SeventhCycle

I’m currently trying this blog post out on Windows Live Writer.  Kudos for making a blogging tool that feels like it transparently is a part of LiveJournal and a lot of the other blogs out there.

Hello to everyone on here I haven’t talked to in a while.

--Mark

Today, I went to the movies and watched Star Trek in the theatre. Considering the movie got a score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, I wasn't expecting to go into the theatre to watch a crapfest. Then again, I get the feeling that the expectations of this movie were so low at this point that the fact this wasn't crap got people raving. That's kind of how I feel walking out of this movie.

Anyhow, I'm going to break down the good at the bad.

The Good:

New Spock: This character was satisfying. The portrayal felt like a Young Spock that hasn't quelled his emotions as well as he does later on. When he is emotionless, he feels a little more like Tuvok from Star Trek Voyager more than Spock, but that's okay. Still, the casting choice for this role was perfect. Kudos.

Bones: Pitch perfect. I could close my eyes and hear DeForest Kelley. Karl Urban, I hereby forgive you for being involved with the movie Doom.

Scotty: A fine job. Absolutely good. Now get rid of your stupid alien sidekick before I confuse him for Jar Jar.

The Okay:

Old Spock: I'm tired of time travel. However, hearing him say "I have been and always shall be your friend" is a throwback to the most emotional scene in all Trek. It just makes me think that there's nothing in this movie that will be quoted in 30 years.

Uhura: Sexy, but not as classy as the old Uhura.

The Bad:

Checkov: Doesn't look like the old Checkov. The accent is deliberately too thick and one or two semitones too high. It sucks because with a different hairstyle, a little bit of toning back on the accent and a little bit of a pitch drop, it would have been perfect. Good voice actor. Imperfect execution.

Sulu: Bad... bad... bad... The thing about all of the characters on the original Star Trek was that they all had very distinct voices. Sulu (George Takei) is one of those cases. He has a deep, distinct voice. When he talks, you know who he is right off the bat. There's a reason Howard Stern had him as the announcer on his show for a while.

John Cho just isn't right for the role. It's his speaking voice... It's basically the same voice as his character in Harold and Kumar. I can't help but think they should have dubbed his voice for the part.

Kirk: This was a travesty. He doesn't sound like Shatner, he doesn't act like Shatner, he doesn't look like Shatner. As this YTMND site sums up perfectly:

SHATNER IS KIRK.

START SPOILER

In part of the movie, you get to see Kirk take the Kobayashi Maru test. Young Kirk's portrayal of the movie was that of a brat. It just made me long to see what it would have been like to see a young Shatner portray the test.

I hate the fact that they actually put this in the movie. Now, whenever I watch Star Trek 2, I'm going to end up having to picture this scene to correspond with the conversation. Like George Lucas, you managed to rape a part of my childhood by having *this* Kirk portray the test. Thanks. Thanks a lot.

END SPOILER

I understand that some movies that are new try to portray the characters differently than older movies. I understand that Johnny Depp portraying Willy Wonka was vastly different than Gene Wilder portraying Willy Wonka. However, it only seem to work when you're trying to go in an entirely different direction than what the old movie was like. In this case, some of the characters like Bones, Scotty and Spock were dead on. Checkov was an attempt at consistency. So why throw it out the window with Kirk? Why throw out the inflection and the mannerisms? Why turn James T. Kirk into a young Jonathan Archer?

Nero: Why even have a bad guy in this movie? He's one of those cookie cutter bad guys. He's just as forgettable than the bad guys in Insurrection, or the Picard clone in Nemesis. Why bother? They might as well have had V'ger come back through time and try to destroy Earth again.

This is the main reason Star Trek 2 and Star Trek 6 are better movies than the rest of the movies (including this one). Khan was memorable. General Chang (and his notion of reading Shakespeare in the "original Klingon") was memorable. The better the foes are, the more exciting the conflict, the better the movie.

This movie gets away with having a mediocre bad guy because the real conflict is between Kirk and Spock. Simple as that. Which means that if the second and third of these movies have bad guys this shitty while Kirk and Spock start to get along, those movies are going to suck hard. And Star Trek will go away for a while, again.

The Funny:

Kirk's Mom: Now I know what Dr. Cameron looks like pregnant. Seeing her in Star Trek makes me wonder what it would be like if Dr. House ran Sick Bay.

Captain Pike: When I saw him in a wheelchair, I started laughing. It would have been hilarious if they made him like on the original series where he beeps once for yes and twice for no.

Kirk / Spock fight scene: No fight scene between Kirk and Spock is complete without this cheeseball music. On a sidenote, I spat out my drink laughing when I was watching Futurama and found out that this music is the national anthem for Zoigberg's home planet.

Music: I never thought I'd hear a Beastie Boys song in a Star Trek movie. Fail.

In sum:

This is a good blockbuster movie. It's good enough to get people into Trek again. It's good enough to get people to the theatre. It's not one of those movies that will pass the test of time. It's an Independence Day. It's a Jurassic Park 2. It doesn't stand the test of time. But it's a good use of 2 hours or so.  I can't believe this got a higher rating than Wrath of Khan on Rotten Tomatoes.  People are stupid.

However, it opens the door for more Star Trek TV. Maybe this time the writing will be good...

Maybe...

Today, I received the following message in my YouTube inbox:

To:
Subject:	JESUS CHRIST IS COMING SOON
Date:	Mar 30, 2009
Message:	Amazing Discoveries is a front-line evangelistic ministry that uses innovative methods to reach secular people for CHRIST. We are committed to giving the last message of warning to this world with special emphasis on Bible Prophecy, the music world, science and creation, and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. The Bible is the inspired word of our LORD JESUS CHRIST and it foretells the beginning of the world and the end of the world. The GOD of the Bible gives you a challenge.. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure .GOD is letting you know that he is the only true and living GOD , the CREATOR of the universe and the controller of human destiny. He is challenging you to check out what he has done in the past so that you can believe him when he tells you the things that have not already happened but are soon to happen. Overwhelming Archaeological evidence proves the bible and so is the discovery of Noahs ark by Ron Wyatt. WHILE MANY ARE ASLEEP, PARTYING, DRINKING, LOVERS OF PLEASURE MORE THAN LOVERS OF GOD AND BLINDED BY THE CARES OF THIS LIFE, BIBLE PROPHECY IS BEING FULFILLED IN RAPID SUCCESSION AND THAT DAY WILL COME TO THEM AS A SNARE AND AS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT. The ANTICHRIST has been revealed, unaware to most people and the ANTICHRIST system is already here. The world governments and the papacy are moving in secrecy to bring about a ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT and a NEW WORLD ORDER that will send GODS people and the rest of the world into a time of trouble such as there was ever a nation. There will be a ONE WORLD FINANCIAL SYSTEM and you will not be able to BUY OR SELL unless you go along with this NEW WORLD ORDER which will include SUNDAY LEGISLATION as the national day of worship which is contrary to GODS commandments which says keep the SABATH DAY HOLY which is SATURDAY and NOT SUNDAY. THE PAPACY CHANGED THIS COMMANDMENT and this was also foretold in the book of Revelation. GOD is waiting for humanity to reflect GODS character which are the 10 COMMANDMENTS, before PROBATION CLOSES like in Noahs day and he removes his protection and lets satan destroy the masses. Now you might say this message is nonsense because I have never seen GOD, he has never done anything for me....But I tell you look at yourself in the mirror look at your eyes that has millions of receptors that all link together to produce an image in your brain at the speed of light. Imagine how complicated you brain works and how much infinite information it can store, how it tells your lungs and heart to beat involuntarily, how it tells your body to heal itself if you are injured, how it develops a child in the mothers womb. If scientist were to make a computer to work like a human brain, they will probably need the space of several football fields to fit that sort of computer. GOD loves us so much, he died for us, he has given as everything including the air we breathe, he has made you, he makes the sun shine on both the good and evil yet humans reject and rebel against him. They wan't to do things in their own way. they have everything in life and completely forget about GOD. I urge you to do your research on every thing I have shared with you and share it with others. REPENT, STOP SINNING AND BELIEVE THAT JESUS DIED FOR YOUR SINS SO THAT YOU CAN HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. PREPARE, WAKE UP and dont be ignorant so that when that day comes you will not be one of those who say THE HARVEST IS PAST, THE SUMMER IS ENDED, AND WE ARE NOT SAVED Jeremiah 8:20. Website http://www.youtube.com/user/nyawie http://amazingdiscoveries.org/ www.3abn.com http://www.wyattmuseum.com/

Here is my response:

1) "Amazing Discoveries is a front-line evangelistic ministry that uses innovative methods to reach secular people for CHRIST."

You have a lot to learn about how to address secular and atheist people.  Do you honestly think that we haven't heard everything you've said already?  It's kind of like people smoking cigarettes.  Do you think people keep smoking because they just haven't noticed the warning labels yet?

2) "The Bible is the inspired word of our LORD JESUS CHRIST and it foretells the beginning of the world and the end of the world."

Because the Bible did such a fantastic job explaining the beginning of the world in a way that corresponds with all the scientific evidence out there, the rest of us non-believers are going to think it'll do any better with the end of the world.

And don't tell me to watch Expelled.  I have.  It's horseshit.  Irreducible Complexity is horseshit.  Intellegent design is horseshit.  It also happens not to be science.

3) "The ANTICHRIST has been revealed, unaware to most people and the ANTICHRIST system is already here. The world governments and the papacy are moving in secrecy to bring about a ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT and a NEW WORLD ORDER that will send GODS people and the rest of the world into a time of trouble such as there was ever a nation."

Good luck getting the Jews and the Muslims to get along in your ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT.

4) "Now you might say this message is nonsense because I have never seen GOD, he has never done anything for me....But I tell you look at yourself in the mirror look at your eyes that has millions of receptors that all link together to produce an image in your brain at the speed of light."

Ray Comfort?  Is that you?  This is more of that "Because I have been created, there's a creator" crap.  Are you now going to link me to that video of how a banana is the atheist's nightmare.

You're an idiot.  You're also a spammer in violation of YouTube's terms and will be reported to YouTube as such.

Around the beginning of the year (or maybe even a little bit before then), I decided to quit social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and Friendster for good. While I understand that it's useful for some people to link up or collaborate with people online, I've realized that I have no reason for it.

The people who I want to talk to online can already message me. My IM accounts are public and my email is public. I'm glued to my iPhone, so if you write me it'll get through.

I don't want to meet anyone new online anymore. I grew tired of that about a year ago. The people I'm going to meet who are new I'll either meet through people I know, or out in the real world. Or maybe someone will write me out of nowhere about some piece of software I've done in the past 5 years.

Tanya has joked with me and said that I don't need those sites because they're mostly used for hooking up. It's not that far from the truth.

Sometimes, I feel like I've become Daniel Plainview from the movie There Will Be Blood. I daydream about making enough money to be left alone. The difference is that I still want some people in my life. The similarity is that I will drink your milkshake.

Maybe it's hypocrisy that I'm blogging on here. Maybe it's hypocrisy that I set up Twitter on my phone. Then again, I'm only expecting people who already know me to be reading this.

Updated my website:

http://www.seventhcycle.net/

It's now Google Sites powered.  It's not so bad.  I wish I had time to do something with PHP / MySQL again.

With elections coming up in less than a week, I suggest that everyone take a moment and check out the Third Party Debate that happened back on the 23rd.

I used to be a huge believer in voting third party. I voted Green in 2004 because neither Democrats or Republicans offered up a candidate who was either against the war, or looking to withdraw from it.

In the above link, two of the four major third party candidates showed up for the debate: Ralph Nader (Independent) and Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party). If you're looking for a short conclusion of how the debate turned out and don't feel like watching it, let me tell you how it went. It was awful. Many people complained about how the McCain / Obama debates were really just dueling press releases. You have no idea how bad it can get until you actually see this.

I've had some small involvement with third party happenings this time around. It completely broke my spirit.

In any case, here are my grievances with all of the candidates this time around:

Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party)

This guy actually showed up to the third party debate. Good for him. That's about all I have to say that's good for him. In a nutshell, he's Lou Dobbs running for office. No thank you.

Chuck's Jingoist term: "Restoring the constitution." Coming from a party that strongly favors prayer in schools, yet another group of people that don't understand separation of church and state.

Bob Barr (Libertarian)

A no show at the debate. Bad pol, no doughnut.
I don't have much to say here. We're in a national crisis caused by deregulating laws that were set in place since the Great Depression. The last thing we need is a Laissez-faire idealist running the show.

And then there's the Libertarian slant to the whole affair. "If government wouldn't bail these businesses out, they wouldn't make such big risks." I call bullshit. CEOs are often short-term thinkers. Shareholders are often short-term thinkers. They think short term, and does/endorses something that makes the stock temporarily jump 15%. CEO collects several million dollar check, and quietly goes away when something bad happens. Or, even more unfortunate, goes away with an even larger sum of money.

Bob's Jingoist Term: "Free Market". Libertarians like Bob Barr, Ron Paul and celebrities like Penn Gilette buy into the "Invisible Hand" of the free market as if it's a religion all its own. Sure, right.

Cynthia McKinney (Green)

A no show at the debate. Bad pol, no doughnut.
Oh boy, the sponsor of the "Tupac Shakur Records Act" is running for president!.

Seriously though. She's on the right side of a lot of the issues, but I'm turned off by some of the claims she's made. Stuff like "5000 prisoners killed during Katrina" and stuff like that. She doesn't strike me as an A-tier diplomat, and someone presidential. Prove me wrong.


Ralph Nader (Independent)

He showed up. Wonderful.

So, tell me again: What's the idealogical difference between a Nader (who ran as Green Party back in 2000) and the Green Party? Anyone? Anyone?

Great job. Instead of having one candidate running on the far left, there's now two. So much for that 5% that everyone has been clammoring to get this time around. What good is it when it's divided between two nearly idealogically equivalent candidates?

This is ultimately the biggest problem with third party candidates, and why it will take an act of DEITY for them to be put in any position of real power. They can't compromise. Democrats can. Republicans can. And if you don't believe that, ask yourself why Hillary isn't still continuing her campaign, or why Mitt Romney isn't trying to get Utah to vote for him.

Being a politician is lose / lose. If you compromise, you're an appeaser to the other side. If you don't compromise, nothing gets done.

With someone like Nader, there's no compromise. He has to be the one running. He has to drive the platform on every single issue.

Also, the guy is older than McCain. He's 74. I haven't seen anything along the lines of medical information.

Ralph's Jingoist Line: The corperations. Just... Stop...



This bums me out.  I'm going to sleep now.

There were two small blotches on each side of his neck where he’d press against to fall asleep.  He needed it.  His body was on overdrive for 20 hours, pumped full of stimulant, rushing, sprinting, marching through the day.  Endless thoughts and endless chores ran into endless duties and endless tasks.  All this led into falling behind.

Everyone falls behind.

So when that happens, parts of life get trimmed away.  Coffee breaks and lunch breaks.  Dinners and socializing and activities.  Birthday parties and anniversaries.  Vacations and getaways.  Sleep.

Sleep was necessary, so all parts leading up to it and after it got stripped out.  No laying in bed trying to fall asleep.  No cool-off time for the mind to stop.  Into bed, press the two blotches on each side of the neck, wait five seconds.  The implants take care of the rest.

Six hours later and the implants kick in again.  Stimulant pumped in.  Electrodes firing.  Wide, wide awake.

Welcome back to hell.

I *finally* beat Guitar Hero 3 on expert.

That last battle is *far* harder than anything else leading up to it.  Guitar battles aren't that fun, either.  Thankfully, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith only has one guitar battle and it's nowhere as hard as the last boss.

Still haven't beat Jordan on Guitar Hero 2...

If the rest of the game soundtrack sounds like the version of Ken's Stage you hear in the menu screens, this game will sound incredible.

What's interesting is that all the preview videos I've seen so far use the Blood on the Asphalt version of all the songs.  It appears Capcom swapped out the Ken version from that for something far more "correct" from a pitch perspective.  This new version also has more shred in it.

I wish Ryu's stage would get this kind of treatment.  The opening music for Ryu's stage in oldschool Street Fighter 2 (before super came out) was a little bit ominous.

But yes.  Ken's Stage on SSF2THDR Beta - Best remixed game music since Hangarmageddon.

Monday was Memorial Day, but it was also my mother's birthday. I spent late afternoon at my sister's house, but made sure to bring the camera with me:

My house:

I have these neighbors who throw a party once a month, and rent these blow-up playpens with buckets of balls in them. I took a snapshot because it reminded me of an old XKCD comic:

My sister lives up Tierra Subida in Palmdale, which is what 10th street West becomes when you go south enough. I pulled over the side of the road on Avenue S and Tierra Subida and took some snapshots of the view. Here, the road slopes uphill until it meets the hills.

The mountains loom in the distance.

There was this piece of newspaper (or something along those lines) beside me on the other side of the road. I was reminded of the floating piece of paper in American Beauty, and couldn't resist taking a snapshot:

The intersection:

Some houses up on the hill:

I arrived at my sister's. They were watching some chick flick. So two of the boys and I went outside and hit golf balls. We had to hit them over the pool so that the balls wouldn't fall in. I'm getting better at my golf swing.

The whole Antelope Valley sprawls out. The only large, noticable object in the skyline is the windmill:

After hitting the golf balls, Gav, Colin and I went down to pick up all the golf balls. Looks like we were followed:

We went back inside. Griffin was completely passed out.

So we messed with him a little:

Then we had cake. Turns out the cake isn't a lie:

After I went home, I tried messing with the camera a little bit more. Turns out the camera has a maximum exposure of 15 seconds. I was wondering what kind of effect that would have for taking nighttime pictures.

I tried taking a bunch of pictures, but this was the best I got out of it. Since I don't have a tripod, I lay the camera down on the top of my car, and pointed the camera up. I went into the middle of the desert where there weren't any lights, and tried to capture the night sky.

I failed. Looks like I might have to get a better camera.

My business is going really well. I've been commuting to Valencia 3 days a week - Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Since I live in Lancaster, I generally take the 14 freeway south to the 5 freeway. I get there in about 50 minutes or so, but it's kind of a dull ride. It's yet-another-freeway in Southern California... a 50 miles stretch out of the 700 miles of freeway in the Southern California area.

On Friday, I decided to take an alternate route home - San Francisquito road. The route home goes north. I then either take Johnson road, or Lake Elizabeth home... but that's besides the point.

I pulled over on the way home on Friday, and saw this fantastic view. It was incredible. The clouds sat overhead, just touching the tops of hills. Taking pictures of it on a phone just doesn't do. So I got my camera.

On my way back home from the Dodgers game, I took the same route, again. I found this bend in the road that veered off 90 degrees to the right. I parked my car, got out, and walked.





Beyond the guard rails that were there appeared to be gravel road. I got out of my car, and walked for a bit.

Looking back, there was my car, in the distance, parked there by the side of the road.




There I was, in this abandoned place, a mixture of gravel, dirt, grass, and green:



The clouds hung lazily overhead:



I came to an edge, with ground a couple feet down. Beneath, I could see more bushes and shrubs, and the sound of running water:




There was this small creek, with water bubbling along, flora gathered around it, feasting on the stream:



And then my camera ran out of juice... I got one last shot in of the hill above:




Life manages to surprise me. There I was, in a place closer to Los Angeles than Lancaster is. I still managed to find this little piece of nowhere on the side of the road. I was alone. My cell phone had no service. I effectively got lost.

And it felt good.

I promised myself that I would try and do this more often, and that I would try harder to capture it when I do.

Today I went to a Dodgers game.

Hi all,

I got a new camera yesterday. You may or may not be seeing a lot more pictures on here in the near future.

Yesterday:

I was in Newport Beach yesterday.  Here are some of the shots I did messing around:



This is a picture outside. I was messing around with exposures, and this closely matched how bright it was outside.



One of those "Myspace Angles" style pictures of me. Yes... LMAO.



The inside of my car... a Toyota Prius.


You can see all the pictures here:

http://seventhcycle.net/pics/2008/05/25/1024/
1024x768 versions

http://seventhcycle.net/pics/2008/05/25/640/
640x480 versions

I have a lot of work to do.
I have a lot to think about.
I have a lot of opportunity.

My mind is full and I cannot sleep.

Anyone who still reads this is welcome to say hello.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070823-what-state-secrets-national-intelligence-director-cops-to-spying-program.html

One of the things so sad about today's generation is that the only people who are willing to die for a cause are typically the people who die for things like religion...  That and soldiers who die for a spun-up definition of freedom.

Sometimes it's better for people to die than to give up a good ideal.  The right to privacy is a good ideal.  The right to anonymity is another.  Those are two ideals I think I would die for if it meant that the people didn't have to live in an Orwellian style world.

Democracy IS transparency.  I'm so tired about hearing that the government is doing its best to protect us, without being allowed to tell us what exactly that is.

Like the letters in Sneakers spelled out, "Too Many Secrets."  Yes, too many Secrets, Marty.

The Good

I got my new TV.  65", 1080p goodness.  Too bad my xbox 360 doesn't have an HDMI component connector, because right now I'm stuck using 1080i.  Ah well.

So, it looks like I'm going to try and get a 360 elite. 

The Bad

My Guitar Hero 2 profile got corrupted.  So, pretty much, all the progress that I made on GH2 is gone.  I have to actually go through and beat the game on expert again...

Two videos sum up my total rage at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYvZnTFpip0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGoBHxsmL6k

In the second video, replace the subtitle "Do they think I have that kind of space" with me going "FUCK FUCK SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK ARGH!"  That is how I feel about losing my saved data.

The Ugly

I downloaded The My Chemical Romance pack for Guitar Hero 2.  I just threw away $6.25 on three songs that I five starred the first time through.

Why did I download them?  I figured there'd at least be one song that would take me a little bit of practice and time to get through.

I don't get WHY they decide to post all these easy songs.  Especially considering that they already have a note chart for Extreme - Play with Me on the Guitar Hero Encore 80s pack.

I really hope Activision, Red Octane, Harmonix, or whoever is putting out stuff for GH2 would actually read the forums to get some semblance of what people want on there.  I can't possibly imagine that there were legions of kiddies on ScoreHero clamoring for this.

How I'm looking at my purchase is basically how much time I get out of my purchase.  Gutiar Hero 2 was a great deal, since I've easily put in 100 hours or so into the purchase, which breaks down to a dollar an hour.  The song Jordan alone is a fantastic deal considering how much time I've put into it trying to master it.

But these... I five starred these three songs in less than 15 minutes.  That means that I paid approximately $25 an hour to play those songs...  Songs that I have no reason or gaming goal to play again.  I guess I'm a wanker

WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T THEY DO A BUCKETHEAD PACK?  Jump-man, Nun Chuka Kata and Nottingham Lace as a download would have been amazing. 

*grumble*

That I can make it through 40% of Jordan on expert with my eyes closed?

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/03/1622231

Your horoscope for today:
Aries - certain deficiencies in your education and upbringing will lead you to the sadly mistaken belief that the location of celestial bodies can influence events in your life.

http://bash.org/?777977

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNO6G4ApJQY

This is just fucking funny.

"They plastered his myspace site with gay sex pictures.  His girlfriend left him"

"LULZ is a corruption of LOL, which is short for laugh out loud"

The biggest laugh I had was the clip where some guy with a megaphone spoils the ending to Harry Potter to about 30 or so kids.

All hail anonymous, fuckwads of the internet!

Looks like Through The Fire and Flames is making it onto Guitar Hero 3.

I have this track for Freetar.  It's the only thing I have that's harder than Jordan.

Score.  Looks like I'll be getting both Rock Band and GH3.