It interesting where the Internet leads us some times.

I saw a Twitter update by @gmcalpin (writer and artist of one of my favorite webcomics, Multiplex) about the metal band Mastodon allegedly scoring the upcoming film Jonah Hex (based on a comic). It lead to an article on Ain’t It Cool News (movie rumors and such).

I read the article and was amused, I enjoy Mastodon but realized I don’t own nearly enough of their music. I hopped over to YouTube and watched a few music videos and also listened to some other songs, sampling cuts from the albums Leviathan and Blood Mountain.

Realizing I still had an online gift certificate from my birthday, I decided to buy a Mastodon album (along with Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon on vinyl). But I couldn’t decide which to get–then a friend commented on my Facebook page that Crack the Skye was nothing short of amazing (a friend whose opinions I hold in high regard).

So, I ventured back to YouTube to listen to a few cuts from Crack the Skye and read a few online reviews. I quickly decided on ordering the album–and when it comes to bands like Mastodon, I really prefer having the original CD over .MP3s (because the music is complex and/or layered–things that can get lost when compressing music to .MP3s).

After clicking Finish My Order, I sat back and thought “What the heck just happened?” Over the span of maybe twenty minutes, I went from reading about Mastodon scoring an upcoming film to buying one of their albums, mainly on a whim.

It was an interesting string of events: I read the article, listened to songs online/watched videos, got a recommendation from a friend who lives in another city, read reviews and purchased an album. All without leaving my seat.

I guess this shows you can’t underestimate the advantages of people talking about your stuff on the Internet.

Also: My latest article for Lansing Capital Gains is now online.  It is about the Soup Spoon Cafe, a very tasty restaurant (good coffee too).

Mirrored from Daniel J. Hogan. If something doesn't look right or show up, view the original blog post. Feel free to comment here or on the original post

When i remember, I've been trying to record band practice on my little Sony Cybershot. The video capabilities on that thing never fail to amaze me, especially for such a small, compact camera. At one point I decided we needed to have a way to record stuff, as we typically start each practice with a jam session and ides for songs/riffs come from that. Also, I can sort of practice the drum parts of our actual songs if I can hear them when I need to.

My camera was the easiest solution. However, what to do after getting it recorded took some work. I had to figure out the best way to compress the video, because uploading a 100+ megabyte file ain't always that fun. Eventually I decided on running the movie files through a program called iSquint, which compressed video for iPod use and setting it on the lowest setting. The files were considerably smaller and the quality still good--we didn't care too much about the video, just the sound.

Then I had to figure out how to store them online in such a way we could easily view and discuss them. YouTube was my first thought, but we didn't want everyone seeing our rough jams and unfinished songs (finished songs is another story however). I toyed with storing them on my web space but as the movie clips piled up, i grew hesitant.

So today I created a Facebook group for the band. Only we can access it and only we can view the videos uploaded to it. Easy. We can also comment on the video and create discussions too. I'm pretty happy with this solution--especially because this makes things considerably easier for me.

My Internet is acting up again.  Anyone who reads this blog regularly (all one of you) wll recall this is nothing new for me.  The problem again is stuff 'timing out' when trying to find a page.  I'll get Page Load Errors when going to sites I use daily, but when I refresh or try again, everything is fine--for a few minutes anyway.

I'm quick to point the blame at Comcast, but in the past the problem hasn't been the the service but rather my Belkin router.  I'll have to mess around with that tonight if I get the chance.  This has made trying to watch movies on my Netflix Player a bit of a chore.  Yesterday it took an average of three times to get anything to play, even at low quality.  This morning while watching the Lupin the 3rd movie, CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO (directed by Hayao Miyazaki) the movie hiccuped twice, forcing a reload each time.  I had forced it to the third highest quality, so this took 5 to 10 minutes--normally I woulnd't care, but I just wanted to watch the first 20 minutes or so before going to work.  Because of these reloads, I think I only got through maybe the first ten minutes (it was a great ten minutes though).

Hopefully I can get this sorted out...AGAIN.  I most likely have to reboot my router and modem again.  I tried just unplugging the modem for a few minutes to see if that would work (that fixed the problem last time), but I still had the same issues.

It could be Comcast this time, when visiting the parents over the weekend, they had the exact same issue.

I got the one thing I really wanted for Christmas, the Netflix Roku player ($99)--you can stream movies (on demand) from Netflix's website to this player and watch them on your TV.  I've wanted this for a while, since I have pre-Intel Macs and can't watch stuff on my laptop or eMac via their site.  And besides, being able to watch them on a 27" TV instead of a 14" laptop is a huge difference.

The way it works is you set up your Watch Instant queue on the Netflix site, then you turn on your Roku (which is either connected to the 'net via wireless or an ethernet connection).  The Roku finds your queue (don't know yet how that works as I have not set it up yet) and bam! you zap what's on your queue to your TV.

This of course means I can watch any of the Watch Instantly stuff whenever I want, including such classics as Ben-Hur, Dr. Who episodes and Ernest, Scared Stupid.  You can't watch everything on Netflix, but I was looking for things last night and there are tons of stuff available--and with it being on demand, I'm more likely to just take a chance with things I wouldn't nomrally want to wait a couple days to get a DVD of (I added a bunch of 1970s Blaxplotation films to my queue for this reason...why not?  I've always wanted to see Shaft and Super Fly.)

I think devices such as this--as well as cable on demand--is (are?) the future of TV and movie channels.  I'm paying $14.99 a month for two dvds out at a time with unlimited rentals -- and I get unlimited on demand viewing too.  Combine that with the $43 I'm paying for cable internet (and "broadcast basic" cable) and I'm getting a pretty good deal. Full cable packages with Internet tip the scale around, if not over, $100.  One of the things I hate about "full cable" and pay channels is that most of it I wouldn't watch, so I'd be paying a lot of money for stuff I don't want to watch.

With Netflix, I'm paying for what I want to watch.  Not an extra 40+ channels of crap I could care less about (and most of it boring, uncreative reality TV).

Oh wow--you can watch seasons of Air Wolf instantly too!  See you in the Spring.

Well, I've been productive this afternoon:


moar funny pictures



moar funny pictures

I took the pictures and they are of a friend's kitteh, post-op (no kittens for her!).Click on the photos and vote for my lolz!

I was contacted about being a guest blogger for a website yesterday. 

I'll hold off on saying what website until everything is finalized, which won't be until sometime in January.  I'm excited--and flattered to be honest--they read this blog (which in itself is amazing) and contacted me about writing for them.  I'm looking forward to this, as it will be a good experience (and something to put on the ol' resume).

Don't know yet what exactly I'll be blogging about, as that has yet to be discussed but I'm sure I'll have fun.   It is unpaid, but that's alright--it'll be good exposure, great writing practice and something I can use to amuse people at parties "Well, I'll have you know I was a guest blogger for blah blah blah."

Hooray!