It’s the hashtag I tweeted just a couple days after buying a new Samsung Galaxy-S for T-Mobile (also known as the Vibrant.) I was frustrated with the clunky interface, faced with incredible amounts of lag when flipping between screens, and the audio processor was causing tons of snaps, cracks, and popples. Not exactly what I want from a phone that cost me $660 (I always buy phones at full face value.)

Well, I’m ready to erase that moniker, at least partially. I returned the phone to Radio Shack where I initially bought it and picked up a new one from T-Mobile for $110 less after tax. The new phone is snappier and the audio problems are gone. I still have some gripes, though I won’t bore you with another lengthy review. Instead let me give you my hypes, gripes, and tips:

Hypes
- The Galaxy-S really does have the best screen on a smartphone. Yes, it is better than the iPhone 4. The AMOLED screen is very close to the glass, so it feels like you are touching the image. The glass is smooth, and the image is incredibly vivid. There’s no other screen that can produce this level of brightness and contrast while remaining sharp and maintaining perfectly black blacks.
- It IS very fast. Other phones have a 1ghz processor, but they lack the graphics power the Galaxy-S has. Scroll in your browser, or open up The Sims and you’ll see what I mean. On par with the iPhone 4 as far as 3d strength goes.
- It’s tiny and light. I am impressed they fit hardware this powerful into something so tiny. Some people claim it feels cheap. If you want weight to convince you that something is well made, I suggest a cement brick. Meanwhile, I’ll be freaking out every 10 minutes wondering where I lost my phone because I can’t feel it in my pocket.

Gripes
- HOLY HELL WTF DID SAMSUNG DO TO THE UI!? Coming from Nexus 2.2-land where everything is beautiful and makes sense, this thing is a clusterfuck. Why does it look like a children’s toy? Why are they trying so hard to make it look like an iPhone. Android has a LOT of strong suits, don’t ruin it by trying to mimic a competitor. Instead, I suggest manufacturers spend their development time adding new widgets or applications. (Note Android 1.x users, life is much better on the other side of 2.)
- I’m seriously perplexed as to why there is no notification light. I’m constantly turning on the screen to see if I missed anything.
- No flash on the camera. Blah, blah, blah “night mode” blah, blah, blah. Night mode is crap unless you are on a ghost hunt and want to photograph some orbs. My friends are attractive. I want to remember them fully lit.
- I REALLY miss the trackball from my Nexus One. One thing Android does NOT do well is inserting the cursor where you want it; you really need something to help with fine-tuning. If you see me poking my phone, I am not tickling it, I’m just trying to copy some text.

Tips
- Mac users will want to know this: In order to mount the mass storage, you need to turn on USB Debugging under Settings > Applications > Development. After that you’ll get two mounted file systems- one for the built-in 16gb SD card and another for the removable SD.
- Install LauncherPro to undo some of the horrid things Samsung did to Android’s beautiful 2.x GUI. You’ll get back the regular home screen, app drawer, and a few extra features.
- Keep your USB door closed when it isn’t plugged in. The little widget on the inside is fragile and I’ve seen many people break them on other phones. Samsung did a wonderful thing in giving you a hard plastic door. Those rubber stoppers that other manufacturers include are crap.

Let me know your impressions, or ask me a question if you are interested in the Vibrant, or Android. I’ve been through the G1, Cliq, and Nexus prior to this, I can probably help ya

Last week I saw a couple concerts. The first was Jay Brannan. I know he isn’t the most popular with everyone, and perhaps that is part of the charm. His show was pretty good. The songs actually sounded almost exactly like the recorded tracks do. That is a good thing because I think he is a great artist, but also somewhat disappointing that there wasn’t anything more to them in person. At least between songs he joked with the audience. The real surprise though was his opener. Her name is Rachel Zylstra and she was fantastically amazing. Her music was quirky without being tacky which always grabs my attention. Her voice was beautiful. Her stage presence spot on. She gripped the attention of an audience where I imagine few had any clue who she was.

On Saturday I saw one of my all-time favorites – Cowboy Mouth. If you aren’t familiar with their music, shame on you. The band has been around forever (since 1990 anyway). Admittedly, they have very few songs that anyone has probably heard unless you know one of their fans, who tend to be pretty rabid about them, and with good reason. Anyone who has seen one of their shows knows that these guys (and gal) are some of the best live performers in existence. The only concert I’ve had more fun at than a Cowboy Mouth concert is Third Eye Blind.

Speaking of Third Eye Blind, I am quite excited to find out that they have a new album coming out. Even more exciting – Kimya Dawson is featured on it! WOW. Can. Not. Wait. You can hear a short snippit of “Why Can’t You Be” on MySpace (ughh Crapsite).

Tuesday I went to the Chicago Outdoor Film Festival with some friends to see Duck Soup. Firstly – this was my first COFF experience, and I can not imagine a better group of people to go with. Secondly, Duck Soup is an amazing movie and everyone needs to go watch it. RIGHT NOW! Thirdly, they (I’m not really sure who) handed out (hopefully) over 5,000 “Groucho Marx” glasses to attempt to have the largest group of people to ever do this at once. The former record holder (yes, this is an existing record) is somewhere in Missouri. Well, at least they have that…

Of course amongst all these things I was visiting with my friend Scott who was in town from Las Vegas, boating, going to birthday parties, making a fool of myself at a bar night named “Boys Room” and who knows what other debaucherous (spell check tells me that isn’t a word but I don’t care) things. Oh, and working my ass off!

Of course, now I have a backlog of uninteresting things to bombard you with so expect the next week to be absolutely titillating.

If it is your first time going to the American Theater Co you might be as surprised as I was on your approach. The theater itself is a tiny building on a mostly residential street – tucked just a few steps away from Lincoln Ave. It’s a cute building and out front were two very friendly volunteers or employees chatting with people and directing them where to go.

The entrance to the stage itself is on the side down a short alley. You’re instructed to knock three times to get in. We trailed in behind another group so the door was already open but I have a hunch that the three knocks is just cute joke

Inside it is tiny though not at all cramped. Every chair is different, there is even a loveseat in the first row. Enough about the theater though let’s talk about the show!

The production was very impressive considering the size of the venue. They really had the place decked out. An elaborate warehouse-looking wall of window panes provided a backdrop upon which images and videos are projected. Nothing about the show seemed tiny, underdone, or low budget. It was like seeing a big broadway show in a 40 person theater.

The actor who played Hedwig was amazing. He seemed close enough to the movie to not upset folks like myself who went in only having seen that (and I suspect that is a fairly sizable portion of the audience) but strayed enough to keep it original. They used local references frequently throughout the show, mentioning Halsted St, Boystown, Lake Shore Drive, and other Chicago locations and references.

Long story short (yeah, long story short!) – you should absolutely make a point of checking out the show while it is playing in Chicago. They’ve extended the run through May 31 so there is plenty of time to get tickets!

Hedwig at American Theater Co

There are so many parts of this book that I highlighted because they made me laugh or think. I really wish that Mun had more books published because she is an amazing author. Check out the Chicagoist interview if you want more info, or just get the book and read it!

I just finished reading Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. After hearing all the hype about it I really wanted to check it out, especially since I have been wanting to read a vampire novel.

I have to say I am a little disappointed. Maybe it was all the hype or maybe it really just wasn’t that wonderful, but I had several problems with the book.

The first and most glaring problem was how quickly Bella became infatuated with a vampire, without ever really going through any stage of disbelief. As a human firmly planted in a human world I can tell you that it would take a long time for me to go from thinking someone was a lunatic to actually thinking they were a vampire. Bella seems to go from zero to vampire in record time, requiring nothing more than a few suggestions and a 33.6k connection to determine that Edward could be a vampire and that she is “ok” with that. Then she instantly falls in love with Edward and he for her.

His gold eyes grew very soft. “You said you loved me.”
“You knew that already,” I reminded him, ducking my head.
“It was nice to hear, just the same.”
I hid my face against his shoulder.
“I love you,” I whispered.
“You are my life now,” he answered simply. 

This takes about a week as best I can tell. Granted, it is the first relationship for both of them, but puhlease?

Once you move past that part of the story it does get better though. The last third of the novel is where all the action is and honestly I would have been perfectly happy if the first two thirds were compressed to a chapter or two since they did a poor job anyway and the last bits lengthened and elaborated on.

I do think that Meyer has a bit of a problem with the word “incredulous.” Your mileage may vary but this is a word that I have rarely heard or seen used and Meyer uses it eleven times throughout the book. “…incredulous eyes…” “His face was incredulous.” “‘Incredulous, for the most part.’” “I shook my head, incredulous…” “The inning continued before my incredulous eyes.” “…incredulous as he took an involuntary step…” Holy crap – and those quotes don’t include “incredulously”. It was to the point where I actually highlighted a section and noted “author uses the word incredulously too often.”

I will admit to this, though, I think I am in love with the man I have conjured up in my head as Edward Cullen. And he does not look like Robert Pattinson.

In the end, my recommendation is move on and find something else to read. I’ll probably end up reading the second book at this point though since I’ve spent so much time on the first, I’m hoping the series gets better.

Einstein’s Dreams isn’t a particularly long book. It took me just a couple days to read using only my time on the bus, which is relatively short. The language isn’t difficult either. It is, however, incredibly interesting and thought provoking. The book isn’t a factual depiction of dreams that Einstein actually had. Instead Lightman used Einstein as a tool to look at different ways time could exist and how that might affect the world.

One particularly interesting chapter for me says that time moves slower the higher you are. As a result everybody lives on mountains and puts their houses on stilts, only coming down when absolutely necessary. “Height has become status. When a person from his kitchen window must look up to see his neighbor, he believes that neighbor will not become stiff in the joints as soon as he, will not lose his hair until later, will not wrinkle until later, will not lose the urge for romance as early.” How can you read that and not translate it to the world we actually live in?

There are so many different ways we could have ended up at this very moment. So many decisions and possibilities. Time is a mysterious thing and maybe it is different for me than it is for you. Grab a copy of Einstein’s Dreams, head down to your local coffee shop, and spend a Sunday reading and thinking about all the directions time may travel in.

It was not a perverted voyeurism, it was one of intrigue. I would occasionally stand in my window and look out at the buildings across from me and see people going about their lives. On one floor someone was on a treadmill. Just a few feet below a couple enjoying dinner. What I marveled at was how these people all around me lived so close to their neighbors and yet remained completely oblivious to what was happening on the other side of a wall or floorboard. At the same time you could occasionally catch someone doing the same as me, and I would wonder what the people around me were doing that they were watching and I was missing out on. Was the guy in 1503 reading a book? Having a party? Was he even home? Were the couple next door cuddled on the couch watching a movie? It was privileged information – reserved for those close, but not too close.

The Transparent City freshened a lot of these ideas for me. In one photograph that I particularly enjoyed, a child is in the window looking down at an angle and pointing at something. Another arm pokes out from behind the curtain and points with her. A few floors down and a handful of windows to the right are a pair of male legs, bare, the man clearly wrapped in a towel. How unlikely is this scenario – as they had to be completely unaware of each other, and yet here it was, happening, perfectly for the photographer.

Some of Wolf’s photographs will make you laugh. A businessperson giving the finger at exactly the right  moment. Or perhaps it was Wolf’s shutter that happened at exactly the right moment. Some will remind you of the stress and anxiety that a day can bring. A handful of images are pixel-laden mega-enlargements. How great is it to see each dot that makes up the photographer’s vision.

Michael Wolf’s The Transparent City runs until January 31, 2009 at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Photography. Admission is free.