August 2007 Archives (21 posts)
Popcorn Seasoning
In Canada, some of us like to put popcorn seasoning on our popcorn at the movie theatre and at home. My personal favourite is the salt and vinegar popcorn seasoning powder by Kernels. Just shake a little onto your bowl of popcorn for instant flavour.
I recently ran out of Kernels’ popcorn seasoning and decided too try a similar seasoning powder by Club House. The container was twice the size and almost the same price as the premium Kernels brand.
Take it from me, Club House salt & vinegar popcorn seasoning is awful! I threw out the package. It tastes like dill pickle seasoning with a mystery flavour.
Moral of the story? Don’t be cheap when it comes to popcorn seasoning. Pay the extra and get Kernels popcorn seasoning.
Posted in Food at 3:38 PM | Comments (2)
It’s better to have loved
Yesterday I saw a bumper sticker that made me laugh out loud.
It’s better to have loved and lost
Than to live with The Psycho
The rest of your life.
Posted in Humour at 5:32 AM | Comments (0)
New Nikon Cameras
Nikon announced some new cameras that will surely heat up the digital SLR wars. They finally released a full-frame camera — Nikon D3. It looks like this is the direct competitor to the Canon 5D.
One of the nicest features of the new Nikon is the 3” screen and an HDMI output. A virtual horizon function is a nice touch. Goodbye spirit level.
Also announced was the Nikon D300. It’s been a while since Canon and Nikon had some major announcements like this.
Posted in Photography at 3:48 PM | Comments (0)
Home, Unfinished Home
Well, today was the day that we were supposed to move back into our house. 3 months ago we started a major renovation project.
Needless to say, our family is living in a friend’s basement apartment, wondering when we can really move back into our house. The good news is that we past our second last inspection which will allow a drywall crew to put our walls, mud, tape and sand everything. The plan is to have everything primed and painted by Monday/Tuesday. Carpet on Wednesday. Tile and do whatever else needs to be done on Thursday/Friday and move in by Saturday.
I’m holding my breath.
Posted in Personal at 10:43 PM | Comments (3)
Country Style Can’t
I went to a Country Style drive thru the other morning and ordered a medium regular coffee with a toasted sesame seed bagel (with cream cheese). I wanted to go to Tim Horton’s but thought, I’ll support the little guy instead.
My medium coffee looked a little large and my bagel was wrapped and warm so I paid and drove off. It seemed a little expensive but it was too early to argue or think for that matter.
My large coffee didn’t have any sugar in it. None! I ordered a medium regular and received a large coffee with cream. Duoh!
My bagel was toasted and it had sesame seeds but instead of regular cream cheese it had melted cheddar and microwaved egg! I’ve never tasted anything so bland. They didn’t even butter the bagel. Duoh!
Country Style can’t get a simple drive thru order right which is why they will be out of business in the next couple of years. The last time I tried the drive thru at this location (Kingston Road and Midland) they served me a warm, not hot medium regular coffee.
I’m done. Country Style Crap won’t be seeing Bombippy again. I’ll stick with Tim Horton’s or Starbucks.
Posted in Observations at 10:25 PM | Comments (4)
Canon 40D and more
Yesterday Canon announced the long awaited 40D digital SLR. Also announced was the Canon 1Ds MKIII, and the Canon EF 14 mm F2.8 L II USM.
More info on Luminous Landscapes or Digital Camera Reviews.
I considered holding out for a Canon 40D but decided to get a Canon 5D last month when the rebate offer was extended. Now that the new cameras have been announced, I have to say that I’m quite content with my old 5D.
Posted in Photography at 1:22 AM | Comments (0)
iPhone available in Canada
Did you know that you can get an iPhone in Canada? For just $129 CDN you can get an iPhone from comwave.
Some of the fantastic features on this iPhone are:
- Phonebook
- Call Logs
- Ring tones
- Vibe
- Calculator
- Alarm
- Calendar
I think the name comwave iPhone is pure genius. I’d love to meet the person that came up with the clever name. I also have a funny feeling that Steve Jobs would love to meet the insanely great marketing department at comwave.
Posted in Technology at 12:03 AM | Comments (2)
The Trouble With LCD TVs
I’ve been considering an LCD TV for the livingroom when our home renovation is completed (if I have any money left). This wouldn’t replace the projection screen in the home theatre, it would be a second TV for the upstairs. I just read The Trouble With LCD TVs: Motion Blur and the 120Hz Solution on Gizmodo and now I’m wondering if I should be looking at a plasma screen instead.
Any advice from people with LCD screens? I’m looking at a 30 inch display for HD content.
Posted in Home Theatre at 11:36 PM | Comments (6)
50 Greatest Action Sequences
David Dylan Thomas has compiled a list of movies with the 50 Greatest Action Sequences. If you’re looking for some great action movie recommendations, then bookmark the site and check back daily. The description of the films and the video clips are excellent.
Posted in Movies at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
Staying Motivated
A List Apart has a great article on Staying Motivated. If you are a creative professional and you’re struggling with with the daily grind then Kevin Cornell’s article may have has some great tips for you.
Posted in Design at 7:21 PM | Comments (0)
Movable Type 4
I’m still publishing this blog using Movable Type and haven’t jumped ship to Wordpress or ExpressionEngine. I’ve invested a lot of time in the Movable Type templates that make up this site and I’m too lazy to switch.
It looks my loyalty may have paid off. Movable Type 4 was just released and there are a lot of new features. A couple that I’m really interested in are paginated archives and a ratings framework that lets users rate any item in the system — great for movie and music reviews if it works the way I think it will.
Posted in Web Development at 6:29 PM | Comments (0)
Libertad
Favourite track: Gravedancer
Does anyone know why the band did a cover of ELO’s Can’t Get It Out of My Head or the Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer? Odd choices, otherwise the album is pretty solid and will fill a void for old Guns N’ Roses fans that are waiting for Axl Rose to find his marbles.
Posted in Music at 3:32 AM | Comments (0)
Blasting the Myth of the Fold
Web designers, take note and stop cramming everything “above the fold” on the homepage you’re working on. Better yet, tell your clients that you don’t need to cram everything near the top of the page. People know how to scroll.
Blasting the Myth of the Fold by Milissa Tarquini is a great article and something I can show the next client who has a fear of scroll bars.
Posted in Web Design at 12:02 AM | Comments (0)
Blade Runner: The Final Cut
Somehow I missed this in the last couple of weeks. Blade Runner: The Final Cut gets released on DVD on December 18. There is a two-disc ($20.97), four-disc ($34.99) and a five-disc ($78.92) ultimate edition. Oooh the choices. The four disc special edition sounds right.
The Digital Bits has some detailed descriptions of what comes in each version of the DVDs.
You can view some trailers and movie clips on Yahoo! Movies.
Posted in Movies at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)
Things
Cultured Code is working on “the easiest and most fun to use personal To-Do management application” — Things. It looks pretty cool. I wonder how useful it will be when it is released?
Right now I use Backpack from 37signals to stay organized. I’m constantly making To-Do lists to prioritize JAK Media projects and schedule Livebait.tv shoots and editing sessions.
Things will probably cost $19.95 when it gets released whereas my $5/mo for Backpack lets me access my account from any web browser, is easy to share with groups and includes a calendar.
How do the rest of you stay organized?
Posted in OS X Software at 11:57 PM | Comments (7)
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) is a solid, action-packed thriller — a four star film all the way.
Somehow, director Paul Greengrass manages to maintain an unrelenting pace throughout the film. Matt Damon as Jason Bourne is constantly running from the CIA in a global game of cat and mouse. Even when he’s standing still, his mind is racing, eyes darting, as he anticipates the Agency’s next move.
Bourne is determined to figure out the mystery of his identity. The closer he gets, the harder the CIA tries to take him out and the action kicks up another notch.
While you’re watching the film, you don’t have time to catch your breath from the visual assault of rooftop chases, motorcycle chases, police car chases, and some of the most incredibly choreographed fight sequences to date.
Greengrass and his crew have done a fabulous job of pushing the envelope in the tired spy-thriller genre. Bourne Ultimatum is the best film of the trilogy and as good, if not better than the latest installment of the James Bond franchise, Casino Royale (2007). If you want to see what I think is the best film of the summer so far, then strap in and watch The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). 
Films are rated from 1 to 4 stars.
Posted in Movies at 10:53 AM | Comments (1)
Inbox Zero
Process to zero, advanced common sense, convert to actions — things you need to know if you want to become more productive when it comes to email. Merlin Mann’s talk at Google is very informative and worth watching if your email is constantly checking for new messages and always on.
Here are some highlights:
- Not every email needs a response. That, is so 1993. Don’t do it!
- Respond quickly to email but don’t write a book. Keep it short.
- Your Inbox should only have unread email.
- Don’t use your Inbox as a to do list.
Check Email Less
Mann suggests turning off your email program for periods of time so that you can actually get some work completed without interruptions. How many times have you received new mail, stopped what you were doing to check it, only to find that it was SPAM or something really lame?
One of the reasons I like to work at 2 AM is that my phone isn’t ringing and I’m not getting client requests. I’m going to try checking my email less to increase my productivity.
My Inbox is down to 143 messages from 1,645 an hour ago.
Posted in JAK MEDIA and Web at 5:44 PM | Comments (0)
Renovating Sucks
This will be obvious to anyone who has ever lived through a renovation. Getting kicked out of your house for 3 months, living out of bags, working 70-80 hours a week to pay for scope creep, in a word, sucks.
One of our neighbours said, “I don’t feel sorry for you guys at all. You’re going to have a beautiful house when all of this is done.” She’s right of course. I have no right to complain at all but making it to the end of this process is a struggle.
We’re in the home stretch now. We finally received our building permit (we started building 2 months ago) and passed a major inspection. In 3-4 weeks we should have insulation, drywall, finished floors and more!
An unexpected surprise was our basement. We discovered some “water damage”. The entire floor has been ripped up and we’re in the process of having a sump pump installed. This is what happens when you live so close to Lake Ontario.
I’m happy that we’ll have a dry basement and never have to worry about the spring thaw again. I’m also unhappy because my home theatre is in a shambles. Drywall is missing in big chunks, new heating ducts and sewage pipes are taking up valuable space along the ceiling. Once the bulkheads are installed, my theatre room will have shrunk.
The most stressful part of a home renovation is watching the money in your bank account disappear like the last little bits of sand in an hour glass. Time is running out and the money is running out faster than I can track it all. This is part of the reason why I’ve taken on an insane amount of work this summer, and, why this blog hasn’t been updated as frequently in the past few weeks.
And so it goes… I just want to go home.
Posted in Personal at 4:47 PM | Comments (1)
The IT Crowd
Some of my favourite television shows are across the pond in the UK. The IT Crowd is the funniest show I’ve watched this year. The first season consisted of only six episodes. Watch the first episode and you’ll be hooked. Our family has watched season one a few times.
When you can laugh at show after multiple viewings and never tire of the characters you have a hit show. Season Two of the IT Crowd is coming soon (in the UK) which means you’ll be able to find a torrent or two for the new shows.
Thanks to my buddy Dave for making me watch the entire season at his house. Dave, I disagree with you. I do not look like the character of Moss (above right). And thanks to Neal for introducing the show to Dave.
Posted in Television at 4:41 PM | Comments (2)
Marcio Simnch Photography
Marcio Simnch Photography has a really simple interface for viewing photos. I love the simplicity.
Posted in Photography at 1:27 AM | Comments (1)
Fonts by Last Soundtrack
I forget where I came across this link but dafont.com has some excellent, free fonts for Windows and Mac OS X. Have a look at some of the grunge fonts by Last Soundtrack and bookmark the page.
Posted in Design at 1:18 AM | Comments (0)
