Complaints about technology

For a change of pace, I'm going to go ahead and vent about technology issues for a little while.

So back in December our old VCR broke. We thought, "no problem, we can just buy a new one". Turns out (not so surprisingly) that no one makes VCR's anymore. So, we decided to buy a combo VCR/DVD player (even though we had an existing, perfectly good Toshiba DVD player) since that was the only way we could get a VCR. Why buy a VCR, you might ask? We have a bunch of videos for our kids to watch, and it didn't seem like it would be a problem. So, we bought a very nice LG DVR/VCR with a built-in digital tuner and 1080i upconverting. This worked for a while until it started having an incredibly annoying problem of refusing to recognize the existence of the discs you had to put inside it. Problematic, no?

So, I went about figuring out how I was supposed to get it back to LG to fix. They explained to me that all I need to do was send them the original receipt (ha!) and put the DVD player in the original box (ha ha!) and send it back to them along with $69 for labor. So, I spent a ton of time searching all over the place for the receipt (basically ransacked our house) and couldn't find it, but then I got in touch with Best Buy and they explained that they can just send me a duplicate receipt. So that was great, and then I sent it to the UPS store to have it wrapped up, and sent it off to LG.

In the interim I decided to hook up the old DVD player to the TV. Unfortunately I just couldn't get it to work. The configuration was different. Back when we used this old DVD player we had it connected through the VCR. Now it was different and for some reason I couldn't get it to work.

No matter - just a few weeks later I got back a box with what appeared to be a brand new DVD player. I realized that it actually was a brand new one. In fact, it was an upgrade over my previous one. Whereas my old one only had 1080i upconverting, this one had full 1080p upconverting. So, very exciting, everyone loves a free upgrade. Unfortunately, not so great. I hooked up the DVD player as I normally would (I have done this sort of thing several times before, and am reasonably good at figuring this stuff out), but it just wouldn't work. So, I called a friend of mine who is more tech-savvy than I am and asked for his help. He was stumped, until we eventually discovered that this new DVD player is not designed to work with our old TV (perfectly good CRT television, 9 years old). So, now we have 2 perfectly good DVD players, neither of which can work with our television set.

My friend suggested a number of possible options: (i) buy an A/B switcher box to go back and forth; (ii) buy a receiver and run everything through the receiver; or (iii) buy a new TV.

Now, I like options (ii) and (iii) because our current stereo is a boombox-style Aiwa stereo that I bought in 1994 when was in college and it has been a complete POS ever since I bought it (the tape deck hasn't worked in years, and the CD player doesn't work either, at this point it's just a large radio). I have been holding out on replacing it because I didn't want to replace it with another POS, I wanted to actually get a good stereo system. I also like the idea of getting an LCD flat-panel TV.

Mostly, I am annoyed and a little bitter. We actually have 3 DVD players in the house, if you count the one that is a part of our computer but that has weird problems whenever you try to watch a DVD. So, 3 DVD players in the house, and none of them work. No pithy conclusion, I'm just sort of frustrated.

Comic Book Reviews - Y:The Last Man, Ex Machina

I just finished reading the final book of Y:The Last Man and I am comfortable saying that reading the series is some of the most fun I have had reading anything, ever. Brian Vaughan writes mainstream action/adventure comics better than almost anyone I've read. His comics (both Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina) are compulsively readable. Once I've started a book I absolutely cannot put it down until I am finished. He draws you in that quickly. He's sort of like Stephen King in that way - being able to write mainstream, exciting, fun works.

I'm not sure if "Y" is supposed to be about bigger issues, I think maybe it is, but the chief fun of the series is finding out what's going to happen next. It's possible that Vaughan wanted the series to be at a "higher level" and in that regard I'm not sure it succeeds. I mean, I was definitely interested in finding out what was happening, and what caused all of the men to disappear, and I also was fascinated with what he had to say about a world where all of the men are gone, but don't be worried - it's not high-level reading. It's extremely accessible, but it may not necessarily be great literature. That being said, it's just about as much fun as you can have reading a comic book, and I think Vaughan should be writing in Hollywood. I hear they are going to make a movie of this eventually. I think that's great, as it's a terrific story. I just don't want them to use Shia Leboeuf. I find that kid annoying, and am not sure why Hollywood is so fascinated with him.

I have recently finished reading the fourth book of Ex Machina. If it's at all possible, I think that Ex Machina is an even better series than Y: The Last Man. The artwork is a little more sophisticated (but still totally accessible), the narrative is slightly more complex (he jumps around a lot more from one time period to another), and the series reaches more of those high-level issues that think Y is going for but doesn't quite achieve. Plus, it's really entertaining. How could you not love a series about an ex-superhero who becomes mayor of New York? You can see some similarity between Mitchell Hundred/The Great Machine, and Yorick Brown (the lead character from Y), but each is his own character and both are very compelling. Again, this series would make a fantastic series of movies. Again, hopefully not starring that Leboeuf kid.

When I said I was done posting on Sarah Palin, I lied

Sarah Palin is going on a field trip to the UN. The funniest part is the anonymous source saying that taking her to the UN will "improve her foreign policy credentials." Um, just because you visit the UN doesn't give you foreign policy credentials. Sometimes I go to lunch at Quincy Market and get Japanese, Thai or Greek food. Does this improve my foreign policy credentials?

Also, I have a new analogy for the seeming groundswell of support for Palin, and the culture of narcissism that wants us to see someone "just like us" in the White House. Did you ever see the Simpsons episode where Homer meets his long lost brother (voiced by Danny Devito) and he turns out to be this really successful executive at a car company? Homer's brother then decides to have Homer design a car for "regular people", since Homer is just a "regular guy". The car turns out to be a giant disaster and costs Homer's brother his job and destroys the company. Sarah Palin is Homer Simpson, fulfilling our desire to see someone "just like us" in charge.

Also, Jeff Jacoby had something in today's Globe where he implores us all to just leave poor Sarah Palin alone. He's one of my token favorite conservatives because I think he often makes good points, but I had to disagree with him on this one. I sent him an email (paraphrasing some other points I've previously made here), the text of which is below. I'll post if he responds.

"I agree with your column that some of the Palin coverage has been critical, but you cite mostly bloggers and commentators. However, I think you seriously understate the amount of vitriol, slander and outright lies that Barack Obama has faced from the right wing, including bloggers and other commentators. Besides, the McCain spin control team has made it seem like any inquiry into Sarah Palin's life is out of bounds - I'm pretty sure it's still the press' job to ask tough questions.

She is theoretically going to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, and access to her has been so incredibly stage-managed that you begin to wonder what they're afraid of (if she's so great, why not let her say something other than giving her canned stump speech?). That lack of access can only contribute to the air of speculation around her, and statements like Steve Schmidt's that the press is not being sufficiently "deferential" are pure idiocy. John McCain has never shied away from facing tough questions (and Obama and Biden have given plenty of press access) and his running mate shouldn't either.

One other thing you mentioned was about her family. I don't believe families should be discussed on the campaign, and they should be generally off limits. Barack Obama made a strong statement echoing this point. However, isn't it sort of hypocritical for the campaign to say that family is "off limits" with respect to Palin's daughter, when at the same time she shamelessly uses her two sons as campaign props? I mean, how many times are they going to tell us that her son is going to serve in Iraq, and how many times is she going to use her infant son as a prop to burnish her pro-life credentials? As a parent, I think she should be ashamed of herself for using her children in this way. I say, stop using the children you want to promote as campaign tools, and maybe people will leave your other children alone.

Besides, don't you think people's desire to have a president they can "relate to" is incredibly narcissistic and kind of silly? I mean, you don't choose a doctor or a contractor based on whether you can relate to them, do you? Then why use that standard for the presidency? I mean, we're talking about someone who is going to help run the whole country, not just redo your kitchen.

I will say, though, that I can "relate" to Sarah Palin in at least one way. I'm not qualified to be vice president, and neither is she."

Two political thoughts

1. Recently Karl Rove publicly said he thought McCain had gone too far in some of his ads. Yikes! Having Karl Rove tell you you're gone too far is kind of like having Stalin tell you you're "not being nice."

2. Why do people want to vote for candidates that are "just like them?" People seem to want "relatability", which I think is really dumb and incredibly narcissistic. Only in politics do people ask for this. I mean, if you needed brain surgery, would you want the brain surgeon to be "like you", or would you want him to be highly competent and good at what he did? I don't want to "have a beer" with my doctor, I just want him to do the job correctly. Why do we ask less of our politicians than we do of our doctors? I don't want a politician who is just like me. I'm not qualified to be president! I want a politician who is much much smarter than me, since being president involves dealing with really big issues that I am in no way qualified to deal with.

Ultimately, this means that I wish someone more qualified than Obama was the Democratic nominee, but he does have time in both state (as a state legislator) and federal government, and he was a constitutional law professor, so I'm hoping some of that will come in handy. Still, I wish he had 4 or 8 more years in the Senate under his belt before he ran.

David Foster Wallace

I was very sad to hear last night that David Foster Wallace killed himself recently. He was such a talented writer. All I ever read of his was A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, which is absolutely brilliant and I commend it to anyone looking for smart, thoughtful, clever essays. Particular, the titular essay and the one about the Illinois state fair are the sorts of things you can sit around reading hilarious passages to friends. Now, there is plenty of self-righteous snark that comes across in the essays, but it's damn funny, even if it seems kinda mean.

Anyway, I'm very sorry he's gone.

Maybe someday I will work up the courage to take on Infinite Jest (though maybe not, given the descriptions of the novel as "Pynchonesque" and given my limited enjoyment of Gravity's Rainbow by Pynchon - I'll have to write about the experience of reading that book some other time).

Comic Book Review - Fables

I recently started reading the Fables series and so far I have read the first two books in the chronological series, along with 1001 Nights of Snowfall, which is a prequel to the series. I feel like something of a broken record by saying this (i.e. giving positive reviews to popular series), but I'm really enjoying it. I enjoyed vol. 1 - Legends in Exile more than I enjoyed the second one, Animal Farm, but both are quite good. The author (Bill Willingham) has done a really terrific job of transporting all of these different fable characters into the modern world. In order to fully enjoy these stories, you don't have to know a lot about fairy tales and fables, but it helps to know the basics, and it is clear that the author has a strong background here. The stories themselves are extremely engaging, straightforward and fun (similar to Brian Vaughan's work). It's quite funny to think of Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk as this low-level loser, or that the Big Bad Wolf is now a detective. Anyway, as much as I enjoyed those stories, I have to say I think I enjoyed 1001 Nights of Snowfall even more. There, you learn the background stories of some of the characters that appear in Fables, and how they ended up in Fabletown (in New York). The stories have a magical, real fable-like sense to them (which the regular comic does not - it definitely takes place in our world), and the art (done by different artists for each story) is quite wonderful. The stories also have something of a "Harry Potter" feel to them, as it posits a magical world that has to be hidden from the mundanes/muggles. Anyway, I love the series, and hope to read more of it.

He's got my vote

Finally! A presidential candidate I can believe in.

My last post on Sarah Palin (hopefully)

I was at the physical therapist today and next door they are demolishing a building. All that's left is a wall in front, so that if you just look at it quickly for a moment you might still think there was a building there, but if you spend any time at all looking, you'll see it's clear that all that's left is the wall in front, and nothing behind it. That's what Sarah Palin is like. She's the "potemkin candidate". She's got catchy slogans and sound bites that sound good, but there appears to be nothing behind it. Only recently did she even agree to give an interview to a member of the press. If she's so great, what are they afraid of? She (and the attention surrounding her) also reminds me a little of Chauncey Gardiner. Everyone projects on to her what they want to see, but she's actually an empty shell.

The last thing I'll mention is about the media "hubbub" surrounding her and her kids. It's pretty tiresome to hear her and the McCain campaign complain about the treatment of her daughter's pregnancy, when the campaign is busy shamelessly using her son with down syndrome and her son going to Iraq as props to score points. As far as I'm concerned, she's opening her whole family up for scrutiny by politically using her own children in this way.

Why I think Obama will win

He's fine, I've got some issues with him, but demographic trends are going to help him win.

Are stupid people thinner?

This new research makes me want to think less.

More leftovers from Last Night's Republican Convention

I read that Mitt Romney (of whom I am not a fan) said that his party (the Republican Party) was the party of "big ideas, not big brother". Two questions:

1. What big ideas? How do Republicans propose to solve all of our major problems - invade some other country? Blame gays? Get us all to read the Bible more?

2. The "not big brother" part gets me - isn't this the same party that brought you warrantless wiretapping, Gitmo, thousands of FBI inquiries, the USA PATRIOT Act, and countless other actions that push us closer to being a police state?

At least Giuliani won't be President

I watched about 5 minutes of Giuliani talking yesterday and it was as much as I could handle. He somehow suggested that John McCain would both expand free trade and protect American jobs, and that Obama was going to somehow ship them all away. How exactly McCain will be both a protectionist and a free-trade guy is beyond me. I'm pro free-trade, having recently read The World is Flat by Tom Friedman I think that guy is spot-on when he talks about what America has to do to remain competitive in the world. Being protectionist is not one of those things. Anyway, Giuliani seemed to be suggesting that McCain would simultaneously do both, which is pretty much impossible. Additionally, he failed to mention that more American jobs have moved overseas during the presidency of George Bush than at any other time. But, who needs facts?

Additionally, he said McCain would shrink the size of government. Politicians are so full of crap when they make this claim. I read recently that during the past 25 years, the period of time when the size of the federal government was at its smallest as a percentage of GDP was during the presidency of Bill Clinton. But, again, who needs facts?

I don't care so much about the "experience" issue because I think that the only job that prepares you for being President is being President. That being said, it has been amusing watching conservative commentators tie themselves in knots (and making themselves seem really stupid) by making the argument that Palin has more relevant experience than Obama or Biden.

Also, read this. Funny and devastating critique of the McCain campaign's anger at the media.

Watch this weasel squirm

Does John McCain's spokesman Tucker Bounds say anything at all in this clip? He can't answer a pretty basic question about Governor Palin's "experience".

Movie Review - Tropic Thunder

Just saw Tropic Thunder last night, and I absolutely loved it. Nothing ground-breaking to report in my review here (i.e., sentiments will probably echo general consensus), but I thought it was hugely entertaining, very funny and spot-on with its commentary about society and Hollywood.

As an aside, this is my first movie review posted here and I'm still trying to figure out whether I'll be including spoilers or be relatively spoiler-free, in how much detail I'll summarize the plot, and whether I'll include any kind of rating system (stars, thumbs up/thumbs down, etc.). I'm inclined to try to stay relatively spoiler-free, and to not include any rating system because I think those are arbitrary and silly. I'll tell you if I liked or didn't like something, and if so, why.

Anyway, Tropic Thunder opens with some very funny fake trailers that provide some pretty good exposition for the main characters of the story. I liked all of the main leads, but I was least enamored of Jack Black's character (a cross between Jack Black, Eddie Murphy and Chris Farley) - I think I'm just not a huge Jack Black fan. Hmmm, is that true? I do really like him in certain roles (High Fidelity, School of Rock). Well, I'll have to think about it. Anyway, the plot concerns the filming of a war movie that goes horrifically wrong, and the self-absorbed actors who get involved in the movie that turns into real life. All sorts of wacky hijinks ensue, which is not as relevant to me as the terrific performances in the movie. You don't really need to know much about the plot, except to know that it's full of action, suspense, and assloads of funnies. Let me mention briefly the "controversy" surrounding this movie. If you actually see the movie, you will understand completely that this controversy is much ado about nothing, and that the mentally disabled are not the target of this movie. Hollywood is the target, and their idealization of the mentally disabled as "awards material". Also, I can't speak to whether Robert Downey Jr. "blackface" performance is offensive to African-Americans (as I am not one), but I would say that while he definitely walks some fine lines (as the movie does generally), his character takes the embracing of his role very seriously, and is again I think a satire and criticism of how seriously actors take themselves, as opposed to being a straight-up attempt at crude blackface humor.

All that being said, the movie is fairly crude and there' s a lot of swearing (particularly from Tom Cruise's "Les Grossman" character), along with some intentionally ridiculous Hollywood violence. As an aside, I think there is some argument that the most offensive characterization in the movie is Cruise's portrayal as the Jewish movie producer. His character is cheesy, money-obsessed and something of a walking stereotype. He is also completely hilarious and I loved the performance. So, I have mixed feelings about it (I'm Jewish). I did not have mixed feelings about the movie generally, though, I totally loved it and thought is was a real ass kicker of a comedy, with terrific acting and very smart dialogue.

One other thing. Tropic Thunder owes a huge debt to Bowfinger, the underappreciated Steve Martin movie where he films an action movie around a paranoid action star (played by Eddie Murphy) who has no idea he is in the movie, with a team of people who also have no idea that their star has no idea that there is a movie being filmed. I'd highly recommend Bowfinger to anyone who enjoyed Tropic Thunder.