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1001: another reason to get a mac

bkim — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 09:44:37 +0000

As if there weren’t enough good reasons to buy a mac… Someone comes along and writes an OS X only app that makes you wonder why everyone doesn’t have at least one Mac in their stable. 1001 is one such app. It interfaces with flickr to deliver photo streams to your desktop. The latest version comes with a screensaver that displays pictures from your photo stream—very cool. I’m currently pulling photos with the tags: Chicago, architecture, and Hawaii (in honor of my recent trip to Hawaii).

I saw a disproportionately large showing of Aluminum PowerBooks when I was in Hawaii. I stayed on a club floor and visited the club lounge every morning for breakfast. There was free WiFi in the lounge and several people, including myself, showed up with laptops. How can you beat breakfast on a balcony overlooking the Pacific Ocean with WiFi? There were several people there with PowerBooks. My brother was in the minority with his ThinkPad.

Ray Bradbury on Michael Moore

bkim — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 19:24:48 +0000

I recently commented on Disney’s refusal to distribute Michael Moore’s upcoming movie Fahrenheit 9/11. I realize I might have been a bit premature in my judgement of the movie. I’ll reserve my final judgement until I see the movie. However, my opinion of Michael Moore will remain unchanged unless the movie gives me a good reason to revise my opinion of him.

Well, regardless of what I think of Moore, Ray Bradbury probably likes him even less than I do. Here’s a link to Jan Haugland’s blog entry with some translated tidbits from an interview in a Swedish perodical with Bradbury: Ray Bradbury: “Michael Moore is an asshole” (Haugland’s title, not mine)

Corgan Signs on as the XRT Cubs Correspondent

bkim — Tue, 25 May 2004 02:22:17 +0000

It’s good to see Billy Corgan getting along so well on his own after his long stint with the Smashing Pumpkins and his, unfortunately, short excursion with Zwan. It looks like he has a new day job as the Cubs correspondent for WXRT:
FMQB: Billy Corgan Now Cubs Correspondent for WXRT/Chicago

NBC vs. my TiVo

bkim — Mon, 10 May 2004 22:45:40 +0000

NBC really annoyed me by doing strange things with the scheduling of their prime-time shows last Thursday night. They started Friends a minute earlier than usual, but I didn’t really care about that. What was really annoying was that NBC started E.R. five minutes late which confused my TiVo. It ended up cutting off the last five minutes of E.R. I had to find and download the entire episode (using BitTorrent) just to watch the last five minutes of the show.

More commentary on NBC and TiVo here: Boing Boing: NBC tries to outsmart TiVo?

Y-ME?

bkim — Sat, 08 May 2004 06:24:07 +0000

So, I come home late from work and see this out my window. Either someone is really despondent over at Blue Cross Blue Shield or Y-ME stands for something I’m not aware of. Anyone have any insight into this?

Disney Blocks Moore Film

bkim — Thu, 06 May 2004 20:14:25 +0000

Disney is taking steps to prevent it’s subsidiary, Miramax, from distributing Michael Moore’s latest documentary film Fahrenheit 911. The film is supposed to be very critical of George W. Bush and apparently links him to several prominent Saudis involved in the September 11 terrorist attacks. I’m all for free speech, but sometimes it’s not the wisest move to give someone too much of an audience when what they are saying usually amounts to propaganda. Sure, give the guy an audience, but don’t put it in thousands of theaters and foist it upon the general public who’ll take it at face value without any critical thought.

My opinion of Michael Moore was primarily formed after watching Bowling for Columbine. As a documentary, you would think Moore would strive for some semblance of evenhandedness. Instead, he produced one of the most manipulative, onesided commentaries on a subject that I have ever seen. Anyone paying attention would have seen that Moore dominates and manipulates every scene in the film. He accosts his subjects, barely allows them to get a word in edgewise and twists the words that they do manage to get out. I’m not a big fan of the NRA, but even I found it a bit painful to see Moore berating the aging Charleton Heston in his own home. The film took many scenes out of context and joined them together to serve Moore’s end.

The New York Times > National > Disney Forbidding Distribution of Film That Criticizes Bush
CNN/Money article

Movies in the Park

bkim — Mon, 03 May 2004 23:42:17 +0000

It’s still a few months away, but the Mayor’s office has already announced this year’s schedule of movies for the Chicago Outdoor Film Festival at Grant Park. I thought it used to be called Movies in the Park but I could be wrong. This year’s selection seems much better than that of the previous years. This year they’ve got Hitchcock, Cary Grant, both of the Hepburns: Audrey and Katharine, Jimmy Stewart, Gregory Peck, Sidney Poitier and more.

A Day on the Town with Quentin

bkim — Mon, 26 Apr 2004 19:45:22 +0000

Christen Nelson runs into Quentin Tarentino and spends the day with him on a wild romp. I love that Tarentino drives the Pussy Wagon around: HOLLYWOODLOG: Spontaneous Days by: CHRISTEN NELSON

Morrisey Detained at LAX

bkim — Mon, 26 Apr 2004 19:31:57 +0000

Even iconic musicians can’t get a break at airport security checkpoints. Morrisey, formerly of The Smiths, was detained at LAX and was briefly under suspicion of being a terrorist: Morrissey detained in LAX terror swoop | The Register

The Infamous Bartman Ball

bkim — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 18:53:33 +0000

The foul ball that Steve Bartman deflected in game 6 of the LCS is up for auction. The current bid is $22,987. The tragic thing about all this is that Bartman didn’t even end up with the ball.