Archive for June, 2008
"Seven iPhone Disappointments"
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The iPhone recently came out with its, incredibly anticipated, 3G networking upgrade, featuring GPS! The price also dropped down to $199, which front up sounds a lot better than the previous price of $399. It did not take long before people started crying about the apparently hidden fees in the AT&T, 3G price of $10 a month. Since then there have been a plethora of rants, raves, Digg’s and Reddit’s about this subject. I cannot claim to post brand new information on subjects of this matter, I am not America, nor am I an iPhone user. That being said, this is my response to the list in the link shown above.
- The Cost: as said before, the customers are paying more because of an incredibly faster Internet service. I do not see how this simple fact can be so blatantly ignored. You flamers are so damn picky.
- No Flash: I am not extremely well versed in the ways of camera phones, but I did have a really nice BlackBerry Pearl. There are much nicer cameras out there, but I really, really needed my camera flash. It was a great picture if you had the right light.
- No Replaceable Batteries: this point surprises me in the sense that… well, it is an Apple product, they just don’t do batteries. Apple claims the iPhone has 8 hours of Talk TIme. Even if those numbers are false, that is not bad at all. And with the popularity of the iPod/ iPhone, it would not be hard at all to buy a third party charger. A battery would be nice, but… it aight.
- Video Recording: considering what most of the Macintosh computers are used for, video, it is surprising there is no iMovie integration in the phone. The biggest surprise here is just that every damn phone has a video camera any ways… not quite generations ahead here, eh?
- No Cut-and-Paste: one of the best features of the Facebook app for the BlackBerry was the fact you could copy numbers straight from their profile. I do not know if the iPhone is completely lacking all copy-and-paste function, but it helps a lot, especially when compiling an address book.
- No MMS: I am actually completely indifferent about this point, I have never seen a reason to use MMS.
- No Voice Dialing: I have not used much of this feature as well, but if I was using a touch-based phone (especially one with Apple’s fingerprint-bait-surfaces) I would, ironically, try to touch it as little as possible.
Batman: thrice thriced?
TinyURL'd
It it a universally accepted fact that this series of Batman movies are far more way betterer than the last one. This question is to those in the know of Batman’s story.
I did read Batman: Year One, so I do know that Begins was based off of that. I… know that the Dark Knight was based off of a book as well. With the passing of Heath, we know that Joker wont be in the last movie, and probably will be replaced by Two-Face. But after that, they have said they are just looking at 3 movies.
So if they do stop at 3 movies, what would happen? Batman has only become a more powerful franchise than the one they restarted.
The idea I had was a kind of Batman Beyond story. Joker is still alive, obviously, but Batman is old enough that they can cast a new actor as him (like they do with a characters flashback of a younger self - in reverse) and there he can fight the newly cast Joker and whoever the villains there were.
If we are going with trilogies again, when they finished that one (I know, this is far off) what would they be able to do? Again, I had an idea but I am near certain this would mess up the time line. What about a Nightwing pseudo-spin off? It would be dark and gritty, like Begins and TDK, but we do not have a Robin to turn into. I have heard rumor of a Robin in the third of this series, but I have never seen Robin done well… well, done non-homosexually.
This is, of course, assuming they dont carry on the story of the current trilogy…
"Has Video Killed the Blogging Star?"
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http://blogs.reuters.com/reuters-editors/2008/06/06/has-video-killed-the-blogging-star/
Okay, we’re joking…..sort of. But be it video-snacking, YouTube resumes, digital video activism or live-streaming to the web from your mobile phone, the world of Web 2.0 is being driven by the moving image.
I do not mean to debate against the article listed above, but I thought it an appropriate reference and example for the point I am hoping to make. And for the record, I agree with you, the quoted title to this article is horrible, I promise you, its from the reference link.
I am in an interesting position with this media-revolution we are having today. I grew up with, and in, the ‘down-fall’ of written word. I transitioned from ‘chose your own adventure books’ as a wee toddler to Shakespeare in English. Not only was I alive then, I believed myself somewhat aware. I, or at least I tried to, view this objectively. I went from when all my friends were reading until I was the last vestige of my literate hope.
Written word has hardly died as much as… it is being refined. I get most of my news off of Digg, Newsvine, Reddit and the like. Now you say to yourself, or to the monitor in front of you, “Andrew, you idiot, all of those are written content!” That much is true, but gone are the days of pouring over a book and trying to find something worthy a citing. Especially in the newspaper industry, our news is being specialized, easier to find and more customizable.
I do not know how much of this is just pure nostalgia, but I enjoy the feel of a book or a magazine. Magazines especially, as the usually topical news is readily available on the Internet. But no matter how hard someone tries, buying a good book will never grow old.
One thing book will always have over video is the accursed ‘rewind’ and ‘fast forward’ buttons. They just do not work at well as a well licked thumb. So especially in these cases, research and news and the like, written word is very much preferred.
It is not so much that video is taking over, although it is, I would not dare refer to it as a trend. Videocasting is too difficult and not nearly as portable and customizable as an RSS feed. The thing is, Blogging is not going away, the medium is far too powerful to give up. Video, it seems, is just filling in the gaps that text did leave behind.
If anything, video is helping Blogging. Sure, it is taking some readers, but it also gives another bar for a writer to reach and to capture the attention of their readers.
A picture was never deemed worth 1000 words until someone actually tried it.
In summation, Blogging will live even longer than written word. And judging by the cult status J.K. Rowling’s novels have, written word has a few millenia left on its expiry date.
The Incredible (Edible) Hulk
TinyURL'd
Are you interested in how damn cool I am? I went to see the The Incredible Hulk, starring Edward Norton by myself. This would be the the new Marvel-produced sequel to Ang Lee’s horrible crapfest of a movie. It was freaking awesome. I would leave it at that, but that hardly makes for a good article, especially when everyone is saying the same thing about it. A friend reassured me I did not go alone as a loser, I went as a true fan.
Although the Bruce Banner that I envisioned when reading the (few) comics of his I did, and watched in the animated Ultimate Avengers series. I do not mean to say that Edward Norton did any less than a great job, he most certainly did, but it was a less pathetic and annoying Banner than I am used to.
Comparisons will most obviously be made between the Ang Lee film and the new Louis Leterrier one. I am a very big Edward Norton fan, but Eric Bana did a semi-half-decent job on Banner (his name also sounds a like), the last film’s flop was hardly his fault. But the best way to bring production to an ill-fated film as such is to show producers a totally new shot.
Alas, Marvel is shedding a new light on super-hero movies, a genre tainted by the likes of Elektra, Catwoman and Daredevil. This awesome-ness insurgence weighed heavily on the success of Iron Man, starring RDJ. Iron Man was the first to show Marvel had it in them to kick some serious ass, and they have been doing so all Summer.
The new Bruce Banner was hiding in Brazil. A bloody cramped Brazil. His peace did not last long, however, as he was attacked by the same (although different actor) Mr. Ross that was after him in the movie. It was this scene that summarized how well Norton was. Some of the best scenes were that of Bruce Banner as Bruce Banner. You finally got to see what stress Banner was going under, and what lengths he was taking to protect his family and his city. This was more than a movie about a green giant (not the Jolly one) jumping his ass around the dessert.
Of all the awesomeness that was in the movie (spoken as a nerd jaded by nerdy glasses, admittedly) was how damn real the Hulk was. Emotion in CGI characters is as hard to come by as a date in my actual life. They were not just CGI beings dukeing out, they were the two actors. The scene in the cave had emotion, and you felt really bad, and Hulk looking freaking terrible.
This movie also showed that Marvel is capable of making a movie without a secret ending, But who needs a secret ending when the real one is this?
Tony Stark: What would you say if I told you we’re putting a team together?
Gen. Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross: Who’s “we”?
The Avengers
TinyURL'd
From what we have seen and heard of so far, the top 3 Avengers, the ones we know most about the movie production, are laid out like this, assuming the years they were set in:
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) -> Iron Man (2007) -> The Incredible Hulk (2007) -> Iron Man II (2010) -> Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) -> Thor (2010) -> The Avengers (2011)
Now, from what we know (or at least I do) of the nature of Thor, he was initially reluctant to join The Avengers. That is why I placed his movie after Cap’s. My theory is that the major set-up of the Avengers will be at the end of Cap’s own movie. The title even has the title of their group in it! Nick meets Tony Stark in Iron Man, and he has his thing in Iron Man II while Stark is out looking around still. At the end of The Incredible Hulk, Fury has contacted him. As there is no Hulk sequel even hinted at, any other development (and conflict, is is the Hulk after all) will happen in the beginning of/ body of The Avengers movie in 2011 or against Thor in 2010 (after all, who else can even battle Hulk than Thor?). As being the ‘first Avenger’ Cap will bring justice and completion to the entire team. A Nick Cage movie is rumored (as well as the rest of the Avengers) but as there is no signing, one cannot theorize that he has much to do with this initial idea.
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© Andrew Littler, 2008
