Category Archives: Fun

Early Summer Movie Report

Posted on by

After finishing my doctoral coursework in late May, I took a few weekends off in June to catch up on taxes, family time, and watch some movies…

First up was Batman Begins which I have to say is one of the best of all the Batman movies I have seen. There is no doubt that Michael Keaton did a great job as Batman, but Christian Bale (the new one), is really, really good. In addition, most of the supporting cast is top notch, and they play their parts well. I remember the big surprise I had when I made the move from the U.S. TV series to the comic book. Dark was the word, and this movie is as dark as it should be. We learn how Batman, one of the only (or the only) American comic figures, learned all the skills he has to kick some bad-guy butt. This one is highly recommended for anyone who liked the earlier movies or those who are curious about how Batman came to be. Just leave the story from the original movie at the door…

The next weekend was set aside for the first show of the first day of the pre-preview screening of Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. I have to say that the climax has been worth the 28-year wait! We all know the result, but we get to find out the how. Even if you think the story’s too predictable, the scenery, the CG effects, and most of the acting will help you to forget any predictability. If you have seen any of the others, you need to see this one.

This past weekend meant another trip to the theater to see War of the Worlds. Decent acting and great effects are the highlights. If you have seen any Spielberg movies (and who hasn’t?), then you can know how the scary parts work. If you saw Jurassic Park and know the kitchen scene, then you know how things will be in WotW.

Next up is The Fantastic Four…

Desperately Seeking Japan’s Confluences

Posted on by
Reply

Last night the family was watching a show on the Nippon Television Network (there’s a link in English) called Bouken! Cheers!! One segment was on having fun with a handheld GPS. Guess what they were doing? Looking for confluences in Japan. Don’t know what a confluence is? It’s the meeting point of all 0′s in the latitude and longitude minutes and seconds. The Degree Confluence Project calls them “latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world”.

Anyway, the Boken Cheers folks are working to go to the “pointzero” spots in Japan. If you checked the confluence site above, you may have noticed that this has been under way for almost five years now. The cool thing for me is that I logged the first confluence in Japan. I also got the second. As I write this, 48 of the 96 confluences for Japan have been logged. I just thought you should know.