The iPod's killer app was portable music. Scads and scads of music, much more than the Walkman could ever dream of playing. Eventually, portable music became portable pictures and portable tv. Some of us are happy with the music. If you were waiting for the next iPod, it was the iPhone.

The iPhone's killer app (as you pointed out, Farhad) is near-constant access to everything. Including music, tv and home-made music and tv. The music industry shot itself in the foot by trying to control distribution instead of delivering a product people might want to pay for. Newspapers do not practice journalism and are being replaced as a source of information by blogs. Television (and movies) have too many commercials and appeal to the lowest common denominator, whereas the net can keep you up to date with the latest. No more "must see tv". The phone book has been replaced, travel guides can't be personalized as easily as Google, etc etc.

Those who have been waiting for an upgrade to the iPod are generally happy with the iPhone's techno-flashery. The iPhone is roughly the same price as a high-end iPod, plus phone connection. I don't know if it has changed the world or even if it will, ultimately, be successful. But where Microsoft is making personal computers that are more like personal computers, Apple is changing the very paradigm of human interaction.

I've been a Mac guy for decades, and at the moment I say: Whee!

Hehehehehehehehehehehe.

The only downside is that you're completely right, and the sphincter conservatives are unable to see themselves as anyone in the cartoon.

Joe Biden immediately leaped up a notch or two with his response to the leering idiot who wondered about protecting his "babies", ie assault rifles. Joe fired back, "he needs help". Like the people in this cartoon, too many on the right just don't get it and don't want to disturb their own double standards.

Sad, really. But the cartoon is funny.

The superlatives (and criticism of the superlatives) come at death. We don't need them to talk about an artist.

Ingmar Bergman created a cinematic vocabulary that remains important today. Heck, parodies of Bergman's cinematic vocabulary remain important today, notably De Duva (tackling Wild Strawberries) and SCTV's first Monster Chiller Horror Theater (putting Persona in perspective). He slowed down filmmaking to make films with beauty and contemplation. This follows the Scandanavian filmmaking tradition of Carl Dreyer and others, bringing his own religion and his own background to the audience. Bergman's charm is that, for the most part, the films weren't about him. He could make you feel what he had felt but you never thought you were trespassing.

More than most successful filmmakers, you either loved his work or dismissed it. I generally fall into the latter category, though I retain images 30+ years later. His work is slow but rarely boring if you pay attention. I have no problem placing him as a "great" director without trying to rank his life's output against others. Whether Bergman himself will be remembered, there's no question that his films will be shown for a long time, and new viewers will appreciate his films for what they are. This is art.

Women (and men) dress to attract a mate, wear scent, fix up their boudoirs, perm their hair, etc etc. I don't see how eating "read" meat to make an impression is all that different. As long as it's something she actually likes (more or less), then the "strategy" is just another arrow in Cupid's quiver.

Men's strategy includes driving an inefficient but flashy car. At least women get a good meal out of the deal.

I realize that there's a lot of stuff on tv and recommendations are highly personal. Still, after several days worth of listings you finally mention something I might watch and alerted me to something off my radar. Thanks.

For the record: I don't care at all about Survivorman or any of that stuff. I'm going to watch the premier of Flash Gordon (and maybe one or two more, just to see if it works). The Masters of Science Fiction series looks interesting, with stories by some great writers.

In the meantime: Where's the mention of Monk? The season premiere, several weeks ago, snuck past. Where's NOW? Why aren't you telling us about Pre-season football so we can avoid it?

I'm not watching much tv these dog days of summer (thank heaven for Netflix!) and rely on Professional Television Spotters to scour the listings for me.

This conforms to the strict standards of No Reporter Left Behind.

(For the record, I got a 15 without trying too hard, which is about average for reporters. The 'without trying too hard' part, that is.)

As others have noted, Blockbuster bowderlizes movies (or did for tapes) and restricts selection based on their own "moral" code, and I haven't forgiven them.

While I live three blocks from a Blockbuster, I'd rather get DVDs in the mail. I understand what you say about instant gratification, but three DVDs generally guarantees that I'll want to watch one of them. Hey, I picked them in the first place, and my taste isn't all that ephemeral.

I also very much understand your concept of "locked in", but what I don't understand is how a technophile doesn't keep his own records. I have a database of every CD I ordered from Netflix, when I ordered it, when I got it, when I sent it back, when they got it, what rating I gave it, whether I reviewed it, and notes. I have 25 movies in the queue, but several hundred suggestions in the database, often based on themes, subject matter or director. Netflix doesn't let you queue up "more Kubrick" (and Blockbuster even worse).

So for good reasons, I'll stick with Netflix.

Nitpick: "... pretty much on a par..." We geezer geeks have to watch you young whippersnappers like a hawk that comes in the mail two days later.