I recently entered the Air realm. In the fall I got a MacBook Air and then for my birthday I got an iPad Air. They are both light, fast, and pretty to look at.
The MacBook Air was, ostensibly, a work purchase. My previous job had spoiled me with a MacBook Pro as my primary computer and my current job insists that writers need an 8 core desktop PC to do their work. I disagreed and took matters into my owns hand. I got the entry level Air with beefed up storage. It is more than powerful enough for basic needs. I haven't tried any hardcore games or video editing, but everything else runs quickly and smoothly. I have played with iMovie and that is as smooth on the Air as it is on my wife's Pro.
The two most impressive things about the Air are the battery life and the speed at which it starts up. The weight is great, but with a name like Air it is expected.
I have run the thing for a full day without charging it and not gone bellow ten percent battery life. These runs didn't involve a lot of video watching or even too much use of iTunes, but the wireless was always on and e-mail, calendar, reminders, and Safari were constantly running.
The start up time is impossibly fast. It is easily less than a minute from shutdown to fully functional. At start up, my Air loads calendar, reminders, and e-mail. From asleep to ready is instantaneous. It wakes up as fast as my iPad or iPhone. That is impressive.
The only drawback to the Air is the limited storage. I am not sure I could use it as a primary computer without running out of space. I have a large iPhoto library and a mid-sized iTunes library. I could currently move everything from iMac to the air, but the air's disk would be over 90% full. I could get away without moving up the music since I have iTunes Match, but I would be uncomfortable.
The iPad Air was actually H's idea. She wanted an iPad, but didn't want to buy a new one. She encouraged me to upgrade so she could inherit my iPad 3. It has been a successful swap. She enjoys the iPad 3 and I got a new lighter and faster iPad. The iPad Air is a lot like my old iPad except that it is much faster. The speed is noticeable between the 3 and the Air. Things on the Air are just smoother. The Air is also much thinner and lighter. The cut in weight has been great. I never got tired holding the 3 for long periods of time, but it was definitely a two hand job. With the Air I can comfortably sit on the couch and read with one hand. It is not a easy to one hand as a mini, but, for me, the extra screen real estate is a good trade off. I'm not so convinced that the extra thinness is a great thing. At first the edges didn't feel great while I was holding it and typing in bed, but I've gotten used to it.
One thing that I have noticed that isn't great about the iPad Air is that the screen occasionally feels plasticy. The two older iPad, and Bug's mini, have more solid feeling screens. It is not that the Air's screen is bad, it just sometimes doesn't feel as lush to the touch.
Jan 3, 2014
May 23, 2013
I've got a Byline
Despite being a full time writer, it has been a long time since I've had my own byline. The latest issue of Adoptive Families has a story I wrote in it. The story is just a little, personal reflection on first meeting our little love bug.
Feb 20, 2013
Sleepwalk With Me
A movie based on a This American Life skit is an interesting idea in theory. The danger in executing it is that it will feel like a fifteen minute skit dragged out for ninety minutes. The other danger is that a character who seems interesting for a brief moment will become loathsome over the long hall.
Sadly Sleepwalk With Me fell into both traps. The sleepwalking skit is one of the great TAL episodes. Mike Birbiglia's other bits are also typically funny. The problem is that he doesn't do the work to tie them together into a story that holds up for the duration. In many ways, the sleepwalking bit feels tacked on to a dull story about the end of a relationship. It doesn't add anything to the story and the humor is fleeting. The love story bit is too mixed up with the bit about becoming an adult and it doesn't seem to really mesh in anyway that is believable. It all hangs together like a ball of wet noodles. A film is too long for Birbiglia's meandering style to hold up. It works best when the audience cannot stop paying attention halfway through because they don't have time.
The other problem is that for the movie to work you have to like the central character. As he says "remember you are on my side". I was never on his side. I wanted the girl to walkout on him after the first five minutes. I wanted her to sleep with the hunky guy at the bar. I wanted him to fall asleep at the wheel. I didn't believe that any girl could have more than a passing "self loathing" moment where she would consider him suitable for anything more than a tool. I didn't even believe it when he finally figured out how to be funny.
Was it a terrible movie? No. Do I feel like it was a waste of ninety minutes? Not really. Would I pay to watch it? No.
Sadly Sleepwalk With Me fell into both traps. The sleepwalking skit is one of the great TAL episodes. Mike Birbiglia's other bits are also typically funny. The problem is that he doesn't do the work to tie them together into a story that holds up for the duration. In many ways, the sleepwalking bit feels tacked on to a dull story about the end of a relationship. It doesn't add anything to the story and the humor is fleeting. The love story bit is too mixed up with the bit about becoming an adult and it doesn't seem to really mesh in anyway that is believable. It all hangs together like a ball of wet noodles. A film is too long for Birbiglia's meandering style to hold up. It works best when the audience cannot stop paying attention halfway through because they don't have time.
The other problem is that for the movie to work you have to like the central character. As he says "remember you are on my side". I was never on his side. I wanted the girl to walkout on him after the first five minutes. I wanted her to sleep with the hunky guy at the bar. I wanted him to fall asleep at the wheel. I didn't believe that any girl could have more than a passing "self loathing" moment where she would consider him suitable for anything more than a tool. I didn't even believe it when he finally figured out how to be funny.
Was it a terrible movie? No. Do I feel like it was a waste of ninety minutes? Not really. Would I pay to watch it? No.
Feb 7, 2013
Fringe
Fringe has finally ended its improbably long run. I never expected that it would make it past the first season. Each summer I would wait for the announcement that it wasn't coming back. Then it would come back and be just as good or better than the season before.
The story lines went off the rails sometimes; plot caverns cropped up; continuity was broken like a twig. The biggest violation was in the middle of season four when Peter went from avoiding Olivia to simply giving into his urges. It was like during the mid season break the characters had some rewiring. Let's also not forget how Walter supposedly wrote the book of the first people or the other book from the first two seasons. The complete rewriting of the timeline was at least telegraphed.
There was also the annoying habit the show had of never quite resolving anything. First there was the pattern, then there was the other side, and finally the future. The writers just skipped from one to the next without ever really resolving the previous. At least in the end the whole framework was put into some sort of sense. It was the Observers all along not that it really answers everything.
Despite all of the shows flaws, it was a great show. It didn't dumb things down even if it did take great liberty with science. The writing was typically sharp. The actors were typically in top form. More than any of that however, the show had great characters that I wanted to follow. They were multilayered and flawed and noble and conflicted and always aimed at doing the right thing. Walter was probably the best of the bunch. Walter was hubristic and brilliant and blind. Olivia was wounded, defensive, smart, tough, and kind. Peter was a lot like Walter. Broyles was too willing to sacrifice what he thought was right for the greater good.
As the final episode drilled home, the show, underneath all the crazy, was a story about family and friends and finding your way in the crazy world. Unlike many shows recently, Fringe went out on top with a close to perfect ending. It may have been too neat, but it was right.
The story lines went off the rails sometimes; plot caverns cropped up; continuity was broken like a twig. The biggest violation was in the middle of season four when Peter went from avoiding Olivia to simply giving into his urges. It was like during the mid season break the characters had some rewiring. Let's also not forget how Walter supposedly wrote the book of the first people or the other book from the first two seasons. The complete rewriting of the timeline was at least telegraphed.
There was also the annoying habit the show had of never quite resolving anything. First there was the pattern, then there was the other side, and finally the future. The writers just skipped from one to the next without ever really resolving the previous. At least in the end the whole framework was put into some sort of sense. It was the Observers all along not that it really answers everything.
Despite all of the shows flaws, it was a great show. It didn't dumb things down even if it did take great liberty with science. The writing was typically sharp. The actors were typically in top form. More than any of that however, the show had great characters that I wanted to follow. They were multilayered and flawed and noble and conflicted and always aimed at doing the right thing. Walter was probably the best of the bunch. Walter was hubristic and brilliant and blind. Olivia was wounded, defensive, smart, tough, and kind. Peter was a lot like Walter. Broyles was too willing to sacrifice what he thought was right for the greater good.
As the final episode drilled home, the show, underneath all the crazy, was a story about family and friends and finding your way in the crazy world. Unlike many shows recently, Fringe went out on top with a close to perfect ending. It may have been too neat, but it was right.
Dec 27, 2012
I Do Read a Lot
Looking over my blog entries for the last year it looks like I have barely done any reading over the past year. However, I feel like I read all the time. I do read at least a little everyday.
The thing is that this year I spent a lot more time reading news and other short non-fiction pieces than novels. They are easier to get through in the short snippets of time available to parents of two year olds.
Zinn's history also took a lot out of me. It was a long slog.
Anyway Instapaper's recommendations and Zite provide me with plenty of reading material. I recommend both.
The thing is that this year I spent a lot more time reading news and other short non-fiction pieces than novels. They are easier to get through in the short snippets of time available to parents of two year olds.
Zinn's history also took a lot out of me. It was a long slog.
Anyway Instapaper's recommendations and Zite provide me with plenty of reading material. I recommend both.
Nov 12, 2012
The People's History
Zinn's book was a long read. The is substantial in both shear number of pages and in the amount of information packed in between the covers. Because I was reading it during a presidential election cycle between an explicitly corporate man and a centrist made it even more difficult.
Zinn's writing is ponderous. He clearly has a message and never misses an opportunity to bludgeon the reader with it. The research, secondary, and primary sources, are prodigious and drives home the point like a sledgehammer.
Despite the writing, I forged through because I found the story Zinn was telling compelling. It is true that the victors write the history, so when the losers get a chance it is a troubling treat. As part of the mollified middle class, it is disheartening to be reminded that my happiness is a well constructed myth and that in many ways I, along with my peers, have been duped, and are in league with, the rapacious captains of capitalism.
Reading the book I moved between feeling angry and despondent-mostly despondent. I thought that perhaps the best way to effect change was to vote for Romeny and accelerate the rapid decimation of the middle class. I also thought that despite the fact that Obama was part of the grand compromise that kept the existing balance in place, it was better than the pain of revolution. I eventually found a balance by accepting that Zinn and his ilk present a false choice.
It is not the case that the current balance is fundamentally flawed and that it needs to be torn down. The current balance is still weighted towards the haves, and is arguably getting more lopsided, but it is far better than many systems. Revolution will not get us any closer to a healthy balance; it will only get us further away. That doesn't mean we accept the balance. The answer is constant vigilance and never accepting the status quo.
Zinn's writing is ponderous. He clearly has a message and never misses an opportunity to bludgeon the reader with it. The research, secondary, and primary sources, are prodigious and drives home the point like a sledgehammer.
Despite the writing, I forged through because I found the story Zinn was telling compelling. It is true that the victors write the history, so when the losers get a chance it is a troubling treat. As part of the mollified middle class, it is disheartening to be reminded that my happiness is a well constructed myth and that in many ways I, along with my peers, have been duped, and are in league with, the rapacious captains of capitalism.
Reading the book I moved between feeling angry and despondent-mostly despondent. I thought that perhaps the best way to effect change was to vote for Romeny and accelerate the rapid decimation of the middle class. I also thought that despite the fact that Obama was part of the grand compromise that kept the existing balance in place, it was better than the pain of revolution. I eventually found a balance by accepting that Zinn and his ilk present a false choice.
It is not the case that the current balance is fundamentally flawed and that it needs to be torn down. The current balance is still weighted towards the haves, and is arguably getting more lopsided, but it is far better than many systems. Revolution will not get us any closer to a healthy balance; it will only get us further away. That doesn't mean we accept the balance. The answer is constant vigilance and never accepting the status quo.
Jan 31, 2012
The Last Werewolf
The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan is an odd duck of a book. There is a trend for literary authors to tackle genre, particularly horror, novels. Most frequently it is zombies or vampires. Duncan, however, decided to change things up and go with a less popular species of creature: the werewolf. Werewolves turn up in the current crop of faux romance horror, but it always in a supporting role. Duncan puts the werewolf right at the heart of the story.
I think it is a great choice for exploring the human condition. Unlike vampires or zombies, werewolves have a soul, a life to lose, and spend a majority of their lives as human beings. A werewolf must truly learn how to reconcile the monster and the man in order to live. Vampires and zombies are truly other. They lose all of their humanity once they are turned. All that is left for them is to mourn. A werewolf, because of the duality of their nature, can never leave their humanity fully behind. For 30 days every month a werewolf is basically human. They must make their way in the world; they must navigate human relationships; they must deal with human emotions. People are not just food to the werewolf; people are the werewolf's other half.
Duncan explores this duality from the point of view of Jake Marlow, a two hindered year old werewolf. He is hunted by a relentless man who has wiped out all other known werewolves and has saved Jake for last. Duncan could have made Jake a likable guy who has always tried to balance the monster with extraordinary feats of grace or had him be a noble monster, like Dexter, who only eats the guilty. Instead, Duncan makes Jake tired, cynical, selfish, and tired of life. Jake is essentially waiting to die. Duncan goes almost out of his way to make Jake unlikeable. However, Duncan also humanizes Jake by allowing Jake to have some consciousness of the evil he commits and the toll it takes on those close to him. Duncan also gives Jake a sense of honor. Jake's dual nature makes him complex and interesting. It keeps you reading despite the plot twists.
The plot centers around Jake's inexorable meeting with his hunter. Jake just wants it to end, or so he believes. The hunter of course wants the end to be a challenge, so he goes out of his way to provoke Jake. There are a number of crazy plot twists that get between Jake and his stated desire to die. The twists are just a way to keep Jake talking. It is Jake's talking, the way he sees life, the way he deals with his nature and humanity that keeps the reader in the game.
The Last Werewolf is a horror novel, a chase novel, and a journey of self discovery all wrapped up in one ball. There is almost no horror other than having werewolves and vampires. The chase is pretty slow. It is the inner journey that makes up the meat of the book. I highly recommend it to anyone regardless of their position on werewolves.
I think it is a great choice for exploring the human condition. Unlike vampires or zombies, werewolves have a soul, a life to lose, and spend a majority of their lives as human beings. A werewolf must truly learn how to reconcile the monster and the man in order to live. Vampires and zombies are truly other. They lose all of their humanity once they are turned. All that is left for them is to mourn. A werewolf, because of the duality of their nature, can never leave their humanity fully behind. For 30 days every month a werewolf is basically human. They must make their way in the world; they must navigate human relationships; they must deal with human emotions. People are not just food to the werewolf; people are the werewolf's other half.
Duncan explores this duality from the point of view of Jake Marlow, a two hindered year old werewolf. He is hunted by a relentless man who has wiped out all other known werewolves and has saved Jake for last. Duncan could have made Jake a likable guy who has always tried to balance the monster with extraordinary feats of grace or had him be a noble monster, like Dexter, who only eats the guilty. Instead, Duncan makes Jake tired, cynical, selfish, and tired of life. Jake is essentially waiting to die. Duncan goes almost out of his way to make Jake unlikeable. However, Duncan also humanizes Jake by allowing Jake to have some consciousness of the evil he commits and the toll it takes on those close to him. Duncan also gives Jake a sense of honor. Jake's dual nature makes him complex and interesting. It keeps you reading despite the plot twists.
The plot centers around Jake's inexorable meeting with his hunter. Jake just wants it to end, or so he believes. The hunter of course wants the end to be a challenge, so he goes out of his way to provoke Jake. There are a number of crazy plot twists that get between Jake and his stated desire to die. The twists are just a way to keep Jake talking. It is Jake's talking, the way he sees life, the way he deals with his nature and humanity that keeps the reader in the game.
The Last Werewolf is a horror novel, a chase novel, and a journey of self discovery all wrapped up in one ball. There is almost no horror other than having werewolves and vampires. The chase is pretty slow. It is the inner journey that makes up the meat of the book. I highly recommend it to anyone regardless of their position on werewolves.
Jan 14, 2012
2012
So this is the last year of the Mayan calendar, so the world might end in December. If that is the case, which I doubt, there is a lot of living left to squeeze into the year....
For me, less is usually more so I'm not going to clutter the year up with lots of big plans and lofty must accomplish goals. Instead, I'm going to set myself a few things to guide how I live this year:
1. I'm going to value time with my family over time at work.
2. I will do my best in all things that I do.
3. I will read indiscriminately.
4. I will prefer outdoor time to screen time.
5. I will stay active.
6. I will eat healthy with the occasional chocolate and ice cream.
7. I will try to relax.
These are just guiding principles. They are not mandates. They are not goals to be reached.
Mandates, goals, resolutions are just another way to beat yourself up. They are carrots to chase and hoops to jump through on the way to the next goal. They are not a way to live a life.
If they Mayans were right, I don't want to be looking back from the end of the world wishing I had accomplished some goal. I want to be happy knowing that I had lived life.
For me, less is usually more so I'm not going to clutter the year up with lots of big plans and lofty must accomplish goals. Instead, I'm going to set myself a few things to guide how I live this year:
1. I'm going to value time with my family over time at work.
2. I will do my best in all things that I do.
3. I will read indiscriminately.
4. I will prefer outdoor time to screen time.
5. I will stay active.
6. I will eat healthy with the occasional chocolate and ice cream.
7. I will try to relax.
These are just guiding principles. They are not mandates. They are not goals to be reached.
Mandates, goals, resolutions are just another way to beat yourself up. They are carrots to chase and hoops to jump through on the way to the next goal. They are not a way to live a life.
If they Mayans were right, I don't want to be looking back from the end of the world wishing I had accomplished some goal. I want to be happy knowing that I had lived life.
Dec 17, 2011
The Night Eternal by del Toro and Hogan
"The Night Eternal" is the last book in the Strain Trilogy and I was really looking forward to a strong ending to cap off what has been a great story. Instead I got a pseudo-religious anticlimax.
How the story ends is no great surprise (although there is always a slim chance that an author will either let the bad guys win or extract an extraordinary price from the good guys), but, in my mind, having an obvious ending puts a lot of pressure on the authors to make getting to the end good.
Instead the authors spent a lot of time going into the backstory of how vampires came to exist, building a case for Mr. Quinlan being a Jesus figure, and Eph being the hand of God. All of this gets in the way of a tight storyline and spending more time on how people react under an oppressive occupation. It also gets in the way of any character development.
The two year interlude between the action in book two and the beginning of book three has changed the characters. The change is mostly in Eph and because the changes fit in with the character's basic disposition, they don't require much explanation. Fet and Nora have also changed, but their changes don't really fit with the characters as laid out in the first two books. Little is done to smooth this over either. The reader is just left to accept it.
That said, the book is not a bad read. There are some excellent fight scenes and the writing is excellent. The mythology is not uninteresting.
If you have read the first two books, you should read this one as well. I found it disappointing, but not without merit. My sense of disappointment is likely just a matter of taste for the direction the authors took the story. I'm less interested in religious mythology and more interested in social critique.
How the story ends is no great surprise (although there is always a slim chance that an author will either let the bad guys win or extract an extraordinary price from the good guys), but, in my mind, having an obvious ending puts a lot of pressure on the authors to make getting to the end good.
Instead the authors spent a lot of time going into the backstory of how vampires came to exist, building a case for Mr. Quinlan being a Jesus figure, and Eph being the hand of God. All of this gets in the way of a tight storyline and spending more time on how people react under an oppressive occupation. It also gets in the way of any character development.
The two year interlude between the action in book two and the beginning of book three has changed the characters. The change is mostly in Eph and because the changes fit in with the character's basic disposition, they don't require much explanation. Fet and Nora have also changed, but their changes don't really fit with the characters as laid out in the first two books. Little is done to smooth this over either. The reader is just left to accept it.
That said, the book is not a bad read. There are some excellent fight scenes and the writing is excellent. The mythology is not uninteresting.
If you have read the first two books, you should read this one as well. I found it disappointing, but not without merit. My sense of disappointment is likely just a matter of taste for the direction the authors took the story. I'm less interested in religious mythology and more interested in social critique.
Dec 15, 2011
Bit Literacy by Mark Hurst
I downloaded this book from Apple because it sounded interesting and it was free. It is not the sort of book I would pay money to read. The description made it clear that this was a book with something to sell.
Bit literacy is the product and Hurst's company will gladly sell it to your company for a hefty fee. I don't begrudge Hurst for this or think any less of him, but I don't ever feel like paying for a marketing tool.
It turns out that the book has some good stuff in it. It also doesn't shy away from offering up details on using the system. So, if you are buried under bits(e-mail, photos, power points, etc) it may be worth paying a few
bucks.
The key to the whole system is rooted in standard productivity lore. Let the unimportant stuff vanish so you can focus on getting things done. Don't keep ten pictures of the same thing; only keep the best one. Don't save every scrap of e-mail because it buries the stuff you need to save.
Hurst is a proponent of inbox zero. You should empty your inbox at least once a day. E-mails are either junk to be discarded, to do items that need to be tracked, or information to b stored in an appropriate place. The inbox is not a place to keep to do items or information.
One other discussion I found interesting was the discussion of file formats for textual data. Hurst comes right out and says that Word, and its ilk, are never the proper choice for sharing text. He prefers plain text unless you require formatting. If formatting is required he prefers PDF.
Bit Literacy has some interesting ideas for writers as well. Hurst has a whole section on how to write in a bit literate manner. Basically it is all about front loading the point and brevity. Write in a way that respects that the reader is busy. This is not about pleasure it is about efficiency.
Hurst's book has some worthwhile points. There is something in there for anyone who uses a computer.
Bit literacy is the product and Hurst's company will gladly sell it to your company for a hefty fee. I don't begrudge Hurst for this or think any less of him, but I don't ever feel like paying for a marketing tool.
It turns out that the book has some good stuff in it. It also doesn't shy away from offering up details on using the system. So, if you are buried under bits(e-mail, photos, power points, etc) it may be worth paying a few
bucks.
The key to the whole system is rooted in standard productivity lore. Let the unimportant stuff vanish so you can focus on getting things done. Don't keep ten pictures of the same thing; only keep the best one. Don't save every scrap of e-mail because it buries the stuff you need to save.
Hurst is a proponent of inbox zero. You should empty your inbox at least once a day. E-mails are either junk to be discarded, to do items that need to be tracked, or information to b stored in an appropriate place. The inbox is not a place to keep to do items or information.
One other discussion I found interesting was the discussion of file formats for textual data. Hurst comes right out and says that Word, and its ilk, are never the proper choice for sharing text. He prefers plain text unless you require formatting. If formatting is required he prefers PDF.
Bit Literacy has some interesting ideas for writers as well. Hurst has a whole section on how to write in a bit literate manner. Basically it is all about front loading the point and brevity. Write in a way that respects that the reader is busy. This is not about pleasure it is about efficiency.
Hurst's book has some worthwhile points. There is something in there for anyone who uses a computer.
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