Roanoke’s New Art Museum, Part 2

Ever since I wrote an article about the new Art Museum of Western VA people have been asking me what I really think about the building and the expansion. In my previous article I purposefully left out most of my personal right or wrong type opinions because I honestly wasn’t sure and wanted to see the bones of the building put up before I said anything concrete.

Well get ready, I’m about to pour some concrete.

The construction of this building is a gigantic waste of time, money, and a great location that would’ve housed a nice restaurant, shop, or even government agency. The design of the building is hideous, reminding me of someone killing a bunch of birds and then sticking them together in a big mass so that their wings stick out. It’s a post modern wannabe that will attract more people who just want to stare at its horrific form than who will want to appreciate it’s art.

Of course the City has helped pay for some of the building, in addition I believe it donated the land. The Art Museum of Western VA has a small and often crappy selection of art, its not like we have some great collection hiding within its walls. So to take this small collection, make a building that’ll probably be too big for it, make that building the ugliest thing constructed in Roanoke in decades (this includes the gigantic concrete mass that is the Civic Center), and set it out there for everyone to see billing it as this great thing……….is just stupid. The people behind the Art Museum, much like those behind Mill Mountain Theatre and Center in the Square itself, are horribly misguided and don’t see anything outside of their insular downtown bubble to realize how far detached they are and the downtown is from mainstream Roanoke.

Let’s hope in 10 years it has to be demolished for some reason. Until then just go to the Art Museum when you’re drunk, it’ll look prettier that way.

Palm’s Foleo Is Weird

Today Palm unveiled new product that it claims creates a new product category, the device is called the Palm Foleo. This device, which looks like a small laptop, confuses me. I should say first that Palm has only released the most basic stats on this machine, along with pictures and such, so this is a snap judgment.

But from what I understand the Foleo is a smartphone companion product, meaning you hookup and sync your smartphone with it and using the larger screen and keyboard you can check email, edit documents, and Palm expects functionality to grow as the platform does.

Here’s what I don’t get: why produce this product? What is the point, the whole purpose of smartphones is to reduce the size of what you carry while increasing functionality. Doesn’t this work in the opposite direction, giving you yet one more thing to lug around and hook up. I get the rationale, oo ahh nice you can check your email and edit documents that might be harder to do on your smartphone than on a nice laptop style device. But most people who really need that functionality already have laptops, so are they really going to shell out the $499 (after a $100 introductory rebate) for this other device? No, they aren’t, only the technophiles are going to do that.

Now if this were a low cost laptop with full functionality designed to interface seamlessly with smartphones, ok I could see the perks of it. And yes I do understand the initial rationale being this product, however I don’t see a big need for it. The only place I could see this really being a viable product would be with companies who want their employees to have some functionality beyond a smart phone (like being able to write and edit documents well) but not expend much on a laptop. Then all you have to do is sign your company up for a smartphone deal and get the required Foleo’s. Beyond that though I don’t see people in the small stopping to check their email on their Foleo.

Palm, after a number of years of trouble in regards to their OS and the decline of the PDA market, is succeeding at reinventing itself as a premiere smart phone producer. However with the Foleo they get an A for effort but overall I don’t see this product category catching on mainstream fire.

New Look

I’ve changed the template of this blog which in turn alters the end user experience. Hehe I love all that quasi-techie talk.

See I changed the interface because honestly the previous one I had picked when I switched over from Blogger was the nicest one I could find right off the bat w/o much hassle. But that template, while pretty, had a couple of usability issues that I didn’t like.

So I picked this new template, which I think is easier to navigate. On this new one you have two widget panels to your right, not perfect but it gets all the info I want for you guys right in front of you without having to look on both sides of the screen and scroll a lot. On the right-center you have the latest post, below which are the headers of my past most recent entries, this provides for less eye clutter and no endless scrolling down to read past entries. And then along the bottom is my blogroll, easy to read and navigate.

I like this new template as much for its bright, clean colors as I do for its end user usability and I hope you do too.

I’m Not Dead

Hello, helloMiss me?  I kinda missed you guys, just a wee little bit, but nothing big so don’t get all misty.

I’ve been doing a little this, a little that, mostly getting adjusted to a new life.  But now I am relatively settled and ready to get back into this headspace.

So pple, gimme a hug ’cause here I am, again.

My New Life

So, here I am now. All of the major goals in my life have now been met, I got through high school, got into a good college and got through that. Then after 4 months job searching I found a job, a job I am still in the begining phases of.

There are no more benchmarks to look forward to, no more graduations or credits to worry about. I suppose a professional system of promotions and pay upgrades will replace those things……..but it won’t be the same. Because now I’m playing for keeps, where schools and academics are forgiving the “real” world isn’t.

I got the job I wanted, I have a good government job, with good benefits, a 457 (kinda like a 401K) for godssake and am now relatively all grown up. Weird huh?

Do people actually grow up?

I don’t know, all I know is that now I have to figure out how to navigate the “real world”. I’m no longer just a political science and history student analyzing the local government based on what theories I’ve learned. Now I’m a part of that government and living the theories I only thought of before in abstract terms.

I’m excited and terrified.