I have recently had the “pleasure” of watching Grey’s Anatomy. Living with my girlfriend sure has perks and “getting” to watch Grey’s Anatomy is one of them. Wow this show, in my opinion and apparently mine only, sucks. There are numerous reasons for this which I will briefly cover based on this week’s show (11/13/08).
Reason 1. The first reason actually doesn’t have to do with the show itself but the network it is shown on. ABC does not do online videos as well as NBC does. Sure it has added full screen HD streaming, but its ads are annoying. Well maybe not the ads themselves but the after the ads action required. After every ad, you have to click “Click to Continue” to keep the showing playing. Its obnoxious. You’re sitting there comfortably in your bed, watching a show some consider good, and then you have to get up every few minutes to click a button. Really kills the mood and enjoyability of the show. NBC doesn’t do that to you. They keep the video playing after the ads are done and if you want to interact with the ads then you can get up and do so. They know why you are there and they keep the focus on that. On the show, not on the ads.
Reason 2. Ok now on to the reasons about the show itself. The show recycles storylines from other shows. This episode has a neurotic doctor, a dead person haunting a character and some other stuff I can’t remember. The neurotic doctor is similar to when Michael J. Fox was on Scrubs (which coincidentally once made the comment about Grey’s Anatomy “it’s almost like someone was watching our lives and put it on television”. The joke was borrowed from the Simpsons but it makes it point.
The dead person haunting a character is similar to Battlestar Galactica’s Dr. Balthar’s sexy woman haunting him. He thinks she is there and can feel her. Izzy is experiencing the same thing with her dead fiancee. Original I know.
Reason 3. The storyline is just plain ridiculous when they are trying to be original. This is the main reason they steal from other shows, because they can’t write. It’s like the writers went on strike and never came back. No, actually I won’t even give them that. Its like the show never got any writers to begin with and they are just making shit up as they go. This works for some shows but for this, it doesn’t work at all.
Reason 4. It causes my girlfriend to be very angry with me. We watch the show, I make a comment and she gets very angry with me. Very angry.
Martin (dzo) has been working (tirelessly it seems) on his port of Android to the HTC Vogue (Sprint Touch, among other names), (Tmobile’s G1 is not the first phone out with Android, it’s merely the first officially endorsed by Google) and it’s coming along nicely. Here are my thoughts so far:
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I went to see The Dark Knight Friday at 12:01 am, one of the first showings on the west coast, theoreotically the first showing since they should all have started at the same time or later. Anyway, it was definitely worth going to see it at midnight on a work day.
The action in this movie was really good. There was so much going on to keep me entertained. I love stuff blowing up and chases and fighting scenes and there was a plethora of that and then some.
The plotline for the most part was followable and well written. There were some major jumps that left you in the dark but didn’t take you away from the story. I mean jumps in that you just had to assume some things like Harvey Dent’s background. They make references to it in some places but at the end pretend like you know a lot more then what the movie gives you. Another part towards the end we see Rachel in a warehouse and are left wondering “how did she get there?” and just have to think “oh well, she’s there now, let’s move on”. But for the most part, the story is coherent and very intriguing.
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dzo over at xda-developers.com has ported Android to the phone I am currently using, the Sprint Touch. The phone also goes by the name VX-6900 (Verizon) and Vogue (generic name). It is made by HTC. It comes with Window’s Mobile 6.0. Carriers are starting to release version 6.1 which includes threaded messaging, EVDO Rev. A and GPS. The threaded messaging is nice because it means no more 3rd party apps are required for something that should have already been built in. Palm had it on the Treos for years so why did it take Microsoft so long to make it standard? EVDO Rev A speeds means faster Internet connection. The connection was pretty fast before, slightly better then low DSL speeds, but now its 2-3 times as fast, or it seems like it. The GPS isn’t true GPS, I’m not sure if any cell phone does have true GPS, but it works pretty well, when it works.
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Darrell Houle has made a pretty good posting over at http://www.communicopia.net/blog/joomla-versus-drupal comparing and contrasting Drupal and Joomla. Having used both, I feel it is pretty accurate. There are some points that are generalized and slightly misleading, but overall it is a great place for someone deciding between the two platforms to start from and build from there.
Airlines are now charging travelers for bags they check in. No, I’m not talking about the previous, any more than 2 bags checked in and we will charge you. I’m talking about them charging for ANY bags checked in, including the first two. United for example will charge $15 for the first bag and $25 for the second bag. That’s ridiculous. Flights are already expensive enough.
These fees will be waived if you fly first or business class, which charge you more anyway.
Some airlines will even start charging for drinks on the plan. Although it’s only $2 for non-alcoholic drinks, that is still an extra charge. Why is everyone nickel and diming you all of a sudden? I know the economy isn’t great and people need to make a few extra bucks to compensate, but by charging customers more, some businesses may be alienating those customers and driving them to competitors. That is just no way to do business.
This weekend I was trying to buy a round trip airline ticket from San Francisco to Maine in order to spend a week with Amanda and her family. Pretty straight forward thing to do right? Pick a site (I went with Travelocity), enter some info like where from/to, dates and a whole lot of other stuff, mostly useless. Did that easily enough. Since I was trying to match Amanda’s flight info, it was even easier (not as cheap as other options but more convenient). So I’m zipping through all nice like until I get to the page where I have to pay.
At that point I pull out my handy dandy Paypal Debit Card so I could save a few bucks on this flight (from cashback) and enter my information. I check to make sure everything is accurate then click the submit button. After waiting a minute it comes back saying there was a problem with the card and to check the info or use a different card. So I check the info again, even re-entering it and try again. Same thing. Weird.
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