Six Flags Magic Mountain with a 3-year-old (trip report)

April 2, 2007 Jeffrey Graebner2 Comments

Recently, Magic Mountain was having a special promotion where if you purchased an adult season pass at the currently discounted $59 rate, they would give you a child’s season pass for free. We decided to go ahead and take advantage of the plan, since we live pretty close to the park and also because their season passes are good at all Six Flags parks and we have a June trip to Chicago planned. During that trip, we would like to visit Six Flags Great America , as that is one of the parks getting the new “Wiggles World” section, which our 3-year-old will probably get a big kick out of visiting.

The current annual pass deal also comes with a coupon book that includes a lot of rather nice bonus offers. The coupons included several merchandise and food discounts, several free guest-passes for taking non-season pass holding friends to the parks. These included 1 valid through May, one valid from July-December, and 1 valid at any other Six Flags park besides Magic Mountain. Obviously, these are not minor discount deals and they really do represent a pretty significant added value.

Since the tickets had to be purchased by the end of February to take advantage of the special offer, I actually bought them online several weeks ago. Today was the first opportunity we had to go up and get the tickets processed and spend an afternoon at the park. Right at the start, I really do have to give them points for having an exceptionally smooth and easy system in place for processing season passes that were purchased online ahead of time. They have a processing center outside the park that is specifically for online purchases and we walked in without any wait at all (same-day purchased passes, which would require more time for data entry, are processed inside the park). The whole process involved them scanning the bar-code on the ticket, taking a quick photo, and then handing you your pass. The process took all of about 2 minutes per pass. For our son’s free pass, I did have to sit down at a computer terminal and enter his information into the system, but once that was done the process was the same as for our passes. All in all, I think it was less than 10 minutes from the time we arrived at the processing center until we were ready to go into the park.

New UMPC Blog

May 7, 2006 Jeffrey GraebnerLeave a comment

I have purchased a new Ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) and as an early adopter, I expect to have a lot to say about it. Because of this, I have created the new Bigbeaks Ultra-Mobile PC Blog.

This original blog will continue to be my place to post whatever comes to mind about any other topic, but I encourage those of you with interest in UMPCs to check out that new site. I have copied the two previously posted articles about UMPCs there, plus there is a new article with my first impressions of my TabletKiosk eo v7110 UMPC.

Palm’s Future Mobile Managers and the UMPC

March 22, 2006 Jeffrey GraebnerLeave a comment

Palm’s Future Mobile Managers and the UMPC
By Jeffrey Graebner

Since the recent announcement of Microsoft’s new standards and software for what they call an Ultra-mobile PC (UMPC), which I discussed in an earlier post, there has been a fair amount of speculation in the online Palm OS user community about what this means for the future of the Mobile Manager line. I touched on this topic a bit in my previous essay, but I thought the subject deserved a more lengthy discussion.

A recent editorial by Ed Hardy at 1src.com focused quite a bit on steps that Palm could take to make the Mobile Manager line more of a direct alternative to a UMPC. I think he is largely coming at this from the wrong angle. Instead of focusing on how to compete with the UMPC as a PDA, I think that Palm needs to understand that Microsoft’s announcement essentially validates the whole concept that Palm introduced with the Mobile Managers. Instead of trying to present the LifeDrive and its successors as alternatives to the UMPC, Palm should work to help the public understand that they are versions of the same idea. If Palm intends to continue with the Mobile Manager line, within a year or so I would expect them to be able to do essentially anything that a UMPC can do.

Thoughts on Ultra Mobile PCs

March 12, 2006 Jeffrey Graebner1 Comment

Thoughts on Ultra Mobile PCs
by Jeffrey Graebner

This week, Microsoft and Intel formally announced their new design for what they call Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPC). This was the project that Microsoft had semi-mysteriously hyped under the code name “Origami” via a teaser site. These devices, which will ship later this spring, are essentially oversized PDAs running the full version of Windows XP (and eventually Windows Vista) instead of a mobile OS like Windows Mobile or Palm OS.

Like existing PDAs, these devices will use a touch screen with either no keyboard or a thumb keyboard. They will use memory cards as their primary removable storage and miniature hard drives (like the ones found in digital music players) for internal storage. Data transfer and software installation will likely be accomplished primarily via synchronization with a primary PC or over the Internet instead of through optical discs. The first devices are expected to include both wi-fi and Bluetooth for communications. The biggest advantages over existing PDAs are expected to be a larger, higher-resolution screen and, of course, the ability to run regular PC applications.

While this is unquestionably an interesting new product category, the obvious question that is widely being asked is whether or not there is actually going to be much of a market for these devices.. As I look at the description of these units, I realize that I’m likely right in the core target audience for these devices. My instinct is that I probably will own one of these within the next year or so, although there are enough unanswered questions leaving me with doubts that the first-generation models will meet my needs.

As is frequently the case with new product lines from Microsoft, the UMPC concept isn’t entirely original, although their backing and promotion should stimulate substantial growth in this type of product. A couple other companies have already put out tiny miniature-laptops that run the full version of Windows, although not with too much success. Microsoft’s own design is really a progression from the previous Tablet-PC version of the OS. In addition, my own experience with PDAs over the last few years tells me that this is basically the direction that non-cellular handhelds have already been heading.

The Producers (2005 film) – Review

January 31, 2006 Jeffrey GraebnerLeave a comment

The new musical film version of Mel Brooks’ “The Producers” is both a very entertaining update of a classic film and a valuable snapshot of the recent stage smash. While the film was largely overlooked during its recent release to movie theaters, it is very much worth seeking out.The film is a very faithful adaptation of the stage musical, all the way down to the sets and even specific elements of the staging. I saw the stage show during its 2003 Los Angeles run and found the film to be a very familiar parallel to that experience. This is not a negative, as the material generally translates well to film, retaining a very large percentage of the humor and charm of the stage version.

Part of this success comes from the fact that the material actually originated on film with Brooks’ 1968 non-musical version. This path of film to stage to film results in an unusual case where the new film is both a faithful stage adaptation and, at times, almost a shot-by-shot remake of the earlier film. While “Little Shop of Horrors” followed a similar path nearly two decades ago, the variation was much greater as the stage production did not as closely follow the content of the original film, which was also not nearly as good as the original film version of “The Producers”. This film is nearly unprecedented in the way that it is able to directly mine elements from both previous incarnations. The result is an interesting and entertaining mix of the two, although I wouldn’t consider it a replacement for either the original classic movie or the more complete stage version of the musical.

Among the most important accomplishments of this film is that it is able to capture several key performances from the original Broadway cast of the show. As Max Bialystock, Nathan Lane gives his all in what is easily his most impressive film role to date. Lane was really a perfect choice for this role in that he has a similar on-screen personality to Zero Mostel, who originated the role in the earlier film, but he also has the talent to make the role his own rather than an imitation. His performance is similar enough to be a convincing variation on the character as established through Mostel’s performance, but he brings a manic energy and theatricality to the role that gives it some new dimension. Some reviewers have argued that the performance is over-the-top for a movie and that Lane should have dialed back his performance, but I really think this would have been a mistake. The performance absolutely is more broad and dynamic than we typically see in modern movies, but that is exactly how his character should be.

My Experience with the L.A. Blackout of 9/12/05

September 13, 2005 Jeffrey GraebnerLeave a comment

As most people have probably heard, a major blackout hit much of the Los Angeles metropolitan area this afternoon. Here is an AP article about the incident.

I needed to run home at lunch hour today to pick something up that I had left at home. I live in Van Nuys and work in North Hollywood and it normally takes me 20-40 minutes, depending on traffic. The black-out hit shortly before I got home. I was stopped at a stoplight and all of a sudden the light went out. For a few moments, nobody really knew what to do, basically being unsure whether the light was out on all sides. Eventually, people cautiously went through the intersection.

Figuring that the problem was probably pretty isolated, I went ahead and just ran into home to pick up what I needed and headed back to work, assuming I would quickly drive out of the affected area. It ended up taking me over 90 minutes to get back to work. Every stoplight was out except for about the last 3 or 4 before I got to the office. I think I only encountered two that had anyone directing traffic (they were right next to schools, so there were crossing guards). Most people did seem to know what to do at a dark stoplight, but there were enough that figured they could go any time they wanted to that it got pretty scary at times.

The most interesting part of the whole thing was listening to KNX radio while driving. The first report of the outage was just a quick note that there were some reported power outages in the middle of other reports. Then the station went off the air completely for several minutes, followed by a reporter tentatively stating the call letters and saying he wasn’t sure if they were on the air. He briefly started reporting on what was going on, but stopped mid-sentence and said “Oh, we aren’t on the air”. I could then just hear him shuffling papers and talking quietly with co-workers for a minute or so until someone finally told him he actually was on the air after all.

The rest of the resort was actually really interesting, basically seat-of-the-pants journalism and was actually pretty fascinating to listen to. They had no wire services, no Internet and even the phones went out after a couple minutes. The information that they were providing mostly trickled in via cell phones (we got to hear most of the reporters’ ring tones…) and through simple observation of what they could see out the windows. They eventually got quite a bit of their information by reaching people in unaffected areas via cell phone and then asking them to fill them in on what they were seeing on TV coverage. They also got a hold of some of their field reporters (and even one that was on his way home) via cell phone and were able to relay observations. They didn’t have any way to put the people calling their cell phones on the air, so most of it was the reporters repeating what the callers were saying.

While I can’t say that I at all enjoyed having to drive that long (for one thing, I was getting a splitting headache, which this evening I now realize appears to be the flu…), but I actually am kind of glad that I got to listen to this radio coverage. It isn’t that often that we hear that kind of raw reporting anymore.

The Film Music of John Willams (Concert Review)

September 10, 2005 Jeffrey GraebnerLeave a comment

Hollywood Bowl – September 2, 2005

A concert review by Jeffrey Graebner

John Williams conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in a film music concert at the Hollywood Bowl has been an annual summer tradition for me ever since I moved to Southern California in 1996. The Friday, September 2, 2005 concert featured a good mix of selections from Williams’ own film scores as well as a few selections from other celebrated film composers.

Including a couple summers where Williams conducted multiple concerts, this was the 11th concert of his that I have attended at the Bowl. Adding a couple earlier concerts with the Boston Pops as well as one concert of mainly non-film compositions at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, this was the 14th time that I have seen Williams conduct a live concert. I’ve been a film score enthusiast since I was around 10-years-old, with Williams’ compositions being important to establishing and continuing that preference.

As is typical of Williams’ Hollywood Bowl concerts, this one featured a good mix of his extremely well-known selections as well as a few that will be very familiar to film score enthusiasts, but probably not to the more mainstream audiences that make up the bulk of the attendees. It came as no surprise that the program was dominated by his scores to films by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, but there were a few less widely recognized selections, including the welcome inclusion of some works by other film composers.

As with most concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, this one got off to a patriotic start with a performance of The Star-Spangled Banner, which was then well complemented by a performance of The Liberty Fanfare, the concert piece that Williams wrote to commemorate the re-dedication of The Statue of Liberty following its refurbishment in the late 1980s. Either this piece and/or one of Williams’ Olympic themes are usually included even when the remainder of the concert is all film music. This is a very rousing and inspirational piece that helps to quickly pull the audience into the concert. These two opening pieces were the only non-film compositions included in the concert.

A definite shift in tone came next as, without any commentary, Williams transitioned into a pair of suites illustrating opposite views of alien visitation. First was a suite from Spielberg’s 1977 classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a film that featured one of the most famous, and my personal favorite, Williams’ scores. While this was definitely not the first time I had heard a suite of music from this film performed at one of the concerts, it is always a very welcome inclusion.

The highly melodic, almost magical tones of the Close Encounters theme were then followed by the much darker and foreboding music from Spielberg’s film of War of the Worlds, which was released earlier this summer. This was Williams’ first time conducting music from this score in concert and, while it was very interesting to hear, I tend to doubt that it is going to become a concert staple. The exciting, action-oriented cue “Escape from the City” seems more likely to be used as an occasional change-of-pace interlude in future concerts than the very dark, downright mournful “Epilogue”, which was also featured.

War of the Worlds (2005)

July 2, 2005 Jeffrey GraebnerLeave a comment

A film review by Jeffrey Graebner

Steven Spielberg’s new adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic novel War of the Worlds contains many of the conventional elements of the mainstream disaster movie and adds an unusual layer of realism, both in style and characterizations. The result is a genuinely scary film that maintains a very high level of tension and excitement.

The film, which was adapted by screenwriters Josh Friedman and David Koepp (the latter also adapted Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World for Spielberg) pretty closely follows the structure of Wells’ novel, but transports the setting from 19th century London to present day New York. The central character of an absentee father (Tom Cruise) trying to escort his children to safety is created for the film, a smart decision as Wells novel was told through the eyes of an undeveloped first-person observer, an approach that wouldn’t likely work as well on film.

Cruise gives a good performance as Ray, a man who initially is not very sympathetic or heroic, but is ultimately forced to find some maturity and parental instincts by the extreme circumstances of the alien invasion. The character is a variation of the charming, cocky, but irresponsible persona that Cruise has frequently portrayed in past films and it is interesting seeing those traits treated more as negatives that need to be overcome instead of strengths, a somewhat natural progression as Cruise has become older and is naturally going to be playing characters with greater responsibilities. Ray is likable, but clearly a lousy parent who has to struggle to gain enough trust from his children to provide any chance that he can keep them safe.