Some really good scifi coming out this spring/summer:

Iron Man May 2nd, 2008
Speed Racer May 9th, 2008
Chronicles of Narnia May 16th
Indiana Jones May 22nd
Kung Fu Panda June 6th
Time Travelers Wife June 6th
Incredible Hulk June 13th
Get Smart June 20th
wall-e June 27th, 2008
Hancock July 2nd
Hellboy 2 July 11th
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3d July 11th
Dark Knight July 18th
XFiles 2 July 25th
Star Wars; The Clone Wars August 15th
City of Ember: October 10th

Found this at eToys.com:

Kid's Room Decor? Seriously?

wow..this movie launch is creeping right up:

The West Michigan Day of Dot Net is fast approaching and this year we're really trying to blow out attendance. There's a ton of really good content this year and 5 tracks. Yes, you read that right...5 tracks! I'll be doing a session on IE8 For Developers where I'll profile some of the newer features of the latest browser release. I'm also looking into the idea of setting up a table with vintage pc's. I have a working ZX80, Vic20, Atari 400 and Atari 800 that I'll have on display. I'm still looking for someone to provide a commodore 64 and possibly a trs80.
So help support the midwest .NET community and spend some time with us on what is sure to be an awesome developer event.

I'll be speaking at the West Michigan Day of Dot Net again this year. As many of you may know, i typically give away some nerf and this year will be much the same as last. I'll be speaking on a shorter subject (not Ajax) this year, so definitely sign up and stop by:

daniel: i friggin hate VB - its the language spoken by Satan himself

adrian: you mean dick cheney ?

daniel: dick cheney speaks vb. of course it all makes sense now. explains why we cant find Bin laden - search routine is written in VB

adrian: hahahahaha - its still running

daniel: long running process caught in an infinite loop - chewing up resources

I wanted to create a modal popup for a flash app that I'm building. I'm working in ActionScript 3.0 which does not have a native popup control. If I installed the Flex framework, I'd have access to more GUI controls, but I'm really trying to keep this thing on a low footprint, so I've opted out of Flex. However, I still needed to build the popup. So this is how I did it...

var modalsprite:Sprite;


function show(object:DisplayObject, xin, yin) 
{
            modalsprite = new Sprite();
            modalsprite.graphics.beginFill(0x000000);
            modalsprite.graphics.drawRect(stage.x, stage.y, stage.width, stage.height);
            modalsprite.graphics.endFill();
            modalsprite.addChild(object);
            object.x = xin;
            object.y = yin;
            modalsprite.alpha = 0.5;
            object.alpha = 5;
            stage.addChild(modalsprite);                    
            stage.setChildIndex(modalsprite, stage.numChildren-1);
             
}

the object parameter would be the MovieClip, Buttons, Controls..etc that you want displayed on the surface of the modal background. the Xin and Yin are the corresponding coordinates for the object that you want placed.
I'm sure theres probably an easier way to do this, but I haven't found it yet.
If you have something better, by all means leave a comment for the rest of us!

So...the next time you're out at Best Buy and you're about to drop off 300-400 bucks on a new gaming console...step back for a moment and wonder why. Is it because of the fancy new graphics, screaming cpu or rumbling-motion-sensing-controller thingy? Maybe?
I own an Xbox 360, Nintendo wii, Xbox 1 and decent gaming pc's. And what is my kid playing on a Saturday morning?

Thats right....the Sega Dreamcast.
Why? Because the living legacy of the Dreamcast is that the games are just plain fun.
So if you're looking to score some high value entertainment value for the childrens....maybe a search through Ebay would serve you well. I've seen the system (with games) going for around 40-50 bucks and what an incredible bargain for the amount of fun that you'll get out of this 'classic' system.

and i thought that i was a sci-fi nerd:

I bought Call of Duty 4.
I have beat Call of Duty 4.
In 5 hours.
thats $60 for 5 hours of entertainment.
Now dont get me wrong...the game was absolutely stunning and quite possibly the best I've played.
But seriously...a 5 hour single player mission? I realize that a good chunk of the people that purchase this product, do so for the online play. But I don't play online.
so yeah...short but sweet.

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!
The graphics, as advertised, were brilliant:
 
and the warfare immersion was incredible. I truly felt overwhelmed by the chaos of battle.
What's truly great about the game is that you're just not one dude running around with a machine gun wasting everything that crosses your path. In fact, in one 'episode' you're the gunner of a C-130 Gunship. If you've ever watched videos like the one below on YouTube:

You'll be happy to know that the gunner portion of the game is nearly identical to these in flight video. The in game dialog is perfect for each of the various scenarios that you'll find yourself thrown into. And you'll also find yourself in a few 'holy crap' moments of awe during the game. Most notably the nuke scene. I wont ruin it for you, but when it happens you'll understand what I mean. 
So go buy the game. But keep in mind that its short. AND you'll want to be aware that this game is NOT kid friendly. Some of the earlier COD titles were borderline o.k. for young gamers, however COD 4 is NOT. There are quite a few instances of in street assasinations and group massacres that would raise parental eyebrows. In fact, during one cut scene you actually play the role of someone that is strapped to a pole and shot point blank in the head. So play and let play at your own risk. 
Overall..one of the best games that I've played in quite a while, if not the best. And who knows...maybe you want a short single player mission. In hindsight, its probably best that I could get in and out of the game in such a short amount of time. I have a ton of things to do this month and game time is a commodity. Speaking of being busy....back to it.

You just can't make this crap up:

Knife thief stabs self during getaway

Posted: Jan 7, 2008 06:35 PM EST

Updated: Jan 7, 2008 11:02 PM EST

CES 2008 is really starting to kick up some neato geek toys.
I really want one of these:

Here's an article from todays front page at woodtv.com (my local news station):

Posted: Jan 2, 2008 05:22 PM EST

Updated: Jan 2, 2008 05:22 PM EST

The as-yet-unidentified woman bought one of the limited number of $20 tickets from the Michigan Lottery's Millonaire Raffle. Six of those tickets are worth a million dollars each.

Employees at Party World told 24 Hour News 8 the woman came in Wednesday morning with the winning ticket. She planned to go to Lansing to claim her prize.

The winner, they said, works two jobs and really needs the money.

"It's gotta be very nice to be able to kind of get yourself on your feet, and that can really set someone on a good life path," said Rob Antor, who sold her the winning ticket. "And I feel fortunate that I was able to bring joy to somebody."

A ticket worth $100,000 was sold at the Meijer on Plainfield Avenue.