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Showing posts from September, 2010

Survivor Nicaragua Episode 3 Recap

I've had a long day so this may be shorter than usual. Marty showed the Oldies Tribe that he had the hidden immunity idol. People on the Old Tribe realized Dan was old. It's true. The Kiddies Tribe continued to act like they're still in junior high. The combined reward/immunity challenge saw the Kids come back from behind to beat the Golden Oldies. They won a herb garden and fruit basket in addition to the immunity idol. Kelly B. found the idol clue in the fruit basket. Naonka also saw it and BATTLED Kelly for it. Naonka then proceeded to trash talk Kelly Naonka is a teacher? REALLY? Egads. Back at the Retirement Home, Marty plotted against Superbowl Winning Coach Jimmy Johnson and others through around Dan's name. In the end, Jimmy Johnson is gone. And, frankly, the only good reason to watch what has so far been a dismal season of Survivor. Next week: Hurricane Naonka. Urg. She's got "change the channel" heat.

The Amazing Race - Episode 1 Recap

The new season of TAR started tonight - AKA "The Season Where The Girl Gets Walloped In The Face With A Watermelon." Right off the bat, I'm rooting for Team Glee and could also potentially show some love for Team YouTube. The teams were sent off to London, England and to Stonehenge. Team Gilmore Girls burned out their clutch while Chad, the guy who wants to propose to his girlfriend Stephanie (who was given the most excellent nickname Tinkerbell) spent most of his time yelling at her. Romantic. The first challenges were medieval - storming a castle, using an olde timey boat and THE WATERMELON CATAPULT!!!! Oh yeah. Claire eats it. I'm now concerned that the race just peaked. Jill and Thomas (who?) came in first and won the Express Pass. The doctors were second. And while other teams were checking in, Team Tattoo demonstrated they can't identify either a flag or boat. They'll go far. In the end, Team Thespian came in last. The dream ended pretty quic

Music review: Bethlehem Skyline 2

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The good folks at Centricity were kind enough to hook me up with an advance copy of the Bethlehem Skyline Vol. 2 CD , which comes out on Tuesday. And it was an advance copy. I got it in August, a full month before the CD came out, and, well, a long time before Christmas. I actually put off writing this review until mid-September because it just didn't feel right to be reviewing Christmas music when it was summer. I'll warn readers in advance: While I'm a big fan of Christmas, I'm not a big fan of modern-day Christmas albums. They tend to feature either lukewarm renditions of Christmas classics or mediocre new Christmas songs that will never become classics.

Sunday afternoon humor - special morning edition!

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Where to watch UFC 119 in Edmonton and Calgary

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If you're one of the 19 people in the world actually interested in this lackluster card, here's the link on where to find a bar to watch it.

The Zagg invisibleSHIELD review

I bought myself a Zagg invisibleSHIELD for my iPhone 4 earlier this month - the full body easy install. It arrived on Wednesday and was promptly installed. The shield is designed to protect your phone screen from scratches and scuffs. I didn't bother with taking pictures or video or anything of the packaging or the installation because there are enough of those on the Internet, but here's some thoughts: Installation was easier than I thought it would be. I'd read some horror stories online about people having trouble installing the protective covers on their iPhones, but mine went on with a minimum of air bubbles. I took the (obvious) advice of many on the Net by installing the backside cover first as practice. I did not get it entirely straight the first time around and had to peel it off and reinstall, but that went fine. The backside shield does have some small air bubbles in it, but it's the back and they're not over the camera lens. So I don't care.

Survivor Nicaragua - Episode 2

So ... Holly is our first bona fide basket case of this season, flipping out and taking Dan's $1600 shoes and sinking them in the ocean. Meanwhile, at the Degrassi Tribe, there was ridiculous drama over a missing sock. Seriously. Indeed, as I watch this show, it makes me realize yet again how good of a player Russell was ... and how there's no one even close to that level this season. The Older Tribe won the joint reward-immunity challenge and played their Medallion of Power to do so. That left the Younger Tribe to vote off Shannon, who had a spectacular meltdown at Tribal Council that managed to not only alienate his tribe but probably half the planet. Next week: The Medallion of Power is back with the younger tribe, and Naonka goes nuts, too. This could be a long season.

Sunday afternoon humor

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The most disappointing UFC news of the year: Sonnen fails drug test

CSAC: Sonnen Positive for PEDs at UFC 117 According to California State Athletic Commission Executive Officer George Dodd, Chael Sonnen has been notified that he failed post-fight drug screening following his loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 117 , which was held Aug. 7 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. 26978 “[Sonnen] received his notice yesterday,” Dodd told Sherdog.com shortly after the Shane Mosley-Sergio Mora boxing match ended Saturday night in Los Angeles. Unless this report is completely bogus, it's the most disappointing UFC news all year, as it destroys any chance of a Sonnen-Anderson Silva rematch, and it completely taints Sonnen's performance during his match. Not to mention, it makes Sonnen's comments about Lance Armstrong seem even more ridiculous. What is kind of amusing, however, is that this news broke late last night, yet has been on this messageboard since Tuesday. How about that? Assuming any of this is true, of course.

Attack of the Killer Kitty Part 2!

OK, not really. Just a video of our other cat.

Quick Survivor and Ultimate Fighter thoughts

Survivor: Jimmy Joh- I mean, Nicaragua turned into the "Hey, it's Superbowl winning coach Jimmy Johnson" show pretty quickly. One the one hand, I hope he gets voted out soon, because he's so overshadowing everyone else on the cast. On the other hand, he is the only half-interesting character on the show so far, so maybe he should go all the way. First elimination was Wendy, who was no scapegoat. (Groan.) Ultimate Fighter was fine. I missed parts of it, but from what I saw, Josh Koscheck pretty much stole the show with his charisma, although GSP had a certain smug charm about him. I did love how GSP declared at the start of the show, "I'm the good guy and Josh is the bad guy." Yeah, except I suspect at the end of the season that Josh is gonna be a massive babyface and GSP could be the heel. The cutaway edits of the one fighter proclaiming what a great feeling it was being on the show to him repeatedly vomiting was a nice little creative touch. From the

Survivor and Ultimate Fighter recaps

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Of course, the newest seasons of Survivor and Ultimate Fighter start tonight. Survivor reprises the Geezers vs. Young Guns theme, and it's in Nicaragua. Neither one of those elements thrill me, but it's Survivor and its seasons rarely suck outright and there's usually at least one or two cast members worth following. TUF features Georges St. Pierre against Josh Koscheck as coaches. I don't anticipate GSP being anything other than his usual polite self, but he should be an excellent coach. Koscheck should be an arrogant (and thus entertaining) coach. As in the past, I'm going to try to blog both shows, although that may be more difficult now that they're on the same night. At the very least, I'll put up my usual brief Survivor thoughts immediately following the show, and the TUF blog may not come until the next morning. But we'll see. I can say, however, that whatever schedule I fall into for blogging about these shows will not begin tonight, as I'

Attack of the Killer Kitty in HD!

OK, not really. But I wanted to play around with the iPhone's HD video settings, and one of our cats is a total camera hog, so I figured she'd make a willing participant. On the whole, I find the iPhone's HD quality pretty good. It seems a bit "soft" at times, but other times is crystal clear and sharp.

Sunday afternoon humor

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Playing with the iPhone HDR photography

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The latest iOS for iPhone includes HDR (high dynamic resolution) photography. So, here's some shots both with and without HDR. Normal, above. HDR below. Some pictures from my lunch hour. Normal, above. HDR below. Normal, above. HDR below. I dunno. It's a bit of a mixed bag to me. I think for some pictures, HDR may be an improvement, and on others, not so much.

Which way is this spinning?

And read this .

Scan here

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I've been playing around with ScanLife codes recently, wondering if this is going to be a revolutionary breakthrough in information delivery technology or just a passing fad. I suppose it's going to depend on a number of factors, not the least of which is how many people are going to feel comfortable putting their smart phone up in front of a bar code and trusting that the information being delivered to them isn't going to hijack their device, hack their bank account, and transfer your life savings to Lichtenstein instead of delivering them a peach cobbler recipe. The following code is real, and it does work. And it does not give me access to you bank account.

Sunday afternoon humor

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I'm not a nerd! I'm a Man of Gondor!

Reposting this, because I quote it so frequently, yet actually forgot where I originally found it. The Real World's Sadly Lacking in Noble Causes Worth Fighting for 20-something girl to boyfriend: You're such a nerd. Boyfriend: We prefer "Men of Gondor." Overheard by: Corey via Overheard Everywhere , Feb 23, 2009

iPhone!

I'm at work this afternoon when my wife phones to say she went by the Telus kiosk at West Edmonton Mall and they had 32 gig iPhones in stock. Several agonizing hours later, when I was done at the office, we went back to score the last of the 8 iPhones that came in this morning. So I now own an iPhone. It is as great as everyone says. I still can't remember my own phone number. EDIT: Also, I snagged the 5-gig bonus data plan that Telus has on their website for any new activation on a $60 or more plan . So I have 6 gigs worth of data per month. That should be plenty.