I’ve been playing around with the site. Come back later when its done, or refresh every 5 minutes while I’m working on it. I just thought everyone might like to see what I’ve been working on in my spare time (what little of it there is). Comments are welcome and critique is always appreciated.
Monthly Archive for March, 2007
This past Wednesday, I went to see TMNT with my brother. I know, I know… I must be a wild and crazy guy to a movie during the week. Trust me, I understand your surprise, but we only live once.
In any case, kids too young to remember the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles phenomenon when it first came around in the early 1990’s probably won’t appreciate the fully computer-generated upgrade. But TMNT is made for them. While I was a little old to be truly wrapped up in this phenomenon back then, I came to know all about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by proxy, since they were one of my brother obsessions growing up. And since I was right there beside him as he watched the television series and played with all the toys, it only seemed fitting that I watched the newest movie with him. If nothing it was a little nostalgic.
In all seriousness, the story itself wasn’t all that exciting and did not have anything really new to offer. I will say it was nice to see that they did not try to reinvent wheel, and other than this incarnation of TMNT being done with the use of CGI, the movie tied in very well with the three previous TMNT movies. However, I still found a story that seemed like the filmmakers presumed people wouldn’t care if they were WOW’ed with action instead.
Speaking of CGI… In my opinion, the animation was good, but not great. I don’t wish to take anything away from the animators and designers of TMNT. Visually, the movie had much to offer. They created a big city, grittier and darker than previously seen in the first three movies. And I found the fight scene between Leonardo and Raphael on the rooftop in the rain rather stunning. Also, the range of expression was rather impressive achievement for characters with virtually no distinguishable features. They even manage to give them some emotional depth, especially Raphael who has a pretty dark worldview. But, when compared to Pixar or DreamWorks the animation is average.
This movie earns a C+
I’ve been a big fan of Google Reader from the start. Thats why I was
very happy to see that Reader has begun to attract all sorts of hacks
and add-ons to suit particular needs. So far, the best of these that I have found is a Greasemonkey script called, Google Reader Optimized. It maximizes the reading area with a compact, stripped-down interface.
It makes browsing through hundreds of feeds so much easier.
I don’t even remember how I came upon this, but I was reading a blog (I forget which one) that had a post about Russ Kick’s book entitled 50 Things You’re Not Supposed To Know. In it he states that juries are allowed to judge the law, not just the facts of a case.
In his words…
We tend to believe that the duty of a jury is solely to determine whether someone broke the law. In fact, it’s not unusual for judges to instruct juries that they are to judge only the facts in a case, while the judge will sit in judgment of the law itself. Nonsense.Juries are the last line of defense against the power abuses of the authorities. They have the right to judge the law. Even if a defendant committed a crime, a jury can refuse to render a guilty verdict.
Judges and prosecutors will often outright lie about the existence of this power, but centuries of court decisions and other evidence prove that jurors can vote their consciences.
I was a little surprised by these statements, until I started reading more about juries and the law. I’m sure the issue is much more complicated than just passing a verdict on a whim. But the oversimplified truth is that juries can, and do, rule against a law. They can rule someone guilty or innocent despite the law.
I always assumed that a case to be judged by the facts or the law. Did everyone else know about this little know fact about our legal, or am I just stupid?
Just a few photos of Matthew meeting some “friends” and a few action shots from a Chicago Wolves game this past Sunday. Afterwards, Matthew even had a chance to play in a shootout against Skates. Click HERE to view and/or download more photos at Flickr.
Today, while browsing the internet I ran across an post about how the Chinese government blocks websites from being viewed. I didn’t really think much of it, because… well, I’m not Chinese. I’m an American and I pretty sure my blog doesn’t have a large overseas following.
But as it turns out… the Chinese government does block my site. Why? Well, that’s anyones guess. It’s not like I really post about anything controversial or political. In fact, most everything here is rather silly.
In any case, if you would like to test your site to see if it’s banned, then you can find the link HERE. I’m curious, how much of the internet is actual filtered through “The Great FireWall of China” before it reaches China?
Earlier this week, I ranted a little about how predictable 24 has become. Well, I found an interesting POST on TV Squad that list several characters by season that helps illustrate my point. Even though this list takes a look at all the characters that have been used as a “red herring” device, it certainly goes to show that the whole mole infiltrating CTU plot has definitely been over used season after season after season.
This is so geeky, but it’s great stuff.
I learned that I am a “Balanced-brained” individual.
Steven, you are Balanced-brained
That means you are able to draw on the strengths of both the right and left hemispheres of your brain, depending upon a given situation.
When you need to explain a complicated process to someone, or plan a detailed vacation, the left hemisphere of your brain, which is responsible for your ability to solve problems logically, might kick in. But if you were critiquing an art opening or coming up with an original way to file papers, the right side of your brain, which is responsible for noticing subtle details in things, might take over.
While many people have clearly dominant left- or right-brained tendencies, you are able to draw on skills from both hemispheres of your brain. This rare combination makes you a very creative and flexible thinker.
The down side to being balanced-brained is that you may sometimes feel paralyzed by indecision when the two hemispheres of your brain are competing to solve a problem in their own unique ways.
Take the TEST yourself to find out what your brain says about how you think and learn.