I didn’t know the following, I just stumbled on it tonight on Digg. Apparently, Democrat ex-candidate and congressman Dennis Kucinich saw a UFO in the 1980s (Jimmy Carter saw one in the 1970s too). Actress Shirley McLaine was the one who made this known in her autobiography, as he apparently saw the UFO while he was visiting her:

“He saw a gigantic triangular craft, silent and observing him. It hovered for about 10 minutes or so and sped away with a speed he couldn’t comprehend. He felt a connection in his heart and heard directions in his mind.”

A few days later, he was asked on national television if that account is true. Kucinich said it was, that he did indeed had seen a UFO. FoxNews shat on him the same day, calling him a lunatic. How classy.

Politically I don’t agree with Kucinich on everything (e.g. he’s against H1B and L1 visas), but he does seem pretty stable to me. If he saw something that was not explainable, it probably wasn’t. Except if the lack of B12 on his vegan diet made him see things…

Expect soon an interview with one of the “UFO Hunters” crew here on my blog. The show airs every Wednesday at 10 PM on History Channel.

One of the best “Lost” episodes aired last night. However, from the direction point of view, I have had some problems with the way the plot was presented:

1. When Ben wakes up in the Sahara desert, within seconds there were two men in horses approaching him. Well, the director should be left in the Sahara desert for a day to realize how big it is and how difficult it is to stumble on someone.

2. Ben using that knife like a ninja, was a bit over the top. Ben has given me the impression so far that he can barely program his VCR.

3. The “redshirts” (the non-speaking lostie roles) all died within 10 seconds. Sawyer and Claire were unharmed by the bullets and the explosions, while the redshirts died so easily and so fast. It’s stupid and unrealistic. Even for those who claim that “the island protected Sawyer and Claire”, it looks stupid from the direction point of view. It’s not how the action scene should have been constructed. It was not dramatic, or fair, the way these characters got rid of. It felt like excess fat removed and that’s not what we have been led to feel about the losties, including the ones we know nothing about. Each lostie death should have had its own (quick) scene, and at a similar tone, the way Keamy’s team escaped the Smoke Monster should have had its own scene too (because they did escape).

Oh, and I hope the reason for this “hurry up” direction was not the fact that “Greys Anatomy” ate 2 minutes of “Lost”’s programming, because I will hate that STUPID show even more. For the 10th time: why do people watch medical dramas which are not really medical dramas but slut dramas? Each doctor is humping every nurse and other doctor in there. God, I hate that shit.

I meant to do that years ago, but hey, it’s never too late. My little baby, the browser detection kit for usage with mobile sites. More info at OSNews.

I got pwned by a guy on IM today:

Anonymous: Hey, Eugenia, would you like the URL to download the movie “Jumper”?
Eugenia: No.
Anonymous: Why not?
Eugenia: I don’t do piracy.
Anonymous: It’s not piracy!!! You watch it, and if you like it, you buy it.
Eugenia: No, it does not work this way. You don’t eat the tomato before you buy it.
Anonymous: No, but you can see if a tomato is good or not before you buy it. So you would buy a rotten tomato?
Eugenia: You can still read reviews and watch a trailer for a movie. And you can go to IMDb.com and read more reviews and comments.
Anonymous: So, if I want to buy a tomato I need to first ask the shop owner if his tomatoes are good or not?
Eugenia: Sure, why not?
Anonymous: Because the only thing he wants to do is sell, sell, sell…
Eugenia: You can only buy from the people you know that they have good tomatoes.
Anonymous: Well, see, I already paid for the movie in the theater.
Eugenia: Yes, but you paid for the cinema view, not for a free copy. You are not allowed to copy movies. You should wait and buy the DVD.
Anonymous: Yes, I will buy the DVD too. From that Chinese guy around the corner!!

* This cold was so hard on me that last night I was extremely tired at 8:30 PM (and I’ve done nothing all day). I slept until 8 AM the next day. Today, I still feel weak (and bored).

* Sony wants to add a video renting service to the PS3. But they are doing the same mistake again as they have done for other products. Instead of using established solutions, they re-invent the wheel. I can tell you right now that I have no interest whatsoever opening a new Sony account and paying-per-movie. What I wanted is Netflix support, where I already have an account and I can watch as many movies as I want for $10 per month. THAT’S what needed to be done, but noooo, Sony has to fuck it up again.

* I am hearing that the 3-part finale of “Lost” is very powerful and twisty, like last year’s. Because of that I am seriously thinking of stop reading spoilers. Just so I can see how it feels if you don’t know what’s going on. Must… stop… clicking… http://SpoilersLost.blogspot.com/

* OSNews reports that the XO might become XP-only. The problem here is that they finally realize that OSS is not the only usable solution that exists. Use the best tool for the job, free from philosophical ideas. I am a hard realist when it comes to my tools, be it software or a screwdriver. Cause these are nothing but tools. People should stop idolizing them.

* I was thinking about Vista the other day. As you know I am a big supporter of backwards compatibility for the sake of the convenience of users. However, Vista has so much craft in it, that I believe that Windows 7 should simply be a next-gen 64bit-only OS, written from scratch. No old craft in it. This would place it for release in about 5-6 years from now. And it would only work originally with a small set of hardware parts. DOS/XP compatibility would only be via a virtualizer, no native support. And it would be a huge risk. But I think it’s a must at this point because Windows is too complex right now for any MS engineer and architect to handle it properly and develop for it.

* You might have read that Nokia will now distribute Qt on the N-series internet tablets. I don’t know for sure, but if we are to believe the rumors, that’s why half of the desktop UI team of Hildon at Nokia quit a few short weeks ago. Not because these devs hate Qt, but come on, working on a GTK UI for 3 years and then having a foreign toolkit forced into the platform like this, it’s going to sting a lot these developers. Can’t blame them, it’s their sweat.

* It’s Easter for the Orthodox Christians this Sunday. I wish I was in Greece to eat. Eat a lot of this lamb. Eat until my stomach develops an ulcer.

* For now, I am bored.

There are a number of Madonna rare or unreleased songs out there. Thanks to the remixing community, you will find their video remixes with these (usually leaked) songs on YouTube.

My favorite two are “Revenge” and “Fighting Spirit“. These two songs should have been part of her albums, no doubt.

Then, on a second tier, there’s “History“, “Superpop“, “Has To Be“, “Liquid Love“, “Bittersweet” (based on an ancient Persian poem), and “Cyberraga“.

And two released songs, that they were never released as singles, now get some video support thanks to the video remixers: JBQ’s favorite “Let It Will Be and my favorite “Sky Fits Heaven“.

And of course, if you search hard enough on YouTube you will also find “Gone Gone Gone”, “Like a flower”, “Supernatural”, “Fantasy”, “Shame” and at least 15 more songs that never saw the light of day.

That’s the kind of people I like. People who say it like it is. Who are not afraid of getting hammered for saying the truth.

When TheRegister asked Ubuntu’s boss, Mark Shuttleworth, about the mess of the new audio system, he remarked: “I am glad you are not into video editing because the story there is worse.”

Exactly. And it ain’t gonna change, unless someone who has millions to spend invests in it.

Hint: Blender is forkable and a good base for a new video editor.

When I was 13, there was this kid (15 year old) in the school that would make fun of me. He would just be right in my nose every day.

One Saturday night, I was out with my parents at a local cafeteria which also had coin-up games. That kid happened to be there that night and he wouldn’t let me play Pacman and Phoenix. So, I go to my father who was sitting outside, and told him to come and reason with him.

My father indeed comes in, and the kid gets a pretty macho pose, thinking that he would be able to outdo (and ignore) any lecture that my father would have to give him. But he wasn’t prepared for what my father had in store for him.

He told him: “If you are going to bully my daughter and dishonor her, you will have to marry her. So, I will be talking to your family to arrange the marriage”.

He never bullied me, ever again. If anything, he was avoiding me for the years to come, even after we were both adults and we knew that my father was joking.

Watch the latest episodes of CSI:Miami in HD. Then, look carefully at the scenes where Caruso appears. All his close-up scenes are shot with a heavy diffusion filter, while the other actors’ scenes aren’t. They are obviously trying to fool you about Caruso’s true age by hiding his wrinkles like this. It might work with most viewers, but not with me. It totally destroys the experience because it looks stupid. So what if he’s wrinkly?

* JBQ is leaving me… He will go to Boston as part of his work. He will be back before you know it though. Heh, he can’t really leave me for real, what did you think?

* I am ravaged by a cold that I caught from JBQ. My right eye cries all by itself, and I sneeze a lot. My throat is soar and my nose is like a war zone. Thankfully, no fever.

* “Lost” is back this Thursday at 10 PM. Can’t wait. Check these clips from the upcoming episode. I hear that the 3-part finale of the season is going to be incredible, with major twists in it.

* Blender is forkable. I know that there is a “secret” mailing list somewhere consisted by some developers who have created Linux video editors in the past, but having used a bit of Blender’s VSE, I must say that forking that module might be the way to go for that underground team. I’d say that about 60% of the job is done for them by the existing Blender. The rest 40% is about cleaning up the interface, adding pan, crop, track motion and text support in a more usable way that doesn’t involve the 3D part of Blender (which is near impossible to learn).

* Tiffen sent me today for a review their “Film look” filter kit, and two ND filters. Review soon at FreshDV.

* I am concerned about the food crisis. My family in Greece are already hit by it pretty hard, especially my father.