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June 29, 2007

No iPhone, Just a Bottle of Water.

By: The Dude on the Right
So here it is, the big day, probably the most important day in recorded history, and this morning I decided "Screw it, I'm going to try and get an iPhone."  Having too many things to do during the day meant camping out wasn't an option for the 6PM on-sale time, but around where I live there were three stores I could show up at, figuring around 5:30 should still be safe to get one.  Store A was in a developing community where I figured demand shouldn't be that huge.  Store B was by the mall, and I figured that store would probably be packed with all of the crazies who took off work to buy a phone.  Store C was similar to Store A in terms of demographic, but further away.

So I finish with the things I needed to do this Friday, I get back to the dude-pad around 5PM, do a quick read of the newspaper, eat some grub, and then decide that I'm going to take my chances at Store A.  Arriving around 5:40PM there's a line around the side of the store, putting me at about the 40th in line.  "They should be stocked fairly well" I tell myself, and even the people that started arriving after me figured getting a brand spankin' new iPhone shouldn't be a problem.  It's 6PM, the doors open to the promised land, and they begin by letting in 6 people, and then as one leaves, another enters.  The line isn't moving that quickly, but I'm still confident I will be home this evening, iPhone in box, then in hand, then activated, and then I'm cool.  In the meantime the nice AT&T employees (of which it seems they were overstaffed by about 5 people for the way they were selling the phone) came out offering bottles of water.  It's now about 6:15 PM and the manager-looking AT&T dude comes out and announces, looking at the number of people left in line, that he wasn't sure if supply was going to meet demand, blurbs a little about the "direct fulfillment program" if they do run out, the ducked back into the store.  The next round of bottled waters comes out, I decide to grab one, and then the manager-looking dude comes back out and announces the 8 Gig versions are sold out.  He starts to talk about how they still have some 4 Gig versions left, the "direct fulfillment program" again, but I'm already heading to the dude-mobile, mumbling "At least I got a bottle of water."

What to do?  I decide that since I'm already out I might as well head to Store B, the one by the mall, on the slim hope they got a monster shipment of phones.  I arrive, there are about 20 people still in line, and as I take my place the AT&T employee starts pushing that "direct fulfillment program" again, and I pretty much know that tonight, unless I really wanted to take a hell of a chance and head to The Apple Store, I would go to bed iPhone-less.

And so, tonight, I go to bed alone.

But wait, I could order it on line and have it early next week?  That would be good enough for me.  I log in to the Apple web site, click to buy one, and there's a little note that says it won't ship for at least 2 weeks.

I read somewhere that there would be plenty of stock to keep everyone iPhoned, thus killing the eBay market, but if the AT&T stores pretty much sell out of the phones in about an hour, Apple won't ship the phone for a couple of weeks, and those stores don't get replenished, like, tomorrow, I'm thinking I really should have camped out last night and seen if some fool would pay me $1,500 bucks for a new iPhone.

I suppose I should blame myself because part of the reason I am iPhone-less is because I decided dinner and reading the news was just as important as getting in line, and had I actually just gone to the store by the mall, well, I'd probably have a phone this evening, even taking the time to eat my dinner and read the news.  But you know what - I'm not blaming myself - I'm blaming the Apple and AT&T people because I'm guessing the only reason they are selling the 4 Gig iPhone is because they sold out of the 8 Gig, and if they had only had about ten more 8 Gig versions at Store A, I would be cool.

Instead I just got a free bottle of water.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:40 PM | Comments (1)

What's New? A Movie Review of "Ratatouille."

For this movie review of "Ratatouille," Stu Gotz is disappointed because the movie doesn't have a scene that is memorable for him. He can easily rattle off scenes from just about every other Pixar film, but this one lacks a certain connection to him, and his kids were a little bored. See it because you have to, but Stu says don't bother buying the DVD when it comes out.

Posted by Rightdude at 5:00 AM | Comments (0)

June 28, 2007

To i Or Not to i. Buying an iPhone is the Question.

By: The Dude on the Right
Normally I do a podcast on Thursday evening, but tonight I'm in a typing mood, so I thought I would hit you with a new blog to read since I haven't done one in a while.  From the title of this blog you can probably guess that this dude has a dilemma and that is simply "Do I buy an iPhone as soon as humanly possible, or do I wait?"  Fine, if I do opt to get one it won't be as soon as humanly possible because I won't be camping in line tonight to be "the first on my block" to get one.  I'm going on the theory that between the three AT&T stores around me, well, if the mood hits, I should be able to score one tomorrow evening when they go on sale.  If the iPhone is already sold out at all three stores, well, that might be the sign that I should wait a while, or head to the Apple store in last ditch desperation.  But...

Because sometimes I am partially nuts, and sometimes obsessive and compulsive, and since I have already, in my own bizarre way justified the expense (I need a new PDA since my Palm Pilot is about 5 years old and the battery won't last longer than a day;  Sure, I've got a 60 Gig iPod, but it's pre-video and I think the battery will need to be replaced soon;  My black RAZR isn't cool anymore.  Add them all together: A SmartPhone-$300, a new iPod-$350, and I'm already saving money by getting an iPhone), now the question comes down to do I want to be on the forefront of a cell phone revolution hoping there aren't too many bugs to get through, do I sit back, chill, and maybe wait for the technology to fix itself, or do I want to go on vacation to New Jersey later in the year?

You see along with the launch of the iPhone I've gotten hooked by the Apple commercials for the phone, have become almost intimately close with Bob, the "black shirt dude," while watching the Guided Tour video, the Activation and Synch video, and the iPhone Keyboard video (which shows how the iPhone will suggest the word "pizza" when you can't properly hit the virtual keys on keyboard with no keys), looked at all of the pictures in the gallery, ruled out visiting my local Apple store in favor of my trio of AT&T stores, and don't know who to really believe anymore because even some of the actual reviews that have come out in reputable print papers seem confusing, with the only thing linking them all together is the fact the iPhone will be limited to the AT&T EDGE network (which means slow) as of now, and yet the Wi-Fi option is great.

Along with obsessively checking the Apple site, I've also become obsessed with one of the best message boards about cell phones, namely Howard Forums, and all of the latest postings announcing mostly wrong information about the iPhone.  Lots of people keep posting that the iPhone actually has a 3G chip built in, just waiting for a software patch to "open it up" and that will be the final surprise announcement of the iPhone, but even I don't think that is true.  I do have a concern that I can't have a custom ringtone for all my friends so I know who is calling instantly (Right now on my RAZR Stu Gotz has a Beatles tune, Trash has some Jimmy Buffett, The Dude on the Left has a Harry Caray homerun call, and Mom has some Michael Stanley Band) because a lot of the posts say designing your own ringtones isn't an option, but then another post says this will be coming in the future with a later software update.  I do have a concern that my Shure headphones won't work with the thing because of a sort-of different/recessed headphone jack, but than another post says Shure is working on an adapter for the iPhone.  There's all kinds of blabbering about the Bluetooth capabilities of the phone, but I don't really use Bluetooth so what do I care.  And along with some information that seem legit and a lot of other that seems like crap, my favorite post, so far, deals with a future release of the iPhone, version 6.2, which will include an iPhaser, which one poster quickly states that "only if all the settings, work .. istun.. ikill.. if it only goes to istun and not ikill i will just wait for version 7.3".

And so I've got a little less than 24 hours from now, and three stores to visit, to see if I will be an iPhone owner, or if I might be going to New Jersey instead.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 7:54 PM | Comments (0)

June 26, 2007

What's New? A DVD Review of "Dead Silence."

For this DVD review of "Dead Silence", The Dude on the Right thought the marketing folks didn't market this movie appropriately. They seemed to have been stuck on the "It's from the 'Saw'" people, it's gruesome, and it's horrifying, rather than promoting it as just a decent thriller/horror flick dealing with ventriloquist dummies and a haunted ventriloquist which would creep out most of us anyway. We don't always want to see gruesome and horrifying, sometimes we just want a thriller, which "Dead Silence" mostly is.

Posted by Rightdude at 8:24 PM | Comments (0)

June 25, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: Kids are Turning Japanese, Journey Scores a Top 5 Single on Sirius, Wii Workouts, and Movie Talk.

For this podcast of "Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up!" Stu Gotz and The Dude on the Right think they are cool and recollect their cool things they did over the weekend. Some of it has to do with Journey getting a spot in the "Sirius Hits 1 Weekend Countdown," being good friends watching "The Sopranos," and Stu's kids spouting lyrics that might be politically incorrect, or maybe the little dudes are really "Turning Japanese." Stu also might be on the Nintendo Wii work out plan (though he loses to his 4 1/2 year old), and The Dude talks about movies like "Evan Almighty" and "1408."

Posted by Rightdude at 8:02 PM | Comments (0)

June 24, 2007

What's New? A Movie Reviw of "1408".

For this movie review of "1408," The Dude on the Right was utterly thrilled to find a horror/thriller movie totally well done without the slasher-film mentality. Sure there are lots of pictures of folks who killed themselves and their loved ones in room 1408, but mostly this movie is all about mind games that might be nightmares or might be reality, and they're lasting for a little over an hour once you enter the room. To quote the Eagles song "Hotel California" you can check out, but you can never leave. In the end you just have to decide how you want to check out of room 1408.

Posted by Rightdude at 9:34 PM | Comments (0)

June 23, 2007

What's New? A Movie Review of "Evan Almighty."

For this movie review of "Evan Almighty," The Dude on the Right understands there will be some people who will enjoy this film, only he's not one of them. In the end he found that a movie about getting God's powers ("Bruce Almighty") is a hell of a lot more enjoyable than being told by God to build an ark.

Posted by Rightdude at 4:28 PM | Comments (0)

June 21, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: Three Vetoes From President Bush, I Should be The Next Host of "The Price is Right," and Maybe Meredith is Nicer than Barbara.

For this podcast The Dude on the Right goes on a slight political rant focusing on President Bush's recent veto of a second stem cell research bill, and his quote “Destroying human life in the hopes of saving human life is not ethical.”

On lighter notes The Dude also thinks he would be the perfect replacement for Bob Barker on "The Price is Right," and reminds all of you that Paris Hilton will be getting out of jail soon, and you probably would have done the same time with the purported payday she will get from her first interview, which, sort of surprisingly, won't be with Barbara Walters.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:28 PM | Comments (0)

June 18, 2007

What's New? Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up: Stu's Early "Ratatouille" Review, More Movie Talk, and a Skin Flute.

For this podcast of "Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up!" Stu Gotz saw "Ratatouille" before most of you did, and gives his opinion. The Dude on the Right chimes in with his comments on the "Fantastic Four" and "Nancy Drew" flicks. They also reminisce about some college days and Stu gives his advice for sneaking liquor into the movies. All that and more, and The Dude finds a clip he heard on The Howard Stern Show about skin flute playing which was broadcast from a station out of Cleveland O Hi O. And never forget "Rat farts!"

Posted by Rightdude at 6:52 PM | Comments (0)

June 17, 2007

What's New? A Movie Review of "Nancy Drew."

For this movie review of "Nancy Drew" The Dude on the Right really liked Emma Roberts as Nancy in the film. He even liked Josh Flitter as the not so suave and debonair Corky. He even liked the film, even though he really isn't the target audience, but sometimes he just likes a fun mystery.

Posted by Rightdude at 4:17 PM | Comments (0)

June 16, 2007

What's New? A Movie Review of "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer."

For this movie review of "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," The Dude on the Right couldn't get over how Jessica Alba looked, but sadly not in a good way. He also thinks the film folks are trying to gear this series for the kids, and wonders how much Dodge paid for their product placement. None of these things are good things.

Posted by Rightdude at 5:49 PM | Comments (0)

June 14, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: Jessica Alba - I Volunteer, Cicada Sounds, Go Cavs, and Go Away McGreevey's.

For this podcast The Dude on the Right really, really, really, wants to be put on Jessica Alba's list for a one night stand, or even a one evening stand. He also found some annoying cicada sounds thanks to Steve Dahl and The Chicago Tribune. The Dude hopes the Cleveland Cavs can win a basketball game, at least with the help of the Michael Stanley Band, and wishes the McGreevey's would just go away. Gosh he has a lot to talk about in 15 or so minutes.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:56 PM | Comments (0)

June 12, 2007

The "Tony Soprano Was Whacked Here, Or Maybe Not" Booth, and Bon Jovi Better Not Tour in 2010.

By: The Dude on the Right
Well at least I had one thing right about my prediction for "The Sopranos" ending - it would take place in an ice cream shop in New Jersey.  What surprised me was that most people giving predictions, from fans to critics, seemed to forget the story of how there was this ice cream shop in New Jersey that the show's people wanted to shoot the final scene at but the town wouldn't give them a permit.  Then the town thought better of it and gave them a permit.  Low and behold the final scene was at a place called "Holsten's," which whether you liked the ending of the show or not, if you are/were a fan of the "The Sopranos," and if you are anywhere near Bloomfield, NJ, you will probably try to make a trip there.  With all of their publicity, though, you would think they might update their web site.  Going to holstons.com you see the most simplistic of designed web sites, and more importantly, if you click on the "Luncheon Menu" link, there is something missing from the menu, namely onion rings.  There is another website with a photo of a current menu, and it does show onion rings are available, but if the Holston's folks want some help redesigning their website, I'm offering my services, if only because it would give me a real excuse to visit New Jersey again, other than just vacationing on Long Beach Island.

But now that "The Sopranos" are done, or is it "is done," I always get that confused, and so far I haven't gotten sucked into any summer TV yet, I'm looking to revive doing concert reviews during this summer season, setting a consistent schedule for CD and DVD reviews, finishing the re-design of entertainmentavenue.com, and in the middle of all of these things, digitize my entire photo collection, starting with my concert photos, mostly so I can update the lousy looking concert shots on the web site because, in reality, they aren't that lousy (some of those were digitized with an old, hand-held scanner, bought back in like 1996).  The nice thing about the digitizing is I can do it in the middle of typing and posting things - simply slide another negative into my old HP Photosmart scanner, and since it's pretty slow, well, I don't lose that much stream of consciousness in my writing.  The bad thing is that since it is kinda slow, I might be at this digitizing things for years.

I guess I never realized how many pictures I took back in those old days of using film, and concerts alone I'm looking at, by rough count, some 720 rolls of film to digitize.  If I can get two rolls done a day I guess I might be done with the concert photos sometime next year.  Then there are all of the negatives from college and high school, and if I'm on track for this, we're looking at, well, maybe 2010 by the time my entire film collection is safely stored away on CD-R's (that by then will probably be useless), and I might be able to put together a nice high school retrospective for my high school classmates at our 25th year reunion, that is, of course, if Bon Jovi doesn't have a concert on the same day as our reunion in 2010 like they did back in 1995, and 2005.

It looks to be a fun summer for this dude, as long as I can keep my TV turned off in the evening hours.  If not, expect a lot more blogs about crappy, summer TV shows that I have gotten sucked into watching.  Maybe I'll even try to squeeze in a trip to New Jersey for some ice cream, and sit in the "Tony Soprano Got Whacked Here, Or Maybe He Didn't" booth.  I just wonder if the onion rings at Holston's are that good.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 7:45 PM | Comments (0)

June 11, 2007

What's New? Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up Podcast! Soprano Analysis, Stu Gets Exercise, The Dude's Cable Woes, and Big & Rich do AC/DC.

For this podcast of "Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up!," well, Stu Gotz and The Dude on the Right give their discussion about the finale of "The Sopranos." Stu got in some exercising thanks to a Nintendo Wii (which he can't believe he camped out for, sort of), and The Dude saw "Ocean's Thirteen." There's also some other TV talk, The Dude finally got TV back, and did you know Big & Rich cover the AC/DC classic "You Shook Me All Night Long?" Now you do.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:21 PM | Comments (0)

June 10, 2007

What's New? A Movie Review of "Ocean's Thirteen."

For this movie review of "Ocean's Thirteen" The Dude on the Right thought it was on par with "Ocean's Eleven," so pretty much you can gauge it by that if you want to see it or not. He even liked the Oprah scenes in the movie, and didn't miss Julia Roberts nor Catherine Zeta-Jones at all.

Posted by Rightdude at 4:18 PM | Comments (0)

How Did I Live Without TV for So Long?

By: The Dude on the Right
If you've been reading my blog the last couple of days you know that I was without my cable TV and good internet access for, it turned out, two entire days.  The operative word there is "was" because about an hour ago the cable technician rang my doorbell, I told him I have nothing, he went outside, and low and behold everything was working again.  He came back in, I asked him what was the problem, and he said that in the box outside my cable line was marked "Disconnected," and was, well, disconnected.  He asked if there was a billing problem, to which I told him there wasn't, and the best guess we both could come up with was because there have been a rash of old people moving and new people moving in at my townhouse area, maybe the technician who came to disconnect someone who had moved out, well, he disconnected me instead.  That means some lucky bastard neighbor is getting cable TV for free, while I had to endure two days of nothing, probably could have won the BINGO game on Friday night, and was getting panic attacks worried I was going to miss the final episode of "The Sopranos" (I'm thinking Tony finds himself making a deal with the feds at an ice cream shop in Jersey at the end of the show, but that's only because there was all the hubba-baloo about a town not issuing a permit for filming at an ice cream shop in New Jersey, which was going to be the final scene, and then they issued the permit, unless, of course, that was just a diversion for the real ending where Carmella runs off to Italy with Furio).

In any case, I am back in the land of technology, so now I really have no excuses as to not posting new stuff, although I was sort of getting used to not having watching TV as a diversion.  Maybe after "The Sopranos" I should just cancel my cable TV altogether?  What the hell am I saying?  I'm sure, after tonight, I'll be back in the land of TV glory, just not brilliant TV glory yet because I haven't broken down into the HDTV world.

In any case, it's back to my normally scheduled programs, although, so far this summer, there aren't any.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 4:13 PM | Comments (0)

June 9, 2007

I Think I'm in the Middle of a Seinfeld Episode.

By: The Dude on the Right
For the last couple of days, and it is approaching a couple of days, I don't have TV. Some of my goals this summer included limiting my TV watching, but for over 24 hours I haven't had a choice. For whatever reason my cable, and only my townhouse's cable, went out yesterday (okay, my internet is affected too, but I have figured out a backup way to post stuff, so I can still sort of post things - my "Ocean's 13" review will be posted tomorrow come hell or high water). It's been over 24 hours now with no TV, and the only thing I can really say, right now, the only reason I miss TV is because I am paying for it (the cable folks say I will get a credit for my downtime), and missing watching some baseball games and playing BINGO on Friday, and wondering about the future.

I do know a way to get my local TV, and pretty simply it would only include a trip to my local Radio Shack, to buy an antenna (and it wouldn't even have to be a roof-top one), and then I would have my local stations, but, and I can't believe I am saying this, I am almost liking life without TV, except for one last bit of closure, or more specifically, HBO, tomorrow, because at the end of my Spring TV viewing there is only one show left I care about, one show I need to see, and that show is the last episode of "The Sopranos," and right now, I have no HBO.

If my cable company doesn't fix my TV tomorrow, on a Sunday, I will miss the one show, for the last bunch of years, that I really, really, really, really, don't want to miss, and that is the finale of "The Sopranos."  I will also miss seeing the NBA Basketball Finals where my Cavs are playing some other team, and as much as I am sort of liking not having TV right now, tomorrow is the day I need it back.

I would like to say that I have confidence in getting my TV viewing fixed by the time "The Sopranos" comes on tomorrow night, but in talking with the folks at my cable supplier (except for the dude I talked with tonight), I have many reservations about technology giving me a chance to have things fixed in a timely manner, or at least tomorrow.  The shitty part is that supposedly I had an appointment to get things fixed today, and that conversation is another, total, clusterfuck.  I think I am finding myself in the middle of a "Seinfeld" episode.

I guess, in the end, we just have to see what life gives us tomorrow. Hopefully, for me, it's at least "The Sopranos."

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

Posted by Rightdude at 10:02 PM | Comments (0)

June 8, 2007

Why I Don't Do Weddings.

By: The Dude on the Right
Look, I know that in the grand scheme of life today didn't suck that bad, but, well, it hasn't been the most unchallenging day either.

It started out pretty nicely.  I slept in a bit, caught an early showing of "Ocean's 13," and then was off on some errands for a company I do consulting for.  With my day being pretty well structured, I was hoping to get the errands done quickly, be back in time to get my review of "Ocean's 13" posted, then head to help my buddy Stu with some photos he wanted taken.  But as plans would have it, things didn't go that smoothly.  Well, they did up until leaving the movie.

First there was a larger amount of traffic in my cruising the Chicagoland area.  This was a slight bummer as I knew it meant I probably wouldn't have time to get the movie review written and posted in the afternoon.  No biggie, I would just take care of it after my photo assignment for Stu.  So I get back to the Dude-Pad and notice my internet and cable TV are down.  With the high winds that have been buffeting us in the past couple of days I figured there might just be a cable down, and since I really only had time for a shit, shower, and shave before I rounded up my spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch, and, well, camera, before I had to leave, I figured the internet and TV would be back up by the time I got back.

And now is the reason why I am not a wedding photographer.  You see, my buddy, and our staff member, Stu, is an ordained minister, and has actually married people, but he was lacking some photos he could use for publicity purposes.  With that he asked if I could come to a wedding he was officiating over and snap some photos.  The bride and groom had no problem with it, I had some free time, the weather was nice (it was an outdoor ceremony at a local golf course), so I told him I'd be there.  I got there early, took some test shots before the wedding guests showed up to check on lighting and stuff, and things looked great.  Then the big moment came, Stu was up there giving the "Do you take...", and "Do you take..."'s, and for whatever reason, my fancy, digital, SLR, wouldn't snap a picture to save its life.  I frantically tried turning the camera off and on, popped out the memory card and re-inserted it, thought it might be a lens issue so snapped a different lens on, put the camera in full manual mode, but as Stu was going through the entire ceremony the camera would focus, would say everything was fine, but wouldn't snap a picture.  As bummed as I was I didn't get a picture of Stu performing the ceremony, I almost had a self-induced panic attack picturing if I was actually the photographer the couple hired and didn't get any photos of their big day.

I told Stu what happened and that this was why I didn't do weddings, then walked back to my car.  For the hell of it I pointed the camera at a building across the street, pushed the shutter button, and the damn camera snapped the picture, snapped the next picture, and snapped every other picture I shot before I climbed into the dude-mobile just wondering "What the hell went wrong?"

So then I get home figuring I could at least write my movie review, get it posted, and play BINGO during America's BINGO Night, or whatever the show on ABC is called.  I open my door, look at my cable modem, and realized my cable TV and internet are still broken, down, unfunctional, don't work, screwed up, messed up, or all of the listed.

Before eating, before peeing, and before feeding my kids I jump on the phone to the cable TV folks.  There aren't any reported outages in my area, they transfer me to the internet support folks where, according to the girl who transferred me, internet takes priority, but in my brief conversations with them I'm pretty sure none of the support staff really has a clue what a cable modem is.  The dude sets me up with a "technician's appointment" for Saturday, between 1PM and 4PM.  Then I call back because it seems the internet side might be different from the TV side, stressing to the girl my cable TV is out, and the best she can do is get a technician out on Sunday between 1PM and 5PM.  I guess the internet side is a little quicker.

So here I am, flustered, because I have no TV (guess I should buy a nice set of rabbit ears for just such an occasion), I'm on dial-up internet (it sure takes a hell of a lot longer to get things posted this way), and sure, maybe I could read a book, do some cleaning, or enjoy nature, but how the hell am I going to post about Paris Hilton going back to jail, or getting out again, in a timely manner on dial-up?

I suppose it could be worse, it could be raining, but right now I wouldn't mind a little rain.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:42 PM | Comments (0)

June 7, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: The MTV Movie Awards, The NBA Finals, and Maybe Paris Hilton Broke her Teeth.

For this podcast The Dude on the Right liked the first hour of the MTV Movie Awards, even though he calls them the Video Music Awards during the podcast - flying solo he has no one to correct him. He liked Sarah Silverman and found her adorable, at least for that first hour.

He also is looking forward to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, but has his thoughts on the extended sport schedules nowadays.

And finally what would a podcast today be without talk of Paris HIlton. She got out of jail, and The Dude has his theory on why she was set sort of free, although he also thinks maybe Sarah Silverman might actually be a psychic and the most brilliant person in the world if Paris got out because she broke her teeth.

Posted by Rightdude at 8:04 PM | Comments (0)

June 6, 2007

I Wanna Kiss You All Over, You Sexy Thing.

By: The Dude on the Right
This week has really been a roller coaster ride of highs and lows.  First there were the new commercials for the iPhone letting the world, and me, know it will finally be available June 29th.  Then there was the second to last episode of "The Sopranos" where Tony's crew is chopped down faster than a crop at harvest time, leaving what appears to be only morons left on Tony's crew, who, holed up in a safe-house, decide to get some pizza delivered.  Then the Chicago Cubs won.  Then the Cubs lost.  Then the Cubs won again.  The Chicago White Sox are heading into a death spiral, and I can't believe it but my Cleveland Cavaliers are in the basketball finals, although most people in America probably don't care.  My dad has a birthday today (Happy Birthday, Dad, you should get your card tomorrow), and so far I haven't been sucked into any summer TV.

Now you might be saying to yourself "Self, what the hell is The Dude's problem?  There aren't any real lows there?"

Well it was on Sunday that the week of lows started to begin.  You see, there I was, in the Dude-Mobile, listening to my Sirius satellite radio, tuned on the Super Shuffle station where they play music from all walks of life.  Suddenly the song "Kiss You All Over" by the group Exile comes on (for a point of reference, it was released in 1978, when I was 11, nearly 30 years ago).  But it being from nearly 30 years ago didn't scare me, no, what scared me is that I found myself singing along, word for word: "You can see it in my eyes, I can feel it in your touch. You don't have to say a thing, just let me show how much. Love you, need you, yeah. I wanna kiss you all over, and over again. I wanna kiss you all over, till the night closes in, till the night closes in."  Fine, I have a freakishly great memory for some bizarre things, and that initially didn't cause my lows for the week, until, suddenly, for the last three days, at any given moment, and for no apparent reason, I find myself singing in my head "So show me, show me everything you do. 'Cause baby, no one does it quite like you. Love you, need you, oh babe." and into the chorus I go.  I fear for my sanity, and hope that somehow, someway, a better song sticks in my head.  Soon.

As Sunday came and went I thought about blogging this week about how "The Sopranos" might end this Sunday (the most bizarre sounding finale I've heard so far has A.J. going all Jihad on the New York Mafia, finding out where Phil is, and strapping on a suicide bomber outfit), thought about blogging about how the iPhone looks to be the coolest cell phone ever, or even writing about Paris Hilton in jail.  I finally decided on disclosing my knowledge of "Kiss You All Over" by Exile in hopes, I guess, that by doing so, well, I can finally move on and have another song drive me insane, like maybe "You Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate.  I believe in miracles.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 7:11 PM | Comments (0)

June 3, 2007

The Apple iPhone is Coming June 29th. What Can I Sell?

By: The Dude on the Right
I'm sitting here watching "60 Minutes" and it's 6:02 CDT when a new iPhone commercial comes on. It goes from watching "Pirates of the Caribbean" on the iPhone, to wanting calamari, to searching for a seafood restaurant and getting a Google Map of nearby restaurants, to clicking on the map, and then instantly making a phone call to the restaurant. The commercial ends stating the Apple iPhone will be available June 29th.

Rumors have been floating around about the Apple iPhone release date for quite a while, with most of them stating June 11th was the day, but all along the Apple and AT&T folks have been stating it will be available in June.  Well if it's available June 29th they weren't lying, and after seeing the commercial I can't wait to get one.

I have already justified buying one in my head, even if I have to sell my foam "Wasted Away in Wrigleyville" parrot hat from the Jimmy Buffett show at Wrigley Field a couple of years ago.  I'm sure that has got to be worth at least six hundred bucks by now.  I suppose I could also auction off my unauthenticated brick from the old Comiskey Park.  The eBay listing for that would simply state "It is a brick from the old Comiskey Park.  I swear."

26ish days and counting from today.  I suppose I could also sell my, well, I wonder how many times they let you donate per week?

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

Posted by Rightdude at 6:32 PM | Comments (0)

But Those CFL Bulbs Won't Let You be Zeus!

By: The Dude on the Right
In doing my best to save the environment I did some shopping today.  One item I bought was a simple window fan, hoping that this will finally solve the problem of getting the cool, night air into my bedroom, thus reducing my need to have the air conditioning on in the nighttime hours.  I do worry, though, about the neighbors across the way being able to see into the dude bedroom as I like to walk around nude (go ahead, sister, get that image out of you head!).  Just kidding about that, I try to be as discreet as possible, so I don't see that being a problem.

The other thing I did was buy a couple of those CFL bulbs, with the CFL not standing for the Canadian Football League, which I guess is logical because what the hell would they have to do with illuminating my office, but it stands for Compact Fluorescent Light.  I suppose if they really wanted to shorten things further they could have gone with CFLB's, but then, as is the case of a lot abbreviations gone bad, (think "ATM machine," which actually breaks down to automated teller machine machine, or a "CDL license" is a commercial driver's license license) we would probably be calling them "CFLB bulbs," meaning, of course, compact fluorescent light bulb bulbs.

But as trying to be environmentally savvy as I can, herein lies the other side of the coin - disposing the expired CFL bulb properly.  When the time comes, and the light bulb no longer illuminates my office, will I actually take the time to not just throw the bulb in my garbage bag and actually find a place to dispose of it properly?  I hate to admit that I have probably thrown away a battery or two that aren't supposed to end up in a landfill (and don't tell me you haven't either), but this energy saving light bulbs contain a wee bit of mercury, and as opposed to us older folks who thought breaking a thermometer was the coolest thing because then you could roll the balls of mercury around, well, the younger folks are being taught that mercury is bad, toxic, and that by touching they will die.  There is talk that some of the major retailers will be setting up areas to recycle the bulbs, but so far I don't think that is the case, and even then, unless you are one of those dedicated recyclers, are you really going to take your dead light bulb with you when you go to buy a new one?

But the proper disposal of these new light bulbs also made me wonder a bit about those long, fluorescent light bulbs, and how were we to properly dispose of those bulbs?  For some reason I don't think pretending you were Zeus and that the bulbs were lightning bolts, and trying to launch them off of the roof into the dumpster below, was probably the correct disposal method.

I suppose I won't have to worry about disposing my CFL bulbs for a while because they also are supposed to last longer than my normal, incandescent bulb, and I won't know if I like it or not until tonight when I use it, especially since forever I've been using one of those million watt halogen lamps that makes my office brighter than standing on the sun.  I guess if I can stand a little less light in my office, well, saving a couple of bucks and supposedly saving the environment is worth it, that is until I'm too lazy to recycle the damn thing and just throw it in the trash.  And like those batteries, don't tell me you probably won't do the same.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 5:27 PM | Comments (0)

June 2, 2007

What's New? A Movie Review of "Knocked Up."

For this movie review of "Knocked Up" The Dude on the Right now realizes the brilliance of Kristin Wiig's skit, and her talent, on "Saturday Night Live," and he also loved the movie. It has everything adults who like the "R"-ness of movies, combined with an adult story, will love (except for one scene that single dudes might find gross), and The Dude also thinks the movie gives him hope that somehow he can impress a hot chick with his dance moves since he has more than the "dice throw" - he also has "churning butter," "the washboard," "starting the lawn mower," "the robot," "the mummer strut," and "the chicken dance."

Posted by Rightdude at 6:07 PM | Comments (0)