Greater Satellites

I’m a little tired today in work. And why might I be tired? Well, for one I had to wake up for work this morning. Beyond that, I was up until 4:30 in the morning finishing one of the most satisfying series of books I’ve ever read: Harry Potter.

Now, chuckle if you must, but you shouldn’t knock it if you haven’t even tried to read it. If an author, any author, has the ability to tell a tale that spans the course of seven books and several years, then it speaks to reason that it’s a tale worth telling (if you’re into fiction, that is). The only other series that was this expansive, this engrossing, and, ironically, seven books long was Stephen King’s Dark Tower Series… Another one of my favorites.

I started reading the Harry Potter books in October and finished approximately three months later (earrrly this morning). The stories became, in my opinion, progressively better and darker as the protagonist moved from the innocence of childhood (he was 11 in the first book) to a young adult (18) faced with existential and philosophical conundrums.

In the writing itself, the word choice seemed very deliberate, down to earth, and matured as the characters (and, I assume, readers) grew older. The author wasn’t trying to disillusion you with huge amounts of fantastical spells and esoteric words you would need a dictionary to understand. Reading the book was like listening to a good friend tell you a story. It was paced in such a way that the end of each chapter, and each book, made you crave more. Part of me regrets not having started reading these books in my youth, but a larger part of me is grateful because the wait between each of them would have felt excruciatingly long.

As for the movie-book comparisons, I think the films do the books justice with the main storyline (which is basically good vs. evil) and a few of the more crucial sub-plots. The movies definitely nail the imagery. The way I envisioned certain spells, locations, or characters to look based on their descriptions match up uncannily with what the directors, set designs, and makeup people had in mind as well. To some degree, it’s evident the people involved in the creation of the movies are also fans of the books, and I base this simply on the attention to detail in each.

I’m not going to rate this series with stars or numbers, because it’s simply too deep and multi-faceted to slap an arbitrary figure upon. I’ve seen books writing about these books: the philosophy behind them, the mythology, and many other interesting takes. I would say that this series is as perfect as it could’ve been in capturing the heart of readers, both young and old. You persevere through the moments of sadness and revel in the joyous experiences throughout, relating as best you can in the moments of basic human nature and curiosity. It’s a refreshing, easy read that just gets better as you go.

Expecto Patronum, ya’ll.

I write about whatever tickles my fancy and recent news about Blu Ray exclusivity deals with studios was too good to pass up…

Let me preface by saying that I hate Sony as much as the next knowledgeable techie. I’ve owned three different Walkmans in my day, and have purchased every iteration of PlayStation up to the current monolith. I’ve made those purchases knowing that Sony products are often overpriced, sometimes cheap (paradoxical, no?), and the company itself has a record of poor customer service. In their defense on that last issue: any company as large as Sony is bound to have a few highly vocal, extremely unsatisfied customers — it’s science.

In recent months, though, I have taken notice of Sony’s product lines and I must say they seem to be genuinely trying to set themselves apart from the crowd with exceptional product quality and design (see: BRAVIA line of TVs). PlayStation 3 isn’t making them any real money yet, but they continually develop for it and it has seen 4 different variations in the 14 months since its initial launch. I know many disagree, but I think it’s a pretty sexy console. Add that to all the things it is capable of beyond just playing games, and $500 for my 80GB version didn’t seem like such a bad deal. It’s a product line AND format (Blu Ray) that Sony has engineered which is elegant and actually makes sense to use.

This has not been the case for Sony since the CD. Talk a brief walk down memory lane with me before I get to my point (I promise I have one):

1. Betamax - Whoops! This was the same format war we’re fighting now, only 80’s style (which I assume means the war paint was way more colorful, the hair was bigger, and the soundtrack was gayer). Why did Betamax fail? We can cut this down to two basic reasons: 1) It was more expensive and 2) Sony didn’t know what their customers wanted. They made a product that, in terms of sheer quality, was better than the rivaling VHS. But they didn’t invest any time doing research into features that people ultimately wanted in a video cassette player/recorder and so it faded into obscurity.
2. The Minidisc - Was supposed to be the successor to the CD and failed miserably… In the US, at least. I hear it did well in Japan. Again, I think the problem here was that Sony didn’t ask themselves “What does the customer want?”. What would’ve been my reason for trading in CDs, which were ubiquitous at the time, for a format that needs a specialized player and, in a few cases, software to work. Answer: there isn’t. Bye bye Minidisc.
3. ATRAC - Cool! Sony’s answer to the MP3. The only problem with this was that MP3s worked on ALL devices that supported them, not just shitty Walkmans.
4. Memory Stick - This wasn’t as unforgivable as the past three in terms of failure. Sony makes, well, pretty much every kind of electronic under the sun, so it makes sense for them to create a small Flash-based storage system that would work well between devices. Like all of the aforementioned Sony attempts, this died a fairly quick death at the hands of the other, more popular storage formats (SD, CompactFlash, etc).
5. Blu Ray - Wooooaaah. Hold the phone. A quality format from Sony backed by almost every other major player in the game except Toshiba and Microsoft? Way to go, Sony. What’s that? You’re going to incorporate the technology into your latest gaming console so that it can penetrate two markets simultaneously? That’s a pretty good idea. It’s also awesome that your proprietary discs hold about 10GB more than the competing format. I’m sure the pirates of the digital world won’t be too happy with all the layers of security, but I bet that helps sway the favor of movie studio in your direction. Sony, I’m proud of you. ::pats Sony on the head::

That’s right. It took them almost two decades, but I think Sony finally got it right. In the coming months, over 75% of movies coming to High Def formats will be exclusively Blu Ray. For once in the history of Sony making products, I hope they come out as a winner.

Well, it’s that time of year again, when the Consumer Electronics Show hits Vegas with a vengeance. I simultaneously love and hate it because, on one hand, the new technologies coming from every manufacturer there are oft breathtaking. On the other hand, though, I hate the fact that a majority of the new technologies that are so incredible a) often times don’t get released for months (or in some cases, years) and b) I don’t have the money to buy it all up immediately.

This is the only time of year that I get antsy when it comes to electronics because it’s such a great time of year for all of us, the consumers. The profits earned by manufacturers from Black Friday until December 31st, 11:59 are reinvested into the companies in the form of R&D, design & branding, and general product awareness in various forms of advertising.

After consulting with my crystal ball, I sense two things are imminent:

1. I’ll be broke relatively soon, due to the upgrading of my AV equipment (I’m currently accepting donations for this beauty)
2. I’ll be the most popular kid on the block and everyone will want to play video games with me!

1. Led Zeppelin
2. Pink Floyd
3. Creedence Clearwater Revival
4. The Beatles
5. King Crimson

Technically, I still have a shot at seeing #’s 1, 2, 3, and 5… But I don’t think it would be quite the same.

Is perhaps one of the worst on the civic duties as a United States citizen.

The next summons I get will promptly be filed in the garbage. I now know why I never took any interest in law or politics, it’s just probably the most uninteresting thing I’ve ever been privy to, and it’s also fucking up my weekend plans. Die, Judicial System!

I just noticed that Wordpress looks really different on a PC than on a Mac. I kind of like the aesthetics on the Mac better, but I have a strong bias.

Anyway, here I am blogging at work. I think I may do this at least once a day. I work really hard in burst mode to get a lot done so I can relax and double check my work to make sure it’s accurate and well-done. In my free time, perhaps even on the old lunch break I’ll take a moment to reflect on my day thus far.

A semi-sad realization dropped on me recently like a Mack truck: working in a job like mine (doing design, coding, etc) is creatively draining, whereas other jobs I’ve held (office work, appraising houses, etc) are creatively restrictive. I’ve basically found the amount of design-centric work I do outside of this job has dropped to practically nothing unless I have an extreme desire to accomplish a set task (example: last night getting this blog set up, wrapping up the design of the new site). I’m going to try my very hardest to get everything all together and find a balance. I admire people who have a great balance in their lives.

Can I also say, as a total aside, that the new Camaro design is probably one of the most bangin things I’ve ever seen. I hope they take that out of concept and make it a reality. I would totally spring for one (if I had a spare 30-40 grand laying around).

Well, it looks like it’s back to work time for Andrew…. ::yawn::