No line ups for me

Wee! My brother got me an XBox360 for my birthday! This breaks my rule of not getting a game system unless I have a reliable source of pirate games, but I'll learn. And at least it can play some old XBox games so I won't have to buy the new expensive ones!

Movie review: Munich

I knew nothing about what happened to those Olympic athletes. I was there to get the tour of Munich before I went. Some reconnaissance, albeit with footage set thirty years ago. But I didn’t even get that. Only the first little bit was set in Munich, after which we follow the team of assassins hunt and be hunted all over Europe.

The movie is pretty damned long at almost three hours, and the pace is a bit slow, with accounts of most of the missions they allegedly completed. But it was interesting to see and highlighted the destructiveness of revenge, even in the name of righteousness.

7/10

Snow day

Yay, glad to have another trip to the snow before I leave for my road trips. The snow was awesome. Sunshine was better than Louise, but both was good. A bit windy at Sunshine as usual. ;o)

Sticky omelette

OMG! Whodathunkit?? That sticky rice in an omelette can be SO good? Well it is, boys and girls! I didn't make the sticky rice though since it's a pain in the ass. But the store bought frozen stuff worked just fine. I didn't take a picture because I forgot, but really, it's not that much to see. Here is an artistt's rendition of a schematic cross-section. I also put some corn in there, which just put it over the top!!!

License to kill

I had to get a new plate for my car.

My various stalkers were catching on.

And it had too many entries in police records anyway.

But I got one composed of two palindromes!

More interviews

Hehe, just kidding!

I was interviewed because I will be featured in the next company newsletter! I'll be a celebrity! Popularity here I come! I was asked stuff like what my degree was in, what my title is (which is really long), what I do for fun, my favorite color, my mudskippers. I felt like I was filling out a dating profile. I'll post it here if my expose turns out to be flattering.

Spaghetti carbonara

It's always been one of my favorites at Chianti. It's fairly simple, basically spaghetti with bacon and eggs. C'mon, breakfast spaghetti! I hadn't really thought about making it till I saw it on the Food Network. Seemed simple so why not?

It starts with pancetta, cooked with some garlic in olive oil. For the sauce, it's a few egg whites, mixed with milk and parmesan cheese. The garlic is removed, in goes the cooked spaghetti, and the sauce mixture. Then stir so clumps of egg doesn't form. Then, to top it off, a raw egg yolk from the egg whites separated earlier.

It turned out okay. Kinda bland though. I forgot to add pepper to the sauce. I think Chianti uses much more egg too. I think next time I'll use prosciutto instead of pancetta, a bit more oil, and regular spaghetti instead of the whole wheat stuff I used this time.

Movie review: Hitchhiker's Guide & Final Cut & The Jacket & Ong-bak

Alright, so I watch alot of movies. Me gots to have my stories!

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Hitchhiker fans are like a cult, speaking in tongues of their own, and giggling like little girls at inside jokes. It's hard to describe, but only that it's like the humour in the Princess Bride, boiled and concentrated 10X; a delicacy for those who like to indulge in over-thinking every statement.

As I am one of those, I enjoyed the movie. I also read the book, although couldn't quite recall enough of it to verify how faithful the movie was. It's definitely not for the uninitiated, but I thought it was worth seeing! No point saying more. If you haven't read the book, don't see it. If you've read it, you probably already saw it before me.

5/7

Final Cut

Good sci-fi movies are rarely about the science fiction. Robin Williams plays a serious role in this one about an age when implants at birth will allow audio visual recording of an entire life. Like a home movie, to be edited by "cutters" and presented at the person's funeral as a tribute to a life. It's an interesting concept to be sure, raising questions of consent of an implant before a person is aware, and how one might behave if they knew that everything's being recorded. Execution could have been better though. A bit choppy in story line, and a few lose ends untied, it could have used a longer runtime, considering it's fairly short anyway. An enticing movie that leaves you wanting a deeper exploration.

7/11

The Jacket

This wasn't what I had expected. This movie is much more Butterfly Effect than the horror it was peddled as. Which is good since Butterfly Effect was a pleasent surprise as well. For this type of movie, saying too much will just ruin the punchline. It's a bit slow to get started but makes some sense by the bitter-sweet end.

5/7

Ong-Bak

If you looped the trailer for this movie for a couple hours, there's no need to see this movie. Touted as a showcase for the next Jackie Chan, this just didn't deliver. Sure, the stunts are very cool, but c'mon, two hours of the same stuff, complete with slo-mo replays is just lame. And I'm a Jackie Chan fan, partly because of his stunts, but more because he puts them into often comical situations while he pounds on the baddies. Ong-Bak had none of the personality of Jackie Chan movies. Even cheese would be better than this boring story-line and disconnected gratuitous stunts for the sake of stunts.

3/10

Turkey and Yam Calzone

Here's something I probably won't make again. Don't get me wrong, it was delish, but when will I have this specific combo of leftovers again? Maybe next Christmas. Perhaps I should call this the Pilgrim's Boxing Day Calzone. I used some left over turkey that I was given. I pulled it into morsels and cooked it with the turkey gravy and chunks of yams till it was reduced.

Then it went in the leftover dough with some cheese and tomato sauce.

It turned out! Even the yam went with the cheese. The dough was a bit hard since I overcooked it a bit in the oven. Mmmm... I wonder what else can be calzonified!?

Are you resolute?

Happiness is not about getting what you want, but wanting what you've got.

...no more waiting

Fallout boy

How the hell do you break a USB flash drive?! It has no moving parts and no buttons! C'mon, there's NOTHING to break in that particular gadget! But it stopped working. With my files on it. Plug it in... nothing happens. Damn it.

It's because of the electromagnetic field I emit. Many electronic items of mine have developed quirks or stopped working completely around me:

Two, count 'em, two laptops have developed fatal illnesses. Illnesses requiring motherboard replacements that would have cost more than the laptop itself. In other words, totalled. Even the current one had to be sent back to have its motherboard replaced (under warranty).

Then there are the MP3 players. There was one that broke on me, which I sent back after begging and pleading that they replace it out of warranty, just to have the new one do the same thing a few months later. The one I have now had to be resuscitated several times.

Of course there is also the myriad of watches that go on me. Most don't stop exactly, but just starts to keep time as if it was used to another space-time continuum. And no, it's not the battery!

And those who know me knows I baby my stuff. I buy each one padded outfits to make sure they're cozy. Maybe I need to start wrapping them in tin foil to insulate them from my electromagnetic aura.

Random picture: Anchovy basking

Cowabunga dudes!

I tried to take a picture of my throwing the dough up into the air, but the picture didn't turn out. It just captured my armpit. But the most important thing is that the pizza turned out! Not perfect, but pretty danged good for a first try. The dough was made from scratch too!

1 cup semolina

1.5 cup white flour

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp yeast

Dissolve sugar in 1 cup of warm water and add yeast. Wait till it gets all foamy. Add salt and stir in semolina. Add flour slowly and stir until you get a soft elasticky dough. Kneed for 10 min. Divide into two 'C cup' portions and wrap in saran wrap. Let volume double (rise) for half an hour to an hour to an hour, or till 'D cup' or so. Flatten slightly into uniform disc and toss into 10 inch pie. Bake at 450F for 15-30 min.

I froze one, after rising, so we'll see how these survive the freeze. I slapped the remaining one into a 12 inch or so pizza, but that was probably too much. It was too thin after cooking and the crust was... crusty. Perhaps smaller size, more depth, and brushing the crust with some butter or oil will help. Otherwise, as you can see, a very professional looking pizza pie in your eye! With big juicy pieces of mushrooms and loaded with pepperoni.

Ah, my days at Panagopoulos was rushing back. My dough slapping skill was legendary back in those days. A bit rusty, but I got the job done tonight. Ooh, maybe I'll have a super hip pizza party where guests can bring their own toppings and I provide the pies. What can be more dorky than that?!

Random picture: dawn

I need a toothmark

I really hate it when I lose track of which gap I've flossed. It's very frustrating and uses up valuable floss in the confusion! And I always think if I backtrack just one tooth, I'd be safe. But no, because upon arrival at said tooth, the feeling of deja vu hits and I second guess my position again. I know it's partly because I use an unconventional pattern. Anybody can go from left to right, or for you brits, right to left, but I prefer to start with the center-most gap, and work my way out, alternating sides. 0, +1, -1, +2, -2, +3, -3, and so on, till I lose track. Maybe I just need to check each one off with a pen as I go.

The heretics amongst you may say "he's gone too far! he's blogging about flossing!". But I say to you: nyah!

Final Fantasy overload

What is Final Fantasy? It defies coherent description, with every incarnation in isolated worlds containing it's own characters and storyline. They even span the scales of imaginary pseudo-past and pseudo-future. The only constant is that each is never actually the final.

Movie review: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Unlike the first Final Fantasy movie, this one actually takes place in a world previously established in a game. It follows the crew of FF7 in the aftermath of the game's end. Not that I remember how the game ended. Even if I did, I have a feeling it's much more for diehards than the casual moviegoer. But of course, having been released on the limited proprietary format of the UMD, it wasn't exactly meant for public consumption. But those who seek shall receive. Full of cinematic and grand CGI action sequences, it told the story of... something that went completely over my head. I'm not really diehard enough to digest it in one sitting. Oh for shame! Not really accessible, but it was shure neat to watch!

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children 3/7


Final Fantasy IV Advance

Oh the memories! This is probably the first RPG I've played, back to the days of the super nintendo. Well, instead of writing new games, those slacker programmers have reincarnated the title for the gameboy! Wee! Just for us geezers to relive those medieval days of monsters and magic. The best part is how simple it is compared to the Halos of modern day consoles. Cute little square people do battle with completely disproportionate swords, and of course "taking turns" to bash numbers out of the enemy. But hey, these games are about the joy of getting the next character, growing them, and vicariously taking part in their pixelated lives.

Twas quite the year

Many publications do their year in review features at the end of the year, without technically having the entire year in hindsight for review. What's the hurry? The year ended yesterday, so I shall review no sooner than today.

Perhaps I'll just do it today.

From the beginning of the end to the crumbling of bridges, and everything in between, this year held the last of my academic days. I put down my pippette for the last time and chronicled the half decade of chasing the mysteries of imprinting and epigenetics into my three pound thesis as the final step. Two rounds of interviews sent me on the road for three solid weeks in the pursuit the next step in that path. But my heart wasn't in it. It entertained other options, be they diagnostics, communications or patent law. And at the disappointment of some, I saw it was time for a complete change.

In the spirit of change, I also moved to a new place with a couple of roomates. I missed having fish, and I missed having space with which to do as I please.

Never have I been in such flux...

Definitely the year of the blog for me, with two supplemental ones (Looking to be adopted, Amy Amaryllis) beyond this. 181 posts over the last 356 days. Over 50% is pretty impressive if I do say so myself. And without this backup memory, this review would not be possible, and I would have only said the year was 'fine, it was good'.

Can't wait to see 2006 in review...