Mike’s Thoughts

UPDATE: I’ve now updated the teaser page to give viewers a date to mark on their calendars. The official launch date is Sunday, April 12th. See you then!

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So, I’ve been thinking… I’ve got CS4, I go to RIT and am surrounded by graphic artists and other people with epic websites. Yet mine is based off of a template. What’s more, the main focus of my site has been my blog. Well, it’s time for change. I’m working on my brand new site. You can check out the teaser page at http://mikebruckner.com. The best part? Once all is said and done, my site will actually BE mikebruckner.com, and not merely a redirect to some other site!

So, my PS3 of not even 1 year, pooped out on me last week. I thought it was just a fluke, but when I went to watch my brand-new BluRay movie, my horrors were confirmed. For some reason, the system froze mid way through playing a game, and ever since restarting it, the system will not recognize any disk whatsoever: not BluRay, not DVD, not CD. I had just installed the 2.43 firmware, so I am leaning toward pointing fingers at that….

Matters only got worse after calling Sony. First of all, you have to sit through AN AD on your phone for some stupid game. Then, when you finally navigate through 90 menus, the system reads you the same crap you can get online. Uh, thanks, but no thanks. Finally, you are prompted to press 0 to talk to a rep. The rep was clueless, and was baffled as to why my contact information would show up in there system! Hmmm… maybe because I registered the stupid thing half a year ago! The rep was all over the place, and told me that I needed to find my receipt, otherwise I would need to do an “out of warranty repair,” though he never said what that was. He gave me a reference number, and I proceeded to hang up, furious. I called home, and discovered that I had scanned the receipt…it’s like I knew something like this was gonna happen. I then called Sony back, and got the most insulting rep ever. After giving him my reference number, he asked why I was calling… um, read the damn info! The rep was extremely rude, and was obviously upset that I, the sucker who bought the piece of junk, had to call in. He then read off some crap about another form I had to fill out online. Fine, thanks for that.

So now I wait… supposedly they’re gonna send me a box or something. I am shocked at this situation, and believe me, if my system doesn’t come back in impeccible shape, I’m gonna do a lot more than rant on my blog! Sony, you’re on notice:

PS. If you want to make your own On Notice board, check out: http://www.shipbrook.com/onnotice/

So, after searching for what seemed like weeks, I finally found Aimee Allen’s song, “I’d Start A Revolution if I Could Get Up In The Morning.” It was the song that was originally used in the Birds of Prey theme (see my previous post).

In short, I guess that the record company that was initially slated to release her album was bought out, and the project was dropped. However, Aimee has made the song available on her web site: http://www.aimeeallen.com/revolution.html

Take a listen and let me know what you think!

Update: I just found out that Birds of Prey is now available for download on iTunes as well. The advantage here is that you can download individual episodes, and the whole series is a few bucks cheaper than the DVD. However, the DVD set includes a few extras, including the unaired pilot, plus the entire Birds of Prey animated web series, so it might actually be worth buying the physical disks. If you still want to get it from iTunes, just follow the link on the bottom of this post.

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After doing some casual browsing the other day on Amazon, I came across a list of DVDs that were due out in the next few days. In particular, the list named TV shows and DVDs that were “never before released.” One TV show set off a flag in my head…Birds of Prey. I knew that I had heard of that somewhere….

Oh yeah, now I remember…that awesome show about Batman’s alleged daughter. It had aired in 2002 on what was then the WB (now the CW). And what happened? Half way through the season when things were getting good, the WB axed the show. Despite a huge internet wide petition and a huge fanbase, the network put the kibosh on the show.

Seeing the DVD set for sale reminded me of how much I enjoyed the show, but it also got me thinking. It was again the CW that nixed another great show: Reba. So I ask: What compels a network to throw together an ending, which appears to have taken the weekend to make, for a show that clearly has potential? True, while some shows like Reba had a chance to grow on people, Birds of Prey was ripped out from under its fans…

For those of you who <shutter> don’t remember Birds of Prey, maybe this YouTube opening will jog your memory. After you have reminisced about how great the show really was, head on over to one of these sites to pick up a copy of the DVD set. Who knows…maybe the CW will see just how many fans would love to see the show return to TV!

Best Buy | Amazon | Target | WalMart | iTunes