Aggro Me

My headset quest began the day I killed my poor, unsuspecting landline telephone.  I won’t say it didn’t hurt to off that precious 212 telephone number I’ve had for years, but it made sense.  I noticed that none of my friends had landlines any more, only cell phones.  And none of them ever really call me at home.  They call my cell (which makes sense - it’s always within reach at home, work or walking around).  In fact, as popular as I happen to be, I found I was getting more calls on the landline from telemarketers than from anyone else.   And those annoy me to an extreme degree.  Not to mention Verizon was charging me an insane amount of money each month for strictly local service with caller ID.  And with the increased cell phone bill the iPhone was hitting me with, logic dictated that it just had to go.

That’s been working fine.  No one has had a problem getting in touch with me and I am free of telemarketer annoyance.  But there is one small problem.  I don’t mind talking on my iPhone when I’m walking around.  But when I’m home I’m used to talking on a “real” phone.  I get tired of walking around the house with my iPhone held up to my ear.  So I figured I would get a headset of some type.

I checked out the Apple Store to see what was compatible and immediately got drawn to the whole bluetooth thing.  The wireless aspect sounded really handy and I narrowed my choice down to the Aliph Jawbone - either the original or the new one. But, as I was about to pull the trigger, I noted that some reviews said that the person on the other end couldn’t always hear you clearly as the mic picked up all noise.  So while the noise canceling works for you and you could hear them crystal clear…it might not be the same for the person on the other end.  That’s when I realized this wasn’t my original objective: to have comfortable, clear phone calls from home.  I might go for the Jawbone at some point if I feel I need it for walking around.  But my quest continued.

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I wish I could watch all of Netflix’s library with their “Watch Instantly” streaming service.  But since I can’t, I’m back with 10 geeky picks (in no particular order) that are available for your streaming pleasure.  Remember, I’m not picking from the entire Netflix collection, just the titles in the “Watch Instantly” section.  

1.  The Adventures of Buckeroo Bonzai - This should really be in the classics section but so many people have never seen it.  I love this movie so much that I have a “Yoyodyne Propulsion” t-shirt and another one that says, “Wherever you go, there you are.”  Seriously, see this if you haven’t already - it’s the definition of “cult classic.” 

2.  Gattaca - Smart, interesting sci-fi with excellent acting.

3.  Ice Pirates - Holy shit, I can’t believe they have this one.  I’m not going to pretend this is a great or even good movie.  But, wow, do I enjoy it…definitely a cheesy delight.  It’s funny both because of the actual jokes in the movie and because it’s so terrible.  The plot?  Well, water is the most valuable commodity in the future so space pirates steal ice.  Space princesses are involved as well.  Swordfighting is also apparently very important in the future because even robots do it.  Ship to ship space combat is decided by playing a Space Invaders clone.  It’s just one of those things you really have to see for yourself.

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I mention Netflix a lot because I love it.  But just for the record, we have no relationship with Netflix whatsoever - I’m just a big fan.  I’ve got DVD’s coming and going all of the time and I’ve discovered so many great films and shows.

I always get excited when I hear about the Roku player or Netflix’s deal with Tivo.  I get excited for a minute and then I remember that those deals only apply to Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” films.   You see, Netflix has a huge selection of films and tv shows available on DVD which they mail to you.  They also allow you to watch movies via instant streaming with the “Watch Instantly” feature.  But you can only do this with a certain selection of films that is really just a small portion of their overall collection.

However, I have been watching quite a few of the “Watch Instantly” films on my PC. So I thought I would point out which great geek films are available for instant streaming.  Today I’m going to list 10 classics that everyone should see, in no particular order.  In another post, I’ll cover 10 lesser-known films that I think you’ll enjoy.  

So here we go with the classics (just remember I limited myself to the “Watch Instantly” category…my actual top 10 would be pretty different):

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For many years, when I was in first through eighth grade, my grandparents picked me up every Friday after classes ended.  Fridays had always been awesome to begin with, but this made them exponentially more awesome.  They had the incredible patience and generosity to take me to the places I loved, no matter how insane they sounded.  This included the giant Photon set-up in New Jersey, which was a massive laser-tag arena with fog, laser-lights and permanent score tracking.  But more often, it was simply the arcade.

I loved the arcade.  Who didn’t?  I got to play my favorite games and there were always some new contenders appearing as if by magic.  I still clearly remember the first time I saw a Dragon’s Lair machine.  My mind was officially blown and I thought my life would change forever.  Of course, actually playing it was a massive disappointment, but that’s another story.  There were always other machines to sink quarters into.

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I like a lot of the shows on BBC America (Gavin & Stacey, Dragons’ Den, Worst Week), so when I saw they were launching a new season of Doctor Who, I decided to give it a try.

I have to be honest, I’m really unfamiliar with the whole Doctor Who world/mythos.  The general idea is that the Doctor is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels about in his TARDIS (time travel/spacecraft) righting wrongs and having adventures.  I haven’t watched it since I was a kid, and then infrequently. To give you an idea of how far I’m behind, I’m pretty sure it was the Fourth Doctor I remember seeing and they’re apparently on the Tenth Doctor now.

Nonetheless, I definitely liked the episode they showed this past Saturday evening called “Voyage of the Damned.”  I probably missed some of the in-jokes that long time viewers would get, but it was overall a very enjoyable experience (and I did catch the “42″ callout).  The series has cool sci-fi effects and a good storyline.  But most of all, there is a terrific vein of humor and wit throughout that really keeps things fun.  David Tennant, the actor playing the current incarnation of the Doctor, does an excellent job.  At times I did have to rewind a bit to make out the words behind the accents, but that was a pretty minor issue.  I thought it was weird that the first episode they showed was a Christmas special of sorts.  I’m going to tune in next week to get a better feel for the series.

If I like it, I may just Netflix up some DVD’s of previous seasons.  If you get BBC America, I would recommend you give the Doctor a try.  The official site is here and it looks like new episodes are shown on Saturday evenings.

Yes, I’m apparently obsessed with games that have loot (or lewt as it may be) in the title.  What can I say?  I’m an item-centric individual.  I plunked down the dollar and ninety-nine cents for Loot Wars and I’m really glad I did.

Loot Wars is awesome but it isn’t for everyone.  If you’re looking for a game to really sink your teeth into and play for an hour (or even 20 minutes), Loot Wars is not the game for you.  And if you’re only going to play Loot Wars once a week, you’re also not going to enjoy it.  But Loot Wars is a heck of a lot of fun when you log on for a couple of minutes a few times a day.

Like a lot of old web-based games I used to play, Loot Wars limits you to a certain energy (you can consider them action points) that you regain over real time.  Your maximum is 20 energy and you burn through it rather quickly.  You regain energy points at a rate of 1 per every fifteen minutes.  What can you do with this energy?  Well, get yourself some loot of course.

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