Dylan Greene dot com

Well, many of you probably won't trust my summer movie advice after my post about not liking Spider-Man 2, but let me give you a little bit of back-story::

1. I saw Spider-Man 2 sober...
   ...and wrote the review after a night of drinking with friends.
2. I saw I, Robot after a fair bit of drinking...
   ...and I'm writing this review sober.

The comparison of Spider-Man 2 to Fahrenheit was me amusing myself with my deep dry humor.

Let me explain: The right-wingers are claiming Moore's movie contains inaccurate information and shows a one-sided biased. Duh, of course it does. I used that same strategy for my movie review. It seemed fair and balanced in a FOX News sorta way.

So, in the same semi-sarcastic vein of my Spider-man 2 review, I will now compare the current movie version of I, Robot to the original. The question here is, which original to compare to?

	I, ROBOT Book (Amazon) By Isaac Asimov Comments: It's the original story. I read it some time in elementary school and didn't really get it. It's basically a bunch of short stories that explain why robots must follow the three laws. The picture on the front is kinda cool. I wish I had it on my Trapper Keeper back then. My rating: /5
	ICH, DER ROBOT Book, German Translation by Isaac Asimov Comments: The retro robot killing machine on the cover is kinda cool. You have to remember that back then robot killing machines used literally hundreds of D cell batteries. These would weight the robot down and add to the overall bulk. This extra bulk gave these retro robots an inferiority complex, which is what eventually lead many of them to become evil killing machines. My rating: /5
	I, ROBOT Game Atari Comments: I never played this game, but according to the flier for this game, "I, ROBOT is easy to learn, not so easy to master." I think they are hinting that, as a human, you will never be the robot's master. There many other great quotes in the informational flier (Front, Back, Inside Left, Inside Right). You should print out the pages and post them around your desk. It will make you look busy and smart. An interestingly unique fan site dedicated to the Atari game claims in the first paragraph that "it turned out to be one of Atari's biggest bombs and it did not sell well," but I think he meant that this game was da bomb! My rating: /5
	Abissi d'acciaio Il sole nudo I robot dell'alba I robot e l'impero Book, Italian Translation by Isaac Asimov Comments: I've always been told not to judge a book by its cover, but since I can't read Italian, the cover is the only thing I have to go by. As you can see, this cover has a great looking naked chick on the cover. If there's anything America is missing out on, it's naked chicks on the covers of the sci-fi books. Not since Heavy Metal in 1981 have geeks gotten this close to a drawn naked chick. My rating: /5 (Perfect score!)
	I, ROBOT Movie (IMDB) Wil Smith, Bridget Moynahan Comments: The story has basically nothing in common with anything else I reviewed. It's a whole new story! So is it a good one? I enjoyed it. It was paced well, it was a murder mystery in addition to being an action flick, and it didn't try to be more than it was (a summer action movie). The special effects were amazing, mainly because the robots always looked like real robots, and not computer animation or faked robots. The "future" was well presented, with the sort of things we could realistically expect 30 years from now. There was a major problem though: The robots are trying to kill Will Smith's character, and they suck at it! They never work together or form any kind of strategy. I would think a computer-assisted brain could do better. Overall, it was so good I might even buy the DVD, if nothing else, but to see how they did the special effects and to support more movies from Asimov's work. /5 (Since it's not in the same class as the others, I used C3-PO's instead of R2-D2s. If you think that's just too geeky, well, damn, you got me there.)

The album I ROBOT from the Alan Parsons Project isn't included because, well, it didn't show up when I did the single Google search that caused this whole blog entry to be written. Sorry fans, maybe next time.

Coming soon: I actually haven't seen Fahrenheit 9/11 yet, but once I do I will post a review, or something like it.

Microsoft now has one million XBOX Live members. I think XBOX Live is one of the least understood and most under-marketed features of the XBOX, partly because it's kinda hard to explain what it is... Here's my try:

The XBOX includes an ethernet connection. This can be used hook your XBOX to the Internet, but you still need some way to find other gamers to play against. That's where XBOX Live comes in.

• Play XBOX games online against people from all over the world, or just your friends.
• Use the included headset to talk while you play. It's telephone quality, up to 16 people at once, and while there are sometimes annoying kids who won't shut up, it's incredibly helpful to be able to talk to your teammates during the game to formulate strategies and nice to be able to ask where people are from. You can mute people that won't shut up, and you don't need to press anything to talk. There's a mute button on device that plugs into the controller, and most games have the option to have players voices come out of your TV's speakers so everybody can hear what's going on.
• Everybody has a unique Gamertag ID. Mine is Dylan. Yeah, my Gamertag is boring, lame, and lacks all creativity. I created it during the XBOX Live Beta, and once you create your tag, you can't change it. People call me "Die-Lan," which almost makes it cool because then it doesn't sound like my real name. After a few days of playing you'll start to recognize some of the regulars. I always laugh when SluttMonkey or FistingBritney joins a server I'm on.
  
• You can add people you know (or meet online) as "Friends." Like your IM software, you can see when your friends are online, what games they are playing, and can send them invites to join your game, even if they are playing something else. You can also tie your Gamertag to your MSN Passport so that MSN Messenger shows all that info too. Personally, I don't play XBOX much, but if I get an invite from a good friend and I have some free time I'll try to join their game.
• Since it's no fun having your ass kicked every time you play, many XBOX Live games rank the players, and you can make sure you're only playing against people at your level. Here's my online ranking for Rainbow Six 3, which I'm not too great at, but had a lot of fun playing when I rented it.
• The final cool feature of XBOX Live is something PC gamers take for granted - downloadable content. Since the XBOX has a massive hard drive, many XBOX Live games have downloable levels, characters, game modes, and more, often for free, but sometimes for $4.99. When you sign on, the XBOX will automatically download patches kind of like a Windows Update. It's nice to know that the game makers have the ability to release patches and it's guaranteed that every player will have that patch.

XBOX Live currently cost $69.99 for the first year's membership. That includes an XBOX game (either MechAssult or Crimson Skies, or maybe both) and the headset for talking. A lot of XBOX Live games include free 3-month trials, but you definitely want the headset.

More links:

• XBOX.com/Live
• I love XBOX Live (kinda cheesy)
• About XBOX Live
• XBOX Live Start Kits
• XBOX Wireless Adapter - Use your neighbor's open WiFi network for your XBOX Live connection, with their permission of course, or just use your own. B, G, and WEP are supported as you'd expect.

Question: How do you switch between running applications in Windows without using your mouse?

Answer: Alt-Tab. Hold down Alt and then press Tab. If you keep Alt pressed down, each click of Tab will show next available application. To go backward through the list, use Shift-Alt-Tab.

I bet most people don't know this. How would they? It's never shows up on the screen. Windows never suggest using it. There's no manual with Windows anymore.

I don't know if this hidden key combination has been changed in Longhorn, the codename for the next major release of Windows, but Microsoft has radically upgraded the visual experience to take advantage of the native 3D rendering engine. Here's a screenshot, courtesy of Adam Kinney:

It doesn't solve the fact that that Alt-Tab is a hidden shortcut key, but it sure makes it look nice!

iRobot, makers of the awesome robot vacuum cleaner Roomba, have announced the next generation of the Roomba: the Roomba Discovery.

There's an interesting video on the web site for the new Roomba that shows off some of the new features.

• Finds the charger when done and plugs itself in
• Easier to clean
• Knows when it finds dirt and focuses on those areas
• Larger dust bins

My favorite new feature mentioned in the video?iRobot used their vast amount of customer feedback as guidelines when designing the new version!I can't emphasis how important this is. Give users what they want, and they'll be happy!

The only thing I can't tell from their web site is the real difference between the Roomba Discovery and the Roomba Discovery SE.

What's so special about the Roomba Special Edition?

You might as well sit down and get comfortable, because this could take a while. In a nutshell, the SE is top of the line, possessing all the amazing attributes of the other Roombas plus a really cool paint job. Not ostentatious, but very flash, very bling, very sophisticated. Totally tricked out. Special.

Adifferent paint job? Common... It's still only a vacuum! Are they going to sell after market dubs and spoilersfor it too?

I don't know when the release date is or pricing, nor that information for the intriguingDyson DCO6 Robotic Vacuum.

Today marks my 5th year with webMethods. I started working here right out of college. My job, leading the usability and interaction design (aka: making our software easier to use), is fun, challenging, always interesting, and I'm often ranked as the top player on Halo nights, at least when the guys from IT aren't playing and nobody brings their kids in.

Philip Su, an old acquaintance from my days at the University of Maryland and Microsoft, has joined hundreds of other Microsoft employees in blogging.

His first two entries, on recruiting at Microsoft, and his issues with Microsoft Money, are fascinating, funny, and epitomize why corporate blogging is a Good Thing.

Philip co-wrote "Building Tablet PC Applications," but more importantly is the Behind the Scenes video for the book. The video is probably the funniest zero-budget videos to come from inside Microsoft.

Maryland students have Philip to thank for Venus - a web-based tool students used when I was at Maryland to view all permutations of the classes we needed to sign up for. I managed to have at least Fridays off and no classes before 11am almost every semester thanks to Philip's cool program.

• Philip Su's blog
• Behind the Scenes Video

I saw Spider-Man 2 today, and I might be in the minority saying this, but I'll say it anyway.... What a mistake.... I had a headache for the rest of the day thanks to that movie. Somehow Spider-Man 2 made Chronicles of Riddick seem like a good movie.

(Spoiler note: I tried not to say anything that wasn't in the trailers, but if you haven't seen Spider-Man 2 yet and you are looking forward to it, you should probably wait until after you've seen it and made your own opinion before reading what I've written.)

• No real story or plot. It's basically a week in the life of Spider-Man where lots of bad stuff happens. Here's the sub-plots:
• There's some sub-plot with Peter's landlord and the landlord's somewhat freaky daughter that makes no sense.
• Guess what: Aunt May has money problems (which are never solved, maybe for SM3).
• The Dr. Octopus thing, which doesn't even start until about an hour into the movie and has a really silly premise. I never read the Spider-man comic books - is the premise really that dumb? "Oh no, the Mind Inhibitor is gone!"
• SPOILER THIS LINE ONLY: Peter decides to retire as Spider-man so he can have the woman he loves - but come on, we already saw this in Superman II, and we know he's going to come back to finish the movie. Not to mention Spider-Man 3.
• Way too many lengthy closeups of characters looking scared. Picture the many Frodo closeups in Lord of the Rings, especially when he's thinking I can't do this!, and you'll know what I mean. SM2 is two hours long, surely they could have cut these down.
• For slower audience members, characters repeat the same things over and over: Octavius' invention is the greatest thing ever, Harry wants revenge on Spider-man, Peter is in love with MJ, MJ is confused about Peter, Aunt May is sad, and so forth... It's like each character has one thought that must be said and re-said.
• For a summer action movie, it's doesn't have as much action as I would expect. To me this was a good thing! I'd rather have story and characters than pointless special effects. But there wasn't much story and the characters were too one dimensional.
• Fortunately there's only a couple stupid lines! They all got groans throughout the audience. "But Peter is my best friend!" ... and I won't give away the rest of the line because it involves a nice surprise. Another ugh: "Looks like you have a train to catch!"
• Almost all of the best scenes are in the trailer. My favorite was the car smashing through the caf. Even though I saw it in the trailer a dozen times and knew what was coming, it was just as cool on the big screen.
• The fight scenes with Spider-man and Octo made no sense.... I know it's just a movie, but I wish they could explain why Dr. Octo's walking shook buildings, he could hurl cars at will, and smash through walls, but when fighting with Spider-Man he couldn't break a bone or keep his grip on him.
• Dumb extras: When trouble comes, nobody runs away! Everybody stays and watches. The only person that runs away is Peter (to become Spider-Man) but somehow he never has to explain to anybody where he was. Again, I know it's just a movie, but even Clark Kent always had an excuse for Louis or his boss.
• Terrible special effects when Spider-man is swinging his way though the city.... Nothing about the buildings, vehicles, or him look anything close to real. It looks like an XBOX game. On the other end, the special effects of Doctor Oct's arms were excellent. They never looked fake.
• In SM1, the Green Goblin's mask convinced him to do bad things. In SM2, Doctor Oct's tentacles "talk" to him to get him to do bad things. Why the same concept? BTW, anybody else thing the tentacles looked and acted a little too much mini metal versions of Audry II from Little Shop of Horrors?

It's not all bad... I liked the trademark Sam Raimi Evil Dead/Army of Darkness references and camera shots, especially in the ER room. Bruce Cambel has his de facto cameo. Kristin Dunst is "girl next door" cute, (but will always be the vampire child from Interview with a Vampire, and I still see her "fangs" in her closeups in this movie), and the casting and acting is good.

A lot of people will probably this movie. It's better than most summer action flicks. Maybe I was expecting too much. I didn't like the first one for a lot of the same reasons I listed above (the "learning his powers" part of SM1 was good fun). I have no interest in the Spider-Man comics so I looked at this as a standalone product and not a conversion from the comics (I read that Raimi did a very good job with the conversion). Finally, I'm 28, so maybe I'm just a bit too old to enjoy this sort of movie and I should stick with flicks like Fahrenheit 9/11, City of God, Fog of War, and other more "mature" offerings...