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Well, the conclusion of a year always brings about list making. I, for one, love to make lists. This one, unlike last year's is shorter. It seems that my tastes were more discriminating. Or else movies sucked this past year.

I went through a lot of my previous posts for this so enjoy.

5 stars: NONE!!!

4 stars:
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith.

Wow! I also rated a lot more movies low. No wonder the movie box office receipts were off this year. Lots of sucky product was released. Hopefully, this year is better

Labels: movies, review, year in film

Vincent Schiavelli R.I.P. Mr. Vargas.

Labels: fare thee well

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Here we are on the day after Christmas. The Canadians call it Boxing Day. Whetever?!

Anyway, I hope that you're Christmas went well and you got everything you need and some things you wanted.

My haul this year was great. I am typing on a Mac centric keyboard! I got some music I wanted, and a few books that were great. Overall, it was enjoyable. Hopefully, all the people that I had gotten stuff for are enjoying their presents. It was great to hang with the family. I must be another 5 lbs heavier. 200 here I come.

Labels: tis the season

Just asking. Well do ya?

I have finished up the shopping for this year's Christmas last night. The stores were not crowded at all. Okay. I just went to one store, because I had to get one last present, but it wasn't nearly as crowded. On the other hand, on Wednesday I stopped by the mall. While it too wasn't crowded, there were lots of people shopping still and I felt ill being there. Luckily, I needed only two presents of which I only bought one. Hence, Thursday I had to buy one last present.

Next time, I think I'll try online shopping.

Today, err tonight rather, is the longest night of the year. They call this winter solstice. From this day forward it will be nothing but brightening days and shorter nights. Imagine, spring is almost here!

I do not like spring. It is my least favorite season. Even the cold of winter beats it out. I like it less because of the fact the days are lengthening. As spring approaches, the quality of light during the day is brighter, but unlike the quality of light in the autumn, spring's is more happier. I do not like this brightness. I like the gloom of the autumn and the dark of winter. I would rather have it with not much light at all.

Also, around this time lots of holidays are centered around the longest night. It is such a coincedence that Christmas falls around the time of the winter solstice. As if the early christians adopted a pagan holiday for such a purpose. Hmm. What does yule stand for again? How about the chunnuka, festival of light? What a coincidence that it is a celebration of light in darkness! Weird that lots of cultures celebrate this day.

Labels: I am me, science fiend

Okay it's been almost a week since I have set up my Mac Mini. Really only 5 days. I want to make note of some things that I have experienced while using it.

1. I need an Apple specific keyboard. I am using a split keyboard that I have had since my old Dell PC Win95. It works for typing, but there are things missing. The Windows key is the Apple/Command Key. I don't know what the Alt key is for. Honestly, I had a hard time telling what the option key was for on a Mac keyboard. The arrow keys don't work correctly. The home, end and page down/up keys don't work either. I know that I can always get a key mapping software and correctly map these things, but I would really like to have a Apple specific keyboard. Split keyboard. For Christmas. See my Amazon Wish List.


2. At first, I thought that the fan was as loud as my laptop, but I am wrong. It's quiet. The CD/DVD drive though is loud.


3. I partitioned the drive into three partitions. 25 Gb for the system. 12 Gb for Users. 35 Gb for Data. Is that enough or should I get an external drive?


4. I want to turn it into a file serving machine. Can anyone help me find out how to do that?


5. Installed the dev tools on the machine after a 900 Mb download. Apple does not include the dev disk with this machine. That's a mistake as having free dev tools is a plus in my book. How can you convince people to develop software for the OS if you don't give them some help?


6. Trying to figure out a synchronization issue for my machines. How do I go about maintaining two different computers with similar data? Like if I want to access files off my laptop how should I do it? This will begin to be a complicated issue once I have the third of my PPC Macs.


7. Should I install all applications that I have on my laptop here? Or should I wait for the third machine?


8. Tiger is pretty cool. I use the widgets a lot. I have a sudoku widget and also the Rejks widget for the Rejks museum. There pretty neat.

Overall, I am happy with my purchase. This is what I bought with my promotion.

Labels: computing, Macs, mini

It looks as if this post is old news. Right now I am posting from my new MacMini, a 1.5 MHz G4, 512 Mb (must change this soon), combo drive, small form factor desktop. Now all I need to round out the last of the PPC Macs is the G5 desktop tower!

Pictures coming soon!

Labels: mini

Looks as if my niche of movie reviewer has just been invaded by my buddy at the seed who has posted his own take on King Kong. From the title, I guess he don't like it.

Well we saw it on the opening night, and we left the theatre with the same impression. The movie could've been better. I must agree with the seed that the movie should have been tightened up more. It was 3 hours that didn't feel like 3 hours yet was feeling fully like 3 hours was passing by. The length of the film is a problem. I thought Jackson should've trimmed 5 minutes from each scene. I think he's got auteur fever running through his veins. Feel the time.

Nami Watts was a pleasure to watch. She's beautiful and I could certainly understand how Kong could fall for such a beauty. Yet, I found some of the interaction between her and the monkey kind of rediculous. I can't believe that that monkey could've stayed up on that ice. I couldn't believe the vaudeville act would work.

I regret that Jackson had to add the Jimmy character. I thought he was going to shoot the monkey in the end. What with all the build up around him. I thought he was going to be a major character, yet he turned out to be just a minor character.

Overall, it was good. Watch it for the holiday season as it is the movie to watch. Just don't think it will be the knockout that the professional reviewers are saying it is.

3 of 5 stars.

"I don't like the police, but I do like Kong. And what they did to Kong was wrong. It was wrong. What they did to Kong was wrong. It was a big wrong. A big W."

Labels: movies, review

Best net rant this Holiday (Christmas) Season. Period.

9:06 The recaps of the season before the finale. Bye Godlewskis!!!

9:08 Go Linzes!! Go Bransons!! Beat those Weavers!! Obviously I am not rooting for Florida.

9:10 This is a TWO HOUR finale? I don't think my battery is going to last.

9:17 Airports and getting around faster is the total key. Damn Linzes. You need to lose the Weavers. Don't touch him!! Sweet. Throw down.

9:22 Snow in the forecast?

9:23 Looks as if the Bransens played their hand too early. Ouch. Should've asked for a more earlier flight. That could be what lost it for them. We'll see.

9:27 I'm a lumber jack and I'm okay!!

9:28 Come on Linzes! Just look around!! You stupid fucks!! Just look around!! I can't believe we let these fools be the ones to go up against that juggarnaut that is the Weavers.

9:32 We need a bunch. Bunch. A bunch. Come on. Lot of hot chicks in Montreal.

9:40 Buckminster Fuller!! In your own!! Geodesic Dome!!! But then the fucking Weavers are going to win it all. Damn them. Just as I had called it. We need some bunching. Bunching. Bunching.

9:42 I am so disappointed with this final. A bunch of incompetents. The Bransens choosing the absolute worst road block. Don't they realize that rolling logs takes some muscle. They really need to bunch. Come on. And the Linzes are running a pretty stupid leg. Their stupidity will kill them in the end. Read the clues. Take things fast but in a controlled manner.

9:50 God. Please drop that kid on his head. Damn. There is no God.

9:55 You can't do this road block because your team chose the wrong person to be flying through the air. I would suggest you use the lightest on the team. Another boneheaded move for the Linzes.

10:02 Looks as if they're sleeping in the estade olympic. Just like the Hurricane Katrina victims. And finally BUNCHING!!

10:08 Stupid Weavers. That's the name of the game. Play or get off. I hope you have a nice 2 hour penalty. If not, this game is rigged. Be thankful you are not eating 2 lbs of caviar.

10:09 Home again for your pets. Implant a chip in your dog.

10:27 Shoe. Please no bunching.

10:34 Shoe?! That's tough. Wally is such a negative Nelly. I wish he would just explode and shout some expletives. F&%@ this s*#t! Is your foot small, motherf@#%er! Good luck on that task Wally.

10:42 Sweet!! Smooth move Mom Weaver. Not to be in touch with your directions. You could've won this but that is just the wrong move.

10:43 Come on Bransens. Please don't make the Linzes win. Damn.

10:45 Jigsaw puzzle!! Come on let's run. Go Bransen girls and Wally.

10:51 Damn. Rhode Island!! Why do you have to be so small? O well. The stupids won. Congrats to the young ones. They had a built in advantage.

10:55 Congrats to the winners. Congrats to all the racers. This is an Amazing Race!

10:57 Season 9! Back to the original format! Back to racing around the world. Febuary. See you then.

Labels: Amazing Race, boobtube

Similar to the IMdB, I found out about the Internet Pinball DataBase, IPdB. Hooray! Another something site to peruse and waste time at work.

Pinball always reminds me of my time at the University of Miami (FL). I was always playing pinball. My favorite ended up being WhiteWater. Yet, the most famous pinball coming out of that time was The Addams Family.

You should find them all there.

Labels: games people play, go there now

I am winding down on my reading for the year and have finished last week, A Significant Other: Riding the Centanary Tour de France with Lance Armstrong by Matt Rendell. This book is part of some of the books I have read about cycling. I am slowly winding down on being interested on the topic. Pretty soon I must stop reading and start riding.

The topic of this book was following Victor Hugo Pena as he was a domestique on the US Postal squad standing guard for Lance Armstrong in the 2003 Tour de France. That Tour was Armstrong's toughest tour. He lost a time trial to Jan Ullrich, spectacularly went off roading as Joseba Beloki crashed out in the melting asphalt, toppled to the ground by a spectator, and won it with the least time between him and his competitors in any of the seven he's won. The book focused on the 15th stage where he fell off his bike then sped on to victory.

What should've been a gripping story was ruined by disjointed story telling. Rendell switched from telling Pena's tale to the history of the tour to Armstrong which made the book not so compelling. I was bored with it hoping to catch some insight to that tour. I wanted to relive the moments of that great tour, but it wasn't to be. Rendell was telling the wrong story.

C

Labels: cycling

The Chronuicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe opens this week right before the 8000 lb gorilla, King Kong. Will the christian allegory beat out the gentle giant? With the current reviews of Narnia, it seems to have the edge. Lots of good reviews and hardly any naysayers.

I have watched Narnia. It's good. Yet, I don't know if it is a PG movie. This will be a bore to any kid under the age of 8. Lots of talking. The action doesn't happen until the end, and some of it is downright scary.

Tilda Swinton was perfectly cast in the role of the White Witch Queen. As a youngster, I read the books. Narnia was the best fantasy world for me as a little kid up until I read Tolkien. While Narnia has its charm, Middle Earth has depth and history beyond compare. Anyway, the White Witch Queen of Narnia scared me as a young child. I think she was one of the more creepier villians in the books I read while growing up. Just her iciness was chilling. I can still remember. If you had not read the books, she was introduced in what was basically the prequel to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Magician's Nephew. In that book, she was much younger, and the description of the world in which she was from was terrifying and desolate. She was much a part of that dark world and shows it in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Tilda Swinton is also creepy. Look at her in Hellraiser as Gabriel. Look at her in Elizabeth. Icy. She brings that to the role, and she scared me.

Overall, the movie was good. Don't bring your young children to it because it would bore them. The battle was cool. And it was overtly a christian tale.

4 of 5 stars

Labels: movies, review

Reading an old favorite blog, zannah posts a bookmark for the Video Game Music Archive. Check it out for classic background music from all your favorite games you played as a youngster. I really liked that 8bit sound.

You scored as Doyle. Doyle. Mysterious. Celebrant. Man in the Know. Sinful. Hedonistic. You may not be a mover-and-shaker, but you rub elbows with them. You also seem to always know more than you are telling. Because you do. You keep things close to the breast for good reason. Not much is known about you and you like to keep it that way. You have a taste for some demeritorious, but not totally unethical, things. Just watch it doesn't take you too far, you are destined for great things. Doyle 68% Giles 65% Angel 63% Cordelia 55% Spike 55% Wesley 53% Willow 53% Harmony 50% Oz 50% Buffy 45% Anya 45% Xander 43% Lorne 38% Faith 25% What Buffyverse (Angel & Buffy) Character are you most like? created with QuizFarm.com

I have no idea what all this means. Who the heck is Doyle? Anyway it seems so odd. This quiz pointed out to me via CapitolSwell

Labels: polls, WTF

I now know why they have established a net meeting protocol. I have to coordinate putting together a slied presentation for class on monday. And I only have my part done. What happened to the other stuff? We need some collaboration tools online. Tout de suite!

Labels: computing, school

Watching the Ravens play. It's like watching water freeze. Every game they play is a good 35 minutes longer than any other game on tv. Because they suck at passing and they have to pass because the running game doesn't work, time is always stopping. They help prove the relativity principle.

Labels: football

I know I blogged this before, but since I had virtually no audience then, I should tell you about the wonderfulSun, Moon, and Stars Cafe right in my backyard. Just a quick run out the back door. Go there now.

Labels: go there now, mmm

I like to read a good noir novel on occasion, and I like to read pulp fiction too. So when I saw Stephen King's The Colorado Kid, I figure, "$5.00. What's the worse can happen?" Let me tell you that this is neither pulp nor noir but just another of Stephen King's short stories. You've read those ones where they aren't really horror but since he made his name in that genre they get classified as such.

This novela was supposedly a re-introduction of the Hard Case imprint that would focus on pulp fiction. Look at the cover. Look at the titles of other books on that label. They're all very much pulpy.

Unfortunately, Stephen King gives the reader a plug nickel of a story. The cover promises a femme fatale. The story does not. The cover promises intrigue. The story while having a mystery is not very intriguing. This was a story set up for the CSI crowd. The Miami CSI. You'll feel cheated days after reading it.

Reading it over three nights just to find out the mystery. And it doesn't have one. It is a disappointment. And false advertising.

Never judge a book by its cover.

C

Labels: review