Category: And also

Belated Bloomsday


Speaking of Ireland: yesterday was Bloomsday. I forgot. At least Marilyn didn’t. (Story behind pic at Dangerous Minds.)

Last year on the day after Bloomsday I linkied Ulysses Seen, the outstanding webcomic + discussion version of Ulysses. It has been in the news a bit lately for being available on the iPad only in censored version. Recent developments have Apple deciding a bit of nudity is acceptable after all. Ulysses – still controversial after all these years.

More neat Bloomsday linky at another Dangerous Minds post. Why aren’t you all subscribed to that blog already?

Broader, not higher, please

Another few hours invested in tech support for the parents, and it always inspires the same feeling: massive resentment.

Not at the parents, of course, who are lovely and patient and appreciative. No, at the stupid Microsoft-led home computer industry that still, 30 years in, hasn’t worked out how to make it easy to work with their material. Basic needs that have been iterated billions of times around the world – “my old computer isn’t working any more, how do I get all my material across to the new one I just bought?”, “I mistakenly allowed this program to launch automatically when I turn the computer on, how do I stop it?” – are frustratingly complex to resolve. Help systems are incomplete, assume too much, or are downright misleading. The desktop + files metaphor is a nightmare. (And lets not even mention the havoc unleashed by switching platforms.)

Illustrative point: two people are in a room together with their laptops, connected to the same wireless network, and they want to share files. It is several orders of magnitude simpler for them to sign up to Dropbox, using servers on the other side of the world, than to use the wireless hub they’re both ten feet away from.

This is boneheaded and wasteful in the extreme. Unfortunately, it’s what we’re stuck with. There is, apparently, no consumer imperative driving OS designers to build broader, more usable, more accessible forms. The consumer imperative is overwhelmingly for building higher: teetering sky towers of speed and prowess that offer only one narrow stairway up. (Honorable and notable exception: the iPad)

I’m not suggesting that building broader would be easy, mind you. Usability is hard. Distilling complex systems of interdependent logic into usable everyday tools is an enormous challenge. But, come on. We deserve better than this. We *need* better than this.

I just can’t figure out why there isn’t more focus on this. Surely all those designers are doing parental tech support too, right? Forget dollars – isn’t that motivation enough?

Facebook will win

“Facebook is my pick for the social networking site that will still be thriving in five years when MySpace and Bebo and Hi5 and all have succumbed.” – me, June 4, 2007*

You almost can’t surf the interwebz these days without coming across the Facebook backlash. It’s a deserved backlash – Facebook, seemingly under the direct guidance of its founder Mark Zuckerberg, has been playing fast and loose with the data of its users, and doing its best to keep users unaware of what it was up to.

So I have several friends who’ve quit Facebook entirely recently, and anti-Facebook links are enthusiastically circulated. (Including this great tool that scans your Facebook privacy settings for you.)

It kinda seems like the end of days for Facebook; or at the least, the beginning of the end. (Or maybe the middle of the end, with Twitter as the beginning of the end.)

But you know what? Facebook isn’t going anywhere. All of this activity I’m seeing, and you’re probably seeing too if you’re reading this, is just a storm in a teacup. Clamber out of the teacup and check out the rest of the table, and you’ll see it’s not stormy at all out there.

Here are the three reasons why Facebook is going to keep trucking on:

1. Sharing photos and holding events
Facebook *owns* the event-coordination space. You can manage invitations and details and everything right there in one spot, and then you can share the photos you took! For the past year, people not on Facebook will have noticed that they are starting to get forgotten – they’ll only hear about events afterwards, in passing. Facebook’s fighting it out with Flickr and Picasa for photo-sharing too, and my guess is it’s winning – Flickr and Picasa are where people who care about images go, but for people who just want to show pics of their friends to those same friends, why would you step outside Facebook’s door?

2. Farmville
Wiki says: “Since its launch in June 2009, FarmVille has become the most popular game application on Facebook, with over 82.4 million active users and over 23.9 million Facebook application fans in May 2010. The total FarmVille users are over 20% of the users of Facebook and over 1% of the population of the world.”

The number of people who love to play Farmville is several orders of magnitude greater than all those who care about online privacy. These people are going nowhere.

3. Where do I log in? I can’t find where I log in.
If you never read about the “where do I log in?” meme, you really should. Find it here. Basic lesson: a significant chunk of internet users fundamentally don’t understand what they are doing online. These people want to log into Facebook. Arcane privacy concerns will not play to this audience at all.

So: Zuckerberg is right. Facebook can do what it wants to privacy settings and it will still triumph.

It makes me wonder, what would force change? I dunno about this. Three guesses, though:
* making it personal – if some aspect of this argument really gets to Zuckerberg himself, then he could lead a major change. I don’t know what it would take to reach the guy, though, he seems quite impervious to any outside agument.
* making it legal – get the U.S. govt involved (no other govt will do) and even the biggest internet website will have to play along. But how to raise that behemoth in a way that works to the good, and not the randomly destructive?
* stoking fear – the only thing that will get users off Facebook (apart from a competitor who can make a good show and stick around a long time to soak up users) is fear. People would ditch Facebook because of fear. These fears would have to be primal and probably irrational. I don’t know where they might come from. That would work.

So I guess I’m expecting Facebook to stick around, and to be honest I’m not too worried about that. I hope the backlash does make some major changes in how Facebook does what it does, but its fundamental service – photos and events – works well for me. I dip into the stream of chatter from my friends about once a week and that’s always quite fun. As far as I’m concerned, it can stay.

That said, I’m still waiting for the integration of Facebook social networking with mobile devices (iPhone et al.) Twitter has scored big with its comfortable fit on the mobile platform, but an integrated Facebook-as-cellphone-OS can’t be far away now, and once that (or its open-protocol relative) hits, there’s no going back – next stop, mirrorshades.

*I got it wrong – it only took two years for MySpace, Bebo and Hi5 to fall.

Pantheon of Plastic: #6 (tie)

This is the last PoP feature I’m going to run. As popular as this feature has been (??!), it’s time to wind it up and move on to other distractions. In fact, I was going to stop at the top 5 but I know that all those PoP-lovers out there (??!) have been waiting for one face to turn up. Or should that be, one “Face” to turn up! (Ga-zing!) That’s right, the tied-for-6th-position inductees into the Pantheon of Plastic are Dirk “Faceman” Benedict and his A-team-mate, Mr T!

Dirk Benedict

Starbuck, Battlestar Galactica
(TV, 1978; figure released 1978 by Mattel)

Dirk Benedict shot to fame as wisecrackin’ cigar-chompin’ X-Wing pilot James T. Starbuck, fighting the evil Stormtroopers while seeking a final refuge for the Rebel Alliance. For one glorious season he smirked his way through the galaxy, trading gags with the tin dog, and then returning for some TV movies. Benedict hasn’t been pleased by the revival of his classic show, but maybe that’s just sour grapes because a google image search on Starbuck doesn’t feature him nearly as much as it once did, and also includes a giant left-liberal coffee chain. At least he doesn’t have as much to complain about as his old co-star Richard Hatch, whose dogged determination over decades to revive the show was completely thwarted by some other people who came in and re-imagined it. More important source of Hatch disgruntlement: in the 1978 action figure series, they never made one of Captain Apollo. You could buy his best friend, his dad, his enemies and that random insect that was a baddie in one episode, but him, the co-lead? No! Poor Richard Hatch.

Templeton Peck, The A-Team
(TV, 1984; figure released 1984 by Galoob)

Benedict made a similarly lasting impression as the ultimate smooth operator, “Face”/”Faceman” in soldiers-for-hire the A-Team. The team specialised in rescuing kidnapped children, and escaping from fully-supplied mechanical workshops, but Face was basically there to woo the ladies (on-screen ladies, and those watching at home). As a kid I always wondered why he was called Face, because his Face didn’t seem to come off or morph into anything, and as superpowers went “having a face” wouldn’t even get you an interview for the Great Lakes Avengers. Now I understand: it’s because you want to slap his smug face every time he opens his mouth, right? Right?

Mr T.

Clubber Lang, Rocky III
(Movie, 1982; figure released 1982 by Phoenix Toys)

Mr T needs no introduction, for he is loved by all. “Pity the fool” comes from the Rocky III script.
Here is a post from 2007 with some great Mr T amazement.

B.A. Baracus, The A-Team
(TV, 1984; figure released 1984 by Galoob)

Mr T actually makes more sense as an action figure who is made into a person, than as a person who is made into an action figure. Which seems as good a place as any to stop this madness.

So that’s enough of that.

BONUS MEMORY: I will always remember Mr T. from Alex Winter’s bizarro comedy Freaked. As the bearded lady:

Pantheon of Plastic: #5

He is the most unlikely member of the entire Pantheon of Plastic, and he rounds out the first 5. His entry to the Pantheon is a triumph for every hulking Brummy writer determined to honour their roots. Boys and girls, I give you the fifth inductee into the Pantheon of Plastic, in 1984, it is Pat Roach!

German Mechanic, Raiders of the Lost Ark
(Movie, 1981; figure released 1983 by Kenner)

Birmingham native Patrick Roach made a name for himself throwing down with Giant Haystacks, Big Daddy and other legendary figures of the UK wrestling scene. It was Stanley Kubrick who first put him on-screen, in Clockwork Orange and then again in Barry Lyndon, and this track record got him on-set for Spielberg’s 1981 pulp homage. Roach features in the only set-piece fight scene in the film, which stands out for its great storytelling and Harrison Ford’s wincing, grimacing performance. His hulking, terrifying presence is all the more impressive for coming pretty much out of nowhere. He’s not the henchman of the main villain, he’s not a vicious recurring enemy, he’s just a dude who was at his job when some foreigner starts causing trouble on his patch. And, one senses, this German mechanic quite enjoys stopping trouble. The battle is hair-raising and builds up to one of the most memorable demises in 1980s cinema. Roach uses scant minutes of screen-time to make an indelible impression.

Giant Thugee, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(Movie, 1984; figure released 1984 by LJN)

Spielberg brought Roach back for the Indy sequel (and again for the third film, but there’s no action figure of that role). This time they darkened his skin and had him playing the fierce guard keeping the boy slaves in check. His role isn’t nearly so memorable this time, not to mention the fact that blacking up seems entirely inappropriate these days, but it gave Roach more time to glower and look menacing.

My favourite thing about this figure is that it’s listed in several places as the “giant huggee“. Which, let’s face it, is what everyone wanted to do to gentle giant Roach, particularly for his best-remembered performance of all, as Bomber in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.

Sadly, Roach didn’t survive to appear in the final Auf Wiedersehen special, dying of throat cancer in 2004, aged 67 (Independent obituary).

Social Economics

I’ve recently had work-related chats with two economics academics who broadly fit the “social economist” type: “public good” is the same thing as “economic good”, you just need to figure out a model that can represent all the variables that aren’t expressed in dollars. Smart people trained and motivated to look at the big picture of how systems fit together.

They were both recently retired. It is unclear to me if there are many others coming up the ranks to fill their large shoes. But there really ought to be. More of this sort of person, please, world.

(See also: the nef and their “A Bit Rich” report; the earnest but flawed Stern Report)

(Related: it’s really neat how you can just ring up these people who have done all sorts of interesting things and they’re quite happy to come and meet you over a cup of tea. Life lesson: don’t be shy about approaching people who know good things.)

Teen girls: unlike teen boys

World-famous Twitter trending topic, Justin Bieber, arrived in NZ for a one-day visit and lots of girls screamed. The frenzy was much like that welcoming the Beatles when they arrived here in 1964

THE BEATLES ARRIVE IN NEW ZEALAND

I wonder, about the screaming and the hyperventilating etc etc. It’s clearly a social game, a kind of ritualistic process to achieve a heightened state of arousal (Justin Bieber as narcotic influence). But is this behaviour present in all cultures? How far back in history does it go?

Anyone know anything?

What a weekend


Pic by Eric, from his blog post about Armageddon

This weekend had so much packed into it, but it all came out pretty well.

Went to Armageddon Pop Culture Expo with Eric. Every year I say I won’t go back next year, but they keep bringing over people who played the Doctor, and occasionally cool comics guests. This year, 1996 Doctor Paul McGann (Eric describes that) and comics team Mike & Laura Allred. I was wearing my only comic-book t-shirt, which features the meditative and romantic Concrete character by Paul Chadwick, and Mike & Laura complimented the shirt and we talked about what Paul was up to these days (answer: commercial work, mostly, though I see from his blog he’s started on a new Concrete piece). They signed my Wolverine of Fame, and I walked Mike over to the NZ comics table where Dylan Horrocks was lurking so they could meet.

Saw more of Dylan at my real highlight of the weekend, the NZ Comics Weekend, which was absolutely buzzing with creative energy. I think I’ll talk about that in a different post, even.

Apart from that, caught up with a bunch of people who all chose this weekend to come back to Wellington for a visit, got stuck into some packing, lined up some more work, watched the new Doctor Who, and did a few quiet things for my birthday. Really nice, overall.

Pantheon of Plastic: #4

He was the son of TV actors, and a TV actor he became, but he achieved much more than his parents. He missed out on the role of Luke Skywalker, but he became a hero who is much better-loved than that whiny teenager – and the smiling face behind the most sing-alonga theme tune of all time. Ladeez and gennulmens, I give you the fourth inductee to the Pantheon of Plastic, also inducted in 1982, it is William Katt!

Sundance Kid, Butch and Sundance: The Early Days
(Movie, 1979; figure released 1979 by Kenner)


William Katt is Robert Redford is the Sundance Kid, back when he was kid. These figures were made by Kenner in support of the film, hoping to repeat the success of the Star Wars phenomenon. They tried some technical innovations: these were Kenner’s first figures with knee joints, because this was the Old West and the characters needed to be able to line dance ride horses.

And heck, that ol’ “Western Cafe” playset that was good enough for Butch and Sundance would do just fine when it was reissued as Mos Eisley Cantina for Star Wars.

Also, here’s the trailer for the film. And here’s a review from 1979 that gives the film credit for the word “prequel”. There’s another Star Wars connection – the first Star Wars film was only called Episode IV in 1981, after Empire Strikes Back had been released as Episode V. So the idea of a prequel may have only hatched in Lucas’ brain after he sat through Willaim Katt as the Sundance Kid. Thus, we have the true legacy of Katt in this role: Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Ralph, The Greatest American Hero
(TV show, 1982; figure released 1982 by Mego)

The first episode of G.A.H. is quite surprising. It’s almost gritty – there are villains murdering people, and William Katt’s lead character Ralph is going all Dangerous Minds inspirational on a classroom of troubled yoof. There is no hint that he’s going to end up being one of the great clown characters of American TV, complete with a hilariously cowardly FBI sidekick.

The figure was released with sidekick as part of a playset with a convertible “Bug”. The box art features a great caricature by legendary MAD-magazine artist Jack Davis.

Ralph Hinkley had a name-change soon after the Greatest American Hero debuted, on account of some other Hinkley trying to assassinate the U.S. President. The crew went through and overdubbed mentions of the name with “Mr H” or disguised it with sound effects, including on one occasion the sound of jet engines. They changed his name in unfilmed scripts to the less-offensive Hanley, and made a new nameplate for the character’s office door so when the camera lingered, everyone could see that his name was not at all like that of the would-be Reagan-killer. A great disaster was avoided and Americans could watch the bumbling curly-blond hero without being reminded of the assassin!

Until season 2, when they changed his name back to Hinkley.