The Fernsehturm Berlin is an iconic television tower in Berlin from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) days. There is a restaurant within the tower at 207.53 metres that offers a fantastic view of Berlin. I found the tower to be a nice place to visit and to get a nice dinner at the restaurant which rotates every 30 minutes.  If you stay at a good hotel, the hotel concierge should be able to get you a reservation for dinner at the restaurant along with a preferred entry where you don’t have to wait in a line.  The preferred entry ticket costs about 22 Euros per person.  I think its worth it as you can spend some time at the observatory and the restaurant and avoid the lines. Without a reservation, there is little chance of getting to eat at the restaurant although you could get a few drinks at the bar at the observatory. But the food at the restaurant is really good and worth checking out.

The Alexaderplatz area which is right next to the tower is a nice place to sit around watching people and you should also check out the Neptune fountain that’s close by while you visit the Fernsehturm.

Fernsehturm, Berlin, Germany

Peter Schilling’s English Version of Major Tom (The original was in Deutsch)

The Shiny Toy Guns version which is quite awesome

The Coby DVD-233 is a cheaply made DVD player and currently available from Buy.com and several other places for about $30. This DVD player can be set to play DVDs with any region code by turning it into a region free DVD player with a simple hack/procedure.  I have several DVDs   I’d purchased from visits abroad that I’d never watched in years and the Coby DVD-233 is the perfect solution.

Here’s the hack: (All of the following are to be done using only your remote)

1. Turn on the player and eject the tray using your remote.

2. Press “MENU”, 8, 8, 8, 8 on the remote. You should see 5 asterisks near the top left of your screen.

3. Press DISPLAY. A dialog box will show the current region code.

4. Press 0. A new dialog box shows 0 (region free) and a warning. Ignore the warning and don’t press any keys on the remote.

5. Close tray using the remote control. Turn the device off and on again and the DVD player is now region free.

I did not really care for ReGenesis but so what? I have ‘House’ and ‘King of the Hill’. And that along with news is probably all the TV I watch anyway. Today, I came across TidalTV. This is a service in Beta but looks quite slick. The interface is smooth and fast. I watched a Dilbert animated feature on TidalTV (I’ve never seen Dilbert animations before). The quality again was terrific.

Now what this tells me is that, a substantial chunk of broadband users will adopt online TV for their entertainment needs if they have not already and cut their cable bill. For example, you can watch 5 episodes of ‘House’ back to back in any order. Where does TV come close this this? And who likes recording shows when you can have entertainment on demand?

By the way, Hulu also has a large collection of ‘Sanford and Son’.

While the animation, the story, the emotional delivery through robots and almost everything else about this movie is outstanding, what makes this movie phenomenal is that the creators have tried to draw attention to the state of human civilization and the super-consumers who will eventually contribute to the death of this planet.

The impressive visuals of a lone robot picking up waste and creating mountains of compressed metal cubes, delivers a message that is undeniably powerful.

“Humans – consume a hell of a lot and generate a lot of waste which we really do not know what to do with (Developed nations in particular)”.

This movie has a powerful green message and should be watched by every single person on this planet.

Rodolfo Chikilicuatre from Spain is particularly entertaining with a hilarious performance and a catchy reggaetón beat. Unfortunately he did not win.

A great example is the ubiquitous Technotronic

Here’s a track by Leila K called ‘Open Sesame’ and a Remix of the same song by Daisy Dee.

Leila K – Open Sesame

Daisy Dee – Open Sesame

Some more Extinct Music Producers

Maxx – No More

The cool/or uncool thing about Maxx was that he had this catchy beat and ‘lead tune’ that essentially was used over and over in different ways in all his best tracks.

Mr. President – Coco Jambo

The Angry African Dude

Baby Joker’s No More Locked Doors Rant

Smokey Getting a Shit

Next Friday, Baby Joker Hundreds and Fitties

Mac Switch Parody by Will Ferrell

Rove Full Interview with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly

Will Ferrell Gap Commercial

Will Ferrell as George Dubya Bush

Naked Will Ferrell as Jackie Moon

Will Ferrell Interviewed By Chris Bosh – Semi Pro Meets Pro

Will Ferrell NFL Draft

Will Ferrell as Rick Bobby