Tools, Ideas, Music

Wow, Switchfoot makes some excellent music. Their latest record The Beautiful Letdown, now rests alone in my winamp and has been providing me with high quality noise for a few days hence. It is highly recommended to those who enjoy rock/pop with well written songs and hooks.

On the Ideas spectrum, I think it's finally time for me to finish my Xmas shopping. I have just a few small things left to get my wife, and I'm also looking forward to getting the packages I ordered last week (argh), and if they don't come before Christmas I'm gonna be Fuckin Pissed(tm). I've always been a late shopper, but since my reliance on online shopping kind of kills that idea and proposition, it has become my mission to finish up my shopping today and enjoy the rest of the coming week with no worries as to what to get for whom.

My lovely wife has really saved me from a ton of frustration and time by doing practically all of the shopping while leaving me at home with and without children. I cannot thank her enough for this kind, giving gesture, as shopping is akin to going to the dentist for a prostate exam.

I'll give you a moment to imagine that one.

As for some Cool Tools You Need To Be Using, the first is obviously Firefox and have you seen the nice two page NYTimes Ad they placed? Beautiful stuff!

Now for the RSS Reader You Must Have Now. This was found via the Scoble, and did I mention The Red Couch, his blogging book venture? You'll see my comments over there, as I can't help but open my big mouth and share my views with whomever will listen. Strangely enough they seem to listen, and I'm flattered.

Anyway, the RSS Reader is called Onfolio and it is Excellent Software. I downloaded and currently use Thunderbird for email and after using their RSS reader built in I found it to be a pain in the ass. I don't know if Onfolio gets it perfect, but it does get it right, and quite frankly includes the biggest strides I've ever seen in an RSS Reader. How about a true cross-platform implementation? How about plugins that actually astound with their resiliance, include easy to use right click menus, have one-button feed additions and uses an amazing newspaper layout.

You don't know RSS Bliss until you've used the Newspaper layout. It's that good.

So until next time, which will probably end up being Sunday or Monday (remember this is a very weekday friendly blog), keep hunting and if there are any cool tools I missed, be sure to note them in the comments section.

Xmas Family Album

Click on the picture for the latest picture gallery!

Aren't my girls beautiful? The older kids are my niece and nephew, Marissa and Jonathon, respectively.

Lessons, Then and Now

So, as you may have read on here before, I kind of freaked out about the Netherlands' youthanasia stance and it seems that Metafilter has caught the story as well.

Then there's this guy who basically says that no baby should ever die, no matter how much pain it might be in.

Perhaps he should clue himself in.

Choice quote:

"At least with the elderly sick, they had to be consulted about their wishes. Newborns receive no such privilege.

I'm not surprised."

Of course drugs and prostitution are blamed shortly after. If staunch conservatives are anything, they are predictable.

I'm very grateful to the comment on my own blog post, as it took my overreaction and simmered it down quite effectively. The same should happen to this Cal person. He simply needs a wake up call. He needs to realize that his right-wing no-room-for-discussion politics can mean a lot of hurt for people who don't necessarily need it.

This is a hot topic and a touchy one at best. Regardless, the right-wing Fox News Channel is going to have a field day with this one and quickly villify the Netherlands as The Place Where Infants Are Slaughtered Daily.

So yay for Right Wing Conversative assholes and "the most syndicated op-ed writer in the country."

Lateness and the Hidden Gems

So Blockbuster is dropping late fees eh? That's great...until you get so used to your "one week grace period" that actually end up having to buy the damn game or DVD.

And don't you think for a minute that when they mean buy, they mean the complete, full, retail price from when it was first released. You forgot to return Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 because it was scratched and you didn't play it? Well, say hello to a $50 charge.

Is this listed anywhere in the press release? Of course not, its legalese silly. There's no such thing has fine print in news stories. We're all much too busy for that kind of bothersome information.

The fact is that Blockbuster gets a huge chunk of their operating profit and revenue from late fees. Last I recall the number was over 30%. This means that they've tested out this No Late Fee thing, and while it looks good plastered on billboards and posters, it is also very good for business. Why charge someone a measly $6+ for missing a return date when you can get $30-$50? This is big bucks folks.

It's also simple retaliation in response to Netflix taking away a huge portion of their business. My friend Jeremy and his wife love Netflix, as it provides good entertainment when you want it and a return policy that doesn't include ripping money out of your gullet when you return something not precisely on time.

For the gamers out there, Gamefly has this exact same type of service and should bode well for any gamer on a budget. $20 a month should easily be affordable and can provide the necessary means for gaming goodness at all times. This is the service that took years to arrive and now that it finally has just makes perfect sense.

The problem with Blockbuster is that their brick-and-mortar base just isn't cohesive with the lazy American lifestyle. Sure they were huge in the 80's and 90's, but the times they are a' changing baby. We Americans want it Half Off, Ready Now, Shipping Free, Delivery Directly To Our Door, and Easy Web-Based Payment Options. Blockbuster simply can't compete with a search box. Walking the aisles of a store is like comparing automobiles to a home cooked meal: One is hot and fresh. The other requires maintenance, money, and effort.

I believe in retrospect this will begin closing the door toward Blockbuster's demise. They won't drop out of the limelight completely, as there is always a market for stores such as these, but they will begin to lose marketshare and soon will find themselves the new minority.

Welcome to the new world order, one that doesn't include teenagers who don't know what movie you're speaking of or how to properly operate a cash register.

Lastly, check out these lost Beatles Xmas recordings. These were sent out to fan club members as a gift each year, and they are fascinating to listen to. Something to listen to while you search for movies and games you wish to see and play, eh?

Exclusivity

Well, nothing like the powers that be working together to give you less choice. It's like Clearchannel, only on your consoles. For the next 5 years we're going to be staring down the barrel of Madden in all forms with no other NFL competition in sight (other than those who have fantasy teams like the Tennessee Wildcats or something).

What does it all mean? That when a competitor releases a game at a lower price point then the owner of said property thinks that they are weakening the strength of that license. Well, the NFL think that way, quote:

"No licensor likes to see a price war being fought with its brand value at stake. At the same time, exclusive licenses in the sports world are more the norm than non-exclusive licenses. The NFL's apparel license is a Reebok exclusive, as is its beverage license with Gatorade."

It just seems apparent to me that the more they try to make video games into something like footwear the less and less we'll actually attain quality from these titles.

I'm not saying Madden is shit, I'm saying that the Madden dev team now has absolutely no pressure to make a better game. Those who want the newest "features" and the updated play rosters will buy Madden 2007 no matter what, but those who do not will simply stick with what they have. I think in the end EA wanted to corner the market while admitting in a passive aggressive way that they weren't fucking around with a company who wanted to release a $20 game that was just as good.

So each year you must now pay your $50 like a good consumer/gamer and like it if you wish to have Fantastically Realistic Coach Movements and Unbelievable Player Physics Including The All-New Real-Time Nose Blowing. Take Two, the publishers of ESPN's now dead-in-the-water NFL2kX games, are obviously pissed, but what's done is done. $20 is just too little for the pleasure of playing with real NFL players/teams, and we the people get to enjoy the brunt of it.

It's a sad day for sports gamers everywhere, as this sets the precedent for other sports as well. Don't be surprised when Tiger Woods may soon be the only place you'll ever see a PGA Tour logo.

Karaoke and Me

So the company Xmas party happened over the weekend at a very nice Gatlinburg hotel and it was awesome. Of course, the constant rain kind of drowned out the fun of Dollywood on Friday night (particularly for Annie), but the pool splash later on made everything okay in that department.

However, it was later that Friday night in which the real fun was had.

You see, I've never in my life done karaoke. Ericka couldn't believe this, but hey, not everyone has the chance and me being the singer guy, it seemed like an interesting and fun thing to do.

Me? I was fuckin terrified. But hey, I've performed in front of others in bars, living rooms, etc, so this isn't much different, right?

Well, it is. You see, for a singer/songwriter, his guitar is his wall. Inside the walls of this vast piece of equipment live the dreams, and ideas, the melodies that the player has perfected. And just as the singer strives to connect, he also strives to disconnect into the safety the guitar barrier provides.

Without this barrier, naked in front of everyone...well, it was a bit awkward for my first song, REM's It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine). And if you're not aware of it, perhaps you should check out the lyrics. Yeah, it's right up there with brain surgery in terms of getting it right and doing it well. But I've performed the song before and have memorized several huge chunks of the verses, so I believe I did pretty well.

The best part was when I was up there and the song has a section when you say "Right? Right!" For the latter, I put the microphone into the crowd and they shouted it after me. It felt fantastic. So yay for that!

My second song was Elton John's "Your Song", a personal favorite of mine. Just beautifully done in terms of melody and lyrics. So here I really got to spread my wings and the crowd loved it, as did I.

So what to make of these two successful outings? Well, you could say that I'm definitely looking forward to another karaoke session, as I got constant kudos the entire weekend (one woman in the bar came up and said I was best she had seen all night. Wow). Not bad for the ego, but even more encouraging for my talents. It simply makes me want to practice, to pick up a guitar again, to see where it could lead. It has been a year or more since I've played my favorite instrument, and I don't want my abilities to simply atrophy away. I've simply worked too hard over the years to let it wither.