Thursday, December 25, 2008

A Gears of War Christmas

Fox owns 'The Watchmen'

posterSILK2The New York Times is reporting that a Judge has "grant 20th Century Fox’s claim that it owns a copyright interest in the “Watchmen,”".  Fox initially wanted to stop the distribution of this film, but now that they have a copyright claim to the film I’m not sure what they will do with it.  Then again, I guess it is pretty obvious that they will try to profit off of the work that Warner Bros. did on this movie. 

The only good thing that is coming out of the Judge’s decision is that he is encouraging Fox and Warner Bros. to negotiate a settlement, which is what should have done initially. I know that Warner Bros. didn’t want to start a president for negotiating with people that claim they have rights to one of their films, but given the fact that it was questionable if the guy Warner got the rights from actually had the rights to the Watchmen, I think they should have negotiated.   At the very lest Warner Bros. would of had a better bargaining posture when sitting across from Fox, but now Fox has the upper hand and will probably get more then what they would have gotten, had Warner Bros. just settled out of court. 

As a person looking forward to seeing the movie I can only hope that the film will release on time and will not be delayed by disagreements between Warner Bros. and Fox.  One can only hope. 

The Spirit of Christmas

Merry Christmas

Hey everyone.  I know I don’t get to post much these days, but I just thought I should drop in a wish everyone a Merry Christmas.  I hope that you all enjoy your day.  To those that don’t celebrate Christmas, I hope you have fun anyway.  So Merry Christmas all and to all a good night!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

New Terminator Salvation Trailer

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Why Obama's Win is Important

On Tuesday night Americans made history by electing the first Black president of the United States of America. This was very exciting for many people in America and around the world, even up here in Canada where there were many people that went out to celebrate Obama's victory. No one group has been more excited than Africa-Americans.

But even with all of that, I was never to excited or worked up about a first Black President. Being an African American myself, I've found myself (at lest these days) not thinking much about race. It has for me (fortunately) been a non issue. I've never been denied access to a restaurant or bar because I'm black, I've never been forced to sit at the back of the bus, or give up my sit to a white person, and so, I haven't really had to feel the real impact of racism. But that is not everyone's story.

My parents when they came to this country faced challenges that I never had to face and had to see things I didn't have to see. On Tuesday night as I talked with my parents, they told me of not getting jobs because they were black and how life was harder for them when they first came to Canada. For those that have lived in Toronto long enough, there use to be restaurants with signs that read "No dogs or Jews allowed". There were apartments that use to not rent to black people and hotels that would not take black customers, making travel hard for people that weren't white. But because of the work of many people, including Martin Luther King, I don't have to endure that and I'm thankful for that.

And so, as millions watched Obama's acceptance speech, there was almost a sense of disbelief, as only a generation ago black people had to fight for acceptance into society and now they are excepted into society's highest position. It brought Oprah and Rev. Jessie Jackson to tears to believe that we as a people have come this far and Obama's election has paved the way for other black people in the future. It was almost strange, as just a few years ago I thought that Colin Powell would run, but many people felt that America would not vote for a black president and now here we are. It has been inspiring for many people around the World to see Obama's election win And now as I think about it, its inspiring to me.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Nailing Your Wife


Nailing Your Wife

 

This video is for those that like porn just not he sex part.  Well at lest that is the tag line for this new online miniseries called PG Porn,which is being produced by Spike.  This new series shows some real potential, but I do wonder why they went with a real porn star for one of the main characters, not that she doesn't completely pull of the role.  Aria Giovanni does a superb job, its just that usually in spoofs you use actors that are not involved in the film or industry that you are spoofing.  Not that it is a problem here.

So enjoy your porn, just not the sex.

Don’t Watch Nicholas Cage Movies PSA

Thursday, September 25, 2008

I guess This is a Good Reason not to Cancel on David Letterman

 

Yesterday, John McCain was to appear on the Late Night with David Letterman Show, but John McCain decided to cancel his appearance.  McCain's cancellation wasn't taken to well by Letterman and Letterman decided in McCain's absence to give McCain some grade A zingers.  Whether it was right or wrong of McCain to cancel his appearance I will let you decide, but in any case enjoy the video posted  above. 

Friday, September 19, 2008

Mega Man 9 Comes out in 2 days

I just thought I would put out a friendly reminder about this game, to any one interested.  I just finished watching this review and it really does sound pretty cool.

 

 

 

Update:  Just thought I would remove the IGN counter since it turned into an ad.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

What would you do with Kitt?

Well the new one that is.  Appearently, someone had an idea what to do with the car and decided to steal it, while the car made a stop in Toronto.  In the below video (which I found on The Movie Blog), it is clearly seen that someone on the side runs over to the car after the driver exited it and takes off with the car.  If this is a stunt, its a good one since it does look like a legitimate car theft.

 

Friday, September 12, 2008

Philip Seymour Hoffman Confirms He is not The Penguin

A Few days ago, I wrote that I felt that the news that Johnny Depp and Philip Seymour Hoffman were going to play The Riddler and The Penguin was not true.  Well it has been confirmed to be false information.  In a recent interview(which The Movie Blog reported on), Mr. Hoffman is stated as saying:

“No one has talked to me about it ever — never,” replied Hoffman. “It happened, like, five years ago, too. It was a rumor back then and it’s still a rumor. [laughs] It’s just in the press. It’s funny.”
This is not a surprise to me. I'm just surprised at how easy it is to get these stories going.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

So its Riddler and Penguin

batman-riddler-poster Well at lest that is according to Michael Caine. In a blog post on MTV.com, Casey Seijas (a blogger for MTV)  commented on a recent interview they had with Michael Caine at the Toronto International Film Festival in which Michael Caine appears to confirm that they are looking at the Penguin and the Riddler to be the villains in the next Batman Film.  Also, according to the Post they are looking at Johnny Depp to play the Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman to play the Penguin.

Now, if this news is in fact true I would be pretty happy, as well as, many fans that have been making posters for the next film featuring The Riddler as one of the next villains for weeks.  And, being a fan of Johnny Depp's work I don't think there would be a better choice to play the Riddler (then again, I could be wrong).  But that being said, I would like to tend not to believe this post since I feel that Michael Caine was being sarcastic. 

If you read to about the second paragraph of the post he says, “It’s Johnny Depp as The Riddler. And The Penguin is Philip Seymour Hoffman. I read it in the paper.”   Then, Michael Caine goes into this story were he is talking to an Warner Bros. executive that confirms this information.  So if he was in fact being honest I don't really feel that you can really tell from this interview.  So before we all get excited I feel we should all just wait on confirmation from the Studio, whether or not this news is legit information. 

Monday, September 8, 2008

Star Trek Turns 42

320x240 Today, Star Trek is celebrating its 42nd birthday. It was on this date in 1966 that Star Trek (The Original Series) first aired on NBC in the United States. Since then it has birthed many spin offs and is now the second longest running Science Fiction series.

For anyone that want a complete list of series, The Movie Blog as a nice post that you can find here.   So happy birthday Star Trek  and I really do hope that it can come back.  I still to this day watch re-runs of many of the spin off series.   (I must confess that I don't watch the Original series regularly.)  Hopefully, the new Star Trek film can breath new life into the franchise. 

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Seeing the World in Chrome

chrome

Yesterday, Google released there new revolutionary browser called Google Chrome.  This new browser promises to be more stable and secure then the other previous browsers and has some new innovative features.  

The first thing that many users may notice from using this browser is that it is fast.   Several sites have tested Google chrome against the other major browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Safari) and found that it runs a lot fast.  ( if you want more details please read here.) 

The next thing that people will notice is the fact that Google Chrome still remains stable as more and more tabs get opened in the browser.  Earlier today, I had about 20-30 tabs open and it didn't even slow down in its performance.  Part of the way that this is done is that each tab actually generates a separate task in Task manager and thus, if one tab gets hung up it doesn't effect the rest of the browser.  (If you want more information on the features, etc.  there is a 38 page comic that you can read describing the browser, which you can read here.)

But one feature that I found had great promise is the Incognito Window. This window is designed to help protect your privacy, by not saving any cookies and not generating a log of any sites that you visit in the this window.  I really think that this idea is pretty cool,  and will definitely help those that live with others to hide their activities that they don't want them to some how stubble across. 

Now there a few negatives to this browser.  Firstly, it attempts to handle everything in the address bar including Google search.  I really prefer the way that Firefox handles search engines in a separate bar and allows you to on the easily switch between search engines in that same bar.  As far as I can tell there is no option for changing out search engines other than switching your default search engine.

Secondly, there are no add-ons.  Being a new browser there hasn't been any time for anyone to develop add-ons for this browser as yet.  But I do believe that time will bring in some add-ons, especially as people adopt this new browser.  (For a list of other known problems, please visit Google Chrome Help Center.)

Lastly, if you want to download Google Chrome you can find it here.  Enjoy.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Sorry about the Break in Posts

I've given myself a mini vacation and I hope to begin posting starting tommorrow.  Sorry to anyone that has come looking to find new posts since I've been a way.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

I'm running for President

Poor Britney

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

 

This video of Britney Spears in concert was recently posted to the site Funny or Die.com,  which features the isolated feed from Britney Spears' Microphone.  For those of you that have already watched the video, you know that she does sound terrible as she sings along to her own songs.  Many times in the video she is off key and out of breath as she sings .  This has lead many to comment that Britney Spears sucks, that she has no talent.   But that is where I really feel people are really taking this out of contexts. 

I should start here by saying that I am not a Britney Spears fan, I just feel that lately people just really like to pick on this girl even though she has personally done nothing to them.  This video was only released with the intention of embarrassing Britney, which I don't really think is right.  Having said all that, many people find it difficult to sing and dance at the same time.  As you can hear from the video, Britney is really out of breath, and under those circumstances, I don't think any of us have the right to expect someone to sing well.  One person in the comments section of the video, tried to imply that Usher and other artist do sing well while dance, why can't she.  Well this might be news to some, but they are probably lip synching too.  (Well at lest I wouldn't be surprised if they do, with there dance routines.)

I really feel that people are being unfair to Britney and I think it's time that people really just leave her alone and let your live her life like the rest of us.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Paris Hilton for President

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Who would ever thought that Paris Hilton would make so much sense.  It was a dumb move for McCain to bring her into this Presidential race.  Especially since her parents are McCain supporters.  Bad move. 

Friday, August 1, 2008

Beware of the Joker

batman&joker While many of us have been enjoying the new Batman movie over the last several weeks, some may have been wondering if this story is in fact real.  (Well no you probably weren't, since we know these characters are from comic books, right.)  Well that was until now.  WNDU (one of NBC's stations) is reporting that 20 year old Spencer Taylor dressed up as the Joker and tried to rob a Theatre in Three Rivers, Indiana Sunday night. 

When police arrived at the theatre they found the that the theatre staff had managed to restrain Spencer.  Whether this heist was connected to an attempt to raise havoc in the Three Rivers area no one is certain.  Also, there was no mention of Batman's involvement in the arrest. 

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Rest In Peace Randy Pausch

Last week Friday, Randy Pausch passed away at age of 47 from cancer.  For those of you that are asking who Randy Pausch is, he is was a Professor at Carnegie Mellon University that gave his last lecture on September 18, 2007.  This lecture has since been viewed over 5 million times on YouTube and gave him some TV appearances, such as Oprah, due to the fact that this lecture has been very inspiring for many people. It is said to see him go. 

For anyone that is interested this lecture has been made into a book by Randy Pausch called The Last Lecture.

 

Friday, July 18, 2008

TV Meets the Web


Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

 

It appears that the migration of TV to the web has finally started, with the release of Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.  This is probably the first online series to be produced by a big Hollywood name.  (At lest its the only one I know of.) The series Stars Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day and Nathan Fillion.

According to the Movie Blog, when it released it, the site was brought down do to the amount of visitors to the site, and has since then managed to top the iTune's Downloads list.  For anyone, interested in seeing this online just click on this link, or you can buy it in iTune's for $4.

Trailer for Heroe's Season 3

 

I saw this on the Movie Blog's website and thought that it would be a good thing to also share with you guys.  This trailer is pretty dame cool.  I can't wait for Heroes to come back in September.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Will Smith in Open relationship

Hello ladies.  For any of you that have wished to have your chance with Will Smith, it appears you might be able to get your wish.  According to MSN's CeleEdge , Will Smith (in an interview for Reveal magazine), has stated that he is in an open marriage with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.  According to the interview, both Will and Jada are free to sleep with anyone, as long as, they tell the other person first what they are doing.

Now I do have to say that I don't really agree with the idea of an "Open Marriage"  (call me old fashioned), but I guess if it make them happy its um.... ok.  I wouldn't be in one, but then again maybe I could use a night with Jada. 

DC vs Mortal Kombat

 

Here is the latest trailer from DC vs Mortal Kombat coming out of DC.  Upon watching it I'm kind of left with one thought.  Has Mortal Kombat hit rock bottom?  When Mortal Kombat was first released it was a very popular video game.  I spent hours playing it in the Arcade and on the console.  It was a very fun and innovative video game for its time.  But, as the series went on it just became more and more crappy.  Not that it was terrible, but it wasn't what it use to be.  The series started to be more about gore and less about innovation, unlike the Street Fighter series that made a number of changes over the years.

So now as Mortal Kombat has been teamed up with DC for this new video game, you have to wonder if the developers are beginning to acknowledge that the franchise needs some spicing up.  Whether it will be as refreshing an experience as playing Marvel vs Capcom, we  will have to wait and see. I hope that it can be, I think they should shelf the series for a few years until they can bring in that level of innovation needed to save the series.  Then again, maybe its to late.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Why I can't wait for Mega Man 9

 

As a kid, one of my most favorite game series was the Mega Man series of games.  From when I first got my NES gaming system I managed to get a hold of a used Mega Man 1 gaming cartridge, I've been hooked on Mega Man.  Buying all the Mega Man series games (etc. after Mega man 6 &7)  and the Mega Man X series on the Super Nintendo. 

So when it was announced that Capcom would be making Mega Man 9, it was a no brainer for me if I was going to buy it.  Now am I completely excited about the direction of the game?  Not everything.  I think they should have gone with at lest 64 bit graphics, since it now looks older than the last set of Mega Man games that have released on the DS and even for the Super Nintendo.  The sound should have been updated also.  But those things aside, Mega Man was always was about the game play and if they can deliver the old Mega man game play, I'm more than happy with that. 

Also, since this is only a download game, it should be a lot cheaper, which is a bonus for any fan of the original series.  As for anyone that isn't a fan, it might be a hard sell, but if it really takes off, maybe a non fan might give it a shot.

Friday, July 11, 2008

The iPhone Releases

The Apple iPhone 3G released today, after much hype, to long lines at many stores around the world, including here in Canada were there had been much publicized outrage at Roger's pricing plans.  Now whether in the end it will be a huge success for Roger's will be seen in the days to come.  If in fact the iPhone is as hot a seller for Roger's as it was in its first debut last year,  we might kiss any reductions in data plan rates or roaming good bye.  Then again, I guess we get to use a get phone.  (Well you do, since I'm not buying one).

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Max Payne Trailer

Fake iPhone 3G in China

 

While everyone over here is making a fuss over the new 3G iPhone.  It appear's that China has us beat.  According to this news report, Chinese counterfeiters have been able to duplicate the iPhone, and not only that, they have added new features to the phone.  The best part is the phone sells for about half the price of the new iPhone. So if you have trouble getting the real thing, it might be time to take a trip to China.  Well that is assuming the phone is as durable and as reliable as the real iPhone. 

The only thing that sucks is that us Canadians, will still have to deal with Roger's since they are the only GSM carrier.  So it wouldn't still work out to well for us.  But maybe it does for you.

Roger's Make a Concession

Engadget is reporting that Roger's Wireless, in response to the public outrage at there pricing plans, is offering a 6 GB data plan for $30 a month which can be applied to any voice plan.  Also, Roger's announced that they would be holding 8 am iPhone launch events at a number of Roger's stores, which includes breakfast. 

Now this does sound better then what was offered before, but it does come with a bit of a catch.  The offer is only available to people that sign a contract for 3 years before the August 31st deadline.  Meaning that these people may have to pay a higher price once there contracts are up. 

RuinedIphone.com has thanked Roger's for there concession, but have stated that "It's Not Enough".  RuinedIphone.com will be continuing the push for Unlimited data plans, as well as, a reduction on roaming charges.

So in the end, it appears that Roger's may have bitten off more than they could chew in trying to bring the iPhone to Canada.  We weren't happy as Canadians with the prices we pay for service and the iPhone just brought it out more into the forefront (which is a good thing).  I've wanted for years to see a decrease in the prices we pay for cellphone service, and it appears that because of the iPhone we might just get it. 

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

What's up with RuinedIphone.com?

As you know a couple of week ago, ruinedIphone.com launched there online petition to get Rogers to change there data plan prices for the upcoming release of the Apple iPhone in Canada.  ruinedIphone.com has received a lot of attention for their online campaign with newspaper articles and News broadcasts picking up the story.  Even I wrote a Post for this petition and signed my name to it. 

Last week, it came out that oilchange.com has bought ruinedIphone.com and is planning to help the guys at ruinedIphone.com to continue there fight against Rogers.  Now this kind of makes me feel funny.  Not that I think that the guys at oilchange.com are bad guys, but I've never heard of an online petition or any type of protest site or group sell themselves to another company or organization before.  It doesn't feel right, even if the oilchange guys just stick to helping out.  Last week, I encouraged people to sign this petition and now there info belongs to another company.  (This doesn't sit well with me.) I personally would have felt more comfortable if the Oilchange guys had just given money to the site.  So I have to wonder, is there something about the site that the Oilchange guys want.  Is it the advertising they would get from the site, or the e-mail addresses?  Will we start receiving spam in our inboxes?  In truth, I don't know.  I would like to hope that these guys are all upstanding people who just wanted to help out. 

In all truth, I hope that the site's acquisition doesn't slow down any of the support that this campaign is getting and that people will continue to support it.  If we stop now, Rogers could still end up winning.  We would lose any hope of actually getting some measure of change in the cellular phone market, here in Canada.  So I've decided to try and be optimistic about the future of this campaign and that the guys at oilchange.com will not do anything nefarious with our data. 

Roger's Feels the Heat

iPhone Well that's at lest according to Apple Insider.  In a recent article, Apple Insider  reported on a rumor that due to the public backlash to Roger's rate plans, Apple has decided to divert a "significant amount" of there iPhones over to Europe.  According to the article, each store could have only about 20-30 iPhones at launch here in Canada.

If this is true, it could be good for us the consumer.  If Rogers begins to hurt it might encourage them to offer unlimited data plans, which is what everyone has been asking for.  Well except for me, since I'm not planning on buying one, but I'm sure the people that are buying one will greatly appreciate an unlimited data plan for their iPhone.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Hellboy on INSIDE THE ACTOR'S STUDIO

All is not well in Movie land.

varietyboycottWell at lest, as it comes to the reporting.  As you probably know, online there are many movie news sites, as well as, blogs that report or give commentary on movie news stories that emerge from Hollywood.  One of the main tenants of any type of blogging or journalism is that if you get the story from someone else, you give credit to the person or site that you got the story from. Not every blog, does this, but the reputable ones do.  Well all except Variety, which has a long standing policy that they do not give credit when they get a story from a blog or news site.  This has infuriated many of the online movie news sites, who have asked Variety to stop using this practice and has lead these sites to boycott Variety. This boycott was first started by a small number of the online sites, but as Variety has decided to continue to follow the same practice, other sites have joined in on the boycott, namely The Movie Blog where I first found out about this story.

Now, I'm not sure what all the news sites and blogs have decided to do, but I can tell you what "The Movie Blog" is doing with there site (which you can read here).  John Campea (the founder of the Movie Blog) has simply decided to do what Variety is doing to him and others and just take Variety's stories without linking to them or giving credit, while Rodney Brazeau (a writer for "The Movie Blog") has decided just to not even look at Variety for stories all together (which I very much respect). 

The hope of these blogs and news sites is that with the lose of links from their sites, as well as, an traffic that Variety may receive from these links, will lead to Variety changing their practices.  (It should be note here that without the links generated from these online news sites and blogs, Variety may possibly face a lowering of there site on Google, due to the fact that Google ranks pages partly based on how many other sites link to them. In other words, if Variety stops being linked too, they could become a less relevant search result.)

Whether these actions will help to force Variety to change their practices, I don't know.  I do have some reservations which John Campea tried to address in his follow up post, but I'm not still not convinced that this boycott will change anything. If they can gain enough support, sure something will definitely happen, but Variety is a big site on the Internet, which also has a magazine and is reference on shows like "Entertainment Tonight". So the question is, "Will these blogs be able to hurt Variety enough or gain enough attention to make it matter?  I'm not sure.  So while other sites are boycotting Variety, Variety is free to continue to take there stories without credit. It doesn't seem right, and I feel Variety should be ashamed to be continuing this practice. Give credit where its due, it doesn't cost anything.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

How Long Can the Wii last?

Ever since the Nintendo Wii debuted in November of 2006 it has been flying off store shelves at an unprecedented rate, so much so that even after a year after its release it is still rarely found on store shelves.  (Well that is depending on where you live.)  Seeing all this, the question keeps coming to me, "how long can this really last?"   After reading this article done by Kotaku I have to wonder. 

In the article, it talks about this rumor that the Xbox 360's spring dashboard update might allow users to use a new motion control that Microsoft is supposedly working on.   If we are this close to a motion controller from Microsoft, I have to wonder how long it will take before Microsoft can started swaying people to buy and Xbox 360 instead of a Nintendo Wii.  Or is it just to late for Microsoft?

In truth I'm not sure.  To think that casual gamers would change from wanting a Wii to wanting the more expensive Xbox 360 is probably unlikely.  But what if Microsoft released there controller with a price cut to the XBox 360 and some casual games.  Would people still want a Wii?  In truth, I'm not perfectly convinced they would, but then again I'm not completely sure either.  If Nintendo was to lose there only technical advantage over the other systems, would it be as desirable?  You have to wonder.

Quantum of Solace Trailer

Monday, June 30, 2008

All is not well in iPhone Heaven

After more than a year of waiting, it was finally announced by Rogers that they would be bringing the iPhone to Canada.  All appeared to be well with this announcement, as many people were excited to finally be able to get the iPhone in Canada.  But then, something went horribly wrong as the rate plans for this device were announced. (For anyone interested, here is the link to see what the rates are in your area of Canada.)

Although the rates are the same as those of AT&T, we Canadians will receive less talk time.  According to Fortune, we Canadians will receive "... third less calling time, half as many text messages, and puts a 750 MB cap on 3G data usage — with steep fees for users who go over their monthly limit.

This inequality that we Canadians have with our American counterparts has not been taken lightly by us Canadians, and has lead to an online petition that has gained a lot of attention from mainstream media.  RuinedIphone.com (renamed from fuckyourogers.com (pardon the french)) launched its online petition to convince Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple Inc.) to renegotiate Apple's contract with Rogers/Fido, by sending him an Open letter on July 11th, the day that the new iPhone releases.

Whether Steve Jobs will listen to this petition, I'm not to confident about it.  But I guess its worth a shot.  If on day 1, a lot of people run out and buy an iPhone at the high rates, I'm pretty certain we can kiss this petition good bye.  But if the reception is lukewarm for the iPhone, he might be more than welcome to listening to consumers. But in any case, if you would like to try and help out, just click on the image below and add your name to the petition, as I will add mine. 

RuinedIphone.com

Friday, June 27, 2008

McCain Vows To Replace Secret Service With His Own Bare Fists


McCain Vows To Replace Secret Service With His Own Bare Fists

 

Sorry for the second Onion video.  But after seeing it I could resist.

Historic ‘Blockbuster’ Store Offers Glimpse Of How Movies Were Rented In The Past


Historic â��Blockbusterâ�� Store Offers Glimpse Of How Movies Were Rented In The Past 

I thought that some of you would get a kick out of watching this video from "The Onion News Network".  Its pretty hilarious, and points out (rather sarcastically)that Blockbusters and record stores, etc.  are really starting to become extinct due to businesses online that make renting videos and buying music online, a lot simpler. Although its sad to see some of these businesses go,  it may in the end work out for the better.   

World of Warcraft is getting safer

Wowlogo Well at lest Blizzard, hopes that it will become safer with the introduction of there new "Blizzard® Authenticator".  What is it?  Well, its a key fob device (that can be purchased for $6.50 from Blizzard's Online store), that randomly generates a six-digit number when a button on the device is pressed.  This number is then used in conjunction with your log In ID and password when logging into World of Warcraft.  Without this number  you will not be able to log into your account. (I'm assuming if you bought one of these devices, as Blizzard calls it an "optional security measure").  The number that is generated is only useful once and is only valid for a short period of time. 

So in other words, its similar to the "Paypal Security Key".    As for if it is as secure, as Paypal's "Security Key", only time will tell.  What I do know is that is will, help people who had there account hacked or knows someone that had their account hacked to, feel more secure every time they log in to their account.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

So What if John McCain Called his Wife a 'Cunt'?

In the last couple of weeks, a story has been coming out that John McCain, called his wife a 'cunt' during a tv appearence.  The video posted below attempts to make light of it and actually encourages us to make this story news.  Which I don't think it should be.

Now I thought I should start by saying that I don't think John McCain was right in calling his wife a 'cunt'.  I don't think that it is the right way for a man to address his wife.  Having said that, the point still remains that it happened 16 years ago.  If it was last week he had said this or a few weeks ago, I would be able to see the need to talk about this, but 16 years after the fact, I think it's a little extreme.  If you don't believe that it was that long ago just click on the video, so that you can go the the YouTube page and read the info. 

Its time for the story to die. People say stupid things when they are mad or arguing.  We shouldn't be holding it against them, as it appears his wife hasn't.  So if she can move on, so should we.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

MTV's Aimee Allen, Ron Paul Anthem Music Video

 

For anyone that has been reading my blog over the last little while, you will probably know that I'm not a Ron Paul Fan.  But this video is pretty well produced and actually, the music sounds good.  If only other candidates had such well produced videoes, etc. from their supporters.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Is Net Neutrality only an issue to Keep ISPs honest?

Unless you haven't been on many of the news sites, such as Digg, you probably don't know much about the topic called Net Neutrality.  The basic premise of Net Neutrality is that ISPs (Internet Service Providers) should not be allowed to discriminate on the different types of traffic that passes through their networks and instead to treat each type of traffic equally regardless of what it is.  By not discriminating, we mean they shouldn't slow down certain types of traffic in favour of others. 

Having said that it came out the Bell Sympatico (the service that I'm subscribed to) has an ongoing practice of slowing down (Packet Shaping) P2P and online video traffic between the hours of 4 pm and 2 am, where they see a peak in traffic.  Now Bell's argument for this is, that they have to do this in order to allow everyone to use there network, as they say that a minority (5% to 10% of users) are consuming about 33% of their bandwidth

But the bad part of this is that they have begun to do this to their Third Party ISP subscribers.  Teksavvy Solutions has come out to say that they have notice, as well as their customers, that there Internet traffic has been coming in a lot slower lately.  After some investigation Teksavvy was able to determine that it was in fact Bell that was slowing down there traffic, which is kind of bad for Teksavvy since they advertise that they do not discriminate against the types of traffic that passes through there networks. 

Looking at all of this I have to say that this behaviour from Bell and other ISPs (as Bell isn't the only one doing this) sucks.  In truth, if this is what Bell and the other ISPs have to do in order to keep me receiving my Internet service, I am more than for it, as I understand that when the Internet was started it really wasn't envisioned that people would be using it for video and other types of traffic.  Having said that, these ISPs should not be selling to there clients that they are giving them "Unlimited Internet perfect for streaming video on the Internet" (as one of Bells TV ads stated), and not giving us unlimited. 

If ISPs simply advertised that you get so many Gigs of download and that between the hours of 4pm and 2 am you may experience slower download speeds due to increased volumes of traffic, I don't think anyone would have a problem with that.  But they don't and instead they go to the government (at lest in the US) asking the regulator to introduce a law that allows them to continue to discriminate against various types of traffic, all the while maintaining that they are offering unlimited Internet. 

In truth I just don't understand why ISPs just can't be honest with their customers.  If they were I think they would find more support for what they are doing and we would have to waste the time of regulators. 

Monday, April 14, 2008

Alicia Keys Embraces Black Panthers

Alicia Keys

At lest it looks that way.  In an article by msnbc , which sights a Blender magazine interview, Alicia Keys talks about how she is now wearing a Pendant of an AK-47 and has read several autobiographies of several Black Panther leaders.

Also in the article, she has a theory that the feud between Biggie and Tupac was in fact started by the media and the government to keep a new black leader from rising up.  Which doesn't make sense in light of Obama's rise.  Why didn't they go after him? But anyways, I really don't know what is going on with her, since even her mother is worried about her. 

I  hope this phase that Alicia is going through goes away, since I really respect her and her music.  I would hate for her to tarnish her career by getting into politics.  Then again, politics made some bands famous.  So I guess we will have to wait and see what happens.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Good Friday

Hi everyone.  I hope that all of you are enjoying your long weekend.  And for you Christians,  I hope that you enjoy your time of remembrance for what Christ did for us.  I have been spending time over the last several weeks contemplating and reflecting on this myself.  In many ways I still don't understand it, why he would die for us. How could he love us after all the things we do? But he does.   He died and he did so to renew us, so that we might live a freer life. 

Many of us carry around burdens from our past.  It is in these times we should look to get rid of it.  Let this time be a time of renewal for all of us.  

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentines Day

Hey everyone I would just like to wish everyone of you a happy Valentines Day.  I hope that all of you have a wonderful time.  And to all you who are single, I feel for you.  I'm there with you in your singleness and one day we will be involved in all of the Valentine goodness.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

The Writer Strike is Finally Over

That's right. The strike that sent all of your favourite shows into re-runs is now over, well that is at lest if the writers vote for the deal today. Which they most likely will. But this does bring up a few questions. By now, many of us have gone for a few months without our favourite shows, so when they finally come back (in a few months) will we be watching?

All of us have had to find other activities to occupy the time that we normally devoted to our favourite shows, and so will we decide to give these new activities up? In truth some people that I have talked to are just aching for there favourite shows to come back. One women whom I work with, is a diehard Desperate Housewives fan and plans on watching it when it returns, even after I told her that she would have to wait for another couple of months. But I could imagine people giving up on TV entirely.

I most admit that I'm waiting to start watching Heroes again. I want to see what Sylar does now that he has his powers back and if Adam will escape from his grave. But some shows, that have managed to stick around through the strike have just went down hill and maybe will end up off my list of shows to watch. Like Prison Break. Was it just me or did the last 2 episodes have scenes that were just unclear or didn't make sense. Like after the first commercial, I found it weird that Michael and the escapes where being chased in the jungle during the day, when before the commercial it was night time. Also, how did the first group that went out of the tunnel all get caught and shot at, but the others where just able to get out unseen by the guards (that should have been suspicious of more prisoners escaping). Also, why did Brad go all the way around into the prison to show tunnel to the prison guards when they were pretty much standing by the hole they came out of. Finally, why where they going to let Sucre go when he had a warrant out for his arrest. It just did make sense. Although it did add to the suspense. But anyway, enough of my complaining.

So will we be watching when our show comeback? I guess we will have to wait and see. For the most part I believe we will, but I think we will see some drop offs. Then again, I could be wrong.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

The naked truth about women in Russian politics

 

I recently saw this clip posted to Digg's Video section and it brought some thoughts to mind about the state of politics in our country my Canada.  These women in Russia, are more or less qualified to be in the positions that they are in, but if they we were to be over here in Canada (or the US), how would we react?  Would we take them seriously or just objectify them because they are beautiful women?

I'm thinking that we wouldn't take them seriously.   Recently up here in Canada, we had a politician by the name Belinda Stronach,  that even though she was  involved in running Magna International (one of the world's major auto parts manufactures), many men were more interested in trying to get a date with her because they found here "hot", then her leadership abilities.  Whether you liked her or not, she was a smart women.  Maybe a little ambitious, but smart.  And I'm thinking if another women came along that was remotely attractive she would receive the same treatment, unlike her male counterparts.

By now you are probably thinking that there is a double standard as it comes to women.  Which there is.  But I find that it gets thrown around a lot as an excuse for bad behaviour.  Which brings me to this video.  It seems that these women politicians feel that they are having a double standard applied to them, and I don't think that there is one.  In their cases, they have appeared nude in major publication, something that I feel is below the level someone that is a leader in a country.  Call me old fashioned, but I still feel that our leaders should be people that we can all look up to as good examples of the morals and principals that our socieity holds to. 

Now these women and some other people might say that these pictures are artistic.  But I don't buy it.  No one buys "Maxim"  for its artistic value.  I feel that when some says their pictures are "artistic" after posing nude in a publication like Playboy, they are only making an excuse for what they are doing.  Which is sad since in Politics we never hear of the male leaders taking off there clothes for magazines.  So what is it about women, that makes them feel that they have to go naked to be popular?  Until women stop posing nude for these magazines, etc.  I don't think they will be ever be taken seriously when they enter office.  Then again, maybe I'm wrong and we will see males following suit.  Just imagine if George Bush posed for Playgirl.  Would he win over more women voters?  I guess we will never know.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

The Negotiating Table

 

This is a kind of funny video that was done by Seth Macfarlene (the creator of "The Family Guy")  about the writer strike negotiations.  I though creative, I wonder if it is a good idea to portray the Producers as a group of animal puppet. Since when the writer strike ends, he and the rest of the writers are going to have to go back to work with these guys that they have spent months making fun of.  In any case I hope this strike ends soon.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Should Laws Protect Virtual Property?

With our lives being increasingly moving online, I've been left with the question of whether or not governments should be passing laws to protect our online property.   Especially, as we consider recent events.

For anyone that has been on Digg in the last couple of weeks you would have read the story of David Airey. How he went on vacation to India and found out that  someone had stolen his Domain for his business' website, using a vulnerability in gmail, and held it hostage for money. In the case of David he was able to get back his domain thanks to the Digg readers getting involved. But if they had not he would have had to go to court and gotten them to freeze his account, as his service provider Go Daddy wasn't going to return account without him going though the courts. Now in the real world, if someone steals your house you would call the police and they would investigate, but online it almost seems like a no mans land right now.  Where there is no set state of Law. Then again,  maybe in the case of David he would have had to go to court to dispute his case in the real world as well,  given the fact that the hacker, using David's e-mail address, actually followed Go Daddy's policy for transferring ownership of a domain over to someone else.

Another incident that happened recently online was that one of the host (Randy Deluxe) from The Instance World of Warcraft Podcast had his World of Warcraft account stolen from him by a hacker (probably using a key logger), who liquidated his characters and mailed all of his money(gold) and items to someone else on the server.  Which is kind of crappy, but this hacker (or cracker to be specific) also, liquidated his guild bank,  which contained money and items from not just him but other players in his guild also.  So not only do you lose control of your account, but he had to explain to all of his guild members why he emptied the guild bank.  

Now someone might be reading this and saying why should we protect virtual property since it isn't real?  Because there is real value to that property and when it is stolen (I believe) that psychologically it probably has the same effect that theft in the real world causes.  For David it was his business that was stolen from under him,  and thus his livelihood.   For Randy Deluxe, it was hours of his time that he spent on his characters to collect items and gold that was wasted.  Time that if measured could be turned into real dollars and cents based on what he feel his time is worth.  

In the future, we might primarily socialize and do business online.  At lest that is the way that we are heading.  So I feel that it is important to protect what is already up there. Then again,  maybe you disagree.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Happy New Year

Hey Everyone.  I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy New Year.  I hope that you have fun where every you are going and I hope to see you in the New Year.