Oregon Vacation, Part 2

Day 4, Up the coast
By day 4 the weather had certainly turned. It was foggy in the morning,
so I decided to go visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Its rather small
aquarium, but I it had some neat features and it was worth spending an
hour or two. I left Newport and followed coastal Highway 101 north.
After a short stop at Yaquimah Lighthouse, which was still covered in
fog, I stopped again at Cape Lookout. There is 2 mile trail to the edge
of the Cape. The weather had somewhat improved, so I was hopeful
the hike would provide some great views on the coast.












The trail starts in the deep woods, but after a half mile it opens up and
offers some great views on the Oregon coast line. But soon,
the trail lead back into the forest and
it became a muddy mess. The fog was
thick and one could hardly see a
couple hundred feet.
After about another mile, the trail opens
up to the north side of the coast, but by
that time, the fog had covered the
whole cape and I decided to
return to the car. I spend the rest of the day driving
towards Astoria.
Day 5, Heading East

I woke up in my hotel room in Astoria to the sound of rain hitting
the window. Great Start. After a quick breakfast I went to Camp
Clatsop. This is a recreation of the original camp build by the Lewis
and Clark expedition to stay the winter, before returning to the East.
They also had a small exhibition, showing items around the Lewis
and Clark Expedition. After I got my history fix, I stopped by the
Astoria column, walked up the 164 stairs, just to find out that it
was raining on top as well. Therefore, I decided to drive downtown
Astoria and pay a visit to the Columbia River Maritime Museum.
It was still raining and I wasn't really in the mood to do anything outside,
so I turned the car East and made my way up the Columbia river to
a small town called Cascade Locks. This would be my last stop outside
Portland. The plan was to drive to Mount Hood tomorrow and then
hit Portland of the end of the day.

Food Reviews, More Seafood.....
Seafood Platter, Dooger's Seafood&Grill, Astoria, 3/5, Ok food, the clamp
chowder was very good
Breakfast Bagel, Bagel by the Sea, Seaside, 2.5/5, Not something to write
Mom home about.
Nutty Tuna Sandwich, Urban Cafe, Astoria, 4/5, Great little lunch place
and the food was fresh and very good.
Wild Northwest Salmon, Big River Grill, Stevenson, 4/5, Fresh fish is
always a great choice.

Oregon Vacation, Part One

Well, it's Friday afternoon and I am sitting in a Portland cafe,
sipping on a nice latte and watching the rain pouring down
outside. Might as well stay put here and write about my vacation.
Portland is the last stop on my tour through Oregon and after
clocking about 1200 miles on the rental, I've seen a lot of the
state. Everything from deep volcanic lakes, sandy ocean
shores and mountain tops.
I arrived in Portland last Friday, late at about 9:30PM. I picked
up the rental car and headed towards Salem to meet with Jim and
Angela. The first thing I noticed is that everyone pretty much
drives the speed limit or under! This is unusual and I wonder
if the fines here are heavier.

Day 1- Day 2: Crater Lake
The plan for the weekend was for Angela, Jim and I to head towards
Crater Lake, spend the night in Klamath Falls and go to the lake on
Sunday. We started Saturday with a quick tour of Salem and a great
lunch at The Konditorei. The sandwich I had was good, but the
Marionberry cheesecake was excellent. We headed the car southward
and arrived in Klamath Falls later that night. The only thing I remember
from Klamath Falls are the little green flies that seem to be everywhere
in swarms. Driving to and from the city, the car got covered and I was
happy to move Crater Lake.
Once we reached the lake, we stopped at the visitors center to get a plan.
We decided to hike up to the Watchman Peak and take the boat tour later
that day. Watchman Peak can be reached by a hiking trail that spans
about a mile and 500ft elevation. On top, the view over the lake and wizard
island is great.
After a picnic lunch, we headed to the boat tour.
In order to reach the boat, we had to walk down Cleetwood Cove trail,
which is the only access to the lake.
Over 700ft of elevation make this an exhausting walk, but the board tour was worth it. The Ranger did a good job of explaining and entertaining and the two hours went by fast.
Since it was already in the late afternoon, we started our journey back to Salem. Certainly, Crater Lake was one of the highlights of the trip and it is always great to spend time with Angela and Jim.

Day 3: Ocean bound
Monday was a travel day. After saying Goodbye to Angela and Jim, I made
my way out of Salem. But first, I stopped at the Original Pancake House
for Breakfast. I picked their specialty, Apple Pancake. Boy, what a pancake!
This was just a heap of apples, pancake and cinnamon sauce.
Very delicious, but way to much. You can feed 2 people with this
monster easy.
Afterwards, I drove east to stop by the Silver Falls. I picked the North Fall
which can be reached from the parking lot in a short walk.
The fall is cool in a sense, that you can walk behind it.
After the hiking I had done at Crater Lake, I wasn't in the mood
to explore the Silver Falls in more depth and I started driving
west towards the coast. I reach the coast in the late afternoon and
stopped at Seal Rock to take a walk at the beach and enjoy the
tranquility of the Pacific ocean.
I stopped my journey for the day in Newport. Driving down to the harbor for some dinner I must admit the city has strange vibe. On the same street you can see a working fish factory ,with all the sounds and smells, and the assortment of tourist shops trying to sell you all kinds of shiny beads.
But the dinner I had was great. I ate at Local Ocean Seafoods and the Fish Tacos were excellent. You could tell that the fish was fresh.

Food Reviews, of course
Marionberry Cheesecake, The Konditorei, Salem, 5/5 Stars, lecker!
Sweet Potato Chips, Walmart, Salem, 0/5 Stars, pretty much tasteless
Combo Plate, Wubba's BBQ Shack, Klamath Falls, 4/5, best ribs I had in a while,
the rest was good, too.
Sandwich, Fred Meyer, Watchman Peak Trail, 1/5, forgettable
Mexican, Matzatlan, Oak Ridge, 2/5, The food was average at best.
Apple Pancake, Original Pancake House, Salem, 4/5, delicious.
Cod Sandwich, The Diner, Seal Rock, 3/5, Fish was fresh but the rest to greasy.
Fish Tacos, Local Ocean Seafoods, Newport, 4/5, excellent
Marionberry French Toast, Fishtail Cafe, Newport, 5/5, just perfect.

So far, not a bad deal. It seems like the every time the Marionberry makes
an appearance, its a winner.

IPOD Shuffle the second

Just when I thought that Paula Abdul would be the worst I would
have to listen to, during the trip, I was proven wrong.
Just as I leave Chicago, in the midst of toll booths and constructions
zones, the 'sweet' sound of 'Muenchener Freiheit' punctures my
eardrums.
It took all the way to Indiana to calm my stomach.

IPOD Shuffle

Do you know how many songs are on your IPOD? Do you actually know
what kind of songs are on your IPOD? I certainly don't. Somehow the
thing syncs with the MacBook and whatever song I want to listen to is
usually there. But, I had long drive to Peoria coming up, so I set the
playlist to ALL and hit the shuffle button. Quite interesting what the
speakers blurted out for the next 7 hours of drive. Some songs, I am
sure, I've never heard before. Some songs provoke flashbacks and for some
songs my reaction was: "WTF is THAT doing on my IPOD"
I hit I94-W and I was transformed back into the 80s with Duran-Duran and
Alphaville. In Kalamazoo a voice was trying to teach me to say things in
Spanish. Of course, the 90s showed up with the obligatory sax solo.
The only skipped a song, when I hit the relaxation CD of some hotel telling
me to close my eyes and slow down my breathing. Not a good idea while
driving.
But otherwise, I listened to everything that came out of the little black box.
Here some more examples on what I was exposed too:
- O.M.D - No its not a misspelling of OMG. Its a Brit pop band from the 80s,
which had some interesting videos for the time. Anybody remember
"Formel Eins"?
- Fischmob and Cranberries - Ahh, the good fun we had at the Loop in Luebeck.
- The Verve Pipe - Doe ANYBODY remember those guys from the late 90s?
- Paula Abdul - No idea how that make my IPOD. Really!!
and many more.

You would think it would be easier, to just create some playlists with stuff I
like, but on the other hand, you get to hear a song that you really like and you
wonder "Who is that?". Either way, I'll do the same thing again on the way back,
just to see, what song lurks around the corner.

Inception

I just came back from the theater and since
I can't fall a sleep anywayI figured I write a
little review on the movie.
I saw 'Inception' the new movie from
Christopher Nolan with Leonardo DiCaprio.
Here is the short intro from IMDB:






Dom Cobb is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible-inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming.


I thought the movie was well made. The story was not as complex as I
thought it would be. After the initial confusion about what is a dream,
the flow of the movie was pretty straight forward. I mean, having seen
movies like The Matrix or Memento, the concept of 'virtual' realities is
not that new. Some of my favorite movies were made by Nolan and this
one is very good, but not great. For me it misses the real blow-your-mind
concept of 'Memento' and the perfect villian vs. hero of 'The Dark Knight'
Still, worth seeing. I give it 4 stars.

Oh yeah, I forgot. The ending was clever. Nuff said.

FInal Thoughts

So, Spain is the new World Cup Champion. Do they deserve it? Sure,
although I still think Germany played the more attractive football.
And the Dutch? They played a terrible final. Mostly rude fouls with
mainly 2 chances for a goal. Overall the final was rather boring.
The game for 3rd place was much more entertaining. I think
final World Cup games are rarely good. Its just too much at stake, so
team are playing cautious. A well, here are my final thoughts of the
World Cup:

- Take the octopus Paul and bake him in a nice Paella.
- Bring on some technology to avoid controversial goals/non-goals
- Review video footage of games and suspend players that are obviously
faking injuries to get the opponent carded.
This is a trend that has become VERY annoying.
- Germany played a great style of football, besides the Spain game, where
they were running scared. Get the coach a new contract and let him work
the young players. This could be something good in the making.
- It looked like South Africa organized a great World Cup.

Now, with the World Cup over, it's football time. GO PACKERS!!!

What is cheating?

After the heartbreaking loss of Ghana against Uruguay, some of my soccer
challenge friends and the Wall Street Journal, nonetheless, considered
the way Uruguay won the game by 'cheating' because one of the Uruguay
players used his hands to prevent a Ghana goal. They would even question
the morality of the player and claimed that this is the reason why
Americans don't like soccer and American sports are more 'fair'.
Example: Basketball goal tending rule.
Here is my answer: Thats BULL.
First of all, the Uruguay player used his hands illegally. He got punished
for it with a red card and the team got punished for it with a penalty kick.
He didn't play by the rules, he got punished according to the rules.
How is that cheating? Ghana had every chance to make the PK and
win the game, but they choked. That's football.
As for the rules being unfair.... PLLLLEEEAAAASSSEE....
No American will say that the football player 'cheated' when he caused
a pass interference in the end-zone. By rule, its ball on the 1 yard line and
1st done. Nobody would consider it 'cheating' when a basketball team
fouls on purpose at the end of the game for a chance to get the ball back.
So, Wall Street Journal, if you don't like soccer, just say so and don't
give me some lame reasoning based on one example in one game.
To quote old Mark Twain:

“It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.”

Don't cry for me Argentina!

GGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!
I can not believe it. Germany beat Argentina in the quarterfinal
easy with 4:0. Amazing!
After the first goal from Mueller in
the 3rd minute. It took Germany
until the 60th minute or so to regain
their confidence and outplay
Argentina to a 4:0 victory.


This team plays some amazing football. I have to eat some crow, though,
since I was one of the many critics before the World Cup that didn't
think Podolski and Klose belong in the team. But I guess thats why
Loew is the coach and I am not. Now, against Spain. should be a
good game. If the German team can keep this momentum going, they
can play themselves right into the final for an epic showdown with the
Dutch. Can't wait.

Germany vs. England 4:1. Yeah Baby!

"Soccer is a game for 22 people that run around, play the ball,
and one referee who makes a slew of mistakes, and in the
end Germany always wins." Gary Lineker








Never was this more true than today. But, I content, Germany would have
won, even if the second England had counted. But one after another.
We just played better and smarter than the English. Besides a couple shaky
minutes just before half time, we were in control and goals 3 and 4 were
just perfectly executed.
A couple of thoughts.

• There is no doubt that England scored a second goal.
  How the referee could miss that is beyond me.
  I hope this will kick off a discussion on how to avoid these situations,
  either through technology or a goal referee.
• The referees this World Cup are awful. Argentina scored its first goal
  from a clear offside position.
• The first England goal was sloppy defending by Boateng and Neuer.
  Against Argentina, we can not afford those lapses. Neuer has to work
  on his positioning. He was too much forward on Englands
  second goal as well. He made up for it with a couple good saves and,
  of course, the awesome assist for the 1:0.
• England just doesn't have good goalies.
• Argentina is VERY dangerous, but not unbeatable.

Well, it was a great game and I hope, Germany can continue to play
on that level.

Hand of God, really?

Watching the World Cup today was rather discouraging. First, the good
news, New Zealand tied Italy. Cheers Mate. Then the Brazil vs. Ivory
Coast game. Brazil played very effective and won, but some things still
bother me. First, the second goal was clearly a hand ball by the Brazilian
player. Later, he claimed it was the 'Hand of God' that helped him.
Really! Since when is god in the business of cheating in a sports game?
Of course, the referee didn't see it. Then Kaka gets sent off on
spectacular dive by a Ivory Coast player. This has become a very
disturbing trend. Players don't just dive in the in box anymore, they
fake injury so the other player gets a card. And the bad part is, it works.
The referees at the Cup are clearly overwhelmed. So many yellow and red
cards and the games are not particular rough.

Noooooo!?!?!?!?!

We had a row of thunderstorms coming through last night, which
knocked off my cable and internet. So, it took me some time to
reflect on Germany's loss to Serbia in football yesterday. It was an
early game and I had a couple of friends over for football and
breakfast. It was a nice setting with a not so nice game.
Germany lost and is in real jeopardy to miss the next round.
What went wrong:
1. Klose's yellow-red card. Totally unnecessary. Klose should be
experienced enough to understand that the referee was playing it
loose with the yellow cards. That last tackle was just plain stupid.
2. Podolski. Don't get me started. After missing a ton of good chances
he misses the penalty kick as well. Germany was the better team at the
time and the 1:1 would have giving them another boost. But after the miss
the team seemed deflated.
3. Rest of the team. Badstuber was overwhelmed at times, but he got no
help from the midfield. The offense was trying to carry the ball into the
goal and got tangled up in the Serbia defense. If you have a good position
at the corner of the box, just shoot! You might hit the goal, except
Podolski.

Overall, I liked how the team try to fight back in the second half almost
tying the game. And it makes the math for Germany easy. We basically
reached the knock-out stage already, because from now on, we HAVE
to win every game. And quite frankly, if you want to be considered a top
16 team in the world, you just have to beat Ghana.

At least, we are doing better than England.

World Cup thoughts .......

Didn't see any games live today, but just finished checking out the
summary on TV. Here are the football thoughts of the day.

• Japan stuns Cameroon. So far, the African teams haven't really
  impressed. Ghana got away with a win, but only with a PK gift
  and all the other African teams have either tied or lost their games.
• Italy got lucky, as usual.
• The talk about the ball are getting annoying. I heard the same
  discussions in 2006 and 2002. My advice. Deal with it and stop the
  whining. What your next excuse when your team doesn't
  perform well? That the color of the grass was too green?
• I am glad that the US goalie id fit to play. He was easily the best
  US player on the pitch on Saturday. (Notice that I use the word
  'pitch' rather than 'field'. I am watching too much British football)
• I do notice a lot of empty seats in the stadiums. They should give the
  seats away, if the person promises to break at least 10 of the
  Vuvuzelas :)
  

GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!!!!

WOW, Germany played the first game of the World Cup and what a game.
We beat Australia 4-0. Awesome game, besides a shaky beginning, where
the Aussies actually had a good chance to score. The rest of the game,
Germany dominated and the four goals where beautiful executed.
Australia had a bad day and after the red card, unreasonable in my opinion,
they had no chance. Heck, we should have score 2,3 more goals.
My guess is, it won't be as easy against the other members of the group, but
with that kind of performance, Germany doesn't have to fear anybody.













Other thoughts on the World Cup so far:
The noise of the Vuvuzelas is annoying. Watching a game is like listening to
bee swarms zipping around the stadium. It overpowers any other noise that
would come from the fans like drums, chanting, cheering. There is basically
no atmosphere. I know, its suppose to be part of the South African culture,
but couldn't they pick something that wouldn't drive the rest of the world nuts?

The terrible mistake of England's keeper against the US overshadows the fact
that England didn't play that well. It seems like every World Cup, everybody
and their English cousin think that the team should win it, because they have
such a pool of talented players. If they keep playing like this, they won't get
that far. I think they are WAY overrated.

Games are decided by stupid mistakes: England ties with the US based on a
goalie error. Slovenia wins on a goalie error. Serbia looses because they
couldn't keep the hands off the ball.

I am looking forward to watch more football.

Its football time

Normally, in the summer, there is really not much sports to watch.
You got baseball (yawn) and once in a while Olympics games. But every
four years, the football nations come together to play the World Cup and
this year it is played in South Africa. I can still remember collecting and
trading cards of the players as a kid. I remember some of the great games
and some of the more disappointing moments for the German team.
I was too young to realize in 1974 that we won the cup, so 1978 was the first
World Cup I remember following. Not a good start though. The German team
lost in a legendary match against Austria and the tournament was over. The
following cup was in 1982. Although Germany made it into the finals, where
it would loose against Italy. I remember mostly the ghastly game against
Austria (again) and the penalty shootout against France in the semifinals.
Four years later, the games where played in Mexico and again, we lost in the
finals. But then, in 1990, we reached the finals and beat Argentina for the Cup.
I watched the game in a Turkish bar and the place went nuts, when Brehme
shot the penalty. The next two world cups, from a German perspective, where
forgettable. The team was plagued, playing bad football and really not deserving
to play any role in the outcome. It got better in 2002, when we reached the finals
again, but Brasil was the better team that year. I still remember trying to watch the
finals with Jim and Angela on a Sunday morning, only to find out that the local
ABC station decided to air a garden show instead of the biggest TV event in the
world. Only in America.
In 2006, the games came to Germany and the team played great. They finally
adopted a more offensive football style and it served them well until they met
Italy in the semi-finals. We lost the game in overtime, but managed a third place,
which was good considering nobody gave the team any credit.
Well, its football time again and tomorrow is the first German game against
Australia. I hope for a good tournament and of course I believe that Germany
will win the Cup one more time.
And, I will truly enjoy 4 weeks of packed football watching.

Go Germany!!!

iPad

After all the hype for the iPad it finally went on sale last week. Since
there is a Apple store in the mall next door, I decided to take a look.
Went I went into the store, it was crowded. but they had enough iPads
around for me to find one. The first impression, its a big iPod touch.
The hardware looks sleek and the screen looks sharp as well. I tested a
coupe applications and they execute blasting fast. I tried the Safari
browser and web pages are loading quickly. If you like the iPod touch,
you will like the hardware of this device as well.
So, did I buy one? ............. Nope, and here is why.
It's not a laptop replacement. You still need a laptop to sync and load
all your stuff. No camera, no flash, no USB port. I can see using one, when
you are traveling, but I am not, so it has no practical use for me.
But, I heard that Apple already announced an OS upgrade and I am sure
the next generation iPads will be even better. Maybe I can create a need
for the second generation. ;)

HAPPY EASTER!!

Happy Easter!!

Aprils Fool

Well, I actually fell for an Aprils fool joke today. I was reading the German
news site tagesschau.de and they had an article that the internet would
have to be shut down for a day, because all IP addresses had been used
up. While I was reading, it sounded plausible and I actually went on
Google news to check other article of the matter, which of course I
couldn't find. WELL DONE. Check it out (German only)

http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/internetabschaltung100.html

Speaking of the internet. One of my favorite British TV shows
"The IT crowd" has an episode where the inept IT manager is
presented with the internet by the two IT geeks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAUyaELfwBo

Watch it, it is funny. My favorite line: "If it's alright with the Hawk"
Classic.

The world is still turning.....

I woke up yesterday, looked out the window, and what do you know,
the world was still there. Even though, congress passed the health care
reform, the world did not came to an end as some Republicans would
make you believe. Of course, the bill was a compromise. You can tell
by the way it was attacked by the left, the right and the "Tea" party.
But I believe, it is a start and somebody one said "The USA is like a
huge elephant. You can't just turn it around in one swing, you have
to nudge little by little"

I saw in the news today that Google partially backed out of China and
turned off the censoring of the Chinese websites. Certainly a risky
move considering that the Chinese government has a history of reacting
harshly to these kind of action. I am wondering if Google did that out of
principle. It would be cool though if a company, or country, would risk
losing a market of billions to stand by its principles.

Movie Update:
I saw the Hurt Locker the other day. It was an ok movie (3.5/5) which
certainly had its moments, but nevertheless it felt like your typical
war movie. It won a bunch of Oscars, but I wasn't much impressed.

I am sick of winter......

I am sooooo sick of winter. Every morning I look at the temperature and
it is below 20 degrees. Not much snow though, but still, grey days, a little
snowfall here and there. Since I am not into skiing, I can't really enjoy
the outdoors either. So, I can only hope that it will start to get warmer
here soon.


In the meantime, I can dream at playing
nice golf courses at warmer pastures......

Mmmmmmmmmmmm.





Olympia Update:
Watching the Olympics at NBC is difficult as always. With all the human
interest stories and chatter, the coverage of the actual sports events is
somewhat limited. But the Internet provides up to date info.
And..... Germany beat the USA in CURLING. YEAH Baby.
I would have never guessed that pushing a rock across ice would make
a sport. Maybe next time they introduce ice-fishing or shoveling the
driveway as a sport.

Groundhog Day

"Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause
it's cooooold out there today....... Thats right, woodchuck-chuckers -
it's GROUNDHOG DAY! "
Well, unfortunately, Phil did see his shadow, so that means 6 more
weeks of winter wonderland. And just to prove the pont, it started
snowing here this afternoon. Just a dusting, but enough to get the
streets slick again. I can't wait for a white Easter!

The end justifies the means ................... NOT!
I am just reading in the German newspaper that the German government is
thinking of buying a CD with data about people who evaded taxes.
The rumor is that the CD is 2.5 million Euros and the data on it could
possible yield up to 100 million Euros in back taxes. Nothing wrong with
it, wright? Problem is that the data was illegally obtained, so basically they
are buying stolen goods. They claim this is the right choice because they
would catch a bunch of tax evaders. Mmmmm. So the end justifies the means?
Sorry, but I can't follow that logic at all.

State of the Union

While Obama is telling his tales on the State of the Union speech, I decided
to write a blog update. I am really not that interested in politics at the
moment. For some reason it is all blah to me. It seems like the Dems can't
get their act together on anything and the Reps really don't offer any
alternatives. Us vs. them is the credo of the year and it looks like common
sense just doesn't count anymore. So, I am tuning out
Obamas speech or the following rebuttal that will follow.

So, it has been a couple of weeks since I came back from Germany and it is
still freaking cold here. Last weekend it was in the low 40s and one thought
spring was here. Not so fast, back in the teens today. Yippieh!!!!

Last week I had a chance to go the
Detroit Auto show. I haven't been to an
auto show in ages, so I figured it
should be fun. And it was. Since
I went after work, it wasn't very
crowded with no waiting to sit in
the cars. From the German side I
still like the Audis, I sat in a A5, S4,
and TTS. All very nice, with the S4 probably my favorite.
On the American side I was
hoping to get a closer look at the
Chevy Volt, but there only had
one on display with no chance
to get close or take a seat.
Too bad. Ford had probably
the most interactive display and
Chrysler/Fiat took top honors
in visual presentation.
They also had a special display
for electric cars, but they all
had a funky design mostly suitable
for running around the city only. That's why I like the idea of the Volt.
It is not the ultimate car, but it will move the electric car into
a new direction. Fun times.

It was also time for my annual trip to the Bollywood theater.
I went with some friends to see this Indian movie
'3 Idiots'. It's basically a comedy about 3 friends
in college. Besides the obvious jokes about the
life in engineering school, love story, and the
customary singing and dancing, the movie also
stroke a more serious tone at times, with one of
the main character questioning the educational
system, or showing the pressure students can
be exposed to. Overall, I thought it was a well made movie, with good
acting and a good storyline. My main complaint with Bollywood movies
is the length. With 3 hours running, including intermission, it is just
toooo long. You could easily move the story along at a better pace and
keep the running time under 2 hours. I give it 3 stars.

And, last but not least. Apple
announced the launch of the
IPAD today. It looks like a blown
up IPod touch. I don't know.
Unless they come up with some
surprises on the software,
I can not see myself buying one.
Maybe in a year or so,
when they added a camera and an OS that can run more than
one app at a time. Sorry Apple, I don't see much innovation here,
but I will check it out when it shows up in the stores. :)