Saturday Night at the Improv

Finally got to the San Jose Improv at the weekend. Headliner was Aries Spears, darn good comedian (http://www.ariesspears.com/) and good impersonator.

San Jose Improv is OK, but it's not got quite as good an atmosphere as Rooster T's in Sunnyvale. It is a lot bigger though, so gets bigger names.

First time we've really done a 'night out' in San Jose downtown on a weekend. There's a pretty good bar across the street too, called Tres Gringos. Big party bar, good Top Shelf Margaritas and loud music.

Saturday was a good night to be out, it was like being on vacation, due to the 100degree weather and loud 80s music at Tres Gringos.

Really!

I spent good money buying the DVDs for the original UK series of Life on Mars. I can honestly say, it's one of the best TV shows I've watched in a long time. Season one, for sure. Season 2, ok, a little bit "samey", but the last episode is fucking fantastic.

Now then ... ABC appear to have bought the rights. I really, really, really, really hope that this is just a bad trailer and that the series will be as witty, enthralling and moving as the original. If not, the American public is being deprived of a really great experience and I'd recommend you either (a) buy the DVD from Amazon or (b) get DirecTV and watch BBC America, which I'm sure will re-run the original in the same timeslot of ABC, just like they did with Coupling.



That looks wrong on so many levels. Let's start with the obvious:
(1) Why don't I hear David Bowies Life on Mars at any point in the trailer
(2) Where's the black pimp with the big purple hat and cane

Now, compare and contrast:

I can be such a dick sometimes!

I just posted that image on my weekly status report wiki page :-D I expect I'll be fired by Monday. I just like to wind people up, where's the harm!

Updated Boys Toys page

Did a bit of house keeping on the Boys Toys page (http://sagar.org/boystoys). Basically, we'd bought most of the stuff that was on there (as we're capitalist skum) and what was left was old and shabby now.

The new page is pretty much entirely focused on my new hobbies of; (1) watching TV and (2) recording TV onto my computer, so I can watch it later.

Google App Engine or Amazon Web Services?

http://code.google.com/

http://www.amazon.com/ec2

Can I outsource my life?

Too much crap to do, too many hobby projects to work on, nothing's getting done. Can I outsource my life? Admittedly the "fun" factor probably wouldn't be met, but at least I'd have the satisfaction of getting things done.

Case in point: This weekend, I really wanted to get the SnapStream running on the mediaserver PC in the garage. But my grapes are growing in the garden and if I don't get the stakes in the ground, they're going to rot on the vine and be eaten by slugs, but Ben has a science project that I want to help him with and it's mother's day, plus we have a deadline at work*. Life's shit.



* If anyone's under the impression that I'm going into the office this weekend, they're deluded.

Survival of the fittest ....

Man created life, in robot form. Then man made the next logical step. Man started killing it.

Hiding in plain sight, for your data

The NSA guys would never thing to look behind the phone jack for those top secret nuclear launch codes that Boris sold you, or your last visit to Moscow.

http://www.spyroforum.com/post-114692.html#114692

Cool hack project at the very least :)

I imaging you need to keep the wires pretty short, and it might help if you’re using a slower USB.

Kindle: Still selling like hot cakes

Well, when I say hot cakes I must be referring to some kind of cow intestine baked into a pie with a fake cream icing topping kind of cake that no one would want to eat.

Somehow I have to assume it's more about not having a very good production plant more than being overwhelmed with orders.



Roll-up, Roll-up, Get yer Kindles here

Ben's Birthday

Birthday party at the Slot Car place on Camden. Great fun! Imagine having a Skalextrics that's 30feet by 20 and you can have seven friends race against you at the same time. No internet involved!

Didn't get him too many presents, but I did manage to find a Crossfire game. It was always a favorite of mine when I was about 10 years old and I thought he might like it.