Mysterium 2009
I just got home from Mysterium 2009, the annual gathering of Myst fan(atics). It was held in Spokane, Washington this year (as it is every few years). Spokane is the hometown of Cyan Worlds, the company that made Myst.
The convention was really great, although the last day was somewhat ruined by a flu outbreak in the hotel. It was fun to meet all of the other fans of Myst, and to know that I wasn’t even close to being the geekiest person there (ha).
On the second day we all piled into a few cars and visited the Cyan offices. We got to meet all the Cyan bigwigs, past and present, and they threw a party for us. I had Rand Miller sign my collectibles, including the copy of From Myst to Riven that I bought at their store, and the Myst concept art that Robyn Miller sent me a few years ago. We were given a tour of their awesome workspace, which I filmed, but due to some accident, I no longer have that footage.
After the party, a few members of the Uru community (Blade, Brian Fioca, Douglas Sharper, and Eleri) held a panel about storytelling in Uru, which was pretty cool as they all were (or are) celebrities in our community at one point or another. After that, the real show started with a Q&A session with Rand Miller. He answered all of our questions, covering topics from Something Else, to MO:RE, to the Book of Marrim, to many other things. It was quite entertaining, and also educational!
For those who weren’t present at Mysterium, or those who would simply like a refresher on the convention, check out the video footage I captured over the course of the weekend. The file is about 580mb, so be careful if you have a slow connection (took me about 20 minutes to download on a standard-speed connection). Also, please don’t directly link to the video file, link to this post instead. There is also a torrent of the video file available, for those who would rather use a P2P connection.
If you’re more into photos, check out this thread on MystOnline.com, this Flickr pool, and this thread on UruObsession.com.
In other news, THIS IS THE 500TH POST! Yes, you read that correctly. I have now posted 500 things to this website. Pretty ridiculous. Here’s to 500 posts, and hoping for another strong 500 in the future!
Snow Leopard – First Impressions
I have gotten my hands on the latest build of the next version of Mac OS X – Snow Leopard. The 6th version of OS X, due to be released in September of this year, promises speed boosts…and not much else. The OS upgrade focuses almost entirely on under-the-hood improvements (like opening images and pdf files faster, and quicker boot/shut down times, as well as overall zippiness), with a few additional features. Perhaps this is why the upgrade is only going to cost $29?
That being said, the new features that are included are pretty handy. For example, there’s this new exposé feature that lets you simply click and hold an icon on the dock to see all open windows for that application, a feature very similar to the new tile bar in Windows 7. This enables easy window flipping without the use of the keyboard (or those annoying screen corner shortcuts).
Stack folder navigation is even more useful. This is functionality that should have been in Leopard, it’s so obvious. Why Apple didn’t include it in the first place perplexes me. Basically, if a stack on your dock has a folder in it, clicking that folder will open its contents within the stack, instead of opening the folder in Finder. It’s really a no-brainer, and a great feature.
The new look for Quicktime X is nice, but the big black titlebar is a little off-putting. It really doesn’t match anything else in the system, except perhaps the Quicklook HUD windows. This is forgivable, however, because the titlebar quickly vanishes along with the controls, leaving simply a borderless video playing on your desktop. This has a very slick feel to it, but its still a bit disconcerting to have a window with no titlebar. Other Quicktime X features include screen recording (something that previously required the purchase of a 3rd party app), and all QT Pro features enabled by default.
My favorite feature is actually relatively unadvertised, though. The ability to set a time frame for locking the computer after it goes to sleep is a godsend. This should have been included in OS X a long time ago. Anybody with a laptop whose hinges are loosening up knows how aggravating it is when the lid slams shut and immediately asks for your password. With Snow Leopard, you can set it to require a password after being asleep for 5 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, and so on.
Other cool features include small touches like WiFi signal strength indicators in the Airport menu, a battery health indicator for the battery menu, and the date in the time menu (all on the menu bar at the top).
As for the speed increases, the system did seem a bit faster when using 10.6 as opposed to 10.5, but honestly that might have just been because a fresh install always operates faster than one that’s been bogged down with stuff like mine has. Then again, speed increases aren’t really promised for a computer as old as mine. Apparently every application in the OS has been re-written to be completely 64-bit compatible, which is the root of these speed claims, but that means that older computers (such as mine, and anything else made before 2007, pretty much) won’t see any speed boosts. Anything made after that point, however, should (in theory) clock in at least a little faster under Snow Leopard.
Overall, 10.6 doesn’t seem like much of an upgrade, but if you have a computer newer than mine, and even one of the above features (or one of the features from Apple’s features page) appeals to you, then the purchase will be worth it. It is only $29, after all.
More Thoughts on Harry Potter 6
After reading this io9 post (an outraged rant about the new Harry Potter movie), I’ve somewhat revised the opinion presented in my previous post.
While everything I said before remains true, I would like to add that it was, in retrospect, extremely disappointing that there was no funeral for Dumbledore. This scene, in the book, brings almost every living character from the rest of the series back to Hogwarts for the funeral, and it would have been an amazing ending for the movie. Instead, we are treated to a scene in which the population of the school raises their glowing wands to the heavens, and then later, a shot of Fawkes flying off into the distance. No white tomb, no tearful congregation of every amazing character, beast and human alike, that J.K. Rowling has to offer.
Also disappointing, as the article points out, is the lack of a battle between the forces of good and evil. When the Death Eaters arrive, they simply kill Dumbledore, set Hagrid’s hut on fire, and leave with Snape and Malfoy. In the book, there is a rather epic fight scene throughout Hogwarts, where Fenrir Greyback bursts into action, flinging curses right and left into the crowd of teachers and trained students. It’s a great scene, and was ultimately not present, at all, in the movie.
Lastly, to add onto my complaint about Dumbledore’s death scene, Snape was simply not evil. To the casual observer, who knows nothing of the events in book 7, Snape already appears to be a double-crosser for the good side. In the book, Snape kills Dumbledore in cold blood, and truly seems to be evil, to the core. It is later revealed that he is, in fact, a good guy, but in the movie this seems blatantly obvious from his and Dumbledore’s countenances.
I still thought this was a very good Harry Potter movie, and if one had not read the book and known what they were missing out on with the battle and funeral, one would not even notice these problems.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
I saw the new Harry Potter yesterday, the sixth in the series. Long story short, I liked it very much. Not quite as much as the third movie, but enough to blow away #5 for second place. The film was much darker than the previous ones, just as the book was darker than the others, but it certainly worked, and made sense. Sirius Black, Harry’s only decent family, was killed at the end of the fifth book/movie, and the Death Eaters are on the rise as Voldemort gains more and more power, so it is only fitting that the movie be as dark as it is. Caution: Spoilers follow.
The movie did a very good job of compressing the sizable book into 2.5 hours. My main complaint about the fourth movie is that it seemed to flash by, never really managing to stay in one place for more than a thirty seconds. The fifth movie was much better with pacing, amazingly fitting the largest book in the seven-part series into a decent-length movie. Now, the sixth movie accomplishes the same feat as the fifth (even if there is less to cram in, there is still a lot of action for a 2.5 hour movie). Admittedly, there were a few places where it felt a teensy bit jumpy (mainly the skipping from Hagrid’s hut to the pensieve shot, and other Dumbledore meetings), and a couple of areas that I would have liked to see much more of (a longer Felix Felicis scene and more from the Half-Blood Prince’s potions book), but the movie overall was very well-paced, I thought.
I loved the special effects in the film, particularly the new pensieve. Memories now appear as black, cloudy swirls on a misty blue background, similar to the appearance of the liquid memories swirling in the bowl. It has a much more magical air to it than the pensieve of previous movies. The movie is full of these black swirly cloud effects, as the Death Eaters also appear as trails of black smoke when they are flying. This addition is a great touch, in my opinion, because it gives the dark lord’s servants a much more powerful, mysterious air than before. The actors portraying the Death Eaters did an extremely good job, particularly the one portraying Fenrir Greyback. The unbreakable vow scene, on a related note, was superb. I never quite understood this scene in the book, but in film it was crystal-clear.
My one major complaint about the movie was that they changed the ending. In the book, as soon as Harry and Dumbledore return from their journey to get the horcrux, the death-eaters are at the school, and Dumbledore paralyzes Harry under the invisiblity cloak, forcing Harry to watch while Snape murders the headmaster. In the movie, Dumbledore simply instructs Harry to hide below, where he actually encounters Snape before the deed is done. This may not seem like that big of a change, but it means that Harry did nothing to stop Snape from killing Dumbledore, even though he easily could. In the book, Harry had very little grounds for blaming himself for Dumbledore’s death, but I feel that in the next movies (and yes, there are two movies left – The Deathly Hallows is being split in half, to draw it out a bit longer), the fact that Harry could have done something to save his beloved headmaster is going to make him even more angsty than he already is. This is disappointing, as the angst-ridden teenagers in the books and movies are the worst part of Harry Potter.
I enjoyed Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince very much, and I think that anybody who enjoyed the sixth book will not be disappointed by this movie.
Why do I still think the third movie is the best? That’s simple – I’m a sucker for time travel.
Brüno
I saw Brüno today, the sequel to 2006 comedy Borat, and found it hilarious. Compared to the first film, which I didn’t enjoy much at all, this movie was lightyears ahead. I found myself choking with laughter on more than one occasion, which honestly surprised me. I was expecting more of the same humor as we saw in Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen, as one of his characters, interacting with real people, in ridiculous situations), which is exactly what I got. This time around, however, I found it much less offensive and much more humorous.
That’s not to say that the movie won’t be offensive for many people, it most definitely will be. Brüno, an openly (and extremely) homosexual fashion designer/TV host from Austria, travels all over America (and the Middle East, Austria, and Africa) in a quest to become world-famous, encountering many a homophobe (including most of the state of Alabama and former Presidential Candidate Ron Paul) along the way. The movie is meant to expose the ridiculousness of the homophobia in many people, and satirize the homophobic, ultra-macho culture in much of America (especially near the end, when Brüno, claiming to be a changed man, now straight, hosts a cage-fighting match as “Straight Dave”).
The movie was amazing, but it is definitely not for anyone. It’s rated R for a very clear reason, and I was stunned that it managed to get only an R. There is plenty of full-frontal nudity and a number of extreme close-ups too, if you know what I mean. The one thing standing between this movie’s rating and an NC-17 is a couple of black circles covering key areas during the numerous sex scenes in the film.
Still, Brüno was a great movie. I would highly recommend it to anybody that can take the extreme nudity and antics.
Happy Belated Birthday, Eve!
Yesterday was my beloved MacBook Pro’s third birthday. She’s running smoothly now, despite having a few problems recently. I polished her up, tightened her screws, and gave her most of the day off so I could bake a cake with a friend in her honor. I’m still really happy with her, even though she’s 5 generations old now. She still crunches pretty much anything I can throw at her with ease and grace, so I don’t really see a need to replace her any time soon (barring unforeseen tragedies).
Happy Birthday, Eve!
UPDATE: Ok, not sure why, but the post didn’t originally go through, making this a very belated birthday message…
More Windows 7
Microsoft has announce the official pricing system for Windows 7. Thankfully, the new OS isn’t going to cost more than Vista, as was rumored, and it is actually the most inexpensive version of Windows ever produced.
That being said, There’s definitely still room for improvement. The pricing system for Windows 7 is as follows:
- Home Premium Full Version – $199.99
This is the version of Windows 7 that most people are going to get. It offers all features of Windows 7 except for automatic backup & restore, XP emulation, and BitLocker encryption. - Professional Full Version – $299.99
Professional adds the ability to emulate Windows XP (very handy for business professionals who cannot afford to have software incompatibilities), and make automatic backups. - Ultimate Full Version – $319.99
Ultimate adds BitLocker on top of the Professional features. Ultimate is, overall, a ripoff that Microsoft should not be offering anymore. Don’t buy it unless you desperately need BitLocker…
Compared to Windows Vista’s $239.99 for Home Premium, that’s pretty good. However, the real discounts come with the upgrade versions, for which Microsoft currently has a promotion running so that Home Premium and Pro are half off:
- Home Premium Upgrade – usually $119.99, now $49.99
- Professional Upgrade – usually $199.99, now $99.99
- Ultimate Upgrade – $219.99 (no promotional discount for Ultimate)
Considering how much better Windows 7 is compared to Vista, these prices are just right. Of course, it would be great if Microsoft could be more like Apple and release one version of their OS with all of the features for $29.99, although Snow Leopard admittedly adds less to Leopard than Windows 7 does to Vista.
You can buy Windows 7 at Microsoft’s Store. Act fast, the promotional prices won’t last forever!
iPhone 3G S Released
Today, Apple released the newest iPhone, the iPhone 3GS. The S apparently stands for “speed”, because the big feature of the new device is how fast it is. Both the network speeds and actual hardware speeds have been drastically improved over older generations, at least according to Apple. Other features include a magnetic sensor (for compass features), voice control over music and phone features, and an improved camera (3.2 megapixels, with autofocus and video recording/editing). All of this is packaged in a phone that is exactly the same in physical appearance as the previous generation, the iPhone 3G.
I went and checked out the device today, to see if it really lives up to Apple’s claims of improved speed. Long story short: it does. Doing a side-by-side test of launching Photos.app on my iPod and the 3GS, the app finished loading in about 2 seconds for the newer device while my iPod lagged behind by about 15 seconds. That kind of speed jump is really impressive. I never really noticed a problem with speed on my iPod, but seeing how fast it could be made me a bit envious. The 3.2 megapixel camera is nice, but on the iPhone screen it’s not really possible to see the difference between 2 and 3.2 megapixels, so no real change there. Video editing on the device is very cool, if a bit limited (only timeline cropping is really available, no effects or re-sequencing). I could see the practical application of that feature.
Things I forgot to test include voice control and the autofocusing camera, but I did notice the difference in screen texture. Apparently Apple is using a new coating technique on the 3GS that makes the screen “oleophobic”, so it resists fingerprints and smudges. While this extreme is certainly not reached, the screen definitely seems less easily smudged, and smoother to the touch. I could still leave a fingerprint on it, but not as easily as on my iPod’s screen.
As for the physical design of the device, Apple has taken a surprising turn by not updating the aesthetics at all. The size, shape, and colors of the phone remain identical to the previous generation, and the weight has increased by .1 ounce. This seriously disappoints me, as I never really liked the design of the iPhone 3G in the first place. The same goes for the second generation iPod Touch, I just don’t like the super-glossy rounded backs of the devices. A physical keyboard would also be nice, but that’s never going to happen, so it doesn’t matter.
All-in-all, I’d say this is a good upgrade to the iPhone. The 3GS starts at $199 for 16gb (or $299 for 32 gb), while the previous generation 3G has been dropped to $99.
UPDATE: Apparently, Apple changed the official name from iPhone 3G S to just iPhone 3GS. They took out the space. Whatever.
4 Years!
Today, in 2005, I wrote my first post on this blog. Basically a completely nonsensical post, simply a basic introduction for what eventually became this website. When that post was uploaded, this site was extremely different. Not only was it at a different url (mystotaku.blogspot.com), it looked entirely different, and even had a different title (Myst Otaku). The blog has been through a few different iterations since then. First, it moved to a different blogger site, with a different title – Love, Life and Linux, then eventually my tinkering broke the site entirely, and I migrated to wordpress. That site was extremely similar to this one, it even had the same title – A Series of Tubes. I eventually migrated here, where I plan to stay for a long time.
What ties all of these sites together is the actual content, which I have brought with me on each move, so I count this as the 4th birthday of my website, even though the title and url have changed many times since its inception.
Happy Birthday, Blog!
Silence
Yeah, I haven’t posted in a while. Not for lack of things to write about either: I saw Up in 3D (loved it), I played around with a Palm Pre (enjoyed it), there’s a new iPhone, etc etc. I’ve just been incredibly busy lately. That being said, school is ending next wednesday, so I’ll have much more time to post about fun things. In the mean time, check out Little Wheel, one of the best Flash games I’ve played since Samorost.
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