Then and Now #2

RATT was one of those bands I never listened to. My best memory of the band is a poster that hung proudly in the bedroom of one of my friends in 7th grade. In fact, this particular snapshot in my mind contains other bands like Twisted Sister, Poison, and Slaughter to name a few. That’s because my friend’s wall was plastered with metal band posters and WWF wrestlers. So, to some extent, RATT is a part of my past just as they are for most of us who grew up in the 80’s. Which leaves me with the question, “What ever happened to RATT?” Well, I’ll tell you.
RATT formed in 1982 in San Diego, CA. They were a glam metal band (see picture) most notable for their hits “Round and Round”, “Wanted Man”, “Lay It Down”, “You're in Love” and “Way Cool Jr.” They sold approximately 30 million records worldwide. 2 of the big ones were Out of the Cellar and Invasion of Your Privacy. When alt-rock hit the scene in the early 90’s, RATT crawled back into the cellar for several years. They endured 2 re-unions (albeit incomplete), one in ’96 and one in ’06.
“So what are they doing now?” you ask. Why, they’re on tour of course. Have you ever seen what a rat can endure and still survive? It can swim for 3 days and live, be flushed down a toilet and come out alive, squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter, survive a several story fall, and endure the boy-band era unscathed. RATT is back baby and they’re selling more t-shirts and throwback concert DVD’s than you know what to do with.

Then and Now

For the reading enjoyment of all who have nothing better to do with their time, I am going to start a weekly little ditty called “Then and Now”. It’s mainly a means to gain a sense of purpose as I scour the Internet for useless factoids and answer the nagging question, “What ever happened to…?” We’ll see how it goes.
My first installment is a no-brainer. Ralph Macchio won all of our hearts as he was waxing on and waxing off. Who can forget Karate Kid I, II, and III? Well…I and II anyway. Then what? Was that it for our baby-faced, Italian-American, scrawny little black belt? May it never be! Mr. Macchio has enjoyed/endured a busy career in the film industry since the 80’s. Of course, we haven’t heard of many of the fine films his agent suckered him into over the years, but I have assembled a list of highlights:
You might remember him as William “Billy” Gambini in “My Cousin Vinny (1992). If that doesn’t ring a bell, just plug in “The Secret of NIHM2: Timmy to the Rescue” (1998). He was the voice of 17-year-old Timmy, which is a little odd considering he was 37 at the time. Apparently one human year equals 0.46 animated rat years. Ralph grew in notoriety in the movie “Popcorn Shrimp” (2001) as Cop #2, and later pressed his image as a family man in “Beer League” (2006). So, what about now? Currently, a film called “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead” (the first time around was great, but now that they are zombies…zowee!!) is in post-production. IMDB says the tagline is: “Don’t let your ex-girlfriend suck the life out of you!” I say those are words to live by. It seems that Ralph Macchio has a long and successful career ahead of him, but whether he’s a type-cast Gambini, Cop #2 or some other guy I’ve never heard of, he’s still Daniel Larusso to me.

Music in the Digital Age

Here is a new way to buy and share music. Derek Webb and friends have developed this site (NoiseTrade.com) for musicians to sell and share their music.

The concept: the customer can download the music by either paying the price of their [the customer] choosing or sharing the album with three friends [via email]. Musicians upload their albums to the site (for a fee) under this understanding, and they receive 90% of what the customers choose to pay.

Derek's stickin' it to the man. (Hopefully he doesn't go the way of other revolutionaries and become the man.)

So if you are interested in purchasing music, or if you are getting the band back together, you may want to check it out.

iPhone Price Point Devastates Competition

I guess I didn't really think about it but it makes perfect sense. It's a quick read but the content is good.

The Best & Worst of WWDC

Ok, so overall I found the Keynote very interesting. I don't want to say good or bad. It was confusing live but now that I've had time to ponder and watch it live I guess I am satisfied enough.

While some may not think the 3G iPhone is worth the upgrade I'm convinced it is for me for 2 big reasons. 1) 3G. It will be significantly faster. I hate waiting now for Edge. I need a faster browser. I use it all the time. Plus think of all the new apps that will benefit from this alone, Slingbox, MLB.com, etc. 2) Improved audio quality. They mentioned better sound - I'm assuming they were referring to the external speaker but the new plastic back covers 10 antennas that can only help what is a weak signal receiver in many places/buildings. Imagine what they learned from their first phone. That new push system they developed for apps like IM to function in the background without hurting performance of battery will be great (available in Sept.)

The new iPhone is not perfect. Video chatting would be amazing as would MMS, and 802.11n. I'm still surprised they can't figure out a few of the simple things. And it's $10 more a month. But with what you gain it's a move I'm willing to make.

Maybe biggest plus of the day for me is MobileMe. I'm excited for a service that works...and it better. Syncing looks amazingly simple. Plus I love that new quick reply in the mail section. When will Mail get that???  Idisk may actually be useful now and large file transfers will finally be simple.

Other Small Bonuses: (I assume these will be in 2.0 and therefore work in older models)

Save emailed pictures in albums and Contact search - FINALLY. iWork and Office compatibility is a plus too but Scientific Calculator, Parent Controls, new Languages...who needs that?

Biggest Letdown of the Day:

No iTunes activation. You have to go to AT&T. That's stupid. I understand it, but by showing us a world of such ease just to pull it away from us, it hurts. That's all I'm saying.

But My Favorite Items of the Day

#1 The "cloud". You have to love the cloud in MobileMe. I didn't know how talented clouds were :)

#2 The sim ejector included with iPhone (otherwise known as a paper clip)

What do you think???

I wanted just a little more...

I watched three different mac sites refreshing my browser every minute or two so that I could participate in the developers conference myself.  By the way I thought the feed from Engadgit was the best.  I kept waiting for the "wow."  I was captivated by what could be, only to be left wanting a little more.  Where was the video conferencing?  Where was the MMS?  What about a simple stupid "to do" list that works with ical?!!  Sure there is the GPS (a novelty at best), and the G3 speed boost (just use the wi-fi).  I still cannot copy and paste.  I cannot send pictures via instant message.  Nice that they could drop the price to $199.00, but ATT will eat up that with an extra $10.00 a month for their data plan.  I did like the renovation of .mac to push email, ical and contacts, though goz@me.com seems a little narcissistic.  I will wait and enjoy my vintage $600.00 iPhone and put my hope in the creativity of the 3rd party world in hopes that they might solve some of Apple's simple oversights.

Would anyone else like to see Goz build one of these for us?