BELLAIRE • MEMORIAL • RIVER OAKS • TANGLEWOOD • WEST UNIVERSITY

Browsing with The Buzz

By Cheryl Laird, Contributing writer | March 11, 2015

Click the Buzz Me button to receive email notifications when this writer publishes a new article or a new article in this column is published.

Every week in this space, we’ll share some memorable – to the writer, at least – browsing reads. Have you come across anything Buzzworthy lately? Let other readers know by commenting below.

Fall Out Boy, digital photos and Disco beds. That’s some of what I read about this week.

Wikipedia: Fall Out Boy

Why I read it: I am not the normal demographic for the band Fall Out Boy. But does that mean I can’t be a fan? Do I have to be classified as a wanna-be mom who sings too loud at the rodeo concert? (Daughter sat elsewhere, by choice.)

If so, so what? I reject the rule that adults of a certain decade can’t like the same bands that 14 year olds like. Or that if they do, they have to act all ironic about it.

So there. I’m married to someone who just bought tickets to Bob Dylan, but I like Fall Out Boy. I think the lead singer Patrick Stump is talented and committed to his performances, and while some of the tunes are pop cliches, enough are original and catchy enough that I find myself humming them all day. The night after their first-ever Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo appearance, I found myself reading the Wikipedia entry about the band.

Paraphrased excerpt: They have roots in the Chicago punk scene. Extravert bassist Pete Wentz once had a breakdown from which he recovered; he also was married to and divorced from pop star Ashlee Simpson. One of their songs, Immortals, was in the excellent animated movie Big Hero 6. Singer Patrick was influenced by Prince, David Bowie and Michael Jackson.

Video clip: Here’s one of my favorite songs. It’s an oldie. (The video isn’t my favorite, but the audio sounds great.)

Photos for Mac is Clean, Fast, Connected – and Unfinished

Why I read it: I read this because I follow David Pogue, who writes about technology. I started reading his stories when he was the tech writer at The New York Times, and I haven’t stopped. He’s down to earth and writes about stuff I care about, in a way I can easily understand.

I also read this because I’ve absolutely lost control of my digital-photo storage. I kind of miss those thick envelopes full of actual photos. They were bulky and a pain, but at least I could hold them in my hand. Since I’m not exactly sure where everything-digital-I-have is, I obsessively back up everything to every service I read about, but none of my backups ever quite seem to go all the way through, so there are bits and pieces all over the place, and, if I get squashed by a bus, my family will have no idea where to find it all. So I thought this article might help. It is helpful, but only if you use a Mac.

Excerpt: “iCloud photo library. This is the big feature. You can set things up so that your entire photo library shows up identically on all your Apple gadgets: Macs, iPhones, and iPads. Add or delete photos on one machine, and watch the same ones appear or disappear on all your others. Edit a photo — or undo your edits on a photo — and watch those same edits propagate across your other electronics. (In my tests, it took between 3 and 15 seconds for a change to show up on other machines.)

You entire world of photos and videos, identically organized and edited on all your machines. It’s a very sweet arrangement; it relieves you of the ‘Where was that photo?’ anxiety.”