Archive for June, 2005
Bring on Summer 2
Thursday, June 30th, 2005My Meme always said that the summer flies by once you hit July 4. I cannot believe that summer is nearly half over!
Emerson offers a full semester of classes broken into two sessions during the summer. Classes meet twice a week for four hours. After completing Inside the Entertainment Industry and American Sign Language 1, I have come to love the summer session format. With fewer interruptions, professors are able to better communicate overarching concepts by covering several topics in one class that would otherwise span several classes. With more time in a class, professors do not feel rushed and solicit more interaction with the class. With fewer concurrent classes, the mid-term and final rush is much less stressful. I wish the entire school year ran on the summer session format.
Up next: New Media I and ASL 2
Undead Directors Michael & Peter Spierig
Monday, June 27th, 2005Hott twin Directors Michael and Peter Spierig visited my Inside the Entertainment Industry class today. They discussed their issues and success in finding Lions Gate Films as a distributor for their independent movie Undead.
As a new media major, I was particularly interested in that the brothers share credit for 3D animation and 2D compositing. Not many director hyphenates include these positions. That’s just cool. The guys said they used a digital intermediate process, Adobe Premiere, After Effects, NewTek LightWave 3D, and Autodesk Combustion. I cringed until they said that they have since switched to the Mac platform and love Final Cut Pro because they had too many issues using Windows and the aforementioned software. “Never again,” the brothers lamented about their software choice. They simply used what they had and learned from online tutorials to achieve each of the 305 effects. The effects work in the trailer looked great. I can’t wait to see my first Australian film.
If either of you ever Google your name and find my blog, thanks for stopping by Emerson. I enjoyed talking with you.
I am a Statistic
Sunday, June 26th, 2005
A Flag Not to Fly
Tuesday, June 21st, 2005If you are a resident of Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, or Wisconsin, America needs YOU!
From the EFF:
The Broadcast Flag was Hollywood’s plan to point its remote control at your digital TV. It was a set of bits in the DTV standard that let broadcasters meddle with what could be done with publicly available broadcast video – even if those restrictions stomped on your fair use rights.
The courts struck down the original FCC proposal. Now, the lobbyists have turned to Congress. Rumor has it that a senator will introduce an amendment on Tuesday in the Senate Commerce, Justice, and Science sub-committee to reintroduce the flag. On Thursday, it goes to a full committee vote.
Call and e-mail your senator today.
Daydream
Monday, June 13th, 2005I woke up this afternoon to realize
that I should have gone to M.I.T.
that ignorance is far worse than economic poverty
and
that all I want right now is to be with Rianna changing the world from a coffee shop booth.
The Dots Looking Forward
Monday, June 13th, 2005What an awesome commencement speaker (full speech text)
Advice on Buying a Mac Now
Monday, June 13th, 2005For the hundredth time…
Question: Should I buy a Mac now or wait until Apple ships the Intellitosh (a.k.a. Mac with Intel)?
Answer: My advice for buying a computer has not changed with the Apple / Intel announcement.
If you need the computer now, buy it and buy the best machine you can afford.
Apple will continue to support PowerPC for the life of the machine (about 5 years) and beyond. The PowerPC architecture powers the entire installed user base of Macs still in use. Apple is encouraging software developers to ship software compiled for both PowerPC and Intel processors. Software developers want your money and are going to compile software for both platforms for this reason. Fortunately, Apple has made compiling software for both platforms easy for developers.
Unreliable T
Friday, June 10th, 2005The T will get you anywhere in Boston. How and when are not important details to this subsidized, underperforming, and hazardously maintained
transit system.
I was late to class yesterday because of switching problems on the inbound red line. I allotted twice the usual transit time so that I could finish studying for my mid-term. Instead, I was 5 minutes late to class. After class, I was late to work at Harvard because a “disabled train” blocked all outbound trains in the opposite direction of my apartment.
Additionally, I am curious about the noise levels while riding the T. The T is loud. Anyone who has tried to listen to an iPod while riding the T knows that you need at least 80% of the max volume to hear a song adequately. To listen to music in a quiet setting at the volume necessary to hear music adequately while riding the T would be painful to most people. Even worse is the screeching green line turning the corner at Boylston that is audible above ground.
My Music My Way
Tuesday, June 7th, 2005Wired: Radio Industry Hits Shuffle
I used to listen to the radio non-stop. I even worked in radio for five years. However, since my iPod revolution in 2002, I almost never listen to the radio. I abhor Top 40 stations that repeat the same five songs every two hours. Commercials are endless. Sound quality sucks. Why would I ever listen to the radio when I have any song I desire available to me through the iTunes Music Store or a friend’s CD library? I don’t want Clear Channel telling me what I can listen to and when.
I feel the same way about satellite radio. Why would I pay to listen to someone else’s playlist when I can make my own? Some will argue that outlets are needed for music discovery, but word of mouth from friends, music reviews, and iTunes Music Store spotlights do a great job introducing me to new music.
My favorite defense of satellite radio is, “What if you’re driving across the country?” Well how many people do you know make trips across the country or through any radio market where there aren’t at least 3 Clear Channel radio stations that sound exactly like the 3 Clear Channel stations where you departed from? Not many. My 20 GB iPod holds 15 days of music. It only takes a week to drive across the country.
I think satellite radio is flawed; a niche market for old people who haven’t joined the iPod revolution. Traditional radio is in an even more troubled position.
Intel and My Beloved Mac
Monday, June 6th, 2005My initial reaction to Jobs confirming Intel in Apple was, “What the F***?!” I only have questions at this point and no one seems to have answers.
Today, if my Powerbook had an Intel Pentium 4 inside, it would be nearly 2 inches thick, have less than 2-hours of battery life, and run hot as hell.
Apple’s transition to the G5 had such great promise: an amazing 64-bit processor that outperforms the Pentium 4. Now Apple wants to revert back to a 32-bit processor that uses more electricity and produces far more heat. And have you seen the size of a P4? If I had the choice to be hit on the head with a G5 or a P4, I would survive the G5 with a minor bruise. A P4 would most definitely result in a severe concussion.
I am an Apple Campus Rep and I love my job. I work tomorrow at Harvard and I know that I will be flooded with questions. They’re such awesome geeks over there. Will you be able to run Mac OS X on a Dell? Is Apple finally confessing that the PowerPC architecture has been inferior all along? Should I wait to buy a Mac until next year? (Edit: No, you shouldn’t.) These are critical questions that I cannot answer.
I love Apple. I want to embrace this change, but I don’t understand and cannot comprehend how an Apple and Intel relationship helps anyone. It’s scary, but I trust Jobs. He has led Apple to heights never before seen in personal technology and his hunches have proven dead on accurate.
