Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Tuesday Miscellaneous

1) Why are we so scared of offending Muslims? Excellent Question. Good article by the ever-topical Christopher Hitchens. The tone is a bit anti-religion in general but the questions asked are ON.

2) Chinese Govt Once Again Shafting Tibetans. Respect their (outdated, totalitarian) authority. Between this and the Yahoo! debacle, why do we trust these morons?

3) MIT working on a HCCL engine design. Fantastic stuff. Diesel fuels are not the cure-all some people (cough*Europe*cough) think they are. The diesel reduction in nitrogen pollutants are offset by an increase in particulate (soot) emissions. TANSTAAFL people. Making an engine that actually burns less fuel more efficiently seems like better all-around alternative.

4) 10 Tips To Make Sure You Stay Broke. The Consumerist tries it's hand at some reverse psychology.

5) MIT's Digital Water Pavilion. A building whose walls are made of water for upcoming Expo on water and sustainable development. Check out the pictures thru the link. COOL.

Link to full post.

Playing Music Files in Ubuntu

Well, my first major hang-up in Ubuntu. And it's the expected one. Because mp3 files are the most common format, most people want to be able to play them out-of-the-box. However, Ubuntu cannot include codecs for mp3 files due to copyright issues. This means you have to add it on after you install. And it's not as nice & straightforward as the other tasks I’ve completed.

I tried several of the available players, CD rippers, etc. Here’s the rundown:

Rhythmbox – Blah! Unless I want to generate error messages, this sucker's useless for me. I tried to follow the on-line instructions for reading mp3s BUT for whatever reason my computer isn't allowing me to "Edit Profiles" for file types. It’s possible this may be a side effect of using the virtual install so I will hold off on permanently deleting this until I switch to a permanent install.

Sound Juicer – While it plays CDs fine, ripping them to mp3s will be a problem for me. I have the same problem here as with Rhythmbox in that it won’t allow me to "Edit Profiles" for files types per the on-line instructions. The menus for both applications are exactly the same so it’s likely whatever is messing up one is affecting the other.

Movie Player – Plays mp3s no problem after an install from Synaptic but can't handle wma files. Also, the play function is very buggy. It gets stuck moving from song-to-song often so you can’t just leave it running in the background.

Audacious – The 1st application that could play mp3s out-of-the-box. You have to add this thru “Add/Remove...” under the Applications menu. Functional (and small) but not much else. Also, there appears to be a limit to how many songs you can add to the playlist (~250). I have 2200+ songs so that’s a big downside. However, this could continuously and without bugs play my mp3 files. That’s a big upside.

XMMS – Similar to Audacious and also available through "Add/Remove..". Also can play .mp3s right away. This programs got more features and none of the hang-ups of Audacious (playlist size limit). Also, there's a skins package available through Synaptic that's really good. I think this will be my player of preference for now.

Gnomad2 – Specially created program for recognizing my Creative Zen mp3 player. It’s available through the repositories accessible with Synaptic. The interface is a bit sparse and the preferences are jargon heavy so they can be intimidating. However, once I got it working, I greatly prefer it to the Creative Zen Software for Windows. One thing, Gnomad only picks up my player when I plug it in AFTER opening Gnomad. Then, I click "Jukebox Library" --> “Scan for Library contents”. Aside from that little trick, it’s very easy to use.

What I need to do is convert my wma files to mp3s so I can play them. I’ll be looking into that over the next couple of weeks.

Link to full post.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Weekend Reading

I made the mistake of starting too many books without finishing them recently. So, I took the time this last weekend between the reunion & hanging out with my parents to check these off the To-Do list.

Thermopylae: The Battle For The West by Ernle Bradford: A good short read on the context of the battle. Only a few chapters of the book focus on the battle itself. Very good at providing the time, place and culture for the persons involved and excellent at citing contrasting historical sources and how their slightly differing stories go. Enjoyable and quick history read.

An Army of Davids by Glenn Reynolds (aka Instapundit): A very good read. Covered a wide variety of topics with the main theme being how modern technology is democratizing and individualizing parts of society. The endnotes alone are worth a look for his sources are varied and interesting. Excellent read.

Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America by David Hackett Fischer: HOLY COW. This took forever to read. Not because it was bad, just long and very heavy on the footnotes. Do not read this book if you have a latent fear of statistics, charts or maps! However, it was exceedingly interesting. All four folkways described were clearly drawn out and the final section discussing how they interplayed with one another throughout American history was an excellent conclusion. Long but definitely worth it.

I also moved 1634: The Baltic War up on my To-Read list. This is one of my favorite current series and yet another testament to the awesomeness of Baen books. It's moving up because my father said it was good (and we tend to agree on books like this).

Link to full post.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Friday Miscellaneous

I'm in Houston for my high school reunion tomorrow (10yrs!). So no computer blogging until next week.

But there can be a links!

Popgadget (Personal tech for women): A weblog that has everything from Pac-Man plush head-gear to pastel car magnets to potato peeling mitts.

Kenyan Carvers do Simpsons Characters: An unexpected (and profitable for the carvers) twist to globalization.

The Blue Hole of Belize: People dive into this thing?

Strange Sights with Google Earth: As a fan of Sluggy Freelance, the bunny pic is my favorite. But all 16 are interesting.

Man Burns Down Trailer: IN TEXAS?! But, the arsonist was from Virgina. Still burning down a person's home over being called a 'nerd' and a couple photoshops? In today's super-fly super-geek world? Maybe the victim should have called him 'loser', instead.

Planet Earth, it's a wild and crazy place!

Link to full post.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Ubuntu, More First Impressions

I spent most of this afternoon playing with computer even more. Here's some more opinions of the standard software:

Evolution – I didn't use the e-mail function because I like my mail stored in 1 location and that's just going to have to be in XP for now. However, the fact that the email worked AT ALL is a step above Outlook which has never worked correctly on my computer. I've been using the Earthlink provided mail program. The Contacts, Calendar and Tasks all were easy to use. Again, the layout is similar enough you can figure it out quickly and where it is different, the Help & Support program comes in real handy.

Below the cut initial impressions of OpenOffice Word Processor & Spreadsheet, Playing CDs, Blog Entry Poster, GNOME Art Manager & F-Spot Photo Manager.



OpenOffice Word Processor – No problems at all. Look is slightly different from MSWord but other than that I didn't have any trouble opening my files and going straight to basic editing.

OpenOffice Spreadsheet – Could open files no problem. However, there do appear to be some differences here when it comes to manipulating & formatting the spreadsheet. Most things are straightforward though. I'm going to have to spend some more time in here learning the intricacies.

Playing CDs – SO EASY. You don't have to do anything really. Just put the CD in your drive and Ubuntu opens SoundJuicer to play them. It's a no-frills player but the sound is good and it's a snap to use. The only trick is that you do have to unmount drive before changing CD's.

Blog Entry Poster – This is one of the programs I added Wednesday night. It's a bare bones way of posting to your weblog without opening a Firefox window and logging in to Blogger. I used it to post today's hit list entry. It doesn't allow tags & there were some formatting problems I had to correct in Blogger. Very easy to use but only if you really have to.

GNOME Art Manager – Another added program, it lets you preview, then download and install various splash screens, desktop themes and backgrounds. Provides a good collection of artwork and it's easy to use (I've already changed the default splash screen to one called Blubuntu). My only compliant is that if you want to go from searching splash screens to windows borders, have to close & re-open the program. I'm certain there's a better way to do it; it's just not readily apparent.

GAIM chat program – Now, I haven't really chatted on-line since college and my ICQ account has totally expired. So while I want to check this out, it's going to have to wait until (1) I get a chat account somewhere and (2) I have someone to talk to.

I didn't get to the GIMP Image Editor I've heard everyone talking about. However, I was able to import pictures off my digital camera no problem with F-Spot Photo Manager. I thought F-Spot was much better than the Kodak Import Manager for Windows that came with my camera.

Link to full post.

Thursday Hit List

Truck-mounted Lasers. Man, some days I just love the Pentagon.

Queen guitarist finishes up PhD in Astrophysics. Yet another reason why Queen rocks.

Free “Powered by Ubuntu” stickers from System 76. Cool, now that I've completed installation, I think I'll be sending out for these.

Frog-man Art. Ever since high school, I've adored figurines of frogs, geckos, etc. This man's work is quite pretty and has a good sense of movement (stretching, extending, mid-jump). I think I'll be buying some of these in the near future.

10 Ways to Instantly Build Self-Confidence. I can speak from experience items 1-3, 6-7, 9-10. Basically almost all of them have worked for me. It's really strange how something rather small like walking speed or seating placement can have a positive effect.

Link to full post.

Wubi Installed!

I now write from inside the Ubuntu desktop environment. My entire morning has consisted of digging around the various features. There are several things that I’ve noticed so far:

Detecting of devices – Flash drive (check). Digital Camera (check). Printer (check). This went very smoothly, no glitches for me. One difference from Windows is that you have to un-mount or eject devices before you remove them. It's very minor though (right-click on icon for device & select "Eject").

Display Aesthetic – Ubuntu provides a very good array of templates, better than Windows which tends to focus just on different colors. Windows XP standard theme always looks cartoony to me and Ubuntu’s default while probably not where I’ll leave it, is definitely an improvement. I especially liked the "Crux".

The Applet Panel – This is one of the things I was most excited to try out when I started reading about Ubuntu. So far, I’ve just scratched the surface but I really, really like this feature. Ubuntu gives a great deal of control over color, content and behavior.

More below the cut.

File (excuse me) Directory Maintenance – Nautilus is fantastic. Very easy to navigate. The paradigm shift from folders to directories is a bit jarring. But, Nautilus is very user-friendly and has several cool features including adding emoticons to files and changing background color for your folders. These are things Windows Explorer may be able to do but they are not as easy or clearly explained.

Synaptic & Add/Remove Apps Managers – AWESOME. So much tidier than installing stuff in Windows. I’ve already done some tweaking here. Very intuitive with good selection of programs (for what I’ve done so far).

Firefox -- With all the copying Explorer has done of Firefox, there's not too much difference. However, I like that controls for blocking pop-ups are automatically included. AND Ubuntu imported my bookmarks automatically (I'm not sure how though).

Games -- Lack of games has been one of the long-term complaints about Ubuntu. But I'm a bit weird in that I prefer puzzle games to FPS and role-playing. In terms of puzzle games, the installed package is very good and I already added a couple more that look fun.

Help & Support -- The first thing I did was open this application. I just followed the Table of Contents through various Ubuntu features. Very helpful, detailed and well structured (I can find what I'm looking for easily).

My overall impression using Ubuntu so far is that it’s very intuitive and easy to figure out. Where I do get stuck, my software book and earlier reading of the help forums has really paid off. It’s just similar enough that I don’t feel adrift in a strange environment but just different enough that I’m constantly going “What’s this?”, “Cool” and “I didn’t know you could do that!”.

Later, I plan to do some exploring of OpenOffice, Photo Editor, connecting my MP3 player and Rythym box Music Player.

Also, I would like to heartily recommend “Beginning Ubuntu Linux” by Keir Thomas. I bought this to prepare for the Ubuntu switch and have been using it as a guide to learn various features of the system. It’s a very easy-to-follow book that (so far) I’ve found very helpful.

Link to full post.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Flash Gordon Thoughts

When an advertisement for this series aired after the Stargate series finale (sniff) I was skeptical. But, I just watched this video from the sci-fi digital press tour. Definitely sounds interesting and all four actors were very engaging. One thing that struck me is they kept mentioning the quality of the writing. Specifically the sci-fi network guy mentioned a sense of humor similiar to SG1. I always thought that was one of SG1's stronger points.

Also, all four of the actors stated that they researched on-line for the history of Flash Gordon. And they mentioned their experiences with older fans (60-80 yrs) who remember the first big-screen serials.

Since (I believe) this premieres in August, it will make a nice segway into the Fall TV season for me.

Link to full post.

Tuesday Miscellaneous

1) NBC is making ridiculous claims to the FCC in order to stifle P2P technologies. I find it so amazing big entertainment companies make such colossal PR blunders. If they want to know why revenue and sales are down, it’s because people don’t want to be hassled with poorly-functioning copyright control software. If NBC succeeds they will be nailing their own coffin shut for when Internet-distributed TV serials hit the big time.

And lists like this one make it easier for users to generate their own content instead of being dependent on big media. There's over 400 tools for multi-media blogging there. I just flipped through them but really cool. I have a feeling I will be spending some time here in the near future.

2) Two weblogs of Interest:
Ars Technica creates Open-Ended, a web journal on Open-Source software. Looks promising.
Life Hacker: Weblog provides a variety of tips on everything from time management to computing to how to slice a watermelon. So book-marking this one.

3) Possible liquid water in the Kuiper Belt. The more I read about our Outer Solar System, the more excited I get about the upcoming New Horizons Mission.

Link to full post.

Weird Word of the Day

Which one of these three English words is NOT made-up by me as I typed?
a) Polly-nolly
b) Wertnap
c) Ishkabibble

If you answered C, you’re a winner and smarter than me. I didn’t believe it was a real word. I came across this etymological wonder at work due to the fact someone named their pet “Iskeybibble”. Here’s the excerpt from the reference.com article:

In 1975, Montreal magician Bob Shelley began using the word "ishkabibble" (one word) as his "magic word" when performing children's shows...Children began to refer to Shelley by the magic word he had chosen and he soon took the word as his stage name. He later licensed the name "Ishkabibble" and his signature magic word "ishkabibble" and continues to perform throughout the United States and Canada. Shelley also uses the word "ishkabibble" as his magic incantation when performing his spoof of a 19th Century Medicine Show in which goes by the name Professor Marvel.

You really can learn something new every day.

Link to full post.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Blog Improvement Notes

1) When I made the changes to allow expandable posts, it now puts the "Link to full post" note on ALL posts, not just the ones I want. How aggravating. I'm going to leave it until I find a better way to do this.

2) You will notice in the below post, there is an animated picture? For it to work requires a very round-a-bout method. I had to create a photobucket account and then link the picture instead of uploading one directly from my computer. Apparently, Blogger removes the animated layers of photos when it uploads directly. How annoying.

3) My next trick will be to figure out how to get the photo on the top right column to center. It's starting to bug me.

Link to full post.

Computer Upgrade: Installing RAM



After my previous trouble installing new RAM, I re-ordered the component from a source recommended on every single computer message board I read in my search for answers. And it worked! I would like to issue a whole-hearty recommendation for Crucial Memory. They walk you through selecting the right component for your computer, deliver quickly for a (lower than my store bought) price and (unlike my store bought component) IT WORKS.

This week, I will attempt to install Wubi once more. (crosses fingers)

Link to full post.

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Review

If there ever was a reason to learn how to do expandable posts, this is IT. I finished the final Harry Potter book yesterday. General opinion: WOW.

Click below for detail. LOTS OF SPOILERS! Be warned.

Holy body count Batman! JKR certainly didn't pull any punches did she? I rarely get teary-eyed at books but there were at least two points where I had to put the book down for while or I would completely lose it.

Things I loved:
It opens on Voldemort. A lot of people have complained about it being a slow start but honestly, this didn't drag for me like some parts of HBP did. I thought showing him casually killing the Muggle Studies Prof had the effect intended (shock).

Dudley not being a total prat to Harry.

7 Harry Potters! (One for each book?)

HEDWIG! MOODY! Two down before page 80.

Even though the overall tone was dark, this book had the most LOL lines for me. I don't know what that says about my sense of humor.

Dumbledore left them stuff! Weird nonsensical stuff.

The Ministry falling & the whole sub-plot with the round-ups. The image of the witch & wizard on the throne of naked human bodies was my first (shudder) moment.

The house-elf sub plot paying off with Kreacher & (sniff) Dobby. "Here Lies A Free Elf" I had to put the book down for a while then.

The Trio getting really sick of one another while on the run.

Nagini coming out of thew old lady. YUCK!

Ron running away & coming back --> Ron destroying that first Horcrux. Very effecting scene. I glad they dealt with Ron's perspective here. He really did need to permanently deal with his feelings on insecurity and here he did it under great duress.

Ron & Hermione - I can take or leave this relationship but I did really like how it was presented in this book. Their banter was very endearing and their first kiss (in the middle of a battle) was hilarious.

Luna's Dad, yah! Luna's Dad sells them out...not so yah. But the image of Luna's bedroom with paintings of all of them? How sweet is that?

I really liked "The tale of the Three Brothers" aside from plot & exposition, I thought it a nice little parable about how you can't cheat Death in the long run.

Malfoy Manor: I liked that the Malfoys were on the outs & insanely desperate to get a break. And Hermione's torture scene...yikes.

Harry's decision to go after the Horcruxes instead of the Hallows. At the time, yeah big growing up moment but I also think this is the first moment we see Harry as being worthy to bring together & weild the three Deathly Hallows (as he can take or leave them unlike others *cough*Dumbledore*cough*)

Gringotts & the escape - probably the most disposable of the action! sequences I think. It was really good (until you read the rest of the book).

Dumbledore's brother rocks! And I liked that Dumbledore had some pretty serious character flaws, things that had been effecting events for a very long time.

Neville's blase recounting of the events at Hogwart's that year make me long for the fanfiction of these events. It was a great scene and showed how much Neville's really grown in the last three books.

The whole Battle of Hogwarts sequence: OH MY GOD! AWESOME. All the profs chipping in, all the students staying to fight, all the adults showing up to help, all of the dead: Lavender Brown, Colin Creevey, Remus, Tonks and (omg!sniff) Fred. And those are just the ones I remember.

Snape (sniff). You were a bastard but you were always Lily's (and therefore Dumbledore's) bastard. When he conjured a Patronus for Dumbledore and said "Always", well, that was my second teary-eyed moment. And I'm not a big Snape-fan.

NEVILE KILLED NAGINI FOR THE WIN!!!!

Molly Weasley took out Bellatrix Lestrange like yesterday's laundry.

Ok, Voldemort killing Harry but totally not, then Harry showing up again. I can't keep it straight. All I know, Harry rocked. He made Voldemort look like a total pansy by the end.

The Malfoys surviving. They never helped because it was right. Rather, they were riding the whirlwind and at any moment they chose what would buy them safety for that moment. For Narcissa & Draco, that is very consistent with how they've been portrayed. Lucius, well, Azkaban changes a person, doesn't it? I liked they were kinda lost but together at the end. And that 19 years later Draco was still kinda a prat.

The epilogue was OK. I liked that she gave up more characters to play with (and certain fans are certainly running with that one) but I dunno, it was a pretty abrupt shift in tone from the rest of the book.

Overall, 9 of 10. Possibly my favorite of the series, I need to think on it a bit more. And, I can't wait for the movie of this. There's so much potential for awesomeness on the screen.

Link to full post.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Overheard at Work Today

“Maggot-brained flesh bags” – 2 co-workers discussing their D&D group

This will be going on my “Sometimes, Working With a Bunch of Guys Can Be Disturbing” List.

Link to full post.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Heat Treat Coolness

In yet another example of “Why Jessica’s Job is Cool”, I thought I’d share something that recently caught me eye on a supplier visit.

The particular location was a heat treater. I had never visited one before so I found the site interesting with its ginormous flame-spurting ovens and quenching vats. However, a rather small piece of equipment caught my interest. Through an opening less than a foot square, there was red glowing and bubbling goo.



A co-worker identified it as molten cyanide salt. We do not use this particular technique for our parts but it’s just fantastic looking isn’t it? Also, note the sign in the background “NOTICE: Do Not Add Water”. In addition to being highly toxic, cyanide salts are reactive with water. Both are reasons it’s not commonly done.

There don’t appear to be many sources of information about this technique on-line except for salt-bath equipment dealers and a whole bunch of warnings say “TOXIC: DO NOT DO”. I did however find this excerpt from the 1926 Machinist’s Handbook. They have 1 whole paragraph on this form of heat treating.

Link to full post.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Movin' On Up..

While reviewing my visitor statistics today, I made a discovery….

I’ve been blogrolled! I'm on the right under the "Ejectia" heading. How cool is that?

Thank you!

*is off to go explore blogroll further*

Link to full post.

Blog Improvement

In an effort to improve this blog, I’m considering add a photograph to my blog-header. This is a test post because I’m not quite sure which to choose. One of my pet peeves is clashing web page elements so I want to make sure the picture is works with my template. And the candidates are:

Moonrise


Clouds


Witches’ Broom Nebula


Carina Nebula


Vines


Hmmmm....



Updated:

Well, it's going to be Moonrise or Carina. Witches Broom is too dark. Vines is too yellow. And Clouds blends in a little too well.

Updated2:

Moonrise for it is!

Link to full post.

Wednesday Miscellaneous

Very miscellaneous today.

1) In anticipation for the new Harry Potter book, I give you the Harry Potter Spoiler of Doom generator! My results:
My Harry Potter Spoiler of Doom is:
Severus Snape kills Ron shortly after discovering a new lost book of the Bible
Get your Harry Potter Spoiler of Doom

2) Why we can’t land people on Mars (via Universe Today). I remember reading Bob Zubrin’s “The Case for Mars” thinking there’s got to be a catch because this sounds so feasible. I think this here is the catch. Due to the thinness of Mar's atmosphere, most of the standard landing techniques wouldn’t slow down a manned vehicle enough to land safely.

3) 100 Open Source Downloads: Great tools for free. Some of these I've come across in my Ubuntu-switch research.

4) Working as an engineer, you see many warning signs and labels. This is one of my favorites:

Because the last thing you want is your hand in a 400-ton stamping press that shakes the whole building when it is working.

Link to full post.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Ubuntu Migration – Another Consideration

In addition to some of my difficulties installing Ubuntu (most of which are due to the fact I can’t be bothered to learn the system requirements first), there is one rather large pain-in-the-neck with moving to away from Windows. Again, this is my fault...for having a Napter To-Go subscription. Apparently, this service only works with Windows Media Player which is (surprise, surprise) not a standard Ubuntu application.

I only got the subscription a few months ago but I’ve downloaded 275 songs since then. These are licensed so you have to log on every 2 weeks in order to be able to play the songs. Unfortunately, I can’t just buy all of them in one go and eliminate the license expiring issue.

How can I choose between “The Pogues” and “The Amazing Rhythym Aces”? Between “Screaming Trees” and “The Duo-Tones”? Talk about comparing apples to oranges. I’ve spent the last several days listening to music, trying to decide which ones to leave behind. And do you know how many I’ve deleted? 3 out of 275. Crap.

Link to full post.

Tech Hit List

Hmmm, I haven’t done one of these in a while.

1) New Spacesuits from MIT: Researchers are working on developing a revolutionary spacesuit that could allow for greater mobility & dexterity for the astronaut. Not quite ready to go but very cool.
2) The previously mentioned Genesis II inflatable module launched successfully and has already begun sending pictures back. Here’s my favorite so far.
3) Ubuntu Competition? Great idea. I looked around at other distributions of Linux when I ran into my RAM memory troubles. Although many looked good and came with a bunch of applications, no one could touch the documentation, help forums and we-assume-you’re-a-beginner stance of Ubuntu.
4) Article on throttle-down engines. New NASA research in variable acceleration rockets. This is a good example of NASA doing what it does best. Very cool.
5) More Farscape!!!! How awesome is this? (Not strictly tech but too cool to not mention)

In conclusion, I give you Full Metal Aztec:

Link to full post.

Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix, Movie

WARNING: If you have not read the book or seen the movie, this post contains spoilers about plot, etc.

Ok, now this is my favorite (so far) of the Harry Potter books. Needless to say I was anxious to see how the movie compared. My worries were for nothing. It was just as good as the trailers led me to believe.

Nit-picks
1) Sirius Black's death: In the book, Bellatrix pushes him into the veil and is very clearly at fault for intentional homicide. The movie makes it seem like he just fell in accidentally during the fighting.
2) Ginny's Harry Smack-down: While I understand they couldn't include everything, this to me was an important reminder about Ginny's past and would have added some weight to some of the scenes at Grimmauld Place.
3) Neville's Parents: I missed the scene at the hospital where we see how broken the Longbottom's were by their torture. I missed seeing Neville's reaction. The conversation they did include was an OK substitute but it left people who haven't read the books with the impression the Longbottoms were dead.

10 Things They Got Completely Right:
10) The Daily Prophet Transitions - Fantastic way to both get rid of some exposition & move from scene to scene.
9) The Twins Exit from Hogwarts - No swamp but they really didn't need it. The fireworks destroying all the proclamations was visually stunning.
8) Neville Awww! - Matthew Lewis has done a very good job over the course of the movies portraying and here, he outdoes himself. He conveys Neville's hesitation but also his heroic spirit. Excellent.
7) Bellatrix Lestrange - Helena Bonham Carter was every bit as bat-shit crazy and vicious as I imagined when reading the books.
6) Background Inclusions - From the goat at the Hogshead to Grawp to the Inquisitorial Squad, Yates managed to pack a ton of little things in without taking up time & dialogue doing it. This really made it seem like less was cut from the book. I am curious to see how this skill is applied to the 6th movie.
5) The Trio Acting Together - Before the movie was released, I heard an Emma Watson interview where she mentioned Yates was the first director to really play up the relationship between the Trio. She was right. Ron & Hermione were especially fantastic. And Daniel Radcliffe was absolutely fantastic.
4) Everybody Else Acting - The entire ensemble was utilized in every scene they were in. I think Yates may be the first director to so noticeably expect them to perform in the background and to hit very specific notes. Every single scene with the DA, in the common rooms, and classrooms everyone was noticably improved even with the camera wasn't on them. Bonnie Wright especially did brilliantly.
3) Battle At The Ministry - Perfect. I loved how spooky it was, how obviously out-classed the kids were, how Lucius & Bellatrix tag-teamed them with the evil and how original a wizarding battle looked. If the battle for Hogwarts in HBP is half as good, I'll be satisfied.
2) Luna Lovegood - Perfect look. Dead-on voice. She hit it out of the park with every scene she was in and got some of the best lines of the movie.
1) Umbridge - This movie would not work if Umbridge wasn't just as evil, sanctimonious and viscerally repugnant as in the book. This movie did work because Imelda Staunton exceeded even my most ambitious expectations. She was deluded, bureaucratic, controlling, and god help her, pink.

So, on the whole good movie & excellent book-to-movie transition. Based on this installment, I'm very glad David Yates will be returning to direct Year 6.

Link to full post.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Summer Reading + 2 Other Items

When movies end and computers crash, there’s always books.

1) Read “Parachute Infantry” by David K. Webster. Memoir of a former member of the acclaimed Easy Company. A pretty good read. What’s best about this book is Webster never claims to be an objective outsider to either the war or the men he served with. He clearly presents his opinions and his reasons for them while at the same time giving a whirlwind of detail about life on the front line in WWII. Very enjoyable.

2) Currently reading “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman. Man, this is weird. I mean, it’s a good weird but yikes. The stories about how all the old gods ended up in America are so horrifyingly wistful and shockingly morbid. Neil Gaiman shares with Terry Pratchett the uncomparable ability to be simultaneously funny, profane, reverent and cynically optimistic while still telling a fantastic story. One of the most disturbing, entertaining, mind-bending reads in a long while. And I’m only a third into it.

3) Received my summer reading order from Amazon. Check it out.
The Buried Book by David Damrosch
1634: The Baltic War by David Weber & Eric Flint
Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists by Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales
An Army of Davids by Glenn Reynolds (aka Instapundit)

"2 Other Items"
1) The latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie may have been onto something with the whole green flash thing. Check it out. (via NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day)

2) “Transformers”: Wow! Seriously, this is the best movie I’ve seen all summer. It never tries to be anything more than a popcorn action movie BUT it’s a very, very well done popcorn action movie. It was also extremely funny. There were several scenes where everyone in my (packed) theater just lost it. Sam’s parents especially knocked it out of the park. Completely wild and wonderful ride.

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Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Recent Activities

1) Well, other attempts to install Ubuntu failed miserably. So, I did (yet more) research and realized I could just add more RAM to my computer. My computer manual had some very simple instructions and a local computer store had some compatible parts. However, once again, all was not as it seemed. My audio device cannot be found when I install the new RAM card. I have no idea why but it prevents ($#*&$!) Windows from booting correctly. Hopefully, a friend of a co-worker can help me out. I’m also checking with Dell about problems installing more memory. If it turns out there’s Dell-only memory allowed or something is installed that my computer can’t live without, I’m going to be writing a very nasty letter about how Dell should clearly state such requirements in manuals and on-line help sites.

2) “Cars”: It’s a bit odd but I totally missed this when it came out last year. Not sure why. Once again, Pixar seamlessly weaves a good moral into a good story. The world populated by various mechanical creatures was very well-constructed and detailed. Also, hiring Paul Newman to voice the older racer car was a stroke of brilliance. Good for Pixar, ten times better than anyone else’s “kids” movies.

3) “Live Free or Die Hard”: Bruce Willis* as John McClane is worth a full-price ticket any day. Very good action movie. I liked the hacker-sidekick but I like actor Justin Long in pretty much everything. This role was well-suited to his talents although I could have done without the CCR bashing. I especially liked that both the daughter and the hacker characters were not super- action-heroes but fought back & responded to crisis in more realistic but effective ways. The only real weakness was the villain. The actor played him like Anakin Skywalker going Darth (ie – whiny and self-righteous). That said, the action scenes were fantastic and well spaced out throughout the film. Another plus for me was the way John McClane fights versus everyone he was up against. They had the moves, training and equipment. One thing shown in every single fight was that those things could be a bug not a feature. In this movie, the bad guys expect McClane to fight like they are prepared to fight. However, John McClane fights like an underdog, no-holds barred, grasping every bit of luck and desperately innovative. Again, a very good action movie.

4) Read Jack Campbell’s “Dauntless”: This is the first in a new series from Campbell. It’s about a long-lost war hero revived from stasis to find he has been idolized by the military fighting a desperate war in the intervening hundred years. Very good main character, excellent world-building, and very, very good space battles. Campbell does an excellent job of showing how the technology of the fleet effects their tactics and strategy without resorting to excessive techno-babble. Based on this one, I’m looking forward to the remaining books. A fun bit of military sci-fi.

5) Several of my co-workers went to a preview showing of “Transformers” Monday night. Their comments: “Awesome”, “Best movie I’ve seen in last 5 years” AND “Even my wife liked it”. From geeks’ mouths to God’s ears.

*Hopefully, you do not need a link to know who Bruce Willis is.

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