Tag Archives: Life in general

Wiiview

Well, I finally found a playable Wii. I have to say, slightly disappointing. The nunchuck is way too light. The wiimote is too sensitive at times and not sensitive enough at other times. I must say though, once I got used to the weight and the sensitivity (and getting smacked in the arm by the lefty next to me), wii sports tennis was extremely fun. I sucked at it, yes, but that’s to be expected. I also enjoyed being completely rag-dolled in boxing. Since this was at my school’s anime con, we could only do multiplayer games, thus I have nothing to report on Twilight Princess. Oh well. Still, if you didn’t need to point the wiimote at the sensor bar and the nunchuck was a bit heavier, the wii would be basically perfect.

A word on graphical quality. Sure, the Wii is the most underpowered current-gen console, but what it lacks in power it makes up for in fun and innovation. The controls were very intuitive, I must say.

Update: My friend Cutter has informed me that the sensor bar was in fact set up incorrectly at the anime con, so you can disregard my above comments on the sensitivity issues, at least until I try the Wii his way…

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SNL

I’m watching Saturday Night Live right now, waiting for Tenacious D to appear, and I have to say…This show really sucks compared to the first 6 or 7 seasons, or even compared to 3 years ago. I love the fact that there are a bunch of actors I know on it (Keenan of Good Burger (the unfunny, fat one 😉 ), Andy of The Lonely Island, etc.), but that alone doesn’t make it comedy. I’m only watching because of Tenacious D.

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Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny

I recently saw The Pick of Destiny with a bunch of friends, and I must say I was actually slightly disappointed. I’m a huge fan of Jack Black and his band Tenacious D, but the movie was just not as good as I had hoped it would be. I really liked the beginning and the rock training, but after they officially form and name the band (I love the ass mark scene) there are very few good parts, the highlights being the shroom scene and the break-in. The duel with Satan was great, and the very end was awesome if you liked the song Tribute, which I did. The drama about their breakup and getting back together seemed like drama for drama’s sake, and didn’t add to the story at all, same with the car chase.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a great movie. It just didn’t accomplish what I expected of it.

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Happy Gobblz!

Happy Turkeyday, my friends! 😀 I’m in Connecticut with my extended family until saturday, but I’ve got my computer and a WiFi connection, so I might post about the Tenacious D movie I saw yesterday… ’twas awesome. 😉

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Zune Release

Today Microsoft released the first version of its PMP (Portable Media Player), the Zune. Supposedly M$’s “iPod Killer,” the Zune costs $250 and comes in 3 “colors”: Black, White, and (get this) Brown. Those are some colors there, yup…I could make a whole freakin’ rainbow of Zunes. It comes equipped with WiFi, but (for some reason, most likely legal) you cannot use it to transmit music to it from your computer, and you cannot use it to buy music from M$’s online music store.

What can you use it for? Trading music from other Zunes (The 3/3 deal though: you can either listen to the song 3 times or keep it for 3 days before it deletes itself, whichever happens first), trade pictures from other Zunes, or synch it with your 360 (score keeping, friends’ statuses from Live, etc). It’s one of the largest wastes of money I’ve seen so far. Why bother making customers pay more for a Zune with WiFi, when the WiFi doesn’t even do anything useful yet? I would release a cheaper, smaller Zune (which maybe costs less than the iPod, its rival, and therefore sell more?) that has the same features as the iPod Video (plus the larger screen, more customization features, and sadly yes, larger color selection…), while they worked on developing that WiFi a bit more so it could do PC syncing and wireless music purchasing. But that’s most likely a problem with the RIAA, not M$. Stupid RIAA.

But for all the good things about the Zune, its software looks horrible. Check out Engadget’s review for more information on that front. I don’t plan on buying one any time soon ever.

Oh and I should mention the Zune ad campaign, most of which sucks (“Welcome to the social” is not English, folks!), but this site has many of the TV ads and posters (or maybe they’re just concepts? I’m not sure) that are actually good. Watch the one with the robot and the two birds one, as they are the best.

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Mitt Romney Thinks I’m Smrt

I just got my MCAS results back, and I’m all advanced. That’s in Writing, Reading, ‘Rithmatic, and R’science and engineering. Pretty cool, methinks.

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Happy Birthday, iPod!

Today, 5 years ago, the iPod was first introduced by Steve Jobs. It was meant to become (and did a very good job becoming) the market leader for portable music. It’s so strange to watch this video and listen to His Steveness say “iPod” instead of “The iPod,” and see what stone-age technology was available before the iPod. Funniest to watch, however, is the crowd’s stony silence as the iPod is announced. What a contrast to today, when a new product announcement by Apple is met with a huge applause. The iPod really was Apple’s modern ticket to ride, I guess.

Original iPod Announcement

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN0SVBCJqLs]

Also of intrest are the videos of the OS X announcement back in January 2000:

Part One

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko4V3G4NqII]

Part Two

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-fkYFV7rOY]

Part Three

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GkoAa5718Y]

Very cool Apple stuff.

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School Bans Tag

A school in Boston (not far from my home) has banned tag, touch football, and other chase games for fear of the kids getting hurt during recess and suing the school. This means that these kids have next to no chance of actually learning anything during recess. A common misconception is that kids don’t ever learn anything during recess, but this is when social skills develop, and if they aren’t allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, how will they learn the lessons not taught in school? This is just one more way we are becoming more and more sheltered, moving closer and closer to a ‘utopia’ like presented in The Giver and other such stories. Way to go, Boston.

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Macintosh SE

Today I was out buying a costume from a store when I saw a Macintosh SE lying on a pile of garbage bags. Being the computer enthusiast I am, I grabbed it and took it home. Even if it didn’t actually work (Why would it? Who would throw out a perfectly good Macintosh SE?), it would still be really cool to have it.
When I got it home and plugged it in, lo and behold it turned on! Yeah. It was really cool. Not as dramatic as the startup noise of modern Macs, but the little “bing” is awesome all the same. I couldn’t actually do anything with it, since it didn’t have a mouse or keyboard, and the Macintosh mouse and keyboard I have don’t work with it. The trash can icon is full, I wonder whats in it…does anyone know where I can get a keyboard and mouse for an SE?
Also, for the fun of it, I took a picture with the SE next to Eve, my Macbook Pro. It’s very cool.

Click to enlarge

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Happy Friday the 13th!

Happy Friday the 13th, and in October to top it off! Sorry I haven’t been posting that much lately, school has been keeping me pretty busy…Oh well, I’ll post again if I get the chance. Here’s a bit of negative space work I did for an anonymous client. Ain’t it awesome?

click to enlarge

It’s a Y and an A, if you couldn’t tell. And it’s using 2 point perspective. Uhhh…Yeah.

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