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Goodbye to Gates
by Amazon Software Editors at 2:27 PM PDT, June 24, 2008
As Bill Gates approaches his last day (well, sort of) at Microsoft, speculation is rampant about the company’s future. Features on Gates are rampant as well--Gates as iconoclast, Gates as $58 billion geek overlord, Gates as industry innovator, Gates as far-reaching philanthropist, Gates as the root of all evil, and so on, ad infinitum. Allison Linn over at MSNBC sums up the many faces of Gates nicely in this article. Or get the company line here. But--as Bill shuffles off into the sunset, the whirr of a billion PCs and Xboxes subsiding behind him, the clicking of so many peripherals becoming a distant tap, I find it entertaining to consult a few pictures of a younger, more innocent Gates, with a net worth several decimal points to the left. Newsweek posted this then-and-now photo in a recent article:
Who could have guessed? Surely none of those folks anticipated global domination. And there’s Gates at bottom left. Those are not the eyes of a cunning businessman. That’s the bug-eyed fatigue of someone staring at too many lines of code, if I’m not mistaken. But maybe he knew, just maybe. Perhaps this old mug shot from The Smoking Gun is more revealing:
He knew, didn’t he? Regardless, a Harvard dropout with a net worth exceeding that of many countries makes for a great story, and we can all agree on at least one thing about Mr. Gates, aptly illustrated, as Forbes’ Hayes Davenport points out here, when he took the stand himself in 1998’s antitrust suit: The guy has guts. That’s something all of us--from misfit to mogul, twerp to tycoon--ought to appreciate. ~ Jason P. Cover Art Voting Contest for The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
by Armchair Commentary at 4:51 PM PST, December 19, 2007
   Click here by December 27th to vote for your favorite design, which will be featured as the cover art for the new Special Edition of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. This title is also now available for pre-order on DVD and Blu-ray. Don't miss this Amazon.com exclusive opportunity to choose the new cover of this classic film. Vote now!
In topics: Pioneers, Family Room, Fantasy, LOL!!1!, Guilty Pleasures, Comedy, On the Cover, Action, Surveys, Watch this!, Film Vault, Collectibles, Exclusives, Remakes, Under the Radar, Cult Films, Amazon Insider
The Newest Superhero
by Chordstrike at 6:11 PM PST, November 20, 2007
M.I.A. is my new hero. Actually, she's been my hero for a while, but last week I got a solid reminder as to why. A few of us on the Music team were fortunate enough to go to the SOLD OUT show Friday night in Seattle (a couple of us even superfanned it over to Easy Street Records so we could meet her in person). It’s funny, like many artists, she verged on shy in person, but she transformed herself into a hip-hop superhero once she took the stage. Between her wardrobe, posturing, gigantic sunglasses, stunt work, amazing 70's inspired video game graphics, and her take-no-prisoners delivery, she was able to whirl the crowd into a frenzy (at one point, a sizable chunk of the audience ended up on stage). Here is a good recap of the show--you'll have to scroll down to the November 17 entry (thanks, Gabi for forwarding). As far as I am concerned, the next logical step for MIA is her own cartoon series where she saves the world with her super powers. And oh, yah, if are a fan of music at all, I highly recommend catching her live. ~Renata
In topics: Music Addict, Pioneers, Global Groove, Fashion, Indie, Digital Music, Pretty People, Alternative, Under the Radar, Editors' Picks
DVDs Go Green
by Armchair Commentary at 12:32 PM PST, November 7, 2007
It seems
that all we're seeing in Hollywood these days is green, from the celebrities
like Mel Gibson and Leonardo DiCaprio promoting their electric rides to
this year's Oscars, which provided carbon offsets in place of pricy gift bags
to presenters. The eco-trend is hitting DVD-land with the success
of An Inconvenient Truth (100% of proceeds from which benefit The
Alliance for Climate Protection) and today's announcement by 20th Century Fox
Home Entertainment of their first DVD release that is completely "carbon
neutral" (from the studio: "the carbon impact of the production,
manufacture and distribution of the
 Futurama - Bender's Big Score DVD was directly assessed and actively reduced. For the unavoidable
emissions, the studio used high-quality, verified carbon offsets.")
The DVD even features a cameo by former Vice President and Nobel Peace
Prize-winning environmental advocate Al Gore, guest starring as himself.Will other studios continue this eco-friendly trend? We sure hope so. -- Libby The Truth is Out There
by Amazon.com Bookstore at 10:18 AM PDT, October 12, 2007
As widely expected, Fmr. Vice President Al Gore, in conjunction with the U.N. climate panel, was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize today for his work in raising awareness on the human-made threats to the global environment.Centerpieced by An Inconvenient Truth, which was both a runaway bestseller and an Academy Award(tm) winning documentary, Gore's efforts have pushed countries to "go green" by restricting emissions and rewarding advances in eco-friendly technology. He is currently working on his second book, The Path to Survival, which will be available in April 2008. Also as expected, the award was not without controversy, as some openly questioned the Nobel Committee's decision. Czech President Vaclav Klaus was "somewhat surprised that Al Gore got the Peace Prize, because the relation between his activities and world peace is unclear and indistinct. It rather seems that Gore's questioning of the basic foundation stones of the current civilization does not contribute to peace much." However, fellow activist and Nobel Peace prize front-runner Sheila Watt-Cloutier best summed up the sentiment of environmentalists across the globe: "The Planet Earth is a winner today and that is what counts for me." --Dave Birthday Bonanza
by Amazon.com Bookstore at 8:52 AM PDT, September 19, 2007
The literary stars must be in alignment late September, as birthday candles flicker for some of the most influential writers of all-time during the latter part of this month. I opted to highlight a few below en masse, as the "Happy Birthday" posts would quickly fill up this blog if I tackled 'em one-by-one.
September 20th - Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) September 21st - H. G. Wells (1866-1946) Stephen King (b. 1947) September 24th - F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) September 25th - William Faulkner (1897-1962) September 26th - T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) September 30th - Truman Capote (1924-1984) If you also celebrate a birthday over the next 10 days, you might want to pick up a pen (or laptop) and unlock your own inner writer. I'm available for representation if it works out. --Dave BEA 2007: Peanuts Q&A with Schulz Biographer David Michaelis
by Amazon.com Bookstore at 12:08 AM PDT, June 21, 2007
 When I mentioned my second interview subject of the day on the Friday of BookExpo to my first interview subject, Ann Patchett, she said, "I'd read a biography of Charles Schulz!" and we immediately traded stories about how Peanuts collections were the first books we remembered reading and feeling we owned. David Michaelis's upcoming biography, Schulz and Peanuts, is perfectly timed to meet a new way of thinking about Peanuts and Schulz. Since the strip ended the day after Schulz's death in 2000, Schulz has gone from being seen a sort of warm-puppy national treasure to one of the great artists of the last century, thanks to the new respectability of comics and, in large part, to Fantagraphics' gorgeous ongoing series of reprints of the Complete Peanuts. (As it happens, as I was getting ready to talk to Michaelis, Eric Reynolds of Fantagraphics walked by and stopped to tell Michaelis what good things he had already heard about his book from comics titans like Art Spiegelman.) I read a few pages of those collections to my kids over breakfast every morning (we've made it up to September 1953 so far), and every morning I'm reminded of how intensely I remember those punch lines from when I first read them 30 years ago. (Here's one from yesterday, Charlie Brown to Shermy: "I can get a better role in the pirates game going on across the street.") Schulz and Peanuts won't be out until October, but here's an early sample of my talk with David Michaelis: Amazon.com: There seems like there's a Charles Schulz moment happening, where people are coming to see his work in a different way than they did 10 or 20 years ago. Michaelis: I remember when I first proposed this biography to various publishers in New York, there was the immediate idea: how will we market Charles Schulz five, six, seven years from now? There was real resistance to the idea that Schulz would be marketable in 2007, and it was something of a surprise for some people to discover the comics themselves had grown and become without question the most sophisticated--I think--form of communication in the culture right now. Amazon.com: It's hard to imagine that there wouldn't be interest. He was such a major figure for so much of the 20th century. Michaelis: I think that the brand--without making a terrible judgment, because if I'm bringing home a Snoopy plush doll to my kid, there's really no better thing--there is however a great obscuring, an eclipsing of the strip by the brand. People continued to love Peanuts, but I think what they were loving was a Peanuts that had less and less to do with the strip and more and more to do with the figures apart from the strip. I think what's happened now is that the strip has become the thing again, and people are understanding and recognizing that that's the source from which all genius flowed originally. Amazon.com: Your previous biography was of N.C. Wyeth, and there's a great story about when you first talked to Schulz's widow about writing the book. Michaelis: Sarah Boxer's magnificent obituary in the New York Times, the day after Schulz died, was to me a revelation. I looked at it and said, Wow, this is a great American story. I could see it, I could feel it, I could taste it and touch it, but I thought, I probably would be foolish to even write a letter to Charles Schulz's widow. It's far too soon. I waited a few months, wrote, and discovered from Jean Schulz, who very generously wrote back almost immediately, saying, "You'll be glad to know that Sparky had your book and was reading it just before he died, and enjoyed it." And I discovered that it was really his admiration for N.C. Wyeth's son, Andrew Wyeth, the great painter, that had prompted Schulz's interest in N.C. Wyeth, but I think he may also have seen, in the story of an undervalued illustrator, some of the characteristics of an undervalued comic strip artist, or that the value that society, that art had placed on illustration was similar to the value that it had placed on comics. Amazon.com: Scott McCloud, the comics theorist, said there's something about comics--the picture is so simple, it's easy to identify with that little icon. It's so blank you can put yourself into it, that little round head with the dots and the lines. Michaelis: And it asks you to carry so much of it with you even as you read it. I think McCloud points out that you are asked to hold the narrative in your mind as your eye flicks from panel one to panel two, and you make the jumps as you go from panel to panel, and that engages your mind--and your visual mind--in a way that even reading a novel doesn't. The novel has a whole different claim on your visual imagination. I used to wonder when I was a kid: why was Veronica, or Betty, alternatively, depending on what kind of a day it was, why were they so sexy? Why did I have a boy's response to these really quite bland comic strip characters? And it's an example of how direct the form is. It's getting inside you so directly. --Tom
Palm Wants You to Make Friends with Foleo
by Amazon Current at 12:00 PM PDT, May 30, 2007
Over Memorial Day weekend, I got an email from Palm's press center letting me know I should start working myself into a tizzy for a major announcement on the 30th of May. Would it be a Palm OS-powered ultra-mobile PC, a mini Tablet PC along the lines of the Nokia N800, or would it be the return of my long lost tech love, the Ergo Audrey Internet appliance?
Essentially, it's a Linux-based, laptop-like device with a 10-inch screen and full QWERTY keyboard that connects to your Treo via Bluetooth to enable you to work on email and Microsoft Office documents (using Documents to Go) and view images and Web pages from a device and display that's far more workable than the Treo's screen and thumb-board. Full spec details are a little sparse at the moment, but here are some highlights from the press release: The Foleo mobile companion turns on and off instantly and features fast navigation, a compact and elegant design, and a battery that lasts up to 5 hours of use. Its applications include email, full-screen web browser, and editors or viewers for common business documents such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files. The Foleo stays synchronized via Bluetooth wireless technology and uses the smartphone's radio or the Foleo's built-in Wi-Fi radio for general Internet connectivity.
Now, I've been a Palm fan for a long time (as well as an author/editor of books on Palm handhelds). But I must say I'm a bit underwhelmed. It kind of reminds me of when I bought a folding keyboard for my old Palm III, which I then whipped out at meetings to take notes. However, I soon realized that hauling my laptop around was a much better solution, as I had access to all my info and docs and apps. I don't know--maybe I'm just not using my Treo to its full potential. But I just don't see the need to replace my already decently lightweight PowerBook with a "mobile companion" with a limited array of tools. For more on the Foleo (and a more enthusiastic response), check out this hands-on report from PC Magazine. It will be available this summer for $500 (after a $100 rebate). ~Agen G.N. Schmitz Charles Nelson Reilly: 1931-2007
by Amazon.com Bookstore at 12:33 AM PDT, May 28, 2007
 Very sad news hitting the wire tonight: the passing of Charles Nelson Reilly at the age of 76, due to complications from pneumonia. While Reilly made his film debut in Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd and won a Tony for his role in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and was nominated again for Hello, Dolly, he is probably best known on the pop-culture front as the campy, ascot-wearing, double-entendre dropping "gameshow fixture" on Match Game. Reilly also appeared in the classic X-Files episode "Jose Chung's From Outer Space," as well as The Larry Sanders Show, The Drew Carey Show, and SpongBob SquarePants. Along with directing plays and operas, he also toured the country with his one-man show, Save it for the Stage: The Life of Reilly, which was made into a film in 2006. He is survived by his partner, Patrick Hughes. --BTP
Thirty Years Ago
by Armchair Commentary at 9:56 AM PDT, May 24, 2007
 A long, long time ago... ok so thirty years ago, tomorrow, May 25, Star Wars was released (in just 40 theaters) and, well you know the rest. CNN has a good summary of some of the events taking place, if you're interested. What are your memories? Where did you first see it? What do you remember about your reactions? Are you still |
That’s Gates in 1977, freshly arrested for a traffic
violation (details are sparse) in Albuquerque,
New Mexico. There’s something
more to this photo: the classic, slightly awkward Gatesian smile, the seeming
comfort with being in an unfortunate situation. He’s looking directly at the
camera, just as directed, but his face seems to say: someday I will be able
to buy Albuquerque, officer. Put that in your film and develop it.
Sadly, it's none of the above. Or maybe all of the above. The newly debuted 