Schlamme to Experience Life on Mars

I’m glad to see that Thomas Schlamme landed on his feet after Studio 60 got cancelled. Life on Mars was quite good, so I’m looking forward to it.

David E. Kelley has recruited “The West Wing” and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” helmer Thomas Schlamme to direct the pilot for his ABC drama “Life on Mars,” reports Variety.

via Schlamme to Experience Life on Mars – ComingSoon.net.

Top 20 signs you’re getting fired

2 – Did you recently screw up big-time?We’re not talking a minor faux pas here. Did you lose money on an account that was previously bulletproof? Oh dear. Were you caught having sex on the boss’s desk with the boss’s spouse? That’s probably not a career-enhancing move. Unless you’re a real dope, you know if you have screwed up. And if you know, HR knows. It may not be the final nail in your coffin, but it’s a nail in the coffin nonetheless.

via You’re Fired! 20 signs that a pink-slip is coming. | Wise Bread.

Welcome to Kentucky

We just passed Fleming-Neon, one of my favorite town names ever. I remember them kicking my high school football team’s butt in the playoffs one year. They wore neon yellow-green jerseys.

On the way to Kentucky

We’re driving up to Kentucky for a family reunion this weekend. It’s hour four of the six hour trip and my wife is singing along with some disco song. Besides leading to heavy drinking, it apparently drives me to post on the blog.

A non-disco song that I actually like (Gone Away by The Offspring) just came on, so I’ll find something else to day.

Pirates 3 opening night

We’re sitting in the theater to see Pirates of the Carribean 3. Wish us luck, it is a madhouse here. It’s much busier than the Shrek 3 opening last Thursday here.

Spiderman 3’s record opening weekend might not stand for a month if this is any indication. We didn’t make it to the oppening show of Spiderman 3, so I don’t have a good comparison.

12:30 Update: Very good. I’m not sure what some of the critics were talking about. It is really long though, so don’t go if you have a small bladder.

Starcraft 2

Sweet!

Neuromancer Coming to the Big Screen

William Gibson’s prescient sci-fi bestseller from the ’80s, Neuromancer, will get the big screen treatment from veteran producer-distributor Peter Hoffman, reports Variety.

via Neuromancer Coming to the Big Screen – ComingSoon.net.

Finished home theater setup

Our 8 year old Pioneer receiver died a few weeks ago, so I’ve ben going through some surround sound withdrawal. Over the weekend, we decided on the Onkyo TX-SR505 to replace the boat anchor that used to bring me joy. I figured it was a good time to run new speaker wire, since I had reused some old cabling after we moved.

It only took an hour or so, but I’m tired of cabling. It was worth it though. The new receiver sounds fantastic. Our Tivo only supports stereo output, but the surround that the receiver is producing from the feed sounds amazing, especially compared to the old box.

Since the new receiver will switch component video, I hooked all of our components up that way. DVDs look sharper, but I’ll really be able to more after we get our HDTV later this year.

At this point, I’m really happy with the value of the Onkyo receiver. For a sub-$300 box, it sounds great.

CBS renewals

It looks like Jericho and The Class are not getting renewed. That sucks.

World of Warcraft Rewards Visa

When your game has gone too far, you get a Visa that gives you playing time.

The New Release DVD rental kiosks

The New Release is a company that runs DVD rental kiosks that you might have seen at a retail store. Here in the Atlanta area, they seem to be at Kroger and that’s about it. We like to watch a movie on Sunday afternoon, so I picked The Prestige up last night while I was at the grocery store.
Renting was easy, but finding the movie was a little quirky. I knew that I wanted The Prestige, so I wanted to go straight to it in the listing. I could see an alphabetic set of buttons while the screen was loading, but genre buttons were in that location when it finished loading. I ended up scrolling through the list to get to it. It wasn’t bad, but it could have been better. However, that’s my only gripe. As a matter of fact, it might be the coolest thing ever.
The DVD comes in a hard plastic case that the DVD slips out of. Think of a thin plastic CD or DVD sleeve, but thick and made to take a pounding. I can only assume that it is RFID enabled, since there are not barcodes or any markings other than the instructions on how to insert it into the kiosk upon return. The disc was nearly flawless, probably because no one trusts these things yet.
Returning was also dead simple. Push the DVD into the slot until it stops and tell the kiosk to process the return. It pulls it into the slot, tells you how long you’ve had it – you pay per midnight that you’ve had the movie – and allows you to check out. I thought it was painless. It did take a bit longer than throwing it at Blockbuster’s mail slot, but still, not bad.
I would definitely recommend the service, since it is only $1 per day. The catalog of movies is limited, but if you’re looking for something that has only been out a few months, it should be available.

Amazing Indeed! $375M Worldwide for Spider-Man 3! – ComingSoon.net

We have tickets for the 7:00 show on Tuesday at the local IMAX. I can’t wait.

Columbia Pictures’ Spider-Man 3 exploded into conventional theaters and IMAX, smashing the opening weekend record previously held by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($135.6 million). Spidey earned an incredible $148 million in a record 4,252 theaters domestically, which also resulted in the biggest average per theater ever – $34,807. Spider-Man 2 opened to $88.1 million in 2004 and Spider-Man to $114.8 million in 2002.

via Amazing Indeed! $375M Worldwide for Spider-Man 3! – ComingSoon.net.