David's Blog

This is pretty good stuff...

Technorati Tags: Hydro, Train, Engineers

Posted on December 19, 2007 9:21 PM | Permalink| Comments (2)

Check it out here.

Posted on December 16, 2007 12:46 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)

A co-worker turned me on to Metacritic.com recently.

What is Metacritic? It is the ultimate review site for films, DVD's, video games, TV, music, and books. It takes reviews from all over the place and combines them into a single rating.

From what my co-worker said, *this* is the site to gauge how good a video game is.

Technorati Tags: Metacritic

Posted on December 15, 2007 11:29 PM | Permalink| Comments (1)

We got Christmas cards last week: 30 popup caroling stormtroopers (it's the 30th anniversary of Star Wars this year) holding song books and candles. Here is some info about the making of the card.

Here is a nice visual history of most of the previous Christmas cards. Some of the art is impressive. Most impressive.

Technorati Tags: Christmas Cards, Lucasfilm

Posted on December 15, 2007 11:03 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

And this one is *juicy*! Check it out here.

Posted on December 14, 2007 1:46 AM | Permalink| Comments (1)

Here is the first movie poster for the new Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.

You can get t-shirts here (I already have mine!).

How does Harrison (who is 65) look? Pretty good (from indianajones.com)...

The movie comes out May 22, 2008.

Technorati Tags: Indiana Jones, Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

Posted on December 11, 2007 8:41 AM | Permalink| Comments (4)

Gross...but *way* funny! Props to Alan for the hook up.

Technorati Tags: Chuck, Plane

Posted on December 7, 2007 9:04 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)

I found the new THX trailer called "Amazing Life" online here. This was shown before Blade Runner: The Final Cut that I saw earlier this week. Some more information about Amazing Life's creation is here.

Crank it up!

Technorati Tags: THX, Trailer, Amazing Life

Posted on December 5, 2007 11:26 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

I just found this web site called "seeqpod".

seeqpod is like Google for music, with a player that will play the results.

I've bought music online for a while now (via Rhapsody and iTunes). I've kept a list of music I want, but is not available online. seeqpod has everything on that list!

For example, here is a song from my early college days by M.C.L. (Microchip League) called "New York, New York."

That is another cool feature...the ability to "embed" songs in your web site, just like you can do with youtube videos.

You can also embed an entire playlist. Here are some difficult to find songs...

SeeqPod Music beta - Playable Search

This seems like it is a lawsuit away from being shut down. They claim they are not hosting any music, just pointing you to it (just like Google does) so they aren't doing anything wrong. They go to great lengths on their web site to defend their right to exist.

Just like Napster, I would imagine this site is mainly going to be used to access copyrighted works. Once they start profiting from advertising that is connected to illegal access to copyrighted works, the party is over.

This will be fun to watch. Enjoy it while you can.

Technorati Tags: seeqpod, music, web

Posted on December 4, 2007 11:19 PM | Permalink| Comments (4)

I went to a special screening of "Blade Runner: The Final Cut" yesterday. This version commemorates the 25th anniversary of Blade Runner.

The previous "director's cut" actually did not involve the director Ridley Scott...but this one does.

This is the best revised movie I've ever seen. The differences are subtle, but make the movie better. The differences I noticed were more violent/intense scenes and additional/fixed dialog. Here is a complete list of the changes.

The presentation is spot on. The color pops. The music (by Vangelis) sounds amazing.

It didn't hurt that I saw the all digital version in a THX theater.

The movie started with a new THX trailer. It features an odd mixture of mechanical plants that emit different tones that eventually becomes "deep note." It got applause like the early days of THX trailers.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut is coming to DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-ray Dec. 18th.

Technorati Tags: Blade Runner, THX, The Final Cut, Reviews

Posted on December 4, 2007 8:48 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)

The last day of my trip.

I arrived at Bangalore's Hindustan Airport (BLR) ready to finish my trip around the world and return to San Francisco. I was leaving India for Singapore. From Singapore I would switch planes and head to San Francisco with a stop in Seoul, Korea.

That didn't happen.

At the airport, I was informed my reservations had been canceled. There was room to put me back on the flight to Singapore. However, the flight from Singapore to San Francisco was completely booked.

My best option was to fly to Singapore and take the next available flight to San Francisco, 14 hours later with a stop in Hong Kong. There was also a chance I could get back on my original flight via standby.

Why were my reservations canceled? Apparently the travel agent had me booked twice...once for a Friday night departure (in case I wanted to come home early) and also for Saturday night. Singapore Airlines noted I did not show up Friday night (I never planned to), and it is their policy to cancel all reservations if you miss one. The travel agent was not aware of this policy.

I probably should have been furious about all this...but I was actually excited. I get to spend a day in Singapore!

The only bad part: I missed out on a night of sleep. I left India Saturday night (11:10pm) and arrived in Singapore early Sunday morning (6:05am). I had almost no sleep since the flight was about 4 hours long.

There was a chance that I could get on my original flight as a standby. I had to hang out in the Singapore Airlines Silver Kris Lounge until my original flight left to have a chance to board as a standby. The lounge has free food and drinks. I had about 2 hours to kill so I had some breakfast and cleaned up in the showers.

While I was waiting in the lounge, I saw some Asian girls checking out some guys. The girls were tracking their every move and trembling in excitement.

I noticed the guys had several security guys with guns surrounding them. I asked the girls who the guys were.

They were *shocked* I asked such a question! "You don't *know* who they are?!?!? They are FAHRENHEIT!"

Above is a picture of Fahrenheit in the corner of the lounge. They are a new boy band that is big in Asia. I'm usually up on my celebrities...so it was bizarre being one of the only people in the lounge that had no idea who these guys were. I tried to get a photo with them, but security would not let me approach them.

My original flight took off totally full without me...so now I had 12 hours to tour Singapore. I asked information if I would have a problem visiting Singapore for the day without a visa, and they said I would be fine with my passport. I bought a Singapore guide book and headed out of the airport on a train.

The train seemed like one unit instead of individual cars. You could easily walk the length of the train while it was traveling. When the train turned, you would lose sight of parts of the train that were bending around the corner. It was an odd effect. I took some video of it:

My first stop: find the new Lucasfilm Animation Singapore studio. I found it, but it was closed (it was Sunday) and my badge didn't let me in. :(

The lobby with a Yoda statue from Clone Wars

Exterior of Lucasfilm Animation Singapore

I got back on the train and headed towards downtown.

Civilian War Memorial

Singapore Flyer (above two photos) will open in early 2008 and will be the largest/tallest observation wheel in the world.

I spent some time walking around the beautiful Raffels Hotel.

A Toyota Mark X parked in front of the hotel...never heard of this car before.

I grabbed lunch at Seah St. Deli (part of Raffles Hotel). I was *really* craving a burger, fries, and a milkshake...and this place does a nice job of mimicking an American deli.

After lunch I decided to try a famous drink invented at the Raffles Hotel called the "Singapore Sling". It was great...tasted a bit like a Pat O'Brien's Hurricane.

I returned to Singapore Changi Airport to prepare to head back to the US. This airport is amazing. It has an enormous shopping mall, a movie theater that is free...

...a spa...

...free internet terminals, free Xbox 360 kiosks, a sports bar with enormous TV's, and nice fish ponds...

If you are going to be stuck in an airpot...this is the one to be stuck in!

The last thing I did was exchange my Singapore Dollars for US currency. Here is what their money looks like:

I was impressed with how clean and advanced Singapore is. I plan on going back when I have more time to enjoy it!

Technorati Tags: Singapore, Fahrenheit, Raffles Hotel

Posted on December 2, 2007 11:41 PM | Permalink| Comments (4)

I found this on Youtube and had to post it. This is a bit of a spoiler because this song gets played when you beat Portal...but I love the song and I want to listen to it more often than just when I beat Portal. The song is called "Still Alive" and it is sung by the HAL-like computer that performs experiments on you. The video features an amber monochrome display with synchronized lyrics text and ASCII art while the game credits roll...a nice touch!

Technorati Tags: Portal, Still Alive

Posted on December 1, 2007 5:01 PM | Permalink| Comments (1)