Ben Week 13

Ben and Renee are in Chicago for the weekend. I miss them already. Luckily, I have these pictures.

Bon Jovi figure review

Sometimes I don't get to pick what figures I review for figures.com. And sometimes I don't even like them. This is one of those times.

Read about the cowboys and their steel horses.

American Film Institute 100 Greatest Movies... Again

This summer, the AFI updated their 100 greatest movies. Ten years ago, I swore by this list and made it my mission to see every film on it. Now they go and screw around with it.

Here's the old list. I had 4 films left to see (Wuthering Heights, Mutiny on the Bounty, Grapes of Wrath and the Diary of Anne Frank)

Now comes the new list. Now I have to see The General, Cabaret, Sunrise, Sophie's Choice and Swing Time. That's 5 more. I was almost out.

I'm not sure how I feel about the updates. Fellowship of the Ring has been added but Frankenstein is gone. Toy Story's in, The Third Man is out. And Planet of the Apes still hasn't made the cut.

After a decade of holding this list to be the gold standard, they've made it different. I could be annoyed but that would be ignoring all the great movies the original list helped me discover. I'll go through this list and search those 5 new movies. And I'm sure I'll value this new list as much as I did the old.

Even though Raiders of the Lost Ark dropped six places.

Vader Plays the Blues

Walker sent this over.

Vader Plays The Blues

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Man Sues God. God Counter-Sues.

Somebody is screwing with me.

Ben Week 12

Not a lot of pictures this week. The two of us were alone and we each figured out how to not scream all day. Did take some video but I haven't uploaded it. Lots of prodding to smile and one second of smile. Maybe I'll edit them all together when he turns 1.

Cyborg Superman Review

I have a new review up at superherotimes.com and it's decidedly mixed.

Read about the Cyborg Superman!

Self Tuning Guitar

Gibson says they've perfected it. I'm not so sure. The press release hides a lot in its marketing speak, including how it actually works. It says it comes with a rechargeable battery pack, but shows no pictures of one. If I had one installed on my Les Paul, how much would they have to drill into the wood? When I think of all the years it took me to train my ear to tune, this sounds like a godsend. Yet everything about it smells beta to me.

Writers' Room: Chapter 4

You have a little time for this one but it's huge so get ready.

Writers' Room with:

Colin Jost (writer for SNL)
Peter Grosz (writer for the Colbert Report)
Rachel Feinstein
Alan Cross (writer for Pop-Up Video)
Ed Murray (writer for McSweeneys)
Tim Warner
Mike Drucker (writer for McSweeney's)
The Impending Moustache sketch group

hosted by Jon Clarke (Ragingface.com)

Rififi's
Sunday October 7 8:00

Ben Week 11

Star Wars Action Figure Animation

When I was a kid, I always wanted to film the Star Wars trilogy with my action figures. 30 years and 500 figures later, it's way easier, as proven by this 3 minute animated film. I don't know who did it, but I'm impressed.

Decision Made!

Thanks to a unanimous voting on the polls (and everyone I talked to) I picked up a 160 GB iPod Monday. Right now I have 10,000 songs, 35 moviea dn 40 television episodes in the thing. It's not half full.

My dead iPod was 40 GB three years old and a world away from this model. The cover flow and enhanced menus add a level of depth to searching that the old text couldn't compete with. I haven't tried the search feature yet but I'm sure that will become essential son, especially with content that dwarfs other models. And just seeing video playing on the 2.5" screen is astounding. I've even broken my widescreen rule to fit the picture better on it.

Mike Drucker showed me how to pull video from dvds onto the iPod. Technically, it's illegal, which is insane. If Apple had told consumers they had to rebuy all their music to make itunes work, it would have died instantly. But for some bureaucratic reason, they expect us to do just that with video. Luckily, there are third party ways to deal with this (none of which I will link you). I like this blog and I wnat it to continue.) So I have Simpsons, Justice League and Raiders of the Lost Ark, all dvds I've legally paid for, in my ipod, and that's illegal. Stupid rule and circumvented.

RG put it best. He said he couldn't think of anytime he'd need video in an iPod. Two minutes of Sin City later, he said "I gotta get one of these things." It's got everything I want, anywhere I go. Now all I have to do is leave the house.

You guys nerdy enough to want pictures?

9 11

Renee's gone back to work so posting may experience some periods of outage. As I type this, Ben is squirming in my lap. But it's the first time in five hours that he isn't screaming so type I go.

Looking at the date, talking about anything else would be crass. My opinion hasn't changed since last year's post but it occurs to me that six years after Pearl Harbor, World War II was over.

And he's screaming.

Underwear Song

I haven't seen Maggie Faris in a little bit and I was wondering what she's been up to. Turns out she's singing about her underwear. On a Friday afternoon.

Poll

The new ipods are driving me nuts. Last night at the mike I conducted an informal poll. The result was 50/50 so I'll post it here.

Apple yesterday released what might be the greatest ipod with a fatal flaw: the ipod touch. This is the iphone without a phone I mentioned yesterday. It can handle widescreen video and music, has a unique touchscreen interface and Wi fi internet access. It's perfect but for one thing; it only holds 16 GBs of information (yes Monica, yesterday was a typo).

A simpler update was introduced to the video ipod; 160 GBs of space, ten times the amount of the touch. This ipod will not only carry all of my music but about half my dvd collection. On a smaller screen with no internet access.

It's been 3 years since I last bought an ipod; a 40GB with no color screen that died six months ago. renee and I have been sharing hers (the same model) for six months while we waited for a new ipod announcement.

And I'm confused. Both models are approximately the same price. Should I get a massive hard drive in an obsolescient package or place smaller 'best of' content in the next wave of technology? I have no idea.

Please help. Leave a comment and make me a zombie slave to your will.

New iPods

The new iPod was unveiled today. Turns out it's an iPhone without the phone. Which means it's only got 16 GB of space. There's a new regular ipod with 160 GB but somehow it still feels inferior.


And I was so glad my ipod is dead.

Details are still coming in but here's more of the story.

Back to the Future

Here's two things you may not know:

1. Eric Stoltz originally played Marty McFly in "Back to the Future". He was replaced by Michael J. Fox halfway through production.

2. Tom McCaffery is the funniest man in New York.

Here's Tom as Eric Stoltz in the lost footage. I can't stop watching this.

Ben Week 9 and 10

Writer's Room Tonight!

Writer's Room III

Featuring:

John McNulty (The Onion)

Pat Dixon (Comedy Central Presents)

Joe Rocha

Mike Drucker (McSweeney’s)

Ed Murray (2006 Laff-Off Winner)

Jon Clarke (Star Trek: The Sitcom)

John Knefel (Bear Hand Wolf Chokers Sketch Group)

Hosted by Billy the Kid


Sunday, September 2nd 10:00 p.m.

Rififi / Cinema Classics