While in New York, you have to see something on Broadway, especially when your staying in Times Square, and on this trip to the Big Apple we picked Momma Mia! The show follows a daughter's quest to discover the identity of her father which brings 3 men from her mother's past back to the island they last visited 20 years ago on the eve of her wedding. The story is set to the "story-telling magic of ABBA’s timeless songs that propels this enchanting tale of love, laughter and friendship, and every night everyone’s having the time of their lives!" That was the part I was worried about.
Growing up in the 80's, I have never really been a big ABBA fan. The group really had their big US hit in the late seventies [Knowing Me, Knowing Your in 1976, Dancing Queen in 1977 and Take A Chance On Me in 1978] and I have always related them to the Disco era which I would mostly like to forget ever happened but honestly, the music in Momma Mia was really good and the show was great. Over 2 and half hours the cast with a very simple set ran through 24 songs [plus a full cast encore that lasted for 3 more songs]. Though it was expensive [even using tkts] it was worth the trip and I recommend if your in New York, stop by Take A Chance On It!
As we exited our hotel in SoHo yesterday, a guy pulls up in a black town car and yells out from his open window "Do you need a ride?" Since I was dragging my suitcase and had my laptop bag on my shoulder, I'm sure I appeared to be a guy who needed a cab. I continued walking toward the cross street where I intended to catch a cab and basically ignored him. As I pass between the first set of parked cars, he asked where I was going. I told him Penn Station and he asked again if I needed a ride. I kept walking and when we got to the break between the next set of cars I asked him how much. "17 dollars" he replied at which I said I was all set, never breaking my stride down the block. The driver pulled away and wait at the light and watched us flag a SUV cab, load our luggage, hop in and pull away before he could get through the light. [I'm sure he wasn't expecting that.] I'm sure the guy was just killing time between scheduled pick-up's and trying to make some extra money but should I jump into any car that pulls up, especially in a crazy city like NYC? Also should I over pay for simple cab ride up 33 blocks? Our cab fair was only 12 bucks [which should have been probably only 10 if it wasn't for the mid-day grid lock around that area of the city. On a side note, it was quick thinking to quote 17 bucks. If we had jumped in, that would be at least a 3 dollar tip, unless he would have kept the whole 20 and not reported the "fare". New York's entrepreneurs are apparently always hard at work.
Speaking of Times Square, a little love note to visitors. If you are planning a trip to New York and wish to visit Times Square, please do so. It's busy, happening and has tons to see - especially at night. It has it all - ABC, MTV, Virgin Records, The New York Times, Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood, M&M Store, Broadway Plays, Letterman, ect, ect, ect. However if you do go, please keep this one thing in mind - they are just #$%&ing neon signs! If you have to look, get the #$%& out of the way for the rest of us who actually have places to go and are not just wandering around the 5 blocks that is Times Square looking at bright lights, neon signs and scrolling videos. In a place where you have thousands of tourist all looking up at signs and screens, it can be a real pain in the neck [pun intended] to get anywhere you need to go. Thank you for taking the time to read this gentle reminder from a tourist who spend perhaps one too many nights walking through the square.
On Sunday night we saw a pretty large crowd forming outside of MTV on 7th Ave and we walked over to see what was going on. We asked one of the people standing there what was going on and she replied "Making The Band 4 Finale" with some excitement. Now for those of you who just said to yourself, what the heck is making the band it's origins came from an ABC reality show created by Lou Pearlman [creator of the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC] in 1999 to find the next boy band. The outcome of the first season was the boy band O-Town. Since the show was marginally popular it was moved to MTV and taken over by Sean "Puff Daddy/P Diddy/Diddy" Combs in 2002. The second season outcome was a group called Da Band. Since the first two boy groups didn't work out so good, Season 3 in 2005 MTB created an all girl group called Danity Kane. For me, I'm not sure I know any music by any of the 3 groups MTB has created in the past 8 years, but I digress.
So as we left the crowd behind us, we were kind of scratching our heads wondering a. why would anyone really care about the finale of this show, b. why anyone would stand in the street and look at a building that you can't see into except for the 3 windows that have about a 2 by 2 foot visible area or c. don't New Yorkers have better things to do on a Sunday Night? I guess only in Times Square.
Walking down Broadway in Times Square and we stop at a street vendor selling pocket books from a sheet on the street. We saw a nice red Prada bag but Lisa passed on it. We stopped at the next vendor how was selling watches from a brief case on a milk crate. On a side note, we noticed several vendors selling dvd's of very current movies like Rush Hour 3 or Superbad. How the hell do they get these films to dvd and on the street so fast? Anyway, after purchasing my own "Breitling" watch, Lisa tried and passed on a Coach watch and was having trouble clasping a Guess watch so our friendly vendor was helping her attach it to her wrist. Just before he got it secured, he dropped it in his brief case and Lisa gasped because she thought it had fell on accident but in fact it was completely on purpose. In a flash the case was closed and the vendors, several of them, cleared Broadway. We heard someone yell out cops just as they dashed down the street and it took a good 5 to 7 seconds before a single officer came through the heavy crowd and walked past us with a less than jolly expression on his face. We were really taken back at how fast they left the scene but one things is for sure, only in New York.
Damon Armagost of Smyrna Tennesee [located about 20 miles southeast of Nashville] plead guilty to manufacturing and passing counterfeit currency on Friday. Armagost admitted to downloading an the image of a $100 bill from the Internet and printed 14 copies. The U.S. Secret Service agents determined that counterfeit bills with the same serial number had been passed in other parts of the country.
How was he busted? Using his pc generated bills to buy lap dances at a strip club. Strippers at Deja Vu in Nashville were suspicious of the bills and called police after Damon Armagost spent $600 of the fake money April 16.
I guess you should never try to pass fake money at a place that knows a good Benjamin from a bad.
Do you have a Michael Vick jersey, shirt or accessory that you are no longer using since he is going to jail on a number of charges? Looking for a good use for these once treasured items? How about donating them to the Atlanta Humane Society?
They'll be used as bedding, chew toys and rags for cleaning up dog doo. My friend Rocky pictured above loves his Vick shirt turned bedding. "It's his security blanket," said P.J. Smith, a spokeswoman for the Humane Society chapter. "He's still a puppy and he's grown quite attached to it."
Their mailing address is:
Atlanta Humane Society
981 Howell Mill Road NW Atlanta, GA 30318-5562
Since Vick won't be playing football anytime soon, maybe his shirts will be better served at a shelter just blocks away from the Georgia Dome.
There have been several reports on the net of Internet Providers throttling bandwidth, also know as Traffic Shaping, for their customers depending on their activity.
"More than 99.99 percent of our customers use the residential high-speed Internet service as intended, which includes downloading and sharing video, photos and other rich media," Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas said. "But Comcast has a responsibility to provide these customers with a superior experience, and to address any excessive or abusive activities usage issues that may adversely impact that experience." But is Comcast shaping or not? Should they be?
It makes sense that is a single account send 13 million e-mails or upload 250,000 photos or downloads 30,000 songs a month, this would hit the overall bandwidth of the IP infrastructure [and probably is a spammer or high-end Torrent lover] but is it right? Not sure if "power users" of the service should be penalized so that the company can remain at status quo.
I hope this doesn't lead to an ACLU lawsuit over censorship.
To prepare for the new Bionic Woman TV show, NBC has put together this clever site to test your own bionic capabilities. As for me, just 62% bionic. I have to work on test 1 to bring up that score...
If you can sore more than 75%, you will gain access to some locked content. Keep trying...
What if, for one day, all bloggers posted and discussed the same topic? How far reaching would the topic be? In May of this year, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 71 million blogs. 71 Million. That's a lot of voices.
On October 15th, their will be a movement to discuss The Environment in a very non-traditional way, via the blogosphere. The Blog Action Day is a unique idea to gather together a wide variety of resources and devote just one day to a very important topic. They even have a Promo Video [on YouTube of course] which is simple yet moving. Currently they have 1431 registered bloggers with an estimated reach of over 1 million readers.
I have submitted the BOTB for the project and have 55 days to bring my environment to yours. Now I just have to pick a topic.
There are so many things to discuss right here in Massachusetts I'm not sure one day is enough, but it's a start.
Please consider joining in the fun, at least for one day. What's the worst that could happen? We all have a profound effect on our enviroment? A climate for change would be a great side effect.
In select theaters today is a new documentary called The King Of Kong: A Fist Full Of Quarters [although I'm not sure where those select theaters are exactly] that captures the lives of two rival classic arcade gamers. Check out the trailer for this very retro topic:
According to Twin Galaxies, Steve Wiebe is the current Donkey Kong Champ with a high score of 1,049,100 points and he is the "hero" of the film while Billy Mitchell is the "villain" but not without good reason - at 17 Mitchell held the high score in both Centipede and Donkey Kong.
Although the documentary looks interesting, the big question is will Wiebe's record ever be broken? Donkey Kong has a programming flaw that creates a scenario known as the Kill Screen. In the 22nd stage on the 117th screen, a player can not get further than the second ramp without dieing. The amount of time allowed for any given screen is determined algorithmically during play, decreasing slowly as the player progresses. By the time the player reaches this screen, there is simply not enough time for the screen to be completed. Here is a video of the kill screen in action [if you watch closely at about 4:35 into the video, Mario just dies because time has elapsed]. Note a man states on camera that this was only the 4th known public kill screen, so we've got that going for us. Either way, the guy playing is obviously very, very good at Donkey Kong.
Perhaps this is just one record that will never fall, unless they want to reprogram the classic 1982 game so that the kill screen does not occur. Maybe this will lead to The King Of Kong 2: Steve and Billy Go To Funspot.
According to Tulane University doctoral candidate Arman Sadeghpour an extract of cocoa powder that occurs naturally in chocolates, teas, and other products might be an effective natural alternative to fluoride in toothpaste. In fact, his research revealed that the cocoa extract was even more effective than fluoride in fighting cavities. The extract, a white crystalline powder whose chemical makeup is similar to caffeine, helps harden teeth enamel, making users less susceptible to tooth decay.
The extract has been proven effective in the animal model unfortunately will probably be another two to four years before the product is approved for human use and available for sale. Another downside is the prototype of the cavity-fighting cocoa extract has already been created and it is a peppermint flavored toothpaste.
I say if you going to create a new Coco based toothpaste, we should get the flavorful benefits that naturally comae along with it. Hey if we are going to change the formula for toothpaste [fluoride originally added in 1914], why not give us a new flavor aw well. I can see it now... Crest Double Mocha Chocolate Toothpaste.
Metallica filed a lawsuit Monday against Harmonix and Activision (who recently acquired Red Octane) for copyright infringement. The suit accuses the three gaming companies of illegally distributing copies of Metallica songs in the upcoming games Guitar Hero III and Rock Band, both due out in late 2007. Analysts in both the music and video game industry were confused by the move, especially since Metallica had previously announced inclusion of One in the games on their website. Perhaps they are trying to get paid twice for the track or maybe they are worried that XBOX 360 is the new napster? Or maybe they are just, well let's let the lawyer say it...
Attorneys for the gaming companies named in the lawsuit were bemused by the lawsuit. "Our company paid a licensing fee to feature the track One by Metallica in Guitar Hero III," counsel for Activision/Red Octane told reporters. "We don't understand why Metallica would turn around and sue us, unless they've gone from insane [to] completely batshit insane since 2001, but we're confident that the law and our contracts will be enough to have this thrown out."
"Completely batshit insane" could be the new catch phrase for the fall.
Looking for internet radio, why not tune in to TUN3R. TUN3R.com is like a really big radio dial for internet radio. You can either "dial" a station using the graphical interface, browse stations by genre or language or search for a station using keywords like artist or track [plus genre and language].
When tuning, what you're hearing is a reduced "fair use" sample taken from the station you have selected. The sample has been down-converted and truncated to two minutes to comply with copyright law and intended to enhance searching and browsing, and not as a substitute for the broadcaster's own high-quality stream.
The site also features a boss link [which can also be activated by hitting the 'b' key on your keyboard] designed to be a quick and easy way to disguise your use of TUN3R, and give people around you the distinct impression that you're doing real and meaningful work and are not just goofing off on some internet radio search engine.
However, if you do get caught by your boss or a nosy colleague, feel free to provide them with this clever explanation of what you're up to:
"I was just reviewing some alternative approaches to data visualization. The approaches taken by this site could easily be parlayed into a dashboard that may make it easier for us to execute on fact-based decisions both in an operational and strategic capacity."
We are kind of a big deal! I contacted Diane when we returned from our spring trip to Northern California and this was the outcome of our interview. My favorite parts:
- But the high point for Ed, a marathoner, was running in the colorful 7.5-mile Bay to Breakers foot race. [Note those are her words, not mine] - Wineries they visited included Stag's Leap ("We really like their wine," Ed said [for the record we did mention to her we called our close friend Scott (to rub it in a little) but that detail must have been edited out] - "I loved the town, too," she said. "It's really quaint, with a big square." [It did have a big central square with a very nice jewelry store] - "Between that and VJB, I could have died and gone to heaven." [And I thought heaven was in Iowa]
Over all, I really like her article on our trip and encourage everyone to share your memories with her in the future.
Synopsis: Dan Burns [Steve Carell], a widower, finds out the woman he fell in love with is his brother's girlfriend.
Bottom Line: Can Steve Carell and Dane Cook pass for brothers? Not in this Real Life but I'm sure the two of them [with hard nosed John Mahoney playing the father] should have some fun with this romantic comedy. Check out the trailer here.
Due: October 2007
Synopsis: Jackie Moon [Will Ferrell], the owner-coach-player of the American Basketball Association's Flint Michigan Tropics, and how he rallies his teammates to make their NBA dreams come true.
Bottom Line: Could Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Andy Richter Will Arnett and David Koechner actually form some kind of Slapshot like basketball team? Probably not but all those funny guys in one film should make us laugh even if it's how ridiculous they look in their circa 1976 gear.
If some of these shows fail, which they will, maybe the networks can get together and create a supershow like girls from Lipstick Jungle hook up with the guys from Hot Shots to form a super company, of course retaining the legal team from Dirty Sexy Money to hid all of their secrets. When our new septuplet of high powered business folk need a ride to work or around the city, the guys from Carpoolers are right there to get them around and if their computer network goes down, just call on the Big Bang Theory and IT Crowd people to get you up and running again. It would be sex in the city meets geeks in the city meets losers in a car. Quite a show!
Fall TV is only 6 weeks away and the major networks are rolling out 25 new shows. Here's the run down:
ABC - Samantha Who? [Amnesia stricken woman trying to re-find herself] - Cavemen [GEICO commercial spin-off] - Carpoolers [4 guys ride to work] - Pushing Daisies [Kid with bring 'em back to life powers] - Private Practice [Grey's Anatomy spin-off] - Dirty Sexy Money [Lawyer asked to protect rich families secrets] - Big Shots [4 CEO's with too much money, power and probably women] - Women's Murder Club [James Patterson book series comes to tv]
Mid-Season - Cashmere Mafia [Sex in the city minus the focus on sex] - Eli Stone [Cutthroat lawyer goes pro-bono] - Miss Guided [Student returns to her high school as guidance counselor]
Private Practice should do fine with it's built in audience, Samantha Who? could work [especially with it's well know cast - Christina Applegate, Jean Smart and Tim Russ] and I am hoping the Women's Murder Club does well to, because I am a fan of the books.
CBS - The Big Bang Theory [2 nerds and a hot neighbor] - Cane [Rich Southern Florida Cuban family power struggle] - Kid Nation [40 kids create their own nation] - Moonlight [Angel rip off complete with brooding leading man and blond love interest] - Viva Laughlin [Guys tried to open a casino in Navada]
Mid-Season - Swingtown [1976 flashback, disco and drug included]
Only The Big Bang Theory looks like it might work, mostly because of the lack of new comedies and Kaley Cuoco plays A Blond sooo well.
NBC- Chuck [Nerd goes super computer/secret spy] - Bionic Woman [1976 series gets a reboot and 21 century make over] - Joureyman [Time traveler helping people and dealing with his own lost love] - Life [Cop back from prison back on the force]
Mid-Season - Baby Borrowers [Teens watching over a baby] - The IT Crowd [2 IT guys and a blond office manger] - Lipstick Jungle [3 high powered women who are friends] - World Moves [Dance competition]
Chuck, Bionic Woman and Joureyman could all find an audience but is the serial show overdone? The IT Crowd might be funny but will it just feel like a rip of The Big Bang Theory [see above]?
Good luck to all the new shows. Some of you will go on to be the next Scrubs with a 7 year run. Others will last only 3 episodes like last year's Drive. Either way, thank god for new tv shows starting on September 24th!
The day after Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's 33 year old all-time home run record, I received this by email: Luckily within the next 5 years it won't matter much how you feel about Bonds and how he allegedly obtained this record because last week Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player to reach 500 home runs [a record that has stood for almost 70 years] and, if he stays healthy, should well surpass Bonds. There only 2 active players ahead of him - Sammy Sosa at 604 and Ken Griffey, Jr. at 589 however they are both 2 years older and are in the twilight of their respective [and hall of fame worthy] careers.
I guess this finally gives many of us a reason to actually root for A-Rod to hit more A-Bombs.
While watching the Aviator last night, I keep thinking about the running time listed on the NetFlix White Sleeve as 2 hours and 50 minutes. I was watching for scenes that either ran long or didn't add much to the overall story [which seemed fairly accurate except the omission of his first wife Ella Rice or true details of creative financing]. In this film, Scorsese seems to just run long with every scene which keeps the movies pace slower than needed. This reminded me of Gangs of New York and The Departed, which he finally won his Oscar for Best Director which I believe was really given for his entire body of work [Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Color Of Money, ect] rather than just this one film.
In his three major motion pictures released this decade, they have all run long: Gangs of New York - 2:47, The Aviator - 2:50 and The Departed - 2:31. Prior to that he also released long running films like Casino - 2:58, The Last Temptation of Christ - 2:44 and Goodfellas - 2:25 but had made several movies that clock in at the rather expected 2 hour time frame. I have not been personally overjoyed at his last three films and it might be the length that gets to me each time. They all seem to drag and this is what ultimately keeps me from wanting to watch them again.
I hope that he can keep his next project to around the 2 hour mark and give it a little faster pace although with titles like Frankie Machine [mob movie], Silence [Jesuit priests traveling to japan] or The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt I'm not so confident that these will be short offerings either.
Everyone has heard, seen and/or taken a personality test but PersonalDNA makes the process easy, quick [although some might think 20 to 30 minutes is a long time] and the results are easy to read. Here are mine:
You're in touch with what is going on around you and adept at remaining down-to-earth and logical.
The intellectual curiosity that drives you leads you to seek out causes of and reasons behind things.
You are well-attuned to your talents, and can deal with most problems that you face.
You want others to do well for themselves, and you generally believe in their abilities.
You are a loyal friend and a good listener.
That's pretty close I would say. They also have a Psych You / Psych Me feature where you can share your results with other people and they can share in return. Something that might be helpful around the old office? The Encouraging Leader thinks so. Now go out and give it a try, I know you can do it!
While working in Customer Support for a software company you get asked many, many odd things however this mornings call was by far the oddest and quite frustrating when the caller doesn't get the hint. Here is a paraphrased transcript for your reading pleasure:
Caller "Hi, I was just disconnected from speaking with someone there and I was wondering if you had the contact information for the owner of Company X?"
Support "I know that Company X went out of business, other than that I have no more information on them."
Caller "You company is listed on their website so I was hoping you had a forwarding number for him."
Support "They were a past user of our software however I'm fairly sure he didn't give us a forwarding number when they went out of business."
Caller "I understand, I am just trying to reconnect with him and was hoping you had his number. Actually I spoke with him last week but I didn't write down his cell number."
Support "Let's start over, who did you speak with here today?"
Caller "I'm not sure but they had a heavy accent and I couldn't really understand them very well. He said he was going to check with sales for me."
Support "Well I'll tell you what, you give me your name and number and if I can find his number here I will call you however if I am unable to locate it, I won't".
Caller gives name and number.
Support writes it down.
Caller "By the way do you know his last name?"
Support "I don't and to be honest, I'm not really sure it is appropriate to be giving our customers contact information out like this."
Caller "I know, I understand and thank you for your time."
Support "No problem."
Caller "By the way, if it will make you feel any better, I have been out fishing the past fours days and have been skunked each day."
Support "Well hopefully today will be a better day."
Caller "Ok, well have a great weekend."
Support "You too."
Come on! You spoke with him last week but lost his number and was hoping his former software supplier would have his new number just in case someone called looking for it? Plus you want us to just give out our customers information at your random request? Plus random fishing anecdote to lengthen said call is not making it any better. Two words describe this caller - Jack Ass! Maybe I'll sign him up for call backs from several random companies and see if he likes talking odd phone calls.
Ok rant over, have a great weekend everyone and I hope you're not skunked like mr. caller was.
They'll be used as bedding, chew toys and rags for cleaning up dog doo. My friend Rocky pictured above loves his Vick shirt turned bedding. "It's his security blanket," said P.J. Smith, a spokeswoman for the Humane Society chapter. "He's still a puppy and he's grown quite attached to it."
What if, for one day, all bloggers posted and discussed the same topic? How far reaching would the topic be? In May of this year, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 71 million blogs. 71 Million. That's a lot of voices.
Luckily within the next 5 years it won't matter much how you feel about Bonds and how he allegedly obtained this record because last week Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player to reach 500 home runs [a record that has stood for almost 70 years] and, if he stays healthy, should well surpass Bonds. There only 2 active players ahead of him - Sammy Sosa at 604 and Ken Griffey, Jr. at 589 however they are both 2 years older and are in the twilight of their respective [and hall of fame worthy] careers.
