Monday, March 30, 2009

Bond, James Bond. Your favorite...

Welcome to my blog!

Just thought I'd make a simple entry for today...not too much thought and I'm sure very little debate. (grin) It's all about Bond, James Bond!

1) Your favorite Bond actor?

I've always thought that Roger Moore was my favorite (he was for a long while) but over the years I've leaned toward Sean Connery.

2) Your favorite Bond movie?

Contrary to my favorite actor, my favorite movie is Spy Who Loved Me. My second favorite (very close runner up) is Moonraker.

3) First Bond movie you saw in the theater?

Spy Who Loved Me, followed by Moonraker - any reason these might be my favorites? (grin)

4) Last Bond movie you saw in the theater?

Quantum of Solace.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around Daniel Craig as Bond. No opinion just yet, though I can give a big thumbs down to Pierce Brosnan. Not sure why, but there was no Bond vibe there for me.

Let us know your answers plus any Bond comments by leaving a comment below!

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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Do you 'Facebook'?

Welcome to my blog!

A while back I signed up for Facebook for one specific purpose. Since then, I've added friends and taken numerous quizzes, added birthdays to MyCalendar and 'ignored' countless silly requests from my friends.

Even though I think Facebook (and MySpace) is the stupidest thing around (am I just too old to appreciate its significance?), I've been sucked in to it. I still refuse to post a "What am I doing now?" but am a sucker for a "Can you name these super hero logos"? quiz. I dunno - maybe I just don't care that a friend is having a "boring day" or "cleaned the house and am ready for bed"day. It didn't matter before we were 'facebooked' and it doesn't matter much now!

But for the sake of being current, I'll check my Facebook account several times a week - heaven forbid I miss a "Name these '70s sitcoms" quiz!

Are you 'Facebooked' or 'MySpaced'?? Hooked? Hate it? Let us know below by leaving a comment!

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Monday, March 23, 2009

AIG Bonus Payouts - what's the big deal?

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For a week now, we've been hearing about the "outrage" over the AIG bonus payouts. I really don't get what all the hoopla is about. While it may not have been the most prudent thing AIG could have done with the bailout money, the government did give AIG the bailout money with little or no strings attached - why then is everyone upset over the payouts?

I really have to laugh at the politicians that are outraged over this "misuse" of government funds. You mean appropriating money for "roads to nowhere" is a better use of taxpayer money?? Oh wait, it must be the pork barrel spending on the sex life of a silk worm that is a better use of taxpayer money? Surely saving a useless Air Force or Army base in your district must be a better use of taxpayer money?? Are politicians kidding themselves? Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. The politicians should be LAST in line of those complaining over the misuse of taxpayers money. We're throwing billions (now near trillions) of dollars to all sectors of the economy in the hopes of staving off another "Great Depression"...yet, not much seems to be working, except the disappearance of taxpayer's money and confidence.

It's time we all take a deep breath, sit back and study what's going on. I don't have the solutions to this current "crisis" but I do know that getting mad at AIG (and even having the gall to pass legislation to tax someone's bonus) isn't the answer. If we the people now own 80% of AIG, it's time we started acting like managers and begin correcting the problems.

Adding more hot air to the fire isn't going to put it out.

Share your thoughts on the AIG fiasco below.


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Monday, March 16, 2009

DVD Review: Best of Password

Welcome to my blog!

I haven't posted a DVD Review in a long time so I thought I'd get back into the groove.

I've been watching "Best of Password" - a 4 disc set that showcases 32 black & white episodes of this classic game show from the 1962-1967 timeframe.

You'll play along with the guest stars and contestants -- though you won't win any money!

Speaking of money, the top prize was $250 with an additional $250 possible if you got all 5 Passwords during the "lightening round". Not a bad take for the day.

There are a lot of nice guest stars featured - Carol Burnett, Bob Newhart, Betty White, Peter Lawford and Paul Anka to name a few. Most of the guest stars had some sort of project to promote - an upcoming movie or play appearance, etc.

As you watch, it will be like entering a time machine - men are in suits, women in dresses. While there are no "retro commercials" they do have some original "sponsored by" spots including Salem cigarettes and Bufferin aspirin. Allen Ludden is great as the host. It's a fun game that moves at a good pace.

As I mentioned before, the guest stars are a delight to watch - there was one particularly fun episode with Lucille Ball and Gary Morton as the guest stars with Lucy's children, Desi, Jr (11) and Lucille (13), as the contestants! The money won went to charity, of course.

So far, the video has been fine for such an old series. From the main menu, you can play all episodes or choose individual episodes from the next menu - a nice touch, I thought.

I recommend this set. If you would like to purchase it, feel free to click on the box art below!



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Friday, March 13, 2009

Have humans stopped "evolving"?

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I got to thinking - have humans stopped evolving? If so, why? If not, where's the proof that we haven't?

The Theory of Evolution is one of those topics that creates almost immediate division. On one side is the scientific community - rational thinkers who must believe that we came from somewhere in an orderly fashion. On the other side, we have the Creationists who must believe that God is involved everywhere and in everything and there's no other way Humans were created except by God.

But why must there be a division? Why can't scientists accept the possibility of a "higher Being" guiding human development? Why can't Creationists accept the possibility that human life evolved from a lower form of life - but perhaps with a "higher Being's" help (ie, God didn't create Man in one swoosh...He made humanity possible by 'guiding' its development)? Can't we just all get along?

I personally believe that something, somewhere had a 'hand' in getting life started here on Earth. It seems awfully hard for me to comprehend that humans evolved into what we are today with no outside help at all.

I mean - take cake ingredients - flour, sugar, eggs, etc. Set them in a bowl. Walk away for 2 million years -- will a cake "evolve" from the raw ingredients? I don't think so! :) Perhaps a little too simplistic an analogy, but the same basic idea, IMO.

Let's get back to today's topic - have humans stopped evolving? Even if takes thousands of years to develop the next "human", shouldn't we be seeing some sort of variations today in humanity? Some sort of humans that are different than others? There's 5 billion of us on this planet...yet...we're all alike. Why is that?

What are you thoughts on Evolution? Share them below!

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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Amazon.com Search box added!

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I just thought I'd take a moment to direct your attention to the upper right hand corner of Tony Island blog. As you can see, there's now an Amazon.com search box! If you ever need to search for a book, cd or anything else Amazon.com has to offer, you can do it from here!

Try it below:


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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Need a Free Email Account? Try a Tony Island account!

Welcome to my blog!

I thought I'd mention a freebie perk that readers of Tony Island blog are eligible for - a FREE email account! Isn't that exciting?

You might ask - what do I need a freebie email account for? Well, you might want to sign up for newsletters, etc that you don't want others to know about. Perhaps an email address to sign up for Web sites that require an email address, but you don't want to give out your main email address.

Of course, you can also set up a free Tony Island email as your main email account to correspond with friends, receive newsletters and stay in touch with business colleagues.

Why would I want another free email account if I get one with my Internet provider? By having a separate email account from your ISP provider, you won't have to change all your newsletter subscriptions, Web accounts or update all your friends if you ever change ISP providers. By keeping things separate, you're not as tied to your ISP.

What do you get with a basic (free) Tony Island email account? 1GB of Web-based storage. Basic spam protection. Message filtering. Calendar program.

Need more storage? Stronger spam protection? More features? Check out the upgraded Tony Island email feature-set:
  • 2 GB storage
  • Advanced Web 2.0 email interface completely free of advertisements
  • Access anywhere including mobile email (POP, IMAP, SMTP, SSL)
  • Personal calendar and address book
  • Inbox folder and message filing just like Outlook
  • Comprehensive spam and virus protection
  • Email forwarding and auto-response
  • Service Options including registered email and online storage
  • 25 MB file attachments
  • Email-based technical support
  • 14-day satisfaction guarantee
All this costs $24.95/year! Not a bad deal.

Anyway - just thought I'd mention this perk. Sign up today for your free email account!

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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

How do you like the new look?

Welcome to my blog!

Well, I decided to freshen the look of Tony Island Blog by choosing a new "template". I liked the template that "Just Stamps" is using, so I figured I'd use that for this blog, too. Actually, there's another slight change that goes with the new template - can you tell what it is?

I need your input! How do you like the new look? Too bland? Too hard to find what you're looking for? Does it need more color or flash or pizzazz? Does it put you to sleep while you read the posts?

Let the world know your thoughts on the new look by leaving a comment below!

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Monday, March 09, 2009

Is the NFL America's version of Roman Gladiators?

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So the NFL (football) is arguably America's favorite sport these days supplanting baseball. That got me to thinking (a rarity!) -- is football America's version of the Roman Gladiators?

Think about it - it's a very popular sport, watched by thousands (and many more thousands via TV) in an arena-type environment. The object is to beat (though not kill) your opponent using some of the most physically harsh methods available. And there are many instances of on field injury ranging from minor to major.

Now the US isn't an empire in a traditional sense, but its influence and reach is certainly global. And many would say that the US has probably reached its height in influence and is on a downward spiral - similar to the Roman Empire crumbling, yet still playing gladiator games (football games).

That's my argument - now share your opinions by leaving comments below!

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Sunday, March 08, 2009

What makes a good blog entry?

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In my last blog entry, I asked what makes a good blog. In this entry, I'd like to delve further into good blogging by asking "What makes a good blog entry?" Do you prefer lengthy blog entries (say 100 words minimum)? Short and sweet blog entries? Do you like multi-media blog entries? How often should blogs be updated? Daily? Weekly? Hourly?

Let us know your thoughts about blog entries so that bloggers can fine tune their entries to "hit the mark" more often than not.

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What makes a good blog?

Welcome to my blog!


So I've been playing with this "blog thing" for a while now and was wondering if I was making any headway. Of course, I don't expect thousands of readers, but a few hundred would be nice!

What makes you stop and read a blog? Do you prefer blogs that are about a particular subject (movies, books, authors, cats, dogs, etc)? Do you prefer blogs that are like a personal diary? Do you like glitzy blogs with lots of media (audio, video, etc) or text-laden blogs?

Let everyone know what kind of blog you like by leaving some comments below!

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Check our sister blog "Just Stamps"!

Welcome to my blog!

I thought I'd take a moment to direct you to our sister blog "Just Stamps". It's a simple blog that highlights one postage stamp each day!

What's so special about these postage stamps? Nothing really - they're just nicely designed stamps (many of them wedding stamps) from a friend of mine. I thought I'd highlight some of them to let more people know about them. You can easily purchase the ones you like directly from Just Stamps!

It's a new blog so there aren't many stamps featured just yet, but it's never to early to let everyone know about Just Stamps!

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Monday, March 02, 2009

React to my Posts! New Blog feature

Welcome to my blog!

I was looking around Blogger the other day and saw a new feature called "Reaction". It's a quick-n-dirty way to let readers react immediately to a post simply by clicking a box. You'll notice the feature below this post. You can set your own keywords.

I also opened up Commenting to allow anyone to comment - before I had it so only those with a Google ID could post. Rather limiting in retrospect.

Well, try the new feature and let me know what you think by adding a comment below!

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Sunday, March 01, 2009

New Rogers! New BSG! New Queen! That's Incredible!

Welcome to my blog!

OK - so there are hundreds (perhaps thousands) of topics I could blog about, but I've decided to update the world on my Retro TV Network viewing this past weekend.

I just wanted everyone to know that RTN played (at least in my market!) a new Buck Rogers, Battlestar:Galactica and Ellery Queen episode! Woo hoo! The only mystery is why they played the second part of a two-part BSG episode (The Living Legend, Part II, which is actually a good episode - even Part I was, IIRC)? From what I gather, RTN has to tailor its programming in each market to avoid conflicts with other local stations that carry the same programming. So, it's possible that in some market "The Living Legend, Part I" played before Part II.

On a slightly different note, I've been catching "That's Incredible" on Sunday late afternoon. These are the 30-minute syndicated episodes. They're still interesting, though you have to wonder what a similar program would feature today? One thing I like to do (in some cases, not all!) is to Google a subject featured on the show to see if I can find any current information (or if there's at least one "hit" out there). I've been able to find some references which is incredible!


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