Remember your childhood?

Yeah. Aren't those memories fond? Remember that time your Dad kept you up until midnight making you practice multiplication flash cards because he couldn't accept that the son of an engineer would have trouble with math? Remember the constant fighting between your parents and how everyone would be tense and joyless and take out their anger on you so you played alone in your room with your legos? Remember how you didn't really have any friends because you couldn't really relate to them because they were busily focused on whatever cartoon or toy was awesome at the time and you could only think about how when you got home your sister was going to babysit you and you knew she was going to tickle you until you couldn't breathe and make you watch American Werewolf in London again? Remember that time you stood up to your dad and told him he had gone to far and paid for it with 3 hours of red-faced screaming pressed desperately against the wall trying to avoid the sting of his accusatory finger and inching towards the door? Ah... childhood. Where none of the damage is serious but it's all fucking permanent.

Goodbye people. I'm signing out.

The photo blog is still going and LOCI will continue when I figure out how to do it once pownce shuts down.

Whackly has left the building.

Who are these guys?

This picture was recently rediscovered during our Thanksgiving pilgrimage back to the ole family homestead. We haven't changed a bit have we?!? Whackly, contrary to popular belief, my Mom didn't draw any devil horns on you or anything!

The other day...

Some people apparently think I'm too dumb to notice when they are being condescending. I supposed, often times, I perpetuate this by pretending I don't notice. You will always have the upper hand on someone who underestimates you. However, I'm not really used to it happening all that often and that's why it stuck with me when it happened the other day. I was having an IM conversation with someone I know... someone who probably knows enough about me to realize I'm a know-it-all but probably doesn't know me well enough to know that I've actually read up on the subject I'm talking about most of the time and that I keep my opinions malleable in case additional information is added. I'm not some stubborn stick in the mud whose opinion is unreasonable and unchangeable. We were lightly engaged in a sort of "What I would do if money wasn't an issue." kind of conversation and they mentioned they would go to Jamaica. I mentioned I thought that was strange since it's not exactly a nice or safe place and the same tropical weather can be had in many much safer locations around that region of the world. The response I got was something fairly consdescending and culminated in an outright sarcastic "OK. You're always right. You always know." kind of comment.

Well, with good old Jamaica nestled between South Africa and Sudan in the list of the top 20 dangerous places on the planet, I would like to point out that this would be an good example of a time when you can cram it with walnuts.

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8 posts....

In 8 straight posts (since Mezzo's last) by far the vast majority of the hits to this site are from me coming to see if anyone else has read it or left comments. I think that's an official sign that it's time to wrap it up. What do you think?

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Tomorrow is the first day of the end of your year.

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the end.
Between now and New Year's Eve your year will summarize itself in an all new, never before seen microcosmic clusterfuck of familiar shittiness; like ABCs primetime linup. Is everyone ready? I know I am.

Between now and 2009 I have every reason to believe I'll find myslef:

Unintentionally drunk.
Completely broke.
Totally swimming in money.
Completely broke again.
Annoyed with a family member.
Angry with a family member.
Drawing plans for a voodoo doll of a family member.
Feeling the hopeful beginnings of the stir of Christmas Spirit.
Disappointed at how Christmas just isn't as fun when you aren't a kid.
Attempting to live vicariously through my child.
Railing against the taint of consumerism.
Singing Christmas carols.
Wondering why in the crap I'm singing Christmas carols.
Feeling sorry for poor people.
Realizing I'm a poor person.
In the mood to give.
In the mood to take.
Punching a bell ringer.
Roughing up that gruff little fellow that thinks he has the right to look in my bag after I checkout at Wal-Mart.
Laughing at how idiots can't drive in snow.
Nearly crashing in the snow and realizing I'm an idiot.
Lying awake staring at the Christmas tree.
Pissed I was awake all night staring at the tree when I don't even drop tabs anymore.
Convincing myself that Holiday sales are a good time to buy stuff I can't afford at a discount.
Converting my buyer's remorse into anger.
Listening to at least one person I know make excuses for their DUI.

How's your Holiday Season shaping up?

All you need is spellchecker!

Anyone can be a critic.  Anyone can be an expert.  All you need is a spellchecker and a 10 minute proofread. 

I just read a review of Weezer: The Red Album (which was too vile to link to) that included pos-mens for some of the weakest songs on the album and actually had an entire paragraph dedicated to the 4th track, Heart Songs.

Heart Songs?  Have you heard this song?  Tito Jackson could eat 8tracks tapes and crap better songs than this sing.  I really like the album.  It's not as awesome as Pinkerton or The Blue Album but there are enough solid tracks on the album to make up for the Beverly Hills single (which still makes me hobo-stabbingly mad).  Even though my overall opinion of the album is that it's quite good I can't believe anyone who would even pretend to know enough about music to critique and album for a publication (it wasn't some asshole's blog like this is) would be moronic enough to fall in love with Heart Songs. 

Damn, people are stupid this week.  They don't know elephants from rhinos, 320kbps mp3 from lossless, and music from Heart Songs.  I can't wait for next Monday, when the world will realign.

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Netflix via 360 FTW

Not yet in surround sound but in HD resolutions, Netflix and Microsoft have just fired the first ballistic missle in the new HD format battle. Small arms fire has come from Apple and a few other places around the web but nothing has matched the significance of yesterday's escalation.

Netflix has been streaming moves for a while. The selection isn't great (since the studios don't particularly like the idea) but you can nearly always find something you like in there. Microsoft has been renting downloadable HD content through xbox Live for even longer. As of yesterday Netflix has now added an HD section to their streamable movies. As of yesterday anyone with an xbox 360 and a Netflix account can stream movies direct to the xbox. The same selection problems exist but there are some shining stars in there. I don't think you have to have a 360 to stream the HD movies but it doesn't hurt the experience. Streaming these movies through the 360 brings Netflix streaming into the living room and into a comfortable movie watching venue without the hassle (and believe me, it is a hassle) of setting up an HTPC and without the troll like solitude of watching a movie alone, on your computer.

Bluray is still struggling to recover from its hard fight with HD-DVD. The question at the end of this sentence has been asked before but with Netflix and the 360 moving into the space there is nobody left who can doubt the validity of inquring "Who the hell needs physical media like Bluray discs if I can pay $15 per month to Netflix and watch all the HD I want?"

I haven't tried streaming HD from Netflix yet, making this post a bit premature. However, I'm just so damned excited by it all I can't hold it in. It is true that the 360 HD movie rentals did suffer slighly in the picture quality department when compared to Bluray/HDDVD. If Netflix has the same issue I would consider it forgivable considering the how fresh the product is. With a little time, a little maturity, a couple of victories under their belt, Netflix might be the weapon Microsoft uses to finally slay Bluray.

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OK. When the fuck did everyone turn stupid?

Using both hemispheres of your brain, assess the information presented in this photo and tell me what animal this is.  You may guess wrong and be forgive but there is one animal it clearly is not.  If you guess that animal I will hate you.

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If it's going to be that kind of party I'm going to stick my dick in the mashed potatoes.

1. Job Frustration
2. Aneurysm
3. ???
4. Profit!!!

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I woke up on the floor after I read this and my left eyeball was blood red.

I think I completely stroked out.

I went to Microsoft's email support and wrote them to tell them that, even though I had followed all of the steps outlined in their procedure, I had not been able to recover my content drm. What they returned was a copy/paste of the sheet of instructions that had come with my refurb unit that outlined the instructions, I had just written to tell them, hadn't worked. I'm thinking there was a mistake, type, snafu in whatever process they use to txfr the licenses over when they ship a refurb unit. They're thinking about rainbows and fairy farts or whatever the hell it is people think about when they answer without reading the fucking question.

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft online support for XBOX. I am Ashley and I will be helping you today with this issue.

I understand that you would like to know on how to reactivate your premium content or to restore your Digital Rights Management (DRM) licenses after you receive your console back from being repaired. We appreciate your inquiry and we are glad to be of help.

If you follow these steps, you can access your content while you're not signed in to Xbox LIVE.

Note: If you exchanged your console at a retail store by using the retailer's return policy instead of sending the console directly to the Xbox Repair Center, these steps do not restore your licenses. In this case, you must do one of the following:

. Use the DRM tool found at http://xbox.com/drm

. Contact Xbox Support to have your licenses manually restored

To view the FAQ for the DRM tool, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/licensemigration/faq.htm

If you previously downloaded content from Xbox LIVE Marketplace, you must connect to Xbox LIVE to restore the licenses for that content on your specific Xbox 360 console, if you want to use the content when you are not connected to Xbox LIVE.

To restore your licenses, follow these steps:

1. Attach the hard drive or memory unit to your Xbox 360 console. This should be the hard drive or memory unit you originally downloaded the content to.

2. Turn on your Xbox 360 console.

3. Sign in to Xbox LIVE with the gamer profile that originally downloaded the content.

4. Go to Xbox Marketplace. Select Account Management, and then select Download History.

5. Select an item, and then select Download Again.

6. Repeat step 5 for each item in your download history.

After you have downloaded your content again, anyone will be able use that content on that Xbox 360 console, regardless of whether the person is signed in to Xbox LIVE or not.

Note: License restoration works only on the Xbox 360 console that has been returned to you.

You may also choose to call Xbox Phone Support for further assistance. For US and Canada customers, you may call Xbox Customer Service at 1-800-469-9269 at your earliest convenience, and we'll be happy to help you. We are open everyday from 6am to 10pm US Pacific Time.

For international customers, please contact Xbox Customer Service in your local region. (To find the correct Customer Service number for your region first use this link http://www.xbox.com/en-US/ChangeLocale.htm to select the appropriate country and then use the contact number found under the support menu). You may also call international assistance (direct dial to the US) by dialing 425-635-7180.

To expedite service, please provide Service Request Number *********** when you call.

Thank you for visiting Xbox.com. If you should have future questions on Xbox products or services, please be sure to revisit our Web site as we are continually adding information to enhance our service.

Best Regards,

Ashley

Microsoft XBOX Support Services

http://support.microsoft.com/

Thanks a million Ashley.

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