This is pretty interesting. I saw the terminator season finale last week and I was quite amazed. On the one hand the series can end now and it will not be a major cliffhanger.

Sure we don't know where John Henry went with Cameron's chip and John was been transported to the future where no one seems to know who he is but I see this as a setup for a sequel series or a series of movies (or comic books as has been eluded by some entertainment blogs).

I would like for the series to continue though so we can find out what's going on...

• Who is the weaverbot and why is she fighting skynet?
• Did Miles Dyson's son actually create Skynet? (was he in Terminator 3?)
• Where is John Henry?
• What are Elisson and Sarah going to do now?
• What are the dynamics that thrust John to be in a leadership position now that we know that he did not survive J-day (like terminator 3 says), but skipped it altogether?
• Will we see Arnold? (I hope so!)
• Will we see the original Cromartie? (I hope so!)
• What's the deal with the human Cameron?

The one thing that people are complaining about is that the series is now disjointed, there is no straight line to follow. Well, if you change something in the past, the future changes! If the future changes, the present will seem a little more chaotic, no?

I am hoping for a renewal!

Tags: television, entertainment, terminator, opinion

Survivors is a typical BBC show - six episodes long. It's sort of like 28 days later, but without the zombies

The whole premise of the show is that a disease has wiped out most of the British population (and presumably most of the world), but a certain number of "survivors" got the disease and survived it. What we don't know is if this is man made - like a nation attacking another nation, or an experiment gone wrong, like the storyline of resident evil.

I find the series interesting in that it challenges preconception of how you should treat fellow human beings, and how a major event can seriously change your world view and how you act not just with yourself but with others as well. How the different groups choose to rebuild society is also interesting. It's like viewing an MMO civilization game.

I am glad that they revived the series. I am looking forward to next season.


For more information...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors_(2008_TV_Series)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/survivors/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1258189/

Tags: entertainment, television, BBC, suspense

I wasn't sure about this series when I first stated watching it but I have been convinced that it is good! It doesn't get a high score on IMDB - I don't know why!

This series has an interesting start. It wasn't picked up in 2004 when it was first shot, but because of the great writer strikes of 2007 in the US, the australian television execs gave it a second look and they gave it a go. Hey, if americans on strike give us great foreign shows, I say strike some more! (no disrespect meant to toward the writers guild! I just find that there is a void of good foreign shows on american TV).

Anyway, this series reminds me of Flashpoint (a canadian production, but currently also available on CBS). It follows a team of police officers - not quite SWAP (like in Flashpoint), but also not just patrolmen (Is there a something in between in the US?)

If it's not on a local station - go torrent it. It's worth watching.


For more information see here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_(2008_TV_series)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1258216/

Tags: television, entertainment, australian, drama, action

A while back I saw this comic book cover generator on one of my contact's profiles on Facebook.

Since I had nothing to do the other day I went through the generator and made myself info a super hero - batwings and all!

If you've got some time to waste and want a comic book cover of your alternate persona, head over to:
http://www.cpbintegrated.com/theherofactory/

Tags: personal, entertainment, Silly, comic

I've added a number of podcasts to my RSS reader in iTunes. When possible, I try to get enhanced podcasts so that I can get the 'chapter' option that enhanced podcasts offer.

In the past five years I've grown to really like to listen to a number of people because of the news, insights and opinions that they provide. Of course, just like a newspaper, I don't want to listen to every topic that someone podcasts about, like things in the "news" section of podcasts because chances are that I've already listened to straight news about that industry that week.

One of my frustrations on the 2 hour long podcasts is that I don't have the option to look at the chapters, see the topics and then pick which chapter I would like to listen to based on the chapter's topic.

Most of these podcasts are post processed by audio engineers so why not create an AAC edition with chapters? This would be useful not only for joe-average, but also for people in education that want to use podcasts but want to skip to a particular section.

Tags: technology, podcasts, entertainment, education

Yet another (short) series on BBC that is worth watching.

This series follows the adventures of a Martin Shaw, a catholic priest, who happens to be an exorcist. Of course the Vatican isn't completely on his side which makes his job not as easy. As the series starts out they seem (to me anyway) to be skeptical of all this exorcism hog-wash, but as the series goes on it gives us (or at least me) the impression that the Vatican is taken over by demons.

The series is pretty good, and it's only six episodes, so it's worth investing your time to watch it if you're into spectral drama. I hope it gets renewed next year!


Here's some more info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparitions_(TV_series)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1140939/

Tags: television, entertainment, BBC, drama

One of the video games, from my childhood, that really stand out on the Amiga platform for me is Chuck Rock. This game is a typical side-scrolling platformer. The overall plot isn't that sophisticated. Chuck's wife (or girlfriend) is abducted by an evil doer and Chuck being the cavalier caveman that he is must go rescue her.

Along the road there will be some dinosaurs that help chuck on his noble quest, and some that will impede him by draining him of life. Chuck can attack these bad dinosaurs by either throwing stones at them, or by attacking them with his belly (this approach resorted to a lot of button mashing because I couldn't figure out when to press the button to attack and not be hit back).

I think the thing that really comes to mind when I think of Chuck Rock is not the game itself, but rather the introduction to the game. It was a pretty cool intro! (see video).





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Rock

Tags: entertainment, video, games, video games

One of this season's ITV series that I enjoyed watching is Demons.
It takes place in modern London (if I am not mistaken), and it follows the life of the last of the Van Hellsings (Luke) who just found out that all that was written about vampires and demons is true.

Philip Glenister (or Life on Mars fame) is his godfather who apprentices Luke into the world of cleansing this world of half-lives (their term for anything that is not human).

It's a pretty interesting series, and I don't want to ruin it for everyone, but what struck me is the stark contrast between this series and Sanctuary. This series takes the view that all demons are bad and must thus be purged whereas Sanctuary takes the view that these beings are part of the ecosystem and we must all learn to peacefully co-exist with one another.

Demons reminds me a bit of the steampunk genre with the weapons they use.

Here's some more info on the series:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demons_(TV_series)
http://www.itv.com/Drama/cult/Demons/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1157595/


More info on Sanctury:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctuary_(web_series)#Webisodes
http://www.sanctuaryforall.com/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1302522/

Tags: entertainment, telephony, ITV, scifi

Monk is quirky.
Monk is obsessive compulsive
Monk is a crime solver
Monk is a show you should be watching.

This series, now in its final (8th) year, follows a former police detective Adrian Monk. He has a big case of the OCD and it's this quirkyness that makes the series funny among other things. Monk's life hasn't been easy, and after his wife is killed in a bomb explosion, this throws him in a loop. He leaves work and eventually starts working as a police consultant on difficult cases to get income to pay his bills. (apparently freelance work is less stressful than a full day of 9-to-5...anyway).

The series is smart. Initially I thought it was kind of dumb, but I've warmed up to Monk. Each episode is self-contained so you can pick it up from any point in the series, in my opinion anyway.

I hope that USA makes a spin-off series with Stotlemeyer and Disher - that would be fun.

Tags: television, entertainment, hulu, comedy

R-type was one of those games that came bundled with game boys one christmas in Greece (along with Gargoyle's Quest and Dr. Mario if I remember correctly). This was the point where many of my friends jumped into the whole game boy thing, and I could borrow this game from many friends.


In truth, I only got through the first two stages of the game, but the replayability factor of this game is sky high! Even today, I feel like buying the PSP version and playing R-Type, even though I've probably played through that first stage many, many times.


The two most memorable things about the game were the music and the power ups. The music was simply great. It had this techno beat to it and even to this day when I hear 8-bit music I am reminded of R-Type.


The power-ups were also great. Some games have the same dull weapon throughout the game. This game gave you not only new weapons for you main ship, but you could also get shields,a front or back cannon, and power ups for those too!


R-type was such a good game - no wonder the R-type name continues to this day!

Tags: video, video games, games, entertainment, nintendo, gameboy, awesome, great

Having written about Jekyll on BBC, I thought it only fitting to write about another series, similar to Jekyll, that is interesting. This season NBC brought us a new series called My own worst enemy.

Like Jackman in Jekyll, the main character in my own worst enemy has a split personality. A day time personality of a typical office worker who is married and has the 2.5 kid + large house american dream going for him, and an evening life of someone who is an international spy. The difference is that in this series there is a brain implant that created that split personality instead of it being genetic as in Jekyll.

I've been taking my time and watching the episodes on Hulu (I rarely watch things when they are broadcast now) and I am impressed. Sadly it seems that the series is cancelled, so I am hoping for a good closing to the story...or if we are lucky the sci-fi channel or some other cable channel will pick it up and continue the plot.

IMDB info

Tags: entertainment, telephony, action, NBC, hulu

This game I borrowed from the same friend I borrowed Metroid and Castlevania from. This may be the reason I did not enjoy the game as much No offense buddy!


You play as Firebrand, a gargoyle who is predestined to be the Red Blaze who saves the Ghoul Realm from the evil wrath of King Breager and brings peace to the land once again. I really don't know what this means, and I was completely puzzled when I was a kid and my english was not as good.


The intro to the game says:

A long time ago, the Ghoul Realm barely escaped great peril. A large army of Destroyers came from a neighboring universe. The creatures of the Ghoul Realm were no match for the powerful Destroyers. Just when everyone had given up hope, a great fire swept over the Realm, wiping out the Destroyers' army.
Several hundred years have passed and the Realm is threatened once again...


This game is a combination of RPG and platformer. You play the RPG elements (top down) to move from place to place, and you are in platforming mode when you enter individual stages and when you battle enemies.


I really loved the game when I was in platform mode, but when I was in the top down RPG mode, moving through the world - Boring!


I have mixed reactions to this game, but that was before I was immersed in the world of RPG games. Maybe I should try it again sometime soon!

Tags: entertainment, video, video games, games, gameboy, nintendo, RPG, gargoyle, aaargh

One of my favorite new BBC comedies this past year was Lab Rats. The show reminds me of the sitcoms that I used to watch in Greece when I was growing up. The series follows this really wacky crew of post-docs (or grad students) in a university setting.

Among the motley crew there is a professor (maybe a faculty advisor), and three of his supervisees that are conducting various scientific experiments, that in the end go horribly horribly wrong and make us laugh (or some of us anyway). The professor is always preoccupied with a noble prize, Alex is looking to make a name for himself, and Cara and Brian just mess things up, one way or another.

As a subplot to the story, Brian (one of the lab rats) has a crush on the Dean of the college that they are in.

There were only six episodes in the first season during the summer of 2008. Hopefully the series will be back next summer.

If you live in the UK, check out the BBC for online episodes.



Wikipedia info
BBC Homepage
IMDB Info

Tags: television, entertainment, comedy, BBC

Kirby's dream land was a great game. A great game along the same lines at Super Mario Land 2. In this game you play this cure like pink blob named kirby who's trying to take back the food that Kind Dedede has stolen from the people of the kingdom. In other words, Kirby is a regular robin hood.


The game play is quite good. It is a platform game where the main character can suck his enemies into his mouth and either eat them, or steal their powers. These power-ups range from wielding a sword, to spitting fire. In addition to the power-ups, Kirby can inhale air and float his was through stages - pretty convenient if you are looking to avoid enemies.


Kirby's graphics and music were great. I would play more Kirby games if they came along

Tags: video, video games, games, gameboy, nintendo, entertainment, kirby, awesome, great

Jekyll is a BBC mini-series just four episodes long staring James Nesbitt.

It follows a man called Dr. Jackman who has two personalities. Dr. Jackman, the day personality, and what we assume to be Mr. Hyde. Neither personality can control the other, things just happen.

Once they discover each other they communicate with various tape recorded messages that they leave each other before they go to sleep.

The show was pretty nice, and I think that we get to see an evolution of Mr. Hyde from someone who cares just about himself to someone who cares for Jackman's family.

The overarching storyline here is that Jackman/Hyde is being chased by some corporation looking to use him because of his unique gift of having two personalities, and one of them being quite violent like Mr. Hyde.

I really hope that the BBC brings this one back for a full season, or gives it a second mini season. This series does show promise.

Tags: television, entertainment, scifi, BBC

OK, this is not new, but I thought it interesting enough to repost.

I guess this was a Brazilian who liked Patapon so much that he got a patapon tattoo for 1000 brazilian real

Pretty cool, I don't know if I would spend tat much money though...

Tags: entertainment, PSP, video, video games, games

I had borrowed Metroid 2 from one of my good friends, and I *never* got to the end by myself. Sure I destroyed the ending metroid at the end of the game and saw the ending, but that was only by using the save files that my fiend had provided on the cartridge that the game was on.


Metroid 2 takes over from Metroid (on the NES). You crash land, your metroid escapes, and you need to recapture it (as far as I remember anyway). Along the way you need to pick up power-ups and kill enemies so that new areas are open to you. having come form a platform background, Metroid was quite a different game for me.


I liked the game mechanics, but when I was told that I had to go back to areas I had been before so I can blast a wall (with a weapon I just acquired) in order to move forward in the game my reaction was: whaaaat? but I just came from there! I have to go back? WTF?!?!


I've gotten used to this now, but back then this game seemed like such a hassle! I remember metroid fondly, but when I try to play any metroid now, I find that I don't have the patience. Maybe I need to find some save files

Tags: entertainment, video, video games, games, gameboy, nintendo, metroid, aaargh

Well, after Babylon 5 was over, there was a new spin off series created called Babylon 5: Crusade
. I was recently able to see all of the 13 episodes of the series. The series did have a rough beginning, but the series did get progressively better up until the time it was canned.

The series follows a prototype ship of human-vorlon-mimbari engineering that treks through the galaxy to find a cure for earth's plague unleashed by the Drakh at the end of the Babylon 5 series. It does have some good casting, and the story line isn't bad if you like the star trek type of story line. I liked the character of Captain Gideon, and the character of his first officer, a telepath, played by Daniel Dae Kim.

So what killed the show?

Well that's simple.
1. This show, just like Babylon 5, had some pretty bad writing. When I say bad, I mean really bad. JMS (the writer) needed to have someone proofread and edit his work because it was cheezy, corny, and highly unlikely.
2. It aired on TNT. This type of show should have been on the SciFi channel.

If you happen to see if in your local library, or on netflix, give it a go. Be forewarned of the bad dialogue!

Wikipedia entry
IMDB entry

Tags: television, entertainment, scifi

Dr. Mario was one of those games that was bundled (as far as I recollect) with gameboys in Greece sometime in the mid nineties and thus it was one of those games that most people had a lot of time to play and were eager to loan it out in return for some other more exciting game. Thus, I borrowed it from one of my friends to see what the game was about and hopefully be entertained.



Dr. Mario is a puzzle game. In a medicine bottle there are a number of bacteria (different colors) and Dr. Mario throws pills at you. The point of the game is to march the color of the pill with the bacterium in order to eradicate it, and the doctor doesn't make it easy for you (why Dr. Mario, I didn't know you were such a pill pusher!)



People who enjoyed Tetris, and other puzzle games, would enjoy Dr. Mario. It's certainly a good game to play while commuting to and from work. Beyond that, Dr. Mario was nothing special.

Tags: video, video games, games, gameboy, entertainment, nintendo, puzzle

I could have sworn that I wrote about this before...but just in case I haven't, here's Burn Notice. Burn Notice airs on USA, and it's available for Free on Hulu. The story is about a CIA agent who's essentially given the pink slip (fired, made rendandant, call it what you like), but he does not know why.


If he were just fired, that would be one thing, but all of his assets and bank accounts are frozen, so as the intro says when you've been burned, you've got nothing, no credit, no job history and you're stuck in whatever city they (the CIA) decides to dump you in.


In his quest to figure out who burned him and why, he's got Bruce Campbell and Gabrielle Anwar as sidekicks. Bruce Campbell plays a retired special forces soldier who's got no money (and probably an alcohol problem), and Gabrielle plays a former (current?) trigger-happy girlfriend that was part of the IRA.


It is a pretty interesting series (even though one of the Engadget HD guys doesn't like it).


I think you should have a look.

Tags: entertainment, television, burnNotice, USA, spy

Super Mario Land 2 was a departure from a regular mario game for me. I had not played Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES so I was not familiar with the platform/RPGish element that Nintendo already had for the Mario series.

I borrowed this game from one of my friends and I was immersed in the world! This game was frikkin' awesome! I think it's one of the few games that made me space out and really visualize myself in the world.

So what did I like about the game? Well, pretty much everything.
The graphics? - awesome!

The world? - awesome!

The stages? - awesome!

The power-ups? - pretty good!

The music? - well, OK, the music I don't remember!

Wario as a final boss was not too hard, and not too easy. I was actually able to beat him without breaking much sweat.

The on thing that I liked in SML2 over SML was that I could save my progress. One of the major projects with SML was that I needed to play from start to finish, there was no in between! With SML2 I could play, complete a stage, save, and put the game away until another time.

This game was gold!

Tags: mario, entertainment, video, video games, games, gameboy, nintendo, great, awesome

The invisible man is another scifi channel series that is free on Hulu.


Now, it's not a series that I would characterize as "must see", but rather I would characterize it as "if you don't have anything better to do, and want to see something that doesn't suck, but it's also not excellent, see this".


The main character is a professional thief who gets caught because he is also Mr. nice guy. In jail he gets a visit from his brother who wants to use him as a guinea pig for invisibility experiments, and as payback he gets pardoned. Good deal, right?


Well, things go wrong, and he now works for the company, with no end in sight. He does have a goofy sidekick, and the humor is a bit sophomoric, but all things considered the series is not that bad.


It's a good thing to watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon, if you've got nothing else to do.


Also check it out on amazon - The Invisible Man: Season One

Tags: entertainment, television, hulu, scifi, humor

After the punishment suffered by the original Sonic game on the game gear, I went back and got sonic 2. It's like super mario on Nintendo systems, you gotta have them all!


Sonic 2 played like the original sonic, so once I had beaten the first sonic game I was in the groove, and I was able to play this game without the same level of frustration that I had with the original sonic. Of course I also had a power adapter for my game gear which made things much, much better.


This game wasn't really memorable, unlike the first sonic game. It was really more of the same, with the exception that you now had a cute, cuddly, fury sidekick named Tails that could fly.


I would play this game again - if only to remember why the heck I played it in the first place!

Tags: video, video games, games, gamegear, sega, sonic, entertainment

Farscape was a great series on the Sci-Fi channel before Stargate came into the picture. I remember the series being pitched as Star Trek's naughty twin, or something along those lines.

The story follows John Criton, and astronaut from earth who is supposed to perform some farscape jump, go farther than any man has gone before and come back. Well, things go wrong. He does go farther than any man has gone before, but he can't come back! To add insult to injury he is placed smack dab in the middle of a conflict.

In the end he is on the run, on an organic space ship, with a bunch of other (alien) characters who've escaped their political imprisonment. He is looking for a way home,and they are trying to not get caught again. The series follows Trek's 'alien a week' theme.

The series was quite enjoyable. It is a little different to get into if you've been watching trek, but give it a few episodes! You won't regret it.

Check it out on amazon - Farscape - The Complete First Season

Tags: television, entertainment, scifi, farscape, starTrek

I must say, I am REALLY disappointed!

Recently the 1UP network was bought by UGO. UGO went in and gutted the company! Got rid of the EGM publication and a lot of the excellent 1UP podcasts. There goes 80% of my video game podcasts that I listened to.

I am not a happy camper!!!

At least 1UP FM has been reborn as Rebel FM

Tags: entertainment, technology, annoying

SONIIIICCC!!!!! The bain of my existence, for a very, very long time! Sonic game with my game gear, and for the longest period of time it was my only game. The problem of course was that I did not have the foresight to buy an A/C power adapter for my game gear so my batteries kept dying just as I was making progress.

I think I finished the game three years after the original purchase due to both the difficulty level of the game and the fact that the game gear sucked the juice from the batteries faster than an alcoholic drinks beer at happy hour!

The game was enjoyable, and because it was my first color handheld game, it hold a special place in my memory. Both as the game that aggravate me immensely, and the game that I eventually beat after having been immersed in its wonderful graphics goodness. If I still had sonic, I don't know if I could still have the patience to play it to completion.

Tags: video, video games, games, gamegear, sega, sonic, aaargh, entertainment

Startgate Atlantis is the spinoff series to Startgate, on the SciFi channel.


On earth a gate is discovered which takes people to another galaxy. The trip unfortunately is one way because the power required for this trip is massive. An expedition is organized and they head to the other side. What they find is an ancient city, a massive floating ancient city - thus Atlantis.


The main antagonists in this series are the Wraith, a vampire like species that feeds on humans, essentially draining their life force. There are smaller enemies, and just like the regular stargate you do get to meet new civilizations almost every episode.


It's a pretty good series, but it only has five seasons - I wish it had more. You can catch the last season of Stargate Atlantis on the SciFi channel on Fridays if you are reading this now. If you've never seen SGA before, check the series out at your local library or amazon (Stargate Atlantis - The Complete First Season).

Tags: scifi, television, entertainment, stargate

I picked up this game back in the early '90s when it came out. I was in middle school, the teenage mutant ninja turtles were big, and I was visiting relatives in the USA. What better game to add to my collection of gameboy games?


The plot is rather simple. If you've ever watched the (old) animated series, you know that April O'Neil is in trouble, Shredder and Krang are the evil doers and you must save the day!


In the game you go through several stages (six if I remember correctly), to save your friend, and you are given control of the turtles, so in total you've got four tries to finish the game.


The game play was not that hard when I was a kid, I imagine it would be easier now. I managed to finish the game within months of buying it -my batteries kept dying and I did not have backups - so my gaming was sporadic.


The replayability was so-so. If you felt like going back through the levels so you can face off with Rocksteady, Beebop and the gang, then you could be entertained hours on end, even if you had finished the game once. If on the other hand you felt like 'been there, done that' - then it wasn't all that replayable.


The game was great from the perspective of a middle schooler. Now I don't know if I would enjoy it as much today, if you exclude the nostalgia factor.

Tags: video, video games, games, gameboy, entertainment, beatEmUp, ninjaTurtles

OK, Babylon 5 is not great, but if you are patient, the story line is worth it.

I started watching Babylon 5 in high school after a debate with a friend of mine on which one was better: Babylon 5 or Star Trek: The next generation. I thought that to make a better decision, I would have to watch Babylon 5. I did and I was hooked!

I recently watched all of Babylon 5 from season 1 to season 5, plus all the movies, and the sense I have of the series now, is different from the sense I had when I was in high school (10 years ago). This is a function of two things:

The first is that I started watching Babylon 5 during season 5 (which was good), and I really did not pay attention to the previous seasons that kinda sucked. I put up with them in order to get the back story.

The second was that I was in high school.


Babylon 5 as a concept is actually not bad. The story makes sense. The alien races are great and they really show they work as paradigms of the different natures of humanity. The main conflict is great. Where the series falls short is the absolutely horrible writing of J. Michael Straczynski (JMS).

JMS wrote ALL of the episodes and the subsequent movies, and his bad writing stigmatizes the whole Babylon 5 universe. His writing is just awful! There was also little thought on how the series was going to end.

Season 1 was a good setup for the conflict ahead (bad writing aside)

Seasons 2 thought 4 were good in terms of dealing with the conflict and giving us a climax for the end of that conflict (the shadow war)

Season 5...fell on its face! Really! What the heck happened? Season 5 stunk!

Then...there were the movies... I think you should check out IMDB and the different user ratings for the movies because those speak volumes, and I actually agree with most negative remarks.


Now should YOU watch Babylon 5? Well, if you don't mind cheesy, korny, and really bad dialog, you should. The sci-fi plot, or at least the underlying ideas are pretty good. The execution (and writing) is what sucks!

If you have little patience for bad writing...then perhaps you shouldn't

At this point I think that The Next Generation is better than Babylon 5. If you want to see a space station sci-fi drama you should check out Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Tags: entertainment, telephony, scifi, babylon5

A week (or so?) ago there was an insanely great parody of social networks on the IT crowd (a british sitcom). The social network? FriendFace! Have a look at the YouTube clip of the ad for FriendFace.

Also have a look here at the company's (employer) response to friendface

Tags: parody, entertainment, television, social, networks

Back in middle school there was a lot of game trading going around. Friends used to buy games that they would like to own, but would often lend these games out to their friends. Tiny Toon Adventures was one such game. I think I traded F15 for it one lazy summer and I spent time with this excellent platform game.


In this game your character (Plucky, Buster or Hampton if I remember correctly) tried to stop Montana Max from thwarting Babs' dream of making it big. Now what a platformer has to do with helping babs' realize her dreams of stardom, who knows. What I do know is that the game was very entertaining, and I actually played it a number of times to completion while it was in my possession.


If you have a classic game boy, and happen to stumble upon this game, I recommend giving it a try.

Tags: video, video games, games, entertainment, gameboy

Keen Eddie was a great show that was axed before its time (luckily The Complete Series is available on Amazon!). The show follows a New York cop who messed up and as punishment he was shipped off to England and was made an attache to scotland yard (if I remember correctly).



The store is really about a New York cop in England, and this theme (american abroad) has been explored in the past, but Keene Eddie was simply b~r~i~l~l~i~a~n~t!!!

Eddie owns a dog named Pete, who is extremely ill-tempered. Eddie attempts to leave him in quarantine at the airport when he arrives in England but Pete is rescued, by claiming Pete is a police dog.

Pete chews on everything and frequently destroys TV remote controls and cellphones. He also has strange sexual appetites, from Fiona's (Eddie's partner) cat to a fur coat to sleeping humans. More than once, he has aggressively cornered visitors at the apartment and forced them to stand motionless for hours until Fiona or Eddie come home. Eddie is just such a great dog!

I really wish they would add it to hulu so it could be viewed for free.



Check out IMDB to learn more.

Tags: television, entertainment, FOX, comedy, england

Streets of Rage for the Game Gear was one of those games that was supposed to be a substitute for going to the arcades. The dynamic of the video game is very much like Double Dragon or Final Fight, both games that I loved, the latter having played in the arcades.


The game allows the user to pick from one of two characters, and once you do, you can start your mission to clean up the city's dirty streets. The game is pretty straight forward, and it was enjoyable to play. It was a bit on the easy side (I beat it in a week as far as I remember), and I played it a few more times after beating it, but the replay factor is really low.


This is one of those games that I wish I could have rented.

Tags: video, video games, entertainment, gamegear, games, sega, beatEmUp

Firefly is a series that you SHOULD have heard of before (if not, have you been living under a rock?). Firefly is yet another example of an brilliant series that was axed before it's time.


Essentially there's been an intergalactic civil was between humans that are part of the 'empire' and those who are not (to use Star Wars terms). The separatists lost, and things did not turn out all that well for them, or the universe for that matter because the empire is corrupt (what else is new?).


The story follows captain Reynolds and his band of mercenaries that pick up odd jobs to get money. Most of their jobs are illegal cargo runs, but they are sticking it to the empire so it's OK. The series is 13 episodes long and a theatrical film is available that ties up the series. Both the series and the film are available for free on Hulu.


The Complete Series and the film are also available on amazon (for those interested) ~ I know they're on my wish list


If you have a weekend where you're doing nothing, I suggest making some popcorn, getting some pizza and beer and having a Firefly marathon! You won't regret it!

Tags: television, entertainment, firefly, whedon, scifi, FOX

All I have to say is LOL!

I recently watched this episode of the Simpsons on Hulu (I no longer watch FOX's sunday night programming live). If you haven't seen it, head over to Hulu and have a look. The Apple parody is simply awesome!

Here's an excerpt:

Tags: television, entertainment, simpsons, apple, parody, ipod

I was bored a while back, when there was no TV, and I started watching a series on Hulu called the Dresden files. I think this show was originally on the SciFi channel.


The series has as a given that there is such as thing as a wizard, and Dresden is one of them. You're born with the gift, although I never really worked out if this gift was because wizards were a different species (like the Harry Potter universe) or if there was something else going on.


In any case, there is a council that determines the rules by which wizards live by, and Dresden is sort of an outcast. He's got a sidekick, a wizard he calls "Bob" who practiced black magic (a no! no! according to the council) and as punishment he was made into a Ghost and forced to live forever in non-corporial form near his skull.


The series is actually quite entertaining, and it's a bummer that SciFi didn't order more seasons of this series. I would have been interested in seeing more.



The series is free on Hulu - go have a look-see.

Tags: entertainment, television, scifi, magic, wizard

Mortal Kombat came out in the Arcades when I was in middle school. Many kids used to skip some periods to go to our local arcade to play MK in all of its arcady glory (those were the days).

I bought Mortal Kombat for the gameboy in order to capture some of that arcade magic on the gameboy, with mixed results. I remember having a ton of fun playing MK on the gameboy, and that is what matter.

Sure the graphics were...not that great, and the controls were stiff (at best), but I did manage to complete the game with a number of characters and I was entertained while beating the game. The difficulty of the game wasn't too easy, and it wasn't too hard - it was just right.

The one thing that left me a bit disappointed with the video game was that the endings were not at all arcady. I found the endings to be a little bland. Oh well, it was only an original gameboy game.

Tags: entertainment, video, gameboy, games, video games, beatEmUp, mortalKombat

A while back, maybe a year or so ago, BBC America had a series on called Life on Mars. The series follows detective Sam Tyler who is struck down by a car in present day Manchester, England and mysteriously wakes up in the the 1970s as a transfer detective to another police department.


His boss, Gene Hunt, is essentially an asshole cop who looks crooked but is actually trying to uphold the law. In the plot you've also got a couple of direct reports to Hunt that work with Sam. The humor in the series is derived when Sam brings modern investigation techniques to 1970s, and the rest of the force looks at him like he's got two heads.


Of course the underlying drama is that we don't know if Sam is in a coma and all of this is in his head, or if he did actually travel back through time. The ending I think is quite unique. The series had 2 seasons, and you can probably find it on the BBC's online store.


Highly recommended.

Tags: lifeonmars, BBC, television, entertainment, action

Another Freebie on Hulu. This series is a Canadian series centering around NorBAC, a collaborative research laboratory between the US, Canada and Mexico. They are like the CDC on steroids. If there is an unexplained infection of virus, they're there!

Each season has an overarching disease they are fighting (or trying to find its origins) while injecting other personal issues into the mix, such as the main character's megalomania or...rather a-hole-ness. He's sort of like a mild version of House.

The first season features a kid that kept hounding the main doctor in the series to test him because he thought that he was a clone. Weird, but interesting.

The one bummer is that the series has four seasons (and still filming I think), but Hulu only has two season available! I hope more seasons are available soon.

Tags: canadian, scifi, immunology, television, entertainment, hulu, free

Terminator 2 was a video game that I loved to hate! I bought termnator 2 for the game boy when I was still living in Greece and I was vacationing in the USA. I was quite a huge terminator fan (still am) and I wanted to play the game. I don't recall what I expected from a game based on a movie franchise, but I remember liking it and then getting really frustrated and hating it.

In the game you start off as John Connor in the future. You start off trying to infiltrate Skynet's fortress so that you can get your hands on a T800 and send it back through time. Once you do that, you play as the T800 protecting John Connor's younger self.

The game was great and it sucked you into the world, one problem - I disliked puzzles back then (with the exception of Tetris). After you infiltrate skynet, you have to play this set of puzzle games to reprogram the T800. I kept failing in the last puzzle and eventually got booted back to the beginning of the game - frustration!

It may be good revising this game at some point in the future

Tags: entertainment, video, video games, games, gameboy, terminator

Another gameboy game that I got during my summer of Gameboy purchases in the early 90s was Robocop for the Gameboy. I had recently seen the movie and wanted a piece of the Robocop pie. I thought the game would be as engaging at the movie - wrong!

In the game you play Robocop (d'uh!) going around shooting criminals. Your regular gun gives you unlimited ammunition, while special guns that you pick up throughout the game give you limited rounds of higher powered weapons.

The plot, as far as I remember, was not bad, but the game play was. Robocop was stiff, kinda like Simon Belmont in Castlevania, and about the only way to clear the stages was to memorize where the enemies come out, and proceed through stages with guns blazing, rapid fire style.

I don't think I ever finished the game. I think I got bored of losing after a certain spot. Even for nostalgia purposes I don't think I would spend that much time with this game.

Tags: video, video games, games, gameboy, robocop, entertainment, sucks

Burai Fighter was one of those games that I bought when I was visiting relatives in the US while living in Greece. I will admit to this: I bought the game because of advertising! I saw advertising posters and ads in magazines about this game and I bought it (or rather asked someone to get it for me as a gift).

In this game you essentially play a man on a jet-pack going off to fight the aliens of the evil burai empire. I will give credit where credit is due: the game was actually pretty good, and the graphics were good enough for the time in which the game was developed, but the game was extremely extremely frustrating! I cannot describe how frustrating this game was ~ maybe even more than the terminator puzzle levels

One lazy summer afternoon, a year or so after I had purchased the game, I sunk a lot of hours into the game and I got to the last stage. I did not know this at the time. I fought the final boss and won. I saw the ending credits - wow! I had finally done it!

I never played the game again!

Tags: video, video games, games, gameboy, entertainment, buraifighter

Castlevania was one of those games that I really did not until I played Symphony of the Night on the Playstation. None the less I had a go at it when it was available on the gameboy.

I had borrowed the game from one of my friends, and I must say that I wasn't pretty impressed with it as a kid. I found the belmont sprite pretty stiff and difficult to control. I also did not like the whip as the main method of attack because it was slow to respond, so you had to time your attacks pretty well to make things work.

I had the game for a summer, but I never really managed to get into it.

Tags: entertainment, video, games, video games, gameboy, castlevania

The Knights of Prosperity is a series that was cancelled, I think it only had one season on ABC. The show is still available, as of this writing, to view online for free, on ABC's streaming site.

This sitcom's main idea was that there was a group of unrelated people who had one thing in common: they had financial troubles. What are they to do? Well, they decided that it would be a good idea to try and steal Mick Jagger's money... The story goes on from there, taking very comical twists and turns while the team tries to infiltrate Mick's home and steal his riches.

I think that this show is worth a look, before it bites the digital dust

Tags: ABC, humor, television, entertainment

Ahhh! Tetris for the gameboy!

When I bought my original gameboy (saved money for a while year to accumulate the 33,000 drachmas it cost) it came with a copy of Tetris. Tetris was quite mesmerizing, especially when you played the game with the background tune that is now recognized as the tetris tune.

As much as I loved tetris, I was never able to beat my best bud at it. I managed to get enough of a high score to make the rocket launch sequence happen, but I could never beat him (waves fist in air).

Tags: tetris, gameboy, video, video games, games, entertainment

Yet another Hulu discovery: American Gothic.

I have to say that this series was weird, X-files weird (or possibly the outer limits weird)!

I thought that since Gary Cole (Lumberg from Office Space) was in it, that it would be rather comical. I was wrong. The story revolves around a small town in the south that has a lot of inexplicable phenomena happening. If you make a deal with the Sheriff, your life is prosperous, but eventually you will have to pay him back. Throughout the series I was wondering if he was corrupt, if he was some sort of witch with supernatural powers, or if he was the devil himself!

Even though the series is rather dark and at times, I think, disturbing, I highly recommend it.

If you want some more info about the series, click here for the Wikipedia entry (SPOILERS WARNING!)

Tags: television, entertainment, hulu, officeSpace, dark, suspense

I recently finished listening to Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter's Guide during my commutes from home to work and vice versa. I was never really a fan of business speak, crazy work such as paradigm shift, or leveraging my assets to build up a best of breed solution. While in business school I tried to avoid such BS, but I do have to admit that I have in a number of occasions (when in the presence of Business people) used such language.

The book was actually quite refreshing for both people who actively seek asylum from such language, and people who should reform their vocabulary to eliminate such non-sense from their word banks. The book comes in audiobook form, and I highly recommend it. At the very least the book is entertaining and it won’t be a waste of your time. Who knows, the book might convince you to look at your own usage of business bull and encourage you to cut it out.

Tags: books, entertainment, business, bullshit, audiobooks

Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show !

Ok there isn’t much to say about this show that can adequately describe it! You just have to see it!
This is a series of short webisodes. The show is essentially a mocking of those crazy Japanese television shows, and the engrish and utter wackiness that you see in them.


Also check out their website: CLICK HERE

Tags: television, entertainment, hulu, japanese, humor

Whenever I see a western, I tend to turn tail and run the other way. This has been a result of really bad television westerns when I was a kid.

Every now and again I try to be open-minded and watch a western. The Peacemakers is a western that I like!

You essentially follow a doctor/coroner, a US marshal, and an oxford-educated-former-pinkerton-lab guy in a crime solving mission. It’s funny to see the lab guy undertaking modern forensics while the marshal is busy contaminating the crime scene (since he doesn’t know any better). In short, it’s like “CSI: Will West”. I have to say that I really like the series. Too bad it was never renewed!

Tags: television, entertainment, hulu, western, CSI

Who remembers Alone in the Dark? No! No! Not that awful Uwe Bohl film! The DOS (and subsequent Mac Port) Alone in the Dark! I bought the game back in 1995 (or was it 1996?) I still have the CD-ROM somewhere with my antique software holdings. I remember playing the game on my Performa 635CD on lazy summer afternoons. The video bellow shows how choppy the graphics were, but there was nothing scarier at the time than having a zombie come after you and you have no place to run and hide!

Maybe I should get DOSBOX to get reacquainted with this game…

Tags: video, video games, games, entertainment, DOS, macintosh, classic, system7

OK, so the television season has been over for a few weeks and we’ve now found out which shows have been orphaned, in other words cancelled. Here are four shows that I wish would get picked up by another television station:


Jericho: Network: CBS. Post nuclear USA. If you haven’t seen it, you should! It’s a season and a half of great suspense. The end of the second season leaves us with the Eastern state alliance (remnants of the ‘old’ USA), the Independent State of Texas, and the Western alliance (run by corporate interests who instigated the attack). I would be interested to see what happens next! Aren’t you?

Moonlight: Network: CBS. It follows a relatively young vampire (80 year’s old? I think). In any case, he is a private detective, has a fling with a girl he saved from the crazy vamp that turned him, so in essence he is like Angel. Good show.


New Amsterdam: Network: FOX. The show follows a Dutch man who has lived in NYC since it was a Dutch colony who’s been given eternal life, until he finds his soul mate, at which point they can live until death do them part. It’s a good show, it shows him being frustrated at not dying, seeing his kids die, and former loved ones, and he longs to just grow old with that someone special. I personally want to find out if he ever finds that special someone.


Aliens in America: Network: CW. My final pick follows a Pakistani exchange student in Wisconsin. The strength of the show is not only showcasing the cultural differences and similarities between Americans and Pakistanis - or non Americans (alien #1), but also the awkwardness of being in high school – the clicks, the classes, the popularity contests (alien #2). The show also does a good job at showing the hypocrisy of human nature (smoking cigarettes when you are not supposed to, saying that you are a good Christian but hating going to church, and so on). The show tanked in ratings and I really wonder why. I wish someone else would pick it up


There are two other shows that got the can, Cavemen and Carpoolers. I never tuned in specifically to see these shows, but I did enjoy watching them two or three in a row on ABC’s website. I really liked both of the shows and wish that they would resurrect them as regular 20 minute sitcom episodes, but available online and on DVD only.

Tags: entertainment, cancellation, television, annoying

Back in the days of DOS and Windows 3.1 I witnessed the heyday of Shareware on disk. Even though I owned a Mac, I could not resist deals when I went into the Staples that was next door to my dad’s garage. I saw prepackaged disks with games such as Wolfenstein for $5 (if I recall correctly). My dad and I used to visit friends with Intel 386 machines, so I always brought along the shareware that I bought at Staples.

One of these titles (and the only one that I really remember) was Wolfenstein 3D. This game was something else! I think that Wolfenstein 3D was my first FPS, and in a dark room it scared the living daylights out of me.

Here is a quick video of the game play of Wolfenstein 3D:

Tags: entertainment, video, games, video games, wolfenstein, DOS

I am surprised at how many people do not know of The Tick. The Tick is a comic book, that became an animated series, and then became a live action television show with Patrick Warburton (also known as Putty from Seinfeld). The series takes place in “the city” where anyone can become a superhero, provided that they get their superhero’s license. The tick is superhuman strong, but doesn’t remember much of his past, and is so into fighting crime that he sounds developmentally challenged when interacting with non-hero types.

Sadly, the live action TV series only lasted for a season, but it was a good one! It is available on Hulu (and on DVD). The animates series is not on Hulu, but both seasons are available on DVD.

Here is the first episode on hulu:

Tags: television, amazon, DVD, hulu, tick, entertainment, comedy

This past week I discovered a show on Hulu called John Doe.

It revolves around John Doe, a person who does not remember his past, but has some amazing, rain-man-like, abilities. He knows everything about everything. The show originally aired on the FOX network. I vaguely remember ads for the show, but I do not remember the reason I elected not to watch.

The show did last one season, and most of it is available on Hulu. The annoying thing is that Hulu does not have four or five episodes (including the Series Premier and Series Finale!) which are the binding elements of the show and which make the show great! I had to go to a korean site and stream the episodes from there.

I really enjoyed the series, and in the end there was quite a twist! (I am not telling though). I really would have liked for the show to have a second season given the ton of questions that still remain (it would be like watching a season of Lost, and calling it a wrap).

I highly recommend this series. Check it out on Hulu and pandora.tv

Tags: television, entertainment, FOX, cancellation, show

So this is a spoiler type of post, if you haven't seen the movie, don't read this post. OK now that you've been warned, I can go on.

I went to see the movie yesterday. The movie was quite entertaining, it had that popcorn factor. Beyond that, I really needed to suspend my disbelief and try to ignore the bad integration of CG. I was listening to this Friday's 1UP Yours podcast before seeing the movie, where they had a 30 minute segment on the movie, where they spoke about Indiana's death defying stunts, impossible escapes, and bad CG. Incidentally, the theme of Retronauts this week was also Indiana jones, and they did mention some of these things as well.

I don't know if I was influenced by the podcasts, or if they just made some of the absurdities obvious. The film was enjoyable, as I have already mentioned, but the crystal skull was that of an interdimentional alien being. Seriously? An interdimentional alien being? How does this fit in with the pre-existing Indiana Jones mythology? I suppose it's no more absurd than being vaporized by the arc of the covenant, but still! It just does not fit in. The other thing about this movie is that it is a bit derivative. If you've watched Stargate SG-1, you probably know that the team found a crystal skull, in south america, that summoned interdimentional beings.

Oh well. In the end it was a good movie, even though it did not live up to my expectations.

Tags: entertainment, movies, jones, weird

One of my first PC games was Prince of Persia, on my godmother’s 286 running Windows 3.1 and DOS. The controls were a bit clunky, the sword fights not that good, and I kept falling to my death in those endless pits. I don’t know what was worse for the prince, falling and dying from the impact, or falling and dying from the impact and being sliced by stakes on the ground. I never finished the game, but it was quite entertaining.

Tags: entertainment, video, games, video games, price of persia, DOS, 286

Last weekend was dedicated mostly to Metal Gear (at least in terms of games played). I ended up going back to previous stages where new weapons, medicines, and technologies were discovered, and picking them up for use in my little resurrection army. After I finished all of those missions I continued on the main ‘quest’ and I finally encountered Null again.

After getting my rear end handed to me time, and time, and time again, I turned off my PSP in frustration. Last time I faced Null I needed a week or two of ‘cool off time’, to think, relax and strategize. Let’s see how long it takes me to beat him this time.

On thing I was wondering is this: where the heck do I get more people with medical and technical expertise? My technical unit is only at level 27, and medical team around level 20. I really would like to get more qualified people on these teams to get some more development going…

Tags: metal gear, PSP, entertainment, frustration

Back in the day, my grandfather had gotten me an NES clone with a cartridge that supposedly had 100 games on it, it did not. The thing looked like the picture to the left, minus the Zapper clone. In any case, I spent a lot of time playing Contra on this clone system. The controllers on the clone were a bit stiff, but that did not impede my enjoying the game. I don’t think I ever finished the game because I ended up breaking both controllers – both of which were hardwired into the console. If you have an opportunity to play it, give it a shot. It is quite an entertaining game – especially when you get the power-ups.

Tags: NES, video, video games, entertainment, shooter

OK, I never owned an NES, but my brother did!
When I was visiting my mom and siblings in Canada back in the early early nineties I got a lot of NES time. Duck Hunt was something that came on the same cartridge as Super Mario Brothers and it used the Zapper (a gun like thing). That game was fun – but I really hated the hound that made fun of you when you messed up…

Tags: NES, entertainment, video, games, video games, mario, duck hunt

Back in the days of the 2600, I owned two games (it was hard to find cartridges in Greece). One was Donkey Kong, and the other was Galaxian. I think that I spent more time playing Galaxian than Donkey Kong. One thing that stands vividly out is that Galaxian came with a small comic book that described the back story of the game! You don’t see that any more


Here is some game footage, and a review:

Tags: atari, 2600, video, video games, games, entertainment

Ah, sweet nostalgia!
I recently saw a video of Donkey Kong for the Atari 2600 (my first console).
Donkey Kong was one of my first two video games. Sure it wasn't graphics intensive...but it I owned it

Tags: entertainment, video, games, video games, atari, 2600

Recently I have started watching shows on hulu.com, and all I can say is “I wish there were more shows!” Hulu has really gotten it right when it comes to presenting streaming content with commercials.

1. I can pause the show, even overnight, and come back the next day and pick up without any hiccups. Fox and ABC’s players are almost the same in terms of the pause-quality of their streaming content, but CBS is by far the worst.

2. The commercials are timed just right, and shows just continue! Show-commercial-show, no need to click on anything. On CBS and the CW you are thrown out of full screen view to see the commercial and then you need to click again to get back to full screen. On ABC the commercials are not timed right, so the commercial might be over, but you are still waiting so that you can hit the “back to show” button – really annoying.

3. The audio levels of the commercials are on par with the audio levels of the show. This means that when you cut to commercial you are not BLASTED with audio. CBS and the CW are the worst offenders in this category, ABC, FOX and NBC are a mixed bag.

4. The video quality and audio quality of the shows is at least broadcast quality, if not better.

The only advantage of ABC.com has is that they offer shows in HD.

Tags: television, entertainment, online, hulu, video, streaming

Recently I've been playing Syphon Filter Dark Mirror for the Sony PSP. I've been wanting to play this game for quite some time, but only got it recently when it became part of the 'best hits' collection and thus the price dropped to a more affordable (in my mind) price of $20. In the game you play agent Gabe Logan (for the most part anyway) in his quest to root out some terrorist cell and stop their evil plot of causing great harm to the world (in other words it's sort of like Metal Gear Solid, James Bond, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell).

I played through the game in Easy mode, and now I am in the process of playing through it in Hard mode. The story is quite interesting, and it doesn't get boring (at least I did not get bored), and the game was fulfilling enough to evoke yearnings of a sequel. I think for $20, this game is well worth the price, and if you don't mind buying used (or renting), I think it's well worth giving it a try. Of course, hard core games have probably already played this game, and I am just convincing the laggards (like myself) who wait for a game to go on the reduced pricing bin before they buy it. Playing through the game in normal or hard modes unlocks extra stages to play (which I guess complete the syphon filter story). The first one is Narbonne (a city in the south of France). This was a rather short stage. Having vacationed in Narbonne a few years ago, I was expecting to go around and explore some of the city and see if the game version was as I remembered the real version to be, however this was not the case. All things considered, I liked this game.

Tags: PSP, video games, espionage, entertainment

I was at my public library last week, when I noticed a book called "Send - the essential guide to email for office and home." I thought to myself, eh, why not get it? After all it seemed like light reading, and like something that I would enjoy. I am glad I borrowed this book from the library, because not only did it give me insight into some aspects of email (and other non-verbal, electronic forms of communication) that I had not stopped to consider (even though they were in my subconscious...somewhere), but it also re-affirmed things I either knew to be true, or my gut was telling me were true. Here are a couple of things I learned or were re-affirmed:

1. At a previous workplace - my last few days in fact, we had a new director. His first decree was to give everyone a blackberry, because voice communication was inefficient, email will speed things up (i.e. make things more efficient). At the time, both I am my colleagues disagreed (and still do). Voice communication is not inefficient, email is. If you take your time to craft a well worded, properly spelled email that does indeed convey what you want to convey, you will spend more time than actually talking to someone. Email's perceived speed is based on the fact that you can type five words, click send, and believe that the recipient knows what you are talking about. I've had many of these emails where I needed to either ask for clarification emails, and there have been many times I had to call the sender to ask what they meant in their email!

2. The cover you own behind emails - also known as CC everyone (or even worse, put everyone in the TO line). Again, in a previous work environment, most emails were relevant to my work. They were emails from my boss, colleagues and vendors. There were of course a few 'ha ha' emails and a few 'delete this' rumor emails (both no-nos in send), but the great majority were relevant. At a more recent work environment, there are a lot of CYOA (cover your own behind) emails, where people send the email TO everyone at the work-site, even if they do not need the information. This has contributed to many emails just being tossed without looking at the information, which in the end causes a lot of confusion and disorganization. I've hated CYOA emails, and I tried resisting the CYOA type of email, but unfortunately it is being imposed on me...

All things considered, this is a good book to read whether you are a rank-and-file employee, or a manager (somewhere in the managerial food chain).

Tags: books, englighting, entertainment, work, technology, email, annoying, thought

OK...After the Fox execs, come the CBS execs in the incoming class of B-school freshmen. Today I found out that Jericho is officially cancelled by CBS. What the hell do these television executives not get? Jericho was the best new drama on television (yes better than Drive!) and they cancel it! Of course there are the obligatory online petitions that people are signing in order to keep the show on the air (approximately 85,000 thus far). There is the send NUTS campaign, more of a guerilla tactic to show support for the show in a non-traditional way (approximately 21,000 pounds of nuts already sent). There are many, many, forums online where people complain, scheme and buzz about what to do to keep their favorite show on the air.

What really solidifies this, though, as a concrete case of being asleep at the (managerial) helm, is the fact that CBS execs have admitted that the signatures in the online petition and the buzz around this show have far surpassed similar means to bring back other cancelled shows. Yet they still stand firm in their decision to keep the show cancelled. WTF? The show was supposedly cancelled due to low ratings, but there are a lot of people, an unprecedented amount, chiming in about it, yet you won't budge? What business school did you come from? Un-frikking-believable!

Do you like Jericho? Complain to your local CBS affiliate, sign the petition, complain to CBS proper, send nuts (if you want to spend money), and tell your friends!

Tags: entertainment, complaints, television, jericho, petition

I have not watched newer movies in a long time.
I've been doing some catch up on the weekends on films that I missed during this, and last, semester.
Back in the day, when DVDs were new, one of the features touted was that you did not have the 'coming attractions' at the beginning of the film, like you did with VHS tapes, thus you could watch the film you bought (or rented) right away. Well now it seems like publishers of DVDs are going back to the good ol' days of VHS. every single film I have watched the last few weekends has had 'coming attractions' preceding the film and you did not have the ability to hit the menu to go to the movie's options (scene selection, play film, etc). The only thing you could do is fast forward or next scene which moved you on to the next 'coming attraction'.

Gimme a break! I hated the 'coming attractions' in VHS and I hate them on DVD! I like to have them as optional, like they were for so many years, so I could go and see what movies are interesting AFTER I have watched what I paid for!

Tags: entertainment, DVD, ads, annoying

First they cancelled Space: Above and Beyond. Then they cancelled Firefly. Now apparently they have also cancelled Drive.
What the hell? Honestly, Fox needs to send their execs back to B-School or just fire their sorry asses and get new ones! I was in class last night, but I had set the VCR (yeah, I know, antiquated technology). No Drive! After a couple of weeks of absence from the airwaves on Monday nights, I decided to investigate. CANCELLED! WTF? Cancelled due to low ratings and the final 2 episodes will be aired on July 4th.
Excellent plan! I wonder who thought of that one. Maybe a gifted Fox Exec... So, they are basing their ratings on an antiquated way of statistical data gathering - the Nielsen ratings - that do no take into account people viewing their shows online, through both legal and illegal means, and they can the show. Secondly, there have only been four shows aired, the statistical sample is way too small! FURTHERMORE, they decide to air the series finale two months after the most recently aired episode. Who thought this would be a good idea? Instead of giving more people the opportunity to see the show on it's normal time, people that are used to watching Fox during that time slot due to Prison Break, for a completely random date in the summer. Are they planning on tying it in with Independence Day somehow? Dimwits!

Tags: stupid, television, drive, cancellation, management, marketing, entertainment