Recent Comments:
Worst Movie Biopics: Real-Life Catastrophes {Inside Movies Blog}
Nov 7th 2009 12:30AM I definitely agree about Domino. Not only is it a wild sack of lies (forgivable), but it's willfully and agressively awful. I mean, so bad it made me angry at my DVD player for being willing to play it. It's the worst of all things, an action movie without thrills, a comedy without jokes, a biography without truth and then topped off with generous helpings of pretension and crap dialogue. It's one of those movies where I wish I could go back in time, find the conference room where studio execs, Tony Scott, the writer and the various agents are hashing out the final details, and then at the exact instant the movie is officially greenlit, punch everyone in the room in the face. Then explain to them that the movie they are about to make is basically the same as getting punched in the face, only longer and less exciting to masochists.
...And then ask them to validate my parking stub.
What the 27" iMac means for a designer {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Oct 20th 2009 1:55PM Actually, it's just over 400,000 pixels, and you CAN play blu-Ray because the new iMacs have HDMI inputs. You just have to get your own blu-Ray player. I think clearly the addition of the HDMI inputs means Apple expects people to use this as both a desktop computer and a second TV, which is something I'd actually really like, especially if I could watch what's coming in over HDMI in a window on the desktop.
TV Squad Ten: Events from The West Wing that wouldn't really happen {TV Squad}
Jul 16th 2009 4:37PM I think what would have kept Leo off the VP ticket was the alcoholism and being unmarried, both of which are a sad fact. But he wasn't like a Karl Rove type guy, purely operating in the political arena, he was a congressman (I think) and Secretary of Labor, so he had the cred for VP.
As for CJ Cregg becoming Chief of Staff, I have no problem with that. It's not a natural progression, true. However given the circumstances in which they had to replace Leo (meaning no transition period) and given her intelligence, she's perfectly qualified. What makes her a better pick than Josh is that she has far better management skills and a history of being able to stand up to President Bartlett when she needed to.
In other words, it'd be unusual for a normal Press Secretary to become COS (Tony Snow, for instance, never would get the job), but I don't think it's at all unusual that CJ Cregg becomes COS.
Billboard: iTunes prices up, sales down {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Apr 13th 2009 6:50PM But it's not about number of sales, it's about profits, right? If you sell 10 at 99 cents, you've made 9.90. If you sell 8 at $1.29, you've made $10.32. So as long as you don't lose more than about 22% of your sales (quite a drop, by the way), you're actually making more money.
I don't know how much of a cut the labels get from the various tiers, but to be honest, variable pricing -- and its predictable effects -- sound like plain old supply and demand to me.
Space Camp! What It Was Really Like {Lemondrop}
Apr 8th 2009 6:28PM Charming story, it's nice to see Space Camp is as fulfilling an experience as kids dream it will be.
However:
"Of course, my team successfully landed our Shuttle and graduated Space Camp with flying colors (pun way intended)."
OK, as the official Arbiter of Retired Cliches, I officially retired the phrase "No pun intended" and all derivatives at the beginning of this year. "(pun way intended)" is a derivative phrasing.
Lots of people care about the lessons you learned at Space Camp. No one cares whether you intended to introduce a minor pun.
-Arbiter of Retired Cliches
Kindle 2 gets its first firmware update {Engadget}
Mar 23rd 2009 5:16PM Good call, Tsaot! It looks to me like this is the case, and I gotta say, I love it. It has just enough transition time to be noticeable (this is important, it's really easy to miss that the page has turned even when you've intentionally hit the next page/prev page buttons, if the change is instantaneous), but nearly as distracting as the flash. I hope they roll it out to regular books soon.
Engadget's recession antidote: win a BeBook e-reader! {Engadget}
Mar 17th 2009 8:22PM I have no idea on the global economy, but the U.S. economy needs foreclosure relief. Since after World War II, our economy has grown on the strength of a vibrant middle class, and that middle class accrued wealth by buying homes. Successful home ownership that doesn't bankrupt the buyer is essential for solid, long term wealth.
Now give my my BeBook
Smallville: Legion {TV Squad}
Jan 19th 2009 4:12AM "It's good to have Smallville in the hands of someone who can write a television episode, yet have respect for the original source material." ... I think he only did one of those two things in this episode.
I thought it was almost unwatchable. I'll admit a lack of familiarity with the Legion characters, but I assume one of their super-powers is not "Recite Crap Dialog With a Straight Face". Plus the plotting was incredibly lazy, even by this season's standards. For one thing, apparently over the entire time that Clark was aware that Braniac had somehow affected, if not entirely infiltrated Chloe's mind, he had a magic crystal that could solve that exact, specific problem (and only that specific problem). So that means that Clark was either too lazy or too busy to ever bother to find out "hey, what does this magic crystal with no apparent purpose do?"... or more accurately, they just made that up for this episode and don't really care that it makes their protagonist look dumb. It doesn't help that Clark is wildly unconcerned that his Fortress of Solitude has gotten a new paint job, and seems entirely oblivious to the idea that the monster that kidnapped Chloe and brought her there might still be there.
Similarly, the Legion really jumped to the "Kill Chloe" option unconscionably fast, given that the "Don't kill Chloe" plan took less than 30 seconds to think up, and mostly consisted of concentrating a bit harder than usual.
And sure, Lana whines less, but she broods more, so that's a wash. Lana isn't any more likable now, and that's because Kristen Kreuk simply isn't a talented enough actor to make the very dumb things the writers think up for her to do and say into something believable.
There's a theme here: Lazy plotting and lazy writing leads to weak characters. Smallville has really spent the last season and a half demonstrating this theory, and "Legion" is not in any way an exception.
No lie: voice stress analysis on iPhone {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Dec 19th 2008 4:20PM Wow, a lie detector that's even more inaccurate than a traditional polygraph machine. The truth is, lie detectors are pretty much BS science. The deeper you look into them, the more that the flaws are revealed. A polygraph measures, essentially, discomfort. Being embarrassed about a question or worried that the machine will register a true statement as a falsehood can give a positive, whereas a practiced, rehearsed lie can return a negative. Ultimately, they're only somewhat more accurate than flipping a coin.
How I Met Your Mother: Little Minnesota {TV Squad}
Dec 16th 2008 5:50PM I also spotted a "Bays" jersey in the crowd as well as the Smulders jersey.
