Hawk's Babble-Log

Pretty darn good! Certainly worth the rental. I may even buy it to watch again.

This is the story of what could have happened in a serious catastrophic nuclear disaster… if we had had enough time to prepare. Humanity is tucked away in an underground city called Ember, powered by a huge generator, with enough stored food to feed a small city for a few hundred years. A special locked case is prepared and sealed for 200 years, but something goes wrong, and the due date passes without notice. The people of Ember don’t know that something has gone wrong, and their supplies are running low.

Directed by Gil Kenan, screenplay by Caroline Thompson, based on the book by Jeanne Duprau.
Staring Lara McIvor as Roner, Matt Jessup as Joss, Bill Murry as the Mayor, and Tim Robbins as Joss’ dad.

I never saw this movie in the theater because it always seemed like a gimmick. I mean, it always seemed like they were riding Megan Fox’s fame and popularity… and the reason to go and see it was just for her. Maybe that’s not how it was, but that’s how it seemed to me.

I finally watched it on a rental and I was actually impressed! There was more to it than I thought there would be. Plus, I just loved the ending! I hope more is done with that character because she is bad-ass!

Starring Megan Fox as Jennifer (obviously), Amanda Seyfried as Needy (her best friend), and Johnny Simmons as her boyfriend. Directed by Karyn Kusama and written by Diablo Cody.

Recommended for a rental.

I had a big problem with my gaming machine last month: it failed to boot up. It didn’t even get to the point where the BIOS beeps and starts it’s start-up routine. The power was on, the lights were on, but nothing happened after that.

At first, I thought it was the power supply. So I got another one. I got a Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 750W. This is one impressive power supply! The packaging alone is worth mentioning. Came with a slew of cables, too. Check thess out:

However, the problem persisted. It was not the power supply. Then I started to suspect the motherboard, then the CPU, then the RAM, then all three. Then I noticed that there were three red LEDs on the primary video card, near the corner. I had not seen these before, and a quick search led me to forums where others had experienced similar issues with this video card. There were lots and lots of suggestions on how to fix, but nothing I tried worked.

Finally, I decided to get to the bottom of the issue. I started removing components and trying to boot up again. Turns out the secondary video card was the issue. I don’t know if it’s dead, or if my system suddenly doesn’t like it any more, or what. But without it plugged in, my system boots up just fine. With the secondary video card plugged in, my system is completely dead (lights but nothing else).

More bad news: the new power supply doesn’t fit properly in my clear acrylic case. Warning, this is ugly. I don’t mean the kind of ugly that gives you nightmares. More the kind of ugly that makes you turn your head away and say, “Dang Hawk! Does that thing work?!” Take a gander, if you dare:

Yes, the power supply is outside the case. Yes, the RAID is also outside the case. Yes, my system works well. It’s been running fine for many weeks. I can’t get the power supply in the case due to the length of the screws. How to explain?… ummm…

This clear case is made of acrylic, a type of plastic. It’s not as strong as metal. Therefore, any part of the case which must support weight is made much thicker than it would need to be if it were made of metal. This includes the back, where the power supply mounts up near the top.

The case came with plenty of extra-long screws to accommodate the additional thickness in the acrylic. These extra-long screws work fine for every device I’ve used… up until now. This new power supply has rounded corners. These rounded corners mean the part of the power supply chassis which grabs on to the screw is set back further than normal. To accommodate this extra space, the power supply came with extra-long screws… just like the ones which came with my clear acrylic case.

I have plenty of extra-long screws, but none of them are long enough to bridge the additional space to the power supply chassis and the additional thickness of the clear acrylic case.

Now half my system is inside the case and half my system is outside the case sitting on the shelf. But hey, everything works! And I can save some money on cooling equipment.

The original title of this film is El Laberinto Del Fauno. Directed by Guillermo del Toro. Starring Ivana Baquero as Ofelia (the starring young girl), Sergi López as Capitán Vidal (the evil one) and Maribel Verdú as Mercedes.

Good acting all around; you really feel for the characters and really hate the bad guy. Good direction, too. This movie is set in a very fascist Spain in 1944. The story mostly centers around a girl who finds an alternate, fantastic world. She must accomplish certain things by the full moon. Very creative stuff. Very imaginative. Very strange creatures. But there are scenes of extreme violence, so it’s not for kids.

The ending was both good and bad. I don’t want to spoil it for you, so I’m not going to say any more. I thought it was okay, but I don’t really feel the need to watch it again. Worth a rental, but not highly recommended.

I saw a wonderful movie recently called Coraline. It’s an animation using dolls, props, paper, etc. It is very, very well done in all ways!

Voice acting done by:
Dakota Fanning – Coraline
Teri Hatcher – Mom / Other Mother / Beldam (the evil one)
Jennifer Saunders – Miss April Spink
Dawn French – Miss Miriam Forcible
Keith David – The Cat
John Hodgman – Dad

Written & Directed by Henry Selick.

All the voice acting was outstanding. The animation was outstanding. The story was outstanding. The ending was outstanding. By the way, be sure to sit all the way through the credits as there is a little surprise at the end.

I loved all of it and highly recommend it to all!

http://gizmodo.com/5659984/today-is-the-ultimate-answer-to-the-ultimate-question-of-life-the-universe-and-everything