I might aswell run down a couple of the things that have taken up some/most of my time, even though like now, I could have easily made time to make a quick entry here and there, so aswell as things keeping me busy I was also busy with excuses for not doing other things. But whats the point in worrying about what could have been? there is enough going on right now to keep focused on.

First things first, my Japanese learning is still going strong, although I could use a good helping of motivation sometimes to make me push to do just that little bit extra on some days.

Terminator Salvation. Go see it if you havn’t already! Truly stunning movie, was so impressed from beggining to end. I have seen it twice now and am still impressed! In my opinion it’s a great follow on from the last movie, showing you pre T800 Terminators and the evolution of the Terminators.

Weight training, we’ve changed our routine now a couple of times to best suite us, focusing now on compound excersises. We finally got a bench and some more weights, so we’re set for a short while now.

To close, I think now i’m past my slump in laziness, so will be keeping myself motivated more now, as I have let a couple of things lapse that I wanted to get done.

First priority once I have finished catching up with Naruto Shippuuden is watching the last bunch of DVD’s I bought, and to complete any older series’ that I am missing a few volumes for. Xam’d is another new show that I am wanting to finish watching, after watching the first 3-4 episodes I am hooked, Xam’d promises to be such a good show, I just hope the plot/story are deep and twisting, as to keep me immersed in the Xam’d universe.

As if I needed another reason to get back into anime now, there will soon be released the seccond of 4 new Neon Genesis Evangelion Movies. The first movie was a retelling of the TV series, re-made not a remastered and cut together movie, with some slight changes from the original series, and you could say a couple of big changes are thrown in there too, but no doubt in the movies to come, all will become clear, either that or even more questions will be raised, but no matter how they bring it to a close I doubt they will disapoint. I was trully stunned by this movie, the quality was amazing, it was awe inspiring from begining to end. Now I am a big fan of the Evangelion Universe, so I can’t really help it if my opinions and comments are slightly bias. If I had to use a single word to describe the movie, I would have to go with “breathtaking”. The second movie “Evangelion 2.0: You can [Not] Advance” is slated for release in Japan on 27th June.

It was a lenthly movie, running 2 hours and 40 minutes, there were some pretty impressive effects throughout the movie as you would expect nowadays, the watchmen characters were a nice change from the usual superhero types.

The watchmen, who at the beggining of the movie have all retired from their crime fightnig days, until, that is, one of the watchmen meets their unfortunate end, as the story unfolds and more of the watchmen meet their end, the remaining watchmen band together once again to find out who is responsible for killing their friends. there is a surprising twist and some unexpected occurrences as the movie builds up to it’s climax.

From start to finish I felt really drawn in, and immersed in the movie, the gritty feel is all the more enhanced by the brilliant visual effects, the flashbacks that occur, rather than being annoying, they do in fact give you an insight into the back story of how some of the characters are linked.

Being unfamiliar with the watchmen, I watched the film with an open mind and had nothing to compare it to, which to be honest is the best way to enjoy any film, simply watch it instead of comparing it to everything. So to sum up, in my opinion an excellent all-round film, definitely worth a watch, stunning visuals, cool characters and a great story.

Features is one thing the Macbook is not short on. There are a few things that will take a little getting used to as with anything new, but I don’t think I will be getting another windows powered anything anytime soon, I think I can say I have been converted to Apple. As my friend mentions here in his review of the Macbook, there are many reasons to get a Macbook as your next laptop.

The Technical Specification are as follows for the model I bought:

Main specifications

• 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed
• 1066MHz frontside bus
• 2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 4GB
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory³
• 160GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard disk drive⁴
• Weight 4.5 pounds
• thickness when closed 0.95″

Network & Connectivity:

• Built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi wireless networking (based on IEEE 802.11n draft specification); IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible
• Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
• Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)
• MagSafe power port
• Gigabit Ethernet port
• Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
• Mini DisplayPort
• Audio line in
• Audio line out
• Kensington lock slot

The build quality is by far better than even the most expensive windows powered laptops, not much else to say about the build really, it is one of those things you have to see for yourself and compare with other laptops to realise what a difference in quality there is.

Overall I am very impressed with the macbook, yes i know, i’ve only had a couple of days, but like everything else it only takes a couple of days for you to know if you have wasted your money or spent it wisely. Happy to say this was money well spent, the screen is so much better than my old acer laptop which before now I thought was a very good screen, everything is so much clearer and brighter on this oled display, even the nifty little magnetic coupling on the charger cable, so it will pull out easily and not damage the wire or power plug if cought on anything when you get up for example.

Incase you want the wallpaper from the picture, you can download here.

Processor:
Qualcomm® MSM7201a™, 528 MHz

Operating System:
Android

Memory:
ROM: 512 MB
RAM: 192 MB

Dimensions: 113 x 55 x 13.65 mm ( 4.45 x 2.17 x 0.54 inches)
Weight: 118.5 grams ( 4.18 ounces) with battery
Display: 3.2-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with 320×480 HVGA resolution

Network: HSDPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz, Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
(Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent.)

Device Control Trackball with Enter button

GPS: Internal GPS antenna

Connectivity:
Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate
Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g
HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)

Camera:
3.2 megapixel color camera with auto focus

Audio supported: AAC, AAC+, AMR-NB, MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC-LC, MIDI, OGG
Video supported: MP4, 3GP

Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
Capacity: 1340 mAh

Talk time:
Up to 400 minutes for WCDMA
Up to 450 minutes for GSM

Standby time:
Up to 660 hours for WCDMA
Up to 420 hours for GSM
(The above are subject to network and phone usage.)

Additional Features:
Expansion Slot microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
G-sensor
Digital Compass

My honest opinion is that this new G2 is by far better looking than T-Mobile’s G1, I am considering getting this phone when it comes out (hopefully) in April. I have never really been a fan of getting a phone on contract for various reasons, mainly, all the phones that come out are basically the same crap in a different case, the only two that stand out are the Apple iPhone and Google’s Android Phones, I didn’t bother with the iPhone as I had just recently got a new phone, but depending on the monthly charges and seeing what kind of deal I can get I may just treat myself and get the Magic G2.

Fat: 1 gram = 9 calories
Protein: 1 gram = 4 calories
Carbohydrates: 1 gram = 4 calories

So as well as eating a lot more I am splitting up what I eat into smaller meals, eating smaller meals more often has a couple of benefits, increasing your metabolic rate is one and it is also healthier for you, 6-8 meals a day is now a norm, aswell as normal meals I also take some suppliments, mainly Maximuscle Progain:

Per 1 serving = 120g (2 scoops)
Energy = 453Kcal/1894 kJ
Protein = 32.4g
Carbohydrate (complex) = 68.4g

Working out 4 days a week, I give myself wednesday and the weekend for recovery, unless your on steroids, recovery days are essential as this gives your body the time it needs to repair and build up your muscles. I usuall do 3 reps of 4-7 different exercises, targeting a different muscle group each workout day; Arms, Shoulders, Chest/Back, Legs. I am aiming to gain atleast another stone in lean muscle weight in the next four months, hopefully get there sooner but I will just have to wait and see how it goes. As like most things it takes time to notice any gains and everyones body will progress at different rate, probably why some people will give up after a couple of weeks, as they are under the impression that it will practically happen overnight, it doesn’t! So just stick with it, or if one routine isn’t working out then change routines, don’t just give up.

Off topic, but still a little relevent, as someone joked about this at work today. The starvation diet, cutting down on food to reduce body weight is a bad idea, sure it will work, it will also not do your body any good either, your organs need fuel to keep you alive, as your body is not supposed to be starved of fuel, no wonder these people usually feel drained and tired all the time, being as your body needs a certain amount of protein, calories and all the rest of it each day. If you don’t eat enough to feed your body it will start to feed on your muscles first, not that excess body fat, as muscle is more easily broken down and will provide more fuel for your body. For people who want to trim down on their excess body fat, they should read around a little more before starving themselves. One thing I will suggest for them is to increase their protein intake as to preserve their muscle, and cut down,even half their caloire intake. Well that’s about all I have to say on the subject at the moment, but no doubt I will be mentioning the whole weight training topic again.

No doubt he will be doing a little post and review of his new toy very soon over on his blog, My yaruki. So in the meantime for me, I am just waiting for mine to be delivered, once here, I will be leaving my impressions and a little review on here.

Lately I’ve been watching quite a lot of old late 60′s to early 70′s road/chase movies, and to be fair some were significantly better than others and a couple just left me wondering how I managed to endure watching them. One of them in particular has had re-make in the last few years,  I am of course thinking of Gone in 60 Seconds. In my honest opinion, the original is by far the superior version of the movie, several reasons why I came to this conclusion. One man H.B Halicky, who as well as aswell as starring in the 1974 original, almost single handedly funded, produced and directed it, as well as designing the safety cage that kept the car in one piece throughout the entire film, including an unplanned accident in which the car crashed into a pole on the side of the freeway, spinning the car around, surviving this the car carried on for many more shunts and crashes throughout the rest of this truly epic car chase.

A few of them had had quite unexpected endings, for instance both Vanishing Point and Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry ended very suddenly and in a ball of flames, Concrete  for one a Freight train for the other, thant being said however they are both good films in their own rights. Two Lane Blacktop is a fine example of one of those that brought you to say “did that seriously just end like that”, lets just say I was expecting a little more, although not a bad film, the ending just seemed a little distant from the whole point of the story – I use “story” quite loosely, being as this was a 1971 movie. So just like every genre, there are some truly great films and then there are those that are just a failed attempt.

“They don’t make ‘em like they used to”. True! These old road/chase movies are some fine examples how to do a car chase, as lets face it nothing does it better than a big-block V8 muscle car screaming down the raod with a fleet of black & whites chasing it down. Now i’m not saying that all modern car chase sequences are rubbish, Ronin & the Bourne movies which each have truly great chase scenes in them, but the problem is, with a lot of the them is that there’s so much money put into them that when the car is slightly damaged, it’s often (not always) either repaired or sometimes I swear a new car takes it’s place in the very next scene! wow, now thats how you make a film engrosing, or not as the case may be, I am sure it’s not just me who finds this daft? I mean if they could manage it in the 60′s & 70′s why is it so hard now? Maybe it’s just late and I feel like having a little rant, but it will still irritate me the next time I see it happen in a big budget film. Install a space-frame or other kind of strengthening into the vehicle if they don’t want the vehicle to suffer catastrophic damage. For instance in the original Gone in 60 Seconds H.B. Halicky jumps the  ’73 Mach 1 Ford Mustang (modified with a nascar style space-frame throughout the vehicles body) and the very same car carries on with the rest of them film. Wiki Quote “The jump manages to achieve a height of 30ft and over a 128ft in distance – a feat which would not be easily replicable without the use of modern CGI techniques”

———————– UPDATE ———————–

Well all it took was a little phpMyAdmin editing, going through and changing every collation entry on the database. Just in case you have the same problem, a quick run down of what to do if Japanese, Chinese or other foreign characters will not display on your wordpress page. Going into each database main folder, e.g. “wp_posts”, changing each instance of “latin1_general_ci” or whatever it may be, to “utf8_general_ci” on the “Structure” tab. Now do the same on the “Operations” tab in the “Table Options” section. All you need to do now is re-enter any characters that have been replaced with question marks in your posts. I probably made it sound easy and safe, though it wasn’t that difficult, as I figured this out just stumbling around the phpMyAdmin section. I didn’t, but would advise on backing up any and all database entries first.