I Got 99 Problems But...

Well, I am now a member of the facebook community. Will that affect the semi regular posting on here?
I doubt it.

My Top Tips:

If every time you log on to your computer you open the same things (i.e. iTunes, Internet, Bittorrent(Dont steal music), or whatever), this website shows how to create a shortcut that will open them all in one. It is programming but if you can create a txt document then you are qualified.

Random Updates:

Busy has become my middle name. Admittedly its not 'real' busy, yknow with pressure to get things done, but Im never sitting around wishing I had something to do. The weekends seem to fill up and drift by all too quickly. Like last, last weekend, went in to Max Brennars for chocolate on sunday morning, sure some people go to church, but us gods prefer chcolate. It was SO good, the thick italian milk chocolate and the Suckao (Pron: Suck-ow) were so good, although im 99% sure i now have diabetes.

This most recent weekend (I am so lazy with the updates) saw a trip with Alana to Bondi. We were celebrating the end of our first Salsa dancing course, with a big group dinner at the CopaCabana Bondi, which was great. Dinner is served continually, no menu so i guess if you didn't like the food it might not be so good. I did, which was great. It also has professional dancers performing throughout the night, lots of different styles, including capoeira (Brazilian Fight Dancing). It was all in all a great night.
Alana and I also stayed overnight in Bondi at the Swiss Grand Bondi, which was really nice. Alana booked it through wotif and got 50% off which means we got a suite. It was a really nice place, and included breakfast.

Then on sunday my cousins came down. I had forgotten how much fun hide and seek is. I also forgot that the purpose of the game, whether you're hiding or seeking, is to shoot Alana.

Caught in the Web:

A list of the best websites of the year, as voted by time magazine. Worth a look if you want to see what the next YouTube or MySpace might be.

Reviews:

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom:
This was the first book I read through Daily Lit.
Addictive as crack. This is set in the future when the death rate has dropped to 0, thanks to the ability to 'backup' yourself, much like a computer. These backups can be restored into clones. In this future money has been eradicated and the currency of the time is 'whuffie' (respect). The story follows a person who is living in Disney World, taking care of the Haunted Mansion. I won't give the plot away but i will say once you start reading you wont stop, which is easy because its not that long. The story never drags, even though there are many sub stories and diversions to the central plot. Each of the main characters are fleshed out as much as needed and the relationship between them is constantly evolving in engaging ways.
The author does a fantastic job of portraying this possible future as realistically as possible, doctors do not have medical skills anymore, as they simply restore from back up as a perfect cure-all.
A fantastic light read, thats engaging and fun.
Divine Word: Read it, its free for crying out loud.

Transformers:
Oh hell yeah.
I was hyped for this movie, but more than a little hesitant.
All fears were blown away. This movie is fantastic. The plot is paper thin, but there is enough to hold it together for the two and a half hours. The action is balanced reasonably well, with character and plot developing scenes. The star of the movie is obviously Shia LaBeouf, who plays his part to perfection.
The transformers themselves are good, and have much more personality than i ever thought they would. Which helps make them more interesting as characters. The secondary set of characters are all quite good, the soldiers, the government (both the defence and sector 7) and the (Hot!) signal expert all fall into place quite nicely.
The pacing is excellent flowing between the action and characters. Its just a great movie.
Divine Word: Go see it.

Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer:
Wow Marvel. First Spiderman 3 and now this. You've gotten lazy. F4:RotSS is a lazy, lazy sequel. It doesn't step away from the first enough to stand out, and what it borrows from the first it does so poorly, so the end result is a massive let down.
The problem is that nothing in the movie stands out. The infighting between the four is never really dramatic enough to make you think that the team will split up. The surfer is obviously a 'good' bad guy so you never side against him, galactus is never given a personality so its hard to side against him and Doom is sidelined for so long in the movie that when he makes a play, it is overshadowed by the larger threat.
Everything in this movie was done better in the first. I have trouble recommending this even for fans of the original (As I am) because it not only fails to live up to it (like Spiderman 3) it fails completely as a movie.
Divine Word: Don't Bother.

Babe of the day:

Jessica Alba:

To Err is Human, To ARR is Pirate

My Top Tips:
Stop watching TV. That is to say, stop watching any program with ads. In a half hour show you watch 8 minutes of ads, say you watch 2 hours of TV a day, thats 32 minutes of ads a day. For a week thats 224 minutes, thats almost four hours a week of ads. Four hours a week, at least. Buy it on DVD, watch it when you want to. Stop being a slave to the tv guide.

Open an Online Savings Account. I suggest ING, however HSBC, Commenwealth and I'm sure a whole bunch of others offer the same kind of thing. 6% (or around it) interest. Put in at least a quater of your after tax income. After a year or so the interest really starts to add up, but this time it works FOR you.

Weekend Update:
Friday Night: NOTHING
Saturday: Not much. Went to the gym. Picked up Alana and her brother.
Sunday: A good day. Slept in, went out for breakfast, went to the Food & Wine Fair. Went shopping, didnt buy anything. Went & saw Pirates again. Good day.

Caught in the Web:
A good article that spells out quite clearly the reasons for declining movie ticket & CD sales. It doesn't, (unlike everyone else), blame piracy for the loss, but rather the increase in other media, muscling in to what used to be a limited market. If people are buying and watching more DVD's they have less time to go to the movies. So simple, yet ignored by so many.

http://www.spinner.com/2007/05/03/the-25-most-exquisitely-sad-songs-in-the-whole-world-no-25/

Self Improvement Link of the week:

Review:
Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End
Five Stars, without a doubt. This is going to be a thesis of a review so get ready.
The movie starts strong, and doesnt let up. The action is incredible, the actors phenominal and the story is supurb.
The movie starts, apart from an aside at Port Royale, in Singapore, with Barbossa, Elizabeth and crew meeting with a Pirate Lord. The story then moves quickly between a great many locations, including Worlds End, ShipWreck Cove (Which looks incredible) and lots of battle at sea. All characters from previous movies are in, and all the lose ends are tyed up. Captain Jacks introduction is bizarre to say the least. The pirate lords are to meet, to discuss how to deal with the East India Trading Company and their 'hired help', Davy Jones & crew of The Flying Dutchmen.
There are a lot of twists and turns, that play themselves out to completion, and are quickly replaced by even more.
I think Jack (obvisouly) steals the show again, but a lot has to do with the fantastic job that Geoffrey Rush does as Barbossa.


Babe of the day:
Carmen Electra

Damn you clown prince of crime.

It looks like the joker got one over on me again.
If you now go to
I Believe in Harvey Dent Too, it says:
Page Not Found
If you highlight the entire page though, it reveals something different.

The hidden message in amongst all that is
See you in december

For those who missed it here is the Joker:

See, there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum…

Ok, just a quick post of coolness:
First off Bruce Campbell just being himself, which is by definition cool.




Now, the new Batman movie is coming out soon, The Dark Knight.
The first website of the series was :
The Dark Knight. Which shows the Bat signal, if you click on that you go to:
I Believe in Harvey Dent, which is the character who will eventually become two face. The latest and FAR away the coolest is:
I believe in Harvey Dent Too, Keep watching the first picture fades away which shows for the first time, The Joker, And Good GOD DAMN does he look good. It will follow perfectly with the first and hopefully Batman will spray a big can of raid over the webslingers opening weekend.

I'm Too Sexy For This Blog

Despite my rant last week about the budget, after further investigation I read that we are still in rising international debt. That's where our surplus should go. Pay off as much as possible. I know that the average person doesn't care about it, but from my point of view that should become the number one priority when dealing with the tax surplus.

When the &^%$% hell did celebrities become the collective moral compass?
This is directed at actors and musicians, why the hell are these people being questioned about anything other than music or acting. I don't care what an actor thinks about the environment, If i wanted an opinion I'd ask someone who knows what the hell they are talking about.
As an example, think back to high school, the attention seeking 'actors' and muso's. Would you really listen to ANYTHING they had to say?
They should stick to what they are paid to do and nothing else.
The Aviator said it best:

DON'T TALK DOWN TO ME! Don't you ever talk talk down to me! You're a movie star, nothing more!

Weekend Update:

Caught in the Web:
http://www.livescience.com/technology/destroy_earth_mp.html

From the list, 10 Things We Learned From Spiderman 3:
1. EMOs are a product of alien symbiosis
3. If your girlfriend is hanging from the roof of a demolished skyscraper, never fear. Nonchalantly take some pictures and introduce yourself to her father, who also doesn’t seem to give a shit.
7. If you want to kill someone real bad, then go to church and pray and maybe, if you’re lucky, God will provide you with an alien suit made of pure evil.
9. Bad boys eat cookies, drink milk and mimic their lecturers down the phone in a hilarious manner.

I wish there was a real Department of Evil, It would be such a refreshing change to deal with someone honest.

Calling all Cars

A good point on Howard Stern was, how can you listen to celebrities promoting a charity, asking for you to give your money, when they could easily .

Added benfit to being Superman #2345234534
Never have to brush your teeth. Think about it, no amount of sugar could rot kryptonian incisor.
Weekend Update:
It was Alana's Birthday this week. She had a good day, and there is a dinner cruise on Saturday night as well. Should be lots of fun.

The cruise has now been and gone, and it was excellent. We were all dressed to the 9's and met up in the city for pre dinner drinks. Dinner was excellent, there was even some opera during dessert. It was an incredible night, and from what I can tell a fun time was had by all.

Dancing tonight. Not quite sure what to expect. But I remain forever optimistic.

Caught in the Web:

Review:
Spider-Man 3:
In a word, dissapointing. That doesnt mean the movie was bad, it was good, but the first two were great, hence, dissapointing. The film felt rushed, enemies and characters are introduced with almost no real development. It feels like it is two movies stuck together, one with the Sandman & New Goblin as the protaginist and Peter changing to a more 'darker' person, and the other showing his redemption, by fighting against what he was (venom).
However the biggest problem I had with the movie was that it was to over the top. The first two were, for the most part, realistic, in thier portrayel of not only the characters but the world as a whole. This movie felt like it took place in a different NYC than the first one.
Maybe that is why I was dissapointed, because I am judging this movie as part of the trilogy rather than as its own movie. The over the top style, while not fitting in with the previous two, did allow for some really good scenes, the one where Spiderman pulls apart the water pipe, and it switches between the bolts flying off & Sandman's shocked look was very cool, it looked like it had come straight from the comic.

Divine Commands:

• Watch:

• Prison Break ( 2 episodes in and im intrigued. Not a devoted fanatic, but definately want to keep watching)
  

• Listen to:
• Coldplay - Any CD really they all have some GREAT songs on them.
  
• Go and See:
  
• Spider Man 3: As i said, its a good movie and well worth seeing.