Inverted Reality

Archive for

January 2010

 

Avatar Movie

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Last night I went with friends to see Avatar in 3D. James Cameron's latest film. Yeah, I took my time seeing it. Just happens I have a newborn and a toddler that I need to juggle my life around. On to the nitty gritty... What a great movie. How far has Sam Worthington come lately? I was pretty excited when I heard that he'd landed the Terminator movie, and now this! Sam is actually from my home town (Perth, Western Australia). He even went to the same school as my wife! Small world huh. On to the movie. Special effects, wow. Should we call it 'special'? Don't all movies have special effects now? Is there anything special about it anymore if it's 'normal'? Avatar is spectacular, from the moment you step in to the world of Pandora, you are overwhelmed with colour and 3D objects flying out of the screen. The depth and colours are incredible. The story is tried and tested as an old fashioned love story with a conflict. I will not delve in to the actual story, perhaps you haven't seen it yet. I don't want to spoil it. At no point is this film boring, yet I wouldn't label it an 'action film'. (although there is plenty of action. Action / drama?) It's nice to see Sigourney Weaver in a film again. I can't say I'm a huge fan of her but she was very good in this film, her part was great. Giovanni Ribisi plays the evil, heartless mining boss and does a good job. Everyone is just great in this film. The meld of 'sfx' and 'real' is top notch. I had a lot of trouble trying to figure out if characters were in make-up, or completely CG. That's a good thing. I recommend you see it, see it in 3D, then go see it again. No wonder it's smashed the box office and made over $1b. * avatar movie posted used without any permission what-so-ever

Filed under  //   3D   Pandora   Sam Worthington   Sigourney Weaver   avatar   avatar movie   cinema   movie   review  
Posted January 31, 2010
 

iPad is just iTunes enabler

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or is it? Bringing us the iPad is one of the greatest moves Apple has made since the iPod, and here's why... Think about what the iPod offers us already. Music, movies, TV shows, games. All delivered easily and reliably through iTunes, Apple's digital delivery store. Sure you can load your own music on it, you can check your email on it, you can surf the web on it. Heck, with the iPhone you can even make phone calls. Don't forget about Apple's core purpose for these devices. Delivering digital content to you via their app store / iTunes. Making money. Now think about this... Just how profitable do you suppose iTunes / app store is for Apple? Lets not forget that the iPod single handedly resurrected Apple from a really deep hole. Of course it's profitable. It's also controlled, scaleable, reliable, and simple for the average Joe. Just what you'd expect from Apple. Have we forgotten that the core of all these Apple products is paid (and some free) digital delivery via app store and iTunes? Yeah there's free stuff, it keeps the punters happy, and pulls in the customers. Lets look at the iPad. It's much like an iPod Touch, only, larger and more powerful. When it was announced to be running an iPhone-style OS, I immediately wondered why.. but it's becoming more clear all the time. I bet Steve is sitting at his desk thinking to himself "If only all our devices ran an iphone-style OS". Why you ask? Some reasons:
  • Apps for the OS are designed strictly to Apples rules and guidelines. They must be approved before they hit the app store. They even get age classifications. You couldn't possibly install a "bad app" that might wreak havoc on the device. It pretty much makes the device really use friendly and renders any support arrangement almost useless.

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Filed under  //   Apple   app store   iPhone   iPod   iTunes   ipad   iphone OS  
Posted January 30, 2010
 

Apple iPad announced

Well Apple have done it again. They've gone and made yet another product that we are all going to want, even if it doesn't perfectly meet our requirements. It's a new wanky gadget. It's the Apple iPad. It's a giant iPod Touch. Yay! http://www.apple.com/ipad/ Do I want one? I don't really know yet. I can see some uses. It has a 9.7" screen (as I predicted last week), and runs an iPhone'esque operating system.

Filed under  //   Apple   iPhone   iPod   ipad   iphone OS  
Posted January 28, 2010
 

Back at work after 3 weeks off

Being back at work after 3 weeks off is tough business. Not only did I have an epic pile of work waiting for me, there's an epic hidden pile the boss is yet to palm on to my job queue. *sigh* I can't win! On a high. Melissa and I had a baby boy. Spencer Hugh Mandy. He's doing great and is now 4 weeks old! I have done heaps around the house, including some landscaping, gardening, tidying, retic installation, and more. Roll on 2010! The year of my family!

Filed under  //   family   house   landscaping   mandy   spencer  
Posted January 28, 2010
 

New Playground

So finally, after letters of complaint from residents in our estate, the local council has installed a play gym in the park down the road. Of course, it never was a park, it was 'an undeveloped open space, not maintained by the council'. Urgh, that was quickly fixed with more complaints. The council now maintains the park. They even named it. When we got news of new play equipment to be installed in September 2009, we expected a set of swings and a slide. We got nothing. We waited and waited. Last week the council came through with the goods, installing not just some swings and a slide, but this epic monstrosity of deluxe play equipment. Bravo council, bravo. Now how about some shade? [gallery link="file" columns="2"]

Filed under  //   council   estate   house   play equipment   slide   swings  
Posted January 21, 2010