"Next" - What You Yell When You Don't Like What's In Front of You

The concept is typical Philip K. Dick: "What if you can see two minutes into your own future? What disastrous situations could you avoid?"

Yes, it shows how it could be used to make a girl sympathize with you, and it can also be used for the good of the world.

Unfortunately, in this movie, Nicolas Cage of the bad hair has to be forced into that role, when (and this is where my suspension of disbelief snaps) both the US government and Russian terrorists are after him because he could spoil their bad guys' plot for a nuclear detonation in LA.

I also agree with critics that it would have been better with either a younger actor in the lead role or an older actress as Cage's love interest.

Cool images: Cage needing to take a punch to impress a girl, not avoid all her ex-boyfriend's punches; the landslide on the mountainside sequence.

Damned When You Do, Damned When You Don'

I feel like this sometimes. Maybe it's from being exposed to weeklong term breaks since my college freshman year.

Janus - Greek Two-Faced God

Janus, originally uploaded by Ess Pea.

I just found out today that in meebo.com, I can open more than one yahoo account, since I have a different one for students and another for... non-students.

Now I feel like Janus.

Contentment Meal

Bought a McDonald's Happy Meal this morning, chose the Naruto Card Keeper as the toy, because for me it's the most practical: compact for keeping together all different small pieces of paper - not necessarily for playing the card game.

Virus Annoyances

I used one of the school's laptops for my lecture yesterday, for only the second time this term. There was this spreadsheet file that I was supposed to let the students copy, but they didn't want to, because they knew the laptop was infected with several replicating files [autorun etc. as well as one hiding inside a recycle folder it created in my thumb drive].

It was easy enough to plug the drive in one of the faculty room's linux machines to delete the files, except the recycle bin was protected.

I was planning to reformat the drive already, but when I plugged it into a windows machine, the OS said it needed administrator login to install the "new hardware".

It might have been the file trying to replicate itself. So the computer had to be remote accessed by the ITC personnel, after which the file was detected. It could not be deleted though so it was moved to the vault where it would do no further harm.

Lesson: surprisingly enough, don't use the school laptops anymore.

Revive

Revive, originally uploaded by namatovu.

Hehe. I wonder if on the street level view (taking a phrase from google maps) of the Urban Dead landscape, this is what we'll see.

Anyway...

I got revived! Sunday morning I was able to garner enough action points to shuffle over to the nearest revive point to my location. I was very optimistic because it was considered a "safe" zone so not that many zombies, so I was the only one there, and therefore will most likely be the first one revived when a technician passes by.

And that is what happened: when I opened my account this morning it said I still had 0 hit points, but 50 action points, again taking 10 AP to stand up.

But as soon as I stood up, I had 25 HP (as opposed to the original 50 HP) and immediately moved to a strongly barricaded building. Let's hope I don't get killed again.

Ocean's 13

oceans_13_premiere_85, originally uploaded by elmansa.

This was next in the belated opening movies I watched. It's almost as good as the first movie, and better than the second. I was kept guessing until the end what was the twist that would make their apparent failed caper turn out to be a success. And it was fun that they all got to play different con characters apart from their typical roles in the first movie.

Acting Dead

Still playing Urban Dead. I opened another account where I play one of the mindless shuffling horde.

It's a little more difficult to get experience points attacking humans, so I just destroy barricades instead.

It's scary to leave your character in crowds of zombies though. When I logged in again, it said it "what happened since you logged out" was that other human players had gone up to random zombies in the graveyard, stuck them with syringes... and the zombies slumped to the ground.

Surviving In a World of Brain Eaters In White

Chose lab tech as my main character in urbandead.com, as a nod to my current profession. It turns out (only reading the help section afterwards, which is typically male behavior) that I get the most experience points from extracting DNA from zombies. Removing dead bodies from inside buildings and attacking zombies only gets me 1XP each - and for the latter, only when I hit.

The picture, by the way, is not from the game, in case anyone gets confused.

¡Support Originality!

¡Support Originality!
Originally uploaded by Nicole & Hugo

No to recycled text and regurgitated links with no personal comments!

Zombie-09+

Zombie-09+
Originally uploaded by cindytoo

Yesterday I read this article, and I immediately registered with Urban Dead, making it two games on the list I play now (and no, the other one is NOT Freestyle).

Pirates of the Caribbean ; At World's End

Pirates of the Caribbean ; At World's End
Originally uploaded by Brajeshwar

Surprisingly, even for myself, watched this not within the first two weeks of opening.

Unlike the first two movies, there wasn't enough action and too much exposition (made worse by the fact that Jack Sparrow was slurring most of his words), as well as introducing too many new concepts like Calypso, the 9 pieces of eight and the pirates' council.

Some cool images though: the maelstrom, the upside down ship, the rock crabs.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) skills by four quadrants per Daniel Golemanand Richard Boyatzis

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) skills by four quadrants per Daniel Goleman and Richard Boyatzis
Originally uploaded by slark

Just something related to what I posted in CSI today.

I want to relate this to what I wrote about Low Batteries a few days ago.

I'm the type of person who, maybe since I grew up with film cameras, could wait until after a trip before I review the pictures I took.

Virtual Seive

12
Originally uploaded by Simon Smithson

People Features Wish List: Filter posts from specific sources so they won't show up in my list of latest entries.

'Nuff said.

Ewok Vs. Sith

Ewok Vs. Sith
Originally uploaded by pco1969

Since I started playing Lego Star Wars: The Original Trilogy, I've finally collected one million Lego brick studs playing and replaying all the levels and stages, so that I was finally able to buy the most expensive game extra available: invincibility.

This is represented by the red hearts now being replaced by metallic colored ones that never decrease.

Because of this, I can now set up the final scene in "Return of the Jedi" with an Ewok fighting and holding his own against Darth Vader and the Emperor.

Linus: "There's No Heavier Burden Than a Great Potential"

Linus: "There's No Heavier Burden Than a Great Potential"
Originally uploaded by Flealick

This is very true. Look at all those child prodigies. They are all expected to do something great in their lives, and how many of them actually fulfill that?

So why announce to the world that technically you can possibly amount to something (and build up people's expectations - and potentially set everyone, including yourself, up for disappointment) when instead you can show something you have achieved that has practical use?

In other words, I won't put any credit when you say that you're good at something - say, music - unless you have productive output that proves it.

Double Independent Sudoku

Double Independent Sudoku
Originally uploaded by pboothe

Of course I got into Sudoku for a time, then I make a spreadsheet file to solve it for me (after all, computer programs have their roots in people not wanting to do tedious repetitive logical tasks). This ups the challenge though.

Heaven n Eggs

Heaven n Eggs
Originally uploaded by weye

Ate here this Father's Day weekend. I love their soups that the first time I went there, I ordered a second one.

Bowler Hat Guy

Bowler Hat Guy
Originally uploaded by coconut wireless

I watched "Meet the Robinsons" over the weekend. The villain of the movie is a parody of sterotypical villains, but actually gets to spell out two characteristics inherent in villain behavior that sometimes people actually exhibit without believing they are being villains, although they are unwittingly villains to the people around them.

Quoting:

Lewis: Look, I'm sorry your life turned out so bad. But don't blame me you messed it up yourself. You just focused on the bad stuff when all you had to do was... let go of the past and keep moving forward...

Bowler Hat Guy: Hmm, let's see... take responsiblity for my own life or blame you? Dingdingdingdingding! Blame you wins hands down!

And quoting again:

Bowler Hat Guy: Uh... game didn't go so well, huh?

Michael "Goob" Yagoobian: No. I fell asleep in the ninth inning. And I missed the winning catch. Then I got beat up. Afterward, Coach took me aside. He told me to let it go. I don't know, he's probably right.

Bowler Hat Guy: No! Everyone will tell you to let it go and move on, but don't! Instead, let it fester and boil inside of you! Take these feelings and lock them away. Let them fuel your actions. Let hate be your ally, and you will be capable of wonderful, horrid things. Heed my words, Goob: don't let it go.

Roughing It

Quarts Lake Tents
Originally uploaded by suncruiser

It has been said that if you really want to know if someone jives your personality, bring them along to an overnight away from home. I've known this since grade school (and scout camping trips) and I can attest to how true it is.

People I don't get along with in the midst of all that lack of convenience has the same level of disagreement in the center of civilization, and anyone I am compatible with in that survival situation is a friend for life.

Indifference to Injustice is the Gate to Hell

Indifference to Injustice is the Gate to Hell
Originally uploaded by Brooklyn Hilary

I think this applies to all kinds of indifference, some of which are prevalent in campus.

Low Batt

Low batt
Originally uploaded by lechu83

One of my most recently aggravated pet peeves is when - on a trip, because my camera has a small picture display - people constantly want to view all the shots I've taken while we're still outdoors.

For my video camera that uses tape, the bad thing about this is the tape is rewound but not stopped at the exact end of the previous scene. This means that in the next scene recorded, either the last few seconds of the preceding scene are overwritten, or there is a brief period between scenes where only static is visible.

Besides this, reviewing the data uses up battery life, and it's happened to me that because of drained charge while on the road, the camera died and I wasn't able to take any pictures for the last part of the trip.

This may have something to do with being a one- or two-marshmallow kid, which I'll explain tomorrow.

Science In the Service of Destruction

Corregidor 70603 137
Originally uploaded by pco1969

This 60 ton counter weight under one of the 54 ton "disappearing guns" used during the World Wars was able to make it possible for the guns to be raised and lowered, making it difficult for the enemies to see where the shots are coming from.

Engineering and Newton's laws at work

"The Rock" - Corregidor Island

"The Rock" - Corregidor Island
Originally uploaded by Storm Crypt

One of the rare aerial photos I could get of the place I visited last weekend. This one bears out the claim of our tour guide that these two islands form what is left of a large dormant volcanic crater, since it is roughly circular in shape.

Tame Uncaged Eagle

Corregidor 70603 010
Originally uploaded by pco1969

Taken in Corregidor Island just this weekend. We were walking down a shortcut far from the road and we came across this eagle. Apparently, it has a broken leg, and it can feed from the hands of visitors. It used to be in the aviary, but sometime in the recent past the management decided to let them roam free in the island. I just wish they told guests about it beforehand.

Next TV Show Expectation

csi las vegas equipo
Originally uploaded by mkazumi

Heh, now that the latest seasons of Smallville and Heroes are done, this is what I'm following now. They finally went back to the format where there are non-police people involved in recurring cases, as well as being up against someone daring the team to find out who he/she is that lasts more than one episode.