Scott Kuhl

Updated: BeeJiveIM, AIM, and IM+ — Push Apps Now in iTunes Store! | The ...

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:17:58 -0700

If Pac-Man Were to Tweet [Pic]

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:16:52 -0700

A Famous Person Has Died... | The Best Article Every day

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:16:01 -0700

3 Great Websites For Beginners to Learn How to Hit a Golf Ball

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:15:19 -0700

Now that everyone is so eager to learn about golf, including some of the basic principles as simple as how to hit a golf ball, here are 3 sites that will definitely help you pick up the game.

"Collateral Damage" by Jim Dunson on CollegeHumor

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:14:34 -0700

Geek Food Drive

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:12:18 -0700

More than 35.5 million people in the United States and Canada will go hungry during the holidays. The Challenge: For all user groups to hold a food drive at their meeting this month. There is plenty of need, especially this year!

Introducing SemanticEngine.NET

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:11:10 -0700

Technologies or formats such as FOAF, APML, SIOC, XFN tags and microformats are some of the building blocks of the social aspects of the semantic web. They are used to create cross-site profiles of people and also represent relationships between them. XFN and microformats are somewhat easy to start using, but FOAF, APML and SIOC are a different story. Here's a new class library to make it easier.

It's common sense, stupid: Programming Is All About Passion

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:10:15 -0700

But in a field that is so dynamic, competitive and geeky, it is hard to stand out among the crowd without burning passion. Programming is like sports, or money management, or scientific research, where individual talent matters the most. Not just individual talent, but also the effort. In those fields, there is no such thing as a second-place winner. Either you are the best, or you are a nobody. Talent is a flunky thing, one day you feel very talented and you win, but on another day your talent, or luck desert you and you lose. You have to make up the fluctuation in talent by putting in a lot of sweat, tears and even blood.

Strategically Tweak Your Resume's Dates of Employment If You Job Hop ...

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:06:32 -0700

Employers generally don't like to read that prospective employees have a history of jumping from one job to another. If you've had more in-between jobs than a single, steady one, it may be worthwhile to rethink the placement of your resume's dates.

Jesus Spotted Using iPhone

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 06:02:16 -0700

Normally, when Jesus mystically appears in a plant or a piece of food, only his face is visible. But when Eulàlia Beltran recently noticed the Lord in the bark of a beech tree in Barcelona, his left hand drew more attention than his face.

UPDATE 1-Microsoft asks US courts to intervene in EU case | Reuters.com

Fri, 03 Mar 2006 10:20:08 -0800

Gov. Blagojevich Didn't Know Daily Show Was Comedy When He Agreed To Interview

Fri, 03 Mar 2006 09:53:54 -0800

You can view the Daily Show segment here:

001- Bruno

Flamboyantly gay Austrian television reporter Bruno (Sacha Baron Cohen) stirs up trouble with unsuspecting guests and large crowds through brutally frank interviews and painfully hilarious public displays of homosexuality. An incredible chameleon who completely disappears behind his flaming alter ego, the bold Baron Cohen serves up nonstop laughs in this comedy by successfully rubbing people the wrong way.

002- Aliens in the Attic

The Pearsons' summer rental house has it all: plenty of room, a swimming pool and a space alien camping out in the attic. The kids can't help but love the cute little guy, until they learn that he's not alone, and his buddies aren't as nice. Now, what started as a summer retreat has become a brave quest to save the planet. Ashley Tisdale, Kevin Nealon, Doris Roberts and Andy Richter star in this comic family adventure.

003- Sunshine Cleaning

Financially on shaky ground yet determined to send her son to a top private school, Rose Lorkowski (Amy Adams) teams up with her unreliable sister, Norah (Emily Blunt), to start a new company that specializes in biohazard removal and crime scene cleanup. Tired of doing all of the work for other people, whether in her job cleaning homes or in her failed relationships, Rose is finally ready to use her entrepreneurial spirit to tidy up her own life.

004- Body of Lies

Newly stationed in Jordan, idealistic CIA agent Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) teams up with veteran operative Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) and the head of Jordanian intelligence (Mark Strong) to infiltrate an underground network of terrorists and locate a criminal mastermind. Based on the best-selling novel by David Ignatius and directed by Ridley Scott, this suspenseful spy thriller features top-rate performances and explosive action sequences.

005- The Forbidden Kingdom

Kung fu legends Jackie Chan and Jet Li star in this exciting adventure about a martial arts movie fanatic named Jason (Michael Angarano) who discovers a mystical Chinese staff in a local pawnshop that transports him to war-torn ancient China. When he learns that the staff belongs to the mighty Monkey King, who's been unjustly imprisoned by an evil warlord, Jason joins a group of skilled warriors to free the captive king and return the weapon.

006- Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

When her gruff demeanor costs her yet another nanny position, desperate Guinevere Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) wangles a job as the assistant of an aspiring American actress (Amy Adams) and soon gets swept up in a dizzying world of glamour and high society. Ciarán Hinds, Lee Pace, Shirley Henderson and Mark Strong also star in this charming 1930s-era comedy based on Winifred Watson's best-selling novel.

007- Logan's Run

In the year 2274, the world's urban centers have been abandoned due to ecological disaster, and the remaining population has forged a society in a domed city, where no one is allowed to live past age 30 in this sci-fi adventure from Michael Anderson. Michael York stars as a population control agent who, nearing the age of 30, goes on the run to avoid certain death, and Richard Jordan plays his ex-partner determined to hunt him down.

008- Pride and Glory

A corruption scandal fractures a family of New York City cops in this generational drama about homicide detective Ray Tierney (Edward Norton), a man tasked with investigating a police precinct run by his older brother (Noah Emmerich). As if that weren't enough, Ray's fellow officer and best friend (Colin Farrell) might turn out to be dirty, too. Jon Voight and Jennifer Ehle co-star in this high-octane offering from director Gavin O'Connor.

009- Crank 2: High Voltage

After surviving the brush with death that ended the first Crank film, top assassin Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) returns in this action-packed sequel to track down a ruthless Chinese mobster who has stolen his most prized possession: his heart. As the talented hit man scours Los Angeles for his enemy, he must continually jolt the mechanical ticker that beats within his chest -- otherwise, he's dead. Amy Smart and Dwight Yoakam co-star.

010- The Tale of Despereaux

This star-studded adaptation of Kate DiCamillo's Newberry Medal-winning book tells the tale of an unusually gifted mouse named Despereaux (voiced by Matthew Broderick) who falls in love with a human princess (Emma Watson). Despereaux's different from other mice in that he reads books and has disproportionally large ears for his body. But with help from a rat named Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman), he sets out to win the girl of his dreams.

011- Star Wars: The Clone Wars

In this feature-length animated addition to the Star Wars franchise, Obi-Wan Kenobi and his friend Anakin Skywalker -- the future Darth Vader -- fight to keep the republic together on the battlefield of the Clone Wars. Joined by Padmé Amidala and Anakin's new apprentice, Ahsoka, our Jedi heroes do battle against a formidable range of opponents led by Palpatine, Count Dooku and the merciless General Grievous.

012- RocknRolla

Thandie Newton and Gerard Butler co-star in director Guy Ritchie's crime thriller about crooks from London's underworld who set out to nab millions of dollars left for the taking when a Russian mobster's real estate scam falls apart. Tom Wilkinson plays a powerful crime boss, with Jeremy Piven and rapper Ludacris appearing as record producers who get strong-armed into looking for a drug-addicted rock star.

013- New In Town

The weather isn't the only drastic change for high-paid consultant Lucy Hill (Renée Zellweger) when she's sent from her home base in South Beach, Fla., to a small Minnesota town to improve the productivity of a local manufacturing plant. The town's residents also take some getting used to, especially the ruggedly handsome union boss (Harry Connick Jr.) who's doing his darnedest to make sure that Lucy doesn't cut any jobs.

014- The Cannonball Run

Burt Reynolds, Farrah Fawcett, Dom DeLuise, Peter Fonda, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jackie Chan are all entrants in an illegal cross-country car race, and all are willing to do anything to win. Chockablock with cool cars, fast driving, wacky hi-jinx and sexual innuendos, this crowd pleaser from former stuntman Hal Needham is based on an actual car race (which the director and writer both entered driving the ambulance seen in the film).

015- The Class

In an inventive adaptation of his novel about his experiences working in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Paris, François Bégaudeau stars as a replica of himself -- a passionate French teacher who presides over a classroom of diverse young minds. Not your standard drama or documentary but something in between, this Oscar-nominated film used three cameras during a largely improvisational shoot and features real students rather than actors.

016- Last Chance Harvey

Dustin Hoffman stars in this romantic drama as struggling jingle writer Harvey Shine, an aging father who risks losing his job to attend his daughter's London wedding, only to discover that he's not exactly welcome. While seeking refuge in the airport bar, Harvey meets a lonely statistician named Kate (Emma Thompson) and finds himself thrust into an unexpected romance. Both Hoffman and Thompson earned Golden Globe nods for their roles.

017- Space Chimps

Playful circus chimp Ham III -- grandson of the first simian astronaut -- finds himself knee-deep in an intergalactic revolution when NASA drafts him to recover a missing probe in this animated comedy adventure. Can Ham and his shipmates, the intrepid Lt. Luna and testy skipper Titan, save a planet under the thumb of a nefarious tyrant? Celebrity voices include Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Patrick Warburton, Jeff Daniels and Stanley Tucci.

018- Land of the Dead

Zombie king George A. Romero is back with a fourth gruesome tale of the walking dead -- and this time, they've taken over the planet. Humans have lost the battle against the flesh-eating ghouls, and the living are now barricaded within a walled city reigned by ruthless despots. When the zombies develop advanced military tactics, it's up to a group of mercenaries to save the living. Dennis Hopper, Simon Baker, John Leguizamo and Asia Argento star.

019- The Nutty Professor 2: Facing the Fear

Jerry Lewis voices his legendary role of Julius Kelp -- aka The Nutty Professor -- in this animated sequel to the classic comedy. Kelp's grandson, Harold (voiced by Drake Bell), finds Julius's special elixir and releases an arrogant alter ego. Soon, his dual life becomes humorously chaotic, ultimately leading to a showdown when Harold's cooler half tries to take over for good. Andrew Francis also lends his voice to the film.

020- Mirrors

This creepy supernatural thriller from director Alexandre Aja stars Kiefer Sutherland as troubled security guard Ben Carson, a man who discovers malevolent spirits living within the mirrors of a fire-ravaged department store. When their murderous nature comes to light, Ben turns to his estranged wife (Paula Patton) to help him save their family -- and himself. The supporting cast includes Amy Smart and Jason Flemyng.

021- Igor

Igor (voiced by John Cusack) is a brilliant young scientist sidelined by a physical deformity. Despite his position as a lowly assistant to mad Dr. Glickenstein (John Cleese), Igor dreams of winning the Evil Science Fair and the heart of Gretchen, a village beauty. Aided by a zombie rabbit (Steve Buscemi) and a brain in a jar (Sean Hayes), Igor might just hit the big time. Molly Shannon and Jennifer Coolidge also lend their vocal talent.

022- Meet Dave

Ingeniously disguised as a human, an alien vessel and its crew of miniature extraterrestrials (led by Eddie Murphy, playing dual roles as the ship's commander and the spacecraft) lands on Earth looking for a way to save their planet from destruction. New problems arise, however, when the aliens' ship-in-human-form falls for a pretty earthling (Elizabeth Banks) who has no idea who she's dealing with.

023- Hamlet 2

With his department in danger of being cut, high school drama teacher Dana Marschz (Steve Coogan) pens a heretical sequel to William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and exhorts his students to stage it in this sardonic comedy that riffs on the "inspirational teacher" genre. Catherine Keener plays Marschz's unhappy wife, with Elisabeth Shue appearing as herself -- or, rather, a version of herself who's given up acting to become a nurse.

024- Crossing Over

Boasting an all-star cast that includes Harrison Ford, director Wayne Kramer's thoughtful drama weaves several stories together to create an emotionally charged examination of immigration in Los Angeles. Ashley Judd and Ray Liotta co-star in the powerful ensemble film, which provides a harrowing look at border crossing, document fraud, asylum seekers, naturalization, counterterrorism and the clash of cultures in America.

025- The Midnight Meat Train

Bradley Cooper stars as Leon Kauffman, an ambitious New York photographer whose reckless search for a serial killer (Vinnie Jones), known as "the Subway Butcher," leads him down a dark and dangerous path. Leslie Bibb, Dan Callahan, Brooke Shields and Tony Curran also star in this spine-tingling thriller from director Ryuhei Kitamura, a chilling tale based on a short story by horror giant Clive Barker.

026- Passengers

When therapist Claire Summers (Anne Hathaway) starts working with the surviving passengers of a plane crash, she discovers that their individual accounts of the tragedy differ significantly from the airline's official version. As Claire digs deeper for the truth, beyond the airline's sanitized statements, the survivors suddenly begin to vanish, leaving her swimming in a dark abyss of intrigue and conspiracy.

027- Punisher: War Zone

Frank Castle (Ray Stevenson), a one-man force of vengeance known as "the Punisher," battles mob boss Billy Russoti (Dominic West). But when the encounter leaves Russoti disfigured, he reemerges as Jigsaw, a psychotic villain with a small army at his command. Too bad for the baddie that the Punisher is preparing to annihilate Jigsaw and his reign of terror, armed with a cache of high-tech weaponry forged by the handy Microchip (Wayne Knight).

028- Doomsday

When a deadly viral epidemic breaks out in present-day Britain, killing hundreds of thousands of people, the government quarantines the infected behind a walled city -- only to be confronted with a resurgence of the disease 30 years in the future. In the vein of Mad Max and 28 Days Later, this morality tale veiled as a sci-fi hypothetical features enough action, combat and suspense to keep audiences wondering, "What if?"

029- Deception

Unassuming accountant Jonathan McQuarry (Ewan McGregor) thinks he's hit the big time when a lawyer friend (Hugh Jackman) introduces him to an exclusive sex club. But McQuarry's life begins to unravel when he falls for a woman at the club and is later linked to her disappearance. Michelle Williams, Natasha Henstridge and Charlotte Rampling also star in this atmospheric thriller from director Marcel Langenegger (in his big-screen debut).

030- Bangkok Dangerous

Nicolas Cage stars in this action thriller as a lonely, coldblooded assassin known only as Joe. While on assignment in Bangkok, he unexpectedly falls in love with a beautiful pharmacist (Charlie Yeung) and finds himself questioning his violent ways. When the true nature of his assignment is revealed, however, Joe refuses to carry out the operation and unintentionally sparks an all-out war with his former client.

031- The Village Barbershop

Following the untimely death of his best friend and business partner, cantankerous chauvinist Art Leroldi (John Ratzenberger, "Cheers") begrudgingly hires female hairstylist Gloria MacIntyre (Shelly Cole) to save his struggling barbershop. This quirky indie comedy also stars Laurellee Westaway as nicotine-addicted, oxygen tank-toting neighbor Gladys and Cindy Pickett as Josie, the topless cocktail waitress who catches Art's eye.

032- Speed Racer

Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild) stars as Speed in this big-screen adaptation of the popular 1960s-era Japanese animated series from directors Larry and Andy Wachowski, the minds behind the blockbuster Matrix trilogy. With the support of his parents (Susan Sarandon and John Goodman), his girlfriend, Trixie (Christina Ricci), and his onetime rival Racer X (Matthew Fox), Speed sets out to conquer a cross-country race known as the Crucible.

033- The Strangers

In this heart-pounding thriller, young suburban couple James (Scott Speedman) and Kristen (Liv Tyler) welcome the peace and quiet of a secluded family vacation home -- that is, until three masked home invaders make them realize how dangerous isolation can be. Written and directed by Bryan Bertino, the film also stars Australian supermodel Gemma Ward, Kip Weeks, Glenn Howerton and Laura Margolis.

034- I Could Never Be Your Woman

Just as Rosie (Michelle Pfeiffer) strikes up a passionate romance with a handsome younger man (Paul Rudd), her daughter, Izzie (Saoirse Ronan), falls in love for the first time -- and Mother Nature (Tracey Ullman) can't resist the temptation to meddle in their affairs. Writer-director Amy Heckerling delivers a twisted romantic comedy that shows what happens when a mother and daughter come to blows with the forces of nature.

035- Babylon A.D.

Hard-boiled mercenary Toorop (Vin Diesel) accepts a risky mission to escort a virus-carrying woman (Mélanie Thierry) and her guardian nun (Michelle Yeoh) from Russia to China. But Toorop gets far more than he bargained for when a mysterious religious cult stops at nothing to kidnap his charge. Gérard Depardieu and Charlotte Rampling co-star in this postapocalyptic tale of genetic mayhem based on Maurice Dantec's novel Babylon Babies.

036- Big Rig

Filmmaker Doug Pray journeys coast to coast to chronicle life on the road with America's long-haul truck drivers in this engaging documentary, featuring candid interviews that reveal the drivers' passions and colorful personalities. Driven by fierce independence, these unsung heroes of the highway will surprise and touch you with their wit and down-home wisdom. You'll never look at an 18-wheeler in quite the same way again.

037- The Sky Crawlers

In this anime set in an alternate present day, a band of teenage pilots patrols the skies. Trapped in a perpetual adolescence, these "Kildren" serve one purpose: to entertain the public with their air battles in the absence of actual war. But when ace pilot Yuichi falls for a beautiful new commander, he begins to question his fate. Award-winning anime director Mamoru Oshii's dazzling visuals enhance this adaptation of Hiroshi Mori's novel.

038- Diary of the Dead

While filming a low-budget horror film, Jason (Joshua Close) and his film school friends hear news reports of zombie sightings. As the living dead close in on the film crew, Jason seizes the opportunity to add real blood and guts to his movie. Meanwhile the American government promises to stop the violent uprising, but the relentless zombies gain an advantage by wiping out all forms of communication with the outside world.

039- Final Approach

FBI hostage negotiator Jack Bender (Dean Cain) finds himself on a plane overtaken by terrorists (led by Anthony Michael Hall) demanding a billion-dollar ransom in order to prevent them from detonating a nuclear bomb over Los Angeles. Jack must use his skills to talk the terrorists down to avoid the only other option: blowing up the aircraft in the sky. Lea Thompson, William Forsythe and Ernie Hudson co-star in this high-octane thriller.

040- Barbarella

A young Jane Fonda stars in this camp classic as the shapely 41st-century space traveler dispatched to apprehend missing scientist Durand Durand (Milo O'Shea), whose latest handiwork threatens to bring evil back to the galaxy. En route, Barbarella discovers the joys of celestial sex and experiences kinky misadventures with a mélange of bizarre characters. Fans of sci-fi kitsch will treasure the psychedelic scenery with gaudy aplomb.

041- Max Payne

Mark Wahlberg stars as title character Max Payne in this gritty noir crime thriller that centers on an undercover New York City DEA agent (Mila Kunis) who teams up with a female assassin to avenge the murder of her family. Filmmaker John Moore directs this big-screen video game adaptation with supporting performances from Beau Bridges, Christopher "Ludacris" Bridges, Chris O'Donnell and Donal Logue.

042- Flakes

Hanging out with eccentric pal Pussy Katz (Zooey Deschanel) and a host of oddball customers, slacker Neal Downs (Aaron Stanford) runs a funky bistro in New Orleans that serves nothing but cereal. But his easy life gets difficult when a competitor tries to rip off his restaurant idea. Now, he'll have to fight if he wants to save his lifestyle and his livelihood. Christopher Lloyd co-stars in this quirky indie comedy directed by Michael Lehmann.

043- Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach

Ever since a notorious incident drove him off the tennis court years ago, Gary (Seann William Scott) has been laboring as a raunchy high school janitor. But when the current coach drops dead, Gary steps in and is tasked with whipping the dork-tastic team into shape. As Gary leads the squad to the state tennis championship, his bizarre coaching methods draw the ire of teachers, parents and even his own team in this balls-out comedy.

044- Deal

Ex-card shark Tommy Vinson (Burt Reynolds) swore himself off the cards years ago, but when he takes on a cocky young player named Alex Stillman (Bret Harrison) as his protégé, he quickly finds himself drawn back into the world of high-stakes poker. Co-written and directed by Gil Cates Jr., this character-driven drama also stars Shannon Elizabeth, Jon Thomas and Maria Mason.

045- W.

Oscar winner Oliver Stone directs an all-star cast in this satiric retrospective of the life and political career of George W. Bush (Josh Brolin), from his troubles as a young adult through his governorship of Texas and all the way to the Oval Office. Richard Dreyfuss plays Vice President Dick Cheney, with Elizabeth Banks as First Lady Laura Bush and Thandie Newton as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

046- Death Defying Acts

When legendary escape artist Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) offers a handsome reward to anyone who can contact his dead mother beyond the grave, a sultry Scottish psychic and con artist (Catherine Zeta-Jones) takes up the challenge. But when the two fall in love, the boundaries between truth and deception become blurred. Directed by Gillian Armstrong, this entertaining period costume drama co-stars Saoirse Ronan and Timothy Spall.

047- Duplicity

Julia Roberts and Clive Owen co-star in this curveball-throwing thriller as a pair of romantically involved corporate operatives who are entangled in a bitter rivalry between two mammoth pharmaceutical companies. Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson convincingly round out the heavyweight cast as warring big pharma CEOs in this intriguing espionage effort from writer-director Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton).

048- The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior

This prequel to 2002's The Scorpion King tells the heroic tale of young Mathayus (Michael Copon) and his relentless quest for justice against an evil and powerful villain, King Sargon (Ultimate Fighting champ Randy Couture). Mathayus faces many heart-stopping tribulations during his adventurous, odds-defying trajectory toward his ultimate destiny as the formidable warrior king of an ancient desert empire.

049- Mama's Boy

Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder stars as a pretentious goldbricker living with his doting mother (Diane Keaton) who floats through life pretending that his existence has meaning in this rib-tickling comedy from director Tim Hamilton. But when Mom falls in love and wants to tie the knot with a charming motivational speaker, her pseudo-brainiac son realizes that he may be losing his hold on the comfortable life he's fashioned for himself.

050- The Promotion

Hoping to buy a house, grocery store assistant manager Doug (Seann William Scott) applies for the manager's position at his chain's new location. Doug feels confident about getting hired until recent Canadian arrival Richard (John C. Reilly) applies for the same job. In order to secure the coveted promotion, the competing employees go head-to-head in minor battles, often resorting to cruel behavior in this indie comedy by Steve Conrad.

051- Turn the River

When hardscrabble single mom Kailey Sullivan (Famke Janssen) suspects her son's blowhard father, the custodial parent, of physically abusing the child, she devises a plan to overcome the situation using one of her most valuable skills -- playing billiards. Summoning her mentor, Teddy (Rip Torn), and her pool shark talents to a new level, Kailey is determined to win enough money to take her son across the border into Canada in this John Cassavetes Independent Spirit Award nominee.

052- The Spirit

After rookie Central City cop Denny Colt (Gabriel Macht) is murdered, he's mysteriously reborn as masked superhero the Spirit. Setting out to rid the streets of crime, he finds his archnemesis in the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson), whose quest for immortality imperils the entire city. Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes and Paz Vega co-star in this adaptation of Will Eisner's classic comic by writer-director Frank Miller (Sin City, 300).

053- Brutal Massacre: A Comedy

Stevan Mena's mockumentary follows washed-up filmmaker Harry Penderecki (David Naughton) as he tries to resurrect his once-celebrated career. Harry gathers his former crew to create a horror hit, but the production is plagued by one problem after another. Egotistical actors, romantic hookups, inept special effects artists, tragedies on the set, and budget crises threaten to derail Harry's only hope at making the big time again.

054- Extreme Movie

Amiable geek Mike (Ryan Pinkston) chases down the girl of his dreams, while Fred (Michael Cera) looks for love in a chat room and Chuck (Frankie Muniz) and his experienced girlfriend take their sex life to the next (very weird) level. Co-written by comic heavyweights Andy Samberg and Will Forte, this outrageous raunch-fest chronicles the highs and lows of teen lovemaking in all its embarrassing glory. Jamie Kennedy and Andy Milonakis co-star.

055- Disaster Movie

Trapped in a city as temblors, tornados and asteroids ravage the land, three terrified friends (Carmen Electra, Kim Kardashian and Vanessa Minnillo) get swept up in a series of wacky adventures as they look for a way to stop the onslaught of natural disasters. Nominated for six Razzies, this over-the-top spoof pokes fun at a range of pop-culture sensations, including "Sex and the City," There Will Be Blood, Dr. Phil and singer Amy Winehouse.

056- Battle for Terra

In this animated feature, a spirited teenage alien (voiced by Evan Rachel Wood) resolves to keep human invaders (led by Brian Cox) from pulling off a hostile takeover of her peaceful planet, Terra, by kidnapping a human pilot (Luke Wilson) whose aircraft crashed on her turf and nursing him back to health. With the pilot on her side, can she find a solution that will support life on Terra for both aliens and human beings?

057- Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

When he attends his younger brother's wedding, playboy Connor (Matthew McConaughey) is troubled to discover that the ghosts of his many girlfriends have come to give him a piece of their mind and teach him a thing or two about true love. As the apparitions visit him, he rediscovers old feelings for the first love of his life. Mark Waters directs this delightful romantic comedy also starring Jennifer Garner and Michael Douglas.

058- Management

Golden Globe winner Jennifer Aniston stars in this comedic tale as a traveling art saleswoman who makes the mistake of her life when she shares a one-night stand with a dim-witted motel manager (Steve Zahn) who takes to following her all around the country. Woody Harrelson and Fred Ward also star in this romantic comedy from writer-director Stephen Belber.

059- The Girlfriend Experience

Filmed in about two weeks on a budget of less than $2 million, director Steven Soderbergh's experimental feature focuses on the life of a high-priced New York City call girl, played by bona fide porn star Sasha Grey. The movie tells its tale in nonlinear fashion, throwing random scenes at the viewer, who must piece together the puzzle to understand the story. Other than Grey, the actors are nonprofessionals who improvised many of their scenes.

060- Orgies and the Meaning of Life

While trying to complete his novel about a stick figure seeking to become three-dimensional, Baxter Goode (Brad T. Gottfred, who also wrote and directed) struggles with his addiction to orgy fantasies in this offbeat indie drama. Complicating things are his successful and disapproving Christian author father, his search for the woman who will cure him of his sexual fantasies, and his lesbian roommate -- who may or may not be real.

061- Up

After a lifetime of dreaming of traveling the world, 78-year-old homebody Carl (voiced by Ed Asner) flies away on an unbelievable adventure, with Russell, an 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer (Jordan Nagai), unexpectedly in tow. Together, the unlikely pair embarks on a thrilling odyssey full of jungle beasts and rough terrain. Other voices include the renowned Christopher Plummer and Pixar stalwart John Ratzenberger.

062- Spread

Nikki (Ashton Kutcher) has made a career out of targeting older women and using them for anything and everything … in exchange for a little sex. But the player gets played when he meets Heather (Margarita Levieva), a pretty waitress who knows every trick. Before Heather came along, Nikki had a foolproof arrangement with Samantha (Anne Heche), a successful attorney who was happy being "friends with benefits." But now he might actually be in love.

063- The Accidental Husband

Emma Lloyd (Uma Thurman) has always led a sensible life, with the right career and the right fiancé (Colin Firth) -- until she learns the shocking news that she's already married to another man, whom she's never even met. When Emma finally comes face to face with her "accidental husband," his carefree approach to life prompts her to reexamine her own choices while also raising doubts about her impending marriage.

064- The Merry Gentleman

Kelly Macdonald stars as a young wife who escapes an abusive marriage to begin a new life on her own. But when she finds herself a witness to a murder, she develops an unusual bond with a glum hit man. Beloved actor Michael Keaton makes his directorial debut with this quirky drama from a script by Ron Lazzeretti. The film premiered at the famed Sundance Film Festival in 2008.

065- The Ugly Truth

Chauvinistic morning show commentator Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler) makes his perpetually single producer (Katherine Heigl) the subject of a series of romantic tests in order to prove the theories on relationships he espouses on his segment called "The Ugly Truth." But will his experiments help her find love, or is she just a hopeless case? Cheryl Hines co-stars as an unflappable anchor in this rom-com from the team behind Legally Blonde.

066- Franklyn

In the futuristic Meanwhile City, a masked vigilante (Ryan Phillippe) seeks out his nemesis while in contemporary London, an art student (Eva Green) attempts to kill herself, a heartbroken lover (Sam Riley) looks for someone new and a father (Bernard Hill) searches for his son. Writer-director Gerald McMorrow's sci-fi drama follows these desperate individuals as their lives become intertwined by fate.

067- Humpday

During a getaway at a sex-positive commune, best pals Andrew (Joshua Leonard) and Ben (Mark Duplass) find their friendship tested in strange new ways when a dare leads them to contemplate filming a live sex scene for an amateur porn festival. As the shoot date looms, our heroes must contend with two major logistical difficulties: Ben's wife, Anna (Alycia Delmore); and their heterosexuality. The indie comedy screened at the Sundance Film Festival.

068- The Open Road

With his mother (Mary Steenburgen) facing surgery, Carlton (Justin Timberlake) and his friend Lucy (Kate Mara) travel to Ohio to round up his estranged father, Kyle (Jeff Bridges), a baseball legend. Michael Meredith's comedy-drama follows the unlikely trio on an emotionally awkward road trip back to Texas. As the miles unfold before them, father and son begin a journey of reconciliation in the hopes of healing old wounds. Lyle Lovett co-stars.

069- We Live in Public

Ondi Timoner's documentary chronicles a decade in the life of Internet pioneer Josh Harris, who instigated an "artificial society" experiment in which more than 100 artists lived under 24-hour surveillance in an underground compound in New York City. After FEMA broke up the project, Harris turned the cameras on himself and his girlfriend. Timoner's provocative film (winner of the Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at Sundance) includes clips from Harris's projects as well as her own original footage.

070- OSS 117: Lost in Rio

When outrageously chauvinistic French secret agent OSS 117 (Jean Dujardin) journeys to Cold War-era Rio de Janeiro to recover a top-secret microfilm, gorgeous Israeli Nazi-hunter Dolorès Koulechov (Louise Monot) joins in the quest. But as the pair zero in on their quarry, the hapless Frenchman's disdain for Koulechov's gender and nationality threaten their mission. Michel Hazanavicius directs this delightful parody of James Bond-esque films.

ReleaseWeek.com Launched

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:32:27 -0800

My wife and I have been working on a new site for the past couple of weeks. This is our second project since we re-launched our home business.

ReleaseWeek.com

The site lists major new releases of movies and television on DVD and Blu-Ray, video games, music and books. All of this is put into a simple current week format.

This is our first project released as part of the Microsoft WebsiteSpark program. We built everything in ASP.NET Web Forms 3.5. I’m working on a new article on how to create public facing websites with Web Forms and I’m using this site as a test bed. I’ll post the article here sometime in the coming months after I have tested everything out in a real world scenario.

We’ll be tweaking it over the next few weeks. Let us know what you want to see in the site. To stay up to date on announcements of changes to the site, subscribe to our company blog at Code Alt Delete.

Radial 50 - New iPhone App

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:03:53 -0700

If you have an iPhone check out a game a friend just launched: Radial 50.

You can get the Lite version for free. And the full version is only $1.99.

Review of Sony Vaio FW Series Laptop

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:43:15 -0800

This weekend I purchased a replacement laptop for my Gateway Tablet PC. I reviewed a lot of different options but focused mostly on HP, Dell, Gateway, Sony, Samsung and even Apple. First lets start with each of the lines of laptop I didn’t choose and why.

HP scored well on CNET reviews with the Pavilion dv3510nr, so I took a trip to Best Buy to check it out. I wasn’t really impressed. It was just another laptop.

Dell as always seems to have a build your own laptop for everyone. The cost of adding a Blu-ray drive and the limited number of models that ship with them drove me away.

Gateway’s new MD series is nice but this is a dying brand. I’m not sure they will still be here in a year.

Samsung’s new X360-34G is very nice, but the price is too high.

Apple’s designs are awesome but I’m not sure I will ever get use to the lack of the right click button. I almost went with a MacBook Pro to give me the option of running OSX, but I properly would have stopped using it after a month. Price was also too high.

The Sony Vaio line is my favorite PC laptop line as far as style goes. But to be fair, they seem like MacBook clones. The FW series was the closest to the specs I wanted. This review is based specifically on the VGN-FW35iJ.

Sony Vaio VGN-FW351J

The Good

The Sony Vaio VGN-FW351IJ feels like a MacBook Pro clone. It’s got good specs for the money. $899 will get you 4GB of RAM, a Core 2 Duo processor, Blu-ray drive, a 16.4” widescreen and a 320GB hard drive. It’s very light and portable for it’s size and well balanced. Heat doesn’t dissipate into your legs when using it on your lap. The HDMI output port makes this laptop a nice portable Blu-ray player. Blu-Ray playback was smooth, the drive wasn’t noisy and the system didn’t spike with heat. All bonuses when trying to watch a movie in bed.

The Bad

The area to the right of the touchpad warms up to a very noticeable level. The VGA port is on the left, most people will not consider this a drawback, but I have gotten use to having my monitor on the right so I have more cables crossing my desk than before.

The Ugly

The USB ports are all on the right. This makes it hard to use an external mouse for a right handed person while external components are attached. The OS is also loaded with a lot of crapware like Microsoft Works, Quicken and a whole bunch of Vaio utilities that badly need reducing and combining.

Recommendation

Well, I’ve only been using it for a few days, but I’m happy with the purchase. I would buy it again. It’s a great laptop for the price. I think I would need to purchase a MacBook Pro at 3 times the cost to get a better 17” laptop.

Juggle.com is Live

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 02:16:49 -0800

Our public beta has launched. Want to know what it is? Check it out at www.juggle.com.

Use the feedback form on the site to leave comments and request an invitation. Be sure to let us know if you are a GWB member.

Technorati Tags: juggle.com

ASP.NET Web Developer Checklist

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:18:45 -0800

The following is a simple checklist you can use when building web applications. Much of this still applies to other technologies and can easily be extended. I try not to get too specific on technology or methodology, but it is definitely leaning toward ASP.NET.

If you can think of something I am missing or disagree, please leave a comment. Detailed information follows the checklist.

How much of the checklist you follow will depend on the project. If its just a hobby site, you may skip items like load testing, but as the site grows you will likely need to check off more and more items. Some items, like separation of logic should just be done from the start. In any case, you should make an actual decision to ignore the item. This is much better than just forgetting to do it.

The Check List

Everywhere

Use source control.
Be consistent with naming conventions.
Create documentation.
Backup everything.
Use code analysis tools.

Database

Use non-clustered indexes on unique identifier columns.
Setup foreign key relationships.
Use a last updated timestamp column.
Add simple audit columns or a history table.
Analyze and tune your database.

Business Logic

Clearly separate business and data logic.
Use some standard patterns and stick with them.
Do not duplicate rules. Data is okay.
Create unit tests.

Web Interface

Make the site accessible.
Use resource files.
Minimize use of server controls.
Separate your HTML, JavaScript and CSS.
Minimize ViewState.
Pay attention to search engine optimization.
Clearly separate presentation and business logic.
Don’t forget a site map, favicon and search provider.
Create user interface unit tests.
Check your site with YSlow.
Load test the site.
Security test the site.
Use a hosting provider.
Minify and combine resources.
Turn on IIS compression.

Process

Stay agile.
Vision before you design.
Design before you develop.
Test after you develop.

The Details

Use source control.

Even for small, one person projects, rollback can save your life. There are plenty of good ones to choose from including VisualSVN, Team Foundation Server, SourceGear Vault or SourceAnywhere. If your going open source, look into CodePlex. A lot of people really hate SourceSafe, but it’s better than nothing.

Be consistent with naming conventions.

There are lots of opinions on naming conventions. Microsoft publishes guidelines for class libraries. Whatever you use, be consistent. Having many developers on the same team with a different set of standards can make the code a mess. Comprise is likely needed. Don’t forget to apply this rule to database also.

Create documentation.

Document the code well with code comments and create high level documentation to explain major sections of the code. You’ll need it in 6 months. You should also document all your requirements and have a solid project management plan. TargetProcess is a great tool to help with this.

Backup everything.

These easiest way to do this is to make sure everything, including database schema is in source control. Then back that up. Mozy is a good choice of this. It will get your data offsite without any manual process. Be sure to backup your documentation, data and anything you choose not to put in source control. Just imagine your building burning down. What would you need to recover and how. It’s also good to test the backups and see if you can recover everything.

Use code analysis tools.

It’s like having an extra code reviewer on staff. And one that actually does review everything. FxCop, StyleCop and Resharper are great for this.

Use non-clustered indexes on unique identifier columns.

Lately I tend to use unique identifiers as primary keys because they are easy to move between environments and don’t require an extra column be added for replication. One gotcha here is the SQL Server Management Studio will default your primary key index to clustered. This is going to make inserts very slow as your database grows.

Setup foreign key relationships.

A lot of developers seem to miss this for some reason. Open up the diagram tool in SQL Server Management Studio and connect those tables.

Use a last updated timestamp column.

Adding a timestamp column is an easy way to determine if your data is stale and someone or something else has changed it while you had it.

Add simple audit columns or a history table.

Putting in a last edited by and on columns can help a lot. An audit trail in a separate table / tables is even more helpful but these tables can get very large.

Analyze and tune your database.

Indexes are your friend, but too many friends can also be a bad thing. Tune that database. Everything will work well when the database is small, so toss some serious amount test data in there. Red Gate’s SQL Data Compare is great for this. While your checking it out look at some of their other tools. They make data almost fun.

Clearly separate business and data logic.

They don’t necessarily need to be in separate class files, but there needs to be a clear separation in logic. Tools like Linq to SQL can start to blur this line, but you at least want some verification and authentication logic on data updates.

Use some standard patterns and stick with them.

Mixing in ADO.Entities, frameworks like CSLA, creating your own lightweight custom collections and DataSets can drive you crazy over time. Especially when logic starts to cross from one set of code to another. Pick something and stick to it.

Do not duplicate rules. Data is okay.

Any piece of business logic should be in one and only one spot. It’s okay to have multiple classes accessing the same data. This is a necessity when dealing with a full object and some simple lists. But don’t duplicate the logic. There should be one block of code that verifies a rule.

Create unit tests.

How many? That’s a long discussion. In general I create enough that I know the system works. If you follow test driven development you probably have a good handle on this. If you find a bug, check you test cases and see if it was something you could have caught. But definitely write these tests.

Make the site accessible.

Microsoft has a very good article that discusses this topic: Building ASP.NET 2.0 Web Sites Using Web Standards. Visual Studio has a few accessibility tools built in, use them, don’t ignore them.

Use resource files.

What percentage of the world speaks your language? Even if you never add a second language, the use of global and local resource files will keep this option open.

Minimize use of server controls.

If you don’t care about the state of a control, consider using standard HTML controls. ASP.NET server controls create extra overhead with long IDs and ViewState.

Separate your HTML, JavaScript and CSS.

I like starting with just HTML and making sure the site is usable without any JavaScript or CSS. This may keep you from putting everything in DIV tags and use lists and headers the way they should be. Also try to use CSS to style the site and leave JavaScript to handle behavior.

Minimize ViewState.

Turn this off at every level you can: page, user control, and server control. It’s unnecessary overhead.

Pay attention to search engine optimization.

If your site is public, don’t ignore SEO until the end. Google provides some good tips in their Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide. And this Professional Search Engine Optimization with ASP.NET is a great book.

Clearly separate presentation and business logic.

Your application could easily start taking on more interfaces like backend processes, web services, mobile apps. Keep the business logic and presentation logic separated to get as much code re-use as possible. But be careful not to start pushing presentation logic back into the business layer, or your going to have just as many problems.

Don’t forget a site map, favicon and search provider.

These are common files to forget. Double check to make sure you have them. Although you might not need the search provider.

Create user interface unit tests.

If the interface doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter how solid the middle layers and database are. I like using WatiN, although it has some issues running a lot of tests in a row. I tend to build my user interface tests based on the test cases created for the user stories.

Check your site with YSlow.

YSlow is a great plug-in for Firefox that will help you identify problems in the client side design of your application. It gives you some very useful performance statistics and suggestions for fixing issues.

Load test the site.

Figure out how many users you need to support and make sure you can. We use Web Performance for this. It’s much more reasonably priced than some of its competitors and still very feature rich. JMeter is a popular free alternative. Don’t assume because your test pass that everything is perfect, but you are much closer to knowing the truth.

Security test the site.

You are really going to want to find these bugs first. Even if you store no serious personal information other than a password, that password is probably being used on many sites by your users. Even some simple injections can make your site look very unprofessional. Wikto is free and easy to use to test the servers for vulnerabilities, but your going to need something like Acunetix to do some deeper application security testing. I good hosting provider may also be able to help.

Use a hosting provider.

Your basement server is not going to cut it when you get dugg. A hosting provider will take a lot of worry off your hands. Even if its a simple ASP.NET shared hosting plan from GoDaddy or a more scalable solution from Amazon.

Minify and combine resources.

Bandwidth and multiple HTTP requests are going to slow your site down a lot. You can do some of this manually or use a product like Runtime Page Optimizer (RPO).

Turn on IIS compression.

Make sure dynamic and static compression is turned on in IIS unless you have a very good reason not to. RPO will do a better job at this than IIS.

Stay agile.

Keep moving forward. Don’t stagnate in one phase. Scrum is a great practice to start with. TargetProcess will also help with this.

Vision before you design.

Stop and think before you build. What is it you are building and why?

Design before you develop.

Don’t just start writing code. Get a set of core user stories together to help you flush out the idea before making any critical architectural decisions. Try not to get bogged down in this for a long period of time. This is also a good time to start writing test cases.

Test after you develop.

You should be testing as you develop, but do a round of testing before each release.

Money

Many of the tools listed above are free, but some cost money. You can get most of what you need without spending a dime. At some point you should evaluate spending the extra money against what it actually saves you. Of course you have to have money to spend it. Always be on the lookout for open source alternatives, but don’t pick something just because its free unless you have no choice.

The Free Zone

Visual Studio Express
SQL Server Express or MySQL
VisualSVN Server and TortoiseSVN
CodePlex
TargetProcess
FxCop
StyleCop
CSLA
NUnit
WatiN
YSlow
JMeter
Wikto

The Paid Zone

Visual Studio Standard or Pro
SQL Server Standard
VisualSVN client
SourceGear Vault
Dynamsoft SourceAnywhere
TargetProcess for larger teams.
Mozy
Resharper
RedGate
Web Performance
Acunetix
Hosting providers
Runtime Page Optimizer

The Oh My God I Got Money To Burn Zone

Visual Studio Team Suite
Team Foundation Server
SQL Server Enterprise
Managed hosting providers
Strangeloop AS1000

Technorati Tags: asp.net

Good Luck Ex-Yahooers, And Anyone Else Out Of Work

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:46:13 -0800

Well, the layoffs hit Yahoo. Good luck to all of you and anyone else losing their job in this unbelievable economic downturn.

We’re all in this together and hopefully things will get better sooner than expected.

Juggle is looking to add another .NET developer with good windows development and database skills if you are looking. Just use the contact form on this blog and I’ll get the right people in touch with you. The position does require that you live in the St. Louis area.

Technorati Tags: Yahoo

XBOX 360 Failure #4

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:01:33 -0800

Good grief. Yet another XBOX has failed, this time it’s the new one from last year. The DVD drive stopped spinning up right after the NXE update.

Microsoft is footing the bill again and thankfully we have 2 so nobody will have to stop using their Lancers. I made it in just under the 1 year maintenance agreement.

But this is by far the least reliable product I have ever owned.

It was this same time last year we had failure #3.

Technorati Tags: microsoft,xbox

Why Microsoft’s Free Anti-Virus Will Matter

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:01:25 -0800

This is in response to a post by John Viega entitled “Why Microsoft’s free AV won’t matter”.

Yes, Microsoft failed with OneCare. But I don’t agree with John on why. (Keep in mind John works for a company that produces AV software, so he is biased, even if he is knowledgeable.)

Let’s look at the three major different kinds of anti-virus users.

Type A – Anti-What-Now?

A large number of consumers don’t care about anti-virus. They might know what it is “sort of”, and they may want to know that their new computer from Best Buy has it, but beyond that, they know nothing. These are the home users that never purchase an anti-virus beyond the 90 day trial or they bought the upgrade simply because a pop up or sales guy told them to.

Type B – Tech Savvy Consumer

You know know what your looking for and you can find it for free. AVG does a great job in this market. These users do not need to be told this stuff is important and they certainly don’t need to pay for help.

Type C – Corporations

From large to small, you know you need it. What you need is very different depending on the size of your organization, but you are likely to buy something because of restrictions on the free licenses. Some small shops will simply use the free stuff anyway. Other very small shops with no tech support will likely fall into the Type A above.

Microsoft failed with Type A because it’s not, and they can’t without legal action, bundle OneCare onto new PCs like Norton can. Microsoft failed with Type B because OneCare cost money and wasn’t as good as many free options. Microsoft failed with Type C because the enterprise was not the target of OneCare and was missing a lot of features.

Microsoft CAN succeed with the free model.

Type A are still lost unless Microsoft more aggressively pushes the availability of the product in Windows Live. Not only do they need to get more people to start downloading Windows Live, but they need to show people that AV is in there and they can happily uninstall the software they are paying for and save money. A campaign with Best Buy and Walmart would go a long way.

Type B is an easy sell if the product works well. This group know about the product so its a matter of trust.

Type C small companies will be the easiest sell. Microsoft will have a free alternative to a paid service and be more visible. My company falls into this group, and while AVG is great, I’ll switch if its going to save us thousands of dollars per year.

Type C large companies are going to be tough unless Microsoft builds in central monitoring. They certainly have the tools and experience to build this into easy network deployment and control. But it will take a few years of a proven track record to start winning them over. Large companies move slow. This adoption along with Type A is going to hurt the AV companies the most.

So yes, Microsoft will make a difference. The rules are changing when a product nobody wants to buy is now free, easy to get and comes from the biggest software company in world. The only thing stopping Microsoft from succeeding, is Microsoft. Push it and adoption will follow. Toss it out there and hope people will use it, and it will fail.

But in the end, free AV should be bundled into the OS like Defender. Screw anti-competitive practices. The companies they are competing with are making a living based on vulnerabilities in the system. Microsoft should have the right to bundle software that secures the OS. And the other guys can sell software to improve or manage it, for those who really WANT it, not everyone who really NEEDS it.

Technorati Tags: microsoft,security,anti-virus

Looking for Load Testing Software

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:51:02 -0700

We are currently using WCAT because we have the Pro version of Visual Studio, not Team System. It's not exactly the easiest or best tool, but it is free.

I'm looking at Web Performance Suite and NeoLoad as a possible replacements but I'm not very familiar with either.

This is what we need:

Ability to load test many users (of course).
Fairly easy to use.
Trace listener would be nice.
Test the output for values using simple matching and regular expressions.
Functional testing in the same package would also be nice.

I could probably solve my problem if I could just run our existing unit tests that also include WatiN tests, but I haven't found a way to do that without spinning up a hole bunch of IE instances. And I would have to create my own reports.

I use to use WAST but that is dying on the vine and I can't get it to run probably on Vista x64, so I need to run it in a virtual machine.

We have tried JMeter, which is quite versatile but the reports and graphs suck.

Suggestions?

Technorati Tags: load test

Ah, the Tech Market in the 90s!

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:53:56 -0700

Great quote from Martin Sheen in the new Paris for President video:

It was the go-go 90s. People invested in a web site that sold dog food because a puppet told them to do it.

ASP.NET Cache and HtmlAnchor HRef Bug

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:28:02 -0700

I just ran into a strange problem where all the links on a list are getting dropped. The anchor tag was still there but the href was gone. I tracked it down to a bug in the cache.

Here is the scenario.

I am building a fairly complex bullet list in code that will change very infrequently so I cache the user control for 24 hours. The problem is anything being built with an HtmlAnchor control is losing the Href value, but not anything else.

This breaks:

var anchor = new HtmlAnchor { HRef = "http://www.juggle.com/", InnerText = "Juggle" };

This works:

var anchor = new HtmlGenericControl("a") { InnerText = "Juggle" };
anchor.Attributes.Add("href", "http://www.juggle.com/");

Now if I try to re-create the bug with a simple test, no luck. It is some other deadly combination. Maybe caching the entire UserControl?

Anyone else seen this bug?

This was the only thing I could find about it.

Problem with HTMLAnchor and ASP.Net Cache

Technorati Tags: asp.net,cache

Are Too Many Good Reviews A Bad Thing?

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:51:30 -0700

Last week I was trying to decide whether to finally go ahead and order Learn and Master Guitar. I'm not sure how I originally found out, but it seems to be a very popular system.

The reviews for it are great. Almost too great. Every review seemed to be so good that I started to question the authenticity of them.

First, take a look at these Google search results for learn and master guitar.

So why not believe them?

The reviews seemed a little too close to the same.
Every link title "is this a scam" lead to an "absolutely not" review.
Why were there so many links with scam in the subject in the first place?
Why were there so many paid advertisement links to reviews?
(This one is the worst.) The site always has a limited time offer sale of $100 off which is about to end. Check back after the expiration date, and the 3 day clock resets.
The award it won seems a little shady.

Everything started to feel like an infomercial or a get rich quick scheme.

So why believe them?

Forums, forums, forums. I really could not find any bad reviews. The worst I found were comments that the system was good but don't expect a magic bullet, or good for beginners (me) but not intermediate players.
Same results on Q & A sites.
Same results on blogs.

Is it really possible that this company is trolling all these sites to put up fake positive reviews?

I know there are some guitar players that read GWB. Anyone know more about this? I plan on supplementing this with real lessons from Melodic Rhythms and The Principals of Correct Practice for Guitar.

Now let's see if I can find time to learn to play, launch juggle.com and start posting more again. My track record of late on GWB has been abysmal.

Technorati Tags: music,guitar,guitar principles,melodic rhythms,learn and master guitar

Steve Ballmer Egged in Hungary (VIDEO)

Wed, 21 May 2008 02:11:59 -0700

He seems to take it better than Bill did the pie.

Steve Ballmer Egged in Hungary - Watch more free videos

Technorati Tags: microsoft,humor,video,steve ballmer

Heroes Happen Somewhere Else

Tue, 06 May 2008 20:30:36 -0700

Just got back from the Microsoft Heroes Happen Here event in St. Louis. It was awful. This is the first event from Microsoft I have walked out on.

The first track was titled Next Gen Web Apps and the presenter spent 15 minutes talking about CSS as if it was new and no one in the audience had ever seen it before.

Next he moved on to LINQ and then lost me as he typed out the samples.

Then we left. Maybe it was going to get better, but I couldn't make it any longer. It was definitely catered to the lowest common denominator and I think most of the people there just wanted to be anywhere but the office. (and free software)

Oh, well. Maybe I'm just having a bad day. Back to the real fun - work.

Technorati Tags: microsoft,heroes happen here

Justice?

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:47:51 -0700

I use to own a Creative Zen. Looks like they got sued and I am entitled to a settlement. But the lawyers are the only winners here.

The two people who filed the suit get $5,000 each.
Everyone else gets a discount on a new product made by the company that screwed them in the first place.
The lawyers get $900,000!!!!

I think the lawyers should get paid in coupons too.

In addition, if you submit a valid claim, you will receive either a 50% discount off the price of a new 1 GB MP3 player, or a discount certificate good for 20% off the price of any single item purchased at www.us.creative.com. To receive the discount player or discount certificate you must submit a claim form available at www.creativehddmp3settlement .com by August 7, 2008. You may submit a claim for each Creative HDD MP3 Player you purchased.

If the settlement is approved, plaintiffs’ counsel will apply for an award of attorneys’ fees and expenses not to exceed $900,000, plus incentive awards for the two representative plaintiffs in the amount of $5,000 each, to be paid separately from and in addition to the relief available to plaintiff class members.