I’m giving Heroes one more chance

The best storyline possible to write is that of an ordinary person put into an extraordinary situation. The original episodes of Heroes nailed that idea. There was the cheerleader who couldn’t get hurt, the congressman who discovered he could fly, and the geek who could bend space and time. All of these people didn’t know what it meant and thought they were completely alone. Because of this, I was a fan of the show since it debuted.

Then, once everyone was introduced, the Heroes writing staff decided it was time to show that all of these ‘heroes’ needed to come together in order to save the world. Visions of the future and the introduction of an villain lead to the season one slogan: “Save the cheerleader, save the world.” The ‘heroes’ found themselves, came together, defeated the villain, lost some people along the way, and saved the world. Then came season two.

Season two started out with yet another chance to save the world, what with the butterfly effect and all. Season two also showed that not only was the villain from season one still alive, but a ton of new ‘heroes’ were waiting to be found. However, instead of focusing on these ‘heroes’ being ordinary people in extraordinary situations, their extraordinary abilities became much more ordinary. Season two was also interrupted by the Writers Strike. Instead of pausing the storyline mid-season, the Heroes team decided to wrap up the storyline early leaving a few large plot holes along the way — Peter’s Irish girlfriend anyone?

Season three promised villains deeper and darker than any yet to be introduced. But deeper and darker villains brought many more characters into the fold — so many that keeping track of all of them grew quite difficult. The line between good and evil was blurred at the beginning of the season leaving questions about who was a hero and who was a villain. All of this was set against another vision of the future that required the world to be saved. Basically, season three was repeating season one.

In tonight’s episode the lines were finally clearly drawn between who is a hero and who is a villain. There is still that pesky ’save the world’ issue lingering about though it looks like it’s going to be taking a backseat — which, given season two’s decisions, isn’t surprising.

I’ll be frank, the show has gotten bad. Really bad. Possibly jumped the shark bad. So bad I’m tempted to give up on the show altogether. However, one thing in the preview for next week is going to keep me watching. Evidently an eclipse is coming that’s going to remove the ‘heroes’ powers leaving them ‘normal’. Considering them having abilities has become ordinary, it looks like they could once again be put into an extraordinary situation. If this is the case, they might have a good thing going. If not, well, the show is no longer worth watching. I guess we’ll find out what happens next week.

Has Heroes jumped the shark? Is there still some good in it? Let me know in the comments.

New XBox Experience

Today I was lucky enough to be included in the final wave of invites into the NXE Preview — that’s New XBox Experience to you n00bs. This Wednesday Microsoft will drop the update on all 360s around the world, but today I was lucky enough to get a taste. The following is my impression after a few hours with the new system.

Installing

Considering this is a completely new operating system for the XBox 360, I figured the download would take a while and was planning to wait a few days after the update dropped on Wednesday. To my surprise, the updated downloaded and installed in less than five minutes. Once installed, you’re treated to a wild, but strange, introduction video.

Setup

After the video, I was asked to choose which account to login to. Once logged in, I began the avatar creation process. When I first heard about NXE avatars I figured it was a pretty cheesy Mii rip-off. It seemed to cheapen the 360 experience a bit. They also seemed pointless. All that said, I did have fun creating my avatar and trying to get it to look like me. I’d show you how it turned out, but short of taking a picture of my tv (which is lame) I can’t get the image off — the XBox.com site won’t display them yet.

Dashboard

I don’t even know if it’s called the dashboard anymore, but that’s what I’ll call it for lack of a better term. Despite looking completely cluttered and slightly unorganized, finding what you’re looking for is fairly simple. The graphics make the old “blade” system look rather archaic (although that is more or less what you get when you hit the XBox button on the controller) and look awesome in HD. There is now a quick button to the Marketplace to make purchasing Rock Band songs even easier. Also easier to find is the newsfeed that was added in the last console update, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Games

If there is a game currently in the drive, the first panel on the Games blade (are they still called blades?) is dedicated to that game. In my case, there is a pretty cool image of a member of the Brotherhood of Steel letting me know Fallout 3 is currently ready to go. Subsequent panels feature recently played games and a much better way to look through a games achievements.

One of the NXE features that I didn’t find out about until recently is the ability to install games to the hard drive. It took about 10 minutes to install Fallout 3 to the hard drive and while I didn’t really notice any in-game load differences, the initial launch seemed more snappy. Though playing a game without hearing the crazy-loud disc drive was a huge bonus.

Netflix

A huge addition to the NXE, and one of the reasons I left Blockbuster, is the ability to stream movies from Netflix. This comes in the form of a 3MB download that, once run, gives you an activation code to enter on Netflix’s website. Once activated, about 30 seconds, my instant queue was brought up. There is no way to add titles to the queue, though you can remove titles and rate them. Quality is pretty good and looks a little worse than a typical HDTV broadcast (I tested with an episode of the Office). The function of the Netflix portion of the NXE is great and goes a long way in making the 360 an actual entertainment hub, especially for us Mac users.

Network

The 360 is notorious for having trouble handling extended networks using Apple routers — using multiple routers to extend a wi-fi signal. In my house, I do just that. My 360 is on the complete opposite end of the house from the initial router and, despite an AirPort Express relaying the signal only 20 feet away, the 360 has trouble with the network. Now, I have absolutely no proof or way to test this, but it seems that with the update I have better signal strength. Again, there’s no way to know if this is a placebo effect or not, but it does seem quicker, especially when downloading things from the Marketplace.

Final Thoughts

Note: One thing I want to test but haven’t yet had time to do so is the DVD playback. The 360’s playback has always been mediocre at best, especially when displaying text. I’m hoping that the NXE update addresses this issue, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

All in all I’m pretty impressed with the New XBox Experience. Looking at the pre-release features it looked like the NXE could be a lot of eye candy and very little substance, but instead the update is a welcome change. While the avatars do seem a bit cheesy, they aren’t too bad. Unfortunately I can see the money hounds on the horizon as paid avatar updates and themes will come — there’s already a spot for it on the avatar editing screen. It’s a nice update and if you have a 360, be sure to download the update on Wednesday.

Dollhouse and Fanboys Trailers!

Two trailers showed up online this week for things that I’m looking forward to and because I’m looking forward to them, I’m going to assume you are too and share them here.

The first is Dollhouse, Joss Whedon’s newest TV show that, well, I don’t really know anything about it that’s not in this trailer. But, it’s got Joss behind it so it’s got to be good, right?

The next is the trailer for Fanboys. There has been a lot of talk about this movie, and it hasn’t all been good. But it’s finally moving forward and, well, if you’re a Star Wars nerd, then you’ll be extremely interested in this. Also, Kristin Bell’s in it so what’s not to like? You’ll have to visit Yahoo! Movies for the trailer cause they won’t let me embed it here. Lamers. Thanks to Cinematical for the what’s up.

I might be cursed…

I had a flat tire today. You might be thinking, big deal. In the grand scheme of things it isn’t a big deal. Though this is, roughly, my sixth flat tire over the course of the last three or four years. Like I said, I think I might be cursed.

This all started back in 2004 with Hurricane Charlie. Prior to returning to Tallahassee I caught a flat tire from some of the debris. No big deal. It happens. However, that set off a chain of events that no man should have to go through.

Over the course of the next 18 months I ended up with another four, I kid you not, flat tires. The worst of which was a hole in the sidewall of a tire that was so bad I had to put on a spare in the middle of nowhere on I-10 and spend the night in the exact halfway point between Tallahassee and Lake City (see nowhere). That wasn’t much fun at all.

I thought the streak ended after I bought a new set of tires two or so years back. Surely when I bought a new car last July my luck had changed. But sadly I was wrong. I caught a nice screw, about an inch and a half long, right in the tread this morning. The good news is that I can change a tire using those crappy jacks in under 20 minutes. The bad news is that now I’m going to be absolutely paranoid as to when the next one’s going to go.

Think you have worse luck when it comes to tires than me? Share your horror story in the comments.

The Internet Overdose Song

It’s possible to have a little too much of the internet these days. Seems like there’s constantly a new social site to join, blog to read, person to connect to, and, well, you get the point. I came across this (embedded below) the other day and, well it kind of strikes a chord. I mean, I do use 1Password to keep track of the some 30 different web passwords I use. I do use less than 140 characters for an awful lot of communication and, well, I do remember when I was trying to manage two or three different emails at once and thought myself rather 1337. Yeah, that’s right. Anyway, this song is pretty funny. Enjoy.

Dear Blockbuster

Dear Blockbuster Total Access:

We’ve been together since 2005. Our relationship started out so well. You were sending me great movies and coupons which let me rent more movies and video games in store! Then you went and did something even better. You told me I could exchange the movies you sent me in store for even more free movies. It was great. We really had a good thing going.

Then things started to change. I guess you realized your stores were no longer making any money. So before I could exchange a movie for a free rental, you made me weave through a maze of cheep candy and over-priced movie posters. Then, at the counter, you asked if I wanted to take advantage of the great deal on popcorn. Frankly, you were being too pushy and I felt a bit smothered.

Then you changed the rules. You told me I was no longer getting any coupons. In fact, I could now only exchange movies in store twice a month. You became too overbearing. I couldn’t take it any longer.

I hate to tell you this, but last Saturday I cheated on you. Netflix told me to give it a try, so I did. I didn’t want to at first, but their site was so much easier to use and recommended better movies. Sure, I can’t take stuff into a store with Netflix, but honestly Blockbuster, you’re stores are pretty old and disgusting. You really should clean every now and then. Besides, Netflix told me that by the middle of next month I’ll be able to download and watch movies on my XBox instantly and sometime soon I’ll be able to do that on my Mac too.

What I’m trying to say, Blockbuster, is that it’s over between you and me. We had some good times, but it’s time to go our separate ways. I’d like to say it’s not you, it’s me, but this time it really is you. I wish you the best in the future.

Signed,

Justin Cox

Literal Music Videos, How I Love You

Like any warm blooded human being, I have a special place in my heart for great music from the 80’s. Big hair, power ballads, one hit wonders, it’s all great. Lately that wonderful music has been making a comeback online thanks to an influx of literal music videos. The first one I saw was a few days ago over at Wil Wheaton’s site where he featured a sweet rendition of A-Ha’s Take on Me — which, if you know anything, is basically the most groundbreaking music video of all time. Then today, I came across a nice take on Tears for Fears’ Head Over Heals over at Geekologie. What a cool form of digital expression. I’ve included both videos below for your weekend enjoyment.

Poverty in the New Economy

Today is Blog Action Day, a day where thousands of blogs turn the focus to poverty. Poverty is a disease that, according to Bono, is completely curable. Organizations like Bono’s One Campaign have been trying to elevate or eliminate poverty for years now. Global poverty, people living on less than a dollar or so a day, is a massive problem that does need to be dealt with but for the purpose of this entry, I’m looking at a different form of poverty, a new form of poverty, a form of poverty that has only shown up over the course of the last year.

The world economy has crumbled over the last year as a result of many factors, some driven by you and me and some driven by the government, but the fact of the mater is the economy is in trouble. As a result hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs and/or foreclosed on their homes here in the US alone. Unfortunately the next few months will see the numbers continue to rise. Poverty is no longer segregated into pockets of neighborhoods or countries around the world, it can involve you, your neighbor, anyone. Poverty is now a bigger crisis then it ever has been before because of how extremely widespread it has begun.

Six months ago a majority of the worlds poverty could have been eliminated if the affluent countries of the world came together and attributed money to the problem. Unfortunately, in light of what’s happened economically, countries have come together to pump money into the world economies in order to prevent the problem from growing. While this might slow, and eventually correct the current situation, it doesn’t really do anything for someone that no longer has a job, has lost their house, or was living in poverty prior to the market meltdown. In fact, once we get out of the mess we’re now in, we’ll actually be right back where we were six months ago with regards to combating poverty.

What this means is we’re not going to be able to rely on the governments of the world to help solve this problem. We, as a global people, are going to have to take action into our own hands. We can each, individually, make a difference. Be it volunteering at local homeless shelters, working for organizations like Habitat for Humanity, or even sponsoring impoverished children through missions like Compassion International, you and I can effect change.

My hope is that as this economic situation has now touched virtually everyone in some form, poverty has now been made real to every citizen on the planet. As a result I hope that we collectively do what we can to eradicate the issue. One day we will be able to remove poverty from list of global issues, it will just require a bit of time and effort. Let’s make it happen.

What is something you can do to help eliminate poverty? Discuss it in the comments below.

I Love Bacon… But this is Weird

I get a nice bit of spam here on the site. As I said the other day, most of it is absolute garbage. I know that a mere week or so ago I said I got the spam comment to end them all, but I’ve got to tell you, what you’re about to see absolutely takes the cake. Intrigued? Keep reading.

On the 2nd of October my inbox rang in a new email from someone named Rebecca. The spam(?) that was contained is basically an attempt at viral marketing with absolutely no apparent purpose. The email, in its entirety, now follows:

Hey Justin,

Thought you might be interested in checking out the latest in bacon mania making the rounds…

BaconMan!

YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZC_CYJcnEA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FAw5k96LJw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twpIu_tQlnE&feature=related

You can check him out on Twitter too if you’re on there… #baconman

Giving you any Halloween costume ideas? I was thinking this or Tina Fey as Sarah Palin

Rebecca

I can’t tell what the purpose of this is at all. I can’t tell if it’s a product or someone just trying to get internet famous. While I was at PAX, there was a guy in a bacon suit that looked a lot like this one hocking Bacon Salt, but I’m not sure if this is related.

I’ll let you be the judge. If you’ve got any idea what this is all about, let me know in the comments. And if you’re Rebecca, please tell me what is up. Thanks.

I’m a Television Snob

There, I said it, I’m a TV snob. I’m subscribed to Bright House’s HD cable package and receive, I kid you not, around 1000 channels. The problem is I only watch about 7 of them, the HD channels that are all bunched together at the bottom of the dial. I find it too much work to search through the entire guide, so I only look at what’s on the HD channels. It goes something like this:

This is what you get when you search 1329 on Google Images.

What’s on ESPN (1329), ESPN2 (1330) or ESPNU (1331)? Oh, nothing. Alright, let’s move down to Discovery (1340) and Discovery HD Theater (1341). Alright, let’s skim through the rest of the Discovery channel partners (Science, History, TLC, etc) and check out Food Network (1359). The interesting thing is that I completely skip TBS (1312), TNT (1311), Disney (1335) and Family (1337) because they completely bore me — unless TBS is showing baseball which is almost never anymore.

Now, if I find nothing in this run, then I start to get a little adventurous. I’ll check HBO HD (1243) and the networks, NBC (1020) and ABC (1090) — who watches CBS? If still I find nothing worth watching, I’ll either turn on CNN (1324) or just return to ESPN.

I’m sure there are other, really great channels out there, but if I don’t get it in HD it’s really not worth watching — also it’s not worth the effort to find it on the guide. There are, of course, very few exceptions. The biggest one being The Soup which is on E! (65).

Is that wrong? Do you only watch a handful of channels? Let me know down under.