The Haphazard Blog

I saw Avatar in 3D last weekend. I thought it was a pretty good movie. I don’t agree that it is #40 in the IMDb Top 250 though. The movie is visually stunning and it kept my attention from beginning to end. It is almost 3 hours long, but I didn’t feel as though there were any parts that just dragged. I’d definitely recommend it to others. My brother told me to see it in theaters, and he was absolutely right. It’s meant for the big screen and 3D. We’re still about 1 year away from that kind of 3D in the home.

In my area I had a choice between RealD 3D, Dolby 3D (sometimes called Digital 3D) and regular 2D. The closest IMAX theaters are 3 hours away, and although I have been to the one in Kansas City, it wasn’t solely to see a move (The Dark Knight). I did some digging to see which 3D is best. As usual, there wasn’t an obvious answer. From what I found, IMAX 3D is the most immersive. The drawbacks of it are that because it is so immersive it can cause fatigue and headaches because of the length of the movie. I think I still would’ve gone for it if it was in Wichita.

People differ on which is better between RealD 3D and Dolby 3D, but I read enough that says Dolby 3D has less of a ghosting effect than RealD 3D. I saw it in Dolby 3D and I didn’t see any ghosting. I didn’t have any issues with the quality of the video. I’d say the main drawback is that the glasses are re-used, so depending on how much the staff at the theater cares, they could have different levels of cleanliness. My lenses had some water spots on them. They were more than happy to swap them if you want. In my case, I couldn’t see them when wearing them, so no problem. The RealD glasses are yours to keep after the movie is over, so you always get a new/clean pair.

I came across a comparison of the various 3D technologies  (not the red-blue glasses) that I found interesting:

3D System Comparison

I found it interesting because a couple years back movie executives were talking about how to get people to continue to come out to theaters with the proliferation of HDTV, large screen TVs and home theaters. One idea was 3D. Over the last couple of years, there has been a fair amount of 3D movies. They were mostly animated, but there were a couple that weren’t. There has also been some sports in 3D in theaters. But this year we will see television broadcasts in 3D and television channels dedicated to 3D The vast majority of people will need new equipment (TVs, glasses, cable/satellite box, Blu-Ray player) to enjoy it, but it’s coming. Surprisingly, the technology that will be used is the one with the least drawbacks in terms of quality. The glasses currently to cost a little over $100/pair. Also, for anyone who already wears glasses, it’s not the most comfortable thing to wear a second pair for long periods of time.

I’m looking forward to 3D in the home, but I think I’m going to let a generation or two go by before I get a new TV that supports 3D. For now, I’ll enjoy it in the theater. Speaking of, the preview for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland looked really good. The story has been done over and over (most recently on SyFy), but I could be enticed to see it in 3D.

One last comment on Avatar in general. Before I went to see it, I saw on TV that people were saying they felt depressed after seeing the movie because they wished they lived in Pandora. They must have blocked out the parts where they live in nature, there are killer animals everywhere and humans are bringing war to them. I didn’t feel sad or depressed after watching it.

The last two standard definition shows that I watch are finally in HD. I have wondered if/when they will start to frame stuff in HD and broadcast the SD versions in letterbox. As it is now for most things, HD viewers get the better picture (resolution and colors), but the additional viewing area isn’t put to much use to avoid leaving the SD viewers with a reduced viewing experience. It would be most valuable on sports and anything that makes use of on screen graphics.

Now that everything I watch is in HD, announcements should be showering down this week for 3D HD in the home. You’ll need a new TV that is capable of displaying it, but that looks like the next evolution. DirecTV is supposedly going to announce a 3D channel to debut this year. My question for DirecTV: Will we be able to watch Mad Men and Breaking Bad on AMC HD first? Please?

I recently watched Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. I thought they were both good but Transformers was better. It’s interesting that what started out as childhood toys for me were both summer blockbusters.

Watching both, one thing that stood out to me was that special effects, especially CGI, helped make both movies do as well as they did. Even ten years ago, I think many of the effects would’ve been extremely difficult and even more expensive to do. It is all so seamlessly integrated now. I even admit I took a look at the job openings at Industrial Lights and Magic to see what kind of engineers they are hiring. (Quite a few, but mostly specialized.) They have become such an integral part of movies that quite a bit of the credits are devoted to the special effects people.

Looks like both movies will have follow-ups. Also, I had no idea that was Sienna Miller in G.I. Joe. Dark hair looks really nice on her.

Well, as you can probably tell by the huge gap in posts (a lot in September, less in October and nothing since), I got behind. More to the point, I had other things going on in life.

I tried to keep notes on things to blog about and I was going to back fill the blog with them. It’s kind of pointless though. It would not reflect what I was really thinking at the time. Instead, it would’ve been a mix of what I thought at the time with some hindsight. That seems somewhat disingenuous, and it’s not like there are all that many readers of this blog that are waiting for my incredible insight into random things.

Another thing I will not do is make any resolutions for New Years to blog every day or any nonsense like that. I am starting anew, and it is a new year, but it’s more coincidence. I’ve had the last couple days off from work and I’m not so busy. I wasted my afternoon watching WVU get beat by an inferior (on paper) Florida State in the Kiss Bobby Bowden’s Ass Bowl. Then by about 5 minutes into the second half it was evident WVU was going to be killed by Purdue in basketball. So, I’ll quickly touch on the stuff I had taken notes on over the last couple months. It should be apropos of the blog’s title.

Patriots are up and down this season. That Colts loss was brutal. I can not remember the last time the Patriots got beat as badly as they did by the Saints. Have they ever benched Brady because they were losing? Pure domination over the Jaguars. Can they get the job done when it counts? We’ll see in 2 weeks if they get to play the Colts or Chargers.

Why do announcers and writers call so many hits to the QB that result in a flag the “Brady Rule”? It’s really only hits below the knees when the defender is on the ground. Low hits were banned after the Steelers took out Carson Palmer.

I admit I am somewhat a fairweather fan when it comes to the Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics. I don’t follow them all that closely during the regular season. Nothing like the Patriots. I know they won the World series again in 2007, but I still keep wishing they re-signed Orlando Cabrera. They still haven’t found a shortstop.

President Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize. He didn’t do anything to earn it. The Republican reaction. Predictable and overboard. There really is no need to pile onto the obvious.

Microsoft needs a much better way to install an upgrade version of Windows 7. Many enthusiasts reinstall their OS often. Having to install XP or Vista first is ridiculous. They should allow people to submit their old XP/Vista key and the Windows 7 upgrade key and receive a regular Windows 7 key to do a true clean installation.

I got a cold in mid-October. I figured maybe I should get the Flu shots. I hadn’t had one in probably 10 years. I called my doctor, a Physiatrist who should be very familiar with the needs of people with spinal cord injuries, to see if I should be trying to get the H1N1 shot ASAP. Her response: Ask my primary care physician. That does not feel right at all. I think I need a new Physiatrist. They said I should, but there’s no waitlist. I needed to call and see if they were in on my own. That got old/tedious fast. Long story short, I didn’t get either and got the flu 2 weeks ago. I still have a cough. There’s supposedly a second wave expected, so I guess I still will end up getting the shot. The flu sucked. I did not get the flu in over 10 years. I can’t decide if it’s better to keep avoiding the shot or not.

I read this article in Rolling Stone about some stock option sales that netted insane profits during the financial crisis in 2008. It’s quite upsetting. I don’t see any reason they can’t figure out the people involved and charge them with crimes. Is everyone complicit in this? Everything is such a mess. It feels like no one is going to do anything about Wall Street. For the most part, no one on the government side took advantage of the leverage they had during the crisis. Now the remaining Wall Street giants are back to making huge profits. I would too if the government loaned me money at 0% that I then could loan out at 4-5%+.

I didn’t write a follow-up Fall TV post. So here’s a quick rundown. Hank stunk (ABC agreed and cancelled it). The Middle is better than Cougar Town but not Modern Family. White Collar is an interesting crime drama, but Leverage is better. I liked V and never saw any incarnation of it before.

The anniversary of the JFK assassination came and went. At least for me, the computer simulation Dale Myers did helped me realize that I forgot about the windshield on the limo. That eliminates so many angles for a shooter on the ground. Oswald makes the most sense. It doesn’t preclude a grander conspiracy per se, but I think the ones about who the shooter was and where the shooter was just don’t cut it.

I got a new PC. It is pretty fast compared to the old one. Everything is snappier. On the old one, things ran well, but I notice they run better on here. Use less CPU time. I still need to get everything transferred over. I have a lot of PC housekeeping I need to do. Consolidate to one machine. Build a new machine for my Dad. replace the 802.11b cards with 802.11g ones so my network can run at G speeds. I can’t stream all of my HD video over wireless B speeds. Then I need to send back my old/broken PC.

We got a pretty good World Cup draw. Hopefully that will help the U.S. avoid a last place, no wins finish in their group again.

I’m hoping to go to the Formula 1 race in Montreal in June.

Health Care “reform” is looking like a train wreck. The Democrats are so disorganized. They stripped out everything the Republicans didn’t want and they still won’t get any votes. If that’s going to be the case, why even bother to appease them? You are going to end up with either all the blame or taking credit, why pass something you don’t like much? I think in the long term, we’re in serious trouble. Nothing the government is doing makes sense for the long term. The Congress can’t do anything but appease special interest groups/lobbyists. I think the smartest people are getting theirs now before everything goes south. Get a lot of money in the bank now with little regard to long term consequences. A lot of good talk from President Obama, and I know change doesn’t happen overnight, but I’m not even seeing any indication that change may happen. It’s business as usual in Congress.

This attempted Christmas Day plane bomber story is very weird with the stories from the lawyer about how the guy tried to get on the plane in Amsterdam, the second person being arrested and a possible second bomb in the luggage. I could understand them not wanting to disclose in order to aid their investigation. I’ll be interested to see what comes of it.

I got Scribblenauts for the Nintendo DS. It’s a neat game. I’m not even 10% through it and it is challenging. How do you “defeat” a tornado? Destroy steel spikes?

I’m thoroughly enjoying the Colts resting starters meltdown. It has so badly blown up in their faces. They went about it in the worst way possible and every defense of it that Bill Polian throws out there makes no sense. Obsessed with the Patriots much?

If you read all of this, I commend you. I also want to wish everyone out there a Happy New Year!

We went to Poblano’s Mexican Grill in Wichita the other day. It’s very much like Chipotle. They have a couple more options like Nachos and Quesadillas. And for vegetarians, there’s one other benefit: the pinto beans are vegetarian. (Chipotle’s pinto beans are seasoned with bacon.) It’s a very simple place. You go up, tell them what you want and tell them what you want in it (and how much). You pay, eat and you’re done. So you get your food quickly and are out of there quickly as well. It’s a great place for a quick meal with better ingredients than Taco Bell. Most of the things on the menu are right around $5. It’s a place I like and will definitely go back to again.

I really enjoy the NFL Matchup show on ESPN, but I’m sure the ratings bear this out; I think I’m in the minority. The show dives into the X’s and O’s of football. The show currently has a home at 6:30 AM CT on ESPN Sunday mornings. Fortunately we are at a point where many have DVRs so it isn’t that bad. I’ve just observed the time slot/day for the show has progressively worsened over time. I hope the next step isn’t cancelation.

What makes the show most interesting to me is they are able to use the coach’s tape (which is basically inaccessible to the public) to show a more in depth breakdown of football plays.  I wish they devoted 30 minutes to every game. There is so much that goes on in football that simply is not explained to the viewer. For people who really love the game, they present it in a new way that helps you understand what is going on in a given play.

NFL Network has a show they air three times a week for 1 hour called Playbook. They go over the previous week in one show and they cover the AFC and NFC in their own shows for the upcoming week. This show definitely contributes to the fan’s understanding of the game.

New and continuing shows are premiering on network TV now. There isn’t really much that is coming out that I feel like are worth watching. I gave some shows that seemed interesting a chance. I’ll include some of my thoughts. Before I do a couple general things I observed so far. ABC Studios (formerly Touchstone) has decided they want to promote more and it seems every show the produce (on ABC at least) start with “an ABC Studios production” to kick off the credits. My worst time slot is Thursday’s at 9 PM ET. FOX made it even worse by moving Fringe there.

Melrose Place (CW, Tuesdays at 9): I watched one episode. I never watched the original so I think that one aspect probably hurt. The show just didn’t seem all that interesting to me. Wow, someone was murdered. The characters weren’t interesting to me.  On a slight aside, Jessica Lucas is beautiful. She looked familiar, so I checked her filmography on IMDb and she was on CSI. She was the new CSI who just vanished. I thought she was better than the other girl they brought in last season (who they also wrote out).

Jessica Lucas, Melrose Place

The Beautiful Life (CW, Canceled): This was marginally better than Melrose Place. Although that doesn’t mean much since they canceled the show after the second episode. For anyone who was a fan, it’s really dead. They shut down the show during production. The CW will not be bringing it back later and if they do show the few episodes that were shot, there was no heads up so there won’t be any type of ending.

Community (NBC, Thursdays at 9:30): I’m giving this show a little bit more of a chance than I normally would. I bailed on The Office way too early and was horribly wrong on that show. So far, I’m not impressed.  Ken Jeong (the Spanish Teacher) is a MD in real life. He was practicing at Kaiser before getting into comedy/acting full time.

Bored to Death (HBO, Sundays at 9:30): This joke probably has been beaten to death, but the title is perfect:  viewers are bored to death watching this show. There’s “smart comedy” and then there is this. It reminds me of movies by Wes Anderson. His stuff is very (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited) hit or miss with people. So I’m not shocked that Jason Schawartzman is in this show. I thought Lucky Louie was way better than this and HBO killed it. Since all they care about are critics, this show will probably be back.

Accidentally On Purpose (CBS, Mondays at 8:30): I gave this show two episodes. It’s just not that funny. CBS made a mistake canceling The Class two years ago and Worst Week last year. Each was at least funny. The Class had superior characters as well.

the forgotten (ABC, Tuesdays at 10): The premise (solving unsolved murders of nameless victims) and characters weren’t interesting to me. The show just seemed to drag on. There wasn’t anything compelling about the “mystery”.

The Good Wife (CBS, Tuesdays at 10): The premise seems a bit lame (the wife of a cheating politician goes back to work), but I like legal dramas. The case was interesting. I’ll see if they continue to be. There’s some promise here if it doesn’t start to really lean on her back story and the cases all go back to her difficulties in having a crappy husband.

Mercy (NBC, Wednesdays at 8): I’m not watching this anymore. The characters stunk. It will likely draw comparisons to Hawthorne (on TNT). Hawthorne is a lot better.

Modern Family (ABC, Wednesdays at 9): This show is clever. It’s well done and uses the mockumentary style (The Office, Parks and Recreation) well. I think it will do well.

Cougar Town (ABC, Wednesdays at 9:30): I laughed. Nothing real special here besides that though. I found Modern Family to be superior.

Eastwick (ABC, Wednesdays at 10): This show will probably do pretty good for ABC, but it’s not all that appealing to me. I’ve never watched Charmed, but I imagine these shows would have similar audiences.

FlashForward (ABC, Thursdays at 9): I think this is my favorite new show so far. I enjoy these shows that have a more in depth story and a mystery (Lost, Fringe). Did anyone notice the Oceanic Air billboard? It said “Perfect Safety Record”.

Brothers (FOX, Fridays at 8): I think this show is a little better than Accidentally On Purpose. Unlike Friday Night Lights, the Actor in the wheelchair (Daryl Mitchell) is really paralyzed. (The actors on FNL, Scott Porter and Kevin Rankin do a good job, especially Kevin Rankin.) There are funny moments. I usually get bored with FOX sitcoms (except Arrested Development), so I’ll see how this one goes.

Trauma (NBC, Mondays at 9): Similar feelings as Mercy. The characters aren’t that good except maybe the helicopter paramedic. Again, a paramedic show on TNT (Saved) was done much better.

I think there are a few more new shows coming. I’ll recap them in a final grouping next month.