Cuz We Said So

Barack Obama: Bat Boy?

 

Is Barack Obama the Bat Boy?

Process Seems to Make Gadgets REALLY Waterproof

Calling this demo (via Engadget) for Golden Shellback Waterproof Coating “incredible” sells it short.  The laptop running under a stream of water is my favorite part.  Can this be for real?  Seriously, watch this:

Golden Shellback Waterproof Coating from gCaptain.com on Vimeo.

So Vista is slow as a dog on a hot summer day...

In a quick post on InfoWorld, Tom Sullivan notes that XP is faster than Windows Server 2008 is faster than Vista. This as Microsoft makes a desperate attempt to woo us into reevaluating Vista, with a commercial noting that once people thought the world was flat. We no longer think the world is flat, but I still think Vista fell flat on its face and stayed there.

links for 2008-07-22

• Tooth Lasers Could Make Drilling a Thing of the Past
  That's cool, but when I first glanced at this headline, I read it as TRUTH lasers. Now THAT'S what I want to see developed.

2008 Blockbuster 7 "Wanted"

When I saw the trailer for this one, I wasn't really too excited. Angelina Jolie already did the assassin thing in "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", and it was good enough that I didn't need a retread. James McAvoy is a fine actor and all, but he seems kind of scrawny to be a super-collosal killing machine. And as for Morgan Freeman... Okay, there's just nothing bad to say about Morgan Freeman.

Remember that Alec Baldwin movie "The Shadow"? (I'll forgive you if you don't. No one saw it and it's not even available on DVD in widescreen, let alone Blu-Ray. But it rocks.) There's a scene in that movie where The Shadow and the bad guy shoot at each other and their bullets collide in mid-air. Both of them seem kind of shocked by the coincidence.

Imagine if characters could do stuff like that at whim. That's what "Wanted" is all about.

The basic idea--that McAvoy's Wesley is the son of the best assassin in the world and probably has those amazing genes--is okay, I guess. It's not like we haven't seen this story before. ("Star Wars", anyone?) So what's the hook here? The hook is that this film takes the concept of what a physical human can do (at least, without magic or cybernetics) to an insane limit. Shooting the wings of off flies is just the first thing that Wesley does that seems ridiculous... but is still pretty cool.

All in all, the story (mostly Wesley trying to unravel the truth about his father's murder) is pretty good, and it hangs together fairly well. And the visuals are pretty sweet. The ending is pretty good, too. I liked it, but I didn't love it.

I imagine this will be one of those movies that simply doesn't age well. I don't know if, after five years, after special effects have taken the bar even higher, if this one will be quite as engaging. But I enjoyed it while I was watching it, anyway.

2008 Blockbuster 6 "Get Smart"

I've seen plenty of episodes of the original TV show in reruns, and I found it diverting, but nothing really special. When I saw the cast they put together for this movie, my interest level increased significantly.

Steve Carell has made a career for himself playing the extremely dim bulb of Michael Scott on "The Office", so I was a little worried that he'd be playing that kind of a role in this as Maxwell Smart, as Don Addams did back in the 60's. I was pleasantly surprised that his character was far from stupid. In fact, the guy's frickin' brilliant as an analyst. It's just that when he's finally given his dream of being an Agent (you can practically hear the capital "A"), he's somewhat out of his element.

Enter 99, played by Anne Hathaway, who becomes his partner/mentor. This was also smart casting, or at least it was strange casting that they pulled off. Ideally, you'd want an older actress in the role to make her experience seem believable. Hathaway has enough of a mature presence that she gets you to believe she's an older woman who's had some work done. And her prickliness is kind of fun to watch.

The cast rounds out with the always enjoyable Alan Arkin as Chief, and Dwayne "Not The Rock This Time" Johnson as Agent 23.

Overall, they did a nice job of balancing a relatively somber subject (terrorism) with some funny action sequences (the parachute drop was my favorite). I also like the fact that the movie posits that KAOS and CONTROL (the funny versions of the KGB and the CIA) were well known during the Cold War, but now they're officially disbanded... even though they aren't. It makes the ridiculousness of their gadgetry seem slightly more believable, since this is a world where the CIA and the NSA are more public than CONTROL.

This thing won't win any awards (except maybe for Best Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards) but it was enjoyable.

New Facebook Showed Up Today

As reported in various places online, the new Facebook went live today.  They’re reportedly rolling it out in stages, but I had access by noon.  My initial impression is favorable… good look: clean, lot of white space…  I’m relatively new to the whole Facebook thing, and wasn’t particularly wedded to the previous design.  Usability is key, though; time will tell.

David's Del.icio.us Links for 2008-07-21

• Screenwriters strike back - Can Dr. Horrible make money?
• 'Dark Knight' Shatters at Least 10 Records: Record $158.3M Weekend
• Much of Earth's oil reserves can be traced to a single volcanic eruption, scientists say

Less Looting, Looks Like

Pejman Yousefzadeh:

Remember all of the looting of archaeological sites in Iraq?  It got reported ad nauseam and was held up as an example of all of the poor planning the United States had engaged in while preparing for the aftermath of the fall of the Ba'athist regime.  And here's the thing: It didn't happen.

Good news, assuming this new report in the Art Newspaper is accurate.

'Ode to Joy' as performed by The Muppets' Beaker

David’s Del.icio.us Links for 2008-07-20

• Scientist think they've found HIV weakness
  Too early to count on, as such leads can and often do turn out to be dead ends... but hopeful news nonetheless.
• Sweeping Panoramas, Courtesy of a Robot
  My camera has software that merges images nicely, but they tend to have defects when done by hand.  Could be a fun accessory.
• Cool Running: The Couch-to-5K Running Plan
  I’m starting this program; after the first day, I am experiencing a condition fitness experts call “being very, very tired.”
• All Wet? Astronomers Claim Discovery of Earth-like Planet: Scientific American
  My guess is that the odds are slim that this particular planet has significant water, let alone life, but that the odds are good that both are out there somewhere.

Starbucks Closure List

Today’s a bad day for coffee lovers and many Starbucks employees; the company has announced the complete list of 600 stores it plans to close in the next year.  The stores near my house are not on the list, but both of the ones I used to frequent when I worked in Baton Rouge are.

David's Del.icio.us Links for 2008-07-19

• How to Travel the World by Cargo Ship
  I’m in favor of that.
• How to Reach Age 99: 100 Essential Habits
  I’m in favor of that, too.
• Nude, crazed airplane passenger
  I’m not in favor of those.

Watch Joss Whedon's "Horrible" New Project Before It's Gone

“When Joss [Whedon] invites you onto a project described as a supervillain Internet musical, you don’t blink, you just say ‘yes please!' "

The first act of said musical hit the Interwebs Tuesday at midnight, and fans promptly jammed the servers.  Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog tells the story of the battle between the hapless Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) and Captain Hammer, played with perfect swagger by Firefly’s Nathan Fillion, as Horrible attempts to gain entrance to the Evil League of Evil, overthrow the world social order, and win the heart of the kind and lovely Penny (Buffy alum Felicia Day), who spends her time working tirelessly on behalf of the homeless.

All three acts are now available right now, for free, at drhorrible.com, but only until midnight tomorrow, Sunday July 20th..  If you’re a fan of Harris, Fillion, Whedon, quality storytelling in general, musicals, the Internet, or evil, you should head over there right now and check this out. 

Remember: “Justice has a name.  And the name it has—besides Justice—is Captain Hammer!”

Test Your Political IQ, And Weep at Everyone Else's

The Pew Center for People and the Press has a survey on their website you can use to test your knowledge of current events, and compare your results to the results from a nationwide (US) telephone survey released in March.  Those national results: less than encouraging, but not a big shock to anyone who has seen similar surveys in the past.  If political ignorance is indeed rational, we appear to be a most rational people.  (Via Digg)

David's Del.icio.us Links for 2008-07-18

• Going Up: Slow Progress on 'Space Elevator'

David's Del.icio.us Links for 2008-07-17

• Amazon Plans an Online Store for Movies and TV Shows
  Or, rather, another one, since they've had Amazon Unbox for a while.  The new one will stream the content, reportedly around 40,000 titles at launch.
• SAP To Migrate Customers To More Expensive Support Service

David's Del.icio.us Links for 2008-07-16

• Giant Laser in the Works to Achieve Fusion
  I so hope this baby works...

David's Del.icio.us Links for 2008-07-15

• Cars that drive themselves aren’t that far off
  Yes please.  Also, kudos to whoever selected the photo for the article.
• Brain at work during a good night's sleep
  I think I'll sleep on that.
• Top 100 Most Influential Taglines Since 1948
  (tags: advertising taglines)
• 10 things that are suprisingly good for you
  (tags: food health)
• Confirmed: Apple files suit against Psystar
  Well, that took longer than I expected...

One Way We're Probably Not All Going to Die

So I know you’ve been lying awake at night, concerned that a super nova is going to explode and kill us all.  Luckily, we have Phil Plait to reassure us that it’s not going to happen.