Blu Ray = Blurry?

Before lunch today, Viks and I went to Best Buy cause I wanted to check out the just released Samsung Blu-Ray player. They had a demo of Hitch on a Samsung 42" LCD TV. The demo was pretty underwhelming..the picture was grainy, soft and really lacked that HD "punch" I was expecting. I wouldn't say the picture looked bad but IMHO, it didn't look that much better than upconverted SD. I have read similar testimonials in the AVS forums. Could it be a poor transfer? initial BR MPEG2 encoding vs the HD-DVD MPEG4/VC-1 encoding? the Samsung player (ie time to market product)? Unfortunately an apples-to-apples comparison between BR vs HD-DVD is not possible now due to studio support. Despite that, one would have to give the picture quality edge to HD-DVD today. But of course it's still too early to declare any winner. I crave HD content but am frustrated that I feel the need to sit on the sidelines because of this format war. It has taken some will power not to buy a $500 HD-DVD player but I will not buy a first gen and I think there will be universal players coming or studios supporting both sides.

I'm type A

You Have A Type A- Personality

You are one of the most balanced people around Motivated and focused, you are good at getting what you want You rule at success, but success doesn't rule you. When it's playtime, you really know how to kick back Whether it's hanging out with friends or doing something you love! You live life to the fullest - encorporating the best of both worlds

Do You Have a Type A Personality?

Wonderful 2nd album

When I first picked up Hopes and Fears, I thought it was a decent album but nothing special. However, with each listen I became increasingly captivated with Tom Chaplin's vocals, the soaring melodies, and the "less is more" sound from Richard Hughes and Tim Rice-Oxley. I was really worried that Keane would go through the infamous sophomoric slump. I am so happy to be wrong. Under the Iron Sea has less of the "piano" sound from Hopes and Fears, supplanted with more of a "synth" sound and there is still the trademark lack of guitars. The lyrics are also more mature. Standout tracks for me are "Atlantic," "A Bad Dream," "Try Again," and "The Frog Prince." However, like the debut album, Under the Iron Sea is a CD that should be experienced from start to finish...where the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts.

Oatmeal please

Everytime I come up to the BA it's nice to catch up with people, BS, and just plain stay in touch with the things that are going on in people's lives. The flip side is that my eating regimen gets majorly screwed up.

Sun - Michelle and Long took Viks and I to Stacks and I had a terrific strawberry waffle. Later we met up with Kev + Jeanine at Max's where I had the mini burgers but only ate one.
Mon- Monthly agreement with my two coworkers, John and Tony, to eat at Giovannis for lunch.
Tue - Won Kee lunch with my extended team.
Wed - Fosters Freeze with John..Dusita with Diana & Jim. Mel and SMC joined us later at Jujubis.
Thur - In-n-out with Jim and SMC.
Fri - Monthly agreement with my two coworkers, John and Tony, to eat at Tlaquepaque for lunch. Feeling shame about my eating choices the past week, I only ate half. Josh and Nick came over in the evening to squeeze in some LAN gaming and I caved in for Popeye's.

Nights I didn't go out I had to work a lot at home (but I really should have been working -out-), watched NBA finals and had some good ol' home cooking with my mom. I was afraid to weigh myself when I came back but when I did, I luckily did not gain. I think it might have been due to eating smaller portions throughout the week. Some days I eat like a horse but overall I am just use to eating smaller portions now. I went back to working out today and was kinda hoping for a game 7 between MIA and DAL so that I'd be motivated work out longer on Thur. Ah well.. congrats to MIA.

I was also stressed out last week cause my mom's smaller turtle got bit in the tail by the bigger turtle. The vet prescribed 15 shots to counter the infection.

Connie and Mark's Wedding

One of Viks' closest friends gotten married this weekend. The wedding was at Garre' winery. The weather was a bit warm but everyone had a good time. I remember the first time I met Viks. Connie was there to make sure I was "normal." Look! I'm wearing the same shirt as my father-in-law!

Mom's "birthday"

Since my mom does not know her real birthday, we tend to treat Mother's day as her birthday. This year we couldn't make it back in May so we celebrated in June at Dynasty. It was mostly relatives and close friends of my mom's. She sat all the "kids" (age 20s - 30s) in one table ==> *roll eyes*. I thought the food at Dynasty was ok. It's always nice to have 7-up mixed with Sparkling cider...can't screw that up ;-)