June 2005 Archives

You know it's going to be a good day when you wake up, turn on The Price Is Right on CBS, and the contestant is playing Plinko. I remember going crazy growing up when my grandmother, who used to babysit me in the summers, would have the show on and Plinko would arrive on the screen like a gift from heaven. I'm not sure what it is about the game - maybe it's the sound the little tokens make as they bump down the pegboard - but I do love me some Plinko. I love it when one gets stuck on the board and Bob has to bust out his Plinko stick-thing. I love it when people look surprised that they keep hitting the zero slot, even though it's all completely random. I love saying Plinko. I love this random Plinko fan's site, even though the colors are a little too bright.

What's your favorite Price Is Right game?

In traveling news, I'll be leaving tomorrow morning to embark on a multi-day road odyssey. First up is the 2005 edition of the Great Hershey Park Trip, which will mirror the journey detailed in my entries from last year, told in three parts. This time, however, we'll try to avoid camping next to an active freight railroad after touring the park and enjoying the concert.

After Hershey, I'll be spending a few more days with Gina doing fun tourist stuff that we didn't get a chance to do last time. I'll post when I'm able!

I spent a few hours today wrestling with wallpaper, helping mom out. I'm no interior designer, but I think we finally got it tackled and looking semi-professional. I don't think I've found myself a new career calling, though.

Speaking of careers, I finally have some firm dates about starting work and moving into the new apartment. I think that, more than anything else, has really put me at ease and got me looking forward to the next big chapter that starts in early August. And what's even better, this summer break is actually going to turn out to be an honest-to-goodness summer-long break, which I certainly think I can use. There's the small matter of being able to afford to live since I'm starting work a little later than planned, but we'll manage.

I had something else really cool that I was going to put here, but I forgot what it was.

The kids are getting pretty excited about this new ONE Campaign that started up recently. I've always been a little cautiously pessimistic about the effectiveness of online petitions such as this, but I figure a little current events awareness raising could never be bad. The campaign basically seeks to raise AIDS and global poverty awareness by sending an e-declaration to President Bush as he heads to the G8 summit in a couple of weeks. (You know Bono had a hand in this, naturally.)

In a related series of events, to tie in with the global summit, the people behind 1985's Live Aid are putting on a series of Live8 concerts all over the place on July 6. (I'm not sure where the "Live8" name come from, though, since there are only 6 concerts.) Lots of good artists are performing for these, so if nothing else, good music will be made that day. Here's hoping some small sort of difference can be made in the world, somehow.

Hey guys! I hope you had a great summer solstice. Today was the longest day of the year, and boy are my arms tired!

Yeah. Take two.

Today was the longest day of the year, and boy are my legs tired! From running the bicycle that powers the generator for all the lights. You know.

Right. Take three. (Must be all that irreverant humor in my Aqua Teen Hunger Force DVDs that's doing me in.)

Summer solstice isn't really a holiday of the modern sort, but it's probably one of the oldest celebrated days in the history of mankind. Do a Google on it sometime, and I bet you'll be amazed at what you find out, unless you already knew it or just don't care about history at all. I, for one, find it fascinating. A lot more fascinating than just calling it "the longest day of the year."

... In other news, check out Gerritt's newly-redesigned gerritt.net. Hopefully I'll get a chance to visit him in his new boat pad soon.

... I missed the TV presentation tonight of the American Film Institute's 100 top movie quotes ever (thanks to Gina for the heads-up), but in a couple of hours, you can see the results on their site. I'm kind've sorry I've been hermitized enough these past couple of weeks to miss out on the voting, but I scanned over the list of 400 nominees and pretty much agree with most of them. As long as they've got "Great Scott!" from Back to the Future, I'm satisfied. What would be in your top 10 list of favorite movie quotes?

Let's talk about DualDiscs. They've been on the market for a little over a year now, but it's only been in recent months that record labels have really started coming out with titles using the format. I now own a DualDisc album, Dave Matthews Band's Stand Up, and I wanted to relate to you my own experiences with the music industry's latest format idea.

The concept behind a DualDisc is simple: there's regular CD audio on one side, while the other side acts like a DVD. The DVD side can have an enhanced audio version of the album, pictures, movies, bonus features - the sky's the limit, more or less. All signs point to this format as being the one that could compete with the SuperAudio CD format (a scene that I admittedly have never bothered to try out). DVD's have been packaged with new CD's for a few years now, with some success, so why not take that idea further? Combine the content, so customers don't have to worry about keeping up with two discs at a time. Integrate web access, audio, and video all in one package. Entice audiophiles to buy into the latest format with the promise of superior sound.

All of this sounds great, but like Han Solo said, "I've got a bad feeling about this." The troubles begin with the warning sticker placed on the insert inside DualDisc albums: "the audio side of this disc does not conform to CD specifications and therefore not all DVD and CD players will play the audio side of this disc." When someone like me - who doesn't have necessarily the newest or top-of-the-line equipment - sees this, I tend to get a little nervous. The trouble, as it turns out, comes from DualDiscs being a little thicker than normal CDs, so some lasers on CD players won't be able to read them.

Surprisingly enough, though, I didn't have any trouble playing the disc on an aging boombox of mine, which has had trouble playing CD-R's of all stripes. My computer also recognized the CD as a CD and played it accordingly. My troubles, however, came with trying to rip the CD songs into my iTunes library so I could import them to my iPod. This is normally a pretty simple process, but after repeated attempts on my normal DVD-ROM drive to get the thing to rip, I nearly gave up. It was only on a last-ditch switch to my burner drive that iTunes was able to import the songs. I'm not alone in my woes; serveral enthusiasts across the board have had similar troubles with importing songs. On top of that, many audiophiles aren't all that impressed with the "superior sound" offerings of their discs.

So, in essence, this format is a mess when you combine the compatibility issues with the pricing issues raised in the MSNBC article I linked above, and add in a touch of unpredictability as to what the artists will actually offer on the DVD side (it's totally up to them, since there's no requirement to actually provide an enhanced audio version). Even setting aside the competition from SACD, with these problems, I think DualDiscs have a very short future ahead. There's just not enough incentive for regular Joes to shell out extra bucks for a disc that may or may not work the way they want it to. Even if the regular CD and DualDisc sell for the same price, I don't think some extra videos are going to be enough to sway enough people over to become loyal DualDisc fans.

It's time to follow-up on a couple of previous entries:

... First, Daryl pointed me to this article before I left for my trip. It pertains to the discontinuation of Subway's Sub Club program that I mentioned previously. It looks like the problem of counterfeiting the cards really is pretty widespread, and in general, there are also growing problems with fake grocery store coupons. I can understand the feeling of pride or "beating the system" that a counterfeiter might have when one of their phony creations makes it through at the checkout line, but for Pete's sake, people, you're hurting everyone else. If you have any Sub Club stamps left, you can still redeem them through portions of the summer at the Subways I've seen. (Thanks again, Daryl, for the heads-up, even though I didn't get a chance to talk about it until now.)

... Second, I had an unexpected AIM conversation with the creator of one of the VT steam tunnel exploration sites tonight. You might remember when I posted about this very topic in March. Well, he has updated his site into the recently-renovated Explore VT urban exploration website, and it's really well done. You can find all the original steam tunnel information, interesting background on some of the campus buildings, original pictures taken from various escapades, and documents pertaining to VT that were requested via the Freedom of Information Act. Fascinating stuff. He's got a blog there, as well, which is worth checking out. What's more, he's currently in the position to be making more updates in the next few years, so check it out if you're interested.

I've been delinquent in posting, but that's been due to a combination of not having much to say and alternately being way too busy being on a road trip with Gina. As for today, you can chalk it up to a blur of car insurance hassles, computer and Internet hassles, and unpacking hassles. And now I think the fatigue of the last week is catching up with me, because I think a large frog has crept into my throat and opened a four-star hotel in there. Hopefully the posts will be more fun tomorrow.

Some thoughts:

... It's not a good week to be named Michael. MJ is innocent, but I'm still pretty much sure his music career is over, just like Iron Mike's boxing career swan song this weekend. Poor guys.

... Gina and I saw Anna Nalick and Better Than Ezra in concert at Celebrate Fairfax! (the Fairfax County Fair) on Friday night. Anna is still new at the whole concert thing, I think, but her enthusiasm was contagious. Her music is different from what I expected, mainly because I thought she played piano a la Norah Jones. Instead, she mostly danced around the stage with a lone mic while her band played on, but she did strap on a guitar for a couple of tunes. I dug the set; her music is varied enough to make a decent impact on discerning adult alternative listeners. Her staying power, though, is yet to be determined...but I hope she has a long, healthy career.

Better Than Ezra rocked the stage. It looks like they're mounting some sort of comeback, at least in the DC area. Gina and I heard their new single, "A Lifetime," on the radio a lot over the course of the week. I, for one, could stand to hear more of them. I became an accidental fan during their semi-obscure years.

It felt good to celebrate Fairfax, since that's where I'll be in a couple of months.

More thoughts on other things later. I feel I'll be too boring if I keep on too long tonight.

Howdy, folks. I'm still in the middle of my visit with Gina, and we're having a fine old time. We took a trip down to see her step-sister graduate this past weekend, and Gina was feeling a bit under the weather, but now we've both recuperated and are ready to have a little fun over the next couple of days. I'll tell you all about it later.

For now, I have one show I have to tell you about.

Read these next few words slowly and dramatically. Try not to skip ahead.

Craft. Corner. DEATHMATCH!

This doesn't really count as "reality," I guess, since it's a game show. Plus, it's way too bizarre to really be considered "real." Just picture a suited host jacked up on caffeine, random fashion-oriented judges, and two craft-oriented contestant-lady types who must build what the show demands in a certain amount of time (like a purse built out of shipping materials in 10 minutes). It's a lot like Iron Chef for people who watch Home and Garden TV all the time. Sort've. Instead of an Iron Chef that always wins the final round, there's an Iron Frau Barbissina scary woman that builds all her crafts perfectly. Or something like that. I actually can't believe a show like this exists. I also can't believe that I wrote that last paragraph at all, so maybe we both can forget about this little situation, capice?

Anyway, it's actually pretty funny to watch, if you've got the Style Network. A show this bizarre is probably the only reason I'd find myself stopping the TV dial on the Style Network. Check it out, if you DARE (and if you're secure enough in your orientation of choice).

And oh yeah, Otey and I found an apartment today. Huzzah! More news on that to come.

Hey, guys and gals. I'm posting from Blacksburg before I tear down my computer and ship it out of my room here for the last time. Before I do that, however, I wanted to announce the posting of the first of what I hope will be a series of homemade mp3 files: the 11:00 AM postlude jam, "Blues In F," from the Wesley Band during Wesley Weekend 2005. It checks in at around nine minutes of fun, so allow time for downloading and check it out when you can. I will host it for as long as possible, but space and transfer requirements may cause me to take it down. If so, I'll let you know!

Playing on this one were me on bass, Fred on trumpet, JoCo on guitar, Tim on the drum kit, Chris on the djembe, various other Singers on auxiliary percussion instruments, and alumni Jimbo on the piano. Feel free to dance around while it plays!

Contact me if you want this download (sorry folks, it was just taking up a lot of space).