Alright, I can't be the only one who was disappointed with last night's episode of Lost. The first five minutes or so weren't bad, but the rest of the episode was just a meandering mess. I can forgive the occasional drab episode in the middle of February -- it's hard to keep the momentum going for 23 straight episodes -- but they sort of have an obligation to nail the season premiere if they expect people to stay interested and keep watching, don't they? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll pick it up and move the plot forward over in the next couple of episodes.
Boston trip
Just got back yesterday from my trip to Boston and Cambridge, my first in nearly five years.
Ryan and I were in town for a conference, but we figured since we were so rarely in the same place at the same time that it made sense to hold an Engadget Reader Meetup. Something like 400 or 500 people showed up at Jillian's this past Thursday -- stay tuned for a big post about the event on my "other" blog.
The next day Jill and I trekked around Harvard Square to visit some old haunts, including my old dorm. Amazingly enough, it turned out this kid Sean Li who came to the event lives next door to my old room!
Next up was a trip to In Your Ear records (a very High Fidelity-esque record store where I used to work - best job I ever had), and then to WHRB, the college radio station where I DJ'd and worked first as the general manager and then as music director.
Later that afternoon we took the T to Kendall Square to meet up with Jamie Zigelbaum, who gave us a tour of the MIT Media Lab. We got a sneak peek at some of the crazy new stuff they're working on, but since it was just an informal visit I wasn't allowed to blog anything. We spent the rest of the afternoon geeking out with MIT comp-sci professor Erik Demaine, who showed us around the new-ish Frank Gehry building where he works and then took us to see that dorm Steven Holl designed. There's a good chance you've read about Erik. Besides being one of the nicest, smartest, most interesting persons I've ever met, Erik's also the youngest professor in MIT history (he landed the job at the ripe old age of 20) and the recipient of a MacArthur genius grant. He's also an OQO user, so you can guess why we got along.
"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by Google"
Bruce Sterling documents teen love in the year 2026. The Smiths reference at the end is genius.
Fall Kicks (at least so far...)
The new Engadget – About freaking time, right?
Loomstate Vans -- Even though I don't like Rogan jeans much.
The Science of Sleep – Michel Gondry’s latest. It’s even more abstract and surreal than Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It’s better, too, and not just because it has Gael Garcia Bernal as the lead rather than Jim Carrey.
Sunday brunch at Babycakes with Jill from Inhabitat, Andrew from The Morning News, and Melissa from Poppycotton.
The season premiers of Lost and The Office - I broke down and signed up for cable just so I could watch these in high-def.
Kanye and Me
Had a close encounter with Kanye West at Barney's this evening. He played it cool and pretended not to recognize me. Still way better than sharing an elevator with Denise Richards and Richie Sambora on my way to a meeting with Sonos at the Trump International last week. That was a little freaky.