Rocket Bomber - snark

Either I grossly underestimate the actual reach of this blog, or PR types think the monthly-or-so linkback that makes the rounds of the other manga/comics blogs makes me ‘notable’ in the field or whatever – but I get way too many press releases in my email inbox from some of the oddest tangentially-related companies.

…Due in no small part to all my articles and thinkpieces with “e-book” and “iPad” prominently mentioned in them, methinks, that and my email address isn’t all that hard to find (or figure out).

I usually don’t post anything related to these PR blasts (or when I do, I’m rude, snarky, and a little condescending) but here’s one submission over-the-transom that I am going to mention, for all the wrong reasons.

As I’m sure you’ve seen elsewhere (100,000+ hits on Google for “Gantz Live Action January 20”) the Gantz Live Action movie gets a US premiere on [wait for it] January 20th —

And for many of us, that’s either all we needed to know [as we now begin feverishly digging to find out who what when why where etc.], or perhaps you shrug it off because your blog is already 2 months behind, you’re committed to writing that evening (a rare day off!) and you figure it’s just a NY/LA/that-theatre-just-down-the-street-from-Viz-HQ-in-San-Fran kind of debut.

Oh no. Let me educate you:

Fathom Events http://www.fathomevents.com/ is doing so much more and the Gantz thing is just the latest, and what they happen to be doing on a random Thursday in January.

##

Fathom first came to my attention because they simulcast The New York Metropolitan Opera live in HD, with subtitles, on movie screens across the country. – this year is the fifth season. It’s typically a Saturday matinee (with a Wednesday evening encore) so it’s fairly easy to work into one’s schedule and it’s the Fucking Met. I know the center of the Venn diagram for opera-loving, beer-drinking manga bloggers is perhaps restricted to the population of my desk chair, but nothing beats a Saturday afternoon of Wagnerian Excess with a pitcher or three of the local microbrew — speaking of, I think I know what I’m doing on May 14th — and yes, some movie theatres serve beer; you pay through the nose, but hell, it’s just a couple dollars more than what they charge for Coke, and it’s worth it.

Fathom has also done simulcasts of A Prairie Home Companion, rock concerts [past events include a HeavyMetalFest and Clapton’s Crossroads] – and other specials:

Now, I know the center of the Venn diagram for beer-drinking, manga-blogging, Marching Band Geeks is perhaps limited to the population of my desk chair, but Fathom has simulcast DCI’s Big & Loud for several years now, and it rocks.

##

So, anyway, I already knew about Fathom Events even before I got the Gantz press release. The thing about the Gantz premiere that you may not know (and that may have gotten lost in the “oh, hey, Gantz” links posted) is that it’s showing in a hell of a lot more theatres than you thought and that tickets can still be had.

Thank you, and good night. And if you live in Atlanta and happen to come to the Buckhead Fork & Screen between Noon and 4 on Saturday, 14 May, the drunk bastard in the back singing along off-key to Bryn Terfel’s Wotan isn’t me – it’s some other dashing baritone manga blogger who likes beer and opera.

1. Take four large handfuls of fresh greens. These can vary by season or location, but go for what’s fresh. Fresh, healthy greens are vital.

2. Add carrots, celery, green apple, and walnuts. Carrots should be julienned, celery can also be julienned or just rough chopped, green apples should be a fairly fine dice (1 cm cubes) and the walnuts can be whole or chopped, though I prefer whole.

3. Dress simply, with salt, oil, and a small amount of flavourful vinegar, like basalmic. Garlic oil instead of olive oil is a tasty substitution.

4. Add 6 cups of silage, and two handfuls of 6 month old, leftover halloween candy.

5. Feed the entire mixture to a cow. Repeat. (repeat, repeat, repeat…)

6. Slaughter cow, portion and prepare using common methods.

7. Call me when the steaks are ready.

Assumption 1:
One of the problems cited with our national debt is that so much of it is foreign owned. The fear is that foreign governments could use this to ‘force’ the US Gov. to do something against our best interests.

Fact:
Billions are spent each election cycle in an effort to influence government, albeit in a backward, roundabout way by getting sympathetic candidates elected. $4 Billion in 2010, by some estimates

Assumption 2:
At least half of those billions come from corporations and the wealthiest individuals, not from small donations by individual donors (“voters”)

Premise: If ownership of the debt is equated with influence, why not require those seeking influence to buy some of the national debt? If foreign ownership of debt is “bad”, then why are there no large drives to get US Citizens and Corporations to buy that debt instead? During WWII, stars and celebrities encouraged all of us to buy war bonds — and correct me if I’m wrong, but the current line is that we’re at ‘war’ with ‘terror’ — where is the push to get anyone, especially those who profess to be in favor of massive military spending, to actually pay for it?

##

So, is there an opportunity to generate $1-2 Billion every two years? What if instead of donating money to get candidates elected in an effort to curry influence, those who wished to purchase influence were allowed (or forced) to purchase government bonds to do so? But it doesn’t have to be a bond; after all, if you have the money there’s nothing stopping you from buying T-Bills —maybe we could do something more direct, and effective.

Proposal: Make it a law that any political donation over $1000 has to be matched by an equal payment directly to pay down the national debt. Take the upper cap off, allow folks to donate thousands and millions directly to candidates, or to buy whole hours of advertising, or whatever; corporate, individual—hell, if the Sultan of Brunei wants in on this, let ‘im— no limits on campaign funding so long as any political donation is matched dollar for dollar with a payment on the national debt.

Might only amount a billion dollars every two years or so. Only a billion. The whole process is corrupt; I’m not going to argue that or try to fix it. But, so long as influence and politics and the machinery of government are for sale, we might as well put a price tag on it, and do something good for the country while we’re at it.

If tomorrow’s ‘mystery’ announcement doesn’t have the word ‘mirasol’ in it, I think I’ll have to seriously rethink my current employment.

…and that’s about all I can say on the matter.

• public restroom facility

• “quiet place” to take that phone call on your mobile
  [It was quiet, before you showed up]
• …or a handy ‘public’ phone for when your battery dies
  […sure the battery on your phone just died. What’s that? Why, I guess you can’t make long distance calls on this phone; I’m as surprised as you are]

• a place to ask for directions
• …or restaurant recommendations
• …or tourist info
• …or a nearby bakery “so I can send a birthday cake to my son who happens to live in your city. Of course you’re going to know exactly the right store to recommend, and you’ll be able to give me their phone number; I mean, you work at a bookstore.” Duh, right?

• reading room
• study hall
• reference library
• …and an all-purpose reference and information line: for the spelling of difficult words (so I can use them in a search on the internet, natch) – or to convert celsius to fahrenheit – or to explain the difference between Siam and Thailand, or the name of that Korean fermented cabbage (what was that called again?), or to give a brief rundown of the late surviving eastern rump of the Roman Empire based in Constantinople (and why is it called the Byzantine Empire, anyway?), or the difference between a Philharmonic and a Symphony Orchestra, or to list composers and intial debut dates for the ten most popular Operas of the Standard Repertoire — “I mean, I can’t be bothered to look this stuff up on the internet, and you’re a bookstore. Who else am I supposed to call?”

• an incubator from which to launch your own small business
• …and do all the research to incorporate
• …and business forms
• …and internet marketing
• …courting angel investors
• …and grant writing for your non-profit sideline
• …and all that for free
• “Say, where’s your copy machine?”
  [we don’t have one, and I’d explain why but it’d just confuse you and the resulting conversation will give me a headache]

• meet-up
• hang out
• time killer
• date spot
• blind date spot
• awkward break-up spot

• homeless shelter
• … and public restroom. Don’t forget the all important public restroom. Why, one can even take a resonable sponge bath in the sink…
• a place where one can take off one’s shoes and relax
• convenient and apparently ‘safe’ spot to take a nap
• and a free storage locker for the luggage you just happened to ‘forget’ & left there overnight.

• coffee shop
• lunch counter
• picnic spot. “I mean, sure it’s fine if I bring in my own food, right? The sandwich shop is right next door, and the fried chicken place just down the street. You let people eat food in here everyday.”
  sure, for the food we sell

##

There are 1001 uses for a bookstore.

Hey, you know what? We also sell books.

##

This is a bit of a filler post; I’m still very much engaged in turning the store upside down in order to set all the holiday promos my corporate overlords would like us to have done by November 2nd — while continuing to conserve every last minute of payroll and doing at least three other things simultaneously.

And all customer questions, comments, concerns, polite objections, and bookstore/bookseller expectations indicated above are real — garnered from a decade of experience and mostly off the top of my head.

I’ll try to flesh this out into full essay on Bookstores: What Are They Good For? [insert reference here] when I have more time.

But for now, just pity me. Bookselling is harsh and it’s been a lot rougher this year than any I’ve worked yet.

UPDATED 23 September 2010:

I’m changing my mind about the colour e-reader that I think will be out before Christmas: not color e-ink, but Qualcomm’s Mirasol

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/08/qualcomms-mirasol-display-hopes-to-create-e-reader-tablet-hybrids/

original article follows
##

Starting with a year-old article:

electronicdesign.com, William Wong in an interview with Sriram Peruvemba, Vice President of Marketing for E Ink Corp.
11 November 2009

What is the future direction of ePaper? ePaper displays have enjoyed tremendous success in the eBook application (over 40 models launched world wide) and moderate success in a whole host of other applications including wrist watches, smart cards, electronic shelf labels, signage etc. The eNewspaper application is emerging (larger displays, favors flexible display product) and is likely to be a significant market opportunity. I believe that the killer application will be eTextbooks for students. This trend has already started and with the arrival of flexible displays and color ePaper in 2010, that market is likely to ramp quickly. Flexible Active Matrix (because the segmented SURF displays are already flexible) and Color ePaper are the future trends.

When is color coming? We have demonstrated color ePaper and are scheduled to mass produce them by the end of next year. Here is what was said about our color ePaper:

“Then there was E-Ink Corp., which blew me away with a color e-book prototype, a flexible display no thicker than a laminated piece of paper and large-form e-ink displays that would make for low-power, high-contrast signage. Maybe I’m swayed by the newspaper industry’s need for technology like this, but if the future of e-books is as colorful and flexible as what I saw at SID, and if it gets here soon enough, the future might not be so grim for this industry after all.” By Omar Gallaga for NPR

##

Prototypes and projected release dates don’t mean a whole heck of a lot.

Business deals, parts numbers, production samples; that’s slightly more promising:

Joint press release from E Ink Corporation and Seiko Epson Corporation posted to businesswire.com
18 May 2010

TOKYO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Seiko Epson Corporation (“Epson”)(TOKYO:6724), a global supplier of imaging products and semiconductor solutions, and E Ink Corporation, the leading developer and marketer of electronic paper display (EPD) technology, today announced a new jointly developed display controller IC. The S1D13524 is a high-performance EPD controller with a built-in color processor for E Ink’s Vizplex™-enabled electronic color paper displays. Targeting color and very high resolution B&W applications, the new IC is based on the same powerful engine as the first two models, the S1D13521 and the S1D13522, but also includes a color processor that allows simple customization.

Found in most major electronic reader devices, Epson EPD controllers and E Ink’s EPD low-power consumption screen technology have been key factors in the rapid growth of the eReader market and the expanding range of mobile applications, such as eBooks, eNewspapers, tablet PCs, laptop secondary displays, eNotebooks, and eDictionaries.

The new Epson display controller includes a high-performance color engine that can be easily configured to match customers’ color and CFA needs. It has a built-in dither function to minimize host overhead, and can be connected to any host processor through a 16-bit parallel or TFT LCD bus.

“IC” for those who don’t know or can’t recall, is an “integrated circuit” – a chip. The new colour chip is built on the same architecture as chips used in today’s e-readers: indeed, in a device you may already own.

This new chip has a part number. Read the rest of that press release; samples of the new chip have been available for developers/prototypers since June, and “Production quantities will be available in Dec 2010.”

##

A quick look at E Ink’s Corporate Website reveals that the largest screen they’re currently pushing in the Vizplex™ line is a 9.7” 1200×825px with 150dpi (and given that screen sizes are diagonal measures… hand on a sec, need to run the pythagorean and assuming a rectangular display based on the golden ratio) looks like it’s awfully close to 5×8 — 5.15 × 8.3: same size as your manga, or a common trade paperback.

Mechanical / Dimensional – 9.7” Display
Pixel Count: 1200 × 825 (SVGA)
Active Area: 202.9 × 139.5 mm
246.38 mm (9.7”) diagonal
Display Thickness: 1.2 mm
DPI: 150

That’s the screen size, add a bezel and the whole unit would be about the same size (top to bottom, side to side) as a hardcover book, but only 50 pages (50mm) thick — the same thickness as your current e-reader, just about, as all the internal electronics are upgraded [level up!] but essentially the same.

##

Same tech, same manufacturers, slightly larger form factor; and of course the innovative twist is colour.

Make the whole thing a touch screen and I’ve built a category killer: E-reader in a hardcover-analogue-size in colour with a full-screen touch screen, built on existing e-reader architecture and sourcing components announced six months to a full year ago with projected “production” quantities available in December 2010.

Plenty of time to prototype a unit, write the software, test it, and get units out before 25 December.

Hi, my name is Matt, I’m a bookseller and a blogger. I drink a lot. [you have no idea…] — *I* figured this out, this afternoon, just by looking stuff up on the internet. Granted, I went to Georgia Tech, so my knowledge base has more tech-y bits in it than your average-bear bookseller, but this is neither brain science nor rocket surgery:

If there isn’t a touch-screen, full colour, e-ink/digital paper e-reader announced in the next 6 weeks by a major corporation then a whole cohort of junior execs and senior engineers seriously dropped the ball.

(and someone needs to start picking up my bar tabs and hire me as ‘research’ staff right quick)

Heck, put in an order for, say, a half-mil to a million components and pay in advance and I’d be willing to bet Epson and E Ink would be deploying burly men and haughty women with whips to make sure the plants beat those December delivery dates.

I think the telling fact here is that E Ink hasn’t really said anything more about colour since May (their last major press release was about the pearl b&w screens, 1 July, ~2 months ahead of the Kindle 3 announcement/release) — any exclusive deal would handily explain the long silence on colour e-ink.

##

Apple has the iPad: and it’s all that, a bag of chips, and guaranteed salvation for your immortal soul — so no new Apple reader this year, or next.

Amazon is doing the incremental-improvement-thing: folks seem to like the Kindle, and the new Kindle is all that folks like and more, with the thinner, slimmer form factor and fancy new black-and-while high-contrast e-ink screen. It’s a lovely unit. And, also, it means there isn’t going to be another Amazon game-changer before 2011 (or 2012).

While the gap between the two (colour touch screen and low-power e-ink) was previously insurmountable, well, this is the future and engineers solve impossible problems before breakfast, most days.

Call it the Rocket Bomber Reader: exterior dimensions 6 × 9 x .25”, screen 5.1×8.3” color e-ink, full touch-screen, android OS (since whatever-Amazon-is and iOS4 are precluded) — and while I have no idea who is going to release it, someone has to — and they’ll likely make a lot of money.

Newspapers & especially magazines have been waiting for this platform — actually, reverse that: Magazines and especially newspapers, as most mags would be quite happy with iPad and Web distribution if they could figure out how to make money off it.

I’d price the Rocket Bomber Reader at $249 (not sure of component & manufacturing costs, but half-an-iPad seems like a good entry point even if I have to subsidize it) and pitch it as a textbook/artbook/comic/magazine reader — though I haven’t seen the colour tech myself.

Re: Colour, Though… we all loved 4-tones-of-spinach-green when the original GameBoy came out (even washed-out E-ink colour might succeed, if it’s the first-and-only-option) — though the Gallaga-NPR quote from that first link points to something special with this new tech.

Not with the blog; the failings are in the wetware of the guy running the blog.

In lieu of substantive updates: here’s Kevin Smith on Twilight Fans (I think I first saw this on the Huffington Post)

Oh, and Kevin Smith = Not Safe for Work [“Multiple f-bombs incoming, Captain!”] but it’s a holiday for a majority of my readers — I pity those of you who have to work, the rest of you enjoy this.

“There is a plan, and it’s working.”

Here’s the thing: the Health Care Debate.

Here’s the analogy: Paved Roads.

Here’s the strawman argument of the opposition, as filtered through the analogy:

“President Obama wants to tear up the roads! The Democrats want to take away your car! You won’t have a choice! You’ll have to walk, just like the rest of the plebes, and no one will get any kind of ride anywhere! You’ll have to make do with rutted dirt roads that will turn into mud quagmires if there is even a little rain, and the whole system will grind to a halt!”

There are even some who say any sort of health care reform means people will have to die.

I don’t think anyone is advocating the mandatory closing of any hospital, doctor’s office, health insurer, HMO (no matter how bad) or current state or federal program.

To belabour the analogy: No one is getting rid of roads, or forcing you to sell your car, or saying you have to make do with a clunker if you can afford a nice car, or telling your employer to take away your company car, or co-opting your limo and driver (should you have such) to drive the poor around town.

The whole transportation system will remain in place. The whole health care system will remain in place.

What is being proposed is the equivalent of a bus line. There are folks who have no cars. Maybe they pay for taxis (expensive, one-time uses of the system) — or they walk, making do without any sort of motorized help. Unless there is a public transit system.

And public transit isn’t free — you have to buy a token, or a bus pass, or something, but you chip in a bit and the gov’t chips in a bit and it’s not the best solution, it’s not a cushy ride, and you have to share — but it’ll get you there.

The public option for health care, as presented, and so far as I understand it, is like a public transit system for health care:

It’ll use the existing infrastructure. It won’t displace private, personal modes of navigating this infrastructure unless you choose to forgo those means. But if your employment changes (a job loss or a case of under-employment) or if you currently have nothing and can afford a token fee, there might soon be a way for you to use the same system the rest of us enjoy.

This is the argument and analogy that I think proponents of the proposed system should be making: The Public Health Care Option is like the Bus — and no one is going to force you to give up your “Car”, if you have one — but there needs to be a ‘bus service’ health care option for the folks who don’t have or can’t afford anything else.

Re: the commentary to date on the posting ‘The Seven Types of Bookstore Customer’, see also the first follow-up, the second follow-up, the third (and I had hoped) last time I revisited the topic, and also the recent posting (incl. reader comments) The Eight Types of Bookseller.

Reader Spiff was asking (and I’m paraphrasing) “If you didn’t want to reap the whirlwind, why did you sow the wind?”

and so:

if any of it really bothered me, I could delete the negative comments, or even go so far as to delete the original post.

I’m pretty thick-skinned, actually, and I’ve a fair sense of humor, and am mostly agnostic about it all.

Obviously, I invite comments (since there is a comment function) but the beautiful thing about the web is that one can also comment to one’s own space, with a link to material. — in fact, the vast majority of readers first discovered this blog by reading about it [with commentary, both good and bad] on someone else’s site.

What surprises me is the number of people who feel compelled to comment here, like I posted this to a public forum or on their website. The original post, and this one, constitute My Opinion on these topics and if I’m so inflammatory or offensive or outright wrong — then why did you read it?

There must be something true in it, or no one would have linked. None would have commented. No one would have bothered to read the post all the way to the end. (and certainly, if the overwhelming response was all negative, that’d be one thing, too, but what of those who posted in agreement or support?)

I’m guilty of bias; I suppose I’m guilty of posting flame-bait, too. Fine.

But the internet is all about bias and flame bait — which internet have you been reading?

My objection to negative comments is like a host objecting to guests pissing on the carpet: sure, there’s nothing wrong with the behavior per se, it’s fine in context — but there is a forum for that sort of thing and most people do it behind closed doors, & at home.

One could slander my character and rebuff all my points and arguments or tear apart my ‘arguments’ as plainly false on their face and question my suitability for my job (or any job) or even wonder aloud how long it will be before my neighbors band together to remove me as a blight to the community —

I’d just ask that you not do it on my blog, and to me that’s just as sensible as a host asking people to stop pissing on his living room rug.

The proper html is <a href=“http://www.rocketbomber.com”>THIS GUY SUCKS ASS!</a> (or your own pithy commentary) and you can post it to a web forum, or a social networking site, or to a blog of your own devising, where you pay the registration fees and hosting out of your pocket.

Just stop asking me to pay for and support your negativity. Just because it’s the internet doesn’t make it free, and I get the bill for this site.