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I don’t usually listen to much music, mainly because of time and money.  I quickly lose interest in a song or album so I have no interest amassing a huge collection.  When I do listen, I like a constant stream of new music fed to me without any effort on my part, and for free of course.  Services like imeem and last.fm fit my needs perfectly.  Sadly those services are not available to me away from a computer (although I did try to stream it off my desktop to my phone, but my t-mobile data service can’t keep up).

I have about an hour of driving a day, so how do I entertain myself?  Radio music sucks: way too much repetition and advertising.  That leaves me with Talk Radio, but morning shows kill brain cells.  AM talk shows aren’t much better and half the time are filled with static.  The only beacon of hope left on radio is NPR (on 90.1 WABE in Atlanta).  NPR is the only high-quality, interesting, and entertaining programming on the airwaves… but even it has it’s limitations.  Some programs only air once a week or on weekends.  Outside of rush hour it plays classical music all day, which is nice, but it does get old.  I need something for when NPR is off-air.

That finally brings me to podcasts.  See, the internet is full of mp3s (and videos), which can be automatically downloaded to your portable audio device.  The problem is that when you give the whole world a mic and a stage, you quickly realize you should cover your ears.  Finding a good podcast is like finding a plastic ball in a pit of dirty diapers.  But I managed to find a few, and not surprisingly, most are hosted by NPR.  Distributing quality audio-only programs is what they do, and they do it well.  So here is my current playlist:

This American Life - Chicago Public Radio
Amazing, inspiring, and funny stories from everyday and not-so-everyday people, all on a certain theme for each episode.  This show is awesome.  You will be instantly hooked.  Maybe it’s something about Ira Glass’ voice that just draws you in.

Geek Speak - Central Coast Public Radio
These ”geeks” keep up with the latest tech news and usually they actually know what they are talking about.  They do attempt to explain things in a way that non-geeks can understand, but they also don’t dumb it down.  They invite well-known guests from the tech/web2.0/science world so it’s always an informative discussion that you can learn from.

Car Talk - Dewey, Cheetham and Howe
This is my podcast guilty pleasure.  The hilarious/cheesy antics of the auto-mechanic brothers Tom and Ray will keep you entertained as they attempt to diagnose caller car problems.  They even manage to squeeze in a puzzler in between all their wise-cracks.  I really need to give them a call and let them laugh at me as I attempt to reproduce the thwacking sound my car’s AC makes.

1UP Yours - 1UP.com, EGM, and others
I like my podcasts to be focused and to the point.  Almost every gaming podcast I listened to would break off onto tangents like what they had for breakfast, movies, or whatever.  1UP Yours is the only professional gaming podcast I have found.  They spend over an hour discussing the their personal thoughts on games, the latest news, and other industry tidbits that only those in-the-know would know.  If you just want to know what the latest Wii game is, then pass on this.  If you want an in-depth look into the world of gaming and insight into it’s future, this is right Up Your alley.  I also recommend the 1UP Show video podcast.

The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack - Jay and Jack
These guys discuss the latest and upcoming episodes of Lost.  They mostly take calls from listeners who give their crack-pot theories.  Lost is a show you can sit around and talk about for hours, so it makes great podcast material.

The Digg Reel - Digg.com + Revision3
All the latest top rated videos at Digg.com are collected and put into this video podcast.  A host introduces each video and also reads some of the digg comments.  It’s a nice and easy way to see popular YouTube videos without having to weed through all the YTP.  Video podcasts arn’t good for the road, but they are good on a lunch break.  The good thing about The Digg Reel is that they offer it in almost every format and size you could want.  I have a windows based player, so it’s nice to not have to convert from an Apple format.

I suggest you browse NPR podcast directory to find more that fit your taste. I am trying out a few more now and if they stick I’ll probably write up an updated list.  I also plan to write up how I subscribe and play these mp3s, because it can sometimes be a challenge if you don’t use iTunes.  If you have a favorite podcast, please share!

Jesslyn won a Zune (30GB) a few months ago, and I finally got around to playing with it.  It has a large screen and can play video, so I searched and searched for a way to get a DVD onto it.  After trying out a ton of programs, I finally found a combination that works consistently.  It is not just a one-click process, it takes a few hours, and you will temporarily need at least 5-10GB of free harddrive space… but it works and it won’t cost you anything.  These steps should also work for a video iPod.

1. Get the DVD onto your computer.  Download and install DVD Shrink (direct link to download). Insert your DVD into your DVD drive and click Open Disc to select it.  Wait a few minutes as DVD Shrink analyzes the disc.  Then click on Re-Author.  On the right, scroll down to the Main Movie listing.  These are the parts of the DVD that have the actual video (We dont need the menus, previews, etc).  Drag the Title you want (most DVD TV episodes will appear as individual Titles) under Main Movie into the Re-authored DVD list on the left.  Click on DVD above your Titles and on the right window click on the Compression Tab.  Uncheck any audio or subtitles you don’t need.  Go to Edit -> Preferences… Output Files tab.  Uncheck “Split VOB files into 1GB size chunks”, click OK.  Now click Backup!  Your video will be saved as a .VOB file. 
   What if DVD Shrink doesn’t work?  DVD Shrink is the most user-friendly option I have found, but sometimes it can’t get past some DVD encryptions.  If it fails, you may need to restart your computer to regain access to your DVD drive.  Install DVD Decryptor (direct link to download).  Run it and you will see a list of files on the right.  Hold down shift-key and select the series of large files that are named VTS_01_1.VOB, VTS_01_2.VOB, etc.  Go to Tools -> Settings… File Mode tab to change File Splitting to ”None”.  Click OK and then click the big green-arrow decrypt button in the lower left.
2. Convert VOB to mp4.  Ok, we now have the DVD decrypted to your hard drive as a single .VOB file.  We now need to convert it to a format that the Zune knows about.  For this we will use MediaCoder.  Download and install it.  When you run it, it annoyingly launches your web-browser, but hey whatever, it works.  Click Add to add the .VOB file that you just created.  The window on the lower left has a bunch of tabs to change various settings.  Click Audio tab and change the Encoder to FAAC, make sure MPEG4 is selected on the right.  On the Video tab the format should be H.264.  The Picture tab, set Resize to be 320 x 240 if the video is 4:3… if it’s a widescreen movie try a resolution that matches the original video aspect ratio… like 320×180.  Check “Display encoding frame” to get a preview of the video as it is being created.  Click Start at the top to start the encoding.  If the preview video doesn’t look right, you can hit Stop and adjust the settings again.
3. Send to Zune.  So now you have a Zune-software compatible mp4 video!  Connect your Zune and start up the Zune software.  Drag your mp4 video into your Video Collection, and then onto the Zune to start the sync.  While it is syncing, first the Zune software will convert it to wmv format and then transfer it to your Zune, so it may take a while.  But now you can enjoy your DVD anywhere, congratulations!
   What if Zune software said it was invalid?  When I made a 320×180 mp4 video, the Zune software say my video was invalid.  I’m not sure why it is invalid because it didn’t bother to tell me.  So, to solve this problem, we must convert it to a .wmv ourselves.  Download and install Windows Media Encoder 9.  Follow Microsoft’s instructions here to encode your video.  If you create a wmv file that conforms to their specifications, the Zune software wont have to do any conversion when it syncs, saving you some time.  Ideally we would just use Windows Media Encoder to encode our .VOB file in the first place, but WME crashes when I attempt to do… so we must convert to something else, like mp4, first.

Video technology is very buggy and different computers with different environments can have different results.  I am using Windows Vista, with an administrator account, and UAC turned off.  I’m sure many other programs might be better, but these were the only ones that would work for me on Vista.

It is amazing to me that there are so many portable devices out there with nice screens and huge hard drives, but a major lack of video content and absolutly no support for getting your existing video content onto your device.  They market these things to the average consumer, and make them think that they can take their favorite movie with them.  The reality is that it requires you to spend many frustrating hours of trial and error and/or money to buy additional software.  Hopefully my write up has helped you save some time, money, and headache.

Oh, and while I’m on the Zune… you can hack the registry to get windows explorer access to the hard drive, but you can only put files onto it if you trick the Zune software by starting a sync and then immediately closing it.  Gee, thanks for “protecting” me from myself Microsoft.  Because of this, I would not recommend the Zune to anyone.

Now for the first time ever, after 15 years of off screen name calling and momma bashing, Sonic The Hedgehog and Mario (the plumber) are appearing in the same game. What better show of competition than to have the two most well known video game stars of all time battle it out on the 400yd dash (sonic for the win) or the triple jump (gold for mario). This NeoGAF message board summary basically puts it all into perspective: Mario vs. Sonic Olympic discussion summary. I think the biggest news from this is that there is more backing to the rumor that Sonic will be in the new Smash Bros.

Takes all me back to the good ole’ days of Nintendo vs. Sega (warning! very vulgar language!). Sonic was the sole reason I caved in and got a Sega Genesis and later a Game Gear. Strange that now Sega is kinda on Nintendo’s side now, in the new war of Nintendo vs Playstation vs Xbox, but that story is still being written on the playgrounds today.

Its been 14 years since the last Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, so I have been looking forward to seeing this new CG rendition. So opening night I drug a few friends to the nearest theater. My review may contain a few spoilers. You have been warned.

The plot line is good but not well balanced. The turtles have officially been out of action for a while since they defeated Shredder. Donatello and Michelangelo have menial day jobs. Raphael rebelliously stays up late fighting crime on his own. Leonardo is off training in the jungle at Splinter’s request.

Eventually Leo returns to lead his brothers. Everyone is thrilled except Raphael. The tension between Leo and Raph grows, and eventually leads to an awesome showdown between the two. This is about the point when the movie changes from old-school turtle goodness to a typical Saturday morning cartoon.

The other side of the plot involves a 3000 year old general with a curse of eternal life. He brings to life his old war buddies, who have been turned to stone, and uses them and the Foot Clan to collect 13 monsters from space. Once they are collected, the curse will be broken, but the stone buddies don’t like that plan. As far as I know, nothing about it is tied into any part of the Turtle’s universe, and it all felt like a rushed afterthought.

Despite the crazy plot, the movie was pretty enjoyable throughout. Even though the live-action Turtle costumes were great, I think CG fits them well. I would tweak the models a bit to make them look less like frogs though. The jokes were not as bad I as I feared and I even laughed out loud a few times. The fighting was OK but nothing too violent to scare the kiddies. The Turtles and Foot Clan (and sadly April and Casey too) all displayed quick ninja fighting skills with a heavy dose of roof-top jumping. There was only one real cheesy scene (Mikey skateboarding through the sewers) which apparently is a requirement for any TMNT movie.

I am looking forward to the hinted-at sequel. Hopefully they can get the story straight from the comics.

I give TMNT 6 pizza slices out of 8. Needs more Shredder.

No More Kings has just released a totally awesome music video. Sweep The Leg is a song about Johnny from Karate Kid starring some of the original actors. I dont want to ruin any surprises so just go watch. And isn’t that Mr. Belding?

Official Site & MySpace & YouTube

I love this stuff. Painting onto an existing 3D space so that it looks real from a particular vantage point. Outside of this vantage point it is hardly recognizable, but thats all part of the art too. Maybe I’ll paint something like this for my place? A good conversation piece for sure. Here are some great examples:

Felice Varini is a French artist who creates geometric paintings spanning multiple rooms and even multiple buildings.

Another is Julian Beever, an English chalk artist who creates drawings that looks like they are coming out of the sidewalk: