I had a nice long chat this morning with my friend Hoey, who’s thinking about switching to a Mac. As you might expect, I gave him my usual gushing recommendation. I’ve got yet another reason for him now though: iPhoto. I was finally able to use this nifty bit of software (which is free!) today. See, my digital camera is slightly older and doesn’t work well with OS X. To import my pictures, I used to have to connect the camera, boot into OS9, and use the horrible clunky software that came with it to grab them one-at-a-time. It sucked and it discouraged me from using the camera as much as I might. A few months ago I decided what I needed was a Compact Flash Card reader (i.e. a little thingy that you stick the camera’s flash card into and it pops up on your desktop like a regular drive). The only problem was getting a compatible one in Australia without paying an ungodly amount for it. I mean, these things are fifteen bucks in an American shop, yet somehow cost $115 here. Ridiculous. The Snook somehow managed to find a shop that had some for $70, which was slightly more reasonable, so today I shlepped the laptop across town so we could try them out in the store. And guess what? We found one that works! * So now I just plug the thing in and I can transfer over all my photos with one click. I can edit them and organize them into albums, and even arrange them into a book and have it printed! I am loving this.

* Since it’s not documented anywhere that I can see, I’m posting this in the hopes other OS X users might find it. The CR-V7-UC CompactFlash Card Reader works great with Mac OS X. No drivers or software are needed. You just plug the thing in and it works! Plus it’s a lot cheaper than the “name brand” ones Apple have listed at their site. Just a tip!

The Snook and I saw two very different and interesting movies this weekend. The first was Princess Mononoke, which we’ve had on DVD for ages but somehow never got around to viewing. We watched the dubbed version, thinking it might be easier to get into the story. Big mistake. Instead I spent half the film going, “That’s Billy Bob Thornton! … That’s Claire Danes! … That’s Jada Pinkett Smith!” Didn’t really help with the suspension of disbelief, you know? I understand that Miramax wanted big names in order to entice folks who don’t normally watch anime to pick this one up, but I feel like it might have served the story better to use voices we didn’t automatically recognize. Next time we watch it, we’ll use the subtitles. Anyway, aside from the voices I thought it was great. I’m not much of an anime fan, but you don’t have to be with this film. It really works on the level of an epic live-action picture. The characters are still stylized, but the backgrounds and scenery are on a level with anything Disney’s ever done. The plot was much more intricate than I’d expected and I was never quite sure who to cheer for (that’s part of the reason it’s so good). Check out Ebert’s review for a professional opinion. If you’re in the video store and you feel like something different, I recommend you pick this one up.

The other film we saw was Dirty Deeds, a new Australian film that’s just opened. The Snook’s a big Bryan Brown fan, so I dutifully went along even though I hate gangster pictures. To my amazement I found myself really enjoying it! The actors are all amazing, especially Brown, Toni Collette, and John Goodman. In fact, Goodman’s character was the most interesting of all to me. The Chicago mafia has sent him and his partner to Sydney to get in on the lucrative poker machine gambling business. The partner is a volatile psychopath, but Goodman is a good-hearted guy who wishes he’d gotten out of the profession years ago. Brown plays the kingpin of the Sydney “pokies” racket, who’s trying desperately to protect his little empire from these larger American forces. He’s also introducing his nephew to the business, a young guy that’s just returned from Vietnam. I really enjoyed seeing the way director David Caesar drew parallels between the two sets of men: the older, experienced Brown and Goodman and their younger, immature protegés. The cinematography is also excellent, with lots of flashy camera angles and movement. Like I said, I went in expecting to tolerate it, and instead I really liked it. Highly recommended (if it ever makes it to the States). Oh, a word of warning though: these are THICK Australian (“‘Strine”) accents. Even I had difficulty with some of them at the beginning. It’s not quite Trainspotting, but you do have to pay attention.

Everybody’s up in arms about this list of One Hundred Albums You Should Remove from Your Collection Immediately. Personally I find it pretty funny. I love that U2’s The Joshua Tree is at #2. “Oh, to be earnest, politically correct, Christian, and filthy rich. It’s been 15 years since the birth of this critical and popular favorite, and U2-worship still hasn’t been eradicated. When will it stop? When you do the right thing and retire this pompous collection of religious rock songs, that’s when.” HA! Anyway, I’ve got eleven of these, and I pretty much agree with his assessments. At any rate, I hardly ever listen to them, with the exception of REM’s “Out of Time”. And I can’t even argue with his criticism of that; the rap with KRS-ONE was heinous. How many have you got? Do you cherish these albums, or are you now embarrassed that you bought them in the first place?

Please list your suggestions for our first book in the comments. Once we’ve got a good selection, we’ll have a vote. Then we’ll have all August to read it, and we’ll have our first discussion at the end of the month. Sound good? Some thoughts:

• It might be a good idea to include a link to the book’s page on Amazon. That way people can check it out to see if they’d like to select it.
• Speaking of Amazon, commonly-available books are better than obscure ones. We’re not all in the same country, so we’re going to have to limit ourselves to stuff most people can find in libraries or bookshops.
• Shorter is better than longer. 🙂
• We’re not in school; we’re not trying to go through the “canon” of Great Books or anything. We can pick fun stuff.
• Feel free to throw out as many suggestions as you like, and to comment on others’ suggestions. After all, if everybody else has already read something, there’s no point considering it, right?

If you have no clue what we’re talking about but you think you might like to be involved, here’s the original post that started everything. Everyone is welcome to join in!

Friday Five:

1. Where were you born?
I hate this question. *bracing for laughter* Hicksville, Ohio. Seriously. My parents lived in Indiana, but Hicksville is real close to the state line and thus was closest, I guess.

2. If you still live there, where would you rather move to? If you don’t live there, do you want to move back? Why or why not?
Well, I never lived there. I guess I’d like to move back to Indiana some day. It’s a good safe place to raise kids, and the cost of living is low. It’s got nice hot summers and cold snowy winters. I liked it.

3. Where in the world do you feel the safest?
Back in Indiana, no question. I never realized til I left how sheltered we were there. Granted, bad stuff still happens, but it’s mostly of the “car hitting a deer” variety as opposed to, say, violent crime.

4. Do you feel you are well-traveled?
Surprisingly, no. I’ve been to a lot of countries, but I don’t think having a stamp in your passport means that you know anything about the place. It just drives me crazy how many Americans have no desire to experience life outside their own country. Do you know how many Americans have passports? Like, less than any other civilized nation in the world. Even Australians, who are much more isolated than Americans, do way more traveling to other countries. I purposefully tried to make sure that my brother and sister would visit overseas (him to Germany, her to England), if only to open their eyes a little bit to a world outside the U.S. It’s such a shock to realize that there are places where under-21s can drink, health care is available for all, and the government isn’t in the pocket of big business and religious wackos. But I’m getting off on a rant. To answer the question, yes, I’ve traveled a lot, but nowhere near as much as my non-U.S. friends have. So I suppose I’m only well-traveled compared to my fellow Yanks.

5. Where is the most interesting place you’ve been?
People think Australia is pretty exotic, but the bits where people live (the cities along the coast) are fairly Westernized. I’d probably say Singapore was the most interesting. It just seemed more “foreign” than any other place I’ve been. (Although Rodd’s friend Kenya has invited us home to Africa next year for a safari, so I may have to revise that.) The most beautiful places were Heidelberg (in Germany), Paris, and Sydney.

The Emmy nominations are out, and once again Buffy gets the shaft. Bastards. Six Feet Under did fantastically well, though. I think every one of the main cast got an acting nomination. (Don’t bother going to the official Emmy site. It’s crap. The nominations are everywhere else on the Web but those idiots haven’t even updated their own site yet.)

New Poll: I’m cookin’ you breakfast. How do you like your eggs?

Diet Update
Well, it’s been a week and as near as I can tell, I’ve lost over 8 pounds. That sounds like a lot but I’ve still got a long way to go. I am noticing that some of my jeans feel looser, though. I’ve started taking a vitamin supplement (as Atkins recommends) but I haven’t noticed any effect from that yet. I also harnessed some of this new-found energy yesterday and headed back to the gym for the first time in a week. I did my entire weightlifting workout PLUS two miles on the treadmill. Surprised even me! And what’s more – I think I’m going to go run again today… outside! Y’all have convinced me to give it a try. I’ve got a little two-mile route planned out through the neighborhood. I’ll let you know how it goes. Later: It didn’t go so well. I wore way too much clothing, and within 10 minutes I was sweating bullets. Next time I’ll forgo the sweat pants and long-sleeve T-shirt in favor of cooler attire.

On the food front, meals are getting less boring as I figure out how to cook more stuff with the limited carbs I’m allowed. I’ve become the Queen of Eggs. I fry ’em, I boil ’em, I make omelettes. Yesterday alone I made deviled eggs AND a chicken-egg salad. I’ve also decided that as I’m not drinking or eating sugar, I am allowed a new vice – Diet Coke. I always hated the stuff before, but somehow now that I’ve kicked the sugar habit it tastes a lot better. I think I prefer the Lemon version, even though it originally reminded me of Pledge. But I drink a can or two of that everyday and pretend that I’m getting lots of sugary goodness. It helps.

Gah. Too much new Apple coolness! Brain suffering overload. 20GB iPods that come with belt clip, remote, new headphones, and work on PCs! iTunes 3 with smart playlists and audiobook support! 17-inch iMacs with SuperDrives and 80GB hard drives! And finally, the piéce de resistance, Mac OSX 10.2 (codename “Jaguar” – I love that!). And I’m spent.

Do Tara D a favor and go vote for her blog in the Bloggys Humorous category. Thanks.