Brendan Online

Shatner talks microprocessors circa 1980

Check out this video that AT&T Labs commissioned back in 1980 to teach the world about microprocessors. The video is narrated by William Shatner and gives a nostalgic look back on the birth of the micro-electronics industry.

Audio Archives Are BACK

The audio archives were taken offline recently for maintenance but I’m happy to report that they are back and ready for your listening pleasure! If you haven’t had a chance to listen to some of my radio clips, head on over to the Audio portion of the site by clicking on the Audio button at the top. Once there you can select from various categories. I suggest you start your journey with the Montages category, particularly my 2005 Montage. That clip features the best of my 5 year career in broadcasting and was the last thing that I ever played over the airwaves. The Interviews category is a good one to check out as well. This is where I talk to bands like Nickelback and Alien Ant Farm as well as other celebrities. Airchecks is another fun category where you will hear me take command of a 100,000 watt FM radio station and a 50,000 watt talk radio station. I hope that you enjoy the audio at least half as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Dramatic video of tsunami in Japan

This is one of the most impressive videos that I’ve seen of last week’s tsunami disaster in Japan. In this video, shot from the upper floor of a building, you can see the wall of water destroying everything in its path.

Continuing The Conversation

As you may have noticed, I took a little break from blogging. I’d like to think of it as two years of writers block. It wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to say, it was more like I did not have time to say it. This can be partially blamed on the Twitter phenominom that began around the same time that my blogging ended. My thoughts and expressions became limited to 140 character tweets of which I did a really good job of squeezing in every available character. My tweets consisted of things that I had either brought up or overheard in conversations with my friends, family and peers.

Something you may not have noticed is that my online presence hit a major milestone last March when my namesake domain turned 10 years old. I started blogging back in Y2K because at the time there was no other way to get your point across to all of your friends all at once. Sure there were websites like Livejournal and Xanga but they all required your friends to have an account in order to join in the conversation. Having watched The Social Network last night I can see that what I was trying to do at the time was very similar to what Zuckerberg was doing with Facebook only on a smaller and more personal scale. I wanted my friends and family, all of whom were scattered across the globe, to have one-click access to everything that I felt like sharing with the world.

So here we are, almost 11 years later. Everyone on the planet can create their own web presence using only an email address and a password. I questioned whether or not to keep this portal going or to migrate everything to the social network. What I have decided to do is to harness the power of both the social network and the web portal. Social networks are great for in-the moment conversation but do little for archiving and in-depth discussion. You may see a tweet or status update from me but that will only be the start of the conversation. If the 140 teaser grabs you, I invite all of my friends, family, and peers to visit BrendanOnline and continue the conversation.

No Laughing Matter

By now everyone has heard the news of George Carlin’s exit and have dealt with it in their own way. The news hit me like a brick last week. I had just seen Carlin in October at the Fox Theatre. He was warming up material for his upcoming HBO Special. He looked old but no one there knew that in six months time he would no longer be writing new material for the next special. If you saw the special you’ll notice that he was a little morbid and it had me wondering all week if he knew this would be the last laugh. I really enjoyed Carlin’s work because he made you laugh and he made you think all in the same joke. He didn’t pull any punches and didn’t care if he offended his audience. As he told those of us in attendance back in October:

The audience doesn’t figure into my plans....I’m here for me, you’re here for me and no one’s here for you

Kevin Smith wrote a good article on Carlin for Newsweek. I suggest you read it if you’re a fan of either. George Carlin was one of my favorite Comedians and I’m glad that I got the chance to sit 4 seats away from him. Now who’s going to pick up where he left off?

Easy Decision

I didn’t have to think very long about getting the new TV. I put the old one up on Craig’s List and ordered the new one earlier this week. I found selling stuff on Craig’s List a breeze. Several people emailed and called me about the TV and one guy drove up and got it on Thursday. I had the new one (HL-50A650) delivered on Saturday so I was only out a TV for a day. Well that’s technically not true. I have a 32” HP LCD in the computer room so I was never really TV-less.

Overall I’m very pleased with the new DLP. It has 3 HDMI ports so I don’t have to use my 3x1 switch anymore. I’ve got the Satellite PVR, DVD player and XBOX 360 connected via DVI. The 360 looks AMAZING in 1080p!! I was playing Burnout yesterday and was truely blown away. Last night I watched Enemy of the State, just standard DVD upconverted, and I discovered the only thing that I don’t really like about the new set. When the room’s pitch black, the left side of the TV emits a glow from the bulb that can be a little distracting. I never noticed this on the old set.

Click more for two pics of the new set!

Thinking about selling my TV

So I’ve had my 50” Samsung DLP for 2 years now. It’s going to be paid off next month and I’ve started thinking about just putting it up on Craig’s list and buying a brand new one. There are a few problems with that TV.. 1) It’s only 720p and 2) it only has 1 HDMI port (ONE!!! WTF!) Plus it’s the first generation DLP so it takes forever to turn on and the picture quality isn’t as good as the newer models.

Not sure what I should do.

Juno is totally boss!

I just watched Juno courtesy of Netflix and can’t resist telling people to see this movie. I figured that I should give it a shot after hearing all of the buzz it got when it hit theaters late last year. The dialog in this film is some of the best I’ve heard since Kevin Smith’s early work (Mallrats, Chasing Amy). It’s a funny movie that has several emotional moments and some good music sprinkled throughout. Oh and Rainn Wilson plays a convenience store clerk. You should see the movie for that alone!
Best movie I’ve seen this year.

Only in Texas

It looks like we have another divine message from God manifesting itself into our food chain. This time it happened in Texas. A youth minister “found Jesus” in a bag of Cheetos that he was ~~inhaling~~ eating. Ever heard of the saying “you are what you eat?” This is a great way for Cheetos to sell more poofs. Check out the news story. The anchor can’t finish the segment without laughing.

And here’s a more serious piece about “Chesus:”
http://www.khou.com/video/?z=y&nvid=228952

Celebrity Apprentice Prediction

I just realized that I haven’t picked a favorite for this year’s apprentice. Two years ago I picked the winner from the first episode. This year I had picked Gene Simmons but he only lasted 3 episodes. I still think he left on his own terms but either way he’s no longer on the show. Now that Bitch-a-rosa is out of the competition it’s starting to get good again. I swear, if that woman worked for me and continuously underperformed and made a hostile work environment, she wouldn’t last 3 seconds. I don’t see what America sees in her. She’s a cutthroat bitch if I ever saw one.

Moving on. Tonight Trump will pick the final two. I’m assuming he’ll bring back the rest of the group to work for these two and there will be one last big task. My pick for the final two? Trace Adkins and Piers Morgan. They have both been true performers on the show and have pimped their contacts for a lot of charity dough. It’s going to be a nice fight between them. I think the winner will ultimately be Piers because Trace is too nice and laid back. Piers has what it takes to get things done in NYC.

My other prediction is that the Apprentice will be back this fall for one last season before NBC is forced to fire Trump for low ratings. The show just isn’t what it used to be. The celebrity angle was cool but if next season is anything like last season then I’ll pass on that opportunity.