Monday, January 31, 2005

S.H.E. and AVP!

Today was a good day for mail.
I got my S.H.E. live Taipei concert album today. 2 discs, 130 minutes...excellent. Of course a 2 dvd package is scheduled to be released tomorrow, so I've got to put in my order to YesAsia so I can get that too.
In addition to the S.H.E. album I also got a copy of the Aliens vs. Predator dvd in the mail today...for free! Yep. Last week I was watching one of my favorite shows, The Screen Savers on G4, and they had two of the special effects guys from the movie on and about one minute (or less) before 7:30pm Chi-Lan announces that the first 50 people to do a form on their site get a free copy of the dvd. So, luckily I was doing something on my laptop at the time and went right out there and got an e-mail the next day saying that I won a copy of the dvd. :) So, I was quite happy since I love the Alien movies and the first Predator but had never seen the AVP movie. So, yeah, it's good to get nice things for free for just watching great tv shows.
Off to listen to some live S.H.E. now.

"A hundred names on the ballot are better than one, because it means that we are free."
Fadila Saleh, 37
"Under Saddam we were a people who were lost. Before, we were not able to talk to officials; they were just punching you, and kicking you. But now, with elections, we'll have good officials. We will know them, and they will know us."
Hachim Shahir, 83
"We thank the Americans for destroying the regime of Saddam, but often, they were not careful for the people; they did many wrong things. Now, we know what they are looking for. They are looking for oil, and military bases, and domination of the new regime. They will have their military headquarters for the region in Iraq, and when they will leave, nobody knows."
Ahmed Dujaily, 80

I just like those quotes from one of the New York Times' articles on the Iraq elections from today.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

S.H.E. - Encore


Image from http://she.him.com.tw/
I'm listening to my S.H.E. playlist at work which (finally) includes their newest album, Encore. It came out mid November but I finally just got it from YesAsia a couple weeks ago. As usual it is an excellent CD packed with great songs. I actually got the MV DVD which came with a CD copy of the album and it was all only $17.00! And the production value of the booklet and package is excellent, as usual. That's why I have no problem in buying Chinese and Japanese dvds and cds from YesAsia, because the quality is so excellent and labels often have extras included with the album itself and it costs less than DVDs and CDs in the states. I still don't think I'll ever buy another US CD and only buy 1-3 dvds per year because the crap is frickin' expensive. WalMart $0.88 music downloads are the way to go for my US music from now on. Don't feel like paying inflated prices for crappy plastic jewel cases and skimpy booklets.
Anyway, Encore is filled with great songs and I love the video and extended video/story for their song Wo Ai Ni (I love you) on the DVD. The one to watch if you are in need of a good cry. And, when I first saw the video for Da Nu Ren Zhu Yi (Female Chauvinism) I couldn't beleive how amazing Hebe looked. Of course, she looks amazing all the time even when not made up, but I had to do a double take when she first appeared in the video! ;) Wow! Now, they have a double cd set coming out this week of a live performance from Taipei in September. 130 minutes for only $15.00! I'm all over that.
Posted by Hello

Sunday, January 16, 2005

Apple does it again...again!


Image from http://www.apple.com/
I am a long time fan of most things Apple (even though I finally sold my iBook for a Windows XP notebook from Dell) and beleive that if Steve Jobs were to run for president, I would certainly vote for him. One of the most fun things about Apple computer is the anticipation of new products when the MacWorld expos come and when the rumors of new products start flying around. This January was no exception as Apple has released their version of a powerful "budget" computer, the Mac mini. This little thing is beautiful, as are all of Apple's products and very functional as an entry level computer for anyone. It's bound to be a huge hit with students, who are always needing more space, and probably with small businesses too. I would say to look for something similar in a relatively tiny package in the next year from companies like Dell and Gateway.
The one Apple product I will not buy though is the iPod, in any of its incarnations. It's nice looking and all but aside from the ridiculous battery issues that they've had the one thing that really turns me away from them are the file formats that it is compatible with, specifically, no wma. I like the codec that Apple uses for it's purchased songs through iTunes and love the iTunes program itself (even though I really don't use it now on my XP machines), but I have an aftermarket Kenwood stero in my car that is compatible with mp3 and wma so since I listen to a lot of music in my car I like to burn cd's of music and to do my iTunes songs, I have to burn them to an audio cd then rip them into another format, which just serves to be a time waster and to further reduce the quality of the audio (though probably not by too much, but still...). So, I will not be buying an iPod until Apple gives support for wma files and wma files purchased from online stores. I think I will get a Creative Muvo though, because that little thing is pretty sweet. Posted by Hello

Friday, January 14, 2005

F*** EA!

I know I'm not alone in this, but even though the Madden football games used to be the best games around I don't think that has been the case for the past 5 or so years. Since the arrival of Sega's NFL 2K on the Dreamcast I have found that Sega's series of football games (now ESPN) has been the better performer than EA's offering. So now that EA has signed exclusive deals with bothe the NFL and the AFL for producing football games bearing the likenesses of players, stadiums, etc. I can't think of anything else to say except 'you damn bastards!'
I don't totally hate EA, I do have their NCAA Football 2003 and they make great games but cutting out the better (IMO) publishers and developers by doing this is ridiculously unfair to everyone involved, especially the people that buy the games. This means that there will proabably only be one real NFL game put out (not counting that NFL Street crap or other NFL Blitz type games) so you won't have any other choice but EA. I just hope that EA can make their game better than it has been recently and that Visual Concepts (the developer behind ESPN NFL football) can possibly get another great game produced. NCAA ball would be wonderful. CFL would be nice too.
Oh well.

Monday, January 03, 2005

Who's Your Daddy???

WTF???
imho, just more proof that:
1) people suck and will subject themselves and others to almost any ridiculous humiliation for a chance to have their five minutes of shame...I mean fame;
2) people suck because we all know that this show is going to get at least mildly high ratings because so many of you will watch this woman try to pick out her never before seen father from a group of other fame hunters for a chance at $100,000 and numerous tv interviews to get their "pretty" face on the airwaves with the hope of making more money afterwards.
3) aside from The Simpsons, Futurama, King Of The Hill, Family Guy, American Dad and the occasional Sci-Fi gift...FOX Broadcasting really does put out an ass-load of crap.
Anyway, I'm just going to watch my Cartoon Network anyhow.