Welcome to the Jungle (S4E1)

This week's episode was really pretty awesome. At first I was a bit dismayed when I realized the narrating at the beginning was going to continue throughout the episode, but it ended up working extremely well. Cuts to Ari let him get little hilarious soundbytes, and it was a great device for covering the conflict occurring with Medellin production.

All of the characters were great here. Vince looked ridiculous in the makeup, and it was cool to see "movie clips" which really looked quite good visually. The acting was pretty campy, but that was kind of expected. E was interesting in his producer role, and the conflict between him and Billy finally felt genuine and not simply annoying, though the truce between him and Billy was kind of cheesy. Drama gave everything you expect from Drama, and seeing him in the final shot was pretty satisfying.

Vince and E plugging this website

Given how much Entourage thrives on conflict, I'm surprised that nothing was made of the writer who got paid to do nothing and that the movie completed successfully. Of course there's still the chance for Billy's "first cut" to be a huge mess, but things seem to be going remarkably well for everyone and you know that can't go on for very long. It just wouldn't be very interesting if everything were going well all of the time.

Now that production has wrapped, the documentary device can't continue, so I'm guessing we'll be back to classic Entourage next week.

I almost forgot to mention, the Bob Ryan book was a great plug for this site too!

This was a review of Episode 43. See more reviews.

It looks like they're filming in Chicago again for the sequel to Batman Begins. Everything about this movie sounds very cool, just like the first. And now some people have spotted filming going on in the downtown area. I was particularly interested by the following information:

I was talking with someone from the casting office who told me TDK will be in Chicago 'til Sept 2 and then film in London and Hong Kong until Nov.

Night filming in Chicago begins next week where they will film from sundown 'til sunup."

Hmmm...I kind of want to drive around at something like 3 in the morning to see if I can find them shooting some scenes on Lower Wacker :)

Madden 07 on the Nintendo Wii is pretty incredible. It uses the Wiimote to let you gesture your moves such as throwing a pass, punting, juking, power moves, and much more. But that's also part of the problem. There's so many actions you can take that it gets to be overwhelming, and often you'll forget to do the motion to charge forward while running and gain some extra yards.

From the sound of it, Madden 08 looks to drastically improve on what was already a pretty unique and fun experience by simplifying a bit of the controls and adding some incredible features (headings added by me to the IGN interview):

Tightened Controls

IGN Wii: Are there any specific gameplay changes from running, passing, kicking, or play management?

Damian: We've done some tweaking in all areas of gameplay to make things easier to pull off. To Kick or Punt the ball now you simply hold the A button down and swing the Wii Remote up to generate power. This gives the user enough time to properly aim their kick before generating power. On the running side we've simplified the Power Move command to barrel through oncoming defenders. This year you just push the Wii Remote forward. These changes are just the tip of the iceberg, which together help make the game easier to play and more enjoyable.

IGN Wii: The previous game made great use of controller motion for stiff-arms, jukes, and catching or deflecting passes. Have any more of these motions been added for 08? How is the controller being used this time around?

Damian: A lot of those great gestures are back along with some new ones. One of the new additions we're particularly proud of is our new gesture based Audible system. This year we've put your Audible controls on the nunchuk. All you need to do is swing the nunchuk in one of four directions to call an Audible on the fly before the snap. These additions make the pre-snap game that much more interactive, just like in real life. If you don't like what you see on the defensive side of the ball in Madden 08 Wii, make the motion on your nunchuk and watch your team adjust.

On the gameplay side you will see a number of those fun gestures return. We wanted to keep the controls fun and easy to remember so we remapped a lot of the difficult two handed gestures to simpler actions. The result has made the game a lot more responsive and fun to play.

On the control side of things we're also trying something very new to Wii sports games, but we'll have to talk about this in our next interview. We're not ready to let everything out of the bag quite yet.

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Improved Graphics

IGN Wii: How does the game compare visually to last year's Madden, and will the Wii version specifically be getting a visual bump?

Damian: We put a lot of effort into the Visual and overall presentation this year. From our initial showings of the game people are impressed with the leap the game has made over last year. On the visual side we really tried to push the game's depth of color and richness. Everything from 3D grass to the shiny player helmets pop off the screen, even more so when you're playing in 16:9 with 480p. You'll notice this year that player jerseys and pants have that realistic jersey sheen (reflections) on them that actually adjusts with the camera angle. We didn't stop there, though. Our new in-game presentation includes an overhauled Play Call screen which shares some characteristics of the Next Gen game. Overall I think people will be impressed with what they see when they play the game, especially if you own an HDTV.

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Party Mode

IGN Wii: As far as general gameplay goes for all consoles, how is Madden 08 different from its predecessor?

Damian: Madden 08 Wii includes many new features and some exclusive to the Wii version only. For starters, the Wii version will include the franchise's Read and React Player Weapon system. Basically, during gameplay you can manually display and see where your impact superstars are and where best to exploit mismatches on the field. These players are marked with Player Weapon Icons to illustrate their strengths. For example, star QBs can be classified as a Precision Passer, a Scrambler or having a Cannon Arm; the highest honor is that of the Franchise QB.

The Wii version will also offer a number of exciting exclusive features. One of those is our brand new Party Mode. We built this mode for those times when you have friends over and you want instant multiplayer action. We worked closely with our friends at Nintendo and have included full support to attach your own custom Mii to track your overall progress in the mode.

When first entering the Party Mode you have three distinct games areas: Play Now, Mini-Games and Trivia. All areas fully support four-player action. Once each player creates a profile with their Mii, it's off to gameplay where you can compete in 22 mini-games, a Trivia mode which will test your NFL knowledge or traditional Madden fans' favorite exhibition action. Each time you win or lose at party games it will raise or lower your Party Rating. The sheer number of multiplayer mini-games offered this year is staggering to say the least.

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Online Play

IGN Wii: Along with new roster updates and mini-games, what can Wii players look forward to this year? Have live roster updates, streaming stats, or any other features been added to give the game the NFL feel?

Damian: It doesn't get any more NFL than streaming sports scores, which have been added to the feature set this year when you log into our brand new Online mode.

IGN Wii: Please go into detail in regards to online multiplayer. What modes can you play? Will it be as robust as, say, the 360 version?

Damian: The online mode this year on Wii will allow two-player Exhibition games which can be ranked or unranked matches. Once you've signed into EA Nation you'll have instant sports scores stream into the lobby and have access to quick play features to jump right into the action. Updated rosters, Leaderboards, EA Locker and EA Messenger are all a part of the online package this year.

IGN Wii: Does Madden support voice chat or any type of online communication? Also, will players need friend codes to hook up, chat, and play?

Damian: Madden Wii does not support voice chat this year. We do have a basic EA Messenger chat service which allows you to keep connected with friends during online play. EA Messenger is separate from the Wii friends list so when you're online you search for people by using their online EA Nation Persona.

IGN Wii: Does the online mode automatically import your system code, or do you need a separate friend code to play Madden online?

Damian: Madden Wii doesn't support the Wii friends system during online play. This is something we're still working on with Nintendo. For now our online play uses your EA Nation Persona to search and manage your EA Messenger account.

IGN Wii: How many of the game modes are multiplayer enabled? Can you play all mini-games, tournaments, and modes on and offline? Are there any online seasons/tourneys for the Wii version?

Damian: Pretty much all of the standard offline game modes are local multiplayer enabled. Social gaming is the big push for us this year with the inclusive of Party Mode and Online Play. We don't support online tournaments this year. However this is something we're looking at for next year. With this being the franchise's first year online on the Wii we have concentrated on delivering the core Madden gaming experience at a high quality.

So there you have it...some Wii-exclusive features, and it looks like the few complaints about Madden 07 have been pretty well addressed. Online and multiplayer both sound quite interesting and hopefully they're done well. I'll definitely be picking this one up!

The last couple of weeks have been a source of incredible satisfaction, knowing that we won't miss a single detail about Paris Hilton's prison escapades. They're talking about it on all the networks for the last few weeks, and this nonsense about her being in and out of prison/court isn't helping any. Check out TMZ's posts from just this morning:

Did Paris Catch ANOTHER Break This Morning?
Friday, June 08, 2007 5:34 AM
A spokesman from the Los Angeles County Superior Court has announced that Paris Hilton might be allowed to appear by phone this morning, instead of having to face the judge in person.Story developing......

CONFIRMED! Paris WILL Phone It In!
Friday, June 08, 2007 5:47 AM
TMZ has confirmed that Paris will appear at her hearing today via telephone. We've also learned that LAPD is turning people away from Hilton's West Hollywood home who don't have the proper press credentials. Luckily, we do....

War in Court Over Paris
Friday, June 08, 2007 5:55 AM
Now, TMZ is learning that there is a battle raging inside the courtroom between Paris' lawyer, the City Attorney and the Sheriff's Dept. -- over the decision to allow Paris Hilton to appear by phone this morning. Stay tuned... reload!

Oh. My. God. They confirmed she's phoning it in! I'm taking the rest of the day off to stay on top of this juicy coverage. You don't have to tell me to reload TMZ, I've already got a paperweight set on my F5 button so I don't miss any of the action.

Seriously, enough already! How are so many people interested in this anyways? Obviously they are or the networks wouldn't keep covering it. But it seems like there's just a lot more important and remotely interesting stuff to report while all this garbage is going on. And even if there isn't, stop talking about Paris already. First there was Brittany Spears in and out of rehab, then Lindsay Lohan and her DUI and drugs, and now this. At the very least just combine all this stuff into "The Stupid Celebrity Show" instead of spreading it in the news, so I can ignore it more easily. All they're doing is making them more famous and making them a bunch of money, which is sure to do nothing but continue fueling more of this trash.

Yes, this rant was too easy but it was a long time coming and needed to be said.

There's a feature I've been wanting for a while in an MP3 player. It's pretty simple, but to the best of my knowledge nobody has implemented it. Basically, I like to put my music on shuffle so I'm not listening to the same few albums/artists all the time. But sometimes it will get to a song I haven't heard in a while and I remember the album/artist and want to hear more of that. I want to jump out of the shuffle and to the full album that this song is from, or to more songs by this artist. And I want to be able to then return to the shuffle, after hearing the album/artist.

It doesn't seem like it would be too hard to implement, and I think it would be a really cool feature. Of course I can currently hear a song and decide to go the album myself. But this involves several steps and it means I lose the current shuffle I am going through. With this proposed way, you could jump out and then back into the shuffle so you wouldn't hear all the stuff you had already heard again. That way you could go through the whole shuffle and hear everything you have once. So there's my 2 cents.

Sorry about the title...I just couldn't resist. But this movie really does look really funny. It's got Michael Cera (Arrested Development), Jonah Hill (I remember him as the kid in the eBay store in 40-Year Old Virgin), and Seth Rogen (Knocked Up), amongst others.

Check out the trailer (the first one is R-rated):

R Version:


PG version:

dave submitted a link to YouTube's blog post about a new related videos feature that's making waves, and not in a good way. The feature adds a related video bar to the bottom of videos, but the thing shows up while the video is playing! There's a ton of negative comments on the blog post of people annoyed by the new feature:

sorry, gotta say i'm not digging this. the mouse rollover is an absolute pain. it stays around far too long and obstructs the video. keep this up and i just might have to learn flash to package these things up myself..

it sucks. you screwed up big time!! change it back please. i don't want to see those distractions when the video is PLAYING!!! who let this idea go anyway? what a dumbass.

This is obtrusive and annoying. Please turn it off by default.

This new "feature" is terrible. If they want to keep it around, with some needed tweaking, it still needs to be OFF by default. It is not obvious or user-friendly for people to turn off. Not to mention that every video that's previously been embedded now has this, since it is the default. There should also be a global preference for the viewer (a user logged in) to turn this off automatically for every YouTube video they view.

Actually, I changed my mind. I love this feature so much, I think Youtube should do this for their main site. Why stop with embedded videos? C'mon, Youtube, I'm a young American. I have no patience! I can't wait until a clip is over to see other relevant videos! I want to hover my mouse over videos on the main site and have access to other videos NOW NOW NOW.

It's not all just negative reviews though. A few people provided some sensible suggestions: Let the user hide the feature, only show the related videos pop-up at the completion of the video, don't make the option default and mess up existing embeds, etc.

I think that it would make sense to simply display it at the end of the video. If someone really gets that impatient, they can jump to the end and get related videos, or click to get to the YouTube page and see the videos there. But popping the thing up while video playing really does seem pretty stupid, and unfortunately since it's the default it's already occurring on videos that have already been posted. Who is going to go through and change every video to add the "rel=0" parameter to disable the feature?

In the case of this site, I might script it so all YouTube videos automatically get the parameter and stop showing this feature. Hopefully YouTube hears the criticism and improves or scraps it.

I'm a big fan of honey mustard and most restaurants have it and it's really good. But I've always found that none of the store brands match up, and this confused me because it doesn't seem all that complicated to make. So I started trying a few different recipes to see which one tasted best. Here's one I came across today:

Restaurant Style Honey Mustard Dressing Recipe

Ingredients:
1/3 cup honey mustard (preferably French's)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:
Combine ingredients; blend well. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Note: This sauce can be used on a variety of meats, and salads.

Just three ingredients...this should be easy. Just start with some honey mus....wait a second! I'm making honey mustard! What the hell? So basically take some pre-made honey mustard, make it a little unhealthier, and voila!

Since they gave me such an awesome recipe, I'm going to return the favor:

Incredible Barbeque Sauce

Ingredients:
5 cups of your favorite barbeque sauce
2 grains of salt
1 drop vegetable oil
1/10 pinch of pepper

Directions:
Combine ingredients; blend well. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Note: Makes approximately 5 cups.

There you go cdkitchen, that one's free.

Ask.com pushed out a major update last night. The update overhauls their interface and dramatically changes the way search results are presented. The main page has become extremely clean in comparison to how it used to look, and it now also supports the use of some pre-defined skins. Supposedly the ability to use your own images instead is coming soon.

The homepage, after I applied a skin to it

Here's what they have to say about the new results page:

This isn't just about getting more information; it's also about getting the right information. Accordingly, Ask3D literally morphs with each query you enter. No two searches are the same, so why should all search pages have the same stuff in the same order? We customize each page for each different query, based on relevance, but also based on what previous searchers on Ask found valuable for that query (or one like it).

Some people who see Ask3D may initially be taken aback. It looks different than other search engines (which look curiously like they did a decade ago). Some might say there's too much going on. We feared the same thing. That's why we tested Ask3D for nearly 6 months with 5% of our 25-30 million monthly users. Simply put, these people came away happier with their experience than "regular" Ask.com users - they had lower abandonment rates, higher pick rates, and higher frequency of use.

There are also fewer ads on Ask.com than any other major search engine. That gave us more room on the page to devote to content and tools.

The new results page is surprising. For example, a search for chicago yields a page with a lot of information on it. It's good and bad. The bad is there's just a whole lot of information. But the good is I have a bunch of links at the very top to the map, jobs, weather, seasonal climate, and more. Then the rest of the page has the weather, the time, information about the band Chicago, a link to Wikipedia with a snippet about Chicago, images of Chicago, suggestions for narrowing and expanding my search, and more. Start typing in the search box again and you see suggestions in a dropdown menu too. They say the suggestions are based on what other users chose when looking for the same terms.

In all Ask.com has been managing to stay relevant and innovative at a time when they're clearly the underdog. They started with conceptual searches that could interpret your search and offer relevant suggestions for other searches, then they launched AskCity which changed the mapping game by allowing you to draw things right on the map and share these marked up maps with others, and now they've made this big change. At the very least they're keeping the larger search engines cautiously looking over their shoulders.

CNN is going to make a major change soon to their site design, as well as start providing video for free (until now you had to subscribe to their Pipeline service). The new site is significantly cleaner looking and the lighter colors make it way easier to read. It also makes better use of widescreens. Considering I use CNN pretty often, I'm happy with the change.

New CNN Beta:


Old CNN:


The one feature they really need to add, especially now that videos are free, is making them embeddable in blogs like YouTube. It looks like currently it's not even easy/possible to link directly to a specific video.