My class’s former class’s autobios are up, thanks to Greg on his website here. And I’m on top and center, because I’m special! You can view mine in particular here.
Mine is by far obviously the best one:
Archive for June, 2006
Yes, I know, I know - Madagascar is a kids movie. But who cares. It was on T.V. so I watched it. No, I won’t be analyzing the ethics of the film, and way the panning shots work, blah blah blah. I’ll just give the movie a fairly short review. I have to admit, when the movie first came out I really didn’t have much interest in seeing it. I mean - it looked like a fun and funny movie, but a little bit out of my genre, and I didn’t like the cartoonish 3D animation as opposed to realistic 3D animation. But it was on T.V. the other day, so I decided to watch it.
Madagascar is about a group of animals living the life in the Central Park Zoo, one that I have visited many, many times. They enjoy entertaining the people, getting fed, and getting back massages. Oh - and they can talk. That’s kind of what the whole movie is based on. But the zebra wants to go out to “The Wiiild” and enjoy the fresh air, he feels like his life is contained in a zoo. As he says in his own words: My life is half over and I don’t even know if I’m black with white stripes or white with black stripes! So eventually they get out… into the wiiiild. But unlike the trailers suggested, it happens in the first half hour. Most of the movie takes place WHILE at Madagascar A.K.A. The Wiiiiild. They have to adapt to the new territory and life, and not being fed every minute by park keepers, and of course the lion… starts seeing steak in places that he’s never seen it before - in his friends. Dun dun dun.
So the movie is really about 4 loveable characters (well… 3 - all the giraffe doess is look tall) who have to adapt to a new environment. It’s no Pixar film, and no Shrek either. But the characters are loveable, and very easy to relate to and they do have pretty complex relationships with each other that play out nicely, but always with comedy first.
The first half hour is very…. New Yorker-ish. They navigate the subways arguing in very New Yorker-ish terms. “No, I’m positive the C takes us to Canal street, so then we can get the N to 31st.” “Yeah, but the N is out of order so…” stuff like that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Also, the central park zoo looks very… central park zoo-ish which is nice, it’s a very nice movie for any new yorker.
At first I was unsure about the cartoon-ish look of the characters, but I really don’t mind it much any more - it’s not really needed for any reason, but hey - if that’s what they want to do it’s there movie, not mine.
So Madagascar is a sweet children’s computer animated film that kids will love and the parents will probably also laugh at a few jokes here and there. But as I said, it’s no Pixar or Shrek. But it’s almost up to bat with Monster’s Inc. and a little bit better than Finding Nemo. So I do recommend this movie, if you enjoy children’s movies.
7.5/10
Oh, also there is a Wihelm scream at one point of the movie - during the Grand Central Station scene. It’s a nice thing to put in.
Yay! I’m on a role! These two aren’t really that good, just quick things I whipped up, if you see it hi-res it’s pretty obvious that they’re fake - but they’re still pretty cool. The first one is just cropped a bit, and the guy is holding a bunch of roses! It’s just kinda funny because he’s dressed in a jersey. The second one I call “BOOSH!!!’ because some inexplainable wave just BOOSHED it out of the way of the water. This one is soooo obviously fake, but you’ve gotta give me SOME credit for at least adding a kinda refection of the wave in the water. (Original - well original photoshopped one - is here)
Also, for those of you that were wondering all of these pictures were taken from JB’s Fish Camp which has (as you can see) beautiful sunset views. I had fried alligator there. It’s was….. fried. And yes, the shirt that I wear that has an alligater on the back of it IS from this one and the same JB’s Fish Camp. And yes, I AM going to keep wearing it, even though I’m a New Yorker. That fried alligator was GOOD, and it gave me so much photo editing fun.
I am personally a large fan of the Spider-man movies. I think that they are very well done, balancing summer action, good acting, and a great story, along with solid special effects that aren’t over-used. I posted a few months ago when the teaser poster was released.
Ever since then I’ve been hoping for this trailer, and now it has been released!
Awwwwweeesssooommmee!!!
I just thought that I’d post about a few completely unrelated updates I’ve made to my Flickr account: First, I’ve been designing a new lineup of logos for Aaron and my podcast: The Teen Tech Buzz. (1,2,3) They look VERY shiny.
I’ve also took some pictures tonight out the window of the pretty colors outside. (1,2,3,4,5) Very nice.
And the last picture is one I just took of my parents where my mom looks completely weird and ugly.
As some of you may know, I recently reinstalled windows because I messed up my computer. Well, I think that most of you would be happy to know that there are no more problems and my computer is pretty much back to normal. I decided to stop using the web browser Flock which is based on the Firefox code, except that it has all sorts of Web 2.0-ish tools on it. Anyway, now I’m using Firefox because it has more extensions, is a little bit more compatible, and Google Web Accelerator works with it. (7.8 minutes saved so far!!!)
Anyway, pretty much the coolest thing about Firefox is it’s extensions they let you do anything from block pop-up ads to downloading all of the links on a page, to opening a page in Internet Explorer, but still in a firefox tab. And I had seriously thought that I had seen it all. But then I found StumbleUpon. The firefox extension StumbleUpon is basically a little toolbar that’s installed into firefox that allows you to discover new sites of interest. (Official site)
StumbleUpon may not seem like much from my description, but it is really a great tool. Once you install it into Firefox you can choose your interests from anything from dogs to graphic design. Then, when you click on the “Stumble!” button on the toolbar it takes you to a site of interest. You can then rate it, and even read other users reviews of it! These users can become your friends, and you can join groups! And the websites can also get tagged! How awesome is that???
I highly recommend that anybody who has firefox installs StumbleUpon, as it is a great way to find sites of interest, and be a part of a very great community. Also, anybody who gets bored alot, it’s as easy as pressing “Stumble!” and there’s a brand new site of interest right in front of you.
Here are just a few sites of interest to me that I have found in my last 24 hours or so of stumbling: (Many of them are games and flash animations because they are by far the coolest)
Helicopter Flash Game
Hilarious Flash Cartoon - hilarious!
An entire song made from those annoying windows sounds you hear all the time
And those are just a few! So come on, try it out and become become swruler9284’s (that’s me) friend on StumbleUpon.
Okay, I was bored so I decided to do something cool with photo editing.
I used the first two images to create the last image. You see, each was taken at a different time but at the same place, although one is zoomed in more. So for the boat one I lined up the background horizon with the one taken later, did some color changes, some fading, and extra lining up, and now I have something to post on my blog:
Here’s a short article that I wrote for TeenSpeak Online, and will probably be up soon on the main page. Enjoy!
Most public schools across the country don’t allow cell phones. Don’t allow iPods. Don’t allow PDAs. All they allow is textbooks, schoolbooks, notebooks, and reading books. Books, books, books. Now I know that school is school. We go there to learn, to get an education, and that cell phones distract kids, and get them in trouble. I understand that. But they allow cell phones in the workplace, don’t they? So what, we’re 10 or 20 years younger. Okay, yeah - we’re less mature, it’s pretty much a fact. But that doesn’t imply that we’re immature. So why do they allow it in the adult workplace, but not in schools? If teen are responsible by turning their phones off, puting their ipods in the backpacks, there shouldn’t be a problem.
And yet they continue to say that we don’t need them. Why have these electronics in schools when we never use them. We go to school to learn. But first, let’s state the obvious: The parents need them. This generation of teen parents have become addicted to the cell phone like they were addicted to drugs in the 60s. They need their cell phones to contact their children, make sure that they’re okay. That’s pretty much decided. But what about the ipods, PDAs, etc.
Although people claim teenagers don’t need their electronics when they go to school they do. Let’s compare it to the workplace again. If someone goes to work, they might take the subway. They may listen to an MP3 player on the subway. It’s the same with kids. If adults can do it, why can’t we? In addition, school isn’t our whole life! We have other stuff to do: Movies, family, social life, etc. Afer school, you may go over to a friend’s house to practice a dance routine for the talent show. The music is on the iPod. Teenagers can’t keep their ipods hidden in their backpacks until school is over where they then use it in a more appropiate manner? Is it so forbidden to carry one? People are treating these things like bombs or something!
I know there are a lot of points against this including camera phones and locker rooms, text messaging and cheating, etc. But still, if the kid gets caught, take the device. This seperates the good kids from the bad kids. The ones who are in the talent show, and the ones who aren’t. (No offense to those very smart people who aren’t talented in one particular subject)
