Ever wonder how to set up a home theater? Burn episodes of your favorite tv show to dvd? Record tv on your computer? CNET’s Digital Home DIY website offers lots of advice and tutorials on how to bring your home into the digital age. The site is broken down into categories including digital imaging, gaming, HDTV, home control, home movies, home theater, music and networking. Each project contains tabbed sections giving reasons why you want to complete this project, what you’ll need to complete the project, video instructions on how to carry out the project and examples of the project in action. It’s a pretty helpful site for instructions and ideas.

As mentioned previously, our house has four televisions. In the interests of saving space and streamlining the look of two of our bedrooms, I have been considering upgrading our televisions to flat panel lcds and raising them higher than the dresser tops they reside on currently. I know it’ll take us a while to save enough money to replace the two televisions, but I like to be prepared so I started browsing websites to get price ranges now.

I don’t know what make or model of television we’re going to get, but I know it will be a flat panel. Until I was asked to review the AV Now website I never had any idea that there are so many different styles of tv wall brackets, and that there’s something available for every price range. I found the AV Now website to be very helpful and well put together.

The AV Now website sells so many different brackets I thought I’d be confused. Fortunately, the folks at AV Now split everything up into categories including flat to wall brackets, tilting wall brackets and pull out or tilt & turn brackets. The site also carries other related items including TV stands, trolleys, desk mounts and ceiling mounts. Last, but certainly far from least, AV Now carries a large number of cables, accessories & aerials.

One of the popular items on the site is the GD20 bracket which is a universal, adjustable wall mount bracket for 14-22 inch lcd monitors. As is the case with most of the products AV Now carries there is a picture of the bracket. There are tabs containing product features and specifications that tell you everything about the product that you could want to know. For example, this bracket pivots, swivels and tilts. It can hold up to 22.05 pounds, tilts up to 140 degrees, swivels up to 120 degrees and has a security screw to hold the monitor in place. It comes with a ten year warranty and is VESA standard compliant.

When I saw VESA standard compliant I didn’t know what it meant. I wasn’t left wondering for long, because AV Now offers an extensive section of helpful articles on popular topics including standards and cables. What I consider to be the best feature on AV Now is the bracket finder. All you need to do is enter the model television you have and it finds the right bracket for you. It doesn’t get easier than that!

I give AV Now a thumbs up. They’ve been in business since 2002 and are only partner with the best manufacturers and suppliers to ensure quality and customer satisfaction.

The writers strike may be over but television viewers will be feeling the fall out for months to come. Some shows aren’t returning until next year. That strike really wreaked havoc with a lot of people’s viewing pleasure, not to mention a lot of other people’s livelihood. The show 24 won’t return to the air until January 2009. For anyone that hasn’t seen it, the show 24 is an action-adventure-espionage series that is shot in “real time”. Fans of the show are quite enamoured of it.

Degree, the deodorant, has put together an internet series called “The Rookie”, that is styled in the same fashion as 24. Despite having watched 24 twice and not caring for it, when I was asked if I wanted an opportunity to review the Degree show I couldn’t pass it up. This is actually The Rookie’s third season. I’d not seen either of the previous ones, although I had seen a television commercial containing a piece of one. the third season is called Day 3: Extraction. I watched the Day 3 season from beginning to end, which took about a half hour.

Day 3 follows an American agent named Jason Blaine, whose boss was kidnapped by a well known cruel drug boss. Day 3 begins with how and why Jason’s boss got kidnapped. Viewers watch Jason, with help from headquarters, use technology and brains to try and find his boss. I don’t want to give away any more details for those that haven’t seen it yet.

The sound quality was excellent and the video pretty clear. Once or twice my internet got bogged down and the show stopped, but it did resume in short order. The videography of The Rookie Day 3 was very much like that of 24. As I later learned, that’s because The Rookie Day 3 was directed by Rodney Charters, a director of photography on 24. The Rookie Day 3 also got a lot of help from members of the 24 production and stunt crews.

The show’s season is meant to be watched in short installments of 3-5 minutes each. I think watching it in that manner keeps it much more interesting, and more like a series instead of a movie. All of Season 3’s installments can be seen on The Rookie Day 3: Extraction channel. I do have a suggestion for the folks at Degree. I’m one of those people that can’t start watching a movie or show late because I don’t like to miss anything. It would be a lot easier for people like me to enjoy the show if we understood how it got to the point the storyline is at now. I looked all over the Degree Rookie home page and couldn’t find any past seasons or bio or anything. If you’re a fan of the show 24, or if you like espionage-adventure types of shows, you should definitely check out The Rookie. I’m including the first installment of Day 3 for you to check out for yourself.

I first visited the Diary Of A Track Bunny blog last year. I promised Karah I’d review it a while back, so here I am.

The site has a whole different look now, featuring black, white, gray and pink colors. The blog is on an attractive two column theme that loads quickly. The header is colorful but doesn’t quite fit the Track Bunny mental image. I was sort of expecting rabbits, racecar drivers or racecars. Racecars with bunny ears would be cute, no? The font size is good, but I wish the gray font color was a little darker so it would be a little easier to read.

I like the navigation on the top of the blog. It’s a constant, it’s easy to find and it looks good. Since there is an Archive page contained in the navigation I’d probably get rid of the Archives widget in the sidebar to move more content up. The idea of a back to top link at the bottom of a blog is good, but this one doesn’t go back to the top. Intrigued by the # of users online link at the bottom, I clicked it to see where it went and got a “sorry, no posts matched my criteria” message in return. I would suggest moving the RSS feed link to the top, or just adding an RSS button up there somewhere, to make it easier for people to ssubscribe.

Karah updates her blog on a regular basis and frequently includes pictures. She’s got an easy going writing style, and her articles are of varying lengths. She writes in easy to understand complete sentences. The one thing I do not like is that on many of the posts the reader has to click more to read the rest of an article. I believe that if I am fortunate enough to have visitors to my site I’d like them to say for at least a little while. I do not ask them to work while they’re visiting, which is how I look at it when I see read more. Readers are easily able to interact by leaving a comment, as it is not necessary to register or login to leave a comment. The topics Karah mainly writes about are Nascar, celebrities, entertainment, music and television.

Karah’s got a terrific blog. Go check it out, and when you do tell her that valmg sent you.

This afternoon I reviewed a blog called Juuust A Bit Outside.

The first thing I see when the blog loads on my screen is the header. The colorful header is bright and contains sports images. Juuust A Bit Outside is currently on a two column theme of red and white. It takes me 35 clicks to get from the top of the blog’s home page to the bottom.

The category and archive pages are easy to find. Chris’ sidebar is neat and uncluttered. I do have two suggestions regarding the sidebar. The first is to move the Back to Main Page link up to the area of categories and archives.  The second is to move the rss subscribe further up in the sidebar, perhaps just below the categories. People might not see it down at the bottom and it’s more likely a reader will subscribe if they’ve read a little and like the content and it’s fresh in their mind.

Juuust A Bit Outside is a sports blog, and all of the content on it is sports related. The writing is original and the posts are of greatlength and have terrific substance. You can tell from reading the posts that the author loves his subject matter and puts thought into his writing. Chris frequently includes pictures in his posts. Go check out the playing field at Juuust A Bit Outside. When you enter the park, please tell Chris that valmg sent you and GO GIANTS. Also, tell him he needs a Nascar category.

Today I’m reviewing the blog Anime Fans Online, a 451Press blog about the culture that surrounds anime and manga. The blog is authored by Jason.

Anime Fans Online is on white, blue and gray two column theme. It took me forty clicks to get from the top of the home page to the bottom. The sidebar is very neat and tidy. Categories and archives are clearly marked and easy to find. Anime Fans Online displays a brief About blurb, but it doesn’t share any info on the author Jason.  Obviously Jason is a fan of anime because he’s started this blog, but who is he?

Posts are original content and are well thought out. Many of the posts review a show, movie, episode or dvd. Reviews often includes a brief summary as well as his opinion on what he’s watched.  The blog also touches on news withing the anime industry. The blog is loaded with pictures, which complement the reviews nicely.

If you’re interested in anime or want to learn more about it, this would be a good place for you to start. If you check it out please tell Jason that valmg sent you.

Today I’m reviewing Jason’s blog at FanaticSpace.com. Fanatic Space is a website where fans are meant to gather. It offers specific forums where people can find others who share the same interests. The site also offers a blog, which is what I’m reviewing.

The Fanatic Space blog is on a customized white and blue two column theme. Jason’s done some work here with the coloring of the boxes in the theme. It took me 21 clicks to get from the top of the home page to the bottom. A few suggestions for the sidebar. Shorten the width of the search field, the email address field and the archives field, they’re poking out of the box. I was not able to find a category list, and I really like those because I think they help readers find relevant content.

The Amazon unbox is pretty big. I myself am not a fan of it but if you plan on keeping it perhaps there is a way to blend it in more naturally. It’s black, where everything else isn’t, and it stands out because it is a different size and is aligned differently than the other boxes.

Fanatic Space does offer an about page, but it doesn’t contain any information about the author Jason.  I for one would be interested in knowing why Jason started a fan fansite. Posts are well worded original content. Jason’s trying to build readership, and even offers forums for visitors. Why not go check out Fanatic Space and see if you can find others that share your interests? Tell Jason that valmg sent you.

Kanye West’s mother died. An autopsy and investigation are being performed, as she reportedly had plastic surgery less than twenty four hours prior. A well known plastic surgeon had told her she’d need medical clearance for the surgery, after which he didn’t hear from her again. Word has it that the surgery was performed by Dr Jan Adams, a celebrity doctor who uses to be one of the hosts of the daytime show The Other Half, along with Dick Clark, Mario Lopez and Danny Bonaduce.

Boxoffice results for the top three are

#1.  Beowulf, $28.1 million, released this week
#2.  Bee Movie, $14.3 million
#3.  American Gangster, $13.2 million

Sarah Michelle Gellar officially changed her name to Sarah Michelle Prinze as a fifth anniversary present to her hubby Freddy.

Is talent in their genes?
Clint Eastwood’s 21 year old son Scott Reeves is going into acting.
Henry Winkler’s 24 year old son Max is a writer and director.
Michael Landon’s 32 year old son Christopher is the screenwriter that wrote Disturbea.

Matt Damon was named Sexiest Man Alive. I don’t agree, there’s lots of men sexier than him. It seems that his friends George Clooney and Brad Pitt ran his campaign for the title. I must be naive, I didn’t know there was a campaign.