| TV’s back |
[Jun. 8th, 2009|08:44 am] |
The between-season TV drought is ending, not that I miss watching TV regularly much. A few of the things coming on that I think friends are interested in:
“Weeds” returns tonight on Showtime, and this year it’s paired with “Nurse Jackie”, which looks interesting although isn’t getting great reviews
There’s no new season of “Top Chef” this summer; we’re getting “Top Chef Masters” (starting on Wednesday June 10th) instead, which is “Top Chef” with established chefs (some of whom have been judges on the regular show) and a different team.
Read the rest of this entry » [Originally published at dot dot romkey. Please leave any comments there. You can login there via OpenID using your Livejournal account.] |
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| ‘Lost’ Season Finale Prediction |
[May. 13th, 2009|03:19 pm] |
Not having read any spoilers, I predict that they set off the nuke and that the entire cast is propelled 150,000 years into the past where they become the progenitors of humanity… wait, sorry, wrong show.
[Originally published at dot dot romkey. Please leave any comments there. You can login there via OpenID using your Livejournal account.] |
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| ‘Kings’ Premiere Available for Free |
[Mar. 17th, 2009|08:32 am] |
NBC’s new show ‘Kings’ has intrigued me… the biggest selling points of it for me are that it stars Ian McShane (Al Swearengen from ‘Deadwood’)… we spent part of the weekend trying to explain the appeal and charm of Al Swearengen to someone, and likely failed.
The show is an alternate-universe modern retelling of the biblical story of David (replete with Goliath tanks). While I don’t have much need in my life for retellings of bible stories, the pieces fell together to make this one look interesting to me.
The show has received critical acclaim while, unfortunately, not many people seem to have watched the premiere. It’s still sitting on our DVR as we haven’t had a chance to watch it yet either, but I’m looking forward to some high quality Ian McShane time, even if it will be weird that he’s not swearing up a storm.
Read the rest of this entry » [Originally published at dot dot romkey. Please leave any comments there. You can login there via OpenID using your Livejournal account.] |
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| Omnious Sounding |
[Feb. 22nd, 2009|08:44 pm] |
Yahoo seems to have changed the layout of Yahoo Movies recently. I was looking at what was playing locally and saw this:
It sounds ominous. If I don’t sign in are they going to close The Nugget?
[Originally published at dot dot romkey. Please leave any comments there. You can login there via OpenID using your Livejournal account.] |
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| In the Category of “Just No” |
[Jan. 24th, 2009|10:43 am] |
Do you ever turn on the television and think “Oh my, why hasn’t Fox TV adapted Ab Fab into a US sitcom?”
Me neither.
Unfortunately, it appears that Fox never got the memo, and are in the process of doing just that. Complicating matters is the fact that Jennifer Saunders is helping write the new version. Which means that I’ll probably try watching it at least once, damn it.
[From Ab Fab New Pilot For Fox TV]
[Originally published at dot dot romkey. Please leave any comments there. You can login there via OpenID using your Livejournal account.] |
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| Battlestar Galactica: Both Back and Ending |
[Jan. 16th, 2009|04:44 pm] |
BSG is coming back this week for its final batch of episodes.
I have mixed feelings about it, if only because I’m really going to miss it terribly when it’s over. I’m glad it’s limited; there’s a specific story to tell and end, and the fourth season has been tight. But I’ll miss looking forward to it every Friday night.
The new episode will apparently run 3.5 minutes long, so set make sure your DVRs are catching that because I suspect you’ll be very unhappy about missing the last few minutes of the new episode.
Read the rest of this entry » [Originally published at dot dot romkey. Please leave any comments there. You can login there via OpenID using your Livejournal account.] |
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| Nice One, Amazon! |
[Nov. 5th, 2008|02:34 pm] |
And I don’t mean that sarcastically.
Today they have Queen’s album “News of the World” on sale as an MP3 download for $1.99.
That’s the album with “We Are the Champions” on it. I’m pretty sure they would have run the same special if McCain won yesterday. It’s a nice sentiment.
[Originally published at dot dot romkey. Please leave any comments there. You can login there via OpenID using your Livejournal account.] |
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| Brian Eno Is Alive and Well in My iPhone |
[Oct. 9th, 2008|08:34 pm] |
Given the current events in the US (or global) economy, "Bloom" rescues me from continually listening to only chill-out music and Radiohead's most apocalyptic songs. Instead, "Bloom" allows me to anesthetize (or lobotomize) myself with a mini-Eno, embedded in my iPhone, happy to produce ambient music on demand or from my cue. ... Tap out a few notes and it will play them back, looping them into a piece of ambient fuzz that could just as well be a song from "Music for Airports" . You can freeze the melody from evolving if you like it, but there are no provisions for saving, recording or sharing it, which is just as well.
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| David Foster Wallace Has Left the Building |
[Sep. 13th, 2008|09:31 pm] |
I was imagining that my next post here would be about the new iPods Apple announced this week, or some software-related thing.
I hadn't imagined I'd be writing a reminiscence of David Foster Wallace, who apparently hanged himself on September 12th.
I remember around the time that "Infinite Jest" came out, several of my friends were talking about it. ceciliatan was enraptured by it, read it cover to cover and then wrapped around and read it again. I wasn't as caught up in it; in fact, the first time I tried to read it I got caught in the chapter where someone was looping seriously on smoking pot and masturbation, and I gave up on it.
More...
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| Apple's iPod Event on September 9th |
[Sep. 9th, 2008|08:51 am] |
Apple loves Tuesdays. Tuesday is when new music and DVDs come out, so Tuesday is when music and movies show up in the iTunes Store. Apple also has a tendency to release new products on Tuesdays. And they often have "special events" on Tuesdays as well.
Tuesday September 9th 2008 (today as I finish this; I meant to get this out sooner) is a special Apple event called "Let's Rock" - although they haven't specified, it's clearly related to the iPod/music side of their business. And it follows a pattern they've established over the last few years of announcing new iPods in the fall. This gets them out in time for the Christmas season.
What should you expect on Tuesday? I would expect refreshes across the line - new iPod Nanos, Classics and Touches. Leaked photos and case specs of the new Nano have already hit the net - expect it to be tall and thin again, turning it on its side to get a widescreen aspect ratio.
I wouldn't expect the iPod Classic to get more than updated firmware and a bigger disk. Similarly for the Touch, it seems likely that it will get a storage bump or price drop or both, but unless Apple has something up its sleeve, it's unlikely to change substantially. There are always fantasy rumors out there about what's coming up - WiMax support, for instance, but there's no indication that this is likely. Certainly it would be nice to someday have wireless connectivity available across the whole iPod family.
There are rumors about the Touch getting a camera and GPS to bring it in line with the iPhone, but I doubt the GPS at least. Apple uses a networked assist in computing the location, and the Touch is much less likely to have a network connection than the iPhone is. And you're not going to be able to use the Touch to download Google Maps in your car. I doubt they'll add GPS support.
If they do come out with a bigger Touch (64GB? the largest touch currently is 32GB) then I would expect a 32GB iPhone to be announced as well. Last year's event saw the 16GB iPhone announced and it doesn't seem like out of the question that they'd do the same thing this year. The unfortunate downside for all of us who already have iPhone 3Gs is that I can't see us being able to buy a new, bigger phone at the normal price because AT&T is now subsidizing the phones up-front. Last year we could, because AT&T was giving Apple a cut of the money each month. But now there's no reason AT&T would want to subsidize our phones twice for one contract.
What about the poor, lonely iPod Shuffle? It doesn't seem likely for an update unless it sees a major redesign. The form factor is tremendous as it is. They currently top out at 2GB - do you really want a 4GB iPod Shuffle without a display? I think a display is the most likely feature to add to the Shuffle - somewhere down the road - but I'm not sure that this is the time.
Expect iTunes 8 to arrive. iTunes 7 has been with us for many minor version numbers now, and it's about time we saw 8. Rumors hold out for a new 'grid view' in it, a new music suggestion feature (of course advising you to buy from the iTunes Store), HD TV and movie support (currently only available on the Apple TV).
Expect iPhone/iPod Touch software version 2.1. This should fix a lot of the bugs in the 2.0 - 2.0.2, and is rumored to introduce a new set of features which were held back from the developer test releases.
There's a possibility of MacOS X 10.5.5 arriving. Based on test seeds of it, it appears near release, and the timing would be right, although rumor has it there are still known bugs in it.
There has been a rumor of 'iTunes Ultimate', a subscription-based service where you pay a certain amount per year to have access to all the music that the iTunes Store offers. When your subscription lapses, you can no longer play the music. I think it's unlikely Apple will offer this at this time; they've been negative in the past about subscription-based services. If they do, expect that it will require software updates for the entire iPod/iPhone line, the Apple TV and iTunes. Possibly Quicktime and MacOS X as well. If they ever do offer a subscription service, it may also drive buyers to purchase new iPods; it's possible Apple might not offer updated software to handle subscribed music for older models of iPods.
It seems possible that Apple TV might receive a software update. There has been little discussion of this, but I'd love to see the iTunes App Store offer applications for the Apple TV. The software running on it should be very similar to what's running on the iPhone. The big issue with it would be input devices. If Apple were to offer Bluetooth support (built-in or via a USB stick) for the Apple TV, it could work with Bluetooth keyboards and mice. Sure, you wouldn't be able to shake your Apple TV in order to control a game, but the availability of applications for it would help make it a much more compelling platform. The complete lack of rumors about this at this time makes me think it's incredibly unlikely that they'll release such support on September 9th. HD movie support might require a software update.
What I think we will not see is new or updated Macintosh computers. I doubt Apple would want to steal the thunder from iPod updates; they're very good at focussing on one product (or product line) at a time. The long-rumored Apple tablet could be marketed as a Mac or as an iPod... if it's marketed as an iPod it might be introduced at an event like today's, but I doubt it as it's clear the focus of the event is music.
Perhaps the Beatles catalog will finally hit the iTunes Store today? That's one rumor that has finally died out.
Finally, Apple's annual educational/iPod promotion is still going on for another week. The deal is that if you buy certain (new, not refurbished) Macintoshes with certain new (not refurbished) iPods (and not the iPhone), they'll give you up to a $199 rebate. You have to buy form Apple directly and deal with an online rebate, but you end up with a free iPod Touch (or other iPod) from the deal. You can also get a $99 rebate on certain printers, as well. In the past, Apple has announced new iPods before this deal has ended and the deal has not been extended to the new iPods. So it's a nice way for Apple to clear out some old inventory, but don't expect to be able to get the new cool new gear with it.
So, in summary, I don't expect anything major from today's announcements. Possible lower prices and more storage, a few new iTunes and iTunes Store features, a new Nano, updated software. It doesn't look likely that Apple's going to release a shocking new product or feature. The iPhone set the bar so high that people are expecting a new iPhone-level product every announcement, and are doomed to disappointment.
Unconstrained by reality, what would you like to see Apple release or announce today?
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