As some of you may have heard or experienced, Netflix is having lots of problems with like every part of their system right now with their shipment system. After I realized the problem and got the message from Netflix apologizing for the problem, I have watched the whole thing for its humor value. I shipped in four movies on Monday, which are normally received on Tuesday (city life is awesome). I normally go through movies at a pretty fast rate (it was a summer goal of mine to watch and ship in movies the next mail day–I feel proud), so I first though it was Netflix fucking around to screw me over. On Wednesday, I got emails for the two of the four, but on my queue, all of the movies appeared to have been received on the website as the status was listed as ’shipping today.’ Normally, that message is only up for an hour or two; all of the movies I was requesting were common enough that there shouldn’t have been a problem with supply, so I realized the problem when status stayed that way that something was up. Imagine my surprise when I got Serpico on Thursday, but none of the others that were slated to come! Supposedly, everything is fixed and the last few were sent on Friday (a call to customer service revealed that there are still some more to be sent today). I got the documentary Fuck today (that was one for headphones in the maclab; the movie uses the word ‘fuck’ more than any other movie by a lot: 834 times in 93 minutes), but I am still missing two. The best part of it all is that the website is just totally and completely borked. Serpico still reads as “shipping Wednesday” along with the other two I still haven’t received, although I did receive an e-mail for Serpico on Friday. Fuck (or ‘F**k’ as netflix calls it) is registered correctly, but it was still in my queue of things yet to be shipped as well, but I deleted it. I also got an e-mail for it after I had already watched it. We will see what Monday brings…. I am supposed to receive a 15% discount for this month, which comes to about $3.50 on a 4 at a time plan, which is really just exact compensation. I average a little over 20 movies a month or more, so that means that I am paying around $1 per movie with my rental. One was delayed a day, which I can’t really complain about, but I was outed a full watch-return cycle, which by that logic is about $3. With the Olympics, there is plenty to watch, but the failure to provide service is a bigger sting. I was pretty close to canceling before they announced the problem, and I don’t really feel like they have done a whole lot to make feel better about them.

The problem is rather curious. Seems like some sort of database problem, especially with the website, but they are still managing to ship, just slowly. If the whole system was down, nothing would be coming out, and if it was some problem updating the site, the shipping would presumably still be working fine. They are somewhere between those two states. I suppose the details of the problem will  meet the news in some form sooner or later, so we will have to find out.

I spotted three local new crews today when I went to watch the UofC annual polar bear run today. It is a naked run in the quads, as part of the Kuviasungnerk and Kangeiko festival here. Events in the festival are normally early in the morning all week to celebrate winter or something dumb like that; I have never attended any of these and I expect I never will. Anyway, it finishes up with the naked run. It is 28F outside, so it is a challenge of sorts, but it is mostly an excuse for some to streak in the quads. There are always a few photographers out there, and the pics have made it to internet in various forms (see video from last year). I was surprised today to see the local news show up. I saw cameras for CBS, FOX, and WGN. It is just a little bit creepy. Slow news day or whatever, but it seemed at least a little bit odd to me. Any runners pretty well gave up there privacy, but it seems a little bit on the wrong side. Either way, it was good for a laugh. I think I might have been in one of the few pans they did of the crowd…

Update: Here are some news stories about it:

• CBS 2 Chicago write up from this morning. By hundreds of runners, they mean about 50.

Maybe more to come…

I wasn’t sure what to think when I heard that The Daily Show and The Colbert Report were returning to the air but with completely improved shows, As most people know, the writers’ strike knocked the late shows off the air, and like many, I felt the hit most with these two shows. As tonight’s shows pointed out, the writers are not exactly salt of the earth blue collars fighting for basic workers rights. Of all things, it is probably not the worst picket line to cross. Still, I found it a bit surprising that Stewart and Colbert joined the other late night hosts in going back. I really didn’t know what they had in mind. After tonight’s show, I am mixed….

Of the two, I thought Stewart handled it much better. He implied that he really didn’t want to be doing the show. For ’solidarity,’ the show’s name was changed to A Daily Show.  He focused most of the show on the details of the strike and ripped a bit into the producers. I particularly liked his bit on Viacom suing YouTube (so Google) for 1 billion dollars, comparing them to a child for choosing such an absurd sum. It seems like a fairly accurate portrayal. Even with all that he did about the strike on his show, it still seems wrong. Clips still went up online, and though I cannot check, I am sure the episode is available for download on iTunes. Doesn’t really show support for the studios if from their perspective, they are just making a hit show with a smaller budget.

I thought the way Colbert handled it was almost offensive. He spent a fair amount of the show sticking to his usual act. He stuck in character and went on about he is being perfectly consistent by breaking the picket lines. He spent a while showing how no writers meant no written material. No shit. In short, he didn’t use his relative job security to make any criticisms. It was just business as usual. It seemed like many of the jokes and rips he made were borrowed from Stewart. I really found the show surprising and disappointing.  Colbert did his time on Second City, and he always seemed to be able to rip into people far more than Stewart. Colbert, go back to Strangers with Candy, where you had some principles.

The late shows were all suffering as a result of the strike in ways that will leave permanent. I watched them because I happened to be watching Futurama and South Park on Comedy Central before they came on. I got used to not watching it, and I wasn’t really missing them after a week or so. If they hadn’t gone back on the air now, the shows might have gone under as well. It seems like their motivation for going back on the air was to save the show. All the writers striking are risking their jobs and their shows too; I don’t see why they should do differently.

Without immediate work to do, and without a desire to do any, last Friday I decided to go see Beowulf in IMAX 3D at the only place in the city limits of Chicago playing Hollywood movies on IMAX: Navy Pier. Besides the other people in the theater, a particularly obnoxious group of tourists/Chicagoans, the movie was great. I can’t imagine that this film will do to great on DVD; unfortunately, the film seemed to demonstrate that the art of films in 3D has not moved far beyond waving random things around in front of the screen. Granted, with the amazing CG on IMAX 3D, I enjoyed the experience of watching it, but I have to agree with the many critics who point out how much more shallow this movie is compared to the original poem, as much as I like Vikings in any context.

Anyways, as the title of this post suggests, I wasn’t so satisfied with Navy Pier. Friday was in fact the third time I have sworn never to return to Navy Pier as well as the third time I have been there. I suppose it is little more than a tourist trap, but I think that gives it a little too much credit. The main problem I have with it is that I can’t think of anything that is actually there. There are plenty of crap shops there, but if you really want to get pointless Chicago junk, you are about a ten minute walk away from the most trafficked part of Michigan Ave (the so called “Magnificent Mile”, as I have never referred to it as). Why anyone would want to go to Navy Pier instead of Michigan for shopping is a mystery to me. There are boat tours that do down the Chicago river or go around Lake Michigan, but the benefit to these seems to be that they in fact take you away from Navy Pier to something more interesting. When it is not freezing cold outside, there are vendors along the paths. In the summer, I can understand the attraction to a point. On the one hand, you are on the lake, which is nice, but it is still kind of like going to Disney World for a drink: you just don’t do it. Likewise, the ferris wheel is all but useless outside of summer, given the freezing temperatures and gusting winds. As I wondered around for I while, I noticed that there was a sign that said something about how the ferris wheel was brought to you by McDonald’s, complete with there slogan, “I’m Lovin’ It.” Beyond the ferris wheel and the IMAX theater, there is the Chicago Shakespeare Company’s theater, for reasons that are far beyond me. If you have a kid who needs to go to the children’s museum (I am doubtful of the quality), then it might make sense, but all in all, Navy Pier is a worthless piece of trash. The restaurants are all chains of course, which adds to the pointlessness of this place. Again with Michigan so close, I don’t know why anyone would want to go the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company or to the McDonald’s of the future (complete with the generic science museum plasma ball). After I got my ticket, I wondered over to Billy Goat Tavern for lunch–always a good time. To an otherwise great city, I consider Navy Pier to be a pretty horrid blemish.

Not to be a shameless fanboy, but I really love Woot Shirt. I am a night owl, so I have no problem whatsoever checking this site all the time. There are at least a few decent ones per week, and $10 for a decent t-shirt with shipping included is hard to argue with. Since all the designs are done by random people, and there are random contests to decide some. I have definitely purchased quite a few of these. Anyways, its worth a look or two if you haven’t already seen it.

While browsing the UChicago Law School’s website tonight, I noticed that the there was a podcast of the keynote address given by Cindy Cohn, legal director of the EFF, at a recent symposium held at the Law School. I had the privilege of attending; it was a really enjoyable talk. I thought the crowd was kind of funny when I attended; I noticed that most of the law students were dressed more formally than Cindy Cohn, but I won in the informal dress category with shorts (yes, the talk was in November in Chicago), sandals, a t-shirt, and a hoodie. Different cultures I suppose. The talk was definitely more for lawyers than anyone else, but I still learned quite a bit about the EFF’s recent dealing, and the current state of the law and the Internet. See: Post on Law School site MP3 File

To further my addiction to gadgets, I have purchased the Archos PMA430. Every mp3 player I have owned (that is, things I got as mp3 players) has been an Archos thus far. To put it quite simply, Archos does what I want; I don’t have to use any particular media player or operating system to transfer data (has always worked as a USB mass storage device), I can record stuff, and there are usually a few more features. I got this one because my archos gmini 200 is starting to show it physical and technological age (because 3-4 years is somehow old). Anyways, I saw this thing for sale for $200 off something on dealhack and decided to go for it. Enough with the brutal details.

What I find curious about it is the price I got. Obviously, I did some reading first. cNet called it the “holy grail” of whatever the hell you call this class of devices. The main problem they raised was price. When it came out in 2005, this thing cost something like $800. I wouldn’t pay $800, but I would pay a decent amount for a Linux-based mp3/video player/recorder, with wi-fi, and a slue of other crap from a brand I trust. I just don’t get how they make money. They don’t have a page on their site anymore for this thing; they have pawned it off to second-sellers at this point. Every time I have gotten something from them, I have been amazed out how far ahead of Apple they always are. Perhaps Archos moves too fast for the general public, but I tend to think that they just market badly and don’t have the best hardware designers out there (that is, design of appearance). I just don’t get it.

Anyways, this thing has been added to my daily device set. Currently, this set is my cellphone, this thing now, and my nokia n800. As of one day of use, it looks like I should have some fun with this thing. One thing I will miss is that I got to a point with my gmini where I could operate it almost fully without looking at it. I can’t do that with this thing, so I am going to have to start using things like playlists. I also have an Archos something 700, which has a huge screen and many of the same features, but it not at all portable. I think I am going to start using the DVR functions on these things a lot more. Transfer is easy as those two can act as hosts to other USB things. The main problems I read about involved the wi-fi, and battery life. I haven’t had troubles with the wi-fi, but I don’t think I will really ever use it since I have the n800, which already serves the purpose better than thing could so it is not really a problem. I haven’t really been able to test battery too much, but I it needs a lot of juice for video, so music time benefits a lot. We will see how it works out….