I had been wanting to see Crash for a few weeks now and I finally had the time yesterday while killing time down in San Diego and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Just before the film, the only comment my background investigator had for me after I had given her all my paperwork was that I might be a little naïve about the job and the requirements. And though I may have been a bit apprehensive about the meeting, I am definitely not naïve about jobs in law enforcement. I know there are people out there who hate everything the police stand for and there are people who won't comply with you and will provoke a fight. I know that a law enforcement job isn't glamorous and I let her know that which seemed to allay any concerns she might have had for the time being.

However, after watching Crash, I guess I'm still a bit naïve about racism in our country. This ensemble cast had a lot of high-profile actors in it and almost every one of them played a racist. I think the only one who didn't utter a raciepithethat by the end of the film was Don Cheadle. But regardless, am I really that naïve? Are 90% of the people in this country really racist enough to trash a store that's run by a Persian? Are there really a lot of people that are going to assume that if a Hispanic has tattoos that he's in a gang and you can't trust the work he's done? Are we as a country really that distrusting of races other than our own? I would really like to believe that we aren't. I would like to believe that even though they were a majority in the film, racists are a minority in the real world. But then again, perhaps I'm just showing my naïveté.

URL: Crash (2004)

Despite the growing on-line community for the Buffalo LinkTheater (see site below), I returned my LinkTheater to Fry's yesterday. It wasn't easy for me to do as I really wanted to like the product and I really wanted to use it, but it had some major drawbacks. Firstly, it only works with UPNP-enabled devices, so the Hawking network storage enclosure I bought won't work, and thus, my whole plan falls apart. There are some external storage devices that the LinkTheater works with - most notably, other Buffalo devices - the LinkStation, to be exact - but it doesn't work with the one I spent $100 on and can't return to Newegg due to their horrible return policy - see if I ever shop there again - they used to be my favorite online store for tech stuff.

Also, the LinkTheater was fairly buggy. I installed the latest firmware, but to no avail - fast forwarding and rewinding was difficult at best and navigating pictures was a chore. Overall, the concept is very nice - I'd love to own one in the future - but first they've gotta iron out the bugs and get it to work with network attached storage - not just UPNP devices.

So now, I'm using the $100 network enclosure with my $110 hard drive I got at Fry's with the LinkTheater as a back-up device. I was going to take back the hard drive too, but since I couldn't return the network enclosure, what's the point? Might as well put it to good use. So now I at least have my important data backed up on an external drive (I'll probably move it to another location in the house since it's pointless to have them in the same room should a fire or some similar event wipe out my computer).

So, all in all, I'm disappointed with the LinkTheater and the limited feature set, but it is nice to see an active community working to make it better. Should there be more options out there in the future, I will most likely buy a LinkTheater later - for the basic playback of video files, it worked very well. Maybe I'll go back to my original idea of modding and networking an Xbox for playing media files. I guess it's pretty easy and with the Xbox 360 coming out later this year, the first gen consoles should drop even further in price.

URL: My Buffalo LinkTheater.com :: Portal

Overheard: "I told my son that if he ever marries a girl from California (especially south Orange County), I'll take him out to the parking lot and beat the f*** out of him."

It's funny because it's true.

URL:Quotes of the Day - The Quotations Page

And we've completed the Hannibal collection (though we skipped over Manhunter since Red Dragon was a remake).

Hannibal (Frankie Faison and T.B.D.)
Silence of the Lambs (Anthony Heald and Frankie Faison)
Red Dragon (Philip Seymour Hoffman and Anthony Heald)
Almost Famous (Rainn Wilson and Philip Seymour Hoffman)
Galaxy Quest (Jeremy Howard and Rainn Wilson)
Men in Black II (Brad Abrell and Jeremy Howard)
Men in Black (Will Smith and Brad Abrell)
I, Robot (Simon Baker and Will Smith)
Shanghai Noon (Lucy Liu and Simon Baker) [50]
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (Chia Hui Liu and Lucy Liu)
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (Michael Bowen and Chia Hui Liu)
Jackie Brown (Laura Lovelace and Michael Bowen)
Pulp Fiction (Linda Kaye and Laura Lovelace)
Reservoir Dogs (Steve Buscemi and Linda Kaye)
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (Keith David and Steve Buscemi)
The Replacements (Faizon Love and Keith David)
Blue Crush (Michelle Rodriguez and Faizon Love)
S.W.A.T. (Benjamin King and Michelle Rodriguez)
Lethal Weapon 4 (John Harms and Benjamin King) [40]
Lethal Weapon 3 (Marian Collier and John Harms)
Lethal Weapon 2 (Patrick Cameron and Marian Collier)
Lethal Weapon (Paul Tuerpe and Patrick Cameron)
Maverick (Stephen Liska and Paul Tuerpe)
Conspiracy Theory (Christo Morse and Stephen Liska)
Hackers (Wendell Pierce and Christo Morse)
Ray (Rick Gomez and Wendell Pierce)
Three to Tango (John C. McGinley and Rick Gomez)
Se7en (Lennie Loftin and John C. McGinley)
The Sum of All Fears (Stefan Kalipha and Lennie Loftin) [30]
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Pat Roach and Stefan Kalipha)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Frank Marshall and Pat Roach)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Alfred Molina and Frank Marshall)
Ladyhawke (Ken Hutchison and Alfred Molina)
Straw Dogs (Dustin Hoffman and Ken Hutchison)
Rain Man (Ray Baker and Dustin Hoffman)
Without a Paddle (Bruce Phillips and Ray Baker)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Stephen Ure and Bruce Phillips)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Katie Jackson and Stephen Ure)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Viggo Mortensen and Katie Jackson) [20]
Crimson Tide (Gene Hackman and Viggo Mortensen)
Superman IV (Christopher Reeve and Gene Hackman)
Superman III (Jackie Cooper and Christopher Reeve)
Superman II (Ned Beatty and Jackie Cooper)
Superman (Robert O'Neill and Ned Beatty)
Twelve Monkeys (Bruce Willis and Robert O'Neill)
Mercury Rising (Chi McBride and Bruce Willis)
The Terminal (John Williams and Chi McBride)
Star Wars: Episode VI (Anthony Daniels and John Williams))
Star Wars: Episode V (Peter Mayhew and Anthony Daniels) [10]
Star Wars: Episode IV (James Earl Jones and Peter Mayhew)
The Hunt For Red October (Stellan Skarsgård and James Earl Jones)
Ronin (Jean Reno and Stellan Skarsgård)
Godzilla (1998) (Ben Bode and Jean Reno)
Empire Records (Liv Tyler and Ben Bode)
Armageddon (Owen Wilson and Liv Tyler)
Permanent Midnight (Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson)
Keeping the Faith (Edward Norton and Ben Stiller)
Rounders (Edward Norton - Starting Film)

URL: Frankie Faison