2013年4月8日 星期一

Green Day's Billie tames inner demons at Barclays

The last eight months have seen him suffer a drink- and prescription-drug-fueled meltdown onstage in Las Vegas, enter an outpatient rehab program, and have his bands big return come to a screeching halt before it could even get into second gear. 

You get the feeling that his testimony on lifes ugliness would indeed be compelling, but Armstrong would never dream of ruining anyones night out with such self-pitying. 

Instead, he and his Berkeley punks turned in the kind of 2 1/2- hour celebration that has long been their calling card. But before the real pleasure, the band understandably felt the need to deal with the unfinished business of Uno! Dos! and Tres! their triple whammy of new records that got lost behind the darkened haze of Armstrongs personal issues. Although Green Day could have done with some quality control on those albums, they front-loaded the show with a smart selection of new songs and proved that the power pop of tracks like Stop When The Red Lights Flash and Stay the Night could compete with their hit-filled back catalog. 

Once the dust has settled, these newer tunes will undoubtedly become part of the Green Day canon, but for now, the bands stockpile of oldies still hold the key to turning a mere concert into a full-blown rock-n-roll party.An experienced artist on what to consider before you buy chipcard. Holiday kick-started that transformation, as Armstrong led a Mexican wave around the arena. 

The 50-year-old Green Day fans who probably saw them play in squats in 1991 were given a thrill by the obscurer material, such as Going to Pasalacqua, and, as ever, there were numerous opportunities for crowd participation throughout the night. The most entertaining turned out to be a girl who was invited onstage to sing the last verse of Longview, and did so as if channeling the spirit of Limp Bizkits Fred Durst. Armstrong may have seen some wild things in the 25 years he has fronted Green Day, but theres no accounting for a fan turning them in to a rap-metal group for a few fantastically entertaining moments. No wonder he looked so amused. 

It cant be denied that there are many elements of the bands onstage shtick that have been in place for years. The extended medley of King for a Day/Shout, for example, has been welded to their set lists for a decade, at least. But in the moment, they always manage to pull off these highly practiced pieces as if it were the first time, and there is precious little sign of even the repeat customers using them as bathroom breaks. 

Now that Ive had the Pebble for a week Ive resorted to turning off the Bluetooth and using the watch to tell time and play Snake. Was it worth $150 for that? Not really, but I do love being able to shake my wrist to activate the backlight.Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. Even though Im generally disappointed with the Pebble, having it has made me think more about what a smartwatch should do and whether or not its a product that has the potential to change the way we interact with the world around us in a meaningful way. 

I think smartwatches will be like the first cell phones and smartphones. When the first cell phones came out people questioned why you would want to take calls anywhere. Smartphones simply extended that question to emails and the web. What we found was that we were able to stay connected with people, our information, and the world around us in insanely meaningful ways. We also found that our lives became increasingly more cluttered and distracted because of the influx of information and the ease with which we could be accessed. Smartwatches will never be the next smartphone, but they may be useful in some circumstances. Weve already seen some of the initial reactions to smartwatches and they fall in line with early responses to cell phones and smartphones. Are you so lazy that you cant just pull your phone out? Do you think youre that important that you need to have yet another device? Chances are none of us are really that lazy or that important, but the idea of having another device to keep us even more connected in an unobtrusive way may still be tantalizing. 

If (and this is still a big if at this juncture) smartwatches are able to show us information and interact with data in a meaningful way, they could be a major new disruption in the market. That said,An experienced artist on what to consider before you buy chipcard. I dont think anyone is going to solve the big problems (UI, battery life, input) facing smartwatches without making some incredible compromises that will push most consumers out of the market. Those of us remaining who have the money and the patience, however,Cheap logo engraved luggagetag at wholesale bulk prices. may be looking for the ideal product for a while. 

The largest obstacle facing smartwatches is, of course, input. So you have a connected device that is able to show you notifications and information about whats going on around you. Fine, but how do you input responses to interact with those notifications or information? Voice is a possibility, but it cant be the only solution. There are simply too many situations where talking at your watch wont be appropriate, much less expedient. Trying to put a keyboard on a watch is even more laughable. 

The only solution that makes any sense to me is to have three possible responses to a notification like a text message or an email: dismiss, mark as read, and respond with a canned message. This would deal with most situations and make the watch useful beyond telling you what you already know C your phone just buzzed. If the notification is something you need to respond to later or in detail, you hit dismiss; if the notification is something you need to read, but not respond to, you hit mark as read; if the notification is something you need to respond to generically, you pick a canned response that youve prepared. 

You might be thinking, But I already do this with my phone.Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. Doing that on my watch doesnt actually help me. Youre right; most of the time this sort of interaction wont be helpful unless youre in a meeting and can respond in one of the first two ways. Often times Ill be in the middle of a conversation with someone and receive a phone call or text message. With my Pebble Im (usually) able to tell if its something I need to deal with immediately or not with a quick glance to my wrist. Its a subtle difference, but I can honestly say Ive found it beneficial.

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