KOREAN DICTATOR

My Apple Experience

2007-07-08T17:54:00.000-05:00

So my wife's new laptop of 4 months had it's battery die on Saturday. Apparently this is very common with Apple laptops. I proceeded to schedule a reservation with the Genius Bar for Sunday at 4:45. I think its hilarious that its called a Genius Bar and its staffed the same way that Whole Foods and Amy's Ice Cream staff their stores. And if you have been in any of those stores you'd realize the staff that stuffs your bag with groceries and puts two scoops of Mexican Vanilla in your cup could be a prime example of reverse evolution.

The wait was 30 minutes to get a seat at the bar with a reservation. Then once I was up there the guy that was helping me constantly would move conversation from me to the next guy beside me. I had no ideal who he was directing questions to half the time other than the slight iphone reference. Quick iphone story... The bar was filled with people having issues syncing their iphones, needing a replacement iphone, etc...Anyways, I had this "brotha" help me out while constantly using the word slick and cool. I felt I was in a new remake version of The Warriors. After it was said and done it took close to an 2 hours to get a new battery. Going into an Apple store is liking going into a Ryan's on a Sunday after church. It's packed, loud, and the wierdest people come out the woodworks to have that moment with technology similar to when ET fingered Elliot's finger. That didn't come out right. Well you got the point. This is your warning when you take your hardware in for repair. Get ready for a mind blowing experience.

Live Free of Die Hard

2007-02-09T21:31:00.000-06:00

Alfonso Cuaron is awesome. Children of Men is a ride from beginning to end and keeps you in all the action that happens. There are just some great action sequences and explosions that aren't over the top...in fact I would say the action has a lot of the same feel as Saving Private Ryan, albeit with less limb loss and explosions. The movie has a very dark human tone. As my friend P-Mart would say, "It's so black it's bleak." Check it out yo!

Personality Tests

2007-01-07T15:46:00.000-06:00

I was reading my buddie's blog on his personality test so I decided to take one too. I guess it's the North Korean in me.

Dictator- ENTJ

60% Extraversion, 60% Intuition, 60% Thinking, 60% Judging

Have you no soul? It's clear you have no heart and that your blood runs cold, but really, do you have even one redeeming factor?

Sure. You're a natural born leader. So was Hitler. You just don't like people, do you?

You don't play games. You take charge. And there's very little room for mistakes in your world. You're forceful, intimidating and overbearing.

Heard of the word "patience?" Trust me, it's a word and it's something you're sorely lacking. Believe it or not, you're not always right. Learn to have some patience for those who think differently from you, knobflap.

From the way people's knees knock when they see you, you should have realised by now that you're not exactly a "people-person." You're more of a "people-eater." You just ain't tuned into people's feelings and probably couldn't care less whether you were anyway. Maybe you're not from this planet but the rest of us are.

Sure, you're intelligent. So what? You have some semblance of power. Big deal.

At least people LIKE the rest of us.

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If you want to learn more about your personality type in a slightly less negative way, check out this.

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The other personality types are as follows...

Loner - Introverted Sensing Feeling Perceiving

Pushover - Introverted Sensing Feeling Judging

Criminal - Introverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving

Borefest - Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging

Almost Perfect - Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving

Freak - Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging

Loser - Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving

Crackpot - Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging

Clown - Extraverted Sensing Feeling Perceiving

Sap - Extraverted Sensing Feeling Judging

Commander - Extraverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving

Do Gooder - Extraverted Sensing Thinking Judging

Scumbag - Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving

Busybody - Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging

Prick - Extraverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 99% on Extraversion
You scored higher than 99% on Intuition
You scored higher than 99% on Thinking
You scored higher than 99% on Judging

Link: The Brutally Honest Personality Test written by UltimateMaster on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

The Great Googoliny!

2006-12-20T17:06:00.000-06:00

So we've updated our website at work with various kids games, etc... One of them which got our Accounting Manager stumped on a card game. I think I've probably spent about 30 minutes hitting up the games on this site. They are cheesy and old but addictive kinda like when that person you know wants to bust out a board game that no ones played in years but you find yourself sitting there after 5 hours attempting the greatest come back that board games have ever seen.

I like this one that I played. Check out the rating for both April and myself. Quite sweet and laughable at the same time. Noticed we either died together of old age or we both poisoned each other. In fact if I look hard enough she kinda looks like a he..wait a minute. Just for grins I posted some other couples that I know.

The scores get slightly worse...

...and worse

...I'm not sure but I think this is my brother's actual view on marriage.

...Paul looking at Father Time? Game on bitches!

Be the DJ

2006-12-19T11:35:00.000-06:00

check it out.

http://www.splicemusic.com/

It was the summer of 95

2006-12-15T09:51:00.000-06:00

and I was able to score the huge wall poster of Die Hard With a Vengeance. Good times and nothing better to bring me back to those careless days with a new trailer for Die Hard... Live Free or Die Hard

All I Want For Christmas

2006-12-14T17:42:00.000-06:00

Forget the Zune and the Ipod...though the new Shuffle is pretty cool. I want the new Cowon D2. Too bad it won't be out until after X-Mas. Check the stats:

• 2.5 inch touch screen with a resolution of 320x240 pixels and a colour depth of 16 Million Colours
• 52 hours of audio playback, 10 hours video playback
• 37+37 mW @ 16 Ohm of output power that will kill your eardrums
• MP3, WMA, WAV,OGG, FLAC - Podcast support
• Available in 2GB and 4GB - supports SD cards with up to 4GB
• Dimensions: 78.0 x 55.4 x 16.6 mm; Weight: 91g
• TV-Out

still sick...

2006-12-13T17:42:00.000-06:00

going on about 4 days with this sickness...hopefully it ends by the week so I can do the same thing I'm doing right now but without the sweats.

this looks like my buddy Shawn if he was a cool stop motion drummer/keyboardist.

I knew it...

2006-12-12T22:20:00.000-06:00

A guy that has come over our house several times and has always been creepy to me...who is also a member of our church and part of the choir...and most recently he was at my house on Sunday has been arrested. Read this...it will fucking blow your mind.

http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=5798634

http://www.kvue.com/news/koski/stories/121106kvuemathteacher-cb.1a4f860b.html

http://keyetv.com/local/local_story_346094207.html

also I forgot to mention I've actually been to his house. I should have known there was something creepy with a vhs collection of meangirls, sleepover, and other girl starred children's movies. I'm not making this shit up. It's blowing my mind as I speak. On a side note, he also had framed pictures of unicorns and rainbows. Once again I am not making this shit up and it's blowing my mind as I speak it...again.

I Heart Dollar Tree

2006-12-10T10:45:00.000-06:00

I'm sick today...think I caught the bird flu at the Dollar Tree. I bought 20 dollars of shit there. That's a lot of shit. My friends were laughing but I saw you with that bag of pork rinds Mr. Martinez.

Needless to say, if you are reading this Dollar Tree Execs, please hire my Mexican buddy for commericials. He went through every isle exclaiming, "This can't really be a dollar!" while other shoppers were looking on in disgust.

Gotta represent the Korean comics. Here's one for ya:

TV Sets

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The Fountain : A Space Odyssey

2006-12-09T12:52:00.000-06:00

Saw it last night at the Drafthouse. I personally loved it.

The movie is about an obsessed doctor named Tommy looking for a cure for his dying love Isabel. Now, it could have been the 3 heavy New Belgium Beers that helped my buzz to enjoy the visuals or the movie's soundtrack which was haunting and fitting to the overall pace of the film. It's artsy. So don't be surprised to see eastern philosophy thrown in as well and the movie sometimes feeling choppy. Reviewers have said that it's a very abstract and philosophical movie with stunning visuals.

The visuals are good for a low budget sci-fi/love movie. They do however get grand at the film's climax as the music does.

Past (which is written story by his dying Isabel) present (which is hacked up - one was real - the other written by Tommy - You'll understand once it gets to the ending) and the future (which I believe is real in the movie and is the basis of telling the two other stories) all collide together from beginning to end.

It makes you think about not taking your life and the ones you love for granted while it's still there. Needless to say at the end of the movie everyone stayed in their seats for about 3-5 minutes just soaking it in. I heard about 4-5 people laugh which didn't surprise me. For having the Sci-fi in it the movie is very cold and real feeling and it's all the sadness that death is. If you see this don't expect to be blown away by the visuals or think that it's supposed to be this generations 2001. It's a love story about hope, neglect, life and death presented in a very beautifully shot film. If you want to see something completely different and don't want to see another holiday movie about youth hijinks ,talking animated penguins, or watching an aging depressing actor put on boxing gloves again (though I'd like to see all those put into 1 movie) check this movie out. Then go get some Cold Stone Ice Cream and sit in bed with your loved one when you get home.

WallyChamp is heading back

2006-12-09T11:56:00.000-06:00

got a message on my myspace account that read, "I'm in."

We're glad to see you back Mr. Todd. Commence the drinkin'.

Wii don't want the PS3 baby

2006-12-08T14:58:00.000-06:00

It's got a "cell" supercomputer processor, a high storage "blu-ray" drive, and a "reality synthesizer" graphics card.

Ooooh. Ahhhh.

The "emotion engine" was the second coming also. Betamax, MiniDisc, UMD, etc, etc. Every technology has it's pluses and minuses, and in this case Sony has (arguably) built a very capable media system. The problem is that they've only built an adequate GAMING system when you consider what the gaming public expects next-gen to be at this price point.

In the long run, it doesn't matter that the game experience the PS3 provides is comparable to the competition. Millions of PS2 owners haven't been burned by Sony's "promises" (like most of the hardcore and gaming press have) and see only the step up in horsepower the PS3 provides over it's predecessor... Units will sell and sell for the foreseeable future (if only for hopes of eBay profiteering) as fast as Sony can produce them (for now).

In case you didn't know... the PC processor you're using right now is most likely more powerful than the "cell" processor (and Xenon for that matter). BluRay? Uses a 10+ year old codec. It's akin to saving ".wav" files to your iPod instead of MP3's...a waste at no visible quality improvement over the competition. RSX? Pretty decent upgrade, but no unified shader pipeline...

Programmers can only do so much with the system they're given, and (bottlenecks aside) there are just too many hoops to jump through to get performance out of the PS3 when compared directly to the 360.

Sony's a big guy waving a sword. Microsoft is Indiana Jones with a gun in holster.

RIP James Kim

2006-12-07T21:23:00.000-06:00

James Kim's video review ultimately helped me decide on my Cowon A2 player when I was looking for a new audio/video device that I could take on trips. At the time I was like, "Wow, a Korean talking about a Korean gadget and he's not an Apple fanboy." How cool is that. He's reviewed several other cool gadgets and is dead on about his reviews.

He died Wednesday of hypothermia in the Oregon wilderness looking for help while his two children and wife stayed back in the car fighting the frostbite. You'll be missed.

The following link shows the path that he took and where the car was using Google Earth.

http://www.layoutscene.com/james%2Dkim%2Dpath/

Sony, look to the Apple.

2006-11-26T11:19:00.000-06:00

Sony seriously needs to look at working out some type of deal with Apple for their PS3 gaming system. With Microsoft's launch of downloadable television and movies this is an important but vital step in ensuring the fact that Microsoft doesn't care about Blu-Ray and why you shouldn't either. Microsoft has already pushed the datacom industry in the direction of more bandwidth. TimeWarner and Comcast are both looking at 20 meg lines residentially and possibly 100meg in 5 years. We'll see. However with all the hub bub over Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, Microsoft is slowly putting in their trojan horses and laughing to the bank. They've launched the Zune and have inked exclusive deals with MTV and CBS. Does anyone not see this huge media center domination waiting to take effect? I like my ipod alot. However its purely a music player for me and really has no extension to any of the other electronics I own besides some Xbox compatibility, though it is very weak. The Zune is launched with Xbox 360 compatibility. Downloadable music, television, and movies, with HD too.

I honestly believe for Sony to stay afloat they should make some attempt to partner with Apple...or hell maybe Apple should buy Sony out and attempt to compete against Microsoft's home media coup. Anything to keep all the gamers happy by keeping games and consoles priced competively.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of fanboys that will continue to support the PS3 but for how long. Developers are already stating that the texturing is horrible compared to doing textures on the 360. Ports might take up to 3 years for the PS3. How long will you fanboys support your system?

This is why Sony and Apple belong together. Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating either company. I had a 36inch Sony CRT that lasted about 10 years and still can be found weighing in at 300 pounds at a buddy's house. I also had a Sony Vaio that was a great pc for about 3 years. I've had a PS1 and a PS2 and loved the games for the PS2. I currently own a 20 inch IMac and have a generation 4 Ipod but use my Cowon A2 for all music and video. I do love my IMac though over my PC. But this type of pretention held by Sony fanboys can only be teamed up with the type of pretention that Apple lovers have. You fanboys can then enjoy your Ipods with your PS3 while sipping your Starbucks, listening to the newest Indie jam, and driving your VW Jetta while putting together your Ikea furniture.

Check out some interesting links regarding the PS3 http://www.thepcspy.com/blog/how_sony_screwed_up

Bad Hangover, Brutal Shits

2006-11-26T11:05:00.000-06:00

My tolerance for alcohol is at an all-time low. I had 5 beers last night at BB Rovers with my wife, bro, Aron, and Ecta and afterwards went to the usual hangover cure stop, the Whataburger. I had 3 Taquitos and a large Coke. Approximately 3 hours from that point I woke up and had what I can only describe as the shit that would put the stuff you see in the Saw movies to shame. I was sweating and delirious from what had to been poisoned taquitos.

Why do I believe I was poisoned? Well it all goes back to when the wife decided to make me change the taquitos at the drivethru window to no cheese. The lady looked pissed that I requested this most undaunting task. 5 minutes later I received my taquitos. Needless to say I'm sure someone rubbed one off into the mix.

Anyways, Discovery's Supervolcanos have their work cut out for them. Now top that.

The Life & Wife

2006-11-15T08:02:00.000-06:00

I purchased a bed from http://www.bragada.com that's comparable to a 3k Temperapedic bed. I can honestly say that I've had the best sleep on a bed ever. I wake up not groggy and I stay asleep all night. The only thing that would make it better would be to push the snoring lump next to me out of the bed so I could have some more room to enjoy my heavenly foam.

Wedding is done and over and now I'm building my Taj Mahal though my Taj contains slightly cheaper flooring and several thousand less square footage. I do however have an asian slave cleaning it daily. Haha, I digress.

Paul and I have been playing Gears of War for the XBOX 360. Awesome game if you haven't played it. I strongly encourage picking this up whenever you can hide some money from your wife/girlfriend or save enough scrap slaving for "da man."

The H is now a certified Guitar Hero. He's been seen touring the local Fry's and EB Games as well as making an appearance at my house. I suspect he'll be playing the big show (Toys R Us) in front of drooling kids as he sashays and bedazzles the living lights out of them with his 5 colored button smashing Van Halen style. Play on playa!

Thanks everyone for coming to the wedding. It was a small one (roughly 30 peeps) so if you weren't invited don't get offended. Personally it would have been bigger if my wife actually had more than 2 friends. Haha that's my second jab at her and officially the 3rd jab overall on the Kwon side. Bang Bang.

April kept her last name so it was truly an honor when then officially announced us for the first time again as Mr. Troy Kyle and Mrs. April Kwon. The worst part was the after effects. For example Scotts Lawn Service stopped by to do a courtesy lawn quote. They left a note that said, " Mr. Kwon - Stopped by to give you this - please call us to schedule..." Mutha!