Being that I’m a huge Star Wars geek and have actually been to Skywalker Ranch, Big Rock Ranch, the old LucasArts and ILM buildings, and the Letterman Digital Arts Center, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of Fanboys. After all the drama and delays (the film was supposed to be released in 2007) the film finally has a release date (February 6, 2009) and trailer.
Star Wars + a bunch of cameos + Kristen Bell = GREAT MOVIE
My six-and-a-half year-old Mac finally started showing its age tonight. While playing a DVD, importing a CD and chatting online my processors maxed out and caused applications to crash one by one. First DVD Player then followed by iChat and iTunes. When I purchased my Power Mac G4 MDD system it was practically the creme of the crop. It sported dual 1.25 GHz G4 processors, 2 GB of RAM, a 64 MB Radeon 9000 graphics card, gigabit ethernet and Wi-Fi. I even paired it with a 17″ LCD Apple Studio Display. The MDD was able to handle everything I threw at it and got me through my web design/maintenance stint. Over the years I’ve upgraded it with dual DVD burners, Bluetooth, SATA and USB 2.0 ports. But alas, all that is now somewhat sub-standard even with today’s budget systems.
It’s time that I retire my MDD. The question now becomes which system to get–an iMac or Mac Pro? The iMac is a great value but the Mac Pro is uber-expandable. I think I’ll have to delay my decision and purchase until after my trip to Macworld SF in January.
I am able to differentiate this issue from the previous three because I finally care about what has happened. Many hail the current Crisis as an instant classic because of the depth and subtlety of storytelling. Perhaps if not for the myriad of previous tie-in’s and teasers this would be true but anyone who has been keeping up with the DCU at large there was no real mystery in the previous three issues.
We know who the bad guy is and he has the same plan he had back in “Rock of Ages.”
This issue finally moves the plot forward in a significant way. In many ways, this felt like the real begining to the story. Mr. Morrison has undoubtedly created a masterfully detailed foundation but at this point I have to question if there is enough time to build a story that can live up to its own hype.
One aspect of this series that has not lived up to any expectations is the art. While the art would be considered acceptable for one of the weekly series DC has been so fond of lately it is unacceptable that DC would split the penciling duties for an event of this magnitude. This has a background that stretches back decades with its roots firmly planted by Jack Kirby himself. This story deserves better.
After a long and tiring day at the office, I come home to find that Comcast has deactivated my internet connection. I deal with enough problems at work. The last thing I want to do is spend 90 minutes on the phone with a Comcast Representative named Melinda (half an hour of which was spent on hold).
Melinda’s first explanation as to why I wasn’t receiving an internet connection is because Comcast didn’t have my cable modem’s serial number and MAC in their system. I told her I’ve been a customer for years (back when it was AT&T Broadband Internet) and that my connect was fine last night. She tries to be nice and makes small talk by asking “how’s the weather” followed by “Are you excited about Halloween. Do you have plans? Going to any parties?” I think to myself, “C’mon now, that’s not the type of service I’m looking for. And if it was, I would have called a different number!”
She then goes on to recreate my account on their backend system. Melinda asks for my Comcast userid. I provide it. She then tells me that one is already in use and I need to create a new one for my account. I wait for “a while” and finally my connection is restored…but only for a minute.
Melinda puts me on hold and my connection comes back after a minute or two. I then ask, “why did my connection go down again?” Her reply was “a few people in your area are experiencing the same problem you are.” I wonder if some dingbat at Comcast decided to randomly delete accounts before being fired.
I begin test my connection. Usually I get 6 Mbps downstream but multiple speed tests report only 2 Mbps. I tell Melinda this. Her response is “would you be interested in Comcast Triple Play?” WTF?!! Melinda then goes on to say that their download speed varies and that I should clear my cache, uninstall old games, etc. She then finishes with, “at least your connection is working.” Ugh!
Comcast sucks. Unfortunately they’re the only game in town. If only another broadband ISP would service my area…
Ever since Yahoo! announced its latest round of layoffs, it seems as if Yahoo mail is no longer being pushed to my iPhone. Did Yahoo! terminate all the magic gnomes responsible for push email? It’s not just my iPhone either—some else at work just mentioned she’s having the same problem.
GEEKS CROSSING 
You must be logged in to post a comment.