Links of the Day

Gary Coleman, Dead at 42The star died today of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 42. For me, he was the hilarious comedian on Different Strokes. For others he was the short guy suffering from nephritis that would pop up in the tabloids for some problem or other. All I know is he made me laugh for many years as a child and for that I alone I have nothing but fond memories of the guy. It’s a tragedy he died so young and lived a life so hard. R.I.P. Gary thanks for the laughter.

Woman Killed After Threatening a Census Worker
While not confirmed, I am betting this woman was an avid listener of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. It is the only way to explain why she pulled a gun on a census worker and later was dumb enough to wave it around at the police officers that came to investigate. Point guns at police plus refusal to put it down equals them defending themselves. The result is this woman lost her life because she didn't have the common sense to know when to back down or not listen to fools that claim to love the Constitution while attempting to thwart and endanger those carrying out its directive of a census every 10 years.

Internet Running out of IP Addresses
It seems the world is about 18 months away of running through the 4 billion IP addresses the IPv4 scheme allows for. A solution already exists, in the form of its replacement, IPv6, that allows for trillions of addresses but a majority of companies are not ready for that standard. The result will most likely be that companies seeking new addresses will be turned down until they update their equipment to handle the new protocol, something that will become a problem for smaller companies that may not necessarily be able to afford the added expense. At this point it really is too early to know exactly what will happen but for the average user not a whole lot.

Holmes 2, Superman Set Dates
Warner Bros. has made a few firm decisions on some of its franchises. It has announced that Sherlock Holmes 2 is set for a December 16th, 2011 release date with most of the key cast returning. The Flash is also on the verge of being greenlit while Superman has penciled in December 2012 for a release date with The Dark Knight's Chris Nolan producing.

Darth Vader Recording for TomTom
Amusing commercial that shows the difficulty in recording lines for the Star Wars TomTom device.


Stop Motion NES 8-Bit Montage
A creative video that uses household items like paper, desks, food and more to re-create classic NES games from the 80s like Contra, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Mega Man 2, Super Mario Bros and more.

Links of the Day

Google Pac-Man Cost $120 Million
Apparently the Google Pac-Man playable logo was enough of a hit that it is estimated that it cost $120 million in lost productivity. This is based on half a billion hits the site experienced on May 23rd and around 5 million hours of time at an estimated cost of $25 per hour (which seems high to me). The game itself remains available here.

Apple Officially the Goliath
Way back in 1984, Apple cultivated this image of the underdog company always trying to beat the big meanies of Microsoft, Dell, and other computer companies. Ever since then Apple fans have used this false view to defend pretty much anything the company does as the acts of a smaller company just trying to survive. As of Tuesday, Apple's market value is now greater than Microsoft, which to mean needs to forever kill its underdog status. It is now the Goliath it once railed against. See its iPhone and iPad policies for proof of how it wields its strength. I wish this would put an end to the excuse making from the Apple fan boys, but not holding my breath.

Alice to Cross $1 Billion
In unexpected box office news, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is expected to cross the $1 billion threshold by the end of the weekend. This is largely based on its foreign sales of $667 million but the $332M from the US didn't hurt. The movie becomes only the sixth to cross that threshold, joining Avatar, Titanic, Return of the King, Dead Man's Chest and The Dark Knight. The movie was released in March, becoming the first non-summer, non-holiday movie to cross the mark and possibly proving that not only can movies succeed when released outside of the usual crowded summer window but also thrive. I also think it proves that the US consumer is going to lose power in deciding what a success or failure is as the foreign sales continue to makes up a huge chunk of the gross for many movie releases. Now if only TV would take into consideration the overseas success of its programs when deciding what to keep or cancel.

Generic = Name Brand Drugs
Click the link to view a nice chart that breaks down why it’s silly to pay more for name brand drugs when the generic does the exact same thing. The reason? Thanks to "evil" regulation, generic drugs are required to be identical in dosage, safety, strength, quality and performance as its name brand counterpart. Basically it’s the same everything in less flashy packaging or expensive advertising campaigns at half the cost.

1979 vs. 2010 Oil Spill
Rachel Maddow broke out the way back machine last night to show off how little technology has changed in 30 years when it comes to dealing with ocean based oil leaks. The names change, such as "The Sombrero" becoming the "Top Hat" method but other than that, not a thing. For all the talk of "advancement" from BP and its defenders, it’s pretty clear the only tech applied to drilling is how to get more oil for less money, not preparing, preventing, or planning for when disaster strikes.

Fall 2010 Upfronts

This week all the major networks held their upfronts which is basically a press conference were they release their probable schedule for Fall 2010. This usually also includes official confirmations of cancelled shows, renewed shows, new shows and midseason shows. The schedules will often experience a few tweaks over the summer but usually most of it remains in place from what is revealed in the upfronts.

Links
Breakdown: ABC | CBS | NBC | Fox | CW
Fall TV Schedule chart
New Shows Trailers

Cancelled
ABC: Better Off Ted, The Deep End, Defying Gravity, Eastwick, FlashForward, The Forgotten, The Goode Family, Hank, Lost, Scrubs, Surviving Suburbia, Ugly Betty, Wifeswap

CBS: Accidentally on Purpose, As the World Turns, Cold Case, Gary Unmarried, Ghost Whisperer, Miami Medical, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Numbers, Rules of Engagement, Three Rivers

Fox: 24, Brothers, Dollhouse, Past Life, Sons of Tuscon, Til Death

NBC: Heroes, The Jay Leno Show, Law & Order, Mercy, Trauma

CW: The Beautiful Life, Blonde Charity Mafia, Fly Girls, High Society, Melrose Place

Renewals
ABC: America's Funniest home Videos, The Bachelor, Brothers & Sisters, Castle, Cougar Town, Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives, Extreme Makeover, Grey's Anatomy, The Middle, Modern Family, Private Practice, Supernanny, V, 20/20

CBS: 48 Hours, 60 Minutes, The Amazing Race, The Big Bang Theory, Criminal Minds, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, The Good Wife, How I Met Your Mother, Medium, The Mentalist, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, Rules of Engagement, Survivor, TWo and a Half Men, Undercover Boss

Fox: American Dad, American Idol, America's Most Wanted, Bones, The Cleveland Show, Cops, Family Guy, Fringe, Glee, The Good Guys, Hell's Kitchen, House, Human Target, Kitchen Nightmares, Lie To Me, The Simpsons, So You Think You Can Dance

NBC: 30 Rock, The Apprentice, The Biggest Loser, Chuck, Community, Dateline NBC, Friday Night Lights, Law & Order: SVU, The Marriage Ref, Minute to Win It, The Office, Parenthood, Parks and Recreation, Saturday Night Live, The Sing-Off, Sunday Night Football, Who Do You Think You Are

CW: 90210, America's Next Top Model, Gossip Girl, Life Unexpected, One Tree Hill, Smallville, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries

New Shows
ABC: Better Together, Body of Proof, Detroit 1-8-7, Happy Endings, Mr. Sunshine, My Generation, No Ordinary Family, Off the Map, The Whole Truth

CBS: Blue Bloods, The Defenders, Hawaii Five-O, Mike and Molly,&%%* My Dad Says, Criminal Minds Spin-Off

Fox: Bob's Burgers, Lonestar, Mixed Signals, Raising Hope, Ride-Along, Running Wilde, Terra Nova

NBC: The Cage, Chase, The Event, Friends with Benefits, Harry's Law, Law & Order: Los Angeles, Love Bites, Outlaw, Outsourced, The Paul Reiser Show, Perfect Couples, Undercovers

CW: Hellcats, Nikita

Sad to see some favorites go, especially Law & Order which isn't getting the send off it has earned, but that is typical of NBC. Of the new shows, only a few grab my interest. I intend to try out The Cape, Love Bites (because of Jordana Spiro and Becki Newton hotness), Perfect Couples (cause of Olivia Munn), Undercovers (spy show), No Ordinary Family (superhero fan), Body of Proof (cause of Dana Delany and Jeri Ryan), Terra Nova (Spielberg's involvement), Hawaii Five-O (pure curiosity), and Nikita (loved the original TV show). It looks like another year of recording one program while watching another.

Done with Survivor

For the umpteenth time in a row, revenge voting rules the day as the worst player in the game wins. Yesterday it was revealed that Sandra Diaz-Twine "beat" Parvati and Russell in the final three even though her grand plan was to do whatever they told her. Once again the "nice" coattailer wins the game instead of the person that made the necessary alliances, strategic moves and immunity wins to last in the game.

To me the voting should always be about who the strongest and smartest player is in the available group of finalists. Not who might have done someone wrong, hurt feelings, or just seem oh so nice. The criteria are simple - who played the game the best. Being able to coat tail to the end doesn’t meet those criteria to me.

I have no doubt that Russell is a world class #$@, but he played one of the best games (again) in the history of the game. Once again he was responsible for eliminating the majority of the players, he engaged in the chess match that cost 2/3 of the players their chances goodbye and often win the physical matches when most needed. People say he lost the "social" game...but my argument simply is the social game shouldn't matter.

Due to that "social" aspect of the game, the weakest seem to win the game every season. The "social" aspect basically means that while a player was inserting the knife they either convincingly made the argument of "I was following orders" or "hey we still buds right!” I would rather see blunt honestly of "I am not trying to pretend we are friends, just win the game." People would rather have their delusions of friendship instead of simply being beat by the better player.

Ironically we do get reality in this game. In real life, often those that get promoted are those that make the least waves, that follow orders, even bad ones. They focus more on making friends then making enemies and avoid responsibility for anything while pointing the fingers at others. In real life, we dislike these people and resent that the weakest win out in those circumstances. In Survivor, they get voted the winner of the game, again and again and again.

I watch shows like Survivor to escape from reality, not see it occur again in just a more exotic setting. It was a fun ride but when the players do nothing but disgust me with their revenge voting and mimicking the worst of reality, it is time to call it quits. Season 21 and more of Survivor might be interesting, but I am opting out. When they can find players don’t focus on their feelings more than who played best I might come back but sadly if that can’t happen in 10 years, it just proves that it is simply against human nature.

Links of the Day

Law & Order CancelledA television era comes to an end as NBC has canceled the show after 20 years. The decision is so sudden that it seems it will not even get a proper finale episode. The cause comes down to money as NBC wanted the show produced on a shoestring budget which the show’s creator and executive producer Dick Wolf. To add to the pain, yet another spin-off Law and Order: Los Angeles was ordered for the fall season. The show was on track to break the American record for longest running drama series but instead will tie Gunsmoke with 20 seasons. The weird thing is the show was still averaging 8 million viewers, a rather high number for NBC of late (I think their average is around 6 million).

Adobe Launches Anti-Apple Campaign
While Apple has couched the Flash debate as being something against a closed platform, at least Flash can be used or not used on any browser and users and developers have a choice in whether or not they use it as part of their websites. Not the case with Apple, which bans flash and requires a strict set of requirements if want your content to play on their devices such as the iPad and iPhone. Adobe, affected by this decision, has decided to launch a PR campaign to reverse Apple's decision. Doomed to fail but I like the idea. Apple has become the 1984 big brother. It makes me sad.

Firefly's Original Designs
That long lost, great TV shows that led to the great Serenity (but no sequels) might have looked a little different based on early designs. A new book, Firefly: Still Flying give a bunch of behind the scenes details about the show including a look at a design of the ship that wasn't used.

Call for Newsweek Boycott
In an example of looking for insults were none exist, some folks in Hollywood are calling for a boycott because an opinion piece dared to suggest that some gay actors cannot act convincingly in straight roles cites Glee's Jonathan Groff and Sean Hays. It should be noted the author is gay himself. This has been denounced as basically hate speech because of some of the terminology used like "queeny". It should also be noted that those leading this silly charge is Haye's costar Kristin Chenoweth and Glee's executive producer Ryan Murphy. Is the lesson supposed to be that a gay man cannot tell gay actors not to play straight roles if they cannot do it well? Or that gay actors should get a free pass if they don't perform up to snuff? I don't know, don't care, just found the whole thing to be silly. There are better battles to fight for homosexuals then whether a few actors should be allowed to play straight characters poorly without criticism. Full disclosure: I am a Newsweek subscriber.

Apple Forced Police Investigation
The documents on the investigation on the lost, then found, and then sold to Gawker Media iPhone gen 4 was forced by Apple as most suspected. The time table indicates it was a quest for revenge as the investigation was requested only AFTER Gawker posted the story and told Steve Jobs they would need to produce a document proving the phone was there before it would be returned to them. The claim, probably true, is the leak cost them millions in iPhone sales as now people are going to wait for the new device to purchase. The problem I have is the goal for Apple is justice but really to create an object lesson to the media and bloggers that essentially says "if you don't leak information per our instructions and at our time table, we will get you." This is a lesson Apple tries to push frequently with lawsuits for leaks, attempts to shutdown blogs, black listing certain reporters for speaking ill of the company and more. Basically they are engaging in Scientology 101 tactics but because coming from Apple, it is being defended. If it came from say Microsoft, these same people would be condemning them. No telling how this will shake out but I get the feeling no charges will be filed as the waters are so muddy (made worse when Apple accepted the return of the device) that even if charges were pressed any half decent lawyer can probably mount an effective defense.

Show Renewals, Lego, and iPhone

Not sure why, just have not found much online that really grabbed my attention to post about. Did get some new good news though in the form of renewals of a few programs I like another look at the next gen iPhone and a cool Lego set that will hit retail soon.

Lie to Me and Human Target Renewed
I thought both shows were toast considering Target's bad ratings and Lie to Me's six month hiatus and exile to summer but Fox see's the same potential I do with both shows getting a 13-episode season. Both will get new executive producers but whatever. If you are not watching these shows, you should be.

iPhone 4 Leaked Again
More images of the iPhone 4th gen have popped up. Where before it was all about its front facing camera and new body, now it’s all about the processor which is an Apple A4 with 256MB of RAM from Samsung. The A4 is the same processor used for the iPad. Click the link to view the gallery of images.

Olivia Munn's TV Show Picked Up
The hotness that is Olivia Munn from Attack of the Show might have that chance at stardom beyond the rather frequent (sadly non-nude) pictorials in magazines. NBC has picked up her comedy Perfect Couples for the new fall season. The show itself is the usual couples/relationship program that probably would normally be off my radar if not for her participation. Sadly the news probably means her days on AOTS are numbered.

Lego Shuttle Adventure Set
Below is a video with the designers of the Shuttle Adventure set that is being released in June to mark the end of the Shuttle program for NASA. The set costs $100 and more images of it can be found here.