Monthly Archive for March, 2008

Look at all that def!

Published
by
Jake
3 months, 1 week ago
in TechnoLust, Televisio and Viva la Consumerista
. 3 Comments

You may recall that my dearest mommy got me a big ol’ television set for Christmas this past holiday.

Well, I’ve finally got it running at full capacity now that I have a TiVo-HD (got a deal on a refurb from Woot!) and boy is it something.

Of course, the CableCARD install wasn’t perfectly smooth, but at least it turned out to just be a bit of an annoyance while the cable guy fiddled with it for an hour or two. It was definitely not the sort of tragedy I had read about on various TiVo forums, etc.

It’s funny what HD does to you, though. Two words to illustrate my point: Sunrise Earth. My friends (who were all way ahead of me on the HD curve) all told me about this hypnotic show, and I always pointed at them and laughed. Turns out they were right on the money. It’s just mesmerizing. Even beyond that, though, I’ll watch a nature show or rock concert in HD before just about any other option now. Good times.

The Wife’s favorite bit - aside from when I blew her mind by showing her how we can watch shows from our old TiVo unit on the new one - is the dual tuner action we get from the TiVo-HD. Now “Boy shows” don’t automatically trump “Girl shows”. Peace reigns supreme at the Lazy ‘S’ Ranch, though it does give the TiVo twice the opportunity to record one of it’s off the wall suggestions…

A.G.G.R.O.

Published
by
Jake
3 months, 2 weeks ago
in Colorado Living and TuneStuff
. 0 Comments

The Aggrolites rocked it last night. I definitely recommend you catch them if they come to your neck of the woods. (Boston kids, that’s April 15 for you.)

The opening acts were The Haggardies, a local Goldfinger clone with songs about skateboarding and stuff (meh), and Synthetic Elements who are like a poor man’s Streetlight Manifesto and plenty of fun to watch on stage.

As is typical with these very small shows, the headliners were miles above the opening acts. The highlight was the encore, during which Jesse and the boys did a reggae / ska / two-tone / dancehall / soul medley that had us all singing along at the tops of our lungs.

Good times.

Feel the Power

Published
by
Jake
3 months, 2 weeks ago
in Code Monkeying and Jake's Life
. 2 Comments

Coworker Peter: ooooh, i was just about to ask you something but you answered me in the past!
Coworker Peter: ur THAT good
Jake: fuck yeah!

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig

Published
by
Jake
3 months, 2 weeks ago
in Albainn Gu Brath, Colorado Living, Folx and TuneStuff
. 5 Comments

Supposedly, that’s Irish Gaelic (which I’m allowed to rock thanks to my 13th century Kilpatrick heritage, yo)…

So, yeah, it’s St. Patrick’s Day and it’s snowing like a bitch this morning. Luckily the roads stayed mostly clear, and we didn’t get anything near the high end of the 4-8 inch predictions.

Nevertheless, I am pleased that I was able to get my celebrating out of the way this past Saturday with Brozovich at the “Lazy J Ranch” of one John Croghan. John pulls together a nice little crowd of good people, so it was an excellent laid-back time. Plus he had a keg of Guinness. Hard to go wrong there. (Hell, I didn’t even bother to check if it was carbonated or nitrogenated. No need to be rude in the man’s house.)

By the way, John is doing his country crooning thing in Olde Town Arvada on April 4 at the 12 Volt Tavern. He’s guessing he’ll go on around 10pm or so. I’m definitely going to be there. If I’m lucky, John might even sing my request. ;)

In other music performance news, The Aggrolites are playing in Denver this Wednesday. I love those boys. We saw them open for Madness in Los Angeles a couple years ago and have since collected all of their stuff. Well worth the $13 ticket, I’m thinking. (Here are some YouTube samples for you. Oh, and The Wife’s favorite track.)

Oh, there’s also roller derby on April 5. The Wife was asking about derby last night, so we’ll probably try to hit that, I think. Derby’s always worth the $13 ticket.

That’s all I’ve got, but that’s way more than usual, so I’m fine with it.

3:10 to Robert Ford

Published
by
Jake
3 months, 3 weeks ago
in Cinerama
. 4 Comments

I hooked up a couple Westerns on the Amazon Unbox recently.

The first was The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Much like its title, the film is over-long, but it features some great cinematography and some mighty fine performances — especially from Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell. I was amused at one point when the narration describing Jesse James mentioned that he had a condition that caused him to blink a lot… and there’s Brad Pitt, doing his standard scruffy-faced, wide-eye, unblinking crazy face…. Um, yeah… OK, Brad. That said, Pitt is generally good, too, but it’s a role that isn’t much of a stretch for him. Anyway, the movie itself is good enough that I would certainly recommend it “if that’s your sort of thing” — by which I guess I’d mean low-action, semi-cerebral period pieces with pretty pictures.

Then last night I watched 3:10 to Yuma. More action to this one — it’s what you’d call a straight up Western. Christian Bale and Russell Crowe are both quite good, and it was a treat to see that guy from Firefly again. Best of all was a scene-stealing Ben Foster as Charlie Prince — that character is a perfect Western villain. If you like people shooting at other people from horseback, this is your choice.

Unfortunately, I’m puzzled by the climax… (Spoilers ahoy!)
Continue reading ‘3:10 to Robert Ford’

Well, cardboard’s out.

Published
by
Jake
4 months ago
in Pave the World, People Are Dumb and World Gone Mad
. 0 Comments

This *comedy sketch* of an Australian senator “answering” questions about an oil tanker spill is positively the best thing I’ve seen in ages.

And, apparently, actually is real.

Oh, thank goodness! It turns out it’s a comedy sketch, but is based on it a real oil spill.