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Graboid needs a new brain
2008-04-28 05:28:00
The premise of this software is excellent. One place to find all kinds of movies, tv shows and other such fun things from across the world. It is especially great for streaming older shows where most sites have nothing but dead links. The quality is great and it seems like it should take off. Unfortunately it is a messy program with a ton of problems and very few solutions. I joined and chose to pay for more bandwidth because of the amount of tv I watch. I couldn't open the program without having to download all over again. This kept happening. Then suddenly it refused to stream anything. A few minutes later the whole thing stopped working. The problem with graboid's support is the fact that it's a forum. Meaning you will never find the answer to anything. And one solution causes three other problems. If it were free (which it is if you want a smaller amount of bandwidth) I wouldn't be grumbling. But I paid for this and got very little out of it before it died on me. No one has ...
More About: Brain

Gossip Girl Gay Character Outed
2008-04-24 07:19:00
Don't read this if you want a spoiler free Gossip Girl experience.The rumours about a a possible gay character on GG have been confirmed, by none other than Kelly Rutherford (Lilly van der Woodsen) who mentioned it during an interview. The gay character will be her son, Eric - who is outed when Jenny finds him kissing her new boyfriend. Juicy!   
More About: Character , Gossip Girl

Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Awesome
2008-04-22 04:31:00
I haven't been to the movies in awhile. The last trip up the aisles was to see that appalling Will Ferrell vehicle, Semi Pro. It sucked hardcore and was nothing like I have come to expect from Ferrell and the Frat Pack. This week, I ventured out again to catch Jason Segel (How I met your mother's Marshall) in his new movie, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. All I knew about this movie was its producer (The lucky streaker Judd Apatow) and the writer (Jason Segel himself). Also something about a male nude scene, Veronica Mars and Jackie from That 70s Show. I know all about Knocked Up and Superbad. They were great. Forgetting Sarah Marshall knocks them both out of the water. Russell Brand completely surprised me with his sense of timing and delivery, he was the character you want to hate but can't bring yourself to because he is just that hilarious. Jason Segel plays his usual character, kinda wimpy, soppy, lovemuppetty, but he does it well which is why he keeps doing it. Kristen Bell was ...
More About: Awesome

TV Retrospective Pt 2: Dead Like Me
2008-04-21 00:40:00
  Dead Like Me ended its two year run in 2004, but to me it was brand new. I bought it off amazon on a hunch, looked at the package warily for weeks and last weekend dove into it. I wasn't disappointed. Dead Like Me is the story of George Lass, a college dropout with no future, no goals and not much of a life. On her mother's orders, she signs up with a temp agency and on her first lunch break, is killed by a toilet seat from the MIR space station. She is recruited as a Grim Reaper and joins a quirky group of Reapers, struggling to balance the unpaid reaping job with a real one and dealing with her death and her family's reaction to it. The show is quirky, just the way I like it. It is funny too, with Ellen Muth playng George - delivering wonderful lines, timely and straight on the mark. George really got me as a character. This girl was me when I was 18. Hell, she's me now. This was the girl who had a promising future as a kid but grew into moody, sullen adolescence a...
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Advertise with Tattling On
2008-04-17 00:21:00
Tattling is now accepting ads. Unique page views are higher than ever and rss subscribers are growing in number too. So, I will be selling two spots, one above the fold and one below. Both 125X125 and they will run for one month. Email me at jessicafrancespaul at gmail dot com for pricing details. Oh I forgot to mention that the prices are in entrecards or cash, it's up to you.    
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Facebook is impinging on my personal space
2008-04-13 05:00:00
Have you seen Facebook 's new 'feature'? It is this little box down the side that declares, 'People you may know' and then shoves a whole bunch of random people down the side, stating that if you know them, why not add them? The problem with this is that they also have complete strangers who happen to be friends with people you are friends with already. So Facebook figures, if you're friends with their friends, then you should be friends with them! Uh I don't think so Facebook. Most of the friends I already have on Facebook are tenuous connections at best. People from primary school, randoms from high school and that one girl I met once at that party I barely remember attending. Now Facebook is making me be friends with her friends from some kind of goth cult thing. Why does Zuckerberg and Co. assume that we have the same interests as other people's friends? Here's an example of how this is supposed to work. I am friends with Tina and Bryan through one english class at unive...
More About: Personal , Space

TV Retrospective Part 1
2008-04-10 03:36:00
Today I cast my mind back to the days of the Gilmore Girls. I miss this show - with their locquacious, witty and sly sense of humor - I always walked away feeling like someone has done something good in the world. The Gilmore Girls was a great show for so many reasons. I'd like to say it was predominantly the presence of a sense of magic that seemed to emanate from the show. That mother daughter relationship was nothing short of spectacular. How many real life mothers and daughters watched it together, bringing them closer if only for forty minutes a week? For awhile there, watching the Gilmore Girls was the only thing my mother and I could agree on. Other relationships were pretty magical too, sure it was sometimes frothy and over the top, but at other times it was pure heart. Remember the day Jess came to town? Yum. Or the friendship between Rory and Lane, sticking together through the stormiest of weathers. Luke was a wonderful banter partner for Lorelai, slower, more sarcastic ...
More About: Part , Retrospective

Frantic
2008-04-09 02:17:00
There is a difference between asking for freelance work and actually receiving it. I am frantic trying to complete a task with 1 day's notice on a subject I have no clue about, doing my normal job and starting a uni assignment. Methinks I am too ambitious. Because of my crazy overload, I won't be posting today (this doesn't count) but I will be doing a retrospective series on some of my favourite tv shows that have now gone to television heaven starting tomorrow.  Stay tuned!  

Entrecard's new system
2008-04-08 12:45:00
                     I tried to log into Entrecard this afternoon and was mildly irritated when it wouldn't let me in. Half an hour later I was in and woe betide, my entrecards were suddenly worth a whole lot less than they were this morning. Imagine my surprise when I found out that we had switched over to a new system of figuring out how much an ad is worth. Instead of the old, 'drops divided by 5 days' system, it is now a 'you are however many cards want you' system. So essentially, if you have 5 people wanting to advertise with you, you get your base price of 2 multiplied by itself five times, giving you 62. (I think) This has its benefits for the smaller blogs but it is blown way out of proportion for the more popular ones. I saw one blog with an ad price of 2042 ecs and a 'too expensive' label under it. This then forces the price down and thus creates an apparently more equitable system. I a...
More About: System

Celebrity Skin
2008-04-07 00:18:00
As a kid, I was fortunate enough to have clear skin. Most of my teenage years were pretty lucky too - a couple of blemishes, no big deal. My friends were going through some major skin trauma back in those days, with full blown acne and alot of concealer and hair covering half their faces. I never understood the embarrassment of acne until about a month ago when I woke up startled to find all sorts of spots on my chin. Sure, this happens once in a while - hormones and all that - but suddenly my face had a life of its own and no amount of clearing gel stuff was getting rid of it.So in dire need, I turned to Jessica Simpson. After all, she had bad teenage skin. So too apparently, did Jennifer Love Hewitt, Britney Spears and Vanessa Williams. And Kelly Clarkson! If they used a product to make it all go away then surely I could use it too. Here's the problem with proactiv, the ad never mentions how much benzoyl peroxide is in each product. There is also no mention in the ad about r...
More About: Skin , Celebrity

Show of the month - Greek
2008-04-04 04:21:00
 I got interested in Greek because of Facebook. I'm sure many you kids will have seen that one of the 'Gift of the Day' was in fact a Greek red plastic cup - presumably for some kind of illicit alcoholic substance. So I tuned in. Watched every episode aired back to back..and absolutely loved it. Yes, it's mainly fluff and no, it doesn't score any points for great cinematography or innovative plotlines, nor does it push the boundaries of television. What it is is a simple soap with solid characters, witty dialogue and a setting that has intrigued me since..well..Sweet Valley University. I have hesitated writing about Greek for a couple of weeks now just because there didn't seem to be any stand out moments. The show delivered last night. I noticed last week that the Dean looked very familiar. For some reason he reminded me of the Principal from The Breakfast Club. Last  night I paused on his face and figured it out - it's Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off! The r...
More About: Show , Month

Comp!!
2008-04-03 23:59:00
Jean Brunet is running a fantastic April Contest over at Sizzling Popcorn. Anyone can enter, just make sure you know the rules and regulations in your country. The prizes are: 1 Amazon.com gift card with $25 and 1 Amazon.ca gift card worth $25.2 gift cards! Go enter now and support this fantastic site.  
More About: Comp

Sort of Comp
2008-04-01 00:40:00
Redesign! My excuse is my eternal boredom and itch for change. I've noticed that my entrecard page is sorely lacking in recommendations. So if you would like to write one for me, I'll give you 50 entrecards! I will also favourite your blog.  Just send me a message on entrecard to let me know you've written a recommendation.  Thanks to all of you who read my blog, you're special.
More About: Comp , Sort

Creepy people get things done
2008-03-31 06:09:00
I only recently heard about this bizarre phenomenon of 'Getting Things Done'. It was during an episode of Dead Like Me, when Dolores shows George her website with 24/7 webcam showing the world how she 'Gets Things Done'. I assumed this was some kind of weird plot device to expose Dolores as an even bigger nutcase than audiences originally thought. Turns out, it's like..a thing. It's a 'way of life' dealing with productivity and being super efficient and 'clearing your mind of clutter'. There are 43 folders. There's a guy who started all of this and is making money by forcing you to buy 43 manila folders. This is no system of productivity. This is a cult. Here's the proof from that guy's website: Implementing GTD alleviates the feeling of overwhelm, instills confidence, and releases a flood of creative energy. It provides structure without constraint, managing details with maximum flexibility. The system rigorously adheres to the core principles of productivity, whi...
More About: People , Creepy

Advertising with reviews
2008-03-29 21:50:00
Most bloggers I know have ads on their sidebar, so do I. It is an easy way to make a little bit of money whilst writing but I've found it a little harder because those ads are not targeted specifically to my content.  That's why I like that other way of  making money -  reviews.  Again, it's been hard trying to find ones that suit my blog but I just signed on with Snapbomb, who provides you with an updated list of opportunities that suit your blog best. Another thing I like is the fact that they tell me how much I should expect to get paid based on my blog content. Easier this way and also, no waiting periods!Just sign on with Snapbomb and write a nd a review for them like this one and start making money. 
More About: Reviews , Advertising

Vacancy over at The Hills
2008-03-27 23:03:00
I eagerly awaited the new season of The Hills . Yes, I'm hopelessly addicted to the skinny, brown and blonde sun bunnies and their hopeless, wasteoid lives. The first episode was an epic one hour long bonanza. There was Paris, sleazy French dudes, the snowy mountains of Colorado - all serving a fantastical background for the scripted 'reality'  show.  Is it just me or are they getting dumber? - LC has perfected the art of the blank stare. The camera trains on her frozen face at least three times this episode. What is she thinking? Does she loathe herself? Why does she answer in slow motion? Is it really that hard to come up with a response? I worry about LC. She was so clever in Laguna Beach.  LA has destroyed her. - Where was Audrina? A fuzzy voice on the phone doesn't cut it. Such a pity, I was hanging for a look at her with clothes on. - Whitney also seems to have the blank stare thing down. Props to her though, for diplomatic responses and foresight. ...
More About: Vacancy

What you missed this week
2008-03-25 10:46:00
   Some of you lovely feed readers may have noticed that I've been out of action for a few days. Thanks for noticing, why no message of concern? I've been ill and away and on holidays all at the same time so my apologies if anyone missed me. I realise I'm apologising to that one guy who only skims my blog to get his entrecard drop but hey, dude, you are valued. So this is stuff you missed whilst I was gone:The Buffy the Vampire Slayer reunion at the Paley Centre. Check out more youtube clips on..well...youtube. I shed a small tear. Good god Michelle Trachtenberg grew up! Check her out on Gossip Girl this month. I checked out Southland Tales, because it was hyped as the next big thing from the guy who directed Donnie Darko. It was disappointing. All style and multiple confusing story lines, no greatness, no subtlety, no Donnie.  A few great pop culture references didn't make up for the overwrought post adolescent, 'boo' to Hollywood thing he was trying to pull of...
More About: Week

The Future of Television : All about Carson
2008-03-18 23:29:00
The Future of Television conference is being held in LA next week. It looks interesting. There are lots of great speakers discussing digital trends and reality television and all of that wonderful meaty stuff. Presidents of networks will be in attendance, as will CEO's and General Managers of digital media, like Ashwin Navin from BitTorrent. There will even be some movie producers speaking. All of this looks fantastic, I can't wait to see what the outcome will be of the panel discussions. Then I scroll a little further down and see this: Keynote, Carson Daly. Erm. Did I miss something? Is Carson Daly now at the forefront of cutting edge television and digital convergence? Does he hold a secret marketing gem in his very large head that he will share to his underlings at this event? Is he GOD? All the other sessions list what topics will be covered. Carson's merely says 'Keynote'. What will he talk about? The questions keep coming. I won't be able to sleep tonight.
More About: The Future

What happened to Cinema?
2008-03-18 00:48:00
This is not a rhetorical question. I can't find a single great movie out there to watch. Not a one.  For some weird distribution reason, movies like Run Fat Boy, Run are only just being released in the States and Australia. I saw this movie last year in the UK. Another oddity is movies like Vantage Point are screening this month when I distinctly remember watching the preview trailer for it at least a year ago. What's up with that? Southland Tales seems to have missed the Australian market completely (thanks distributors!) so I'll have to watch it sneakily a bit later. I have a feeling it's going to be slightly disappointing. You can't keep flagging the whole 'Director of Donnie Darko' thing unless your next film is just as good as Donnie Darko - or better. I doubt Southland Tales will live up to my grand expectations.
More About: Cinema

The Rascist Flavour of Australia
2008-03-10 01:09:00
Let me first say that I am very proud to call this country my home. I am Singaporean by birth and was naturalised in 2000. I got a eucalyptus plant and everything. I love this country and all the wonderful things it has afforded me, a great education and numerous opportunities to do evrything I've ever wanted. Lately though I've noticed that there is a section of the community (in Sydney at least) who espouse rascist views without actually knowing it. They don't believe themselves to be rascist and some even vehemently oppose that tag but everything they say and do bleeds jingoism and a very caucasian-centric view. After the Cronulla Riots of 2005, everyone got a little bit uncomfortable and hot under the collar everytime  race was mentioned.  Then things died down but never really went away. I have to say now that I have never experienced overt rascism from white Australia ns. In fact, the only time I feel like I'm being singled out is when I'm around people of I...

For continuity's sake!
2008-03-08 10:01:00
One of my many and varied hobbies is to download a whole bunch of tv shows and watching them all in a row. I've done it with The Gilmore Girls, Nip/Tuck (which incidentally, has gotten so wildly unbelievable it's starting to gross me out), Scrubs, Friday Night Lights and a whole bunch more. One of the things you inevitably notice when doing this is the lack of continuity in alot of shows. Sometimes you'll notice a different entrance to a house from one season to the next or silly things like that. I've been stuck on That 70s Show for the last few weeks, up to season 7 and determined to see my way through. Some of it is fantastic, some of it is lame, and that's all well and good but I've never seen a series that is so incredibly screwed up in terms of continuity.  Here are the few I've noticed: - Eric is 17 when the show starts. 5 seasons later, he celebrates his 18th birthday. And they definitely make mention of the fact that it has been 5 years since the start of the sh...

Famous people and their stupid blogs
2008-03-06 22:51:00
  Blogs written by celebrities are usually pretty cool. They mainly exist to negate bad press the tabloids give them and fair enough, someone has to vouch for them.  Some of them are basic 'i'm just human like you' type blogs which are littered with memes and daily life stuff and then again some are heartfelt letters to fans discussing upcoming work. I have a few favorites. Zac Braff always delivers the goods, as does Adam Duritz.  John Mayer is pretty funny if a bit ranty and I've always been a fan of Wil Wheaton's blog. I recently found James Frey's blog. For those few who are unaware, James Frey wrote a memoir a few years back detailing is horrific struggle with alcohol addiction and his fight to get sober. It was a thrilling, moving and well written account of a harrowing time. Pity some of it was a big fat lie.  Fine James Frey,  you apologised. We sort of forgive you. At the very least, we've moved on to other more recent memoir publishers/...
More About: People , Stupid , Famous

Sex and the City: Making it all worthwhile
2008-03-05 03:06:00
The new sex and the city trailer, extended and impossibly tasty. Now I have something else to watch when I'm depressed and  needing some sweet New York City gloss.  What do you make of Carrie's potential dumping at the alar? And what of Steve's little indiscretion? Why does this show have such a hold on most females?
More About: Sex and the City

Fake memoirs means more money
2008-03-04 04:29:00
Margaret Seltzer aka Margaret B. Jones, is in trouble.  As a little girl, she probably dreamt of being a published writer. She made her dreams come true by writing her memoirs about being half Native American - half white, growing up in South Central Los Angeles, being a witness to murders and joining the Bloods. Pretty amazing life story, even the NY Times and Amazon thought so. Apparently her sister knows Margaret's life story alot better than Margaret herself. Having spied a glowing review of the book in the papers, Big Sis called the paper to inform them that kid sister Margaret is a big, all white, Valley living liar. I have no objection to authors making things up in order to sell a book. It is largely called 'Fiction' in publishing circles. Why did she have to write a 'memoir'? I still have a bitter taste in my mouth from the James Frey incident.
More About: Money , Fake , Memoirs

Marion Cotillard: Insane
2008-03-03 00:50:00
It usually takes an Oscar winner a couple of years to dry up. (Cuba Gooding Jnr, anyone?) It's taken Marion Cotillard one week to effectively destroy her potential U.S career. Here are Marion's tips  on how to ruin a good thing: * Make everyone fall in love with you with a gushy sentimental Oscar speech.* Do a week of press and tell everyone you're looking forward to working with Americans*Tell the world that 9/11 was a conspiracy theory made up by business to pull down the 'money sucking towers'*Add that the moon landing was probably fake (she has a point there)*Tell journalists that you don't believe what the media tells you. Marion - 1, Media and Terrorists (probably one and the same according to Marion) - 0
More About: Insane

My iPod hates me today
2008-02-27 22:29:00
The thing has a mind of its own. This morning I put it on shuffle as I walked to the train station, unwittingly chirpy. Then my iPod started playing Counting Crows' Anna Begins. Great song, one of my favourites. But really, I wasn't in the mood. So I hit next and I get Radiohead. It doesn't even matter which song, their all depressing. Hit next again. Ben Harper with The Drugs don't work. My funeral song. What was my iPod trying to say? It kept up the melancholy theme, a sad Barenaked Ladies tune, a sad dittyfrom Eric Clapton, another one from Dolly Parton, Sheryl Crow and then the kicker, three sad tunes in a row from the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack. So I am now thoroughly depressed  with vague thoughts of offing myself with some kind of poisonous mushroom. Apple has definitely programmed the iPod to kill. Also, I can see you judging my music library.  Stop it. Like you don't have any dirty secret songs hidden in your mp3 collection.
More About: Ipod , Today

Bitch is the new black!
2008-02-27 09:25:00
I finally got a chance to watch Saturday Night Live today. The first new episode since the writer's strike. I found it a little lacking to be honest, most of the sketches didn't hold my attention for very long (which is not hard to do seeing as I have the attention span of a pea) but I was disappointed since this was Tina Fey's script and I love that woman to pieces. She made up for it during the news update with that ringing endorsement for Hillary Clinton. Finally, someone had the guts to say what I know many of us women (girl? lady?) have always thought...Bitch is the new black baby! That monologue stole the show. I may just keep it because it was that awesome. Here's a transcript because the bastards at nbc pulled the clip. A partial rough transcript via MyDD: Tina Fey: 'I want to say something about those calling Hillary a bitch.'Bitches get shit done. (Amy says yeah and starts nodding her head in rhythmn and saying more yeahs, uh huhs and a you go girl.) Like b...
More About: Black

Felicity: Hair back, great acting again
2008-02-26 05:12:00
Just caught Keri Russell in Waitress last night. I have to say I was a little surprised. I was expecting some kind of schmalzy cheese loving romantic comedy featuring funnily named pies (take a look at the poster,  how can you take it seriously?) but came away thinking it to be sweet, sharp and most importantly: hilarious. I remember watching the season of Felicity that everyone hated. I don't think anyone actually paid attention to it, they were too busy looking at Keri's new shorn head. In truth, I found that particular season to be illuminating, insightful and most importantly: hilarious. I repeat myself with emphatic gestures because Keri is definitely showing herself to be one hell of a comedic actress. The script, by the late Adrienne Shelley (and no more shall be said about that) is superb. My favourite bit of dialogue is between Nathan Fillion (props for casting, I heart Joss) and Keri when he asks her out for coffee. Dr Pomenter: Would you like to have a coffee with ...
More About: Great , Hair , Acting , Back

Entrecard: my new friend
2008-02-24 22:22:00
I first heard about Entrecard when I started this blog. I signed up and looked at the dashboard and was befuddled. I just didn't get it. (Reports of my slowness are well founded.) Then I started reading reviews from my favourite bloggers about how awesome it was. But the catch, they said, was the incessant 'dropping' of cards that is needed i order to actually have the system work for you. I am very lazy. This whole dropping thing didn't tickle my fancy. But then I noticed that even though I had no entrecard widget on my page, I was still getting hits.  So I figured I'd add a widget and see what happened. I also started religiously dropping my card on other sites. (When I say religiously, it really means that the shows I downloaded totally didn't work and I had to re-download them so while I waited, I played entrecard tag.) Lo and Behold, I am now getting quite a large proportion of hits from entrecard users. There is a slight problem with this.  In my limited droppi...
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