Shuffle Kerfuffle

The next G4 Cube? -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Today’s blog will be a twofer -- movie review and technical review. Neither thing is getting a rave review, so I’ll be brief with my cruel comments. :-)

As all my friends and acquaintances know, I’m a bit of an Apple nut. If you saw my house, you’d think you might have wandered into an Apple store. I have virtually every product they sell, sometimes in multiple colors and configurations. I’m the “early adaptor” who frequently succumbs to their new product overtures. There are limits though -- I never considered buying the G4 Cube that resembled a Kleenex box. And their latest Shuffle leaves me completely cold.

I thought design snazziness was an essential part of Apple appeal. Why then, does the new Shuffle look like an inexpensive cigarette lighter? And why do the designers make you forsake all of your existing headphones and tape adaptors to use the new headphones that contain the device controls built into the cord?

The coup de grace was when I tried using one at the store. The touted voiceover feature annoys me, and the play/pause control is hard for someone like me with fat fumble fingers to use. Then, where the previous version comes in pretty colors, this one comes in depression gray or recession silver. Why do I not feel compelled to rush out and buy a $79 cigarette lighter? Apple -- cut your losses now and clear this clinker from the shelves.

Lets move on to “B” movies -- the Shuffle story is too upsetting. Today I rented Nobel Son on Apple TV. (See, I still use and love certain Apple products. I’m also listening to Classic Radio on iTunes as I type this).


Winner of the Tribeca Film Festival? -- Picture courtesy of Gimme Five Productions

Nobel Son is about a dysfunctional family where the father is an insensitive, horrible lout who also happens to be a Nobel Prize-winning chemist. The movie centers around a bizarre kidnapping scam involving his college-age son and a few nefarious others. The movie plays like a film project by an overly ambitious RTF major. It’s choppy, chaotic and thoroughly confusing -- it has more twists than a plate of spaghetti. With Danny Davito, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen and Bill Pullman it has more sitcom retreads than a TVLand special of Where Are They Now?

BUT -- I have to say this… the move was rather enjoyable anyhow. I’m reminded of what Judith Christ (movie reviewer of yore) once said: One of the major functions of a movie is to entertain you and keep you engaged. It doesn’t have to send a message, educate or uplift. Nobel Son was downright silly, but I did have to watch to the end, to see how the RTF student who wrote the script wrapped up his screenplay. It would never be in the running for Oscars, but what the hey.

So there you have it -- an iPod shuffle that’s a dud and a movie that’s basically crud. I was on-call for my job this weekend, wasn’t expecting any great shakes to happen. I wasn’t disappointed or surprised in any way.

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