Archives

Happy Thanksgiving
[ 11-23-01 ][ 1:04 a.m. pst ][ By Rice ]

Hope everybody had a good one. I spent it watching Jordan go 8 for 26 while Jamaal Tinsley dished out 23 assists on the other end en route to a triple double. I'm not losing faith in MJ yet, but it seems as if everyone else already has. Of course, an eight game losing streak is no joke, but I'm confident he'll turn the Wizards around and make them playoff contenders by the end of the season. Man, I sure hope I don't end up eating my words come March.

Since I'm already on the digital soapbox, I might as well make another unpopular prediction: The Fellowship of the Ring will be a letdown to those who have read Tolkien's book. I only say this because I came to a realization yesterday after I saw Harry Potter. If you've already read the novel a film is based on, there essentially is no suspense. You know every twist and turn that will occur! And the special effects? Forget it. No movie can possibly reproduce the wonders of the mind's eye. So in conclusion, if you want to enjoy Lord of the Rings, don't read the series. I welcome counter arguments to my theory, though, since I'm about two thirds of the way through Fellowship of the Ring already and I desperately want the upcoming flick to rock.

Enjoy the rest of your long weekend. I know I plan to.

Harry Potter
[ 11-18-01 ][ 2:22 a.m. pst ][ By Rice ]

Addendum [11-19-01]:

Gerry here. I've just finished GWS Issue #9. Click!

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--> Click! <--

I personally haven't seen the movie yet, so I'll withhold my comments in the review talkback section until then. However, I did spend last Tuesday night reading book 1 of the Harry Potter saga, and my verdict on it is an emphatic thumb's up. To avid fantasy / sci-fi readers such as myself, J.K. Rawlings's story is familiar territory, filled with magic and exotic creatures and species. What makes it such a winner is how easy it is to read. I don't fancy myself as a speed reader, but I was able to tear through 300 or so pages of the Sorcerer's Stone in three and a half hours. There's a perfect blend of humor, adventure, and everyday reality in it that removes the chore of flipping through pages. If the movie stays as close to the book as everyone says it does, then I heartily recommend anyone with an ounce of nostalgia for childhood mysteries to watch it. Personally, I plan to be in line for one of tomorrow's showing.

It's probably hard for young adults like us to get into this kind of stuff. I've heard some negative vibes regarding the Harry Potter phenomenon amongst my peers. The need to maintain a somewhat mature image forbids public group ventures into these kiddie adventure movies. I know I got a lot of weird looks when I stood in line for Pokemon: The Movie or when I shunned Dude, Where's My Car? for The Emperor's New Groove. All I can say is, I urge you guys to drop your egos (or insecurities or whatever it is that's holding you back from enjoying a great story) for a while, or you'll be missing out.

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My personal war w/ Verizon DSL seems to be reaching a stalemate. Their tech support claim they're trying to do all they can to get me online, but it's been over a month now, and hope seems slim that I'll be seeing connectivity by the end of this quarter. I've ceased to bitch and whine about it all since I realize it hasn't really accomplished anything and am currently in a state of helpless self-pity regarding the whole matter.

I'm planning on attending a Weezer concert in Long Beach this coming Friday after Thanksgiving with some close friends. It should be a blast, since they're my all-time favorite band, and I've never been to a rock concert before. Opening for them is the venerable Jimmy Eat World along with Tenacious D (check out Wonderboy if you're curious), whose lead singer is Jack Black from Shallow Hal and High Fidelity. W00p!

Enough update for one night. Can't promise you when I'll be posting again, so until then, cheers.

"Breathing" Trailer
[ 11-05-01 ][ 9:46 p.m. pst ][ By Gerry ]

Gerry here:

If you saw Monsters, Inc. recently, you undoubtedly were treated to the "Breathing" teaser trailer from Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. I haven't seen it on the big screen yet, due to time constraints, but today when I went online to look at it, I was completely appalled at the latest evil scheme from Lucasfilm, Ltd. and Apple Computer.

Turns out you can only view, through plug-ins, the small and medium versions of the "Breathing" trailer. The largest, clearest version could only be watched if you bought Quicktime 5.0 Pro, which is $30. That really pissed me off. Loyal fans like me waited breathlessly for the first glimpse of AOTC, and they want us to dish out 30 big ones for the good quality shit? Fuck that. Lucasfilm (God bless them) and Steve Jobs can go eat a dick.

If you want to be able to download the high-res version of the "Breathing Trailer," so you can watch it over and over, I've upped it to the server. This will only be temporary, until Rice or Kansur shuts it down. Click here! 12 megs, approximately. Refuse to give in to the Sith ploy!

Due to Rice's jiggering of the right click button, I recommend copying and pasting the URL into GetRight so you can d/l it. Hurry. We must accelerate our plans.

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In other news:

Congratulations to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the 2001 World Series Champions. Man, I didn't expect them to win it at all. All they have are two Hall of Fame aces, and I guess that's all you need if you pitch them to death. Good pitching always stops good hitting, I suppose. But after seeing poor Byung-Hyun Kim get rocked for two blown saves in a row, I counted the Diamondbacks out. 

The Yankees are good, but I'm glad to see their reign end. Big ass props go out to co-MVPs Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. There was never a more deserving duo. Now the question is, can they do it again? I doubt it. But you can never count a team out if they can roll out The Big Unit and Curt Schilling every 5 days.

Training Day
[ 10-27-01 ][ 7:34 p.m. pst ][ By Rice ]

Hey all. Long time no post and, unfortunately, will be another long time before another post. Four midterms and a CS project will be due within a span of five days in the coming week. Sigh. The distinctive stench of failure awaits me. In addition, Verizon is being a real dog about DSL. I'm calling literally every night inquiring about my status, and they're just feeding me a batch of stories about fried hardware. Whatever. So I'm still in the dark, and in parallel, getting pummeled by school. Not a good combo.

But of course, being a person who knows where his priority lies, I hammered out a quick and dirty review of Training Day. Click!

On Gerry's side, he has his annual NBA preview article ready just in the nick of time for the start of the season, AND Issue #8 of GWS: Click!

Alright. I'm heading back to the apartment now... on a Saturday night due to the aforementioned academic crush. Cheers.

Early Peek at Monsters, Inc.
[ 10-24-01 ][ 01:08 a.m. pst ][ By Gerry ]

Gerry here:

Due to Rice's absence, news updates have slowed to a crawl. You know Rice World is in troubled waters when the latest updates are by my sorry ass. Thankfully, Dogfather has come to the rescue by providing a super-early peek at the upcoming offering from Pixar Studios, MONSTERS, INC. Thanks Dogfather. Your Rice World Award for Excellence in the Field of Excellency is in the mail. Come see what MONSTERS, INC. is all about!

I've also posted my short and crappy reviews of IRON MONKEY and FROM HELL. Anything to make sure things don't get too stagnant here.

Oh, I published Gerry's Weird Shit: Issue #7 on October 18th. I know I announced a hiatus, but the overwhelming support I got made me dive back in. So if you haven't caught Issue #7 yet, do so quickly, because I smell #8 coming up.

Good Deal on Shrek 2-DVD Set
[ 10-13-01 ][ 12:15 p.m. pst ][ By Gerry ]

Gerry here:

Liked the movie Shrek? Rent movies from Blockbuster often? Now you can own the movie and get a 10-week free rental card for just $25. Of course, you can only rent one title per week, but it's still a good deal, especially if you're a frequent renter. Click on the picture for more details.

Sorry about plugging DVDs and stuff that I'd normally put in GWS, but this was the only way to make sure people read it. Sniff.......

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Just when I think Great Britain is just a country of folks w/ bad teeth, they go and do stuff that makes you rethink everything bad you've said about 'em. First they jump to our aid against the Taliban and now this: Click! Go Great Britain!

"'As far as I'm aware, nobody within the government will make this an official religion no matter how many people sign up to it. It is a really useless piece of information,' groused the spokesman, who's obviously a member of the Dark Side."

Gerry's Weird Shit: Issue #6
[ 10-10-01 ][ 2:53 p.m. pst ][ By Rice ]

Exactly what the headline says: Click!

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Contrary to popular opinion, I don't think another major terrorist attack on the level of 9/11/01 will be in the near future. The entire nation is just way too paranoid for that. That's not saying bin Laden's al-Qaida group isn't planning a retaliation against America, it's just saying they won't be successful. With security at a bleeding edge maximum everywhere and F-18 Hornets escorting commercial airliners, it'd be easier to penetrate U.N. headquarters than LAX.

In addition, last week's issue of TIME had a detailed breakdown of how real our risk is to terrorist biological / chemical warfare. Basically, their diagnosis reveals that it's harder than it may seem to conduct a widespread attack of those sorts. For example, Anthrax is way overrated as an effective weapon.

So to all you people out there hoarding firearms and bottled water and gas masks... relax!

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My division series baseball predictions: Atlanta over Houston, St. Louis over Arizona, Oakland over New York, and Cleveland over Seattle. Yeah, you read the last one right. And I'm not just saying this because the Indians won game 1. For some reason, the Mariners never impressed me all that much during the regular season. I have no idea how they won 116 games with their squad of no namers, but I predict they'll crumble under playoff inexperience.

Which brings me to another point: I don't believe Ichiro Suzuki should be eligible for rookie of the year honors, even though he'll be winning unanimously. Anyone who has played 5+ years in the Japanese majors should be automatically striken... especially a 5-time batting champion in Ichiro! He ain't no rookie, man. He's a grizzled veteran. The argument for Japanese leagues being the minors equivalent doesn't work, because their leagues are just as tough as ours (ask former MLB'ers who crossed over to play there).

With that said, my picks for regular season trophy winners:

AL MVP - Jason Giambi (Drive It Like You Stole It)
AL Cy Young - Roger Clemens (started 20-1!)
AL Rookie of the Year - C.C. Sabathia (but it'll be Ichiro, sigh...)
NL MVP - Barry Bonds (73 HR's. 'Nuff said.)
NL Cy Young - Randy Johnson (372 K's is just sick.)
NL Rookie of the Year - Albert Pujols (who is this guy?!)