When I was eleven, I had a friend named Ric. We did many of the things typical pre-teens do. We hit home runs in the street, we raced fast and furiously with our toy cars, and like many youngsters before us, we got ourselves into terrible mischief. One such time, however, we bit off more than we could chew.
Well, I finally got around to watching the Hobbit this past weekend. I was put off from watching it when it came out because, among other reasons, the reviews were bad. I didn’t like it for the following three reasons.
Filler, and lot’s of it. It definitely felt like they added an awful lot of padding to turn what was originally planned to be two movies into a trilogy. Some of the scenes felt unnecessary. From the very beginning, it took the characters about 45 minutes to leave Bilbo’s house and begin their “unexpected journey.”
Silliness: I understand The Hobbit was a children’s book, but there was way too much silliness in this movie. In the LOTR trilogy, all of the characters were portrayed with dignity. In those films, even the Orcs spoke more proper English than half the people I know. The Hobbits, the silliest of all the inhabitants of Middle-Earth, were funny, but not child-like. And what’s with all the singing? In this film, most of the characters were portrayed as caricature versions of themselves.
Predictability and repetitiveness. Maybe it was because I was not impressed and was picking out all the flaws, but the action scenes seemed to develop in typical Hollywood-like predictability. Like when the gang was trapped between a rock and a hard place, and you see Gandalf whisper something to a butterfly, what does it mean? It means eagles will wait until the last possible moment, and swoop in to rescue them. There was plenty more, but I’m getting angry just writing about it.
It feels like the second Star Wars trilogy all over again, only there were lots of Jar-Jars. The LOTR trilogy was not only a box office hit, it was critically acclaimed and won a total of 17 academy awards. This first of three films was nominated for 3 and won 0. Critically speaking, it was literally an epic fail.
Google and Apple are both working on wearable computing devices expected to hit the market soon. Google’s Glass should hit stores sometime this year with a $1,500 price tag, according to a post by The Verge’s Joshua Topolsky. Apple is reportedly working on an “iWatch” with few details available other than the usual Apple rumors going around the blogosphere.
I can see why a smart watch would be a great gadget to have. There are some features on our smart phones that would work fine on the smaller screen of a wrist watch. Like, for example, the calendar, reminders, the clock (duh!), and other stuff. However, Apple’s iWatch is nowhere as innovative as what Mountain View has in store.
Google Glass looks like a much more ambitious project which includes which puts a computer screen right in front of your eyes. It reminds me of a primitive version of Jarvis, the state-of-the-art and witty AI connected to the Iron Man suit, which gives Tony Stark an augmented reality we can only dream of. Google is taking baby steps towards something like that.
Would anyone wear something so ubergeeky? Maybe not at first, but keep in mind, this is only the first model of what could be the first of many, each smaller, more mainstream, and less intrusive than the last. I can see a trend of different types of wearable computing devices coming our way, starting with a watch and glasses, and then other more mouthwatering gizmos.
I love dogs. Judging by how popular dogs have been as pets in history, we can safely say most people love them too. However, we seldom stop to think about the names we give to our dogs and where they come from. It turns out our beloved pets’ names have evolved much faster than our own.
In Europe during the Middle Ages, we wouldn’t find find a Fido anywhere in sight. Back then, dogs had names like Blawnche, Nosewise, Smylfeste, Bragge, Holdfast, Zaphyro, Zalbot, Mopsus, and Mopsulus. I gotta say I’m not feeling these names. Dogs were often named after a characteristic they were known for, like Nosewise, which means a keen nose.
Moving along to the 19th century, we find that Abraham Lincoln had a dog named Fido, which is presumably the reason why it is now thought of as the quintessential dog name.
In the early 20th century, we started seeing the kinds of names we can expect to see today. Brownie, Laddie, Hobo, Trixie, Rags, Jaba, Bunty, Boogles, Teko, Dicksie, Snap, Punch, Bébé, and Pippy were some of the popular ones.
It wasn’t until the 1960s when the trend to give human names to dogs took hold. As a result, the 10 most popular dog names during 2012 were Bella, Bailey, Max, Lucy, Molly, Buddy, Daisy, Maggie, Charlie, and Sophie, a far cry from what was common 100 years ago.
Personally, I’ve had dogs named George, Pepe, and Lola. How about you? What do you name your dogs?
Source: theweek.com
Everything you do, everything you eat, every step you take, every breath you take—well, forget the last two—has a net effect on your lifespan. According to professor David Spiegelhalter and his team at the University of Cambridge, the things we do on a daily basis, like sitting, exercising, smoking, and consuming fruit, alcohol, read meat, and other stuff all either add or take away a few minutes of our lifetime.
Source: scientificamerican.com
Facebook has a feature that turns accounts of deceased users into a “memorialized” state. The thing is, it’s relatively easy to do so. Anyone determined enough can memorialize a living user’s account and make life a literal living hell for him or her. So, here’s how you do it.
Source: BuzzFeed
![[Image credit: tecca]](http://media.tecca.com/2011/07/22/spotify-vs-rdio-630w.jpg)
Spotify retains its title as the best music streaming service in the market. It KO’s the competition in bringing us unlimited, on-demand music for all tastes.
Right now may not be the best time to be Mexican whether you live in the motherland or in the United States. At home we’ve got a narco-war, poverty, corruption, and obesity going on. In the U.S., we’ve got racism, unemployment, a border fence, and even more obesity. It’s not all bad though. If you look on the bright side, there are good things to look forward to. Here are my ten personal favorites.
I took a short break from Tumblr about three weeks ago, but now I’m back! It’s not that I’m losing steam or anything like that. On the contrary, I want to improve my blog and my entire online profile for that matter. I wanted some time off to rethink my blogging and revamp it. Here’s what’s up.
After searching the world over for the perfect iPhone camera app (OK, maybe not the whole world, just the Apple App Store), I think I finally found it in VSCO Cam. While no app will ever be perfect, or have all the features we want to see in an app, this one has just what a growing instagrammer needs.
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