A Little of This 'N That

I haven't updated this thing in a week, so I felt obligated to do so, and I had some decent topics as well. I will split this up into sections, since they are all so unrelated.

Movies

Ryan and I went to see I Am Legend tonight. I had been looking forward to this movie for quite some time. Not only have I never read the book by Richard Matheson, but I have also never seen the other two films based off of it, The Last Man on Earth, and The Omega Man. While I did enjoy the film and thought the sight of seeing a place like Manhattan completely empty and on it's way to being reclaimed by nature, I thought the film did have some issues. The story begins after the chain of events leading to the end of civilization has already taken place, and slowly, through flashbacks we are given pieces of the puzzle as to what brought the whole thing on. I think Will Smith did a good job at creating a character who you could sympathize with, and one scene in the movie even made me cry.The only real problems I had were some pacing issues, and some of the special effects. The use of flashbacks was well done and they were intermixed at the appropriate places and times, but where the problems come in is with the last 30 minutes of the film. I think so much happens all at once that the events as they play out are not given enough justice and seem rushed. This also leads to an ending that seems rushed.

This film relies heavily on the use of CGI. Animals, effects, scenery, creatures. You will be hard pressed to find a shot that doesn't integrate some form of CGI into it, save for a few interior shots. While a lot of the CGI is well done, I think the protagonists rely too heavily on CGI where they could have taken more traditional approaches with the use of prosthetics/puppetry etc. Some of the CGI involving the creatures has a fair amount of that CGI'ish look too it, which makes it easy to suddenly feel removed from the believability of the film. I think traditional effects would have gone a long way with these creatures being believable, especially considering their origins.

This is the second film I have seen in the last month (The Mist) which is rare, considering that we seldom go out to see movies anymore, since we have a better setup for watching them at home. One thing that I find interesting is that of these two films, both have had very much what I consider a non-Hollywood ending. I have to hand it to the film industry. It is somewhat refreshing to see films that don't wrap it all up in a fun little package with a bow for you to walk out of the theater smiling and being happy. That's what we're all used to already.

Overall, I give this film 4 out of 5 spiders.

Time Flies

You know, the older I get, the more time seems to slip by faster and faster. I have especially noticed this over the last couple of years. The months and seasons just seem to pass ever more quickly. I read an article today which sheds some light on this, and it turns out, this is a natural process of the brain.

Researchers wanted to do a study on why things seem to move in slow motion during emergencies or times when the mind is in great distress. They performed a test whereby people fell 150 feet into a net, and they had them watch numbers flash quickly across a wrist-worn screen while doing so. The actual fall only took 3 seconds, but the subjects felt like they were falling 3 times as long. The researchers theorized that the brain operates at a faster rate, so they assumed that these subjects should have been able to interpret the numbers on their screens as they were falling, which under normal circumstances would not be readable.

It turns out that they could not read the numbers any better during the fall, even though they all felt like time slowed down. As it turns out, in times of great mental stress or stimulation, a part of the brain called the amygdala kicks in and begins recording an extra set of the memories already being recorded by other parts of your brain. This action creates very strong memories which are interpreted as being longer since they are more powerful than standard memories.

How does this all apply to time passing faster as you get older? Well, when people are young and experiencing things for the first time, the amygdala is called into action frequently, making the memories more impactful and giving the illusion of time passing more slowly. As we get older and have "seen it all", the amygdala does not kick in as often and our memory are only recorded once, and interpreted as time moving faster. I think this study is quite fascinating, and it's good to know there is a scientific explanation to the quickening of time we experience.

Well, that's it for me tonight. See you all later.

Vanilla, Ice, Ice Baby

So the forecast for this weekend calls for ice mixed with ice. You know things are going to suck when you watch the evening news and the weather guy says to anticipate widespread and extended power-outages as a result.

I decided to take a bunch of work home with me tonight in case we end up entombed in some kind of ice palace and can't even walk outside come Monday.

Ryan and I are going to stock up on water and non-having-to-be-cooked items tomorrow. I hope it turns out to be nothing, but if it does turn out carppy, below is what it will probably look like:
Speaking of The Day AFter Tomorrow, I have that film on Blu-Ray and have yet to watch it. Maybe I'll give it a spin this weekend so long as I still have electricity. I hear it was a superb transfer onto High-Def.

Stay safe everyone and try not to get ice all up on ya!

-Kody

Randomosity

Mmmmm. Randomisnessosityismishness. Yay, I made a new word. Call Merriam-Webster. Hey, if Rachael Ray can get EVOO in there, then I should be able to get that in too. 

So I was at Hastings last-night and I picked up a new "Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan 25th Anniversary" Admiral Kirk action figure. Yeah, I collect toys, wanna fight? Yeah, I'm a Star Trek geek, wanna make something of it? Yeah, I know, I know, I'm supporting a Bribeamount/Vilecum property, but I'm still a trekker.  Anyway, I was amused by the header on the back of the package before the description. 

I recently upgraded my phone to a Sony Ericsson w580i, thus cranking my Sony

 fanboy status up another small notch. It's kind of nice not having a big honking phone with a

 full keyboard since I never used it anyway. It's nice to have a camera again too. Speaking of camera, it has a fun feature whereby it can patch 3 images together into a panoramic shot

. Here's a wide shot of my office. Yeah, it's a lovely shade of Jalapeno, wanna fight about it?

Ryan and I watched Pirates of The Caribbean: At Worlds End last night. While much better than part 2, it was still no part 1, and the ending sucked a small amount of goatballs. Maybe one goat ball. With POTC3, I officially joined the 40+ Blu-Ray Club, and for that I think I deserve some kind of gold foil leaf star sticker. 

Speaking of things you watch (what a crappy segue), how about Heroes. How about that, uhhh, 10 episode season? Wasn't quite a long as, oh I don't know, the 23 episode 1st season eh? I know there is a writers strike going on, and I support all those poor homeless and destitute hollywood writers who need more money just to survive, but how about if we don't call the whole season quits and just have a break like they did last season? From what I've read, they had to significantly alter the story-line to condense season 2 into less than half it's intended episodes, and a lot of stuff was supposed to happen that I was looking forward to.

Thats all for today. See ya!

Catsmess Tree

If only we'd caught them in the act, we would have had a nice candidate for a LOLCATS submission to icanhascheezburger.com

A google search on the topic did produce this humorous webpage which detailed one families adventures in Cat/Christmas Tree intermixing (Be sure to check the before and after at the end)
So when I got home from work lastnight, I noticed Ryan was in the bedroom with the door closed. I could instantly tell he wasn't happy and was directed to go downstairs and view the Christmas tree which I initially walked right past without noticing anything.
The cats had done quite a number on it. Many of the branches were off the tree, the ones that weren't were flattened, and the lights were disheveled beyond repair. Although kitties know not what they are doing (After all, a weird tree just sprung up in the middle of their play area from their perspective), I did not think Ryan could take another Christmas Cat-astrophe.
I had to build a better tree; a cat-proof tree.
After dis-assembling the whole tree, I tried experimenting with various ways of keeping the branches where they belonged, and eventually went out and got some zip-ties and carefully zip-tied each branch tightly into the middle metal pole thingy.
I also got some new gold lights instead of the white ones we had, and got those fastened to the tree, as well as the ornaments and the star. The whole tree is weighted down with our DVD holder book things too.
Now, the worst they can do is just smoosh some branches down, and maybe open a few presents that aren't theres (They opened the corner of a present) ,but hopefully the tree will survive the remainder of the holiday season upright and intact.

Happy Holidays!

Sky is Over

I know, I know. Posting part of a song lyric in your blog is cheating, and generally may not be considered all that interesting, and I'm even treading on an old post, since I already discussed this album, but here I go.
My favorite song from Serj Tankian's 'Elect The Dead' is a song called 'Sky is Over'. As is the case with most of his songs, it is a very powerful song, while remaining vague and cryptic enough to make you wonder exactly what it means. I think he is referring to the dangers both politically/economically and environmentally of a nuclear bomb or nuclear attack.

"Even though we can't afford
The sky is over
Even though we can't afford
The sky is over
I don't want to see you go
The sky is over
Even though we can't afford
The sky is over

Behind closed eyes lie
The minds ready to awaken you
Are you at war with land
And all of its creatures
Your not-so-gentle persuasion
Has been known to wreck economies
Of countries, of empires, the sky is over"




What are your thoughts on this songs meaning? Hmmmm?

God's Special Friends

So Ryan and I just got back from seeing The Mist. I had never read the short story, and I thought the movie was very very good, while the ending is going to be an appreciate or deplore it for many I think. While trying not to give anything away, I must tell you a valuable lesson I learned from this movie:

If you find yourself trapped in a situation with a group of people, be it zombie invasion, alien attack, vampire army, creatures from another dimension, or even a natural disaster, please, PLEASE for the love of God dispatch of the religous fundamentalists in the group STRAIGHT AWAY!

Thank you.

-Kody

Elect The Dead

I'm sure most everyone is familiar with the band System of a Down, whether you like them or hate them(Ryan). You may not be as familiar with Serj Tankian, the front man for the band.While S.O.A.D. is on an indefinite hiatus, Serj recently embarked on a mission to release a solo album titled "Elect The Dead". The entire album was written, performed, orchestrated, and produced by Serj in his home studio. My review: Frickin' awesome.
I've always been a fan of music that does more than make me want to tap my toes or hum. I like my music to really make me think or to give me new perspectives or paradigms. Granted, I think we all gave our guilty pleasures , or 'fluff' music (Leslie and the LY's) that we enjoy, but my list of true favorites either makes me think deeper or tap into some primal emotions. Korn, Marilyn Manson, System of a Down, Linkin Park (especially their recent album); all of these bands have an exterior that many people never see beyond. Once you get past that and listen to what these people are saying, it is fascinating.
Getting back to Serj's new album, even the title has a profound meaning. He is saying that our current leaders do not have the strength or will to run this country and care for it's best interests. He is saying we need to elect the living, functioning ideas of dead leaders from our past instead of going with the dead, broken ideas of our living leaders.
The underlying message which runs throughout "Elect The Dead" is also very, very eye opening.
Our civilization is failing. Every day, our population grows at a more rapid rate and our resources to survive decrease at an equal pace. Human Society is not sustainable and will eventually collapse. We as a species need to decide what to do to survive. We, as intelligent creatures need to look at ourselves and say, "Okay, this whole civilization thing didn't work out. What do we have to live for. What do we have to do to continue on?"
Serj elaborated in a recent interview that 'civilization' has existed for about 10,000 years. Before that time, humanity still existed indigenously and was in touch with the Earth. They had relationship with it. Once civilizations blossomed and began rapidly expanding the relationship became all about taking from and exploiting the planet and losing that relationship with it. This behavior is scientifically destined to fail.
I have been chastised for taking an interest in 'doom and gloom' scenarios, but I truly find Serj's message frightening and astounding all at the same time.
The problem is so immense and far-reaching that it seems like all one can do is just watch the events unfold.
Below is Serj's video for "Empty Walls", the first single from the album. The video carries some very interesting messages about our (George Bush's) current war. I think the 'empty walls' has several meanings in the context of the song. I think it signifies the ignorance of our administration to see what is really happening. They're living behind safe comfortable walls apart from the turmoil. I think it also signifies the American peoples (lack of) understanding of the war and how it's only shown to us through the filters (walls) of the media. I think it signifies how we all tend to not see the bigger picture because we spend most of our time trapped inside the walls of our own minds.

The thing with Serj is, while he has his own messages and thoughts to convey in his songs, he likes to leave everything open to interpretation from the listener. I've heard other people say that the song is actually about the Armenian genocide and the Turkish government's attempts to cover it up for all these years (Serj is of Armenian descent), though the video would suggest otherwise. I've also heard that he doesn't necessarily always make his video pertinent to the song. What do you think the song means?

Leslie and the LY's

I'm going to guess that unless you've heard me talk about her previously, you probably don't know who Leslie Hall is, or her band, Leslie and the LY's.

The band started at an open mic night in the little town of Ames, Iowa in 2004, and since then has gained an immense following on the interwebs.
While Leslie produces most of her songs using Apples Garage Band program, when she goes on tour she is accompanied by band mates to play various instruments.
I find the whole concept of Leslie and the Ly's strangely intriguing. The songs are totally unique and off the wall, but I think half of the charm is the quirky fashion of Leslie. She always performs wearing various incarnations of the gold spandex cat suit pictured above. If you visit her official site, you'll find she has a fascination with gem sweaters, and thusly has created a gem sweater mobile museum (which also doubles as her tour bus).
Below is an early music video for my favorite song (though not the studio version) from Leslie and the LY's, "Zombie Killer"
Enjoy!

Quote of the Day

I watched the Project Runway season premier tonight. Though you can't really see it from the picture above, this dress had a big wad of colorful fabric shooting out of the back of it.
Here is how Heidi Klum described it:
"Her model looked like she was pooing fabric."
Best. Quote. Ever.

Colour like.no.other

Hey. I don't know how many of you have seen the Sony Bravia ads below, but they are beautiful.

The first one with the paint was shot in Glascow, Scotland using eighteen and a half thousand gallons of environmentally friendly paint.

The second was shot in San Fransisco and used a quarter of a million colored rubber balls.

Both of them were made for the European market. I don't know why Sony never released them for the United States.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen a cool Bravia ad here. Eh, oh well. Enjoy the show.

Mediacom: Not Delivering On The Promise

I have been a customer of Mediacom for several years now, so I think I've earned the right to say that they suck monkey ass. They don't suck monkey ass in a customer-service kind of way, but in the product they offer. I've actually had nothing but good experiences with their customer service, but damn, are they sucking ass with their product.
I, as you know, am a High-Def junkie. When we were getting ready to move, I decided to do a little research on other options besides Mediacom. I looked up Dish Network and DirecTV, and was astonished at the leaps and bounds they had made in their HD programming over the last couple of years. Both offer 70'ish plus channels of high definition programming, with the promise of more on the way. This made my less-than-a-dozen HD channels on Mediacom look downright embarrassing. Not for me, for Mediacom. I gave them a call, and told them I was incredibly dis-satisfied with their HD package, and they gave me a 25% service discount plus free DVR service for a year. Yeah, that's great and all, but it doesn't increase my HD viewing experience. Their explanation was something to do with the bandwidth for delivering HD (yank yank) versus what satellite can do.
Anyway, when we moved to the townhouse, we spoke with some third party for-hire maintenance man who said that they really didn't like us having satellite, and it would only be tolerated if some equipment was already on the premises, which it didn't look like, so I gave good old Mediacom a call and scheduled to have it transferred to the new place.
When the Mediacom guy came to get everything set up at the townhouse, he commented on what a nice job someone did setting the place up for satellite in terms of wiring and even noted there was a DirecTV on the roof already. I was pretty shocked.
Anyway, to make a long story longer, I made an appointment to have a Mid-America Wireless satellite installer come out tomorrow and look at the wiring to see if the place is indeed satellite ready. If it is, I then have to choose between Dish Network and DirecTV. I know some of you have one or the other. Which one should I get?
Either way, Mediacom are shetbags and I can't wait to get rid of them.

Blogger/Blogspot is a Piece of Shit?

Okay. Now I'm pissed off. Not only is my whole blog displaying like clown vomit, and it has been all week, but I cant even add a page element. I've been trying to add a links list with links to my friends blogs and each time I get it all set up and hit save, it says that there was some kind of error. Blogspot, why are you a big piece of feces?

-Angry Kody

2 Guys 1 Cup

I didn't have the stomach to watch the 'original', but this video contains a funny spoof of 2 Girls 1 Cup by John Mayer (naturally?)

PS: It beats the piss out of me why my blog displays like a train wreck in Firefox all-of-the-sudden. It works in Safari and Internet Explorer just fine. Anybody else have this problem?
-Kody

I am Legend, etc.

Check out this movie trailer:

I'm pretty excited about it, and I cant wait to see it December 14.

And Lastly, I would like to offer a calm, fanboy free analysis as an alternative to my ranting and raving on recent posts.

Over the weekend, I read several reports of folks who rushed to Wal-Mart stores to pick up ther bargain bin HD DVD players, and the majority of them purchased standard definition DVD's to go along with it.

Lets think about this for a minute. We have 2 formats, Blu-Ray and HD DVD. Both of them are just over a year old, and for the most part fall squarely into the realm of tech enthusiasts and early adopters.

Disney and Panasonic, two very outspoken proponents of Blu-Ray have spent the past several months putting on a 'roadshow' to educate consumers about the benefits and experiences of Blu-Ray versus standard definition DVD's. They have reached tens of thousands of people.

This is a crucial step. People are hesitant to buy into a new technology, especially when some don't even notice the difference between Blu-Ray/HD DVD and standard DVD's. Those people are mainly those who do not yet have high definition displays. This battle for market share is indeed two-fold. You first have to get people into HDTV, then HD discs. The fact that there are 2 HD disc options really throws a wrench into the machine.

The other thing to consider is that this is all new technology. Both formats are new. Does it really speak well of a new technology if you can get it for less than some DVD players, DVD having been around for a decade at this point? For me this is one of the most telling signs that HD DVD is in serious trouble. As I stated previously, more expensive hardware is only natural for new technologies. Not only is this an accepted fact of consumer electronics, but it stimulates the whole tech industry, infuses it with new sources of income, and drives funding for further research and development of said technology.

Now, referring back to my first sentence, it makes perfect sense to me why this whole cheap player scheme seems destined to backfire for Toshiba. Not only is the average joe not expecting to get his hands on this new technology for bargain basement prices, he doesn't know enough about the technology to appreciate it or even know to pick up the appropriate discs. Not to mention, this price slashing over and over is not going to win any trusted consumer electronics brands into the HD DVD camp. Not when Toshiba is single-handily going against accepted industry moves on pricing and treatment of new technologies.

I think that the true picture is that A) Toshiba has a huge excess of these last-generation players and they need to clear them out and B) Warner Brothers has made it pretty clear that the 4th quarter of 2007 will determine where they will align themselves, as being format neutral is something they are no longer keen on doing. Toshiba and HD DVD knowing that they have been outsold by more than 2:1 by Blu-Ray all year thus far is making a last dithced desperate move to saturate the market with cheap HD DVD players to try to boost their software sales. I think Warner leaning one way or the other would be a devastating blow to the opposite team.

This move would more than likely boost Blu-Ray to an untouchable level, with them already controlling two thirds of all HD software being sold and having support of virtually all trusted electronics brands, as well as having more studio support already.

If HD DVD were to bag Warner Brothers (fortunately they have said they will not succumb to bribery unlike Paramount ) this would mean that the Studio support would be nearly an even split, though most agree Warner holds a huge stake in this format battle whoever they choose.

Lets get this 4th quarter over quickly in hopes that we may soon have a resolution to the whole debacle

CNBC

Hey cool, I just got quoted on CNBC in this article:

Click

Jim Goldman, a technology journalist for CNBC wrote what I thought was an incredibly inaccurate and biased article about Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD, so I wrote him about it.
I guess you can't blame him for being biased. NBC is in bed with Microsoft and Universal, part of the HD DVD axis of evil.

Fun :)

Also, check out this audio interview with Blu-Ray Disc association's director Bill Sheppard regarding the BDA's response to Toshiba practically now giving their players away with the purchase of an Egg McMuffin (just watch, I bet thats their next move)

UPDATE: It's just too bad Jim Goldman used the word 'uniformed' when referring to my e-mail, when I clearly wrote 'uninformed'

Here was my original e-mail:

Hello,
I just wanted to tell you that your article titled "Blu-ray: Picture Gets Dimmer for Entertainment Format" has to be one of the most biased, inaccurate, and uninformed articles regarding this high-definition format war that I've read in the past 12 months. One glaring example would be your implication that Time Warner is exclusive to HD DVD, which is most definately not the case.

Thanks,
-Kody Belshe

-Kody (Hates HD DVD)

HD DVD Will Give You *Gonorrhea

*Note: There is no proof that HD DVD will give you gonorrhea. This is an unsubstantiated claim from myself, a proven Blu-Ray fanboy.

Okay people. I have HAD it! As most of you know, I have become increasingly obsessed with the HD format war. I have pertinent-to-the-subject websites open all day at work, and frequently check them for news. I guess you could say I have an addiction. Why HD media? I can't really answer that. I'm a big movie buff, and a big technology and HD geek, and it all just coalesced into being obsessed with HD optical media. The problem is, there are 2 of them, when there really only should be one. Movie studios are divided, potential customers are confused, and the whole thing is just crawling along at a snails pace.
In the past, I have stated that I just want one format to prevail regardless and stamp this thing out, and that remains true, but I am on Blu-Rays side here, and I am so fed up, I'm going to come right out and say it. I think HD DVD needs to hurry up and fucking die. I'm through pretending to be compassionate about HD in general, I'm on a side, and I want them to win. To me, Toshiba and their HD DVD flunkies are like a bug that you keep stepping on and it just wont die. You need to find something big and heavy and just smash it. Come on Blu-Ray. Lets get this done.
What prompted this rant? Toshiba, in what I look at as a last gasp of desperation to me, has started selling their low end (no 1080p support, long load times, last years model) HD DVD player at Wal-Mart for $198, with a one day fire sale today of $98. Now there is NO WAY that Toshiba is making a profit on this. You can't tell me they can manufacture this thing for less than 100 or even 200 dollars, considering it was being sold for $500 initially just months ago. I believe they have effectively cut out ANY chances that ANY other manufacturer is going to want to make players for their HD DVD brand. Not when they know Toshiba will undercut them.
Toshiba is fucking up the system. New technology costs more. It always has. It always will. When some new format is introduced, players are going to cost more than what its predecessor was. Manufacturers know this, and that is why they have all flocked behind Blu-Ray. Blu-Ray will re-vitalize their income with new technology being sold at new technology prices, also helping to fund further innovations in that technology. Toshiba knows this, and knows that most Americans are cheapskates, so they are trying now to appeal to people who don't like to spend money on cutting edge products. People with the 'walmart' mentality. Well, I have news for you Toshiba. People who walk into Wal-Mart and cream their pants over a 98 dollar HD DVD player are probably going to go into sticker shock when they see that HD DVD and Blu-Ray discs usually cost over 30 dollars. They are used to buying $5.00 DVD's for their $60 DVD player. I personally think your plan is going to backfire when most undeucated masses buy these low end HD DVD players and buy regular DVD's for them, because your name, "HD DVD" is stupid and confusing. People will think it's sole purpose is to make DVD's look HD. At least Blu-Ray clearly gets the point across that its something completely different than 'DVD'.

Now someone might say to me, "Hey Kody, if you are so upset about all this, why not just support both?"
Well, I tried that, and had a horrible experience with HD DVD. I got the XBOX 360 add on and the Matrix Trilogy for HD DVD, and the discs would not play. I don't know who is at fault there, Warner Brothers for the discs or Microsoft/Toshiba for the HD DVD drive, but it all went back to the store. After that, I decided that if I really cared about Blu-Ray winning, all I would accomplish by supporting both formats is prolonging the war. Every HD DVD disc I bought would cancel out a Blu-Ray I already owned or would purchase.
Speaking of Warner Brothers, eliminating HD DVD, or them picking Blu-Ray exclusively(which is in consideration) would make me so happy. They currently release on both formats, but they encode films to the least common denominator (HD DVD) Basically, HD DVD has 20 gigs less storage capacity, a lower audio bit-rate and a lower video bit-rate than Blu-Ray. Warner scales down and compresses the film to fit on a HD DVD, then they port it over to Blu-Ray, where it could be done to a higher quality if they really wanted to, or didnt have to worry about making it fit on an HD DVD.
I now have 34 Blu-Ray movies. I am confident that with Blu-Ray leading in sales, technical superiority, studio support, and electronics manufacturer support, they will prevail. They just need to finish eradicating the virus that is HD DVD.
Wow. I haven't bitched this much in a long time. It felt good to get that off my chest.
And remember kids, Paramount are sell-out whores, and Toshiba are filthy taints.
Have a great day, and go buy some Blu-Rays!
:)
-Kody

PS: On a positive note, after Paramount (Whoramount) took the bribe to go exclusively HD DVD, everyone was banking on HD DVD FINALLY winning a sales week over Blu-Ray when Transformers was released. Oops. Didn't happen. HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!

Douchebag Drivers

I would like to take a moment to discuss douchebag drivers simply because I have seen 2 such specimens in the last 2 days on my way to work. Douchebag drivers are the ones who swerve in and out of traffic as quickly and recklessly as possible. The douchebag I saw this morning actually made about 10 lane changes in under a minute as they swerved in and out of traffic. The best part is, despite all their fast and furious douchebagging, you usually end up directly behind or beside them when you get to the off-ramp traffic light where you're going. Way to go douchebag. You win the race! Gold sticker! Everytime I witness a driver exhibiting their doucebaggery, I secretly wish to drive around a curve and see their car upside down and smoking or on fire with the passenger, or douchenger, ejected 100 feet from the vehicle (because you know they probably aren't wearing their seatbelt either)
Does that make me a bad person?

See ya!
Oh, and Paramount Sucks.

(P.S. Dawn, I will get those emotastic pics up, I promise)

Today was Ball-tastic!

Hey everyone. I decided to try something new. I wanted to do a photo-blog of my day. Today, I went over to Lexy's Grandma's house to help make topiary ball wedding reception centerpieces, like the picture to the right. The only difference between the ones we're making and this one is that the ones we're making arent made of candy, don't have any glitter or gold garland, arent covered with rainbow colors, and arent ugly.

So our day began at Wal-Mart's ball section. Okay, it was the arts and crafts section, and my day didn't really start there, it's just when I started taking pictures. Anyway, take a look at Lexy's balls.

Next, we filled some silver spray-painted pots with styrofoam and then jabbed bamboo rods into them. Here's Mary jabbing a silver pot right now!

Then, all of the sudden, everyone did different things all at once. You go everyone!

Lexy and her Grandma Jean cut some bamboo poles.

You won't believe what happened next. Haggrid laid in his little cat bed and looked all cute. Also, his sister cat Hermione molested my head and tried to suffocate me and eat my hair. Awww.

This is Mary's new Toyota. Despite what it may tell you, it did not participate in making the topiary balls.




I decided to try some of the new special edition Halo 3 Mountain Dew. Appearently, a lot of people don't like the taste of it. To those haters I say this: Well, if you don't like the flavor combination of pancake batter, Sweet Tarts, frosting, cherry's and Mountain Dew, then of course you won't like it. But who doesnt like that flavor combo?

The grapevine that is twined around the bamboo has to be soaked in water before it can be flexible enough to use. Still, the result did look like a murder scene and made me cry a little, 'til I realized no one died.

Lexy's mom worked on wrapping the grapevine around the bamboo rods.





There was a spider there, but he was pretty shy. I think he said his name was Howie.





Decibell told me: "I R LAZOR CAT. I WILL SHOOTZ U WIF MY LAZOR EYES!" Then she did. I died, but only for a second.

Suddenly, all the topiary ball pots were painted, styrofoamed, bamboo rod jabbed, grapevine wrapped, and put away to be worked on again next weekend. Everyone lived happily ever after.

True Story. I was there.

PS: If you're like me, you love cats and lasers. Please enjoy these SNL digital shorts, Laser Cats and Laser Cats II

Carnivorous Plants, Iconic Killers, and the Chili Peppers

So I was at Wal-Mart last night, and I happened upon a fresh batch of baby Venus Fly Traps. You know, at the plant section between the bread section and the seafood section, logically. That's one thing I love about Wal-Mart. You can be in the Mexican food aisle and they'll have an impulse buy display for tampons hanging there between the refried beans and the salsa. Always thinking, they are. Anyway. I picked up one of these baby fly-traps since generally by the time I find them in a store all the little mouths are dead and it just looks like a pile of dead brush in a little pot. I had a Venus Fly Trap once when I was about 9 years old, but my mom accidentally put an end to it's life with some bug spray which killed the flies which were fed to the plant, as best as I can remember.

You know, for being such a macho flesh eating plant, the Venus Fly Trap is quite needy. They require constant but indirect sunlight, a specific humidity and temperature, only rainwater (no tap or even bottled water), a very precise mixture of soils, and a few other less significant things which I didn't care to commit to memory. I thought the whole reason that they evolved the ability to eat living creatures was so they could survive in harsh nutrient depleted conditions. I guess I was wrong. So far, I've fed the little guy 2 spiders. I think I should give him a name. Anybody got any Ideas?

So Ryan and I went to see Rob Zombie's re-imagining of Halloween last night. I quite enjoyed it, but then I'm well known for embracing remakes of movies. Ryan on the other hand is having a more difficult time. Halloween is his all-time favorite horror movie, and he's much more critical of remakes than I. I enjoyed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dawn of The Dead, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, King Kong, War of The Worlds, and Planet of The Apes remakes better than the originals. One notable exception would be the remake of The Fog, which was in my opinion a steaming pile of dead babies.

I am quite looking forward to JJ Abrams re-imagining of the Star Trek franchise next year with the new movie simply titled Star Trek. While much of the plot is shrouded in mystery, it is known that it will be taking place, at least in part, at a time before the original Enterprise began her 5 year mission with Kirk and friends. Zachary Quinto (Sylar) of Heroes fame is going to be playing young Spock, which I think is awesome. The only bad thing I have to say about this movie is that it is being made by Paramount/Viacom, which as you know are a bunch of sell-out ass-hat dirty rat bastard punk ass whore slut mofo P.O.S. traitor back stabbing sissy man bitches.

Have you ever had a band that you really liked, but you kind of stopped keeping up with them and any of their new stuff? I re-discovered the Red Hot Chili Peppers yesterday quite by accident. I was watching PBS of all channels, and they had a commercial which used their song "Snow (Hey Oh)" which I had actually never heard. It turns out it was from their 2-disc album from last year titled Stadium Arcadium, and I like quite a few songs from it.

Well, that's all for today. See ya!

-Kody

Oh God. He's Going To Talk About The HD Format War. (Paramount Sucks)

For most of you, you can stop reading now as you probably have little to no interest in the High Definition optical format battle. It is after all only stealing a couple of percentage points away from DVD.

That last statement is exactly what is wrong with the whole situation. So we have Blu-Ray, and we have HD DVD. Both struggling to win over the DVD crowd with their crystal clear tack-sharp images and uncompressed sound, but because there are two formats, no one is interested. The market is growing, but very slowly.

The big reason for this is because there is a division of interests in both the electronics manufacturers and film studios over who will be the clear victor. Let's face it, there will eventually be one winner, and no one wants to be on the losing side. While my biggest wish for HD optical media is that there just be one major format, one clear winner regardless of who it is, I admit I am biased towards Blu-Ray, and have 19 Blu-Ray discs as well as a Playstation 3 (the leading Blu-Ray player)

As of right now, things break down like this:

Blu-Ray hardware Manufacturers = Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi, Samsung, Pioneer, Phillips, LG, Sharp, Lite-On, Mitsubishi, Loewe, Sharp, BenQ, and Daewoo.

HD DVD Manufacturers = Toshiba, Venturer

(There have been a few HD DVD players labeled 'RCA' and a few other brands, but they are just re-branded Toshiba players, as is the XBOX 360 HD DVD add-on)

You may have noticed the disparity between hardware manufacturers for both formats. Want to know why? Of course you do.

For, well, all of 2007 thus far, Blu-Ray has enjoyed a software sales lead of pretty much 2:1 or greater over HD DVD. HD DVD is the brain child of Toshiba, and Toshiba in response to losing in software sales lowered the prices of their hardware, again, and again. What happened then is no other consumer electronics manufacturer wanted to get involved because there was no profit margin in making HD DVD equipment if they wanted to compete with Toshiba.

Blu-Ray, while it's prices have dropped over the past year, is the more expensive format hardware-wise, and consumer electronics brands still gain a profit by manufacturing and selling their hardware. The 2:1 sales ratio has also helped Blu-Ray gain manufacturer support.

Now for the interesting part. Movie studios. This is the part where my true Blu-Ray fanboy roots may shine through the most in talking about.

Blu-Ray's big hitters = Fox/MGM, Sony Pictures, and Disney/Pixar

HD DVD's big hitters = Universal/NBC and Paramount/Dream Works

Dual Format Supporters = Warner Brothers

As you can see, there is quite a split between studios, and this picture would have looked different less than 2 weeks ago. I am referring to Paramount pictures, sleaze balls that they are. (See, I told you my fanboy would show through) Paramount pulled a high-def first 2 weeks ago when they announced they would be going from Dual-Format support, to HD DVD exclusive. Effectively, they dumped 2/3 of their HD supporters. I raise the anti-consumer flag of caution. Why would a company abandon two thirds of their consumers? Money. Though there is no direct proof (yet) speculation by many (Even posted in NY Times) is that Paramount was given some large financial incentives by HD DVD to drop support of Blu-Ray. Believe me, I promptly mailed a nasty letter to Paramount Picture's president.

This was the first time in the war that anyone flat out drop kicked their customers to the curb on either format, and I found their act despicable. At least Universal has stuck to their guns and stayed true to HD DVD, likewise for the Blu-Ray exclusive studios, and to Warner for releasing on both formats. I think Paramount has felt the consequences of their actions too. They have received heavy criticisms from industry insiders, as well as directors like Michael Bay, who initially stated he would not be involved in a Transformers 2 after the deal was announced.

I've really dragged this post out longer than it probably ever should have been , so I'll cut to the chase. The Paramount announcement stung me twice. Firstly, because it was the first time I'd seen a company flat-out abandon the MAJORITY of a consumer base, and it involved me directly. Secondly, it delayed the adoption of ONE single format. Many analysts had argued that this coming holiday season would likely spell a major victory for Blu-Ray, and help to identify very clearly a winner in the format battle, as Blu has the majority of electronics manufacturer support, and all but one studios (Universal) movies. These combined with a lot of heavy promoting would hopefully convince many fence-sitters to dive into Blu-Ray with confidence. The Paramount deal changed the whole landscape. While I'm still rooting for Blu-Ray, it is now being said that Paramount's move could help to drag the format war out for years to come as people fear getting screwed over by movie studios after they pick a format, only to have them drop support. If rumors of a pay-out to them are true, they let corporate greed screw over the HD world.

In conclusion, while I am a Blu-Ray supporter first, I just want ONE format in the end, be it HD DVD or Blu-Ray. Once this happens, there will be much more interest in the technology and a mass adoption, leading to more titles and big stuff too like Lord Of The Rings and Star Wars. All things considered, the path of least resistance to get there until 2 weeks ago was doing that through Blu-Ray, who was one studio away from having it all. And no, I wasn't asking Universal to go Blu-Ray exclusive, just neutral, releasing for both. This could have ended it right then and there.

In conclusion, Paramount Pictures sucks, and they are now on my short shit-list.

-Kody

Oy. I have a Blog.

I've had several blogs throughout the years. Problem is, I usually trail off in keeping them updated in short order. Alas, another is born. (Cue dramatic soundtrack)
Yeah, to be totally honest, I'm just doing a blog because everyone else I know has one. Great lesson for the children yes? Aaah, sheep-mentality. So lets jump in shall we?
The building where I work was recently purchased by G&G develpment, who owns High 5 Communications. Not very exciting in and of itsself I know, but what it means is we can do fun things now, like paint a mural on the wall, which is exactly what I'm doing. I've been spending a couple of hours after work a few nights a week working on a floor to ceiling mural in what we've dubbed our 'think tank' room. It's basically going to be a room where we can have informal meetings with clients, or just get together to try to come up with new ideas and other such marketing shenanigans. I'll post a picture when it's done. It's a lovely scene of a field with a solitary fall-colors tree being illuminated by a strategically placed sunbeam against a blue sky with whispy clouds. Can you picture it? Are you there?

Anywhoo, thats all for today.

-Kody