Lisa doesn’t like me answering the phone because once I get on it, I can’t really get off of it. I think I spent an hour and a half talking on the phone with two people. If it were my sister, and if she wasn’t on a shared line, we’d be on it for four hours or more, easy. Lisa should know. When we first started dating, the first time we had a lengthy conversation on the phone we went from 10pm to 6am.
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I noted somewhere (facebook? here?) that I wanted an iPad type device. Well, last night, aided by my parents I picked up a third generation iPod Touch. I walked out of the store and Lisa dragged me back in, and both Lisa and a sales rep hard sold me on the device.
I’m on the fence with it, though Lisa and Nora especially seem to like it. I installed an app designed for kids her age and she really got into it.
Pros: Screen is sharp, it’s pretty quick, some apps (like the facebook, ebay, and sparkpeople app) are incredibly polished. Flickr’s app is serviceable and nice. I downloaded Stanza (an e-reader), and was floored.
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Mehs: it’s preloaded with apps that I don’t much care for which I can’t delete or hide. Google maps is pointless for this device for a multitude of reasons. Web surfing is also meh. I was spoiled by Opera mobile (not Opera Mini – mobile is device specific) and the lack of flash is pointlessly silly. I installed Opera Mini and while it’s nice, it’s also slow.
Cons: I hate the mail app. It’s garbage. Because of Apple’s draconian rules, the gmail app (available on PPC, blackberry, etc.), which is significantly better, won’t see the light of day on the iTouch/iPhone, which is a damned shame as it’d really shine on this device. Google made a specific gmail landing page for the iphone, but it’s not quite the same, as you don’t get notifications. There’s apparently an app for notifications (gpush) which I haven’t looked into yet. Even so, my inbox is set up to receive several different accounts, and that app won’t necessarily serve my purposes.
Let’s be clear here: google already has an app that works with gmail beautifully. This is very much an Apple specific issue.
Syncing with iTunes is painful and unnecessary. The iPhone will never be an enterprise level device if Apple insists on iTunes for everything. With my Treo, I can walk into the dining room, my phone and laptop automatically link via bluetooth, and I hit sync and it synchronizes my google calendar, tasks, notes and backs everything up on my phone automatically. With iTunes, it took me an hour just so I could turn the damned thing on. That’s an issue for another day, though.
App store browsing through the device itself is awful, but mostly serviceable.
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Overall: I set my expectations pretty low and I’d say this device barely meets them. The email app obviously raises my blood pressure, but Stanza is outstanding and I would say makes up for it. I’m half tempted to jail break the device. The cons, though are the reason why I’m on the fence about returning it and eating the 15% restocking fee, they irritate me that much.
On the flip side, I will say I haven’t seen every single app out there, and there might be something in there that floors me. Nora has really taken to the device and it’s hard to say that an Android device like the Archos would also appeal to her. Archos doesn’t have a capacitive display.
While Lisa dislikes Apple products, their products are geared to her. If only she didn’t have such a terrible experience with Apple products in the language lab at BMC, she’d own a mac right now.
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Last night we watched the Wire, and what a doozy. Usually I stop myself from writing about it, but I have to reflect on the brilliance that is this show, especially this episode (Season 4, Episode 10, “Misgivings”).
Spoiler warning for the Wire. Stop reading here.
First, Office Williams is a total douche. But after reading up on why he is who he is, he’s an interesting character. The writers hung out in Baltimore while researching the show and noticed the police brutality occurred the most often between black and black, not black and white. It’s not racism, it’s classism. I’m paraphrasing here, but cops like Williams act the way they do because they grew up having to avoid the drug and crime scene to become police officers. In doing so, they have a great deal of pent up hostility and rage towards other black folk because he (they) don’t understand why other people can’t do the same thing.
Secondly, I can’t stand Herc so when Bubbs fed him that phony info, I rejoiced. Bubbs did right by Herc time and time again. Instead, Herc never repaid Bubbs, and on top of that put Randy in a dangerous situation, ruined Lester’s case by forcing Snoop and Chris to dump the nailgun, and realistically caused Little Kev to be ‘put in the vacants’ even though he said nothing. Is Kev a saint? No, not at all. Herc is so self absorbed it’s painful. McNulty was self absorbed when working homicide then major case – but at least he was interested in solving cases. Herc is interested only in self preservation. He has zero interest in being competent police. I’m excited to see his comeuppance.
Thirdly, and this is why I wanted to reflect on this episode: Michael, Chris and Marlo.
Michael had choices: he could’ve gone to the social work at Prez’s behest; he could’ve gone to Cutty who recognized his potential and wanted to steer Michael away from the life he once lived; he could’ve left well enough alone – which obviously isn’t a real option, but… he made a deal with the devil, Marlo.
First off, Marlo didn’t send him away. He listened to Michael’s problem, and sent him along with Chris and Snoop. In a moment of sheer and utter brilliance, in which no words were exchanged but just a look, the character of Chris crystallized. Here, Chris was no longer a cold blooded killer but just Michael, several years older. Clearly, Chris was also abused – maybe by a father, an uncle or by somebody in jail, who knows. It was just that one knowing look that completely changed the face of Chris and by proxy, Marlo. What motivates Marlo to be Marlo? Suddenly, it might not just be money.
Finally, the look Michael gave his mother, the smile, as she sat there crying wondering where her man went, was chilling. Michael didn’t just call in a favor: he sold his soul. He has chosen the life that he fought so valiantly to avoid. He’s now part of Marlo’s crew – a cold blooded killer. And he’s still an eighth grader.
The death of Wallace was the first gut punch episode. This was the second.
End spoilers.
Absolutely amazing story telling. If you haven’t watched the Wire, start doing so. You won’t regret it.
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