Andy Lee’s weblog

On the one hand, I hate being reminded about the upgrade process for Adobe Reader, because it is so stunningly stupid that just thinking about it sends my blood pressure through the roof. On the other hand, it’s nice to see that I’m not alone in noticing the stupidity. Derek K. Miller writes:

Why, if I want to install Adobe Reader […], should I download a program that runs an installer to install some software to download an updater than downloads more files to run an installer that installs software that is way too big and slow to start…

…which then wants to update itself and asks me to quit all my web browsers while it downloads three separate files of between 15 and 32 megabytes in order to go from version 7.0.5 to version 7.0.8?

From personal experience, I can attest that this is not an exaggeration. It’s really that bad (at least on the Mac; I haven’t tried it on a PC).

The saying goes that I should assume stupidity rather than malice. But in this case, for the sake of my sanity, I have to assume malice. My brain cannot accept the premise that someone thought this was a good way to upgrade software. I have to believe that someone at Adobe is deliberately yanking our chains, sort of like the famous Bastard Operator From Hell, except in the Release Management department rather than System Administration.

Quentin at Rogue Amoeba points out a bit of brilliance in the updater for Adobe Creative Suite:

I got a much-needed chuckle out of that.

Like Anca, I saw Little Miss Sunshine yesterday, loved it, and found it a sweet antidote for the depression brought on by a movie I’d seen earlier. (In my case, that earlier movie was Grain in Ear.)

Sunshine’s six main characters, the Hoover family, are introduced in quick succession at the beginning of the movie. There’s the dreamy little girl, the sullen teenage brother, the depressive uncle, the well-meaning suburban parents, and the colorful live-in grandpa. In the space of a few minutes, I liked all six individuals, and felt I knew something about their relationships, and yet I didn’t feel like I’d been fed a laundry list of clichés. Very efficient storytelling, and they made it look effortless.

Some reviews have described the family as dysfunctional, but to me that word connotes a level of toxicity that I never felt among the Hoovers. They have problems and peculiarities, but they manage to communicate pretty well, and it’s always clear they love each other. Kind of like the Simpsons in this respect.

Sunshine is full of touching moments, but it never pats itself on the back for them. By the end, the movie has earned the right to indulge in a relatively over-the-top climactic moment.

I didn’t expect to like Sunshine as much as I did. In this respect it was like another movie about a wacky family, The Royal Tenenbaums. I had a real green-eggs-and-ham thing about that movie. Without having seen it, I was pretty sure I didn’t like it, but after hearing how great it was I finally saw it and liked it. I barely remember it except for Gene Hackman snidely calling Danny Glover “Coltrane.” I’m pretty sure I didn’t like it as much as I liked Little Miss Sunshine.

Two weeks ago I got a pair of Bose QuietComfort noise-cancelling headphones, and I’m debating whether to return them.

My first comment would be on truth in packaging. Look what it says on the side of the package:

After several days of light use, I can report with absolute certainty that these headphones aren’t assy at all.

More seriously, the issues at hand are comfort, effectiveness, and cost.

Comfort. The first big plus is that the QuietComfort is extremely comfortable. The reviews on Amazon consistently commented on this, and when I tried on a pair in the Apple Store I was immediately impressed. I’ve had mine for two weeks, and I’ve found that after wearing them for a couple of hours, I don’t get the headaches or ear soreness that I can get with other cup-style headphones. No complaints in this department.

Effectiveness. The Bose headphones cut down a significant chunk of the white noise in my office. But the noise is so loud that what gets past the headphones is still enough to bother me a little.

Cost. Cost was an issue to some extent, though comfort and effectiveness were by far my main criteria. The noise of roaring computer fans gets on my nerves, especially when I’m tired, so I don’t totally mind paying $300 for something that’s going to protect my sanity every day I’m at the office. But it’s still a lot of money.

In the end, I’ll probably keep the headphones, out of inertia.

Three weeks ago I saw this issue of Pink magazine in a store window on my way home from work. I feel bad for any woman who appears on the cover — in this case, Hillary Clinton — because from certain angles the name of the magazine seems to be “Oink.”

I meant to post this when the story was fresh, but better late than never.

I hereby apologize to every woman I’ve ever tried this lame move on:

Boy does it look pathetic.