Office 2007 Hack

Found a hack for Office 2007 that actually worked.

It invovles altering a file called Proof.XML which can be done only if you have ownership of the file. The blog goes on about a circuitous and cumbersome way to "take ownership". Here's a simpler way to do it: find the file, right click on it, choose Properties, then Security Tab. Select your username, go to the Advanced pane and check all boxes under Allow. Voila! The file is yours to do with as you please.

Impressions on the First Conan

This was one show I literally couldn't wait to watch. I actually thought of calling a friend on the East Coast this morning to get a play-by-play. But he probably has two jobs and was too tired. Or maybe still at work on his third. So I ended up reading the (rave) reviews, which just upped the anticipation even more. Anyway, it's 11 and its finally here!

1. Music for the first bit: Cheap Trick's "Surrender" which happens to have "Philippines" in the lyrics. Very auspicious. For us.
2. Hey, it's the Late Night theme. Good move. My heart actually skipped a beat hearing "And I'm Andy Richter!"
3. Quick string dance drives audience wild. Pretty relaxed monologue. Andy -- at the podium -- better turn down the yuk-yuks the next shows. We don't need a white pudgy Kevin Eubanks.
4. The set is too blue.
5. Silly enough but the Universal Tram Tour not quite doing it for me. Was that a Pinoy in front of the line in green?
6. Not feeling the Taurus bit at all. Shot of the floor stick shift (!) was the most interesting part, all of 0.8 seconds.
7. Will Ferrel not trying too hard, which is good. "Forget Twitter, I'm on the cb!"
8. Glad to report Pearl Jam is still with it. Overall intensity is somewhat muted though. Maybe because the set is too blue.
10. Hey! Will Ferrel's still on his chair. Warm, raucous applause for Andy, Max and PJ drowns the already unrecognizable closing theme.

Went quite smoothly for a first show. Pretty good but not quite the mind-blowing experience I set myself up for. Thanks to the kind critics for the heightened expectations.

Conan was every bit the seasoned talk show host and kept his word that he would be his same silly self at Tonight as he was on Late Night. It's obvious he and his writers did their homework to manage a well-staged debut with just enough material to announce their takeover and showcase what's in store for the next thousands of nights. Promises to be a good run.

PS. When the house band is way cooler than the host, that poor guy's in trouble. I'm talking about The Roots and Jimmy Fallon. Can't believe he started his monologue with "Happy Monday everyone!"

CD/DVD Drive Gone after Vista SP2 install. WTF?!

A major download (300MB+) and install of Vista Service Pack 2 left my cd/dvd drive undetectable by Windows Explorer, Nero, Roxio and other programs. Heck it wouldn't even appear in Device Manager. For all intents and purposes, the drive was gone.

I Googled and found two fixes from Microsoft. I did both but immediately after each try, nothing seemed to happen. I gave up, shut down and went to bed. When I booted up this morning ready to search for a new fix I did a quick check and, lo and behold, my cd/dvd drive was there in Windows Explorer and Device Manager. I burned a dvd using Nero and it's been fine ever since. Vista continues to mistify...

If you find yourself in the same boat, here are the fixes. Like I said, I don't know exactly which one of them actually did the trick.

1. Article ID: 314060 - Last Review: April 7, 2009 - Revision: 6.0 "Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs", and

2. CD or DVD drive cannot read or write media. [Fix It] MicrosoftAutomated Troubleshooting Services 1.0

No. 2 won't work on FireFox (surprise!) so be ready to dig up your IE.

First Impressions on the First Fallon

Some thoughts while watching Jimmy Fallon take over Late Night:

- A cold open with Conan. Gee, no one saw that coming.

- Conan used to keep an eye glued to the cue card and it was distracting as heck. Fallon glued two.

- A brisk monologue gets some laughs: "I hate when my dad gets drunk", MicroSoft store people freezing, better economy in Iraq.

- The Roots! Can a house band be any wickeder? How can you go wrong with a band whose members include a full-time percussionist, a drummer with a tall fro, an MC named Tariq and a token white guy. Questions come up though: How long will they last? Can they keep their edge while treading the mainstream? Can white people ever learn to clap to the reggae, or to any beat for that matter? Slow-jam the news - hope to see more of that.

- "Lick it for 10." Nice name for a segment. It uhm, rolls off the tongue. Nothing great. Drew my interest only because the last contestant from Union, New Jersey was most likely Pinoy.

- First Guest: Robert de Niro doing a sort of meta interview. Won't be bothered with questions but would gladly do impressions and tape a skit.

- Second Guest: Justin Timberlake shows us once again how his image gets in the way of his funny.

- The Killer Musical Guest: Van Morrison with a hundred-piece band doing Sweet Thing from Astral Weeks.

- Last impression: for all its claim to newness and innovation, this incarnation of the Late Show stubbornly sticks to some tired Tonight Show staples: guests-for-the-week announcements, the first guest sitting in with the second interview and looking like the most redundant thing in the planet while managing to up the awkward factor ten fold, and all the night's guests in a group hug onstage at the end even if there's a hundred-piece band in the way.

Best to wait for the dust to settle before making any verdict. In the meantime, let's enjoy the circus.

Letterman: Game On!

Dave's been in the news a lot lately.

Last week, Rod Blagojevich came over and Dave demonstrated how a killer talk show interview is done by quickly making minced meat of the guy.

Then the crew of Flight 1549 had some laughs with Dave and were given their well-deserved star wattage.

And just last night, Joaquin Phoenix joined a distinguished list of WTF?! guests (Crispin Glover, Farrah Fawcett) with his own brand of I-desperately-need-help guest appearance.

My latest favorite Dave news came out today: U2 will be Letterman's house band for the whole week of March 2 to 6.

Dave's way of saying "Sayonara Jay!"?

Because They Can

Finally, somebody's caught on with an idea I had watching my very first 3D movie, Snake in the Eagle's Shadow II.

Hong Kong to Produce 'World's First 3D Sex Movie'.

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