I've worked at NYU's film archive for the past two years. It has been a hodgepodge of jobs, but by far my favorite part is inspecting films. If it is something really interesting I will throw it up on the cinescan to view it, of course, just to verify the visual quality.

I was going through a stack of 16mm films the other and one caught my eye.

The first is Tips for Making Tea (1941). If you have read any of my other posts, or my little bio on twitter, then you will know that I am a tea drinking fiend. Even though it wasn't on my list to inspect, I decided to gauge the quality of the film just in case.

After some quick research, it turns out the the film is British and was produced during the WWII. The film is concerned with making large quantities of tea. The tea ladies are making urns of probably two or three hundred cups. Very instructional film and very dated. 

I know this is British, but it seems to be a glimpse into what America would do with coffee. Turn it into a mass produced commodity. There are six ways to make a good cup of tea:

1. Always use a good quality tea (Duh)
2. Always use freshly drawn water (Very important)
3. Remember to warm the teapot or urn (helpful)
4. Measure the right quantity of tea for water in the pot (I eye ball it, but more is not always better)
5. The water must reach the boiling point ( And slightly under depending on the leaf)
6.  Let the tea brew for 5-10 minutes before serving (Greatly depends on the variety of tea!)

Fortunatley, the BFi has a copy of the film on youtube:

Hmm, back to back iPad posts. I need to find new material. . . or write more often.

Anyways, I was watching The Incredibles Monday night, and this scene had new meaning since the last time I saw it

It's the iPad!

What? The film came out in 2004 you say?

True, but you have to remember Steve Jobs bought the Pixar division from ILM and spun it off into the Studio we now know and love. Also, he currently sits on the Board of the Directors of Walt Disney Studios. I really wonder if this was a sulbiminal product integration strategy.  Basically planting the seed so seven years later all those people that saw the movie would vageuly remember that superhereoes used tablets to communicate. If it was good enough for superheroes  it has to be good enough for me. I'll buy six! I bet I can fly! No wonder Apple's profits this quarter have shot up!

"iPad, for when you want to lure superheros to a secret island."

I was thinking over the weekend how do you carry the iPad around?

I mean the iPhone makes sense because you can fit it in your pocket, taking it with you without much fuss. My Kindle is about the same size as an iPad, but since I only use it for reading I normally keep it in my school bag. It seems kind of annoying to have to open a bag, take out a case, and then open the case just because I want to play flight control for a few minutes.

Then it hit me, like a bad after taste, Jncos! Yes, remember the grungy kid from middle/high school with the really baggy jeans and the huge pockets! You might have made fun of them, but this prescient outsider was just too ahead of their time. The knew one day that their pockets would be needed to ferry cutting edge technology, but they just didn't get the timing down.

 Dig them out of the closet if you got 'em, then order an iPad, then pull out an old yearbook, then visit all those kids that made fun out you and show them the jeans were a good decision.

I decided to write on the iPad today because it seems like the internet as a whole is neglecting it. I can't find a single blog post, tweet, or website that mentions it. . . 

First, I think the iPad seems like an amazing piece of technology, even for a first gen model.  I know people are deriding it for not doing this or that, but you have to admit that having a clipboardlike touch screen is what people (read nerds) have been dreaming about for decades. Since I have only handled an iPad for a few seconds I won't cast judgement on it yet.

I will however cast stones toward Amazon for releasing a kindle reader for the iPad. Yes, there are readers for the iPhone, PC, and Mac, but this one stung. My Kindle DX cost just as much as an iPad and you are basically giving the iPad the same functinality as my Kindle in COLOR and for FREE!?!

I willingly paid the price for the Kindle DX because Amazon promised it was the future of ebooks. By releasing an app for the iPad Amazon stands to make loads of money on book sales, which might help drive the prices down, but when was the last update you released to the Kindle, Amazon? When are we going to be able to highlight text in pdfs? How about working on getting the contrast a little bit sharper? And what happened to all that hype about e-ink being superior to led/lcds? 

I still stand by my Kindle as the best way to read digital books. If I was reading on an iPad I would quickly lose interest and start surfing the internet, or watching Netflix on demand, or watching anything from Hulu if I could VNC into my desktop. Even though I paid the same amount as an iPad I really appreciate my single function e-reader, and my ability to take it out in the sun! But, I am a little hurt by amazon simply cashing in on another revenue stream while neglecting it's own hardware.

This post might seem nitpicky, but I don't want Amazon to forget it has its own hardware. Hopefully Amazon's Kindle app will convince publishers to e-publish more and more content since there will be a bigger demand. And let's be honest, this will probably do for ebooks what the iPod did for mp3s, creating a /cough/ under ground network for acquiring content. Luckily all the books really worth reading are in the public domain!

Looking towards the Brooklyn Bridge and the Financial district over the easter weekend. The city just reopened the water front park there and it s gorgeous.


And yes, I made a water mark. . .