Cogs can think.

Before it gets taken down by the record company nazis, here’s part one of Fiona Apple’s 1997 MTV Unplugged performance. Even I didn’t know this existed, so apart form the fact that I have to do penance now, I’m enjoying it just as much as everyone else. Part II isn’t yet uploaded, it seems, so let’s hope the uploader gets it up there as well. Never knew this had been recorded.

By the way, looking at old footage of Fiona just makes it all the more clear how much healthier she looks these days. God am I happy for that fact.

While we’re at it, here’s a fan interview with Fiona, which shows off so well how humble and kind she really is. There’s no media training here, no fake answers, no pleasing - it’s just who she is. She might come across as unnatural to people who aven’t been initiated into this whole Fiona thing, but that’s just because she is normal - everybody else in the music business has been media trained to death, void of any emotion or realness during their interviews. Fiona isn’t awkward - she’s just not trained to handle the media, making her all the more real and honest.

Too bad I won’t be able to interview her. I’ve got so much to ask her.

I’m on Twitter now.

Grumble.

America McGee is going to make another Alice game.

I still think the 2000 version is one of the best games ever made - twisted, sick, dark, and incredibly beautifully designed.

Can’t wait.

Massive worldwide economic downturn…

Accepted and widespread hatred towards a religion and its members…

Just saying.

I don’t know about you, but my country as it is today reminds me of something. I consider myself to be very, very Dutch, but I’m simply no longer able to be proud and upfront about it. It doesn’t feel like something “good” anymore to be Dutch. All our ancestors have worked for - freedom, equality - are being thrown out the window because of a perceived threat.

Many, many of my countrymen are advocating the end of freedom and equality to defend… Freedom and equality. The lack of logic in their reasoning is so glaringly obvious that they simply don’t see it anymore. You can’t give up freedom and equality in order to defend freedom and equality. It doesn’t work that way.

I feel let down by my fellow countrymen. The Netherlands that I see today is not The Netherlands I want to live in or can be proud of. And with the economy only getting worse, hatred and fear will only grow larger.

I do see a light in the darkness, though. I’ve always been to the right of the political spectrum. I still am. However, the right in this country has been hijacked by mindless nazis who only try to get votes by fuelling the hate and fear. As a result, I’m moving towards the left. Not the far left obviously (I’m not an idiot), but towards the left of the middle.

Alexander Pechtold. That’s the man to lead our country. He’s the one voice of reason among the screaming and yelling children of our Lower House. He’s well-spoken, honest (for a politician), a good speaker, incredible debater, and one of the few who goes head-to-head with the nazi in our parliament without yelling or resorting to derogatory language. And he wins every time. The man has done the impossible: he made me want to vote for D66.

And now the world will end.

As I lift my groceries in to my car
I turn back for a moment and catch a smile
That blows this whole fucking place apart

Too close to home, Bruce, too close.

So, my parents bought this brand new multifunction uber-printer that can do anything, including making coffee. Great stuff.

I took their old printer home with me, because I don’t have one and was on the verge of buying one anyway. This is when I entered the twilight zone.

The HP Deskjet 840c has no Vista drivers. HP doesn’t make them. I need my Linux machine to print.

And now the world will end.

As most OSNews readers here will already know, I published a very interesting article today - an interview with Nicki Clyne, who plays a very important character in Battlestar Galactica.

I must say, it was a very fun experience; reading through all her previous interviews, her blog, studying her work, and trying to form a picture in my head of who she is (which inevitably is a flawed picture since information on the internet is inherently wrong). Let me just say that right now, I’m actually a bit sad this wasn’t a face-to-face interview. She seems like a really nice person to interview ‘for realsies’ (instead of via email).

If you haven’t already, be sure to read it.

Let’s talk Apple. My problems with Apple - aside from it being a rather dictatorial and anti-consumer company - lie mostly in the lousy hardware it has the guts to market as “high end”, complete with matching price tags. Software-wise, I have a lot of respect for Apple. Mac OS X is a very sexy, well-designed, and stable operating system, with tons of features that make using my computers a lot easier. However, I am forced into buying their crap hardware in order to run their software - which sucks balls.

Here’s my track record with Apple hardware. Read it and weep.

• iMac G4 700Mhz 15″. Died after a few years due to massive logic board failure.
• iBook G4 1Ghz 12.1″. Case became cracked and started falling apart within a few months. Was only used at home.
• PowerBook G4 1.25Ghz 15″. Hard drive exploded for no reason, and suffered from the infamous upper memory bank failure that Apple refuses to fix.
• PowerMac G4 dual 450Mhz. Resuming from sleep leaves one processor inactive, and usually leads to kernel panics.
• PowerMac G4 Cube 450Mhz. Power button doesn’t work, case cracked.
• The only Mac that hasn’t died on me yet is my iMac G3.

Apple zealots claim that you’re not only paying for design and brand, but also for quality; Apple is a premium brand, much like some car and high-end audio brands. I’m sorry, but looking back upon my own Apple product track record, how on earth can I take those zealots seriously? My non-Apple machines NEVER die on me. Te only thing that ever died was a 40GB drive after servicing me for 8 years.

It’s bogus. Apple isn’t a premium company, and never has been either. Premium means buying speakers that last for 35 years. Premium means servicing your products for decades, and fixing any issue that pops up beyond the user’s control, without question. Apple doesn’t do that. You have to drag them kicking and screaming into the limelight with class action lawsuits before those fcuks up in Cupertino will instate a replacement program for anything.

Apple hardware is junk. Pretty junk, yes, but I much rather pay 1/6th of the price of a Mac Pro, and have the same performance, with higher quality, but with a less attractive case and no Apple logo. Cupertino’s hardware division can suck a big fat cockcicle.

Best. Conspiracy. EVAR.

I like Lost. Sure, it’s slow, full of stereotypes and Hollywood mannerisms, and really crappy music, but still - it’s fun, entertaining, looks good, and Sawyer kicks butt. And Clare is hot.

Still, with the new season, they’re really starting to lose me. For me, there’s one sure way to hell in script writing: introduce time travel. It has never worked, it has never made sense, it has never been shown in a believable way. Lost is no exception. So, some people travel through time, but others don’t? Equipment sometimes travels with them, sometimes it doesn’t? How come they never “land” inside a plant or a tree that has grown there? Take a look at BSG’s FTL/jump drives - they can’t jump too close to objects because they might jump inside them. Time travel causes so many “bugs” in a storyline, that it is simply impossible to implement it right.

To make matters worse, the time shifts always happen at exactly the right moment, further beating credibility and immersion to the curb. You can bet your sweet ass that any time the guys are in trouble, or any time someone is about to say something important, they’ll be flashed away through time right before they get killed or hear the important bit. It’s fucking ridiculous.

It’s simply crappy storytelling, and it has seriously hurt my enjoyment of the show. Time travel is always a last resort, and it clearly shows. I hope they cut this bogus nonsense soon, but I’m afraid it’s a core part of the story, so it’s likely only going to go downhill from here.

Too bad.