This is a rough edit of what I thought of Apple's new iPad that was announced yesterday. In my rush to post, I failed to smooth out the audio. I know it sounds funny at some point, but oh well.
Basically, in a nutshell: I want an iPad! Oh yes, I do! But I think it's a glorified iPhone but it doesn't make phone calls. It's not Apple's answer to the netbook. At least, not yet. Maybe as it evolves.
Conan O'Brien wrapped up his final "Tonight Show" episode with these heartfelt words. Below is the speech in its entirety. It's the last sentence that will leave an indelible impression of what a class act Conan is.
"Before we end this rodeo, a few things need to be said. There has been a lot of speculation in the press about what I legally can and can't say about NBC. To set the record straight, tonight I am allowed to say anything I want. And what I want to say is this: between my time at Saturday Night Live, The Late Night Show, and my brief run here on The Tonight Show, I have worked with NBC for over twenty years. Yes, we have our differences right now and yes, we're going to go our separate ways. But this company has been my home for most of my adult life. I am enormously proud of the work we have done together, and I want to thank NBC for making it all possible.
Walking away from The Tonight Show is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Making this choice has been enormously difficult. This is the best job in the world, I absolutely love doing it, and I have the best staff and crew in the history of the medium. But despite this sense of loss, I really feel this should be a happy moment. Every comedian dreams of hosting The Tonight Show and, for seven months, I got to. I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second. I've had more good fortune than anyone I know and if our next gig is doing a show in a 7-11 parking lot, we'll find a way to make it fun.
And finally, I have to say something to our fans. The massive outpouring of support and passion from so many people has been overwhelming. The rallies, the signs, all the goofy, outrageous creativity on the internet, and the fact that people have traveled long distances and camped out all night in the pouring rain to be in our audience, made a sad situation joyous and inspirational.
To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I'll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere.
Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."
A few days after I got back from the Bahamas my laptop took a big dump and had to be looked at. As a result I lost all photos that I had just transferred to my hard drive including all my cool photos from my day trip to Nassau. I saw some really awesome graffiti art there and it's all gone now. :(
The good news was: I still had footage from my Flip and some shots on my iPhone. Oh, and I kinda stole some photos from the gals I worked with. I hope when they see this, they'll be happy. I think this is a really cute video!
It was a super wet rainy day for a meet up with Aldrine Guerrero from Ukulele Underground who's here in SoCal to attend NAMM. Since I don't play the uke (and have no plans to) I thought I'd just come to see his live show on Tuesday at DiPiazza's in Long Beach. But then I saw that there was going to be meet up and since it was MLK Day which meant I was free I was like, well why not go? Eddie would! :)
At first I hesitated 'cuz like I said, I don't know how to play. But I could tell from the website and fanbase that Aldrine's got a tight and friendly community so I thought why not? I'll go, take some video and see what happens. So I shot this footage and came home to edit only to find that my Internet is down. Now here I am throwing all together in the blender of my local coffee house because I really want to spread the word about tomorrow's show. If you're in Long Beach tomorrow night come join me not only to see Aldrine play but all the lovely people I met today. Hope to see you there!
5205 East Pacific Coast Hwy. (just south of the traffic circle) Long Beach CA 90804 $10 cover at the door (all ages welcome!) full bar and great food 7:00 – 3 Hour Tour (featuring UU’s own ukecantdoit) 8:00 – Aldrine Guerrero and Aaron Nakamura 10:00 – Barefoot Wahines (featuring UU’s own salukulady)
Yesterday was a travel day for me as I flew home from my adventures in the Caribbean. Google was offering free wifi on my layover at Fort Lauderdale and Virgin offered free wifi in-flight! While I blogged a bit to do my part to promote volunteering on behalf of the Haitian plight I mostly vegged.
Now I've got lots of photos and vids from my trip so I'm going to have to make time at some point to organize those. But for the moment I want to share this silly video I made while waiting for my connecting flight in Fort Lauderdale. A friend and turned me on to site called TagGalaxy.de in which you type in a tag and then it generates this "planet" of photos on Flickr that have been tagged with the same. It's fun and interactive so if you're bored hanging out an airport, I recommend checking it out.
I don't know when I'm going to get back to regular blogging yet. I got to get settled back in and take care of business, but I'm back and while I had a really great time I'm really happy to be home!
Check out http://taggalaxy.de Mashup: "Single Ladies (of Mayberry)" by Party Ben
As many of you may know, I spent the last two weeks in the Caribbean working a gig at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, which is 887 kilometers/551 miles/479 nautical miles South/East of Haiti. I was on the job in the casino when the hotel management advised that everybody on the premises stay inside due to a tsunami alert. I had no idea what would cause such an announcement so at my earliest convenience I Facebooked and asked my network what happened. Seconds later I was apprised of the horrible catastrophe that had struck the people of Haiti.
It was a rather surreal juxtaposition to be amidst a world of high roller gambling and family vacationing when others were suffering but at the time there was not much more I could do but complete my assignment. Now the gig is over and at this time I am free to assist and volunteer in any capacity to the people of Haiti although I realize that the situation there is chaotic and somebody with my skills would be more of a hindrance than help. When I return home I am going to roll up my sleeves once again and volunteer at the American Red Cross. I know everybody is donating money to the Haitian cause but may I gently urge you all to put your money where your mouth is and volunteer in some capacity to a charity of your choice.
Ak espwa pou tout moun nan Ayiti. (With hope for everyone in Haiti).
