MacHeist 3 Bundle — Kicking My Own @$$ Again

Note to self: Do not—I repeat: DO NOT!—buy any more applications in January, February, or March!

There, now all I have to do is FOLLOW MY OWN INSTRUCTIONS. The MacHeist 3 bundle includes 2 applications that I just bought in the last month— 3, if you count EventBox that was included for free yesterday just for going to the site, and which I bought 2 days ago! Sure, one of them (The Hit List) isn’t unlocked yet, but I’m pretty sure it will be. How can you NOT buy this bundle for $39? And, if you did the missions, you get an additional $8 discount. I bought all these apps for $31. It’s like stealing— but legally!

I’m still torqued about the two apps, though: The Hit List ($50) and Little-Snapper ($39), especially since I’ve been mildly displeased with LittleSnapper and have thought a couple of times that I wish I hadn’t paid $34 for it (I had a $5 discount). I think Realmac is lucky that “they got there first” and snagged a lot of buyers. More apps are coming out now that are similar to LittleSnapper, e.g., Webbla (which was part of the MacHeist 3 loot), so that will, hopefully, motivate Realmac to update more quickly, especially now, when the app is new and there are lots of little things that need to be fixed.

The Hit List, I bought less than a week ago (kick, kick, kick). Don’t get me wrong, I love this app, but I wrongly assumed it wouldn’t be in the bundle because it is still in beta. It’s version 9.3.3, and when it goes to Version 1, the price is going up by $20. So, I “saved” myself $20 and bought it last week. Oy!

I know I shouldn’t complain, though, because this is a great bundle. Even if all I got was Kinemac, I would be thrilled. I was tempted to buy it before when it was on MacZot and MU Promo, but at half-price, it’s still a chunk of change. For $31? $31 ... $31... I have to keep saying that to myself because it’s so unbelievable. Acorn is very cool, Picturesque has always interested me. I don’t even know what I will do if BoinxTV is unlocked. Probably annoy my family with new “projects.”

Long live MacHeist ... and MacZot and MacUpdate Promo and all their bundles ... and any other bundles! I love them all!

Google Video So Much Better than iChat

For years now, I have had an iSight on my computer but haven’t known anyone with whom I could use iChat. About a year and a half ago, I bought my daughter an iMac, and now we can have video chats with each other on iChat and it works great. Really fun, yes, but considering she’s sitting right next to me in the same room, a little unnecessary.

I then met a guy on a list I’m on and we tried to use iChat, him from Pennsylvania and me from Tennessee. It was okay, but the picture broke up a lot and looked scrambled, but we still had sound. Pretty disappointing. He said he communicated with his brothers on iChat, and they had varying levels of picture quality also.

More recently, I started work for a guy in New Mexico who also has a Mac, and we tried to communicate with iChat. It worked for maybe 3 minutes, before the scrambling started, then froze completely, not even any sound. We tried several times and finally gave up.

My sister-in-law in Oregon finally got a Mac, and we were pretty excited about communicating with iChat, letting Grandma see the kids and all— same old scrambling/freezing garbage. When my daughter iChats with her friends here locally, she also has the same scrambling/freezing problems. We are all working with either cable or DSL connections, but none of it works well, if at all. Why? I don’t know.

What I do know is that when Google’s video chat came out, I installed it right away and told my sister-in-law to do the same. We now use it for all our video chats and have had no scrambling or freezing problems whatsoever. It works flawlessly. What is Google doing right that Apple is doing wrong?

Academy Awards - New Format Very Stylish

It took me two days to finish up the Academy Awards show, which I recorded, because I can’t stay up that late [wimp]. I absolutely loved the new format, the new stage, the closer-in audience. It was like going to a nightclub, more personal, intimate. I also liked how it was all very light and friendly and there were no political jokes.

Hugh Jackman did a good job, and I really like him, but I have to say that when someone does everything— sing, dance, act— there is usually one area that is a little weaker than the others, and I believe that would be his singing. He's fine, but it's a good thing that acting is his day job.

I can still get bugs in my eyes thinking about the five stars coming out to present the major awards. I was seriously choked up when they did the first one because it was just so beautiful and personal, and I feel like it made it so much more special to everyone nominated, but especially to the ones who didn't win, because it’s normally just: read the names, announce the winner. But, with these famous people talking (mostly) directly to the nominees, it was really, really lovely. And, when Shirley MacClaine talked to Anne Hathaway? Whoa! That was almost better than getting the award! And, she told her she had a great voice— she did, surprised me, too— and to keep singing? How cool was that! Anne Hathaway was probably thinking, "Academy award? Huh? What award?"

I also loved how they did the screenwriting thing, where they showed the scene in the script, the actual words/typing and reading it, and then had the completed movie scene running in the background, so we could see how the scene was written and then how it's carried out. Somebody has tons of imagination.

I got choked up again when Queen Latifah was singing I'll Be Seeing You. I love that song, anyway, but when they showed the people who died this past year with clips from their movies, which was really good for the names that were not as familiar to the general public, yeah, serious bugs in my eyes.

Even the usual bandleader, Bill Conti, was missing. Man, there must have been some PO’d good ol' boys in Hollywood this year. I’ll bet the same group of people have been doing it for YEARS, and they finally got some new guys, probably Mac users, to come in and brainstorm, and it was out with the old and inwith the new.

Even the fashions seemed classier this year. I don’t recall seeing anyone who looked atrocious, and there is usually at least one. I noticed there were a lot of single strap dresses this year, not so many strapless as in previous years. Maybe they get tired of tugging them up all the time, or maybe they don’t want to have to worry about someone stepping on their trains and yanking the whole thing down.

Well, I could just go on and on and on ... I hope they continue with this new format. I don't think they need to feel like they have to "top" it every year, just do the same thing. Hugh Jackman can host it each year, as far as I'm concerned. He was the the all around entertainer and host, a class act.

Deana Carter Christmas CD - Excellent!

Here it is, January 1, and I am faced with putting my Christmas CDs away for another year, I am thinking of keeping a few out that are just so good that I will actually miss them and want to play them in July, or maybe even March.

I am always on the look-out for new, different, interesting Christmas music, which is hard to do when I already have maybe 100 Christmas CDs and there are probably less than 100 standard Christmas songs. I prefer the usual songs with a lot of variations, but nothing too “out there.” Having said that, though, SheDaisy has a Christmas album called Brand New Year that is a little out there, and it’s one of my favorites. It’s tough to beat Santa’s Got a Brand New Bag (listen here) for an all-out boogying Christmas song.

This year, my newest favorite Christmas CD is Deana Carter’s Father Christmas. It’s not a new CD, actually released in 2001, but I just discovered it and it has received a LOT of playtime in my iTunes. I first heard a couple of the songs through Pandora and I tried to download the album from iTunes or Amazon’s MP3 music, but I could only get it on an actual CD.

The entire album is Deana Carter singing by herself, accompanied only by her dad, Earl Carter, a Nashville session guitarist who has worked with a lot of big names. It’s just beautiful, so understated and also a little quirky at times. There is one part in Winter Wonderland where Earl changes the beat on her and Deana says, “Da-ad!” in that way that kids when they are being teased, and she finished the song without missing a beat. And, man, do I wish there was someone at my house who could play guitar like Earl Carter, even HALF as good! His opening of Silent Night makes me almost want to cry.

I took the CD to a local coffee house the other night where we were meeting friends for some holiday cheer. They played the CD for us over their music system, and it sounded fabulous! A lot of people asked about the artist and title of the CD. I can’t believe it’s taken me seven years to come across it.

While I’m thinking of it, The Gypsy Hombres have an excellent Christmas CD called Django Bells. Especially good versions of You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch and the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.