Movie Rating and Professional Quality Products

RANT

Looking at the movie scores from Critics (Professional reviewers) and User (Movie goers), I see that the Critics consistency score popular and good movies much lower than Users. Are we approaching the end of information era that professionals don't know what they're doing? I mean, what if come 2012 we can no longer trust our bankers and investment managers? Can you imagine what would happen? Oh, wait. We just had that last year.

But it seems I'm echoing more and more JFK's sentiment: "How can I be so foolish as to trust the experts!"

Looking at recent crop of games, what do I see? No level select. No difficulty select. No turning off annoying music. No control customization. No working shoulder button (Nintendo DSi, I'm talking to you!). You know. Things that were standard just a few years back. What happened? What's next? Leaving credits on who work on what parts off the programs?

I dreadfully await 2012. Prognosis is NOT good.

More Toys

FUN

I'm starting my old hobby, that is doll collecting. Those claw machines do work. Sometimes, though, the toys aren't worth it. I must have been out of practice. I used to be able to get these at about 2-3 dollars each. Now it's about 4-5 dollars each.

McDonald McDVision

COOL TECH

So I ordered BigMac Avatar from McDonald. The movie is pretty good. Lots of high-tech deal. Definitely see it in 3D if you can.

The McDVision is pretty frustrating. I knew that it involved card tracking of some sort, and it works. But it's not pleasant. You have to wait for the gorgeous intro to load in its entirety before you can skip it. It takes a very long time for the plug-in to load and initialize. There's no scaling the view once it's on. And the first level is too simplistic, and I'm having trouble making the Avatar moves the forward. It kept jerking backwards, you know? Makes me wish for keyboard control.

This product has all the markings of graphic artist and computer geek all over it. Flashy, splashy, and an extremely sexy piece of technology, but ranked rather low on user interface and experience. It's not a technical issue. It's a design issue. Sigh.

Dancing Pennies

FUN with MOTION CAPTURE

I was bored one day, so I decided to make a stop motion capture movie using my Nintendo DSi and Flipnote Studio, and these pennies are it. It took me about 30 minutes total to take pictures and import them, one by one, to Flipnote Studio.

Christmas Present

FUN

I got a Lego Bionicle as Christmas present, so I made a quick stop motion movie out of it using my Nintendo DSi Camera and Flipnote Studio. Just a quick 20 minutes run.

Kimchi Fried Rice

PERSONAL COOKING

My fried rice will never fail! Well, at least it won't had I remember the ingredients. Forgot about the egg. I substituted Kimchi and a slice of cheese instead.

1 cup of rice
2 KFC thigh
1 small can kimchi
1 spoon olive oil
1 spoon sweet soy sauce

Cook rice w/ kimchi in rice cooker. Shred KFC thigh. When rice are cooked, put oil in wok, put in rice and chicken. Mix soy sauce when warm. Stir. Dump in a bowl. Put slice of cheese on top. Serves 1.

Christmas Shopping

I usually would spend about $1000, but not this year. I'm holding out for a 10 Hr Touch screen Netbook w/ webcam for data entry. Pretty mighty configuration, eh? I was hoping 1 would come out this year, but no luck. On another note, Dell has a netbook with Digital TV reception, if you're looking for portable TV. Either use Windows XP or Windows 7. Skip the Vista.

I'm not shopping for a smartphone, right now, but if I do, I will give that android phone a close look. Seems like a good Apple iPhone competition.

Webcam: Logitech C250 is good, but C905 is so much better. Unsure if the face tracking technology can be disabled, since sometimes, I'd want to step aside to show a picture.

Handheld camcorder: There's plenty, but Flip Ultra has 2 hour HD model with facebook connection.

I'm tempted to get one of these 500 GB portable storage for about $100. Western Digital model should be good. 1TB drive is available if you want a desktop solution.

For backup, I use memory card, but Staples carry these cute PNY 4 GB USB swivel drive for $15 that are good for keychain/necklace/earrings accessory.

Nintendo has DSi bundle for kids (Mario) Metallic Blue and adult (Brain Age) White. These are DSiWare titles, but still a good deal. I'm tempted to get one of these. That would be the white one, since I already have Mario.