2008
Belated Congratulations to Lotte and Angche!
I don’t know how I forgot, but I did. Angche proposed to Lotte at her birthday celebration several weeks back. You can relive the moment on their wedding web site (or my almost similar video.)
Congratulations to you both!
Review - The Dark Knight: IMAX Experience
Anyone who knows me knows that Batman is my favorite comic book character. When The Dark Knight was announced, I couldn’t be more excited to see it. After all, I think Chris Nolan did a great job with Batman Begins. With my high expectations - believe me, I tried to lower them - Farrah and I headed into the IMAX theater at the Metreon to watch The Dark Knight. Did we like it? What do you think?
Following my standard review format, here’s what I thought of the Dark Knight.
The Netflix summary:
Batman (Christian Bale) teams with Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) to continue dismantling Gotham City's criminal organizations in this sequel to Batman Begins. But a psychotic new villain known as the Joker (Heath Ledger) threatens to undo all their good work. The star-studded cast includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman, Anthony Michael Hall, Michael Caine, and Eric Roberts.
What I Liked
The acting all around was great. By now you’ve heard Heath Ledger does a great job as the Joker. Farrah and I, as well as probably many others, found this a sad fact. It was such a well-rounded, strong, and memorable performance. It is a shame we will no longer see him on screen. But the acting by Christian Bale, Eckhart, Gyllenhall, and others are on par with Ledger, making this a well-rounded Gotham City.
Gotham City itself is impressive, as is Batman’s journey to other places. The cool toys are just enough to get by, and the movie moves at an impressive pace. It does not slow down, making the 152 minutes fly by.
What I Didn’t Enjoy
I still have an issue with Bale’s Batman voice, something I pointed out in my review of Batman Begins. It’s scary, I suppose, but something just does not click with me when he’s talking.
Final Thoughts
I would not think it possible, but The Dark Knight exceeded my expectations. For me tops Iron Man (**** out of 5) and Indiana Jones (***) as my favorite film of the summer.
Rating: ***** out of 5
Last-minute Las Vegas
Two Sundays ago I received an unexpected phone call from old friends who were traveling to Las Vegas for a vacation they had planned over a year ago. They asked if I could meet them there. It was fairly short notice, but I asked Farrah if I could go to Vegas because I hadn’t seen these friends in over 20 years. After working out the financial details - after all, have you seen the airfare prices! - I booked a flight on Southwest Airlines, got a hotel room, and made my way out to Las Vegas last Friday.
James (Bubba) and Lisa, my friends from Air Force days long ago, picked me up at McCarran airport. When Bubba stepped out of their brand new Dodge truck, he didn’t seem to have changed much. Oh yeah, there were few wrinkles on his face, covered by a scruffy beard that we wouldn’t be allowed to have in the service, but he was the same old Bubba. I gave him a big hug, then went around the driver’s side to get into the truck. I greet Lisa, who was driving, with a warm hand to the shoulder as we drove away from the airport.
We first talk about the weather in Vegas - it was about 98 degrees at 10 PM! - and about my flight. We take care of the things I needed to get done - check into the hotel, dump my stuff in the room, grab a bite to eat - then we head to hit the slots (them) and blackjack (me).
Of course, we talk about the past, about people’s names we can, at times, barely recall. We talk about things we’ve done together back-in-the-day, the shared memories or how we remember them. We speak of the 20 plus years apart, and the people in our lives now, about family and friends on each side who are unfamiliar to each another. We convey to each other our individual triumphs and hardships we’ve endured, the journey and battle scars that life inflicted upon us up to this point in time. We spend the next three days sharing all of these memories.
It’s difficult to predict how often we will be in contact with each other after leaving Las Vegas. We left each other with big hugs and the promise of staying in touch, and I know we’ll try our best to do so. But I recall making such a commitment to my Uncle David in the Philippines when I was eight years old. I promised I would write. He said, “You’ll forget me. You’ll forget to write. But that’s OK, for we will remember each other until the day we die. This is just how it is.”
I wrote to him briefly, but I grew up and, as he predicted, forgot to write. Who knows, with email and the Internet this may change with Bubba and Lisa. And as they read this, as I hope they read this, I’m sure they are saying, “You’re damn right we’re keeping in touch.”
Welcome Timothy!
Yen and James welcome Timothy into this world. Congratulations!
Update: I just posted the photos we took.
The Sidebar
I’ve incorporated, once again, RSS feeds into the sidebar of the page. This should give my many visitors - I say this smiling - access to our friends' blogs, as well as updates to my found Tumblr page. You can simply click on the link to view the blog entry. The sidebar should update as they post more (hint hint!).
Always Behind the Curve
It’s a fact that when it comes to hi-tech toys you will eventually be behind the curve. Sometimes it can take a year to fall behind. Other times it can be weeks.
I was reminded of this when I read Gizmodo this morning. I found out a new version of Drobo came out. I only bought mine three weeks ago. Should I send back the old one (if I can) and get the new improved one? Actually it would be too much of a pain to do so. I would need to offload the tons of data I already stored on the hard drives, then box up the unit, go to UPS and pay the shipping. I would then be without a unit for some time.
It’s like when I bought the iPhone, or the iMac, or the Powerbook - I knew something better was going to come along. But you can’t wait on your purchase. If you need that hi-tech device, buy it after doing the research. It just needs to do what you want it to do. Waiting isn’t going to stop a newer and better version from coming out after your purchase. Just do it.
Other notable behind the curve moments for me:
- iPhone - Purchased September 2007. New version July 2008
- 24" White iMac - Purchased late 2006. New aluminum version mid-2007
- 12" PowerBook G4 - Purchased October 2005. New Intel MacBook Pros release February 2006.
All I can say is keep up with the read the reviews and keep up with the news before buying.
The reasons haven’t changed why I bought the Drobo in the first place. I was tired of buying external hard drives and wanted a simple and secure solution that Drobo offers. So what if it’s only USB 2.0. I did my research and knew this fact going in.
Will You Upgrade?
Are you going to get the iPhone 2.0?
I have been asked that several times the past few days. As Friday fast approaches the answer is still the same, no I won’t be upgrading.
My three reasons why I won’t be upgrading:
- I don't want to pay AT&T the $18 for the privilege of changing phones.
- The fact that the data plan cost slightly more, though understandably with the 3G speed and GPS included.
- The fact that you have to pay so much extra for text messages, which I have been doing more of since getting the iPhone.
The iPhone App Store will still work with my current iPhone when it goes online. The only applications I won’t be able to take advantage of - that I can foresee - are those using GPS. I haven’t really played with GPS enough to say I need it. Goggle Maps have worked very well for my current purposes.
A year from now when my AT&T plan is up I will consider whatever version of the iPhone is available. I think I’ll consider upgrading then.
What's Up with Wordpress?
For some reason the blog has been acting up lately. Pages have been loading slowly and posting has been difficult. The problem does not appear to be the server, as I’m able to access files by FTP and use other portion of the site that are not built using Wordpress fine.
And so I’ve deployed Movable Type once more. The feeling of generating static HTML pages is starting to appeal to me more and more. At least the pages appear to be loading faster. Now I think I’ll need to work on modifying this template or creating my own, as I don’t like how it’s looking from a design standpoint.
Update: Movable Type keeps f-ing up on me. I installed it for a few days, then for some reason my mt.cgi files are all screwy, not allowing me to post! Oh well, back to WP.
Ketchup with Pepper
I don’t know when Farrah starting putting massive amounts of pepper on her ketchup when we have fries, but now I can’t eat fries any other way.
When I met up with some friends at Yahoo! for lunch at the local In-N-Out, I notice Gloria did the same thing to her ketchup. I forgot to ask her where she got the habit from. I’m curious, who else do I know that does this? If you do this too please leave a comment and tell me how or why you started doing this? I’m just curious.
Camera Fun
I have had about five digital cameras. I didn’t enjoy the Sony Cybershot DSC-T1 as much as I had hoped. Daytime results were good, but anything indoors or at night was very problematic. I bought it before a trip to Hawaii. This is when I learned to never buy a camera right before a trip, as you may not be happy with the results. I was happy with about 60% of the photos I took.
One of the features I liked was the ability to take these consecutive shots and have them as one image. I like this photo I took of Ernie when we met up for dinner one night.
Changes
I forgot to acknowledge several accomplishments on the blog. Kayla graduated middle school this year, and Jonathan graduated high school. Congratulations to you both!
I also forgot to mention (probably because I haven’t blogged in some time) that I have changed jobs. It’s been about a month now since I left my previous company and started working at the new one. It was a tough choice moving on, but change is good, right?
In my new job, I’m exercising a few different skill set then my last position. It is both scary and exciting. Needless to say, I am up for the challenge.
Leaving
I don’t blog about work much, but it’s difficult to read that many talented people are leaving Yahoo! lately (here, here, and here). When I was luckily enough to join Yahoo! in 2002, I was met with a work environment very similar to my first Silicon Valley job. The company seemed full of energy, wanting to make a big impact on the Internet, more so then it had so far. It was exciting to be a part of Yahoo! and you could feel that throughout the company. The campus always seemed to be alive with energy.
Around early to mid-2004, if I recall correctly, the feeling within my specific group changed. What once was an exciting energetic team, became a stiff corporate group. I can’t say whether this was felt throughout the company, but I’m sure it could have become infectious. The change in work culture may have been needed for the company, but the company’s focus, and soul, were lost with the change.
Missing Green
For the last couple of months, I’ve had the urge to start running. I was never much of a runner. My lack of endurance only allowed for short sprints. But I think all the walking Farrah and I did in England, France, and New York has made me realize you can get far on your feet. This fact, plus the cost of gas, is making self-powered transportation a good alternative to driving. Maybe I need to invest in a couple of bikes? At the least, I think we’re going to try to hike more, possibly on Sundays.
Dreaming of Vacation
Farrah and I are planning on going to Hawaii in September. Luckily we purchased our plane tickets before the whole crazy mess with the gas prices. Otherwise the price of a ticket would be insanely high. I haven’t been back since our wedding in 2005, so it will be a real treat for me. I can’t wait until September.
Review - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
I wasn’t sure what to expect when Farrah and I sat down to watch the latest Indiana Jones film. It has been nineteen years since the last movie in the trilogy - well, I guess it’s no longer a trilogy but a series of films - with many action films to wow us during that time. Could Indiana deliver the ‘wow factor’ still?
The short answer is yes.
OK, here is the Netflix summary of the movie:
Hollywood icon Harrison Ford returns to the role of the adventurous archaeologist Indiana Jones nearly 20 years after he last donned the famous fedora and bullwhip to save the world from imminent peril. Joining Ford for this latest installment of the Steven Spielberg-George Lucas collaboration are Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, Jim Broadbent, Karen Allen, John Hurt and Shia LaBeouf as Jones's headstrong young sidekick.
Not much of a summary, huh. The movie takes place 19 years after the last one, placing the movie action in 1957, This changes the bad guys from the Nazis to Communist Russians. The action begins in Nevada, then moves to the university where Indy teaches, and to parts of South America. The action is fluid and almost non-stop, just what you expect from an Indiana Jones film.
What I Liked
It’s great to see Harrison Ford back in the saddle as Indiana Jones. After a string of so so films (e.g. Firewall, Hollywood Homicide, and Random Hearts to name a few), it’s good to see Ford not losing a beat with the Indiana character. He just slips back into the character like a comfortable pair of shoes.
The supporting cast proves pretty solid as well. Karen Allen is the only returning character from the Indiana Jones mythology, and it’s great to see her next to Ford. The rest of the actors provide solid support, with Cate Blanchett proving to be a nasty foe.
As I mentioned previously, the action sequences are what you expect in an Indy film. They were long enjoyable sequences, well most of them were.
What I Did Not Enjoy
Some of the latter action sequences involved a level of CGI which was noticeable. Due to the nature of the film’s content toward the end of the film (it involves some science fiction elements), the use of CGI was difficult to avoid.
Final Thoughts
It’s great to be in the world of Indiana Jones again. I say don’t hesitate and go see it. It may not live up to your previous Indy experiences, but could it really? Believe me, once you hear the theme music and see the iconic fedora on Harrison Ford’s skull, you’ll forget about your expectations and just go along for the ride.