Monday, January 07, 2008

• Dearth Evader

  "There's a serious dearth of decent reading material around here in Xangaville." ~ CapnK8

  The above quote, which is part of a comment Kate left for me on my previous entry, made me smile when I first read it.  It is neither the truth of that statement, nor the implied compliment to me (when read in context), that amused me.  No, it's the fact that I only recently discovered the word "dearth".

  I asked for and received Steve Martin's autobiography "Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life" for Christmas.  Midway through the book, Mr. Martin tells the story of his audition for The Steve Allen Show in 1969.  Here's an exerpt describing part of a conversation he had with the show's producers:

  They accepted me with more ease than I expected, and when I spoke to them afterward, they commented, "There seems to be a dearth of young comedians right now."  I looked puzzled.  I said, "That's odd, I don't think there are many at all."  Their stares made me realize my blunder.  I knew the word, but I had the definition backward.

  If I'd heard the word for the first time in a similar context, I also would have assumed that dearth meant "abundance" instead of "scarcity".  Now that I know what it means I think it's a really cool word, but I doubt I'll have the chance to slip it into a conversation.  And even if I do, I have the feeling that the other participants in said conversation will make the same mistake Steve and I did.

  EXCUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSE MMMMEEEEEE!!!

  I love amusing coincidences like that.  I suppose I could take it further and assume that Kate hadn't heard the word before either, and that she discovered it reading the same book, which would not only make us phone twins (comment context again) but BOOK TWINS!  How cool would that be?

  But I digress...

  kinda...

  I was happy to read (again in my comments) that my buddy Mike also has a red Samsung SYNC phone, but he's a silly, silly man for thinking that I don't already have all the cool goodies and attachments for it.  I'll forgive him for that as he is the ONLY one of my readers who left me a voice message when I begged for... er... humbly solicited one.  Shame on the rest of you.

  I must say that I love love LOVE the SYNC.  I love its large screen.  I love its 2.0 megapixel camera which can take pictures with dimensions up to 1600 X 1200.  I LOVE the Micro SD expansion slot, which currently houses a 1GB card the size of a pinky fingernail!  And in the snazzy red color I chose it's a fashionable geek's dream!

  However, what I DO NOT love is the fact that I can't use a USB cable (or even bluetooth, for that matter) to put games on it.  Yep, somebody at Samsung got wise to the workarounds and made it so that games can only be downloaded.  The bottom line is that I have to PAY for games if I want them.  I HATE that.

  As many of you know, I am a Solitaire junkie.  As such, I was lucky to find a FREE version of the game.  Bless the hearts of the people at Sun Microsystems for offering free tool kits for developing Java applications for cell phones.  Doubly bless the hearts of those folks that have taken the time to learn Java programming and develop games and apps to be distributed freely.  Granted, I still have to pay transfer fees for downloading--which is 1¢ per KB on my current plan (Solitaire came to a whopping 27¢)--but I'll take that over the $5.99 most other sites charge for an "officially licensed" game.

  Honestly, I can overlook the game thing because I've learned to do so many other cool things on my phone.  For example: I can take any video I find online and convert it to a viewable cell phone format thanks to an amazing (and FREE) program called SUPER (Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer).  I've mentioned this program before but now I actually have a computer powerful enough to run it!  A few months ago, my dad sent me yet another one of his old computers... one with a faster processor, more RAM, and Windows XP.

  Yes, you read that correctly.  I've finally graduated from Windows 98.  And, as His Royal Diddyness recently put it to me (yet again in my comments):  "it's about time..."

  It's also about time I wrapped up this entry, so I'll just drop names of the rest of you that left me recent comments:

  • The Mad One, who just came to the harsh realization that she's appliance dependent (with which I can sympathize) and who also likes to apologize for her husband's curtness (which isn't necessary because I still think he's a cool guy).
  • The Other Mad One, Mad's faithful sidekick, who was the first one to welcome me back to the "blogosphere" (another cool word I hadn't heard before).
  • Tina, who thinks she's being funny by saying she's glad to see I'm "still around", even though she lives only a few blocks from me and picks up my woman for work every morning.
  • And last, but not least, Stiv, who seems to be the only one who appreciated my Seikima II video.  Rock on, my metal brother!

  I'll end this by embedding yet another video from a Japanese heavy metal band.  These guys are called Anthem and I've really been digging into their music lately--so much so that I've downloaded all 12 of their studio albums onto my phone.  Pretty cool, huh?

  (Don't ask where I got the albums, just enjoy the video, mmmK?)

   

   

  I feel the urge to explain why I've been obsessed with Japanese bands (and not just those of the heavy metal variety) lately, but I'll save that for another day.  I'd also like to keep sharing videos with you, but I need you to tell me if posting too many vids on one page drags it down.  I may have a faster connection and a better computer now, but I remember how much it sucked when an overloaded web page froze up my browser.

  And thanks to all for your continued support!

   

  Currently Listening Eternal Warrior By Anthem Onslaught see related

  • 5:44 PM
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