Meet & Greet & Have Fun at the Annual Giz Wiz Meet-Up.

The Meet-Up is TODAY, Sunday, October 19th, so no need to send an email if you decide you want to join us. Just show up. All the details are below. We'll be in the big white tent at the Boat Basin Cafe.

Coming to the 2014 meet-up? It's October 19, 2014. Boat Basin Cafe, same great location as the photos below! 2 to 4 PM, rain or shine. We play games, they'll be fun and prizes too.

If you're planning on attending, can you shoot me an email, please. Just put MEET-UP in the subject line if you attending alone, and +1, +2, etc., if you're coming with others. It's to get an idea of how much space we'll need at the Boat Basin Cafe. 

Food is reasonable there, so you can come early for lunch. More info and menu: www.boatbasincafe.com

Thanks to Joe Bolanos for the photos from the 2013 meet-up!

I never realized how many folks sport mustaches!

Playing "What's The Price" for Prizes.

Ol' Geek Kisses Myra's Hand - (the stone from her ring

was suddenly missing.)

Dick De & Dennis W arrange one of the tables with prizes to be won. (Myra Joyce took this pic.)

Charlie looks surprised, but it's his 1st Meet-Up.

(He thought it was a meat-up. Sorry Charlie, no

doggie treats!)

It's today! Join us for the 4rd Annual Giz Wiz Meet-Up in NYC on Sunday, October 20th, 2013!

I'm hoping for a bigger turn-out than this!!It's the 4th Annual Giz Wiz Meet-Up at the Boat Basin Cafe. 

Sunday, October 20th, 2013. 

 2 to 4 PM, rain or shine.

Boat Basin Cafe Info:

The Boat Basin Cafe is right on the Hudson River at West 79th Street, just two and a half blocks from the subway stop at 79th Street & Broadway. The 104 bus stops on the corner of Broadway & 79th Street too. And the #5 bus stops on the corner of 79th Street & Riverside Drive, just half a block away! It's so convenient to get to.This is the patio right above the marina.

Since it's today, there's no need to email me. You can just show up! So we can plan, please let us know if you can attend and how many people in your party. (Appox.) Even if it's just you, please join us too! Drop an email to dick@gizwiz.biz. Just put MEET UP in the subject line so it's easy to pick out. Bringing guests? Just put MEET UP + 1, 2, or whatever number you think you're bringing. Thanks! If that number changes, don't worry about. We just need an approximate number so John, the manager of the Boat Basic Cafe can figure out which area to block off for us.

Hope to see you there!

Dick De, The Giz Wiz.  I'll be there! Will you?

Come early and have brunch, or after the meet-up, stay and enjoy a late lunch/early dinner. Or buy a drink at the bar & bring it back to the meet-up area.

Menus and prices are here: www.boatbasincafe.com  (Prices are reasonable, especially for a trendy place in a location like this!) 

Like last year we'll play Match Game, The Price Is Right, etc. and they'll be gadget prizes, MAD prizes, etc. 

Myra, Dr. Mom, Beckee & Joe B from the chatroom will be there. Dennis too. And I'll be here! I mean, I'll be there!

Thanks all. This will be fun once again!  (Dress code: Some sort of clothing would be good.)

Dick De, The Giz Wiz and MAD's Maddest Writer.

It's happened! I got to cohost a night of movies satires with the amazing Robert Osborne.

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It was night I'll never forget. Co-hosting with the man who knows just about everything about movies, Robert Osborne. My Turner Classic Movie night was Wednesday, October 9th. We talked about and showed four great satirical movies. The evening started at 8 PM EDT (5 PM, West Coast Time) and ended about 2:30AM EDT / 11:30 PDT.

It took a few years to happen, but I finally got to sit in one those plush red leather chairs with one of my long-time idols, Robert Osborne.

'

Seems someone has uploaded the intros and the outtros to each film on YouTube here, but I don't know for how long they'll be there: http://tinyurl.com/TCM-DickDe

.

Here's the schedule and the movies we showed.

8:00 PM EDT/ 5:00 PM PDT
Love And Death (1975)
A devout coward vows to assassinate Napoleon in the name of love.
Dir: Woody Allen Cast:  Woody Allen , Diane Keaton , Georges Adet .

9:30 PM EDT / 6:30 PDT
Murder by Death (1976)
A criminal madman invites the world's greatest detectives for a night of dinner and murder. Dir: Robert Moore Cast: Peter Falk, Truman Capote, Alec Guinness, Maggie Smith, Nancy Walker, David Niven, many other film greats.

11:15 PM EDT / 8:15 PDT
Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969)
A cowboy drifts into a lawless town and brings things back together.
Dir: Burt Kennedy Cast:  James Garner , Joan Hackett , Walter Brennan .

1:00 AM EDT / 10 PM PDT
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
A filmmaker documents the history of Spinal Tap, the world's loudest rock band.
Dir: Rob Reiner Cast:  Harry Shearer , Christopher Guest , Michael McKean and more funny folks.

.

Before each movie, I got to explain why I liked that particular satire. All these movies are satires, as opposed to just comedies. In doing some research for this appearance I found an interesting fact (I'm assuming it's a fact) posted by a die-hard MAD fan. It seems of all the Usual Gang of Idiots, I've written the most movie satires. That's 145 of them, or 31.87% of all the published MAD movie satires.
Even though all the movie satires I picked are in color, I thought a black & white picture w/Robert fit in with my (and our) love of old B&W movies. (Photo at very top of this page.)  Hope you were able to join us that night. I did get quite a few emails during the movies and into the next day. It was great to hear from many folks from the past, (one I haven't heard from in 30 years!) who tuned in and found me sitting in one of the famous red leather chairs.

A View To Shill

Headed to New York City for Comic-Con? On Saturday, October 12th get there extra early, because the sure-to-be-packed "Mad About MAD" panel runs from 11am to 12pm in Room 1A14! Join Editor John Ficarra, Art Director Sam Viviano, Associate Art Director Ryan Flanders, writers Dick DeBartolo and Desmond Devlin, and Spy vs. Spy cartoonist Peter Kuper for a ridiculous peek at what’s happening at the magazine, an exclusive first-look at their new book, Inside MAD, and an epically moronic Q&A that’s bound to be, well, MAD! (Prizes will be awarded for most moronic questions!)

Headed to New York City for Comic-Con this weekend? You better get there extra early on Saturday, because the sure-to-be-packed "Mad About MAD" panel runs from 11am to 12pm in Room 1A14! Join Editor John Ficarra, Art Director Sam Viviano, Associate Art Director Ryan Flanders, writers Dick DeBartolo and Desmond Devlin, and Spy vs. Spy cartoonist Peter Kuper for a ridiculous peek at what’s happening at the magazine, an exclusive first-look at their new book, Inside MAD, and an epically moronic Q&A that’s bound to be, well, MAD! (Prizes will be awarded for most moronic questions!) - See more at: http://www.madmagazine.com/blog/2013/10/09/mad-at-new-york-comic-con#sthash.rTEnUSm3.dpuf

Headed to New York City for Comic-Con this weekend? You better get there extra early on Saturday, because the sure-to-be-packed "Mad About MAD" panel runs from 11am to 12pm in Room 1A14! Join Editor John Ficarra, Art Director Sam Viviano, Associate Art Director Ryan Flanders, writers Dick DeBartolo and Desmond Devlin, and Spy vs. Spy cartoonist Peter Kuper for a ridiculous peek at what’s happening at the magazine, an exclusive first-look at their new book, Inside MAD, and an epically moronic Q&A that’s bound to be, well, MAD! (Prizes will be awarded for most moronic questions!) - See more at: http://www.madmagazine.com/blog/2013/10/09/mad-at-new-york-comic-con#sthash.rTEnUSm3.dpuf

Headed to New York City for Comic-Con this weekend? You better get there extra early on Saturday, because the sure-to-be-packed "Mad About MAD" panel runs from 11am to 12pm in Room 1A14! Join Editor John Ficarra, Art Director Sam Viviano, Associate Art Director Ryan Flanders, writers Dick DeBartolo and Desmond Devlin, and Spy vs. Spy cartoonist Peter Kuper for a ridiculous peek at what’s happening at the magazine, an exclusive first-look at their new book, Inside MAD, and an epically moronic Q&A that’s bound to be, well, MAD! (Prizes will be awarded for most moronic questions!) - See more at: http://www.madmagazine.com/blog/2013/10/09/mad-at-new-york-comic-con#sthash.rTEnUSm3.dpuf

Headed to New York City for Comic-Con this weekend? You better get there extra early on Saturday, because the sure-to-be-packed "Mad About MAD" panel runs from 11am to 12pm in Room 1A14! Join Editor John Ficarra, Art Director Sam Viviano, Associate Art Director Ryan Flanders, writers Dick DeBartolo and Desmond Devlin, and Spy vs. Spy cartoonist Peter Kuper for a ridiculous peek at what’s happening at the magazine, an exclusive first-look at their new book, Inside MAD, and an epically moronic Q&A that’s bound to be, well, MAD! (Prizes will be awarded for most moronic questions!) - See more at: http://www.madmagazine.com/blog/2013/10/09/mad-at-new-york-comic-con#sthash.rTEnUSm3.dpuf

Here's a battery charger/analyzer with a LOT of bells & whistles.

A while back I reported on the Brando USB Hub for OTG Smart Phone. It's neat device that lets you add USB ports to Smart Phones that feature On The Go technolgy. It acts as a stand for your phone too, and it only cost $10! More info on that device is here:

http://gizwizbiz.squarespace.com/?SSLogoutOk=true&currentPage=6

Now there's something else new from Brando. The SkyRC NC2500 AA/AAA Battery Charger & Analyzer. It's Bluetooth enabled and billed as the World's Most Advanced AAA/AA Battery Charger and I don't disagree with that. Here's more info from the company website: The SkyRC NC2500 AAAAA Battery Charger & Analyzer is more than just a battery charger which can perform a number of different functions. If you are interested in getting optimum power, turbo fast charging (up to 2,500mA Charge Current) and the most battery life possible, this is an excellent choice for you. The charger has 4 compartments for AA batteries and 4 compartments for AAA batteries and it is able to charge both AA and AAA batteries simultaneously. Due to the different capacity, you could set the charge rate accordingly or set all at once. With charging, discharging, refresh & analyze, break-in and cycle functions as well as individual LCD displays for charging status; this charging unit is reliable, user-friendly and ideal for use in the home, office or on a trip. Depending on different battery condition, there are 5 modes of operation.
    CHARGE - Charge the battery at the selected rate. Suitable for batteries used frequently.
    DISCHARGE - Discharges the batteries at the selected rate.
    REFRESH ANALYZE - Suitable for batteries stored for more the 2 weeks but less than 3 months or the batteries showing poor performance. This mode can also determine the battery capacity for battery matching.
    BREAK-IN - Battery forming is charge-discharge-charge cycle which forces a full charge into the new batteries and those stored for more than 3 months at a very low rate to actives the batteries.
    CYCLE - Performs charge-discharge cycle for up to 12 times. Cycle mode an remove memory effect of rechargeable batteries.
Your charger gets its own APP. Your could control this smart charger by your smart phone via Bluetooth. More touch, easy control. Operating this charger on your smart phone with your fingers, you will have best using experience and inter-activity. What's more, you could get more functions (optional Delta Peak Value and Discharge Termination Voltage) and information (battery temp, internal resistance and voltage graphic) in Smart Phone Control Mode. And now back to me! Pretty amazing, no? Based on the USB hub costing just $10, I took a guess of $49.99 for this device. Boy what I wrong. It's more than twice that at $105.00. If you must still have it, more info is here:

http://usb.brando.com/skyrc-nc2500-aa-aaa-battery-charger-analyzer_p03309c069d015.html