tinfoil, whiskey, and computers

I am a huge fan of Firefox.  I am a Windows user at work and an OS X user at home.  Having a cross-platform option is one of the many reasons I switched in the first place a few years ago.  I also love the add-ons (were they called plugins at one point?).  I love being able to customize my browser to do what I want it to do.  Here are the add-ons I use on a daily basis and have on every computer in no particular order:

• Fission - I just like the progress in the address bar.  I could live without it, but it’s nice to have.
• Forecastfox - weather in the statusbar.  Simple, effective, convenient.
• Foxmarks - As I use multiple machines (2 at home, 1 at work) I need a way to sync my bookmarks.  This is my preferred method after trying a few others.
• Gmail Notifier - I actually only use this on Windows machines as I use the Google Notifier for OS X on my Macs.  But it’s nice all the same.
• Deepest Sender - That’s what I’m typing this blog post on.  I used to use it for Livejournal originally but I’ve mostly abandoned that and just use my personal blog now.  Works great though for both.
• FireFTP - A free cross-platform FTP client.  It’s simple but it gets the job done.  As I’m not satisfied with any of the other free OS X FTP clients this is what I use exclusively on OS X.  On Windows I use Filezilla for some things, but for basic FTP I still choose FireFTP.
• Adblock Plus - Why the hell wouldn’t you block ads?  Seems to work pretty well.  Better than the Greasemonkey script options.
• Greasemonkey - Though I don’t use it to block ads I use it for all kinds of other neat stuff.  I use it on Netflix, myspace, IMDb, and a handful of other sites.
• Cache View - adds a context menu right-click to see cached pages via a variety of cache servers like Archive.org and Google cache among others.
• Customize Google - Just what it sounds like, it adds some custom options to Google searches.  Mainly I use it to link to other search engines to compare results.
• Gmarks - I am still undecided on this but the latest update is pretty nice.  I wish Google Bookmarks was better in general so I could sync my Firefox bookmarks to it.  Right now it’s a manual process to sync my Firefox to Google bookmarks.  Gmarks is pretty cool by itself but I’m not a hardcore user of it yet.
• IE Tab - This only works on Windows.  At work we have a lot of internal sites that rely on IE to function.  We can’t use IE7 and there’s no other tab solution for IE that I like.  I actually hate IE7 tabs too.  Enter IE Tab.  Now I can use Firefox, tabs and all, to view pages though it uses the IE engine embedded within Firefox.  It’s pretty cool.  I dig it.
• PlainOldFavorites - There are some bookmarks (Favorites in MS-speak) that I only bookmark on my work machine.  I don’t want or need to sync those like I do my normal Firefox bookmarks.  PlainOldFavorites allows me to neatly display my IE Favorites right in Firefox.  Very simplistic and gets the job done well.
• Tab Mix Plus - I have a need to tweak and Firefox just doesn’t give me the control over tabs that I want.  This allows me to tweak the behavior to my particular wants and needs.
• TinyUrl Creator - Allows you to easily make a tiny URL using, uh, tinyurl.com.

Share This

This Movie Is Not Yet Rated is a documentary about the MPAA rating system.  Personally I think it’s a fairly fucked up ratings system, run by uptight, out of touch people.  It’s run in complete secrecy, until the filmmaker hires an investigator to figure out who these people are.  It’s a lot of fun watching them unravel the mystery as they interject comparisons of movies that are “ok” and others that are not.

It was a pretty fascinating look into the whole weird thing.  My favorite is when they send a copy of the film to the MPAA for their review.  Too funny.  As documentaries go I thought it was quite well done.  As subject matter it’s very interesting, at least to me.  Any film buff should check it out for sure.

Share This

How did I miss this movie a few years ago? It’s got Alec Baldwin, which is always fun. It’s a fairly funny little flick. It has a great case including Matthew Broderick, Toni Collette, Tony Shalhoub. Movie is about an undercover FBI agent who finances a movie as part of a mob sting operation. Yeah, weird. But funny. It’s a funny movie. It’s even somewhat based on a true story, which makes all the ridiculousness all that much better.

It’s worth a peek, especially if you are a fan of Baldwin on SNL or 30 Rock. He’s a really funny guy.

Share This

For Your Consideration is another cookie cutter movie from Christopher Guest.  It’s the same style, mockumentary, as all his previous movies.  It’s the same cast.  Frankly, it’s just the same.  It’s not terrible, it’s not great.  It just is.  It’s an easy way to crank out a new film and make a few million bucks I think.

To be quite honest, I’m bored with this one trick pony.  These people are all pretty great, just no longer original.  It’s worth a rental if you like Guest’s movies.

Share This

I liked the original Battle Royale.  I thought it was a pretty great movie.  So did a lot of people.  That’s why a sequel was made, to get more money.  Unfortunately it only tackles the surface of what made the original interesting.  The most obvious bits and pieces.  Then it exploits them.  That’s what most sequels do.  I ended up not even finishing the movie.  I found myself extremely bored and disinterested.  There was nothing that caught my eye or ear.  There was a lot of gore though, which is what any good sequel has.

Don’t bother renting.  But check out the first if you haven’t seen it already.

Share This

Wow, just crap.  I love Tenacious D, Jack Black and Kyle Gass.  I find them funny.  I enjoy their music for the most part.  I never did like their show on HBO though so that should have been a warning about this movie.  I’m not sure the movie is even relevant.  Wasn’t their show on HBO like a decade ago?  Haven’t they already been through their 15 minutes of fame?  While Jack Black is known, is the group?

The movie was terrible, hard to watch.  It didn’t flow well.  The plot was bad (and it barely needs a plot for this type of movie).  I felt it should have been more of a musical.  Maybe it was but was so terrible I didn’t notice.  Not even worth renting, even for hardcore D fans.

Share This

Fuck is a fun little documentary about, you guessed it, the word fuck.  The origins, the use, the taboo.  I found it pretty interesting.  On a larger scale it deals with the issue of free speech in general.  It’s hold the distinction of saying “fuck” more times than any other movie.

It’s a good, not great, documentary with commentary from many celebrities and authorities.  If you are into docs, check it out for sure.

Share This

Just some quick reviews as I’m way behind and need to post and update.  Ghost Rider was a whole lot of blah.  I don’t mind all the new comic movies.  Comics are cool and there are a lot of great stories out there.  I even liked Ghost Rider when I was a kid.  But Hollywood is in a rush to push out as many as they can regardless of quality.  Ghost Rider is probably above average as these things go.  That doesn’t mean it’s good.

The story is straightforward enough.  Dude sells his soul to the Devil, becomes Ghost Rider, saves the day, gets the girl, sets itself up for a sequel which I hope doesn’t happen.  The performances were phoned in.  Nothing terrible, nothing impressive.  Eva Mendes is hot but she’s a terrible actress.  Nic Cage is his typical character.  He doesn’t have much depth.  He’s becoming another Kevin Costner to me, who I loathe as an actor.

I’m not going to give a crappy review.  It’s ok.  Don’t expect much from it and it’s alright.  I think it’s better to wait until DVD though.  Not worth the money for a matinee.

Share This