Month: August 2007

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Biting the Hand that Feeds You

Some stunning developments in the world of net delivered entertainment today. First came a salvo from NBC that said it was opting out of their contract to sell its television shows via the iTunes store starting this December. NBC reportedly wanted more control over content bundles as well a “flexible” pricing structure. No doubt bolstered by Universal’s recent decision to go month by month in their contract with the iTunes store, NBC attempted to gain the upper hand with Apple and publicly announce that Jobs & company weren’t playing fair. Apple’s insistence on simplicity and a single price meant the network would have to remove its programs from the largest online media store in the world.

It didn’t take long for Apple to fire back. The computer company issued a press release that in effect said NBC was insisting on raising prices by a whopping 250%, making episodes that were once $1.99, now $4.99. So rather than force consumers to pay almost $5 for anything from a 1/2 hour episode of The Office, to a full hour long drama like Heroes, Apple decided to not wait until December, but pull the “plug” now. I love this bit:

“Apple’s agreement with NBC ends in December. Since NBC would withdraw their shows in the middle of the television season, Apple has decided to not offer NBC TV shows for the upcoming television season beginning in September.”

So in other words, NBC’s not going to get shit. Apple won’t post any episodes from the upcoming season of such fan favorites as Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, The Office and 30 Rock. Never mind the fact that the iTunes single-handedly prevented NBC from canceling The Office in the first place, or that you can TiVo these shows for free now, or even that higher-quality versions of all of these shows are available hours (not days) after they are aired via bit torrent. No, NBC thinks it knows what’s best for their customers and it has demanded that Apple start charging more than double for something that just frankly, isn’t that good.

This move will do nothing to help NBC and everything to give Apple even more bargaining power with other content providers in the days ahead. I can’t wait to see NBC try to sell an episode of The Office for $4.99 on NBC.com or even via Amazon Unboxed. I’d sooner save my pennies and buy the DVDs for a fraction of the cost than pay over $100 for a low quality, DRM locked season of Heroes. Who wouldn’t?

Jeremy Horwitz of iLounge has written an open letter to NBC concerning their arrogant strategy. He hits the nail directly on the head, and I sincerely hope the suits at NBC read it and take it to heart. We’ll get our shows via DVR or torrent for free, piracy will increase, and NBC will lose millions in revenue because the peacock didn’t know when to shut up and smile. Sounds like a fair trade to me.

UPDATE: An interesting side note. NBC will be launching its own video website in October named Hulu. What’s Hulu you ask? Although just a fun, rhyming name to us, Hulu actually means “cease” and “desist” in Swahili. Speaks volumes about NBC and their level of competence in this entire affair.

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Google’s Cruising Greensboro

Twice this week, my friend Talos spotted a Google Car cruising the Greensboro streets. The first time was at the intersection of Wendover and Penny, and the second was further up Wendover near Spring Garden. Both times he managed to snap picts of the high-tech automobile thanks to his trusty iPhone. The gadget blog Gizmodo first reported on Google’s picture-snapping auto fleet some time ago. The company has been criss-crossing the nation to document street views of major cities for its online mapping site.

So if you’re driving in the Triad and spot a car with a strange looking periscope thing strapped to its roof, make sure you smile nice and pretty for the camera. You never know, you might be immortalized forever on the pages of the world’s most popular search engine. Remember, no road rage people!!

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Brawl in Bean-town the Bronx

If is any greater rivalry in the world of professional sports, I don’t know what it is. For as long as anyone living can remember, the battle between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees has been stuff of legend. This season is no different from any other and this August, the Bronx Bombers are making their usual bid at the championship. There is only one small problem, the Red Sox are 8 games up in the AL East and look to be on a roll.

Tonight marks the start of a decisive 3 game series that could make or break the Yankees chances this year. The Yanks enter the series from a disastrous road trip in which they took only 2 of 6 games. The Detroit Tigers and and Los Angeles Angels beat up on the Yanks to increase their 4 game deficit on the Sox back up to a full 8. Underestimating them of course, would be a mistake so I’m trying to keep my enthusiasm in check as we gear up for what could be the best 3 games of the season. Given the roll they’ve been on, I have no doubts that the Sox will take at least 2 of 3 from Jeter and gang. Because the Yanks will want to show the home town crowd they are anything but push-overs, I predict the Sox will lose the first game tonight, but will sweep the remaining two match ups handily. I’ll update this post, for good or bad, as we go.

There is a little friendly rivalry going on over at Dave Caolo’s blog. Dave’s bet a Yanks fan that the Sox will win 2 of the three and a blogger named Whit named just the reverse. The stake are quite funny, so head on over and check it out. No matter how the series turns out, fans in both camps are in for some great baseball over the next few nights. This is what we live for, so settle in, pop some corn and savor the moment. As long as Gagne doesn’t royally screw up, I have a feeling this is going to be GOOD.

UPDATE: Yanks win game 1 with a score of 5 to 3. So far my prediction is right on the money. Let’s hope it holds for tomorrow. There is a good chance with Clemens taking the mound with his 5-5 record vs Josh Beckett’s 16-5 season. Manny out with back strain, hopefully nothing serious.

UPDATE II: Well, I guess I won’t be quitting my day job to run a psychic hotline anytime soon. The Yanks play mediocre baseball, but the Sox play worse and lose the second game 3 to 4. Yanks move to 6 games back, Manny looks hurt enough that he won’t be playing tomorrow and I see that broom in the corner starring at me. Meanwhile, Dave Caolo is hating life right about now.

UPDATE III: Manny’s back must posses some awful omen demon power or something because the Sox just got swept by the Yanks. If you had asked me to put money down on this series, I would have bet that the Sox would take at least one, if not two. In that case, I’d be out some $$$. I’m not about to jump off a ledge or anything yet, but Francona better figure out just went wrong this week, or we’re in trouble.

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“Do As I Say…”

News today that GOP Senator Larry Craig was arrested back on June 11th at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for lewd conduct complaints. Talking Points Memo reports that on Aug. 8, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct. He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed. He also was given one year of probation with the court that began on Aug. 8. I love this bit:

“A very quick check of Craig’s record on gay issues turns up the fact that he voted in favor of an Idaho Constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, and also voted in favor of last year’s Federal Marriage Amendment doing the same thing. Though it should be noted that neither of those votes is directly at odds with engaging in lewd conduct in a public men’s rest room.”

I’m not sure which is worse… that we have yet another “family values” GOP hypocrite in our midst or that the Republican leadership hid the truth from the public (and his constituents) for over two full months. Either way, his behavior was bad enough for Mitt Romney to scrub all mention of Craig’s participation in his campaign from YouTube.

Anyone wanna take guesses about how long it will take Fox News to run a picture of him with a (D) next to his name instead of an (R)? I’m willing to bet you credits to navy beans it happens sometime tomorrow.

UPDATE: Fox News decided to go the subtle route and not display ANY indication of what party Craig belonged to in their miniscule coverage of the event. It’s quite clear that anyone who insists that Fox News is fair or balanced when it comes to how it treats liberals vs. conservatives is fooling themselves.

UPDATE II: Craig is history. Sens. Coleman and McCain have now called for Craig to resign. In addition, a new Idaho poll taken yesterday of 600 adults in the state says that 55% of those polled want Craig to go with just 34% saying he should stay in office.

UPDATE III: Republican Senator Larry Craig has resigned, effective Sept. 30th.

UPDATE IV: Looks like he spoke too soon. He’s now reversed his position and has decided to serve the remainder of his term, much to the dismay of the GOP leadership. Craig is the gift that just keeps on giving.

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China’s Choking

Interesting, if distressing story today from the New York Times about China and its rush toward industrialization. It seems that China’s pollution levels are reaching staggeringly bad proportions thanks to a heavy increase in coal fired power plants. China has lots of coal, maybe more than any other nation on Earth and they intend to use it. The problem of course, is that coal is dirty, both for the environment and human health. The increase in China’s pollution output has created an environmental disaster and has made cancer their leading cause of death. This bit is especially distressing:

“China’s problem has become the world’s problem. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides spewed by China’s coal-fired power plants fall as acid rain on Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo. Much of the particulate pollution over Los Angeles originates in China, according to the Journal of Geophysical Research.

More pressing still, China has entered the most robust stage of its industrial revolution, even as much of the outside world has become preoccupied with global warming.

Experts once thought China might overtake the United States as the world’s leading producer of greenhouse gases by 2010, possibly later. Now, the International Energy Agency has said China could become the emissions leader by the end of this year, and the Netherlands Environment Assessment Agency said China had already passed that level.”

Back in 2005, Al Gore touched on the challenges facing China and its increasing number of coal fired plants in his award winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. I’ve captured the segment dealing with China and posted it on YouTube as an interesting tangent to the NYT piece. It seems that China’s pollution problems have only grown worse since the movie was made which doesn’t bode well for China or the U.S.

Given the problems the United States has had dealing with greenhouse gasses and our lack of global responsibility in regard to the climate crisis, it seems unlikely that the Chinese will fare better any time soon. It most likely will be decades before the communist government there decides to do something about their nation’s contribution to global warming. Given the rate at which things are changing around the world, I don’t think any of us can afford to wait that long.

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Spock Don’t Know Jack

Just prior to the launch of the iPhone, I posted a quote from my favorite Vulcan, which seemed to portend the mindset of those who decided to partake in the gadgety goodness. Having owned my piece of the future for one month and ten days, I am here to tell you that when it comes to the iPhone, Spock, thankfully, don’t know jack.

My purchase of the iPhone has lived up to all of the advanced hype and then some. Sure some will say that I’m just a fan boy caught in the expansive reality distortion field radiating from my phone. But those who know me will tell you that despite my love for Apple, if I’m not satisfied with a purchase, I don’t have a problem saying so. Years ago I got the royal screw from my favorite fruit company when I bought the infamous Apple IIvx, which was supplanted just 4 months later by the Centris line of Macs. I’ve never let Apple off the hook for that one, even to this day.

Thankfully, the iPhone is light years away from my IIvx experience in every way imaginable. Here are just some of the ways the iPhone lives up to the hype:

• The User Interface – Once you hold it in your hand, touch the controls, scroll photos, and pinch a website larger or smaller, you’ll wonder why cell phones have never done this before. The user interface is quite possibly the best single thing about the iPhone. It’s elegant, snappy, clear & thoughtful.

• Mobile Safari – Sure it quits sometimes, but it more than makes up for this shortcoming by being the single best answer to the internet on mobile devices. Enlarging text, clarity of page renders and great bookmark management all add up to a real winner.

• YouTube In Your Pants – Being able to search and view YouTube videos at will, any place and any time is freakin’ fantastic. Once the entire catalog is converted to H264, I don’t think I’ll ever watch funny cat movies on my Wii ever again.

• All the Little Things – The use of Helvetica throughout the UI, the gorgeous hi-res screen, how easy it is to make a phone call, visual voice mail, and yes, even the battery life are all great on the iPhone. They all add up to an experience that makes me want to take it with me where ever I go. The same cannot be said of my old Sprint phone.

It can’t all be a love-fest can it? No, sadly there are a few things that are not as good as they could be. They include (in order) AT&T, a missing official SDK, AT&T, finger and ear prints, no games, and did I mention AT&T? It’s not surprising that the weakest part of the iPhone is the part out of Apple’s control, namely the spotty network coverage and poor customer service of AT&T. With the news today of multiple methods to unlock the iPhone from the shackles of you-know-who, I suspect there will be some very happy potential customers who will now take the plunge.

The first question people always ask when they spy me with my iPhone is “How do you like it?”. My answer is always the same – “It’s just fantastic, I love it!” It’s the first time in my life I think I’ve ever spoken ill of Mr. Spock. See what you’ve done to me Steve!

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Un-Friendly Avenue

Tonight after work I swung down Friendly Ave. to pick up dinner from P.F. Changs at the Friendly Center Shopping Plaza. The good news is the road work that has been going on for the better part of a year two years seems to be coming to a close. The bad news is the section of West Friendly from Westridge Road down to the Shops at Friendly Center is a classic example of civil planning gone horribly wrong.

Although the city technically widened Friendly by 2 full lanes, driving on it actually feels more cramped and crowded than it did before. This is because of the new median divider the size of the Neutral Zone that somehow made its way smack-dab into the middle of this once beautiful thoroughfare. Left turns can only be taken at certain points along the median, creating an almost one-way street effect that is anything but pleasant. God help the poor folks who live along this stretch of Friendly. Getting to and from their homes must now be a little slice of paved hell. If I was in their shoes, I’d be down at City Hall raising cain like there’s no tomorrow.

Sometimes I just don’t understand why cities decide to alter roads, change traffic flows and generally screw things up for us little people. If Friendly had simply had one lane added to either side, and left the center turn lane alone, the new construction would have been quite welcome. Instead we have confusion and bottlenecking. I was looking forward to the completion of Painter Blvd., but now I’m not so sure.

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HOL•E Cow!

The website of buynlarge.com seems like just another online marketing space dedicated to touting the wares of yet another global conglomerate. The site offers news about the latest and greatest coming out of their R&D labs, mission statements and core company values. A seemingly endless number of divisions including robotics, engineering, government, energy and even aerospace all are pumping out impressive contributions to improving our daily lives. There’s only one catch… none of it is real.

In fact, Buy n Large is just one of the latest installments in the relatively new field of viral marketing. The site is the fictitious home page of the central character’s creator in Disney’s upcoming animated feature WALL•E. Due to hit theaters in June of 2008, the film is purported to be the last of the “original ideas” brainstormed by PIXAR’s John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter & the late Joe Ranft. Given the incredible track record of animated features that the Disney/PIXAR partnership has produced, WALL•E looks to be the team’s latest computer generated masterpiece.

The amount of effort and attention to detail that can be seen in the Buy n Large website, a destination that is pure fiction from start to finish, should come as no surprise for fans both young and old. These artists relish the opportunity to hone their craft and weave entire universes in which their characters can romp and play. The site is filled with in-jokes, flies in the face of corporate America and gives WALL•E an instant, credible backstory. BnL press releases tell how the “company” managed to ship over 5 million video game consoles in its first week of launch and touts its system of 10,000 weather control satellites, all with a straight face. BnL even manages to poke gentle fun at Disney and PIXAR themselves by announcing “Pix-Vue Animation Studio’s next film would be based on a lovable duck that can walk through time.” Classic.

I’ve always admired the talented folks at PIXAR and the wonderful creations they’ve shared with us. Browsing through the seemingly endless pages at buynlarge.com, I’m reminded of why. This skilled group of artists, designers, animators and producers love every aspect of their job. From bringing 3D characters to life, right down to creating a phony website to promote their film, they see every aspect as part of a whole. As John Lasseter has said on many occasions, PIXAR’s primary purpose is to tell stories. Stories that the audience will relate to, recount and treasure for years to come. Spending some quality time surfing BnL’s website reveals WALL•E to be a fun adventure filled with wit and irony for kids of all ages. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go browse their corporate store for a new garden bot. Oh, right. Damn!

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Still “Unbeatable”?

According to Salon, it turns out that when Rudy Giuliani said he spent as much, if not more time at ground zero than the rescue workers, what he really meant was he spent more time at Yankees games. I know what you’re thinking, it’s easy to get the two locations confused, but somehow Giuliani did. Reports Salon:

“By our count, Giuliani spent about 58 hours at Yankees games or flying to them in the 40 days between Sept. 25 and Nov. 4, roughly twice as long as he spent at ground zero in the 90 days between Sept. 17 and Dec. 16. By his own standard, Giuliani was one of the Yankees more than he was one of the rescue workers.”

It’s amazing how this inept excuse for a leader keeps inserting his foot squarely in his mouth, but there it is, once again. It probably doesn’t matter what he says however, since as I’ve written previously, some people think Giuliani and to a “lesser extent” Fred Thompson are “unbeatable”. Uh huh.

UPDATE: Not to be outdone by Rudy’s penchant for jack-assery, it seems that Freddo has seemingly violated FEC election laws by raising more money for his non-campaign that most of the other GOP front runners. At this rate, Frudy should be able to get a bead on his true electability VERY soon.

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Et tu, iMovie?

Having worked in the design industry for over a decade, I’ve often been called on to dabble in various forms of media. Print and packaging design, multimedia presentations, website and icon design (of course) and every now and then, digital video editing. With Apple’s recent announcement of iLife ’08, I was excited to check out the latest updates to both iPhoto and iMovie. iPhoto’s new features and reorganized user interface are a marked improvement from previous versions. Sadly however, iMovie, as David Pogue recently noted, has taken a big step backward.

I was skeptical of Pogue’s critical points in his review until I tried the program out for myself. Almost instantly I could tell that the new skimming feature was going to be more trouble than it was worth. Because it’s initiated simply by rolling the mouse over a clip, you find yourself accidently skimming video you never intended to view. In addition, iMovie 8 has removed almost all control over audio, and the familiar time line for editing clips has bowed out. I grew overwhelmingly frustrated, especially since I had come from iMovie 4, and was expecting, perhaps a bit too much. After wrestling with the program for over 2 hours, I gave up and turned to a copy of Final Cut Pro HD that I installed long ago, but never learned to use.

In a matter of hours I was able to edit a short sequence exactly the way I wanted. This isn’t surprising since Final Cut Pro, as the name suggests, is the tool of choice for professional video editors. As I became familiar with the application, I managed to put together a short promotional video for Pixadex as a test. I’m pleased with how it turned out and will use it as the basis for a series of short video tutorials for IconBuilder over at the Iconfactory.

In retrospect, I definitely think Apple decided to dumb down the new version of iMovie to give Final Cut Pro some breathing room. Like The Talk Show’s Dan Benjamin, I’m a firm believer that the program was becoming too powerful and was being used for projects that went beyond “home movies” of people’s kids. Even Pogue admits that he used iMovie for all of his NYT video reviews, something that sounds like it should have been done with a professional editing solution. Unfortunately, with the price of FCP being so prohibitive, average users can only hope that Apple will decide to put back some of the missing features from version 6 in the months ahead. Perhaps sensing people’s dissatisfaction with iMovie 8, Apple decided to make version 6 freely available. Kudos to them for doing it, but in the meantime, I’ll be rediscovering the joy of video editing. My only regret is that it’ll be thanks to Final Cut Pro instead of Apple’s humble iMovie.

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Eric Gagne Must GO!

I don’t know the Red Sox’s new relief pitcher two ways from Sunday. I’m not familar with him, how many Cy Young awards he has purported to have won, or even how much money the Red Sox managed to scrounge together to get him. All I do know is that this walking beard with safety glasses has cost the Sox 3 very crucial games in August. Games in which the Red Sox were ahead, but lost after he showed up.

My parents and I watched as he blew two games to the Orioles last week. It’s no wonder then that a fellow Sox fan I met at the Philly airport called him “Eric Gagme”. Now being part of the Red Sox Nation, I’m very familiar with defeat. If there is one thing we know, it’s how to take it on the chin, so I feel a bit hardened against the train wrecks this man has caused over the past two weeks. Despite this, tonight’s loss at the hands of the Angels was nothing less than a disaster. The Red Sox rallied back in the 8th to take the lead thanks to Big Poppy and Manny finally firing together like days of old. Then Gagme comes in and makes a royal mess of the entire situation. Him, combined with some of the worst calls from a home plate ump New England’s ever seen, conspired to hand the Sox a loss just when the Yanks seem to be coming out of their losing streak.

So from this NC Sox fan, I’d just like to sincerely suggest to Mr. Francona that you get back all the money you spent on this scruffy looking Nerf herder, and figure out a way to clone Papelbon before it’s too late.

Women & Children First!

While on my trip, I found out via Twitter, that Bush’s Brain, aka Karl Rove, had resigned from the floundering administration. While I would much rather have seen him forced out, his departure is none-the-less a thing of beauty. Think Progress has put together a list of many of the major players who have either been “downsized” or “opted out” from what many call the worst Presidency in United States history:

– White House Senior Political Adviser Karl Rove
– White House Counselor Dan Bartlett
– White House Budget Director Rob Portman
– White House Counsel Harriet Miers
– White House Political Director Sara Taylor
– White House Director of Strategic Initiatives Pete Wehner
– White House Deputy National Security Adviser J.D. Crouch
– Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty
– Acting Associate Attorney General William Mercer
– Justice Department White House liaison Monica Goodling
– Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
– Army Secretary Francis Harvey
– Joint Chief of Staffs Chairman Peter Pace
– Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson
– U.N. Ambassador John Bolton
– USAID Director Randall Tobias

Just as a reminder, it is still a full year and a half before W’s term is up. I guess the grass really must be greener. Pretty soon it’ll be just King George and Barney ruling over his disgruntled subjects. Who needs lackeys anyway?

iRan All Day

One half of my master plan was complete. I had successfully talked myself (and my wife) into purchasing an iPhone for my upcoming trip home to New Hampshire. I was able to justify the plunking of serious cash due to the fact that I was about to spend long hours stuck in limbo thanks to today’s modern aviation system. The iPhone would allow me to stay connected at my parent’s house, a place where computers are alien and the Internet might as well be just a new fangled way to catch dinner.

In the weeks leading up to my trip, I ripped all of my Futurama DVDs and placed some 30+ of my favorite episodes onto the iPhone, along with several unwatched movies, five episodes of Star Trek: DS9, three great Christopher Walken SNL skits, and of course, The Legend of Boggy Creek. These video treats, along with some 3 Gb of music, podcasts and photos were sure to make the twilight zone of Reagan National all but a faint memory. There was only one problem… would my beloved iPhone’s battery be up to the challenge? Since the product’s launch I’d been hearing all of the FUD coming from Crackberrys and so called “experts” that the iPhone’s battery just didn’t cut the mustard. I packed my mini-charger just in case all of the doom and gloom came to pass.

I am delighted to disappoint anyone who carries 2 or 3 extra battery packs by saying that my iPhone lasted ALL DAY both traveling to and from New Hampshire. Oh, I know what you’re thinking, I only checked email a couple of times, or maybe surfed for 20 minutes or so. Wrong! The trip from Greensboro to Laconia involved only one stop in Washington DC, and the lay overs were relatively short, so I wasn’t surprised when my battery was still going strong after setting down my suitcase. But the voyage back to Greensboro from NH was a little slice of hell that lasted from 7am until 9pm, with the iPhone down to 10% when I kissed my wife in our kitchen that night.

On that long journey, I sent tweets via Mobile Twitter all day long. I had a 30 minute iChat with people at work via BeeJive. I watched four episodes of Futurama on the various plane flights. Listened to a complete podcast episode of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me (45 minutes), made 5 phone calls, checked email about every 2 hours and surfed to dozens of web sites. Just before touching down in Greensboro, my iPhone warned me it had reached the 20% battery level. Once we landed, I checked voice mail, made a final call to Mindy, and knew that the iPhone had passed with flying colors.

Craig reports similar battery performance with his iPhone on his recent trip to the C4[1] conference, so I know I’m not alone. At one point while I was sitting having dinner in Philly’s airport, the waiter asked me how I liked my iPhone. He had been thinking of purchasing one himself, but had heard reports of poor battery life. I spent a few minutes giving him the lowdown with my experiences and he seemed quite pleased that the things he had heard were untrue. I’m pretty sure I made a sale while I was eating my over-priced, airport fajitas, and so I’m here to spread the truth to anyone willing to listen. Although factors like continuous wi-fi and bluetooth can put a hurt on run time, in general, the iPhone’s battery does quite well, thank you very much. Go tell it on the mountain.

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Going Home Again

The more things change, the more they stay the same. All the familiar sights, sounds and smells of home jumped out to greet me as I got out of my parent’s car and stood in the driveway of my childhood home. “She’ll be 100 years old in just a few years.” dad said as he helped mom out of the car. My grandfather had build our home back in 1917 for the huge sum of $2,000 with help from his family. Complete with a granite walled basement (that floods most every spring), and an old fashion pass-through from the kitchen to what used to be the dining room, my parents have done a remarkable job of keeping the house up, despite being in their late seventies. “I’m home again.” I thought to myself as I settled in for a week of relaxation, visiting relatives and exploring old haunts.

Growing up in the small New England town of Laconia, NH meant beautiful foliage in the fall, endless hours of sledding in the winter and beaches packed with tourists in the summer. Nestled along sprawling Lake Winnipesaukee, Laconia and her surrounding townships, are a classic destination for anyone looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of modern life. Vacationers from Massachusetts to California all come to enjoy good food, the White Mountains and crystal clear lakes. One of the favorite local eateries is the Tamarack Restaurant. Located on Route 3 in Weirs Beach, the drive-up style diner proudly serves its 100% fresh lobster roll each summer, that some say, is the best in the entire lakes region. Lobster roll, YUM!

Despite all of this, it is a truism that kids seldom appreciate the place where they grew up. Looking back now, I’m a little ashamed to say that I didn’t fully treasure my home and all it had to offer. I think I can chalk this up to simply being a kid who was too wrapped up in school work or playing in the brook to realize what was happening all around me. Visiting my parents this past week brought to mind everything they gave me while I was growing up – a safe place to play and learn, friendly neighbors who looked out for each other and the love and support of our huge family. When I was a kid, it always seemed like my dad would point to someone and say “See him/her? That’s your cousin.” So although I was an only child, I always had plenty of help getting into trouble. One of my notorious side-kicks was my cousin Judy. You always remember the good times it seems, and my memories of her and the rest of the Maheux/Groleau clan bring smiles to my face. Judy has a family of her own now, a loving husband and two sons and I couldn’t be happier for her. Visiting with her reminded me that I have to do a better job of staying in touch.

Things have changed around Laconia now, but thankfully not much. Some businesses have closed, but others have sprung up in their place. Sacred Heart Parish where my family attends mass is alive and well, the beaches are still crowded and the drive-in movie theater at the Weirs manages a double feature every night in the summer. Kids still pump quarters into the video and skee ball games at Funspot (more on this later), older streets are still a wreck from nasty frost heaves, and children still come home to visit their folks from time to time. Some of those children sit and enjoy a Red Sox game with their parents and quietly think to themselves how lucky they’ve been. Lucky to have been raised in a place so wonderful, by people so generous and loving. Thomas Wolfe once said “You can’t go home again.” Thanks to my trip this past week, I know now that nothing could be further from the truth. May we all be so blessed.

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So Much for That

Word comes today that Fox has cancelled the afore mentioned right-wing “answer” to The Daily Show – The Half Hour News Hour created by 24’s Joel Surnow. The pilot episode of this televised train wreck featured Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter as President and Vice President respectively.

The show was critically panned from the start, unfunny and always contrived. What Surnow and Roger Ailes never seemed to learn is that The Daily Show isn’t successful because it makes fun of Bush and company, but because it mirrors truth. Stewart, Colbert and company went after Clinton and other left leaning figures just as vigorously as they do the GOP today. People in power will always be legitimate targets of satire and no amount of canned laughter or pandering to demographics can make something that is forced and awkward suddenly seem hilarious.

Here endeth the lesson.

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“24″ Goes Green

Here is a bit of news from the Washington Post that is sure to bristle the spines of climate change critics everywhere. As part of Fox’s company wide Cool Change directive, spokesman Chris Anderson says that the entire production of their hit show, 24, is going green. The Post reports that when production starts on season 7 this month, both vehicles and generators will run on a more “planet-friendly” biodiesel blend of fuel which will start at 5% and gradually increase as filming continues. In addition, the show’s electricity bill will be spent toward renewable-energy credits that will bring shares of wind, solar and water power to the power grid of Los Angeles.

As the face of 24, actor and producer, Kiefer Sutherland stars in a short video on Fox’s website that talks about the production’s initiative as well as tips that people at home can take to heart to help fight climate change. More web installments are planned once the show begins airing in January, and the concept of climate change is even said to be being worked into this season’s plot lines (don’t laugh, anything is better than last season). Sutherland has high hopes that by making 24’s production carbon neutral, they will lead by example and demonstrate that the problem of global warming is solvable.

Perhaps the most positive thing to come out of this development isn’t that 24 will be using less fossil fuels or even that it will spread the word about the genuine danger of climate change. No, the real news here is that a show with such deep conservative roots, on a partisan network like Fox, is taking a position on an issue that is in direct opposition to main stream right-thinking. The show’s co-creator and executive producer, Joel Surnow is an unabashed “right-wing nutjob“. Recently he helped to create Fox’s answer to The Daily Show, the 1/2 Hour News Hour and has taken flack for 24’s casual treatment of torture and abuse of civil liberties. Indeed, 24 has even been used by some GOP candidates as a talking point to illustrate how America should deal with terrorists.

So when a staunch conservative like Surnow can set aside his partisan beliefs and see climate change for what it is – a global issue that threatens all of us, I feel hope. We must look beyond party loyalties, face scientific facts and get to work. The Cool Change initiative at Fox, and 24’s efforts specifically, speak to a mind set that is spreading. Unfortunately, as is often the case on 24, the clock is ticking. Now is the time when we, not Jack Bauer, swing into action and make a difference. Let’s just hope we’re in time.

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Webb > Congdon

Yesterday marked the launch of Internet maven and G4 host, Morgan Webb’s new video blog, aptly named WebbAlert. Webb intends the show to be a short 5 minute breakdown of the Internet’s top stories of the day, parceled in bite size chunks that are both informative and geek-worthy. The format was popularized a few years back by Amanda Congdon on one of the web’s original video blogs, Rocketboom. Congdon recently left Rocketboom in a minor broo-ha-ha with her producer. After a short stint of dancing across the country, she settled into a new video blogging job with ABC. The difference between these two ladies of the net however, is quite striking. Webb has talent, street cred and a genuine interest in geek culture. Congdon on the other hand has smugness, a penchant for seeming annoyed while reporting, and of course, her boobs.

Ask anyone who watched Rocketboom in the early days and they’ll tell you the only reason why the show became successful, and Congdon gained mild Internet popularity, was because of her seemingly endless wardrobe of tight t-shirts, blouses and sweaters that she paraded in front of the camera on almost every single episode. Now, I’m all for using one’s God given talents, but thanks in part to these blatant attempts at sex appeal, IMHO Congdon jumped her shark years ago. I thought that when she moved to ABC she might actually pay her audience some respect and let us watch the news instead of her chest, but it didn’t happen.

Of course I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t mention that Webb has done her share of, shall we say, “self promotion”. She’s starred in spreads for Maxim magazine and has spawned thousands of geek-based crushes all across the Internet with nothing more than a wink and a few PSP cheat codes. The difference between Webb and Congdon however, is that when Webb is doing her job of video blogging, or hosting G4’s X-Play, she’s actually reporting without pandering. She knows her shit and could take down a hard core gamer any day of the week. Congdon can barely string two sentences together without batting her eyes at the camera like some lost puppy pleading for attention. Webb also knows that smart and informative ultimately wins the day. Her video blog is short on cleavage and long on personality, immediacy and wit.

Webb may stroll into the red light district late at night, but she’s figured out that it’s her day job that pays the bills and gives her credibility. Very rarely do the two worlds meet. So while Morgan Webb walks a fine line to win the hearts and minds of geeks everywhere, Amanda Congdon gets ready to board her rocket powered sled and make the weekly jump over Buxom Canyon. I just wonder when she’ll stop crashing and burning.

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Freaky-deeky

Mindy turned me onto this cool page of mutant, animal Photoshop mash-ups. Sometimes these things can be overblown and just plain cheeky, but I have to say the folks behind these elaborate and fictional beasts did a pretty good job. My favorite has to be the Griffindog with the Batguincat coming in a close second. He kind of reminds me of Batboy, may he rest in peace. Forget lame attempts at merging Yoda and Mr. T, and give me more of this kind of stuff. God, I love the Internet.

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“Welcome BACK to the world of tomorrow!”

For those of you who are not die-hard Futurama fans, this may come as news to you, and for the rest of us, it’s just another chance to dwell on one of our favorite animated shows of all time. Ever since Fox cancelled Futurama back in 2003, I’ve held out hope that fans would petition to bring the show back. We learned a little over a year ago that Matt Groening and David X. Cohen had somehow managed to wrangle all of the writers, animators and voice talent for the show back together for a limited stint of 4 direct to DVD movies. Come this November, Comedy Central will split the movies into half hour episodes and air them far away from those numb-nuts at Fox.

This past week at ComicCon 2007, fans got a sneak peek at a trailer for the new 5th season, and even though the quality is low, it’s got my sci-fi juices flowing. A hat tip to Cabel for turning me onto it, I really hope a high-quality version makes the rounds soon. You can head on over to YouTube to check it out along with a new promotional spot that Comedy Central is airing starring a 3D Bender.

Thanks to the Futurama forums I frequent, yours truly has been planning a 5th volume of freeware icons to mark the upcoming release, along with some really fun desktop pictures. I’ve received a great deal of positive feedback on my Futurama sets over the years, and so it’s been a pleasure to revisit New New York again. The upcoming season is sure to provide both original characters and fan favorites to iconize, so rest assured I’m on the case. Between Futurama and the Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, November should be a great month for movie watching. Stay tuned!

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Imagine That

Fast on the heels of reports that electronic voting machines in California are about as secure as Britney’s financial future, comes this unsurprising bit from the Buckeye state:

“In 56 of Ohio’s 88 counties, ballots and election records from 2004 have been “accidentally” destroyed, despite a federal order to preserve them — it was crucial evidence which would have revealed whether the election was stolen.”

Call me paranoid but election records just don’t go missing without someone ordering it. Anyone in a position to order the destruction of records in 56 counties is in the position to know better. Heads should roll for this, but of course, they probably won’t.