Halloween in September

That's right I did Halloween in September. After Labor Day, Disneyland got gussied up for Halloween.

Introducing My HD to My PS3

Well, my PS3 snubbed my new 1TB hard drive. I really wanted them to play nice with each other after I loaded many movies onto the hard drive.

Once I discovered I could turn my laptop into a Media Server my PS3 recognized, I jumped for joy. However, this would have been too much for Pointy to navigate. Start up the software on my laptop. Turn on PS3. Go find the laptop media server. Go find the correct directories/folders. Plus, I later discovered that sometimes there is a delay in transmission since I relocated the laptop to another floor.

There had to be a simpler solution for her as I no longer wanted to burned DVDs.

A harddrive!!!

The PS3 has a USB port that would accept an external harddrive. After some digging, my PS3 will only play nice with drives that are FAT32. PC hard drives out of a box are NTSC.

DISCRIMINATION I say!

Yes, your computer will format a drive to FAT32 but only up to 32 gigs. I did not want to put any partitions on my HD. I needed mine to be the whole 1 TB. We all know Google is our friend. I searched and searched many sites until I finally found what I was looking for -- Formatting to FAT32 Tool. Yeah!!!

I downloaded the tool. Re-formatted my 1TB hard drive (stoopid PS3) and reloaded all the videos.

Now, Pointy is a happy camper as I've now become her VCR/TiVO. I find the programs she watches and make sure I put it onto the HD for her.

I did teach her something new but don't think it's made a permanent home in her brain yet. If the PS3 does not want to play nice with the HD (yes, sometimes the PS3 doesn't like the video formats), she can hook her laptop to the telly via 9-foot HDMI cable and plug the HD into her laptop. I've only shown this to her once. Let's see if she remembers or will she suffer quietly when she can't watch her programs ;) Or, even think of just watching the stuff on the HD on her laptop.

We Are The World - Now and Then

NBC debuted We Are The World 25 for Haiti before the 2010 Winter Olympic games opening ceremonies.

When I heard it, I was not that thrilled with it. I posted on Facebook that this would need another listen. Maybe it will grow on me.

I later found out that the broadcast was only 3 minutes of the full video. Here's the official one. I like this version a lot better.



Here's the original.



Old or new? I sitll like the original. Yes, the new one grew on me. I like the new except for the guy (Jamaican?) who sounds like an out-of-tune warbling bird or some animal (time slice 3:14, 6:31 and 7:03). Only good part from him was at time slice 7:41-7:55.

Jay-z felt We Are the World should not have been remade.

How do you feel about the remake?

PS3, A Cable and Netflix

Yes, I'm now own a PS3 Slim. I was always planning on getting one since I read it's a multipurpose machine. The Blu-Ray player cinched it. Then the streaming of Netflix nailed the coffin. I ordered my PS3 Netflix streaming disk to be ready and that came last week.

I was in no hurry to get a PS3 Slim until I found there was a discount on American Express' Membership Rewards. The points have been sitting there for many years. I got me my holiday present and my brother his birthday and holiday present. Poor SIL has to now find a different gift for him. He and I are very hard to get things for. If we want something, we go out and get it :)

FedEx delivered the PS3s yesterday. I opened up to retrieve the manual to read the setup requirements and what was provided. As I have a 1080p TV set, I knew I needed to get a HDMI cable for optimal resolution. I wanted to get the system all hooked up this weekend and was planning on heading to Radio Shack to get the cable. My brother happened to call and told me to go to Home Depot. The other places were highway robbers. I checked it out on the internet, and he was right. The prices are so drastically different from store prices. I headed to Home Depot and discovered they do not sell their lowest priced items in a store. $20 was still cheaper than the other places. I'm playing for store inventory and immediate satisfaction.

Hooked everything up, easy-peasy, and fed the Netflix disk. I can now watch many of the Netflix offerings. The only inconvenience is it is not constant streaming. The video is interrupted every 30 minutes or so while more is downloaded. Many intermissions. I've watched Passenger and Legend of the Seeker (Season 1). It's better than nothing. I'll be able to catch up on the series that have appeared on HBO and Showtime, like Tudors and Dexter.

I'm happy with my new toy. I now need to get a game to play on the PS3 :) Do you have any recommendations -- something along the lines of Mario Bros, Zelda, Tetris or Bejeweled?

Live Long and Prosper

I guess it's one of those things that some can do and some cannot. You know, like wiggle your ears or roll your tongue.

It seems the Vulcan Salute is another one.

What's bad though is when a Vulcan cannot do the hand gesture. The new Mr. Spock, Zachary Quinto, in The Star Trek movie cannot. He either had to have his hand positioned the right way before the camera shot or skin glue was used if it was the middle of the shot.

What was the eye opener for me was to discover that William Shatner could not do the gesture either. Conan O'Brien discovered this during his Tonight Show.



Can you do the Vulcan Salute? May you live long and prosper.

Why I Go To Weddings?

My friend from across the big pond, Julia, shared this with me. I needed to share it, too.



I've not been to many weddings so I don't have any mishaps to relay.

What funny things have you seen or been part of at a wedding?

Digital TV - Part 2

I was reading this article: Millions Left Behind as TV Goes Digital
I guess the analog airwaves really went dark. I would not know as all TVs I'm watching now is hooked up to cable.

How does one communicate to the millions to let them know what's coming and what needs to be done?

I know the news stations have been repeating this story many times. I generally don't watch the news when I'm local. It's a different story when I'm traveling. So, if many are like me when I'm local, this communication did not work.

I know the newspapers talk about it. Yep, when I'm local, I don't read the newspaper. So, this communication does not work either.

The one thing I don't remember seeing is a commercial about the digital converters. Instead I saw cable companies tooting their service is required when digital TV comes. If you had money, wouldn't you be a cable subscriber? There is a reason for why you're on free TV -- either no money or just don't like cable. Plus, it does not help when some are in the boonies where there is no cable service.

I don't remember if this was done or not. Should not the government who required the conversion to digital put out a commercial announcing what needs to be done? The commercial would run between programs.

Digital TV

Tomorrow is it. Are you ready? Analog television goes away.

I don't have anything to worry about. I have cable. However, I did buy two converters with the $40 coupon cards the government supplied. I was curious to see what stations I would get over the airways.

Until recently, all my televisions were still analog ones. The main one had to be replaced as it must have known that it's analog days were numbered and decided to go whack-o. So, I put it out of it's misery and bought a new one.

I decided to try the converter on my oldest television. This was the first one I bought over 26 years ago, RCA 19-inch. I don't think it's the TV but the antenna I used and the placement of the TV which was in the basement. I was unable to get any of the local stations. I did get some interesting ones. When I have more time, I'll hijack a home-made antenna from my brother to see if I get better results.

As I was discussing my station findings with my brother, he explained the downstream impact to our analog video equipment -- DVR and VHS machine. If you're hooked up to a converter, you can only record one station and that is the station that is set on the converter. The channels on the video recorder machines are worthless. The converter is what controls what is recorded. You cannot watch one station and record another. This made us wonder how many DTV converter people understood this. WOW! What a way to kill analog video recording equipment. For those that understood this, there are a couple of DTV converters out there that will save your video recording equipment. Don't remember what they are but my brother found it and I recently read about them in Consumer Reports.

I also discovered that I might need to use the converters as the cable company is moving some of the premium stations to digital. This requires an adapter from the cable company and they only provide 3 for free. Yes, I have more than 3 TVs. The only rooms that do not have a set are the bathrooms :) I paid the cable company enough and do not see why they should get anymore from them. I cannot wait until FIOS gets here so I have a choice.

Stand By Me and Tires

These are my latest finds in the great world wide web...



Isn't this cool?


It's made of tires. What a way to recycle? Check out more here.

Animator vs Animation

This is so cool.... click on it to be directed to his Deviantart site to watch. It's worth it :)


Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART


Animator vs. Animation II by *alanbecker on deviantART

Mairzy Doats

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?
Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

No, I did not lose my mind. It's just memories surfacing again.

I came all the way to LA to hear news about New York Central Park Zoo. They have new lambs. The lambs made me remember the song above.

I was on vacation on my first visit to Walt Disney World, mid to late 80's. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Maingate outside of WDW. They had entertainment each night in the hotel. Without fail, the entertainer would sing the above song. I think it was either his opening or ending.

That was a fun vacation.

If you don't get the lyrics, here's another part of the song...

If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey,

Sing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy."

And if I remember right, the entertainer had a lamb puppet ... or am I mixing it with the Shari Lewis and Lamp Chop.

Let Me Entertain You ... for a bit

Thanks to Smart Bitches, Trashy Books for the heads up on Extreme Sheep LED Art and Validation.

Exteme Sheep LED Art

Did you see the Mona Lisa? Love the fireworks and the game :)

Validation

Everyone needs to be validated!!!

West Side Story is coming back to Broadway. Good Morning, America (GMA) was lucky to get two of numbers in their studio -- America and Playing It Cool. You may need a little patience on the GMA links to load and the advertisement to play.

Enjoy the show!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Spoof

So Brits, what this Road Tax business?

Beware of Flashing Boobs

Really, there are flashing boobs in this video.

Thanks to Pointy for another funny.

Of course, three are other videos out there for Rodney Carrington. He curses, is not PC and talks about body parts. *LOL*

Still Love Their Music

A twofer here...

Snowball

I'm sorry, but Snowball just cannot sing. Dance yes. Sing no.

One more... then you can hunt for the others at Youtube

Welcome to Beijing - English Subtitles

This one has English subtitles :D

I've been playing it over and over and over at work as background music :D.

** Updated July 5, 2008 **

Jackie Chan, on his blog, was nice enough to provide his translation plus the name of the stars :) Scroll down to when he talks about the 100-Day Countdown to the Olympic Games. The rest of this entry is very informative. Jackie has some nice pics.

YouTubing

On a week night, I wind up ending my day/night with ABC News. Ok really with Jimmy Kimmel and Oprah. Well, ABC News sent me YouTubing with an funny article they did. It seems the Yanks are invading the British shores. I think it's funny how it's subtitled because you might not understand the boy's accent *LOL*. The one in the news article did not have the subtitles.

Well, while YouTubing, you cannot just watch one. I don't remember what got me to this one, but I saw it many years ago. I still enjoy it.

Of course, the word "PIXAR" pointed me onto my next search. The first time I saw this was when MOMA had the PIXAR exhibit. It was a great exhibit. Too bad I did not discover it until the last weekended before it was closing. I definitely would have visited it several times to avoid the crowds.

Okay, here's the last one as I need to head to bed. It's getting to 2am. My bro invited me to a lobster dinner on Thursday. As is often the case, he winds up showing some of his video collection. He likes Bernard.

My SIL shakes her head at my bro and me. We spend way too much time on the internet *LOL*

Are you like me? If it's not a book (oh I finished a book instead of sleeping) or the boob-tube (not so much anymore), it's the 'puter.

Joe Cocker's "I Gotta Get My Fred!"

Thank you, Dave for finding this. From my friend, David Williams...

"Nearly forty years ago Joe Cocker knocked the half-million love children at Woodstock on their butts with his rendition of the Beatles' "A Little Help From My Friends." I played that song on the radio a thousand times. Always loved it.

And now, thirty-nine years later, I finally know the lyrics.

This is, without a doubt, the funniest YouTube video ever!"

Animusic

This started my hunt.

Pipe Dreams

This arrived in my emailbox as, you guessed it, bad spam. The story introducing it was so bad. It had to be spam. Yes, it was according to Snopes.

The piece you are looking is animated music, produced by Animusic.

Do you want to see more like these. Then head to YouTube. I think YouTube user Molotok loaded both volumes up.

Future Retro


Starship Groove