Dear Steve Jobs
May 14To: sjobs@apple.com
From: matt@alertnerd.com
Subj: Urgent iPad Question
Hi Steve–I’m a hard-working, geeky American who has two kids (one in diapers), a mortgage, student loans–you know how it is.
I am obsessed with the iPad; I believe it truly is the future of computing and I know it will enhance my life, my hobbies, and my creative efforts.
Can you just send me an iPad? I have no reason to believe you will, nor do I honestly believe you should, but I believe there are no such things as stupid questions. (Although asking the CEO of Apple to send me a free product for no reason is as close to stupid as it gets, I admit. Good thing I’m not proud.)
Regardless, thanks for the iPhone, and the iPod, and all the other amazing products you and your company have created. I heart them.
Best,
Matt Springer
World's Most Forgetful
May 13
Like Tony Stark as the events of “World’s Most Wanted” unfold, I have a terrible memory.
It sucks. What sucks worse is KNOWING I have a terrible memory. I’m not talking about forgetting phone numbers or the birthdays of my kids. I’m talking about life events, big and small, that just pass through my brain like emotional dialysis. I have two kids, a great wife, all of whom I adore; they’re constantly doing amazing things, and I can hang onto so few of them. I don’t know why; maybe it’s the complete lyrics of Elvis Costello eating up valuable brain cells.
I videotape and photograph, but it’s a double-edged sword. Half the time, I feel bad because I’m not “living the moment” when I’m behind the video camera. The other half of the time, I feel desperate because I’m convinced that if I’m NOT filming or snapping, I’ll never really recall these moments at all.
I read through Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca’s “World’s Most Wanted” arc in the Invincible Iron Man Omnibus hardcover and it snapped me up and yanked me to the ending. I got a little swept away, the way you do with any smart action-adventure story. I tapped my feet to the beats of the plot until the last chorus was sung and I closed the book and I was sated.
A day or two later, I found myself thinking back to the key emotional beats. Especially that heartbreaking “who’s Happy?” Watching the world’s smartest man become stupid was tough because it was the kind of sci-fi plot twist that any writer would kill to create–a clever-as-hell concept that also bites hard into an emotional truth.
None of us want to lose our memories; they are our idenitites, our friends and family, our selves. But we do lose them, even if we don’t want to. In some ways, we can’t help it. Time and whiskey kill brain cells; people shuffle off the stage and others take their place. You may even have watched a friend or family member succumb to diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s that literally dismantle your memories against your will.
Tony Stark’s plight tapped into my own fear of losing memories; when he couldn’t remember one of his best friends or even how to operate a screwdriver, I felt a pang of recognition and fear. For me, it elevated a fun action-adventure romp into deep, insightful science fiction.
We Have A Harry Potter Winner!
May 11One of you crazy muggles, Stephanie, just won a $50 Visa Cash Card and paperback set of the Harry Potter series, courtesy of Scholastic’s “Real Magic of Harry Potter” Online Giveaway! Who’s your favorite character, Stephanie?
I always liked McGonagall. Stern but kind-hearted, loyal and brave.
Hard to argue with that, except that Snape is sexy. Don’t tell me you weren’t thinking that, internet.
Don’t forget, you can also win one of FOUR trips to Orlando to experience the Wizarding World for your own self at Universal Studios this summer.
Lost 6.14, "The Candidate"
May 06
I’m having a hard time with it.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
Matty Potter's Favorite Harry Potter Moment
Apr 28
There’s something incredibly compelling in geek entertainment about the No-Win Scenario*.
Of course, the most famous No-Win Scenario saw Captain James T. Kirk defeat the Kobayashi Maru test during his time at Starfleet Academy. JJ Abrams brought that sequence to life in his Star Trek flick last summer; we first heard about it in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Later in that movie, Kirk conquers yet another No-Win Scenario, with a gutsy, naked bluff that allows the Enterprise to lower the Reliant’s shields, thus narrowly clawing out a victory over his arch-enemy.
There’s a couple great No-Win Scenarios in Star Wars. From Empire Strikes Back, we have Han, Leia, Chewie, and the droids desperately weaving their way to avoid any Imperial entanglements before narrowly escaping into the bowels of a giant space worm. Then in Return of the Jedi, the tremendous moment when Luke is walking the plank on one of Jabba the Hutt’s sail barges, steps toward the sarlacc pit, only to grab the edge of the plank and catch a lightsaber hurled into the air by R2-D2. (Minor Matt note: Some twenty-odd years after first seeing that flick, that moment still gives me goosepimples. Just typing this gave me some.)
We love the No-Win Scenario because it isn’t the No-Win Scenario at all; it takes us to the brink of a character’s darkest moment, but flips the script toward the dawn of victory, usually in an unexpected way. Geek entertainment, with its superheroes and Jedi and giant space-faring Horatio Hornblower starships, provides a unique opportunity for amazing feats that transform a No-Win Scenario into a thrilling win.
