The Revolutionary Controller

I got out of bed this morning (though it was 22 degrees outside), ate breakfast and dressed up, and braved the icy ground (I actually fell on my ass once) to get to the bus stop. And what happened? Classes got cancelled! Now I have classes on my dead days! If only we had started classes a week earlier this wouldn't be such a crappy situation for all of us. I got a lot of Latin done though and ended up going to mass, which was nice. Anyway, the real star today is the Nintendo Revolution, and maybe you should watch this trailer for it first. Back? Good. If you're anxious to get a better look at it, IGN has a 360 degree view of it. When can you expect to get your hands on one? IGN seems to think that it will likely be around November 18, 2006. I must admit that despite my initial disdain for the controller, I'm starting to take more to it. You have to appreciate the simplicity of it as a whole, and they're clearly trying to appeal to non-gamers with a very friendly look to it and a wide array of games (like interactive fishing and tennis) via the "free hand style" design. Plus, interactive sword-fighting seems pretty cool. MTV got a pretty good look at the controller also. I'm glad that they're taking a different approach in the new generation because it may end up beating the Xbox 360 (or even both consoles).

If you really want to see something impressive, some blogger put up a few videos showcasing supercooled water, which is where water skips the solid state even though it's at below freezing. It's a cool phenomenon and fun to watch. Gmail is getting even smarter as it will now start to show you the most important details in your messages to the right of them. I like how competitive (read: innovative) e-mail clients are getting now. A Stanford publication got the chance to interview Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and got some rather interesting answers out of him. He brought up a great point that artists should be more involved in setting prices for their work and even relates the issues to software engineers. If you want to learn to play acoustic guitar you may want to check this out, but beware that it will only confuse you if you aim for classical guitar. There are classical guitar books out there, and I recommend an introductory lesson with an instructor after reading such a book. Lastly, if you forget to record your favorite shows, you should definitely look into this.

The keyword today is "trailers" apparently because a boatload of them have been released, starting with a teaser for Silent Hill. Just copy this link and paste it in your Windows Media Player's "Open URL" box to check it out. It has increased my hopes for the movie as they've gotten the style spot-on. A surprisingly light-hearted trailer is out there for Marie Antoinette and it turns out that the movie focuses more on her younger years, but I just feel that they made it a little too modern in some scenes. Even happier than that trailer though is the one for Curious George, which is clearly targeted for kids, but I still like the animation. Back to the serious stuff though, we finally have a full-length trailer for Weinstein Co.'s The Libertine and it's got me very curious about it because this is one piece of history I'm not quite aware of. The last trailer I have today is for Spike Lee's Inside Man, which is a bank robbery negotiation storyline with some really big name actors so I don't know what to expect out of it. Latino Review got its paws on the script for The Bourne Ultimatum and they're not too impressed citing that it's largely a boring rehash of the original. Lastly, Jet Li has announced that he will do no more fight movies after Fearless, but many of us wonder if it's just a ploy to sell tickets for the movie.

I decided to go for the Thursday Threesome meme this week:

Onesome: Seventeen Shopping-- Malls? ..or one Internet? Are you doing more online shopping this year? The polls say we are, but I'm curious about what the real people are doing.
I've actually done both, but I did all the serious stuff on the Internet. The deals are just better there and some items (like collectibles) you can only get on eBay.

Twosome: Days-- ...or "Daze"? Are you finished with your shopping? Do you still a few things to go? What? Not even a game plan? ...or is there just one person you're having trouble finding something for?
I'm finished except for my parents' gifts. I just don't know what we're (my brother and I) going to get them yet. Those are the only other people I can think of whom I have to shop for though.

Threesome: Left!-- What's left to do at your place (or where you are going)? Is the tree up? ...or maybe you're just happy you found the Christmas coffee mug and are calling that good?
My parents didn't put up a tree this year since we haven't been around, and I didn't put one up at my place because I won't be here for Christmas anyway! I wish I had more Christmasy stuff for my place, but I'm sure my parents put up a few token decorations back at home. I'll find out in under two weeks though anyway.