Interesting Factoid: Movie theatres make a bigger cut as time passes. Depending on the movie, they may net nothing from the actual ticket sales during the first week (don’t worry, they’re still doing just fine with the 6000% markup on popcorn and sugar water). By the second or third week, the theatres get to keep about 50% of the ticket revenues (and snacks remain a king’s ransom). By the fourth week, that number jumps to 80% or so. At four weeks, most showings are sparsely attended. Eighty percent of 15 tickets is not a lot (hence the justification for concession robbery).

Where was I? Yes…my defence. The movie is still making stupid amounts of money. A coworker of mine announced with pride on Monday that he had finally taken the opportunity to see Avatar. Not only that, but the theatre was full. It was released on December 18 and two and a half months later, it’s still selling out theatres. Not bad. Therefore, my post here still seems somewhat relevant.

For the record, I enjoyed watching Avatar. It was certainly an experience. The 3D and CG graphics were stunning to say the least. However, a movie should ultimately come down to the story. That’s where it may have fallen off a bit. Enough of my opinion, though. Here’s a video review that I found really intriguing. The reviewer sounds a bit odd, but hear him out.

Video after the break.

Part 1

Part 2

As I already said, Kim Jong-Il and the Stalinist government of N. Korea are not harmless nuts. Kim Jong-Il may not live long enough to surpass Hitler’s record (which itself pales in comparison to the deathtoles amassed by Marxist heavyweights, Stalin and Zedong), but one has to give him props for trying! Seven hundred thousand (conservative estimates) and counting! Ten dollars, or 3% of the nation’s GDP, says that he doesn’t even lose sleep over it! Then again, neither are we.

For a taste of North Korean propaganda, check out their official homepage. I’ve included the text from the “Reunification” portion of their site after the break.

Only few people in the world know that Korea is divided by a big concrete wall in the Parallel 38 that was built by the United States of America when the Korean War finished.This wall is hundreds of times bigger than the one that existed in Germany and is separating the Korean families, brothers, parents… the nation is divided because the U.S.A. is dominating the southern part and keeps an army of more than 40.000 soldiers to avoid the union of the Korean people.

Korea is an independent and sovereign state, but the South is still controlled by the
imperialist interests and the U.S. troops .If any South Korean citizen tries to visit North Korea crossing the big concrete wall, he’ll be killed by the american soldiers. The ‘Security Law’ in South Korea forbides to any South Korean citizen to talk or read about the North or else he’ll be punished with jail or even death penalty.

Since the end of the War, one of the main worries of the Great Leader KIM IL SUNG and the Dear Leader KIM JONG IL was the Unification of the Korean families.The Great Leader said:

“To unify the divided country in this moment is the supreme national task of all the Korean people, and we cannot wait just one moment to achieve it”

In 1980 he wrote the program for the constitution of the ‘Democratic Confederation Republic of Koryo’ where he exposed the basic points for the peaceful unification of the country respecting both capitalist and socialist systems.

The unification of Korea, the peace in the peninsula and the meeting of all the families is possible, but the U.S.A. isn’t interested on it, and every year with the support of the South Korean Army they display big military maneuvers like the ‘Ulji Focus Lens’ or ‘Team Spirit with the purpose of invading and dominate the North. Only when the american soldiers will leave South Korea and the citizens will recover they sovereignity, a big united Korean nation is possible.

Peace, Friendship and Independence are the hopes of the Korean people, and nobody will stop the burning desires and deep feelings of the separated families to be together.

However, it’s interesting to learn that the vast majority of hipster Canucks are using Mobile Safari whereas their compatriots Nigeria apparently haven’t even heard of it. One particular stat that jumped out at me was the 3% of mobile browsers in Canada use the Sony PSP browser. PSP? Really?

Oh, and Australians apparently L-O-V-E their BlackBerrys! Poor sods!

As a desperate last resort, my parents booked an appointment with a naturopath. After a few short weeks on a strict revised diet, my sister was recovering.

I’m still a cautious skeptic. I’m impressed with the testimony of my sister and many others like her but it seems that natural remedies have become dangerously chic and profitable. Moreover, there are too many unsupported health and healing claims. Granted, it’s tough to secure financing to prove that a backyard weed cures cancer. However, I figure that a company that is able to finance an aggressive marketing campaign should be able to fund some research.

Here’s an interesting infographic showing which “natural remedies” have clinical research backing their claims to fame.

On January 27, 2010 Apple held a press event to announce the hotly anticipated and much-romoured Apple iPad. For weeks, months, and even years leading up to the event, rumors and speculation ran wild concerning an Apple “tablet.” After finishing work on the 27th, I rushed home, made myself a plate of perogies, and settled in to watch the keynote.

The press event was filled with Pixar references, software demos, and self-indulgent exclamations of awe from Apple execs, including Steve Jobs himself. Apparently Steve is really excited about the product and is quite certain that we’re all going to love it. My initial response was rather tepid. In terms of design, I didn’t have any major qualms, but it didn’t really get my juices flowing (which is usually the response when Apple releases a marquee product).

When they first announced the name, my jaw dropped to the floor. iPad?!? The name had, of course, been one of the rumoured names, but never would I have guessed that the near-infallible marketing team at Apple would pick this travesty. Time will tell whether the device can rise above the ridiculous connotations the name bears. Despite my lingering distaste for the name, basing my verdict on something this immaterial would be foolish.

Many have criticized the device for being little more than an oversized iPod Touch. At first blush, one can hardly help but agree. It looks the same. It has the same operating system. It has the same limitations (e.g., lack of camera, inability to multi-task). Even all the apps they boast are available for the device are actually just stretched iPod/iPhone applications.

So what is it about the iPad that is so special that it warranted a dedicated press event? Perhaps I’m putting too much faith in His Holiness, Steve Jobs, but I’m hard pressed to believe that he would launch a product that merely duplicated a pre-existing one.

It’s all about the software

At the end of the day, it’s not about the hardware. The success of the product will not be determined by its attractiveness. Taking a page out of the Microsoft book of business, Apple is pushing the iPad as a platform and not as another one-trick-pony gadget. Ultimately, it’s the software that will make the iPad so special.

Take a look at Apple iPhones commercials. When the device came out, Apple created one commercial that touted the physical design of the unit. After that, it spent all its time hawking the wares of 3rd party developers. At the end of the day, people care less that the iPod has a sleek, refined one-button design. People care more about the fact that they can use the iPhone to browse the web, read their emails, calculate a tip, check Facebook, edit a spreadsheet, play poker, send Twitters, review restaurants, and maintain a shopping list.

The benefit of the iPad’s screen size will become clear when people begin using applications that are specifically designed for the iPad. The increased real estate makes so many more things possible. Apple demonstrated their new iWork apps. Those would not have been feasible on the iPhone’s screen. If you think it’s fun to finger pain on an iPhone, think of how much better it will be on an iPad. Think of how the following applications might look and behave differently on a larger screen: Photoshop, Epicurious, Evernote, solitaire, VNC, Wikipedia, Convertbot. The list goes on. One might be hard-pressed to find an application that wouldn’t benefit from a less cramped screen.

It’s off to work I go

Despite my initial lukewarm response, my desire to own Apple’s latest offering has grown.The problem is that I still have to be able to justify the purchase in my mind. I already own a 1st generation iPod touch. Despite no longer being the fastest or sleekest model on the market, it plays music and performs most basic tasks without a hitch. The improved speed and sex appeal of the iPad is not enough to sway me.

While at work, I’ve begun to actively search out ways I could use my iPad as a work tool. With a little assistance from the IT department, I’m confident that I should be able to find plenty ways to utilize an iPad.

Email & Contacts. Like most companies, we use Microsoft’s Exchange email server. Now, with Apple’s built-in support for exchange technologies, my hope is that the IT department at my workplace will be benevolent enough to give a Mac fan-boy like me the permissions necessary to hook up my iPad to the Exchange server. Once that’s in place, the benefits will be obvious. I’ll be able to respond to my email and check my calendar even when I’m away from my desk. If that’s not immediately possible, I suppose I may be forced to use Outlook’s web access via Safari.

Spreadsheets. My daily tasks require me to access and edit spreadsheets on a regular basis. The ability to manage certain aspects of my inventory and edit reports should be invaluable. Microsoft has hinted that they may be creating a pared down version of their office suite for the iPad. That, dear reader, would be grand.

Evernote. I’ve only just begun to use Evernote, and already I can see the huge potential this application has on the iPad. I look forward to a day where I won’t have to carry a scattered notebook filled with cryptic scribblings. Rather, Evernote should provide me the ability to access meeting notes, to-do lists, and random scribblings from home, my iPad, and my workstation. Physical notebooks serve their purpose, but short of flipping through the pages manually, they offer no indexing and searching capability. Furthermore, a spiral notebook can only be in one place at a time. In contrast, information synchronized with Evernote is essentially accessible anywhere.

The benefits of an iPad in the workplace can only be speculated until they actually begin to ship. However, it will be exciting to see how the ecosystem of applications available for the iPad develops. As I mentioned before, it’s not the hardware that will prove the iPad’s worth, it’s the software.

UPDATE: Tried to have an intelligent conversation with a leader of the IT department. I was enlightened to the fact that they are not quite as forward-thinking as I had initially hoped. Looks like Microsoft Outlook’s web access will be the name of the game until key decision-makers realize the benefits of thinking outside the beige box. *Sigh*

Despite being so incredibly pervasive in today’s culture, Facebook didn’t even exist a few short years ago. It goes to show that things can change quickly. One can’t help but wonder how much the internet landscape will change in the upcoming year. There’s only one way to tell: stay tuned!*

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

* By “stay tuned,” I’m not implying that you have to stay logged on to this page. Rather, stay “tuned” to the internet. The change will take place before your eyes.

Prettier goals have been scored, but an overtime goal in a championship game is always a beautiful thing, unless you happen to be on the receiving end. This was an epic finish: with everything on the line in front of the home crowd, the superstar scored the goal he was supposed to. Go Canada, Go!

Having said all that, congratulations to the Americans who were worthy opponents and fierce competitors.

Here’s to fresh starts and new beginnings! Hopefully this provides me the inspiration to start writing and sharing again. Soon!