Author: RTOlson

A milestone

I had a much longer post, but a browser crash ate it. Sunday marked the fifth anniversary of the launch of my first “official” blog. Aside from the first two test posts, I didn’t really start posting in earnest until a year later.

As a historical note, I find it eerie the county changed forever after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks just a few hours after that first post. I regret not posting more in the aftermath and generally over the past five years.

Ultimately, I’ve enjoyed keeping a chronicle. I hope it’s been enjoyable for those that drop by. Including work, I’ve created nine blogs over the past five years. This week, I’m going to launch a podcast and start blogging about TV at TV Guide’s community site.

The site’s 10-year anniversary is in October. I’ll have more to say and show off then.

Battlestar Galactica: Good to see some frakkin’ new stuff

Originally posted on my TV Guide blog at 1:41 AM on 09/11/06

I’ve been jonesing for a “Battlestar Galactica” fix before the Season 3 premiere on Oct. 6. Thankfully, Sci Fi is showing a 10-part online series leading up to the premiere. New episodes (or “webisodes” if you insist) of “The Resistance” debut each Tuesday and Thursday on scifi.com. It’s good to see the series, but the short running time of each capsule leaves you wanting more.

It’ll be interesting to see all the pieces put together. Sci Fi will apparently air the whole 10-part series over the “air” shortly before the launch of the new season. Chances are, the story will be more coherent and enjoyable.

That brings up another point about “webisodes” that I’ll probably expand on later — the short, online episodes are nice, but they’re kinda disappointing because they’re not on the larger canvas of the television screen. They’re also _way_ too short.

This isn’t a new phenomenon, networks have been producing new content for the Web off and on for a decade (going back to NBC’s “Homicide: Second Shift” which detailed the other, previously unseen crew that worked in the Baltimore homicide unit).

On the other hand, it’s nice to see extra material on a new platform. I’m looking forward to see where things are going.

Some frakkin’ good news

I’ve been jonesing for a “Battlestar Galactica” fix before the Season 3 premiere on Oct. 6. Thankfully, Sci Fi is showing a 10-part online series leading up to the premiere. New episodes (or “webisodes” if you insist) of “The Resistance” debut each Tuesday and Thursday on scifi.com. It’s good to see the series, but the short running time of each capsule leaves you wanting more.

It’ll be interesting to see all the pieces put together. Sci Fi will apparently air the whole 10-part series over the “air” shortly before the launch of the new season. Chances are, the story will be more coherent and enjoyable.

That brings up another point about “webisodes” that I’ll probably expand on later — the short, online episodes are nice, but they’re kinda disappointing because they’re not on the larger canvas of the television screen. They’re also _way_ too short.

This isn’t a new phenomenon, networks have been producing new content for the Web off and on for a decade (going back to NBC’s “Homicide: Second Shift” which detailed the other, previously unseen crew that worked in the Baltimore homicide unit).

On the other hand, it’s nice to see extra material on a new platform. I’m looking forward to see where things are going.

Irony

I was watching VH-1’s Reality Show Secrets 2 (or something like that), the whole episode dealt with how “fake” reality shows are. While it was pretty fun to watch, I was entertained by the fact the show featured clips from “The Joe Schmo Show 2” (which parodies how reality shows cliches). So the show has clips from the show, but they don’t talk about the show. At all.

I thought it was a little ironic. I was also a little bummed because I liked the show and cast and crew. Oh well.

It was also weird that I’m watching VH-1 on a Friday night.

Random, crazy guess

Two of my favorite tech companies in the world, Apple and TiVo, are on the verge of some big announcements next week. On Tuesday, Apple will make an announcement in San Francisco. In the other corner, PVRblog has a post referring to wild rumors that TiVo will release its new Series 3 HD-capable DVR on Tuesday.

The fact that both of these announcements is supposed to come on Tuesday has got me thinking — what if they’re related in some way?

They’ve been rumored to get together in the past, but nothing ever came of it. Well, let me just add my wacky, pie-in-the-sky prediction — Apple and TiVo are going to jointly announce something on Tuesday. I don’t know what, but I can see a minor/major announcement including TiVo finally releasing TiVo-to-Go for the Mac which Apple could somehow integrate into its Front Row home entertainment suite.

Having the TiVo service that ports recorded programs to the computer and the iPod could bolster Apple’s efforts to integrate its box into the living room. That could benefit both companies, while playing up the technologies that both are known for.

The end of the world

Here’s another belated post. I wanted to post the playlist from the last time I sang at The Maltese with my former co-worker Ari. Sure it was over a month ago, but I tried to do a fitting tribute to the songs Ari performed since he started his wacky karaoke career.

  • Teddy Bear — To the best of my knowledge, this was the first song Ari sang at The Maltese. I thought it was a fitting way to begin the night.
  • Rocky Top — One of the 6 Tennessee state songs and one of the 15,000 University of Tennessee fight songs. Good song although it was rough on my throat.
  • Werewolves of London — OK, Ari never really sang this song. However, he said it had one of the best lines in music.
  • The Curly Shuffle — Why is this song in the playlist? Because it allows me to get down on the floor and spin in a circle while shouting “Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo.”
  • Eastbound and Down — I’ve been told it’s from “Smokey and the Bandit.” Sadly, I wouldn’t know. It’s still a fun song.

The best karaoke place in San Diego

Just to pick up on my post from last week, I have a _much, much_ better time at the second San Diego karaoke place I sang at.

After my 10-year reunion on Aug. 19, I drove around the corner from Shelter Point and pulled into the Captain’s Catch inside of a Ramada Limited. It was getting late in the evening, but I was able to sing TWO songs.

Sure the place wasn’t very crowded and the book was just all right, but people seemed to appreciate my music selection and were digging it. I sang Cake’s “Never There” and Cab Calloway’s “Minnie the Moocher.”

So, in my limited opinion, Captain’s Catch is the “best” karaoke bar in San Diego. Even if it’s not, it’s a million times better than the Lamplighter.

This is a feature? – Aug. 19

Hey, Tom —

This text editor that you have to write blogs is dreadful, to the point where it is nearly unusable (at least on Firefox). I can use neither the arrow keys or keyboard commands to edit my post. It’s like I’m back on a terminal using PINE to check my e-mail.

This is almost as bad as trying to write a text message on your cell phone. Actually, it’s worse — nearly every phone I’ve used allows you to use the arrow keys.

I don’t know what the problem is, but I would really appreciate added functionality to these blogs.

Your friend,
Ryan