The UMPC Begets the MID
Jan 08You probably don’t recall–hell, I barely recall yesterday, let alone two years ago–but in the early days of Alert Nerd, I wrote about the Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC). The specs and prototypes looked sexy; the products turned out to be way overpriced and made zero blips on the consumer electronics radar.
(And yet, Asus makes a big splash in geek circles with their Eee PC, taking some of the same principles and marrying them to a very small laptop form factor. Hmm. All these crazy kids should talk more.)
Now apparently, the UMPC has given birth to the MID (Mobile Internet Device). Those who followed Nokia’s Internet Tablets over the past couple years (I owned one, for a couple days, back in June of last year) may be familiar with the concept–web access, IM, e-mail, games, music, movies, and other ephemeral crap, all crammed onto a PYT of a device. Lookit, picture!
I’d been skimming over lots of this year’s CES coverage, as I just can’t get a boner over big TVs and GPS units. But this…this is a horse of another color.
Many Long Boxes
Jan 08Tom Spurgeon has an interesting roundup and analysis of some recent articles about the decline of the comic book back issue market, at least as a fixture in local direct market comic shops.
Hong Kong swag – Shaolin Kubricks
Jan 04A friend recently went to Hong Kong to visit family and returned with presents. Mine was this awesome set of knock-off Kubricks (same style, different plastic, with molding seams showing) – a box of four Shaolin monks, complete with arsenal. Swords and spears are cool, but it’s tough to beat the oversized monk beads and bench, for whichever one practices drunken kung-fu.
Interview Atomic Robo
Jan 03I’m working with the team over at HeavyInk.com, a rad new online comics retailer (more on that when the time is right), and am doing an interview with the creative team of Atomic Robo, which features questions submitted by fans.
So get on over to the HeavyInk boards and submit some questions!
Indiana Jones and the Whiny, Bitchy Billionaire
Jan 03I wasn’t gonna even link this, and I don’t have the energy or interest at this point to muster a robust and blustery “fuck you, Lucas” diatribe. (In fact, maybe I’ll make that a New Year’s resolution–no bitching about George Lucas.)
But, well, here: Vanity Fair has their cover story on Indy 4 up, and sure enough, Lucas finds time to complain about his “fans” yet again:
“The fans are all upset,†Lucas says. “They’re always going to be upset. ‘Why did he do it like this? And why didn’t he do it like this?’ They write their own movie, and then, if you don’t do their movie, they get upset about it. So you just have to stand by for the bricks and the custard pies, because they’re going to come flying your way.â€
Listen, Georgie boy, lemme illuminate your brain pan on this: The fans are upset because you’ve spent billions of dollars to make two shitty movies and one not-quite-as-shitty movie over the past eight years. No one has any reason to suspect that this will be anything but an awful attempt to recapture the glory days of your maverick filmmaking youth. At this point, the mere mention of your name makes me cranky, and I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels that way.
So instead of bitching to Vanity Fair, why not go back and rewatch The Phantom Menace, and see if you don’t have a better idea why “the fans are upset.”
We’re upset because you SUCK, Lucas. You totally suck.
(and I already broke my New Year’s resolution, goddamnit)
