I do realize that there are some articles on the this site that people may still want access to so I do not plan to immediately turn the site off or anything like that.  Hoprfully though I will be back into the full swing of writing first thing in February.

I have enjoyed writing these articles and have been very thankful for the support.  I don’t think I would have ever done it for this long if not for all of you.  Again please look out for my newer stuff and all the excellent material at The Website of Doom.  Anyways, ttfn, ta ta for now.

Now for a brief explanation.  During the past few weeks, I have been working on a side project with local friends.  This will not replace SHSOB or any other writing I will do but simply add to it.  Also much like the articles I write over at The Website of DOOM! these new posts will be on a separate site entirely.  Just as a slight hint, the website is inspired by a combination of the Kelly brothers, hosts of Zer0cast, and Widgett Walls, the man behind NeedCoffee.com.

On the note of The Website of DOOM! I will also be back to writing those a.c.t.a.s.a.p. (Sorry Aaron and John).  This I promise.  Until then I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season.

The most obvious benefit is sound quality.  However this isn’t the only reason for their recording quality.  From what I have gleaned in conversations the two take great pride in only releasing what they themselves consider quality.  I am not sure which is the editor of the show but the quality is most certainly professional from the first episode.  While undermixes can be distracting in some podcasts Citation Needed seems to have mastered that mix early as well.  I actually had to check while writing this review to see if they use one.  I would say that certainly counts as unobtrusive.

The host and hostess are a delight.  I’m not sure how I would classify the dynamic of their relationship, but I would start with it being obviously friends.  It actually seems they have known one another for sometime and maybe planned out the hosting ahead of time.  I say this because it is unusual for the talking to be so evenly and fairly distributed.

Now topics are hard to pinpoint.  Pornography does seem to be a recurring theme however.  These conversations tends to be in jest or on occasion judgmental or even more rarely serious.  Either way it tends to be their other conversations that shine through.  Although this isn’t to say the sexual ones are not interesting just not what I was originally expecting in the show.

Overall, I have found yet another winner.  You  can find them on their own site as well as itunes.  Make sure this one gets added to your list of podcasts!

However with this added convenience I noticed some weird things.  Rather than staying on major highways the GPS seemed to want me going through towns.  Now this may have been the shorter distance but with the tremendous drop in time it may have still taken the same, if not more, time.

What I want to know is if some of these towns have deals with the GPS companies.  Maybe purposely leading drivers into tourist traps.  If this isn’t the case then towns and GPS companies are really missing out on a great idea.  I figure this would work similar to Google’s sponsored search results.  Except in this case most people wouldn’t know that they needed to change it.  Well that is if it is the default.  Of course the towns could also benefit.  Maybe offer real services instead of just the plague of tourist traps.  Or maybe at least become famous for a certain food or restaurant.

Again if this isn’t already the case maybe the people that make TomTom or Magellan GPS devices should contact me.  That way they can pay me for the idea and maybe a GPS without the “ads” implemented.  ^_~

Since Halloween past I have received numerous emails about Black Friday sales.  Now that wouldn’t be a big deal if it wasn’t for the fact that they are advertising the sale for nearly the entire week of Thanksgiving.  On top of that I’ve received coupons for even better deals applicable for most of the month.

Seems that not only is Black Friday a misnomer since it is applied to more than one day but that it will not have its intended affects.  Black Friday is suppose to be the one day of the year that companies are out of the “red”.  By spreading the sales out so far there isn’t a particular day to spike sales.  Without the assumed need to buy on a particular day, I think less people will actually flock to the stores.

The stores need to think over this idea and maybe go back to the old one day concept.  The two months of sales definitely doesn’t scream limited sales price to me.

Now one of the main differences is in the timeline.  Casablanca relies heavily on a flashback sequence to understand the story.  To Have and Have Not on the other hand was directed by Howard Hawks.  Hawks often avoided unusual story telling tactics, relying more on the story you needed versus the need for a backstory to fill in the gaps.  Now while I would never say that it is better than Casablanca, some people might find the linear story a little easier to handle.

Now given it helps that Humphrey Bogart was in both.  I’ve actually never seen a bad movie with Bogart in it.  On top of that I feel confident that if it is out there, Bogart is probably still fantastic regardless.  Lauren Bacall’s character is also more likable, in my opinion.  She plays a strong woman who is not willing to just do what Bogart’s character tells her to do.  Yes she still falls for him but not to the extent of being dependent on him.

If you enjoyed Casablanca or are a film aficionado, you need to give this one an equal look for the comparisons alone.  You should also see it if you got bored during Casablanca as this To Have and Have Not may be easier to handle.

Now I am not saying the comedy is witty or amazing.  It is simple comedy, similar to how most people would tease their friends.  Sandler and James seem to get the majority of the good lines.  Which seems a little unfair as Rock gets put into a more sheepish role and Schneider has to rely on his ridiculous character for his laughs.  Spade lucks out versus the other two though as he gets some lines as well as just being the target of jokes.

Plot wise, you need to go somewhere else.  The movie is entirely for the laughs.  There are loose ends that are totally left open and some characters clearly don’t learn a lesson.  The good part is that’s still not the point.  This movie is for the laughs.  Don’t come in for a series movie, don’t come expecting a witty satire, come in looking for some cheap laughs.  If you do that, you’ll enjoy it for what it is.  A simple comedy that requires no thought to find the humour.

The show takes these situations and plays them out.  The main star of the show is William Shatner who plays the titular character.  And Mr. Shatner indeed plays the role well and delivers his lines perfectly.  The other characters while still interesting and talented have nothing to do with the Twitter account and really only known if you watch the show.

However, while the characters are fun and the actors are doing their jobs the show itself seems off.  The premise seems to be that every line has to be a witty remark.  In real life this isn’t the case so I’m not sure why it needs to be in the show.  To add insult to the injury there is, what seems to be, an unending laugh track to the show.  Every comment whether it is actually funny or not gets a laugh track.  But don’t worry the actual funny comments are still noticeable because that is when they turn the volume up on the laugh track.  Pretty sure the laugh track could be turned off for a lot more of this show and that would make it a lot better.

If you enjoy the book or the Twitter account avoid this show.  If you have a hard time understanding humour or lack a sense of humour, than you’re probably safe to watch this show.

This year however I started seeing Xmas themed commercials the day before Halloween.  What makes it worse I saw some Xmas stuff being brought out halfway through October in one store.  I’m waiting for the day I can do something like the comic below.

The other concern I have is that by spreading Xmas sales across more months we won’t have the same economic benefits.  Normally people have to wait for “Black Friday” but in recent years you can get some of those same deals from October all the way to Xmas day.  I don’t know too much about economics so I’m not sure if this has any overall ramifications on the market but it seems like it probably does.

I guess more than anything I’d like to see the Xmas commercials when they are a little more timely.  Although an alternate idea is to just combine the decorations.  That could be pretty cool.

Well after some research it seems they have no really unique history.  The first recorded patent design dates all the way back to 1874.  The cool tools seem to be the sporf and the knork.  Sporf seems to be the perfect tool for camping.  I mean all the utensils are combined into one.  Only part that looks uncomforable is that it is a serated blade built right into the handle.  Well that and if you switch around too many times it seems like it would become increasingly messy.

The knork on the other hand seems to be simply a pastry fork.  The only problem is that all of these seem to be derived from the need to carry around less utensils.  I’m not sure how necessary this is since each utensil serves a purpose of its own.  Even so, I think it would be interesting to have an entire kitchen stocked with one of these combination utensils or to visist someone else’s kitchen with them.  Hopefully I will have something of more substance later this week.