Wednesday Bird Droppings

i don’t have any of the gaming systems – so what is best to use? a blu-ray player?

had netflix for a couple months while watching the first couple seasons of Dexter. Recently been watching BSG on hulu plus, but cancelled that after just getting the final season on blu-ray (holy crap blu-ray blows streaming out of the water with the quality).

So I’ve never tried either of those services for “casual” tv watching…. flipping through channels, trying to find something to watch. Not sure how well it works for that. ALthough, I find myself pulling up my “watch later” playlists on vimeo or youtube more often when I’m just looking for some casual video watching. Having an HD antenna would probably also come in handy

Again, with streaming, the audio/video quality still leaves a lot to be desired.

GF and I haven’t had cable TV since August 2010 – we just pay $60 for a mid-tier cable internet connection through. Something like 15 Mb/s.

We use a Roku box to stream Netflix and Amazon Instant Video content. I know a lot of people complain about Netflix’s catalog, but I’m really satisfied with what they have. Right now we’re plowing through Mad Men, but we also watch movies now and then, and we always find something we’re both interested in watching. It’s not a lot of recent AAA content but there are still a lot of good flicks.

For cable shows like Breaking Bad, we buy a season pass on Amazon. Depending on the show, seasons usually run around $20 and when the latest episode airs, the show is available to stream the next day. The only problem we’ve come across is that some shows (like Breaking Bad) didn’t offer HD episodes until after season 4 had already finished. I was honestly surprised, since the episodes were in widescreen when we watched them, but apparently they were like 480p or something.

So we only watch a few cable shows – Breaking Bad, Always Sunny, Justified, and I think we’re gonna be ready to catch new episodes of Mad Men this year – so at $20 a season, we’re looking at $80 for those series. So a bit of an investment but over the course of a year it’s still much cheaper than adding an HD cable box to our monthly bill.

For network television, we have an amplified Over-The-Air HD antenna. It’s either this model or one very similar to it (I think we paid around $50 for it). We set the antenna up vertically on a little stand next to our entertainment center and it works great. We live in the city (northwest) and relatively close to TV Hill, so we get a pretty strong signal for most local stations. Here’s a list of stations that we get over-the-air:

• 2.1 – ABC (HD)
• 2.2 – Living Well Network (not HD, never watched this station for very long)
• 11.1 – NBC (HD)
• 11.2 – WBAL+ (not HD – this shows news repeats, Dr. Oz repeats, etc)
• 13.1 – CBS (HD)
• 24.1 – MyNetworkTV (HD)
• 45.1 – FOX (HD)
• 45.2 – this (not HD – movie network with the longest commercial breaks ever)
• 45.3 – The Country Network (not HD, all country music videos)
• 54.1 – The CW (HD)
• 54.2 – CoolTV (not HD – music videos)
• 67.1 – PBS (HD)
• 67.2 – MPT2 (not HD – tailored towards old folks)
• 67.3 – V ME (not HD – spanish language content)

So we get a decent amount of programming just over the HD antenna. The only issue is that it can be sensitive to objects or movement around it – channel 11 is the worst offender with this. If we’re watching NBC and we get up and walk by the antenna, sometimes the screen will get pixelated and stutter. Placing objects around the antenna can affect the signal as well. Channels 11 and 67 are the only stations that have an issue with this, but sometimes it can be irritating.

The only thing I really miss is live baseball. There’s just no real way for me to watch the O’s on my TV at the moment. I would totally pay for MLB.tv if there were no blackout rules, because MLB.tv works with the Roku box, but it’s just not meant to be at the moment.

For other sports, I use the ESPN app on my XBox360, which is a surprisingly robust app with great selection of all kinds of sports. I watched some of the live Baltimore Grand Prix qualifying this past fall, and I also watched the Towson University football playoff game on it. Lots of college sports and things like cricket and rugby and rallycross on there, so lots of good sports options as long as you don’t want to watch the O’s.

Football hasn’t been a problem at all, because no matter when the Ravens play, the games are always on network television. Thursday night games and Monday night games are broadcast in HD on Channel 13 when the Ravens play on those nights. If the Ravens aren’t playing, obviously those games aren’t on 13 but those matchups are usually pretty weak anyway.

So in summary: HD TV + Roku + XBox 360 + OTA Antenna = satisfied cord cutter who misses live baseball terribly but is still not tempted to go back to cable television.

Nick Johnson (124) has a higher career OPS+ than Cal Ripken (112).

Cal was a truly dominant hitter for his first 10 full seasons, then a bit below average for the last 10 (barring that extraordinary 1999 season). Barry Larkin had a 13 year run of dominant hitting. Alan Trammell was more inconsistent, interspersing a lot of great years with below average years, never putting up more than 3 above average years in a row.

except when we make him look good

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=rodnefe01&year=Career&t=p#oppon::none

The Fu Manchu is similar to the common horseshoe (“biker”) mustache; the difference between the two types of mustache is that the Fu Manchu is grown only from the upper lip, whilst the sides remain clean shaven.

As this picture clearly demonstrates, Flacco’s mustache grows not just from the upper lip, but from the beard section along the sides and below his lip. Flacco in fact, has a horseshoe mustache, in the style of Hulk Hogan (albeit not as glorious).

what a smackdown.

Absolute artist. A violent one, but an artist.

Get it done.

You don’t get to just point to a player and say, “I want him. Here’s a bag of balls.” Well, unless that player is Kevin Gregg, then we have a deal.

Hey Atlanta, would you accept a trade of Chris Tillman for Freddie Freeman and Randall Delgado?

Seems like the type to drive a hard bargain

Well, first, they’re not a fan of Roch.

…this Roch Kubatko who writes for MASN (and has an aptly douchey named blog “School of Roch”)…

Adam Jones is a great player, but there is no way he can repeat his performance from last season. His current value is the highest it will probably ever be and if we give up 2 arms for this guy, we will seriously regret it when the pitching injuries unavoidably begin.

I would do it straight up for JJ just for the offensive depth it gives us, but I wouldn’t throw in any more than filler prospects to get the deal done. Prado is probably better offensively than Jones, but having Prado as a utility player makes the team better overall.

I get Jones is average defensively and has Frenchy-like tendencies, but, at the right price, which to me would JJ and, maybe, a low-level prospect, he’d upgrade our team. A. Jones is talented, even if he’s not the superstar some feel he is…Heck, it’s not like JJ’s a superstar, either.

If it’s Prado and JJ, then we’d be crazy.

Prado is better offensively. How is Jones an upgrade?

I would love jones for a b level pitcher + jurrjens

Throughout is young career jones has hit between .270 and .284 and has hit a minimum of 19 hr in the past 3 years. Jurrjens is an injury prone pitcher who will NEVER have a higher value in an organization deep with pitchers, And by all means throw in spurril, do you ever expect to see him in the majors?

If they want Hanson they better be sending Markakis and $$$ in return

(I’d make this trade.)

If the O’s were actually offered that and turned it down…….

Their entire front office should be fired.

No way these rumored offers can actually be true. If the Braves really offered JJ/Prado/Prospect for Adam Jones, I’m not sure who is dumber: the Braves or the Orioles?

She reads a lot, but she can’t put this one down and feels compelled to tell me all about it at great length, which must mean she’s really into it. Looks like a movie for it is coming out this year.

and got to wondering how long until gary oldman is SIR gary oldman? it’s not exactly jack ryan stuff, but i wonder if they’ll do more smiley movies w/ oldman. he really nailed it.

you mean you went to the talking pictures?

and someone on here said the movie was tough to follow if you hadn’t read it first. So, over the break, I read the book. Now it’s not in any of the local theaters any more. D’oh!

The “someone who can look like Michele Bachmann” porn

She’s absolutely stepping out because she wants to be the running mate of the eventual nominee.

She’ll go to Rick Santorum, if he wins, and say, “I am with you on every social issue. Pick me and really energize our base.”

She’ll go to Mitt Romney, if he wins, and say, “I am with you on financial policy. We’re pretty close on social policy, though I’m a bit more outspoken. You need that outspokenness to energize our base.”

She’ll go to Newt Gingrich, if he wins, and say, “I know you’re a realist. We may not be on the same side of every issue, but you and I both know that you need women to win. Pick me and women will forget about your past marital issues.”

Brace yourself for back-to-back vice-presidential candidates of Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann.