You’ve probably seen them all over the place. They’re the new commercials from Apple Computer, touting the benefits of owning a Macintosh over a generic “PC”. There are six of them, and each highlights some benefit the Macs have, for example, the lack of thousands of viruses, or the easy connections to electronic devices.

The two actors are great. The Mac is depicted as young and hip by actor Justin Long, while the PC is portrayed as an older suit by John Hodgman. They each bring charm to the roles that might otherwise have come across as either whiney or defensive.

I’ve enjoyed them immensely (but then, I would), and the new Get A Mac campaign (which replaces the “Switch” campaign) has some great information (even if the tone is a little supercilious).

OK, so most people who know me know I enjoy beer. But not just any beer. No, it has to be good beer. No cheap watery beers for me, thank you very much. Some may say I’m rather a bit of a beer snob in fact. I tend to prefer beer connoisseur.

This is why I took great interest in the latest in “social software”, Coastr.com. (Have you noticed the trend to drop the vowel before a final consonant in these “social software” sites? Thanks Flickr.)

Coastr calls itself “the social guide to beer”, and aims to connect beer drinkers of similar tastes. They’ve even coined a rather disturbing term, “social beermarking”. Shudder.

The idea behind Coastr is to keep a list of the beers you like and the places you like to drink it, and see other people who have the same tastes. Of course, there’s also the “learn new beer” aspect: if a bunch of people who like the beers you like all like some other beer you’ve never tried, why not try it? (That’s the part I’m looking forward to the most!)

Another precious quote from Ying:

I first fell in love with it in a parking lot in the back of Ron’s car

If you’re wondering what she might possibly be talking about, it’s her 15″ PowerBook.

Ah, double entendres… you can never have enough.

Dear TiVo:

I love my TiVo.

I also enjoy supporting TiVo and the TiVo advertisers by watching the various extended ads that often show up.

This was the case tonight, when my TiVo showed an “Exclusive Preview-24 Season Finale!” line, and selecting it offered me “an extended sneak preview of the 24 two-hour Season Finale event”, presented by Sprint.

Imagine my disappointment when instead of a “sneak preview”, we instead were treated to two minutes of flashbacks and recaps.

I was so disappointed that I didn’t even bother watching the Sprint ads themselves, and took time to write to you expressing my displeasure.

Please explain to Sprint and any other advertisers who may want to do something similar that it’s important they live up to their promises, or people like me will look askance at their advertising attempts.

And I’m zany to the max!

More than a decade since they first burst out of the water tower, Yakko, Wakko and their sister Dot will (finally!) be coming to DVD: Animaniacs, Vol. 1 will be released July 25, 2006. To add to the madness, that same day will also see Pinky and The Brain escape from their cages. Yes, Pinky and The Brain, Vol. 1 is also set to take over the world. Talk about faboo!

I can’t even being to explain how thrilled I am about the news. I’m a huge Animaniacs and PaTB fan. I own several toys (released at McDonald’s), an Animaniacs baseball cap (thanks Harris!), and the soundtrack. I’ve been hoping and wishing for a DVD release for ages, and was tremendously disappointed I could only get various VHS compilations (I haven’t used a VCR in probably five years, maybe longer!).

If you’re not familiar with Yakko, Wakko, Dot, Pinky, The Brain, and the multitude of other characters that forms the world of Animaniacs, I can only describe them as the very model of cartoon individuals. A cartoon ostensibly for children, many (so-called) adults found themselves addicted to the zany antics of these wacky animations.

The Warner Bros (Yakko, a Groucho Marx homage; Wakko, a food gorging Ringo Starr sound-a-like) and Dot, their awfully cute sister, made sly pop cultural references, parodied classic movies and songs, and engaged in relentless cartoon violence. Oh, and along they way, it also managed to educated kids with songs about the planets (“You forgot Uranus!”) and ettiquette.

The other characters included Rita, a singing cat (voiced by Bernadette Peters); the Goodfeathers, three very familiar sounding wise-pigeons from New Yawk; and two lab mice, Pinky and The Brain (a large-headed Orson Wells, um, tribute), who did the same thing every night, tried to take over the world, in painfully funny (and unsuccessful) ways (like becoming big country music stars).

In all likelihood, I’ll have to buy two or three copies of these DVDs, for fear of wearing them out with constant viewing. I already plan on my yet-to-be-conceived children becoming huge fans of these shows.

Hello Nurse!