1812 Overture

It occurs to me today that anyone who doesn't appreciate the brilliance of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture clearly doesn't know a damned thing about music.

In an age saturated by the drivel of Brittany Spears and Fergie, the mere presence of a violin makes any ditty seem sophisticated. Yet the Ouverture Solennelle, L'Année 1812, Op. 49 remains one of the most inspiring and emotion-evoking pieces of music ever written.

Granted, any composition that includes field artillery would get a high rating in my book, regardless of the melody. That said, I'm hard pressed to think of any other scrap of music that makes the excitement level rise, and gets the heart pumping as much as the last few minutes of the 1812. I never cease to be amazed by it's complex texture of themes, and the steady rise of anticipation as we move from the tranquility of the string that begin the piece to the cannon fire that punctuates the finale.

Mr. Tchaikovsky, I salute you. Well done indeed!

Apple Should Buy Valve

Apple should buy Valve, the makers of Half Life, Portal and Team Fortress 2.

I can already hear a lot of you saying "You're crazy! Valve doesn't even make software for the Mac. Why should Apple waste money on that?"

The answer is simple: Steam

Think of it this way: What are the major entertainment sources for Americans? Movies, Television, Music, Sports and ..... Games.

Apple already dominates Movies, Television and Music sales through iTunes. Dominates. Games are the next frontier.

Steam is the iTunes of Games. A simple way to buy games online, instantly. Imagine if Apple could incorporate this into iTunes. They would be the entertainment company. A market leader in four of the five major diversions for the US (let's forget about sports -- for now).

Apple has the influence to push game publishers to release their games on iSteam. From Half Life to Diablo III, Call of Duty and Left 4 Dead -- all available for download on your PC or Mac at a moment's notice. And Apple get a cut of every sale. It's a gold mine.

This alone would be reason enough to buy Valve. But it gets better. As the owner of Valve, Apple could also push them to release their games for the Mac as well. Apple has long claimed that they were serious about gaming on the Mac, but reality has shown otherwise. This could change everything.

Imagine Team Fortress 3 being released on the Mac a month before the Windows version? Imagine a Mac version of Half Life 3 released day and date with the Windows version? Imagine Portal 2 on the 50" plasma in your local Apple store?

Yes, it may sound crazy at first, but the more I think about it, the more it makes a ton of sense.

Where is Snow Leopard?

Is anyone else surprised that there was no mention of Snow Leopard (aka Mac OSX 10.6) at MWSF 2009? Isn't MacWorld the logical place to at least give us a sense of when we can expect to see it this year?

The lack of comment on it in the keynote seems foreboding to me...

The Cookie Monster Slayer

My favorite photo this month...

President Clinton on David Letterman

Did anyone else see President Clinton on Letterman last night (9/22/2008)? I recorded it and just watched it during lunch.

Brilliant.

I thought the interview was excellent, and it reinforces my believe that Letterman is a much more shrewd host than he gets credit for (or makes out to be).

Americans are getting nervous. The economy is in shambles. We're hearing alarms about "peak oil", and energy crisis. There are record home foreclosures. Natural disasters in the South. We're mired in Vietnam Part 2 in Iraq. Things look bleak.

Rather than another night of zany stupid pet tricks, Letterman instead books President Bill Clinton and asks him about what has happened, and what can be done to fix it. No off-the-wall antics or sill questions (well, maybe one), just a quiet studio and three full segments for Clinton to answer the few, pointed questions Dave asks. I thought it was a brilliant move. Clinton is knowledgeable, relevant, engaging, and in some ways, polarizing. A perfect guest for a meaty subject in a venue that usually trends toward the absurd.

Great stuff. If you didn't see it, you may be able to watch it at Letterman's Web Site. I don't know if the entire interview is there, but I would hope so.

Leopard and SBS 2003 Still Don't Play Nice

For the most part, my life after the "switch" to the Macintosh has been great. No more antivirus software. No more fear of viewing an HTML email. No more long boot-ups and sluggish performance.

One constant point of misery remains, however...

As a .NET developer, I must continue to use a Microsoft SBS 2003 server to get my job done. Alas, the Mac and the Windows Server don't like each other. Shocking, I know.

The simple act of copying a file from my Mac to a shared folder on the Windows Server is like playing Russian Roulette. Sometimes it works. Sometimes the file never copies, we end up with a zero byte file in the folder, then the server crashes. Kaboom!

This has been going on for 9 months now. I have all the latest patches from Apple and Microsoft. I've followed all the online guides. I have scoured the web for any tip, trick or kludge to work around it -- no luck. Grrrrr.

• It's an Apple problem, because real Windows PCs can work on the file share for weeks on end and NEVER have this problem.
  
• It's a Microsoft problem, because regardless of what the Mac does it should NEVER crash the server.
  
• It's my problem, because I'm stuck in the middle, rebooting and trying again and again like a deranged circus monkey.
  

Hope springs eternal. Microsoft has recently release Windows SBS 2008, and Apple will release Snow Leopard this winter. Maybe then I can truly achieve OS harmony. Until then....

...can anyone help?

PS: Windows Guy: Please spare the "Get rid of the Mac" comments. Mac Guy: Please spare the "Get rid of Windows" comments. Linux Guy: No one cares. Thanks!

Sam & Max are coming to the Wii

The big news yesterday was that we finally made the jump to HD in the PixelFlop household. A new Pioneer 50" Plasma TV was delivered in the early afternoon, and the wife came home from Target with a Nintendo Wii shortly after. It was like Christmas in July.

Today, that Christmas just got even better.

IGN just released news that Sam & Max, Freelance Detectives are coming to the Wii.

What a fantastic idea. Point and Click adventures like Sam & Max, Curse of Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle are amongst my favorite types of games. They've fallen out of favor in the high paced, shoot shoot shoot world of console gaming that dominates this decade, but for my money, they top the list when it comes to enjoyment.

I hope this little experiment proves successful, and we see a Renaissance of adventure gaming on the Wii.