The litter in littérateur. Ricky Opaterny on Books, Music, Art, and Sports

6/26/2009

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-26

Filed under: General — Ricky @ 8:18 pm
  • Returning from four days in Woods Hole with Boone and Lori, testing @pandora_radio on 2g. Quality is good,, but how do I expunge the ads? #
  • Sublet my large studio next to City Hall Park in Manhattan for the month of July. Send me an @ reply if you're interested. #
  • What happens when #IranElection tweets start disappearing from search results because too many days have elapsed since posting? #
  • Check out the work of @joshto http://bit.ly/MAIZR
    Josh! Big Water! #
  • RT @EliseBlackwell: In praise of the print journal. Thoughts from Granta's new editor: http://is.gd/19akC #
  • Just downgraded @TwitterFon to remove the ads. #
  • Picked up Rhett Miller's "The Believer" at Newbury Comics last week. Really enjoying "Fireflies": http://radio.rickyopaterny.com #
  • Banana, date, and lime smoothie and falafel sandwich at Taim. Yum! #
  • A rough list of my favorite #iPhone apps: http://rickyopaterny.com/shorturl/apps What are your favorites? #

6/23/2009

How to make your own ringtones for the iPhone

Filed under: General,Music,Technology — Ricky @ 6:31 am

One odd limitation of the iPhone is that you can’t use songs from your iTunes library as ringtones. However, there’s an easy way around this restriction. Just create AAC files of 30 seconds or less that you want to use as ringtones and change their extensions from .m4a to .m4r and import them into iTunes. A full step-by-step guide is available here. What’s my ringtone, you may ask? Currently, I’m using the opening 30 seconds from Radiohead’s song “Fog.” Here’s a live version for those of you not familiar with the song.

6/22/2009

My favorite iPhone and iPod Touch apps

Filed under: Baseball,Books,General,Music,Technology — Ricky @ 7:48 pm

I’ve been playing around with these devices for most of the year and have come to some conclusions about my favorite applications. Because Apple’s App Store is a bit of a mess, I’ve picked up most of my recommendations from other blogs and forums. So, here’s the list of apps that I wish I hadn’t had to spend time discovering because my iPod is better with them than without them, in no particular order:

  • The New York Times – I previously posted about this application and how I would be willing to pay a fair amount for it. The only things I can fault this application for are that it’s not always clear when it’s finished downloading the day’s paper and it runs sluggishly on the iPhone 2g. Otherwise, the ability to save and email articles is great, and the interface makes browsing the paper easy. This is probably my favorite app, in part because it downloads the paper for offline reading and because I love the New York Times.
  • MLB At Bat 2009 – This app costs $9.99, but it’s awesome. You can watch two live games a day and listen to any broadcast of any game live. I remember when I was a kid, I could barely get reception on the AM radio at night to listen to Vin Scully call the LA Dodgers games. Now I can listen to the Dodgers and the Yankees and the Red Sox and the Giants whenever I want. This app also features in-game video highlights from almost all games, which are nice, but the key feature is being able to listen to live broadcasts. (more…)

6/19/2009

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-19

Filed under: General — Ricky @ 8:18 pm
  • I was an hour late to Fenway and couldn’t get a ticket. Ugh. This is not NYC. #

6/12/2009

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-12

Filed under: General — Ricky @ 8:18 pm
  • Anyone know a good place in NYC for a vegetarian dinner + watching the NBA Finals? #
  • RT @PublishersLunch: New Generation Is Sprucing Up Paris’s Shakespeare & Co. http://tinyurl.com/nfmktf #
  • It seems like @mcnallyjackson has been recording its events, but how can I listen to them? #
  • The one time I got up during the game in the 8th, my favorite player hit a homer. Nonetheless, a fun night in the Bronx, Mo saves a 5-3 win #
  • Looking to buy a used iPhone 3G for $200. Tips, anyone? #
  • Goooooooaaaaaaal! Go Pens! 2-0. #
  • RT @GrantaMag: We have video of Mavis Gallant and Jhumpa Lahiri reading and talking in Paris http://bit.ly/6HzrU #
  • Penguins! #

6/5/2009

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-05

Filed under: General — Ricky @ 8:18 pm

6/1/2009

Samantha Power’s commencement address at Pitzer College

Filed under: Books,General — Ricky @ 8:31 am

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I recently discovered and immensely enjoyed the above commencement address that Samantha Power gave to Pitzer’s graduating class last year. Two topics it covers that I think are wildly overlooked by not just college graduates but by high-achieving people in general are a) the importance of whom you choose as your friends to your future success (above where you go to school or where you choose to work) and b) the importance of resilience and following your nose rather than your head. Confused about what that means? Well, turn up the volume on your computer and watch the speech.

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