finite.style

Before I get to the review, here's a list of all the feature length films Pixar has released to date:

Toy Story
Toy Story 2
A Bug's Life
Monster's Inc
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles
Cars
Ratatouille
WALL-E
Up

Of these, the only one I didn't like was Cars, which was a mediocre film not nearly up to the standards of the others. I don't have a clear cut favourite, but Finding Nemo and Ratatouille are probably closest to my heart. Wall-E is an amazing movie as well, and I can't quite remember the two Toy Story movies well enough to comment.

Which bring's me to Up. It's not quite finding Nemo, but Up is one of the best Pixar movies I've ever seen. From the short film before the movie all the way to the final scene, I loved it. It's hilarious, surprisingly touching, breathtaking, and just all around brilliant. There isn't any area in which I feel they made a misstep in the creation of this film. But don't take it from me, here's a sample of some reviews:

"The first 10 minutes of Up are flawless; the final 80 minutes, close enough"
Robert Wilonsky - Village Voice

"This is another masterwork from Pixar, which is leading the charge in modern animation"
Roger Ebert - Chicago Sun-Times

"An exquisite work of cinematic art that also happens to be the funniest, most touching, most exciting and most entertaining movie released so far this year"
Lou Lumenick - New York Post

fnS

As much as I enjoy going to the gym and lifting weights, I think it's time for a new fitness challenge. I've been hearing quite a bit about the P90X program lately so I've made the leap and acquired the videos and workbooks. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, here's the official link:

http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/p90x.do

The program consists of 11 different workout videos, most of which are about an hour long. Each works different muscle groups in combinations, ie. chest/shoulders, back/biceps, plyometrics, abs, etc. According to the website the principle behind this program is called "muscle confusion", which introduces new techniques and routines so your muscles never plateau. I have a feeling this is just marketing jargon but I've seen people who have completed the program end to end and I'm impressed with the results. Here's the routine for week one:

Day 1: Chest/back, abs
Day 2: Plyometrics
Day 3: Shoulders/arms, abs
Day 4: Yoga
Day 5: Legs and back, abs
Day 6: Kenpo
Day 7: Rest and stretch

So far completed day one and two. Day one was tough, but I could do it because I'm at the gym fairly regularly. Day two I nearly died and couldn't keep up with all the exercises, I definitely don't work my lower body nearly as much as I need to. So far so good, there's some great stuff in the videos. Look forward to shoulders/arms and abs tomorrow!

Stay tuned!

fnS

I listen to a lot of music no matter where I am. I've been a musician since I was four years old and my tastes aren't limited to any specific genres, eras, or artists. Music at the gym, in the car, at work, at home, music music everywhere. Because of this my biggest problem is I get stuck in a rut and run out of new artists to listen to. I used to depend on the OC Mixes and Grey's soundtracks but that starts to all sound the same after a while.

Enter, my new favourite (non-work) webpage while at work.

http://www.imeem.com/

Think of it like a radio station, except you can control what songs you listen to, how often, and no ads. There's even handy links to download the song (if you are so inclined) or ringtone. I've only been using this for a day and I've already found tons of new great tracks. Check it out!

I've been following a great online series (it might be in the printed edition as well, but who knows?) called "The Download Decade" on globeandmail.com (follow the series at http://beta.globeandmail.com/news/technology/download-decade).

A bit of background on me; I work for a very large software vendor and our primary source of income is software license sales and maintence revenue. I also work in sales, so what puts food in my fridge, gas in my car, and pays my mortgage is folks being honest and purchasing the licenses legally. I am fortunate enough to sell to large enterprise customers (meaning their annual revenue is $1 billion or above), so the likelihood of any of them pirating software is slim to none, but it does raise an interesting moral question for me.

Why am I so laissez faire about downloading music, movies, TV shows, and apps when intellectual property is the very thing that allows me to live my life? I have friends and family who were previously adamantly opposed to downloading pirated music and movies, but once they saw how easy it was, and how legitimate it all seems, it was no longer an issue.

So is that all that stops us from moving from theft of intagible property, such as software and media files, to theft of physical property? There was a thought provoking survey within the article which asked readers to answer what they thought was worse: theft of a $1 chocolate bar from a store or downloading a $65 video game. Really, in terms of dollar value it's a no brainer. And just to add a twist, change that from downloading the game to stealing it from a store shelf. Is there really a difference? End result is the same isn't it, you've acquired software you haven't paid for.

I can't come up with an answer to my question, because as rational as the argument against downloading and piracy seems, it really doesn't bother me, and I know I'm far from being the only one. Have we entered an age where it's open season on anything you can download, be it movies, TV shows, ebooks, music, software, etc. If so where is the incentive for new artists, developers, producers, writers, to put the time and effort in to their craft if they know that of 100 people who will enjoy their work, 98 are doing so without paying?

fnS

I came across a website last night that I had to share. It's for a company called Stillmotion based out of Toronto, Canada. From my understanding, you hire them for your wedding either as photographers or videographers. What absolutely blew me away was the level of quality and style they put into their work. I honestly felt like I was watching a music video, a very very well produced one. I consider myself a pretty decent photographer with an eye for what makes a beautiful shot or scene, and these guys are right up there.

http://www.stillmotion.ca/

Click on "Website", then click on "Cinema" and you can scroll through their sample vids. Can you imagine having one of those vids to remember your wedding by? If you want more you can also check out their blog.

I am in no way affiliated with them, I've never even met any of them. I just feel like giving props where they're due.

I've come to the realization that one of the biggest wastes of money is purchasing salad dressing from the store. Not only do you get mediocre quality ingredients and poor value, you're also having to constantly purcahse more if you and your family eat a lot of salad. In honour of finite.style's return from the internet wilderness, here's two of my favourite (and easy) homemade salad dressing recipes:

Sweet Chili Lime Dressing
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp chili flakes
1 tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice
1 tsp sugar

Mix ingredients thoroughly and enjoy! Note, this will not keep in the fridge (it'll separate) so make fresh each time.

Honey Dijion Dressing
1 tbsp fresh honey
1 tbsp dijion mustard with seeds
1 tbsp olive oil
2 shakes of tabasco sauce

Mix ingredients thoroughly and enjoy!

It's finally arrived! After a lot of yelling at Rogers for the month long delay in shipping my new Bold to me, I received my Bold just before heading home for the holidays. With a few weeks with my new toy it's time to write a review.

Pros

• the display is nothing short of stunning; if screen resolution is a major selling point for you, then the Bold should be at the top of your list of products to consider
  
  
• the new Blackberry O/S is a pleasure to use; it's intuitive, aestetically pleasing, and very user friendly. Everything about it makes sense, I have only had to consult the manual once since I first turned it on.


• there are some great pre-loaded apps; Blackberry Maps (which interfaces with the on-board GPS), weather forecast app, and a folder which allows for very easy download and installation of Live Messenger, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, and other common applications.
  


• mail and messaging; this is RIMs bread and butter and it shows. Mail is extremely easy to set up, and texts are saved as conversations (a la Gmail), which to someone who texts as much as I do, is a fantastic feature. The keyboard is also a breeze to use, keys have a perfect feel and are just the right size

Cons

To be honest, there isn't anything about the Bold that would give me pause when recommending it to someone. The camera isn't the greatest, it's never been a focus of RIMs and it clearly shows. My Nokia e61i took much better photos and that came out two years ago. There's a lot of complaints about the Roxio media manager, and it definitely isn't iTunes. Other then these two minor things though I honestly don't have any complaints, however small, about the Bold.

Conclusion

This is a fantastic device and I couldn't be happier with my purchase. Would I rather have it over an iPhone? That's hard to say. I've spent a lot of time with both devices now and in the end they're not really occupying the same market space. Choosing one over the other would be like asking whether you'd rather have an SUV or a 2 seater sports car. Both would be great, but they're really not direct competitors. In the end though RIM didn't set out to make a smartphone that takes great photos and has an awesome media interface. It's goal was to make a smartphone that plays to it's key demographic, business users, with enough other great features to appeal to a broader audience. And after spending 2 weeks now with this phone, I'd have to say it's hit a home run.