Lost finale -- finally saw it

No spoilers here--I simply thought it was quite good, with a twist at the end that is making me want to start watching again.

Season finales

I'll start with Dancing with the Stars first... as usual I fast-forwarded through most of it. I'm glad that Apolo won, but I'd like to know if it's because he was the better dancer (which he was), or if it was because he was the youngest dancer, or had the (arguably) hottest partner. I'm disappointed that Laila came in third, but it brings up an interesting point... I bet if they got annother female athlete -- but this time maybe someone like a former figure skater -- she might be able to finally get a win for the girls in the finals. Just for equity's sake it'd be nice to see a woman win one.

It was also very interesting to see that the Dancing finale almost beat American Idol in the ratings. Bet ABC's happy about that.

Now, 24... firstly, I love my MythTV at times. It's a pain in the ass quite often, but when it's good, it's good... and to have the ability to watch the two-hour finale in a single hour (thanks to commercial removal and 1.2x speed playback) was a big timesaver. And I'm glad I saved the time, too, because JEEZ what a snore of a finale. (SPOILER ALERT!) Even at 1.2x speed, it seemed like Doyle and the kid were standing around forever. How anticlimactic was the showdown between Jack and his dad? And he better not show up alive next season even though they left the door wide open for it. And where did they scramble those F-18s from? Kansas? 30 minutes to get to the oil platform? C'mon. Yet, when Jack gets dropped into the ocean, he's able to get to the Heller house in a couple of minutes (with no car as far as we can tell). Oh, and I forgot to mention Chloe. WHO CARES?!? They ruined Chloe this season. And the ending? Ugh. Again, this is me, not caring.

Haven't seen the Lost finale yet--yes, I started watching again, but only because of time compression and skipping. Can't be bothered that much with this show any more.

Inside football, er, videogames

I like videogames. I suck at playing them, but I like reading about the industry. I subscribed to Next Generation magazine way back when Lara Croft was one of its first covers.

A bunch of links have been made to a back-and-forth email exchange between videogame journalists N'Gai Croal and Geoff Keighley, where they discuss the latest sales figures on both game platforms and software. I particularly agreed with N'Gai's point about how many people are getting the Wii in spite of its lack of HD graphics... mainly because most people are ignorant about HD in general. I'm always shocked when I go into a store (or worse, into someone's house) and see that their flat-panel TV is displaying an SD signal, but given the significant numbers of people who don't realize that they're not displaying an HD signal on their multi-thousand-dollar display, I probably shouldn't be so shocked.

Anyhow, interesting read, if you like this kind of thing. Which I do.

Level Up: Monday Morning Quarterbacking

Hard Boiled in PS3 Stranglehold? Aaugh!

Oh, this is just too painful. The John Woo directed videogame called Stranglehold (featuring a digital Chow Yun-Fat) is coming out in a few months on Xbox 360 and PS3. But the PS3 version has an exclusive extra, namely, a HD version of Woo's film Hard Boiled right on the stinkin' Blu-Ray disc. Aw man! Well, maybe I can hold off getting the PS3 until Little Big Planet comes out, but it's getting harder and harder to resist (particularly with GameStop offering $100 for your PS2 if you buy a PS3...)

Hard Boiled Included with PS3 Version of Stranglehold

The lawlessness of Gonzales (and a 24 tie-in)

I don't do many political posts but today's news brings a story that is just mind-boggling.

In testimony before the Senate yesterday, former deputy Attorney General James Comey provided more details about an incident that was downplayed for a number of years, but if there is any justice in the world (or, for that matter, in the Justice Department), will start to see the light of day.

On March 10, 2004, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft was in the hospital after having just undergone emergency appendectomy surgery. He had put his deputy, Comey, at the head of Justice while he recovered. Comey had refused to sign off on a plan by Chief of Staff Andy Card and (wait for it) then-White House council Alberto "VO5" Gonzales, to continue a warrantless wiretapping program that had been going on for quite some time. Comey and DOJ lawyers concluded that the program was illegal and would not agree to it.

Comey is tipped off that Card and Gonzales had decided to do an end-around by going to Ashcroft in the hospital and get his sign-off on the plan. He gets his security detail to speed him to the hospital as fast as they can. They get there and he and his detail arrive at Ashcroft's side just before Card and Gonzales walk in.

The FBI acting director, Robert Mueller, calls and tells one of Comey's security detail that under no circumstances should they allow Comey to be removed from the room.

Ashcroft refuses to sign the plan. He points to Comey and points out that he is the acting Attorney General, and it should be taken up with him. Card and Gonzales don't even acknowledge Comey's presence in the room.

The White House continues with the plan, illegally, without the required signatures from DOJ.

Only after Ashcroft, Comey, and Mueller threaten to resign en masse, does the White House back down and take legal steps to continue the program.

And who is now the Attorney General? The same guy who tried to pull a fast one, and who then chose not to obey the law when the fast one didn't work.

By the way, beyond the politics and lawlessness of it all, it also serves to demonstrate that the show 24 isn't all that unrealistic when it comes to how it portrays Washington.

Great post on the controversy from Glenn Greenwald below (sorry, it's a Salon link, requires watching an ad before reading).

Comey's Testimony Raises New and Vital Questions...

Dancing with the Stars endgame

I skimmed through last night's Dancing with the Stars and really hope Ian is the next to go. Elvis impressions aside, he just hasn't impressed me that much, and he had the head-start of having Cheryl as his partner. Then I hope Joey goes, mainly because I've been really impressed with Laila and Apolo. If it really comes down to Laila and Apolo... well, I'd be happy with either winning, but I'd lean toward Laila just because a woman hasn't won since Season 1 (right? Not sure, I only started watching last year, but that was the whole kerfuffle about whats-her-name Kelly Monaco winning over George Hamilton John O'Hurley).

Reminder post on bootable USB flash drive

Note to self: try this sometime. It'd be cool to take one of my USB flash drives and set it up to boot a machine with Ubuntu 7.04. Worth a try, anyway.

How To Install Ubuntu Linux on USB Pen Drive

What's the big deal about The Number?

And I don't mean stupid old Lost's digits, I mean the 16-digit hexadecimal number that decrypts most HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs out there, posts of which effectively shut down Digg a couple of days ago.

Here's an interesting post by Ed Felten about why people are so mad about it. When you put it the way Felten puts it, it's a great point: the AACS and the DMCA has basically made a number illegal. That really shouldn't be.

Why the 09ers Are So Upset

The Tienanmen Square revolt on Digg over HD-DVD

It really is astounding to see what is happening over at Digg. From what I gather, the AACS (the folks who invented the access control encryption present on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray) sent takedown notices to websites, including Digg, that had any postings that listed a magic 16-digit hexadecimal number, which when used with the appropriate program can decrypt any high-def disc that's on the market today.

Of course, that caused people to just do things like come up with screensavers or songs that repeated the number over and over again. And people posted the number in their replies to various Digg posts. The more Digg took them down, the more people posted them... in base 10 format, in HTML hex colors, in music videos, in slide shows...

Easily right now, the top posts on Digg are all dealing with this number. It's amazing.

Now, of course, if I posted the number, I could be shut down too. So I wouldn't dream of doing that. Instead, I'll point you to a quiz you can take, to see if you know things like the formula of molecular hydrogen, or Yao Ming's jersey number. The answers are quite informative.

Take the quiz!