Chris

I never eat lunch at home. Well, almost never. Lunch is one of those meals that’s fun to have out. Let’s face it, I like to eat out so really every meal is fun to have out. Lunch, though, is my particular favorite.

What’s so special about it? Your just going to a place and eating food, right? That’s a big part of it, of course. I like to go and eat food with friends and talk about this or that. So, it becomes more of a social occasion and a chance to catch up on the latest news or the latest gadget or the latest whatever. It’s about coming together as a group and interacting.

Take today, for example. ADD, J-Rod, the wife and I went to one of our favorite places in Studio City, LaLa’s. It’s an Argentine style grill like Gaucho Grill (another popular LA restaurant) only much better. The food is great and so is the service. I think much of the great service has to do with the fact that we have gone there at least once a week for over three years. That doesn’t take away from the fact that its a great place to go. If it wasn’t good, we wouldn’t have gone there so much.

Of course, for many people in this town, lunch is about business. As this town is all about showbiz, closing the “big deal” or convincing Colin Farrell to be in your movie are all part of the lunch experience. Seeing and being seen is also part of it. Where do you sit and with whom is very important to many LA “industry” guys and gals.

You’ve seen them if you’ve been in LA for very long. The middle-aged “Producer” sitting at a table with two very young and hot blondes talking loudly about his big deal with “Steven” so that everyone has to look . Or, the hot Director du jour sitting, sunglasses on, arguing with his “Manager” about why he should get final cut on his first film because “Quentin” got it and he made such a “kick ass” short film at the Los Angeles Film School.

Or, the aging male former action star trying not to be recognized by his teeming mass of “fans” but secretly praying he will be. Proving he hasn’t been forgotten. Or, a moderately successful sitcom star who gets angry when he has to wait for anything and feels he has to say “do you know who I am?” to anyone within earshot. Yeah, I know who you are. I just don’t give a crap and I never watch your show anyway.

See, lunch can be an experience. Sometimes its just food. And sometimes, it can be life or death.

Bush taps former NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik to be the new Czar of Homeland Security. He took care of business during and after 9/11 and went to Iraq to train the Iraqi police force. Not a job for the timid as they seem to get blown up quite a bit.

So, despite being a Republican, he seems like an excellent choice. Maybe he will be more interesting than Tom Ridge. Hopefully more effective too.

And, the Canadian iTunes music store is now officially open, eh? Sorry, my wife has relatives from Canada so I can make fun of them. They are funny after all. However, I really do like some things about Canada. . . Give me a minute . . . Well, moving on . . .

Also, Microsoft launched their new blogging service called MSN Spaces. Unfortunately, it has a few drawbacks. Among them is the fact that some words are censored by the site, including words on the famous Seven Dirty Words list. Also, a few random other words or phrases that don’t necessarily have a logic to them.

The worst part though it that everything you post there is owned by Microsoft, as evidenced by this terms of use statement:

“For materials you post or otherwise provide to Microsoft related to the MSN Web Sites (a “Submission”), you grant Microsoft permission to (1) use, copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, modify, translate and reformat your Submission, each in connection with the MSN Web Sites, and (2) sublicense these rights, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law. Microsoft will not pay you for your Submission.”

I think I’ll stick to Typepad where I can use words like dick, fuck, shit and asshole and own what I write.

Dammit!

I know, I’m probably starting to sound like a broken record (starting?) but for corn sake people, go out and get a Macintosh. The study is interesting in that the Windows machines that were not compromised had an active firewall and Service Pack 2, both of which require attention by the user.

On the other hand, the Mac OSX machine was completely secure right out of the box with no firewall in place. As was the machine running Lindows (a form of Linux). So, you bring home a Mac from the store, plug it in, get on the internet and that’s it, you can go about your business.

On the other hand, bring home a Windows machine, plug it in, turn it on, and it can be compromised and hacked in less than four minutes unless you install Service Pack 2 and remember to activate or install a firewall. Now, which machine would you rather have? Ok, I’ll say it one more time for the people in the cheap seats: THE MAC.

And in other news, Tom Ridge, Homeland Czar, is stepping down. So long Tom and thanks for all the security. Actually, I think Tom was (is) a pretty decent guy who had a really tough job to do. Nobody in the intelligence “community” likes to share so that makes things pretty difficult I’m sure. We’ll see who the next person is and how well they do. John Kerry as Homeland Czar? Mmmmm.

And here’s something I don’t really understand (and neither does Pat Sajak. Yes, I said Pat Sajak. Give him a change, he makes some sense.) Dutch director Theo Van Gogh is brutally murdered while minding his own business and nobody in the Hollywood “community” says anything about it. Odd? You bet. Well, it is almost Oscar time so really, who can blame them?

Cheers.

I have emerged fully from my Thanksgiving induced food coma and am back to work (real and fun). So, let’s go to the tech news and other bits of note:

For the environmentally aware among you who also crave tasty treats, check out the human powered ice cream maker. You can walk your dog or hike in the hills and all the while, churn out creamy, icy goodness to enjoy afterward.

Also, according to a recent study, six out of ten holiday shoppers are going to be spending less this year due to concerns over cyber-security. Some of the reasons they had: concerns about identity theft (which was cited by 52 percent of respondents); fear of credit card theft (44 percent); concerns about spyware attacks (44 percent); and wariness of receiving spam from a Web site after making an online purchase (44 percent.

And, as much as I may question some of his choices as a filmmaker, Jim Cameron is right on as he talks about going to Mars and exploration in general. A good read.

Ok, that’s all for now, the damn Christmas music at my local Starbucks is really driving me nuts. Can’t there be a law that doesn’t allow Christmas music and decorations until December? I would vote for that one in a heartbeat.

Cheers.

I don’t always follow sports as I don’t play them much anymore. However, its good to see the hometown boys kick some ass.

Now first place in the AFC West. Thank you. Thank you very much. Could this be the start of a dynasty? Let’s not get our hopes too high just yet. It would be nice to see the Chargers in the “Big Game” more than once every ten or fifteen years though.

Hey, maybe they could even win it in my lifetime? Anything is possible. Hey, at least I’m not a Cubs fan.

Cheers.

Although I deal mostly with the Macintosh, I do work with Windows as well so I feel the pain for these guys. Fun way to spend a couple of days.

Ok, continue to enjoy your weekend. Cheers.

Happy Thanksgiving All. And, Happy Birthday to the Bush twins who turn 23 today. See, I’m not bitter.

The winners of the 2004 (and 59th) College Photographer of the Year have been announced. Check them out. Some great photographs.

And, more on the post from yesterday regarding iPods boosting Mac sales. It’s called momentum people.

For some of my friends who love Dr. Who, the show was first broadcast on this day in 1963. Happy anniversary Dr.

Also, in other news, Google is being sued by an adult website saying the internet search engine’s image search is delivering thumbnails of its pictures for free.

And, in TiVo news. The company ended its third quarter with 2.3 million users. That’s more than twice what it had a year ago but it still lost money in the quarter. Unfortunately, 61% of Tivos are sold through DirecTV, and Tivo only gets $1.30 a month from those customers. 

Also, large marketing expenses helped boost Tivo’s losses to $26 million last quarter, more than three times the losses of a year ago. Revenue was aldo down 11.4%. Now, they are thinking of putting banner adds on the screen when you fast-forward through commercials. I’m not sure that’s the way to keep customers and attract new ones. Has TiVo become the new Apple?

Finally, Apple’s stock price has hit a four year high due to ipod sales. An analyst at Piper Jaffray says this is for real. His research shows that ipods end up selling people on Macs. They see how great the ipod is and decide that the computer must be that great as well. Then, they buy a Mac. He’s increased his price target for the stock to $100. The stock is currently over $61.

So, take that Apple haters. As I said before, Apple isn’t going anywhere.

I’ve been waiting for this gadget to arrive for many moons. I have been searching for the perfect PDA/Phone/etc. combo and I hoped that the Treo 650 would fit the bill. But this is a bummer. Now, I don’t know what to do. Maybe it will end up not being a big deal.

Although, the Sony Ericcson P910 is starting to look better and better. Now, if only it wasn’t $800.00. Oh well, I guess you can’t have everything.