3 Things that I love

1. A good cup of tea - I am an unashamed anglophile. I love teas of all kinds. I love cookies, cake, little tea sandwiches and generally anything that has to do with the ritual of making and drinking tea.

2. Gene Wolfe - Currently, I'm reading Latro in the Mist. A Roman soldier, after receiving a head wound, suffers from amnesia and can no longer make long term memories (think Memento). He also can see the gods...

3. Wacky, but clever inventions - MIT students are creating a machine that makes dishes on demand. It's cooler than you think.

3 things that piss me off

1. The Broadcast Flag - Certain media companies want to implement copy protection for digital broadcast television and are seeking a law to do so. The law would compel companies making recording technologies to adopt a content protection language/technology/standard/whatever they're calling it this week. This is, of course, an attempt to stop pirating by assuming that all consumers are thieves; by stalling technological innovation and the reallocation of broadcast spectrum assets; and on some level, to invade our privacy by controlling what we can do with our computers and recording devices. I think the thing that really makes me angry, though, is that rather than embrace the technology and find creative solutions to piracy and copyright issues, these companies would rather spend millions of dollars fighting it.

2. The Military Keeping Databases of Children for Recruitment Purposes - according to this site, a section of the No Child Left Behind bill requires high schools to turn over student information to military recruiters. This isn't new actually, as quite a few of my friends in high school (in the 80s mind you) got calls from recruiters. And this isn't to say that serving in the military is wrong. What is wrong is not keeping parents well-informed about how their children's personal information is being used.

3. RFID Tags - These chips receive and respond to radio-frequency queries from special transmitters. Currently, they are being used to track inventory in stores, but other applications are being developed - for example, Michelin is embedding the tags in their tires to track them for possible problems. The State of California had considered even using them in their driver's license ID cards. So what's the big deal? Unlike UPC, the RFID tags are unique identifiers. With the right equipment, the tags can be read from a distance, allowing someone to stalk, spy or (in the case of RFID-equipped ID cards) even steal the identity of a person carrying an item with a RFID tag in it.

Fall TV!

I am not ashamed to admit that I love television. One of the things I like about Fall is the new television season, with the return of old favorites and the promise of new shows. This season is a bit odd: most of the new shows are either crime shows or shows with a SciFi/horror bent, including 3 shows that deal with aliens both home-grown and extraterrestrial. I thought I'd share a list of shows I am intrigued by - I have not read any reviews of these yet, so I am going by description/premise only. Times are Central Time Zone.

Monday Night
Surface (NBC, 7PM, 19 Sep): Strange new creatures are discovered in the seas by people in San Diego, the Antarctic, Gulf of Mexico and Monterey.

Tuesday Night
Bones (FOX, 7PM, 13 Sep): Based on the real-life experiences and best-selling works of novelist-forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs who solves crimes using evidence supplied by skeletal remains.

Supernatural (WB, 8PM, 13 Sep): Two brothers search for their missing dad and along the way help others who have been affected by supernatural creatures, a la Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the X-Files.

Wednesday
Lost (ABC, 7PM, 21 Sep): A favorite returns...
Invasion (ABC, 8PM, 21 Sep): Space invaders!

Thursday:
The Night Stalker (ABC, 8PM, 29 Sep): Stuart Townsend takes on the role of Carl Kolchak in this remake of the television show of the same name (which originally starred Darren McGavin).

Friday:
Threshold (CBS, 8PM, 16 Sep): A team of researchers invesitgate a mysterious and possibly extra-terrestrial craft found in the ocean.

Enjoy!

A Tale of Two Tattoo Shops

This summer, there are not one, but two reality shows built around tattoo shops. Andy, being a tattooed man, of course was interested, so we've watched both. Here are my thoughts:

Show 1: Inked on A&E
Show 2: Miami Ink on TLC

Location
Inked: Palms Casino, Las Vegas
Miami Ink: Miami, FL
Winner: Inked - I prefer Vegas to Miami any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Shop
Inked: Hart & Huntington, a swanky, modern-looking, red-walled shop
Miami Ink: bright, white-walled shop decorated with some art
Winner: Draw - H&H looks nice, but some of the shows centered on how dirty the shop was. Miami Ink's shop looks more like a traditional shop, but is clean, brand-new and seems well-run.

Focus
Inked: The artists and people who work on the shop
Miami Ink: The people getting the tattoos
Winner: Miami Ink by a long shot - the people in the shop in Inked are dysfunctional and whereas their personal problems might be interesting to some viewers, I rather see some actual tattoos and find out why people get them

Average Customer (featured on the show)
Inked: A guy wants something tattooed on his penis; random drunken gamblers/tourists
Miami Ink: A guy wants a tattoo of a turtle in memory of his cousin who drowned; a young mother wants to have a tattoo of a fairy redone in honor of her newfound sobriety
Winner: Miami Ink - the stories are compelling and touching. It's no wonder the producers chose to focus on the artists on Inked, because many of the customers are obnoxious jerks. Well, OK, it was sort of funny to see the guy who wanted something tattooed on his Johnson, but the manager and artists were so weirded out by him that it stopped being funny about a minute into segment.

Soundtrack/theme song
Inked: A pop-punk anthem to rebellion
Miami Ink: If I'm not mistaken, "Funky Kingston" by Toots and the Maytals
Winner: Miami Ink - no explanation needed

Favorite Artist/Character
Inked: Clark - a one-eyed, old-school artist who consoles the receptionist, Monica, during a rough time in her life
Miami Inked: Chris Nu�ez - the "hottie" artist who often does memorial tattoos, as he suffered his own tragedy at an early age
Winner: Tie - Clark is a more quirky and interesting character, but he gets little screen time. Chris is sympathetic person and does excellent work for his clients - he seems to really care about their pain

Schooling the Apprentice
Inked: Thomas makes Dizzle, the apprentice, tattoo a fruit; when Dizzle thinks he's going to do his first tattoo on a friend, Thomas instead brings in his old-school biker/former teacher, Rick Walters, who makes Dizzle tattoo himself
Miami Ink: Ami makes his apprentice, Yoji, wax his car
Winner: Inked - Ami may be a better teacher for all I know, but Dizzle's first tattoo makes for better TV

Relationships
Inked: Thomas's breakup with Monica is messy and ends with her quitting her job
Miami Ink: Yoji marries his pregnant girlfriend on the beach
Winner: Miami Ink - the ceremony was beautiful and it is refreshing to see people actually like each other on TV

Leader
Inked: Thomas
Miami Ink: Ami
Winner: Miami Ink - Thomas comes off as an insecure asshole; Ami, even when he's being a jerk, still seems to care about the people around him.

Hot Girl Moment
Inked: a drunken gambler passes out while getting a tattoo on her back
Miami Ink: Ami draws fake tattoos on a model for a photoshoot
Winner: Miami Ink - please.

Totals
Inked - 2
Miami Ink - 6
Draw - 2

Miami Ink is the clear winner. It's the better show, though I'm not sure how much coverage it's getting, both from the press, ads and the network, and I fear it might not last. Inked may have style, but Miami Ink has more substance.

For more info:
Inked: http://www.aetv.com/inked/crew.jsp
Miami Ink: http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/miami-ink/intro.html

Pop Culture - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and the Rocking

The Good - Lost

I've been watching episodes of Lost that I recorded and I'm caught up on season one. This show is X-Files good and compares favorably with the best episodes from that show. The plot is interesting (40 people are stranded on a mysterious island after their plane crashes) and there are hints of larger things at work: were the people chosen to survive the crash, perhaps to atone for some past sin? What is the purpose of island and the strange monsters/animals that seem to inhabit it? The last few episodes seem to imply that the fates of the survivors are intertwined more deeply than they realize; the flashbacks to events before the crash are intriguing and infuriating. There are great conflicts as well: a recovering drug addict is faced with the temptation of a cargo of heroin; in an attempt to escape the island, some of the survivors on a raft are confronted by strange men (pirates?) who kidnap one man's son and set fire to the raft; the mysterious hatch Locke found in the jungle is finally open, but where it leads to remains to be seen. Also, it gets my vote for "how did they put this on TV:" while trying to transport old dynamite to blow open the hatch, one survivor is literally blown to bits. How this made it past TV censors amazes me.

The Bad - Rock Star INXS

I watch this show with morbid fascination - I'll admit to being a fan of INXS once upon a time and I still can and will sing along. But this show is uncomfortable to watch. First, the contestants are mostly white Americans; not all that surprising, really, but only one Australian and two Canadians made the final cut. That just seems a little odd to me, a little too American-centric. Most of the contestants are pretty people, especially the women. Don't get me wrong, they have fine voices, too, but it is embarrassing and painful to watch these pretty people try to be rock stars. Most of the women are crosses between Jewel and Lita Ford (not Runaways Lita Ford, but Lita Ford circa 1987) and last week, two made the terrible mistake of trying to rock out to...Purple Haze and Paranoid. I have never been so horrified. True there are the token "different" people: there is the Token Black Guy with Mohawk, to which comparisons to Living Color are inevitable, and the Token Overweight Cool Girl with Dreadlocks and Tattoos, who really isn't overweight but looks it when she stands next to the more TV friendly female contestants. The Beck-wannabe lost last week and for all of his awkward posing, I think I'll miss him from the show simply because he was different from the other guys. Lastly, there is the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about - Michael Hutchence. No one has mentioned him yet, at least not on air, and somehow that makes this all the worse.

The Ugly - Family Guy

Let me go on the record of saying that I love Family Guy and I'm glad it's back on the air. I'm just not sure how it manages to stay on the air, because damn, it is ugly. It is South Park offensive, which is saying something considering it's on broadcast television during primetime. Don't believe me? In last week's episode:

The evil monkey that lives in Chris's closet pulled out a bag of weed and rolled a joint.

Chris and Meg both admitted they would masterbate to their mother's pictures if she became a model.

Cookie Monster (from Sesame Street) was heating up cookie dough using a spoon and a lighter like a junky in a stall in the women's restroom at a club.

Do I need to go on?

The Rocking - Best band the hipsters are already sick of:

Louis XIV - Cheeky, raunchy and fun-as-hell indie rock music that is influenced by T-Rex and 70s New York punk.

What else I like or Fun with DVR

A little less than two months ago, we ordered DVR through our cable company. Installation problems aside, it's been a brilliant service and works the way we expected. At first, we kept forgetting to use the features available - for example, pausing a TV show we were watching before running to the bathroom or fastfowarding through the commercials on recorded shows. I think it has significantly changed how we watch TV. We no longer watch whatever crap that happens to be on, for one thing. When one of us is coming home late, the other records our favorite shows to watch later. Some shows I watch only through recordings anyway.

One such show is Spaced, a British comedy that ran for a couple of seasons in the late 90s. I had never heard of Spaced before Bravo had a marathon of episodes in January. I had heard of the series' creators, Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, in backwards sort of way. When we were in London last April, posters for the movie Shaun of the Dead, which was written by and stars Simon Pegg, were everywhere. Even without knowing the star, I desperately wanted to see it, as I am fan of such films as Evil Dead and Night of the Living Dead and English humor in general. Unfortunately, it wasn't released to theatres until after we had left London, so I had to wait until the summer when it was released here in the States. But it was well worth the wait.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find out about the series, Spaced, and equally glad to have the DVR unit in order to record all the episodes. We've been working our way through them slowly, and I am frightened at how well it captures the Gen X experience in the 90s. Pegg and I are about the same age and what he writes about in the series could have come directly from my life:

- Working at a comic book store: check
- Collecting comics: check
- Playing video games: check
- Friend who wants to write/draw his own comic: check
- Friend who skateboards: check
- Club kids and "rave" culture: Oh, god help me, yes.
- Friend who is a militaty nut with guns: (Please, shoot me now) Yes.
- Obsession with the first three Star Wars movies: Absolutely
- Conversations desperately trying to create meaning in vapid pop culture: Of course.
- ...and then devolve into silly arguments about trivia: Guilty.
- Aspiring writer who never writes and has yet to be published: Yes, indeed, sir.

The premise behind the show is that two acquaintances, Tim (Pegg) and Daisy (Stevenson), are desperately in need of new apartments. Tim was thrown out by his ex-girlfriend and Daisy was living in a squat with junkies. They find a great place, but the ad specifies married couples only. So, Tim and Daisy pose as a married couple to get the apartment. Luckily, the show downplays the zany Three's Company element and instead focuses on the daily lives of the characters intertwined with pop culture references and over-the-top, wacky adventures. Besides slacker Tim, a comic book store employee and aspiring comic book artist, and Daisy, an aspiring writer/journalist, the other misfits include: Marsha (Julia Deakin), the nosy and eternally horny landlady, Brian (Mark Heap), their tortured artist neighbor, Twist (Katy Carmichael), Daisy's vain and fashion-obsessed best friend, and Mike (Nick Frost), Tim's military and gun-obsessed best friend.

Had I caught the series when it was first run, I would have been RABID for it. As it is, I am still a pretty big fan. It's very funny and clever, and although it's only a few years old, I'm surprised at the nostalgia it invokes in me. It reminds me of the Friday nights we used to spend playing D&D after hours in the comic store.

50 Book Challenge and the Viral Nature of the Internet

I belong to a lot of Yahoo Groups on a lot of different subjects: reading groups, magick groups, D&D groups, Comic Book groups, you name it. Very often, someone on a group will write, "Hey, check out this [web site/forum/service/book/group]." Of course, being a curious person, I'll have to go check out the web site/forum/service/book/group, along with anyone else who received the same email. Now, I'm not talking about the email that says something like "Ultra low prices on Viagra!" or even the annoying emails from well-meaning people who are trying to increase traffic to their web site or other Internet entity. Personally, when I find something cool online, I email people I think will care about it and might enjoy using it. Then they do they same thing, sending the information out and infecting others with the mostly benign virus of pop culture. That's what I'm talking about. There is no cure and we have been assimilated, like it or not.

So if you're here, it means you like some of the things that I like. Here's a list of things I've found that I like that therefore you might like, too:

http://bibliophil.org/default.asp

Keep track of your book collection, rate and review books, swap books, make friends with other book lovers.

http://www.hsx.com

The Hollywood Stock Exchange is an online game. You buy (pretend) stocks in real actors, films and directors and the stock values are based on real movie deals. I've been trading on the exchange for a couple of years now. I'm losing big on the Harry Potter movies, but my Keanu Reeves stock is making a killing. Who knew?

http://www.livejournal.com/community/50bookchallenge/

The 50 Book Challenge is Live Journal Community that challenges members to read 50 books in a year, which is more than 4 books per month. I'd better get on it!

Gmail and Firefox

I am a big fan of both services. Gmail is such a great free email account that I've stopped using all my other personal email accounts. I love being able to use Google to search my emails, I love having emails sorted by threads and I especially love having 1 gig of storage space for my emails.

I was skeptical of Firefox as a browser, because it was surrounded by so much hype. But after a serious virus problem on our computer, we switched and I have no regrets. It has neat add ons, like the weather updates on the bottom tool bar, keeps visited on web sites on tabs in the same window for easy reference and is just easy and convenient to use.