Whiners can't see the writing on the wall

I use Microsoft Windows. I have since Windows 3.1. I almost switched to Apple once, but I didn't because I started looking at all of the software I had at the time, and it was going to cost me a fortune. Not only would it have cost more (about 50% more) to buy the Apple machine over the PC, but then I would have to replace all my software.

Okay, gosh, I get to rambling. I was reading an article (Everything you've read about Vista DRM is wrong) over at ZDNet. I am interested me because I currently run Windows Vista Premium. The article deals with the Digital Rights Management (DRM) that Microsoft is using in Vista. It seems that, in order to protect copyrights and what-not, Microsoft wrote some DRM into Vista. Now, I'm no hardware guru, and I don't play one on TV, so some of my things here might be way off base, but I understand the DRM to work as such:
When playing a high definition movie (Blu-Ray or HD DVD), Vista does not allow anything to intercept the video stream from the originating device, to the monitor. This is supposed to help stop people from running out and renting "Pirates of the Caribbean" and making a copy of it using their Vista machine.

There are about 200 comments to that article arguing over whether DRM is legal, whether it is right. How it just screws the end user by not allowing the copying of high definition digital media. Oh, and all the while chastising Microsoft for putting in their software. Most are screaming how everyone should stay away from MS and instead by Apple (at 1.5 times the price) or install Linux (at 1.5 times the average user knowledge). But there is something I believe they are failing to realize.

That is, if the DRM proves to be somewhat successful in combating illegal copying of high definition media, there will come a time in the very near future, where any device which plays this media, and plugs into a computer, will only work if the computer has proper DRM running. That means, to use these devices, Apple and Linux operating systems will also have to run a compatible type of DRM.

It is as inevitable as all color laser printers which embed microdots identifying the make, model and serial number on all pages printed. And as inevitable as commercial photo imaging software like Adobe Photoshop and Corel Draw putting recognition code in their software which prohibits the scanning of currency. Go ahead, try to scan a $20 or $50 bill, see what happens.

At any rate, so many people wasting so much time on an issue that, in a few years will be a non issue. If DRM does not become the norm, someone will crack it and then everyone can patch their Vista machines with the crack and it will not be a bother to anyone any longer.

Oh, and for the record, since February when I installed Vista, I have had nothing but an acceptable experience. I don't find it clunky, I don't find it slow (in fact, it seems faster than XP did) AND it appears to handle sleep and hibernate modes much better than XP ever did.

**(Okay, so this is kind of a bogus post, I mean, it is all true and what-not, but I felt like I should at least put something up).

SHEEEEEEEEP

Over the last week or so we have been extravagantly treating ourselves as a family. We actually went to two movies. That's right, count 'em two... and the movie theater. Okay, sure, they were at the buck-an-a-half theater, but still the theater!

Both movies, while I would not have considered them 'must-see-in-the-theater' type of movies, they were fully enjoyable. First we saw "Shrek: The Third" which was at least as good as the first one. I'm not one for sequels really. Seldom does the sequel hold even a candle to the original. But anyone with a newspaper and enough interest to look up in the movie section realizes there isn't much choice this year except for sequels. If I was going to be forced to watch a sequel, I personally would have chosen Fantastic Four. Since that could easily be in the prestigious 'must-see-in-the-theater' category. Special effects movies usually are. And to boot, it has Jessica Alba in it. But unfortunately, she is invisible (what marketing bozo came up with that one?).

But in the end I was not even a little disappointed in Shrek. As I said, it was every bit as funny as the original, and if you were to play close attention, there are even more 'grown-up' gags that the kids just won't be able to understand. These gags, as before, are subtle background items, so they don't leave the kids wondering what the heck is going on. One of my favorite parts was when they played the beginning screams to Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song." Sadly, however, they didn't play the whole song.

The other movie was "Evan Almighty". Yes, yet another sequel. In my youth we had George Burns, today's kinder have Morgan Freeman. I don't know if you remember the "Oh God!" movies where George Burns played the Great Almighty, but I loved them. We have watched the first and third ones (you remember "Oh God You Devil" don't you - where Burns played both God and the devil?).

I was very, very hesitant to go and see "Evan" because, well, quite frankly, where "Bruce Almighty" was a great flick, how many times can it be funny to give some everyday Joe Schmoe God's power and watch him make an ass of himself and nearly destroy the world? Happily Evan wasn't like that at all. God tells newly elected Senator Evan to build him an ark because "a flood is coming." Steve Carrell who was Evan the news anchor in Bruce, returns. This man is simply funny with every role I have seen him play.

Service

What in the world ever happened to service? I remember when I was just about knee-high to a grasshopper, my dad got us our very first color television. We were, I think, the last family in the free world to have a color TV, and this was no gem. It was in a giant cabinet with a record player on one side, and a radio on the other. In the middle of this monstrosity was the little green screen of the television. Surrounded by that kind of dull goldish-yellow metal. The screen was more round that square, and much more fish bowl than flat.

I remember when the thing would quit working. Not too much worry for us kids, we were usually outside anyway. Heck the colors on that thing were so washed out you might have just as well been watching a light bulb. At any rate, when the thing would go out, papi would call up the television repair man, and he would come over to the house. He would show up in his TV repair man's van, with his gray coveralls and his little metal toolbox and fix the television.

There is a point to this trip down memory lane, I promise. Fast forward t the wonderful year of 2007. I refused to subject myself to the same horrific television viewing experience as papi 'enjoyed.' Nope, I did better. Some years ago my grandmother (rest her soul) was feeling generous and handed out some money to everyone. It was lucky for us, our 27 inch RCA television that we'd be watching and thoroughly enjoying for the past 14 years was starting to get that hourglass figure in the picture tube. It was excuse enough to use some of the money to purchase a new television. We went with a Sony projection TV from Circuit City (back when we still had a Circuit City). And it has served us well for about 5 years now.

Suddenly, it doesn't do so well with the showing of the picture. The reds and blues are off kilter from everything else - or everything else is off-kilter from the blue which is off-kilter from the red - or...well I don't know what is off-kilter, I just know that Saving Grace is not supposed to be a 3D television program, but it looks like one on my TV.

Doing some Googling I find that there is something called an IC something or other that has probably gone kaput and must be replaced, and the convergence re-aligned by a professional. The Sony website says the closest authorized Sony service center is Servi-Tronics over in Lawrence. Being fairly certain all these projection TVs are fairly standard, and probably any competent television repair man should be able to fix it, I start calling local.

Turns out, Topeka has only 2 television repair shops. And get this, neither of them will come to the house to look at, fix or even pick the television up. Oh, the folks from Lawrence will come to the house for an extra $40 but the folks in Topeka won't come to the house at all. I don't have a truck, and I don't have a trailer. Basically, I have zero methods for getting this television to a repair shop. Unless I want to rent a uhaul, which will probably cost more than the $40 I would pay to give my business to the Lawrencians.

It is just too bad that I have to have someone come from a nearby town...a town that is smaller than Topeka, to have my television fixed. That service is such a dirty word these days. That a guy who tries to make a living repairing televisions doesn't even have the sense to think "hey, if I'm going to work on projection televisions, maybe I should offer (for a fee) to at least pick up and drop off these things for the customer."

Maybe the shop in Lawrence has to make house calls to remain a Sony certified repair facility shop thing, and maybe they don't, I don't know. I only know that they will get money from me, and the local guys won't get squat. Except maybe I'll call them and explain that I went with the company from Lawrence because they offer a little thing called "service".

Benefits

I knew when I took the job I now hold with a local company there would be benefits to it beyond the little extra money and the saving of time and money driving to and from Kansas City. I experienced one of those benefits today.

We woke up around 4:30 this morning, and got the kids up and dressed, and headed out to look at the lunar eclipse. A total eclipse of the moon (not the heart - sorry Bonnie). We went to Burnett's Mound because I figured since it is above the city lights, we'd have a better view of it, and I think I was correct in that thinking. After a couple of wrong turns (I hadn't been there since high school), we finally found the parking area, now called "Skyline Park". Surprisingly, we were alone on the Mound. I fully expected several other people to be mingling about. The kids enjoyed seeing the eclipse, and the stars. The weather was very nice, except for the wind that was strong enough to shake the camera as I tried to take long-exposure pictures of the eclipse. Some came out okay, but most are going to need quite a bit of work in the digital darkroom to make them un-fuzzy enough to enjoy.

After witnessing the event, we headed over to the International House of Pancakes and had breakfast. Everyone had a great time, which is surprising since the 5/8 is definitely not a morning person. I was, in fact, surprised that she was willing to get that early and go with us, but I'm grateful that she did. It would not have been the same without her. If I had still worked in Kansas City, we would have been able to view the eclipse, but then would have had to rush home so I could get to work. It simply would not have been anywhere near the same, nor would it have created the lasting memory I believe this morning created in the children. Having the breakfast together, at the IHoP was the kicker that sealed this into one of those 'priceless' MasterCard moments.

This week's movie

It has been a while since I saw a really good, funny movie. One that was truly enjoyable to watch, didn't make anyone in the room uncomfortable, and actually made me laugh at loud.

"Wild Hogs" (image stolen from Amazon - please don't sue me fellas! - thanks) is just such a movie. Although it is rated PG-13, other than some vague homosexual (not homophobic) humor and some fairly mild violence, there really isn't anything in the move that could be objectionable. Extremely tame language, no nudity or almost-nudity. No guys ogling or objectifying women.

I believe this movie is as close to laugh-out-loud funny and wholesome as we are going to get in this day and age. The movie stars Tim Allen, John Travolta, William H. Macy, Martin Lawrence and the always hot (but not as hot as you hun) Marisa Tomei. Allen, Travolta, Macy and Lawrence are four middle aged suburbanites who decide to take a cross-country trip on their Harleys.

As one might imagine, four middle aged suburban professionals riding Harleys across the country can and do find themselves in various predicaments. Some strange, all of them funny. It isn't the Jim Carrey slapstick kind of funny either. Each trial they go through, is something you can actually imagine happening in the real world. For those of you who remember "Easy Rider", Peter Fonda's uncredited cameo towards the end really tugs at the heartstrings (ok, not really, but it was cool). I think it is an unwritten rule now, that any move about bikers, or Harleys in general, has to have at least a cameo by Fonda.

Lessons Learned

Lesson learned this last week. Just because one spends the past three or four weekends helping the in-laws with things that needed to be accomplished at their house, doesn't mean that one's own parents wants and needs go away. No, they just pile up, each one more urgent and important than the last.

The rat of packs

It was a fairly good week here in Topeka. After getting over the fact that I'm old enough to have a kid in high school, the rest of the week went rather smooth. For a change I didn't have to go collect papi from the casino on Saturday, so we watched 300 instead. Wow! What a movie! I suspect the guys will like it for different reasons than the ladies though (admit it ladies, mostly naked muscle bound sweaty men swinging swords and defending liberty - you know you want to see it again :0 ).

Sunday, during the 110+ degree heatwave that Lawrence was experiencing (the temp on the clock at People's bank said it was 112), we worked on the back yard of the 5/8 pa. In the dictionary, right next to the term "pack rat" is his picture. I don't believe this guy has thrown anything away in at least the 20 some odd years they had lived in that house. There were those big trash cans full of odds and ends...mostly odds. Like the one filled with junk mail fliers. He was planning, he says, on recycling them. I suppose sometime in the next 20 or so years.

It was a long, hot day, but the two boys helped considerably, and they were mostly civil during the ordeal. Little Sister, being only 8, was not old enough to help. I'm sure she felt just terrible having to stay with her cousin and gramma and swim the whole day.

Movin' on up

Monday was a more difficult day than I had imagined it would be. Not that I would actually admit that out loud, so if you try to hold me to that statement, I will disavow any knowledge of it.

We took No. 1 Son to the high school for enrollment. My kid is in high school. I find it hard to believe, I mean, I am not that old. It took almost two hours to snake through the lines and fill out much of the same (or so it seems) paperwork that we filled out at the pre-enrollment last spring.

Then we had to pay fees. What? Fees? I expected fees to be paid for grade and middle school - he went to a parochial school, we had to pay for that. But fees for the public school? What the heck is this? Don't I already pay taxes through the nose for this stuff? And now another several hundred dollars? Nothing starting of the school year with the feeling that they are double dipping into your pocket.

We managed to get to the end of the line without my losing my cool though. As we were speaking with the mother of the Marine Junior ROTC Sgt. Major, the 5/8 made some offhand comment about the state of No. 1 Son's room, something to the effect that the residents of Greensburg, Kansas would rather stay in Greensburg than have to deal with his room. That is when one of the ROTC folks happened to be coming by. No. 1 Son is joining the MJRTOC program at the high school. I made the deal that if he did that, he would not have to get up at 5:30 in the morning and go exercise at the YMCA with me every morning.

Anyway, this ROTC fellow (I am not certain if he is a student or instructor) told the 5/8 that he would be happy to come to our house, and help No. 1 Son straighten out his room. And that when completed, he would know how to keep his room clean, and that we would be able to bounce a quarter off his bedsheets. What? You mean his bed would actually get made?!?

That is a very tempting offer, and he was completely serious. Of course, No. 1 Son doesn't want that to happen. So maybe it will be the incentive he needs to get moving on cleaning that pigsty and possibly even making his bed (hey! a dad can dream can't he?).

Mikey's Back

When I was a kid, a movie came out that we considered a true horror film. This film was so scary and created some of the most intense feelings I had ever experienced in a movie theater. My buds and I probably saw that movie six or seven times while it was at the theater. This was before video tapes (for those of you born after 1980, video tapes were a way to watch movies at home which have since been replaced with DVDs - kind of like audio tapes were a way to listen to music which were replaced by Compact Discs which has been replaced by MP3s - and you say the space program gave us nothing but Tang).

That movie was Halloween. Not only did it introduce us teens to Jamie Lee Curtis (grrroowwwwll) but also Michael Myers (not the Austin Powers Mike Myers - the creepy killer Michael Myers). Since that time there have been umpteen sequels to Halloween. I think the last one had Jamie Lee Curtis in it again. But sadly, since the 5/8 birthday is ON Halloween, and she takes great offense at having her birthday associated with death (like it wasn't Halloween before it was her birthday - sheesh), I have never been able to see it.

Be that as it may, Rob Zombie (Grindhouse, The Devil's Rejects) has re-imagined the Halloween the movie story. Take a look:

I have yet to see Grindhouse (but it is on my list at Blockbuster) - but it looks terrific. Personally, I think if anybody can do a remake of Halloween justice, it is Zombie. I just hope he keeps the Capt. Kirk mask.


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Halloween the movie