The Asus EEE PC 900 has been shown by Asus at CeBIT 2008. It’s got the same small and cute form factor as the originals but now has an 8.9″ screen, 1GB or RAM, and 12GB SSD. Those are exactly what I’ve been waiting for! Time to start saving up.
No Country For Old Men
No Country For Old Men is not an easy movie to watch. It is full of subtleties and nuances in addition to the in your face violence. Throw in the Texas drawl to the mix and you’re guaranteed to have a hard time understanding everything. A small-towner running away with a bag of cash he finds from a drug deal gone bad (imagine lots of dead people and even a dog too, that bad). A psychotic professional (and really scary) killer running after him. People dying left and right (and up and own). It sound like your average predictable thriller, but it’s actually unpredictable and quite riveting all the way down to the very end. I have to confess that it doesn’t totally make sense to me but I liked it and I’ll most probably watch it again just to make more sense of it.
Rating: 4/5
Motorcycle Riding Dog
Driving home tonight, I saw a motorcycle riding dog perched precariously behind the rider. It’s so unbelievable it didn’t register for a full second or two. But as soon as it did, I whipped out my phone but it was already too late and he was gone. Maybe I should rig a forward-looking camera like those in police cruisers.
Pentax K100D Storage and Firmware Upgrade
Picked up a SanDisk 4GB microSDHC package to upgrade the storage capacity of my Pentax K100D. The package because contains a 4GB microSD, an SD adapter, and a USB SD reader so I figured it’s a good deal. As soon as I got home I excitedly plugged the microSD into the adapter and the adapter into the camera. Memory card error. WTH? I removed the adapter, plugged it into the reader, and plugged that into the PC. Works fine. I did a search and discovered that, as I suspected, the camera does not support SDHC! Fortunately, there is a version 1.02 firmware update that provides support for SDHC. I promptly downloaded and started the update. After a few tense minutes (there is always that risk of turning your beloved electronic gadget into a brick) the update completed. I restarted the camera and lo and behold: 1386 photos at highest resolution and best quality!
Gone Baby Gone
In Gone Baby Gone, a young and idealistic rookie private detective takes on more than what he bargained for when he took the job of finding a toddler who had disappeared. Along with his associate/girlfriend, he starts the investigation. As they slowly unravels the mystery, they suffer from the mental and physical toll of the work. And along the way, but especially towards the end, they must make or rationalize decisions and actions that are morally and ethically ambiguous. The movie doesn’t take sides on these issues and generally just presents things as they unfold. The ending scene is, however, a bit different as it seems to imply a possible result of his final decision. But still, is it the right decision? It is still up to the viewer. A good movie with a compelling story and interesting characters. Especially more so, coming from first-time actor-turned-director Ben Affleck.
Rating: 5/5