tuesday patch
a friendly Dalmatian iMac at a friendly cafe in
friendly Tokyo
So, Apple introduced
three new iMacs today, which
actually look pretty good. They are definitely
making machines that look more "futuristic" than
anyone else; I love the fact that the keyboard has
a system power button on its
side, that's pretty sweet. It's been years since
they last had a power button the keyboard, it's
interesting that they brought it back, though for
the iMac, it makes sense--it's lame to have to
reach all the way around to turn it on.
The new iLife and iWork suites look pretty okay;
I will write something up when I have had a chance
to use them. I am particularly interested in the
DVD authoring stuff (though Steve seemed to imply
that burning DVDs was a bit passé, I still like
'em).
I got called back for a web ad for Nissan today. It's
a fine a spot, funny, even, but it's just odd that
there were 7 people in the room to check out
something that is supposed to look like a cheap
YouTube video. It's going to by much more--it's got
some nice special effects in there--but I don't know.
It's going to be the same amount of work (if not
more) as a "normal" spot, and from an acting point of
view, there is obviously no difference, but the
pay--and I don't mean to be bitchy about this, I'm
just saying, is all--is just kind of lackluster. I
guess this is the whole point of the upcoming
negotiations between the various unions and the
producers; the advent of the web is far more jarring
than anything to do with DVD extras and that kind of
thing. Web video is going to be with us forever, the
spots lasting longer than TV spots (of course, many
TV spots end up on the web anyway) so the whole
residual system, everything, will need to be
reworked. It's gonna be a nasty fight, I bet, but
this is the future and given the amount of web spots
I have gone out for over the past few months
(several, like 4-5), this venue will only continue to
grow.
Anyway, we'll find out if I get it tomorrow (it
shoots this week!).
Oh, some podcasts that I am finding pretty funny that
you may wanna check out: Totally Rad Show and Geekscape. Both links are set
to the video podcasts, but I trust you can figure
out how to get the audio only one. You're smart
like that.
And now, off to the dentist's.