Category Archive: Soapbox

No Cabbage Patch: Notes on the Rogers iPhone Debacle

Posted by Michael Klassen on July 14, 2008

One month before the launch of iPhone 3G, Steve Jobs addressed a crowd at the Apple Developers Connection. 30 days later one of the most embarrassing corporate SNAFUs in Canadian history occurred. It is yet to be seen whose head will roll for it.

It is highly unlikely that the company's namesake, founder Ted Rogers, will get the boot. It will more likely be someone listed on the company's Board of Directors page.

How serious the damage has been to Rogers bottom line is yet to be added up. The company's annual projections no doubt factored in strong sales for Apple's iPhone, which Rogers has locked up in an exclusive deal for the Canadian territory.

Continue reading "No Cabbage Patch: Notes on the Rogers iPhone Debacle" »

Tagged: apple computer, cell phone data usage, favourite, iphone, rogers wireless

Permalink | Comments (0)

The Canadian iPhone Conundrum

Posted by Michael Klassen on July 5, 2008

NEWS FLASH: Rogers caves to complaints, unveils new 3G data rates

I've been watching the online rancor build about Rogers' outrageous voice/data packages linked to the iPhone. The fact is that wireless has been the easiest and best way to bilk extra money from Canadians. We Canucks seem quite content to pay a sh*tload for our little portable talking sticks.

Continue reading "The Canadian iPhone Conundrum" »

Tagged: apple computer, cell phone data usage, iphone

Permalink | Comments (0)

Vancouver is accessible, but is it enlightened?

Posted by Michael Klassen on June 2, 2008

Here's today's editorial page cartoon in The Province. Mayor Sam Sullivan caricatured as Dr. Strangelove, the morally bankrupt ex-Nazi scientist in Kubrick's brilliant 1964 movie. The reference is probably lost on anyone under 40.

Also in the news today, Translink announced that it has now become a fully accessible transportation system for the first time in 118 years of moving people around greater Vancouver.

So on the one hand, we're constructing our city to accommodate its citizens who are physically challenged.

On the other, we equate our quadriplegic Mayor with a cartoonish Nazi figure in a wheelchair for laughs. In other words, a bit of a freak.

Never mind the lame joke that I'm sure had many Province readers coughing up a bran muffin during their coffee break. We all have days when the well is dry.

Murphy's little jab has me wondering if we are discomfited having someone who is disabled as our mayor. It might explain some of the nasty words and vitriol used to describe Sam by those without an inkling of interest in politics or an understanding of how a city is governed.

We like to think of ourselves as a modern and progressive city, but do some of us draw the line when it comes to having a disabled guy running the show?

Tagged: uncomfortable questions, vancouver politics

Permalink | Comments (0)

Andromeda Strain re-make is a bag of doo-doo

Posted by Michael Klassen on May 27, 2008

As I predicted they appear to have sucked all the suspense out of a very good science fiction plot in the A&E's mini-series re-make of The Andromeda Strain. I've only watched pieces of the broadcast so far, but my gawd, can you say movie of the week?

Why can't computers just be quiet in movies? They beep and tweet in what has to be the most worn out cliché in cinema today...the computer read out sound effect.

Just like the over-the-top rubbish that was Cloverfield, I think the sci-fi thriller genre needs to be taken out behind the barn, and buried for at least a decade.

UPDATE: (spoilers follow) I watched a bit more of A&E's AS. Wow, did they ever take what was cool about this story and flub it. The 'detoxification' upon entering the lab instead of being extremely compelling like in the original movie, looked only like a well-lit car wash for humans. The "odd-man hypothesis," where the single male was given the key for disabling the nuclear reactor, was turned into a shameless revelation that Ricky Schroeder's character was gay.

The nuclear strike that was aborted in the original, actually happens "by accident" thus destroying the ending of the original where the biggest threat was that the virus would be nuked.

Finally, the most egregious liberty of the new movie was that the virus was sent "from the future" (through a wormhole, natch) as an elaborate "message" to the present day. How was the message conveyed?? As ASCII text strung together from molecules.

Ugh!

Tagged: andromeda strain, sci fi

Permalink | Comments (0)

Vancouver loses two of its best in May

Posted by Michael Klassen on May 26, 2008

Two friends passed away in May and both of them were Vancouver originals. The were two people who couldn't be more different.

Dave Watson was known to most of you as a Georgia Straight tech columnist. Suddenly, last summer, Dave disappeared from the pages of the Vancouver weekly. Not realizing his absence in print I sent him an email invite to a barbeque just about the time he was diagnosed with a massive tumor in his abdomen. His reply was curt. Basically he said, I'm outta here (leaving Vancouver for a remote community), and do I know anyone who wants a column at the Straight? Knowing Dave to be typically good-natured, I thought maybe he was having a mid-life crisis of sorts and needed a change of surroundings.

Continue reading "Vancouver loses two of its best in May" »

Tagged: vancouver media, vancouver politics

Permalink | Comments (0)

R.E.M. at Gooseshit Lake

Posted by Michael Klassen on May 22, 2008

We're gearing up for a fun night out tomorrow. R.E.M. + Modest Mouse and The National at Deer Lake Park. The weather forecast is warm and clear for this outdoor show.

I've never seen a gig at there, but I know every inch of that goose shit beach from my youth. I probably spent every summer in a paddle boat growing up at Burnaby's Deer Lake when you could swim in it. Forget that today. Coliform is too high.

I won't bore you with my R.E.M. reminiscences, the best of which is here. It was good enough way back when that a webmaster working at whitehouse.gov decided to drop me a line in response back in 1996.

R.E.M. have had some frustrating highs and lows in their career, but I can vouch for the quality of Accelerate, their latest disc. I quite like this acoustic version of the opening track, recorded spontaneously in a drive through Athens, GA back in September.

* * *

UPDATE: R.E.M. put on a very fine show at Deer Lake Park. Set was filled with a lot of early gems, and quite a few new songs. The venue was remarkably nice, a grassy amphitheatre a good distance from the messy beach area the Canadian Geese have made their hangout.

Tagged: burnaby, live music is better, rem

Permalink | Comments (0)

Bettie Serveert - Ray Ray Rain

Posted by Michael Klassen on May 22, 2008

I've always had a huge soft spot for Bettie Serveert, who put out some very good records in the early/mid 90s. Pick up Lamprey and see if you can put it down. Dust Bunnies and Palomine are equally charming.

Critics say that the band never lived up to it's debut, but I think that most of the music biz had moved on from good bands with girls fronting them. I remember how frustrating it was that the best rock records came out from Liz Phair, Luscious Jackson, and Juliana Hatfield and no one wanted to play them anymore.

Singer Carol van Dyk gets extra high marks for being born in Vancouver, BC, then becoming part of one of a handful of Dutch bands to break out internationally.

Tagged: 90s music, girl rockers

Permalink | Comments (0)

The Andromeda Strain trailer

Posted by Michael Klassen on May 14, 2008

I am extremely doubtful that the A&E 2-night version of The Andromeda Strain will top the original 1971 version. Here's a pretty good old trailer which indicates the sophisticated level of cinematic story-telling for this sci-fi thriller.

A further great document of the original book and movie by Michael Crichton puts the original story in context. Fears about biological warfare in the Vietnam War-era, coupled with a young 20-something author created a lot of media buzz for the original film.

Bonus points for having the very fine Canadian actor Kate Reid in perhaps her most famous role, Dr. Ruth Leavitt.

In case you haven't figured it out by now, I consider this movie as a very fine work of cinema, worth having in your personal collection.

Tagged: andromeda strain, sci fi

Permalink | Comments (0)