Over the coming year, I’m sure we will see a variety of good and bad changes as a consequence.
"Four billion dollars... Muwhahaha Muwhahaha!"
Archive for August, 2009
31
Aug
09
Frampton @ The Stone Pony = FAIL
The weather in Asbury Park was perfect. The company was great. The guitars were screaming. Peter Frampton was putting on a wonderful show… and then there were technical difficulties…
Wait, I am getting ahead of myself, let’s backtrack a few years. In 2005 I tried to see Mr. Frampton live. The show was canceled, and subsequently postponed to a time where I was out of town. Since then, I have tried to see him play each time he has come within 100 miles of me, and each time I have been unable to make it for one reason or another… In case you couldn’t tell, I’m a fan of Peter Frampton, and I have been waiting a long time to see him play.
So, the show was on, and Frampton was great; he’s a guitar playing monster. His attack on solos is vicious yet beautiful, and his stage presence is equally aggressive, yet dignified. His band was on, he was clearly having a blast, and it reflected in the quality of his music. He was playing a nice mix of old and new, fan favorites and obscure new songs for the real fans… That became clear when he mentioned playing material from his Fingerprints album, and the response was cheers and clapping from a small portion of the audience (for the record, I shouted loudly).
He played a slightly edgier rendition of Show Me the Way, and killed on the instrumental, Boot it Up. Then sent my mind wandering with a beautiful performance of Lines On My Face. My only real complaint was that the acoustics were too bassy, but that seems like a recurring issue at the Stone Pony (among many other venues).
They had my attention completely. I was entranced and enthralled, sucked into their music in a way that only the best performers can achieve. Then Frampton announced that he was going to do his instrumental cover of Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun; I was so insanely happy. Every once in a while a band will play a song that you desperately want to hear, but don’t actually think they will play. This was one of those moments.
A few bars in, he suddenly stopped playing, and waved off the band. Something was wrong, but I honestly couldn’t tell what it was. The roadies were hard at work trying to fix his guitar rig while the audience watched a dark stage. After a while Frampton remarked, “Fucking computers!” and began playing an acoustic song (I can’t even remember what he played). After he finished, the stage went dark for a few minutes.
When he started playing again, one thing was clear; Peter Frampton was mad as hell. He played with a rage that is usually reserved for angsty teenagers. The rage served him well on Money, (I’ll Give You), where he swapped solos with guitarist Adam Lester; the back and fourth was wonderful. The rage wasn’t so great on Do You Feel Like We Do, but it’s such a classic anthem that no one cared.
After finishing Do You Feel Like We Do, he gave his guitar to his roadie and bolted off stage, never to return. The time was about 9:30, and he was scheduled to play until at least 10:15. He didn’t say a word to the audience about leaving. No “thank you.” No “I’m sorry that we had technical difficulties, I wish I could have given you more this evening.”
Nothing.
The man stormed off like a child. Worse still, it took about 15 minutes for anyone to step up to the mic and tell the audience that there would be no encore. I had already left because it was clear as day that the amps were off and the roadies were taking things apart, but I heard the announcement on the PA as I walked to my car.
Mr. Frampton, your audience did nothing wrong. There was no reason to act like a prima donna, and treat your fans with such disrespect. You are supposed to be a world class performer. You could have found a way to continue entertaining your fans, but you chose not to. You could have finished the show with a different set list, or done acoustic renditions of your songs. It wouldn’t have been the show you had planed, but it would have been memorable for being so different. Instead, I will remember this show because you were a selfish asshole (Example: Jordan Rudess after his keyboard broke during a Liquid Tension Experiment show in Chicago).
All you would have had to do was man up and apologize. I would have been disappointed, but I wouldn’t be pissed off.
28
Aug
09
Taking a Breather
I’m taking a couple nights off from writing.
I’ll be back on Monday.
(“Thank You Al Gore Thursday” is being delayed to Friday afternoon due to a lack of time)
There are a lot of creepy things floating around the Interweb. Personally, I think this is probably the creepiest, legal thing I have seen online (If you don’t count “Two Girls, One Cup.”*).
Anyway… Crispin Glover (George McFly in Back to the Future) made an album in 1989 called, “The Big Problem ≠ The Solution. The Solution = Let It Be.” One track of this auditory abortion is called “Clowny Clown Clown.” Glove made a music video for the song that makes William Shatner’s interpretation of “Rocket Man” seem like a creative masterpiece. Have a look for yourself…
This might be the best anti-drug add ever created.
Special thanks to Tim Smith for sharing this epic fail with me.
* I will always carry a little bit of hatred for my friend Pete S. for ruining New Years 2008 by showing that disgusting video.
26
Aug
09
Big Files = Big Issues
Here’s a reader tech question from Robbyn:
Writing with a technical question, using my MacBook Pro I’ve been trying to copy a 4.93 GB .mov file to an external hard drive. Every time I try to do this I get an error message that reads: “Sorry, the operation could not be completed because an unexpected error occurred. (Error code 0)” I’ve tried zipping the file, but still have the same problem. I’m also not sure how to split up the file without having to convert it to another format which I’d rather not do since I’m sending it to someone to edit and I’d like to have it in the raw format so as not to lose any quality.
Well Robbyn, it sounds like an issue with the file system type on your external hard drive. Now I know you are wondering what that means so let me give you a quick overview:
Windows likes to format their partitions using one of their file systems, and Macs like to use their own. Unfortunately, they really don’t get along all that well. The only file system type that really works well on both Windows machines and Macs is FAT32. However, FAT32 has a bunch of issues including being pretty poor compared to other the newer formats, and more importantly, not supporting files over 4gb in size.
Unfortunately, you are trying to copy a big file, and big files not supported.. that’s probably the problem right there. Simple solution – check if it is formatted in FAT32 and reformat to HFS+ “non-case sensitive” because you that’s really unnecessary, and “non-journaled” because it tends to be more compatible, albeit slightly less secure in cases of drive failure. This will have some repercussions though, including all files will be deleted during the reformatting process and, as you might have guessed, HFS+ drives are not supported in Windows.
Now the other issue – the drive might be formatted using the NTFS file system, which is the one Microsoft currently employs for most Windows XP machines and all later operating systems. And the issue with NTFS, it cannot inherently be written to by Macs. Solution – same as above. For big files, you need to use HFS+ for make your Mac fully support NTFS using some downloads from the Internet. I would suggest, unless you need to be able to use your drive on both a Windows and a Mac, use HFS+.
In order to do all of this on a Mac, you can follow the following steps:
- Open “Applications” in either your Finder, or on the Dock.
- Find and click on the folder named “Utilities.”
- In the “Utilities” folder you will find an application called “Disk Utility” – Open it.
- You should see something like the image below.
- Click on the drive you need to work on.
- Change the file format using the “Volume Format” drop down in the center of the screen.
Please ask for clarification if you need any further guidance. Best of luck.
25
Aug
09
Xbox 360 Getting a Price Cut
Hold off on buying that new Xbox 360.
Leaked copies of next weeks Target ad show the Xbox 360 Pro will drop to $250, while the Elite will be sold for a sweet $300 (Engadget).
Every once in a while life affords you the opportunity to witness, and play a small part in something great.
My friend and college buddy Peter Rizzo had been an official in the Town of Tonawanda; a suburb of Buffalo, New York. I’ve known and worked with quite a few government officials in the past, and Pete is one of the rare few who doesn’t do things for power, attention or with any expectation of reward. He works hard for what he feels is right.
Why am I writing an obviously non-geek post about a friend/ local official?
The answer to that is because Pete accomplished something incredible last week.
On Tuesday, August 18th, the brand new Town of Tonawanda Veterans Memorial was dedicated. Somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 people showed up to honor our veterans at the unveiling of a spectacular new monument. General Colin Powell delivered the keynote address, and Pete read a Presidential Proclamation from Barack Obama, in addition to his own speech.
Here’s a video of local news coverage of the event:
A portion of Peter’s speech really underscores the purpose and thought behind the memorial:
All of our veterans sacrificed for us, whether they served in the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, or Merchant Marine. Whether from private to general, from seaman recruit to admiral, or from airman to general, regardless of rank, every single veteran has sacrificed for us, for our community, for our country. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why the memorial before you lists only names, and not rank. Rank is an honor in and of itself, but service is the common thread that unites them all. We honor all who have served us equally, without prejudice.
I had the opportunity to be a sounding-board for Pete throughout the entire process, and help him craft his communications and pitches to get this project off the ground. While I played an incredibly small role in this big project (which entailed raising $100,000 (correction) more than $180,000 and navigating the labyrinth that is local politics), I am just honored to have been a part of it. However, I must confess that I didn’t believe the thing would ever get built.
I seriously underestimated Pete’s dedication, determination and seemingly endless well of patience. He wanted to do something to honor, and remember the sacrifice of all veterans, of all ranks, from all wars. He succeeded.
For most people, the Town of Tonawanda Veterans Memorial will honor our Country’s veterans. For those of us who know Pete, and understand how hard he worked to make this idea real, the Memorial will also serve as a monument to action. It’s easy to come up with an idea like this. Working nearly six years to make it a reality is something entirely different.
… And that’s worthy of an off-topic post.
xkcd strikes again with more brilliance in cartoon form.
This is so unbelievably true, but it was always an unspoken truth among geeks…
Congratulations. You are officially a tech support guru.
Say what you want about the Blue Screen of Death, it's still iconic.
Here is a bit of brilliance from Microsoft Jokes:
Microsoft Announces New, Configurable Blue Screen of Death!
In a surprise announcement today, Microsoft President Steve Ballmer revealed that the Redmond-based company will allow computer resellers and end-users to customize the appearance of the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), the screen that displays when the Windows operating system crashes.
The move comes as the result of numerous focus groups and customer surveys done by Microsoft. Thousands of Microsoft customers were asked, “What do you spend the most time doing on your computer?”
A surprising number of respondents said, “Staring at a Blue Screen of Death.” At 54 percent, it was the top answer, beating the second place answer “Downloading XXXScans” by an easy 12 points.
“We immediately recognized this as a great opportunity for ourselves, our channel partners, and especially our customers,” explained the excited Ballmer to a room full of reporters.
Immense video displays were used to show images of the new customizable BSOD screen side-by-side with the older static version. Users can select from a collection of “BSOD Themes,” allowing them to instead have a Mauve Screen of Death or even a Paisley Screen of Death. Graphics and multimedia content can now be incorporated into the screen, making the BSOD the perfect conduit for delivering product information and entertainment to Windows users.
The BSOD is by far the most recognized feature of the Windows operating system, and as a result, Microsoft has historically insisted on total control over its look and feel. This recent
departure from that policy reflects Microsoft’s recognition of the Windows desktop itself as the “ultimate information portal.” By default, the new BSOD will be configured to show a random selection of Microsoft product information whenever the system crashes. Microsoft channel partners can negotiate with Microsoft for the right to customize the BSOD on systems they ship.
Major computer resellers such as Compaq, Gateway, and Dell are already lining up for premier placement on the new and improved BSOD.
Ballmer concluded by getting a dig in against the Open Source community. “This just goes to show that Microsoft continues to innovate at a much faster pace than open source. I have yet to see any evidence that GNU/Linux even has a BSOD, let alone a customizable one.”
You can find more stuff like this at Microsoft Jokes.
Thanks to Jason (TheLisnakFactor) for sharing this chestnut with me.
It’s been a late one. Time to call it a day.
22
Aug
09
Avatar Trailer
Thank you to everyone who sent this trailer to me. I appreciate the thought.
It looks like James Cameron is doing his once a decade movie effects revolution. He pops up, makes a movie, pushes the technology and standards up, then disappears for 10 more years.
I’m not sure what this movie is about, but it looks beautiful. Make sure you watch this one in HD.
21
Aug
09
Crazy Fountain in Japan
Today is getting away from me, so I am going to have to go with a quick one:
This is a fountain in a mall in Japan. It’s nuts.
It’s Thursday, so it must be time for another installment of “Thank You Al Gore Thursday.”
Dear Al,
Thank you for making RateMyPoo.com possible.
During my freshman year of college I was assigned a random roommate; we shall refer to him as Dr. Poop… because that’s what I called him to his face on a regular basis.
He was a huge fan of his own bowel-movements… and if that wasn’t odd enough… the bowel movements of others. He had names for the different types of poop he created. He was also lactose intolerant but refused to take Lactaid, or stop consuming copious quantities of milk. It was a tough year.
I couldn’t relate to Dr. Poop, but he was still able to find a community of like-minded individuals on the Internet. That place was RateMyPoo.com.
Thank you Al Gore for creating such an open and free network, so even people like Dr. Poop don’t have to feel alone in this big, judgmental world.
Thursday got away from me a bit, so check back midday tomorrow for your Friday TGW fix.
Those were tough times. I remember them well…
I was a young lad, no older than six when I first hit the Trail. There was no Internet to speak of, and all we had to eat were moldy Apple IIGS.
The Trail was really hard to survive without basic reading comprehension or survival skills. Why would anyone need anything but guns and ammo to survive a 2000 mile trek across untamed, unforgiving wilds?
There were so many ways to die on the Trail… but I always felt the worst for those poor souls who perished from cholera, diarrhea or dysentery. There were neither toilet, nor toilet paper on the Trail.
PS3
The rumors are true. The Sony PS3 will receive a $100 price drop beginning on September 1st. The new incarnation of the PS3 will also be considerably slimmer.
Xbox 360
It happens
The infamous “Red Ring of Death” happens… a lot.
I’ve been hit with it twice. I’m fairly certain my brother had to deal with it at least twice. The reports were that somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of Xbox 360 owners had to ship their console back to Microsoft, after it perished in a not so spectacular red glow.
A new reader survey by dying gaming magazine, Game Informer claims that 54.2 percent of Xbox 360s have failed. That’s a pretty staggering difference.
However, it doesn’t seem to matter because…
“Only 3.8 percent of 360 owners surveyed said they’d never buy an Xbox 360 again.”
Brand Loyalty
I’ve read a lot of posts that attribute this to brand loyalty (I had links before this nasty storm killed my power).
When my 360s failed, dealing with Microsoft was slow and painful. So, why I am one of the 96.2 percent of 360 owners who would buy another 360.
It's the games stupid!
Most of the Xbox 360 owners I know really like video games. They didn’t buy their console to exercise, and they didn’t get it to watch Blu -ray.
They bought it to game.
With the exception of a few titles, the Xbox 360 has the best game library available. It might not be as family friendly or gimmicky like the Wii, and it certainly isn’t as slick as the PS3, but my noisy, ugly, prone to failure 360 “has it where it counts kid…” just like the Millenium Falcon.
It has good games.
What better reason could you think of to buy a gaming console? No my friends, it’s not brand loyalty, it’s a brand that is currently meeting the needs of it’s user-base. That’s how Microsoft continues to dodge bullets with Red Ring of Death. It sure as hell isn’t great service or PR.
When God of War III comes out, the PS3 should call me. Until then, it doesn’t have the games to make me want to play it.
18
Aug
09
Highway Superman
Love it -
Thanks to G4’s Attack of the Show for sharing. It’s a geeky guilty pleasure on an evening when I am really out of it.
