Kubricks

And no, I'm not speaking of an eccentric Hollywood director, I instead speak of the unique Japanese toy that I am quite fond of. Those of you who know me personally can attest that I have a strange fascination with these little suckers.



I have no idea what it is that I like about them, is it the strangely appealing design elements that each one bears? Is it the stunningly amazing attention to detail they possess? Is it the fact that it's a Japanese oddity imported to our shores in only the most obscure of stores? I for one think it may be attributed to my childhood collection of legos. Each of those yellow guys retained its own charm in a way that's hard to describe for me. Probably an art thing if you will.

There was a time when I had only one of these suckers, just to hang around my office at work. Now I believe the collection's stretched into the 20's. Every time I make it out to Sunset, I make the effort to buy a new one. I'm pretty lucky that I haven't bought a slew of them online. I also have to be pretty lucky that my Japanese skills are so poor, I can't even read their home website. If anyone wants to see more pictures. Let me know, they're all over the place.

Linky Dinky Doo

It's been a while since I've posted some worthwhile links on the site in a while, so I felt it would be appropriate to do so since I've found some neat stuff lately.

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This guy does some amazing origami. I mean, I used to fold a lot when I was in high school and younger, but this is just crazy. I imagine if I could read the Japanese, there'd be a lot of insight as to how each piece was created, but unfortunately, I didn't get that far into katakana.

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Who says sculpture is all about Michelangelo's David? Here's some really neat representations of robotic proportions. Wow.

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There was a machine design class that I took at school that I really enjoyed. We learned how to design linkages and cam systems as basic machines, and worked our way up to designing assemblies that could do some pretty amazing stuff. What's neat is I can see some of the same stuff working at Flying Pig. Too bad you have to pay for their paper models.

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If you've seen this already, I wouldn't blame you. Download Super Mario War now, or probably more appropriately, at home. You will not be disappointed.

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Last, and not least, I like pie.

Gee, mail...

There's a new email service floating around out there for those who haven't noticed, Gmail (owned and operated by Google). What makes it different than any other free mail service you ask? Spyware? Invasion of privacy? Personalized spam? To tell the truth, these issues can be a bit creepy, but so far none of my hotmail or yahoo messages has shown up on the internet yet, so I think security people have gotten pretty good at protecting us. And will Google sell my soul to the advertisers or government soon? I suppose it could happen, but as long as anyone has some sort of "internet presence" their privacy is on the line. Even this blog is susceptible.

Google also is apparently making other people take notice, as yahoo has increased their free mail space to 200 megs! My roommate has benefited greatly seeing as he's been getting premium email for a while now. They upgraded him to a full 2 gigs! Gah!! I mean....

Gah!!

So far, Gmail has only been available to those who are invited, and I've given a few out so far, but every time I give some out, I'm provided with more! It's like a virus! I have a few left still, anyone want an invite? My Gmail address is available by request...

Which Cartoon Character Are you?

I happen to be Spongebob Squarepants. Imagine that.

Everyone has a personality of a cartoon character. Have you ever asked
yourself what cartoon character do you most resemble? A group of
investigators got together and analyzed the personalities of well know and
modern cartoon characters. The information that was gathered was made into
this test: Answer all the questions with what describes you best, add up
all your points (which are next to the answer that you choose) at the end
and look for your results. Do not cheat by looking at the end of the email
before you are done. Then forward this to all your friends and change the
subject of this message to what character is you.


1) Which one of the following describes the perfect date?

a) Candlelight dinner (4 pts.)
b) Fun/Theme Park (2 pts.)
c) Painting in the park (5 pts.)
d) Rock concert (1 pt.)
e) Going to the movies (3 pts.)


2) What is your favorite type of music?

a) Rock and Roll (2 pts.)
b) Alternative (1 pt.)
c) Soft Rock (4 pts.)
d) Country (5 pts.)
e) Pop (3 pts.)


3) What type of movies do you prefer?

a) Comedy (2 pts.)
b) Horror (1 pt.)
c) Musical (3 pts.)
d) Romance (4 pts.)
e) Documentary (5 pts.)


4) Which one of these occupations would you choose if you only could
choose one of these?

a) Waiter (4 pts.)
b) Professional Sports Player (5 pts.)
c) Teacher (3 pts.)
d) Police (2 pts.)
e) Cashier (1 pt.)


5) What do you do with your spare time?

a) Exercise (5 pts.)
b) Read (4 pts.)
c) Watch television (2 pts.)
d) Listen to music (1 pt.)
e) Sleep (3 pts.)


6) Which one of the following colors do you like best?

a) Yellow (1 pt.)
b) White (5 pts.)
c) Sky Blue (3 pts.)
d) Dark Blue (2 pts.)
e) Red (4 pts.)


7) What do you prefer to eat right now?

a) Snow (3 pts.)
b) Pizza (2 pts.)
c) Sushi (1 pt.)
d) Pasta (4 pts.)
e) Salad (5 pts.)


8) What is your favorite Holiday?

a) Halloween (1 pt.)
b) Christmas (3 pts.)
c) New Year (2 pts.)
d) Valentines Day (4 pts.)
e) Thanksgiving (5 pts.)


9) If you could go to one of these places which one would it be?

a) Paris (4 pts.)
b) Spain (5 pts.)
c) Las Vegas (1 pt.)
d) Hawaii (4 pts.)
e) Hollywood (3 pts.)


10) With which of the following would you prefer to spend time with?

a) Someone Smart (5 pts.)
b) Someone attractive (2 pts.)
c) Someone who likes to Party (1 pt.)
d) Someone who always has fun (3 pts.)
e) Someone very sentimental (4 pts.)


Now add up your points and find out the answer you have been waiting for!

(10-16 points) You are Garfield: You are very
comfortable, easy going, and you definitely know how
to have fun but sometimes you take it to an
extreme. You always know what you are doing and you
are always in control of your life. Others may not
see things as you do, but that doesn't mean that you
always have to do what is right. Try to remember your
happy spirit may hurt you or others.

(18-26 points) You are Snoopy: You are fun, you are
very cool and popular. You always know what's in and
you never are out of style. You are good at knowing
how to satisfy everyone else. You have probably
disappeared for a few days more than once but you
always come home with the family values that you
learned. Being married and having children are
important to you, but only after you have had your
share of fun times.

(22-28 points) You are Arnold: You have lots of
friends and you are also popular, always willing to
give advice and help out a person in need. You
are very optimistic and you always see the bright
side of things. Some good advice: try not to be too
much of a dreamer, if not you will have many
conflicts with life.

(29-34 points) You are Sponge Bob Square Pants:
You are the classic person that everyone loves. You
are the best friend that anyone could ever have and
never want to loose. You never cause harm to anyone
and they would never not understand your feelings.
Life is a journey, it's funny and calm for the most
part. Stay away from traitors and jealous people,
then you will be stress free.

(35-42 points) You are Charlie Brown: you are tender,
you fall in love quickly but you are also very serious
about all relationships. You are a family person. You
call your mom every Sunday. You have many friends and
may occasionally forget a few Birthdays. Don't let
your passion confuse you with reality.

(43-50 points) You are Dexter: You are smart and
definitely a thinker. Every situation is fronted with
a plan. You have a brilliant mind. You demonstrate
very strong family principles. Maintain a stable
routine but never ignore a bad situation when it
comes.

Summer Movie Mania: Week 3

This past weekend, I was enchanted by the next installment of J.K. Rowling's saga onscreen: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I've seen that plenty of people are actually quite upset by how much the movie diverges from the book, but I for one found it to be a refreshing take on the franchise. Chris Columbus was so devoted to bringing Rowling's' vision to the screen that he forgot books and movies are different media. What works in a book won't necessarily translate well to screen, and what are occasionally amusing anecdotes on the page, turn to diversions onscreen. The pacing brought forth by the new director Alfonso Cuaron was more in tune with what I envisioned. Much of what they cut will no likely make it into the next film, much like the Lord of the Rings movies, plot aspects were excised to add drama in future installments. This was all for the better, at least in my opinion, as instead of meandering around for a good extra forty-five minutes, the movie had a more cohesive central story.

Another aspect of the film I liked, was how nonchalant the use of magic was. Often, spells and enchantments were used for everyday activities in such a way that the viewer was caught up in the difference of this onscreen world. This is how the books were, and this is why the film worked so well. Four and a half out of five stars.

Here's where it all comes to a head folks. This weekend is where all sanity comes to a close and the summer begins with a blood-curdling primal scream. Trips aplenty and numerous birthdays may cripple our minds, but it will not break our spirit. I welcome the challenge.

For all of you reality TV junkies out there, I had an idea that some of you might find interesting. This is probably due to the exorbitant amount of time I've had lately to watch some TV, but also due to the addictive nature of watching non-celebrities preen before the camera. I fault MTV for starting the modern-day, pre-Survivor, reality show madness with their initial concept of The Real World. Because of their success, it was spun off into millions of different iterations, including the pseudo rip-off Road Rules. Now here is where the idea comes into play. Recently, MTV had a marathon of their competition-based Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno. If you've seen the show, you know that Road Rules destroys Real World for the majority of the competition. The Road Rules team is a well-oiled, athletic ass-kicking machine, but this isn't a coincidence. It all comes down to the casting process.

The primary candidates for casting in both shows are always categorizable by personality type, but another big factor is casting has to be the propensity for drama and conflict. I believe, however, that there are subtle differences in the casting process. Let's start with Real World. Seeing as there are no tasks and that the jobs given to them are marginally easy to accomplish, there has to be more conflict. These people don't have to work together harmoniously, they just have to work together. They don't have to live together harmoniously either, they just have to live together. End of story.

Road Rules on the other hand, is all about completing tasks. Whereas the cast members are still wont to be contentious, they're also cast to work well together, or at least learn to work well together. And of course, there's always one person who's cast to step up when their number is called and come up big when something is either too dangerous, or gross for the weaker members of the team to handle. Having gone through these experiences, there's no doubt these team members are more well-prepared than their coddled cousins living in renovated fire-houses and plantation-style houses. I bet jealousy of these accoutrements helps as well.

Will this continue to be the trend for future Challenges? It remains to be seen.