Slowly Learning...

So there was a time when Flickr was independent, and things were good. I could login anytime I wanted. Then they switched over to yahoo, and I promptly lost/forgot my yahoo login and password, so my photos sort of stopped appearing online. I tried to recover my password, but apparently they have some zip code for me that I never lived in (I tried it with 14612, 14626, 14850, 13053, and even 82070, none worked), so I was unable to get my password. So I figured I'd just start a new yahoo id and a new flickr account. Well, as luck would have it, I was able to merge my new yahoo id with my old flickr account, so I now once again have access to my photos! This means you can now all easily view all the recent photos I have taken (neatly organized into sets even). This also means that I will try my best to update these pics on a regular basis so I can do my best to share my Wyoming experience with everyone else.

And in case you have forgotten where they are located, you can catch my flickr work here

And as a side note on the zip codes, they would be Greece, Greece, Ithaca, Dryden, and Laramie for anyone interested in the inner workings of our postal system codes.

Posted by Thom at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For those of you who did not know, I no longer reside in NY. I have officially moved out west to spacious Laramie, WY. And yes, it is rather spacious. If you manage to travel more than a mile outside of town you hit vast wilderness, which is quite ok in my book. I did say that I needed a break from NY and the East Coast (no offense to either, I've just been there for about 27 of my 27.5 years).

And for those of you who have been really out of the loop, I am in Laramie attending the University of Wyoming (Go Cowboys!*) working on getting my phd in mathematics. So I should be stationed out here for the next 3-4 years if anyone is making a cross country trip and wants to stop in.

So far the area is beautiful. I've already had the chance to visit a nearby mountain range as well as the Rocky Mountain National Park outside of Denver, and both were gorgeous and breath taking (although partially due to the thin air in the high elevations). I've also had the chance to visit my family in Colorado that I have had very few chances to see so far (and who I will probably be seeing a lot of now), and got to see the inner workings of my cousin Troy's farm out in Holyoke, CO. Pictures of me (poorly) driving the tractor will be coming soon once I sort through the hundreds of photos I've taken already.

All in all it has been a successful move so far. The apartment is wonderful, the town is small but full of great eateries (within walking distance), and I already have an office space on campus.

And as a side note to all of you out there, while Denver may be the mile high city, Laramie stands at almost 1.5 miles high with an elevation just under 7200 feet. Oh, and from now on I will be operating on Mountain time.

*The Univ. of Wyoming Cowboys, not those annoying Dallas ones.

Posted by Thom at 8:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here are the three latest films in short...

Wanted: Fantastic action film. Think Matrix meets Fight Club, but without as much story as Fight Club, and with better acting than Matrix. Not overly deep, but one of the most entertaining movies I've seen lately, and isn't that what really counts?

WALL·E: Yes he's cute, yes it's another well done Pixar film. And thankfully this one falls mostly into the good Pixar films that are a little different (see also Incredibles, Monsters Inc, and to some extent Finding Nemo). Is it without it's problems? No. First off, on a minor note, the "predicted" human future. It was a little funny seeing everyone over the top fat and lazy, but it almost seemed a little preachy at times. "Repent and change your ways or the human race will become fat, lazy and trash the entire planet!" But I can overlook that because they didn't come right out and preach that. The biggest issue was the inclusion of live action. I love pixar movies and the way most can reel you in, but you completely break up the flow and the feeling of emersion if you cut away to real people (and as much as I love Fred Willard, he does not belong at all).

Hancock: I loved the idea, a super hero who doesn't care, and I hoped they could pull it off. And I guess in some ways they did. What really threw me through was the fact that Charlize Theron was in the film (as one of the three major characters) yet this was never told to us in any previews. *Semi-Spoiler Alert* Now I know that she is part of the "twist" and that they wanted to keep that a secret, but if you have one of the biggest female names in Hollywood in your film as a major character, yet you don't hype that at all then it pretty obvious the first time you see her that there is going to be a twist involving her. So it doesn't really work well at hiding her. However I did enjoy seeing MR. F married to Jason Bateman, and she did do quite a good job. However in the end the film was watchable and entertaining, but not fantastic.

RATINGS: Worth Rewatching In the Theatres (as I have already done); Worth Seeing For Full Price (especially if you have kids); Worth Seeing Once (but maybe wait for a matinee or something cheaper).

PS - I cannot wait to see how Death Race turns out (can it be as awesomely bad as the original?), and props to anyone who caught the Arrested Development reference.

Posted by Thom at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By popular demand (that being that one person asked), I have decided to give me take on the latest Dr. Mario release.

As most of you may know, I love Dr. Mario. Oblivion may be an enormous time-sink with it's hours and hours of content for me to explore, but it still hasn't put a dent in the countless numbers of hours that I have spent with the good Doc. I love it so much I was greatly disappointed when the doc didn't make a return in the new Smash game (travesty!). So how does the new version stack up?

Of course the standard play modes have returned (with claim of up to 4 players, although I'm not sure I could find 4 people to play with me), and there is even the new "Virus Buster" mode. I was skeptical of this mode at first (dragging the pills into place?) but it was actually really fun. There is also an online mode, complete with leader board, so I can finally see how I stack up with the competition worldwide. Not surprisingly the current Top10 all seem to be Japanese, go figure!

But now onto the bad. There are still the annoying "friend code" issues with online play (I seriously wish Nintendo would just bite the bullet and do away with it, but it ain't gonna happen) and as far as I can tell online play is restricted to standard mode on level 4. I can't imagine that this is a system limitation (and if it is then Nintendo has some serious problems with their online setup), so I can only assume that this means online was just an afterthought that was given no real effort, and that's a shame. Dr. Mario has always been a multiplayer game.

There are also a couple of other minor things that I would have liked to have seen cleared up since the N64 version, but these are mostly minor nitpicks that most people probably don't run into, but I think they deserve mention anyway. First off, there is no save feature. I know this sounds silly, but on the N64 I have been known to play games that last over 2 hours. My record on high speed was level 59, and it takes quite a while to get that far (even at 3 mins a level, times 39 levels, you get about 2 hours). And my record on medium speed was... undetermined (due to the fact that the old game stopped counting after level 99; I have yet to test if RX fixes this issue), but it did take me at least 3 hours to get up to the 3,000,000 points before I decided to just quit. Yes I know this isn't a problem that most casual gamers would run into, but it doesn't take a whole lot to fix either. Just let me "pause" the game between levels and come back to it later without having the leave the system on. Is that too much to ask?

But in the end I am glad to see Dr. Mario make a return, and finally have online play (even if it is rather sparse). And the price isn't too bad either at only $10 (it could have been a bit cheaper for what it includes, but I still find it more than worth it).

RATING: If you have a Wii and like puzzle games get it, hell I'd suggest it to any Wii owner.

Posted by Thom at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Going in I figured I'd see an over-the-hill Indy doing Indy things in the familiar Indy ways. Needless to say I was surprised to learn that I had actually stumbled upon the new X-Files movie two months early! I know Indiana Jones has always had that mystical element to it, but throwing us UFOs and aliens pretty much from the get-go, that was too much. Now I could go into what was good about it, but there wasn't that much. Anything that was good you can see by re-watching the previous three. So let's get into the bad.

1 - Stop throwing the hot young flavor of the week into action films like this. I have nothing against Shia LaBeouf, and I loved him in Transformers, but he does not belong here. Indy with his female side-kick is ok, and I'm even willing to grant you Shortee and Bond, but stop throwing in these young hot stars (I'm talking to you Die Hard).

2 - If you are looking for a magnetized case in a gigantic warehouse (one that is probably a half mile across), throwing gunpowder into the air is not going to work. That was the biggest stretch of the whole film. And if somehow the gunpowder trick works, then the object has to be so magnetized that you would not be able to go near it with any sort of metal. My physics may be a bit rusty, but I'm pretty sure most electromagnetic forces aren't that strong from that far away.

3 - Surviving a nuclear explosion at ground zero in a fridge? Sure... That one will work. On top of that having the fridge blown two miles clear of the site, with Indy inside (and unharmed), without it popping open, and then having Indy just hop right out when it lands? Come on.

Now, I'm willing to suspend disbelief for a great many things in action films, but there is a limit (on the number of these events and the magnitude of each of them. And Crystal Skull exceeds both those limits. Oh and could anyone have taken the film seriously at all after hearing the title? That's worse than when I heard Episode II was going to be called "Attack of the Clones!" Which gets me to what is probably the main issue with this movie. Spielberg directed it (and Lucas wrote it). I remember the good old days when the Lucas Films logo made me tingle with anticipation. Now it just makes me shiver with disgust. Oh how the times have changed. And don't think you're fooling me Mr. Spielberg with those stupid monkeys and prairie dogs. You can't try to squeeze Ewoks into this movie!

And finally...

4 - Why does Indy even try? The bad guys always end up getting whatever they are all after, and it inevitably kills them all and takes itself with them, leaving Indy and his pals alive with nothing to show except for piles of dead Nazis (or Russians in this case). I say just let them have it, seriously.

RATING: No matter what I say people will see it, but don't say I didn't warn you. Stick to the old ones and forget this one was ever made.

Posted by Thom at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, I have a backlog; and yes I am getting them all out in once as fast as possible. So here we go!

21 - Entertaining story (although most likely highly exaggerated), but I do enjoy gambling stories. But why is a pre-med taking combinatorics and non-linear equations?

Baby Mama - Not Tina Fey's best work I've seen, but still good chemistry between Fey and Poehler. And it had Maura Tierney actually looking good again.

Bank Job - Strong, classic heist movie that goes well beyond the heist. However, I do have some issues with Saffron Burrows as a model (not my type at all).

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - One of the best romantic comedies I've seen (but still probably one of the weaker movies from this team). And be prepared for the most male nudity you've seen outside of porn (or possibly Jackass).

Iron Man - I may rip on Robert Downey Jr. and his roles at times, but I always enjoy his work, and once again he doesn't disappoint. Fantastic blend of comic book and action in one (probably the best one I've seen).

The Forbidden Kingdom - Think Karate Kid meets some bad martial arts film (I know that may be redundant) and that's what you get with some kid roaming ancient China. Throw in the fact that Chan and Li are two very different martial arts actors and you have a very unbalanced weak attempt.
Side note: Jackie Chan and Jet Li are now a combined 99 years old (and it's showing).

Priceless - Very odd French romantic comedy about sugar-daddies and sugar-mommas, but funny through and through (with a few tugs on the heart strings). And while Audrey Tautou is still hot, she looks waifishly thin.

Prince Caspian - I liked this one better than the first, which I also enjoyed a lot, but perhaps it was because of a story that isn't quite as familiar as Lion, Witch, Wardrobe. However if they plan on doing the books in the order they were written, while keeping the same actors they may run into some issues down the line.

Sydney White - Teen comedies are my guilty pleasure (and so are Amanda Bynes movies), so this was a very guiltily pleasurable evening. Sure the plot is about as predictable as can be, but I do enjoy clever takes on old works (and nice to see Snow White as opposed to another Shakespearian remake).

Vantage Point - Interesting concept, not so great execution with some timing issues. And nice to see Matthew Fox break out his highschool spanish for no reason at all!
Note To Hollywood: Hispanic does not equal Spanish. If the movie is set in Spain, don't try to pass of Mexicans as extras.

What Happens in Vegas - As much as I try, I can't help but like Ashton Kutcher. I know most of his roles are as pretty-boy idiots, but he plays it so well.

RATINGS: Netflix, Dollar Theatre, Matinee, Full Price, Full Price, Skip It, Student Discount, Full Price, High Netflix, Student Price on top of a Matinee Ticket at the Dollar Theatre, Dollar Theatre.

Posted by Thom at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It might not be useful, but it'll give you a new perspective.

Lately I've begun to put more and more of my music back onto my iPod, and have been listening to a lot of shuffle. And along the way I found a good number of gems that I either forgot that I had, or even never realized that I had (I do have a lot of music). And this all got me thinking about my most under-appreciated albums I own.

So after much deliberation I have narrowed it down to my Top 10 in no particular order (other than alphabetically) I was going to go with 11, but that would have just been forcing the issue just to make it prime.

1 - Bran Van 300 - Discosis
Their first album was such a fantastically eclectic collection of music (they even managed to merge rap and country in the same song, with positive results) that I quite often forget about their second album. And after a couple more listens, I feel ashamed about that. Discosis has the same eclectic sound, but with a more polished feel to it. All the tracks flow smoothly from one to the next, weaving between genres. They even managed to loop it around as the last track leads back into the first. This might not be the best CD I own, but it has something for every mood, and has even more for when I don't know what mood I am in.

2 - DJ Spooky - Under the Influence
I don't know where you label this disc. Some say hip-hop, turn-table-ism, some say it's a mix CD... Personally I just label it trip-hop (so I know where to find it). But no matter how you label it, I skipped it for too long. Maybe it was because many of the tracks just don't feel like they stand up on their own, so when they appeared on shuffle mode I quickly skipped them. But then I hit a couple of the main tracks that I kept listening to over and over again. And finally I decided to give the whole album another listen, and I was surprised. All those "throw-away" tracks I had found before were perfect set-up to the main set pieces I had found. And now DJ Spooky has managed to find his way into my regular car trip rotation.

3 - Fatboy Slim - Better Living Through Chemistry
Lost for ages behind You've Come A Long Way Baby, Chemistry never got the play it deserved in my rotation. But after I realized how many great tracks there are on here... now it gets more play than You've Come.

4 - Lincoln - Lincoln
Not too many people are familiar with Lincoln, but they still remain one of the best opening acts I have ever seen (they opened for a while for They Might Be Giants). Unfortunately they only managed one CD before splitting up, but damn is it a catchy one. With all this praise it may seem that Lincoln doesn't quite fit here, but what I didn't appreciate was the lyrical stylings. I had always noted some of the quirky lines I loved ("You think you're so funny, but looks aren't everything"), but when I popped it into the CD player the other day for a listen I really noticed how deep some of the songs actually turn out to be. True they aren't all like that, but the lead does have a way of making even depressing songs sounds happy (much the way Guster's songs are all depressing as hell if you ever actually listen to them, yet the band puts on one of the happiest liveliest shows).

5 - Nightmares on Wax - Mind Elevation
Like Zero7 (see number 10), this was a long time background album for me. However, it almost doesn't belong on this list since I rediscovered it almost a year ago, and have worked it into regular rotation ever since, but I get to choose, so I'm putting it up here (mainly so that everyone who hasn't heard of it can get a chance to listen to it). It is one of the best chill-out albums that I own. Even when it gets more up-tempo it still has that relaxed (yet not sleep-inducing) vibe.

6 - Nirvana - Incesticide
Now I know Nirvana seems like a weird choice to have on here, but there is a major case for this album. And not just under-appreciated by me, under-appreciated by the public at large. Incesticide is like the forgotten middle child of the Nirvana family. Wedged right between Nevermind and In Utero, it is so often forgotten. Hell, when I searched for Nirvana on Amazon Incesticide came up #9, after the Smells Like Teen Spirit single even. Talk about unloved. True it wasn't a standard studio album, but who cares. It is strong and powerful and Nirvana at their best. I'm almost glad that I forgot about it, because now it gives me a chance to re-experience the Nirvana sound, but not with the songs I've heard a thousand times already.

7 - Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
You think Iceland and you think Bjork (well if you're thinking wacked out music at least). What you should really think is Sigur Ros. This was one of the iffy inclusions here, because it is such a great album and I always knew that. But somehow I keep losing touch with it only to come back and rediscover how much I love it.

8 - Weezer - Weezer
I know that this one really shouldn't go up here. I mean who honestly argues that this isn't one of the best CDs? The thing is for the longest time I placed it behind Pinkerton. I don't really know why. I guess it was because Pinkerton had some of those tracks that I just couldn't get out of my head, and because I very quickly lost interest in Buddy Holly. But then I thought long and hard about it all and realized that every single track on this disc is fantastic. When they biggest complaint I can come up with is that I got a little tired of Buddy Holly (which is still a great song with an awesome video), then I really have to reconsider my Weezer rankings.

9 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell
This is another case of an album I did not give the proper amount of credit to. I know that everyone else did, but I got into the Yeah Yeahs all at once, and the three song trio of Honeybear, Cheated Hearts, and Dudley towards the end of Show Your Bones kept me on that album and away from
Fever for too long. But overall I do have to give Fever it's props. It fills a niche I've been lacking for so long in my music with such force and power that I can't help but include it in any list of my CDs now.

10 - Zero 7 - Simple Things
This was my background music for so long that I forgot how good it can be as the focal point as well. It is so mellow and soothing that I can do in depth thinking without getting too distracted, yet its not so dull that I would never think of just listening to it on it's own. I always make sure that I keep it handy for any occasion.

Posted by Thom at 8:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)