A friend just received a big, honkin’ flat-screen TV as a gift, and she asked me if TiVo was right for her. She describes herself as a “software person,” so I explained that the the basic model is
TV > computer with remote control > Internet.
Everything else is software.

Tivo is a computer with a remote control. It accesses Tivo and NetFlix, and maybe some other things. Roku is a computer with a remote control. It accesses NetFlix and Amazon, and maybe some other things.

A laptop is a computer WITHOUT a remote control. It accesses the Internet. It can play YouTube, Hulu.com, ABC.com, CBS.com, USAnetwork.com, TV.com and so on. If you can connect it to your TV, you can play that stuff on your TV. It DOES NOT access Tivo, so you can’t get your computer to record first run TV easily. (It can be done, but it’s a hassle.) And you may not want to fill up your hard drive with that stuff.

A laptop DOES have a DVD player. You can play DVDs using your laptop if you connect it to your TV.

Tivo is not a laptop. It is hardware (a hard drive and a remote control) and software. The software allows Tivo to know all the programs on TV that are available to you, and to record (a) the ones you select and (b) the ones Tivo recommends for you. Tivo does the same thing with TV that Netflix does with movies. It tries to figure out what you will like, then it records it for you.

The big question is: what do you want? I want to watch exactly what I want, when I want. Tivo records TV when it airs (remember, I go to bed early) and I play it back when I want entertainment (7 p.m.). For movies, I get ordinary DVD’s from Blockbuster or the library. And I go to movie theaters like the Roxy for independent movies, and the Rialto for major studio big budget releases.

If you want something different, you may want a different setup. I love broadcast TV. Some people only like movies. Some people hate going to the movie theater, they want everything in their living room. What do you want to see on this big honkin’ TV?

On Saturday I went to see “Inception” on the biggest screen in Santa Rosa. On Sunday I went back to see it again. As the NYTimes says, it lives up to its hype. If you liked The Matrix and The Bourne Identity, you will like Inception. If you haven’t seen it, you might want to stop reading here.

The NYTimes considered it a heist movie “one last big job,” but it is also a psychological thriller. When a wife commits suicide, the widower is burdened with guilt. The projection of his guilt invades his dreams and kills people there. But this team works in dreamspace. The projection sabotages the widower, just as guilt sabotages a life.

I thought the casting was good, but I would have made one change. As much as I loved Ellen Page in “Juno,” and I suspect that they need a very small woman to make Leonardo DiCaprio look tall, I think a better choice for Ariadne would have been Anna Kendrick from “Up in the Air” and “Twilight Saga.” The tightly-wound Anna would be an interesting counterpoint to the elegant, troubled Marion Cotillard.

I predict that this is the first of a trilogy from the immensely talented Christopher Nolan. I think the final shot of the spinning totem will be the opener of the second installment. The totem will topple and stop, reassuring us we are in normal reality. The kids will be slightly older, and Tom Cobb will learn just what a bad idea this inception was. Saito wants the energy company broken up because he cannot compete with their new system. The vertically-integrated power company that Maurice Fischer built has developed a breakthrough technology that can save the planet from global warming with cheap, plentiful, non-polluting energy.

But if Fischer’s company is broken up, the economies of scale are lost and the investment in the new technology becomes unviable. Saito holds on to his market share and the planet just gets hotter and dirtier. Cobb must undo the idea they so carefully planted to save the planet. Can he “unplant” the suicidal ideal in his wife’s mind, too? Is he falling in love with Ariadne? He can’t have both, which one will he give up?

And how is Robert Fischer, Jr. the son of Maurice? How can he be a junior if his father’s name is Maurice? Does he think that “Uncle Pete” Browning betrayed him, or betrayed his father? Has the power of attorney been appropriately transferred? There is a scene in the first movie that indicates that the legal matters of transition and succession in the Fischer corporation have not been completely taken care of.

I am very pleased to see that this movie had a great opening weekend. I look forward to seeing what Christopher Nolan has in store for us next.

This is the new Fox comedy by Matt Nix who created one of my favorite dramas, “Burn Notice” on USA. I had great hopes for it and it is silly without being stupid, but I find myself losing interest. I think too much of Bradley Whitford’s intelligence seeps out. Let me explain.

Johnny Depp’s reckless pirate is said to be modeled on Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. There is an untethered quality to his performance. Bradley Whitford seems to play Dan Stark with a tongue-in-cheek quality that undercuts the show’s premise of “unearned confidence” as showcased in the movie “Talladega Nights.” He needs to play it more as Lt. Col. Oliver North; brilliant, effective, amoral, ruthless, charming and irresistible. A loose cannon who can get the most astonishing things done. Ollie North was so charming that the ACLU got his felony convictions vacated, even through many Americans thought he was a traitorous drug smuggler and others considered him a national hero who saved Central America from communism.

It must be very hard to play a character with the emotional abandonment of Johnny Depp’s pirate.

The 17 year old girl in “Winter’s Bone” learns that they are about to lose their shack in the Ozarks where she takes care of her younger brother and sister and her mentally-ill mother. Her meth-cooking father put it up for bail and he just missed his court date. She and the kids are broke and hungry, and soon they will be homeless. The girl is relentless in her effort to care for them.

The movie is without a false note, and draws you in the way “Hurt Locker” did. You find yourself walking the chilly paths with her as she stubbornly looks for a solution. I found myself saying, “she’s only trying to keep two kids alive, without any help from her mentally ill mother or absent dad,” but what really struck me was the love in the household. She tenderly brushes her mother’s hair and the kids try to take care of her when she is hurt.

It gave me a chance to notice how this would have felt in a household of danger, chaos, and shame. The feeling of a lack of resources, that we’re all gonna die. Of no help or bad advice from adults who hurt you and others, yet insist they love you. The cold gray palette, the skinny trees, no feed for the horse.

The Kansas City Star review captures the movie, and the reader comments to the NYTimes review are very meaty. I hope you see the picture. If you do, let me know what you think.

I am happy to announce that, after an expenditure of $1178 for a custom linux computer and 18 months effort in my spare time, I now have linux on my desktop computer.

What did it take, you ask? The custom computer never worked properly with linux, and spending over $1000 for a Windows XP computer is like buying a Porsche and using it to store Tupperware! At WordCampSF on May 1, Richard Stallman spoke about open source software. He is a winner of the MacArthur award and the leader of the team that wrote the GNU operating system. Linus Torvalds wrote the kernel, hence, linux.

What is Linux?

The kernel is like an engine that can be used for a car, ship, harvester, etc. The operating system is like the chassis you put around the engine. The paint in the flavor of linux, like Ubuntu or Debian. I am running Ubuntu 64-bit Studio which is a combo of programs for design people rather than technical people.

On Sunday, yes the Sunday in the middle of Memorial Day weekend, I drove to SF with my CPU, two monitors, my keyboard and mouse for the InstallFest scheduled for 11-5. I reached Mission Street about 11:45 and all the roads were barricaded for Carnivale! the annual daytime Mardi Gras filled with scantily-lad dancers on the back of flatbed trucks filled with calypso and salsa bands. Parking was… well, I got the last spot in a $20 pay lot, 3 blocks from the InstallFest site. Three LOOONG blocks. Imagine how calm I was (not).

Noisebridge

The Linux 10.04 InstallFest was held in a permanent shared space for hackers and builders called Noisebridge. It is on the third floor up a seedy staircase in a seedy part of town. The “elevator” is one of those funky things with the steel sliding doors in front of the steel accordion cage that bites your fingers if you’re not careful. There is a walkie-talkie to request sending down the elevator. Luckily, some guy in his 70’s walked in and showed me how to use it.

I offered them the apples and cookies I brought, and asked for help carrying the equipment. I got three people, and it was the gallant gray haired gentleman who carried the heavy CPU with the sharp edges. I set it up and for the next SEVEN HOURS they worked on it. They had to take it apart to install Ubuntu (four hours) and another three to determine the cause of the hardware problem (bad slot four on the motherboard). They gently told me where to buy a better computer for less next time. Words do not express how thrilled I am to have it working.

The wonderful linux community

I am very grateful to Lyz Krumbach, her partner Mj, his colleague Michael, and Leif Ryge for working until nearly 8 p.m. on my computer. I am so impressed by the knowledge, tenacity and generosity of these folks and the linux community.

As a business owner, I know that the “rewards” you get on your credit card are paid for by me. Banks skim those “rewards” off the top of your payment, sending me what’s left after they take their cut. So I am thrilled to learn that the Financial Reform Bill might allow shopkeepers to offer a discount to those who pay in cash by keeping the bank’s percentage out of the transaction. See NYTimes article.

This misleadingly titled Facebook application shares your information with Microsoft and others. Here is a link to a Facebook fan page on privacy and how to OptOut of Facebook sharing your info w/ Microsoft and others http://bit.ly/d1ZB6h. Also take a look at the article at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

• Account > Privacy > Applications > (scroll to bottom) Instant Personalization
• When you try to uncheck the box, you are asked “Are You Sure?” Click the final link “Learn More”
• Scroll to the bottom of the SECOND section “How do I block… my public info my friends share?”
• Click link to block Microsoft at http://facebook.com/docs

I just got back from Zumba class at the cheapo gym. I wasn’t the oldest, and I wasn’t the fattest. It was more like an aerobics workout with an leader who could actually keep time to the music. (You would be amazed at how many aerobics instructors can’t keep time. Like it is elevator music in the background.) But I may have been the only one wearing dance shoes. I got them because they are required at the other place I take Zumba.

Last November in a OMG-my-birthday-is-in-a-month moment, I signed up for the “$100 for all you can eat in a month” at the expensive, tony Pilates studio called, ahem, Tone. I am so cheap, I got my average per class cost down to less than $5.

It is run by a Phillipina who sets the Tone. She is not a natural beauty (which is how they describe Michelle Obama) but her energy is irresistible. She looks 40ish which means she is 50ish, her long black hair flying like a witch when she leads Zumba. The room is packed. Max occupancy is 40, she squeezes in 44 because the receptionist and the other teachers want in also. Monica is a dance-and-movement teacher and the owner of the studio. I took her 6 a.m. Yoga class on New Years Eve (20 other women were there) and the class was held in the dark with a cluster of candles in the center of the room. This weekly class has 3 weeks of normal wakeup yoga and the fourth week is restorative (so totally feminine witch). This was the restorative and it was held in near silence, in the candlelit midwinter dark. Monica gave a quiet sermon about the end of the year and the start of a new one, renewal of spirit, renewal of love, renewal of commitment. “Joy in everything, all the time. Take a candle when you leave.” Talk about setting the Tone!

But Monica’s Zumba class is full of energy. Sherisse works for Monica, she also teaches the Pilates class at the cheapo gym and at city Park & Rec. Sherisse is black as ink, wasp-waisted and highly trained in dance-and-movement. She was at the front of the class along with her dreadlocked friend, also with a dancers shape. The Zumba class had some Latin rhythms, but many hip-hop songs as well. I tried to follow the moves, and the other white ladies didn’t look much better than I did, but Sherisse and her friend — wow! It all made sense when I watched them dance. Yes, they are trained dancers, but when they did the “urban” dances my eyes popped. It was so beautiful and strong!

I was in the back of the crowded room, trying to be invisible, but I was under the skylight and the beam of noontime sunlight illuminated my, um, blonde hair. In the mirror I could see that I looked radiant and dumpy at the same time. Halfway through the class, Monica paused between songs and waved to me, “Hi, Anet!” she said.

Frankly, I’d rather be invisible. But the energetic music really boosts my mood. Monica has set up Tone as a dance-and movement studio so the floors are bowling alley perfect, hence the requirement for clean dance shoes. Most of the people spend most of the time on the floor doing Pilates and Yoga, so the floors and mirrors have to be impeccable for the experience to be spiritually nutritious. So that is why I have dance shoes. And why Monica’s class is so popular.

Claude really enjoyed Spring this year. We have 3 tall shrubs that get red berries. When they begin to ferment, the birds flock over at cocktail time to get woozy and spit pits at each other. Two of those shrubs have nasty thorns (Pyracantha, pictured) but one does not (Cotoneaster). Because of the early hard frost last October, the Pyracantha berries did not form so the only ones left were the Cotoneaster, which is normally shunned by the birds. I guess it has the second best berries. All the shrubs are about 5 feet tall and are along a 4 foot fence.

Claude is the same color as the weathered wood fence. He would climb up to the top rail of the fence where he was hidden by the Cotoneaster, and he would wait. He would start waiting at about 10 in the morning. The birds would come by in flocks, and he would lunge. He often got one and it would sometimes get away, often with our help. He spent 8 hours a day on that fence rail when the berries were ripe. He was happy. The birds were not. I learned some new bird alarm calls.

According to Wikipedia, this movie was released in the U.S. as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo but the original title was (in Swedish: Män som hatar kvinnor) “Men Who Hate Women.” It is the first of a movie trilogy based on the award-winning crime novels by the late Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson.  The three movies were big hits in Scandanavia and Europe.  The books are called the “Millennium Trilogy.”

It has been running for six weeks here in Santa Rosa, and when we went, the theater was full, mostly with people 40+. In an interview on PBS, the director of the movie said that the American marketing people thought that the original Swedish title was too tough for English-speaking audiences, but the original title is accurate. The movie is grisly without being titillating. It is absorbing and gripping, and (because it is part of a trilogy) it doesn’t leave you with all the answers neatly wrapped up.

It reminded me of the French movie “La Femme Nikita” in which a street urchin was trained to be an assassin and one of her teachers, Jeanne Moreau, showed her how to act like a lady. In the American remake, Bridget Fonda was tutored in loveliness by Ann Bancroft. This Swedish movie is just as tough and just as riveting. In the PBS interview, the director said that there was some talk in the US of remaking the movie in Hollywood.  I am sure they would take the sharp edges off it and make it ordinary.

I am looking forward to the next Swedish installment!