Hock Show Weekend Top Five For June 7-13th, 2009
1. Finally. TV the Way It Was Meant to Be Seen (Seven Years Ago).
The digital conversion finally happened, leaving around two million people without a damn TV despite, like, ten years of warnings that this was going to happen any day now. For the record, I watched the Digital Conversion Show that was airing on broadcast channels all day Saturday before they finally switched off for good, and honestly? It was better than anything on the digital channels.
2. Facebook Is Stupid…er.
They rolled out the “Facebook Vanity URLs” this week, and it was even dumber than expected. Sorry, but if you wanted to secure Facebook.com/pinktaco or Facebook.com/thisisstupid/ you’re out of luck. Facebook is allowing the sale of the vanity URLs which is even worse, but the prize for best use of the app goes to Christie Shippley, who registered Facebook.com/default.aspx, forcing hundreds of browsers to accidentally redirect users to her homepage. Yay technology!
3. People in Iran R Soooo Kewl!!1! >_<
I usually avoid talking politics here because nobody cares about my opinion, but I did find it kind of neat that protesters of the Iranian politcal elections last week took to Twitter and Facebook to lodge their informal protests. You see, the Iranian Government blocked cell reception and some popular websites in an effort to stem the protests, but those old codgers didn’t anticipate these newfangled social networking sites. Well…at least they found something useful for Twitter.
4. The NBA and NHL Had Finales.
Ah, America’s less loved sports. I think the LPGA almost canceling one of their major tournaments is probably a bigger story, but I doubt any LPGA fans would read this blog. The Lakers and Penguins won. Sorry if I spoiled that for you. Somewhere, LeBron James and whatever hockey player didn’t make the finals are watching a real sport. Like…lacrosse.
5. Harry Potter Producers Doing This Right.
It was announced this week that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince would be getting the iMax 3D treatment, with 12 minutes of extended footage filmed especially for the 3D theaters. Nice, right? Well, the iMax 3D showings aren’t rolling out until two weeks after the film premiers in regular theaters. So those people that will be lined up at midnight to catch the first showings will *have* to go back if they want to see the extra 12 minutes (they do). Money, money, yeah, yeah.