The View From Here

To prove that there are no true friends in Hollywood...

"I hope you'll stay with us as long as you want." - Barbara Walters, to Star Jones, on the day Jones announced she was leaving The View.

"Regrettably, Star will no longer be on this program." - Barbara Walters, the next day.

Not only that, the opening credits for the show the next day were sans Star Jones. The website is the same way. Stalin still inspires.

Teddy Bear USB Drive Gets Stuck In Computer

I can understand why someone would want to make a USB flash drive inside a teddy bear but while everything looks good on paper, the final product didn't. In this case, you take the teddy bear's head off to reveal the USB adapter, plug it in on the computer and it can look like the cute bear is stuck in the computer. READ

James Woods Poker Face

James Woods, one of my favorite actors, is a serious poker player.

11:52 a.m.
Clad in all black, wearing aviator sunglasses and a HollywoodPoker.com shirt, and carrying a white iPod Nano cranking Rolling Stones, Bob Seger, and Aerosmith ditties, Woods settles in: table 3, seat 3. Here, he's known as Jimmy. "I don't need luck because I'm going to win the f---ing thing. I'm serious."

I'd love to see the playlist he has on that iPod. I've heard Woods is a cool guy and the Entertainment Weekly reporter who was there for the tournament noted that Woods said hello to everyone he could, stopped playing to pose for a photo with a fan and danced a jig later in the evening. Seriously had fun.

Swigen Is Back!

Deadwood has returned to HBO for 12 episodes. Unfortunately, it looks like season 3 will be the last. HBO and David Milch, the show's executive producer, writer and creator, said there will be two two hour movies to wrap up the series.

In the meantime, check out the real versions of the various characters here.

With the demise of Deadwood and The Sopranos, maybe it's time for me to really think about getting rid of all the movie channels and explore services like Netflix and Blockbuster's similar offering as an alternate.

Cell Phones Don't Lie

al-Zarqawi (on cell phone): Eh? Can you hear me now?
NSA Agent tracking call: Sure can, bud! Sending my calling card right now!
F-16 pilot overhead: Yippee-Kiyay Mo-Fo!
Bomb: boom!

Apparently the military was able to track al-Zarqawi to his location at the safehouse via his cell phone. Read.

Cell Phone: Free with new service.
Tracking bad guy to administer justice: priceless.

Nintendo's Game

This Sunday, the Nintendo DS Lite will be officially released in the United States. I mentioned that Sunday, June 11 is the official release date because some Target, Toys 'R Us and Walmart locations have broken the release date by putting them on the shelves shortly after Memorial Day.

This dual-screen handheld game console is total redesign of the Nintendo DS released in 2004. While the original DS was pretty good, the industrial design could have been better and the Lite intends to remedy all that. The biggest change is a much smaller and slimmer case and a brighter screen.

In the good ol' days, you hooked up several Nintendo GameBoys to have multi-player action in Tetris. Now, it's all wireless and you can even connect with a special server to play people all over the internet for free.

While I like my Sony PSP handheld game console, I find the Niintendo DS to be a better gaming handheld. Sure, the PSP can play video, display pictures, connect to the internet with a web browser and play music and the graphics may be better than the Nintendo DS but it tries so hard to be everything. The DS is simply a gaming console and tries not to be anything more. I originally thought the dual-screen to be a novelty but instead, has turned into something very useful. Not only that, at $129, is a better price point for kids than the PSP.

The one thing the PSP has that I wish the DS had is expandable memory. That memory card slot has made the PSP a favorite with hackers who have come out with homebrew games. Sony is trying hard to combat the homebrews but maybe it will be worth it to embrace the hacking community. Both could tolerate having a small keyboard for entering text.

Personally, I don't like comparing one videogame system to another. They all have their pluses and minuses. I also think the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP are targeting different things.

Now, back to those stores that broke the June 11 street date. Some folks have come up with crafty ways to pry the DS Lites out of the stockrooms at Targe and Walmart. I checked at my local Target but the electronics department manager is wise to the whole thing. He won't pull the DS Lite pallet out of the stock room until Sunday morning because he wants to make sure he has enough units on hand that day because the DS Lite will be in the Target ads included with the Sunday newspaper.

Unlike the Xbox 360, I'm pretty confident there will be units available for purchase Sunday because the handheld games are not as popular as things like the Xbox 360, PS2 or the soon-to-be-released Playstation 3.

Nintendo will release their new gaming console in Novmeber. The development project for this new console was called Revolution. The release name will be Wii. Don't let the stupid name fool you. I've been reading up on the Wii and it looks to be something to check out.

Aside from being cheaper and smaller than the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3, the Wii will be sporting a unit hand controller. By moving the controller in a certain fashion, you can, on-screen, wield a sword, hike a football, swing a tennis racket or aim a futuristic rifle at hostile Martians.

A product manager at Electronic Arts said the new controller system is challenging their game programmers in a positive way. You have to take games like Madden Football and totally rethink the controller code.

Speaking of new ideas in videogaming, there is a new game for the Nintendo DS called Brain Age. This is a videogame of sorts that allows you to exercise your brain. There are also some word and number puzzles. I might pick this game up to check it out. You can find out more about Brain Age here.

Wikipedia.org, of course, has some nice write-ups on the Nintendo DS, Nintendo DS Lite, and Sony PSP.

Brannigan...Must It Be On DVD?

The Good
John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn
Humphrey Bogart instead of Ronald Reagan in Casablanca
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones

According to Entertainment Weekly, here are some other famous close calls that didn't happen. Let's call it The Bad.

— Chris O'Donnell and Claire Danes in Titanic.
— Cher and Melanie Griffith in Thelma & Louise.
— Molly Ringwald in Pretty Woman.

This was in an article about the release onto DVD of the John Wayne movie, "Branigan."

And then, there's The Ugly. Castings that happened that really shouldn't have.

- I still contend that while he did a decent job, Mel Gibson was improperly cast in Hamlet. He was too old.
- Leonardo Dicaprio in Titanic. He redeemed himself with The Aviator.
- George Clooney as Batman. Chris O'Donnell as Robin was pretty repulsive too.

There were some great comments online to the story. One of the best was this:

I've read the comments that John Wayne can not "act." I feel that people tend to judge him based on his later-years, off-screen persona, when he himself confused the "man" with the "legend." John Wayne did not become an icon because he could not act! He became an icon because he projected what it meant to be "American" and "heroic" at a time when people needed someone and something to believe in. He was, is, and will forever be a "Movie Star" - an icon of the Silver Screen. Pop "The Searchers," "Red River," "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence," or "She Wore a Yellow RIbbon" in your DVD player and watch a world-class actor at the peek of his talents. Sure he made some duds, but name a legend who didn't. As far as his not joining the army, remember that he was in his 40's with a family. Well past the average age of recruits. He "played" heroes even if he was not one himself...and that is okay. Clark Gable did not fight in the Civil War, nor did Bogart ever step foot in Casablanca...

Still, Brannigan was pretty bad. Make your DVD player feel better with The Quiet Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, El Dorado/Rio Lobo, The Sons of Katie Elder, Sands of Iwo Jima, They Were Expendable, The Wings of Eagles (a personal favorite), Donovan's Reef, North to Alaska, True Grit/Rooster Cogburn, The Shootist (his last film), In Harm's Way, and way too many others.

I've never seen The Quiet Man but I've heard so many people say it was his best role. Hmmm...rental time.

Congress Out Of Tune

From CNN.com this morning:

The Senate is set to vote this morning on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, even though supporters concede the measure doesn't have enough votes to win. "I don't believe there's any issue that's more important than this one," said Republican Sen. David Vitter.

How about the economy, immigration, Social Security or even the little things like congressional ethics.

Yeah, clearly another sign that Congress is out of touch with the American people.