This morning, while browsing Amazon.com, I was annoyed (not for the first time) that Amazon didn’t have a link to add a book to your Shelfari.com shelf. Amazon has owned Shelfari.com for almost 3 years now, and every shelfari book page has links to but the book on Amazon.com, so this isn’t an unreasonable request.

My first thought was to search userscripts.org to see if there was already a script to do this and sure enough, there was. This is the way these things go. Luckily for me, it was broken and had been abandoned 4 years ago, so I got to do some coding!

If you don’t want to read all the blah-blah, you can get the script at userscripts.org or right here (direct install link).

Before I go any further, if you don’t know what greasemonkey is, crawl out from under that rock and scroll to the bottom of this page (and before you Chrome users start a Firefox flame-war, Chrome installs greasemonkey scripts natively!). And if you don’t know what Shelfari.com is, check out my short post about it.

The broken script, by “mathias”, puts the shelfari.com logo above the product image, and clicking on it links you to a shelfari search page for that book. I actually only had one small fix needed to make it work again. He was pulling the ISBN off the image url, which Amazon stopped doing a while ago. I updated it to use the ASIN embedded in every product page (as a hidden field).

After making the script work again, I noticed it was adding the link to every product detail page, whether it be a book, kindle, or cutlery set! That isn’t very useful within the scope of this script, so I added checks to make sure it only displayed the logo/link on book, ebook, and audiobook pages.

Clicking the Shelfari link will bring you to the book's shelfari.com page

This page comes up after clicking the link on amazon.com

Now, for those of you who don’t know what greasemonkey is you should definitely get familiar with it, as it is one of the coolest ways to customize websites to your liking. Greasemonkey scripts are small pieces of code that let you tweak websites exactly to your liking, sometimes adding tons of functionality. Its a Firefox add-on, and once installed you can install any greasemonkey script just by clicking on it, without reloading your browser. If you prefer Google’s Chrome browser, it installs greasemonkey scripts natively with no add-ons necessary!

I only did a small bit of work on this script, improving on another author’s work (as all good programmers should), but I think it’s immensely useful to shelfari users so I wanted to make it’s presence known. The next time some blog/article links you to an amazon page for a book and you want to add it to your “want to read” shelf, it’s only a click away!

There’s a good article at LibraryThing about ebooks, ownership rights, and priracy.  The article tries to cover a bit too much at once, but it did make me think about the effect of ebook piracy and how to combat it. While the author makes a good point with the figures from the music industry, you must keep in mind that music is very different from books in that whether you get music from a CD or digital, it is always consumed the same–listened to with headphones or speakers. Books on the other hand, until the last 20 or so years, were always read from paper. E-paper has reduced the differences between printed and electronic words, but reading, holding, and displaying paper books is still vastly different from doing so on an e-reader. I think these differences are important to increasing printed and electronic book sales.

Perhaps I’m oversimplifying, but I think one way to combat this downward spiral is to put much more emphasis on the value and worth that physical books have over ebooks. Sure one can build a digital library of thousands of books, and have them all accessible on one’s kindle, but where is thematerial beauty of that? The individuality of trade paperbacks and hardcovers? The beautiful rows of shelves lined with dusty tomes? That is what needs to be emphasized when battling ebook piracy.

The other aspect to battling piracy is to keep ebook prices low enough that someone who does prefer ebooks will buy rather than steal. This encourages would-be piraters to buy, and still makes money by encouraging ebook sales. Dropping the price also sends the message that ebooks have less value than their print counterparts, so ebooks are less likely to overtake printed books.

What is your take on all this? I’d love feedback!

When I first read this, about 2 minutes ago, I shouted “Oh my good f***!” in a room full of strangers:

Boondock Saints 2 is officially filming, right now, in Toronto.

Get more info plus a couple of production diaries over at Geeks of Doom (the above link).

I found Shelfari a little over two years ago. Back then it was in private beta I believe, and it had the usual kinks and errors to work out, but it was even then a well done and well integrated website. Its grown into a very beautiful site with a great community of friendly interesting readers with some really nice discussion groups.

A sampling from my shelf
I’ll leave the formal reviews to other sites, and suffice it to say that Shelfari has some really neat features like everyone having their own interactive bookshelf to display and personally track the books they own, have read, want to read, etc. When I first got on I entered in every book in my apartment, and although I am far from having every book I’ve ever read in there, I sure as heck have most of them. If you ever want to buy me a book but are unsure of whether I already own it, just check my shelf!

I was reading reviews of some Robert A. Heinlein novels, one of my all-time favorite authors, and I came across a really short, unintellectual, un-cited review of Stranger in a Strange Land that I should have ignored but made me fear others would take it seriously, so I decided to write my own. You can search for my review on the book’s page, but I figured it’d be a lot easier if I just reproduce it below. I certainly won’t be offended if you don’t read it, but if you’ve ever wondered about the book, you may find it useful (BTW: You’ll notice I referenced the passage I quoted in the Garfield Minus Garfield post, because it really is one of my favorites). I hope I did it justice and if you agree or disagree or if my memory just plain sucks, please do let me know in the comments or email (euicho at euicho dot com).

Stranger in a Strange Land, A Review

Thomas S.E. Gagnon

Stranger in a Strange Land is a story I hold quite fond in my heart. This novel taught me a lot about life and human nature. Some say it was Robert Heinlein’s way of coming to terms with what Hubbard was doing at the time, while others think it’s just a dated and closed minded book. I find it to be an insightful comment on being human and dealing with all that entails, as well as challenging our own set ways of thought. I am by no means a subscriber to the philosophy of “free love” that finds its way into this novel, but I still absolutely loved this book.

If you’re not sure what this story is about, the short, short synopsis is that it’s about a human male, raised as a martian, coming to earth and learning how to be human, and about human beliefs vs. the martian ones he grew up with. However that description is unjustly simplified–it is really so much more than that. Stranger in a Strange Land challenges common views on organized religion, sexuality, and family structure. Although written by a SF grandmaster, and dealing with an “alien”, the story is set on Earth and deals strongly with character development versus cheap techno-thrills, so if you’re not really into SF this book should still strongly appeal to you.

Now, as I’ve read some of the other reviews on here, I feel a need to defend this novel against attacks. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, including those who hated this novel, and what follows is my own.

Some people have claimed Stranger is a racist and/or misogynistic work. I just didn’t see either of those. I think of myself as very supportive of equality of men and women of all races, and even philogyny to some extent, for all that woman do for us, and I felt this book exalted women. Recall how smart and dynamic Jubal’s assistants were, for example. They all had a firecracker-quick wit and never buckled under pressure. They did whatever their desire was and only obeyed their boss Jubal, because they where his employees, and they cared for him as a father figure. I found no objectification or sexism.

I agree that there is an overabundance of sex in this novel. But I am quite aware of the double standard in society where promiscuous men are applauded while women are called “slutty”. In Stranger in a Strange Land, some of the women are quite promiscuous, and yet are never judged, but seen as loving, and never forced by the men in the novel to do so. As I said, I don’t feel women should be treated as objects by any means, but this book shows a woman can have sex with whoever she pleases and it is nobody’s right to judge. I cannot find the misogyny in that. Heinlein wrote several novels that portray how strong and equal to if not better than men, that women are. See Friday for one example.

As for the terrible comment Jill makes about rape in one passage, I think that shows how wrong Jill’s way of thinking was at the time, and is not to be taken as Heinlein’s belief. If an author writes about how a Nazi character thinks “Jews are evil”, that does NOT mean the author believes this. He is simply exposing the character’s own terribly wrong ideology. Whether these are the author’s views, speaking through his/her characters, or not, cannot be judged by reading their work of fiction. This is likewise with Jill’s comments about gay men, whom she calls “poor in-betweeners”.

As for racism in this novel, all I can say is that I cannot find any! Some of Heinlein’s novels do sadly have racist elements, like The Day After Tomorrow (which reflects the common thinking at the time I’m afraid), but Stranger in a Strange Land is not one of them! See Ender’s Game if you want a REAL racist pile of… ugh, let’s not get me started on that.

One Caveat: If you are a Christian, you may find this book blasphemous or at the least quite critical of Christianity toward the last half of the story, but even many Christian friends say they really enjoyed it by treating it as just a story and its not an attack on their own beliefs. That said, if you do not take kindly to criticism of your belief system, you may want to avoid this one.

The characters in Stranger in a Strange Land are both well developed and intriguing, and you don’t have to subscribe to any of the ideals outlined in this book in order to benefit from the sparking off of a good deal of deep thought and introspection. I recommend this book to any adult that wishes to broaden their exposure to philosophical ideas or just read a great book.

I’d like to, quit typically, end this review with a quote from the book–One that makes me tear up every time I read it:

I’ve found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts so much… because it’s the only thing that’ll make it stop hurting. -Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land-

By the way, euicho.com is currently not section 508 compliant, but it will be very shortly. Its something I’ve been meaning to take care of. In the meantime, at least it does render very nicely in lynx.

You know when you’re listening to a song and hear a particularly powerful lyric? That verse or phrase that really stirs you or give you goosebumps? Maybe it’s the words, or maybe it’s just the power with which the singer delivers it. I know I’ve a couple of those favorite lines, probably a lot more than a couple. At any rate, I’d love to hear lyrics that all of you readers (yeah all four of you) particularly love. I’ll start with a couple of mine I’ve run across just recently. Sometimes they don’t pertain to me personally in any way, sometimes they do, but they’re always powerful, beautiful, or tragic, and I love hearing them. For the full effect you really have to listen to the song however, so I’ll provide audiko.net links with them:

The first is from the song Remembering Sunday by All Time Low, off the album “So Wrong It’s Right”, with my favorite part being guest-sung by Juliet Simms from Automatic LoveLetter. Its a stirring song in general, and this part in particular, being the climax of the song, is very moving in both its lyrical content and the way Juliet sings it. The meaning of this song is greatly debated, but ultimately I think its up to the individual to decide what it means to them.

Listen along!

I’m not coming back (Forgive me), I’ve done something so terrible I’m terrified to speak (I’m not calling, I’m not calling) but you’d expect that from me.
I’m mixed up, I’ll be blunt (You’re driving me crazy).
Now the rain is just washing you out of my hair, and out of my mind.
Keeping an eye on the world from so many thousands of feet off the ground.
I’m over you now, I’m at home in the clouds, towering over your head.

For me it’s a very sad verse about a girl that feels she needs to leave the one she loves. This passage starts at 3:22 on the album version. You can also ask the oracle for videos if you want to see it performed live, which I of course recommend you do.

The next passage that made me decide to write this entry is a band I know Doody is very fond of, called Jimmy Eat World. These guys consistently write amazing songs, and have done so for the last 15 years. I could cite many of their songs that have great lyrics, but the most recent one for me is Electable (Give It Up). This one is off their new album, which I was listening to while doing some housework when all of a sudden I stopped and though “Shit thats a cool part!”.

Listen along!

Not in my name, you don’t speak for me.
I am my voice, and I want to scream.
You want my air, you want my life.
I act as one, but I’m not alone.

The song goes into a breakdown just before Jim Adkins starts singing this verse, and it really adds something powerful to his words. I find this part defiant, frustrated, and empowering all at the same time. I picture him screaming this at a picture of our corrupt president.

So, those are a couple of my recent favs. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Do me a favor and comment to let me know what songs and lyrics you guys have come across. I’d love to hear em!

I think Celemony has just changed digital audio manipulation forever. Watch this video, its so awesome! They’ve created what they call “Direct Note Access”, which i call arpeggiation, or breaking a chord down to its individual notes. This may seem simple but was never possible before! We’ve always wanted it, but to my knowledge nobody had yet done it (or at least not in a consumer product with a simple GUI to boot!).

Today we lost the last of the great 3 masters of science fiction. Arthur C. Clarke passed away at 1:30am local time in Sri Lanka, where he’d lived for over 50 years, of breathing complications. He was 90 years old.

Pay your respects to this science fiction (and science fact) legend by re-reading your favorite novel of his. If you’ve never read him, do yourself a favor and try any of his extensive bibliography.

There is a good semi-obit at BBC News, and you can learn more about this amazing man at his wikipedia article.

With the loss of the great Gary Gygax just two short weeks ago, this is truly a sad month for us geeks.

Godspeed you, Sir Arthur C. Clarke.

Damn I’ve been busy. I’m taking 18 credits this semester in an attempt to finish up my history minor and get my second degree done with. I’ve been neglecting the Internet Scrabble Club, which is sad because I do enjoy my scrabble. I’m going to play some tonight though. I also haven’t been climbing in a VERY long time and that makes me quite sad, so I’ll be doing that more in the very near future.

I went up home last weekend to visit with the guys. I didn’t get up there until Saturday evening and left Sunday afternoon, but I still had an awesome time. I’m bummed that I didn’t get a chance to see Jalbey, but I’ll be back up soon.

I hung out with Doody and Jason most of the time… well actually the whole time except for waking my Dad up at 5am making chinese food and eating supper with Amme’s mom and cousin. It was pretty awesome just catching up with them and hanging out. Jason found copies of *almost* all of the season 2 TMWS episodes from back in 2000, and then we found a bunch of intros and skits too! We’re pretty stoked to go through them and sample some funny moments to play in the new season. To celebrate, we called B on google talk and had a show with us all sitting around the old mixer board just like old times. We missed Jalbey though, and the rest of the guys. We’ll get anyone who wants to be into the next shows though. We’ve also revised our recording procedure so that shows will be up within 30 minutes of their recording, which should be every Thursday night.

We’re also going to revamp the TMWS website, as we’re not really “feeling it”, and we’ve set up a youtube account to post videos of our hillarious antics and such. For being a spontanious show with no outline, it came out pretty funny. Download it here, or click the iTunes link on that page to subscribe to the podcast. There is also a URL you can enter into any other podcatcher program you may use. Be warned, however, that this show is VERY explicit, and uses the C-word. Yeah, THAT C-word. Sorry Grammy.

Today I was 3 computers deep into remote desktop (RD to one computer, then use that one to get to another, etc). Navigate through that sort of setup long enough, and you start to question what is real, or at least what is actually the machine you are physically sitting in front of. Quite existential, that.

At any rate, on the drive to work today I was doing a little casual geo-wardriving with my new bluetooth GPS receiver and netstumbler and I came across 2 access points within about 100 yards of one another that I found very interesting. They had two distinct names that told me a lot about the persons that set them up.

The first AP was secured and named “Da Internets”. This one made me literally LOL, but beyond that, shows that the user was familiar with the silly internet jargon we love to use (the internets, the intarwebs, the interwobbles…) and was therefore smart enough to know they should secure their wireless to prevent theft of their personal information. That, and they probably are stingy about bandwidth usage.

The second AP was unsecured and named “FREE WIRELESS HERE!” There are actually at least 2 types of people that could have set this up. The first would be a generous person who embraces the movement to provide a network of open wireless across America, and knows to not send private info across their wireless, using a wired connection instead. The second type of person is someone dumb enough to not change the DEFAULT PASSWORD for their access point and also not secure their AP. Then some 31337 h4X0r with the default password list saved on his/her laptop connected to the open AP, saw it had a default SSID of “linksys” or “default” or “belkin” and went to 192.168.1.1 and proceeded to log in with the default password and change the SSID if they were lucky, and infect their computers with backdoors or trojans or sniffed their traffic if they were quite unlucky.

Moral of the story: Be generous or be stingy, I don’t care. But please secure your AP’s admin account!

If you’re interested, here are some of the APs I hit before getting onto the interstate last night on the drive home. Red nodes are secure, green are unsecure, and the size of the node is how close to it I was when I picked it up. If I drove around I could pinpoint an individual AP, but as it is the locations are where I was when I first got the signal.

In other news, I’m excited for what may be announced at Mac World next week. Steve Jobs’ keynote, or “Stevenote” is 90 minutes long, and new laptops and a video-rental area in the iTunes Store is not enough to cover that! Or is it? Perhaps he will talk about those for 15-30 minutes, rip his shirt-mic off, and say “Thats it bitches! Keep buying iPhones! BAAAAH! BAAAH! and throw a smoke bomb, cackling as the vapor disperses leaving and empty stage. We’ll see.

Oh, speaking of DRM free, apparently Amazon is going to start selling Sony mp3s without DRM! Pretty cool stuff if you ask me. This basically us breaking the dinosaur record lable’s balls until they’re forced to concede un-copy-protected music so we’ll start buying it instead of stealing it. Kudos to them, despite their monetary motives, and hopefully it will last.

Remember, Artists wont go hungry if you don’t buy their albums. Labels give them next to nothing for their music, and many artists have spoken up about it (Trent Reznor, Courtney Love, NOFX, to name just a few). Because of this, I’m much more likely to pay for a Fat Wrech Chords or Fueled by Ramen album than I am a Sony or RCA one.

Artists go hungry when you don’t go to their shows and don’t buy their merch. Support your favorite bands by going to some shows and buying t-shirts! You may even fall in love with the opening band you hadn’t really heard of and thus further your own happiness.

His new show, Dollhouse, stars Eliza Dushku, known to fans of Buffy and Angel for her character “Faith”, known to most teenage girls from the movie Bring It On, and known to most boys by word of mouth (^_·) .

Rather than rehash the explanation of the series, I’ll just quote Fox’s description, which is also quoted at eonline.com:

Echo (Eliza Dushku) [is] a young woman who is literally everybody’s fantasy. She is one of a group of men and women who can be imprinted with personality packages, including memories, skills, language—even muscle memory—for different assignments. The assignments can be romantic, adventurous, outlandish, uplifting, sexual and/or very illegal. When not imprinted with a personality package, Echo and the others are basically mind-wiped, living like children in a futuristic dorm/lab dubbed the Dollhouse, with no memory of their assignments—or of much else. The show revolves around the childlike Echo’s burgeoning self-awareness, and her desire to know who she was before, a desire that begins to seep into her various imprinted personalities and puts her in danger both in the field and in the closely monitored confines of the Dollhouse.

It sounds like a really cool concept. Reminiscent of The Clonus Horror/The Island. I’m really excited to start watching. Spread the word so we can keep Fox from killing Joss’ work!

Read more on E!

Pushing Daisies has a very interesting plot in that lead character Ned, played by Lee Pace, can bring the dead back to life. When he touches a corpse, the person springs to life. When he touches them again, they go back to being dead. There is a caviate however. If he leaves a formerly-dead person alive more than 60 seconds, someone in their proximity dies instead. Quite the double-edged sword, that.

Ned grew up to be a pie baker, due to series of events one learns in the first episode, but puts his extraordinary talent to work by reviving the murdered to find their killers, and collecting the reward (split with his P.I. partner played by Chi McBride).

Don’t be fooled, friends, for this isn’t just another tired TV show with a flashy plot! I don’t even know where to start with how great this show is. There is a strong undercurrent of a star-crossed lovers story in at least the first episode that had me tearing up and awwww-ing. The rest of the time I was laughing or just terribly entertained.

The characters are both endearing and wonderfully acted with Anna Friel playing Ned’s love interest Charlotte Charles, and Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene (who played Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors) playing her neurotic aunts (I shouted in delight when I saw Ellen).

This show has amazing visuial styling that looks as if tim burton himself designed the sets. There is a definate flavor of excentricity and morbid flare, and you can definately see the Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls in the overall feeling of the show.

As if all of this just was not enough, actor/singer/vocal worker Jim Dale MBE, the voice of the U.S. Harry Potter Audio books, does the narration in that wonderfully musing and sing-song tone. He adds a fairy-tail like quality to the whole show, and if you think I’m overstating how good he is, he’s won a Grammy Award, 4 Grammy nominations, and 7 freakin’ Audie Awards!

I may seem like an overanxious promoter of this new series, but I really have just fallen in love with this show and cannot wait to see the next episode. Please do give it a watch.

Pushing Daisies airs Wednesday nights at 8e/7c on ABC in the US, and on CTV Canada and ITV1 in the UK.

EW.com by way of HPANA.com

Jo Rowling set out a sumptuous seven-course meal, carefully prepared, beautifully cooked, and lovingly served out. The kids and adults who fell in love with the series (I among them) savored every mouthful, from the appetizer (Sorcerer’s Stone) to the dessert (the gorgeous epilogue of Deathly Hallows). Most reviewers, on the other hand, bolted everything down, then obligingly puked it back up half-digested on the book pages of their respective newspapers.

And because of that, very few mainstream writers, from Salon to The New York Times, have really stopped to consider what Ms. Rowling has wrought, where it came from, or what it may mean for the future. The blogs, by and large, haven’t been much better. They seem to care about who lives, who dies, and who’s tattling. Beyond that, it’s all pretty much duh.

Time to listen to the audiobook!

I’m actually comparing Jim Dale vs. Stephen Fry on this by listening to the first chapter of both versions.
I prefer the UK version of the books because they have the UK phrases/words that are dumbed down for the US releases, so I tend to listen to the Stephen Fry (UK) version. Jo also says her children like Stephen Fry’s version.

However, I have listened to a couple of the books in Jim Dale versions, and they are also very well done; He’s actually won awards for them. The only issue besides it being the US text is that some say Dale over-acts the characters, taking out some room for imagination, and getting a little hokey. So, if you’re trying to decide which version to listen to, it comes down which of the following are more important:

1. Do you prefer the UK (Fry), or US (Dale) version of the text?
2. Do you want the whole book acted out in a grandiose way (Dale), or would you rather the book read to you with a more mature yet equally dynamically ranged tone (Fry)? [Keep in mind they both use unique voices for each character so that shouldn't affect your decision.]

They both have their merits, and I’ll admit I’ve listened to PS and CoS in both Fry and Dale versions, and as I said, both were very good, but I have grown acustomed to Stephen Fry’s style and as such prefer to listen to the UK audiobook.

Going Out on a Limb

I’ve decided that before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes out and my pre-order copy arrives (2 days, 12 hrs and counting!), I should go on the record about a couple of theories I have. A lot has been hashed out on the hp-lexicon.org and various other forums and sites, so I’ll just state a couple of things that havn’t been beaten to death (besides the whole Snape good/evil debate).

The Theories

1. R.A.B. is more important than most everyone thinks.
2. Petunia knows much more than she lets on, and is more than just an oppressive, mean muggle.
3. The prophecy talks about 3 people.

The Reasoning

PRE-book-7 Spoilers follow!!!

#1: I am fairly sure that the ‘R.A.B.’ that took the horcrux Harry and Dumbledore were trying to obtain (on the night Dumbledore died) was Regulus Black, Sirius’ brother. This isn’t a big leap, but I feel it will somehow play an important role in Deathly Hallows. Perhaps his taking the horcrux was merely a last minute act of goodness before Voldemort killed him for betrayal, but I think there is more to it than that. Either way, Jo is (or was in 2005) quite excited abou the roll R.A.B. plays in the last book.

#2: My point about Petunia is based mostly on certain reactions (things that she says/does) she has throughout the books and the fact that Jo has outright Petunia knows more than she lets on.

#3: The final point is subtle but I feel will be extremely important in the final novel. Most people believe the prophecy given by Sibyll Trelawney means Harry must kill Voldemort, or Voldemort must kill Harry, but I believe there is much more to it. Here is the full prophecy:

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches … Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives … The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…

Now I’m sure your thinking “Tom, this clearly references only two people, The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord, and the Dark Lord himself.” However, after reading this over and over, as Jo has stated that she worded the prophecy very specifically, I realized that if we make “the other” a person, ie: The Other, then we have:

And either must die at the hand of The Other for neither can live while The Other survives.

This gives the prophecy a whole new piece of information. It now seems to say there is a third person who will be pivotal in the Harry-Voldemort destiny. This may still be Neville, or Snape, or RVB (who may or may not be Regulus), or this may be total codswallop formed from an over-active imagination! Whatever the actual truth, we will know in just a couple of days, and I humbly submit my theories to you on the very very slim chance that they are correct or at the least entertaining.

Snape theories

Update:
You know what? I have no idea whether or not Snape is evil. I think Dumbledore was very very intelligent, but he also let his emotions lead him, so I’m totally on the fence on this one. We’ll see…

Other points of interest in Deathly Hallows

• We will likely find out (in a round-about way) what Dumbledore’s ultimate desire and fear were, and also a LOT more about Dumbledore in general, as Jo could not tell us in this interview. His family is also of importance
• We’ve not seen the last of Dolores Umbridge as per the same interview.
• There is some important fact about Grindelwald that Jo can’t discuss.
• The fact that Voldemort used Harry’s blood to regain his human form will end up costing him dearly in the end
• It is likely that someone else was present in Godric’s Hollow on the night Harry’s Parents died.
• And lastly, You’ll probably never forgive yourself if you skip to the end of the book before reading it all the way through. so DON’T DO IT!

What do you all have for theories?

You can see all his videos on his user page.

Johnny AKA John Nells also has some great videos on youtube, including a bunch of amazing covers. One of the best Pumpkins covers on youtube is his one of Today, but all of them are really great. Go check them out on his user page. He also has a project called The Blue Field Entoptic Phenomenon. Check it out on myspace!

This February, in what was most definitely a classic hype-producing move, Steve Jobs posted his “Thoughts on Music” essay for all the internet to jabber about. Then in April Apple and EMI announced iTunes would soon be offering tracks to download sans-DRM. Now at last, a giant step forwards in the war against lame copy-protection arrives: iTunes Plus.

iTunes Plus is the new catalog of EMI tracks, AAC 256kbps encoded, now available for download at a slightly increased $1.39 a track, or the same old 9.99 an album (you should get the album anyways for the artists’ sake, or more importantly go to their concerts and buy their merch!).

Another very cool addition is the ability to upgrade already-purchased DRM songs to DRM-free versions for 30 cents a pop or $3.00 an album.

And this isn’t just a meager offering of a few so-so artists. EMI has a slew of big-name bands such as Blur, Coldplay, Dandy Warhols, Everclear, Queen, Radiohead, Rolling Stones, Sigur Ros, and the Chemical Brothers.

Though this is a dollar-driven move, as it always is, it nevertheless works out very favorably for all the DMCA/restricted rights hating consumers out there.

Thats right, Starcraft II is in production, and whats better is they’ve released some teasers that are sure to make any gamer drool with longing and giggle with delight. Jesse has been bugging me to post about this for a little while now, but I’ve been putting it off like a bad little blogger. I apologize for depriving you all of this eye-candy so to make it up to you, I’ll give you links to the goodies first, and then give you a few highlights.

Here is the Gameplay video and Trailer (be sure to watch the gameplay video!) and
some screenshots while you wait for the 20+ minute video to download (goes fast on a decent connection).

So, in between oogling the screens, and waiting for the video to d/l, why dont you read on about a few of the cool things in Starcraft II:

This long-awaited second installment of the Starcraft series will not dissapoint old-timers nor the new gaming generation. It keeps the 3rd person aerial view, with the additional ability to change the viewing angle, but updates the old motif with beautiful new textures, silky smooth new unit animations, and a new physics system for falling debris and the like.

Don’t worry, this isn’t just starcraft I with a new 3d engine. Blizzard has stayed true to the delicate balance of the beloved three races of Zerg, Protoss, and Terran, but have updated the races with all sorts of goodies.

For one, there are new units like immortals, stalkers, the colossus, and an awe-inspiring gem I shall not spoil here. These new units, and many old favorites, sport new weapon types and defenses like the planet cracker, new shields and laser weapons, and something called the “time bomb!”

There is also a new “IK system” which I believe integrates multiple-level terrain that can be moved across by certain units, and includes holes in the ground revealing the infinity of space.

In addition to offline story mode and multiplayer battles against either the computer or online players via Battlenet –which, BTW, is getting a total overhaul (No word yet on what that may entail)– Starcraft II will also have story modes available online. That should be interesting to say the least. Lastly, Blizard says they’ll provide fully-functioning map making and scripting tools for players to create custom maps and battle scenarios.

There is currently no release date, which is good as it ensures they won’t be rushing out a half-assed product. Also, Starcraft II is only in development for the PC, which IMHO is just the way it should be.

Its a Bike Messenger race in NYC, and there are some insane squeezes and close calls. Notice the “skitching” (grabbing onto a moving car so they can pull you along) at about 3:10. And here I used to think motorcyclists had a death wish!

And behind the scenes:

Though I am no scientist, this video claims Aspartame was pushed into FDA approval through shady deals and payoffs, and can cause dozens of illnesses, among them brain tumors and Multiple Sclerosis. At the VERY LEAST, it is important to at least consider how safe this chemical is, and whether you should let your loved ones intake it, even if its a a precaution.

I suggest supporting Tagatose, a functional sweetener that is safe for all diabetics, is 92% as sweet, and has only 38% of the calories.

Heres the trailer for Sweet Misery:

See some more clips on aspartame after the jump:
An excerpt on *dun dun dun* Rumsfeld’s connection to Nutrasweet:

and a Fox news affiliate report that didn’t make it very far:

Geezuz. I couldn’t even get through this whole video. I wonder if he gave them ANY information AT ALL? What a pussy way to plead the 5th amendment. I hope nobody believes him. If he has that poor a recollection he needs to step down and seek medical attention for amnesia.

I was on twitter and read the following on the public timeline (a list of all public updates):

“the song ‘so much’ by spill canvas is amazing”

I thought to myself, “I wonder what that song sounds like.”

Now, when I was younger I’d have to go to the record store and buy it to find out if I even liked the band. Today, instead, I went here, which brought me here, which gave me the song.

Three hops to sample the full song. And if I like it, I can buy the album on iTunes.

Don’t ever take this wonderful thing for granted, because it could be destroyed as fast as it came into being.

PS: Its a very good song. You can tell when a person feels real love. I know, because I feel it too.

General

Adam’s website is mostly cool things he’s either made or collected over the years, and the general section basically introduces this, and gives you some background on the inventive and funny Mr. Savage. There isn’t a lot to see here, so let’s move on…

Commercial

Adam has worked in the Special Effects industry for years, and this section displays some of the work he’s done for various companies. Among them are a laser cut acrylic crane for First Union Bank, a torture device for Pizza Hut’s Mr. Bill, and a half-scale model of the Mars Viking Lander, which I particularly like, since I’m fascinated with Mars. He also talks about his work on the Coca-Cola commercial “Contraption” which was nominated for a Clio, but I can’t for the life of me find a version of it anywhere online *sigh*.

Design

This Section showcases Adam’s skill in sculpture and design. He has some great work here, especially if you have eclectic taste. I like the Frankenstein Biker Heart, Dolphin Spine, bionic eye, M1900 9-barrel, and of course the map of Middle earth.

TV Show

The TV Show pretty much just has some shots from the show. Nothing new to see here so we’ll move on.

Film

Adam has worked on some of my favorite films, like Star Wars, Space Cowboys,
A.I., and Bicentennial Man.

The eye-checker and robot pieces are two of my favorites from Bicentennial man. The eye-checker is extremely well done.

He’s also made some tiny sets for films like Space Cowboys and Titanic. Adam also showed off his fake radiator in one of the Mythbusters special.

Well, thats all there is to Adam Savage’s site. There isn’t a whole lot to write about, because its all visual! Go check it out, its worth the time, and if you did follow along, I hope you enjoyed perusing his collected works as much as I did. Stay strange people!

The best part is that it is not a flashy mindless thrown-together sort of TV show. The hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman are Visual Effects professionals who attack every myth using the scientific method, use physics and science researched by a crack team of behind-the-scenes specialists, and test each myth tirelessly and thoroughly to make sure their findings are correct.

I love the show so much that I’ve made DVDs of every episode, and I encourage you to watch every episode you can, however you can get your hands of them. The subject matter is fascinating. The hosts, including the “build team”, are hilarious, with Adam and Jamie having a classic Double Act relationship. You’ll probably even learn something while watching. And lets face it, these guys are doing things we can only do in our wildest dreams.

So, now that I’ve professed my affliction for this marvelous show, we can get down to what sparked all this. For some reason I came across links to both the M5 website (M5 is Jamie Hyneman’s visual effects company), and Adam Savage’s website. These weren’t hard to find mind you, I just hadn’t ever looked for them before. Both websites have a lot of really neat stuff for both Mythbusters fans, and those just interested in the cool, weird, unusual, and funny.

First, lets highlight some neat pages at M5…

Portfolio

The Portfolio, as you might imagine, makes up the bulk of the site. Here you will find a comprehensive list of Visual Effects projects M5 has undertaken over the years. There are Commercials, Films, and Prototypes. This area is still in progress, so some of the project pages are lacking description or images, but most are there. M5 has created puppets, models, robots, and all manner of gadgets over the years.

Of particular interest are This ingenious Chef Boyardee rolling can, The massive Monkeybone set, The famous 7-Up vending tank, and of course this great vintage shot of young Hyneman!

I’d like to see video links here, maybe from youtube/google video, alas not today.

Inside M5

This section is really neat because it gives us a sneak peek into M5I’s inner workings. As you’ve seen on Mythbusters, there are artifacts stuffed and dangling all over the place from past builds and projects. We also see some build tools like band and table saws, caulk, paint supplies, and CAD equipment. Also hanging out in M5I is a chatty rat, I believe from the Junkyard Wars commercial, and one of the guys from Naked Lunch looking like an alien autopsy photo. I’m not linking these, to encourage you to hunt them down yourself.

Staff

The staff section has a little bit about a couple of the people that make M5 function. As a side note, I stumbled upon this page by Cris Rocha who is apparently renting his family’s Villa, lol.

Departments

The Departments section gives us a look at the different areas of M5 that go into creating these crazy concoctions. Among them are the Modelshop, Moldmaking, Machine shop, Painting, Woodshop, Robotics, Electronics, Welding, and Fabrication.

The Machine shop is where their two-time champion BattleBot Blendo was constructed.

Press

The press area is that last area of the M5I site (besides Contact, which is just for companies wanting to hire M5). In this section you can view Article excerpts from magazines M5′s creations have been featured in.

Well, thats about all the fun stuff on the M5 Industries page. I really enjoy looking at the projects they’ve done in the past. I hope you do too!

I’ve decided to split this into a two-parter, and Adam Savage’s website has some really zaney stuff, so check out part two here.

Sure, it has a silly name, but if you want to get your whole family involved in hours of fun, want to experience revolutionary gameplay, and don’t want to spend hundreds upon hundreds of dollars for a gaming system, you NEED the Wii.

Nintendo is the only console creator left with originality and passion to push gaming to the next level, and it shows.

If any of you are semi-long-term readers, you will likely remember my post from almost exactly a year ago about the V for Vendetta movie project. Whether you caught it or not, go ahead and refresh your memory as it’s a short post and has links to introduce new readers to V for Vendetta

The advertising has been pretty extensive, but if you are one to cut yourself off from normal modes of media assailment (I myself don’t listen to the radio and watch little non-downloaded TV, instead getting all of my info from the internet), you may have missed the fact that the theatrical adaptation of the graphic novel V for Vendetta is now playing! I’m going to see it this weekend so I haven’t a review for you right now, but the novel is truely stellar (how could it not be… it’s Alan Moore) , the film was adapted by the Wachowski brothers, and it was directed by James McTeigue who’s assistant directed on Dark City, The Matrix, and Attack of the Clones. As if that wasn’t enough, Natalie Portman is in it. I can see Doody drooling now.

Alan Moore adaptations can be great companions or red-headed stepchildren of their graphic novel counterparts, depending on the screenwriters/directors. For example, From Hell was really good, however League of Extrodinary Gentlemen was not… at all. Let’s hope this one knocks it out of the park.

While on the subject of movies: Serenity was amazing (except they F#@&ing killed Wash!!! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot guys? Jeez… was that really necesary? Anyway…), H2G2 was fun (though I’d like to see more of them made), and will Watchmen EVER be made, and more importantly, made *well*?