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Archive for May, 2008

Happy Birthday to me.

Henry Imler May 13th, 2008

I got my birthday present from Meredith a little early and a little late this year. She is sending me to Wizard World 2008 in Chicago at the end of June.  I am pretty stoaked.  My good friends Q and Hank will be going and possibly JR and Jake J as well.  The specially guests are Bendis and Alex Ross, both of whom I am excited to see.  Bendis is behind what I am currently reading in the Marvel universe and Ross is the artist behind my favorite DC comic and is in the middle of doing some sweet Marvel Avengers/Invaders stuff.

Streaming TV on your TV

Henry Imler May 13th, 2008

Over the years I have tried a variety of different methods to watch TV shows on my TV.  First I would download divx shows off of bittorrent, then encode and burn them onto a VCD and play them through my DVD player.  The drawbacks?  Time and quality - It would take a while for the show to download, encode and burn.  Additionally, their were often encoding errors, which of course sucked.  To top it off, you wasted a CD with each show.

Then came the Tivo.  When Tivo added network capability, I found I could download the show, encode it into a format the Tivo could play and then upload it to my Tivo.  After this was finished, it was easy-peasy on the T-Veasy.  No longer was I wasting CDs with each TV show.    However, this process suffered from the other problems that the VCD method had - encoding errors and time.

A few months ago a glorious thing happened.  Microsoft added divx playback capability to the Xbox 360.  This ushered in the golden age of TV watching.  I could play any TV show or movie that I had on my computer on my Xbox 360 in my living room.  I watched all 5 seasons of the Justice Leage this way.  It worked great.  There was no encoding or burning to worry about.  The only time consuming thig was downloading the shows.

Tonight for the first time I tried something different.  More than a few people have recomended Hulu to me for watching the shows that I have missed.  Hulu is an ad supported streaming video site.  I have no idea if they are authorized to show these videos but I will continue to use the site until it is taken down.  Since the 360-divx method was working so well, I never got around to trying it out.  I gave it a test spin today on my desktop while I was working on a paper; it worked really well.  As Meredith and I were cooking an idea popped into my head.  My lappy has a S-Video output.  I wondered if I could hook up the laptop to the TV and play The Office through my laptop and onto the TV.  So, as were were eating our broiled steaks and steamed green beans (had a really good supper tonight) we gave it a spin.

It worked - beautifully.  I recomend trying it out.  Additionally, if you have a Wii, perhaps you can get it to play though its internet browser.

Links of the Day

Henry Imler May 13th, 2008

Enjoyed:

Highlights from the Cavs/Celtics Game - Watch that dunk from LeBron to punctuate the win.  Wow.

You know that LOST episode that blew my mind?  Here is some good recap and analysis.  I think they have to move the island in time not change its physical location.

Jake Jones sent me this good news of the (yester)day: Ticket to Ride XBLA details chug in.  Can’t wait to play online with him after he is in Florida.  Perhaps I’ll see Bredoman on there too, he shared this story on Google Reader as well.  Maybe this will spur Danny to get an Xbox 360.

#99 Grammar from Stuff White People Like - “Hangs head”

Craked.com :: The 10 Most Terrifying Video Game Enemies of All Time - Black headcrabs? Hey Grant - “Shwoosh, Shwoosh.”  Check.  The best  villain?  Any Body of water in Sonic the Hedgehog II:

Sonic’s deadliest nemesis was the innocent pool of water. This sounds totally stupid, but remember: You’re playing a video game about a neon blue rodent who jogs at Mach 5. You gave up your right to be incredulous a long time ago.

Need to read closer (and you should too!)

The Nature of Scripture: See 1 Samuel 13:1 in the hands of angry inerrantists and 1 sam 13.1 and inerrancy at finitum non capax infiniti.

Challies.com :: Book Review - The Irresistible Revolution - Challies reviews Irresistible Revolution in this post. While he likes some of the points the book makes, Challies takes serious issue with several points, some of which are a prosperity message, traces of pantheism, and civil disobedience. While Challies’ motives and concerns are in the right place, I think he misses the mark in evaluating what Claiborne is saying in these areas. I just wanted to point out this review now, I hope to post something substantial on it in the near future, when I am done grading and writing for this semester.

The Evangelical Manefesto - I heard a lot about this last week.  Have not had the time to check it out.  I look forward to doing so next week.  I love a lot of things about the evangelical movement, but lots of other stuff makes me slap my head in shame, disgust, and flabbergahstedness.

By Golly, You do find Mathematics in the Darnedest Places

Henry Imler May 12th, 2008

Last Sunday on of my favorite childhood cartoons, Donald in MathmagicLand, came up in conversation. I don’t remember exactly how, it was either in Sunday school or at dinner afterwards. Regardless of which it was, my buddy Jake brought a VHS copy of it to Sunday School this week. I thought I would pass on this great Disney flick onto you. I know this movie help ferment a love of math and science, and wonder in me and I will show it to my kids one day.

Part I:

Part II:

Why so similar?

Spotting a Good Show

Henry Imler May 9th, 2008

Q. What is the number one way to spot a good TV series?

A. When you go back and watch the pilot episode and each time a character is introduced, you are flooded with emotion.

This evening while I was checking my Vista/360 media sharing setup, I fired up the series premier of Battlestar Galactica. After the opening attack, the show shifts to the Battlestar Galactica mere hours before it is set to be decommissioned. The camera pans around the space battleship, giving the viewer glimpses of what are to become the major characters in the show.

As each one is introduced I was reminded about not only what happens to humanity in the open hour - it is reduced by 99.999444% - but also about the personal stories of what have become very real people. I could go into more detail, but I don’t want to spoil the story for any potential viewers. Suffice it to say all of the trials and tribulations are grafted onto the characters. To see them naked and remember the road they will travel is an incredibly emotional experience.

Moral? Watch BSG.

LOST

Henry Imler May 8th, 2008

Tonight LOST melted my face; punched my brain (my physical brain); and then sprinked salt on my tounge, just because it could.

And I am the kind of person who likes these sorts of storytelling conventions.

Barkley is Burgundy

Henry Imler May 8th, 2008

Warning, mild language.

Lust

Henry Imler May 8th, 2008

Every once and a while the lust bug jumps up and bites me hard. Each time this happens I get uncontrollable feelings of lust for some object. I’ll spend hours and hours stalking this item of my lust. I am a technophile. There is a newish line of laptops poping up everywhere - the subnotebook computer. They are cheap ($400-$600), light (2-3lbs), and seem perfect for reading/studying on the go. And as a grad student, I am on the go just about all the time. The two subnotebooks I am lusting after the most are the Asus - Eee PC 900 and HP’s HP 2133 Mini-Note PC.

Look at how pretty they are!

Just the idea of a little book-like computer that is light, has long battery life, is stylish, and user-friendly is incredibly appealing. But, as Meredith said, my current laptop is awesome and works great. As I responded to her wise words, I think I would like to play with it for a week.

Anyone want me to review one of these for them? Hewlett and Asus, I am talking to you.

Speaking of lust in conjunction with unnecessary technological products, I am also eying a skin for my lappy. HP has these cool skins you can pick out for your product. Being a fan of comics and more specifically the Avengers, I scoped out their comics section and came across this beauty:

I think this is what I want for my birthday next month.

Links of Note

Henry Imler May 5th, 2008

Simmons on the Suns:

Why did they fall short? Because they squandered three winnable games down the stretch, all because of execution mistakes that teams tend to make when the players aren’t totally comfortable with one another yet. What stood out about the Spurs in Round 1 was their infallibility in big moments — they knew what to do and where to go, and then they did it. You don’t get there by accident; you get there by picking a nucleus and building around it. Back in 2005, the Spurs had the right nucleus (Duncan, Ginobili and Parker) and so did the Suns (Nash, Stoudemire, Marion and Johnson), but only one of those teams kept it intact. And that’s why the Spurs won two titles (and counting), and that’s why the Suns won the title of “critically acclaimed” and that’s it.


Basketbawlful :: Word of the Day: thug
I have been loving the NBA playoffs. All of the series, with the exception of the Magic/Raptors pairing was full of plot lines and intrigue. And even that series was filled with good basketball. There has been a lot of physical play of which I am a huge fan. I hated the ticky-tack league. Some of the hits have been vicious and I have loved it. Earn those points, boys, earn ‘em. This post gets the nod because it contains a series of videos detailing the physical play… and for the picture of the Bad Boy and Bird. How can you not love a post like that? You can’t, that’s how.

Marvel mines more precious metal with `Iron Man 2′

  • Marvel Film Productions
    • Iron Man - Out now
    • The Incredible Hulk - Scheduled for June 13, 2008 release
    • Iron Man 2 - Scheduled for April 30, 2010 release
    • Thor - Scheduled for June 4, 2010 release
    • The First Avenger: Captain America (working title) - Scheduled for May 6, 2011 release
    • The Avengers  - Scheduled for July 2011 release
    • Ant-Man - Writer/director engaged
  • Licensed Film Productions
    • Punisher: War Zone - Lionsgate - Scheduled for December 5, 2008 release
    • X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Fox - Scheduled for May 1, 2009 release
  • Marvel Character Animated TV Projects
    • Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes - Moonscoop SAS (France) - 26, 30-minute episodes airing internationally.
    • Spectacular Spider-Man - Sony - Currently airing on Kids’ WB
    • Wolverine and the X-Men - First Serve Toonz (India) - 26, 30-minute episodes in development; scheduled for Spring 2009 release on Nicktoons.
    • Iron Man: Armored Adventures - Method Films (France) - 26, 30-minute episodes in development; scheduled for Spring 2009 release on Nicktoons.
    • Hulk Gamma Corps - In development; scheduled for Spring 2009 release.
    • Super Hero Squad - In development; scheduled for Spring 2009 release.
  • Marvel Character Animated Direct-to-DVD Projects
    • Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow - Lionsgate - Scheduled for Late-2008 release.
    • Hulk Vs. - Lionsgate - Scheduled for Early-2009 release.
    • Thor: Son of Asgard - Lionsgate - Scheduled for Late-2009 release.
    • Planet Hulk  - Lionsgate - Scheduled for Early 2010 release.

Cinco De Mayo OMGWOOT!

Henry Imler May 5th, 2008

I hate (celebrating) Cinco De Mayo (and seeing white people celebrate it with their all-white friends). I’m not Mexican; I don’t care about the first military victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla back in 1862.  If you are of Mexican heritage and you wanna celebrate your actual history - wonderful, go ahead and knock your self out.  If you are a white person looking for an excuse to drink and attempting to be “authentic,” give it a rest - we have appropriated plenty of other people’s holidays in an effort to have reasons to get smashed.

The End.

Asides on Media Consumption

Henry Imler May 4th, 2008

No, this is not a post about the perils of media consumptions, just some spastic comments touching some of the media I have consumed recently.

Iron Man - Wow, great summer superhero movie.  The folks contributing to Rotten Tomatoes got it right, this one is a gem. From the effects to the story to the the dialog, everything was very well done.  I went with a large group of friends late Thursday night to see the opening.

JR, Jake, Grant, Q, Meredith, and others went with me.  Jake’s wife, Dawn, was too sick to go Thursday.  On Friday Meredith was out of town helping with a wedding shower, so I invited Jake and Dawn to go see it with me Friday.  Jake replied to my offer saying that Dawn was still sick and therefore could not make it.  So, I bought my lone ticket to the 10:45 showing thinking that it was better than sitting around preparing for the review session I am teaching Monday.  About 5 minutes later, I get an email from Jake saying that Dawn urged him to see the flick a second time.  And so we went and reveled in the glory that is Iron Man for a second time.  Afterwards, we got to thinking and happened upon a funny, yet sad fact: we entered into Friday watching Iron Man in the theater and we exited Friday watching Iron Man in the theater.

I appreciated all of the small tie ins to the comic.  From the mentioning of the ten rings to the War Machine plans in the credits, there were lots of little things to notice and look for in the sequel.  The final scene after the credits?  Perfect.  Although, if Fury is Samuel Jackson, then the suit is all wrong and Stark should have been bald and blue-skinned in his young pictures. (i.e. should have been Ultimate Iron Man to go with Ultimate Nick Fury)  However, anything is better than Baywatch Nick Fury.

Fear Agent - This campy, grisly space comic is well worth your while.  As my friend Jake says, it is a 1950’s space comic.  Buy this now.

Super Mario Galaxy - I bought this game with Christmas money.  I played it some over Christmas break and loved it.  After leaving it at my in-laws for 4 months, I am playing it every once and a while.  It is truly a great game in all respects, save one.  The graphics are gorgeous; the game play and storyline are imaginative and fresh (for a mario game).  The one problem is the boss battles, which are often repetitive and simple to beat.  Beyond that, however, the game is spectacular.

Everything wrong about Mario Kart

Mario Kart - Everything they say is true.  At once, the same is immaculate and ridiculous at the same time.  The new courses are beautiful.  The multiple control schemes allow for fun for everyone.  The only problem?  Item bloat.  The items are simply punishing.  You can go from 1st to 8th in a matter of seconds.  This is all fine and dandy when you are racing your friends, but when you are trying to unlock Daisy for you wife and all you need is to finish Rainbow Road in the top three, getting bombarded with a redshell, lightning, blue-shell and the pow block in a 10 second span on the last lap becomes rather irritating.  Group play?  Fan-tastick, with a k.

Justice League/ Justice League Unlimited - I watched this series the last couple of months while working on Greek or preparing to teach.  It follows the creation and exploits of DC Comics’ Justice League.  The first few seasons only deal with the 7 founding members (in this incarnation, anyway), Superman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hawk Girl, and the Green Lantern.  In the last few seasons, they expand the universe to include all of the members of the Justice League.  Because of this, the last few seasons are great if you want little side stories on minor DC characters.  However, this also has the side effect of series loosing focus.  It is at its best when mantaining a cohesive storyline with the main seven characters.  Overall, it is worth watching on netflix, but not collecting the DVDs.

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