Posted inTelevision

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

by Deck

Studio 60 on the Sunset StripJust got done watching the second episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. What a great show! I can’t recommend this one enough. I’ve been a fan of show creator Aaron Sorkin (“West Wing”, “Sports Night”, “The American President”) for quite a while, but I hope that this series might have even wider appeal because it won’t be so politically focused as some of his earlier work.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is on Monday nights at 9:00 (central). The pilot is online at nbc.com in its entirety. Even better, the promos make it sound like NBC is planning to put each episode online after the show has aired for that week, so it’s easy to get caught up if you haven’t watched it yet. Enjoy!

Posted inGames

Come Out and Play!

by Deck

Come Out and PlayThe Come Out & Play Festival is a street games festival dedicated to exploring new styles of games and play. It was held last weekend (September 22-24) on the streets (and even on the buildings) of New York City.

Some of the interesting games include Space Invaders (giant game of Space Invaders on the side of a building, with your body as the controller), Identity (large-scale social game of secret organizations, covert intelligence, suspicion, trust, cooperation and betrayal), Snagu (camera-phone based scavenger hunt with no limits on time, space, or answers), Manhattan MEGAputt (gigantic game of mini golf, played in ManhattanÂ’s East Village), Cruel 2 B Kind (benevolent assassins stalk New York performing acts of kindness for strangers in an attempt to catch their prey), and Payphone Warriors (control city turf by capturing the cityÂ’s payphones).

CNET has pretty good coverage of the event:

The last couple of articles go into more detail about specific games. Sounds like it was a lot of fun. :-)

Posted inGames

“Sling” is Addictive

by Deck

SlingFound a cute little Flash game earlier tonight (via Digg) called Sling.

As with many of the best games, this one is simple to play, but a little tougher to master. Here’s a brief description from the game…

Sling is a green glob of goo consisting of a hand attached to a head by a long strip of springy slime. Players use the mouse to click and drag on Sling’s head, pulling him around to attach him to different items, or pulling back and releasing him to ‘slingshot’ him to another location. Real-world physics are used to model Sling’s springy arm, his motion and collisions.

Each level of Sling’s world is made up of a single screen of different ‘grabs’ and surfaces that he can attach himself too. There are many different grabs with different characteristics. The most basic grab is a simple ‘gray’ grab. On most levels, Sling must attach himself to all the ‘gray’ grabs and turn them green. Once all the gray grabs are green a portal will appear to take him to the next level.

Be careful, though… As evidenced by the timestamp of this entry, Sling is extremely addicting. Make sure you have plenty of time to play. ;-)

Posted inMovies / WTF?

You’ll Get Yours, Black Bart!

by Deck

You'll Get Yours, Black Bart!Ten points if you can identify the gentlemen in the photo (click to enlarge)…

Hint: The weapon on the left is an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle.

That’s right! The guy on the left is none other than Peter Billingsley, a.k.a. Ralphie from A Christmas Story. Actor/director Jon Favreau is on the right. Jon is directing the Iron Man movie, currently scheduled for a May 2008 release. Ralphie, uh, Peter is co-producing the movie with Jon. The hardware are props for the movie (I hope ;-)).

Posted inSports

Red Zone Wrap-Up (Week 2)

by Deck

FFL Week 2 has come and gone. Once again, the Houston Inferno have posted the high score this week with a 113-78 win over the Batavia Bulldogs. The Inferno only had three players in double digits. However, two of those had 27 points and the third earned 30! The Inferno are now 2-0 while the Bulldogs fall to 0-2.

The Springfield Bullhawks remain unbeaten with a 109-60 victory over the Kentucky Mad Max. The Mad Max (1-1) left Michael Vick on the bench this week, but even Vick’s 26 point performance wouldn’t have been enough to recover from this week’s deficit.

Recovering from a tough loss last week, the P’burg PrairiePride handed the Foreign Bodies their second straight loss 86-67. Both teams left big points on the bench… 74 for the Bodies and 75 for the PrairiePride.

For the second week in a row, the Head Coach position has been the deciding factor in a Red Zone game. The Peoria OrangeCrush stole a win 76-74 from the Shelbyville Outkasts, who had the Philadelphia Eagles for their Head Coach position. The Outkasts would have earned a tie if the Philadelphia Eagles could have held off the New York Giants in overtime. The OrangeCrush and the Outkasts are now both 1-1.

And last but certainly not least… My Spooky Boogeymen are 2-0 with a win over the Petersburg PowerPuff Girls. Fortunately for me, the PowerPuffs left Brett Favre’s 30 points on the bench this week. Unfortunately for me, Terrell Owens broke his hand and might be out of action for as long as four weeks. D’oh! I so should’ve kept Donovan McNabb instead of T.O.

Oh well, there’s still a whole lotta football left to play. We’ll just have to wait and see how it all works out this season…

Posted inRant n' Rave / Toys

ViVa La TiVolution!

by Deck

I love TiVo.

There’s no doubt about it. I’ve been a huge TiVo proponent for many years now. I’ve even managed to convert a couple of buddies to the cult of TiVo.

So I was understandably excited when rumors started to circulate about the next generation of TiVo. Finally after months of speculation, the TiVo Series3 was officially announced just this past week. The Series3 box offers some significant enhancements…

  • Control live Hi-Definition TV and record 2 digital cable shows at once
  • World’s only digital media recorder with THX-certification
  • 300 hours of standard recording time or up to 32 hours in HD
  • New backlit, programmable TiVo remote, easy to configure to your TV

And of course, the Series3 continues to offer the functionality that has earned TiVo such a loyal following…

  • An interface that is both powerful and easy to use
  • Season Pass recording allows you to subscribe to your favorite shows
  • WishList searches automatically record programs based on a number of criteria, including a favorite actor or director
  • Schedule recordings anywhere from tivo.com
  • Advanced TiVo broadband features include digital photos, Internet radio, podcasts, and more

Unfortunately, the new TiVo machine has a couple of major factors working against it. And both involve money. Cash. Finances. Mulah. Green stuff. Legal tender.

First of all, the new TiVo Series3 machine costs $800. :-O Ouch! Despite the sticker shock, I will almost certainly go ahead fork out the dough for a new Series3 before the end of the year. I’ll tell you why in just a moment…

First we need to discuss the second issue. In addition to the purchase price, TiVo also charges a fee for their service ranging from about $13 a month to $299 for a 3-year commitment. When I bought my Series2 machine, TiVo had a lifetime service option available. For one lump sum I was able to avoid the normal monthly service fees. Unfortunately, “lifetime” refers to the lifetime of my existing TiVo box so it won’t automatically transfer over to a new Series3 purchase. On top of that, TiVo recently stopped even offering the option for lifetime service on new purchases.

So I was a little surprised (and pleased) to read the following offer in this month’s TiVo e-mail newsletter…

For a limited time, transfer your Product Lifetime service from a Series1 or Series2 box to the new Series3 HD for only $199. As an added bonus, we’ll keep TiVo service activated on your old box for another 12 months for no additional charge.

Those bastards. They know the one and only pressure point that would make me even consider spending $800 on a Series3 any time soon. I don’t have Hi-Def (yet) so that’s not a big selling point for me right now. But I can’t stand the thought of paying month after month (or year after year) for the on-going TiVo service. If I bite the bullet and spend the 200 bucks now, I’ll save money in the future. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. ;-))

This offer is good only through the end of the year, so I’m going to wait as long as possible in an attempt to maximize the usage of my existing Series2 box. But at this point, I have to admit that it’s just a matter of time…

I’ve given quite a bit of thought about the past, present, and potential future of TiVo (as you can probably tell ;-)). This is already a fairly long entry, so check out the extended body of this entry if you’re at all interested in my further ramblings…
Continue reading “ViVa La TiVolution!”

Posted inOn The Web / Sports

Red Zone Wrap-Up (Week 1)

by Deck

Red ZoneWelcome to week 1 of the Red Zone Wrap-Up!

As discussed previously, the Red Zone is the ESPN Fantasy Football League (FFL) that I’m in. Every Tuesday or so, I’m going to try to write a brief summary of the previous weekend’s action.

Jeff H’s Houston Inferno led all scorers this week with a 121-74 drubbing of Charlie G’s Peoria OrangeCrush. The Inferno got 31 points from Donovan McNabb (who I had last year but didn’t keep :|) on top of 20 or better points from both his kicker and defense. (I wouldn’t count on that happening every week, Jeff. ;-))

The closest game this week was decided by a single point, 95-94. Jack P’s Shelbyville Outkasts knocked off the P’burg PrairiePride managed by Bob P. Head coaching made the difference in this game. Jack’s head coach won his NFL game, while Bob’s lost. That meant a 2-point swing and a loss for the PrairiePride.

My Spooky Boogeymen came back from an early 30 point deficit against Mike N’s Batavia Bulldogs to win 91-80. My stud keeper from last season, Shaun Alexander had a slow start to the season (putting it kindly) for only 3 points. Luckily, Donte Stallworth took up the slack with a surprising 23 points. I’m hoping for continued success from Donte throughout the rest of the season…

Alan P’s Springfield Bullhawks took advantage of a low-scoring week from Elizabeth P’s Petersburg Powerpuff Girls to win 84-59. Unfortunately for the Powerpuffs, superstar wide receiver Steve Smith didn’t play last weekend due to injury and is still listed as questionable.

Bret D’s Kentucky Mad Max beat Ben D’s Foreign Bodies 72-53. A -3 point performance from starting quarterback Jake Plummer, didn’t help the Bodies’ cause.

So, after one week, the Inferno, Outkasts, Boogeymen, and Bullhawks all share a 1-0 record and a tie for the Norris Division lead. The Mad Max are the only Long Division team to earn a win last week for sole possession of that division’s lead.

Good luck to everyone next week (except for Alan of course ;-)).

Posted inOn The Web / Sports

Are you ready for some football?!?

by Deck

Spooky BoogeymenFinally!!!

Football season is here! Yay!! I’m flipping between the Cincy/KC and Seattle/Detroit games right now.

I didn’t realize that James Brown had left the Fox NFL pre-game show to move to the same position at CBS, but Joe Buck was named to replace him so I think it will all work out OK. (Now if we could just get Joe Theismann off ESPN’s new Monday Night Football, NFL TV coverage would be just about perfect.)

Anyway, the point of this blog entry isn’t specifically about the start of the NFL season. It’s about the kick-off of the FFL season! This my tenth year participating in ESPN’s online Fantasy Football League (FFL). For those of you who aren’t familiar with fantasy football, owners like me draft actual NFL players to play on our teams. The stats that each of those players earn equate to points for the FFL team. For example, quarterbacks earn 6 points for a touchdown, but also receive 1 point for every 10 yards passing. Head-to-head match-ups between FFL teams determine overall win-loss records, and the best teams make it to the play-offs. Games might be a blowout, or they might come down to one NFL player gaining one extra yard that puts his FFL team over the top. FFL certainly makes watching football on Sundays more interesting, because an otherwise boring game might feature players from your FFL team, or even your opponent’s.

My teams over the years have taken on a few different names, but for the past two seasons I’ve been managing the Spooky Boogeymen (helmet design pictured above) of the Red Zone keeper league. What makes it even more fun is that the other league teams are owned by friends and family. Good luck to all my opposing FFL owners/managers (except Alan ;-)).

Unfortunately in my decade of competition, I’ve never been FFL league champion. Two seasons ago, I made it to the championship game, but couldn’t quite win it. Last year, I started off pretty strong but faded badly when my franchise players were out because of injuries and suspension. Clearly, I’m due. :-D

I’ll keep you updated as the season’s progresses…