My Home Theater

My Home Theater
Originally uploaded by Kodiak.

Quasar 32" CRT TV

Paradigm CC120 Center Channel Speaker (Using 2 AudioQuest "Big Feet" sorbothane pucks to angle downward)
Krix Lyrix Gold Mains (Courtesy of Secrets of Home Theater HiFi Forum-Thanks guys!!!)
Paradigm Cinema 90 Surrounds (Not shown)
Sylvania 12" Subwoofer (Far right)

Denon Turntable
Toshiba W717 VCR
Panasonic PV-VS4821 SVHS VCR
Toshiba SD4700 DVD Player (+DVD Audio)
Yamaha RX-V1200 6.1 Receiver

Microsoft XBox Gaming System (Full Dolby Digital surround sound in use)
Old Zenith Laserdisc player (Rarely used)

The Incredibles DVD on display

Monster Siver Video, Video 3, Interlink 3 digital coax, SVideo 3, and speaker cable used throughout; Main 3 audio channels use AudioQuest Type 4 speaker cable

Not shown: geek with large smile on face ;)

Moms And Babies

Moms And Babies
Originally uploaded by Kodiak.

From left to right:

My sister Amy and her son Austin

My sister Julie and her daughter Madeline, and son Samuel.

Aren't they the cutest?!?!?!?!

"And they said I couldn't do drama!"

Been having an interesting day at work today. The JCPenney Television Studio has been buzzing since 6:30 this morning. Today is the day we broadcast the CMMA Professional Development Conference. No need to wonder about the content. Corporate stuff. Anyway, if you can imagine how a television station operates during a live broadcast, there is much action afoot. Technicians drift from room to room, assistants are moving around, headsets are beaming instructions around to the various stage hands and cameramen. The director is shouting to "Roll VTR 5!" and "Prepare to roll Bumper #7!" and "Fade out and cue!". If you have ever seen the movie The Naked Gun 33 1/2: The Final Insult, then you remember the scene during the Academy Awards when Lieutenant Frank Dreben infiltrates the production in search of the lethal "Best Picture" envelope containing an earth-shattering bomb. The director works like a clock cueing up different cameras and actors and announcers and instinctively pouring out the bottle of Aspirin he is about to ingest. It is a thing to behold, and is lots of fun to watch when it goes right. Throw in a few bumps in the road for good measure, such as: waiting for a camera to get a close-up, watching the on-air talent pause as the teleprompter guy catches up with him, and other assorted oddities. Rest assured, much alcohol will be gulped this evening. The producer of this conference had been here at the JCP facility until 2 in the morning, which means he had roughly 3 or so hours of sleep. I'm glad I am not in his shoes, but that's why he gets paid the big bucks.

But at least we don't have to see Phil Donahue throwing up in a Tuba.

Jiminy Crickets!!

Ha ha ha HAAAAAA!!

Jiminy Glick is coming to a theater near you! The popular Comedy Central television show is now a major motion picture, and will no doubt be a cunning stroke of genius from the comedic geyser that is Martin Short. Jiminy Glick in LALAWOOD. Greatness.

Read all about it

There is also a DVD available with a collection of episodes from the TV show. The interview with Janeane Garofalo is side splittingly funny! Also, the interview with Dennis Miller is great. Buy it! Buy it! Buy It!

That's interesting...

My boss is wearing a silky shirt with a soft, pink hue. Guess he is feeling sensitive today. Maybe we can all gather in a semi-circle and sit cross-legged and talk about whatever's on our minds. Don't forget the Chai tea.

I know he is nearing his mid-life crisis, but I didn't think this shirt would be involved. I think I should be concerned.

What does not belong?

Mine eyes have witnessed the oddest thing last night.

It's nothing new for the musical community to get together and make music. Different artists from different genres meet to sing a song together. Usually, the genres are fairly close. The event in question almost defies description. What do you get when you mix a hardcore rap artist with a contemporary country superstar?

Mush.

I almost fell out of my chair when I saw it. Here was rapper Nelly onstage with country star Tim McGraw, and they were singing together. Not only were they singing together, but they were singing an R&B style tune, and they were enjoying themselves!!! The sad thing is, somewhere there is an executive practically rolling in money, laughing to himself, saying "Those idiots will buy anything we throw at them!! I can't believe I got away with putting a country star and a rap star together in the same room! And they still love it!! MORONS!!!! Pazaah!!"
Something about the pairing of stetsons and du-rags just doesn't seem right.

Now it's common knowledge to my friends that I have a strong distaste for mainstream music. There are scant few popular artists that I would even consider an "artist". The vast majority of music I listen to almost always draws odd expressions from those around me when I reveal it to them. Therefore, I have more tolerance for offbeat and non-mainstream music than others. Yet this, I will not tolerate. Tim McGraw and Nelly should not be let anywhere near an R&B song. What's next? Toby Keith and N.W.A. sing Sinatra???

Try to imagine that combo and not laugh.

Chewie's Signature

Chewie's Signature
Originally uploaded by Kodiak.

Signed by Pete himself.

This is the Star Wars Visual Dictionary Chewbacca 2 page spread.

Watch your head

ThroughTheDoor
Originally uploaded by Kodiak.

How tall is that door?

Watch out. Wookiee comin' through.

Wookiees and Robots

UpClose
Originally uploaded by Kodiak.

This Sunday I had the pleasure of meeting a man in a hairy suit. A very tall man who towers above most others. This man was none other than THE Peter Mayhew, the Wookiee we all know and love as Chewbacca. This marks the second time I've seen someone from the Star Wars universe in person. The first happened a few years back in Plano, Texas. There was a toy convention going on and Uncle Owen was there. Stupid me didn't bring a camera, and I didn't have the cash necessary to get a signed photo required to get in line to go up to the table and meet everyone. I was determined not to let that happen this time, especially since I was going to meet Chewbacca! The event went pretty well, though I wished I could have gotten a picture standing next to him, to give an idea of just how tall he is. I am 5ft 11in tall, and he is 7ft 3in tall, so there's a small difference.
Okay, I'm dreaming, but still, he's kinda tall.

On a side note, I watched the movie Robots after I met Chewie. I really liked the movie, even though the print was so horrible I could barely make out any details. This movie is ripe with visual goodness, and I was left looking through a blurry, darkened screen. Geez, I wish the theaters would take the plunge and upgrade everything to DLP or better. Roger Ebert is right: celluloid is the current best way to watch film, but the average joe wanting to watch the latest flick is NEVER going to get the opportunity to see films in this pristine manner. We're all waiting for digital!

The Curse of the Red X

Oh how I love Microsoft Powerpoint. It's such a reliable program. You can always trust it to work perfectly every time.

I'm being sarcastic.

Anyone who's worked Powerpoint to the gooey insides can attest to this phenomenon. It usually occurs when the slideshow you are working on is a large file. The bigger the file size, the more likely it will run into problems down the line. But there's an ingrown evil at work here. As most people know, the Windows PC world is very jealous of the ease-of-use Apple Macintosh community. They just hate that Macs are more reliable and virtually impervious to viruses. As a reminder of this, problems arise when you open a Powerpoint file on a Mac. Yes, Powerpoint is available for the Mac platform, and yes, you can do the same stuff in the Mac version of Powerpoint as you can in the PC version. The problem occurs when you open and edit a Powerpoint file on both a Mac and a PC. When you insert charts from other Microsoft Office programs like Excel or Graph, it has to convert them as "Metafile"s when the show is opened in Powerpoint on a Mac. Therefore, problems begin to manifest themselves. Once the show gets corrupted, that's the end of it. Usually the first things to turn into the red X of death are JPEGs. As in, a picture or graphic inserted from another file. Once it becomes an X of death, your Powerpoint file is pretty much destroyed. You can replace said picture to remedy the situation, but other pictures will become red Xs of death. It's like a virus. Once one becomes infected, the rest will eventually become infected. Then you get to have fun and do it all over again! Oh JOY!!!

Windows's the name. Reliability's the game. Too bad they don't want to play.

New Digs!!!

Woo hoo!!!! It's finally done!

I am all moved in to my new apartment and let me tell you, I am one happy camper. It's an upgrade in every sense of the word. The location is perfect, the apartment is bigger, has more cabinet and storage space, is better laid out, has a larger patio, is directly adjacent to the laundry room, has washer/dryer connections in a good sized utility room, and it even has a nifty display area for all my movie memorabilia!

Probably the best part of this whole relocation is the drive to work. No more road rage, no more long trips, no more yelling at useless stoplights and waiting for all those invisible cars in the opposing turn lane. With the price of gas in the stratosphere, this move couldn't have come at a better time.

I'm so happy!
And now I must rest.

**thud!**
...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Pope John Paul II R.I.P.

Now has died one of the great voices for good in our world.

I don't think anyone has parchment long enough nor an inkwell large enough to catalogue the vast number of great deeds this man accomplished in his long lifetime. Although I am not Catholic, I am certainly mourning the loss of this great leader of men and women and children.

Heaven is truly welcoming one of mankind's greatest achievements.