TV is bad

I had an amusing half afternoon with my sister's TV today. I learned some useful things:

Dogs can be narcoleptic too. It's so cute... but sad.

Heats are up 3-1 against the Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals. Wade was awesome. =) I hope the Heats win the series, since they look like they want it more than the Pistons.

More people are dying in Afghanistan and Iraq (surprise, surprise).

The name given to the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie pairing is Brangelina. Though, I think I prefer Jopitt more.

Apparently Angelina Jolie gave birth to a baby daughter in Namibia recently. The couple donated some $300000 (which is chump change to them) to locate hospitals. They've been hiding out in Namibia for the past few months to avoid the press while awaiting the birth of their child. It seems like the Namibian government helped set up the security around their hotel and hospital, and even had barriers on the beach to shield the couple from unwanted photographers. They even arrest photographers and confiscate film. What's more, the government refused visas for foreign journalists trying to cover the birth unless the Jopitt camp approves. That's just so... awesome.

Sister's Graduation

I ditched work took the day off to go to my sister's graduation today. After 4 years of long hours in class, studying, and sleeping, she finally graudated.

It started raining during the ceremony. Luckily, she chose to attend hers for the Statistics department, and it was small enough to be held in an auditorium. They each get 30 seconds to speak too! Imagine doing that for your typical EE/CS department at, say.. MIT or Berkeley?


The happy soon-to-be graduate.


"I want a few shirts from Express for my graduation present."


Candid moment.


Height gradient (somebody cheated!)


Chang family minus one. The other sister was too busy with school.




Still short, even with the cap. At least it makes you look smarter. =)


Aunt and sister.


"One #3 meal. Would you like to supersize that?"


Sister and her friends.


The obligatory family shot on the stage.

Do Not Resuscitate

Get this... An 80 year-old woman decided to get a "DO NOT RESUSCITATE" tattoo on her chest. She decided to do this after watching the whole Terri Schiavo controversy and decided that she [and her family] doesn't need to put up with this crap if she is ever put in that situation. That's an awesome idea! Especially coming from an 80 year-old grandma. I'm so impressed by her forward thinking. But leave it to the lawyers to discuss the legality of doing such a thing. There's no need to obfuscate a clear three-word message with 20 pages of legalese mumbo jumbo.

Day Trip to Monterey

Today was Mother's Day. Some of our mothers weren't around locally for celebration (I couldn't even call mine for most of the day, since she was on an international flight), so a few of us went out to Monterery for touristy stuff.

We started the day at the Monterey Aquarium, worked our way through the 17-Mile Drive, and headed back to South Bay for some crazy Korean BBQ fun at Palace Buffet with a bunch of other people. I also got a chance to test out my new camera.

Monterey Bay Aquarium:


"I feel out of place in the aquarium."


Michelle trying to molest poor innocent creatures.


The little cove right outside the aquarium. I loved the colors.


Me taking a shot of Gene taking a shot of something.


My jellyfish shot of the day.


Some interesting rays.


"Grrr... I can't get any decent shots of the fish in the dark!"


It was such a gorgeous day!


Some rock outside with random animals... and poop.


Some imitation plush toy in the aquarium gift shop. They even put a "Finding Nemo" book next to these ugly things. Talk about false advertisement.


It was so much work to get a decent picture of the sea otters!


Goodbye little fishies. See you at a Japanese restaurant soon!

17-Mile Drive:


I really like scenic shots.


Pretty flowers.


Sooooo relaxing-looking.


I wonder if they have rabies.


"Am I supposed to swing right or left?"


"Are you getting this?"


Golf at Pebble Beach... check.


Lone Cypress along 17-Mile Drive


Group shot.

It was a fun and tiring day. A lot of my pictures inside the aquarium didn't turn out. I couldn't use flash in a lot of places because there were either signs saying that we couldn't use flash (it might shock the animals or something), or the flash would be reflected off the glass and show up as a giant white ball of light in the pictures. And the problem with taking pictures in darker settings is that you have to use slower shutter speeds in order to get enough light in the picture for decent exposure. It doesn't help with these animals move while you're trying to take their picture. Even the jellyfish were moving too fast most of the time for me to get a sharp picture. Sigh... I just didn't know enough about photography and my camera to know how to resolve this issue. =T Owell. I'm still extremely happy with my 12x zoom. It really puts my old camera to shame.

Supercars

Stumbled across this video yesterday. It's an hour-long program about Martin Brundle's top ten supercars. He's an ex-F1 driver, so he [supposedly] knows what he's talking about. I found it amusing because he evaluates these cars not only on the race track, but also in everyday driving conditions. It answered my burning question of what it would be like to drive one of these cars around town. BTW, the Koenigsegg is beauuuuuuutiful.



As this video was done several years ago, it doesn't take into considerations the newer cars, like the Porsche Carrera GT, the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, the Bugatti Veyron, or the Saleen S7 Twin Turbo. I wonder how these cars would fare against his list.

Summer Movies to Watch

On a related note, there are some of the summer movies that look intriguing.

United 93 (Now Playing)
This would be a great drama to watch if you're in the mood for something that doesn't end well. It's like Air Force One, except more realistic, and based on true events. Okay, maybe it's more like the Titanic, but without the sappy love story and the over-emphasis on the technical details.

The Da Vinci Code (5/19)
Fun book. Probably fun movie.

Over the Hedge (5/19)
One of my favorite comic strips in the LA Times back when we used to get Sunday papers at home. It's super cute, and they made it 3D. It's not something that requires watching in the theaters, but would be entertaining if they don't screw it up.

X Men 3 - The Last Stand (5/26)
The first 2 X Men movies were fairly entertaining. Let's hope for 3-peat.

Cars (6/9)
I (heart) Pixar.

Nacho Libre (6/16)
The trailer is hilarious.

Click (6/23)
Adam Sandler is quirky, yet funny. [I can totally relate to that.] While his stuff is oftentimes very in-your-face, I find that his movies sometimes have interesting and creative concepts [I really liked "50 First Dates"]. And then there's Kate Beckinsale -- my consolation prize in case the movie bombs.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (7/7)
Two words: Keira Knightly.

Fearless (8/4)
Jet Li in a testosterone-filled martial arts epic. It's suppose to have AWESOME fight sequences (choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping). It's already out in Asia and the numbers are even better than "Hero".

MI3

After catching a glimpse of some Mission Impossible 3 commercial on TV last weekend, I've been wanting to watch it. Maybe commercials have more of an effect on me since I rarely watch TV these days and don't really get bombarded by ads all that much. It's been months since I last went to a movie theater, not that the few around the bay area are that appealing anyway. I miss my nice, clean, new, 50-screen megaplexes.

Anyhoo... the movie was great. Exactly what I was looking for in a blockbuster to kick off the summer season. It was nice and action-packed. Thrilling, if you will, though some people may find it stressful. There was also the requisite mixture of eye candy (of the human variety and the automotive variety*) and exotic settings (helicopter chase through a German wind farm, undercover operation in the Vatican, base-jumping in Shanghai). It is also rare for a movie sequel to trump its predecessor. MI3 is definitely better than MI and MI2. I give it 8 thumbs up, so go see it.

* I hope they didn't really blow up the Lamborghini Gallardo used in the movie. Even though it's not the most expensive Lambo, it's still a $200,000 piece of art.