Pauls Rants & Revelations

I went with my brother in law and his son (my kid didn’t want to go) to see the Transformers movie today.

Ho. Ly. Shit.

I was really expecting that they would fuck up a lot of the story with visuals but I was pleasantly surprised with the story and the visuals were awesome.  I was also a little apprehensive about Bumblebee being a Camaro instead of the traditional VW bug, but even this was a nice change from the original story line (the final Camaro he mimics is a concept GM hasnt put into production yet, so says my brother in law). Frankly, I liked him as the old school Camaro, but thats just how I roll.

The rest of the Autobots were equally well done. Optimus Prime, who I was most afraid of would get the Hollywood flash makeover was well done and the voice was spot on. They were all true to the animated originals in looks and in character.

The only real let down, originallity wise, was Megatron. In the series he was a gun, but this time he was remade into an alien fighter jet which is I suppose better but still he could have at least been a howitzer or something. But this is really a minor thing.

All in all this was a really excellently made movie in itself and a real good remake of the original series characters and story. I suggest everyone go see it (at least everyone who had Transformers toys growning up).

I’m trying to get my son into it enough to take him along. He liked TMNT so he should like this one. Perhaps bribing him with candy or something will change his mind. We’ll see.

-Cheers

Its confirmed. I married a gold digger.

Some have already asked me “Aren’t you upset that she only wants you for your money?”

To those people I say “What are you talking about???”

Perhaps I should clarify a few things. My wife and 2 of her sisters went up to the mountains this weekend to go prospecting for gold in a creek (Yes, people still do that). At first I was like “Why?”. It sounded interesting, if a bit odd; at which point I remembered that I am in the SCA and routinely engage in “odd” activities. Anyways, she is up there now churning through silt and rock looking for the elusive nugget that will bring in tons of money. For her sake, I hope she finds some. She’ll probably be really pissed if she doesn’t come away with anything. Even dust I think would justify the trip for her.

As for me, I’m taking the kids this weekend and we’re going to go to grandmas house tomorrow and probably have a picnic on Sunday or go visit the folks at archery practice. Who knows.

Oh, on a side note; my son graduated pre-school today. It was a bit weird as he is just going to go back on Monday (as is most of the kids in the class) but I guess good for them as it gives them a feeling of accomplishment. Although I personally think they were more interested in the post-graduation ice cream party part than the accomplishment part.

-Cheers

In case you were living under a rock for the last few years, a somewhat much anticipated movie’s just come out. Reno 911! Miami The Movie is available now.

But if you are looking for a taste of what its about, the site has a synopsis and a few fun games for your enjoyment. The one I liked the best was the shooting range. You get a few seconds to view the scene and try to hit the bad guys blindfolded. I scored pretty well (only mistakenly killed 2 officers, a priest and a clown) but probably could have done better. They start you (yes, start you) with a .44 Magnum and it just goes up from there. I ended up with a rocket launcher at the end and set the whole city ablaze (which was pretty nifty).

I’m a fan of the show and am pretty anxious to see the movie. In the movie, there are a group of terrorists that bother folks at a police convention in Miami, and the Reno 911 gang are called in to save (sorta) the day. As the site says, “They aren’t the best, but they’re all we’ve got”. If you haven’t seen the show, then you should download a few episodes from iTunes before checking the movie. It will make it that much more funny but the movie is good on its own.

If you’ve already seen it, comment and let me know what you thought. You can check out the DVD site for more info, and of course play the other games.

-Cheers

OK. I take back what I said in the last post.

I went to an event this weekend. I was for the 3 Mountains Championship and I was going for the Archery champion spot. Now, from the out side observer, it would have seemed to you that I was anything but happy. I was either lugging around targets and tents and boxes in the rain, or I was standing in the rain shooting at said targets. Nothing that would look interesting, let alone fun.

But the truth is that I had a great time. Sure, it was raining pretty heavily the entire day from the moment I got there to the moment I left. Sure, I helped put up the range and take it down as well as striking the rest of the camp. Sure, I was soaked to the bone. But you know what, it was fun. I didn’t get the championship title; in fact, I think I came in last although there were no scores posted, just an announcement of who won, but that didn’t really matter to me.

I shot well I think and learned a few things from the competition. I also received a gift from the barony for being such a nice guy. No seriously, I was very chivalrous to the baron and baroness and they really liked that. All told, it was a good time and I can’t wait until next year.

Although, being the impatient type I will probably try for the Dragons Mist champions tourney in 2 weeks. Should be pretty cool but am not sure I will have the ability to go as funds are slim at the moment. Ill think about it anyways.

-Cheers

Well, to be more clear, Payperpost Direct is, as the name suggests, a more direct method of paying bloggers to blog on their blog (say that 3 times fast).

For those who don’t know, PayPerPost is a great way to make money blogging. They pay your to do what you do anyway; review or write about services and products and give your opinion.

Anyways, Payperpost Direct is even better. Normally they charge a 35% fee for posts; as in the amount of money you get is 65% of what is paid by advertisers. This is far less than other companies charge but still too much in the opinion of the PPP folks. So they launched their Direct service which works thusly:

1. You put a badge on your site stating how much a review will cost on your blog
2. Someone clicks on the badge on your site, fills out the form and sends it
3. If you accept it, you just make the post and collect your money (less fees)

I say most of it because you get 90% of the revenue from it. PPP takes 10% for processing fees (half of which goes to Paypal for their fees) and that is it. So if you say a post on your site is $100, you get $90 of it. Pretty simple, huh?

This is better than most of the paid services I have seen in that their fees are less and their opps are a little more accurately targeted for your blogs content. That, and they are always coming out with better services at least once a month (sweet).

The Direct service can be compared to the services of Review Me; but instead of putting up a rather hideous badge and loosing up to half of your “advertised rate” you get more from PPP. This is good in that if you really only want to charge $50 for a review, you can just put in $55 with PPP Direct. Othewise, you would have to put in $100 with other services, which will only turn away customers.

If you havent heard of Payperpost before now, check them out. And if you are a Postie, definitely check out this service. I’m currently trying to gauge how much to charge for a review here, but its tough. I think $1000 is a fair price, but somehow, I can’t see myself getting may review that way.

Thoughts on prices are welcome in the comments. And if any of you use the Direct service, let me know how its going.

-Cheers

Today, I am seeing 2 of my friends tie the knot. Its a special time; a time of reflection, a time of love; but mostly I’m going for the food. (not really, but the food will be good).

Ill add more after the ceremony and hopefully some pictures.

-Cheers

Update: The ceremony, the reception, everything was really good. There were a lot of the SCA folks there (which is fitting since my 2 friends are big in the SCA) as well as their family and such. The reception was good and the food was plentiful. The cake that another friend made was really, really great. It was a flour-less chocolate cake that was like eating a fudge brick (which was awesome).

I had to duck out early to go to the Starlight Parade with the family but that was awesome as well. Im glad my friends found each other and I hope they have a good long life together.

-Fin

Google wants to index the worlds information. All of it. In their latest move to accomplish this lofty goal, they plan to archive manuscripts written in obscure languages such as Sanscrit from the University of Mysore in India. More info on it below:

Google to scan 800,000 manuscripts, books from Indian university

I think this is an awesome undertaking for Google and proves why they are as large and prosperous a company as they are. They take on projects like this to accomplish a goal that will benefit the world; not simply to make money. Thats why I use them for all my searches and other web services.

Now, where can I find a 14th century text on common cures to ailments? In Latin?

-Cheers

No, its not a joke. Gofish.com is actually running a contest to win a date with actress Mirelly Taylor (the chick from “Las Vegas” and “Numb3rs”).

At first I was like “Yea right, like that will ever happen” but the more I checked it out the more I became interested. Not that I need to win a date because I am married to the best woman in the world ( ) but it is still an interesting happening. I was curious if they were plugging a new show or sports drink or something but it is pretty legit. Well, as legit as winning a date from an internet site is, anyway. More info in the following vid:

Seriously, this is not a joke. I was a little shocked at why she would be doing something like this as her career seems to be going well. This sort of thing shouldn’t be necessary until she is in her “district attorney” or “driving Miss Daisy” days.

Still, it does make me wonder what type of guy she will eventually pick. I also wonder who will be the next celebrity to jump on this win-a-date bandwagon? Perhaps Paris Hilton (once she’s done serving her time that is)?

More info and Free videos at GoFish.com, as well as some of the submitted videos from people hoping to win the date. Some of them are funny, but most of them are, well… not. Personally, I’m voting for the “smooth operator” character.

- Cheers

It was my daughters birthday today. She is officially a 2 year old now! (we’re so happy)

While there are not a whole lot of milestones for turning 2, we were happy at least that she was moved up into the next room in her daycare. Kind of a sign that she is growing up.

Here are a few shots from the party:

Disgruntled about Geek Squad and the rumors flying around them? Well take heart; another will rise to take their place as Top Geeks.

As I was cruising around the web, I was looking at how many people actually had problems with Geek Squad. Not just the rumors and stories floating around on Digg and various message boards, but also in the newspapers. It seems that the one story about a GS member recording a customer in the shower with a cell phone just opened the floodgates to all the horror stories about their services and prices.

An alternative, I thought, was needed in lieu of the smartly dressed support specialists, and I believe the answer is a company called 888 Geek Need. While I have not had reason to call them, they seem to be a reasonably intelligent service handling the majority of common computer issues. Instead of coming to you house or haunting the nearby Best Buy, Geek Need is a phone service much like every other computer support service you have encountered. At $1.99 per minute, I am not sure that I would have need to use it; but then I’m more savvy than the average computer user and can usually solve my own problems. But for the majority of folks out there, it is a major help to just call someone and get a walk-through on fixing their system. Plus it also give them the chance to be part of the solution so that they only have to call them once and if the problem recurs, they can fix it on their own.

I am trying to find a way to more thoroughly test their service, but am at a road block. Perhaps I could send my friend a virus? Or accidentally remove some of his more important software drivers? Then I could conversationally suggest he call 888 Geed Need to fix the problem. But could I really do that to a friend just to test out something?

Yea, I probably could. After all, he did stiff me on a Christmas present 4 years ago.

If you have a need, head on over to the Geek Need support site to see what their about. Also, if you have any horror stories about Geek Squad please feel free to share them. I have never used their service (and probably never will) but I love hearing stories of loss and suffering…regarding computers.

Oh, and Doug? If you recieve any strange emails from me, just go ahead and run whatever I attached, OK?

-Cheers