I’ll have a full review of the episode up next week - the timing is just terrible, with me leaving for a weekend business trip very early tomorrow morning.

After failing to find a real focus and a lack of time to maintain two very similar sites, I’ve decided to close Modest Opinions and fold the existing content into this site. Once the search engines catch up and index the content here, I will be putting the domain, www.modestopinions.com, up for sale.

My original idea was for a site called Gotta Be Kidding, which was to be a blog about the inane things that we humans do on a pretty regularly basis. As I worked on it though, I realized that I was getting increasingly negative in my commentary. I decided to transform that into Modest Opinions, which could have both positive and negative opinions about things and incorporate media and product reviews. The site lasted 18 months.

At just a hair over two months old, AffSpot is already growing by leaps and bounds. We’ve got more than 350 members, over 750 threads and more than 4,500 posts. We’re ranking well in Alexa (which, I know, isn’t exactly the most reliable stat) and we’re on page two for the very competitive “affiliate forum” key phrase at Google.

If you’re in the industry, or even if you’re just curious about affiliate marketing and how you can earn money online with it, come on by and say hello!

Please, take care of yourself and your family, because there’s never enough time. Don’t take anything for granted.

It’s true in poker, and it’s true in politics: disappoint your opponent, win the battle.

I installed the new version of iTunes earlier today, and I noticed a little while ago that the annoying little store links were showing up again in the tracks. Even more annoyingly, it seems Apple has removed the option in the Preferences to not display those silly arrows. My first instinct was to go a Google search, which, (probably since iTunes was just released,) turned up nothing. Then I thought, maybe someone on Twitter is talking about it. I went to http://search.twitter.com and searched for “itunes link store” and the second tweet I was showed had a link to a web page that described how to get rid of the stupid arrows.

Twitter, FTW.

Incidentally, if you’re running iTunes 8 on a Mac and want to get rid of the store links, it’s a one-line copy/paste into a Terminal window to take care of it. Check out http://bit.ly/3gBJ2V (thanks to @pjbeardsley).

Upon installing and launching iTunes 8, the program will scan your library. It will upload your library specifics (nothing personally identifiable) to Apple and use the data to make recommendations. When you select a song in your library and push the Genius button, iTunes will create a playlist of 25, 50, 75 or 100 related songs from your library. How related is related? Let’s find out.

Generated Playlist (first 10 entries, based on the first song listed):

• Rush - Far Cry
• Robert Plant - In the Mood (Live in Houston)
• Van Halen - Mean Street
• Judas Priest - Electric Eye
• Dream Theater - Pull Me Under
• Joe Satriani - Surfing With the Alien
• Iron Maiden - Wasted Years
• Accept - Balls to the Wall
• Smashing Pumpkins - Tarantula
• Sammy Hagar - There’s Only One Way to Rock

Other artists on the 50-song list include Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, Scorpions, Foreigner(!), Queensryche, Tesla and Asia. With the questionable inclusion of Foreigner, I’d say that these artists match Rush fairly well, if broadly.

One thing that I noticed right away is that Genius does not take into account ratings or anything else. It really looks at your entire library. I’d like to see a way to limit Genius to only 4 or 5 star-rated items, but maybe there’s a way to do that that I’m not aware of.

I did run into one snag. The second time I tried Genius, I was looking for matches for John the Baptist, by the Afghan Whigs. Genius couldn’t generate a playlist. The message that came up suggested clicking the Update Genius menu item in the Store menu and trying again. It seemed to only repeat the scanning/sending action from the beginning of the process, and Genius still wasn’t able to generate a playlist when I tried again. Perhaps as more people upload their library data Apple will be able to find some matches.

Final verdict: I like it, and I’m hoping that there won’t be many instances where a playlist can’t be generated.

So, that’s it… here’s a few more lists here for those that are interested.

Generated Playlist (first 10 entries, based on the first song listed):

• Angels & Airwaves - The Adventure
• 30 Seconds to Mars - From Yesterday
• Jimmy Eat World - Pain
• The Used - Under Pressure
• Eve 6 - Here’s to the Night
• Vanessa Carlton - White Houses
• Angels & Airwaves - Everything’s Magic
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
• blink-182 - Feeling This
• The Killers - Smile Like You Mean It

Not bad. Vanessa Carlton might be a stretch.

Generated Playlist (first 10 entries, based on the first song listed):

• The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary
• New Order - Blue Monday
• The Cure - In Between Days (Live from Festival 2005)
• A Flock of Seagulls - I Ran
• Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up
• U2 - I Will Follow
• The Psychedelic Furs - Pretty in Pink
• Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
• Ratt - Round and Round
• The Clash - London Calling

This was the most bizarre list I generated. How the Pet Shop Boys and A Flock of Seagulls related to the Cult, I’m not sure. Apparently, Apple thinks they’re New Wave.

Generated Playlist (first 10 entries, based on the first song listed):

• Motorhead - Ace of Spades
• Judas Priest - You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
• Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil
• Twisted Sister - I Wanna Rock
• The Ramones - Havana Affair
• Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench
• Megadeth - Hangar 18
• Blue Oyster Cult - Godzilla
• Warrant - Cherry Pie
• Faith No More - Epic

I don’t know what’s worse, that Warrant is on listed based on Motorhead, or that I’m admitting that I own Warrant albums. Probably the latter. One last list, I’ll try this based on a comedy track.

Generated Playlist (first 10 entries, based on the first song listed):

• George Carlin - Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television
• Robin Williams - Childhood
• Chris Rock - Blacks Aren’t Crazy
• Bill Engvall - Here’s Your Sign Christmas
• Lewis Black - Congressional Correspondents Dinner
• Ron White - They Call Me “Tater Salad”
• Mitch Hedberg - Three Easy Payments
• Al Franken - President Bush Drops By
• David Cross - Flying on a Mexican Plane
• Demetri Martin - Some Jokes

Well done, Apple.

A computer that’s moist like cake so you can eat it? What the hell? I understand the goal here is to get people talking about Windows, but it’s not working. People aren’t talking about Windows, they’re talking about the commercial. Google it, you’ll see what I mean. While there is some truth to the notion that there is no such thing as bad publicity, this commercial isn’t going to make anyone respect Microsoft, Windows, Bill Gates or Jerry Seinfeld any more or less than they already do. To me, that’s what makes this commercial a failure.

I’m a big fan of the original movie trilogy, so it should be no surprise that I find the prequel trilogy lacking in a lot of ways. Star Wars fans tend to go one way or the other. I don’t think the prequels are completely worthless; there are redeeming qualities in all three flicks.

Episode One was dragged down by the Gungan-who-shall-not-be-named and the notion that audiences really care that Darth Vader used to be a cute little blond-haired kid. But it also had John Williams’ excellent Duel of the Fates score over the kick-ass final battle between the Jedi and Darth Maul (the first in the long line of silly Darth names).

Episode Two featured the wooden yet whiny teenage Anakin and Natalie Portman looking uncomfortable in black leather. But it also had an awesome Jedi arena battle and Yoda showing what a bad-ass he really is.

Episode Three had fewer flaws than the first two installments, but let’s be honest, that first space battle and the rescue of Palpatine was ridiculous. The showdown between Palpatine and the four Jedi Masters was ludicrous. Let me get this straight - four Jedi Masters are in the room, and Palpatine takes out three of them in two seconds? Masters! Not padawans! Utterly ridiculous. But the final battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan was great (if a little gruesome). I’ll show my kid the original trilogy when she’s 8 or 9 - she won’t see Episode Three until she’s at least 12 or 13, I think. I’m not showing a little kid Anakin amputated and burned alive, thank you.

The script in each prequel was weak, the characterization was secondary to the special effects, and the plot was generally overreaching and even slightly confusing at times.

The books haven’t been much better (I don’t read the kids and young adults books, just the adult novels). Some of the books have been rather enjoyable - I liked Death Star by Michael Reeves and Steve Perry, and Matthew Stover’s Shatterpoint was pretty good. Most of the books have been entirely forgettable - I can’t tell you what The Cestus Deception or Labyrinth of Evil is about. A few of them, too many really, have been quite bad.

Okay, granted, The Black Fleet Crisis trilogy was nothing noteworthy, and Darksaber wasn’t exactly award-winning, but at least I finished reading those books. It’s very rare that I stop reading a book, and it’s never happened with a Star Wars book until the publication of the Medstar series last year.

I tried to read Medstar I: Battle Surgeons and got a few chapters in before giving up on it. It was just so boring and I couldn’t bring myself to care about any of the characters. I didn’t even try to read Medstar II: Jedi Healer (this is one of the few adult Star Wars novels that I’ve intentionally skipped, and the only one for the reason that I wasn’t convinced it would be worth reading). Previous to that, I was only ambivalent toward the more mediocre novels. Medstar is where it started going downhill from there.

A few months ago, I picked up Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight, by Michael Reeves. I lasted a chapter-and-a-half. The characters were flat and the plot uninteresting. A 1940’s detective story - they actually use the phrase “hard-boiled reporter” in the promo text - set in the Star Wars universe? No, thanks. I won’t be buying the next two novels in the Coruscant Nights series.

More recently, I tried to read the novelization of the new Clone Wars animated movie. There’s no way for me to be kind about this… if I never see the Clone Wars animated movie or the upcoming Cartoon Network show based on it, I will die happy. Oh, I’ve seen the previews and the various clips. I’ve heard about the flaming gay Hutt and the spunky yet annoying 14-year-old padawan. I read a commentary online that suggested the novel expanded on the story and made the whole thing palatable.

It didn’t.

I got a few chapters in and gave up. I don’t lay the blame on Karen Traviss, who I think is a pretty good writer, because she was working from an established script and could only try to fill in the holes as best she could. The plot, revolving around a kidnapped baby Hutt (Jabba’s offspring, who has never been mentioned, by name or otherwise, outside of the Clone Wars movie/novel), was laughable. The characters were dull, up until the introduction of Anakin’s padawan (whom we’ve never heard of before; you’d think his having a padawan would be pretty noteworthy) when the characters got annoying. I got as far as the infiltration of the droid army and put the book back on the shelf, never (probably) to be read again.

That brings us to the most recent novel - the adaptation of the Force Unleashed video game. Here we have another of Anakin’s (okay, Darth Vader’s) apprentices that nobody ever knew about. Okay, granted, no source - to the best of my knowledge - ever specifically said that he never had a padawan or apprentice, but by the omission of such an idea, I think it was pretty well accepted that he never had one. Still, that’s a pretty minor thing. So far - and I’m only about 20 pages in - it reads like a summary of the video game that it’s based on. I find myself at somewhat of a loss for interest, but hopeful that it will get better. Remembering the quality of the Shadows of the Empire novelization (the last time LucasArts did a big multimedia event), I’m going to reserve judgement on The Force Unleashed until I get further in.

That’s about it, though. The clones and the clone wars do not hold my interest at all. Lucas keeps trying to shove it down our throats at the expense of the characters we grew up on, and I’m just growing more resentful of the whole thing. I will not read novels that center on the clones, like the Republic Commando series (also the offspring of a video game). The Empire’s stormtroopers were terrifying (okay, that might be an exaggeration, but that’s what Lucas was aiming for) because they were nameless, faceless killers. Back that up by 20 years and look at the clones - the original stormtroopers. They have names like Rex and Cody. They have personalities. They’re not scary in the least. They’re just a bunch of guys wearing armor - and doing superhuman things if the Clone Wars cartoon series and the new movie are to be believed.

I don’t think I need to write another treatise on how the new prequel-era works are drastically different in message, tone and substance from the original movie trilogy (or even the subsequent post-movie novels). There have been more than enough words written elsewhere on that very topic. Suffice to say, yet another person who grew up on Star Wars has given up on new material set in the years prior to the original trilogy. To paraphrase another popular sci-fi franchise: it’s dead, Jim.

Items mentioned in this article include:

Earlier this morning I booked a flight to San Diego for a trip coming up next month. I used Southwest’s “Ding” service to get a pair of killer rates - $139 non-stop each way. Each flight was booked separately as a one-way trip, which explains the low fare and the screw-up I’ll be explaining momentarily. Other airlines I had looked at started at $300 round trip with stops.

I booked the flight out to San Diego first, and all was well. I double-checked the dates and times, and everything was correct. I then booked the flight home from San Diego, but I didn’t double-check my work. It was two hours later, when I was telling my wife that I’d made the reservations, that I discovered that I’d made a mistake. She asked what time my flight was, and I didn’t remember exactly, so I looked up my confirmation email and realized I’d booked for September 24th.

Don’t ask me how that happened.

Well, I called up Southwest, and figured I’d be on the phone for the next hour. I shouldn’t have worried - a representative picked up in less than a minute. I explained my situation, and the representative suggested that the easiest thing to do would be to simply cancel the reservation and re-book it, rather than try to finagle the system into accepting a date change on an internet-only fare. At that point, I figured they’d hit me for a $25 cancellation fee or something. Nope! No fee, he said. I hung up the phone praising Southwest - but I wasn’t done yet. My wife pointed out that sometimes, when you cancel a reservation, they don’t refund your money, they give you travel credits. I called Southwest back and re-explained the situation to a new representative (again, after picking up in under a minute). She was friendly and helpful, and quickly looked up the confirmation number and told me that the full amount had been refunded to my credit card.

I went back online after thanking her, and booked the correct flight home from San Diego - and double checked my work before hitting that Submit button.

Southwest Airlines earned my respect today.