Merry Christmas from Santa and Rose!!! (Parts 2 & 3)

(from the Happy Holidays department)

Hi everyone,

Just got our Santa photo back. Here it is for 2009:



Dana and I weren't planning on being in this one - but, for the first time, Rose was too scared of Santa to sit on his lap unless we were all there. Look at how pensive she looks!

We managed to get her to pose last year by herself. I realized I'd never posted that one, so here it is - Santa 2008:



Happy Holidays Everyone - from Paul, Dana, Rose & Santa!

Cheers,
Paul

Having trouble watching my embedded videos?

(from the I Love Computers department)

Hi everyone,

My laptop has been having issues playing the embedded videos from NBC that I post here on my blog. I have done some sleuthing, and discovered it is due to the copy of Norton Internet Security (2005) I've installed.

Here's the fix:

1. Go to the Norton Internet Security control panel.
2. In the Norton Internet Security Section, in the Status & Settings subsection, select Privacy Control and click Configure
3. In the resultant Privacy Control dialog box, click the Advanced button
4. In the resultant Advanced dialog box, click Add Site
5. In the resultant New Site/Domain dialog box, add nbc.com and click OK
6. Highlight nbc.com in the Web Contents Options tree of the Advanced dialog box, and uncheck the Use default settings check box in the Information about visited sites section.
7. After the box is unchecked, the Information about visited sites radio buttons should be selectable. Select the Permit radio button, and click OK to close the Advanced dialog box.
8. Click OK to close the Privacy Control dialog box.
9. Close the Norton Internet Security control panel.
10. Have fun viewing the NBC.com embedded videos on this blog

Cheers,
Paul

Jawbox on Fallon!!!!!

(from the Jimmy Fallon Did A Good Thing department)

Hi everyone

I'm almost crying - I admit it. Jawbox was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night - 8-Dec-2009. I never thought I'd ever see or hear these guys again. I saw them just once - right before they broke up - at the Miller Community Center, Seattle, WA - 24-July-1996.

Apparently - this is it, too. Just this one performance - no reunion, no new album - nothing else. They're making this one-off appearance in honor of the (long overdue) re-release/re-master of "For Your Own Special Sweetheart".

I'm too emotional to talk about it right now. Just posting the clips.

Cheers,
Paul

P.S. More info is on their own DeSoto records website: http://www.desotorecords.com/news/index.shtml


Savory - from the on-air performance:


68 - from the rehearsal:


FF=66 - from the rehearsal:

Quick review - Pixies at the Paramount, Seattle - 12-Nov-2009

(From the Rock A My Soul department)

Hi everyone,

I've been extremely busy lately, so I haven't had a chance to see too many bands live. However - I did manage to catch one of the Pixies "Doolittle" shows.

Basically - it's the 20th anniversary of the album Doolittle. (Has it been that long? Sheesh!) So - they're doing a small tour playing the entire album - in order. The only other songs in the show are the b-sides from Doolittle. (More on that in a sec.)

So - yeah - it did rock. There's a couple of songs on there that, back in the day, they rarely played - plus one - Silver - that they never played at all.

They started out with a few b-sides to warm up. Namely: Dancing The Manta Ray, Weird At My School, Bailey's Walk & Manta Ray.

Then - Doolittle. Complete.

Odd pacing for a rock show, really. One normally expects a few hits, then an unknown song or two, then more hits. But - all of these songs are already known! So, you get the album pacing. Which isn't necessarily the best in a concert hall - but this worked for me.

(In case you've forgotten: Debaser, Tame, Wave Of Mutilation, I Bleed, Here Comes Your Man, Dead, Monkey Gone To Heaven, Mr. Grieves, Crackity Jones, La La Love You, No. 13 Baby, There Goes My Gun, Hey, Silver and Gouge Away)

A note here about the visuals. They started out with the short film "Un chien andalou" - this is the inspiration for Debaser, so it makes sense here. Then, they kept the lighting and visuals appropriate, but more complex than I usually associate with the Pixies. Artful video projections and good lighting for a change. That was welcome for me - it's about time they had some support on tour this way. One of the highlights was a video projection of them - while they were on stage looking at themselves. Very cool.

First encore was the remaining b-sides: Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf) and Into The White. Into The White was an extended "freak out" version with tons of white smoke. (Get it? ^_^)

Then, we got a second encore. Since they were out of b-sides, this meant we got a few classics: Caribou, Vamos and Gigantic. Vamos was particularly extended with a Joey Santiago guitar solo. Since it was Joey, it wasn't a "classic guitar rawk moment". Instead, there was a lot of creative guitar playing - like using the guitar pickup switch as a percussion sound, and a short segment with a tossed drumstick.

The second encore was performed with the house lights up - this meant there was no expectations that the band would stick around after that. A good way to end.

Quick notes: Kim gave a running commentary throughout the show - announcing side changes of the vinyl, etc. I thought it was cute, anyway. ^_^ David & Joey were lively. Frank was in impressive voice throughout - he still screams like nobody's business. However - he didn't say a word to the audience the entire evening.

I did purchase the show - haven't had a chance to download it yet. Looking forward to checking it out now that I'm home, and away from the theater.

Cheers,
Paul

Conan & Andy visit an Anime studio!

(from the I wish I could do anime voiceovers department)

This is pretty cool:



Cheers,
Paul

Kotaku's summary of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

(from the I laughed until it hurt department)

Saw this on Kotaku and had to share it with all of you:

http://kotaku.com/5269159/final-fantasy-vii-advent-children-complete-in-15-minutes

Cheers,
Paul

Tiger Woods - Gamer!

Hi everyone,

Quick blog post. Saw this in the NY Times - worth a read:
Tiger Woods, Sporadic Gamer

Cheers,
Paul

Saying "farewell" to a part of Sony history....

(this is adapted from an entry I originally published on the Yellow Dog Linux community forums)


Hi everyone,

Well - it looks like one of PS3 Linux's ancestors is finally calling it a day. Sony is shutting down the PS2 Linux site: http://playstation2-linux.com/forum/forum.php?forum_id=1251

I'm fairly sad to see this go. I contributed many, many PS2 builds of Mozilla, Firefox & Thunderbird to this site. In fact, I attended the Mozilla 1.0 release celebrations, based on my membership there. See here: http://playstation2-linux.com/projects/mozilla-ps2

I learned much about the ways of the Sony from this site. In some ways, what we do with PS3 Linux is based on lessons learned (or unlearned) from PS2 Linux. Much like Yellow Dog Linux, PS2 Linux was also derived from Red Hat Linux, via Kondara Linux. It allowed full access to the PS2's Emotion Engine - including the twin Vector Unit processors. Only the cryptography functions were restricted so that you couldn't copy PS2 games directly.

That website was also the place I met some like-minded PS2 Linux enthusiasts. One of them is now a PS3 Linux moderator with me at the Yellow Dog Linux community forums. We met trying to compile the PS2 version of Firefox with gtk2 and freetype. Good times.

It's worth poking around the site a little bit before they shut it down for good. There's a lot of knowledge locked up in there.

Cheers,
Paul

P.S. For those of you who have never seen the PS2 Linux kit - it was quite impressive. It came with a keyboard, mouse, special network adaptor, hard drive, special VGA cable and two DVDs of source code & binary code. Here's the bundle:

Rose - Then & Now

(from the Cell Phone Cameras Are Fun department)

Hi everyone,

Just cleaning out the ol' Cell Phone, and found these photos of Rose.

First Photo:



This was taken 8/16/08. Rose was about 9 months old at this point.


Second Photo :



This photo was taken 5/25/09. Rose is about 18 months old here.


Cheers,
Paul

Exploring the Cabinets with Rose

(from the Rose the Adventurer department)

There are things that only an 18 month old can do. Here's one such thing:









Yay! Adventure done!

Another great set of photos from Dana. According to her, Rose insisted on the last photo by pointing the camera at her face.

Cheers,
Paul

A Rock Star?

(from the No Pictures, please department)

Hi everyone,

Here she is - Rose, the Rock Star! Dana took this picture and it came out perfect.



Cheers,
Paul

Nap time

(from the Awww.. cute! department)

Hi everyone,

Just a quick pic of Rose napping.



Cheers,
Paul

Sleepless in Seattle

(from the Death Before Decaf! department)

Hi everyone,

We went to the Athenian Inn for breakfast on Saturday, Jan. 4th. And look - Rose had her first cup of coffee!



That's right honey - now we're all gonna be Sleepless In Seattle!

*groan*

Actually - Rose did not drink any coffee. She has this habit of "lipping" any cup you put in front of her. But - it does look like she's enjoying a fresh cup, doesn't it?

Here's another picture from the Athenian Inn. It's great to have a view like this for breakfast.



Cheers,
Paul

A Rose In Winter

(from the Watch out for cuteness department)

Hi everyone,

Quick blog post - here's Dana & Rose in the snow. These photos were taken December 19th or so.





Cheers,
Paul