Lori has abandoned me yet again! So I am alone staring right now until I leave mid-day Sunday to meet up with Lori for a few days in Vegas. My plans are not very grand, there will be some beverage, I am in the process of *renting* movies and I’ve begun to warm up the PS3 for some gaming. I may tidy things up around here a bit but other than that I’ll be sitting around relaxing!

I recently watched a movie called Renaissance. The movie is entirely done in 3D with motion capture actors and then dubbed using a few well known actors. The overall look of the film is very interesting translating a comic book/graphic novel feel and they went for a mostly black and white look with a some slight colorization in some scenes. I read it took the studio 6 years to make this movie which shows because it’s visually impressive. I pulled a HD copy of this (which I recommend) and it looked beautiful!

The story was average though. They live in Paris in the year 2054 so you see how it’s advanced. The city has many areas encased in glass and many strange corridors connecting areas. It’s a big brother type of city where everything is monitored and kept track of using the national ID cards. There is a company who produces age defying cosmetics (so they advertise to the public) but they are really doing genetic research to stop people from aging. Their chief scientist goes missing and so a tough special agent from the police task-force is out to look for her. There is quite a bit of action as you’d imagine and fights and chases.

Overall It’s an interesting movie with a very unique look to it. Probably a very guy friendly movie though (Lori wasn’t interested.)

Check out their site or trailer.

Well it’s been 3 episodes and I’m just totally in love with this show! I really do hope it lasts.
If you’re not familiar with the show, the fantastic people at Aardman studios record people answering random questions and carrying on in everyday type of conversations They take the result and visualize (as only they can do) what these conversations would look like if they were actually interviewing animals. The result is just so freaking funny and brilliant.
Support Creature Comforts so it doesn’t go away! Heck it has me finally watching CBS.

Today is Father’s Day and my 28th birthday. Today would also have been my grandparent’s 57th anniversary. The month of June is a very busy one for my family. Here are some highlights (courtesy of the wiki):


* 1462 - Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II in The Night Attack, and the latter is forced to retreat from Wallachia.

* 1579 - Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion (modern California) for England.

* 1631 - Mumtaz Mahal died during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, then spent more than 20 years to build her tomb, the Taj Mahal.

* 1773 - Cúcuta, Colombia is founded by Juana Rangel de Cuéllar

* 1775 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Bunker Hill - The battle actually takes place on Breed’s Hill by mistake. British forces take Breed’s Hill outside of Boston with heavy casualties.

* 1839 - In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Kamehameha III issues the Edict of toleration which gives Roman Catholics the freedom to worship in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii Catholic Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace is later established as a result.

* 1877 - Indian Wars: Battle of White Bird Canyon - The Nez Perce defeat the US Cavalry at White Bird Canyon in the Idaho Territory.

* 1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.

* 1898 - The United States Navy Hospital Corps is established.

* 1933 - Union Station Massacre: In Kansas City, Missouri, four FBI agents and captured fugitive Frank Nash were gunned down by gangsters attempting to free Nash.

* 1939 - Last public guillotining in France. Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is guillotined in Versailles outside the prison Saint-Pierre.

* 1944 - Iceland becomes independent from Denmark and forms a republic.

* 1957 - Wham-O renamed their new flying disc toy to Frisbee.

* 1960 - Ted Williams becomes the fourth member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Cleveland Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.

* 1961 - The New Democratic Party of Canada is founded with the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress.

* 1963 - The United States Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against allowing the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord’s Prayer in public schools.

* 1972 - Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burglarizing the offices of the Democratic National Committee, in an attempt by some members of the Republican party to illegally wiretap the opposition.

* 1991 - Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act, which had required all racial classification of all South Africans at birth.

* 1994 - Following a televised low-speed highway chase and a failed attempt at suicide, O.J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

* 1994 - The FIFA World Cup begins in the USA.

Births

* 1239 - King Edward I of England (d. 1307)

* 1603 - Joseph of Cupertino, Italian saint (d. 1663)

* 1682 - King Charles XII of Sweden (d. 1718)

* 1691 - Giovanni Paolo Pannini, Italian painter and architect (d. 1765)

* 1693 - Johann Georg Walch, German theologian (d. 1775)

* 1704 - John Kay, English inventor (d. 1780)

* 1714 - Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, German philosopher (d. 1762)

* 1714 - César-François Cassini de Thury, French astronomer (d. 1784)

* 1742 - William Hooper, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1790)

* 1832 - Sir William Crookes, English physicist and chemist (d. 1919)

* 1839 - Fr. Arthur Tooth SSC, Anglican Clergyman prosecuted for ritualist activities (d. 1931)

* 1867 - John Robert Gregg, inventor of shorthand system (d. 1948)

* 1882 - Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer (d. 1971)

* 1898 - M.C. Escher, Dutch artist (d. 1972)

* 1903 - Ruth Wakefield, inventor of the Toll House Cookie, the first chocolate chip cookie (d. 1977)

* 1907 - Charles Eames, American designer and architect (d. 1978)

* 1915 - David “Stringbean” Akeman, American banjo player and actor (d. 1973)

* 1943 - Newt Gingrich, American politician

* 1943 - Barry Manilow, American musician

* 1945 - Tommy Franks, American General

* 1945 - Ken Livingstone, English politician

* 1951 - Joe Piscopo, American actor

* 1957 - Jon Gries, American actor

* 1957 - Martin Dillon, American opera singer (d. 2005)

* 1958 - Jello Biafra, American musician and activist

* 1958 - Bobby Farrelly, American film director

* 1960 - Thomas Haden Church, American actor

* 1963 - Greg Kinnear, American actor

* 1964 - Erin Murphy, American actress

* 1967 - Eric Stefani, American musician

* 1970 - Will Forte, American writer, actor and comedian

* 1980 - Venus Williams, American tennis player

TV Stuff:
Hell’s Kitchen is finally back in all of it’s wide screen glory. I just can’t get enough of Gordon Ramsay and his odd ball comments/insults. Next Sunday is the finale of The Sopranos. It’s been pretty crappy the last 2 or 3 seasons and I am ready to have closure with this show and see it finally end. Monday is the return of the totally super awesome cool show Big Love! We can’t wait for that show! I watched about 2 minutes of the Impressionist show on ABC… PEWP! America still doesn’t have talent and I will never find out if it can dance. I am a little interested in American Inventor, like American Idol the first week or two is the best when you get all the odd balls trying to showcase their nutty personalities/inventions. Overall, most summer programming seems lame.
Random Funny:
I was driving home from the Soup Plantation the other night and I had a car in front of me with a license plate of: BIG KHAK that made me laugh a bunch. I tried to take a photo of it but by the time I was able to get my camera ready he (I’m assuming) turned.
Current Fascination:
Two or Three months ago I watched a video demoing a new (microsoft) technology called photosynth. With it’s current implementation it’s basically an intelligent way to index, stitch and (spatially) display images of a place. Then yesterday I ran across another video further demoing this technology and after some web searching I was surprised to find a working Technology Preview. Go here and Install the browser based application. Unfortunately it only works under Windows XP SP2 or Vista (no MAC love) but I was able to use Firefox 2.0. If you’re on a PC it’s worth trying, if you’re on a MAC watch the videos on the site. With photosynth and their new touch computing platform there seems to be some cool stuff coming via Microsoft in the near future.
I’ll see some of you at Mike and Danielle’s wedding this weekend. I’m excited about being able to stop at home during the gap in between the ceremony and reception since my house is on the way to the reception hall!