I watched The Simpsons Movie on DVD a few nights ago. I should preface by saying that I haven’t actively watched the show in some time, but have always loved it when I have. Today, it isn’t as funny as it used to be in its prime, but it still has a classic Simpsons charm.

The movie was just okay, I thought. It was funny here and there, but overall it felt like an extended episode that I’d just as soon watch on TV. The plot wasn’t anything magnificent to separate it from a regular episode that would air on FOX. In contrast, when South Park came out with a movie, it had a lot more punch. That punch was to be able to say and do even crazier things than they already did on TV. It was a success. The Simpsons isn’t edgy like South Park, and has far less reason for a movie in the first place. That said, I admit the Simpsons movie scene with Bart skateboarding without his clothes was quite a scream. The movie was very short, I should add. The disc quoted 87 minutes, but I reached the closing credits after a puzzling 77 minutes.

I would imagine that the movie was packed end-to-end with subtle jokes that only die-hard fans would pick up on. For some of those laughs, I guess I missed out. But after all these years of speculating over a possible Simpsons movie, I think that overall, they could have done a little better.

Me and Laura watched Superbad this week! I had heard great things about this movie and couldn’t wait until it was released on DVD. That day finally came, and after watching it, I have to say I agree with the hype. It was hilarious! I just loved it. The content will probably appeal most to high school and college kids, but anyone with the right sense of humor will love it too. The story was great, the jokes were funny, and the casting was superb. The casting was what really made this movie. The actors chosen for these roles were perfect and absolutely spot-on. While watching this movie and rolling with its hilarity, I felt I was watching what would become a cult classic, whose magic could never be recaptured in a sequel. Bravo to the makers of this movie. It was the funniest film of 2007 for me.

Since it is Christmas time, I thought I’d share this great holiday listen with you. This is David Sedaris on NPR from 1992 reading from his Santaland Diaries.

Here are a few websites where you’ll get the most accurate time. Use one to set your clocks.

• worldtimeserver.com
• timeticker.com
• atomictime.net
• time.gov

I couldn’t help but manipulate this picture of my dog Spencer peering out from under a blanket.

When I am away from my desktop computer, I log on to Meebo to see who’s online. Tonight, I found a new widget in the offering that you place on your own site that allows visitors to chat with you through your own page. It is a project from the folks at Meebo, dubbed MeeboMe. It appears to be in the the alpha phase of development, but my tests worked without a hitch. And creating it was as easy as three very simple steps.

I have added my new creation to my Contact page. It shows my online status in the window. If I am not logged in, you can still leave offline messages and I’ll receive them the next time I log into Meebo. I think this is really cool. For now, I’ll certainly keep it on my page.

Well 2007 is nearly at its end and we will soon usher in 2008. Thanks to everyone who stops by and reads my blog. The brief backstory is that my blog formed its first roots on December 2, 2005. Therefore, it has now been two years since its inception. I still am enjoying posting to this thing and maintaining it. Thanks to WordPress for consistently releasing new and greater versions of their blogging software. It is indeed a pleasure to use. So turn up your glasses. Happy two years to me and whoever is reading this! Ha!

In years past I used to be a bit of a file compression enthusiast. Back in the MS-DOS days, I used to tinker with different compression formats and test one against another using files on my computer. In those days, I would compare the standard ZIP format against ARJ and others of its day. It would fascinate me how small I could shrink my files, even in those days.

Today, file compression isn’t quite as much of an interest, with massive storage drives and high-speed Internet connections. On Windows, I have always preferred the RAR file format, which always fares better than the old ZIP format, and works well with very large archives, unlike ZIP. On my Mac, I had been using the Archiver utility included with OS X Tiger, which is very fast, but doesn’t get great compression results since it uses the old-fashioned ZIP format.

I went in search of a better program and stumbled upon the file compression format 7z. This format does a stunning job at compressing files of all types. I did a few tests with it versus ZIP and RAR files, and it outperformed both, at times by wide margins. Granted, the compression speed won’t be up to par with traditional ZIP, but those extra few seconds (or minutes) may be worth waiting for when see how much more you shed off the file size. Strong file encryption is available, too.

Check it out for yourself. I am mighty impressed. To work with .7z files for free on Windows, visit 7-Zip. On the Mac, there is a free 7z utility called 7zX, but I don’t care for it quite as much as CompressFiles by Apimac. CompressFiles asks $9.95 for use after 30 days, but it also compresses into several other formats, and sports a clean, polished interface. Note that CompressFiles does not decompress files, so you must use the free Stuffit Expander for that. I think the low fee is well worth it for CompressFiles. It made me want to buy the program simply because they are asking such a reasonable price.