Author: Andy Labis

Website Issues, “A History of Violence,” and The Indians Lost, At Least TV Gets Back to Normal.

By:

The Dude on the Right
So last I left with how God might have messed up with Hurricane Katrina and how
I was pissed at my cable company for messing up with the Indians/White Sox
broadcast, but I suppose I should just let that all go since the hurricane stuff
was mostly based on wacky religious postings and Hurricane Rita didn’t hit
Houston like it was supposed to, and then, of course, the Cleveland Indians,
coming on strong, really choked, as apposed to the White Sox who found
themselves winning games like they were at the beginning of the season.  At
least I don’t really have to worry that much about watching the baseball
championships on TV, I’ve got too many other shows to watch anyway, although I’m
still pissed about The W.B. moving "Smallville" against "Survivor."

I’m finally catching up on things after a couple of weeks of tweaking some
website design issues that were bugging me, most of which none of you will
notice, but I just wanted to tidy up the place a bit, thus delaying a lot of
postings and podcastings.  So, posted now are reviews of "A
History of Violence," "Flightplan,"
and "The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy" DVD, the last, which, sadly, didn’t have
that much cool on this release but the movie was okay viewing the second time
around.

This week I’m working on a podcast review of the movies I’ve seen, a podcast
and website review of the new Bon Jovi and Crazy Frog CD’s, getting back on the
concert trail, as well as still trying to catch that damn penguin movie everyone
seems to like.  September just ended, kinda like the

Green Day song, and there are only three months left in 2005.  For me,
2005 has really been a hell of a year so far, a lot good, a lot bad, and maybe
it’s been the same for some of you out there, but the Holidays are coming, as
well as Howard Stern going to
Sirius (farting is supposed to start this
Thursday, and farts are always funny, and in all fairness and disclosure, I do
own some of their stock),
Paris broke
up with Paris, Renee is back on the market, so is Jennifer, and I’ve got two
months to lose some weight and beat my sister in our second bet.  It’s
looking to be a busy three months for the rest of 2005.  Good luck, we’re
all going to need it, I think.

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Our Blog: How Can a Major Cable TV Company Screw Up So Bad?

By:

The Dude on the Right
I was going to do this Blog about hurricane Rita and how I figured God must have
messed up with Katrina, but instead, my blog has quickly shifted to my being
totally pissed at the cable TV company called Comcast.  Why?  Simply
because at the time of this writing, it’s 7:42PM, CDT, at least according to my
computer, and their sports channel, who took the rights from the Fox Sports
channel, is still out on my cable system.  Normally I wouldn’t care, except
tonight is the rubber match for this three game series between the Chicago White
Sox and the Cleveland Indians.  That’s right, the channel simply says "No
signal."  These people don’t even have a back-up to say something like "We
are experiencing technical difficulties."  Nope, just a blank, fucking,
screen, and I hate to get blue with this blog, but I find this unbelievable from
one of the largest cable companies in the United States, at least without the
ability to put something real on my screen.  This wouldn’t even be an
issue, except this is a game that can DECIDE THE WINNER OF THE DIVISION. 
I’ve seen dozens of other sport’s broadcasts where they have technical
difficulties, but at worst, they have, on screen, something saying they are
having problems with the broadcast, and at least better, have the broadcasters
on telephones, at least giving the play-by-play, even without the video. 
Yea, I know, I could find a radio and get the game, but I pay way too much money
for my cable TV, so I am way pissed off.  I just did a quick check of the
Major League Baseball site, I see my Indians scored a run, and I can’t watch it
because, well, now I’m stuck watching Martha Stewart in her Apprentice version. 
Fine, I hate to admit that I sort of wanted to see that show, but right now,
baseball takes a lot more precedence over what Martha will say when she cans
someone.  Yes, I did call the cable company, and they said they are having
problems, but the dude on the phone, who seemed nice enough, said he had no idea
when the problem would be fixed.  The problem isn’t when it will be fixed,
it’s just that why should I have to call?  Why can’t you put something on
my TV screen that says there are problems going on, rather than just "No
signal."

Oh, by the way, for this episode, Martha said "Jeffrey, you just don’t fit
in."  Then told him "Goodbye," and wrote him a note.  But now it’s
time for "Lost," and hopefully the game will be back on, otherwise, I’ll just
have to keep watching my internet screen to seen the Gameday Live update.

If I can get to another blog tomorrow, I’ll explain how God must have messed
up, but for now I’m just pissed.

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

A Quick “Just Like Heaven” Review, Too Much Television, and How Do You Pronounce “Zooey Deschanel?”

By:

The Dude on the Right
The third podcast gives a quick review of "Just
Like Heaven" and why Stu Gotz thinks I’m a puss, some of my television
viewing issues, and just ramblings.  If you’re listening to these first
Podcasts, thanks, and feel free to send me some feedback, more technical like
the sound volume is okay, and even if you think my Podcasts suck.  I’m
working on it, and I’ve got some hardware things to fix, so hopefully they’ll
get better as we go along.  Again,  because I’m still working on
designing this entire podcast thing, in any case, if you want to subscribe to
our podcast, use this
Feedburner
link.

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Download and Listen Here Subscribe Here

There’s Just Too Much TV, and The Cleveland Indians Aren’t Helping.

By:

The Dude on the Right
Only a few days into the fall television season, and I am quickly realizing that
I am

screwed because now baseball is getting in the way. Pretty much having lived
in the Chicago area longer than I lived in the Cleveland area, I aligned myself
with the Cubs. But at the
beginning of this baseball season, the
Chicago White Sox were
going crazy, and it was just baseball that was fun to watch. My
Cleveland Indians weren’t
doing all that great, and lord knows the Cubs were all over the map that you
couldn’t get around them, and I’m not saying my allegiance shifted from the Cubs
to the White Sox, but I would find it cool to get a playoff team that seemed
destined to go all the way, so I started rooting for the Sox. But then a couple
of funny things happened. First, the White Sox started not playing so well.
Second, the Indians started playing phenomenal baseball, and on
sports talk-radio all
over Chicago, everyone was worried about the Indians. And now look, the Tribe
took the first game of this huge series against the Sox, and if you look at
their remaining schedules, the Indians look poised to make one of the greatest
comebacks in baseball history while the White Sox fans will no longer be able to
make fun of the Cubs and their ’69 demise, because, well, their demise may rank
right back up there in the baseball disaster record books.

But that’s not why I’m screwed. Nope, tonight the ballgame is on, but in
conflict with many another show. I’ve got "The
Biggest Loser," the season finale of "Big
Brother 6," the premiere of "My
Name is Earl" and "The
Office," not to mention the conflict with the damn "Dancing
With the Stars" dance-off, and the conclusion of "Rock
Star: INXS." Sure, I’ve got a TIVO, and an old VCR, but I don’t think that
is going to cut it. I was trying to get around it, but dammit, I might have to
look into getting another TIVO, or the digital recorder from my cable company,
or just throw all of my TV’s out the window and read a book instead. The latter
will never happen, but for now, all I know is that for my television viewing
this Tuesday evening, I’m screwed.

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

“Survivor” Was Great, but Why Are We Doing a Podcast?

By:

The Dude on the Right.
Again I give myself dilemmas.  It’s bad enough I’m already getting sucked
into the fall television season, with my already being pretty much hooked on "The
Biggest Loser" and "Survivor,"
but I know the new seasons of everything else I like are coming up quickly. 
Then I started questioning just why in the hell am I really starting a podcast. 
I mean, what’s really the point.  I have the website, I have this blog, and
now it seems I’m just being redundant with the podcast thing.  But I’ve got
something to say, and it’s a place to say it, so for now I’m going to just go
with the flow, and maybe figure a way all of the things can meld together in a
really coherent way.

The weather is finally a little better here in the Chicago area, although
it’s supposed to warm up again next week, but we’ll see how that goes. 
I’ve got movie dilemmas, choosing between "Lord
of War" or "Just
Like Heaven," there’s the Bears game on Sunday afternoon eating into my
movie-watching time, I’m covering
My Chemical Romance
Sunday night, and I still haven’t seen the damn penguin movie although everyone
says it is incredible.  That, and I’m heading back to the old country,
alright, just Ohio, next weekend, so we’ll see how all of that plays into things
as the upcoming week comes along.

I did do another
podcast
so use the highlighted link to get there because I’m still trying to figure the
best way/placing of our podcast link on our pages.  Tomorrow, though, I’m
thinking all of these dilemmas will be history, because I’ll have $250 million
dollars to work with to solve them because I have the winning Mega Millions
ticket in my pocket!

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Our Second Podcast

By:

The Dude on the Right
Okay, second podcast, this one is mostly ramblings about why are we really doing
a podcast, but also some comments on the new season of "Survivor" and "The
Biggest Loser."  So, here’s our second podcast, for

Friday, September 16th.  Again,  because I’m still working on
designing this entire podcast thing, in any case, if you want to subscribe to
our podcast, use this
Feedburner
link.

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Download and Listen Here Subscribe Here

Almost ready to start our podcast – Never the easy way.

By:

The Dude on the Right
Today has been a busy day where, at the end of the day, I’m not really sure how
much I really got done.  For some reason I figure we need to do a podcast. 
Hell, everyone else is doing one, why not us.  So I spent a lot of the last
few days trying to figure out the best way to get this up and running.  I
wanted to use my blogging software to set up the podcast area, so that was an
issue in itself, especially since I can’t seem to upgrade to the new version and
that still has me twisted because if there’s a newer version of software, I
think I should have it, even if it causes trouble.  Hell, I spent Saturday
trying to get my iPod software to work again (Apple introduced version 5, which
seems to have some bugs in it), but finally, after way too much time, my iPod is
working again, and as of this evening, I think I have the podcast templates
almost okay for the podcast area I’m planning on setting up.  The rest of
today was trying to find software that would allow me to record my podcast with
a real-time, going in my headphones audio, because I plan to incorporate
audio/music/other clips into the podcast as I record it, so it would be really
helpful if I could hear everything I am trying to record at the same time I am
talking.  Anyway, I think I might have found my initial software, made by a
company called Acoustica,
but they only give a seven day trial download, so I suppose I have to figure out
quickly if it will be my podcast software of choice for awhile, and such are my
issues, as well as already getting sucked into "The Biggest Loser" when it was
on TV yesterday.  And then
Survivor
starts tomorrow (thank God President Bush scheduled his speech for 8PM CDT,
because he would have lost another notch in my popularity poll had he
interrupted the Survivor premier.)  Anyway, my initial plan is sort of like
recording my own five to fifteen minute podcast on the internet, at least for
now, either just doing a review of a concert or movie I saw, or just some other
crap I can think to talk about.

Alright, this is dragging on to long.  Right now our podcast site is at

www.entertainmentavenue.com/podcast, the first podcast is simply a test with
a review of the movie "Crash", but eventually there should be a link to be able
to subscribe to it, at least, hopefully in the next day or so, or at least by
the end of the weekend.  Those out there say podcasts are easy to
do/set-up, and maybe, sometimes they are, but I like to make things a little
more polished, or maybe a little more Polish (at least staying with my
nationality), and in any case, that makes it a little more difficult.

In any case, if the podcast thing isn’t working yet, I apologize.  Give
me a few days to get things clicking, and I thank you always for your support.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Our First Podcast

By:

The Dude on the Right
There is nothing special with this post, it’s my first try at a Podcast, and for most intensive purposes, it’s a work in process. I’m going to have to work on some standard formatting for this, and hopefully the folks at Feedburner have the feed things working like they usually do so it can get included in the monster that is Apple, among others.. For now, this is the mp3 link for our review of
“Crash.” Because I’m still working on designing this entire podcast thing, in any case, if you want to subscribe to our podcast, use this Feedburner link.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Download and Listen Here Subscribe Here

Football is Back With Full Force.

By:

The Dude on the Right
I just couldn’t bring myself to actually go out and see a movie this weekend, I
mean my choices were and Exorcist-type movie which is actually more about the
priest, and "Mr. Man," which, well, just didn’t look that good. So this morning
after reading my newspaper I actually hunkered down with a DVD I picked up, the
movie "Crash," and
it was a great drama that really didn’t hold back showing a lot of people are
either blatantly racist or have it in them without realizing it. But that’s not
the important thing today, and I know, we are remembering 9/11 four years ago,
but fall is officially here as NFL Sunday kicked into high gear.

Right now my Bears
are struggling on offense, and I see my
Browns aren’t
fairing too well as of yet. Hopefully that will change by the end of the
afternoon, but as football season has officially begun, I also am filled with
impending dilemmas, namely the fall television season is ready to begin, which I
mentioned in my last Blog. And here’s where the problem lies. As I keep trying
to expand the web site, get back to concert reviewing and covering more things,
I also have this grand notion of starting a podcast, but where will my TV
viewing come in. Sure, the TIVO and VCR will be used diligently, but when will I
watch things. My original plan a few years ago was to record things during the
week and then watch everything over the weekend. That was fine for then, but if
I’m doing the podcast thing, especially on a mostly daily basis, it won’t do
much good to give you any kind of TV recap when it’s a week late. I guess I’ll
just have to figure things out, with I guess the first thing actually being
getting my podcast up and running.

Hope you had a good weekend and have a great week. See ya next time.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Easy Upgrades Sometimes Aren’t.

By:

The Dude on the Right
I’ve got so many things I have wanted to write about.  There’s the entire
New Orleans’ thing, a rant about why Kentucky Fried Chicken sucks and it’s not
related to PETA, my picture with Johnny Cash, how proud I am of Columbus, IN.,
how I’m rooting for my Indians and torn about rooting for the White Sox, about
my Jimmy Buffett weekend (Stu might need some bigger coconuts), and just general
things.  I also intended to figure out how I could get a Podcast going for
the site.  Then I decided to try an upgrade to my blog software.

So, for the past three days, the stubborn streak in me has gotten the best of
me.  The upgrade was supposed to be easy, I even had a couple of helpful
sites to make things even easier and not mess everything up.  Then, of
course, I didn’t really listen to them, then I started searching the internet as
to why I was getting this "500" error, then I just started deleting things
willly-nilly, then things still didn’t work, then I did another internet search
for some Perl code that might actually help, then I just prayed that my
Frontpage backup had all of the files that I had since deleted and it would
upload them as instructed.  Finally, three days later, I’m back up and
running with the old version of my Blog software (thank you Frontpage), and
until I actually read somewhere, or at least one of the technical folks at my
hosting site or the blog software sight, give me some help into how to make the
upgrade work, I’m sticking with the older version that was working well enough
for me in the first place.

I kind of hate when I get in that stubborn mode, spending days on something
that really doesn’t have an answer at the moment, but alas, I do that every now
and then.  So here’s the quick update – I’m not going to really try
upgrading things until I get a firm answer so I can at least switch my focus
from computer programming to the important things, like Jimmy Buffett, NFL
football, movies, music, and what scares me even more, because it usually
becomes the "I never get anything done because of," Falll TV programming. 
Most of my favorite shows are returning, I’m sure there are some new one coming
for me to get sucked into as well, and I might have to buy a new TIVO to keep up
with it all.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!