The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company By David A. Price, Narrated by David Drummond (Read Via Audible.com)
This book is obviously about the story of Pixar up till just after the Disney purchase and the release of Ratatouille. The relief of this book on how it was not an official PR approved piece. It did get into the details of the Disney issues and the internal politics at play on the Disney board. Not to mention some of Pixar’s more dark times.
The major piece that I found interesting was that Pixar was founded as a hardware company, and it looked like Jobs believed its market was as a hardware vendor. For a time, the animation department only survived for two reasons: One to help with the promotion of the product and two, to help pay the bills.
The other note that was interesting on how the author viewed Ed Catmul’s opinion of personal computers for a long time. That he thought they were not useful for a long time. However then again he did use computers that were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is very much like a person who uses a super computer must feel today.
This is a solid 8/10 for a good biography of the founding of Pixar and the major players who surrounded it.
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic By Chalmers Johnson, Narrated by Tom Weiner (Read Via Audible.com)
I actually picked this book up on the recommendation of Bill Moyers, after watching his piece on ‘Washington for Sale?’
This book, may be as Moyers points out a few years old but very much still relevant.
The biggest tidbit I got out of the book was something I never knew. The United States has a rather large assortment of military bases all over earth. What was never mentioned to me was that the nations who ‘Host’ the US Bases actually pay the US a “Burden Sharing” fee. The original concept goes back to Romans who taxed for a similar service. The reason behind the Host Nation Support vig is that since the US has a base on their soil, the host nation should be obligated to help pay for them to deter common enemies. This is HUGE money that mostly have come from nations that the US won against in the past. For example Japan, in 2002 payed 4.4 billion to host the US military. Germany as well was in the billions and numerous others.
This key point is why the concept of ‘just closing bases and bringing the troops home’ is a little bit more complicated that I originally thought. Because right now the bulk majority of the costs to run these bases overseas are in effect being subsidized by other countries under very interesting agreements to say the least. To bring these bases back to American soil, Americans would then have to flip the bill.
This book was a very eye opening read, and gave me a better picture of how the US defense system is currently organized.
A solid 9/10 for a great read on the state of the US Defense Department and Political System per say.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest - By Stieg Larsson (Read Via Amazon.com Import)
You know a book is good when you read the entire thing in one day.
This book is about the ‘Trial’ of Lisbeth Salander. Moreover the book actually more focusses on Mikael Blomkvist’s journey (a friend/reporter) to help Salander than anything. I felt that the trial itself albeit well crafted and fun to read with a twist. Salander was apart from it. Meaning when she finally won it was not her victory but Blomkvist’s in a way. Which I found fascinating. And the sad part is that I can and do picture this type of coverup happening in real life.
I really like is how Larsson rounded off ‘the nature of relationships and interaction’ theme. It did not have a typical american hollywood ending. Salander could now start here life, and not live in a state of flux. The best way I can put it is when Salander just ended the trial. She finally felt empty, black slateish, starting of a new beginning type of feeling. It reminds me of the music from Moby playing at the end of each of the Bourne movies. That this person, is just trying to live a genuine life and now they can finally do it. Life unlike fantasy is never a clean slate and those old friendships even after a large drama still can be maintained. In the end its just like getting used to a new pair of shoes, you have to spend the time getting used to the new feeling and moving forward.
10/10 for the entire series.
| — | John Gruber - Via Macworld Pulse - Youtube |
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, Narrated by Simon Vance (Read Via Audible.com)
What a first book!
The story revolves around Mikael Blomkvist, a writer/publisher of Millennium. The story starts of Mikael being prosecuted for libel for a story he published about Hans-Erik Wennerström. After getting burned and his reputation in the can. He was then offered a ‘freelance assignment’ for an old acquaintance named Henrik Vanger, a retired industrialist and former CEO of the Vanger Corporation. Henrik knew Mikael from his childhood where he used to play when he was young. He tasked Mikael to give a fresh look on a mystery that was plaguing him for half his life. The disappearance of his great-niece Harriet Vanger.
What surprised me the most about going back to the first book on how much character there is. Reading it took me through great character arcs of both Blomkvist and Salander. I really saw how they evolved as people in the first book and how that information shaped them for their transition for the second book. Brilliant!
One of the great themes over the two books (so far I have read) which I really love is the nature of relationships and interaction. This book had a great quibble that really highlighted this theme. To paraphrase Blomkvist: Friendship has two key parts; trust and respect. It has been one of this trilogy’s greatest strengths so far. That these two characters are by no means have lived a picturesque lifestyle. In the case of Salander, she has lived almost the opposite - the trifecta of Epic Fail really.. However the roots are there, and the dynamic between them is just plain gold to read and to reflect on.
I have to say, so far this is definitely a series I do see myself reading over and over again (hopefully the last book can do the same!).
10/10
The story is that I wanted to try out the Crossover Games product to see how it preformed. So as expected I hoarded out my email address to try it legally. To my surprise it actually ran Steam remarkably well (notably TF2). Much better than running it in VMware Fusion. My only few sour points of the product were the minor sound issues (I run digital out of my mac) and some mouse tracking issues. My experience that the mouse was not just right, very similar to playing Bioshock on the PC. Laggy. Overall I thought it was just about worth the investment, as I do like supporting independent software companies.
Then I received this email:
GOSH! Maybe its just me. As a company why would you want to present you brand by in my words ‘scamming’ your customers with this type of payment solution?
Let me explain…
Trialpay is a company built on the concept that people don’t want to pay for software. I think it has a big influence from the media industry where a lot of people make a living off an ad-based business model. Anyway, their website actually provides a good diagram of how they work:
I do respect this type of business model, however I feel that this cheapens your brand. Instead of a customer actually purchasing your product, the practically get it for ‘Free’. As a result, the perceived value goes down. I do realize the point of getting a vig from a advertiser for a conversion is always better than nothing at all, but it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe its just I am seeing more and more companies getting into the whole ad-supported game, and I am almost at a tipping point where I can’t take it anymore… more on that later.
My favorite part of its Terms of Service:
e. You may not sign up for an advertiser offer with the intent to immediately cancel or return the item or service from the advertiser. A “quick cancellation” is considered to be fraudulent, and may void your order. TrialPay may, at its discretion, suspend or revoke your right to use the TrialPay service if you are found to have engaged in such activity.
The one thing I am very impressed about is their own website. It is actually well designed, and clearly laid out. The UX is very good. But at the end of the day… at this moment in time, personally I don’t really agree with this type of model of telling your customer to spend their money on goods somewhere else just to get yours for free.
Is everything monetized by advertising these days?
It is not often that something is done just for love anymore. You can call it a product of this society, where being happy is just not enough. In fact, it’s expected to boast about status about how many toys you have. So that your inner self-image feels better than your fellow peer down the street.Yes, this way of living today does work, and works very well which arguably makes people happy if not very.
However, what happened to when life was not based on materialistic views? Or has it ever? Was there a time where everyone worked in a symbiotic relationship with each other towards common goals? Where has this kind of thought gone? Who is responsible? Moreover, why did this concept of love morph from being thoughtful and genuine to the Kuenstler Script typeface on the front of a Hallmark Card marking “I love you”?
This concept has evolved, but not without a catalyst. Which has influenced the progression of the concept of love into something that can be just acquired like a pair of socks or shoes instead of the core thought and dedication to develop this feeling into something genuine. This catalyst did not come alone either, but with baggage of a simpler time where influence alone corrupted society. Are we all mad? Yes? No? The answer unfortunately is not black and white. To answer this question, we need to look into the catalyst because as what the word means has influenced this concept of love the most. Money.
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson, Narrated by Simon Vance (Read via Audible.com)
I ran into this book while browsing Audible, I decided to listen to this book before the first because it looked like a more interesting book.
All I can say is WOW!
Lisbeth Salander is the most well written female protagonist I have ever read so far.
The story revolves around her live and how she became intertwined within a murder investigation.
I loved how Larsson laid out the story. He really focused on character. The emotion was very deep and riveting.
What was fascinating was some of the great morals I got out of the book. He really nailed the real world example of not judging a book by its cover, among others.
I definitely am going to have to listen to this again soon, but first I am going back to read the first book.
10/10 - For an exquisite character. Not to mention a great performance by Simon Vance.
