Disney's Scrooge in 3D shows additional value of 3D movies

My 13 year old daughter and I went to see Disney's new Jim Carrey 3D adaptation of "A Christmas Carol".

First let me say that it was a great re-telling of the story. Excellent depiction of the characters and ghosts [which my daughter found scary, to my surprise], and the animation, dialog and setting weren't dumbed down for the audience.

But the 3D was the real surprise. It's been a while since I've sat thru a 3D movie, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that your 3D glasses stayed on for the entire movie. The effects were subtle and nicely dimensional -- actually more different planes of activity -- but still nicely done nevertheless. After 30 minutes of the movie you forgot that you were wearing the glasses. When you raised your glasses to see what was REALLY going on, you could see all the fuzzy logic that goes into the 3D experience.

Now I generally have to admit that I'm not very deep into the pathos of movies. I watched Godfather I over the weekend again and still marvel at how Coppola, Brando, Pacino and the entire cast managed to tell such an epic story. I watch 'Fountainhead' once a year just to remind myself that the creative world that I populate has a bigger purpose. I love the simplicity of the erotic shots with Patricia Neal and Gary Cooper. And I watch "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne [Thornton] and Maureen O'Sullivan [Mary Kate Danaher] for the simmering sexual tension between Thornton and red head Danaher, and then the cross country, trans pub, rambling fight scene between stoic Sean Thornton and his future brother-in-law, the loutish [and beautifully cast] Squire 'Red' Will Danaher [Victor McLaglen]. This is about as deep as I get.

But for new releases Disney has the right idea. The 3D is something I can't do at home right now, and it makes the theater experience distinctly different from the big TV I have at home. The 3D effects and enhanced audio are perfect for a dark, big screened theater. I would rather see the 3D movie in the theater and pay the extra few dollars.

House Health Care Plan Stinks

Before you think I'm a far-wing nut job, hear me out:

I don't care if you're rich or poor or in the middle, you shouldn't have to worry about the cost seeing a doctor. We all know that 'seeing a doctor' is the cheapest part of the medical dance. It's all the expensive tests and procedures that follow. It's figuring out which you'd rather have: your house or chemotherapy; your retirement or heart surgery.

But here's the rub: you really don't want the feds administering your healthcare. You really don't want your first call -- after a procedure has been denied or you've been told there's a 6 month wait to see a specialist -- to be to be a nameless federal employee with no skin in YOUR care.

Today your healthcare is local. Everyone has skin in your healthcare, even if they don't handle your policy. You have a policy with a local agent; if you have a problem with your policy you call your agent. You don't like the answer? You bump it up to the agent's company rep. You don't like that answer? You go regional or national. Everybody in the chain is employed by someone other than the federal government. You probably live near someone who sells health insurance and know someone who administers health insurance.

Fast forward to when today's 24 year old is 44 or 54. The dreaded insurance companies have been driven from business. All of your health costs are paid from the federal coffers. Your federal health insurance premium is paid with your social security deduction. You pay the first 18% of your income to the feds. Your boss pays 36%, but now every decision he or she makes about hiring and growth is tainted by the obligation of supporting your health and basic retirement.

Your partner feels a lump on her breast. Getting into a doctor isn't a problem. They're the gatekeeper. They run a few tests and you get the bad news: breast cancer. There's a new procedure for treating breast cancer, but it's not approved by the feds yet. You can schedule for treatment, but it's 6 month out. You can go private, but it costs $25k. You mortgage your house [new industry: 2nd mortgage backed healthcare] for the 25k and get the new procedure completed in a month.

But you're a renter, work for yourself, and you're living check to check. You make 50k, don't have savings, but you pay your 2.5% no insurance penalty. Good news right? The feds take care of you. Bad news is that by the time you get the stint you need, you can barely climb a flight of stairs and you haven't worked in a couple of months. You're in a pool of 400 million federal aid recipients. You can't get anyone on the phone or at 'yourfederalhealthcare.org for help, you can't get a loan for private surgery, and your partner is working double shifts so you can put food on the table. So you say, what the difference between now and in the future for me? At least the feds would take care of me.

Here's what the feds SHOULD do: Let insurance companies and their local people sell and administer health policies up to an inflation adjusted amount; say in 2009 dollars it's $15,000 of treatment. Over $15k let the locals dip into a pool of federal dollars for catastrophic care and expense -- that we pay for too through a portion of our payroll deduction for day-to-day care and catastrophic care. Make sure everyone pays something for their care as long as they're working. Add finally, make it transparent. Add a % to the social security deduction to cover the people that aren't working or can't work as well as the catastrophic. Then let local companies sell and service policies for the first 15k of coverage.

But above all, keep it local.

Billing Manager by Intuit Worth a Serious Look

Intuit is developing billing manager: a simple, refreshing and elegant on-line application.

A little background: As a designer I work on 3 or 4 computers most days. A Mac for designing work, a Win7 PC for writing and word processing, a XP Server for archiving and backup management, a home PC for email, and an iPhone when I'm traveling.

The freedom to send an estimate or an invoice from any machine at any time has been liberating. I enjoy the comfort of knowing that my billing data is in the cloud and not on a particular machine.

Users can send invoices with flat fees, unit costs, etc. and can add sales tax if required.

Although I'm also a user of QuickBooks Online [QBO], which includes estimating and invoicing, I find that Billing Manager gives me the flexibility to send estimates to potential new clients without encumbering my Quickbooks account with information that it will never need for my accounting. Since I'm on a cash basis [things only count when they are paid], I simply add new client info to my QBO when I actually have something to report.

My clients now have the option of paying by credit card [a requirement when I make large outside purchases on their behalf] and this is cleanly integrated into the Billing Manager application.

Invoices are sent by email, and formats are elegant and simple [unlike the Quickbooks big brother]. The homepage lists your current outstanding invoices. My bookkeeper logs into my Billing Manager account for information about current paid invoices, credit card transactions that have hit my bank account, etc.

A couple of areas could use improvement:

1. Ability add a comment line on the invoice. This could be used for job numbers or client references.
2. Ability to prepare a statement. Although my true books are handled with QBO, data isn't updated in real time. The ability to send a quick statement with multiple invoices would be helpful.
3. Ability to send an estimate from my iPhone. Now I can only view current information.

BTW, they are continually seeking user feedback. I'm not sure how much they implement, other than bug fixes, but they seem open to comments from users.

Highly recommended.

iPhone cures the urge to text in the car

If you want texting-while-driving to stop, mandate universal use of the iPhone by anyone who drives. The keyboard is darn near impossible to use unless you're paying 100% attention. And the little magnifying window which lets you precisely relocate the cursor if you want to change your text after typing requires 200% of your attention.

Borrowing vs Buying: Obama has it backwards

It's one thing to be able to go to the bank and borrow money to fund your business. It's a whole different thing to have people buying things you buy or services you provide.

It sounded odd at the time, but after 9.11 President Bush pleaded with us to keep shopping. He didn't say keep borrowing. He understood that borrowing for business is the result of people and businesses buying.

It's my current experience that business people -- including me --are still holding off major purchases until they get a better fix on when the real economy -- the economy where people start buying again -- improves.

There's no doubt in my mind that the economy WILL improve. It's only when will consumers and then business people start buying again. When consumers start buying again, business will start hiring people and buying new equipment. Then they'll need the banks again.

Obama's message should be: This Holiday Season let's start buying again! Toys, clothes, cars, computers and large screen HDTV's; let's put the fear and apprehension behind us and pullout our wallets and purses.

Finding Work Focus at 57

Creative-types are in a constant state of angst over their craft and how people perceive their work.

You would think that after 35 years of developing creative concepts and designs; working with great writers and artists; and producing all manner of materials for my clients, that I'd be able to explain what I do. What they say about the cobbler and his kid's footwear is true about the designer [my kids DO have shoes, BTW, but they all don't have business cards :)]

But I no longer have the problem. I have accepted what I am. I am a creative guy. Clients hire me to creatively think about their businesses, who they sell to, what they make, and what they sell. Sometimes I'm hired to simply come up with ideas. Other times I'm hired to come up with ideas and then turn them into something tangible [like an ad, web site, brochure, billboard, trade show booth, etc.].

It's not the easiest business, but it's really rewarding when the synapses are firing and the client likes what you're doing.

Here's a high five to all those great clients that love my work and to future clients that will discover the magic of creative thinking.

Back again after a lengthy hiatus

Thankfully for my friends and followers I have had little to add to the public discourse over the last few months and haven't felt inclined to add to my blog.

Obama remains in office, Iran is still developing nukes, Afghanistan remains a problem, and Joe Biden is still Joe Biden. See? Nothing has changed.