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Serialized Television (Sort of…)

Netflix

Blogger scott d. feldstein recently posted that he’s been watching TV, and he mentions Netflix and a few serialized television shows he’s been digging. I’m a Netflix fan, and I’ve become accustomed to the ability to watch (almost) an entire series or season really quickly.

I’ve managed to quickly go through a few seasons of Dr. Who on Netflix while doing grunt-work in the home office (server maintenance, invoices, etc.) and when I ran out I was saddened that I’d have to wait until BBC America started to show the new season… (I even tried Torchwood for a while, it was OK, a nice diversion, but nothing too compelling.)

About a year ago (right around the Christmas break) the wife started to watch Heros on Netflix, and somehow pulled me into it. We managed to “Watch Instantly” the first three seasons, and were caught up and ready to go when season 4 actually aired on live television. Now, besides the fact that season 4 was pretty bad, I really preferred watching them all in bulk, as quickly as we could handle them, as opposed to waiting each week for a new episode. It made me wonder… how does this method of consumption fit into the old world of television?

I’ve heard so much talk about Mad Men, but haven’t set aside the time to watch it… plus, I missed the beginning, so I’d probably want to start from the first season. Right now Netflix has season 1 on 4 discs, which is… eh… I’d really prefer to just stream them. I don’t want to deal with discs, especially 4 discs.

It’s not just new stuff… There’s plenty to explore and get hooked on. My latest obsession is Firefly. It aired in 2002/2003 but for whatever reason, I never saw it. I heard people talk about it, I knew they made a movie, but just never managed to catch it. Thanks to Netflix I’ve managed to see almost every episode in the last two weeks, and I’ll be moving onto Serenity soon.

There’s still a good amount of television shows I just don’t mind catching every week (typically, they tend to be sitcoms) but for these longer serialized dramas, I’ve really become a fan of the “Give me all of them to consume as fast as I can!” method.

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iPad First Impressions

iPad

I got an iPad. It was a gift from Z2 Marketing. I hesitate to call this a “review” and I’ll just say “First Impressions” for the following observations…

Despite my best efforts to avoid being called an “Apple Fanboi” I do somehow own a Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iPod, iPhone, and now an iPad. In my defense, I’ve been using Apple products since about 1979, and have used them professionally in my work for about 17 years. I’m not the kind that runs out and buys anything Apple sells… but I do get what I think I need to do my work, or make my life more enjoyable/easier.

With that disclaimer out of the way, I’ll start with this, the iPad is pretty amazing… at what it does. If you’re fine with the limitations of the iOS, then you’ll probably like the iPad. The typical iOS issues that bug me with the iPhone and iPod exist here as well, no access to the file system, the walled garden of the App Store, the closed nature of the device… that said, within the parameters of Apple hardware and the restrictive iOS, it’s a pretty stunning device.

The iPad is probably not something I would have bought for myself since I’ve got a number of computers/devices which do much of what the iPad does. That said, the iPad fills this space between the MacBook and the iPhone, which is probably right where Apple positioned it. (See my post Consume / Create – Apple Products for my previous thoughts on the matter.)

A few days after getting the iPad I was feeling under the weather, and ended up spending a lot of downtime on the couch and in bed, and in both cases the iPad really fit the bill as far as the device to use. Reading RSS feeds, wasting time with Twitter or Facebook, watching Netflix videos… the iPad excels at these tasks! I have not done much writing on it, and would probably not want to use it for extended writing of any sort.

Speaking of writing, I did try to pair it with an old Apple Wireless Keyboard (using Bluetooth) but it didn’t work… the iPad would not pair with it as Apple does not support it. Charging is another interesting topic. You can’t just use the same charging methods you use with an iPod or iPhone. The iPad comes with a 10 watt charger. The plain old “USB Chargers” I use all the time don’t kick out enough juice. There’s a few notes I’ve found that talk about charging, but I’ve not dug into the subject very much yet. The battery does seem to last a long time… but also takes quite a while to fully charge up.

Update: Yes, it does charge via USB (when not using the 10 watt charger) it just charges very slowly…

All in all I’m really liking the iPad, and what it can do, as is the rest of the family. What would be nice? Support for multiple users, an upgrade that makes it more even feature-wise with the iPhone 4 (camera(s), slightly different design, etc.) a more open platform… but honestly, it’s a pretty cool consuming device, and for what it is, I’m very happy with it.

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Awesome…

Awesome!

Awesome is this word people really like to use…

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A Very Maker Christmas

A Very Maker Christmas

We’ve been busy in the days leading up to Christmas, and the elves (kids) spent a lot of time in the “2XL Makerspace” and with my help we hand-crafted a number of ornaments. In the true tradition of making gifts rather than buying them, we had a blast…

I made good use of the tools that belonged to my Dad, and a box of scrap wood my brother gave me (along with my own scrap wood, which I’ve probably moved with me for the last 5 years/4 houses.)

I can see this becoming a tradition… spending time with the kids making things in the weeks leading up to the Holidays…

File Under: Awesome.

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Roasted Garlic Asiago Dip

Roasted Garlic Asiago Dip

Ingredients

  • 1 head garlic
  • 16 ounces cream cheese
  • 2 cups shredded asiago cheese
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. Cut the garlic head in half along the “equator” (with root and stem ends representing the poles).
  3. Place the garlic, cut side down on a foil lined baking sheet and roast uncovered 40 to 45 minutes or until tender. (This is the hardest part!)
  4. To remove the garlic, turn heads upside down and gently squeeze the garlic out of the skins.
  5. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
  6. With a food processor or electric mixer, blend cream cheese, Asiago cheese, heavy cream, and sour cream until well-blended, add garlic and blend again.
  7. Place mixture into a casserole or baking dish and top with shredded mozzarella.
  8. Bake about 20 minutes until golden brown on top.
  9. Serve with firm crusty bread, crackers, pita bread, or whatever.

I’m expected to make this every Thanksgiving, and now the family wants it on Christmas as well. I’m pretty sure it’s the only reason I get invited… Anyway, here’s the recipe, so now you can make it yourself and I don’t even have to show up!

But seriously folks, after it shows up, this stuff is gone in like 10 minutes, and people who miss out on it are sad and have even been known to cry. So don’t ruin the day, make your own Roasted Garlic Asiago Dip and be the Hero of the Holidays!

(Sorry I couldn’t get a photo of the final product, but I needed to get this published to fulfill some promises… Enjoy!)