November 2010 Grab Bag – World Series Edition!

There's a fun little irony happening as I write this edition of the Grab Bag tonight.  The logo for the article, above, is from Herb Caen's regular column in the San Francisco Chronicle.  He was kind of the first local blogger, and was a total San Francisco fixture. I grew up with his articles, and remember when I actually started to "get" what he was writing, to finally get an inkling why my parents would laugh out loud and quote his musings at dinner parties. Well, I wonder what he would be writing tonight, when the Giants won their first World Series since they moved to San Francisco, the first time in my lifetime that they have won the Championship.  As I mentioned to Conor right after the game ended, it really struck me in an oddly personal way! I guess Yankees fans are used to this feeling…anyway, fun stuff. I'll struggle to keep it together as I watch the game highlights and share with you some of the stuff that piqued my interest on the Internet as of late…
 

Since I am in the mood to say, "That was so damn cool," over and over, I figured I'd start with some random cool stuff, specifically, these rather fantastic t-shirts of out-of-print book covers.  I guess the folks that made them are producing kid's sizes, so if you want your nephew to, uhm…look…cool? in school…like, maybe you can consider them? Maybe not. This might be one of those presents that's meant to impress the parents more than the kid. Still, they're rather awesome. In a transition that really requires a paragraph break,  I just went and saw LCD Soundsystem at the Hollywood Bowl a few weeks ago, and was stoked to see them play "Daft Punk is Playing at My House" during the set.  Ever since I saw them live, I've become kind of a fan of the robot duo, who recently released a video of a track called "Derezzed" from the last movie of the year I am really looking forward to, Tron: Legacy. It's less a video than a nice trailer, but still, cool.  For those of you who just can't get enough of French technopop, do check out this video of Daft Punk show up during Phoenix's show at the Garden a few weeks ago.  
 

Although I have been pretty happy with the AppleTV, there are some movies and television shows that I just want to look over to and grab from my bookshelf.  There are a couple of releases that I am looking to get, including The Pacific, which was comes out today.  I actually didn't get to the last few episodes due to a DVR catastrophe, and though I didn't love it as much as Band of Brothers–the series is really just a different beast–I still want to keep it around on Blu-ray.  And though I have the DVD set, there's something really intriguing about the Blu-ray release of the Alien Anthology, which received a very solid review (including an A++ for the extras) in The Digital Bits. Someone has long since borrowed and never returned my DVD of Apocalypse Now, and I don't mind so much after reading the review of the Apocalypse Now: Three Disc Full Disclosure, which includes the both version of the film as well as the very, very excellent Hearts of Darkness, which chronicles the making of this classic. If I don't get them now, I'm damn sure putting them on my Christmas List!!  Of course, now that the World Series is done I can get cracking on that Back to the Future boxed set, given that I totally spaced on Marty McFly day…|
 

It's that time of year again, where we start seeing all the "Best of…" lists start coming out.  Gizmodo's is the first one I have seen, with their Best Gadgets list, and I think they have some good picks. Of course, that 1928 cell phone wasn't eligible for the list, but if Gizmodo was around, it could've been on their list. (If you have no idea what I am talking about click the link and see what you think..even if "the lady" was using a hearing aid…who is she talking to?)  In other gadget news, Yamaha is doing their best to make a set-top box like the AppleTV, with a Blu-ray player that has Netflix and YouTube streaming.  Of course, at $700, you could just get a Roku box, the aforementioned AppleTV or the upcoming Boxee box and have several hundred dollars left over that you could use on Netflix fees or on going to the movies at the theater. $700, guys? That's optimistic and mildly insulting. Speaking of other gadgets that dance on the verge of being unneeded and of dubious dubiousness, check out the $225 Gucci 3D glasses or a version of Michael Jackson's glove for the Wii version of Michael Jackson: The Experience.  Well, it's something else for DirecTV fans to do who won't be watching G4 anymore…
 

Finally, I thought it was pretty cool that I'm able to share the above video showing mountains on Saturn's rings.  From an ear horn to video of Saturn's rings…we live in the future, people!  Don't worry, I'll leave the science articles to my esteemed college, Dr. Haupt, but if you are a fan of fake science, and really like Battlestar Galactica, you might like The Science of Battlestar Galactica, by Patrick Di Justo and Kevin Grazier, who are the subjects of a nice Wired interview.  Finally, if you find yourself thinking you might need a haircut and drink just a little bit more at work after watching Mad Men, there could very well be a reason for it, according to this article in Advertising Age.  

So, that's what I got for ya tonight–sorry it's a bit lean, it's been a long weekend with Halloween and the World Series. Looking forward to discussing some comics with ya next week!  Oh, and not to be all, you know, but if you are in the US, you get a chance to vote tomorrow. Maybe you can do it at one of these crazy polling places…

Mike Romo is a native San Franciscan working as an actor and writer in LA. His liver is stoked the World Series is over. Try email, follow the twitter.