Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Someone needs to re-make the movie "Network".

The 1976 film "Network" is 64 on the American Film Institute's "100 years, 100 movies" list. I would rank it much higher after seeing a lot of the films on the list. Erin and I watched "Network" again last night and several points struck me as relevant today.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/
</object>

The times are surprisingly similar to the mid-1970's. There's a recession, fear pervades the national consciousness due to terrorism, and the price of oil could cripple us on any given day. At least we don't have to worry about the Russians anymore.


The movie presents a television newscaster as a prophet after he announces he has "run out of bullshit" live on the air. A programming executive says that kind of anger is exactly what people want to hear. The show is incredibly popular.

The media geek in me sees this as a piece of art that is a commentary on socialization by mediated reality. This quote pretty much sums it up.
_____
Howard Beale: [arms outstretched to the heavens] Edward George Ruddy died today! Edward George Ruddy was the Chairman of the Board of the Union Broadcasting Systems, and he died at eleven o'clock this morning of a heart condition, and woe is us! We're in a lot of trouble!
Howard Beale: [calmly strolling toward the audience] So. A rich little man with white hair died. What has that got to do with the price of rice, right? And *why* is that woe to us? Because you people, and sixty-two million other Americans, are listening to me right now. Because less than three percent of you people read books! Because less than fifteen percent of you read newspapers! Because the only truth you know is what you get over this tube. Right now, there is a whole, an entire generation that never knew anything that didn't come out of this tube! This tube is the Gospel, the ultimate revelation. This tube can make or break presidents, popes, prime ministers... This tube is the most awesome God-damned force in the whole godless world, and woe is us if it ever falls in to the hands of the wrong people, and that's why woe is us that Edward George Ruddy died. Because this company is now in the hands of CCA -- the Communication Corporation of America. There's a new Chairman of the Board, a man called Frank Hackett, sitting in Mr. Ruddy's office on the twentieth floor. And when the twelfth largest company in the world controls the most awesome God-damned propoganda force in the whole godless world, who knows what shit will be peddled for truth on this network?
Howard Beale: [ascending the stage] So, you listen to me. Listen to me: Television is not the truth! Television is a God-damned amusement park! Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, side-show freaks, lion tamers, and football players. We're in the boredom-killing business! So if you want the truth... Go to God! Go to your gurus! Go to yourselves! Because that's the only place you're ever going to find any real truth.

-----

The film ends with a commentary on corporate interest coming before the value of human life. I won't spoil the ending by explaining it.

  I guess you could compare Jon Stewart to Howard Beale, except Beale wasn't funny and was crazy.

You don't have to rent it. Someone has posted it to Google Videos.

Posted via email from coryk's posterous

Friday, February 12, 2010

my reviews from the cigar.com house blend sampler

I've always liked cigars, but I wanted to expand my palette so I bought the house blend sampler from cigar.com. It's a pretty economic way of trying out a bunch of new cigars. Here are my reviews in the order that I tried them.

Cigar.com Cuban Label **.5
http://www.cigar.com/cigars/viewcigar.asp?brand=276
    A medium smoke with a bit of peppery spice. Slightly reminiscent of Garcia Vega, which makes sense due to GV's cuban seed tobacco. Of course this smoke is much smoother and tastier. The quality of wrap leaves a bit to be desired as it falls apart a bit after cutting, also ashes a bit messy. Starts weak, but great by the middle of a corona. Two and a half out of five. Erin gives it a 0 out of 5 on the headache scale.

Cigar.com Corojo Label ***.5
http://www.cigar.com/cigars/viewcigar.asp?brand=508
     A nice full-bodied smoke with an oaky touch. The quality is better than the cuban label, leaving no messy ashes or pieces on the cut end. Erin says it is a pleasant smelling smoke with a 0 of 5 on the headache scale.

Cigar.com Blue Label ****
http://www.cigar.com/cigars/viewcigar.asp?brand=42
    Comparable to the Perdomo Fresco Connecticut label, this smoke is medium bodied with less spice than the Cuban label. This was was a torpedo rather than a robusto and had a very smooth draw. Erin sneezes and gives it a 1 of 5 for headache.

Cigar.com Cameroon Label ***.5
http://www.cigar.com/cigars/viewcigar.asp?brand=292
    The Cameroon Label cigar is a very deep, rich smoke. Hints of wood and leather accompany a very smooth draw. There is a bit of spice at the beginning, but it mellows out and provides consistent flavor for the rest of the stick. I give it a 3.5 out of 5. Erin says they're no headache factor, but there was a sneeze or two.

Cigar.com Purple Label ***
http://www.cigar.com/cigars/viewcigar.asp?brand=277
    This smoke started mild with a bit of spice. In the middle it mellowed out and exceeded my expectations. The long filler made this smoke better than the Cuban label, even though it had a similar flavor. Erin reports no headache. Solid three out of five.

Cigar.com Brazilian Label ***
http://www.cigar.com/cigars/viewcigar.asp?brand=607
    The Brazilian label came as a corona instead of a robusto, and produced a smooth draw with a less potent smoke. This is a good thing because this cigar has a dark and creamy smoke with esperesso and chocolate tones along with a hint of leather. There's a sweetness to the finish that other cigars in the sampler don't have. Erin does not report a headache. Another three out of five.


Cigar.com Red Label ***.5
http://www.cigar.com/cigars/viewcigar.asp?brand=278
    I had especially high expectations for the Red Label cigar. I'm a big fan of dark maduro wrapper cigars. This smoke lived up to my expectations for a house blend maduro. It started with a light draw and a bit of spice, but developed into a deep flavor with a hint of sweetness. By the nub it was dark and rich with a slow draw. Erin says it ranks 0 out of 5 for headache. I give it a 3.5 out of 5.

As an addition to my order, I also got the "90+ rated sampler". For comparison, every cigar in that group would rank at least a 3, most gaining a 4 or 4.5. I will re-order several of these house blend cigars, maybe another sampler. I've even gone so far as to purchase a humidor.

Posted via email from coryk's posterous

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

still searching for The One Device to rule them all

So I've used my Palm Zire 72s for a LONG time.

It's done everything from write papers, to keep assignments organized, to playing music and browsing the web. The SDIO wifi card I have for it has apparently stopped working and it no longer does a lot of the things I want out of a portable device. I've soldered the headphone connector twice now, and if it breaks again I'm going to replace it.
In preparation for this replacement I'm looking for a new device that fits my needs.

-Plays music. I would need either an SD card reader OR sync to iTunes. I currently have playlists set up in iTunes that I dump onto my stack of SD cards and carry around my music and podcasts that way. It would be really nice to get the metadata back into iTunes (ratings, playcount, last played) but it's not essential

-WiFi. Though not completely ubiquitous, you can get wifi almost everywhere and it's almost always free.

-Not a cell phone. I'm not paying a monthly fee for a device. I have a firm standing on this. A device is not a service and I won't pay for a subsidy to the original cost of the device. One device below will break this rule, but is available unlocked.

-Web browser. I want to be able to hop on the 'net and google stuff. Facebook, google voice and Gmail are a must. Google docs would be nice. (This blog post was composed in google docs)

-VOIP. This is not a necessity, but it would be smart if I could make calls using the wifi connection. I'd like to tether a voip account to my google voice number if possible.

So far I've come up with a list of candidates that fit all of these needs in some respects. Here they are in no particular order.

Google Nexus One, unlocked without a GSM SIM card $529
The Nexus One does everything I could ask, with the possibility that voip would be a pain because it's a phone. It's also the most expensive device on the list, so this is a very unlikely choice.
Pros - VERY fast, Google integration, It has a nice camera
Cons - It's a phone, Cost, doesn't sync with iTunes

Apple iPod Touch 8 GB $199 - 32 GB $299
The iPod Touch meets all the requirements, with some weirdness in the browser department. Apple products don't support Adobe Flash and that introduces a world of hurt on some websites. But, most of those websites have done a good job of making a version of the site that works in mobile safari thanks to the iPhone. The app store is also locked down, only apple approved software.
Pros - Probably the cheapest device unless I want the bigger one, syncs with iTunes, more apps available, popular device with plentiful support
Cons - Locked down app store, no Flash, no removable storage

Nokia n810 Internet Tablet $229
The Nokia is a great device, if you know what you're looking for. There is a voip app, web browser with flash lite, and it works great with google docs. It has removable storage, but it's not a straight SD card so I'd be buying media. I've also read reviews that the media features are a little clunky, but so is my palm.
Pros - Adobe Flash support, removable storage, browser does google docs, GPS
Cons - Obscure device with questionable support, fewer apps

Archos 5 Android tablet $389
This is basically an android phone without a camera, or the android marketplace.
Pros - Android, 160 GB, GPS (subscription)
Cons - No access to the android marketplace, without google integration the Android OS doesn't mean much, physical disk


Palm Lifedrive Used on ebay "buy it now" $105 bids slightly lower
This device would fit my needs, it has built in wifi and does everything my Zire72s did when the card was working. It may be cheap, but it's also used and the hard drive is a physical disk instead of flash memory. If I happened to win one for $50 or so, it might happen.
Pros - Cheap, same basic workflow as my current system
Cons - Obsolete, used, spinning disk is just waiting to fail

I don't really know why more device manufacturers aren't making devices that fit into this category. I guess going for the cheap-ass customer doesn't pay off in the long run. But making something useful with the same hardware you use on your smartphone handsets and selling it stand-alone could be a way to build a user base among the masses, just like Apple did. I'm leaning heavily toward the iPod Touch because it's a popular device that comes with a warranty and has a robust community around it. There were days when I wanted to be an outsider interested in the niche stuff, but I was also a mac guy for a long time because Apple products usually "just work".

Posted via web from coryk's posterous