Monthly Archives: May 2007

Sanctuary For All

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This just caught my eye recently: a web-based SciFi show starring know actors, shooting for “broadcast quality” episodes, called Sanctuary. The first few webisodes are free, but they want you to pay $1.99 for each 15 minute segment. You personally might not like the subject matter (deals with some scary creatures), but you have to at least admit that the concept of releasing broadcast quality material online is a good idea. The Star Wars TV show, which is being produced independently of any TV network, may follow suit.

So far, I like the first two episodes. Every once and a while, I catch a stylistic choice with the CG that I personally wouldn’t have chosen, but that’s really just me. Even with it’s imperfections, I am still more excited about this now than I am about the new Star Wars shows that are being worked on. I know – that’s SciFi blasphemy. But the recent preview of the new Clone Wars CG series was just, well… flat. Could be good – but why do all the characters walk like they are constipated?

I’ve heard some complaints about the price for Sanctuary. The argument being that real TV is free. I guess if you don’t have something called cable that might be a good argument – but not really. No TV is free. Commercials pay for our “free” TV. Those commercials cause the companies to jack up prices to pay for their advertising budget. So, you see, no television is free.

You can view the first four episodes online for free, as they are released, here. Here is the first episode (two are out so far):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K-v4MJScz0

Doritos X-13-D Flavor

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Katie and Matt Blog

While on a recent grocery run, Katie and I saw this black bag of Doritos. All it said for flavor was X-13-D. Maybe these are everywhere, but it was the first time I ever saw it. It’s some kind of name the flavor contest. Anyway – to us, it tasted just like a Wendy’s burger. I guess they can’t use that name. But still kind of cool.

iPhone is Just Around the Corner

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And I am pretty excited. I can’t afford one, but it is still awesome.

But – I can’t really gripe about the price. $500 seems a lot for a Smart Phone, but I don’t think most people should see the iPhone as a Smart Phone. Smart Phones tend to have some lite version of an OS installed – Palm OS, or Windows for Mobiles, or whatever. This severally limits their functionality.

The iPhone will have a full version of OS X installed on it – the same version that is on the iMac and the Powerbook. So, the iPhone is not really Apple’s version of the Smart phone. It is a PowerBook, an iPod, and a cellphone all wrapped in to one. All for $500. Actually – a pretty good deal.

Not to mention the fact that all of the other smart phones out there usually either sacrifice the mp3 player or the OS. They usually don’t do both well.

Lost Theory: Jacob Uses People For Entertainment

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Coming up with theories about Lost is much more difficult than coming up with theories about Heroes. With Heroes – you basically know who everyone is and what they are capable of. You know where the current season is going. You just want to know if they are going to succeed or fail. With Lost – you don’t really know any of this. You really don’t even know where they are. Or if they are even alive. I love both shows, and the direction they are both going. It just makes it harder to predict stuff. I already have three more Heroes theories to post, if I ever get the time.

Here is what I think (on Lost): Jacob is some type of supernatural being that is in control of the island. He could do what he wanted on the island because most people could not see him. He brought people to the island to live out some type of vicarious life through them. There have been plenty of other SciFi series that explore this. Usually, it’s an alien species that brings people into some type of virtual reality deal, and then uses their memories as entertainment. Jacob brings people to the island, and then his metaphorical “box” brings in people from their past to see how they react.

Somewhere, somehow the Dharma Initiative found this island and set up their stations to observe the unusual stuff going on. They were able to set up the barriers and the sealed stations to keep Jacob from using them. This started the war between the hostiles and the Dharma. When the hostiles won, the found that Ben was the only one that could “see” Jacob. So Ben became their leader, and Jacob started using the left over Dharma stuff to bring in people. Dharma had been using the sub to bring in people because water acts as a barrier to the effects of the island that causes planes and helicopters to crash.

But, now that the homing beacon is gone and no one can leave the island – no new people are coming. And this is hurting Jacob some how. Or, because Ben can see Jacob, he is able to exert some control over Jacob. You kind of saw this is the current episode. This is also hurting Jacob – so he needs Locke’s help.

Heroes Theory: Death of DL, Ando, & Sylar

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Here is my big prediction for next week on Heroes: DL will be killed by Sylar. Here is my reasoning:

  1. NBC and Wikipedia have already stated that a hero will die next week.
  2. We saw last week (set 5 years in the future) that Nikki said DL and Micah die in the explosion. The online graphic novel also reveals that she didn’t know Peter or Hiro, so she obviously gets separated from her family in the next episode. Especially since she doesn’t die in the explosion.
  3. We see this week that DL can pull other people through walls with his powers.
  4. We saw last week that Sylar has this same power in the future. So far, the writers of Heroes seem to be showing that no two heroes have the exact same powers. So, Sylar probably killed DL sometime around the bomb exploding.
  5. This is probably why FutureHiro thought Sylar could heal himself. When he stabbed Sylar, Sylar got all sinister on FutureHiro and acted like he was hurt, when in reality the blade was just passing through him. He then knocks Hiro back and Hiro teleports out of there.

Because of this, here is what I would like to see:

  1. Hiro goes to attack Sylar, and 20 Hiros appear around him. Each time Hiro tries to kill Sylar, he fails, and then thinks of something new to try, and teleports back a few minutes in time to try his new idea. Each time he appears to the existing Hiro(s) and says “stop! that won’t work. Try this ____” They then try the new idea. Finally, at the 20th time, we see the idea work and they stop Sylar. As the viewers, we only get to see the 20th time, and it works.
  2. During the season break, the online graphic novels explores everything that could have happened in the next five years if the bomb doesn’t stop.

But, knowing how TV writers work, here is the lame thing that actually happens:

Hiro figures out that Ando dying is what set the bomb events in motion. He sacrifices himself to save Ando, and that changes the future, and somehow stops the bomb.

I want Hiro AND Ando to live. Actually, I want all of the heroes to live. Killing characters on TV shows is so cliche now….

TxDLA Conference Presentations

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Katie and I were both selected to present at the 2007 TxDLA (Texas Distance Learning Association) conference. Katie’s presentation was called “Moodle for High School: Practical Use for Blended Learning.” I had two presentations: “Web2.0 Alphabet Soup: CSS, RSS, XML, and AJAX” and “3-D Learning Management System: Moodle + Second Life.” The PowerPoints for these presentations can be downloaded here. Also, the session for Web2.0 was recorded. You can find a low quality audio recording here.

Overall, we had a great time at the conference. Coming home was hard due to a cancelled flight, but at least we made it. At the end of May, I am going to be traveling to Austin to present at a conference. One presentation will be on the difference between blogs and discussion boards in online education, and the other will be another presentation on Web2.0.