Limes with Orange

By now I'm sure that most people, even those completely outside of the entertainment industry, are well aware of the WGA writer's strike. But there is cautious optimism in the air as news trickles out that talks between studios and writers will resume next week. For more about that news, check out WILDsound's Entertainment News. I certainly hope that they can sort things out before the strike affects Battlestar Galactica (dontcha love my priorities?). But if they don't, if the final season of Battlestar gets cut short *gulp*, I still support the strike. Why? Watch this video:

Labels: film, politics, tv, videos

I had planned on giving a blow-by-blow account of tonight's show, but let's skip right to the important stuff...

And the winner is: Will Bigham!

I have to admit that I'm thrilled. Not that Jason and Adam weren't both talented and deserving, but I was definitely rooting for Will. I just didn't want to type that last week because my predictions seem to be turning into jinxes lately. But now I can proclaim my bias proudly and celebrate loudly!

And for your viewing pleasure... "The Yes Men," one of Will's best films in my opinion:


The Yes Men - On the Lot
Uploaded by starmometerdotcom

Labels: film, tv, videos

There's a commercial from the UK for the new 30th anniversary Police CD posted on You Tube. It's a brief little medley of "Roxanne", "Don't Stand So Close to Me", "Message in a Bottle", "Walking on the Moon", "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" and "Every Breath You Take"... just enough to make me nostalgic and wonder why I haven't bought that CD set yet, since all of my Police albums are still on vinyl.


It's strange… I've been so busy discovering new music that it hasn't bothered me until recently that I don't have easy access to the music of my youth, the music that shaped my musical tastes. And, quite frankly, I credit The Police with the fact that I think my current musical tastes are pretty cool. Granted, we all probably think our musical tastes are cool, but before The Police I was listening to Rick Springfield and Olivia Newton John. So I think you'll admit that I'm light years beyond that kind of music now.

Part of me still wishes that I'd been able to make it to their recent concert in Edmonton (I don't know about the rest of the band, but Sting is ageing REALLY well). But I am definitely glad I didn't end up working that concert; I ain't 19 anymore and a concert teardown is not my idea of fun… but I've already covered that (see my previous Police post).

Oh, and did I mention that this CD set comes with a cool vintage poster of the Police? I think it will go quite nicely with the other movie and music memorabilia that lines my home office walls. (Or maybe I should act like a teenager again and put it on the ceiling in my bedroom. )

So excuse me while I use up that HMV gift certificate I got for Christmas and go buy this thing. (As to why that gift certificate is still kicking around, the answer is pretty simple… I usually buy everything online. But I don't feel like waiting on the mail for this one!)

Labels: music, videos

Last night, on Jon Stewart...

Labels: humour, jon stewart, politics, tv, videos

BURN NOTICE (bûrn nō'tĭs) n.

1. An official statement by one intelligence agency to other agencies, domestic or foreign, that an individual or group is unreliable.

I was just reading about USA Network's Burn Notice, a new TV series about a CIA operative who gets a burn notice. He doesn't know why, but he's determined to find out. Obviously, he won't be able to use his normal contacts so he'll have to get very creative. I decided to tap into my inner MacGyver and thought of an easy to make spy tool: a Hollow Book. Watch my "instructional" video:


And for better spy gadget ideas, watch Burn Notice!

Labels: cool stuff, tv, videos

Here's a novel idea… embed interesting news videos or articles on your blog and get paid. That's the opportunity that The News Room offers. Yep, not only is the content free but you could potentially make money, too. We're talking hundreds of thousands fully licensed news stories that can be published, or 'mashed', on your site. You can focus on local or international news, science, sports, entertainment… anything that suits your blog and your interests. I think it's great to have access to such a vast library of quality content. That way, if there's something going on in the world that I want to talk about, I can also include videos or news stories to back it up or fill in the blanks or whatever I need it to do.

What is 'mashing'? You might be asking. Well, it's really just a cool word for embedding. They provide the code, you then paste it into your blog and their player will stream the content on your site. (If you've ever embedded a YouTube video, you know the drill.) It’s easy, secure, legal, free and best of all, you make money from the advertising revenue when the news is viewed on your site. And did I mention it's legal? Don't worry, that's not short-term memory loss at work… I just reiterate that particular point because many sources of videos on the internet are somewhat more questionable in the legality department.

So how can you get paid for something so simple? Well, there is a wee bit of advertising with the content, but in this day and age we're all used to the occassional ad, right? If you're still on the fence, just watch for yourself:

Labels: cool sites, news, videos

The Young Liberals have put together a new advertising campaign that spoofs the Mac/PC commercials. It's really quite clever. Obviously the production value isn't quite as high since the Young Liberals don't have the kind of budget that Apple can throw at a commercial, but I think they're still pretty fun to watch. This one's called "Branding":


The also have one on "Global Warming" and one called "Cross Dressing." If you enjoy this one, I think you'll get a kick out of the others, too. So check 'em out!

Labels: humour, politics, videos

Well I finally discovered who does that current dance song that samples "Tainted Love." The song is called "S.O.S." (not to be confused with Abba's "S.O.S." or The Police's "Message in a Bottle" which has S.O.S. in the chorus), the artist is Rihanna.

I went to Amazon.com to check her out further and discovered that she also sang "Pon De Replay," which is a song that I find irresistable to dance to. And it turns out that she's got a new album coming out next month: "Good Girl Gone Bad." Check out her video for "Umbrella," the first single off the album:

Labels: music, videos

Having just entered a contest to win an iPhone (see my previous post), I think it's an interesting coincidence that I've just now landed on a website that talks about cool iPod software. Namely the iPod Video Converter software, which is a great tool to convert all kinds videos and DVDs into iPod video with a few mouse clicks. Following a few links, I discovered that there's also a DVD to iPhone Converter available. So if I happen to win that iPhone, I'm good to go!

Labels: cool stuff, film, videos

Okay, I've finally managed to pull a clip of Chief Tyrol's gears & levers speech from Battlestar Galactica. Compare it with the clip of Mario Savio's original speech in my Mario Savio post. And you can also compare the texts and contexts in my Gears & Levers post. Hope you find these as fascinating as I do!

Labels: battlestar galactica, politics, tv, videos

One of the more popular posts on my blog is "The Gears & The Levers" where I compare Chief Tyrol's union speech on Battlestar Galactica with the famous Mario Savio "Gears & Levers" speech during the freedom of speech movement at Berkeley during the sixties. (That post is also one of my personal favourites!)

Well, I've finally figured out a way to embed footage of Mario's original speech. When I find a way to pull the Chief's big scene out of BSG, I'll add that to this post, too.




Addendum 5.16.07: You can now see Chief Tyrol's version in my Watch BSG's Gears & Levers Speech post.

Labels: battlestar galactica, politics, videos

Here's a website with a very cool idea. You can trade your DVDs, music CDs, games, books and audiobooks all in one place. It's called Hitflip UK and, as the name implies, is currently only in the UK. But they started in Germany and it looks as though they're planning on expanding into the States, so I'm crossing my fingers that they'll end up in Canada eventually (hopefully they'll post these kinds of updates on their blog).

I love the idea of being able to swap DVDs that I've grown tired of (doesn't happen very often) or have duplicates of (which is somewhat more common) or that were gifts from people who didn't check my Amazon.com wish list (probably the most common reason I would swap).

*a few moments pass as I browse the site... *

Okay, now I'm desperate. I just did a search and seasons 1-5 of "Drop the Dead Donkey" are available to swap! I know the site is just for residents of the UK and I know the DVDs would be the wrong format anyway, but I want that show!!!!

*takes deep breath*

Okay, I've calmed down now. But I still want that TV show. I'll just have to figure out another way to get it. And I will. I'm quite determined that I will.

Labels: books and literature, cool sites, film, games, music, tv, videos

Blue October performed on Conan last night... and I missed it! I was working late into the night on a grant report that's due... well... now. Unfortunately, Conan doesn't seem to provide videos (he could learn a thing or two from Jon Stewart), nor has anyone uploaded it to YouTube yet. But some kind soul on MySpace has the video... many thanks to Dory. So here's Blue October on Conan singing "She's My Ride Home":

Blue October on Conan O'Brien

Labels: music, tv, videos

I was over at a Vonage information site, somewhat tempted by the sign up offers for Vonage phone service. I didn't realize initially that this site is actually an independent support site, but that would explain why it's not as corporate looking and why it allows user comments and such. (Though I could do without the horizontal scrolling.)

But the very best part of this site? The forum community where you can actually watch the highly entertaining Vonage commercials!

Labels: odds and ends, videos

Watch Jon Stewart moderate this priceless "debate" between present day Bush and first term Bush. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry... laughter won:

Labels: bush bashing, jon stewart, videos

Did you know that there's a Bollywood version of YouTube? It's actually pretty interesting. I watched someone's homemade wedding video put together from still photos... not normally something I would be interested in even if it was a member of my own family (nothing against my family, just the way these homemade projects often turn out). Anyway, I kept watching because it had that Bollywood musical music playing and I could almost imagine the people in the photos dancing in the big celebratory finale. Curious? Why don't you go check out some Bollywood Videos for yourself!

Labels: cool sites, videos

I've discovered a cool new site called Fliptrack that let's you "put your life to music." The concept? Use your photos, add music from their library and voila! You have a Fliptrack Music Slideshow that you can share with the world.

I would definitely like to give this a try myself, but for the moment I'm just enjoying the ones that are posted. There's a very moving one called "In Memory of Martin Luther King," a really cute one called "Cats Don't Like Mondays" set to—you guessed it—the Boomtown Rats' "I Don't Like Mondays," but I've opted to embed one that is more beautifully artistic, entitled "I'm my only enemy":

Doesn't it make you want to go and make your own? So what are you waiting for?

Labels: cool sites, music, videos

Watch two romantic otters holding paws (my favourite bit is near the end, when they come back together... so cute):

Labels: animals, cute, videos

Let me start off by saying: yes, I love YouTube. But there are sooo many videos on that site that you have to watch a lot of crap before you find those nuggets of gold. (Holy mixed metaphor, Batman!) But there's this new video site that collects the best cool video clips from a whole bunch of different video sites around the world. Like this video of "Bush in John the Revelator." Now that's pretty... cool!

Labels: bush bashing, cool sites, videos

I just found this on You Tube: "Mind Control Made Easy." (The Stewie reference in the title just seemed like a natural fit, dontcha think?) It's a brilliant "instructional video" about how to start a cult. Cuz you never know when you might need one.

Labels: humour, videos, weird stuff