Riotously funny.
A beautiful typographical map of the world, done in water colors.
This evening we had tickets to go see Bill Cosby, a show I have been looking forward to seeing ever since the 2011-2012 season was announced for McCain Auditorium. Bill Cosby was the first comedian I ever heard, and he has always been my favorite.
When I was about 8 or 9 years hold I discovered an album in my parent’s record collection called “Bill Cosby is a Very Funny Fellow. Right!” When I asked my mom about it she said, “Oh, you’ll like that,” and promptly played it for me. That someone could tell stories, complete with sound effects, that were funny thrilled me. I listened to that album until I had the words memorized. I could lip sync the entire thing flawlessly. Over time I bought all of Bill Cosby’s records and memorized all his routines. Another boy from my Boy Scout troop and I once did a campfire skip based on the whole Noah’s Ark routine.
In about 1980 I got to see him live for the first time when he played my university, Illinois State. And I saw him about 9 years ago in Springfield, Illinois when he played the small college there. Both of those performances were side-achingly funny. So it was with high hopes and great anticipation that I bought our tickets, and that we went to the show with tonight.
The entire show was based around gender stereotypes. Specifically husband and wife stereotypes. There were one or two funny lines, but the gist of the show wasn’t funny. Sibylle left part way through, but I stayed on hoping that he would shift gears and talk about something else - anything else. Unfortunately he didn’t. The entire show was misogynistic.
I don’t watch television any more, in large part due to the insultingly crude stereotypes that are thrust at you from every show. To have my favorite entertainer stoop to the level of situation comedies and play off tired gender stereotypes for 90 minutes was disheartening.
For forty years I have enjoyed the work of Bill Cosby, and I have felt good about his style of humor - no foul language and nothing mean spirited. Tonight marred that record in my eyes, some of the luster is gone from my impression of him and his comedy.
Tonight, Bill Cosby was not a very funny fellow, at all.
This week’s announcement of the iPhone 4S has me in a lather to get an iPhone. For some time now I’ve been less enthusiastic about my Android-based HTC Incredible. It’s a great phone that has served me well for the last 16 months; the camera is outstanding, the form factor is pleasing, and it supports all of the daily activities I wanted it for.
While Google is continuing to update Android, I am at the mercy of Verizon and HTC for updates to my handset. In the Apple ecosystem, if your device is new enough, you get the updates the day they are available. The Gingerbread update to my phone was rumored for months before finally happening. I grew impatient with the waiting and rooted my phone and installed a Gingerbread based ROM.
Also, I was never happy with the crapware that is forced on the phone by the carrier, and the recurring malware issues are cause for concern too.
The carriers recognize the popularity of smartphones and charge accordingly for them. The early termination fee to get out of my contract is a hefty $350. Unless I pay that I am tied to Verizon until next June. My update eligibility date isn’t until February 9th, which is longer than I would like to wait for a new phone.
If I were to order a new iPhone 4S today, the cost to me would be $649 – a $450 up-charge over the base price with a two-year contract. This is the same price as getting the unlocked, no-contract required phone. If I understand the math correctly, I could save $100 by terminating my contract with Verizon ($350 cost) and buying the iPhone from AT&T for $199.
All of this dithering is well into first-world-problem territory. I’ve got a perfectly functional, some would say exceptionally well functioning, smartphone. It takes pictures, sends and receives emails, browses the Internet, gives turn-by-turn directions, and fits in my pocket.
Waiting until February 9th (125 days)(Not that I counted or anything) to switch to the iPhone 4S is the smart thing to do. It saves me $450. And, based on the 20-month upgrade eligibility cycle that I appear to be on, getting a new phone in February 2012 would make me eligible for the iPhone 5S about October 2013. (Again, not that I counted, or anything.)
Waiting until June 2012 and the expiration of my current contract, would allow me to switch carriers, if I wanted, but then I’d want to wait until the fall announcement of the next generation iPhone. Which basically means waiting another year for a new phone. I don’t think I’m that patient.
So I either spend a small fortune ($650) on a vanity purchase today, or wait 125 days to spend a slightly smaller fortune ($200) in February. The third possibility is to call Verizon and gently point out that I could save $100 on an iPhone purchase today by abandoning Verizon for AT&T, and hope they take pity on my and move up my upgrade date, thereby waiving the $450 surcharge.
Maybe I’ll turn off the Internet and go sit in the sunshine instead.
A few weeks ago I linked to a Lego kit that produces a replica of the Frank Lloyd Wright “Robie House” in Chicago. The Robie house is a masterpiece of his prairie style architecture – a style I have always found particularly pleasing to the eye. Growing up in Decatur, Illinois there were three Frank Lloyd Wright houses (or at least houses heavily inspired by his design ethic), and Springfield, Illinois, where I lived for nearly two decades, has a prime example of prairie architecture in the Dana Thomas house, which I have been fortunate enough to have toured.
Growing up I never had a set of Lego blocks to play with, so seeing a model of one of my favorite house architectures replicated with Legos was an immediate draw. I posted a link to the model, saying that this was something I wanted.
My sister-in-law, Vera, saw that posting and made note of it. She came into a small windfall this week, and used that money to make a gift of the Robie House kit to me. Knowing full well what a windfall like that means to her, and realizing that she knew I would like this model, make this a priceless gift to me.
Vielen Dank, Vera.
Here’s to the crazy one, Steve Jobs.
Even if you aren’t a startup, this is a nice, comprehensive list of tools.
THIS DISCLAIMER IS NOT INTENDED TO BE IRONIC.
Still not sure I’d want to work for him.