21 January, 2010

Official "Apples Are Better Than PCs" Post, or "Ode to Apple"

Considering my feelings about the gloriousness of both my iMac and iBook, it is a wonder I haven't put my feelings on...screen sooner. I have owned no less than 4 PCs in 8 years before inheriting my iBook from my generous father 2 years ago. I should also point out that this iBook is now 6 years old and still running like a champ. The only problem I have had in the 2 years of owning it is the battery has pretty much crapped out on me, but I am too cheap/lazy to buy a new one until I really need it. So I have to leave it plugged in if I'm using it for more than a couple of hours. On a computer that is 6 years old, I'd say that's to be expected. And let me repeat myself: this is the only problem I have had with it.

Each of my PCs crashed out on me multiple times; viruses galore would cause the internet to stop working, or windows I had open would mysteriously close themselves whenever they felt like it. But my beautiful Mac is still virus free. Doing the math, each of my PCs lasted for approximately 2 years before needing to be replaced. Each one was new when I got it. They crashed for different reasons; I'm sure my first one, which I got for college, crashed because of all the music I illegally downloaded, and the file sharing I did on campus with every other computer. However, had I had a Mac at the time, I think it's safe to say the problem would be drastically less if not nonexistent.

To the people who think Macs are too hard to navigate: you have obviously never really tried using a Mac. Everything is so simple it's laughable. I think of a commercial that is running right now in which the full minute is devoted to showing how "easy" the Geek Squad makes things. The action the Geek Squad is performing is setting up a printer on a PC. This takes the entire commercial to complete (if not longer in real life) while the woman in the commercial is pretending to use magical powers to make it happen as the Geek Squad dials in and does it for her.

The point is, all this commercial does is reiterate to me how difficult it is to set up a printer on a PC.

On a Mac, you don't even have to set up printers. All you do is plug it in, hit "print" on whatever it is you want to print, and the Mac finds the printer itself. In nanoseconds. And I'd like to point out that this is any kind of printer, it does not have to be an Apple; I have an HP printer and it was this simple.

I have finally converted Michael into a Maclover too. His Dell had crashed, he spent hundreds of dollars getting it fixed, and within a couple of months it crashed again. I'm talking you couldn't even open it in "safe mode" kind of crashed. He wanted to pay to get it fixed again, but after much convincing, I talked him into buying a glorious new iMac. Once you go Mac you never go back! He is officially in love. He becomes incredulous when someone we know has a PC, or especially when someone has the audacity to claim not to like Macs. He knows as well as I do that these people have obviously never properly used one.

If you are reading this, and you "are a PC" (as the commercials for Windows 7 say), please feel free to come over to our house anytime. We will read you the Gospel of Mac and convert you faster than you can say Snow Leopard.

20 January, 2010

Check It.

I've decided to be known as a personal chef now, because it's not a lie. I am Michael's personal chef. Anyway, read this my peeps!

14 January, 2010

Sign of the Times?

When it comes to movies and television, I'm not that difficult a person to please. I'm admittedly and avid watcher of The Suite Life on the Disney Channel (London Tipton is one of my all time favorite characters), and my favorite movies include Center Stage and Spice World. So when I received the 2009 remake of Fame from Netflix, I was expecting to enjoy it.

I turned it off before it was even over. I hardly ever do that. My innate curiosity almost always causes me to want to see what happens, even if I'm not that into a movie. And hello, a movie about a performing arts high school is sure to be right up my alley! Instead, I opted to turn it off because I was more interested in continuing reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone...which I have read at least five times already.

But Fame was so boring I didn't even care. The dancing was lackluster and the need to turn every performing art movie into some sort of hip hop these days was such a huge turnoff. Step Up was fine, Step Up 2 Tha Streetzzz not so much. Maybe I like classical dance. Maybe I appreciate Shakespeare. Why does "modernizing" a movie mean Shakespeare performed as a rap or ballet performed to hip hop music? (Save the Last Dance is probably the only other dance movie that I hated for that reason) Is this something I have to accept as a sign of the times? I'm truly starting to believe I was born in the wrong generation. Everything seems to be dumbed down in order to get the youth of today to watch it. Maybe they're just all too busy "twittering" about their inane lives to pay attention to a movie with any character development or dialogue that requires a full attention span.

Sigh. I'm going to go put Fame back in the mail and just pretend it never happened. Next on the list: Secret Diary of a Call Girl, disc 2. See? I told you I'm not hard to please.

12 January, 2010

Honestly. *update!*

I was about to retire for the evening, when I came across this "news" story:

Is Katy Perry Pregnant? (click on link)

I'm sorry. WHAT? So let me get this straight. Katy Perry "twittered" that 2010 is "bumpin", that she wants In N Out, and joked to her fiance "I heard ur prego-ed" therefore she is fueling rumors that she is pregnant??!

Nothing annoys me more than these obnoxious entertainment "news" stories. Like on Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition, they will run headlines such as: "Is Elin Woods wearing her wedding ring again?" and then at the end of the show they'll reveal the picture and it's of her twin sister. With her husband standing next to her. And just to be sure, they'll show a picture taken of Elin the same day in another country. A picture they've obviously had all along and therefore knew that they were creating a story out of nothing. Or E! News has their segment "So True/So False" where they will make up a rumor about a celebrity and then tell you it's not true. What is this world coming to? Can someone please tell me how this useless crap qualifies as news anyway?

Let's recap. Katy Perry is in India, and commented to her friends in LA (where the New Year hadn't yet occurred) that 2010 is bumpin' , and she discusses a food item she wants but can't have because she is in another country, so the obvious conclusion we should draw is that she's pregnant.

Just checking.


*Update*
Katy Perry finally had to spell out in black and white (and...red?) that she is not pregnant. Is that clear enough for you, media?

08 January, 2010

Viva La Montecito

I realize that if my greatest concern is what's real, then I probably shouldn't be watching a television show about a fictitious casino on the Vegas strip, but I have to say that my guilty pleasure, Las Vegas, has some moments which question my ability to suspend disbelief. Mary, Delinda, and Sam walking around at 9 o'clock in the morning wearing corsets and sequined miniskirts? I'll buy that. It's Vegas, baby! Their real life counterparts generally wear nice suits to work, but who wants to see that on TV? I get it. Danny, Ed and Mike chasing down criminals themselves, behind Vegas PD's back? Okay, I laugh a lot at these moments, and sometimes even severe eye rolling and "come on"s are involved. I mean wow, their camera equipment sure is high tech. I'd bet the FBI would kill for the Montecito's technology. And how many times can Delinda and Sam be kidnapped? Speaking of Delinda, can I just say that Delinda Deline might be one of the greatest character names ever. I mean really. Nonetheless, I enjoy all the ridiculousness as much as I enjoy Nessa's terrible wigs.

It's former Marine Danny McCoy that sometimes rubs me the wrong way. Don't get me wrong, I very much love the character with the exception of when he was dating Mary. She's so whiney and annoying, I much prefer him with Delinda. Anyway, the thing that bothers me about him is the thing that bothers me in a lot of things, which is to say, not doing proper research and execution. I ask you, would it be so hard for him to have a proper Marine haircut for when he gets called back to the fleet? Seeing him with his long hair in his uniform made me positively squirm. As did seeing him with a beard when he came back. I realize most people wouldn't be bothered by this, but it's like when my favorite literary characters are glaringly miscast in the movie versions. I mean, come on, is it really that hard to be accurate? I don't think so.

On another note, casting McSteamy as Danny's replacement while in Iraq? Genius.