Choices with GData, and the new API's

Well, I've been investigating using the new Java GData client libraries for Android to get Google Spreadsheet data.

Doing my experiments with CURL, I go through and get past GoogleLogin, the the auth token, and figuring out which feeds, entries I want. Just a note, make sure you login using the right Service Name, as you'll be able use the URL's in a browser, but not w/ CURL if you get it wrong.

The Picasa Android sample code works if you remove two @Override. Seems to work after that.

Table feeds seem lame for use w/ new API, it names all the fields with your titles, which is nice, but not helpful if your trying to generalize.

Spreadsheets also don't support JSONC alt type. So, I'm really inclined to write a python GAE helper to get the data, and reformat it for Android, it will make everything quite a bit simpler, and a lot smaller.

Spreadsheet Feed - a list of spreadsheets


ForEach SS
Worksheet Feed
ForEach WS Table Feed - Not nesc. defined for all spreadsheets


ForEach Table
RecordFeed


ForEach WorkSheet ListFeed - A bit nicer, labeled data, good for most applications, but not a general spreadsheet.


ForEach WorkSheet Cell Feed - The way we expect a spreadsheet, very wordy, but general. (I'd like this w/ JSONC & fields query)

The Doc's say that I should use ?updated-min=2010-06-27T00:59:30.487Z, but I'm finding that updatedMin=2010-06-27T00:59:30.487Z actually works. Unfortunately, like eTags, it's a on/off switch using the cell feed, ie, I either get nothing, or the whole spreadsheet. What I'd like is all that's changed since this time.

Cyrus

I've played Iago, but I get creeped out by people who manipulate. Cyrus starts out that way, but it becomes a battle of wills, much like Sleuth. Watching two players fight while keeping the fight from the third they both love.

Being a Hollywood picture, Love is what brings this picture to it's conclusion. Not what one expects from Ridley Scott. Great performances. It does make me wonder what of the story landed on the cutting room floor.

Cyrus

Little Miss Eyeflap

Little Miss Eyeflap, a short, played before the RockSteady Concert footage, well worth watching if your ever given the chance. The film maker deserved a bigger audience, she came all the way from Norway. It was her vision of life as a Pakistani transplant in Norway. Alas, in a sense, it was the same as the base of her film. She was screwed by her relatives, and the norwegians, but she came to see the beauty in all around her. I hope she at least sees Maui while she's here.

Little Miss Eyeflap at Sundance

Rock Steady - The 2009 Montreal Jazz Festival Concert

What if you had a chance to watch a film for the first time? One so special that you made it after you finished your original documentary. What if NO ONE CAME?

Well, I got to see a wonderful film this evening, the concert film of the 2009 Montreal Jazz festival inviting the characters from the documentary that was shown the other night on the Green. Many folks thought this was the same film, it wasn't. It was the follow-on concert. And the making of the Concert video. Quite a show, though, I'd have liked the sound to have been a bit louder. RockSteady - is what came before Regge. Really incredible uplifting music. A reminder that small music movements can produce great results. Now if someone would only make a film about Cape Breton Music.

Little Miss Eyeflap, a short, played before the film, well worth watching if your ever given the chance. The film maker deserved a bigger audience, she came all the way from Norway. It was her vision of life as a Pakistani transplant in Norway. Alas, in a sense, it was the same as the base of her film. She was screwed by her relatives, and the norwegians, but she came to see the beauty in all around her. I hope she at least sees Maui while she's here.

The RockSteady Documentary

This Way of Life

It's hard to believe it's real, but it is. The documentarians started documenting the live of the Karenas about six months before they are to be evicted from their home that burns down just as they are packing to move. It's a slow movie, but no bullshit, just an alternative way of living that most of us have forgotten. One that would be difficult to pick up in America. It's simple, living off the land. That way is dying in New Zealand, and the Karenas are the last of it. Very hearty, very self-sufficient. You just want to know all the principles.

That said, I have friends who try one tenth of what they do here on Maui. Living in the forest, rarely poking their heads out. Outlaws of a sort, or is it living life as it used to be in America? Somewhere I recall reading the phrase "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". I wonder what happened to that idea?

This Way of Life

Sympathy for Delicious

It's a very Catholic story told in a modern way. Destitute & crippled man gets power to heal most others - not himself, well meaning priest exploits man, man seduced to exploit power, power doesn't work when needed most, preist retaliates against man - leaves priesthood, man goes to jail & forgives ex-preist, man heals enemy w/o gain, man get's miracle.

If you think that I've given it all away, well, I haven't. It was a good film, well acted with powerful actors. I enjoyed the film, it just promotes a vision of the universe I disagree with.

The Concert

This is a lovely film. The easiest way to tell a sad story is with a lot of laughter to make it easier to take, and there is a lot of well played stereotypes that get us laughing in this film. And if that was all you got out of the film, you'd enjoy it. There is however a lot more. It's the story of Brezhnev's soviet anti-semitism and it's cost / ramifications for individuals and society, Jews and non-jews alike. And it's most importantly a story of redemption.

Lastly, this is one of the most beautifully scored films I've seen in a while the music choices were ever present, yet subtle. Turns out it won the 2010 César award for both best Music and best Sound.

The Concert - 2009

The Tillman Story

There are those that believe that some people are more important than others, and then there are those that believe that all men are created equal. This documentary tells the story of a man who just focused on what is, period. Not some story. What is amazing is that his family, apparently unanimously felt the same way.

Most families would have just accepted the accolades being presented to their dead relative and moved on, but not this one. And as they kept saying, by focusing on the truth, the humility, and the true sacrifice, we are shown what we as a society have lost with the death of this man who had incredible potential. After years of watching the insanity and corruption of our political process and society - movies like this are a reminder that America produces some really amazing people that just want to do their job and go on about their lives in simplicity.

I wonder if we all wouldn't benefit by creating a culture of truth.

After I wrote this I read the following editorial by Bono regarding the British apology for Bloody Sunday, and it seems more and more that the truth will set you free is more and more the case.

The Tillman Story

Norman

I wasn't expecting to like this film, but I did. It has your teenage angst on steroids, along with a good way through it. I can so relate to the emotions, even if I can't to the situations. Can't say who I think the target audience is, but I liked it.

Norman

Nowhere Boy

If you thought you knew John from all the movies and biographies - this movie will point out that you don't even begin to. The story of his younger years, with the folks who brought him up, and his birth mother, and why she was within walking distance, but didn't raise him. My only question is, why do many english commoners look like the queen? Is she the embodiment of the common woman? Good film, great acting. Worth seeing.

No Where Boy

Queen of the Sun

I wrote earlier (Tapped) about how not to make a documentary. Well, this is how to. Lots of facts, personal stories, interesting folks, and no excessive hype. Basic message of the film - American Ag's creation of a monoculture is killing the bees and that will eventually kill off American Ag. It's not a new story, but it's well told. I learned a lot.

Queen of the Sun

Blood into Wine

Don't know if Maynard paid for the film, wouldn't surprise me if he did. But it's quite delightful. It's the story of an indie artist figuring out what to do for his fourth successful career – why not start a vineyard in northern & southern AZ. It's a mix of theater and reality. Difficult to tell which is which. He gets roasted on a fake talk show run by family. Has a run in with Milla Jovovich, and other unlikely events. Don't know if his wine is crap, especially with all the mentions of 65 scores from folks like Wine Spectator, but I'd like to taste a bottle sometime.

Blood into Wine

Tapped - a documentary on an incredibly important subject. There are objective ways to make an argument, and there is this way. I liked the information they had, but I don't think this method of documentary making actually helps the debate, stirring folks up is important, but mixing facts w/ speculation, and jumping from safe to the dangerous, to the hazardous is wrong.

That said, clean drinking water is important. Municipal water is better tested than most bottled water and we've been indoctrinated to think otherwise. Hard Plastic containers may be hazardous to our health. Soft plastic is hazardous to the sea and the environment. Corporations are buying up our water resources in ways that take away from our communities and human life. If you want to do something about it, your probably better of spending time at Fix Congress First

Tapped

Ho'okele Wa'a - Turning the Canoe

If you live on Maui, you should see this film. If your interested in Sustainable living anywhere, this would be a good resource for you. Uplifting.

Ho'okele Wa'a - Turning the Canoe

Sex Magic Manifesting Maya

I started off thinking What a Charlatan? But this turns out to be a story of a wounded healer. It's a documentary that started out asking the question, What is Tantra? In a sense it actually answered that question, but showed all the the other things that get in the way of happiness. Ultimately, your Ego will slow you down. Be careful what you wish for, you may get it. I liked the film, liked the people in it, but it's not for everyone, if your familiar with words like Tantra, Polyamory, know a bit about the new age, you might enjoy this film.

Sex Magic Manifesting Maya

Bran Neu Dae

Just saw Bran Neu Dae, very funny, lots of fun. Musical, with all the mis-identification of a shakespearean comedy. Great way to launch the Maui Film Festival.

Bran Neu Dae