Cocktail Confessions

Okay, kinda a mish-mash here of quick things:

My next Droid may not be the Droid X or Droid 2 afterall.  With Droid 2 coming in the next 2 weeks (and a $199 price tag to boot), I was seriously considering an upgrade to my smartphone.  My Droid turns 1 in November.  However, those chaps over at Android and Me are hinting that a new ‘rumor’ may infact be the unofficial leak of the Droid Pro.  So, what are the hilights of the Droid Pro? I’m glad you asked:  Could be boasting a new 1.3GHz CPU (fastest yet), a 4 inch screen, and global roaming (taking advantage of the LTE Verizon network perhaps?)!  No other details at this time, other than it may be debuting in November, 2010.  I’ll share more as more info becomes available.

It’s also being reported that Netflix has signed a deal with EPIX, Lionsgate, and Paramount meaning that very shortly a whole new library of movies and television shows will be available via Netflix streaming.  I use this feature on my XBox 360 all the time.  I’ve recently been watching Sparticus, Weeds, Dexter, and many other shows through my Xbox and loving it. 

Speaking of XBox, I’m not overly “wow”-ed by yet by the newly announced MS Kinect.  It’s listed at a street price of $149 and will launch with 11 titles.  I just read a synopsis of the titles in the Sep ‘10 issue of OXM, and none of them really stand out for me.  This may be one of those things where I’ll have to wait and see the reviews and reception of the titles first before I’m an andopter of the peripheral at all.

I still have a video I need to edit and post here on preparing a beef brisket, and I still have 2-3 podcast episodes saved on my hard drive I also need to edit and post as well.  I really need a day off in my normal life to work on this.

If you’re a Star Wars nerd like me, you’ll get that reference.

Anyway, apologies for the lack of posts lately.  I actually have a review of El Cid of Los Angeles already written along with pictures and video clips, it’s just a matter of me uploading everything and doing some final edits.

In brief, here are a couple things in the meantime:

1. Work has been extremely slow as of late.  I’ve actually been watching paint dry and counting air molecules to pass the time.
2. Been enjoying new Bud Select 55, the low calorie beer, although I can’t seem to get a buzz from it.
3. Watching a lot of Netflix lately.  Love the streaming feature.  Watching Sparticus (Season 1) and Weeds (Season 3).  Tried watching Jack Black’s and Michale Cera’s “Year One”, but it is soooo bad.  Also started watching the first season of True Blood.
4. Gonna try and smoke a brisket this weekend with my new smoker.  Never did one before, but we all gotta start somewhere, so I’m thinking I may buy a brisket after work today and cook/smoke it for saturday.  I may buy a 6lb brisket from El Toro Meats to start with.  It’s $6.99 a pound, so a 5lb brisket is upwards of $35!
5. I know I’m lacking in the Big Brother updates.  I’m about 4 episodes behind as of this writing.  I’ve watched them all so far, so I need to do a brief synopsis later in a combined entry (maybe later today if I’m bored).

Check out this really cool ’steampunk’ USB drive (pictured left).  It’s 8GB in size and it’s creator says the design was inspired by an old country sign….Er…okay…I don’t see it, but I love the end result anyway.  I just love this Jules Verne looking stuff.  It’s so much more interesting than all the other streamlined tech out there these days.  It’s a piece of art in my book.

The creator gives it an esitimated worth of $300, which for an original piece of alternate Americana technology, it’s tempting (if I had the extra money). *Image courtesy of ChipChick.

Lastly, although I’m really enjoying my new Kodak Playsport, it seems Panasonic just announced their own shoot-and-share handheld HD flash camcorder.  The TA1 currently has a pre-order (release date is tentatively Aug 17) price listing of $169, which is in line with all the others in this category, but has few things really stand out for me: 1) It’s Panasonic, and they make great stuff.  I think their plasma televisons, DVD players, and old school VCR’s are top notch, especially for their price, so I doubt you be assured the hardware is strong.  2) The stand alone camera is 8MP whereas all the otehrs in this category are 5MP.  3) It’s Skype enabled (how sweet is that?)  4)  And finally, someone has added a front facing LED ‘light’ used to help illuminate recording in low light conditions (double sweet!!).  Hopefully this additional features will prove to be worthy enough to be included in future incarnation by the other developers for the next generation of these hand held devices.  If so, I can see myself upgrading in about a year from now.

The poster caught my eye.

And I am glad it did.

Apparantly I’ve never heard of this little gem from our Canadian friends up north.  Based on a B&W short, this mockumentary style comedy ran on Canadian televion for seven seasons beginning in 2001.  It also spawned a few television specials and two feature films.  “The Big Dirty”, the first feature film was my first exposure to these characters and it was downright hilarious.  Not all the acting is top noch, but I don’t think it is supposed to be.  Each character is his or her own unique traffic accident waiting to happen and how they keep a straight face while selling you on their schtick is beyond me.

It’s a special type of humor, very similar to the style of ‘The Office’ or ‘Parks and Recreation’.  If your into that dry delivery and very intelligent although sophmoric humor, then I think you’ll love this show.  Like most mockumentaries of this nature, you’ll fall into either of two camps:  A) you won’t get it and thinks it’s dumb, or B) you’ll howl and cry out laughing.  Thank goodness I fall into the later category, and can look past the low budget (that’s half its charm anyway) and enjoy the nonsense and antics for what they are.

Now I suppose it’s up to me to go back and get the shows on DVD either through Netflix or purchasing the seasons through Amazon.  Either way, this is now on my “must see” list.  I’ll spare you the details of the chracters and plotlines, as they can all be found at the Wikipedia entry here.  But suffice to say, the antics at the trailer park are so ridiculous and out there, that they actually seem plausible as do many of the characters themselves.  The character’s Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles (pictures) are perfect and I swear they are charicatures of people we all actually have run into at one point in our lives.

DJ Hero

Eh, well, not because I’m an advocate of throw away episodes, but once in a while it’s just kinda nice to put something out there to let the masses know you’re still alive and kicking.  It also helps in remembering how to craft and use technology so you don’t forget it so easily if you don’t do it too often.

Like most things that I really get excited and interested in, it appears that putting this podcast together is a bit harder than I first anticipated.  Not so much from a  technical aspect, but more of getting actual content down and getting guests to commit.  It’s been much more difficult than I ever would have surmised to get friends and neighbors to agree on a time to sit and chat, and every time it seems we plan on something it generally gets delayed for one reason or another.

That’s not so much the case in point here.  As I stated in my last post, I’ve been under the weather as of late.  I can’t remember the last time I has such a bad cough or case of bronchitis that has more or less just put me out on my butt.  My throat has been a bit raw and I’m all jacked up on various OTC medicines…none of which seem to be doing me much good by the way.  The nagging and uncontrollable hacking at all hours has been very frustrating to me, and while I’m not 100% right now, it seems I’m finally on the tail end of a good eight day cough fest.

Episode 13 is a bit short, clocking in at just about twenty one minutes and it just informs you up on a few recent things in my life

Stone Smoky Porter

like Christmas goodies such as DJ Hero, my new Blu Ray player, some movies and Netflix we’ve been watching (like season 1 of Dexter), and of course Stone Brewery Smoky Porter (5.9%).  Speaking of DJ Hero, that game is bad ass.  As a child of the 80’s and really into old skool hip-hop/rap and more current euro dance/techno, this game is right up my alley.  Some of my friends have laughed at me spinning a plastic turntable and making up DJ names for me, like DJ Wingman (thanks Chip).  I hope the game does well enough to spawn some additional DLC because I just love it.

Show Notes:

Intro – “Come Again” by Beastie Boys & Daft Punk (as heard on DJ Hero)

2:08 – Cornocopia of OTC drugs I’m taking including Emergen-C bullshit.

6:30 – This & that and a little fluff.

7:15 – Stone Brewery and porter talk.

8:05 – Blu Ray and movie talk (Star Trek, Paranormal Activity)

11:45 – Microsoft + Xbox RROD blues 

12:29 – Dexter: clean versus ‘R’ versions for Showtime and CBS

13:49 – Xmas continued + DJ Hero

18:39 – SkurvyMonekys.com podcast discussed

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (19.3MB)