Christmas concert

I went to the overture center to see the Christmas Spectacular concert. It was the first time I saw Kyle Ketelsen and other things. My sister was exited and I was waiting for the cold tablets to kick in.

We got the nosebleed section, much to my love of heights. The music was professionally done and my favorite part was when they replayed a very pretty song. I never heard gospel singers live, and they will perform at my school later on.

Afterwards, we stopped at my Dad's office, which is always fun. My sister did not like doing so for reasons I could not understand. At least it was quieter.

Climbing Higher

My favorite moment in Civil Air Patrol is when my group went to Boulders Climbing Gym in Madison. I had different partners each time, few of them reached the top of a climbing wall. I reached the top of every climbing wall I was on, except for one that did not have ropes that I was able to get a grip on long enough for a potential photo. It was there that I learned how to climb a rope, putting one foot under the rope and one foot over it.

It was there that I learned phrases like, "On belay, belay on, climbing, climb on, tension, tension on, lower me, lowering," and other terms. most of the time I tried to get the cinematic, but not so hard fall, but I was too slender to get the right effect. I still got it to work. Most of my friends there were impressed at what I was able to do, but I did not get the opportunity to climb walls that had no pulleys or belays and had to be tethered by figure-8 knots. Most others seemed to be afraid of heights, but I felt like I did not get too may opportunities. It was still fun.

A lesson for fairy tale stepmothers

In German class we are studying German fairy tales, like Show White (Schneewittchen). They are good and better than Disney, but even some of the original characters and places are often one-dimensional and that is not really a bad thing. That was the norm in those days.
Here's some advice for anyone studying to be a fairy tale villain(ess):

1.Do not get angry over someone is prettier than you, unless he/she is a potential threat to you winning the fashion show. Just ask for advice from the prettier one, especially if the one in question is your stepdaughter.
2.Make sure the hunter you sent after someone is doing his job by overseeing him/her and threatening to hunt him/her if he doesn't do his job.
3.Make sure the fugitive you're after has nowhere to run that has dwarfs, if anything.
4.Use a poison that stays in the body and not one that leaves when the poison source is removed.

Now I have one piece of advice for damsels in distress: If you fell for a trick more than once, take the hint next time!

Most of these character quirks are forgivable because it was the norm of children stories in the Grimm Brothers era.

Learning the ropes

Over the weekend I was at a camp where we got the chance to go on high ropes (which were 40 feet off the ground). We had extensive safety measures and harnesses that took a minute to put on. I had to travel with two others when I wanted to go alone. My partners got the hang of it after I got the hang of it at first try. I guess I move faster alone.

Later, we went onto a climbing wall. I had little success on my first try and I later tried again with another pair of shoes and made it. I learned the new meaning of foot-binding.

Housecoming Windowpaint

Along with my high school's German club I was painting the local bike shop's windows for homecoming. We painted a cardinal with blue Lederhosen, Belgian flag instead of the German flag, and black boots. He was frying a bratwurst with a Purple Knight's helmet on it and letters saying, "Roasting the (Knight)wurst" with "brat" crossed off. Everyone had doughnuts for the hard work in the cold.

Airborn of CAP

I went on an O-Flight (Orientation flight) from Civil Air Patrol and flew a small light plane. I could get to a favorite national park in ten minutes on that plane. only trouble is that it feels like my brother's car.

Bargain Branded

During many garage sales that I visited I found some interesting things that could be useful for me. Over time, I noticed that the people running the sale randomly let me get for free, despite me asking them if it is a good idea. Some of them say that it is because I am a good boy preparing for life, that it is useful for me to have, and other things along those lines. It does not feel fair.

If there is something being sold that looks good, consider why they (The sellers) are trying to get rid of it. It may only work for a short time, long enough to demonstrate, or they just want to get it off their hands.

There have also been times when the way things that are being sold are wasteful, like buying an iMac and ditching a perfectly good monitor that could be useful, or a perfectly good iPhone 3 for an iPhone 4. That is what most Apple users are like, trying to get the best technology, whereas I am the kind who would use what ever is at hand and use it to its best. It saves money and I know better to just buy a better object than what I already have for a newer model. I sometimes tell people who are selling those sorts of things that it would be better if they kept it because it is still useful. By the way, the person selling the iPhone is the wife of a co-worker of mine in the school district office tech department, so we both are fond of computers.

The day I bought an Xbox 360 secondhand that smelt like cigarettes was the same day I bought six more desktops that I could repair and donate. Why not keep what is working fine and fix what doesn't work and not be so quick to buy a new model for the sake of being up to date? It is like the old saying, "If it is not broken, why fix it?" As I would say, "If it is working well, why replace it?"

The Hairrier Harry: My review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2

My friend and I saw Harry Potter 7 part 2 in 3D before he left for school. I never saw the first part but I read the whole book. It was one of the best HP films to date and had plenty of cool effects and one-liners.

The story was very much the same with the book (basically) and had to be changed to fit the film. There were times when the film was better than the book, for example the robbing of Gringotts was better in the film (I won't spoil anything about it, even though it was at the beginning and I won't spoil anything else).

The 3D was fuzzy at times, but the story lent itself well to the 3D. The times the film diverged from the book really could have got the same results if the scene was the same as the book. Apart from that, the film was brilliant and deserves 8.7 out of 10 stars.

Desktopping everyone

I collected seven desktops over the summer and am imaging them. In the process, I am learning about the operating systems and hardware.

The first computer that I imaged (at home and not at work) I called "Brie," after Brian, who gave it to me.

Here's some advice to those wiping another's computer: No matter how interesting the files on the computer you are wiping are, do not go probing around his/her hard disc drive(HDD), especially if they have files on them. It is impolite, a violation of his/her privacy, and a good way to open a virus accidentally. I figured this out the easy way, and did not go probing his HDD. Anything of interest, like recipes, he could tell me himself.

Phantom editorials

I heard that George Lucas is planning to convert Star Wars 1 into 3D and I could tell where this is going. I hope he saw the Phantom Edits (which have scenes cut out and some have Jar Jar's silly talking voiced over and subtitled) and knows what to cut out of the final product. He said when he first saw the screening of the film, "I think I might have overdone it in a few places," and continued to overdo it in those places in the following films. Some scenes could benefit from 3D but the story and dialogue certainly won't.

Facebooked

When I go onto Facebook every now and then, I sometimes find myself getting invitations from friend and of events I was never aware of.  In fact, I am getting more invitations than I can attend.

Why I look for graphics in film

I am very fond of 3D computer graphics because I used 3D CAD and animation software in school and own five different copies of 3D graphics programs.  Here is the list of the programs I have at home:
Solidworks Student Version: A Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Program that I learned how to use in school.
Blender: An open-source 3D animation and sculpting program which is becoming more like Maya.
Messiah Studio: Used in a Harry Potter film and is difficult to find modeling tutorials of.  Dad bought it for $40 from Messiah studio as part of a promotion (They must be getting desperate).  It has a built-in stereoscopic rendering feature but everything it can do Blender can do.
Sculptris: A free Sculpting program and is the sister product of ZBrush, used to make the Na'vi in Avatar.

At school we use 3DS Max from Autodesk to make video games and animated videos and we use Solidworks.

Because I know so much about 3D graphics and CGI in modern films, I devote much attention to it.  When I find some CGI in a film it could either ruin the authenticity of the scene, just look cool, or advance the story.  In new films and TV, CGI is so commonplace that no one bothers to spend a cent on storytelling, which I also look for.

Sweepsteaks

One favorite recipe of mine is cola-marinated steak which I make for cookouts.  It is quite flavorful and tastes better with two tablespoons of Louisiana hot sauce.  One of my sisters thought that it packed a punch when others thought it was just good-tasting.  There is no accounting for taste, then.

I made a double batch today because tomorrow we will celebrate a family friend's birthday.  I used up all the hot sauce bottles; I can't wait to taste the steak.

By the way, the cola makes a great tenderizer.

Four to my Four to Doomsday review

My brother and I enjoy watching Doctor Who episodes in our spare time and the last one I saw was called "Four to Doomsday."  It is a fifth Doctor episode and made up of four separately aired episodes that aren't seamlessly reconstructed, which adds four minutes to viewing.  It also had no CGI since it was from the late 1970s-early 1980s, making it harder to watch for a guy like me who used five 3D graphics software and knows the names and features of no less than ten other ones.  It also had a lot to be desired, though I liked most of it.  I will not spoil anything important, but the ending was my favorite part. 

The first part opens with the Tardis, a disappearing Port-A-John* that is bigger on the inside than the outside, popping up on a strange ship with advanced technology that is mostly outdated by now.  The air is unbreathable and the air helmets that the Tardis has look rudimentary even by scuba gear standards (They head no faceplate that might reflect the camera).  The Doctor and his three companions prepare to leave the Tardis and the three companions disobey the Doctor and bicker.  After a long wait and everyone following every opening door, our heroes meet Monarch, Enlightenment, and Persuasion who are strong beings who are ugly until you hand Enlightenment and Persuasion a picture-then it gets creepy.  Later on, the Doctor discovers immortal "humans" that remain immortal as long as components last and an evil plan to travel faster than light and conquer the world. 

The episode is slow at first and gets better as you wait; albeit you would get bored in the process of waiting.  It is quickly apparent throughout the whole episode that characterization and characters' judgment were not the writer(s)' strong points.  Adric, a companion of the Doctor's, is incredibly stupid in this episode.  For example, he does not always know when a story told by Monarch is full of holes (Especially since Adric looks to be older than 21) and sides with him. 
Apart from that, there is a "poison" that merely shrinks a person to smaller than a grain of sand that should really be called a "Reducing Agent."  How do the frogs that secrete it resist it?  That way it can be countered.

The ship itself is lavishly detailed and the acting was exceptionally good, especially in the recreational performances.  There is a space scene in part four that looks more like a man swimming in space.  It was so bad it was funny and for that reason I love part four.  I liked some of the other effects creators were able to muster, like the Doctor reversing magnetic fields and spinning floating eyes in their places.  I also liked the live frogs that were obviously tree frogs and not poison dart frog (from Earth, of course) and Monarch's advanced technology being thwarted by the Tardis' own.  Because of a boring beginning of the show, as well as the poor judgment and characterization in the first three episodes, I am giving Doctor Who: Four to Doomsday as a whole 4 out of 10 stars, proportional to my favorite part of the episode, episode four, which is worth 8.4 stars.

*Police box, really.

An emerging technology

I saw a Wikipedia article on Anti-Gravity and I am not quite sure how well it will take off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-gravity

Jurassic Parking Ticket, my review of the first Jurassic Park film

When my sister was getting her hair dyed at my older siblings' house, we decided to watch a movie.  After refusing one option my sisters agreed on Jurassic Park.  I did not watch all of it because I was reading a D&D book but I saw enough to write a review.

Plot in a nutshell:
The film is Steven Spielberg's (1946-present) adaption of a book by Michael Crichton (1942-2008) and is about a scientist who finds a way to clone back dinosaurs and wants to make a theme park and a wildlife preserve for them.  It opens up with a forklift carrying a raptor into the park and a slight security breech occurs and a worker dies.  In the next scene a paleontologist and some of his associates found themselves invited to see this park.  They accept the offer and went to it.  Meanwhile, the park's head programmer is hired by a company to steal the dinosaur embryos and deliver them to a rendezvous point.  Later, our heroes end up on the island, learn about how the dinosaurs are cloned, and find themselves in a security breach and everything goes wrong.  I will stop here.

What I liked:
I only watched the film to see the software used to animate the dinosaurs but I saw plenty of strong points in the film's plot.  For example I like the way the cloning was explained and how the scientists filled in the genetic gaps with toad DNA and made the dinosaurs all female.  This method proves problematic since toads can change genders under some conditions and female T-rexes are known to be aggressive, like males (according to Walking With Dinosaurs, which is mostly speculation). The changes in the DNA over the course of the film, when some dinosaurs changed genders like amphibians might, is to be expected in cloning.

I also like many of the lines; it was well-written and funny on occasion.  The character's changes throughout the story were very good. At the end the scientist finally accepting the fact that Jurassic Park was too big of a safety and financial hazard to be open to the public. They also do not want to know what will happen if a third party got a hold of the DNA, embryos, and methods, like some characters tried to do.

Even though most of the dinosaurs were from the Cretaceous period, it would not be a dinosaur film without them.  Sadly, there are no Triassic dinosaurs in the film.

The soundtrack is amazing and does set the mood very well,after all, it is John Williams' score.

What could have been improved upon:
I noticed just how willing everyone was to cut corners when building the park.  There were few safe houses, good weapons, and people using common sense.  At the beginning a worker was pulled into a raptor's cage when there should have been more safety catches and restraining equipment, like and extra wall, fence, or screen between person and dinosaur. One other problem is that the dinosaurs were not fitted with tracking devices or shock collars to keep them from escaping; perhaps it would ruin the authenticity of the place.  There were no safe rooms to keep emergency radios and guns in case of a breech and the ones that are were designed to hid a dinosaur in.  The employees were not always accounted for or watched well.  They could have kept armed helicopters to round up dinosaurs instead of mere Jeeps and poor-quality security systems.  Characterization was a small flaw, but not enough to ruin the film, and is understandable. 

Conclusion:
Jurassic Park is a lesson in security and in maintenance.  I liked it, but I can name more strengths and weaknesses.  I will give the film some credit and I am giving Jurassic park a 7.8 out of 10 rating.  I recommend the film to those who like survival films, dinosaur films, Steven Spielberg films, and/or John Williams' soundtrack.

Apps

My dad and I were talking about tablet computer apps.  Could anyone think of a possible app for an Etcha-Sketch?