hello, typepad

Re-elect Clay Davis

Re-elect Clay Davis Shirt #2
Originally uploaded by Mike Monteiro.

Keynote Bingo!

Today Steve is going to announce the "iPhone@home." It's an ultra-portable tablet running a thin-client version of Leopard (like the iPhone), syncing through an iPod dock connector (the only port on the device) to a 30GB "NAND drive" which shares documents over wifi using Apple's new Google-backed .Mac service and sports a multi-touch 10" screen as it's primary interface. This rumor is objectively perfect, the superset of all Apple rumors ever. And it's a Newton! We'll see this, and also the network-focused Finder that Apple blogger Anil Dash anticipated in August 2002:

The dock could easily be represented with a touch-sensitive panel that could be detached from the keyboard and clipped alongside a pretty LCD. In an OS that used to be, and is slowly returning to being, focused on direct manipulation, it doesn't get more intuitive than touching an icon to activate it. .... Even something as simple as minimizing, maximizing, or closing a window has no single-key equivalent. It's been almost twenty years since these things went mainstream, people!

The Best of Sean Connery part 2

We've all seen it, but it's worth watching over and over.

Major Redux Redux

There's quite a kerfuffle brewing around the Apple's "inspiration" for the iPhone commercial.

We've covered this ground before, repeatedly. I'm looking forward to surveying blogistan when all is said and done to compare results and opinions.

Meanwhile - do kerfuffles brew? If not, what do they do?

David Simon and Ed Burns, both of "The Wire," are producing a new mini-series about the Iraq War. Thank you for the link, Jason Kottke.

Tattered Sneakers

Jeff Chang writes:

From Jails, Hospitals, and Hip-Hop, my man Danny Hoch and the back story on "Seinfeld", Seinfeld, Kramer and race--with a diversion into Tarantinoland.

Danny Hoch recounts meeting with the Seinfeld cast and encountering the "everyday" sort of racism that pervades our culture. In this context, Michael Richard's recent meltdown is revealed as a hair's breadth away from a much bolder sort of racism. Anil notes that the incident was a perfect storm of racial tension and disconnected cultures⁰.

I saw the World Premier of Jails, Hospitals and Hip-Hop on my first weekend in living in New York. At the time, I was convinced the movie I saw was going to change the world. The movie I saw never made the light of day - Rawkus, originally a co-producer on the film, pulled the music rights which forced a major re-edit of the film and (in my opinion) softened it's impact. Hoch's career (see youtube¹), still impressive, was never quite the same.

⁰: I want to call this a "miasma," but I can't quite get the sentence right.

¹: Dembot - "YouTube fills the role of that place to get prerecorded video in the same way CNN fills the role of live news... Google² knows the value of this entry point really well, proven again by their acquisition of YouTube."

²: Tricia Wang on how Google reveals stereotypes - "I performed the original google image search just on "Asian women," "American women," and "Asian American women" for a presentation on stereotypes and identities of Asian American Youth. I want to demonstrate the pervasive stereotypes of Asian women – just how hyper-hyper sexualized they are. And it’s interesting to show that when you Google image search – there is no hierarchies of approval that the images have to go through like for traditional media (newspapers, TV shows and etc, where images usually become racialized in the approval process."

Unrelated: Google Launches transit maps in Southern California.

Big Paws on a Puppy

I feel like Wire-lovers are a secret club, even though none of us can shut up about it.

Well, the word is definitely out. My love for The Wire has been well documented. With the fourth season, my love for this show has spun out of control. I have watched each of the first three episodes multiple times, and it drives me insane that I can't seem them all now.

While we wait for new episodes to come available "on demand" on Mondays and then play in HD on Sundays, I am left googling and googling. Did you know HBO links to the iTunes music store for all the songs appearing in the show? And here's a great quote frm David Simon from a Q&A with AOL Members:

And it's nice to be paid well for doing this gig, but if money was the goal I would not be trying to construct a television drama anything like The Wire. I think I've demonstrated, with The Wire and The Corner both, that I am capable of marginalizing myself in a niche within television's mass communications model. Specifically, I've shown the television networks that I can produce stories that receive critical acclaim but do not draw big Hollywood numbers, and therefore, my opportunities to make big Hollywood money are not there. Don't misunderstand: I am well paid. But if money were the purpose here, my bad guys would be Irish or Italian, my cops would hunt them down to great gratification, and the city depicted would be whiter, more affluent and filled with big-titted, long-legged women. The Wire is either not the work of someone thinking about payday, or if I am that someone, I am quite incompetent.

The Automobiles of Lost

Rather than spending hours and hours exploring the theories and fan responses to the mysteries of Lost, I recommend jumping straight to Lostpedia's Automobiles Featured in Lost.

Sopranos vs. Sleeper Cell II

Anil beat me to the post [1] regarding the amazing "Mobsters vs. Arabs" CNN Poll. After reading his post this afternoon, I reconsidered the article.

56,000 votes in and more than thirty five thousand people trust the Mafia, whereas only around twenty thousand people trust an "Arab-based" company. This is "why they hate us" (tm) - because we hate them. Given the choice between an "Arab" company and the Mafia, who are infamous for murder, graft and anti-social behavior, we choose the Mafia. We assume that an anonymous "Arab-based" group is probably going to be worse than the Gambinos, Lucheesis or Gottis. That's absolutely astounding, even moreso when you consider that cnn.com readers probably lean left.

[1] In the past week, Anil scooped Ray Ozzie on cut & paste and he beat me to a CNN critique. That's pretty good!

Sopranos or Sleeper Cell?

Just when I thought Time Warner had given me the greatest gift they could possibly give me - New York 1 on Demand - my old favorite CNN raises the bar with this article that suggests that the local danger at our ports (corrupt port managers, the mob) may be as dire as the external (arab terrorists). This is Sopranos 101, people. And where are my "Arab-based ports company" email alerts?

Around 2/3rs of CNN readers are more scared of the Mob than the Arabs. Fine. I wish CNN's little social experiment was a little more controlled. What if CNN took it to the next level and offered a simlar poll item next to every piece of contraversial or bad news they posted on their web site? "Who would you rather go on a hunting trip with, Dick Cheney or the US-based mafia?" "Who would you rather host the Oscars, Jon Stewart or the US-based mafia?" and so on.

mny1tiu

My dreams are answered
Originally uploaded by david.

I like to watch The Wire, Deadwood and whatever's playing on New York 1. Customers of Time Warner Cable can now get NY1 on demand, as if it wasn't already convenient enough that they replay every story every hour.

Anil jokingly calls NY1 "The Subway Strike Channel." I'm not laughing! As gothamist and others (including the New York Times, but behind their paywall) noted, NY1's strike coverage was unrivaled. If they offered a "Best of the 2005 Subway Strike Coverage" DVD for $30, I'd buy it. I am hoping for another strike this year, even though I know that's impossible, just so NY1 can cover it again.

Holidays

Kenyatta says:

"Television is one of the bad things that happens when Sunday isn't a school night. After watching about 15 minutes of Access Hollywood, I come up with the idea that we should all add 'Jolie-Pitt' to our last names so we could all be part of the extended family."

I feel more beautiful already. Why not just give them their own holiday? We could immerse ourselves in Jolie-Pittness for 24 hours straight and reclaim the rest of our free time from those beautiful mind thieves.

And speaking of thieving, my time as guest reblogger is almost at an end. I stole all my MLK links from Jason Kottke of kottke.org. I'm surprised that in the 200+ feeds that make up the reblog reading list, only Jason and one other blogger mentioned Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday at all. I guess Bloggers know no days off.

The Wire over iTunes (very meta)

I want my HBO:

HBO employs people who probably do math much better than me, and they can figure out offering $2-per-episode downloads of certain shows is a good way to lose subscribers. So if HBO and Apple do have some sort of deal in the works, it's possible to probable that the fee will be a little more than the $1.99 you're paying for Knight Rider reruns. Either that, or the shows won't be available until months after they appear on HBO. However Apple and HBO work things out in this still-theoretical deal, you can bet that it will be in a manner that keeps HBO subscribers down on the farm."

iTunes on HBO faces revenue cannibalization challenges not only from the subscriptions side, but also from the DVD sales/Netflix side, which is arguably more important. Two possible solutions: iTunes video subscription (it's built out, just has to be shipped) and $2 episodes of The Wire for people who already subscribe to HBO. I already feel like the sick amount of money we pour into Digital cable allows us an "all you can watch" TV buffet, which means some back episodes of Deadwood and The Wire were watched on our powerbooks completely without guilt.

By the way, what the heck takes HBO so long to put out DVDs?

Blogging all Open Tabs

Today's Rocketboom is pretty exciting. Camera "2" is back!

we make money not art returns to form with Architecture for bicycles and Video-game rapid prototyping

The first fiction collection on Lulu that I actually think I'm going to buy: How to Leave a Place by Ariel Gore. (PubSubbing Erik Benson - you are going to like this too)

U.S. President George W. Bush shakes hands with Albert Hubo (robot). Apparently there are some bones from eyebeam in that skeleton.

Jeff Chang is Still Recovering From Hurricane Meters. I didn't even know they were touring! I'm a shadow of my former self (as I listen to a "leaked" copy of Shakira's new CD (I love it)).

And since I've got to have some vitamin geek in this post, here's John Siracusa on consumer RAID options and filesystem architecture. (Mom: He's worried about Dad's iMac crashing and losing all of Lauren's photos. So am I, but I'm not that worried. If we lose the photos, we lose them, right?)

Ricky Gervais on Extras

Ricky Gervais on HBO.com:.

HBO: Have you ever been an extra?

Ricky: I haven't, no. I wrote myself a part and went straight to the top. I recommend that to anyone.

The Wire V. Yard Work

Yard Work : Way to Fucking Go. Deputy Rawls, from the Wire, finally makes his long awaited guest appearance on Yard Work, my favorite sports blog. This takes the sting out of the V for Vendetta delay.

The Wire

I am ready to crown The Wire the greatest crime drama of all time. Rewatching Middle Ground, from the third season, is as satisfying as The Godfather Part II or any Sopranos episode.

Entourage Observations

We've been enjoying the HBO series Entourage. It's charming despite the inherent unlikability of all the male characters, much like Arli$$ or Curb your Enthusiasm. Yet we keep coming back. A few observations:

• People play up the "uncensored" "sneak peak" into the "seedy" side of Hollywood. Who didn't know Hollywood was sleazy? Is this news to anyone?
• It's nice to be able to peek ahead to trailers for episodes we haven't watched yet without worrying about revealing key deaths or non-deaths, as in The Wire or The Sopranos.
• Adriana: "We are never buying a ticket to a Hollywod movie again. Please download Batman tonight."

The Future of Open Mobile Technology

Great hack: GPS on a Nokia 6630 using Google Maps. If that's not a hack built to get on Boing Boing, I don't know what is. [ed: it's already on boing boing].

We're barely reaching the point where phones have the hardware to run relatively processor intensive applications, the network is fast enough to download images faster than you can scroll through them and (most importantly), the phone vendors open up their APIs so developers can innovate. In this case enabler is Python for Series 60 and the python libraries made available by "rancid bacon." [ed: If they ever invent a time machine, I'm going to go back to 1995 and say that sentence to somebody: "In this case, the enabler is ... Python libraries made available by rancid bacon."]

I wrote my first few lines of python this weekend, and it wasn't altogether unpleasant. Somedays I'm afraid Perl has taken me as far as it is going to, and that I need to adapt. Not that I don't have a ton to learn, just that it's hard to motivate myself to sharpen an existing skill compared with the excitement of something totally new.

[ed: is it self-indulgent to say that the future of open mobile technology involves "rancid bacon" and "python"? [ed: hello jason]]

Workbench and my Wire mania.

Rogers Cadenhead on popesquatting:

I can live without HBO until The Wire comes back next year.

Likewise.

Google Picks the Oscars

In preparation for our Oscar pool, I  punched all the Oscar nominations into Google, to see who the Internet picked as winners. I decided to go with straight search terms, which gave a huge advantage to movies like "Ray" and "Ryan" and punished some movies severely - "Sister Rose's Passion" only got 11 votes.

There are obviously many ways this could have been done better. "Movie Name" or "Actor's Name" AND movie would have made "Ray" much less formidable, for instance, but I think that Academy members subsconsciously vote for the words that there most familiar with. I could have used Google News to measure buzz, or I could conceivably have bought a directory of the Academy voters, found their average longitude and latitude, and used some Google Maps magic to measure their proximity to different search terms (like this.) I also spent about 4 minutes considering using Net::Google to try a few of these different options.

But plane jane search rules in the end, and the big winner was Ray with five awards including best picture and best director, followed byJohnny Depp for best actor, Morgan Freeman for best supporting actor, Kate Winslett for best Actress, and Natalie Portman for best supporting actress. Click on the ballot above to see all the results. 

Why Hot, WASPy Chicks Love Jews

Why Hot, WASPy Chicks Love Jews, by Joel Stein:

The stereotype in Jewsploitation isn't the neurotic, nervous Jews of Woody Allen films, which you guys never seemed to like much. The Jews in "The Fockers" are loud, inappropriate, obsessed with sex and bodily functions, overly affectionate, liberal, earthy and smothering.

These traits seem to amuse people who don't get two helpings of it a day from parents who can't seem to understand that this is precisely why we moved 3,000 miles away to Los Angeles.

When I first read this I thought Andrea had written it herself, and I was really impressed. I didn't know Andrea could write like that! But at least she posted it, that's almost as good.

Twin Peaks References

Episode 6 (1006) [07/23/93]:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Yet there are those who open many eyes. Eyes are the mirror of the soul, someone has said. So we look closely at the eyes to see the nature of the soul.

Sometimes when we see the eyes--those horrible times when we see the eyes, eyes that ... that have no soul--then we know a darkness, then we wonder: where is the beauty? There is none if the eyes are soulless.

Log Lady Transcripts.

Spoilers!

Which movie is it where the President orders New York nuked?

Pokémon Fire Red

New paths will open to you by helping people in need, overcoming challenges, and solving mysteries.

At times, you will be challenged by others and attacked by wild creatures. Be brave and keep pushing on.

Through your adventure, we hope that you will interact with all sorts of people and achieve personal growth. That is our biggest objective.

Apprentice Notes (Commercials Count)

With apologies to George's Gigli review.

I went to High School with Ivana Ma. Hello, Ivana. I'm rooting for you. I loved the Drag Queen idea!

All of the boys toys idea completely suck. It's possible the more abstract ideas and comments were edited out, but they idea of starting with "boys like sports," "cars," "boys like guns" or "eels" is unbelievably inane. Kids want to collect things - Cabbage Patch Kids, Action Figures (Star Wars, GI Joe, Transformers), My Little Pony, Pokémon and on and on. This is obvious stuff.

I'm seeing Wimbledon, opening day.

Schwab is offering free "trades" on "Schwab A-List stocks." This is clearly shameless, shouldn't there be a wall up between the stock brokers and the analysts?

Raj is obviously there because it's funny television, not because he has any chance of winning. He'll be one of the first of the last half of contestants to go.

Why is this a toy for boys?

"Crustacean Nation" ?

I wish they'd called "Cellular" "Phone Booth 2" or "Panda Love."

I love this acura commercial, where the "entrepeneur" sitting at the chair has a Powerbook G4 and two G4 PowerMacs on his desk.

Stacie J: They set you up, just like they did Serena. Raj is "quirky," but Stacie is "crazy."

I get it, it's split in half like Law and Order.

Kids always love crashing.

Melania Knauss and Angelina Jolie need to be in a movie together.

Medical Investigation looks good, I hope that there's an episode in which one million people die. I wonder if they're going to touch the whole chemical warfare issue.

"No man at any time knew what they were supposed to do."

"I'm a nationally ranked debater." What a geek. Man I hope he gets it.

I had a Tonka truck too! I loved it.

"You're fired" is even colder without the hand motion.

Racist Judges Cost Williams Another Match

CENTER COURT: New Yorkers boo cheater Capriati who claims "I deserve to get a call once in a while." Crooked judge Alves (straight out of TV show) responds "Please calm down."

AP: Unfairly, unbelievably, Serena Williams was robbed of a point by an umpire's mistake at the U.S. Open, just like her sister was at Wimbledon

Gothamist yet to comment. Developing...

An Honorable Man

"New York 1 is tenacious as ever" - John McCain

Just when I was getting a little worried...

PBS has remade Beavis & Butthead with female leads, and the debut episode was great. But why did they air it right in the middle of the RNC? What a weird programming decision.

Why I love Deadline

In Rare Union, Documentary Finds Itself on NBC:

Mr. Wright said in a statement: " `Deadline' is an exceptional, thought-provoking look at one man's struggle with controversial issues surrounding our criminal justice system. It's about life and death and the power of one decision."

David Corvo, the executive director of "Dateline NBC," said he and Neal Shapiro, president of NBC News, agreed that "Dateline" was the best place for the documentary. Mr. Corvo said he could not recall a broadcast network purchasing a documentary and presenting it in its entirety, although there have been cases on "Dateline" where portions of documentaries have been used in news stories.

Mr. Corvo said his staff saw independent documentary filmmakers not as competitors but as different voices for the program.

"Mr. Wright" is NBC president Bob Wright. I'm such a big fan of Deadline becuase it's the story of an unlikely individual changing his mind after being presented with facts. You'd like to think that all politicians make their mind this way, but of course they don't. It also blows away the myth that politicians are all the same and only act out of self interest - they are people too. This story, luckily, was well documented, and maybe it will inspire others to action.

Deadline airs Friday night at eight.

Tour De Jeopardy

As much as unpredictably and tension fuel humanity's obsession with contests and sport, I believe we're also comforted by those whose performance we expect. Just as we all have food, clothing and music that elicit feelings of instant nostalgia, I'm reassured that the universe is in order when an athlete performs exactly as expected. The consistency of Lance Armstrong dominating Le Tour, Serena Williams (Anna who? Serena represents the pinnacle of human physical potential) winning a grand slam, Michael Jordan hitting the big shot in his heyday, even Takeru Kobayashi shaking down four and a half hot dogs a minute. Even losing is comforting - after a long solitary walk and falafel dinner last night I found myself in a Bay Ridge bar guzzling Bass and watching the Mets. They lost, of course. If they start winning I'm not sure what I'll do with myself.

Anyway, I'm thinking about all of this because I googled Ken Jennings and Jason "Mr. Google" Kottke's entry The cult of Ken Jennings was the first result. Jason, I salute your continued dominance over the world's greatest information resource. It's quite a streak. (Other Ken Jennings pages: wikipedia: Ken Jennings, TV Game Shows: Ken Jennings, JeopardyJennings: Ken Jennings).

The Echo Chamber

CNN is now hosting their own series of offbeat images.

Schools Not Holes in the Ground

"I've said from the beginning that memorials really should be things that look to the future, as opposed to just looking back," Bloomberg said. "You want to tell a story of what happened. You want to explain why it happened. And you want to give people reason to make sure it doesn't happen again."

In last week's WNYC radio address, Bloomberg said he'd rather have two schools at Ground Zero than a memorial. I think he's a great mayor (as is well documented), and I agree with this sentiment entirely.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Steinhauer documents Graydon Carter's smear campaign against his "old friend" the mayor. This asshole doesn't care about politics, he just likes to smoke.

Law and Order Hysteria

Recently I've noticed that a majority of my friends enjoy Law and Order, and a minority of them adore it. I've become hopelessly addicted to SVU. Other New York souls, notably Gothamist, have been dissecting the location sets and subtexts of the show with a fervor that nearly rivals Twin Peaks. The writers of the show love the city and are always looking for more obscure nooks, alleys and sidestreets to turn into the site of a rape or heroic rescue, and the transformation of everday locations into a stage for heroic acts neatly indulges a new yorker's romantic exaggerations and narcissistic tendencies. 4-6 times a night, depending on your cable subscription.

I do feel a little uncomfortable at times as the team throws civil liberty after civil liberty out the window and then drive hard for the death penalty. And constantly being bombarded by the images of good and just cops doesn't correctly set their expectations when their lives cross (our are crossed) by corrupt cops, public defenders who don't work feverishly at all hours (and aren't as beautiful as Stephanie March or Diane Neal) and crooked judges. In Are Prisons Obsolete? Angela Davis documents instances of prisoners in California using cinematic imagery and vocabuluary to frame the stories of their crimes, prosecution and incarceration, and illustrates how this distorts the facts. Law and Order could conceivably contribute to this syndrome. 4-6 times a night depending on your cable subscription. The presence of malcontent cynic philosopers Detectives Odafin Tutuola (Ice-T, ostensibly playing himself) and John Munch (the same John Munch from Homicide) do ease my concerns, but I'm always finding myself wanting a little more from them.

Anyway, Alan (from the constantly underrated Amy's Robot) is now writing The Ledger, a Law & Order blog that will hopefully be a catalogue of the discussion going forward.

Pecan Wombat Revolutionizes Gardening

"She has reclassified herself as worthless. I hope her fans boycott her music and use her CDs for compost," said Pecanwombat.

CNN: What was Britney thinking? Well, whatever Britney was thinking, I'm excited about the idea of CDs decaying into organic matter for the fire escape and rooftop gardens of New York City.

Serena Williams on Law & Order: SVU

After a hard day in the salt mines of my Macintosh flat panel display and my first ever meetup (the "organizers" didn't show up, don't ask), I find my Adriana sitting on our inflatable bed, her right hand numb from an all-day Zelda marathon, a small plate of olive oil and bread crumbs at her side. "I'm thinking we'll have beans & rice for dinner tonight." This is why I love her.

Only Serena Williams on SVU could reclaim our attention. Also, tonight's victim was a web designer, we get a free Seabiscuit reference and the same actor who was a porn magnate on last Friday's Monk has a minor role.

CLICK FOR LARGER VIEW OF EXCLUSIVE HELLO, TYPEPAD SVU SCREENSHOT

Update: Gothamist is watching too, with a more exhaustive episode summary. Also, what is this "blog without spellcheck" they're talking about? Don't all blogs lack spellcheck?

Episode wrap-up, final update:
axt: "I hate fraternities"
dj: "They were forbidden at Oberlin!"
axt: "But you had cooperatives, and those are scary too. I've heard the stories."

World's First Gigapixel Image

This picture of Bryce Point in Utah is possibly the closest image has ever come to reality. From the author's description:

Here's another way to think about it. Given that the resolving power of the human eye (under ideal conditions at the center of the retina) is about 1 arcminute (1/60th of one degree), this image captures considerably more detail than I (or any other normal sighted human) was able to see with my eye when standing on the overlook at Bryce Point. Assuming one pixel per arcminute, an image with dimensions of 3780 x 2485 would suffice to capture the amount of detail that the naked eye could resolve. This image has more than 100 times this detail. Looking at the full sized digital image, one is able to see things that might have been difficult or impossible to spot, even when using binoculars.

He's looking for suggestions on printing...