Tales from the Tophman

It’s been a while since I’ve dropped in and posted on my blog. Thing is, I’ve been using my Multiply Blog account more than Friendster’s just because of the flexibility allowed to me.

In a nutshell: last month, I got my car converted to run on automotive LPG (called "Autogas"). It still works on gasoline so it’s essentially a hybrid vehicle now. There was a little investment but now that I’ve got my preliminary numbers in, it looks like money well-spent.

If you’re curious about how it went and how my car looks right now, check out my The Tophmobile goes GREEN pt2 and my Tophmobile Pics respectively.

I’ve been the proud owner of a fantastic Sony Clié NX80 PDA since February of 2004. I bought the device because of the following features:

• a brilliantly large 55×83mm, 320×480x32k resolution LCD flip+twist touchscreen;
• a built-in 1.3MP digital camera w/ LED flash/light to capture photos+video;
• a back-lit 42-key QWERTY keypad w/ raised keys;
• dual memory slots (Memory Stick Pro & Compact Flash);
• a built-in microphone w/ voice recorder software & a small speaker w/ a headphone port;
• an MP3 and video player software preinstalled.

I happily used it and customized it to my personal taste with other PalmOS freeware applications to give me various functionality like unlimited text inputs, quick JPEG viewing, and more.

The first casualty of entropy was the little pen that came with the device which I lost a year later in July of 2005. Then, early in 2006, the built-in camera died on me, slowly showing problems when I try to activate it until it stopped functioning completely. In May of that year, my PDA’s power switch broke… leaving it stuck to HOLD which disabled all the other buttons that could have turned the device on.

The annoying thing was that the device used a tiny 5-point screw and none of the mini-screwdriver sets I had was able to remove them. I actually found and bought one which immediately broke (the little metal teeth broke off, lousy workmanship) so I gave up trying to open the whole device.

A month later, hallucinating from PDA withdrawal symptoms, I had an epiphany regarding how I can turn the device on again. Instead of dismantling the whole device, I decided to just pry off the sliding power switch. Once I did that, I was able to see that there was a tiny sliding switch within and with a small precision screwdriver, I was able to slide it to the "ON" position. Tada! My PDA was alive again!!!

From this point on, I’d use one of the device’s other buttons to turn it on and used a command to turn it off. I replaced the power switch cover and vowed never to use it again. The PDA was back in business despite the fact that I lost it’s camera capabilities.

A couple of months ago, I noticed some odd flickering with my LCD screen everytime I flipped it over to PDA mode where the screen faced outward (rather than clamshell mode where it faced the keyboard like a laptop computer). I suspected that there must be some loose connector within that was causing it but since I couldn’t open the device and it wasn’t really a show-stopper, I decided I could live with it. Besides, it didn’t flicker as long as I didn’t move the screen while it was active.

So it comes down to its latest problem… while backing up applications to my laptop earlier using my Memory Stick, a locking mechanism within the Memory Stick slot broke on the Clié. This means, I can’t leave the expansion memory in the device (like I always do) nor can I access the data and applications on it without having to hold it in place with my fingers.

Oh, did I mention that Sony, after their merger with Ericsson, decided to discontinue their PDA line? This means that there won’t be any support for my device from the company.

Oh, did I also mention that its Lithium-Ion battery was starting to die? At some point, the device’s battery life dropped from a monthly or weekly charge cycle to an almost daily regimen. Since I couldn’t buy a replacement from Sony, I decided to just live with it. Late last night, for some odd reason, I did some research and found a place where I could buy a higher-capacity replacement battery for my baby that cost around US$30+tax/shipping.

I had almost decided to order the thing when this latest problem occurred. Now I’m thinking that this may be the death knell that’s getting louder and louder for my little baby. Unfortunately, thanks to the PDA manufacturers’ move away from the super-efficient PalmOS to the clunky Winblows Mobile OS as well as the move to PDA-phone hybrids, I couldn’t find any that suited my needs.

Oh well. I guess I’ll stick to my Sony Clié NX80 until it decides to completely stop working… so here’s to another 4 years (perhaps a way to open the device will come to me so that I can fix it —wishful thinking? maybe… but I’m not about to give up on it yet).

If you’ve read this far, I commend and thank you for bearing with my rants… now go out there and get a life.

Coming this fall on US television airwaves is the Bionic Woman, a new show about a woman who is severely injured after an accident left her crippled and given mechanical enhancements that grant her super strength, speed, and hearing. The new Bionic Woman is a reimagining of the 1976 spin-off series from the Six Million Dollar Man which starred Lindsay Wagner as the title character.

The 1976 Bionic Woman:
Jaime Sommers (played by Lindsay Wagner) is a tennis pro who suffers severe bodily trauma after a skydiving accident. The government steps in and saves her life by replacing her damaged arm & both legs with bionics (mechanical) limbs much like Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man. However, unlike her male counterpart, both her eyes were undamaged however one of her ears was irreparably damaged so it was replaced by more bionics that gave her enhanced hearing.

After she recovers, in the guise of a schoolteacher, she becomes an agent for O.S.I., the secret government agency Steve Austin works for and is tasked to combat spies, mad scientists, and paranormal creatures.

The New Bionic Woman:
The new Bionic Woman is bartender Jamie Sommers (played by relative newcomer Michelle Ryan) who is a bartender with a rebellious deaf teenage sister Becca and Dr. Anthony Anthros for a boyfriend.

When Jamie is severly injured in a car accident with Anthony, he uses his government connections to take her to their secret installation. There, without his superiors’ approval, he rebuilt Jamie with bionics technology his father pioneered.

Like the original 1976 series, the new Bionic Woman also sports one bionic ear, a pair of bionic legs, and one bionic arm. However, unlike her predecessor, the new version also has a bionic right eye with much more than telescopic or nightvision enhancements. Note that the bionic enhancements in the new series goes beyond mechanical limbs and devices but also has some kind of nanomachines which also gaves Jamie almost instantaneous healing (like the TV series Jake 2.0 had).

She recovers in record time, refuses to join the organization that gave her a new lease on life, escapes the government installation, and is hunted by a mysterious force that forces her to compromise with her government benefactors.

The Pilot Verdict:
I guess it was understandable that the simplistic plot of the mid-70s needed to be punched up to satisfy a more demanding modern audience but I think they went too far. The first episode or ‘pilot’ is supposed to set the stage for the entire series, introducing the audience to the hero (or heroine in this case), her supporting cast, and her opponents or antagonists (if any). Although the pilot did provide all of the groundwork for the series, I think they put too many complex plot points in the story, much along the lines of highly successful series like 24, Lost, and Heroes.

Aside from those I’ve already mentioned, the series’ cast of characters also includes the government organization’s boss Jonas (played by Miguel Ferrer from TV’s Crossing Jordan), his assistant & profiler Ruth (played by Molly Price from TV’s Third Watch), their troubleshooter/field operative Jay/Jake (played by Will Yun Lee, Kirigi in the Elektra movie & from TV’s Witchblade series), and the mysterious Sarah (played by Katee Sackhoff, who is Starbuck in the new Battlestar Galactica series).

Sarah, the villain of the pilot appeared to be another bionic woman who shared an intimate relationship with Jay/Jake in the past and with the government’s experimental bionics program. Add what seemed to be a more involved backstory with Dr. Anthros‘ father which hopefully will be revealed in the series. There also seems to be some mysterious past to our heroine… so it’s pretty convoluted if you ask me.

At least her enhanced speed is now shown as a blur of speed rather than in slow motion.

The Bottom Line:
Although it’s great to see a series from the 70s remade for the Information Age, I just feel they messed with the formula too much. It was as simple as a superhuman female who works for the government to save the day. Now it’s a girl with a past, trying to support her rebellious deaf teenaged sister, who’s resisting working for the government who saved her life and gave her bionic implants and is connected to a villainous bionic woman…. and it goes on… trust me… it’s complicated. Maybe overcomplicated.

So, I’m not really as excited about the series as back when I originally heard about it. Here’s hoping that it can at least last an entire season on NBC. I just find it strange that an actress (Katee Sackhoff) could work on two television series at the same time…. maybe she’s just a recurring character. I guess we’ll see in a month or so.

After 3 years since the first Chronicles of Narnia feature film, a sequel is coming to the silver screens next summer. Based on C.S. Lewis‘ novel entitled "Prince Caspian", the children find their way back to the mythical world of Narnia but far into the land’s future where Narnia is now ruled by an evil king who usurped the throne from its rightful heir, Prince Caspian. It’s upto the children: Peter, Susan, Edmund, & Lucy to save the day once again and find a way home.

Visionary director Andrew Adamson is back at the helm to continue the adventure from 2005’s "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe". All four young actors from the first film reprise their role of the Pevensie siblings as well as Liam Neeson who provides Aslan’s voice once again. The film was shot in beautiful New Zealand (where the Lord of the Rings Trilogy was made) and WETA once again provides the special effects.

Another great tidbit I found is that the third Chronicles of Narnia  book, "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" is slated for a summer 2009 release. It looks like the two movies were made back to back, most likely to ensure that the children don’t age too drastically (as is evident on the Harry Potter films). In this film, Prince Caspian continues his adventure with the children on a sea voyage. However, it’s strange that another director, Michael Apted, is credited with the third film.

I’m just so happy that a fine adventure book series is finally getting its rightful attention. At least I have another film to look forward to next year. I can’t wait!

I was going around the net checking out what cool gadgets are out there and I came across something called the Pepper Pad 3. It’s basically a portable computer tablet with a touch screen & thumb keys that’s being sold for between US$650-700.

The device is roughly 11.4 x 5.9 x 0.9 (width x height x thick) inches and weighs roughly 2 lbs. It runs on a AMD Geode LX800 processor with 256MB of SDRAM with a 20GB HDD and a 800 x 480 WVGA screen resolution. It sports a custom version of the Linux Operating System and a proprietary desktop interface. Oh, did I mention it has built-in WiFi, Bluetooth, & IR wireless connectivity, as well as speakers, a webcam & a microphone.

It is designed as a multimedia system, allowing you to view various video formats as well as listen to music. It is also an Internet device, sporting a version of Mozilla Firefox, an online messaging program for AOL (but a Yahoo compatible program can be installed), and email support. It also has a PDF & eBook reader, text entry software, and games.

It’s a shame though that it looks… well, odd… much like an oversized bowtie… the small hard drive was also unfortunate as well as the lack of a memory card reader (of course the USB ports should allow access to one). Unfortunately, the small HDD and memory is a bit of a turn-off for me.

The great thing about this little device is that it runs on Linux which means it’s blazing fast and it can be upgraded with a ton of available software. Someone even successfully installed a web, PHP, and database server among other useful utilities. The possibilities are endless.

Of course, US$650 is a lot of cash to spend on another toy. However, it is much cheaper than a notebook computer and pretty small and lightweight as well. I guess I’ll give it a few more months since we know how quickly high-tech devices’ prices drop & become obsolete. Incidentally, the first generation of the Pepper Pad actually cost upwards of US$850 when it first came out… besides, I’m not in a hurry.

Yesterday, a road bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota came crashing down into the Mississippi River while cars were crossing it. Earlier today, it has been confirmed that 5 people have been killed and countless others injured.

A report as far back as 2001 indicated that the bridge had various faults, however these faults were considered not enough of a reason to close down the bridge or begin building a replacement.

The reason I brought this up is that most of us have driven on a bridge or elevated roadway at one point or another… and we’ve never considered how safe we are when we drive over these amazing man-made structures.

Does this mean we should worry about something we can’t control? Absolutely not…. that’ll just make you overly paranoid and turn you into a shut-in, afraid of all the dangers of the outside world. One survivor said that he has taken steps to use maps to find routes that will avoid any bridges in the future… impractical, but quite understandable considering the trauma something like this could cause.

The basic thing is that we should be mindful that these structures could potentially fail and that it’s upto us to keep our government contractors honest and keep everyone safe. Besides, considering how fast I drive, the time I spend on these bridges gets cut down considerably.

Until later, may the Lords of Luck smile on you and drive safely!

I just checked out how much Transformers: The Movie has made over the past 4 weeks in the US and I am happy to report that it has broken the US$280M mark.

So here’s a breakdown of some high-profile films this past year and how much money they’ve made to date:
("Film Title": US$### Million to date / reported budget (# weeks))

• "The Simpsons": $74.03M / $75M (1)
• "Harry Potter 5": $242.43M / $150M (3)
• "Transformers": $284.67M / $150M (4)
• "Ratatouille": $179.90M / $150M (5)
• "Die Hard 4": $125.39M / $110M (5)
• "Fantastic Four 2": $129.75M / $130M (7)
• "Pirates of the Carribean 3": $306.88M / $150M (10)
• "Shrek 3": $319.83M  / $160M(11)
• "Spider-man 3": $336.02M / $258M (13)

It’s quite obvious that the latest Harry Potter film is a huge success. This is primarily thanks to it’s broader audience base (accessible to both girls & boys of all ages) since the robot themed Transformers is typically associated with men & boys.

Nevertheless, I’m quite happy with the numbers and look forward to the Transformers sequel. News of next year’s superhero/action genre films have started pouring in and from the early photos of films like

• "Iron Man" (by John Favreau starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwenyth Paltrow, & Jeff Bridges) and
• "The Dark Knight" (by Chris Nowlan starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, & Heath Ledger)

things are looking good. Next year also brings us "Incredible Hulk" (by Louis Leterrier starring Ed Norton, Liv Tyler, William Hurt, & Tim Roth) but has not released any publicity photos. This film has so much potential but it has me a little worried since it follows in the footsteps of the first overly dramatic film back in 2003 directed by Ang Lee.

Most folks have probably heard of comic book heroes named Aquaman, The Flash, & Green Lantern and comic book fans would have heard of characters like The Atom, Blue Beetle, & Firestorm. All of these heroes are from publisher DC Comics who also brought us Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.

In recent years, DC Comics has been accused of killing off well known character alter egos just for the sake of allowing their titles to start from scratch and gain new readers. DC’s current exectutive editor Dan Didio said that they’re just trying to tell interesting stories and bring a younger readership into the market.

To this end, they’ve currently been facing a backlash around the online community where some fans even have a petition to depose the man who they feel is responsible for everything that’s happened in recent years.

I guess this is bound to happen, since change is often greeted with resistance. Take Wally West’s replacement of Barry Allen (who was The Flash since 1956) back in the 80s: fans were up in arms that their Flash was killed off then replaced. Of course, even then there were a lot of people behind Wally who felt that it was his time to shine (he was after all The Flash’s sidekick, Kid Flash for quite a few decades).

A decade later, they turned Hal Jordan THE Green Lantern imho into a villain and replaced him with an unknown kid named Kyle Rayner right off the streets. It’s safe to say that there was a major problem with this move with long time fans, talk about backlash. Here’s a completely new character stepping into a role that Hal has held since 1954, like myself most people didn’t like the new kid simply because he wasn’t the character I grew up with. Nevertheless, in time, Kyle gained his own fanbase once people gave him a chance and the writers were got a chance to make him multidimensional.

Years later, they allowed Jim Corrigan then The Spectre (essentially God’s Spirit of Vengeance) to ‘ascend’ and redeemed Hal by allowing him to take on the role of The Spectre, the Spirit of Redemption. A year later, let him come back to his rightful role as the Green Lantern once he understood that he needed to forgive himself before others can learn to forgive him. The Spectre’s burden was then passed on to a long-time Gotham City Police Department detective named Crispus Allen, so again, there wasn’t a huge uproar (well, not as big as it could have been since Crispus has been around, at least in Batman’s books for a while).

Fast-forward to 2005 and 2006, where it’s not surprising when a ton of folks got angry once a kid named Jason Rusch who came out of nowhere and tried to step into Ronald Raymond’s Firestorm shoes (which Ronnie has worn since the character’s creation in 1978). Then, Ted Kord, the modern era Blue Beetle (since 1966) was killed off and we get yet another young newcomer Jaime Reyes filling in. Finally, we have yet another unknown, Ryan Choi who took over as The Atom when Ray Palmer (who was The Atom since 1961) disappeared after his wife murdered his friend & fellow hero’s wife.

Don’t even get me started on Aquaman who’s been recently replaced with a young water-breather named Arthur Curry but he’s not related to the original Orin / Arthur Curry / Aquaman we’ve grown up with (since 1941).

Now consider that all of these changes happened in the span of a couple of years and you’ll understand why so many fans are up in arms.

Naturally there’s something to be said about shaking things up in the hopes of making the characters better and drawing new readers but all of these recent changes feel forced. Now add the fact that these recent replacements are all members of the minority (specifically: Rusch, an African American; Reyes, a Latino; and Choi, an Asian). Is all this just a move to say that the DCU is an ethnically diverse fictional world? Perhaps not intentionally, but this is how it feels to a lot of people.

As for myself, I have kept an open mind with regard to these changes and still buy and read some of these revamped titles. For the most part, some of the stories are pretty good and I have warmed up to all three new characters.

For those of you who read this far… thanks for reading my rants.

I’ve finally watched the third & final 1973 pilot movie for the Six Million Dollar Man so I’m continuing my breakdown from yesterday’s blog entry: Six Million Dollar Nostalgia, part 2. The three main cast members are present with Lee Majors (reprising the title role), Richard Anderson (as OSI Director Oscar Goldman), and Alan Oppenheimer (who reprises the role of bionics expert Dr. Rudy Wells from the 2nd movie).

Well, hold on to your horses since this is a pretty convoluted action-adventure spy plot. Here are some of the key points:

• a US Ambassador gets kidnapped for ransom by a mysterious organization’s Agent Peck (played by character actor & often antagonist John Vernon);
• Steve is sent to rescue the Ambassador in Mexico’s Aztec pyramids, Agent Peck sees the Bionic Man in action;
• Agent Peck’s rival, Agent Ventris successfully completes a kidnap of a high-profile diplomat right under OSI Director Oscar Goldman’s nose, so Peck eliminates Ventris and takes over his operation;
• using an experimental procedure created by OSI scientist Dr. Erica Bergner transplants the dead enemy agent’s memories into her own mind, allowing her to see glimpses of Agent Ventris‘ memories and leading them to Switzerland;
• the billion dollar ransom in gold is shipped with one disguised OSI agent in tow while Steve & Erica investigate, leading them to a Contessa the missing diplomat knew;
• Rudy learns that something was wrong with the memory transplant procedure but Oscar doesn’t pull the plug on the operation;
• Steve convinces the Contessa to help her turn the tables on Peck and captures him while Erica’s mental condition worsens;
• Steve tracks the kidnappers to their hideout on a freighter at the docks while Oscar learns that the gold was gone without their OSI agent noticing;
• in the end, the bad guys are stopped, the diplomat rescued, the scientist  recovers, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Well, this one was a far cry from the 2nd movie plot wise, even though it had the same formula: devious villains, beautiful women, and lots of action. The problem was that some of the action sequences didn’t make sense (like the boat chase –since he was a guest of the Contessa why did he have to make an ‘escape’?).

There were quite a few problems with the plot (like how Steve suddenly learns the name of his nemesis, Peck) but there was an attempt to insert a little bit of humor into the movie. Naturally, this movie wasn’t without the usual stock footage though it’s not as bad as the amount used in its predecessors. Add to this a bunch of henchmen who can’t seem to hit what they’re aiming for and you get an idea of how the movie stacks up.

Oh, did I mention there was a kind of shoop-shoop song at the end with the line "He’s a six million dollar man…" sung in harmony… hahah…. also, the bionic sound-effects are strangely missing from this movie (not to mention the first few episodes of the 1974 series that I’ve seen thus far).

Well, it’s still good enough as a popcorn movie and the Bionic Man does get to flex his muscles quite a lot so it’s not horrible. Mildly watchable would be my grade. Next up, if the writing bug bites, I’ll be covering the first season of the television series which these movies led up to (much like how several made for TV movies entitled "The Legendary Journeys of Hercules" with Kevin Sorbo eventually turned into a successful ongoing series) but mostly as a whole and not in so much detail.

Until then, here’s hoping the new Bionic Woman TV series which airs this fall on NBC lives up to the fans’ expectations… or at the very least breathes new life into this nostalgic franchise. Incidentally, there’s also a rumored Six Million Dollar Man movie in the works with Jim Carey attached but it’s a comedy (since six million dollars doesn’t buy as much today as it did back in the early 70s). I guess time will tell if either of these will be any good.

Here’s hoping!

Well, I just got around to watching the second Six Million Dollar Man TV movie from 1973 and have come back for a little summary and review, continuing my Six Million Dollar Nostalgia, part 1 blog entry.

The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women, and War
The 2nd story details Steve Austin, the bionically enhanced title character, getting into a secret mission from OSI’s director Oscar Goldman (played by Richard Anderson through to the television series). The first thing that you’ll notice about the movie is that it feels very similar to a James Bond adventure, complete with an arms dealler-villain with grand plans, beautiful women, and Russian spies.

Of note, the story is written by none other than TV super-scribe, creator, and producer Glen A. Larson (the man who gave us cult 80s shows like Battlestra Galactica, Buck Rogers, Magnum P.I., Knight Rider, & another Lee Majors series Fall Guy just to name a few). Oh, in this movie, his good friend Dr. Rudy Wells (played by a different actor than from the first movie) appears again but in a minor supporting role.

In a nutshell:

• Steve is sent off overseas to steal something from an internal arms dealer’s safe and in the process of planning the caper, falls in love with his contact;
• the mission is a bust and he is injured while escaping;
• he is brought back to America and nursed back to health by his friend Dr. Wells;
• he is later told that the woman he left behind was dead probably killed by the arms dealer in an attempt to extract information from her;
• Oscar asks Steve to go on a follow-up mission but refuses to give him all the details of why it’s so important so he refuses, and learns that hightened emotional states cause his bionics to supercharge;
• Steve escapes  house arrest to a tropical island where his friend had a place… unbeknownst to him, his friend Harry (played by veteran actor Earl Holliman) was also working for Oscar & OSI;
• in the island, he meets an old Cosmonaut friend Alexi (played by another veteran actor David McCullum who was The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the original Invisible Man) who just happens to be in chummy with the arms dealer (who Steve never encountered during his failed mission);
• then Steve gets kidnapped, and eventually escapes;
• he later learns that Harry & Oscar had tricked him and reluctantly continued the mission, tracking the arms dealer to his secret lair and learns his plot to steal a US nuclear submarine;
• in the end, Steve thwarts the villain’s plans, escapes the lair with Alexi’s beautiful assistant, and destroys the lair with a big boom.

As you can see, this sequel had a lot more going for it than its predecessor thanks to a well-crafted plot. Of course, this didn’t mean that it didn’t have a whole lot of stock footage (establishing shots of port cities, shark-filled waters, and even clips from the previous movie)… hahah…. I guess this is how they cut the budget back in those days. If only the stock footage looked the same as the new ones, most of the time, it’s easy to tell when they’ve cut to it… but I’m nitpicking.

There were quite a few scenes with actor Lee Majors running around without his shirt, showing off his hairy chest in really short shorts. Hahahah, I guess it’s funny since most ladies nowadays will find this a real turn-off. This kind of reminded me of the beach scene with Sean Connery from Dr. No. There’s even a scene early in the movie where Steve Austin reverses his dinner jacket, turning it into a wetsuit before he jumped into the water, so I’m sure Mr. Larson was inspired by the Bond films in some form but with the bionic man not needing any gadgets to aid him.

Needless to say, I actually enjoyed this movie. I even learned that the Six Million Dollar Man’s left eye had nightvision aside from his telescopic vision! The term ‘bionic’ was actually used this time around and the memorable sound-effect whenever he used his strength was used (and there were much more scenes where he used his abilities this time around). Oh, almost forgot that in this movie, he’s also given a title and is referred to as "Colonel Steve Austin", something that would eventually carry over into the TV series.

Naturally there are some moments in the movie that will have you scratching your head but they are few and far between. So, if you’re a fan of nostalgia TV and escapist fare, this movie is a must see. If you’re a Six Million Dollar Man fan, then this is a can’t miss movie.