I wasn’t sure if I heard Marlon right when he was talking about Mandy Moore doing Umbrella at Music in the Park. But I guess she could have since Yahoo! has her doing a cover of that song. It doesn’t sound half bad.
But honestly, all I could think about as the video progressed was “Damn, how close do you need to be to the microphone?”
Mandy Moore - "Umbrella" from Ringleader on Vimeo.
How do you make a kid’s movie about talking and transforming robots into a live-action summer blockbuster? You get Steven Spielberg to produce and Michael Bay to direct the movie, that’s how you do it.
Transformers is the second movie we watched at the AMC Theaters in Cupertino Square. Does it succeed in starting a new franchise of movies about robots from the planet Cybertron? Or does it sink like a hunk of junk?
The Netflix synopsis:
Based on the popular toys that transform from machines into giant robots, this live-action movie from Pearl Harbor director Michael Bay finds the planet Cybertron inhabitants engaging in a secret war for control of Earth’s natural resources, which they desperately need for fuel. Able to disguise themselves as cars, airplanes, boats, and more, the transformers prove a tough enemy in this film starring Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, and Jon Voight.
What I Liked
The movie starts off well. The early action and battle scenes provide plenty of bang for your movie buck. The opening scenes in the desert with American troops fighting a lone Decepticon show just how tough these robots are. The movie moves at a nice pace through the first half of the film, providing a nice mix of action and information without getting too bogged down in either.
The introduction of our hero, the girl/woman he’s destined to be with, and other characters move along at a good clip. Shia LaBeouf isn’t your next action star, but you can see he has skills playing the reluctant hero. I’m sure we’ll see him in similar parts as his career grows. As the humans and the Autobots start interacting more on a personal level, the film starts to slow a bit. It almost comes to a complete halt when the Autobots go to Shia’s home to retrieve an artifact.
What I Didn’t Enjoy
The acting is passable, with the robot voices providing as much emotion as their human counterparts. I’m not a big Jon Voight fan, so his Donald Rumsfeld-type role could have been cut out as far as I’m concerned. Anthony Anderson’s computer geek character seems to be thrown into the mix out of left field. The relationship between Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox’s character wasn’t believable. Plus, believing Megan Fox was a high school student is a big stretch.
There are almost one too many battles in this movie. When the Decepticon and Autobots finally clash, it is difficult to follow who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. And I still didn’t understand the deal with the Allspark, as explained in the film.
Final Thoughts
This loud live action-packed, CGI-filled, nonsensical plotted movie proved to be slightly successful as a new action film. I guess I could see it become a franchise, though I’m not sure where it can go from here. The crowd we saw it with seemed to love it. And it did succeed in recapturing the feeling of the afternoon cartoon I enjoyed in my youth.
Transformers: 2 (out of 5)
I am playing catch-up on my movie reviews. Knocked Up is the first film Farrah and I watched at the new AMC Theaters in Cupertino Square (formerly Vallco Shopping Center).
Vallco Mall had been dying a slow death. For every open and operating store, there are almost twice as many empty spaces. The theater is meant to breathe new life into the mall, bringing in people and hopefully other businesses. I suppose the name change is meant to remove the old stigma of what was and to mark a new beginning.
The movie box office is on the second floor between Macy’s and Sears. Once you purchase the tickets, either from the ticket booth or using one of the six self-service kiosks, you head up the escalator to the third floor and sixteen new theaters.
The theaters are nice and clean (for now) with the normal big comfy stadium chairs and wide rows. It can get a bit dark in the theaters making walking into the show an adventure. Before the previews, there is a twenty-minute feature / commercial / infomercial. This can be annoying when you are trying to talk to anyone else before the movie.
Well, onto the movie review.
The Netflix summary on Knocked Up:
A one-night stand results in an unexpected pregnancy for entertainment reporter Alison (Katherine Heigl) in Judd Apatow’s romantic comedy. Determined to be a good mom and keep her career on track, Alison decides to try to make things work with the baby’s father, slacker Ben (Seth Rogen). It’s anything but smooth sailing as the odd couple gets acquainted, but Alison finds there’s more to Ben than she originally thought. Paul Rudd also stars.
What I liked:
Going into this movie I had no expectations. I didn’t hear whether it was good or bad, and this was several weeks after it had opened. I found the movie both smart and funny. The dialogue and situations ring true to life, with all the comedic and dramatic twists and turns. I was pleasantly surprised that Seth Rogen could pull off the leading man role. Paul Rudd is golden as ever, especially during the trip to the Las Vegas scene.
Katherine Heigl and Leslie Mann put in strong performances as well. Mann’s acting chops don’t seem to be there for me, bordering on a bit amateurish, but it works for this role.
What I Didn’t Like:
The ending seemed a bit rushed to me. I wouldn’t have minded if the movie was longer just to provide a more satisfying resolution. The juvenile antics of some of the secondary characters wore thin after a while.
Final Thoughts
This is a good comedy with likable characters. Katherine Heigl does well doing light comedy, and Paul Rudd is funny as heck. I wouldn’t mind seeing where these characters end up ten years from now.
Knocked Up: 4 (out of 5)
I’m sure you have noticed another change on ./Janella.com. Yes, I keep fiddling with the look, never been satisfied with one layout for too long. Every time I think I have a look I like, I tend to find an aspect that doesn’t suit my website vision.
What is the main vision?
I would like, and hope, that the website is easy to read and easy to navigate. Some day soon I will probably go back to a splash page for the opening page, similar to Miss Aniela’s home page. (I’m sure I could have picked a different example, but she takes such nice photos. Note: some photos might border NSFW items, so click at your own risk.)
For the blog, I was trying the latest version of Movable Type 4. Remember Movable Type?
Back in the day I used Movable Type to run ./Janella.com. Everything was running nice and smooth, but then Six Apart felt like charging for their product. I could still use it without paying, but it simply seemed wrong. In May of 2004, I switched to a free solution which was WordPress. WordPress has powered the site for the last three years. I heard there was a new open-source version of Movable Type out there and decided to give it a try.
Well, I liked some bits of it and didn’t like others.
Things I Liked
The templates provided with Movable Type are nice. They mirror some of the templates provided at Vox which is not surprising since Six Apart owns Vox as well. I especially like the cityscape templates created by .tiff - one of my Vox neighbors. The layouts are clean and easy on the eyes.
Notice the red “V” icon? Nice touch. Anything that encourages comments and makes it easier is a welcomed feature, especially since BossaNova, Fina, and MJ use either Vox or LiveJournal.
Things I Didn’t Like
The installation is better than before, but it still takes a little tech knowledge to do. It’s not as simple as a WordPress install - which basically requires you to create the database, upload the files to your website, access a URL, and - poof! Instant blog.
Movable Type is still something like Upload file into the cgi-bin. Make sure the *.cgi files have the right permissions. Move the mt-static files to a directory and… Well, it can be a bit to follow. After my fourth install, I have it down pretty well.
The WordPress import of entries into Movable Type wasn’t smooth either. There was a bit of formatting problems here and there. I managed to work it out by first installing an old version of Movable Type (3.3), then installing Movable Type 4. A lot of work. I’m sure the final release of version 4 will be easier on tasks such as this.
I didn’t enjoy that generating your pages produces multiple static HTML files based on categories, years, months, etc. Why have all these files?
Editing templates, styles, and using widgets isn’t as straightforward as it is in WordPress. I had a tough time creating links in the sidebar, as well as incorporating standalone pages. These things should be easy!
My Final Thoughts
Would I use Movable Type again for the blog?
Yes. Overall it is a nice piece of software, but it has room to improve. It does a good job of handling multiple blogs - if you write on a variety of subjects. But knowing there is an alternative that is easy to use and easily has hundreds of different templates, plug-ins and widgets to customize a blog, makes it a difficult proposition to change.
My choice is still WordPress.
You got problems with managing email at work? I have problems myself. This little lecture by Merlin Mann [by way of [Daringfireball.net] just may help you better organize your email inbox - if you put into practice what is being preached.
Kayla went into the hospital this morning for surgery. The reason: to remove a cyst that had grown on the left side of her neck. The surgery lasted about 3 1/2 hours. Kayla is doing fine and resting in her nice hospital room with her mom this evening.
A cool map - at least I think so - of “200 most successful websites on the web” done as a tube/subway map. You can see the original map here with further information on its creation as well.
This is going to be a long post. Forgive me, I’ve been a bit behind on posting this and decided to just lump these all together.
Is a bigger venue better when it comes to a concert? I prefer the small places around here, like the Warfield or the Filmore.
This summer we have managed to see four big concerts: John Mayer, Diana Krall, The Police and The Smashing Pumpkins. Two played in arena settings and the other two in smaller clubs.
Guess which performances I enjoyed the most?
The Smashing Pumpkins @ The Filmore — 07.16.2007
BossaNova and I caught the second Smashing Pumpkins show at the Filmore. He was kind enough to get tickets when Farrah and I were in England. Actually, BossaNova is responsible for my best concert experience: The Smashing Pumpkins at The Warfield in support of the Siamese Dream album. BossaNova sums up the concert experience very well on his blog entry.
Here is the set list from that night courtesy of http://www.blamo.org/sp/:
Main Set:
Encore 1:
Encore 2:
The Smashing Pumpkins came on a little after 10 pm, a late start for what I heard was a 3-hour gig! We only lasted through the main set which took us to about 12:15 am.
As BossaNova pointed out, the show started slow. But when they started kicking into Tonight Tonight the show turned into something more. It was great to see Billy and Jimmy in action again. The new group seems to click especially when Billy went on his little time-of-reflection rants — which he did twice during the show.
Rating: *** (out of 5)
The Police @ The Oakland Coliseum — 06.13.2007
I have seen Sting perform several times, but I never saw The Police play — until now. Seats opened up one week before the show, and Farrah and I were lucky to score some last-minute tickets. The seats were excellent — behind home plate slightly right of the stage.
In such a large venue it’s hard to feel any energy from almost any band, and The Police were no exception. After the initial excitement of the opening songs, the show went into a slight lull, then rebounded back again to finish strong. Sting, Andy, and Stewart seemed to be clicking on mostly all cylinders, enjoying themselves and each other’s company on stage.
Set list courtesy of The Police Tour 2007 blog:
Encore:
Second Encore:
I’m happy I had the opportunity to see The Police, albeit almost 20 years after their prime.
Rating: ** (out of 5)
Diana Krall @ Yoshi’s
I believe the first and last time we saw Diana Krall perform was in the outdoor Mountain Winery venue. She put on a great show under the night sky. So when I saw she was playing at a smaller venue, at Yoshi’s in Oakland, I had to buy tickets.
She had not performed in a while since having her kids. The tickets were for her last set at Yoshi’s. An excellent review of the night’s events can be found here.
What I enjoy most about Diana Krall’s show is that she knows how to interact with an audience. She is constantly aware of what is going on, especially in a small place like Yoshi’s. She can be humorous, both while talking to the crowd and while performing. During “a talk with the crowd” people started shouting out song requests — one of which was Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Farrah and my song. No, I didn’t scream this out.) She quickly responded, “I don’t have the range for that song.” Then during her solo in the following song, she proceeded to play a few measures of, you guessed it, Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
Diana Krall at Yoshi’s. What more can you ask?
Rating: ** ****(out of 5)
John Mayer @ The HP Pavilion — 06.05.2007
I have never seen John Mayer perform live. I have often heard he puts on a good show, but I wasn’t trying to set my expectations too high. I’ve seen a few shows at the HP Pavilion. Most of my experiences have been fair at best. The two U2 shows I recall seeing there were great experiences because of the seat location that offered both a great view and great sound. For John Mayer, we were sitting in section 128, which is on the right side of the stage, and had good seats. Though the seats were not bad, they don’t allow you to have the best audio experience.
We arrived at the Pavilion as Ben Folds was performing the opening set. His band’s performance was erratically energetic, trying to keep the crowd interested. He tried unsuccessfully to interact with the crowd through some stories and small talk. This seemed successful on a small level. He did score points with some songs, a cover of a Dr. Dre song and a cover of The Postal Service’s Such Great Heights. Overall, an uneven performance for me.
After a half-hour wait, John Mayer and his band hit the stage. The crowd rose to their feet as the band took the stage.
His set list, according to his web site, was:
– encore –
John brought energy to the stage which encouraged the crowd to its feet, in particular through his more familiar songs. But the power is hard to sustain throughout the show. He knew most people wanted to hear the hits and tried his best to please the crowd. At times he appeared to be goofing around with his bandmates, then he would turn around to play a deep-from-the-soul guitar solo.
Between songs and small talk he seemed to want to vent, often referring to dreams, anger, and heartache. It seems he still might be recovering from his break-up with Jessica Simpson — Eck, did I just write her name on my blog? — and was channeling that energy into his performance.
Though he provided a good effort, the performance felt as if something was missing. I think the HP Pavilion is too big of a place for John Mayer (most of the 200-section was empty) — at least for now. An indoor venue like the Warfield or even the outdoor Shoreline Amphitheater might be better suited for his talents.
Rating: ** (out of 5)
Photos from Kristel’s Surprise Birthday Lunch are now posted on the flickr account. I’m 50/50 on how the photos turned out. I took them with the new Sigma lens I’ve been using. It is a great lens, but I have yet to get accustomed to taking into account the depth of field (DOF) and the aperture I’m using. This causes objects meant to be in-focus out-of-focus. Some of the photos could have turned out better.
You can find all my photos on my flickr account. Below are a few of my favorite photos.
How many email addresses do you have? What are they for?
Submitted by clippedwings.
I have an old @yahoo.com address that people still write to me at.
I have three domain email address @janella.com. One is my personal email. Another is for online purchases. The last one is for registering for web sites.
I received an invitation to Pownce the other day. I must say I was really curious about Pownce when I first read about Pownce on Techcrunch. After several days of using it I am on the fence if I will continue to use it or not.
What is Pownce?
Pownce is a way to send messages, files, links, and events to your friends. You'll create a network of the people you know and then you can share stuff with all of them, just a few of them, or even just one other person really fast.
From the Desktop software image on their web site it almost looks like an IM program, but it is not really one. Then again it sort of is.
First off, you do not need to download the program available on the site. You can do everything you need to do on the web site! I did download the program for the Mac and runs and looks nice. But I really don’t need one more program running on my computer.
Second, it is nice to post little public blurbs on Pownce. But doesn’t that just make it another blog/tumblelog/twitter thing? Yeah, but the fun part comes when you are able to share links, files, events, and other things with specific friends or group of friends privately.
For example: I want to share with a few friends a joke, link or file not meant for public consumption. I couldn’t blog about it for all to see. Yes I could email it to them but email can get lost, have bandwidth limits, or be just plain cumbersome. But if my friends were on Pownce, I could send it to that group of friends privately. It would be posted on their Pownce page. They could comment on the posting or access the link/file any time they wished. Like IM the posting shows up as a little blurb. But unlike IM you don’t have to view the message right away. Check out my Pownce page here.
Both the client and web interface on Pownce is straightforward and easy to use. The learning curve is almost non-existent. But will I use it beyond the next few weeks? It really depends on the traction Pownce gets from my friends who join. Without friends or contacts, and it’s true on any social network, it is difficult to be…social.
For some reason I don’t think the current feature set is the be all end all Pownce. But it is a promising start.
If you would like an invite, I have a few to give. Just email me at the usual places. I’ll hook you up :)
Just wanted to make this quick post saying that Tiana, Jane, and Ann are visiting from Hawaii this week. This weekend was packed with activities including a trip to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and Paramount’s Great America.
I’ll work on the photos when I can and get them posted. Come to think of it did I ever finish all the photos from England slash France trip?
