Category: Entertainment

Okay, ‘The Bucket List’ was pretty good

January 24th, 2009 · · Entertainment One comment - Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I’m only way behind most of the world, but I finally watched ‘The Bucket List’ last night. I had just closed-up the gas station and I was home relaxing. The television had been unplugged, so I had to manually (I know, right?) flip through channels and see what was on until the guide updated.

As I was flipping through HBO/Cinemax, I came across Morgan Freeman I stopped. Generally anything that has Freeman in it I like, so it stayed on while I surfed from my laptop. Once the Internet started to bore me and I shut down the lappy, ‘Bucket List started to draw me in more and more.

I have to say that it went by pretty quick (I started watching when Freeman and Nicholson are in the hospital), but was still very entertaining. Then came the end… I consider myself a pretty un-emotional guy. It takes some pretty deep stuff for me to get weepy or even slightly emotionally involved. This is doubly true for movies. I mean, ffs, they’re not even real.

The last 20 minutes of this movie got me completely weepy. I won’t ruin it in case there is actually someone who hasn’t seen it, but make sure you have the Kleenex handy by the time pyramids are on-screen (you’ll see).

Just in case anyone out there hasn’t seen it, go rent it or catch it on HBO. The movie is definitely worth your time, and it makes a great point that we all should have our own ‘bucket list’ and make damn sure we accomplish all of that list.

I assure you… Boredom at work

January 15th, 2009 · · Entertainment, Illinois, Jaycees, Mount Vernon, School 5 comments - Tags: , , , , , , ,

Katie told me to change the sign at work. Now, for those of you who are not aware, I’m working at the gas station/convenience store between my IT job, full time school, and sleeping. The money isn’t great, but I really appreciate the position as the extra income helps out.

About a week ago, Katie (my manager) told me to change the sign at work. I have been trying to come up with something clever and/or unique to put up and entertain/draw in customers. Before the holidays, I had told Katie she had to see Clerks and Clerks II as she said she had not after I made some references that should be plain to anyone who has seen the films.

Katie works at the video store up the street part-time as well, so she rented them. Then, she took them back. She said she couldn’t handle the black and white. I informed her that she had to watch them, and the content is well worth it. She declined.

Once you add together me being put in charge of changing the sign, and Katie refusing to give Clerks the respect it deserves, the result is this:

Clerks reference II

Hope someone finds it as entertaining as I do before it gets taken down. There are a couple of other shots in my Flickr stream, but it’s the same view.

Last.fm discovery by me

January 13th, 2009 · · Entertainment, Technology One comment - Tags: , , , , , ,

I’m not sure if I have mentioned listening to streaming music in a previous post or not, but at this point it doesn’t matter to me. This has replaced having the television on while I write at home just for background noise. Frankly I’m happier because I get to listen to what I want instead of being at the mercy of a top 40 station or some randomized stream.

The wonderful site I have (personally) discovered is Last.fm. Yes, they have been around for awhile, but the site is new to me.

Last.fm allows you to add artists, albums, and even single tracks to ‘your’ radio station. Last.fm then streams the tracks randomly when you listen to your station. To make things even more fun, you and friends can recommend tracks to each other.

Want to hear a song more often? Click ‘Love’. How about not hearing a track ever again? Click ‘Ban’.

To me this is about the greatest service ever. To boot, it’s completely free to use.

Go to Last.fm and see what you think. If you like it, add me (dirtvoyles). Perhaps we can help each other discover some new tunes.

Why do we put up with the format wars?

January 5th, 2009 · · Entertainment, Legislation, Politics, Technology 2 comments - Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Compact disc, mp3, tape, SuperAudioCD, DVD,etc.

We as a culture enjoy music. This is something that I think most anyone can agree is a fact. Now, types of music are a completely different matter for another forum. Some prefer rap, country, rock, religious traditional, or some other type or sub-type of music that could take forever to list here.

What I am pondering as I write this blurb is how we keep allowing ourselves to be forced into the latest and greatest new medium for enjoying the music we purchase. I caught the tail-end of cassette tape’s life, and purchased several Garth Brooks albums on that medium. (Yes, I like his music and have about everything produced. Still missing the McDonald’s CD if anyone knows where I can aquire one.) When compact disc came out, I purchased everything again in that medium.

The argument here would be that compact disc was a vast improvement in sound quality and lasts much longer than tape can/could. I’m willing to accept that to a certain degree, however why do I have to pay again for the ability to listen to music I already paid to listen to? I wouldn’t mind if I could ‘trade-in’ my cassettes and pay a small fee for the cost of the CD or whatever the new medium is, but paying the same or more for a catalog album seems ridiculous to me.

Compact discs have a negligible production cost (somewhere around a couple bucks last I checked), but yet they are continually priced at a 500% profit. How much of that is seen by the artist? I would wager not much. I understand that some cost is associated with studio costs and promotion, but I doubt it takes quite the markup that we see as consumers.

Now, we are faced with the mp3 upgrade. This new round lends itself to at least one quandry unseen previously – ripping from CD to mp3. There are a few caveats to this process, the DMCA and sound quality.

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Why the obsession?

January 3rd, 2009 · · Entertainment, Family 4 comments - Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I wonder almost daily what Emily’s obsession with ‘Mythbusters’, ‘Deadliest Catch’, and Discovery Channel has sprung from. I am the first to admit that today’s crop of mainstream television shows suck, but damn I get tired of the various marathons that DC seems to have every week.

For example, New Year’s Day she took over the television and devoted her afternoon to watching and re-watching Mythbusters episodes. No watching anything else, just the re-runs.

Occasionally the Mythbusters have some good tales to test, and Deadliest Catch isn’t bad in small doses, but she insists on watching them every time they are on. How can a person re-watch the same testing and dramatic fish-catching over, and over, and over, and over…?

Mostly this post is asking if anyone has any insight into this behavior. Do you know others who have this type of obsession? Do you?

I’m really wondering what is going on with the obsession.