Large Hadron

I saw Cloverfield tonight

I saw Cloverfield tonight



I think a lot of you will not like this movie. So, my advice is to Stay away from the movie. I liked the movie a lot. This isn't to say I don't think it has flaws. I would have made a lot of edits that they didn't I.E.a lot of the running scenes. If you get motion sick Stay away from the movie.
If you think this is a regular monster movie Stay away from this movie. The closest comparison I can make to help you understand this movie is that it is shot like the Blair Witch Project. It is a better movie than the Blair Witch Project but if you didn't like the Blair Witch Project Stay away from this movie. The whole movie shot for shot is done on a camcorder. The monster is a little weak in terms of looks but you do get some good looks at it. The monster is weird looking. The movie has a bummer ending a lot of people in the theater were really disappointed.

So if none of that bothers you go see it. I think the acting is really good especially for being a cast of unknowns. The special effects are top notch you almost can't tell a lot of it is CG. The plot is sound if not a little on the edge of unbelievable, excluding the giant monster of course. The action is intense from the POV that you see it happening. All and all I really dug it and I think it will have a Niche following. I hope it does well enough to warrant a sequel and they decide to shoot a regular movie with that opportunity. I really did like to see that a whole film could be shot with a handy cam and I think this film suffers from the amount of action being a little over the capabilities of a handy cam.

Update General Hospital

Just a quick update I go in for a second nerve block today. I’ll be toast all day and I wont be on the C+plus cast. There is still a possibility I could have a complication during the procedure. If it goes like the first shot I’ll scream like a little bitch each time they inject me. It hurts a lot to take a needle in the spine.

Beowulf Reveiw

Saw Beowulf this weekend

I liked it a lot the writers Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman did a very good job with the screen play. The screen play does take some liberties with the story at times so look out purists. Considering there are some inconsistencies with the poem the writers do shore up loose ends and plot holes. They change things just enough to make the story flow better and make sense.

The acting is top notch and as a guy I have to say I really liked the parts with Angelina Jolie (Grendel's Mother). Anthony Hopkins (Hrothgar) is incredible the man could act in anything and I would like it. Ray Winstone (Beowulf) was someone I wasn't familiar with at first but, when I found out he is Mister French in The Departed, I was interested to see more of his work. John Malkovich (Unferth) as always plays his part with incredible finesse and skill. The standout for me was Brendan Gleeson (Wiglaf) I find myself more impressed with him in every movie I see.

Overall the movie was a great interpretation of an epic but old poem so it's not going to be for everyone. I want everyone to go see it but I can't recommend it to everyone though. There are some issues I saw with the CG that may affect you watching it. I'll point them out in the spoiler section. They haven't perfected the fully animated mo cap process but, I think it will be a stand out in the CG films genre for awhile.

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD

If you don't already know a short synopsis of the poem

Beowulf the poem is about a monster that attacks a mead hall in Denmark. No one has been able to slay the beast until the Hero; Beowulf sails in from parts unknown. Beowulf is a boastful man claiming to have slain many monsters in the past. He and his small army of Thanes set to sleep in the cursed mead hall and are attacked by the monster Grendel. Defeating Grendel by severing his arm Beowulf then has to contend with the fearsome mother of Grendel after she takes revenge for the death of her son by killing the king of the mead hall's most trusted warrior. Beowulf and his men then go to the creature’s lair where Beowulf kills the mother. Beowulf later becomes king and a slave angers a dragon and Beowulf has a monster to fight once more this time when the battle is over Beowulf has been mortally wounded and dies.

Do not read this is if pointing a out flaw makes them stand out more to you and you want to see the movie.

The problems I had with the CG were a few but very hard for me not to have caught. One could have been the print of the movie and the other was just not taking their time to get it right. I'm just going to say this once more don't read this is if pointing out flaws makes them stand out more to you and you want to see the movie.There were a few occasions in the movie where the characters take to horses to move from place to place. I may be a bit nit picky here but, to me the horse’s rate of movement didn't match up to the way they were animated. It made them look more fake than the actors who were Mo Caped. Now if the horses were Mo Caped they should have just done them in straight CG because they looked like they were out of a PS one game.

The second problem I saw could have been the print of the movie and nothing more but, it irritated me to see in a movie. During the final battle with the dragon I saw the freaking frame rate drop. There is a part where the dragon is heading toward the remains of a land locked ship with Beowulf hanging off of it. The frame rate dropped out before the actual impact it was just disgusting to see that happen in a movie. It made my eyes hurt

Bone scan

Getting ready to go in for a Full body bone scan this morning. This is going to suck I have to lay still for about two hours or more depending on if any tremors F up the scan. Wish me luck everyone!

Oh and thank you everyone for the comments and concerns I appreciate all the information.

Quick update for anyone who gives a damn.

I just want to make this clear I am not telling you this for sympathy or to have anyone say poor baby. I need to get this off my chest and this forum has been good to me and I really feel like some of you deserve a bit of information as to where my head is, has been, and more than likely will be at for the time being.

I have been thinking a lot about what is going on with me. As some of you know I have been stuck at home (or on house arrest) with an injury I suffered in January and unable to return to work. I have been to see several doctors over the last few months and have at times been in severe pain and really confused as to what is going on. It started out as just ankle pain and has since moved on to my whole left leg and now into my back.

After a terrible experience with a doctor about two months ago. I had been forced into a mind set I was uncomfortable with. The last doctor (not my current) I saw had said she thought it was all in my head. I have been made to understand that particular doctor has little to no experience or knowledge of RSD or CRPS but after the visit I was left doubting myself and my sanity as well as whether or not she could be right. This did not do me any good as it and the lack of pain killers were making me feel like I was losing my mind.

I went to see my new doctor Wednesday Sept 19th and he thinks I have RSD or CRPS. Of course we still have to do more tests and confirm as best as we can that it is RSD or CRPS but he is reasonably sure that is what is going on. RSD or CRPS is basically a nerve injury were the nerves think they are in pain when there is no bone or muscle damage that would cause such pain. If you are interested you can find out more at the AMA website.

The good news it is treatable with a lot of painful Physical Therapy and failing that some other methods. The bad news it can be a long hard road. The worse news now that it is affecting my back I am no longer just restricted to sit down work I am now temporarily totally disabled. This means even if I had to I can't go find another job right now it even effects my looking into going back to school.

Some of the members of my family are nudging me toward seeing a lawyer but I am apprehensive from previous experience with a car wreak and I am not interested in a big settlement as opposed to just getting better at least enough to drive comfortably that is my goal. The treatment could take as long as five years in the worst case scenario.

I doubt very much I will ever get to go back to a full time manual labor job. I miss my job, I miss going to work, I miss having a reason to get out of bed. I miss going out with my friends and hanging out. The best I get is when someone my mother or a really close friend is willing to deal with me suffering a car ride into see a movie and maybe get something to eat. I always pay dearly in pain the next day for the ride to and from not fun. Trips in to see the doctor or to Phyiscal Therapy are no joy ride either.

I have lost friends during this whole thing some of which I probably would have parted ways with anyway. Some of which I stayed out of contact with for reasons on top of not wanting to bog them down with my General Hospital but mainly because this experience is playing hell with me.

Surprisingly I feel I have stayed fairly positive and not become depressed by this whole situation. This is not to say I don't get angry or emotional about it just not going to let it rule me completely. I hope it makes me a stronger person in the end and that is all I can ask for. Like I said I not telling you this for any gain I just needed to get it out there. This is just for those who give a damn.

Well here is to me for being me right now.

To everyone for putting up with me when I am an Ass and when I don't make much sense.

This will also be posted in a few other places so don't be surprised if you see it again if you follow me around the net at all.

Doctor vist

I go to the new doctor later today. I will update when I get home or wake up after the excursion. Hopefully this doctor knows what is going on and can get me better or get me on track for what ever comes out of this.

Still in a lot of pain and the trip to Edmond is likely to make it worse. It gets worse just going anywhere. Anyway just thought I'd throw an update out for those who give a damn.

Thom

Sony wobbling on price cut of the PS3

Yes, No, Maybe, I don't know

Sony is denying a price cut for the PS3 once again. After months of speculation from industry analysts and earlier saying they had been looking in to adjusting the price of the console. Further fueling rumors of a massive price cut as much as $200.Sony did release a system with bundled Hot Shots Golf 5 which dropped the price in Japan, but no word on if that bundle or the adjusted price would make it any where else.

Ryoji Chubachi President of Sony Corporation and CEO of Sony’s Global Electronics Business told Reuters in an interview appearing on their website July 6th.

"At present we have no plans," to cut the PS3 price,

Circuit City meanwhile seems to be giving would be customers of the console a break on the 15th of July by lowering the price $100 effective through the 21st. There is also a deal From http://www.bluraysavings.com/ to get five free Blu-Ray movies, from a list of specific movies, with purchase of a Blu-Ray player / Game console (read PS3).

Speculation on my part is that is more than likely where the $100 off comes from. It's just to convenient for them to do a deal on the PS3 when there is a promotion for Blu-Ray coinciding.

This is just a rumor right now as the ad has yet to be released to the public. Where did the info come from a poster on dvdtalk.com’s forum that is apparently very reliable with these kind of postings.

The question of whether or not Sony needs to or should drop the price on the PS3 is a hard argued debate at this point. There is a chance they could announce a price drop at the upcoming E3. More than likely any price drop will be in line with Circuit City’s ad at around a $100. This would give them a little ground on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 brining the gap in price very close to the highest priced SKU of the Xbox 360 Elite coming in at $480. There is still a chance than Microsoft could drop the price on the 360 at E3 as well.

During the recent Ubidays event held by Ubisoft in Paris France GamesIndustry.biz spoke with Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot. In the article published June 20th 2007 GamesIndustry.biz asked Guillemot about a price drop for the ps3 and his responses were quite interesting.

GamesIndustry.biz: You hit the headlines recently for calling on Sony to cut the price of PS3...

Yves Guillemot: I was just saying that in the last generation, we had machines that were at a lower price and they were selling more. It's just something to consider for all the manufacturers, that the price of the machine has a huge impact on the number of machines sold.

Everybody has to remember that volumes are very dependent on price. I know the platform holders all know that, so now we have to wait for them to see when they want to achieve those numbers.

GamesIndustry.biz: Do you think cutting the price before Christmas would be a good idea?

Yves Guillemot: It depends on the volumes they want to achieve this year, on their policy. For publishers, we want as many machines sold as possible, so for us the lower the price the better.

[Sony has] sold a machine that is actually expensive to build at the right price for consumers. It's just that if we want more consumers, we'll have to have a price that will make more people come in.

So, reading this line of questioning, I for one am still questioning whether Blu-ray was really a good idea to be placed in the machine. It still seems to be the major reason that the cost to produce PS3s is so high. Yes Sony did put DVD in the PS2, but DVD had been around for a while longer than Blu-ray at that time, and wasn’t part of a format war like Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are. Don’t forget UMD movies failed as well as Beta Max tapes. Sony doesn’t have a great track record with their own formats.

We will definitely be watching this year’s E3 intently to see if they do drop the bomb during the Sony Press Conference Wednesday the 11th starting at 11:30am. Remember E3 is July 11 – 13, 2007.

Have fun and play to win -Brymstone

Update: After calling local Circuit City stores today I got no confirmation of the ad which I expected not to. However I did find out from one manager that Sony has to approve ANY price drop before it can be done. That would add to the speculation of a price drop announcement at E3 being before the date of the flier. One manager said they were aware of the Blu-ray movie deal but were not offering it with the PS3 just a standard player.

Waiting on new computer

eSo a couple of days ago a transistor on my mother board burned out, and my albeit week main computer died a quick death. So I went about the tetious task of trying to find a "perfect" replacement. One that all I would have to do is spend the money for the board nothing else. I couldn't find one. So I start pricing a new motherboard, Ram, Processor, and the like. When I get done I'm looking at around $250 -$350 to get kinda what I want better than what I had but not to super.

Then I start thinking why am I going to spend this kind of money on a few components rather than a whole new computer. I check out a few websites and I don't see anything that excites me. I then go to the Dell wesite they have a new computer for $349 bucks right on the front page of the desktop page then I remembered they sell refurbs. So I start checking out the refurbs and found a great one I went ahead and called Dell and I got the thing approved for financing. I am currently waiting on my new machine.

It's a scratch and dent refurb so it's never been used for $379.

Dimension E521 Small Mini-Tower: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ (2.1 GHz) 2 Gigs of ram Windows Vista home premium.

I am supremely happy this will be the best computer I have ever owned. It will allow me to do a lot more than I could before like play newer PC games as well as do more in photoshop.

I also got My mother a refurb laptop and a digital camcorder so I can start to get to work on some of my projects. YEY I have something to be happy about and the total payment is so in my range. Now all I need is a 360 and I'll be happily current lol.

My opinion the PS3 in it's current state

No...

Here is my opinion the PS3 is a first adopter piece of consumer electronics plain and simple. Until they drop the price on it, it is a waste of money as far as I have seen.

If they get the price down to (I know this is not going to happen) $400. Especially with albeit a RUMORED price drop for the 360 expected I might consider it, but even if they drop it a by $100 it's still not comparable to what I feel I would get out of a 360. There are all of 2-3 exclusive games for PS3 that I have become more interested in them but not the console. I haven’t seen anything for the console that makes it a good buy. There is only one game that I would be interested in playing so far that can only be played only on PS3 that anyone has given good recommendations It's Resistance.

However, none of the "features" does anything for me

Built in Wi-Fi Whoop de do I prefer a wired connection especially when it main use is gaming. I'm not too impressed with Wi-Fi it's self. Folding at home My DSL bogs down just trying to watch You Tube. I'm not clogging it with something I don’t care about paying $20 a month to do nothing. I know that may sound bad, but I’ve had some things happen around family members lately and a while ago that I really have little faith in medical research. I may change my mind down the road but suffice it to say no on Folding.

The controllers charge wire length bothers me I am a binge gamer. Yes, I could buy extensions or longer cables, but why should I especially considering the current price? Waggle controls the same opinion I have of the Wii it's gimmicky and not a selling point especially if they are crap in most games.

Blu-Ray, Up scaling, and games in 1080i or p don't excite me because it will be a long time before I can drop the money on a good HDTV.

Back Compat I just don’t care about I still play Parasite Eve on my PlayStation and when I get a 360 I will still be using my regular Xbox when I want to play something one reason is save games and the other is (under normal circumstances) all my systems are still hooked up Atari 2600 – Xbox. The only things I play in emulation on my modded Xbox are the games I have that don’t work or can find to buy at a reasonable price like FF3 on SNES.

Download stuff to a PSP. Umm that would up my price to $770 just for the consoles and NOT worth it for something I don’t think is worth the cost even after a price drop. Just to be fair I think the DS costs too much at a $130. A Hondo is the perfect price point on a handheld console IMO.

I really feel Sony decided to jump the gun and lump a bunch of non-standardized, new and untested tech into the PS3. They charge a premium for it, then go out and state their system as the king of all systems. When it didn't fair as well as they were hoping, because some of us are smart enough consumers to sit back and look at the big picture of the PS3, and say wait I'm not spending that kind of money on a system that frankly isn't worth the extra expense for what it offers in the short term. I'll wait until they can back up the claims and do what they say they can. You know by the time they have a game out on the system that will use the systems abilities to their full potential it will be time to go through all this BS again with the new consoles in four to five years. Yeah I know "but the PS2 and PS3 are ten year systems" if you think that will stop them from putting out a new one when MS and Nintendo are ready with theirs your stupid.

How many people that have a PS3 are still playing it? How many are still playing it often and what game(s) are you playing that you can’t get on Xbox 360? How many are still playing them often? How many have it hooked up to a HDTV?

My question is which you play more the 360 or the PS3?

Here is what I came up with for total current cost to get and use a PS3 to get the full experience

And a similar experience on 360

Best Buy is where I would purchase the system and extras. I went with trusted brands or Sony/Microsoft when available. *I had to go to Game Stop for a price as Best Buy dose not have a 360 wireless adapter listed online. Not including games, these are how the two stack up.

HDTV Samsung - SlimFit 30" Widescreen HDTV $600

Sub Total $600

PS3 Sony - PlayStation 3 60GB System $600

Extra controller Sony - SIXAXIS Wireless Controller for PlayStation 3 $50

USB Extension NYKO - HDMI Cable for PlayStation 3 $10

HDMI cable NYKO - HDMI Cable for PlayStation 3 $60

Remote Sony - Blu-ray Remote for PlayStation 3 $25

Headset Datel - Communicator Headset for PlayStation 3 $15

Wireless router Belkin - N1 Wireless-N Wireless Router $130
Sub Total $ 890

Sub Sub Total $1490

PSP Sony - PSP $170

Battery charger Sony - PSP Battery Charger $35

SD memory card SanDisk - 2GB Memory Stick PRO Duo Gaming Memory Card - Blue $ 60

Sub Total $ 265

Sub Sub Total $ 1755

Now the 360

HDTV Samsung - SlimFit 30" Widescreen HDTV $600

Sub Total $600

360 Microsoft - Xbox 360 Elite Console - Black $480

Extra controller Microsoft - Xbox 360 Wireless Controller - Black $50

Play and charge kit Microsoft - Xbox 360 Play & Charge Kit - Black $23

HDMI cable comes wit console $0

Headset Included with console $0

Sub Total $ 553

Sub Sub Total $1153

Additional add-ons needed to make fully comparable to PS3

HD DVD Microsoft - HD DVD Player for Xbox 360 $200

Remote Microsoft - Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote $22

Xbox Live Gold $50

*Wireless Adapter Xbox 360 Wireless Network Adapter* $ 100

Wireless router Belkin - N1 Wireless-N Wireless Router $130

Sub Total $ 502

Sub Sub Total $1655

The reason I separated the wireless router from the 360, and not the PS3 is that the PS3 has built in Wi-Fi. So, you need a Wi-Fi router to use it if you don’t already have one and the newer the better.

There is not much difference in overall price of either system after adding everything. If you want everything, the systems offer in their top of the line models without the system-to-system interaction. You could drop the PSP from the totals then, and you would save $165 off the total of the ps3 over the cost of a 360.

Now if I were to buy one over the other I would have to go with the 360 premium at $400. I wouldn’t buy the HD DVD drive or the remote. I wouldn’t buy the wireless for it because I don’t like using Wi-Fi. So over the cost of the PS3 I would save $237 excluding the Wi-Fi router and the PSP from the PS3, as I wouldn’t buy them myself.

If Hi-Def movies are something you care about now then the PS3 looks like the overall better value for the totals in terms of money.

Now it comes straight down to the games for most of us. We all know the PS3 is going to have great third party support, but will it be enough exclusive stuff to make it a buy right now or even at a Hondo, less I think not.

After reading Duff's review on the Gamer Cast Network forum. of the system I am really not interested at this time no one has shown me any reason to be invested.