Watching time, the only true currency // A journal from John B. Roberts
Like everyone else, I got the “we’re shutting down Newsburst” email on December 12th. Sigh.
I pushed and prodded to build this web-based reader service, and poured a lot of energy into its creation. But you can’t change some things, and it’s smart of CNET to shut this down gracefully and move on.
See all my posts on this topic. It was fun to let it leak out nearly two years ago.
I’ll admit that I’ve been using NetNewsWire exclusively and happily ever since I left CNET.
Since I’m disappointed with our Sony digital camera, I pay attention to roundups like this one: “Looking beyond megapixels” But I get annoyed when the links leading to the NYTimes branded version of CNET don’t lead straight to the right camera, though. The Fujifilm FinePix f50fd looks like a possibility. (I wasn’t impressed that the site crashed Safari on my second click.)
I’ve read much Wallace Stegner, but not his Discovery! The Search for Arabian Oil (scroll to the bottom). A future read, certainly.
I don’t need Adventures in $40 eyeglasses right now, but for the future…
Haven’t watched The Kingdom, but the opening credits sequence is nifty. (via)
The best 10 books of the year? So says The New York Times in its 2007 list. Despite my reading, I never even came close to one of this group, and had only heard of two.
I don’t pour myself into Twitter, but I recognize that’s its very open-endedness is a strength. What caught my eye about this analysis was simply its method: pictures and diagrams, in lieu of many words. My education continues.
Who has time to read Draft Business Model Innovation Manual (beta version)? Not me, and I haven’t even downloaded the PDF, but I love the audacity of someone creating a manual for innovation. Clayton Christensen has described innovation and its consequences on businesses wonderfully. But a “manual” implies prescription, which is much, much harder.
Among the least surprising headlines of the year, from December 4, 2007: “Hybrid Vehicle Owners are Wealthy, Active, Educated and Overwhelmingly Democratic, According to Scarborough Research” (PDF available from press page)
Domains are interesting to me. I have seven of my own, though I only use one. DomainTools introduced “Registrant Search,” with an offer of a free self-search. Yup…found them all. But I don’t try and hide.
I’m a sucker for things like this: “human history in 60 seconds.
Joe Jackson is starting another tour and will be in Redwood City in May 2008.
The boy joined me this morning for the first road race using his own muscles. (His earlier efforts were riding in the jogging stroller, not always happily.)
The “Miracle Mile” was the right distance in the right location (Golden Gate Park). The crisp, clear weather (40+ degrees) meant hat and gloves for the boy — but he handed those to me just past the halfway point. He ran the entire way, only slowing once, and sprinted through the finish line…and beyond. (Little confusion about where to stop. 😉 )
This is a downhill, point-to-point mile, so the boy’s time of 7:30 was “assisted” by the landscape, but it was faster than I would have guessed beforehand.
I was glad to have an excuse not to race myself, since my back is still tender. But running alongside the boy made me a proud father.
Knocked Up was great, but it never worked out to see Superbad in the theaters this summer. But it meant I could put the movie in my Netflix queue, and we watched it Friday night. Seth Rogen, lead in Knocked Up, was one of the writers and actors for Superbad. There are many other connections, which the more obsessed probably document somewhere online. The humor and language are as raunchy (raunchier?) as Knocked Up. The story, though, loses steam after a bit. Superbad is funny, just not as complete. Metacritic score of 76.
Wednesday night, we saw Juno. Small, funny, brief and worth every minute. Metacritic score of 81. Teenage pregnancy doesn’t stand out as a laugh-out-loud topic, but…they make it work here.
Like Youth Without Youth, we saw Juno at Sundance Kabuki. I’ll say more about this new theater chain separately (pros and cons).
Youth Without Youth is Francis Ford Coppola’s first film in a decade. All the press attention shines on Coppola himself, and that’s revealing. I saw the film last Sunday, on the opening weekend. Why the rush for a film in limited release from an acknowledged master? Because even here in San Francisco, the center of Coppola’s work world, this movie won’t stay in theaters long. It’s hard work to watch this film, and I walked out thinking “what?” It’s intelligent, but goes too deep without leaving you a trail to get back.
While I duck reviews of movies I’m going to see, I did read the brief mention by the Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern:
Mr. Coppola is one of the cinema’s peerless masters, and I would have enjoyed nothing more than a chance to celebrate his new film. I’m truly sorry to say, then, that I found it impenetrable.
Impenetrable is a good word. Metacritic score of a 43 reinforces my impression. (Sorry, Sean.)