News
A Minor Update and Some Cool Pictures
In case anyone was wondering I have been busy of late. Yes, I know what you are thinking: “what's with all the excuses?” Well, what can I say except that for some reason I seem to be somewhat in demand. Not so much in demand I guess, but more like time crunched. I have commitments to several things these days: writing for cinematical, comic book resources, running the other business and many other things.
Plus, as of last week I am now the technology editor at LAist so that means they are gonna expect more from me as well. No more just writing what I want whenever I feel the “muse.” Now, I gotta come up with some tech stuff each and every week or else they won't give me my hard-earned buckets o' cash. Well, buckets is probably too strong a word. What's a word that means one small step above absolutely nothing? I don't know but whatever it is, its small.
Anyway, I've been working on all that stuff so this blog, as always, ends up suffering for it. I really wish there were more hours in the day or, more to the point, that I wasn't such a lazy procrastinator. That way, I could actually make time and have time for all the things I need to do in my life. Perhaps there are some tidbits of info from somewhere in the vastness of the internet where I could get help with my problems? If only that were true. I'll look around and if I find anything, I'll get back to you.
In other news, this past week I went to the opening night festivities for the Photo LA show and saw quite a few interesting photographs. I always wish I would make more time to take pictures so seeing these photos I was hoping would inspire me to do it. I think it helped a little but time will tell. I just don't feel inspired to create as much as I used to. I'm not sure what that means but I don't like it very much. I hope its just a temporary thing and will pass. Let's hope so.
So, take a look at some of these photos and try to get inspired. I will too.
Live at Macworld Expo Keynote
Apple iphone with touch screen running osx. so that's pretty cool.
Apple tv released next month.
Live at Macworld Expo Keynote
I'm here and seated and ready to see the magic of a steve jobs keynote. starting soon.
iPod Stroller and Mac World Expo
Now I just need something to put in the stroller. Any suggestions (besides an iPod)? Also, I will be heading off to San Francisco next week to pay homage to the Apple Gods at MacWorld Expo. As I often do, I'll probably wind up seeing Mr. Apple himself Steve Jobs around the show floor.
So, if you have any questions for him that you would like me to ask, fire away and I will see what I can do. After all, we're close Steve and I. One year I actually said “Hi” to him and he nodded back. So you see, we're tight. Other than that, it should be a rather interesting show full of all kinds of announcements and whatnot. Just to start things off, I have a couple of predictions:
1. A new iPod with Video and perhaps even 802.11n wireless to connect it to the next item on the list.
2. The iTV or whatever they end up calling it. Connect your TV to your computer and watch stuff. Fun. But I already do that with my Tivo and now I've also got a Slingbox (thanks Dad) so I'm not sure what this will do for me. Although, it would be cool if it did HD. I bet it will or else what's the point? If it does do HD then expect to see HD programming available at the iTunes store as well.
3. Updated iLife Suite (aka iLife '07). New apps including a spread sheet program (ala Microsoft Excel) and improvements to iPhoto and the rest of the gang including more Photoshop-like features for iPhoto and better RAW file handling. I also think Apple might wrap all the stuff its done for Aperture into iPhoto and make one nice photo editing suite for the Mac as part of iLife.
4. Last but not least (and here's the tough one) a new iPod/PDA/Phone that will most likely debut on Cingular first but may even have an unlocked version at first as well. Either way, definitely will be GSM (sorry Verizon and Sprint folks). This new device will not be called the iPhone now that that name is gone (if it ever was available in the first place). No, this new device will be called a name Apple has already spent millions of dollars getting people to know and remember. What's the name? The iPod.
Ok, that's it for now. But if I get a chance I'll drop some more predictions on ya Monday -- the day before the Keynote by Steve Jobs where all will be made clear.
Merry (insert appropriate holiday here)
hello all. just a quick not to say i wish you the best for this holiday season and an even better 2007. its been a pretty good 2006 for me and mine and except for a few minor setbacks it all went pretty smoothly. i hope it was the same for you and yours. so, if its so great what could i possibly wish for in the new year? well, couple things at least. i would like to do more writing work, see more movies, have more fun and travel more. that last one is something i vow to do every year and don't seem to have time for. so this year, i'm going to devote more energy to it.
on other fronts, at LAist we are doing LA-centric end of the year top-ten lists so please head on over and check them out. so far, mine was the top ten tv shows of the year but i hope to get one more in there before the end of the year. maybe i'll do one about the top ten reasons i prefer the valley to the west side. that might be good. got any suggestions for me? (keep it clean)
at cinematical, most everyone is making their lists of the top things (movies, trailers, posters, etc.) of the year and i'm no exception. some of the comments about my choices are pretty interesting. apparently, i don't care about international cinema at all and only like american movies. plus, someone suggested we are all just tools of our aol masters at cinematical. we sure have an interesting group of readers over there.
lastly, at comic book resources, we've thrown down the year-end roundup of trends in the industry. its a good read, especially if you're a fan of comic books or are just interested in how things work in the biz. look for more parts of this series coming soon.
again, all the best for the new year.
News of the World
First, just to state the obvious, I’m still alive. And now the news:
Microsoft started offering downloads of HD and standard-def content late last week on its XBox 360 console to a mixture of success and problems. The problems now seem to be getting sorted but now they just need more HD content. I don’t really want to wait 2 hours to download episodes of The Nine.
CBR has the latest edition of its weekly talk with writers from the hit NBC show Heroes. Sadly, i didn’t contribute this week but I think I do next week so check back then. In the meantime, enjoy these exclusive insights into the show.
The Spirit Award Nominations were announced this week with Little Miss Sunshine and Half Nelson getting the most noms. Nope, I’m not nominated this year either.
Copying DVDs to your iPod (and other devices – whatever they might be) was rejected by the US Copyright Office. So, no more ripping your store-bought movies or those DVDs you rent from Netflix because that’s officially a no-no. The Copyright Office did have some good news though for you and me – cell phone owners can now take their handsets with them to other providers instead of being locked into one carrier forever. So, one step back and one step forward. I guess you can’t have everything.
You will soon be able to watch videos from YouTube on your cell phone. That is, if you’re a Verizon customer. Great, just what I need – more TV.
If you’ve ever wanted to know where your tax dollars go, this guy has it figured out for you. Interesting. Makes me want to move to Monaco.
If you happen to be in LA (that’s Los Angeles not Louisiana) and are in need of some free Wi-Fi love then this site is for you.
Britney Spears has some trouble keeping it in her pants (Note: This link is definitely NSFW). As they say at the other site: “Oh, the humanity!” I think that pretty much covers it.
Oh, and one more thing. I decided to go a little more green and replaced my SUV with a shiny new Toyota Prius Hybrid. For those keeping score at home its a 2007 model in Magnetic Grey Metallic with Package 5 options (Navigation, iPod Connector, Bluetooth, JBL Stereo etc.).
As I’ve only had the car for a short time, a full-blown analysis is not possible at present. However, on first observation and short use, I have a few notes:
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I like the exterior color and interior color very much. That’s it there in the photo.
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The car is very quiet except for certain times when the smaller tires and proximity to the ground make it seem a little louder.
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I love the way the computer interface is designed including the touch screen for controlling most everything from the AC to the GPS to the Radio.
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I don’t love the way the touch screen gets dirty from my fingers after only a few days. Kinda annoying.
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The car is pretty roomy inside even for a man of my stature. And, the seats are not as bad as some people said they were. Although, no long trips yet but as I plan on taking the car to San Francisco for Macworld in January, I’ll find out for sure about that.
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The backup camera, while somewhat useful, is pretty much unnecessary (at least for me). Plus, the annoying beep that sounds while you are backing up is, well, annoying. Although, I plan on hacking the car to turn that off soon.
That’s it for now. Eventually, I will have more on the car. In the meantime, for all your Prius needs, check out Prius Chat.
Writing As a Job -- The Update
So, here I sit at my usual spot. No, not that spot, I moved away from there a few weeks ago because it was getting too loud and too crowded. No, I'm at at a new spot now. Anyway, this spot has even more comfy chairs and they keep the music down to a comfortable, non ear-threatening, level. I didn't mind making the change because change is ok sometimes. Especially if it prevents injury or loss of life.
Or, just allows me a slightly quieter place from which to write all of my amazing articles and whatnot for Cinematical and Comic Book Resources. Yes, its true. I've been at Cinematical for a little over two weeks now and haven't been fired yet. Kudos to me. It's interesting working for a big company like Weblogs, Inc. (part of AOL, don't cha know). Being a member of the “family” I am on several internal email lists where I get lots of stuff that I can't talk about. I even get occasional emails from Weblogs honcho Jason Calcanis.
Well, not directly to me but to everyone in the company. But still, its kinda fun. Jason is one of those people who was smart enough to see a need for something (blogs) about a great deal of different subjects and then had the tenacity to see it through. It worked out great for him too because now that AOL is the owner of his company, I think he's worth about a billion dollars or something. Not bad.
I'm not worth a billion dollars but I am worth a million in prizes. Or maybe that was a song I heard on the radio today? Sometimes its hard to tell. Oh, just to be clear and to justify the title of this post -- I am enjoying the daily writing even if many of my posts at Cinematical are of the news variety. I did do a couple of longer pieces which I will link to below for your reading pleasure. I also did a few more longer ones at Comic Book Resources.
At Cinematical I have to do these news posts when starting out to hopefully prove that I am reliable and then be allowed to move on to other more in-depth type of articles. But you do have to learn to walk before you can run and its only been a couple weeks so I will stick with it and hopefully transition into bigger stuff at a later date. It's not really a problem because I actually like doing the news posts and the more I do the more I get paid -- so that's nice too.
A recent CBR story:
Interview with Javier-Grillo Marxuach
And here are the links to my two bigger pieces at Cinematical:
Seven Tips for the Indie Filmmaker
Seven Sci-Fi Films You Should Be Watching
If you do that sort of thing, please feel free to Digg them at Digg or Scape them at Netscape. They are already submitted so your support would be much appreciated. Not that I get any kick backs or anything. it's just nice to help bring traffic to the site you work for. That's all.
Making Money Doing What You Like To Do
Something interesting happened to me while I was writing here. I discovered that what I really want to do is not direct or produce or anything like that, it’s write. As in, writing has become my number one favorite thing to do. It’s odd because when I think about my life it makes perfect sense that writing has taken its place at number one.
Someone pointed out to me the other day that all through my life I didn’t make films just because I wanted to but I was always writing since I was a young. I did it because I liked doing it and not because I had to do it.
It started way back in history when I was in Junior High I think. i wrote a story and when I got it back the teacher had written some comments on it. She said that I had a great imagination and that my story was really very well done, especially for someone my age. She also said that I should seriously think about getting my stories published. Thinking about it now I should have taken those comments more seriously. I might be farther ahead.
In truth, things are going pretty well for me in the writing game. I get to write quite a bit. It’s actually pretty cool. And now I will be doing even more of it and getting paid for it too. What a deal.
Yes, its true. I can now let you in on a little secret. I have been hired to write for Weblogs, Inc. as a contributor to their site Cinematical. It’s a site devoted to movies so I think I should be ok and not run out of things to say. After all, I did make movies for several years. Some of that must have stuck with me. Plus, I am still writing for Comic Book Resources and LAist so I can’t complain. getting paid to do something you like to do is pretty nice.
I know what you’re thinking. Now that I have yet another site I am writing for this site is going to suffer even more from neglect. I can say for certain that won’t be the case. How can I say that? Well, now that I am actually making decent money as a writer I am going to spend more time writing and less time doing anything else. I expect that this will allow me to not only do my work for Cinematical, CBR and LAist but also give me some time to write here.
I will also link to my posts around the web here for all of you (yes you and you) to enjoy. But I really want to try to keep writing here as well. this is the only place where I can do it just for fun without an editor breathing down my neck. Although at Weblogs we have a virtual office so I can’t actually feel anyone breathing but you get the point.
So, to start us off, click here, here and here to see some of my most recent work. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that the event I was at last week was a press preview for the new game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (the pic in this post might have given it away). Great game that looks really good on the Xbox 360. I also got to play around with the PS3 and the Nintendo Wii. Very interesting indeed but I think I’ll stick with my Xbox 360.
Ok, that’s it for now but stay tuned because I’ll be right back. You’ll get sick of me yet, promise.
Uwe Boll, EA, XBox 360 and NDA's
Some of you may have noticed that I have changed the look of the site again. Yes, I had some time on my hands recently so I decided to mess around with it. I like the results now and will probably leave it this way for the time being. Really, its not the look of the site that matters all that much. It’s the content. But as I don’t have content that is all that stunning I thought it should at least try to make it look pretty.
In other news, I spent some time today at a certain video game company checking out and playing various video games that I can’t talk about yet. Yes, I had to sign one or two of those NDA things that prevent me from talking about the great (and not so great) stuff I saw today. That’s the way it works. You sign a piece of paper that says you will not talk about things until a certain date. In other words you are “embargoed” from talking about said things. I like that word “embargo”. It sounds interesting.
Suffice to say that the games were really cool (most of them anyway) and as soon as I can talk about them I will. It won’t really be that long so don’t worry. I think the embargo on most of them ends this weekend. See, not that long at all. What I can say about the games is that they were each very interesting in their own ways and some really stood out above the rest. I was particularly excited to see and play one game in particular that I know will be in my game console of choice as soon as it’s available.
Anyway, I won’t keep blathering on about things I can’t talk about. It’s really sort of rude. I’m sorry for getting all your hopes up and then not being able to deliver. So, let’s move on.
In other news of a video game sort that I can talk about:
Uwe Boll is apparently going to be allowed another opportunity to direct a movie. Lucky us.
Duke Nukem on Xbox Live Arcade has been discussed. Cool. I really like playing Galaga on XBLA so this could be fun too.
Over at EA Sports they are perfecting mediocrity, apparently. I like some of EA’s games but some others really kinda suck.
You can run Half Life 2 on a Mac without Windows. Or, you could run it on a Mac using Bootcamp in Windows. Which is what I do. Try it, it’s fun.
And, the kids of “Southpark” get a chance to play a little World of Warcraft. Oh Matt and Trey, you guys kill me. That reminds me, I need to write a review of the “Southpark” Season 8 DVD Box Set.
Oh, and if you are interested in comic books or comic book creators, my latest article is up over at comic book resources. It’s an interview with the guys who do “The Cross Bronx” comic book. The comic is really good. The interview is pretty ok too.
I’ll try not to pull something while patting myself on the back.
Looking Inward and Some Cool Comic News
First, a little business. As some of you may know I have started writing more for other people at other sites. And, not only that, I have started writing a weekly Mac column at LAist called “Ask the MACist”. Plus, various other articles for various other places. Consequently, this particular blog has suffered from lack of attention. I have no excuse other than writing every day when people actually expect you to deliver on a deadline or they won't pay you is harder than I thought. Not harder because I can't do it but harder because of the expectations of others.
It's been some time since I had to write in more of a journalistic style or do more feature-type articles. Normally, I just ramble on here for a few paragraphs and call it a day. Writing here and in the first person seems somehow easier or something. Or, its probably more that writing here, while very important to me, doesn't carry with it the added pressure of readership or pay. When you throw readership and money into the mix, people expect results.
They expect you to be really good and for people to not only read what you write but to actually like it or at least, in some way, react to it. If your work brings new readers and keeps them coming back because they, for some reason, like what you say and how you say it, that is a huge added bonus (for them but not necessarily for you as then you have to try to be even better next time to continue the trend).
At this site, I am my own boss and basically write here because I have a compulsion to do so, not because I expect anyone to read, understand or care. Writing is really some kind of sickness that drives people to do it all the time or they will explode. I have to write because I have to get this stuff out of me. So, in that way and by writing here, I am less burdened by the pressure to be entertaining or even good. That is not to say that I don't care. I do. But there is a certain thing that happens to people, at least to me, when someone is expecting you to perform in order to get paid. For me, it becomes more work and I tend to be far more critical of what I write in those circumstances than I am for things here.
I want things to be good here and I want people to read this and like it or hate it or ion some way react, but don't expect them to. But I can't say for sure if anyone is even reading this stuff. So, there is less pressure to be good or entertaining. Perhaps I'm just lazy at heart and only care if I'm getting paid to care. In some ways that might make me a whore except that in most cases, if not all, the whore is only pretending to care and doesn't actually, really, give a crap. That's the difference, I guess. In this case, I'm the whore with a heart of gold and I care. Really. Now give me fifty bucks. Don't look at me, I earned it!
You have to love a place where the author refers to themselves as a whore. But really, when I think about it more, I have been a whore many times in my life. For example, almost every time I ever did a movie or a music video or a commercial that I didn't believe in. I only did it for the money in those cases but also in those cases I did care about how it all turned out. I wanted the results to be good and worked very hard to make sure that they were. it didn't always work out but it wasn't because I didn't care or didn't try, there were other factors that influenced the outcome. It wasn't me. I was in there swinging for the fences but the fences kept getting moved farther and farther away.
What does any of this mean to you? Well friends (yes you, you and you) here's where I pull it all together. In your life, it's ok to not be great sometimes and its even ok to fail once in awhile. As long as you can go home knowing that you tried to do your best, you're still a winner. And, its ok to be a whore too sometimes. We are all like that once in awhile. You haven't sold out as long as you keep fighting for quality. If you ever stop fighting to make things better, even when nobody else gives a crap, then its over and you are just a whore who's faking it. And faking it is not good. Unless you're the President of the United States. In that case, its all good.
On another front, somebody put together a list of the best comic book covers of 2006.I think that's kinda cool. I know the year isn't over yet but what the hell. Check it out here. Plus, I thought the picture was somewhat appropriate to the above diatribe. That's it. Stay classy San Diego (or LA or New York or London or wherever you are).
Five years.
Five years? Damn, five years seems like a long time. It isn't really. I only wish I could feel better about things like how our government is handling our safety. But from where I sit it seems like we are less safe than we were before.
I'll feel better when our current President is out of office. Perhaps then we can have a leader that builds alliances instead of tearing them down, puts his people's welfare in front of his own fundamentalist agenda and generally tries to ensure that what happened five years ago does not happen again. Ever.
It's a very important goal and one that I hope our next President takes to heart. I wonder, though, with the current crop of Democrats, who that might be. Kerry? Gore? Clinton? Who knows. Whoever it is, I hope they are prepared to learn from the past so they are not doomed to repeat it. Smart person, whoever said that. Can't remember. Maybe it was me.
I was remembering where I was five years ago today as many people are, I'm sure. I was in bed when we got the first phone call telling us to turn on the TV and that we had been attacked. Attacked? What does that mean? So, I crawled out of bed, went into the living room and turned on the TV. I didn't get up again for at least twelve hours.
Everyone knows the images of that day and everyone should remember them. I know I will never forget.
If you want more about today, go here, here, here or here.
Also, here's writer Cory Doctorow's first post from the morning five years ago. Even now, it was hard for me to read it. I didn't blog back then. Don't know if I would have been able to anyway.
To brighten things up a bit and get a little humor, try this. Although, this one may make you angry more than it makes you laugh. I had both reactions. I will say that the laughter helps you get through the anger so try it, it may help you. It did for me.
At least for a little while.
Flickr cross posting and fake vegas
there's this thing you can do with flickr that allows you to cross-post to your blog when you upload photos to your flickr account. i'm going to try to do that from time to time (or more often if i have nothing to say) just to see how it works and also because its fun. yay!
on another note, i really wish i had gone to sunset junction (even though zach had some issues with it) instead of the rather lame vegas in la thing last night. even with vip treatment (thanks leah) it was still mostly a lot of wine that wasn't very good and food that was either bland or had run out by the time we got to it. although, the very nice (and very attractive) ladies at the pizza rustica booth were kind enough to give me a coupon to visit the restaurant and eat for free because they had run out of food. classy.
plus, as much as a gambled with the fake money they gave us (vegas, remember), i couldn't loose it. we finally had to give it away to the chief from border grill just so we could leave. i hope he enjoyed it. i wish my luck was that good in real vegas but no . . . only in fake vegas in santa monica do i win so much money i have to give it away.
oh well could be worse i guess. at least some of the desserts were good. especially the little coconut cream pies from luna park. they were yummy.
enjoy the rest of the weekend.
business as usual?
this is one of those rare times when i don’t really have much to say but i just feel like writing. so, here i am. if you know me in person (some of you do) than you know that i am rarely at a loss for words, especially if the subject involves something i have some knowledge about like technology or film/tv or even, on rare occasions, current events and politics.
so, it might come as a surprise to some that i am at a loss for a topic and something to say at the moment. what i am hoping is that the more i type here the more chance a topic will come to m and then i will be able to switch gears and get to the “important” and more substantive content. until then, i’m just winging it.
so, in that spirit, let’s keep gong and hope that something comes to me. in the meantime, while we wait for that small miracle, what’s going on in the world? war, terrorism, baseball, sex, drugs and rock and roll. no matter what happens in the world and i mean no matter what bad things happen in the world, there will always be sex, drugs and rock and roll. i’m not advocating drugs but i do like me some sex and rock and roll now and again. sometimes, both at the same time.
anyway, its a rare thing these days when you get to sit and just enjoy something for a few minutes. it seems that the older you get the more your time is just sucked away with things you never thought you would ever spend time doing. when you are young (a teenager) you never think you will spend most of your time working and very little of your time having fun. unless you are one of the lucky ones who has fun at work. unfortunately, i think those people are in the minority.
for most people, work is just that, work. a place you have to go and toil at for eight or more hours a day in order to get little green pieces of paper that you can trade for goods and services. granted, those goods and services (especially things like food and shelter) are important but are they so important that you should spend the rest of your life doing something you don’t like or may even hate just to have them? i don’t know for sure but i feel that they are not. they can’t be, can they?
i’m not telling you to quit your job and go live on the streets and become someone who asks me for a “dollar for the bus” while i’m sitting in my favorite starbucks trying to wax philosophical. no, i’m just asking if its really that important or if it has been artificially inflated and just seems more important than it really is. this brings me to a conversation i had with a guy named joe yesterday. and yes, joe is his real name. no anonymous protection here folks.
(the sun sets over the lebanese town of kfar kila in the distance behind metulla, israel. photo by michael j. totten)
i was writing yesterday and then was having a conversation with my friend shaun about the current state of affairs in iraq, the world, etc. joe, who was sitting at a nearby table was overhearing us. finally, he turned and engaged us in conversation. he told us that he agreed that our society was obsessed with material gain and also takes it upon itself to push its agenda on the rest of the world. he also agreed that our goals in iraq and in “the war or terror” were in many ways driven by religious fundamentalism and the desire to spread the christian doctrine to the less enlightened parts of the world.
i did not solicit these opinions from joe but was surprised to find out, after speaking to him for several minutes, that he was a successful business owner and a republican who had voted for george bush in the last election but was now very disappointed as to how things were going. again, he volunteered this info. joe told me that he was supportive of the President but felt that had lost sight of his goals and was now floundering and desperate to hold onto any rationale for our present situation.
he also told me he was strongly considering changing parties before the next election. another reason he gave for his support of President Bush and his policies was fear. in his circle of friends and business associates, it was considered un-american to criticize the President, his policies and the spread of democracy around the world. in fact, he felt his business and personal life would suffer if he were to express opinions outside the collective. how could it be that in this country, he was being condemned and was afraid to speak out and express his opinion? is this not one of the fundamental freedoms that we here in the usa enjoy?
i was amazed that he was afraid to speak and even more amazed that he chose to share this info with me, a liberal and a democrat. finally, he expressed his opinion that the other main reason we are in iraq is so that we can keep the oil flowing and so that oil companies can continue to dominate the world economy. if there was not oil, he reasoned, we would not be there. its not for atrocities or to spread democracy. if it were, there are far more people being killed and tortured in other parts of the world like somalia or the sudan than in iraq.
plus, he asked, are people not more interested in clean water and food for their children than in having the right to vote? voting is a great privilege but it rings a little hollow if your children are starving and don’t have any medical care.
(tanks in the street. photo by michael j. totten)
all in all, he made some very interesting points and i enjoyed our conversation very much. we agreed to perhaps continue our conversation again at a later time to be determined. or, maybe it would be just random chance that would bring us together again. who knows?
actually, this has happened to me at starbucks more than once before. it seems people with intelligence sometimes frequent these establishments and often wish to engage in conversation. its part of what makes our country so great. the fact that two people (or more) can sit around discussing the good things and the bad things about our country and its leaders. try that in china or north korea. one day, you and your family might just disappear.
so, people with intelligence do frequent expensive coffee establishments. and yes, i go there too.
Don’t let this happen to you.
in other words, its probably better to buy a mac laptop than, for example, a dell. although, i've had a few dells over the years and none of them ever did this:
still, better safe than on fire i always say. there you go. your safety tip for the weekend.
New iMac, Bootcamp and playing games
after moving into the new place i realized that it was a great opportunity to get rid of stuff i really don’t need and could do without or could substitute something else for. so, out went the big g5 tower (to my bro, sam). out went the big pc tower (to my friend shaun) and in came the new 20" intel iMac from Apple. not just any new 20" intel iMac mind you. i sprung for the extra video ram (doubled it to 256 megs) and maxed out the ram to 2gb. a must, really. ram is pretty cheap these days and is a great way to improve performance for not that much money. if you have the means i definitely suggest maxing out the ram in any Mac you purchase. you won’t be sorry you did.
what does this all mean and why should you care? you might not unless you enjoy the occasional game of half-life 2 or other pc only game. or, you want to run outlook or some other pc app that has no mac counterpart. like the macbook, i decided to install bootcamp and use the iMac as my new windows machine on the desktop. i did this mostly to see if it would replace my pc tower as a gaming machine. the short answer is yes. absolutely.
in fact, using the iMac booted into windows xp provided a superior gaming experience than i previously had on my windows gaming box. the iMac performed very very well. so, it has replaced two machines for me and now i have much more room on my desk to pile up other stuff i need to get to. so, if you are looking for a great gaming machine and want to play pc games and mac games, the intel iMac is a great choice. it also does other stuff like check email, browse the internet and normal computer things.
i have not tried it with very many other pc games yet. i felt that half-life 2 was a good game to start with given that the system requirement of the game are quite high. it a beautiful game to see and it looks great on the 20" monitor of the iMac and its even in widescreen 16 x 9. very cool. i won’t go into the whole installing boot camp procedure here as its kinda boring. suffice to say that i installed it and used it in the normal way without any changes. installed windows xp w/sp2 without a problem and was in windows and running soon afterward.
the one change that turned out to greatly improve things was that i ditched the ati drivers that bootcamp puts on the driver install cd and instead used other video drivers from the super genius over at omega. these drivers rock. much better than the lame ones that bootcamp wants you to use. after making this change i got greater frame rates and no freezes or anything.
to be honest, i had no freezes prior to replacing the drivers but i did see the increased performance from these drivers that i hoped. so, if you go to all the trouble to do all of this, be sure to get the omega drivers and use them. one other note. you can’t install drivers that you get from the ati website so don’t bother downloading them at all. even though the video card in the 20" imac is technically an ati x1600 it doesn’t mean you can actually use the drivers from ati. you can use the omega ones and you should.
so over the last couple of months i have cut the number of computers i have at home in half. two laptops into one: the macbook. and two desktops into one: the iMac. not to mention that the iMac runs so much quieter and cooler than the g5 tower its not even funny. the g5, while a great machine, is really hot and really noisy. now i can actually enjoy music in my office again and not have to turn it way up to drown out the sounds of the g5 tower. i am much happier now.
in other news, i made a couple of posts at Laist lately and will also be heading down to san diego in july to cover the big san diego comic con. i haven’t been in several years and this will be my first time in a long time mostly as an observer and attendee. the last couple of times i was there with a film project or something and was too busy to really look around.
so this time should be fun. although, its not all fun. there will be a little business too. i will be making a few notes for Laist as well as meeting with a few people regarding some upcoming projects that i can’t talk about at the moment. very secret and all that you know. suffice to say that i might be going back into yet another business i was in a long time ago. at least a little bit. or, maybe more than a little bit. what can i say? i like to keep busy.
Mac OSX 10.5 Screenshots, Global Warming and more
ok, this could, of course, be a fake. as many like it have been in the past. however, this looks more real than anything i have seen so far on the web so . . . you never know. could be real.
in other things around the web:
here’s a list of the 50 worst video games ever. at least according to the folks at game revolution.com
in 1939, Disney openly discriminated against women becoming animators in a circulated memo. having worked at Disney with the animation department i can tell you i don’t remember meeting very many women animators at all. and that was pretty recently.
our planet is the hottest it’s been in 2000 years. i wonder if there’s something to that global warming stuff? of course, the brain-trust that is the bush administration maintains that global warming is just a theory and isn’t a real threat. hmmm.
and, the FBI arrested 7 people who may be involved in a plot to blow up, among other things, the sears tower.
last but not least, they are watching you so don’t do anything weird. your tax dollars at work.
Changes
the theme of this blog, of late, has been change. i did other jobs. went back to former careers. loved and hated them at the same time. changed the coloring and theme of the site and a bunch of other things. all under the heading of change. to some, change is bad. i don’t think it is either good or bad. i think it depends upon how you change and if you really want to change. in other words, it depends on the person.
anyway, as you have seen this site has changed themes about once or twice a day for the last few days. i don’t really know what i want it to look like exactly. if i had more skills in the web design department i could probably get it to do what i want. sadly, those skills i do not have. so, i am left with mucking around inside the typepad themes and some “advanced” themes of my own to see what works and what doesn’t. until then, it will just be a bunch of stuff thrown against a wall to see what sticks.
so what’s going on in the world. let’s see, shall we:
Apple’s market share could blow up soon thanks to the ipod and the switch to intel, mostly.
MacBooks can now come in many of your favorite flavors. i still like black but have at it.
Blue Ray, one of the much-hyped HD DVD formats debuts next week. i’m trying to get excited about it, i really am. no really. maybe i’ll wait and see what HDDVD looks like. i’ve heard that neither one of them makes watching “XXX” or “Basic Instinct-2” any better. i’ll stick with normal dvd for the moment until more titles that i really care about are released.
Google Calendar now has two, count ‘em, two more new features. get yours today!
NASA will explain how black hole’s work on june 21st. i’ll be listening. maybe they will have something about it on discovery hd theater. they have a lot of NASA stuff there. don’t have discovery hd theater? well, get directv then and you will. if you do get directv, please mention that i sent you so i get my kickback. thanks.
And talk about changes. Microsoft big cheese Bill Gates has decided to step back from his post as big cheese over the next two years to devote himself full-time to his foundation. well, at some point money doesn’t mean much so you may as well help people with your billions.
fortunately, nutcase steve ballmer will not be in charge. and by nutcase i, of course, mean great guy who is just misunderstood. (in case there are any microsoft lawyers who read this). meet the new boss, ozzie (no, not this ozzy) this one.
oh, the picture at the top is just to show that no matter how much trouble you get into early in life you still have a chance to, you guessed it, change. bill didn’t do too bad for himself now did he?
moving is a bitch
you really never realize how much stuff you have until it is packed in about a hundred boxes, loaded in a truck and taken across town. then, unloaded and taken into your new home. wow, do we have a ton of crap. its really amazing to see. the moving process has taken six days and on sunday it took almost nine hours to load up the truck, move, and unload and get everything in the door. all of this for a move in the same city and less than two miles from old place to new.
please, if i ever talk about moving again anytime in the next hundred years, just kill me and spare me the misery. i don’t know what’s worse, moving your own stuff or watching four trained monkeys move your stuff for you. seriously, to call the movers we had monkeys is really an insult to monkeys who are smarter than these four guys that came to “help” us.
they were nice enough the way a small child can be nice. let’s just say they were lacking a little something in the brain power department. fortunately, they didn’t seem to do any real damage to anything except a few scratches here and there. besides the movers themselves, we also had trouble with the moving truck which decided not to start for a few minutes after it was completely loaded and ready to go.
the thought of having to unload all the stuff again and then load it into a replacement truck was almost too much for mew to take. fortunately for the movers and anyone close by, the truck finally started and we were on our way. then, art the new place they proceed to unload at a pace that can best be described as “leisurely”.
of course, i was paying by the hour so they were in no hurry. or maybe they were just tired. really, i was tired from just watching them so they really could have been tired and not just taking their time. i choose the latter and give them the benefit of the doubt. tired it is. i guess that makes me a jerk for thinking they were trying to milk it for more dough. oh well, i’ve been called worse.
anyway, time to go back to the unpacking and try to see where all of this stuff goes. i hope we have enough room for all of it. keep your fingers crossed.
Dizzy or whatever
for the last few weeks i have been, for lack of a better word, seasick. its odd to feel a sensation of movement even when you are not moving. i“m not experiencing the ”sick“ part of seasick but i definitely feel as if i am on a boat. it comes and goes but it started, coincidentally, after i got off an extended stay on a boat.
a few weeks ago we went on a cruise with my parents for their 50th anniversary. i have been on boats many, many times before and had no ill effects. this trip, an eight day-er to mexico, was the first time. everything was fine for the first several days. in fact, almost to the end. however, that wasn’t to be the case eventually.
monday night, two days before we got back, i experienced some ”whatever“ which felt like seasickness so i had to get up, walk around and basically kill a few hours before i could go back to the cabin and finally get some sleep. good times.
now, for the last few weeks i still feel like i am on a boat. moving around, etc. i can’t explain it. its not terrible. more annoying than anything. its especially annoying at night when i try to go to sleep. although, eventually i can.
the really odd part is that claritin (an allergy drug) actually makes the symptoms all but disappear. and, for the last week or so i felt basically fine and was getting back to normal. that is until last night. last night is was back and it took a long time to get to sleep while i rocked with the boat that isn’t really there.
anyway, i’m going to see an ear doctor tomorrow to hopefully figure out what the heck is going on. its a problem for me as i like being able to move around and i like being able to sleep at night. so, this needs to be addressed. and soon.
perhaps there are other people out there that have had similar things happen to them. if so, please feel free to speak up and let me know as i like more information. anything constructive or informative is a good thing.
sorry to dwell on my problems but sometimes you just want to get things out there and talk about them if possible. no reason to keep stuff a secret, especially if someone has a good bit of information.
i’ll be back to the usual ramblings any day now . . . oh, and no more cruises. . . . ever.