I just received a rather amusing virus. It claimed to be an encrypted email from AOL, in the form of a .zip attachment. I was told to keep it in a safe place. The amusing part was that in the body of the email, they included a user name and password with which to unlock the file. As if both were needed to unlock a zip file (AFAIK, only passwords are used to lock zip files), and that you would send that in plain-text. It’s the email equivalent of mailing a lock box with the key taped to its side.
Monthly Archives: December 2006
Texas Hold ‘Em: Yahoo!
I know there are agents out there that love Texas Hold ‘Em. It’s nice to just… get together with friends and have a drink or two. Steal each others’ money. It’s great, just great.
But since there haven’t been that many games going on, I started looking for free Texas Hold ‘Em online. So far, the best place I’ve found is the Hold ‘Em Poker tables at Yahoo! Games.
Of course, you need to be registered at Yahoo! but who doesn’t already have an account with them? It’s free. You can sign up here.
First off, it’s nothing short of bitmap graphics. It’s obvious this wasn’t made to evoke some glamorous lifestyle but it gets the job done. There are plenty of skill levels to play with and tables to target them. Or you can play socially, since every table has chatting enabled. But one feature I was hoping to use is the option to create a private table and invite whichever players you want. You can’t set the limits or the wages, though, that’s the only downside.
So, if anyone’s interested, post a comment and let me know what your user name is. Maybe we can schedule a night to log on and play. Everyone starts with $1000 and if you go below, you just owe the bank. I’ve seen players with -$7243. I haven’t the heart to tell them they have a problem.
Tinseltown – A Christmas Firefox Theme
I was just poking around and came across this Christmas themed skin for Firefox.
Tinseltown 1.1 (Firefox Theme)
There’s some nice animated Christmas icons for when pages load and some cool translucent graphics throughout the tabs and text fields. The candy cane scroll bar is a nice touch. Well, at least I can enjoy this for the next week and then it’s back to default.
It’s Obvious, Episode 4: The Fountain
This movie will most likely become a classic, in the league of 2001:A Space Odyssey. Not as effective as that cinematic milestone, but just as ambitious. It is also just as confusing: this is a good thing. Aronofsky has given us another tour-de-force, just as intense as “Pi” and “Requiem for a Dream” but centered around a love story.
I am going to discuss a few obvious religious symbols in the movie, and will leave it at that. You should go see it and decide what it all means to you.
Spoilers follow……….
Blasphemy but comedy
So I was in Lonestar steakhouse, waiting for my order and I had this wonderful thought:
Christians use the cross as a symbol of Christ. What would we have used if he was hanged? Would we all worship a noose?
Instead of performing the devotional gesture of a cross on our chests, we’d have to trace a hand around our neck and pull up on an imaginary rope with our tongue sticking out.
Good thing they didn’t have the electric chair back then. It would make for some horrible looking necklaces.
In closing, if I were a great man, and died by stepping on a land mine, please don’t worship the thing that killed me. Just worship me.
(Also, no statues or artwork depicting the moment I was blown to bits. Thanks.)
I Tube
My latest videos are up on Youtube.
No more child abuse stuff. If anything I’m the one being abused.
They just don’t teach this stuff in “daddy” school.
Power Rangers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IBy8GC_JzE
Drama Queen II:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_ztZ1k46IY
Movie News
Some interesting bits from Variety. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry…
New Line’s option to make The Hobbit is close to expiring, so they’re getting ready to make it… without Peter Jackson. This is because he currently has a lawsuit against them for questionable accounting practices regarding the profits from LOTR. Pretty much everyone, including distributor MGM, is completely freaking out about this. As they should be.
We are getting a Get Smart movie, starring Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart, and Anne Hathaway as a totally hot babe also in the film. Carell also stars in Evan Almighty, the sequel to Bruce Almighty.
Brilliant director Robert Altman passed away. Go watch MASH and The Player in tribute. Actually, I think we’re due for a Classic Movie Night featuring McCabe and Mrs. Miller – Ebert’s described it as Altman’s only perfect film, and I must confess I’ve never seen it.
The Weinstein Company, which is basically the new Miramax, even though Miramax still exists, has entered into an exclusive – and hence very stupid – deal with Blockbuster. In other words, if you’re a Netflix subscriber (as well you should be), you won’t be able to watch School for Scoundrels until Blockbuster goes bankrupt. Fortunately, at the rate they’re going, this will happen sometime next Tuesday. Of course, no worries for the Kevin Smith stuff, because you’re just going to buy that, anyway.
Speaking of Kevin Smith, there’s some way cool Clerks 2 swag at JayAndSilentBob.com.
Letters From Iwo Jima, the companion piece to the previously reviewed Flags of Our Fathers, has had its release date pushed up to 12/20, to make it eligible for awards season. I’m wondering if it’s the obviously better film, or having two good films will make it tough for Clint to get enough votes for either one.
Personal hero Judd Apatow is producing The Pineapple Express, an action-comedy starring Freaks and Geeks alumni Seth Rogen (The 40 Year Old Virgin) and James Franco (Spiderman series).
We’re getting Ocean’s Thirteen next year, even though nobody asked for it.
Did you know you can get a listing of most (over 1600) movies based on comic books at the IMDB? It defaults to sort by rating, but you can switch to date. Of course, many listed are still in development (i.e., the screenplay hasn’t even been written), but you can get a feel for what’s coming up.