via :http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20222358,00.html
The fact that I am reporting on celebrity gossip is downright distressing to me. However, this is Californication, its a different thing. Its an amazing show, and for that reason, I will bring you this news.
David Duchovny has entered a rehabilitation center for sex addiction, his lawyer, Stanton “Larry” Stein, tells PEOPLE exclusively.
“I have voluntarily entered a facility for the treatment of sex addiction,” the actor says in an exclusive statement. “I ask for respect and privacy for my wife and children as we deal with this situation as a family.”
Duchovny, 48, has been married to actress Téa Leoni since 1997. They have two children, daughter Madelaine West, 9, and son Kyd, 6.
Holy Smokes Batman. I thought you were acting in Californication.
I am slightly distressed because I heard this show was filming as of early August, and if they still are then we might have to put up with a short season. Son of a ……. Funny quote from forum : “how can you be addicted to sex? thats like being addicted to ice cream… or life… or anything else awesome.” — I do not condone this quote.
Facebook was the reason I wanted to go to college. Forget about the girls, alcohol or graduation process… it was all about getting my .edu email address and being able to sign up for facebook. I even chose an early orientation week at UT so that I could get my e-mail address first and be the first of my friends on it.
And it was glorious…. for 3 years. Now, I don’t find myself checking it …. even the email updates I have turned off, and the ones I do get I have forwarded to skip my inbox in Gmail so I don’t have to deal with them. Every month or two I check it and delete all the crap I don’t want and leave… I don’t stalk anyone, or care about updates and so I have come to the conclusion facebook is dying.
How can it be dying you ask since its growing like madness and it is the host of the town?
I know its dying because compared to the normal world I am a geek. Not to toot our own horns but the technically savvy internet users normally lead the charge and if our trends are followed the validity of websites can be predicted. Web 2.0 was originally a group of websites and ideas that these internet users flocked to and from there it grew into the movement that we have today.
Facebook is still regarded as a cool tool, but its not the destination site it once was, now its another in the list of sites most people check on daily, but are becoming annoyed with some of the ‘features’ that have accompanied its growth. Among my group it is being derived as myspace 2.0 with its facebook apps, integration with ads, and most importantly the users that exist on it. Originally it was the college crowd, and not every school either, when I joined I believe the list of colleges was less than 100. Now, its any teen, pre-teen, 6-year old, company, corporation or band with a facebook page, all sending messages, infiltrating your inbox and cluttering the community.
Part of the ‘geek’ mentality is to be seperate from the masses … the flow of people into the facebook system has reduced its gleam in the eye of the geek. It also brought with it some of those apps and service-complicating features I mentioned before.
There is no specific movement by the facebook team, or data I can point to showing an exodus of a certain group of people from the website, but a warning that I believe it has peaked, or will soon in the same way myspace did. The addition of users will continue for years as it continues to expand its base in markets where the name ‘facebook’ is still an untarnished cool thing-to-do, but the ebb of geek users fortells a future where they will have to do some re-invention to keep it going.
I don’t want to do a full review of this movie, just a suggestion to go see it if you are a music fan. Its really corny in parts just look past that and its a pretty good story mixed in with some real nice music sets. Its all got a classical bent to it so if your not a fan of that you may not enjoy it, but every once in a while it can be cool.
Freddie Highmore (the kid), Kerrie Russell (I would hold her hand), Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Terrence Howard and Robin Williams round out a solid cast.
I have reviewed a lot of good shows on here recently. Californication , Dexter and Arrested Development being the big ones of the group…. and I continue to push you to go watch those if you haven’t, but I have something special for you if you haven’t seen this show.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is fantastic. Created by Aaron Sorkin, the guy behind West Wing (one of my top favorites of all time), it follows the daily in and outs of a Saturday Night Live-like show aptly named Studio 60. The two main characters are Danny Tripp (Bradley Whitford - West Wing) and Matt Albie (Mathew Perry - Friends). Can you get much bigger than that for your two leading stars. Supporting cast is made up of Amanda Peet, D.L. Hughley and Timothy Busfield (also from The West Wing). It really is a great cast beyond that also, smaller names but who play their parts great.
Its a Comedy-Drama that only lasted 22 episodes (1 season) for NBC and really one of those shows that after you watch it you will wonder how it got cut. The last episode aired in the summer of 07 so its been off the air for a year, but that works out for you because now you get to watch it all for free. Thats right. Free. On hulu of course. So… Here is the pilot : linkage . You need to check it out. It gets 5 stars from me.
Everything about this show is produced top notch which is Aaron Sorkin’s style. The writing is excellent and holds no punches politically, socially or even fights at time against the TV networks (which probably didn’t help keep it on the air). If you have never seen The West Wing or Sports Night you are in for a treat with the witty banter and fast paced dialogue, paired with the 10 minute scenes that you watch in wonder of how they were shot. Everything fits together here. I can heap no more praise, so go watch it… now.
Like I said in the last post I am a big Hulu fan. This summer has really changed the way I watch TV. I’m a little late to the party because I don’t have a TIVO, but I don’t watch normal television unless for a very specific show I want to see live.
Hulu has the best quality short of torrenting the files, and is only improving that with the addition of the HD gallery. This tech is new (its hard to throw that much data across crappy DSL lines) so the gallery is very small , 5 or 6 shows now, and just for testing purposes I do believe. I am watching ‘24′ right now on a 24 inch wide screen monitor and it looks great, I would really love to test this out on a large tv and just see what kind of image it gives off, its hard for me to tell from here. However if you are watching on a desktop, be assured it looks damn good. I am using a 6mbps connection so I am above average for most people, Hulu suggests 2.5 mbps but even with 6 I get a few artifacts in the buffering process it seems. They are few and far between, but exist, so I can only imagine it being unwatchable at basic cable speeds.
Mark Cuban is famous for being one of the largest tv-via-internet critics and is quoted many a times for saying HD TV will never happen via the internet. I think he should take a second to think about that after watching Hulu. I’m sure its not the same type of resolution ,its not gonna be 1080p, but even a year ago this much would not have been deemed possible on a large scale, I think it shows that maybe in a few years we could see the internet being the main content provider for many consumers. At least among my age group this sort of technology is taking off even among the less tech-inclined. Hulu makes it easy to find the shows you want, and watch them, without all the in-between steps.
Another nice going-on at Hulu is the Days of Summer additions to the catalog. Every day this summer they add another feature to the collection (mostly movies but some tv shows) and the list is pretty nice. Not everything is a hit but I’ll take what I can get. That still is the one detraction is the catalog selection movie wise. As far as tv shows gp I haven’t worked my way through my list of want-to-watch shows yet, but can also see that barrier in the not too distant future.
SOOOO… you now have HD AND a bigger collection. I completely and fully suggest you get your Hulu on before you resort to any illegal tactics to grab your shows. (Coming from the guy who got contacted by NBC, its just a wise move)
I have said how much I love hulu in the past. I wanted to bring it back up on this new blog, and a few months down the road, because it has only improved. For people who know about Hulu just skip to the next post for a review of some new updates.
If you don’t know what Hulu is its an online video service brought together by Fox, NBC and a few other companies to combat online tv watching that was unregulated by them. At first I was very wary of this offer, most of these companies aren’t known for doing things right online, and locking things down or just executing them horribly. Hulu is different since it really plays to the user experience and excels in that area past most of the other alternatives out there. Its always on, its quick, the quality is good and the design is nice, easy to navigate etc…
There are in-show ads, but 3 or 4 for an hour long episode is fantastic and they are very short. The only other possible complaint would be the show back catalog but its growing along with the movie list. There are some very good movies on it. I have currently been obsessed with watching all of arrested development’s 3 seasons over again, completely for free.
Today is a hard day for me…. alot of pride being swallowed right now so bear with me.
You know I love my Xbox 360. Microsoft has its act together with that piece of hardware. The games are also top tier. Halo 3 at launch time was the best game out there, bar none, in my favorite gametype anyways. It was completely unmatched in regards to online play, because of Xbox Live, and thats what made it great. Call of Duty in recent months has overtaken Halo as the most played game on Live, and I’ve been playing it for about 6 months and still can’t put it down. It has also overtaken Halo in the hearts and minds of many (myself included) . So, I’m a hater of everything not coming out of Redmond, Seattle right now. That means you sony and wii.
Between my roommates and I we have all three systems so I have gotten to play a little bit of everything. It was always the 360 winning out. The wii is a party-game worth a few hours of guitar hero and after that just takes up space. The ps3 is slick-looking but nothing special, until I spent some time with it in the last week.
First off, the design is great. I like the 360 blades interface, it works well, but its not that easy for someone new to it to use, and it doesn’t look very pretty. I use it as a media center… dvd playback, streaming music from my computers etc…. and if it looked nicer it could be more of a centerpiece.
The ps3’s ‘desktop’ looks like a media center and that smoky effect is lovely. Its definitely simple, maybe not as intuitive as it should be with its icons, but still looks cool enough you don’t care.
But really, the reason I put my hands around that dualshock controller without the shock is that my roommate finally opened up Metal Gear Solid. From the beginning its like watching a movie, everything is very cinematic. The graphics are by far the best of any game I have ever played, and the way its shot recreates the bumps, wiggles and other effects you see in movies. At times you can’t tell if you are supposed to be playing or just keep watching. Its not my game type of preference but still I keep playing it because it is very interesting. The complexity is unmatched in a console game. There are more weapons and items than I can keep track of; like picking up a magazine and laying it down as a distraction for the enemy so you can jump him while he looks down to read it.
That sorta thing,….. insane. The cut scenes are a little ridiculous (I find myself skipping through most of them) but that is because I am about the game, some people enjoy watching all the story but that’s just not me. I’m sure this game makes some people very happy, like COD on a saturday morning makes me.
Part of it is the system I am playing on. My 360 is on an old flat screen while the PS3 is on a 32 inch hd lcd, but hanging a lcd mount over the very sexy ps3 box is a damn cool look. Since I got my hands on MGS4 I have quickly touched some of the other games, and mini-games and they are all executed nicely so far. The PS3 definitely has problems, and doesn’t have an online service that competes with live yet, so I wouldn’t go out and buy one. However, when I finally upgrade my TV and decide to buy a blu-ray player I’m probably gonna pick this one up (the PS3 remains one of the best priced out there and that will probably only improve as they keep up with MS price cuts).
My Californication review was a big hit, a bunch of eople who apparently had never heard of it got turned on to one of the best running shows IMO. So, I’m gonna take another stab at it with Dexter.
Dexter is about to go into its 3rd season , so its more developed and has a larger fan-base, but due to being on Showtime you may not have heard of it yet. Now that I finally am plugged into a cable provider that gives me showtime I’m pumped because I have seen the first two seasons and am ready for the new one.
Dexter is, much like Californication, a sharp, well-written and witty series… my favorite genre. Led by Michael C. Hall, the shows premise is …. well different. Dexter is a vigilante serial killer who also happens to work for the Miami Police Department as a blood splatter analyst. Note that ‘vigilante serial-killer’ part because a large part of the show is Dexter fighting is demons while pursuing a noble goal to rid the city of the bad guys.
It really is a very good show. I won’t say its as good as Californication, but definitely worth moving to the top of your Netflix Queue.
Last night I spent a fun-filled 30 minutes on the phone with ATT tech support. First off when all tech support for phone, internet and cable is under one umbrella and handled by the same guy you know that its not going to be a good experience. That means hes not specialized and just reading off a prompter.
My problem is strange. Internet works fine via wireless, but not via ethernet from the att router. So I called to see if there was anything weird with their system I needed to have on my desktop. (system worked fine with time warner less than 24 hours before)
Told him from the start I was computer savvy so we could skip the basic crap. Then he asked me if both ends were plugged in. I said yes, he asked me to double check. After saying I was competent with a computer this killed me. Then we troubleshot quickly and he made me reboot. MADE ME even though I said I had already tried that multiple times. Then I told him that my computer was getting an ip address from the router but nothing else. His response : well, ip addresses are assigned by Microsoft so your gonna have to call them tomorrow. My Reponse : No, an ip address is assigned by the router. His response : Well,no, your problem is with microsoft call them tomorrow morning. I hung up.
He talked down to me for 25 minutes on that phone call and had no idea what he was talking about, had to be reading a script. Also didn’t know how to access my network settings without clicking the “two computer monitors in the bottom right of your screen” after deciphering he meant the network icon in the taskbar I told him they weren’t there and he was speechless. I told him I would go through my control panel and he didn’t know what I was talking about.
As promised here is an early review of ATT’s U-Verse offering. I share with you so you may have the knowledge of a non-partial non-hater. I plan to review both good and bad things about services online, not just the bad, thereby offering a better reviewing base.
Disclaimer : I have only had this for 24 hours so my review is a quickshot, any changes good or bad I will post a new post if they are earth-shaking otherwise i will just edit this one and annotate it.
Sign-up :
Super-easy. Convenient. All-online including install appointment making. ++ For whole process, good first impression.
Install 6 1/2 hours. What you say? You can’t be serious? No. I am. When you make your appointment they tell you it can take 4-6 hours but who actually expects that? I give them props to warning us, and don’t mind the install time EXCEPT the roommate had to take a half day off to come home and be there. You can’t work much from home without the internet. Installer : Really nice guy, very helpful and informative, ATT debunked their myth of bad service with this one guy.
Internet They took my trusty LINKSYS WRT54G offline. That thing has served me well for years with Tomato running on it. I was kinda sad. Instead they have their own wireless router they turned on, which is massive (3x size of my Linksys) and does put out alot of power. Back room used to max out at 40-50% signal on good days and now gets a solid 99%. I’m also pretty sure you can’t stack another router on top of it, which is weird and I haven’t tried, but we got weird errors at first saying a 3rd party router was installed. I’m always adding a new temp router when running out of spots so this could be a future problem, but I’m not sure if thats the case yet, one thing to ask if you decide to sign up. Much faster over wireless, I didn’t get to play around with the desktop very long before passing out.
My Speed Test Results :
TV I have the U200package which includes the good stuff minus the movie channels and the really extra channels like CSPAN12. I’m gonna split this part up :
Reception / HD : Looks very good. On roommates HD TV everything is stellar on my SD same situation. One thing to remember is to not put your router next to your tv. Yeah, not so good.
Remote / Controller : Eh. It looks and feels like an upgraded xbox dvd remote that was painted white. Its very light in the hands and feels cheaper than Time Warner’s monstrosity. A little on the sluggish side for a couple of channel switches. Hopefully I get used to this. Is meant to be universal, can be programmed for up to 4 devices, but the devices I care about were not on the list. I think if you can fit the list onto an 11×17 sheet of paper, its not big enough.
Display / Onscreen : Much improved over TW. Its clean and very blue. I actually do really like it but as a designer I find faults with the little things. 10x improved over competitors. Real nice things are the channel changing options. When you go to your guide you don’t lose the show your watching but get an overlay guide that is partially transparent. The guide is also useful in that what shows are in HD on different channels it tells you and it has alot more functionality than the basic cable system you are used to. Also when flipping channels you can obviously just preview by going up and down, it shows the channel and show name, but also a Picture in Picture box of whats going on, like a real preview should. I find myself using this already. There are near misses also : ATT’s U-bar which accesses the internet for sports scores / stocks / weather etc… could be useful at times but for some reason it takes up too much real estate and doesn’t match the cleanliness of the rest of the system. I could go on for a while picking apart all of this but I will just say it passed the majority of my tests I give it 4/5 stars.
DVR : The downfall of my entire set-up right here. When I signed up the website made it pretty clear I was getting 4 dvr’s one for each tv. Instead the installer said I get one DVR with access to it from the other ones since they are networked together. So I can watch stuff on the main one through the non-hub ones. Eh. Not happy about that, we’ll see. Then he tells me that the software to watch it on the other dvr’s isn’t up yet, and he doesn’t know when it will be (and ATT’s site doesn’t want to tell me) which means I have one DVR without anything special. Big difference from4. Where is my extra money going? This leads into support….
Support ATT has a history of not caring.I’m gonna go out on a limb and say they have one of the worst support records in the history of the world.Anyways, I went to the website to shoot them an e-mail, it wasn’t important enough to warrant an hour on hold. A great paraphrase :
“We honor you so much we aren’t going to give you the ability to email us but you can call us and waste your time listening to shitty elevator music if you want….. and by giving you this offer we hope you don’t call support so we don’t have to help you. kthxbye.”
How do you not have e-mail support ? HOW? I think TW had e-mail , online chat and telegraph support because at least they wanted to hear your issue. That ticked me off. Instead of calling I used their worthless online FAQ and manuals to achieve nothing and then decided it was the worst website ever…
Website Why would I review their website? Because the Tv’s are all networked to the internet and interact with the site. You have the power to control your DVR through the site and a host of other things.
Did not know : Integrated with Yahoo. I should have known that I just had forgotten it. Should have known right there it was terrible. Its like a yahoo start page on acid. I logged in 3 times to access my account settings. Its all actually under my roommates name, so he set up a sub account so I could have one and access the DVR functionality etc… that we were told was easy by our tech. I’m a web-designer for a living and I could not for the life of me figure it out. Then apparently I find I can’t touch the DVR only the home account can but it should be super simple to turn it on for me. Its not. An hour later . nothing.
I gave up and maybe will try again, maybe not. Like I said before the TV has a ‘U-bar’ with stocks and sports etc… but some of that has tobe configured to your personal tastes through this devil they call a site. I don’t know how . I also looked for that for forever. How hard is it to build a control panel that lists all my options for my tv service. I don’t want a new landing page for my browser, I want a control panel.
Website and support get a 0 out of 5 for me. I shouldn’t have to call support within an hour of the tech leaving and then to make it so difficult.
So remember, the top half of my review was positive, the bottom half not so much. Hopefully this changes over time (like today) but we’ll see. I will say a good host of these problems could not be compared to TW simply because they don’t offer the service, but at the same time, if you pump up my expectations for something you better deliver and not have so hodgepodge service thrown up there. ATT better get on their act ASAP or I’m going back to TW.
