Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Myth or Fact? Setting Up Tivo HD is Difficult

First and foremost, you want to get the most out of your Tivo HD. So if you are truly thinking about buying this DVR, you are definitely going to want to have a home network. By connecting your Tivo HD to your home network you have access to Amazon videos on demand, and if you are a Netflix customer, you will have access to your instant streaming movies.

With Tivo HD hooked to your network you will have a slew of other goodies such as access to your photobucket photos, and a gob of other really cool features.

Likely you have a home network, but not all have a spare HDMI cable. If you want the quality of your Tivo HD to deliver the best picture possible you are going to want to hook your Tivo HD DVR to your HDTV using HDMI cables. Unfortunately HDMI cables do not come with the standard Tivo HD box, so you will have to purchase this cable separately. I highly recommend Monster HDMI cables.

You can pretty much chuck the color coded AV cables that come with the system. Or you can save them... whatever your choice.

Now in order for Tivo HD to fully function, you unfortunately are going to need Cable Cards. Fear not folks, the whole Cable Card ordeal is not as horrible as it sounds. Unfortunately Cablevision has yet to allow their customers to install these cards themselves. I think it's highway robbery, but if you want Tivo HD, you're going to have to call your Cable company and tell them you need Cable Cards for Tivo HD. Ask for the single Multimedia card though. That way they can only charge you for one card, and not 2 cable cards.

Before Cable comes to your home you want to set up the DVR to your HDTV.

Doing this is simple and requires little work. You will need to unplug your cable box, and plug your cable line into the slot marked Cable on the back of the DVR.

Once you do that, plug in the Tivo HD to a wall socket, and plug your HDMI cable into the back of Tivo, and into an available HD slot on your HDTV.

Tivo should turn on. You now just follow the on screen messages. Next you will need an Ethernet cable (you have to buy it, it does not come with Tivo HD) to plug into your router. You have the option to hook up using a phone line, but trust me, hooking your DVR up to your network bring many more features to your DVR.

I simply followed the on screen prompts, and once I was done, all I had to do was wait for the Cable guy to get to my house to plug in the Cable Card.

After about 20 minutes of having the cable guy in our home, Tivo HD was up and running remarkably. We do not have any issues with the picture clarity, and we are glad to have gotten rid of the dreaded Cablevision Scientific DVR box.

Tivo HD may sound difficult to set up, and it is annoying that you have to pay your cable company to have someone come in and stick a card into your Tivo's slot, but the DVR is well worth it, and you'll be thankful you switched.

The Sims 3 High-End Loft Stuff Pack Coming in February!!!

With the Sims 3 store, I assumed that stuff packs would become a thing of the ancient Sims 2 past. I figured whenever EA were to release new stuff for the game that they would simply make the new items available in the Sims 3 Store, yet low and behold today I stumbled upon the news that a stuff pack was due to be released, and it's an actual title that you can buy in real stores.

I was not able to find word on whether or not the stuff pack would be available in the Sims Store, but odds are it will be.

Anyhow, what is this new pack all about?

First it is not an expansion pack, so don't get all excited. If you are new to the Sims franchise I could see how you could get confused. Pioneers of the original games should already know what a stuff pack is, but for those who are new, do note that this stuff pack is nothing more than a bunch of...well...stuff!

Old stuff packs belonging to The Sims 2 were primarily $20.00 worth of disappointment's. Hopefully The Sims 3 does not follow that same disappointing pattern.

The new High-End Stuff pack will be a collection of high-end goodies to fill your Sims homes with. New upscale furniture, clothing, and electronics are expected to flood out of this pack.

The first stuff pack in the Sims 3 is expected to hit shelves on February 2nd, 2010.

As a special gift to fans of the game, you will find 3 items that were used in the original game, and the Sims 2 game. They include the heart shaped vibrating bed, the electric guitar, and the aquarium.

Unfortunately we have yet to see our beloved pool table, and piano which would have been 10 times more appreciated.

Although I'm not too thrilled about the release of a stuff pack, I'm glad to see it being done, even though I find it unnecessary considering the fact that we have a Sims Store. Now what I would like is some news from EA on the second expansion pack. Even a hint would satisfy my curiosity!

Review of Lush, Vanilla in the Mist Soap


-My post also on AC

I've not ordered from Lush.com in quite some time. I refuse to buy anything from them online anymore because I find shipment prices to be absurd. I have patience, I love Lush, but I can surely wait for them to open up a store locally on Long Island.

My most recent Lush goodie bag came directly from a Lush store, brought back from NYC by my mother, who sacked me up quite a hefty supply of Lush products. In the sack of bathing delights was a sliver of soap labeled as Vanilla in the Mist.

Vanilla in the Mist is somewhat new to Lush, and a soap I had never tried before, so I was eager to hop into a bath and give this soap a try.

Appearance:

My cut of Vanilla in the Mist was a decent cut which included nice chunks of vanilla scented bark piece. The soap at the top had what looked like fine mist of cinnamon spice. The soap itself has a creamy french vanilla coloring to it, which is really soft.

Scent:

Vanilla in the Mist smells comforting, warm, and oh so delicious the second it is unwrapped from its wrap. It's a creamy mix of what smells like french vanilla and a small spice of cinnamon. I loved the scent, and hoped that it was one that would stick with me like Lush's Karma soap does.

My Use:

In the bath, Vanilla in the Mist goes on in a milky cream type manner. It's not soft and moisturizing like I was expecting (Sultana of Soap), instead it was runny, milky and did not do a wonderful job at working up a lather; no matter how hard I scrubbed the soap onto myself.

The scent fizzled down as well. The delicious warm french vanilla latte scent it first gave off was weakened the moment the bar of soap touched water. It was quite disappointing.

Overall:


Vanilla in the Mist was a fizzle. It smelled fantastic initially, but once it hit water the scent diminished significantly. The creamy vanilla scent also does not stick to the skin or moisturize. All in all it was a nice gift, but not a soap I'd buy myself.


Frank the Entertainer, a Basement Affair, Season Premiere Recap


So last night VH1 finally answered my call to a show I have been wanting for quite some time now. Ages ago I wrote an article begging VH1 to give fans Frank the Entertainer his own reality show.

I didn't really care what kind of show it was, a love show, or a just 'follow Frank around' show. I did however want the show to take place in his parents home, in his basement. Low and behold, such a show now exists. Woo-Hoo!!!

The show is a love game show, like I Love New York, Flavor of Love, Etc...

The season premiere aired last night, and the catch was quite interesting and fun. Instead of giving Frank a big ol' mansion. His 15 ladies are all crammed into his parents house. No large lavish pool, or grand entry, or lovely sprawling couches, nothing more than a simple home.

The fun catch though is that Franks mom and dad will be home during the entire show. Things should definitely be interesting and chaotic.

The 15 women are all introduced to Frank, and one by one the family gets to know each of the women. While some impress Momma Entertainer, others disgust her. In the very first episode you watch as she bumps heads with one of Franks potential lovers.

No connections are really made during the very first hour long episode. Basically all of the women meet him, meet his parents, and they each take a family portrait photo with Frank and his family. The idea is to see who fits best with him and his family in the photo. Whomever wins the entire show will have the family photo added to the family album.

A cute idea, but odd nonetheless.

On the first night, Frank sends home 2 women, one who was just really weird, and likely only on the show for publicity, and another who was a little mousy, but cute. Sadly Frank sent her home, and she was likely the realest chick on the show.

Overall nothing really enticing or steamy occurred on the first airing, however the shows season highlights at the end of the first running displayed a much steamier, raunchier, and wicked side to both the contestants, and his mom! Haha.

It should be a good folks, so be sure to tune in to VH1 every week for new episodes.