If I May Agree With Rick Mercer ...

... fuck the Governor-General on general principle, and double-fuck the current one.

Thank God an unelected figurehead appointed by another unelected figurehead from a whole other country managed shut down the entire government of a sovereign nation before things spiralled out of hand and erupted in a mess of, of ... violent parliamentary motions. Why, there could have been shouting.

[Canadian hat] Why we don't reclaim that land, raze the building and build a public park, I have not a goddam clue.[/canadian hat]

On the other hand, I have to sincerely admit -- way to work the refs, Harper. I never liked it when people called him Bush Lite. He was and has always been way, way smarter than President Bush.

PRIMER timeline

For those who are just now discovering Primer on Netflix -- a timeline. Which is not very helpful at all, actually, but fun to try to figure out.

Hiatus Movie Recommendations

Slumdog Millionaire: I don't care how long the drive is. Go. And particularly for screenwriters -- this thing is a swiss watch. Regardless of how you may wind up feeling about the film as a whole (I loved it), there is not a single moment in the story where you don't desperately want to know, have to know, what is going to happen in the next ten seconds. "Open with a mystery", indeed.

Netflix on 360 recommendation-- Planet B-Boy. International break-dancing and father issues.

Yes, the streaming Netflix is my new obsession. Their available films are a weird mix to say the least, but all is forgiven when you discover that they have every season of The Rockford Files available for streaming.

I can watch any episode of Rockford. At any time. Sweet Jesus.

In the Comments -- your most recent best rental/indie viewing pleasure.

Now where the hell's Riptide?

There Will Be Leverage

Oh, it will be positively tiresome.

The LA Times Hollywood Backlot photo shoot is up. Chris Kane and Mark Sheppard fans in particular will be delighted. The shoot is from the season finale two-parter, "The First David Job" and "The Second David Job".

The Entertainment Weekly review is up, and although I appreciate the B+ grade, anyone who can watch Gina, Beth, Kane and Aldis and not chuckle (the Klingon bit, Ken, the Klingon bit!) has a little dark spot in his soul.

LEVERAGE promos up

The character stuff has been up for a while, but now some behind the scenes stuff is up.  The two that are, well, the geekiest --

and



Apollo's new website is a bit spare still (it doesn't mention his recent work in the cognitive science of magic), but his site for his old show is up, including his very cool reading list.

(Yes, I know they choke in Firefox, particularly on Mac.  Explorer or Safari will stream them just fine.  Considering how extensive the TNT promo has been, it would be petty of me to keep harping on my streaming video obsession. )

Streaming Mac to 360: Rivet

I've written before that consoles are the stealth players in the coming media landscape. For the vast majority of Americans, the console is a box attached to your TV, and the computer is a box in the room over there. This has been particularly vexing of late because the house I've moved into in LA is way, way waaaay smaller (and therefore only twice as expensive) than the house I was living in in Ottawa. Among other things, I want to rip my DVD's and leave the physical artifacts in my storage unit. This is not to mention the addiction I've developed consuming TV online (I LIKE three ad-breaks a show).

I've been using PlayOn to stream Hulu and Netflix from my BootCamped iMac to my XBox 360 -- you still need bloody Windows XP for that functionality. However, the new update in the 360 allows direct streaming from Netflix. It's dead simple to set up. As in, "watching my streaming queue movies within four minutes and fifteen seconds" easy. There's a limited amount of TV on Netflix right now, but when/if people smarten up -- or Microsoft cuts a deal with Hulu -- then the "broadcast" landscape is only going to get more chaotic.

Considering the licensing and royalty issues involved, that problem isn't going to get solved soon. However, I'm constantly buffaloed when I talk to fellow Hollywood types about "when the techology arrives". The tech is here. The only thing stopping the consoles from ruling the entertainment landscape is, as far as I can tell, a general unwillingness to get involved in an industry far less profitable, with far more headaches, than their own.

The tone of voice when I talk about these things tend to be a disdainful "Well, sure but how are we supposed to monetize this?" Right question, wrong tone. We. Don't. Have. A. Choice.

All this to say, streaming digital entertainment from your Windows computer to an XBox was always pretty simple but if you had a Mac you had to deal with Connect360. It's a fine program, but the menu system is a bit primitive, and I personally ran into some connectivity issues. So I'd like to recommend Rivet. It installs in a flash, it's about $20, and it works off the internal file structure of your Mac -- so however you arrange your media on your Mac, that's what shows up on the XBox. Managed to set it up within a few minutes, possibly even easier than the Netflix setup. Was watching my ripped Inspector Lynley mystery in no time.

In the Comments, your latest tech hacks.

Somali Piracy for Newbies

(h/t Matt Yglesias)

The Somali pirates were the centerpiece of my Pirate Tale for Boom! a couple years back. Studying the fringes of functioning society now, for writing ideas ... well, you know how Gibson said "The future is here, it's just not evenly distributed"? That's usually taken as a bromide about Good Shiny Tech. The Somali Pirates are part of the future, too, and it's worth considering how, if and when they might be coming to a neighborhood near you.

Tauren Shammy lfg White House Run

Thanks to spiffy new BoingBoing game blog Offworld, I now know that --

Obama's just-appointed FCC transition team co-chair Kevin Werbach has been recognized as verifiable "virtual worlds nut" and World of Warcraft Level 70 Tauren Shaman Supernovan Jenkins ...

... and as right thinking players, he is for the Horde.

The Xbox generation is coming faster than you think.

Fun Fact: At one point in this season of Leverage, you will hear "For the Horde". Un-ironically.

You know, the expansion's out just as I hit hiatus. I guess loading it up again, just trying out the new build wouldn't hurt ...

DNA as fiber optics

Courtesy of Warren Ellis, we are shown once again that reality is not only cooler than you imagine, it's cooler than you can ... etc. etc.:

Thanks to a new technique, DNA strands can be easily converted into tiny fibre optic cables that guide light along their length. Optical fibres made this way could be important in optical computers, which use light rather than electricity to perform calculations, or in artificial photosynthesis systems that may replace today's solar panels.

In the comments -- your favorite recent weird science story.

Survivor Corps

Occasionally new, worthwhile charities cross my email account. Survivor Corps is dedicated to creating locally-based community support for returning veterans who are dealing with emotional issues after the end of their deployment. Physical injuries are one thing, but it's crucial that we help men and women who have seen and experienced the unimaginable re-integrate successfully back into their post-deployment lives.

There's a tragic culture of shame around suicide and depression in this country, making it very hard for people to reach out for help without feeling as if they've failed in some way. The idea that veterans will be dealing primarily with other veterans with shared experiences is a great way of mitigating that vulnerability.

Not everyone needs this help, of course, but those who do need it desperately. I know that times are tough, but if you can, please swing by and toss the price of a large pizza in the pot for them. Thanks.