Prelude to Dune

On January 28, 2010January 28, 2010 By Rick McIn books, product endorsements2 Comments

Dune, by Frank Herbert, is considered by many to be the greatest Science Fiction novel of all time.

I loved Dune but found each of the five sequels to be weaker than the last.

When Dave Adlard recommended yet more books set in the Dune Universe, I was dubious.

Prelude to Dune is a “a prequel trilogy of novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.”

Brian is Frank’s son. The prequels were written after Frank’s death, based on original notes.

Dune: House Atreides chronicles the early life of Leto Atreides, prince of a minor House in the galactic Imperium. The novel begins on the planet of Arrakis, 35 years before the events of the original novel Dune.

We meet Duncan Idaho, only 7yrs-old. And learn more about the history of houses Atreides and Harkonnen, their bitter feud.

So far as I’m concerned, this prequel is as good or better than Dune itself. An impressive feat.

Thanks Dave.

The first film of Dune was adapted by David Lynch (1984). Frank Herbert liked it. As did I.

There’s another film version in the works. No date of release has yet been announced.

the Apple iPad intro video

On January 27, 2010January 27, 2010 By Rick McIn Apple, books, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Watch it on Apple.

Price starts at $499. Cheap.

Most people will pay $30 / month for internet access.

Is it a good book reader?

On first impression, I thought kindle had nothing to worry about. But Mashable disagrees:

… given that iPad starts at $499 and iBooks offers such an impressive ebook experience, we have to wonder what Amazon could do at this point to stay competitive.

Apple announces the iPad

On January 27, 2010January 27, 2010 By Rick McIn Apple, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Yup.

They went with that name. …

Here is the first reveal:

Watched live blogging with photos on gdgt. While listening to live audio on ustream.tv.

I’m quite happily impressed with the first version. It’s enough for me. I’ll be buying one sometime in future. No rush, though. There’s nothing it does that my MacBook doesn’t.

review – Modern Family

On January 27, 2010February 16, 2015 By Rick McIn product endorsements, TVLeave a comment

After seeing the hilarious trailer for that new TV comedy – Modern Family, I watched every episode online.

Brilliant. See it.

sick of airline baggage fees? … FedEx your luggage

On January 26, 2010January 26, 2010 By Rick McIn product endorsements, travel1 Comment

My buddy Andy routinely ships his mountain bike box by FedEx. He was astonished how much easier and cost effective it was than trying to send it as luggage.

… Consider: a single 25-pound suitcase or shipment from Boston to San Francisco by FedEx Ground costs about $31 vs. $23-$25 on Delta or nothing on Southwest.

But once that suitcase weighs over 50 pounds, excess charges kick in on the airlines, even on Southwest: you’d pay $56 for a 55-lb. bag using USPS on that same Boston-San Francisco trip, but twice that on Delta, which adds an extra $90 fee each way for bags weighing over 50 pounds. Even Southwest will charge you $50 each way.

And if your bag is both heavy and oversized (larger than 61-62 linear inches), you’ll get hit with triple jeopardy on some airlines: a fee for the first bag, plus an overweight fee, plus an oversized fee. Such a bag might cost nearly $300 on Delta on a trip from Los Angeles to Seattle vs. under $40 via FedEx Ground. …

What? You’re still paying the airlines to carry your bags?

airfarewatchdog – Airline baggage fees chart, updated

more – Trick, repack and rethink your way around the new luggage fees

=== UPDATE from Dana:

When I came back to Vegas after 4.5 months in Canada, I used Canada post to send my extra bags. It cost me $170 CAD. Had I flown with the bags (5 extra) it would have cost me $725 on ScAir Canada/United. They also charged me an extra $10 per bag that I was traveling with, because I didn’t check in on line. Which you are not able to do when traveling with an infant. What a crock.

ps – my bags arrived in 8 days

band of the decade is …

On January 25, 2010January 17, 2010 By Rick McIn music, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Black Eyed Peas.

My pick.

… Black Eyed Peas was ranked 12th at the Billboard’s Decade-End Chart Artist of the Decade. They were ranked 7th in Hot 100 Artists of the Decade.

Click PLAY or watch Boom Boom Pow on YouTube.

The best selling band, as ranked by Billboard, of the last decade was Alberta’s Nickelback.

… Was this the worst decade for popular music? Worse than the 1980s?

Leave a comment if you’ve a different favourite over the last 10yrs.

Backpacker Travel Insurance

On January 21, 2010 By Rick McIn product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

Top 5 companies as rated by WikidTravel:

Direct Travel (Option 4)
Insure and Go (Gold)
Direct Line
Down Under
World Nomads

I’ve bought from World Nomads. … But they are the most expensive option.

I’ll shop around next time.

book review – Born to Run

On January 20, 2010January 20, 2010 By Rick McIn books, health & fitness, product endorsements, sport - amateur, sport - pro4 Comments

On the insistence of my Adventure Racing buddy, Dave Adlard, I bought a book.

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

A fantastic read, even for non-runners. The author, Christopher McDougall, (video) is a master story teller. I was gripped by this true life story.

Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong. …

It’s available on Audible.com, as well as in a Kindle edition.

Get it!

I listened to this book immediately after Dan Brown’s entertaining The Lost Symbol (my review).

It was crystal clear that Dan Brown is a hack compared with by Christopher Mcdougall.

Why is that?

I believe Brown is an old school author. Mcdougall an author of the future,

Mcdougall is a journalist, writing primarily magazine articles. This is his first book.

A magazine article must be instantly engaging. Otherwise the reader will flip ahead to the next story.

Christopher Mcdougall reminds me of Jon Krakauer, another magazine scribe turned author.

Bottom line: get Born to Run.

renting a movie from iTunes

On January 18, 2010January 11, 2010 By Rick McIn Apple, movies, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I downloaded a rental movie online for the first time. It worked perfectly US$3.99.

The Bourne Trilogy is fantastic. Why aren’t more Hollywood movies put together like this?

Click PLAY or watch a trailer for the Bourne Ultimatum on YouTube.

Video tutorial … How to Rent Movies With iTunes.

Amazon Video on Demand for the same film was only $2.99, but could not be downloaded to Canada for some reason. Amazon is usually cheaper than iTunes, but doesn’t work quite as well.

I’ll rent more from iTunes.