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October 31, 2005
Happy Halloween
Amy did a great job carving a goofy pumpkin, not to mention one for our little guy. Click this link to see a gallery of the Kangaroo's Playgroup trick or treating.
Technorati Tags: halloween, grant park, sam
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October 30, 2005
Sam digs this food thing!
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Halloween parade
Our little pumpkin joined a slew of his friends from playgroup and other neighborhood ghosts and goblins Saturday afternoon for an exciting parade around Grant Park. Sam enjoyed himself, as he loves to interact with other kids (not to mention adults). Amy was able to join the fun in between Atlanta Ballet shows at the Fox today. Click here or on the picture to see a gallery of photos. Gotta love that fish!
Technorati Tags: halloween, grant park, sam, pumpkin
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October 28, 2005
PhotoBooth, FrontRow
It didn't take long. Both FrontRow (Apple's 10-foot multimedia interface) and PhotoBooth (another cute Mac app designed to take snaps of a user a la an old school photo booth) have been modified to work on most any Mac, not just the latest iMac with the built in IR/iSight. Here's a snap of yours truly using the 'Pop Art' filter via a G5 with an external iSight.
Technorati Tags: photobooth, frontrow, imac, apple, macintosh, mac, warhol, isight, g5
Posted by jetrotz at 11:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May the handheld mayhem commence...
Woo doggy! While my local EBGames has no copies, and the one I ordered from Gamestop is backordered with no estimated delivery, I was seriously bumming earlier this week. Lo and behold, a friend here at work drops this copy into my hands - seems he didn't need this copy for a while. The game is excellent - it took a bit of time to get used to driving with the tiny stick, and I do wish the screen were larger. But it's like old home week revisiting good ol' Liberty City and my favorite hangouts. Certainly is easier to play knowing the rough city layout like the back of my hand. The wife doesn't appreciate the sound of mayhem coming from the PSP - but it's gotta be better than in the living room! 2 thumbs up so far for this one...
Technorati Tags: psp, gaming, grand theft auto, liberty city stories
Posted by jetrotz at 11:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 24, 2005
Flock has Landed
Noticed that by friend Lee Clontz had blogged that the tag-savvy, blogging-friendly browser Flock had been released and he was trying it out. Flock cautions users of the current build:
If you're the bleeding-edge type and don't mind a few scrapes and busted knees from time to time, feel free to give it a whirl....So if a bucket of source code and developer binaries sound enticing, head over to our Developer page now.
I'm posting this via the built-in blogging tools now. Seems very user friendly, although the import of my Safari bookmarks keeps failing. But the tagging support, RSS system (multiple 'topbars' yay!) and Flickr integration make this very attractive.
Flock (via Clontzville.com )
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October 21, 2005
San Francisco QuickTrip
I took a quick trip out to San Francisco for a DoubleClick meeting in
Napa Oct 16-Oct19. I visited Shane and Vicki Holland and their adorable
little man Ian. Just a few pics since I left my charger at home :-(.
But I did manage to get a few cute pics of Ian and a nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge. In addition to getting a lovely head/chest infection, the DoubleClick meetings were enjoyable - notable for the fabulous dinner at Cakebread Cellars. I spent more on wine I shipped back home than I probably should have. But hey - how often can I get my hands on a reserve wine a winery I love doesn't retail anywhere but at their own vineyard.
Technorati Tags: san francisco, golden gate bridge, napa, cakebread cellars, crissy field
Cakebread waxes on about the wines I purchased below. Not sure if I can wait 7-10 years for that reserve Cabernet, but it might be worth it!
2004 Sauvignon Blanc
Our 2004 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc is a near-textbook rendition of the variety's most appealing characteristics. Our 2004 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc is a near-textbook rendition of the variety's most appealing characteristics. Fresh, brisk aromas of lime, kiwi, grapefruit, gooseberry and hay introduce a medium-to-full-bodied palate of impressive weight, balance and intensity. The wine's vibrant citrus, guava and melon flavors benefit from a firm underpinning of acidity and a refreshing minerality that asserts itself in the finish, providing structure and counterpoint to the wine's rich fruit. This classic Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc will provide great drinking pleasure over the next 2-3 years, on its own or with a wide range of seafood, poultry, and salad dishes.
2003 Chardonnay Reserve
Our 2003 Napa Valley Reserve Chardonnay opens with aromas of sweet butter and oak spice, followed by waves of fresh, spiced-apple, pear and melon fruit scents. On the palate, the wine reveals a rich, mouth-filling texture with ripe, fleshy, apple-y flavors balanced by bright acidity and a refreshing minerality, with savory oak and subtle yeast tones enhancing the long, rich finish. The grapes were night-harvested and whole-cluster pressed to yield fresh, pure juice. After cold-settling in tank for 36 hours, the preponderance of the must (unfermented grape juice) was inoculated with several cultured yeast strains that accentuate the fruitiness and enhance the texture of Chardonnay. The balance was fermented with native yeast strains, which foster greater wine complexity and impart a pleasing mineral tone. All the juice fermented in French oak barrels, with roughly 20% undergoing a secondary, malolactic fermentation to enhance mouth-feel and develop a slight butteriness. Aging on the primary yeast lees for 14 months in barrel, with periodic stirring, added a silky texture and subtle yeasty richness to the wine’s intense varietal fruit flavors. After racking off the lees, the wine was bottled in December, 2004.
2003 Pinot Noir, Carneros Napa Valley
Our 2003 Carneros Pinot Noir displays complex, beguiling aromas of smoky black cherry and fig fruit with intriguing floral and Asian spice tones. In the mouth, the flavors are juicy and mouth-filling, with a pleasing tea-like spiciness in the long, rich finish. Delicious now, this lovely Pinot Noir will develop further complexity with several years’ additional bottle age. Gentle handling of the fruit, moderate fermentation temperatures, and minimal manipulation of the wine during barrel aging are the hallmarks of our approach to Pinot Noir. In 2003, our Carneros fruit was de-stemmed but not crushed, then cold soaked at 500 F. for 72 hours. This helps extract color and flavor from the grapes before alcoholic fermentation begins, leading to more stable color in the wine. We then inoculated the must with a cultured yeast, controlling temperatures to ensure a slow, active fermentation. Small open- and closed-top tanks were used to facilitate both the traditional Burgundian method of punching down the cap, and the more conventional pump-over technique. After fermentation, the wines macerated on the skins for several weeks, checked daily for color and softening of tannins. They were then drained from the tanks, inoculated for malolactic fermentation and put into French oak barrels, 52% new, where they aged undisturbed for 14 months before being removed for final blending and bottling.
2002 Benchland Select, Cabernet Sauvignon
Our 2002 Benchland Select Cabernet Sauvignon displays a complex, seductive aroma of ripe blackberry and plum fruit augmented by scents of tar, coffee and sweet oak. On the palate, the wine is full-textured and lush, with rich plum, black fig and cocoa flavors supported by smooth tannins. Boasting excellent structure and balance, this delicious Napa Valley Cabernet is delightful to drink now, but will handsomely repay another 7-10 years of cellaring. The grapes for our Napa Valley Benchland Select Cabernet Sauvignon, which in 2002 was blended with 14% Malbec, come from vineyards in Oakville and Rutherford that lie on Napa’s western benchlands, with 50% issuing from Cakebread Cellars' estate vineyards. The eastern exposures of these gently sloping, well-shaded hillside vineyards allow the grapes to mature at a slow, even pace, which results in wines with optimal color, fragrance and flavor intensity. In 2002, we harvested the fruit at full ripeness between September 16th and October 8th.
2004 Napa Valley Chardonnay
Our 2004 Napa Valley Chardonnay offers fresh, lovely pear and ripe Granny Smith apple aromas with supporting mineral, baked bread and baking spice scents. Full and richly textured on the palate, the citrusy crisp, spiced-apple and pear flavors are enriched by yeast and toasty oak tones that extend into a very long, rich, minerally finish. Our Chardonnay fruit was 100% whole-cluster-pressed to minimize astringency from the skins. Pressing the fruit cold assures even lower extraction of astringent compounds, which also increases the long term aging potential in white wines. Three quarters of the juice was barrel fermented in 35% new French oak barrels at 50-55º F, a slow, cool fermentation that fostered a perfect balance of ripe fruit, yeast, natural acidity and toasty oak. The remaining portion was fermented in stainless steel tanks, with those lots transferred to barrel once fermentation completed. While barrel fermentation promotes complexity and richness, tank fermentation maximizes fruit intensity. Partial malolactic fermentation, primarily of the higher acid lots, further enhanced the harmony of these elements. During nine months of barrel aging, the wines were frequently hand stirred to promote the integration of fruit, yeast, acid and oak, resulting in a beautifully balanced Chardonnay of elegant richness.
Posted by jetrotz at 10:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 20, 2005
iPhoto Grows Up
It wasn't enough for Apple to surprise everyone with a Video iPod last week, a Windows-Media-Center-like iMac (interesting) and to begin offering network television broadcasts for download on the ITMS. Yesterday, in an event I wasn't even aware of in advance, Apple took the lid off minor resolution enhancements to the current crop of Powerbooks (yawn), announced a new Quad-Processor G5 (wow), and released a new application called Aperture. This is what I've been waiting for.
More after the jump.....
iPhoto has been my 'master library' for my images for a long time now. Ever since it began to support the format, I've shot RAW images. But iPhoto can lag, and while it has a great interface and feels like a Mac application, it just doesn't offer the kind of tools I needed. Enter Aperture. Apple describes it thusly:
Designed from the ground up for professional photographers, Aperture provides everything you need for after the shoot, delivering the first all-in-one post-production tool for photographers.
Featuring a RAW-focused workflow, Aperture makes RAW as easy as JPEG, letting you import, edit, catalog, organize, retouch, publish, and archive your images more effectively and efficiently than ever before. From capture to output, you work directly with your RAW files, never having to first convert them into another format before viewing, adjusting, organizing, or printing them.
Apple also highlights SI Photographer Heinz Kluetmeier who I worked with in 1999 on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition 3-D shoot in Mexico. He gives it very high marks, and points out how helpful this applications becomes in sifting through large shoots - like the 1000 images he might typically capture at a football game.
The new app has some serious hardware requirements. Apple is suggesting a dual-2Ghz G5, but say it will run on a 1.25 Ghz Powerbook. But all that horsepower looks well worth it in this application, combining professional workflow, a truly Mac-like interface, and superb archiving tools. I can't wait to get my hands on this one.
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October 09, 2005
Bring on da grub!
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October 08, 2005
Sam's First Haircut!
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Sam's 6 Month Update
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October 03, 2005
Sam goes to NYC
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Gametap is Live!
Turner Broadcasting System's several-years-in-the-making broadband gaming service which I blogged about a few months back has launched to the public today.
Joystiq has coverage here, and Kotaku points out a set of viral faux-blogs intended to bring consumers into the new service.
There's at least five sites out there, as reported below by Joystiq:
- What is ADAT?: A site dedicated to people suffering from Third Dimensia
- Upgradius: Think Gizmondo for video game characters
- X-Treme Platform Jumping School: The name says it all
- First Person Get Aways: A travel agency that specializes in video game vacations
- Jalopixel: A game car site with a very Gawkerish name.
After you wander about these blogs you'll eventually get to the Gametap site, with this snarky little quote:
Well played. You found us out. That page you just came from? Not real. And there's more like it out there. You see, you've fallen prey to one of our little traps to make friends with the world. We want to be your friend.
I'm not going to get into the arguments of fake marketing blogs. Draw your own conclusions. I'm just happy to see Gametap finally exposed to the public. I've been fooling with the app for a while, and it's pretty entertaining to go back to the games of our youth, and to have access to some more recent PC titles I was too lazy to go out and buy. There's some discussion on Joyqstiq about most of this being available via emulators and ROMs, but even if those are free, they are buggy, often a pain to setup, etc. I think it's worth a few bucks to package these older titles in a cohesive manner, and let me drop in, play, and drop back out when I have a few moments. Oh, and the classic photo from Joystiq at the top of this entry is definitely a keeper.
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