The Gavin Show

I was just over on sling.com and saw the following banner at the bottom of the page. (You might want to click on it for the bigger version.)

Saturday is Independence Day here in the States, and Sling has distilled its version of what it calls “America’s spirit” down to a collection of television programs.

As part of its “Sling.com Salutes America” section, users can watch episodes of Friday Night Lights, American Gladiators, NCIS, America’s Got Talent, CHiPs, Army Wives, America’s Toughest Jobs, Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, American Dad! and, “of course”, 24.

Yes, I understand Sling can only show videos for which it has licenses or agreements, but come on. To call this a tribute to America’s spirit is insulting.

Can we have a tasteful observation of Independence Day, or is that not patriotic enough? What about a thoughtful reflection of our checkered history? What about admiring how far we’ve come as a nation and, through a thorough review of that past, muster up the courage to forge ahead and make progress on the long road we still have ahead of us?

I’m certainly no sentimental sap when it comes to America. This country has done more than a few horrifying things, but we also have had many shining triumphs. Being patriotic means taking the good with the bad, being honest about where we’ve come from, and doing our best to guide the country in the right direction without putting on blinders to our mistakes.

Patriotism is not the same as loving your country the way a three-year-old loves ice cream.

It’s important to note I don’t have anything against these TV shows. It’s easy to lose ourselves in the vast variety of cheap entertainment available at our fingertips. In fact, that’s why they were produced in the first place. I will happily admit that I tune in to watch Jack Bauer blow stuff up each week. It’s fun! It’s mindless! It’s a way for me to take my mind off of work for an hour. It has nothing to do with the spirit of our country. It’s like saying the Olive Garden represents the spirit of Italy.

America’s spirit runs deep and encompasses a staggeringly vast collection of human experience. It’s not all about guns, big boobs, sports, violence, and explosions. We’re better than that. We’ve packed countless stories of inspiration, horror, heartbreak, redemption, love, loss, selfishness, generosity, and accomplishment into only a few short centuries.

The narrowly-focused “America!” feature couldn’t be more off the mark. It’s an ugly caricature and a nasty stereotype that Sling should rise above.

Recording my first iPhone 3G S video! on 12seconds.tv

“I don’t get it. Why are you so excited about buying the exact same phone?” I heard that more than a few times. And, though I defended my move from first-generation to brand-spanking-new iPhone, part of me was worried. After playing with the new features, would the novelty would wear off and buyer’s remorse sink in?

After a long weekend of pictures, video, web browsing, file transfers, app downloads, and voice commands, I can happily say this is not the same phone I’ve used for the past year and a half.

Apple made the account transfer process completely painless. I know some people have been having trouble with phone activation activation, and maybe it was because I got to the store so early, but a helpful Apple Store employee at the Towson Town Center had me up and running in about two minutes. I was completely unprepared for her to smile and say, “That’s it!” My total time in the Apple store couldn’t have been more than five minutes.

There were obvious hardware differences made to the iPhone when the 3G model came out last year, but they’re all new to me now. Migrating from the metal design, the curved plastic case just feels more natural in my hand. Comparing the two, I didn’t notice a huge difference in weight, but the iPhone 3G S appeared to be just a hair lighter.

The speaker on the 3G S is fantastic compared to my old iPhone. The speakerphone is actually useful, and I was astonished at how good the audio from music and movies sounds. Recordings from the new Voice Memos app the audio sound clear and sharp, even better than my old iRiver pocket audio recorder which I used for podcasts a few years ago. In a pinch, the phone could be used for good-quality on-the-spot interviews.

And then there’s the new camera. The jump to a 3.0 megapixel autofocus camera is amazing. No, it won’t replace my DSLR, but I’m sure I’ll produce some print-worthy shots with this camera, at least in well-lit conditions. The absence of a flash will still make some photos tough to take, but for quick snapshots, it’s just what I need. Here’s a close-up I took of some raspberries at my parents’ place over the weekend. I love the macro focus.

I will have to do some side-by-side comparisons, but I have a hunch that the video produced by the new iPhone looks slightly better than what was produced by old Flip camera. Though it records 640 by 480 standard-def video, the iPhone 3G S even performs better in low-light conditions than my Kodak Zi6, which severely drops its frame rate. (To be fair, the Zi6 totally rocks the 720p high-def in bright light, and with a digital zoom to boot.) Here’s a video of my sister spinning fire in the dark. (Yes, I know, my sister is amazing!)

The video camera records in both portrait and landscape modes, but I’m not certain whether or not I like that. While a vertical 480 by 640 clip looks interesting and could be useful, nearly every video sharing service will have to come up with a way to handle these odd-sized files. For example, 12 seconds rotates my video to the more traditional 640 by 480 orientation, which causes my entire video to look like it’s on its side.

Macro focus on the iPhone 3G S! on 12seconds.tv

Trimming a video clip is ridiculously intuitive. Tap-and-drag either end, press play to preview, then tap the “Trim” button. Done. When connected to your computer, the videos sync up in iPhoto along with your pictures. I’m surprised but thankful that iMovie is left out of the mix, but it makes me wonder if Apple has plans to combine iMovie and iPhoto at some point down the line. It seems almost silly to have to drag movies out of iPhoto and into iMovie if I want to stitch a few of them together.

As cool as all these video features are, I still believe it should have been a launch-day feature two years ago. The fact that it took this long to appear in Apple’s high-end smartphone is, frankly, embarrassing.

The iPhone’s “tap to focus” for still photos is absolutely killer. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that feature in DSLR and other digital cameras very, very soon. It’s intuitive, smart, and works incredibly well. Just touch the part of the image you want to take a picture of. Then, take the picture.

And the speed! This phone runs faster on the 3G network than my first-generation iPhone ran on my wi-fi connection. The combination of the 3.0 firmware and the new, faster processor is wicked. Apps download and install almost instantly. Websites load at blazing speeds. It compresses video, attaches to email and sends it within seconds. The jump from first-gen iPhone to 3G S is literally the same as jumping from dial-up to broadband Internet. It reminds me of the first time I had high-speed Internet at home.

So those are my initial observations. As I go through my first work week with the phone, I’m sure I’ll come up with more things to write about, or remember things I forgot to mention. So far, all of my fears and reservations about this phone have been squashed, and my entire experience so far has just rocked.

So here I am, sitting on the Chinatown bus on my way to New York from Baltimore. I’m not sure which thing I’m more excited about, the fact that I’m sitting directly next to the toilet or the fact that I-83 is a parking lot and the only vehicles making progress are emergency vehicles. We left about a half hour ago and still haven’t left the Baltimore city limits. Also, I’m hungry because I didn’t have time to grab dinner.

But you know me. I can’t complain. Unless one of these people gives me swine flu.

If you have a spare moment, please stop by my page on Host Our Coast and vote for me! The voting closes at 5:00 pm ET on Friday, and I need as many unique votes as I can get.

Thanks so much, and I promise to pipe down with the shameless self-promotion after this is all over!

I just applied to Host Our Coast, a competition in which one lucky applicant gets to spend two months exploring the Delmarva coast, live in a waterfront condo, and paid to blog and make videos along the way. Since this assignment was pretty much tailor-made for me, I’d had to apply.

My 60-second application video above. I’m not generally into shameless self-promotion, but please check it out and, if you like it, pass it on! The judges consider my video’s play count in their decision, so I could use your help!

St. Vincent – Actor
(Buy it in iTunes or on Amazon.)

2007 was a really, really good year for music. So good, in fact, that St. Vincent’s Marry Me was lost a little in the wake of huge releases from established artists. That was the year Feist’s The Reminder came out, permanently etched into our brains by Apple’s iPod commercial. Radiohead released In Rainbows. It was like that all year long. There were literally dozens of others.

Still, out of all the great music from that year, St. Vincent’s Marry Me ended up being one of my favorite albums. Today she’s back with Actor. From what I can tell, this album is poised to get a lot of well-deserved attention. Annie Clark’s voice is almost like a musical instrument, dancing lightly and airy one moment, gravely and sincere the next. As was true with her prior efforts, this album deserves multiple listens, from start to finish. It’s complex, but easy on the ears at the same time, no easy feat. It will be easy to pick out something new with each listen.

Go pick up this album. Your friends will all be talking about it in three months.

Cracker – Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey
(Buy it in iTunes or on Amazon.)

What? Cracker is still around? They have a new album today? And it’s good? Sign me up.

This album is very 1990s, and I always use that as a compliment. Listening quickly through the tracks, it’s amazing how it instantly transports me back to HFStival ‘96 at RFK stadium in Washington, DC where my high school friends I stood all the way up by the front of the stage in the very, very sweaty crowd so we could get a good view of the band. Sometimes a drunk guy would spill beer on us. 21 seemed so old! I can hardly believe that was 13 years ago. Okay, now I feel old.

David Lowery’s voice is exactly the same now as it was then. How does he do that? And how does Cracker take such a simple-sounding version of American rock and make it 100% uniquely theirs? Johnny Hickman’s guitar work should probably take a lot of the credit, too.

This is going to be a great warm-weather album. If I had a porch, I’d put this on the stereo and sit outside with a well-stocked cooler. I’ll have to settle for an open window in my basement apartment. The music will take care of the rest.

There. I said it. It’s not even summer yet, but the blockbuster season begins and ends this Friday with Star Trek. Sure, X-Men Origins: Wolverine came out last week, but any tepid urge I had to go see it has been flushed from my system. Since it’s not released until this Friday, May 8th, I’m going to keep this post as spoiler-free as I can.

I was lucky enough to score an advance screening pass at the AMC in White Marsh, Maryland, thanks to my friends Spam and Anna. My dad met me at the theater, and we all went in with cautiously high expectations.

I’m used to being let down by big-budget Hollywood movies, especially those adapted from source material I already know and love. This movie did something that very, very rarely happens: It was better than I had hoped. Way better.

Star Trek is unbelievably awesome. I loved nearly everything about this movie. The fight scenes are great. The space battles are expertly done without being visually overwhelming (I’m looking at you, George Lucas). Each cast member is perfect in his or her role. The story was well-paced and never hit a stretch where I felt it dragged. Even though the sets, ships, weapons, and costumes all received 2009 updates, they still feel like they’re a part of the familiar original story.

It somehow manages to be awesome for hardcore fans and people who have never stepped foot into a Star Trek universe, something I thought would be impossible. It’s helpful that the story starts way at the beginning, before the original series. Everybody in the theater, Trekkie Trekker or not, has to get oriented with the tone of the film as they are introduced to the characters. Even if you don’t know your Scotty from your Chekov, you’ll feel right at home.

The movie also has a great sense of humor, which makes the serious parts even more powerful. There are plenty of references to the original series and movies. There are bar fights and phaser shoot-outs. There are big surprises and twists. And at the end of it all, you want to get back in line and watch it again.

Okay, Gavin. Breathe. This is unlike you. You’re normally very, very cynical about movies. What didn’t you like?

Well, there were two minor things that irked me. Near the beginning, there’s a certain pop-culture reference and a certain product placement that completely threw me out of the narrative. You’ll know them when they happen. It was a very Michael Bay-esque move, and I started to get really worried that J.J. Abrams ruined everything. Thankfully, the movie was non-stop awesome from that point on, so I was able to forgive him for the blunder.

Of course, there are bound to be unflappable, hardcore, über-nerdy fans that will tear this movie to shreds simply for not being the original material. To those people I say, relax. Enjoy. No one going to break into your house and trash your DVD box sets while you’re in the theater. No one is going to open your sealed action figures. Your characters and canonical storylines are safe.

It’s going to be very difficult for any other blockbuster of the 2009 season to be this good. As far as I’m concerned, Wolverine can wait for DVD, the new Terminator is a toss-up, and there’s no way I’m getting anywhere near the Transformers sequel. G.I. Joe? I fear it’ll be another Transformers-caliber letdown. Of course, I could be totally wrong about all those movies. Still, they’ve got some tough competition from the young crew of the Enterprise.

If you’re unconvinced, do yourself a favor and make this the one movie you go see in the theater this summer. I can’t wait to go see it in IMAX for my second go-round.