I want one. Now.

With every subsequent computer upgrade that Apple releases, my old PowerBook G4 looks more and more like an ancient relic.  Of course, I don’t need a new computer.  I’ve probably got at least another year of TLC to give to this one before it finally croaks, but in the meantime, I can ooh and aah over the shiny new MacBooks and MacBook Pros.  And covet them.  :-(

Every time new computers or phones or iPods get released, I remember back to when I got whatever I currently have.  I remember my second generation iPod (with the four touch-sensitive buttons along the top) and how when I got that it was SUCH a state-of-the-art thing.  Backlight?  Psh!  20GB?  Get out!  Now the iPod Classic is kind of the ugly stepchild of the iPod line, just there out of tradition (and 120GB of capacity to boot).

When iPhone 3G came out, I flashed to fiddling around with Kelley’s first-gen iPhone when she first got it last October and being blown away by it, checking my e-mail while we were out at lunch.  So cool!  Now that I have my own, it’s just… well, whatever.

And when they released new iMacs last year, I flashed back to 1996 when they first released the iMac and there was a big uproar about the fact there was NO FLOPPY DRIVE.

Technology changes so fast these days.  Everything always seems so hi-tech compared to just a few years ago, but then you just think about what a few years from now is going to be like.  Three years from now, I’ll look back as they release new MacBooks (probably called something else at that point) and think that these shiny new models are bleh and outdated, which they will be.

For now, though?  Shiny!!

Join me as I powerfully tell the most important story of our time.

There are a LOT of really terrible commercials out there.  When really great ads come along, it is such a breath of fresh air and just serves as proof that advertising doesn’t have to preach to the lowest common denominator.

The Routan Boom ads for the Volkswagen Routan are a prime example of really clever, funny, and original advertising that occasionally comes along.  The ads are all culled together from clips from a faux documentary they produced with Brooke Shields:

See?  Funny stuff!  And it’s even better because they got a celebrity spokesperson that enhanced their ad campaign (Shields delivers her dialogue perfectly) and didn’t make their celebrity spokesperson come across as a sellout.

A+, guys.  Gotta love it.  And now, I gotta get me some kids so I can get me a Routan.

Gimme more, Britney

This:

is what “Gimme More” should’ve been.

Better late than never, Britney.

I think we can say our pop princess is back?

Kath & Kim

is like they stretched the tone and comedy of this video:

into a whole show.

Funny this episode, but I can’t see the whole show going much of anywhere.  Best of luck, though.  I thought tonight’s ep was pretty hilarious, but there are only so many times that Selma Blair can glare and look frustrated as she turns her head before the writers are going to have to give her more to do.  ::shrugs::

L.A. weather sucks

If I were in Santa Cruz right now, the weather would be getting a little sharper as the breeze picks up and the days get cooler and start to feel shorter.  The trees on campus would be shedding their leaves, and I would be seriously considering an umbrella and coat before leaving the house most days.

If I were in Santa Rosa right now, it’d be about the same, and I could look forward to sleeping with the window open and then waking up to a chilled room that would allow me to burrow into my comforter.

As I am in Los Angeles now, the weather is instead a blistering ninetysomething degrees and I haven’t been able to sleep later than 8 in the morning because it’s so damn hot in my room.  Our AC unit is on all day and it’s still kinda hot up here on the upper floor of our building.  Rain will soon be a foreign concept.  Being chilly will soon seem like a thing of the past.

::sigh::  I’ve always hated summer weather and now, even though we’re getting well into October, it still feels like mid-August here.  And that sucks.

When did Friends become so dated?

Moving in means a lot of time around the house needing something playing in the background.  Having grown up with Friends, watching seasons of the show on DVD is naturally the go-to filler.  When I packed up in Santa Cruz, I went through Season Four and half of Season Five and now I’m nearly done with Disc Three of Season Two.

Firstly, it’s weird that I’m rapidly approaching being the age that these characters were when the show started.  I was 7 when the show premiered, so these characters have forever been my (and my generation’s) view of what adult life is like, so to know that I’m a few years away from being these people myself is… surreal.

Secondly, while I think the show is utterly timeless, it’s still interesting to watch Season Two, which aired from 1995-1996, and see how dated it already is at times.  There’s an episode where a running gag is Chandler’s new computer, and he boasts of its 12MB of RAM, 500MB hard drive, built-in spreadsheet capabilities, and a built-in modem that transmits at over 28,000 bps!

Then there’s the whole episode about Carol and Susan’s wedding, and the idea of gay marriage in general is played as a novelty, when twelve years later, I don’t think it would be as funny on the surface that Two Women Are Getting Married (OMG!!!!).  Then there was a gag about plastic spoons being environmentally unfriendly and it’s played as funny that Joey would even think about that, but in light of the current pop culture and political climate, it’d be… a legitimate concern.

It’s also funny to watch these earlier seasons and remember that my mom for a while didn’t let me watch the show because it was “too adult.”  And I don’t disagree, but what I find amusing is that through maybe Season Four, there were a handful of jokes that were indeed “too adult,” but were so adult that I just didn’t get them.  Watching through these episodes now it’s funny to see what stuff went over my head and get the jokes this time around.  Stuff like Rachel rolling over the juice box when she and Ross are making out in the planetarium or an interviewer asking Monica to make a salad and getting off on the lettuce being “dirty” and the tomatoes being “firm.”

But while the show may show its age more than I’d expected, it definitely holds up, and I think it’s a testament to the writing and acting.  All the actors created distinctly iconic characters while managing to balance and compliment one another quite nicely (though Jennifer Aniston has a much defter hand at comedy than I remembered).  The show was as successful as it was because they all focused on character instead of wacky shenanigans.  There were wacky shenanigans, yes, but the creators seemed much more concerned with creating interesting characters, and that focus shows.

Moving sucks.

Anyone who has moved knows probably all of what I’m about to say, but here it goes anyway.

Moving sucks.

Setting up cable and Internet and getting everything to work sucks.

Buying things that you didn’t think you’d need to sucks.

Unpacking everything and putting it away where you think it should go sucks.

Buying new decorative things is fun, but not having income to buy them with sucks.

Grr.  It’s all just part of the whole moving in experience, I suppose.  But having to deal with the cable/TV guy today and now working to get the wireless router set up made me realize that Alex took care of all this when we were moving into our place in Santa Cruz, and this time around it’s my thing to handle.

But – there is of course an end in sight…  The kitchen is the last major thing to tackle at this point, but the bulk of the stuff is Michelle’s, so… well, maybe we’ll tackle that tonight.  For the time being, I need to run some errands, get some food (I’ve been living off of peanut butter sandwiches, Goldfish crackers, and water the past couple days because that’s all that’s available with limited kitchen stuff at my disposal), and keep unpacking.

Oh, and start the job hunt.  Yup.

Shoot me now

So apparently Beverly Hills Chihuahua is on pace to be the top-grossing film this weekend.

I think I must be in the wrong industry if something like that is possible.  ::sigh::

In other news, I’m moved in and starting to unpack all my shit!  Got a new bed today and some bookcases and have started assembling all the lovely IKEA stuff.  There’s still a lot of work to do, though, but hopefully Michelle and I can get the bulk of it done tomorrow.  ::shrugs::  Cable guys come on Monday and one of these days we’ll have to get a sofa, I’m sure.  For now it’s just dining room chairs or… the floor.  :-(

Baby steps, though!  Before I know it, I’ll be spending most of my time looking for internships and jobs!  Then that whole adult thing kicks in and I have to grow up.

Drats.

Hotness overload

In an odd rehash of the whole Capote-dueling thing that we saw in ‘05 and ‘06, we have two Sherlock Holmes movies in the works.  One’s going the comedy route with Sacha Baron Cohen.  Yawn to that, I say.

But the other one will have Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock and Rachel McAdams as a love interest.

I don’t think they could have two more attractive people together.  How exciting is this?  McAdams disappeared for a while after her Mean Girls, The Notebook, Wedding Crashers, Red Eye wave of successes, and she’s getting good-to-great reviews for The Lucky Ones and has The Time-Traveler’s Wife coming up, which I’m hopeful for.

Then there’s State of Play, coming next April.  The miniseries that it’s based on from BBC is brilliant, and the cast of the film remake is to die for: Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, Jason Bateman, Robin Wright Penn, Jeff Daniels, Ben Affleck, and, of course, McAdams.

Looks like she’s gonna be having a good next couple of years.  I wish she’d work more, ’cause she really has the potential to be a bigger star than she is.  She’s consistently solid in everything she’s done so far, so…  Well, I’m excited for her getting paired with RDJ.  Let’s hope the movie doesn’t suck, ‘kay?