February 2005 Archives (20 posts)
Rogers Cable to limit bandwidth
Rogers Cable in Toronto is imposing a “combined upload and download bandwidth limit of 60 GB per month.” This goes into effect on March 17, 2005.
One person that I spoke to was told by Rogers that 60 GB of bandwidth is what the average person might use in a year. Another person I spoke to had his service cut off for a day last fall. He was told that he was in the 1% of users that was abusing the service by downloading excessively.
So what does this mean if you’re a bandwidth hog? It means that you’ll only be able to steal download about 60 Hollywood films each month or 15,000 songs.
Can you really watch 60 films or listen to 15,000 songs in a month? I think Rogers and the other ISPs are probably doing some people a favour by limiting their downloading addiction.
Downloading that much data becomes a full-time job of burning CDs, DVDs, printing cover art, archiving files and making room on your crippled hard drive for the next 60 GB of files. Where do people find the time to actually watch all of those movies and listen to all of that music? What kind of life can you possibly have if you spend all of your spare time in front of the computer or the television?
Posted in Technology at 10:47 AM | Comments (36)
Retro iPod
Gizmodo always has interesting photos and news of the latest gadgets. This photo caught my eye. The look of this new and unannounced iPod fits right in with my retro theme on Bombippy.
Posted in Apple at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)
kottke.org becomes a full-time job
Jason Kottke has decided to quit his job and make kottke.org a full-time job. He won’t be loading up his site with Google Ads but will be asking for contributions to pay the bills.
I think it’s a gutsy move and congratulate him. He’s pursuing something that he is a passionate about, and he’s taking a huge financial risk in doing so (unless the contributions exceed his expectations). It will be interesting to see how kottke.org evolves over the next few months.
Now if I could only figure out a way for my wife to make money from blogging, I’ll never have to work again.
Posted in Web at 3:51 PM | Comments (1)
March in Paris
I would have preferred “April in Paris” but March will do. In 15 days, Lissa and I will be spending a week in Paris. With our busy schedules, this is the only time that we can go. It should be a fabulous trip.
I spent a few days in Paris about 15 years ago and barely scratched the surface. I’m looking forward to walking through the museums, art galleries, churches and eating some great food. Any advice from you world travellers?
Posted in Travel at 5:07 PM | Comments (5)
Edge Codes
On Saturday I went to see the a documentary film about film editing called Edge Codes. It featured some great interviews with George Lucas, Norman Jewison and Sarah Flack among others.
Flack edited a few of Steven Soderbergh’s films and had some interesting things to say about The Limey—one of my favourite films. She’s currently editing an untitled Dave Chappelle/Michel Gondry Project project due out, later this year.
Edge Codes director, Alex Shuper was at Saturday’s screening and answered a number of questions from the audience. I learned a lot about the editing process and the history of editing from this doc. I also realized that there are a lot of fabulous films that I’ve never seen.
The Edge Codes DVD comes out on March 1 and you can download a copy of the film for $10 from the Edge Codes website. If you’re at all interested in film editing then you won’t want to miss this documentary.
Posted in Movie Reviews at 5:05 PM | Comments (0)
Re-release of 12 Monkeys
I can’t stand when the greedy number crunchers at the Hollywood studios do this. Universal Studios has decided to re-release 12 Monkeys as a special edition disc. This will be the third release of this film on DVD.
The new disc will have a digitally remastered picture with some of the extras from a previously released Collector’s Edition (The Hamster Factory documentary and a director commentary with Terry Gilliam). Universal is also releasing this movie on HD-DVD in the fall.
Miramax is working on a special editions of Kill Bill due out in August. Meanwhile Dreamworks is working on yet another special edition of Gladiator with all new features and an extended version of the film.
Who do the studios expect to purchase these discs when people already own them? What is going to happen when HD-DVD or Blu-ray becomes a standard? More special editions? Like I said, I can’t stand the money-grubbing weasels in Hollywood.
I’m not purchasing any new special editions of movies that I already own. I hope that others do the same and Hollywood stops this pathetic practice.
Posted in Movies at 3:14 PM | Comments (0)
Saw (2004)
A friend of mine watched this film back in November and mentioned how good it was, that it was worth seeing in the theatre. He was right. Saw is excellent! I watched it last night and was riveted from beginning to end. I jumped in a few places and cringed in others.
Saw is probably the best thriller since the David Fincher’s SE7EN (1995). It borrows a little too much from SE7EN and Silence of the Lambs but I enjoyed it thoroughly.
The script is pretty clever and keeps you guessing until the very end of the film. It’s hard to believe that it was written and directed by a couple of Australian guys in their early 20s. But why not? Orson Welles made Citizen Kane when he was only 25.
It was nice to see Cary Elwes playing a lead in a decent film. Danny Glover plays a cop, a role he can do in his sleep, but to his credit, he brings a creepiness to the role.
The DVD looks great in anamorphic widescreen. If you have a DTS 6.1 receiver then you’re in for a treat because this is a terrific sounding disc. I’ve only seen the movie once but the commentary with director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell is supposed to be quite good and funny at times.
Posted in DVD Reviews at 2:02 PM | Comments (2)
Transmit 3 Released
Transmit 3 from Panic is finally available for download. Transmit 3 is easily the best FTP program for Mac OS X.
$17.95 to upgrade from a previous version or $29.95 for a new copy.
Posted in OS X Software at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)
Ray (2004)
Last weekend I watched the special edition DVD of Ray. The music is excellent. Jamie Foxx does a fabulous job of becoming Ray Charles. I think he deserves an Oscar for his performance.
Who knew that Foxx was an accomplished pianist? Director Taylor Hackford was pleasantly surprised when he learned that Foxx would be able to play the piano for his film. More information like this is availabe on the special features DVD and worth watching.
There is a sadness to the story of Ray Charles that comes across in the film. I think you get a reall sense of this in the scenes that flashback to his childhood. Overall, the film is a great tribute to a musical genius. Turn up the volume and prepare to be impressed.
Posted in DVD Reviews at 3:18 PM | Comments (2)
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Last week I went to see the 10:30 PM show for Million Dollar Baby. I couldn’t get into my own home theatre to watch a movie—the step-daughter wanted to watch Gilmore Girls. How sad is that?
I didn’t read any reviews prior to seeing Million Dollar Baby so I wasn’t prepared for the ‘surprise twist’ that people had been talking about. From all of the Oscar nominations I knew this was probably a great film—excellent acting, direction and story. In this respect, I wasn’t disappointed.
Million Dollar Baby might be described as Mystic River on steroids. If you thought Eastwood’s Oscar-nominated film from last year packed a punch then look out! Million Dollar Baby won’t lift your spirits or entertain you as much as it will drain you emotionally.
Clint Eastwood directed a solid film. Is it the best film of the year? No, but it’s a must see. Hilary Swank is excellent in her role and should nab an Oscar for her performance. She deserves it.
SPOILER
I have mixed feelings about this film. It has an emotional punch that will make you wish the story had a happier ending. It makes you question your morality. What would you do if you were Clint Eastwood’s character in the film?
I remained hopeful throughout the film. I waited for good things to happen. Expected them. This is how Hollywood has conditioned us to think. Eastwood turns his back on tradition and allows the film to drown in darkness and injustice. This ultimately makes the film stronger in its ability to move you and it’s why I left the theatre feeling melancholy.
Posted in Movie Reviews at 2:59 PM | Comments (0)
Skydiving grandma
Here is a video that illustrates why your grandmother shouldn’t go skydiving.
whygrandmashouldntskydive.wmv (1.2 MB)
Video requires Windows Media Player.
Posted in Humour at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)
DVD Collection and Home Theatre Setup updates
My DVD Collection is back online and almost up to date. A couple of DVDs that arrived yesterday from CriterionDVD.com have also been added to the list.
CriterionDVD.com is the best place to purchase Criterion Collection DVDs online (and probably offline as well). Last week they had free shipping to Canada. They always list the value of their packages at $10.00. Why? So I don’t have to pay GST and duty to the nice people at Revenue Canada. That always makes my day.
The Home Theatre Setup is now online and provides some technical information about my home theatre.
I Hung My Head is also back online.
Posted in Bombippy and Movies at 1:55 AM | Comments (0)
IE 7 coming this summer
It looks like Billy Gates is worried about losing market share to rival web browser, Firefox. News.com is reporting that Internet Explorer 7 will debut this summer
IE 7 isn’t supposed to ship until next year when Microsoft releases the next version of Windows. IE 6 is prone to numerous security flaws and has lousy support for various web standards.
Web authors have long complained about Microsoft’s spotty implementation of various Web standards including Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) image format, Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML) and Extensible Markup Language (XML).
Hopefully Microsoft listens to its customers and releases a decent browser this time. I don’t know how many hours I’ve wasted by tweaking style sheets to work properly in IE 5.5 and IE 6. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Posted in Web Development at 3:04 PM | Comments (0)
Bombippy Updates
The updated to version 2.0 continues. Most of the Movable Type templates are in place and seem to work properly. You can post, preview posts, browse the archives by date and by category. I’ve also addded RSS and Atom feeds to save you some trips back to blog content on this site.
So far 36 posts have been restored. I have about another 400 to go! The export from Blogger didn’t work at all so this will be a long and manual process.
Part of the About Bombippy section has been restored in the new template. I still have to build a form page so that you can contact me. Most of you already have my email address. If you don’t you’ll be able to reach me soon.
I’m going to concentrate on getting all of the old content (recipes, DVD information) back online again followed by rebuilding the archives. So far I’m pleased with the results which should make this site much easier to manage in the future.
Posted in Bombippy at 5:14 PM | Comments (0)
Bombippy 2.0
After redesigning Lissa’s blog I’ve grown impatient with the relaunch of my own. A lot of the links on the sidebar don’t work and they will be updated over the next week.
I’m still working on the various templates for archives and posts so don’t be surprised if you see some “stock” Movable Type templates after you click on some of the links.
Let me know what you think because I finally have comments!
Posted in Bombippy at 3:01 PM | Comments (1)
stuffandjunk.com redesigned
Lissa’s blog, stuffandjunk.com has been slightly redesigned (sort of) and upgraded from Movable Type v2.66 to v3.15. Hopefully the upgrade will cut down on some of the spam
Bombippy v2.0 is just around the corner.
Posted in Web Design at 1:52 PM | Comments (0)
Super Bowl Commercials
When I had the guys over for the Super Bowl on the weekend, the Ameriquest commercials received the biggest laughs. My favourite is the guy making a dinner for his wife when things go horribly wrong.
If you missed any of the Ameriquest commercials then you can watch them here.
Posted in Humour and Television at 10:46 PM | Comments (0)
North by Northwest (1959)
I watched Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest on the weekend for the first time. From the famous opening title sequence by Saul Bass, to the climax of the film on Mount Rushmore, I had a sense that I’d seen this film before.
A number of directors have paid homage to Hitchcock’s creative genius in a number of films. Here is what I’ve been able to spot in North by Northwest.
- The Saul Bass title sequence where the titles share the same perspective as the Manhattan skyscrapers is completely reproduced for the opening title sequence of David Fincher’s Panic Room.
- James Bond film, From Russia with Love borrows heavily from the crop duster scene where Cary Grant is almost run down by an airplane.
- John Woo borrows from the same scene in Paycheck where a subway train is substituted for the crop duster
- The English Patient where Ralph Fiennes is almost run down by a plane in the desert
- Hitchcock reveals Cary Grant in the reflection of a TV set near the end of the film — M. Night Shyamalan shows the reflection of an alien in a TV set at the climax of his film Signs
If you have any other examples from North by Northwest or any other Hitchcock films I’d be interested in hearing from you. Send me an email.
Posted in DVD Reviews at 9:48 PM | Comments (0)
Limited New Releases
I’ve been using Zip.ca for about a month now and have enjoyed their service, for the most part. Their selection of DVD titles is great but I’m discovering that their new releases are limited. It can take a couple of weeks to receive a new title such as The Village (mine arrived this morning after two weeks of waiting).
There is a feature on Zip.ca that lets you specify which movies are sent to you next. You can flag two DVD selections as ASAP so that they ship before any other titles in your queue. This feature rarely works, unless the titles you’re flagging are older releases.
This complaint aside, Zip.ca provides tremendous value to the average movie junkie. In the month that I’ve signed up, I’ve watched 15 DVDs for $24.95. If I went the Blockbuster route, my 15 DVD rentals would cost $77.85 (a little less if I was a rewards member).
Not all of the DVDs I rented in the last month were new releases. At Blockbuster, these older titles would cost less than the standard $5.19 rental price (Blockbuster raised their prices 20 cents/rental). Then again, Blockbuster doesn’t have a comprehensive selection of movies.
Some of the movies that I’ve watched recently aren’t available at Blockbuster and can be purchased for $40 or more (Criterion Collection DVDs). Some specialty DVD rental stores that are downtown, carry these titles but aren’t close by. For convenience and cost, this makes Zip.ca a much better alternative to Blockbuster and Rogers Video.
If Zip.ca would beef up their new DVD releases I would be completely satisfied. It’s frustrating to have to wait for several weeks just to watch a new release. Blockbuster has spoiled us with their ability to purchase hundreds of copies of new DVDs for rental. Zip.ca seems to be responding to the complaints of its users and hopefully we’ll see even better service in the coming weeks.
Special thanks to my Vancouver editor for alerting me to some embarrassing grammatical errors!
Posted in Movies at 1:53 PM | Comments (0)
And on the 8th day, Blockbuster converted the rental to a sale.
THE END OF LATE FEES. Maybe you’ve seen the posters plastered all over your local Blockbuster. As of Jan 29, 2005, Blockbuster Canada is no longer charging late fees for DVD rentals.
What’s the catch? You still have to return your rentals by the due date on your receipt. In fact, you can keep your rentals for an additional 7 days if you like. On the 8th day after your due date Blockbuster will assume you want to purchase that unreturned DVD. Your Blockbuster account will be billed for the full amount of the disc.
The good news is that Blockbuster will put your rental fee for the DVD toward their inflated sale price. Lucky you! If you decide that you really don’t want to purchase the DVD, that you thought you could keep it for as long as you like (no wait, only Zip.ca lets you do that) then you can beg, pay a $1.75 restocking fee and they will allow you to return the DVD.
So what we’ve learned here is that late fees have been given a flat rate of $1.75 and rebranded as restocking fees.
Posted in Movies at 10:59 PM | Comments (0)
