IFC has published a list of what it considers to be the “50 Greatest Movie Trailers Of All Time”. Obviously this kind of list is one in which people will argue endlessly about and never agree on. But I do agree with their number one - “Alien”.
Even though I have seen that movie countless times, it still scares the living crap out of me. Here’s the trailer :
CNET is reporting that Microsoft is considering selling their next version of Windows, Windows 7, on specially formatted USB sticks to allow netbook owners (such as myself) to install the operating system more easily.
Most netbooks (or maybe all of them, I don’t know) don’t have a disk drive and if you want to run something from a disk, you need to convert it into a ISO image first (unless it’s a movie file or a music file which are not able to be run from ISO’s). Then you just mount a virtual drive and click on the ISO file.
I don’t mind doing all this but a lot of other netbook users might not know how to do it or might not have the inclination to want to do it. Then again, how many users will want to use a USB stick? I suppose it all depends on how badly you want Windows 7 installed on your computer.
Would YOU buy Windows on a USB stick?

The other day, I transferred my email service from Yahoo to Google Apps and it was only today I realised that the “Gmail This!” bookmarklet which I use intensively on a daily basis was now useless.
The bookmarklet, in case you don’t know, opens a new email window when you are on a webpage with the link of that page already pre-populated in the body of the email. You can then email the link of the page you’re looking at to your email contacts or email yourself to put the link into your email archives. I do the latter and I have built up quite a list of links in a “story ideas” label.
But after looking at the bookmarklet, I’ve realised it is easy to change it to Google Apps. Just right-click on the label and choose “properties”. Copy and paste everything from “location” into a Windows notepad file. Then find the part which says “http://mail.google.com“. That is the part that redirects the bookmarklet to Gmail.
At the end of that link, add /a/yourdomainname (and also change the http to https for security sake). So mine would be https://mail.google.com/a/markoneill.org . Copy and paste everything back into the “location” section of the bookmarklet and click “OK”.
You’ve now got a bookmarklet which will allow you to email links using your Google Apps instead of Gmail.
There’s a very revealing post over at Open Culture about how Iran seems to have been kicked out of the mainstream news by Michael Jackson’s death. Dan Colman argues that we will soon forget all about Iran and the protests will run out of steam because the media attention, which the protesters need to keep the pressure up on the government, is currently so focused and so fixated on the death of a singer whose last major hit was 27 years ago.
As soon as the post hit the site, Colman was “assaulted” by indignant and outraged posters who took great exception to what he said. A few supported him (including me) but the majority of the posts are rather on the negative side. Some of them basically implied that Iran meant nothing to them while Jackson represented their whole life.
I can understand people loving Michael Jackson and being devastated by his death but I think things regarding the “King Of Pop” are starting to reach hysteria level. I am a Jackson fan as well and I listen regularly to his music but I would never say that he is more important than a nation trying to assert their democratic rights over a dictatorial regime.
I normally don’t like listening to Elvis Presley music so when someone sent me the link for “In The Ghetto” where he and his daughter Lisa Marie (Michael Jackson’s former wife) duet, I initially wasn’t going to listen to it. But I’m glad I did because it is actually a very good song. Take a listen and decide for yourself.
There is also a version on YouTube where Elvis sings it himself.