Australian Open Finale / There Will Be Blood

Before I begin, I'd like to make a quick announcement that I've posted my Assassin's Creed review just a few minutes ago.

The Australian Open came to a close today as Novak Djokovic pulled off an impressive victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Djokovic, a heavy favorite, dropped the first set, but then cruised to three straight to win the match. I really like Djokovic and wish him continued success.

Ordinarily I wouldn't talk too much about golf, but Tiger Woods just posted one of the most dominant performances of his career, winning the Buick Open by 8 strokes. There is some significant buzz as to whether or not he can win a calendar Grand Slam this year. I for one fully believe in Tiger's ability, especially his rock solid mental toughness. Best of luck, Tiger.

Arsenal got back in action yesterday, and achieved a solid 3-0 result against Newcastle United in FA Cup 4th round play. Emmanuel Adebayor continues to impress me as one of Arsenal's finest players in many years. He scored twice, in the 50th and 84th minutes to give Arsenal a 2-0 lead. Cesc Fabregas took an excellent free kick in the 88th minute which was headed into the goal by Newcastle's own Nicky Butt (what an unfortunate surname...).

Finally, I'd like to make a comment on There Will Be Blood. This film is so extraordinary that it made me wish to see it a second time straightaway after my first viewing. I was absolutely glued to the screen for the full 2 hours and 38 minutes. Daniel Day-Lewis gives one of the greatest performances of the modern film era, he is nothing short of transcendent. Day-Lewis simply must win the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role, the other nominees do not even come close. Paul Dano also plays his part with exceptional skill and looks poised to be part of the next generation of great actors. This movie is so powerful and overwhelming that it is destined to stay with you long after you watch it. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Cheers.

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A Few Points

After a brief absence, I have a few things to talk about again. I just finished Assassin's Creed (360) and I must say that it was a massive letdown. There is almost nothing about this game that I would consider impressive. It is extremely repetitive and boring, so I'm going to have to suggest you avoid this one.

The new semester has just begun, which is why I've been absent for a few days. Genetics is wonderfully interesting; my professor is an eccentric Italian chap with shaggy hair. I finally get to go inside the Genetics-Biotech building... hooray! Gen-Bio is one of the newest buildings on the UW campus; it's a state of the art, multi-million dollar research facility. It quite scratches my science/nerd itch.

I also picked up the remastered version of Casablanca on HD DVD. It is in 4:3, but it looks AMAZING for a 70+ year old film. Casablanca remains one of the finest cinematic achievements of all time, and indeed one of the top 5 greatest movie stories ever. I could not be more impressed with the remaster and I highly recommend it.

A quick recap of the Australian Open- Maria Sharapova easily cruised past Ana Ivanovic, 7-5, 6-3 for a convincing victory in the Women's Final. Sharapova completed one of the greatest tournament runs in recent memory, failing to drop even a single set. In the Men's draw, Novak Djokovic stunned world #1 Roger Federer, defeating the Swiss master in straight sets. Federer's legendary run of 10 straight Grand Slam final appearances has finally ended. Djokovic, the feisty Serb, is quickly becoming a fan favorite due to his emotional flare and humorous, lighthearted approach to the game. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, an unseeded Frenchman, upset world #2 Rafael Nadal in an absolutely mindblowing performance. Tsonga played out of his mind- I've simply never seen a better show. This sets up an intriguing final of Tsonga vs. Djokovic, with Djokovic entering as the heavy favorite. This match will be one to watch and is sure to be filled with surprises.

Finally, I'd like to say a few words about the current internet war against Scientology. No religion is wrong and everyone on this earth is entitled to believe what they wish. If you are a Christian, or Muslim, or Buddhist, or you believe in the flying spaghetti monster (real religion... Google it) it is of your own free will that you choose to believe.

The Church of Scientology is a cult whose rammifications are terrifying. They degrade any member outside of their church, and church law gives members freedom to cause any necessary harm to non-Scientologists. The Co$ is a sham designed to make money and ruin lives.

Anonymous, a group of hackers, has declared war on the Co$, and has already brought down several Scientology websites with denial of service attacks (DDoS). Anon has already made news with their deeds. I implore you to get educated, and read any information as it becomes available. All religions should make their private documents to the public and they do not have the right to silence and suppress critics or non-believers. The church has even gone so far as to insist that Jesus was a pedophile among other absurd statements of slander. Furthermore, the church is responsible for numerous deaths as well as other disgusting acts of human abuse. John Travolta will not treat his severely autistic child because he does not believe in psychological disorders. Please assist in the spread of information in any way you can, it is essential for change.

"Knowledge is Free.
We Are Anonymous. We Are Legion. We do not Forgive. We do not Forget.
Expect Us."

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Australian Open / Arsenal

The last few days have been just phenomenal at the Australian Open. Andy Roddick was upset by 29th seeded Phillipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in a marathon 5 setter. The match was absolutely sensational and some of the best tennis I have ever seen. The winner/unforced error spread was roughly +100 and each player had over 30 aces. Roddick lost after an absurd psychological meltdown in which he accused the head line judge of having a "second grade education" and being "a complete idiot."

World number 1 Roger Federer was tested today by Janko Tipsarevic, an unseeded player from Serbia-Montenegro. The match was a grueling 5 set match which Federer barely survived. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia's golden boy, also survived a difficult 5 setter, prevailing over Marcos Baghdatis. James Blake is the only American man left in the tournament, moving into the 4th round by defeating Sebastian Grosjean, the spirited Frenchman.

In the women's draw, Justine Henin, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, and Jelena Jankovic earned the first four positions in the quarterfinals. Sharapova looks especially dominant, not dropping a set in the entire tournament.

Arsenal had a delightful match against Fulham, with Emmanuel Adebayor scoring twice and Tomas Rosicky scoring late for a 3-0 thrashing at Craven Cottage. Adebayor scored in the 19th minute on a high cross made from the baseline by Gael Clichy. Adebayor scored a second goal in the 37th minute on another header, this time off a ball played by Alexander Hleb. Arsenal went into the intermission with a comfortable lead and came out in the second half with a bounce in their step. The final goal of the match came on a superb pass from Eduardo to a streaking Rosicky who thundered home a volley just 9 minutes from the end of the match.

Unfortunately, both Chelsea and Manchester United both obtained 3 points in their respective matches and ManU was able to maintain its "lead" over Arsenal in the premiership (wins tiebreaker...) with 54 points. Arsenal can look forward to in a fairly mediocre opponent, Newcastle, on the 29th while ManU play a disciplined Portsmouth squad in their next match on the 30th. Go Gunners!

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Macworld 2008 Roundup

Today is probably the best day of the year to be an Apple fan. Macworld 2008 kicked off as always with Steve Jobs giving the keynote. Steve's keynote was again nothing short of epic. He began by summarizing 2007. A few tidbits:


-In just 200 days, Apple has gained 19.5% of the US market on ALL smartphones. The iPhone has eclipsed Nokia, Palm, and Moto COMBINED.
-4 million iPhones have been sold, averaging 20K/day.


-iTunes sold its 4 billionth song in 2007 with 20 million songs being sold on Christmas day alone, setting the all-time single day record.

Then the announcements started. Firmware 1.1.3 was revealed for the iPhone! It has really helped clean up my home screen and I enjoy playing with the new maps features quite a bit. I also noticed a slight performance boost after the firmware update process. iTunes movie rentals (both SD and HD) were announced and they will now sync with Apple TV version 2. If you have been waiting to pick an HD format (pick Blu-ray!) now is a great time to find out what you've been missing. Apple has support from ALL major movie studios and will be offering HD rentals for just $4.99 (new release) or $3.99 (catalog). The HD rental store launches with over 100 titles and is available immediately via the iTunes 7.6 software update.

The Apple TV got a massive software update (to interface with the new rental store) and a price cut (down to $229). Time Capsule, the new wireless backup hard drive that will interface with Time Machine was announced next. It will come in 2 sizes, 500 GB ($299) and 1 TB ($499). Finally, the iPod Touch will be updated with mail, maps, stocks, notes, and weather, but it will cost $20 for the upgrade (kind of weak if you ask me).


Of course Steve saved the best for last. He announced the MacBook Air, the newest laptop in the MacBook line. It is an ULTRA thin, ULTRA portable version of the MacBook Pro. At its thinnest point, it is .16", and at its thickest point, its just .76". The MacBook Air is the definition of sexy. It is offered in 2 standard configurations, 1.6 GHz Core 2 Duo ULV / 80 GB HDD for $1799 or a 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo ULV / 64 GB SSD option for $3098. Both models come with 2 GB RAM and can be customized based on your needs.

The MacBook Air is priced extremely competitively and has enough features to easily dominate the sub-notbook market and makes a superior alternative to similarly sized Sony and Toshiba notebooks (both are priced at over $2500).

Cheers to all my Apple fans out in the interwebs!

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Movie Marathon

There wasn't a whole lot going on today. Wisconsin sure has great weather...

So, I made it a movie day. Catch my thoughts after the break.

The Great Debaters- Excellent. Denzel Washington's finest inspirational-type film. Denzel makes two different types of movies: the crime/gangster movie or the inspirational drama. As far as inspirational dramas go, this is one of the finest from the genre for many years. Well scripted, well cast, and excellent cinematography.

The Lives of Others- Another instant classic, The Lives of Others is a German language film that won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. It certainly deserves the award in my opinion. The story focuses on Georg Dreyman, a playwright, in the GDR during the Communist oppression of East Germany. Many Americans are unfamiliar with this story since so little information made it out of East Germany during the late 1980s. The stasi regulated every piece of information in the country and imprisoned or killed many citizens that disagreed with the pro-socialist political party that ran the GDR. The story is one that needs to be told and is acted out with such conviction and emotion that it will stay with you long after you see it. A thrilling and engaging masterpiece, The Lives of Others should not be missed. The film is available on Blu-ray; it offers quality picture and crystal clear sound- a great addition to your collection.

3:10 to Yuma- A remake of the classic Western film of the same name (1957), 3:10 to Yuma stars Christian Bale and Russell Crowe. A gritty and brutal story that follows Ben Wade (Crowe in his finest performance since Gladiator) as a merciless killer on his way to take the 3:10 train to Yuma prison. He is escorted by a rag-tag group of men led by Dan Evans (Bale), a desperate man trying to save his family by earning $200 for his services. As with most westerns, the base themes of good vs. evil and man vs. himself become apparent within just a few minutes. The blood flows freely and so do the bullets in a good old fashioned shoot-'em-up. I thoroughly enjoyed Crowe, who exudes all kinds of charm and plays a deep and enjoyable character in Ben Wade. Bale did a fine job of acting his part, but there were so many times where I groaned asking "what are you DOING?" His decisions seem silly and unrealistic, especially in the film's 3rd act. 3:10 to Yuma is very entertaining and the best western in many years, but not without its flaws. The video transfer to the Blu-ray leaves a little bit to be desired with some strange compression artifacts and minor grain. The audio is fantastic however, making this another winner for Blu-ray.

I'm out.

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Good Day.

I just posted my review of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune on GameSpot. I found it an ultimately enjoyable experience and awarded it an 8.5/10. My full review can be found here.

I also just finished I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert. It was highly amusing and one of the funniest books on store shelves at the moment. Jon Stewart's book, America: The Book, is indeed funnier and slightly more enjoyable in comparison.

Today was pretty much father-son day and it was good times. We hit the tennis courts, some furniture stores (looking for a sweet new chair), Boston's, and the movie theater for Charlie Wilson's War. It was a great film, quick witted and funny, and one of Tom Hanks' finest performances. Julia Roberts is as caustic as she's ever been and simply drains the humor out of most of the scenes in which she appears. Philip Seymour Hoffman gives a sublime performance and deserves a nod for Best Supporting Actor for this film. War has a good script with a very strong beginning and middle but an end that wimps out and really keeps the overall film from true greatness. To conclude, Charlie Wilson's War is flawed but indeed quite enjoyable.

Cheers.

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What a Day

The Big Ten has never disappointed me quite as much as it has this year. Wisconsin lost in a game of too many missed opportunities, Illinois was humiliated at the hands of USC, and Ohio State was just handily defeated by LSU tonight in the BCS National Championship game. It was especially frustrating after watching OSU go up 10-0 with barely 3 minutes gone in the first quarter and then allow LSU 31 unanswered points. This of course continues to lend credibility to commentators who slam the Big Ten, which many of them have undertaken as something of a personal hobby (especially on ESPN). Better luck next year I suppose. I would like to say that this year more than any other makes it painfully obvious that we NEED a playoff at the end of the season to determine the true #1 team in the nation. I think that surely Georgia, USC, Kansas, Missouri, and most of all West Virginia deserve a chance to prove themselves as potentially being the nation's best. I do not think that LSU was clearly the best team this year, especially when you consider the fact that they lost. Twice. And one of those losses was to an unranked team. Bah.

Earlier in the morning, I watched Shoot 'Em Up. Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti are absolutely brilliant actors (especially Owen in Sin City and Children of Men and Giamatti in Sideways), but even their presence could not save this poorly scripted and poorly directed pile of cinematic manure. The CGI is atrocious, the fight scenes are horrendously choreographed and the dialog seems to have been written by an angry teenager who has just learned curse words for the very first time. I don't think I have been so... disappointed by a film for a long time. I frankly cannot believe how well people review this film on IMDB... it makes me sad that people enjoy such rubbish.

And of course after the game, I finished up Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction on the PS3. It is one of the system's finest games and I quite enjoyed myself. You can catch my review here.

That's it for me.

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Reign Over Me / Nintendo Wii

I just got done watching Reign Over Me with the family. I must say that until this movie, Adam Sandler has done nothing of value in his career. I wish I could have been the moderator in Billy Madison to tell Mr. Sandler that we "are all dumber for having listened to you and may God have mercy on your soul". Every time I watch Adam Sandler, I feel the intelligence being drained from my body. With that said, the pain and sadness that he was able to convey in this film is nothing short of extraordinary. He almost redeems himself for the years of garbage and appears to be a credible actor. I was as close to crying as I think I'm ever going to get. Well done, Mr. Sandler.

On a side note, I found this little nugget- apparently Queen Elizabeth herself is addicted to the Nintendo Wii. God Save the Queen... haha.

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Pan's Labyrinth

In the wee hours of the morning, I decided to give Pan's Labyrinth a spin. I had not seen this movie all the way through, and I certainly had never seen it in HD. The Blu-ray does an outstanding job of conveying the different color motifs as the palettes change radically between the different settings in the film. The HD transfer was excellent overall and I have no serious complaints. The film itself is visually stunning and well acted. Captain Vidal makes for just about the most evil villain in recent memory and Ivana Baquero gives a particularly good performance as the young and imaginative Ofelia.

The Wisconsin Men's Basketball team beat Iowa yesterday, which is more good news. After the Broncos disappointing season, I need some sports victories. The win consolidated the Badgers #25 ranking and will hopefully allow them to move somewhere up near #20. And today, Arsenal produced a convincing FA Cup win over Burnley, 2-0. Youngster Nicklas Bendtner scored his first goal in several games, while Eduardo continues to prove his worth as an all-star striker by scoring his sixth goal in the last four matches. Go Gunners!

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XKCD

First of all, if you are not familiar with XKCD, I suggest you check it out. It is one of my favorite webcomics. Now then, if you are in fact familiar with the strip, you probably know about the captions that are sometimes more humorous than the comic itself. Sometimes the caption doesn't all pop in when you hover your mouse over the image, so you just have to look at the source code to see the rest of it. Today was one such day. At the bottom of the source code for the page, I ran across this little nugget: "We did not invent the algorithm. The algorithm consistently finds Jesus. The algorithm killed Jeeves. The algorithm is banned in China. The algorithm is from Jersey. The algorithm constantly finds Jesus. This is not the algorithm. This is close." I thought that was pretty much hilarious.

...I'm a nerd, I know.

Also, while I'm on the topic of webcomics, the last two days of Crtl + Alt + Del have been especially funny. The current storyline is that Ethan is extremely addicted to Everquest II and cannot be reasonable about it. The house is trying to let him play a new MMO after a lengthy ban on all games from the genre. The first day involves breaking Ethan's addiction and the second day follows with Lucas' complete disbelief.

Cheers.

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Warner goes Blu-ray!

Warner Bros. has decided that it will now support Blu-ray only instead of HD-DVD and Blu-ray together. This is HUGE news, placing over 70% of all major studio support in Blu-ray's corner.

Hit the link for more info: Blu-ray FTW.

In response, HD DVD has CANCELED their CES showing: HD DVD pouts.

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Rock Band and 2007 Roundup

So my replacement guitar came today via UPS. I finally have a Rock Band guitar that works. Thanks EA... would have been better to get it right the first time. Anyhow, I'd like to post my 2007 roundup for the best (and worst) of the year.

Music

Best- Cease to Begin- Band of Horses, Icky Thump- The White Stripes, Neon Bible- The Arcade Fire
Worst- Blackout -Britney Spears, souljaboytellem.com -Soulja Boy, The Duchess -Fergie

Movies

Best- Juno, No Country For Old Men, Ratatouille
Worst- Spiderman 3, Alien vs. Predator- Requiem, National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Video Games

Best- BioShock (360), Mass Effect (360), Rock Band (36o, PS3, PS2), Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3), Super Mario Galaxy (Wii), The Orange Box (360, PC), Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)
Worst- Ninjabread Man (Wii)

Technology

Best- Apple iPhone
Worst- Windows Vista

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Picasso

I couldn't resist sharing this quote:

There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.
-Pablo Picasso

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Juno

So, my New Year's Resolution was to create a blog. I believe this qualifies. I'd like to make my first post about the film Juno, which I just watched tonight with some good friends. It is a heartfelt, well written film with deft wit. I was thoroughly impressed and give it my highest recommendation. I truly believe that it was the finest film of 2007.

I'd also like to say how pleased I am to see Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama take the Iowa caucuses... if the 2008 Presidential race is between them, I will be sure to follow it especially closely.

I also picked up The Complete Collector's Edition of Blade Runner recently. This is probably the best science fiction film ever made, and competes admirably with The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the title of best cult classic of all time. I purchased the 5 disc set on Blu-ray and I could not be more impressed. The video transfer is extraordinary and makes the film look like it was finished just a year ago. The audio is brilliant as well providing a truly cinematic experience. The special features make the special feature set off of every other DVD in existence pale in comparison. With 2 full discs of bonus features including one mammoth 3 hour + documentary, any Blade Runner fan will not be disappointed.

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