Archive for August, 2004

How Messy is it at my Work Today ?

Thursday, August 5th, 2004

Rate 1 (sucks) to 5 (cool). Only rate the latest pictures, otherwise I can’t keep track of the average.

Total: 605 out of 183 votes > Average is: 3.306

Another video. Heavily XViD compressed, 2.1 MB. Download it here.

Luck

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2004

Geachte heer Ung,

Hierbij delen wij u mede, dat u een geldprijs hebt gewonnen in de prijspuzzel van de TV-Weekeinde.

Aangezien wij geen telefonisch contact met u konden krijgen, verzoeken wij u vriendelijk om ons mede te delen wat uw bank- of girorekenining is.

U kunt ons bereiken op telef. nr. xxx-xxxxxx.

Met vriendelijke groet,
hoogachtend,
BV DAGBLAD DE TELEGRAAF

Oh

my

goodness

I’m gonna be riiiiiiiiiiiihiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiich.

Anywayz, first of all, I didn’t solve any of ‘m. It’s the result of a colleague’s weekend of puzzling. Second, I didn’t spend money on it, as I emailed the answers. There you have it. Maximum efficiency.

Review: McFly – Room on the Third Floor

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2004

Not a lot of Brits have the honor of populating my playlist, so I thought it may be time to try something out. McFly is still riding high in the British charts, so my curiosity was peeked what this was all about.
Upon listening to their easy rock tunes, with some 70-ties feeling to it, a few things became apparent instantly. Clearly a boyband with voices recorded roughly without digital touch-ups (which is good, were it not it that all of them don’t really have any vocal skills), singing lyrics that almost seem childish. I might be able forgive the ever present British accent, but the lisping really goes too far. I suspect the one responsible for their success, while listening to their demo tape, had a severe ear infection.
All the negative things aside, it does bring another positive side to light, and that’s that finally boybands aren’t hunkadory dancers in gay clothes anymore. They could be disguised as immature guitar wielding youngsters too. In any case, teenage girls have a sixth sense for this, and success is guaranteed. Dare I try the next one in line (which is Busted, same formula, hitting the same charts) ? 5-.

Review: Alias Season 3

Sunday, August 1st, 2004

Never having the opportunity to review this wonderful show (catching up on Belgian TV), I was tired of waiting, so I “acquired” the whole third season, which I tried to watch in one weekend. (Didn’t make it, short of a few more hours)
As season 1 and 2 have proven already, for a serialized series, this is one tough lady to beat. Every single episode is a piece of the bigger puzzle, filled with intrigue and new plot turns. Creator/writer J.J. Abrams probably has the whole series laid out before it starts, and it’s a pain having to wait every week to reveal a bit more of the mystery.
With its intensity, very like 24, it’s gripping, but the advantages Alias has, are better character interaction, and more focused storylines smeared over several whole seasons. Hence, main characters and their archenemies have more depth, and their personal agenda’s are revealed slowly. It also gives meticulous details enough time to work its way to the bigger picture. With such high quality writing, it’s hard to single out a season as best, but the feeling tends to go to this latest season. It seems dramatically more intense, and the guest stars are a blast.
To describe what I’ve gone through this weekend, it was hot. Very hot. Add to that the exciting episodes, I had to spend all of my time in my underwear. Watching it makes you sweat naturally, so you can imagine if the weather doesn’t work with you, it’s gonna be hard. Furthermore, this series induces adrenaline shots throughout every episode, a heart rate going through the roof (plainly measurable by watching the neck), nervous ticks, nailbiting, and all that, without oxygen, as it’s easy to forget breathing while watching this show. That’s not all, with all the double agents running around, and spies spying on spies, in the end, you’ll have embraced paranoia to the fullest. But hey, a bit of extra awareness never killed anyone, right ?
Yeah, I say, bring it on, I’m ready for season 4 (premieres January 2005 for an uninterupted run till season’s finale).

US Box Office

Sunday, August 1st, 2004

M. Night Shyamalan does it again, though this time without the help of most of the renowned reviewers. With $50.8 million, it means Disney can let out a sigh of relief, though the bombs of lately are still marginally higher then their successes this year.
Still spying hard is mister Jason Bourne himself, his Supremacy chapter earns $23.4 million in its second week.
Within Denzel’s 20-something range track record, The Manchurian Candidate opens with $20.2 million, good enough for number 3.
Not so futuristic anymore is I, Robot at number 4, with $10.1 million.
Biggest disappointment this week, not even in the top 10, a black spot on Jonathan Frakes’ record, is Thunderbirds, with $2.7 million. Guess he shouldn’t have taken a stiff upperlips’ toy series to show the world.