Speed Racer is a Trip!

I have to admit - I never really got into Speed Racer as a kid. I think it only came on some PBS channel that only came in vaguely once a week at 3:00am on Monday morning. So I really didn't care much about the movie, until I read all of the buzz on the trailer. It's totally different than anything else I have ever seen. If the buzz for this movie keeps on being good, I may still go see it. Check out the trip here:

http://movies.aol.com/movie/speed-racer-2008/28066/main

Don't Give Up On Vista

The Showdown Rocks Your Face Off!

Most of you know I am a metal head. So, if you aren't... you might not care about this post. I just discovered a great metal band (new to me): The Showdown!

http://www.myspace.com/theshowdown

Their first album wasn't that great. For their second album, they changed styles a little - probably influenced by Maylene & The Sons of Disaster (another great band). They stopped screaming so much, added some southern rock influences in the mix, and BAM! Hi-Voltage Heavy Metal Advisory. And they are currently on the OzzFest tour - they are that good.

Heroes and Time Travel

Yes, I still love Heroes. I still think they are doing a great job. Just like last season, they are setting some stuff up. I guess some people have forgotten that once you get into a show, you are supposed to care what happens to the characters and not all of this silly stuff about "going to the next level." Ummmm..... when you start at a high level, you don't need to go up.

Why is it that whenever a Sci-Fi show introduces Hispanic characters in a new season, people automatically hate them? Nikki and Paulo in Lost, the Wonder Twins in Heroes? (and that whole "Wonderless Twins" label is getting waaayyy, old, waaayyy fast). The only problem with the twins in Heroes is that they are way more interesting if you follow the Heroes Evolutions online stuff. I think the show producers did make a mis-step there assuming that everyone would be following that and realize that the black tears in the eye thing is part of a Mayan prophecy about the end of the world.

Anyway, I had a random thought about time travel. When Hiro stabbed Sylar at the end of season 1, he was flung away and then teleported back in time. The big explosion was stopped because Nathan decided to step in, change the future, and take the exploding Peter away. Of course, Hiro doesn't know this in the past. He will still have to come back to the future, find out that the explosion was stopped, and find out his father is dead. Good and bad for him.

But, there was that episode that was five years in the future and tells what happens if Peter does explode. there is the ultra-cool "Future Hiro" there. I was thinking that Hiro would never become this future fighter because the explosion was stopped. The trippy thing is - that "Future Hiro" had still been flung into the past and had still interacted with with his hero Kensai. Learned to fight, go through trials, etc. And then came back to find that the bomb had exploded. Weird. Future Hiro learned to fight in past Japan. So, current Hiro could still become kick-butt Future Hiro. Sweet.

Random, I know. Some day I will actually blog about something other than Heroes.

But the upcoming episodes look soooo cool:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/34696

Record Companies are Pathetic

Yep - you read that right - records companies are pathetic: sad, petty, and useless. A recent case involving a lawsuit against an online file sharer shows just how slimey they are. The jury found in favor of the company (which they should have, the person was obviously guilty) - and then called for $9,250 in damages for each of the 24 songs involved in the trial. (!)

Am I the only one in the world that finds this to be abusive? $9,000 for one song - that on average was maybe shared with possibly a 100 people, causing about A $100-200 loss to the record company (depending on how much you think individual songs are worth. If you know anything about the recording industry, you know that most big record companies only spend an average of about 25 cents per song for a moderately successful song). Charging someone that much for sharing a song online is like finding someone guilty for murder and then declaring that every person in the United States with the same last name as the killer to be executed.

Here's the kicker - the record companies never had to prove that the songs were actually downloaded by someone else. Just offering them online was enough to gain this verdict. So - they only had proof that she cost the record company maybe $30-40 - and they got $222,000 in damages!

I won't accuse anyone of wrong doing (*cough* bribery *cough* payoff *cough* *cough*), but something stinks here.

I'm not in favor of stealing music or illegally downloading songs - but if the record company accepts this obviously unfair verdict - they are nothing but scumbags. And for any artists that stand with the big record companies in this decision - I will no longer be buying your CDs. Or your junk merchandise.


Record companies - WAKE UP! YOU are the ones that have caused illegal file sharing to become such a huge problem. You've done everything you can to steal money from us and the bands you sign - eventually there had to be a backlash. Do you really think we were happy going out to buy a CD of cool song that were heard on the radio just to find out that one song was the only good song on a CD full of junk? Do you think were happy when we invested a ton of money into a record or tape collection, only to have you roll out CDs and expect us to re-buy all the music that we already owned? Did you really think we were going to fall for that again for all the new "better-than-CD" options you've tried to roll out since then? Did you really think we ignored all of those expose TV shows that showed how CDs now don't cost you any more than tapes to produce, but you still keep charging more? Did you really think we've ignored all of the artist interviews through the years about how they were ripped off by you?

Heroes: Four Months Later....

So, the new Heroes season is here at last. How good is Heroes? Well, it makes some people cuss, it's so good. So far, I'm very intrigued with where they are going. I'm starting to see a trend with some of the extra online stuff that I refer to as Heroes Extended Edition. One of things I am noticing is that the Activating Evolution site mentions a lot about how species will begin displaying mutations if there is a global threat to the species - as kind of a survival instinct. On Hana's blog, there are references to a Mayan prophecy that the earth will end in December 2012. Could it be the shows theory that there is an impending doomsday in the works, and that nature is causing humans to develop super powers in a type of survival instinct? We're starting to see that some super heroes can have the same power. Could it be that nature will keep bringing up these mutations until it stumbles up the one trait that we all need to survive?

I am guessing that at some point, someone else in the older generation of Heroes also had the ability to see the future. Maybe they saw the impending apocalypse, and have a plan to do something about it? I wonder if they are going to send Hiro to the ancient Mayan culture next, and he will see another hero there that can also paint the future - and that's where the Mayan prophecy came from :) Probably not, but that would be cool.

Personally, I can't wait for the 8th episode "Eight Months Ago..." which will go back and answer some of the unanswered questions about the past four months. How did Peter and Nathan survive the explosion? But why do they all think Peter is dead? What happened to Peter the last four months? What does that helix looking symbol mean, anyway? People are making necklaces out of it, so it obviously means something to someone in the show.

Seven Wonders of the IT World

CIO magazine had this list of the Seven Wonders of the IT World (or, more accurately, the computer world). Some interesting computers on that list. The fastest super computer out there is purely amazing.

http://cio.com/article/135700

What New Shows Am I Interested In This Season?

To be honest - none. Sure, there are some interesting ones out there. But I probably won't watch any of them. Why? Because they will probably get canceled.

I'm wondering how long it will be before the TV watching public begins to just stop investing in any new shows with me. Think of the shows that showed promise, or drew a fan base, such as Firefly, that were given bad promotion, and then canceled before given a chance to gain viewers. Sure, you have shows like Jericho that can come back from the dead - but that's only one so far. So many shows are now trying to latch on to the Lost or Heroes formula: long, complicated plots that span entire series (or at least entire seasons) with intrigue and mystery. The problem is: you dig in, invest in the show, and then it bites the dust. I'm just going to sit back and wait to see if anything makes it to season 2. Then rent the DVDs for season 1.

This is really just the problem with the entertainment industry in general. No investment in anything if it's not a hit right off the bat. And not to mention over-saturation. there are just too many movies, TV shows, CDs, games, etc pushed out every week. I remember recently that Bono said there may never again be another U2. Not because no one can ever be as good as them - it's just that the record companies are not supporting and developing bands enough to allow for them to grow into another U2. I think that can be said in all sectors of the entertainment industry: companies are too caught up with getting the next biggest thing out there yesterday.

Less Than a Month till Heroes

Get this widget!

There has been a ton of interesting buzz about Heroes recently. Heroes has been one of my favorite television shows. I've been keeping up with the (very interesting) online comic this summer. The one released today has me thinking - what is the deal with Hiro's Dad (Kaito Nakamura)? He is know by street thugs - and scares them away? Sweet! I hope they develop his story more next year. I found the Season 2 preview from ComicCon on YouTube:



Some things I noticed in the trailer:

• Hiro's father is in there - so maybe my wish about him will come true.
• Matt Parkman lives
• Nathan Petrelli lives!
• Sylar is for sure alive - but we kind of already knew that
• Peter Petrelli lives!

Peter and Sylar living was pretty much already a given, from what happened last season. But how did both Nathan and Peter both survive? Here's my theory:

We already know that Peter survived the original version of the explosion. In the new version, the question would be - could he explode, and then fall from miles up, and survive the fall from that high up? If Nathan was still alive - sure. Here is what I would have done (if I was Nathan): fly as high as I could. Tell Peter to give me a few seconds. Release him, and fly as far away as I could. Remember - Nathan can break the sound barrier. Then, fly back underneath the explosion - to stay away from radiation. Give Peter enough time to heal as he fell, while following him as he fell. When he is fully healed, catch him, and land. Then go cut Sylar's head off. I mean - seriously - is anyone ever going to get that this dude won't die unless you cut him into tiny pieces? That may not even work....

The Yamagato Fellowship website (a mock site for Heroes) has an interesting "documentary" on Takezo Kensai, the famous historical Hero that Hiro idolized:

http://www.yamagatofellowship.org/videoPlayer.shtml

Hana Gitelman's website has also been active recently, suggesting that she somehow survives electronically - maybe on the Internet? They already did that in the X-Files, but it is still a cool concept to explore. Maybe this massacre described in the story has something to do with that new super-villain that Molly was scared of? We'll see.

The Primatech Paper, Corinthian Casino, Activating Evolution, Nathan Petrelli for Congress, and Hiro's blog websites have all be quiet recently. The MySpace accounts for Claire, Nikki/Jessica, and Zach are all inactive (page can't be found). We'll see what new stuff pops up over the next few weeks.

Interesting Lost Teaser Online

The Lost official website has a clip of another station orientation film. It's for a station called "The Orchid." The dude giving the orientation is going by yet another name. But in the film, he does acknowledge that the work on the island is dangerous, and that the Dharma Initiative is being deceptive from time to time. My theories from the clip:

• The whispering people noises are happening in the film, while the Dharma workers are working. They don't seem to care. It must be a regular or expected phenomena to them.
• The 15 rabbit is held by the talking guy, and then another 15 rabbit shows up in the background. They talk about shifting the rabbit, so I am thinking that there has something to do with time travel.
• They want to keep the rabbits away from each other, which reminds me of Back to the Future II (and how Marty McFly was always told to avoid running in to himself).
• The dude that talks on the orientation video is kind of a jerk "behind the scenes" :)
• The Casimir effect he mentions apparently has something to do with levitation and nanotechnology. So, now we have levitation, nanotechnology, smoke monsters, multiplying bunnies, this Jacob person/thing, and purple skies all on Lost island. Maybe they are all on some huge drug trip in reality?
  

So, I am guessing that the whispering noise is something that happens when something is sent through time.

----------------
Now playing: Paradox - Give A Listen
via FoxyTunes

My History With Computers, Part 2

So, like I said last time, going to college changed the computer landscape for me. It was 1991, and home computers were becoming popular. I was thinking that I really needed one to get through college. But my parents were convinced that all we needed was a typewriter. So, I got a job at the Po Folks restaurant in Waco, and bought the two things I really needed to get through college: a truck (1991 Izusu pickup) and a computer. I took out a loan for $2000 and bought an IBM PS/1. The truck lasted until it blew a rod last year, but the PS/1 has been gone since 95 or so - so I guess you can see which one was a better buy :)

Anyway - the PS/1 was incredible. First of all, it came with Prodigy - an early Internet-like service that I loved. My parents got a little mad that the phone was always tied up, but it's not like we got that many calls. So, yep - I've been on the Internet for a long time. The funny thing is, I saw the PS/1 on some list of the 10 worst home computers of all time. Most of the problems they listed didn't affect me, though. The PS/1 had 30mb hard drive (NOT gb - mb), IBM-DOS (this was before Windoze came on the scene), and a monster mouse that didn't always click when you hit the buttons. But it had Microsoft Works - that saved my rear in college many times.

My parents caught on to the need for computers, and now my Mom currently has a super monster computer to transfer VHS to DVD and make home DVDs.

So, the next decade of my life was spent with a variety of computer upgrades and new services. I went from IBM-DOS to Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 to Win 98 to XP. Haven't even touched Vista yet. Don't know if I will ever be brave enough for that.

Anyway, in college I also got my first experience with Macs. Baylor had all Mac labs, so around 1994-97, I spent a lot of time on the early WWW and the Mac version of what ever. Archive.org has a great service called the Way Back Machine, and it's pretty interesting to look back at the old versions of websites archived there. I remember many of them. Man, has the Internet come a long way.

I tended to shy away from programming computers in college, but I quickly got back in to it after getting in to the work world. I had no aversions to programming in college - I just got too busy. Anyway, I went to a computer training when I was a Junior High teacher called "Intel Teach to the Future Training." We all had to take tests online to see if we had the necessary skills to just jump right in the class and start. Or so we thought. The first day of the class, someone raised their hand and said "now, are you sure I won't break this thing by pressing the 'on' button?" The teacher of the class (who was also another Science teacher), looked at my wife and I (we were both Science teachers and in this class), rolled his eyes, gave us the "might want to entertain yourself for a while" look, and proceeded to baby sit this teacher for an hour's worth of basic computer training. Like, really basic.

So, I got on the Internet and learned html. Since then I have gotten into CSS, XML, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, Flash, and ActionScript. All of which I learned because they were needed for my job at the time (whatever it was), but no one else knew how to do it.

Also, around 2003, I started my first blog. Been addicted ever since.

In 2004, I worked at a company that was (for the most part) all Mac based. So, I used my first iMac (the G4) in a work environment. I was pretty impressed. When Apple decided to come out with Intel-based Macs, I was almost convinced that it was time to switch. Our Mac-fanatic friend Chris was the final push that convinced Katie and I to go Mac. A few months ago, our new iMac Core Due arrived, and I've been loving it ever since. Now, if only the price of iPhone would come down, I could get one of those, and start a whole new chapter in my history with computers....

(by the way, the links I am putting in these articles are to pictures of the computers or programs in question).

My History With Computers, Part 1

For some reason, I have been on a nostalgia trip recently. I was looking at PC World's Top 10 worst computers of all time, and the first computer I ever bought was up there! It was a great computer! Anyway, I started to reminisce, and I was surprised to find out how many screen shots, articles, and emulators there are out there for these old systems I used to own or use. Here is my brief history with computers.

My first time to use a computer was in 4th grade, around 1983-1984. Our school had a Commodore 64. They would send all of the artsy/nerdy students to what they called "Gifted & Talented" class once a week - and the C64 was one of the activities they kept us busy with. Interesting how GT started out as a way to describe the "weird" kids. Anyway, I basically learned how to use |/\{} etc draw a rocket ship that would scroll up the screen. And to play a game or two.

I also remember back in the day when Target had a C64 on display. My brother and I would always jump at a chance to go shopping with our Mom, and then get to Target only to dash off to the electronics row. The game that they always had, that we always played, was G.I.Joe. Mom would have to drag us kicking and screaming out of that store every time.

I also remember visiting Sears a lot and playing their ColecoVision every chance we got. We loved to play the Smurf game. Yep - it was labeled the "Easiest Video Game Ever." But we never won it. Sad.

Somewhere in mid-80s, my parents broke down and bought us an Atari 2600. We actually owned something before that to play Pong on, but I can't remember what it was. Anyway, we used to spend hours playing Atari games at friends and relatives houses, so we eventually ended up with one of our own. The games were simple, but we loved to play. For days on end. I think school happened in there somehow.

Also, along the way, we talked our parents in to our first home computer as a family - the TI-99 4/A. We also spent hours playing Parsec and Tunnels of Doom on this thing. Tunnels was great because we could get the whole family together and explore the dungeons looking for the King's treasure. We even has a tape player to store stuff on - that was what the po' folks did back in the day when floppy disk drives were too expensive. Um... a floppy disk is... well, if you don't know - go look it up. Anyway - cassette tapes are very finicky, so every other time you stored stuff on them, you usually lost it. But it was soooo cool to be able to turn off the computer and have it remember where you were in the game.

I even learned how to do graphics and some video game programing on the TI. Now, granted, the pixels on the graphics were a good 1/4" square. And the action was pretty slow in Basic programming language. But I still fondly remember my first program - Stormtrooper Battle 357. You had to go up 10 levels of the DeathStar, each level with a Stormtrooper to shoot. Of course, the trooper just stood there until you hit the 'F' key - because I didn't know how to do it differently. Then, when you got to the top hatch of the DeathStar, you had to enter the "secret code" to get out. What was the secret code? Take a wild guess....

Any way, I also remember in High School how the Nintendo Entertainment System became huge. We spent hours at friends houses playing Super Mario Brothers, Castevania, Duck Hunt, etc, etc. Until my brother got one for Christmas, and then we spent hours in his room playing those games. Yeah, and we did manage to make it to school most of the time. Somehow.

About the 10th grade (1989), my school started offering a computer course. So, I jumped at that. Don't even remember what computer was used, but it was IBM, and it had the old monochrome screen. I Spent hours programming BASIC (that's one of those old computer programming language, for those that don't remember) and designing goofy banners to print out. I was the envy of my class when I learned how to change the color of the text on my screen from green to any one of 16 basic colors.

Of course, I was also around when the arcade video game scene took off (late 70s - early 80s). Wasted many quarters on anything from Donkey Kong to M.A.C.H. III to Karate Champ to Dragons' Lair. Also, I remember playing on several Apple IIE's back in the day.

Well, that pretty much takes me up to college, and the fact that I got a job the last month of high school and worked through my entire 6 year stint at college (yep - 6 years, not 4) pretty much changed the computer landscape for me. I'll hit that in part two.

Brief Summer Movie Reviews

My wife and I are actually not that huge into movies. We tend to miss most of them. However, we seem to have gotten a chance to see many of the big releases so far this year. Here are my brief thoughts on them:

Spiderman 3: Lots of good ideas - but too many for one movie. Many scenes, and some characters could have been cut. Not better than part 2, but still a fun movie.

Shrek 3: Really funny. I like Shrek movies. Just as good as the first 2, if you ask me.

Pirates of the Caribbean 3: Great action sequences, great special effects. Hated the ending, but I still enjoyed the overall experience. Keith Richards as Captain Jack Sparrow's Dad is classic.

Transformers: Awesome movie. Plot? Who cares! I love giant, fighting robots. The biggest problem with this movie (as any other Michael Bay movies) is that a ton of innocent bystanders die, without any emotional weight. Mass deaths like that are devastating, and I think the movie would have been better without them. I already know what Creecy is going to say about it, though: "it's a racist movie. The only good guy robot to die was black." Well, Creecy, it's a Michael Bay film - we all knew Jazz was toast from the beginning. His most cliche characters always bite it.

Live Free or Die Hard: I would have never seen this one, if I hadn't have been with a group that wanted to see it. Not a big fan of the Die Hard series. Still, entertaining - even if 90% of the action is even more unbelievable than in the first three. I was waiting for Bruce Willis' sidekick to bust out and say "Hi, I'm a Mac..." at any time - but it never happened.

Coming soon, and looking forward to:

Bourne Ultimatum: Katie and I love the Bourne series. The trailers look awesome - so we'll be there. "I doubt you are sitting in your office." "Why is that?" "Because - if you were, we would be having this conversation face to face."

The Kingdom: Looks like a gritty take at culture clash gone wrong. Set in Saudi Arabia, staring Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garder (and many other quality actors that I can't pull out of my head right now).

Underdog: The trailer looks hilarious. I'll want to see if the movie lives up to the hype. "Y'know, you never see dogs hurting each other for money." "You never see people sniffing each other's butts." "Touché."

We'll probably also get around to seeing Fantastic Four 2 (yes, I liked part 1), Harry Potter 50 or whatever number it is (never read the books, but they make entertaining movies), Evan Almighty, and Ratatouille before all is said and done.

Return of Pink Five, Volume 2

"I'm a freakin' Jedi!"

"To the hand you must talk"

I've always loved Star Wars fan films. I remember watching Hardware Wars back in the 70s. Then, there was the classic T.R.O.O.P.S., a spoof on C.O.P.S. that followed Imperial Sand Troopers as they patrolled Tatooine. Recently, one of the more popular videos on YouTube has been a series of Spoofs that follows Darth Vader's less successful younger brother, Chad, in the series "Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager."

One of my favorite fan films is Pink Five. Pink Five follows the adventures of Stacy, a "a fast-talking Valley Girl-type dropped into an X-Wing cockpit during the Battle of Yavin, and presents familiar events and story points from Episode IV from a very different point-of-view." This was followed with "Pink Five Strikes Back" and the three part "Return of Pink Five." Finally, I noticed today that part 2 of Return has been released:




To see all of the Pink Five series, go here: http://www.trudang.com/pinkfive/

To see a list of Star Wars fan films, see this list on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Star_Wars_fan_films. Some are serious, some are funny, some are down right bad, but there is plenty of home-made entertainment to be had.

Sanctuary For All

This just caught my eye recently: a web-based SciFi show starring know actors, shooting for "broadcast quality" episodes, called Sanctuary. The first few webisodes are free, but they want you to pay $1.99 for each 15 minute segment. You personally might not like the subject matter (deals with some scary creatures), but you have to at least admit that the concept of releasing broadcast quality material online is a good idea. The Star Wars TV show, which is being produced independently of any TV network, may follow suit.

So far, I like the first two episodes. Every once and a while, I catch a stylistic choice with the CG that I personally wouldn't have chosen, but that's really just me. Even with it's imperfections, I am still more excited about this now than I am about the new Star Wars shows that are being worked on. I know - that's SciFi blasphemy. But the recent preview of the new Clone Wars CG series was just, well... flat. Could be good - but why do all the characters walk like they are constipated?

I've heard some complaints about the price for Sanctuary. The argument being that real TV is free. I guess if you don't have something called cable that might be a good argument - but not really. No TV is free. Commercials pay for our "free" TV. Those commercials cause the companies to jack up prices to pay for their advertising budget. So, you see, no television is free.

You can view the first four episodes online for free, as they are released, here. Here is the first episode (two are out so far):

iPhone is Just Around the Corner

And I am pretty excited. I can't afford one, but it is still awesome.

But - I can't really gripe about the price. $500 seems a lot for a Smart Phone, but I don't think most people should see the iPhone as a Smart Phone. Smart Phones tend to have some lite version of an OS installed - Palm OS, or Windows for Mobiles, or whatever. This severally limits their functionality.

The iPhone will have a full version of OS X installed on it - the same version that is on the iMac and the Powerbook. So, the iPhone is not really Apple's version of the Smart phone. It is a PowerBook, an iPod, and a cellphone all wrapped in to one. All for $500. Actually - a pretty good deal.

Not to mention the fact that all of the other smart phones out there usually either sacrifice the mp3 player or the OS. They usually don't do both well.

Lost Theory: The Others are Immortals

How did Richard Alpert not age at all over the course of several decades? Think Highlander:

Richard Alpert LOST	Duncan McLeod Highlander

"Here we are, born to be kings..."

Lost Theory: Jacob Uses People For Entertainment

Coming up with theories about Lost is much more difficult than coming up with theories about Heroes. With Heroes - you basically know who everyone is and what they are capable of. You know where the current season is going. You just want to know if they are going to succeed or fail. With Lost - you don't really know any of this. You really don't even know where they are. Or if they are even alive. I love both shows, and the direction they are both going. It just makes it harder to predict stuff. I already have three more Heroes theories to post, if I ever get the time.

Here is what I think (on Lost): Jacob is some type of supernatural being that is in control of the island. He could do what he wanted on the island because most people could not see him. He brought people to the island to live out some type of vicarious life through them. There have been plenty of other SciFi series that explore this. Usually, it's an alien species that brings people into some type of virtual reality deal, and then uses their memories as entertainment. Jacob brings people to the island, and then his metaphorical "box" brings in people from their past to see how they react.

Somewhere, somehow the Dharma Initiative found this island and set up their stations to observe the unusual stuff going on. They were able to set up the barriers and the sealed stations to keep Jacob from using them. This started the war between the hostiles and the Dharma. When the hostiles won, the found that Ben was the only one that could "see" Jacob. So Ben became their leader, and Jacob started using the left over Dharma stuff to bring in people. Dharma had been using the sub to bring in people because water acts as a barrier to the effects of the island that causes planes and helicopters to crash.

But, now that the homing beacon is gone and no one can leave the island - no new people are coming. And this is hurting Jacob some how. Or, because Ben can see Jacob, he is able to exert some control over Jacob. You kind of saw this is the current episode. This is also hurting Jacob - so he needs Locke's help.

Heroes Theory: Death of DL, Ando, & Sylar

Here is my big prediction for next week on Heroes: DL will be killed by Sylar. Here is my reasoning:

1. NBC and Wikipedia have already stated that a hero will die next week.
2. We saw last week (set 5 years in the future) that Nikki said DL and Micah die in the explosion. The online graphic novel also reveals that she didn't know Peter or Hiro, so she obviously gets separated from her family in the next episode. Especially since she doesn't die in the explosion.
3. We see this week that DL can pull other people through walls with his powers.
4. We saw last week that Sylar has this same power in the future. So far, the writers of Heroes seem to be showing that no two heroes have the exact same powers. So, Sylar probably killed DL sometime around the bomb exploding.
5. This is probably why FutureHiro thought Sylar could heal himself. When he stabbed Sylar, Sylar got all sinister on FutureHiro and acted like he was hurt, when in reality the blade was just passing through him. He then knocks Hiro back and Hiro teleports out of there.

Because of this, here is what I would like to see:

1. Hiro goes to attack Sylar, and 20 Hiros appear around him. Each time Hiro tries to kill Sylar, he fails, and then thinks of something new to try, and teleports back a few minutes in time to try his new idea. Each time he appears to the existing Hiro(s) and says "stop! that won't work. Try this ____" They then try the new idea. Finally, at the 20th time, we see the idea work and they stop Sylar. As the viewers, we only get to see the 20th time, and it works.
2. During the season break, the online graphic novels explores everything that could have happened in the next five years if the bomb doesn't stop.

But, knowing how TV writers work, here is the lame thing that actually happens:

Hiro figures out that Ando dying is what set the bomb events in motion. He sacrifices himself to save Ando, and that changes the future, and somehow stops the bomb.

I want Hiro AND Ando to live. Actually, I want all of the heroes to live. Killing characters on TV shows is so cliche now....

The Launch of EduGeek Journal

Sorry for the lack of posts around here. I know there has been some great Sci-Fi news and television stuff happening. Heroes has been incredible recently. But more on that later. The big reason why this blog has been neglected recently is that I have been getting another blog going.

I guess I really like this blog thing. Anyway, some I have gotten together with some colleagues of mine to create a blog specifically for Educational Technology. This blog will begin to focus mainly on music and movies. The new blog, EduGeek Journal, will focus on EdTech. So, now, I have divided my massive audience of five in half. Well, kind of. I know one my readers will stick with both, because she's in to both :)

Blog From Inside of Second Life

For a while now, I have wanted to blog about Sloodle, but I haven't had the foggiest idea where to start. It's a great tool for use in the educational world. But I think I have been waiting until the launch of my EdTech blog before I post too much on it.

But this one thing I found was pretty cool. You can blog to a Moodle account from inside of the Second Life virtual world. Just sounds cool. Here is a video that shows how to do it:

Ninja Wizards Would Be Cool

This has been around a while, but seems to fit in great with this blog (you have to click on the image to see the animation):



Technically, that would be awesome....

You might be noticing some changes to this blog. I'm never one to be satisfied with generic templates, for one. Unless they are really cool. Also, I'm transitioning this blog into more of Sci-fi, music, geek blog - in anticipation of a separate Ed Tech blog beginning soon. Or at least, I hope soon.

Amazing Race All Stars

The Amazing Race seems to have just appeared on CBS, with little or no advertising. Well, I guess there could have been some advertising, as the shows that I watch aren't on CBS (Heroes, Lost, and Stargate). Yes, Stargate. SG-1 and Atlantis. Stop making fun of me. What is the name of this blog again? I make no apologies for being a geek...

This is really only an "All-Stars" edition for those that watched every season (except for season 4). So, some of the teams I have no idea who they are. And some (Romber) I wish were not there. No Chip and Kim? No Hippies? Come on....

Anyway, I found out that the racers are filmed after they are eliminated. Apparently, they are sent off to some tropical location to be sequestered from the world until the end of the race. And then complain about how they wish they were back on the race - cold, sweaty, dirty, and smelly. You can watch the videos here, as they are posted:

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race11/elimination.php

My early predications: Rob and Amber will stick around for a while, but then finally get pushed off when the other teams get sick of their tired, old tricks and gang up against them. Yes, I know they claimed they had all new tricks. But then they proceeded to pull out the same old ones. "Mark my words...."

I think Uchenna and Joyce will also suffer the same fate, even though I like them. People will see them as a threat due to the fact that they already won. I'm also pulling for the two all-women teams, because I think they are not as "bad" as some people claim they are. They are just competitive, and the world we live in today treats competitive women differently than they do competitive men. If they were all male teams, they would be seen as "shrewd."

Video Blogs Are Just Around the Corner

Video Blogs Are Just Around the Corner. Are you ready? I was searching and searching for a video version of Odeo the other week, and I just couldn't find anything. With Odeo, you just hook up a microphone, and record audio straight into the website. Then you can embed the audio in any website. But it's only audio, and the world seems to be moving to video pretty rapidly. Then, the other day, I just happened to stumble across what I was looking for: Flixn.

Flixn works a lot like Odeo. You hook up a web cam, press record, and then hit stop when you are done. Then you can get code to embed the video anywhere you want. Pretty neat. Or at least I think - I don't have a webcam to test it out.

But Flixn seems to go one step farther - you can actually embed the recorder into your site. So, if you have an online class that you want to record video for, you can keep the entire recording process in your site. Hopefully, more Web2.0 sites will move to this thinking - allowing end users to embed their functionality into a site. Then you don't have to constantly being switching back and forth between applications to get stuff done. Of course, Firefox's tabbed browsing makes that easy - but it's still nice to have it all in one place.

Screwtape Letters: The Movie?

For those that know me, you know I am a big C.S. Lewis fan. In fact, I am re-reading The Space Trilogy now. Well, not now as I type this, but as in the general now. I can only hope and dream that someone wises up and turns these books into movies. But it seems that there are definite plans to make a movie based on The Screwtape Letters.

This could be good or bad. Film versions of Screwtape and The Great Divorce could benefit from the right director and special effects crew. But they are both stories that could be ruined if the spiritual message is forced too far up front, or scaled back too far. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe movie did a decent job with this, although leaning a little too much towards the "scaled back" side. And the fact that they needed James Earl Jones to do Aslan's voice. I like Liam Neeson, but after Lion King....

Anyway, if you don't know much about Screwtape, SciFi.com had a good summary:

"First published in 1942, The Screwtape Letters takes the form of a series of missives from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his wannabe diabolical nephew, Wormwood. As a mentor, Screwtape advises his protege on the finer points of undermining faith and promoting sin. His instructions are interspersed with observations on human nature and Christian doctrine."

Heroes... What Can I Say?

Part 2 of season 1: what did I say about the sword being in a museum? I was half right, huh? HOWEVER, I noticed that there were differences between the painting and the scene in the museum. So, maybe it hasn't really happened yet? We'll see. The guy that plays Hiro helped program the CG dinosaurs of Jurassic Park. Hmmmm.....

I am still trying to figure out this Heroes 360 thing. Is that Primatech webpage it? Still, I hear that they will be stopping the bomb thing from happening before the end of this season, and then move on to other stories. That's a great idea, because I think Lost has proven that most viewers can't wait multiple seasons for answers or resolution. I like the way Lost is working out, but I know some don't.

Zoho Notebook: Another Great Leap For the Web2.0 World

I came home from a nice break in a tropical location to get smacked in the fact by two crazy facts of life. For one, there's still some form of freezing precipitation falling in my corner of the world (but I can't quite call it snow). Ouch. The second one: Google is not coming out with as many cool things as they used to. At least when compared to companies like Zoho.

I can deal with that, as long as the G-powers that be don't pull the plug on this blog for pointing that out. The coolest new invention from the Zoho labs: Zoho Notebook. The goal of Zoho Notebook: allow the user (you) to put any content (text, audio, images, video, etc) anywhere on a page, and then share that with others anyway you want.

Don't most web pages allow you to do that? Sure - if you know the code. Zoho Notebook gives it all to you in a nice user interface. And - the best part is - you can record audio or video straight from your computer into your page. Or upload a pre-recorded file. All you need is a microphone or a video camera hooked up to your computer.

Also, they allow you import content from Zoho Writer, Sheets, and Show (think Word Doc, Excel, and PowerPoint online). All with Skype integration. Nice. Here's a quick overview video of some of the features:



I was noticing that Zoho also has online virtual office, chat, wikis, planers, etc. I am slowly wondering if I need to switch to Zoho from Google for some of this stuff. Come on Google - get on the ball and buy this stuff!

Google AJAX Search API

I'm not totally sure what to make of this one, but it sounds interesting. It seems that Google has created a search function that allows you to insert a Google search area into your site in a custom way. One of the most practical seems to be that it would allow you to use Google to search your site.

One of the really intriguing ones is the blog comments search API. You can add a small Google search area next to a blog comment area, and then the results can be added to the end of the comment as "clippings." Sounds like a great idea for educational purposes. I would like to see something like that for discussion posts, too. That way, you can quickly find results to back up your posts in an academic settings.

I haven't fully dug into these ideas yet, but they sound interesting.

iPhone. Wow.

I've been thinking about getting a smart phone recently. mainly because I need something to make me look smart every time I open my big mouth (and insert my foot). Nothing really seemed like a perfect fit for me. Then, Apple came to the rescue with the iPhone.

All I can say is Wow. I want one. This has the possibility to revolutionize mobile computing, communications, and especially education. You may have read the articles about it, but you NEED to see Steve Jobs intro of the phone at MacWorld. It's pretty long, but will make your jaw drop a couple of times.

Here is the link to the video. Click on the second one about the iPhone intro. It won't seem like the right video at first, but it is:

http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/j47d52oo/event/

Snap Causes Hades to Freeze Over

I've seen this on several blogs recently, so I thought I would give it a whirl. Snap has created a web preview feature for links in Web sites. You just hover your pointer over a link, and a small preview of that site will pop up for you. Some sites haven't been added to this service, so you may get a window that says "waiting to be added to previewed" or something like that. Still a pretty cool feature, and easy to sign up for. I added to this site, if you want to try it.

Snap is a new search site that I guess is trying to add something new to the search engine. Wait a second.... a cool web search innovation that didn't come from Google first? I know it is going to freeze in Dallas this week, but I guess I had better check the forecast for Hell....

Top Ten "Benefits" Of The New Microsoft-Ford Partnership

I usually try to stay positive here at Geekdomville, but this was too good to pass up. Ford and Microsoft are planning on launching a car software system. Now, you may love Ford, but I tend to think Ford stands for "Found On Roadside Dead" or "Fix Or Repair Daily." And, while I don't personally hate Microsoft, I think they are far inferior to Mac, Linus, and, well, just about everything out there. So, I thought I would speculate on the, ummm, benefits of owning a new VistaCarPC2007:

• Your engine begins to slow down after owning it for a year due to Spyware clogging it up.
  
• Your entire car freezes up and stops running when you turn on the AC, radio, cruise control, and windshield wipers due to a command-line/ low-virtual-memory/ something-you-don't-understand conflict something or other
  
• Your dashboard isn't compatible with that new cool cup holder you bought, unless you download the dashboard patch
• You will constantly be attacked while driving down the road by roving bands of Ford hating computer hackers that have now gone mobile
• Your seats have to increase their virtual memory when you have too many people seated in it just so you can drive forward.
  
• You will also have to constantly be on the alert for viruses hidden in any attachments, including bumper stickers, Jesus-fishes, and Sonic restaurant window trays
• Firewalls will stop you from turning on to main streets, while allowing you to easily drive down dangerous alleys population by prostitutes and gangsters
• Constant annoying pop-up window fliers wanting you to play their in-car poker games
• When your tire blow out, who knows how long it will be before they release a patch. If ever...
  

And the worst of all....

• Those snobbish Electric Car\iMac hybrid owners that constantly remind you how superior their vehicle is in every way....

New Year, New Firefox Version

So, it's a New Year. Cool. What am I looking forward to in the next year? What new Geekdom goodness am I drooling over? Lots of interesting movies, TV shows, and music to think about. Plenty of new techie things being announced that are pretty exciting. Some may happen, some sound like corporate hype (the hack-proof Vista, anyone?). The one that I think will definitely happen, and will probably live up to it's hype, is the new version of Firefox scheduled for this year.

Well, Mozilla says that Firefox won't be released officially until the end of 2007, but I am still looking forward to it. The Alpha version was released in early December. The people that are developing it "hope that it will be a major step toward making Web applications indistinguishable from programs that are installed on the desktop."

This, to me, sounds like the missing piece in Web2.0 development. Programmers that are creating applications for the web are sometimes limited by browser specifications. Now that a browser is looking to make Web2.0 a reality, I think we will see even better online applications.

I found out over the holidays that some people are afraid of Web2.0 concepts, especially the thought of storing documents or projects that they are creating online. What if you internet connection goes down? What if the website crashes? well, those are always a possibility. But creating anything comes with risks. If you create a Word document and store it on a hard drive - what happens when your drive crashes? Zip drive back-ups can get lost, CD-R backups can get drop and broken, etc. There is always a risk of loss. Even printed copies can get lost, accidentally thrown away, etc. We've just gotten over the fears in existing project creations. I think we are just going to have to wait until people get over fears of Web2.0 technology, too.