LoTR

I just found out that the Walter Reade Theater is doing a Lord of the Rings trilogy weekend in January, showing the extended versions of all three films, and doing a Q&A with Peter Jackson. Now, if only I knew someone geeky enough to want to go, but not so geeky that they’re turned off by the simplifications and alterations to the story that Jackson had to make to translate the books to movies.

I think everyone I know is on one side or the other of that fence — either they liked the movies, but don’t really feel the need to see them more than once, or they’re seething with rage at the abomination that Jackson hath unleashed unto the world.

Swatch

How not to run an online store:

– First, put in a JavaScript age-checking routine that works under IE, but not under Mozilla, so that everyone using that browser is identified as being under 13, and hence not allowed to buy stuff from you. Hey, why worry about it? Proper cross-browser date handling is well-documented, but who uses Mozilla anyway?

– Next, rely on pop-up windows for some key functions, so that people with pop-up blockers enabled can’t register on your site. Again, why worry? Only communists use pop-up blockers!

Thank you, swatch.com!

(Of course, the sad thing is that I bought a watch from them anyway. after switching browsers and disabling pop-ups.)

Emusic

Emusic has been sold and is going to discontinue unlimited downloads, instead offering 40 songs a month for $10. Still a pretty good deal, if you can find 40 songs a month that you like. I’ve always wondered how they could stay in business while offering unlimited downloads. There’s some additional information about this, and about other online music news, here. Also, iTunes for Windows should be announced next week.