Getting back in the swing of things. Some issues:

1. My DVD burner doesn’t seem to work. I have tried burning some Seinfeld episodes and at the end of the lengthy procedure, I get an error message that there is a problem writing to the disc. When I first burned CDs, years ago, I would get this issue with the first-generation Sony Supressa ® (external) burner. Each time I try to burn a DVD, I get the same error message, and each time I am wasting a DVD. That adds to some numbers I am compiling about the economics of personal media; I am figuring cost per movie and cost per TV episode per media (DVD vs. digital download vs. DVR). Recordable DVDs are not yet dirt cheap although coming down in price. I paid something like 70 cents per DVD that stores 120 minutes.
2. I was reading Walter Mossberg’s review of the media center in the WSJ last week. He noted the continual annoyance of the Norton Personal Firewall. I just removed mine (control panel/remove) because it popped up every few seconds when I was trying to download ORB, a new "TV anywhere" product.
3. I am having my media center "extender" box installed tomorrow. That leads to some thoughts—what will I initially stream from my media center to my TV? My TV has a DVR box, so streaming TV programs seems redundant. Burning DVDs (if I could) and then playing them on my DVD player seems redundant. These two media foraging centers (DVRs and media centers) seem to be in conflict until new and original programming appears via the Web. It’s why I think IPTV must contain some new and original programming or just be a competitive force to an already entrenched delivery channel.

Stay tuned

I have hit a snafu—cannot get the new WM machine to boot as it’s currently sitting there like a beautiful paperweight. Well, I am noodling on how to wake that baby up so I can get to my advanced video tasks, I am reflecting on the state of modern TV. If you look back to the ‘50s, in the days of the blacklists, any actor, writer or producer who even knew how to spell the word communist was kicked to the curb. The fear was triggered by advertisers who didn’t want their products associated with these pinko-Commies.

One of today’s most original shows is MTV’s "Pimp my Ride." We are huge fans and I know my wife would like nothing more than to pimp my ’92 Honda accord. Last night, we watched as XtotheZ helped a cool young man, who teaches inner-city youth, pimp his Accura. The end result was sheer magnificence.

One of the keys to the show is how X keeps his personality in tact (street cred, that is) yet somehow is accessible to the public at large. It’s sheer marketing genius on his part, MTV’s part, etc… In contrast, I was just listening to "Weapons of Mass Destruction," the unedited version of Xzibit’s new "album." Whoa. The rather provocative opening in which he takes a Bush speech and edits it to the point where The President says he’s turning weapons of mass destruction on the American people, is quite mind-blowing.

This is not a comment on the merits of X’s work. He’s talented and truly has something to say. This is to show how we’ve changed as a culture. X is the commercial pitchman for Right Guard or some similar deodorant. Obviously, the sponsor either doesn’t know of or care about X’s political bent. That's to be admired.

I recommend the film, "The Front," starring Woody Allen, for more insight into the blacklisting of the ‘50s. I guess 50 years is a LONG time

Barring other unforeseen DVR accidents, we’ll be watching all sorts of bowsers do all sorts of magical things. We’re partial to dogs that help the blind, handicapped and emotionally traumatized. Once, on "Airplane," a once-good but now lame show on A&E, about days in the life of Southwest Airlines, some kook couldn’t get on the plane without his emotional guide dog. The dog’s job was the keep the man calm and out of trouble. Alrighty, now.