Review: Futurama Season 6

Family Guy sucks. This is a position I've held for at least five years, though it's become a less controversial statement with each new season. Though the show itself is the antithesis of humor, there is one thing that Family Guy has done that is admirable: after being understandably cancelled in 2001, the show was resurrected in 2005 after strong DVD sales. It showed that a fan base can support a show, even when the network cannot. With this precedence, it opened the door to other wrongly-cancelled shows that were cancelled. Much better shows like Futurama, the sci-fi successor to The Simpsons from Matt Groening and writer David X. Coen that was preempted so many times by FOX that there were enough leftover episodes to create a fifth season once the show was cancelled after four production seasons.

I remember watching that first episode. I was in my final months of middle school at the time, and over the next five years, I watched and laughed with the show, memorized songs, and recorded episodes on VHS. I have an officially-licensed shirt. I have all of the action figures, both the four from the original run, and the 12+ in the recent re-release. I signed pointless online petitions when the show was first cancelled, I played through the mediocre PS2 game, I became teary-eyed as I watched The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings, and I did the same when I saw the character introduction sequence in Bender's Big Score.

It's safe to say I have an emotional investment in Futurama. It's the one that first taught me about the cruel wasteland that can be the television landscape. Since the show first left, however, I've watched dozens of other shows meet their ends, either from old age or forceful ejection, and I've seen a lot of comedy, which is why I'm find myself laughing out loud less and less at each new Futurama project, starting with the DVD movies and ending with the first two episodes of Season 6, the first of which premiere tomorrow night on Comedy Central.

I could try to rationalize why I feel this way - I think meta humor can be funny in small doses, but when taken too far, it's no longer so much of a jab in the audience's direction so much as it is the writers taking you by the shoulders and shouting in your face "WE ARE MAKING FUN OF SOMETHING IN REAL LIFE." (Arrested Development, in its final season, also started becoming a victim of this). Case in point - the wormhole through which they travel at the end of the last movie / beginning of the episode was described by Farnsworth as a "Central Channel" to which Hermes replies "hilarious!" and The Professor then says that yes, it is indeed a "Comedy Central Channel". I GET IT!

The first episode deals with wrapping up the events of the last movie and ensuring everyone is back to their old selves. There is a visual gag early in the episode that caused me to laugh out loud, though the remainder of the episode gave me nothing but some smirks. The second episode was no different, though I found the premise to be a little more enjoyable, even if the parody was again pretty blatant. It seems to me that the best episodes are the ones that either dealt with the Fry-Leela relationship (though even now I think it has run its course), or the ones that dealt with the mythology of the show (The Why of Fry comes to mind).

It's a television miracle that Futurama has received this many chances, and I hope that they will be renewed again after Comedy Central airs the next two seasons, but I can't put forward the emotion and devotion into one show like I used to: I'm juggling more than three dozen scripted series over the course of the year, and shows come and go all the time. Futurama finally has a fair shake on TV, but regardless of the outcome, we can all be proud that there was one good thing that came from the inception of Family Guy.

Android App Spotlight #10: Google Voice

Price: Free
Link: It's Already on Your Phone

It's boggling how antiquated your carrier's voicemail is. You have to dial a number, listen to a computerized voice list a menu of options, and if you switch phones, they're gone forever. CAN'T THERE BE A BETTER WAY?

There is! Google Voice is a VOIP service, which gives allows you to make calls and send texts from your computer or phone. It can also take over the voicemail duties of your existing cell number, not only providing you a web interface for listening to the messages, but it also transcribes them, so you can read them wherever you are. Best of all, since it's Google, all of your voicemails and texts can be at your searchable disposal forever. Oh, and it uses your data connection, so your precious minutes and texts are safe.

Google Voice works well with most phones, but it completely integrates itself into Android. You can choose to have all of your outgoing calls made with Google Voice, or you can choose to manually select the option each time. It's utterly seamless.

Of course, there are drawbacks - I do a lot of traveling in my job, and in times of iffy connections, I'm always more likely to trust the durability of my voice connection rather than my data, so I err on the side of caution and have not fully committed to my Google Voice number. The transcriptions provided by the service are literally laughable - the things it thinks are being said are usually nowhere near reality. Half the time I can get a rough idea of what the person calling me wanted, but other times I have to listen to the message.

In all, it's a wonderful service, and best of all it was just released from its invite-only status yesterday. Go and grab your own Google Voice number today!

Leaving

For my last meal in San Antonio, I returned to the one special restaurant at which I ate far and away the most times during my stay in the Alamo City - Florio's Pizza. This was the first time I ate the pie without having it sit in its own juices for twenty minutes as I drove it home, so it was even better than usual. It was also during the lunch rush, and while sitting at the counter I was able to listen to the rapport the customers had established with the New Jersey family making the product. It was a reminder as to why I ate there so many times and a suiting final stop before leaving for Kansas.

Part of me hates leaving - I've already established relationships with people, I've gotten comfortable in my lifestyle, and moving sucks. Every time I do have to leave, however, I'm reminded of a scene in the finale of Six Feet Under - perhaps one of the finest endings to a television show ever. Clair is saying goodbye to the family before she moves to New York, I think - it's been a while since I watched the entire thing. Teary-eyed, she gets everyone together to take a picture, and Nate appears behind her, and says "You can't take a picture of this. It's already gone." It's true - by the time we start lamenting about losing what was, everything's already begun to move on to what is. By the time I left, all but three people had already left the city.


And while I loved living in San Antonio, I was beginning to feel that in the year I spent living there I had uncovered most of the secrets the city had to offer. Having moved roughly once a year over the past three years, I realize that there is a benefit to leaving that I crave - it's the chance to get a fresh start, to take who I was and tweak it to make it someone I want to be. It's an iterative process, and while I've made some progress since I graduated college, there's still work to be done. In the meantime, I can look forward to what my new home has to offer and look for the benefits, rather than focus on the uncomfortable change.

There's an old Italian proverb that says that everything has an end, except salami, which has two. I think that has relevance, but I'm not sure.

Android App Spotlight #5-#9: Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, SCVNGR, Brightkite, and Google Latitude (With a Little Yelp and Facebook Action Thrown In) (Part 2)

Loopt
Price: Free
AppBrain Link
Website

Originally more of a always-on service like Google Latitude, Loopt has integrated check-ins to the Android app. The process is no different than any other service, though it seems like checking in is a bit pointless given that you can already see where everyone is located using the map. The app allows you to either update your location automatically throughout the day - completely draining my battery before midday - or just to update when you first run the app. There is a journal feature, which I think can provide an interesting feature, but blogs like Blogger offering the ability to add a location, this isn't a killer feature. Sadly, this service is the one on which most of my real-life friends use (a whopping two people!), but with the check-ins feeling like a tacked-on feature, it can't really compete with some of the other services. Loopt does offer several variations on their apps, including a Foursquare competitor Looptstar, but they're all for iPhone/iPad, so Android users are out of luck.



SCVNGR

Price: Free
AppBrain Link
Website


SCVNGR started as a tool to help give tours for museums and the like, but thanks to a small backing from Google, they're changing their business model to a more mainstream approach through check-ins. You earn points for doing routine tasks like checking in, taking a picture, and writing a blurb, but the unique aspect of the program is the ability to earn points for unique tasks such as posing with a department store mannequin or making an origami swan from the tin foil of your burrito. Businesses can add their own challenges, and users can add "treks," a series of places to visit. The service is still new, with most businesses offering only the standard check-ins, but if adoption spreads, the possibilities could be interesting.

Google Latitude

Good old Latitude. Since they bought Dodgeball from the makers of Foursquare back in 2005, the service has been integrated into Maps and left dormant for five years without much development. It does the always-on GPS feature like Loopt, though it doesn't offer much else. Hopefully that will change soon - they've recently released an API for the service, and their "Where Have I Been?" feature is neat, though a bit inaccurate. If you're interested in the simplest way of sharing your location with friends, the integration with Maps and the ease of use can't be beat, though it really isn't a check-in app.

Yelp


Though they have an Android app, iPhone users are currently the only ones able to participate in their ability to check in. The service is fairly basic in its current iteration, though upcoming developments are looking to get into earning badges similarly to Foursquare.

Facebook


Facebook has been rumored to get into the check-in business since the beginning of the year. When they finally decide to flip the switch, it's pretty much over for any other service. The sheer install base of Facebook ensures that they will immediately dominate the competition.

Final Thoughts


This overview of apps was essentially pointless - no matter what features one app has over another, the most important thing for these programs is that your friends are using them. I can amass a million points on Foursquare and every item in Gowalla, but it's not really fun if I can't throw it in my friends' faces. Perhaps the future of the check-in apps will come down to Facebook's sheer numbers and Latitude's open API and Maps integration. Personally, I'm waiting for Yelp's check-ins to come to Android, but that's just so I can add more crap to my profile at that site. There's still no one winner in this space, and it's only going to get more difficult to keep first place as more companies look to get into the mix.

Android App Spotlight #5-#9: Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, SCVNGR, Brightkite, and Google Latitude (With a Little Yelp and Facebook Action Thrown In) (Part 1)

You may think they're stupid, but check-in apps are the next big thing in social interaction. The premise is simple: You launch the app, your position is determined via GPS or triangulation, a list of nearby places displays, and you "check-in" to the location, letting your friends know your here. The concept is best suited for groups of friends that don't work or live together: you're out on the town, and you check your phone to see that your buddy has checked into a bar right down the street from you, allowing you to join him and have loads of fun that will be encapsulated and live forever live as a Facebook photo album that your parents aren't allowed to see.

The basic concept is so simple that there are already several different apps available for the various phone OS, and the distinguishing factors come down to the presentation and the value added by using a particular piece of software. I like the concept of the check-in, and my belief about its upcoming popularity encourages me to participate. The thing is, I don't have a lot of friends and acquaintances which are very technically inclined, so I have to wait until the popularity is at near saturation before things start catching on. In the meantime, I'm stuck having to choose between several pieces of software, each with their own benefits.

Foursquare
Price: Free
Website
AppBrain Link

The current "mayor" of the check in apps, Foursquare was the creation of the guys who started Dodgeball, a similar sort of check in social media service dating all the way back to 2000. The service was acquired by Google in 2005 and turned into Google Latitude and left to fester for five years (more on that later). When you open the Foursquare app, your GPS-determined location returns a list of nearby businesses. You check in and you earn some points, the amount of which varies depending on checkins per day, whether this is your first time at the business, etc. The points don't yet have a use - you can't even see how many points you have - but they reserve the right to use them at a later point. Badges can also be earned for your profile once you fulfill certain conditions. If you check in at a business more times than anyone else, you get crowned the "mayor." It can be used as bragging rights amongst your friends, but more significantly, businesses are getting in on the fun, offering special deals to mayors. The service also offers an open API, which allows even more interesting takes on location apps (even if many of them are iPhone-only at this point). This is the app to beat at the moment, though that doesn't mean that other services aren't trying to "dethrone" them (pun)...

Gowalla
Price: Free
Website
AppBrain Link

Austin-based Gowalla operates pretty similarly to Foursquare - find your place and check in. The differences come in their item-based system: upon a random checkin, you have the chance of finding an item. These items can either be "vaulted" - added to your profile for the world to see, or you can choose to use it to swap for another, cooler item you find laying around at another location. Badges are offered here, and they work similarly to Foursquare, but Gowalla also has trips - a series of locations that, after checking in at all of them, you get a special badge for your profile. The interface also has an open API, though implementation isn't very widespread yet. A gripe I have with the software is that checking in has to occur within 50 meters of the designated coordinate for the business. It's not a big issue if you're at a small restaurant, but at bigger locations, like an airport or even a big department store, you won't be allowed to check in unless the app finds you within those fifty meters. It's an anti-cheating measure, but annoying nonetheless. On the plus side, adding locations is easier than the rest - rather than manually inputting address data, all you need is the name and type of business, and the location is determined by the GPS. However, this can create inaccuracies, too - people might add locations from the parking lot, or the location might be determined by triangulation rather than GPS. Between this and the fifty meter limitation, checking in can be a frustration.

Brightkite
Price: Free
Website
AppBrain Link

You check in, and you can comment on posts, photos, etc. Most of the value in this app is interpersonal - just commenting on the stuff your friends post. Although the achievement-based symptoms of Foursquare and Gowalla are gimmicky, they can encourage participation. Because Brightkite doesn't really offer much unique functionality compared to the former two (aside from the ability to upload pictures), my interest in this program has waned. The fact that I can't stop it from running in the background means that it was recently uninstalled.


To be Continued...