TV Execs Wouldn't Know Good Entertainment if it Hit Them in the Head

Argh. I just learned that "The Lyon's Den" has been canceled. Out of all the new shows this season, this is second on my list after "Joan of Arcadia". Why must they take away all the good shows and leave me with garbage such as "The Bachelor" and "Joe Millionaire"? I want quality though-provoking entertainment, not mindless drivel. Last season they took "Firefly", "John Doe", and "Fastlane" away from me. Then, after they already packed up "Firefly", the show was awarded a Hugo. Come on! Stick the damn shows on a Friday or Sunday night and of course they are going to get low ratings. What the hell are they thinking? Not every night can be rated as high as NBC's super Thursday. Having TiVo, I could care less what time things are on as long as they don't overlap. They really need to key into a new advertising scheme with TiVo to help boost revenue, if they need it. I don't have the time to watch live TV, and most people don't have that much time either. We need a new system. We need a system that can produce quality shows, and have them on at all times of the day. I can TiVo them whenever they are on -- just send me a TiVo ad to tell me what to record.

Dents and the Universe

I guess everyone wants to make their mark on the world, but some more than others. I was just reading this article in Business 2.0 about Marc Andressen, one of the cofounders of Netscape. He's off on his new project now, Opsware. Opsware is an automated way of keeping servers configured correctly. Great stuff, that I'm sure understaffed IT groups would love (so, basically all of them). Opsware stared out as an internal software project for the company's web hosting business (formerly known as Loudcloud). It was a solution to an existing problem. Marc and the other execs saw the handwriting on the wall, and transformed the company from web hosting to selling this software. That is awesome -- playing to your strengths like that, and finding what will really work. I can really relate to Marc. He seems like a hyper-kinetic visionary kind of guy, at least as portrayed in this article. While anyone who knows me will definitely not describe me as hyper-kinetic, I often think that way. Sometimes the thoughts are flowing so fast I can't keep up with them. I'm always thinking, though. Analyzing. Trying to see what the future will bring, and where best to be when it gets here. Of course, the sometimes leads me to not doing anything, but you'll have that.

The Di Vinci Code

This book had created quite a stir, and I thought I'd put my two cents in. It's a great read, wonderfully crafted to keep you wanting to turn the page. The theories in it are quite controversial, but that is part in parcel what makes it such fun to read. You really want to find out what happens. There was just a special on television about it that tries to dig deeper into the facts. You don't end up with any new information, but it serves up the same questions as the book. Of course, I'd never trust a fictional author for my historical information, but I'm just as skeptical of a broadcast journalist. They don't go so far as to debunk the theory, but they do poke holes in it where the author took a 'leap of faith'. The theory, of course, is that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and they had a child together, and that the early church covered this up. This is quite an interesting theory, and could even be taken in by Christians without losing their faith. What difference would it make if Jesus was a married father? It's subtle, but it does seem to place families of a higher priority. Something the church already does, but this just gives it a new level of importance. I haven't taken a stance either way, but it got me to thinking and that is always good. It makes me want to research the topic more and dig into the folklore surrounding The Holy Grail, and the Merovingians, the Knights Templar, and such. Who doesn't like a conspiracy theory? We all know the early Roman church was very powerful, and often conducted tasks that were more political than religious. This just adds more motivation behind it, and that is why it is a believable premise. I recommend reading the book, and you can come up with your own ideas on it.

The Relevance of Microsoft

Is it me, or is Microsoft losing it's edge? Don't get me wrong, it is still the behemoth of the industry -- not to be trifled with, but they just seem to be slowing down. I guess it was inevitable, but everyone still holds them in such high regard (or fear). With the uncovering today that Longhorn will ship even later than projected (now 2006), they seem to be stuck in big-company mentality. Yes, they are a big company, and millions of people rely on them, but the computer industry has never waited for anyone. You have to build it -- yesterday. Then again, MS has always used pre-announcements to stifle competition. My favorite example is Pen Windows, as detailed in Jerry Kaplan's excellent novel, "Startup". Are these pre-announcements this far ahead by now? Apple is making great strides with their latest release, dubbed Panther. I have been thoroughly impressed by OS X and now use it for all my personal work. They took a nice solid core, added a rich user interface, and built an exceptional development environment with Cocoa. The speed on my 500 MHz iBook is a little lacking, but I haven't missed any of the driver headaches that my old PC gave me. I will admit, it took me some time to adjust to using a Mac. I wasn't accustomed to not having to play with the OS to get things to work. I didn't have to spend four hours setting up my printer like I did with Linux, or reboot the machine ever time I installed a new application. It's weird coming from Windows to this... you almost want Apple to make you reboot once in awhile -- almost. Of course, my first love was the Amiga. That damn computer was so far ahead of everyone else... it really spoiled me. Preemptive multitasking, multimedia, stereo sound, kick-ass graphics, and speed, glorious system responsiveness -- all way before that was the norm... Macs were still in black and white, and DOS was stuck with CGA graphics. I really miss that machine. I had such a connection with it. I would sit in the basement for hours, hacking away on some graphics animation or music file. Spend some time on a local BBS, then go play a game or two. Ah, that brings back some memories. Well, this entry doesn't make any sense now. I'm definitely reaching my goal then. Stream-of-consciousness writing.