2004
trials
last night i went to a rosary for my cousin who passed way last thursday, may 6, 2004. i didn’t know anthony that well. he was always big quiet person, even as a kid. i remember him being very quiet at family parties when i was younger. even when we got older he always seemed quiet, but a happy person when you talked to him. i can say i’ve never seen him sad or even in a bad mood.
about three or four years ago he started having difficulties with his heart. i don’t know all the details. suffice it to say he had difficult times, but from all accounts dealt with them without complaint and smiled to those who had concern for his well being. i guess the last several weeks something came about again. this time he couldn’t overcome the difficulties plaguing his heart.
the rosary and reading last night was a nice tribute to anthony. i found it very hard to hold back the tears especially when my uncle spoke about his son. he spoke about God putting his family through these ‘trials’ and how they would endure. it’s tough when someone passes away, especially someone so young.
i wonder if i should write about such things here on janella.com, but then right now it is my only writing outlet. please excuse any of these writings if they seem to be out of place. i’m just trying to make sense of times like these.
access to archives
slight change in the sidebar menu, where previous entries can be accessed by categories. so if a ‘cool site’ was listed on [janella.com] but is no longer on the home page, simply click the ‘cool sites’ link to browse and find. cool, eh?
kill bill volume 2
rating: **** out of 5
quick shot: continuing the revenge story of the bride from kill bill volume i.
what i liked about the film: slightly different tone from the first movie. i like the dialog an interaction between bill and the bride towards the end of the movie.
what i didn’t like: the audience members who didn’t realize movie’s contain dialog. yeah, this volume is more talk-y then the first but give me a break…it’s tarantino!
mean girls
rating: ***1/2 out of 5
quick shot: smartly written tina fey comedy. a cut above your average teenager movie.
what i liked about the movie: the way it treated most kids with some intelligence. i also liked that the adults weren’t totally oblivious either. smart script all around.
what i didn’t like: the movie bogged down a third of the way through, though it picked up in the end.
master and commander: the far side of the world
rating: *** out of 5
quick shot: men at sea battling a faceless (for most of the movie) enemy, and amongst themselves. you can feel the isolation at sea, and the camaraderie the crew feels. russell crowe leads by example and charisma.
what i liked about the movie: the chemistry between crowe, bettany (who plays the ship’s doctor) and crew was very good. the chase and battle scenes were excellent.
what i didn’t like: the movie felt a little lengthy. i think it could have lost about 15 to 20 minutes and still been effective.
somethings gotta give
rating: **1/2 out of 5
quick shot: jack and diane try to find love at there age! overall good story of may-december romance and how it works for both genders. the writing is good, though gives up in the last ten minutes of the film.
what i liked about the movie: jack and diane have good chemistry in the film. i like the fact that they bared more than their emotions in the film.
what i didn’t like: keanu is as wooden as ever. again, the ending is predictable but satisfying i suppose.
beware of strange atms
general warning brought to you by tage down south. [this tricky modified atm] is geared to grab your card info, pin, and later on your money from your account. if the atm you are using doesn’t seem right it probably isn’t. be cautious.
kill bill volume 1
rating: **** out of 5
quick shot: a tale of bloody revenge tarantino style. loved the bloody brutality mixed in with the animation and poppin' tarantino dialog.
what i liked about the movie: the bloody mess. the fight scene with the cray 88’s was cool.
what i didn’t like: that i didn’t see this movie in the theater. thank g. for dvd, but still would have been nice to see it on the screen.
leaping to satellite
i’ve been wavering on whether to take the plunge to go to satellite tv. cable has been good to me for so long, having it here in california since 1992. but lately i’ve been looking at the cable bill, which has grown from $43/month to now a whopping $80/month since 1997 with only minor channel upgrades. so when fina and lotte went with satellite and relayed a good experience, plus with farrah’s family being on satellite for about five years, i thought i was time to take the plunge.
the experience started off really well. i called saturday to order this dish, which would be installed a week after the coming monday. i received a call just a couple of hours later saying, “hey we can come out today if you’d like to install it.” fantastic. ninety minutes later the cable boxes were out and satellite was installed.
i must say the picture is clearer and the movement between channels is much quicker than digital cable. i also got the tivo unit for the bedroom (called directivo) since the tivo saori and doug gave us wasn’t ‘as compatible’ with satellite as cable. the cool thing about the directivo is that you either (1) watch one show while taping another or (2) tape two shows at the same time (but having to watch one of them if you want to watch the tele). cool huh?
so the advantages are so far are:
- clear picture
- quicker changing between stations
- more stations
- lower monthly cost
- no monthly equipment fees (e.g. paying for the cable boxes)!
- minimal startup cost (only had to pay for the directivo unit. everything else was free!)
- directivo
downsides
- satellite dish installed on the roof (though it's not noticeable in the backyard)
- no 'college classes' for telecourses
- memorizing the new channel scheme (300, 400, 500, etc.)
so far the good outweighs the bad. talk to me during the raining season to see how the dish fares. in the meantime i think it is a wise investment.
b-day pics - site update
pics posted from my b-day weekend. some are missing (on purposes of course ;) other pics are viewable on fina’s gallery at
yosemite redux
just got back from yosemite, where farrah and i spent about three days. i’ll have a few pictures to post from the digital camera later this week. we only took a few film pictures for some reason.
moblogs?
never heard of it before, but i guess moblogs are the next big thing [cnet article] a moblog is a mobile blog (i guess) in which you can post pictures taken by your mobile phone. then you share the pics and comment as you like in a blog.
might want to check out [textamerica] for an example.
cool site - jerry and supes
watch [uniform] a short film with jerry seinfeld and superman. the film requires macromedia’s flash.
i’m a batman person myself, but this little bit is slightly funny.
