Lunch with Dr. Geijn

ACM hosts a series of faculty luncheons, and today I was the moderator at the lunch with Dr. Robert van de Geijn (of CS 378: Parallel Computing fame). It's amazing how down-to-earth someone so smart can be. His cirriculum vitae is literally 12 pages long! And yet, he was an interesting person to talk to and I think that everyone who attended enjoyed it (there were actually five other people) as well. We talked quite a bit about graduate school and it just makes me wonder more and more whether I should pursue a masters degree in CS. On one hand, I really love learning more about it. However, I'd really rather get in the industry rather than do a lot of research. If I got a masters degree, I would love to go to Stanford for it. Oh, and anyone else think that O's Cafe is pretty reasonably priced? I had heard it was real pricey, but everything seemed reasonable. I got a good sized plate of fries I got for $1.50. Anyway, maybe I'll put up a picture soon.

Those of you who use Firefox and have had problems with some sites avoiding the popup blocker should check out this fix. I really wish I had this tv! Instead I have a tv that changes brightness as I watch DVDs on it. Anyway, I also wish I had a 512 MB video card. Though it's not necessary for today's uses, games could advance to the point where games would really take advantage of it within the next five years in my opinion. Back to television though, the debate continues on the broadcast flag issue in court. Apparently the judges don't take too kindly to power hungry federal organizations, and I think they're right. I can see the FCC's concern, but these measures are like hitting a nail with a sledgehammer. Technology did take a leap today though when a Nevada nanotechnology company developed Li-ON batteries that can charge faster. This is cool because we use Li-ONs so much in cell phones and laptops. Apple has been getting smarter and smart and it has now released a new iPod mini with more space (4GB), longer batter life (18 hours), and a cheaper price ($200)! I think if they teamed up with Google they could take over the world.

I'm kind of dry on movie news today. It looks like Chow Yun-Fat will play a bounty hunter for the undead in a movie called The Wretched. Looks like his career in the U.S. is starting to take off! Jim Carrey is slated to be in another romantic movie (a comedy actually), but this time with Angelina Jolie. Details are scarce and there's no commitment yet, but if it's written for them specifically it's likely that they'll like it. It's amazing how much Carrey has transformed since those awful Ace Ventura movies. Star Wars fans will want to reserve seats to the March 11th release of Robots so they can see the new trailer. My hopes are actually higher for the trailer than the movie though. Speaking of bad movies, there's a new clip up from Cursed. The only reason I can discern for sitting through that movie is Christina Ricci. Those of you eagerly awaiting the Chronicles of Narnia flick may be interested in this interview with the visual effects supervisor. It sounds like they really put a lot of time into it so we can expect great things! And lastly, Filmforce visited the set of Michael Bay's The Island and put up some commentary on that movie. The plot kind of reminds me of The Matrix, but without the focus on action, so it could be good.

So I've saved the best for last: game news. Zipper confirmed a SOCOM III! I love the SOCOM games and I can't wait to play it with vehicles and more locations. Maybe they'll even develop an AI comparable to Half-Life 2? In my dreams, eh? Gran Turismo 4 is finally out, and it almost feels surreal. IGN gave it a 9.5 because it didn't break as many barriers as they hoped, but you can bet your money that it's still one of the best PS2 games out there.



Games this sweet should really be illegal. That shot is from the photo mode from which you can only take pictures of yoruself in races but also get different angles from replay videos and edit them and all that jazz. Alright, enough about that game; just know that it's awesome.

Nothing left now but the Midweek Music Meme:

What song reminds you of winter, and why?
"Let it Snow"? Even more than that though actually, "The Christmas Song" actually invokes that feeling of warmth in the midst of cold. Being in such a warm place I don't have any songs but Christmas songs to remind me of the winter.