Lost

Argh. Just when I thought I wouldn't lose anything else (after my Zen Micro fiasco), I go ahead and lose my wallet. Either it dropped while I was playing with my kids at the mall, or someone picked me. *sigh* I've gone ahead and cancelled all my credit cards and have an appointment with the DMV to get my license replaced; but it's just such a pain, you know? Now I have to worry about identity theft as well.

Time to watch my credit statements, I guess.

The Force Is Strong With This One

So the United States Postal Service is celebrating the 30th anniversary of Star Wars by coming out with a collection of stamps on May 25. They even allow you to vote for a single stamp which will then be sold in its own sheet. Right now Darth Vader is leading, but voted for Yoda I did. Imagine, sending mail with the little green guy on it! I don't really write letters anymore what with e-mail and IM, but I'm sure people like Calai will get a kick out of it.

Now, I've never been a stamp collector, but the USPS has come out with several interesting collections over the past year. There's The Muppets and DC Superheroes. They also released Disney stamps, but PJ and her sisters liked them so much that they used them. Sigh.

After Star Wars is the Marvel Superheroes collection.

Now, I'm not exactly sure what to do with these after I get them. Frame them possibly? I have the same problem with a Cars holographic lithograph and a Transformers: The Movie holographic lithograph.

American Idol

So what exactly was today's theme? "Songs on Gwen Stefani's iPod"?

Lakisha and Melinda were wearing matching shower curtains. Heh. Although according to PJ their outfits are what's in nowadays. I wouldn't know.

It's turning into a two-person show--Melinda and Blake. Jordin's trying to catch up, but today's performance was just a mess. Haley reverted to Miss USA mode.

Bottom three: Fauxhawk, Sligh and Haley. Haley's probably out, although we might be "surprised" by a Sligh elimination.

Watchlist 2007

300. IMAX. Wow.

Watchlist 2007

An Inconvenient Truth. When I was in college I joined this organization called Green Response. It was a group dedicated to "saving the environment". Membership was pretty small. The only memorable thing I remember our group doing was sell t-shirts (which I designed, unfortunately). Our message was good, but I don't think anyone really wanted to listen. We didn't sell that many shirts.

I'm not sure if it was because nobody cared about the message, or because the delivery of that message left much to be desired.

Al Gore's Acadamy-Award winning movie An Inconvenient Truth reminds me of that organization. It's a powerful message about global warming; his facts and figures are pretty convincing, and pretty frightening. Unfortunately, his delivery leaves much to be desired. I fell asleep midway through and got poked awake. I then spent the next thirty minutes half-listening to his lecture, and concentrating more on his MacBook Pro (or was that an iBook?) and his use of Keynote for his slides (I assume that was Keynote, no?).

He did make some funny cracks ("I'm the former next president of the United States. I don't find that funny."), but on the whole he's about as charismatic as a block of wood. Slick Willie Clinton would've kept my attention for the entire ninety minutes. Which is a shame--Gore had something good to say.

Stardust Trailer!

The trailer's out! And I have to admit, I'm a bit worried. Why?

(1) Claire Danes. Doesn't quite fit as Yvaine. Seems to be too human, and not quite star-like enough. Too bad Cate Blanchett's too old. Would Liv Tyler have fit? She was perfect as Arwen.
(2) They've Hollywood-ized the story! When you see the trailer you'll know what I mean. That wasn't the way I remember the scenes between Tristan, Yvaine and Lilim. Or maybe I just need to dig up my book again--no, wait, I lost my copy. Off to the library I guess.

I did like Michele Pfeiffer, though. Quite yummy. If only she were younger--she could've played Yvaine instead. She did play Ladyhawke, didn't she?

bookoftheweek: Scar Night

So many new books have been coming out lately that I haven't been able to catch up on my book reviews. Currently I'm reading the newest Artemis Fowl, the sequel to Old Man's War (more on that in a future review) and a new Conan Doyle mystery (whose name escapes me at the moment).

The last book I finished, though is called Scar Night, by Alan Campbell. Campbell's actually one of the designers of the game Grand Theft Auto, so there was a sort of expectation that this book would read like a video game. Reading Scar Night only reinforced the fact--it reminded me of Planescape.

Not that Campbell ripped off Planescape; heck, it could just be me thinking that it's an homage (references to "cutters", "mazes", and a deity who could be an aspect of The Lady, although that last one is a stretch). His Deepgate is actually a living, breathing city, suspended over an abyss by chains. It's populated by all sorts of people--priests, poisowners, desert people, assassins and angels. There are actually only two; a boy, who's the last of his line, and a deranged one who feeds on souls on a certain night--thus the title.

The setting is well-imagined; the story? Well, like I said, it reads like a video game--an RPG to be exact. It feels like a campaign setting, kind of like Dragonlance was actually just a big ad for TSR (now Wizard of the Coast). There's a story lurking there somewhere, mainly about what's in that abyss the city's hanging over. But it takes a backseat to the setting.

The book's quite enjoyable, though. It doesn't quite feel like the author was shooting for an "epic fantasy" in the vein of A Song of Ice and Fire or Wheel of Time. He succeeds quite well in writing a book with a memorable setting; it reminds me a bit of Perdido Street Station, only without the pretentiousness. I wouldn't mind visiting this world again.

American Idol (!)

Despite the boringness of last week, we still tuned in to today's show with the theme "British Invasion". Much, much, much better than last week.

Thank you, Haley. Once again, I wasn't sure what you sang, but you looked good singing it.

Blake, Melinda and Jordin brought it, Sligh sounded good, Chris R was decent. Stephanie and Lakisha were boring, Sanjaya was surprisingly...okay (helps that the song he sang is all shouty), Phil was still yelling at me, and Gina proved that nobody can sing Paint it Black except Jagger. I guess Mig did a decent job way back when, but he did manage to Mig-ify it to something that was a bit cringeworthy.

Bottom 3? Stephanie, Phil and Gina, with Phil going bye-bye.

Madness!

So as usual I'm being crushed in my March Madness pool again. Stupid Oral Roberts. Stupid Duke. Never bet on a televangelist or a devil, I guess.

Interestingly, an entry I created to track The Sports Guy's picks is doing surprisingly well. So far he's only missed one.

American Idol (?)

Worst. Season. Ever. There were only a couple of memorable performances for this, the opening night of the Top 12. Bad enough that they opened with Diana Ross night (not really my cup of tea), but practically everyone was so forgettable.

Everyone except Melinda, of course. I didn't know the song, but she sold it. Much, much better than Lakisha, who I suppose sang her song technically well, but was boring. Jordin? Disney Channel.

Sligh? Sigh. Coldplayed Endless Love, and made it worse (if that was possible). Vocals were great, arrangement was terrible. (and I said he reminded me of Benjor--what was I thinking? Sorry, Benjor)

Blake? At least it was memorable, and he sold the performance, but the vocals were weak. As usual, Simon nailed the criticism. Much better than the other Chris, who chicken-danced his way through his song yet again.

The less said of Sanjaya, the better. Poor kid. Brandon, Stephanie, Gina and Phil? Zzzzzzzzz.

The only other thing aside from Melinda that woke me up was Haley and her dress. Wait, she sang something?

Heck, I'd take Lucky Charms Lukass over most of these singers. Love him or hate him, at least he inspired some sort of emotion. This group? Boredom.

My bottom 3 is Brandon, Sligh and Sanjaya, but I doubt Sanjaya's going anywhere. I'd say Brandon is going.

Just give it to Melinda already.

Watchlist 2007

The Prestige. I was so looking forward to this movie that I may have expected something entirely different from it. I was expecting something like Batman vs Wolverine--and Wolverine had Alfred with him! Instead, it was a period piece that was a bit confusing, with the jumping back and forth in time. Of course, that's Christopher Nolan's trademark--after all, he did direct Memento.

Still, though, the movie itself is quite enjoyable. It mostly centers around the rivalry between two magicians, set off by a tragic event. One magician has a trick that is quite amazing, and the other is obsessed with discovering how the trick is done. The movie plays out in a quite unexpected fashion, although people who observe closely should be able to figure out what happens before the movie's end.

It is somewhat like Bats vs Wolvie, in that there's a cat-and-mouse game between the two magicians. It's also interesting that Bale's character is much smarter than Jackman's, who in turn is the more emotional character. Kinda like their comic-book alter-egos.

bookoftheweek: The Terror

Alien meets Master and Commander. That's what I thought about when I first started reading The Terror, the new bookstop novel by Dan Simmons. Here's the premise, as I saw it:

* British Arctic Exploration ships from the 1900s are stuck in the ice
* Strange monster is picking off the men one-by-one
* Crew must survive both the freezing cold and the strange monster and get off the ice

I didn't expect to like the book; I fully expected to stop after two or three chapters, much like I did with the first book of the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian (upon which Master and Commander is based). However, I gave Dan Simmons a chance, seeing as I enjoyed Hyperion and Ilium so much.

I finished the 769-page monster in three days.

Yeah, a lot of things could've been cut; scratch that, a lot of things should've been cut. I kept thinking that an editor could've cut out some of the subplots and kept it readable; I wondered whether he has being paid by the word. I'll forgive him that, though, as he makes the attempts at survival so readable. You keep turning the pages to see whether they make it.

The "monster" itself isn't that scary or interesting (I had wild hopes that it was the Shrike for whatever reason); it's the characterization that strikes a chord. He makes the characters believable enough that you care what happens to them, and you want to see the bad people get their comeuppance.

After finishing the book, I looked it up on Google to see what other people had to say about it. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was based on actual events. There were two ships called Erebus and Terror that sailed to the Arctic in hopes of finding passage--and disappeared. Lord Franklin, Captain Crozier and Captain Fitzjames were real people. The Terror was Dan Simmons' imagining of what might have happened to the crew.

The Terror demands a lot from you in terms of time and concentration. It's a bit daunting to pick up the book, feel its weight (you can probably kill someone with it) and look at the number of pages. The investment, however, is worth it.

Carrrrrrne Asada

I tried Taco Bell's Carne Asada taquitos today. Not bad at $1.79 for two. Unfortunately, two isn't enough, but since you can't buy them individually, you're stuck with four. I got full after three.

Still prefer Baja Fresh's version, though. BF's sauce is better than the "salsa" Taco Bell provides.

bookoftheweek: The Android's Dream

I finally returned the disappointing Fragile Things the other day to the Library. There were no books I was particularly looking forward to, so I browsed the "New Books" section to see if there was anything interesting. One book stood out, with a picture of a robot sleeping and sheep in the background. The title: The Android's Dream, by John Scalzi.

Cool, I thought. Wonder how it relates to Blade Runner.

I began reading it that night and was hooked. What's the premise? Well, it deals with the relationship with Earth with aliens that are far more advanced than we are Of course, there are people who aren't happy with this, and so one day one of them kills an alien trade ambassador--but not in the usual way. You'll have to read it to find out.

So, this means that Earth is pretty much screwed unless the humans do something for the aliens--find (you guessed it) The Android's Dream, a particular species of sheep. If not, the aliens pretty much take over.

Scalzi's prose reminds me a bit of Larry Niven (specifically Crashlander), complete with fantastic aliens and humans who have to use their wit to survive. His humor reminds me of Christopher Moore--funny enough, but not as gut-busting as Pratchett or Adams.

Oh, and the relation to Blade Runner? Nothing, really. Just a throwaway line, when asked about why the species was called "The Android's Dream".

A very good read. Recommended.

American Dreamz

Wouldn't it be funny if the VFTW folks were able to push Antonella and Sanjaya to be the final two contestants on American Idol? Yikes.

Right now I'm rooting for Melinda, because she's a humble, kick-ass singer; Blake, because he seems down-to-earth despite his beatboxing (and actually sings songs from this decade); and Sligh, because he reminds me of Benjor. Sligh has a great song with his band Half Past Forever on YouTube.

Then there's Haley who's my eye candy for this season. She has no chance of winning, poor thing, but while she's still there I'll enjoy her cuteness.

Antonella used to be my eye candy, but she doesn't seem to be as attractive as she was during auditions (and no, it's not just because of her famous "pictures").

AJ, poor AJ. You represented, and you were fabulous doing it.

Watchlist 2007

The Departed. Best Movie and Best Director, huh? I thought it was a good film, but I can't really say whether it's "Best Movie" material or not (having only seen Little Miss Sunshine among the other nominees). Everyone knows the premise: Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio as snitches. It was pretty exciting watching them try to avoid being discovered, although Matt Damon was generally smoother than DiCaprio, who just seemed harassed all the time.

Jack Nicholson stole the show, however. I was never really impressed by his acting in the two movies I saw him in (A Few Good Men and As Good As It Gets), but he was very good in this one as a Mafia Boss. He made you like him one moment, and then loathe him the next.

Someone said that this movie was about sons and their relationship with their fathers. I'll buy that.

Lord of War. Nicolas Cage acting like...well, Nicolas Cage. It was a good, but ultimately depressing, movie. Ethan Hawke was channeling Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, and ex-Mrs Tom Brady Bridget Moynihan acted about as well as Jessica Biel did in The Illusionist. Interesting to see how arms dealers plied their trade, but uncomfortable watching the conflict in Africa. War is ugly, and they certainly didn't glamorize it in this movie.