Kitty double-take [Posted by Dave Haber on Wednesday, 07/08/09 7:17 am] [Permalink] [Tweet This]
This picture has probably already been around the internet a gazillion times, but since it's related to both of the things I do, The Beatles and Harry Potter, I wanted to share it with you here.
Second to last update: The Day TV Died [Posted by Dave Haber on Saturday, 06/27/09 11:05 am] [Permalink] [Related Posts] [Tweet This]
After two weeks, the continuous loop informational announcement, in English and Spanish, supplied by the National Association of Broadcasters, is now gone from all the stations that had been broadcasting it, except for KCBS channel 2.
As of this morning, every full-power TV station that had been on the air in Los Angeles on June 12 is totally off the air, except for channel 2.
So, now we're just waiting to see how long channel 2 stays on the air, after which analog TV will be truly dead in Los Angeles.
The end of analog TV has been taking place gradually all day today.
Here in Los Angeles, as of 6:00 PM, the analog transmissions of KABC channel 7, KCAL channel 9 and KCET channel 28 are totally off the air.
KCBS channel 2 and KNBC channel 4 are still on the air, but are showing continuous loops of an informational announcement, in English and Spanish, with help about the conversion. They are both showing the same program, supplied by the National Association of Broadcasters.
KTLA channel 5, KTTV channel 11 and KDOC channel 13 are currently still on the air, showing normal programming.
[Update: Posted 06/12/09 10:47 pm]
KTLA channel 5 analog just went off the air. KTLA veteran newsman Stan Chambers, who was at KTLA since they first went on the air, threw the ceremonial analog to digital switch.
Now only FOX channels 11 and 13 are left on the air in Los Angeles. They announced during the channel 11 10:00 news that both channels would be discontinuing their analog broadcasts at midnight.
[Update: Posted 06/12/09 11:05 pm]
I witnessed KTLA channel 5 power down at 10:46. Apparently, they have powered back up again. Their analog broadcast is now back on the air, showing the same N.A.B. informational broadcast as channels 2 and 4.
[Update: Posted 06/12/09 11:57 pm]
At approximately 11:56, while airing PSAs following the shows that had just completed, both KTTV channel 11 and KDOC channel 13 powered down in mid PSA.
All the commercial analog TV stations in Los Angeles are now officially off the air.
Analog TV will be a thing of the past on Saturday [Posted by Dave Haber on Wednesday, 06/10/09 1:28 pm] [Permalink] [Related Posts] [Tweet This]
The NTSC television system was adopted by the FCC on May 2, 1941, regularly-scheduled TV programs began to appear in 1947. The TV sets in use in 1941 could still view the TV we watch today. But not for long.
Now, 68 years later, on Friday, the last major TV stations in America that are still broadcasting in analog will turn those signals off and go all digital.
The FCC has given stations freedom to decide what time of day they will be shutting down analog. Many have opted to do it in the evening.
Many stations will not be broadcasting very strong digital signals on Friday, because those signals are coming from secondary antennas. And viewers need to force converter boxes and digital TV sets to "re-scan" the airwaves to find channels that will move to new frequencies Friday.
About 100 stations will keep an analog "night light" on, informing viewers of the need to switch to digital reception.
According to the Nielsen Co., about 3.1 million U.S. homes were unprepared to receive digital signals as of late last month.
Analog TV will be dead after Friday in the United States, but old TVs will continue to work in Canada and Mexico. However, digital TV is scheduled to replace analog in Canada on August 31, 2011, and in Mexico on December 31, 2021.
(Some information thanks to the Associated Press.)
The English language is dangerous in the hands of the humans that invented it, but watch out when computers get involved.
This is a headline that appeared this morning in Google News (as seen in an actual screen capture from the site):
The Urban Dictionary defines blow as: Verb - to blow - another, usually more severe term meaning to be bad or to suck.
What? Dhani thinks the new Beatles game is going to suck? Hasn't he been saying in the press lately that it's going to be great?
Unfortunately, Google News is compiled by computers, which sometimes have to automagically try to discern what the headline is of the story they're posting. Sometimes they get it wrong.
As you can see from another posting on Google News of the same story from another source, Dhani does like the game after all. It's the computer that blows...
A recent review, I don't remember where, for the new Star Trek movie, said, "Star Trek fans will love it and hate it." In my opinion, that review was 100% correct.
Don't get me wrong, the movie was great. It was the most fun I've had in a theater in a long time. The story is compelling, the effects are exciting, and the actors are great. There's only one problem. It wasn't Star Trek.
Yes, it was "a" Star Trek, but it wasn't "the" Star Trek.
Through the course of the movie, we see each of the characters from the Original Show that we know and love, and see how they all met and became ship-mates and friends. We see the birth of James Tiberius Kirk, and the childhoods of Jim Kirk and young Spock. When next we see them, Spock is an instructor at the Academy, and he turns out to be the author and programmer of the Kobayashi Maru test, the unbeatable test Kirk cheats on to beat. Kirk and McCoy are friends at the academy, along with Sulu and Uhura.
Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine as the new Spock and Captain Kirk
But wait a second, weren't Sulu and Uhura from a later Star Fleet class? Wasn't Jim Kirk already a commander when they joined the Enterprise? I'm not sure, but I am sure that McCoy never went to the academy. Remember, he didn't know what "dunsel" meant in the episode, "The Ultimate Computer".
It just gets worse. Not half-way through the film, the planet Vulcan is completely destroyed. We know Vulcan was not destroyed in the time of the Original Show, Kirk, Spock and McCoy visited there in "Amok Time".
Turns out, this is all explained very cleverly in the course of the new movie by the fact that what we are seeing is an "alternate timeline", caused by a bad-guy Romulan who's hacked-off at Spock and comes back from the future for revenge. He starts off by causing the death of Jim Kirk's dad right as Jim is born, and from then on, because the time-line has been changed, the world we are seeing has only cosmetic relationship to the world represented in the Original Show.
So, in the course of a very well written and excitingly presented film, we are left at the end with the realization that we have NOT seen a film about the beginnings of the characters we have known and loved. These characters in the film are carbon-copies from an alternate reality. We have not learned anything about the real characters at all.
The new Star Trek movie changed the rules. They made a great film, they beat the Kobayashi Maru, but only because they cheated. And in the end, it is us, the loyal Star Trek fans, who were cheated most of all.
This photo taken at a event was published in the tabloids this week. Mills is the one on the right. I think.
Photo courtesy of Starpulse News
In the meantime, while speaking recently at another event, this time in London , Ms. Mills reportedly said:
"Everyone thinks I'm nuts because I speak the truth and I'm very outspoken. The meat industry hates me, the dairy industry hates me, the Beatle industry hates me. So I have a lot of enemies out there."
Yeah, thanks for clearing that up, we were wondering why everyone thinks you're nuts. Especially those of us in the "Beatle industry"...
Watch that first step, it's a doozy [Posted by Dave Haber on Sunday, 04/19/09 9:36 am] [Permalink] [Tweet This]
I found these images on the official site for Hoobastank (I was following a link on Twitter, don't ask...)
According to the blog these pictures came from, this took place last February out back the Broadbent arena in Louisville, KY.
You might actually feel bad for the guy who could make this mistake and drive his new SUV off the end of the loading platform, UNTIL you see the situation from the driver's point of view:
Yes, as you can see, there is a sign that quite clearly warns DANGER DROP OFF, that the driver apparently did not notice...
Oops!
Quote of the Week: Phil Spector, one-trick pony [Posted by Dave Haber on Tuesday, 04/14/09 12:24 am] [Permalink] [Tweet This]
In 2002, Phil Spector's twenty-year-old daughter Nicole introduced him to the British rock band Starsailor, leading to a dinner date where drummer Ben Byrne had to perform the Heimlich maneuver on Phil when he choked on a morsel of food.
Perhaps as a mark of gratitude, Spector insisted on producing the group's second album, but the sessions ended acrimoniously and only two of his tracks were used.
"The great thing about Phil Spector, and also his weakness, is he's a kind of one-trick pony," said lead singer James Walsh.
"But his one trick is pretty impressive, like a dog that could talk."
(Info thanks to the BBC.)
No strings attached [Posted by Dave Haber on Friday, 03/13/09 12:52 am] [Permalink] [Tweet This]
I've been dying to blog about FreeCreditReport.com for ages, I hate their deceptive and confusing commercials.
Well, the FTC (Yes! The Federal Gummint!) has taken matters in their own hands and released two videos which parody the offensive commercials!
There is also a version which spoofs the commercial which takes place in the girlfriend's basement.
The FTC says these spots were not made to be run on TV, but rather hopes they will become viral on the net. Just doing my part...
