June 2009

Pixar's Up

Submitted by ardith on Fri, 2009-06-05 11:08

Posted in

Lovers or animation and wonderful storytelling know that Pixar has been tops for the past decade or so. And while the trend of some digital animation houses is to pack as much popculture as possible into the hour and a half or so of runtime, Pixar stays classy by keeping their content focused on what is important. Story.

And it is the power of their stories that make Pixar so successful. With their latest effort, Pixar not only proves that they are have great visionary directors, but that they also are still growing and evolving as storytellers.

UP appeals to audiences of all ages. There is a great amount of emotion that beats within this story. And while it features a geriatric gentleman and a pre-teen wilderness scout, it's packed full of entertainment power.

Dead & Gone

Submitted by ardith on Sun, 2009-06-21 16:15

Posted in

Urban Fantasy has been serious business for the past few years. Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series was one of my favorite until I just stopped reading due to lack of character development. I also enjoyed MaryJanice Davidson's Queen Betsy series until i just stopped reading. Maybe I'm fickle, but I think some series just run out of steam.

Of course, there are some that just are coming to a head. I highly recommend Patricia Brigg's Mercy Thompson books as well as her Alpha and Omega series that is set in the same world.

And I recommend the Southern Vampire Mystery books, AKA Sookie Stackhouse novels. Told from Sookie Stackhouse's point of view (first person), the novels are funny, scary, and full of life.

And yes, these are the novels that the HBO series, TrueBlood, is based on.

Previous to these books, the only time I've heard the name "Sookie" was from Witches of Eastwick. Apparently, it's a form of Susanna. This Sookie has telepathic powers. She has spent her life bombarded with other people's (sometimes inappropriate) thoughts. But when she meets a vampire called Bill Compton, she realizes that there is a blessed silence with him. Sookie can't read vampire thoughts.

Computers & HD Camcorders

Submitted by ardith on Mon, 2009-06-22 06:41

Posted in

Computers

On Father's Day, my brother and sisters gave my dad a HD camcorder from Sony. Since it also works as a digital camera, it's really handy. Especially since my youngest sister's wedding is coming up.

Unfortunately, it looks like our 5 year old Mac is too slow to handle the HD videos. I already knew it was a slow computer (I did buy an early release in 2005....), so we have to upgrade.

Now I'm trying to decide what to do. My parents are barely used to the mac set up. I'm leanding towards a small HP Laptop since I've been really happy with this one.

I think it may be easier since my dad is always pulling shortcuts out of the Apple bar.

My middle sister just ordered the HP Pavilion DV4-1227US 14.1-Inch Laptop - Espresso Black

Since she has been using a mac for the past few years, we'll have to see how this goes.