NSA has Nothing on the Internet!

Lightbeam Firefox add-on

Look, we all know it happens. Every web site you visit collects data on you, and will try to leverage that into ads and getting you to click other websites. Of course, over time this creates a profile on you. For me, I don't really care. For some, this is a pretty big deal. So for the crazies out there who won't drive a GPS-enabled car because the government can track you (I know a couple people like that) Mozilla will become your new best friend!

There is a new Firefox add-on called Lightbeam. It's a free, quick install, and it runs quietly in the background. It monitors your internet use, and shows the different 3rd party sites that are tracking you. It does it in a pretty graphic format too, that is super easy to use. I literally just installed it, and visited 2 sites, Google and Blogger. From that, 31 3rd party sites connected with me. That is absolutely insane!

Look, there is just no way around it. The internet offers literally unlimited options to learn, purchase, explore, entertain, connect to friends or whatever. For the most part it's ALL FREE! If you want this awesome tool, you have to accept that there are people trying to make a buck off you. Keep your passwords safe, use virus/webscan software, and don't visit file stealing sites or porn. You'll be fine.

In the meantime, switch to Firefox (it's the best browser anyway) and install this little add-on. It's very, very interesting.

Ender

I am a total sucker for infographics. When I saw this one which doubles as a movie poster, I immediately had to post it.  

Look, we all love the book, but I have no idea if the story will work as a movie. I have been literally holding my breath in anticipation of this one. The story has the potential to be one of the best sci-fi movies ever. It could also fall flat. I have avoided all reviews, but I see it's tracking at about 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, so there is hope. In a never before momentous event, Ali and I got a sitter and will meet Mom and Dad for dinner and a movie in glorious IMAX on Friday! I would recommend everyone see it soon. If it turns out to be awesome*, I will be forced to immediately post!

*Awesome is defined as me wiping because I "got something in my eye".

Ready for Thanksgiving!

Let all the youngin's know, tractor rides are open for business! Took the cart for a test spin yesterday around the neighborhood. It fit Ali and the girls no problem. I even have 2 bungee cords that can be fastened as makeshift seatbelts.

Still working on a fun course. I was hoping to go through the trails, but the bridges are too narrow for the tractor. It will be plenty fun and bumpy though!

Hell. Yes.

 

Perhaps the single greatest movie/candy tie-in in the history of the world. Not yet available for purchase, but damn it needs to be!

Samsonite, I Was Way Off!

How excited are you about this sequel?  This was one of the few movies ever that I literally watched back to back because it was so good.  Radio?  Who needs a radio?

Butt Slide!

The Reds may blow it and miss the playoffs this year, but 2013 will always have this all-time gem to look back on!!! Of course he was OUT!

We've all done it...

USA! USA! USA!

Here we come Brazil!

The Michigan "Rivalry"

The outcry over the loss of what has suddenly become the most storied rivalry in college football is both disingenuous and laughable.

Mark May:

"I can't have much doubt. I think it's a terrific rivalry. And when GameDay comes to town they know it's a big game, everybody knows it's a big game. Growing up in upstate New York, I used to watch it when I was growing up, when it was on television."

Skip Bayless:

"This is not an historical... Are you kidding me? I mean, I grew up, I couldn't wait for Michigan-Notre Dame, going back to Bubba Smith."

Really Mark? The first time Notre Dame played Michigan in your lifetime was 1978. You were at Pitt and had a game that day against Temple, so I assume you didn't watch it. Skip, you were 26 the first time these teams met in 1978 - and Bubba Smith played for Michigan State!

Without going into too much detail, there is an amazing article that talks about the actual facts behind this rivalry. Jim Lefebvre gives a great summary of this series' history. Here are some highlights:

• 1887: Notre Dame's first football game is a loss to Michigan.
• 1888 - 1909: These schools play 8 more times as college football is born.
• 1909: Notre Dame finally beats Michigan.
• 1910: Notre Dame boards the team bus for the road trip to Ann Arbor for the Michigan game. At Niles, they are turned around, as Fielding Yost cancels the game. How's that for notice!
• 1910-1941: Yost's hatred of Notre Dame, born of that loss and his well-known anti-Catholicism, prevents Notre Dame from playing Michigan, and blackballs them from joining the Big Ten. Don't believe anti-Catholicism was real? Read the linked article above or try this one: Notre Dame Battles the KKK.
• 1942-1943: The series resumes only after Yost retires.
• 1944-1977: Another loooong hiatus as Michigan just can't get over it's ND hatred.
• 1978: The rivalry is renewed and carries on in the modern era.
• 2007: Both schools sign a 20 year extension of the series that runs through 2031.
• 2010: Michigan athletic director David Brandon announced that the deal had never been signed, and that the two schools were playing without a real "contract" right now. He continued to say that their mutual agreement to play allows for either side to pull out of the rivalry with three years notice.
• 2012: Michigan notifies Notre Dame that they will exercise that option and cancels games in 2018-2019 with "plans" to renew after 2020. No reason, except rumored Big Ten expansion to 9 conference games.
• 2012: Notre Dame later notifies Michigan that they will also exercise the same option and cancels games in 2015-2017. This is due to Notre Dame's deal with the ACC.

So you can see that Brady Hokes posturing and ripping Notre Dame for "chickening out"  is ridiculous. He is blatantly ignoring the actual facts and history of this series. Clearly, Michigan has called the shots and continuously crapped on Notre Dame out of hatred, bigotry and spite. The current hiatus that will begin in 2015 is simply due to conference realignment. Had the B1G not added 2 ACC schools, we probably wouldn't have allied with the ACC, and likely would still be playing Michigan every year.

So as we all sit back this Saturday night, drink our Pumking, and watch the Irish kick the living crap out of Michigan, pull this post up on your iPhone and reference the facts every time some yahoo rips ND for cancelling this "storied" rivalry. I'm sure Brent and Herbie will have a field day tearing into Notre Dame.

Can a Website Jump the Shark?

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

So we've all used the term for TV. It's the precise moment when a formerly great show takes that final and fatal turn for the worse. Fonzie was the original on Happy Days, but nearly every show has "that" moment. I wonder if the same can be said of a website?

Movies are a favorite topic hear on The Royal Heffernans blog. Probably 2nd only to Notre Dame. I own hundreds of movies, and am embracing the new technology and streaming more and more at home. Obviously, keeping up with upcoming movies online is a big part of that. For many years, my "go to" website was Ain't It Cool News. Harry Knowles and his crew liked the types of movies I liked. They had great sources, and always seemed to have the scoop on exciting new projects. They were irreverent, and would tear down a movie if it wasn't any good. It was almost a one stop shop for movie info.

Now, I think that has changed. For many reasons (all of which I will not go into here), the fans of this website, which was once the pinnacle of online movie news, have turned on Harry and the site. Suffice it to say that the quality of the website has gone down. Reviews are no longer trusted. The appearance of the website seems woefully behind the rest of the internet. Exclusive news and scoops are fewer and farther between. The website has also had some financial difficulties. 

In an effort to reinvent his brand, Harry started a web series titled, Ain't It Cool with Harry Knowles. He produced a series of short episodes, of which I had no interest in watching. By most accounts, they were self-indulgent and smarmy. In any case, Harry wanted to take his series to the next level and up the ante for season 2. So he did what anyone in Hollywood would do - he followed the current trend. That would be crowd-sourced financing.

So not only did Harry ask for financing for his new season. He WANTS $300k to build a studio, produce a show, pay for guests travel and even get a TV partner! However, he NEEDS $100k at a minimum just to allow production of the season. Why he needs that much for a web series, only Harry knows. However, the backlash has been merciless. In the most active talkbalk I have ever seen on AICN, thousands of former fans are lashing out at Harry and the Kickstarter campaign. I'll let talkbalker reflecto say it on his top comment:

Okay, look, in all seriousness, Harry:

WHY SHOULD ANYONE FUND THIS?

The "first season" was just a vanity project for you - all about you, starring you, about you and your fabulous toys which you have and no one else does and we're supposed to envy you. Any guest who came on who had accomplished more than you from humble roots (like the writer of Sinister) you shit on.

You blatantly distributed fake information on the Prometheus script then refused to properly apologize and laughed it off like a joke. Just like you've refused to properly apologize for so many plant reviews. Refused to apologize for gross errors in judgment like promising for a decade to update the site and failing to, and never bothering to properly set up regular communication with your consumer base. Refused to apologize for going into movies reviewing them "in your head" as the movie you imagine them to be as opposed to the movie they are - whether good (in the case of Chris Nolan) or bad (in the case of most summer movies of the last five years which you hyped yourself about because of a director or property, regardless of the film's actual quality). You refuse to apologize for even penny-ante mistakes like being too lazy to do your DVD column, or "Brian Cox", or when you watch screeners instead of going to the actual movie. You refuse to admit any fault. You refuse to acknowledge any failure. Because to you, everyone here with a valid complaint is just a cranky joke you call "Boiler", and their negativity (and your crippling debt) doesn't belong in Harry's magical world of movies where he's special and really cool and you're not, don't you want to be just like him?

And now you expect the "Boilers" to fund another season of a boring show that is all about you, all about your toys, all about your ego and has nothing to offer the world.

Have the balls to reply to your users for once, and tell me exactly why anyone should do that after everything else I've just described.

Umm, yeah. This project is going down in flames, and I think the end is nigh for Ain't It Cool News. Any other great movie sites out there that people are following? Tough to find that one site...

• /Film
• HitFix
• Collider