keeping note

Just a follow up to our previous post. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

I showed up for work at 5 am (Starbucks in a mall with the largest Apple store in the city) to find people sleeping in lawn chairs and tents as far as the eye can see and a scary ‘little’ line waiting for coffee as well. I guess I underestimated the dedication of apple fans. . . and they overestimated Apple and AT&T’s devotion to them.

Apple made some changes, requiring iPhone fanatics to sign up for a 2-year contract and activate their phone on the spot. AT&T made some changes as well. The mandatory contract is more expensive, an additional $30/month on what most iPhone users already pay. Because consumers weren’t just buying a phone, but setting up contracts, the line moved just below a snail’s pace, leaving that huge line in the hot sun for much longer than expected. You could expect the sleep deprived to be a bit peeved.

Upsettingly, the majority of people in the first half of the line (arguably the most devoted) were denied their AT&T cellphone upgrade, probably because their 2-year contract from last year’s big iPhone release wasn’t quite finished yet. Our espresso bar seemed much more like an alcohol bar with people telling their sob stories about iPhone experiences of the day.

If it wasn’t the extremely slow moving line, the unexpected expense of the contract, or the flat out rejection, Apple fans had plenty else to complain about it and Starbucks was all ears (and caffiene) for the the morning. The phone’s cool factor couldn’t keep them crabby all day, though.

This the first and, most likely, the last time you will ever see me write this sentence. I’d never met a book I didn’t love more than it’s audio-visual recreation until now.

Darly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay is by no means a horrible book, yet it didn’t have the humor, irony, and intrigue that Showtime gave it. After reading the book which inspired the television series and watching the complete first season, I can say with absolute certainty that the book is not better.

The writer’s for the Showtime series really took their rights to the book’s content seriously. The show and book are mirror images of each other for the most part. None of the characters are altered and some dialogue is cut and pasted. It’s not bad, though. The producers saw a great idea, yet mediocre excecution, and decided to give it all the depth, drama, and devotion Dexter deserved.

The book isn’t bad, just mediocre. It’s nothing I’d write a high review of, yet something I’d recommend for a quick and mindless, yet entertaining read. This is why I’m giving the book two bolts. I’d give it one if it were just a book, but the story is really something amazing, hidden behind boring, uninteresting prose and a weak progression of events.

I have a somewhat unhealthy addiction to television. That’s why it makes me extremely happy to find a show like Heroes, which indulges my obession.

Heroes is not only a tv show, by an online “graphic novel” or comic book. The show’s website has continually posted weekly comic book issues since the first season. The comic books follow along with the show and even precede what happens on television. This isn’t fan fiction, this in association with the show and connected to, even spoiling, the storyline which take place on television. It’s amazing.

Well, now the wonderful people of Heroes have compiled a book of their comic book issues. While the artwork of these comics is great to admire online, I’m really excited to see that this is in print. If there’s one form of print that will never die, it’s artwork and these novels definitely fit that category.

Look for the book in stores and definitely keep up with the nearly 100 issues on nbc.com/heroes.

Yes, it’s finally going into effect. As of July 1, 2008,  California is putting into effect those ever-feared laws about driving while using your cell phone.

Let me lay out the facts for you (then offer up my opinion):

• Drivers over 18 can only use a hands-free device when driving in the car
• Drivers under 18 cannot use a hands-free device (which means no cellphone use at all)
• You can only use a phone (sans hands-free) to call an emergency service (i.e. 911, Police, Fire)
• Push-to-Talk doesn’t qualify as “hands-free”, but Speakerphone does
• The law doesn’t prohibit drivers from dialing while driving
• The law doesn’t specifiy about texting while driving, so it’s okay, but not recommended

Don’t be scared by those people telling you it’s a couple hundred for the ticket. The fines are $20 for a first offense and $50 for subsequent offenses. The DMV is reported about the ticket, but you don’t receive a point on your record.

This law is stupid.

Sure, we are removing a distraction from drivers. If it’s the physicality of needing two hands then you can’t eat, change the station, or in anyway occupy one of your hands?  If it’s the mental atmosphere of engaging in conversation, you can’t talk to anyone in your car or listen too intently to your music or talk radio? Well then maybe it’s both. Maybe it’s the combination of those two distractions.

If the intent is to minimize cell phone use in the car, it won’t work. People who talk on their cell phones are going to talk on their cell phones regardless of the law. If they use speakerphone (which still occupies that second hand) or a bluetooth device, it won’t change the concentration they are putting on their phone conversation versus their driving.

For me, the hastle of getting and using  a hands-free device is more distracting than just putting the phone up to my ear.  Some can say that having the phone at your ear blocks your vision, but how deep can we carry that? Having passengers in your car blocks you vision. Not looking blocks your vision, too. I think more people just don’t look.

And why is it okay to text? With texting, you have to take you eyes off the road and look just at  your phone. You have to actively use one hand, typing– and for some people using a second hand. How is that safe? I would fully support a no-texting-while-driving law because that’s just common sense.

There is definitely a safe way and an an unsafe way to use your phone in the car, but ‘hands-free’ laws aren’t the answer. I think the state is going to be a looking at a lot of revenue (in small doses) from this law.  They should have made the fine higher. (Thanks to us, they didn’t.)

Check out this site for a full Q&A.

Summer is usually quite the drag for us TV watchers. Having been robbed of a full season this past year, I am even more anxious for the fall. Summer isn’t all cheesy reality and boring reruns, though. Two networks have shows worthy of our attention.

USA’s Burn Notice is one of the wittiest and cleverest spy shows since the original Get Smart. A sharp and cynical spy, Michael, has been “burned,” abandoned and left for dead, in Miami with an ex-girlfriend and plenty of trouble to stir up. The second season kicks off on Thurs, July 10th at 10pm.

TBS’s My Boys is another great summer show that seems to fly under the radar. PJ is a sports writer in Chicago, with just the right amount of tom-boy and real girl to keep the show interesting. Last season left us with a wicked cliff hanger– after a string of boyfriends and almost boyfriends, she ran off on vacation with one of her many male interests. Who could it be? We’ll find out with the second season airing Thursdays at 9:30pm (or catch this one online).

Tune in for both and tell us what you think.

Having recently partnered with AT&T, Starbucks is doing something generous and long overdue.

Free WiFi (with a small catch).

If you buy a Starbucks Card (or already happen to have one since they are the universal gift of every holiday where you have to give a lot of things to a lot of meaningless people), you can register it online. Once you register you are part of the “Starbucks Rewards Program” where you get some perks.

They send you a free drink. (Correction: Not send you the drink. Send you a coupon for a free drink.) You get free modifiers to your drink whenever you use the card. You don’t have to pay extra for things like soy milk and fancy flavors. The best part is that you get free AT&T wireless internet in every Starbucks location, which means anywhere you happen to be.

I know I’m taking them up on the offer. Thanks, AT&T, for knocking some sense into Starbucks. Maybe you aren’t so horrible after all.

Yesterday I saw a commercial for a “hand stirred” fruit milkshake smoothie of some sort new at Wendy’s. As someone who’s worked at Starbucks (albeit happily) for much longer than intended, I’ve seen plenty of the “hand shaken” or “hand stirred” nonsense. Why do advertisers see it as such a great selling point at mass produced locations?

First off, it’s Wendy’s for goodness sake. While the company probably encourages excellence and performance, it’s still fast food. It’s still food that you can drive up to a window and receive in less than three minutes. It’s food that has been demographically selected and manufactured for the entire nation to enjoy at every Wendy’s location on every street corner from the ghetto to the suburbs. You aren’t getting personal or gourmet.

Second off, the people making these things don’t have the expertise and aren’t given enough money to care about shaking, stirring, or whatever is required of them. When it comes down to it, time is everything. The faster you get your food, the happier you are. Managers know it. Employees know it.

Third, and most relevantly, having worked in semi “fast food” and been given instructions on “hand shaken” beverages, I know that it means squat. Starbucks is higher quality than most places out there, but we still take quite a liberty with those personal touches to your drinks. If we ring 30 transactions a half an hour on an average day, that’s at the very least 30 drinks, more realistically beyond double that. Yes, your drink will be made well, I can promise you that, but those fancy personal touches that are advertised aren’t always part of the process.

Now step it down to real fast food like Wendy’s. Don’t even think that they are going to take the time out to do anything personal to your beverage, except spit in it if you piss them off.

Here’s the long and short of it: Unless you are paying top dollar from a restaurant or professional, “hand shaken” means nothing.

The other day during one of our Keeping Note think-tank sessions, we were talking about how the generation of people who lived through World War II are almost all gone. It struck us as extremely sad that the people of that generation, along with their stories and realities, were disappearing. They lived through something unlike anything the world has and will possibly ever see and the generations from here on out will become more and more detached from the history of WWII.

Blind Spot is a documentary interview with Hitler’s personal secretary. Traudl Junge lived in Hitler’s bunker and ate meals with him during the last three years of the war, leading up to Hitler’s suicide. While isolated from the war completely, she learned to love and respect Hitler as a father-figure and her upstanding boss, never really knowing what it was he was doing. She took the final dictation of his will and testament and was with him in the bunker when he died.

While the movie is simply an hour and a half of this woman, Traudl Junge, talking to the camera her life and experiences as Hitler’s personal secretary, the stories she has to tell and the way she describes the most dangerous and evil man in history are amazing.

I’m happy that her narrative and her experiences didn’t die with her. Her story is one that we can keep for future generations to not lose touch with the horrors and reality of WWII.

I am a slave to product placement. When I saw Speed strut across screen in that blue jacket, I knew that I had to have it. Whether I wore it or I roped my boyfriend/brother/anyone into wearing, I knew that this movie wasn’t the end of me and the jacket.

I don’t feel ashamed because everyone has had a moment like this. After tirelessly searching for the jacket, I was just about to give up until I found this webpage.

filmjackets.com

These guys help you find the jacket you are looking for. Search their site and see all of the great movie apparel they’ve hunted down from Indiana Jones to Cry Baby. They even confirm if it’s the actual brand manufacturer from the film.

I’ve asked them to find one for me since it’s their specialty. I know it’s from a company called Belstaff that outfits tons of hollywood blockbusters. Let’s hope the site can come through!