Great New Emerging Blogs
May 24, 2006 | 23 Comments
Over the last few months a few friends and colleagues have started their own blogs. Since then each has put out some fantastic articles and I wanted to take an opportunity to summarize why these are great blogs and highlight my favorite three stories from each.
Ken’s TEK
Ken is my manager at Plymouth State University. His history of forward thinking in the higher education technology space has continued to keep PSU out in front of the University System of NH’s other schools as well as many other higher education institutions. Trust me, I’m not just saying this because he’s my boss, when Ken finally gets a full handle on blogging, we’ll look back on his stories as clear indicators on what is what with higher education technology.
Pomp, Circumstance and Gonfalons
In response to a perceived lack of grandeur during the 2004 Plymouth graduation Ken suggested addition of gonfalons which went over amazingly in 2005. They were again used successfully in 2006. He explains the significance of gonfalons in this article.
Google Trends - Veeerrrryyy Interesting
A great use case for another one of Google’s sweet tools.
SunGardHE Summit Snap Shots
Images from our hugely successful trip to Summit 2006.
Ken has a pile of other great articles on identity management, business intelligence, vodcasts, online education, and more.
Changing gears, this is Randy’s second run at OS. His first incarnation was pretty cool, but this new one blows that old one away. I just hope if this one goes away, all the content doesn’t go with it… again… Randy is a DC comic book loving geek through and through. Me being a Marvel guy, this gives me some great insight on how the lesser half of the comic world thinks.
Seremuppety
An amazingly hilarious parody of Joss Whedon’s Firefly/Serenity done with muppets.
Important Survival Information!
One of the …
Superman: A true Hero will fly again! and Superman’s New Look
Randy is far more excited about the new Superman movie than I am. I appreciate his level of enthusiasm, it is what has kept me paying attention to this movie.
Why is there nothing about Infinite Crisis on his blog yet?
Watersedge
Dan Bramer is the newest in this crowd, but shows great potential. Dan grasps new ideas quickly and is able to convert them into entertaining and insightful ways. Currently there is a lot of WebCT info that is finally being documented. I can’t wait to see what he does when he’s tasked with supporting Luminis and Oracle HTMLdb ongoing.
Tracking Flights in 3D with Google Earth
How flippin’ sweet is this?!? Google Earth is such an awesome application. I love when people take advantage of this application as a platform for additional functionality.
WebCT: The 6 day work week
Here’s Dan flexing his capable WebCT muscles. An insightful extract of previously unmined data.
Dan-a-thon: Disclaimer
An amusing defensive stance after being a key component of one of the most fun trips I’ve ever been on in my life. Dan drove our group through Disney at a break-neck pace, allowing us to see more than we would have expected on such a short trip.
I have to throw an honorable mention to his first story though, Ode to the ‘Construction Guy’, go read this it’s funny as hell.
So, that’s my summary. Check these blogs out and I hope you enjoy them half as much as I do. As for you three, if you’re reading this, keep up the good work.
Tags: blogging, blogs, business intelligence, comic books, comics, daniel bramer, firefly, gonfalon, gonfalons, Google Earth, higher education, identity management, jpss whedon, ken kochien, ken's tek, online education, optimal stupidity, randy szabadics, seremuppety, serenity, summit, sungard, sungardhe, superman, vodcasts, watersedge, webct
Firefly Season 2
January 26, 2006 | 8 Comments
An independent group is pushing for a subscription based season 2 of Firefly. Delivered through streaming media or on demand pay per view, whatever. You have to be in support of this.
Go sign the petition right now.
In their own words:
The Firefly Season 2 Project:
Captain Mal and the crew of Serenity need your help to stay flying.We are looking to push the envelope of episodic television by offering Season Two of Firefly in a groundbreaking new format. Each episode (or the entire season) would be made available for purchase in Standard or Hi-Definition.
Do it. Do it nine times.
Tags: firefly, fox, joss, joss whedon, season, serenity, television, whedon
Buffy Completed
November 17, 2005 | 5 Comments
After an entire summer of watching four or more episodes twice a week, we finally completed the entire seven season run of Buffy the Vampire Slayer tonight. This show has has it’s ups and downs, but overall was one of the most entertaining series I’ve ever watched.
For those just getting into it, the show does not truly hit its stride until midway through season 2. Granted, season 1 is only 13 episodes… Anyway, season 2 was when the core characters had all become interesting enough to me that I was drwan into the entire Buffy universe.
From my perspective, Sarah Michelle Geller is by far NOT the key character in this show. Instead it is those that surround her that make Buffy what it is. In no particular order: Alyson Hannigan as Willow, Nicholas Brendon as Xander, Emma Caulfield as Anya, David Boreanaz as Angel, Anthony Head as Giles, Seth Green as Oz, Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia, Elisha Dushku as Faith, and James Marsters as Spike. These are characters and experiences that will remain with me long into the future. Joss Whedon is truly the master of character development.
Now to move on to the fifth and final season of Angel. If only Firefly was still on TV…
Tags: angel, buffy, buffy the vampire slayer, David Boreanaz, firefly, joss whedon, Nicholas Brendon, serenity, willow
Arrested Development Nears Its End
November 13, 2005 | 2 Comments
Since the beginning Arrested Development has appealed to my slightly offbeat humor. After seeing the first episode, I was sure this was on Fox’s short list of shows to cancel. I was happily amazed when it managed its way through a first and second season. With it’s late start this season, I was sure it had finally saw it’s demise.
I was happy to see it return to TV for a third season last week with back to back episodes.
However, that was short lived according to this CNN article. Apparently the viewership was down and Fox has decided to omit Arrested Development from November sweeps. It will then return in December to finish out only 13 episodes this season. Fox is not renewing past there.
A sad end for an entertaining, Emmy award winning show, that was a welcome departure from the similarity amongst most other popular network shows. It’s this thinking that killed Firefly and will continue to kill shows with small loyal followings. Each will be replaced with generic mindless dribble of bad writing and bad acting.
Other stories about the cancellation:
Arizona Republic: Fox bails on superb ‘Arrested’
Reuters: Fox pulls ‘Arrested Development’ for November sweeps
EOnline: “Arrested” Going to “Heaven”?
Tags: arrested development, bluth family, cancelled show, comedy, david cross, firefly, fox, jason bateman, portia de rosi, show, sweeps, television, tv
Buffy - The Chosen Collection
October 9, 2005 | 6 Comments
After getting hooked on Firefly and Serenity, I decided to plunge into Joss Whedon’s other TV series’. It took me until halfway through the second season of Buffy to get hooked, but now I love the show. Additionally, I moved into the Angel series and that rules as well.
I mention all this specifically because I just discovered today that the complete Buffy series is being repackaged and released in a 40
In fact, anyone who has any seasons currently, might be wise to dump them on Ebay, and use the money to buy this collection.
Check out some more images of the set on TVShowsonDVD.com
Tags: angel, buffy, buffy the vampire slayer, dvd, firefly, joss,joss whedon, sarah michelle geller, serenity, special collection, television, The Chosen Collection, tv, tv series, vampire, whedon
Lego Serenity
August 23, 2005 | 6 Comments
Jenny sent me along this fantastic Lego creation. This thing is like 3ft long and apparently as accurate to the real Serenity as he could make it. I wish Lego themselves was producing this because I want one in my office.
A couple other great over the top lego things I’ve seen:
Monty Python LEGO - It’s on iFilms and there are some ads to face down in trying to get here, but it’s worth it.
LEGO Rubik’s Cube Solver - a machine made of LEGO that will solve a Rubik’s Cube, crazy!
BrickFilms - a site dedicated to films made with LEGO’s
LEGOLAND - I can’t talk about craziness with LEGs without mentioning the amusement park.
Finally, if you still haven’t seen Joss Whedon’s Firefly you need to before Serenity is released on September 30th, go buy it, the internet will be here to browse when you get back.
Tags: film, firefly, joss whedon, lego, monty python, movie, rubik’s cube, scifi, serenity, tv, tv series
Serenity/Firefly
June 25, 2005 | 5 Comments
My good friend Jenny introduced me to Firefly. For this, I love and hate her. The series is great, but was cancelled after 13 episodes. This means that about the time you start to really get into it, the show starts to develop intriguing questions, BAM! It’s gone.
However, there is a small reprieve. Joss Whedon has now also created a movie extending the series. This movie is Serenity. Serenity comes out September 30th, but I got to see a screening on Thursday night in Boston! The movie rocks, same great character development and story writing, tons of sweet action. This is a must see movie for anyone who likes action/adventure flicks. Especially if you also have seen the series.
Of course if you’ve actually watched the series, I don’t need to tell you…