Home again.

Just returned back from vacation. Will post the travel log later this week. And maybe pictures. My DirectTivo ain’t working. So tired. And the boat, she still a rocking.

Movie Review: War of the Worlds

Tom Cruise is a good actor. The Steven Spielberg’s version War of the Worlds not so good.

I wondered why make a remake anyway when it is so like the 1950s version.

I hated the fact that what was added to the story was the father healing his family and saving his imperiled children. It did not help that Dakota Fanning was one of the kids in danger. Everytime she was threatened I was rooting for the aliens.

Same lame virus ending.

2 of 5 stars.

Caribbean Cruise 2005: A break from work

Once every so often I do get a chance to go on a vacation. This time a cruise in the Caribbean. We’ll be hitting the Puerto Rico(? or the Bahamas not sure which), St. Thomas and St. Maartens. Maybe I will find that lost chick.

Alas, I am not planning on doing any real time blogging of the vacation, but instead, I will keep a journal and when I get back I will give it too you one a day. Just like the last cruise I was on.

Hope to see you, when I get back. But laterz for now.

Le Tour 2005

It is July and once again it is time for the sporting spectacle known as Le Tour de France. I like reading this blog for tour updates. They are getting better and better each year.

My prediction is Lance again. Of course that is the safe bet, but after the first stage today. It seems more likely to come true than not.

Movie Review: Lords of Dogtown

Oh, yeah, I forgot. I saw Lords of Dogtown last week also. Shows how memorable the movie was.

Watching it I kept waiting for one of the skaters to pop a backside kick flip 360. Alas, they were still sidewalk surfing. I loved the pool scenes. Jay Adams must be one fucked up dude. The actors were second rate.

3 of 5 stars. It made me want to skate.

Movie Review: Land of the Dead

That title should properly be George A> Romero’s Land of the Dead. Yes a new movie from the zombie master himself. And to distinguish this one from the other copy cats, the zombies return to their slow ways. If you ask me that is more scarier.

“Look a zombie!”

(minutes pass)

“Raarrr”

I don’t understand the appeal of zombies. Are they scary? If they’re as slow as Romero’s version. I think I can run away from them and I do a 5.5 forty! The movie was alright, but nothing special.

How come we have to have a zombie revival everytime some nut Republican is in the White House? Is it because we are all mindless scum to have put them in power?

3 of 5 stars.

Movie Review: Herbie, Fully Loaded

I was first in line for Herbie: Fully Loaded, because I am a fan of Lindsay Lohan. And that goes way back to when she did The Parent Trap and Life Size. She’s a much better actor than the other teen divas her age. She also so over.

As much as I wanted to love Herbie, it was a terrible movie. It got good reviews in the NY Times an Baltimore Sun, but I think those were written by people who brought their kids.

NASCAR ruined Herbie. I just could not believe that a VW bug can compete in that race. Plus the wacked out hijinks of Herbie do not make sense in a race that goes around in circles. Climbing up buildings or flying through the air is perfect in a rally race. Wall riding the fence at a NASCAR race not so much. Lame. Damn you NASCAR why did you kill the soul of Herbie.

Lindsay was okay in it. Catch it for that, but don’t think too much of it.

2 of 5 stars.

Movie Review: Batman Begins

I was never a big Batman reader when I was actively reading comics. Perhaps, it was because I was a Marvel guy and always thought of DC Comics as the home of the SuperFriends cheese. I never even read Crisis on Infinite Earths until the late 90s.

Well, I caught Batman Begins last Wednesday. Let me tell you, I don’t even know what issue was this story line from. It certainly is from the post Frank Miller/Dark Knight Batman. Was this Detective Comics? Or Batman proper? Or maybe it is Year One? Am I getting this right you Batman fans?

Anyway, I liked the movie. Less campy than Tim Burton’s version. More dark and realistic which gave it a different tone.

Problems occured when the action was filmed too close. I could not understand what was going on. Also, Katie Holmes should stick with being Dawson’s girlfriend. She was too light and unserious for this film.

3 of 5 stars.

Movie Review: Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Let me just say right off the bat, the reason you should see this is (if you’re male or as a female into this type of thing) that Angelina Jolie is real hot in this. For me, I never really found her hot. I mean she is very smoking, but she was never my type of woman. Plus, the weirdness with her brother and being Billy Bob Thorton’s ex was a turn off. Except seeing her in this. She was hot. I think it was the fact that her cover was some sort of IT/helpdesk worker. Where are these hotties in x1861? Anyway when she wears office wear, smoking!!

The movie overall was not bad. I am giving it a high rating because 1) Angelina Jolie 2) Doug Liman, the director. I am a fan of Doug Liman. Swingers. Bourne Identity. I definitely noticed his style throughout this flick.

I originally wrote this movie off. The trailers and television commercials seemed to show the entire thing. Married couple with a mediocre marriage are hired to kill each other. The try, they fail, they gang up on those who want them dead, and fall in love all over again. Yes and no. I was pleasantly surprised on where the story went. Taking twists I wasn’t expecting. I like that it challenged my original idea and made me like the story.

4 of 5 stars.

“A computer for the rest of us.”

Ars Technica continues their reporting on what the switch to Intel chips mean for Apple and it’s future. Very insightful as it lays out a strategy for Apple’s transitioning of its computers.

The article also discusses the PPC mythology inherent in Macs today. I don’t have to tell you that I bought into that myth also. I think it is true that I am geeky enough to recognize the elegance in the PPC architecture. It, like a Mac, is well thought out.

It also touches upon Apple’s future. One that I am worried about. I have always wanted to write Mac programs. If there is no Macintosh left in the future what would I do when I retire? Apple is changing as a company. The personal computer industry is changing. Switching to Intel is just the start of it. In the upcoming years, I think Apple will no longer be the computer company it is now. It is the beginning of the end and the end of the beginning.