November 28, 2007

Look! It's me.

At this morning's Jeff Pulver Facebook Friends Breakfast.


Posted by jackhodgson at 05:19 PM

November 22, 2007

Bob Dylan. All of him.

I don't go to many movies these days. I used to go to a lot.

I used to go to the movies every Friday afternoon. I'd usually check out the movie that was expected to be the big opening flick of the weekend. Maybe it's time to restart my Friday tradition.

I'm Not There: "The strangest thing about Todd Haynes's new movie isn't that he cast six actors to play the various faces and phases of Bob Dylan. It's that he needed only six."

Boston Globe review.

Posted by jackhodgson at 11:18 AM

Thanksgiving

Jim "NewMediaJim" Long reminds us to remember and give thanks to the people who can't be home for today's feast.


Posted by jackhodgson at 09:12 AM

November 20, 2007

Nucular

Laura Bush bought George a parrot for his birthday.

She told Dick Cheney, "The bird is so smart! George has already taught him to mispronounce over 200 words!"

"Wow, that's pretty impressive," Cheney said. "But you realize that he just says the words. He doesn't understand what they mean."

"That's okay," Laura replied. "Neither does the parrot."

[ by way of Jeb ]

Posted by jackhodgson at 06:58 AM

November 19, 2007

Optical Illusion: A Person in the Picture

Up close: very hard to see. Move back and the person appears.


[ by way of digg.com ]

Posted by jackhodgson at 07:09 AM

November 18, 2007

Red Sox Rolling Rally Pics

Belatedly, here are some of the pics I took at the Red Sox World Championship Parade a few weeks back.

I got into a great position for seeing the players, but it was not so good for taking pics. Ah well.

Posted by jackhodgson at 09:21 AM

November 17, 2007

Basic Cable is lame.

I changed the cable from *everything* to *basic cable*.

They kept telling me that that would mean I would only get channels 2-22.

I've been using a TV that was direct connected to the cable for years now, and it always seemed to me that direct connecting was the same as "basic cable".

But while I wasn't looking, the cable guy came and did some magic on the pole, and now I no longer get Comedy Central (ch61), TNT (ch33), Discovery (ch39), or Comcast Sport (Celtics) (ch52), and many others.

I can tolerate these losses for the most part. Some of the missing shows are also available on the net, and the writer's strike has made some of these unneeded for awhile.

Of course, if it were the Redsox season this would all be intolerable, since I'm now not getting NESN (ch51).

It won't last for long. More change is in the offing.

[ Yeah I know. When I was a kid we only got 3 channels of TV. Up-hill, both-ways. ]

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:09 PM

November 15, 2007

I am not a cheater.

CNN:

Barry Bonds, baseball's record home run hitter, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. art.bonds.gi.file.jpg

The indictment charges Barry Bonds with lying when he said he didn't knowingly take steroids.

A federal grand jury in San Francisco returned a five count indictment against Bonds charging four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice.


Posted by jackhodgson at 06:30 PM

November 14, 2007

Red Sox to open title defense in Japan

I'm not wild about this. History shows that this long road-trip at the start of the season has a bad effect on the teams involved. The only consolation is that they don't count as Boston home games.

Boston Globe:

...the Red Sox agreed to a two-game series against the Oakland Athletics in Japan on March 25-26, and the commissioner's office announced the trip early Wednesday.

With Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima, the Red Sox figure to be an attractive draw for the games at the Tokyo Dome. The Red Sox and A's also will play exhibition games on March 23-24 against Japanese teams.

After the trip, the teams return to the United States and open the rest of their regular-season schedules with a two-game series at Oakland on April 1-2. That originally was to be a four-game set.

Oakland will be the home team for the games in Japan.


Posted by jackhodgson at 10:01 AM

November 12, 2007

Hope the writers' strike doesn't kill this one.

If you haven't been watching "Big Bang Theory" then you should be.

Posted by jackhodgson at 09:20 PM

November 10, 2007

Online catalog out of control


Posted by jackhodgson at 07:35 PM

Simple games are the most addictive.

I haven't quite figured out the rules of this game yet. But it's oddly addicting.

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:53 AM

November 09, 2007

Me watching a Celtics game. Go figure.

It seems to me that Danny Ainge, the GM of the Celtics, is either a Genius, or the dumb-luckiest guy in the world.

Last fall the Celtics were trying (unsuccessfully!) to execute this half-baked plan to end the season in last place, so they could get the #1 pick in the draft. That fell apart in the final days of the season, and then a murphy's law lottery draw left them with, basically, nothing.

But, in what to a non-basketball person like myself seems miraculous, Ainge managed to pull off a couple of remarkable, off-season trades, to put together a threesome of apparently awesomely talented players to lead the 2007-8 team.

We're only three games into the season. But the born-again Celtics have yet to lose. And all this basically has Boston sports fans in a frenzy of excitement for the home team.

All-in-all, this keystone cops, phoenix-like process, has awoken the "impossible dream" gene in this boston sports fan. And, for the first time ever, I'm actually interested in the fate of the Celtics.

What's next? Soccer?

Posted by jackhodgson at 07:29 PM

November 08, 2007

YouTube: Truthful Microsoft Vista Ad


Posted by jackhodgson at 11:05 AM

November 07, 2007

UCAP#54

We recorded Uncontrolled Airspace #54 tonight. Our guest on this ep was Steve "Stephen Force" Tupper, of the Airspeed podcast.

A year ago this week we did episode #6. That's 48 eps in 52 weeks. Soon we'll reach the 1 per week milestone.

I'm hoping #54 will be posted by Fri nite. You can subscribe here (RSS). Or search for uncontrolled airspace in iTunes.

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:00 AM

November 06, 2007

It's an English language thing.

The word "resign" means both.

"to renew or extend a contract."

AND

"to give up an office or position"

What's up with that?

[BTW, the TIME magazine cover is a parody.]

Posted by jackhodgson at 12:14 PM

Schilling about to re-sign?

Boston media is reporting that Curt Schilling is about to re-sign for another year with the Redsox.

UPDATE: Here's Curt's statement from his blog:

I am feeling very confident that we will be able to finalize a 1 year contract to allow us a chance to finish our career as members of the Red Sox organization.

There are some things to iron out and details that must be finalized for both sides but barring something unforseen or outrageously odd happening I feel very comfortable that I will finish my career here.


Posted by jackhodgson at 09:31 AM

November 05, 2007

Ghosts

Tonight NESN is replaying a "classic" Redsox game from a few years ago vs Tampa Bay.

Pitching for the sox is Pedro Martinez. For the Rays, Cory Lidle who, a few years later, will crash his airplane into the side of a New York City apartment building.

Spooky.

Posted by jackhodgson at 09:12 PM

November 04, 2007

Pats don't lose

Well I guess that the amazing thing is that, in spite of how poorly they played for much of the game, the NE Patriots pulled out a win against the also-very-excellent Indianapolis Colts.

Give the Pats extra points for not-giving-up-ness.

Posted by jackhodgson at 09:46 PM

November 03, 2007

Moving Day

Big day today. The entire family gathered to help move my parents to their new home up in NH. It was a lot of work. Couldn't have done it without everyone's help, including some good friends.

Tomorrow we gather at their new place to unload all their stuff into the new place.

It's more than a little sobering to be spending the night here in their old house. Very empty. This it where we all grew up, where my parents have lived for almost 45 years. Lot's of memories here. Good ones.

It's a little sad to leave this place behind, but they're moving into a place that is much more suitable to their needs and lifestyle. And they're much closer to their kids and grandkids, so they will have them around more now.

It's a trade-off. I think it's a good one.

Posted by jackhodgson at 09:18 PM

Maurice


Posted by jackhodgson at 09:01 AM

November 02, 2007

TV Stream of Consciousness

My TiVo has been dutifully capturing a bunch of shows since the season started about six weeks ago.

I've finally been trying to catch up on them. I'll spend and entire evening just watching consecutive episodes of a single series.

Private Practice This is the Grey's Anatomy spinoff where McDreamy's ex-wife, Addison, runs away to LA to become part of a progressive medical practice made up of six doctors all with different specialties. Angst and romance ensues.

First of all let's make no mistake, Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) is a real babe.

I really liked the embedded pilot that they did as part of Grey's last season, and I'm also liking the real thing. It's basically "Friends" as a one hour doctor show.

All kidding aside, I really like the "family" feeling of the people who work in this practice. They have lunch together, snacks, gossip, flirt, help and annoy each other. I want some of that.

I've also caught up on the mother-ship, Grey's Anatomy. Much heavier than PP. But excellent.

I've always had trouble sympathizing with Callie. I definitely sympathize with McDreamy's frustration with Meredith. And Meredeth is really being a bitch to her discovered sister Lexy, though that seems to be improving.

And in spite of what Heather says, I think Alex is an asshole. He outed George as a repeat intern (art imitating life?), and he's really rough on Izzie for being with George.

Heroes is pretty intense. It's such a continuing story it's hard to comment on it only part-way through the season. Hiro in ancient Japan is interesting. I still think that Hiro will end up being the legendary samurai that he's always admired.

The rest is good too, but I'm still trying to get a handle on it.

Sitcoms. I love 'Til Death, and the new Big Bang Theory. I've stopped recording Two and a Half Men so I can record something else instead. I'll catch up on it later in the season. How I Met Your Mother and 30 Rock are still terrific.

I recorded a few eps of Back to You, the new Frasier series. It just wasn't working for me. I took it off my season pass list, and deleted a bunch of eps unwatched.

The jury's still out on Super-rich dramadies Big Shots and Dirty Sexy Money.

Posted by jackhodgson at 08:26 PM

November 01, 2007

Say it ain't so, Joe!

Longtime Yankee's manager Joe Torre walked away from an "insulting" offer of $5million a year salary. But he's getting the last laugh.

Today he accepted an offer from the LA Dodgers to be their manager for $4.3 million a year.

Wait. That doesn't make sense!

Torre was hired by Los Angeles to succeed Grady Little on Thursday, taking the job two weeks after walking away from the New York Yankees.

The winningest manager in postseason history, Torre moved from one storied franchise to another, agreeing to a three-year, $13 million contract.

Notice how I took the high road on all the Grady Little jokes.

Posted by jackhodgson at 08:53 PM