DrAjao

Quick One! Seems God also uses Photoshop

2012-01-23T19:39:00.000-08:00

Did anyone see the fog out in Baltimore today?

It looked as if God applied a gaussian blur filter to make everything look dreamy and romantic...unless you're driving and it's just poor visibility as far as you're concerned.

Quick One! Why Do You Listen to California Love?

2012-01-23T09:48:00.000-08:00

Why do you listen to "California Love"? 2pac's rap? Roger Troutman's talk-boxing taken from Ronnie Hudson & The Street People's "West Coast Poplock"? Catchy music taken from Joe Coker's "Woman to Woman"? The masterful Dr Dre for brilliantly putting it all together?

My Alien Abduction Survival Story

2012-01-18T06:52:00.000-08:00

The ETs now have me where they've wanted me...at my wits' end and on my knees, completely at their mercy. They have my attention alright, howbeit not undivided. My wife is dying in excruciating pain and it's all their doing. They'd implanted the alien pod that had been growing inside her and was now trying to claw its way out of her belly. Okay maybe it wasn't all their doing. If only I hadn't been so stupid to get us in such a compromising situation. The aliens should never have captured us in the first place. It should have been some poor unlucky slob in my place. I'm a trained soldier, my instincts have been honed to avoid scenarios like this.

Funnily enough they'd treated us nicely. None of the lower gastrointestinal probing we hear about in those abduction stories. Just strange heavenly lights and strange heavenly sounds. It was like heaven for the relatively brief period we were there. We were grateful to have been spared. Not many make it back the same. Many are forever scarred by the experience. Not only had we lived to tell about it we had what no one would be faulted for calling a positive experience. No broken bones, no organs missing, fine and dandy enough for another day in the mouse wheel...until a few weeks later when you realize there's a strange creature growing inside your wife. Her appearance changes and she starts to behave somewhat alien, strange craving for alien food only available in areas where one should not be captured lest one get a gastro probing.

Lallas is doing everything he can to control the bleeding. Lallas, blessed Lallas, keeping your cool in such a situation, you're the best; but then it's easy for you to keep your cool. It's not your wife who's life is draining from her face because some alien tech is bored of its 'home' and wants to 'see the world'. Come to think of it, it's easy for me too. I haven't had to live with the thought (talk less of the fact) of something growing inside me. Not growing like a malignant tumor but growing and moving and wanting and feeling. To walk around knowing you have something...well...someone else inside you. Yikes! I'm lucky the aliens need the female reproductive system. They could've been some upside-down specie that conceive their young in male scrota. I get dizzy and nauseous just thinking that last thought till I'm distracted by their response.

"Speak Earthling!" the Alien overlord says. I tell them to take the pain away. I tel them I'll do anything to get my wife back in one piece. I offer to lead them to the colony's stash of precious minerals. I offer to be their slave. They chuckle, or at least what can best be described as a chuckle, a chuckle, by alien standards, aliens-with-no-mouths standard. The Overlord answers, "Earthling you should not assume that what is precious to your kind is precious to us". We have no need for your pebbles. We will accept your servitude but we will not impose the harsh slave conditions you have feared and resisted all through our invasion. All we require from you for now is to take care of the child."

"What!!!"
"Take care of an ugly alien abomination? You've gotta be kidding me! I can't even begin to pretend that it is remotely possible for me do such." Well those aren't my exact words to them but that's what I'm thinking. Before I can say anything, Lallas calls out, "There! You did it Leila!" You're rid of it and you're gonna make it!!". I turn around and I see it.

"It's Beautiful!". Also not said out loud but thought. I don't know what the aliens did to me but I'm in awe at the sight. Loving this thing for the rest of my life doesn't seem so hard all of a sudden. Innocent and frail looking. "Thank you Dr Lallas! Bless you, you're the best!! Thank you Overlord!" "I won't dissappoint you!!"

I've never seen anything so beautiful. The thing has ten fingers, ten toes...and three legs!"

What Am I Here For? With Lyrics

2012-01-15T17:24:00.001-08:00

Quick One! That New Coke Fiasco

2012-01-05T09:39:00.000-08:00

I tweeted earlier that "By itself, the introduction of New Coke wasn't dumb. It was the immediate removal of old Coke that made it dumb. Gotta respect the old fans."

If I had it to do today, I would represent old Coke as a champion super hero. I would then introduce New Coke as a challenger to the championship and open the lines for voting. I would create video campaigns with the two of them duking it out. CGI animation, cool costumes, 'uber pwnage', you name it.

If New Coke wins, I would declare him the new champion, but guess what...I still wouldn't phase out old Coke! Who says the two cannot coexist?

Facebook Timeline: To Hate or Not to Hate

2011-12-29T07:55:00.000-08:00

I'm impressed at how Facebook (FB) is 'sneaking' it's new timeline feature on us. With minimal advertisement the new template is spreading to 'hapless' users like wildfire. 'Unfortunately', the change is permanent (you might have to delete your whole FB account to undo the change).

I've used the inverted commas above because...well...this time at least, I think FB made the right move. The timeline feature is actually a vast improvement. One that FB might not even have the incentive to implement, save a desire to please its users (and...em...compete better against Google+).

I remember screaming bloody murder when FB first implemented their 'new' way of viewing photos. You clicked on the thumbnail, and instead of being taken to the photo in its album location, you got a temporary black background with the photo hovering over it. I hated the black background because I couldn't see anything else but the photo...no way to easily navigate away. FB replaced the black background with a transparent one and the opportunity to click outside the image to exactly where you were prior to clicking on the thumbnail. Suddenly the whole concept made sense. Formerly, clicking on the thumbnail would have taken you away from the page you were viewing and returning to that page meant you had to start from the beginning. You would have to scroll down like a maniac in order to get back to the post you had stopped at.

Fast forwards to the introduction of the timeline feature. One advantage I already see is the fact that I can use the timeline to zoom in on the posts I made when I joined FB. Meaning I can chart my progress from the day I joined to the present. Since I'm (hopefully) more mature now, I can delete some of the potentially embarrassing comments I'd made (if FB allows me). Prior to the timeline feature, I would have had to scroll like a hundred maniacs in order to see my first post. In fact, the timeline feature is the solution to the last FB problem I blogged about. If they applied the timeline feature to groups and pages, important discussions can be easily located as long as someone vaguely remembers the date the discussion took place.

Most of our qualms with the way FB implements changes is the way they rearrange our real estate. Suddenly there's no info button and you have to go elsewhere for that. However, once we get used to the new arrangement, we wonder how we lived without it.

I, for one, can't imagine how I lived with the former way of viewing images.

Suggested Improvements to Facebook Groups

2011-12-08T08:18:00.000-08:00

Yeah, Facebook is the second most visited site but there is always room for improvement.

Take Facebook Groups for instance, a very useful tool for bringing like minds and interests together. The tendency is to amass posts and threads, some, useful; some, not. Unfortunately, only so many posts can be immediately seen on the wall. Facebook allows you to show more posts by clicking the "Older Posts" link indefinitely, but this could take forever, depending on how many posts there are. Thus, the tendency is also to loose important discussions or repeat them unnecessarily. Even if the discussions are not lost, they should always be at the users' beck and call.

I recommend a search feature specific to each group (or page, or event, or profile, or whatever-have-you). Not the general search feature that is sort of a joke especially when you're searching for people (maybe Facebook chose the wrong search engine to partner with). With a search feature, I'm sure I can call up old posts more than 90% of the time.

Another suggestion, is a "categories" feature similar to the one on this blog. Users can tag their posts so that they fall under user-created categories, thus making them easier to find.

I guess this will add more engineer-dreaded code to the mix, but it will more than pay for itself eventually as fewer people feel the need to go elsewhere to create clean forums for their special interest groups.

Facebook should not let Google+ implement these changes before them. After all, Google+ already has the categories feature to borrow from in Google's blogs, and they're already 'partnered' with the number-one most visited site.

Quick One! My Prediction for Apple Post-Jobs.

2011-10-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

I may be wrong but I predict that Apple will still be relevant for at least the next ten years. (If this world lasts that long). They will however not be as valuable...may be relegated to the back, not making too many waves...kinda like, Microsoft, Dell, IBM, etc, after their glory days are over and before they manage to reinvent themselves. Their stock could even go up for a short while...but for different reasons. Probably because of more people buying established technology from a reputable brand...and not because the brand is the go-to brand for what is cool (or needed) any more. There's another company who's rising value is dependent not too much on the super powers of their leader(s) but on the pool of talent they employ (or acquire). Anyone who's read my blog a llittle probably knows what company that is.

Name That Tune!

2011-10-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

If, by some freak chance, you remember the instrumental music from the obscure show "Circus Center Ring" (say, for instance, because you grew up in Lagos in the late eighties), you will really appreciate this music list:

1. Feels So Good by Chuck Mangione
2. I Go To Rio by Peter Allen
3. The Hustle by Van McCoy
4. Quando, Quando, Quando by Michael Bublé (or Engelbert Humperdinck, or Pat Boone, or if you really wanna go far, Tony Renis)
5. Main Theme from Star Wars by John Williams
6. and of course, Circus Center Ring's main theme...that is if you can ever find it (I wish I had a prize for whomever is able to remember the lyrics).

I'm sure I've missed out one or two so please call me out ASAP if you have 'em.

Quick One! MLK Memorial Inscription Suggestion

2011-08-31T15:34:00.000-07:00

Better now?... Maya?

Quick One! Steve Jobs Bows Out!

2011-08-25T11:20:00.001-07:00

No matter how much you hate Apple's pricing or closed ecosystem, you have to hand it to the man. He is a legend!

Google+: Should Facebook Be Trembling in Their Boots?

2011-07-18T07:53:00.000-07:00

One major thing Google+ has going for it is the benefit of hindsight. They can simply look back at all the glaring mistakes that Facebook has made, and...well...make the same mistakes in cooler ways.

Google+ gives people the ability to start afresh...reimagine their social networking...basically, add friends with more discrimination. Same goes for uploading content (comments, 'likes', pictures, places one visits...etc).

Google also probably has the resources (even if not mindset) to limit the abuse of the right hand column of their pages with sponsored ads and 'friend' suggestions of the Orwellian order.

They have the 20/20 hindsight of not describing all human relationships with the word 'Friend' and then limiting the number to only 5000. The truth is, Facebook already gave users the ability to compartmentalize their relationships with lists, so G+ isn't doing anything new in that regard...but they have not abused the words 'Friend' and 'Like', and that seemingly insignificant consideration goes a longer way than we think...but not long enough.

Google+ is no Facebook killer...at least not yet. It will take quite a while for people to be so upset with FB that they migrate all their accounts and info. FB's power comes from the fact that most of the computer-literate world is connected to it. It is a fleeting advantage in this day and age, but it is one not lost overnight. FB has enough time to get their act together...or do they?

G+ doesn't really need to build connections from the start. While I did need an invite to G+ because the product is still in Beta mode...waitaminute, all Goolgle's products are forever in Beta mode, but I digress. While I needed an invite to the forum, I didn't need to create a new account. I was already in their 'Matrix'. If you didn't sign up for GMail, you signed up for YouTube, if you didn't sign up for YouTube, you signed up for a Blogger account or a Docs account. They have their tentacles in so many pies you're bound to have nibbled on their bait at some point.

It took a quite a while for GMail to show Yahoo up (better spam protection, less annoying ads, free mail forwarding, connection to a gargantuan network, etc) but if Google has shown us anything, it is that they believe so much in their core business (Search Engine Marketing) that they have lots of time and money to 'throw away' (or invest, depending on who you ask).

I have a strong feeling that third time's the charm for Google as far as social networking is concerened...but that does not mean Facebook will be Hi5ed or My_____ed. I never get the impression that Google is in a hurry to be number one in any particular service except visibility and effectiveness of their ad placements online. The reason they enter other sectors is to prevent other entities from attaining absolute monopolies...which could potentially compromise access to or use of their core products. Whenever any of their forays are a hit, it's just icing on the cake.

Google promoted Android phones not to kill the iPhone, but to provide users with options, and reduce Apple's potential for a stranglehold in the sector. The internet was moving to mobile devices and Google had a huge stake in ensuring that as many people as possible have access to the internet. Nobody is as well-positioned to benefit from proliferation of the internet like Google is.

I doubt that Facebook is so dumb that they will sit on their hands while Google attempts to butcher their cash cow. They will match Google, app for app and gimmick for gimmick (just like the iPhone became more affordable and available on more networks) but Google won't care. They won't care, because that's all they want in the first place...to increase the likelihood that people will use their core products!

Kings Chapel 1st Anniversary Pictures

2011-07-07T17:21:00.000-07:00

Quick One! Too Many Notifications?

2011-06-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

Every new activity on a Facebook Group has the potential to generate email notifications that clutter our inboxes.
While groups have many advantages (many of which we have not even begun to tap into), there is no excuse for unwanted mail.

If the notifications are getting to you, don't exit the group for that reason alone (the group hasn't even started yet...you'll see), just adjust your settings a little. Here's how:

These instructions apply to Facebook as of 2011 June 20th, and can be rendered obsolete at any time. Such is the nature of the web.

Go to the top right hand corner of your page and click on 'Account'. It will drop-down a menu, click on 'Account Settings'. This will take you to your account page. Click on the 'Notifications' tab. Scroll down a little to 'Groups'. At the bottom of that section, click on 'Change email settings for individual groups'. Just untick the group you do no longer with to receive notifications from, then click on 'Save Settings' (very important :P). This is much better than leaving the group...I hope.

Cheers!

Quick One! Poor Image Resolution on IE

2011-06-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

If your Internet Explorer is giving you crappy image resolution, it's possible you're viewing at a larger than 100% zoom. So just simply go to your browser menu. Go to 'View' and then 'Zoom' to reduce the value to 100%, or from 100% to 80% (depends). That should fix the sucker.

Quick One! Black Comedy

2011-06-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

When I was much younger I thought the term "black comedy" meant a comedy mainly featuring black people. So when I checked out the movie "The War of the Roses" (it was the first I saw that was billed as a black comedy), I was waiting to see the black people...I waited till the end. While the movie was great (it still kinda holds up nicely today), I knew there must have been a typo or a miscategorization...or "black comedy" must mean something else.
Today when I think of black comedy, "The War of the Roses" is the definition in my mind:
a movie that makes you laugh at the darkest of stuff.

The End of Annual Contracts.

2011-05-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

Today, T-Mobile announced a brand new no-annual-contract plan on their blog.

This move (along with the earlier news of AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile), just points to my theory that the age of annual contracts is over. This is an extension of a theory that had me predicting a couple of years ago, that the most expensive phone call we will ever make will cost no more than the equivalent of 8 US Cents per minute, no matter what the distance between the speakers is.

Recently I have extended that theory to predict that paid texts/SMS will soon be a thing of the past...at most, two more years (the time it should take for all phones/packages to have the ability to send e-mails). It shouldn't take man much longer to figure out that e-mails which cost next to nothing compared to texts, can send attachments and do not have absurd character limitations.

Back to my post title, the age of two-year contracts is not compatible with the internet age. The fact that you sucker...em...I mean lock your customers into long-term contracts tells me that your product is highly marked-up. The internet age does not favor highly marked up commodities. Yes I said it...wireless access is now a commodity.

For highly commoditized markets, the barriers to entry have been greatly lowered (if not removed) by the internet, thanks to vast improvements in the availability of information and increases in the speed of communication. Thanks to said technology, the age of the dictatorial monopoly is over. Piss the people off for long enough and they will elect a new leader.

Welcome to the future T-Mobile, it's taken you long enough!

Quick One! Hiding in Plain Site

2011-05-16T06:07:00.000-07:00

Hiding in plain site is definitely the way to go.

I, for one, just discovered that the number of 'o's in the word 'Google' at the bottom of a Google search page correspond to the number of pages highlighted via links. So if the bottom shows links to 7 pages (say, 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5 , 6, 7,), it will spell Gooooooogle (seven o's). Also I didn't notice that the red 'o' corresponds to the page position you're currently on. So if you are on the third page highlighted, the third 'o' will be red.

So is it spelled 'Gogle' when there is only one search page?
Nah...it just omits the 'Google' and the page links at the bottom.

Ok back to work.

Suggested Improvements to Facebook Tagging

2011-04-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

In this age of facial recognition, one should be able to accurately tag their friends in a photo of a crowd of people.

Facebook allows you to use a crosshair to pin point the spot where you want attention focused. You can then label the point with a tag (a name of your Facebook friends or any name you like). When you hover over the tagged name, your spot is delineated by an empty white-outlined box which is about a square inch in size. Problem is, this can fit several identifiable people or objects.

I can understand our GPS navigators being deliberately off by a couple of houses, probably for privacy reasons, but I don't get the impression that privacy is of major concern to Facebook where photo tagging is concerned.

Yes, Facebook has photo recognition software which they use in suggesting your name to others when they upload pictures that feature your likeness (you may want to disable this feature in your privacy settings). Yet, even their software would have a hard time identifying people in a crowd...especially if they have their backs turned or something. If I am allowed to tag up to 50 people, it would be nice to be able to direct them to various specific points in the picture. Hence, suggestion number one:

1. Facebook should include the crosshair in the square inch box.

In fairness to Facebook, when you hover over the actual image, a black rectangular speech balloon points to a spot at least a quarter of an inch south of the intended point...this is not accurate enough. Apart from identifying people and marketing, the tagging feature could serve other useful functions like education (labeling technical diagrams).

Ok, ok, I agree that this half-decade-old request may be considered too specialized, but what about my second suggestion?:

2. Differentiate between tagging a picture of someone and tagging simply to draw someone's attention to a picture. This can be done by allowing tagging outside the picture frame or allowing a different kind of tag altogether.

This way when Facebook decides to verify my identity by asking me to identify my friends, they won't use pictures of handbags, funny cartoons, and invitation cards!

Quick One! Moving Read-Only Files

2011-04-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

Ok so I start to transfer hundreds of gigabytes of data to an external drive. The computer tells me it will take dozens of minutes so I leave it running and go for a nap. I have a 'one nod rule', which is to prevent me from working while half-asleep, so if I nod off once, I go straight to bed. I wake up hours later only to discover that the transfer hasn't even reached halfway. The computer has paused the transfer to ask me if I'm sure I want to move a read-only file!

Shouldn't the default be to just transfer the files? In the many years that I have been transferring files, never have I intended for the read-only files to stay put while the others move. That has never been my default. Why wait till the 35% mark to ask me a question you could have generically asked at the beginning of the transfer? Can you hear my Linux friends laughing at me?

I know I'm ranting only because I was inconvenienced and I bet there are other scenarios where moving a read-only file (that can be simply moved back) is a catastrophe of galactic proportions. Sheesh!

Stop 'Waisting' Food! You Have My Blessing.

2011-04-10T02:24:00.000-07:00

Have you ever found yourself trying to force yourself to finish all the food on your plate simply because you're reminded of images of near-death-starving children in less privileged situations? You feel that pouring that food away while others are starving makes you nothing short of a devil so you stuff your body with unneeded calories. Problem is, instead of refrigerating or dumping the leftovers in the trashcan, you dump them in your body, hence making your body the trashcan.

Your body, 'thinking' you're storing up for a rainy day, converts the excess food into fat.

You then either live with the untoward effects on your body or you go through weight loss regimens to 'burn' the fat into energy that is at best, for only your benefit. Thus, you 'burn' the leftovers that may have fed a hungry alley cat or better still been used to nourish the soil to grow food that can be shipped to starving children (this of course assumes that you're eating healthy food to begin with). Science at a most elementary level teaches that matter is usually neither created nor destroyed so it either exists as trash/fertilizer/manure or as fat...you decide.

I'll make the decision easy for you. Wasting of food does not start when you throw it in the trash. It starts when you take the first bite out of a serving of food that is larger than needed.

Solution: Serve what you think you can finish, then cut in half! Usually that half is all your body needs (especially with a generous helping of drinking water), but if you feel you need more, you can go for the other half...but you have to cut that half in half...and so on until you can finish the meal with a clear conscience.

Disclaimer: At the time of writing, the author of this article has a pot belly!

Quick One! Clear Phantom Hard-Disk Hogs.

2011-04-06T06:23:00.000-07:00

Dear Photogs,

If you use Adobe Bridge you might want to change your cache settings. Every time you view a large file you are most likely viewing a preview of that file generated by bridge. Bridge saves these previews in the cache so that next time you view the file, it doesn't have to waste time generating a preview. The problem is that this can amass many gigabytes of data in a rather short while.

Open Bridge, press Ctrl+K (Win) /Command+K (Mac) and under 'Cache' you can start by changing the location of the cache to a partition of your drive that has more space. If you are bold enough you could even purge the cache altogether. Either way, you now know where those phantom 20 gigs have been hiding.

One more thing, if you've ever used (or are still using) Bridge CS3, you might want to search your system for a file named 'filesystem_blobs.MYD'.

Cheers,

DrAjao

Super Hero Episode IV: A New Phantom Menace

2011-03-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

Hello fans of super heroes worldwide,

I trust that you have kept abreast of the exploits of our hero, The Super Duper Diaper Buster, and Master Swaddler Extraordinarie!

If perchance you have not, I suggest you click on the following links. I assure you we shall wait patiently for you to catch up.

Episode I

Episode II

Episode III

There, now that we are all on the same page...

...we return to the Super Duper Master who can change diapers with one hand while photoshopping with the other. He has successfully figured out how to deal with Phage, a mysterious creature who at first seemed to be a ruthless omnivore. Through diligent scientific study, our hero was able to decipher that not all of this creature's victims were hapless meals, rather, many where highly esteemed entities which sparked Phage's curiosity to no end. Our hero discovered that Phage learns not by reading his subject but by eating it.

Verdict: Phage is relatively harmless as long as he is monitored and prevented from devouring more sensitive entities...besides our hero is going to be kept busy by a new menace.

Enter, Mace Ambu Nimbu Limbu, the evil force from the dark side who imbues the infant with adventurous limbs which flail about randomly, disruptively, and potentially harmfully as the infant is further exposed to toxic substances. These limbs disrupt our hero's attempt to change the infant. This disruption is so strong that even our hero's physical strength is not enough to subdue it with one hand. Our hero, once again, is forced to think on his feet. He knows he needs help so he employs the services of androids known as DistracToyds. Which hover around the infants upper limbs thus distracting him long enough to be changed. This measure while ingenious was not always reliable. Eventually, our hero had to swallow his pride and seek the help of Super Duper Fix-it-upper Diva. Together they are surely able to subdue Mace Limbu...but this is not expected to last for too long as his force keeps getting stronger and stronger.

Once again our hero saves the day, somewhat, but he can no longer boast of being able to Photoshop and change diapers at the same time.

Previous: Episode III
Coming Soon: Episode V: The Entire Cast Strikes Back!

I think I might heart Zappos too.

2011-03-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

Do you heart Zappos, too?

I'd already heard aobut Zappos state-of-the-art customer service and their high ranking amongst the "best places to work", but when I visited their site something in particular struck me...their pricing. A $100 shoe costs just that. Not $99.95, not $99.99, but $100.

Their prices looked so much neater and so did the photographs of their products. One could argue that the extra cent pools into hiring a competent photographer like...ahem...myself. Another could argue that the rounded numbers somehow save a tangible amount in arithmetic convenience and easiness on the eyes (fewer employee and customer headaches I presume).

A competing store shaved a cent off their prices and at first their price looked as if it was a whole dollar cheaper (which is the point of such pricing in the first place), but once I noticed, it felt as if someone was trying to pull wool over my eyes and something inside me didn't appreciate it. I then knew I wasn't going to decide based on that lone cent.

I would love to say that I chose Zappos in the end. Instead, I went with the other store because their $10 gift certificate, along with a same-day, two-way, free-shipping offer that was to expire at the top of the hour, was too good to resist. Sadly, they charged my card the full amount and didn't honor the gift certificate. I may not bother to return the shoes since I can't trust them to refund my money, talk less of not charging me for shipping.

Even if, perchance, honesty doesn't pay in greens, I think Zappos is successful because they've identified their client and they've made up their mind to serve her well. Those clients will gladly spend the extra cent.

In the spirit of Zappos, I have rounded off more zeros in my prices...next thing is to figure out that killer customer service strategy. Any interesting ideas?

Review! The Adjustment Bureau

2011-03-11T15:19:00.000-08:00

Boy meets girl, they fall in love but the metaphysical hat-wearing powers that be, insist otherwise. How much is our hero willing to sacrifice for love?

The Adjustment Bureu had me captivated through till its untimely end. It had an interesting high concept (thanks to the prolific Philip K. Dick) with high stakes and taut pacing. It also had characters that, in my opinion, were quite memorable...especially Emily Blunt's who stole most of her scenes. All this excitement was good enough for me to nearly forgive the occasional plot hole or gimmick (such as the Bureau having their near-omniscient abilities limited by something as simple as water...gimme a break guys, this is Philip K. Dick we're talking about here).

I was somewhat disappointed with the ending though. I agree with Roger Ebert that the filmmakers didn't have the guts to showcase graver ramifications of the conflicts that arose in the movie. Furthermore, the movie seemed to end suddenly, with a payoff that wasn't adequately set up...kinda like Spielberg's War of the Worlds.

With movies, you could go on a purposeful journey from A to B, or you could go on a roller coaster ride where the thrill of the ride is more important than the final destination (or lack of it). The best movies are those that creatively combine both scenarios. As much as I want to, I can't say this movie was one of those. Maybe I need a second viewing.

Verdict: The IMDB rating of 7.3 (out of 10) is fair enough.