Five Movies that Rocked my Sox

Here is a list of five movies that have rocked my world over the last few months. I think you should check them out.

• The Departed – Finally saw it with a friend and I have to say, this is one of the best movies I’ve seen in ages!
• Zodiac – This is a phenomenal look at the story surrounding the serial killer of northern California in the 1960s-1970s. An interesting look into newspaper journalism too.
• The Simpsons Movie – Nearly 20 years in the making. Well worth the wait. Marge Simpson will break your heart.
• Hot Fuzz – From the guys that did Shaun of the Dead, awesome comedy, and a huge departure from Shaun. Action. Fun.
• Disturbia – I thought it was going to be a Rear Window rip off, but it turned out to be a nice little thriller. Interesting take on the concept.

Do your self a favor and watch at least one of these, if not all of them. You will come back and thank me.

Harvey Danger album for FREE!

I’m kind of late in the game on this one but it’s too good not to pass along. Remember that band Harvey Danger? They had the song “Flagpole Sitta,” the one featured in this crazy video.

At any rate, they recently (ehum a few years ago) released an album through their Web site that you are free to download and enjoy. I’ve listened to a few of the tracks at this point and so far I’m really digging what they’ve been doing. I highly recomend downloading it.

Go to their site and download “Little By Little“

Search results

I’m about to admit something that I know everyone else does too. I do vanity searches. I type in: Robert Wolfington, hit that search button and see what comes up. Now unlike some, I do this as much to see where my personal blog comes up as I do to see what people are saying about me.

There are a couple of barriers that have kept my blog from being the top search result. First off, as a writer at a newspaper, I have a lot of content out there. From stuff I’ve written to comments being made about me (both good and bad I’ll point out). The other barrier is my dad. We share the same name, and he’s a pretty well known figure in the state, serving as the city manager for a town that has seen national attention over the last few years.

Well, the other day I found that my name in Google officially brings up this blog as the top search result! That’s pretty exciting for me as it marks the first time in a long time that the term will get what it should. Sorry dad, but I’m taking over the name on Google . Anyway, just had to put that out there. Search your own name, see what happens.

More things to think about

Another quote from Einstein. . .

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.

The man knew what he was talking about.

My Eyes

Here is the new video from Travis for the track “My Eyes.” This video is funny, touching and disturbing all rolled into one clip. Good on you boys.

Pipe dream camera shopping

A few years ago my parents bought me a nice HP digital camera. For its time, the camera served up a good deal of features (including a 3 mega pixel offering) but the camera is starting to become pretty long in the tooth. First off the battery life of the camera is horrible. The camera eats through the AA rechargeable like I go through a can of Mountain Dew. Not good. It also has a rather small display mode and a few other features that are making the camera feel out of place.

While I still like the camera, my experience in photography has excelled over the last few years. From taking a photography course to taking photos on a daily basis, the need for a better camera has finally started to come forward. With some planned travel in the near future, and a yearning for more personal photography, I’ve decided I’m in the market for a new camera.

I’ve been thinking about my needs and have come up with the short list of the three cameras that are floating my boat – from the reasonable to the pipe dream.

• Canon PowerShot A550 – This small compact 7.1 megapixel meets a lot of my needs. It’s a camera that would be easy to take with me anywhere I need to go and with a price tag that puts it within my reach. At around $150, this is probably the camera I should go with.
• Canon G7 – This is a camera I use every day at work. I love the thing. It’s feature packed, small, powerful and a joy to use. The price tag however starts to reach the higher end of point and shoot cameras at around $400.
• Canon EOS Digital Rebel – This is the ultimate camera in my eyes. A digital SLR that would allow for swapped out lenses. The camera would allow my creativity to flourish – but at the same time isn’t really made for every day shots that I’m really interested in.

One thing you might notice, I have a bit of a Canon bias. I think most photographers will tell you there are two options to consider – Canon or Nikon. I’m not a fan of the Nikon line at all. I’ve had a lot of trouble with their D1 line and just prefer the Canon line.

All this is really pointless as I can’t really afford to go for a new camera now. I might however in the near future revisit this line of thinking. I’ll keep you posted. And I’m leaning towards the A550. See what that camera can do for yourself.

A helpful tip for TiVo users

There is a hidden feature on the TiVo remote that I’ve come to rely on over the time I’ve used my TiVo. That is the 30 second skip. It’s an easy feature to employ but it’s not always easy to remember how to do it. Since the power went off this morning and I have to re-do it now, I thought I’d post it for my own reference and yours.

On your TiVo remote, do the following key commands:

• Select
• Play
• Select
• 3-0
• Select

You should here three faint gongs and that way you know you’ve done it correct. Now your advance button works as a 30 second skip button. When you hit normal fast forward and the advance key, it works the way it always used to.

Happy watching fellow TiVo fan.

What? No Original Crust?

Have you ever been to a restaurant, ordered one of the most basic items and been greeted with “sorry, we’re out of that.” It’s kind of annoying. It’s happened to me a few times in recent memory. A trip to Taco Bell gave up the line “we’re out of beef,” in one of the many Sioux Falls locations. Mind you, 70 percent of the menu relies heavily on the low grade beef we all secretly love. Lucky for me, I got my order just before the beef drought crippled the location.

Tonight however I didn’t dodge the “we’re out of that” bullet. I decided to treat myself with my favorite cheesy pepperoni pizza from Godfathers. I normally like to stick with original crust, it’s the right thickness, and you feel like you’re getting a hearty feast as you make your way around the pie.

“What kind of crust would you like sir?” asked the voice on the other side of the phone. I promplty replied “Original please” only to be told they were out of it. At a pizza place. On a Friday night. What?

Lucky for me they still had golden and thin crusts. Neither of which make up the feast of a pizza that I’ve come to expect when I plop down more money than I should on a pizza. I went with the golden crust because the thin crust just doesn’t play ball for me.

While I enjoyed the lovely toppings and seasonings that were poured over the pie, it was still missing that one ingredient that puts it over the top.

At any rate, how crazy is it that a pizza joint can “run out” of a crust. Isn’t it all made of the same stuff? It’s pizza dough. All of it. Can’t they make more? My Friday nights are exciting aren’t they?

Currently listening to: Wisely.

Interactive Trip Planner

With my trip to Mount Rushmore still somewhat in the planning stage, I thought I would check out some travel sites for ideas. I found this travel South Dakota site that looked promising. I clicked through and was greeted with a well designed and well thought out experience.

I then clicked on the “interactive trip planner,” and in a moment some disembodied voice began talking to me, encouraging me to explore the program. Admittedly, I was a little unnerved, but nothing could prepare me for this woman that walked across the screen. That’s right, this tourism guide suddenly appeared on my MacBook screen, strolling across as if this was something normal.

There seems to be this idea when it comes to some Web sites that we have to talk down to our readers. I don’t think that is really the case. Sure, portions of this tour experience were complicated, but nothing that required someone literally walking you through the site.

At any rate, check out the site for yourself, and remember – this scary person just appears all of a sudden. It’s supposed to be like that, it’s not a ghost. (I never thought she was a ghost. Really.)

Photo credit: Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids.

A helpful look at the Fall TV schedule

There is a nifty look into the fall schedule for all the major networks on Wikipedia that is giving me an idea of what shows I might be watching. No surprises really, I’ll only watch a couple new ones really. At any rate, it’s a good view of what you could be viewing this Fall.