DVD Spending Tab II

Second DVD purchase of the year. Yeah, I'm a Jackie Chan sucker, so cheap double-dips are always appreciated.

Jackie Chan Blu-ray 4-pack, $8.65 at Target.

Total for the year: 5 movies, $17.30 spent, $3.46/movie.

Here are my reviews for the movies included:

Project A
Project A Part 2
Operation Condor
Armour of God

Song Of The Day

"The Rain Song" by Led Zeppelin.

Run To The Light

Well, I knew that some were grabbing up the soon-to-be-outlawed 100 watt bulbs, but I didn't know this was happening:



Ten dollars for a four-pack of bulbs. Forget gold investing!

My First Siri Request

Gave my new Siri app a little test right out of the box - let's see if she knows how to do this:

"Remind me to make a doctors appointment late next September."

She almost got it right. This resulted in a reminder to make a doctors appointment, but the late part apparently didn't get handled, as it was set for midnight on September 1st. So a switch over to the reminder (fortunately, the one she created was clickable right from the Siri window, so I didn't have to back out of Siri, swipe over to the Reminders app, and dig back through to find it), and change the date to later in the month.

I was wondering if she would somehow select some date in the back half of the month for late, but I guess not. What about the end of next September? Maybe that would have worked better?

I Stand With You (From Way Over Here)

I fully support the nuttiness that is Occupy Oakland.

Just another good reason for companies to move out of California and other states that don't want them around (while simultaneously demanding more and more from them) to states like Texas, that provide a good business environment (and therefore a better living environment for its citizens).

Well done, Oakland.

Movie Review: Little Big Soldier

And now my long-delayed Jackie Chan Film Festival gets an unexpected new entry - 2010's Little Big Soldier, a Chan-written, -produced, -starring and -action-directed movie that IMDb slots in between two American films, The Spy Next Door and the remake of The Karate Kid. But this one is a Chinese production, which gives it a much larger probability of success, as his English films have definitely been hit-or-miss over the last decade or so.

And this one is definitely a hit. It's another historical entry, set in epic times, but somehow with not as large a scope as The Myth. This one concentrates on a mismatched pair of combatants, Chan's unnamed Soldier and co-star LeeHom Wang's unnamed General. They are the only survivors on opposite sides of a battle, with the Soldier portrayed as an ordinary farmer just looking to survive and escape his enlistment, and the younger General looking to use the ongoing battles to unify China.

Jackie's Soldier here is really one of his best characterizations yet - always talking to himself, giving out endless streams of sayings from his father, and doing just enough to stay alive - and hopefully keep his new captive alive long enough to collect a reward. It's been a while since he hasn't played a character who was the best fighter/spy/policeman/whatever around (maybe back to Rob-B-Hood, perhaps?), but this movie definitely shows that Jackie is more than just amazing stunts and fight sequences. In fact, he really only has a couple of fights here, and as is appropriate for his character, they are more about survival and escape than domination (and even the ones with the most technical proficiency end up being dream sequences).

But lest you think this is all broad comedy, there is actually a pretty serious side to the film also. Chan uses this situation as a commentary about the motives of leaders with respect to war, and the impact of battles on both the leaders and the common soldier. The movie ends with a crushing turnabout (which I won't spoil here) that is pretty powerful. I was really impressed in retrospec with just how many little throwaway moments from earlier points in the film led to great payoffs later on.

It doesn't quite stack up with the best of Jackie's career - as I mentioned, this isn't a film for the flashiest fight scenes (and we may be past that part of his career by this point, anyway). And the middle section of the film does drag a bit as the two men are briefly separated - they do seem to work better together. But on the whole, this is certainly Jackie's strongest film in years. Four out of five for me.

Great Moments In Technology Journalism

From some brain surgeon at ZDNet, Ken Hess:

[N]ow there’s an added bonus way to burn up that [iCloud] free space: your PC. Apple wants me to use their Cloud-based storage on all of my devices not just Apple ones. Pretty darn sneaky, if you ask me. Smart too.

...

But, the most intriguing of all is the Photo Stream part of the iCloud application.

To setup your PC to use Photo Stream, click the checkbox and then click Options to see the screen in Figure 2.

Here’s the really sneaky part: People take more photos with digital devices because it doesn’t cost anything to do so. Why is that sneaky? Because everyone wants those photos to be of the highest quality. Higher quality photos means bigger photos. Bigger photos means that they take up more space. Sneaky.

This means that you’ll burn through that five free gigabytes with one or two uploads from your iPod, iPhone, iPad or PC. You’ll have to buy more space as described in, “Avoiding the iCloud storage gotcha.”

From Apple's press release on iCloud:

the storage required by Photo Stream doesn’t count towards this 5GB total

Took me about 10 seconds on Bing to find this. I guess technology journalism is hard.

Have I Got A Deal For You

Like many new cars, my Hyundai Tuscon came with a 90-day XM trial. So I gave it a shot and generally liked it - it was miles better than the pathetic set of Austin radio stations, and did pull songs from time-to-time that weren't already on my 80 GB iPod. However, I didn't like it enough to want to pay the full $160 or so per year fee (as my friends will tell you, I'm pretty much a cheapskate).

Soon after the trial ran out, I got a call from a telemarketer for XM, who offered me a five month subscription period for $20. Well, four dollars a month is pretty different from $14, so I decided to accept that deal. They warned me that I would have to call to renew at that rate once the five months was up, and sure enough, I missed the notification. So I was automatically renewed at a rate of about $85 for six months.

OK, that was my fault, so I sucked it up, but once that six month period was about to end, I called up XM and requested a renewal at the original promotional rate, which they readily accepted. So I am back on for another five months at $20 total.

So in summary, we have here about four different subscription rates for the same service - free (for the initial trial), $4/month (for the discount renewal), $13/month (for the normal retail price), and about $15/month (the rate they renewed me at for some reason).

I find that I have a hard time trusting companies or industries that live on this kind of pricing structure - that you have to "know" how to get the good deal. You have to know the magic code, or know how to work the customer service lines, or know to get this special package, or whatever, to avoid paying double or triple the price. Other industries where this happens are airlines and hotels, for example. I don't know why some companies feel they have to hide the ball - provide a good product or service that I like, tell me what it costs, and I will make a decision. Don't make me wonder if I somehow missed the magic incantation that the guy next to me found. Don't make me wonder why you can sell me this service for $5/month when last month you charged me $15 for the same thing.

It shouldn't have to be like this. For example, compare Apple to other computer or cell phone manufacturers. Apple has a relatively small number of models, with a relatively simple number of options (usually installed disk space, memory or screen sizes). They don't have 40 varieties of touch screen models, each with slightly different sets of features. And they don't have lots of special deals - in fact, Apple clamps down pretty severely on their retailers to make sure they sell at the same price. They provide a good product and don't make it hard to purchase. Do their customers squeeze out every last penny that could by running the salesman gauntlets? No - but on the whole they are more satisfied as customers than most other companies.

The New Civility, continued

Al Gore to run a 24-hour "full-on assault" on climate skeptics?

My, my, what violent language.

When You Are A Hammer...

...everything looks like a nail.

Too many Travis County residents are going hungry unnecessarily. Sustainable Food Policy Board member Arthur D'Andrea says only 47% of Travis County residents who are eligible for food stamps actually participate in the program.

See, if the government says you are eligible for food stamps and you don't apply, then of course, you must be going hungry.

Or perhaps, you know, you have other means of support. Or the eligibility requirements are too lenient. Nah, that couldn't be it.

D'Andrea says the county leaves over 150-million in federal money on the table.

And this is a bad thing? I guess in some eyes (i.e. a bureaucrat's), it is. To a tax-payer's eyes, this is a good thing.

D'Andrea says the city needs to make it easier to apply for food stamps and get the word out what it takes to qualify for the assistance.

Look, I actually agree with this - I find it extremely easy to believe that federal, state and local governments have managed to come up with the most complex way possible to apply for aid, and streamlining it (and removing some of the associated bureaucracy) would be a good thing. But I don't think that it's a big problem that not enough people are living off on the behest of the government; quite the contrary, the problem is that too many people are. So efforts to get more people dependent on tax dollars get a thumbs down from me.

Reason #1 Why I Will Not Be On Twitter

Fox News Politics twitter account hacked.

Seems like putting your corporate or personal identity in the hands of Twitter is a bad idea.

Movie Review: Inglorious Basterds

Well, much like his prior movie Death Proof, Tarantino swings and largely misses with Inglorious Basterds. It is a better movie than Death Proof, which I found to be a few minutes of awesome sandwiched in between two long boring stretches of Quentin trying to recapture earlier successes. But that doesn't mean that Basterds turns out to be better. The lengthy stretches of dialog do a better job of building up the tension, at least when there are Nazis present. But much of it just lies there, waiting for something to happen. I'm sure the movie insiders appreciate the various discussions of cinema, and probably treat the whole exercise as some kind of fable on the role of movies in society...but for me, I found myself reaching for the fast forward button.

That's not to say the movie has no moments. The concluding scenes, especially a shot with a movie projected onto the smoke in a burning theater, are suitably eerie. But as with Death Proof, the good moments are few and far between.

And whoever thought sticking in a Mike Myers cameo was a good idea...they're fired. Two stars.

Still Alive

Not that anyone really cares, I am still alive. Still employed (having dodged at least 4 layoff sweeps now). Still addicted to World of Warcraft (which is why my Jackie Chan Film Festival has not made any progress recently - just can't get excited enough to watch Who Am I?).

But someday, it will happen.

Misfire Ahead

From Variety via Ain't It Cool News comes word that a movie featuring Donald Westlake's classic hard-nosed thief Parker is now beginning pre-production. And sadly, it appears already that it will suck.

I love these series of books, which mostly appeared back in the late 60's and 70's, and then were recently revived in a somewhat new continuity by Westlake during the 2000's. Various books from the series have been adapted before, most famously with Mel Gibson in the lead (although renamed to "Porter") in Payback.

Although short, the Variety piece already throws up two big red flags for me. First, the lead will be taken by Jason Statham. Let's put aside for a moment that Parker is American, and I don't see Statham changing his accent any time soon. Statham has developed over the years into a big, fairly flashy action star. That isn't Parker. Parker and his teams aren't guns-blazing, explosion-blasting types. They are thieves - break in (preferably when few people are around), get control of the situation, get the loot, get out. I don't see Parker getting into any ten-minute long fist and gun fights, and that's where Statham's career has taken him now. I'd rather see someone with a little more quiet intensity. I actually picture someone like a younger Lance Henriksen, rather than Jason Statham.

Second, as taken from the article:

Pic, based on the book series by Donald Westlake, revolves around a thief who, though at times is forced to be a killer, still lives by a code of honor that includes never stealing money from people who need it. His word is his bond, and if he is crossed he will strike back relentlessly.

No.

This guy isn't some kind of Robin Hood guy. He doesn't steal from "the rich" (and keep for himself). He steals from whomever has money - sometimes it's a rich person, sometimes it's a legitimate business, sometimes a bank, sometimes a racetrack...he isn't an altruist.

His "code of honor" is simple - get out of the job alive. He doesn't kill without reason, but that's because killing usually adds complications to a job (the police tend to treat murder a bit more seriously than a theft). He has an implicit "word" with his co-conspirators, but he keeps one eye on them just as much as on his victims. He's not out to screw his partners over, but if they step even a bit out of line, he's fully prepared to look out for Number One. So this view of Parker as some kind of "noble thief" shows that the writer is already off the tracks.

This won't be the worst Westlake adaptation by a long shot - I couldn't get through more than a few minutes of What's The Worst That Could Happen (which took his comic thief Dortmunder and turned him into, shudder, Martin Lawrence). But I'm not looking for it to go high on the list, either.

Now In Color!

I haven't had any real problems with my Sony Bravia HDTV (model KDL-52W5100), which has two types of internet capabilities. First, it has native "apps", which are accessed through Sony's XMB interface (the same one they use on the Playstation 3). Most of these apps simply access feeds (RSS or something similar) from various audio/video serving sites and provide a simple folder-based browsing interface to drill down to specific content. These all generally work well (with the exception of the DLNA server support, which is still a fairly hit-or-miss affair for some reason).

Second, it has Yahoo Connected TV widgets. These are small apps that can be popped up over part or all of the screen, and can access various internet-served data, videos, pictures, games, and so on. As opposed to the native apps, these Yahoo widgets are uniformly bad. The startup time to bring up either the widget engine as a whole, or individual widgets, is unacceptably long. The functionality of the individual apps is generally limited (since you only have the TV remote as an input). I don't really do Facebook or Twitter, so I can't say if those apps work better than the others, but so far I haven't found any reason to bring up the Yahoo apps beyond the first couple of attempts.

But via Engadget HD, it appears that Sony is going to try and see if someone will pay for these apps going forward. It's an obvious move - any revenue stream in a storm - but these things aren't even worth the $1 purchase price I wouldn't think twice about clicking for on the iTunes App Store, for example. Unless Yahoo has some kind of major revamp in place (and the screenshots provided don't really indicate that), or unless the next generation of Sony HDTVs has substantially more CPU power under the hood (which is certainly possible), I personally would stay away.

Also unanswered is how much of these upgrades and improvements will be pushed back to older models. I'm not one of those people that insists on endless free upgrades on everything I buy forever and ever - just curious on how much of this is just a software push versus being dependent on new hardware.

Morning Constitutional

On the idiot convention that is C-SPAN's Washington Journal, I've already heard two callers on the Democrat line describe themselves as poor, wondering why the evil rich guys won't pay their fair share. Putting aside the stupidity of their assertion that "the rich" aren't paying enough (when the top 1% pays over 40% of the income tax), my first thought was...if you are poor, how on earth are you watching C-SPAN?

The C in C-SPAN stands for Cable. It is a cable channel. You must pay someone - Time Warner, Comcast, AT&T, whoever - a monthly subscription fee in order to watch it. And it isn't a trivial amount, it's at least $20 a month and probably much more.

If you are spending money on cable television, you are not poor. Cable television is not a basic fundamental right, it is not a basic utility like electricity or water. It is a luxury.

Obama (and Democrats in general) want to redefine poor upwards - to have more people believe themselves to be incapable of supporting themselves without help from the government. Multiple cars, a house, cable TV, high-speed internet - these are all things that "the poor" have to have, meaning (a) if you don't have them, the government has to supply them, and (b) even if you do have them, you still should consider yourself as wards of the government. Those are both ruinous ideas for the long-term financial viability of the country.

If you call up C-SPAN and complain about being one of "the poor" that need Obama to reach into my wallet to keep you afloat....well, now I know you are full of it.

Great Ideas In Broadcasting

The Science Channel (which, of course, features less and less actual science content each week) has apparently decided to rename itself.

To Science.

In how many ways is this dumb? Too many to count, but the first one to occur to me is - won't this change make it harder to search for content on their website via search engines? You've just changed your name to a generic word, and not one (like Apple or Windows) that you already have a large web presence in.

Oh, and then there's this: "The [new] interactive logo, called 'Morph,' will change shape, texture and sound to represent 'the potential of the future while displaying a willingness to reshape current reality.'" I'm guessing someone doesn't know what the word interactive means; they most likely meant dynamic or something similar. If I can somehow affect the behavior of their on-screen bug with my remote, I'll be mighty impressed.

But it gets even better: "Dropping 'Channel' from the network name was done to better reflect the new programming launched in the first quarter like An Idiot Abroad and Firefly that are on the edges of science, says Debbie Adler Myers, executive VP and general manager of Science."

You are going to 'the edges of science' (whatever that means), and you can better indicate that by....removing all words except Science from your name?

Well, all they had to do was be less stupid than Syfy, so....mission accomplished.

I Told Them So

I gave the Longhorns some advice last week: "Don't make the judge have to think." Last night, they failed to take that advice, and as a result, they will watch the rest of the tournament at home.

It happens that sometimes you will have a referee that can't count to five. I know, I know, it seems like a simple enough task. But you might surprised how many people can't accomplish that single goal - and they're all around you, driving and (shudder) voting.

The fact is: the Horns lost this game back in the first half, scoring a pathetic 25 points. So many games this year, they came out and dominated in the first few minutes, leaving enough slack at the end of the game so that it didn't matter if they had a ref that didn't seem to understand one of the most basic rules there is in the game.

But this time around, they decided to take the first half off and then ride J'Coven Brown during the second half to barely take the lead in the last minute. And that means that the referee's basic incompetency now comes into play, with the result being what happened on Sunday night.

"Don't make the judge have to think." Because more often than not, they aren't really capable of it.

Just Like Old Times

Thanks to a combination of $3.34/gal gas and my running down to the last notch on my fuel gauge, I just had my first $40 fillup since...well, since the last time gas jumped up over $3.00. Of course, back then I had my PT Cruiser GT, which used premium gas, and now I'm back down to regular.

Good Advice

Some griping is taking place about the Longhorns dropping down to a number 4 seed in the NCAA tournament. I do dog obedience training (currently struggling through with the New Fierce Corgi), and the best piece of advice I ever received was "Don't make the judge have to think".

For example, on a retrieval exercise, the dog is supposed to fetch the dumbbell, return to the handler promptly, stop within reach, and allow the handler to take the dumbbell. So....what if the dog stops to look around some? What if I have to lean over a bit to reach the dumbbell because the dog stopped a little too soon? What if...?

"Don't make the judge have to think."

Train the dog to do the correct thing, so that you don't have to worry about these kind of scenarios.

It's the same thing in the tournament. Texas faltered down the stretch, for the second straight year. They were sitting on top of their conference, and on top of the polls, and then they started losing. To teams they shouldn't have lost to.

In short, they gave the conference selection committee an excuse to think. And it cost them.

Maybe sometime, Rick Barnes will figure out how to close the deal with these guys. But it wasn't this year, and now it's cost the Horns.

But...for what it's worth, both Woody Paige and Tim Cowlishaw picked Texas to (gulp) beat Duke in their regional on Around The Horn yesterday. I don't think I'm buying it, myself.

DVD Spending Tab I

My first purchase of the year. I really dialed back last year, but maybe Blu-Ray prices will keep dropping so that even a cheapskate like me will start picking them up.

Memento, 10th Anniversary Blu-Ray, $8.65 at Costco

That's Some Blatant False Advertising

Perusing my Mac news aggregator this morning, I came across an announcement of a new app - CandyLand for iPhone! I've indulged some nostalgia purchases, like The Game of Life, Battleship and Dragon's Lair, so I figured I could probably drop a dollar or two to relive the classic board game for a little while.

Sadly, this is not the original board game. Instead, it appears to be a Frogger knock-off.

Another childhood memory sullied by naked capitalism. Let the lawsuits begin, Hasbro!

Setting Plans

Austin City Council to spend $4.1 million to convince residents to vote on yet another failed rail system. Not that it takes much to get the typical Austinite to vote to spend money on wasted efforts to look more like Portland or Seattle or San Francisco or whichever left-coast city is the current "new hotness".

I see that my next city council vote is going to look a lot like my last few - vote the incumbents out.

It's All Relative

From my iTunes library...

Mother (26 songs):

Mother - The Police
Mother - Pink Floyd
Mother - Danzig
Mother and Child - Porcupine Tree
Mother and Child Reunion - Paul Simon
Mother Focus - Focus
Mother Nature's Son - The Beatles
Mother Popcorn - James Brown
Mother's Daughter - Santana
Mother's Little Helper - The Rolling Stones
Atom Heart Mother - Pink Floyd
No Sugar Tonight / New Mother Nature - The Guess Who
That Was Your Mother - Paul Simon
Your Mother Should Know - The Beatles
Mama - Genesis
Mama Kin - Aerosmith
Mama Tried - Merle Haggard
Boboom / Mama Said - The Vaughan Brothers
Crazy Mama - The Rolling Stones
Lawdy Mama - Cream
Mean Little Mama - Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings
Party At Your Mama's House - Widespread Panic
Red Hot Mama / Worry - Widespread Panic
Red Light Mama, Red Hot - Humble Pie
Shine On Mama - Agents of Good Roots
That's All Right (Mama) - Elvis Presley

Sister (8 songs):

Sister Christian - Night Ranger
Sister Golden Hair - America
Sister Lost Soul - Alejandro Escovedo
Babylon Sisters - Steely Dan
Dance Little Sister - The Rolling Stones
Look At Little Sister - Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
Sweet Soul Sister - The Cult
Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock And Roll) - Elton John

Son (7 songs):

Son of a Son of a Sailor - Jimmy Buffett
Son of Neckbone - Beastie Boys
Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas
Mean Son of a Gun - Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
Mother Nature's Son - The Beatles
Sacrificed Sons - Dream Theater
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - Iron Maiden

Father (5 songs);

Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More - Steely Dan
Can't You Hear Your Daddy's Heartbeat - The Steve Miller Band
Dreams Of Our Fathers - The Dave Matthews Band
Honor Thy Father - Dream Theater
Song For My Father - Victor Wooten

Daughter (3 songs):

Devil & Daughter - Black Sabbath
Madonna's Daughter - David Knopfler
Mother's Daughter - Santana

Brother (3 songs):

Brothers - The Vaughan Brothers
Brothers In Arms - Dire Straits
Sin's A Good Man's Brother - Grand Funk Railroad

Uncle (3 songs):

Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey - Paul McCartney
Uncle John's Band - Grateful Dead
Uncle Walley - Unphrey's McGee

Aunt (2 songs):

Aunt Avis - Widespread Panic
Gigolo Aunt - Syd Barrett


Cousin (1 song):

Cousin Dupree - Steely Dan

Grandfather (1 song):

Grandfather's Waltz - Bill Evans

Sorry, Grandma - no songs for you.

Technology At The Speed Of Government

I got a message on one of my bloglists that the hearing to decide one of the last remaining races from the 2010 elections, for Texas House District 48, was going to be streaming on-line. This is a local race here in Austin, featuring Republican Dan Neil trying to overcome a 12-vote margin against Donna Howard. As usual for Democrat races, military ballots are at issue.

I was pretty surprised to see that there would be streaming for a relatively small sub-committee, so I headed over to the page to see what was there. I was even more surprised to see this:

The RealPlayer or RealOne Player software from Real Networks is required to access video/audio broadcasts.

There's someone in the world still using RealPlayer? I didn't even know it still existed, but I guess it still does. With all the drama over embedded video standards in HTML5, I'll have to admit I haven't heard anybody wondering (or caring) if .ram files would be supported.

State Government - rocking the Internet like it's 1998!

Microsoft OneNote for the iPhone - First Impressions

I see that Microsoft has now released a version of OneNote for the iPhone. Being an avid user of what I consider the single best piece of software to come out of Redmond, I quickly downloaded a copy. First impressions:

• It requires a Microsoft Live ID to use, as it stores all of the documents "in the cloud". I wonder if Microsoft will release any numbers about how many new IDs are generated by this app?
• Once logged on, sure enough, my existing notebooks dutifully appeared...after a while. Syncing up initially was a pretty slow process, considering I don't have many notebooks stored on Microsoft's web drive (is it still called SkyDrive? I don't remember).
• Opening a fairly large workspace was also relatively slow to do. I'll have to see how well incremental syncs in the future perform.
• Formatting appears to be mostly lost in this view. No bold-face or italics, and sadly, no tables. The fairly easy freeform table creation is one of my favorite parts of OneNote, but in the iPhone version, the tables are only represented by "[table]".
• Oddly enough, some graphics (mostly screenshots) were displayed and others were not, with not even a placeholder present in the doc for the missing ones. Tapping an image displayed it in a separate page, where it could be rotated, pinch-zoomed, etc. The main document as a whole can be rotated, but pinch-zoom doesn't appear to work.
• It has buttons to add images, bullet lists and check boxes, but not any other formatting that I could see. I don't know if it supports image capture through the camera since I am testing on an iPod touch 3GS which has no camera.

So, on the whole, for me I can see this as a moderately useful viewer app for (parts of ) my stored notebooks, and maybe for jotting down quick notes that I would like to access from other cloud clients. But I'm not particularly a "power user" of OneNote, and even for me there are gaps that prevent this from acting as a first-class client (table support being the main gap).

However, it's only version one - Microsoft never gets it usable until version three. Suffice it to say, I'll be looking forward for the next two releases more than this one.

Not A Good Start

Good News: Having January 3rd off as a holiday.

Bad News: Forgetting about that fact until you get back in the office on the 3rd.