or politically incorrect.

Stuff like this always bothers me because it just seems that the media bias towards Democrats is now at the point where they just don't care if you know about it anymore. I just find it very unappealing. Let's be honest - between Fox on the right and MSNBC and CNN on the left do you ever feel that you get real, unbiased news anymore?

Waiting for the Verdict

 

How sickening this whole story is. What the hell kind of person can shoot a person in cold blood, let alone a spouse and a child!

I just don't get it.

Well - it is 3:01 PM and I just heard it live - quilty on all accounts.

This is why "my people" are ridiculous...

Last night I watched one of my favorite shows - 30 Days. The episode was about gay parents. Today GLAAD denounced the show because it contained some right wing idiot making a statement about gay people.

here's What They Had To Say...

Listen, we have to calm the hell down. For every person who walked away from the show thinking how good and kind those two guys and their family were, some are going to hear this babbling and think "you are pushing - and I don't like that."

The show is all about extremes. Each week you take the two extremes and put them together. You put a hunter and animal rights activists together - that extreme. You picked a gay family who is actively involved in activism and attends a lot of community support groups and paired them with a frickin' Mormon for God' sakes. This is extreme. There is no subtly to either side's expressions or beliefs. That's the only way you can make the TV show work. If everyone was just "average" and didn't have strong beliefs then their would be no conflict and no potential for resolution or recognition.

I would have much preferred that GLAAD shut the hell up. Praise the show for its depiction of real parents and the terrible things that they still endure as they try to make loving families. Denouncing these folks and doing a "call to action" does nothing but give the whackjobs more attention. More importantly, you bite the hand that feeds you, in this case being the producers, Morgan Spurlock and FOX. I would think you would want to keep these folks as advocates.

Batman - Just Not Sure How I Feel

Yes, it is less than a month until The Dark Knight hits theatres and becomes the only thing that every dork in the world talks about for the rest of the summer.

I will go see it. I am sure it will be OK. I am probably one of the few people who thought that Batman Begins was kind of boring. The push to be more real made me yawn. The villains sucked. The action was not all that great. I had little visual style. Yes, I liked Tim Burton's world much better. I thought Michael Keaton was undeniably the best Batman. I don't think anything has ever come close to Jack as the Joker or Michelle as Catwoman.

I think the thing that is going to make me either love or hate this next installment is the fact that they decided to go back to the Joker. So far I don't care for the more realistic look of Heath Ledger's Joker. It's a great laugh - I will give him that.

I guess all we can do is wait and see. I personally am waiting for them to do Batman Beyond as a live action film. Bring Keaton back as old Bruce Wayne and throw someone young into the batman suit. THAT'S A COOL MATMAN MOVIE!

Oh how I love Martin Gore

One of my favorite CD's to drive to or chill out to is Martin Gore's ill-promoted but critically acclaimed "Counterfeit." If you have never listened to it - YOU SHOULD. It is one of those rare finds that take some of the best of the artists main project (Depeche Mode) but puts enough spin on it that it never feels like a side project. This song is called Compulsion and I found this new remix that is pretty good. To be honest, it is just a sped up version - but its still good.

Oh Boy Oh Boy George

Oh this is just too good.

Boy George has been denied a visa to the United States. That means his plans to do a big US tour and a free concert in NY are looking pretty bleak. Here's the complete story.

But here's the really fun part. He has recorded a song for Obama called "Yes We Can" (which I have embedded below). I love stuff like this. I love BG's music. That being said I think he is a total frickin' loon! Between the tattooed face, the S&M assault where he hired a rent boy and then held him hostage...oh this is definitely someone Obama wants to have out hawking his candidacy! I heard John Waters once tell about calling Boy George's cell phone. He said that the message is just "Cocksucker here." My mind is just doing summersaults thinking of the Obama campaign and news reporters calling him for a comment on his new song.

As for the song - its actually pretty good. I wouldn't expect anything different. I could do without the Obama dubs though. Enjoy!

George Carlin Died

How sad - George Carlin passed away this morning. He wasn't that old - 71. He apparently has a history of heart problems. Wow, that's two famous people who had heart attacks in the past week.

Carlin was truly "smart funny." He had an amazing career. I think HBO really gave him a "second life" and introduced him to a whole new generation of people. I know that when I first saw him it was on an HBO special and he was already in his fifties.

Here's a clip from his more recent special on religion:

George Carlin - Religion is Bullshit

CNN News Report

Washington Post Report

AIM for Windows Mobile Finally Arrives

Well, today AOL finally got around to making the AIM client for Windows Mobile available. Here is what they have to say:

What is AIM for Windows Mobile?

AIM for Windows Mobile brings all of the best features of AIM on your PC to your Windows Mobile smartphone! AIM for Windows Mobile lets you communicate whenever you want, wherever you are, in whatever way suits you best - IM or text. Update your AIM status and information when you're on the go. Change your conversation style, manage your Buddy List, and much more. AIM Windows Mobile Smartphone has many of the same key features and a familiar look-and-feel of the desktop AIM client.

Please note: This build of AIM Mobile does not have an Update Mechanism available. This means you will have to return to beta.aol.com and check if a new build of AIM for Windows Mobile is available. The Update Mechanism will be included in a future build.

Supported Devices: AIM for Windows Mobile is supported by ALL Windows Mobile 5 and Windows Mobile 6 devices. Some examples are:

• T-Mobile Wing
• Sprint Mogul and HTC Touch
• AT&T Blackjack II, Tilt
• Sprint Samsung ACE
• Motorola Q
• Verizon Wireless 6800
• Most Palm Treo's

I just grabbed it and installed on my Motorola Q9 Global and NO AIM LOVE FOR ME! I can't get past the log-in page. Every time I try to type my screen name I only get numbers entering into the box! How ridiculous is that???

Perhaps you will have better luck. You can grab it at the AOL Beta Site.