iPad, Up Close and Personal

Jobs holding his greatest creation -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Today's blog is a follow-up to my earlier article (@ January 2010) about the iPad. When it came out, I was fairly optimistic -- I'm an Apple fanboy and will usually give them the benefit of the doubt on anything. In the May timeframe, I decided to buy one; the 3G version was finally available. But it wasn't really available yet -- Apple began shipping to nine other nations about a week after 3G came out. Every model was in short supply and even people ordering on-line were told, "Allow 7-10 days for shipping".

Of course, this made me want it all the more. Who said that I can't fall for the oldest marketing ploy in the book? Across a 5 week period, I kept asking personnel if they had any iPads on-hand. It was like a junky looking for his fix. The Dallas Knox Street Apple store just happened to have 2 Wi-Fi/3G's in stock last week -- a 32GB and a 64GB. The 64GB was exactly what I wanted, and I closed the deal! With taxes, it approached $900, but for a tricked-out Apple gizmo that's a bargain.

I've had it in my hands for about 11 days now. I don't know if it's love or techno-lust, but must say it's probably the most fun I've had with a new toy in ages. "Toy" is a bit of a understatement -- after all, I'm happily creating this blog on the iPad using iWork Pages and a bluetooth keyboard. This iPad is a workhorse when it wants to be. This brings me to a first (and primary) thing I like about iPad -- it's the Rich Little of computing devices. It can be a showy, over-sized iPod Touch when it wants to be. And it can be a highly competent netbook when that's the requirement.

I've been somewhat annoyed at gadget makers who assume that smaller is always better. No handheld device should be smaller than a deck of playing cards. Devices that use finger touch (as opposed to pen or stylus) present a challenge for those of us with middle-aged eyes and stubby fingers too. The iPad is extremely helpful and forgiving about these things. Don't want to necessarily call it an iTouch for old people but if the orthopedic shoe fits, what the hey. :-)

The "iTouch for Old Coots" moniker would actually leave out much of what there is to love. Virtually every iPhone/iTouch built-in app, and easily 25-33% of 3rd-party apps have been reworked for iPad to take advantage of the comparatively big, beautiful screen. As Jason Snell of "Macworld" pointed out, this has created the best of both worlds, almost a Goldilocks solution in some cases. The best example is iTunes, which on the iTouch is a miserly, cramped little app. You can't do much and you have to scroll and tap frequently to do what you can do. iTunes on Mac/PC is another extreme -- a confusing, busy montage of buttons, panels, movie trailers and what-not. A newbie could be lost right away looking at it. The iPad iTunes app is "just right". It gives you what you want, what you actually need and not a lot of excess.

I have an inCase Folio cover for my iPad, which makes it look like an ordinary day planner from across the room. It protects the screen when not in use and provides a terrific stand for blogging and typing (as I'm doing now). The iPad travels with me as easily as a light binder or journal book. It's easy to flip open anywhere, at almost any angle. Doesn't require a lighted desktop for quick correspondence or checking of email.

I'd be remiss not to also mention that I signed up for the less expensive AT&T 3G data plan which gives me 250MB of data streaming/month. I had one minor bump at signup -- there was a 90 minute gap between me entering my credit card data and when the service actually started. During that period I was getting a 3G icon, but being told I was out of bytes for the month. Something could probably be done to make the signup more seamless and painless. That being said, I love the 3G. It is jerky and poor for movies and video but I wouldn't use it for that ordinarily anyway. It gives me internet anywhere, anytime with no blocked sites -- a lot to be said for that and a lot of uses keep coming to mind.

All told, the iPad is a little piece of genius. It's no wonder they sell one every few seconds around the world. With iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad, Apple Inc. keeps showing us that they have the technical and creative prowess to fire all of our imaginations well into the 21st century.

© 2010 blogSpotter

Pogo the Killer Clown

Gacy dressed as Pogo -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
If you’re 40 or older, you probably recall the grisly details of the John Wayne Gacy murders. He was apprehended in 1978 after the bodies of 26 young men (mostly teens) were found buried in the crawl space of his Norwood Park home in Illinois. Seven others were found variously buried near his garage or dumped into the Des Plaines River (which he used after the crawl space filled up). These ghastly deeds were executed across six years (1972-1978) and Mr. Gacy cheated fate several times – from the missteps of police and potential witnesses.

Gacy was one of three children in a middle class family of Polish descent. People have tried to reason away Gacy’s atrocities as the result of an abusive alcoholic father, possibly an injury caused by a swing striking his head in a childhood accident or an alleged sexual molestation that he suffered at the age of nine. But forensic psychiatrists examined his brain after his execution at age 52 and found no obvious abnormalities.

What surprises one in looking at Gacy’s story is the almost-Horatio Alger success quality that gloms to it, in the early years. Right out of college, he became a department manager for Nunn-Bush shoes in Springfield, Illinois. He married a coworker, Marilynn Myers, and fathered two children – a boy and a girl. He then moved to Waterloo, Iowa where his father-in-law elevated him to district manager of 3 KFC restaurants. Here, his extroverted personality led him to become vice president of the Waterloo Jaycees.

At this juncture, the Horatio Alger story is interrupted. It seems the Jaycees operated a secretive “swingers” club which introduced Gacy to extramarital partners and a world of new kinks. Gacy created his own sex club in the basement of a KFC restaurant and lured his male teenage staff into the “dungeon” where they were plied with alcohol and cigarettes. Two local boys testified that Gacy had molested them; Gacy was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in the Iowa Penitentiary. His wife also divorced him at this point, and he never saw his children again. Gacy was a model prisoner, promoted to Head Cook, and released after only two years in 1970.

If only that were the end, but sadly this is where Gacy’s horrific spree commenced -- when he was paroled and then returned to Illinois. He married a second time, to a friend of his sister, becoming step-father to two young daughters. He also continued, at least outwardly on a journey of career milestones and social success. He established his own construction company, called PDM Contractors (which happened to hire many young males). He became a Democratic precinct captain of the Norwood Park area and was even photographed with Rosalynn Carter. He had a successful sideline career as “Pogo the Clown” who performed at children’s birthday parties. And he even was a prolific artist who created dozens of acrylic paintings (posthumously now seen as creepy and disturbing).

During this period in the 1970’s, Gacy was also abducting, chloroforming, raping, torturing and choking young men to death. This monster in human guise had to be secretive at first and wait for his wife to be out. His wife divorced him after finding gay porn and signs of sexual infidelity – she had no clue about the crawl space. When she left, Gacy was able to let his demons run wild. He was actually careless in several instances, but indifference and incompetence were his allies. Oddly, many of Gacy’s victims were not gay. They were in fact former or potential employees, or hitch-hikers. Most were chloroformed or drugged – taken against their will. Gacy was actually suspected by the parents of his 2nd victim, an ex-employee, but the case was never pursued by police. Gacy sold one victim’s car to a young criminal and the car was impounded. But no follow-thru was done on how Gacy had acquired the car and he cheated justice once more.

One “fortunate” Gacy victim was tortured and raped but not murdered. He was dumped in a park and left for dead. When he filed a complaint with the Chicago Police, they basically dismissed it. (Chicago Police do not shine in this tale). The man, Jeffrey Rignall, did his own sleuthing and pieced together what happened from his drugged stupor. He found Gacy’s house and the police finally issued a search warrant. Simultaneously a last victim was seen talking to Gacy by both a shop keeper and the boy’s Mother, and they specifically identified Gacy. The Killer Clown probably became overconfident in his prowess and let his guard down.

I’ll skip the gory details of what was found – we all know. Gacy spent 16 years on death row after his arrest and never expressed remorse. He said jokingly to an officer, “You know … a clown can get away with murder”. His final words at lethal injection were, “Kiss my ass”. It’s hard to wrap my own mind around the fact that this hideous beast was a father, business owner, community leader and political activist. It makes me want to reexamine the criteria for being human, much less being successful. I don’t think a swing set is to blame for the unconscionable acts so much as a twisted vagary of nature itself.

My father once said, “You can’t blame a rattle snake for being one, but it doesn’t change the fact that he is one”. The Gacy reptile was finally dispensed with as he should have been – it’s too bad it took so long to find that the snake was a snake.

© 2010 blogSpotter

Prickly Heat

Life begins at 50 -- Picture courtesy of Columbia Pictures

by blogSpotter
I subscribed to Netflix about six weeks ago, not for the DVD mail order but the streaming video service. I've since found the mother lode of forgotten nuggets like The Big Sleep and How to Marry a Millionaire. Some of these are movies that you might easily catch on TBS late at night but Netflix gives you what you want, when you want it. Their streaming is excellent, with no delays and very few interruptions. You can always pause to get a snack or whatever -- truly hard to beat for $10/month.

This past weekend, I rented a terrific movie from 1969, Cactus Flower. Old movies are fun to watch on so many levels. Even if the movie itself is a bomb, it still serves as a time capsule -- a cultural barometer for the times in which it was released. You can relish the music, the styles and the attitudes even if not the plot line. Cactus Flower was in fact not a bomb -- it was a hit based on a long-running Broadway play by the same name.

Cactus Flower stars Walter Matthau as a middle-aged playboy dentist, Dr. Julian Winston, who routinely lies to his lady friends to avoid marriage or commitment. He tells the wide-eyed, innocent Toni (played to blonde perfection by Goldie Hawn) that he’s married with 3 children. He even stands her up on the anniversary of their meeting to show her “who’s boss”. She makes a half-hearted attempt at suicide which prompts the guilt and love-addled Dr. Winston to admit he really loves Toni – he then proposes marriage.

Toni feels bad that she’s being a home wrecker – she wants to meet the ex-Mrs. Winston to clear the air and make things right. There is no Mrs. Winston, so Julian asks his stodgy, prim middle-aged secretary Stephanie (Ingrid Bergman) to pretend she’s his wife. She does so and does it so well that it introduces a slew of new problems and complications. This plot is a formula as old as Shakespeare, a comedy of errors with mistaken identities and lies built upon lies. I’ve actually never seen it done so skillfully as in this movie; Cactus Flower also calls to mind The Bird Cage where comic pretensions unfold and a silly lie becomes the most amazing truth.

Ingrid Bergman shines as Stephanie – she is in fact the “cactus flower” that blooms in mid-life exuberance. It’s a bit of Cinderella for the 50-something set – a concept I think would fly at least as well now (in the baby boomer age) as it did in the late 60’s. All the main actors and even the supporting cast give sterling performances. Speaking of the late 60’s, the sleek suits, tailored dresses and double-breasted blazers of 1969 leave me wondering what happened to fashion in the last 40 years. This movie looks and sounds really good – the music is an eclectic mix including Sarah Vaughn. You might think it’s a much more recent movie based on certain cues (if you weren’t looking at a young Hawn or still handsome 48-year old Matthau).

If you haven’t yet, watch Cactus Flower and be completely entranced as the prickly plant unfolds a beautiful late-in-life blossom. Nobody would ever guess that Bergman could do such excellent deadpan humor, but she could and she did.

NINE TO FIVE

You’re blessed with a two-in-one review today. I also watched 1980’s Nine to Five which I actually saw when it came out. The movie was then a sentimental favorite because it featured two lovely liberal ladies – Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda and introduced the buxom, spirited Dolly Parton in her first film role. The three women play put-upon girls in a male-dominated workplace – dominated by the fun-to-jeer Dabney Coleman (of Mary Hartman fame). This movie makes the women somewhat endearing at the start and also makes some impassioned arguments for things like flex time and equal rights at the end. But the big middle of the movie is a big mess – a mixture of lame plotlines, stale gimmicks and what you would have to describe as childish nonsense. Was the screenplay written by a 5th grader?

Nonetheless, you might just get some jollies watching three great ladies on a jaunt from 30 years ago. My words above apply here – even if the movie is a bomb, it can give you a picture of styles, mores and attitudes of yore. Nine to Five featured some dope-smoking and male-bashing which would probably not make the cut nowadays. Interesting how, as a society, we lighten up in some ways and tighten up in others.

In conclusion: Cactus Flower is a must-see. Nine to Five is a fun-to-see-while-you-pay-bills -- full attention not required but fun if you have 110 minutes to kill.

© 2010 blogSpotter