Best Show on Television

I'm pretty sure I did a post with this title already, and I was then talking about The Wire on HBO. Well, this time I'm obviously talking about Heroes on NBC. Last night's episode was just great TV. Hard to believe an episode which had only a little Hiro (literally) could be so good, but it was. Nice to see them use flashbacks so well. It was great to see so much background information. It's hard to believe they packed all that into only 42 minutes or whatever. Also, it was great to learn that the George Takei appearance earlier was not just a cheap stunt casting trick, and instead is part of something which obviously goes a lot deeper with Hiro's dad. About the only complaint I have about the episode is that Eric Roberts looks like someone ran over his face with a large truck, and his hair looked like there was a dead animal on top of his head. I can't wait to see how they handle Mr. Bennett after his memory has been erased. He may be leading the charge looking for Claire even though he was the one who made her disappear. Anyway, if you're not watching Heroes, you should really start.


Also, The Black Donnelly's which premiered after wasn't bad either.

'Unlucky' airline logo grounded

Wow, people are fucking stupid. Ok, so I realize that some people are unnecessarily superstitous, but who the hell even noticed in the first place that this logo had 13 dots? Who goes around counting things like this? Did they have to rip the seats out of row 13 also? So many questions. And I guess I realize that an airline can't just tell their customers to fuck off, but this would be a case where I'd really like to have seen that response.

Filet-O-Fish hooked patrons

I came across this somewhat interesting article on the origin of the Filet-o-Fish sandwich. But all I could think while reading it, was "why on Earth would anyone eat that thing?" A question which was even more perplexing after seeing the original poster for it in the article. It looks like the guy blew his nose on it. Disgusting. I guess the article offers a little of an explanation about Catholics who don't eat meat on Fridays, but fuck, why wouldn't you just rather starve? That Hula Burger that Ray Kroc apparently came up with sounds really lame, but I can't imagine it wasn't better than this disgusting creation. Does McDonald's still even sell these things? If so, why?

Kansas embraces evolution

It's good to see that Kansas has rejoined the modern era once more, for a while at least. Maybe next time, if they do decide to reject the scientific method, they'll reject it altogether. This could open up a whole world of possibilities - students could learn "alternate" theories about astronomy(the Earth is flat, really), geology (those rocks are only a few thousand years old) and even human biology(can you prove the stork isn't real?).

One quote in the article was puzzling -

But many Kansans still harbor religious objections and other misgivings about the British naturalist's theories. The Intelligent Design Network presented petitions with almost 4,000 signatures opposing the standards the board eventually adopted.

John Calvert, a retired attorney who helped found the group, accused the board of promoting atheism. And Greg Lassey, a retired Wichita-area biology teacher, said the new standards undermine families by "discrediting parents who reject materialism and the ethics and morals it fosters."

How exactly is reinstating teaching according to science "discrediting parents who reject materialism"? Are these people so far gone that they think evolution = atheist libertinism? What does evolution have to do with "ethics and morals"? Clearly, Lassey here has created a chain of thought - teaching evoltuion means rejecting God, rejecting God means rejecting morality, because without God there is no morality. Not very scientific for a retired biology teacher. And it certainly puts the lie to the idea that "Intelligent Design" isn't a way to sneak religion into the schools, that it's just another valid way to look at the evidence. If that were truly the case, how could teaching evolution lead in any way to talk of ethics and morals?

Product Placement

I constantly hear people whining about product placement in movies and TV, but it's never bothered me. There was a perfect example of why on Heroes tonight. Nikki/Jessica gets a letter and goes to open it, and it's clearly in a FedEx envelope. Only, instead of saying FedEx, it says SendEx. How this is any better than just leaving it FedEx, which is both easier and more realistic, is beyond me.

Even the Nissan Versa in this show, which I've seen people complain about, and which is clearly superfluous to the plot doesn't bother me, because all the references to it fit nicely with (and actually helped develop) Hiro's character.

Apple - Thoughts on Music

I haven't talked much here about DRM, since it really seems pretty simple to me (i.e. it doesn't work and never will), and would ulimately just turn into a rant. But with someone like Steve Jobs weighing in, I thought I should mention it. It's good that someone who may actually have some influence seems to recognize that it doesn't work.

In 2006, under 2 billion DRM-protected songs were sold worldwide by online stores, while over 20 billion songs were sold completely DRM-free and unprotected on CDs by the music companies themselves. The music companies sell the vast majority of their music DRM-free, and show no signs of changing this behavior, since the overwhelming majority of their revenues depend on selling CDs which must play in CD players that support no DRM system.

So if the music companies are selling over 90 percent of their music DRM-free, what benefits do they get from selling the remaining small percentage of their music encumbered with a DRM system? There appear to be none. If anything, the technical expertise and overhead required to create, operate and update a DRM system has limited the number of participants selling DRM protected music. If such requirements were removed, the music industry might experience an influx of new companies willing to invest in innovative new stores and players. This can only be seen as a positive by the music companies.

emphaiss mine

So, the gist seems to be that DRM sucks and that Apple uses it only because they are forced to by the music companies. I'd love to hear a response to Jobs' points from someone on the other side. But I'm sure we won't, since there really isn't any resonable position.

One thing that did bug me about Jobs' letter, though, was when he described the existing course, where it seems that he doesn't think DRM is such a big issue, and I think he misses the point a little bit.

Some have argued that once a consumer purchases a body of music from one of the proprietary music stores, they are forever locked into only using music players from that one company.
[snip]
Through the end of 2006, customers purchased a total of 90 million iPods and 2 billion songs from the iTunes store. On average, that’s 22 songs purchased from the iTunes store for each iPod ever sold.

Today’s most popular iPod holds 1000 songs, and research tells us that the average iPod is nearly full. This means that only 22 out of 1000 songs, or under 3% of the music on the average iPod, is purchased from the iTunes store and protected with a DRM. The remaining 97% of the music is unprotected and playable on any player that can play the open formats. It’s hard to believe that just 3% of the music on the average iPod is enough to lock users into buying only iPods in the future. And since 97% of the music on the average iPod was not purchased from the iTunes store, iPod users are clearly not locked into the iTunes store to acquire their music.

Sure, the average iPod today only has 3% DRM music on it, but what about tomorrow? People are only just now starting to buy their music online. Most people who invest in an iPod in the first place probably already have a vast library of CDs that they want to rip and put on it. However, if they start buying music from iTunes, why would they want to continue buying CDs? At some point that 3% is going to get to be a number that is significant, and will sway the consumer's decision. So, while Jobs may be correct right now that it isn't a big issue, when he's talking about continuing on the current course, he's talking about the future, and future where more people get more music online must be considered in the argument. Also, I would bet that there are quite a few iPods with no music from the iTunes store on them, which would skew those numbers a bit.

Anyway, the bottom line with DRM is that it doesn't in anyway affect music piracy. Just go look for illegal versions of any song you want and see how hard a time you have finding them. All it does is hamper legitimate customers' use of their rightly acquired media.

Suicide-prevention group criticizes GM ad

So, I thought yesterday that it was ridiculous that someone could be offended by that Snickers ad. Well, that's nothing compared to the morons upset by the suicide robot ad. Apparently, it might give young robots bad ideas or something.

GM has "no plans" to drop the robot spot, spokeswoman Ryndee Carney says

Good. At least someone still has some common sense.

Like I said yesterday, we should just ignore anything people say for a week or so after the Superbowl.

Billy Joel Concert

Michelline and I went to see Billy Joel last night as he kicked off his US tour to a sold-out crowd in Jacksonville. I've been to see very few concerts, and I was looking forward to this one. Billy Joel has always been one of my favorites. One thing about Billy Joel - he's got so many hit albums and so many songs, you never really know where he's going to go. I like almost all of his stuff, so I knew I wouldn't be disappointed no matter what was on the set list for the night.

He was at the new arena downtown, which is also a basketball/hockey/whatever else they can fit in venue. It's a nice place with good visibility and ok acoustics. Facing the stage, we were in the stands on the right hand side, about halfway up. Of course, they also had a monitor in the center of the roof so we could see some of the things you can't make out if you're not right by the stage. So, like I said, the sound was ok. This is the complaint I have about a lot of live music I've seen, that they sacrifice sound quality for volume. I know that you want it to be loud, that's one reason to go to a concert - you get to be surrounded by the music, to kind of be a part of it. But when the guitars drown out the vocals and the sound blares, I just think there's got to be a better way.

The show started with a bang as Joel rose along with his piano in the center of the stage playing something pretty good that I didn't recognize. Heavy on the piano, which I like. Then he went into "My Life" to get the fans going. During the first half, he alternated fan favorites - "Allentown", "Don't Ask My Why", "The Entertainer" with some stuff they haven't played in concert since the 70's, according to Joel. His voice still sounds good - clear and confident, and he had a lot of energy on stage. The crowd was into the show, but not overwhelmed early. There were a few people standing up, but most of us were sitting for this part. He's comfortable on the stage, which you would expect of someone who's been playing and touring since the early 70's. He was funny, and thanked everyone, especially the people who bought the "shitty seats".

After the first hour, he did a few slower songs - "New York State of Mind", which seems to be a favorite for a lot of people although not one of my favorites, "She's Always a Woman", and "An Innocent Man". On this last one, he has to hit the high note and hold it, and he did a good job. He sounded good all night.

For the second half, he started picking it up and really got things going, (and surprised everyone) when he said he was bringing one of his crew up to sing a "religious song, a sacred song" and to give him a chance. So this fat guy with a t-shirt and a mic comes out and they break into "Highway to Hell" with Joel on the guitar. Of course, it's a great song and they did it well, and it got everyone on their feet and moving. From that point on, most people were standing and dancing. He went into "We Didn't Start the Fire", from there, and "Big Shot" among a few others. Energy was really high and there was a real buzz for this whole set, good stuff. Then the band left the stage and the crowd was screaming and waving lighters and cell phones for a few minutes waiting for the encore everyone knew was coming. They came back out and did "Only the Good Die Young" which is one of my favorites, and then the band left again. Joel played with the audience a little and pretended to leave the stage, and finally sat down and finished up with the song he had to play - "Piano Man". It was a great ending, and the Joel let the crowd sing the chorus, which we were all doing anyway. It was a great way to finish a great show.

One interesting thing I noticed at the end - we were in a sold-out arena, probably 15000 people, and I couldn't find a black person. I know there had to be a few black people there, but they were nearly impossible to find. It was a sea of white faces. I guess it's not surprising, I just hadn't really thought about it before. Another thing was the variety of age groups. There were a surprising number of younger people, people in their 20's. Surprising to me because his last album was 1993. And there were also a lot of people in Joel's own age group. But everybody had a good time. Some of the most enthusiastic were some of the young women. No underwear was tossed, but there was a lot of energetic dancing.

I'm really glad I went. It was my wife's idea, and I probably would have skipped it, as I've never been much of a concert-goer, and I'm glad she suggested it. If he comes back, I'll definitely see him again.

Snickers Super Bowl Controversy

As I turned on the TV when I got home tonight, I caught just a piece of the tease for the news mentioning Snickers and a controversial Superbowl ad. I figured this was the one they were talking about and was ready to laugh at the ridiculousness of homophobes for complaining that an ad showed two men kissing. Well, after looking it up, I was disappointed to see that it was groups that are normally on the same side I am who were complaining. As anyone who's read this blog will know, I stand firmly in support of gay marraige, gay rights, and just all around treating gay people like anyone else. Having said that, I can't see anything the least bit offensive about this ad. The ad says absoultely nothing about gay people. There are no gay people in it. The two guys are not gay, so there is no reason they shouldn't feel akward about accidentally kissing each other. It doesn't mean they hate gay people, it makes no statement about homosexuality at all.

I think we should make some kind of rule to ignore anything said by any special interest group for a week or so after the Superbowl, as it seems these groups just like to capitalize on the popularity of the event to draw attention to themselves. And while I support drawing attention to groups that support gay rights, I'd rather that attention not be for them acting like morons.

TV Network Takes Responsibility For 'Hoax Devices'

Perhaps the worst result of the September 11th terrorist attacks, other than the obvious loss of life, is that it has given people an excuse to act like complete and utter pussies. The more I heard about this ridiculous story all day, the more I just wanted to punch someone. There are so many unidentified objects that are encountered everyday that could be or could hold bombs that it's completely ridiculous to treat every one of them like it actually is a bomb. Luckily, we don't do that. We only do it for the objects seen by some freaking paranoid person who reports it to the wrong other paranoid person. What are the chances that a terrorist is going to try and blow some shit up and is going to plant bombs that are mysterious looking electronic devices? My guess is they would actually try to disguise the bomb, maybe put it in a bag of trash and throw it in a trashcan on a busy street, but no, apparently the terrorists we're dealing with get all their ideas from watching cartoons. So everyone be on the look out for bowling ball looking devices with fuses sticking out of them. Actually, I would think by now that terrorist would just give up on blowing shit up and instead adopt a plan to just leave mysterious objects lying around everywhere. Sure, they wouldn't actually hurt anyone, but they'd probably do a hell of a lot more damage to our way of life.

Now, granted that this probably wasn't the best idea for a marketing campaign, but it's only a bad idea in light of the paranoid pussified state that we live in these days.

And what's with all this "hoax devices" shit? What's the hoax exactly? Hoax doesn't just mean that you were mistaken about the true purpose of something, it also requires the intent to deceive you in the first place.

"Public safety officials are all working together. There is no time for anyone to panic. We believe we have the situation in hand. Go about your business," Menino said. "The individuals who placed these packages should be warned that there is a heavy penalty -- two to five years imprisonment for each one of them. We are not playing around."

So, they want to make sure everyone doesn't panic, way to set a fine example. As for penalties, the only people that need to be penalized here are the morons who overreacted in the first place.

I know watching 24 makes you feel like there are terrorists waiting to kill you around every corner, but that simply isn't the case. People need to realize that unknown does not automatically equal suspicious. I'm all for investigating things that are actually suspicious, but there has to be a better reason for labeling it suspicious than someone saw it and didn't know what it was. If that's truly our standard, then there's a whole shitload of stuff out there in the big scary world that we need to be investigating.

NFL Predictions Revisited

As I stated in my NFL Predictions at the beginning of the season, now I can look back and see how stupid I was, so here we go.

AFC East - I wasn't ready to believe anyone in this division could dethrone the Patriots, particularly the trendy pick of the Dolphins, so I was right about that. Unfortunately, I also said that the Bills and the Jets both sucked, but obviously the Jets proved me wrong.

AFC North - I wanted to pick the Bengals here, but thankfully, I didn't with Carson Palmer coming off a major injury. Unfortunately, I did pick the Steelers. I did think that with the addition of McNair, Baltimore would be improved, but I didn't think it would be enough to get over the hump. I did correctly predict that Cleveland would blow.

AFC South - I thought the Jaguars would go around 8-8, so I was on the money there, and I also correctly picked the Colts to win the division. I didn't think The Titans would be able to do as well as they did, as much as I was pulling for Vince Young. I knew that the Texans wouldn't be any good and that Mario Williams couldn't hope to compare to Reggie Bush.

AFC West - I did say I liked the Chargers a lot, but didn't pick them with a new starting QB. I had the Chiefs pegged pretty well as being one dimensional, but I didn't see them making the playoffs. Picking the Broncos here looks like my worst pick so far. And I correctly predicted that the Raiders would suck and that Aaron Brooks was a lousy acquisition.

NFC West - I pretty much had this entire division figured out, though I thought Arizona might be a little better and I thought San Francisco would be worse. Otherwise, I pretty much nailed it.

NFC North - I got the winner right here, though I didn't think they would be as good as they were, and I figured the rest of the division would suck which was about right, though I thought Green Bay would probably be worse than they actually were.

NFC South - Though I did think the Saints could be improved, I didn't see them winning the division. I thought Atlanta would be worse than they were, and I thought Carolina would be much better, a pick right up there with the Broncos. I thought the Bucs would be solid, which they obviously weren't.

NFC East - I thought this division would be the best in football, and while it probably wasn't, three of the four teams made the playoffs, so it wasn't too far off with that. I thought the Cowboys would win it, and they really should have, but they collapsed down the stretch. I thought the Eagles would suck, and obviously they didn't. I thought the Redskins would be a lot better than they were, and I was pretty close on the Giants, though I couldn't have predicted how they got there.

AFC Playoffs - I only got two of the playoff teams correct, which is pretty lousy. I also predicted the Steelers would get a bye, so that sucked. Didn't pick either wild care anywhere near correct.

NFC Playoffs - I got four of the playoff teams here, which isn't so bad, though I picked both byes and one of the wild cards incorrectly.

My bonus prediction was the Mets over the Yankess in the World Series, but that was mostly wishful thinking.

Anyway, there you have it, the reasons that I'm not a gambler and don't have my own 900 sports betting line.

Activists angry over f-word shirt

What the fuck is wrong with people? So the word fuck was on TV for five seconds. Who exactly was hurt by this?

...sucker punch from Fox that millions of children and families received...

Oh right, the children. And the families. I guess all those children will begin lives of crime and debauchery despite their fine parents because they saw this horrible word on TV. And those families will now be destroyed as they all try to come to grips with living in a world where the word fuck can be carelessly displayed on a t shirt. This is horrible. What is the world coming to?

I found the following comment on another article about the incident:

was watching the game with my two seven-year old sons, both of whom can read quite well -- and they both asked me what her shirt said. These people don't have the right to inject that into my living room and rub it in my kids' faces.

Ok, so which is it? If your kids can read quite well, why would they need to ask you what it said? And if your kids were actually asking you what it meant, then how is it that FOX is rubbing it in their faces? If they don't know what it means, then it seems difficult for me to believe they'd be at all offended by it. So, if you told them what it means, it's actually you that rubbed it in their faces. When the word was on TV, you had the same choice that you have every other day to either tell your kids what fuck means or not. Anyway, do your kids ask what every word on every shirt shown in the stands of every football game means? Seems like this would get pretty old. If they don't, it seems a little odd that they would pick the one that happens to be profanity to ask you about. Maybe your kids are little smart asses that already know what fuck means, or maybe you're just making the whole thing up.

Seriously, what I'd like to know is how these people managed to even see the game in the first place. How can you see the TV from underneath the bed where all these people surely must spend the majority of their time?

And also, the shirt was right, Fuck the Eagles. Who doesn't hate the Eagles?

Due Process?

It's nice to know that the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs doesn't believe in the presumption of innocence or due process -

Charles "Cully" Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, said in a radio interview last week that companies might want to consider taking their business to firms that do not represent suspected terrorists.

...

Stimson on Thursday told Federal News Radio, a local commercial station that covers the government, that he found it "shocking" that lawyers at many of the nation's top law firms represent detainees.

Stimson listed the names of more than a dozen major firms he suggested should be boycotted.

"And I think, quite honestly, when corporate CEOs see that those firms are representing the very terrorists who hit their bottom line back in 2001, those CEOs are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms," Stimson said.

Asked who might be paying the law firms to represent Guantanamo detainees, Stimson hinted at wrongdoing.

"It's not clear, is it? Some will maintain that they're doing it out of the goodness of their heart -- that they're doing it pro bono, and I suspect they are," he said. "Others are receiving monies from who knows where and I'd be curious to have them explain that."

So not only should the detainees not be represented, their lawyers are on the take from Al Qaeda? Is that what he's saying?

Of course, the pentagon has disavowed Stimson's statements, but call me cycnical, it sounds like a case of having their cake and eating it too.

Art Meme - Chris edition

Ok, I'll take a shot at this since Toast tagged me.

1. Name a book that you want to share so much that you keep giving away copies:

I give books to my parents and John all the time, and vice versa. But there's no one particular book I give away. The question does remind me of the teacher I interned for. She and her husband really liked Robertson Davies' Deptford trilogy and loaned me the first book, Fifth Business. They told me they had loaned out their old copy but never got it back, and so had to buy it again. This was in 1993. I still have their copy Fifth Business, so I guess they had to buy it yet again, and I still haven't read it. Started it several times, but I just couldn't get into it.

2. Name a piece of music that changed the way you listen to music:

I don't know if it changed the way I listen, but there was a CD that captured my rather aimless musical taste and got me pointed firmly in one direction - it was The Premiere Collection: The Best Of Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was this CD that really introduced me to musicals, which now make up the majority of my music collection. I'm sure this is why John tags me as artsy-fartsy.

3. Name a film you can watch again and again without fatigue:

Like John, I could come up with quite a few of these. The one that immediately comes to mind is The Shawshank Redemption. It's funny that Stephen King seems to have a reputation for bad movie adaptations, (yes, there have been some clunkers), yet he has been responsible for several outstanding films. Besides Shawshank, there's Stand By Me, Misery, and The Green Mile to name a few.

And I have to say, although I like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, for me, it would get a little old after the first 100 viewings or so.

4. Name a performer for whom you suspend of all disbelief:

Hmmm... I like a lot of different actors and actresses, but no one in particular jumps out for me. By the way, why is it that some many people are using the term actor for females? I don't think that any indication of difference between the sexes is automatically demeaning. I've never thought of actress as inferior to actor. In fact, it seems to me that acting is one place where it's useful to mark the difference in sexes. Some roles can be handled by either sex, but most roles are pretty sex-specific, I would say.

5. Name a work of art you'd like to live with:


There are all kinds of paintings I'd like to have. I've always liked this painting by Dali The Temptaion of St. Anthony. Not for any particular reason other than I just like the way it looks. I'm not very analytical when it comes to art.





6. Name a work of fiction which has penetrated your real life:

I'm sure numerous works of fiction have had some effect on my thinking in small ways, but I can't point to any one book or movie that has actually had a significant impact on my real life.

7. Name a punch line that always makes you laugh:

Mmm, sacrilicious.

Cool T-Shirt

Since I both love Samuel L. Jackson and hate the word blogoshpere, I might have to get me one of these.

I tried to put in a picture, but Blogger sucks ass, so you'll have to click the link.

Art Meme

Toast tagged me with this, so I'll give it a shot even though I think my answers will be even less interesting than my answers to previous memes, since I'm not much of an artsy guy. But Toast also tagged my brother, who is so artsy, he might as well be gay, so expect better answers to follow.


1. Name a book that you want to share so much that you keep giving away copies:

I don't even buy books for myself, much less for anyone else, but if there was something I would hand out, it probably would have been Ender's Game until I found out that Orson Scott Card was a lunatic.

2. Name a piece of music that changed the way you listen to music:

I honestly can't think of one. I'm not much of a music listener. Back in high school I had three tapes that I played over, and over, and over again, though. Liscensed to Ill by The Beastie Boys, ...And Justice for All by Metallica, and Eazy Duz It by Eazy-E, so those probably influenced whatever musical tastes I have more than anything else.

3. Name a film you can watch again and again without fatigue:

Oh, there's a bunch of these. Off the top of my head, Sixteen Candles, Real Genius, Lean on Me, and probably a handful more I can come up with if I thought about it for a while.

4. Name a performer for whom you suspend of all disbelief:

Morgan Freeman, I think he's excellent in everything he does that doesn't also have Ashley Judd.

5. Name a work of art you'd like to live with:

Anything I could chaarge substantial admission for people to come see.

6. Name a work of fiction which has penetrated your real life:

I can't think of anything, I don't really ever look at things that way. I just want to be entertained.

7. Name a punch line that always makes you laugh:

"And you want to be my latex salesman."

Apple's iPhone

So Apple finally unveiled the iPhone today. It looks and sounds very nice. I am curious to see how and if it's going to take off. According to this review at PC Mag, it has an uphill battle.

What does this mean for everyone else in the industry? Not all that much, really. Apple is trying to invent a new niche: the consumer smartphone. It's something Motorola, Samsung and T-Mobile have stabbed at somewhat with the Q, Blackjack, and Dash, but those are serious power-user products; this hopes to replace an iPod as a consumer accessory.

Existing smartphone vendors and operating system developers are mostly focused on either the enterprise market or intense e-mailers/text messagers. The iPhone isn't: It's a multimedia/Web access device.

Apple also isn't playing in the mass market here, the millions of people who don't want to spend more than $100 for a cell phone. This is a niche product, a revolution for the few. Hopefully, the innovations seen here will spread over the next few years so more people can enjoy them.

Fair enough, the trend in cell phones seems to be toward smaller, more powerful smartphones, not PDA-like devices. But after reading this, I did wonder - what did people say about the iPod? And I found this 2001 review -

...
Analysts offered mixed reactions to the iPod--especially to its $399 price tag.

IDC analyst Bryan Ma said Apple may take some heat for entering the consumer electronics market, which typically has lower profit margins than Apple gets from its computers. But, he added, the iPod could serve an important function: convincing people to buy a Mac instead of a PC.

"It's another incentive for them that can convince people to buy a Mac," Ma said.

...

Technology Business Research analyst Tim Deal dinged the $399 price as "a little high." But he noted that the iPod's FireWire connectivity allows for faster song downloading than USB. The iPod also sports "a significant battery life and a fast recharge speed," he said.

...

The iPod is another stab at Sony's success in the consumer market, Deal noted.

"Clearly Apple is following Sony's lead by integrating consumer electronics devices into its marketing strategy, but Apple lacks the richness of Sony's product offering. And introducing new consumer products right now is risky, especially if they cannot be priced attractively," Deal said.

Stephen Baker, an analyst at NPD Intelect, said that the iPod will likely stand out for its large storage capacity but predicted that the device may have trouble digging out a niche in the market.

The most expensive MP3 players that use flash memory sell for around $249 right now, with the average player selling for less. Many are also adding features for playing mini-CDs. Sonicblue's Rio 600, for instance, sells for $199. It comes with 64MB of flash memory for storage. Apple's new device has far more storage--enough for 50 hours of music--but it costs twice as much.

The iPod has "good features, but this is a pretty competitive category," Baker said. "The question is whether people want that robust of a feature set with that high of a price."
...

What I take away from this is that we can pretty much ignore most of what "industry analysts" have to say.

Check your voice mail!

Let's say you missed a call or two on your cell phone, for whatever reason. You check your phone and you see the missed calls and a voice mail icon. DO NOT immediately call the person you missed. Check your voice mail first. I hate leaving a detailed voice mail message and then having to repeat the whole thing because the person I called didn't listen to it. But it's happened so many times, that I've started to leave nothing more than a quick "Call me". Why waste my time? As a corollary, if you missed a call yesterday, or even a few hours ago, and there aren't any voicemails or further calls from that same number/person, DO NOT call them and say "Hey, I saw you called me?". If I didn't leave a message or call you back, it almost always means that it was nothing important, or I had something to talk to you about at the time I called. This concludes today's lesson on cell phone manners.

The Zune - A review

I decided I wanted to get a hard-drive video/music player so I put a Zune on my Christmas list this year. My wife obliged and I'm now the proud owner of a brown Zune. So why a Zune and not a video ipod? One reason is that I have over 5000 songs in wma format, and I don't want to re-rip everything in mp3 format. For another, the main reason I wanted one of these wasn't to cart my music library around, but to play videos, and I liked the larger screen. Yes, I know it has the same resolution as the smaller video ipod screen, but at that size, I'd rather have the extra half inch than a slightly sharper picture. And last, I'm intrigued by the wireless capability. As everyone who's interested in this kind of thing already knows, it's basically useless for the time being, as the wifi can only connect to other Zunes to do that song sharing thing (I refuse to call it squirting). But that's a software limitation, and I fully expect it to be fully enabled either officially by Microsoft, or by a hacker.

If you're looking for reviews and opinions online about the Zune, it's hard to get past people's bias. There's so much existing antipathy toward Microsoft, especially from the hardcore ipod crowd, it's hard to get an honest opinion. I am neither a lover or hater of either Microsoft or Apple. I just want what works best for me. I have held and played with my niece's video ipod for a few minutes, but I've never owned or used any kind of ipod, so I don't have any ipod bias. So here we go.

There are basically two parts to the Zune, the software on the pc and the device itself.

The software - It blows. There's really no other way to say it. It takes for-fucking-ever to install. I've installed it on 4 different pcs and it took as much as an hour on each one. And if that's not bad enough, on some pcs you first have to install an update to the Microsoft update software itself. And after you install the Zune software, guess what - that's right, you have to restart the pc. Now look, I use a lot of Microsoft software, and I have no problem with a lot of it, but so far the Zune software is like a bad parody of all the problems with Microsoft bloatware. It's slow, it insinuates itself all over your pc without telling you, it locks up.

Ok, after it finally installs and it's running, how does it work? Well, again, it's slow. It takes a long time to connect to the Zune and a long time to browse once you've got content. The interface is kind of confusing, although not bad-looking. And, of course, it's the only way to get stuff onto the Zune. One bright spot, when syncing supported file types, it's very fast. I can get several gigabytes of wmv video loaded in a couple of minutes. But rather than creating a whole new bloated software product, they should have just created a Zune plug-in for Windows media Player, which I actually like and use all the time.

A couple of notable missing features from the software - it doesn't support Microsoft's exisitng DRM. How stupid is that? It doesn't really make a difference for me since I refuse to buy music with DRM, but it's just an example of what makes people hate Microsoft. Another bigger problem, it doesn't let you use it as a portable hard drive. Yes, there are registry settings you can edit, but even then, it's difficult and slow. So overall, I give the Zune software a big fat F.

The device - As I mentioned above, I have the brown Zune. I like it. It's different but not flashy. It only looks like poop to the Microsoft haters. I like the rubbery feel of it and the simple design, which is obviously influenced by the ipod, as is almost every media player on the market today. The round wheel is not a touch click wheel, but it's easy to use. The screen is big and bright and the picture is plenty sharp. The volume is also good. The main reason I got this was to watch tv shows while I'm on the treadmill at the gym. It works great for that. It was easy to see the picture and to hear the sound. Operation of the software on the device is easy. There's a simple menu, the device responds quickly and the video plays smoothly. I also fooled around with the FM radio and it's also easy to use and sounds great.

The biggest problems with the device - as I mentioned, the crippled wifi. If Microsoft enables this, it could actually drive some people to buy it over the ipod. Imagine if you could connect to the internet and download songs and video on the go and sync wirelessly with your pc. Second, there doesn't seem to be any way to manage content on the device directly. Maybe I haven't found it yet. There's no reason I shouldn't be able to delete files, move stuff into different folders and create playlists on the device itself. That wouldn't be as big a deal if I didn't have to deal with the shitty Zune software. I give the device a B+.

Overall, I would say I like the Zune itself, but I hate the software. If you do try to cut through all the BS on the web, I think this is what you'll find. It's certainly not going to make most people want a Zune over an ipod. By the time I'm ready for a new device, if they haven't fixed some of these problems, I'll definitely be buying something else. Until then, I'm content to enjoy the good things and try to work with the bad.

House of Pain

I haven't been posting much lately, and the main reason is that I've been pretty busy. I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but we were selling our house and moving. Shortly (and I mean very shortly) before Christmas, we finally closed and I am relieved to no longer be burdened by the duties of home ownership. Everything is great now, but jesus, what an incredibly stressful process. Next time I buy a house, I want to make sure it's one we want to live in forever because selling a house really sucks. All in all, we ended up doing pretty well, putting it on the market and getting it sold in a total of about three months. But boy was it a pain in the ass in between. We had a very long closing, which was a bad idea, since it meant more time for things to go wrong, including the buyers' loan falling through the day before closing. And on top of all that stress, we had to find a place to live and move. Luckily a friend of mine was renting a house that we always loved anyway, so that worked out well. We had a great realtor (Rebecca Kitkowski from Re/max), without whom, the whole thing probably would have blown up a couple of times. Anyway, we're happily settled in our new home (where if anything breaks, I can call someone else to deal with it), so maybe I'll start posting more often now.

Dear Bryant Gumbel

I know you're pretty clueless when it comes to football, but when a team fails to convert on third down, and has to punt, it's not the same thing as the other team taking over on downs. If you're going to do this for a living (surely they can't be paying you, can they?), you should perhaps at least try to learn some basics of the game.

NFL Week 17

Ok, I didn't post last week, because we were busy moving and Christmas shopping and lots of other things, but I was 7-9, and 11-5 the week before, so my overall record going into the final week is 143-97.

New York Giants at Washington - The Giants still have a shot at the playoffs, but they suck about now, I'll take the Skins at home.

Jacksonville at Kansas City - The Chiefs play well at home, and the Jaguars suck on the road, so I'll take KC.

St. Louis at Minnesota - I'll take the Rams here for no reason in particular.

Carolina at New Orleans - The Saints are playing pretty well these days, but I like the Panthers in the upset since the Saints don't have much to play for.

Oakland at New York Jets - I like the Jets over a pathetic excuse for a football team, hopefully the Jets make the playoffs.

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati - I like the Bengals here, only because they're at home and fighting for a playoff spot.

Detroit at Dallas - The Cowboys have been playing lousy on defense lately, but I look for them to take their frustrations out on the Lions.

Seattle at Tampa Bay - I really hate the Seahawks, but I think they'll win this one.

New England at Tennessee - I'd like to pick the Titans here, since they're playing so well these days, but I think the Patriots are clearly better.

Cleveland at Houston - I like the Browns here in a boring game.

Atlanta at Philadelphia - As much as I'll be hoping for the Falcons to win, I don't think they will.

Arizona at San Diego - Good team versus bad team, good team at home. Even if the Chargers are resting people, they should win this one, 27-10.

San Francisco at Denver - I'll take Denver since they're at home, 17-3.

Buffalo at Baltimore - The Ravens might be the least publicized good team this year. I think they win here on the way to the playoffs.

Miami at Indianapolis - As bad as they've been playing lately, I still like the Colts here, at least they won't be rusty in the playoffs this year. Or won't have that excuse, anyway.

Green Bay at Chicago - I wouldn't mind seeing the Packers get in the playoffs, except for all the Brett Favre crap we'll have to hear, but I just think Chicago is that much better and should win.

Dear Bill Parcells

First, congratulations on making the playoffs, now hopefully, you can have a better showing than last time you got there.

Second, if you don't teach your defense to cover back out of the backfield, you're not going to get very far. It cost you a game already last week, and had you way too close against an inferior team this week.

And finally, I like Julius Jones, I really do. I think when he has a good game, he's as good as anyone. However, at this point, I can only assume that he has pictures of your wife with a donkey or something, because that's what it would take for you to miss the painfully obvious fact that Marion Barber is just better. He just is, it's undeniable fact. Maybe if he gets the ball in the first quarter, you're not trailing in the third. Give him a shot, at least, he's earned it.

And another football related note, this one directed at the NFL network. Please, I'm begging you, please, please, please, fire Bryant Gumbel. He sucks. He's so bad it's hard to even remember all the shit he fucked up, so I'll just mention a couple. After the Cowboys scored the last TD, their was a personal foul on Atlanta, so Dallas kicked off from the 50, which Gumbel noted, then said "and they still can't get it to the end zone." Of course they didn't you fucking moron, in that situation, you don't want to give them the ball at the 20. You kick it high, just like they did, and get the coverage down there almost as they catch it, and get them inside the 20, which they did, and were further helped by a penalty, so Atlanta started at about the 7 instead of the 20. Another thing, a few plays later, Vick escapes the rush and fires deep downfield, Gumbel exclaims "Whide Open!" but when the receiver comes into view, he has a corner right on him and a safety closing in. They guy is just awful. I'm not a fan of announcers in general, but Gumbel makes idiots like Dierdorf and Mike Patrick look like geniuses. It's sad because he's done other things well, and he just sucks at this. Bryant, you aren't the sportscaster in the family, live with it. You're still rich and famous.

NFL Week 15

10-6 last week, for an overall record of 125-83.

San Francisco at Seattle - I'll take the Seahawks here, just because every time I pick them to lose, they don't, so maybe if I pick them to win, they'll lose.

Dallas at Atlanta - I think the Coampa Bay at Chicagpowboys rebound from that awful performance last week and beat a banged up Falcons team.

Tampa Bay at Chicago - I still think the Bears might lose again, but I just can't pick the Bucs to beat them.

Pittsburgh at Carolina - I think the Steelers have it all back together, even though it's too little too late, and I think they'll beat a struggling Panthers team.

Detroit at Green Bay - I'll take the Packers, sinc eI have to pick one of these losers.

Cleveland at Baltimore - Baltimore is better. Also, I'm not sure I've picked the Browns all year, so I can't start now.

Jacksonville at Tennessee - I think the up and down Jags could easily lose this game on the road against an improving Titans team, but I'll still pick Jacksonville because they are the better team.

New York Jets at Minnesota - I'll take the Jets here, even thought their playoff hopes were probably dashed last week.

Houston at New England - The Patriots will rebound from the asskicking they got last week.

Washington at New Orleans - I'd love to see the Saints lose a couple of more games, but it will have to be the last two because they aren't going to lose this one.

Miami at Buffalo - Both teams are improving, I'll take the Bills just because of the homefield.

Denver at Arizona - In my upset special, I'll take the Cardinals. This is the game that should win me the pool this week if all goes well.

St. Louis at Oakland - I'll take the Rams to win on the road, 21-10.

Philadelphia at New York Giants - This one is really a toss-up, so I'll take the Giants at home.

Kansas City at San Diego - The Chargers might just be the best team in the league, which is impressive since they might have lost the best QB in the offseason, I don't see them having any trouble with a Chiefs team that can't win on the road anyway.

Cincinnati at Indianapolis - The Colts have lost 3 out of 4 or something, and the Bengals are playing ok now, but I still like the Colts to win at home, 34 - 24.

NFL Week 14

I did all my picks as usual with my insightful commentary, and even included a plug for Toast's Virtual Couch. So of course, Blogger lost it, so here are my winners, because I'm not typing all that shit again:

Pittsburgh
Atlanta
Cincinnati
Philadelphia
New York Giants
Minnesota
Indianapolis
Baltimore
Tennessee
New England
Seattle
San Francisco
New York Jets
San Diego
Dallas
Chicago

I was 9-7 last week to move to 115-77 for the season.