i'm a ....
woman!!!
daaaaayyymmm.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
cable die
There's an interesting article in the current edition of the New York magazine by James Cramer. In "Unplugged", Cramer analyzes how the rapid progress of technology is threatening cable companies and will definitely put them on the train to Obsoleteville sooner rather than later. This is very true with the advent of alternative technologies like portable media players and VOIP.
I never had cable TV (or at least never paid for it, even in the Philippines). Over here, it costs you an arm and a leg to get cable or satellite, and most households (those with families anyway) can't afford to live without it. I only get the public channels, opting instead to dole out the hard-earned green for cable internet. Why spend for 200 TV channels when I am at work most of the day and when its only humanly possible to watch only a few shows (in few select channels) in a week? You'd think I'd be interested to watch the other foreign language channels for even more than a few seconds? If I were a couch potato and work as a TV critic, then fine. But as it is, I'd rather surf endlessly with lots of speed to spare, for $60 a month.
Cramer points out the arrogance of the cable companies in holding on to their monopoly over the tube, when all other services like telephone and software have lowered prices and allowed more competition. This is reality, as cable companies force you to pay for stuff you may not even want. The concept of cable a la carte, where the consumer can just pick whatever channels they want, for either a preset package price, or individually reasonable ones, is so alien to them. Greedy bastards.
Which has been their undoing. Alongside the challenge of satellite TV in rural areas (commonly referred by industry insiders as BUDs or 'big ugly dishes'), cable companies have found themselves in competition with phone companies, who reluctantly woke up and smelled the VOIP coffee. The latter provides broadband internet and video on-demand over existing phone lines, a great alternative to those who are smart to look at other choices. Plus, the TV networks have adopted an 'if-you-can't-beat-em-join-em' attitude and embraced downloading - for nominal prices, you can download TV episodes to your iPod, and pretty soon, any media player (although I still don't like watching on a small screen - people are not ants). In effect, with more and more people spending time online anyway than watching TV (watch only when you want), cable monopolies are quickly losing their customers, and not really enticing new ones, because the consumers have, I hope, gotten smarter.
Change and competition, in this arena, is always good. We are not beholden to a CD anymore. We can record TV shows and programs and watch them when we please. We are not beholden to a few talking heads, or limited sources of information. Choices are now a necessity, not a luxury. Why should some suit dictate what we can watch and the price to watch what we want? (well, to a degree it'll still be a suit dictating that rock-bottom fee)
There are still times when I would like nothing better than click on the remote, channel-surf and settle on watching a documentary through a lazy day. There are still shows that are meant to be watched (in an old-fashioned sense) on a TV screen. I can only dream of the National Geographic, History or Discovery Channels. Or even ESPN. Maybe someday ... if the powers-that-be allow me to afford it.
I never had cable TV (or at least never paid for it, even in the Philippines). Over here, it costs you an arm and a leg to get cable or satellite, and most households (those with families anyway) can't afford to live without it. I only get the public channels, opting instead to dole out the hard-earned green for cable internet. Why spend for 200 TV channels when I am at work most of the day and when its only humanly possible to watch only a few shows (in few select channels) in a week? You'd think I'd be interested to watch the other foreign language channels for even more than a few seconds? If I were a couch potato and work as a TV critic, then fine. But as it is, I'd rather surf endlessly with lots of speed to spare, for $60 a month.
Cramer points out the arrogance of the cable companies in holding on to their monopoly over the tube, when all other services like telephone and software have lowered prices and allowed more competition. This is reality, as cable companies force you to pay for stuff you may not even want. The concept of cable a la carte, where the consumer can just pick whatever channels they want, for either a preset package price, or individually reasonable ones, is so alien to them. Greedy bastards.
Which has been their undoing. Alongside the challenge of satellite TV in rural areas (commonly referred by industry insiders as BUDs or 'big ugly dishes'), cable companies have found themselves in competition with phone companies, who reluctantly woke up and smelled the VOIP coffee. The latter provides broadband internet and video on-demand over existing phone lines, a great alternative to those who are smart to look at other choices. Plus, the TV networks have adopted an 'if-you-can't-beat-em-join-em' attitude and embraced downloading - for nominal prices, you can download TV episodes to your iPod, and pretty soon, any media player (although I still don't like watching on a small screen - people are not ants). In effect, with more and more people spending time online anyway than watching TV (watch only when you want), cable monopolies are quickly losing their customers, and not really enticing new ones, because the consumers have, I hope, gotten smarter.
Change and competition, in this arena, is always good. We are not beholden to a CD anymore. We can record TV shows and programs and watch them when we please. We are not beholden to a few talking heads, or limited sources of information. Choices are now a necessity, not a luxury. Why should some suit dictate what we can watch and the price to watch what we want? (well, to a degree it'll still be a suit dictating that rock-bottom fee)
There are still times when I would like nothing better than click on the remote, channel-surf and settle on watching a documentary through a lazy day. There are still shows that are meant to be watched (in an old-fashioned sense) on a TV screen. I can only dream of the National Geographic, History or Discovery Channels. Or even ESPN. Maybe someday ... if the powers-that-be allow me to afford it.
RARHOF
The HOF (not David) announced the 2006 nominees today.
Black Sabbath ... yeah, okay. not the Ozzie of last 10 years.
Miles Davis ... mos def!
Lynyrd Skynyrd ... yeah, okay.
Blondie ... yeah before Debbie Harry becomes Cher.
Sex Pistols ... hah! was that a reluctant vote? will we have hip-hop/rap nominees next year? stay tuned.
Black Sabbath ... yeah, okay. not the Ozzie of last 10 years.
Miles Davis ... mos def!
Lynyrd Skynyrd ... yeah, okay.
Blondie ... yeah before Debbie Harry becomes Cher.
Sex Pistols ... hah! was that a reluctant vote? will we have hip-hop/rap nominees next year? stay tuned.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow
dir. Kerry Conran
Sky Captain is director Conran's life project, a feature film made entirely with blue screens and CGI, and the results are better than I would expect, manufactured from a cold digital machine. Conran imbues the film with the spirit of yesteryear, as the locales, characters and the filmmaking itself lend a lot of nostalgia. Even the title itself is a nod to the serials of the 1930s, something that George Lucas tried to evoke with Episode II - Attack of the Clones. Six minutes of footage in six years (with a Mac) catapulted Conran into investors' lists, surrounded by a dream cast, and landing in the director's chair.
Jude Law takes center stage as Joe 'Sky Captain' Sullivan , a mercenary pilot with a good heart, who functions as mankind's (or particularly Americans') protector in a seemingly pre-World War II world that has futuristic technology at its fingertips. Robots (the clunky, boxy old ones, not even Voltes V class) have attacked New York City and made off with the city's power sources. A mystery for the Captain and his on/off gal, photojournalist Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow), who, for all the high tech gadgets around, doesn't even have a digital camera. Maybe she's old school. Which comes back to haunt her in the end (two words: Delete feature).
before GPS, people used to write country names across the land
The robot attacks seem to be directly connected to the mysterious disappearance of famous scientists of the time, and Polly seems to be withholding information from the Captain that might have solved the problem like halfway into the film. The trail leads to a Dr. Totenkopf, who sounds like a mad German scientist bent on world destruction, but its only Laurence Olivier in B&W grainy footage (snicker). Dr. Totenkopf has holed himself up in his own amazing Shangri-La (believe me, you should probably stick to the hotel chain - if you own them), and according to all signs, plans to end the world as they knew it (then).
the real cause of Jude Law's failed relationships
The Captain is not bereft of allies, as we have his trusty brainiac sidekick Dex (Giovanni Ribisi), mountain guide Kaji (hello again, Omid Djalili), and of course, the hubba-hubba devil-may-care almost-superwoman pilot Franky (Angelina Jolie) who doesn't appear till halfway through the movie (dammit!). It turns out Totenkopf has been dead years ago, and they have to stop his ticking doomsday machine and the Noah's ark/rocket that's meant to restart earthly life somewhere, 'cause no one knows where the off-switch is. Talk about the ascendancy of machines.
contrary to speculation, Ms Aniston did not scratch out Ms Jolie's right eye
For all its digital pedigree, Sky Captain still has a soul, with its eye for nostalgia and feel for interesting characters. For the length of the movie, I felt like I went back to my Tom Swift days (who shared reading time with the Hardy Boys) - that kind of tongue-in-cheek sci-fi adventures that sounded so cool for a pre-teenager. I probably couldn't remember any of those books, but they had the exact same effect. The moment I saw Franky's 'helicarrier' fleet in the clouds - I just went, damn. Conran probably opened the doors for more blue screen/CGI-to-death films, but as long as you got a cool story, it'll find audiences.
Yes, it's been a huge backlog and I've only seen this recently (after the DVD came out, which really isn't normally that long after the theatre run). And yeah, it was worth the wait.
dir. Kerry Conran
Sky Captain is director Conran's life project, a feature film made entirely with blue screens and CGI, and the results are better than I would expect, manufactured from a cold digital machine. Conran imbues the film with the spirit of yesteryear, as the locales, characters and the filmmaking itself lend a lot of nostalgia. Even the title itself is a nod to the serials of the 1930s, something that George Lucas tried to evoke with Episode II - Attack of the Clones. Six minutes of footage in six years (with a Mac) catapulted Conran into investors' lists, surrounded by a dream cast, and landing in the director's chair.
Jude Law takes center stage as Joe 'Sky Captain' Sullivan , a mercenary pilot with a good heart, who functions as mankind's (or particularly Americans') protector in a seemingly pre-World War II world that has futuristic technology at its fingertips. Robots (the clunky, boxy old ones, not even Voltes V class) have attacked New York City and made off with the city's power sources. A mystery for the Captain and his on/off gal, photojournalist Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow), who, for all the high tech gadgets around, doesn't even have a digital camera. Maybe she's old school. Which comes back to haunt her in the end (two words: Delete feature).
before GPS, people used to write country names across the land
The robot attacks seem to be directly connected to the mysterious disappearance of famous scientists of the time, and Polly seems to be withholding information from the Captain that might have solved the problem like halfway into the film. The trail leads to a Dr. Totenkopf, who sounds like a mad German scientist bent on world destruction, but its only Laurence Olivier in B&W grainy footage (snicker). Dr. Totenkopf has holed himself up in his own amazing Shangri-La (believe me, you should probably stick to the hotel chain - if you own them), and according to all signs, plans to end the world as they knew it (then).
the real cause of Jude Law's failed relationships
The Captain is not bereft of allies, as we have his trusty brainiac sidekick Dex (Giovanni Ribisi), mountain guide Kaji (hello again, Omid Djalili), and of course, the hubba-hubba devil-may-care almost-superwoman pilot Franky (Angelina Jolie) who doesn't appear till halfway through the movie (dammit!). It turns out Totenkopf has been dead years ago, and they have to stop his ticking doomsday machine and the Noah's ark/rocket that's meant to restart earthly life somewhere, 'cause no one knows where the off-switch is. Talk about the ascendancy of machines.
contrary to speculation, Ms Aniston did not scratch out Ms Jolie's right eye
For all its digital pedigree, Sky Captain still has a soul, with its eye for nostalgia and feel for interesting characters. For the length of the movie, I felt like I went back to my Tom Swift days (who shared reading time with the Hardy Boys) - that kind of tongue-in-cheek sci-fi adventures that sounded so cool for a pre-teenager. I probably couldn't remember any of those books, but they had the exact same effect. The moment I saw Franky's 'helicarrier' fleet in the clouds - I just went, damn. Conran probably opened the doors for more blue screen/CGI-to-death films, but as long as you got a cool story, it'll find audiences.
Yes, it's been a huge backlog and I've only seen this recently (after the DVD came out, which really isn't normally that long after the theatre run). And yeah, it was worth the wait.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
tnxgvng
let's see, after a week and a half of planning - okay, make that 2 weeks and a half - we ended up with:
turkey cutlets (better than a whole roasted bird that's gonna end up 80% wasted - we even had to do last-minute frantic search at Pathmark with all the rabble)
stuffing - she bought some cranberry-orange muffins and just churned this out
cranberry sauce - another last-minute thing but just goes better with the turkey
potato salad - always a reliable, and should end up lasting more than the turkey
gravy - can't live without it
corn, carrots and peas - the easy part left for me to do
and then all washed off with peach chardonnay - wait, i'm the only one who really washed off the food with it.
and of course, the chocolate cake, which had a lot more icing than usual, but will always be a favorite for me.
all in all, a Thanksgiving by amateurs, but the joy is in the preparations.
Thank you, Food Network.
God bless the chef - love ya!
turkey cutlets (better than a whole roasted bird that's gonna end up 80% wasted - we even had to do last-minute frantic search at Pathmark with all the rabble)
stuffing - she bought some cranberry-orange muffins and just churned this out
cranberry sauce - another last-minute thing but just goes better with the turkey
potato salad - always a reliable, and should end up lasting more than the turkey
gravy - can't live without it
corn, carrots and peas - the easy part left for me to do
and then all washed off with peach chardonnay - wait, i'm the only one who really washed off the food with it.
and of course, the chocolate cake, which had a lot more icing than usual, but will always be a favorite for me.
all in all, a Thanksgiving by amateurs, but the joy is in the preparations.
Thank you, Food Network.
God bless the chef - love ya!
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
1st and 10 ... Week 12 prognostications
Atlanta at Detroit ... Falcons would like to be here in January
Denver at Dallas ... should be a Thanksgiving classic
Baltimore at Cincinnati ... Bengals need a whipping boy right now
St. Louis at Houston ... might still be a Texan upset
Carolina at Buffalo ... Cats also need a win after last week's disaster
San Francisco at Tennessee ... could be Mike Nolan's 2nd win
New England at Kansas City ... must-win game for both
San Diego at Washington ... Bolts are better than their record says
Chicago at Tampa Bay ... Bucs end Bears win streak
Cleveland at Minnesota ... Men of Tice have improbably resurrected themselves
Miami at Oakland ... Raiders should outrun slower 'Fins
Jacksonville at Arizona ... Jags have to shed pretender tag
NY Giants at Seattle ... this one's for the NFC bragging rights
Green Bay at Philadelphia ... Iggles eke out a squeaker
New Orleans at NY Jets ... if you can't beat the discombobulated Saints ...
Pittsburgh at Indianapolis ... now this should be good!
Last Week: 9-7
Overall: 92-68 (happy Thanksgiving to all!)
Atlanta at Detroit ... Falcons would like to be here in January
Denver at Dallas ... should be a Thanksgiving classic
Baltimore at Cincinnati ... Bengals need a whipping boy right now
St. Louis at Houston ... might still be a Texan upset
Carolina at Buffalo ... Cats also need a win after last week's disaster
San Francisco at Tennessee ... could be Mike Nolan's 2nd win
New England at Kansas City ... must-win game for both
San Diego at Washington ... Bolts are better than their record says
Chicago at Tampa Bay ... Bucs end Bears win streak
Cleveland at Minnesota ... Men of Tice have improbably resurrected themselves
Miami at Oakland ... Raiders should outrun slower 'Fins
Jacksonville at Arizona ... Jags have to shed pretender tag
NY Giants at Seattle ... this one's for the NFC bragging rights
Green Bay at Philadelphia ... Iggles eke out a squeaker
New Orleans at NY Jets ... if you can't beat the discombobulated Saints ...
Pittsburgh at Indianapolis ... now this should be good!
Last Week: 9-7
Overall: 92-68 (happy Thanksgiving to all!)
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
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