Steve Jobs’ Health

Arik Hesseldahl, writing for BusinessWeek wrote today:

After the earnings call last night I talked with a source who is close to Apple and who who has in the past proven very well informed on the concerns of Apple senior management. This source told me with near-certainty that Jobs’ cancer has not returned.

Rumours about Steve Jobs health sells newspapers and advertising. Naturally, there have been a lot of rumours because of Jobs’ thin appearance of late. I’m hoping that Hesseldahl is correct (with complete certainty) and that Jobs has at least another 10 years at the helm of Apple.

Posted in Apple at 9:55 PM | Comments (0)

No respect

Last night I was playing hockey and I hit the boards pretty hard. Normally I would shake it off but I tweaked something in my lower back. By the next shift I felt like I was 39 going on 80 and could barely skate. I was done.

This morning I’m crippled with lower back pain. I’m popping Ibuprofen pills like candy but they don’t seem to do anything.

My 9-year-old son is very amused by my shuffling and groaning. As I inched my way downstairs, he looked down at me with a smile and said, “One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Have a nice road trip old man!”

Posted in Personal at 9:43 AM | Comments (0)

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog

Director Joss Whedon (Serenity, Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has created the very funny Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog. It’s an online experiment for Whedon and I think it is fabulous.

It stars Neil Patrick Harris as a supervillain that always gets beat up by the hero (Nathan Fillion). The first two acts are online and the third will be available on Saturday. Watch them soon because they will disappear at midnight on Sunday.

The production value is fabulous for a low-budget short film. Harris is brilliantand the quirky nature of this supervillain musical is refreshing. Thanks to Dave King for the link.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog

Posted in Movies and Web at 10:50 AM | Comments (0)

Gearing up for Mad Men - Season 2

If you ever wondered what a Madison Avenue advertising agency might have been like in the 1960s, then start watching Mad Men. It won the Golden Globe for best new television drama last year and now I know why.

The show transports you back to the early 1960s and has an authenticity to it that is charming and shocking. I love the music, the style and the look of the show. The writing is clever and quite often funny.

I was shocked by how much drinking and smoking takes place on the show and how normal that would have been 40 years ago. You’ll shake your head when a doctor lights up during a patient examination or cringe at the way women were treated by sexist advertising executives but that is part of the allure of the show.

I’m fascinated by the attitudes and beliefs of the characters in the show. We’ve come a long way and it makes me wonder how ridiculous 2008 will seem in 2048.

Unfortunately the show isn’t available in Canada but you can find it online or on DVD. If you’re a creative professional or if you’ve ever worked at an ad agency then you’ll be drawn to this show in a second.

Posted in Television at 4:33 PM | Comments (0)

Chimichurri Sauce

A couple of weeks ago I made some Chimichurri sauce for the first time and it was a revelation. This Latin American sauce is absolutely fantastic and a must for grilled meat on the backyard barbecue.

The next time you grill some chorizo sausage or your favourite cut of beef you have to try it with some Chimichurri sauce. Here’s how to make it:

Throw everything except the olive oil, salt and pepper into a food processor and process until the mixture is chunky. Slowly add the olive oil until the mixture has emulsified. Season it with the salt and pepper and fire up the barbecue.

Posted in Recipes at 2:58 PM | Comments (0)

Toronto Star might be looking for an editor

I’m always amazed at how many typos and grammatical errors I see in newspapers like the Toronto Star or the Globe and Mail. I make my fair share of grammatical errors on this blog but I don’t have a full-time editor looking over my shoulder.

Today’s business section (page B3) had this headline:

IS THIS BELL’S iPHONE KILLER?
Telco aims to steals Rogers’ thunder

The Star gets full marks for using a lowercase i for iPhone but “aims to steals”? This is the type of error I expect to see on a sign in front of a community centre!

Posted in Observations at 2:41 PM | Comments (0)

WALL•E Easter Eggs and Apple References

/film has a number of interesting WALL•E Easter Eggs that you’ll want to check out before you see the film again. The New York Times has a list of Apple references in a piece called Wall-E: An Homage to Mr. Jobs.

Posted in Movies at 3:15 PM | Comments (0)

WALL•E (2008)

There have been many 4 star reviews of Pixar’s latest film WALL•E (2008). Many reviewers are calling it is Pixar’s best film to date, their most original, their best visual effort and so on. I liked the film a lot but I wasn’t overwhelmed.

Visually, the film is stunning. To raise the bar, Pixar went out and hired the world’s best cinematographer (Roger Deakins) as a consultant. The result is that many scenes look like they were filmed like a real movie. This video podcast has some great information on the visual style of the film.

WALL•E may be Pixar’s best film to date but my favourites are still The Incredibles (2004) and Ratatouille (2007). WALL•E is the type of film that I could watch repeatedly and grow to appreciate.

The first 30 minutes of the film is like a silent movie — there isn’t any dialogue but the animation, sound effects and storytelling is so well done that it isn’t missed. I was worried that the group of kids I saw the film with would find this boring. They weren’t bored. They were mesmerized and they loved the film.

Apple fanboys will get a kick out of WALL·E’s startup sound which is the same as an older Macintosh. The white glossy robot EVE resembles a slick white iPod. Apple design chief, Jonathan Ive was involved in designing EVE for the film. Lastly, WALL·E enjoys watching the film Hello, Dolly! (1969) through an older video iPod with an enormous lens in front of the screen.

Director Andrew Stanton claims that he wasn’t trying to preach about the environment in WALL•E but it comes through anyway. The film is set in the future where we’ve made such a disgusting mess of the planet that we have to leave. The only thing alive on earth is a cockroach.

WALL•E spends all of his time cleaning up the garbage that litters the landscape. The humans are living on an enormous spacecraft where they lounge around and get fat drinking slushies, content to let the computers and robots take over their lives.

Next to Iron Man (which I’ve yet to review), WALL•E is one of the summer’s best movies. I’ll probably see it again before the end of the week and like the film a little bit more. ½

Films are rated from 1 to 4 stars.

Posted in Movie Reviews at 9:43 PM | Comments (1)

Hancock may be the second bomb of the summer

The trailer for Hancock gets full marks in my book. Will Smith as a washed up super hero looks interesting, quirkly, and original. The special effects in the trailer look top rate. Unfortuantely, the trailer may be the best part of Hancock. The early buzz about this film is bad.

The first bad sign is the runtime of 80 minutes. The Love Guru was 88 minutes. The trailer seems to have all of the funny bits as did The Love Guru. Then there is the negative buzz from people that have seen the film.

I really thought that Hancock was going to be a good film based on the trailer but I had high hopes for The Love Guru based on the trailer. Enough said.

Posted in Movies at 2:13 PM | Comments (1)

Stingy Rogers iPhone voice and data plans

Rogers finally announced their iPhone 3G Voice & Data Packages and they suck. Their aren’t any unlimited data plans and the voice plans are lousy.

The cheapest plan they have is $60/month for 150 minutes of talk and 400 MB of data. If that isn’t enough of a slap in the face they claim:

iPhone packages include all the voice minutes and data you’ll need to fully benefit from the breakthrough device.

Rogers doesn’t have a clue. They are going to hurt 3rd part apps that require unlimited data and their expensive plans are also going to hamper how most people use the phone (WiFi usage whenever possible).

Rogers has one of the most expensive iPhone plans in the world. Want caller ID? That will be another $15/month! Their unlimited voice for evenings start at 9 PM. When did evenings start at 9 PM? What a greedy bunch of buggers.

The iPod Touch Alternative

I might consider an iPod Touch instead. I don’t use my existing cellphone very much and my plan is relatively cheap at $25/month ($35 after taxes and, network charges, etc). A Rogers phone would cost twice as much — up to $420/year for voice/data plus network charges and taxes. Factor in the price of the phone and a 3 year contract and an iPhone from Rogers would cost me $620 (CDN) in my first year.

Why not purchase a 16 GB iPod Touch for $419 (CDN) instead? I’d be ahead by at least $200 in my first year. Even if I purchased a 32 MB iPod Touch ($519 CDN) and continued using my crappy Telus cellphone, I’d be further ahead.

I think Rogers just lost a potential customer.

Posted in Apple at 4:07 PM | Comments (1)

Why I hate the Ministry of the Environment

This spring I had my 1988 Ford Mustang freshly painted and added a B303 camshaft to give the car a little more power and lumpy sounding idle. To put the car on the road I had to renew my license plate sticker.

In Ontario we have a Drive Clean program whereby you have to get an emissions test for your vehicle every two years. If your vehicle fails the test, you can’t get your license plate renewed.

The law used to be that if your car was 20 years or older it was exempt from emissions testing. I was looking forward to never having to test my 20 year old Mustang again. I hated paying this tax grab in the first place.

I went to the Ministry of Transportation office a month ago to renew my plates and they told me I needed an emissions test done. Huh? I told them that they were wrong, that the car was exempt. I was wrong.

In January of this year, some moron at the Ministry of the Environment decreed that cars built in 1988 and later would have to get an emissions test every two years, indefinitely. What? Who told them that they can change the rules?

That performance cam I had installed has cost me two failed emissions tests. The hydrocarbon reading on curb idle was a little high. So what is a guy to do when he just wants to lay down a thick patch of rubber? He goes under the table and pays the going rate for an emissions test.

After a month of waiting patiently, there will be a 1988 Ford Mustang GT Cobra laying down a lot of rubber in the east end of Toronto today. Happy trails!

Posted in Miscellaneous at 11:13 AM | Comments (4)

In Rainbows - From the Basement

Radiohead’s video album In Rainbows - From the Basement is incredible. About an hour ago I downloaded their album from iTunes and I’ve been watching/listening to it ever since. I’m amazed at how many instruments lead singer Thom Yorke plays on various tracks — guitar, piano, drums.

I’m not one to watch music videos but I found myself glued to my screen as Radiohead played 10 tracks from their last album, In Rainbows. The performances are flawless and show how tight the band is when they play live.

It is also interesting to see how the band creates their sound — you get to see who is playing a xylophone or guitar or singing during each song. Very few elements of the music are sampled and most of it is performed live.

At the bargain basement price of $7.99, Radiohead has one of the best video albums I’ve seen to date.

Posted in Music at 11:41 PM | Comments (3)