Lights down? Check.

Moping like a petulant teenager? Been there, done that, reserving that right for the future. Not today.

So instead of the usual geekery and complaining about technology, or movies, or even posting pictures from Comic Con, I’m going to drag things down a bit. But writing it all down always helps, and if I publish this, I’ll surprise myself. Still, lets try to codify those thoughts into something coherent.

What’s the problem? I kinda got punched in the heart. It’s why I so rarely make the effort. But when I do, the person in question is always worth the attempt. To me at least. You don’t like her? Well, SCREW YOU! I do…she’s awesome.

However, to clarify, I wasn’t really punched in the heart, even metaphorically, and the person in question is above and beyond just merely worth the effort (to me, YMMV). Here’s an effort to apply logic and reasoning to an universal experience that defies logic and reasoning. I just got FriendBoxed is all. Put in the Friend Box. Sadface. But it’s her call, can’t force anyone into anything. Hey, there are worse boxes to be in, like the HeyHere’sThatRestrainingOrderJustForYouBox. Nobody wants that box. Ever.

Who is this? No names ever, but she is a very nice and sweet person…and popular. Sweet Jebus is she popular. Friend of a friend and I wouldn’t have even know of her existence if it wasn’t for an offhand comment made by the friend in Twitter (and for that, even after all this, I owe this person considerably). Tweeting leads to being intrigued, and then boy did I crush hard on this person. Oh, and curse the fact that time and space is not mine to master and that there was a not-insigificant amount of miles between the two of us that made meeting in the real world difficult for this former part-time farm boy (and I really wanted to meet her – and there did begin my spiral into madness). After considerable effort and air travel I was finally able to meet her. Twice. Ish. Gather ’round, here’s the story:

The first time was right after watching something she was involved in. I didn’t actually go and introduce myself. My official story is that I was shuffled out of the room before that was possible. Bald faced lie. I had been up since 3 that morning with a little bit of sleep on a plane and was feeling more Christian de Neuvillette than Cyrano de Bergerac. In fact, I was downright overwhelmed within the moment. She is stunning in person and needless to say, lovely. But it’s not just looks. It’s the whole package – clever, creative, funny, intelligent… This can be tricky, trying to put the ephemeral into words – you run the risk of sounding shallow. Perhaps the best way to say it is that she is this wonderfully dorky individual with a set of interests that in many ways closely mirrors my own. Not completely, but some core interests are almost in lock step. Have you ever just seen someone and just kinda know something deep down, but wasn’t sure what? Yeah, it was like that. The way to express it to the other and be sure it’s genuine, oh and be cool about it? – that’s the trick.

And thus began a weekend of 1) snapping the hell out of it (because you can’t live your life looking like a lovestruck, moon-faced idiot, and a good nights rest after a good deal of travel is always smart – especially if you want to at least try to be coherent when you do become lovestruck) and 2) trying to find her again to no avail. Fortunately, friend comes to the rescue for the second, but first real encounter with her live and in person with a dinner invite where I managed to to be lucky enough to somehow sit at her side and due to the high levels of ambient noise was probably leaning in far too much to try to hear her talk. Unfortunately, I may have also been monopolizing her time at dinner as well. But I only had an hour and here I am, luckiest guy on the planet sitting next to someone I’ve wanted to try to talk to for weeks, and I may have come across as a dullard inexplicably. Especially since there was so much I wanted to talk about and I could only fumble out so many things, and wanted to talk more. So may topics, so little time, and had I been allowed to continue had she not been pulled away I honestly fear it would have turned into “Oh! You like that too?! I love that!” and I would have sunk deeper and deeper. A piss-poor excuse and I do apologize for that.

If I have a frustration, and I think I do, it’s borne of conversation – lack thereof. Yeah, we’ve kinda Twittered back and forth, but owing to her very busy, busy life, the only time I’ve really talked to her was once, and it was great. I wanted more of that. I certainly wasn’t going to (seriously) break out a ring and ask her to marry me. I kinda just want to talk to her, really. I liked it. Ya know? The problem is that circumstances make it difficult.

Another problem is, well, there are lots of me (i.e. fanboys) and not lots of her (i.e. fangirls). This can bring up lots of other issues as well that I can’t even conceive of and hope like hell I didn’t visit upon her (and fear that I may have, at least partially). Her private life and relationships are really none of my business of of course. I’m not in that box so to speak. Remember – FriendBoxed and I’d never dream of seriously prying into that. If she lets me in one day, honestly, I’d be over the moon. The thought of her – the thought of someone like her actually being out there – brings a smile to my face (like her, but beyond the fangirlishness, it’s difficult to explain). Even if nothing ever happens and I go to my reward having been in the FriendBox, I got closer than some, most really, and I think I’m a luckier guy for it. This is someone totally worth the effort and then some, but knowing where to direct that effort appropriately is the trick, and sometimes that effort is for naught. Know when to hold ‘em…know when to fold ‘em…

I think I just hit the nail on the head. It’s not that I’m madly in love – how could I be? That isn’t rational on any level. I’ve only spent a total of 1 hour with this person and have talked to her on Twitter. I can say I’m attracted to her. Almost deeply so (and even then, that’s sorta dangerous to claim). That is certainly true, and she is very aware of this. Embarrassingly aware (more for me than her, I hope). Well, I tend to wear the heart on the sleeve a bit too much at times anyway. But despite my best (?) effort, I got FriendBoxed. Fair enough, and there was certainly a good deal working against me. Distance to say the least. But she is only an hour away by plane, and at rather reasonable rates if you book well in advance. But it’s her call, and naturally I’m going to respect that. So after a particularly weird weekend I am backing the hell off from trying to pressure her into dating…and that I even come to a realization that I was trying to pressure her – I do apologize. Not how I wanted to come across.

Hell, be honest, she doesn’t know me from Adam, and vice versa. Why would she even be interested in some guy from Oregon who sends her messages on Twitter?

Well, my natural charm I’d hope.

The thing is, like I said, and now keep repeating it seems (I must have finished the lap, time to get ready to pull over and end this), I really want to talk to her to get to know her better. A bit beyond “She likes Godzilla” (and what right minded person doesn’t like Godzilla, really?). It’s tricky via Twitter and infrequent emails – and again – especially with (as mentioned) her busy schedule. I’m that voice in a chorus and I was trying to stand out for attention, so maybe (definitely) I got a little more desperate, a little more pestering, and well…it sorta spirals out of control if you don’t watch yourself. At minimum you look like a fool. My advice, which I don’t think I followed very well: don’t do that. Puts out the wrong impression you know.

But she’s intriguing, and I like that. Non-ingruiging people are so boring. She is the exact opposite of boring. I could go on listing adjectives in a futile attempt to again, define the ephemeral or mysterious and intangible, but that also sets the object of affection on a pedestal. A very special pedestal that you don’t want to use. When you use that pedestal, and the time comes for a fall, it’s usually the person who put the other up on the pedestal that takes tumble. Maybe after spending some time I won’t be as enchanted and like adults we can deal with it (hopefully, emotional states can be tricky). It is an unknown variable that would be swell to explore.

So here is a list of what I want:

1) A zillion sky miles that never expire that I can redeem for travel – it doesn’t even have to be first class.

2) A Xanax milkshake to calm the frack down.

3) Time and a proper opportunity to get to know this person and talk to her and be friends. If something comes of it – that’d be awesome. If nothing comes of it except friendship…that would be awesome also. Because this person is, and I will say this publicly, pretty damn special. I just get that feeling she is – thanks to the mystery of brain chemistry that triggers these sorts of responses. I don’t care who she works for, I don’t care who she knows (save for the people we mutually know), it doesn’t matter. It’s who you are and the end of the day that really matters.

Odds are #1 is out of the question, and like I said, it isn’t that expensive for this particular flight. #2 would probably make those around me pretty happy as well and I’m a little surprised (and a touch disappointed) that they haven’t snuck it into my food already. #3 is something that I sincerely hope can happen. Somehow. Today is not going to be that day. I accept it. Maybe one day.

Was that emo, or did I apply logic?

First, let’s talk data plans…AT&T…

For the iPhone: They’ve changed the plans to $15 for 200 meg and $25 for 2 gig. That’s GREAT! I love it! I hardly use more than 200 meg per month, so I can go ahead and switch my plan to that $15 plan and save money. AWESOME!

Except that with the release of iPhone OS 4.0 due this month that Apple is introducing multitasking which will be great for streaming apps to run in the background like, say, Pandora. That’d snap that 200 meg in two like a twig and probably eye the 2 gig data cap with hungry eyes.

Fortunately, those with 3g and 3gs iPhones can grandfather their plan into their iPhone upgrade when they renew their contract and keep their unlimited $30/month data plan. But only if they renew.

Oh, and don’t forget, AT&T doubled their early-termination-fee to well over $300 too!

So instead of working tirelessly to upgrade their network into a first-class cellular network, they’re working tirelessly to make sure their new and existing customers are locked in for at least another couple years. Not that the significant impact to AT&T’s network once people decide to pull down all sorts of streaming information, and the potential for video chats now that we all but know officially of the front facing camera, plus rumors of a Verizon-based iPhone coming out later in the year are making them sweat it out a bit. Who cares about customer satisfaction when you’re going to vacuum up their money anyway?

For the iPad…

If it wasn’t clear enough from the above – SCREW YOU AT&T! Really? Only a couple months of this “amazing price” for unlimited data? Oh, you can grandfather in your existing unlimited plans if you activate before…tomorrow (June 7th), and apparently continue to renew. So if you don’t need unlimited every month and drop the plan, well…you’re up a creek, because once you cancel, you ain’t gettin’ it back. The best you can hope for is again the two gig plan. This may work for some…but don’t count on any heavy duty Netflix streaming unless you can hook up to a wifi hotspot…

Don’t forget the backgrounding that’ll be going on with the iPad as well once the 4.0 software is available for the iPad in the fall. Just a word to the wise to pay attention to what and how much you’re streaming.

Now let’s talk about WWDC stuff.

Clearly the new iPhone will be announced for all to see, no thanks to the losers at Gizmodo (where responsible journalism is just a phrase they’ve heard once…never when someone was describing them). We’ll also probably see a final release date of the 4.0 iPhone software as well for the 3g and 3gs users. Apparently Mac OS X 10.6.4 will be released as well, but I’m sure there will be a new iTunes to work with the new iPhone hardware and software. Maybe some new features, but at least compatibility updates can be expected.

The other big rumor is Safari 5.0′s release. What’s supposed to be cool is that Apple will officially have some sort of real plug-in API like Firefox so you can do Firefox-type add-ons. If so, I’ll switch back to Safari from Firefox. Not that I don’t like Firefox, or really am particularly religious about a web browser, but…that weird Firefox/performance/memory leak issue really is getting old (on every platform), and Firefox isn’t a native Mac OS X application – so (for example) if I right click on a word for spell checking, it isn’t using the Mac OS X dictionary, but the included Firefox dictionary. Why double up the effort? Why not get Firefox as a full, native Coca application?

Yes, I know of Camino, and it’s Firefox’s Gecko rendering engine in the Coca shell to make it a full native application. However, it doesn’t use the Firefox plugins. Which is the appeal of Firefox. To me at least.

No easy answers…but if I can get the suite of Firefox plug ins that I personally use ported over to Safari, I’d be a happy camper.

Oh, and Apple…if you’re trying to show off how HTML 5 is better than a proprietary plug in, don’t lock that page that shows off these great features of HTML 5 into working with your own browser only. I suspect that Safari isn’t the only browser that works with HTML 5 right now. Call it a hunch. If you must, do your usual Apple-y talk of how HTML 5 is great, and now HTML 5 is even better on Safari since it’s sooooo compliant so if something breaks in IE 8 or Chrome people will be warned and will at least be able to check it out with their browser of choice. Just a suggestion…

More to come later…for reals…

Visually, the show looks great. It also has all the nods to the classic series – Rover, the endless dark hallway in certain scenes, a Penny Farthing bicycle, and the clearest indications that this is meant to be an extension to the original series; the old man who is clearly meant to be the McGoohan Number Six and when the new Number Six and Number Two visit the old man’s apartment and we see it’s the McGoohan apartment from the original series. The new Village, instead of a potpourri of architecture types and endless streams of marching band music designed to keep you off balance is replaced with a charming oasis in a desert and Villagers now finally get to drive on their own as there are a variety of classic and classic looking vehicles moving along carefully groomed streets in the Village now.

Unlike the original show, we are also only dealing with one Number Two in this iteration as well, played by Ian McKellen. We also deal with the backstory of Number Two’s whole family on top of this to apparently add some depth to Two and not make him the cypher that the various Twos were in the original series. This family also ties into the conclusion of this new series and while McKellen does his usual fine job, he can’t elevate the production to something inherently interesting. This whole production from top to bottom shows care and attention to detail and every ingredient for success. So why did I hate it?

Well, James Caviezel comes across as a lost office worker who goes into work in his Subaru (one of the sponsors) and resigns – and even his act of resignation (spray painting “RESIGN” in large red letters on the wall) looks half hearted and it almost looks as if he’s about to apologize for the vandalism and volunteer to clean it all up for them. Patrick McGoohan tears into wherever it was that he worked in his Lotus Super 7 and quits dramatically and you knew he meant business in every frame of those scenes. The mind games that the original Prisoner were known for are spun through the new series, but don’t start at the intense level of the original series until around episode 5 and by that time I was already checked out from boredom. There were some good and interesting ideas in there, but they get lost in the shuffle and endless flashbacks to right after his resignation and capture to the Village.

The worst problem I had with this was that in this era of Lost that every mystery must have an answer and the Prisoner here doesn’t fail in spelling everything out for the viewer and practically spoon feeding it to them. This is in direct opposition to the spirit of the original series. Here Number Six really is an office worker and everything you wanted to know about the creation of the Village, why it is there, who runs it, why you can’t escape, everything is explained. In the Patrick McGoohan version, while it is strongly implied that this was a sequel series to Danger Man/Secret Agent Man and Number Six is a resigned secret agent, no questions were answered and the viewer was asked to draw their own conclusions. Having given everything away with pat explanations brings down the original mystique of The Prisoner. Even if you happen to agree with the conclusions drawn by this series, why would they want to do anything to take away from the legitimacy of someone else’s opinions of what the show was about and the meaning behind the Village, Six’s escape attempts, his defiance, etc.?

So, for me it was a letdown, more so since I was feeling fairly enthusiastic about it before broadcast. I wanted it to be good, everyone involved clearly wanted it to be good and to be The Prisoner for the 21st Century, but it’s just going to be a footnote in history. Not New Monkees bad, just…disinteresting and actually a bit full of itself and  having a healthy dose of self-importance, but lacking any strong guidance and vision and clearly no trust for its audience.

With 3.0 3.0.1 (I’m not kidding, it’s in your own best interest to re-update), that’s changed quite a bit. Somewhat. When you first start up the system with the new software, the main menu now has the start of the high polished, Apple-style experience. Fairly logical left to right menus with the items to select in each menu appearing below when you move from section to section. Above the menu is a context-sensitive display of unplayed movies, TV episodes, podcasts, etc. at the top left and along the top right are the most popular or new from each appropriate category from the iTunes store. All with a little Cover Flow love where applicable. All very nice, all very respectable. Until you select one of those menu items and drill down to choose some media to play. Then it all falls apart. After you do something like say get to a list of your TV shows to watch, it turns into the same old menu sorting like in the previous version of the software. The same thought and touches didn’t get to this level for the user to appreciate, and it’s not like the menu system in use is the end-all, be-all. They could have put in a similar cover flow selection style for the sub-menus, and they may indeed try something like this in a future release, but it would have been nice to see a fully-finished product in 3.0 3.0.1 (Oh, in the name of all that is holy PLEASE DO THIS NOW AND UPDATE BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!)  and not a wonderful little tease of what it could be once the software is completely revamped. It’s moving in the right direction, I guess I just want it to move a little faster.

The comic art show at the University of Oregon’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is well underway. I contributed something to iFanboy about it that you may wish to read.

Also…meet the new Doctor, same as the old Doctor. Just with an American accent…

Green Lantern #1 - It can make a grown man cry

Some notes for those tuning in late, or wondering if I ever do update on a regular basis (hint – I think about it quite often. Thinking and having time to do are often two separate things). The birthday happened last month and it was really one of the best on record. A new grill (Which has changed my outlook on life in general. Grills = yum), a fistfull of games, a keyboard and mouse for my Sega Dreamcast, and then some friends kicked in to help pay off my Green Lantern #1, which wasn’t cheap. I’ll admit to nearly tearing up there a bit when I opened the box with it. Thank you everybody!

This of course puts me well within targeting distance to completing my run of Green Lantern – all of it. Well, not the Golden Age Green Lantern. That will never happen. But the only issue left that’s going to possibly put the hurt on is #59 – the first appearance of fan favorite, Guy Gardner. We’ll keep plugging away slowly and eventually I’ll have the complete run from Showcase #22 to today. Fortunately I started this crazy idea nearly 20 years ago when back issues were to be had for cheap. If I woke up, say last Saturday and the idea popped into my head I would have had to dismiss it immediately due to the incredible impracticality of such an endeavor.

The greatest movie ever made...

I also decided to finally get this little gem of a poster framed and put on the wall. Lest you think this is some mere reprint bought at Comic Con and thrown into a frame bought at Walmart, this is the real deal – an original Wrath of Kahn movie poster. A very much real and original poster right down to the notice at the bottom that the poster is to be returned or destroyed at the end of the theatrical engagement. I believe the kids these days say “woot” with respect to this. I love this movie, I have always loved this movie, and will always love this movie. I love everything about it.

Well…except the end. But that’s another discussion.

But it is in perfect condition, it was never displayed or used and there were no pin holes, creases or folds in it, and there never will be.

All you need is love...

Finally, we come to this week’s big event – the re-release of the Beatles official music catalog on remastered CDs and the release of the Beatles Rock Band on 09-09-09 (don’t forget that the same day was the 10th anniversary of my beloved Dreamcast too!). It was a no-brainer on getting the CD collection. Rock Band on the other hand I went back and forth on a couple times before deciding to take the plunge. Before I put my money down I decided to try one of these music rhythm games to see what the fuss was about and would I even want to have such a thing in my home.

Answer: yes.

I played a PlayStation 2 version of Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s (where I got a 97% on We Got the Beat – which upon hearing, Jane was very proud of me for accomplishing that). No, you’re not really playing an instrument (except when drumming – apparently you are hitting the appropriate drum heads in these games so you could come out of this a drummer if you put your mind to it), but you’re having fun. It’s not brain surgery after all. Not to say that musicians don’t work very, very hard when on stage or in the studio, but for those of us who just want to kick back and let their rock and roll fantasies live and breathe a bit – well, it’s fun.

Side note – this week also saw something of a flap over Guitar Hero 5 and Kurt Cobain and some choice comments from Courtney Love. While I really don’t care for Nirvana’s music, and I suspect that she did sign all the appropriate paperwork giving Activision permission to use Kurt as a playable character when Nirvana songs are played, and when other songs are played, she may not have realized the details of the plans. That’s not an excuse for either side. It’s also the same thing with, say, Johnny Cash in the game. You can have Johnny Cash as your avatar when playing “Hungry Like the Wolf” if you want. Same with Cobain. That doesn’t make it right, and I do understand that maybe she wouldn’t want Kurt’s image on screen performing a rap song and she probably was under the impression that it would be Kurt performing Nirvana songs only within the game. I guess look over things a bit closer next time? There’s sympathy…but just a tiny little bit…

Moving on…

Wednesday I went to pick up my game and the CD box set. I figure this would be easy. I pre-ordered the game at GameStop to get the three extra free songs, and then before running over there at lunch to get it, I’d stop at Best Buy to get the box set. Easy. It’s the Beatles – they’ll have a bunch of box sets, this will be a snap. Wrong…and remember, I’m at lunch, the clock is ticking to get back. Best Buy had all the individual CDs, but not the  box set. I wanted the box set. So I went to Borders – they had one box set left and that was on hold for someone. Maybe I should have pre-ordered. The lesson was being learned (but it’s the freaking BEATLES – they should have ordered plenty of them!).

So, on my way to GameStop at the mall, I swung finally by Barnes and Noble – they had two in stock, soon to be one. The price admittedly was a little rich for my blood, but remember the clock was ticking, I love the Beatles, and by that point common sense and rationality had given me a warm hug, kissed me on the cheek, wished me luck in whatever it was I needed to do and left me to my own devices. Oh, and I signed up for their discount card while I was at it. I was one of the lost by this point. But I had my box set. After that, going into GameStop to get my game was a non-event. Go in, think quietly to yourself how much the place has really changed, say nothing about that to the people who work there now, hand them the money, take the game and leave. Fortunately, I got back to work in time (barely) after this little adventure.

Oh, and I still haven’t played the game because I can’t get my guitar to sync to my Playstation 3 wirelessly. But the opening into is AMAZING!

San Diego Comic Con, as you’d probably guess from the pictures, and of course last years (arguably…better[?] pictures) it was a packed madhouse. I didn’t notice as many costumes this year, but it may have been the whirlwind of activity that shielded me from that. I did see Adam Savage from Mythbusters in his Joker henchman outfit (and we of course realize this after the fact once his Twitter feed was read). I clearly remember scoffing at the costume as well – Joker-related costumes were SO last year. Jamie S Rich told me there was a gal on the floor in a TARDIS outfit, but the closest I could find was the Dalek Girl. Oh, Dalek Girl…we shall not have the “Exterminate!” jokes. No, no.

The first night I crashed with Jamie and Jöelle Jones, who were kind enough to let me stay with them after I managed to extend my travel plans by one extra day. It was actually five of us in the same room. Four really. One of our party decided to camp out for the Disney panel in Hall H the next day. Initially she was going to pass, but we cajoled her into it. Hayao Miyazaki was going to be on the panel and she wanted to ask him a question in Japanese as she is in the Japanese program at the University of Oregon. We made sure that she was going to be safe camping out overnight, fortunately there were others there for similar reasons, and security was on site. So Jöelle and Terry made sure that she had some blankets and a pillow and in the morning went to collect them and bring her some coffee. She got second row in the hall (and if you know Hall H – you know it’s a vast cavern-like structure that holds…untold thousands…second row is about as good as it gets). Meanwhile, up in our secret hotel room lair, I got to look over some of Jöelle’s artwork for the upcoming Dr. Horrible comic and hang out.

On this same day was the panel that I was fortunate enough to have been invited to attend! A spotlight panel on Mike Allred. It was just an honor sitting up there with Jamie, Jöelle, and Mike, Laura and Han Allred. I also made the horrible mistake of wearing my new Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars that haven’t been broken in yet. Comic Con is not the time to break shoes in. Ever. They will break your feet instead, and that’s just what happened. You don’t need the details. I also got to move to my regular hotel located in…Fashion Valley. Fashion Valley is nowhere near downtown San Diego. So I had a bit of a hike to the trolley station and a 20 minute trolley ride into the convention. This pretty much wrecked my plans to attend the iFanboy/Totally Rad Show part Friday night. Ah well.

Lessons learned for next year: Travel light (keep traveling light). If Jamie wants to split a room – go for it (and thank you again, Jamie!). Stay close to the con to put anything you get at the show away quickly and easily to get back. Don’t bother with the horribly big, bulky and generally unwieldy messenger bag – just use any shopping bags you get on the show floor and walk about freely. Make your plans and be ready to scrap them. Stay an extra day to recover and fly out leisurely. Arrive a day early to get situated and meet up with people you came to see but might not get to spend lots of time with once the show starts up in full swing.

Still – it was a blast! Next year is the third year back – third time is a charm!