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We did the cannonball trip up to Tahoe to see Chance’s grandparents.

One thing I’m beginning to realize, the “digital divide” is not just the poor / rich. It’s also this large set of people who really don’t care how stuff works. My mother is a beautiful example. She can send email and do basic web browsing, but she still hasn’t learned how to use a digital camera or the scanner yet. It’s not that she’s not intelligent enough to learn, but I really think she’s afraid of technology.

Anyway, still haven’t seen a good movie. I’m feeling older every day I spend with Chance. I realize I’m becoming more and more of a parent. EEK

Sorry for the lack of updates. Work has me, well… working.

Saw a link for Type Managers on Slashdot. It’s one of those things that I think really is where PCs are going.

I always say the majority people, like Sharon, use their PCs for very limited purposes. Viewing digital photos, checking email and browsing the internet.

For most of these users, the PC is a glorified hard drive that can access the internet. Microsoft really screwed up. If they would have made Media Center a standard product for free (even without recording capabilities), they would be on top of the world. One easy interface for people to access their media and check email / internet. That’s it. I’ll bet the majority of people have 5 programs or so that they use on a daily basis. They probably don’t even count iTunes as one of them, because it is basically seamless with the iPod.

Just like in life, if your manager does his or her job right, you don’t feel like you’re being controlled. If your file management program does its job, you don’t feel like you’re even using a program.

Maybe, I need my mom’s input next.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. Not bad, nice blend between Tim Burton, Roald Dahl and the original movie. I really like the ending where the other kids were walking out of the factory. 7 out of 10

Rebound: Bad News Bears with basketball and Martin Lawrence. Zero originality. Why do they keep making these kinds of “group of losers become winners and believe in themselves” movies? 1 out of 10

Fantastic Four: Still trying to figure out what was fantastic about these four. Nice human torch effects. 1 out of 4.

Five movies on the trip and not a single original one. So sad…

Anyway the trip was fine. One meeting and fly back.

Again, updating the blog from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Movie Reviews:
Batman Begins: Best Batman movie in a long time, which unfortunately doesn’t have a good movie since the first Michael Keaton Batman. A very good re-telling more in line with Batman: Year One from the comic book. Good intro with Ra’s Al Ghul. The revamped Gotham City was well done, with the imagery changing from light (as the city has a hopeful beginning) to dark as the city is corrupted.

Dr. Crane / Scarecrow is also a great charater for this movie as Bruce Wayne is battling himself and becoming the “Man without Fear” (another Batman subname). I do have to say, it’s much a better environment than the campy “villain of the week” style that befell the Batman Movie series later. The psychological edge of the movie gave it a lot more substance that any other superhero movie in recent memory, but how many times can they continue to remake the origin of a superhero before it becomes stale?

Rating: 8/10

Bad News Bears (2005): Remake of the 1970s movie. Standard, they suck at the beginning. They’re all a bunch of losers. Then the coach stops drinking gets into the game, the kids start to be friends, blah blah blah. I do like the last game when Billy Bob Thornton goes hypercompetitive on the kids. Win Win Win, until he realizes that 12 year-old kids are out there just to play and have fun.

Rating: 6.5/10 (points deducted for not adding any good new wrinkles into the story)

Tokyo is rainy, but otherwise nice. I will be hopping back on the plane to go home tomorrow.

I stumbled across a new on-line comic and in the owner’s blog, he mentions the passing of a D&D artist Keith Parkinson. Anyone growing up in the 80s and 90s and being a total geek (eg. someone who actually played D&D) knew his work.

There was one point where I actually wanted to go be an artist like these guys. Too bad for me…