Carl Macek is not a name I expect any of my regular readers to know, but if you have ever watched any Japanese Anime in North America, you owe him a debt of gratitude.

Mr. Macek passed away this past Saturday of a heart attack at the age of 58.  Over his career, Mr. Macek was a figure of much controversy because of his dubbing of Anime, but as he once said at a convention panel, “All Anime is dubbed.”

The reason, despite the arguments over the years, that he was so important because he was responsible for Robotech, an Anime series that aired on American television in 1985 and is considered one of the corner stones of what launched the popularity of the medium in this country. The series was put together from the contents of three Japanese series (The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, The Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA) due to the fact that American stations required a show to be 65 episodes (13 weeks, five episodes per week), meaning they could cycle through it four times per year.  The three series were in no related to one another, but Mr. Macek was able to string together a unified narrative in a matter of weeks when he learned that he couldn’t air them as separate works like he hoped.

After Robotech, he worked with John K. to form Spumco which eventually went on to sell Ren & Stimpy to Nickelodeon, and to form Streamline Pictures which introduced America to Anime movies such as Akira and Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro.  The latter two films are considered milestone works in the genre, and once again helped to propel the fandom forward in the United States.

Unlike other obituary pieces I have written on this site, I knew Mr. Macek and had several dealings with him over the years.  I never found him to be anything other than professional and gracious.  One of my fondest memories of him happened in a St. Louis animation gallery where we just happened to stumble into one another while we were both attending a conference.  I had returned to the gallery to finish purchasing a cel, and he was talking to the gallery owner about possibly carrying some of the animation cels from his vast archive.  The gallery owner seemed to be not that interested, and to actually not be a hundred percent sure who Mr. Macek was.  After a few moments of the gallery owner being rather rude to be honest, Mr. Macek turned to me even though he and I had done nothing more than to nod to one another, and he goes, “Sean, are my cels legitimate and quality?” referring to several cels I had bought from him over the years.  I confirmed that they were, and the owner seemed at a loss as a paying customer had just confirmed this man was on the up and up when he had been rude to him before.  Mr. Macek and I shared a good laugh the next day on the conference floor.

My original exposure to Anime happened in the 1970′s with Battle of the Planets (Science Ninja Team Gatchaman in Japan), but I knew the moment I saw Robotech on television in 1985 that things were about to change in the United States for the art form.  I was thrilled when I met Mr. Macek a few years later, and I am even more thrilled that he and I had the opportunity to work together a few times.

So, the next time you sit down and watch Dragonball Z, Naruto, Bleach or any of the other dozens of Anime currently on American television, smile, and say a quiet “Thank you, Mr. Macek.”  I know I do.

While the core of Doctor Who has always remained the same, the regeneration of the Doctor is always a time of some trepidation. If you don’t like the new actor, you’re stuck with them for a few years, and you just have to hope the next one is an improvement. When the fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) regenerated into the fifth Doctor (Pater Davidson) … I seriously contemplated flying to England and beating the executives at the BBC. (It’s probably a good thing I was only a teenager.)

When the ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) left the show after only one year, I thought for sure the tenth Doctor (David Tennant) would be horrible.  Eccleston brought so many new layers to the character, and there was just no way Tennant could live up to it.

… I nearly cried when Tennant said his final line, “I don’t wanna go.”

So, here we are, the 11th Doctor, played by some odd looking young fellow named Matt Smith.  When he was announced in the role last Jan., my tone was less than hopeful.  And when the first images of Matt Smith in costume showed up online … I wasn’t feeling the bow tie at all.  I had no opinion of Karen Gillan as the new companion, Amy Pond, at all, except I kind of liked the youthful look of her outfits.  It was refreshing.

So, the new season premiered two weeks ago in the UK, and we got the first episode last night in the United States on BBC America.  I have to admit, I’ve already seen up through episode three, but I wanted to let the fans here see it before I expressed any judgement on the new actors.

I … freakin’ … love … them … both!

Matt Smith had me sold on his take of the Doctor in minutes.  He brings a youthfulness to the role that has been missing, but mixes it with the shyness of a dowdy college professor.  (notice the way he tucks his arms to his chest)  Smith is throwing himself into this role with an energy and hunger to prove himself that is just fascinating.  There is the Doctor’s absent-minded nature there to be sure, but he never pushes it so far as to be a parody.  The underlying darkness is there, as well as the bravado that says, “Yeah, I’m cool, but I’m never going to be so egotistical as to actually say it.”

As for Karen Gillan’s Amy, she is mesmerizing.  While most other companions have had at least one or two annoying habits, I can tell you that what you saw of her in the first episode only gets better.  She’s brave almost to a fault, but peppers her portrayal with a caring and soft side.  I can see her easily rocking into my top three favorite companions of all time.

As for the change over in show runners from Russel T. Davies to Steven Moffat, if this is a sample of what is to come, it’s looking like he has hit the ground running.

All-in-all, a very solid start, and I am definitely along for the ride.

… oh … and the bow tie totally works.

Down to 49 this week, but I’m already knee deep in next week.  One bonus to a lower count, though?  I actually made it out to see a movie … hey, why did everyone faint?

FunJug.com

• April Fools: Math Class Shadow
• Standing Cat
• Chan Ho Park diarrhea
• Cat Uses An iPad
• Foursquare Cops
• Coca-Cola “Happiness Machine”
• Forehead Tittaes w/ Marion Cotillard

Photo.BLORGE.com

• Sanyo announces Xacti CG100 & GH1

RememberingChristmas.com

• Coca-Cola Christmas Trucks

SeanPAune.com

• Sex And The City 2 Trailer
• Conan O’Brien Lands New Show At TBS
• The Braindead Techcast Ep. 42: It’s Moronic Monday time and no we don’t want $115 tea
• Deadliest Catch Season 6
• When Your Web Service Lets You Down
• The Braindead Techcast Ep. 43: Twitter owns the day & no we don’t have a Steven Segal fixation
• Joss Whedon In Negotiations To Direct The Avengers
• Scattercast Episode 91: Meet Your New King, The Entertainment Industry
• The Braindead Techcast Ep. 44: Drizzle is a viable defense for murder in Vancouver
• Lower Merion School District Webcam Case Gets Even More Disturbing
• The Braindead Techcast Ep. 45: It’s Techmeme Friday and is there nothing to report on except Apple?
• BBC America To Begin Showing Star Trek: The Next Generation

Tech.BLORGE.com

• New MacBook Pro models numbers showing up in inventory systems
• Report: Palm is for sale
• Rumor: Google working on Android tablet to fight the iPad
• Twitter to announce Promoted Tweets ad system
• Apple updates the MacBook Pro laptop line
• Rumor: New iPhone to be introduced June 22nd
• U.S. Library of Congress to archive all public Twitter messages
• Twitter announcing more official services
• Toshiba planning at least two tablets this year
• Ning cuts free accounts and 40 percent of staff
• Virus publishes porn downloaders Web history to the public
• Ning clarifies its plans for its free customers

TechnoBuffalo.com

• Where’s My TV With 20 HDMI Slots?
• Will Facebook Be The Last Social Network Standing?
• A Look Back At The Introduction Of the iPod
• Apple Vs. Adobe: The War Is On
• Three Reasons Windows Phone 7 Will Succeed
• Netflix Makes Deals With Two More Studios For 28-Day Delays
• Twitter Finally Announces An Advertising Plan
• Will Social Gaming Lead To Real World Debt?
• Android Apps Gaining Momentum
• Is This The End Of Third-Party Twitter Apps?
• Five Reasons To Jailbreak Your iPad
• Why Does Big Tech Care So Much About Which Browser You’re Using?
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• Photos Of Yet Another Possible iPhone 4G Surfaces

Could someone please explain to me why BBC America is going to start showing Star Trek: The Next Generation?

BBC America is one of the channels I watch the most as I love British programming.  While the channel has had its ups and downs, and I’ve been disappointed by how little they’ve been showing of British comedies over the past couple of years, I’ve lived through it.  However, when watching it over the past week or so they have been running commercials for a programming choice that makes next to no sense.

Beginning April 28th they will be showing Star Trek: The Next Generation at 8 PM EST/7 PM CST Mon thru Fri.

Okay, yes, I know that Patrick Stewart is a British actor, but that is the only connection this show has to British programming.  Is that all it takes now to qualify for airing on a channel dedicated to British programming?  Should I keep an eye out for airings of House as Hugh Laurie is a well-known British actor?

I have absolutely nothing against The Next Generation, I’ve seen the entire series, I like it, good show.  I do however question it’s qualifications for airing on this particular channel.  It just makes no sense!  There is a wealth of British programming that has never aired on the channel, and they decide to show us an American show just because it happens to feature a popular British actor?

Good choice BBC America, chalk one up for completely nonsensical programming choices.

Remember when TechMeme was about all parts of the tech world, and not just Apple, Apple and more Apple?  Seems like a distant memory.

As always we talk about each story, but oh the number of Apple stories!

(Links by Steven for some of the stories we discuss in this episode)

Dell’s 7-inch and 10-inch Streak tablets leaked! – Engadget
Apple in advanced discussions to adopt AMD chips – AppleInsider
Steve Jobs Says Apple Made a Mistake in Rejecting Pulitzer Winner’s App – Media Decoder
Search with fewer keystrokes and better spelling – Official Google Blog
Tech Sector in Hiring Drive – Wall Street Journal
Apple Introduces us to a New iTunes “Concert Ticket +” System – Patently Apple
Calif. cities dominate Apple’s top 10 markets – The Social
Security Experts ‘Shocked’ by Palm’s WebOS Vulnerabilities – Tech Check

Press the big green button to listen in!

The Lower Merion School District which came to some fame as of late, has made another in a long line blunders when it comes to its court case.

In case you don’t remember the story, Lower Merion School District was the school district that had a class action lawsuit against because it used a secuity tracking system that not only located the computer, but would take images via the built-in webcam that was installed into every computer.  The school district claims that it was only ever turned on 42 times by school order, but now it is coming to light that once it was turned on, that meant it could take pictures every 15 minutes for at least two weeks.

According to Philly.com, mixed into the latest batch of documents turned over to the plaintiffs, there were reportedly thousands of pictures of Blake Robbins, the boy whom this whole case revolves around.  Reportedly Mr. Robbins failed to pay the insurance fee on his school issued laptop, and his taking it off school property was reason enough for his cam to be activated.  The problem is that Mr. Robbins was confronted about being involved with drugs due to an image taken of him in his home while eating Mike & Ike candies.

Once the camera issue came to light, and the class action suit begun, things have been crazy with this story.  Now, after a couple of weeks of quiet we find out that the school watched this supposedly “stolen” laptop for two wees.  Amongst the pictures were images of Blake Robbins in various stages of undress, asleep and so on.  Also visible in some of the pictures are his family who have no clue that they are being filmed.

According to court documents, the Robbins’ camera was activated on Oct. 20, 2009 and ran until at least Nov. 11, 2009 when he was confronted, making for a total 22 days this camera was turned on and taking pictures, and also taking screen captures of whatever happened to be on his computer screen at that time.  Are you trying to tell me that in three weeks they couldn’t figure out this boy’s identity?  You had his picture, you had his IP address to help with locating his home, but it wasn’t until he was playing with “pills” that you did anything?

While lawyers for the school say the lawsuit is falling apart, the government is still looking at what possible laws the school violated.  Also, Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) has proposed new legislation which would fold video surveillance into wiretap laws.

Amongst all this it seems that Carol Cafiero, information systems coordinator for the school district who is currently on leave, plead the fifth in her questioning over what transpired.  What do you have to hide Ms. Cafiero?  Either you did your job, or something else was going on.  Perhaps you realize three weeks of surveillance might be deemed a tad bit excessive?

Talkshoe nearly let us down … again.

After getting the show started, did you know every e-mail from Steve Jobs is worthy of a “news” story?  Shocking, I know.  We also talk about the ability to “predict” Apple events is becoming laughable.

If you work on third-party Twitter tools, and you aren’t scared of what is going on … you are an idiot.

All bow before our new masters, the RIAA and MPAA!

(Links by Steven for some of the stories we discuss in this episode)

Canadian wireless carrier claims next-gen iPhone to arrive in June – AppleInsider
Steve Jobs Replies To Email: “Are You Nuts?” - MacStories
ACTA: The acronym hardly anyone knows yet should be scared to death of – The Inquisitr
RIAA & MPAA wishlist to screw the consumer – The Inquisitr

Press the big green button to listen in!

Scattercast is 91 … and quickly speeding towards 100.

- Constance McMillen gets a special recognition.

- The U.N. is going to help settle reality TV disputes … wow, what a waste of resources.

- The RIAA and MPAA are you new gods, prepare to surrender your national security for them.

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If the rumors are true, it looks like the upcoming The Avengers movie just got a lot more interesting.

Multiple sources are reporting that Marvel Studios is in final negotiations for Joss Whedon (Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly) to direct their epic crossover film, The Avengers. The deal will also supposedly involve him rewriting the script.  A little less likely is the portion of the rumor that says he will also rewrite the upcoming Captain America: The First Avenger, which is rumored to involve the Star Spangled hero touring with the USO.  (No, I’m not kidding)

If The Avengers rumor proves to be true, this fills me with a lot of hope and trepidation all at once.  Mr. Whedon is an amazing writer when left to his own devices, and he has certainly proven his love for the concept of team comic book stories with his run on The Astonishing X-Men comic, but when he gets involved with studios that have a final say on his work, it tends to fall apart.

Mr. Whedon has proven time and time again that his stories are constructed in a very linear fashion.  For point C to happen, both point A and B must exist, but executives seem to always come in and somehow remove point B.  Hopefully Marvel is either saying, “This is how it will go, Marvel it up, but don’t do your thing,” or “We understand you, do your thing.”  There can be no in between, and that has to be understood from the outset.

As for his directing skills, I’ve never sat back and gone, “Why, his directing just blew me away!”  He is a director, what he shoots works, but it is not anything that will make you weep openly.  He doesn’t have a signature to his work like say a Martin Scorsese or even a Tim Burton, you can’t look at something he directed and instantly pick it out as a Whedon shot movie or TV show.  That isn’t to say he’s bad, far from it, it just doesn’t scream for attention.

If the pieces all fall correctly, a Whedon-helmed Avengers movie could kick major booty, and it will certainly put my behind in a theater seat.

Twitter was definitely the story of the day (look at that!  We actually got to do a show!  Thank you, Talkshoe!), and for once it wasn’t just all hyperbole!  Lots of new features coming out including the kind of awesome @anywhere service that integrates Twitter … well … anywhere.  Don’t believe me, hover over @stevenhodson or @seanpaune and see what I mean.

I rant about Conan O’Brien and The Streamy Awards.  I’m not sure where online video producers have gotten this over-exaggerated opinion of their importance, or the idea they are ready to match basic cable channels, but … well, just listen in.

And apparently Steven was a charter member of the Steven Segal fan club …

(Links by Steven for some of the stories we discuss in this episode)

When Your Web Service Lets You Down – Sean P. Aune
Twitter Announces Live Social Graph Streams – Jesse Stay
Twitter Adds New Terms of Service to Its Developer Platform – Jesse Stay
Twitter’s @anywhere and Why it May Be Too Techie for Their Audience – Jesse Stay

Press the big green button to listen in!

The Internet is filled with companies offering all kinds of services, and one of the perks is that the majority of them are free. What happens, though when these free services let you down and you have no real recourse for complaining because, after all, you aren’t paying for it.

You’ll notice that there was no episode of Braindead Techcast last night. It wasn’t because Steven or I didn’t show up, because we both did.  We did our usual pre-show rituals (i.e. coffee was needed), and I went to set up the show as I always do.  What took place was 15 minutes of hell as neither Steven or I could get Talkshoe, the service we use to record the show, to load.  We tried multiple browsers, and seeing as we we are in different countries, we also knew it wasn’t a regional problem.  There simply was no logging into the service.

Now, it is difficult to really complain too much about a service we don’t pay for, but we have both said on the show that we would be willing to pay a monthly fee if it meant we could get better access to the service.  The only subscription they offer is to remove advertising from the chat room, which is something we couldn’t care less about, but there is no way for us to give this company money.

We also looked into switching to Blog Talk Radio, but, alas, after weeks we still have never received our confirmation e-mail to allow us into the service.  Even after Steven wrote a post about this, and got a comment from someone at the company saying they would look into it, but we have gotten nothing back from them.

Free is great, but there also comes a time where you have people who would be willing to pay you so that we could get more reliable service, and they just seem to have no interest.  Hopefully we can do Braindead tonight, but that will rely on Talkshoe actually letting us into the site so we can even attempt it.

Be sure to follow @StevenHodson and @SeanPAune on Twitter.

Tonight is the sixth season premiere of Deadliest Catch, an event that I usually look forward to every year, but yet I go into tonight’s episode in a somber mood, and one filled with trepidation.

As is well-known by now, Capt. Phil Harris of the Cornelia Marie suffered a stroke during the Opilio crab season which will make up the second half of the season.  After making it to a hospital, and even recovering from a medially induced coma, he passed away.  According to the producers of the show, they went to leave his room as he recovered, but he motioned for them to come back and to continue filming.  Perhaps he knew he had an opportunity to do something most people never do, and that was for him to leave a memory of his final hours for his family.

While reviews of the season premiere say that there is no mention of Capt. Harris’ death in the season opener, they confirm what I suspected, and that is that it hangs over the heads of those who view it.  It almost feels ghoulish to know I will still watch this show knowing what is coming.  I am normally someone who enjoys spoilers for my favorite shows, but this time it feels like a mixture of blessing and curse.  On one hand I can prepare myself for what is to come, but on the other hand I know I will cringe every time I see him on screen, and potentially add a foreboding weight to every word the man utters up to the inevitable episode.

It has not yet been decided if the footage from the hospital room will be shown, that decision is being left to the Harris family working with the show’s producers.  Will we need to see that?  Who knows, and luckily some of that decision will be taken out of the viewer’s hands.

As silly as it may seem, these men have become part of the lives of their viewers.  Sure the editors dictate what we see, but for five seasons now we have let these men and their ships into our family rooms, and a bond of sorts has formed with them.  We care what happens to them, and knowing that we are speeding with each episode towards the passing one of them is an odd feeling.  A part of you wants to scream at the TV to warn them, that maybe they can get Capt. Harris help before the stroke happens, but, alas, our cries will go unheard.

No matter what, I will watch, but it will be with a different sensibility than seasons past, as, for once, I really wish I didn’t know what was coming.