Thursday, May 31, 2007

Hooked on a Feeling

People love to make videos set to the music of various songs. I thought I would look on YouTube, and see if anyone had made any videos based on “Hooked on a Feeling” by Blue Swede. It turns out that lots of people have made videos about that song. Here are a few.

World of Warcraft is Hooked on Gnomes! from BronnTDA



An anime version from from Poet



And one from heroduo



Doctor Who is "Hooked on a Feeling" by TeikaChikata



Kingdom Hearts: Hooked on a Feeling by Nexuslovesaxel



Hooked on a Feeling, a fish falls for a lure.

This one, while not done to the classic song, is cute anyway. By digitalorganix.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Terminator TV Series, Part 2

The trailer for "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" was taken off YouTube. Apparently, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. did not want the free publicity.

No problem, there is plenty of information on the web about this new TV show.

You can find the same video that was on Youtube on Google. video.google.com

According to Wikipedia, “The Sarah Connor Chronicles is an American television series scheduled for debut on the U.S. television network Fox in early 2008.” wikipedia.org

IMDB has an entry. imdb.com

And, you can see clips from the show on Fox. fox.com

I’m looking forward to it!

Find the Lowest Gas Prices in the United States and Canada

As gas prices are going up for the summer, it helps to find ways to save on the price of gas. The site gasbuddy.com will show you the lowest and highest prices for gas in your area.

http://www.gasbuddy.com/

Thursday, May 24, 2007

The Terminator Car

Someone has painted a mural on their car. The paint even glows in the dark! According to the notes, “Phosphor paint. It was sitting in a garage with 10,000W of lights on it. Then they were turned off and picture taken. It glows like that for 3 seconds.”

You can see the photos at englishrussia.com.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

“It’s All About Me” Songs.

You’ve heard songs like this, where the artist just has to sing their own name in the song, just in case you can’t figure out who is doing the singing. I usually think these songs are lame, but some of them are good, once they get over introducing themselves.

1. “I Feel For You” by Chaka Khan

Who sings this song? I dunno. Could it be…

“Chaka, Chaka, Chaka
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Let me rock you
Let me rock you”

That’s right! After this guy shuts up, Chaka Khan will start singing. Oh, now what was her name again?

“Chaka Khan,
Let me rock you
Let me rock you
Chaka Khan
Let me rock you
That's all I wanna do
Chaka Khan, let me rock you
Let me rock you, Chaka Khan
Let me rock you
'Cause I feel for you
Feel for you”

2. “Hollywood Swinging” by Kool and the Gang

“I remember
Not too long ago
I went to a theatre
And I saw the Kool and The Gang show”

Dude, your band saw your band?

3. “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” by Wang Chung

“Everybody have fun tonight
Everybody Wang Chung tonight”

I guess "Wang Chung" is both a noun and a verb.

4. "Float On" by The Floaters

The band members introduce themselves, one at a time, in each of the verses, along with their sign (how 70s) and the kind of woman they like. When it gets Larry’s turn to sign, he can’t think of anything romantic to sing, so he sings “Cancer and my name is Larry, huh. And I like a woman that loves everything and everybody.”

Wow, everything?

I guess that would include you, Larry.

5. "Tighten Up" by Archie Bell and the Drells

First, they introduce the band, and tell us “We don't only sing but we dance just as good as we walk.”

Good for you! Then, in each verse, they introduce another part of the band: the drums, the bass, the guitar, and the organ. Hey, now we got the whole band playing! This must be the end of the song. :)

6. "The Girl Is Mine" by Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney

Two men fighting over the same girl. Who’s singing?

Paul: "Michael, we're not going to fight about this, okay?"

Michael: "Paul, I think I told you, i'm a lover not a fighter."

Oh, I guess that settles it.

7. "Ballroom Blitz" by Sweet

It's a good song, but they can't seem to start it until they take roll call…

"Are you ready, Steve?"

"Aha."

"Andy?"

"Yeah!"

"Mick?"

"OK."

"Alright, fellas, let's go!"

8. "Daydream Believer" by The Monkees

In this case, the lead singer (Davy) doesn't know what song to sing next. Fortunately, the rest of the group can help him out.

Mike Nesmith: "7A"

Davy Jones: "What number is this, Chip?"

Mike, Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Tork: "7A!"

Davy: "Okay, okay, I mean don't get excited guys, just 'cause I'm short, I know."

9. “Cars With The Boom” by L'Trimm

Who likes the cars?

“We like the cars, the cars that go boom,
We're Tigra and Bunny and we like the boom.”

Well, that answers that question.

Finally, to wrap up the list, we have:

10. “The Cover of the Rolling Stone” by Dr. Hook And The Medicine Show

While they don’t mention their names in the song, the whole song is about the band, and trying to get on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. By the way, they did get on the cover:

The cover of the Rolling Stone.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Terminator TV Series

This is the Trailer for "The Sarah Connor Chronicles".



According to CookiesfromHell, The Sarah Connor Chronicles are “a new show based on the adventures of John Connor and Sarah Connor, occurring between the events of Terminator 2 and Terminator 3 (possibly even beyond.)”

”This trailer was shown during the FOX Upfront Presentation on May 17, 2007, it is part of an entire presentation designed for public viewing. Look for it to premiere sometime in early 2008.”

It looks cool! If it makes it to TV, I will watch it.

School Suspends the Student Victim of a False Rumor

The Tennessee High School is sure on the ball here. A friend of student Michael Taylor was mad at him, so the friend started a rumor that Michael had a gun and was going to shoot one of his friends. The rumor started the day after Virginia Tech incident. Last week, Taylor overheard some students talking about some graffiti at the school that warned about a school attack. He joined the students, and told them he had not seen the graffiti.

When the school heard about the rumor about a school attack, did they close the school? Nope; having heard the earlier rumor about Michael, they suspended him from school. How does that make the school safer? Why not suspend the kid who started the first rumor, and try to find out who wrote the graffiti?

Read all about the article at: www.tricities.com

Friday, May 18, 2007

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Play World of Warcraft with the Wii Remote, part 2

People have also figured out how to use the Wii Remote with Windows. For complete instructions, you can go to How to use the WiiMote with WOW.

Here’s a couple videos of the Wii Remote in action.

WiiMote used as a mouse on windows



WiiMote playing Half-Life 2 on a computer

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Top Ten Driving Songs

Granted, I don’t listen to these songs exclusively while driving my car, but they all sing to me, “drive, drive, drive!”

1. “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen

This one’s a gimmie. It’s got a fast beat, and is all about driving, among other things. With lyrics like “baby we were born to run,” let’s get driving.

2. “Crazy on You” by Heart

Not exactly about driving, but it has a fast beat, and the intro to the song sounds like

“DUM, do do do do, DUM, da da,
DUM, do do do do, DUM, da da,
DUM, do do do do,
DUM, do do do do,
DUM, do do do

“If we still have time
We might still get by
Every time I think about it I want to cry”

I have always imagined the intro being about shifting the gears in your car, with the “DUM” being the shift point. Of course, to shift this many times, and this fast, would require a 7-speed transmission, and you to be having the “petal to the metal,” to shift gears so fast.

3. "I'm In Love With My Car” by Queen

My favorite line: “Told my girl I’ll have to forget her, rather buy me a new carburetor.”

4. “Radar Love” by Golden Earring

“I've been drivin' all night, my hand's wet on the wheel
There's a voice in my head that drives my heel
It's my baby callin', says I need you here
And it's half past four and I'm shifting gear.”

5. “I Can't Drive 55” by Sammy Hagar

The way traffic is these days, I can't drive 55 either.


We’ll drop the pace down a notch, and go from driving to cruising.

6. “Fun, Fun, Fun” by The Beach Boys

I can just picture this song in my mind.

“Well she got her daddy’s car
And she cruised through the hamburger stand now
Seems she forgot all about the library
Like she told her old man now
And with the radio blasting
Goes cruising just as fast as she can now
And she’ll have fun fun fun
'til her daddy takes the t-bird away”

7. “Low Rider” by War

War has a number of good driving songs, including "Cisco Kid", and "Summer". But for this list, I will stick with "Low Rider".


Dropping down another notch, here’s a couple of songs for quiet, nighttime driving.

8. “Drive” by The Cars

A good song for driving at night.

9. “Drive You Home” by Garbage

“I never said I was perfect
But I can drive you home”

Great song.


To round off the list, one song you shouldn’t listen to too carefully while driving.

10. “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas

If you follow the lyric “I close my eyes, only for a moment, now the moment’s gone” while driving, you could run into something. I used to do that, but would close my eyes briefly for the word moment only.


That’s my list. Your mileage may vary. And on a similar note, here’s one person’s video list of the 10 Best Classic Rock Songs Ever.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Play World of Warcraft with the Wii Remote.

If you have a Mac, this video provides step by step instructions on how to play WoW with your Wii remote.

Playing the Wii in a Movie Theater

Jon Peck set up his friend's Nintendo Wii in a movie theater, which uses a digital projector to show ads. Here is a video of him playing Wii Sports with it.



For information on how he set it up, go to: http://jonpeck.blogspot.com/2006/12/wii-diculous.html

Friday, May 11, 2007

Japanese Vending Machines

Japan sure likes vending machines! They have vending machines that sell about anything you can think of.

A Typical Japanese Vending Machine
Originally uploaded by K Tils.
Here’s an example of such a vending machine, which sells various beverages.


Ramen Vending Machine #1
Originally uploaded by VERYCOOLWINTER.
This one sells Ramen noodles.

These machines sell ice cream.

You can buy hot food from this one. We should have this in the US!

Hello Kitty Popcorn.


Japanese coffee vending machine
Originally uploaded by _Kempton_.
You can buy coffee here.


battery vending machine
Originally uploaded by rhyminanstealin.
Don't forget your batteries!


Beer Vending Machine
Originally uploaded by jpellgen.
Beer? How does it check your ID?


Vending machine
Originally uploaded by hippoMum.
And cigarettes.


Umbrella Machines
Originally uploaded by originalrobart.
If it rains, you can buy an umbrella.


Japanese Vending Machine
Originally uploaded by k_staszko.
I like vending machines. If I ever travel to Japan, I will check them out!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Play the Piano, While Playing a Video Game

I’m a big fan of multitasking while playing a computer game. For example, if I am cutting logs in a mmorpg game, I will fletch them into bows, and sell them to the store. That way I am working on my wood cutting and fletching skills at the same time, and making a little money.

In this game, based on Space Invaders, you use your keyboard like a piano. To shoot the Valkyrie vessels coming at you, you hit the right key. The keys you hit, if you hit them correctly, will play songs like “Happy Birthday to You”.



To download the game, go to: http://www.free-music-games.net/valkyrie-invaders.html

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Computer Mods

Computer modifications are cool. I like to see the result of someone modifying the looks of their PC or video game cases. Here are some sites on the web I found.

EnVaDoR's Computer Case Creations

He has made computer cases look like a dashboard, guitar, pumpkin, etc.

http://www.envador.com/

XBox 360 Case Mods

Here’s a site with pictures of people’s mods to their Xbox 360 cases.

http://freshpics.blogspot.com/2007/01/xbox-360-case-mods.html

Xbox 360 Laptop

Ben Heck has turned his Xbox 360 into a laptop. He includes instructions on how to make one yourself, if you have the ability. If I tried, I would just break it. :)

http://benheck.com/04-17-2007/xbox-360-laptop-the-second

Remove Your Phone Number from Google

You may not realize it, but if you type a phone number into Google, it will display the information it has on the phone number, including name and address. According to Google, “Our phone and address listings are gathered by a third party provider, which collects telephone directories and other public records available elsewhere on the web.”


But, maybe you don’t want this information to show up on Google. Well, you can remove your phone number from Google, by going to:

http://www.google.com/help/pbremoval.html


Fill out the form, and your phone number is removed.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Alternate Energy Sources

We have all heard about the traditional alternate energy sources, like wind, solar, and nuclear power. But how about sugar energy? According to the BBC, scientists have found a bacteria that can convert sugar into electricity.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3092754.stm

Got a couple of potatoes around the house? How about you run your MP3 player with them?



Potatoes Power My MP3 Player! Amazing! - video powered by Metacafe

I moved some posts.

I moved some of my old posts over to another blog about Jagex's game. You can look at the posts there.

Click on "View my complete profile" to the right to see the other blogs.

Monday, May 07, 2007

Want a cheap PC?

So, you say you want a cheap PC. Maybe not for you, but maybe one of your friends needs a PC to access the Internet, and send email. If that is all you need the PC for, read on.

Free Geek, located in Portland, Oregon, takes old PCs and rebuilds them. If you are dropping off a PC, or PC components, then they ask for a donation to cover their costs. They take the old PCs, repair the ones that are still useable, and install free software on them.

The software that Free Geek installs is a version of the Linux Ubuntu operating system, with the Gnome desktop environment. If you have used Windows before, the basics of Gnome should not be hard to figure out. You can see screenshots of it here: http://www.gnome.org/start/2.0/screenshots/

To get a cheap PC, you can volunteer to work at Free Geek. If you do volunteer work for 24 hours, they will give you a free PC. They will also train you how to use your new software.

So, where is Free Geek? It is in the following cities.

Portland, Oregon

Chicago, Illinois

Columbus, Ohio

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Michigan / Indiana

Tennessee

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Internationally, there are other sites that recycle old PCs. You can find a list of them on Free Geek’s site at:

http://freegeek.org/recyclelink.php

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Cool! Slacker Personalized Radio

I found this on the web. There is a new radio site, at http://www.slacker.com. For now, you can specify on their website the kind of music you like to listen to, and it makes up a custom station with music that similar is style to what you picked. For example, I selected The Doors, and this is what slacker came up with:

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Along with The Doors, it picked bands I have heard of, like Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead, and bands I have not heard of, like Love and The Pretty Things. A good way to find new music.

Soon, there will be a Slacker Portable Player, so you can listen to your music anywhere. My understanding is that it will use wi-fi to download music to your player. But for now, check out the web player.