David Lubar's Blog, page 31

Ooohhh it's shiny. It must have been Simonized

We're in for some fun. Let's watch the book snobs respond to the resurrection of Kirkus Reviews by shopping-mall mogul and basketball tycoon Herbert Simon. What a dilemma for them. Their beloved source of honest and authorative (hah!) reviews is back, but it is in the hands of someone they'd sneer at. (With luck, Herbert will be Frank, and remove the anonymity.) I'm just going to sit back and munch popcorn. (And see how many times "dribble" appears in blogs this week.)

Sixes and sevens

Actually, a couple sixes and no sevens, but I'm rambling and dawdling as I watch the snow pile up and think about the revision I'm about to tackle. So, onward to the sixes.

First one. EBGames has a special deal each day. Earlier this week, it was a discount on Dante's Inferno (just released for various systems). They try to put a bit of tongue into the cheek of their deals, and in this case, I think they scored well. The discount was $6.66. Nice touch.

As for the other six, I checked my...

A great new way to experience Sarahdipity

I found a great new way to kill time and amuse myself. (Much better than killing myself and amusing time.) You can try this, too. First, search blogs for an anti-Palin article. Next, read the comments. I'm not sure whether it is funny or scary, but the people who leap to her defense (and who must have been trolling the web in search of negative articles) seem to write in the same non-sequitur-filled style as Ms. Palin speaks, stringing out sentences that start off in one direction and th...

Rory, Rory, Hallelujah -- an example of media consumption

A month or so ago, my wife and I began devouring The Gilmore Girls. We got season 1 (six disks) from Netflix. We were hooked. I had all the timing worked out to start season 2. But then there was a glitch. Disk 1 of season 2 was in high demand. We didn't get it. Netflix has a 3-day cycle. If I mail a disk on Monday, they get it on Tuesday, and I get my next disk on Wednesday. I have a three-at-a-time subscription, so it's usually possible to keep the media flowing with long delays. ...

Beyond procrastination

I find myself in a state of nocrastination. eom

The Electric Kool Aid Amazon Test

Honestly, I almost don't care about the rest of this entry. I'm so happy with the title, I could stop here and feel smug all day. But I'll carry on, because I have things on my mind. One of the most interesting aspects of the Macmillan-Amazon conflict is the response in the comments section of blogs. A lot of people seem to have drunk the Kool Aid offered by Amazon, and now think the ebook universe is going to leap from "all ebooks were $9.99" to "all ebooks will be $14.99." I won't go i...

Anyone played Uncharted 2?

I have a question about Uncharted 2 for PS3. Warning -- there's a small Uncharted, Drake's Fortune spoiler in this. Anyhow, I decided to get some late-night gaming in last evening. So there I was, happily shooting bad guys and jumping around ancient ruins when, at 3:00 AM, in a dark room, I found that Uncharted had made the dizzying leap from action-adventure game to survival horror. Instead of human adversaries, I was fending off really fast neck-chomping beasties while walking through d...

Jockeying for position

In recognition of his cooperation with authorities, the government has agreed to grant a request by underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab for a new "American style" name. He was given a variety of helpful suggestions, and chose the one that appealed to him the most. As of today, he will be legally known as Dick Hertz.

Dear Steve Jobs

Okay -- you're a business genius, so you don't need suggestions from me. (I had lunch with Ted Nelson yesterday, and he confirmed the genius part.) But I have a suggestion. Amazon loses about $5 every time someone buys a $9 ebook for the Swindle. (Oops, I mean Kindle.) Apple has skidillions of dollars. So, if Apple bought a ton of ebooks from Amazon, that would sort of hurt Amazon's bottom line. Obviously, not the best use of Apple's money, but you can't blame a guy for daydreaming. A...

The Shadow knows

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning, meaning we are doomed to suffer through 52 more week of annoying requests from PETA that Phil be replaced with a robot.