a first

Out at Nationals Park tonight, and I've already seen something I haven't seen before: the National Anthem was performed by a solo euphonium/

It was also the best anthem I've heard in quite some time.

they finally started to get something right

Lately, I've been watching most of my TV via the computer. The Internet is the poor man's Tivo (I miss having a DVR). Everything's out there, if you know how to look, but it's not always easy.

If the show I'm looking for is up on a network site, I generally head there first. But too often, I've had trouble streaming or got stuck in a loop of advertising, or the player just wasn't very good. I have my display hooked up to my TV, but on at least one network site, for a while it kicked me out of full screen mode every time it pulled up an ad in between segments. No good. So I often headed to BitTorrent, where I could find shows for downloading. That, however, takes time (along with the usual objection from the copyright holder).

But I've been plesantly surprised by Hulu, the new site from NBC and Fox for TV online. It's easy to find full episodes or clips of shows, the player seems to work well and I haven't had any streaming problems (yet). And since most of the US shows I'm looking for are on either NBC or Fox (or a site under their corporate umbrellas) I'm quite happy.

Especially when I figured out they've been putting up old shows as well. How can you beat episodes of the A-Team? I've never even seen Fantasy Island but I might watch one, just so I know what all the references are about. The episode lists are spotty, but I'm working on the (possibly fatal) assumption that content will be added as the site grows and the full-episode lists will grow to fill in the gaps.

And if you're the sort of person that has Gerald McRaney withdrawals, there's even 50-something episodes of Major Dad available.


(and by the way, I can't believe it's been a month since I posted last. That's no way to hang on to either of my readers....)

huh?

This is about a month late, but I figured it was time to archive the simply confusing full-page ad in a free weekly I grabbed a while back as I entered the Metro.

This is the ad, exactly as it ran. If you can make any sense out of it, you're probably in a far worse mental state than I am.

The guy behind the ad got some local blog space on DCist. Sounds like the protest went off exactly as well as his ad did.

oscar

I only picked one Oscar category (well, it was pretty obvious who was going to win Best Actor and Best Picture, so I can say I picked those too) and got it right. Even heard a story about the Peter and the Wolf creators on NPR yesterday.

But nothing made me happier than seeing Once win for best song. And the only really good moment of the awards show was Jon Stewart bringing Marketa Irglova back out to the mic after she was cut off by the orchestra the first time around.

If anyone hasn't seen Once, do so. The low-budget film following a budding not-quite-romance is one of the best I saw in 2007. It's not really a musical, but since the focus is on musicians, there are plenty of songs involved, each of which is weighted with emotion and things-not-quite-said between the lead characters.

a merchant referendum

I should have posted this months ago and seemed like a genius, but instead I'm behind the curve. I was reminded today, however, of a political barometer. Based on an informal accounting of the T-shirts offered by street vendors and gift shops, Obama has held a decided advantage over Hillary since well before the New Year. Today in the window of a gift shop in Union Station, Obama had several T-shirts displayed prominently, McCain had a couple next to his and Hillary earned one design down in the corner.

Last weekend I had an opportunity to see all of the Academy Award-nominated short animated features (I missed out on the screening of the live shorts, and also didn't get to the Archives to see all the documentary nominees, despite my best intentions a week ago).

A quick review on each of the contenders, for those of you desperately seeking an edge in your Oscar pool:

Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)
The only 3D computer animated short in the bunch, a comedic look at a priest trying to sell an old man a way into heaven. A light tone, which was a significant contrast with the rest. The animation was good, a few laughs to be had, including a punch-line of an ending. Probably the best at doing what it aimed to, and the most fun of them all, but it also didn't have the extra emotional weight of some of the other shorts.

Moya lyubov (My Love)
The most unique animation style - done in the style of an impressionist painting. This was actually distracting, because every time a character moved, the brush strokes of the background around them moved as well, giving it the feel of a badly-compressed, pixelated digital file. A Russian entry, this may have lost something in translation. However, the dual love stories around a 16-year-old boy, both of which end badly, weren't particularly compelling and the climatic feverish dream came out of nowhere.

Madame Tutli-Putli
A Canadian entry following a woman's eventful train journey. The promo notes call it a "exhilarating existential journey." The stop-motion animation was amazing, but the story may have been too existential for just one viewing.

I met the Walrus
A five-minute clip of audio of a 14-year-old boy interviewing John Lennon. The animation is, as one review put it, just something interesting to look at while listening to Lennon. It is interesting, though.

Peter and the Wolf
My pick for the Oscar. The animation was impressive, the story was well done (although also done often) and unlike the others it didn't leave me thinking about the flaws. Just an overall strong contender.

you win one reality show dancing competition...

Surfing around Nola.com's Mardi Gras coverage, I noticed something a bit odd.

Click over and check out the caption of the first photo.

The guy has won two Indianapolis 500s, raced in the top circuits since 1998 - but after a season of "Dancing with the Stars," it's "Dancer Helio Castroneves."

(Of course, his Wikipedia page also gives his dancing career a more prominent placing. But at least it mentions the whole auto-racing part of his career.)