Chris Ullrich @ micro dot blog

Chargers 20, Broncos 17. Looks good for the playoffs. Despite what the “experts” say, my team looks good. I think I better start saving my pennies to buy “Big Game” tickets. I hear they are pretty expensive. . .

I never eat lunch at home. Well, almost never. Lunch is one of those meals that’s fun to have out. Let’s face it, I like to eat out so really every meal is fun to have out. Lunch, though, is my particular favorite.

What’s so special about it? Your just going to a place and eating food, right? That’s a big part of it, of course. I like to go and eat food with friends and talk about this or that. So, it becomes more of a social occasion and a chance to catch up on the latest news or the latest gadget or the latest whatever. It’s about coming together as a group and interacting.

Take today, for example. ADD, J-Rod, the wife and I went to one of our favorite places in Studio City, LaLa’s. It’s an Argentine style grill like Gaucho Grill (another popular LA restaurant) only much better. The food is great and so is the service. I think much of the great service has to do with the fact that we have gone there at least once a week for over three years. That doesn’t take away from the fact that its a great place to go. If it wasn’t good, we wouldn’t have gone there so much.

Of course, for many people in this town, lunch is about business. As this town is all about showbiz, closing the “big deal” or convincing Colin Farrell to be in your movie are all part of the lunch experience. Seeing and being seen is also part of it. Where do you sit and with whom is very important to many LA “industry” guys and gals.

You’ve seen them if you’ve been in LA for very long. The middle-aged “Producer” sitting at a table with two very young and hot blondes talking loudly about his big deal with “Steven” so that everyone has to look . Or, the hot Director du jour sitting, sunglasses on, arguing with his “Manager” about why he should get final cut on his first film because “Quentin” got it and he made such a “kick ass” short film at the Los Angeles Film School.

Or, the aging male former action star trying not to be recognized by his teeming mass of “fans” but secretly praying he will be. Proving he hasn’t been forgotten. Or, a moderately successful sitcom star who gets angry when he has to wait for anything and feels he has to say “do you know who I am?” to anyone within earshot. Yeah, I know who you are. I just don’t give a crap and I never watch your show anyway.

See, lunch can be an experience. Sometimes its just food. And sometimes, it can be life or death.

I never eat lunch at home. Well, almost never. Lunch is one of those meals that’s fun to have out. Let’s face it, I like to eat out so really every meal is fun to have out. Lunch, though, is my particular favorite.

What’s so special about it? Your just going to a place and eating food, right? That’s a big part of it, of course. I like to go and eat food with friends and talk about this or that. So, it becomes more of a social occasion and a chance to catch up on the latest news or the latest gadget or the latest whatever. It’s about coming together as a group and interacting.

Take today, for example. ADD, J-Rod, the wife and I went to one of our favorite places in Studio City, LaLa’s. It’s an Argentine style grill like Gaucho Grill (another popular LA restaurant) only much better. The food is great and so is the service. I think much of the great service has to do with the fact that we have gone there at least once a week for over three years. That doesn’t take away from the fact that its a great place to go. If it wasn’t good, we wouldn’t have gone there so much.

Of course, for many people in this town, lunch is about business. As this town is all about showbiz, closing the “big deal” or convincing Colin Farrell to be in your movie are all part of the lunch experience. Seeing and being seen is also part of it. Where do you sit and with whom is very important to many LA “industry” guys and gals.

You’ve seen them if you’ve been in LA for very long. The middle-aged “Producer” sitting at a table with two very young and hot blondes talking loudly about his big deal with “Steven” so that everyone has to look . Or, the hot Director du jour sitting, sunglasses on, arguing with his “Manager” about why he should get final cut on his first film because “Quentin” got it and he made such a “kick ass” short film at the Los Angeles Film School.

Or, the aging male former action star trying not to be recognized by his teeming mass of “fans” but secretly praying he will be. Proving he hasn’t been forgotten. Or, a moderately successful sitcom star who gets angry when he has to wait for anything and feels he has to say “do you know who I am?” to anyone within earshot. Yeah, I know who you are. I just don’t give a crap and I never watch your show anyway.

See, lunch can be an experience. Sometimes its just food. And sometimes, it can be life or death.

Bush taps former NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik to be the new Czar of Homeland Security. He took care of business during and after 9/11 and went to Iraq to train the Iraqi police force. Not a job for the timid as they seem to get blown up quite a bit.

So, despite being a Republican, he seems like an excellent choice. Maybe he will be more interesting than Tom Ridge. Hopefully more effective too.

And, the Canadian iTunes music store is now officially open, eh? Sorry, my wife has relatives from Canada so I can make fun of them. They are funny after all. However, I really do like some things about Canada. . . Give me a minute . . . Well, moving on . . .

Also, Microsoft launched their new blogging service called MSN Spaces. Unfortunately, it has a few drawbacks. Among them is the fact that some words are censored by the site, including words on the famous Seven Dirty Words list. Also, a few random other words or phrases that don’t necessarily have a logic to them.

The worst part though it that everything you post there is owned by Microsoft, as evidenced by this terms of use statement:

“For materials you post or otherwise provide to Microsoft related to the MSN Web Sites (a “Submission”), you grant Microsoft permission to (1) use, copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, modify, translate and reformat your Submission, each in connection with the MSN Web Sites, and (2) sublicense these rights, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law. Microsoft will not pay you for your Submission.”

I think I’ll stick to Typepad where I can use words like dick, fuck, shit and asshole and own what I write.

Dammit!

I know, I’m probably starting to sound like a broken record (starting?) but for corn sake people, go out and get a Macintosh. The study is interesting in that the Windows machines that were not compromised had an active firewall and Service Pack 2, both of which require attention by the user.

On the other hand, the Mac OSX machine was completely secure right out of the box with no firewall in place. As was the machine running Lindows (a form of Linux). So, you bring home a Mac from the store, plug it in, get on the internet and that’s it, you can go about your business.

On the other hand, bring home a Windows machine, plug it in, turn it on, and it can be compromised and hacked in less than four minutes unless you install Service Pack 2 and remember to activate or install a firewall. Now, which machine would you rather have? Ok, I’ll say it one more time for the people in the cheap seats: THE MAC.

And in other news, Tom Ridge, Homeland Czar, is stepping down. So long Tom and thanks for all the security. Actually, I think Tom was (is) a pretty decent guy who had a really tough job to do. Nobody in the intelligence “community” likes to share so that makes things pretty difficult I’m sure. We’ll see who the next person is and how well they do. John Kerry as Homeland Czar? Mmmmm.

And here’s something I don’t really understand (and neither does Pat Sajak. Yes, I said Pat Sajak. Give him a change, he makes some sense.) Dutch director Theo Van Gogh is brutally murdered while minding his own business and nobody in the Hollywood “community” says anything about it. Odd? You bet. Well, it is almost Oscar time so really, who can blame them?

Cheers.

I have emerged fully from my Thanksgiving induced food coma and am back to work (real and fun). So, let’s go to the tech news and other bits of note:

For the environmentally aware among you who also crave tasty treats, check out the human powered ice cream maker. You can walk your dog or hike in the hills and all the while, churn out creamy, icy goodness to enjoy afterward.

Also, according to a recent study, six out of ten holiday shoppers are going to be spending less this year due to concerns over cyber-security. Some of the reasons they had: concerns about identity theft (which was cited by 52 percent of respondents); fear of credit card theft (44 percent); concerns about spyware attacks (44 percent); and wariness of receiving spam from a Web site after making an online purchase (44 percent.

And, as much as I may question some of his choices as a filmmaker, Jim Cameron is right on as he talks about going to Mars and exploration in general. A good read.

Ok, that’s all for now, the damn Christmas music at my local Starbucks is really driving me nuts. Can’t there be a law that doesn’t allow Christmas music and decorations until December? I would vote for that one in a heartbeat.

Cheers.

I don’t always follow sports as I don’t play them much anymore. However, its good to see the hometown boys kick some ass.

Now first place in the AFC West. Thank you. Thank you very much. Could this be the start of a dynasty? Let’s not get our hopes too high just yet. It would be nice to see the Chargers in the “Big Game” more than once every ten or fifteen years though.

Hey, maybe they could even win it in my lifetime? Anything is possible. Hey, at least I’m not a Cubs fan.

Cheers.

Although I deal mostly with the Macintosh, I do work with Windows as well so I feel the pain for these guys. Fun way to spend a couple of days.

Ok, continue to enjoy your weekend. Cheers.

Happy Thanksgiving All. And, Happy Birthday to the Bush twins who turn 23 today. See, I’m not bitter.

The winners of the 2004 (and 59th) College Photographer of the Year have been announced. Check them out. Some great photographs.

And, more on the post from yesterday regarding iPods boosting Mac sales. It’s called momentum people.

For some of my friends who love Dr. Who, the show was first broadcast on this day in 1963. Happy anniversary Dr.

Also, in other news, Google is being sued by an adult website saying the internet search engine’s image search is delivering thumbnails of its pictures for free.

And, in TiVo news. The company ended its third quarter with 2.3 million users. That’s more than twice what it had a year ago but it still lost money in the quarter. Unfortunately, 61% of Tivos are sold through DirecTV, and Tivo only gets $1.30 a month from those customers. 

Also, large marketing expenses helped boost Tivo’s losses to $26 million last quarter, more than three times the losses of a year ago. Revenue was aldo down 11.4%. Now, they are thinking of putting banner adds on the screen when you fast-forward through commercials. I’m not sure that’s the way to keep customers and attract new ones. Has TiVo become the new Apple?

Finally, Apple’s stock price has hit a four year high due to ipod sales. An analyst at Piper Jaffray says this is for real. His research shows that ipods end up selling people on Macs. They see how great the ipod is and decide that the computer must be that great as well. Then, they buy a Mac. He’s increased his price target for the stock to $100. The stock is currently over $61.

So, take that Apple haters. As I said before, Apple isn’t going anywhere.

I’ve been waiting for this gadget to arrive for many moons. I have been searching for the perfect PDA/Phone/etc. combo and I hoped that the Treo 650 would fit the bill. But this is a bummer. Now, I don’t know what to do. Maybe it will end up not being a big deal.

Although, the Sony Ericcson P910 is starting to look better and better. Now, if only it wasn’t $800.00. Oh well, I guess you can’t have everything.

For old times sake. 101 ways to save Apple Computer. It’s fun to see what they did, if anything, and where they ended up. Doing pretty well lately. Selling all those iPods and all. My prediction: Apple is not going anywhere.

Kevin Sites talks about the Mosque shooting he first reported. And, about his critics.

I love how overpaid, pampered “athletes” act when things don’t go their way. Great example.

My big question about this though is, where the hell was security? This thing lasted several minutes with nary a security guard, cop or usher in sight. What’s going on with that?

Have a nice weekend everyone.

No, I’m not dead. Or, for that matter, sick. Or, anything else really. Just sorta out of it. I have been busy working and writing and slaving for the man. Really, since I own my own business, I guess I’m the man. Hey, my boss is a real asshole making me work so much.

I think the reason I work so hard is that I live in Los Angeles. It’s very expensive to live here. Housing is expensive. Gas is expensive. Food is expensive. It’s all very expensive. Please, those of you who live in Manhattan or San Francisco, don’t write to me and tell me that your city is more expensive and how could I say LA is expensive and blah, blah, blah.

I will go on the record right now and say that New York is a very expensive place to live and so is San Francisco. If I lived in one of those cities, I’m sure I would be working very hard as well. However, I live in LA so I will focus on that. Ok?

Today in LA it’s Saturday morning and the sun its out. I haven’t ventured outside yet but I looked out the window. Looks like a nice day. We have several things planned for today (I think). I do know that our cleaning people are coming today to do what they do best (besides move things around and not put them back where they go). Also, I’m sure we will get some lunch and then perhaps go for coffee later.

I do need to meet up with my friends Courtney and Tony to discuss Tony’s movie that he plans to shoot in December. I haven’t been keeping close tabs on it so I don’t know exactly how its going. I want to try to help so I will give them the benefit of whatever expertise I may have.

You know, I’m starting to feel like this post is not going so well. I shouldn’t write with a hangover. We went to Birds and some other bar last night for my friend J. Rod’s birthday. We had a few beers and such so that pretty much makes my brain no worky so well in the morning.

I’ll try to wake up and shake out the cobwebs and get back to you.

I’m really trying not to write about politics or the war or the election or anything that has the potential to get me down. All of these things require a great deal of thought and many times hours of research in order for me to come up with something even remotely interesting to say. Combine that with the fact that most of it is pretty depressing and you can see why I have been trying to avoid it.

Unfortunately, things have a way of changing my mind. I really want to talk about an incident that happened recently in Fallujah. Some of you may have heard that a U.S. Marine shot and killed what appeared to be an unarmed and defenseless civilian who was hiding in a Mosque. This incident would be tragic enough in itself. But to makes things far worse, we have video.

The video is not fun to watch and and if the Marine in question is found guilty of violating the rules of engagement, he should be punished. And I’m sure he will. I may not necessarily agree with his actions, but I can understand them. Our troops are thousands of miles away doing a job that no Congressmen or Senator would let their son do. It is a brutal and often terrifying conflict that must, at times, be what many imagine hell to be like.

This incident, I feel, is just one of those things that happens during war. You might not be able to defend the Marine’s actions on a moral basis, but you have to understand them on a Psychological one. Do I condone cold-blooded murder? Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t think that’s what this was.

Try fighting house to house where at any second someone could pop out and kill you or the next car you stop could explode in your face. Try doing this for months and months longer than anyone predicted with no end in sight. Then, try to understand that most of these soldiers are just kids who have never been in combat before against an enemy like this. Then, try to judge them. You can’t. We can’t.

Compare his actions with the things done at Abu Ghraib and you can see the difference. One is a judgment made under the extremist of circumstances, under the most horrific of conditions with only a fraction of a second to decide and the other is premeditated abuse and murder of prisoners who our soldiers were supposed to be protecting and caring for. I hope you will be able to see the difference.

And finally, as if the hypocrisy couldn’t get any bigger, the reporter who first blogged the story and who shot the video, Kevin Sites, is now getting death threats and verbal abuse. Come on people, he is just reporting what he saw and that’s all. It’s the people at Al Jazerra or the other networks that spin the story for their own uses that should be condemned.

Well, I tried to be upbeat but it just didn’t work. At least I learned how to spell Fallujah.

The MPAA has finally started suing “alleged” movie pirates. Good for them. Those damn college kids swapping Divix files of “XXX” or “The Whole Ten Yards” are really gonna hurt the movie business and must be stopped at all costs. Shouldn’t the MPAA spend a little less time worrying about file swapping and a little more time trying to improve the quality of films that mainstream Hollywood produces? Hell yes, brother.

I know, sometimes a great movie manages to come out of Hollywood but usually, not so much. For every “The Incredibles” or “Spider Man 2” we are subject to an “Alexander” or “Van Helsing”. Sure, some people probably like those movies but many more don’t. Yes, they open to big numbers (sometimes) but then they fall off and drop dead after the first week as soon as people start to talk about how bad they are. It’s called word of mouth. Can’t fake it. Although, the studios have tried that in the past too.

In other news, NASA’s X43A research aircraft made its third and final flight today, firing its scramjet engine at Mach 10 (7,000 MPH) or close to it, setting a new record. Good for NASA. They can always use good news.

And, it looks like Disney is going to go ahead with another sequel to “Toy Story” even without the participation of Pixar. Pixar and Disney have split and Pixar has balked at the idea of another film. But, Disney owns the rights to the franchise (as they do to most of the world). So, this would make it even harder for Disney and Pixar to patch things up. Can they work without each other? Or, will we be stuck with movies like “Shark Tale” from now on? Dreamworks, what are you thinking?

I’m not afraid to say that I love Paul Giamatti. Of course, I also love Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh and Thomas Haden Church. Why do I love these people? I love them because they are all in my new favorite movie of the year, “Sideways.” I know, the year is almost over and to declare a new favorite at this point is a little silly but still, here I am.

“Sideways” tells the story of wine-lover, High-School English teacher and failed writer Miles (played perfectly by the gifted Giamatti) who takes his buddy, former hot tv actor Jack (the never-better Haden Church) up to wine country for Jack’s last weekend of freedom before he gets married.

There they explore the nature of their failures and question their relationships. Jack has an affair and wonders whether he should call it off. Miles, recently divorced, questions whether or not he made the right choice in getting a divorce, being a writer and just about everything else in his life.

Put these actors and this simple yet touching story together with inspired direction by Alexander Payne (of “Election” and “About Schmidt”) who gets everything right and snappy, poignant writing by Payne and Jim Taylor and you have a mix as good as the best wine you have ever tasted.

I can’t lavish enough praise on this film. It was truly one of the most inspiring times I have had at the movies in some time. The cast is flawless and reaches new heights of nuance and feeling that most actors would kill for. One scene in particular makes the movie for me. Miles explains his love of Pinot Noir and has passion and feeling reveals that he’s not really talking about Pinot Noir, he’s talking about himself.

Virgina Madsen’s work in this scene is also fantastic and shows a range that she has not displayed before. This is a dream cast who make the most of their breakout roles. How many other adjectives can I use to describe the film? Many more. The best thing to do, though, is to go out and see the film and enjoy its many pleasures for yourself.

I don’t know if its too early to call it a “classic”. I hesitate to use that word. If it isn’t one now, it comes as close as you can get. In a few years, after it has aged a bit, who knows? I, for one, can’t wait to open that bottle.

Not that I think Colin Powell is a rat. I don’t. I think he is a very smart man who knows when its time to leave. He, at least, has an exit strategy. What Am I talking about? Colin is resigning. Along with three other senior Bush cabinet members.

I realize that turnover is part of any second term but does this seem like a lot? I wonder if more will come?

It’s only Monday.