How I Met Your Mother spolier (sort of)

The next slap is coming.

If you know the show, you can figure it out. Awesome.

TiVo HD confirmed!

It’s all true! $299.99 plus service fees. I’m sure it’s going to be hard to get hold of once it hits the store shelves, so hopefully by Christmas I might have one of these boxes sitting under my new HDTV!

July 21-22 weekend wrap

I’m toying with the idea of putting a few more small personal details into my blog - nothing to ground breaking, but since this is a place for me to talk about my life and my interests, I figure why not.

For the most part, this weekend has been pretty quiet. From delving into the 7th season of The Simpsons to a trip to Polkafest in Seaforth, Minn. to check out some Star Wars baddies it was pretty relaxing.

Members of the 501st: Central Garrison, a group of Star Wars fans known for dressing up in traditionally storm trooper costumes, but also bounty hunters and other Empire soldiers (as seen in the picture). I tagged along with my friend Derek for the photo op that you see above. They were really nice about it and it was cool to see the detail they put into these things. Good job guys, thanks for the photo. Note: I’m the one in the sun glasses.

I’ve been blogging a bit about the new Simpsons movie, well with that in mind I’ve also been spending some time watching some Simpsons on DVD. For some reason that is one show I can always put on and know I’ll have a good time. Friends is on that list along with The Office and Family Guy, but now is the time for The Simpsons. It’s represented 17/18 years of my life - so that says something.

Friday I started what I envision will be a lengthy series discussing what the rock band Oasis has meant to me - exploring my discovery of their music all the way through how they fit into my music landscape today. I hope you all enjoy.

This weekend also marked the anniversary of my parents wedding. Congratulations to them. They took a trip up to the cities and my Dad became the first in the family to touch an iPhone. He approves. Yeah, he touched one before I did.

This coming week will be spent heading out to meetings and talking to people. If you see me in your town, don’t be afraid to say hi. That’s what I know right now. Thanks for reading.

TiVo Series 3 ‘Lite’ coming soon?!?

Since I got my new LCD HDTV a few months or so, I’ve found I’ve watched less television. Sure you could argue it’s because it’s summer and there isn’t much on. That is the case somewhat, but at the same time - the stuff that is on looks weak on a set designed for HD. It looks alright, but I get a taste of hi-def every now and then through clear QAM streams.

I’ve been wanting to get that HD TiVo Series 3 for a while, but there was no way I was going to spend more on that than I did on the TV it self. Hi-Definition wasn’t worth that. However, over the last few weeks information has been streaming out about a lower cost unit that *could* be coming down the pipeline. Even the CEO of TiVo said something would come at some point.

It looks like it’s coming real soon now. A $299 TiVo Series 3 ‘Lite’ has surfaced. At first I was skeptical, the first pictures looked possibly fake. Almost like paper surrounding an existing product. Well a more fleshed out look has surfaced, with some stores online already leaking a listing.

At this price I think I can get behind it. I’m just about ready to pay off my car next month so I’ll have a little money to save up for the new unit. The Office in HD? House? More? Of course! It’s all coming soon to me apparently.

My history with Oasis: Act One

Act one: Discovery

It was November 1995 when I first learned about this british rock band called Oasis. One afternoon after school I turned on Mtv, a not so rare event at the time, when a video that was different from anything I had seen before came on.

The video, shot in black and white, had its own look and feel. The music was acoustic and started at the drop of a record. The video was for a song called “Wonderwall.”

At the time my musical tastes were relatively simple. I was interested in rock and more pop style music, I was 15 at the time, but once this video came on I suddenly became more interested in music.

It would take a couple viewings of the video before I finally broke down and decided I was going to buy this album “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” in hopes that the rest of it would be as good as what I had experienced in the video.

It was a trip to the grocery store in Iowa City with my Mom that made that moment possible. A Best Buy store was near by so while my mom shopped, I decided to check out what they had in the music section. In the back of my mind I was looking for the Oasis album, but out loud I was just going to look. The album was sitting on an end cap, almost at the front of the store when I found it.

At the time I had limited funds, but luckily I had enough to spend on the CD. I quickly picked it up and met my mom out side a few minutes later.

It wasn’t but a few minutes after I returned home that I had the CD in the player. I wasn’t sure what to expect but was welcomed with a “Hello” the opening track to the album. A romping toe tapper - again like nothing I had really experienced before. This was the first album that ever made me feel like I had good taste in music. Great taste mind you.

Within weeks the album had replaced much of the music I was listening to prior to it. “Morning Glory” opened my eyes to a whole world of music outside of Boyz II Men of Weezer (a band I still love today, but still).

It wasn’t until a conversation with a friend where I asked if he had heard of Oasis, that I learned there was another album out there to dive into. “Definitely Maybe,” the first album from Oasis was waiting for me to discover and thanks to my friend I knew it a few weeks into my fascination with the band.

A trip to an indie record store in town led to me picking up the album. I had the chance to taste test it in store before I bought it. It wasn’t but a few seconds into “Rock and Roll Star” that I knew I was putting my eggs in the right basket with this band. Before I bought it, the clerk asked if I realized this wasn’t the album with “Wonderwall” on it, of course I did - after all I had THAT album already.

Only a few weeks into my interest in Oasis, I was already annoying friends and family with constant discussion about the songs that were quickly changing my life. “Hey have you heard this song?”

As 1996 quickly approached my love for the band was about to explode in no small part thanks to an Internet connection to the house…

Coming soon - Act two: The world wide wonderweb (or how our hero went from just owning two albums to having all the singles and video)

101 Greatest Simpsons Quotes

With the Simpsons movie just a few days away, I found a rather enjoyable blog post that includes over 100 fantastic Simpsons quotes. Imagine them in your mind with the voices you know and love.

Some of my favorites:

Ralph: Me fail English? That’s unpossible.

Homer: Here’s to alcohol, the cause of - and solution to - all life’s problems.

Homer: Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that’s even remotely true!

Mr. Burns: I’ll keep it short and sweet - Family. Religion. Friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business.

Homer: Books are useless! I only ever read one book, “To Kill A Mockingbird,” and it gave me absolutely no insight on how to kill mockingbirds! Sure it taught me not to judge a man by the color of his skin…but what good does *that* do me?

There are so many more that are amazingly funny, but you actually have to head over to Blogzarro.com for the rest.

The Underground is a Dying Breed

One of my favorite bands of the last 10 years is Hot Rod Circuit, a band that blends punk, indie and country in this strange blend of poptacular goodness. They’re a band that makes music that really gets stuck in my head.

While listening to one of their albums on my iPod I decided to check up on them and find out if they had any new music coming out soon. Turns out they have a new album “The Underground is a Dying Breed.” Of course I hit iTunes quickly and picked it up.

I’m only onto the second track as I write this, but I have to say so far, it’s as much of a gem as my favorite album of their’s “Sorry About Tomorrow.” They continue to blend everything in with amazing hooks and make me just want to get up and jump around. That’s a sign of good summer time music.

The lead off track “Stateside” so far is their deepest blend of country meets punk. Think if Limbeck turned up the guitars to 11 and you’d have an idea of what these guys are doing. I’m sure as I continue to listen to the album I’ll have more to say. Until that point, do yourself a favor and give them a quick listen.

Why can’t Wii be friends

It looks like the Nintendo Wii will continue to be a hard item to find through at least the holidays. What? It’s been out since last November and I could understand a few months of shortage, it’s pretty popular after all, but by now I should be able to walk in the store at any time and pick one up.

A friend of mine had a Wii, he has since sold it. The few hours I had with the console was pretty cool. I’d like to get one. The only problem I find with the system is - it’s almost exclusively a social system. It’s difficult to get the motivation to play a single player game on it. I could be wrong, but that was my impression.

I’m disappointed in Nintendo. One would think production of the system would have been ramped up by this point. The company is risking loosing that “it” factor that helped build its must have status.

We’ll see how things play out, but with Xbox 360s failing left and right and the PS3 stalling out before selling out, the Wii is the only strong contender for the winner of the race.

A little slip

Normally I don’t post things that are particularly private, but something just happened to me that I really feel the need to share.

I was taking a shower tonight, I often take one in the evening because I find it a good way to unwind after a long day. Well, tonight I slipped in the tub, flat on my back. I hit my head on the way down and wrenched both my neck and my back and slammed my heal against the drain plug.

Needless to say I’m a little sore right now. I don’t know that it’s particularly bad, but I know I’m going to be feeling it in the morning (and probably for a while beyond that). This has never happened to me, so it’s a new experience. At any rate … ouch.

“Selfish Jean: by Travis

Those Travis boys really know how to put a smile on a face.