Haines Logo Text
Column Archive
June 8, 2010:

I, PAD

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I have been pondering the iPad. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I, BK, have been pondering the iPad. And I have to say, I am not “getting” it. I am trying to analyze why it is so popular. And I have to say, I am not “getting” it. It’s basically like an oversized, unwieldy iPhone but without the phone. You can do almost everything on the iPhone that you can do on the iPad. The iPhone fits in your pocket. The iPad might fit in the pocket of Bozo the Clown. So, what exactly does one do with the iPad? Is it just because it’s new and interesting? Is it the bigger screen and the fact that you can download a word processing program called Pages? Is it because it does lots of things and is a reader, like Kindle? And here’s the kicker – you know what’s even MORE popular than the iPad? The iPad CASE. They cannot keep the iPad case in stock. iPads they’ve got. Cases they don’t got. Now, always wanting to be on the cutting edge of everything, I looked at an iPad. I played with the iPad. Yes, it’s easier to see websites and, for example, to make a post on this here website. The keyboard is big enough that you can actually type on it easily. It’s bright and very pretty, image-wise. I suppose it could mean that you might not have to bring a laptop on a trip – for example, I could bring an iPad in my suitcase. I’d be able to write these here notes in Pages, and then cut and paste them into the usual form and post the notes. I’d be able to get on the Internet whether there was wi-fi or not, since one version of the iPad (slightly more expensive) has 3G. So, that would be one less thing to bring on the aeroplane, and that’s always a good thing. But, I just couldn’t get jazzed about it. Do any of you dear readers have such a thing as an iPad and, if so, what do you think of such a thing as an iPad? As most of you know, I purchased (very cheaply) the iPhone 3GS last Thursday. Today, the iPhone 4G was announced. This time, for once, I lucked out, as I can return my 3GS and get the 4G as long as it’s within 30 days. Even if it looks like the 4G will be backlogged, I can still take my 3GS back, get my dough refunded, and use my old 3G until the 4G is in. So, that’s what I will do. I will reserve the 4G next week on the day one can do that, and my Apple Store said they should have the phone somewhere around the 24th. It is hard to keep up with technology – usually by the time I finally get around to purchasing something, then the newer, better, faster model comes out a month later. That happened with my iMac – as soon as I made the decision to buy it (the 24-inch model), a month and a half later they announced, at exactly the same price, a 27-inch newer, better, faster model. So annoying on so many levels. Well, you know what they say – an Apple a day keeps the doctor away. Still, I ponder as I wonder about the iPad and ponder and wonder whether one day I’ll succumb to whatever its charms are and be an I, Pad.

Other than my ruminations on Apple products, yesterday was a lovelier than lovely day. I got up after a good night’s sleep, did my morning ablutions, and then answered e-mails. Helper arrived at ten sharp and we addressed a LOT of packages and then she put postage on them. Then we did some online work, then we went to the postal office and shipped out a few things, and then we grabbed a bite to eat at the Studio CafĂ©. I must say, they really like me there, which is, I suppose, why I go there so much. After that, I did some banking, paid way too many Kritzerland bills, and then picked up nine boxes of books – I had to reorder the new book and also I was completely out of two of the Kritzer books and Murder at Hollywood High. I wish these boxes held more books so there would be less boxes, especially the new book, which is long – there aren’t many in each box, which is why there were nine count them nine boxes. After all that, the helper went on her merry way, and I went to the Apple Store to discuss the situation with my phone, and that was when I played with the iPad. Then I came home, did some work on the computer, and then did a three-mile jog. After that, I tried to sit on my couch like so much fish, but I was not in the mood to watch a motion picture. Instead, I watched the final three Three Stooges shorts.

Make no mistake, I loved The Three Stooges when I was a wee sprig of a twig of a tad of a lad of a youth. I speak of them lovingly in either Kritzerland or Kritzer Time, and I even got to meet them and had my photograph taken with thm, which I also talk about in the book. The first time I ever saw the Stooges films was at the Picfair Theater, one of my childhood neighborhood movie theaters. They showed a new Stooges short every week, all with Shemp. Very occasionally they’d show an older one with Curly, and I loved those especially. When Joe Besser replaced Shemp, it wasn’t an especially happy fit. In the first shorts he did, he had it in his contract that he could not be hit by Larry and Moe, but that was an integral part of the shtick. Sill, I liked the Joe shorts back then. But, by the last three of them, Joe was being hit just like the other two, and they were all looking very tired. Several of these last shorts have Moe and Larry with their hair combed – so, no Moe Beatles cut and no Larry crazy hair. It was almost like they were saying this is the end of the Stooges. In the second to last short (I think it’s that one), they actively hate Joe in it, and basically say to him, “You’ve ruined everything.” Yes, it’s part of that story, but they say it with real conviction and it’s not much of a stretch to think that they were saying it because they feel Joe killed the Stooges. These last three shorts are very sad to watch. Every bit is recycled from not one but several earlier films. It was a sad way to go out. Little did they know that just a few months later their shorts would finally hit TV and become a phenomenon, making them the most popular they’d ever been, and causing Columbia to rush a Stooges feature film into production (Have Rocket, Will Travel) with a new third Stooge, “Curly” Joe De Rita, who was a much better fit for them than Joe Besser, who never really seemed like a Stooge. The transfers are all very nice.

After that, I just listened to music and pondered the iPad. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I have pondered the I, Pad enough in this here section.

Today, I may or may not have a lunch meeting with our very own Mr. Barry Pearl. We shall see. Otherwise, I have some errands and whatnot to attend to, more writing to do, and must begin preparing yet another Kritzerland release.

Tomorrow, we’ll be shipping out The Boy and the Pirates CDs, so it will be a VERY busy morning and early afternoon. After that gets done, then it’s the usual assortment of things. This weekend I may be going to Orange County to see a production of Carousel – there are some people I know in both the cast and the band. I’m thinking it will have to be on Saturday evening.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog (if possible), maybe have a lunch meeting, do errands and whatnot, and write. Today’s topic of discussion: What do you feel has been the biggest technological advance in your lifetime – and the one that’s impacted your life more than any other? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst you dear readers tell me what’s so all that about the I, Pad.

Search BK's Notes Archive:
 
© 2001 - 2024 by Bruce Kimmel. All Rights Reserved