Don’t Buy an iPad

Apple just announced their latest piece of hardware – the iPad.   Now, I don’t follow Apple technology religiously – actually, I barely follow it at all, only that when the latest dinger flies out into the public, everyone talks about it.

This time around, I saw a lot of disappointment.  Facebook statuses (statusi? stati?), tweeties, and internet news articles across the board were bashing the iPad for it’s apparent lack of ability to do anything useful given its size usability.  No multitasking, no keyboard, slow processor, no camera… these are just some of the things that you can see with only a single swift glance.

But then I read another blog that pointed out something interesting – it’s actually not that uncommon for Apple to release products that, quite frankly, have a shallow set of features – even if features exist in other technologies, or are capable of existing.  Why?  Because people will buy it, just because it has the little “i” in front of the name and Steve Jobs says it’s cool.  And then they’ll buy it again next year when the iPad 2 comes up with a few additional features.  And again, the following year, and again.  People are buying the same product 4 times.  That’s not exactly going to encourage Apple to release something fully featured.

Don’t believe me?  Take the iPhone.  Sure, it was great when it came out.  It was totally new, and really, there wasn’t much to compare it to.  Lots of people went out and got themselves one.  Apple fans, phone fans, gadget-o-philes, they all loved it.  And then the next year there was the iPhone 3G, and following that the iPhone 3GS… and I’m not sure I know anyone now, who owns an iPhone, even those who picked it up in the beginning, who doesn’t have the latest version of the hardware.

the iPad is a little more noticable this time.  After all, while the iPhone was fairly unique, and essentially spawned a whole genre of phones, the iPad is a lot like… well, it’s a lot like a lot of things.  People know what a laptop is, they know what an iPhone is, they know what an e-Book reader is.  They even know what a tablet PC is.  So far, the iPad looks like all of these things… but really, none of these things.  It’s like the worst of all worlds.  Okay, it’s got Apple’s crazy hi-tech multi-touch thing going on, and that’s new for a tablet, but what good is that if you can’t really do the things on the iPad that you would want to d0 on that sort of machine.  You’ve already got your phones for calling, texting, and even browsing the interwebs on the go.  You’ve got your laptops for hardcore, mobile doing-work sorts of things.  You’ve got your netbooks for typing and browsing the internet anywhere and everywhere.  You’ve got e-readers for reading books on screens that wont make your eyes bleed after reading text for 5 minutes.

So where does the iPad fit in?  Maybe it sort of does things that all of those technologies do, but so far it doesn’t do them very well.

And so here’s my point: don’t buy an iPad.  Even if you love apple technology.  Even if you have plenty of cash to spend on gadgets willy-nilly.  Don’t buy it.  Force Apple to release something fully featured, something that will actually accomplish tasks you want it to, something that has a place in this technology-packed world.   Don’t let them trick you into buying the same toy 4 times, starting with a really crappy version.  Don’t buy an iPad.  That’s your power, as a consumer.

-wolfie

PS another reason not to buy an iPad?  It doesn’t support flash.  That means you won’t be able to watch Don’t Mess With Blake on it.

On Avatar

If you haven’t seen Avatar yet, I highly recommend it.  The visual effects are incredible, from the beautifully formed alien forests right down to the detailed facial expressions.  I’d say that James Cameron’s technology was quite a success.  (I also recommend it in 3D, it looks very good, and not headache-inducing.)  But I also think that the content itself was very strong.

No, I wouldn’t say that it’s a groundbreaking story.  In fact, I definitely got somewhat of a “pocahontas in space” vibe (although, for me, being a sci-fi geek, the whole ‘in space’ part makes it way more enjoyable than pocahontas), but honestly, that doesn’t matter to me.  There aren’t really a lot of ‘new’ stories told.  The best stories, in my opinion, are not necessarily ones we haven’t heard before – but ones that are told in a powerful way.  So, the whole “technologically advanced evil empire vs. primitive race heroes” story has been done, and done many times, but this movie does it very well.

It’s a slower movie than most, especially the first half.  But that’s not a bad thing – clearly, as we’ve learned from movies like GI Joe and Transformers, crazy action from start to finish does not a great movie make.  Maybe a popular movie.

The slowness is important here.  The film introduces us to the alien race with care.  We learn bits of information first, and slowly, gradually, we get a feel for who these people are.  We’re definitely pulled along the same experience as the main human character (forgive me, I’ve forgotten his name) as we start to grow accustomed to, and eventually learn to love, this strange alien culture.   We care about the individual characters, the main characters, the secondary good characters, and the alien race as a whole.

By the time we get to the big war, it matters.  It’s not just an explosive, action packed thrill ride.  Before the first missile is fired, we find ourselves emotionally joining up with the Navi, and it’s not just because they’re getting blown up and we’re supposed to root for them (notice, I said before the first missile is even fired.)  We care about them because we’ve gradually become a part of them throughout the first part of the film, and every victory is our victory, and every wound is our wound.

It’s not a philosophical movie – it’s not the sort of sci-fi film that throws out a strange situation that forces characters to question their morals and ethics and try and figure out what sacrifices may need to be made or what the right and wrong choice would be.  This film definitely sets down a very clear cut good versus evil situation, and introduces the players while giving every reason to dislike the badguys and love the good guys.  And you knwo what?  Sometimes it’s just great to see a well told epic good-versus-evil tale that runs through a gauntlet of desperation combined with vague hope, and in the end lets us feel free when good finally overcomes.

And sometimes those stories can cause us to look inside ourselves and realize some of the good or evil choices we have made or might make soon.  Maybe not everyone will go there, but it certainly opens up the door for that question to be asked.

The Why

Why tell stories?  Why put so much effort and money in to creating something that isn’t real?   Why focus on spectacle when there are real people in the real world who have real problems?

The world is a big, complex place.  Many people have many different interests, many different focuses in their lives.  Some serve the poor, some work to better the world around them.  Some just do their jobs… and of course, some people take advantage of others and lift themselves up.  We’re all different, but we’re all human.

Filmmaking is a way I think to explore this humanity.  We can ask the questions, “who are we?” or “why are we here?” and then try to answer them.  The answers to questions are never simple, one word or one line answers.  People can’t be put in a box.  Really, they can’t be put into any shape – but stories, complex and multi-facetted, with characters complex and multi-facetted, and challenges complex and multi-facetted (seeing the pattern) may just be enough to start to understand ourselves, small pieces at a time.

Stories have been around for thousands of years, and they’ve been used to teach, to paint beautiful pictures in our minds, and to explore ourselves.  Today’s mainstream method of storytelling is through film.  You can argue that there’s a lot of sensationalism out there, a lot of flash with no substance (or, as a fictional character once said, “all flash, no photo”), but there are some great films out there, well worth spending your time on.  Not all of these films are the super-artsy (a la Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, to name an example), either. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to wade through the ugly to find the good stuff, but that’s just life.  Oh and there are also thousands and thousands of worthless and shallow books out there too, but I’ve noticed the good ones (both from film and books) tend to rise to the top over time.

I’ll try to post about some movies I think are great in upcoming months.

Don’t Mess With Blog

I’d like to share some thoughts with you all.

My name is Wolfie, and I’m the creator of a currently very small webseries called Don’t Mess With Blake.

I plan to use this blog for exploring ideas and thoughts behind filmmaking, to explore serious issues, to have fun, and sometimes to relate all this specifically back to what I’m doing with the show.

I also hope to produce some discussion.  I’d like to hear your thoughts as well, whether it be responses to my thoughts, or brand new ideas of your own, or specific comments related to Blake or other things that I’m doing.

You may see things on here such as movie reviews, or comments regarding other blogs.  If you know of a movie you think I should see, let me know.  I’d love to watch it (if I haven’t already) and talk about it.  If you know of a blog you think I should check out, post a link.

My goal for now is to post at least once a week.  I’m going to try and figure out a regular time that I can post a blog, so that I can be consistent and so I don’t fall behind or get lazy.

I can’t promise anything spectacular.  I’m not much of a non-fiction writer, really.  But I’d like to go beyond simply ‘making videos’

Will any of this amount to anything?  I don’t know.  What will we accomplish?  That remains to be seen.  Maybe we can spark some discussion, or push a movement towards making some real changes in the world. Maybe nothing will come of this, and this blog will wither and die.  But for now, let’s see what we can do.

Welcome to the Don’t Mess With Blake blog.