Pockets of Sanity

What I'm Thankful For: James T. Kirk

What I'm Thankful For: Jennifer Connelly in This Month's Vogue

Guy From Nickelback: Private Eye

The Twos Got Terrible Before They Even Started

My Xbox 360 officially bit the dust last night. 

Delivered November 22, 2005.  Died November 15, 2007.

Yep, I was hit with the dreaded Red Ring of Death yesterday.  I'd downloaded the multiplayer demo for America's Army and decided to try it out.  One minute into the game, the system froze.  Now keep in mind that for nearly two years I'd never had one single problem with the system.

So I rebooted and tried the game again.  And again, after about a minute the system froze up.  But this time it wouldn't reboot.  All I got were the three flashing red lights on the front of the console signifying a hardware failure.  I waited a while, tried again, and managed to get back up and running.  But after letting The Simpsons Game play for a minute everything froze yet again.  After that, all I got were the three red lights.

So I guess it's time to place a call to "Amber" in Microsoft's customer support call center in India and see if I can convince them to honor the warranty and ship me a new one.

I really wanted to play games this weekend.  There are so many great titles out there right now.

The Daily Show Writers Speak

I'd be perfectly fine with the strike going on indefinitely if we keep getting fun stuff like this.  Granted I know that's not ideal -- striking writers making YouTube shorts instead of making a salary -- but still.

Father Can't Control Thieving Child, Sues Microsoft

Microsoft Hit With Class Action Suit Over Xbox Live Fees
By Paul McDougall | InformationWeek

A man who claims Microsoft improperly allowed his underage son to use his debit card to subscribe to the company's Xbox Live gaming service and automatically renewed the subscription without authorization is suing the software maker for consumer fraud.

In a class action suit, Georgia resident Francisco Garcia claims that in October 2005 his son, Silvario, used his debit card to buy a $49.99, one-year subscription to Xbox Live. The service lets Xbox owners play games like Halo 3 against each other over the Internet.

A year later, Garcia claims, Microsoft automatically billed him for an additional year of Xbox Live without his knowledge or consent. He contends that the charge sent his checking account into overdraft, and that his bank slapped him with a $35.00 penalty.

Garcia says Microsoft refunded the subscription fee but didn't cover the bank penalty.

By accepting a subscription from a minor and automatically renewing it without consent, Microsoft "fraudulently induced a contractual relationship for Xbox Live services," Garcia claims in his suit.

The action was originally filed in August in state court in Georgia. In September, Microsoft filed a motion to have the case moved to federal court.

Garcia claims Microsoft broke Georgia law when it allowed a minor to use a debit card to sign up for Xbox Live, and flouted consumer regulations when it renewed the service without written authorization.

Garcia is seeking unspecified damages and is asking the court to broaden the case to include all Xbox Live customers in Georgia hit with similar problems.

Microsoft has asked the federal court to dismiss the case, claiming it has paperwork that proves Silvario Garcia misrepresented his age when he subscribed to Xbox Live by falsely stating that he was at least 18 years old.

I hate people like this.  Hate them, hate them, hate them.  THE CHILD is at fault here, first of all.  THE FATHER is also at fault, for not knowing what his child does with an expensive video game console and not teaching him right from wrong.  Microsoft refunded the subscription.  THE FATHER should make THE CHILD work to repay the bank fees.  There.  Parenting 101, class dismissed.

Stripper Whips High School Student During Class

I really missed out on all the great things you kids get nowadays in high school.  Hot teachers having sex with poor, unsuspecting teen boys, and now... stripper visits during class.

A teenage schoolboy was pulled around his classroom on a lead and spanked by a stripper after a birthday surprise blunder.

The pupil's mother had ordered an agency to give her son a "surprise" on his 16th birthday - and the teacher had even agreed to film the prank.

But it all went wrong when the unnamed company sent a stripper dressed as a policewoman instead of a "gorillagram" - in what it called a booking error.

One witness told reporters: "She asked the lad to stand up, which he did, and told him he had been a very naughty boy because he hadn't been doing his homework.

"Then she put on some Britney Spears music and got out a collar and lead from her bag and told him to put them on."

After walking the boy round the classroom and spanking him with a whip - the action turned even more blue.

"She took off some clothes until she was down to her bra and pants, pulled out some cream, put it on her buttocks and told him to rub it in," the source said.

It was at that point the shocked teacher - who had not been told what the surprise was - called an end to the show.

A spokeswoman for the local education authority, Nottinghamshire County Council, said they were investigating how the incident happened.

She confirmed nobody had been suspended from Nottingham's Arnold Hill School and Technology College and the police were not involved.

The spokeswoman said: "We and the school are investigating into the situation."

So the Studios DO Know How Much They Make Online

Sorry for going overboard with all the strike stuff, but this video really kicks the producers right in the crotch.  The studios can't seem to figure out how to determine how much they make via digital downloads and streaming... oh wait, yes they can.

Barry Diller: As Dumb as Eisner

These quotes keep coming.  It's unbelievable.  This time from Barry Diller, producer and executive who created the Fox network. 

“What this strike is about is not revenues from first usage. It’s about revenues from what happens in this digital age, of which right now there are none… What they want to do is strike so they’re protected for the future. The problem with that is right now it’s a future that no one can figure out…What they should have done is say, we’re going to take the next five year period - we want to know where all of these revenues are coming from.  We want to freeze this area until we can understand the revenues, which aren’t going to develop for another few years…There are no profits for the work that writers do that is then digitized and distributed through the Internet."

"It's a future no one can figure out."  Oooo, 'cause it's all future-y and crazy and we might be living on the moon and cars will fly and who knows the future is just so crazy who can figure it out?

The studios make money on internet streaming.  What's so hard to understand?

Michael Eisner: Dumbest Man Alive

My view on the writers strike has wavered a bit here and there, but after reading the following nonsensical rant from Michael Eisner and now understanding completely what the writers are up against, I am firmly on their side 100%.

Michael Eisner said the Writer’s Guild is lobbying for a bigger cut of profits from digital distribution and Web video - profits he claims don’t exist.

Though most Hollywood executives were quiet last week as the strike began, former Walt Disney chief executive Michael Eisner showed no restraint in expressing an opinion.

“I’ve seen stupid strikes, I’ve seen less stupid strikes. This is a stupid strike,” Eisner said at the Media and Money conference in New York. “It’s a waste of their time. [The studios] have nothing to give. They don’t know what to give.”

Eisner said the Writer’s Guild is lobbying for a bigger cut of profits from digital distribution and Web video - profits he claims don’t exist.

However, Eisner placed part of the blame on studios and networks for allowing themselves to be strong-armed by Apple and Steve Jobs, its chief executive.

The studios “make deals with Steve Jobs, who takes them to the cleaners,” he said. “They make all these kinds of things, and who’s making money? Apple! They [the writers] should get a piece of Apple. If I was a union, I’d be striking up wherever he is.”

"The studios have nothing to give.  They don't know what to give."  Okay... first of all that's two entirely different concepts right there.  Either you have nothing, or you're not sure what you have.  The first is a bold faced lie.  Studios don't do anything when there's no money involved.  The second, well, if you don't know what you have, then you need to fire everyone in accounting because they clearly cannot do their job.  But of course the second statement is a lie too.

Then, out of nowhere, blaming Steve Jobs?  Saying the writers should go after him?  I guess the writers should go after Best Buy too, because after all, that's where all the DVDs are sold, right?  What an idiot.  Studios license their content to online places like iTunes and Amazon.com and through Xbox Live for a fee.  That fee goes somewhere, right Mike?  Someone makes some cash on that transaction, otherwise they wouldn't do it, right?

Likewise for the streaming of online content, at places like NBC.com.  Ads are placed on those pages.  Ads are forced into the breaks of the shows being streamed.  Someone is charging for those ads, and someone is collecting revenue from them.  Again, this is pure idiocy to say that "there's no money... we don't think there's money... the writers should sue Apple because Steve Jobs is evil".

I have enough going on where I will now be completely fine if this strike goes on for years.  Stick to your guns, writers.  These people are morons.