Schinckel.net

There’s a new show starting soon on SBS, Wilfred. After seeing the advertisements a couple of times, it looks really good. The premise is that a girl’s dog, the Wilfred of the title, loves his owner, but hates the boyfriend. He manages to sabotage just about everything about the relationship. Sound interesting? It’s a comedy, and did I mention that the dog(s) in the show are men in dog suits. However, something I just read might turn me off it, before I’ve even seen it. Apparently, it’s by the same guys who created the despicable excuse for a comedy that is known as The Wedge. The only saving grace may be that SBS has picked it up, rather than one of the commercial stations (notably Channel 10?) Perhaps that will mean it is actually good. </TV Snob Mode&rt;

So, Apple has released a couple of new bits and pieces. I’m not going to mention the Apple iPhone, as it is unlikely to be available where I live, and the other two are a bit more interesting for me. The first one I noticed was the Apple TV. This is an AU$449 device that hooks up to (only widescreen) televisions, and allows you to watch video, view pictures and listen to audio that is stored on your Mac or PC. Which is exactly what I currently use XboxMediaCentre for. However, from a couple of things I’ve read on the Apple website, I won’t be getting one soon. I think it acts like an iPod, and requires syncing. This because that ’s’ word is mentioned, and because it also talks about ‘up to 8750 songs,’ and since it has a 40GB hard drive, that sounds about how many tracks you could store on it. I don’t store any media on the Xbox - it’s all stored on a seperate media server. Why waste space by having duplicates of large files? It gets even worse if you look at Movies and TV programs. It may stream movies, I do recall seeing that somewhere. Plus, I may have to re-encode some video files, as AppleTV might not play everything, like VLC and XBMC do. The other feature that I think is missing is recording from TV. This makes it a deal-breaker for me. That’s the only functionality I don’t have with XBMC, and is the reason I’m going to consider getting a Mac Mini to replace it. If Apple don’t come up with something better. Admittedly, it looks much nicer than an Xbox, but it won’t play all of my Xbox games, either. Resolution-wise, the Apple TV might be a step ahead of the Xbox. I’m not sure what resolution XBMC can output, it may be 1080i, I’m not sure. (Note: after research, you can output this res with even a standard Xbox, but you need to get a special hi-res cable). • The other product Apple released is somewhat interesting. Airport Extreme. Basically, it’s an 802.11a/b/g/n wireless router. It has a couple of other key features, however. It also has a USB port, but it’s not a device-side port. Instead, it allows Hard Disk drives, Printers and the like to be plugged in. This would mean that the one device could replace (and upgrade!) my router, and my NSLU2 file server. The bonus is that it can easily handle multiple hard drives, unlike the NSLU2, which I’m probably going to have to install a different OS onto to get this functionality. At AU$259, (IIRC: $229 educational), it appears pricey, but replaces a NAS device, Print Server, and a wireless router. And beefs up the speed to 802.11n, which is 10x faster than my current router. Disadvantages of this over my current setup? I currently use my NSLU2 as a torrent client, and this functionality is unlikely to be built into the Airport Extreme! • What’s next? I’m hoping to see what happens when some real users get their hands on these devices. I’d suggest they might be running a cut-down OSX, or perhaps Linux/BSD or something, in which case they should be eminently hackable. For instance, it might be possible to use the AppleTV hardware, plug in an EyeTV, and bingo, PVR. Much cheaper than a Mac Mini, but with all of the desired functionality. And, turn off Syncing of iTunes library, and instead just look for files on a Server, and stream audio as well as video. As for Airport Extreme, it’s likely that this is a less powerful beast, but might provide better performance than my old NSLU2, which chugs along a bit when trying to grab more than one torrent at a time. (Don’t mention that you should queue torrents, this is for low-rate torrents, and the software I use doesn’t queue).

I’m always playing that game. When you see a person on TV or in a movie, and you spend the next hour trying to remember where you’ve seen them before. There was just a Qantas advertisement on TV, with the punchline “They know I like my beer in the evening, and my Newspaper in the morning”. It’s got two guys, one of which I picked straight away. He was in Frontline, the grumpy other reporter. The other guy, that had me stumped. Until I remembered where I’d seen him. He was in the short film “Twins”, where he talks about being a single dad with twins, and how it’s important to choose a favourite. I’ve got a copy of it somewhere - searching on Google was fairly useless. Google: Twins Favourite Movie only bought up pr0n, and disney. Dunno which is worse, there. Aaargh. Maybe I’ll find a link one day.

Angels with Dirty Faces • Sugababes • Angels with Dirty Faces

Grace Park, the stunning Korean-Canadian actress who plays Boomer in the new BattleStar Galactica also had a short role in the first episode of the second season of Dark Angel. Her line:

Copulation was unsuccessful, Ma’am. X5-698 failed to achieve minimum mission requirements, Ma’am.

At which point the bumbling idiot who couldn’t achieve minimum mission requirements was bundled off. Mind you, she’s hot, but she’s nothing next to Jessica Alba.

Successful copulation between myself and X5-452, Ma’am. [Pause] Twice.

You dog, you.

The Last Goodbye • James Morrison • Undiscovered

This is not a review, but more of a series of comments about this book. I may write a view at some stage, but I haven’t yet finished it, so I’ll wait until then. The premise of this book is that instead of, as popular wisdom determined, popular culture being the basest form of thought, it’s actually making us more intelligent. Johnson (link points to his blog) puts forward a couple of cases, and then submits some evidence to support them. Firstly, there is a general thought that video games’ only redeeming feature is that it improves hand-eye coordination. In fact, modern video games provide more than this, they actually improve our ability to solve problems, by virtue of the commonality of having to ‘figure out’ the rules from within the game. Secondly, popular television also improves various skills. Whereas in days gone by television programs spoon-fed the audience, nowadays the most popular programs actually engage us more than the ‘arty’ programs used to. Watching a program like 24 (which I don’t incidentally), or even The Apprentice, forces us to be active participants. We need to think much more to continue to be aware of the connections between the different characters, and we are task-switching between the various sub-plots. Johnson provides a series of reasons why he thinks these have taken off, and I must say, so far I’ve agreed with pretty much all of what he’s said. I’m not going to just repeat what he said (I’m not sure I’d want to try - the evidence does take a bit of work to get across, and I’d rather you just buy the book, and read it yourself), but I did want to add some of my own comments. I’ve been watching two SciFi programs since starting to read the book. One of them is the new BattleStar Galactica, the other V. I’m noticing lots of similarities between the two, and I’m finding I want to re-watch them to analyse the ’thought content’ requirements of them. Notably, both of them have a female character who is thrown into power, and one of the major plots is about her coming to grips with the role and responsibilities that ensue. Both programs also have an ‘alien’ race who is keen on wiping out humanity, although for different reasons. They are both about the human race, on the run, and it’s attempt to survive. Perhaps a better comparison would be to compare the older series of BattleStar Galactica with the new one. Perhaps that will be a new project of mine. Compare the two from a perspective of cognitive demands. After all, the plots are pretty much the same, so any differences should reflect the complexity that modern TV audiences demand.

Crazy Little Thing Called Love • Michael Bublé • Michael Bublé ★½

I missed the first season of the new Battlestar Galactica. Something to do with it being on late at night, during _WoW_time, and not always being on at the same time every week. I was a big fan as a kid of the original series (I even have BSG wallpaper in my room at my parents’ house!), so I was looking forward to the new series. And I wasn’t disappointed. From the first moment, BSG was fantastic. I was forced, by the ineptitude of the Channel 9 programmers, to download the first series via BitTorrent - or rather, have a friend who had already done so burn me a copy. Season 2, which is currently being shown, and which, since it wasn’t advertised, I missed the first couple of episodes, fell into the same boat. Download the lot of them, at least that way I get to see it in the right order. And now, with Nine still showing season 2, while #3 is on the US, I’ve had to revert to BT again. Man is this season good. I disliked the ending of the last season - it seemed to change character way too much in the way it was set up for the occupation. I watched the Webisodes regardless, and didn’t mind them. And then Season 3. I’m still a couple of episodes behind the US, but I’m hooked again. The way this series, unlike virtually every other program on television ever, isn’t afraid to do a good bit of character development, and then, suddenly, kill off the characters. Just like that. (Although, just quietly, I’m still not convinced the one they killed in Episode 4 isn’t a Cylon.) They could have padded out the Resistance a bit more - I’d like to think I’m not spoiling too much by saying they got off the planet a little to easily, but hey, it was ballsy. And sacrificing a BattleStar - I’m not sure that was such a good idea, either. Surely they could have managed to come up with a way to jump away at the last minute. Or did they…? And the mind games the Cylons manage to play with each of the characters. I love it.

Everyone probably knows this, as it’s on the iTunes Music Store already, but you can download partial episodes of Thank God You’re Here via podcast. Legally, apparently. Mind you, the first few lines Anh Do’s performance were okay, but it went downhill from there. Apparently this is the best they could come up with. I thought it were crap. And it still had the advertisements from Hungry Jacks in it… Unsubscribe

Bright Side of The Road • “The Best Of Van Morrison” • [Van Morrison][1]

And, I’ve got to fix my iTunes insert code so it puts the rating as a number of stars… I might use a script rather than the normal ecto button.

[1]: http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Van Morrison%22

Bold all of the following television shows which you’ve ever seen three or more episodes of in your lifetime. Italicise a show if you’re positive you’ve seen every episode of it. If you want, add up to three additional shows (but keep the list in alphabetical order). 24 7th Heaven Adam-12 Aeon Flux ALF Alfred Hitchcock Presents Alias American Idol/Pop Idol/Canadian Idol/Australian Idol/etc. America’s Next Top Model/Germany’s Next Top Model Angel Arrested Development Babylon 5 Babylon 5: Crusade Battlestar Galactica (the old one) Battlestar Galactica (the new one) Baywatch Beavis & Butthead Beverly Hills 90210 Bewitched Bonanza Bones Bosom Buddies Boston Legal Boy Meets World Buffy the Vampire Slayer Bug Juice Chappelle’s Show Charlie’s Angels Charmed Cheers Columbo Commander in Chief Coupling Cowboy Bebop Crossing Jordan CSI CSI: Miami CSI: NY Curb Your Enthusiasm Dancing with the Stars Danny Phantom Dark Angel Dark Skies Davinci’s Inquest Dawson’s Creek Dead Like Me Deadliest Catch Deadwood Degrassi: The Next Generation Designing Women Desperate Housewives (This was one day I was sick, and they showed them all day…) Dharma & Greg Different Strokes Doctor Who (new Who) Dragnet Due South Earth 2 Emergency! Entourage ER Everwood Everybody Loves Raymond Facts of Life Family Guy Family Ties Farscape Fawlty Towers Felicity Firefly Frasier Friends Futurama Get Smart Gilligan’s Island Gilmore Girls Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Green Wing Grey’s Anatomy Growing Pains Gunsmoke Hannah Montana Happy Days **Hogan’s Heroes Home Improvement **Homicide: Life on the Street House **I Dream of Jeannie I Love Lucy **Invader Zim Invasion Hell’s Kitchen JAG Jackass Joey - they made more than 3 of these? John Doe **LA Law Laverne and Shirley **Little House on the Prairie Lizzie McGuire Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman _Lost _Lost in Space Love, American Style **MAS*H MacGyver Malcolm in the Middle Married… With Children Melrose Place Miami Vice Mission: Impossible Monk Moonlighting Mork & Mindy Murphy Brown **My Life as a Dog My Three Sons **My Two Dads NCIS Nip/Tuck Northern Exposure Numb3rs **One Tree Hill Oz Perry Mason **Picket Fences Pokemon Power Rangers **Prison Break Profiler Project Runway Psyche _Quantum Leap _Queer As Folk (US) **Queer as Folk (British) **ReGenesis **Remington Steele **Rescue Me Road Rules ROME **Roseanne Roswell Saved by the Bell **Scarecrow and Mrs. King **Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? Scrubs Seinfeld Sex and the City Six Feet Under **Slings and Arrows Smallville So Weird South Park Spaced Spongebob Squarepants Sports Night **Star Trek **Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Star Trek: Voyager Star Trek: Enterprise Stargate Atlantis Stargate SG-1 Superman Supernatural Surface **Survivor **Taxi Teen Titans **That 70’s Show That’s So Raven **The 4400 The Addams Family The Andy Griffith Show **The A-Team **The Avengers **The Beverly Hillbillies The Brady Bunch The Cosby Show The Daily Show **The Dead Zone The Dick Van Dyke Show **The Flintstones The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air The Golden Girls **The Honeymooners The Jeffersons **The Jetsons The L Word The Love Boat The Mary Tyler Moore Show **The Mighty Boosh The Monkees The Munsters **The Mythbusters The O.C. **The Office (UK) The Office (US) The Pretender The Real World **The Shield **The Simpsons **The Six Million Dollar Man **The Sopranos The Suite Life of Zack and Cody **The Twilight Zone **The Waltons The West Wing _The Wonder Years The X-Files _Third Watch Three’s Company **Top Gear **Twin Peaks Twitch City Veronica Mars Whose Line is it Anyway? (US) Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK) Will and Grace

You may have noticed I like the Chaser. Whilst watching episode 18, there was a segment bagging The Da Vinci Code, as The Ken Done Code. You’ll need to be Australian to understand it. You won’t need to be Australian to get this bit though:

Well, last night was the final episode of The Chaser’s War on Everything. Those of you who missed this series should rush to your nearest Torrent-site and grab it all. I missed a fair chunk of it, and so when they started Vodcasting it, I subscribed to the feed. However, the quality of the video available from the ABC website is crap, to say the least. So, I’ve begun downloading all episodes, even 22-28, which I have as vodcasts. However, episode 17 is missing. I’ve found a torrent for it, but noone seems to be seeding it. I’ve got episodes 1-14 complete, and partway through 15, 16 and 18. At 235Mb per episode, it’s fairly slow going. But it most certainly is worth it. As for legality issues - I can’t get reasonable ABC reception in my house, so I feel perfectly justified in doing this. I have a right, after all, to view stuff on the ABC.