Author Archive
Darth Vader Beats Cancer
Well of course he did. He’s Darth Vader. Duh.
OK, it’s actually the actor David Prowse who beat cancer. Prowse played Darth Vader. Not the voice, that was James Earl Jones. Here’s what the movie would have sounded like if they had kept Prowse’s voice.
Yeah, “bring me the prisoners, I want them alive!” sounds a lot better with James Earl Jones. Still, as PopEater points out, Prowse did “all the heavy lifting (Emperor toss!)”.
Trivia factoid from PopEater — Prowse was offered the role of Chewbacca or Vader. I think he made the right choice. And congrats on beating cancer.
Darth Vader Actor David Prowse Beats Cancer | PopEater.com
Intel Might Put Your Laptop On TV [DaddyTech]
With their new Wireless Display technology, Intel might put your laptop on TV. Finally.
There is a ton of great video content online, most of it free. I’m not talking about torrents or file-sharing. A lot of the best stuff is fully authorized. Hulu for example. Have you ever spent time browsing their catalog? It’s not only recent episodes of shows you don’t watch anyway. There are old movies, complete series, all sorts of good stuff.
The problem has always been how the heck do you get that cool stuff to display on your television. The no-longer-new flatscreen TVs that almost everybody has certainly made this task easier; many models have a plain old monitor port that you can use to plug in a PC. Still, that means more wires, as well as finding room for a computer near the television.
There have been ways to transfer video wirelessly from a computer to a television set, but they required the use of clunky dongles and/or dedicated media server devices. As a bonus, most people thought the output sucked.
BUT! Intel may have solved this problem. CNET’s gadget blog Crave asks the question Is Intel’s Wireless Display a game changer? (It’s also called WiDi, which is a dopey but descriptive name.) Here’s a video where they try it out.
It may not be perfect yet, but it’s better than what we had before. Mostly I’m happy that Intel is working on this at all. It seems like the kind of thing that the major networks/content producers would not be all that happy about. Think about it. Sure, they’ll put their shows online. But if you want to watch that show on a TV screen, they want you to look at commercials. For example, Hulu blocked Boxee users from viewing their content in February of 2009.
So is WiDi a sign that major networks are loosening up a bit in terms of how we view our content? In the words of the great Kent Brockman, only time will tell.
Hands-on: Is Intel’s Wireless Display a game changer? | Crave – CNET
Also:
Intel announces WiDi HD wireless display technology (Engadget)
Junior Seau Castrates a Horse
This should be a headline from The Onion. But it’s not.
OK, Junior (seems odd to call a grown man that but whatever) castrated the horse on his TV show, Sports Jobs, which airs on the “is that actually a” channel Versus.
But. Um. Junior Seau Castrates a Horse. Why?
Actually, there was an Onion bit that this reminds me of. In their fake TV listings section, a network was airing a show called “Would You Watch That?” “How about a bear eating a birthday cake?” the description asked. “Would you watch that?”
How about Junior Seau castrating a horse? Would you watch that?
Now you can. Who says family TV is dead?
Junior Seau Castrates a Horse — Back Porch FanHouse.
The A-Team Trailer
So. Um. They made a movie based on the The A-Team. The TV show. Here’s the trailer:
Liam Neeson is a good enough actor to sort of overcome the fact that this is completely ridiculous. But — and I know that I am risking the wrath of the new ‘B.A.’ Baracus by saying this — Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson is no Mr. T.
I’m not going to say “raping my childhood” because I agree with Amelie Gillette of The A.V. Club (aka The Hater) — it’s a stupid thing to say. We’re talking about a fucking TV show that, if there had been more than three channels back then, might have received the same lack of viewers as “Pepper Dennis.” (OK, that’s an exaggeration. But you know what I mean.)
Although a lot of what he did was grunt and growl, Mr. T was a huge part of popular culture back in the day. (In fact, this was before it was called “popular culture,” a phrase that I think both elevates and diminishes. But that’s another topic.)
Remember the Silver Spoons episode “Me and Mr. T“? I do. Here’s a minisode version from YouTube:
I’m all for saving time, but the minisode skips my favorite line, where Mr. T says his name (link goes to Hulu) and causes the teacher to have a nervous breakdown. “First name… is MISTER. Middle name… is that PERIOD. Last name… is T.”
I know. Whatever. I might even see the movie. But why not come up with, say, a new idea?
The A-Team Trailer – Trailer Addict
Word of the Day – gendertard
Via katilette’s Twitter:
Woot! Had the ultra sound today! You guys wanna know what gendertard we are going to have?
Never heard that one before — gendertard.
Twitter / katilette: Woot! Had the ultra sound ….
Roseanne Cash Defended Her Dad
In August of 2008, during the Presidential election campaign, Roseanne Cash defended her dad. This is old news but I only just saw it, so I’m sharing.
When you have a dad as famous as Johnny Cash, you have to be a bit more vigilant about people taking his name in vain. In the case of my father, it kind of doesn’t matter, although I have been contacted by a couple of people on Facebook about my long-deceased dad. However, while those people may be saying something about my dad that isn’t true, that (a) wouldn’t really bother me and (b) they are unlikely to claim that he would support a particular Presidential candidate. If for some reason they did make that claim, I doubt anyone would care.
Not so in the case of Roseanne Cash’s dad. Maybe you’ve heard of him. Johnny Cash. Had kind of a big music career.
In 2008, country nudnik John Rich proclaimed that “Johnny Cash would have been a John McCain supporter if he was still around.” Roseanne replied by saying “screw you John Rich”. Well, she used a few more words than that.
“It is appalling to me that people still want to invoke my father’s name, five years after his death, to ascribe beliefs, ideals, values and loyalties to him that cannot possibly be determined and to try to further their own agendas by doing so. I knew my father pretty well, at least better than some of those who entitle themselves to his legacy and his supposed ideals, and even I would not presume to say publicly what I ‘know’ he thought or felt.”
“Screw you John Rich” actually sums it up pretty well.
I’m amused by the idea that someone would vote for anyone based on the endorsement of a celebrity. I can understand seeing a movie because a reviewer whose opinion you trust says that the movie is good. But I didn’t vote for Barack Obama because Bruce Springsteen said I should. I voted for him because he wasn’t John McCain. (OK, I liked Obama well enough. I just didn’t have the delusional idea that he was going to save our souls. But that’s another topic.)
As for Johnny Cash, who knows who he would have supported in the last Presidential race. Wikipedia says that Cash “was friendly with every United States President starting with Richard Nixon.” But before you say “ah-HA!” and declare The Man in Black to be a card-carrying member of the GOP, read this: “He was closest with Jimmy Carter, who became a very close friend. He stated that he found all of them personally charming, noting that this was probably essential to getting oneself elected.” That information is from Cash: The Autobiography, according to Wikipedia.
Bottom line — when it comes to the potential voting preferences of famous dead parents, don’t take the word of self-serving singers.
Wes Welker’s Dad Speaks For Him
I’m a Wes Welker fan; he was on my fantasy team this year, and always seemed like a decent enough guy. (That is, he wasn’t pulling guns on people like Gilbert Arenas. I know, different sport.) And it certainly sucked for him (and the Patriots) that he blew out his leg in the Week 17 game. But I always find it interesting when a player’s dad speaks for him.
“Not too good,” Welker's dad, Leland, told the Boston Globe. “We're sick. We're absolutely sick. We take all those hits and stuff all season long. And then just one fluke cut, and he just blows it out.”
Maybe this is because I can’t imagine my dad doing something like, and not only because he’s dead and I never played sports. Even if that’s it, it seems odd that a professional athlete would have his father speaking for him. It happens more often than you might think. Phil Simms did it for his son Chris, although that was a little different since Phil actually played football and is on TV as an analyst. Rex Grossman’s dad was yakking when his boy was about to get spanked in the Super Bowl. It’s one thing when the player is in high school or even college, but by the time he’s a pro, one would think dad isn’t in the picture quite as much. But he is.
via Wes Welker Carted Off With Knee Injury — NFL FanHouse
