Happy New Year!

imeem on my wii

Hey, just realized I could go on the internet channel on my wii, get on imeem, and play music using probably the best sound system I have... my television! Turn it up! Ugh!
Here is a featured playlist I liked on the imeem homepage.

HIPSTER RUNOFFs Most Authentic Songs of 2k8

Merry Christmas To All!

Shopping day

Got majority of shopping for the season done today. Whoopee! I went to the mall and bought everything really quickly within minutes of each other. It was quite exhilarating, since I usually come home emptyhanded due to my cheap nature. (Hey, I admit it. And if you know me, you already knew.)

Just got a ticket

Got a ticket for not stopping at a 3 way stop that I stop at everyday. I'm really angry because I know I stopped. Grrrr.

"Closer" by Joe Inoue

This is the fourth opening theme to "Naruto Shippuuden." I haven't watched the anime at all. I just happened to hear it while looking at hi-def samples at crunchyroll which uses the opening for the anime. I really like this song. Found this video on imeem.

"Absolute Boyfriend" another jdrama!

Watched "Absolute Boyfriend" on crunchyroll. Slow start, but gets better after a few episodes. It's a bit predictable and very corny, but the cast is really good and the two leading guys are hotties!

Food!

These are Portuguese egg tarts my friend Elaine made. I love egg tarts!

WOOT OFF!

Yet another time I won't be getting a bag o' crap...

"Quantum of Solace" ... not a quantum of sense

Okay, saw "Quantum of Solace" today. I liked all the action (car chases, knife fights, jumping on and around rickety Italian buildings, etc.) but, it was strangely anticlimactic. It felt like part two of three. Also, Bond (played by hottie Daniel Craig) was rather humorless, which makes sense with what happened in "Casino Royale," but hey, Bond should have some wry punchlines somewhere. Anyway, at the end I had no idea what went on in the previous two hours besides seeing Craig really wear the hell out of several tuxedoes. Despite my complaints, seeing Craig really wear the hell out of tuxedoes was worth the price of admission!

"Twin Peaks" opening credits...just cause

my imeem playlist

"Hana Yori Dango Final" movie is out!

It's subbed on mysoju at http://www.mysoju.com/hana-yori-dango-final/!
Here is the theme song!

"Twilight"

"Twilight" is like a very expensive production from the CW. It's got beautiful, somewhat hip, somewhat multicultural, teen cast. It's got meaningful looks across crowded rooms, good soundtrack music, and the whole vampire-attraction-thing where you don't really mind if Robert Pattinson (playing Edward Cullen) sucks the life out of your neck. I also just realized same actor played Cedric Diggory in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." Note: this cast picture of the Cullen family reminded me of the cover of a V. C. Andrews book (yes, I admit to reading quite a few of them in my past.)

"Prisoner of Love" by Hikaru Utada

Just love this song. Plus I have an imeem account now so I can embed the heck out of everything! Also, if you hit the related video button, other great videos of Hikki show up. I really like "Colors" and "Keep Tryin'" but they are all good!

"Death Note" on Hulu

Okay, this anime normally isn't my cup of tea, but it's pretty decent on the suspense side, and if you get over how scary the "shinigami" looks, it's pretty good. It's sort of like a really extended idea of a "Smallville" episode without Clark. I found this when finding out crunchyroll is going to partner with legit anime studios to stream subbed anime starting January 9 next year and stopping using fansubs. I wonder how this will pan out. Anyway, more anime than I thought is legally available streamed on Hulu.
By the way, "Vampire Knight Guilty" episode 6 is now on crunchyroll!

Woot off!

Current Dream Car: 2009 Lexus IS250

Taken at the 2009 Sac Auto Show at Cal Expo. Huge event, lots of spanking new cars. Sitting in this particular car made me go "ooh." The hood is slightly ajar as people are constantly checking out the car. Sticker price: $32kplus. City mpg: 21. Highway mpg: 29.

More Hikki (宇多田ヒカル)

Another great song:
Here is the video:

Here is the song in case the video disappears:

Vegas

Spent some time in Las Vegas. Memorable foods: creme brulee at the Paris buffet, the entire Bellagio lunch buffet, the best blueberry muffin at the Paris. Lost: some money at the penny slots (damn those progressive jackpots requiring "max bet"). Forgot: a comb. Most expensive water bottle price: $5.

Campaigning

I'm not campaigning but I have got so many phone calls automated and live to vote for someone. Actually I have never gotten phone calls like this before. I plan to vote with my absentee ballot. This is the most exciting voting season I've ever seen.

"Skip Beat!"

Promising anime currently being subbed about a girl striving to become a pop idol after being dumped by her rising star "boyfriend" who used her like a slave. Just saw episode 3 which was the best one so far! http://www.veoh.com/channels/skipbeat

Utada Hikaru... another jdrama theme song! "Eternally - Drama Mix"

Apparently "Innocent Love" is airing right now in Japan. I think it sounds good. The drama looks promising too (lots of pretty people! that's how shallow I am!).

Utada Hikaru...great singer

"Beck"

Great music-based anime that I thoroughly enjoyed watching. I found a new streaming anime website to watch it on: http://www.otakucenter.com/beck-mongolian-chop-squad-f247.html

"The Duchess"

I enjoyed this great looking, well acted movie about the Duchess of Devonshire back in the 1700s whose life mirrored that of her relation Princess Diana. Keira Knightley is, of course, luminous as the fashion-forward and free-thinking wife of the Duke, played by Ralph Fiennes who treads a fine line as "Prince Charles." It seemed like a really expensive Masterpiece Theatre movie which of course is A-OK with me.

"E.T. : the Extra-Terrestrial" still great movie

Spielberg at his sentimental best. Cast is top-notch. Captures what I view as romanticized 80's suburban life with newly built tract houses and wise-cracking, but nice white kids of divorced parents. Remember sobbing at ten years old in the theater with my aunt and soon-to-be uncle. Still makes me sob!

"Vampire Knight Guilty" episode 1 is subbed!

Check it out: crunchyroll posted the first subbed episode of the "Vampire Knight" second season! http://www.crunchyroll.com/library/Vampire_Knight_Guilty

Sherlock Holmes on tv

I really like the British tv series with Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes that was done in the 80s. Seems like everytime I catch the show on PBS or A&E, I see the same show "The Solitary Cyclist" which is playing on channel 6 right now. This must be the third or fourth time.

Addictive snack

Flamin' Hot Funyuns are delicious. Just a little heat with your deep fried onion flavored corn meal snack.

"Vampire Knight"

Good anime with teenage vampires and forbidden love between human and vampire... sounds like "Twilight" which I am also trying to read. The second season is supposed to start showing in Japan in early October!

Finally finished "NANA"

Great anime drama with excellent music "NANA." I even bought the cd soundtrack.

WOOT OFF!

Use this woot checker: http://www.twobitarcade.com/woot/

Asian drama sites

Crunchyroll.com, dramacrazy.net, dramafreak.tv, mysoju.com

New hottie: Gong Yoo from "Coffee Prince"

"Read Or Die" the OVA and the TV

Watched "Read or Die the TV (or R.O.D the TV)" online on Animefuel.com and just watched "Read or Die" the OVA on netflix instant viewing. I really like the idea of paper magic where pieces of paper are manipulated to become almost anything: hair ties, giant rideable (is that a word?)paper planes and flying winged creatures, swords, bulletproof and bomb-proof shields, ...etc. There is this part in the OVA where 2 clones who can materialize/dematerialize any part of their body at will batttle in hand to hand combat which is really cool. I also like how all the heroines love books so much their rooms are piled high with them. I guess heroines is a key word. These women kick ass in combat, use paper magic, AND are well read as well!

Lego Indiana Jones addictive

Easier than Lego Star Wars, but plenty hard enough. The key: online walkthrough on guides.ign.com!

Genius playlists on iTunes 8.0

Not bad, I get to listen to those free songs I collected in my library, when I normally just ignore them!

"Gokusen"

Finally finished watching "Gokusen." A little bit repetitive, but still entertaining. Again, Matsumoto Jun is incredibly cute and cool as the sensitive but misunderstood teen. Nakama Yukie is perfect as the over-the-top earnest new teacher.

Utada Hikaru "Heart Station"

Excellent album that you can actually purchase on iTunes.
Includes "Flavor of Life" and "Prisoner of Love" from "Hana Yori Dango 2" and "Last Friends." I really like "Fight the Blues," "Heart Station," and "Stay Gold."
Update: also available as mp3 album at amazon.com (for less!)

Japanese tv show craziness and Matsumoto Jun!

Obsession growing...

"Traitor" with Don Cheadle

Before seeing "Traitor" I had seen the trailer which made it seem like a "Bourne Identity"-style kind of movie. It is suspenseful, almost too suspenseful. Lots of waiting around for cool spy moments which are few and far between. Mostly it's watching Cheadle act like a true believer in front of the terrorists he is trying to infiltrate. Cheadle is excellent, but I guess I have been spoiled by "let me hand you the plot" movies. It kinda reminded me of "Traffic" but with just one storyline. Good movie, but needed some small payoffs before the big one at the end. Hey, my mind is mush. Special notice: Aussie Guy Pearce actually has a decent southern accent (according to my Californian ears.)

It's back!

Yay! www.mysoju.com is back to supply me with hours of tiny-screened, 11 minute segments of asian drama! Now I can continue to watch "Gokusen," "Maou," and "Coffee Prince" (which actually looks better on crunchyroll.com.) I have actually finished "Itazura na Kiss" from the 90s. It's ok. Sort of like "Hana Yori Dango," but with less production values and less charismatic actors. I may have a problem with watching all this stuff...

"Mysoju.com" is down!

I wonder if this website got busted for showing licensed stuff... I hope it reappears soon.

Ok, I ended up using my PC

Lifehouse "You and Me" (quality sucks but it was just a camera)

"Last Friends"

Ok, another jdrama: http://www.mysoju.com/last-friends/

A little melodramatic, but Eita (Takeru) and the bad guy (Sousuke) are pretty hot.

Lifehouse Live

This is the best picture of Lifehouse I could fix up from my camera from A Day at the Zone on August 17, 2008. I tried to upload video from my casio camera, but it doesn't play correctly. I hate codecs.

Sequel is even better

Okay, Hana Yori Dango 2 is even better than the first series. Takes a while to get going, but very enjoyable.

"The Mummy 3"

Saw "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" today. Went in with low expectations, so it wasn't bad. Best part: Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh fighting for about 2 minutes. Least enjoyable: the 20-something kid of Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello (who replaced Rachel Weisz) acting badly. Weirdest thing: Russell Wong in an almost cameo appearance.

Another addicting jdrama

Hana Yori Dango (with Matsumoto Jun again) (I am turning into a 14 year old Japanese fangirl.) (I even bought stuff at the Sanrio store recently.) (I guess it's more like going back to a stage I skipped mostly.) (I did enjoy Hello Kitty as a kid, but now I want like really expensive Hello Kitty crap.)

another Japanese drama/comedy

http://www.mysoju.com/kimi-wa-petto/

WOOT OFF!

Here I go again...

Funny Japanese high-school drama

Discovered this... really funny..."Hana-Kimi" televised in Japan in 2007.
http://www.crunchyroll.com/group/CRSeries_-_Hana_Kimi_-_Japan
Nakatsu is my favorite character. To view without logging in, erase cookies when it prompts you to log in.

Jury duty

Spent a day at the courthouse followed by a late shift. The guy was totally guilty! Evading police, having a smoking device, possession of controlled substance, DUI involving drugs... I don't think I would be a good juror... I'd be all "I am sick of all these drug seeking liars!" Or something to that effect. Finally the two sides agreed on the jury. The only ones left were really young women, retired teachers, and plain-speaking white dudes. So I escape until January 2010.

"WALL-E"

I think I am the only one in the world who thinks "WALL-E" was sort of depressing. I think all of the parts where "#5" is rolling around compacting trash and feeling lonely is depressing. The quality of the animation is superb, however.

Random Crap

In all my nights of Woot monitoring at the stroke of 10pm, I have never seen a bag o' crap offered on a non-woot-off night. I swear at exactly 10pm I reloaded the website many, many times before giving up, figuring it was some problem with the woot server... little did I know.....Then I checked 37 minutes later, all 6000 bags were sold out. Damn.

More Eric Ripert

Just found this website. Can listen to Eric Ripert all day. http://aveceric.com/
Plus we get to see c0oking!

Rock Band for Wii

My preorder from Amazon was delivered this past weekend. Totally excellent, especially the drum kit set. The wireless guitar looks fancier than the Guitar Hero guitar. I find the singing to be the most energy sapping and least fun part. Probably because I sound awful!

Magellan alive again

I was starting to hate the Magellan Maestro 4250 I got for xmas. Since April, it's been a dud with various frozen screens or not even turning on. Finally took the time to call the Magellan company. Turns out I needed a firmware update that happened...in April! Just goes to prove, need to check firmware when getting a new electronic goody. What a pain! I guess I have to register everything now so I can get the email telling me to get an update.

Refurbed Sony mylo

Got the first "edition" of the Sony mylo from the Sony outlet website. It's very cute, but a little slow with the web. Need to find a memory stick duo to up the 1gb memory.

Millionth time....

I was in actually not obsessively checking the computer (at least as much in the past), saw the bag o'crap come up, pushed "I want one" and....I get the spinning arrow, the bouncing beach ball, twice, and then "Error." Damn.

Woot-Off!

More obsessive checking of the woot site for the bag o' crap began at 10pm tonight.

"Prince Caspian"

Saw "Prince Caspian" the other day. It started out slow, but ended well. Peter, Edmund, even Susan, do a lot of physical fighting. At first I didn't like the actor who played Caspian, but he grew on me at the end. This was less "wonderous" than the first movie, more violent and despairing. The "bad guys" all look sort of Spanish and speak with a sort of Spanish accent. I remember rereading the books a few years ago, and one of them was really anti-middle-eastern. I wonder how they'll film that one.

Wii Fit: day 2

This time I did more stuff. I sucked at all of them, except lunges. The wii trainer said I had strong legs....not true.... I think it's from suspending my butt over public toilets without touching the seat for all these years! The wii (it's not a person! I say to myself) told me to not even attempt the "jackknife" because I wasn't strong enough yet. Harsh.

"300"

This is one of the goriest movies I have ever seen (alongside "Gladiator"). I don't know how all the Spartans have such defined six pack abs. The look of the movie is very much like a graphic novel from which I believe it derives. It's very unique. Lots of black blood splattering around, decapitated heads, a wall of human corpses: yucky. Lots of dudes with incredible six pack abs who only wear a cape, a loincloth thing, and some sandals, acting really macho: yummy.

Wii Fit : I'm tired after 10 minutes

The balance board is really sensitive. Already I know my left leg is stronger than my right (freakish, don't know why). To make my BMI 22, I have to lose 16 lbs. Good luck to me.

Wii Fit

According to Wii Fit, I have the body of a 47 year old. Needless to say, I am quite younger than this. Hopefully someday I will match my age!

Lego Star Wars Wii game addictive

Memorial Day involved hours of play of lego star wars: the complete saga. The little lego characters are really cute. The controls aren't too good, but there is a lot of levels to clear so it should provide many hours of frustration for the money!

Wii Fit was waiting at my door when I came home from work. I have the feeling this will go the way of my DDR dance pad...

Unrelated: the band Cut Copy sounds like O.M.D. plus New Order. New Order fans, check it out.

Indy 4 and Iron Man

Saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull yesterday. Luckily I had Thursday off to see this before hordes of people came to see it. (Funny how the Memorial Day weekend begins on Thursday now.) It does not disappoint! Harrison looks older but you get used to it. Action packed even without CGI and funny in the right places.

Saw Iron Man without too much of an expectation. It was a big surprise to see a superhero movie that actually had some emotional heft to it. Robert Downey, Jr. (who knew?) is charming as Tony Stark, playboy genius. Plus, the iron suit is awesomely kewl.

Asimo conducts...cool and creepy

Why do I keep watching "Starship Troopers?"

Guilty pleasure: Casper Van Dien, a whole lot of carnage (beheadings, dismemberment, lots of bodies cut in two, etc.), icky bug aliens that do all that stuff I just mentioned, tough-talking soldiers (ala "Aliens"), brain sucking, and Neil Patrick Harris add up to 2 hours of gory entertainment. Officers look like storm troopers and members of the SS. Is this a pro-fascist or anti-fascist movie? Either way, it's damn entertaining. www.imdb.com/title/tt0120201/

Unread Books

All from the Quality Paperback Book Club:
The Last Templar, The Thirteenth Tale, The Traveler, The Road, The Dangerous Book for Girls, Duma Key, The Dark Tower: the Gunslinger, The Illustrated Man, The Book Thief, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, The Sultan's Seal

"The World, the Flesh, and the Devil"

Watching this on TCM now. Seen it once before. Pretty good post-apocalyptic movie even considering it is from 1959. Harry Belafonte ("Day-o") and Inger Stevens seem to be the last 2 people on earth. They make an appealing couple...but the black-white issue lingers even after the atom bomb drops. When it's just them...the possibility of being a couple exists, but would it exist otherwise? (Kind of reminds me of the beginning of the Stephen King miniseries "The Stand" where everyone is killed off by a superbug and all the streets are deserted, before the it ended in stupid way and got ruined.)

Woot off over... no bag of crap...again

Sadly enough I was there to witness the final product of the woot off as it happened. I managed to get a women's timex watch which what I was looking for anyway, but the price wasn't that great. Oh well. Bout time for another woot purchase.

Woot off!

I missed the beginning, but looking at the ones I missed, that was ok.

Mario Kart on Wii

Ranks up there with Guitar Hero III. The guitar is fun to "play" and the wheel is fun to "drive."

Sidenote: Cooking Mama is a very strange game. I like seeing all the food though.

HDMI vs component

Finally connected my blu-ray player to my tv with an hdmi cable. I left the component connection to compare the two pictures. Watching "Ratatouille," I can see the difference, but you wouldn't know unless you had a comparison side by side. There is this part where the player is loading up the movie and there is a little white circle with a rat doing the hula-hoop inside against a black background. You can see the little hairs of the rat more clearly and the circle is less pixelated. I think the sound is better. I don't know if it's because I just read HDMI cables can transmit Dolby 7.1 channels or if I can tell. But I think the surround sound is more surrounding.

free mp3s that don't suck

http://blog.urbanoutfitters.com/projectfiles/summeressentials/

Eric Ripert... love this chef's French accent

kobe beef nano skin=blech

Luna Bar -- S'mores flavor

Decent granola bar type snack that's not too chewy, chocolately enough, and nutritionally not too awful.

Milano Roastano Pizza

This pizza from Round Table is excellent. Whole roasted garlic cloves, pepperoni, sausage, portabello mushrooms, large shreds of parmesan, all on a creamy garlic sauce...delish.

"Stardust"

Finally watched "Stardust" from netflix. It was better than I thought it would be. I wonder why it wasn't a bigger hit. I wonder if it's more of a big deal in England. Claire Danes manages to do the English accent well. Finally seen a movie with Sienna Miller in it, although I don't think I could recognize her in another movie.

Broke down, got an iPod Nano (refurb)

Ok, so I finally broke down and got an iPod nano (8gig). It was a good price on Woot.com, and it is refurbed but I can't tell the difference. At first I couldn't figure out how to drag music into it, but after looking at the syncing tutorial, I realized it was pretty easy. I still love my Creative Zen Vision: M (30gig)!

"A Room with a View"

Watched most of the PBS version of "A Room with a View." It was all right. The actress who played Lucy did a good job. I didn't like this George Emerson though. But it did make it more clear why George was not desirable. When I saw the Merchant-Ivory version I always thought, why does Lucy hesitate to hook up with George? Julian Sands is hot and his dad is embarrasing but sweet. But this George makes it more clear of the class distinction. His accent is not refined and his lower class is mentioned at least twice. Julian Sands did not emphasize his lower class enough in the movie. But he looked good.

Remote Disc works...sort of

Finally got the MacBook Air to recognize my Dell for sharing the DVD drive. However, I don't have any discs that I have that are not copy-protected or are the proper disc types supported by the Mac. I see the damn Superdrive in the future.

I have been obsessively watching "The DaVinci Code" on demand on cable. It is boring, but I find the movie compelling. It may be the music at the end. I also really like Tom Hanks and Audrey Tatou. (But not Paul Bettany as the albino.)

"Robot" Restaurant. Impersonal, just how I like it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7336490.stm

"Sense and Sensibility" on Masterpiece

I thought I might get tired of the "complete" Jane Austen series on PBS, but after watching the first half hour of "Sense," I really already like this version very much.

Woot off lasts almost 48 hours...

...and I am bagless once again. At least it's not that I missed it, it's because one was never offered!

WOOT OFF!!!

Yes, just in time for insomniac days-off shopping action!

"Donnie Darko" and "Primary Colors"

"Donnie Darko" is a film I haven't figured out yet. I read the IMDB FAQ and it cleared it up some. Who is Frank? Is Donnie psychotic? Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, and Maggie Gyllenhaal (in a small role) are fantastic. In fact, here is a pic of Jake Gyllenhaal.

"Primary Colors" is a good underlooked film that tackles ethics, idealism, politics, and the Clintons. John Travolta deserved a lot more for his role as the presidential hopeful.

External Hard Drives

After asking for some help, I finally figured out I didn't have to use the software included with the hard drive to transfer files. All I had to do was drag and drop the files from one window to another. Sigh.

Hot Actor ... tall, dark, handsome, Welsh ... and unfortunately in bad Hollywood movies recently

Ioan Gruffudd

Hot Actor ... tall, dark, handsome, British...and deceased

Stewart Granger

The Simpsons Movie

It was a really long tv episode, with PG-13 touches like seeing Bart's private parts briefly and Homer giving the bird with both hands. A little disappointed.

Two movie recommedations

3rd Blu-ray movie: "Becoming Jane." Didn't expect anything, maybe that's why I liked it so much. Anne Hathaway is actually pretty good playing English icon Jane Austen. Beautiful scenery, star-crossed love, period costumes, and English accents... all the ingredients of movies I like. I think I liked it more than the Keira Knightley "Pride and Prejudice."

2nd recommendation: "The Lady Vanishes" (1938) directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Starts out like an Altman movie with a lot of characters, turns into a better version of "Flightplan," and ends up being spy movie, mixed up with Nazi era menace. Michael Redgrave plays charming and heroic very well. Wonder why Margaret Lockwood, the heroine, didn't make anymore memorable movies (at least of those I know.) Just watched this on TCM my favorite channel.

Hulu.com

Streaming video of nbc and fox shows, including some fox movies at:
Hulu.com
This morning the streaming was pretty lousy (lots of buffering). But tonight I have already watched a Simpsons and a King of the Hill episode without any fits and starts. It probably is because it is almost like 1 am (what am I doing I have to wake up at 6:40am) and a lot less people are trying to get on. Nothing to download, just use your browser.

MBA remote disc...a big pain

File sharing between my MBA and Dell is finally going okay. So I tried the remote disc function to back up iTunes music from MBA using my Dell dvd/cd burner. I can't play or burn CD's or DVD's. After consulting the lackluster Apple support page, it looks like I have to shell out $99 for the external MBA superdrive if I want that functionality. Oh well. I thought I would discard my Dell, but both laptops are on all the time now. I am tech obsessed without any tech knowledge.

Japanese teen drama

I was checking out AZN on cable and ran across "Life," a teen angst drama from Japan. It had no subtitles, but I could figure out that this girl was being bullied by "mean girls." I found out I could watch the whole thing on this website:
http://www.mysoju.com/life/

Haven't watched much of it, but it looks promising.

More "lifehacks"

http://unclutterer.com/
http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/

Modern style

www.apartmenttherapy.com

Leap Day

I like to think of today as an extra day to goof off. Not that I wasn't going to anyway, but it's nice to think of a "stolen" day. Luckily, I'm off from work. All I have done today is transfer more music and pictures to this macbook, caught up on some podcast listening (classic tales podcast), did some laundry, and laid around.

Update: I just watched "Mr. Brooks" with Kevin Costner. Highly improbable story and I didn't understand the whole twist thing completely, but Costner and Demi Moore (yes, Demi Moore) were both very watchable. It is disturbing how you end up rooting for the serial killer a little bit. Blame Hannibal Lecter.

Oscars and file sharing (unrelated)

I watched the Oscars last night. It was a pretty painless awards show to watch this year. Some nice emotional wins (Marion Cotillard in her gorgeous Gaultier dress; Tilda Swinton, pale and very surprised looking; Diablo Cody, tearful and working her own artsy style; and the really excited Irish guy for the best song win). Seems like all the big winners were foreign actors. Where are the Americans?

I have finally been able to share files between my Dell and my Macbook wirelessly. My dell can see the macbook as a "network place." But my dell doesn't show up on my mac "network". Still somehow I can transfer files from the dell if I tell the dell to copy files to the mac. It will take hours to move everything over. Strangely enough, Yahoo Answers was more of a help than any of the Apple support web pages.

Urban Legends

http://www.snopes.com/

Die Hard 4

Live Free or Die Hard is the first Blu-ray disc I have played. The player takes a long time to load up, but the picture is undeniably excellent. The movie had good action scenes (bodies falling, Bruce Willis crashing a helicopter with a car, crashing a plane with a semi) and I finally got used to the Justin Long character (he was a little annoying at first). It took too long to find out why the bad guys were doing what they were doing. And the end is a little cliched. But Bruce Willis is likable as ever as John McClane.

No "bag o' crap" yet again! Curses to the woot-off!

I happened to be obsessively refreshing www.woot.com and there it was....the elusive "bag of crap" which is a package filled with mystery items that hopefully includes some expensive electronic gadget... for only one dollar plus $5 shipping. The plan is to buy the max of three items, hence pay only $8 for 3 mystery packages. I hit "I want one" and...the server is unavailable! How do they sell 4500 "BOCs" in like 7 seconds???

Inaccessible Woot-Off

Apparently there is a woot-off going on, however, I can't get to the site. I think their server is overloaded or something. Very disappointing. I have a woot checker "twobitarcade.com" that seems to have a connection, but even then I wouldn't be able to buy anything! :(

A Geeky Online Personality Test

The Serenity character personality test

(I am Simon Tam.)

The lights are off...and I'm home

The power went out for about a half an hour.  I am so addicted to television that I actually hooked up my Pinnacle HDTV tuner to my Dell to watch halting motion of Dave and Lois on Channel 3 news.  Fortunately, everything is back up and running.  Lights can go on, tv's can glow, I can charge this macbook....  You don't realize how dependent you are on electricity till it's gone.  I hope it doesn't go out again.  It was the fault of downed wires according to the PG&E power outage phone line, and it's still windy, so it may happen again!  By the way, I think non-corded phones should be able to function during a power outage.  That's why I still have my corded Conair slimline phone from 1990 in my room.  Just in case.

Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now...

http:/www.bathroomdiaries.com

Year of the Rat

Happy New Year! It's the year of the rat. I just realized I am a pig and not a rat! I always suspected and my mom wasn't sure either, but when I punch in my birthday, I barely miss being a rat by like 2 days.

Alas, I did not hit a $25,000 jackpot in Reno. Of course, betting pennies won't get you one.

I am going to attempt to install the new tv I got recently. This will take me hours since I am not mechanically or electronically handy. When you consider dvd player, cable box, and my wii, it's gonna take me a while.

I think I gained about 5 lbs over the past days of overindulging. I highly recommend the Atlantis buffet (especially the Mexican food side, which had excellent chile rellenos just sitting there which I didn't expect much of, but was surprisingly good.) Also, the Peppermill coffee shop has cheap eats with huge portions and prebuttered toast if you get breakfast. Also Safeway supermarket cakes are excellent. Foodie out.

Reno... here I come

Driving to Reno with my parents to gamble and stay at the Peppermill.  I finally get to use my new navigation thing, but it won't even power on!  Maybe if I keep pressing the power button.... it will explode or turn on.  I'm going because I took the week off from work and it's my b-day!  I am now 36 in this year of the rat.  I work with other "rats" so that means they are 12 years younger than me!  I think I am emotionally 10 years behind anyway!  So that means I'm 26... if I sat in a time machine.

mba (macbook air) update; masterpiece theatre question answered; super bowl

Well, the hard drive thing didn't work and I keep trying to link my dell to my mba to share files, but no go.  It must be something incredibly obvious.  I just finished watching "Masterpiece Classic" with a biopic of Jane Austen which was actually pretty good.  I even went to PBS.org to find out more info.  Apparently, Masterpiece Theatre is now split into Masterpiece Classic, Masterpiece Mystery!, and Masterpiece Contemporary.  I hope they will show the Edward Gorey animation at the beginning of Mystery! again.  I always liked those black and white drawings.  I watched the Super Bowl, the only football game I watch every year (usually).  It began well, the middle was boring (I opened up my mba), but the final quarter was really good.  I felt bad for Tom Brady.  He looked really stressed the whole time.  A lot of pressure to finish the "perfect" season.  But I do feel good for Eli Manning.  He really pulled through in the clutch.  My mba is starting to grow on me.  This full size keyboard is really nice to type on, and it's much lighter on my lap!

macbook air

I gave into new-gadget-lust when I ordered the macbook air. I received it yesterday. It's very pretty, very aluminum, very thin. I also like the full-size keyboard. The speed I thought would be way better than the dell I am actually using right now, but it actually seems a microsecond slower. I am trying to use this dell optical drive with the macbook wirelessly with no success (the air has no included optical drive, hence the thinness.) I didn't realize how I had designed everything (bookmarks, rss feeds, etc) around Mozilla Firefox. Mac has the included Safari browser which I am still trying to figure out. I am tempted to download firefox for the mac, but I think my mac is full of bundled software like garageband, ilife, ichat...all this stuff I have never heard of...so I don't want to load down my new computer with other stuff. I am going to try to connect my portable hard drive that suppposedly has my media files to the macbook. I have a feeling nothing will happen. But it is very pretty.

Babel Fish

Try out Babel Fish for text translation.

Favorite podcast

The Classic Tales Podcast

Whence Masterpiece Theatre?

For some reason, Masterpiece Theatre on PBS has turned into just "Masterpiece" and is introduced by Gillian Anderson. I guess it's time for the show to be introduced by a woman instead of a really old white dude. Can't wait to watch the further Jane Austen adaptations.

Best show I can't follow

The Wire on HBO ... gritty, intelligently written drama... so intelligent and gritty it is hard to watch.

Now for something completely different...

Fast food discovery: Jack In the Box's Cherry Chip milkshake. The bomb.

Heath Ledger

The word of Heath Ledger's death swept my workplace. He had so much potential for future edgy roles... and he was pretty hot. Reminds me when River Phoenix died too. So much potential gone. So weird to be found naked and dead by your masseuse...

Template: makes me thirsty

I was fooling with the templates for this blog. This one right now reminds me of Jamba Juice.

Woot addiction

I have just bought another 3 random woot t-shirts. I can't even wear the ones I got in public cause my gut hangs out or they are too big to wear. Why am I so disproportioned to the rest of the t-shirt wearing public?