Book Signings: Thud!

So I borrow Thud! from the library (the latest Discworld book), and while the librarian checks it out for me, she casually mentions that Terry Pratchett was in Pasadena just two weeks ago. Twisting the knife deeper in the wound, she says "oh, and Neil Gaiman was there last week!"

Argh. How come I never find out about these things? I could've had my copy of Going Postal and Marvel 1602 signed.

Granted, I was in Arizona two weeks ago, but still! I could've planned my time...convinced the wife-unit to "stroll" around Pasadena while I listen to my inner geek and line up.

Great. Kathy and Calai still have a leg up on me in terms of meeting Gaiman. At least I still have that signed copy of Crossroads of Twilight to tide me over. Oh, wait, that's worthless.

Giving Pinoys a good name abroad

I had a thread about Pinoys making it big in the Sports and Entertainment world a couple of months ago; recently, MiG (from Rockstar: INXS) and Melody (from So You Think You Can Dance) have made the news for finishing in the top 4. Not in a major way--maybe an item or two in the entertainment section of some news sites.

Now this guy comes along, making us all proud! At one point, he was frontpage on the US edition of cnn.com (only to be displaced by the terror threat against NY subways).

Gotta love it. *sigh*

Lost, episode 3

For whatever reason, the twins are a lot noisier on Wednesdays. It's like they know that Lost is showing, and they go out of the way to make sure we miss vital plot points! Anyway, another fine episode. We get to find out more about what the island is, but at the same time, more questions pop up.

*** SPOILERS HO! ***

* Kate really lights up the screen when she smiles. She's so adorable! Awwwww...
* I had a minor geek moment when I saw "Jack Bender" next to Katie Segal during the first flashback. Katie voices Leela, who hangs out with Bender the robot in Futurama
* Sawyer calling the dude who dragged him around Shaft. Heh.
* Sawyer gets punched out by a girl. That must rankle.
* Come on, Michelle Rodriguez was too obviously faking her story!
* That "Orientation" film was creepy. Ooh, look, polar bears!
* Laugh out moment when Hurley spots the food.
* Shifts? So there will be a full team there now? No wonder Desmond went crazy, having to wake up every 107 minutes.

Really looking forward to next week!

TAR: FE, ep.2

*** SPOILERS HO! ***

Hmm, that was a pretty cool episode! Random thoughts:

* Well, Mr-I'm-the-Father-So-I-Must-Be-Right: Way to go on the directions! Oh, and your boy? Will hate you forever. Quite the contrast from Mr. Black.
* This was one of the cooler, if cheesy, episodes. I like how they had the "spy" thing going on in DC, as well as the civil war re-enactment.
* Read your clues carefully, people!
* Again, little Gaghan was too cute for words. "Carissa explains it all". Heh.
* The Pink sisters are too lucky for words
* Hey, the Bransen sisters are actually cute! Too bad the dad's gonna have a heart attack though.
* Mommy NASCAR is CREEPY.
* Dammit, how come the Paolos are still in this?
* So I guess the siblings are from Cincinatti, given the Bengals jersey? And one of them is a Michigan Wolverine, given the Perry jersey?
* Still getting used to the yellow-and-silver markers.

On to next week!

Serenity

Saw Serenity with my workmates the other day. I was aware of Firefly, but I never watched an actual episode (since Fox buried the show, and SciFi channel showed it before I got home from work and I kept forgetting to set the DVR). I did know three things going in, though:

(1) It was written by Joss Whedon, who also did Angel, one of my favorite series;
(2) It was a cowboy space-opera
(3) The plot from the trailer was that there was this girl who was a human weapon that was being hunted down, and the Serenity crew had to protect her.

After watching the movie, I wanted to hunt the Firefly DVDs down. It was really, really, really good. A bit cheesy, but in a good way (you know how Angel and Buffy had cheap laughs sometimes). Throughout the movie I was thinking "Damn, George Lucas should've hired Joss to write and direct his prequels, and we may have gotten something decent".

And the girl who played Inara, Morena Baccarin? Wow. Heard she wants to play Wonder Woman (she also plays Black Canary in Justice League Unlimited. Hey, she gets my vote.

*** SPOILERS HO! (no pun intended, given Inara's *ahem* job) ***

I guess it's true: Relationship + Joss = Doomed. Damn you Joss Whedon! (oh, and please make a sequel. Thanks).

Certainly in my top ten movies watched this year. Hmm, that's a future post right there...

Lost, episode 2

*** SPOILERS HO! ***

Hey, didn't I just talk about this? It's Wednesday again?

Random thoughts on the second episode of Lost, arguably the best show on TV today (well, other than Battlestar Galactica):

* Kate, in the vent shaft: wow.
* Michael was giving Walt...a polar bear. "He's not afraid of bears, is he?"
* Looks like Charlie is gonna give in to temptation some time soon.
* At first I thought that they killed Jin off, since he was nowhere to be found; then his name was on the credits (Daniel Dae Kim), so I guess not. This guy's been in three of my favorite TV shows (Angel, 24 and Lost)
* Kate, in the vent shaft: wow.
* Tip of the hat to people saying the show has "jumped the shark": they killed the shark instead.
* So Desmond has a ba-gua badge? Hmm...wonder what that means.
* I have to bet those numbers for the Mega Lotto.
* Kate and the candy bars. Heh. Have to check what those were.
* Have I mentioned Kate in the vent shaft?

Next week: The Others! braaaaaaaaainnnnns

ETA: Just read on The Straight Dope that the shark (or whatever creature it was) had the same ba-gua symbol on its body. Curiouser and curiouser!

The Amazing Race: Family Edition

*** SPOILERS HO! ***

Caught the two-hour premiere of TAR: FE tonight. It was pretty entertaining. Some random thoughts:

* I'm betting Jesse Jackson was going to have a coronary when Phil said..."The Black Family". Then you realize, oh, their last name IS "Black". Duh.
* Looks like they're casting the Paolo family as the dysfunctional team. And yeah, someone shut those two brats up.
* I was all prepared to hate the adorable Gaghan kids (especially Carissa, who's too cute for words), but they're surprisingly likable.
* I sure wish I can be even half the dad Mr. Reggie Black is.
* The Linz siblings? Cocky, but cool. "Dude, you're out of your league!" (paraphrased, when one of the brothers wanted to hit on one of the Pink sisters)
* Kevin and Drew, baby! Are we gonna see Romber? Flo? Jonathan (please, no) in future episodes? More Emily, please!
* Kinda creepy when that buggy ran over one of the Weavers, considering how their dad died
* One of the Pink sisters was...um...cold. Turn off the headlights, girl!
* 20,000 bucks! I was expecting $40,000

Can't wait until next week!

Songs When You're Lost

Stuff I thought about while trying to keep awake driving to Arizona at 11pm, with over 200 miles to go, Part I:

Ever play the "Five CDs I would take if I were marooned on an island" game? That's what I was trying to figure out. Two rules: (1) No "Greatest Hits" albums. So, no Best of U2 1980-1990 or whatever; (2) Only one album per artist.

Here's mine:

New Miserable Experience, Gin Blossoms. Every song was a home run (in my opinion). Memorized every.single.line of every.single.song. Too bad they broke up soon after.

Dream of the Blue Turtles, Sting. Classic. Loved Moon Over Bourbon Street--but was he a werewolf (with the howl at the end and the title, duh) or a vampire ("you'll never see my shade" and "face of a sinner, hands of a priest")?

The Joshua Tree, U2. Running to Stand Still and Exit. I hated U2 before this album; after I heard it, I bought the entire back catalog. So thanks, JC, for lending me your U2 tapes.

Amplified Heart, Everything But The Girl. Reminds me of the time I lived in San Francisco. Lovely, angsty, depressing stuff, quite the contrast from Idlewild, which was happy pop.

and finally...

Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette. A lot of the songs here depicted events in my life circa 1995-96. From being a boonie in Chicago (Hand in My Pocket) to a messy friendship/relationship (Ironic and You Learn) to meeting the woman I married (Head Over Feet). Plus some of the best lyrics I've ever heard:

It was a slap in the face
How quickly I was replaced
Are you thinking of me
When you fuck her

and

You took me out to wine dine 69 me
But didn't hear a damn word I said

Heh. I guess she really hated Full House. So, she gets engaged to Van Wilder ten years later. Wonder what she'll write if he screws her over?

A couple that barely missed the cut:

Dulcinea, Toad the Wet Sprocket
Songs About Jane, Maroon 5
Compus Mentus, Cutting Crew (hey...it was good!)
Waterfront, Waterfront (featuring the Chester anthem Cry)
Kick, INXS, pre-Asshat
Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, Tears For Fears
Tango in the Night, Fleetwood Mac
Under the Table and Dreaming, Dave Matthews Band

Lost once again: Season Two begins

Wow.

So we find out what was in the hatch. Just...wow.

Some other points:
(1) Something was wrong with the tape, at least from what I was watching (on an old 32" Trinitron). The blacks were all wrong--it's not my TV or the signal, because the commercials were clear.
(2) Man, what a rug on (flashback) Jack Shepherd.
(3) So Jack has really assumed leader status, huh? What happened to Sayid? I guess he's too wrapped up in Shannon...although Locke, of course, challenged him. And of course Kate just had to know what was going on (and probably wanted to find an escape route in case the cavalry arrived).
(4) Man, what a rug on (flashback) Jack Shepherd.
(5) Totally called what was in the hatch halfway thru. Actually, it was more like "Wouldn't it be cool if..."
(6) Hulk Hogan's writing the dialogue!

Loved it. Although the kids were noisy throughout the show, and my MIL kept getting phone calls. So, the impact was a bit diluted. Still, though...wow.

INXS 2.0

HA! Totally called it. Well, I haven't bought any INXS albums since X--and I'm not about to buy the new one. Oh, I just bought their back catalog (The Swing, Kick, and X), since I lost my old CDs; but JD does nothing for me.

Wonder if he'll still be around next year.

Looking forward to...(the Fall edition)

It's almost fall, and there are a couple of things that I'm looking forward to:

* Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman (September 20). The first book I read by Neil Gaiman was his collaboration with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens. I was impressed, so I bought Stardust and Neverwhere. Overall I liked Stardust better, but that's because I'm a romantic at heart.

American Gods was okay. I liked the character of Shadow, and the whole "the gods live among us" concept, but at times the book seemed too Stephen King-ish to me. I also read the novella in Legends II, which was a riff on Beowulf.

Anyway, I'll give Anansi Boys a go.

* Thud!, by Terry Pratchett (out). Discworld! Vimes! The Watch! 'nuff said.

* Knife of Dreams, by Robert Jordan (October 11). The next volume in the Wheel of Time. At this point I'm just reading it out of sheer stubborness, hoping that something happens. Where oh where is the person who wrote the ending of Lord of Chaos?

* Feast for Crows, by George R. R. Martin (November 8). Five years later...I just hope Martin doesn't die on us before this is over. It's like...Rowling kicking it before finishing Harry Potter. *knock on wood*

* Final Fantasy: Advent Children (November 29) Sephiroth, baby. The coolest, most badass (even more badass than Randy--heh, sorry, MiG fans) villain ever created. And he's not even a villain, he's just misunderstood. Took me almost a day to beat him at Kingdom Hearts, which leads me to...

* Kingdom Hearts 2 (December 15). Do we see Sephiroth? How about hearing David Boreanaz play Leon again? Kingdom Hearts was one of the best games I've played. Pretty dark for a Disney production; and, in true anime fashion, a heartbreaking ending.

* Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire (November). The movies just keep getting better and better.

* The Chronicles of Narnia (December). Something to replace LOTR during Christmas. Aslan looked waycool.

* King Kong (December). Speaking of LOTR...Peter Jackson goodness. Have you seen him recently?

* Lost, Alias, Justice League Unlimited and The Amazing Race (September). Thank God for DVRs.

and finally, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes (October). Gorgeous three-volume leather-bound set. Unfortunately, I already have pretty much every book written by Bill Watterson. *sigh* Anyone have a hundred bucks I can borrow?

Cool it now

Finally figured out the CPU overheating problem on my box--it was a combo of the thermal compound and the HSF not being set correctly. What I did:

(1) Bought a new third party fan (Thermaltake Jungle 512)
(2) Bought Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound
(3) Bought Arcticlean thermal compound cleaner
(4) Removed the heatsink and cleaned the silicone goop off
(5) Removed the CPU (!) and cleaned the surface
(6) Put back the CPU (at first I restarted the machine--didn't work. Panic. Then I realize I didn't close the load plate correctly. Whew!)
(7) Reset the HSF and pushed down FIRMLY. I was always delicate with it because I was worried about cracking the motherboard, but the shop said push it in firmly, so I did.

BAM, temps are now hovering at 45C. Yay!

Rockstar: INXS: JD fans

Q: What's the difference between Apple Zealots and JD fans?
A: JD fans' tool of choice wears an asshat.

(hmm. that made sense when I thought of it earlier this morning.)

of course, he'll still win. cos' he's roit for OB:INXS

Rockstar: INXS: Almost there

Ever since Saint Jordis (tm Leperpop) was booted off this show, I'm not really that much into this anymore. I'm not partial to any of the final four, except maybe for MiG, and only because he's Pinoy (I don't really like his voice, it's too high).

I don't like Marty because he screams and is off-key 15% of the time.

I don't like JD because he's an asshat and he reminds me of my ex-BIL.

I don't like Suzie because she's boring.

I don't like MiG because his voice is too high and he's too self-conscious.

Alas, poor Jordis. Granted, her nerves got to her, but she was amazing. Yes, I even liked her performance of Layla (although I hid when she sang Dream On) and I think Try Not is better and more complex than Pretty Vegas or Trees. And yes, I'm buying her album if it ever comes out.

So who's roit for OB:INXS? Even though I detest him (and I find his fans too-funny and too-willing to justify anything he does, and how dare you say anything even remotely bad about him), I think it's JD. Boy can put on a show. He may be annoying (to me), but he connects to people, and inspires feeling (be it positive or negative). And I think OB:INXS needs that to survive today.

I just won't be buying their album if that's the case.

*batteries not included

Yay! Found this forgotten gem at Sams Club yesterday. It was a small "Presented By Steven Spielberg" flick--kinda in the vein of Short Circuit. Largely overlooked. Interestingly, it was co-written by Brad Bird, the genius behind The Iron Giant and The Incredibles!

edited 'coz i can't spell.

Are You Hot or Not?

Well, I went ahead and got a third party CPU HSF (Thermaltake Jungle512) from Fry's. First time actually installing one; other than the fact that I'm bummed about this machine (after plopping down money for it), it's actually quite exciting tinkering around with the guts of the PC.

Did it work? Somewhat...the fan has more RPM than the previous one, and I think the heatsink is better built...so now the temp hovers around 83 degrees celsius...still hot, but at least it doesn't crank up to 110 degrees C...all the time. I might try adding arctic silver or another thermal compound later on.

I'm typing this on the box as we speak. It's half-naked right now--for better circulation (I'll take the risk on the dust part).

Wondering now if the temp sensor is defective or not. This IS a new motherboard after all. Oh, well, the shop should respond by tomorrow.

Fan's a bit loud though. The stock fan was much quieter.

Hothothot!

Just got my computer back from the shop, and I think they screwed something up...maybe gave me a defective heatsink? Because the hardware monitor is reporting that my CPU is running at...on average...

95 FRICKIN DEGREES CELSIUS! ALMOST BOILING POINT!

It even reaches 110 DEGREES CELSIUS before it shuts itself down.

Geez. It was just a simple power supply/motherboard problem at first; they've replaced the power supply as well as the motherboard, but they may have bolted the heatsink inocrrectly. It wasn't like this before.

Unless the BIOS is wrong and is reporting inflated temperatures. Because the case itself doesn't feel hot (unless the chip is too small that I can't feel it).

Le sigh. And I thought I got my rig back. Oh, well.

Sail away, sail away, sail away

Just got back from a one week vacation on the Navigator of the Seas with the wife and kids. Lucked out in that we missed Katrina by that much--when we landed in Miami, it was a bit windy and a bit rainy--and there was no power in our hotel. Oy. Flashback to my Manila days when there was no power, and it would be impossible to sleep because of the heat. Bad times.

Once we got on the ship, though, everything was okay. Huge ship, the Navigator. The kids enjoyed it, especially running down the hallways and screaming their heads off. I'm sure the people in the staterooms were pretty happy about that. They were pretty noisy in our stateroom too--which, unfortunately, was just above the bridge. We even got a phone call from them, asking us to keep it down, and to close our drapes. Whoops.

Magen's Bay was our favorite beach. No waves, water was clear, sand was white...the twins loved it. Unfortunately, our tour bus left us cos we were late. Hey, try getting the kids to leave the water and then changing them.

The Atlantis resort was frakkin' cool. I'm sorry, I just had to say that. The big-ass aquarium was a hoot, seeing those sting rays, those manta rays, giant groupers, tarpon, barracuda, sharks, and even a good ol' sawfish. I'd like to stay there at some point in my life; however, I won't be staying in the bridge suites, which according to the tour guide is $25,000 a night, with a minimum 7-night stay. Ouch!

I did feel a bit guilty seeing what was happening to New Orleans because of Katrina...but life goes on. We'll see about helping out in some form or fashion.

Comics Life

*sigh* How come Apple gets the cool toys?

Comic Life

Reviewed over at applematters.com.

Quick glance-over at the FAQs indicate that a Windows version is being considered. Seeing as I can't justify a Mac Mini purchase at the moment, I'll have to wait.

New hobby: Chuckling over Apple Fanboys

I don't own a Mac. I've flirted with getting a Mac (an iMac G5) this January, when I was looking to get a desktop to be my video editing workstation. I even visited the Apple store in Costa Mesa several times, and was all but ready to make the switch.

However, my wife needed a PC in case she ever needed to VPN to work. So, boom, case closed, got a new P4 instead. And so far the machine's worked like a dream. No viruses, no adware, nothing. Virtually no maintenance either--just Zone Alarm and AVG at their basic settings. But dang, the iLife suite sure was tempting.

Then I started reading some Apple fansites like www.applematters.com. Hoo-boy, those fanboys make my head explode. I'm amused and a bit creeped out by these folks who defend everything Steve Jobs does.

Case in point: the one-button mouse. Never knew this was such a hot topic. I've used multi-button mice all my life, and Microsoft mice are, in my opinion, the best. But these guys? Here's a couple I've seen from various sites (applematters, mdn, slashdot):

"A one-button mouse is more ergonomically sound than a two button mouse, because you you can avoid repetitive stress syndrome with your fingers. Heck, you can use your palm to do the clicking." (maybe, but my hand hurt after ten minutes playing with the iMac G5. can't beat the shape of the Intellimouse and its brethren, IMHO)

"People with disabilities can use the one-button mouse with their feet" (huh?)

"Apple has done a lot of usability studies and focus groups and have determined that the one-button mouse is the best" (somebody replied that Microsoft and Logitech probably have their own studies and focus groups as well. this is true. of course these companies will only publish comments flattering to them. what, apple is going to say "our mice suck, get another mouse immediately upon buying one"?)

"Your average person gets confused by the right button" (might've been true waaaay back, but now? oh, i forgot--Apple "focus groups" say they get confused)

"Why do you need the right button? Just use the keyboard" (wait, i thought things should be simpler...)

"The one-button mouse forces developers to keep things simple" (i've got nothin')

Now, there are some saner heads out there who make the valid point that it's all about choice--pick one you like. If the one-button works for you, fine. If not, buy something else. OSX does plug-and-play (or whatever it's called in Apple world).

But the 1% who come up with these kind of comments? Comedy gold. Wonder what their spin would be if/when Jobs decides to get rid of the one-button mouse and bundle a multi-button mouse instead. I think a lot of them are whimpering right now with Apple switching to Intel chips after trumpeting that PPC beats the crap out of Pentium chips--either that, or trying to come up with the latest excuse/revisionist history.

Hey, I might still get a Mac Mini one day (and my friend might disown me forever), since I'm curious about OS X. I won't become a full-fledged "switcher", but I might take a dip and see. I'll have to make sure I take my anti-RDF pills too.

And to those people who'll ignore my last paragraph and say "well, you've never used a Mac, so you can't comment on it!"? Yeah, go ahead and drive away folks curious about the Mac and OSX. Morons.

Not that anyone else reads this blog anyway, other than my friend who's a Linux geek. And if I ever use a Mac, he'll stop reading it too. =)