Knighthood uprising calculation
Jotting this down for my own reference. The true calculation is undocumented, and this formula is a guess based on a previous occurrence. Uprising was listed as 11% and increased to 12% when one seized vassal increased from 55 to 56 power. After a subsequent rebellion, uprising fell to 0%.
% uprising = ([vassal TAS] + [vassal power]) / (total power of non-squire/serf vassals)
(40 + 56) / 812 = 12%
Movie ticket price increases
With movie ticket prices rising, get the most for your money. AMC theaters increased ticket prices this weekend in several markets. At the First Colony 24, the regular matinee increased from $7 to $7.25. A full price adult ticket currently runs $9.25. I see from the Daily News article that the matinee price at my old fave in Cobble Hill has increased from $5 to $6.50 since I left NY two years ago.
The best show ever
Finished season 4 of The Wire last night, the best one so far. The opening theme for this season is also my favorite, followed by the original. A friend asked me to describe the show, and words can barely do it justice. Rich character development, superb writing, thought-provoking issues. I am embarrassed that I even mentioned Law and Order in the same conversation. After watching The Wire, I cannot help thinking that all other shows are crap. That is how good it is.
So what is not to like? The slang, difficult to keep up with at times, caused me to watch with subtitles. Whatever. The DVD box sets are rather pricy, which makes this series the perfect rental candidate for Netflix. According to my records, I blew through all four seasons in three months at an approximate rate of two discs per week. Can't wait to get my hands on season 5 (Aug 12 DVD release).
Entouch and Clear QAM
The second HD experiment... Figured I should do a cheap test before forking over a substantial chunk of change for an HDTV with QAM tuning capabilities. Grabbed a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 off Ebay and plugged the coax cable into the antenna connection. Worked exactly as I had hoped. In addition to getting all of the regular broadcast channels, I was able to pick up CNBC, Discovery, Cartoon, and TV Land, among other channels. Too bad BeyondTV doesn't yet have built-in QAM support for the Hauppauge card. This is, nonetheless, a pleasant discovery.
RATM summer tour?
By chance I'm looking for Rage news this evening and happen to notice today's announcement that they will be one of the headlining acts at Lollapalooza in August. All of a sudden I'm pricing a weekend trip to Chicago ($500+ each unless I book reward tickets).
Then I see this:
Tom Morello Goes Full ‘Stache For Anti-Flag; Also, Rage Against The Machine Touring This Summer
Rage is touring Europe from June to mid-July followed by a month-long break before their final dates in England. Throw in Chicago smack in the middle (8/1-8/3), and things are looking promising.
Tinseltown Westchase closed?
Just noticed in the last few days that the Chronicle no longer contains movie listings for Cinemark Tinseltown Westchase. I was pretty sure that meant it was gone. Discovered this evening that the phone number has been disconnected, and someone else wrote in Yahoo! Local that the lot has been fenced.
Though not entirely surprising, the news is somewhat sad as this used to be my favorite multiplex to watch movies when I lived near the Galleria 10 years ago. Cheap matinees, huge theaters with stadium seating. We went there last month to watch the Golden Compass on opening day, and the place was barren for a Friday night. You could tell the place was headed downhill.
Fantasy portfolio diversification
What a season this has been. All three of my fantasy football teams are heading to the Super Bowl, and another team which I helped a buddy draft is also in the big game. Brian Westbrook and Jason Witten are shared by three of these teams, but the compositions are otherwise fairly diverse (key players highlighted):
Keeper
QB Romo
RB Westbrook
WR Owens
WR Wayne
TE Witten
Auction
RB Westbrook
RB McGahee
WR Boldin
WR Mason
WR Driver
TE Witten
D Pittsburgh
Free
QB Roethlisberger
RB Lewis
WR Houshmandzadeh
WR Wayne
D Minnesota
14-team
QB Romo
RB Westbrook
TE Witten
D Minnesota
Despite my being less of an FF fanatic this season, perhaps because I am less emotionally invested, it has been more enjoyable than in prior years. Winning adds to the joy of course, but I used to become quite traumatized on a weekly basis when my teams lost, and that is insane. I view FF as a season-long lottery that entails some skill, but as with all games of chance, there are factors that are well beyond our control. Having absolute control over drafting and lineup decisions, on the other hand, is what makes this fun. A computer can make choices based on someone else's cheatsheet or lineup ranking, but defying conventional wisdom and taking risks has tremendous appeal to me.
Speaking of unpredictable circumstances, I was shocked and mildly annoyed when Westbrook took a knee at the goal line on Sunday, but my thoughts quickly shifted to admiration: a smart, selfless, and simply phenomenal player. I hate having to relinquish him in my keeper league after five seasons (max allowed), even more so than giving up LT last season. Cheers to you, little man.
Arm the Homeless
Picked up Guitar Hero 2 with wired guitar controller from Fry's today for $60, which was a lucky find. Yes, I am so behind as GH2 came out over a year ago, but I played it for the first time over the Thanksgiving holiday. The sales guy that chatted us up about GH3 probably thought we were college kids as we were shopping at 2pm on a weekday. I feel better about not being able to buy the dual-guitar setup directly from the Red Octane web store for $110 (back-ordered until Feb 2008?!). The addiction begins again...
Good evening, we are Rage Against the Machine from Los Angeles, California
Been looking for a transcript or video of Zack's speech on Saturday, essentially a response to accusations that he had called for the assassination of the President during a speech he gave at Coachella. Finally got a chance to view a few videos this morning as YouTube is blocked in the office. [Edit: Here is my rough attempt to transcribe the text of that speech. Thanks to brooklyntx for posting a link to the video.]
A couple of months ago, those fascist motherfuckers at the Fox News network attempted to pin (?) this band into a corner by suggesting that we said that the President should be assassinated. Nah, what we said was: that he should be brought to trial as a war criminal and hung and shot. That's what we said. That's what we said. And we won't back away from the present (?), from the position cuz the real assassinator is Bush and Cheney and the whole administration for the lives they have destroyed here and in Iraq. They're the ones.
And what they refuse to air, what they refuse to air which was far more provocative in my mind and in the mind of my bandmates is this: that this system has become so brutal and vicious and cruel that it needs to start wars and profit from the destruction around the world in order to survive as a world power. That's what we said.
And we refuse not to stand up, we refuse to back down from that position not only for the poor kids who are being left out in the desert to die, but for the Iraqi youth, the Iraqi people, their families, and their friends, and their youth who are standing up and resisting the U.S. occupation everyday. And if we truly want to end this fucking miserable war, we have to stand up with the same force that the Iraqi youth are standing up with everyday and bring these motherfuckers to their knees. Wake up.
[8/3 update: corrected some remarks, source: Wikipedia]
And the bombs keep falling
Rage came out around 9:00 pm (was scheduled for 8:50). Encore concluded around 10:15 pm. Slightly disappointed they didn't play Renegades of Funk (which they did at Coachella), but great show nonetheless. No bleachers for VIP after all. Set list follows:
1. Testify
2. Bulls on Parade
3. People of the Sun
4. Know Your Enemy
5. Vietnow
6. Bullet in the Head
7. Down Rodeo
8. Tire Me
9. Guerilla Radio
10. Calm Like a Bomb
11. Sleep Now in the Fire
12. Wake Up
Encore:
13. Freedom (Township Rebellion)
14. Killing in the Name
