Category Archives: General

Netflix Splitting the Business

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I have to admit, I was a bit surprised to read Neflix splitting off their DVD mail business into a new company. Not surprised, though, to see that Netflix has essentially gone completely to streaming, as I mentioned that earlier this year. I’m pretty sure that’s been obvious for years now.

I was confused about the name Qwikster, though. Not that Reed Hastings reads my tweets, but was Mailflix (or DVDflix, Discflix, etc.) already taken? Why not go with the obvious and descriptive instead of a name that just implies something is going to be quick? Netflix mailings are fast—quick, even—but that name just seems like unnecessary nonsense1.

Despite all of the outrage over the price hikes and confusion (on the part of some, anyway; most likely just the press) over streaming services vs. discs, one has to appreciate Reed Hasting’s clarity of approach here. They are being very clear as to where they think the future lies. Of course, they must now navigate the figurative minefield of licensing to get content into streaming. No one (not even Apple or Amazon, by my observation) has done as good a job at this so far as Netflix. However, with the recent Starz announcement2, this does look like a massive mountain to climb. The success of Qwikster will depend less on licensing (who cares about the one-month period between DVD release and Netflix availability?) and more on adding value to the aging mail service.

One such value of additional interest, Qwikster will be adding game discs to their mail order service. Goodbye, Gamefly? We actually suspended our Gamefly account nearly three years ago. Great service, really, but we just never had the time to play the games. I’m not sure that we have loads more time now, but having the option to occasionally get games (for an additional fee, I suspect) on an existing account has more appeal than thawing out an account elsewhere.

Update: Great post by Dan Frommer with some great points to remember, particularly as to why avoiding DVD or Mail in the name Qwikster may have been a good idea for a possibly shifting business. (via Daring Fireball)

  1. Then again, their hastily put together page holder looks like nonsense. Who designed that table? M.C. Escher?↵
  2. Which apparently had everything to do with Starz seeing the business in terms of outdated cable model and Netflix preferring the simplicity of their business.↵

Early 3D Rendered Animation

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Great post, video, and comment discussion regarding Ed Catmull’s graduate research film which involves one of the earliest (if not the first) 3D rendered computer animation. Catmull would go on to form Pixar in the following decade. Many of the concepts and technologies used in this short film are used today in infrastructure to digitize roadways, buildings, bridges, etc. into point clouds. (via Kottke)

Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor

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I’ve been a fan of fantasy pretty much my entire life. No matter how much I got a certain amount of enjoyment of the scantily clad women warriors from artists like Frazetta or Larry Elmore, much of the—uh, armor?— that some women wore didn’t seem like it would be of much help in a sword fight. Or keep them from freezing to death in a cool breeze. Or even just stay on them, for that matter.

Someone has created a handy Tumblr blog so we can all enjoy knowing that there are plenty of sensible women in the make-believe worlds of fantasy. Enjoy some of the great art at Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor.

I may even make some self-rescuing princess art for my daughter from some of these.

Void in US Manufacturing

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I often hear from others and even find myself saying "I’d pay more for a version of product X if it were made in the U.S." According to this Forbes piece by Steve Denning, most companies couldn’t manufacture or even design a lot products here, even if they wanted to. The facilities and know-how all got shipped overseas along with the jobs and money.

One example that struck me:

The lithium battery for GM’s [GM] Chevy Volt is being manufactured in South Korea. Making it in the U.S. wasn’t feasible: rechargeable battery manufacturing left the US long ago.

Some efforts are being made to resurrect rechargeable battery manufacture in the U.S., such as the GE-backed [GE] A123Systems, but it’s difficult to go it alone when much of the expertise is now in Asia.

Interesting, given that my neighbor here in Franklin, TN—Nissan—will be manufacturing the batteries for the Leaf in near-by Symrna, TN (one of their larger plants in N.A.) by next year. I think it is far too early to make any claims as to the viability of one choice over the other, as both cars just hit the market and production lines have probably yet to even hit any sort of regularity. However, that seems to be a glaring hole in the argument that batteries, at least, cannot be made in the states.

Or, on the other hand, it may soon serve to prove that point. Only time will tell. I, for one, am rooting on Nissan to make it work.

The Magician King by Lev Grossman

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It took me several tries to get interested in Lev Grossman’s novel, The Magicians: A Novel. I had avoided reading anything about the novel—other than it was highly recommended and had won an award. I had no idea what to expect aside from, mostly likely, some magic happening. The opening of some kids walking down the sidewalk in Brooklyn just didn’t catch me the first or even the second time I started. I finally gave it chance and was so glad that I did. By the time I got to the Beast entering the classroom, I was mesmerized. By the end of the book, I was floored. It wasn’t really a parody of fantasy novels (too much respect shown for the genre) but it also was completely irreverent take all the same.

It was simply a pitch-perfect, modern take on the classic fantasy stories I grew up with (namely, the Chronicles of Narnia). And I couldn’t wait to read more about the world(s) Grossman wrote about.

Well, within a month or so of my listening to The Magicians on audiobook, I read about the planned sequel; so good news for me. I got that novel the day after the hardback hit bookshelves and finished it just last night.

Audiobooks vs. Print

I read the print version this time, as I knew I wouldn’t have the patience for an audiobook this time around. This may seem like an odd idea if you’re not familiar with audiobooks (or if you read a bit slower than they tend to be read at), but I’m a relatively quick reader. Given the speedy pace of the first novel, I figured (correctly) that I could devour this novel in about a week.

Another odd thing I’ve discovered about listening to a book on audio and then reading sequels (prequels, etc., too) in print is that you tend to keep those character’s voices in your head. Both The Magicians and The Magician King are read by Mark Bramhall whose voice and inflections capture the snarky attitudes of the characters perfectly. I seriously cannot praise his narration of the first book enough. And though his pace is considerably faster than the last audiobook I finished, I knew I just wouldn’t have the patience for it this time.

Epic Fantasy

I recently watched portions of a Comicon panel on the subject of Epic Fantasy with some of my favorites: George R.R. Martin, Patrick Rothfuss, Kevin J. Anderson, and others. As they don’t seem to have a firm concept of what Epic Fantasy is, other than possibly the books are large, I’m going to co-opt the term to describe The Magician King. Worlds are saved, heroes take long journeys, dragons are dealt with, buckles are swashed (or whatever), and probably countless other fantasy tropes are disposed of. Of course, Grossman handles these all with his lateral approach that made The Magicians so wonderful.

Coming in at exactly 400 pages (in hardback, anyway), the scale of the book is closer to its Narnia lineage (and possibly, The Hobbit) than The Lord of the Rings, and that’s fine. Grossman often relies on pop culture (some more obscure than others) to shortcut long descriptions of this or that medieval-ish fantasy thing. A dragon? Well, it looks like a D&D dragon; what more is there to say about that? The characters are the reason to read this story, anyway (though Grossman does a fine job at making sword fights and other Swords & Sorcery bits plenty fun).

I was so glad that this novel focused on the story of Julia. The Magicians makes it clear that she goes through a lot during the time Quentin is at Brakebills, but explains essentially nothing of it. It makes for a compelling story and here and follows in the Narnian tradition of subsequent novels telling stories about less-prominent or tangential characters in the preceding tale.

I tweeted last night that I couldn’t wait to read more stories in this universe, but to be honest I’m okay if this is it. I have no doubt that more tales could be made. I mean, it isn’t if Grossman hasn’t created an entire universe in which to expand this. However, if it means watering down the stories or simply retelling what amounts to the same adventures, I’ll gladly pass. I will, at least, be reading whatever he writes next, though.

The Windup Girl

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I finished the audiobook of The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi multi-award winning novel about life in a dystopic Thailand after global warming and genetic engineering have wrecked much of modern society. Bacigalupi is a wonderful writer and it is an imaginative story, worthy of the praise and awards that were heaped on it after the book’s release nearly two years ago.

The Story

The story follows the intersection of a half-dozen-or-so key characters who have all found themselves in the Bangkok. While each character has a great deal of depth, it is really the city and—through the limited lens we’re allowed—the world that Bacigalupi describes that are the star.

Often, the story told in a novel falls into one of two categories: an epic tale starting from small events leading to world-changing epochs and their aftermath or (and this is case with The Windup Girl) we are given but a narrow window into a greater world. Bacigalupi gives hints at the various events that brought about the lives we are presented in this story though very little is given as to where those lives go afterwards. We are just presented with a glimpse on the crossroads of these characters. While I found myself wanting more of their stories, I want to know more about the rest of the world even more so. I want to know about the inner workings of AgriGen. I want to know just what went down in Finland. And I want to know if life in Japan is as luxurious as it sounds when compared to the rest of the world in The Windup Girl.

Audiobook

The audiobook is performed by the excellent Jonathan Davis. The first audiobook performance I listened to of his was Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, one that remains a high mark of narration in my mind. His wide range of accents and voices truly feels like a cast of performers. Unfortunately, unlike Snow Crash, the pace felt too slow in The Windup Girl. Davis’ pauses and cadences went beyond dramatic and bordered on tedious at various points. The book isn’t a particularly long novel but yet the performed at such a slow pace, the audiobook was terribly long. For reference, Snow Crash is 480 pages and the Davis-performed audiobook just over 17 hours where as The Windup Girl is 361 pages and the audiobook by the same performer is 19 and a half hours long1. Though I’m a fan of Davis’ work and look forward to listing to more of his reading, this particular performance drug on more than I cared for.

Slow pace aside, the audiobook is good and the story is great. I highly recommend it and truly hope that Bacigalupi takes us back to this world again very soon.

  1. I’m aware page isn’t a standardized metric, but I can’t account for that increase in length other than very slow performance.↵

No More Watchmen

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So Alan Moore says that he doesn’t even want the rights to Watchmen back after DC approaches him with a deal. So, no more Watchmen stories. Normally, I find myself always wanting more from a world so rich as that created by Moore and artist Dave Gibbons. However, for some reason, I cannot imagine wanting anything else of this storyline. It stands so complete on its own, it just doesn’t need anything else. It feels as if every loose end – every last molecule of story – is completely tied down by the end.

Dairy Farm Tour

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Generally speaking, there are two sides to how we get food in this country: how we think our food is produced and how it really is produced. These two seem to have drastically diverged somewhere in the 1950s. To a certain extent, this has allowed greater prosperity in the form of cheap food for the masses. However, to a much larger extent we are learning that much of what we sacrificed for lower prices, uniformity, and universal availability is slowly killing us. Further, it has nearly already killed off the way our food producers (farmers, mostly, but even those further down the production line) do their business.

I’ve been talking for years about the ethical and environmental reasons for buying local products and foods but since we’ve had kids, we’ve also been concerned about the health reasons. We had been buying organic foods when possible (products which are getting easier to find and cheaper as a result of greater demand) and also recently went about trying to find locally grown or made products. As Wyatt is about to turn a year old – and thus will be switching off baby formula and on to cow’s milk – we decided to try and find some local milk. This is what led us to Hatcher Family Dairy only a few miles away from us, in College Grove, TN.

We had intended to just head down to the Hatcher farm store to have some sandwiches for lunch and get a couple of gallons of milk. We ended up also purchasing some ground lamb and gelato, as well as signing up the entire family for the farm tour later that afternoon. This would be Wyatt’s first gallon of milk and wouldn’t it be fun to see exactly where it came from and how it was made?

Wyatt's New Friend

If you watch the film "Food, Inc." – or even read almost anything from Eric Schlosser – you’ll learn about some proposed laws which would make it illegal to report on or photograph food processing plants in the U.S. I’m not going to comment on these laws, their current status, or even if this is an accurate description of what they purport to do; but just want to mention that at least some people in this country are concerned about this aspect of the state of food production in this country. So what would we expect from food producers who had nothing to hide? How would we expect a company who is actually proud of how they produce our food? Well, you can find at least one answer at Hatcher: they offer bi-monthly tours of their farm facilities, by members of the Hatcher family and their long-time staff. They – in no uncertain terms – make it clear that if you as a customer have any issues with their milk, come and see them. They are the epitome of the cliche “the buck stops here.” Their product is expensive and they freely admit they don’t have plans to feed everyone; but you can’t help but respect their willingness to be completely open and honest with anyone who walks off the street and onto their farm.

Hatcher Family Dairy Farm

It is also worth noting that it is clear that the family and staff at Hatcher surely do love what they do. I already knew enough of dairy farming to know that no one chooses it because it is an easy life. When you take into account that immediately across the road from the farm is a huge golf course and subdivision of half-million dollar plus homes under construction; you have to realize that farming is a lifestyle they want to continue. It would be so tempting for any farming family sitting on a few hundred acres in one of the country’s wealthiest counties to sell out and retire (and likely free a couple of generations to come from ever having to consider if they want to continue the family business). It has happened time and time again all across Williamson County. But here are the Hatchers, of whom the youngest sibling just graduated with a degree in agriculture business and now runs the business in addition to personally milking most every cow, daily.

At the end of our hour-and-a-half tour, our two young kids probably didn’t have any better of an idea of where their milk comes that they did before. After all, Ainsley already knew that milk came from cows. However, as an adult, it is amazing to see that someone still makes and sells their milk just as they did since before the Civil War, when they started the farm.

That being said, we all could appreciate the sample of chocolate milk we got.

Ansley and a Calf

Later that evening, we made beef & lamb burgers with some of the ground lamb from Hatcher and then had some of their vanilla and strawberry gelato for desert. Dinner with the family out in our back yard was the best; knowing much of it came from another family down the road.