Bailout extended to Television

OMG, It's bad enough that our tax dollars are bailing out programs and businesses left and right but now more money will be dumped into the bucket so everyone can watch TV without interruption. In my opinion the major advertisers should pay this bill. They are the ones that want people to watch TV, let them pay for it.

Switch to digital TV expected to be rescheduled

The Senate votes to defer the transition from February to June, which would give millions of households time to prepare.

By Jim Puzzanghera
January 27, 2009

Reporting from Washington -- People who aren't ready for next month's nationwide switch to all-digital broadcast TV are likely to get a four-month extension after the Senate voted Monday to delay the conversion until June.

The move follows President Obama's call for a postponement after a $1.5-billion government program to help viewers buy special converter boxes temporarily ran out of money this month. Obama's proposed $825-billion stimulus legislation includes $650 million to help replenish the program.

The delay, approved unanimously on a voice vote by the Senate, would give millions of viewers more time to prepare for the transition. Only those who use outdoor or rabbit-ear antennas need converter boxes. Pay-television providers already handle the conversion for their customers.

"I firmly believe that our nation is not yet ready to make this transition at this time," said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), who pressed for the delay.

I Loved 1985

Just a funny vid for those of us that lived through High School in 1985.

I love the stick figure videos, so simple yet so funny.

Lazy Sunday

So, here it is the weekend and as usual I want to cook a nice breakfast for the family.

I love breakfast food, it's my favorite meal of the day.

Today's menu - Eggs Benedict
The Problem - No egg poacher

So of course I usually just drop the eggs in the pan and hope for the best.
However, today I decide to Google for a better way.

Here's the funny part, not only did someone else do this very same thing, they actually blogged the whole experience.

Pure genius, it's exactly what I wanted. Someone that tried all the different methods and posted the results. Damn, I love the Scientific Method

Without further ado I present

How to Poach an Egg

Now, I'm off to try these out

Once a Pack Rat....

Always a pack rat.

So, I would bet almost everyone reading this has some sort of DVR by now?

If so, I have a theory....
If you are a physical pack rat you will automatically turn into a DVR pack rat.

The other day I made the switch from Direct TV to Cable, don't ask it's a long story.
Of course I didn't bother to clean off the old DVR before I shipped it back, but I was curious what was still on there.

Oprah - 8 episodes
American's Funniest Videos - 4 episodes
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - 5 episodes
Martha Speaks - 4 episodes
Summer Olympics 2008 - 15 hours
Mythbusters - 3 episodes
Prototype This - 3 episodes
Heroes - 8 episodes
Bagger Vance
Lady in the Water

This lead me to two conclusions -->

1. I didn't really need to watch any of those shows, because I so quickly threw them out the window with the old DVR.

2. The opportunity or intention of watching something is actually more important than actually watching it.

For example, my beautiful wife ( I love you honey) asked me to record the Golden Globes recently, which I did without hesitation.

My experiment is to see how long it remains on the DVR without being watched or deleted.

This experiment lead me to this question -->

At what point does a television program become interesting enough to record but not interesting enough to actually watch?

Professional sports events fit into this same category. I know several people who record their favorite team/athlete but never actually watch the event, since they most likely see the score the next day.

This lead me into another realization. -->
Once DVR data becomes public record, individual marketing could be massive.

In other words, it's obvious that recording habits are transmitted back to the parent company for marketing purposes but so far these are only for broad generalizations.

Imagine sitting down to watch last night's Americal Idol only to have some toothpaste ad flash up on your screen based on demographic data from your viewing habits.

Here's a related article about this from the famous Janet Jackson Superbowl.

Finally, for absolutely no reason at all, this lead me to this book -->

Final 2008 box Office Numbers and Most Anticpated Movies of 2009

So, with 2008 in the books, here is a recap of the top movies of the year. Once again a couple late release movies cracked the top 10. The most interesting tidbit: not a single R rated movie made the list.

1	The Dark Knight	WB	$530,896,852	4,366	$158,411,483	4,366	7/18	-
2	Iron Man	Par.	$318,313,199	4,154	$98,618,668	4,105	5/2	10/2
3	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	Par.	$317,023,851	4,264	$100,137,835	4,260	5/22	-
4	Hancock	Sony	$227,946,274	3,965	$62,603,879	3,965	7/2	9/7
5	WALL-E	BV	$223,783,432	3,992	$63,087,526	3,992	6/27	-
6	Kung Fu Panda	P/DW	$215,434,591	4,136	$60,239,130	4,114	6/6	10/9
7	Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa	P/DW	$174,862,381	4,065	$63,106,589	4,056	11/7	-
8	Twilight	Sum.	$167,325,198	3,649	$69,637,740	3,419	11/21	-
9	Quantum of Solace	Sony	$164,302,659	3,501	$67,528,882	3,451	11/14	-
10	Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!	Fox	$154,529,439	3,961	$45,012,998	3,954	3/14	9/4

Now that 2008 is history, I thought I would post the preliminary list of most anticipated movies of 2009. Please note, some of these may not make it to the screen in 2009 but all of them are currently scheduled.

Nine Sequels

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
X-Men Origins Wolverine
Night at the Museum 2
Ice Age 3
The Brazilian Job
Terminator Salvation
Sin City 2
Friday the 13th

One Prequel

Angels and Demons

Two Historical Themed

1776
Conquistador

At least Four Franchise movies

Watchmen
GI Joe
Halo
Greyskull: Masters of the Universe