Codex of Dreams

Avatar: A review

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:51:00 +0000

One of the many promotional posters. Notice that the movie's title is set in Papyrus, the horribly ugly, included in Microsoft Windows, typeface. With rumors of a nearly $400 million budget, couldn't they create their own?

I had extremely high expectations going into this one.

I'm sure you've listened to all the hype, with a 15 year script development, record-smashing budget, and revolutionary technology being the usual discussion points. Cameron set the bar extremely high with Titanic, and movie-goers were eager to see what he'd come up with with a decade of technological advancement behind him.

So I was more than willing to pay the 15-dollar admittance to see what Avatar was really all about.

My Glasses looked like this. Note the environmentally wasteful plastic packaging :(

If you're seeing the movie in 3-d, (what's the point otherwise?), you'll be handed a pair of "Real-d 3-d" glasses. The technology behind this viewing experience is intriguing, and far from the days of ugly red-and-blue stereoscopic lenses. Critics who previewed this movie described the 3-d as enhancing the movie, without the pop-up gimmicks so commonly abused in other films with similar technology.

What I did notice though, was that the film switched from 2-d to 3-d quite abruptly, and rather often. I'm sure most viewers thought they were immersed in a 3-d environment the entire time, such was the quality of the cinematics, but I could certainly tell. It's not uncomfortable to keep your glasses on the entire time, but I preferred to take mine off during the 2-d periods. The lenses cause a noticeable amount of brightness loss, and I'm positive that colour preservation wasn't perfect either.

The plot was interesting, if not entirely fresh. I had a feeling that I'd seen something like this before, and the setting was definitely reminiscent of the videogame Halo.

Warning: The short plot summary below may constitute a spoiler. But it's nothing detailed, so I'd say it's relatively safe to read.

The main character, Jake Sully, goes to Pandora- a undeveloped planet rich in unobtanium, a fictional, but apparently, very valuable ore. No, that's not a spelling error. Unobtanium is one of the wittier jokes in the movie.

The most interesting part of the plot, IMHO, was the Avatar program. It's a bit difficult to explain, so you'll have to watch the movie to figure it out.

Eventually though, the movie boils down to an archetypal "man meets natives, betrays own race, then fights for his new friends" kind of thing.

I'm sure there's symbolism here. But I definitely missed it.

Spoilers over.

This review in 3 words? Good, not great.

Avatar is a technical marvel, but I was left wondering if it'd be better served by a better written plot. Still, I think it's worth the 15 bucks just to see the technological innovation.

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:16:00 +0000

Just because I wear a nametag, doesn't mean I'm stupid.

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:21:00 +0000

Yes, I know I'm serving you chicken and tacos. Maybe a lot of my co-workers are accented. But that doesn't mean you're better than us.

You'd be shocked at the number of people who eat fried chicken who have this superiority complex. It's like they're thinking "you're too stupid to finish school, so you ended up at Taco Bell- and that means I can treat you like crap."

There's a lot of under-the-breath muttering that goes on at work, and it's because rude customers have this sense of entitlement. They think we're all worthless, low-income workers. You can sense the disdain when you take the orders.

I can understand words that aren't monosyllabic. You don't have to slow down when you're talking to me. You only need to check your change once, I can add- so give me some credit.

So next time you're eating fast food, please: treat us with some respect. We have lives outside the restaurant.

Google Wave Invites!

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:34:00 +0000

Google Wave is a beta, invite-only collaboration tool.

It's been dubbed it "what email would look like if it was invented today".

It's notoriously difficult to get an invitation, and they're going on eBay for real money. Google decided to only extend invites to a restricted amount of people- similar to what they initially did with Gmail. Gmail ended up becoming a great product when it finally went public. Why not hop on the wave bandwagon?

I have a few invites to give away. I hope I'm not swarmed, like other internet forums with similar topics, but if you'd like one- please leave a comment.

I'm happy to play Santa :)

Patience please.

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:31:00 +0000

I've been behind on blogging recently.
I've found that I'm in the library a lot these days.

For the past three days, I've been on a computer 9/12 periods. Crazy stuff.

DECA, work and school combined is pretty hectic, but I'm adapting.

Help!

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:03:00 +0000

I'm doing this for a business project. Please help me and answer in the comments, or via email. Feel free to leave anything blank if you don't want to answer.

Name: Gender:
Age:

1.What do you look for in an online ad? What makes them effective? (product)

2.How often do you use the internet? (market)
More than an hour daily Less than an hour daily A few times a week

3.What is your primary search engine provider? Why? Does it support advertising-based searches? (Advertising research)

4.Do you find the ads at the top of your search results relevant? Why or why not? (competitive)

5.How much money do you spend annually in online purchasing? (consumer)
<$100 $100-$1000 >$1000

6.Which social networking services do you use? (eg. Facebook, twitter, Myspace etc.) (advertising)

7.How likely are you to purchase a product online if it offers benefits over buying in a retail store?

Thank you for your time.

iPhone!

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:11:00 +0000

Okay, changed my mind. It's iPhone time baby.

I'm ordering mine. Hopefully it doesn't take years to arrive.

That was awesome.

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:41:00 +0000

That was an awesome trip.

We left Toronto via EYCI on a bus at about 9 Friday morning. We loaded on our luggage, and boarded the bus.

At the border, there was a bit of a delay: one person on our bus wasn't a Canadian citizen, and had to be processed, slowly.

We arrived in buffalo about 45 minutes later. This "downtown" was lame. The buildings were unimpressive (save for City Hall), and the sidewalks mostly empty.

We headed to Pearl Street Grill for lunch. Considering that DECA Ontario picked up the tab (love free meals), it was surprisingly decent. I did regret getting the chicken salad though: those quessadilas looked awesome.

Back to the hotel we went- boy, Buffalo is chilly. Adam's Mark hotel is a bit dated, but pretty nice, and right downtown. I was on the fifth floor, end of the hallway. The guys in my room were great. The provincial officers were genuinely funny, and all amicable.

We had a whole bunch of workshops to attend Friday afternoon (unfortunately, in fully business attire). The first one I went to was kind of lame. It was run by the New Hampshire state executive, and truth be told, they weren't very prepared. My wallet (with all my money and ID) fell out- but thankfully, a girl from Danbury, Conneticut returned it, money intact. There are angels everywhere. Thank you, whoever you are.

The delegation from my school decided to wander Buffalo, hoping to find a place to have dinner. I must say, Buffalo after dark is rather sketchy. I had this disconcerting feeling the entire time. A creepy twentysomething (probably inebriated) actually stopped his car to watch us walking by.

We asked a random stranger where to eat, and he told us to walk a few blocks north, to the Chippewa Entertainment District. I think he thought that we were older than we were (wasn't that an awkward sentence). We ended up in a neon-lit few blocks of shady, dark bars, and adult video stores. We ended up eating at Subway.

We came back- and went to a Sabres game. The home team lost, which was rather disappointing, but we had kind of crappy seats anyways (again, free)- so I wasn't overtly angry. After all, it's just Buffalo. The Leafs never win.

Headed back, hung out in someone's room 'til curfrew, and hit the sack. Love free toiletries.

Woke up early the next morning (7), so we could make the first workshop. I seem to remember it was decent, but the exact content eludes me, so it couldn't have been that great.

Then off to competitions. We did a Sports and Entertainment oral, then a 50 question Travel/Tourism cluster exam. I was horribly unprepared: but I really wanted a medal- so I just made some stuff up during my oral. More on that later.

After competition was another free "Taste of Buffalo" luncheon- this time provided by DECA International- at the hotel. It was better than average banquet food, but still mediocre.

I boarded another bus to attend a workshop at Niagara University, which sucked. It was a thinly veiled pressure pitch to convince us to attend their school. I must admit though, despite the lack of prestige, the grounds were beautiful.

Again, back to the hotel. I was getting sick of bus rides by now.

We had pre-planned a chapter dinner, and we decided to do the Cheesecake Factory. We took a cab to Galleria, and entered the crazy line. For a group of two, the average wait was 2 hours. Our group of ten, even with a private arrangement with a manager, still waited an hour. But oh man, the food was phenomenal. I had a Burrito Grande: a giant burrito with all the fixings.

Oh man, I love that place.

We came back at ~830 to see the hypnotist show. It was pretty funny, but the performer shamelessly interrupted his show (multiple times!) to do self-promotion. It was still good though.

Back to our rooms for the final night. SNL was on, I should watch more often. The cameos are hilarious.

The last morning, we packed to leave. We went down for the closing ceremonies and keynote address. It started off with award presentations. To my great shock, I won for my oral. Our chapter did really well, with 5 of our 7 executives winning something. Hopefully, we'll/I'll do as well at the real thing this Saturday.

Amy Gallimore, the speaker was engaging. But when we went back to our room, one of my room mates checked out her story. One of the tales she told was greatly exaggerated. I don't have time to cover it here, but watch this.

And then we left.

We stopped off at an outlet mall, where I bought almost nothing. Just some soap and sanitizer from Bath&Bodyworks.

We arrived back in Toronto at 430. I slept 13 hours last night.

NARCON! And a new phone.

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:08:00 +0000

I'm off to Buffalo for DECA.

NARCON is the mid-year conference attended by executives from all North Atlantic states, and Canada. It's three days this year. Three days of conferences, workshops, ceremonies- all in suits. *sigh. At least I can wear my poppy. :)

I'm rooming with some interesting people. There's one other guy from my chapter attending, but we got seperated. Interestingly enough- I got placed in a room with the three provincials executives.

Essentially, they're the three most senior/powerful members of DECA in Ontario. Hopefully I can make some connections if I decide to run for provincial executive next year :)

It's an excellent opportunity- and I'm extremely fortunate I got placed in the room I did.

Now that I'm employed, it's time for a new phone. I've been tracking the developments of the Bold 9700 release for some time now, and it finally released yesterday. I'm getting my paws on my own next week.

I'll blog at the conference. We're headed to the Cheesecake factory- I'll snap some salivating pics.

National Post

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:04:00 +0000

Is it gone?

Any readers out there that still care?

More on work...

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:12:00 +0000

I think I'm slowly getting used to this working thing. It's become so repetitive, it's getting monotonous. The work is long, greasy, hot, and always the same.

Punching in orders doesn't exactly work the brain. It sometimes feels arduous, but the time tends to blend together, making it feel that you haven't really been working that long after all.

And please, if you visit a fast food place soon- do your server a favour.
Don't pull out the pennies.

No one likes to count 35 pennies when you clearly have a dime and a quarter. :)

Oh well. I have to go to work soon. This post is done.

This. is. awesome.

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:25:00 +0000

Check out my lower post if you missed it.

This is a "cloud" of all my facebook statuses :)
Click for bigger!

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:41:00 +0000

Check this out.
It's a "word cloud" of the words used in my posting. The larger the word, the more occurences it has in my blog. Click for bigger.

Things are a little crazy 'round here.

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:56:00 +0000

Man- DECA, School, and work, combined, is hard work.

KFC is pretty cool. The people are great, I live close, and they pay better than they need to pay me.

But I don't like people who:

- Can't decide on their orders. C'mon. You're debating whether you're having a beef gordita, or a taco supreme- not your future career.

- Forget their Debit PIN #'s. I mean, it's 4 digits. Four. It's not that hard to remember. And it saves me a lot of work when you can get it the first time.

- People who find they don't have enough money. We make you the food. Please pay for it.

But other than that, working, is well- work.

Happy Thanksgiving!

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:50:00 +0000

Why do turkeys make a “gobble” sound?

Check it out.

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 23:21:00 +0000

Wow, this is hilariously morbid.

Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:42:00 +0000

Woah.

Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
I'm a fan, but still- isn't this a bit premature?

President's Conference

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:05:00 +0000

I went to DECA Ontario's president's conference today.
Every president, from every chapter in Ontario attended. It was pretty awesome.
Keynote speakers, free food, feeling woefully under dressed- it was awesome.
It's kind of like a high-powered provincials, but with the top 100 people, instead of 6000.

It's so hierarchical- I love it. I met a few members from the provincial exec too. Yay for meeting influential people :)

NARCON is in Buffalo next month. Maybe I'll meet some more high-ranking DECA members there :)

I'm back! Kind of.

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:55:00 +0000

Sorry- I've been neglecting this recently- life has gotten a little bit crazy.

I start work this week- which coincidentally, is also probably one of the busiest DECA weeks of the year. I've got projects piled on top of projects- and a healthy dose of extracurricular stress to finish it off.

I'll do some topical stuff soon- I promise.

I've got to get on top of everything first :)

Taco Bell

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:45:00 +0000

Finally, officially employed.

Thanks for the prayers.

Taco Bell

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:02:00 +0000

I have an interview scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Pray for me:)

If you printed the internet...

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:56:00 +0000

Makes you think.

Another year older...

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:43:00 +0000

But not much wiser.

I gotta go post a thank you for everyone who wished me Happy Birthday on fb (with a personal anecdote of course)

Monopoly City Streets

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:19:00 +0000

I'm playing Monopoly City Streets, basically, the classic board game on a worldwide scale. Pretty cool stuff.

I tried purchasing The Bridle Path, but it's taken.
Servers are super laggy- apparently, demand is more than initially expected.

09/09/09

kevinwong913@gmail.com (Late Night Laundry) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:09:00 +0000

Hopefully, if I got this right- the timestamp on this post will be 9:09. Cheesy, I know- but oh-so-awesome.

School started today, coinciding with the awesome date. It'd be better if I was in Grade Nine, but I'm not. Oh well.

I got my horrible schedule, which I tried to change- but guidance won't even see me. They're particularly tempermental today- probably something to do with the perpetually long line outside the office.

The lines were insane for the entire day, and they're only seeing people with "real" problems. My friend with four spares, for instance. Now while I understand the thinking behind that- I still don't think that the rest of my semester should be dictated by the outcome of the timetable lottery on Friday.

I want into AP English, and considering that half the class didn't even sign up for it, and still got it- I don't understand how I didn't get in. The English teacher wanted me to blog about it- so there.

Welcome back to school everyone.