Welcome to the second week of the daily edition of CobWEBs, the flagship podcast of the Cynical Bastards!
For those who don’t remember from the other episodes, this is a new format for the show as we are going to try giving you daily bite sized chunks of our patented brand of cynicism over everything in the tech universe. The show will have a rotating host schedule between Steven Hodson, Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins and myself. You’ll always get two of us, you just never know which two!
For this episode, Steven and I again take up the mics (since Mark is a big ole wuss!), and Steven and I take a harsh look at the new Google product, Fast Flip. Yeah … we aren’t fans. We spell out our reasons in the show, but we really take issue with the whole concept.
Welcome to the second week of the daily edition of CobWEBs, the flagship podcast of the Cynical Bastards!
For those who don’t remember from the other episodes, this is a new format for the show as we are going to try giving you daily bite sized chunks of our patented brand of cynicism over everything in the tech universe. The show will have a rotating host schedule between Steven Hodson, Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins and myself. You’ll always get two of us, you just never know which two!
For this episode, Steven and I decided to completely ignore TechCrunch 50 and take on mainstream technology with a look at the current Hollywood fascination with 3D. Why is it being applied to so many properties? 3D TVs look to be coming, will you buy one? 3D sports on television makes our heads hurt. What is the point to adding 3D to video games? You get the idea!
I couldn’t tell you the last time I actually watched the MTV Video Music Awards, but considering all of the hullabaloo over them this year as they aired, it was almost impossible not to watch them.
Taylor Swift won the award for Best Female Video, and as she went to give her acceptance speech she got part of the way through it when she was suddenly interrupted by Kanye West who basically said she was not deserving of the award. Instead it seems that Mr. West felt that Beyoncé was more deserving of the award, although as it appears he was at least somewhat drunk, the reason isn’t entirely clear. Watch it for yourself, although be warned it is almost uncomfortable to see it actually happen.
Later in the broadcast Beyoncé won for Video of the Year, and while I have never been a fan of her music, I have to give her amazingly huge kudos for what she did during her acceptance speech to make it up to Taylor Swift when it wasn’t even something she was at fault for.
Mr. West? You could learn a lot from what Beyoncé did here.
Kanye West did later release an apology of sorts that … well, it is also not exactly coherent, but here it is:
I’M SOOOOO SORRY TO TAYLOR SWIFT AND HER FANS AND HER MOM. I SPOKE TO HER MOTHER RIGHT AFTER AND SHE SAID THE SAME THING MY MOTHER WOULD’VE SAID. SHE IS VERY TALENTED! I LIKE THE LYRICS ABOUT BEING A CHEERLEADER AND SHE’S IN THE BLEACHERS! …………………… I’M IN THE WRONG FOR GOING ON STAGE AND TAKING AWAY FROM HER MOMENT!…………….. BEYONCE’S VIDEO WAS THE BEST OF THIS DECADE!!!! I’M SORRY TO MY FANS IF I LET YOU GUYS DOWN!!!! I’M SORRY TO MY FRIENDS AT MTV. I WILL APOLOGIZE TO TAYLOR 2MRW. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD!!!! EVERYBODY WANNA BOOOOO ME BUT I’M A FAN OF REAL POP CULTURE!!! NO DISRESPECT BUT WE WATCHIN’ THE SHOW AT THE CRIB RIGHT NOW CAUSE … WELL YOU KNOW!!!! I’M STILL HAPPY FOR TAYLOR!!!! BOOOYAAAWWWW!!!! YOU ARE VERY VERY TALENTED!!! I GAVE MY AWARDS TO OUTKAST WHEN THEY DESERVED IT OVER ME… THAT’S WHAT IT IS!!!!!!! I’M NOT CRAZY YALL, I’M JUST REAL. SORRY FOR THAT!!! I REALLY FEEL BAD FOR TAYLOR AND I’M SINCERELY SORRY!!! MUCH RESPECT!!!!!
The backlash against Kanye was pretty much instantaneous thanks to services like Twitter. My favorite quote had to come from singer Katy Perry who took to her account to say, “F*** U KANYE. IT’S LIKE U STEPPED 0N A KITTEN.”
For those who would like to know who won all of the wards, here is the complete list.
Video of the Year – Beyonce, ‘Single Ladies
Best New Artist – Lady Gaga, ‘Poker Face’
Best Hip-Hop Video – Eminem, ‘We Made You’
Best Male Video – T.I. featuring Rihanna, ‘Live Your Life’
Best Pop Video – Britney Spears, ‘Womanizer’
Best Rock Video – Green Day, ’21 Guns’
Best Female Video – Taylor Swift, ‘You Belong With Me’
Best Video (That Should Have Won a Moonman) – Beastie Boys, ‘Sabotage’
Breakthrough Video – Matt and Kim, ‘Lessons Learned’
Best Art Direction – Lady Gaga, ‘Paparazzi’
Best Choreography – Beyonce, ‘Single Ladies’
Best Cinematography – Green Day, ’21 Guns’
Best Direction – Green Day, ’21 Guns’
Best Editing – Beyonce, ‘Single Ladies’
Best Special Effects – Lady Gaga, ‘Paparazzi’
It’s unfortunate that Mr. West felt the need to interrupt Ms. Swift for whatever his insane reason was. It’s sad to see someone that does actually have some talent act the fool every time you turn around.
Season 2 of HBO’s hit series True Blood is wrapping up tonight (9PM EST/8PM CST), and what a wacky season it has been.
If you aren’t familiar with the series, it is based on a series of novels by Charlene Harris entitled The Southern Vampire Mysteries. While the television series and novels start diverting from each other in the very first episode of season 1, the core of the stories remains pretty much the same.
Sookie Stackhouse, portrayed by Anna Paquin in the series, has had telepathic abilities since childhood, and this has ostracized her from the majority of people in Bon Temps, Louisiana where she resides. A few years prior to the start of the series, vampires “came out of the coffin” due to the introduction of a synthetic blood that has been marketed under the name “Tru Blood”. No longer having to feed exclusively off of the living, the vampires finally decided it was time to merge with mainstream society.
While Sookie has desired to meet a vampire ever since they made themselves known, she had no clue how meeting Bill Compton, played by Stephen Moyer in the series, would change her life. She quickly gets entangled in the intricacies of vampire society, the power plays they make against one another and becomes romantically desired by more vampires than just Bill.
While season 1 of the series was good, season 2 has just been insane in the amount of new dangers, plot & character advancement and just a general sense that the stakes have been raised that much more. If you want to give the series a try, season 1 is out on DVD (although, always be cautious with HBO DVD sets), and episodes are also available on HBO on Demand.
Tonight is the season 2 finale, and everything points to it just being wall-to-wall insanity, and somehow I doubt we’re going to get a happy or clean ending. Below is the promo video released by HBO set to the song “Corrupt” by Depeche Mode.
A mother who gave up her son for adoption years ago, began reconnecting with him over the Internet, and now she stands accused of committing incest with him.
Aimee Louise Sword, a 35-year-old woman from Michigan, gave up a son early on in life for adoption. According to ABC News, she was allowed limited contact with him over the years, but at some point they began talking more on the Internet. She now stands accused of having started a sexual relationship with in the Summer of 2008.
In the Fall of 2008, somehow Child Protective Services (CPS) became aware of the situation and alerted the local police. An investigation was conducted, and Ms. Sword eventually surrendered to the police on April 24th of this year. She was initially charged with three counts of felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct, but now a judge has lowered it to just one count. She is currently free on $3,000 bond, and is scheduled to go to a hearing on Sept. 21st. Ahead of her hearing, she has already plead not guilty.
The details in this case are very sketchy as the boy involved is a minor, and Michigan won’t even allow his age to be revealed to the public. (not that his age should matter in a case of incest) Ms. Sword has other children, and all of them have been removed from her home by CPS.
It will be interesting to see what the evidence in this case is, because from the multiple stories I’ve read, no evidence is ever mentioned. Compared to the teacher sex scandals I normally cover, which usually have heaps of evidence, this one seems to be missing a lot. While I’m not one to pass judgement usually, you have to wonder if possibly the adopted parent(s) didn’t like the increased contact between Ms. Sword and her son. I have zero evidence of this, it is pure speculation, but you do have to wonder.
Are you ready for another outing with Captain Jack Sparrow?
Disney is currently hosting its first ever official convention in Anaheim, CA, the D23 convention. 5,000 lucky fans were surprised today by Johnny Depp being wheeled out on stage in full Jack sparrow costume, riding upon a replica of the Black Pearl. According to the Los Angeles Times, Mr. Depp stayed in character the entire time, and made jokes about eating Kermit the Frog, who had been on stage earlier, and how he imagines that he “tastes of chicken.”
The whole reason for his appearance was to announce that the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film not only has a title now, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, but a release date which has been set for summer 2011.
According to The Geek Files, the title may give away the plot as there was a pirate story called On Stranger Tides that Disney bought the rights to. The story deals with pirates arriving in the newly founded New Orleans and then looking for the legendary Fountain of Youth. Rumors had been that the fourth movie would deal with Sparrow and Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush) following a similar story, so it looks like we know the plot.
Sadly, Gore Verbinksi, whom directed the first three films has been replaced by Rob Marshall. I am not overly familiar with Mr. Marshall’s work, but hopefully he won’t change the over all look of the series that much, but I’m willing to give him a fair shake.
So, what say you, are you ready for another adventure with Jack Sparrow?
Welcome to the fourth daily edition of CobWEBs, the flagship podcast of the Cynical Bastards!
For those who don’t remember from the other episodes, this is a new format for the show as we are going to try giving you daily bite sized chunks of our patented brand of cynicism over everything in the tech universe. The show will have a rotating host schedule between Steven Hodson, Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins and myself. You’ll always get two of us, you just never know which two!
For this episode, Steven and I take a look at what is happening with Facebook now that they have purchased FriendFeed, and are they really running scared of Twitter?
When was the last time you thought about a fireman? A policeman? An EMT? Why not take a moment today to do that?
Eight years ago today terror came to our doorstep, and a certain breed of men and women raced toward it to help their fellow man. In the weeks and months following 9/11, people embraced emergency workers all across the country, even if they weren’t near Ground Zero, they were all brothers and sisters, and people remembered these people that work tirelessly in the backgrounds of our lives.
As time passed, as with so many things, people stopped thinking about them again, and I think it’s time we did again.
Each year on this date I write a post marking the memory of September 11th, but I think maybe it’s time we once again celebrate these people who work constantly to save our lives and protect us. I admit my bias in that my paternal grandfather was a fire captain in Phoenix, AZ in my childhood, but that is my extent of connection to emergency workers.
So why not take a moment of your time and donate to a local emergency worker charity? Do you drive by a fire department each day? Why not take them some ice cream or treats? (trust me, fireman will never turn down food) Tell a policeman you appreciate them. Why should we wait for the next disaster to remember these relatively unsung heroes of our world?
September 11th will never be a “happy” day again in the history of this country, but it doesn’t mean we can’t do something good with it for those around us.
Scattercast is 60… and pondering early retirement!
- Different headset this week … Franklin, the 4-month-old cocker, destroyed my good one
- My weight loss has taken an odd, and slightly scary, turn
- Weight loss goals and some other thoughts on my losing 109 lbs so far
- SeanPAune.com is moving servers … again
- iPods
- Music
- A new recurring feature of Scattercast … listen in to find out what it is!
Here’s
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Welcome to the second daily edition of CobWEBs, the flagship podcast of the Cynical Bastards!
For those who don’t remember from the other episodes, this is a new format for the show as we are going to try giving you daily bite sized chunks of our patented brand of cynicism over everything in the tech universe. The show will have a rotating host schedule between Steven Hodson, Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins and myself. You’ll always get two of us, you just never know which two!
For this episode, Mark and I take a look (again) at what is happening with e-readers and how we feel they could finally crack their way in to the mainstream. It’s just going ot take some time and patience to do it!
What happens when not-so-smart aliens end up on Earth with no way to leave? You get humans at their finest, of course.
District 9 is the story of an alien ship that arrived over Johannesburg, South Africa in 1982, and then went on to just hover over the city for three months with no indication of life on board. Humans, being a curious lot, decided to finally fly up to the ship and cut their way in. What they found was over 1 million aliens living in squalor, rife with malnutrition and slowly dying. In short, they found a ship full of refugees.
The humans, so well known for being a caring group of souls, set up a camp for them named “District 9″. As time progressed, and people grew more fearful of these visitors and their powerful weapons, the camp turned more into a prison with a shanty town interior. Nigerian gangsters also moved in, taking advantage of the aliens by selling them over-priced cat food, their favorite snack, and setting up inter-species prostitution.
Now some 20 years have passed, and the MNU (Multinational United), a private military contractor, which has overseen District 9 from the start, has been told to relocate the aliens to an encampment some 240 kms outside of Johannesburg. The citizens of the city are thrilled, but the aliens don’t seem to even understand what is being said to them.
Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley), an obviously not-so-intelligent worker for MNU, is put in charge of the operation due to his being married to the bosses daughter (daddy denies this, but it’s fairly clear), and on his first day he gets infected by an alien virus.
Beyond that story point you’ll have to watch the movie, but don’t be fooled, this movie isn’t about the science fiction as much as it is about themes: themes of segregation, xenophobia, the good will of humanity, treating those different than yourself as equals and so on.
This move is overflowing with themes, and it actually handles them all rather deftly, but then you get to the third act of the film, and it seems like the decision was made, “Okay, everyone learned their lessons about humanity, start blowing stuff up!” While it was still enjoyable, the third act of the film is so different from the previous two that it is almost jarring. There is still a little bit of closure to the story arc of van de Merwe, but it really is all about blowing stuff up and setting up a potential sequel.
Let me say there were two stand out things about this film beyond the story, and that was Sharlto Copley and the special effects. Mr. Copley has been involved in the South African film industry for some time, but this is the first time he has ever gotten attention on a world wide scale. His performance as the initially unlikable Wikus van de Merwe really carries you through this film. There is one scene I don’t want to give to say too much about it and ruin it for you (it’s the scene with the “eggs”), that his performance is so believable, so filled with glee at what he is doing, that you feel like you are actually watching a documentary and you detest this man.
The second thing, the special effects, were phenomenal. For a film with a $30 million budget, it looked as good as anything coming out of Hollywood in the $175 million budget range nowadays. A lot of studios could take a lesson from this film and how to scale back on their budgets and still look utterly fantastic.
Lastly, director Neill Blomkamp is going to have a very long career in front of him judging by this project. He has a fresh, gritty style that is engrossing and quickly transports you into the story.
Overall an entertaining film, even with the run-of-the-mill third act, that I will gladly watch again many times over the coming years.
Season 2 of HBO’s hit series True Blood is wrapping up tonight (9PM EST/8PM CST), and what a wacky season it has been.
Busy week this week … stupid Apple announcements!
A mother who gave up her son for adoption years ago, began reconnecting with him over the Internet, and now she stands accused of committing incest with him.
Are you ready for another outing with Captain Jack Sparrow?
When was the last time you thought about a fireman? A policeman? An EMT? Why not take a moment today to do that?
Scattercast is 60… and pondering early retirement!
What happens when not-so-smart aliens end up on Earth with no way to leave? You get humans at their finest, of course.
