They're a band (well, that's a stretch) and you have to assume they support stem cell research. It's a matter of self-preservation, given their ages, right? Boy band - what a fucking joke. A PR stunt to get their manager richer and them a bit of attention.
And does anyone else think the muscly one with all the tattoos is just a bit too full of steroids? For fuck's sake, mate, you should have stopped long ago - now you just look like an old haggard man who stabbed his ass a few too many times (and not in the good way)?
Saturday, 28 October 2006
Techie chat
I wouldn't say I'm the biggest techie out there but I don't shy away from technology and certainly have my own opinions on what's great and what's not.
The great things these days in my mind are coming out of Apple Computer. I've always been a fan of their products but there are some exciting things they’re doing these days, some new products that are changing the face of consumer trends. There's a revolution going on in how we consume media - that is all forms of information: audio, written text and video. I read a report recently that stated the computer now (in the UK at least) is the device people are spending more time in front of than any other - that includes television.
Which devices do I love most?
At the top of the list of my favourite Apple devices are the iPods. They're fucking brilliant. To be able to store all my CDs on one device I can carry in my pocket is amazing. I also listen to podcasts - my favourite being the Rachel Maddow Show on Air America Radio (politics!!), which I enjoy listening to on my iPod. Travelling is fantastic with my iPod and travel speakers because I have my entire music library with me wherever I go. And the other big use of my iPod is audio books. Unabridged books from Audible.com are the bees knees. I’ve got one of the 4G iPods so mine won’t even display pictures or video (I’m waiting for the newest video iPod coming out soon).
I’m also an iMac fan – I’m on my second one of those. But here’s what’s the most interesting thing coming out – they’re new iTV device. It’s just a project code name (or foreshadowing of an Elgato acquisition). Read up on it if you haven’t heard. Essentially, it streams content wirelessly from your computer to your television in HD. This is what I’ve been waiting for from someone. I’ve got all this content on my iMac from a variety of sources. I’ve got photos in iPhoto, music, audiobooks and podcasts in iTunes. But I’ve also got video I download from torrent sites, so I’ve got movies, documentaries, television shows, clips, etc available for viewing without any easy way to get them to the television today. I can rip my DVDs to my computer and with a bit of storage I could actually do away with the DVD media. Imagine that – no media at all needed. Fuck Sony and Microsoft and their BluRay – HDDVD fucking war – this is where government should have the power to step in and say, “fuck you, you bastards, stop with these petty disagreements which do nothing but line your pockets and hurt the consumer.”
What are the catalysts for this evolution??
First, the element of time is being eliminated from traditional content delivery. You can view a show anytime, or listen to a radio broadcast anytime – you are in the driver’s seat and control when you consume the media. The other change is in the media they deliver content on. The newspaper is dying – people now turn to computers for their source of information above paper. Devices such as the new Sony eBook Reader are enabling a quicker demise of newsprint. Imagine a reader that can hold numerous books or newspapers that you could download daily from your computer or visit a kiosk on the street and download the latest edition of the news for reading at your leisure. Traditional forms of media consumption are changing faster than you realise. That cable connection delivers more and more to the computer than the set top box to your television.
I’ve droned on and on, but mark my words, times, they are a changin.
My sins
| Your Deadly Sins |
| Greed: 60% |
| Sloth: 60% |
| Lust: 40% |
| Wrath: 40% |
| Envy: 20% |
| Gluttony: 20% |
| Pride: 0% |
| Chance You'll Go to Hell: 34% |
| You will die love and feared by many. And you'll be buried in a tomb. |
Translation: I'm on the sofa waiting for a hot man to break my front door down to deliver sex and a bucket of money.
Rant and de-stress
I'm going to make a great old grumpy man some day, assuming I have to live that long.
I take public transportation to work every day. Sometimes it's the underground, sometimes overland train (or both). From time to time I even take the bus. There are some things that annoy me immensely about my fellow passengers.
The first has to be people listening to MP3 players so loudly that I can hear their music. Now I have my own MP3 player and two things stop others from hearing what I'm listening to. First, I am courteous when it comes to listening and don't select volumes that are outrageous. The other thing I think that affects this is that I have a quality set of earphones. Sometimes I hear others ' music so loudly I wonder to myself if they've inserted them into their ears backwards and the sound piece is pointing outward. Most often it's kids in their teens, so I wouldn't put it past them to be using them improperly. Hell, so often I see kids with stockings on their heads, shorts around their knees, shoes untied I think to myself, how did their parents fuck up so badly when teaching them basic things like which items of clothing go on which body parts and in which way. But I digress.
Another thing I see all too often on public transport is women applying makeup, especially annoying when the carriages are full. Hell, maybe I should bring a bucket and sponge and shower on the underground to save time in the morning. Or I could whip out my finger nail clipper and clip away. Maybe I could bring my electric razor along and shave. Why the fuck do they think it's okay to apply their daily face caking material in front of me? Right next to me?! I don't want to see someone getting ready for their day next to me, and I don't want to smell that crap they put on their faces - it's disgusting, and rude. Hey, bitches, don't leave the house until you're completely ready, or don't leave at all.
While I'm having a go at women, let me say that just because you leave your pastry in the bag you bought it in and pick a tiny piece out each time you bite doesn't mean you're not consuming calories. It's like the fact it's hidden from view they think it means there are no calories. Watch next time you're in public. You're bound to hear some woman rattling her paper bag, stuffing her face with little bites that she pulls from inside the bag, one annoying bag russling after another. Honey, I've got news - those thighs don't lie, that's a jelly donut in that bag and you're annoying the fuck out of everyone by making all that noise with that bag each time you want to stuff a bite in that fucking gullet of yours.
Back to kids. Those little fuckers that are now listening to their mobile phones as if they were portable boom boxes should be thrown off the train or bus, put in front of it and run over. Do kids today have no manners? And those fucking rubblecans are so against planned parenthood.
What's your biggest annoyance?
I take public transportation to work every day. Sometimes it's the underground, sometimes overland train (or both). From time to time I even take the bus. There are some things that annoy me immensely about my fellow passengers.
The first has to be people listening to MP3 players so loudly that I can hear their music. Now I have my own MP3 player and two things stop others from hearing what I'm listening to. First, I am courteous when it comes to listening and don't select volumes that are outrageous. The other thing I think that affects this is that I have a quality set of earphones. Sometimes I hear others ' music so loudly I wonder to myself if they've inserted them into their ears backwards and the sound piece is pointing outward. Most often it's kids in their teens, so I wouldn't put it past them to be using them improperly. Hell, so often I see kids with stockings on their heads, shorts around their knees, shoes untied I think to myself, how did their parents fuck up so badly when teaching them basic things like which items of clothing go on which body parts and in which way. But I digress.
Another thing I see all too often on public transport is women applying makeup, especially annoying when the carriages are full. Hell, maybe I should bring a bucket and sponge and shower on the underground to save time in the morning. Or I could whip out my finger nail clipper and clip away. Maybe I could bring my electric razor along and shave. Why the fuck do they think it's okay to apply their daily face caking material in front of me? Right next to me?! I don't want to see someone getting ready for their day next to me, and I don't want to smell that crap they put on their faces - it's disgusting, and rude. Hey, bitches, don't leave the house until you're completely ready, or don't leave at all.
While I'm having a go at women, let me say that just because you leave your pastry in the bag you bought it in and pick a tiny piece out each time you bite doesn't mean you're not consuming calories. It's like the fact it's hidden from view they think it means there are no calories. Watch next time you're in public. You're bound to hear some woman rattling her paper bag, stuffing her face with little bites that she pulls from inside the bag, one annoying bag russling after another. Honey, I've got news - those thighs don't lie, that's a jelly donut in that bag and you're annoying the fuck out of everyone by making all that noise with that bag each time you want to stuff a bite in that fucking gullet of yours.
Back to kids. Those little fuckers that are now listening to their mobile phones as if they were portable boom boxes should be thrown off the train or bus, put in front of it and run over. Do kids today have no manners? And those fucking rubblecans are so against planned parenthood.
What's your biggest annoyance?
Sunday, 15 October 2006
Noam Chomsky is my gawd
I'm an atheist (sometimes I downgrade that label to agnostic) - regardless, I worship Noam Chomsky. His writings, speeches and debates never cease to amaze me. I can't get enough of them. I'm constantly amazed when I read his work or watch a speech how he maintains a level of calm I could never begin to dream of matching. Oh I suppose if I had a few hundred years I could absorb the amount of information he has inside his head, but I could still never remain calm the way he does. How can he not go crazy with all that information? How does he remain optimistic? Why does society consider his approach, logic and philosophy to be so beyond mainstream politics? What a sad statement on society that we do not embrace him. How brainwashed are we as a society? Are we beyond repair? I love reading his works, but at the same time I feel angrier and angrier the more I read. He's remains optimistic, how so?
Something strange
Recently LOVEFiLM.com bought ScreenSelect. I logged in to the new web site and the page it first brought up was the US White House web site. This was strange for obvious reasons - I didn't realise there was any connection. The URL isn't bookmarked on my system - if I wanted to read political fiction I'd visit the Fox news web site.
Big brother is indeed watching. ;-)
Big brother is indeed watching. ;-)
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