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More catching up
Mar. 19th, 2004 09:50 pmBeen almost 2 weeks since my last post, and there's quite a few odds and ends here:
First: watched "American Idol"'s Wild Card show, was mostly lukewarm to the contestants since none of them were from Hawaii. Didn't vote that week, and from what I heard/read, not very many votes were registered from Hawaii.
Now fast-forward to last Tuesday: the first round of the finals. Then Hawaii had 2 entrants that made it to the finals: Camile Velasco and Jasmine Trias. This was apparently the first of several "theme" rounds they'll have for the show... each week, one of the 12 finalists will be eliminated until our American Idol is crowned at the end of May. It looks like at least one of our finalists (Jasmine) has a very good shot at reaching the top.
That said, Camile had a somewhat disappointing performance, especially compared to Jasmine... but it was enough to keep her in the running. However, unless she begins to really put on stellar performances (granted, she hasn't performed much in public), it's likely she'll be eliminated sooner than later. Jasmine, on the other hand, almost seemed destined to advance to the next round.
That week I got in 2 votes for Camile and 2 for Jasmine... and the show registered something like 3 million votes from the state. Admittedly I never followed the show much during the first two seasons, but now that Hawaii actually has finalists, I'll be following the show at least until/unless they get voted out.
Second: Saw "Hidalgo" today. Without spoiling it (yet), I thought it was a good movie, but I think everyone will be comparing Viggo Mortensen's performance in this movie to his performance in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He still did an excellent job, and I think he'll continue to go far. One thing that kinda stood out for me as far as the movie went, though, was that its theme reminded me of "Balto". Granted, we're comparing apples and oranges here... a horse race versus a sled dog race for one, live action versus animation for another... okay, I'm getting into the weeds here.
Some minor spoilers will follow, so if you haven't seen "Hidalgo" yet, you probably won't want to read on...
Here's where I see "Balto" in "Hidalgo":
Both stories center around a quest/journey, where there's something at stake. In "Hidalgo," Frank Hopkins isn't just going for a purse, he's also hoping to prove that Hidalgo lives up to his billing. In "Balto," Balto is out trying to prove himself by bringing medicine back. Both movies also have a scene where the main character (Frank and Balto, respectively) find spiritual strength during their lowest point, when they are both about ready to give up. Finally, they both grow, emotionally and spiritually, from the experience, and have something to show for it.
Third: had an incident earlier tonight that was quite annoying. I had a tube of shower gel (aka body wash) that was stored upside down (the top of the tube sitting down). Problem was, the tube wasn't closed properly (I thought it was) and I think I lost about a third of its contents. I'm looking for another container to store the rest of the shower gel, but I'm not a particularly happy camper about it.
Fourth: kewl thing on the Sci-Fi Channel's "Stargate: SG1" tonight -- Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper guest starred as himself in the season finale of season 7. Apparently season 8 (next season) will be the series' last, but there's a new Stargate (Stargate: Atlantis) slated to start soon.
Fifth: have been somewhat annoyed with Flight Simulator 2004's time zones because, especially across the Pacific, they're screwed up. Case in point: take any flight schedule for a flight between Honolulu, Hawaii and the West Coast. A typical flight might leave at 2 pm (1400 hours) and arrive around 9 pm (2100 hours), both times local. What happens when I do a flight leaving at 2 pm? I arrive at 7 pm (1900 hours), a good 2 hours early, though the flight still took 5 hours. Apparently when you cross time zones across the eastern Pacific, the Zulu time jumps back an hour for each time zone crossed (those of you who work with Zulu time know that it should NEVER change, regardless of which time zone you cross). Oh well, I'll figure something out, I guess...
I've got a few more items but I think I'll save that for another entry (this one's quite long enough as it is). Later!
First: watched "American Idol"'s Wild Card show, was mostly lukewarm to the contestants since none of them were from Hawaii. Didn't vote that week, and from what I heard/read, not very many votes were registered from Hawaii.
Now fast-forward to last Tuesday: the first round of the finals. Then Hawaii had 2 entrants that made it to the finals: Camile Velasco and Jasmine Trias. This was apparently the first of several "theme" rounds they'll have for the show... each week, one of the 12 finalists will be eliminated until our American Idol is crowned at the end of May. It looks like at least one of our finalists (Jasmine) has a very good shot at reaching the top.
That said, Camile had a somewhat disappointing performance, especially compared to Jasmine... but it was enough to keep her in the running. However, unless she begins to really put on stellar performances (granted, she hasn't performed much in public), it's likely she'll be eliminated sooner than later. Jasmine, on the other hand, almost seemed destined to advance to the next round.
That week I got in 2 votes for Camile and 2 for Jasmine... and the show registered something like 3 million votes from the state. Admittedly I never followed the show much during the first two seasons, but now that Hawaii actually has finalists, I'll be following the show at least until/unless they get voted out.
Second: Saw "Hidalgo" today. Without spoiling it (yet), I thought it was a good movie, but I think everyone will be comparing Viggo Mortensen's performance in this movie to his performance in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He still did an excellent job, and I think he'll continue to go far. One thing that kinda stood out for me as far as the movie went, though, was that its theme reminded me of "Balto". Granted, we're comparing apples and oranges here... a horse race versus a sled dog race for one, live action versus animation for another... okay, I'm getting into the weeds here.
Some minor spoilers will follow, so if you haven't seen "Hidalgo" yet, you probably won't want to read on...
Here's where I see "Balto" in "Hidalgo":
Both stories center around a quest/journey, where there's something at stake. In "Hidalgo," Frank Hopkins isn't just going for a purse, he's also hoping to prove that Hidalgo lives up to his billing. In "Balto," Balto is out trying to prove himself by bringing medicine back. Both movies also have a scene where the main character (Frank and Balto, respectively) find spiritual strength during their lowest point, when they are both about ready to give up. Finally, they both grow, emotionally and spiritually, from the experience, and have something to show for it.
Third: had an incident earlier tonight that was quite annoying. I had a tube of shower gel (aka body wash) that was stored upside down (the top of the tube sitting down). Problem was, the tube wasn't closed properly (I thought it was) and I think I lost about a third of its contents. I'm looking for another container to store the rest of the shower gel, but I'm not a particularly happy camper about it.
Fourth: kewl thing on the Sci-Fi Channel's "Stargate: SG1" tonight -- Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper guest starred as himself in the season finale of season 7. Apparently season 8 (next season) will be the series' last, but there's a new Stargate (Stargate: Atlantis) slated to start soon.
Fifth: have been somewhat annoyed with Flight Simulator 2004's time zones because, especially across the Pacific, they're screwed up. Case in point: take any flight schedule for a flight between Honolulu, Hawaii and the West Coast. A typical flight might leave at 2 pm (1400 hours) and arrive around 9 pm (2100 hours), both times local. What happens when I do a flight leaving at 2 pm? I arrive at 7 pm (1900 hours), a good 2 hours early, though the flight still took 5 hours. Apparently when you cross time zones across the eastern Pacific, the Zulu time jumps back an hour for each time zone crossed (those of you who work with Zulu time know that it should NEVER change, regardless of which time zone you cross). Oh well, I'll figure something out, I guess...
I've got a few more items but I think I'll save that for another entry (this one's quite long enough as it is). Later!
