Month: January 2013

General

Zero Dark Thirty

By on Wednesday, January 16, 2013

zerodarkthirtyGot together with Jim, Crissy, and the Fenris boys to watch Zero Dark Thirty last night. Haven’t seen them in a while and I couldn’t recall the names of half of them :P But there we were waiting for everyone to arrive, having dinner, talking about the things we used to talk back then, and of course, watching a movie of common interest.

Make no mistake, Zero Dark Thirty is not an action movie about a SEAL Team assaulting UBL hideout and ending him with extreme prejudice. It is primarily a spy thriller with a sort-of-action segment towards the end. It’s about “Maya”, a female CIA agent, on her single-minded 10-year search for UBL aka the needle in the haystack, her struggles in a male-dominated workplace, brute-force approach (yes, torture), bureaucracy ridden government, unreliable allies, and the culmination of the search with an efficient little raid a little-known city in Pakistan. There’s a lot of social and political commentary somewhere there but I chose to ignore them.

Towards the end, the narrative of the movie sort of weaves in with the narrative of the book No Easy Day. For example, the female CIA operative leading the search and the way the raid unfolds. So having read the book helped me understand and appreciate the events as it unfolded on the big screen. Makes me wonder if Mark Owen/Matt Bissonette is a technical adviser for the movie.

I’m kind of a Kathryn Bigelow fan because of The Hurt Locker and her latest work didn’t hurt. Definitely a good watch whether you’re a spy thriller fan or an mil action fan.

Rating: 4/5

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General

OtterBox Defender for iPad mini

By on Saturday, January 12, 2013

I wanted to let Jeanne start using her new iPad mini already. But not without a case. I like OtterBox products (and their clones) so I looked around but I found only the Apple Smart Cover (expensive and not very protective) and some generic cases with built-in covers (not very protective nor flexible). So, for a change, I ended getting a genuine Otterbox case.

The Otterbox Defender for the iPad mini is a high-risk heavy-duty case. The case is composed of three major pieces: a silicone outer jacket, a 2-piece poly-carbonate inner shell, and a cover/stand. The poly-carbonate inner shell locks together and sandwiches the iPad mini. It includes a built-in screen protector. The silicon jacket then wraps around the inner shell and covers the back and the sides. The material is a stiff type of silicone rubber that OtterBox uses in its new casings.

The buttons have push-through covers that are made of the same stiff material. They are definitely stiffer but still reasonable to press. The microphone port, Lightning port, and silent switch are also covered by stiff flaps but are easily opened with a fingernail. The flaps are generously sized and the ports should be easily accessible to most accessories. There are deep-set cutouts for the front and back cameras.

The whole case fits the iPad mini snugly and makes it look very rugged and like it could bounce off the floor. Perfect for a tablet meant to be carried around and used by Jeanne.

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General

Epiphany

By on Sunday, January 6, 2013

Today is Epiphany, a festival commemorating the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi. It is also popularly known as the festival of the three kings but that’s something the church is moving away from. Long ago, it used to be observed on January 6 but these days it’s observed on the first Sunday of the year. It doesn’t matter, today is both.

Epiphany also means an experience of sudden and striking realization, originally through the divine, but these days not necessarily just the divine. This holiday (holy day) season, I had a personal epiphany, sort of. It may not be new to most but it is to me. So yeah, it’s quite significant.

I realized that it is quite easy to be Christian or Christ-like when everyone is nice to you and everything is fine and dandy. The challenge is when people are not-so-nice, maybe even downright mean, to you and when things are not to your liking. What would Christ do? Can I do the same?

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General

OtterBox Commuter and Defender for iPhone 4/4S (Class A)

By on Sunday, January 6, 2013

After a few months of use, my knock-off OtterBox Commuter chipped and cracked so I looked for replacement case. Over the holidays, Edong accompanied me in the search. It was tough going because every shop were carrying mostly iPhone 5 cases. We did find a knock-off OtterBox Commuter at the place where he got his own case. But it was P650 and it wasn’t even well-made. Today, I dropped by the phone accessories section of a nearby mall and ended up at the stall of this Chinese guy at the far end of the section. He showed me not just a Commuter (P250) but also a Defender (P700). They were good copies. Definitely better than my old one. The Commuter even had stiffer silicone similar to the one being used by OtterBox. I asked for his last price and he said P200 for the former and P600 for the latter. I asked him if I can get both for P750 and after some thought he agreed. But I’m sure he still got a tidy profit. In fact, the other stall keepers were actually getting stocks from him while we were transacting.

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