Tikkabik

A special spot in hell should be reserved for whichever sadist it was that invented those little labels they stick on fruit so the cashiers know how to ring them up. It's impossible to get them off without a pair of tweezers sometimes, and it's almost completely impossible to remove them from soft, ripe fruit like the succulent black plums taunting me right now, sitting in the bowl on my kitchen counter.

You figure that in an age of genetically modified food, can't some mad scientist at ADM or somewhere else come up with a fruit skin that already has a bar code or produce code embedded on it?

Posted by flargh at 02:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Okay, this definitely ranks as one of the worst ideas ever. At the very least, it's so morbid, it's chilling.

Memorial Gems purport to be "diamonds infused with the essence of your loved one." Essentially, these things are manufactured heirloom-quality diamonds (if I understand correctly) that incorporate a couple of grams of your Dear Departed within.

Apparently you can have carat weights anywhere from 1/4 to 2 carats ("Choose the carat weight that reflects your devotion," says the site ... "Gee, I really hated Aunt Esther. I guess I'll only get a 1/4 carat diamond with her inside ..."), and everything from the traditional round cut to the classified-as-a-deadly-weapon-in-13-states-style Marquise. You can even simulate colors ranging from sky blue to cognac. Have jaundiced old Uncle Martin preserved forever in a yellow round cut, to remind you that he died of liver failure!

The Web site is rife with banner art showing loving adult children clutching their graying elders lovingly while wearing the jewelry. Which makes me wonder -- who's on their fingers? The other parent? And why are these folks grabbing their parents like that? Is it to say, "All right, you wrinkly old fuck -- into the oven with you! I need a new set of earrings!"

The whole thing is just weird.

Posted by flargh at 08:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Lawyers are, for the most part, pigs, but this guy is A-fuckin'-okay in my book.

Posted by flargh at 09:37 AM | Permalink

Bonnie and I detest shopping during the holidays. The crush of people, the endless loops of faux-cheery Christmas music, the gaudy red velvet and gold trim decorations. It's all too much. Call me a Scrooge if you want, but I do think it's a lot of humbug -- tricking people into spending wads of cash they, for the most part, just don't have in order to assuage their guilt about being absentee parents or thoughtless lovers for the rest of the year. Though the whole giving and receiving of presents thing has its rewards, however, especially for parents.

We like to be done with our Christmas shopping no later than Thanksgiving. That way, when everyone is herding into the malls looking for deals, we don't have to. It's less stress in our lives. Bonnie is also frightfully frugal. She could write a book -- in fact, I've urged her to -- about how to save money. When she sees good deals, she wants to jump at them. So there's no time of the year when it doesn't creep into our minds to start squirrelling stuff away for Christmas, and this year is no exception.

So, with that in mind, I've already bought the kids a couple of Christmas presents. When we were passing by Radio Shack last weekend, I saw in their window an exclusive merchandising deal they're doing -- a radio controlled car called Brum. Brum is this import from the UK, and James loves it: He's this little jalopy that saves the day in various ways. It's adorable, and now I have Brum put away for Christmas. The second thing I just ordered today: KB Toys had a deal on the Harry Potter Hogwarts Express electric train. It'll go to Bob. I think I was about his age when I started playing with model railroads. I figure I'll put a table somewhere down in the basement -- maybe with a big piece of plywood over it -- that we can use to set up the trains.

Posted by flargh at 09:03 AM | Permalink

Personally, I think the U.S. Coast Guard should have let these guys stay in the U.S. just on the principle of the thing.

Any way you slice it, converting a '51 Chevy pickup into a watercraft by strapping 55 gallon oil drums to the side and hooking up a propeller to the drive shaft is a damn cool hack.

Posted by flargh at 03:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Executives at Paramount Pictures this week blamed lackluster sales and poor reviews of the Eidos Interactive video game Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness for the poor showing of its own movie, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life.

Now, Tomb Raider is published by Activision rival Electronic Arts, so there's no direct connection between Star Trek and Lara Croft. But I can't help feeling that it's a case of sour grapes from Paramount, directed to the video game market in general.

See, this past spring, Paramount's parent company Viacom was sued by game maker Activision for breach of contract. Activision (rightfully, in my opinion) alleges that Paramount has allowed the Star Trek franchise to whither and die -- and after absolutely wretched, diseased pigs like Enterprise and Star Trek Nemesis, who can blame them?

Activision, meanwhile, is turning out modestly decent games based on arguably the shittiest Star Trek franchise of them all -- the aborted mongoloid fetus known as Star Trek Voyager. It's turned out a few failures, too, but still, it's batting better averages than Paramount, which, as far as I'm concerned, gave up any semblance of creative effort when it shitcanned Deep Space Nine and really should have given up the movie franchise all together after The Wrath of Khan.

As it turns out, there's a lot of money at stake -- Activision still owes Viacom something like $9 million in royalties over the next 5 years for their rights to make Star Trek games. Sources close to the action say that Activision tried to renegotiate its deal with Viacom after producing a few stinkers; Viacom promptly told them to piss up a rope. And with millions on the line with Tomb Raider's poor opening, Paramount is trying to find anyone to blame.

The fact is, there's plenty of blame to go around -- both big game publishers and big movie studios are utterly devoid of creativity these days. The unimaginative heads of these companies are willing to plough absurd amounts of money into established franchises without any real thought of what makes movies entertaining or fun to begin with. In the movie studios' case, they're banking on the fact that big stars are going to draw people into the theaters, and in the video game makers' cases they presume that if they license the same tired old technology and a moderately popular movie or TV-show tie in, then slap some pretty new graphics on it, they can get people to play it.

It's sad, really. For a pair of industries that have been built on creativity, there's precious little imagination apparent in either movies or video games. I blame the MBAs and the financiers.

Posted by flargh at 03:30 PM | Permalink

Latest on my list of people to kill when I am king are the marketing geniuses responsible for Toyota's current ad campaign, which uses a compressed version of "All Summer Long" by the Beach Boys.

Now, I don't like the Beach Boys under the best circumstances. Never have, and despite my wife's attempts to train me otherwise, probably never will. Find the harmonies and the voices and the songwriting to be annoying, irritating crap. Just not my thing. No offense to those that like them, I just don't.

But not only does Toyota have to use this song over and over again, they have to buy ad time on television with almost EVERY commercial break during the day. I've never seen anything like it.

If they were going to saturate the market this much, I wish they'd at least had the sense to sit back and say, "You know what? If we blast the Beach Boys every ten minutes throughout the day, people are going to get ripshit before too long. Maybe we ought to mix it up with a few other memorable summer jingles."

At least that way I'd be getting ready to cut my own wrists every time I heard Jan and Dean's "Surf City" cue up too.

Christ, I HATE surf music.

Posted by flargh at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Bob turns eight today. It's a fun age. I think that James was more excited about Bob's birthday than Bob was -- from the second I got up, James was asking about Bob's presents.

Bob got this really cool Spider-Man folder from my aunt and uncle, and a savings bond from his great-grandmother. From us, he got a couple of video games he'd wanted, a board game of one of his favorite book series (A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket) and the coup de grace -- a remote controlled robot toy that's voice activated. All told, he seems pleased with the stuff -- particularly a Game Link cable that will let his sister and him play with each other via their Game Boy Advances.

Our tradition is that the birthday person gets whatever they want for dinner, and Bob has chosen Friendly's, which is fine. That also means ice cream cake for dessert, which makes Bonnie happy.

Posted by flargh at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

...who went to see Lara Croft: Cradle of Life last night at the same time Bonnie and I did:

Flashing your little laser pointer at the screen during the movie is not a clever act of social disruption. It's irritating. It marks you as an inconsiderate and rather stupid malcontent. You and your friends may have gotten a little giggle out of pointing out where Lara's tits and ass were, though I assure you that no one else in the theater had any trouble finding them without your assistance.

And when one patron ended up getting the manager to put an end to your hijinks, it wasn't The Man trying to put you down. It was a socially acceptable alternative to what most of us wanted to do: Throttle your scrawny little neck until your eyes popped out of their sockets then shove that laser pointer as far up your ass as we could reach.

As far as the movie itself was concerned, it was okay. Not the best action movie I've ever seen, but a step above a lot of others. Better than the first, probably, except for a few excrutiatingly awkward moments of stock footage. (Lara's in the African savannah ... which looks disturbingly like a Hollywood backlot ... reaction shot, LARA ... stock footage of an elephant thundering away ... reaction shot, LARA ... stock footage of monkeys playing in trees, etc). Jan De Bont certainly didn't butcher it like I expected him to, after the disaster that was Speed 2.

Fleshing out a relationship between Lara and good guy turned bad Terry Sheridan (Scottish actor Gerard Butler) helped to build some character development, which is more than the first movie had, but there was still tons of sometimes improbable action sequences mixed with the posturing and posing we've come to expect of Angelina Jolie in this particular vehicle. But the fact is, this is a popcorn movie in its purest form, designed for teenagers. If you go expecting high art, you'll be bitterly disappointed.

I was also happy to see Chris Barrie (Hillary, Lara's faithful butler and majordomo ... Rimmer of Red Dwarf fame) and Noah Taylor (Bryce, Lara's resident tech wizard) get more screentime than before. You know, Taylor in particular is a pretty heavy hitter -- he played Hitler in "Max." If they're going to do a third movie in this franchise, it'd be nice to see him given even more to do.

Posted by flargh at 09:11 AM | Permalink

So, I have this kick-ass rig I'm very proud of. I've owned it for about a year. It's a "Quicksilver" Power Mac G4 -- 1GHz dual processor system, with a 22-inch Cinema Display. The way it's configured it's about a $6,000 rig. Unfortunately, I can't get AppleCare -- Apple's extended warranty -- to cover it if it ever breaks.

You have twelve months from the time of purchase of any Apple hardware, either from Apple or an authorized reseller, to get AppleCare. Customarily, Apple sends out owners of its equipment a notice a couple of months before the warranty expires to let them know the system's warranty is about to run out. Apple urges its customers to buy AppleCare, which charges a flat rate for several years of extended warranty coverage.

I'm not a big believer in extended warranties on disposable consumer items like telephones or microwave ovens, but on computers it makes sense: $350 to cover a $6000 machine for three years makes sense, especially given the knowledge that as enough time passes, things *will* fail.

Unfortunately, there was a snafu along the way -- apparently Apple failed to process my warranty registration. I did it online, the day I hooked the machine up. I remember it. I do it for every piece of Apple hardware that passes through my office. So they never notified me that the Power Mac G4's warranty was about to expire. And when I called my local dealership to ask about AppleCare, they gave me the bad news -- my Mac is now one month out of warranty, so I can't get AppleCare.

I even called AppleCare administration directly, but they told me the same thing -- Apple doesn't bend the rules for anyone, under any circumstances, when it comes to actually buying the plan.

So I'm screwed. The upshot is that the Power Mac has been a reliable system. I just hope it continues, at least until I'm flush enough to buy one of those snazzy new G5s. Hopefully not for a year or two, though...

Posted by flargh at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I travel enough to know that sometimes you'll run out of cell phone battery juice before you run out of laptop battery juice. I also hate to carry AC adapters with me, because those big blocks on the end are ugly and awkward. That's why I consider Keyspan's new USB cell phone charger cables nifty.

Posted by flargh at 04:57 PM | Permalink

For the past couple of years, we've taken the week off after Macworld Expo to recuperate. It's done two things: First of all, it's given us all excuses to take vacations. It's also shut the MacCentral site down completely, and for a daily news site, that's kind of awkward.

The fact is, many of our readers don't realize that the site is basically run by three people -- Dennis and I write a lot of the stuff, Jim posts sometimes. We'll cull stories from IDG News Service, as we're part of that organization, and we'll occasionally use stringers. But for the most part, it's just the three of us. So when any one of us goes on vacation, it's usually to the detriment of the sanity of the other other two. In that respect, it actually makes a lot of sense to furlough, to force us all to take downtime together.

On the other hand, our readers are accustomed to coming to the site every day or almost every day to read what's going on in the Mac universe. And if they don't get it from us, they're bound to get it somewhere else. And there's always the slim chance that they'll keep getting it somewhere else even once we come back.

So this year, we did things differently.

This is the first time in a few years that we've kept the site open the week after Macworld. And, for the second time in two weeks, I've been unexpectedly surprised in a good way. Last week, it was because I got a lot more out of Macworld CreativePro than I had been expecting; this week it's because there's a lot more news out there than I had anticipated.

I'm not saying it's the most substantive week for Apple-related news, because it's not. But there have been a few interesting announcements that have made it worthwhile to "keep the doors open" so to speak, and I'm awfully glad we have. If for no other reason, it's nice to settle back into a routine after having that routine disrupted all last week.

Posted by flargh at 03:12 PM | Permalink

So we have this raccoon who is obsessed with our trash cans. Every night -- EVERY NIGHT -- has knocks one of the cans over and struggles with it until he gets the lid off.

The other night I chased him off into the woods. I heard him rustling around out there and threw the light on, then opened the door and went outside, to see him loping off into the back yard. That didn't dissuade him, however, because after I went to bed, he was back.

He's a crafty little bastard. Our trash cans are plastic, but they use locking lids that turn 90 degrees. What's more, indentations in the lids snap the handle into place, so it's double-locked. But somehow, he figures a way through this apparatus and into the wonders beyond.

And it isn't just that he just helps himself to a few rotting trifles, either. The furry bandit has to have a veritable frat party with my trash, spreading it around the porch in a frenzied mess. Cleaning it up the next day is usually a misery, because bits and pieces get stuck between the slats of the porch timbers.

Last night he outsmarted himself. He tipped over one of the barrels and then dragged it a bit, and got as far as the porch's railing before he realized that he'd wedged the barrel top-first into the railing. So while he knocked it over again, he wasn't able to get inside.

Posted by flargh at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Now that I'm safely back at home, I have a few parting thoughts about my time spent in New York, and the conference that was Macworld CreativePro:

New York City is a wonderful place. Every time I go there I marvel at its scale and the fact it works at all. However, I'm usually happy to go home after about a week of it. I miss trees, and soil, and an absence of noise. I like to see starlight occasionally too. If I didn't have kids, though, it might be a different story.

If you've read bitter, negative shit about Macworld CreativePro, keep this in mind: Journalists can be utter shits. Many of us are well-adjusted, wonderful people -- people who I'm proud and happy to consider friends and colleagues. Others are bitter, hateful people who mistake vomiting bile and vitriol for Menckenian sarcasm. Those folks are poisonous, and I do what I can to distance myself from them.

It was a smaller show than last year, and I did hear some complaints about the foot traffic on the last day of the show, and of the attendance overall. But it seems that most of the vendors with whom I spoke were happy with the focus on creative professionals, felt that they had a more specific, qualified crowd to speak with, and liked the scale of the show. I liked the scale of the show too. I had a chance to walk around and meet with vendors who I wouldn't have been able to see otherwise. I got a chance to spend more time talking with people than I have in the past, too.

I've been to many Macworld expos in the past, and this was neither the largest nor the most voluminous for product news. It was different, however, and in this case, different was good. I hope they keep it up. I just don't want the show to return to Boston, however -- I'm much happier with it in New York, which, as far as I'm concerned, is where it belongs.

Posted by flargh at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

You know, sometimes there is shit that is just better kept to yourself. This week's Friday Five is like that. Who the fuck comes up with these questions? I feel like I'm in group therapy, or playing Truth or Dare with some serious fucking manic-depressives.

Posted by flargh at 10:17 AM | Permalink

I am absolutely livid with my cable provider, Comcast. I came home yesterday to discover that I've lost almost all second-tier cable services higher than the Disney channel, which resides on channel 24. Basically, 24 up to the 200 range is now static, which means no more CNN, no more Fox, no more A&E or Bravo, nothing.

When I called to report the problem, they explained that this was intentional -- apparently I'd be getting "channels I didn't pay for," according to the Rosie Perez soundalike on the other end of the phone, because the Digital Bronze package I'd ordered in the AT&T days didn't include these channels. First I'd heard of it.

To get rid of the Digital Bronze package -- which would drop such useful channels *smirk* as The Action Channel and IFCtv, would reduce my cost by a whole $2. To get back the channels I had the day before yesterday, it'll cost me an additional $38.

Any way you slice it, Comcast is asking a hell of a lot more money to give me the same service I had before. They can stick it. i'm gonna see how fast Verizon can get out here to run DSL to my house, and I'm going to take another serious look at getting a dish if I can afford it. Comcast are greedy motherfuckers, and I've had enough.

Posted by flargh at 08:59 AM | Permalink

So there are church bells near the hotel that I've been able to hear quite clearly as I write from the hotel room, at 6:45PM each night. It's fitting, given that we're right in Times Square, that the church bells don't ring out some liturgical music. Instead, they play "Give My Regards to Broadway."

As I was walking back to the hotel last night after spending the evening with some friends, I passed by one of the ubiquitous nut vendors who sells almonds, cashews and other fare that's been sugar-glazed. I noticed that there were scattered nuts near his feet, and it took me a few moments to realize the nuts were moving. Quite fast. Into and out of a nearby sewer grate.

It was then that I realized I wasn't looking at nuts at all, but cockroaches.

Cockroaches the size and approximate color of the almonds he was selling.

I think I'll stay off the nuts for the duration of my trip here.

Posted by flargh at 06:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So here I sit in NYC, and as per usual with the company for whom I work, things are complete chaos.

Arrived yesterday afternoon to discover that the hotel had given my reservation away because we were no-shows. We told the person who made the reservations that we weren't coming in til Sunday, but she didn't call the hotel to let them know that, so they presumed we were still arriving on Saturday. It only took a few minutes to sort out, but I still got that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Showed up at the convention center this morning to discover that while an order had been placed for our staff room, no one had bothered to get networking for it -- so we had places to sit but absolutely no way to get any substantive work done.

Fortunately, I muddled through that mess myself and managed to save the company about two grand in the process. Hopefully my boss will remember that come review time.

So, I'm working now, and reasonably functional, at least at the show -- the hotel, while nicer and closer to the heart of things than last year's joint, is equally devoid of high-speed access, so I'm relegated to dialup via Earthlink when I'm there. At least the bed is comfy.

Posted by flargh at 02:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I'm in my usual pre-trade show mode of making sure everything's in order before I hit the road.

Two things I do to minimize stress while I'm away: A) Stock the house with easy-to-prepare food so Bonnie doesn't have to do a lot of cooking while I'm gone. Prepared foods are important. Meals-in-a-box and heavily processed frozen things that aren't very healthy, but are easy to make, rule the day.

B) Get the car serviced. For a while -- a stretch of about two years -- every time I'd go on a trip Bonnie would call to let me know that something bad happened to the car. An accident once, a breakdown another time, and so on. So now, I always make sure to have anything obvious fixed before I leave, so I don't have to worry about it. This time around, I discovered a slow leak sapping air from one of the rear tires, so I had them replaced today.

I also dropped off my olde PowerBook G3 at the shop today -- it's a short walk from the mechanic's. The thing hasn't been booting lately and I can't figure out why, so they're taking a look. I don't actually need it; it's largely relegated to use by Bonnie when she wants a quick game of solitaire while watching TV, so it's no priority. But it gives me a good chance to check out Mac/PC Sales & Service's tech department.

Tomorrow I take the train down to NYC. Whee.

Posted by flargh at 05:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Must be Friday.

1. Do you remember your first best friend? Who was it?

When I was living in Seattle as a wee yute, there was this kid named Christian who lived nearby. He and I were close friends for a while, until I moved. But my first real best friends were John, Pat and Mike, when I was growing up in Milton. We were all a close bunch. For whatever reason, the movie "Stand By Me" reminds me a lot of those guys, even though I grew up in a different era and a different region, and we never walked on train tracks to see a dead body.

2. Are you still in touch with this person?

Nope, though my grandmother still lives in the Milton neighborhood where I grew up and, to the best of my knowledge, the Connollys do too (Pat's family).

3. Do you have a current close friend?

Well, my best friend who I get to sleep next to is Bonnie, which is fitting since she's my wife too. My other best friend is Corey Tamas, who I see far too infrequently because he's cursed with Canuckistanianism. We've never slept next to each other, which, as both of our wives will undoubtedly note, is probably just as well.

4. How did you become friends with this person?

Well, it started out with us both sharing a bizarre and rather unusual professional connection. But as it turns out, there are a disturbing number of parallels in our lives that really makes us both think that we're of one shared consciousness from time to time.

5. Is there a friend from your past that you wish you were still in contact with? Why?

Well, there are a few good friends who I'd love to drop in on and check on how they're doing, but I think friendship -- except in really special circumstances -- is kind of a transitory thing: It's something that occurs when people experience commonality in their lives that makes them identify and share with others. To that end, I figure the friends I've fallen out of touch with have gone their separate ways for good reasons. If we meet again, then great. If not, so be it -- I treasured the time we had.

Posted by flargh at 10:39 AM | Permalink

Hulk doll's monster willy

Posted by flargh at 02:17 PM | Permalink

Icircle.com reports:

"As lipstick lesbianism is becoming chic, more and more ladies are turning their thoughts to female flings. But who's on their mind when it comes to secret sapphic flights of fancy? In a survey out today of 4,000 women on icircle.com, actress Angelina Jolie was named top celebrity female for a lesbian affair. The gun-tooting diva from the film, Tomb Raider, beat off pop stars Gwen Stefani (23.75%) and J-Lo (2%) to clinch the gong."

Posted by flargh at 08:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Cool.

Posted by flargh at 02:05 PM | Permalink

Macworld Expo -- rechristined Macworld CreativePro -- makes its final New York City appearance next week, and I'm looking forward to it, though it will be any measure be a much smaller-scale event than past years. Going to New York is always a thrill for me, because I love the city like no other place on Earth. In many ways I feel a much stronger kinship to NYC than I do to Boston, where I was born and bred.

Anyway, a few years ago during Macworld Expo week occured one of my favorite New York moments. It was one of those situations that crystallized the city for me in an instant, and it's a story I've told over and over again.

I was taking a subway train downtown from Times Square to get my obligatory Apple dyed in my hair, heading down to Houston Street in the Village. For whatever reason, some of my colleagues are reluctant to take the subway, but I love it, despite the sometimes sweltering mid-summer heat at the midtown stations. It's a fast and convenient way to travel, and it's a lot cheaper than cab rides. So I sat down and waited for the train to pull away from the stop.

"Please step away from the dooahs," came on the voice of a train operator, a think New York accent cutting through the din of the noise from the platform and the sounds of the compressors from the (blessedly functional) air conditioning units on our car.

The doors shuddered for a moment and opened again. It was then that I realized that a guy in the next car up from us was yelling to a compatriot still on the platform, chatting about what, I don't know.

"Please step away from the dooahs," came on the conductor's voice again, clearly getting impatient at having been knocked off his schedule. The guy in the next car was clearly holding the door open with his hand, to get a few last words in to his chum.

The doors closed and opened again as the fellow kept chatting, clearly oblivious to the fact that he was holding up hundreds of other passengers.

Then the intercom crackled to life again. "Hey, chucklehead, get away from the friggin' dooahs," he blasted.

At last, the inconsiderate clod let the doors closed, a shocked look on his face, amidst a murmur of chuckles from passengers appreciative of the train operator's public recrimination.

Posted by flargh at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

For whatever reason, James has started calling all of us by nicknames over the past few weeks.

Bob has become, inexplicably, "Baby." James chases Bob around shouting "Baby baby baby!" all day long.

I am "Daddy-yagi." I haven't quite figured out what "yagi" means yet. Over the weekend, James fell asleep on the sofa and Bob wrote me a note, which he lay on James' back: "To Peter: Hello yagi yagi. From James."

Bonnie is "Mummy-nana." This doesn't please Bonnie at all, because "nana" was James' baby-word for her breasts, and she obviously doesn't like being called a food source.

Emmeline, however, is my favorite: "Evil Emme."

Posted by flargh at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So Adobe announced today a new version of Premiere Pro, its video editing solution, along with the oblique notice that it was for Windows XP only. So, the company is finally done with Mac support for that product. And frankly, I couldn't care less.

Fact is, ever since Final Cut Pro and iMovie came out (and more recently, and really more to the point, Final Cut Express), Premiere has been persona non grata on the Mac platform. There's really been no need for it, integration with other Adobe products notwithstanding.

My first experience editing video on the Macintosh wasn't with Premiere -- it was with Avid products. I worked in a graphic design firm where we had an Avid system set up on a Quadra 950. When I started taking courses in school later, I came across Premiere for the first time, and acquired a cheap copy at academic pricing. I was underwhelmed. I didn't care much for the interface, I didn't like the way it worked or the speed at which it worked (admittedly, I was relegated to working on a Power Mac 7200/90 at the time), and I could never get used to it.

Having said that, I'm aware that there are a lot of people that either have a sentimental or legitimate professional (or hobbyist's) interest in using Premiere. Fine, buy a PC if it's that important, but it's one of those cases where Apple has supplanted a better first-party alternative than what third-parties are capable of offering.

Now, Apple isn't always this successful.

I have, for months, struggled to depend on Address Book, iCal, and iChat, for example, as well as Mail.app, and I am continually disappointed by their features, by their lack of integration and cohesion, and by their lack of stability. Then there's AppleWorks 6.2.x. Apple's done a piss-poor job of providing Mac users with effective productivity software, probably because their concerned about chasing Microsoft Office off the platform. I guess I can kind of understand that. However, I don't find depending on Entourage as a PIM to be any less loathsome than Apple's alternatives.

I am desperately impressed with Apple's "iApps," however. iPhoto is a dream to use, simple to import, arrange and export digital photos to whatever format I want, and great when it comes time to use them with other iApplications. iMovie and iDVD are likewise superlative for the novice or hobbyist digital video buff like myself, and iTunes is adequate, and steadily improving.

Obviously, there are some problems with a company like Apple developing its own solutions where previously third-parties fit the bill: Apple can chase a juggernaut like Adobe out of the marketplace, and it can veritably crush smaller companies if it needs to. That might ultimately lead Mac users down a path of homogenity and mediocrity in product that could be that which killed the proverbial golden egg-laying goose. But I suspect Apple will continue to innovate and provide useful and user-friendly technology that's feature-rich, enough so to sustain itself and be healthy.

At least I hope so. Because the alternative is, for a Mac guy like me, too horrifying to even consider.

Posted by flargh at 11:30 AM | Permalink

Just finished up a great July 4th weekend with Corey and Sophie and their girls. They drove through to the Cape on Friday on an extended driving vacation and spent Saturday with us -- they wanted to go to the beach on Sunday, which we opted out of (Bonnie's not a big beach person and a lot of us Cape residents opt out of the salt water beaches on weekends like this because of the crush of tourists).

But that left us with my father in law's own party on the 4th, and a day of sightseeing in Woods Hole, which both were fantastic. Ultimately, Corey and I regretted not getting enough one on one time with each other, but the goal was to get our families together anyway, so we both departed satisfied that a good time was had by all. Our kids got along well with their kids, etc.

The Woods Hole trip was Bonnie's idea. She'd suggested it because the fisheries down there -- an aquarium run by the WHOI -- is free, and we're flat broke this week. Bonnie's a master at finding bargains or cheap stuff/things. We were talking about it on Sunday and I told her what a good time I had. Bonnie noted that I don't like to do that sort of stuff with the kids alone, and she's right: The problem is that I get very stressed out trying to corral our three rugrats together in public places. All of them are very strong willed and have their own ideas about where they want to go and what they want to do, which can make getting them to stick to a single agenda very difficult.

I'll try to improve on this point, though.

Posted by flargh at 08:17 AM | Permalink

Time again for the Friday Five.

1. What were your favorite childhood stories?

Tom Swift books, Choose Your Own Adventure, C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein, you name it. I read a shitload when I was a kid.

2. What books from your childhood would you like to share with [your] children?

I've already shared most of them.

3. Have you re-read any of those childhood stories and been surprised by anything?

Nope. For the most part, unlike movies, video games, TV shows and music, the books I've ready haven't gotten stale with age.

4. How old were you when you first learned to read?

My mom tells me I learned Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll at some absurdly young age, but I'm pretty sure I memorized it before I could actually read it.

5. Do you remember the first 'grown-up' book you read? How old were you?

No, I can't. I know I've sort of come full-circle, as I now spend a lot of my reading time reading children's stories back to the kids.

Posted by flargh at 07:39 AM | Permalink

Here's flargh's word of advice in the world of automotive maintenance: When you see the steel belts of your tires sticking out of the sidewalls, it's probably time to change them.

Posted by flargh at 07:03 PM | Permalink

So I gave these a try, just for shits and grins. They're aight, not the best, but okay. Basically tofu pups wrapped in corn batter. Cooking them in a toaster oven yields better results than the microwave, for what it's worth.

I remember my first corn dog. It was in Seattle, when I was a kid. What a wondrous food item -- a hot dog on a stick, deep fried in corn batter. Divine.

I've been on a meatless kick for the past couple of months. It's going well. Don't worry -- cows still moo in fear when they smell me (then again, so does everyone else). I haven't lost a pound, but I feel better.

For lunch, I used to pack away a hot pocket or two, heat up some chicken nuggets or whatever else we had that I could stick in the nuke-box for a few minutes and chow down on in front of my keyboard. I discovered that I really felt like shit -- the high fat, high cholesterol products bogged me down like crazy and just generally acted like pouring sugar in my gas tank after a few hours.

So in May I started substituting those products with reasonably healthier things. For a while I was eating vegetarian sandwiches or salads, but that gets tired quickly. So lately I've been buying Chik Patties or Grillers from Morningstar Farms and Boca or whatever other meatless meat product maker I have coupons for, or happen to be on sale that week, and I've been finding that they're a good, filling substitute.

As it turns out, protein is protein, whether it's processed, textured soy or meat. And these companies have been doing a good job making meat simulacra, enough that I don't miss it.

Are they healthy? Well, no. They've still got a certain amount of fat, and they're ridiculously high in sodium (the taste has to come from somewhere), but calorically they're lower than what I was eating, and they're certainly lower in saturated fat and cholesterol and other bad things.

Posted by flargh at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)