First of all, I got a new cell number so to find out, e-me or IM-me to get it. Now to some rants.

On Christmas Day, we wanted to go see something light and festive at the movie theatre and there were plenty to choose from including Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and Rumor Has It. So with so many to choose from, we settled on Munich, the account of the assassinations carried out after the hostage situation at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

We went to the new Eastridge theatres, but a few things irked me. The lines were loooong. The theatre is very poorly designed. You walk in and the concession stand is right there but the nearest screen is quite literally a mile away. And if you're at screen 15, well, you've got another mile to walk. All around, there are collages of memorable movie scenes. But honestly, how memorable could Twins, Nine Months, and the new Charlie's Angels be?

Two reasons why you should not get exercise equipment as a gift for a loved one. One, the loved one might interpret it as though she were fat. Second, you get some stooge to spend his whole afternoon assembling the damn thing. So my dad got my mom an air walker. In fairness, my mom asked for one, but I don't think she was that serious. So it was up to me to assemble it. With nine stick figure diagrams and screws too big for the holes they've drilled, I managed to assemble the thing in less than 6 hours. There's a number included in the package urging you to pay $120 for a professional to assemble it for you. Hey, I'll only charge $60 and do a half-ass job too. At least it works, I think I think.

Went to the Sharks game tonite. They played a solid 40 minutes until they realized it was a 60-minute game. The Sharks gave up 4 goals in 3 minutes. The trade for Joe Thornton is quickly losing its luster as the holes on defense begin materializing once again.

Thanks to all who came to my birthday dinner. Even got Akshay, Jeanette, and Steves to join. Sid crashed too. Fun was had by all...at least I hope so. When I got home, my brother was waiting with the third of three Harry Potter cakes he bought his GF. They were cakes made to look like the first three books of the Harry Potter series.

Ok, hope your haul this holiday season was plentiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=zLElfJ9YCh0

Funniest thing I've seen this week. It's the Chronic-what?-cles of Narnia as rapped on SNL.

You know who had the same birthday as me? John Spencer. A melancholy farewell to the great actor that he was. He was on L.A. Law and various movies, but lately, he made his mark on The West Wing as Chief of Staff to the President and a vice presidential candidate. On Friday, he died of a heart attack, which is eerie since his character also had a heart attack, which forced him to resign as chief of staff. How the producers will move on without him is beyond me. They backed themselves into a corner by showing him in a scene set 3 years into the future. If it wasn't for that, I would say to write the death into the show, but it seems re-casting is the way to go, which is a shame.

I'm having a lot go on for my birthday. At work, all they seem to know is food. So, we went out, I got bagels and donuts in the morning, and a certain someone gave me more baked goods (if you don't know the baked goods story, lemme tell you sometime ;) People are leaving for break so I'm lucky I got as many people as I did. On the other hand, there was the cost control meeting right afterwards so they were falling asleep left and right. Speaking of break, I'm off from December 23-January 2 if anyone is interested. Haha. My department manager asked me if I would run reports next week and all I could do is give him a blank stare. Honestly, only workaholics and those without vacation days will be there for a 2-day workweek.

King Kong was good, but not great.

If I don't make another post, lemme wish you and yours a very happy Christmas and a merry new year.

It's the most wonderful time of the year
With the kids jingle-belling (I don't think too many kids jingle bells anymore, but hey, it happens.)
And everyone telling you
Be of good cheer (Yep, I go around telling everyone to be of good cheer)
It's the most wonderful time of the year

It's the hap-happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings
And great happy meetings
When friends come to call (Hey, Merry Christmas...so what am I getting this year?)
It's the hap-happiest season of all

There'll be parties for hosting (It's at your place this year, right?)
Marshmallows for roasting (Oh, that's why it's not at your place this year.)
And caroling out in the snow (Yeah, good thing the snow was there.)
There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories Of Christmases long, long ago (Yeah, remember when your house burned down last year but we put it out with the snow on the ground?)

It's the most wonderful time of the year
There'll be much mistletoe-ing
And hearts will be glowing (You should really have that checked.)
When loved ones are near
It's the most wonderful time of the year (Umm, really it's when I get my bonus check, not when I have to spend money.)

Trying times this holiday season. Work is a total mess with the new company we bought. Apparently, nobody knows what the hell is going on and that leaves everyone in my department asking questions to accounting but coming up empty as usual. Sucks for me, who has to report SOMETHING to management.

"Oh yeah, they haven't bought any material 6 weeks into the new fiscal year. But they do have new orders 8 times the fiscal plan." Just awful.

I passed my traffic school test but I'm miffed I missed 2. I demand a recount! No? Oh okay, then give me my damn certificate so I can get out of here.

Christmas shopping's almost done, or if you prefer, holiday shopping's almost done. The parents are all that's left. My brothers and I got them a new fridge for their anniversary (31!) but for some odd reason, some shelves showed up broken. Don't know why. Hopefully, we didn't get a used one. That would suck. Anyway, Best Buy said they'd gladly replace it. But I had to go through the same long talk with them about extended warranties (reference my fun iPod Nano experience).

Posts are few and far between these days so plenty of birthdays to pass along in December. Here it goes. Chris and Jon just passed. Alex, Di, Shari, and my dad are in the future. And, of course, there's me.

Stumbled upon this on Amazon doing the Christmas shopping. The perfect gift for that weird Trekker you know would probably be this: The Ultimate Star Trek Collection. At an unheard of 212 discs, you can have every episode and movie made about Star Trek minus the animated series. At $2,000+ though, it'll be tough to find that under the tree this Christmas.

Oh, Kelli is growing up really fast.

I hope everyone had a very nice and filling Thanksgiving. I know I did and there's still leftovers left. Of course, the weekend didn't start out okay. Long day in the office as the boss wanted some reports before he left for the weekend. These reports, meant for many people, was probably read by 3 or 4 at the most when I published it at 5:30.

Thanksgiving morning saw me running errands where I could. Bank ATMs and the grocery store are two places you don't want to be on Thanksgiving morning, yet there I was in line most of the morning. One line I was thankful not to be in? I passed by Circuit City at about 10 AM and there was a big sign that had "LINE STARTS HERE" written on it. Two guys were just sitting there all alone in the midst of an empty parking lot, anticipating the sale that would open up the next morning.

Stuck in the middle of all the meals was Fiona Apple's concert at the Warfield. Full of energy in her 20 song set, the trip to the city and the $50 was worth it. And for some odd reason, it almost looked like she was enjoying the whole thing.

On a sad note, Pat Morita died in Vegas. As a tribute, go out and watch his Oscar-nominated performance in The Karate Kid, definitely worth it for all the laughs at Ralph Macchio's expense.

As I leave for dinner, let me wish you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving. Get to sleep early if you're hitting up Black Friday shopping tomorrow. I will hopefully be getting plenty of sleep tonite to get ready for SF and the concert. See you folks later.

Quick review of last night's midnite showing of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Boring, then good, then "is this over yet?" 2.5 stars

Something more substantive later.

The last part of my workday yesterday was spent reading blogs and profiles and whatnot so the prevailing thought as I headed home from work and dinner was this: the whole world has gotten itself in one big damn hurry. Ok, so I stole that from The Shawshank Redemption and I was driving 85 on 85 but it's what I thought.

People are pursuing advanced degrees, traveling the world, getting married, having kids and most of these people are still under 25. And here I am doing none of that. I'm the same person since I last saw you a week ago, a month ago, a year ago, even 5 years ago. (Well, a few of you were horrified when I parted my hair the other way.) I'm sure my day will come but hey, I'm getting impatient.

On a related note, a guy I knew in HS who I thought was gay actually has a girlfriend. Who knew? As Trump likes to say, some ppl like to eat steak and some like spaghetti.
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(What the hell does that mean?!?)

If this is true, it's creepy. If it isn't, it's damn funny. The power of eBay at work, even though it's illegal on eBay to sell this item. (Update: The link's been taken down.)

Vincent Gallo is an actor of independent films, most notably Buffalo '66 and The Brown Bunny, the latter of which he made and features him enjoying fellatio from Chloe Sevigny. But I digress. It seems on eBay, through a third party, he is selling his sperm to the highest bidder, minimum bid $1 million. What amuses me are the extra conditions and possible discounts you can get for buying his sperm. To summarize:

1. The bidding price includes one attempt at in-vitro fertilization (additional attempts will cost the bidder but the sperm will keep coming at no extra charge), but if a woman wants to be naturally inseminated, it'll cost an extra $500,000. Of course, Gallo will waive the fee if he is presented with multiple photos of the lucky lady and he approves.

2. He has the right to refuse if the winner is a woman of "dark complexion".

3. If the woman has naturally blonde hair and blue eyes, you get a $50,000 discount.

4. If you're related to a "German soldier of the mid-century", you can also get the above $50,000 discount.

5. Gallo favors a Jewish mother since "this connection to the Jewish faith would guarantee his offspring a better chance at good reviews and maybe even a prize at the Sundance Film Festival or an Oscar."

6. The baby's surname can't be Gallo.

I just feel sorry for the winning bidder, if such a person exists.

Before I get to the article of the week, let me remind you to fall down on Sunday for daylight savings time. After that, change your clocks back one hour.

Now, in an article in the Los Angeles Times, did you know Mexicans' consumption of beans has dropped more than 50% in the last 10 years? In favor of what, you ask? Ramen, the dehydrated favorite of many.

Only 3 years old, Leon Gustavo Davila Hinojosa is still learning to speak Spanish. But the precocious youngster already knows a bit of Japanese: "Maruchan."

That's a brand of instant ramen noodles that to him means lunch. Leon's grandmother stocks them in her tiny grocery store in this hamlet 40 miles southwest of the capital. The preschooler prefers his shrimp-flavor ramen with a dollop of liquid heat.

"With salsa!" he said exuberantly at the mention of his favorite noodle soup.

Through the centuries, Moorish spices, French pastries and Spanish citrus have left lasting impressions on Mexico's cuisine. Now Japanese fast-food noodles, first imported here in the 1980s, are filling pantries across the country.

Time-pressed school kids, construction workers and office drones have helped turn Mexicans into Latin America's largest per-capita consumers of instant ramen. Diners here slurped down 1 billion servings last year, up threefold since 1999, according to a Japanese noodle association.

Urban convenience stores do a brisk trade selling ramen "preparada," providing customers with hot water, plastic forks and packets of salsa to prepare their lunches on the spot.

People in the countryside have developed a taste for it too. As part of a food assistance program, the Mexican government distributes ramen to commissaries in some of the most remote pockets of the country, where it is supplanting rice and beans on many tables.

The product is so pervasive that a national newspaper recently dubbed Mexico "Maruchan Nation."Purveyors say you don't have to strain your noodle to figure out why. Nearly 60% of Mexico's workforce earns less than $13 a day. Instant ramen is a hot meal that fills stomachs, typically for less than 40 cents a serving. The product doesn't need refrigeration and it's so easy to make that some here call it "sopa para flojos," or "lazy people's soup."

Sold here mainly in insulated, disposable containers that look like Styrofoam coffee cups, instant ramen starts as a clot of precooked dried noodles topped with seasoning and a few dehydrated vegetables. Boiling water turns the lump into tender strands of pasta in broth, ready to eat in three minutes.

That's a profane act for some Mexicans whose relationship with food is so sacred that their ancestors believed that humankind descended from corn.

Food here is history. It is religion. It is patrimony. Ask anyone who has savored such delights as chiles en nogada, poblano chilies stuffed with spiced pork and topped with creamy walnut sauce and pomegranate seeds to replicate the green, white and red colors of the Mexican flag.

It's also passion. In Laura Esquivel's popular novel "Like Water for Chocolate," the sensuous alchemy of Mexican cooking unleashes a family's ravenous desires.

Small wonder that defenders of the nation's cuisine, such as Gloria Lopez Morales, an official with Mexico's National Council for Culture and Arts, are appalled that Mexican palates have been seduced by this lissome ramen import.

Lopez is leading an effort to have UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, recognize Mexican food as a "patrimony of humanity" that should be nurtured and protected.

She worries that globalization is disconnecting Mexicans from their very life source, be it U.S. corn displacing ancient strains of maiz or fast food encroaching on the traditional comida, or leisurely afternoon meal."

For Mexicans, food is basically culture. The act of eating here in Mexico is an act of enormous significance," she said. "We have entered a period of threat, of crisis."Nutritionists likewise are alarmed that instant ramen, a dish loaded with fat, carbohydrates and sodium, has become a cornerstone of the food pyramid.

With the majority of the population now urbanized and on the go, Mexicans are embracing the convenience foods of their neighbors in the U.S. while abandoning some healthful traditions. The result is soaring levels of obesity, diabetes and heart disease, particularly among the poor."It's cheap energy," said Dr. Gustavo Acosta Altamirano, a nutrition expert at Juarez Hospital in Mexico City, of the nation's growing addiction to soft drinks, sugary snacks and starchy foods like ramen noodles. "But it's making us fat."

Instant ramen has its roots in aching hunger. It was invented by Momofuku Ando, a serial entrepreneur whose businesses crumbled with Japan's defeat in World War II.

Memories of shivering Japanese lined up for a bowl of noodles in bombed-out Osaka haunted Ando for years, he wrote in his autobiography, "My Resume: The Story of the Invention of Instant Ramen."Ando, now 95, founded Nissin Food Products Co. in that city, guided by the mantra: "Peace follows from a full stomach." He figured out that frying fresh ramen was the key to preserving the noodle and making it porous, so that it could be reconstituted with boiling water into fast, cheap nourishment.

Instant ramen hit the Japanese market in 1958 and became an immediate sensation. The product is such an icon in Japan that thousands visit Nissin's ramen museum each year to see a replica of the tiny backyard workshop where Ando cooked up his invention.

The most economical version is sold in plastic-wrapped, dehydrated squares that consumers typically heat in saucepans on the stove. The average U.S. price is 14 cents per package, thanks to highly automated manufacturing in plants on American soil.

Most of Mexico's ramen is imported and served in insulated, disposable cups, which drives the price up to about 35 cents. Most of that product is manufactured in Southern California, where Japanese food giants Nissin and Tokyo-based Toyo Suisan Kaisha Ltd., maker of the Maruchan brand, have their U.S. headquarters.

Asian nations remain the world's top consumers. The Chinese alone ate nearly 30.5 billion servings last year. Outside that region, only the United States, Russia and Brazil gobbled more instant ramen than Mexico. But in Latin America, Mexico is the noodle champ. Its consumers ate an average of 9.4 servings in 2004 compared with slightly more than six bowls for those in runner-up Brazil, according to the Japan-based International Ramen Manufacturers Assn.

The most popular brand here is Maruchan, whose logo of a cheerful, round-faced boy peeps out from stores shelves nationwide.

Maruchan executives declined to be interviewed. "They like to keep a low profile," said Mark Horikawa, a spokesman for the company's U.S. headquarters in Irvine.

But with a Mexican market share estimated at about 85%, the brand is impossible to ignore. Like Band-Aid bandages and Kleenex tissues in the United States, Maruchan has become the generic term for ramen noodles in Mexico.

That's clearly an irritation to Nissin, which is running a distant second here. "We call them copycats," Takayuki Naruto, president of Nissin Foods (USA) Co., said in an interview at the company's U.S. headquarters in Gardena.

But the firm that invented instant ramen grudgingly acknowledges that it has learned from its imitator.

Naruto said that Maruchan won cost-conscious customers by "lowering the grade" of ramen, allowing it to undercut Nissin's price. He said Maruchan also handled Mexico's mid-1990s peso crisis more deftly than its competitors. While other brands pulled out or hiked their prices significantly to compensate for the devalued currency, Naruto said Maruchan hung tough, increasing its share of the market.

Nissin ultimately cut back on the vegetables and other ingredients in its soups and lowered its prices. "People still ask us where the egg went," said Masa Takada, Nissin's marketing manager.Naruto said he considered the Mexican market "critically important" and that the company had only begun to fight. The ramen maker has an extensive product research and development unit where food scientists experiment with new flavors catering to regional preferences.

For Latinos, Nissin has created goat-meat flavored ramen, a zesty chicken flavor derived from Mexican tlalpeno soup, and picante shrimp, beef and chicken varieties.

Takato "Tim" Shimizu, a serious man in light blue coveralls, is Nissin's top taster in Gardena. Shimizu said he tried to tune his Japanese palate to spicy cadences of Latin America. For confirmation, he routinely pulls Mexican-born workers off the packing line to try out his latest recipe.

But no matter how hard Shimizu works to fine-tune the seasoning, he said his tasters insisted on cranking it up a notch."I am surprised at the amount of lime and hot sauce they add," he said.

Tastes are changing in the Mexican countryside as well.

In a giant warehouse of Diconsa, a government agency that distributes food to the rural poor, cases of Maruchan are stacked on pallets, along with staples such as powdered milk, flour and cooking oil. The agency began stocking the noodles about five years ago after managers of government-subsidized country stores reported that their customers were clamoring for them. Diconsa purchased about 5.5 million pounds of Maruchan last year, nearly triple what it bought in 2000.

Miguel Angel Ansareo Mogollon, manager of the central warehouse located outside Mexico City, said rural women busy with children and chores were influenced by television advertising.

A cup of instant ramen costs 4 pesos, or about 37 cents in Diconsa-affiliated shops. A serving of beans costs pennies in comparison. Still, the average Mexican's consumption of frijoles has dropped by more than half since 1995, according to an agriculture trade group. Per capita consumption of tortillas has declined precipitously as well.

"Traditions are changing fast, even up in the mountains and in the countryside," Ansareo said. "You can spend days cooking beans. Maruchan is ready in three minutes. All the mother has to do is boil the water and throw in the chilies."

But back in Coamilpa, Leon's grandmother, shopkeeper Nohemi Moreno Vasquez, boasted that she has lived 70 years without tasting instant ramen and doesn't plan to start now.

Moreno is proud of Mexican cuisine and its traditions of fresh ingredients, slow-cooked sauces and hand-worked doughs.

She sees no benefit in feeding her grandson instant noodles, even if his parents are exhausted and have little time to cook after working at the local auto plant."

Our food is our heritage. There are riches on our tables," Moreno said."If we don't partake out of laziness, shame on us."

How's this for twisted...UNICEF in Belgium has produced a commercial featuring the Smurfs to teach children about the realities of war. How? Bomb the Smurf village of course.

The commercial starts out pure Smurfs: the birds are chirping and the Smurfs are singing...until the bombs start dropping, destroying their village and leaving a baby Smurf to cry in the middle of the chaos. "Don't let war affect the lives of children" it says in the end.

And it could have been much, much worse. A representative at the ad agency says "We wanted something that was real war - Smurfs losing arms, or a Smurf losing a head -but they said no."

While a lot of people are approving of the message (the family of the Smurfs creator, the official Smurf fan club), did it really have to be the Smurfs? Or any childhood institution for that matter? What if Mister Rogers Neighborhood or Sesame Street was bombed? It's a striking image of course but is it worth it to traumatize young children in the process? Not really.

When William Bennett said "I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down," he claims he meant for it as a far-fetched argument against a book that argued an increase in abortions could reduce the crime rate.

Well, maybe if you didn't start out by saying "I do know that it's true" you could have emphasized that this was a hypothetical argument instead of letting the media interpret your statement and making you look like a racist. Idiot.

Back when my academic career at Cal started, I shelled out $60 for a season ticket to the football games. Students did this for the experience I was told since it was a rare event to see the football team be successful. While the team lost 8 games that year, fans accepted it even if they couldn't stand it.

Flash forward to today where times have definitely changed. With Jeff Tedford at the helm, Cal has produced 3 straight winning seasons, going on 4. Heading into this season, all signs indicated a difficult year. Many defensive starters left as did Aaron Rodgers and the receiving corps. A weak special teams lacked a significant upgrade. On paper, it would have seemed .500 was a good year. But in the 5 years since my first season ticket, things have changed. Now it's a rare event to see the football team be unsuccessful. Last night's loss to UCLA hopefully provided a wake-up call to those who thought the Bears would win no matter what. They won't. It's a flawed team. It's a rebuilding team. Next year, I'm fully expecting an undefeated season as these young talents mature. But for now, I'm content on seeing them exceed expectations, which is what they're doing as I write this.

Along with my brother, we bought my sister an iPod nano for her birthday. Since none of the stores near my brother had it, I was tasked to go out and buy it at the nearby Best Buy. So hey, walk in, walk out...should take 5 minutes right?

12:00 I get there. It's a new store but it feels really small. Worse yet, the iPods are all the way in the back. Even worse, the lights are on but nobody's home. Since the iPods are under lock and key, I gotta wait for the guy to get back from his break. So my 5 minutes are up. But hey, it's out and I've got it in my hands, eager to race to the cashier. Well, the guy stops me and says, "I should let you know about the service plan we offer you." It's a 2-year plan for $40 that offers to replace the iPod if it breaks. Since the only problem I could possibly foresee is somebody stealing it, I declined.

As I made the walk back to the cashier, the salesman made a last chance plea for the service plan. Again, rejected. 5 minutes waiting at the cashier, I'm there, credit card in hand. "Okay...have you heard about our service plan?" The cashier brings out this brochure and covers every point imaginable in the wordy pamphlet. I'm trying to be nice, nodding at all her talking points and when she's finally finished, I refuse again. Once you start, you can't stop and back down.

I'm ready to swipe. I make the first movement, but then suddenly...12:20. A man approaches with the word supervisor on his nametag. "How was your shopping experience today?" I mutter a "fine" since I'm totally beat at this point. "I see you bought an iPod Nano today. You know, it would really be wise to get a 2-year service protection plan in case anything breaks down." A cashier who had just finished her duties for her shift, overhears our conversation and interrupts, saying "Yeah, the service plan is good...because Apple gives you an iPod that's been refurbished and you don't want somebody else's iPod." So this cashier and supervisor keep talking to me while I'm swiping my credit card. The original cashier understands and gets my transaction through. Once the supervisor finishes, I'm out the door.

12:25.

But you know with my luck, my sister will break the iPod and somewhere out there, someone will say I should've gotten the service plan.

Two things you must buy as fast as you can.

Fiona Apple's new album "Extraordinary Machine" drops on Tuesday but you can preview it on Myspace.

I got my copy of Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story on Wednesday and while it's actually just one very long episode, it's one very good episode. The Ferris Bueller run is spot-on and it's got some particularly adult scenes that truly show what Family Guy is all about.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Red Eye
You may or may not realize this, but I watched these movies a very long time ago and only now getting to the reviews. Is it because of my busy work schedule? Could be. In any case, there haven't been many movies to watch and these two have been arguably the most-talked about releases of the last month so here we go with quick reviews.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a great comedic experience that could only be created by one Steve Carell of Daily Show and Office fame. It borders on truly offensive material at some points but overall, it's something every adult can laugh at consistently. From the many action figures in Andy's wall to his waxing experience and finally his wooing of Catherine Keener spoke loudly with laughs even if it ended in such an out-there way.

Red Eye stars the lovely Rachel McAdams, seemingly budding to make it big in Hollywood. This movie may make a lot of money for her and the studio, but quality-wise, she heads a bit sideways. What starts out as an edge-of-your-seat thriller falls apart to chase scenes and another incarnation of Home Alone. And all the while, you're questioning the moves both she and Cillian Murphy are making as she tries to avoid the killing of her father. It's barely an average movie even with McAdams in a starring role.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin: 3.5 stars
Red Eye: 1.5 stars

We're right in the middle of a short birthday rush so here's one post wishing all of them a happy birthday. Datman's was last Tuesday. My cousins Trang and Peter had their birthdays on Friday. Last but not least, Christy's birthday is on Thursday. Happy birthday to all. I hope that's everybody for this week and last. If not, you're just not a good enough friend or relative.

When are caption writers going to leave race out of a picture? The devastation by Hurricane Katrina and the floods that followed have forced people to live by any means necessary. But according to these pictures, this white woman "found" bread while this black man "looted" a store for his food. Come on, they both stole (presumably). Why the different words?

Game 119: Orioles 4, Athletics 3

Watched the game with Datman Tuesday night and it was one great game. 3 runs in the 7th all but finished it off and we left early. Maybe we shouldn't have with B.J. Ryan loading the bases and allowing a run, but it all worked out.

Busy busy week at work highlighted by the $62 million contract sent out by my department, the largest contract ever in company history. Never again do I want to see 350 pages of work orders again.

One of the hinges holding up the display on my laptop broke, so I called technical support to check out my options. Apparently, warranty doesn't cover it but they did give me the name of the nearest support center. Here's the funny part. The name of the place is CPU Computer Repair. But the operator insisted on spelling it out and adding names for each letter. C is for Chris. P is for Paul. U is for ... 5 minutes later, she still wasn't done. She wanted to use different names for each one so once she used Chris, she just had to use a different name and sometimes she just couldn't think of one that quickly. After all, how many names off the top of your head start with the letter U? How tedious.

Have you seen what the combination of work and bad movies have produced? Only 19 movies watched this year with no more in the foreseeable future except possibly The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

So I was eating at P.F. Chang's the other day (why? 2-minute wait...tell that to B.J's next door) and at the end of the meal, the fortune cookies come out. Usually, the small slip of paper tells you about the future that lies ahead (duh...fortune) but the one I got seemed a little weird. It didn't tell me my future, it was telling me what to do.

"Take a trip with a friend"

Well, I think their writing staff should take a walk.

Happy Birthday Jeanette!

Notice how the post time for this is seven in the morning? Don't you just hate it when the body gets into the cycle of waking up early in the morning that you wake up when you just don't want to...like on a Saturday?

At work, things are running smoothly. The pricing manager is leaving for vacation, leaving one pricer on staff to handle the overload of proposals coming in the next few weeks. They were supposed to hire a new person to help out, but apparently only one person has applied. (Looked at her resume...looks much more accomplished than me, but anyway) With nowhere else to turn, they look to this newbie to help out. In the end, it means new software to learn along with another computer to put it on. (The computer will eventually be transferred to the new person.)

My manager really wanted it on Tuesday. Ok, so he put in the request on Wednesday, but he expected it to be done on Wednesday. After all, from one manager to another, he thought he could do it. But as the hours ticked away, so did his patience. Finally, Thursday afternoon, I got an email from IT saying that the computer was ready, but there was no available table to put it on, so they'd wait until I got a new desk. I told this to my manager, who became mad. He grumbled "I'll get you a desk" and stormed out of my office. I went down the hall to talk to a co-worker and when I came back, a desk was there. I went to his administrator who said that he went over to the next building and dragged a large table all the way to my office. He didn't get hurt...must've been all that adrenaline. Eventually, it took another 12 hours to set up the computer since they couldn't configure the network properly and didn't set up my access to the folders correctly. So a computer he wanted Tuesday night didn't get up and running until Friday afternoon.

I have the sneaking suspicion that IT doesn't like me.

Game 108: Orioles 4, Angels 1

Lee Mazzilli was fired today as manager of the Baltimore Orioles. It was a painful sight since he wasn't doing a bad job. He was just dealt a bad hand with too many distractions. Look at the first half. It was a sight not seen for quite a while: winning. The team was in first place! It was actually beating the Red Sox and Yankees. The pitching was unstoppable. Then reality set in. The only pitching help they got in the offseason (Steve Kline and Reed) were being shipped to the minors. Sammy Sosa couldn't even do a quarter of what he did with the Cubs. Rafael "I didn't do steroids, PERIOD!" Palmeiro tested positive for steroids. People all across the team were rumored to be traded. Where's Burnett? Nevin? Lowell? Millwood? Wells? None came. Sure, Eric Byrnes came but he'll knock himself out against a wall in no time.

Who's to blame? The GM's, of course, in Beattie and Flanagan. They needed pitching but gave them offense plus a couple of old-timers to pitch. Sure, Burnett would've been good, but I'm glad Angelos rejected the trade. I'm not glad it took that long to resolve. All that time, the Orioles were losing. Now that they're 10 1/2 games back of the AL East and 9 games back of a wild card, it might be time to start packing it in. Let's hope that next season, Beattie and Flanagan will get what they should've gotten last season: pitching.

Let the record show that on this day, the 28th of July, two-thousand and five, I became a new uncle with the birth of Kelli Nicole at around 2:00 pm. Congrats Chris and Susan.

The Island
Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor), like the rest of the fellow population, lives life in a utopia where food, shelter, and interaction take place in a controlled environment away from the great devastation that contaminated the earth years ago. Everyone's goal is to gain entry to the island, the only place left in the world that is not contaminated, by winning the lottery. But as time goes on, Lincoln begins to question his surroundings as he interacts with a technician (Steve Buscemi) and begins to have visions in his nightmares. Dr. Merrick (Sean Bean) and his friends try to bring him back to reality, but human curiosity leads him to follow a flying insect and eventually the truth behind the utopia they live in. Soon, he takes his friend, Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson) and breaks out. Dr. Merrick, in an effort to keep things quiet, hires Albert Laurent (Djimon Honsou) and his team to capture them before the truth is spread throughout the world.

As you know, Michael Bay's films are meant to stimulate the visual senses and not the mental ones. The Island continues this streak with the requisite car chase that blows everything up and cool gadgets everyone needs to use. But honestly, if you look past the various plot holes, the questions left unanswered, the ways Lincoln and Jordan get out of various situations and the unintentionally funny ending, this is a film you can certainly enjoy. I was a little bothered by the increasing amount of product placement in the film, something done to blunt the cost overruns. This could have been done a bit more discreetly. Also, the learning curve for Lincoln and Jordan progresses too fast to be plausible since they've learned only simple communication and simple tasks in the compound but by the end, Lincoln has mastered flying, driving, and Scottish slang while Jordan is able to shoot guns with amazing accuracy and leads a rescue of her friends. In the hands of a more serious director, the ethical questions of cloning would have made for a better movie, but in the hands of Bay, you've got to leave some room for the imagination to enjoy the pair's journey to truth, romance, and reality, and back again. 2.5 stars

A bill going through Congress would extend daylight savings time by a month so that the time change would be in effect from mid-March to November. Obviously, the energy savings would be extraordinary, but have you realized the other benefits?

Crime would go down because according to Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass), criminals "don't work very well when it's light out and they don't like to wake up early either."

Markey goes on to say that on Halloween, "children trick-or-treating could go door-to-door to collect their candy in the safety of daylight." Yep, nothing expresses the frightening aspects of Halloween than the bright sun melting your candy away.

My brother recently got notification of his 10-year high school reunion from OG.

What would you expect from your high school reunion? Probably a nice nearby hotel with a fancy dinner filled with countless memories of the way things were. For my brother, that could be accomplished minus the nice hotel and fancy dinner. Why?

The good people at OG have decided to take advantage of the poker craze by holding their reunion at the Garden City card club and having a poker tournament as a main event. Yep, nothing like saying hello to your former acquaintances of 10 years past by taking money from them.

March of the Penguins
Luc Jacquet and his team traveled down to Antarctica to document the journey of emperor penguins on their way to their breeding ground. Seemingly hard-wired, these emperor penguins make this 70+ mile trek every year and meet up with fellow penguins to mate. Once there, it doesn't end. The true test of survival still awaits them as their chick needs nine months to fully mature. As a result, the penguins must endure a harsh winter protecting first an egg, then their small baby as they stand there with only the food they had stored months before.

In the hands of Hollywood, this story may have been more explicit and violent. In the hands of Disney, two penguins may have faced the treachery of hyenas or something and seen visions of a genie before the happy ending of a family reunited. Instead, we have the very simple hand of documenting with the capable, and sometimes witty, commentary from voice-over go-to-guy Morgan Freeman to make the rough tale of these penguins informative and entertaining. One must admire the extraordinary lengths the filmmakers went through to get the footage they did, especially considering how their landscape is pretty much endless ice, not filled with the luscious colors we're so used to seeing when watching this type of documentary. There are some lengthy stretches of silence with footage which seems repetitive that make the film slow down considerably but one look at a chick entering the ocean for the first time will have you applaud its accomplishment and appreciate the dedication of a mother and father who endured the long winter to bring forth life. It is much more than a simple love story. 3.5 stars

Hey, are you as excited as I am that the NHL has solved its labor problems and that the season will start in October?!?

Oh...figures.

Wedding Crashers
John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Klein (Vince Vaughn) are two average divorce lawyers, best friends, and decent guys. All that ends with the arrival of prime wedding season. Then the two shine as wedding crashers, praying on young ladies who are in the mood for love. However, the best is saved for last with the wedding of the daughter of the Secretary of Treasury. Crashing a wedding this big requires a large amount of planning, something the two handle easily. But what comes next is something that they're unprepared for as both fall for the Secretary's (Christopher Walken) other daughters, Claire (Rachel McAdams) and Gloria (Isla Fisher). While Gloria and Jeremy's relationship is mostly sexual, the evolving one between John and Claire is impeded by the fact that Claire is about to be married. With John quickly falling for her, it's only a matter of time when there will be a confrontation between him and the fiancee (Bradley Cooper).

Wedding Crashers feeds off the energy of both of its stars Wilson and Vaughn. When they're together in the same room, fireworks explode and the moviegoers are rewarded with a great experience, especially with the energetic first 15 minutes. However, when they're apart, as they are in the third act, the laughs trail off and the movie suffers for it. Even the introduction of Chaz, played by a famous comedian and usually very funny, seems out-of-place with the way the movie was going in the first 90 minutes. McAdams certainly looks the part and does her best with what she has, but isn't given anything memorable to say. But hey, what can you say about Walken? One look at his stare looks very creepy and aside from Claire, he's the most normal of the family, which is pretty tough to accomplish in any movie. 2.5 stars

Honestly, I haven't had time to update my goings on since I got back. It's like I returned from Vegas only to go straight to work but hey, that's the life I lead now.

So yeah, Saturday morning started out early at 6 am. We rented a minivan from Hertz but when my dad showed up at the rental counter, they refused to give us a minivan, pushing us to get the larger, more gas-guzzling SUV. So my dad goes on a mini-tirade, questioning the value of a car reservation. 15 minutes later, they just happen to find a mini-van in the lot to give us. Bad news? It's a Kia, or as my dad referred to it through the entire trip, a K-I-A. I had no problems with it...ran fine. But at 18 mpg and practically no amenities in the car, I wouldn't recommend it.

The true reason we were down there was for my cousin's wedding. At a few places, the thing was headed toward the brink of a disaster, what with the ceremony next to a very loud pool on a fairly warm day and a tilting wedding cake, but as they say, love conquers all and the reception went very well.

The trip around the block continued with the journey to Las Vegas. One thing I wanna mention is that for some reason, people who drove a Lexus always slowed down a lot. Don't have a clue why. The 4-hour trip took a little longer not only by the slow Lexuses (Lexi?) but also by a suicide attempt at the 91-15 interchange, which closed down all 8 lanes of the merge except for one.

So once we got there, I had a list of things to do for my one day there. It was a short list actually, but they were important. Gotta go see Star Trek. Check. They put in a new ride there involving the Borg. Very cool...it has mechanical seats that poke you and sprinklers above that spray water at you. It's a 4-D ride. What is the 4th dimension? I'm really not sure. Is it the live action stuff? The old Klingon ride is still there too but its starting to look a bit dated.

Then there was the WSOP. As anyone who is anyone knows, the World Series of Poker is going on right now as I write this. I got there before the main event started, but it was still exciting nonetheless. It's at the Rio but it's far away from the casino. My brother and I got a little lost and asked a guard where the room was. All he said was "Follow Jesus." I thought he was being philosophical or something but sure enough, when he pointed in the general direction, there was Chris "Jesus" Ferguson walking back from his dinner break. Walking into the poker room was extraordinary. 220 tables jam-packed with lights above each one...it made it very bright. And oh man, the stars in that room...Negreanu, Brunson (both of them), Forrest, Seed, Lindgren, James Woods, and others. It was pretty cool. The ESPN stage though, seems a bit smaller than I thought it would be. Walking out, I gave a hello to Doyle Brunson who was speeding on his scooter on his way toward the door. He gave a smile and hello but promptly kept on going. I would later learn he was just eliminated from the Omaha tournament he was playing in.

While there, I was actually carded. There's a strict policy that everyone in the room has to be at least 21, but while it's no surprise that I would be, they also checked my brother, who's pushing 30.

When I got back, time to eat. Everyone has said wonderful things about the Bellagio buffet so we ate there. Little did we realize they'd jack up the price by $10 for the holiday weekend. Going in, I grumbled that this better be the best $37 meal I'd ever eat. The crab disappointed me but everything else was decadent. They even had venison and lamb. What kind of buffet serves up that? And of course, I'm a sucker for creme brulee.

Finally, there was the gambling. My brother wanted to go to one of the smaller poker rooms to play so we headed to Bally's. I didn't think I was ready for poker rooms yet. I won't be until I can shed this conservative image of mine. I'll have to get by taking money from my friends. (In fact, Hai called on this night to play. Too bad I was a few hundred miles away.) So I hit up the blackjack tables, which managed to increase its minimum bet from $5 to $15 in a couple of hours due to the crowds. I pretty much broke even if by breaking even, you mean losing about $50.

And that's about it. The K-I-A managed to bring us back safely and it only took 9 hours straight with just a couple of bathroom breaks and a half-hour lunch.

The haste to return home was due to the need to get back to work. I still had 30 projects to update costs on not to mention updating financial figures for the company and planning the transition for financial reporting on the new company we just swallowed up. I was going to write this on Thursday but I had that Fantastic Four screening to go to. (Good thing it was free.) I've heard good things about Wedding Crashers and I'll be checking that one out on Tuesday.

As tragic as the bombings in London were, here's something odd. New York, Madrid, Moscow, and now London have had one form of terrorist attack or another recently. Now, what were the cities bidding for the Olympic games? New York, Madrid, Moscow, London, and Paris. So you Parisians should be extra vigilant.

Mitch Hedberg, the guy you see to the left, is featured in this week's EW. What the heck took so long? He's been dead for such a long time now. It's a well-done article for sure, but it should've been done already.

So that's it. I leave you with a valedictorian. Every year, the Mercury News profiles valedictorians from the area giving them the chance to share their favorite memories and thank those who helped them along the way. Being the valedictorians they are, they tend to be long-winded in their sentences of remembrances and thanks. But not this one guy from Silver Creek whose blurb went like this:

Favorite Memory: when we went to Great America.
My friends will remember me as: passionate.
The people who have influence me the most are: my parents, teachers, friends.
My motivation all these years was: my goal.
What's next: college.

Yep, sounds like a valedictorian, doesn't it?

Fantastic Four
Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) believes solar winds are the key to human evolution, but to test his hypothesis, he needs to get up to space to test his theory out. To do that, it means reaching out to one of his adversaries in the research business, Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon), a man with the brains, the wealth, and Reed's former girlfriend, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba). On Victor's term, they agree to a deal and the three of them along with Sue's brother Johnny (Chris Evans) and Reed's partner Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) travel to the space station. However, a miscalculation brings the solar wind much earlier to the station than they thought, flooding all of them with radioactive energy. All seems normal when they return to earth but soon realize each has the ability to do the unthinkable. While some uses it for good and others for fun, one uses it for evil (I bet you can figure out which one.)

I'll admit that I've never read the comic book, but if this story was entirely based on the Marvel comic book, I wouldn't understand how it turned into a movie, but here we are. Everyone likes a little turmoil between friends, but "Fantastic Four" stretches the turmoil to the very end, leaving behind a movie with some virtually unknown characters magically working together against a villain who quite suddenly out of nowhere turns into a metal machine with a sith's lightning powers. Not much character development occurs through the film...things just happen and we're supposed to fill in the pieces. To make matters worse, the whole thing seems childish and the script works to show off this childishness whenever possible, whether it's to have a flaming Johnny skiing down a mountain or to see Sue undress to her underwear only to have her invisibility turned off. Successful comic movies like X-Men and Spider-Man show seriousness and respect to the material they are based on. Fantastic Four tries to, but it comes too little, too late in favor of the cheap laugh. 1 star

This time tomorrow, I'll be in Los Angeles on the first leg of a two-leg trip. Sunday will be spent in Las Vegas while Monday will be the long trip home so that on Tuesday, I can work on the growing stack of papers on my desk. If you're going to be in these places over the weekend, hey, drop me a line and we'll go do something. Probably won't though...I'm almost booked for the weekend.

Now that I'm firmly planted at my job, some people wanted to know about the search that preceded it. Boy, in the three months of searching, it was filled with frustration, anxiety, and false hopes. Just when you feel desperate enough to go to the temp agency, another company calls for an interview only to reject you later. Officially, these companies gave me interviews for business/finance jobs only to brush me aside: Kaplan, Lockheed Martin (2), Quinstreet (2), some mortgage company I forgot the name of (definitely the worst interview of the bunch), National Semiconductor, the California Department of Labor, the Santa Clara County assessor's office, some car rental place, the Federal Reserve (2 phone interviews), and Payment Processing. And of course, countless more e-mails and phone calls. After all that, I was happy to land anywhere and coincidentally, it's down the street from Lockheed.

I'm still a little steamed that at the War of the Worlds screening, the guy who parked in front of me left it touching my car. The least he could do is back it out just a smidgen and create some space. At least he didn't make any dents. It's bad enough that there are already some chips from rocks on the road.

Haven't talked about the Orioles for a little while. A lot has happened, but most importantly, they've fallen behind the Red Sox for the AL East lead. Injuries have certainly taken their toll and the pitching inexperience is showing. But here comes word though that Jason Schmidt or A.J. Burnett may be coming their way. That will help tremendously on a staff with no true pitching ace. As much as you want Sidney Ponson to be that guy, that will never be the case and Ray Miller can only do so much. But the price for such help is pretty high. Julio should have been on his way out a long time ago so I don't mind losing him, but Cabrera and Penn are possibly on the block, which could be devastating since both have so much potential, especially Cabrera who just needs to develop some consistency.

Truthfully, I was supposed to write reviews for Batman Begins and Madagascar before War of the Worlds, but I've been putting it off. I'll write full-blown reviews after the trip (or possibly on the trip since I'm bringing the laptop) but to sum it up in a sentence, Batman Begins is great once you figure out what the heck is going on, which is about halfway through the film, and Madagascar is solid entertainment, but not destined for greatness the way Disney classics and Pixar animations are.

War of the Worlds
It's just another day in the life for Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise). Getting off work. Picking up the kids from his ex-wife. Parenting and all that. Little did he know that in the next few hours, his life would change drastically. Lightning bolts come down from the sky at one particular spot and from it rises a giant tripod, a scene replicated at thousands of sites throughout the world. And while the naive humans stare with their jaws open, the tripod begins its assault on the town, shooting humans to dust and destroying anything in sight. Ray, with kids Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and Rachel (Dakota Fanning) in tow, leaves town to head to Boston where his ex-wife is staying. It's a race against time as the tripods close in to find any human in sight.

There's a scene when Robbie is drawn into the battle by the sounds of gunfire with Ray and Rachel hurriedly chasing him. Ray leaves Rachel and tackles Robbie in an effort to force him to come back with them. The obviously ambitious boy responds that he needs to go look for himself what's going on. I won't say what happens next, but I wish I could've gone. Instead, we're stuck following Tom Cruise around the whole time. And that's the problem with War of the Worlds. The first hour is a mind-blowing, eye-opening adventure as people race to escape the wrath of the tripods, but eventually the film settles down to focus on the plight of Ray as he weaves his way toward freedom. While itself somewhat riveting, it totally ignores the more interesting adventure of, well, everything else. One of the few redeeming features of the final half is a silent Fanning, who seemingly spends the first half just screaming. This film stays true to the H.G. Wells-written ending and while it makes sense, you must think that a story one million years in the making would produce a much more exciting ending. Hey, at least it's better than those aliens from Signs being afraid of water. 2.5 stars

Batman Begins
Summary coming soon.

The film starts out with a multitude of events so tightly packed, it's hard to figure out what's going on. But once the plot gets settled and the filmgoer has a sense of what the heck is going on, it turns out to be one fine film. Christopher Nolan's dark look at Batman is a welcome contrast to the Joel Schumacher wrecks. Bale isn't my first choice for Batman but I can get used to him if all of the Batman movies end up like this. While it's not the best Batman film (I still like the first one more), this beginning ranks up there with hopefully many more to come, but please, keep it like this one and don't obsess with nipples on the costumes. 3 stars

Madagascar
All Marty the zebra (Chris Rock) dreams about is living in the outside world, even though he enjoys his current lifestyle of living in the Central Park zoo while hanging out with his best friends Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith). One night, Marty makes a run for it to try to go to Connecticut. While his friends catch up to him, so do the humans and soon all four are being shipped to an African wildlife refuge. En route, penguins take over the ship and during the ensuing madness, the four crates holding the four friends go overboard, ending up in the African island of Madagascar.

There's a lot to admire about this animated feature (hey, they're just not cartoons anymore). Its depiction of the New York City nightlife is impeccable. But with the Disney cartoons of the '90s and the recent Pixar features, the bar has been raised and Madagascar just barely rises above it. Where the other features in essence dream the impossible dream, Madagascar only has the reality of being dumped on an island with singing lemurs and the daunting task for Alex the lion to refuse to eat his dear friend Marty. Not exactly the same. The film is humorous and will certainly entertain the kids, it however will not appeal to adults as today's animated features do. 2.5 stars

Two articles from the paper to mention.

The first is from The New York Times about GSI's who can't speak English. Honestly, I've never had a problem with this, simply because in my difficult classes, my GSI's could speak English well and in my easy classes, it didn't matter. The article states that 22 states require or have legislation that requires teachers to speak proficient English, but don't all these foreign-born college students need to take English tests before they're admitted? If not, they should. They really, really should. College students' futures are on the line.

The second is from the Mercury News. A radio DJ promised to give away 100 grand to a lucky listener. When the winner came down to pick up her prize, she dressed up her family and they all went down to the station to pick up their prize only to be horrified and dismayed at the sight of a 100 Grand candy bar. Now the woman is suing the DJ and the station. Yes, it was funny but it was also mean-spirited. I'd be skeptical if a small radio station would offer to give away that much money.

Things continue to move along smoothly as the person who trained me went on a one-month vacation, leaving me in charge of all her duties. But still I've managed to finish everything early. Now I've got nothing to do...but don't tell my boss that.

Last Friday, I made the trip to Davis to see my cousin graduate. Nice place they've got up there...apparently, it's new. Overachiever that day? The student honoree, home-schooled prior to her Davis experience, received 33 A+'s in her 4 college years. My gosh, that's too many to count. Then the student speaker yelled out "We are engineers! Hear us roar!" and then the names were called and that was that.

Afterwards, I saw my high school twin. Huy was his name, right? Well, I'm sorry to say, it looks like he kept on that freshman 15, if you know what I mean.

After dropping by to see Di and Jimmy, I made my way home. Have you ever dozed off while driving and when you wake up, have no idea where you're at? That happened to me quite a few times. One second, you're driving at a reasonable 80. Next thing you know, you don't recognize where you are and you're going 100. Yikes. But hey, I got from Sacramento to San Jose in less than 2 hours, which is great...or dangerous.

All that freeway driving is great for the gas mileage. I got 26+ MPG when the average is about 23.

Totally unrelated, but I was reading in EW about a new reality show called Being Bobby Brown. Accompanying the article was a picture of Brown and my first thought was, man, couldn't they have gotten somebody that actually looked like Bobby Brown? Then I realized the pic was actually of Bobby Brown.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith
John and Jane Smith (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) lead normal lives with normal jobs in a normal community. But when you're using the word "normal" that many times, you know something is amiss. In fact, both are trained assassins but have never revealed that fact to each other. When both receive orders to take out the same target (Adam Brody), their secrets eventually come out and they deal with it the only way they know: by trying to kill each other.

While it's nice that Jolie and Pitt bring an unexpected sense of chemistry to the picture, the whole thing seems to be a derivative of movies and shows we've seen before; chief among them is director Doug Liman's previous work in "The Bourne Identity." But then you could also see elements of Pitt's "Fight Club", "Spy Game", and the Ocean films as well as Jolie's Tomb Raider films. Even Adam Brody's character could come straight from The O.C. As a result, its only original idea is to bring two main characters in the mix, something Liman does well. But with the lack of a cohesive and plausible plot (the final confrontation isn't too believable, but not seeing the signs after 5, no 6, years of marriage is even more unbelievable) as well as its ignorance to the strong supporting cast (Vince Vaughn and Kerry Washington should have been used more) doom Mr. and Mrs. Smith to a continuing anonymous status. 1.5 stars

The Longest Yard
Paul Crewe (Adam Sandler) is your typical washed-up football player forced out of playing because of money. This time, he was shaving points. When a little drunken driving causes a really big accident, Crewe gets sent off to a Texas prison where the warden (James Cromwell) is obsessed with football. As a tune-up for the prison guards' season, the warden pits the guards against the prisoners, forcing Crewe to lead the team. Crewe, sensing this might become a blowout, trains his men to work as a team to at least become respectable. At his side are Caretaker (Chris Rock) and old-timer Nate Scarborough (Burt Reynolds).

With "The Longest Yard", Sandler continues his ability of starring in above-average comedies, but this one is hurt by the fact that it's a remake. You either need to go all out in respecting the original or go in a totally new direction. This one turns out to be a hybrid and gets mixed results. I never saw the original on which this is based, but from what I hear, (spoiler) Caretaker dies in the original and becomes a big rallying cry for the rest of the movie. In the remake, Caretaker also dies, but it seems to be totally unnecessary, especially since he had been the go-to guy for comic relief up to that point. Things like that make you go hmmm. It also lost any kind of comedic rhythm it had going for it and could not recover since you had to go through the obligatory football game at the end. The movie then is not laugh-out-loud funny as previous Sandler flicks have been, but it gets good mileage out of what it has. 2.5 stars

Great photo brought to my attention at Hollywood Elsewhere. The still is from the upcoming film "War of the Worlds". It's like Annie Leibowitz took the picture or something. Everyone has a different reaction to, presumably, different aliens coming at them from different angles. The best one is probably the lady behind Tom Cruise who looks like she's smiling. Must be because she's standing next to Tom Cruise.

As a Cal grad, you're not supposed to be envious about anything done at Stanfurd, but when it comes to money and getting things done, give the Cardinal credit. For proof, just look at these passages from the Mercury News today.

Plans for the new stadium were approved by Stanford trustees Monday. If all goes smoothly, demolition of the existing stadium will begin immediately after the last home game in November. University officials are not predicting a finish date, but there is an unofficial goal of not missing any football games in 2006 by driving the project at breakneck speed.

And...

Cal athletic director Sandy Barbour said Tuesday that the project won't begin after the 2005 season as some had hoped, but she said it's likely construction will begin immediately after the 2006 season.

The plan is to complete one phase of the project (such as renovating the east rim of the stadium) in time to play the 2007 season in the stadium. Immediately after the 2007 season, construction would continue on the rest of the project, with the goal of playing the 2009 season in the completed stadium. Cal would need to play the 2008 season at another site such as San Francisco's Monster Park.

The folks across the bay will work their construction crews around the clock to get things done in-between football seasons while angering Cal fans by not being able to guarantee seating at the Big Game when it's on the Farm.

Getting back to the point at hand, remodeling Memorial Stadium has been a pain for many years now and only got jump-started again due to the football team's recent success and the desire to keep Jeff Tedford. Meanwhile, Stanford seemingly has taken the public by surprise by dropping these plans on us. They claim to have had this planned for years as well but remember, as recently as last year, a rebuilt Stanford Stadium was supposed to be the epicenter for the 2012 Olympics, a vision much different than the 50,000 seat stadium they have proposed now.

Admittedly, the task is tougher for Cal. The law and business schools are part of the plans. Memorial sits on a fault line. There's only so much space to work with on Strawberry Canyon. UC bureaucracy is pretty much awful and money is tight. All told, it's going to cost up to $250 million compared to Stanford's $85 million.

But in all that time for the planning stages, Stanford has raised $60 million with little media coverage while Cal has raised only half that with the entire process playing out before our very eyes. Cal needs to get something out there to convince the big donors to donate or else they'll be the ones coming up with new delays for their donations before they disappear completely.

Remember how we all thought Kerry was much more intelligent than Bush? If you compare their undergraduate grades, they tell a different story.

Sen. John F. Kerry's grade average at Yale University was virtually identical to President Bush's record there, despite repeated portrayals of Kerry as the more intellectual candidate during the 2004 presidential campaign.

Kerry had a cumulative average of 76 and got four Ds his freshman year — in geology, two history courses and political science, The Boston Globe reported Tuesday.

His grades improved with time, and he averaged an 81 his senior year and earned an 89 — his highest grade — in political science as a senior.

"I always told my dad that D stood for distinction," Kerry said in a written response to reporters' questions. He said he has previously acknowledged focusing more on learning to fly than studying.

Under Yale's grading system in effect at the time, grades between 90 and 100 equaled an A, 80-89 a B, 70-79 a C, 60 to 69 a D, and anything below that was a failing grade.

In 1999, The New Yorker magazine published a transcript showing Bush had a cumulative grade average of 77 his first three years at Yale, and a similar average under a non-numerical rating system his senior year.

Bush's highest grade at Yale was an 88 in anthropology, history and philosophy. He received one D in his four years, a 69 in astronomy, and improved his grades after his freshman year, the transcript showed.

Kerry, a Democrat, previously declined to release the transcript, which was included in his Navy records. He gave the Navy permission to release the documents last month, the Globe reported.

Kerry graduated from Yale in 1966, Bush in 1968.

Link

No information was released about how well each did during their postgraduate careers. Kerry graduated from Boston College Law School in 1976 after returning from his tours of duty in Vietnam. Bush earned his Harvard MBA in 1975 after serving in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.

Wouldn't life be much easier if people knew when and how to change lanes? Every morning, unnecessary lane changes lead to massive amounts of slow traffic, causing headaches during my slow commute to work. People see an opening but are slow to react to it, forcing people to slow down in both lanes. My commute consists of taking 280 every morning, which wouldn't be so bad if people knew how to merge when the lanes drop from 4 to 3. Instead, people slow down further trying to get over to the far left lane, which makes, surprisingly, the right lane the fastest lane most mornings. As a result, my 20-mile commute takes 45 minutes. Sure, I could work at 7 and avoid all of this but who in the world would want to do that?

The company gave me business cards to give out, but I've got no clue when I'm supposed to give it out. It's not like I interact with customers. Maybe they want me to win some lunches. If you want one, come and get 'em. I've got like 500 of them but I guess they're supposed to last me my whole career there.

6 weeks after I bought my car, it's got 1800 miles on it. Have I really driven it that much?

I really feel sorry for the Quiznos guy. For a couple of months, he was dressed as a soda cup with a big Quiznos logo on it and was forced to wave to people. Its quite embarrassing, especially when you have to put it on in front of the folks in their cars. Now, with summer approaching, out goes the costume and in comes just a regular sign. So now we can see his face all the time.

Anyone out there have a Mastercard I can borrow? I'll give it back...honest.

Small O's update. After sweeping the O's last week, the Tigers lost 2 out of 3 to them this weekend. But it's tough going for the Birds as the injury bug has hit, losing Javy Lopez, Sammy Sosa, and Brian Roberts. Sosa is back and Roberts is supposed to come back tomorrow, but I don't know how long the O's can handle the Gil/Fasano combo at catcher. Pitching remains strong except for the inconsistent Daniel Cabrera with the hot/cold games he brings to the table. Today, it was a hot game, giving up only 2 runs.

Finally, a warm congrats to my cousins Trang and Hung, graduating from UC Davis and Oak Grove, respectively.

Great Dilbert on Sunday.

Very quietly, this blog turned 3 a couple of days ago. 584 posts later, have you learned anything? Probably not except that I watch a ton of movies. (Only 10 so far this year...what's up with that?)

Coincidentally, it all started with a review of Attack of the Clones, the lackluster film that preceded Revenge of the Sith. I caught a glimpse of it again on FOX, and I must say, I should revise that 2.5 stars to something lower. I just couldn't watch the thing.

Some tidbits on last Friday's screening:

Lively, mostly adult crowd. I say adult because the PR system went on and called down a guy to the lobby because his mother was waiting to see him. Of course, it could have been a geek without a ride, but the whole audience reacted with delight.

Not many people liked The Chronicles of Narnia trailer, which I describe as Lord of the Rings without the rings. Just a few seconds in, somebody yelled out "Next!"

Lots of guys cheered when Angelina Jolie came on-screen for her movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith but when Brad Pitt came on, only a single deep male voice could be heard.

In line, there were the lightsabers and stormtroopers of course, but I couldn't figure out the guy whose costume consisted of just a cape.

When Yoda and Obi-Wan were reacting to the news that Padme had twins, I was totally expecting Yoda to say "Double the trouble this is."

Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
The war between the Republic and the Separatists continues as Chancellor Palpatine has been kidnapped by General Grievous and Count Dooku. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) comes up with a plan to rescue him and with the overwhelming help of Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), does so. While Anakin feels proud of what he's done, he's troubled by visions of Padme's (Natalie Portman) impending death after her pregnancy. The comfort he finds comes from the Chancellor himself, who tells him she could be saved if he learned the teachings of the dark side from him. Anakin is utterly confused at this point, but trusts his feelings to go to Master Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) with his findings. When Windu takes his information and runs, Anakin feels used and abandoned by the Jedi, pretty much completing his move to the dark side and his allegiance to Darth Sidious.

Starting out, "Revenge of the Sith" was headed down the mediocre path set forth by George Lucas' first two efforts. Special effects that wow us but do nothing for the story. Cringing romantic scenes between Padme and Anakin (I still say it doesn't look right). Anakin continuing to be the whining and pouting teenager he should have left behind from "Attack of the Clones" (ohhh, they won't let me become a Jedi master...boo-hoo). But while Anakin's move to the dark side had ramifications for the Jedi in that galaxy, in this one, it did wonders for the film. Finally, Christensen gets comfortable and looks the part Lucas meant for him to play. The story becomes crisp and compelling, never needing an overwhelming space battle or two armies going at each other to keep our attention. Instead, focusing on the conflicts between individual characters was the best route and they produced some great lightsaber scenes. Anakin's transformation in the end sends enough chills down your spine and all the loose ends that connect this episode to the fourth one are refreshing to see. So at last the puzzle is complete, and what a final piece it is. 3.5 stars

I like Star Trek. Can you tell? Since 1987 when the Next Generation debuted, the modern Star Trek spinoffs have been great adventures where no one has gone before. But after Deep Space Nine left the airwaves, something about Voyager was amiss. It had its moments but it's no TNG. You'd think the people in charge would figure out what was wrong with Star Trek before trotting out a new series but no. Less than one year after Voyager, they figured Star Wars could do a prequel, why can't we? So Enterprise was born, focusing on the first Warp 5 earth ship.

I had my doubts. You always run the risk of continuity problems when dealing with the past. You may want to debut that new weapon you have, but did they have that in the future? The Star Trek timeline is very important to the devoted fans, as evidenced by the number of ST: Encyclopedia books out there. And there was the fatigue factor. The 4th ST series in 15 years isn't going to make people tired? But like most fans, I tried it out, and as expected, didn't work with me. Watching Enterprise get bullied around every episode wasn't my idea of entertainment. As a result, I tuned out, as did millions of others, eventually reaching the point where its rating hit 2-3 points, great for UPN but pathetic for even a ST series.

I finally got back to it this year and was pleased with the improvement. But the series' fate was sealed long before I tuned back in. Last night was Enterprise's finale. If it was a season finale, I'd say it was great. But that's only because there's a 6-year gap in the timeline that could have been discussed if there were more episodes to watch. Instead, it was an average series finale which tried to answer most questions through Riker asking them. Wow, does he look old. I know he's trying to look 10 years younger to fit the Pegasus storyline, but man, he can barely fit into that uniform.

So here's my idea for Star Trek. Wait. Wait before you do anything else. Let people soak in what you got. The DVD's are still coming out and being watched. Nobody watched Nemesis; let people watch that too. If anything, take another page out of George Lucas' book and re-release TNG with those cool ship effects from the finale (Enterprise-D has never looked better). But wait until the next great idea comes to you.

Monster-in-Law
If your future daughter-in-law was Jennifer Lopez, you'd probably welcome her with open arms. But if you're Viola Fields (Jane Fonda), it's a whole different story. Her talk show has just been canned and at one of her low points in life, she decides to pick herself up by spending more time with her son, Kevin (Michael Vartan). One problem. Kevin just got engaged to Charlie (Lopez). So instead of getting along with her, Viola tries to push Charlie away by being needy and overbearing. Will her childish behavior be enough to drive Charlie crazy or does love truly conquer all?

It's hard to pinpoint what was going on with this film. You've got the Meet the Parents blueprint down pat but without the predecessor's aura of hilarity and lack of seriousness. You never get the sense to feel sorry for Charlie, like you do for Ben Stiller's character in Meet the Parents since he never gets a chance to fight back the way Charlie does, and that occurs pretty suddenly. Vartan and Lopez have a lot of chemistry when they're actually on-screen, which is not too often. Fonda certainly looks the part but doesn't feel right for the part. She never gets too comfortable, though none of the characters to varying degrees looked comfortable. Probably the only shining star to produce laugh-out-loud moments is Wanda Sykes in the role of Viola's assistant. 1.5 stars

Mindhunters
The FBI can only be as good as the people that work for it. To that end, constant training is needed constantly. One such training facility is on a remote island, which is the setting for the dilemma of 7 agents, who face a deadly situation. Each one is the target and only one knows who the mastermind is since one of them is the mastermind. So as each go down one by one, it's up to the agents to learn as quick as they can before they die. A semi-famous cast star in the film headed up by Val Kilmer, LL Cool J, Christian Slater, and Cold Case's Kathryn Morris.

Having watched this last year, I've got a vague memory of the film. But I can tell you this, it's not much of a movie, since it's pretty obvious who the killer is. Once you know who it is, it just gets to be a matter of how these people die and it seems director Renny Harlin, who's capable of much better, tried to make each killing more weird and shocking each time. I still think the best one was the freezing of the legs and watching them shatter, but hey's that's just me. With the big recap at the end showing step-by-step how the killer did it, you might just wanna see the last 15 minutes. Of course, you wouldn't see the ridiculous killings, but hey, will you even watch it? 1 star

Talking to my friend graduating from Cal, he expressed a little disappointment by the name recognition of the speaker at commencement this year. Last year, if you recall, it was Ted Koppel. And they've gotten Bill Cosby, Madeline Albright, and Janet Reno before. Yet this year, the nation's #1 public university has turned to Benjamin Barber to handle the speaking duties this year. Gee, I think even Jonny Moseley is more popular than he is. About 10 to 15 speakers turned Cal down before choosing Barber in what's bound to be one of the least-attended commencements in history. With no diplomas given out, there really isn't a reason to attend except to have a place for all of your friends to celebrate together.

Work's fine. I met the CEO yesterday. Boy, does he have a mouth. In our few minutes of conversation, he cursed quite a few times.

Spaceballs: The Collector's Edition came out Tuesday in the continuing search for more money.

Wanna see something freaky? Go to zabasearch.com and enter your name. From property tax records and other databases that can be easily accessed, it can find where you live. Luckily, I'm not in there, but who would have thought there would be 26 people with my name in California?

Who am I? Why am I here?

It's been almost a year since I graduated from Cal and still I'm pretty much moving along with no destination in sight. How long has it been since I talked to you? You're probably in 1 of 3 categories so let's move step-by-step, shall we?

1. You still think I'm at Cal.

If you've talked to my dad, you know I've graduated. Some of you went to graduation, others went to the party. In any case, getting my degree should be common knowledge to most of you.

2. You still think I work at Hitachi.

This too is not true anymore. After graduation, I took up a job at Hitachi as a business analyst for them. I mainly tracked volumes and market share for them, giving them warnings when price levels appeared too low or inventory went to one of the extremes. I enjoyed my time there but some of you may not know that this job was a contract-to-hire position. The to-hire part was pretty much guaranteed until about November of last year, when layoffs hit the company affecting about 400 people. As a result, it was just a contract job and I was wasting my days away until that contract expired. So in the meantime, I got out the old resume and started applying like crazy, getting about 12 interviews at 8 companies within a few months. One of my pet peeves now is the lack of communication after the interview. You'd think the large companies wouldn't want to deal with you when you've been rejected, but they were the only ones to send thank you letters after I was passed over. So I'll still hate National Semi and Lockheed for not giving me a job, but at least they were courteous about it. It doesn't say much for the other six, considerly smaller, companies. My new job starts on Monday, bringing us to category #3.

3. You think I work somewhere else.

And you'd be right. Here, I'll be dealing more with the costs of their projects dealing with signal intelligence for the government. I'm not sure how much more I can say...I still need to go through a security clearance. The feeling I have is that it deals with a lot of accounting even though I've never taken an accounting class in my life. I'll see when the job starts.



So that's the need-to-know about my working life. Little else has changed. I bought a nice Mazda for $200 below invoice recently. I still have a 5-figure savings account, which seems amazing to me even after I bought the car. Hopefully, the loan payments won't eat my account up. I've cut down on my movies: only 7 in the last 4 months. I'll have less time for the movies now, though I'm serious about Star Wars and a midnight showing. And I'm thinking of traveling east this summer, but that has to wait too. I only get 1 vacation day for every month I work.

On a completely unrelated note, I used to live at Capitol and McLaughlin and across the street was the Gould, a great place with Alpha Beta, Payless, and the Cinema where you could watch a double feature for a couple of bucks. All those things are gone but my cousin has opened a new Hawaiian restaurant in that center, her second one to date. It's across from McDonalds and next to Starbucks so it's a great location. Check it out.

Finally, take a little moment to reflect on the past. 30 years ago tomorrow, Saigon fell.

As we hit up May, it's time for that critical 4 month period where studios make most of their money for the year. While a multitude of movies will be shown for all to see, only a handful will be considered must-see. Leading the pack? Star Wars: Episode III of course. Come on, midnight showing! Who's with me?

May 6

Crash - From writer/director Paul Haggis comes a look at the complexities of racial conflict in Los Angeles featuring an all-star cast including Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Ludacris, and Ryan Phillippe.

House of Wax - Teens find a house filled with wax figures and must escape before they become part of the exhibit. Taking away some of the suspense is Paris Hilton, who has already announced she dies in the film.

Kingdom of Heaven - From the director of Gladiator, Ridley Scott, comes another period piece, this time set in 12th century Europe as Christians and Muslims fight over the Holy Land. Orlando Bloom stars.

May 13

Kicking and Screaming - Will Ferrell takes on the task of transforming a youth soccer team into a winner.

Mindhunters - Two and a half years and counting. That's how long this film has been on the shelf waiting to be released. I've watched it and I know why it's been 2 1/2 years. It sucks big time. But seeing as how this is the 4th time I've written about it, just release the thing and make whatever money you can.

Monster-in-Law - Jennifer Lopez just wants to be married to Michael Vartan. Not a simple task with his mother (Jane Fonda) in the way.

Unleashed - Jet Li stars as a fighter who escaped his death-match past and befriended a blind piano teacher (Morgan Freeman). His past comes back to haunt him however when his former master finds him to bring him back.

May 19

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - The eagerly anticipated final piece of the 6-part puzzle that is the Star Wars mythos. The Clone Wars are at an end but a rising empire awaits the Republic.

May 27

The Longest Yard - Adam Sandler tries out football again as he leads his prison football team in a game against the guards.

Madagascar - Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith and Chris Rock are the voices of 4 animals mistakenly shipped off to the island country of Madagascar.

June 3

Cinderella Man - You know what we need? Another movie about boxing. Yes we do. Russell Crowe, an out-of-work former boxer, gets another shot at the ring during the Depression era.

Lords of Dogtown - This '70s skating flick is rated PG-13 for "drugs and alcohol content, sexuality, violence, language and reckless behavior - all involving teens." So R wasn't an option?

The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants - 4 girls decide to keep in touch by exchanging a pair of pants. Make sure you wash them before sending them on.

June 10

The Adventures of Lava Boy and Shark Girl in 3-D - From Robert Rodriguez comes another 3-D adventure (Spy Kids) courtesy of an idea from his son Racer. Stars David Arquette and Kristin Davis.

The Honeymooners - Based on the classic TV show, Mike Epps and Cedric the Entertainer take over the main roles.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith - It's the movie that touched off the whole Jennifer Aniston/Brad Pitt gossip. Married couple Pitt and Angelina Jolie find out they are assassins for competing agencies and discover their next target is each other.

June 15

Batman Begins - In the hopes of shaking off Joel Schumacher's nipple costumes, director Christopher Nolan returns to Batman's roots with Christian Bale in the title role.

June 17

The Perfect Man - Hilary Duff tries to hook her mom up with a man. But when your mom is Heather Locklear, this should be a 10-minute movie, right?

June 24

Bewitched - Based on the classic TV show, a revival is in the works with Nicole Kidman as the bewitching star and Will Ferrell as her husband.

Herbie: Fully Loaded - Remember that Herbie the Love Bug? Well, it gets a CGI-facelift and a very attractive driver with Lindsay Lohan at the wheel.

George A. Romero's Land of the Dead - Even the title gives me the creeps.

June 29

War of the Worlds - Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg are at it again. Based on the movie and the H.G. Wells story, Cruise leads his loved ones to safety as aliens invade Earth. Who wants to bet there's a slow-motion shot of Cruise running? Anyone?

July 1

Rebound - Martin Lawrence is a college basketball coach who must save face by coaching a junior high team to victory.

July 8

Dark Water - A psychological thriller from the creators of The Ring stars Jennifer Connelly as a woman who tries to start fresh at raising her daughter only to find her apartment has taken on a life of its own.

Fantastic Four - Michael Chiklis, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, and Ioan Gruffudd constitute the Fantastic Four based on the comic book.

July 15

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Loved the story. Hated the musical. But this time, all is about to change with Tim Burton at the helm and Johnny Depp as the star.

Happy Endings - Another movie about people's lives intertwining with Lisa Kudrow as the star.

Hustle and Flow - The tale of a Memhis pimp who becomes a rapper won rave reviews at Sundance.

The Wedding Crashers - This adult comedy stars Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn as two guys who crash weddings to hit on the ladies. This time, they meet their match in Rachel McAdams and Isla Fisher.

July 22

Bad News Bears - Billy Bob Thornton takes over Walter Matthau's role as drunk manager of the little league baseball team.

The Island - From Michael Bay comes a futuristic thriller starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson as two clones who try to escape the facility that harvests their body parts when needed.

July 29

The Brothers Grimm - When a movie has the saltry Monica Bellucci, I'll try to watch. In this delayed film, Matt Damon and Heath Ledger promise to exorcize the ghost that exist but eventually get cursed.

Sky High - If you're the son of superheroes, your future inevitably involves being a superhero. But with no powers to your name, what are you going to do? Ummm, get high?

Stealth - Remember when Chris Rock told producers to wait for the right person to star in your movie instead of rushing anyone out there to act? Well, the producers at Steath have a $125 million film on their hands about naval pilots threatened by a computerized jet. Who's starring? Jessica Biel and Josh Lucas. Wow. Sure, Jamie Foxx is in it too, but he's in a supporting role.

August 5

Broken Flowers - In this limited release, Bill Murray discovers he has a 20-year-old son. If only he knew who the mother was.

The Dukes of Hazzard - Revival summer continues as this TV show from the past gets a movie. Seann William Scott, Johnny Knoxville, and Jessica Simpson star.

The Pink Panther - Inspector Clouseau lives on as Steve Martin takes on the role in search of a ring.

August 12

Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo - Title says it all, doesn't it?

Four Brothers - Foster brothers team up to solve the case of their murdered caretaker.

The Skeleton Key - Kate Hudson tries to break her streak of awful films by taking up a horror flick.

August 19

The 40-Year-Old Virgin - Steve Carell plays the title role with the object of his affection being Catherine Keener.

Domino - Keira Knightley is a bounty hunter. Ignoring its Man on Fire look, watching Knightley as a bounty hunter is worth the price of admission.

Red Eye - Rachel McAdams gets kidnapped on a flight by that guy in scrubs from 28 Days Later.

August 26

The Cave - Imagine going into a cave and never coming out. Well, that's the story of The Cave, a place that the advertising says is below Hell. Stars Piper Perabo. Piper Perabo? Really?

The Interpreter
For any other man, dealing with the death of a spouse can take weeks, months, or even years to recover from. Not Tobin Keller (Sean Penn). He's back on the job after only two weeks. In many respects, he has to come back. He's on the Secret Service protecting visiting foreign dignataries. The latest to visit is Edmund Zuwanie, the President of Motobo accused of crimes against humanity who has come to the United Nations in order to defend himself. But days prior to his visit, an interpreter named Sylvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) claims to have overheard a plot to assassinate Zuwanie. But the more Keller delves into her story, the more questions that come up including those about her African past and those having to gain from a possible murder.

The Interpreter is the type of movie everyone should be making. A simple, cliched plotline (an assassination attempt) set against the backdrop of an unknown and complex locale (the United Nations) brings about many creative ideas. Indeed, this is so on the camera side since director Sydney Pollack got permission to shoot at the United Nations, the first time any movie has shot there. New York City also figures prominently and shows itself off well. However, the storytelling could have used some work. If you go in without watching the 2-minute trailer, you might have been fine but the first hour and a half could be neatly summarized in the trailer and you could have gone straight to the ending. It may not be apparent at first, but the whole ending is revealed in the first 20 minutes...just gotta connect the dots. The climax, with a few minor plotholes, is excellent but if I have to watch Penn become teary-eyed and emotional again, I'll hurl. Honest. 3 stars

Stolen laptops seem to be the rage in Berkeley lately (and Cal being named to lead a cybersecurity project was a cruel joke, right?), but the latest laptop to be stolen has produced the most heated reaction.

Biology 1A Professor Jasper Rine had his laptop stolen last week prior to exam time. But not only does it have that information, it also contains classified information that has forced him to notify various government agencies including the FBI and SEC as well as a company he's working for. As a result, he dedicated the last 5 minutes of lecture to the thief, informing him that he was his only hope to getting out of this mess and that he was leaving for vacation in a few short hours.

First off, he probably missed the deadline since the class I understand is at 8 AM and somebody who's stealing laptops is probably watching the webcast over the weekend instead of listening to him live.

Second, yes, this probably gets your computer back while scaring the thief silly, but Professor Rine, you didn't need to make this public. If you can truly track down the thief through transponders and Microsoft Product Keys (can you really do that?), why not get him discreetly instead of basically detailing what you've got on the computer? It's like somebody stealing a briefcase, only to have the owner proclaim "Hey! That briefcase has the nuclear codes for this country, so you better return it!" Now, you're liable for all the data on the computer, possibly getting you into as much trouble as the kid who stole the laptop in the first place.

Watch the video through the Berkeley webcast (man, was this a lifesaver in my 4 years there) and scroll to about 49:00 or go to Boing Boing for his speech alone.