video
Local news reported about the muthafuc*ing poisonous snakes found in a muthafuc*ing movie theater tonight.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Snakes in a Theater
video
Local news reported about the muthafuc*ing poisonous snakes found in a muthafuc*ing movie theater tonight.
No More Stargate SG-1?
Yesterday I read on Gateworld.net that one of my favorite Sci-Fi series (perhaps the only Sci-Fi series) Stargate SG-1 will be cancelled after its 10th season.
Frankly, I stopped watching it continuously after season 8 when Richard Dean Anderson (Col. Jack O’Neill) has left the show. Similar to the X-Files, when one of the original characters left the show, it will not going to be the same.
In Stargate SG-1’s 200th episode titled cleverly “200”, Richard Dean Anderson did reappear in the show as General O’Neill. The best part was the puppets, which reminded me of Team America.
video
video
video
I guess this is the end for Stargate SG-1, or is it?
Since Sci-Fi fans were able to bring Firefly/Serenity and Dr. Daniel Jackson back onto the screens big and small, will Stargate SG-1 be resurrected in a later time?
Frankly, I stopped watching it continuously after season 8 when Richard Dean Anderson (Col. Jack O’Neill) has left the show. Similar to the X-Files, when one of the original characters left the show, it will not going to be the same.
In Stargate SG-1’s 200th episode titled cleverly “200”, Richard Dean Anderson did reappear in the show as General O’Neill. The best part was the puppets, which reminded me of Team America.
video
video
video
I guess this is the end for Stargate SG-1, or is it?
Since Sci-Fi fans were able to bring Firefly/Serenity and Dr. Daniel Jackson back onto the screens big and small, will Stargate SG-1 be resurrected in a later time?
Monday, August 21, 2006
HOWTO: Save Videos from Comedy Central’s Website
Updated: August 21, 2006 –
Using Samuel L. Jackson’s interview on the Daily Show as an example, the video page’s URL is:
2. Copy the URL behind “value=” ending with asx
3. Use URL Snooper to extract the actual mms link from asx URL
4. Paste the mms link into SDP and let the download begin
Here is the finished product of the video.
Original Posting: April 1, 2006 -
Comedy Central is a goldmine for funny video clips. The only problem is that all their videos in Windows Media format are very difficult to download. The only way to watch them is via Comedy Central’s website with embedded Microsoft Windows Media Player.
As of right now, Keepvid.com has not added Comedy Central to their database of downloadable videos.
With help of CoCSoft’s Stream Down and SDP Downloader, today I have discovered a way to save those hilarious clips off from Comedy Central's website with only few simple steps.
The following example is done in Firefox browser of Showbiz Show’s clip: Diesel Nauseum - Vin Diesel spreads his two sentences all over TV. (Windows media video 9.69 MB)
1. After the new window with embedded Windows Media Player pops up, click on “View All Videos from This Show”.
2. Right click on the link to desired video with right mouse button and choose “Open Link in New Window” or “Open Link in New Tab”.
3. In the new window or tab, Go to View, choose Page Source.
For Diesel Nauseum video, the URL is http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/media_player/play.jhtml?itemId=60865
4. Scroll down all the text until the tag “embed id”. In the same tag, copy the URL between the quotation marks after “src=”, and it is a really long URL.
5. Paste the URL into CoCSoft’s Stream Down, and it will then download a file called videoswitcher.asx.
6. Open videoswitcher.asx in Windows Media Player, let it play until the actual video starts, right click on the video and choose Properties.
7. Under Location, copy the mms streaming URL into SDP Downloader and let it work its magic.
To covert video to other formats, try Sony's Vegas 6.x.
Using Samuel L. Jackson’s interview on the Daily Show as an example, the video page’s URL is:
http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/media_player/play.jhtml?itemId=73003
2. Copy the URL behind “value=” ending with asx
3. Use URL Snooper to extract the actual mms link from asx URL
4. Paste the mms link into SDP and let the download begin
Here is the finished product of the video.
Original Posting: April 1, 2006 -
Comedy Central is a goldmine for funny video clips. The only problem is that all their videos in Windows Media format are very difficult to download. The only way to watch them is via Comedy Central’s website with embedded Microsoft Windows Media Player.
As of right now, Keepvid.com has not added Comedy Central to their database of downloadable videos.
With help of CoCSoft’s Stream Down and SDP Downloader, today I have discovered a way to save those hilarious clips off from Comedy Central's website with only few simple steps.
The following example is done in Firefox browser of Showbiz Show’s clip: Diesel Nauseum - Vin Diesel spreads his two sentences all over TV. (Windows media video 9.69 MB)
1. After the new window with embedded Windows Media Player pops up, click on “View All Videos from This Show”.
2. Right click on the link to desired video with right mouse button and choose “Open Link in New Window” or “Open Link in New Tab”.
3. In the new window or tab, Go to View, choose Page Source.
For Diesel Nauseum video, the URL is http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/media_player/play.jhtml?itemId=60865
4. Scroll down all the text until the tag “embed id”. In the same tag, copy the URL between the quotation marks after “src=”, and it is a really long URL.
5. Paste the URL into CoCSoft’s Stream Down, and it will then download a file called videoswitcher.asx.
6. Open videoswitcher.asx in Windows Media Player, let it play until the actual video starts, right click on the video and choose Properties.
7. Under Location, copy the mms streaming URL into SDP Downloader and let it work its magic.
To covert video to other formats, try Sony's Vegas 6.x.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Snakes on a Plane
video: Samuel L Jackson on the Daily Show
I saw the film about the motherfuc*ing snakes on the motherfuc*ing plane, and it was motherfuc*ing great!
If you are going to see the movie, make sure stay a few minutes longer after the film has ended for Cobra Starship’s music video - Snakes on a Plane. If you can’t wait until then, you can watch it here:
Videos: Windows Media, YouTube, Google Video
On my way to the theatre, a stretch of westbound US60 freeway was stopped with about 30 police cars and SWAT team members with their guns drawn. Luckily I was going eastbound and that standoff did not effect me, except some rubbernecking drivers wanted to get a closer look by slowing down voluntarily. Thanks to Associated Press, here is the a video of the standoff's dramatic ending.
video
Related: All Your Snakes Are Belong To Us
Friday, August 18, 2006
Rick Mercer Tricked Michael Crow
I was watching several Rick Mercer’s video clips earlier linked via Boingboing.net, and whom did I spot?
Arizona State University’s current president Michael Crow.
The video clips were from Rick Mercer’s news parody show, Rick Mercer Report, in 2001. At the time, Michael Crow was an executive vice-provost at Columbia University. He then became ASU’s president in 2002.
video
In this video, Mercer tricked Crow to sign a petition to “demand the government of Canada to discourage the Canadians’ tradition of placing senior citizens on northern ice-floes and leave them to perish.”
After Michael Crow signed the petition, Rick Mercer asked him about his affliction with Columbia University, where Crow replied he is professor there for nine years.
Arizona State University’s current president Michael Crow.
The video clips were from Rick Mercer’s news parody show, Rick Mercer Report, in 2001. At the time, Michael Crow was an executive vice-provost at Columbia University. He then became ASU’s president in 2002.
video
In this video, Mercer tricked Crow to sign a petition to “demand the government of Canada to discourage the Canadians’ tradition of placing senior citizens on northern ice-floes and leave them to perish.”
After Michael Crow signed the petition, Rick Mercer asked him about his affliction with Columbia University, where Crow replied he is professor there for nine years.
Saturday, August 5, 2006
Philips DuraMax Long Life Bulbs Burn Out Short
Today I helped my friend Matt with a small home improvement project. He wanted to install a new hanging light fixture above the front door.
Since the ceiling was about 16 ft (approximately 5 meters) high, we rented a 14 ft step ladder from Home Depot and installed the fixture.
The three light bulbs used were Philips DuraMax Long Life bulbs.
One the box, it says "Lasts 1 year".
During the first trial, all three bulbs have light up.
A few minutes later, one of the bulbs burnt out.
(photo darkened to show contrast)
Did I mention, these were Philips DuraMax Long Life bulbs that should last at least one year, as what was printed on the boxes?
Apparently by "one year", Philips meant "4 hours of average usage per day/7 days per week".
I have always thought phone numbers with the prefix 555 are fake numbers only used in American films.
Not so.
1-800-555-0050 is the number to call if you like to leave a message for Philips.
Since the ceiling was about 16 ft (approximately 5 meters) high, we rented a 14 ft step ladder from Home Depot and installed the fixture.
The three light bulbs used were Philips DuraMax Long Life bulbs.
One the box, it says "Lasts 1 year".
During the first trial, all three bulbs have light up.
A few minutes later, one of the bulbs burnt out.
(photo darkened to show contrast)
Did I mention, these were Philips DuraMax Long Life bulbs that should last at least one year, as what was printed on the boxes?
Apparently by "one year", Philips meant "4 hours of average usage per day/7 days per week".
I have always thought phone numbers with the prefix 555 are fake numbers only used in American films.
Not so.
1-800-555-0050 is the number to call if you like to leave a message for Philips.
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
CinemaNow's Burn To DVD
I have always been a big fan of Phoenix 12 News’ Call 12 for Action team. The group is lead by Rick DeBruhl and Dave Cherry. Over the years, they have done a fantastic job focusing on consumer related issues.
On July 24, Rick did a story about the online movie service CinemaNow and its new Burn To DVD feature. CinemaNow is selling downloadable movies directly to individual users, and then the users can make the DVDs themselves.
video: 6.84 MB windows media
As Rick concluded at the end of the segment that although CinemaNow’s Burn To DVD feature is very time consuming, it may be the future of digital entertainment.
The biggest problem I see with CinemaNow’s service is its pricing. For example, during the news segment, Rick purchased and downloaded a 2003 movie called Rick starring Bill Pullman for $9.99, and then he had to burn it onto a blank DVDR, which he had to purchase himself.
I do not see the incentive of having the user to do all the work yet still paying $10 for a movie that is over 3 years old. A quick check in Amazon.com, the same movie in original DVD format is only $6.86 new, and used version is as low as $1.99.
Something else bugged me about CinemaNow was it forces users to access its content through Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and its DVD burning software had digital rights management (DRM) only allow users to burn each DVD once.
Since CinemaNow’s DVDs have to be compatible with most DVD players, thus their file structures are the same as any other DVDs. In order to burn more than one copy of the downloaded material, all users have to do is run the initial copy of DVD through softwares like DVD Decrypter or DVD Shrink, then the same copy can be reproduced into unlimited copies.
Personally, I do not care about the extra foreign language tracks, deleted scenes, or audio commentaries that are bundled into DVDs. I wish there are options so that I could pay a much lower price for a DVD that has only the widescreen movie without any of the bonus features, than having to pay for something that I would never use.
Related: Boingboing, Thomas Hawk, Washington Post
On July 24, Rick did a story about the online movie service CinemaNow and its new Burn To DVD feature. CinemaNow is selling downloadable movies directly to individual users, and then the users can make the DVDs themselves.
video: 6.84 MB windows media
As Rick concluded at the end of the segment that although CinemaNow’s Burn To DVD feature is very time consuming, it may be the future of digital entertainment.
The biggest problem I see with CinemaNow’s service is its pricing. For example, during the news segment, Rick purchased and downloaded a 2003 movie called Rick starring Bill Pullman for $9.99, and then he had to burn it onto a blank DVDR, which he had to purchase himself.
I do not see the incentive of having the user to do all the work yet still paying $10 for a movie that is over 3 years old. A quick check in Amazon.com, the same movie in original DVD format is only $6.86 new, and used version is as low as $1.99.
Something else bugged me about CinemaNow was it forces users to access its content through Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and its DVD burning software had digital rights management (DRM) only allow users to burn each DVD once.
Since CinemaNow’s DVDs have to be compatible with most DVD players, thus their file structures are the same as any other DVDs. In order to burn more than one copy of the downloaded material, all users have to do is run the initial copy of DVD through softwares like DVD Decrypter or DVD Shrink, then the same copy can be reproduced into unlimited copies.
Personally, I do not care about the extra foreign language tracks, deleted scenes, or audio commentaries that are bundled into DVDs. I wish there are options so that I could pay a much lower price for a DVD that has only the widescreen movie without any of the bonus features, than having to pay for something that I would never use.
Related: Boingboing, Thomas Hawk, Washington Post
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