BunkBlog

In the continuing saga of Microsoft punking its customers and partners, they’re killing the MSN Music store. Due to legal requirements, they’ll offer links to the Real PlaysForSure/RDNA music store, as well as the Microsoft Zune Store.

Real is moving away from PlaysForSure to their Rhapsody DNA, paired with the Sansa e200R series. Napster never really got much traction as a legit music store. MyCokeMusic, a UK music download store, is gone. I see a trend here. PlaysForSure, which never really had the market penetration of the iTunes AAC digital restrictions software, is dead and just doesn’t know it.

Anyone who bought music from a DRM-encrusted store is a sucker to begin with, but if you have PlaysForSure music, now might be a good time to stop buying any more of it, and find a copy of the FairUse4WM program and convert those soon-to-not-work tracks into something more lasting.

1. What was the first CD/Record/Album/Artist you ever bought and what format was it in? (Vinyl/Cassette/CD/MP3 Download)? Heck if I remember. I’m thinking it was something on a cassette but otherwise…it’s been far too long.
2. How do you usually listen to music? (iPod/Walkman/Stereo/Radio) Generally on my Sandisk Sansa MP3 player. I listened to the radio when there was a station that didn’t suck.
3. What is your favorite genre of music and why? The non-country genre. Heck, check out my music archive – I’ve got all sorts of stuff in there. I just ripped my old Ministry and Sinead O’Connor CDs this weekend. Good luck finding a pattern there.
4. What is your opinion on music video shows and music televion? I miss them.
5. Do you usually agree with who the winners of the Grammy Awards are? I usually don’t care.

I find it interesting that in the NY Times story about Ted Haggard admitting to buying drugs, the gay escort who outed him is referred to by his full name. As anyone knows, whoever is written up in the news with his middle name is a serial killer or child molester.

Of course, the Reverend says he was tempted, bought the drugs, but did not use it. Why, then, are there multiple voice mail messages, which ask for “more product” in increments of 100 or 200 dollars?  If you don’t do drugs, why would you get more of it?

South Park tonight not only includes Flying Spaghetti Monster references, but the oh-so-important Buck Rogers sequence.  Have Stone and Parker been hanging out with Seth MacFarlane?

Here’s my Halloween playlist.  The cretins at work probably don’t know any of the songs. Hi, cretins.  😉

Well I live with snakes and lizards
And other things that go bump in the night
Cos to me everyday is halloween
I have given up hiding and started to fight
I have started to fight

Well any time, any place, anywhere that I go
All the people seem to stop and stare
They say ‘why are you dressed like it’s halloween?
You look so absurd, you look so obscene!’

O, why can’t I live a life for me?
Why should I take the abuse that’s served?
Why can’t they see they’re just like me
It’s the same, it’s the same in the whole wide world

Well I let their teeny minds think
That they’re dealing with someone who is over the brink
And I dress this way just to keep them at bay
Cos halloween is everyday
It’s everyday

O, why can’t I live a life for me?
Why should I take the abuse that’s served?
Why can’t they see they’re just like me
It’s the same, it’s the same in the whole wide world

O, why can’t I live a life for me?
Why should i take the abuse that’s served?
Why can’t they see they’re just like me
I’m not the one that’s so absurd

Why hide it?
Why fight it?
Hurt feelings
Best to stop feeling hurt
From denials, reprisals
It’s the same it’s the same in the whole wide world

The current political climate is very sad.  The Democrats are going to make some gains (whatever magnitude) this year, and it’s going to be almost entirely due to the Republicans screwing up.  How many ads have you seen or read that boil down to, “Vote Democrat, because we’re not fans of George Bush”?  That’s just pathetic.  They have no ideas of their own or they think if people knew their ideas they wouldn’t vote for them.

Thinking Republicans (there are many I know personally, so they must exist in greater numbers than the Congress would indicate) are appalled at the lack of conservative values this batch of numbskulls have shown. Small government?  Nobody’s seen a GOP White House reduce the size of government in 30 years. Personal freedom? Can you say wiretaps and gay marriage?  The party that used to (claim to) be in favor of “get out of my life” policies is now the more intrusive one.

And yet, the Democrats still have a hard time capitalizing on this weakness in their opponents except to say, “we couldn’t screw it up as much as the current folks, could we?”

We’re doomed.

Supposedly if you’ve seen over 70 of the films on this list (either in the theater or on video) you have no life. Mark and count the movies you’ve seen. Put your score in the header and repost.
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In case you feel that Microsoft doesn’t have enough control over your computing experience, read this little article.

“Validation will fail if the software detects a substantially different hardware configuration,” the spokesperson said. “At that point, the customer is able to use the one reassignment for the new device. If, after using its one reassignment right, a customer again exceeds the tolerance for updated components, the customer can purchase an additional license or seek remediation through Microsoft’s support services.”

Great. So, you can buy an OS and upgrade your hardware, then buy the OS again. Fan-freakin-tastic.

Ubuntu is a very nice alternative. Just sayin’.

At least two people on my LJ Friends List have posted recently about Mercury being in retrograde.  I’d like to say, on behalf of all rational people in the world, “whoopdedoo.”

Seriously?  We now know that the world is not flat and that the stars are actually giant balls of insanely hot gas rather than spirits who intervene in our daily lives. Ooga booga.

I went to see The Departed this afternoon. Wow. It’s a long movie, with a great soundtrack and fine actors. Marky Mark and Matt Damon provide authentic Boston accents and DiCaprio’s was pretty good too, but Vera Farmiga’s came and went so often I was trying to figure out where she was supposed to be from. I forgave her because she showed off her bum.

Spoilers after the break…

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This is awesome. A compilation of The 50 Worst Video Game Names Of All Time. My favorite has to be “Wild Woody” – who thought that was a good name for a kid’s game?

I actually remember a few of these, including “Tongue of the Fat Man” and “Jumpman,” from the Commodore days (that’s the late 1980s for you whippersnappers).

I know, I should let it rest for at least an hour or so before I start to dissect the browser, right?  Anyway, the new version of Firefox is out today. Two good things I’ve noticed already: the functionality of the essential SessionSaver extension is built into the browser now (one extension nuked); and there is a spellchecker for fields that just works. So far, it’s tagged “SessionSaver” and “spellchecker” as not real words.  Too bad, I’m keeping them.

The bad things I’ve noticed?  It takes at least a tenth of a second longer to load. And, I can’t seem to get rid of the useless little green button next to the address bar. Even IE 6 allowed me to nuke the “Go button.”  What’s up with those buttons? You’re willing to type the URL into the address box but you’re not quite capable of hitting the RETURN key when you’re done?  Is it really easier to move your hands off the keyboard, move to the mouse, twitch it to the right, and click the green button?  Naturally, I see this sort of wacky-ass behavior from coworkers and my boss every day, but they’re OLD!

Kapla blocks are kind of cool – they are all identical, so you never have to look for the right block. Recently, one of the biggest importers of Kaplas started making their own in America – Keva blocks. Alex thinks they’re neat and has been begging for them since Christmas of last year. It’s amazing how 200 blocks ends up seeming like not very many. Check out the bridge.

Creative is removing features from its Zen MicroPhoto and Zen Vision:M players. If you thought that FM recording feature you bought it with is a good thing, then you should never update its firmware. Creative has followed the Sony PSP approach of deleting features upon addition of new features. You can now use Audible files, but your recorder doesn’t record the radio. I’m sure the RIAA had nothing to do with this.

I just got a request for a new “friend” on Friendster. Does anyone still use them?

It’s gotta suck to be one of the early pioneers of something and watch the customers/users bypass you for something else. I was a member of Six Degrees ten years ago (or so); they were the first attempt at a social networking site around. Before Friendster, Orkut, or MySpace, there was Six Degrees. They shut down in 2000, after four years of no profit. Friendster is still around, but they turned down the Google offer of 30 million in 2003. Anyone think they’re worth more than a buck fifty today?

So far in the new television season, here’s my impressions of the shows I’ve attempted to watch:

Monday

Heroes (NBC) – I was a bit unsure what to expect from a superhero show. So far, so good. And, NBC must like it too; it got picked up for a full season.

The Class (CBS) – This comedy is still a bit uneven. I do enjoy Lizzy Caplan as set dressing, but if they don’t do more funny soon, it’s getting dropped from the DVR.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC) – I’m pretty impressed by Matthew Perry’s dramatic skill, although I really don’t buy Amanda Peet as “tough executive.” I last saw Timothy Busfield as the bumbling brother on “Ed” and he’s been one of the bright stars of this one, along with Evan Handler and DL Hughley.

Tuesday

Help Me Help You (ABC) – Ted Danson just isn’t doing it for me on this one.  It’s just not giving the funny.

Wednesday

30 Rock (NBC) – Named after 30 Rockefeller Center, where SNL is filmed. The first episode left virtually no impression on me whatsoever.
Jericho (CBS) – Although it’s been picked up for a full season, making it and Heroes the only true “hits” from the new season so far, I’m not 100% sold on it. The sense of impending danger that you’d expect from a post-apocalypse show is just not there. The teenagers don’t seem to understand there are any hazards at all; they’re all wrapped up in some weird 90210 vibe. Spooky guy is definitely driving my interest, and not the “star,” Skeet Ulrich.
Twenty Good Years (NBC) – OK, it’s only one episode, but they need more funny. I have really enjoyed both of the main actors in previous work (John Lithgow and Jeffory Tambor), but the pilot was a lot of scenery-chewing and not many jokes.

Thursday

Ugly Betty (ABC) – This show stars Ana Ortiz’s ass and Vanessa Williams’s breasts. There’s some mysterious plot about a suspicious death and something or other, but if Williams wasn’t in it, there’d be no show. The vignettes with Salma Hayek in tiny outfits are good too; tonight was a bikini.

Friday

Men in Trees (ABC) – I had never thought of Anne Heche as attractive before, but this character is growing on me. The gorgeous Saleka Mathew is a nice feature too. Oh, and the “fish out of water” plot has a lot of potential, I think. Hopefully they can milk it longer than Ed or Northern Exposure.

Sunday

Brothers and Sisters (ABC) – I don’t buy Calista Flockhart as a right-winger, and I wish Tom Skerritt has stuck around past the pilot; I like him. I don’t think this one will stick around long, but I may be wrong.

I’m inspired by Ferrett’s confession. I, too, am a magazine addict. Here are the ones I can recall that show up in my mailbox (only the ones I actually pay for-some freebies show up that I don’t care about at all):

• Cuisine at Home
• PC World
• PC Magazine
• Computer Power User
• Maximum PC
• Seed
• MIT Technology Review
• The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
• Granta
• Mental Floss
• Wired

I can quit any time I want.

I was keeping discussion on this JoeUser article in a friends-only post on LJ, but I’ve stopped worrying about offending people who cannot listen.

To recap for those who didn’t read it already: someone posted about abortion. One commenter pointed out that the Roman Empire prohibited abortion, even though they mandated killing deformed babies. I thought that was unlikely, so I did a 20-second Google search, and found that the Roman Empire didn’t forbid abortion until the Third Century. Silly me, I thought pointing out that the Romans (and Greeks and other ancient cultures) allowed abortion would be an interesting but minor factoid in the discussion.

Somehow, I’ve been accused of saying that abortion is acceptable and that the Roman Empire is a fantastic role model for modern ethics.

You have got to be freakin’ kidding me!

If you can find Augustiner Bräu Munchen near you, get it. Wow. I’ve never had a Dunkel before, but if you like dark beer and red wine, this is a great one for you. It’s so malty and full-bodied.

Yeah, it’s a keeper.