thomasnguyen.com blog

I hate going to the movie theater. I admit, I went to watch Avatar, but not because of the awesome storyline that got yanked from a 90s film, Ferngully. Instead, I went because I read about what James Cameron did since Titanic. I honestly think the cinematic experience was great. Of course, I had to ignore the plot as a factor.

Anyway, I recently subscribed to Netflix and I am very satisfied. I highly recommend it to those who want to catch up with all the shows without having to leave the comfort of your couch or even walking to the mailbox if it’s on the Instant Queue. I’m lazy. Can you tell? =)

• Dexter (Season 1 and 2) – If you haven’t watched this series, start from the beginning. It’s just one of those shows you HAVE to watch! Not a kid-friendly show.
• Jarhead – Meh, boring war movie. It’s more about the psyche of a soldier. I want more explosions.
• Step Brothers – It was funny, but I wouldn’t watch it again.
• Helvetica – If you like typography, graphics, and art, watch this!
• Primer – Interesting view on time travel and the effects it has, no Butterfly Effect crap here.
• Battlestar Galactica (old school) – It’s hilarious and awesome. I’ve watched the new series, but never the original. I’m on the fifth or sixth show and so far so good.

Time to get back and play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

“Why do I even need to get an ebook reader? I already have a laptop I carry around with me everywhere I go…”

That was me up until about a month ago. I finally decided to get a Kindle 2 over a Sony ebook reader and I’m not even sure if there’s anything else out there on the market. It was a shot in the dark and I’m actually really happy about the decision.

Here are a few highlights and demerits from my experience thus far. If it gets boring or you’re just completely uninterested about my review, check out this really awesome picture from WWF (no, NOT the World Wrestling Federation).

Highlights

• Fits inside my cow book where I take notes or just draw things to keep me from falling asleep
• Very easy on the eyes unlike a laptop’s screen
• Just enough text on screen to read and not lose focus since I have a hard time focusing when reading
• No distracting applications like DOSBox+XenonII and Visual Studio
• Reading it on a plane – less worry about battery life and the person in front of you leaning back in their seat than a laptop

Demerits

• No SD card support
• No native PDF support – has to be emailed to a service, downloaded, and then moved to the Kindle 2
• It’s white. White tends to get dirty quickly and easily. I need a skin or something…

Neutral

• No backlighting – Reading in the dark is just pointless for me. I’ll pass out after a five or ten minutes.
• Text to Speech – I got the thing to read, not read to me. Plus the voice is really monotone and I’d probably zone out.
• Web browsing capability – I’m reading, not browsing websites, plus the speed is too painful to deal with.
• WiFi magazines, newspapers, book – awesome, but I haven’t yet utilized this. I’m still catching up with all the ebooks I already have.

WHY did Fox cancel this show?! Gob and Buster were my favorite characters. (Watch it FREE on Hulu)

Buster: “Where’d Annyong get that juice box?”
Annyong: “Annyong.”

Buster: “I decided to sleep in the car so my snoring wouldn’t bother you. And I left that recording of my snoring so you wouldn’t know I’m gone.”

Gob: “Hey, maybe that’s it. Maybe we should do to the Japanese what they do in their movies. Build a miniature city, put it outside the window, tell them it’s far away. It’ll look real if you squint. God knows they’re squinters.”

Gob: “Hey, guy. They tell me you’re the actor who plays Marta’s brother, Tio.”
Spanish actor: “Como?”
Gob: “Oh, you’re gonna be in a coma, all right.”

I saw a preview to this movie and for some reason, the entire plot sounded totally familiar. Oh yeah, I’ve seen it before; it was on the History Channel and called “Breaking Vegas.”

So a friend of mine called me while I was on the bus, on my way home, yesterday and wanted to me to come out and watch a free pre-screening of it. Why not.

The movie was totally Hollywood-ized, but what can you expect? Movie was okay, and I’m glad I didn’t pay to watch it. I recommend to wait until it comes out to rent or just watch the documentary on the History Channel.

Both are based on the book “Bringing Down the House“, NOT to be confused with the movie, hahaha.

It makes me sick! I’m watching CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News’s coverage on the St. Louis Praxair plant explosion and they keep using adjectives to make this seem like…war is upon us. I mean come on, it’s a plant that packages liquified gas into containers. If it’s going to blow up, it’s going to be big, but NOT comparable to war.

“Lighting bolts of fire shooting into the sky.” -haha, enough said.
“Such a large area than you see on the screen.” -its a city block.
“Firey flames from hell.” -um…yeah.
“Enormous fire caused by an enormous amount of gas.” -DUH..its a gas plant!

On the other side, VS.NET 2005 is freaking awesome. Controls for EVERYTHING. Seriously, check it out when you get a chance.

Now for Simpsons.
Skinner: “I believe only ride for me is the ride of broken dreams.”
Homer: “You mean the Enron ride?”