Ultranormal

Category: entertainment

  • About The Headphones

    Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on headphones. I realized that since I have a little time before my flight tomorrow morning, and that the west coast has Fry’s Electronics, I’m gonna go see what I can try out there. Why are there no Fry’s on the east coast? We’re stuck with Circuit City or Best Buy, which is why I buy almost everything electronic or computer-related online.\
    Update: I ended up buying a little pair of over-the-ear JVC’s at Fry’s last night (Roger had to catch a plane, so we left a little early and went to Fry’s before dinner – Sylvia’s in Mountain View – awesome Indian food). They were cheap, but they’re not ear buds, and they’re small. I’ll let you know how it goes. I maybe I just need a bigger backpack…

  • In Need Of Headphones That Travel

    I tried earbuds from the iPod. I can’t keep them in my ears unless I’ve jammed them into my ear drums and the covers always come off. I’ve tried my old over the ear cheap-o headphones. Yeah, they’re small and portable, but the sound quality sucks. I have a pair of noise-reducing headphones, but they’re so large that if they’re in my backpack, nothing else is in my backpack (think old-school studio headphones).\
    So, frequent travelers, what do you use? Have you found a good pair of (ideally noise-reducing) small non-earbud headphones that have good sound quality and are small enough to fit in a backpack side pocket with your iPod?\
    Oh, interweb, help me solve my dilemma before I spend 12 hours in a plane!

  • Watch TV All The Time

    No, really, I have a job and don’t watch TV all the time, but there are a few shows that are on too often that I wish I could spend more time watching. Some of these I’m sure you know, but there’s a new one in there.

    • The Daily Show: They’ve been on a roll the past couple months, and I feel bad when I miss an episode. But, four days a week is just too much for me to keep up with.
    • The Colbert Report: I’ve watched The Daily Show since the very beginning (you know, the Kilborn days), and I love it. But, I think Stephen Colbert’s show may be winning my heart. It’s the funniest thing on TV, and Stephen Colbert pulls off “arrogant jackass” better than the people he’s parodying. It’s perfect satire in a time when we sorely need it.
    • Pardon The Interruption: It’s on five times a week, which is way way too much. I love the banter between Tony and Mike, and I can’t help it but Tony’s bad jokes make me giggle. It’s a great way to catch up on sports without having to sit through the whole 90 minutes of SportsCenter (and there’s rarely anything about NASCAR or hockey, which makes me happy).
    • Brainiac: This is the new one. I just noticed it on G4 this weekend, and it’s hilarious. Think Top Gear for the Mr. Wizard crowd. It’s hosted by Top Gear‘s Richard Hammond, and it’s funny in a ridiculous British way. It’s got zany experiments and hot barely clothed British chicks playing with explosives. What’s not to like?\
      So, set your TiVo and prepare to waste a lot of time. I know I have.

  • Driving In Foreign Countries

    I’ve never driven in a foreign country. When we drove around Ireland, I made Porter do all the driving. Now, I’m going to France for the Plenary, and I’m renting a car. The only thing that’s making me less jittery about doing so is having a friend who lives there and is feeding me driving tips for driving on the Riviera like:

    • Traffic coming from the right has right-of-way unless they have a solid white line or dashed white line.
    • Always lock your doors while driving
    • No turning on red
    • France now has speed cameras, and they’re not friendly.\
      Oh, and I have Doctor Who on my iPod. MoviesForMyiPod rules.

  • TV time

    Most of the tv shows I watch are in hiatus now. So, any recommendations for shows I should catch on rerun?

  • Love Actually… Short Version

    I am such a girl for this movie. I watched it this afternoon and cried and cried. I blame exhaustion, but honestly, I’m just a big baby. I have more to write on why I’m such a fat blubbering baby, but I’m too tired to write it at the moment.\
    I will though, really.

  • Mikey’s Got A New Album

    I’m a shameful loser for not posting this earlier, but please go check out Mike Golay’s new album. I haven’t heard it yet past some demos during the summer, but if it’s anything like his first album, you won’t be disappointed. If you like acoustic guitar, you’ll love Mike’s stuff.\
    Oh, and you can find his first album in the iTunes Music Store, which was really weird for me. Mike used to be my boss, and finding your boss in iTunes? That’s just weird.

  • Incredible Commentary: Geeks From Another World

    I’ve watched a lot of movies stuck here on the couch (except for a couple nerdy hours today when I went back to work to give a presentation to almost 200 people, but we won’t talk about that now). I’ve gone so far as to start watching the commentaries on movies I’ve seen before. I never watch commentaries. Most of them are really boring. But, I’ve found a couple really, really good ones, and they’re both from the same movie!\
    The Incredibles has a really nerdy animator commentary that’s way too revealing about the neurosis of nerds. You get a peek into the never-perfect (in their mind) world of animators, obsessing over displayed-for-a-second hand gestures and eyebrow raises, gleeful geek-joy at getting to animate a scene with two guys talking in a car (yeah, I know). It’s just brilliant to me to peek into another World of Geeks, full of new vocabulary but the same passion for craft and the same obsessive search for perfection. It’s fun, and really enlightening about the whole process of animation.\
    The “main” commentary is fun after watching the first. The Animators commentary is the “victim” commentary, where Brad Bird (the director) inflicted all of these really hard things on them. In the main documentary you get the director and producer’s justification for the “pain” they caused the animators, and usually with throwaway lines that belie the pain they caused the animators. Isn’t that always the way it is? The idea folks never care/realize how difficult it is to create the idea they come up with. I think that Brad Bird does, being an animator himself, but it’s funny to hear the differences between the two “versions” of the story.

  • iPod Virgin

    I’ve come into some “free money” and I’ve decided to blow it on a sexy black video iPod. Oh, dear internet, what accessories should I get? How should I protect my new toy? What should I definitely NOT get?\
    Thank you and good night.\
    UPDATE: My iPod shipped this morning less than 18 hours after I ordered it! Come on, you sexy beast, come on!!

  • Jen’s new shows

    Since Kevin did it, I will too.\
    1. Prison Break– It’s an intense drama that is making me root for both convicted felons and the innocent underdog.\
    2. Supernatural– Kind of like Charmed and Buffy, but without the preternatural abilities. Absolutely cheesy, but the boys are pretty.\
    3. Commander-in-Chief– This reminds me of what The West Wing used to be like. It is full of ideals and hope that have no place in the real White House, I am afraid.\
    4. Invasion– Thanks to Tivo, I can skip the part I don’t like (the sheriff who looks menacingly at everyone)