Beijing 2008

Starting with the earth-shattering opening ceremonies, this year's Summer Olympics have been an incredible ride. Aside from all the (understandable) buzz surrounding Michael Phelps and the rough start that the U.S. gymnastics team is having: there's already been a lot of excitement. My girlfriend and I found ourselves engrossed in a live broadcast of the Women's Road cycling competition over the internet in the "wee-hours" of Sunday morning. Before watching this event, I didn't think it would be possible to be sucked into watching such a marathon to the finish. Another pleasant surprise: how many events have been aired live during prime-time (in US Pacific Standard Time ... whereas, folks on the east coast aren't so fortunate). Of course, we can't forgot all the cool new architecture (such as the gem shown here: known as the Water Cube).

Correction (8/18): Kudos to those who caught on to the fine-print of NBC's rather deceptive "LIVE" indicator. It appears that us on the West Coast are viewing "LIVE" broadcasts that are actually three hours old. It took a few spoilers over the radio before I figured this one out.

Pass on "The Happening" ... but see Wall·E

I've been hitting the theaters an awful lot the last several months. And with Indiana Jones 4, a welcomed addition to the legendary francise, Get Smart, a silly (yet hillarious) comedy -- There has been a lot of good movies to see, and more are coming (e.g. Hancock, Batman: Dark Knight). Yet, none of these films are likely to exude excellence at the same level as Wall·E. Before discussing Pixar's new opus, let's get The Happening out of the way. I am not a professional film critic, so given my great respect for Shyamalan's earlier work, I would not be quick to be-rate this film if it weren't so abysmal. The Happening is quick to start it's ideological train, which launches with intrigue, questioning the mysterious absence of honey-bees. But it degenerates into a "science teacher" skirting rational thought and resorting to philosophy. The day public education involves a science teacher saying "there are things in nature that we can never explain": we are pretty much doomed. But, what kills it for me is the fact that I paid $10 to watch two hours of people lynching themselves in a myriad of disturbing ways -- with no reward in the end. But, if you had to pick only one movie to see in the theaters this year: see Wall·E. As one might expect, there is a definite cautionary care-for-the-earth-and-humanity message in this film, but unlike the movie under previous discussion: Pixar takes the high road and actually delivers the message from a more nuanced angle -- very much akin to Mike Judge's Idiocracy. Wall·E is a genuinely touching story, a great musical score and stunning visuals. Actually "stunning visuals" is an understatement -- this movie is a visual masterpiece. The scenes involving the robots (including Wall·E) look amazing and with this film's impressive "photography", it is easy to forget that you are watching rendered computer models. Of course, in usual Pixar fashion, other elements of the movie are intentionally stylized such that they don't realistic but, artistically effective. They have always had a knack for taking present limitations in CGI and wielding it towards their advantage: ultimately resulting in a movie that couldn't be better if it weren't animated. The only movie I ever saw twice in the theaters was Minority Report. Six years later ... this could end up being my second.

Cure for the Common Commute

Ever since I started commuting to work by car, which was only three years ago, I have found myself hitting the radio "dial".  It was by mere accident that I stumbled across AM 1590 KLIV.  Now, whenever I am about to begin my commute, or if traffic starts to back-up I will hit this station and odds are I won't have to wait long before I get a detailed report of the current traffic conditions of the South Bay, which occurs roughly every six minutes.  Plus, this is a good source for Local News.  In the mornings, I will tune to AM 910 KNEW to listen to Armstrong and Getty.  They are quite entertaining to listen to as they pretty much span across the entire map from popular culture to current events.  Much of their commentary is light-hearted and will even have you laughing out loud so it's not a bad way to start the day.  Now if you happen to be a political fence-straddler (or have misgivings about the San Francisco Bay Area political climate),  I strongly recommend checking out the stations other programming.

Computer History Museum

If you happen to be on the north-western corner of Santa Clara county (the edge of silicon valley furthest up the peninsula) and are looking for something to pass the time: do check out the Computer History Museum.  They've got vintage hardware of all sorts --UNIVAC, ENIAC, the original Alto, even an Altair.  And if you find that exciting, you should enjoy the various resident Cray super-computers.   There's also a lot of other misc systems, a software chess exhibit, old style hard-disk platters that have less storage than modern video cards yet are the size of a semi's rim.  Even though I am too young for much of this to be nostalgic: the place still manages to have a fondness-for-yesterday's-technology sort of effect on me.  Plus, it couldn't be at a better location (it is just a short jog south from the Shoreline golf-course, which is adjoined with the Steven's Creek Trail).  And if you happen to be meeting a Googler for lunch or something, their HQ is just around the corner.