The Bush/Gap analogy was hysterical. I'm surprised how lowkey he is yet odly funny. I've seen better, but he's no David Letterman.
They're presenting art direction now, and they have all the nominees on the stage. I like Lemony Snicket, and I'm wondering, isn't humiliating to have all the nominees on stage?
Aviator wins. Does the sweep begin?
Supporting Actor is next. Clive Owen. Come on. Come on. Alan Alda was good, and Thomas was such a bastard in Sideways. I have to see Collateral. I just got it on Netflix. Hmm...Morgan, this is a tough one. Come on Clive!!!
Ugh!! Morgan deserved the Oscar though I haven't seen the movie, and oh, he gets a standing ovation. Next year, Clive.

Beyonce: Amazing! Melissa is obsessed with cleavage.
Not so crazy about Hilary Swank's dress. It's a cross between grandma and classy.
Dear God, Antonio Banderas looks like he's been bitch smacked too many times by Melanie's breast implants. That hair! Ugh.

I'll be liveblogging the Oscars for most of the evening tonight barring any natural disasters. I have my favorites, and as is customary, I haven't seen all the nominated films. Though it does put me at a disadvantage next to my little brother, I've predicted the winner more times than him. Titanic, anyone? ::smiles sweetly::
This is of course Clive Owens' night, and my fingers are crossed for The Incredibles. And of course it wouldn't be the Oscars without the fashion.

The Sci-fi channel has placed the first episode of the new version of Battlestar Galactica online, uncut, commercial free, with deleted scenes. Not only is this a gripping, excellant episode, it's also very brave of Sci-fi to do this. Many people with fast net connections use the internet to find episodes they might have missed, or introduce themselves to new ones. Sci-fi gets it. Battlestar Galactica is must see tv. I just hope they change the theme song for season 2 because this one is so drab. The UK version was so much better!
Via Slashdot

I can dream, can't I? And if he should happen to streak the Oscar crowd as he accepts his golden statute for that brilliant performace in Closer, we won't see it because ABC will be implementing a 7 second delay on the live telecast. Anything the network deems inappropriate will be censored, and yet the host is Chris Rock. Want to bet he takes advantage of this?

Our good friends, the MPAA, filed a bunch of lawsuits yesterday against nameless individuals for downloading movies. People, do you not realize that you're costing the industry billions of dollars by downloading these less than perfect files. That's why they're charging you $150,000 per file. Download three or four and they have enough to finance another movie.

Do I see reformat trouble in the future? Since it involves Bill Gates, maybe.
XP SP2 arrived five weeks ahead of schedule. I have a site design job on the horizon, which requires Photoshop, and that in turn means I need a functional laptop.
I hate reformats. Apart from the fact that I almost always forget to backup something, Microsoft will make me call them before I can succesfully use my laptop to full capacity. This does not make a happy Yazzy.

Starting Feb. 28, Microsoft's product security will require that customers who need to reinstall their operating system call a customer service representative to get a code that will reactivate their Windows XP system. New systems shipped from the top 20 PC makers... will be preactivated...

Hmm... so maybe I'm not screwed. Everyone else is.

"To reduce the illegal trafficking of these OEM product keys, Microsoft will 'disable' the ability to activate these direct OEM Product Keys over the Internet," the memo stated. "When a customer or reseller tries to activate using a Product Key found on the list of 'disabled' keys, the online product activation wizard will instruct them to call Microsoft, where a customer service representative can assist them further."
The customer representative will ask several questions, such as where the person bought the Windows XP system, to find out whether the certificate is authentic, the representative said.

Let me see, Best Buy owns me. My name is Yasm�n, and I'm a 27 year old female law graduate with an interest in civil rights and civil liberties.
How exactly do they cross reference? Anyone can steal information. Anyone can hack XP to make it work. All Microsoft is doing is making its customer base feel more uncomfortable, and frankly it's the wrong move.

One side of my family believes in conspiracies. Someone somewhere paid that official to make something not work. It just had to happen that way! Which is why I'm not surprised to hear that HP's pocket-gouging ink cartridges have chips that expire after a certain number of months. And here I thought Salinas paid off Ashcroft to break my printer.
Now the question remains. If there is to be a class action lawsuit, where will it be brought, and how?

You've seen the advertisements proclaiming "No more late fees" as the poor Blockbuster staffers get mobbed by the overpriced abused crowd. Turns out that it's still a big lie.

Under Blockbuster's (Research) new policy, put into effect on Jan. 1, customers can keep a rental for one week past the due date at no additional charge. After that, they are charged a restocking fee of $1.25. And if the overdue item is kept for more than 30 days, Blockbuster will charge the customer the retail value of the item.
In a brief statement, Blockbuster defended the new policy, saying it was surprised and disappointed by the lawsuit.
"The fact is there are no longer late fees at Blockbuster," the company said.

Did Blockbuster forget that no late fees means no late fees, or was the $15 a month just not enough? If this is what it calls competition then I think Netflix is still the better deal.

Ya know, I was utterly baffled when I saw the Five start showing up all over the place, especially since it was discontinued months and months ago. Apparently, a livejournal community has revived it.
1. If you could have anything you wanted to eat for a day, what would you choose for your meals and snacks? It depends. Am I guaranteed not to get sick of it for that one day? If so, then I would say candy corn.
2. Is there ever a dish/food or dessert you wanted to try but never had the opportunity, what is it? It's an Indian dish called paan, I think. I heard about it on Boing Boing, and it sounded interesting.
3. What's a dish/food or dessert you've tried that you wish you hadn't? Too many to count? Perhaps airline food is a given, but on a trip back from London we were fed lamb with green jelly, and needless to say I'm never touching the stuff again.
4. Ever watch cooking shows? (i.e. "Great Chefs," "Epicurious," etc.) When I had cable I would watch Emeril. It's all about the "Bam" baybee!
5. Are you hungry yet? I should be, but the jelly sandwich isn't calling me as strongly as it could. I'd rather have tortilla soup.