geek ramblings » Entertainment

Sesame Street

Dougal — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 14:43:43 +0000

Over on waxy.org’s links, I found this list of Sesame Street videos on YouTube. Talk about bringing back some memories. I’ve always loved Capital I, and Atlanta band Rooke used to do a version of it that was just beautiful.

Other favorites include Mahna Mahna, The Ladybug Picnic, C is for Cookie, I Love Trash, and The Martians (yepyepyep). Claire has been watching some Sesame Street, and I’m sure she would enjoy some of these classics!

Oh, and by the way, if you’d like to be able to download videos from YouTube (or Google Videos, or lots of other services), check out KeepVid. Just pay attention to the instructions, because you generally have to manually name the file (KeepVid will tell you what file extension to use). You might also need to download an FLV Player.

ShareThis

Tivo

Dougal — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 20:51:47 +0000

Tivo Series2 40GB DVR — $50 after rebate!

A couple of days ago, I read about a $150 rebate from Tivo. This brings the price of a unit down to the “impulse buy” level. I’m thinking about getting us a 40GB unit. I figure that if we decide that we need more space later, we can just hack a larger hard drive into it.

And actually, that may not even be necessary, as I’ve just read that you can now stream video from a PC to the Tivo over a network. Which effectively means that any PC in your home can be used for auxilliary Tivo storage.

I expect that we’ll get pretty good usage out of Tivo. We often miss shows that we like because we’re busy trying to get our kids to bed. And of course, digging out a blank VHS tape and programming the VCR is a pain in the neck (plus you only get 2-6 hours of recording, depending on what kind of video quality you’re willing to put up with). It would be nice to let Tivo keep track of which shows we want to see, automagically record them for us, and timeshift them to when we can actually sit down for an hour.

Current Tivo users: tell me about your favorite Series2 Hacks sites!

ShareThis

Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith

Dougal — Mon, 23 May 2005 16:05:43 +0000

Big family day yesterday. Susan, I, our two kids, Susan’s parents, our friend Kenn and two of his daughters, all went to see Revenge of the Sith (Kenn’s wife, Amanda, and their youngest daughter visited relatives). Due to the size of our group, and the size of the rest of the audience, we wound up sitting about three or four rows from the front of the theater. Not the optimal viewing position, but it worked well enough. It’s pretty easy to get immersed in the film when your entire range of vision is consumed by it.

Verdict? It was great.

Some of the acting could have been better (in particular, except for Mace Windu’s big fight scene, I felt like Samuel L. Jackson was phoning in his performance), but the overall story was what I was hoping for. Without giving out any spoilers, there was lots of action, just enough politics, a tiny bit of romance, several incidents of dismemberment, and plenty of fear, anger, death, betrayal, and angst. Did I mention dismemberment? And a bit of painful disfigurement. That’s why this one is PG-13, you see.

Darth Sidious is sufficiently manipulative and evil. Yoda kicks a suitable amount of butt. Anakin is torn between loyalties to the Jedi, the Republic, and Padme. Obi-Wan is noble. The wookies are big and furry. The lava planet is hot (but at least it’s a dry heat). And we finally get to hear James Earl Jones again.

If you are a Star Wars fan and you don’t like this movie, you’re being too picky, and you need to relax. Have a beer. Or two.

ShareThis