Ease of Distraction

This weekend was pretty uneventful except for a couple of crazy football games (I can't believe USC beat Notre Dame), hence the lackluster topic I'm going to start off exploring. Before I start though I thought I'd mention that with regard to the poll in my lst post I think I'm going to go with Batman Begins DVD because I think I'd be more happy with that than either of the other two despite how great Memento is as well. Thanks to all 5 of you who voted. The NY Times has a pretty extensive article studying the short attention spans of people at their office and makes a number of interesting discoveries. Did you ever think that the size of your screen affects how efficient you are or how cluttered your computer is correlates to how much you lack calmness? People just love multi-tasking so much that they don't realize that too much of it can have a negative effect on your productivity. This is probably why so many college students have to stay up so late to get real work done. Page four of the article offers some worthwhile tips if you have a real problem with getting distracted and the last couple of pages explore whether Microsoft will put out an OS that tries to alleviate some of these issues. It's a worthwhile read if you're curious about the science of getting sidetracked.

Speaking of Windows though, there's now some pressure from the nerd community for competing RISC OS to be made open-source. I'm sure that many of you haven't heard of RISC, which is because it hasn't advanced much in recent years and is leading to this outcry for a community-based approach. It's a good OS being mislead, in my opinion. If you're pissed off that you have to download like four different IM clients to talk to all your friends online then have no fear because the Tech Zone feels your pain and would like to make progress towards more openness in the protocols. You should definitely follow the advice they give. Lastly, I like to entertain opposing opinions from time-to-time so I thought I'd plug this editorial claiming that the iPod Video really isn't going to be making huge waves. Though he does make some great points I feel that the television industry will get caught in the same bind as the music industry was just a few years ago if they don't hop on board.

I don't know how, but the critically-hated movie The Fog managed to get the top spot in the box office at a little over $12 million. Anyone else think that the movie industry is screwed? Domino freakin' opened at less than $5 million, which sucks because that movie actually looked good. Clint Eastwood has put some good movies out there and now he's actually going to release two movies at once from both perspectives of the Battle at Iwo Jima (American and Japanese, of course). It's an interested idea, but I think in series would be better than in parallel. The only other thing worth mentioning is that the site for Clerks 2 put up some really random videos for your viewing pleasure featuring such excitement as this:



Now for some Unconscious Mutterings:

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

1. On the verge::Brink
   
2. Tempestuous::Tempest
   
3. Coherent::Incoherent
   
4. Near death::Epiphany
   
5. Illiterate::Book
   
6. Why not?::Why?
   
7. Period::Exclamation mark
   
8. Long lost::Love
   
9. Torrid::Passion
   
10. Nail::Bed
    

Is Television Saved?

I feel kind of weird to center my main topic around a post on another blog, but Mark Cuban is famous for a reason. He put up a very insightful article about how Bob Iger may very well have saved television with the move that was announced just a couple of days ago. The announcement has no doubt caused much watercooler discussion, and I think dorks everywhere are sort of polarized (more on the iPod than the extension to iTunes). I happen to agree with Mark Cuban though and think that having shows available online will have the same positive effect of television that DVDs did but possibly even more so because it's even more convenient to catch up on a show. I think they should try offering whole seasons for $20 or less and they'll really see great things with shows like 24 that have lost some viewership. I think it could even be a platform to test out new shows kind of like how Apple sometimes offers a free mp3 from a relatively unknown artist. They could see how people would take to Firefly in light of the movie, for example. One of the dominant concerns regards the issue of ad revenue, and I think they should either try offering them online for free with ads (this may be most feasible with a stream) or maybe offering them for a dollar for a couple of short ads. It may be a little too optimistic to think that online sales would make up for the possible drop in ad revenues, but it's still way too early to tell.

In that same vein, BBC is running an article on why the iPod Video has generated so much excitement when the technology has been around for a while and past attempts have failed. In a nutshell, it's really because they're offering content on iTunes, which is already very credible and has huge potential to attract more companies to hop on board. Siemens has developed paper-thin television screens to be used in magazines and newspapers and such to maybe display ads or just more details on something. I like that we're finally getting into the Harry Potter stuff. It was Microsoft's birthday today and in another year it'll be able to drink while I still have to freeload the good stuff at parties. Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that CNet has an interesting look at the company's life from CP/M to XP and Vista. It's rather lengthy, but you can skim through and focus on the good stuff.


That's right, we have a Bond, baby! His name is Daniel Craig and he was a front-runner for a quite a while so it comes no surprise to movie geeks like me. Now they can actually get started on the movie. So that's the first picture from that movie, and here's the first picture from Clerks 2 showcasing the only Mooby's in Dogma. Now I'm really intrigued as to what angle he'll decide to take. We have word from across the world that Tom Yum Goong is pretty damn awesome and now my hunger for a good action movie has increased. God only knows how long X3 will take, which has just now continued production in Vancouver. Details are still scarce on the plot, but maybe they're playing the same misdirection card on the Phoenix storyline that Steve Jobs played on the iPod Video. I'd like to direct those who mocked the CG in the King Kong trailer to a new mugshot of the beast that looks a lot more realistic and refined. Lastly, here are some pictures of Jessica Alba just because it's Jessica Alba.

Before I conclude I'd like to try out a poll for the first time. I've received a $30 gift certificate for Buy.com because I took some surveys at EPoll and now I'm not sure which DVD I should buy that I want. I'm strongly leaning towards Batman Begins Deluxe Edition because the shipping is free and it's only $22 (plus it's the best movie I've seen this year), but shipping is also free on the Spider-man 2-pack (4 discs in all) which is $25. And Memento is a DVD I've had on my list for a long time. Just wanted to get some outside opinions.



Now for the Friday Fiver:

1. What's your favorite animated characters?
I'd probably have to go with Mickey Mouse. My favorite cartoons growing up always were Mickey Mouse-related, but I also loved the Animaniacs and Bugs Bunny.

2. Violence in cartoons - funny or harmful?
I think it's funny. How many 8 year-olds really have thoughts of seriously hurting people?

3. Can you do any impressions?
Not really, sorry.

4. Would you consider yourself artistic?
Yeah, I think I did decent in Art class in high school. Plus, I have this classical guitar thing going on.

5. What's your favorite type of cheese?
I don't know enough cheeses to make the best choice, but I'd have to go with Feta.

The Burger Lecture

I'm going to give today's topic to personal reflections since there's nothing all that noteworthy in the wake of the big Apple announcement. First of all, I'm totally thrilled that Misra, one of the most referenced people in CS, will be handling CS 336 in the Spring and Keckler is doing a section of CS 352 that I will do everything my power to get into. Anyway, Professor Doug Burger (of the famed TRIPS project) gave a great lecture tonight that he gives every year all about graduate school and I'm glad I went because I learned a ton from it realizing how little I actually knew before. For example, I had no idea that you don't actually pay for grad school. Instead, you can either get an NSF fellowship, a department fellowship, a research assistantship, or a teaching assistantship, which would cover your tuition as well as room and board. That knocks off my monetary concerns with regard to further higher education, so why not go straight into grad school after I get my Bachelor's? I think I'm just really itching for the industry and I've spent so long budgeting my expenses that it'd be nice to make a good amount of money for a while. That means I'll definitely have to set my sights for a job near a good graduate school and for a company that would be willing to pay for my fellowship, which would make me more likely to get accepted since the school wouldn't have to pay for me. It sounds like getting my Master's degree would be cost-effective, and I think I've decided that it has to be my M.S. because I'm so much more interested in learning more about C.S. that than in Business. Plans can change, of course, and I guess I'm just waiting to see how my job opportunities unfold. Taking the GRE is going to be the biggest pain in the ass it seems.

We haven't heard much regarding Vista for a while and now we have some leaked pictures from the upcoming OS once again showing nothing special. Maybe Bill Gates should spend more time on that than on touring the nation's colleges. It sounds like from UT CS seniors who are currently looking for jobs that there isn't the deluge of jobs that people like Gates would have you believe. Meanwhile, Google quietly hired the lead programmer on the Gaim project, likely to make Google Talk not suck and maybe quite possibly to throw more support behind Gaim. If you thought that this summer was hotter than it usually is, then you'd be right because it's the hottest year on record. I hope this trend doesn't continue, though I'm sure it will anyway. Lastly, there's a pretty in-depth article on video game aesthetics over here for those of you interested in past and current trends or if you want to throw something in the faces of friends who laud gameplay over all.

I'm going to start off here with rumor of a couple of sequels. The first is for Big Momma's House, which I have to admit was a funny movie although I'm not sure how a sequel would work exactly. The other one is also a comedy and is for the now classic Austin Powers series, though that one is much less certain at this point. If you want even more hearsay then there's rumblings that Michael Keaton is vying for the role of The Joker in the next Batman movie, but that does sound a little far-fetched. I think that Silent Hill may be the first really good movie for video game fans, and my faith is renewed based on some words spoken by writer Roger Avary who is an actual fan of the gripping survival-horror series. I also have high hopes for Jarhead, which is coming much sooner than Silent Hill and is an almost light-hearted study of a soldier during the Gulf War, but it seems to have some heavy themes. If you really want something to look forward to though the reviews are positive so far for Memoirs of a Geisha and it's not too far away. Lastly, here's a picture of Cameron Diaz just because she's hot:



Now for the 3x Thursday meme:

1. Can you handle confrontation? Do you get in there and get your hands dirty and stand up for whatever it is that you're arguing about, or do you back away? Why?
It really depends on the context of the situation. I'm more likely to confront someone who I know rather than just a total stranger.

2. If you have to confront someone about something, how do you go about doing it? Is it usually successful?
I usually start out nice but get rougher if they bite back.

3. What do you do when a confrontation goes sour? How do you handle the aftermath?
I walk away and let our heads cool off for a while.

Apple in a Blaze of Glory

If I had a webcam, you'd see utter shock on my face right now. The big announcement that Apple was planning for today was, in fact, the new iPod Video (which comes in white or black). I even asked the Apple campus recruiter last night about it, and she (and her boss) had no idea what it would be. They come in 30 GB and 60 GB models ($300 and $400, respectively) to replace the old generation of iPod Photos with longer battery life (supposedly). I started watching the special event and it made me realize just how much I want to work for Apple. They started out with a totally sweet new iMac that makes me want to trash my Wintel machine and it includes not only iSight but also a remote control and the standard suite of top-notch software. What you want to know more about though is this new iPod though, and there's a very informational Q&A here explaining all the basics about how the video stuff will work. They're planning on offering television episodes the day after airing for $2 apiece to be viewed on your computer and your iPod, and yes it can be connected to your television. Obviously, that means they're also revamping iTunes (there's a few other changes, but they're not as huge). That'll be the first thing I get if I nab the internship at Apple. This is really a pretty impressive risk that they've taken and though they've only worked with Disney so far I'm sure that other key players will follow suit soon enough. I just can't get over how great this business move is; they've totally put their competitors in checkmate.

Dish network is actually unknowingly competing with this new iPod with a larger portable video device they're calling pocketDish. Guess who got more buzz? Microsoft and Yahoo are teaming up their IM service protocols to allow Yahoo users to IM MSN Messenger users and vice versa, which I think is very smart move. Comcast is pushing for a rather intriguing feature where for $17 you can watch a movie on tv on-demand and then have the DVD mailed to you. Doesn't it seem like the theme today is innovation? Sorry to burst the bubble, but the broadcast flag is still a problem and you really need to contact your representative to stop doing stupid crap like this.

Christopher Nolan has revealed that talks have indeed begun for a sequel to Batman Begins and he will be helming it, but we'll have to wait a while since he's already working on The Prestige. Good things come to those who wait after all. There's some murmurs that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will be the longest movie in the series yet at over 2 and a half hours. IGN spoke with Kiera Knightly and Tony Scott a bit about Domino, and it sounds like they're proud of their work. Lastly, AICN has an early review of Doom, and though it's positive I think it's just a fanboy's inflated opinions.

Now for some Wednesday Mind Humping:

01. Can you remember where you were in life ten years ago? If you could travel back in time and whisper something to yourself ten years ago, what would it be?
I was just about to turn 9 so probably not a whole lot. However, things were much simpler and I definitely got more sleep than I do now.

02. You inherit a large piece of land and decide to build a theme park a la "Disneyland, Sea World, etc.) What would you name your theme park and what would your mascot be?
I would built Computerland where all the rides would be computer related and the mascot would be a giant monitor. This is why I'm a CS major and not a theme park designer.

04. What would someone absolutely HAVE to know about you if they were considering sharing a room with you?
They have to be clean. I'm a surprisingly tidy guy and I can't stand things like dirty dishes in the sink.

05. According to the song White Rabbit, "one pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small". If you were offered these pills today, which pill would you take and why?
I guess larger since I'm pretty short. Maybe I'd get a little more respect if I was larger, who knows.

Where's the Post?

I'm sorry, I really do want to blog today. However, time is against me and I'd like to get to bed within the next 90 minutes since I have a 10:00 AM class and I'm not getting enough sleep anymore. Let me briefly explain how crazy my day has been. I took an EE test, went to CS 336, worked out, and before I could go home I had to do a bunch NSC stuff during which I found out that I will be the sole person running the Apple Company Night tonight for the ACM. Then, I had to head home, bathe, and scarf down lunch so I could make it back to campus by 4:00 PM to get the DVDs of my home movie from my friend. Next, I had to attempt to do some homework (too many distractions) before I had to prepare for the CS 307 review I was running at 6:00 PM, which went really well and made me feel smart (though I'm really not). I then had very little time before I had to get things started for Apple (during which I almost lost the room's console key) and I had to stay until the end (which was about 10:21 PM). And I caught the 11:00 PM bus coming home so I can finally start my homework! Is that crazy or what? I will, however, leave you with a totally awesome Ctrl-Alt-Del comic strip:

Software Liability and Ofun

I had two quizzes and two tests today (in addition to a meeting) and I feel pretty exhausted. And after this post I have to get through Unit 11 for EE so I can do that unit test tomorrow. Maybe things will slow down tomorrow? With Apple coming and a CS 307 review that I'm running, fat chance! What I really want to start off talking about though is this editorial from the BBC responding to attacks on a previous article of theirs regarding accountability for software. Companies should definitely be held to some assurance that their products are useable without inflicting damage, but the real issue is to what extent? I think he takes it a little too far by suggesting completely error-free code because on large-scale products it's far from likely and probably not cheap enough to make it worthwhile, but I think it's important to find a happy medium. What is -ofun though? It's all about having fun while optimizing a project in software development, and those of you who work in Linux are probably more likely to get the joke inherent in the name. He makes some interesting points, but they seem like radically liberal ideas in today's more structured world. I don't even think companies like Google embrace all those ideas! Still, it would be nice in a Utopian society.

If I had to choose another main topic for today it would definitely be the fleeting concept of a personal computer. The article I've cited makes a wholly valid point that the decreasing cost and size of portable memory is making it easier to take your most important personal files/programs with you wherever you go, and I really hope that idea spreads more to public schools (for eBooks). I don't mean to keep harping on how greedy the music industry is becoming, but I just have to mention how nuts it is that they want a portion of the revenues from ads displayed in search engines when an artist or song is queried. I understand wanting revenue from music videos, but only because that's content they own; this is pushing it. Meanwhile, Yahoo is jumping on the podcast wagon with a service of their own to download and review them and I'm quite impressed so check it out. Lastly, before you decide to buy a personal photo printer read this article.



International posters seem to always look a lot better than our posters, and that's the UK poster for none other than Peter Jackson's King Kong. They even put up another video journal entry detailing more about the animation process. A while ago there was some talk from Tom Arnold of a sequel to True Lies in the near future and hottie Eliza Dushku seems to corroborate this story! If this actually happens it would make me so excited because the original was one of the first action movies I truly fell in love with. Speaking of hotties, Smallville's Kristin Kreuk may soon be slated to star in a movie called Get Smart with Steve Carell and you can be sure that I'll let you know if that happens. Lastly, if you need any more reason to see Feast when it comes out then read this. It may not be a Donnie Darko, but it sounds like an impressive first movie.

Now for some Monday Madness:

1. Name one productive thing you accomplished this past weekend.
I can name a ton, but for one I cleaned the tub and my sinks. I've never seen either sink so white before!

2. Name two things that you look forward to doing.
I look forward to sitting (or standing, more likely) in my sweet seats in the horseshoe for the Colorado game on Saturday. I'm also looking forward to taking a look at the DVDs that Dzung was kind enough to burn for me of my home videos (under two hours of footage that's all I have of my childhood on video).

3. Name three things that gross you out.
Moldy bread (mainly because I've looked at it under a microscope in high school Biology and it's scarred me for life), naked old people (hey, don't glare at me), and severely overweight people who don't try to improve their situation but rather gorge themselves with food.

4. Name four things that you normally do on a daily basis.
Brush my teeth, bathe, blog, and eat at least three meals. The last thing is the most important.

5. Name five things that you own that you think you could get rid of and not miss.
My CS 315 textbook (worst use of money ever), my Titanic soundtrack (I bought it a very long time ago), a Bank of America waterbottle I've never used, Muruku (it's an Indian snack I found in my pantry), and that's about it. I try to live minimally here.

Glad and Guilty

I want to start out with a bit of advice: never ever leave your place without your keys and/or cell phone. I went 50 feet away to do my laundry, and when I loaded the washer and came back my apartment was locked! Thankfully, my next door neighbor was a super nice guy and let me use his phone to call my mom to call my room mate to come home. That time loss will cause me to go as fast as possible through this post. I went out to dinner with my former room mate last night (Macaroni Grill is surprisingly affordable) and his girlfriend and it made my heart glad (as they say in Greek myths) to see him doing better than he was doing before. He actually told me that he likes to spend as little time as possible at home, which is a 360 degree shift from last year. Plus, he's going to all his classes. I'm proud of him and I hope to hang out with him again soon. Aside from that and the game though (hence the sweet shirt to the right here that I wish I had), I felt pretty homesick this weekend since I was at my place alone and I could've conceivably gone back with Avinash. What made me feel guilty was that my parents' house was attacked late Friday night (some dickless freak through a brick at the window and broke through 2 layers of plexiglass) and I wasn't there to help them through it. My mom is shook up since this has happened a few times before already (with rocks though), and I could've been there. I made the choice to stay because of how much work I have this weekend (stupid CS 310 test) and I'm going home in two weeks anyway. Oh well, I have to press on with my week.

As I had predicted the announcement this week from Apple will not be an iPod Video but rather an upgrade of the current iPod to 80 GB among a few other little things. The confusion apparently arose from the fact that an iPod Video is in development, but there are no plans to release it so early. Another rumor squash I have for you today is that Google has no current plans to go up against MS Office and the deal with Sun was just what it sounded like: a plot to distribute more Google Toolbars. It wasn't such a cryptic alliance after all! This is kind of minor, but I find it exciting that Toshiba is strongly leaning towards not including region codes in the HD-DVD format, which were totally pointless before in my opinion. Lastly, PhoneMag has a number of articles on Nokia concept technology including a wristband phone and a waterproof one as well! If you're as dorky as me then prepare to drool (seriously).

There's very little movie news (as usual for a weekend) so I may be able to finish this up and continue studying in the next 5 minutes! The winner of the box office battle this week was somewhat surprisingly Wallace & Grommit at a little over $16 million. I'm pretty surprised that it actually beat out Two for the Money (which brought in a measly $8.4 million), and I was shocked that Serenity dropped so far down (its total gross is now $17.6 million). This slump is getting pretty crazy, and I wonder how worried studios are right now. If you like musicals and/or you like Uma Thurman then you may be interested in the one-sheet for The Producers. Lastly, if you're into foreign films then you may want to keep your eye on Year One in the North, which also features Ken Watanabe.

Before I go I have to mention how pleased I am that SOCOM 3 looks like it turned out pretty well. IGN, who really didn't care for the first two, actually gave this one a 9.0. It has vehicles and 32-player multiplayer and everything! If only I had the time to play it.

Now for some Unconscious Mutterings:

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

1. Quirk::Oddity
   
2. Crystal::Clear
   
3. Pet Peeve::Nails on a chalkboard
   
4. Cuban::Cigar
   
5. Breasts::Women
   
6. Whispers::Chinese (this is what my cousins from India call that childhood game Telephone)
   
7. Complicated::Avril Lavigne
   
8. Promise me::Secret
   
9. Murder::Homicide
   
10. Filament::Mushrooms
    

HBO Fights Torrents

Holy crap was it cold today. I thought my nipples my freeze, but that's probably because it was almost 100 degrees just about a week ago. It was 55 degrees when I woke up and rather than being sunny and going to 67 like it was supposed to, it rained and dropped to 51! I only wore a thin, long-sleeved shirt and jeans so I felt pretty cold and didn't warm up until after I went to the gym and put my normal clothes over my workout clothes! It's supposed to go back to the 80s tomorrow unfortunately. To make matters worse, I had one of my worst cooking experiences today when I spilled puttered seeds all over my countertop! That took forever to clean up. Anyway, I wanted to comment on the fact that HBO is reacting to torrents much like the RIAA initially reacted to P2P: putting out bogus files. Don't get me wrong, I truly believe in their right to make money off of their programming. However, wouldn't it make more sense for them to say, "Wait a minute, there's a market here!" If people only want Rome why should they subscribe to premium networks to get it? I'm impressed by how they're counteracting the torrents by fooling the trackers with garbage chunks though, although this won't cure the much larger problem television will face if they don't start selling shows.

On the other side of media, Microsoft has started exchanging blows with Sony over the Blu-ray disc. It's only verbal right now, but Gates is pretty ticked off that, supposedly, the disc won't work well with Windows PCs and its copy protection would prevent content to be streamed to the Xbox 360. To add to the mix, Warner Brothers is tiptoeing over to Blu-ray, but it sounds more that they're trying to remain open-minded. Anyway, it looks like I've missed another Google update: they have an RSS Reader now. Much like the rise of Google Local they've quietly rolled out this feature, which seems like a common strategy for them. Lastly, Mozilla Firefox 1.5 is now out and the improvements include an auto-update feature and some security fixes.

After a long drought we finally have another picture from the set of X3. The only really notable thing is the fact that Storm (Ms. Berry) cut her hair, and I think it's a good look for her. If you're curious about Serenity then you should check out the first nine minutes of the film legally from Universal. It's a pretty good setup and makes me direly wish I had more time to go out and see it right now. We finally have a trailer for Curious George and it's quite kid-centric, but I love how true they're staying to the original art style. Kevin Smith updated the Clerks 2 video journal with some hair styling for himself and Jason Mewes, and I just like seeing them being candid. Quint put up a pretty good review for the Project Greenlight flick, Feast, and it adds to the momentum of it actually being a good movie. Who knows, maybe this is the horror film to see this year. Lastly, Harry Potter fans may like to see a few new character posters for the upcoming movie, but they're all in a similar vein to what we've seen before.

Now for Friday's Feast:

Appetizer
Name 3 qualities that are important to you in friendship.
Loyalty, honesty, and companionship. What else is there?

Soup
If you could dream about anything tonight, what would the subject matter be?
Chicks. Just kidding, or am I? Seriously though, I'd like to dream of being at peace. I feel so stressed all the time and tired. Every weekend I have off I have to sacrifice to work (domestic, school, and club-related). I'd like to dream of being on vacation back with my family.

Salad
Do you usually make an effort to personally thank people who do favors for you?
I try to, and I also try to make sure to not forget their kindness in the future should they even be in need themselves. Retribution is very important to me.

Main Course
If you had to go out of town for an extended period of time, who would you trust to take care of your home and belongings?
In Austin I'd have to say my room mate! In Houston though our family would trust our neighbor down the street who we've known for several years.

Dessert
How do you react to practical jokes when they're played on you?
It depends on how harsh and/or frequent they are. If it's out of the blue I'll go along with it. If it takes it too far or is repeated I'd probably flip out.

Movies Moving Closer to the Net

I can't remember the last day as beautiful as today in Austin. I can't believe that it's 58 degrees outside this very minute. The daytime hovered around the 70s and what was great is that it's that perfect mix of breeze and cool with warm sunlight. It's like when you keep your place a few degrees cooler than you would like to be so you can curl up in a blanket, but the blanket is the sun. Anyway, Universal is the first major studio (to my knowledge, at least) that plans to offer movies online by the end of this year. I guess that with the unprecedented growth of the web this year they're realizing that it's important to tap into this new, tech-savvy audience. They're making a really smart move and I hope they do get something workable together. Meanwhile, smaller producers are following suit (or I guess it's the other way around, really) and finding that it's cheaper for them to distribute their work online rather than in movie theaters. That's more focused towards television programming, but Brightcove has the right idea by possibly offering a pilot episode for free and then subsequent episodes would be $1 apiece. I think other networks are starting to catching on as well, so I can't wait to see where we'll be by next Spring.

That's right, GTA: San Andreas is coming back to us in all it's rated M glory. As you can see, it looks a little different and will feature 3 DVD discs to also include some introductory material and a documentary of sorts. Keep your eyes peeled for how many retailers actually will carry it (the ones who haven't sold out I mean). Has anyone else noticed that Google Maps Beta is now Google Local and looks a little different? It now features a quasi-command line interface rather than tabs and I think that's better except that I see some delay in it drawing a path for directions. It also would appear that Google really is going to feature a button on its toolbar to allow web users to access Sun's OpenOffice, which is either a strike against Microsoft or a move to get closer to Sun (or both I suppose). Lastly, ZDNet features that we shouldn't shrug off Microsoft's contributions to trying to encourage standards (though I realize the irony in how many standards IE isn't compliant with) with things such as DRM and COM. Consistency is important after all.

I'm starting to get tired of Martin Campbell's lies. First, he says that there are three men at the forefront for the role of James Bond and now he says that there's really no one who's in the lead. Either he's trying to throw us off or he's really incompetent. Could it be that the costumes for Spider-man 3's villains will stink? One source seems to think so, we don't really have much to go on ourselves though other than his word so stay tuned for more. If you don't watch live TV much, like me, then you'll want to head to IGN for a couple of TV spots for the Goblet of Fire. The San Francisco Chronicle has a rather long report from the set of Zodiac, David Fincher's next thriller and though I couldn't read this whole thing I'm still wildly intrigued. Lastly, this teaser image from King Kong is just too cool for me to not showcase:



Now for the 3x Thursday meme:

1. Name a band/group/performer that you love to listen to, but normally wouldn't listen to. Why do you like them so much?
Sadly, Mariah Carey. I'm not a big fan of pop, but I've been listening to her since I was a wee little boy and I just think she has an awesome voice.

2.Name a movie that usually you wouldn't like, but for whatever reason, you love.
Now this is really a tough one. I don't normally have a particular affinity for sports movies though yet I thought Friday Night Lights was awesome and very entertaining. Napoleon Dynamite is another because it's just a really stupid comedy, but there's something funny about it.

3. Do you have a talent that not many other people poesess? What is it?
I can twitch my ears? I don't really know. I'm a pretty determined person, which means I stay on top of my work and my exercise regiment.

Knowing When to Quit

Today was a pretty crazy day. I went to three classes and three meetings, and now I'm pretty tired though I still have a test to knock out tomorrow (I'm guessing it'll be pretty easy) and I have to plow through as much EE as I can tonight before I fall apart. The club responsibilities are starting to pile up, too, but hopefully I can get through it all. This may sound like it's part of my topic, but I'm not quitting college anytime soon so don't worry about that. What I'm really referring to is this great blog entry about knowing when to quit a dead-end job. Like a bad relationship, it's easy to get so caught up in it that you don't even realize how bad you actually have it. Some of you may be graduating soon but for the rest of you (myself included) this is just really useful advice for the future when you do actually get out there in the industry. My brother had a hard time himself getting out of his bad job at IBM but now he's working at a place that he really loves so he's pretty glad that he got out when he did. A good rule of thumb though is that if you're not enjoying it then you shouldn't be there, but these are just a few more to help explain what that means.

I'd like to apologize for having posted about a bogus article yesterday. Microsoft is not, in fact, developing single-use DVDs and the rumor grew out of DRM protected digital content. It's surprised how far it actually spread. There's some rumblings over at Apple that they may be announcing a video-enabled iPod next week, but I have my doubts given that Steve Jobs previously stated that there's not enough demand for such a device. AppleInsider is usually pretty reliable though so we'll see what happens. The other big company I haven't mentioned yet, Google, is supposedly partnering up with Sun to offer OpenOffice to be used online for free. This is not in any way definite though and appears to merely be speculation so don't start cheering on the MS Office marauders quite yet. If you don't know what music download to turn to then there's a pretty terse summary here to refer to. Lastly, I'm very impressed that the BBC is testing out a service that would allow their content to be legally downloaded for up to a week after its broadcast and be watched for a limited period of time. I hope this spreads stateside.

As if George Clooney isn't doing enough already, it looks like he's going to be in another very interesting movie called Syriana (also featuring Matt Damon and Amanda Peet) and I highly recommend checking out the trailer here. Another movie I didn't hear about until today is an animated Dreamworks flick called Over the Hedge and IGN has the trailer, which makes the movie actually sound cute though the premise originally sounded stupid to me. If you're a horror junkie then you may like these tv spots for Saw II Action junkies are probably more interested in what Martin Campbell had to say about Casino Royale, and all-in-all I'm not impressed yet with how he's handling it. Lastly, feast your eyes on the dark, final one-sheet for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:



Now I'm going to take a crack at the QOTD II:

How much money would someone have to pay to spend one night alone in an old mansion that is supposedly haunted? Or, one of those who would pay to spend the night?
I'm a real scaredy cat so no less a million. It would probably shave some years off my life so I need that money as compensation.

UTCS: Good or Bad?

When you see a name you know on Slashdot, it's a little crazy. Doug Burger and Steve Keckler are these two amazing tenured professors at UT who do a couple of honors courses and crazy research like this. I don't know Burger personally or anything (yet), but I hope to take CS 352H in the Spring if possible since I'm getting screwed right now in CS 310. Anyway, their TRIPS project is basically a system that should drastically improve performance on the newer chips today that make rapid parallel processing possible at the expensive of more intricate code. It's hard to do a lot of parallel processing code and this project handles the concurrency in a way that will probably go above the heads of most (I only barely grasp it myself). Now that's the kind of stuff that puts UT CS in the top 10 consistently. So why the latter part of my topic? I don't like how the department treats FoCS members better than its students (namely, ahem, student organizations). I understand the need for money but it just seems like they cheapen themselves, especially when they assert their overbearing authority over us without merit. I'm not going to go into details because I don't want to get into trouble, but I just wish they'd be more supportive of the people who try to make the Department look good. Nonetheless, I'm still proud to be a CS major at UT.

There's actually a lot of other great technology news today so I'll be brief. This pretty little device is the GameBoy Micro and it's a lot smaller than it looks (think iPod Nano size). Ars Technica has a well-written review covering the most important points and the $100 price tag even tempts me to succumb to it. The Xbox 360 launch is sneaking up on us and the New York Times is finally pointing out what I've been saying all along: where are the games? Supposedly, journalists will get a closer look at some playables in the next couple of days so it had better be pretty damned good for Microsoft's sake. I'll give them props for coming up with single-use DVDs though, which could make services like Netflix even cheaper (and easer) and ease the movie industry's woes just a little. It looks like they're backing off from music though as they have ended licensing talks with some big labels because they were demanding too much in royalties. I don't know whether Microsoft is being cheap or the labels are getting greedy, but I don't think we need another online music service anyway. Lastly, Intel seems to be playing the reasonable role in the next-gen DVD war and only asks for mandatory managed copy from their Blu-ray camp to give them equal support, which means that you could copy content to your home servers if you wanted to, for example, watch something on-the-go. Now things are getting interesting.

The only movie news today is stuff I'd usually skip over in favor of more important stuff, which is good because I have immensely stupid, tedious CS 310 homework to get back to. Peter Jackson is going to be producing Halo, so there may be hope for it yet. There are some good-looking pictures from Curious George over here. If you want to get an idea of what Wallace and Grommit will be like you can check out a bunch of clips here. And the last thing is really book news: Stephen King has released a more condensed (and cheaper) novel today called The Colorado Kid and apparently it's a mystery novel. At only $6 I wish I didn't already have four of his books already on my shelf that I haven't read yet.

Now for a difficult Ten on Tuesday because I haven't been to the movies in a while:

10 Best Movies You've Seen Lately
10) The Village (I had low expectations at first)
9) Half Baked
8) Better Luck Tomorrow (rewatch)
7) Fight Club (rewatch)
6) Reservoir Dogs (rewatch)
5) Sin City
4) Wedding Crashers
3) Cinderella Man
2) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
1) Batman Begins (duh)

It's a sad list because I've been too busy to watch the movies I really, really want to watch.

The Science of Happiness

It's appropriate for today's topic that I started out my day so well with the draw for tickets for the UT v. Colorado game next Saturday yielding seats for me in section 19 (the horseshoe section)! The day was sobered later with some conflict over the Apple Company Night next week, but it was counteracted by my passing Unit 9 for EE 316 so everything is alright again. Why do I mention all this? Because the Times Online has an amazing article exploring the psychology of experiencing joy and makes a lot of provocative observations. In fact, I'd recommend that you sit down and read all three pages if you have 10 or 15 minutes to spare. One of the better questions it poses is what underlies our bias towards pessimistic thinking, and it appears that negative thought comes from older parts of the brains (suggesting that it's related to fear and survival instincts). And by the biological nature of our brains we are designed to always crave but never achieve lasting happiness. Isn't that ironic? We get caught in cycles of desires and ambitions. Did you know that liking and desiring are connected with different chemicals? There's a lot that most of us don't know about ourselves and may never fully figure out, but I guess things may be a little more intricate than the Dalai Lama suggested just a couple of weeks ago.

It should come as no shock that Yahoo is following up on Google's library project with one of their own to digitize older, out-of-print titles and they plan on paying for them. It's a pretty smart move on their part in that it makes Google look pretty bad and them much better by comparison. GamerGod has a really good rebuttal to the Michigan law that threatens harsh penalties for the sale of rated M video games to minors, and he brings in some great points and important parallels. It would be like if a 16 year-old was fined $5,000 for buying Donnie Darko at Best Buy; it's just out of line and unnecessary. Lastly, if you feel worried by the recent hurricanes and you're in a possible hurricane area then you may want to check out this article detailing the most important things to preserve in case of a natural disaster (mainly financial and medical records).

The lovely lady to your right, Laura Dutta, is set to be a part of Indiana Jones 4 and is a Houstonian. Her role is small, but at least it's another Indian on the big screen and the first casting news we have from the hotly anticipated movie. There's also an Indian dude on Casino Royale as the main villain and he's named Gulshan Grover! He's not all that popular, but maybe he will be very soon. If you want to see a little more from Domino you can check out a new clip over at IGN. If you'd rather see humorous movie trailers then you've gotta check this out. A couple of people handy at video editing have changed up the trailers for The Shining, Titanic, and and West Side Story to have totally opposite connotations than the movies actually have (like the Titanic as a horror flick).

Now for some Monday Madness:

1. What's on your computer desk?
An Ikea lamp, some candy from Goldman Sachs, pencil/pen mug, a cup from Road Trip with a noisemaker, a couple of bills, some CDs, a neat toy yoyo thing from VMWare, my monitor, my keyboard, my mouse and mousepad (I use it for the gel wrist wrest), a couzie (that thing you put soft drinks in to keep them cool), and my speakers.

2. What does your computer desktop background look like?
A great picture of Ms. Jessica Alba.

3. What's on your agenda for the upcoming week?
Too much to list here, but it includes flyering for the Apple Company Night, a couple of EE tests, studying for my CS 336 test, and a few things for the Ice Cream Social I'm planning.

Best Products of '05

I hope your weekend was better than mine because I spent half mine wishing I was back home. Ironic, huh? Some family came in from out of town I haven't seen in a while and plus it was my mom's birthday last week so it would've been nice to go back, but I had a lot of work to take care of and at least I got some cooking done, too. Plus, I finally had a guitar practice session. Anyway, PCWorld actually put up a decent article listing the supposed best products of 2005, but they probably meant tech products. It probably shouldn't be too surprising that Firefox came at the top, but I'm kind of surprise that I didn't see the Nano on there. My brother's cell phone made the list though (the Treo), and it is pretty neat. Given that some people were let down by Tiger I'm surprised it was in the top 10, but I guess they like Dashboard. It was nice to see some of the lesser known things on there like A9, Wikipedia, and ACDSee. I thought it was kind of a diss to Nintendo that the PSP made it on there but the DS didn't, but the PSP is much craftier in my opinion. Anyway, a great list to browse and learn more about truly some of the best of this year so far.

I think the Aibo is a rather cute little invention, though largely pointless unless you want to play robot soccer (which looks pretty damn cool actually). The reason I have a picture of one up there is because it's part of Sony's new line that now talks and interacts with you when you pet it. I wonder if this really makes them that much money. An even better invention is a beer mat created by some German students that can tell a bartender when the mug in question is out of beer via a radio signal to his computer. That just has "more drunk people" written all over it. Yahoo has been roped into the recent trend of lawsuits over supposed theft of trade secrets with regard to some oral search technology. A pretty serious offense I think, but who knows if they're really guilty. Lastly, in a rather surprising announcement, Paramount, who was a staunch supporter of the HD-DVD format, has decided to also support Blu-ray. I think that having it built-in to the PS3 helps the latter, but companies going both ways is not helping the war.

The box office slump has gotten even worse with Flightplan springing up to take hold of the #1 spot at a measly $15 million and Serenity, which was supposed to be the big opener, only bringing in $10.1 million. Corpse Bride held onto #3 and A History of Violence opened right behind it, which was also supposed to be pretty good. This slump is surprising given a couple of decent movies being out there, but I myself have just been too busy to go for a movie but maybe gas prices are partially to blame for the trend. Christopher Nolan's next directorial adventure is going to be based on a book called The Prestige and pits Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman against each other in a battle for trade secrets. This is very good news and I hope to hear good things very soon. And lastly, a couple of new video journals are up. KongIsKing has a new entry regarding the motion capture process for King Kong himself in the Peter Jackson movie and Blue Tights Adventure Network features the meeting of the old Jimmy Olsen with the new one. Speaking of Superman, did anyone else thing the season premiere of Smallville was actually pretty good?

Now for some Unconscious Mutterings to end the weekend:

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

1. Quaint::Cozy
   
2. Rind::Pork
   
3. Disease::Viral
   
4. Queer::as Folk
   
5. Pork::Chops
   
6. Soaked::Clothes
   
7. Skeleton::Bones
   
8. Mold::Gak
   
9. Finished::Done
   
10. Buffalo::Bill
    

Hacking as an Art

I just made some East Indian Masala Chicken and it is fabulous. I don't use that word much, but it really is a lot better than I expected it to be. I started it out not knowing how exactly to cut the chicken, and now it looks like I put in the right blend of everything! I'm just proud because usually my first attempts at a dish are disastrous. Anyway, Whitedust has an interesting editorial on whether hacking is an art or a science. It's a bold claim since hacking has held such a negative connotation in recent years, but he makes a good point in that the act does require a lot of thinking outside the box. Is it really a science though? There's no exact way to do it, but there are definite heuristics. I don't really know where I stand, but I thought it was something kinda out there to ponder.

Apple is really starting to take some heat from the music industry over its stance to not raise mp3 prices. In fact, Warner Music is threatening to pull their artists from the service, and what's ironic is that these companies don't realize that the iPod drives sales of their clients' music rather than the customers just downloading it illegally. I hope Steve Jobs holds his ground still. If you want more insight as to why Microsoft picked HD-DVD then you should check out Ars Technica, and I think the biggest point is that there's a definite release date for it as opposed to the vagaries of the Blue Ray. Lastly, this article provides a great look at how some of the most beloved webcomics have evolved so if you read Penny Arcade or PvP or any of the other big ones then check it out.

We finally have a teaser trailer for The Passion of the Clerks and I'm pretty surprised that they got away with that logo. Not everyone gets Kevin Smith's humor but I think he's pretty funny and is even starting a video journal for it. Casting has already begun on the fifth Harry Potter movie, and I only mention this because it must mean that the fourth is almost done and they're just teasing us by having not already released it. IGN scored an interview with the writer of X3 and he tries to stave off concerns that it will disappoint the fans, but I suppose it's really too early to tell. Moviefone has some behind-the-scenes footage from Domino and it sounds even cooler than before! They did manage to hide that Domino Harvey wasn't totally satisfied with their portrayal of her (mainly whitewashing her homosexuality). Lastly, fellow fans of the Alba will want to read this interview at IGN.

Now for Friday's Feast:

Appetizer
When was the last time you visited a hospital?
A couple of summers ago I got some stomach virus upon my visit to San Antonio to head to Schlitterbahn and I had to visit the E.R. because I didn't think I'd ever stop throwing up. Not the most fun experience, but I don't get sick very often at all.

Soup
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how ambitious are you?
I'd say a 9. I'm pretty high up there, but I don't think I take enough risks to be a 10. I really want a lot out of life and I can't wait to get it all. Sounds weird, huh? To hear this from a guy who writes in a blog everyday and has no girlfriend. I wouldn't get good grades if I wasn't ambitious.

Salad
Make a sentence using the letters of a body part. (Example: (mouth) My other ukelele tings healthily.)
Elton yells (while) eating a sandwich.

Main Course
If you were to start a club, what would the subject matter be, and what would you name it?
It would be the club for blog enthusiasts and I'd call it the Secret Order of Blogging. Not that I really need another club in my life at this point.

Dessert
What color is the carpet/flooring in your home?
It's kind of tannish.

My Belly's Full, But No Post Tonight

I'm too busy tonight to do a full post. We had our 4th NS Week event tonight with a lecture from Nobel Laureate Dr. Robert Curl on nanotechnology. I didn't see the lecture though because we had to cut 150 Chipotle sandwiches in half because we didn't have enough for the great turnout. Burritos are a lot heavier than you would think when placed in large crates. Anyway, the officers and Dr. Curl went to this place called Zoot off of Lake Austin for a nice dinner (paid for by the Dean's Office) and it was a pretty pricey meal (let's just say that including tip, it cost over $50 per person). The portions were small, but it was so good. I had a pumpkin soup to start out with, which I had never tried but the waiter recommended it and he was spot-on. My main entree was steak with potatoes and mushrooms, and the steak was actually just a few slices, but it went well with the other parts and ended up being so good. For desert I had some dark chocolate mousse terrini with hazelnut biscotti and it was out of this world. A great place to check out if you ever need a swanky meal. And now I have like an hour and half to finish reading 3 books of The Iliad and do some translation work for Latin. Wish me luck!

Gaiman and Whedon on Geeks

Today was actually sort of a slow news day, which is good because I'm feeling rather lethargic and may even go to bed earlier than I previously thought because I've fallen asleep quite a few times in the middle of the day today. Anyway, in an interview with Time magazine, Neil Gaiman and Joss Whedon mentioned that geeks are a big part of their fan base and how they're normal now. I think he was trying to get to the point that they represent a subset of the market now and are an important part of the body of consumers. I guess there's a misconception that geeks today are like they were in the 70s, but I don't think much has changed other than people's perceptions of what the word means. Plus, the media is just starting to realize that if you make shows and movies they like the money will come rolling in. Anyway, the rest of the interview is good two if you're interested in these two film heavyweights.

Security is constantly a hot issue and now even flash memory will be secure from SanDisk with their TrustedFlash chip design to ensure that privacy is hard-wired to it. This really makes flash memory more easily accessible to industry where copy-protection is essential. New Scientist has spotted a new patent for a microphone that fits in your teeth to amplify sound even better in high-decibel locales, like a battlefield. The switch would be tongue activated, but it doesn't sound like it would be used a lot in commonplace though it is pretty neat. Lastly, Mexican medical schools have begun experimenting with having their students use robotic patients in their training. I think it's a pretty good idea and will likely spread to the U.S..

JoBlo put up a pretty good quiz about Jessica Alba, so if you think you know everything about her then give it a try. I would put up a choice picture of her, but Blogger is being mean. The Project Greenlight movie, Feast, is finally done and Wes Craven approved of Peter Gulager's finished product. The movie won't release until January 20, and it looks like it'll challenge what we consider to be a good low-budget horror film. We also still have some time yet to wait for Domino, so if you want to see a really weird new clip from that click here. We may have a James Bond by next week as the finalists have been chosen, but I won't list them because I doubt you guys have heard of them. Lastly, if you're hankering for a sports movie, Disney's Glory Road might just hit the spot.

I'm going to go with the Question of the Day II meme today:

What are four things that are on your desk that shouldn't be?
1. Twisty ties - I'm just too lazy to put them up
2. A bandana - I don't know what to do with this
3. My ACL Schedule - again, I'm lazy
4. My cable bill - I already paid it

Desktops in Decline

Today my posting will return to normalcy. It turns out that all my ACL-related posts resulted in my being featured in a bigger blog, so thanks to them for the plug because it would explain the strange surge in my visitor traffic over the past day. The nerdy topic for today is a notable trend in laptops rising over desktop computers. This shouldn't really be too surprising, especially as a lot more college students than in previous years are delving into the world of laptops as they get cheaper. The desktop will always be important for those who need more power behind their machines, like game freaks, and those who aren't tech-savvy enough to understand the intricacies of a laptop. Plus, laptops carry a higher risk with security, especially over wireless networks. I can see the drive for mobility though, and I just wonder if laptops will ever reach the kind of steep decline in prices as desktops did just a few years ago.

Today actually marks Google's 7th anniversary, and I guess that's why they didn't show at their own company night at UT today! Quite a disappointment from Google and I'll be looking more seriously at Apple, Goldman Sachs, and Amazon.com instead of them as a result of that annoyance. The struggle over the next generation of DVDs is even crazier now that Microsoft and Intel have joined the Toshiba camp for the HD-DVD. That's a pretty heavy weight to counteract Sony, but the battle is still a toss-up this early. An even bigger concern is that the MPAA is getting even sneakier now in how they put the broadcast flag into legislation to get it passed in Congress, but I'm glad that organizations like EFF are doing their best to call them out.

I'm just going to hit the high points in the movie news. The winner in this past weekend's box office was Flightplan at $24.6 million with Tim Burton's Corpse Bride following closely behind with $20.1 million. Both of those figures are impressive considering recent trends and how slow this month usually is, especially since Corpse Bride is animated. Kirsten Dunst rattled some cages when she revealed that the villains for Spider-man 3 will be Venom and Sandman indeed played by Topher Grace and Thomas Haden Church. I find it strange that her PR rep approved her remark since it hadn't been previously revealed, and now I just find the casting odd for the roles. There are now two possibilities for the Batman Begins sequels: 'Batman Attacks' and 'Batman Strikes', but there are likely others we don't know about. I think the latter would work better, but I'm sure they could think of something cooler than that. AICN has two solid reviews of Good Night and Good Luck, and the movie sounds as awesome as I hoped. I'll leave you with some Harry-Hermione lovin':



This weeks' Ten on Tuesday is way too hard, so I'm going for the Tuesday Twosome:

What are the last two...

1. TV shows you watched?
Seinfeld and The Simpsons.

2. household chores you finished?
I washed dishes an hour ago and did laundry last night. Chores are the big drawback of living in an apartment.

3. food items you ate?
An Andes mint and my dinner (rice with egg curry, which I made).

4. websites (before here) you visited?
See the last two movie sites I linked above.

5. things you do before you go to sleep?
Make my bed and put on my retainer (I had braces a few years ago).

The Lazy Way Out

So I'm not going to do a normal post today once again. I went out seeking some pictures from ACL and added a few to my previous three posts as well as corrected a few grammatical mistakes. I searched far and wide but the only decent pictures I found came from Tiffany's LJ so I'm going to showcase those below in lieu of my nonsensical writing so that I can continue my laundry and the homework that's due tomorrow. I had a pretty wild and crazy day, but I had a few successful talks with companies at the Career Expo for 40 minutes (damn Erwin Center made us sweat it out outside until 1:05 PM) and I did much running around for Round-Up. The event didn't turn out nearly as well as I hoped, but at least we got through it. No prizes at the Microsoft company night I went to, but there was some pretty choice pizza. You can click on any of these pictures to enlarge them.









I'll still partake in some Monday Madness:

1. Ice cream or Yogurt?
Definitely ice cream. It's more fattening, but who cares you know that it's so much better!

2. What's your favorite board game?
Has to be Cranium. I haven't had more fun in any other game and it just encompasses so many different activities.

3. Do you play video games? If yes, what game system(s) do you use?
Yes, PS2 and PC sometimes I guess (Half-Life 2 and Counterstrike mainly).

4. If you were given a chance to change your name, would you do it? If yes, what would your new name be?
I don't think so. I'll stick with Elton.

5. What are the last 2 blogs that you've visited? Please share the links with us so we can check them out.
Tiffany's and Liz's.

6. What's your biggest frustration?
What to do about stress!

ACL Day Three, the Bittersweet Conclusion

If I shouldn't have been blogging this morning, I definitely shouldn't be writing this up right now because not only do I have to finish up my stupid CS 310 homework but also I now have to get up in the morning and ship out a summer school book because someone bought it today and they chose "expedited shipping." I know you're not shedding any tears for me yet, but I also have at least one quiz tomorrow, the Natural Sciences Career Expo (which I have to run to/fro classes), and the Round-Up, which I can't back out of because I'm helping to run it! Was it worth it all for a music festival though? Let's find out, class...

I guess it's obvious that I wouldn't be writing this if I wasn't pretty happy with how today turned out. I went to a different church in the morning and it was like one of the best masses I've ever been to. And after our normally long trip to ACL, which took an hour from their house on 14th near I-35 (mostly because of the trek from City Hall), I rushed to Rilo Kiley while they split off for the Doves as I was seduced by the tune of "I, Never." Bethany's mom had the great idea of running to Academy and getting folding chairs (they ran out of UT ones, so I had to settle for the American flag), and so I propped out my chair, busted out my water and fan (manually powered, that is) and umbrella, and enjoyed the show. It was wicked hot out there (at least 100 degrees, but it felt like more), but after that long walk the sit was nice and hearing Rilo Kiley after waiting so many months was heavenly. They put on a really good show and they tried to connect to the audience by talking in between songs and sharing personal anecdotes, which I really like. They played 90% of the songs of theirs that I knew and a few I didn't, and it all sounded totally awesome. I wished that I was in the front, but I was so unbelievably hot and tired that I didn't want to risk the trip. Droves of people started flocking to the stage anyway (SBC) so it wouldn't have helped much by then. At that point I thought that it was the best show I had seen so far. But...

We met up and headed to the AMD stage to take in The Bravery. Much like The Frames, they were a true sleeper hit of the show. I didn't know much of their music and yet I was totally struck by how cool they ended up being. In fact, I ended up getting "An Honest Mistake" stuck in my head for the rest of the day, which is pretty cool considering how much other music I heard. Afterwards, we headed back to Cingular for The Arcade Fire and tried to hide under the shade of a tree but it didn't help us much because the sun moved as such to screw us over. Hence, we had to all rely on my umbrella, but the people around us didn't make it much cooler. To top it off, some idiots decided to stand up amidst all the people sitting down around them and block our otherwise immaculate view of the stage and the huge monitor. We didn't move until halfway through the show, but it didn't affect my opinion of the band much. Their diversity of music made them sound really cool and indie,and I think they have the makings of something real big so it was a pretty big thing to me to get to see them live. Their album is called Funeral (I think it was because they had a lot of deaths in families in the year preceding the release) so go check it out because it's awesome. My favorite song off of it is "Rebellion". I had to read for a while, but I wouldn't have if I didn't absolutely have to.

Then we went to AMD for The Decemberists (I know, a lot of 'The's), and it was much better than I had expected. I really love them, but I also love Keane and their concert was less than I was expected so I set my sights low for this show also. However, they ended up liking to interact with the audience a good bit and even got them to make sounds imitating being eaten by a whale! Afterwards, we spent too long getting water and food so we only caught half of Franz Ferdinand back at the SBC, but they still played a couple of my favorites. What was really neat is that they monitor added a black and white filter so it looked like the whole thing was a live music video. They did pretty well, but I don't think they trumped the earlier bands of the day. At least the sun had finally set though and gave all our sweat glands some relief.

Coldplay was up at 8:30 PM so I wanted to get up real close, but Bethany's mom protested on account of the huge dust cloud that had overtaken Zilker and the difficulty of getting out (which was hard regardless). I ended up ceding because the dust was a little crazy, but we did come prepared with bandanas at least. They started on time with "Square One", which I thought was a superb opener. I'm not going to through all the songs, but the whole concert was out of this world and hands down the best I've ever seen. Their interaction with the crowd was beyond anyone else we had seen and Chris Martin even jumped in the crowd once during "In My Place" since he was "still not close enough." Plus, he added some custom verses for us featuring SXSW, ACL, and gratitude for us having waiting in the heat all day to see them. Much like Franz, the whole show seemed like a music video with seizure-inducing lights, a colorful backdrop of lights, and filters on the monitor (one of which simulated them as being animated and got really great angles of Will). I was thrilled that he actually played "Til Kingdom Come", but the crowd was too lazy to join in like they should've so he did a great Johnny Cash cover. He even gave lots of props to The Arcade Fire for putting them out of a job. I love it when the big guys support the newcomers. The show ended a little shy of 10:00 PM, but the experience was so exhilarating, even from where we were (probably in the middle row of the whole crowd) that I wasn't too bothered. I'm going to see them again one day and sit in the very front; I recommend you do the same. For the curious, their set also included "Yellow", "White Shadows", "Everything's Not Lost", "Clocks", "The Scientist", "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face", "Speed of Sound", "Talk", and "Fix You".



We surveyed the damage afterwards to find dirt all over us and our stuff (my hair was even pretty brown). It was all in my ears and my nose (which is only producing black stuff) and I even got brown on my towel following my shower. Was it worth all the sweating and dirt and walking? Most definitely. It cost probably around $150 for everything (including food and ticket), but it was truly an experience to be amidst 60,000 fans (or so I'm told, and I'm sure it's not too far off) and just enjoy for a weekend. Sure, it screwed me over in the other aspects of my life, but we all have to take risks some times and don't ever forget that. Oh, and ALWAYS save your posts before hitting "Publish".

ACL Day Two, the Music Strikes Back

I definitely should not be posting right now. However, I'm afraid that today might totally overshadow yesterday, so I'm going to type as fast as I can. Do you think I can do it in five minutes so I can eat lunch and make it to Bethany's on time? Let's find out.

We started out at Built to Spill at 2:30 PM, where we took rest under a tree and I was sweating profusely from the one mile hike from the City Hall parking garage. It was a great band to start out the day because it was easy to just sit back and relax and enjoy it. When we left the comfort of the tree to check out The Frames though, we really felt the sting of the heat. Not only that, but the wind kept blowing dirt all over us, and this was a theme throughout the day. The fact that we had to put on sun tan didn't help because the dirt just stuck to us better that way. The Frames, however, were really amazing. We only went there rather than waiting around for Death Cab for Cutie because Bethany had heard that they'd be the best show at ACL. I don't know about that, but I was highly impressed considering that I'd never heard any of their stuff before and yet I loved the way they sounded. They came from Ireland and I'd recommend it to you closet indie fans. Death Cab was back at the Built to Spill stage (Cingular), and it was a huge let-down. They're a good band, but I totally wasn't feeling it. Maybe it was partially because we were on the right side so we weren't in front of the speakers or that the people in front of us were talking, but if people are talking that much then they're not getting into it either. I spoke to some people afterwards who confirmed it, and it was rather sad because their music is actually good.

Afterwards I went on a trek for water and rather than buying it for $2 as Bethany's mom recommended I sought out the free fountain where I stayed for like 8 minutes to only move a few feet in the enormous line. Then someone told us there was a booth where we could take a survey and get a free bottle of water, but they were closing down soon after I got there. So I returned after making them wait without any more water, but the one bottle I had left ended up being enough. I'm telling this story to urge you to always bring the largest bottles of water you can to a music festival (I got a 6 pack of sports bottles for $2 today). We went over the The Walkmen and they were alright, but they only played a couple of the songs that I liked.

At 6:30 PM it was Jet, and they blew me away. I was in the back just chiling and I could really feel it. Everyone was really pumped and they just put on a great show. They even played a song I didn't know was actually theirs (I don't know the name of it, but I guess it's their third single). They started out with like a five-minute intro to "Cold Hard Bitch", which was good because the audience went wild when they heard the classic drum intro the song. And of course everyone stood up for "Are You Gonna Be My Girl". Then we decided to camp out for Oasis, which was at 8:15 PM, after a bathroom break (port-a-potties are pretty gross) while viewing Bloc Party from afar. I have to admit that it looked like Bloc Party put on a damned good show. I was almost jealous of the people who were at the AMD stage (next to the Cingular stage) to see them, but we really wanted to see Oasis.



Oasis was good, but they weren't awesome. I liked the songs they played and they did pretty well with them, but they definitely didn't make it interactive enough considering how many huge fans were in the audience of several thousand. I enjoyed the show, but I almost wonder if I would've had more fun at Bloc Party! At least they played "Champagne Supernova" and "Wonderwall" and "Layla" though. And so our night ended around 9:40 PM. We were full of dirt and washing my face revealed globs of dirt under my eyes. My night ended at 12:30 PM, but I have to go for now. Looks like it took me a little over 10 minutes, not five!

ACL Day One

This post is going to be much shorter than usual, mainly because I have a slight fever (or so Sayali says, and I think she's right). Hence, I'm going to jump into bed right after this post, sleep for 8 or 9 hours straight, and try to sweat it out. My head always feels disoriented unless I'm sitting down, and it's probably my body trying to tell me that I need to slow down. I've had a busier than usual week though, and I think things will calm down after this coming week. I am pretty relieved that Hurricane Rita has degraded to a Category 3, so I no longer have to fear for my family members' lives and I can enjoy ACL (assuming I beat this fever) without much rain I hope. I almost lost my ticket actually, but by the grace of God I managed to find it on the floor of my CS 108 room (I know, I'm really lucky).

I didn't see many bands today, but just being there was so cool. I went with another NSCer and her mom, which may sound lame but it would be much lamer for me to get lost in South Austin. She was a pretty cool mom anyway, and she revealed the secret that parking at City Hall is totally free so we just walked a mile from there to Zilker. Zilker is such an amazing park being on Town Lake and so large. There's no equivalent to it in Houston, hence Houston being one of the fattest cities. There were thousands upon thousands of people there, and I believe there were 8 stages, though like 2 of them were kind of BS stages. There were like 4 or 5 that were really active. You could tell that it was planned really well though because the stages were set up well and the big bands had monitors so you could see them from the back. Also, if you were at one band you could mainly hear them because the stages were arranged as such that you would only hear what you came to hear. Also, the food court had a wide variety including Austin favorites like Amy's Ice Cream, Stubbs, Hudsons, Salt Lick, Thundercloud, and many more. Plus, the prices were $3-$6 for pretty decent meals. I got a sausage roll from Stubbs for only $3, so I'm glad that I'm not getting totally ripped off.

We got there later than we had planned, but as long as we got to see Keane I was happy. Keane wasn't as good as I thought they'd be as they sounded basically just like their album, but it was still pretty cool to see them in person and sing the chorus from "We Might As Well Be Strangers". I went to Blue October afterwards for the end of their set and they're actually harder than we had previously envisioned. They did play "Calling You" though, and that seemed to have more energy than anything Keane played so that was cool. Then my friend's mom wanted to see Lyle Lovett so we chilled there for a while before leaving. It doesn't seem like we did much, but we were there for like 3 hours probably, plus all the walking. What was really cool was that at night everything was even prettier because they had these big round lamps that were held in midair by helium and some string as well as various glowsticks among the audience and some of the stage sponsors were giving out free light things. Not only that, but from one stage there was the backdrop of downtown and it looked totally and utterly amazing, almost as good as sunset just a couple of hours before. The weather got real nice after sunset too. Despite being a little sick I had a great time overall and can't wait for round two tomorrow with Jet and freakin' Oasis among others. I'll likely try to give a Saturday report either that night or Sunday morning in lieu of having normal posts this weekend. This is my first festival after all and it's not like this happens all the time.

I'll still do the Friday's Feast meme:

Appetizer
Name something someone has done lately that impressed you.
Bethany actually completed a decent issue of the Catalyst! It's not that I didn't have faith in her, but rather that I'm not used to seeing the Catalyst (this is the monthly newsletter that NSC is supposed to put out for the College but didn't really do much of it last year).

Soup
Do you have any relaxing rituals? If so, what are they?
I think the most relaxing thing is kicking back and watching some television, or even better is laying on the couch and watching a movie. Other than that, not really.

Salad
If you could spend the winter season somewhere other than your current location, where would you choose to stay?
I'm not really sure. I kind of want to see snow, but can I really handle that kind of cold weather? Maybe I should just stick to Austin, though I spend half my winter in Houston anyway.

Main Course
When was the last time you had dinner out, and what was the name of the restaurant?
I think it was that time my car got towed, so Collina's. I try not to eat out too much. If you count the Stubbs booth at ACL having dinner out then I guess Stubbs!

Dessert
If you had a boat, what would you name it?
The S.S. Pinto, naturally!