Archive: December 20, 2009

<<< December 19, 2009

Home

December 21, 2009 >>>


Definitely, Maybe

Sunday,  12/20/09  10:10 AM

We watched Definitely, Maybe last night; a romantic comedy from 2008 that we had totally missed, and loved it.  The acting was great, the story was great, the moviemaking itself was great, and the whole thing ended up being really fun.  (Perhaps the bottle of Ocean's Ghost Pinot with fudge helped too :)

You think you're in for a formulaic romantic comedy, a couple are getting divorced, the guy tells their story to their daughter, and okay you get it, she's going to help him put it all back together.  Bssst... sort of, but not really!  The mystery angle works, because not only does the little girl not know what happens, we don't either.  (And you *still* don't!) 

All the relationships worked for me, you could really see it, and they didn't all end in flames, they ended as relationships really do... and restarted the same way.  Okay, okay, Elizabeth Banks, Isla Fisher, and Rachel Weisz, yeah, that worked for me too...  Shirley would say she still prefers Hugh Grant, but Ryan Reynolds was okay.  Best of all, the movie was well made, the scenes were set appropriately, lots of little touches were "right" (like a computer in 1997 running Win 3.1 and going online with a modem and IE 3, I'd recognize that hideous turquoise anywhere :).

Should you rent it?  Definitely, maybe.

 

the soprano

Sunday,  12/20/09  10:39 AM

This picture of soprano Danielle de Niese, performing at the New York Met, caught my eye; there's just something about it.  She's beautiful and talented, but there is other stuff going on here: confidence, intelligence, a point of view, ambition, maybe even arrogance.

Sometimes a photo feels like it gives insight into personality; can you really figure out what someone is like from a snapshot?  Who knows.  But I would like to meet Danielle, she seems ... interesting.

 

Sunday,  12/20/09  08:26 PM

A crummy lazy Sunday, in which I accomplished less than I wished.  Blech.  And had far less fun than I could have, in trying.  Double blech.

A fascinating analysis by Gerry Purdy of Frost & Sullivan: Why Android is Getting so Much Traction: Less Than Free.  Microsoft charges a handset makers a license fee to use Windows Mobile.  Google charges them nothing, and gives them a cut of the ad revenue.  "As you can clearly see, the OS software license fees just went from fee-based (Microsoft) to free (Apple) to less than free (Android) in less than two years.

So I'm in a restaurant, and I'm reading a menu, and it says "Almond Tuile".  Tuile?  And I am so used to reading on my Kindle, that I instinctively make a move to scroll to the word so I can look it up in the dictionary!  Um, that doesn't work with a paper menu...  Yet!  (Although I did whip out my Pre and ask Mr. Google :) 

Well this is great news: Proposed NASA Mission Would Sail the Seas of Titan.  Perhaps my skills as a sailor would help overcome my lack of any other qualifications for this mission?  

Q: is a sea on Titan, a "Titanic Sea"?  And would such a mission be called the Titanic?  Are there icebergs on Titan?  Questions abound...

An interesting design for a cellphone: The Dial.  ("Um, your wrist is ringing...")  Of course the lack of keyboard would make this a non-starter for me... but it looks cool. 

Huh, I'll have to check this out: Palm launches new Web-based mobile development tool.  It begs the question, if I could have any App at all on my Pre, what would it be?  I have a hard time thinking of anything I need on it.  Maybe a really fast digital slide viewer?  

Avatar: the blue people rule.  I am going tomorrow, and I am happy about it.  Stay tuned! 

RSS Reader Market in Disarray, Continues to Decline.  I have always been puzzled why RSS hasn't become more widely used.  I guess the activation energy is just slightly too high.  It doesn't surprise me that browser-based readers like Google have won out, they have in email too.  (Browser-based anything seems to win, just because it is easier...)  But it does surprise me that given there are good free browser-based readers, more people don't use them... 

ZooBorns of the weekend: baby porcupine twins

So that's it then, onward into the week before Christmas!  I have much to do, and much fun to have; should be great...  I hope it is all great for you too!

 

 

Calvin & Hobbes: snow art

Sunday,  12/20/09  08:29 PM




I love it

taken from the most excellent
Calvin & Hobbes snow art gallery
which is your favorite?
 

 
 

Return to the archive.