Rob's Blog: December 2005 Archives

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December 27, 2005

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

So I finally was able to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I guess it was a good thing the way it all worked out. I saw a recent advertisement saying it was in the IMAX theatre, so instead of scrambling around town Tricia and I trekked out to the city at Lincoln Square. There's nothing like seeing a good movie on a 4 story screen!

This episode of Harry Potter did not disappoint. Although I like all stories/movies, the last one left me feeling a little flat. The Goblet of Fire renewed my faith in this story line. Full of excitement, mystery and wonder. It recaptured the feelings of prior and more. I've heard many people saying this was the best one yet. I'm not sure I can say this personally as I mentioned, I like them all. The first is still very memorable to me.
A highly recommended movie.

Posted by Me at 11:50 PM | Comments (0)

December 19, 2005

Trans Siberian Orchestra

As expected, Trans-Siberian Orchestra Rocked MSG.
For this show we were in section 125 ROW A.
Pretty good seats from my perspective. It provided a new viewing angle then from last years show 8th row on the floor.
Most of the show is similar to last years.
Highlights include the Sound (no earplugs needed this time around), pyrotechnics, lasers (from the new angle) & crowd participation with the cell phone lights. Huh??
During one of the songs Chris Caferti asked everyone to open up thier cell phones and use the screens as lighting (like in the old days with the lighters). During the course of the song you saw a sea of cell phone screens waving back and forth. Very cool and breathtaking.
Another highlight was a guest musician, "Joan Jet" who came out and did her famous I Love Rock -n- Roll. Thereafter she and TSO played on, closing with Christmas Eve in Sarajevo.

Tricia made an intersting observation as to the diversity of the crowd. One moment you see a family with children, another an eldery couple, then a pair of metal heads in leather.

TSO, always a crowd pleaser.

Posted by Me at 11:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 18, 2005

Narnia

Off I went.. on a mission to see Harry Potter... It's been out a while and I'm finally getting out to see it now that work has simmered down.

So., lo and behold the ticket clerk makes a mistake.. and we end up in Narnia.
I think the guy had some sort of mental block, you would think that hearing the prior person complaining about receiving the wrong tickets would trigger me to double check... I guess I was too concerned about him not giving me my change. Duh..

it's sort of funny, because we walk to the next checkpoint, the person directs us to the theatre, I look up and see the narnia banner. I know it's the small theatre in this location and I think, OK only two shows a day, they are probably re-using this theatre.

So we sit, get comfortable, watch previews and the movie starts.

It's a war scene, mother and children run for cover. they hide in a bombshelter in the back of the house. They survive and next scene they are getting on a train. (here I'm thinking, gee.. new characters... a family... off to hogwarts via train... Hey they have the accents close enough). I guess the mind rationalizes things at times.

Then the title comes on and I'm thinking DOH!!!!! Wrong Movie!!!
Well I had planned to see it anyway.

So Tricia and I resolve to stay.. after all I would not want to walk into Harry potter missing the first 10 minutes.

So, Four London children arrive to s safe haven and discover a wardrobe that transports them to the land of Narnia out the back of the wardrobe. Cool Concept. Like a portal. It's a cold winter (for a hudred years) ruled by an evil witch. The children discover the folk of the land and gather forces with a Aslan (a lion) for a great battle of good and evil.

I loved the story, it reminded me of a shortend version fo Lord of the Rings, yet with Children and a mystical land. It kept me interested through out the whole. Filmwork and scenery were great, CGI animation was top notch. Very little artifacts in the character movement. The only CGI flaw I saw was the backdrop on certain outside scenes. You could tell it was a blue screen effect. This was a small minor artifact.

Overall I give this movie high marks.
Would love to see the story continue!

Posted by Me at 11:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 07, 2005

Woo Hoo, Got a new 1U Web Server

While considering options, I decided to co-locate a web server for my family website.
I've been meaning to do this so I could house more family oriented sub sites.
Seems I have this huge extended family I never knew as a child.
They have yearly gatherings in the summer and winter.

I thought it would be great to have our gallery and possibly an event bulletin board online.

Also, this lets me do more advanced support for seismic and the PM community should the need arise.

My friend Larry at http://www.hostasite.com has been gracious enough to sport some rack space, power and bandwidth for the cause. Thanks Larry!

At first I considered a simple 2U dual 1GHZ PIII system. The price was right about $200.
But after some consideration I thought it best to invest in something more modern that I could grow with.
Lo and behold I see an auction for a
1U Rack mount SuperMicro 2 XEON CPUS (2.0 GHZ) 512MB Ram
The price was only $450 for this. Sheesh the CPU's and ram alone would cost close to that.
So I talked the guy into dumping the 40GB hd (can ya believe it) and adding another 512MB ram instead.

So $495 delivered to my door and I have this new kickass cotrone.com server. Not too shabby!

So in the next few weeks (after I order two 300GB hard drives) Cotrone.Com will be moving to Garden City NY. w00t!