Google, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?

If you ever wonder how I find all my news chum, I’ll tell you: there are three primary sources. First, I skim online news sites as a palate cleanser when switching tasks or when my brain needs a little clearing. Second, I have a large collection of RSS feeds that I monitor. Lastly, some of the people and sites I read (such as Andrew Ducker and Mental Floss) often posts lists of interesting links.

For years, to monitor the RSS Feeds, I’ve been using Google Reader. I moved to reader after Bloglines changed ownership; I moved more RSS feeds over as Livejournal declined (I used the syndication feature in LJ). Alas, yesterday, Google announced their intention to abandon me and leave me out in the cold, as they are closing Google Reader on July 1, 2013. They blame declining readership; however, the general concensus is that (a) they want to push Google+, and (b) they couldn’t sell ads on Google Reader. The closure is big news and is affecting a lot of people — it’s even made the LA Times! There are even some who believe this is Google’s attempt to kill off RSS.

So I’m looking into alternatives (see also this article). Although I guess I could move back to Bloglines, I don’t recall liking their new interface enough to do so.* Currently, I’ve switched over to netvibes, because they were responsive enough last night to move stuff over. They were a bit of a pain: they liked to create an initial dashboard with loads of stuff in it I had to delete; I also needed to go through the Google Reader Takeout process to get a zip of your feed info, extract the subscriptions.xml from the resulting zip, and import that into Netvibes. I looked into Newsblur, but their site was so hammered last night I couldn’t import anything. I’ll try them again if I end up not liking netvibes. Other sites mentioned that I haven’t tried are Feedly, and The Old Reader. There are also local clients, but I wanted a reader where I could see the same reading list from multiple machines; additionally, many of the local readers coordinate with Google Reader.
[* ETA: It turns out Bloglines still exists... but is using Netvibes under the hood, with the same login and a different dashboard.]

Still, Google, this Spring Cleaning has gotten ridiculous. You keep abandoning things people use, just because you cannot monetize them. This makes people distrust cloud applications. What’s next? Google Calendar? I used to think Google was a force for good, but their behavior of late is making me realize that they are just like other companies.

Music: Girl Crazy (1990 Studio Cast): “Overture”

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Assessing the Ahmanson Season

On Wednesday, the Ahmanson Theatre announced their 2013-2014 season. As I do with other major theatres, I thought I would share with you, over lunch, my plans regarding the announced shows:

• “The Sunshine Boys“ (Oct. 2 to Nov. 3). The Savoy Theatre production of the Neil Simon comedy, with Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths. Maybe.
• “Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty“ (Nov. 21 to Dec. 1). Bonus show – the theatrical presentation of the ballet being presented at the Music Center. Perhaps, although I’m not a big ballet fan.
• “Peter and the Starcatcher“ (Dec. 4 to Jan. 12). The national tour of the Broadway play with music. Casting not yet announced. Yes.
• “Harmony” (March 12, 2014 to April 13, 2014). A new musical written by Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman. The show is inspired by the real-life story of the Comedian Harmonists, a group of young singers who rose to fame in Germany before World War II. (ETA: LA Stage Blog noted “a half-Jewish singing group in German during the Third Reich”, so this could be interesting). It has been in development for over 15 years, with prior productions in La Jolla (1997) and Atlanta (earlier in 2013). Maybe.
• The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess“ (April 23, 2014 to June 1, 2014). I last saw Porgy and Bess in the 1970s when the Houston Grand Opera brought it to Los Angeles. This production got some mixed reviews for how it restaged things, so I’m not chomping at the bit for it. Maybe.
• “The Last Confession“ (June 11, 2014 to July 6, 2014). Bonus show – part of the Taper season but presented at the Ahmanson. A Vatican drama. Uninterested.
• “We Will Rock You“ (July 16, 2014 to Aug. 24). The long-running London musical created by Ben Elton that uses the music of the rock group Queen. Uninterested.

So, where do you think I’m going wrong. Are any of these “must sees” that I misjudged?

Music: The Singing Nun (Soeur Sourire): “Plume De Radis”

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along The Road (on cahighways.org) as this entry by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link below; you can sign in with your LJ, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. There are currently comments on the Wordpress blog. PS: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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