The Daily Ping

Spoiler Alert

nospam@example.com (Paul) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

A few years ago I happened to catch the end of M. Night Shyamalan's The Village on TV. Just the ending. I hadn't seen the first hour-and-a-half but after seeing those final 10 minutes I was really glad I didn't. It was bad. Really bad. Like, "I could've thought of that in 4th grade" bad.

It was then and there that I decided I would simply spoil myself on all of Shyamalan's films instead of actually seeing them. I'm not sure why I should see them; The Sixth Sense was very good and Unbreakable was fine but it's been downhill since then. I figured that I'd enjoy learning the twist and thinking about the movie that could be built up around such a premise than sitting through the schlock and getting to the twist.

And yes, I spoiled myself for The Happening. I'm still glad I did for if I actually saw it in the theater, I suspect I'd be angry.

The Netflix Thief

nospam@example.com (Ryan) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Yesterday, a mail carrier rang our doorbell and handed me a ripped Netflix envelope with no DVD. "I just spotted your mail and some other people's mail strewn about the street about a block down. This is all I found, but I wanted to get it back to you." He then suggested that we call the postal service and file a complaint and the police to file a report, so that it was on file in case it happened again. So, I did both and called Netflix to get a replacement disc (we're not responsible for stolen discs... awesome).

What's interesting is that apparently, the thief was only interested in our Netflix DVD. You might be thinking, "Aren't you worried about identity theft?" Actually, not really: he left behind my credit card statement and a few other pieces of mail in our mailbox. Weird.

Apparently this is a somewhat common occurence. I'm not terribly bothered by it, but I'm thinking I may switch the delivery to my work address and I may finally switch over to all-electronic statements for credit cards and such.

In any event, I hope the big dummy enjoys disc one of Wonderfalls.

Political Sketches Get Dated

nospam@example.com (Paul) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Recently I happened upon an episode of The Dana Carvey Show on Hulu. That's right, the series that was cancelled after just six episodes. As I got into the episode Carvey did a sketch where he was Ted Koppel covering the 1996 Presidential campaign and, I've gotta tell you, it bored me to tears.

I don't think it was due to Carvey's talent (nor the talent of his staff which included Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert). No, I think it was simply that political comedy just doesn't age well. It tends to be really entertaining for a really short amount of time and then... without the context, it's just a bit of a miss.

This particular sketch included a rip on Steve Forbes and, really, is anyone curious about what would have happened if Forbes somehow won in 1996? Not really. The show's political skits then serve as curiosities. They only show that we were kinda interested in this stuff for a week or two. Instead of timeless, it's dated.

Then again I imagine there'll always be a Bill Clinton cigar joke floating about, and a George W. Bush dumb joke. Maybe someone can make a musical comedy piece out of those.

Annoying camera techniques

nospam@example.com (Ryan) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I found myself getting really annoyed a few times recently when watching television. And, no, it wasn't because they'd pre-empted a repeat of The Golden Girls, but because of a specific camera technique that seems to be taking hold on news/documentary-ish programs.

The offense occured on an Ovation channel show called Jazz Heroes and on the craptastic episode of Dateline (or one of its equivalents) where they hunted down people who were owed "forgotten" money and gave it to them. The shot goes like this:

Head-on shot with person being interviewed or providing commentary. Then, a cut to a second camera that is shooting from another angle. The subject continues to look and gesture at the first camera and the second camera zooms in and out and back and forth a couple of times quickly, in an attempt to make it look like they're still setting their shot up. Then, cut back to the original camera. Sometimes the second camera is even in black and white or using a "grainy" effect.

It's incredibly jarring and annoying because it feels so calculated. It adds nothing and ends up distracting from what the person is actually saying. Not everything on television needs hyperactive cuts. Especially not a 30-minute profile on John Coltrane or Tiki Barker describing how he made a phone call to someone.

An Open Letter to People Standing in Line for an iPhone

nospam@example.com (Paul) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Dear everyone,

Why? The iPhone will remain available for a while. Apple will continue to make them after this week, you know.

- Paul

Today's odd spam tactic

nospam@example.com (Ryan) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

A lot of spam has been slipping by Gmail recently and almost all of it is using this odd technique of grabbing the reader's attention using a bogus news headline that sounds like it could be true because it's topical and relevant. For instance, this morning I got one that read "Barack Obama Drops Out of Presidential Race." Obviously not true, but it would certainly grab some attention.

Another read "Angelina Jolie Dies In Miscarriage." Others:

Pope killed by assasin in Vatican City
Nicole Kidman loses baby in miscarriage
Michael Jackson Dies in Bed
Muhammad Ali dies at 71
Local waiter caught spitting in food
American prisoners beheaded in Iran
Ninja attack in New York Times Square

(Love that last one.) And, of course, if you open any of these up, you'll see an ad for a discounting iPod or any other standard spam nonsense.

The technique's not really completely new, as spammers have often ripped real headlines in order to get past spam filters. My question is: why is this still working? Why are Gmail's filters missing so many of these?

Target: Who Knows What We've Got?

nospam@example.com (Paul) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Just a few days ago I praised Target.com's super fast shipping on a headboard. It was, indeed, a great experience... that I need to temper with another experience I had with Target that was pretty lousy.

To go with said headboard we wanted some night stands. We chose a particular model, listed plain as day on Target's website. The site offers a handy dandy "find at a store near you" feature. So I punched in my ZIP code and soon I was told that my local store had just one, and no other store within 20 miles had it. Harrumph.

I had to call our local Target with a question regarding a return so I took the opportunity to ask them if they had any of the night stands in stock; I just wanted to be sure. So I gave the helpful fellow on the phone the catalog number of the item, listed on the website. After a few minutes he came back and said nope, we're all out. Good enough.

You can see where this is going, right?

Off I went to that particular Target to return the other, non-related item. Since I was there I figured, eh, I might as well check if they have it. I went to the furniture aisle to find... two of them!

That was perfect. Two night stands? Wrap 'em up!

The thing that was most bothersome about this was that I had three different inventory levels given to me: one from the site (which was wrong), one from the person at the store (which was wrong), and the truth (which was right - and truth-y.) I understand that Target is a giant corporation with over 2.4 million locations and 93 billion items in stock but this seems really silly to me. Don't they know how many items they've got? I mean, that's a basic part of retail isn't it?

In any case I'm glad that I got my night stands but am way disappointed that to truly find out how many were in stock, I had to actually visit the store. Blah.

Go, Go-Moku, Pente

nospam@example.com (Ryan) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:28:25 -0400

Anyone here play Go, Go-Moku, Pente, or any variation?

I play a little Go, but recently rediscovered the joys of Pente.

A Sampling of Humorous WiFi Network Names

nospam@example.com (Paul) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I see a fair number of open and closed networks on the way to and from the office. Here are a few of my favorites:

MineNotYours (this one was closed)

Sharon Smells

Format C:

1sharon2bobby3timmy4sally5robert

It seems to me that selecting a good name for a WiFi network is like selecting a good band name. In which case, I'm going to rename my network to Biff's Stomach Monkeys as soon as I can.

AideRSS

nospam@example.com (Ryan) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I monitor an awful lot of RSS feeds, even after a recent trim-down of feeds I realized I just don't read that often. One problem is subscribing a number of popular group blogs that have outrageous numbers of posts each day. Gawker's Consumerist is one of those sites. You can mark all the posts as read and in the three seconds Google Reader takes to do so, 13 new posts pop up.

OK, it's not that bad, but still. They average 550 posts a month (!) and it takes a while to even skim headlines. But a site I was just turned onto may help a bit.

AideRSS analyzes the popularity of posts in any given feed based on the number of comments on the post itself, links on del.icio.us, and other factors. Then, rather than subscribe to a Consumerist feed of 550 items a month, you can subscribe to a filtered "good posts" feed which cuts it down to 319 items a month, a "great posts" feed which drops it to 242, the "best posts" feed which drops it down to 138 a month, or a "top 20" feed. Great stuff!

While I wouldn't use this on any personal blogs I read, it's great for sites like Consumerist, Boing Boing, Waxy, or Kottke which have serve up a big chunk of content every day.

Oh, and don't bother using it on the Ping.

Target.com's Crazy Fast Shipping

nospam@example.com (Paul) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

When it comes to shipping from online stores I have to admit I don't expect much. Zappos and Endless and ShoeBuy will be super fast, Amazon will be acceptable, and other places are a crapshoot. I'm happy to report that at least on a furniture item, Target.com delivered. (Hah!)

We ordered a new headboard last Monday and the expected delivery time was 2-6 weeks... painful, but all right given the price. Thursday afternoon I noticed the UPS truck pull up the drive when I was working at home. Was it my eBay order? No - but it was the headboard.

That's pretty darned fast!

I'm not expecting everything from Target.com to get shipped that quickly but they certainly won on this one. Good job, folks!

Conrad Bain

nospam@example.com (Ryan) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Ever since watching C.H.O.M.P.S. this past weekend, Conrad Bain has been on my mind. How could he not be, after all? He's one of my generations most brilliant and underrated character actors. Besides his groundbreaking work on Maude and as Mr. Drummond on Diff'rent Strokes, he also had parts on The Love Boat, Dark Shadows, and Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name? (aka )Death of a Hooker). And did you know he reprised his role as Mr. Drummond for one episode on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? I didn't until the IMDB told me.

Though Conrad hasn't appeared in anything in over ten years, the 85-year-old did an interview for the release of the first season of Diff'rent Strokes on DVD in 2004 and according to this page lives in LA. Also, he has a twin brother named Bonar. Bonar!

I, for one, would love to see Conrad Bain back on TV (perhaps with Bea Arthur or Charlotte Rae... or BOTH!), even if just in a bit part. Preferably wearing a comfortable-looking sweater.

Darn You, ASPCA!

nospam@example.com (Paul) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Two nights ago we were fast-forwarding through some commercials when a frame caught our eye: it was Sarah McLachlan. We were curious of course, so we ended up watching it. And then our hearts completely broke in two.

I mean... the dogs! The cats! They're incredibly sad! We felt the immediate need to adopt every single one of them while simultaneously holding our pooch close and praising the living daylights out of him.

Darn you, ASPCA, for your effective commercials!

What would you do for gasoline?

nospam@example.com (Ryan) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Gas is expensive. People will do anything to get some.

Like offer sex for a $100 gas card.

Or steal it using some device that gets employees gasoline for half price.

Or try to siphon it from a police cruiser... while a cop is sitting in the car.

Or maybe you'll just pump gas into your imaginary car (it's powered by imagination!).

In Defense of Fast Food Apples

nospam@example.com (Paul) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

On this weekend of Freedom Fries, let's talk something else that's American: apples. Minus the pie.

McDonald's rolled out its Apple Dippers - just sliced apples with a caramel dipping sauce - a year or better ago, in response to people complaining that their food was causing everyone to be fat and stupid and everything else wrong with America. They rolled out salads, too, and soon articles were pointing out that the salad dressing had a lot of fat and calories (amazing!) And then the Fruit and Walnut Salad came out and I'm sure someone complained about something related to it.

Now Burger King's getting in on the action with Apple Fries. That is, apples cut to resemble french fries. Not a big deal. But if you read the post at Consumerist it's like the worst thing they could ever do and is being written off as a joke.

You know what? People complaining about this bug the crap out of me because more choice is actually a good thing. There may be times I don't want fries with a sandwich, and it's darned nice to have the option of a salad, apple, or what-have-you instead. I don't choose that other option because I think fries are "bad;" I choose that because that's what I want. And let's face it, these places are convenient for a lot of people including me.

Could I bring an apple from home? Of course, if I've already bought one and know in advance that's what I want. But if it isn't, there aren't any grocery stores in a short walking distance from my office... so if I want an apple really badly, I'm going to buy it at McDonald's. Same goes for a Fruit and Walnut Salad.

Marketing this all to kids is a whole other ball of wax, one that I'm not gonna touch right now. The bottom line is this: people who bitch about these places selling apples should be glad that they're selling them at all. Not just because it's "good" or "healthy", but because it's convenient to have more choice.

Sometimes convenience wins, and I'm not ashamed to admit that.