Random Helicopter

Damn you FEZ! (link)

family guy : Peter roleplaying (video)

Sony's Universal Media Disc facing last rites (link)

holy back flip (video)

invisible quest (game)

crack dealer at 60mph (video)

Lego aircraft carrier (pics)

super mario reloaded (video)

panoramic view : ESIV-Oblivion (quicktime)

robo-one 9 (video)

sushi samurai (game)

call center (video)

Graphic Novel I've read recently...

"V For Vendetta" by Alan Moore

Naturally after watching the movie that adapted the graphic novel, I had to go ahead and read it. Looking forward to the book, I expected the movie to be different than the book, but I didn't realize at how much was changed for the film adaptation. There were literally tons and tons of story lines, characters, names, and plot details that were altered from the book. The story that Alan Moore wrote felt too overbloated with the multitude of characters and sub-plots, that it got too much for the length of the book and actually felt a bit too pretentious at times. It felt rushed in what he was trying to say, and it would have been better if he made the whole story longer than it is.

I suppose the one bias I have against the book is the character of Evey Hammond (played in the movie by Natalie Portman). I actually liked the character of Evey in the movie, compared to the book where I found her annoying and stupid. I couldn't feel any sympathy for her character at all, which I believe is an important feeling to have in order to care for the whole story. Not to be too obvious, but I much much prefer the movie version of Evey over the book's.

As for the character of V, he is definitely an interesting eccentric character, and is the best thing in the book. A terrorist that we can sympathize with, but at the same time also hate. He gets a little too poetic in his dialouge at times though, that it does get a little much to follow him. V is enigmatic as a character can be.

The artwork by David Lloyd was a bit too....muddy and dark for my taste. A lot of the times I didn't know what I was looking at. Artistic, sure, but I'd like to be able to easily see what's going on without making my eyes bleed from confusion. Not exactly that great in action sequences either, and his strength is simply on thematic mood. He and Alan Moore did a great job designing V though, making him a very iconic character.

In complete comparison of the book to the movie, I have to be honest in saying that I much much prefer the movie over the book. The "streamlined" version of the movie felt much more appropriate in execution, and in capturing the main theme of the book. I know, for you comic book fans, that's just plain blashpemy. But put it this way, I much prefer Alan Moore's work in "Watchmen" and "The Batman : The Killing Joke."

Immigration Law Changes - wow, heated debate just got bigger. Can't ignore it now can we?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060328

I've got to say, although I don't agree that we should sit by and let illegal immigrants enter this country as they please, these changes are a little extreme. Criminalizing illegal immigrants and putting them in prison? Like we don't already have an over population problem in prisons as it is. Whatever happend to just deporting them?

Then punishing employers hiring illegal entrants as well as churches and social workers is also a surprising proposal. To paraphrase the comment about that by Senator Hilary Clinton, "it's punishing the good samaritans, as well as Jesus." Surprisingly enough, President Bush is saying that this bill needs to be debated some more, but that's probably because he has illegals working in his Texas ranch.

I salute all those students who were able to give themselves a day off from school, by rallying a protest to these changes. I didn't think we still have outspoken and active students in this country. Let's see them continue protesting when it's officially their spring break, when they can protest over at Cancun Mexico.

Like Eating Random Glass

viagra thai boxing (video)

anonymity complete guide (link)

abusive gaming (video)

Texas arresting people in bars for being drunk (link)

rocket boots (video)

splash back (game)

leprachaun in Alabama (video)

miraculous makeup (pics)

brokeback mountain 2 (video)

the eiffel tower (quicktime)

Final 40 seconds of the UCLA and Gonzaga Game (video)

sobics (game)

I had my first experience watching a movie on IMAX. The screen is in fact friggin huge and you are more or less forced to sit towards the last rows if you want to have full view of the whole thing. The thing is that I did not watch an IMAX film itself, but the movie "V for Vendetta" that's been digitally remastered for the larger format. Because the movie is originally shot on film, some "sweeping motions" still look a little blurry on the screen. But then, the image quality is better, and those "motions" are minimized because of that. One thing that I didn't realize though is that an IMAX screen is more a square shape than a rectangular shape. Since V for Vendetta is a widescreen format, the movie doesn't utilize the whole IMAX screen, which makes it feel like you are just watching it on a traditional movie theater. On that note, the only "real" IMAX experience I got was the IMAX logo before the movie started, and it really did give me a taste on how "in your face" it can really be.

Speaking of V for Vendetta, here's *that* quote that some people (like me) have been looking for...

"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V."

Try and remember that by heart.

So the new union contract at my work has finally been settled. It was a long and hard negotiation because the company was very intent on doing several "take backs." It was so bad that the union suggested that we might even have to go on strike if things didn't get settled. But it did, and while the new contract doesn't effect me too much than what we have now(that remains to be seen though), it does effect future employees. Basically, a lot of the benefits of working for the company has pretty much been taken away from the future new-hires. It's rather unfair for them that's for sure, but the company is looking to save money and that was the only way they can do that without upsetting the current employees (like me).

If we as fellow employees have a heart to think about the welfare of the future co-workers, we should vote NO on the new contract. But the company is a little smart in getting us to say YES anyway, by "paying us" to favor it. How that's going to work is that if the new contract passes, we'll be getting $100 for every year that we worked for the company; topping off at 28 years ($28,000). As we all know, "money talks" and there is already support to just say yes to the contract. In fact there are already people who has worked for the company over 28 years that are actually complaining that they shouldn't have a limit in that incentive money (like someone who has worked 35 years there). "Everybody for themselves" I guess. That's the reality we live in.

I decided that from principle alone and the fact that I have a conscience, I'll be voting NO to this new contract. At this point I feel that because of the incentive money, it's almost guaranteed this contract will pass. But if one of my future co-workers asks why they don't have the same benefits that I do, I can at least know in my heart that I had a vote that supported them.

Lost in random Hollywood

Park(ing) a temporary urban park (link)

every Mortal Kombat 3 fatality (video)

top 10 strangest Lego creations (link)

me and my shadow (video)

refridgerator art redux (pics)

amazing juggling finale (video)

video game voters network (link)

snakes on a plane, lol (video)

Hollywood is calling (link)

drunk driving (video)

cool unique bags (pic)

franky the fish (flash)

I guess it was a little wierd for me, but recently I accidentally became the spokesperson for the San Diego Comic-Con at my work place. It's probably the result from them inquiring me about my trip to Wizard World - Los Angeles, that occurred over the weekend. Naturally, San Diego will be mentioned. For those who aren't too familiar with this, it's important to know that the Comic-Con has grown from just being a simple comic book related event, to a full blown pop-culture convention (movies, tv, toys, acting, video games, anime, etc...). Now, I have co-workers who are either really interested in attending this year, or are now really curious about it. To help them out, I thought I'd post some useful links here that they might be of help.

• official site for the San Diego Comic-Con (July 20 - 23)
• what was Comic-Con 2005 like? (video)
• check out my personal experience from last year
• where exactly is the San Diego Convention Center?
• how big is the convention center? (image)

now, if you decide to attend the event this year, these are two links you want to keep handy.

• registration information (1st deadline is April 19)
• hotel reservations (almost always completely booked though)