Archive for January, 2007|Monthly archive page
int YouTube (maxFavs==315);
Leave a CommentApparently YouTube sets its maximun (whatever that is) number of videos allowed to be favorited to 315. I favorite videos all the time but I guess I gotta stop that now.
Larger image here.
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M:I:III (Blu-ray) on the PS3
Leave a CommentI saw M:I:III in the movies twice. It’s a great movie that everyone should watch. I didn’t see the first two M:I movies but that didn’t matter since this one wasn’t affected by the first two.
Anyway, my HDTV can output at 480p, 720p, and 1080i. No 1080p, which is perfect for Blu-ray. I wasn’t upset though because I play my games at 720p, and it’s amazing nonetheless. I once called Sony asking them which is better, and the man said that 720p, in practice, looks better than 1080i because of the way the image is outputted.
Some basic output info for those who don’t know what I’m talking about. If you know, skip to the next paragraph. 480, 720 and 1080 are the amount of lines on a screen. The more lines, the crisper, sharper and clearer the picture. P stands for progressive scan and I stands for interlaced scan. Progressive scan means when the TV shoots out the image, it shoots it out at every single line. So it would shoot out the 1st, 2nd, 3rd (and so on…) lines at the same time, at each frame. Interlaced means the TV shoots out the image, but at one frame, it shoots out the 1st, 3rd, 5th (and so on…) lines and during the next frame it shoots out the 2nd, 4th, 6th… This means that you get half the picture during the first frame, the second half the second frame, first half third frame and so on and so forth. If that was a bit confusing, there’s a better explanation here.
When I connect my PS3 to my TV using an HDMI cable (High Definition Multimedia Interface) I could tell me PS3 what resolutions my TV supports, and I could check them off at one screen. I checked off 480p, 720p and 1080i. Since the PS3 sees my TV outputs at 1080i, it chooses that resolution. But I wanted 720p. So I manually unchecked 1080i, and now it can only output at 720p. It now thinks my TV doesn’t even support 1080i.
When I put in M:I:III, which is a full 1080p HD movie, it started playing it at 480p. I was confused. Wasn’t it supposed to output at 720p? Well, it should, but that’s not the way Sony made it. If the PS3 sees a TV has 720p maximum (which is what I chose for it), then it will output Blu-ray movies at 480p. It’s stupid, but it’s something Sony can fix in the future with a firmware update. So I had to go back and check off 1080i as one of my TV’s outputs. Then, when I put the movie in, it played in 1080i like it was supposed to.
Even though I would like to watch the movie in 720p, it’s still amazing in 1080i. The picture quality is mind-blowing. I saw the explosions as though they were happening behind a window. The sound quality was astounding. If I closed my eyes I would have thought that Ethan (Tom Cruise) was in the room. The explosions were so cool that I think I have to write eXplosions for more emphasis. I only wish I had a 1080p HDTV to get the full experience. I’m very happy with the quality, just a bit upset about the initial setup. I also wish I could play the movies in 720p even though as of right now there’s no option for that.
UPDATE: I just found out the reason it won’t display at 720p. It’s because Blu-ray displays in 1080p, 1080i, and 480p. At least that’s what several people said.
Overall: 8/10
Pros: Great picture quality, sound. A lot of storage on a Blu-ray disk= tons of extras on the disks. Fix for downgrade possible in the future.
Cons: PS3 downgrades 720p TVs to show movies in 480p.
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Playstation 3 Mini-Review
Leave a CommentI finally got my hands on a PS3 (60GB) from Amazon and I’m happy with it so far. In this review I won’t be talking about games much, other than the free demos Sony offers through the online store and NFS: Carbon. Let’s get started.
Unboxing
I took some unboxing pictures. Here:
My hands are shaky from the excitement
I don’t think I could have figured out how to remove the system.
Instruction booklet, controller, USB cable, Ethernet cord, power cable. (HDMI cable not included)
Design
The Playstation 3 has a sleek design. It’s coated with a very shiny, scratch-prone surface that needs to be carefully wiped with a cloth or tissue every several days (or maybe once a week); but I don’t mind taking care of it. The system is a bit heavy, compared to the PS2, but that shouldn’t be a bother since it’s sitting on the floor or a table somewhere anyway. I especially like the quick hook-up to my 1080i HDTV [pic]. All I needed to connect was a power cable and an HDMI cable and I was set. The power supply is built into the PS3 and isn’t at all like the Xbox 360 power supply. One thing I want to mention is that the PS3 does heat up a bit since the power supply is internal. There’s a vent for the fans on the back, and on the bottom of the front protrusion (under the memory card slots) [pic]. Also, kinda hard to see b/c of a dark pic, but these are the vents on the sides [pic].
The controller remained pretty much the same from the PS2 to the PS3. The new PS3 controller is wireless, and can be charged through the console via USB, but only when it’s on, or it can be charged through any USB port [pic]. The new controller supports motion sensing, and has a PS button in the middle which can turn off the console [pic]. The controller is much lighter than it’s PS2 precedecessor, and feels very comfortable in one’s hand. The PS3 supports up to 7 controllers through Bluetooth.
The PS3 (60GB) also has a CF slot, a SD/miniSD card slot, a Memory Stick Pro slot [pic] for putting photos, videos, or music files on the console. One really cool thing is the power and eject buttons for the slot-loading drive [pic]. They aren’t really buttons but are tiny “touch-panels” which are fun to press. It also has built-in Wi-Fi, which doesn’t work too well (see next section). The system is big, heavy, but it isn’t bulky or obnoxious (like the original Xbox was). It still manages to be a stylish addition to any home entertainment center.
Overall: 7/10
Pros: Stylish system, memory card slots available, slot loading for convenience, touch screen buttons are a plus, controller has good battery life.
Cons: Too heavy, get’s hot fast, easy to scratch, attracts dust, can’t charge controller with system off.
Network/Online
This is one thing that I really don’t like about the PS3. I have a home network with several devices connecting to my wireless Netgear router without problems (a PC, a laptop, and a Playstation Portable [PSP]). When I turned on my PS3, I went to make a new network connection to get online. It scanned for my network, found it with a 55% signal, then I entered my WEP key in, and it refused to connection. I got a connection error. I searched online and came across several sites where the people are having the same problem. One fix was to disable my security, and then download a necessary firmware update (firmware 1.32). This took around 10 minutes with download and installation. I tried to get online again (this time onto my secured network), and it worked. I signed up for an account at the Playstation Store, and downloaded a demo of Gran Turismo HD (465MB- about 20 minutes), which I will describe later.
The next day, I turned on my PS3, and it didn’t want to connect. It says that it can’t detect the access point. I don’t know if this is a problem with my router having a weak signal, or the PS3, but I have read in several forums that people are having the same troubles and I think it may be the PS3. Hopefully a future firmware update can fix this. A day later, I was able to connect as soon as I turned on the system, but then I restarted it and couldn’t get online. I reset my network, which seemed to do the trick and I was online again. I managed to download 4 more demos- Motorstorm (around 600MB), Resistance: Fall of Man (865MB), Go! Sudoku (around 80MB) and Lemmings (142Mb), and right after I finished installation of the last demo, my connection dropped! Perfect timing.
Today when I was playing the Resistance demo, I kept seeing “Signed in.”, then “Signed out.” in the corner over and over, a status update of my connection to the Playstation Network. I hear that there should be a firmware update soon (can’t remember the source) and maybe Sony can fix these problems everyone is having.
Overall: 5/10
Pros: Free demos available online, you can buy PSOne games to play on your PSP, massive multiplayer possible (40 players in Resistance multiplayer), free online multiplayer
Cons: Connections dropped, long setup.
Interface
The Playstation 3 features what Sony calls the XMB (XrossMediaBar). This is the same interface that the PSP has. It’s very easy and quick to navigate [video][pic]. Nothing else about that. Getting used to the XMB is a snap and finding the option you want is a breeze. Also, the background gets darker as the day goes by, so at night the background is black with a white strip flowing around and in the morning it’s a light grey with that write strip.
The loading times on the demos I tried are fast. Which brings me to my next criteria (after the ratings)…
Overall 10/10
Pros: Quick navigation to any item, cool effects.
Cons: None.
Gameplay/Graphics
The 5 free demos I downloaded are Gran Turismo HD Concept, MotorStorm, Resistance: Fall of Man, Go! Sudoku, and Lemmings. I also rented NFS: Carbon from Gamefly. Soon, I’ll download GripShift, the newest demo that’s available at the time of this writing, (although it isn’t available right now).
Gran Turismo HD Concept has excellent graphics, even on 720p (It’s a 1080p game). I get one car to race around a track. The car looked incredibly realistic. If the car wasn’t surrounded by digital people but maybe put on a photo background, I would have thought it’s real. The game is difficult to play because it’s extremely realistic. The driving simulation is very accurate and you can except if you were to take the cars on that mountainous track. More coverage here.
Motorstorm is also a racing game, but this one is off-road. I get a choice of two vehicles. What’s great about this game besides the environment, is that it supports motion sensing. If you turn it on, then the controller acts as a steering wheel. The analog stick is turned off and turning the controller the way you want your car to go works surprisingly well, although a bit sensitive. Probably takes some getting used to. Another interesting thing about this game is that if your vehicle gets into mud or dirt, it sticks. Very realistic indeed.
Resistance: FoM, is probably the most popular game for the PS3 right now. It’s the highest rated PS3 game on IGN. The demo can be played as many times as you want. It starts out with the human soldiers taking on a resistance of aliens. I don’t know what point in the game this is, but it’s fun nonetheless. You, the character, get four guns, and grenades. After you take out the initial wave of around 30 aliens, the alien mothership drops down another batch of about 20 of ‘em. Then the boss, a robot that resembles a spider on 4 legs, comes out and you have to take him down. I have yet to do so.
Go! Sudoku is a fun game too if you like puzzle games. I enjoy Sudoku very much so I think this game is very addicting. It features around 10 levels on various difficulties, and bright lights and sounds to grab anyone’s attention. There aren’t many features, but to be fair, it’s a game that can be played on paper.
Lemmings is also a puzzle game with 5 levels. The goal is to transport these little creatures called Lemmings from one spot to another using items like making the Lemmings into builders to get to a higher platform, or digger to get to a lower platform. Not much to this game either because it’s very basic, but the levels can get really tricky. 40 levels total in the full version.
NFS: Carbon has fast loading times as well. The graphics are amazing. I meet 4 people in the beginning and they look like they’re real. Honestly, real people. But they’re rendered by the PS3 because there are little hints of digital people. The cars look great too, but not as good as those in GT HD Concept.
The PS3 is backward compatible with every PS2 game, and plays most PSOne games perfectly with minor glitches in some of the games. I haven’t tested every game so here’s some more info on that.
Gameplay: 8/10
Pros: Awesome graphics, fast load times, downloadable demos, great games coming in the future, Blu-ray means more storage on disks, and therefore bigger games.
Cons: Weak launch lineup, can’t think of any more.
PSP-PS3 Connectivity
The PS3 can connect wirelessly to the PSP. The reason for this is so the PSP can be used as a wireless controller for the PS3, and also to buy classic PSOne titles from the Playstation Store to put on the PSP. Some of the titles available now are Crash Bandicoot and Syphon Filter. I assume Sony will be adding more PSOne titles as the PS Store matures.
Overall:
Pros: Play original PSOne games on the PSP.
Cons: Weak PSOne store lineup,
Blu-ray
Sony was nice enough to include a booklet of coupons for various Blu-ray movies with the PS3. I ordered Mission Impossible 3 from Amazon because I really liked the movie the first 2 times I saw it in theaters, and thought it would look great in HD, considering its plethora of explosions and action scenes. It’s everything I thought it would be.
Overall:
Pros: Blu-ray comes standard as opposed to a $200 add-on. Blu-ray means (see Gameplay: Pros:), every studio except Universal will make Blu-ray movies [here], spectacular video quality- HD rocks, and of course, coupons!!
Cons: System more expensive because of it.
Misc
One thing I didn’t mention is, oh yeah, you can run Linux on your PS3! [Tutorial from IBM here] [gentoo tutorial] This opens up the homebrew scene. People who support Linux and the PS3 can make games that would run on Linux. Also, people have already created drivers for using the Xbox 360 controller with the PS3, and also the Wiimote. But that’s only if you’re a traitor and you don’t like the PS3 controller!
The PS3 browser also has many features, even thought it isn’t made by Opera or Mozilla, unfortunately [link]. If you don’t like the built in browser though, you can install Ubuntu and then use Firefox with that.
Also, the PS3 supports a USB keyboard, and a USB mouse, but I don’t except many people to use their HDTV as a browser (remember MSN/WebTV).
Overall: 9.5/10
Pros: Linux can be installed, many peripherals possible (HD EyeToy, Keyboard, Mouse, Xbox360 controller, Wiimote), solid browser.
Cons: Can’t think of any.
Final Thoughts
Althought the Playstation 3 is still in its infancy, I think it can be a force in the future. Game developers are already saying that they haven’t reached the full potential of the PS3, and aren’t even close (here too). With the amazing graphics and online worlds of some of the games, that’s pretty astounding. The networking on this system sucks though and that’s one thing Sony screwed up on. Several isolated incidents are bad, but when almost everyone is having problems, you know that it’s something with the console. I hope we see some sort of fix from Sony soon.
And don’t get me wrong, $600 is a lot for a console. (I think of it as a solid investment for the future). But considering it also has a Blu-ray player is impressive, as the cheapest non-PS3 standalone Blu-ray player (that I could find) costs $700. The PS3 is cheaper than that and has HD gaming capabilities too. There aren’t many games out for it, which I why I haven’t purchased a game yet (still trying out the demos and renting), but in the future, the PS3 can expect Devil May Cry 4, GTA IV, Assassin’s Creed, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Final Fantasy XIII, and other extraordinary titles. As of right now, the Xbox 360 is a better system because it had a year to mature and a year for games to be developed for it. The PS3 will be just as great if not better 1 year from now.
And as you can tell, I really like the system, because when I wanted to put together a mini-review, I ended up writing one that wasn’t so mini.
Overall: 8/10
Pros/Cons: listed above under each category.
Playstation 3 Mini-Review
I finally got my hands on a PS3 (60GB) from Amazon and I’m happy with it so far. In this review I won’t be talking about games much, other than the free demos Sony offers through the online store and NFS: Carbon. Let’s get started.
Unboxing
I took some unboxing pictures. Here:
My hands are shaky from the excitement
I don’t think I could have figured out how to remove the system.
Instruction booklet, controller, USB cable, Ethernet cord, power cable. (HDMI cable not included)
Design
The Playstation 3 has a sleek design. It’s coated with a very shiny, scratch-prone surface that needs to be carefully wiped with a cloth or tissue every several days (or maybe once a week); but I don’t mind taking care of it. The system is a bit heavy, compared to the PS2, but that shouldn’t be a bother since it’s sitting on the floor or a table somewhere anyway. I especially like the quick hook-up to my 1080i HDTV [pic]. All I needed to connect was a power cable and an HDMI cable and I was set. The power supply is built into the PS3 and isn’t at all like the Xbox 360 power supply. One thing I want to mention is that the PS3 does heat up a bit since the power supply is internal. There’s a vent for the fans on the back, and on the bottom of the front protrusion (under the memory card slots) [pic]. Also, kind of hard to see b/c of a dark pic, but these are the vents on the sides [pic].
The controller remained pretty much the same from the PS2 to the PS3. The new PS3 controller is wireless, and can be charged through the console via USB, but only when it’s on, or it can be charged through any USB port [pic]. The new controller supports motion sensing, and has a PS button in the middle which can turn off the console [pic]. The controller is much lighter than it’s PS2 predecessor, and feels very comfortable in one’s hand. The PS3 supports up to 7 controllers through Bluetooth.
The PS3 (60GB) also has a CF slot, a SD/miniSD card slot, a Memory Stick Pro slot [pic] for putting photos, videos, or music files on the console. One really cool thing is the power and eject buttons for the slot-loading drive [pic]. They aren’t really buttons but are tiny “touch-panels” which are fun to press. It also has built-in Wi-Fi, which doesn’t work too well (see next section). The system is big, heavy, but it isn’t bulky or obnoxious (like the original Xbox was). It still manages to be a stylish addition to any home entertainment center.
Overall: 7/10
Pros: Stylish system, memory card slots available, slot loading for convenience, touch screen buttons are a plus, controller has good battery life.
Cons: Too heavy, get’s hot fast, easy to scratch, attracts dust, can’t charge controller with system off.
Network/Online
This is one thing that I really don’t like about the PS3. I have a home network with several devices connecting to my wireless Netgear router without problems (a PC, a laptop, and a Playstation Portable [PSP]). When I turned on my PS3, I went to make a new network connection to get online. It scanned for my network, found it with a 55% signal, then I entered my WEP key in, and it refused to connection. I got a connection error. I searched online and came across several sites where the people are having the same problem. One fix was to disable my security, and then download a necessary firmware update (firmware 1.32). This took around 10 minutes with download and installation. I tried to get online again (this time onto my secured network), and it worked. I signed up for an account at the Playstation Store, and downloaded a demo of Gran Turismo HD (465MB- about 20 minutes), which I will describe later.
The next day, I turned on my PS3, and it didn’t want to connect. It says that it can’t detect the access point. I don’t know if this is a problem with my router having a weak signal, or the PS3, but I have read in several forums that people are having the same troubles and I think it may be the PS3. Hopefully a future firmware update can fix this. A day later, I was able to connect as soon as I turned on the system, but then I restarted it and couldn’t get online. I reset my network, which seemed to do the trick and I was online again. I managed to download 4 more demos- Motorstorm (around 600MB), Resistance: Fall of Man (865MB), Go! Sudoku (around 80MB) and Lemmings (142Mb), and right after I finished installation of the last demo, my connection dropped! Perfect timing.
Today when I was playing the Resistance demo, I kept seeing “Signed in.”, then “Signed out.” in the corner over and over, a status update of my connection to the Playstation Network. I hear that there should be a firmware update soon (can’t remember the source) and maybe Sony can fix these problems everyone is having.
Overall: 5/10
Pros: Free demos available online, you can buy PSOne games to play on your PSP, massive multiplayer possible (40 players in Resistance multiplayer), free online multiplayer
Cons: Connections dropped, long setup.
Interface
The Playstation 3 features what Sony calls the XMB (XrossMediaBar). This is the same interface that the PSP has. It’s very easy and quick to navigate [video][pic]. Nothing else about that. Getting used to the XMB is a snap and finding the option you want is a breeze. Also, the background gets darker as the day goes by, so at night the background is black with a white strip flowing around and in the morning it’s a light gray with that write strip.
The loading times on the demos I tried are fast. Which brings me to my next criteria (after the ratings)…
Overall 10/10
Pros: Quick navigation to any item, cool effects.
Cons: None.
Gameplay/Graphics
The 5 free demos I downloaded are Gran Turismo HD Concept, MotorStorm, Resistance: Fall of Man, Go! Sudoku, and Lemmings. I also rented NFS: Carbon from Gamefly. Soon, I’ll download GripShift, the newest demo that’s available at the time of this writing, (although it isn’t available right now).
Gran Turismo HD Concept has excellent graphics, even on 720p (It’s a 1080p game). I get one car to race around a track. The car looked incredibly realistic. If the car wasn’t surrounded by digital people but maybe put on a photo background, I would have thought it’s real. The game is difficult to play because it’s extremely realistic. The driving simulation is very accurate and you can except if you were to take the cars on that mountainous track. More coverage here.
Motorstorm is also a racing game, but this one is off-road. I get a choice of two vehicles. What’s great about this game besides the environment, is that it supports motion sensing. If you turn it on, then the controller acts as a steering wheel. The analog stick is turned off and turning the controller the way you want your car to go works surprisingly well, although a bit sensitive. Probably takes some getting used to. Another interesting thing about this game is that if your vehicle gets into mud or dirt, it sticks. Very realistic indeed.
Resistance: FoM, is probably the most popular game for the PS3 right now. It’s the highest rated PS3 game on IGN. The demo can be played as many times as you want. It starts out with the human soldiers taking on a resistance of aliens. I don’t know what point in the game this is, but it’s fun nonetheless. You, the character, get four guns, and grenades. After you take out the initial wave of around 30 aliens, the alien mothership drops down another batch of about 20 of ‘em. Then the boss, a robot that resembles a spider on 4 legs, comes out and you have to take him down. I have yet to do so.
Go! Sudoku is a fun game too if you like puzzle games. I enjoy Sudoku very much so I think this game is very addicting. It features around 10 levels on various difficulties, and bright lights and sounds to grab anyone’s attention. There aren’t many features, but to be fair, it’s a game that can be played on paper.
Lemmings is also a puzzle game with 5 levels. The goal is to transport these little creatures called Lemmings from one spot to another using items like making the Lemmings into builders to get to a higher platform, or digger to get to a lower platform. Not much to this game either because it’s very basic, but the levels can get really tricky. 40 levels total in the full version.
NFS: Carbon has fast loading times as well. The graphics are amazing. I meet 4 people in the beginning and they look like they’re real. Honestly, real people. But they’re rendered by the PS3 because there are little hints of digital people. The cars look great too, but not as good as those in GT HD Concept.
The PS3 is backward compatible with every PS2 game, and plays most PSOne games perfectly with minor glitches in some of the games. I haven’t tested every game so here’s some more info on that.
Gameplay: 8/10
Pros: Awesome graphics, fast load times, downloadable demos, great games coming in the future, Blu-ray means more storage on disks, and therefore bigger games.
Cons: Weak launch lineup, can’t think of any more.
Blu-ray
Sony was nice enough to include a booklet of coupons for various Blu-ray movies with the PS3. I ordered Mission Impossible 3 from Amazon because I really liked the movie the first 2 times I saw it in theaters, and thought it would look great in HD, considering its plethora of explosions and action scenes. Unfortunately, my order was delayed and I’ll write about M:I:III at a different time.
Overall:
Pros: Blu-ray comes standard as opposed to a $200 add-on. Blu-ray means (see Gameplay: Pros:), every studio except Universal will make Blu-ray movies [here], spectacular video quality- HD rocks, and of course, coupons!!
Cons: System more expensive because of it.
Misc
One thing I didn’t mention is, oh yeah, you can run Linux on your PS3! [Tutorial from IBM here] [gentoo tutorial] This opens up the homebrew scene. People who support Linux and the PS3 can make games that would run on Linux. Also, people have already created drivers for using the Xbox 360 controller with the PS3, and also the Wiimote. But that’s only if you’re a traitor and you don’t like the PS3 controller!
The PS3 browser also has many features, even thought it isn’t made by Opera or Mozilla, unfortunately [link]. If you don’t like the built in browser though, you can install Ubuntu and then use Firefox with that.
Also, the PS3 supports a USB keyboard, and a USB mouse, but I don’t except many people to use their HDTV as a browser (remember MSN/WebTV).
Overall: 9.5/10
Pros: Linux can be installed, many peripherals possible (HD EyeToy, Keyboard, Mouse, Xbox360 controller, Wiimote), solid browser.
Cons: Can’t think of any.
Final Thoughts
Althought the Playstation 3 is still in its infancy, I think it can be a force in the future. Game developers are already saying that they haven’t reached the full potential of the PS3, and aren’t even close (here too). With the amazing graphics and online worlds of some of the games, that’s pretty astounding. The networking on this system sucks though and that’s one thing Sony screwed up on. Several isolated incidents are bad, but when almost everyone is having problems, you know that it’s something with the console. I hope we see some sort of fix from Sony soon.
And don’t get me wrong, $600 is a lot for a console. (I think of it as a solid investment for the future). But considering it also has a Blu-ray player is impressive, as the cheapest non-PS3 standalone Blu-ray player (that I could find) costs $700. The PS3 is cheaper than that and has HD gaming capabilities too. There aren’t many games out for it, which I why I haven’t purchased a game yet (still trying out the demos and renting), but in the future, the PS3 can expect Devil May Cry 4, GTA IV, Assassin’s Creed, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Final Fantasy XIII, and other extraordinary titles. As of right now, the Xbox 360 is a better system because it had a year to mature and a year for games to be developed for it. The PS3 will be just as great if not better 1 year from now.
And as you can tell, I really like the system, because when I wanted to put together a mini-review, I ended up writing one that wasn’t so mini.
Overall: 8/10
Pros/Cons: listed above under each category.
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Borat: CLoAfMBGNoK
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan or the unabridged title “Borat: Cultural Learnings and Stimulating Experiences of United States America on Behalf of Kazakh Ministry of Information for Purpose Educate and Consequent Make Benefit Glorious Central Asian Nation of Kazakhstan” is a mockumentry made by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in which he plays Borat Sagdiev, a Kazakh reporter who is homophobic, sexist, and racist (he calls black people chocolate-face and white people vanilla-face in the film). The movie is very funny and got good reviews from almost everyone.
I was reading a comment in a forum that said something like, and I’m paraphrasing here, “Borat was mocking Kazakhstan’s culture.” I thought I would write up my own opinion about that.
Actually the genius of the movie is that Sacha Baron Cohen is NOT mocking Kazakhstan. All of the he says about Kazakhstan is obviously a lie. Homosexuals don’t wear blue hats in Kazakhstan (he says this during interviews), more than 5 women are allowed to be in the same place at once, women are treated as fairly as men, and they probably don’t make fun of mentally handicapped people like his brother Bilo. The irony of the movie is how clueless some of the Americans in the movie were.
For example (POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOLLOW) when he was talking to Pat Ha, the humor coach, he asks him if people find mental retardation funny in America. Then he tells the story of how his brother Bilo is crazy crazy behind his cage while his sister says “You will never get this! La lala la la”. Then the humor coach says, “No, that would not be funny in America.” What’s ironic about that, at least in the theater I was in, everyone was laughing their heads off. And also, it’s funny because the humor coach probably believed that they put mentally handicapped people in cages. Obviously they don’t. But he was too stupid to understand that.
Another part when he was mocking the American culture was when he was talking to the man in charge of the rodeo and he went to kiss him, because it’s something that Borat does. The man says that kissing other men like that is homosexual. Immediately, Borat sees that man is closed-minded about homosexuality and says that in Kazakhstan, they take these people to jail and finish them. And to his surprise, the man says “Yeah, take ‘em to jail and hang ‘em. That’s what we’re trying to get done here.”
It’s incredible that people in America think they’re such free rational thinking, when in fact, most of the people interviewed in the movie were either racist (in the gun store he says “What is the best fun to defend from a Jew” and the man gives him 9mm or a .45 without hesitation), sexist (the guys in the trailer were asking him whether women are slaves, and that woman are inferior to men), homophobic (the man at the rodeo), or just plain didn’t have a sense of humor (ironically, the humor coach).
Even the daughter of the Kazakhstan’s PM defended Borat. She obviously knew that he wasn’t being serious and was just exploiting the American public’s weaknesses. [source]
Your thoughts?
Edumacation
If don’t know already, I’m 20 years old, and I go to college. I never thought of myself as a genius, but in junior high school and high school I always did my homework, classwork, did well on tests, got E’s (Excellent- equivalent to a 95) and some G’s (Good- equivalent to an 85) on my report cards (I never went to schools where there gave out As, Bs, and Cs). I always felt that high school and junior high school were easy and I never knew why. My mom told me that she spoke to her friends and their kids always got a ton of homework and their grades were always lower that mine. I spoke to my friends in junior high and high school and they were always amazed that I had a 93 avg. Their averages ranged from a 60 to a 75. I was equally surprised that they weren’t performing better while getting such easy work. My mom, like any good mom, always told me I’m so smart, and I’m this and that and I always thought she was just trying to be nice and give me a confidence boost.
So in my first year of college, I expected to be challenged a bit more. I go to a private university. Before I started attending, I was accepted into the honors program so I was very pleased about that. In my first semester, I got 3 A’s and 2 A-’s. After 3 semesters, my GPA was a 3.72. I don’t want to sound like I’m showing off, but I’m very proud of myself and a bit surprised actually. The classes are harder than in j.h.s. and h.s. but still manageble. I used to hear stories of people not having any time for anything except homework in college and I always thought my life was going to be over. I even heard stories of people committing suicide because of all the work and pressure that was put on their shoulders. That amazed and scared me all at once. I knew deep down there is no situation in which I would kill myself, no matter what, but that’s for another blog post.
So this year, last month actually, I began tutoring a young girl in mathematics. She is in 4th or 5th grade (based on the work she’s getting, that’s just an approximation.) It’s actually very sad, but when I started tutoring this girl, I quickly understood, she can’t multiply. And not huge numbers- she can’t multiply 3 x 7 without using her fingers. We were going over an algebraic equation that required her to multiply 3 by 7, and she did it out loud, also being assisted by 7 of her 10 fingers. First, she multiplied 2 by 7 and came up with 14, and then she added, one by one, 7 more to that answer. I’m not even exaggerating. She physically counted 7 more fingers on 2 hands. Later on, we were going over another equation and she had to multiply 2 by 3. Sadly, it took her several seconds to come up with the answer. I was speechless. I didn’t know what to say. I told her she needed to work on her multiplication tables, and she answered, “Oh, that’s not on the test.” Apparently her teacher gives the class a short quiz each friday.
I came back to tutor her on another day. This time I made up an example for her that had pi in it. I asked her if she knew what pi was, and she said of course she knew. She assured me that we needn’t go over it. So as she was doing the problem, I realized she may have heard of pi but she didn’t know what it was. I told her I could quickly explain it, and once again, she answered, “It’s not on the test.” She still didn’t know how to multiply at this point.
What I go from my experience is this: The teachers go in everyday teaching one thing and telling the students it will be on the test. The students don’t have any initiative to maybe learn about things that won’t be on the test on their own. If it isn’t on the test, then the student thinks they shouldn’t learn it. Well, why should they, after all, they aren’t being tested on it. It’s not as if any of this stuff can come in handy in the future! But students in junior high schools don’t realize that what they’re learning is the basis of everything they will be working on in high school and college, and possibly even at their jobs. And the thing is, after their test, the students just forget everything they learned that week, and begin preparing for next week’s test. I don’t understand. If the teacher sees that the student, in this case the girl I tutor, isn’t doing well on tests or can’t multiply single digit numbers, why doesn’t the teacher talk to the parents. I remember learning the multiplication tables with my mom in like 4th grade. I would follow my mom around and she would shoot out numbers, “6×7″, “42″, she says “7×4″ I say “28″ and so on. I knew the multiplication table up to 12 within 2 weeks.
Either kids these days are like drones, just learning things that willbe tested, only to forget them after the exam, or these kids just don’t want to learn anymore. Your thoughts?
Coaches on Fire
Now, first off, I know I’m not a football coach, baseball manager, basketball coach, hockey coach, or any other person of high importance on a sports team. But when I hear knews that a manager or coach will be fired because of a bad year that the team had, that just pisses off the hell out of me.
This has been on my mind for several years now but I finally decided to type it out with the recent news that Joe Torre of the New York Yankees may be fired. And for those who don’t know, they’re keeping him.
But, for other cases, why should the coach be fired if the team’s piss-poor performance led to an atrocious season? I don’t see the manager out there on the field pitching to batters giving up home runs or striking out at the plate. I’m pretty sure that’s what the players are doing. Why should the manager lose his job, when the team’s play led to a dismal year without making the playoffs or even winning more games than they lost? The manager goes out there every day, he trains his team during workouts, he gives them advice, words of wisdom and other tidbits of information that make them want to play harder, he beats them to the edge and flirts with pushing them off of it, and he even laces their gatorate bottles with steroids! Well, maybe not the steroids thing, but I can’t imagine a manager going out there and telling his team they suck and telling them stuff like “You’re probably not going to win this game, so just go out there, throw the ball however you can, and don’t be afraid to strike out. It’s only a game, not a big deal if we lose one. We got 161 games left to go.”
Let’s take the Yankees for example. In 10 seasons with the Yankees, Joe Torre won 1079 games and lost just 699 losses. The team reached the World Series 6 times, and won 4 times. He also won 2 Manager of the Year awards. I mean, this guy does everything in his power to make the Yankees play well, but this year, they were upset by the underdog Detroit Tigers. How that’s Joe’s Torre’s fault I have no idea. But there were rumors that he would get fired because the Yankees didn’t advance past the first round of the playoffs. It’s not his fault his team, with the exception of a few players, decided to get cold bats when the playoffs began. If Joe Torre could have done something more, he would have.
And to really show how pissed off I am about Joe Torre’s name being tossed around with the word ‘fired’ like a salad, I don’t even like Joe Torre! I admit he’s a good manager, but the guy’s happy face looks like he’s just been to a funeral. I don’t think anything could make this guy smile, unless his team won 162 games in a row to start the season, and then 12 more wins to start the playoffs.
So, what I’m saying is, managers and coaches (this applies to other sports too) shouldn’t be disrespected the way they are. It’s not they fault that the team isn’t playing how it should be.
Yahoo Phishes
So I was roaming around Yahoo when I had a sudden urge to go check out the APIs. Good thing I have the new, and also trusty, Microsoft Live Toolbar installed. As I entered the Yahoo Developer Center, an at first semi-transparent pop-up opened on my screen. I gasped, then realized the pop-up was my friend.
Even Roboform knows that the site is a real Yahoo site, but apparently Microsoft is still trying to put Yahoo out of business.
Next-gen console wars.
There has been a lot of news about next-gen consoles, and mainly Sony’s PS3, the mistakes Sony has been making, the high anticipation of the Nintendo Wii, and some news about the Xbox 360. I thought I would give my take on the issue, and say what systems I will probably purchase and why. I will admit I am a fan of Sony, but I will try to be as unbiased as I can.
The Xbox 360 was released November 22, 2005 in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico and later in other countries.It had a lot of problems. One of the major issues were with the console overheating because of the large power brick. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_Technical_Pr...] Another problem was with disks being scratched up when the system was standing vertically and it was moved to a horizontal position, or vice-versa [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_Technical_Pr...]. I think Microsoft released the Xbox 360 too early. They could have released it a month after that and it might have had more success. They rushed it out, and it had too many problems. Some people may think 2 problems is nothing, but if I buy a product from a huge company like Microsoft, I expect it to be perfect. If it’s any less that perfect, then why are they selling it?
The Xbox 360 wasn’t all bad though. The graphics are great, Xbox Live is really popular and huge. The selection of games is also really good, and the system even has a sleek design- much better than the original Xbox. But the reason I didn’t get an Xbox 360 was because I thought when I get a PS3, I won’t be playing the 360 anymore, and it would be a waste of $400.
The thing I didn’t like about what Microsoft did, was the artificial shortage. There is of course no evidence but that’s the way it really seems. Xbox 360s sold for $1000+ on eBay [http://www.engadget.com/2005/11/02/guaranteed-xbox...]. It could have been Microsoft employees selling the Xbox 360’s on eBay, but who knows?
About the Nintendo Wii, I think it will be a very successful system. ”A major feature of the Wii is the console’s wireless controller, the Wii Remote, that may be used as a handheld pointing device and can detect motion and rotation in three dimensions. The controller also contains a speaker and a rumbling device to provide sensory feedback, and can be used to turn the Wii on and off” [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii]. The system will have 21 launch games with many more planned for the future. It’s also a great idea for Nintendo to have an online marketplace. Games will sell for points, and points will sell for $.01 apiece. NES games will sell for $5.00, SNES games will sell for $8.00, and N64 games will cost $10.00 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii#Wii_Channels]. With the Wii’s 512mb of built-in memory, users will be able to purchase many games for reasonable prices. Not much else could be said about the Wii. Nintendo is getting a lot of positive publicity and the general consensus is that everyone likes the system and is eagerly awaiting it.
A couple of bad things about the Wii are it’s graphics, and it’s lack of DVD playback. The graphics have been described as being a bit better than Gamecube graphics, but still old-gen. It’s lack of DVD playback is attributed to Nintendo saying that most people have a DVD player in their homes, and putting DVD playback in the back would just inflate costs and cause Nintendo to lose money. It’s a smart idea, but for me for example, the DVD player that’s in my room is my PS2, and if I get a Wii and a PS3, the PS3 will be in my living room hooked up to my HDTV and the Wii will be in my room. Then I won’t have a DVD player in my room, and I’m upset about that. Still not a major reason for me not to acquire the Wii.
And now the grand-daddy of the next-gen systems, the Playstation 3. The Playstation 3 will be released on November 17, 2006 in the US, for $499 on the low end, and $599 for the high-end system. The $599 system will come with a 60gb hdd and the $499 will come with a 20gb hdd. In my opinion, the PS3 will be the best of these systems in terms of graphics and overall gameplay. The PS3 controller will have built in motion sensing technology. Another great feature of the PS3 will be Blu-ray playback. Blu-ray movie (and game) disks are capable of storing up to 50gb of information, and movies that are stored on blu-ray disks will be in high-definition. Standalone Blu-ray players will retail from about $1000. This is a reason that the PS3 is so expensive. Sony contends that people are actually getting a really good price on the console, because of all the technology that’s packed into it.
I am upset with the PS3’s price, even though the Blu-ray player is included in it. Sony could have made the low-end version of the console blu-ray-less, and sold it for $300. I’m disappointed with all the delays that Sony is putting us through, and also the fact that the system will launch with only 400,000 units for the US. Sony will thinks it will have 4 million units by December ‘06, and 2 million more by March ‘07. Sony first said it would release the system by Spring ‘06 [http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/entertainment/ps3-i...]. But that obviously didn’t happen.
I’m still greatly looking forward to the PS3, and also to the Wii. I think they’ll be the two best consoles, better than the Xbox 360. If Microsoft released their system maybe half a year later, worked out all the issues, then it would have been a contender in the next-gen console wars. But now the hype for the 360 died down, and people are only talking about the PS3 and the Wii. I’m probably going to buy both of these systems, albeit not at the same time (maybe 8-9 months apart). Whatever happens, I’m still looking forward too seeing which console will come out on top in the end.
Dip a monkey in grease.
Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension that runs little snippets of code called scripts in your Firefox browser. You can find a Firefox download button on this page.
The code is a .user.js file that people like you and me can create to make browsing easier, more appealing, and ad-free. I have a total of 20 scripts installed even though I don’t use all of them all the time. Whenever I see a new script that I like, I can install it in seconds.
There are hundreds of thousands of scripts available online and these two websites are my two main sources of scripts:
UserScripts.org
and
SiteSpecific Scripts
Userscripts.org alone hosts over 900,000 scripts.
What are some examples of scripts? Well, say you don’t like the way Google looks anymore and you like the way Andy Rutledge redesigned it. This Greasemonkey script when installed will change the way the default Google homepage looks to the one Andy designed. The same man also redesigned eBay and there’s a Greasemonkey script for that too made by the same user who made the Google Redux Script.
Some other useful scripts that I use are:
Go to the site for a short flash movie demo of what the script does. It basically pops up a black opaque screen in your browser window whenever you click an image on sites such as Google Image Search, DeviantART, Flickr, Wikipedia, Facebook and MySpace. It also allows you to cycle through the images on any page with the <- and -> arrow keys.
This script works with the popular video-sharing site YouTube. The script adds a Save Flash Video as… bar to the top of any YouTube page with a flash movie on it in case you want to save the video to watch later. You can then play the videos with VLC Media Player.
For those of you who use Digg, you probably heard of the “Digg Effect”. This effect is essentially what happens to a website whose link is submitted as a story to the popular technology site, digg.com. Many times, the site that is dugg is overloaded by visitors from Digg. This is where DuggMirror comes in handy. This script adds a DuggMirror link to every Digg story and all it does is provides a ‘mirror’ or a copy of the website hosted on another server in case the original site goes down. It also provides 4 other mirrors in case DuggMirror goes down too.
Just like the title implies, this script removes the annoying MySpace Ad that takes up a whole page after you login. Very handy.
This is for you Flickr fans and photographers who are interested in seeing what camera the person used to take their photo. Click the link above for a full description and to see how it works.
Advanced Greasemonkey Use
There’s another Firefox extension called Platypus. This extension allows you to edit a webpage using a WYSIWYG editor (What You See Is What You Get). You can remove ads off websites, move columns around, change the url of the website, and customize it to your liking. Then you can save your changes as a Greasemonkey script. So far I haven’t played with this extension around much, but I did remove some ads from cnn.com. 
So, I hope you guys and girls can try out Greasemonkey and fall in love with it like I did. Give Greasemonkey a chance since it’s a very powerful and underrated Firefox extension. Now go and find some useful scripts, and share them with the rest of us. 
