Lost in Hawaii

Rob and I were talking about where the film ABC's hit series, Lost is filmed at. I mistakenly thought it as Maui, but Rob did a search on IMDB and noticed it's shot at Oahu. Me being the skeptic, I remembered I downloaded a Lost episode from iTunes and decided to look for location at the ending credits. As you can see, Rob was right. Perhaps we can take a look at the hatch ourselves when we go for Rob's wedding.

Black Friday

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I'm about to pick up this mornings newspaper, just to see what kind of deals can be had for tomorrow's Black Friday. If I can get a nice NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT video card for $99 bucks I just might camp out in front of Fry's or BestBuy, simular to what Rob is used to doing every year.

Please post a comment if you see any unusally good deals this Thanksgiving season.

Xbox 360 Arrives

The Xbox 360 was officially released today, although in tight supply and with heavy demand. Apparently people are selling them on eBay for thousands of dollars over what the retail cost is.

The interesting point is not the next generation hardware or the amazing looking games that can be played on it but rather that today marks the day that the IBM shipped a PowerPC based CPU that exceeds the 3.0 GHz barrier that Steve Jobs promised over 2 years ago. With three separate cores that run at 3.2 GHz each, the Xbox 360 is one blazing fast machine.

So will I get one? Most likely not, I hardly have time to play my original Xbox, plus I want to see what the upcoming Nintendo Revolution can do. I like the fact that you will be able to play every title Nintendo ever released on this new console. All I really want to do is play some good ol' Donkey Kong Country.

Superman Returns Teaser Trailer

I don't know why I've become more fascinated with all things Superman lately. Maybe because when Hollywood keeps putting out mediorcre film adaptions of comic book characters year after year, the original 1978 Superman movie keeps looking better and better. One big expection of course was this year's critical and popular hit, Batman Begins.

Anyways, here is the official full screen teaser trailer for those that haven't seen it currently attached to the new Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire film.
I hope when the movie is released next year, that it won't be disappointing. Gotta love the original John William's soundtrack!

iChat Problems

I've been having problems running iChat AV for that past few months which is the reason why I haven't been online at the typical Friday and Sunday night slot. As soon as I launch iChat, it opens for a second then immediately shuts down. I've tried reinstalling just that app using a third party utility which extracts individual applications from the OS X DVD but it still fails. I was happy to report that the latest OS X 10.4.3 briefly fixed the issue, then inexplicably it stopped working again.

The only help I could find online was a suggestion from an Apple support tech who suggested to reinstall the entire OS. Pretty drastic if you ask me, but I guess I'm due for another wax off, wax on.

Jarhead

I saw Jarhead today with one of my coworkers. I really wanted to watch it with another coworker though since he used to serve in the Marines during the early 90's but he couldn't make it at the last minute.

The movie is very well made and according to other Marines who have posted reviews they say it's very accurate, but if you are expecting a Full Metal Jacket or a Saving Private Ryan (like I was) then you will be disappointed at the lack of action. There's absolutely no battle scenes captured on film, only the results of such action. Basically it reads like a Marine's diary of his tour of Desert Storm. I only wish that the previews would have hinted more about the true content of the film rather then made it seem like you were going to see some war footage.

SIGGRAPH 2005

This blog was long overdue, but I just wanted to share some thoughts about our past visit to SIGGRAPH 2005 back in August. It was held at the L.A. Convention Center and showcased the latest computer graphics technologies.

For some reason I enjoy watching infomercials on TV and the demo of Hash Animation:Master was no different. I was entranced by how easy it was to create 3D objects and then animate them with a few clicks of the mouse. Rob was unimpressed by this and seemingly any demo that we saw. He claimed to have been tired.

Apple had some free training classes on their products so Rob and I joined the DVD Studio Pro one. A nice looking employee named Olga with a Swedish accent assisted us when we got in trouble and was suprisingly knowledgeable about the product. She gave me a few undocumented keyboard shortcuts that helped me catch up to the rest of the class. Usually at these computer shows these girls are hired solely for their looks but it appears that Apple actually trained them well or they really are true employees.

I have to admit the best product I seen at the show that impressed me the most was not a 3D modeling package or graphics demo but rather the gorgeous 30" Apple Cinema HD Display. It was the first time I seen it in real life and I couldn't keep my eyes off of it. I told Rob that is was beautiful but does anybody really need that many pixels? His answer was a short "Of course!".

Afterwards we walked several blocks downtown to catch a demo of Modo. Again Rob seemed unimpressed with the technology. Perhaps he was just upset that I got a free T-shirt that night.

TiVo vs EyeTV

I was seriously considering getting a TiVo since they are advertising a $49 unit as long as you pre-pay for one year of service ($155.40). I did some research on their website and it seems like a good deal except I was a little wary of purchasing something that will require a monthly subscription fee. I already pay a lot for cable, internet access and was thinking of getting a NetFlix subscription, so the idea of adding another $12.95 a month to my entertainment bill seemed a little high. TiVo does offer a Product Lifetime option for $299 which covers the the subscription fee for the life of the product but I still wanted to see if there were other alternatives.

I did some more research and discovered the EyeTV from Elgato. They have a product called EyeTV 200 which connects to your Mac via a FireWire port and to your regular television cable. It provides you with the same PVR functions as TiVo. It also has the ability to edit your recorded movies using iMovie and transfer them to a DVD using iDVD. You can even import them to the new iPod Video. TiVo has a similar TiVoToGo feature but it only works with PC's and you have to network it to your computer first, plus it uses Microsoft DRM technology to limit how you access the copies. EyeTV uses TitanTV which is a free online TV guide for recording shows so there's no monthly subscription fee but the unit itself is about $299.

The only negative is that since it's not in my living room, it's awkward to access the live TV features of a PVR that's connected to my main TV. I will have to look into ways to control such as box using a wireless remote of some sort. Until then I will continue to look at this and other options.

F.E.A.R. First Thoughts

I mentioned before that I ended up buying F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon based on Kruddler's recommendation. Although I don't personally care for games that use acronyms in their title (ex. S.T.A.L.K.E.R., ect..) this game really is worth the price. It's kind of a strange mix of the original Half Life Black Mesa bad guys mixed in with some creepy Ringu type girl scaring the beegezez out of you.

The graphics are Doom 3 in quality and the sounds are very well done. A shot gun sounds like shot gun should. What's really impressive is the A.I.. soldiers are crawling through pipes to get to you and going through alternative routes in order to kill you. Of course all this advanced technology sure gives my system a workout so I have to run it without AA and at 1024x768 in order to have all the eye candy turned on.

F.E.A.R. was developed my Monolith Productions, the same company that brought you AVP2, No One Lives Forever and Tron 2.0. I heard they ditched their old LithTech engine and came up with something brand new for this game.

The only negative so far is the fact that it ships on 6 CD-ROM's. Only the more expensive Director's Edition comes with the entire game on a single DVD-ROM. Half Life 2 did the same thing (I smell a conspiracy here!) so I guess it's their way of making more money. In any event F.E.A.R. is on sale this week at Best Buy for $42.00 so now is a good time to buy.

Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX 512

Well Rob's top of the line graphics card didn't last long at #1 because NVIDIA just announced the new GeForce 7800 GTX 512 version today. Like its name implies, this monster comes with a 512MB of video memory but it also sports a faster memory and GPU clock as well. The only negative... the $649 retail price. It's a small price to pay to run Doom 3 at it's Ultra setttings right?

NVIDIA also updated it's latest ForceWare drivers which adds support for the new cards as well as improving the performance for Quake 4 and Call of Duty 2.

Chicken Little Review

I took Ari to see Chicken Little yesterday and was surprised to see that she sat through the whole thing. Nothing against the movie but 3 year olds have short attention spans. She did ask to leave halfway through but she toughed it out and she told me she did enjoy the movie when it was over.

It was no Pixar movie as far as story but it was good enough for a Saturday afternoon distraction with the kids. Confusingly the story starts off as a father son picture then turns into a Sci-Fi flick halfway through. It's also apparent that the film's creators tried to imitate Shrek by making fun of recent movies, fairy tales, and it's own Disney animated films. Personally I think it's kind of sad that the animation powerhouse that was once Disney is resorting to copying another animation studio's style.

Technically the film breaks no new ground. I was kind of hoping to see some new 3D animation effect, like fur effects in Monsters Inc. or cloth simulations in The Incredibles.

Despite the negative reviews, Chicken Little did an seemingly impressive $40 million at the opening weekend box office but Jim Hill writes an excellent web article that puts this number into context. Apparently Disney wanted this film to do so well that they increased the number of screens it played on in order to get the biggest opening weekend numbers possible. I guess they need as much bargaining power when renegotiating the upcoming Pixar deal therefore Chicken Little needs to do very well.

I'm a big fan of traditional animated films and I was hoping that Disney would reconsider going back to the old art style but $40 million is enough for them to abolish the idea forever. Even the opening Disney castle logo is now in 3D (and looks like it was created in TrueSpace by the way). Oh well I guess that's what the new generation of kids like now.

Expedia Troubles

Me being the big procrastinator, I finally booked my airline tickets to Hawaii for Rob's wedding on Thursday night using Expedia (Hawaiian Airlines was too expensive at the time). The problem was that I accidental booked the departure flight a week early. Unfortunately I caught my mistake right after I confirmed my flight which meant that I had to call Expedia and exchange my ticket, pay United Airlines a $100 exchange fee and Expedia a $30 processing fee.

I called Expedia to explain what happened and the nice lady gave me the direct phone to United Airlines and told me to ask them for the exchange so Expedia wouldn't have to charge me the $30. Well I called United and they told me to call Expedia and make the transfer so I explained I didn't want to pay the $30 fee and for them to do it. After 3 back and forths the United rep finally agreed to make the exchange.

The next day I checked Expedia's website and noticed that my departure flight was deleted from my itinerary. I also noticed the price was still the same so I called them to find out what happened. The Expedia rep said that United performed the exchange but didn't charge me the $100 fee, which she also said they never do. Thinking that I really didn't have a ticket to leave LAX I called United again and they did confirm that I did have a valid departure ticket.

Well you can imagine that I'm relieved that I didn't have to pay that extra $130 because I clicked the wrong button, but the bottom line is that I have to triple check my dates the next time I book something online.

BTX Cases

My old boss just got a brand new Dell OptiPlex GX520 computer. It's rather ugly but it's based on the new BTX standard. If you haven't heard of BTX, it's the next generation chassis form factor that is going to replace ATX. It's backed by Intel so there was a lot of resistance to it initially since it requires a new case design, motherboard and power supply but the main benefits is the quiet and cool operation. The GX520 was so whisper quiet, I had to put my hand next to the fan just to make sure it was on. So for your next PC based computer whether its store bought or built by yourself, definitely consider BTX. Either that or just get a MacTel when they come out next year which should be equally quiet, have a much more attractive case design and should give you the ability to install Windows.

Episode III

Although I bought Revenge of the Sith DVD the day it came out, I barely had time to watch it until today. It's still my favorite of the new series but it left me with some unanswered questions...

Anakin regrets killing the unarmed Count Dooku because "It's not the Jedi way." but yet its perfectly acceptable for Mace Windu to attempt to kill an unarmed Senator Palpatine? Mace's argument is that Palpatine is too dangerous to be left alive, but wasn't Dooku dangerous too?

How did Obi Wan cut of both legs AND one arm of Darth Vader in one swipe of the lightsaber?

In Episode IV, Obi Wan tells Luke Skywalker that he doesn't ever recall owning any droids which is technically correct, since it's Anakin Skywalker that built C-3PO and owned R2-D2 but how could he forget that his best friend owned them? During the end of Episode III Bail Organa commands C-3PO's memory to be erased (but not R2's) so perhaps Obi Wan's mind was zapped as well.

If Chewbacca knew Yoda, how come he never mentioned it to Luke or Han? When Luke went to go get trained in the Jedi arts by Yoda, at least Chewie could have gave Luke a description of what he looked like so Luke wouldn't be suprised to see the little green elf.

If the stormtroopers came from the Clone troopers, wouldn't they all be the same height? If so then why would Luke Skywalker fit perfectly in a stormtrooper suit in Episode IV? Even Princess Leia noted that he was too small to be a stormtrooper.

Have you guys found any other inconsistencies?

Lakers vs Phoenix

For being a native southern Californian I have never seen a Lakers game until last Thursday when my dad gave me four free tickets. He won them at his work's Halloween party and generously gave them to me. Apparently he's not much of a fan so I ended up going with Annel, Rob and Rika. I've attended a Kings game before so I have been to a sporting event at the Staples Center but watching a live basketball game was a real treat. Our seats were way up on the top section but I was surprised that it still afforded a decent view of the action. At $35 face value per ticket I can only image what the lower level seats must cost.

They played Phoenix that night so we got to see some nice Kobe/Nash action. I have to admit I haven't seen a full Lakers game since the big breakup but at least Jackson's back at the helm. Smush Parker had some good plays including a spectacular behind the back fake that led to a dunk. The Lakers ended up losing but the the best part of the game was listening to the off the cuff heckling from a few of the fans behind us. Some of my favorite comments included:

"That's OK Kobe, we don't need those free throws... we're only 10 points behind!" - After Kobe Bryant misses some important free throws.

"Suit up Rudy T." - After some bad coaching from Phil Jackson

"Suit up Rambus, you still have some life in you!" - After blowing a 3 point deficit in the 4th.

My only suggestion is to eat before you go and avoid the horrible overpriced food at the Staples Center. There's a nice cafe at Figurora that's a much better value.

Haunting Grounds

Well, Gary forgot what day we were meeting at his house for the annual (and last) Hallowed Haunting Grounds visit, so unfortunately he and the family could not make it. Also Kruddler was in Anaheim visiting BlizzCon, which looked very cool, perhaps next year I can make that as well and perhaps stay a day at the park. It ended up being just Rob, Rika, myself and 2 of Rika's friends, but it was fun nonetheless. Rob did get a nice Italian dinner from Gary though! Here's the link to where you can see the pictures from the event. I pulled a Dave and left the flash on. For the final year they had a real cool brochure which described all the "horrific" scenes. Rob and I are going to try to do something similar but at a much smaller scale at my house next Halloween.

http://users.adelphia.net/~marcos.gonzalez/Haunting_grounds/Haunting_grounds.html

Enjoy!

BestBuy Trip Report

I ended up going to BestBuy today to pick up a 5-pin USB cable for my digital camera. I seemed to have lost the cable that came with the camera and therefore have a bunch of pictures and videos I haven't been able to upload to my Mac. I also picked up one if those 5-in-1 Media readers so I can just pop in my SD card and upload at the faster USB 2.0 speeds. I already tried it and it makes a big difference.

It's good to be a PC gamer right now. Quake 4, F.E.A.R., and Call of Duty 2 all came out recently. At Kruddler's recommendation, I purchased F.E.A.R. (Quake 4 will have to wait until it goes on sale). The guy at the counter was raving about it, saying its very scary. Well that's what I heard about Doom 3 too so I will have to see. The online reviews are very favorable so I'm anxious to play it as soon as the kids go to sleep. The system requirements are pretty high, but graphics are top of line based on what I've seen on the box.

BestBuy had a working Xbox 360 on demo and they were playing Call of Duty 2 on it. The console looks better in person (as well as smaller) than what the web shots show and the frame rate looked really fast. I have to admit I wasn't really excited about the upcoming launch but now I'm finally warming up to it a bit. I still won't consider buying one until the costs come down.