JohnA lifeBlog

I know, months late. Anyhoo, here is the video of Mom & Scott getting married by “The King.” I was fortunate enough to walk my mom down the aisle.

[video]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6286726051627903797&hl=en[/video]

Oh, and I do have my personal photo gallery of the event online as well.

They are in London right now, but if you would like, feel free to offer your best wishes as a comment on this blog entry.

Hands down, this has been the worst Christmas season I have ever enountered

It seems as though everyone who I had previously interacted with over Christmas has disappeared. For a variety of reasons, I will be alone on Christmas Day. If I’m lucky, I’ll call a cab to take me to Denny’s for the traditional loner holiday meal.

Tomorrow is Friday, and I think I am going to close down the office, simply so that I don’t have to hear about the traditions that make up the professional “OMGWTFBBQ” family visit.

Yeah, I know, I am a total hypocrite. And you know what? I simply don’t care.

Merry Christmas. I hope you can survive this most horrible time of year.

I know, I know.

You are all sick and tired of hearing me blog about my new receiver, the Outlaw Audio 1070.  Guess what?  I don’t care.  With a product as unique and amazing as this, I fully intend to keep blogging about it as I discover new and exciting things about the product.

Tonight, I picked up a european bootleg DTS version of Moby’s I Like To Score to evaluate how well the Outlaw amp reproduced pure multi-channel audio.

Here is the deal… I have, simply put, never heard audio with such deliverance and grace.  The soundstage disappeared, and all I could do is simply close my eyes, and be enveloped in all directions by the content.  I cannot express how different this was from any other trial I embraced.  With other products, I was completely aware of the sound field being created, and it distracted me.

In the case of the 1070, I couldn’t tell where reality starts or ends.  The end result consumed me, making me long for more.  I didn’t care how large the woofer was, or what the tweeter was made of.  I didn’t think about any of those things.. I was, simply put, entranced by the quality and beauty of the audio output.  I didn’t want to leave the disc… I just wanted to keep playing “God moving over the face of the waters” over and over again.

I know, I seem like a zealot… but in a way, I am.  This receiver has changed the way I apporach movie viewing and how I approach entertaining.  I have no idea how it will change your life, but the truth is that there has never been a better chance to “step up” without breaking the bank.

So, looking for that great last minute gift… look no further than Amazon.com.

They have the Audemars Piguet Women’s 18k White Gold and Diamond Watch for over half off! If you do chose to purchase this product, please use the previous link so that I get a commission.

That is all.

Okay, so here is the summary of my impressions of the Outlaw Audio 1070 on day 2.

Honestly, the only way I can say this is as follows… simply put, this is, hands down, the most perfect audio I have ever heard from an integrated A/V product.

Usually, when listening to any superior dialog, you are faced with “position fatigue”… the fact that dialog does not spacially appear to come from the participating actor or stage.

All of that is gone with this receiver. I am watching The DaVinci Code right now, and even the auditorium echoes make this experience singularly unique.

I cannot wait for my new order of DTS concert DVDs to arrive. The first to arrive will be Mirrorball by Sarah McLachlan… and I cannot wait!

So, emergency trip to the data center not withstanding, today was a giddy day.

At around 11am,a new shiny new Outlaw Audio 1070 arrived. Weighing in at a robust 50 pounds, this is the absolute top of the line in home entertainment.

We didn’t get back from Oakland until around 10pm, but I chose to hook it up regardless. After hooking it up to my HD-DVD player, I popped in Superman Returns, and was floored. The response and the dynamics were unheard of. I mean, I have NEVER heard audio at this quality.

Here is the bottom line. If you own a “pro-sumer” grade receiver you bought at a big-box retailer, you owe it to yourself to check out this product. I have heard every single retail receiver from $100 to $10,000, and none of them compare to this humble Outlaw Audio product.

But don’t take my word for it…

I love Christmas… it is my favorite time of year.

As a change for this holiday season, I’m going to be setting up a streaming music server that will play my favorite Christmas tunes. Look for it at http://christmas.johna.org/ , which should be live in the next day or so.

OH, and today was Wii day over at Loyd’s house. I’ll be sure to post a recap, as well as photos, as soon as I am able.  There is nothing more amazing than watching 4 grown men play Tennis like a bunch of little children

I just finished posting a new blog entry to MySpace.

Over the last couple of years, I have cross-posted blog entries from here to MySpace, and vice versa.  That all ends tonight.

I have decided that I am tired of the bullshit, and that I am tired of being treated like a “vendor” by so many of my MySpace “friends”

So, I deleted a large number of “friends” from MySpace.  I still plan on posting in both places, but the truth be told, you will need to demonstrate the 2-way nature of our relationship before I feel comfortable adding you back to my MySpace profile.

I’ve not written about television shows in quite some time, so tonight seems like a great opportunity to pick up the pace just a bit.

I just finished watching last night’s episode of Gilmore Girls.  I don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t watched it yet, but there is one scene that climaxes in Stars Hollow’s town square.  This scene single handedly makes up for the entire season of crappy writing and lame development that has been the hallmark of the post-Palladino era.

Bottom line is that this episode made me long for the next episode, something that had not happened a single time this season.

It’s no 30 Rock or Studio 60, but at least I’m no longer ashamed to say that I am a Gilmore Girls addict.

So, this morning Jonathan and I camped out in front of Target.  Our local store received 39 30 (who knows where they other 9 went) Wii consoles, and absolutely no accessories.

Anyhoo, after a nice long nap, I set it up and popped in Wii Sports… which I then played for 2 hours straight until my arm was about to fall off.

I have never enjoyed a console game as much as I am enjoying Wii Sports.  I also bought Zelda, but haven’t even gotten around to playing it yet.

Oh, and if you want to add me to your address book, my Wii Number is 6643 1796 0964 8667