Monthly Archives: January 2010

Things I’d rather have than an iPad

Posted on by
6
  • A non-AT&T iPhone
  • A network-based iTunes TV subscription model
  • Steve Jobs presenting as an Avatar
  • Jobs not using the word “magical” a dozen times
  • A new MacBook
  • Improvements to Mail and iCal in OS X.
  • Something a little more than what looked like an iPhone XL

I’m not trying to be a hater here. The Apple iPad is a gorgeous device. It really is. The New York Times application looks phenomenal…it will make reading on-screen a great experience, but that’s nothing new…the Kindle already did that.

I guess I just expected a little more out of this announcement. Honestly, it’s not even Apple’s fault. Outside of the invitation, Apple had not released a single piece of information about the iPad…that was all through speculation and the rumor mill on the internet. Even speculation on the name was enough to get Gruber and the other Mac-olytes in a tizzy. The hype was out of control for this device and I shouldn’t have bought into it so much, but I did. I held out hope that I’d be able to purchase an iPhone for Sprint. Yeah…not so much.

Don’t get me wrong…if someone gave me one of these, I’d take it. But I was just hoping for something a little more. Especially that first one.

That would have been AWESOME.

Some quick Golden Globes thoughts

Posted on by
1

Like many people, I watched the Golden Globes last night. Awards season is a favorite for Alli and me and we picked up some Original Pizza, some Throwback soda and settled in for a night of glamour, movies and TV…all from the comfort of sweats on the couch.

First things first: Ricky Gervais was really disappointing. For as much smack as he talked prior to the show about how he was going to be brutal to the stars, all he really did was self-promote (not unheard of) and get in maybe one good dig at Mel Gibson. The rest of his jokes were just really MEH.

Some other thoughts:

  • I really felt that Jane Lynch got robbed for supporting actress in a TV series. I’ve never understood why they lumped all the supporting actors and actresses into one all-encompassing category, including comedies, dramas and mini-series. She should have won. Don’t get me wrong, I adore Big Love, but Sevigny didn’t deserve it. Sue Sylvester is the heart and soul of Glee.
  • Speaking of Glee, I’m so glad that it won. I love that show.
  • I still have very little desire to see Grey Gardens.
  • Toni Collette won a shocker for TV actress in a comedy. I won’t say she’s not deserving…I was just really surprised.
  • Alec Baldwin is the new Tony Shalhoub.
  • I think that Julianna Margulies winning Best Actress in a Drama series was a shock to everyone except Julianna Margulies.
  • T-Bone Burnett does not look like he should. He should at least have a beard.
  • I really like how the Oscars splits the screenplays into adapted and original. Like Just Cara said, when you are blessed with great source material, it’s hard to mess it up. Unless, of course, if you’re Rob Marshall.
  • I love Robert Downey, Jr., but I was really hoping for Joseph Gordon-Levitt to pull out the Best Actor Comedy win. He was awesome in (500) Days of Summer, one of my favorites of the last year.
  • The room was amazingly cold toward James Cameron during both of his acceptance speeches. And I was thinking, it’s gotta suck to be a filmmaker during the year that James Cameron comes out with a movie. It’s once every 10 years, but still. It’s gotta suck.

Overall, it was a decent show…not a ton of huge surprises. Would have liked to see Gervais push it a little more. It will be interesting to see Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin host the Oscars. I doubt they will go after any of the actors in attendance, but you never know.

Another thing to note, if you’re a Twitter user and you watch the Twitter stream during shows like this, I highly recommend following Doug Benson. He hosts a podcast called “I Love Movies” and is totally hilarious.

The New Silicon Prairie News

Posted on by
Reply

I learned about Silicon Prairie News last year when I attended Big Omaha, a one-day conference devoted to “forward-thinking creatives, entrepreneurs and innovators” (more on my trip to Big Omaha). You may remember me mentioning Silicon Prairie News earlier in the year they featured me and this blog in their 5 in 5 series.

Dusty Davidson and Jeff Slobotski have cultivated a phenomenal startup culture in Omaha and with the help of writer Danny Schreiber, they’re showing the nation that Omaha and the rest the Midwest is capable of some really great stuff.

Today, they launched the new version of their site and it’s really great. Congratulations to SPN and everyone involved in the new site for the great work. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next.

…more on the launch of SPN 2.0 from the site itself

I’m with Conan

Posted on by
1

Today, Conan O’Brien said what everyone hoped he would say to NBC: take a hike.

And rightfully so. Leno indicated he wanted to quit, so NBC (wisely) locked up Conan to replace him. Then, Leno decided he wasn’t so sure about quitting. So NBC, in their infinite wisdom, changed their schedule to give Jay the hour lead-in to The Tonight Show, effectively taking the wind out of Conan’s sails…I mean who really wants to watch Leno do the pre-Tonight Show and then another hour of the regular Tonight Show? It’s just excessive.

But Leno couldn’t go quietly into the night. No one watched his show (because it was terrible and unfunny), so NBC once again decided to do something stupid (I’m still mad they cancelled Inside Schwartz) by throwing a complete wrench in their late night lineup, which still is uncertain.

So Conan, the real loser in all of this, decided enough was enough. His letter, addressed to “People of Earth” is funny, yet firm enough to let NBC know that he will not allow them to destroy the storied Tonight Show on his watch. Whether they actually listen to him is anyone’s guess. My assumption is that Jeff Zucker (who I am amazed still has a job through all this and their many other blunders, one of which includes almost cancelling The Office after the first season) will likely just let Conan go like he did David Letterman and re-hire Jay Leno to helm The Tonight Show. Which would be a mistake, if you consider Twitter to be the pulse of the nation. Four of the top 10 trending topics are about O’Brien, NBC or “Team Conan”.

But since when has NBC had any sense about what people care about. They are far too fragmented and their programming is 30% made up of Law & Order episodes. There’s a reason that they’re in 4th place. They’ve got a bunch of morons running the network.

It’s sad, too, because there is some good talent on NBC and some entertaining shows. But they don’t have the slightest clue how to market those shows or nurture their growth. Instead, they are reactionary and impatient.

And that just doesn’t work.

The Other Shane Adams

Posted on by
6

I used to think that my first name afforded me an amount of uniqueness in the world. I never really met a lot of Shanes, let alone a lot of Shane Adamses. But just my luck…there are like half a dozen of them that are active on the internet.

Great.

Now I realize that I’m probably not doing myself any favors, since I’m currently fourth on the Magnificent Google List despite having been online for longer than all of them.

But I just can’t help myself.

(reposted from my Tumblr)

Giving Tumblr a Try

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve been an avid WordPress user for many moons. I really believe that there is not a better blogging software on the market, particularly for writers. It’s customizable, easy-to-install, and easy to understand.

I’ve even seen it used for full corporate sites and photoblogs elegantly.

But it almost does too much, is too powerful, requires too much attention.

I’ve had my eye on Tumblr for a really long time, but I could never pull the trigger on it. Frankly, I’ve got over 5 years and 900+ posts that I want to keep. But the concept of the community that Tumblr presents, combined with the fact that a lot of really funny and interesting people are on there has got me interested enough to give it a try.

I’m currently trying to figure out how to feed my Tumblr into my Feedburner account so those of you reading through Google Reader (or whatever other RSS reader flavor you might be using) don’t really notice, but as of yet, I haven’t figured that out (any help on this would be superb).

For now though, if you’re my friend on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll see my Tumblr posts come through. Or, you can just go follow me on Tumblr:

ShaneLife.Tumblr.com

I’m not abandoning WordPress just yet. But it’s on notice.

Watch the Orange Bowl!

Posted on by
3

This is not a post about my desire for a college football playoff.

It’s me asking you to support my wife, sister and their dance team, the Gardner Edgerton Blazerettes as they will be featured performers at halftime of the Orange Bowl tonight.

The game will be shown on Fox WDAFat 7:30 p.m. and the halftime show features Kool & the Gang. The routine is choreographed by the ex-Mr. J-Lo, Cris Judd.

The Blazerettes will start in the front row on the 50-yard-line facing the press box all the way down to the right end zone. Keep an eye out for the girls. They have worked extremely hard to get to this point and they appreciate your support!

This is a really cool opportunity for this Kansas City school. Be sure to watch out for them.

Nine

Posted on by
1

Alli has been wanting to see Nine ever since she heard of it and it seemed like a can’t miss film: a musical based on a Fellini movie that was directed by the guy who directed Chicago and starred Daniel Day-Lewis and like, a bajillion other Oscar winners. Oh, and it was also put out by perennial Oscar hoarder, Harvey Weinstein.

It really had the pedigree to be something special.

Yeah…not so much.

It wasn’t that it was bad…it had moments of brilliance, particularly the choreographed numbers with the Black Eyed Peas’ Fergie “Be Italian” and Kate Hudson’s “Cinema Italiano”. And Daniel Day-Lewis…well, that guy is just phenomenal. Even faced with sub-par writing and a flimsy plot, he really delivers as Guido “The Maestro” Contini, the famed Italian film director with writer’s block. He brings life to a completely unlikable character who is tortured because of the 7 women of his past and present: his wife (Marion Cotillard), his mistress (Penelope Cruz), his muse (Nicole Kidman), his makeup artist (Dame Judi Dench), an American journalist (Hudson), a prostitute from his childhood (Fergie), and his enigmatic, canonized mother (Sophia Loren).

Honestly, if this movie is about anything, it can be found in the 3-minute “Cinema Italiano” number with Kate Hudson, in which she actually sings that style is more important than substance and that’s why Contini’s movies are so great.

It seems like Rob Marshall took this nugget a little too close to heart because while the film is absolutely gorgeous (one of my favorite scenes was the opening one where we meet Guido for the first time in his sound stage…that shot is amazing), but it completely falls apart because it can’t deliver on any semblance of a story.

Without Daniel Day-Lewis and Marion Cotillard, this movie would be a complete travesty, but they manage to save it in their unique ways. Cotillard is so charming as Conini’s tortured wife who knows that he’s a scoundrel, but sticks with him “for the film”. I didn’t particularly like her in Public Enemies and was really bummed when she beat out Ellen Page’s Juno for Best Actress in the 2008 Oscars, but she is really likable in this movie, despite its many flaws.

Like I said, Nine has some moments and is buoyed by two very good performances, but it can’t overcome the terrible script and just didn’t deliver as the Oscar bait that Harvey Weinstein wanted us to believe that it was.

Up in the Air

Posted on by
1

On New Year’s Eve, Alli and I headed out with my folks for a double-feature at ye ole Olathe AMC.

This is such a fun time for movies. So many great flicks come out at the end of the year so they can be eligible for Oscar season and the two that we saw were early front runners: Up in the Air and Nine.

Up in the Air

I’ve heard nothing but good things about Up in the Air. It seems destined for Oscar gold and potentially the elusive Best Actor statue for Clooney. It certainly solidified to me that Jason Reitman is no one-trick pony. His last 3 films (Up in the Air, Juno, Thank You for Smoking) have really been stellar from a directorial standpoint. He’s got a unique voice and I’m looking forward to more from him as he continues to grow as a director.

Tweet Review of Up in the Air

The movie itself was interesting and heartfelt, but I think that my expectations may have failed me again. I went in expecting the best movie of the year and what I got was quite good, but I felt like it didn’t deliver in certain places. However, one place it certainly delivered was in the female performances. George Clooney is darn near overshadowed by Anna Kendrick (Twi-hards will know her as Jessica), who portrays Natalie Keener with an earnestness that I could completely relate to and I felt rang so true for the current generation of workers who have grandiose, unrealistic visions of how technology can completely change everything about how we live our lives. Now, coming from me, that may sound a little weird, but it’s a good life lesson that she receives.

Vera Farmiga (The Departed) is also quite charming as Clooney’s love interest, Alex, but I didn’t find her nearly as interesting as Kendrick’s Natalie.

OK, so let’s talk about George Clooney. He’s terrific. But I just felt like he was playing George Clooney, who I like…I just didn’t think it was that much of a stretch.

Writing this review has made me kind of want to see the movie again…to see if I missed something. I’m not sure that I did, but I want to make sure. I just didn’t see what all the fuss was about.