Hulu’s been around for nearly a year now. I jumped aboard when I first heard about it. Deciding to give it a chance even though many, many, many sites have come and gone with the same principle. But Hulu has the power of General Electric behind it. And that is a power not to be taken lightly.

It first started, when I was catching up with 30 Rock. I won’t discuss the joys of having Liz Lemon at your fingertips because that is plainly obvious. Then I started watching a few movies on the site that I’d never seen before. Eight Men Out was a movie I’d always wanted to see but never got around to it. Glad I finally did. Say it ain’t so, Joe.

But, the real beauty of Hulu is that it has enabled me to check out show’s I’d heard of but never would have seen. For example, Firefly. Firefly is an awesome Sci-Fi/Western created by Joss Whedon. Though, I’d never really been into Joss Whedon’s other stuff, I absolutely became attached to this show. It even gives Battlestar a run for best Sci-Fi show ever. (-end geek) The characters are excellent and the show itself is both hilarious and thrilling at the same time. Since it was canceled after only 14 episodes, I managed to watch the entire series in just a few days. Then rented the movie Serenity. It’s times like this that you wish you hadn’t been so eager to consume. Now I have no more Firefly to enjoy. I already miss it. But because of Hulu, I can easily watch the show again and again. Jewel Saite is cute on levels approaching Jenna Fischer-ian.

Last year, I bought the pilot episode of Miami Vice from iTunes. The pilot is really a feature length movie and I thought it was a great piece of machismo escapism. And by all accounts ground breaking at the time, if a bit dated now. I watched this show as a kid, but can honestly say I never really got it then. The only thing I really remember is the sexy opening title sequence with that sweet sweet Jan Hammer Miami Vice theme. What have I discovered now because of Hulu? This is the sweatiest show I’ve ever seen. Shit, Crockett and Tubbs have sweat stains on their pastel-colored suits in nearly every scene. Can we get wardrobe in here? This show personifies the 80’s as much as Madonna writhing around in a wedding dress does. The writing does seem to hold up though, and I’ve been enjoying the first few episodes.

So trust me. Sign up for Hulu if you haven’t. It’s free.

Here’s a search engine for many clean public toilets in Manhattan. And it’s optimized for mobile!

It’s like George Costanza, in web page form.

www.diaroogle.com

Horrible name.

Here’s a good series at moillusions.com (as I was looking at these, I discovered tons of other great illuuuusions at this site)

And here’s the Australian parking garage. This was a winner of several international design awards. Which ones though, I don’t know.

In the most recent podcast, Robert Krulwich, (one of the show’s regular moderators) sits down for a live discussion with author, Columbia professor, and astrophysics genius (and I suspect atheist) Brian Greene to talk about the Multiverse. Even summarizing the deliberation here would be quite a challenge. Which is why I urge you to check out the show on the web.

Basically, Greene discusses the theory of multiple universes. In which there are infinite dopplegangers of every single one of us, doing the exact same things we are doing at this very moment, in infinite variations. Virtually destroying the notion of individuality. He likens the Multiverse Theory to a giant piece of Swiss cheese. Where each bacteria-bored hole represents another universe. He also explains it is more likely that we are living in a Matrix-style simulation, fabricated by a “super-expert” race of beings, rather than living on a real soil and sand planet. And finally, he can be quoted as saying, “There is no free will, there is only physics.”

Mr. Greene is quite lucid throughout and even though his theories make him seem like a quack, he calmly explains that they are based off of real scientific observations. The subject of Occam’s razor does come up, to Krulwich’s credit, which I subscribe to rather heavily. Greene debates it’s “simple” principle and offers a different opinion on simplicity. Obviously, infinity comes up as well, but thankfully they don’t delve too deeply into that ball of frustration.

It’s a mind-bending discussion and a fun little exercise for your forehead muscles. Huh??

Check it out.

And just the other day I was saying how my hot dogs didn’t resemble enough cephalopods. Problem solved.

http://www.octodog.net/

——–

Me? I’m selfish, judgmental, arrogant, insecure, sharp, dull, supercilious, quirky, shy, excitable, grumpy, inured, human and working on bitter.
…I used a thesaurus for that.

A masochist and I love sadists.

My mouth gets me into trouble more than I’m comfortable with.

My stupidity gets me into trouble more than I’m comfortable with.

The look on my face gets me into trouble more than I’m comfortable with.

I like being Italian.

I add an S to all my Gregg Rule notebooks. But I cross out the extra g at the end, so it looks stupid.

As a prank, the next time you’re introduced to someone, respond with this..
“Ah, so you’re the person I’m supposed to kill.”

I want my gravestone to say…
Here lies Greg Granito.
He did a few things right. Except not dying.

Not into politics, but I’ll never hesitate to give my opinion on an issue, regardless of any knowledge or background of said issue.

I’ve got love to give.

You see, the Tin Man holds a special place in my heart. I played the Tin Man in my kindergarten’s running of The Wizard of Oz. I had to learn how to skip. I almost didn’t make it on stage because I got a lima bean stuck up my nose. True story. The nuns at St. Philomena’s had to take me to the nun room and help me get it out. I don’t remember if they talked me through it or simply put the fear of god in me, but I do remember that I was able to get it out myself. And dressed in my gray sweat pants, I made it on stage to deliver what was hailed as a breakthrough performance.

Anyway, Tin Man was ok. It had it’s moments. Zooey was great but the rest of the acting was a bit schlocky. The little references to The Wizard of Oz were fun… for a little. The special effects were extremely disappointing. And I’m not quite sure I even understand the name Tin Man. Easily, the most interesting part for me was how these weird monkey/bat type creatures materialize. They actually come from Azkadellia’s (the bad witch) breasts. She unbuttons her coat, thrusts her perfectly wondered breasts forward, and they fly out. Hilarious. Additionally, there was a fair amount of senseless murder that I didn’t anticipate. It’s not something I’d ever watch again, but it was a fairly enjoyable journey.

There is one thing that I’m not so happy to report. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon does NOT sync up with Tin Man as expected. Trying Atom Heart Mother tomorrow.

Nothing is worse than standing at a cold and damp train platform, waiting for a train that has already missed it’s scheduled arrival time. Not knowing when you’re getting home. Freezing your ears and digits off. And pissed that if you had left work just a little sooner, you wouldn’t be in this predicament. The only solace you have is that you can purchase these earmuffs that wrap around the back of your head. Which are great not because they are incredible ear insulators or that they keep your hairdo intact, but because they make you look all sci-fi like Lando’s bald assistant. (his name was Lobot.) Almost as cool as bluetooth earpieces!

I’m OCD when it comes to the tidiness of my computer. Though I have no problem getting home from work and immediately tossing my jeans across the room, when it comes to my computer, I’m a neat freak. I keep my desktop clear of any icons. I uncontrollably hit the “clean up” function in all of my folders to align icons to a grid. Always quick to get rid of unwanted crap. Keeping my machine lean is important to me. But nowhere is my cyber-compulsion more apparent than when I’m waiting for an email. My inbox has like, one email in it. I process messages as soon as they arrive. Furthermore, I’ll hit that Check Mail button several times a minute, especially when waiting for an important email. Which is great because this way, instead of getting that important mail, you get all of your spam as soon as it comes in! One of these days I’m going to start to believe that I really need penis enlargement surgery.

Sometimes I think Cartman had the right idea when he couldn’t handle waiting for the Nintendo Wii. He had Butters freeze him. To be reanimated when the Wii came out. It kinda worked.

Huh?

But with all those different team affiliations, decrepit old men, and giant egos in one place under the hot Bronx lights, you get the feeling something might go wrong.

Luckily, aside from the general pacing of this thing, (the damn game didn’t get started until 9pm-ish) it pretty much went off without any problem. Nothing really viral-worthy. Except for the mistreatment of Hank Aaron.

For anyone who didn’t watch this parade, here’s how the ceremony went:
They went around the diamond with Joe Buck announcing every still breathing hall-of-famer at each position, as only Joe Buck can. There were a couple of huge names and the well-educated Yankees crowd gave them their due.

When Joe Buck got to center field they went through the names and then he said something to the effect of this….

“And now… (dramatic pause)….. one of the true giants of the game. (It’s a pun!) Willy………………(dramatic pause)….. Mays!”
The crowd goes wild
cut to CU of The Say Hey Kid
cut to crowd going bananas
cut to CU of The Say Hey Kid
and so on.

This goes on for a minute or two.

Then, Joe Buck begins to announce the right fielders. As he’s going down the list it goes something like this…..

“Tony Gwynn…”
“Al Kaline…”
“Hank Aaron…”
“Reggie….. Jackson…”
cut to crowd chanting “Reg-gie” “Reg-gie”
cut to CU of Reggie’s ego
cut to crowd cheering
cut to CU of Mr. October

Ok, I understand that we’re in Yankee Stadium, and they want to leverage the crowd by throwing a Yankee great out there at the end. But how about something special for Hammerin’ Hank? I mean come on. They just went right by him! This man is another one of the true giants of the game. Could they not come up with a clever pun or something? Let me try…

“And now….. (dramatic pause)…. one of the bravest men to pick up the lumber……. (dramatic pause)…. Henry…..”Hank”….. Aaron.”

For goodness sake… he was the home run king for 33 years. And many people believe he still is! I grew up believing he was some sort of god. I didn’t think he was real. It’s Hank Aaron. Give the man a little more respect than that. Is it because we’re in the house that Ruth built and we are still bitter that he broke Babe’s record? That simply can’t be.

I don’t know if MLB produced this thing or if it was solely done by FOX, but someone needs to apologize to Mr. Aaron. I’ve got a feeling it’s FOX because I don’t think Major League Baseball would suddenly forget one of it’s greatest living legends. Someone should be ashamed. How soon we forget the man. And I’m sure somewhere, Barry Bonds is pissed too.

Stepping off soapbox now.