Tonight is “Masters of Italian Horror” night over at the Brattle Theater, so screw any notion of cooking up some meatloaf tonight… That will have to wait for tomorrow. Tonight is Black Sabbath and Opera time…

Ok, so I have been talking about Tivo, and DirecTV lately. Many of you probably detected that I was looking to spend some money. :)

It basically comes down to this: I want a Tivo, and I can’t have one that works well, unless I get DirecTV. It turns out that I probably can’t get DirecTV anyway, since there is a building keeping me from seeing that geosynchronous hunk of love.. So I decided to just wait on the whole Tivo thing anyway, since I didn’t want to compromise, and I picked up the other piece of missing equipment in my home: a Kenwood VR-410 Receiver….

It pisses me off that I had to make this post friends only… It’s just that I would rather not have more shit stolen.

I don’t think I ever posted about these, but here are some pictures of my apartment, taken the day before I was robbed….

Update 10/31/2006: The above link is dead, so here are some photos of the apartment.

I missed the miniature horse thing last night…. At least you don’t have to be jealous now… :)

Ok, So I investigated the Tivo thing a bit more, and it turns out that a while ago it was advantageous to get the Sony unit because it was cheaper, but this is no longer true. The feature set between the two brands is almost identical, the Sony has a lousy remote compared to the Phillips, and the Sony is more expensive (although not that much more).

A bigger problem is that Tivo doesn’t support my ghetto A/B cable system, and won’t ever. I would have to jump through all kinds of hoops in order to get it to work, and it simply isn’t worth it.

I am now thinking about getting a DirecTV receiver with built in Tivo, and just get rid of my shitty cable service.

There are two problems with that:

• Placing the Antenna - I am supposed to get my landlord’s permission, which I will attempt. If he doesn’t give me permission, I can always invoke FCC law which “…prohibits restrictions that impair the installation, maintenance or use of antennas used to receive video programming.” and “Effective January 22, 1999, the Commission amended the rule so that it also applies to rental property where the renter has an exclusive use area, such as a balcony or patio.”. So the “Patio of Doom” may very well be my ticket to DirecTV.
• Having the Right Sky - I am not sure if my sky is good for DirecTV… I will try and figure that out tonight… I see other people with dishes on my block, but I think they are all Dish Network.

There are a couple of advantages however:

• Cost - Believe it or not, this whole operation will be cheaper overall. The 35 hour Tivo-ed DTV receiver is \$399, but there is a rebate bringing it down to the same price as the normal 30 hour box. The DirecTV service, even with HBO and the like added comes to around \$50 a month, which is \$10 a month cheaper than my cable bill, with more channels.
• Second Tuner - The Tivo’ed DirecTV receivers have two tuners built into them, so you can record a program while watching another, or record two programs at once. This is a great advantage over the normal Tivo receiver.
• Get Rid of Ghetto Cable - My cable system blows, and it would be great to get rid of it. Of most annoyance is the A/B setup, where I have to press a button on the remote to change the switch, allowing me to view the second half of my channels.

I know that some people reading this have experience with DirecTV, so I was looking for some feedback. I am particularly concerned with rain and stuff like that affecting the picture quality. Is there anything I should know? I am aware of the “local channel” stuff, and DirecTV offers local service in this area, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

I got a promo for the upcoming Squarepusher album “Go Plastic”, and so far, so good. It isn’t the revolutionary work that many have made it out to be, but it is a damn fine CD. Sometimes you think to yourself that Mr. Jenkinson has run out of new breakbeats and he is reusing ones from prior CDs, but I don’t think it is overbearingly derivative (just a smidge). It is definitely a more aggressive, less jazzy album (compare to the Big Loada EP), but the jazz influences are still there, they have just taken a back seat for awhile. It will take a few more listens before I make a final decision, but I am not disappointed as of yet.

What are the differences between the different brands of Tivo units… I am thinking of getting a 30 hour unit, but I don’t know whether to go with the Phillips or Sony models. Sony’s is traditionally more expensive, but they are rebating them now so they are like the same price…

Not *great* news, but “I will have a job at least through the end of the year” news, which doesn’t hurt… It will make me sleep a bit better at night.

I think I am going to take off in a little bit.

I had Thai food for lunch at this place Rod-Dee II, and while I am not a HUGE fan of Thai, I can have it from time to time. It was pretty good today, given the price.

We are having our company meeting at 2pm today… There are lots of people around here in suits, which leads me to believe that things are good…

I was talking with a few people this weekend about how two members of Tool (Maynard James Keenan and Danny Carey) got their start in the band Green Jello. One person was looking for more info, and the other totally didn’t believe me, so here is some backing information for those of you that care:

From http://toolshed.down.net/articles/text/gsch.mar.94.html

GS: Didn’t your singer used to be in Green Jello?

J: Yeah, Maynard and Danny Carey were in Green Jello; Maynard did that high voice on “Three Little Pigs” (sings “not by the hair of my chinny chin chin” in a high voice). I was working in the motion-picture industry and helped the Green Jello guys with their costumes. Danny, Maynard, and I all became friends and met Paul through another friend.