Ain't Technology Grand?

A while back I posted about Catholicism--long steeped in history and ritual--putting the Vatican prayer book on iTunes. Today, there's a story in the Washington Post titled, "New service lets Jews tweet a prayer to God". The article reports on the Western Wall's Twitter account saying:

For centuries, people have stuffed prayers written on scraps of paper into the ancient cracks in the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. In recent years they could fax or e-mail their prayers - and now they can tweet them, too.

Amazing. Now if we could only Superpoke the Dalai Lama, life would be perfect.

Technologically Incompatible

The Washington Post had a great article the other day about how today's overwhelming variety of communication modes can derail a romance. As someone who prefers email and blogging to texting or Twitter, I can see the dilemma. Says writer Monica Hesse:

"Each form of communication has its own followers and rules, which means dating today is a law of inverse proportions: As ways to communicate increase, the chances you will date someone who speaks your technological language decrease."

I once had a writing partnership break down over IM (to be fair, he was a world class @$$hole, but the technology didn't help any...). Have any of you experience technological incompatibility?

[Marc] Houston...would never, for example, date someone who refused to text. And someone who was still on MySpace instead of Facebook? "Oh, that would be an automatic reject," Houston says. "It's kind of like a unibrow." He pauses. "Maybe that's why I'm single."

Karaoke: Japanese for "Ear-splittingly Bad Singing"

Actually it means "empty orchestra." But now I have yet another reason to hate it: apparently the past-time of drunken American Idol rejects has a negative side effect worse than an off-key rendition of You Light Up My Life.

Karaoke Rage, according to Brian Raftery of Slate is on the rise:

"One explanation for this uptick in karaoke rage is that karaoke bars bring together several socially combustible elements. Fill a room with 30 or so exhibitionists, ply them with alcohol and wireless microphones, and it's only a matter of time before all the forced interaction results in conflict."

If I were on the jury, I'd acquit.

Next thing you know, the Pope will be doing podcasts...

From an article in the Washington Post, "Vatican embraces iTunes prayer book."

According to the article:

Pope Benedict XVI, a classical music lover who was reportedly given an iPod in 2006, has sought to reach out to young people through new media. During last summer's World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia, he sent out mobile phone text messages citing scripture to thousands of registered pilgrims - signed with the tagline "BXVI."

The prayer book was downloaded 10,000 during the trial period.

Who knows--maybe with a little help from technology it'll end up being bigger than the Beatles...

Adding One to the List

Thanks to my friend Dave, I can cross one item off my Christmas list.

So I thought I'd add something back on: a 16 GB Flashdrive. Once upon a time, 16 GB was more capacity than most hard drives. Hard to believe you can get all that storage now in a pocket-sized stick.

And for less than $30 in many cases!

At that price, maybe I should get a couple...

Kid-Snapping Cell Phones

I've always thought it would be cool to have GPS embedded into my belongings. That way if another walks off with one of my items, I can track them down and kick their ass.

Yes--some fantasize about achieving greatness, I dream of vigilante justice for misdemeanors.

In today's Washington Post, there's an article about the unplanned ramifications of cellphone thievery--which involves the thieves using the cellphone's camera (which are obviously much better than the camera in my cellphone!) to take photos of THEMSELVES!

With some cellphone cameras having the ability to automatically upload the photos taken into the owner's Flickr account, there now exists a way to track your stolen cellphone other than trying to dial your own number--or even GPS!

" How tantalizing, to think that while we continue to live our lives, our phones go on entirely new adventures...David McDonald of Melbourne, Australia, was...more curious than angry, when he logged onto Flickr earlier this year and found that his phone, pickpocketed a few days before, had recently attended a street festival. There it was, "having its own little field trip," cavorting with guys McDonald didn't know, in a neighborhood he'd never been."

Hmm--If I stole someone else's cellphone, all they'd probably have to look forward to are pictures of my thumb...

When We Left Earth

Confession time: Science and Math are not my thing. I stopped taking both in high school as soon as I completed my basic requirements and then only took what was necessary to get my liberal arts degree while I was in college.

Still, I was completely fascinated by the movie Apollo 13 which then led to being utterly captivated by the HBO series From the Earth to the Moon. So when I heard this Discovery series about the NASA missions was released on DVD on September 30th, I was immediately intrigued.

The four DVD set consists of the six episode series and a ton of bonus features including original NASA films, interviews from NASA's archives and mission clips from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions.

The series presents the evolution of the American space program in chronological order using archival footage and present day interviews of many of the key players. Fittingly, Gary Sinise narrates the series, as his role as Ken Mattingly in Apollo 13 gives him the appropriate gravitas.

Episode 1 is titled Ordinary Supermen and details the selection of the men known as the Mercury Seven. Episode 2: Friends and Rivals moves on to the Gemini missions. Episode 3: The Explorers takes us through the early portion of the Apollo mission while Episode 4: The Explorers traces the Apollo moon missions through the launching of Skylab.

The space program's Shuttle Era is detailed in Episode 5 and Episode 6: A Home in Space explores the Hubble Space telescope and the future of space exploration. The series is as gripping as the initial space launches were to American people glued to their TV sets in the late 50s and early 60s. It's amazing that we've become so nonchalant about space travel. Today's shuttle launches barely rate a 30 second mention on the evening news.

But the early years of the space program were fraught with potential dangers with the new technology and the unknown outcomes. The series narration (perhaps a bit heavy-handed at times) makes sure the viewer is aware of how tenuous and risky these missions were. Given the Challenger and more recent Columbia disasters, it's evident that space travel remains a highly dangerous venture.

This comprehensive non-fictional look at the NASA mission over the last 50 years is more than merely educational and entertaining--it's a spectacularly enthralling firsthand account of history. If you're a space geek--or know one--this would make an excellent addition to your DVD collection or holiday present.


When We Left Earth is available in DVD and Blu-Ray formats at Amazon.com.

Flash of Genius

I hadn't even heard of this movie until I saw a trailer for it right before Ghost Town (which featured Greg Kinnear) a couple of weeks ago. It's the story of Bob Kearns, inventor the intermittent windshield wiper, who spent decades in the pursuit of credit for his work.

The title comes from "Flash of Genius" doctrine developed by the U.S. Supreme Court as a test for patentability. The doctrine held that an invention had to be a result of a "flash of genius" in the mind of the inventor and not as a accidental result of tinkering.

The film is a classic underdog story--David facing Goliath in the form of the heartless and monolithic corporation. Greg Kinnear is excellent delivering an authentic and understated performance as the brilliant, yet at times clueless, Kearns. Given my own predisposition for standing on principle rather than common ground, I could certainly identify with the tale.

Kinnear has always been a solid supporting actor, but this role definitely gives him a chance to shine. And shine he does. There are some great supporting performances by Lauren Graham as Kearns' supportive, long-suffering wife, Dermot Mulroney as his best friend and Mitch Pileggi as the evil (Boo! Hiss!) Ford guy, but it's Kinnear's show. I've always found him to be immensely likable and was happy to hear that, according to a recent interview with the Washington Post (and my friend Diane who had the opportunity to meet and deal with him in person), he's a heckuva nice guy.

This isn't your typical Disney-fied Mighty Ducks type movie. The actual events unfolded over about three decades, and at times during the film you feel the interminability of it all. While the film version is by necessity compressed, the pacing ultimately gives that sense of time dragging out. Kinnear, along with director Marc Abraham, writer Philip Railsback and cinematographer Dante Spinotti, does an amazing job of communicating the frustration and single-minded obsessiveness of Kearns.

It's a very personal story of this man and his quixotic quest for right to prevail. But I felt the filmmakers could have done more to illuminate the story's universality more. At one point in the film, Kearns remarks that he has received letters from others who have been wronged and who are rooting for him to succeed. I would have liked to have seen that rather than just heard about it. In the same scene, lawyer Gregory Lawson (played to effortless perfection by the still amazing Alan Alda) tells Kearns what a pain in the ass he's been--and yet we didn't get to see much evidence of that either.

Railsback did pick some great moments to highlight--I was especially affected by the scene where Kearns sees a car with intermittent wipers for the first time and realizes his invention has been stolen. And while Kearns eventually wins his lawsuit, you are left feeling drained rather than elated given all that he had gone through and given up.

It's too bad that so little effort went into marketing this film. People are swarming to see crap like Eagle Eye and Beverly Hills Chihuahua while this little gem languishes in a corner.

Well, I guess it wouldn't be a true underdog movie if it wasn't truly the underdog...

TV on DVD

The black hole that is the summer TV programming schedule was less painful this year. Mainly because I discovered the joys of watching TV on DVD.

My friend Dave, who has HBO (that is NOT the only reason that I'm friends with him, although--given that he was over last night and proceeded to turn my crystal clear 27" TV picture into SNOW which, after much despair and bickering, was restored to crystal clarity once again when I, in a fit of desperation, randomly pushed two buttons on my remote control. And yes, I DO remember which two buttons should it ever happen again!--as a professional AV tech, his much vaunted audio-visual technical skills leave much to be desired. Fortunately, he is kind and loyal and generous. And he makes me laugh. And, as I mentioned before, he has HBO...) records entire seasons of Entourage for me, which we watch in marathon sessions.

But this has been the summer of Dexter and more Dexter, Desperate Housewives and Pushing Daisies (check out the review of season one tomorrow!).

Oh, I'll still be doing the appointment TV thing once the Fall season gets under way. After all, what's the use of watching a water cooler TV program if you don't watch it in time to talk about it 'round the water cooler (or, in my case, the metaphorical water cooler that is the blogosphere...)?

Anyway, TV on DVD--how do I love thee? Let me count the ways whys:

1. Don't subscribe to cable? No problem! I can get Showtime, HBO and even obscure little British series from Netflix. Who needs hundreds of channels when you have access to hundreds of THOUSANDS of DVD titles?

2. Marathons! The agony of the cliffhanger is no more. Is your favorite character in mortal jeopardy? Can't wait a whole week to find out what happens to him? Just pop in the next DVD!

Yay!

3. Pause, rewind, fast forward. No more waiting until a commercial to grab a snack, use the bathroom or check my e-mail. Just press pause and the action stops for ME! Was that a clue lurking in the shadows? Rewind and check it out again and again...And we don't need no stinking recaps or openers--fast forward and get to the good stuff!

4. Subtitles - I have mixed feelings about subtitles. On the one hand, if I turn them on, I find I'm READING the show more than WATCHING the show. On the other hand, it's a great way to catch those quick quips that might fly by. There is no more, "What did he say?" and wasting time rewinding and listening closely. It's right there, on the screen!

5. Revisiting the past - Whether you're catching up on seasons missed (like I did recently with season one of The Office) or nostalgic for favorite shows of yesteryear, DVDs offer the opportunity to fill in those fuzzy gaps or indulge in some fuzzy feelings. Linz recently revisited LOST--all four seasons! And Esther recently posted about the final three seasons of The Mary Tyler Moore Show coming to DVD.

6. Extras, extras! If watching 20-some odd hours of a beloved TV show isn't enough for you, most TV DVDs are loaded with behind-the-scenes extras giving insights into the inner workings of how the show was cast, developed, shot. The best thing about TV DVD extras is that they usually feature the writer/creator of the show.

Double yay!

I'm currently finishing up Pushing Daisies and Wonderfalls, and Mad Men is on the list.

What other TV on DVD is a must-see?

The Stupid Filter

Mark Morford, columnist for SF Gate, wrote a great piece about the YouTube Comment Snob and the StupidFilter Project. Effortlessly eloquent, Morford echoes my own sentiments exactly:

"Are you fetishistically fond of posting puerile, unreadable, horribly punctuated, grammatically insane or otherwise indecipherable mental chyme all over the Web's now-ubiquitous comments boards, filling the public areas from here to Metafilter with OMG!! And !LOL!!! and ALL-CAPPED GIBBERISH that means absolutely nothing and is the conversational equivalent of dragging Ann Coulter across a chalkboard?

Well, the world has had just about enough of you."

Go read the rest of his smartly snide insights--plus check out the YouTube Comment Snob and the StupidFilter Project.

Fly Me to the Moon

It's pretty rare that an animated feature is released that isn't made by one of two animation behemoths--Pixar or Dreamworks. But that's about to change. Summit Entertainment bills Fly Me to the Moon as the "first ever animated feature created for 3D." What this means is that the movie is the first computer generated feature conceived and produced in 3D for a 3D only release. All other 3D movies were filmed in 2D and converted into 3D later. It's actually the "first ever" 3D movie I have seen, so although I have nothing to compare it to, I must admit the 3D was pretty impressive.

Fly Me to the Moon is also unique in its use of "parallel cameras" where the frame is exploded around the picture to create space rather than the traditional convergence technique which results in a flat, window effect. Technical effects aside, the movie tells the story of the Apollo 11 space flight and lunar landing--as seen through the twelve eyes of three young houseflies: Nat, IQ and Scooter. There are some great moments of visual whimsy as the filmmakers give us a "fly's eye view", but the movie lacks the all ages wit and charm of a Shrek or a Toy Story.

No matter--it's perfect for the young ones. The screening I attended was filled with kids who were completely transfixed throughout. It's a cute and clever way to give youngsters--whose parents probably aren't even old enough to remember the 1969 Apollo mission--a bit of a painless science and history lesson. Featuring the vocal talents of Christopher Lloyd, Kelly Ripa, Ed Begley Jr. and Buzz Aldrin as himself, Fly Me to the Moon offers a "fly on the wall" perspective to a major historic event. And with its use of ground-breaking 3D technology, makes a bit of history itself!

Animating the Inanimate

It wasn't the first time the thought had crossed my mind, but after watching WALL*E the other day it struck me once again how filmmakers utilized the whole "humanized machine" concept (To say nothing of the recurring "schlubby guy ends up with hot chick" theme which, despite the usual sitcom casting, is more rare than the norm...). Whether it's Herbie the Love Bug or WALL*E the robot, imbuing the mechanical with personality attributes such as loyalty, courage and even love has been a source of fascination for ages. It probably started long before the dish ran away with the spoon in the nursery rhyme of yore, but now with technology that can "think" and "talk", it's no wonder that writers indulge in creative conjecture by endowing gadgets and gizmos with a bit of heart and soul.

WALL*E, like many robot depictions, is capable of evincing human characteristics--like loneliness and love. Why is we humans like to believe our appliances have feelings? Believe me, while you may miss your iPod and laptop, neither has any idea that you've been gone! But like the Lost in Space robot, who had a wicked and twisted sense of humor as well as an abiding protectiveness of young Will Robinson, or the Transformers, who were either good or evil, robots are portrayed as more than a computer chip on wheels.

The Terminator in part two of the franchise brought Sarah and John Connor to tears when he "terminated" himself at the end. Well, maybe that's not too far from reality--I know I get a pang of anxiety when I see my car up on a mechanic's rack...When automated wife Cherry 2000 expired, it sent her human husband on a quest to find an exact replacement. Of course, he learned the lesson that was missed in The Stepford Wives--perfect isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Robots and computers can provide information--ala the Enterprise computer on Star Trek, comic relief--ala the Laurel and Hardy-esque antics of R2-D2 and C3Po in Star Wars or Hymie of Get Smart, or provide dramatic tension--as did HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey. I guess this isn't too far-fetched from real life either: I get info from Google and Wikipedia, comedy from YouTube and The Onion and my laptop has also provided some dramatic tension when it crashes.

One of the most basic human characteristics is the survival instinct. And this too has been incorporated into robot hardwiring. Number 5 of Short Circuit becomes sentient and escapes to avoid reprogramming, a group of Nexus-6 replicants fight for their lives in Blade Runner and it's robot run amok in both Westworld, Futureworld and I, Robot. I wish my gadgets had similar survival instincts. They seem set to expire right after the warranty does!

What is so odd isn't the attempts to make machines seem human, it's when the machines want TO BE human. Once upon a time, Pinocchio wished upon a star to become a real boy and The Velveteen Rabbit yearned to be real as well. Steven Spielberg adapted Brian Aldiss' short story, Supertoys Last All Summer Long, into the story of an android Pinocchio who longed to be a real boy. Data of Star Trek: The Next Generation was another android who longed for the human experience, as was Andrew Martin of Bicentennial Man.

But why would an android long to be human? Certainly, we are severely flawed creatures. And yet, even knowing our pettiness, our weakness, our frailties and foibles, we create characters who long to be us. Makes no sense to me whatsoever. The philosophy of Gigolo Joe in A.I.: Artificial Intelligence seems more realistic to me:

You are neither flesh, nor blood. You are not a dog, a cat or a canary. You were designed and built specific, like the rest of us. And you are alone now only because they tired of you, or replaced you with a younger model, or were displeased with something you said, or broke. They made us too smart, too quick, and too many. We are suffering for the mistakes they made because when the end comes, all that will be left is us. That's why they hate us, and that is why you must stay here, with me.

I guess writers instill machines with humanity as part of the exploration of what it is to be human. Funny how many of those machines are far more humane than many humans are...

Happy Birthday, Blog!

Amazingly enough, I started this blog exactly one year ago today. I'm not sure I realized at the time the auspiciousness of its birth date (07/07/07), but here we are a year later and a year wiser. What have I learned in a year of blogging? Here's a few things:

1. Consistency is key. Posting every day is a challenge, but it keeps the creative juices flowing and keeps me disciplined. And it makes for a blog that readers will keep coming back to.

2. Mistakes can be corrected, but a typo in your headline lasts forever. I try to make sure my posts have correct spelling, grammar and punctuation. On occasion, I'll notice a typo after the fact and go back and edit the post to correct it. But once you hit publish, Blogger creates a URL for the post based on your headline. And if you misspell or have a typo in your headline, it's forever captured in the URL. Yuck!

3. Google indexes based on your feeds and not the actual website. I found this out when, in an attempt to thwart the wretched content scrapers, I switched my feed settings from full to excerpted. My traffic was cut in half! I changed it back, but I'm still struggling to regain the momentum that I had a couple of months ago.

4. Being part of a blog network is a great way to increase traffic. My friends Stevie and Tami are part of the Glam Network and have TEN TIMES the traffic I do! But their stats are nothing compared to blogger Joey deVilla's stats which are TEN TIMES Stevie and Tami's! Of course, Joey's been blogging since the end of 2001. Perhaps seven years from now, I'll be able to boast hundreds of thousands of visitors each month. Right now, it's more like just thousands...

5. You can never predict what will generate traffic. The more obscure and offbeat something is, the more likely it will generate search hits for my blog. Sometimes a random rant generates more hits than a thoughtful review. For example, my diatribe against Speedos and Crocs has generated far more traffic than I ever expected it to. But if I've saved even one person from committing the heinous offense of sporting an ill-advised Speedo, I feel that my blogging has all been worthwhile!

6. You meet the coolest people by blogging! Elisabeth and I share a love of words and The Office. Rae has an awesome blog devoted to TV, another shared passion. Tami blogs about the sensual pleasures of life: food, wine, music, luxury products. Her blog always makes me hungry!

7. Speaking of people I've met blogging, there's a whole list of people I'd like to meet: my regular readers! Thanks to statistical applications, I get information about where people are logging on from, how they found me, etc. Some people come directly to the blog without using Google search. When it's a someone in Hampton, VA (formerly Hartford, CT), I know that someone is my sister, Laurie. When the location reads "Berkeley, CA," I know my brother David has checked in. When the OS says Linux, I'm pretty sure that's a visit from my friend John. And when the visit comes from Anchorage, AK, I know that's my OTHER friend John checking up on me. My blogging buddy Elisabeth checks in from Minneapolis (formerly College Station, TX), Rae from Orlando, FL and Hollie from Pacific Palisades.

But there are some direct hits that I've no idea who they are. So, who are you people? If you stop by here regularly (Hello Tokyo, New Zealand, Boston and New York!), I'd like to say welcome and hello and thanks. Perhaps you could post a comment and introduce yourself. I'd really like to get to know you better!

Orgies: More American than Apple Pie

An interesting article in the Washington Post poses the question: Are we what we Google?

"This was the question floating around the periphery of a recent obscenity case, in which a Florida attorney planned to argue that Google records of pornographic searches were an indication of community values."

The article points out that using Google Trends, one could show that "orgies" are more popular (as a search term anyway) than "apple pie." Interesting factoid--but other than looking online for a recipe, what's there to know about apple pie? I've been fascinated by the seeming randomness of how people end up at my blog. The most popular search term that ends up here is "star tattoo." I can hardly hope that the would-be purveyor of new ink designs will deign to stick around and read my movie reviews and other musings, but there you have it.

I've also had readers stumble upon me with searches such as "wombat on a surfboard music," "funny costume of a possum," "slutty whore Alyssa Milano" and "i hate socks." I wouldn't presume to ascertain the hidden motives of any of these searches--sometimes it's just a matter of if you Google it, they will come. And apparently if you Google it, Google will use that information to further their goal of world domination. According to a recent article in Advertising Age, they're poised at the brink. A recent Harris Interactive poll rates Google the most reputable company in America. They weren't even on the list four years ago.

And last on the list? Halliburton.

Ah yes--Google, more reputable than the Vice President of the United States.

Living Online

I've come across a spate of great articles related to the internet lately. If you're reading this, then you (like me) spend a good deal of time online. The Washington Post had an article about how dependent we've become to accessing information online, that disabled power lines can be akin to being stranded on a desert island. I know I get antsy if I don't check my e-mail every hour at least!

And what would the internet be without Google? Slate wrote about the behemoth's dilemma regarding the whimsical changes to their homepage they make to celebrate things like Earth Day. Turns out they're damned if they do, damned if they don't...

Have you added Superpoke or Flixster to your Facebook page? Turns out that innocuous little ap may be exposing your personal data for all to see according to this article in the Washington Post.

Finally a great little piece in Slate about reading online and how writing has to change to accommodate it. Really good info for bloggers. The sum up?

* Bullet-points
* Lists
* Shorter sentences
* Highlighting text with bold or italics

Speaking of Righteous Bloggers...

I've stumbled across a few new (well, new to ME anyway!) blogs lately that I've taken a liking to and thought I'd take this opportunity to share with y'all:

1. Craigslist Blog - Whoohoo! Combines two of my favorite things--Craigslist and blogging! Started in March 2008 and written by CEO Jim Buckmaster, the blog features stats and metrics, selected Best of posts and news and updates regarding all things Craigslist.

2. L.A. Metblogs - According to their mission statement:

"Metroblogging started off as a more locally focused alternative news source in Los Angeles and has turned into the largest and fastest growing network of city-specific blogs on the Web...This idea didn’t stay in one city for long and before we knew it there were Metblogs in Chicago, Portland, Karachi, and Vienna. Today there are over 50 Metblogs in countries all over the world. Local politics, event reviews, lunch recommendations and ways to avoid that big traffic jam downtown. If it’s happening in our cities, we’re on it."

I stumbled upon this one as a result of a trackback when they linked to my post about going to see The Tonight Show with my brother, James. Just further proof of their awesomeness!

3. Seth Godin - I know, I know! I'm so behind the curve on this one. The well-known marketing guru waxes witty and wise on subjects ranging from customer service to personal finance to Danny DeVito.

4. Accordian Guy - I came across Joey deVilla's blog via Darren Rowse's Problogger.net. de Villa (a self-proclaimed "Nerd Wrangler" for global blog network B5 Media) posts about local stuff (Toronto being "local" for him...), techie stuff and whatever strikes his fancy off-the-wall stuff. Prolific and consistent, with a terrificly warped sense of humor, the Accordion Guy hits all the right notes with me.

How about you? Any great blogs (including your own!) you'd like to share?

I'm a Convert

...to digital, that is. I've noticed recently that TV stations are running more PSAs about the impending end of analog and the need to switch over to a digital signal before February 17, 2009. Now, chances are good that by that date I'll have either:

1. Replaced my old outdated TV set which I think is old enough to vote in the upcoming election...

2. Subscribed to cable or some other digital service to receive television programming.

But, since my research showed that a digital converter can actually IMPROVE reception over an antenna (I get only three channels right with my rabbit ears...), I decided to take advantage of the government's rebate coupon offer ($40 towards the purchase of a digital converter) and take the plunge into the digital world.

I got my converter at Best Buy. They had a VAST selection of models. Actually they had ONE. How lame is that? At least it made the decision process easier. "Yeah, I'll take that one!" It retailed for $59.99. With the coupon plus tax, I paid less than $25. Then comes the fun part--setting it up! I've already got wires all over the place--from the antenna, the DVD player, the VCR, the converter for the DVD player into the TV. It's rather scary behind my TV.

So the first challenge was figuring out which wires should plug in where. After a few tries, I got that figured out--but the converter wasn't working. Oh wait--I have to set it to channel THREE. Once I did that, the digital converter ran through a quick set-up and I was good to go. I increased my channels from three to TWENTY-FOUR. I've got CBS now, three versions of ABC, a weather channel, two PBS channels and a couple of other local syndicated channels. And the picture is amazing! No more fussing with the bunny ears to tune in the picture. The reception is almost like I have cable, but without the big cable bill. Also without the cable channels--but still!

And I've got my VCR and DVD player working (just had to switch them both to channel three as well...), so now I'm good to go. One of these days I'll get DirecTV or cable and TiVo, but until then I'm pretty happy with my foray into the digital age.

Redefining "Friends"

I've written previously about how the internet both connects and isolates us, the benefits and downfalls of social networking sites, like Facebook. I'm continuously fascinated by the Internet and sites like Facebook which offer an easy way to maintain connections with friends and family. But social networking sites are also redefining the idea of what a "friend" is. I would venture to guess that the majority of social networking site users have never even met many of their so-called "friends."

A recent article in the Washington Post explores the phenomenon of what it terms Friends Next:

"For most people, when they thought of their close friends, it was people with whom they would share personal things," says Sherry Turkle, a sociologist and psychologist at MIT who has studied online social networks from their beginnings. "What's changing now is that people who are not in the other person's physical life meet in this very new kind of space. It is leaving room for new hybrid forms."

Can you be or have a friend without ever having met? Without having shared experiences and memories? Can one person really have thousands of "friends"?

It really is a brave, new world...

The Great Computer Crash

My Dell laptop is over three years old. That's like 21 years in dog years and about the same in computer years. It crashed the other day. For some inexplicable reason, I left it on while I ran some errands and came home to find the screen black with a message that it couldn't find some file, so I rebooted it. It wouldn't start up, so with an amazing calmness (for me anyway--one must remember that I have no patience and being disconnected from the internet for more than several hours at a time completely freaks me out...), I pulled out my Operating System CD and started to reinstall Windows XP.

This required booting up with the CD drive, which required me to hold the drive door shut so the computer would read the CD (it's been a little tricky for ages now...). About an hour later, I had everything back up and running--although I spent another hour or so running virus checks and file scans just to be safe. Reloading Windows caused a couple of quirks--the first was that I kept getting message alerts that my registry files needed cleaning. Are you @#$% kidding me? After I spent 2-3 hours reinstalling Windows and running scans? Turns out the problem was "fixed" by disabling the alert system. My sister used to cover weird car noises by turning up the radio, but I don't think this is the same thing...

The second "quirk" occurred when I went to recharge my iPod. Within seconds iTunes erased almost 100 songs off my nano because my computer wasn't authorized to share them. Now THAT freaked me out. But a quick search of the iTunes help showed that you can authorized your computer by logging into iTunes. Whew! That's a relief. I guessed the authorization got wiped out with the XP reinstall. So I logged into iTunes to have it authorize my laptop and got all but 34 of my songs returned to my iPod. Started freaking out again until I realized that I must have purchased the other 34 songs under another iTunes account. So I logged into the iTunes store using my old e-mail address (Lycos--aka "Spam Central") and was able to recover the other 34 tunes.

It's kind of weird that iTunes has this Big Brother thing going on. I mean, you can authorize up to five computers to share your tunes and the only songs iTunes had "issues" with were the ones I purchased from iTunes. Songs copied from my CD collection (and uh, "other" sources...) required no authorization. How strange is that?

All's well that ends well and I'm thankful my computer is running just fine right now. Couldn't live without it! Amazing how dependent we've become on them--really only in the last decade or so. Useful for research, obtaining and distributing information, making and maintaining connections--and this story in the Washington Post epitomizes everything that's so great about the computer and the Internet: Amateur Sleuths Name Anonymous Dead. Through perseverance and the use of technology, civilians are tracking down the identities of Jane and John Does.

A much better use of the Internet than downloading porn, in my opinion...

Sputnik Mania

On October 4, 1957, the Russians launched the first satellite into space. It was called Sputnik. And its orbit around the earth fueled both the sci-fi fantasies and Cold War fears of an entire nation. Initially cause for inspiration and celebration, Sputnik soon became the space age measuring stick by which the United States fell short. And following on the heels of the unmatched technical achievement came fears of Soviet world domination: the end of freedom and democracy as Communism overtakes the planet. Or even worse, the nuclear annihilation of civilization.

David Hoffman's documentary Sputnik Mania traces the events that followed the launch of Sputnik 1 in painstaking and loving detail. From the space race that led to an arms race that finally led to the creation of NASA--a civilian, rather than military, agency for the furthering of peaceful space exploration for the benefit of all mankind. Using news footage, old headlines, defense videos and a soundtrack that features music from 1957-58, Hoffman faithfully captures the mood and milieu of that period. From the seriously authoritative narration by Liev Schreiber to the newscast footage of journalistic giants like Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow to quotes by then President Eisenhower, the filmmaker is carefully even-handed in depicting the events which set the Cold War into a deep freeze and set the arms race on the fast track.

According to Hoffman,

"With my editor, John Vincent Barrett, I believe we created a new documentary style. A style that embraces the timeless feel of black-and-white footage while staying true to the soundtrack of that era. I found the film in a wide array of places – primarily from You Tube and eBay actually. The real challenge however was diligently tracking the footage from middle European and Russian underground sources. Once that was underway, we then had to secure the rights by contacting quite a few people – eventually paying through the nose!"

While neutrality is an admirable trait for a historical documentary, Sputnik Mania lacks the verve and spice--and entertainment factor--of the more agenda-driven Michael Moore type of film. Even when the "mania" reaches a fever pitch of mass hysteria--the building of bomb shelters by suburban middle class residents, aid raid drills in New York City, Soviet propaganda movies (which, by the way, weren't too far off the mark in their depiction of the racial strife and class warfare occurring in the U.S.)--Hoffman's film stays balanced and just a wee bit boring. Seriously, I've sat through films on photosynthesis in the eighth grade that were more compelling--but then I've got a thing for time lapse photography...

There's a brief appearance by comedian Robert Klein, who dryly recounts his experience as a kid in 1958 and when he was given dogtags by his teacher in school who explained that they could withstand temperatures up to 1,000 degrees centigrade, so that "we could be identified in the case we were burned beyond recognition." A little more irreverence or maybe a bit more levity (and perhaps Klein handling narration duties?) would have benefited the telling of the story. Of the few moments of sublime surreality, my favorite was a quote from President Dwight D. Eisenhower responding to the call to step up the arms race:

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this, a modern brick school in more than 30 cities."

Wow. Boggles the mind, doesn't it? This from a former five-star general AND a Republican. Where are you Ike when we need you! The American reaction to "Muttnik" was another intriguing snippet. Imagine if PETA had been active in 1958! Sergei Krushchev, son of Nikita, offers some spry and insightful comments over the course of the story and toward the end of the film, a brief appearance by "Rocket Boy" Homer Hickam (subject of the Jake Gyllenhaal movie October Sky) is inserted with very little fanfare. A bit more in the way of contextual clues and references would offer viewers a better way to synthesize the information presented.

Hoffman says of his intent:

"In the end, I hope audiences will walk away thinking about the present. For instance, here we are in an election year where it is obvious that leadership matters. SPUTNIK MANIA uncovers that President Eisenhower was a strategic leader while it appears that President Bush has been a tactical leader. The film not only brings to light the importance of long-term strategies directing short-term actions or inactions, but also reminds us that little has changed from fifty years ago. Sputnik reveals our inner-most reactions to fear and how and why we ultimately turned those visceral reactions into a much larger positive. I believe that Sputnik was not just a piece of American history, but a piece of world history and is a valuable learning tool for all of the world's citizens."

I don't know that Sputnik Mania achieves all that, but it does offer a thorough and detailed accounting of the year following the Sputnik launch. For those who marveled at October Sky, watched every installment of From the Earth to the Moon and relived their own astronaut fantasies while viewing Apollo 13, Sputnik Mania is informative and insightful. It opens March 14th in New York City at the IFC Center and it offers an intriguing look at a pivotal moment in American history.