Albert Banks

After a year and a half break - partially due to the writers strike - Battlestar Galactica finally returned Friday night for it’s fourth and final season. The season premiere picked up right were the final episode of season three left off and the episode didn’t disappoint.

For anyone who has never seen the latest incarnation of Battlestar Galactica, you should. Male or female, Sci Fi fan or not, you will be fraking addicted. Remember the Lay’s ad campaign, “Bet you can’t eat just one”? Well, I bet you can’t watch just one episode.

Bottom line, it is the second best show on television (Lost). This is not a Sci Fi show. This is an action packed, culturally relevant drama set in a Sci Fi world. The show deals with very human issues like racism, religion, trust, perseverance, terrorism, oppression, love and sacrifice. By utilizing the Sci Fi genre developer, writer and executive producer Ronald D. Moore is able to provoke genuine emotion and self examination in a way that a traditional drama never could.

The final season is airing Friday nights at 10pm on the Sci Fi Network. If you are not up to date, I recommend watching the mini-series and the first three seasons. You can rent them on Netflix, buy them on Amazon.com or catch up on some recent episodes on the web via SCI FI Rewind.

Well, hello there. Can it have been 6 months since I last posted? What a slacker. Let see, what’s been going on…

We’ve been in Charlotte, NC for almost a year now. Myjive is full time, going strong and certainly busy. Maybe that can be my excuse…

Instead I’ll just say - I’m back to being an active blogger. I’ve got a lot to say. And a lot of music to tell you about. Plus, I need to rant.

Oh, and I’ve updated to Wordpress 2.5 and implemented a new theme. It’s more streamlined and optimized.

Let me preface this with full disclosure, I’m a University of Florida grad and huge Gator fan. With that said, the proof is undeniable. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) East division is the best division of any conference in all of college football. Let’s take a look at the teams:

#7 South Carolina (5-1)
The Ol’ Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier is winning with running and defense. The Cocks already defeated Georgia and gave the LSU Tigets a run for it’s money in Baton Rouge.

#13 Florida (4-2)
Despite being a very young team (60% underclassmen), the Gators destroyed Tennessee and held a 10 point fourth quarter lead on #1 LSU. It appear Florida has a dominant leader in Tim Tebow.

#17 Kentucky (5-1)
This isn’t the same old Cats. Kentucky now has some football players. Clutch QB Andre’ Woodson is a Heisman candidate who lead UK to a miraculous upset of then #9 Louisville.

#24 Georgia (4-2)
Backed by a tough defense and after finally finding a leader in QB Matthew Stafford, Georgia continues to be a road warrior under coach Mark Richt. But can the win in “neutral” Jacksonville?

#25 Tennessee (3-2)
Despite the blowout loss to Florida, the Volunteers played current #2 California to the wire on the road and recently knocked of Georgia by 21 points. If their defense remains stout it will be a tough out.

Vanderbilt (3-2)
The Commodores are the perennial division cellar dweller, but they always hangs tough particularly at home. And they have a winning record…

The body of work speaks for itself. With five ranked teams and every team with a winning record, despite competing in the most difficult conference in the country, the East is a beast to be feared.

Rating:
Release Date: 08/14/2001
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Accepting his nerdy, mellow, yet confident persona, Talib Kweli’s latest release Eardrum is about the journey. Separating himself from the other “bad-ass” rappers, Talib focuses on life and spirituality.

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After 3 months with my iPhone, I felt it was time to give Apple my feedback. I sent the following through their iPhone Feedback System:

First, I love the iPhone and it’s capabilities. But, I have a few issues.

1. Native Chat Program. Why is this application not on the phone. You are constantly connected to the web via Edge or Wi-fi. This seems like a no-brainer. Yes, I can go through a 3rd party website (meebo), but for security and ease of use this should be native to the device.
2. 3rd Party Apps. Please don’t feel threatened by these. This will only enhance my iPhone experience. You are running a version of OSX on the device and people have already “hacked” their way into installing apps. You should be encouraging this. Bottom line, if this is to be considered a “Smartphone” and you wish to compete in that market, this is a necessity. Windows and Palm based phones already allow this. What is the holdout?
3. MMS. Even the most basic camera phones have this ability to some degree. Again, why would this not be included in such a “revolutionary” phone?
4. Multiple Calendar syncing. I can not sync multiple/selected calendars in Outlook 2007, despite the appearance of the option in iTunes.
5. Flash. 95% market saturation on computers and this excluded from the first “true” web browser on a phone? This has discouraged several people I know from pulling the trigger on purchasing the iPhone. Personally, it is baffling…
6. Safari Tweaking. Including addons/plugins would be nice and it would be nice to have little more control of the browsing experience (ie. Firefox).
7. Ringtones. I understand Apple wants to make money, but why can we not put our own ringtones on the devise without going through iTunes. This feature exists in a majority of phones with custom ringtones. It is often just a drag-and-drop process. Is the extra money really worth the hassle to your other customers?

I could go on, but these are the most important to me. Let me reiterate, I love the iPhone and it’s current functionality. Most of my problems are with features that should have been included initially in a smart/media phone. All of these can be resolved with software/firmware updates. I encourage you to do so and this will truly be the best phone on the market.

Albert

Less than a week after the release of version 2.2, I have completed a major upgrade to the Netflix plugin for Wordpress.

Based on requests from users for greater flexibility, I implemented a movie class. This new class along with the new netflix_movies() function, movies can be displayed in nearly any format in a page or in the sidebar. You can display covers horizontally or list them out with their description (also new to this version). The possibilities are only limited by your willingness to engage.

Live Examples: http://www.albertbanks.com/movies/