The day finally arrived… We received our MacBook Pro today, shipped direct from Shanghai. I’m using a Mac, and so far it’s a nice, if confusing experience. I’ll keep it brief because I’m honestly still settling in. Observations from a Mac-Intel convert…
Continue reading ‘MacBook Pro Slow?’

A few months ago, my mom gave me what probably was the first and only anime DVD box set she ever owned: Astro Boy: the complete series (thanks mom!). I think she won it in a raffle. It was released in 2004, won by my mom probably in 2005, then watched in 2006.
I’ve been getting back into anime based on the excellent Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig (aka longest. anime. title. ever.) and I thought I’d give Astro Boy (aka Tetsuwan Atom) a shot while I was cranking through some work on a Sunday evening. After I got used to watching Astro Boy jot around w/o a shirt for a couple episodes, what I found was much better than what I was expecting.

Continue reading ‘tetsuwan atom’

Beige isn’t just a color, it’s also a state of being.

• Did you know the universe is beige?
• Merriam-Webster defines beige as (paraphrased) vapid, lacking liveliness, tang, briskness or force.
• I hope this beige company knows their name indicates a lack of the briskness. Maybe they’re smarter than their name lets on as their entire site is green.
  
• The hex triplet of the color beige is #F5F5DC. Damn. I thought all along it was #CCCC99. I tend to have an inclusive view of beige, running from creamy beige to browny beige. Like the “Big endian vs Little endian” debate, it’s a matter of preference.
  
• John Mellencamp once wrote a song about beige. It’s pretty beige.
• A fellow beige analyst proffers that beige is evil.

Today’s beige scenario:

This bagel tastes just like bread.

…I kid you not. This review from a popular restaurant review website is supposed to be favorable.

There are too many Japanese restaurants in NYC. Trying to discern a great place from a mediocre place to spend your scrill can be as difficult and frustrating as finding an apartment or choosing a dentist. To complicate matters, for every Japanese restaurant you read about on the Internet, or in the $13.95 Zagat’s restaurant guide, there are multitudes of conflicting reviews and opinions. Common praise includes “…the freshest fish ever…” and “Best fish in the city!”. Yet often, for the same restaurant, equally strong negatives appear “…the fish wasn’t that fresh.” and “…was not worth the cost!” What’s a diner to do?
Continue reading ‘Japanese food in New York’

Try to google Hiroshi Fujiwara, and you’re likely to find a graduate student at Kyoto University, when you’re really probably looking for the streetwear style-maker extraordinaire, Nike collaborator, artist, musician, and general hype machine:

He’s enigmatic to say the least, keeping a low-profile stateside. However, putting the mystery of Fujiwara aside, about six months ago, he started his own blog. Since then, he’s recruited other streetwear style arbiters like Jeff Ng (Staple Design), Paul Mittleman (Stussy) + many more coolmeisters to blog along side him as a feature of his web magazine: honeyee.com.

Don’t know, or care to know how this guy runs things? Don’t take my word for it, take a look at what he’s riding these days after the jump…
Continue reading ‘This is how Hiroshi rolls…’

Ever since the first Katamari Damacy came out, I’ve been completely enamored with the gameplay, presentation, and awesome quirkiness. In some ways, this franchise keeps me interested in gaming. With video gaming understandably in decline (how many World War II first person shooters do we need?), it’s wonderful to experience fresh new gameplay. Katamari’s premise is strange but absolutely simple: You roll a ball around trying to pick up as many objects as possible. While this may sound completely inane, it actually just works.

The masters-at-work at Namco really know how to keep the ball/katamari rolling. Just when Katamari seemed to be out of the spotlight of gaming, the Katamari Damacy team puts out a little teaser flash game! Is this a preview of KD2 gameplay? Who knows and who cares?

Screenshots piqued your interest? Try it yourself..

…My PSP is primed for Me & My Katamari to be released in March. I might even show my support for the franchise by rocking a genuine KD tee (it would go well with my KD mousepad). Where is the nearest Maid Cafe when you need one?

Tomorrow (Feb 15) marks the day I symbolically leave the PC camp, and join the growing Mac addicts. At least, I hope it works out that way. Truthfully, all I really want to do is:

1. Dual-boot Windows and Mac OSX
2. Relieve a bottleneck: One computer + two sets of eyes + two sets of email addresses = conflict!

The new MacBook Pro I ordered is supposed to be on it’s way tomorrow! Technically it’s my wife’s MBP, but that can’t stop me from pontificating.

Today’s MacBook Pro related buzz:

Faster!!!
Apple announced free upgrades from the stated 1.67Ghz or 1.83Ghz CPUs to 1.83Ghz and 2.0Ghz respectfully. Customer manipulation or marketing fumble? If the latter, Apple’s or Intel? You make the call.

MacBook Pro vs Dell laptop feature/cost comparison

This article is clearly some Mac addict propaganda, but it does go a long way to making me feel good about dropping a big wad of cash.
Mac OSX running on a PC?

Oh man, are you telling me I didn’t even have to buy a Mac to run OS X? That’s exactly what the folks at the osx86 project are saying.