CES 2011

Every year I long to be in Vegas while this going on…but at least I can go through all the new cool toys online. Though I may not be able to touch and play with them, it also means I save a few grand..

If anyone cares to read it, these are just what I thought was coolest, I write them mostly so I can go back and check it out again..and it helps me to remember what I’ve seen. Plus, when I’m old and wrinkly, I can see what kind of stupidity I was up to in my late 20s (and possibly, how obscenely nerdy I was, and how far technology has come for us)

• Taser International – Taser X12 shotgun, fires projectiles up to 82 feet (most Tasers can only be used from about 16 feet meters away) and doesn’t have wires attached to the gun itself. And there’s the C2 Taser, aka the ‘iTaser’, an  MP3 player with a built-in taser in its accompanying holster.  It fires 2 probes up to 48 metres per second and delivers 70,000 volt electric charge. Wowzers! (P.S. they also took volunteers to “test” the tasers, from the victim POV of course)
• Samsung – the flexible AMOLED and the transparent AMOLED displays. So cool! The concept and execution of flexible displays have been played with for the last few years (think slap bracelets) but I’m still waiting…<check out both here>
• Sharp, Oakley - New smartphone with 3D display without the use of 3D glasses..and Oakley’s got a new line of cool looking 3D glasses. I know at least one person who’s already got a Tron pair
• Toshiba - They’ve got a glasses-free 3D laptop
• IoSafe - This company HD that are SUPER durable, I mean that with caps on. Last year, they rolled over one of their HDs with a 35000 lb excavator (they’re surprisingly easy to operate). This year, Rugged Portable (appropriately named), got submerged in water,  and took 10 rounds to the chest from a Remington 12-gauge shotgun, loaded with Winchester Expert Game Load Steel. Still worked!
• Casio - The new Tryx cam is pretty cool. It’s got a built-in orientation sensor, it flips around and pivots and rotates. The view screen as usual pulls out and flips 360, but it’s also got a built in frame/stand that pulls out 360 degrees as well, so great for lefties. Oh and it’s so slim and of course, shoots in HD. BUT, no optical zoom at all. And all these “effects” that cameras have, are annoying me. Like the b&w, sepia, “beauty” mode, fake fisheye, they’re not necessary. (Watch the Tryx video here)

Gifts That Do More – sustainable gifting this holiday season!

So far, I’ve seen Oxfam, thehungersite.com and Plan Canada offer these gifts.

I’ve been looking at a pair of goats, a pair of pigs, or 3 hens & a rooster.

I figured a pair of goats could bred, could be used for milk (and of course cheese, and other dairy products), meat, and perhaps even plow small plots of land.

The pigs could bred, and provide meat.

The chickens could lay eggs, and produce more chickens as well.

BUT pigs eat almost anything and require a lot of fod, chickens could be fed corn and grains, they could just forage for food and would be fairly cheap. I’m not sure about the amount of water goats and pigs need but chickens definitely don’t need as much. And they all eat different types of food.

Also, I’d have to think about the space required to keep these animals. Obviously lots of space for pigs, less for goats, and even less for chickens. And about what about keeping them safe from wild animals and thieves?

And if a family is given livestock, would they necessarily have the means to sustain it AND themselves long enough to profit from this gift?

Can you help with the pros and cons of each animal gift?

Call Me Mr. Flintstone, I Can Make Your Bed Rock

I was flipping through stations this morning and landed on 103.5. I remembered why I don’t listen to this station.

I couldn’t find what this is a parody of…but it’s a pretty bad one. The lines in bold just…leave me speechless.

[Lloyd]
I-I-I I Can Make Your Bed Rock
I-I-I I Can Make Your Bed Rock Girl
I-I-I I Can Make Your Bed Rock
I-I-I I Can Make Your Bed Rock

[Lil Wayne]
She Got That Good Good,
She Michael Jackson Bad,
I’m Attracted To Her, For Her Attractive Ass,
And Now We Murderers, Because We Kill Time,
I Knock Her Lights Out, And She Still Shine,
I Hate To See Her Go, But I Love To Watch Her Leave
But I Keep Her Running Back And Forth
Soccer Team
Cold As A Winter Day,
Hot As A Summer’s Eve,
Young Money Thieves
Steal Your Love and Leave

[Gudda Gudda]
I Like The Way You Walk, And If You Walking My Way,
I’m That Red Bull, Now Let’s Fly Away,
Let’s Buy A Place, With All Kind Of Space,
I Let You Be The Judge, N-N And I’m The Case,
I’m Gudda Gudda,
I Put Her Under,
I See Me With Her, No Stevie Wonder,
She Don’t Even Wonder, Cauz She Know She Bad,
And I Got Her Nigga,
Grocery Bag.

[Lloyd]
(Okay)
Oh Baby,
I Be Stuck To You,
Like Glue Baby,
Wanna Spend It All On You,
Baby,
My Room Is The G Spot,
Call Me Mr. Flintstone,
I Can Make Your Bed Rock
I-I-I I Can Make Your Bed Rock
I-I-I I Can Make Your Bed Rock Girl
I-I-I I Can Make Your Bed Rock
I-I-I I Can Make Your Bed Rock

[Nicki Minaj]
Ok I Get It,
Let Me Think, I Guess It’s My Turn,
Maybe It’s Time To Put This Pussy On Ya Sideburns,
He Say I’m Bad, He Prolly Right,
He Pressing Me Like Button Downs On A Friday Night (Ha-ha),
I’m So Pretty Like,
Be On My Pedal Bike,
Be On My Low Starch,
Be On My Egg Whites,
He Say Nicki Don’t Stop You The Bestest,
And I Just Be Coming Off The Top As Bestest.

[Drake]
I Love Ya Sushi Roll, Hotter Than Wasabi,
I Race For Your Love,
Shake And Bake Ricky Bobby,
I’m At The W, But I Can’t Meet You In The Lobby,
Girl I Gotta Watch My Back, Cauz I’m Not Just Anybody,
I Seen Em’ Stand In Line, Just To Get Beside Her,
I Let Her See The Aston, And Let The Rest Surprise Her,
That’s When We Disappear, You Need GPS To Find Her,
Oh That Was Your Girl?
I Thought I Recognized Her.

[Lloyd]
(Okay)
Oh Baby,
I Be Stuck To You,
Like Glue Baby,
Wanna Spend It All On You,
Baby,
My Room Is The G Spot,
Call Me Mr. Flintstone,
I Can Make Your Bed Rock
I-I-I I Can Make Your Bed Rock
I-I-I I Can Make Your Bed Rock Girl
I-I-I I Can Make Your Bed Rock
I-I-I I Can Make Your Bed Rock

[Tyga]
She Like Tanning,
I Like Staying In,
She Like Romancing,
I Like Rolling With Friends,
She Said I’m Caged In,
I Think Her Conscience Is,
She Watching That Oxygen,
I’m Watching ESPN,
But When That Show End,
She All On My Skin,
Lotion,
Double Emotion,
Roller Coasting,
Like Back Forth Hold It…..
She Pose Like It’s For Posters,
And I Poke Like I’m Suppose To,
Take This Photo If You For Me,
She Said Don’t You Ever Show This,
I’m To Loyal..,
And To Focused..,
To Be Losing..,
And Be Hopeless..,
When I Spoke This,
She Rejoiced It,
Said Your Word Get Me Open,
So I Closed It,
Where Your Clothes Is,
I’m Only Lovin’ For The Moment.

[Jae Millz]
Uh
She Ain’t Got A Man,
But She’s Not Alone,
Miss Independent,
Yea She Got Her Own,
Hey Gorgeous,
Uhmmm,
I Mean Flawless,
Well, That’s What U R, How I See It Is How I Call It Yea,
L-Look It How She Walk,
MMHMMM She Know She Bad,
Do-Do Your Thing Baby,
I Ain’t Even Mad,
And I Ain’t Even Fast,
Imma Stay A While,
Hold Ya Head Chris,
I-Imma Take Her Down.

[Lloyd]
Oh Baby,
I Be Stuck To You,
Like Glue Baby,
Wanna Spend It All On You,
Baby,
My Room Is The G Spot,
Call Me Mr. Flintstone,
I Can Make Your Bed Rock Girl
I-I-I I Can Make Your Bed Rock
I-I-I I Can Make Your Bed Rock Girl
I-I-I I Can Make Your Bed Rock
I-I-I I Can Make Your Bed Rock

(In case you haven’t picked it up, I know this isn’t a parody. It’s pretty sad that it’s a real song.)

Barbie’s got a new job!

So last week, fans could go online and vote among 5 choices for Barbie’s next career move. They included surgeon, architect, computer engineer, news anchor, and environmentalist.

This past weekend, it was revealed that two new Barbies will be made…I don’t know what the rules are but I was under the impression only one would win. Anyways….the “Girls Vote” was news anchor, the “Popular Vote” was computer engineer.

News Anchor

But seriously, who would wear a tshirt like that? Gross. I’d take a plain tee with binary all over, but not one with a computer and mouse. Psssh. Wait…is that a folder icon at the bottom?

Computer Engineer

I love Betty White!

And dreamy Tim.

Though neither of these spots really did it for me. Snickers seems to be trying to make it fresh and punchy but it’s as stale as last week’s gym socks. Worn twice. And the tackle on Tebow’s mom is SO badly CG’d. I see Boost trying to go viral like last year’s Miller High’s 1 second ad but not getting anywhere close to the punch Miller packs.

Doritos “Play Nice” tries to surprise…I love the kid but, it’s too easy. Like cheating. And I thought Bud Light’s “Voice Box” was going to follow the old Budweiser “Whasssup” styles. But no.

The Hangover Part 2, brought to you by Bridgestone. VERY disappointed, considering last year’s Mr & Mrs Potato Head was my favourite.

GoDaddy.com continues with their GoDaddy girl campaign. Yawn.

Nothing impressed me in the second quarter.

Third quarter, Megan Fox and Motorola, cheating. I LOVE the VW Punching Game, it was SO EASY for them, and so cleverly done up to remind people of the VW line, not just the Beetle. A few chuckles, like hitting Gramps in the nards, and the EMS boys. It’s gone online to Facebook now too. Michelob, how many times has Song 2 been used in a commercial already?

E*Trade continues with the babies! Google’s Parisian Love has a nice touch. Simple. It works. Kia’s Joy Ride is cute, but very much for the young moms I think. Love the Sock Monkey riding the bull Don’t recognize the other toys though, but of course I’m not the target. Who did Round Up’s ad? Waste of money.

Emerald’s Mixed Nuts? Mixed feelings. I’m creeped out by the balding pedo man in the skin tight neon-ness. Budweiser brings in a friend for the Clydesdale horsies. I love moo-cows. They must be successful with this campaign, they’ve been doing it for years now.
Denny’s Chickens are doing it for me at all. I’m more annoyed than anything. I am liking Audi’s Green Police spot. If there are more coming from them, I could see it catching on nicely. Maybe. We’ll see.

And isn’t Charles Barkley BASKETBALL??? Why get an NBA’er to do SuperBowl commercials??? So confused. And it’s a TERRIBLE song…it might’ve have worked if it had some beat to it, it’s hardly memorable. The final Doritos ad was funny. But eh…I much preferred the campaign for their double flavours.

Well…I learned more about football today. Still unsure of alot of things, but I’m getting there. Yay for the Saints.

This is why we’re fat

I’m sure plenty of you have been to the site thisiswhyyourefat.com. Some of those creations are just mind blowing…and definitely artery clogging.

But it’s not just these disgusting gastronomical atrocities that make us fat. Some of it is due to the wonderful people that make our food. It’s actually the OPPOSITE of what usually happens. Everything these days are getting shrunk down while staying the same price; I’m used to getting less for the same price every year.

Granted, given that I prefer to eat in and make my own food from scratch than anything prepackaged, my own waist size isn’t increasing as rapidly as say, your average American.

I also wanted to mention something Morgan Spurlock said in “Supersize Me”, he also did a bit of research on portion size. Today’s largest size of fountain drinks at the theatre are so big they don’t fit in your average cupholder in the car. Actually, they’re so big, I have to use both hands to hold one. And I’ve always shared one of these, how does someone even finish a pop this big in the span of 2 hours?

Check out the “then and now” of portion sizes.

http://www.divinecaroline.com/22178/49492-portion-size–now

Goggles with integrated cams

So I’m kind of behind on the big news, but these look pretty cool. I’m not sure about the lens on the goggles themselves, how great they might fare in cold weather but great idea.
It’s a 5.0 MP cam, and records video with audio too. It’s got 16 MB NAND Flash memory and you can add up to 16GB.
Check it out
They’ve got scuba masks too!
Only problem to me is they say it’s “hands free” but require you to press a button on the side to operate it.
Supposedly it’ll be available by June or so in Canada and goes for around $160.

January 2010

I’m not a horoscope person…but this is for all the ’84 babies. Well technically it’s February 2, 1984 to February 19, 1985

RAT PREDICTIONS
As the Tiger year is not yet upon us, you can use this final month of the Chinese Ox year to gather your senses. You have been exceptionally nervous the past twelve months. On and off all year, your life has been fraught with doubt and indecision. You need to cut yourself some slack. During January, why not plan your 2010 to be a more tranquil, creative period? How to do this? You know yourself that settling down to one task at a time is the secret to Rat serenity. Yet, you perpetually scatter your energies, fritter away precious time in vapid activities and then wish you had been more productive. So in order to live out a constructive 2010, you need to focus in now on what it is that makes YOU happy. Often you tend to concentrate too much on what brings others pleasure or what guidance you can bring to their lives – a practice which frequently leaves your own life in a state of disarray. You must relinquish whatever power you have assumed over others in your entourage and begin to zero in on you. If you can locate the path to your innermost self and rigidly follow it you will be a happier camper. Your love life looks fairly sunny this month. But don’t push your partner’s vulnerable buttons too often or too hard or you will reap a harvest of bickering and discontent which, at this particular time, you certainly do not need. Hang on to the romance that you have and get busy taking care of YOU. Your health should not cause excessive problems this month. Money might be a tad tight. But then you are not in spending mode, you are in conserving mode – conserving your best energies in order to build a more peaceful year ahead. The goal is peace of mind. The method is focus.

Advertising ingenuity yet again

Printing a bit of ad copy on the bottom of a coffee cup was cool, same with little tags on egg shells (safely with food colouring of course), non-conventional shapes and pop outs on wall murals and billboard was definitely eye catching. But this one looks just plain annoying. I don’t think I’d notice the banner until I squashed the fly.

Agency Jung von Matt / Neckar are the first to use the flies as carriers for advertising. This is for publisher Eichborn at the Frankfurt Book Fair back in October. They attached a natural wax to 200 flies, over time the banners would simply fall off and the fly would be unharmed (if someone didn’t swat them first…an added banner would slow them down I think, and make them easier targets for rolled up newspapers and flt swatters)

http://quipster.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/eichborn-fly-banner-at-the-frankfurt-book-fair/

I never blog about fashion, but I have to today

These are just….appalling. They’re hideous, and look like a broken ankle waiting to happen.
McQueen’s “Alien” Shoe

And I guess this is fair, since woman have padded bras, falsies to put in and all sorts of garments to “enhance” their busts.

Men have Equmen now to tuck in their gut (like Spanx) and undies to “enhance” their package. But I find it hard to believe this is JUST coming out now, if the idea’s been around for women for so long, why not men? Can’t be due to pride….I’m sure a little research will reveal other brands that produce similar products. However, you’d think the prices would be a little more competitive.

Check it out