It's hard to overstate my satisfaction!

Tomorrow, April 1, 2008, we will get to download the Rock Band version of "Still Alive" by Jonathan Coulton for FREE. (That equals ZERO Microsoft points, Kotaku helpfully noted.)

My kids are going to FREAK. OUT. There will be screaming and yelling and fights breaking out over who is going to get to sing. And that's before the kids get involved!

Happy with my half-marathon time

First time that Maria and I ran a half-marathon (the National Half-Marathon to be specific), and we're pretty happy with just breaking the 2 hr mark. I might have been able to run it a little faster than that, but was just fine doing it at that pace. I felt pretty bad for the folks who had to continue on and do the marathon, only because more than half of the people running the race were doing the half-marathon, so it thinned out for the marathoners quite a bit, thus making for a lonely second lap.

I've looked at conventions from both sides now

Just spent today working our booth at the National Science Teachers Association convention in Boston. All I can say is OUCH. Actually, I can now say that any booth babe at any convention that has to stand around all day like I just did, but who unlike me does it in heels, is twice the man I'll ever be. Or something like that.

Analog cutoff stuff

We're less than a year away from the switchoff of analog TV transmission, and I've found out some interesting stuff lately.

First, turns out that I'll be affected more by the switchoff than I thought. When analog broadcasts are turned off, TV stations will be given the option of moving their digital broadcasts back to VHF (right now almost all of them are UHF-based). Sure enough some of my local channels will be going back. But right now I only have a UHF antenna on my roof. Oopsie. Have to find out what to do. Ugh. Here is a good discussion of the issue.

Secondly, I got my in-laws (who don't get cable) one of the infamous digital to analog converter boxes, using my $40 coupon the government sent me. It works surprisingly well. They were never able to get their local CBS affiliate, and now it's crystal clear. They're quite impressed with the results.

No Country for Old Men

Just finished it today on the treadmill. I really liked the screenplay; I think there's no question that the Coens deserved the Oscar for that one. The movie itself, particularly the ending, requires some rumination, and I think that's a good thing. The other Oscar-nominated movies I saw this year (Michael Clayton, Juno, and Atonement) require far less rumination. Basically, I'll have to decide what I thought of No Country... I'm pretty sure I liked it and I'm pretty sure it's brilliant, but it may be one of those films where you have to watch it a few times to realize it.

Theo and Odyssey

Figured I'd kill some time while waiting for work video to write to tape by blogging, and figured that I hadn't blogged about Theo for a while. Something that happened recently was that I got to see his rehearsal for his Odyssey of the Mind team. I was very proud of how he did; he was one of the few kids that you could hear, and he spoke very clearly and expressively. The actual event is this Saturday and I'll hope he does just as well for the judges!

Movie Reviews 3/10/08

I've decided to start doing my reviews here since my almost-ten-year-old PHP database is getting quite old and creaky. (Not sure how best to migrate those reviews out of there, but that's neither here nor there.)

Saw Charlie Wilson's War in the theater last night and enjoyed it quite a bit. Not quite up to the level that I enjoyed Juno or Michael Clayton, but it was very well written (by West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin) and well-acted, particularly by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who deserved his Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a cranky CIA operative. Watching the movie, you wonder how many times the U.S. will have to repeat history. Ugh.

Also finished up Sunshine on DVD. Danny Boyle branches out and makes a good sci-fi flick. Not fantastic, but pretty darn good. A little 2001, a little Solaris, a little 28 Days Later... altogether an interesting mix. Interesting mix of actors too, particularly seeing Michelle Yeoh not being typecast as a kung-fu chick. It made me wish that that other fanboy favorite, Quentin Tarantino, would hurry up and branch out as well. Time's a wastin'...

Radiohead rockin'

Anna and I decided to take a crack at playing Rock Band World Tour, which meant forming a band. She's a brown-haired drummer named Naoko and I'm a purple-spiky haired punk rock girl guitarist named Annamaria. Anna ROCKS on drums! We played Creep by Radiohead to win a van and we won it (and 20 gamerscore)! Shoulda seen her banging those skins. Awesome.

Wave of Calibration

I used some birthday money and got Rock Band. Kind of profligate but I thought maybe me and the kids could play at least a few songs on Easy, particularly once "Still Alive" comes out for download.

Took everything out of the box and set it up, then made a cool punk rock chick with purple hair for my guitarist and a cool punk rock dude from Chicago for my drummer. I got through a few songs on guitar and Medium, but jeez drumming is going to be hard. I'm doing OK on Easy, but only because Easy really doesn't make you play the kick drum simultaneously with the rest of the drums at the same time very often. Once that happens, I'm doomed.

I also realized that calibration is CRUCIAL for the drums. I was having to hit the pads way early and it sounded way out of sync with the audio. So instead of picking the default LCD calibration, I went Manual, and it made a huge difference, both in my score and in my enjoyment. Just like with Guitar Hero, it made it really feel like I was playing drums, particularly with Gimme Shelter and Wave of Mutilation.

Casey Affleck Film Festival

I'm going to start posting reviews here, or maybe my Netflix account, rather than on my old website. I'm not even sure why I still have that darn website. Anyhow.

Somehow we ended up having a little Casey Affleck film festival courtesy of Netflix. Got in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Gone Baby Gone. I liked both of them quite a bit. Affleck is quite creepy in Jesse James... I decided it's almost like the first celebrity stalker shooting. Maybe it was. It was also cool to hear them talk about various locations in and around Kansas City. Apparently James lived on Troost for a while: they didn't mention that but did mention places like Excelsior Springs. Anyhow, loved the cinematography and story, acting was good, music a bit repetitive.

As for Gone Baby Gone, quite an effective directorial debut by Ben "I'm Bleeping Jimmy Kimmel" Affleck. Kept things moving, nothing too spectacular, but did the job. I loved the screenplay, and the acting helped to reinforce that. Great story, and solid acting. Damn, Ed Harris needs to get an Oscar one of these days. I mean, Scorsese has one now, why not Harris?

Godspeed E. Gary Gygax

Had to post the news that Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons and Dragons, passed away at the age of 69. Not like I knew much about him other than through his creation, but I blew enough time with it from 1977-1982 that it deserved a little post for the other nerds out there.

Gary Gygax dies

A birthday story

Anna made me a nice birthday card, which included a sweet little birthday story:

"This story is about the most dazzling Dad in the world. One day Dad and his daughter Debra went shopping. Dad didn't like Debra. Lucky for him there was a Gypsy booth and he gave Debra to the Gypsies and got Anna and Theo instead. They lived happily every after.

"Ye Olde Epilogue: Mom was happy about Anna and Theo, but she liked Debra because she would clean her room."

OK, it's a sweet story except for poor Debra.