"I'm a Comedian First"

[vodpod id=Video.11387818&w=425&h=350&fv=] Jon Stewart on Fox News Sunday.

I'm surprised he did this. Because he did though, we have many great quotes.

"I'm not denying that there is liberal bias in the media, but you're suggesting that there is an equivalence between Fox News and ABC and I thinks that's absolutely...silly."

-B

The Padfone is Magical

I thought about posting this last week but decided against it because most of my commentary wasn't, as they say, "appropriate". Asus unveiled their new Padfone. And when I say unveil, I mean...unveil.

You HAVE to watch to understand.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=sqjoRMHyYQc]

Jobs gets laughed at for calling the iPad "magical". This takes that to a whole new level.

All in all, the Padfone is an interesting idea (although I'm not sure Asus is the only one who has thought of this, ever heard of the Motorola Atrix?) but I doubt I'd really be interested.  We shall see whether it sells or not.

-B

Schubert's "Wohin?" (Performed with an iPad)

I generally go for creative uses of technology with music. Especially when they include an iPad. Words cannot describe or encompass all of the things wrong with this, however.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C9iIKCtVCA&]

-B

If I Were To End The World...

I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday. We'll meet for church, catch up for a few minutes, laugh and joke, maybe go out to lunch, and then we'll celebrate that the world hasn't ended. Or, we'll cry because we haven't been included in the rapture. These peeps that have been saying that the rapture will occur on the May 21 and then the end of the world will be on October 21 aren't reading the same Bible I am.

It has got me thinking though, what would I do if I were these people?

I'd be so convinced that the end of the world is coming that I'd want to tell people. I'd plan out an awesome Saturday lunch with friends and then retreat to my home. I'd probably lie down in bed and hope to be taken in my sleep.

But...what would happen when the stroke of midnight struck? Would I get worried? Would I call my fellow church members? Would I call my adversaries? Would I try to figure out if I had just missed the mark, or would I think I had been left behind? How would I show my face in public again?

I'd see two ways out:

  • Mass suicide with all who think the way I do.
  • Go in to hiding.

(I struggle deeply with the concept of suicide. It's a rough thing that has plagued our world for all of time. It's extremely sad and unfortunate.)

So, I think I'd have to go with hiding. After all, Osama hid in plain sight for ten years.

I think I'd take my church members and go into hiding. I'd secure some random island that no one knew about, figure out a way to get myself, my family, and all my friends there. Then I'd live there until people forgot that I had proclaimed the end of the world and judged them prematurely.

Yeah, hiding would be the only way to keep the news cameras and late night talk shows from taunting and stalking me.

After it had all been planned, I'd probably read over the plans.

I'd think about it, pray about it, and then decide that it sounded like a lot of work.

I'd probably just go ahead and on May 20th tell the world that I'd been making it all up.

Then, I'd go back to the Bible, read it, and decide that the world was actually going to end at a time unknown to man. I'd probably decide that Jesus's message needed to be spread more than ever. But not for the sake of the souls of the "saved."

I'd decide that Jesus's message needed to be spread in a way that eradicated poverty.

I'd decide that Jesus's message needed to be spread in a way that accepted those who has never been accepted.

I'd decide that Jesus's message needed to be spread in a way that showed the world the beauty of the resurrection.

I'd decide that Jesus's message was not modernity's "heaven" but rather, Jesus's "salvation."

Yeah, I think that if I was to decide that the world was going to end, that'd probably be how it'd play out.

We've got to rid the world of the Christianity that is so convinced that it is all about us.

I hope the world ends, because when it does, the pains of the world will no longer be, pain.

Maybe then, the beatitudes will finally come to life in a way that our Church could not accomplish.

-B

Might I Ask...What's the Point?

This stuuuuuuuuuupid picture circulated on Facebook today. Its unbelievably bad photoshopping is unbelievably evident immediately.

So...if you're going to fake this out....might I ask....what's the point?

Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb.

Fake/Photoshop'd Waste of Time:

The Originals:

A quick image search of Google answered my question.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

-B

Give This Guy A Job!

A dear friend shared this relatively-unviewed piece of gold with me. A real gem, if I do say so myself. I'm calling it now...viral before the end of the year.

Quality, quality work.

Evidently this guy needed a job and so he made a visual resume. The first time I watched, I stopped it at 7 seconds. Don't make that mistake. Watch the whole thing through.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnNjJ422DPU&]

-B

How to Waste $1,199

Acer thought they'd be creative. Because when I decide to carry a laptop sized device, I really hope it doesn't have a physical keyboard.

There is just nothing else out there that gives me the same flexibility.

I'll give them that the two screens idea has potential. But not at that size, with that operating system, with no tactile controls, with that weight, and that battery life (3 hours...if you are extremely lucky and don't use it at all).

Sounds to me like a winning product.

Good try fellas, just not quite there yet.

Got $1,200? I've got a better idea for you.

-B

Charlie and The Apple Factory

Quality work done by College Humor. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSaqKalBnHE&]

The point, though, makes me think: what is it that defines a product? While the video is meant as humor, and probably nothing else, it strikes me that many in the world think like this.

They write off people like me as "fanboys" and "obsessed" and "brainwashed." I thought the clip with Bill Gates was perhaps the funniest part, but was simply untrue. They don't make the same stuff Apple does. Because if they did, the market would react to their stuff in the way the market is beginning to react to Apple's iOS devices. Microsoft didn't sell Zunes. But it wasn't because the Zunes sucked (alot of people liked the software) but they didn't buy them because the ecosystem of a music store, app store, and iTunes integration simply wasn't there. Zunes have progressed since, but not enough. Microsoft has dropped the product line. The product was more than the...product. Though Apple shows their iPods off more, that doesn't mean they are the same as Microsoft's products.

I suppose that Apple pays attention to showmanship more than other companies do, in fact I submit that THAT is what separates Apple from the rest. I view it as a consistent attempt to create a better product and display it in a way that counts. However, showmanship can be seen right through by the general public if the product itself sucks. In fact, the press would probably laugh at you. This happens to Apple from time to time with products that aren't as well put together as others, but it happens rarely.

On the other hand, many other companies are attempting to improve their showmanship and style in order to compete with a growing Apple market. Their products will have to, at some point, stand for themselves. I think it will only be at that point that it will start to challenge Apple's emotional ties and energy.

As I stood in line for iPad 2, it occurred to me: there is only ONE company in the world that can make that many people wait in lines for that long several times a year...Apple. Try to name another one.

In the end, though Wonka was eccentric and the factory was crazy, they still made the best candy in the world. If they didn't, Charlie wouldn't have wanted any part in it. In order to make it funny and make their "point", College Humor had to focus on the eccentric aspect. If they hadn't, you'd have seen right through it and realized that the metaphor was almost completely parallel. (And that's a good thing)

What showmanship.

-B

UPDATE: Can't watch it? Blame YouTube. And watch it here.