Pictures of my car

So I was taking some pictures of my car (which is a 2010 silver Toyota Scion tC) to use as my banner image for the Facebook timeline layout the other day and thought I'd upload a few of my favorite shots here. Because that's what you're supposed to do with a blog, right?

So I finally started using Rainmeter

So after seeing many desktop threads on the 4chan boards /g/ and /wg/ I decided to try out this whole "rainmeter" thing on my second monitor instead of using Microsoft Windows gadgets. So far I must say I'm really happy with how they work. Finding a good skin and customizing the code to be the proper color takes a bit of tweaking (the clock used black font when I downloaded the skin, for example) but in the end looks a lot ricier and sleeker than Windows Gadgets.

And as for performance issues, I haven't noticed any random spikes in CPU usage when doing simple tasks on my desktop. I still don't think I'd want to install something like this on my Intel Celeron HP laptop, but I'm definitely keeping it on my 990t desktop.

If you guys know any other good skins to add to this monitor let me know... there's a lot of empty space to fill!

Click here to download Rainmeter for yourself; its free! 

Why do I love "Drive" so much?

Drive is a fantastic movie. I've seen most of the "film of the year" considerations for 2011 (including A Separation, 50/50, Water for Elephants, and The Another Earth) but Drive really takes the cake for me.

Everything in Drive is so memorable, and for me that's rare in films today (aside from comedies). I'll be quoting "want a toothpick?" and "my hands are a little dirty" for a long time after seeing this film. The characters themselves are all so cliche, but in a way that's obviously intentional and memorable. The actors all play into the mob-boss, out-of-jail husband, shy neighbor, and sensitive nice-guy stereotype characters the movie creates, and I love all of it.

The movie's plot itself is a bit of a mystery. In the first ten minutes, the audience is led to believe they're watching a mainstream action flick with get-away driving scenes and criminal protagonists. As the film progresses toward the middle, though, the focus turns Drive into a film about romance and desire despite the situation, which heavy emphasis on subtext rather than words to describe Ryan Gosling's feelings for his new neighbor and her son. Then, when you think you've figured the movie out, it gets flipped on it's head and suddenly it's all about revenge and anger, featuring some ultra-violent fights and murders that are far from the usual light-hearted karate-fights of mainstream action films. And then at the end, the focus is moved back to Gosling and his neighbor, and what really caring about someone means.

I've only watched this movie three times, but I really feel good about calling it my favorite film of 2011 already. I already pre-ordered my BluRay copy and am excited about seeing the director's cut version. I've only seen Ryan Gosling in this, The Notebook, and Blue Valentine, but I assure you I'll be watching out for him in future films from here on.

In short, I really love this movie, and you should definitely either torrent it now, or wait for it's late-January Blu Ray and DVD release.

50/50 review

I really went into 50/50 with high expectations. I had heard a lot of good things about it and I do like Seth Rogan. However after seeing the film for myself, I have to say I'm a little dissapointed.

Spoilers ahead!

The whole film was pretty cut-and-dry. I was never really surprised by any part of the film. Guy gets cancer. Girlfriend's an asshole. Guy breaks up with girlfriend. Get's hot psychiatrist. Psychiatrist is new girlfriend. Cancer goes away. I know it's a romantic comedy but knowing how the film will end half-way through is boring to say the least. 

I really want to love a film with cancer and weed, but I just can't bring myself to do it.

On the positive side I kind of expected Seth Rogan to steal the spotlight and kind of smother the other characters, but he really fit well as a sidekick to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays the cancer-striken protagonist Adam. He really does well as a lead character and does a great acting job later in the film when he has his emotional breakdown. 

Solid characters and good acting aside, the see-through plot makes this nothing more than a decent romantic comedy. 

2/5

MineCraft 1.8: the good and bad

So I may be a little late to the pros/cons post on MineCraft 1.8, since 1.9 has already been leaked, but there are still a few things I'd like to share my opinion on.


Good: random villages/underground mine shafts
After an hour or so of exploring in MineCraft's survival mode, I only came across one random village. After another half hour, I only saw one underground mine shaft. What I'm trying to say here is that these randomly generated structures are unique enough to make the exploration of MineCraft more interesting, without being so frequent that it makes seeing one seem like a common event (*cough* squids *cough*).


Good: hunger
When making your shelter in MineCraft to protect yourself from enemy mobs of the night, it got to a point where you created an unbreakable fortress that provided no sense of danger for the player. With the introduction of hunger, the player is forced to leave their shelter if they want to regenerate health, adding a subtle but welcome bit of depth to the game.

Bad: Endorman
Endorman at this point stand out like a sore thumb. They are much taller than other mobs and are far too frequent. I like the idea of a mob that only attacks when your eyes meet, but seeing them everywhere takes away from the fun. Ideally, I want to see one Endorman every 3 days in MineCraft.

Good/Bad: creative mode
I love creative mode. It's a perfect, simple way to make all the awesome structures you want in MineCraft without the need to hunt for supplies or use InvEdit. The fact that it works in online servers is even cooler. That basically means without having to mod your server, spawn resources every time a player asks for it, or have every player mod their own game, you just have to switch the game-mode in your server file to "1" and you're all set for a productive build server.

The bad part of creative mode is the flying; instead of stopping as soon as you let go of the directional key (as you do while walking and with the Zombe flymod) you have a slide-float that makes you overshoot your target every time, sort of like you're walking on ice. It's an exasperating decision that makes building elevated structures more complex than it should be.

Happy 47th birthday Keanu Reeves!

In honor of Keanu Reeves 47th birthday (September 2nd 1964-2011), I thought I'd pick up a cake to eat with a friend in celebration. It's not much, but hats off all the same to my favorite actor of all time.

Vanilla cherry Drumsticks are the shit

Hey bros. I know I haven't posted on my Blog in awhile, but I'd just like to say that Vanilla Cherry sprinkled Drumsticks are basically the shit.