The ESRB Shocks Us All

Yesterday's post didn't turn out as short as I thought, but hopefully this one will because I have to study for my first test in History II. The most striking piece of news today was ESRB's decision to make Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas the first Adults Only game ever. Take Two has halted the manufacture of the game to take out the hidden content and the ESRB will distribute AO stickers to retailers who wish to continue selling the game. I literally jumped in my chair when I first read the headline. I didn't think that they would cave, but I guess they had to do something. I think they might make a modified version of the game rated M again, but no explicit mention of that so far. Why am I afraid that this is too little too late for the religious watchdog groups? It's like a teenager helplessly trying to wish away a car accident by assuring his parents that the car isn't in too bad a shape. Could this mean that more games will be rated AO now? What will the distinction be between M and AO? The Guy Game was canned because of its lascivious content, but could it pass as ok with an AO rating? I'm sure that we can expect more developments very soon.

To start the techie news there's the high profile grand opening of Google Moon, which is commemorating the anniversary of Apollo 11 (the first moon landing). It's just a satellite map of what data we have so far of the moon, and when you zoom in real close it would appear that the moon is made of cheese (or at least at the time of this post). Apple has finally decided to revamp the iBook after nearly a year, and the buzz is that it'll be widescreen. I keep getting PowerBook and iBook mixed up so hopefully this new release will set me straight. Bank of America is trying to reinforce their website security with SiteKey, a free service that will require you to answer 3 questions in addition to your password and may also have you identify an image (as you do when registering for most message boards nowadays). The 3 questions may be a little too much, but at least they're trying. If you're enamored with RSS then you may want to consider the possibility that its growth will be more important for companies than bloggers. What I'm more worried about is possible security exploits. Lastly, take a look at Humanoid Robot HR-2.

The movie news today really is short and sweet. Fox is moving forward with a biopic on the Notorious B.I.G. and I think that it's definitely an appropriate time to give it a try. With The Island just around the corner, IGN spoke with Michael Bay and Scarlett Johansson and it makes the movie sound more and more palpable. Even better, Yahoo! Movies has most of the "Freeway Escape" scene. That's definitely not the last of the video footage today though. We finally have some footage from the upcoming Transformers movie, and I'm happy to report that it's starting to look pretty good. We still have a long time to wait yet though. IGN got an exclusive trailer for a movie called The Chubscrubber, which sounds like part of the recent trend of really deep teen movies that could go either way really. If you're interested in foreign films there's a trailer in French for Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist and I can't understand what's going on it. Lastly, we also have a neat international trailer for Serenity about a teenage girl in space with a big secret, and everything I've heard about this one so far has been great so it should be worthwhile.



Before I conclude I just have to share my distaste for Congress's motion to extend Daylight Savings Time by 2 months. Who's lobbying this stuff?! Farmers don't really care about it anymore. It's so hot here that it sucks to have to wait until like 8:00 PM if I want to jog outside (which I don't do anymore as a result).

Now for some Wednesday Mind Humping:

01. The humped up version of those famous words spoken on the moon would be, "One small hump for man, one giant hump for mankind." Choose a historically important quote and hump, hump, hump it up!
"Ask not what your country can hump for you, but ask what you can hump for your country!" Very compelling words, indeed.

02. It's story telling time! Have you ever been mooned or have your ever mooned anyone?
Not that I can recall, but the ladies should feel free to moon me!

03. When the moon is bright and full, what sort of creature of the night might you transform into?
Hmm, maybe Optimus Prime? If I'm lucky though, maybe Fabio or even Brad Pitt.

04. Indulge in a bit of lunacy -- complete the following moon quotes:

When the moon is not full ... some people may flip out.
May you have a full moon on a dark night and ... a shiny sun on a gloomy day.
Love is like the moon, it ... is big, mysterious, and freaky.
I'd rather be a dog and bay at the moon than ... be Lacey on Real World: Austin.

CS in the News

I'm pretty tired today because I ended up having dinner unexpectedly at my brother's, which means I'm literally going to just crash after I finish this post. Hence, don't expect it to be too long and don't be surprised by big grammatical errors. Bill Gates has taken it upon himself to decry the issue of a lack of spending in the Computer Science industry by the government, and I actually agree with him (for once). I think that the rise of security concerns has proven how important programmers really are today, and yet it's frightening that the government has cut back on investing in R&D and just in human capital. I understand that we have a huge deficit and all, but is a war in another country more important than the technological dangers facing people here? Plus, it would really put us ahead in the world. It's kind of sad to know that the most graduates in CS are from online or night course schools. It's great that these are women, but why aren't we seeing more teenagers going through programs at accredited four year institutions? What's the big turnoff? Was it that stupid outsourcing scare? I believe that there are more people interested in computing than like to admit it (*cough*Ronak*cough*), and it's a shame when they go astray.

There are a few other things in tech news today. Despite Gates's responsible outcry about, he has immaturely decided to sue Google for stealing an employee from him! There was some dispute about the former M$ employee's contract, but Google is willing to fight back and I hope they win. A recent issue that has sprung up is the possible video iPod and it turns out that Steve Jobs is furtively in talks with Disney to license Disney content for the future device. It's just nice to see that the gears are turning. I'm disappointed to see Senator Clinton in opposition to the ESRB because while her motherly concern makes sense I just can't see how she doesn't see the importance of good parenting here. I'm sure that they'll win and create an independent organization to rate games, and that's really sad because I'll be you that it'll make no difference at all. Lastly, CNN decided to do an article on the new trend of being openly dorky, and it feels like everyone followed me! I struggled with it for a while before realizing that it's just part of me, and then everyone started wearing shirts with "Dork" on it! Go figure.

The movie news is pretty quirky and littered with trailers so I'm gonna just breeze through it. By some miracle, Fantasic Four looks like it may be on its way to having a sequel despite the 60% drop, and hopefully they do it better this time. AICN put up what it saw from Kevin Smith at Comic-Con, and most importantly what Richard Kelly interjected about Southland Tales, which looks crazy and interesting at the same time so give it a look-see. If you miss the movie Wall Street or even the less impressing Boiler Room then be sure to look at the trailer for Two For the Money because it follows another path of gambling in a guy who's just lucky with picking winners and inevitably gets his investors in a hole. If you'd prefer a deeper movie there's also a new trailer for Proof regarding the legacy left for Gwyneth Paltrow's character by father Anthony Hopkins, and it could go either way so don't write it off. There's also a supposedly stunning trailer for The Fog up but I can't get it to work so maybe you'll have more luck than me. If you can't get enough Jessica Simpson then you'll want to see what pictures JoBlo has dug up from Dukes of Hazard. I'm more concerned with posters though, including the new one for Red Eye and an even better one for Memoirs of a Geisha:



Now for a quick Ten on Tuesday:

10 Countries You'd Like to Visit
10. Russia
9. China
8. Philippines
7. Nepal
6. Jordan (Danna has me intrigued)
5. Peru
4. Japan
3. Italy (I have to see Rome someday)
2. United Kingdom
1. India, though I have been there before.

Be Cool in the Closet

Miss me? You know you did, just admit it. The title is strange I'll admit, but it'll all come together by the end of this paragraph. Oh, and if you want to read more about the soccer games yesterday then click here (or here for Panama v. S. Africa). I had read some bad things about Be Cool, but I was still curious to see it since it had some big names in it and my brother had already rented it anyway. It ended up being a decent popcorn flick. It was perfect to end a relaxing weekend because it wasn't meant for you to think on much. The plot has obvious issues, but the script is better than I would've thought and the acting was feasible. The shining star had to be The Rock though playing a gay bodyguard and providing a whole lot of comic relief and had us rewinding it for more. I give it a B- because while you shouldn't go out of your way to see it, it is fun to watch. Another thing we checked out last night upon my brother's urging was R. Kelly's "Trapped in a Closet" hip hopera (click on 'Video'). This is the stupidest piece of R&B I've seen. Sure it rhymes well, but he's just singing a story! And it's incredibly far-fetched. My advice: watch the first chapter and then check out the Jimmy Kimmel parody about pizza. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

I have a ton of technology news that I've whittled down to the very best stuff. EWeek.com has its own opinion on why Apple switched to Intel, and they believe it has to do with an up-and-coming network protocol that Longhorn will supposedly support. Not to be outdone, it seems that Apple may be rushing to Intel so that it isn't left in the cold and it's plausible as a contributing reason but not the main one. This coupled with Apple's ambitions for an online video store (similar to iTunes) could make them quite a powerhouse very soon. I have high hopes for them. Microsoft seems unperturbed though and are more focused on urging developers rather to start development efforts for Internet Explorer 7. I think it makes them sound a little pompous, but hopefully they can back up their claims of this browser being good. Meanwhile, it turns out that 56.2% of software developers used open source modules in their process, and I just find it interested that it's actually on the rise. Another thing on the rise is spyware, and it turns out that people are beginning to toss their computers rather than fight the battle. I can totally relate to them because it can be quite frustrating, but I just think it's funny that it's such a common practice. Another thing I found a bit humorous was this article about how to cover your slacking at work, and may be relevant for many of you. Lastly, take a quick glance at how computers were taught to work about 25 years ago.

I'm kind of tired tonight so thankfully there isn't too much movie news. The winner at the box office this weekend was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with $55.4 million and fellow opener Wedding Crashers managed to pull in almost its whole budget at $32.2 million, and I find both figures pleasing given the prior box office slump. Fantastic Four actually had a 60% drop at third and Batman Begins is about a million away from grossing more than Batman Forever. Brett Ratner looks to have abandoned hopes for now of a Rush Hour 3 in favor of a heist film (presumable a comedy) featuring Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock conceived by Murphy and to begin after X3 wraps up. Speaking of X-men, it seems that the rumors of Ben Foster being Angel are starting to solidify, and the race to finish the movie continues. If you're looking for an interesting foreign film IGN has the first 6 minutes from a promising German crime movie called The Edukators and will be out nationwide by August. Lastly, take a look at the teaser poster for the highly anticipated Southland Tales movie (coupled with the release of the graphic novels):



Just a couple of quick last things. With all the Hot Coffee mod controversy lately I thought that this article would be helpful for those of you who don't know how the ESRB ratings work. I think that this attack on the ESRB and calls for FTC regulations are ridiculous and you're hard-pressed to find an incorrect rating on a game. A guy at Flexbeta posted the top 5 things he'd like to see in the next 5 years, and he makes some good points.

Now for some Monday Madness:

1. Mal asks... What is the last thing you do at night?
On most nights it's brushing my teeth, but before that I usually play guitar for a while.
2. Wil asks... Where were you when the lights went out?
The only time this summer I've been stuck without electricity was at 24 Hour Fitness and I waited there for 30 minutes before going to another location.
3. Andrea asks... What's on your refrigerator?
A bunch of random magnets my mom has collected.
4. Jenny asks... What is your ideal vacation spot?
Probably New York City because there's so much fun to be had there.
5. Kia asks... What's the sexiest language in the world?
Portuguese maybe? It is pretty cool to listen to.
6. Zeno asks... Have you ever made a wish on a shooting star and had that wish come true?
I've never wished on one before because I don't see one all too often out here in the city.
7. Bunnykissd asks... We're more than halfway through the year now; how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions?
I'm getting somewhere with my cluttering, but I need to kick into overdrive now.

No Weekend Post

Sorry to disappoint my regulars, but I will not get a chance for a weekend post this weekend. My cousin's birthday was last night, and today (it's still Sunday for me kinda) I saw the quarterfinal CONCACAF soccer matches at Reliant Stadium. Mexico ended up losing unfortunately, and after the game we chilled at my brother's and saw Be Cool (I think I'll review it in my Monday post). So anyway, just thought I might as well explain. And tomorrow I'll have a busy morning so you'll have to hold your breath until Monday night! I'll try to incorporate some of the stuff I wanted to talk about today in that one.

Privacy is All the Rave

Have you noticed how much privacy has been in the news recently? It all started with a Republican bastard named Karl Rove. One reporter did a little article about how easy it is to find the CIA operative in question with a little Google action. He ended up with a satellite map of where she actually lives, and that's a little creepy. The Government really needs to get on top of protecting their operatives. Disney has started a controversy all on its own with required finger scanning at all their parks. The ACLU is not happy about it as they shouldn't be because they may be a little out of line. Can the finger print check really prove that much? To reiterate a question I've asked a few times before: how much security is too much? Back on the Internet, Mozilla's Spread Firefox site has been hacked and the culprits could've gotten a good amount of private data. I guess not everyone likes FireFox, but it seems like a rather random attack. Anyway, I guess privacy concerns are following us everywhere we lurk nowadays, and I don't like it.

Don't feel too bad for FireFox though, because they gained market share on IE by almost a percent last month. It doesn't seem like much, but now they're only 1.29% away from their year goal. Microsoft is also fighting a battle against Yahoo though, but in the anti-spam arena. Yahoo is working on some digital signature technology while M$ wants to examine domains, but I can't decide which (if either) is better than the other. You'll have to read the article and decide for yourself. Another high-profile fight is between Sony and Toshiba regarding the next DVD format, and a recent survey shows that many more people support Blu-ray over HD-DVD due to backwards compatibility with the current DVD and availability in a number of devices. The survey didn't mention pricing of players or content availability, but it's a good early snapshot of the situation and I'm sure things will change as the battle heats up. Time Warner has begun a pilot program of cable TV over the Internet in San Diego, and they seem pretty optimistic about it. I hope it does well there because I'd love to watch TV online if it was cheaper than on my actual television set. If anyone is interested, the UN published its official report on governing the Internet and it sounds like the most important thing to them is some sort of change. Lastly, Fujitsu is debuting bendable electronic paper technology and it's pretty neat because it looks like this:



Not much movie news today at all, but I'll tell you about the good stuff. The teaser for Saw II premiered at Comic-Con and it's now online in all its freaky goodness for your viewing pleasure. I don't think it'll be better than the original, but I guess we'll see. Halle Berry has reason to believe that her character in X3, Storm, will actually fly. This would certainly be truer to the comic book character we've come to know and love. It turns out that the title of the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie will be Pirates of the Caribbean: World's End. No word on why or if this is even official yet, but it is a bit strange nonetheless. Lastly, horror fans may want to look into The Skeleton Key (from the writer of The Ring), which sounds like it good be very good and very creepy. It's about a practice in Louisiana regarding the spirits, and I don't understand much about it but apparently a lot of locals believe in it.

Now for the Friday's Feast meme:

Appetizer
What is your middle name? Would you change any of your names if you could? If so, what would you like to be called?
Victor, because it was the name of my Dad's father and he died not long before I was born. I like all three of my names and I don't think I'd like to change them. Sure, Pinto is used as a car name and a bean name, but it's still respectable. And Elton John may be gay, but he's a damn good musician.

Soup
If you were a fashion designer, which fabrics, colors, and styles would you probably use the most?
No clue. I'm a guy! What do I know about fabrics and style?! Maybe cotton? I guess I'd use green and blue a lot since green apparently looks good on me and blue is my favorite color in all its shades.

Salad
What is your least favorite chore, and why?
Definitely dusting the furniture. It's so annoying because dust comes back so quickly and there's so much at my parents' place to dust.

Main Course
What is something that really frightens you, and can you trace it back to an event in your life?
I'm not afraid of much nowadays. Just wasps, bees, and dying alone pretty much. None of them really lead back to a previous incidence. In my younger years I was afraid of the dark for a variety of reasons, including a video game I played called Phantasmagoria (doesn't sound nice does it?).

Dessert
Where are you sitting right now? Name 3 things you can see at this moment.
In front of my computer in my brother's old room. I can see a cordless phone, a stuffed beanie tiger, and a computer microphone. Not too exciting I'll admit.

Ruling the Internet

Taking History II is making me realize summer away from Austin sucks. Going to class feels like high school again and I'm glad that I'll never have to do summer school again after this one. I'm also taking Government II, which is actually more bearable. Anyway, the UN can't get enough reasons to hate Bush and their newest reason is control of the Internet. Their complaints include the creation of controversial domain names, network security, and spam. The Bush administration has already said that it would not surrender control of internet domains and addresses to anyone, but if they don't then it could mean the fragmentation of the Internet. For once I actually agree with the UN. The Internet should be a global network, and as such it shouldn't be run as some sort of dictatorship. Other countries' interests should be considered as well. The Bush administration will really go down in history as horrid if they sit idly by and let the Internet become fragmented.



That doesn't look like a keyboard does it? But it's actually the Optimus keyboard and the keys change on the outside to reflect what you're doing (like playing Quake). The keyboard is especially good for foreign languages, and I really hope that it takes off someday. Another interesting gadget is Sharp's double-vision LCD television model that will allow for people to watch two channels on the same TV by sitting at different angles. It probably won't be very cheap and they're still working out the sound issue, but it's a great idea. If you still need more gadgets to ponder on you should look into the 3D Face Camera from Bluebear for better identification in forensic identification. It turns out that a lot of studies about the security of Linux as opposed to Windows have been biased and the reality is that Linux is only slightly ahead of Microsoft. It isn't all that surprising since it hasn't been bombarded with the kind of junk that's thrown at Windows. Lastly, we have another survey from Nielson suggesting that legal music downloading has indeed increased quite a bit this year though the RIAA is still seeking out P2Pers.

The movie news today isn't bad, and I'll start out with a couple of reviews. AICN has yet another review of The 40-year-old Virgin once again asserting that it's very funny. My anticipation for this movie is growing even more. Harry Knowles put up his review for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and he seemed to thoroughly enjoy this version of the classic children's book so I'm sure that Tim Burton did Roald Dahl proud. Speaking of Burton, JoBlo has a good interview with him that I recommend because he's quite the visionary director. He made a couple I wasn't totally thrilled with, but his other movies really make up for it. Comic-Con is going on right now and you can get some information from the booth from A Scanner Darkly over here. I'm expecting great things from the movie with a star-studded cast and amazing animation values. When I was younger, I absolutely love True Lies (I've seen it like 10 times) and I'm exciting to hear that there's talk from the actors of the movie about a sequel. Of course they have to wait on the Governor of California to finish his term, but I'm sure they'll wait if they're serious. Lastly, fans of the CollegeHumor website may be interested to know that they're in talks for a movie deal choc-ful of their crude humor. I'm hoping that it'll be better than Van Wilder.

Now for the Thursday Threesome:

Onesome: Double-- Vision? What have your seen lately that's made you stop in your tracks and take another look? Oh, come on now; there's something !
There have been a few girls at HCC that have made me turn around for multiple looks. It may not be a great school, but even hot chicks have to go to summer school sometimes. Life must've sucked for guys in the olden days when girls weren't privileged enough to get an education.

Twosome: lens-- Glasses or contacts? ...or nothing? What's your preference? ...or do you have a choice? ...or maybe you're just lucky?
I wear glasses, but I'd prefer contacts. I don't have a choice right now, but hopefully I will very soon when I get my eyes checked next. I like my eye color and I'd really like to expose them more.

Threesome: reflex-- Do you ever have a reflex reaction to a TV commercial? Is there one that your finger just reaches to change the channel on without any conscious thought? ...or maybe there's one that has caught your attention and just locked you in before you even realized it?
Not really. Sometimes I forget that it's even a commercial break and keep watching. Usually I will try to change the channel though.

Still More AppleBM

First there was Bennifer, then there was Tomkat, and now it's AppleBM! Ok, so I'm really bad at making up names for controversial relationships, but I do have more on Apple and IBM today so I thought I'd make them the main attraction. Apple has started to ship Intel machines with Mac OS X loaded on them to developers and they're getting a good response so far. Recipients are pleased with the speed so far, even when a translator program (Rosetta) runs on PowerPC code so that it can run on the Intel machine. Looks like we won't get our greedy hands on these computers until the middle of next year, but we could be surprised with an early release. Meanwhile, IBM seems to be doing just fine with a dual core PowerPC 970MP chip, which they actually seem to want to use for electronic devices other than PCs. Apple is still going to use the 970 FX low-power usage chip in its G5s. IBM may be looking at it as Apple's loss since their chips are considered superior to Intel, but we'll see who has the last laugh.

If you're really an Apple freak you should try out the floating PowerBook. Apple isn't quite the center of the nerd news universe today though. It is the 10th birthday of the MP3 name, and it has really grown up! A blogger from the Mozilla Foundation has asserted that Linux is not ready for the mainstream desktop (unlike Firefox) because of 5 very valid problems including the lack of simplicity and the difficulty with migrating from a Windows system. I wonder how long it will be until the world is truly ready for an open source OS. Meanwhile, the end of an era is upon us: we have grown weary of floppies. In fact, I don't know anyone in their right mind who still uses the bloody things. The only point of them is for a startup disk on Windows 98 machines. Anyway, PBS is pioneering a revolution in television with the release of a one hour show called NerdTV that will be entirely view via the Internet featuring the smartest people in the tech world. Of course they don't need ad revenues, but hopefully it'll be successful and set a good example (they have some airtight guests so far). Lastly, you may soon be able to legally check out live musical performances online, and presumably free via the various distributors, in reaction to the success of Live 8 (which is still online). Sounds like it could be a pretty sweet deal.

I think I have to help my mom peel some shrimp, so I'm going to go through the movie news rather quickly. If you haven't heard of Hustle and Flow yet then I feel sorry for you and you can make up for it by checking out IGN's interview with John Singleton. Sean Bean also spilled his beans regarding the plot of Silent Hill, which sounds very true to the videogame franchise and, hence, very cool. The next movie you can see him in though is The Island. IGN also had an interview with Johnny Depp about his lead role in Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and he sounds like he had a lot of fun with the part. Uma Thurman is signed up to be in another comedy, but this time it's alongside Luke Wilson in Super Ex where she plays the love interest and superhero. Thankfully, she has a few dramas she'll be in until then, and also The Producers. Lastly, Domino has sadly been moved again to October in respect of Domino Harvey's death and to give visionary Tony Scott a little more time to play around with it. I'm willing to wait as long as it's good.

Couple of quick random things. If you've seen Pulp Fiction, I think you'll appreciation this 30 second reenactment of the film by bunnies. There are some other ones there as well, but that one is the best. The other thing I wanted to mention is that IGN has been running a poll-like tournament to determine the biggest badass in video games and the winner is Solid Snake! I was hoping that he'd win. Just look at him:



Now for the Wednesday Mind Hump:

Say What? is a "complete this sentence" challenge. The challenge? Below is a list of common cliches and/or some lesser known sayings. Your mission should you decide to accept it is complete the sentence with your own crazy ending.

01. A penny earned is ... one step closer to ordering that late night pizza.
02. When in doubt ... always walk with traffic.
03. Do unto others ... what you think is most appropriate.
04. Give them an inch ... because we don't use that Euro trash metric system!
05. He who hesitates ... is probably more careful than me.
06. The road to hell is paved ... with Uwe Boll films.

Wasting Time at Work

I got a comment on my Saturday post last night that actually said that nerds are hot! I thought that was a nice offset for an unnecessarily rude comment to a very old post I got the other day, and I realized that I was using that bunny picture (from Donnie Darko) in my profile here for no reason. Hence, I changed it to my old Facebook picture and one of the few pictures of me I actually like so hopefully you'll agree it looks better now. It has been more than 6 months after all. Anyway, there wasn't a lot of news going on today (I guess in anticipation of the shuttle launch tomorrow), but I did like an article I read about how much time people waste while at work. The average worker whittles away 2.09 hours a day on the company's tab, and I can see that since I do it while I try to do homework. To continuously work without any break but lunch is kind of harsh with the length of workdays now, and so it seems pretty logical. I've found that rest time during studying helps me focus better, and I'm sure the same would go in a work environment. So keep surfing the net America!

Like I said above, only a few things to speak of in the geek world. Netflix may be the first to offer movies for download legally. Some guy accidentally stumbled upon some stuff he wasn't supposed to on the site suggesting this, and there's more reason to believe that they're moving in this direction in that article's comments so I hope that they do go forward with that. Meanwhile, domestic and foreign law enforcement officials executed an operation to take down 8 warez sites and succeeded in halting the piracy of some big games. They're probably starting to shake up the community now. The PS3 will no longer be able to be used as a home network router as previously presumed, but the bank of Ethernet ports could be used to make it a good switch or hub nonetheless. To compete with this, Nintendo is developing a wireless routing device that will plug into your USB 2.0 port and allow you to share your connection with your Revolution and DS! Finally, they're doing something right.

The movie news today though is slightly better, but also kinda slow. We now have an official teaser for Ice Age 2, and it's in the same vein as the first movie's trailer but with water instead of cracks in ice. Robert Rodriguez is eyeing Salma Hayek for a movie role once again, but this time it's for Sin City 2! Given how hot she is, this could be a really awesome thing. Everyone seems to have The Island fever with an extended trailer, behind-the-scenes pics, and a chase scene clip all at the URL. And as if that wasn't enough, IGN even gave it a thumbs up. Maybe everyone just can't get enough of Scarlet Johansson:



Of course IGN also liked Wedding Crashers despite some other less happy reviews, but I guess we'll have to just judge for ourselves on that one. Avi Arad is pretty pissed off with Internet geeks trashing the X3 script and director, and I can't blame him since a lot of it is speculation and leaks. Ratner frankly doesn't have a good enough track record to handle a movie like this, but we'll see what happens. Lastly, Capone at AICN also got a chance to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and seemed to like it a lot. It's a great sign when a movie looks good this early.

Now for the acclaimed Ten on Tuesday meme:

10 People Who Inspire You
10. My brother - He's shown me how much hard work can get you in life.
9. Stephen King - This may sound like such an odd choice, but his writing style shows me how you're supposed to feel when you read a good book and never ceases to amaze me.
8. Quentin Tarantino - He put all his eggs in one basket and won big with his directorial career showing that geeky dreams can come true.
7.Chris Martin - To create the kind of music he makes and also promote free trade like he does almost makes him Superman.
6. David Johnson - This was my old Debate coach in high school and taught me more than I even realized at the time.
5. Larry Paige - He had a great idea and just ran with it to help found Google.
4. Franklin Delano Roosevelt - I know he had some problems, but he just handled the Great Depression so well and was a very noble man.
3. Jesus Christ - Can you imagine finding out that you're the Son of God and will one day be crucified and yet manage to change the world?
2. My mother - She is the main person responsible for bring herself and her siblings and her mother to America, and she had to suffer for it.
1. My father - He gets up at 2:00 AM in the morning to go to work for like 10 hours to put food on the table and put me through college.

What Makes a Good FPS

Let me start out with an example of a failure: Doom 3. Do you remember Doom 3? Probably not, because after the anticipation of the release all the fans kind of swept it under the rug. So why did it suck? They kind of took a step backwards and decided to create fear through scripted idiocy, and the game didn't seem like much of a challenge. The new precedent has been set by Half-Life 2. I've mentioned my undying love for that game before, but that guy really says it best. When a story drives a game like that and makes it enjoyable (unlike the overblown dialogue of Metal Gear Solid 2) it really is something. It's all part of the immense amount of attention they paid to the little details in the game. How many games have interactive cut scenes like it does? The point is that it just innovated with so many little things. I don't recall having seen a well implemented gravity gun in a previous game, but I can recall surprise scares (ala Resident Evil). Some people say that FPS games are easy to get tired of, but with the right developer they can be tons of fun.



I know I've been saying innovation a lot since yesterday's post, but there is some more of it going on today. Can you imagine seeing multimedia with full screen viewing from your cell phone? MicroOptical Corp. can and has developed CyberDisplay microdisplays via binocular video eyewear. It looks like it'll be pretty nifty, but it may be awhile before it's available over here. Cell phones may also soon be able to browse the Internet faster thanks to xMax, which exploits busy radio signals to sneak in broadband signals. Broadband signals may not be safe for long though with the Justice Department trying to monitor internet access on flights to control terrorism. How much "protection" is too much though? But anyway, another cool futuristic dream that is starting to be reality is replacing textbooks with computers, which is what an Arizona school is doing. Their school is totally electronic and wireless so they don't have to keep buying textbooks each year, and I wished I had that in high school rather than my heavy backpack. Lastly, Ars Technica has a totally awesome article exposing the truth behind Apple's switch to Intel. At the heart of the deal, Intel chips could do wonders for their iPod line and that's what's currently driving the company's revenue.

There's some interesting movie news today. If you couldn't get enough of the Focker family now there's Meet the Little Focker to highlight the tale of their firstborn and hopefully hilarity will ensue. I missed the second movie myself though so not much more I can say there. There's much more to say about The Island with many reviews fresh off the recent screening for it, and the verdict so far seems to be that it's a good summer flick though there were undoubtedly a few naysayers. There are also some great reviews for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which apparently had a secret very early screening recently that seemed to go pretty well. I love the first three movies so I hope this one is as good as they say. The next half-decent comedy film will probably be Wedding Crashers, and IGN has a pretty good interview with the leading men. Family Guy fanatics can rejoice in the upcoming release of a DVD dedicated to Stewie, which I had seen on Adult Swim and now we have more details. Apparently it's an 83 minute feature and has some deleted scenes from the show so it should be pretty fun. Lastly, I think it's hilarious they're making a movie called Ashlee Undiscovered where the lesser Simpson sibling plays a would-be actress, and will probably blow.

Now for some Monday Madness:

1. What book are you currently reading? (from dawn)
Just my History and Government books :( I really want to read some Stephen King, but time is fleeting.
2. Have you ever experienced the loss of a pet? How did you deal with it?
Nope.
Would you get a new pet, and why? (from peanutbutterfly)
I would, but my dad won't let me. I think I'd need a dog that doesn't shed hair though or I may go crazy with cleaning up hair.
3. Is anyone in your family in the armed services? (from teresa)
Yes, my cousin Prem. The poor guy started training last summer and then went to Iraq a few months later. We're keeping our fingers crossed that he'll come back this November. Our family gatherings feel so strange without him and his wife there.
4. If you have or have had a girlfriend/boyfriend, did you tell your parents about her/him without them prying for the information? (from shady88)
If I had a girlfriend my parents would kill me. They're too traditional I'm afraid, but I'm working out overriding that.
5. What was your favorite childhood pet and tell me a few things about it. (from beth)
I want a doggie *sniffle* :(
6. Have you ever been in love? (from seren)
I've learned to love people in my life, yes. But if you mean had a significant other who I've fallen in love with I'd have to say no. I know I'm too young to say this, but I think I'm starting to understand what it is and what it's not.
7. What's your favorite activity? (from robyn)
Hacking your computer! Just kidding, as if I could do that. I'm not really sure to tell you the truth. Dancing? Playing classical guitar? Drinking games? Who knows, as long as it involves other people. I'm very people-oriented.

Interviews on Innovation

There were a couple of interviews I wanted to talk about. The first one is with Steve Ballmer about what bloggers are saying about Microsoft, and the big thing seems to be that they're not innovating. Ballmer argues against that, but I don't think he does a good enough job. He keeps mentioning things without substantiating those claims. So you're putting Longhorn into beta now, what's so great about that? If MSN Messenger is so great why does everyone still use AIM (I use Gaim for the record)? What is Systems Center or DSI and why haven't I heard of them? They really need to fix their image. While we're talking about innovation though I wanted to bring up open source, which one veteran seems to think has a myth regarding people working for free. I totally agree with him. Programmers may like to do some stuff for the good of humanity from time to time, but they're driven by money just like everyone else. Just something that I thought was important to bring up with IBM and some other key players getting all pumped up about it.

There's some better techie news than that though. It turns out that the London subways are going to start using the body scan machines I talked about earlier that can actually see through clothing, and it will be quite an expensive upgrade. People seem to always try to prevent things from happening after the fact. Like data theft, which is now becoming a huge concern since California started requiring people to be told when their data has been compromised. The Japan Times is running a pretty good article on fuel-cell vehicles (energy comes from a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen) and the hurdles it has to leap (particularly with pricing). Still, I have high hopes for it and could be the ultimate clean car. Keep the company Iridian in the back of your head because they could be big someday for their development of iris scan technology since no two irises are alike. As you can no doubt tell, futuristic stuff always gets me giddy. Lastly, coffee drinkers may want to look into the self-heating cup.

I have some big movie news today. Well I'm not sure how true it is, but JoBlo claims that the box office slump is over! Fantastic Four made an impressive $56 million (almost double the estimates), with War of the Worlds in second at $31.3 million and Batman Begins clutching 3rd with a surprising $10.2 million. I'm sure that we can see sustained momentum next weekend with the release of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. IGN has a video interview with Tim Roth, which is only important because he mentions his enthusiasm to work with Quentin Tarantino again. He's not yet on board for Inglorious Bastards, but it seems that all Tarantino has to do is say the word for him to be a part of it. If you're looking for an independent movie to see AICN recommends that you check out Murderball, which is a documentary on a team of quad rugby players. Another interesting indie movie is Grizzly Man, which has a trailer up at Yahoo! Movies and did pretty well at Sundance. It's about a man who lived in nature and died trying to protect the animals he grew to love, so it's something to keep in mind when you see commercials for it later on. Lastly, AICN got a look at some footage from A Scanner Darkly that will be shown at Comicon and it sounds really awesome. I hope it gets leaked online during Comicon.

Just a couple of things before I conclude. Good news from our economy: the unemployment rate has dipped to its lowest in four years! Some speculate the Fed won't raise the federal funds rate due to this development, but I think that they need to get back to a neutral rate. If you want to see the growth of tech jobs, you should check this out. I decided to go back to PostSecret after a long time and I found one I wanted to post that said something like "I'm 25 and I still haven't had my first kiss, not because I don't want to but because no one else wants to." Unfortunately, the power went off and I lost it so instead you get this funny one:



Now for some Unconscious Mutterings:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Do-it-yourself::Tools
   
2. Pickpocket::Thief
   
3. Ballet::Dancing
   
4. Resumé::Job
   
5. Phenom:: Venom
   
6. Love/Hate::Girls
   
7. Unusual::Tom Jones
   
8. Intense::Passion
   
9. Interruption::Girl, Interrupted
   
10. Not enough::3 Doors Down
    

Grand Theft Drama

Ok, not the most creative title but it was the best I could do. There's always drama surrounding this video game whether it's a misconstrued racial slur or the presentation of hookers or the excessive violence. Of course being a gamer I think it's a fault of retailers and parents that this game affects young kids, not Take Two. These developers get blamed for everything, and now they're taking the heat for a mod called Hot Coffee. Contrary to the name, it actually unlocks the sex in the PC version of the San Andreas game. The video provided is pretty convincing, and is looks as though it was actually included in the game (for some odd reason) but I think the whole issue is ridiculous. The intended audience for this game is of the age to see this material in most states for one thing, but regardless it's not their fault if someone modifies their game and distributes this hack. It's not like they're selling porn here. These politicians will do anything to get their constituency all riled up.

There are a few worthwhile things in the world of technology. The hack of Paris Hilton's phone may have seemed humorous but it seems that the distribution of private phone records is becoming a growing problem as an invasion of privacy. It is a little creepy to know how easy it is for someone to find out who you talk to, because it's just very personal. With broadband getting faster and faster I wonder if trading private information like that will get easier? Oh the tangled web we weave to make our lives more convenient. Technology has started to work to our advantage in medicine though with pineapple molecules found to be helpful against cancer by stimulating the appropriate immune system cells. There's also a drug to help prevent HIV from entering the body! Of course both these things are still being experimented with, but the people who found them must feel amazing! Lastly, take a look at a robot that can play guitar! I'm very impressed by Crazy J (the name of it), though it can't play classical guitar as far as I can see. Of course a robot can never replace a classical guitarist because of how much emotion goes into it.

There's some pretty good movie news today, including a lot of reviews. AICN got a subpar review for Wedding Crashers, which doesn't surprise me. Yahoo! Movies has a couple of clips from the movie, but neither are humorous at all. There's actually a slightly better review for Stealth praising its goot cg and denouncing the plot holes, and it looks like it'll be an Independence Day. The best reviews today were for The Island, except that it apparently focuses more on the action than on the characters. It is an action movie so that's fine with me. The next big summer movie is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and IGN has an awesome interview with Tim Burton giving insight into his vision and the process of putting everything together. With the exception of a couple of films (*cough*Planet of the Apes*cough*) he never ceases to impress me. We now have word that Indiana Jones 4 is inching closer to a greenlight with the script draft (approved by Spielberg and Lucas) getting some touchups and it sounds like everyone will be ready to start on it as soon as it's done. Oliver Stone is on board to direct a movie about 9/11 starring Nicholas Cage, and the general consensus seems to be that this is just too soon and almost offensive, which I agree with. It like just happened 4 years ago! Everyone still remembers it older than 5 years old. Lastly, because I enjoy old Steve Martin comedies I have to plug the trailer for his new movie Shopgirl based on a novella he wrote about a girl choosing between two guys. It sounds cheesy, but it's presented better than most romantic comedies.

Before I conclude I just want to say that my hearts go out to the families of the victims (including those injured) of the attacks in London. It's sad that people can be so cruel, but at least some of the locals have put up some pictures so that those of us abroad can really get a glimpse at the damage.

I decided to try the FridayQ today:

FQ TOPIC: Reality.

FQ1: Your thoughts on TV reality shows... love them or loathe them?
For the most part: loathe them. Very few of them add any value to television. Who the hell cares about The Real Gilligan's Island?! I liked the fake one better. Am I the only one who thinks American Idol is overrated? The only worthwhile ones are the ones where the participants have some sort of talent, like Last Comic Standing or even possibly The Apprentice.

FQ2: Your favorite TV reality show (or the one you are able to tolerate the most).
Definitely The Contender. I was sad to know that it was cancelled because those guys were so good and the fights were always super intense. The winner really earned the money and deserved it (Sergio Mora), and I always looked forward to watching it. Of course my guilty pleasure reality show is Real World: Austin just because I love Austin.

FQ3: Your least favorite TV reality show (or the one you find the strangest/stupidest).
Probably Big Brother. What's the point of it?! I don't understand why someone would want to watch other people do absolutely nothing all day.

FQ TV: Invent your own TV reality show. Would you appear on it?
I think I'd do a music talent search show but strictly for guitarists. That might be kind of cool. I don't think I'd appear on it because I'd be too nervous to play on TV like that.

Interviewing With Arrogance

When you go to an interview you typically want to hear a little bit about the job you're applying for and you expect some personal questions about your experience and ambitions and such. However, Microsoft has decided to interview with more rigor and brainteasers. Can you imagine facing nine different interviewers? One dude with a doctorate from UCLA was disgusted when he discovered that they'd be quizzing him and no longer desired a job there ever. I knew about this already because a problem on our first CS 315 test was actually a question in a Microsoft interview, and I'm surprised that they're pulling that on experienced candidates. Some college graduates aren't as smart as you may think and even Google will do that stuff with them, but on doctors? Any having so many people interview you would be quite intimidating, but they think everyone would love to work there. Modesty is always the best policy. I know that they take good care of their employees, but a quote from someone who works there in the article suggests that they don't encourage innovation and take the teamwork concept a bit far. Just something for fellow computer scientists to think about.

If you're more interested in creativity then there's some good tech news for you today. Our friends at Google have made a toolbar for Firefox and pointed out in the process something I didn't know: Firefox is coded in XUL (an application of XML). I never realized what a novel idea that is. Joel finally made a new post on his blog about Project Aardvark, the fruits of labor of a team of interns at his company. The program they developed basically allows someone to interact with somebody else's computer live, which is useful mostly for tech support. This has probably been done before but I think that's endlessly cool considering how many computer illiterates I deal with day-to-day. Morgan Freeman has been pushing a way to deliver movies to customers before they hit DVD and now Intel has invested in the service. No word yet on when "Clickstar" will be available, but I'll be sure to tell you when it is. I think they want the kind of digital growth the music industry is getting, especially with the spread of music to cellphones.



That's just one step closer to a master personal device, and you can get rid of your old phone easily before you invest in one of these new media-enabled phones. iTunes is also shaking the music world with the announcement of a new promotion to give a new iPod Mini and a $50 gift card to every customer who makes the purchase of the 100,000th song until they hit the 500 million mark. I wonder what your odds are with that contest?

I'm going to start ou the movie news with some trailers. Horror junkies should look into the Exorcism of Emily Rose, which looks rather interesting. Of course I'm looking more forward to Corpse Bride, which looks even better than before in the new trailer. I was really caught off guard though by a trailer for Big Momma's House 2, which I didn't know was in production and I can't believe they're making. I'd be shocked if this movie actually turned out well. It's not quite as bad as the announcement of I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer. I wonder if these people have actually lost their minds and forgot what the plot of the original movie was. Pirates of the Caribbean is getting two sequels, but at least they'll make sense and the third movie will actually feature Chow Yun-Fat as a notorious pirate. Following suit, X3 also has some interesting casting news: Nick Stahl may play the role of Angel. He was the yellow dude in Sin City and a Texan! The best casting news though is that Gary Oldman (of Batman Begins and True Romance fame) will be in David Fincher's Zodiac as an attorney. Lastly, chalk up yet another positive review for The 40-year-old Virgin. I'm getting to the point of having to see this film.

Today's memes aren't all that appealing so I decided to go with a Question of the Day:

If you could appear as a guest star on any tv show, which show would you choose?
Either Family Guy or The Daily Show. Both shows are witty and fun, but the latter is more intelligent of course. I don't know how Jon Stewart can always think of the funniest things to say, and I don't know how Seth MacFarlane keeps coming up with that stuff! It's so random!

LoJack Your Laptop

Today is a much slower day than yesterday for news, and the most notable article is regarding a new security technique for laptops. A lot of businessmen keep sensitive data on their laptops cans they carry the bloody things with them everywhere! Even my brother, and he's just a consultant. Absolute Software has come up with a solution currently called Computrace, but soon to be known as LoJack, to such a breach. If the machine is lost it will secretly send locating data to Absolute Software so that it can be recovered. I guess that this is activated remotely when you call them and tell them that it's lost, and it's a really nifty idea. I can totally see technology like this spreading to things like briefcases and wallets in the future as chips get smaller and smaller. It's kind of sad to think that such measures are becoming more and more necessary in today's society, but I guess sin is inevitable when you get a lot of people together in one place.

There are a few other things going on in technology. A bunch of professors linked up 512 IBM processors over almost a month in Germany to simulate the history of the universe in the "Millenium Run" project. There used to be pictures of it, and maybe they'll come back soon because it really does look pretty neat though the mechanics are over my head. Dell and Napster are teaming up to take the legal file-sharing software to college campuses by adding some Dell Powerblade servers to widen the bandwidth and cutting deals to universities. That could mean cheaper Dell mp3 players and song downloads! A new player in VoIP called Project Gizmo is challenging the domain of Skype with a service built on open-source SIP technology and allowing calls to landlines/cell phones. I wonder if telephone providers are pissing in their pants with all these cheap alternatives? Lastly, Opera users will soon have a version of the browser that supports BitTorrent.

The movie news today is pretty good. There are rumors churning that the next Spider-man flick may have four villains: Venom, Sandman, Vulture, and the Hobgoblin. Hopefully we'll have something confirmed next week at ComicCon. Legendary director David Fincher has commited himself to two movies: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Zodiac. The former is based off of a really interesting F. Scott Fitzgerald book and the latter is based on the Zodiac killer. Oldboy director Chan Wook Park is also working on some exciting stuff. One is the last part of his revenge trilogy called Lady Vengeance and the other is I’m a Cyborg, but It’s OK, which is another psychological thriller about a girl in a mental hospital who thinks she's a robot. AICN got a less than thrilling review for MirrorMask suggesting that it may be one to wait for the DVD release, and so now I don't know what to think about it. Hollywood seems to be becoming more receptive to providing movie online legally thankfully, and Sony is even in the process of transcribing hundreds of films. If you get excited by cute kiddie movies you can check out some new pictures from Chicken Little. If you prefer hot girls though, take a closer look at the chick from Four Brothers:



I decided to try out the Wednesday Weird Ones this week since BDI doesn't have the Mind Hump up:

1. Why do people wear leather shoes a lot but never ones made out of ham? Likewise, why are sweaters often made out of wool, but rarely make out of mutton.
It's just all this style stuff. I'm sure that you'll see ham and goat shoes in a few decades.

2. Why does mint taste so minty?
I'm going to go with magic. Either that or maybe mint elves put flavor in them. The world may never know!

3. What should I do with my life? What should I do with your life? How about the lives of random people?
Spread world peace? Knock some sense into Bush? Become a priest? Take your pick.

4. A banana, an apple, and an orange were driving in a car, who's driving? Why?
I think bananas are best for you so I'd say that it'd be the smartest one and most capable of driving. Plus, how would the apple or orange reach the foot pedals?

5. Is the universe bigger or smaller than all that it has enfolded in it? Explain. What shape is the universe? What shape is the sum total of what it contains?
Probably bigger, or else how would it enfold all of it?! The universe is probably a big rectangle like in all those high school textbooks.

Programming as an Art

The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure thought-stuff. He builds his castles in the air, from air, creating by exertion of the imagination.
-- Frederick P. Brooks, Jr., The Mythical Man Month: Essays on Software Engineering

When you think of art you probably think of paintings and musical instruments and dancing and singing and such, but probably not of some dork on a computer. Donald Knuth was one of the pioneers of that idea though some dude at O'Reilly wrote an editorial on the subject consisting largely of the opinions of key players in the field (including book writers). I agree with most of the opinions there, even the ones that don't believe programming is an art. Some people think that doing code is very mechanical, but looking at the code of my peers in the past year of CS I've realize just how different ideas of doing things can be, but I found my code the prettiest of course since I had a good amount of spacing and comments. To write good code requires a lot of foresight into possible uses and problems with it and an intuitive understanding of what your options are under a number of situations. You always have to strike balances between time and space or simplicity and effectiveness. Just like not everyone can paint well not everyone can program well, and that's one of those things that set artists apart. It requires a certain way of thinking and a yearning for efficiency. I'll sometimes look at old projects and marvel at how we got through certain problems, and those times highlight best the art of writing code.

There is still a good amount of techie news leftover. PCWorld got its hands on a preview build of Longhorn and seems impressed with the interface but gave few other details (as usual for them) aside from what is already known. At least Microsoft is providing a good API to make use of Avalon. One enthusiast of Linux put up his thoughts on the future of the Linux OS, and though it's less certain than Windows it does seem to be gradually growing steam. It's doing better than alternative OSes though, which are doomed to seclusion according to one writer because it's hard for them to get the word out and set themselves apart. I'll bet very few of you (if any) have even heard of AmigaOS or Syllable. It looks like RSS is picking up momentum as it has not only turned the heads of some big advertisers but also of companies who want to use the technology to deliver updates and such. We could really be on the cusp of something revolutionary here, or it could just fizzle out of course (I prefer the former). In a modern-day challenge to the first amendment infused with technology, one man was fired for expressing his support for P2P. I think it's a ridiculous reason to fire someone and I hope he wins the lawsuit he's starting up. Lastly, I wanted to share this pretty-looking wooden iPod case:



The movie news today isn't too shabby. The rumor truck for Batman Begins delivered a message that the new leading lady for a possible sequel could be a small-time actress from Wedding Crashers named Isla Fisher. It's sad how we cling to any possible details of a next installment. Of course the writer of the original film, David Goyer, seems to be moving full speed into a Flash movie and his views on the character make me suspect that it won't just be just another b.s. superhero movie (ala Fantastic Four). If you're looking for a good movie in the near future, you should look into Hustle & Flow starting with an exclusive clip at IGN. This movie seems to actually be getting a decent amount of exposure, including a leak of the soundtrack on MTV.com. Of course if you're more into traditional Indian flicks with some American flavor you can hold out for the DVD of Bride and Prejudice with an extra at Yahoo! Movies featuring some dancing white people. Regardless of which route you go, the star of the weekend was War of the Worlds with $113.3 million over the first six days, and Batman Begins and Mr. and Mrs. Smith still held on. There are a few pictures from the set of Da Vinci Code featuring Tom Hanks, and the movie seems to be moving so slowly though it's going as fast as a normal movie would. Lastly, AICN has another review of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in case you need more reason to see it.

I actually have some randomness today. A new report on videogame sales shows that annual software sales could reach $25 billion by 2008, an increase of $8 billion. That figure really doesn't surprise me given the number of closet video game enthusiasts, but I was kind of surprised to find out that the PS3 will definitely not include an HD. I think that by early next year it won't cost too much to get one though and Kutaragi hinted at it being 80 GB. Scientists have found out what Indians have known for years: a little sun is good for you! Ok so we didn't directly know this, but the UV rays translate to Vitamin D for you. Lastly, I thought it was funny that a guy in Moscow trying to take an exam for a female friend got caught because his breasts were too big! Though Wild Wild West was a bad movie it had some good coverage of proper feaux bossom features.

I'm not doing Ten on Tuesday this week because I don't think I can think of ten items for the category, so I decided to partake of the Tuesday Twosome:

Name..

1. Two things that people dislike about you:
My reservations and my race. Just kidding about the latter, but I'm not really sure. Maybe my cluttering? Maybe my looks?

2. Two things that people like about you:
My helpfulness and my sense of humor.

3. Two things that annoy you the most:
That's a toughie, but all I can think of right now is violations of gym ettiquette (restacking weights and such) and drivers who don't use turn signals. Especially when they change lanes to be right in front of me out of the blue.

4. Two things that make you smile often:
Family Guy and my family (namely my brother & his girlfriend and three of my cousins).

5. Two things that should be banned because they annoy you:
Conservatives and Republicans. Seriously though, Christian fundamentalists and System of a Down. Could that band have any less talent? There's probably something that annoys me more than them, but just not in an irritated mood right now.

Gotta Love the EFF

The Mad Penguin has put up part two of his MGM v. Grokster series of articles in the form of an interview with EFF Director Shari Steele. Much of the interview has to do with the Electronic Frontier Foundation's background and mission rather than the Grokster lawsuit (it was done a few months ago) and is a healthy read about a refreshing civil rights organization. It doesn't sound important, but can you imagine what our future in technology would be like if companies and programmers were worried about getting sued? Would the iPod be created? Would mathematicians still be putting cryptography codes online? One case they took was actually a guy who was told to get an arms license to put such code online because of export control laws. It was his code! What business is it of the government? And some of you may remember a time when audio and video cassette tapes were under fire for recording radio songs and TV shows, respectively. Just some food for thought.

I'll start out the nerd news with an example of innovation. Take a look at this:



It's called the Pepper Pad and it's supposed to be a middle ground between the PDA and the laptop since the former is too small and the latter is too expensive. You could get a desktop computer for the price of it, but that's not to say that it isn't really nifty and probably useful (especially for college kids). There's also the development of a program to render the effects of ink on paper, which would be a good use of physics. Another neat thing is VoIP, which has spread to 23% of small and mid sized businesses over normal telephony. Of course if you have security on the brain you can take a closer look at network hacking with this detailed article. I guess price outweighs their security concerns. A new Canadian study claims that spam can be good if it promotes healthy habits, but I can't believe that it takes that kind of coercion to get people to eat right and exercise. It only took me a while because I was a fat kid, not a fat adult. Lastly, I thought I'd mention another reason why I'm proud to be a Longhorn: the Grid MP project.

There's no change in movie news since this morning, but there are a couple of things you can occupy yourself with instead. At the UT ACM forums someone posted about this river Flash game that I still can't figure out (if you can read Chinese, go straight to it). Maybe you can outsmart me and then comment to gloat about it. The other thing is a new Strongbad e-mail about modeling and his lovable, husky head.

Now for the Monday Music Mambo:

01. Two of BDI's mottos are "Share the love and spread the insanity" and "We don't suffer from insanity, we enjoy every moment of it." Based on those thoughts, what song or songs would you recommend to be BDI's anthem?
I'd have to say "Can't Stop" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers because it's so light and fun to listen to. It's all about love and insanity if you really listen to it.

02. The natives in the halls of the BDI asylum are restless. What song(s) would you pipe through the building to calm our crazy crew down?
"Trouble" by Coldplay. Most of Coldplay's stuff is pretty soothing, and that one is especially moving to listen to. I can't imagine how one band has so much talent.

03. What artist or band belongs in the "Crazy Hall of Fame" for being fun loving crazy but not totally demented and twisted. On the opposite side of the coin, what artist or band belongs in the "Crazy Hall of Shame" for being totally twisted, dangerously demented and just plain ewwww!
I know I've already used them, but I have to say the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Remember when they used to play naked with tube socks on their genitals? No doubt that their music was good despite how crazy they were. For the latter, I've have to say Courtney Love. She's so crazy and scary at the same time.

04. What music (song or lyrics) does the following word bring to mind? Crazy
This one will probably come up a lot, but I have to say "Crazy" by Aerosmith. It's one of those songs I clearly remember from childhood and I adore it.

Quit Hating on Video Games

Sorry about how late this weekend post is, but I was out all Saturday night at my Uncle's place, at my brother's friend's BBQ most of the day Sunday, and then back at my Uncle's in the night. I liked the BBQ the most because it was very relaxing and they have the two cutest infants ever (fraternal twins). What I wanted to start out with today is this blog entry about violence in video games. The great thing about it is that it's written by Brooks Brown, a friend to killers and victims at the Columbine shooting. He makes the bold claim that the shooters were crazy before they played any violent games, and I think that makes sense. It really is the gamer who decides how violent a video games is, and its our upbringing that tells us it's all only fictional. I find it disturbing that my 7 year-old cousin has played Vice City, but I haven't seen him try to steal any cars yet. Of course these games are made for older audience who should know better otherwise the parents really screwed up. Being a parent is tough, but someone can't handle that they shouldn't. I can't see a normal kid being turned evil by a game. A screwed up kid has problems regardless of what he plays, so what difference does it really make?

In the tech world, there was another blog entry I was thinking of making the main piece of this post. It's Chris Pirillo's views on how Windows software sucks. I think his ideas are a little overblown, but you really don't see a lot of people rallying around Windows for anything innovative like Mac or Linux users do and most people who use it seem to do so only for convenience. This brings me to the unpopular view that we're approaching another dark age in technology as innovation rates are apparently declining. Times are different because there are so many more people and funds available, and I really can't see things getting that slow even in the next 20 years. I for one am hoping to see some advances in the world of wristcams. And I think the podcast revolution is pretty impressive, too. In Silicon Valley, it turns out that jobs for computer geeks like me isn't as strong as profits due to branches around the world, and I think that developing a global economy is definitely important. Why isolate your company to one corner of the United States?

Not too much movie news this weekend, as usual. The weekend isn't quite over yet so we don't have all the figures yet for the box office, but up to (and including) Sunday, War of the Worlds seems to have made a cool $101.7 million. That lays waste to Batman Begins's $70 million rake-in despite the Tomkat nonsense, and having worse reviews than the caped crusader. Moviegoers are dumb sometimes. And the movie that looks the best for this weekend is unfortunately the least well-known: The Beautiful Country. It is an indie film, but it has a couple of big names attached to it (Tim Roth and Nick Nolte). While I'm on a film with a largely foreign cast though I might as well mention that Thai boxing movie star Tony Jaa is set to be a sword-wielding hero in forthcoming Cannes offering Sword. I'm amazed at how fast his career is moving. Filming is finally underway for Da Vinci Code at the Louvre and Ritz in France (starting from the beginning of the book I guess) and Ian McKellan is, indeed, on board to be Leigh Teabing. Lastly, this isn't really much to go on, but Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne) seems keen on seeing the Joker as the villain in a sequel to Batman Begins, and I think to finally see a dark Joker portrayal would be totally sweet. I'm glad the movie is still clinging on in the box office.

Now for some Sunday Brunching (remember, supposed to be yesterday's post):

1) What do you like the best about living in the United States?
I'm supposed to say freedom, but the truth is opportunity. My parents sounded pretty free in India, but it's so hard to make a living there. Though you do have to work hard here, you have to work doubly harder there. My dad was doing alright for himself and I think enjoyed his life, but he came here for us and I'm glad he did because my cousin in the IT industry over there is having his life sucked away by his job.

2) What do you like the least about living in the United States?
The idiots that take the privileges we have out of hand. With freedom comes responsibility, and we're starting to lose that. I also don't like the way the majority is exercising so much control over the minority (e.g. the Christian Right).

3) What are your plans for July 4th?
That would be today. Well not much. Going to help an old teacher do some stuff, then work out, play some guitar, do some reading, and maybe play some Half-Life 2. As you can tell, I've already celebrated the occasion quite a bit.

4) Describe your most memorable July 4th memory.
We blew up a lot of fireworks at my Aunt's place because it was late and much of them were on clearance, and then we were supposed to go to Schlitterbahn the next morning. So we got home from that party pretty late, and it was so late that my brother and I stayed up playing Madden since we only had a couple of hours before we had to leave and then we slept the way there. It flooded in New Braunfels though so we ended up just chilling with our cousins.

5) If you could go back in time and visit any period of time in our country's history, when would it be and why?
I don't know. I kind of like where we are right now. No minority conflicts and plus I don't know what I'd do for a living in the past. Invent a computer?

I'm going to conclude with a comic strip I personally find rather funny:

Herbie's Legacy Lives On

Well it turns out that the family deal is actually Saturday night, but I ended up spending this past night helping my Aunt with some shopping and taking my little cousin to see Herbie: Fully Loaded. It was actually a much better movie than what I thought it would be, but it falls short of being worthwhile outside of a family situation. In other words, it's bearable to sit there with a kid but it's not like Shrek where you want to rush out there and see it otherwise. If you're a fan of the series then you may get a kick out of the subtle nods to the previous movies, but nothing else special here. The acting was about average, but some of them were just talking pieces of cardboard almost. Herbie was probably the best actor! You see a lot of T&A from Lindsay Lohan if you're like me and you find her attractive but have no idea why. The storyline leaves much to be desired and the characters are as hollow as can be expected. A lot of the humor does come from Herbie though and the racing scenes aren't too bad. It's a guilty pleasure of mine to see a happy ending like in this movie and I haven't seen a kid's movie in a while so it just wasn't nearly as corny as I thought it would be. I give it a C+ for not falling flat on its face and delivering something halfway fun for children (and horny, teenage boys).

I'm starting to get kind of tired so I'm not going to dwell too long on the techie news. Microsoft reached a settlement with IBM on discriminatory pricing strategies at a cool $775 million. It sounds like a lot but apparently IBM isn't even pushing it for server damages, whatever that means, but I'm sure that M$ doesn't see this as too huge a dent into its infinite money supply. Another lawsuit recently ended was the one with Grokster, and the Economist put up an enlightening article about both sides of the issue and how the Court tried to find a middle ground. It's a very touchy subject indeed and hard to choose sides. Broadband users may soon face a new tax that will go towards subsidizing internet access to low-income families. I'm a pretty liberal person, but I don't know if I believe that $10 a month for dial-up is so expensive especially given that the local government provide public libraries. Sales of web servers seem to be quite high according to a recent survey and suggests exponential growth in domains. Lastly, investigators seem to be getting worn down by identity theft with 50 million cases this year already and no national law requiring companies to inform you that your information is compromised. A scary thought isn't it?

There's about an equal amount of movie news today. For all you X3 onlookers there's word from Avi Arad that Maggie Grace left due to scheduling conflicts (with Lost), Nightcrawler will not be in it, Gambit is still uncast, Colossus will return, and a mutant prostitute will be introduced. Apparently, the character, Stacy X, was pretty minor in the series and a strange addition. The publicity machine for Fantastic Four just never quits with behind-the-scenes stuff over at Yahoo! Movies and at FilmForce if you're not quite inundated with the film. Moviefone got an exclusive clip from MirrorMask that's supposed to be creepy but it didn't bother me at all. Just a very odd scene where the main character gets a makeover by a bunch of robots. AICN has another review of Wedding Crashers suggesting that it's actually a relatively funny film, but I can't shake this skepticism I have about it. Maybe I just need to see more footage from it. Lastly, there are a few new posters floating around the net including this one that caught my eye:



Now for the Friday Fiver:

1. Who do you owe?
My parents for my education! College is a huge expense!

2. Does anyone owe you?
Not that I know of.

3. How many credit cards to you have?
Just one for now, CitiBank.

4. Do you care about national debt?
Yes, it's a huge problem but unfortunately I don't have the time right now to discuss it.

5. Would your friends be surprised if they accidently saw the balance in your checkbook?
Doubt it. I have no job right now so it's just my savings.