No Room for Schizoid Ball Hog

Kobe wants to be traded. No... wait... he loves playing on the Lakers. He wants to be traded again!

This kind of flip-flopping news worries me a little because one of the teams that's always in the rumors is Chicago. I'm confident that John Paxson sees the light in all of this and will opt to keep the Bull's core players intact. I think he'll stick to his no-ego mindset. Bryant is a better player on paper than any Bull, but teamwork and chemistry are the most valuable asset. It's through those 2 things that the Bulls made it into the 2nd round. Bryant's Lakers barely slithered their way into the playoffs. The Bulls chemistry is not worth disrupting... not for Gasol, not for KG and not for Bryant. There's only one player I would involve in a blockbuster trade and he's not available for the next 2 years. I have faith in Paxson, but the thing that worries me is Jerry Reinsdorf (half of the Jerries that sabotaged a 10-year Bull's Dynasty) is still around.

How about sending Kobe to the Knicks so we can kick his ass 4 times a year!? Or better yet... send him to Pluto and he can have the ball all to himself.

May 2007 Macbook

I'm primarily a PC guy, so I feel a little weird posting my first hardware review about a Mac, but that's timing for you! Apple just released an upgraded Macbook last week (clock speeds from 2-2.16 Ghz), so I'm going to write about the configuration I would buy if I was ready to get one of these today. This model is a nice portable laptop with a lot of multimedia versatility. The Macbook is lightweight and is a comfortable size to carry around and work on.

Up the middle: Of the 3 models, it's best to choose the one in the middle. The entry model doesn't have a DVD burner. I normally don't configure DVD burners for laptops, but in the case of a Mac, I guarantee that you'll be making DVDs. iMovie and iDVD are great programs that output professional looking DVDs. Unless you're religiously obsessed with the black one, it's not worth the money. You'd be paying $124 extra just for the color alone. And remember... white material dissipates heat better than black.

Max out the RAM: My rule with laptops is to always either max out the RAM or max out one slot and keep one empty. If you fill both slots and want to upgrade later, you have to throw out your 2 old modules and buy 2 completely new ones. Maxing out might sound like it's overboard, but if you want your laptop to last for many years, you will eventually need the memory as you upgrade your OS and install new programs. Any why not have the memory right from the beginning so that you have it for the full life of your system rather than when it's on the way to it's death! In the Macbook's case, there are only 2 options... 2 x 512 MB modules (1 GB total) OR 2 1 GB modules (2 GB total). Go for the 2 GB option. Another noteworthy thing about Mac laptops is they're not as easy to upgrade as PCs. You may need to have it professionally installed... another reason to get it all right away.

Slow HDD, but no choice: There's no 7200 rpm hard drive available for the Macbook, so I would just go ahead and pick the 120 GB one. That's plenty of space for a laptop.

That's pretty much it. I just boosted the RAM from the default configuration. It comes out to $1474, which is pretty good for a Mac.

Tip: If you want a Mac that's any configuration other than the default, it's best to order it from the Apple website. Most stores will charge you for the default configuration. Then charge extra for the upgrade component plus installation fees. This was the case when I was about to buy a Mac Mini from the Soho Apple Store. They would sell me the default with 2 512 MB RAM modules. I would pay full price for the 2 1 GB modules and an installation fee. So I would've paid for 4 modules total (only 2 of which I could use). If you buy from the Website, it's custom built and you pay only for the final configuration.

Introduction to MLB

I started watching baseball around 1985 as a child. I got hooked on the Mets because that's the team my dad was watching at the time. Most of my friends were also Mets fans. They were especially fun to watch in 1986, but after the breakup of the championship team, the Mets got worse year by year. I was a huge baseball fan during this period of my life. Although I mostly followed the Mets, I watched every televised game and pretty much knew all players on all teams thanks to the baseball card culture.

I was still a Mets fan in the late 80's, but was also following teams that had former Mets, especially the Phillies and Lenny Dykstra. He was one of my favorite Mets players because of his amazing diving catches. By 1990 I started following the Phillies more than the Mets. I was a Phillies fan through thick and thin as I watched them finish in last place in 1991. they climbed to 4th place in 1992 with a strong finish in the last few games. Then they made the world series in 1993.

The strike in 1994 had a huge impact on me. I really missed baseball at first, but got used to not watching it. When play resumed, many teams were reconfigured and hard to follow. I just wasn't into it and didn't watch baseball for many years... until the homerun race of 1998. MLB did a great job of marketing Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa during their assault on Roger Maris' record. I started following the Cubs and Cardinals games, but also started watching the local Yankees who were dominating everyone.

I started to follow the Yankees more and more each year. They were a team without stars at the time. I enjoyed watching them for the teamwork and the culture that Joe Torre imposed on the players. The Yankees were and still are a close-knit team. They're for the most part low-key, sportsman-like and professional. I'm a Yankees fan primarily because of the personality makeup of the team and not because they're made up of future hall of famers. My return to baseball might have in part been responsible by the retirement of Michael Jordan as well. Something about Derek Jeter of the Yankees made it feel like watching Michael Jordan. Although his numbers aren't as dominant as Jordan's stats in his sport, the spirit was there. Like Jordan, Jeter is an all-around good guy that leads his team by example. He also seems to have that mysterious gene that boosts all athletic abilities in the wake of pressure.

So for the purpose of this blog, my baseball posts in this section will primarily be following the New York Yankees.

College Saga by Mark Leung

I remember the day that I was first introduced to College Saga. I was IMing with Charlene and she sent over a link to check out at YouTube. I clicked on it because the last one she sent me was pretty funny (a live action Super Mario Bros. imitation). The first thing I noticed was the length of the video... 40+ min. I nearly AIMed back, "cool... I'll check it out later," but it was so addicting. Every minute of this movie was clever and humorous. It pays homage to several video game classics, including Final Fantasy, Zelda and Super Mario Bros.

College Saga is a live action video game with an RPG theme. With the help of Jesus Garbayo and Maria Garcia, Mark Leung must stop Diculous from spreading the deadly disease of vegetaria. Like video game RPGs, the quest is filled with clues that fit together, exciting battle sequences, bosses and cinema scenes. The college setting and current events references were thought out pieced together nicely into the main story.

This is not just one of those stupid fun videos either. College Saga was produced by a very talented Mark Leung. The CG effects are clean and blended in well with the live action. The clips were shot well and edited together at a professional level.

Hopefully there's a lot more to come from Mark Leung. Definitely look for this name in Hollywood when he gets out of school!

Related Links: College Saga (official site), Full Length College Saga Movie @ YouTube, Mark Leung's Site

The Surprise-a-Bulls

Getting eliminated by Detroit was extremely frustrating. I thought this was a team the Bulls should beat. They've matched up well against Detroit even with the losses in the past 2 years. I felt like the Bulls lost it because they were a little tense during some of the games. Detroit didn't play particularly well with the exception on game 1. They made lots of turnovers, committed fouls and shot a low percentage. I had faith in Chicago even when they were down 3 games to 0. It's definitely more nerve-racking than the Jordan Years because back then it was pretty much a given. Anyway, they'll be back next year stronger than ever. Just look at what the Bulls did to the Wizards and Heat after losing playoff series to those 2 teams in the 2 previous seasons.

I just wanted to take the time to congratulate the Chicago Bulls on a great season. They have the best teamwork and work harder than anyone else out there. That's why they can consistently make the playoffs without any big stars. I'm glad the league started to notice them this year too.

All-Defensive Second Team: Kirk Hinrich & Ben Wallace

Ben Wallace is always going to be on the first or second team. No one fills up the stat sheet like he does, especially at his size. At 6'9” and with the build of a heavyweight boxer, who would ever think this guy could pass and steal the way he does? Kirk Hinrich is long overdue for this award. He's been shutting down the leagues top scorers for the past 3 years. If you're on the opposite side, you can expect a hand in your face for every shot.

Sportsmanship Award: Luol Deng

What a breakout season for Deng. He increased his PPG and percentage by giving up the 3-point shot. In my opinion, he should've been Most Improved Player as well. As with all of the Bulls Deng conducts himself off the court much like he does on the court. He's just an all around nice guy that does a lot for Chicago and for Sudan.

All-Rookie 2^nd Team: Tyrus Thomas

His minutes were limited this year otherwise he'd be on the first team. Everyone described Thomas as being “freakishly athletic.” I didn't know what that meant until this season. This guy makes what I call video game dunks. These are crazy dunks that aren't physically possible in the real world. He needs to work on his jumper and basketball strategy. Once he improves those things, he could be the Bull's answer in the paint.

Team Stats:

• #1 in rebounds
• #6 in blocks
• #4 in steals
• #2 in defensive field goal percentage
• #2 in 3-point percentage
• #9 in assists
• #1 in points off turnovers
• Best Home Record in the East

Initial D: 4th Stage

I finally got a chance to watch the 4th stage and the Initial D series continues to be exciting. I'd have to say that this is the best TV series ever when you take into consideration the challenge of coming up with original stories for street racing. Going all the way back to the 1st stage, viewers would think to themselves, "how will Takumi win this race with his underpowered AE86?" This continues to happen in every episode. And there's always a logical explanation for the outcome of each race.

As with most Japanese animation, the graphics are great. At the center of visual attention are the cars of course. They're modeled in 3-D, but have a cartoon look that matches their environment. The level of detail is amazing. The cars in the series even sound just like the real things. In an age where every car manufacturer has several nice-looking futuristic cars, Initial D really makes the old street classics compete against modern fanciness. Takumi's AE86 gets a carbon fiber hood and Keisuke's FD gets an aggressive looking wide bodykit. Opponents in this stage include Type-Rs, Miata, R34s, Evos, S2000 and more!

The music matches the action as this series continues to revive the Eurobeat genre. I have no idea what they're saying, but the Japanese rap is pretty cool too.

Related Links: Fourth Stage @ YouTube, Initial D @ Wikipedia

Adobe Photoshop CS3: New Features

I pretty much grew up on Photoshop and have been using ever since version 2.5. It amazing to see it grow over the years. I just attended a demo of Photoshop CS3 (Photoshop 10) at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store and wanted to share my notes.

Key Features

Native Intel: This is the first version of Photoshop that runs natively on the Intel Macs, which means there won’t be a performance lag for the new Macs. And there will be a noticeable boost when run on the upcoming Leopard OS.

Increased Desktop Space: Many of the toolbars and palettes were reorganized to maximize the workspace. The 2-column toolbar that we’re all used to could be toggled into a 1-column bar.

Built-in ImageReady: Isn’t it about time they did this? The ImageReady features are now built into Photoshop, so there’s no need to run 2 programs that look almost exactly the same!

Video Support: Videos can be opened and edited in Photoshop CS3. It’s not powerful, but definitely breaks the tradition!

Intelligent Tools

Auto-align Photos: When placed in layers, similar photos can be automatically aligned in one step with a fair amount of accuracy. The demo last night was done with two photos shot right in the store without a tripod.

Quick Selection: This tool does a pretty good job of distinguishing different objects in a photo (ex: person & background). The user just loosely draws and an object in the photo and the selection expands little by little. It’s similar to the magnetic lasso we use now, but more accurate.

Refine Edges: This option offers different settings for placing a cut-out selection on top of different backgrounds. So there’s a setting for placing on white and for placing on black that will get rid of the halo that sometimes occurs.

Smart Filters: This is a non-destructive way of applying filters and settings can be adjusted after the filter is applied. This cuts a step out because the user no longer had to keep undoing to try out different settings.

Improved Vanishing Pt: Vanishing Point made its debut in CS2, but actually detects the perspective grid of the object that’s being mapped in CS3.

Introduction to NBA

Basketball is my favorite spectator sport, so I take the time to watch all of the NBA teams. I also watch a lot of international tournaments since many of those players are also NBA stars nowadays.

My interest in basketball began in 1991. While flipping channels, I happened to catch a Bulls vs. Lakers game where Jordan was putting on a show. I got hooked on watching him and the Bulls. I was a Bulls fan through the whole Jordan era (including the year & a half without him). After the breakup of the team following the ’98 season, I started to follow Scottie Pippen’s teams (Rockets… then Blazers). Then I became a Wizards fan for the 2 years that Jordan came back. Throughout this time, the Bulls struggled to build an effective team under the much hated Jerries. I went back to the Bulls after John Paxon took over the operation. He slowly rebuilt the team with winners, starting with the coach, Scott Skiles. Eventually Hinrich was added. Then that magical year with the fantastic four… Gordon, Deng, Noc & Duhon… all in one year! So here I am back where I started… a big Bulls fan. They still have a ways to go, but they’ve been taking leaps every year and I think they’ll eventually win a championship because they work harder than any other team and they have great chemistry. Now that they made it past the 1st round of the playoffs, they will rise to stardom.

For the purpose of this blog, my basketball posts in this section will primarily center on the Chicago Bulls during the season and off-season.

Hello world!

I've been thinking about doing this for a long time and a lot of times throughout the day, I have blog post ideas. So I'm finally jumping on the blog bandwagon and getting this started. I will be using Blogger's labels as my categories. All of my posts will fit under at least one of the following:

Life

• Daily life in New York
• Office culture

Art

• Art Analysis
• Art History
• Design Basics
• Sequential Art

Technology

• Astronomy
• Computer Hardware projects
• Import Tuning
• Product reviews
• Web design
• Web development
• Weekly sale items

Sports

• Bulls Basketball
• General NBA
• Tennis
• Yankees Baseball

Shows & Movies

• Movies
• TV Shows (mostly Stargate & South Park)
• Web Videos

Leisure

• Food product reviews
• NYC restaurant reviews
• Vacation travel logs

Enjoy!