March 2008 Archives
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Saw a trailer of the film at the cinema last week, it looked fantastic.
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The holy grail of American television is to make 100 episodes (House is up to 82). “Then you sell it to syndication and it’s on for ever and it will haunt you in a Hong Kong hotel bedroom.”
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"We need to clean up the White House, we need a woman to clean it up." That's very liberal of ya, dude.
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Picked up one of these little troopers. Stacking it full of films and tv series for travel purposes.
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"With our package and mail forwarding service, you now can shop from all of your favorite companies, even if they do not ship overseas!"
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The Pop Group's Mark Stewart reviews Portishead new album Third using his DJ ears.
Easter. Wanted to travel, but everywhere was too wet, too cold, too dear. And so I am rewatching Battlestar Galactica, Season 1, for the fourth or fifth time.
Shepard himself is a fan of he series, he called it 'the most political show on television' in a Q&A session last year and practically begging Ron Moore, the show's creator, for a part. His love for the material shines through in his performance.
I'm bloody tired of those Taiko drums though.
Starbuck: Now, if you were human, you'd be just about ready to start offering up some false information about the location of the nuke. Some tiny thing that might get you a reward and maybe spare you a few minutes of this. But then I keep forgetting, you're not human. You're a machine.Battlestar Galactica is a weird show for me. I stopped watching it back in 2003 when the first season was in progress, finding it too dark for my mood back then. I like darkness a lot, but at the time I wasn't up for it. When my head was in a better place, I started re-watching everything and now think it's fantastic. I can't wait for more and I am sad it's ending, but happy it will end before it starts to suck. I'm also pleased a spin off, Caprica, will be made.
Leoben: I am more than you could ever imagine. I am god.
Starbuck: Permission to speak off the record, sir?The strange thing is I don't like anybody in the show. 'Like' on lots of levels. I am not a fan of any of the actors, I don't find anyone particularly attractive, I don't care much for them as individual characters... they're all bastards. But I love the show, love the ensemble, love how they interact, love the way everything looks and I love how smart the show is and how it touches on various political and religious topics.
Tigh: Granted.
Starbuck: You're a bastard.
Romo Lampkin: There is no greater ally, no force more powerful, no enemy more resolved, than a son who chooses to step from his father's shadow.If I had to pick a favourite on the show, it would probably be Romo Lampkin, who only appears in a handful of episodes in Season 3. Played by the always charming British actor Mark Shepard (Firefly, Medium) Romo's presence managed to make me forget the utter drudgery of the Starbuck/Anders relationship, if only because I kept wondering why Shepard was putting on an Irish accent for the part.
Shepard himself is a fan of he series, he called it 'the most political show on television' in a Q&A session last year and practically begging Ron Moore, the show's creator, for a part. His love for the material shines through in his performance.
Baltar: Congratulations... You're not Cylon. 100% human, and very, very bright green as well... You couldn't be more human if you tried.BSG in ways is like the West Wing, another show so dense I can watch it again and again and again and never get bored. What's so good about Battlestar Galactica is that it's not about the scifi, just like the West Wing wasn't about the President. It's about us. Which everybody who is watching the show already knows, but now you know too.
I'm bloody tired of those Taiko drums though.
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Mena's back to blogging in public.
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Scroll down the comments for 'make your children work for their keep'
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Yay! "Battlestar Galactica" is concluding its 3½-year run with 20 final episodes this year. Its "Caprica" prequel begins production in Vancouver in the spring.
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Links to a review in the comments of this article that says everything I tried to say. "I've got an Eee PC and I love it in a way that I can't recall.... It seems personal in a strange way."
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More hackery than you can shake your stick at
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"Hence the photography phenomenon that is 'the Siamese Headshot'"
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"When white people aren’t working, they generally like to wear Outdoor Performance Clothes."
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Erwin Blom suggests a fund to support Dutch start ups, for whom entrance fees to events may be too high. He's putting 500 euro in the fund, asks others to join him.
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Malkovich. In a tub. Bathing. With his interviewer.
Dragons, from Bristol, are an ok band, they do give it their all. Wearing shades indoors though... I think only really big rock stars can pull it off. The singer looks a little like Jim Kerr and a lot like one of my colleagues, which was a little weird. Musically they're not even pretending not to be utterly worshipping at the altar of Joy Division, with a little Depeche demi-goddery on the side. Despite the dark sounds they managed to create a bit of a hallelujah-vibe. Perhaps it was the singer's reaching out to heaven and falling to his knees that did it.
The support act, Huron, also played the JD/Cure and Xymox field, but their American singer (who looked more than a little bit like Chris Moyles, poor sod), infused some roots elements not unlike The Cult.
'I've had it with all these new bands,' said a friend of mine earlier this week, 'they all sound the same.' She's right, you know. I'm bored. It's time for something new, this 80s revival is getting on my nerves.
"White people cannot get enough of 80s music, partially out of nostalgia, and partially since it was the last time that pop music wasn't infused with hip-hop or R n' B stylings." (from Stuff White People Like)
I didn't bring my 'real' camera, so all I got was a shot with my Ixus. Excuse the grain.
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OSF is a year old. I wish I had more time to cook and contribute!
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"He is in the backseat of a dark SUV -- coffee in hand, dressed in black, hair sharply parted -- and is, for the first time in his life, reading his own Wikipedia entry."
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Love vanderwal's comment: "you can tell they are American by how the hold the mobile as if it is a rattle snake about to bite."
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Techcrunch says so. I think I'd prefer it if it remained photos only.
Now that I have had my Asus EEE for a week and have taken it for a test run in the field I think it's time to jot down some thoughts.
The EEE pc is one of the most satisfying buys ever. It weighs nothing. I don't even feel I'm carrying it. Despite that, it doesn't look cheap or feel like a toy. (I can't vouch for the other colours, but the black version looks like an ordinary laptop. Just a lot smaller.) There's no reason not to pop it into my bag and take it everywhere I go.
It works (after plugging it in and/or charging it) out of the box, starts up in 10 to 15 seconds, has a preinstalled interface that anyone can understand, comes with oodles of software including games, an open source office suite, Firefox, Thunderbird, excellent WiFi, a photo viewer/slideshow, screen capture, a news reader, IM client, Skype, etc, etc.
While I'm not completely new to Linux, I'm not that familiar with it either. I use *nix commands on the server that hosts my sites, but my home and work desktop PCs have always run Windows or a Mac OS. So I don't know much about the various incarnations of Linux.
The EEE runs a custom Asus version of Xandros by default. Once I switched from the 'Easy' desktop environment to Advanced it looks a lot like a rip off of Windows XP - which is almost disappointing. It's not the most exciting look. But I didn't know Linux GUI's were this advanced. I thought there'd be more command line stuff to get to grips with, but you get lots of menus and right click options, just like in XP. Again... that's almost disappointing. I guess that's why they called it "EEE, Easy to learn, work and play".
The trackpad does the job, but isn't great for prolonged usage. It is small and the left and right click button feels a little stiff. I plugged in an old mouse which worked really well, so I bought a nice small notebook mouse from Microsoft which works even better. The keyboard could have been better too. I have to hit the space bar pretty hard to make it work and I find touch typing difficult in any other position than seated at a desk.
I mentioned switching to the Advanced desktop. Out of the box, the EEE starts up with an 'Easy' interface, which is just a couple of tabs with large icons on it. If you want to get the most out of the machine, use the Advanced desktop. It used to be an option on the menu, but Asus decided to market the machine as an appliance rather than a pc, so they took the option out. You have to put it back in. It's pretty easy to do, following these instructions: 'Enable Advanced Desktop mode' from the eeeuser.com wiki. Note that personalising the EEE environment almost always involves opening a terminal window and doing some command line stuff. So stick to Easy mode if that scares you.
The EEE can play quite a few different video formats, even .mkv files, although there were some synch problems with the file I tried. What the EEE can't do is play the ipod compatible formats, mp4/quicktime h.264. But no worries, if you downgrade the supplied mplayer, it will play those as well.
Firefox is preinstalled but the browser's chrome will dominate a large part of the tiny screen. You'll have to fiddle with settings a bit to make better use of your real estate. In fact, Opera seems to be the better choice, especially if you use that browser's fit-to-width option. You'll have to install Opera and then customise it following instructions from the the eeeuser.com wiki to make the most of the space you have.
To make your EEE a portable jukebox, ideally you'd want to install a bittorrent client, but I haven't got round to that. I tried a Firefox torrent extension, but could not get it to work. For now I've settled for a Limewire clone called Frostwire. I'm not a big fan of the Gnutella protocol, since I prefer the high quality rips found elsewhere, but it will have to do for now.
Wrapping up this review, the Asus EEE is a fantastic little computer. If you get one, spend some time customising it with help from the EEE user community. Buy a small mouse. You'll need at least some extra storage so one or two SD cards will come in handy, and/or a USB flash stick. And remember, if your system dies while you're customising it, you can easily revert to factory settings by hitting F9 during start up.
Photographers should consider this set up for a great portable storage and post-processing solution.
The EEE pc is one of the most satisfying buys ever. It weighs nothing. I don't even feel I'm carrying it. Despite that, it doesn't look cheap or feel like a toy. (I can't vouch for the other colours, but the black version looks like an ordinary laptop. Just a lot smaller.) There's no reason not to pop it into my bag and take it everywhere I go.
It works (after plugging it in and/or charging it) out of the box, starts up in 10 to 15 seconds, has a preinstalled interface that anyone can understand, comes with oodles of software including games, an open source office suite, Firefox, Thunderbird, excellent WiFi, a photo viewer/slideshow, screen capture, a news reader, IM client, Skype, etc, etc.
While I'm not completely new to Linux, I'm not that familiar with it either. I use *nix commands on the server that hosts my sites, but my home and work desktop PCs have always run Windows or a Mac OS. So I don't know much about the various incarnations of Linux.
The EEE runs a custom Asus version of Xandros by default. Once I switched from the 'Easy' desktop environment to Advanced it looks a lot like a rip off of Windows XP - which is almost disappointing. It's not the most exciting look. But I didn't know Linux GUI's were this advanced. I thought there'd be more command line stuff to get to grips with, but you get lots of menus and right click options, just like in XP. Again... that's almost disappointing. I guess that's why they called it "EEE, Easy to learn, work and play".
The trackpad does the job, but isn't great for prolonged usage. It is small and the left and right click button feels a little stiff. I plugged in an old mouse which worked really well, so I bought a nice small notebook mouse from Microsoft which works even better. The keyboard could have been better too. I have to hit the space bar pretty hard to make it work and I find touch typing difficult in any other position than seated at a desk.
I mentioned switching to the Advanced desktop. Out of the box, the EEE starts up with an 'Easy' interface, which is just a couple of tabs with large icons on it. If you want to get the most out of the machine, use the Advanced desktop. It used to be an option on the menu, but Asus decided to market the machine as an appliance rather than a pc, so they took the option out. You have to put it back in. It's pretty easy to do, following these instructions: 'Enable Advanced Desktop mode' from the eeeuser.com wiki. Note that personalising the EEE environment almost always involves opening a terminal window and doing some command line stuff. So stick to Easy mode if that scares you.
The EEE can play quite a few different video formats, even .mkv files, although there were some synch problems with the file I tried. What the EEE can't do is play the ipod compatible formats, mp4/quicktime h.264. But no worries, if you downgrade the supplied mplayer, it will play those as well.
Firefox is preinstalled but the browser's chrome will dominate a large part of the tiny screen. You'll have to fiddle with settings a bit to make better use of your real estate. In fact, Opera seems to be the better choice, especially if you use that browser's fit-to-width option. You'll have to install Opera and then customise it following instructions from the the eeeuser.com wiki to make the most of the space you have.
To make your EEE a portable jukebox, ideally you'd want to install a bittorrent client, but I haven't got round to that. I tried a Firefox torrent extension, but could not get it to work. For now I've settled for a Limewire clone called Frostwire. I'm not a big fan of the Gnutella protocol, since I prefer the high quality rips found elsewhere, but it will have to do for now.
Wrapping up this review, the Asus EEE is a fantastic little computer. If you get one, spend some time customising it with help from the EEE user community. Buy a small mouse. You'll need at least some extra storage so one or two SD cards will come in handy, and/or a USB flash stick. And remember, if your system dies while you're customising it, you can easily revert to factory settings by hitting F9 during start up.
Photographers should consider this set up for a great portable storage and post-processing solution.
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Tiny reviews on Twitter
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I have been following instructions on forums, and it generally works, but have no idea what I am doing. This might be good to read.
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"Finally, there's something to admire to Jason's being something like the Michael Jordan of blogging -- a talent who is consistently at the absolute top of the game for a full decade."
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Ten years of pure unadulterated Kottke
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Kottke.org being 10 years old reminded me of Zannah
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Tons of great artwork for films and series, including Trek, Firefly
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Dutch EEE fan site.
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Audio archive of R.E.M.'s SXSW show
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'Scribd is a way to easily put your documents online.' Hmm. Might be a fun way to make my sold out book available to more people.
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Example of Scribd use
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"At the same time, the outlets for discussion of our favorite shows have never been so rich or rewarding."
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Huge open air venues. Sigh.
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Survey says 85% of Dutch people is positive and happy. 75% thinks work makes happy.
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Making better use of screensize
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"Yahoo!'s Fire Eagle service, which is simple, privacy-aware, and most importantly, is now hooked in to Movable Type, using the new Fire Eagle plugin for MT. This makes my MT profile location-aware"
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Gavin Friday's on Twitter and will start sending tweets soonish.
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Pictures of Michael Jackson's Neverland at night
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Brain scientist explains how she experienced her own stroke
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Have succesfully turned my appliance into a PC (installing the advanced desktop)
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Photographer explains why longer lenses work well taking portraits
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This guy uses a wide angle lens for portraits
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Must get this for work calendar
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Gini Ball's bio
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U2log.com's Elmo Keep says: "MP3s? That'll never work! Who will ever want their entire record collection at the push of a button? Nobody, that's who! Nobody except everybody who invested in Apple shares."
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We (Whedonesque) were invited to sit on a panel discussing the Power of Fan Websites at the Paley Center in NYC. We're sending Damon, one of our mods, to represent us.
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Cool shot of the actor who played Klinger in M*A*S*H" . He's aged well.
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Must give that a go
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Ok, maybe I should have waited for the 9" EEE.
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Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Lord! Phew.
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"Of course there are strict rules attached."
What do you do when you get bored on a Friday afternoon? You start surfing around and end up finding Komplett has a new batch of Asus EEE's in stock. And they're 339 euro and you think, oh what the hell, pull your card. Should be in by Tuesday. And eventhough I proved to myself I can do anything I want with my N95 (I even fixed a stylesheet on the Whedonesque server last weekend in Dublin), I'm pretty sure this ugly but tiny laptop will be going everywhere with me from now on.
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"Reznor is using five price points to segment his offerings, and the extra work this required appears to have paid off."
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Dutch supermarket AH is smurfing away Smurf figurines.
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"The $750 "gold doubloons level" is "exactly like the gold level, but you give me more money.""
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"Want twitter on your myspace page? "
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Pat showed me this when he got the papers on Friday. Odd, parochial, list.
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"A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living."
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"So if the model that we loved about the record business in 1968 was A&R, taking care of artists, finding artists who people will love, and the model that we hated was brand management, I want to argue that the next model is tribal management."