Joining the (iPod) Army

Ani DiFranco - "Serpentine"

I finally caved in and did it. I put money in Steve Jobs' pocket.

For the past few years I've been using a 30gb Creative Nomad Zen Xtra for my portable mp3 player. It was a little less user-friendly than the iPod at the time, but it was more flexible with downloading music formats, had a replaceable battery with longer life, and boasted the sound technology that was a staple of the Creative brand. And for the 3 years or so that I owned it, 30gb seemed like more than enough space for what I needed.

Rolling Stones- "Dear Doctor"

But then something happened. The next couple of years companies focused on smaller, less expensive alternatives. And while everything was getting smaller, my music library was expanding exponentially. I bought another hard drive to store all my digital files, and a fourth CD tower to hold all the compact discs. It was then that my Nomad decided it's battery would completely die if the weather dropped below 50 degrees. Wanna rake the leaves? Uh-uh. Wanna drive to work in the morning? Better keep that thing snug between your thighs until the heat came up. And I was constantly swapping out songs now that 30gb was no longer sufficient for the music monkey clinging to my back.

I was striving to keep from joining the Apple Mob, but it was time to consign my trusty alternative to the farm.

So I started looking. And no one was making anything better, bigger and cooler. Except for Apple. Oh sure, I was taken in for a moment by the swanky, look-at-us-chillin'-in-the-park swagger of the Zune, but it's only 30gb, and that stupid beaming function? I don't know anyone else buying a Zune to beam with, and if I did, they'd be listening to Bob Seger, Beyonce, and The Fray.

The freakin' Fray.

Bootsy Collins - "Can't Stay Away"

So I went to the Apple store at the local mall and took a gander. There it was, propped up on a shiny silver stand. Bose headphones attached for the ultimate aural experience (which is a total crock because the one thing that still sucks about Apple and the iPod are the horrendous earphones they give you - in a word, my friends, they suck the mighty large one). 80gb, shiny and black, smaller and lighter than my 30gb silver gorilla. Watch movies, TV shows, listen to podcasts with a battery life of almost 20 hours when playing music.

What could I do? I checked around, vainly searching for alternatives. Something, anything, that would keep me from joining the army of mindless automatons who purchased iPods for the simple fact that they want to be "cool" and "hip."

Then I remembered that the majority of people doing that are generally 14 years old, and I was 33.

Even though I still felt vaguely shameful walking out of the store with my super-slick Apple bag, as soon as I got home and put 8,000 songs on, downloaded an episode of Heroes and a copy of a Grateful Dead bootleg from iTunes and still had over 30 gb left to play with, the shame left as quickly as it came.

Damn you, Steve Jobs. Damn you, sir.

When in Rome - "The Promise"

UPDATED! Funniest Movie Moments #1: "Love Power" From THE PRODUCERS

A couple people wrote and asked how I could list this as the #1 Funniest Moment in Film. Easy - I didn't. It's simply the first entry I posted, hence the #1. The next one, regardless of how funny I think it compares to the others on my list, will be #2 and so forth.

And of course I refer to the original film version. I saw the musical on Broadway (not with Broderick and Lane), and thought it was okay. The film version of the musical? Blech.

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A couple years ago I began keeping a list of what I considered to be some of the funniest moments on film. It never really went anywhere, but it appealed to my obsessive list-keeping sensibilities, and made me happy for the brief time I did it. I had completely forgotten about it until tonight when, in the process of trying to forget a particularly greasy dinner at a restaurant the Missus and I flipped through the channels and found the original THE PRODUCERS playing on Turner Classic Movies.

It may not be my personal favorite Mel Brooks movie (that honor going to YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN), but it certainly contains IMHO one of the funniest moments he ever captured on film.

And look: now you can see it on You Tube:

Funniest Screen Moments #1: Love Power

A couple years ago I began keeping a list of what I considered to be some of the funniest moments on film. It never really went anywhere, but it appealed to my obsessive list-keeping sensibilities, and made me happy for the brief time I did it. I had completely forgotten about it until tonight when, in the process of trying to forget a particularly greasy dinner at a restaurant the Missus and I flipped through the channels and found THE PRODUCERS playing on Turner Classic Movies.

It may not be my personal favorite Mel Brooks movie (that honor going to YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN), but it certainly contains IMHO one of the funniest moments he ever captured on film.

And look: now you can see it on You Tube:

AlternaDad

Prior to reading AlternaDad I had only read about Neal Pollack - shameless indie hipster, self promoter extraordinaire, self-proclaimed rock god and bastion of all that is cool in the world. Since I still haven't read any of his other books, I can only go by what I read in his latest book/memoir about the trials and tribulations of raising a child when you're all of the above things.

AlternaDad is about Neal and his wife's struggle to maintain their identities as cool, urban hip folks they've always held themselves to be - smoking dope, staying out late, rocking out at concerts and in their own bands, writing and painting according to their whims and desires - all while being new parents to their son, Elijah. The book begins with Neal and his wife Regina meeting, falling in love, marrying, and then finally to the months and days leading up to the birth of their son, where everything abruptly changes.

I didn't see a lot of the things that Neal is known for (whether in a positive or negative light); instead I saw the same struggles, wishes, and desires my wife and I are dealing with in our heads right now: maintaining our lives, our love for each other, our "cool" factor, all the things that make us what we are. Will we lose them? Will we resent the fact our familiar lives will be taken away from us? Can I still "rock out" when necessary?

Neal finds everything I think one could expect - anger, frustration, a lack of sex, despair - but also, love, joy, laughter, and the ability to impart the sacred values and life lessons that made him who he is down to his son: The Ramones, superheroes, monsters, and a family that places its singular love and commitment to each other over the regulations, admonishments, and rigid structure imposed by the establishment.

It's Snowing!

Wow - I think this was the longest we've gone without having any snowfall. Doesn't look like it's going to last, but hooray for snow anyway!

Hooray!

Now I can finally begin to read In Search of Lost Time, which for some insane reason I can no longer remember I insisted can only be started during a snowfall. I kind of feel the same way about Charles Dickens - they both feel like the types of books you want to curl up with on a cold night.
And if that doesn't place me firmly in the Sautrday Evening Post/Dork Class of 2007, I don't know what does.