Where have I been? Why, with the exception of that bit about Arnold mentioning BC in his appearance at Meet the Press last Sunday, have I been so silent? It’s nothing very exciting. I’ve been working, head down, pretty much every day for about 3 weeks. Aside from going to the Vancouver User Experience (VanUE) meeting on Tuesday night — and not even staying for the after party, as I had to get back home and to bed in order to get up before 6 AM the next morning, and I knew that if I didn’t get enough sleep, I’d have gotten sick again—I’ve kept to bed, computer and client site (this past week).
I’m finally looking at a day off tomorrow, and all of the weather forecasts are for a day like today, full of rain. Pam has class for most of the day, so I think I’m going to do something I haven’t done in a long time; I’m going to go to an afternoon matinée. I don’t even know what I’m going to see, but the prospect of popcorn in a nice warm movie theatre taking in a little bit of entertainment on a rainy day sounds awfully good to me.
I’ve checked the local theatre listings, and am not sure what I’m going to see, but I can tell you it won’t be a big, depressing movie or a love story, and it certainly won’t be anything that in any remote way reminds me of Information Architecture, Prototyping or User Testing.
Except for bittorrent, I haven’t watched all that many movies. Why do I resort to bittorrent? There is no Netflix here in Canada, and I’ve heard many people tell me that the equivalent, Zip.ca is not very good. There is also no streaming of movies over TiVo here and unlike the American version of the store, there are no streaming movies on Amazon.ca either. Even the iTunes store doesn’t the variety of movies for Canadian accounts as it does in the American store, so the AppleTV is not as useful either (unless you buy giftcards on the other side of the border and load up an American account). So CRTC or whoever is responsible for our Cinematic Rights Time Warp, don’t you realize that you’ve actually forced me into bittorrenting movies, because there is really no convenient, reasonably-priced alternative? Video rental stores are kind of a pain (and seem so…20th century), and I’m not really interested in buying DVDs (and certainly haven’t popped for a Blu-Ray player).
On the subject is Video Rentals, I couldn’t resist sharing this little nod to Abbott and Costello by Chris Gavaler, that I saw a while ago:
Who’s on First?
By Chris Gavaler
(A CUSTOMER steps up to a video-store counter with a stack of videos.)
CASHIER: Hi. Did you find everything you wanted?
CUSTOMER: (Handing over membership card.) Yes, thanks. (Pause.) When is this one due back?
CASHIER: The day after tomorrow.
CUSTOMER: Yeah, when’s it due back?
CASHIER: The day after tomorrow.
CUSTOMER: Yes. The Day After Tomorrow.
CASHIER: Right.
CUSTOMER: Right. When’s it due back?
CASHIER: The day after tomorrow.
CUSTOMER: I mean the movie. The Day After Tomorrow. When is it due?
CASHIER: Oh! I get it. That’s funny. You thought I meant-right, OK. It’s due the day after tomorrow.
CUSTOMER: The Day After Tomorrow is due the day after tomorrow?
CASHIER: Exactly.
CUSTOMER: And Before Sunset?
CASHIER: Anytime before 10.
CUSTOMER: Is it the same as The Day After Tomorrow?
CASHIER: We close the same time every day. Ten o’clock.
CUSTOMER: But what day is the video due?
CASHIER: The Day After Tomorrow?
CUSTOMER: Why are you asking me?
CASHIER: The Day After Tomorrow is due the day after tomorrow.
CUSTOMER: I know, but what about Before Sunset?
CASHIER: Anytime before closing.
CUSTOMER: But what day?
CASHIER: The day after tomorrow.
CUSTOMER: Before Sunset?
CASHIER: You can bring it then if you want to, but we’re open till 10.
CUSTOMER: The movie! Before Sunset. When is Before Sunset due?
CASHIER: Oh! We did it again, didn’t we? Isn’t that just like that … what’s that sketch called? Anyway. Sorry. Before Sunset is due the day after tomorrow.
CUSTOMER: Thank you. (Pause.) Is that the same for the others?
CASHIER: You’re not renting The Others.
CUSTOMER: Why not?
CASHIER: I don’t know. You can if you want to.
CUSTOMER: Well, I would like to rent the others, please.
CASHIER: I’ll check the computer.
CUSTOMER: For what?
CASHIER: The Others.
CUSTOMER: What’s in front of you?
CASHIER: (Looking through stack.) Well, we have The Day After Tomorrow and Before Sunset. Then Seven, After Hours, 48 Hours, Ten, and Before Sunrise. Hey, that’s funny, “before sunrise”-we could have gotten confused about that too, huh?
CUSTOMER: Yeah. Could you ring them up, please?
CASHIER: So you don’t want The Others?
CUSTOMER: I want all of them.
CASHIER: But not The Others?
CUSTOMER: I want everything sitting right there in front of you.
CASHIER: OK, I’ll ring them up. (Pause.) I’m sorry, but your account limits you to six rentals.
CUSTOMER: Oh, OK, I won’t rent Ten.
CASHIER: Excuse me?
CUSTOMER: Get rid of Ten.
CASHIER: You have seven here.
CUSTOMER: I still want to rent Seven.
CASHIER: You’re not allowed to.
CUSTOMER: Why can’t I rent Seven?
CASHIER: Because it’s over the limit.
CUSTOMER: Right, but I want Seven. Get rid of Ten.
CASHIER: (Pause.) That would leave negative three.
CUSTOMER: Excuse me?
CASHIER: You know what? We’ll just let it slide this time.
CUSTOMER: Thank you. (Pause.) Is that one due back the day after tomorrow, too?
CASHIER: Yes, you have 48 hours.
CUSTOMER: But is it due with the others?
CASHIER: You don’t have The Others.
CUSTOMER: What did you just ring up?
CASHIER: You want me to read these to you again?
CUSTOMER: No, just tell me when they’re due.
CASHIER: The day after tomorrow.
CUSTOMER: But what about the others?
CASHIER: You don’t have The Others.
CUSTOMER: Is 48 Hours due the day after tomorrow?
CASHIER: Yes, by 10 o’clock.
CUSTOMER: Is Ten due the day after tomorrow?
CASHIER: Yes, by 10 o’clock.
CUSTOMER: What about After Hours?
CASHIER: There’s a late fee.
CUSTOMER: For what?
CASHIER: If you return after hours.
CUSTOMER: The day after tomorrow?
CASHIER: All of them.
CUSTOMER: So it’s due the day after tomorrow?
CASHIER: By 10.
CUSTOMER: What about Seven?
CASHIER: You can bring it then if you want to, but we’re open till 10.
CUSTOMER: The movie! The movie! When is the movie Seven due?
CASHIER: (Holding up each video one at a time.) Seven is due at 10 the day after tomorrow. The Day After Tomorrow is due at 10 the day after tomorrow. Before Sunset is due at 10 the day after tomorrow. 48 Hours is due at 10 the day after tomorrow. After Hours is due at 10 the day after tomorrow. And Ten is due at 10 the day after tomorrow
CUSTOMER: Thank you! (Noticing the last video after a long pause.) But what about Before Sunrise?
CASHIER: (Pause.) We’re not open before sunrise.
(CUSTOMER gives up and walks out.)
On the other hand, the movie theatres here are really nice, and I’m looking forward to that.
On Sunday, the sun is supposed to come out, but alas, I will have to be getting back to work, and hopefully won’t be too far behind from having taken a few hours off.
Hi David,
It’s been a long time since we’ve been in touch. Not like the Cambridge and BCS-Mac / HyperCard days. I’ve moved to Martha’s Vineyard; not much square dance calling since then, but still some. I’m still a Mac enthusiast; love my iPhone; and really miss HyperCard!
I found you on Twitter (which I’m just getting into). How long have you been in BC?
Etc.
Don
Hi Don! Nice to hear from you. We moved here in 2005 and haven’t looked back. Still, it’s nice that the Internet (including blogs, twitter, IM, iChat AV, and the rest) have made it relatively easy to keep in touch with friends and family back in Boston and the rest of the US. Hope you are liking the Vineyard. I always liked visiting, and I expect that living near the ocean is as good for you as it is for us.
I miss HyperCard too. Still hoping for a tool that is as mind-expanding and exciting as that was. I’d particularly like something like it for the iPhone, especially if it had some built-in tools for reading and parsing data from the Internet. It would be great (and inspiring) to see people authoring their own Media and Data-intensive iPhone ‘Hypercard’ apps and making them available for free via the iTunes Store. Maybe that’s something that will come; I suppose we are waiting for another Bill Atkinson to come along, but those kinds of geniuses are pretty rare in this world.
All the best, and stay in touch.