MojoLists

Growing up in the 70's I remember listening to the radio, usually in the car, while my mother hauled us around on her daily errands. I knew all the words to the popular songs, even the really bad ones. It wasn't until I moved past my heavy metal phase, then my new wave phase, that I began to venture into new musical ground. The blues, folk and jazz  started to find their way into my collection and I found myself eventually looking at older musicians. That is where I discovered, to my amazement that a rather large percentage of the music I remember from the 70's could be contributed to one man...and it wasn't Paul Williams.

All Along the Watchtower, Like a Rolling Stone, Blowin' in the Wind, Lay Lady Lay, Knockin' on Heaven's Door... They were all songs I loved but I never knew they were the work of one man, Bob Dylan, a man that up until this point, I had dismissed as a wack-job from the 60's with a voice that, well, I could never even make out what he was saying back then.

Initially I preferred the versions I heard from Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and others, hell, everyone had done a cover of Bob's tunes somewhere along the line. Eventually I became drawn into the soulful. emotional and heartfelt versions Bob did on his own. Then I started to listen to his less than spectacular shots of the 80's and 90's. There was always a spark of genius but little more.

Then in 1997 Time Out of Mind came out and Bob Dylan had changed. The music was wider, deeper and more soulful than all but his earliest work. I was hooked again and in 2006 Modern Times shared equal time in my car CD with Tom Petty's Highway Companion for nearly a year. It was a masterpiece that I couldn't get enough of.

On May 5th, Dylan's new work, Together Through Life came out, I have listened to it several times already and although I find it a slight step back from Modern Times, I am far from disappointed. Dylan delves into a darker place here, brushing closer to death than before, both the idea of his mortality and the loss of others. If You Ever go to Houston and My Wife's Home Town look at murder, either barely escaped or heavily threatened. Life is Hard and Forgetful Heart come from a nearness to the grave and a you get a sense that Bob can feel the icy breath of death on the back of his neck.

Together Through Life includes more southern style accordion than his previous work and it is provided by Los Lobos' David Hidalgo while Tom Petty's, Mike Campbell sets the mood with his amazing talent on guitar.

Together Through Life may not make it through a year in my car but it will likely get me through the summer. Pick it up along with any of the last 4 Dylan albums and you will quickly understand why Bob Dylan retains the crown as both poet and songwriter. Besides, when I listen to Bob now, I can always understand what he is saying.

Extras, included with DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray have seriously lost their luster, at least for me. In the early days of DVD, I would wade through the extras, including the commentaries as if the movie itself simply didn't justify the purchase without them. I eagerly purchased the multiple disc versions and watched in astonishment when others selected the single disc version, geez, anyone can see that 2 discs are better than one.

More than a decade later I simply don't care, I watch the movie and remove the disc from the player with very few exceptions. The exceptions are when I know there is a great gag reel or short movie, like the squirrel in the Ice Age movies or the penguins from Madagascar. I admit, I can't get enough of the penguins, or the squirrel, or any number of Shrek sing along shorts. These my friends are the rare exception to the rule.

Blu-Ray (and once upon a time HD-DVD) promised to provide a huge leap forward in the extras department, BD Live removed the limitations that disc space once  enforced, so why then am I still so severely underwhelmed by the extras? Easy, they suck, they have no imagination and outside of the rare exception, they, oh I already said it.

There are commentaries I must have, all of which are found on the excellent Criterion versions, these guys know how to spruce up a movie. Kevin Smith commentaries are also worth a listen just for the laughs. The vast majority of commentaries however are worthless, they might as well mike up one of my dogs, the sloppy licking sounds would be far more entertaining and provide more information.

Gag reels should give us a few laughs, hence the term gag reel. Somewhere along the line the need to include extras lost focus and the gag reel is now more likely to make us gag than laugh. While not a great piece of cinematic art, Marley & Me should have been able to piece together a good or even great reel. I was saddened by its complete lack of funny however.

There is one gag reel I must mention as excelling, once again, not a great cinematic treasure but one of my biggest guilty pleasures. Armageddon's criterion 2 disc set has the funniest reel I have ever seen. Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton  are a couple of very funny guys, give this one a chance, you won't regret it.

Blu-Ray is a huge improvement in picture and audio, so why is it failing so miserably at delivering the interactive extras it promised us? Lack of creativity is the best I have been able to come up with but I am sure there is an accountant behind the scenes who hasn't laughed in 20 years and would prefer to keep the rest of us from doing so as well.

Studios, are you listening? Give us something to smile about, show us the awe and wonder you promised. We love the improved picture and sound but for the extra bucks to get the Blu-Ray disc, well, give us something that really blows our socks off.

With the overwhelming success of USB technology as the preferred interface, comes the challenge of organizing all of the cabling from desktop peripherals. Users with multiple USB peripherals find the clutter of cables unsightly and inconvenient to their workspace. With many different USB connections for mobile devices, such as cellphones, cameras, MP3 players and PDAs, it becomes increasingly difficult to use them on the go.

To overcome these challenges a new method for connecting peripherals has come to fruition. A method, which offers the same benefits of a physical USB connection without the need for unsightly cables, a technology known as certified wireless USB. Using an ultra-wideband radio frequency ranging from 3.1 – 10.6 GHz, 127 devices can connect to a single computer up to 10 meters away without a hub. Connections made less than 3 meters away from the host can benefit from speeds typically USB 2.0, while connections from 3 to 10 meters will operate at 110 Mbps. Devices that support dual role or direct connections with each other can also operate with wireless USB technology.
Read the rest of the article HERE.