It seemed like a good idea to someone I would assume, but it really, really wasn’t.
I love The Simpsons, I have been buying all the season sets, and today I got my copy of Season 6. ARGH!
It’s larger than other sets
It’s flimsy and cheap plastic
The insides are not fixed in place, so that when you open it the contents want to fall out
Honestly, the novelty of it wears off after about 3 seconds and it just becomes annoying
You can go here to order a replacement box for $2.95 shipping that will be more normal, but what a freaking hassle! Just give us the “normal” box to begin with!
For those interested, please go here for info on making donations to various charaities.
On the side notes though….why do our news outlets get so focused on one story? There are other stories going on in the world folks. How about we discuss the insane prices oil is reaching due to us losing 6,000 barrels a day production capacity? I mean, come on folks, let’s have some coverage, but non-stop, wall-to-wall coverage on channels such as MSNBC is just insane. There is a world out there folks, why don’t we try learning about it?
We were discussing a little known film fact today at work. (We tend to get into odd discussions) My two coworkers were unaware of the tale of a director named “Alan Smithee“.
Many years ago, the Director’s Guild of America decreed that a director could not take their name off a film except for a case where the film was taken out of their hands and heavily changed against their will. They could then apply to the DGA for a “Smithee”. Their name would be removed from the film and be credited to a non-existant director named Alan Smithee.
Mr. Smithee has had a prolific career over the years, and the trick worked well until in 1997 when a film was released entitled An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn. Due to the publicity surrounding the film, the DGA has decided to stop using the name and they will use more random names from now on. Though it is no longer in official use, it is still popping up from time to time.
One of the most interesting examples is the changing credits on the 1984 version of David Lynch’sDune. The theatrical version is credited to Mr. Lynch, but the extended televised version that is shown, is credited as being directed by the infamous Mr. Smithee. This version of Dune, which is longer than the theatrical version, is now referred to at “The Smithee Edit”.
You can find a “biography” for Mr. Smithee here, and yes, he even has a Wikipedia entry which you can find here.
Hurricane Katrina has reached category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. To reach this level, the storm must have sustained winds in excess of 150 mph and surges of over 19 feet. Katrina is running at 178 mph right now and surging as high as 25 feet. She is also gusting to 202 mph.
What does all this mean? This is going to be catastophic folks. The category 5 winds are stretching out over a 250 mile diameter around the eye. The whole system is over 460 miles across. I am not kidding boys and girls, if you are anywhere in the path of this thing, run, run NOW!
And why did I also label this story as “journalism”? Is it just me, or do the news channels almost seem to enjoy these stories? “Hey…which reporter are we pissed at? Send them down to the storm!”
It seems the music companies are unhappy with the $.99 Apple is charging through their iTunes music store. This has been rumored for awhile, but now it is looking like there may be a showdown coming up. The music companies want the price raised, but seeing as they currently get a rumored $.70 for the $.99 price, this is just pure greed as always.
I chose a recent album to use as my example, let’s take a look at Six Feet Under, Vol. 2: Everything Ends. amazon.com has it listed for $13.49, TowerRecords.com has it for $13.99 and iTunes has it for $12.99. 13 songs on the album, meaning that the record company takes home about $9.10 of the $12.99 from iTunes.
So the record companies are saying they need more than this? Are they going to try to convince us (the consumers) that they are making less via this method than by producing a physical CD copy? Let’s think for about two seconds folks…bull! No manufacturing cost, no labor cost, no shipping cost, no returns, no unsold inventory…the record companies, as always, are just being greedy. They are making a far higher profit margin on digital downloads than they ever would on physical CDs, and now they want more and more from us.
Have I mentined lately how much I love allofmp3.com?
Yadda yadda Bye Bye Rachel is gone, April is Head Of Household and I am so freakin bored with this season! Here is a great article about how to fix BB7!
For The Record:
A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being
smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or
subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social
expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Geek, earning you the title of: Pure
Geek.
It’s not that you’re a school junkie, like the nerd, and you don’t
really stand out in a crowd, like the dork, you just have some
interests that aren’t quite mainstream. Perhaps it’s anime, perhaps
it’s computers, perhaps it’s bottlecaps, perhaps it’s all of those and
more. Your interests take you to events and gatherings that are filled
with people you find unusual and beyond-the-pale, but you don’t quite
consider yourself “of that crowd.” Instead, you consider yourself to be
fairly normal.
Which, you are.
Congratulations!
(If you enjoyed this test, I would love the feedback! Also, you might
want to check out some of my other tests if you’re interested in the
following:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Rackin frackin bare-bones DVD releases are really starting to get my goat. I, like the chump I am, bought the Sin City DVD. Imagine my horror when I recieved it and it had none of the special features I heard it would have. This version has no commentary, no deleted scenes (which I know for a fact they do plan on including later on), no gag reel, NOTHING. I am sure a special edition is just waiting down the road now, ready to pounce as soon as all the suckers (i.e. me) are done buying this one. For the record though, I didn’t even open mine and have placed it up for sale on Amazon.com as I refuse to keep this piece of garbage.
It’s getting to the point where I am nervous about buying any DVD. I am always sure there is a special edition just lurking around the corner that will have something to make me get all excited and force me to buy yet another copy of the film. My coworkers are even laughing at me because I refuse to believe that the The Lord of the Rings – The Motion Picture Trilogy (Special Extended DVD Edition) is the final edition of the films. I just know something is lurking out there, ready to pounce the moment I buy it. “Oh look, we just found another 20 minutes of film for each of the movies!” That would be the cue for me to curl up in the corner and suck my own thumb.
Don’t even get me started on how “complete seasons” of tv shows are now messing around with things. Northern Exposure Season 2, as well as season 3 and seasons 2 and 3 of Quantum Leap, are missing some of their original music because the studios don’t want to pay for the licensing. Mind you, the studios did pay for all the rights on season 1 of each series, so they lured us in with a good release, and then killed us on the future releases.
I don’t buy the Roseanne seasons, but I just heard that the first season release is not the originally aired versions, but instead are the trimmed down syndicated versions. For those who don’t know, between the original airing and the syndication airing, usually about two minutes of footage is cut to make space for more advertising. In Living Color gave us a great first season, but seasons 2 & 3 are missing sketches and the music the Fly Girls danced to was changed.
So what am I getting at here? The studios have realized they have a cash cow in the form of DVD that they never had with VHS. They are also realizing they can sting the early adopters by getting us to buy second versions, or half-assed releases. To them, it doesn’t matter, but as a consumer who is very serious about his DVDs, I am getting to my breaking point.
Google Talk is here…like we don’t all have enough instant messaging programs already. Between Skype, YIM, AIM, MSN and now Google, we are all going to need another 256 megs of RAM just to run all these IM programs!
Google Chat does includ VoIP though, so may be promising. If you would like to test Google with me, leave me a comment and I will send you my info to add me.
Go to musicoutfitters.com,
and do a search on the most popular 100 songs from the year you
graduated high school. (You can do this by searching on the year you
graduated). Bold the ones you actually like. (Understand that
the word “like” in this case means, in the very least, “wouldn’t
immediately change the radio station from.”) Pick a favorite. Underline that favorite. And strike through the ones you loathe.
1. Look Away, Chicago
2. My Prerogative, Bobby Brown
3. Every Rose Has Its Thorn, Poison
4. Straight Up, Paula Abdul
5. Miss You Much, Janet Jackson
6. Cold Hearted, Paula Abdul
7. Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler
8. Girl You Know Its True, Milli Vanilli
9. Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird, Will To Power
10. Giving You The Best That I Got, Anita Baker
11. Right Here Waiting, Richard Marx
12. Waiting For A Star To Fall, Boy Meets Girl
13. Lost In Your Eyes, Debbie Gibson
14. Don’t Wanna Lose You, Gloria Estefan
15. Heavan, Warrant
16. Girl I’m Gonna Miss You, Milli Vanilli
17. The Look, Roxette
18. She Drives Me Crazy, Fine Young Cannibals
19. On Our Own, Bobby Brown
20. Two Hearts, Phil Collins
21. Blame It On The Rain, Milli Vanilli
22. Listen To Your Heart, Roxette
23. I’ll Be There For You, Bon Jovi
24. If You Don’t Know Me By Now, Simply Red
25. Like A Prayer, Madonna
26. I’ll Be Loving You (Forever), New Kids On The Block
27. How Can I Fall?, Breathe
28. Baby Don’t Forget My Number, Milli Vanilli
29. Toy Solider, Martika
30. Forever Your Girl, Paula Abdul
31. The Living Years, Mike and the Mechanics
32. Eternal Flame, The Bangles
33. Wild Thing, Tone Loc
34. When I See You Smile, Bad English
35. If I Could Turn Back Time, Cher
36. Buffalo Stance, Neneh Cherry
37. When I’m With You, Sheriff
38. Don’t Rush Me, Taylor Dayne
39. Born To Be My Baby, Bon Jovi
40. Good Thing, Fine Young Cannibals
41. The Lover In Me, Sheena Easton
42. Bust A Move, Young M.C.
43. Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Great White
44. Batdance, Prince
45. Rock On, Michael Damian
46. Real Lov, Jody Watley
47. Love Shack, B-52′s
48. Every Little Step, Bobby Brown
49. Hangin’ Tough, New Kids On The Block
50. My Heart Can’t Tell You No, Rod Stewart
51. So Alive, Love and Rockets
52. You Got It (The Right Stuff), New Kids On The Block
53. Armageddon It, Def Leppard
54. Satisfied, Richard Marx
55. Express Yourself, Madonna
56. I Like It, Dino
57. Soldier Of Love, Donny Osmond
58. Sowing The Seeds Of Love, Tears For Fears
59. Cherish, Madonna
60. When The Children Cry, White Lion
61. 18 And Life, Skid Row
62. I Don’t Want Your Love, Duran Duran
63. Second Chances, .38 Special
64. The Way You Love Me, Karyn White
65. Funky Cold Medina, Tone Loc
66. In Your Room, Bangles
67. Miss You Like Crazy, Natalie Cole
68. Love Song, Cure
69. Secret Rendesvous, Karyn White
70. Angel Eyes, Jeff Healey Band
71. Patience, Guns N’ Roses
72. Walk On Water, Eddie Money
73. Cover Girl, New Kids On The Block
74. Welcome To The Jungle, Guns N’ Roses
75. Shower Me With Your Love, Surface
76. Stand, R.E.M.
77. Close My Eyes Forever, Lita Ford
78. All This Time, Tiffany
79. After All, Cher and Peter Cetera
80. Roni, Bobby Brown
81. Love In An Elevator, Aerosmith
82. Lay Your Hands On Me, Bon Jovi
83. This Promise, When In Rome
84. What I Am, Edie Brickell and The New Bohemians
85. I Remember Holding You, Boys Club
86. Paradise City, Guns N’ Roses
87. I Wanna Have Some Fun, Samantha Fox
88. She Wants To Dance With Me, Rick Astley
89. Dreamin’, Vanessa Williams
90. It’s No Crime, Babyface
91. Poison, Alice Cooper
92. This Time I Know It’s For Real, Donna Summer
93. Smooth Criminal, Michael Jackson
94. Heavan Help Me, Deon Estus
95. Rock Wit’cha, Bobby Brown
96. Thinking Of You, Sa-fire
97. What You Don’t Know, Expose
98. Surrender To Me, Ann Wilson and Robin Zander
99. The End Of The Innocence, Don Henley
100. Keep On Movin’, Soul II Soul
I ran a poll over on my LiveJournal a while back because they have free polls. Sorry to the regular blog readers. Anyway, a whopping two people replied…woo.
Mittens83 asked…Top Five Llamas (because, she is slightly insane)
This was a tough one. Did she mean colors? Llama’s in history? Phew…tough call. So where do I go anytime I need to know something? Wikipedia of course. Their entry for Llamas was very enlightening.
. Due to the publicity surrounding the film, the DGA has decided to stop using the name and they will use more random names from now on. Though it is no longer in official use, it is still popping up from time to time.
