June 2008

Stupid Math!
Submitted Monday, June 30, 2008 - 11:59:30 PM by Klaitu

You know those IP addresses.. the ones you use on the internets to tell your computer which tubes to go down?

Yeah, well it turns out those punks are in binary. Stupid IP Addresses, making me do math!

So, here's the IP address for my router on my internal network"

192.168.1.1

Now, you might think that's straightforward enough, but it's not. That number right there? That's just the "for stupids" version of an IP address. Here's the actual IP address:

11000000101010000000000100000001

Yeah, that makes a whole heap of a lot of sense, don't it?

Here, maybe this will make you feel better:

11000000.10101000.00000001.00000001

So, doing these computer courses they've got me doing all sorts of math to calculate these things out. "Convert this into binary, convert this into decimal" that kind of crap.

It wouldn't be so bad, except they make you calculate it by hand. This is why mankind invented calculators.. so we didn't have to do the math.

I did learn something cool though. IP Addresses have a decimal notation as well that nobody uses!

http://3475957942

Go ahead, click on that link. That's an IP Address, darnit!

Victory is Life
Submitted Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - 11:41:57 PM by Klaitu

It doesn't matter what card game you are playing in the back room of the comic book store. Play this card and you win:

Lynn Kyle doesn't want you to vote for Rick Hunter
Submitted Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - 10:35:01 PM by Klaitu

If you don't know who these people are, just pretend like you didn't see this post. It's nerd time.

Robotech: The Protoculture Collection
Submitted Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - 4:02:28 PM by Klaitu

I bought this thing about a year ago, and because I worked at Hertz so much, I really never had the time to watch all of it. After all, it's about 40 hours of Robotech episodes, and another 100 hours of special features or something.

As I have lamented before in my Shadow Chronicles review, Robotech is really good for the first 45 or so episodes. The first chunk is called "The Macross Saga" and that's the Robotech that everyone knows and loves, with the transforming planes and the Zentraedi and all that.

I hate to confess, but I've never watched with any seriousness past this point. I've checked a few episodes here and there, but I never sat down and watched all of them.

Well, now I have.

The next chunk after the Macross Saga is "The Masters" It features the Robotech Masters coming to Earth because they are running out of protoculture, and the Earth has some. This chunk of Robotech is easily the worst, and most forgettable of the entire series. The original anime they ripped it from is much more stupidly comedic.

However, the last chunk.. "The New Generation" is pretty awesome. It also features planes that transform into robots, as the Macross Saga did, and it intelligently moves the plot forward. It'a also got better animation than either of the first 2 chunks.

So, overall, the Robotech series is pretty good. If you're pressed for time, cut out "The Masters" as it's really immaterial, except perhaps for the last episode.

Overall Score: 8 of 10

Crossover in Triplicate
Submitted Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - 3:31:30 PM by Klaitu

People don't get why I watch Doctor Who. Heck, I'm the only one I know that watches Who with any regularity. I think part of it has to do with it not having a great deal of competition in the sci-fi world, especially during the summer.

Doctor Who is just like any US series in that it has dud episodes, and that it has awesome episodes. The thing is, those british guys come up with some stuff that you've never even thought of before.. and that's pretty rare in the world of sci-fi.

Well, they've come up with something that I thought was pretty awesome. Something that American audiences would probably consider "too much" but to which I would describe as "yes, please".

At the moment, Doctor Who is kinda like a Comic book. It has 3 shows: Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures. The three shows exist in the same universe, share the same physical rules, etc.

In America, Star Trek had 2 shows concurrently.. TNG and DS9, and then later Voyager and DS9. Stargate also had SG1 and Atlantis on at the same time. The closest American show I can think of is CSI, which has 3 incarnations.

That's neat and all, but the Doctor Who guys are taking it a step farther.. for the Doctor Who finale they've designed a 2-part crossover episode that features all 3 shows at the same time.

This isn't your Picard on DS9 or Riker on Voyager moment. This is the entire cast of 3 different shows teaming up in order to defeat the Doctor's next nefarious enemy.

Imagine if Picard, Sisko, Janeway, and the entire cast of each series teamed up to end the Dominion War. The ending they came up with was brilliant, but if they brought together every character you had ever heard of to do it, you'd probably pee your pants.. and really, weren't you wondering why the Enterprise was not a part of the Cardassia invasion?

Anyways, it's little things like this that cause me to watch Doctor Who. Nobody does this stuff! Nobody but the Doctor.

Things That Suck
Submitted Saturday, June 21, 2008 - 8:05:46 PM by Klaitu

It's time for some random negativity! Yaaay!

Things that suck, in no particular order:

- Dragonball Z
- Politicians
- People who treat animals like people
- Jack Thompson
- Twitter
- Annoying Kids in Theatres
- Naruto
- Disease
- Fad Hysteria
- Lists of things that suck

Wicked Guitar Solo
Submitted Thursday, June 19, 2008 - 1:43:59 AM by Klaitu

I've been following Edgar Cruz around for awhile now. The guy used to play at the locally owned Crystal's Pizza.

It was a Pizza restaurant that looked like it was some kind of fortune teller's house. Ed would bust a move while you eat!

I mean, I think his fingers are gonna snap off.

Ratios, Aspect Ratios.
Submitted Friday, June 13, 2008 - 4:01:02 PM by Klaitu

TV Executives, I know you're out there. I know you're reading. I've got an axe to grind with you all!

Listen up, there are exactly 2 aspect ratios available for TV viewing these days. There's the old 4/3 standard and the new 16/9 standard.

Stick with me. This isn't complicated, but I know it's already hurting your tiny TV executive brains.

Not all programs are available in 16/9 aspect ratio. It's somewhat new, after all. If you're showing a program on your HD station, but you don't have a HD copy of the show, then for goodness sake play the recording at its intended aspect ratio!!

You can't take a 4/3 show.. let's take "WKRP in Cincinatti". There is no 16/9 version of this program. If you play this program on your HD channel, you need to make sure that the broadcast takes place in the original 4/3 aspect ratio.

You can't just stretch the picture into 16/9 and then advertise it as "HD". I know a lot of you have been doing this, trying to pass it off as HD when it isn't. I'm looking at you, Comedy Central.

TBS, you are the worst offender on the planet. You need to fire whoever put this policy in, because as far as I can tell, NOTHING in your library is in HD, you just stretch it and then call it HD.

And NO, you may not use the lensing filter. The lensing filter distorts the original aspect ratio. The only thing you can do is pillarbox the video and NOT call it HD.

Come on, people.. the Weather Channel even gets this right. How can you not figure this out?

Chuck Norris Roundhouse Kicks Congress
Submitted Tuesday, June 10, 2008 - 10:32:02 AM by Klaitu

Apparently Chuck Norris has a commentary page for world net daily. Who knew? Well, he posted this:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=66557&6=7

He writes about the current high gas prices and the cause of them. He posts several points that I feel the urge to respond to:

- Though we have more oil in the shale of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming than combined in the Middle East (800 billion barrels), liberals and environmentalists have made it illegal to touch it.

Sickness Has a Cruel Fate
Submitted Saturday, June 7, 2008 - 3:03:13 PM by Klaitu

A few days ago, I was sick. I don't know what disease I had, but it involved gallons of mucus constantly blocking my airways, and nearly a week of violent coughing fits.

It was early in the morning, and I was watching TV, lounging in my giant recliner, covered in layers of blankets. A particularly rough coughing fit had seen the remote control fall to the floor, out of reach.

Then, at the mercy of late-night scheduled programming, the unthinkable happened: Sex and the City came on.

I'll admit, I had never seen Sex and the City before, and for good reason.. I'm not a woman. I was about to get an eye full though, as I wasn't about to climb out of my chair to go hunting for the remote.

To be honest, I don't remember a lot of what the plot was. There were women sitting around a table in some chic New York restaurant. All of the women were older, and they were having a conversation. One of the women was saying that she had to go to a distant city (I think San Francisco) so that she could find a man to have sex with.

The other women bantered back and forth, I gathered that all the women were single. This conversation went on for some time, and at one point, I thought they might actually show the woman going to San Francisco.. but they didn't.

I couldn't take much more of the show, and ultimately I did manage to muscle myself out of the recliner and find the remote and resolve my television programming issue.

It's a simple thing for me to say "Sex and the City sucks" because from what I have seen, it truly does.. but the small portion of the show I had seen ate away at me.

Sitting there in the dark, with nothing to do.. I thought about it. What specifically about the show bugged me so much? It's just a TV show, right? How can so many people love this show, when it is so horrible?

It wasn't really the plot.. although it wasn't my style. It wasn't the directing or the writing. The actors weren't doing a sloppy job. The show is admittedly not my style. Sure, everyone's got a different taste.. but my dislike of Sex and the City went father than a case of "not by bag" it went into the land of "Holy Crap, what an annoying show!"

Eventually, I came to the conclusion that what bothered me most about the show were the women at the table having the conversation.

These women are those women who are not particularly old, but they think they are, so they've done all sorts of "enhancements". I think they are supposed to be "thirty-somethings" but they came off as "fifty-somethings". Additionally, all of them are exceedingly bony. Like skeletons who forgot they had skin... you know, like Cher.

It wasn't just their physical demeanor, though. Their attitudes and actions were inane and subjectless. The whole thing came off like it was a group of cheerleaders talking about who was going to date Buff McStudly, Captain of the football team.. except they're all like 40.

I understand that this is TV, and the people are characters. Do people love this show because the characters are more pathetic than they are, and so they feel good about their real life? Do people look up to these characters and idolize them and imitate them? Maybe there's some other reason that I don't understand.

All I know is that I can't stand shallow, pathetic women. Particularly the ones who have convinced themselves that they have it all together, when in fact they are just masking the chaos inside of them.

Any ladies out there? Want to know the secret to confidence in a "man's world"?

Be Yourself. Don't pretend, don't insist, don't convince.

You want to feel confident? Be confident first. Don't try to act confident when you aren't.

Want to own your field? Then go out and own it, but don't try to act as if you own it when you don't know what you're talking about.

Anyways, I find the Sex and the City women to be disgusting. I don't know how people stand to watch the show, and that's okay. If you like it, more power to ya.

Myself, I'll be doing something else.

Visual and Auditory
Submitted Friday, June 6, 2008 - 7:13:01 PM by Klaitu

You know, the music scene has changed since I was a kid. It's a no brainer.. and about every generation can say this legitimately, but I'm referring to something more specific: The Music Video.

It just so happens that my formative years coincided with the "MTV era" From 1985 to 1995 I was in the right age group to be in "the zone".

Now, I wasn't one of those people who was crazy for MTV, I found it pretty offputting, actually.. but I did watch it many times. Heck, you couldn't escape it if you were a kid back then.

Some folks I knew just left MTV on like a radio or something. I was never a big fan of the radio, nor of leaving the MTV on continuously, because they have a certain selection of songs that they are trying to promote. You leave it on for 2 hours and you will have seen the same video 2 or 3 times.

Nowadays, videos are less prevalent, less creative, and generally less important to the industry. I think the MP3 pretty much took the wind out of their sails. The entire music market changed (still changing, really) and one of the casualties seems to be the music video.

Well, in memoriam to the Music Video, I thought I would post up a few of my favorites from years past for your enjoyment.

- A-HA "Take On Me"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-P_TV-gierM

When someone says "music video" this is the first one I think of. The tune is pretty catchy for 1985.. but the video was just mindblowing for the time. It's still pretty cool even today.

- Michael Jackson's Thriller
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AtyJbIOZjS8

Another classic that is arguably more famous for the video than it is for the actual music, although both are great. Thriller basically invented the Music Video. Heck, when my grandma bought a VCR, she had two video tapes: Star Wars, and Thriller. My grandma. yeah.

- Whitesnake - Here I Go Again
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oKTiwCez6Zs

I'll tell you how this goes inside the head of teenagers. "Ooh, nice lady.. OMG, what's she doing, whys she leaning over like tha-- WTF, who are these musicians? Get them off the screen, show us more of the lady! Oh, she's back, look at tha-- What the? Stupid band! go away!"

- Crash Test Dummies - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9q91_kcx3no

I don't know that this song was ever a hit on the radio, but the video was quite the hit. It's also pretty unique and creative, too.

- Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YMMQqE9x6i4

Jamiroquai treats us to some seriously funky looking dancing thanks to a moving floor and camera trickery. Pretty cool! Everyone still wishes that they could pull off that hat.

- Michael Jackson's Moonwalker - Smooth Criminal
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RXW3J0CmbjM

There are two versions of this video, one that was released as a standalone music video, and the one that was included with Michael Jackson's feature film, "Moonwalker". Of the two, the one in the movie is superior. As a kid, we all tried to figure out if they were doing that leaning thing honestly, or if they used a trick. I'm still not sure I know how they did it. Also, Michael shoots a guy with a giant silver-plated pistol. You don't see that.. ever with Michael Jackson.

P.S. Never give Michael the Cue ball, he's not good on them.

- Aqua - Doctor Jones
http://youtube.com/watch?v=buXJlBd3Mf8

Aqua is more famous for Barbie Girl, which does have a video, but the video for Doctor Jones is better. I'll admit it, I liked Aqua. Their videos were in widescreen and were digitally color-enhanced, which makes their video match the mood of their bubbly music perfectly. They also have a lot of stage effects that make their stuff more lighthearted (the volcano, for instance).

Also of note: Rene's awesome Telegraph operating skills. You push that button, you not-gay man, you. Scientists still labor to figure out what the deal is with his eyebrows.

Point of shame: I own the official version of this video on VHS tape.

- Fiona Apple - Across the Universe
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8gLWTtlMwo4

This one was made for the movie Pleasantville, and also uses an interesting digital color processing. I'm not sure exactly that the video is trying to convey any specific idea, but it's pretty abstract, and it's not boring to watch. It seems so many Music Videos of yesteryear were just video footage of a band playing.

- Boy George - The Crying Game
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1wkVhPGLJgo

Oh the amount of heat I took for liking this video. Let's face it, "Boy" George? Anyways, everyone was so quick to dismiss the video, but I think the editing is awesome. Don't believe me? Check it out. They also put post-processing vibration into some of the scenes that looks pretty slick.

- Aerosmith - Hole in my Soul
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nj5CY94s8mU

The nerd's rock ballad! What teenage kid didn't want a girl makin machine?

- Amy Grant - I Will Remember You
http://youtube.com/watch?v=d9ETZGzE83U

Yeah, I know you just saw "Amy Grant" up there and tuned out. I don't blame you, but don't go away! I promise this video is cool! The song is not horrible, it's got a funky synth-bass thing going on, but the real draw here is the weird paint-work overlay and postcard motif. It also features a guy getting blown up by a grenade!

This video always impressed me because although there are all sorts of scenes in the video, it is actually one long scene that is connected by special effects that are blended very well.

- Steve Taylor - Jesus is for Losers
http://youtube.com/watch?v=q023gA5IeV8

Who the crap is Steve Taylor? A CCM artist who managed to produce a video that wasn't cheap or crappy looking. It's also got a pretty cool kaleidoscope effect.

This video isn't mindblowing, unless you consider the budget that he had to work with. CCM artists get crap to work with because their market is miniscule, but Steve here uses what he's got to full effect.

- Michael Jackson - Scream (with Janet Jackson)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vNl2Pm9-7Vk

Speaking of budgets, this video here was once touted as the most expensive music video ever made. It might very well still hold that record, but don't hold me to it. I never really liked this video very much, and I can't figure out why Janet Jackson is trying to pee standing up.. unless she's trying to show Michael how boys do it or something.

Anyways, I also don't know how this is the most expensive video ever. It's got some CGI in it I guess.. Maybe it's expensive because of the expenses for Janet and Michael to be in the same video.

- The Presidents of the United States of America - Peaches
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wvAnQqVJ3XQ

I'm not going to call POTUS lyrical geniusses. I'm not going to claim that their music is spectacular. Their video, however, does contain ninjas. I love videos that give you something interesting to watch.

- The Prodigy - Smack my Bitch Up
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BW7PHcXwE4s

We've all heard the lousy song, but did you see the video? It's actually kind of interesting, it's got a twist ending, you know. It also has naked people in it.

- Madonna - Like a Prayer
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gKMHtcZ7dAQ

The Video features the black Jesus statue that offended your parents in 1989. I never really knew what to make of that one, I mean.. why make a black Jesus statue? Well, it's Madonna, you do it for publicity. Whatever, Madonna. I mean, what's she going to do next? Write a book about sex and wear a cone bra? Appear naked in a music video?

Surely not.

Anyways, There are tons of great videos out there, and those are just a couple of the ones I remember off the top of my head. I hope you guys take the time to peruse them and take a time travel trip back to the beforetime! Enjoy!

Adam Sandler's 8 Crazy Nights
Submitted Monday, June 2, 2008 - 10:45:45 AM by Klaitu

This is the animated Adam Sandler film about Hanukkah. You know, the one you probably didn't see. Heck, maybe you did.

I found the movie to be somewhat entertaining, but as I watched it, I wasn't sure what demographic it was aimed at.

On the one hand, the plot, animation, and jokes are aimed at young kids, probably preteens.. but on the other hand, there's a bunch of cussing in the movie, which would invalidate the movie in the minds of many parents.

So, I'm not sure where this movie fits. For an adult, it's alright, I suppose. I have no plans to watch it again, but it wasn't revolting.

Overall Score: 5 of 10

Space: 1899
Submitted Sunday, June 1, 2008 - 5:30:04 PM by Klaitu

It's no typo, it's hilarious!