It's Finally Here!

I have good news if you have service from Netflix. Since they began their Instant Watch service it has only been available for a PC. That changes NOW! Well ok, not now but really soon (by the end of the year for sure). Netflix has decided to change it's online video player. I'm not sure what program they are using right now but they are changing it to Microsoft Silverlight. If you're not familiar with Silverlight, it's a pretty neat web based video player. It made it's first major debut on NBCOlymics.com during the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing. It has been growing in popularity ever since. But why is this such a big deal? Well it meas that if you are reading this blog on a Intel-based Mac computer (pretty much any machine that has been purchased in the past 2+ years) you will soon be able to watch Netflix Instant Watch service. Yes, you did read that right. Netflix Instant Watch is finally going to be accessible to Mac users (this is going to make my wife very happy)! Instant watch streams are also available on the Netflix created box the Roku. If you have the LG BD300 Blu-ray player and the Samsung BD-P2550 and BD-P2500 Blu-ray players you can view instant watch content there as well. Also coming very soon Xbox 360 will have streaming instant watch on it too. The full press release of all of this information is available here. Mac users prepare to WATCH!

9 days left

If you live in the United States of America, you may have heard there is an election coming up. I'm not here to tell you what I think about the candidates (if you know me you know what I think). I'm not here to judge your decisions. I'm here for my what seems to be annual plea. VOTE! Please vote, to be truely honest, I don't care who you vote for. Even if you don't vote in all the races that are happening, but please, please vote. Election day in the US is Novemeber 4th. Most states are past registration dates but you can still check if you have all of your information in line by clicking on the title of this post or by going to www.canivote.org. Please Vote!

Ok, I'll get off of my soapbox now. Thank you for reading.

Radio and TV Legend

Don LaFontaine, James Earl Jones, John O'Hurley, Zeus, Scott Shannon and Don Pardo. What do all of these men have in common? Every one of them is know for their voice. Don LaFontaine was Mr. Movie voice, he died on labor day. James Earl Jones is the voice of CNN (yes, he's the guy who says in that deep voice "This is CNN") and probably more famously Darth Vader in Star Wars among other roles in a variety of movies. John O'Hurley is one you may not know that well he played Peterman in Seinfeld (Elaine's boss), he's also done a lot of other TV and radio voice work. Zeus, is another one a lot of people have not heard of, works for radio and TV and once you know his voice you always recognize it. Scott Shannon, he's currently working in New York doing a variety of voice work and is probably best known for starting the Z format of radio. Don Pardo, however, is in a league all his own.
Don Pardo was born in 1918. In 1944 he joined NBC as a live on-air voice talent. It was his voice on Novemeber 22, 1963 that broke the news that President Kennedy had been shot. He announced for several game shows on NBC including Jepoardy, until the orginal run ended in 1975. He has been lending his now famous pipes to NBC's Saturday Night Live since it began in 1975. In 2008, despite having retired in 2004 Don celebrated his 90th birthday on the air (at the end of the Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood Episode). NBC flies Pardo from his home in Arizona to New York every week in order to have him live at the SNL studios. Pardo still voices SNL and is considered the last of the lifetime employee's that NBC has. I have had the chance to listen to a couple of interviews involving Pardo. He says he can no longer say the word "Live" correctly because of the number of how he says it for SNL. He says it in what many characterize as classic "puke" radio voice. It will be a sad day when Don finally signs off, whether that will be from a real retirement or from death it will be a very sad day.
I talked about this a little earlier but I want to re-mention it here. Radio, television and film lost a great voice talent earlier this week. Don LaFontaine died September 1st. He has lent his voice talent to thousands of movie trailers, commercials and promotions. His trademark line was "In a world...", he makes fun of himself in a Gieco commercial in one of his last TV apperances in 2006. Don LaFontaine, truely one of the greatest voice talents, his wonderful voice will be missed.
While I know I'm about 9 months late, Happy 90th birthday Don Pardo, your voice is one of the biggest reasons I watch SNL! Oh and don't miss the season premier of Saturday Night Live Saturday, September 13, 2008. Michael Phelps is hosting, the musical guest is 'Lil Wayne. I starts at 11:29, check your local listings to be sure. If you're watching in Canada, you can catch it on the Global Television network. Enjoy season 34 of SNL!

One of these days!

One of these days I'm going to finish the projects I've started.
One of these days I'm going to decide what I'm going to do with my life.
One of these days I'm going to actually post another podcast.
One of these days I'm going to land the perfect interview at work.
One of these days I'm going to have the perfect shift at work, one with no mistakes at all.
One of these days our apartment will be clean and stay that way.
One of these days we'll find a place for everything we own.
One of these days I'll get an iPhone.
One of these days I'll get a new TV.
One of these days I'll get cable or satellite or both.
One of these days I'll have enough to get everything done.
One of these days I'll start my own business.
One of these days I'll go back to school.
One of these days I'll actually get my law degree.
One of these days I won't have to worry about money.
One of these days I will quit saying "one of these days."
One of these days I won't complain at least for that day.

I know this is a little different from me but I'm in one of those moods. I feel as though everything will happen one of these days but nothing will happen now. I feel like I'm running in circles no matter how hard I try to move forward. One of these days...one of these days...TODAY can be that day! But we almost always say one of these days. Why not today? If you're having "one of those days" I hope this helps a little. Here is a quote from a song that reminded me about "one of these days."

One of these days
I'm gonna see the hands that took the nails for me
One of these days
I'm gonna hold the keys to the mansion built for me
One of these days
I'm gonna walk the streets of gold that were paved for me
One of these days
I'm gonna see my Savior face to face
One of these days

FFH "One Of These Days" 1999 Originally from the Album "I Want to be Like You". It was re-released on Far From Home: The FFH Collection. The video can be found here.

Podcasting

Yeah, I know, you would think a geek like me would have had a podcast a long time ago. Well I didn't until a few days ago. The links are on the right side of the page. If you have questions shoot me an email. I'm open to suggestions about what to talk about and right now there is only one download for my podcast. Enjoy!

The Feeling

I know this doesn't just happen to me. I'm sitting at my parents house watching Grill It on Food Network and I can't help but think that there was something I was going to blog about today. Of course its only about the 15th time I've said, I should blog about that in the past few days. I've got to start carrying around a notebook or palm pilot again. Maybe that's another case for me to get an iPhone (if Shelly sees this her eye's will roll again). But come on, I would really like to only carry around one thing, instead of my current 3 (laptop and 2 cell phones). If I had an iPhone I could just carry that and leave my laptop at home...ok, I'll quit. Now if I could just remember what I actually wanted to blog about...I guess it's back to a reporters notepad or a palm pilot. Later.

Impending DOOM!!! Or Not

Many of you are already aware of the fact that in the United States television broadcasts are going all digital in February of 2009 (February 17 to be exact). Yet, this Friday (July 19th) a full 6 months before the transition is going to take place a local Portland, OR TV station is going to "'pull the plug' to help viewers find out if their TV is ready for the conversion to Digital TV." Found here or by clicking on the title of this blog you can find out what KGW Channel 8 in Portland is planning on doing. My question for KGW is simple, what do they hope to prove by running this so called "test"?

Let me explain why I ask that question. I'm not ready for the digital switch, why those of you who know me might ask, it's strictly a money thing. I'm waiting as long as a can to buy a new TV so I can enjoy digital in all its High Definition glory. Sure I know I can request a rebate from the federal government to buy a analog to digital signal converter but why do that when I can have a new tuner built into my new TV. I would imagine that there are a few million other Americans who are thinking along the same wavelength as me. KGW's idea of turning off an analog transmitter to tell me something I already know is completely dumb. While it's only a 10 second test, let me give you a possible scenario of what could happen.
The news starts as normal. The reporter in the field gets ready to do is DTV report. The reporter turns off the analog transmitter on cue. 10 seconds later he trys to turn it back on. Nothing happens, he re-flips the switch, still nothing. Now he's wasting his time and my time in trying to prove that we need to get ready for the switch. Why should I have to watch 10 seconds of static so some TV station can prove something I already know.

I'll be ready for the switch to digital/HD TV in February of 2009, NOT July of 2008. Get a clue KGW, you're just going to wind up offending and/or panicking a large portion of your viewing audience.

By the way if you want to know more about the switch to digital here are some links you can check out:
DTVanswers.com

TV Converter Box Coupon Program

Wikipedia's DTV page.

You can also shoot me an email sharpeonair at yahoo dot com (obviously put that into email format at = @ dot = .). Thank you for reading!

Twitter

It's the latest and greatest thing out there...Ok, maybe not but it is pretty cool to me. But hey, I'm a geek right. It's called Twitter. You go to Twitter.com and just sign up. From there you answer the question "What are you doing?" It doesn't matter how much or how little you "tweet." In my case I update from Outlook using a program called OutTwit or online at Twitter.com. If you have a Mac you can use a program called Twitterific among others. While Twitterific isn't available for PC there are other programs out there that work fairly well. If you have Vista you can also get a sidebar plugin that may work for you. You can also recieve "tweets" on your cell phone via text messages or using mobile web through sites like hahlo.com. Oh, and if you want to add me on your twitter page, it's ve6erc. Enjoy!

Need to Post

I know, I haven't put anything up in several months. I haven't had a whole lot to write about. Maybe I will get some inspiration in the next couple of weeks. Anyhow, if you want to message me or follow me on twitter or whatever, there are links on the right side of the page. Thanks for visiting!

A Book

So I stayed up way to late last night reading a wonderful book. The author is William P. Young. Born in Alberta, Canada and raised in New Guinea. The book he wrote? It's simply called "The Shack." I have never read anything quite like this book. My mom handed it to me and said, "Read this, I'm not going to explain it, just read it." So when I picked it up last night at about 11:30, I figured I'd read it for a few minutes and put it down and go to sleep. Maybe it was the cold room I was in, maybe it was the authors writing style but something kept me reading until about 2 this morning. Yes, I read it cover to cover. What a story! I would highly reccommend reading it for yourself. You can find out more about the author and book at www.theshackbook.com. The authors' blog, which I would say wait until after you have read the book to read that is www.windrumors.com (some of what is written here won't make sense even if you do read it before the book). If you are having trouble with something in your life, even if it is the smallest thing in the world, this is a book that will help you. I know it will help me. If you have already read it, give it to someone else to read, if you haven't go get it, it's worth the 3 plus hours to read it. Tell me what you think by either commenting or emailing or myspacing me. Yes, I know this post is a bit cryptic, it is intentional. I don't want to give away any part of the book. Like I said read it, then go to the authors blog and the book website.