The Dark Knight...line

Here I thought getting to the theater nearly two hours early would
give me an advantage. I was wrong. I've never seen a theater this
packed for a midnight showing. I'm so excited about this flick. I've
been waiting threes years for it. Tomorrow I will try and see it on
IMAX. According to everyone that is the way to see it.

Holy shit!

I stumbled upon this youtube video of a boy soprano who couldn't be much older than 11 or 12 singing Der Holle Rach from Mozart's Die Zauberflote, or more commonly known as The Magic Flute. Mind you, the notes aren't always pitch perfect and he has a minor crack here and there, but for the most part it is spot on. I just couldn't believe it. Have a view for yourself.

What's this world coming to?

To answer that pressing question, here comes the latest via the National Post. A man, I mean woman, wait I mean man, is giving birth to a child. What, don't believe me? Check it out for yourself!

Pixar's Wall E

Pixar, my favorite animation studio, is back again this coming summer. This time it's about a robot in the future called Wall-E. Frankly, I don't care what their movies are about. I'm there no matter what.

My first exposure to Pixar was several years ago when Toy Story 2 came out on VHS/DVD. My sister, my nephews, and I took a trip down to Cincinnati and they had brought it with them to watch. I had avoided seeing the Toy Story movies because I thought they were truly kids' movies. Well, they are to a certain extent, but what I realized with that first viewing was a well told story with characters that had depth and a story that could captivate children as well as adults.

After that I was hooked. Since Monsters, Inc., I have seen every Pixar film in the theaters and own all of the movies on DVD.

Wall-E is coming out this summer and I anxiously await its arrival. Have a look at the trailers. It looks like they have another winner on their hands.

Climate Change?

Count me as one of those skeptics when it comes to global warming being caused by man. Here comes an interesting article/interview from The Australian by Christopher Pearson on an interview with Michael Duffy and Jennifer Marohasy. In it, the latter two discuss some very interesting data being collected by NASA's Aqua satellite in which many of the models from the global warming freaks are not accurate at all. Have a read for yourself.

I guess this means that Al Gore's cash cow for carbon offsets might be a bust? Let's hope!

Sub Notebooks

A whole slew of companies are coming out with these sub-notebook computers for $400 or less. The most popular one is the Eee PC from Asus. There's also the Everex, which has gotten some bad reviews. Now comes one from Intel, who you might recall had a competitor to the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) computer. It's called the Eco PC and will get you a 900 mhz Celeron, 512MB ram, 40 GB hard drive, Wifi, and ethernet. Engadget has some pics of the machine.

These machines are basically internet devices. You're not going to be doing any video rendering or playing Crysis on them. So why the hell do I want one of them? Again, as I discussed with the Chumby, it's not anything I need. I have this desire to have these gadgets and anything that looks cool is something I want.

With that said, if you're looking for a notebook to have at your home that you want to be able to take around and have the ability to surf the net, these are the ideal thing for you. It won't set you back a lot and it will satisfy that desire of wanting to be always connected without having to be attached to your desktop.

One note: Keep in mind that most of these sub-notebooks, under$400 are primarily run by Linux. Asus is supposedly going to give you the ability to purchase it with Windows eventually, but that will also raise the price. So YMMV.

Theme parks aren't for me

Yesterday my wife and I decided to go to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (formerly known as Marine World) in Vallejo. My wife had asked me to go last season. I was up for it until I found out that it's a theme park. Well, we decided to go anyway and I have officially decided that theme parks just aren't for me.

I've never been a fan of the tall roller coasters. I remember when I was a kid going to Astroworld all the time and loving it. Yet, I do remember being terrified of those roller coasters that went up really high. In fact, the first time I was able to ride the Texas Cyclone at Astroworld, I screamed the entire time and had my head down as well.

First off, theme parks are a rip off! Last November we went to Seaworld in San Diego and I paid almost $50 a ticket that included a military discount that my wife's aunt got for us. Then I had to pay $10 for parking. Third, Shamu was closed that day and frankly there weren't many animals there to see. I saw more at the San Francisco Zoo. We ended up leaving after only having been there for a few hours.

So we get to Discovery Kingdom yesterday and I am forced to pay $15 for parking!!! Can you believe it?! I paid $35 a ticket online PLUS a $3 convenience fee for purchasing it online! What the hell is that? And of course when you get there, you have to go through a metal detector and have your bags searched. Fine, no problem. What are they looking for in your bags? Oh that's right! They're looking for your outside food and drinks. You're forced to pay their exorbitant prices, where they want you to pay $3.50 for a 20oz. bottle of soda!

Fine, I can accept all of this. But then all of the freaking rides were closed and didn't open until half way through the day! Even a number of their animal exhibits were closed. What a ripoff!

For the entire time that we were there, we rode a total of three rides. And those rides were relatively tame. One was a ride where you sit in a bucket cart of some sort and it spins you around and around. The second was a big boat that went back and forth, like a pendulum, gradually going higher and higher. That one did not sit well with my wife and frankly, it didn't sit well with my stomach. The third was basically a big swing that we all went around in a big circle going higher and higher.

I think this is the final lesson for me. I really don't care for theme parks. And I don't get my money's worth. I think I paid $13 a ticket for the San Francisco Zoo. I saw much more, enjoyed it and felt I got more than my money's worth. I also got to park for free.

Seriously folks, you still question capital punishment?

Unreal! How can people like this exist? I really hope this bastard gets the full punishment of the law! And no, I don't mean life in prison! I want the SOB hung by his balls!

I'm drooling

Engadget has hands on with the upcoming 2.0 firmware for the iPhone. I really hope the wait is worth it. Can't wait for June!

Ick!

As if it couldn't get any sicker for some of these politicians, comes this from Fox News:

Both former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey and his one-time driver insist that they engaged in three-way sex with McGreevey's wife, Dina Matos McGreevey, who is in the midst of a nasty divorce from from the now openly gay ex-governer.

Really, when is this crap going to end?

Democrats trying to suppress the vote again

Michigan was slapped and smacked earlier this primary season for moving their primary up in the schedule against the DNC wishes. So Barrack Obama (Hillary Clinton decided otherwise) and other democrats pulled their names from the vote since Michigan's delegates were not going to be counted.

Well, that was all well and good when it didn't matter at the time. Now it does matter since Hillary refuses to quit (Don't you just LOVE it!). And since Florida's efforts to do a another vote have failed, Michigan is trying their course.

Well, it turns out the DNC won't allow those cross over democrats that voted in the Republican primary a chance to vote if this possible do-over happens. According to the AP, "Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer says the party has the right - and the responsibility - to prevent non-Democrats from having a say in who the party's presidential nominee should be." And here I always thought it was Karl Rove that was the master mind behind voter suppression.