OSX Mavericks

the good: much quicker launch & shut down

the bad: behaviour of power button changed! simply pressing it only makes machine sleep. to have more options, it needs to be pressed between 1.5 sec to 5 sec. don't press longer than 5 sec or everything does not save will be lost due to force turn off. (ref: apple support)

written on osx mavericks

the stolen years

the story is attractive at first, boring before the turning point, and sad after the point. maybe it is too carefully calculated. i have thought whether the girl would become a devil again when she returned to work. the tragedy may not happen if the girl was not so rickless or the hospital did not break the rule to accept the instruction of a disabled person.

it is quite obviously the film is not purely made by taiwanese. the accent of some actors has betrayed everything.

lego city #60020 cargo truck

pros:

• the outlook of cargo truck and forklift truck is full of details
• nice design to open the side panel.

cons:

• too many stickers
• using a rubber to control the forklift may not be good. the rubber may be broken after ages and the forklift cannot be raised again.
• the layout inside the cargo truck is not realistic 
• roof of cargo truck is not sealed due to the hedges like the ambulance

pix are here.

lego lord of the rings #79006 the council of elrond

pros:

• sticker as eye of sauron to protect the brick is a good idea
• rare elrond & arwen
• rare weapons
• nice colours chosen
• structure of tree is better than city house
• not just one ring only!

cons:

• stickers but not many
• scene is too small making everything is too close
• not include the whole fellowship of the ring

P.S.

• much technic stuff to build the structure & playable functions similar to palpatine's arrest.

pix are here.

lego star wars #9526 palpatine's arrest

pros:

• design with details from speeder to nearly everything
• many golden bricks including microfigures!
• many characters! mace windu, anakin, palpatine & more
• many playable functions
• can be used in various scenes if those involve chancellor's office

cons:

• stickers but not many
• parts are not firm enough including entrance & roof of windows behind chancellor's seat
• too many dark bricks which are a bit hard to distinguish in the manual

P.S.

• much technic stuff to build the structure & playable functions
• the base of the office makes me feel like a plane at first!

pix are here.

the wolverine

i don't really like the movie. few parts are excited.

jane grey is hotter than japanese girls but a bit too old.

yukio is really attractive except wolverine

bodyguard is too stubborn on loyalty. that is the same for eastern ethnics.

eason's life concert

only bad thing is no encore...

lego city #60018 cement mixer

pros:

1. trolley!!!
2. 2 minfigures!!!
3. a gate to stop cement out
4. guided slope to let cement go to the right way
5. great care to driver, a mug for drink
6. the height is lower than #7990
7. the radiator is firmer than the one in #7990
8. doors
9. cab can be opened to show cab over engine

cons:

1. stickers!!!!
2. drum mixer is not stuck to the rotating base properly

pix: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hermanwest/tags/60018/

lego starwars #75012 BARC Speeder™ with Sidecar

pros:

1. obi-wan & captain rex!
2. features to play
3. nice printing
4. speeder is better than the one in #7913.

cons:

1. stickers!!!
2. too weak for confederacy of independent systems

pix: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hermanwest/tags/75012/

lego starwars #75000 Clone Troopers™ vs. Droidekas™

pros:

1. no stickers
2. new face print
3. a small trick included

cons:

1. a bit expensive

pix: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hermanwest/tags/75000/

Windows 8

Obviously Microsoft has lost the soul on post-Wintel world. Windows 8 is another failure even with the advertisement featured with Lenka.

They try to incorporate features of mobile devices to make Win 8 used by both desktop & mobile. But they clearly lose their ground. First Win 8 cannot load everything essential at start even on a device with SSD hard disc. Apple's latest Bootcamp fails to load on time making Trackpad without correct setting. Everyone says it is faster to load but I cannot find it with my latest 13" Macbook Pro with Retina Display.

The most aggressive move they have done is using Metro. Now is a mess making user confuse. Sometimes we look at a stylish screen while often we are back to old Windows desktop. They should either use Metro completely and dump the old world or make two merge instead of something hybrid now. That would be a big risk for general users who do not use much of traditional desktop. Simplified layout provided by Metro especially in system setting makes users fail to control & protect their machine. Computer gurus, on the other hand, feel messy switching between the two different layouts based on distinct concepts.

Windows Market is a nice move compared to traditional complex software installation. But how to close an application? I cannot find shut down button / icon. Only the old way (Alt + F4) works?

Compared Apple has made a bit better on incorporating features from iOS to OS X. That seems Microsoft is lacking some guys good at user experience.

django unchained

the marauding masked group who were leaded by the plantation owner hiring brittle brothers hunted by the dentist were damned idiot. that is the second funny thing after the symbolic teeth above the dentist's cart.

the place, candyland, was just opposite to its name. it's rather a hell for black people. there were many henchmen and also ways of brutally punishments for these poor guys.

should the dentist let django meet his wife before the deal? it's hard to say how they would have behaved if they met each other during the dinner. it's so true that every place has someone like stephen trying to betray their fellows for personal gains. i really didn't know jailing broomhilda was for sex slave until reading plot online. it was funny when quentin was dead in such a stupid way.

django was different from normal slaves. he was so much smarter as an expert sniper and shooter at a short time. he wound play the role quite well even though eq was not good enough to prevent the loss of dentist. stephen was another even he's on another side.

my previous mind on leonardo dicaprio was still the young boy in titanic. this film changes the view a lot. christoph waltz made another good job with quentin again while samuel l jackson remained a key guy in quentin's films.

but anyway i like inglourious basterds more. maybe i knew more on wwii than the slavery in the states. and the way of torturing people was much over than the previous one.

Life of Pi

Sorry, I don't have any feeling about the meaning behind the film.

Spoilers below

The worst thing I can spot is the actors' ascent for the protagonist is different. I don't think people change much for the ascent even we can learn for multiple ascent. Do Pi's family have French nationality? And why don't they go to France instead?

Actually Pi is an extreme clever character as shown he can remember the known numbers of pi after decimal points.

Attitude of Pi is right. every religion is a method the god communicates to us. If everyone knows this, there will have much fewer wars, from crusades to war on terror. But his dad was also right, you can only eat vegan if you believe all religions.

I really didn't figure out the cook in the ship is acted by famous Gérard Depardieu. In 70’s, radars were common and early warnings by observatories were available easily, why did the ship still go into that storm?

I thought the zebra was still drugged when it was being attacked. That's why I cannot connect the second story to the first one. How could Pi get the stuff to build the raft & move all stuff to it when Richard Parker was in the lifeboat? Richard Parker should have a connection long before. It did not kill him when he brought a meat to it.

The floating island looks like a woman, the acidic lake at night is which part of the island? I think the knowledge, not just the religion saved Pi to make him leave the island.

That is normal for Richard Parker to leave him when they finally arrived the coast. Don’t look back when there is future ahead, otherwise you will lose the chance forward. But of course that’s grief to separate especially since we are emotional.

lego city #4431 ambulance

pros:

1. look gorgeous; much better than #6666
2. sewage well is printed!!!
3. torso of paramedic is beautiful
4. many places to access the inside of car
5. interior is much better
6. best of the great vehicles in my mind

cons:

1. stickers!!!!
2. sticker for star of life is smaller than #6666
3. helmet is not stylish
4. why is the patient is a man?
5. hedges are too big
6. no back window
7. too much lighting at the back but not front
8. wheels of stretcher cannot be risen

pix: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hermanwest/tags/4431/

lego city #4201 loader and tipper

pros:

1. many new parts
2. 2 vehicles covering different functions
3. gold colour
4. design simple & brilliant
5. most value packed among five sets sold in this wave

cons:

1. stickers
2. too many plastic bags & books
3. no doors for tipper
4. a bit too simple for mining

way to the end

i would like to complete my view on the remaining last eight episodes of [h]ouse but some are too boring. even worse is there were no emmys nominations no matter how hard hugh laurie & robert sean leonard performed. i give up anyway to make my memory sticking on good stuff.

the farewell is attractive. nearly every important characters have come back & my favourite should be post mortem.

people don't change!

P.S. Who will kill thirteen when her huntington worsens? last time house agreed to kill her but now house has hidden away for last moment of his best friend.

road before last eight

chase: he just blamed everyone for making him stabbed in last episode. but he forgot that's his decision to treat in that way to get himself hurt. his clinic session picked this episode's patient, a postulant. and he then slept with her & then made operation on her.  it's funny too see actions between house & taub. taub got trained to prevent being attacked & house tried to prove that's coward. another episode is without wilson.

man of the house: haha finally administration checked house's so called "marriage". wilson & park tried to help but eventually failed. luckily his "wife" saved their asses. except taub, all team members were stupid to fight for the team leader post. if you don't wannabe getting angry easily, simply follow the patient, kick the crotch.

love is blind: house's mom is cool. her lover is also cool. wilson is also cool. birthmark cannot prove anything, how house can be so stupid. i also like park getting drugged. everybody lies even still loving you. please don't think there is no cheating when you want some private space.

nobody's fault

patient: the diagnosis patient originally had should be shown in the show more than once
chase: stupid when he knew patient becomes aggressive after injected steroid
cofield: hypocritical. patient's wife changed the game
foreman: more to be house. wanna getaway from trouble by using his mentor as hearing judge. but he brought the patient to the team
house: he's still true. but is his method right? steroid made his team dangerous

does anyone find there's no wilson?

runaways

patient: even she's 19, she's still too old to be under 18. she still meets the view the creator thinks, people don't change
b story: another funny story with differential analysis. why to use real bullets in re-simulation?
adams: win house (shooting) & lose (studying people's mind)
wilson: he's right on house to protect patient & on taub to connect the kids by making common ground
taub: work hard to be a dad
foreman: another strange guy, formal outside but silly inside. wants an affair with other's wife in private only?
chase: so damned true about "men love commitment-free sex"
park: just only losing $100 on silly game

last episode was everybody lies, this one is people don't change. to remind us the backbone of the show

better half

patient & family:

• did her wife cheat?
• the "boyfriend" story is a bit too short.
• actually he should be dead after going out into freezing temperature
• the sickness is a bit simple

house & team:

• house knows portuguese? house's wish finally comes truth. winning wilson for n times & taken off the monitor
• chase is so dark, wish to see him more in his episodes later
• no matter what i think park is poor
• foreman finally cracks post-cuddy behaviour after the card game? welcome back to the team

patient b & wilson:

• asexual only priests & buddhist monks can do. all others are illness. that's what his wife shows
• wilson subconsciously asked house to handle patient b as he doesn't trust that too. but his moral behaviour cannot resolve them out & find house to solve. that US$100 is worth to pay.