Swimming in Champaign – The Digital Playground of Sean McDevitt

My Favorite Decade 2000-2009

// January 17th, 2010 // No Comments » // Comics, DVD, Food & Drink, Music, Sean, Sports, Travel

My life from 1990 to 1999 was a whirlwind blur of grad school, graduation, marriage, new baby, divorce, and a series of not so great career decisions. Aside from the birth of my daughter, I don’t have a lot of personal highlights or fond memories for that time period. Bit sad, really.

As this most recent decade ends, I was suddenly struck by all the personally positive events in my life over the last ten years.  Sure, I lost more hair, endured the sting of failed relationships and changed jobs more often than I’d like to remember, but overall I had some real highlights.

The following is a list of events, choices or “things that happened around me” that were my favorites. It’s a nice microcosm of what was important to me over the last ten years. I wonder how indicative it is for the next ten years?

10.) Moving to Champaign, IL

Easily, the best decision I ever made. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for my hometown, but I could not move forward and still live in Effingham. I may have been comfortable there, but never challenged.  So, I moved in early 2001 to an apartment I still live in and have really never looked back. I made a few friends here, but it’s the town and its institutions I love more than anything – Seven Saints, G-Mart, Assembly Hall, Jim Gould’s, Art Mart, Virginia Theatre, Taste of C-U, The News-Gazette, That’s Rentertainment, Smile Politely, Sholem Pool, Jupiter’s, The Great Impasta, Ebertfest and so much more.

9.) Wizard World Chicago (1999 – 2008)

My personal mini-vacation for many years was attending Wizard World Chicago. It reignited my love for comics in the early years and kept it alive throughout. I have hundreds of great experiences and each con was a unique happening. My bedroom wall is a testament to various years of sketches acquired and books signed. I’m saddened at the decline of the convention into mostly featuring D-List celebrities. I’m hoping the first C2E2 in April will become a new tradition.

8.) My Brother’s Wedding

My wedding was a small affair. It was a rushed, panic-inducing time. I never got the bride in a white wedding dress or much of a reception and I never really thought or cared too much about it. However, being the best man in my brother’s wedding was easily my favorite wedding/reception. He had an extravagant and lovely Christmas wedding eight(!) years ago with a massive reception I never had with great food, happy relatives and a great DJ. I gave a humorous and resounding best man speech, danced like a fool and I’m pretty sure a married woman flirted with me. Still, what I remember most was standing next to my little brother watching him well up as his soon-to-be-wife walked down the aisle.

7.) Voting for Barack Obama

I was not really all that political until George W. Bush. After Katrina and the bogus reasons for going to war, I thought Bush was a ridiculous caricature of incompetency. Several years before his announcement, I felt Obama was a legitimate candidate for the Presidency. The historic weight of my vote didn’t move mountains. Nationally, my state has been solidly blue for many elections and whether or not I voted for the man probably didn’t mean much. Nevertheless, participating in the process was exciting. The results were a mandate and even after a year I’m still pleased Barack Obama is President.

6.) I Purchase my MacBook

I bought two vehicles in the last decade, but by far the best major purchase I made was my MacBook. I was tied for too long to a desktop iMac and this new laptop afforded me the luxury of mobility. I’ve taken my MacBook with me on vacation, to the coffee shop, to the airport, everywhere. It’s not quite yet been usurped by faster and fancier machines. I fully expect my daughter will inherit it as soon as I purchase something new… probably a MacBook Pro.

5.) Illinois Basketball in 2005

This one is a bit of a cheat. I didn’t have anything to do with the team making it all the way to the NCAA Tournament Championship game. I had no personal stake in the team. I didn’t even meet any of the players until years later. At the time, all I did was cheer them on. Living in Champaign-Urbana during their magical run was exciting. The town turned orange and blue and everyone was a basketball fan.  I was lucky enough to have been able to score seats to a few of those early games. I’m not a big sports guy, but since I moved to Champaign University of Illinois basketball is one of my true favs.

4.) KISS Releases Sonic Boom

I never thought I’d ever hear a brand new KISS album of original material again. Having the album debut at number two on the charts (Damn you Michael Bublé appearance on Oprah!) was unbelievable. Having the tracks sound like classic KISS right there between Rock and Roll Over and Love Gun was beyond all hope. My fervent wish is the band decides they had a ton of fun in the studio and go back in and do it again. Even better.

3.) Visiting Grant in Phoenix

Since my friend Grant moved to Phoenix he quietly badgered me into coming out and visiting. For years, I nodded in agreement and then never could find the time. Finally, I afforded myself a week’s vacation and flew from spitting rain in Indianapolis to a pleasant 85 degrees in Phoenix. I spent my time with Grant and his amazing family eating awesome barbecue, swimming in their pool, watching The Hangover and getting ready to drive to San Diego for Comicon. Just writing about it makes me want to get on a plane and do it all over again (except for the driving to San Diego part. I’m sweating just thinking about it.).

2.) The Trip to King’s Island with my Daughter

As my daughter grew up, I decided we needed to take a few mini-vacations. The King’s Island trip was the farthest we’d gone for a weekend trip – about four hours. We arrived way ahead of schedule and couldn’t check into our room. Even though the weather was overcast with spitting rain, we ventured over to an adjacent waterpark and enjoyed ourselves on all the waterslides sans long wait times. The highlight for me was my kiddo facing her fear and jumping into 15 feet of water from a platform about ten feet from the water’s surface. I did it first and then watched her make that jump, break the surface, swim over to me and say, “I wanna do that again!”

1.) The Two and a Half Hours Away Girl

I can’t explain to anyone our relationship. She’s been my “girl” friend, my crush, my “one that got away,” my confidant, my advice giver, my lover, my best friend, my girlfriend and basically a part of my life for over 25 years. I broke down when she called to tell me she was going to try and make it work with the long lost college love of her life and I gradually let her back into my life after that endeavor crashed and burned. Today, it’s as complicated as ever and as simple as can be. I have no idea what the future holds for us.

What will be my highlights in 2020 as I look back on my life? What will be the events and moments that marked my time and my friends and family? I don’t know, but I expect it will be wonderful.

==

LINKY GOODNESS

• Marvel Comics Super Special 1 starring KISS – All 40 pages
• Gay teen worried he might be Christian.
• World’s smartest robber uses transparent plastic bag as mask.
• Face time with an anonymous Facebook employee.
• If those 3D glasses give you a headache, skip the theater and just read the whole Avatar screenplay (PDF).
• 6 Insane Fan Theories That Actually Make Great Movies Better. When fans have time to think, they think of ways to make sense out of what filmmakers think we don’t notice.
• USC slaps the NCAA in the face and dares them to respond
• 25 Famous Thinkers and Their Inspiring Daily Rituals.
• Living in the Future is a 1972 children’s book explaining what life will be like in the year 2010. Some parts are laughable, but others are eerily prescient.
• Thirty eight real-life recreations of Calvin & Hobbes snowmen.

SHOUTING AT THE SEA

“Everything this president sees is a political opportunity, including Haiti, and he will use it to burnish his credentials with minorities in this country and around the world, and to accuse Republicans of having no compassion,” – Rush Limbaugh

How very telling. Rush looks at the devastation of Haiti and sees minorities. The rest of the world sees people. Thank goodness thousands of individuals and companies ignored Rush and pledged money and services. Have you?

COLOPHON

If you like (or don’t like) what I’ve written here or in the past, please let me know. Comments are appreciated.

My Vampires Don’t Sparkle

// December 1st, 2009 // No Comments » // DVD, Film

I have a 14 year old daughter. She loves Twilight. Guess where I was this past weekend? Her friends were otherwise engaged so she was relegated to seeing New Moon with her old man. All things considered, she’d rather have been with her friends. Except, you know, I bought popcorn.

I sorta get this Twilight phenomenon. Edward’s a sexy, twinkling in sunlight, “vegetarian” vampire with cool mind reading powers. It’s a fantasy on the same level as any Harlequin romance. It’s just written directly for tween girls instead of their mothers. But of course, the mothers get all hot and bothered by it too.

The closest thing for my generation and gender has to be Star Wars and that wasn’t even a book series prior. In fact, with Twilight and Harry Potter before the fact they were successful teen book series first is actually an accomplishment. Yes, I read the Alan Dean Foster… AHEM… George Lucas… penned Star Wars novel back in the day. Although, I really haven’t pulled it off the shelf in decades. I don’t recall how much the screenplay was followed as a template for the novel. My gut says it was more a tie-in than anything original. It’s an interesting scenario. What if Star Wars was a successful original teen book series before it was turned into movies?

By the way, New Moon is bad only in that Bella is the weakest lead character I’ve ever encountered. She is the most appalling example of a “Mary Sue” in popular fiction in recent memory. Thank goodness my daughter has watched all seven seasons of Buffy and knows a powerful, dynamic and independent woman when she sees one.

Also, Ashley Greene is hot.

Content versus Form

// October 18th, 2009 // No Comments » // Books, Comics, DVD, Music, Tech, Television, Video

I love walking into bookstores. I can pick up three paperbacks and they will all be priced $7.99 no matter if they are by best selling authors or someone I’ve never heard of before. A book that is considered a best seller costs the same as the book that doesn’t crack the best seller list. It’s the same with paperbacks as well. We are buying form verus buying content. It’s simply the cost for book production plus a few extra dollars for profit, royalities, marketing and overhead.

Content versus form is everywhere. Newspapers, magazines, movies and music have the same problem. Are we paying for the content or the form? Also, what happens when users start acquiring these things online for free?

Newspapers like to pretend they provide news, but that would be false. A newspaper provides eyeballs for businesses wishing to advertise with articles, editorials, and pictures used to bring in those eyeballs. But of course, the vast majority of those eyeballs just want the articles and stories and could care less about the advertising. Even worse for the poor newspapers is when those readers actually want advertising they don’t go to newspapers. Instead they go to Cragislist or eBay or somewhere else. Craigslist and eBay destroyed the classifieds section of most major newspapers practically overnight and remember classifieds used to be a cash cow.

Which brings us back to content. When users can find the content they desire for free they rarely will pay for it. Unless it’s at a price point they will tolerate or there’s value added incentives. I could easily download any movie from the net, but not the commentary tracks or the behind the scenes featurettes. Those are value added. I love it when muscians add DVDs or other material to their releases because it brings something extra to the purchase. It also helps when they price their product correctly – $10-12 for new releases. Distribution is easy – Just use Wal-Mart.

Apple and iTunes have figured out the content/form equation perfectly. They don’t overcharge for content that is basically created for iPods. They are the perfect middleman. Google has created tools to aggregate news, blogs and other social media into one user interface in a way newspapers and magazines only dream about.

Speaking of relatively free or low cost content, Hulu has figured out a way to get eyeballs on shows with limited commercial interruption. In fact, with Hulu the era of appointment television is over. It began with the arrival of DVRs and skippping over of commercials, but really has come into the forefront with the success of Hulu.

The people who are watching a program on Hulu or use a DVR like Tivo are not the same people who will watch a program during regularly scheduled times.

A quick aside to those who postpone putting a new show on Hulu by a week (Fox with House, for example) are doing themselves a tremendous disservice. Those who will watch a program online will just simply go to a site without any commercials to watch it on a more timely basis. And guess what, they aren’t watching your commercials and even worse they may just decide to watch ALL their programming that way even if the quality is not as high as Hulu.

The networks are slow dinosaurs who like record companies before them are slow to pick up on how this generation views entertainment and content. Every step is incredibly tentative and they will continue to lose viewers, listeners and money.

Today, it is a different audience. Almost anyone who would buy a book to put on their Kindle is not the same person who wants a bookshelf full of books. The same can be said for iPod owners. Anything you want that can be digitized in some form or another is available online with a few clicks of a mouse and a high-speed internet connection.

It’s the content they want, not the form. And people are tired of the old forms.