Aloha! Part 2: Maui

Amelie and friend at Wai'anapanapa State Park

The airport in Honolulu was a bit confusing--we didn't realize there were two terminals, one for mainland and international travel, and the other for inter-island hopping. It also didn't help that our airline had managed to change its name from "Mesa Air" to "go!". The important part was that we made it, and we were at Maui in thirty minutes!

Maui was definitely more relaxing than Oahu. It's less crowded, so there's no stress from the big city (relatively speaking, of course). Oddly, though, Oahu felt more like Hawai'i than Maui did. I guess it's because the rest of the world is exposed mostly to Honolulu and Waikiki.

The Grand Wailea

Things I liked in Maui:
1. The Grand Wailea Hotel. Ah, Grand Wailea. The resort was beautiful, and the pools were amazing, kinda like a water park. During peak season I wouldn't even dream of staying here; we couldn't afford it. Heck, it was low season, and it was still pricey. But it was worth it; heck, from our room, you had a view of...
2. Molokini Crater. Granted, the little fishies off Cozumel in Mexico were more colorful; but the water here was much, much, clearer. The first couple of seconds in the water was cold, but I quickly got over it. Better snorkeling than Hanauma Bay (although I have this nagging feeling I missed a lot of what Hanauma Bay had to offer).
3. Hana Highway. Instead of driving, PJ convinced me to take the tour instead. Good call. The roads were twisting, turning, and so narrow that "two lanes" is a laughable description; it's more like "1.5 lanes". I think I could take it, though. The scenery was beautiful; lots of waterfalls (although some were dry), and one part looked like a bunch of cylon (toaster) heads. I wish I caught a red car driving the road so that it'll seem even more realistic!
4. The Banyan Tree in Lahaina. It looks like it's a grove of Banyan Trees, yes? But no, it's all just one tree. Wow.

Banyan Tree at Lahaina

Things I didn't like in Maui:
1. The sugar plantation near Kahului. What an eyesore.
2. The high prices. Gas in Oahu was 3.25; Maui, 3.65. Yikes. Even the Costco had slightly higher prices, with bread going for nearly $5 for the generic Kirkland bread. Ow. Lunch and Dinner were pretty pricey as well.
3. The speed limit (25-35). Same as Oahu. Although drivers here seem more aggressive. I actually had a couple of drivers riding my tail for doing the speed limit.
4. So much stuff to do, so little time. We didn't get to surf (or at least learn to surf). We didn't get to Kayak. I didn't get to bike down Haleakala. I didn't get to go ziplining. We didn't see enough of Hana and the waterfalls. Maybe next time...

Cylons at Hana!

I'd love to come back and stay at the Grand Wailea again. The kids sure loved those pools!

Aloha! Part 1: Oahu

Camille at Lanikai Beach

Just got back from Hawaii, so I'm still pretty fried at the moment, operating on Hawaii time (which is three hours behind from PST. We visited Oahu and Maui, and had a fun time. All-in-all, 12 days just isn't enough time to completely relax and enjoy those two islands. But we sure did try!

Hanauma Bay

What I liked about Oahu:
1. Hanauma Bay. Beautiful nature preserve, very calm and shallow waters. In fact, it's a bit too shallow, especially early in the morning, so snorkeling is a bit difficult. You have to try and avoid stepping on coral, and that's difficult when you can't really swim without gashing yourself on coral since it's so shallow. It got better later in the morning, just before we left (naturally). The Halona Blowhole a mile or so down the road was also cool.
2. The drive around North Shore, especially La'ie point. The scenery was surreal. Oh, and it was fun seeing the "sets" they used for Lost, especially the "Shrimp Shack" one in "Sydney".
3. The H3 highway. Driving through that tunnel, through the mountain...wow.
4. Pearl Harbor. I've visited it the last time I was in Oahu, and the experience still gets to me. I think it was Meryl Streep narrating that very touching film, right?
5. The view from Diamond Head. But the hike sucks, especially carrying the kids at one point or another. The shaved ice after the hike made up for it, though.

View from the top of Diamond Head

What I didn't like about Oahu:
1. The speed limit. It's a bit disconcerting, coming from California where people flash their lights when you're driving 5 miles over the speed limit. Then you get stuck driving 25 miles an hour.
2. The crowds in Waikiki. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency, which was beautiful, but the Waikiki area just had so many people. And this was the low season.
3. The streets of Honolulu. Oahu Revealed mentioned that the person who designed the road system in Honolulu was not all there. He was telling the truth. Trying to get to H1 East? Well, it's easy to find H1 West, but finding the onramp to H1 East was a nightmare.
4. This one Vietnamese restaurant near Legend Seafood. I think it was called "Old Saigon Restaurant" or something over at Kuhio Ave. Overpriced, and the service is rude. First, they tell us to leave our strollers outside, so we fold the strollers. Then we try to move the table since it was so close to the wall that we couldn't squeeze in. Can't move it, the boss will get mad. Then they served mediocre food starting from $10 up (better food can be had at the Internation Marketplace Food Court, for crying out loud). Then they tack on 15% gratuity even though it wasn't mentioned anywhere. Do NOT eat here. Go across the street to Legend Seafood, where the place was sparkling, the service was great, and the food was exceptional for the price.

La'ie Point

But hey, I'm reaching. Oahu was still fun, and we especially enjoyed our road trip around the island.

Three

The twins turned three today. They didn't have an elaborate party--just a simple cake, two balloons, and presents. They seem to have enjoyed themselves--at the end of it all they were still looking for more "presents". That's Grandma helping them blow out the cake.

Happy Birthday, Amelie and Camille!

bookoftheweek: The Name of the Wind

I'm a sucker for a good character-building novel. More often than not a fantasy author is so concerned with building his or her world (replete with maps and a glossary) that the characters populating it suffer, becoming one-dimensional cutouts. When an author decides to concentrate on his characters, the world seems to follow suit. Terry Pratchett is an excellent example. His first Discworld novel was funny in some parts, but seemed like your run-of-the-mill spoof of your basic fantasy. As he hit his stride, creating memorable characters as Vimes, Carrot and the Witches, Discworld grew to be as real as Middle Earth.

Patrick Rothfuss' first novel, The Name of the Wind tells the story of Kvothe, an innkeeper who is not all that he seems. It is a story within a story--Kvothe in the present time, narrating his past growing up. In a way, it's a bit like the first Recluce novel by Modesitt, where he tells how Lerris grows from a bored youth to a woodworker to one of the greatest order-mages in that world. In Rothfuss' novel, it tells of Kvothe's transformation from troubador's son to sympathy-user (read: magic-user).

It's an excellent book, one I couldn't put down. Probably the best book I've read so far this year (unless Harry has a few tricks up his sleeve...). Very Highly Recommended.

SMS Princess

So a 13-year old girl is the US text messaging champ, having bested 250 other competitors, winning by texting the word "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

I'd like to see how she does against Pinoys, though.

What's In A Name

I heard over the radio today that Geri Haliwell (Ginger Spice) named her daughter Bluebell Madonna. This continues the tradition that another Spice Girl, Melanie Brown started (having named her daughters Fortuna and Phoenix Chi).

Now, when I was younger I had decided that my child's name would be Cybil, after the lead actress in Moonlighting. Years later I saw the movie Amelie, fell in love with it (and with Audrey Tautou), and used that instead. So there's probably a method to the madness of celebs naming their kids. Here are some of the more interesting ones:

• Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes: Suri. Depending where you are, it could mean "princess" (Hebrew), "sun" (Indian) or "pickpocket" (Japanese). It can also refer to an edible grub in the Amazon, or an alpaca.
  
• Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin: Apple Blythe Alison. Actually, "Apple" isn't that bad; I knew a girl named Apple...
  
• Julia Roberts: Phinnaeus Walter. Around the World in 80 Days fan, perhaps?
  
• Bruce Willis and Demi Moore: Rumer, Scout and Tallulah. "Fame", "Observer" and "Princess"--unless she's named after the famous actress.
  
• Angelina Jolie: Maddox, Pax, Zahara and Shiloh. "Generous", "Peace", "Flower" and "Messiah". Her youngest got stuck with a name that's a bit hard to live up to, don't you think?
• Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger: Ireland. Not quite sure about naming kids after countries--um, not that Roman is taken from a city or anything...
  
• Britney Spears: Sean Preston seems normal enough, but Jayden James is a bit unusual. This is kinda like Apple, though, in that there are people named Jayden/Jaden that I know.
• Edge: Blue Angel. Fun times when she grows up. "Why is your name Blue Angel?" "Ask my dad Edge." "O-kay."
  
• Nicolas Cage: Kal-El. Up, up and away! I think he took his role as Superman a bit too seriously (ironically, he never did go on to play the part)
• Robert Rodriguez: Four sons, named Rocket, Racer, Rebel and Rogue. Pretty cool, actually. His daughter's named Rhiannon, which is a bit more common.
• Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale: Kingston. He'll probably be a computer engineer someday.

My favorite child name, though, is the one that the daughter of Penn Jillette carries: Moxie Crimefighter.

Let's Get It Started

The NBA Playoffs are finally upon us. How did my predictions go? As I recall, here was my original prediction:

WEST:
(1) Lakers/Suns, Rockets/Mavericks, Clippers/Nuggets, Spurs/Hornets
(2) Suns/Mavericks, Spurs/Clippers
(3) Mavericks/Spurs
(4) Spurs

EAST:
(1) Bulls/Pistons, Heat/Magic, Cavs/Wizards, Nets/Pacers
(2) Bulls/Heat, Cavs/Nets
(3) Heat/Cavs
(4) Heat

with the Spurs winning it all in 6.

I got most of the East correct, and got 6 out of 8 in the West. My new prediction?

WEST:
(2) Mavs/Rockets, Suns/Spurs
(3) Mavs/Spurs
(4) Spurs (although this is iffy given the Crawford situation)

EAST:
(2) Pistons/Bulls (mild upset, but Flash isn't 100%), Cavs/Raptors
(3) Pistons/Cavs
(4) Pistons

Spurs in 7 in a last hurrah. Sheed too out of shape.

Another "Which Character Are You" -- Star Wars style!

So here we go again with another useless test to determine which fictional character you're most like. This time it's Star Wars. Link has SW music and the site itself has some NSFW content, so be warned!

Take the quiz.

Argh.



Well, at least I get to have Natalie Portman's picture.

American Idol

I've never really liked country, so it wasn't a surprise that I found country night on American Idol a bit boring. Surprisingly, Phil was one of the best, belaying my prediction from last week that he would be bottom three (still possible, though). Also surprising was that there was no tongue baths for Chris and Lakisha; and that Simon voiced out what a lot of viewers were thinking, that Melinda should stop it with the "who, me?" act.

And Chris! Talking! Back! He meant to sing nasally? Yikes. Lakisha looked like she was ready to sass on someone.

Bottom three should be Sanjaya, Lakisha and Chris. I wouldn't be surprised if Phil was the one leaving, but I'm guessing Lakisha leaves tomorrow.

Watchlist 2007

Children of Men. What happens to civilization when it can no longer have children? It breaks down. Thus begins Children of Men, a dark, depressing movie set against the backdrop of the grim England of 2027.

Clive Owen does his usual stellar acting job. I've enjoyed his work ever since his turns as the Driver in the BMW shorts. Here he's just your ordinary pencil-pusher, who gets unwillingly thrust in the role of protector. A woman has gotten pregnant, amust get her to a mysterious group called The Human Project, who are trying to figure out why there are no more births.

A couple of people I talked to hated this movie, saying it was hard to follow. Personally, I liked the movie. I didn't really find it that hard to figure out what was going on, although you do have to follow the dialogue somewhat in order to catch some things. Another complaint was that there was "too much talking". Sure, it's no 300, but does every movie have to be? There were a lot of "action sequences", but just enough to fit the movie.

In the final analysis, though, I liked this movie because it made me think. About how it would be like without my kids, without the ability to have kids. About what side I would be on--the government, desperately seeking to keep control of a crumbling society? The rebels, who want to use whatever they can as a symbol, even if it means losing their souls? Everything is in shades of gray--even The Human Project.

American Idol

For every show, there are four things I look forward to:

1. What Melinda is going to sing
2. What Blake is going to perform
3. What Sanjaya's hair is going to look like
4. What Haley is going to wear

Now they've gotten rid of #4! Boo. Looks like they're exercising their producer powers and just cutting off the chaff in order. Heck, I don't think I even need to watch to predict that Phil's gone next week.

Covers

There's a lot of buzz right now about two videos on YouTube: Kermit's Hurt and Alanis' cover of My Humps. The former I read from Calai's blog while Alanis I found through the Dope. Kermit was disturbing, while Alanis was just so wrong...but funny (and, dare I say it...ironic). She even looks a bit like Jennifer Love-Hewitt, but without JLH's assets.

My favorite cover on YouTube, though, has to be Mat Weddle's acoustic Hey Ya. Then again, I'm a sucker for acoustic performances.

All We Hear Is...

I hardly listen to music anymore whenever I'm driving. I still like music, to be sure, but mostly I listen to it whenever I'm working. Instead, I usually listen to talk radio--Kevin and Bean on the way to work, sports talk on the way back home. The talk radio keeps me awake.

Of course, the gold standard is Kevin and Bean. They're hilarious. Even the side characters (Ralph, Psycho Mike, Lightning and Lisa) are pretty funny too. At any other time, though, I listen to sports talk. My top radio sports personalities:

1. Matt "Money" Smith. Not surprising, really, seeing as he used to be the sports guy on Kevin and Bean. He has a very mellow voice, and is quite funny himself. I actually liked him better with Grande and Cook; Petros is a bit obnoxious sometimes--and not in a good way. Sometimes you can feel the tension between the two, as was the case when they argued over which was the better burger: Fatburger or In N' Out.

2. Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann. Okay, so these are two people. However, Dan by himself is a bit boring; pair him with Keith, though--magic. I enjoyed these two in the early days of SportsCenter, and I was sad when Keith left. These two just have chemistry, kind of like that old married couple who bicker but are perfect for each other.

3. Tony Bruno. I discovered this guy back when he was still with Andrew Siciliano. I'm not really sure why he just suddenly disappeared from Fox Sports radio--I think he went to Sirius or XM for a while. Now he's back in the morning on 1540. I tune in when K&B are on break. A welcome respite from Simers and Cowherd. Funny, funny guy.

4. Jim Rome. You either love him or you hate him. His "clones" are what make the show. Some are hilarious, others are just sad.

5. The Loose Cannons. Honestly, I dislike Vic The Brick. He's too much of a Laker homer, and I doubt he believes all that zen gibberish he spouts. But put him together with Mychal Thompson and Steve Hartman and you've got comedy gold. Once in a while they actually make sense, but the entertainment value when they argue is priceless. I heard Vic and Mychal yesterday without Hartman, and it just wasn't the same.

American Idol

It's pretty telling when the one thing I noticed about the contestants is what they wore, rather than how their singing was. Oh, sure, Melinda was great as always, and I had no problem with what she wore (except that it accentuated the fact that she has no neck). Also, contrary to what the judges said, I thought Phil was pretty good. The rest?

• Blake looked great, but his performance this week was forgettable.
• Chris looked like he borrowed the vest and hat from Ryan's suit. I'm beginning to believe the whispers that he's the chosen one; that was a pretty nasally, forgettable performance, and yet the judges "loved" it.
• Sanjaya sang Tony Bennett and dressed John Travolta. Yikes. He does have a good voice, though, although he fades in and out.
• Once again Lakisha gets some good advice from the week's mentor, and chooses to ignore it.
• Jordin was very Disney Princess today. Why do they keep harping on Haley being pageant princess, and yet pretend that Jordin isn't? Both of them will be right at home over at the Disney channel--and both can go on to bigger and better things.
• Liked Haley's shoulder roll at the end. Hey, eye candy is eye candy, and I'll enjoy it until she's gone...

...which is probably this week. I'd say Gina (who was so forgettable this week that I forgot to include her in my summary), Haley and Phil are in the bottom 3, with Haley going home. Oh well.

Cheese, Gromit, Cheese

I've been a big fan of Wallace and Gromit ever since I saw A Close Shave on a plane on a flight to Sydney. News that Gromit is "subbing" for Nipper in the classic RCA logo (HMV in the UK) made me smile.

More Wallace and Gromit, please.

bookoftheweek: Fangland

When I was a kid there was this television series called Cliffhangers!. It was a television series featuring three different stories, each one ending in a cliffhanger every week. The most memorable of the three was The Curse of Dracula. Yes, a vampire series.

Supposedly, Dracula was the evil one; however, you couldn't help but be drawn to him. The "heroine" sure seemed to think so.

Fangland, as the cheesy title indicates, is a modern day take on Dracula. You won't find any charming vampires, pointy fangs, wooden stakes or Van Helsings wandering around in this book. The author specifically points this out by saying that this version had teeth that were round, almost black; eats chicken with garlic; and has a reflection in the mirror. He isn't quite friendly, though, and he does drink blood--but not in the expected manner. Not a man (or creature) to be messed with.

There's also a nod to Bram Stoker in the guise of the main protagonist, Evangeline Harker, an associate producer for The Hour (a sly wink to 60 Minutes, which the author, John Marks, worked on) who was sent to Romania to track down a European crime boss for an interview. Instead, she gets drawn into a world that she didn't quite expect.

Fangland is unusual in the sense that the story moves forward in different ways; through the first person, via Harker; the third person, through a minor character's eyes; through e-mail correspondence; through a journal; and through a police report. This does not make the book difficult to follow; really, it's an interesting device, and Marks makes good use of it.

It's a good read, and I stayed up over three nights in order to finish it. Appropriately enough, I finished it at the stroke of midnight. No joke.

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.

Sounds like a Clooney Movie

Remember those aptitude tests you took through college and HR sometimes gave you? I think Myers-Briggs was the most common one I took.

This RHETI exam is a new one to me. Pretty interesting. My results (7/8) are fairly predictable and describe me pretty well:


free enneagram test

Curiously, this result was only one point behind (6/8):


free enneagram test

"Complacent" and "Driven" seem to be opposite, don't you think? Then again, I am a Gemini.

The Writing's On The Wall

....or, in my case, my LCD monitor. The kids decided to use it as a writing pad. *sigh* I'm a bit annoyed that they were able to get ahold of a pen (when we specifically try to prevent them from ballpens...crayons are okay, since they're easier to remove), but what can you do? They manage to climb stuff and get into places and do things you don't think they can.

Sometimes they use various objects around the house as stepping stools, or pull themselves up by sheer strength. It's actually impressive sometimes, if it wasn't so exasperating.

So I managed to get most of the ink off using alcohol (the "Family" brand...wasn't there some silly ad in RP which featured a boxer? Or was that "Green Cross"?). Yeah, it's probably not the best solution and I've probably ruined the screen, but the LCD was unusable otherwise. Oh, well.

bookoftheweek: Fragile Things

I finally got around to reading Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things. Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. It feels like his stories shine when the have room to breathe--the short story format just doesn't suit him as well. Most of the stories here feel like beginnings, the first chapter in a forthcoming novel; they don't really feel complete.

There are some gems in this collection, though: A Study in Emerald is fantastic, especially since I'm a big fan of Sherlock Holmes; The Problem of Susan, while disturbing, is quite excellent; Other People has a twist which is pretty cool, and the last story, Monarch of the Glen is something I've read before (in Legends II), but is still quite enjoyable. Heck, we get to see Shadow again.

The way I judge how much I enjoyed a book is how often I can re-read it; for example, I must've read Good Omens a dozen times. Other than the stories I mentioned above, I won't be re-reading this one any time soon.

Super Hero Dating Quiz

Huh. Actually a toss-up between Kitty and Lois Lane. Fits with my previous Superman - Luthor results, huh?

Watchlist 2007

Black Dahlia. Yikes. I was expecting a lot from this movie (Scarlett Johanssen! Naked!Mandy! Brian de Palma!) Sadly, it was a dull, plodding movie. I fell asleep at one point, woke up, and got confused by the "solution" to the murder. Turns out the part I missed gave the backstory. I really wanted to like this movie. Unfortunately, it was a mess.

Red Eye. Now this was worth the rental. It started out fairly mellow and then just hit the gas around 10 minutes in. Rachel McAdams is cute, and the chemistry with Cillian Murphy was great. Short movie (85 minutes), but Wes Craven made the most of it. Bonus points for Hiro's girlfriend appearing in it.

Magni-lana?

I was reading through the Television Without Pity Forums when I came upon an entry discussing the rumor that Magni and Dilana were an item. Say what? I immediately sought confirmation via Google.

From what I can gather, Magni got divorced/separated from his wife/SO because they had "drifted apart"--probably because of all his touring. Because Dilana had spent a lot of time with Magni (what with her visiting Iceland and touring together and all), they became linked in the press. I've also read that he's requested that his personal life not be discussed in public, so nobody quite knows what's going on, except that he's playing guitar for Dilana in the RS:SN concerts.

Whatever their status is, it's still sad that he got separated, what with his toddler and all.

Humanity To Others

So I finally went ahead and began looking at Ubuntu. I've had a couple of 5.10 install CDs lying around since early last year, but I never got around to doing anything with them. Part of the reason was I didn't really have a machine to install them on; I couldn't get Ubuntu to boot up on my desktop, and PJ didn't want me installing it on the laptop unless I backed up the data there.

Well, I finally got my ass in gear and backed up the data on an external hard drive. I downloaded Edgy and burned it to a CD, placed it in the laptop disk tray, and then rebooted.

First impression: Wow, that background's pretty tan.
Second impression: Yikes, this thing is SLOW!.

I gave it some allowance seeing as I was running off a LiveCD. Still, though, it took forever to bring up anything, so I did some more research. Turns out the laptop only had 256MB of memory, and I guess the newer versions of Gnome are memory-hungry(?). I wasn't going to purchase any new memory for this laptop, so I looked for another distro (heh, forgive me for speaking the lingo). I settled on xubuntu, seeing as I was really interested in what the fuss over Ubuntu was all about. So, I downloaded Edgy and burned it to a CD, placed it in the laptop disk tray, and then rebooted.

First impression: Hey, that background's OSX-y..
Second impression: It's definitely much faster than Ubuntu.

So now I'm installing xubuntu on the laptop. We'll see how that goes.

Watchlist 2007

More movies:

Talladega Nights. Just like Deep Impact and Armageddon, we have Cars and Talladega Nights. NASCAR, boy loses way, boy makes comeback and learns a Mighty Valuable Lesson, finding romance along the way. Except Ricky Bobby doesn't really learn anything. Oh, and romance consists of who has the best set of boobs. Silly, mindless fun. Thank you, Baby Jesus...

The Illusionist. Something about gaslights and hansom cabs have always been appealing to me, so I enjoyed this, even though it's fairly predictable. Paul Giamatti shines again, and Edward Norton is pretty good as well. Unfortunately, Jessica Biel still can't do anything but stand around looking pretty. I was also surprised that the crown prince wasn't Jude Law--sure looked like him. On to The Prestige and Scoop (the informal "Magic" trilogy of 2006).

Apples and Oranges, part 3

I almost convinced PJ to upgrade the MacBook to a MacBook Pro. We visited an Apple store, where she played with the various Apple notebooks. She was impressed with how sleek 'n' sexy the MacBook Pro was, and was amazed at the weight. She went to the Genius bar to ask whether we could upgrade our unopened MacBook by just adding extra cash, and the so-called Genius said yes. When we walked out of the store, we had agreed that we would upgrade.

This didn't last, though. Five minutes later she realized that we would be adding $900 in order to upgrade; add $200++ for a Windows XP Pro license (yeah, yeah, I know. She's comfortable in Windows, and would rather not take the time to learn something else), and that took us to $1,100! Then the question of the Windows software (specifically QuickBooks) being supported on a BootCamp install of WinXP was raised as well.

So, no go. We decided to just sell it. We eventually sold it for less than retail, but hey--at least we have the money towards just buying a regular ol' laptop (probably a COMPAL or an ASUS).

Oh well. Maybe some other time.

Watchlist 2007

I told myself that I would keep track of what movies I've watched this 2007. Currently I've seen four movies:

My Super Ex-Girlfriend: Fluff, but an interesting diversion. Uma's pretty cool, although the plot pretty much sucked. Lots of comedy potential here that was sadly unrealized. Glad we rented it.

Casino Royale: Wasn't expecting too much from this, but (a) this is the best Bond movie I've ever seen (no gizmos to distract us), and (b) Daniel Craig is the best Bond I've seen. I thought Pierce Brosnan was an inspired choice, but unfortunately his movies were parodies of the Bond franchise. Still, though, I wonder what Clive Owen would've done with the role. Impressed with Craig, and looking forward to the next one. Best movie I've seen in 2007 by far.

Little Miss Sunshine: Cute. Not as great as advertised, but what was cool was that they road-tripped to states I've been to--New Mexico, Arizona and of course, California. The pageant itself was scary--the other contestants looked like living dolls. Plus points for Chloe!

Lady In The Water: Not as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, it was actually interesting and moved pretty quickly--no wasted time, no goofy forced "twist". Definitely better than The Village. I kept thinking what a wonderful book it would be--at least I wouldn't have to watch Shymalan ham it up. Paul Giamatti and Bryce Howard were great, though. Howard, especially--skin like paper, but she has that ethereal beauty that made her perfect for the title role.

Spare the Rod

So this California assemblywoman wants to make spanking a crime. This is just so annoying on many levels--not the least of which is that this same assemblywoman doesn't even have kids.

Growing up I don't recall ever being spanked. What I do remember is getting kurot by my yaya whenever I did something naughty. Those pinches were pretty nasty--she had long nails, and her kurots were very, very fine, so they hurt like anything. I must've been three then; it made quite an impression, considering that I can still remember it.

Fast forward to now. I have kids of my own, and they get naughty sometimes, like all kids do. Do I hit them? No. I raise my voice, when I scold them, and usually that's enough to scare them silly. I don't advocate hitting a child, but I don't want the government telling me how to raise my children either (that's what my mom and my mother-in-law are for).

I can't stress this enough: This woman doesn't have kids! And yet she thinks she has the right to tell me how to be a better parent. How screwed up is that?

And so it Begins...Again

First off: 24. The first four hours were pretty kick-ass, but it pales in comparison to last season's four hours. The emotional toll last season was scary. This year? I made the crack to PJ that maybe they should call Jonas from The Unit to save the day. Heh.

Second: Idol's back. Jewel's looking pretty hot nowadays. Not difficult sitting next to a seemingly-drugged out Pauler. Funny how Daughtry's outselling Taylor and probably Katharine. I'm still convinced that some of the weirdos are actors, particularly the "girl" who sang Pussycat Dolls and her "mother". I'm almost sure they were in a fatsuit and in drag. If they're real people, I apologize. But yikes--heavy make up, mannish voices...

Oh, and Zayra from Rock Star has a hit song! Although it's singing backing vocals for Blue October. Still better than how Lucky Charms is doing, in my opinion.

Watching Ice and Fire

Great Eddard's Ghost! Variety is reporting that George RR Martin's masterpiece A Song of Ice and Fire is being turned into a mini-series by HBO. Wow! I mean...wow! Couple of thoughts, though:

• GRRM is producing this as well! C'mon, George, stop wearing too many hats and finish the darned series first!
• Who are they going to cast, I wonder? I can see Liam Neeson as Ned Stark, but everyone else? The twins Jamie and Cersei? The screen might melt from all that prettiness! Tyrion? Malkovich, maybe?
  
• This is going to be one expensive series. Then again, Rome is pretty impressive from what I've seen.
  
• I'm going to have to seriously consider getting HBO once this is out. I resisted The Sopranos, but this might be too much.
  

This can be very, very, good or can be a nightmare. Knowing HBO, though, they can pull it off.

250 Million Reasons

David Beckham, LA Galaxy. A quarter-BILLION dollars.

"I want to make a difference with the kids." Yeah, that and $50M a year.

The Apprentice LA: You're Fired

I got the chance to watch The Apprentice: Los Angeles last night while ironing some clothes (ironing is always boring, so I have to have the TV on while doing it. Usually it's X-Files re-runs). Yikes.

One of the girls, upon being sent to live in Tents (losers!), proclaimed that she felt like she was living in the "Third World", because there was no electricity. Right, princess, because we third world folks all live in mud huts and use two sticks to create fire. Idiot.

The first firing felt wrong to me. Not that the guy didn't deserve it, it just felt that Daddy Trump was just catering to his daughter's wishes. I would've thought that the other guy would get fired, seeing as he kept interrupting the Donald and didn't let anyone get anything in edgewise. Instead, Martin gets fired because Ivanka thinks he's pompous and won't fit in with the company. Yes, because there's only room for one pompous guy in the Trump empire. Remember that.

Pic of the day: Generalissimo

Haven't done this in a while (the 365 Days photoessay has sadly fizzled out). Loved this picture, though--Amelie looks like she's commanding her troop of Disney Princesses.

Movie Beat: Past and Future

We didn't really see that many movies in 2006, with the kids and all. We tried bringing them in to watch Cars, but wound up bringing them out of the theater because they were making too much noise. So, most of the films we saw were on DVD. We did manage to see the big ones, though.

Best movie I saw was, surprisingly, The Devil Wears Prada. Anne Hathaway FTW, but Meryl Streep's performance was just superb. You didn't think she was a mean boss, just someone extremely competent and someone I'm actually willing to work for. Also some good indie films there, like Brick and Everything Is Illuminated. Oh, and we saw My Neighbor Totoro for the first time.

Honorable mentions go to X3 and POTC2. Not that impressed with the aforementioned Cars--Over the Hedge and Monster House were much better (the latter being underrated, in my opinion).

Looking forward to: Stardust (yay!), Transformers, Spiderman 3, Harry Potter 5, Ratatouille, FF2/Silver Surfer, Die Hard 4 and of course, POTC3. Bring back Jack!

Note that everything's pretty much a sequel. Who cares if there's "nothing original" in film anymore--all I want is to watch something good.

Which Supervillain Are You?

So I'm such a goody-two shoes that I forgot to take the counterpart supervillain test. Interestingly, I'm Lex Luthor. This proves that I'm a Gemini, since I'm two sides of the same coin. Or maybe it's the "Are you bald?" question that tipped the scales.



Your results:

A brilliant businessman on a quest for world domination and the self-proclaimed greatest criminal mind of our time!

Click here to take the Super Villain Personality Test

Which Superhero Are You?

Apparently, I'm Superman.



Your results:

You are mild-mannered, good,
strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

House Hopping In Arizona

Just got back from spending Christmas with in-laws in Arizona. We looked at a couple of houses there in the desert--compared to California, they're practically bargains. There were a couple of houses we looked at where the backyards were so big, you could build (a) another house, or (b) an olympic-sized track and a pool. All for about the same price as ours at current market prices. Sheesh.

Of course, the weather isn't exactly agreeable. It was fine when we were there, but that's because it was winter. Otherwise, during summer, it's HOT. I like my environment to have a bit of green.

Apples and Oranges, part 2

Well, PJ's warming to the idea of using a Mac. I've explained what Boot Camp is (allows you to install Windows on an Intel Mac), so she'll be able to use it for the coffee shop. So it's possible that we'll keep it--if her friend doesn't wind up buying it. We're going to visit an Apple store in the near future, and she'll play with it--if she likes it, the plan is:

(1) Try to return the MacBook, explaining that we won it, but would rather upgrade
(2) Get credit for it and apply it to the purchase of the 15" MacBook Pro (that thing's pretty sexy)

Let's see if that works. We'll wait until the Christmas crowds are gone (the Apple stores are like Divisoria with all the people frantically buying iPods), and then proceed to test drive it.

If someone *does* wind up buying the MacBook from us, it's off to Power Notebooks for this little puppy.

Apples and Oranges

We've come into possession of a brand-spankin' new MacBook (the white one) via the luck of the draw. Question is, what do we do with it? I've told the wife to go ahead and familiarize herself with it, so she can use it at work. She doesn't want to. She's worried that she'll have a difficult time navigating it, preferring the safe environment of Windows. I've told her about Boot Camp, but she's having none of it.

*** cue gasps of shock and dismay ***

I have to admit--I'm not really an Apple fan. I have no problems with Apple in general (except for the fact that I had the opportunity to buy Apple stock at great prices and didn'tAAARRGGGGHHHH), but I'm just so sick of some of the Apple fanboys (not the sane ones who leave you alone to do what you want) that I'm tempted to just boycott all its products. It's an irrational dislike, I know.

However, now that we have a MacBook at home, why not poke around OSX? Check out the iLife suite, Delicious Library and Comic Life? I'm not married to Windows, so why not check out the water on the other side?

It's her laptop, though, so she'll decide whether she wants to use it or not. Another thing going against it is the small screen (she has trouble reading text and prefers bigger fonts on large amounts of real estate). Now, if we had managed to score the MacBook Pro (especially the sexy 17-incher) I might've been able to convince her to get over her fears, but we got the wimpy 13.3" screen. We just might wind up selling it.

No Pain, No Gain

A couple of months ago I posted that I've been trying to lose weight because of my high cholesterol. I set out to be more aware of two things: (1) my food intake, and (2) exercise. I cut down on the rice I ate and started walking around a mile or so every other day.

I managed to lose around ten pounds using this method, but at some point I hit a wall. I decided to take some sort of fitness class just to keep myself motivated, and have someone actually pushing me. I wound up choosing Krav Maga, which is a form of Israeli self-defense. I had heard good things about it from former co-workers. I tried a class, found it kicked my ass (in a good way), and signed up.

Today we did around thirty minutes of warm-up, which consisted of push-ups, jumping rope, crunches, leg lifts, hitting a punching bag, jumping over obstacles, running, wheelbarrows, jumping jacks, shadow boxing, and doing squats while carrying a two-hundred pound partner. My arms and legs were about to fall off after that; and these were only the warm-ups!

The rest of the training session was easy after that (not to mention fun). It gets embarrassing sometimes, though--especially when you're partnered with a pretty girl and you're told to hit her (although we do use pads and such--you don't hit anyone directly). Of course, she has no such qualms. After a while, though, adrenaline takes over, and all you see are the pads. You punch, elbow, knee and kick those pads like your life depended on it. Sometimes, you inadvertently hit your partner, as I've (painfully) found out (knees to the groin are not fun).

What's great is that I get to burn calories while learning self-defense at the same time. Hopefully I'm never in a situation where I need to use what I've learned, but it's always nice to be prepared.

Oh Christmas Tree

We decided not to get a tree this Christmas. The main reason is that the kids are in their terrible twos, and are prone to just grab ornaments and pull, risking (a) injury and (b) an electrical fire or two. It was supposed to be the year we switched from a real tree to a fake one; we put that off as well.

Instead, we went all out decorating outside. We have the snowman, and the snowflake lights, and even put a garland around the front door. The ornaments that were supposed to go on the tree went to the garland instead. Thankfully, everything's pretty tasteful and understated (in as much as a snowman in California is understated). No Mickey Mouse skating around beside Santa Claus, the baby Jesus, and a big cross with an inflatable snow globe and a Christmas tree in the background (yes, that's one of our neighborhood displays. Talk about tacky).

Hopefully next year we do get a tree. It was always fun putting it up, then my mother-in-law shooing us all away as she trimmed it. That was her baby.

It's a Sony

My friend recently lucked into a PS3 this past Tuesday. He was heading to Circuit City to pick up Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest when his wife called him up, telling him that Best Buy had the PS3 in stock. He immediately drove there, paid $50 for a pick up ticket, and scored a PS3. When he left, there were still 30 in stock.

Lucky bastard, huh? Except his kids really want a Wii. Whoops.

So, now, he just wants to return the PS3. He thought about putting it on eBay, but decided that it was more trouble than it was worth (plus he feels guilty about fleecing people). I told him to just sell it to our other friends.

I admire him for not succumbing to greed (i.e. selling it on eBay). Hopefully the good karma will net him a Wii before Christmas.

Say It Ain't So, Greg!

The news that Greg Page is leaving the Wiggles was quite shocking and sad. We've been quite fond of Greg's silky-smooth vocals, and his replacement Sam (Professor Singalottasonga) just isn't the same.

First Larissa, now Greg. *sigh*

At least we got to see the original Wiggles in concert before Greg left.

Be Yourself

I feel like I just got tagged by Calai.

IF YOU WERE A _______, WHAT WILL YOU BE, AND WHY?

1. An ulam/meal

Fried Chicken. Because I've eaten so much in my entire life, it's a wonder I haven't started clucking yet. KFC extra crispy please! (nothing beats homemade, though)

2. A furniture piece

A table, because you can put a lot of stuff on it and it just sits there, not complaining.

3. An item of clothing or apparel

A white T-shirt. Comfy, yet bland. No prints--okay, maybe a small understated logo at front chest pocket, which you have to really look at to notice.

4. An album or a song.

Alanis Morrissette, Jagged Little Pill. Because I literally lived that entire album.

5. A fruit or vegetable

A tomato. Because it could be either a fruit or a vegetable, depending on who you ask. Thus spake the Gemini. Plus it's a base in so many dishes.

6. An animal.

A turtle. Slow but steady.

7. A place.

Orange County, California. The weather rarely changes, but a lot of times it's smoggy. And sometimes the Santa Ana winds causes wildfires.

8. A cartoon character.

I love Family Guy. It would be quite interesting to be Quagmire (giggity!), but I'm more like Brian (a bit too serious for his own good). Although Brian's a drunk, and I don't really drink. Maybe Adam We?

9. An office item/ equipment

A Solaris box running Oracle. Because I'm chock-full of useless information.

10. An international celebrity/ personality.

Someone British, I would think, since my sense of humor leans towards the English. Maybe John Cleese, but not as funny.

11. A book.

One of those books filled with fascinating trivia that proves ultimately useless in the grand scheme of things. In my college days I would be a compilation of "Dear Abby" columns, since I was a sounding board for a lot of friends, both male and female.

12. A movie.

Dead Again. Because it had Roman and Marga(ret) as main characters. Marga and I always got a kick out of it. Ah, carpool days.

13. A mode of transportation.

A Mack truck. Starts slow, but then keeps on truckin'. Plus, Optimus Prime was a Mack Truck. Awesome.

Come Stop Your Crying, It'll Be All Right

Funny how a song reduces a guy to tears. I hosted a wedding reception this past Thanksgiving, and the groom danced with his mom to "You'll Be In My Heart", by Glenn Close from Tarzan. And boy, was he emotional. Tears were flowing down his cheeks. I looked at his buddies, and they were practically bawling as well. Their partners were looking at them in bemusement.

It is a bittersweet song, I have to admit. I get misty-eyed when I see the scene where that song is played--Kala singing it to baby Tarzan. That along with "The Living Years" by Mike+the Mechanics remind me how much I appreciate my parents. They also remind me that I'm a parent now, and hope that one day my kids appreciate me as well.

Excuse me--something's in my eye.

Pacman Power

I saw the Pacquiao-Morales fight last Saturday on a glorious 60-inch HDTV (my brother-in-law's). It was pretty cool--I'm not that big a fan of boxing, but I have to admit Pacman was pretty impressive. That last knockdown reminded me of Roberto Duran, though (¡No más!); Pacquiao hardly touched him. Morales just went down on his own, and quit.

Oh, and the Nuno-Viloria undercard? Vilario was robbed. Not just because he's a fellow Pinoy, but c'mon, Nuno got knocked down twice.

THIEF!

Somebody stole my Creative Zen Micro MP3 player over the weekend at work. I had left it in my work drawer and had forgotten it (something I had done for the past month). Today, when I wanted to block out the world while I worked, it was gone.

Bastard (or bitch, as the case may be).

What's worrisome is that someone was actually going through our drawers after work--one of my co-workers lost a small optical mouse for notebooks.

Anyway, the silver lining is that I get to buy a new one. My wife's asking if I want an iPod (which they're giving away at her company's Chrismas party), but I'm looking at alternatives (I have a decent-sized WMA collection, which would be painful to convert). Right now I'm looking at the iRiver clix, the Sansa E260, and the Cowon iAudio U3. I'm leaning towards the Sansa, if only because Costco has a great deal on it, but the clix is tempting.

Zune? Um...a bit over my budget, and first gen products just aren't my thing.

You've Got Mail

The Mail Fairy was good to me today.

First off, she delivered my very first non-kit lens, a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens. I've never used a prime lens before, but I guess it's time to get serious about learning how to take good photos. Besides, my sister-in-law is getting married next week, and I promised her I'll take candid shots. Good practice, that.

Speaking of Prime...

Then, she brought me my Transformers: The Movie 20th Anniversary Edition DVD, complete with lenticular cover. Remember? "Bah Weep Grah Nah Weep Nini Bong". Oh, and "Megatron must be stopped--no matter the cost." Can't forget the classic songs "You've Got The Touch!" (immortalized by Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights) and "Dare".

Finally, she brought me my Cars lenticular poster, which came free from Best Buy. It's a nice 11x17 poster; while I'm not that big a fan of the movie (it's still The Incredibles for me), freebies are always nice. This one was especially impressive.

Hopefully she brings me more good stuff during the holidays!

Lake Show

I think I've mentioned before that I'm not a particularly big fan of the Lakers. Showtime...irks me. I was so happy when Detroit just crushed the so-called Dream Team of Shaq, Kobe, Glove and Mailman--and I'm not even particularly fond of Detroit!

The 2006 edition of the Lakers, though...well, they just seem so likable. Andrew Bynum's coming up aces, Jordan Farmar is pretty good, Rony Turiaf is coming along, and Luuuuuuuke Walton is playing well. You gotta feel for what Lamar Odom went through as well.

The fact that they're doing it without Kobe at 100% is pretty cool. The fact that they opened at 3-1 is pretty amazing (not as amazing as, say, the Hawks, but amazing nonetheless).

What happens when Kobe is at 100% will be interesting, to say the least. Will he disrupt the chemistry at all? What about those Garnett for Bynum and Odom rumors? How will that affect the team if it comes to pass? I think they'd be crazy to do it, since Bynum could develop into a monster.

Any chance that this makes me a Laker fan? Nope. =)

Of Dental X-Rays and College Theses

I'm no stranger to dental offices; ever since I was a little kid I've been in and out of the dentist's chair. If it wasn't braces, it would be a root canal. Wisdom teeth extraction. Prophylaxis (which always provided a quick laugh or two, bringing up images of teeth condoms. But I digress), at the very least.

I've gotten so used to the dentist that I sometimes fall asleep on the chair, even while they're performing some painful stuff on my teeth and gums. No anesthetic; I just get pretty relaxed. The sound of the drill is soothing--at least to me.

Anyway, this past weekend the family (daddy, mommy and the kids) was in the office getting a regular teeth cleaning. I got my dental x-rays done as well. Now, I remember dental x-rays taking a long time; they would do the x-ray, and then send them out for processing. After a couple of weeks they would call me back, show me the x-rays, and then tell me I needed more stuff done (boy, was I a gold mine for dentists everywhere).

Now? It's all computers, baby. My x-rays were ready on the screen as soon as they took the bite wings out of my mouth. Nothing surprising, really, but it got me thinking: boy, this would've been a great thesis way back in my senior year. Instead, we came up with a pathfinding algorithm. Nothing sexy, just a lot of coding, but it did the job, and managed to graduate.

Still, though, imagine if we had done this back then! Oh, it would've been an expensive thesis, and I believe the school would've owned it (so we wouldn't have made any money, really), but it would've been so exciting! So groundbreaking!

Oh, well. Shoulda-woulda-coulda. At least the x-rays showed that I didn't have any cavities.

Halloween - The Disney Princess Edition

Today marks the fourth Halloween we've celebrated in this house. The first year it was only me and my sister-in-law (no kids yet, and PJ was still at work). The second year was when Amelie and Camille were six months old, and dressed up as pig and cow. Last year was the third, and the kids dressed up as witches.

This year was the Disney Princess year.

The night started quietly enough. I set up the table and the candies on our front step, and waited around for the first kids to show. Sure enough, three kids came around along with their mom--or was it their sister? Her cleavage confused me. Not that I minded too much, but it seemed inappropriate--like she was heading to a party right after, and she was hurrying the kids along.

Anyway, there was a steady stream of kids after that (with more appropriately dressed parents). One thing I noticed was that the kids more often than not just took one piece of candy when told that they could take whatever they wanted (probably because they were being watched closely by their parents). The most popular item seemed to be the Skittles, Sour Bursts and Starbursts (yup, the "fruit" candies).

Around 6-ish the kids were finally dressed up in their Princess costumes, ready to get their candies. Amelie dressed as Cinderella, while Camille went as Aurora. They looked really regal in their outfits, although the tiaras didn't seem to agree with them. Mommy came home, and off we went to trick-or-treat.

The girls were shy at first, but eventually they warmed up, with Camille even learning "trickortreat!" It got a bit too chilly, though, and we headed home after hitting around ten houses.

They seemed to enjoy it, though (especially the candy part). Hopefully next year they're a bit less shy, and they can walk up and ring the doorbell on their own. Wonder what their costume would be then, though...

Very Short Stories

Wired has this story about several authors that came up with very short stories (6 words!). The list of authors is pretty stellar--Neil Gaiman, Arthur Clarke, Joss Whedon, Stan Lee, Alan Moore--heck, even Steve Meretzky, Infocom god, had an entry.

The most poignant one, though, was from Ernest Hemmingway:

"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

It can be read many different ways--but to me (as a dad), it's pretty heartbreaking.

Stating the Obvious

"A new study from the University of Illinois indicates that more weight in the car means lower gas mileage."

In other news, studies have shown that water is wet.

Someone actually funded this study? Oy.

Play Ball!

The NBA season is going to be starting any day now (actually, next week). I haven't really been following that closely; my love for the NBA has been eclipsed by the NFL and MLB (go Cards!) I don't really pay attention until the playoffs--and then it's more about the teams I don't want to see win. I do have a couple of things I'd like to see:

(1) Yao Ming do well. Playoffs for the Rockets!
(2) Orlando make the playoffs with Dwight, Darko and JJ. I think they will, but I'm not sure how far they'll go.
(3) The Clippers repeating (if not surpassing) their run
(4) A rematch of Suns/Lakers in the first round
(5) King James vs Flash in the Eastern Conference Finals
(6) Timmy wins another championship. Yes, I like boring.
(7) Raja Bell vs Ron Artest. Did you see Raja Bell take on Brad Miller? Wow.

How do I see the playoffs shaking out? Hmm...

WESTERN:
(1) Lakers/Suns, Rockets/Mavericks, Clippers/Nuggets, Spurs/Hornets
(2) Suns/Mavericks, Spurs/Clippers
(3) Mavericks/Spurs
(4) Spurs

EASTERN
(1) Bulls/Pistons, Heat/Magic, Cavs/Wizards, Nets/Pacers
(2) Bulls/Heat, Cavs/Nets
(3) Heat/Cavs
(4) Heat

Spurs in six.

With that, I just jinxed the Spurs. Oh well.

Master Baker

Heh. That was our team name way back in college, when we were performing systems analysis on a bakery.

Anyway, after our apple-picking at Julian, we had a bunch of apples we didn't know what to do with. One of my ma-in-law's friends sent us a recipe for apple loaf. Came out pretty well (my kids loved it). A bit too much sugar, though--I'll probably cut it back next time.

APPLE LOAF
4 cups apples, peeled and diced
2 cups granulated sugar
3 cups flour
1 cup butter (2 sticks), melted then cooled
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs

Mix the apples and the sugar in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly and let sit at room temperature for two hours. Watch a football game or something.

Mix the flour, baking soda and cinammon in another bowl. Combine with the apple/sugar mixture. Mix the butter, eggs and vanilla together with this mixture. Keep mixing until it's combined pretty well.

Heat up the oven to 375 degrees. Grease/spray down two 4.5 x 8.5 loaf pans. Pour enough mixture into each. Bake for 90 minutes. Cool in the pans. Enjoy!

Word Sandwich

I've always thought that I'm fairly good with words. I'm pretty good at Scrabble, and I'm fairly proficient at crosswords. The game Word Sandwich kicks my ass, though.

The game is pretty easy to pick up--you'll need to guess a five-letter word. If you're wrong, it'll place it either on-top or below. Keep going until you manage to narrow it down to the correct word. The earlier you get it, the higher your score. You start with 1,000 points. Each incorrect guess subtracts points, and the multiplier goes down as you try to think of the word.

It's hard to think when you see that slider go from a x5 multiplier all the way to x1 as you try to think of a word between hoary and horse.

So far I haven't even cracked 10,000 points. Some people just think better under pressure, I guess. Me, I think I need to create an index on my internal dictionary to speed up queries.

Pic of the day: 10-16-06/10-17-06

Hmm, this "every day" posting's not gonna work. I wasn't able to post yesterday, and it just gets difficult. I'll just go ahead an put it on picasaweb (yes, I'm a Google ho) and update it at least weekly.

Loveseat

Back to Back

Pic of the day: 10-15-06

Whoops, looks like I posted Saturday's pic on Sunday. Is Blogger on EST or something?

Watching Tarzan

Pic of the day: 10-14-06

Taken during a birthday party. The girls didn't like being cooped up inside, so we walked around in the park behind the house where the party was.

Walk the Line

Quickie Book Reviews

I read all these books in a span of a week. They're not really that thick, and I don't really need to engage any brain power to get through them (unlike, say, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell--excellent book, by the way).

The Righteous Men, by Sam Bourne (aka Jonathan Freedland). "It's like The Da Vinci Code, only with Jews!" is what you'd think. Actually, no, not really. It doesn't reveal a "hidden secret the Jews don't want you to know!!!!" like Da Vinci Code did; in fact, the peek into Jewish life was probably the most interesting aspect of the book. I'd say it's probably more like Angels and Demons. Not great art by any stretch, but a good little diversion. A bit predictable, though, and the end sequence made me roll my eyes.

Dragons of the Dwarven Depths, by Weis and Hickman. I think I wrote elsewhere that this a pure money-grab. This felt more like it was written by Weis rather than Hickman, as it reads in the same stilted style as Soul Forge, which I didn't even bother finishing. DotDD I actually finished, but it didn't have the same magic as the Chronicles and Legends.

Bad Twin, by "Gary Troup". Yeah, "Gary Troup" is an anagram for Purgatory. I only read this because of the Lost tie-in, which apart from mentioning Sydney, Oceanic Airlines, Hanso and Widmore, wasn't really connected in any way. Oh, I'm sure there's some hidden message or dome throwaway line which reveals all the secrets of Lost, but I was too bored with it to care.

Pic of the day: 10-13-06

Friday the 13th! Anyway...

Wake Up!

Pic of the day: 10-12-06

Picked up a great idea today...why not take a photo every day just to see how life changes? I'm going to start taking pictures of the girls daily and see how they change. This'll be interesting...

Today's photo:

Trying on shoes

Choychoy Favorites: DVDs

I've amassed a pretty big DVD library over the years; I've probably collected around a hundred of them since they came out. My very first DVD was The Matrix, and I've since gone on from there.

One thing I try to collect are the classic animated films--I've bought everything Pixar has come out with, most of the Disney titles, and the odd smattering of anime (Miyazaki's a favorite). Of the DVDs in my collection, these are the ones which get the most play. Not surprising because of my kids.

What DVDs are the most played in our house? Well, if I were to rank them, it would come out like this:

(1) Barbie's The Twelve Dancing Princesses. This gets played every single day (sometimes more than once!). When this comes on, the girls immediately begin to "dance". It's pretty amusing to watch them.
(2) Sleeping Beauty. Number one before Barbie knocked her off her throne. I'd argue that Aurora is the prettiest Disney princess of them all.
(3) The Little Mermaid. "Ayyel Mahmayd" was one of Amelie's first phrases.
(4) Beauty and the Beast. "Belle" was Camille's favorite.
(5) Howl's Moving Castle. The first feature-length film they really sat through, after watching The Wiggles and Maisy all the time. Heck, they pretty much memorized the dialogue!

They've also started branching out to stuff like The Incredibles and Tarzan, which is good. But if we want to quiet them down, we just put Barbie on.

The Little Mermaid

So I originally had the "Limited Edition" DVD of The Little Mermaid, which I received free when I bought the "Platinum Edition" DVD of Snow White. Last week Disney came out with the "Platinum Edition" of The Little Mermaid, and I told PJ that no way in hell were we going to buy it, as the content was the same. Who cares about "restored footage" , "special features" and "enhanced for widescreen TVs", right?

Of course I wound up buying it. What made it a bit more attractive was a free Sebastian plush when I bought it from Best Buy. This was to go along with the plush Flounder we already had; the only thing missing was a plush Ariel. Of course, we could always get the Barbie edition, but we figured the girls would just break it anyway.

What bothered me, though, was a trailer on the disc: The Little Mermaid III! Geez, I thought John Lasseter killed all sequels when Pixar took over Disney?

Fall TV

Fall TV has officially kicked into gear today, with the season premiere of Lost. And boy, was it a doozy! What sucks is that we'll only be getting six episodes before it goes into hiatus until February. Matthew Fox--or at least his character Jack Shepherd--is one intense dude (also, he's a bit of an ass). Looks like we also settle the Jack/Sawyer/Kate triangle.

We stayed around to watch the series premiere of The Nine, with Jack's little bro Scott Wolf. I guess it was okay--the only problem was I kept thinking that Audrey's boyfriend Jack Bauer could've saved them with little fuss.

Heroes is also a pretty cool show, although it moves a bit slowly and is a bit angsty. It's cool discovering their "powers", though--so far we have a telepath, a prognosticator (or "prognostipainter", as I read somewhere), a person who can bend the space/time continuum (who is also the best character, kinda like Naruto in his innocence), a person who can fly, his brother who might be able to fly, a girl with a healing factor to rival Logan, and a stripper who has a doppelganger.

Oh, and Hannibal Lecter's lurking around somewhere. Braiiiinnnnnssssss....

The Amazing Race is also back, and is slowly washing away the bad taste of the past two seasons.

Surprisingly, one of the better premieres is Ugly Betty, which is Salma Hayek's Americanized version of a telenovela. I didn't expect to enjoy it--but I wound up watching it while I was washing the dishes.

The only thing left is the season premiere of Battlestar Galactica. So, my TV viewing week is like this:

Sunday : The Amazing Race, NFL
Monday : Heroes, Studio 60 (if we get around to watching it)
Tuesday : nothing, really. I missed the premiere of Friday Night Lights
Wednesday: Lost, The Nine
Thursday : Ugly Betty
Friday : Battlestar Galactica
Saturday : Legion of Superheroes