3/31/2008 - Star Wars according to a 3 year old.

I ranted a while back about why the Star Wars prequels pale in comparison to the original trilogy. I neglected to mention one of the other reason: the extra complexity Lucas added to the storyline drove many to confusion about the storyline. In Episode I you have the whole "trade dispute" and political maneuvering... I have to say that any movie with political maneuvering involved disqualifies itself to being a blockbuster summer movie. Then you have the mystery of the creation of the clones and the whole separatist movement in Episode II. Episode III was a bit better, but what was with that whole midichlorian thing? Anyway, what was an almost throwaway few lines in Episode IV about the Clone Wars was enough to explain the entire prequel trilogy. The simplicity of the original movies may have been a key ingredient in what made them so great. Episode IV was so simple, in fact, that a 3 year old could explain it:

3/30/2008 - Impressive car move

When you see a car chase on TV, you probably think "what kind of idiot thinks they can outrun the cops?" After all, the helicopter is there following the car as well and filming everything. The thing you might be forgetting is that the perpetrator in question got caught with whatever crime he/she committed in the first place. Any "advanced" criminal mind would have avoided such a predicament in the first place, I would think. Anyway, if you're going to be stupid enough to get in a car chase, you'd better be a damn good driver. It so happens there is one out there whose footage is on YouTube:



I have to admit... that's pretty impressive. If the felon ever gets out of jail, I think there's a career as a stunt driver waiting. And the use of the "Dukes of Hazzard" theme song? Perfect.

3/29/2008 - Revo the Rainbow

I received my first e-mail earlier this week as the YouTube Addict for a user submission into my blog. It's flattering to actually have feedback for this tiny little blog I started nearly a year ago. Here is the video and it's another take on the "singing backwards while doing something that looks impossible when played in reverse" thing (I think that should be a new category in YouTube):



Thanks to user "tarabusch" and maybe this will be the first of the user submissions to this blog. If you'd like to submit one of your favorite videos, send a link to my e-mail address jkwong111@gmail.com and if I like it too, it will be featured here on a weekend edition. It's getting harder to find good videos, so I'd like al the help I can get!

3/27/2008 - Watch iPhone's clock "spring ahead"

The only thing this video proves is that the fanfare music in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey makes any anticipated moment cool:

3/26/2008 - Brawl Tourney Rules Make Me ANGRY

"Vloggers" on YouTube take all forms and shapes and sizes. You have the fake vloggers like lonelygirl15, the fake rednecks, angry gamers, technology pundits, etc. Most show their true face on camera, but some do not. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Some people will actually act more naturally in front of a camera if they hide behind some mask or costume. I certainly couldn't fault them for doing so... I would probably do the same. It does lend some entertainment value to the videos. Take this one, for example:



I think most Super Smash Bros. players would agree with what YTwatchdog has to say. If you've played a fighting game a certain way for a very long time, you definitely wouldn't want to be forced to switch to another control scheme, especially for a competition. When Super Street Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix comes out with it's online mode, I sort of wish I had the ability to use my old Super Nintendo controller with it because that's how I played all the original games. The PS3 controller is not bad, but nothing beats Old Faithful, even if it did give me callouses.

3/25/2008 - Newton Virus

It's kind of rare to see an actual computer virus these days. I think most people have got the point not to open executable attachments from strangers and most e-mail software will prevent you from doing such a thing. In fact, many people use online e-mail services such as Yahoo or Google which scan your e-mail long before it gets into your inbox. Besides, most malware these days are limited to adware or spyware which, while annoying, can't really be considered viruses in the traditional sense. In fact, the programmers of these particular forms of malware don't want to break your computer because they want to be able to hack into your computer with spyware installed, or they want you to be able to view all the pop-up ads with aware installed. It's only due to poor programming or the interference with legitimate software that makes malware a destructive force on computers.

Anyway, as I said it's actually uncommon to find a computer virus nowadays, and even more uncommon to find one for a Macintosh. This has been true for sometime because virus writers don't bother with the Mac platform because of its low market share. Virus writers want their product the "spread" after all. Things may have changed recently, especially with the remarkable growth of Mac OS X and the backlash against Windows Vista. Have the virus writers found a new target with the Mac platform? Well, here's a "virus" specifically for the Mac, and I must say, if this is a virus, I might want to catch it... looks like fun:

3/24/2008 - "Magneto Man"

During my young career as a PC tech, I've already seen it all. Frozen startup screens, blue screens galore, computers not being able to shut down, bad hard drives, bad memory, and even bad capacitors! It's never the same thing twice and it's always a bit of a challenge. While it's never the same problem twice, some people are more "problematic" than others. It seems inexplicable sometimes how computer problems can crop up for particular individuals at a higher frequency than the rest of the population. It's nothing in particular that they're doing wrong (although some pet owners forget that fur gets caught in the fan intakes of power supplies)... some people just aren't meant to be around a keyboard and mouse, and they'll be the first to admit it. What's funny is that when I try to reproduce the problem on their computer, a lot of times the problem disappears. I know it's not because I'm some super-guru with computers, so is there something with them being a sort of jinx with electronics? Or maybe there is some other explanation, as this video shows:



Now, I don't know whether or not such people with high electrostatic discharges exist (although it would make a good comic book plot). And this video doesn't really convince me that this kid is anything out of the ordinary. The explanation as to how the computers he uses always produce all-caps text without the caps lock button activated? StickyKeys. Google it.