So I started up the new netbook this morning on battery power at about 9:30AM just after I got to work. Our internet connection was down so I played on the laptop moving some files around, and let Windows install an update it has already downloaded. After that the laptop was in and out of standby several times throughout the rest of morning as I was in and out of my office. After lunch myself and two co-workers worked on a cost proposal and time line for a project we are proposing. We used my new laptop with it attached to the conference room projector (screen off just the external display). I moved the standby time out to 15 minutes and the laptop ran pretty much continuous from 1:00PM until about 5:20PM working on a Word and Excel document and occasionally looking up info on the web (internet was restored just before lunch). I turned it off for the trip home and then watch the parade for the county fair with GFWTR and Abby. Sat down a few minutes ago and send those documents to another coworker for review and started this post... I just looked and the battery is down to 27% left. Not bad for nearly a full day of use.

So this weekend while waiting in vain for Little Miss to arrive I finally took the time to update the ROM in my phone. When I got the phone (an HTC Mogule pic) I got the more expensive data plan for two reasons. First I needed it to qualify for the $150 rebate on the hardware. Second the plan was suppose allow the GPS on the hardware to give me driving directions. This was key to me because I wanted a phone that could let me check my email on the road and give me driving direction. That way I can leave my laptop and GPS at home and just take one device, my phone on most business trips. Well the ROM that came with the phone when I bought it could not access the GPS hardware for some bizare reason I never figured out. A few months ago HTC (the manufacture) and Sprint final release a new ROM that granted access to the GPS chip for both Sprint Telnav application and third party applications. After waiting through the first rash of bugs I finally installed the ROM this weekend. All in all it works pretty good and has open up a bunch of new uses for my phone.

( Rambling about GPS and my phone )

First Indiana Jones, we went and saw the latest installment of Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Overall I was a bit disappointed, not horribly so and I did find it entertaining but definitely disappointed compared to the rest of the series. The opening scenes I found too many things that just broke my suspended disbeliefs. It just seemed not well thought out and just sort of a series of kludged together scenes going for wow factor rather than staying true to the genre. Also the theme of the movie over all was just too overt grand and momentous for Indiana. Aliens don't fit with Indiana Jones IMHO. The movie was not pulp fiction enough for me. I wanted a movie that tied up the loose ends the way this movie did in many ways but with a more Raiders of the Lost Ark feel. In the end it was entertaining but did not come close to the first or third movie as far as representing the true Indiana Jones feel and story.

I am legend, the book not the movie, was very good. I finished reading the short novel last Thursday and it was very enjoyable. I found Richard Matheson writing very easy to read and his level of detail and laying out a scene very good. He captures the feel of being the last man on the planet very well. The despair, frustration and self destructive bouts of depression come through very real. The combination of the vampire theme and science (I believe Matheson was a pioneer in this science based vampire genre) was very good. The ending, although I knew what it was going to be from reading too much of the Wiki entry turned out to be far more bitter sweet than I thought it was going to be even just pages before it happened while reading the book. The ending was not exactly how I would have written it but I think in the end it fit the rest of the novel very nicely.

Took gfwtr and Little Miss (tough time leaving her at the baby-sitter yet) to see Iron Man this evening. We both liked the movie, a rarity for us as I usually like the movie and she doesn't, especial when it comes to Sci-Fi, Action movies.

All in all I though it was pretty good. The beginning strained my own level of suspended disbelief (which is pretty generous by most standards if I like the premise). Particularly the power source for the suit. The trillion actuators on the second generation suit and can believe, if only because my own real life work would be so much easier of actuators of that small size and high force density really existed. The power source on the other hand is a source of constant embitterment to me and the antonymous systems I work on (not to mention that much power coming through those little wire, come on!). Ahhh..., but enough of the negative technical crap.

Robert Downey Jr does a great job with Stark/Iron Man. That has to be the most attractive role I have ever see Gwyneth Paltrow play. (gfwtr reply it was the red hair when I made a similar comment on the way out of the theater, she's no doubt right given my fondness of redheads, but I liked the character too.) Jeff Bridges always bring an interesting quality to his characters that I like. The story line was predictable but satisfying. It is a super hero movie what can you expect.

Back to the tech, the good side, the Iron Man suit was awesome. I love all the complexed articulated surfaces, actuators galore and the animation of the suit was superb. In general I love the idea of the exo-skeletons and Iron Man was an excellent example of one. The heads up display gave a good feel for the imersiveness of the suit. The scenes were Stark is perfecting the second suit are some of the most funny scenes in the entire movie. The constant damage and repair throughout the story was great too. Nothing better than battle scared high-tech to make it and the story gritty and real.

My only complaint is that modern movies always happen to fast in story time. Things that should have taken weeks and months happen to the characters in hours and days. It seem that modern directors and writers have lost the ability to show time pass in the story without boring the audience. There was a time when directors could put together scenes that on screen only take seconds, maybe a minute or so and yet the audience feel months have passed for the characters and that something of great effort has been accomplish through the expenditure of time. You can tell a story in a short amount of time, that take a long time with respect to the characters, and not have the audience feel rushed, that art need to be re-found.

We don't go to see movies often. The last one in theaters was Transformers IIRC. The next movie will most likely be the fourth Indiana Jones. We both liked the first three (GFWTR really likes the first and third, not so much for her on the second) and so we are both anticipating the fourth movie. GFWTR will be pissed if it ends up like the second movie.

I finally read the second, and final, book in Scott Westerfeld Succession Series, The Killing of Worlds. I had been slogging painfully through Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Despite my fondness for Gibson’s writing and what I thought was a fondness for the steam punk setting I finally gave up about 60 pages short of the ending. I may return to it but I doubt it. The killing of Worlds on the other hand read much much easier. It’s just over 400 pages (paper back) and I read it in 6 sessions. That is very fast for me. The only book I think I read faster was Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and I did it in three sessions (the first time, re-read in one long sitting later) but it was almost half as long.

( rambling review behind the cut )

All in all this was one of the easier reading and more enjoyable bits of Sci-Fi I have read in quite a while. I have to thank madeofmeat for the recommendation to read The Risen Empire and then this follow on book The Killing of Worlds by Scott Westerfeld.

So with the deep freeze on Sunday I was reloading shotgun shells, being out of bullets to reload, and watching TV. Blade Trinity came on and I watched. Having only seen Blade and not Blade II I was a little confuse by Whistler's present but that was quickly reminded by his death early in the movie. Without getting overly detailed is was pretty cheesy in both acting and gadgets. And the leading lady and that folding bow of her's really topped off the cheese. Oh well, Underworld came on afterwards and that is a far superior vampire movie, not to mention lycans too.

The Sci-Fi channel aired their mini series Tin Man. I enjoyed most of the series very much. I love retelling of stories when they take this much liberty with changing the retelling of the story. Along that line I love the retelling of Romeo + Juliet set in modern times (IIRC Clare Danes play Juliet) but using the original Shakespeare written dialog.

There were a few scenes that I thought they were trying too hard or being to obvious with the ties back to the original work. The scene with the hot air ballon felt very out of place to me. For most of it the analogies were very nicely muted but still obvious. The character analogies Tin Man and the Scare Crow were very nice but for some reason the character analogy of the Lion was not as good to me. I really like the Toto character in concept but it felt a bit wedged into the story and felt awkward.

I though the story projected the ending a bit too much so the last half hour of the movie where it should have been very tense as the plot climaxed became a bit predictable. That said I did enjoy it a lot.

mcb

I took (under protest) gfwtr to see Transformers tonight. She was a real trooper despite a cold theater and a crappy movie to go with me. I owe her big time for this one.

( My thoughts on the movie with a few spoiler mixed in )

My MagPul PMAGs are here. So far I like them a lot. Haven't got to use them shooting yet (they just got here today) but they fit in my RRA AR-15 very nicely and drop free even when empty. They seem very sturdy and well made. Used both my LuLa and my fingers to load them up and they load up just fine. Hopefully in a week or two I can get out to the range and do some rifle shooting and see if they function as nicely as they look.

( Lots more pictures behind the cut )