Breaking Windows

With Godzilla becoming a hero for children, Toei decided adults needed some giant monster entertainment. They crafted Kyôryuu: Kaichô no densetsu (Dinosaurs: Legend of the Strange Bird). They failed miserably, creating two dinosaurs so phony, so fake, that audiences back in the 1930s would have picked out the flaws. Not all the violence and gore in the world disguises that this is an awful, miserable attempt at a giant monster movie.

Neometric Software has released PHP Studio 1.0. The software lets users write, visualized and test PHP Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) code. PHP Studio costs US$25 to register and requires Mac OS X v10.3 or later.

I wonder how it stacks up to Zend Studio 4, which costs a lot more, but is a lot more complete.

But the $25 price tag is great for casual PHP work. If you don't use Dreamweaver, or Zend Studio, this might be something to look into.

PHP Studio has a searchable Functions Browser that is nice. The Help Browser is nothing more then a window that loads the documentation on php.net. But that is still helpful nonetheless.

Thanks to this great hint and Doug's Automator iTunes Actions you can now fully automate the process of converting your MP3 files to AAC files, saving a bit of space along the way. If you are an audiophile you may not want to do this, but I hear no difference in audio quality. I end up saving a lot of hard drive space, which is more important to me then CD quality tunes.

Notes, comments, and observations regarding Mac OS X 10.4. Everything you wanted to know about Tiger, plus some new hidden gems. Some very good tidbits of info, be sure to read it all.

Whenever I try to find a file in Tiger, as I could with Panther's Command-F, I get too many results -- Spotlight shows me too many things I don't need. So every time I hit Command-F, I need to reconfigure the search options to find Name Contains. What a pain!

My thoughts exactly. Spotlight can be nice, but by and large it is fat and clunky. Changing the default Command-F behavior in Tiger was a Stupid Idea. Luckily it is as easy as changing the default_smart.plist file. Another great hint from Mac OS X Hints.

You might remember that funny Flash movie about the new Buzz Bunny. Well TLG Media has another one out. Its just as funny without all the curse words.

One of the great things about being a freelance web designer is the ability to turn down projects. I’ve come across a few projects recently that sounded interesting but made me feel nervous... As such I’ve written up a list of bad project warning signs.

Some sound advice for web designers our any freelancer.

The US will not cede control of the Domain Name System for the Internet. As a result, the "Internets" malapropism may become a reality.

On Thursday, Michael Gallagher, an Assistant Secretary of Commerce announced a stunning change in US policy regarding the Internet.

All your DNS are belong to US.

This sure was unexpected. I guess someone in the Bush Administration figured out that the "Internets" is a global tool and decided that the US needs to keep control of it. Of course ICANN will still perform day to day operations. They just won't control it.

While Kenny Rogers berated a cameraman for doing his job, he just illustrated the strained relationship between media and athlete, says Dan Nied.

Somewhere in the cesspool of multiple sports television stations, thousands of sports websites and hundreds of major metro daily newspapers, the relationship between media and professional athlete has been breached, dulled, grayed and severed.

Continue reading "Going, going, gone"

In 1985 Live Aid raised money, and awareness for the poverty in Africa. Now in 2005 they are raising just awareness with Live 8 (Live on AOL Music). Thats nice and all, but I don't think that is enough.

Over 600,000 people made it to the Philly concert alone. Why not charge people $1 or $2 to get in the gate. Why not push for donations by phone?

Bill Murray is top notch in this oddball movie about an oceanographer that plans to exact revenge on a mythical shark that killed his partner. The Life Aquatic has a great cast including Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Owen Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, Anjelica Huston and a bunch of B list actors.

This movie kind of grew on me. At first I did not really get into it at all. It has some great comedy though, and that is what kept me going.

The art direction is really great. All the pseudo marine life is surreal.

The other reason I really liked this flick is because of the cinematography. The camera angles were very creative.

A great rental.

According to the IMDB on the new Herbie Fully Loaded:

"At test screenings, some parents felt that Lindsay Lohan's character was too busty and revealingly dressed for a children's film. Disney technicians went back and digitally raised necklines on her shirts and reduced the appearance of her breasts by two cup sizes."

Seriously, no kid young enough to actually be interested in this flick is going to notice her boob size. Parents, good job monitoring what your kids are watching, but grow up, really.

*Small spoilers inside

It's hardly fair to judge this big budget adaptation of War of the Worlds based on the plot holes. The 1898 book is a classic (and it should be), so by ripping this Steven Spielberg piece, you're also ripping the H.G. Wells novel. There are parts of the film, including the horrible, incomprehensible ending, that make it a bare that are the filmmaker's fault. The rest of the time, it's one of the best alien invasion movies in decades, and that's simply because it closely follows the story as written in a new era.

Though Independence Day may make itself out to be a stand-alone film, it's not. Actually, it's not even close. The only reason this isn't called War of the Worlds is likely due to licensing issues. This has all been done before, just not with this much goofy, unbelievable fun and special effects prowess.

The study estimated that 250,000 unsolved rapes and homicides in the United States since 1982 - more than half of such crimes - have yet to be subjected to DNA testing...

"Nearly one-fourth of all the surveyed law enforcement agencies reported that one of the primary reasons for not sending DNA to a crime laboratory was the lack of a suspect in the case," the study says. "The problem with that is that those are the very types of cases in which the current national DNA database of existing criminal offenders can be most useful."

Its nice to hear that the Bush administration and states are working to solve this problem, but it sounds to me that law enforcement in general needs to be educated before they throw money at the technology or the man power.

This study shows, in multiple instances, that law enforcement does not understand the use of DNA evidence. This is a bigger problem then not having enough trained technicians or enough money to perform the lab work.

I set my alarm for 8:45 this morning. I occasionally lose five or 10 minutes of sleep because I wake up early. I can live with that because I can go back to snooze for a little while. But I woke up one minute before my alarm this morning. Not even enough time to get comfortable again before my alarm went off!

Some of you might find this extra five to 10 minutes trivial, but for someone who regularly gets less then four hours of sleep a night, every minute counts!

I just found it very odd to practically jump out of bed at 8:44 this morning. It was annoying. At least there was no pop quiz in my class today.

LONDON, England (AP) -- British scientists claimed on Tuesday to have unearthed 40,000-year-old human footprints in central Mexico, challenging previous studies that put the arrival of the first humans in the Americas at about 13,500 years ago.

What a freakin' nutjob. Apparently, running tests that could possibly save humanity in the future is less important than your horoscope. I can't wait to see her try and convince a judge that her horoscope is worth $300 million.

I have seen my fair share of Amazon.com spam over the years. Some of it is actually pretty clever. This one, however, it gets the prize for the worst ever:

I meant to post this at the beginning of May when our BGSU Seal was stolen. Not that I haven't been busy lately. But anyway the guy who stole it returned it after an anonymous tip led police strait to the perp. Read on...

The missing University seal was returned to campus police last Wednesday, June 15.

I never thought someone would be that stupid to steal the University Seal. The guy also wrote a apology letter which probably swayed the university's decision to not press charges. That was the brightest thing he did.

Smart Bomb falls in line with those games that have a decent idea, variety, and a potentially great premise. Unfortunately, it doesn't use any of that effectively enough to call it a great game. It's actually a frustrating disaster that only makes you wish it had done things properly.

Out of all the platformers and space shooters over the years with the Star Wars license, there has only been one beat-em-up. It's a shame too, considering that Jedi Power Battles was abysmal, and the film series lends itself to the genre so well. Enter Episode III, a solid, repetitive, old-style movie licensed title with enough basic combat to carry it through about six hours of game time. A little variety would have helped make it an easier ride, but this is an enjoyable way to play through the film.

I've never walked off the set of a TV show in disgust before, but this week I did. There's a first time for everything, I guess. I was in the studio for a live-to-tape session of the Donny Deutsch show on CNBC, "The Big Idea" on Tuesday morning this week. After enduring it for about 10 or 15 minutes it was clear that the whole situation had been a set-up from outset.

What an interesting read. I am not suprised that so much got cut from the "live" show. Its sad because the general public has no idea of the reality of this subject.

This shows off the major problem with the "mass media" and the issue of violence in video games. First of all, it shows just how ignorant these "journalists" really are.

Do some frickin' research for crying out loud. You might also try being unbiased. I know that is hard for a lot of people.

Summer classes are always hit or miss. You are either extremely busy or bored out of your mind. In this case, I am extremely busy. But I would not have it any other way.

The BGSU Board of Trustees approved a 6 percent increase in tuition and fees for the 2005-06 academic year.

Students who enrolled before the summer of 2002 will see a $232 increase in tuition per semester, while those enrolling at or later than summer 2002 will see an increase of $244. The six percent increase reaches the maximum cap approved by the state of Ohio.

If Ohio had allowed another 9% hike in tuition this year, I have no doubt that BGSU would have raised it 9% (again) this year. BGSU always raises tuition the max amount that the state allows.

Since I enrolled (originally) before the summer of 2002, I would assume my tuition only goes up $232. I will find out when I find out the cost of my fall classes Monday.

The number we did not publish in The BG News was the $900+ incoming freshman will be paying more then last year's incoming class. This is because room & board, and general fees also increased. Tuition used to be $14,000 and change, now it is more like $15,000.

It seems every week, the biggest news to come from the video game industry involves Grand Theft Auto. It's annoying for the gamer to deal with it when there are far better things to be discussing, but politicians and so-called "watchdog" groups never seem to have enough. So, here we go again, another backlash, this time about the hidden content in the latest entry in the series, San Andreas.

Boston, Mass.-based Red Marble Games on Thursday announced the release of BreakQuest, a brick bashing arcade game for the Macintosh. BreakQuest requires Mac OS X and costs US$19.95. A demo version is available that includes eight playable levels.

There is a Windows version as well. It plays better then the the OS X version, because there is a fluke cursor glitch.

I am a sucker for the arkinoid/breakout games. Block style arcade games are my favorite. And, like, OMG, they like are not violent.

BreakQuest is a great game. I recommend it. It is not easy, and it has a lot of levels.

It is on snoops, so it must be true. I must warn you, it is one ugly dog.

Microsoft's Windows AntiSpyware application is no longer flagging adware products from Claria Corp. as a threat to PC users.

Less than a week after published reports of acquisition talks between Microsoft Corp. and the Redwood City, Calif.-based distributor of the controversial Gator ad-serving software, security researchers have discovered that Microsoft has quietly downgraded its Claria detections.

Well, so much for MS AntiSpyware having any shred of credibility. I guess Spybot Search & Destroy really doesn't have anything to worry about after all.

You don't start watching a Sci-Fi Channel flick and expect to see something new. This time out, with Attack of the Sabretooth, they gave us that something: New movie rules. It's not going to revolutionize horror movies, but it does present a new ways for idiotic, no name characters to die.

There are already three puzzle games for the DS that make liberal use of the touch screen. Meteos is the third, and this is the puzzle game killer. Not only does it feature some of the most simplistic gameplay of any "blocks falling" puzzler to date, it offers an incredible variety of ways to play, and that keeps it fresh no matter how many months you've lost to it.

One of these days, I'l figure out how to get my Contra speed run on the net. Until then, you can watch this far more impressive Mario 64 one. This is a direct link to the WM video.

Oliver Stone, the Oscar winning film-maker and occasional bete noire of the American establishment, has announced plans for a film based on the September 11 attacks in New York.

You knew it was going to happen. But is America, and the world, far enough removed from the events of Sept. 11, 2001? I guess if anything they have a built in audience.

Viagra and two other popular impotence drugs may cause sudden blindness in one eye in rare cases, the Food and Drug Administration said in a formal alert yesterday...

The FDA said recently that it had received 43 reports of NAION in men who had recently taken Viagra, Cialis or Levitra. The vision loss is generally not reversible.

This brings new meaning to the saying "you'll go blind," doesn't it.

The most exposure The Iron Giant receives (and has ever received) is an annual marathon on the Cartoon Network. That's more publicity than anything offered by Warner Bros. before, during, and after the theatrical run. If one person a year finds this film during that marathon, then justice has been served.

Why it's on CMT is anyone's guess (it's hardly country, at least not all of it), but it's here for everyone to hear. This is likely to curb those who put it up for download a few weeks back (and those us who have downloaded, not that I did that or anything). This is one of the band's best, save for a slightly dry finish. Get out of My Mind is their best song in years.

I remember when giving and receiving awards for webpages was quite the big thing, and most pages would have an "awards" section full of little animated gifs of thumbs-up or a dancing woodchuck or something; it got to be such a glut of meaningless little awards that it eventually stopped, and is a little more rare and better organized now. So I bring up the Cartoonists' Choice Awards now because 1) nominations and winners were chosen by the general webcomic creator population, and 2) some of the comics I'm a big fan of won stuff, or were at least nominated.

Sigh. Smackdown is filmed on Tuesday. It airs on Thursday. Last week, it featured a terrorist angle involving the Undertaker, and unfortunately, it fell on the day of the London bombings. They constantly flashed a warning on the screen that some people may not be ready for it. It was hardly offensive material, with a group of masked guys choking the Undertaker. Some people though, have nothing better to do, and decided to watch despite the warnings. No controversy here, but with ratings beginning to increase, it's time for the immoral attacks to begin again.

Next Generation magazine is back, sort of.

Mainsoft has made it possible for Linux developers to use Microsoft's Visual Studio software to create Web applications for Linux.

Why would you want to use a Microsoft product to create Java apps? Why would any linux user want to install anything that came from Microsoft? Doesn't Balmer & Co. hate linux?

What are they doing working with the enemy (in this case Mono)? They seem to be doing this a lot lately.

Million Dollar Baby is not a boxing film. Comparisons to Rocky or Raging Bull are pointless. This is more than that. It's deeper, more involved, and something else entirely.

Ever need to see how many systems a game came out for? Want to know the value of the game you passed up on at a garage sale? Need to know about all the 32X games ever released? You can do that with the DP database, and now it's easier with this Firefox plug-in (direct link to file). It works great, just like the Amazon and Google drop downs that come standard.

Yes, killing polygonal cops isn't important enough, but god forbid someone has sex with polygons. Then it's time to call in the FCC. Maybe they should look into God of War. How about Lesuire Suit Larry? What about the Guy Game? Nah, soccer moms won't recognize those games. Tell them the game industry is evil because of one game. They'll believe that. Also, you have to love how NO ONE from the industry will be present.

Clickers is one of those great throwbacks to classic sci-fi, just with a hard, brutal, gory edge. It's not one for the weak stomached, and that's the books strongest asset. It does lose itself as the final act starts in, but that doesn't mean getting there isn't fun enough to make it worthwhile.

With the Triple Play series in a deep rut, EA needed to completely overhaul their baseball franchise. MVP Baseball brought new, and now standard, features into video game baseball. In the process, they produced an easy to get into (yet still deep) simulation that trounced the competitors. On the PSP though, that's just not the case.

I've not been watching La Tour de France or anything but I keep hearing about Lance Armstrong and it's made me realize: Bicycle racing is a completely untapped market in video games. I mean just imagine, the guy's won the race like a gazillion times in a row and no endorsement deal for "Lance 'Lefty' Armstrong's X-treme Tour de la France" on X-Box?

It's a shame a game like this is now a financial risk. In a perfect world, Alien Hominid would sell millions as a great throwback to the previous generations. Now a 2-D shooter isn't enough, and Alien Hominid is reserved for the hardcore gamer. That's not to say this is a perfect game, because it's not by any means.

Rockstar said the hack was created by a modder. They lied. Gamespot checked it themselves, and it is on the retail copies. You do still need an Action Replay, but they blatantly denied the code being on the disc. Rockstar deserves whatever they have coming to them at this point. They should have known better. Sadly, this only gives more weight to the argument for the other side.

What does the ESRB do right? Everything. Unfortunately, there are those people out there who would like to think other wise, and the controversy over the recent Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Hot Coffee sex sequence is about far more than sex in a single video game. It's a deep look at what the ESRB does, and who they are.

Live news is the best, especially when it involves angry drunk old men. WMV direct link.

Calling something weird in the Toho universe is nothing special. You can can't even call something bizarre and elicit a response. Yet, that's the only way to possibly describe Dogora. This is easily Toho's strangest kaiju film ever, and that works with and against the film.

I think I'll head to Meijer's paint department tomorrow. I'll dip my own personal part into a can of paint and slap it around on a canvas, then charge $75 for it. Hey, if this woman can get away it, I don't see why I couldn't. Better yet, I'll do it in my front yard. Anyone who gives me looks gets the "art" speech.

Former Bowling Green State University student-athlete Jordan Sigalet (Surrey, B.C.) will featured this Sunday, July 19 at the 2005 ESPY Awards Show as a nominee for "Best Comeback Athlete." The broadcast is scheduled for 9 p.m. (EST) on ESPN.

If you don't know who Jordan Sigalet is, you should google him.

After a successful revamping of their star attraction in 1984 (or 1985 here in the States), Toho was quick to realize that there was a ton (no pun intended) of life left in the franchise. A direct sequel to the film, Godzilla vs. Biollante, was created in 1989 much to delight of G-fans. The Heisei series is generally dissected amongst G-fans while arguing over Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah's time travel storyline, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla's explosive kaiju battle, and of course the series finale showing the demise of the beast in Godzilla vs. Destroyah, but rarely does anyone thoroughly discuss Biollante.

I meant to post this weeks ago. But my reading and studying (cramming) for hours before class was well worth it. I got a 100% on my first test. I can't remember the last time I ever scored 100% on anything, much less a test.

Two more tests, a couple projects, and this class is history! I really need an A in this class because I need a boost to my overall GPA, which is in the gutter right now.

After this has set in for a few minutes, I guess I'm not so baffled that she did it (hard to be surprised by anything anymore), but the fact that she not only was dumb enough to steal the supplies from her place of employment, bring the kid into her place of employment each time, but she actually dumb enough to keep doing it. If you want your kid dead, for gods sake just do it. If you want to be an asshole about things, don't let the kid suffer.

And as always, remember: it's the video games fault.

... as he threatens patrons with a foot long knife

Remember folks: It's the video games fault.

You gotta check out this keyboard. It is not in production yet. I wonder if it ever will be produced? If it ever does see the light of retail, I want one.

UPDATE: They have a nice selection of desktop wallpapers too.

I cannot tell you how pleased I am after getting off the phone with Time Warner cable today. I don't even mind the 20 minute wait this time.

If I had the time, I would be drinking to celebrate. Unfortunately, I have a paper due tomorrow.

Today marks the completion of this Photochemical Outreach site that started in February. February 3rd to be exact.

This has been a big project, with a designer, coder, multimedia author, and videographer. I was the coder, if you hadn't guessed. I also am hosting the site.

The client is happy with the site, and for that, I am happy as well.

U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to introduce legislation to help keep video games with pornographic and violent content out of the hands of children in the wake of a controversy over the popular “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” video game.

If you think Matt and I beat this to a pulp, then why are there 30 comments to this on a Mac based news site?

My favorite comment comes from macFanDave:

She ought to spend her time preparing articles of impeachment against George W. Bush.

Even if they go nowhere, I am sure they will be fun for her to write and for us to read!

I have a great idea. Lets put a V-Chip into all the video game consoles sold. Then see if the parents can figure out how to use it. Once they do, then the problem is solved. Parents could block games by title or by ERSB rating.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: This is not the job of our government, it is the job of the parents/guardians.

I think this graph from a GameSpot article sums things up very nicely:

Given that the minigame is about as raunchy as an episode of Sex and the City, cannot be accessed without entering a long string of cheat codes, and takes several hours of effort to access, charges that San Andreas is "pornographic" may seem extreme to some. However, its existence does appear to contradict Rockstar Games' carefully worded statement blaming hacker mischief for the existence of the Hot Coffee mod.

Kirby is, arguably of course, Nintendo's most under appreciated mascot. He's starred in some of the best platforming titles they've ever published, but you never hear the mainstream press or gamers themselves becoming hyped over the latest game in the series. In a perfect world, Kirby Canvas Curse would change that.

Ken,

I found your post concerning Entourage and error 17099. I received this error last night for the first time. I teach an online course and was sending an email to a group (created a group in address book with students email addresses) and blocking their email addresses from being seen. I had done this several other times and it worked fine.

Once the progress window completed, I rec’d the error message. Thinking that it had not gone out, I left it in my Outbox to try again (every five minutes). A couple hours later I heard from one of my students – she’d rec’d the message 29 times.

All other functions in Entourage are working fine. I receive and send email with no errors. But, I just tried to send another group email and the same error occurred. I assume that the email is going through, but am vexed by the error message.

Did you learn anything else about this situation? Was your similar? What to do?

Sorry for the long email – just wanted to be thorough – not trying to bore you.

Thanks,
Jane

Thanks for the email Jane. I got that error once and once only *knocks on wood* so I still do not know what it was all about. I send emails to groups of upwards of 7,000 people using Entourage 2004, and that has never triggered the error. So I am also still looking for the answer...

Is it over?. Will the critics finally back off? What does the AO rating mean for future Grand Theft Auto entries? What does it mean for games in general?

Simply put, no one knows.