Dennis Lehane

The girl and I went to a book signing last night with bestselling local guy Dennis Lehane. 

At this point, most people know him as the guy who wrote Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone. I got to know him a couple years ago, flying back from Florida after a visit to family down there. I stopped in the airport bookstore and picked up Sacred, which features the same characters from Gone Baby Gone. It was a great read, one that I very nearly finished on the plane trip from Florida to Maine, but I didn’t think too much of it after that. 

Flash forward a few years later, and my current girlfriend sort of reintroduced me to Lehane, because she and her father both love his books. The Kenzie-Gennaro detective novels are great – they are really great portraits of Boston, both in description and attitude. Getting to hear Lehane talk about those characters, however briefly, was a real treat. 

He was promoting his new book, The Given Day, which revolves around the 1919 Boston Police union strike, walkoff and riots, along with the events that led up to them. I haven’t yet read the book (still working through Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union), but after the reading last night, my interest is certainly piqued. After reading a short chapter, Lehane took about a dozen questions from the audience, mostly revolving around his writing process and the experience of watching his work get translated to the big screen. It was a fun talk, and if he’s coming anywhere near you, it’s worth it. (Dennis Lehane’s tour schedule)

After the talk at the Coolidge Corner Theater, we all went across the street and got in line for the signing. I had picked up the book before the talk, so we jumped right in line. It was actually the perfect wait – the line was definitely moving, so he was getting through people, but it was moving at such a pace that made it clear that he was taking a minute to talk to everyone when they got to the table. When we reached the front, I had the opportunity to ask him about the film rights to the new book, which I had seen a report on. It’s a particularly perfect storm for me, because not only is Lehane a favorite of mine, but the director currently attached to the project is Sam Raimi, hands down my favorite. Lehane said that was the current situation, which he was pleased with, because he loved A Simple Plan (as do I… sadly underrated, somewhat forgotten movie of Raimi’s. Surprising since it picked up two Oscar noms). Sadly, Lehane said he didn’t have an awful lot of input on the director besides standing off to the side and giving the thumbs up. We’ll see how it goes. 

All in all, a good night. If you like Lehane, or you’re a historical fiction junkie (as I am becoming), he’s definitely worth a listen. 

Zune 3.0 Update

Months back, I got a first-generation 30GB Microsoft Zune through club.live.com. It’s Microsoft’s casual game site, designed solely to promote the Live search engine. Play the games, get the tickets, get free crap. There’s one particular game that I can blow through in about 2 minutes and get 25 tickets. After many months of doing this, I cashed in and got the Zune. The price was definitely right, and it’s a nice little device. Certainly removes any need for me to get an iPod, which I really, really don’t want anyway.

Microsoft just released a software and firmware upgrade on Tuesday, and all around, this should be what allows Microsoft to take a small chunk out of the Apple iPod armor. A lot of it is optimized and improved if you have a Zune pass ($15 for unlimited song access as long as you have a pass), but the functionality is there for everyone.

On the firmware front…

• Games. It’s a small touch, and it drains the battery life with new speed and efficiency, but I have a 25-40 minute commute on a bus or train to work. Zoning out with music on and playing poker is fantastic.
• Clock. It’s a tiny little digital thing in the upper right corner, but it was sorely needed.
• Device-based song buying. I don’t have a Zune pass, but this update is increasingly making me feel that it might be worthwhile. If you do, there’s now a couple different ways you can find some new music. The first, most direct way is to search for it by name. That’s what the Marketplace button allows you to do. You can also browse top song and album lists, and download straight to the player. You can also tag songs for download if you happen to hear something you like on the player’s FM tuner. I’ve read this doesn’t work quite as well as one would hope, mostly because the formatting isn’t perfect on station tags, but the idea is a great one. Radio is still how most people discover new music, and this lets people immediately tag songs they like to be added to their collection.

On the software side:

• MixView. The big addition is MixView, which presents a graphical take on song and artist relationships. It’s a lot of fun to use, and if you have a Zune pass, it can be a great way to quickly expand your collection. Starting on any artist, song, album or Zune user, related items pop up around that item. These can be other songs by the same artist, artists who influenced that artists, artists who are influenced by that artist, etc. It lets you pretty quickly jump from point to point and find new stuff fast. I guess it is comparable to Genius, which shipped with the new version of iTunes (which I am yet to use, because I kind of hate iTunes*), and that the general consensus is that Genius has a slightly more standardized recommendation engine – more consistent quality recommendations – while MixView combines some quality, some boneheaded, and some mind-blowing recommendations. And MixView is prettier.
• Channels and Picks. Recommendation-based content that you can subscribe to in order to find new stuff. I think one is for podcasts, which I may try out, but the other is for songs, and only works with a pass.

Despite the renewed focus on a pass, the new stuff is definitely worthwhile. The pass really is a good deal, too, if you can spend an hour or so a month finding new music you want. There have been rumors about an iTunes subscription system for awhile now; I’m shocked they haven’t pulled the trigger on it yet. I do understand the aversion to music subscriptions, but I think there is a market for people who will spend a little bit of time finding new stuff they like, new releases and old. I’m not quite at the point where I would do it (I have enough auto-charging subscription services in Netflix and Tivo), but I definitely think it would be worth the money.

* I do. I hate iTunes. It has become something that I begrudgingly use, because of all the instant-access music stores – iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon, etc. – it has the best selection by far. But it’s just such a pain in the ass. If you’re an Apple person, it’s fine. The songs you download from iTunes will play perfectly well on your iPod, iPhone, iMac, iDock and fit perfectly into your little iLife. But I'm not. I have a PC and a Zune, cause the price was a helluva lot closer to right on those, and I wanted a larger selection of software (yes, I admit it. That means games). So if I use iTunes, which I inevitably have to every so often, I immediately burn and re-rip whatever it is I bought. Again, pain in the ass. The beauty of MP3s was that it seemed like we had finally hit a nice, decent-quality universal format that everyone could agree on. Then Apple had to mess it up. Granted, other people have jumped on the DRM bandwagon since, but Apple’s iTunes DRM was the one that really forced people to accept this as a standard. 

Bruce Campbell in the New York Times

Not sure how he pulled this one, but Bruce Campbell got a short profile in last Friday's New York Times. Blame his new stint on Burn Notice for the attention, but I don't think any fans are going to complain. It's short and sweet, but writer Joe Rhodes does nail one or two points on why people, myself included, like the guy. Specifically:

Mr. Campbell, with his masculine looks and comedic inclinations, seemed poised for a traditional Hollywood action-hero career. He moved to Los Angeles in 1988, did his share of TV drama guest shots, and had recurring roles on “Xena” and “Hercules” and his own series on Fox in 1993, “The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr.” But he was always just a little too twisted to be a leading man.

“I’m not interested in playing the straightforward square-jawed type. I never was,” he said. “I’d be doing soap operas and hourlong dramas right now if I was really into that. But I was always looking for stuff that was more off-kilter.”

For the rest of the piece, head over here: Bruce Campbell's Prime-Time Moment

On a related note for any Bruce fans who might stumble across this blog because I just typed his name, check his website for the city closest to you that he'll be bringing My Name is Bruce. Like he says, "Low-budget movies aren't released; they escape."

A Very Cool Day

So because my company spends money to advertise, we occasionally get invited to events put on by media outlets as a sort of "thank you." Granted, they have to get fairly far down the list of advertisers to get to us, but every so often...

The Boston Globe had an event this afternoon. Softball at Fenway Park. My boss is nice enough to offer some of the baseball-themed events to me, so here's a taste. They had a miniature diamond set up in the outfield - no way we were getting on the infield. Afterwards, a mini tour of the park - box seats for some team history, press box for a rundown of the park's history, and monster seats for... well... to sit in the monster seats. One hour, and the three best seats I'll ever have. Afterwards, some free ballpark food at the Absolut lounge, and thus concluded my Fenway adventure.

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Not shown - my one at-bat in the softball game. I had a bat. I hit a ball. I reached a base. I can now forever say that I got a base hit at Fenway Park. A-MA-ZING.