More Sneak Peeks from “There’s No Place Like Home”
DarkUFO has three more video sneak peeks from this week’s episode of Lost, plus a text-based sneak peek courtesy of Kristen dos Santos.
I don’t know about you, but I’m getting more and more pumped for this episode every minute. I only hope that I finish covering the Apple Store opening fast enough to make the bus that will get me home in time to catch the show. I never thought one of my obsessions would stand in the way of another one, but it looks like that day might have finally arrived.
All I can say is that iTunes better have that episode available first-thing on Friday morning, or there’ll be hell to pay.
Topics: Apple, Lost
First Review of Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Ain’t It Cool News has one of the first reviews I’ve seen of Zack and Miri Make a Porno, the next film by Kevin Smith. There’s always a part of me that wonders if AICN reviewers are full of shit, but Kev wrote on his blog that there would be a screening this week in the midwest, and I’m going to go ahead and believe that “Snake Oiler” was one of the attendees.
The review praises the comedic bits of the film, but says that the romantic storyline just doesn’t deliver. That’s disappointing news, but, even if it is true (and these things are all in the eye of the beholder anyway), Snake Oiler is right when he/she says, “It’s not too late, though - he’s got plenty of months left.” The flick isn’t due out until Halloween, and I’m sure that Kevin will pull the thing together in time for the general release.
Apple Store Boston Opens Tomorrow!
The Green Monster has been peeled off of the Apple Store on Boylston Street in Boston, I have been confirmed as one of the correspondents for ifoAppleStore’s coverage of the event, and salvation arrives tomorrow, one day earlier than I’d reported previously.
Is anyone going to this? Want to co-anchor the GF5 coverage with me? Mr. Greg Tsiatis, if you’re reading this, I’m looking at you. We’ve talked in the past about teaming up for something totally geeky. This is our opportunity, man, is it not?
NIN Oeuvre Blog: Happiness in Slavery (Fixed)
Editor’s Note: This entry originally appeared on the blog Ten Thousand Lies on June 4, 2007.
I got into an argument with a friend once (online, I think, but I can’t find it) about what the absolute worst NIN release was. My answer was Further Down The Spiral, an answer I still stick by. Her answer, which shocked me, was Fixed. I got the impression, during our discussion, that Fixed was universally despised in some corners of the NIN fanbase, and I just couldn’t understand why. In my opinion, Fixed is the most complete of all of the Nine Inch Nails remix records. And the remix of “Happiness in Slavery” by Trent Reznor, Chris Vrenna, and P.K. that appears on the record is a big part of that.
Where else in the NIN catalog, except for fellow Fixed track “Screaming Slave”, do we get to experience a man’s tortured screams used as the focal point of a song? Where else in any band’s catalog, for that matter? Reznor, Vrenna, and P.K. create a fairly intense dance song with samples taken from a tune that would go on to win a Grammy for Best Metal Performance, and then insert into that track the repeated melody of a performance artist Bob Flanagan screaming, “Ahhhh, ahh-ahh. Oh-oh.” and that’s not considered one of the most amazing compositions in the catalog? How is this so?
What has always appealed to me about Nine Inch Nails is the way that Trent Reznor’s previous experience in New Wave bands like Option 30 comes out in nearly every track, regardless of how hard-edged it is. Where many of the bands who became popular with my classmates in the 1990s trace their roots back to the guitar-centric music of the 1960s and 70s, the music of Nine Inch Nails has, as it’s closest ancestor, the synthesizer-centric music of the 1980s. And I think there are some younger NIN fans who forget that, who enjoy the band in spite of that, instead of in appreciation of that. There are some younger fans who shun Pretty Hate Machine and it’s more danceable sensibility. And these are the same folks, I think, who might consider Fixed to be a sub-par record.
I think they’re missing out, but maybe that’s just me.
HBO, NBC, and Flexible Pricing on iTunes
HBO television programs were added to the iTunes store today, including Sex and the City, Deadwood, and The Sopranos. But, you see, that’s not even the really big news. The really big news, as TUAW alludes to, is that some of the HBO programs are priced at $2.99 per episode, a dollar higher than the price of nearly every other television show that iTunes sells.
This sort of flexible pricing model is exactly what NBC was looking for when it took its shows off of iTunes last year. And me, while I’m not excited about the prospect of flexible pricing—I like knowing that any TV episode I buy, regardless of what show its from, is going to cost me the same two bucks—I do like the idea that maybe this opens up the possibility of Apple and NBC kissing and making up. I’ve missed out on an entire season of Heroes that I would have otherwise watched if I had been able to download it (legally) and catch up on it whenever I liked.
I really love the idea of a la carte TV. Like Dan Rubin, who twittered about ditching cable for an Apple TV and thereby saving a boatload of cash, I would absolutely jump at the chance to cancel my cable subscription and pay only for the two or three shows that I dig, if only all of those shows were easily accessible and purchasable from my Apple TV.
