Beware the Tiger

Apple releases it’s newest version of OS X, called “Tiger” today. MSNBC Tech News has this article.

Despite a much smaller user base, Mac OS X has been steps ahead of Windows on key fronts since its first release in 2001. It’s got more advanced and polished graphics. It’s less prone to malicious attacks. And Macs look better than nearly all Windows PCs.

Until recently, Apple has been dogged by a reputation for high prices. Its computers now start at $499, and the number of programs that run on them has grown dramatically. Tiger provides another excellent incentive to switch from Windows.

Topping the list of 200 or so improvements in Tiger is a built-in search tool that goes a long way toward relieving one of the biggest headaches that’s plagued computers.

That is, as hard drive capacity grows and our digital universe broadens to include text, music, video, e-mail, pictures and everything else, information gets lost in the shuffle of folders scattered across gigabytes of hard drive real estate.

Operating systems have been designed to pigeonhole that data into a hierarchy of folders. But what if a document, song or picture fits into five or six different categories, each with its own folder? If you choose one, how will you remember it a year from now?

Tiger addresses both problems with a search technology, called Spotlight, that also enables a new way of organization, called Smart Folders.

Accessed by clicking small magnifying glass icon, search results fill in as you type keywords. Spotlight doesn’t just search filenames. It also looks inside files — into a document’s text, a picture’s caption or tags linked to a music file, for instance.

I’ve been using Macs for over a decade now, so they don’t have to convince me that this is a huge improvement. Check out Tiger for yourself.

I checked out a Mac Mini at Best Buy the other day, and I have to say it is a sweet little rig.

I’ll be getting my copy of "Tiger" very soon.

The New James Bond

Some foolish little MSNBC Entertainment poll on who you think the next Bond should be.

I haven’t done much research, but of the list they had (including Colin Farrell, Colin Firth, and Orlando Bloom), my vote is for Hugh Jackman.

C’mon! He played Wolverine and very convincingly! He can ask for his martini “Shaken, not stirred” with more dramatic flair then Colin Farrell!!!

Did chess make him crazy?

Did chess make Bobby Fischer crazy? Probably not entirely, but it certainly helped. Charles Krauthammer gem on our favorite Icelandic (now that he is a citizen) chess champ and madman.

New Camera

Flowers
Originally uploaded by SBloods.

My wife and I just bought our first digital camera. We have a Canon Elan 7e with an assortment of great lenses, but face it, we are living in the digital age, so it was time for an upgrade. We bought a Kodak DX7590. It came with the dock, 10x optical zoom (has a Schnieder lens), and 5.0 megapixels. Plus it had a rebate!!!

It has been horribly gray and rainy here in Bangor, ME, so there hasn't been any reason to go outside and shoot. Here are a few trial shots with the new camera.

Chess

Chess
Originally uploaded by SBloods.

I had a chess set sitting on my desk at work, so...

Echo

Echo
Originally uploaded by SBloods.

My cranky and often obnoxious parrot, Echo.

Katie Couric no longer America's sweetheart?

Could this be true? Katie Couric losing popularity with the soccer moms? You betcha!

I'll bet Katie Couric never expected to get the smackdown she received on Monday morning in the pages of the New York Times, inevitably her paper of choice. But TV critic Alessandra Stanley slapped the "Mean Girl of Morning TV" hard and said in print what has been media gossip for months: that NBC is in a panic about the falling ratings of that cash cow, The Today Show. Her Cuteness is no longer the most popular girl in the crowd, with "likeability" ratings in the toilet. In fact, Katie's recent Q ratings were lower even than Dan Rather's. Remember him? We've all watched as Katie has grown richer, smugger, and more chic. But for years, Today's chipmunk-cheeked, Clinton-loving perkette sold women, the primary audience for the morning show's mélange of a little news and a lot of fluffy features, the notion that she is just like them: a harried working mom.

About time...

And the outfits she has been wearing lately are atrocious!!!

Pop goes the... toad?

A puzzling problem for German Scientists:

More than 1,000 toads have puffed up and exploded in a Hamburg pond in recent weeks, and scientists still have no explanation for what's causing the combustion, an official said Wednesday.

This week's sign of the apocalypse: exploding toads. Not a plague mind you...

CSI: LA?

Could there be yet another CSI spinoff bringing Jerry Bruckheimer more success? Last night's episode of CSI might have been hinting at another crime lab to be added to the already successful CSI franchise (CSI, CSI:Miami, CSI: NY).

The episode, "Hollywood Brass", freatures Captain Jim taking a little time off to go to LA after a hesitant call from his "daughter" (we find out she isn't really his daughter by the end), whose friend disappears as they were working the strip (Yup, Ellie is not turning tricks in LA).

There we are introduced to Captain Annie Kramer. She and Brass work the disapperance with a little help from Warrick, who just happens to be in LA for a conference. LAPD CSI Matt Glazer and Warrick work the evidence, with the results pointing to some heavy hitters in the upper echelon of LA government.

The LA characters were good. Captain Kramer was very charismatic and could definitely lead a show. It would be cool to see the gritty underbelly of life in Tinseltown.

Only minutes to Smallville

I usually tape Smallville and my other Wednesday night shows, but I am on vacation and taking a night off from music practice, so it is with much anticipation that I am going to watch Smallville tonight. Hopefully it is good, because Season 4 has been pretty lackluster so far, and there aren't many shows left to pull this season out of the toilet. A synopsis of tonight's show from the WB:

A stunned Chloe (Allison Mack) is nominated for Prom Queen and tries to talk a reluctant Clark (Tom Welling) and Lana (Kristin Kreuk) into attending the dance with her. However, after her rival Dawn (guest star), a wannabe Prom queen, crashes her car into a ravine filled with kryptonite, Dawn's spirit is released and she enters the bodies of the others making them act out of character. As a result, Lana asks Clark to be her date, Lois (Erica Durance) attends the Prom and Chloe sets the school on fire. Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) gives the seniors a special gift by having the band Lifehouse play at the dance.

This sounds like the recipe for a horrid episode. We'll see how it goes. At least Alias has pulled itself up by the bootstraps and has been pretty good so far this season. That's after Smallville, so the evening is salvageable even is Supes sucks tonight.

Update: Smallville was pretty good tonight. Another body snatcher episode. It seems like the writers have gotten into a rut and can't get out. And what is up with Clark and Lana at the prom? I say it is time to give Chloe a shot at romance with Superman. She knows his secret. Let her in.

Alias was awesome. They have definitely put last season's disappointment behind them. I have a feeling the Sloane of old is back after some exposure to Rombaldi, and he is going to be worse than ever.

Sin City not necessarily a "Can't Miss"

I finally went to see Sin City this week. I am still not sure I liked it or not.

I previously posted how Sin City was a "Can't Miss" film. This film is for a select group. If you don't mind gore, then this is a good one for you. But, the film is not gory in the traditional sense. Blood is often represented by by a glowing liquid. Obviously you know it is blood, but it was good that it was represented by the glowing goo. The film wouldn't have been watchable otherwise. With characters losing heads, arms, legs, and etcetera, this film would have been too gross to watch. I enjoy the movies made by Robert Rodriguez, but having Quentin Tarantino as a guest director should have been a clue to the level of violence in this film.

The film itself was extraordinary. Done digitally, like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (the title of this site does not pull its title from this movie), the visual appeal of this movie is stunning. Filmed in black and white, Miller and Rodriguez use hints of color to add a dramatic feel to scenes. The opening story of the fim is fantastic. It is taken from Miller's Sin City book called The Babe Wore Red and Other Stories. The story is called "The Customer is always Right". The film version was word for word from the comic. Josh Hartnett plays the hitman and does it well. The scene, like the rest of the movie, is black and white, but the woman's dress and lips are bright red. An incredible sequence to open the movie with. At that moment I had high hopes for the rest of the film. I was disappointed.

This could have been a gritty pulp fiction tale, but it misses the mark. It was gory for gory's sake, it didn't add to the story. During one of the three stories featured in this film, Clive Owen (Dwight) runs around with Benicio Del Toro's (Jackie Boy) talking severed head in his hands. The head has the slide of a .45 sticking out of its forehead. Gore for gore's sake. The only Sin City book I have read is the one mentioned above, but Miller's writing seems like it is a whole lot better than what is portrayed in the movie. The opening scene and the first two stories are great (who'd a guessed that Mickey Rourke could be in a great story). The third one featuring Bruce Willis and Jessica Alba was just a dissapointment. The two highlights from this tale is a Ferrari and Bruce Willis with a humungous hand-cannon.

Where to go from here? I'll watch this film again. It's definetly one you'll need to see twice to decide whether it's really any good. As gross as it is, the visual aspect of this movie is stunning. That alone is worth seeing it at least once. The digital medium continues to develop. I am excited about what can be done in the future when it comes to movies.

This is definitely a movie for adults. Lots of violence and nudity (With a name like Sin City should you expect less?).

Worth the price of a matinee, but not the full-priced weekend admission.

Let the testing begin...

I went for my first Diabetes education appointment a couple of weeks ago. Now the fun begins.

I have been testing my blood sugar for the last week or so. What a horror show at the beginning. I had the hardest time getting blood. I tried my arms because I really didn't want to test on my fingers because I play guitar regularly. I must have poked myself 15 times before I got any blood out of my arm. What a pain, literally!

I have since, after some trial and error, become rather proficient with the lancet and get a good drop usually on the first try. A friend of mine and fellow guitarist has diabetes, and has passed a great method of rotation on to me. I hit any given finger once every four days. No testing on the actual fingertips either. I do either side of the finger. It hurts less and I get plenty of blood. Also, running the test finger under hot water usually brings the blood to the surface and almost guarentees a good drop for the test strip.

On the up side, my blood sugar is right in the range that the doctor wanted it to be, and I have lost 25 pounds since January. Nice and steady weight loss. That's the key.

Diabetes Education

Well, went for my first post-diabetes diagnosis doctor's appointment. The doctor was encouraged because I have done a good job adjusting my diet and have dropped 10 pounds since I was diagnosed.

Now I get to buy one of these and start checking my blood glucose level 6 times a day for the next couple of weeks. Not as fun as the iPod, but I think this gadget will be much more valuable.

Life will never be the same…

...after we got one of these.

I’ve spent the week loading songs and marveling at how we listened to music before the digital revolution. Oh, I’ve been downloading music from the Apple Music Store for a while now, but everything had to go on a CD to be played in the car or away from the computer. No more.

Now the search for accessories is on. This is going to be the first one.

All Things New

I had the opportunity to go see the All Things New tour featuring Steven Curtis Chapman, Chris Tomlin, and Casting Crowns. What an incredible experience.

I have never been a huge Chapman fan (not that his music isn’t incredible), but was really looking forward to seeing Chris Tomlin. His music is awesome. I have heard Casting Crowns on the radio, but never paid too much attention. Tomlin was the focal point for me.

Well, the entire concert was awesome. Every one of the groups were great live. And the guitar was heavy. None of that light grit you hear on the processed studio cuts. They were all rocking. Chapman’s Telecaster was amazingly distorted, as was his guitarists (one of them was using a Gibson through a Mesa Boogie). Tomlin’s guitarist was similarly equipped. Crunchy guitar beyond my wildest dreams.

Mark Hall, a youth pastor by calling, was very funny and met with people during the intermission to talk about Youth Ministry. Tomlin’s set featured songs from his newest disc, Arriving, which features such songs as Indescribable, Holy is the Lord, and Mighty is the Power of the Cross.

Chapman though was the highlight of the night. He would come out and play a couple of songs while the roadies tore down the stuff from the previous band. During one break, he was out there with his entire band and they did an acoustic set. Amazing. Chapman has some chops and so doesn’t his band. He played a Dobro during one song and my jaw just dropped.

So, you’ve heard about the concert from a musician’s point of view, now we will talk about the worship. It was amazing to see the Cumberland County Civic center packed to the gills with people to see these inspiring artists, but also to see all these people lifting their hands and worshipping our Creator, and having a good time to boot. Somewhere along the line, someone put forth this view that being a Christian means not having any fun. Somebody dropped the ball on that one.
If you get a chance to get out and see any one of these groups live, do it. You won’t regret it.

Check this out

I am a bit of a tone junky when it comes to the guitar, and I am always looking for info on how the big names get their tone. I was marveling at the guitarist at the concert the other night. They all played in a similar style and tone to The Edge of U2 (a lot of delay). I came across this cool site from About.com on guitar tones.

You won’t be able to see the movie that way

Some Star Wars fans lined up at the wrong L.A. theater for tix to the latest installment of the saga.

Oops.