Heroes/The Departed

Does anyone watch Heroes? I started watching the show a few weeks ago and so far it's been a really good series. I just hope they are able to keep up the momentum. The last episode, which aired on Sunday for some strange reason was especially good with some emotional impact.

SPOILERS AHEAD:
I think the easiest solution to concealing Claire's ability is for the Haitian to just erase the memory of Claire's father's boss. And if necessary erase Parkman's and Ted as well as needed. Also, Hiro and Ando's side quest with Hope seems completely pointless, doesn't it? I also think they are setting up a showdown between Peter Petrelli and Sylar, their abilities are about equal, so that'll be interesting.
END SPOILERS.

Has anyone noticed a recent influx of users in Facebook? Recently, people that I didn't expect have been popping up on Facebook. Perhaps it's really expanding now. SO if you're not on, join now!

Oscar's was this past Sunday. I usually organize a pool and this year I didn't realize it was approaching so quickly! I'll try to catch it next year. I only caught a tiny bit of it on TV at work, where I happened to catch a bit of the Heroes episode and therefore knew it aired on Sunday. I haven't watched many of the Oscar movies this year, but I have watched the Departed. What ticked me off during the 5 minutes of the Oscar's I watched was that it was introduced as a movie from Japan.

I really liked The Departed, but I'm not sure if it is deserving a Best Picture. It's a very entertaining movie, with well developed characters and very polished, but is that enough for Best Picture? It seemed like a very commercial movie without enough depth for Best Picture.

I watched the HK version and I liked both, but I prefer the Scorsese one. So many (chinese) people say the HK version is far superior, but I think it has something to with which one you experience first. They also say they stole everything from Infernal Affairs, but it's suppose to since it was based on it and had bought the rights to it. It's a remake, so it's good that it doesn't drift too far away from the source material. So what if they copy scenes/lines, I don't see any reason to not copy scenes when it worked well in the HK version - I see it more of paying homage to the original.

I found the HK one too hurried and the characters were a little underdeveloped. The Scorsese one took more time to develop the characters and setup the story which made it better. I like how they combined the gf in one person as well. Plus, it was enjoyable to watch so many superstar actors go at it. Actually, the same could be said of the HK version, which I also thought was superbly acted as well. My only complaint in the Scorsese movie was that the Chinese mainlanders were speaking Cantonese...a gross oversight. And Jack Nicholson overacted just a tad.

Tim's favourite Director, Scorsese finally won for Best Director, which perhaps not his greatest work, but good enough. Anyway, I'll probably pick up the DVD since I liked it, even though I downloaded it this weekend and watched it again on sunday :)

New Blogger Features

Well I've been using the new Blogger for a little while now and there are some new features.

First of all, there's a new RSS/Atom feed address, that is listed on the right side. I think my old feed is now broken since I swiched over. Also, there is finally a comment feed as well. I couldn't get the comments feed to show up with the blogger tag, so I manually added it myself on the sidebar to the right.

A smaller changes is now you can email post to another user, which I've added to the bottom of each post. Don't see it being incredibly useful, but it's took no effort for me to add.

The other big change is the addition of what Google calls "labels". The rest of the world calls them tags, but Google has chosen differently. Eventually I'll be able to see how much I blog about the Wii (too much) and even get a (geeky) T-shirt like this. But there are some deficiencies with tagging, such as using a different tag for the same topic. I think Google is trying to cut down on this by bringing up previously used tags as you type them into the text field. A good idea to keep track of my own tags, but too bad it doesn't cut across blog users in general.

Anyway, to offset the boring entry, here's an funny video linked to by Ted:

Computer Whoa

So my computer decided to spontaneously work again. No reason whatsoever, so I hope it doesn't crap out for no reason either. So I'm pretty sure it's a problem on the motherboard. Cary, this means that your card is likely ok. I don't want to risk switching anything out or even touching it, so I'll leave it as it is for now.

I tried playing Wii on my video in part of my card. First of all, the video quality is absolutely crap. Maybe I'm spoiled with component 480p on a 37" LCD at home, but I don't remember it being this bad. Maybe since I work with video all the time now, I notice the difference more. The other bad part is the perceptible delay. It makes some games almost unplayable, so that's unpleasant. Back in university (Cardill) we use to play Smash on my computer and it wasn't too bad. I remember it was a little dark and had a little delay, but was ok, even for something as sensitive to delay as Smash. But now I'm really noticing it and can't stand it. Looks like I will have to take up Maggie's advice and get the TV going again, but I am a little concerned if that room gets wet again. But I suppose I should be lucky that I can even play at all...or even blog at all!

Here are some random links:

Basketball All-Star weekend in Vegas, dubbed by Bill Simmons as the Hip-Hop Woodstuck. Some pretty crazy stuff going down.

Mario Party 8 screenshots....looks like I will consider getting this one.

Drinking Vodka on the Internet with virtual buddies, invented of course by a Russian.

Recent quote from Morello about RATM getting back: "Is it coincidence that in the seven years that RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE has been away that the country has slid into right-wing purgatory? I think not," he said. "It occurred to all of us that the times were right to see if we can knock the Bush administration out in one fell swoop, and we hope to do that job well. This administration has done enough damage that it may take generations to undo. This is an administration that believes it's beyond the laws of the land, which is fine for emperors, but not so great for presidents. One thing this president isn't above is the laws of physics, and there is no action without reaction. And we're part of that reaction."

What it's like to be a gamer in Iraq. Choice Quote: "He and his gamer friends used to enjoy first-person shooters like "Medal of Honor" and "Call of Duty." Then a real war started around him. "We hate the attacking, the gunfire in games," Wisam said. "We started to hate it." In fact, there's only one game with guns he can still tolerate. " 'Grand Theft Auto' is the exception. Because 'Grand Theft Auto' is like us.""

One of my favourite Directors, David Fincher is featured in this interview. Choice Quote: “David knows what he wants, and he’s very clear about what he wants, and he’s very, very, very smart. But sometimes we’d do a lot of takes, and he’d turn, and he would say, because he had a computer there” — the movie was shot digitally — “ ‘Delete the last 10 takes.’ And as an actor that’s very hard to hear.”

That's all for today. I'm actually considering NOT going back to Toronto this weekend, something like the first time in 3 months. Anyone want to convince me to go into TO?

Computer Woes

My computer is dying a slow death. I am currently blogging from my computer while it is in "Safe Mode with Networking". I have shit ass resolution and colours and no audio or video.

Recently, I blogged about my video card acting up. Cary was nice enough to pass along his slightly defective video card. The defective part about it is the TVin part of the card. I wanted to play some Wii at home, and since the living room is in a disarry due to the water leak, I could only play on my computer. So Richard had a spare TVin card lying around and gave it to me. This was the beginning of the end.

I go to install the noname TVin card and then I try booting my computer. Won't boot properly because of video card error. Uninstall noname TVin card, still no improvement. Whatever I try, the computer won't boot. I install my old broken card, and it boots, but then when windows loads, I get no video output (blank screen or boots into windows but randomly reboots soon thereafter). The only way I can do anything is boot up in safe mode.

Anyway, seems like something is wrong with all the video cards I have or more likely there is motherboard board problem, specifically with the AGP port. Or maybe it's a power supply problem or power circuitry problem, since I often get into this strange state where my computer won't even start booting. I have to unplug the power connector from my mobo and reinsert it to get it going again. I can't explain that one.

So it looks like I''ll need to get a new computer (more money down the drain). I'll have to do the research from my safe mode computer :( I've already started talking about video cards with Barry (hopefully he can hook me up!). Anyone got any computer advice?

So sorry Cary, I may have killed the rest of the 9600aiw card. Richard, I'm not touching your TVin card ever again. I'm so unhappy now, I feel like I've lost a limb or something to that effect. My main source of entertainment is my computer. I don't have TV (cable) in the 'loo. I can't even watch torrented 24 or Heroes on this computer anymore. :_-(

I don't think I've caught a break this year; I've only had bad luck. Sigh.

Happy Chinese New Year

Year of the Golden Boar this year, and from what I've hear, the "golden" part of it only comes around once in 600 odd years.

I work indirectly with some people in China, and over there they get the whole week off. Actually they are suppose to work on Saturday and then they get Sunday to Saturday off. That's a long time of consecutive days off!

At work, I also happen to get Monday off for "Heritage Day". Not sure why we get it off, perhaps a relic from the past, but I'm not complaining. It also happens to be President's day in the US, so maybe that's part of the reason. It just so happens to fall on the same weekend as Chinese New Year, so maybe Heritage day is appropriate for me this year.

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On a different topic, my post about sharing passwords generated a lot of comments.

Here are some highlights:

"I think being "family" has more to do with it than how many years you have been together"

"there's the whole "persona" thing, if I give you my password, then my persona is not necessary consistent."

"I don't see what the big deal is, meddling and trust are related no? You have to trust them not to meddle and change your settings too."

"I want to limit my liability by not having access to their private account."

"real trust means that you trust your partner to act responsibly as her own person; one must learn to accept that."

"the strongest and best relationships and marriages are ones that respect the rights and autonomy of both members equally."

"All in all, it's not a trust thing, but a guy (geek) thing."

When I first wrote the entry, I had no idea that it would divide so strongly along gender lines. Maybe it's a matter of commenting bias, that is males who identify with my position feel strong enough to comment and males who don't agree rather not comment and similarly with females. In the end, I think it was a matter of trust imbalance that caused conflict. I don't have access to her Xanga account anymore and hopefully that will be the end of the story. Although, please feel welcome to continue commenting.

Even though I got twice as many hits blogging about relationships, I can now go back to blogging about the Wii (do I hear groans?). I try to diversify my blogging topics, but usually I just blog what most easily comes to mind and, unfortunately, recently it's been the Wii. Anyway, Happy New Year!

Happy Valentine's Day

Seems like my previous post has generated a lot of comments, so scroll down and leave your thoughts.

Some Valentine themed media for today:


Here's the best (read cheesiest) Valentine I came across on the Internet:

Sharing Passwords

Kitty and I were having a heated discussion the other day about the sharing of passwords.

It all started when I mentioned something about a picture on Facebook and she wanted to see it. Since she didn't have an account she asked for my login. Now this is where it gets dicey - I refused. I don't give out my passwords to anyone. It's not even a matter of the information that I care about. I would be totally fine with me logging into whichever of my accounts and then she can look at anything she wants.

I just don't like other people messing with my stuff. For example, logging into gmail logs you into gtalk as well and if someone started a conversation, and she didn't respond, they might think I'm rude. Or any other program where logging in and doing something might inadvertently affect the state of the program without me knowing about it (for example marking unread emails as read). An analogy I thought of is that it's like having a workshop or garage that is basically off limits to her. Except, since I'm a geek, in my case instead of a workshop, it's my online accounts.

Her argument was that it was a matter of trust. I don't trust her enough to give her my passwords. I don't think that's the case, since I don't really mind her looking through any of my accounts. If trust is a matter of content, then there's no problem for me, but if it's a matter of meddling, then it matters to me. To make matters worse, she had told me one of her passwords in the past. Way back, I got her password to Xanga so that I could log in to post a comment. I have to admit, I hate Xanga (too restrictive), and I was not about to go get an account from them just to post comments. I don't understand why Xanga's so popular, it's almost as bad as myspace, but I digress.

Maybe I'm biased, because I had a bad experience with sharing passwords. I used to share a locker for working out and we happened to use my combination lock (that I had had for >10 years, since middle school). One day, I shared my locker combo with my workout partner. That very same day I lost my lock. Probably had something about not following a routine of unlocking the locker and snapping my lock onto my backpack right away. Anway, I had to get a new lock, and I'm still learning the combo to that one.

Maybe I'll change my mind 20 years from now, but for now that's my opinion. I finally convinced Kitty to get her own facebook account (yay! finally!), since it made the most sense in this situation.

Anyway, what do you think about this topic? For those couples out there, what do you do? And for you single people, what will you do when you meet someone? Does the length of time you're with someone matter? (Kitty and I have been together for 4.5 years and we don't share passwords, but my parents who've been together a much longer time share passwords) Eventually, you'll share things like bank account passwords when you're married, so does being married make a difference? Anyway, leave comments and let me know if I'm anal.

Madden on Wii

Some of my high school buddies got me Madden on the Wii for my birthday (about 4 months after my actual birthday, but it's all good). I think I've logged the most time with Madden since I got my Wii back, especially since I took the risk of repair instead of getting a new unit to attempt to save my memory, but that didn't turn out well. It's less fun to play Wii Sports without your Miis.

Anway, for those that don't know, Madden is the all time best selling franchise in video game history. I suppose it also shows how popular football as a sport is in America. Anyway, the first thing it asks you is what is your favourite team. I don't follow football that closely, so I took the easy route out and chose Tim's favourite team, the Eagles. I then went through the tutorial and learned the new motion controls. I must say, they did a good job with the controls and I think they are pretty tight...and fun! I mean throwing out the wiimote left or right to stiff arm is really enjoyable. Making the throwing motion for passes, or a kicking motion for kicks or even snapping the ball is fun. Good job EA.

The first game I played, the Raider's quarterback threw 3 interceptions. I won easily. Looking through the stats I knew most of them, but I didn't know what a pancake is. Someone explain that to me?

Anyway, it's a fun game and I want to play some multiplayer! The only problem is as the owner of the game, you tend to get better at the game and makes for a skill disparity, which means less fun. And it can be pretty wide, cause madden requires a certain amount of skill. So the only solution is for everyone else to get Wiis and practice and come over to play!

But seriously, I'm having people over on Feb 18th to play some Madden, so feel free to drop by. (Also note this is Chinese New Years).

New Blogger

Probably no one cares, but I was finally able to port over my blogger page from the old blogger to the new one. I couldn't do it when they first released it because my blog was too large or something dumb like that. I don't see much of a difference yet, but at least I can try it out.

Maybe I didn't emphasize this enough in my last post, but I'm really really sad about losing my Miis. I spent so much time making those, even getting out photos to see what people look like. My sister had also created about 10 Miis of her friends and those are all gone too. Now I might be too lazy to make them all again. I sent Edmond a bunch of them, so hopefully he'll send me back some more. The good news is I have more Wii friends now! Russell got one and so did Andrea. Karina's (Russ' gf) mom was so enamoured by the wii, that she asked him to leave it there....lol.

Valentine's day is quickly approaching. If I lived in the States or closer to the US I would definitely go to this. When I sent this to Kitty she didn't seem too pleased, haha. But doesn't it sound awesome? Also note that I have never been to Whitecastle before, so it would make it extra special. I so wished they had one in Buffalo, so it'd be easier to go, but the closest one is in Detroit. Regardless, I have Jury Duty on the 14th, so I woudln't be able to go anyway :(

Remember when I offered a chance to go the Raptors game on this blog? Well since no one responded, I decided to go a different route. This time I had Tragically Hip tickets that my mom had won from work, and I just gave them to someone that I figured would like them. So Richard and Tim are at the ACC right now enjoying the music of the Hip! Enjoy!

Feeling Better

I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things. I am feeling better this week...finally! I even went to see my new family doctor (my previous one retired unfortunately). I see him again this friday for a followup appointment.

I got my Wii back last Monday, after about 1 month and unfortunately, all my memory is gone. That means over 30 Miis are gone and all my progress in my games are gone. The Miis is the annoying one, because those take a lot of time to create. I can't even recreate myself anymore, because I can't quite get the eyes right. I have to beat Rayman again to unlock all the minigames and restart Zelda. I have a new Wii console number, so please add me again! 7362 2814 5415 8142

I also got a video card (ATI 9600aiw) from Cary, whichh I installed this week. Thanks Cary, it seems to be working although I haven't tried using the TV in yet. I also have dual monitors set up now, and that's pretty sweet. So I can finally properly use my computer again and that's a relief. A big relief.