Star Trek: Reloaded
Submitted by Aodhan on Sat, 05/09/2009 - 02:14Quickie rating: AWESOME! GO SEE IT even if you aren't a fan!
The movie changes a lot of things but it all makes sense. The changes are so extensive that the franchise is effectively rebooted, and what a great reboot it is.
It's well made all throughout, set designs, costumes, acting (for the most part), special effects, and action! Like the original series, there are snatches of humor and some things that can get a fan rolling in the aisles.
What we get from this movie is a completely new Star Trek universe but one that has a tight connection to the previous one. This is no simple "let's make an alternate Star Trek universe." They make us witness the changes.
I have only one complaint about the movie and ironically it involves my favorite actor among the cast, Karl Urban. I like that they kept McCoy's complaining ways alive, but I wish the "I'm a doctor... " cliches were not so overacted. I know Urban's a better actor than that.
But other than that. I'm already thinking if I will spend more money to watch it all over again. It's not my custom to do this.
Joyfully Jumping to Jaunty Jackalope
Submitted by Aodhan on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 02:50Took the plunge yesterday and installed the newly released Ubuntu 9.04 Operating System (codename Jaunty Jackalope) onto TheForge. I decided to go all the way and manually set the partitions so that I can use the new ext4 file system.
My friends and officemates who went on 9.04 ahead of me, one of them during the recent Beta phase, all reported few to no problems and a lot of added speed (with or without using ext4). The slickness of Jaunty was the reason behind my changing operating systems this soon. I normally switch operating systems a few weeks to a few months after release and Jaunty marks the first time I switched less than 2 days from release date.
So how is it? For starters: FAST. The time from Grub loader (I'm on dual boot with the necessary piece-of-trash called Vista) to login screen is in the area of 20 seconds and from login to desktop feels anywhere from 20-40% faster. It might be faster than that but I'm being conservative and I have no way to quantify those figures anymore.
The problems I encountered:
1. Jaunty kept saying that Firefox was active.
Verdict: wasn't a problem with the OS.
Cause: When I copied my Firefox backup stuff to the .mozilla folder, the backups didn't "take." That's because one of the folder names was now different.
Action: I cleaned up and reinstalled Firefox, then just copied the contents of the renamed folder from one to the other.
Result: Firefox active, bookmarks, plugins, and theme all back to what I had previously.
2. The peculiar lockup during a shutdown if a suspend happened earlier. It manifests as a lockup on shutdown with the screens taking on solid colors that cycle.
Verdict: a problem but one that has a fix
Cause: something called PulseAudio maybe
Action: I repeated a fix I did with Intrepid (good thing it was bookmarked because I couldn't Google it for some reason).
Result: Should be fixed but will be observing.
3. Flash not working (but was initially working) BTW, I'm on the 64-bit OS so those of you on 32 bit will not have this problem ... at all.
Background: Flash is really a problem with 64 bit systems until Adobe fixes the new flash plugin. In the meantime we run a 32 bit emulator under it (nspluginwrapper under flashplugin-nonfree) and I installed that and it worked fine for a while and then stopped.
Fix and result: There was a notice in the synaptic package manager to remove the flashplugin-nonfree after the updater goes active. I removed flashplugin-nonfree and Flash worked immediately after that.
Anything else? Well, my officemate Vince installed an update version (as opposed to fresh install). He's encountered a few problems and I'll find out what they are later in the office.
As for me, I'm enjoying the environment. Jaunty comes with three pretty new faces: The load progress screen, the login screen, and a new theme called "New Wave" that I'm using for my desktop.
Should you get it?
If you've never used Ubuntu, don't know how to install any OS: Ask someone to do it for you. Ubuntu is at the stage where even novice users will be fine if all they need are the basics (browsing and office apps).
If you know how to install OSes: Go ahead and don't do manual partitioning and don't use ext4.
If you use Linux are a bit faint of heart: skip ext4 for now. ext4 will be standard on 9.10 anyway (coming in October).
If you feel a bit adventurous: Go all the way, clean install + manual partitioning (to get ext4).
I have only three uses for Windows right now: Games, cross-platform checking (I mean you can't check if HTML looks right in IE unless you're running IE ... bleh), and if I want to play music or a movie while taking full advantage of TheForge's sound hardware.
Aside than that? Who needs Windows?
The Journey To Eden Begins
Submitted by Aodhan on Tue, 04/07/2009 - 00:15I've had a pretty bad experience with them in the earlier days. My dad's laptops were invariably overloaded with so many background applications that there was even a time that his comp took 5 minutes to boot up.
I don't know but I always had this feeling of "breakability" of laptops so combined with their high prices I stayed away. The fact that they were slow, cumbersome and couldn't keep up with my fingers certainly didn't help.
So you can imagine my apprehension I was assigned a laptop when I joined O&B and for the next 20 months had to get used to working on a laptop and (shudder) depending on it to get all my work done. Those 20 months did wonders for making me realize that the laptops of today were much more durable. They also have powerful enough hardware in them to put them on near-even footing with desktops and when cared for do take care of you back.
The prices have also come down so far that instead of spending a bit to update my desktop I went instead to spending a much bigger bit and get myself a good laptop that will replace both my work unit and my desktop. The only real downside is the lack of ability to customize but the way product design has progressed laptops already have just about everything you'll be looking for (and maybe too much sometimes) if you just pick the right model.
So sometime last week I bid final adieu to "Seamrog" (my office workhorse) and it now enters the circulation of backup computers. Seamrog won't be away from me for very long because after it finishes its current emergency backup duty at Business Dev it's going to become our team's Adobe Acrobat host and printer server, replacing the tempermental laptop we call "Emo."
And how is the new unit, which I call "TheForge?" Acer 4935G Dual boot Vista (32 bit and ugh it's Vista) and Ubuntu 8.10 x64 (will change it to 9.04 some time later), 4GB ram (but vista can only use 3 of that, meh), NVIDIA 9300 and I can run Second Life at high settings under both operating systems and get 22fps at my workshop (that's excellent framerate in SL). I expect to spend a month or so more in tweaking for optimum performance but so far, it's been a great ride.
This laptop purchase is particularly special. It is my "signature" on an agreement with myself that I will push through with my game project.
The Journey to Eden begins.
Geeky nursery rhymes
Submitted by Aodhan on Mon, 03/09/2009 - 22:08Blame Paolo Melendres for me creating this onslaught:
Mary had a little ram, dual core, wireless lan
Mary had a little ram, her comp was super slow.
Everywhere that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went
Everywhere that Mary went her ram would overflow.
Mary had a little ram, dual core, wirless lan
Mary had a wireless lan its password wasn't set
Mary's neighbors hopped right on hopped right on hopped right on
Mary's bandwidth went kaput, her browser fails its get().
Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
eating her curds and whey
Along came a spider and sat down beside her
she had an arachnid buffet
I watched the Watchmen
Submitted by Aodhan on Sun, 03/08/2009 - 23:26Quickie rating: Outstanding
Spoiler alert below
I never read the Watchmen comic but I did read the synopsis sometime last year on Wikipedia. I'm glad I forgot most of the details from the synopsis because it allowed me to watch the movie with fresh eyes.
... and with those fresh eyes I was well entertained.
The movie is definitely intelligent and supplies just the right amount of information without spoon-feeding. If you understand the characters then you can extrapolate quickly all the unspoken details.
I really didn't know any character before the movie started except perhaps a bit of Dr. Manhattan and that Ozymandias is highly intelligent. To the movie's credit I got to know all the characters well despite not having any background retained from my reading.
While purists will complain, I did find the movie's end-game to be vastly more intelligent and less clunky than the original. In fact the movie's ending was more in keeping with what Ozymandias would have done as a really brilliant character. The comic book version is beneath his style and actually has a loophole.
Watchmen is supposed to be an exercise in contrast of issues like V for Vendetta was. Unfortunately movies, even of Watchmen's length, really never are good media for that so I am ok with them focusing on the character interplay instead.
How about the depth? I daresay they went as deep as they should have. While I could follow the movie had it gone deeper, sadly they will lose too much of the audience if they did so. My officemate who watched with me nearly got lost thrice. So as far as I'm concerned, that's deep enough.
I'll probably revisit this after reading the comic at length.
SPOILER ALERT
Why did I find the movie ending more intelligent? Ozymandias is the smartest man in the world and with the level of manipulation he'd done thus far it's beneath him to perform an incomplete scheme such as an "alien invasion." Why incomplete? Because Dr. Manhattan is still around and could have handled the "alien" and thus risk later complacency. By making Dr. Manhattan the "villain" he at once makes both the US and USSR insecure. The scale of damage wrought in Manhattan's name will cement his stature as a "mutual enemy." Setting it up such that Manhattan "will be watching" from Mars makes for a neater ending.
Above comments subject to change once I can get a hand on the actual comics to make a more detailed comparison.
Another silenced voice
Submitted by Aodhan on Fri, 03/06/2009 - 13:47So many faces, so many races
Different voices, different choices
Some are mad, while others laugh
Some live alone with no better half
Others grieve while others curse
And others mourn behind a big black hearse
Some are pure and some half-bred
Some are sober and some are wasted
Some are rich because of fate and
Some are poor with no food on their plate
Some stand out while others blend
Some are fat and stout while some are thin
Some are friends and some are foes
Some have some while some have most
Every color and every hue
Is represented by me and you
Take a slide in the slope
Take a look in the kaleidoscope
Spinnin' round, make it twirl
In this kaleidoscope world
Some are great and some are few
Others lie while some tell the truth
Some say poems and some do sing
Others sing through their guitar strings
Some know it all while some act dumb
Let the bassline strum to the bang of the drum
Some can swim while some will sink
And some will find their minds and think
Others walk while others run
You can't talk peace and have a gun
Some are hurt and start to cry
Don't ask me how don't ask me why
Some are friends and some are foes
Some have some while some have most
Every color and every hue
Is represented by me and you
Take a slide in the slope
Take a look in the kaleidoscope
Spinnin' round, make it twirl
In this kaleidoscope world
Francis M.'s Kaleidoscope World
Rest in peace Francis M, you're already being missed.
What's been up?
Submitted by Aodhan on Tue, 03/03/2009 - 18:15Been busy with life, trying to grab it by the horns. Work is in a groove right now so things are stable enough for me to think and plan again.
Lots of stuff swimming about in my head and I'm hoping I can pin things down.
Oh, and it's 3 / 3 / 09 ... happy Square Root Day!
BOLT!
Submitted by Aodhan on Mon, 12/01/2008 - 10:57Quickie rating: AWESOME-SQUARED! Go see it!
From the trailer, Bolt's plot is predictable: You think you're special, you find out you're not, then you find out you really are special but in a way you didn't realize.
But what does make it very special is the way it's handled. Bolt is loaded with cliches but in today's movies, just about everything IS cliche. What sets it apart is the treatment which I found creative and tight.
The lessons presented by this Disney movie are deeper than the usual, and it's great to see:
1. If you truly care about someone, it gives you the strength and endurance to do incredible things you've never done before.
2. Truly caring about someone does have a chance of melting a hard heart.
3. Explicitly stated: Friends don't leave each other in times of need.
4. Appearances mean little, your character makes you special.
5. Knowing what's important can help move mountains.
6. Don't forget to be a dog.
About #6. We're here to live so make sure that you do live. Every minute you spend angry at someone, or at life in general, is a minute you are not spending with your face to the wind with your tongue sticking out.
Bolt can be the Benji of the third millennium.
Postscript note:
That's John Travolta? His voice really sounds different. Very well done.
Sort of about the US Elections but NOT about Obama
Submitted by Aodhan on Thu, 11/06/2008 - 00:21I'm ecstatic Obama won and for the first time ever I was excited to follow a US election. The US needs someone to get them out of a rut. B.O. (damn nice name but, ugh, unfortunate initials) I think can do it.
Ok, obligatory congratulations are out of the way, now to business.
The youth turned out in record numbers to vote. Analysts attribute this to reality shows. I agree.
Reality shows did give the youth the feeling that their vote can matter. They discussed selections, they campaigned. The Jabbawockeez won the maiden America's Best Dance Crew after 38 million votes came in. Granted, many of those are multiple votes but still it's a big number. On another front I think way too many people talk about American Idol ... that illustrates pervasiveness.
On Facebook, I, a filipina friend in Sweden, and one of her friends from Manila discussed a bit. We wondered if corruption in the Philippines can be eliminated in our lifetimes just like many in America saw both the fall of segregation and the election of a black (half-black if you want to be picky) to the White House.
My answer was that the only way we can effectively get rid of a bad value is if either we make it unprofitable or make its opposite good value very desirable.
Making a good value desirable works. America's youth vote is the proof.
Brain in perpetual motion
Submitted by Aodhan on Wed, 09/10/2008 - 22:43Ever since we started coding the new project my brain has been running almost non-stop in code. Because of so much structural repetition I'm designing a code generator to create the target software much quicker, neater, and more reliably. The code generation strategy with so many different targets is so intriguing that I find myself coding while walking (forgoing the jeep ride), on the MRT, and just today, again, while I was napping in the office.
The weird part is I knew I was asleep and I was still developing code at the same time. Freaky funny.
Overall, work days have been really fun.
