I’m making even more progress on getting my media-related situation resolved.  I figure it’s been long enough for me to go without HD service so I finally ordered a TiVo HD.  The final selling point for me was the Netflix integration they added in — supposedly the nicest integration yet on a device.  Every device and software package out there seems to be adding Netflix integration at this point — TiVo, XBox 360, Roku, Boxee, PlayOn. Most important to me is Boxee though they haven’t quite figured it out on the AppleTV yet.  Oh well, the hacked AppleTV+Boxee is doing a great job as my movie and TV show watching media extender.  A new HDTV, an HD TiVo, AppleTV, and even a 360 when the others are insufficient.  It’s been a good few months for my media collection!

I’ve finally started to make progress on building a media center along the lines of what I want. My ideal solution always revolved around a media center that could handle Live TV and DVR duties as well as play music and video from a variety of sources on my home network but I finally decided to take a first step and ignore the Live TV/DVR aspect for now. I do have a TiVo after all. Plus, the solution I found can be updated later on when I do take that next step.

Apple released the AppleTV awhile back and while the interface and ease of use make it a great little device, the limited scope of functions that Apple provides greatly hampers its usefulness. It essentially has to sync to an iTunes library for video and music while integration with online video is essentially limited to just YouTube. Boring… especially for $200-$300. However, one interesting observation was the ease with which the AppleTV could be hacked and modified.

In the meantime, XMBC came along and decided to shift their development from the (original) XBox only to a general solution that can run on any platform including Linux and OS X. That instantly converted them from pointless to intriguing and I’ve been following them as they’ve developed the software. I also started watching for updates to Boxee, a platform built on top of XBMC specifically for OS X. There is also a working MythTV “front-end” solution for down the road when I start incorporating LiveTV & DVR functionality into the mix.

Recently a convergence occurred that sparked my first real step to getting the media center I want. XMBC and Boxee were ported to run on a hacked AppleTV (it runs OSX after all) and someone created an all-in one AppleTV hack + XBMC/Boxee installer. After some research, I took the plunge and picked up an AppleTV shortly before I left for Vegas last week. A couple of incompatible USB thumbdrives later and I had a hacked AppleTV ready to go.

After messing with it for a couple of days, the hacked AppleTV has lived up to its billing. Despite it’s alpha status, Boxee has really impressed. All of my media sources are brought in over the network and it uses IMDB to generate a pretty slick presentation of my video collection. I can still stream via iTunes as it doesn’t replace the AppleTV interface, just adds on to it. I can now pull media from any number of sources around the internet, not just YouTube. I also tried out PlayOn to stream my Netflix queue to my AppleTV over UPnP with some promising success. Forthcoming Hulu integration in XBMC and working Netflix and I’ll be set!

Thanks to Hurricane Hanna, my trip to North Carolina fell through and I missed hanging out with all of my friends down in RTP to celebrate Chris’s birthday.  Oh well, my two moms were quite relieved I stayed home, especially after hearing of all the cars that apparently were hydroplaning into walls around DC.

Overall, it turned out to be pretty good weekend though.  Saturday was a rainy, lazy day that I filled with football, Mount & Blade, and movies.  Christina and I watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which I’d never seen, and actually thought it was pretty decent.  Not a bad movie to watch with a girl.

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day.  Christina and I first went for a walk around Burke Lake.  We didn’t actually make it all of the way around the lake due to Christina’s adventurous nature leading us down many washed out paths.  We weren’t through with washed out lakes however as we later went on a dinner picnic with Katie out at Royal Lake (see pictures above).  Finally, the three of us watched the most ridiculous gameshow I’ve seen yet: Hole in the Wall.  Yet another crazy Japanese gameshow.

Update: Make that Royal Lake, not Front Royal — whoops!

I’ve been slowly trying to convert Christina into a movie-junkie and the results are really starting to pay off.  We’ve been watching several movies a week as we try and work through our Netflix Queue.

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I went and saw Dark Knight, the new Batman movie, on Friday with several of my friends.  I can definitely recommend seeing it even though based on the box office, I may have been the only one remaining who hadn’t seen it already.  If there was anything to detract from it, it would have to be with a glaring hole in the plot: Where exactly did the Joker come from?  They made numerous references to “letting the Joker out of the box” but never was it explained where the psychopathic, anarchist Joker came from.  In most movies that wouldn’t really be much an issue but a central theme of the whole Dark Knight movie was how people came to be the people they are.  Batman becomes the Dark Knight, Harvey Dent becomes the two-faced, revenge-driven villain, and in a key scene, convicts and regular people find a common humanity… not the Joker, however. While the Joker goes into any number of monologues on who he is, it is never is it revealed how this came to be.  A relatively minor quibble for what is really just an entertaining action movie but it did stand out for me.  While I’m still partial to the first Batman, I’d have to put Dark Knight right there with it.

I had to run an errand out in Reston yesterday and saw that Mongol was playing in theaters.  Other than Wall-E, this is the movie I’m most looking forward to this year.  It’s an independent movie about the rise of Genghis Khan — my favorite military historical figure.  Though I will probably wait to Netflix the movie, I did finally pick up Civilization:Revolution.  As a huge Civilization fan since #1, I actually turned up my nose a bit at the concept behind Civ:Rev as it was designed for the consoles, instead of the PC, and meant to be played in “quick” sessions as opposed to the marathon games Civilization typically is known for.  The Civilization series created the whole meme of “just one more turn” as they were the earliest of the hyper-addictive video games.  The “dumbed-down” console-focused Civ:Rev went against what I considered the purity of the series.  On the other hand, the quick nature lends itself to multiplayer more easily so this past weekend my friends (thanks Frank!) talked me into it.

I can say I was a little harsh in my first impression of the game when I played the demo.  I played through a full game last night and found myself enjoying it significantly more than I expected to.  I played as the Mongols of course and completely dominated my game.  On King difficulty, it seemed a lot easier than the equivalent difficulty in other Civ games.  There are numerous things I miss from the “real” Civ games but I enjoyed Civ:Rev quite a bit.  I’m really looking forward to the multiplayer.

If you’re interested in the background story for my first game…

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While I would readily admit to being a movie junkie, I haven’t had the time to sit down and watch them very often recently. This past week or two has been a notable exception. In addition to the movies I wrote about the other day, I’ve watched 3 movies in the past 24 hours: Wall-E, Boiler Room, and Wanted.

Wall-E was, to no one’s surprise, yet another brilliant Pixar movie. Plot-wise, I actually found the movie to be quite different than what I expected but I thoroughly enjoyed it anyway. I remember the first time I saw a preview for Wall-E. It was before the start of another CGI movie and there were previews for several upcoming CGI movie. A girl in front of me made a comment along the lines of “Aren’t there any movies coming out with REAL people?” It was definitely made in a derogatory manner and I didn’t understand it. There seems to be some stigma associated with CGI or otherwise animated movies in that they must be for kids or can’t be as good as “real” movies with real actors. In an age where talent doesn’t seem necessary to make a movie or TV show, Pixar has managed to convey more emotion and realism into their characters than the vast majority of actors and actresses out there. Wall-E extremely entertaining and well worth the time.

Perhaps one of the best movies about stock trading is Wall Street. I read a rumor that they are making a Wall Street 2 but until then, Boiler Room is a suitable fill-in.

Last and definitely least, Wanted came out in theaters this weekend. The rumor around the net was that it was actually a decent movie. I suppose that as long as you go in expecting a pure action movie peppered with absurdities, that’s true. Not to say it was all bad — Some of the action scenes were quite impressive in the John Woo-like style and the main character had a few good lines. Additionally, they wisely kept Angelina Jolie’s lines to a minimum — we’re still waiting for the first decent movie that she’s in. It’s never a good sign when several of the people you discuss it with afterwards assume it was a spoof movie… when it wasn’t supposed to be.

I’ve been catching up on a fair number of movies recently.  Christina actually sat down and watched Rambo (the new one) with me.  I believe it was a bit much for her but I actually thought it was pretty good.  It was a straight-up action movie but it even got me to pause for a moment and realize just how cruel people can be to other people.

We also caught up on a great Steve Martin and Michael Caine classic: Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels.  Michael Caine is really the highlight of the movie:

Freddy, as a younger man, I was a sculptor, a painter, and a musician. There was just one problem: I wasn’t very good. As a matter of fact, I was dreadful. I finally came to the frustrating conclusion that I had taste and style, but not talent. I knew my limitations. We all have our limitations, Freddy. Fortunately, I discovered that taste and style were commodities that people desired. Freddy, what I am saying is: know your limitations. You are a moron.

When my family was in town last weekend, several of us watched Juno.  I was underwhelmed the first time I saw it but made it a point to watch it again.  Though I still don’t know why it got such rave critical acclaim… ok, yes I do — a different and funny perspective on a very unfunny topic: teenage pregnancy.   Anyway, I did like it even more the second time but I don’t think it’ll enter my “best movies ever” catalog.  

Speaking of “best movies ever”, I’ve been watching Ronin again in bits and pieces over the last week.  One of the great movies about clandestine activities in Europe.  In many ways, you never really learn what’s happening in certain parts of the movie but it’s a superb movie nonetheless.  Robert De Niro and Jean Reno make every movie better.

Last night, Christina and I watched King of California.  Michael Douglas plays a mentally unstable dad and the movie is essentially about the relationship between him and his daughter.  They embark on a search around California for lost gold.  It’s definitely one of the most absurd and oddest movies I’ve ever seen but it’s enjoyable.  Michael Douglas puts in a pretty good performance.

For me, the movie I’m most excited about comes out this weekend.  Pixar + robots?!  Not to get my hopes up or anything but I fully expect Wall-E to be another great movie from my favorite movie studio.  I’ll find out on Friday.

Have you ever come across something that people just claim is “the best”, “the funniest”, etc… but when you check them out, you simply have no idea what they’re talking about?

Many of my closest friends have extolled the hilarity that comes from Flight of the Conchords. They’re basically a comedy-band duo. My friends just can’t stop talking about how funny there are. I don’t know what it is but I just don’t find them funny in the least. Here’s one of their “great” songs. Am I missing something? When did saying something that sounds like something else and then repeating it over and over again become the pinnacle of humor? To be funny, it has to have some context, e.g. “I’m Fucking Matt Damon“, or fully developed lyrics, e.g “Lazy Sunday“.

On another similar note, I recently saw Juno. I enjoyed the movie — I thought it had some funny parts, I appreciated the independent-streak in all of the characters, and I thought the characters themselves were all interesting… and yet, I don’t know why it was considered by many to be one of the best movies of the year. I didn’t get anything out of the movie except for an enjoyable two hours. I have no interest in talking about the movie afterwards, seeing it again, wondering what the characters will do after the movie ends, etc. I feel “one of the best movies of the year” should do some or all of these things.

I’ve been preoccupied with poker recently. I’ve been steadily building up my bankroll only to give in and take a few hits as I get too “greedy”. I’ve been called out for my excessive patience in most situations but recently, I’ve made several mistakes due to impatience. I believe it to be a poker-only phenomenon as I don’t seem to be losing patience in other aspects of life so I’m working to identify what is driving me to make bad plays in these moments where I lose focus.

Went to see The Grand at the E-Street Cinema in DC yesterday with some friends and it’s definitely worth seeing. It’s a mockumentary style movie about poker and it plays up the stereotypes very well. Additionally, though it’s a movie about poker, it doesn’t really have all that much poker actually in it so it should appeal to quite a few people who otherwise would skip it. Anyway, if you like mockumentary style movies like Best In Show, you would probably enjoy this movie. Poker aficionados just get a bonus with the numerous cameo appearances by the notable poker faces.

Recently, I’ve been intrigued by 5-table tournaments on Full Tilt.  These 45 player tourneys fills up very quickly and provide a decent return if you place in the top 3 (top 6 paid).    I’ve played about 6-8 of them and haven’t finished worse than in the teens — Sadly, I can’t seem to finish strong and my best finish was 5th.