A few more photos of my life

Hi everyone, I thought I’d share some more photos from my everyday life from now on now that I have my sweet new method mentioned last post!

Most of these are from a recently BBQ at Phi Delt’s Wednesday BBQs (we have one every Wednesday all throughout spring quarter rain or shine). Enjoy!

Magnificent HEAD of the evil GI Joes.

Awwwwww! What a cute Baby!

Jason as Anchor Spash Rock Star. Noice. Clothing by Tyler.

Jason as Anchor Splash Borat. Niiice. Where did all the props come from???!?

Look Familiar? Look Above….

I love this show…
Superman by Lazlo Bane

Lovely Pictures! Lovely Phone! Lovely Lady!

I recently got one of those sweet new phones that takes pictures at 1.3 megapixels. I know it’s not like 7-10 or whatever they are recently but it still is very effective for taking pictures on a regular basis. One of the biggest troubles about having a camera (for me) is that I never take it with me because its either too big or too risky to carry around everyday. Hence, i only get pictures of the big events and stuff and that really doesnt reflect my life right?

Perfect solution, set the default location in my cell phone to send all pictures taken to my email address. Now i get all pictures I take immediatley on my computer and instantly shared on the internet already. How sweet is that? Very sweet. Check it out if you have a good phone like this (almost all are 1.3 mp nowadays, there are a few 2!!) and if you have a good text messaging plan!!

Here are some delightful pictures!

What a Cute lady!

Awwww!

Lazy day!

Check it out and perhaps try it on your phone and get more use out of its capabilities!!
Days like these make me feel like a….
Fortunate Fool by Jack Johnson

Boom Boom Rocket

Wow! Today I actually purchased another game on Xbox Live Arcade! It’s entitled “Boom Boom Rocket.”

Basically this game is like a DDR game played with both thumbs on both the buttons as well as the d-pad. It doesn’t actually sound that fantastic, I know, but bear with me there’s more. What actually sets this game apart from Dance Dance Revolution is the visuals and the music.

I have NEVER really gotten into DDR for some reason, whether it be the strange visuals (IMO) and the bad music (IMO) . I loved the concept of playing a rhythmic game in addition to music that is enjoyable (see mass success known as Guitar Hero). However, BOOM BOOM Rocket! has awesome graphics that is totally simple but very mesmerizing. Basically the arrows fly up into a 3d cityscape while you push the buttons. It’s really simple and it never really changes other than the vantage point as you whiz around the skyline of a nighttime city setting off your arrow shaped fireworks and lighting up the screen magnificently.

What really made me write a post about this game though is the music!!! The music in this game immediately sparked my interest because not only does it have the heavy techno beat rhythms of DDR and other music games, but every song is instantly accessible to every player because all the music is originally remixed classical music by famous composers like Beethoven and Mozart. Among the all star cast is Moonlight Sonata, Flight of the Valkyries, Brave New World, William Tell Overture.

awesome!!

I’m not really good right off the bat with this game because I’m terrible at rhythm games in general but I suspect the music can win me over.

Also, another AWESOME feature is that if you have music loaded onto your Xbox 360 or have some connect between your media center PC with your 360, you can listen to your own music that has the cityscape/fireworks game play. Good stuff check it out! Also, check out one of the awesome songs on the soundtrack!

Moonlight Sonata by Francis Trevor

YO HO FIDDLE YEE DEE!!

I must post this NOW. Enjoy.

Most Excellent Videos of the Week

Everyone loves funny videos and I have a knack for finding the good ones so here are a couple!

Haloid

If you a gamer you must watch this. One of the best fan made videos I’ve ever seen in my whole life. I won’t ruin anything but you should definitely watch until the end.

George Washington

Washing-ton Washing-ton, Six foot Eight wieghs a fucking TON.

Dear Sister

Hilarious, spoof of the O.C. season finale of second season where Marissa shoots Ryan’s brother. Hilarious even if you haven’t seen it.

And a last one thats not a video … trust me. its good.

http://jibberjabba.ytmnd.com/

That’s all for this week, god damn i’m good.

Sound familiar?
Gimme Some More by Busta Rhymes

Movie Review: Children of Men

Last week I saw the movie Children of Men after hearing a lot good things about it from my friends.

I guess I’m not sure what to say about this movie as weird as that sounds. It was really entertaining to watch, the acting was excellent (Clive Owen is awesome as usual), the plot was interesting, the direction was insane(ly cool), the music was great, and the cast was excellent.

For some reason though, I didn’t feel like I understood it or something. The ending was somewhat anti-climatic and I was left wondering what all the build up was for. Maybe I am just not as creatively analytical as I used to be?

I looked it up on wikipedia (to have it spelled out for me I suppose =P) and it turns out the movie actually is quite brilliant! The themes pointed out are actually quite prevalent throughout the movie and the ending actually turns out to be quite appropriate (if you think about it for a while??)

Anyways, to continue on with the general feeling of this move, GO SEE IT (maybe?). It’s definitely worth your while (yeah it is…right?)

I’ll leave you with this song to sum up my feelings….
What I’ve Done by Linkin Park

Move Review: Pan’s Labyrinth

So this weekend I ended up watching the movie Pan’s Labyrinth.

Let me start by saying that I didn’t really have any preconcieved notions about this movie other than that my friend wanted to watch it really badly. I didn’t really know what it was going to be about at all and I think I actually enjoyed it more because of that. Anyways! On to the review…

In Summary:

Pan’s Labyrinth is about a little girl named Ophelia who along with her very pregnant mother are taken to a secluded area in Spain where her father, a highly ranking military man is in the midst of wiping out the remainder of a rebel force. The time is sometime slightly before or during WWII. Ophelia is an imaginative young girl who is fascinated with fairy tales. This film brilliantly plays out both Ophelia’s own fairy tale as she finds magic at her temporary home along with the war, politics, betrayal, and devastation actually happening in the adult world in which resides. The acting is extremely well done, the special effects are good but not over the top and never the focal point of the movie, the theatrical timing is amazing, the irony and foreshadowing is very captivating. If I could sum up the movie with 2 words they would be haunting and endearing.

I definitely recommend that anyone go see this movie. It is completely different than all war movies and will leave a lasting impression in your memory.

8.5/10

I’ll leave you with an equally HAUNTING AND ENDEARING SONG!

Edward Scissorhands: Main Title / Ice Dance by City of Prague Philharmonic

Rhapsody.com New features!

Something that I’ve wanted to make a post about for the last several months is the sweet new features in Rhapsody.com. It’s been a few months of using them and I’m really starting to like all these sweet new features! I absolutely love it when online technologies move forward like this and actually help me with everyday things like blogging and such. Here are some of my favorite new features! Or you can check out their list of new stuff!

New Look!

The new look is MUCH more user friendly than before. They use tabs at various places throughout the page to make the whole interface much more intuitive and informational. Not just that, the interface just look nice! All the roundness! All the Shininess!

MP3 Player integration

Rhapsody has a partnership with Sansa and they have made a pretty unique thing. It is called the “Rhapsody Mp3 Player”. Its actually quite nice, very functional, and pretty attractive. It has a definitely solid build a little thicker and larger than the iPod nano. It’s able to play video and AM FM radio, which is AWESOME. I run at the club near my work and they have these TVs but you cant hear anything unless you have a radio that you can tune into the station of the TV. This sucks because everyone has iPods and not those older crappier players that just play cassettes and radio. The best thing about these bad boys though is that you can use your Rhapsody subscription with it. This means that you aren’t limited by the songs that you have. You are limited only by the number of songs that are available on Rhapsody, which I’m quite sure is more than I could ever listen to. You can also download entire radio stations onto the player so thats also awesome!

Music Videos

I haven’t used this feature extensively yet but I’m quite thrilled to use it later! Basically, whenever you search for songs or keywords or whatever, they automatically return relevant music videos at the bottom. I mean, that doesn’t really sound amazing but u know, its like 2 searches in one! You can search something, add it to ur playlist (more on that later) and then watch the video, all from one page! The search results page! I mean, I know I know, I’m a nerd, that’s not actually that cool but just wait. You’ll find yourself using it at some point or another, and then you’ll come back here and try to give me an eProp. But then you’ll realize you cant because this ain’t xanga. =P

Top tracks list on home page

Little change. You can now access top albums, artists and TRACKS on the homepage. Thats Niiiiice.

Quick Playlists

This is by far the coolest bit. Everywhere on the entire site now, where ever there is a link to a song, there is a Plus Sign (+) in addition to the play sign (|>). If you click this + then Rhapsody will automatically pop up a little box that will allow you to add it to a playlist you already made or make a new playlist which you can name on the spot. This is AWESOME!!!!!! Combined with the instant listening benefit of Rhapsody, this is just so cool! You don’t even have to drag and drop, you just click and click on a playlist!! I really dig this feature! Definitely go try it out! Here’s a screenshot:

Improved MyRhapsody

Much better central place for you. It looks now really similar to the downloaded Rhapsody client instead of just a random collection of information. Check it out!

Sharing Capabilities

Now, also in addition to the play button and the (+) button, there is a share button which allows you to email, embed or instant message the rhaplink to the song or album or artist to any email, webpage, or im window. Its very cool actually. Not so much some mindblowing new world thing but SUPER SUPER convenient, which is all I’m really looking for you know?

Anyways! Until Next time, Please enjoy this song which I’ve shared before: I just watched the 2nd one like 2 days ago. And its on my mind. =D

Pirates Of The Caribbean by City of Prague Philharmonic

Anime Review: Hajime no Ippo

SECONDS OUT!

Hajime no Ippo is without a doubt my second favorite anime next to Naruto. Its really close actually.

Makunouchi Ippo is a young timid boy who helps his mother with their family fishing business while getting picked on at school by the bullies. One particularly bad day of bullying where Ippo admits that he and his mom both smell like fish in order to avoid being even more severely beaten, he is rescued by the Japanese middleweight boxing champion Mamura Takamura. Takamura quickly dispatches the bullies not with punches but rather by showing off his superior strength, speed and stamina. Ippo watches in awe and follows Takamura to his boxing gym where he discovers his strength. It turns out Ippo’s extensive history of balancing on his family fishing boats and routine carrying of heavy boat equipment has honed his body to be a boxing machine. Hajime no Ippo follows Ippo’s boxing career as he goes from a timid rookie to a confident professional earning the respect and admiration of all those around him.

Much like Naruto, it is not simply the story and moving parts of this anime that makes it so good. Rather it is the way the storytellers show Ippo’s heart as he makes his first friend, has his first date, wins his first fight. I have never seen an anime where I almost cried so many times! The emotional presence in this show is amazing. The relationships created through the 76 episodes are equally amazing as the watcher also learns to love Ippo’s rivals, opponents, and his friends.

As I mentioned earlier, I started working out pretty consistently lately. I a little embarrassed to admit this this anime is more than just partially responsible for my change in attitude. Haha, I suppose this is the point of watching good materials as it drives the audience to make changes in their lives for the positive. In fact I even listen to the score while I run. It sounds silly but whatever gets me off my ass i suppose right??

Anyways, the show has a slightly older style of animation for some reason that is a little wierd to get used to at first but you definitely learn to love it.

I highly recommend it! Please watch and tell me what you think!

Enjoy this famous boxing song courtesy of Rhapsody.com!

Gonna Fly Now (Theme From “Rocky”) (2006 Digital Remaster) by Bill Conti

Monster…

Hi All!

I’ve been meaning to make a post about this for a while now and finally here it is! I recently finished a long… unfinished piece of business. I finished the “Monster” anime.

In short, it was AMAZING.

Here is my attempt at a synopsis of the amazingly intricate plot of Monster.

Kenzou Tenma, a brilliant and kind brain surgeon working in Germany makes the worst decision of his life when he decides to save the life of a young boy who was shot in the head for apparently political reasons. Kenzou succeeds in saving the boy, flash forward 12 years, the boy, Johann, has grown to become one of the single most influential people in the world, committing murders throughout Europe in a ruthless, seemlingly random plan to execute his “plan”. Kenzou sets off to right his wrong by killing Johann.

Gosh, even reading that now I feel I cannot do it the justice it deserves… Anyways, along the way Kenzou discovers dozens of complex characters who all play into Johanns plan somehow. Each of the 74 amazing episodes feed into the suspense and mystery of this startlingly involving plot.

I Highly recommend. 10/10.

Excellent animation.

Excellent voice acting.

Excellent score.

Excellent Character development.

Excellent plot.

Excellent <insert characteristic>.

Enjoy this song commemorating my feelings toward this anime!!!

Monster by Steppenwolf