Hi all.

My brother made a video and entered a contest to spend a day with his food hero Anthony Bourdain.

http://yourtrip.travelchannel.com/clip.aspx?key=30ACEB7C705DB535

Please watch. And if you like it please vote and rate it 5 stars. Help make his dream come true.

Thanks mysterious people who read this blog!
-Jeff

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UPDATED:
For those wondering, my brother was selected and was flown out to NYC to be filmed as part of this Contest. He didn't win, but hey... Not Bad!

Since we had previously talked about HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, and what format was going to win the format war, I present the following update:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/02/15/toshiba_rumored_to_quit_hd_dvd_as_wal_mart_pulls_support.html

In short, Blu-ray has won. I say it's safe to buy a blu-ray player and DVD's. 2001: A Space Odyssey is currently available.

While the American porn producers associate had been supporting HD-DVD that endorsement has little importance anymore as the majority of pornographic content is delivered online, including HD content. So, unlike BETA and VHS porn didn't not dictate the winner. Or did it?

See, the question now is if Blu-Ray will win the new war between downloaded/streamed movie content. People have stopped buying physical copies of porn movies because they can just download them online. Now, Apple has already begun to phase out DVDs in its hardware, focusing on the electronic delivery of video content and software. Just look at MacBook air (no DVD drive) and Apple TV (with it's HD movie rentals for $4.99).

I feel that the future of RENTALS is definitely going in the direction of downloaded/streaming content via Apple or Netflix. And if the prices of Blu-Ray stay at their current premium those rentals could gain more ground against physical purchases.

Al Gore and Joel Hyatt who founded Current TV and Current.com announced plans to file for an IPO that could raise up to $100 million, according to reports.

in 2002 the company launched Current TV (currently in over 50 million TV homes) and current.com and anticipated the user generated content craze that has swept the web.

One thing is still missing though for me... scripted fiction content.

David Lynch talks about watching films on a cell phone. Clip from special edition of Inland Empire.

(The music and graphics were added by "the super awesome xmas.")

According to a story over at Businessweek, Apple is close to adding Warner Bros. and Paramount to the growing list of companies signing up to allow movie rentals via iTunes.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2008/tc2008016_825385.htm

Yep, you read that headline correctly.

Via Forbes:
Antitrust: Apple accused of bullying Microsoft

Thanks to Podcastingnews.com for finding this one. It's a great site. If you're not checking it out already, you should.

If you’re planning on buying an iPod, Zune or other portable media player for your kids, you may want to think twice before buying it at Wal-Mart.

According to several reports, the company has been selling used media players as new ones. Some parents have even found that the players that they bought for their kids were filled with porn!
In Cookeville, Texas, the family of a 10-year-old girl who received an MP3 video player for Christmas was shocked when it found the player was loaded with explicit songs and porn.

“Within 10 minutes, my daughter was crying,” Cookeville resident Daryl Hill told Nashville, Tenn., TV station WSMV.

The Hills had bought three MP3 players for their children that came from a Wal-Mart store in Sparta, Tenn. It turns out one of the MP3 players had been returned to the store from a previous owner who loaded sex clips, graphic war scenes and songs that they found offensive.

In a similar case in Orangeville, Ontario, Mike Matthews was disturbed to find out that the iPod that Santa left for his 10-year-old son was filled with material he considered inappropriate.
The first thing he found on the iPod was a song titled I F- - - g Hate You.
Godsmack’s I F*cking Hate You features the less than kid-friendly chorus:
I f*cking hate you
You’re such a liar
And I love to hate you
You’re all the same to me
F*ck you (f*ck you)
F*ck you (f*ck you)
F*ck you (f*ck you)
F*ck you (f*ck you)

Mr. Matthews said the player, which had been purchased at a Wal-Mart in Wasaga Beach, was obviously used. Wal-Mart said it has a policy of selling only new merchandise, and the used player may have been returned to the shelves by accident.

Always Low Prices For Porn-Filled Zunes

While buying an iPod at Wal-Mart may be risky, buying a Zune there can be even riskier.
A couple from Chicago gave their 12-year-old daughter a Zune as a Christmas present. Unfortunately, the device came with a special surprise - an hour and 44 minute “homosexual orgy.”
According to the couple, the Zune package had been tampered with and the Zune charger was missing. When they complained to the Wal-Mart where they purchased the Zune, the store manager blamed the situation on Microsoft.

Well, this is a big moment. Once again the competition between David Letterman and Jay Leno is at a fever pitch.

As many of you must know, tonight marked the return of Latenight talk shows. Leno, Conan, and Jimmy Kimmel are returning without writers. David letterman and Craig Ferguson are returning WITH writers. David Letterman's company World Wide Pants was able to secure a contract with the Writer's Guild of America.

Leno is scabbing, but he is following guild rules and only writing jokes for himself - although he keeps claiming that his wife gave her input and wrote along with him. I kind of find that comment to be, well, insulting to the writers who bust their ass to come up with jokes night after night. Jay also filled out his monologue by including a year in review cartoon from Jib Jab. Seems like an odd choice. OK, we know the cartoon was written and produced by Jib Jab and then acquired by NBCUni and the Tonight Show, but isn't it in bad taste to show a cartoon from a company famous for WEB CONTENT when the writers are striking over that very issue?

I've got to give Jay credit for writing his own monologue, it wasn't horrible. Who knows how well he will be able to keep it up night after night. To become the host of the Tonight Show he must really be funny and have the skills, but doing it night after night is tough. I have to give him props for congratulating Letterman on his ability to secure a contract. Good form.

Letterman on the other hand, well, he's been killing.
First, Dave grew a crazy beard. A strike beard. It's an excellent reminder that he's been gone.
Dave had a solid monologue as well. He always seems to do his best at times like this. Remember when he came back after 9/11?
The best line of the monologue came from Biff who interrupted Dave and asked when the writers were going to return.
"They have" said Letterman.
After a short pause Biff replied, "Oh, *thinks* Sorry."

Throughout the show, and I'm writing this as it's all going down, Dave has continued to remind us how he's the only show on the air with writers. Well, him and Craig Ferguson (who's show Letterman owns). Dave likes to remind us that he's sticking it to the man and yeah, he is.

Another good moment came during Dave's first desk piece. Imagine it - Dave is answering questions from the audience and the final joke comes due; it's cut short. Dave's head writer comes out to remind us that without writers this segment wouldn't be happening and that it's the producers and networks who are keeping us viewers from seeing the final joke: "Dave holding a pair of flaming underpants."

Leno also took questions from the audience, his questions and answers were a bit more personal and for once - not scripted like normal audience question and answer sessions. This was a real highlight as Jay always seems to do best when he's interacting with people. His wit was sharp and when an audience member didn't ask a question and used the moment to declare her love for Mike Huckabee, Jay's retort was killer: "This isn't some Monica Lewinsky thing is it?" That put her in her place.

Huckabee was Leno's first guest. Dave had Robin Williams. Who won that one? I'd say Dave. Williams was really hilarious - and oh yeah, they once again happened to mention the strike and showed photos of Robin Williams in the picket lines. ...OK Dave we get the point. But, I have to admit, I like it.

While Dave did a "Know your staff" segment Jay had a cooking segment with Emeril Lagassee. Dave's segment was touching, Leno funny.

I'm not really sure what the point of Dave's segment was. I mean, he should have no problem getting guests; right? It was just him and one of the associate producers... talking. In fact, it was the first segment that didn't have a reference to the writers strike. Hummm...

As I sit during this final commercial break, I need to note one moment that stood out as a highlight for me. Dave's Top Ten List. I'm not really that big on the Top Ten list. It's a classic segment though and it was nice to see it return. Tonight Dave covered the "Top Ten Demands of the Striking Writers" ...Or something to that effect.

The list was read by the writers of the shows Law and Order, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Daytime TV soaps, and others. This was a nice reminder that this isn't a competition between shows. It's just about writers sticking together to get paid for what, in my opinion, they deserve. Solidarity Forever.

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BEARD UPDATE:
Conan (also a WGA member who is scabbing) grew a beard in a sign of solidarity and Craig Ferguson's show opened with a long sketch with him in Scotland with a huge long beard. Ferguson is hilarious tonight.

....as I flip the station Conan is dancing... Filling time I guess. Yep. He's now drinking water to kill time. Classic.

It's good to have everyone back.

Now let's just get the writers back too.

Alright, enough typing, time to just shut up and WATCH!

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Updated final thought: I didn't realize it until the end of the show tonight, but Craig Ferguson did his entire show without a single guest. He did a whole show of solid comedy sketches. It was hilarious. Well done. Well done.

According to a new end-of-2007 survey conducted by Peanut Labs, Inc, 58% of Gen-Y'ers say they are watching "about the same amount" of TV since the writers' strike began. The group also reports not viewing an increase in the amount of online video content, with 47% saying they have not watched more since the strike.

47% is a lot, when you think about it.

According to Cynopsis.com...

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton has broken all ties with YouTube and is testing a white label video service called Twistage to make PerezHilton.com the destination for his video postings, according to TVWeek. Despite attracting 1.5 million unique visitors in Nov., the blogger has only received $5,000 in ad sharing revenue from YouTube as part of its partner program.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is expected to make an official announcement during his Macworld Expo keynote on Jan. 14 to announcing plans to make 20th Century Fox and Disney movies available as online rentals, according to various reports online. As a result, shares of Apple stock crossed the $200 mark last week.

Customers would pay a fee to download titles viewable on computers, iPods and presumably Apple TV devices that would expire after a short window of time.

Netflix, Amazon.com and Blockbuster's Movielink are competitors in this space. Personally, I like the Netflix "Watch Now" feature a lot.

Wal-Mart, however, pulled the plug on its video download service late last month as Hewlett Packard decided to discontinue the back-office technology that powered it. The service, popular with studios because it offered variable pricing, struggled with compatibility issues as Wal-Mart downloads could not be burned to DVDs or watched on video iPods.