Archives October 2009

Yup, that’s right.  She is a talentless hack, and every time I hear her obnoxious voice on tv, it makes me want to change the channel.  Seriously… she is not funny, she is annoying, and usually offensive.

I can’t wait for Fox to cancel what will surely be one of the worst shows to ever air on Fox.

I don’t have much else to say about this other then most people across the country seem to feel the same way

Apparently Hulu will begin charging for it’s content in 2010
Hulu has done all it can to push away viewers of it’s service and it looks like it is going to deliver the final blow.
Why does Hulu think they can charge for their mediocre-quality streaming service that locks people in to their site and their ads… when anyone can download high quality HD rips of the shows WITH OUT ads for free?
I just can’t grasp where they are getting the idea that this will actually be a successful pay-for service.
News Corp (who owns Hulu) issued a statement saying “It’s time to start getting paid for broadcast content online.”

Hahaha, wow… what a bunch of pompous pricks. Good luck with that News Corp.  You make it sound like you deserve money for streaming media online.  Sorry, that is not how the internet works.

As I stated in my other article, I think you’ll find that people will do 1 of 2 things when you start charging for service. 1) They will simply go with out. People use it because it is free. Charging for that isn’t going to instantly create a group of people willing to pay for it. Or 2) People will use alternative methods to download shows and watch them.

So lately I have been bombarded with these “Wirelessly Charge Your Shit!” ads from Best Buy for a product called “Powermat”.  So I did some looking in to it and decided it is one big ass bucket of fail.  They claim it to be convenient, an energy-saving, and neater.

First off, lets take a look at convenience.  They say this because you won’t have to plug in your devices.  You just set them on the mat, and it charges via electromagnetic induction.  Well, that may be true, except they leave out this fact in the commercial… there are only Powermat cases that attach to devices for 8 devices.  Yup… unless you own 1 of those 8 devices, you get to use the Powermat “Tip”.  The “tip” is a white hunk of plastic that you plug in to your device’s USB port when you want to charge it.  Wait… what?   So you still have to plug in your phone to charge it?!  Oh, and it must remain perfectly seated ON the powermat, WHILE it is plugged in?  SERIOUSLY?!?!  What kind of fail is this?  So let me make sure I have this right.  To use the powermat with my HTC Fuze, I would have to plug in the “tip” and set my phone on the mat, and leave it there.  That means I can’t pick my phone up and use it while it is charging.  How the fuck is that convenient?  That sounds like a pain in my ass to me!  I frequently use my phone while it is plugged in and charging, whether it is playing games, watching videos, surfing the web, or talking on it.  The powermat would prevent me from doing any of those things.

Next, they claimed it saves energy by shutting off when you’re not using it.

I quote from this YouTube video:

“…you’re also using a lot of power especially when the products are not being charged, you know, nobody really unplugs their stuff “

Ole Ron claim that leaving your chargers plugged in is using energy.  Well, this claim sounded like pure bullshit to me, so I tested it.  Here is a picture of my HTC Fuze charger plugged in to a Kill-a-Watt power meter, showing how much energy is being used when my phone is not plugged in to it.  Get ready for this… it may surprise you:

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This weekend my girlfriend and I had the pleasure of seeing The Phantom of the Opera at Fox Theater in St. Louis.  It was an amazing performance.  This was the 2nd time I have seen it, and the first time for her.  I got us seats as front and center as possible, and really they were fantastic seats (row M of the Orchestra area).  When the organ music first hits your chest and the chandelier comes back to life, it is just an overwhelming feeling.  The entire performance was wonderful.  I can’t say I have a single complaint about it, other then the fact that it ended.

Before heading over to the Fox, we went by a local Italian restaurant called Vito’s Sicilian Pizza and Restaurant per recommendation of my sister and her fiance.  I have to give this place my highest recommendations.  I had originally made reservations for 5:30, but due to unforeseen events (I forgot the tickets at home when we were already on the road… can’t believe I did that), we were running very late.  I called and pushed the reservations back to 6.  We still didn’t get there until 6:15, but they still had our table reserved, so on a very busy night (any time a show is at the Fox, they are busy because they are only a few blocks from the Fox), we had zero wait time and were able to get right in and sit down.  Service was excellent and their food was delicious.  I had the Spinach and Ricotta Manicotti with Meat Sauce, while Heather had Bacon Wrapped Scallops with grilled Asparagus.  Both dishes were great.

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