By Jupiter's Cock, that's sad.

Crap. Entourage used to be funny, sexy and edgy. The finale was whiny and lame. Some sentimentality is fine but it turned into Guiding Light. Ugh.

It was 9 letters, 3 capitalized (the first, sixth and seventh). No punctuation or numbers. 

I don't think I ever logged into xbox.com or used it on the web. I'm certainly to blame for not keeping the Windows Live part current. It had been so long since I logged into it outside of the 360, it was still linked to an e-mail account I haven't had for 3 years. So, when hackers changed my info on the account I didn't receive the notification e-mail.

What's strange is that I hadn't purchased points through my 360 for maybe two years. Last week my daughter wanted to transfer Rock Band 2 songs to RB3 so I purchased enough points through the console for the transfer fee - $4.99 worth. Within an hour of that transaction, the hackers had recovered my account to a modified console, purchased $75 worth of points and transferred them to their account. Can't be a coincidence.

MS tried to blame my account being hacked on bad password practices also. But my gamertag was tied to a Windows Live account I use for nothing else and the password was just a series of letters, the first of which represented a word in a quote I like. I can't believe that anyone guessed that password and I didn't use that password in any other Playstation/Hotmail/Gmail or other account that could have been compromised.

There's got to be something else going on.

Labyrinths is a great collection of his, my favorite fiction piece being "The Lottery in Babylon".

My favorite:

Happy and a Prosperous new year to you,how are you doing hope you fine and in perfect order.My names are James Morttey i am 16 yrs old and i am from DR Congo,i came to Ghana after the murder of my parents 2 mouths ago by hired assasin by someone i don't know,before they got to him in the house he revealed to me that i should come to Ghana with the documents in a small box,if i get a trust worth foreign partner to help me make claim to the fund he deposited in an Escrow account in Unique trust Bank Ghana.The woman whom i am with now cannot read she is not correct and people around call her crazy woman,and she cannot help me in this matter,i am contacting you to help me as my foreign partner so i can get my life back,go to school and have a family that will care for me,i do know what to do that is why i am contacting you to assist me. Thank you.

They're probably just going to ask you for your 360's serial number and console ID. Even though the original tech took that info from me, they called from the investigation team an I had to give it to them again. That was last Wed and I haven't heard anything since.

Mine was hacked last week also. They added 10,000 Microsoft points, then spent them at 250 points a pop for "Generic Game" which MS says just means they transferred the points to a modified console.

Now I can't play any of the save games tied to my account and I have to wait up to 30 days to get my $75 back while MS does an "investigation". Even though the phone tech could tell immediately that a modified console had been used to transfer the points, since their system couldn't track where they'd actually gone or what had been purchased.  Ugh.

Of course, MS says XBox Live Accounts can't be hacked - that I must have given my Windows Live password info to someone in an e-mail or a forum or something.  Yeah, right. I set that account up when I purchased my 360 on launch day and hadn't logged into it outside of my gamer profile since.

MS needs to do more to keep modified consoles off of the Live network, ensure they don't have any points purchase capability and get rid of the incentive for hackers to steal account info and purchase points.

I think the men on the jury are just hoping they can get laid... "Hey, I was on your jury y'know.... we should hang out."

Really, though, CSI has ruined the justice system. All the jurors want everything tied up in a nice little TV show package with explanations and a Scooby-Doo style confession at the end and if they don't get that, then they acquit on 'Reasonable Doubt'.  Most cases just aren't that cut and dried with indisputable concrete evidence. If they were, they would have been settled.

That was easily explained to the jurors in court - she wasn't missing. She accidentally drowned in the pool and her Dad stuck her in the back of her car. Mystery solved.

Ugh.  The second half of the pilot was entirely centered on human vs human conflict when I imagine most people tuned in to see the human vs. alien conflict.

What happened in that conflict? Nothing. Humanity has no prospects for survival as the aliens focus on the elimination of smaller and smaller groups. Yet that doesn't keep people from tossing a frisbee around in the meadow. Woo woo!

A hallmark of the series is that characters aren't necessarily black and white - lots of shades of gray.

Joffrey's bodyguard (the scarred Hound) is a good example - he prevents Sansa from either leaping off the rampart to her death or pushing Joffrey to his death - but does it in a way that doesn't get her in more trouble.

My wife says - what's up with that? I thought he was an evil guy?  Maybe... Lots of characters have their own motivations that aren't exactly clear.

Yeah, you have to admit that Philip's strategy to get to the end was perfect - almost too good.  He's definitely everyone's guy to take to the finals.

If he ends up giving his super-secret-weapon speech and winning the whole thing, he will have to be considered one of the best players to ever win the game.

Matt needs to realize that making friends is not the most important aspect of the Survivor experience. Being the nice guy results in incredibly stupid mistakes, like telling Rob everything about his decision not to jump to the other side.

Hey, it's not his fault.  That's what his God wanted him to do. Apparently, his God wants Rob to win.

I recommend reading the book (WAR), then watching this film, which is fantastic.

It's all the better, though, when you know the backstories from the book.  For example, in the film they show the meeting with the Afghani whose cow was killed after running into the barbed wire.  The actual story in the book, though, is a riot and explains the looks the soldiers exchange when talking to the guy.

I agree, what a shitty mission.  All the more shitty since the U.S. has since abandoned all of the bases, positions and territory that those guys fought for.  Restrepo's loss was for less than nothing. Frustrating.

I really enjoyed it.  Any time you have a lizard in a dress yelling "Irrelevant! Obfuscation!" you're in for a treat.

My 11 year old daughter liked the visuals but didn't get some of the story, as I wouldn't expect her to.  Especially the homages to movies like The Man With No Name and Apocalypse Now. 

Smart, funny, visually appealing movie.  Some dark parts with some mysticism and certainly a lot of dialog that will just be lost on littler kids. 

Just watched Sebastian Junger's Afghanistan documentary Restrepo last night - amazing movie.  I saw where Exit Through The Gift Shop is also available to stream.

Im not even sure they would make as much money on the back end.

When you distill the MP down to the hardcore, even those guys won't be having as much fun anymore.  The only reason those guys get to Prestige is by shooting the shit out of the millions of casual players that won't ever make it past level 30.  When those guys refuse to pay to play and it's just UberStud vs. UberStud - even the studs will drop out.

We play 2- or 3-player Pandemic a lot and it's great.  It's a unique game because you're both working together against the virus that's threatening the population.  The pure co-op is great and when strategies diverge makes things interesting.

Meh.  Do the people that already spend eight hours a night playing really need the Pro perks?  One of the things I enjoyed about MW2 was that it's more accessible.  You could play an hour a night and still get the perks you need to stay competitive.  It looks like pro players will not only be pros - they'll have Pro perks.  Killing machines.

[Spoiler]

I don't think they really made an obvious connection to

Spoiler for Hiden:

why he was killed.  Capone did say that Collsimo didn't want them to enter the liquor business so maybe Rothstein thought he had something to do with the theft for that reason.  You have to figure Luciano & Rothstein were doing the same thing as Nucky and his brother - asking themselves who knew about the shipment and who was least trustworthy.

Great show, though - the visuals were awesome.  What was the deal with the baby incubators though?  Would they really have that stuff in the windows like that?

I highly recommend the online dynasty, even if you're doing single player.

You can create an online dynasty with one player only and make it private.  It takes a little more time to set up and advance weeks, as it uploads all highlight and dynasty data to the EA servers.  But then you can log into the dynasty.easports.com site and view stats and use the storybuilder and the other tools there.

Most importantly, you can recruit.  So, from your PC you can do your recruiting for the week and when you sit down at the 360 jump right into the games and advance.  It's a cool way to run a one person dynasty.

So that's what she was doing instead of helping him after he fell.  The 911 tape is just appalling.  Operator:  Can you go down there and help him?  Bitch:  Uh, no.  Not really.

He's laying there in a pool of blood and his crappy wife is telling the 911 operator about her illness and how she can't be stressed and can't drive and...

it's disgusting.

It is fun to go somewhere like Thieves Landing and pick fist fights with guy.  The double-leg takedown and ground and pound is great.  

Also, most of the time if you pick a fight with a guy so he drops gloves you can brawl a bit, then step back and put a bullet in his head without consequence.  

I wish the WANTED bounty wasn't so wide reaching or all knowing.  I met a guy on the side of a cliff who said all kinds of stupid stuff and threatened me, so I lasso'd him and drug him behind my horse back to town to let him explain himself to the sheriff.  Within 100 yards of town, though, I already had a bounty on my head.  I never even got to explain myself to the local law.  

Having a great time with the game so far.  The treasure hunts are great, having to watch the landscape for certain types of rocks and patterns to figure out where it might be hidden.  

I do have an extra code for the golden guns - I'll send it to whoever sends a PM first. (gone)

The key is:

Yellow: Chance
Orange: Family
Red: Romance
Light Blue: Occupational
Blue: Touched by Jacob
Dark Blue: Undisclosed
Olive Green: Visit from Richard
Light Green: Visit from The Wire's Lt. Daniels

Also looking forward to seeing it.

65% on Rotten Tomatoes

It's amazing how polarized the reviewers are.  It's either junk or genius. 

McDaniels and his clan keep talking about "character" and "team guys" and "locker room chemistry" with Tebow and passing on Dez Bryant to get D. Thomas and the over philosophy for picking and signing personnel.

Is there any validity to the belief that you don't have to have the most talented guys if you have guys that bond, believe and work with each other? 

We've all seen years when teams spend for the best talent in the free agency market (Yankees, Knicks, Redskins) and get a team that never gels and goes .500.  I think it's part of the equation but am not sure how far "team and character" goes in the NFL.  I guess we'll find out.

I hate Idol Gives Back.  Sitting through that show is bad enough without the insipid celebs and begging for cash.  David Cook in Ethiopia was mind numbing.  And I'm sorry, but the President of the United States shouldn't be on American Idol for any reason I can possibly conceive of. 

That also sort of sounds like the plot of Paycheck, with Ben Affleck - a not so great re-telling of a great Phillip Dick story.

Watched the premiere last night and thought it was ok.  The music was fantastic, though.  Using actual musicians helps a ton.

I'm still not sure what kind of show it is, though, in terms of a conflict for plots.  I get that we're watching people rebuild their lives after the hurricane but is that enough to keep an audience interested for a full season?  Is the struggle against FEMA?  Each other?  The cultural establishment?  Not sure.

I'll keep watching for now, though.  Zaun was great.

I think the iPad/iPhone Scrabble example is more of what we may see, where you leverage hand-held devices that everyone already uses to become part of the boardgame play. 

Sort of like if you could run Vassal on a central PC or screen to run the main game and had clients running on iPhone, Android and Palm OS for each player's hand or info.  That would keep the technology cost to a minimum and provide accessibility to a large audience.

PM Sent

I loved the episode.  After watching it, I don't think either Jacob or the MIB is necessarily good or evil. 

If you believe Jacob's story, he brings "candidates" to the island just to prove to MIB that people are inherently good and not all corruptible.  They just play this morality game to pass the time while Jacob contains the MIB on the island.  Obviously, the people that accompany the candidates to the island are fair game for the MIB to kill or use as he sees fit.   Jacob doesn't show any remorse or concern for those people, which makes him hypocritical and immoral as well.  He preaches free will but the slaves and crew of the Black Rock didn't choose to be part of their game.

It's more like two marooned angels who have a differing opinion on the character of the human race than a God/Devil thing.

What about Locke/Nemesis talking about how he was trapped - yet he can leave with the help of Sawyer - "together"?

So, Nemesis couldn't leave without Jacob's (or his candidate's) help?  Yet Jacob could leave the island and interact with others.  That would seem to indicate that Nemesis and Jacob aren't equals - like the white and dark rocks on the scale in the cave would indicate.  Unless Nemesis also left the island to do his own recruiting.

Maybe as long as the white exists on the island, the dark has to be there also, so Jacob could keep Nemesis there just by refusing to leave.  But with Jacob gone, the dark is free to leave as long as he does so before another "candidate" takes the white's place.  That could be his interest in eliminating all the other candidates.

Fun season so far.

My wife and I saw it in 3D over the weekend.  Just an amazing film - the creativity and visuals were awesome.  And I was also amazed that the theater was almost full for the matinee showing, especially as long as the film's been in release.

Cameron's a stud though - talk about being able to write your own ticket for his future films.

And what's the over/under for sequels on Avatar - 3?

Apps I use a bunch:

DXTop - home screen replacement, 4 screens and a dock for all screens
Google Maps - obviously.  Turn by turn navigation makes Garmins obsolete
Astro Player Beta - to listen to audiobooks; bookmarking and other nice features
Google SkyMap - an amazing app - for stargazing or taking the telescope out in the evenings
Mobisle Notes Free - checklist/note app
Astrid - to-do type task manager, pairs with Pure Calendar for the agenda view
Pure Calendar - both Calendar and Grid - agenda view and the widget are great
SportsTap - ability to set favorite teams, get alerts and see auto-refreshed stats and scoring.  Great app
Slacker - last.fm, slacker, pandora.  All pretty much the same
Backgrounds - free backgrounds, by mood or whatever.  Some good stuff there.
Dolphin Browser - closest to a desktop browser
Handcent SMS - group sends, conversation styles, nice features
PdaNet - to tether my Droid to my MacBook for mobile internet.  Works great.
UltraChron - stopwatch and countdown timers
Ringdroid - to edit mp3's, shortening or whatever to use them as ringtones
Zedge - free ringtones

I loved the disclaimer at the beginning -

It basically said - This show has lots of brutality, gore, blood, sex and nakedness.  But that's just because we're striving for an accurate representation of the time period.

Every time they showed some naked chick my wife would give me that look and I'd say - hey, they're just trying to portray the time period accurately...

I thought it was pretty funny, even if unintentionally.

Both games for 360, $30 shipped to you.

Fantastic show.  All of the episodes have had different focuses with real issues that people in their 40's deal with but none have been heavy handed or pounded into your head.

Funny and moving - maybe it's because I'm in the target audience but I so relate with all that these guys are dealing with.

The episode with Owen taking a week to make his car-purchasing customers love him is hilarious.