Happy Independence Day!

broderic on July 4, 2007

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

It goes on to list the offences that the King had done to the colonists. If I read it right, it could also be assigned to our one king, the fucktard, George W. Bush. Revolution!

Transformers

broderic on July 4, 2007

Transformers. I’m posting this review out of order because The Seed has a neat little review. In it, he hesitates to give it a 4 star rating. I’m much the same way.

For the first hour, I was completely enthralled enjoying the thrill ride that Michael Bay created. It was completely fun. The audience was into it as well. Holy Moses, they cheered for the trailers! I don’t know if it was nostalgia or what but I was getting into it. The story was really flimsy and makes no sense. In fact, it’s rather stupid, but I wasn’t going to let that distract me.

The story starts in the beginning with an cube (energon?), which on a distant planet had the autobots and decepticons fighting over for supreme rulership. It flew to earth where it has been for thousands of years waiting for Col. Witwicky to find it. Needless to say his descendants have to protect it from falling into Megatrons hands. Fighting ensues.

See. Stupid.

But the first hour was still fun. Even though it had to set up the plot, I got into it. I think Michael Bay learned a lesson from his last few outings. Ditch the gravitas and have fun. It reminded me of Bad Boys. And that girl was a Tea Leoni clone. Lots of running. Some of the action sequences was very hard to understand what was going on as if they knew the CG was going to look like shit so make the robots nothing but a blur of metal. If only we had gotten better views of the fight.

Then, the movie fell into a rote action flick once Optimus Prime showed up. It bogged down in the middle especially a scene involving hiding these huge robots from the parents. And it slowly became boring. With the action scenes hard to understand, it also slightly became frustrating. I wanted to see robots bashing robots, but I saw streaks. Streaks!

This movie will make bank judging from the audience reaction. It will spawn a sequel. Don’t let that get in the way of enjoying it now.

3 of 5 stars. Could’ve been 4 if it didn’t get slow.

John Rodgers is credited with some of the story. He also wrote Catwoman. He blogs at Kung Fu Monkey. Read him.

Before the fall

broderic on July 2, 2007

UPDATED!!
Before the fall

This is a pic I shot with my new iPhone. Looks cool. I originally sent it from the iPhone, but didn’t really know how to post pictures directly to my blog. Now I know.

Sent from my iPhone

iPhone 2nd Impressions

broderic on July 1, 2007

CapitolSwell has a really thoughtful post on his new iPhone.

With the iPhone there is a conscienciousness [sic] which slows ones actions so you see the whole picture. Seeing the whole picture gives one clarity beyond clarity. the iPhone is the Kwisatz Haderach from Dune, the sleeper has awaken.

This is a good stepping point for my second impression of the iPhone. I remember complaining to whoever would listen that I wouldn’t get an iPhone because I didn’t use my cellphone in that manner. I hardly had the need for using mobile internet. It cost too much already and was slow. Yet, I did buy the iPhone for use as a mobile internet device. If it had phone capabilities then more power to it.

So I primarily was drooling over the need for mobile internet. At a cost of $20, I get unlimited EDGE network data transfers. Will I be using it as much? Well, the iPhone comes with WiFi. I got it working after some fiddling with settings, resetting the iPhone, and rebooting a couple of times. I haven’t noticed if the WiFi is faster, but at times it can be slower.

Safari on this thing rocks. The user interface has just been fun to learn. Plus when I am not using it, I am starting to make gestures on the trackpad of my TiBook. I tried to page up by flicking my finger. Weird! The fonts screen are too small though. I think I may need to start wearing my glasses. Or go for a checkup.

I have crashed several apps already. You’re working in one and then, swoosh, you’re back at the main screen. When you reconnect with your computer, iTunes will ask to send the crash reports to Apple. I looked at the logs and they’re pretty interesting.

Syncing is something strange. You have to use iTunes. I wish they had a standalone app to do this. It’s awkward to use. If you uncheck items that you had previously checked, then synced, those items are deleted from the phone which, to me, was unexpected. Syncing is one way — from your computer to the iPhone. I wanted to update some of my contacts on my computer, but it wanted to erase the changes.

Google maps rocks. It’s got a traffic report on it which I have to wait until monday to test out. That iPhone commercial is true. You can find the nearest seafood restaurant near you and call it or get directions.

Mail is fun and frustrating. I have it syncing with my yahoo email account, but can also do it with my Mindspring accounts as well. There’s no spam filter so you better get used to sorting by hand. It’s also doesn’t have the check box thing to do batch operations on. If you want to move a file to a folder, you have to open up each one and do it by hand. I am thinking about a new yahoo mail address, so I can get a fresh start on it.

I have been texting more. Mainly with Margaux. My plan has 200 free text messages. The way the iPnone displays them similar to an iChat session seems to me to make it more easier to use all 200 in a month. Hilarious.

The iPhone forces you do become more digital. Before, I barely cared about my mac addressbook, ical and others, but now with the ability to take it on the road with me I think I have to update those things better. It is truly a convergence device.

Live Free Or Die Hard

broderic on June 30, 2007

Hmm. I’ll take what’s behind door number two, Alex.

The summer of ponderous sequels continues with the latest Bruce Willis Die Hard, Live Free or Die Hard. In it, we have a simple everyday beat cop trying to stop the next terrorist threat, but only finding that it was a bank heist. In this version, the terrorist is the former counter-cyberterrorist computing czar and the bank he heists is all of them. With so much problems in the world, why does it end up being a smash and grab?

As I sat through this movie, I couldn’t help feeling that it didn’t matter if this was a Bruce Willis Die Hard film, because the story and situation was too generic that even Steven Seagal’s Casey Ryback could’ve handled this one. And now that I remember it, he was in the exact same situation in Under Siege 2! It’s a rip off. I would’ve liked to have seen Seagal snap that dude’s knee backwards, though.

The stunts were spectacular. The CGI was barely noticeable, and the explosions were pretty good. At least you knew Bruce Willis was getting pummeled and getting hurt. The only thing phony is that the east coast namely DC doesn’t have elevated highways that spiral to nowhere. And Baltimore doesn’t look anything like DC.

2 of 5 stars.

iPhone Impressions

broderic on June 30, 2007

Woke up early considering I went to bed late just to try and fiddle with the iPhone. Officially, it’s named Thorin. Here’s some impressions I am getting with it.

The screen is gorgeous. It’s bright and everything is readable even without my need of glasses.

Wi-fi sucks. It seems to not want to connect and use my wireless network at home. I also seem to have to turn off every other device for it to connect with the router. I wonder if I should just get the new Airport basestation. This is the most maddening.

The AT&T network is being dropped. I can’t tell if this is residual from the wireless issue. Currently, I have no connection when I should be connected just fine.

USB2.0 to USB1.0 sucks. The worst experience ever. Apple should’ve really pushed their firewire. It would’ve been much, much better. I am waiting on perhaps an hour for it to sync.

I have too much junk now. I have to get rid of some things.

iPhone Madness

broderic on June 30, 2007

Unlike CapitolSwell, I am currently an owner of the iPhone. I have no idea why. Mostly, it is because my current phone sucks. Its screen is busted. The vibrate doesn’t work. And that was the last straw.

I bought the hype. Now I just need to sync it up, and connect.