Conceptual baton phone does the twist
July 22, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
Filed under: Cellphones
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This week on the Big 3 - Disney Fan Podcast Review
July 22, 2008 Category: The Disney Portal No Comments »
This week, we jump into the WTTM Time Machine and journey back 20 years. Ricky announces some exciting news at my sister’s house. And Lou has another big announcement? All this and more;
THIS WEEK ON THE BIG 3
This week on WTTM #157; while Paul is enjoying himself at the NFFC Convention and Disneyland, we get another episode from the Window to the Magic Dream Team. I was a bit concerned this might be the Dichter episode but thankfully, no. This week we’re treated to a blast from the past. Magic Joe from the WTTM forums takes us on a trip back in time in the Window to the Magic Time Machine to celebrate Disneyland’s 30th Anniversary. It’s the summer of 1985; this princess was only 11 at the time and had never heard of Disneyland. Magic Joe has some great recordings of attractions long gone and those we can still enjoy. We even get to enjoy some cool ‘80’s tunes. If you remember the summer of ’85 or want to experience some stuff from the olden days, this week’s Window to the Magic is great. Now, when is Dichter showing up on WTTM?
This week on Inside the Magic, in Ricky’s “News Around the World” he reminds us that we could win an iPod Touch, want to know how? Check out this week’s show. During the July 15th rededication ceremony at Disneyland my dear sweet sister, Sleeping Beauty, announced the re-opening of the Castle walk-thru attraction. It should be opening in time for the holidays. Why do I hear family news second hand? Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will have a new schedule when American Idol Experience opens in January. Check out the show for details. And speaking of American Idol, auditions are now going on for a Seacrest-like host, judges and a warm-up act. If you think you’ve got the chops listen to this week’s show to find out more.
Ricky interviews Jody Daily about designing floats for the Pixar Play Parade. Forum member, Mr. Shiny, shares some audio from Disneyland Paris in his “Welcome Home” segment and Skipper Ben fills us in on his trip to The Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX. What does that have to do with Disney? Listen to this week’s Inside the Magic for the scoop.
We wrap up this post with WDWRadio #76. Due to Lou’s trip to MagicMeets this past weekend there’s no news or rumors this week. Lou interviews Kristi Breen, Director of Segment College and International Programs Recruitment, and Katherine Farmer, a recent graduate, to talk about the WDW College Program. We learn what it takes to get into the program and what it’s like to participate. If you think you might be interested or secretly hope your child might have a chance (Hello, my kids are being groomed as we speak) then this week’s show is for you. And now the big announcement, Lou and Tim Foster are launching Celebrations Magazine. I heard about this at MagicMeets ’08 and it looks like an awesome addition to the Disney Fan world. To hear all the details tune into this week’s WDWRadio show. You can also go to www.celebrationspress.com for all the info and to subscribe. Hmmm, I wonder how I can score a writing gig.
Well, that’s it for This Week on the BIG 3! Stay tuned for another new weekly blog post coming at the end of the week.
Links:
- WDWRadio - Website, iTunes
- Inside The Magic - Website, iTunes
- Window To The Magic - Website, iTunes
- Catch more of Jenn on her blog and on twitter.
Originally posted on The Disney Blog.
This week on the Big 3 - Disney Fan Podcast Review
The Mole: Go Ride
July 22, 2008 Category: The Disney Portal No Comments »
And now we are down to the final five. Only a few more weeks to go until we’ll know for sure who The Mole is. Personally, I’m just hoping to fine a much needed clue or two. One of the contestants with a sign saying “I am The Mole, seriously” might be nice. Then I could discard him or her.
You know what else I noticed. Both Mark and Clay are still in the game. It is interesting that this partnership seems to be working. At least for now.
As we join the five remaining contestants in Mendoza, Argentina, we are told that it has been nearly a month since the game started. I would have guessed that each episode represented three days. That would only be 18 days, so obviously I am wrong about that.
For the first mission, they divide themselves into three smart players and two dumb players. The smart players are Paul, Clay, and Mark while the two dumb players are Nicole and Craig. The challenge is called “Go Figured,” and each team is given a set of clues to locations all over the city. When they get to the location, they will have to figure out a number and remember it to bring it back to enter into the computer. The dumb team has five numbers while the smart team has three. Oh, and they can’t write any of the numbers down.
There is one twist, however. The dumb team has easy math problems to figure out their five answers while the smart team has to deal with much bigger numbers. Personally, I’ll take the dumb team. I’ve never been good with math in my head. And I’m an accountant.
Okay, I take that back. The dumb team has some bigger numbers, too.
I think Nicole put too much stalk into the Craig messing up the one math problem. I know I’d do that, too. It’s easy to mis-add, especially when you are reading the clue. However, I am curious what happened with Clay and Mark and their first math problem. Even when I mess myself up doing math in my head, I can talk it through faster then they did. Then, of course, there is Paul sending them in the opposite direction for their last clue. I’m really thinking it’s one of the three of them. I do find it interesting that Nicole also messed up a math question later on. So she’s as suspicious as Craig by her own accusations.
When they entered all the numbers, the dumb team got one of their answers wrong. Unfortunately, it was the last one. The one where they had all the trouble. They had 20 minutes to send one person back to correct it. And they sent Nicole back, the person who was struggling with it the first time around. She came up with a different answer, but it still wasn’t correct. Instead, Clay came up with the sequence of the numbers, saving the day. And he starts calling himself a math genius. Yet he’s the one who was corrected by Mark earlier.
That night, Mark and Clay talk their strategy. They took the last quiz straight Nicole. Or at least Mark did. He’s now convinced that she is The Mole.
Clay, on the other hand, goes to Nicole and they both say they went with Craig on the last quiz. In fact, Clay thinks it is either Mark or Craig.
So, assuming Mark voted straight Nicole, but Nicole and Clay voted straight Craig (and they could be lying to each other), then why did Alex go? We didn’t have a tie last week. So why did Alex go if one of these people (or more) is so far in left field?
The teams travel to Buenos Aires at this point, the capital of Argentina, and start talking about how much they miss their family.
As the next challenge (”Ticket to Ride”) gets started, the players are asked to name the person they trust the most. Clay and Mark get two votes each (Nicole voted Mark just to tie things up), with Clay voting for Nicole, much to everyone’s surprise.
At this point, Jon announces that various family members are arriving in trains in the city. And they head off to the train station.
Now comes the hard part. Clay and Craig are up first. Clay has three minutes to get answers from Craig to 30 questions about his girlfriend. Then Clay will be asked 5 questions. If he gets 3 of the 5 right, Craig will get to visit with his girlfriend. Otherwise, she heads back home. They got through all 30 questions, but Craig didn’t know the answer to some of them. But they managed to get three of them correct.
Next come Clay and Nicole. Nicole is trying to learn as much as she can about Clay’s wife. Nicole was a machine, even having time to go back and recheck answers. She easily got the answers right.
Third is Mark and Nicole. Nicole’s family member is her mother. Mark is asking the questions too slowly for Nicole’s taste. But it didn’t matter because he got the question correct.
Fourth is Clay and Mark. The pressure is really on this time because one of the questions Clay got asked Mark didn’t have an answer for. Therefore, Clay had to get three out of four correct. But he did it. Frankly, this was the one I was most concerned about. Maybe it’s the name, but I have always really liked Mark.
Finally, comes Mark learning about Paul’s wife. Paul passed on the first three questions, putting the pressure on Mark. In fact, he wasn’t sure about very many questions, which makes things very hard for Mark. But they still managed to pull it off.
I didn’t mention that each reunion also adds $10K to the pot. So, they earned $50K. And as they said, The Mole would have to have no heart to sabotage that mission.
The players had the next day with their loved ones. Nicole spent the time complaining about everyone else. In fact, she complained so much that she let her mom talk her into leaving. It’s hard to take her seriously since she has complained since day one. She is such a drama queen. And her mother wasn’t impressed when she found out about Nicole’s threats of murder. I honestly wonder how she feels after having watched how she is edited. Anyway, Nicole plans to throw the quiz so she can leave with her mother. Frankly, I think a lot less of her knowing she is quitting in such a manner after all this time. Heck, I even have more respect for the player who was bribed. Nicole claims that by leaving on her own terms, she isn’t letting the others beat her. Yet she is leaving because she can’t deal with them any more. Paul especially has been trying to drive her away. Seems kinda like he won to me.
After a family dinner, the players take the next quiz. Then everyone comes together for the execution. We’ve got a tie this week, so it will be the player with the slowest time. I wonder if Nicole took a long time. She said “Oops” when the tie was announced.
And in the end, Nicole didn’t do it right. The executed player was Clay.
I’m sorry, Clay. This is all my fault. I said that you and Mark had a good partnership going. And now you are out of it.
So, I wonder if Nicole’s comments about not being able to throw it is a cover for messing up or a cover for being The Mole.
So, going back to the conversation between Mark and Clay. Mark took last week’s quiz straight Nicole and stayed in. Clay answered Craig and stayed in. Yet this week he is gone. So, I wonder if he answered Nicole this week and that why there was a tie or if he got Mark to switch. Or if Clay answered Craig and was wrong, which will get Mark to switch from the truth.
Yes, I’m confused, and I wrote it.
I am still looking at Paul as The Mole, however. I think the thing with the map was just too suspicious. I’m sure it was the editing and we’ve been set up not to like him. Heck, he’ll probably turn out to be the winner and Mark will be The Mole. But I’m sticking with Paul for now.
Originally posted on The Disney Blog.
Ask MetaFilter Roundup [Hive Mind]
July 21, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
Dementia 13 (Coppola’s first mainstream movie) on Archive.org
July 21, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
Dementia 13 a 1963 Francis Ford Coppola/Roger Corman slasher film, is available for download from Archive.org. From Wikipedia:
Dementia 13Dementia 13 is a 1963 horror thriller released by American International Pictures, starring William Campbell, Patrick Magee, and Luana Anders. The film was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Roger Corman. Although Coppola had been involved in at least two nudie films previously, Dementia 13 served as his first mainstream, "legitimate" directorial effort. The plot follows a scheming young woman who, after having inadvertently caused the heart attack death of her husband, attempts to have herself written into her rich mother-in-law's will. She pays a surprise visit to her late husband's family castle in Ireland, but her plans become permanently interrupted by an axe-wielding lunatic who begins to stalk and murderously hack away at members of the family.
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Pirates Of The Caribbean Suite at the Disneyland Hotel
July 21, 2008 Category: The Disney Portal No Comments »
Michael is a management-type techie dude somewhere in the halls of Disney. His Cruft blog, however, typically stays away from Disney and sticks to the technical. This time, however, I don’t think he could resist posting something related to the Mouse House.
Michael and his family got an upgrade to the “Pirates Of The Caribbean” suite at the Disneyland Hotel. Of course, he took a video and some photos to share with us unwashed masses who will probably never get to see the awesomeness of the POTC suite. He gets points for the Oswald The Lucky Rabbit T-shirt he’s wearing too.
(Thanks to @zengrrl!)
Originally posted on The Disney Blog.
Pirates Of The Caribbean Suite at the Disneyland Hotel
The Dark Knight: 25 Sites to Expand Your Batman Knowledge
July 21, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
In 1939, Bob Kane created “The Bat-Man” for issue #27 of Detective Comics, and as they say, the rest is history. This past weekend the highly anticipated film The Dark Knight was released in theaters, setting a record for biggest three-day take with $155.3M in tickets sold. To celebrate we’ve rounded up 25 sites where you can learn more about the Batman series and its characters.
Below you can find showtimes and buy tickets to the film, read about how the movie was made, explore close to 70 years of Batman’s history, and more.
Fan Sites
Batman-Dark-Knight.MovieChronicles.com - An unofficial site following all the news related to the hot film’s release.
Batman-on-Film.com - For ten years, Batman-on-Film has covered all Batman film related projects as well as reviews of the comics.
BatmanFanFilms.com - A large collection of fan films based on the Caped Crusader with some being of amazingly high quality.
BatmanYTB.com - Batman Yesterday, Today & Beyond gives you a history of Batman as well as information on collectibles, television shows, films and more.
ComicVine.com - ComicVine has a very detailed history of Batman comics, movies, television appearances and even touches on the 1950’s book, Seduction of the Innocent, which caused many to question Batman’s sexuality.
DCDatabaseProject.com - Part of the Wikia network, this wiki aims to index all of the DC Universe, but has lots of information on Batman.
GoldenAgeBatman.com - A site dedicated to the Batman comics of the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s.
Legions Of Gotham - A large message forum dedicated to discussing every aspect of the Batman universe.
News
AintItCool.com - Well known site for film gossip of all kinds.
Chud.com - Short for “Cinematic Happenings Under Development”, CHUD is also the name of a 1980’s horror film, but this site is all about movie rumors and news.
DarkHorizons.com - Though based out of Australia, Dark Horizons is well known for being right on top of all the major film gossip.
LatinoReview.com - Well known for their early script reviews, has lots of news that led up to the new film.
SuperHeroHype.com - A site dedicated to news of the ever increasing number of super hero films being produced, and they have a good recap of everything that led up to The Dark Knight.
Official Sites
AdamWest.com - Love or hate the 1960’s television series, it is still a part of Bat-history, and Adam West certainly figures into that.
DC Comics - The publishing company behind Batman since he first appeared in Detective Comics in 1939.
IBelieveInHarveyDent.com - Started off as a campaign website for the character of Harvey Dent running for district attorney, was later “hacked” by the Joker.
RorysDeathKiss.com - Part of the viral campaign that led up to the film, this site had the Joker asking people to dress up as him and submit pictures of themselves in interesting locations.
TheDarkKnight.com - Official site promoting the second film in the new series.
WeAreTheAnswer.org - A site launched by the character of Harvey Dent to help get rid of police corruption in Gotham City, later hacked by the Joker.
WhySoSerious.com - The Joker’s main site in the viral campaign where he made most of his communications with the citizens of Gotham City.
Tickets
Fandango.com - Besides buying tickets for both normal showings and IMAX screenings, also have a list of the 10 best & worst comic book films of all time.
Moviefone.com - Get movie news and trailers as well as buy your tickets for the film.
Movies.Yahoo.com - Yahoo’s movie site has ticket sales as well as numerous exclusive trailer premieres.
MovieTickets.com - Read or listen to a synopsis of the film before you make that final decision to go see it.
NYC.com movies - A portion of the NYC site that helps you navigate the theaters in all the various neighborhoods of New York City.
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Oppo concepts foreshadow new gaming handhelds
July 21, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds
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Bletchley Park kicks so much ass
July 21, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
Yesterday, I got one of the best and most memorable birthday presents of my life -- a trip to the legendary Bletchley Park, site of the British WWII codebreaking effort, where Turing and co invented modern computer science and cryptography. The site is just as I'd imagined it -- a rotting, lovely old mansion surrounded by modest, slope-shouldered sheds with a variety of exhibits staffed by knowledgeable, friendly geeks who clearly find it all every bit as exciting as I do.
The exhibits are a nice mix of technical and historical, ranging from a truly impressive collection of memorabilia related to Winston Churchill (who visited Bletchley and congratulated the women and men there on their excellent work), including his school report-card that makes him out to be a villainous, disruptive and scattered child; to a series of exhibits of vintage wartime toys. There's a museum of ancient cinematographic equipment complete with a beautiful little theatre that shows reels of vintage newsreels and propaganda films. And of course, there are the computers and related devices.
The cipher machines and radio equipment naturally form the centerpiece of the museum, and there's an entire computer history museum onsite (it was closed, with the strangest sign I've ever seen, words to the effect of, "This site is closed for maintenance. Enter at your own risk. You may be escorted off the grounds by security if you are caught here." Huh?) along with the notorious Nazi Enigma machine that was kidnapped in 2000 and ransomed back (the crime was never solved). The historic material on the Enigma (which began life as a commercial product before the war!) is really excellent, as are the technical explanations of how it worked.
But best of all are the "rebuilds" -- reconstructions from plans of the bombes (parallel decoding machines) and Colossus (the massive and gorgeous machine that was one of the earliest general-purpose computers. These hulking beasts are real artisanal pieces, with the hand-crafted, prideful look of devices built by loving and obsessive engineers who really, really care about their work.
Walking the grounds, I got a real sense of the lives of the people who'd worked at Bletchley, through a series of exhibitions that included quotations from oral histories about the dress, romance, food, family life and internecine conflict that characterized Bletchley Park during the war years. The exhibit on clothing was especially memorable, if only because it could bring home the gold for Britain in the 2012 Scariest Mannequin event, as was the astoundingly cool room devoted to the wartime use of messenger pigeons, including replicas of the awards given to especially brave and dedicated birds.
We spent three hours on site and barely scratched the surface. We had hardly any time to look at the war-plane, didn't get to the gigantic model railroad exhibit, didn't see the whole film presentation at the Enigma theatre, and only got the most hurried of walks around the American Gardens -- and we missed the mansion tour altogether. I could have easily spent eight or more hours there, and still wanted for more. Just the tantalizing mini-lecture I got on the Colossus rebuild from one of the electronics engineers who worked on it was enough to pique my interest, and I could have spent an hour looking at the details in Turing's office.
The Trust that runs Bletchley Park has done a really fine job, and is clearly thinking creatively about the best way to continue to fund their operations. The mansion's slate roof is in need of a multi-million-pound replacement, and they're selling "genuine fragments" of the existing slate -- holy relics of crypto's formative years, as well as soliciting donations and selling memberships. But most intriguing was the idea of renting out part or all of the site for parties and weddings -- maybe for my 40th birthday in three years...
Link, Link to my photos
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LG reveals XD1 family of portable hard drives
July 21, 2008 Category: Uncategorized No Comments »
Filed under: Storage
