I think we can officially say the end times are nigh.

Billy Mays, the loud and obnoxious pitch man of such wonderful products as OxiClean, is getting his own reality series on Discovery.  According to the story in the Hollywood Reporter, he and, the almost-as-annoying, Anthony Sullivan will have a series entitled But Wait… There’s More.  This new series will follow the two men as they locate even more products to hawk on television via annoying commercials  in the wee hours of the morning on cable channels, making you wish you had gone to bed several hours earlier.

I’ve discussed Mr. Mays before and his ability to annoy me, but he seems to just keep chugging along like a cockroach after a nuclear holocaust.  Every time I turn around he pops up with another product that he is more than happy to scream at you about, and give you that stupid “thumbs up” of his which tells you this product HAS to be good.  To give you an idea of just how often you see this guy pop up, below is a list of just some of the products he has yelled at American television viewers about:

• OxiClean
• Orange Glo
• Kaboom
• Engrave It
• Handy Switch
• iCan
• Mighty Mend-It
• Mighty Putty
• Hercules Hook
• AwesomeAuger
• Steam Buddy
• Zorbeez
• Big City Slider Station
• The Ding King

Anthony Sullivan isn’t quite as annoying, but he still ranks up there.  Apparently if you have an English accent you can make anything sound that much more sophisticated and like a quality product.

I don’t quite get why Discovery channel thinks this show will be even remotely interesting, but apparently they think someone out there will watch it.  To me it just seems like a glorified commercial for whatever these guys will end up pitching in the future.

I did learn yesterday while listening to a stoy on NPR’s All Things Considered that we are seeing a rise in the number of these commercials due to the downturn in the economy.  The companies that sell these products send their commercials out to TV stations with the orders to run them in any unsold slots they may have.  With the cut backs companies are making to their advertising budgets, the number of empty slots is increasing, and hence the number of these annoyances go up.  A lose-lose situation for the viewing public; less money in their pockets and being exposed to these yahoos.

I do have to say, I guess it could have been worse, they could have made Vince, the Shamwow guy, one of the people on the show.  -shudder-

Update 06/28/09: Billy Mays has died.

***MAJOR SPOILERS***

Continue Reading ->

Did I somehow miss the announcement of new Mac Minis at Macworld?

While I was writing up the Macworld keynote address for StarterTech, I was anxiously awaiting to hear all about the new models of the Mac Mini.

… I’m still waiting.

The Mac Mini is a Mac that comes with no keyboard, mouse or monitor and is perfect for people like myself who want to transition to Mac, but don’t want spend over a thousand dollars on an iMac.  The Mini was last updated in August of 2007 with two models that ran $599 and $799 respectively, and are still available in the exact same configurations that they had at that update.  So, now you are paying the same price for hardware that is woefully out of date as seventeen months might as well be a decade in computer component terms.

Over the past two weeks I have suffered two vicious malware attacks on my work PC that have cost me a combined total of 20 hours to repair.  I was all set for an updated Mac Mini, as just about every Mac rumor site agreed it was going to happen today, but, alas, it didn’t.  There wasn’t one word spoken about the only true entry level Mac computer.

I know I have said in the past that I was finally ready to switch to a Mac out of frustration, but this time I actually had my money at the ready… literally.  I had been saving for a new Mac Mini and was ready to order it this afternoon when it was announced, and yet it never came to be.  Why in the world has this poor, forgotten child of the Mac family been looked over yet again?

Apple continues to boast about how their market share has grown, and thay sold a record number of Macs last year, but they continue to forget about those of us who are nervous about switching.  With Windows Vista now being about the only option on new PCs, and Windows 7 looking as another iffy system, now is the time for Apple to strike and gain a huge portion of the installed user base.  Yet they continue to churn out $2800 laptops like the 17″ MacBook Pro they introduced today.

People always tell me that when you work out the math that Macs don’t cost that much more, but I decided to do a comparison.  I tried to rebuild a 20″ iMac as a Dell computer.  I went with a Vostro 220 Mini Tower, and copied the processors, the  amount of RAM, the hard drive size, one optical drive bay and so on.  When I was all done, the iMac was $1,199 and the Dell I configured was $679.  Gee… which wins?

In these economically difficult times, we need the Mac Mini, or something similar.  Apple is going to have to continue to have an entry level unit for the converts and the totally new customers alike.  I know Apple makes good stuff, I own multiple iPods, but as someone who is responsible for multiple computers, I have never been able to rationalize spending the money that Apple wanted me to.  If they want to continue to keep their growth going, they are going to have to consider what they can do to lure in budget minded buyers.

I’ve often speculated that maybe Apple fears growing too big, but with the success of the iPhone, and it now being introduced at Walmart, that is a difficult argument to stand by.  I have also wondered if they did this as to make their buyers feel like they were members of some elite club… again I point to Walmart and the iPhone.

So what is it, Apple?  Why do you shun the Mac Mini like it is the child you never wanted, and meanwhile you also shun your average day buyers who are cost conscience.  Wake up and smell the coffee, Apple, you could have a market share that dwarfs your current one if you would just try to remember the lower end purchasing market once in a while.

There are a few less lights on Broadway this week.

In the fallout of the current economic crisis in the United States, nine Broadway musicals let their stages go dark with their performances yesterday.  To be fair, two of them were limited engagements (Irving Berlin’s White Christmas and a Liza Minnelli show), but that still means that seven full-time shows have shut down.  Young Frakenstein, Hairspray and Grease were just some of the ones that have made their way off the Great White Way.

Personally I don’t think it was fully tcorrect to blame the current financial atmosphere, these shows have simply priced themselves out of the realm of reason.  When I was recently considering one of my umpteen aborted attempts at taking a vacation, I was looking at going to New York City.  The friend I was going to visit had told me that the prices were through the roof, but I really wanted to see a show.  I got the idea I would surprise her with tickets, since it would be my treat, she wouldn’t be able to complain much.  Well, after I went online and saw that two tickets were going to run me over $400, I scratched that idea.

How can these shows possibly think that they are worth north of $200 a ticket?  How can anyone get introduced to the genre at that price?  How could a family possibly afford to go?  Yet, if I want to go see a show of a touring company in St. Louis, I will pay in the neighborhood of $50 or $60.  Sure that’s still a bit high for two hours of entertainment, but at least it is still in the realm of sanity.

It does make you wonder why in the world tickets to the New York version would run around 300% more.  It’s the same number of actors… the same sets… the same amount of crew, and heck, the road show has to pay gas, lodging, some food expenses.  It just doesn’t add up.

While I am sorry to see so many shows close, I also have to say that Broadway needs to be looking in the mirror a bit more as to who is to blame for this.

As most people do, I have a love/hate relationship with my scale.

As I mentioned on Scattercast episode 24, like so many people in the world, one of my New Year’s resolutions is to lose more weight this year.  I was quite happy with the fact that I made it through the holidays with only 1 to 2 pounds in fluctuation.  I worked hard at making sure I didn’t gain, and kept up my work out regimen to make sure that didn’t happen.

Now as we get in to the serious part of the year, I stepped on the scale last night (something I swore I would not obsess about, but yet I step on it every night now it seems), and found I had another of my “What the hell…” moments where I lose 2 – 3 pounds seemingly over night.  I always wait a day or two to declare it “official” because it could be any number of very odd factors.  If this one holds true, though, I will have lost 70 pounds so far.

There is no denying I had allowed my weight to spiral out of control and I had gotten all the way up to the insane weight of 400 lbs.  In my defense, I am built like a brick house.  It was difficult to tell I was that heavy because I have a huge body frame (think linebacker).  When I realized where I had gotten to, that was when I got serious about losing weight.  I cut sodas completely, all fast food was a distant memory, and I began researching “healthy” ways to lose weight.

Pretty much everything I read said you needed to build muscle first, and then concentrate on the actual reduction of fat.  As I chronicled in Working Out back in September 2008, I did start lifting weights, and I am happy to say that I have stuck with it.  I do 45 minutes every other day (there is a long list of reasons why it is best to do it other day that I won’t bore you with, but believe me, it’s true), and I am thrilled I have gotten to that amount of time as it allows me to catch up on one one-hour show on a DVD set, or two 30-minute episodes of a show.  So not only am I building muscle, but I am multi-tasking and catching up on the DVDs I am so far behind on!

On my “off days”, I am trying to go for walks, with the constant reminding that I need to do so from the evil one known as “M”, but the weather has been fighting me hard on that one.  I would love to invest in a treadmill, but I am reluctant to do so until I find that I am going to stick with walking.  With the insane mix of winter weather we’ve had, it has actually been unsafe for me to walk outside, so we will have to see when that resumes.  For now I am speed walking through Walmart whenever I go there.

So, why do I think my scale mocks me?  While I am thrilled I have lost 70 pounds thus far, my original goal was 101 pounds so I could actually break out of the three hundreds.  Looking at the dial on that scale, the space for 31 more pounds looks like the longest space known to man.  Never mind there are 70 lbs behind me so far, that 31 just feels daunting.  I even try to remind myself that 20 of the 70 I have lost has happened in just the past five months (I have no idea why it picked up speed), and that means that I could possibly realize this goal in the next 8 months, it just feels like an insane amount of work.

… and then will come maintaining it.

It has been made official that UK actor Matt Smith will be the eleventh incarnation of the famous time traveler, Doctor Who.

Revealed on the UK television show Doctor Who Confidential today, the 26-year-old actor will be taking over the role of the infamous Doctor when the show returns for its fifth full season of the new run in 2010.

Mr. Smith is a relative newcomer, and has only been in a handfull of television shows in the UK to date.  His name hadn’t even been brought up in any of the speculation lists as to who would be the next Doctor, so this comes as quite a surprise to fans of the series.

He will be 27 at the time filming begins, making him the youngest person to ever assume the controls of the TARDIS, the Doctor’s time machine.  Most people had assumed we might see a return to an older actor in the role, something the old version of the series favored, but instead the fans have been thrown a curve ball by taking the role even younger.

For any one who may be unfamiliar with the series, the Doctor is the last living member of a race of people known as the Time Lords.  Due to their mastery of time, and unique physiology, they are able to regenerate themselves in to a whole new body at times of death if proper arrangements have been made.  Due to this ability, the Doctor is now over 900-years-old, which makes for interesting challenges for an actor having to play both their physical age and the wisdom of someone who has lived that long.

This will be the eleventh version of the Doctor to play out on television, and the twelfth overall if you count two odd movies from the 1960′s.  How he will stack up amongst the other Doctors will remain to be seen, and how he will do in the overall standings as the best Doctor Who won’t be determined until he has at least a few episodes under his belt.  He will have some huge hurdles ahead of him as we are coming out of what is arguably one of the most popular actors to assume the mantle, David Tennant.

You can check out a brief interview with Mr. Smith below, and I wish him the best of luck in this monumental task.

It’s episode 24… Scattercast is thinking it is time to settle down!

- Happy New Year… I don’t get the excitement.

- My resolutions for 2009, what are yours?

- Bloggin’ ain’t easy. (with a whole lot of annoying history about myself)

- I encourage you to check out the redesigned StarterTech!

Here’s

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for those who wish to download it, subscribe to Scattercast via iTunes.

As we start another year, it’s time for me to take a look back at what struck a chord with my readers.

2008 was very good to this blog, and I have to take a moment to thank you, my readers, for an amazing year of growth!  Unique visitors grew by almost 600%, and total page views was darn close to 700%!  I hoped for a year of growth, but I could have never dreamed readership would be up that much!  Don’t get me wrong, this blog is still a long ways away from the major leagues… a long, long, LONG way… but it is still a nice amount of growth.

So, without further ado, the 10 entries that helped me see this growth.

Who Is The Best James Bond? – Who knew people were this interested in who made the best James Bond? Published in September, this post brought in more page views in three days than this blog got total in the year of 2007.  It is still getting viewed every day, some days only 1 or 2 views, but it is still looked at on a constant basis.  Quite surprising, I must say.

Anonymous Takes On Scientology -This post came in second with a very healthy showing (the Bond post has about 4 times the page views), and it was also one that took me by surprise in how it took off.  It didn’t hurt that members of Anonymous put links to it all over the Web, and with that in mind, I am sure I am now on the Scientology watch list.  -waves-  Hail, Xenu!

The Music Industry Vs Net Neutrality -This post was from January of last year, and was my biggest success to date at the time.  Net Neutrality is always a touchy subject, and the music industry seemingly want to wage war on it is not sitting well with anyone, and understandably so.

How To Watch Internet Videos On Your TV -This is a very popular post, and one on plan on revisiting soon as a lot has changed since I published this last February.  This was also part of the inspiration for the launching of StarterTech.com.

Olympic Beach Volleyball Uniforms -This was my second article about my anger over how women’s beach volleyball athletes were treated by the medie at this past Summer Olympics.  The first article, Olympic Beach Volleyball, was only a few hundred views behind this one, but I am counting them as one entry on this list.

I will admit, from analyzing the search traffic on these two posts, they are found for all the wrong reasons, and that being mainly people looking for pictures of the athletes asses.  Somehow I doubt they read the accompanying articles that say that is what I’m talking against…

Who Is The Best Doctor Who – Okay, I am not too proud to admit this was an obvious attempt to copy the success of the James Bond post, but apparently I went a little too obscure with the subject matter.  It obviously still did well as a post as it made this list.

JJ Abrams Unveils The New Enterprise From Star Trek – This is another one that surprised me with how well it did.  I guess people really, really wanted to see how the new Enterprise looked!

Dancing With The Stars Band – My dislike for the Dancing With The Stars band, and it’s conductor, Harold Wheeler, has turned this in to my most controversial post ever. I have received numerous nasty comments and emails about me and my opinion of these… “musicians”… and all I can say is… Keep it up! I always need more laughs in my life!

New The Dark Knight Trailer Hints At Joker Greatness – The massive upswing I saw in traffic to this post in October prompted me to write a post entitled “Just Put Down The Clown Makeup!” as I could see it was mainly being found by people looking for pictures of the Joker.  Sure enough, it was all about people trying to dress as him for Halloween.

Weighty Issues For Cheryl Burke of Dancing With The Stars -Poor Cheryl Burke took a real pounding for her non-existent weight issues on the fall season of Dancing With The Stars.  It was a whole lot of hype over a woman gaining a meager 5 lbs, and I personally found that the fact anyone was even calling her “fat” just silly.

Honroable Mentions – Somehow my review of a Combichrist/K.M.F.D.M. concert from 2006 was technically in my top 10 viewed posts… I have no clue why.  Also, my post on Armando Montelongo also made it into the top ten, but I like to keep this list about posts published in 2008.

So, there you have it, the top 10 posts of the year for this blog.  Just like last year, this list tells me entertainment related posts do well, but I will probably continue to talk about just whatever is randomly on my mind at any given time.  I will say that the increased readership has made me a lot more self conscience about my posts, and what I tend to pick as the subjects, but at the end of the day, this is still just a personal blog… filled with a lot of ranting.

Thank you all so very much for making 2008 such a great year here at SeanPAune.com, and I only hope I can keep you all as interested in 2009!