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See Hard 'n Phirm Live in Irvine Feb. 20!

That's just DAYS away...We enjoy the retail hive of the Irvine Spectrum which is exactly why we're coming to the Irvine Improv. We'll be performing the As Yet Unnamed Chris Hardwick and Mike Phirman All-Encompassing Comedy Show, which quite simply means that we will each do stand-up solo and close the show with some sweet HardNPhirm business. Please take action on the following information:

Irvine Improv

71 Fortune Dr.

Irvine, CA 92618

8:30pm, $15

Buy tickets online here, or call (949)854-5455

Of course you could always walk up to the door and buy tickets the day of the show like a caveperson, but we want to make sure you get in.

El Superbeasto

About two years ago, Rob Zombie asked us to write a theme song based on his luchador comic book hero "El Superbeasto." We didn't hear anything about it for a while so we just assumed that he wasn't that crazy about the song but was too nice to say, "Hey, that really sucked it." It turns out this was not the case at all...having just returned from touring with Ozzy a few weeks ago, Rob called me and said, "Hey, do you have that Superbeasto theme song lying around?" Of course I did...in my hope chest...under a wish for an iPhone copy-and-paste function and a U.S. Alan Partridge series. The next day he called back and said, "Your theme song fits really well. Would you like to write pretty much all the songs?" SHIT YES WE WOULD. And so it is. Phirm and I are in the process of writing the songs for Rob Zombie presents: The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (now fortified with Hard 'n Phirm). We've seen a bunch of footage and it is FANTASTIC. Flop on over to the official site or join the MySpace page.

¡Viva Rob Zombie!

Anything...

Interview on ComedyCentral.com

Comedy Death-Ray This Tuesday

Comedy Central Presents: Hard 'n Phirm Friday Night!!!

 

It seems like only five months ago that we went to New York to shoot our very own half-hour comedy special and now good 'ol episode 1214 is finally airing tomorrow night. Will it be good? What songs will they cut? WE DON'T KNOW! The important thing is that you watch to find out and re-evaluate our place in your heart:

Friday, 1/25
CCP: Hard 'n Phirm
10E/9C (though our West Coast DirecTV airs the NY feed at 7)
Comedy Central

Tell others. Pass on the geek of HnP.

Boring Macworld Photos PLUS Parting Thoughts!

I took a handful of pictures at Macworld, so to wrap up the topic for this year here's a link to them.

My final thought about the event is that it was a big sack of fun to be there, but I'm not all psyched up about the "big" announcements. I shall further express my lack of psyching in list form:

iPhone: Customizable home page, great! How about opening that sucker up to third party non web-based apps? The simulated GPS locater is also nice, but why can the phone triangulate my position on the Earth but still not sync notes or cut and paste text? That had to be higher on the complaint list than, "Why can't I stick a pin anywhere I want."

ipod Touch: Don't care.

Apple TV: This actually intrigued me. I like the new UI and went out and bought one today at the reduced price. The prospect of renting films finally made this device useful to me. I'm sure I'll write more about it later.

Time Machine: Wireless router/hard drive? Veeeerrrry clever. I'd like to use one before I judge it, but I like the idea of it. Though with the recurring wireless theme Apple pushed this year, their slogan of "There's something in the air" seemed a little on the nose ESPECIALLY with the next announcement...

Macbook Air: I'm going to wait at least a year before I consider this one. Yes, the base price is $1799 if you want the HDD model but it jumps to $3000 if you want SDD, which I would. The 64G capacity just isn't enough to justify the price in my mind ESPECIALLY when you consider that the OS takes up around 23 of those Gigs, not to mention the lack of an optical drive. I do see computing moving away from the CD, or "Caveman Disc," but not just yet. The Air is a strong move toward the future of computing but I feel like it's just a tad soon. When SDD prices fall and capacities go up, I'll plunk down my money---maybe all in nickels because I like the idea of paying for something with a bag.

Macworld '08: Mac Quicken Redux

 

Anyone who uses Quicken for PC and then has the unfortunate displeasure of switching to the Mac version feels an overwhelming sense of castration. Sometimes I feel like Intuit went out of its way to say, "Heeeey, suck it Mac User!"  The interface is dreadful, batch editing is a drag and many times I yell at the transaction download system like it was an under-achieving teenage son. You might imagine, therefore, that I was pleased to run into a guy in front of the main showroom handing out flyers for the Intuit booth and its brand new iteration of Quicken for Mac, which will be out this fall. Codenamed "Heathrow" but soon-to-be-named "Quicken Financial Life," Intuit has shown a bold leap into the refreshing waters of Lake Leopard. As sure as the contrivance of that last metaphor, look for a completely new iTunes-y UI with intuitive features and easily navigable data. 

The first major change I noticed was the look...QFL has optional cover flow for crapsake! Secondly, all of your accounts can be seamlessly integrated across multiple users. As I dug a little deeper I noticed that the Windows 3.1 notion of categories had been replaced with a tagging system, which led to my favorite new feature, THE TAG CLOUD. Intuit, how can you not be getting tired of blowing my mind?? This major undertaking was the reason that they neglected to release Quicken for Mac 2008, which I can only assume would have come with a middle finger on the box. 

I don't know what kind of fire ignited under their asses over there...perhaps it was the realization that the fractional global Mac market seems to be getting slightly less fractional, or maybe a mini asteroid collided with the Intuit building and extinguished the sauropods in Mac programming...but I don't care. As someone who uses Quicken EVERY DAY and had previously felt the kind of hopeless depression someone feels in a loveless marriage, this September release offers to pluck me from the doldrums of my bookkeeping ennui and make love to me on a pile of efficiency. I wholeheartedly recommend that they put Quicken Financial Life on an Oprah makeover episode entitled, "From Skeksis to Sexies!"

As a side note, I offered to Beta test it...I'll let you know how that goes. Below are some iPhone stealth shots:

click to enlarge

Sweet-Ass Macworld '08 Coverage

Well, I'm sure you know every big Mac announcement by now. I texted Kevin Pereira 15 minutes after Steve Jobs' keynote was over and he already had the dirt on the Macbook Air. Check out Attack of the Show! on G4 Wednesday at 7 Eastern, 4 Pacific for my floor coverage of this wonderful Nerd Hive. I'll write about my adventures (no, there were no pirates) tonight, tomorrow and possibly the next day. I saw some nifty stuff and actually kind of liked the vibe better than the one at CES. If you're a Quicken user, I have some HUGE news for you along with some screen shots that I don't believe I was supposed to take. If the idea of Quicken sounds like grandparents having sex to you, then I have other photographic morsels, all courtesy of my newly updated 1.1.3 iPhone.

Bone Marrow Donor Needed!

Hi all. A dear friend of my mom's has been living with leukemia for the last five years and the chemotherapy seems to have ceased its effectiveness. He is now in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant. This is a life or death situation, so I wanted to put the word out to help him find a suitable donor. According to his medical team a likely match will be someone of Jewish descent, preferably Ashkenazi. His website and info are here if you have any interest in spreading the word to help save this man's life. Current bone marrow match testing methods are simple, non-invasive swabs on the inside of the mouth, and donating the marrow is as simple as giving blood. The test is $50, so if that's a problem I'm sure we can cover it.

Many thanks.