I discovered the soundtrack to the movie Godspell when I was in junior high school. If I remember correctly, I bought the LP from the local library's annual book sale and recorded it onto a cassette tape. The music was different than what I had heard in the conventional local churches and appealed to the groovy 70s aesthetic I was trying to cultivate at the time. That same well-played cassette traveled with me for over 20 years and influenced how I viewed myself as a Christian. I thought of myself as a gentle peace-and-love Jesus freak who had nothing in common with the Bible thumpers I saw around me.
The funny thing is that I never watched the movie or even paid much attention to the album cover or the liner notes. I've often wondered who sang my favorite song on the album, "O Bless the Lord". You would think that I would have looked it up on the internet by now, but I hadn't. Which leads me to this Easter Sunday.
TCM aired Godspell today as part of their Easter triple feature. Imagine my surprise that the singer of "O Bless the Lord" was Lynne Thigpen! It was also an eye-opener to see Victor Garber, who is known mostly for sneaky and villainous roles these days, playing Jesus.
23 March 2008
19 March 2008
My BellaOnline Column
In a bid to improve my writing, I signed up to be a site editor for Bella Online. I was so surprised when they chose me! Since February, I have been writing articles for their Prime Time TV site. They don't pay, but I'm hoping to build up enough experience to apply for something like About.com or a paid blogging gig.
So far, it has been a good experience. I'm required to post on the same day every week, so that has given me some discipline. Also, staying within the guidelines of the Prime Time TV site has tested my skills. We are at the end of the traditional TV season, so I am scrambling for topics. I can't wait until fall when there will be a whole new crop of shows for me to review!
If you want to check out what I've been writing, go to the Prime Time TV site. I'm busy writing recaps and reviews of some of my favorite shows. If you have any suggestions, I will gladly take them.
So far, it has been a good experience. I'm required to post on the same day every week, so that has given me some discipline. Also, staying within the guidelines of the Prime Time TV site has tested my skills. We are at the end of the traditional TV season, so I am scrambling for topics. I can't wait until fall when there will be a whole new crop of shows for me to review!
If you want to check out what I've been writing, go to the Prime Time TV site. I'm busy writing recaps and reviews of some of my favorite shows. If you have any suggestions, I will gladly take them.
02 March 2008
Why I hate my Time-Warner Cable DVR
After being happy DirecTV and TiVo customers for over seven years, we are now Time-Warner Cable subscribers again and I hate it. Why would we switch when we were happy? The short version is that ABM got aggravated with a bad customer service rep at DirecTV and immediately switched us over to Time-Warner. Now we are stuck with a service that I hate for at least a year.
Before I go any further, let me say that we've been using TW for our internet and phone service for at least two years. I've been happy with the service. Never once have we had problems with the phone, and cable internet is much better than the DSL we had before. However, the TV is another story.
My main frustration is with the DVR. We have the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HDC unit. The installer said that it was one of the newer units that they offer. I think they need to go back to the drawing board with it. Why do I hate this DVR? Let me count the ways:
--The interface is clunky. There is little differentiation between the guide for shows that are airing now and the list of on-demand and recorded shows.
--The guide only goes six days ahead, compared to two weeks with TiVo. I finished watching a show on Friday night and wanted to set the DVR to record the next episode (which was airing the next Friday night according to the previews), but the guide only had listings up to Thursday!
--The season pass function is hit-or-miss. Even if you set up a season pass for a show, it doesn't always record the show. I find that we have to double-check every week whether our shows are set to record.
--The TW DVR doesn't warn you when the season pass you are about to set will conflict with other season passes. It warns you if you are setting individual episodes but not season passes.
--There is a delay every time you hit Play, Rewind, or Fast-Forward. ABM is an impatient man; he triple-clicks the mouse if the computer doesn't respond quickly enough. So you know he is a button-masher with this remote. Unfortunately, if you press too many times, it just freezes up.
--I've already had to reboot the DVR four times in the two months since we've had it. The only time the TiVo rebooted was when we had a power outage and then it rebooted itself. The TW DVR just sat there; I didn't even know what was wrong with it and rebooted it out of frustration.
--The last straw is that yesterday we noticed we are starting to get messed-up recordings. A show that we watched live while it was recording looked perfectly fine. When ABM tried to watch the recorded version a few hours' later, the last five minutes was lost. It was all pixelated and the audio was skipping. The same thing happened to me this morning.
All in all, I would not recommend this DVR to anyone. I'm not the only person who feels that way. At the end of episode 133 of TWiT, Jonathan Coulton rants about this DVR, as well. Since we have a one-year contract, I will be doing research this week to see if we can use a TiVo DVR with Time-Warner's service.
Before I go any further, let me say that we've been using TW for our internet and phone service for at least two years. I've been happy with the service. Never once have we had problems with the phone, and cable internet is much better than the DSL we had before. However, the TV is another story.
My main frustration is with the DVR. We have the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HDC unit. The installer said that it was one of the newer units that they offer. I think they need to go back to the drawing board with it. Why do I hate this DVR? Let me count the ways:
--The interface is clunky. There is little differentiation between the guide for shows that are airing now and the list of on-demand and recorded shows.
--The guide only goes six days ahead, compared to two weeks with TiVo. I finished watching a show on Friday night and wanted to set the DVR to record the next episode (which was airing the next Friday night according to the previews), but the guide only had listings up to Thursday!
--The season pass function is hit-or-miss. Even if you set up a season pass for a show, it doesn't always record the show. I find that we have to double-check every week whether our shows are set to record.
--The TW DVR doesn't warn you when the season pass you are about to set will conflict with other season passes. It warns you if you are setting individual episodes but not season passes.
--There is a delay every time you hit Play, Rewind, or Fast-Forward. ABM is an impatient man; he triple-clicks the mouse if the computer doesn't respond quickly enough. So you know he is a button-masher with this remote. Unfortunately, if you press too many times, it just freezes up.
--I've already had to reboot the DVR four times in the two months since we've had it. The only time the TiVo rebooted was when we had a power outage and then it rebooted itself. The TW DVR just sat there; I didn't even know what was wrong with it and rebooted it out of frustration.
--The last straw is that yesterday we noticed we are starting to get messed-up recordings. A show that we watched live while it was recording looked perfectly fine. When ABM tried to watch the recorded version a few hours' later, the last five minutes was lost. It was all pixelated and the audio was skipping. The same thing happened to me this morning.
All in all, I would not recommend this DVR to anyone. I'm not the only person who feels that way. At the end of episode 133 of TWiT, Jonathan Coulton rants about this DVR, as well. Since we have a one-year contract, I will be doing research this week to see if we can use a TiVo DVR with Time-Warner's service.
Bingo!
Every once in a while, I get the urge to gamble away $5 or $10 on a simple online game. If you like to play online bingo games here are two sites that offer online bingo game reviews and other entertainment as well: Bestbingosites.net and Bingoplayeronline.com If you think that bingo is for grey-haired old ladies, then you may want to visit RoyaleBlackJack to try your hand at a little 21. All three sites give you tips on how to play, as well as letting you know what sites accept US players. Stick to your limit and go have fun!
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