Redbox

Redbox : Sigourney Weaver in 1986′s Aliens wasn’t the first action woman in film–tough chicks with guns had been a staple of drive-in exploitation and blaxploitation flicks for decades. (It’s no coincidence Aliens director James Cameron came up through the ranks of Roger Corman’s B-movie mill.) But the moment Ellen Ripley learned how to lock and load a pulse rifle it signaled the mainstreaming of the female action hero.

Angelina Jolie carried the torch in the ’90s with the Tomb Raider movies, and in 2003 and ’04 Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino brought Asian-style cinematic female empowerment (and sword play) to American screens with Kill Bill.

But the past year has also seen the rise of a new kind of action lady: The hipster powerhouse with neon hair and deadly blades, a la Knives Chau and Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and of course that foul-mouthed, possibly sociopathic, instant grrl-power icon, Hit Girl in Kick-Ass. Not only will they slice, dice and stomp you, but they probably have better taste in music.

Vegemite

Vegemite : Some people just can’t leave well enough alone. Vegemite has tasted exactly the same for 85 years and suddenly, someone has had a rush of blood to the head and decided to mess with it.

I don’t normally use this blog to comment on Australian happenings (save for gratuitous John Butler adoration) but when you discover that an Australian icon has been tampered with, you have to take a stand!

According to media reports, Kraft Australia, has decided to create a “versatile Vegemite” one that you can dip and spread in a way that previous Vegemite consistency just did not allow for. To achieve this feat of engineering the manufacturers have mixed Vegemite with cream cheese. Apparently “It’s Vegemite, But Different.”

Now I am a die-hard Vegemite supporter, and have been known to indulge in some Vegemite-nostalgia with Australians we’ve met along the way, but Vegemite and cream cheese??? I think that’s pushing the boundaries of culinary decency.

Perhaps Kraft has decided to round out the nutritional properties of this wonder food. While Vegemite-detractors (ie. Nyani) may dispute Vegemite’s health advantages, way back in the 1940s, Vegemite earned British Medical Association endorsement for its high Vitamin B content. Vegemite was even strictly rationed during World War II so that supplies could be sent to the troops abroad.

Or maybe Kraft simply felt there were some dishes that Vegemite just wasn’t finding its way into. I have previously limited my Vegemite intake to toast, and maybe the occasional spread-on-cracker-squeeze-through-holes adventure (which makes me a "Wormer" according to the Vegemite profiler page, with occasional "Scrambler" and "Redback" leanings), but, according to the Kraft site, Vegemite has far wider application – Vegemite Asian Prawn Skewers anyone?

Maybe I’m getting old, but vegemite and cream cheese? Sounds downright un-Australian to me.

John Dye

Actor John Dye has died.

The actor, best known for playing Angel of Death Andrew alongside Della Reese and Roma Downey on CBS’ non-defunct Sunday night drama Touched by an Angel, passed away at his home in San Francisco on Monday.

He was 47.

News of Dye’s death spread across the web like wildfire on Thursday after the actor’s former Touched by an Angel co-star Valerie Bertinelli paid tribute to her pal in a message posted to her Twitter: “Dear, sweet John Dye, rest in peace,” Bertinelli wrote.

The actor is remembered by dad Jim Dye as “very giving” and a tireless supporter of the Make a Wish Foundation and various organizations on the forefront of AIDS research.

A cause of death has not yet been determined, but family members believe Dye succumbed to heart failure.

The Mississippi native Dye racked up a number of TV credits during his career with appearances on shows including Murder, She Wrote, Promised Land, and The Young and the Restless in addition to his nine season run on Angel

Cnet Download

The new Mac App Store may be a useful way to find software for OS X, but some people have expressed their disgust at the store and would rather not have it in their systems. Some even have avoided upgrading to OS X 10.6.6 to avoid putting the store on their systems. While this is a way around the store, doing so will also prevent them from benefiting from the latest security and bug fixes that future OS updates will bring.
         
Some people have worried about the “storeagent” process that appears in the OS X Activity Monitor in OS X 10.6.6. This process is in the “Kit Trade” framework that is part of OS X 10.6.6, and is configured to run on demand when the store is open, and seems to be a version manager to help Store notifies you when updates are available, or to inform the store that a software package is already installed.

MacFixIt reader “Bill” wrote in suggesting that if you have to add the App Store again, you can always install by running the combo update to 10.6.6 or later versions of OS X when available. Also, if you have a backup Time Machine or other backup of the application, you should be able to copy it to your Applications folder and then run a permissions fix the boot drive to run it as it was initially installed.

If you are interested in alternatives to the Mac store on the application, there are few resources on the Web that are similar, including CNET Download.com.

JPM

Banks may have the wind at their backs, but there appears to be a ‘sell the news’ reaction this morning after J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) reported its fourth quarter earnings.  The bank touted as the healthiest of the money center banks beat earnings at $1.12 EPS versus the Thomson Reuters estimate of $0.99 EPS.  We had written down $1.00 as the estimate before and we were actually looking for as much as $1.10 this morning by our own count.  The banking giant posted almost 6% higher revenues to $26.72 billion versus a Thomson Reuters estimate of $24.44 billion.
                         
A significantly lower credit loss provision and overall higher revenues drove the earnings.   Non-interest revenue was up more than 35% to $14.5 billion on principal transactions revenue and by higher mortgage fees and other related income.  Net interest income was down 15% to $12.2 billion due to rates and lower loan and securities balances.

The provision for credit losses was down a sharp 66% to $3.0 billion; total consumer provision for credit losses was cut by more than half to $3.1 billion on reductions in the allowance for credit losses for both credit cards and for mortgages.  JPMorgan is citing improved delinquency trends coupled with a lowering of credit losses.  Consumer net charge-offs were $4.8 billion versus $6.6 billion a year earlier. Non-performing assets were $16.6 billion versus $19.7 billion a year ago and versus $17.7 billion in the third quarter.  The total credit reserves across the company fell to $33.0 billion, resulting in a coverage ratio of 4.5% of total loans.

JPMorgan’s Tier 1 Common ratio was estimates at 9.8% at the end of the year versus 8.8% a year before and versus 9.5% one quarter back.