Transformers 2: Trying Too Hard

I loved the first Transformers movie, so we went to watch the sequel in theater today. I wasn’t expecting much going in as I had read tons of negative reviews, but I was still hoping for a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately the critics were correct, Transformers 2 was just a summer action movie and nothing more.

Some of my thoughts:

• The story was so-so at best.
• The jokes were crude and forced.
• More robots meant zilch. None was outstanding.
• Devastator was a disappointment.
• Why must Transformers act like humans? Why must Jetfire have a “beard”?
• Why must there be Transformer clowns? Why oh why must there be Jar Jar Transformers?! Why oh why did we get a Transformers “chihuahua”?!
• Didn’t know the transformation technology could imitate organic matters like human skin.
• Where can I get that cool Decepticons hood ornament?

扑通扑通

早上听到心扑通扑通地跳。

晚上感觉到心扑通扑通地跳。

蛮好的。

宅男

我不得不承认，我是宅男，是大门不出、二门不迈的那种。回想起来，其实我光荣加入宅男大军已有几年，把大好青春年华都浪费了。

但又想想，做宅男也是要有条件的嘛，几月后我再想当宅男也不一定成了。

John Woo pidgins

If only I could photoshop out the tractor and replace it with a tank or muscle car…

This one photo made my day.

I had originally planned to do a short photo walk in the afternoon but had to abandon the excursion last minute. With that I thought my chance of getting decent photos today was gone. But what do you know, right in my own backyard!

Palm Pre impressions

I played with a Palm Pre today in a Sprint store. It was actually my second trip to the store this weekend – the first time I simply drove past after seeing the 10+ people lining near the door. Anyhoo, here are my initial thoughts:

• The Pre is small compared to iPhone.
• The screen was sharp and clear, though the size seemed too small as I am used to my iPhone.
• The touch sensor seemed a bit off, but that could be because of the ‘ripple’ feedback which was lacking altogether on the iPhone.
• Chinese character set, and I preassume Unicode, is supported in the browser out-of-box.
• The keyboard keys are small even for me, but I was still able to type without mispellings in my tests.
• WebOS didn’t feel as responsive as the iPhone. I occasionally double tapped because of this.

Terminator Salvation thoughts

I watched Terminator Salvation today. Some thoughts:

• Noticed Skynet’s computer lab for humans. Same question as others had asked: why?!
• In the original Terminator movie, every one was shooting lasers. In Terminator Salvation, people and machines were all using bullets. It’s not like the time lines are that far apart either, I mean, the T800 already started showing up in Salvation.
• Terminator Salvation was a forgettable movie. There was no attachment throughout, and I began to forget the details the moment I stepped out of the theater.
• How can a helicopter outrun a nuclear explosion? Could it be that the nuclear fuel cells weren’t so nuclear?

I preferred Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles.

2.4k versus marathon

A college friend of mine just emailed a GPS tracking of his recent marathon. It was a great feat, and I am very impressed by it. I don’t think our 2.4km times were that much different 10 years ago, but now look at us. He is running marathons and I am at least 2 minutes slower in 2.4k than before. Plus my fragile left knee will likely act up in anything more than 2.4k.

Maybe I need fancier shoes?

USPS ad slogan

Saw a USPS TV commercial that ended with a slogan “a simpler way to ship”. Given my displeasure with USPS, I’d like to complete the slogan as:

A simpler way to ship, not a simpler way to deliver!

All together now

Funny how things of same nature come together. Examples:

1. Open Search – I was reading up on Open Search because it was mentioned in an internal work email I received. Then taking one of my many mini breaks through out the minute, I switched to my Google Reader only to discover that the first fresh post is on Search Connectors and Open Search.
2. Web page on IE6 – Last Friday an internal tester reported an issue with a web page on IE6. On Monday an external tester reported a similar issue on IE6. Nothing on IE6 was reported for months prior to this.