Re: Random Thoughts

by ForeverBlu 7/19/2016, 8:33 pm

Just came across a film called Dragon Blade.

Adrien Brody

John Cusack

and Jackie Chan

Cusack's facial expressions, he knows this was a poor life choice.

LOL!

by **joey con carne** 7/19/2016, 9:22 pm

heh I watched parts of Dragon Blade. Just awful. I mainly wanted to see Steve Yoo who plays one of Jackie Chan's soldiers or whatever. I couldn't watch more than 30 minutes. Lost interest pretty quick.

by **WyldeMan** 7/20/2016, 7:51 am

I already loved Laura Benanti but she just keeps getting better.

Laura Benanti Plays Melania Trump on Colbert

Stephen Colbert offered his viewers more fun at the expense of Melania Trump on Tuesday’s “Late Show,” airing a sketch in which the wife of the GOP presidential nominee gives another speech about how she absolutely did not plagiarize her speech at the Republican National Convention.

“My fellow Americans, This is truly the best of times; it is the worst of times,” Melania, played by actress Laura Benanti (“Supergirl”), says in the parody pulling from classic literature, TV theme songs and even commercial jingles. “I did not plagiarize my speech last night. I would never do such a thing. I could not, would not with a goat. I would not, could not on a boat.”

“That is because I learned honesty during my humble upbringing in West Philadelphia, born and raised, and on the playground is where I spent most of my days. So to those who say I stole my speech, I say, ‘Give me a break! Give me break! Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar,” Benanti said, as Melania.

Also Read: Jesse Williams Rips Melania Trump Speech Amidst Plagiarism Accusations

Early on, Colbert pointed out Melania’s speech was probably the fault of a speechwriter but nobody has taken the blame. “If only there was someone in the Trump campaign who enjoyed firing people,” he joked.

The real Melania made quite an impression on opening night of the RNC, delivering a speech that was praised by pundits on both sides of the aisles. However, the passionate speech in support of her husband quickly sparked outrage across social media, since segments of the oration were found to strongly resemble words uttered by the current first lady eight years ago at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

by UltimateMarvel 7/21/2016, 2:41 pm

Kickass torrents is down and I just read that the Founder was arrested.

by **WyldeMan** 7/21/2016, 2:43 pm

UltimateMarvel wrote:Kickass torrents is down and I just read that the Founder was arrested.

Dammit................... Evil or Very Mad

The U.S. Government has arrested the alleged owner of KickassTorrents, the world's largest torrent site. The 30-year-old Ukrainian was arrested in Poland today and is charged with criminal copyright infringement and money laundering. In addition, a federal court in Chicago has ordered the seizure of several KAT domain names.

With millions of unique visitors per day KickassTorrents (KAT) has become the most-used torrent site on the Internet, beating even The Pirate Bay.

Today, however, the site has run into a significant roadblock after U.S. authorities announced the arrest of the site’s alleged owner.

The 30-year-old Artem Vaulin, from Ukraine, was arrested today in Poland from where the United States has requested his extradition.

In a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, the alleged owner is charged with conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of criminal copyright infringement.

by UltimateMarvel 7/21/2016, 2:48 pm

I've used it a lot since you recommended it to me.

by **WyldeMan** 7/21/2016, 3:47 pm

UltimateMarvel wrote:I've used it a lot since you recommended it to me.

Next to PirateBay its the only real source left for full seasons of shows. I mainly use RARBG for the individual stuff though.

by **joey con carne** 7/21/2016, 9:41 pm

I'm a few days late but I just saw this news article about the MMA Pokemon celebration:

http://www.totalprosports.com/2016/07/17/photos-of-cyborg-santos-fractured-skull-from-michael-pages-flying-knee/

Looks like the guy's skull was fractured pretty badly. From what I read, he's gonna be okay, though.

And I was wondering what happened to KickAssTorrents. I'm guessing it won't be springing back like The Pirate Bay.

by **WyldeMan** 7/22/2016, 8:22 am

joey con carne wrote:I'm a few days late but I just saw this news article about the MMA Pokemon celebration:

http://www.totalprosports.com/2016/07/17/photos-of-cyborg-santos-fractured-skull-from-michael-pages-flying-knee/

Looks like the guy's skull was fractured pretty badly. From what I read, he's gonna be okay, though.

I never cared for Evangelista Santos, his crazy ass ex-wife Cristianne "Cyborg" Santos was the talented one.

I've met Keith Jardine who has done numerous tv and movie appearances and that guy has the worst cases of CTE I'd personally encountered, when he signed his name for the autograph he could barely even remember how to spell it. I don't imagine too many fighters end their careers without heavy brain damage. The NFL is going nuts over their players and concussions and padding and making it safer, meanwhile in MMA head kicks and brutal knockouts are the norm as well as extreme celebration of said brutality. It's such a stark contrast from all other sports, it's pure Gladiatorial in the most primal sense.

by **WyldeMan** 7/22/2016, 8:37 am

Last night Trump spewed shit from his mouth for 75 minutes, apparently the longest concention speech in 4 decades and it interrupted the first 45 minutes of the season 11 Bones series finale already in progress.....the interwebs seem far more upset and interested in that bit of news than anything Trump accomplished last night. Razz

by UltimateMarvel 7/22/2016, 9:04 am

Damn! I wish I had his confidence to speak bullshit in public speaking. lol!

by **WyldeMan** 7/22/2016, 10:13 am

UltimateMarvel wrote:Damn! I wish I had his confidence to speak bullshit in public speaking. lol!

He said nothing for 75 minutes with absolute supreme confidence and the sycophants cheered for their fuhrer as he prepared them for Trump's Final Solution.

by **WyldeMan** 7/22/2016, 11:02 am

by **WyldeMan** 7/22/2016, 11:16 am

Verizon is about to close a deal to acquire Yahoo!

by **WyldeMan** 7/22/2016, 2:47 pm

by **WyldeMan** 7/24/2016, 10:44 am

Since the end of the VCR has finally come, prices have skyrocketed on them again for the first time in forever. I've already seen a few of the basic $30 models selling for over $200 online including Amazon.

by Tyger 7/24/2016, 11:48 am

Ha, damn. I got my mom a VCR years ago that plugs into the computer to digitize tapes

by UltimateMarvel 7/24/2016, 12:54 pm

Damn! Maybe I shouldn't throw away my VCR yet, make some money of it in the future.

by **WyldeMan** 7/24/2016, 7:50 pm

Tyger wrote:Ha, damn. I got my mom a VCR years ago that plugs into the computer to digitize tapes

That's why I wanted to get one for that purpose, something I put off forever and didn't realize VCR's would skyrocket.

by **WyldeMan** 7/25/2016, 7:36 am

Verizon Formally Announces $4.8B Deal To Buy Yahoo

Phone giant Verizon will blend Yahoo, one of the Internet’s oldest and best-known properties, with AOL — which it bought last year — as part of a $4.83 billion deal the companies announced this morning.

They expect the agreement to close by early 2017, following approvals by shareholders and antitrust officials. It would leave Verizon with more than 25 internet brands including Yahoo’s assets in mail, social media platform Tumblr, news, lifestyle media, and entertainment. Yahoo Mail has more than 225 million monthly active users.

The combined Yahoo and AOL properties will be run by Marni Walden, Yahoo’s EVP and President of the Product Innovation and New Businesses organization.

The agreement ends a Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s failed effort since 2012 to revive Yahoo’s status as a Silicon Valley icon. She sought to beef up the company with deals including a $1 billion acquisition of Tumblr and $650 million for BrightRoll, and efforts to create splashy, ad-friendly media properties.

They didn’t boost revenues, though, as Yahoo struggled to keep up with more potent rivals including Google and Facebook. Its stock lost 22.5% of its value since the beginning of 2015 — even with an 18.4% increase in 2016 as the board finally put the assets up for sale in an auction that received final bids last week.

“The acquisition of Yahoo will put Verizon in a highly competitive position as a top global mobile media company, and help accelerate our revenue stream in digital advertising.” Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam says.

The transaction only covers Yahoo’s core assets and real estate — not its shares in Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan, convertible notes, and non-core patents. Yahoo will continue to own them after changing its name and registering as a new, publicly traded company. It says it will provide details “at a future date.”

In a Tumblr message addressed to “Yahoos,” Mayer says that she’s “planning to stay. I love Yahoo, and I believe in all of you. It’s important to me to see Yahoo into its next chapter.” She didn’t say whether that would extend beyond a transition period or whether she would go to Verizon or stay with the entity holding the financial assets.

Yahoo vows to return “substantially all of its net cash” to shareholders in a plan it will disclose “at an appropriate time.”

“Yahoo is a company that has changed the world, and will continue to do so through this combination with Verizon and AOL,” Mayer says. “The sale of our operating business, which effectively separates our Asian asset equity stakes, is an important step in our plan to unlock shareholder value for Yahoo. This transaction also sets up a great opportunity for Yahoo to build further distribution and accelerate our work in mobile, video, native advertising and social.”

AOL chief Tim Armstrong says he has “enormous respect for what Yahoo has accomplished: this transaction is about unleashing Yahoo’s full potential, building upon our collective synergies, and strengthening and accelerating that growth. Combining Verizon, AOL and Yahoo will create a new powerful competitive rival in mobile media, and an open, scaled alternative offering for advertisers and publishers.”

Analysts said in an initial wave of reports that they like the deal terms. Verizon can easily afford Yahoo. The telco had more than $5.8 billion in cash on its balance sheet at the end of March and its operations generated $7.4 billion in cash during the quarter.

Adding Yahoo makes Verizon “much more important to the digital advertising industry,” Pivotal Research Group’s Brian Wieser says. It “firmly entrenches Verizon as the number three seller of digital advertising behind Google and Facebook, and one of the largest across all media.”

A combination with AOL also “makes strategic sense from Yahoo!’s standpoint,” says Jefferies Equity Research’s Brian Pitz.

Redbox To Be Bought By Private Equity Group For $1.6B

Apollo Global Management could become the nation’s leading operator of DVD rental kiosks as the result of a $1.6 billion (including debt) agreement announced this morning to buy Outerwall, which owns the struggling Redbox business.

The private equity firm has agreed to pay $52 for each Outerwall share, a 6.6% premium over its closing price on Friday — but 51% more than the trading price on March 14 when Outerwall said that it was considering a sale. The companies expect the deal to close by the end of September.

Outerwall has lost about 42.5% of its market value over the last 12 months as DVD rentals decelerated while consumers flocked to streaming video services. The share price opened up more than 11% today to $52.15, suggesting that some shareholders believe they’ll see more than Apollo’s offer.
Today’s agreement “follows a robust process and provides an immediate and substantial cash premium to our shareholders,” Outerwall CEO Erik Prusch says. “Apollo is an ideal partner to support Outerwall’s efforts to continue serving our millions of loyal customers and dedicated retail partners through our unrivaled network of kiosks and automated retail offerings. We look forward to working closely with Apollo as we continue to strengthen our businesses and execute on our strategic plan.”

Apollo Partner David Sambur calls Outerwall “a dynamic customer-focused business that delivers superior kiosk experiences that delight consumers and generate value for its retailer partners. We look forward to working with Outerwall’s talented and dedicated team to continue the business’s strong heritage of growth and innovation.”

The Redbox owner says it will still pay its dividend in September. It will release its Q2 earnings on Thursday, but not take questions from analysts.

In April, Outerwall reached an agreement giving board seats to dissident shareholder Engaged Capital, which owns 14.6% of the company, after it lobbied for it to go private. In a public letter in February it said that the business is in “secular decline” and attacked the Redbox owner’s “failed strategies, flawed capital allocation policies, and misaligned governance.”

by **WyldeMan** 7/25/2016, 1:02 pm

33K acres have already burned across Los Angeles the last several days and it's still estimated that the fire is about 10% contained and averaging 10k acres are burning per day with no end in sight right now..... Shocked

by **joey con carne** 7/25/2016, 2:44 pm

WyldeMan wrote:33K acres have already burned across Los Angeles the last several days and it's still estimated that the fire is about 10% contained and averaging 10k acres are burning per day with no end in sight right now.....

Hearing about the fires in California certainly puts my days into perspective.

The last two weeks have been pretty shitty for me. I've just had this streak of bad luck both professionally and personally. Needless to say, as awful as my days have been, it's not as bad as having your entire home burn down. I can't imagine how many memories and such have been lost to the fires.

Like I said, it puts my life into some perspective. It could be a whole lot worse.

by UltimateMarvel 7/28/2016, 11:37 am

This was funny:

by Rusty 7/29/2016, 6:57 am

Apologies to anyone that read that rant (that I just deleted).

Today was an odd day.

by **WyldeMan** 7/29/2016, 8:47 am

Rusty Cunt wrote:Apologies to anyone that read that rant (that I just deleted).

Today was an odd day.

I missed it. What's up?

by UltimateMarvel 7/29/2016, 9:28 am

Got me curious now. What happened?

by Rusty 7/29/2016, 7:27 pm

Haha it wasn't much.

Gist of it was, I finally got an order from Amazon.de - took 2 months. Original got lost and had to be resent - that included two of my favourite Spaghetti Westerns (They Call Me Trinity, and Trinity is Still My Name), only to find that the second film, even though it is originally an Italian film, and this German release is the only in print version in the world, it is German audio only with no subtitles.

I fucking lost it. hahaha Went on a 5 paragraph rant.

by UltimateMarvel 7/29/2016, 7:42 pm

Rusty Cunt wrote:Haha it wasn't much.

Gist of it was, I finally got an order from Amazon.de - took 2 months. Original got lost and had to be resent - that included two of my favourite Spaghetti Westerns (They Call Me Trinity, and Trinity is Still My Name), only to find that the second film, even though it is originally an Italian film, and this German release is the only in print version in the world, it is German audio only with no subtitles.

I fucking lost it. hahaha Went on a 5 paragraph rant.

LOL! The online page didn't say whether or not it had subtitles? That's fucked up.

by Rusty 7/29/2016, 8:11 pm

UltimateMarvel wrote:
Rusty Cunt wrote:Haha it wasn't much.

Gist of it was, I finally got an order from Amazon.de - took 2 months. Original got lost and had to be resent - that included two of my favourite Spaghetti Westerns (They Call Me Trinity, and Trinity is Still My Name), only to find that the second film, even though it is originally an Italian film, and this German release is the only in print version in the world, it is German audio only with no subtitles.

I fucking lost it. hahaha Went on a 5 paragraph rant.

LOL! The online page didn't say whether or not it had subtitles? That's fucked up.

No. It was a 12 movie box-set of Bud Spencer/Terrence Hill collaborations. I knew the first film had the English audio track, so I just took it for granted that they all would - or at least the sequel would.

by UltimateMarvel 7/29/2016, 11:23 pm

Rusty Cunt wrote:No. It was a 12 movie box-set of Bud Spencer/Terrence Hill collaborations. I knew the first film had the English audio track, so I just took it for granted that they all would - or at least the sequel would.

Are you gonna return it? I'd get a refund. Without subs, it's pointless.

by Rusty 7/30/2016, 5:36 am

UltimateMarvel wrote:
Rusty Cunt wrote:No. It was a 12 movie box-set of Bud Spencer/Terrence Hill collaborations. I knew the first film had the English audio track, so I just took it for granted that they all would - or at least the sequel would.

Are you gonna return it? I'd get a refund. Without subs, it's pointless.

Nah. It took two months to get here. Waste of time. The first film "They Call Me Trinity" is fine - and looks fucking fantastic. For me, that was worth the wait alone. Plus, of the 12 films, I've only seen 3 of them, and a few of them do have English audio and/or subtitles, so it's not a complete loss (the boxset wasn't that expensive).

It's also my fault. I know better than to jump into foreign releases. Once disaster struck, I searched over on that other site, and there's a post from a couple years back mentions which titles in the set are English friendly.

My fault for letting emotion get the better of me.

by **WyldeMan** 7/30/2016, 10:22 am

Rusty Cunt wrote:Nah. It took two months to get here. Waste of time. The first film "They Call Me Trinity" is fine - and looks fucking fantastic.

Is that the one about two brothers and one was playing sheriff but really was a criminal?

by Rusty 7/30/2016, 11:14 pm

WyldeMan wrote:
Rusty Cunt wrote:Nah. It took two months to get here. Waste of time. The first film "They Call Me Trinity" is fine - and looks fucking fantastic.

Is that the one about two brothers and one was playing sheriff but really was a criminal?

Yeah that's the one. Fucking fantastic film

Tarantino used the theme song from it in Django Unchained (at the end as the mansion burns down and he's celebrating on his horse)

by UltimateMarvel 7/31/2016, 8:56 am

July 29th was the last day to upgrade to Windows 10. Hope you guys did too.

by **WyldeMan** 7/31/2016, 12:49 pm

Rusty Cunt wrote:
WyldeMan wrote:
Rusty Cunt wrote:Nah. It took two months to get here. Waste of time. The first film "They Call Me Trinity" is fine - and looks fucking fantastic.

Is that the one about two brothers and one was playing sheriff but really was a criminal?

Yeah that's the one. Fucking fantastic film

Tarantino used the theme song from it in Django Unchained (at the end as the mansion burns down and he's celebrating on his horse)

That's why I knew it, Tarantino talked about it when Django came out so I ended up DL'ing a VHS rip of Trinity. Razz

by Rusty 7/31/2016, 5:20 pm

UltimateMarvel wrote:July 29th was the last day to upgrade to Windows 10. Hope you guys did too.

I went MAc long time ago. I will not be going back.

WyldeMan wrote:

That's why I knew it, Tarantino talked about it when Django came out so I ended up DL'ing a VHS rip of Trinity.

There is a decent DVD of the two movies, which I have. Just no English friendly Blu's Mad

by Rusty 8/2/2016, 6:14 am

Fuck.

Bought a new TV a few months back. 49" LG. It sucks.

There is so much light coming through the edges in spots, that it changes the look of a movie. Don't notice it during the day, but at night, especially on an anamorphic film with the black bars - it's all I notice.

Time to save and buy a high quality set.

by **joey con carne** 8/2/2016, 8:08 am

Agh sorry to hear about your TV issues. I'm assuming you enjoy watching television in the dark. Maybe the only compromise for now is to watch with the lights on in the evenings.

I, too, had some troubles with my home theater. Two weeks ago, I had my controller on my couch and when I went to the bathroom, I inadvertently put my laptop down on the remote's volume up button. I proceeded to blow out my front two speakers. Fuck.

So I was biding my time and managed to score some Definitive Technology bookshelf speaker stands: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Definitive-Technology-Studio-Monitor-BLACK-Stands-PAIR-RBSD-/172172568868

It says "Refurbished" but mine appear to be completely brand new. I think it was a return, if anything. There was a slight scratch on the underside of one of the pieces but you cannot see it since it's on the underside of the very bottom piece. Paid $102 ($150 brand new).

Then I managed to purchase Energy CB-20's off Newegg for the clearance price of $132 per pair. Luckily, I was able to get in on the sweet deal because, as of now, they are sold out from Newegg. I purchased two pairs for $264: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882269009

I finally got it all set up on Saturday except for dialing them in with an SPL meter. I have read online Energy recommends breaking-in the speakers for 100 hours before pushing them.

So far, I have only set them up with my own ears but I have to say, they sound fantastic. I am using three CB-20's: center, front left, front right. I will be demo'ing more concert DVDs tonight when I get home but I'll take it easy and let them warm up before I play anything too loud.

That is my story. I was pretty depressed after blowing up my speakers. I think I'll be okay now. Thanks for reading.

by **WyldeMan** 8/2/2016, 8:54 am

GoT Elections 2016! HAHA

by Rusty 8/4/2016, 3:48 am

Fuck. I did not need this to happen.

ixzz3vkpGdKFL - Random Thoughts - Page 22 IPhone-smashed

by **joey con carne** 8/4/2016, 2:59 pm

Oh damn, that sucks. But your phone should still be functional if that's the only damage. I've seen iPhones with worse damage than that and they still worked.

Looks like an iPhone 4. May be a good excuse to upgrade! I have an iPhone 4 and it is so slow. It cannot properly handle iOS 7. Even on a fresh install, the phone just has so much lag. Good phone, though!

by Rusty 8/4/2016, 6:27 pm

joey con carne wrote:Oh damn, that sucks. But your phone should still be functional if that's the only damage. I've seen iPhones with worse damage than that and they still worked.

Looks like an iPhone 4. May be a good excuse to upgrade! I have an iPhone 4 and it is so slow. It cannot properly handle iOS 7. Even on a fresh install, the phone just has so much lag. Good phone, though!

Still works, but yeah, it'll force an upgrade. It is a 4s. I always skip a generation with them. I've been eyeing the 6, but was actually kind of hoping it would last to the 7 comes out. September is the rumoured release month (they generally come out in September) ... so hopefully it'll last another month. That way I either get a 7, or a discounted 6 Very Happy

by Tyger 8/4/2016, 9:35 pm

I love my 6S, honestly not real excited about the 7 which is good since I still have plenty to pay off on my 6S

by Rusty 8/4/2016, 11:27 pm

Tyger wrote:I love my 6S, honestly not real excited about the 7 which is good since I still have plenty to pay off on my 6S

Which is why I'll probably get the 6S. The 7 should push the price down to buy it outright, and I'm not current enough to give a crap about new whizz-bang features.

Actually, before the cracked screen, the only reason I was considering the upgrade is it's become really slow. Like Beef mentioned above, it just can;t handle the upgraded software. So much lag.

by **joey con carne** 8/5/2016, 7:59 am

Upgrading from an iPhone 4 to a 6 is completely night and day. If you liked the 4, you're gonna love the 6S. You'll wonder how you put up with the 4 for so long and wish you had upgraded sooner.

by Sponsored content