Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Review

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

PictureHouse, New Line Cinema

Abigail Breslin, Chris O' Donnell, Joan Cusack, Stanley Tucci

Take a good look at the poster. OK, what does it tell you? Kids movie... no, tween movie, right?

Fortunately, everyone else beyond that target audience can watch this, very much so, as it also tackles such an extremely important era (1930's, the Depression, which is what America may go through again) and how one can feel so content and happy despite the hardness of the times.

To be honest, I want to write a synopsis, but that would simply give the whole movie away. While the poster makes the movie seem so light and innocent, it's actually pretty deep. I mean, you as a viewer will also feel the Depression closing in as Kit as her family struggles to barely survive it, yet you will also feel a certain thrill in the mystery that occurs halfway through the movie. I don't really know the thing the movie wants to be- an allegory for these modern times of economic slowdown, or simply a mystery, or both. Perhaps both, and if it is, the balance doesn't really feel as if it was nailed.

Whatever the case, you'll find that Kittredge is a rather fresh breath of air in an era of really dark movies. It manages to tackle a really heavy issue in a somehow timely manner, yet it manages to keep a shining, smiling demeanor. Perhaps it's Abigail Breslin? Her dollish appearance seems to radiate off the screen all throughout, and her acting is just fine, but nothing spectacular.

Perhaps a Mr. Jackie Cooper sums it all up for me- "More depth than you would expect"- and it's true. There's a lot of depth in what seems like a simplistic tale, and it thinks that its audience is intelligent. This is the kind of movie that can hold off the short attention spans, and make kids become inquisitive, or if not, be lost in thought about the economic landscape.

One thing I hate about it, really, is the fact that the ending is just so cheesy, and some moments are all too predictable. The fact that it surprises you in its mystery-book-like roll out, however, pretty much makes up for it.

It's bright and whimsical enough to be extremely advisable for kids, but not shallow enough to turn off all the others- I simply can't stress it enough. If you're looking for a nice family flick that's not shallow but still enjoyable, Kit Kittredge is the one to play on your DVD player.

Rating: 8.5/10

WTP: The Dark Knight Re-release

What's the point?

You do know about the so-called "Oscar buzz" the Dark Knight is getting but that's just the result of fandom. Unfortunately, Warner Bros. has tricked itself into believing that The Dark Knight is Oscar-worthy by planning to re-release the movies in theaters in the next year for Oscar consideration. I'm kind of fine with that, except for one thing...
...the DVD has already been released. I even have an original copy in my hands. (Borrowed for ripping 'cause I'm cheap)

So what's the point in trying? Heath Ledger already got his Golden Globe nom, isn't that enough?

Ultimate iPod Dock

So we were at Trinoma and I wandered inside Avant and saw quite an iPod dock. Not only were you able to directly put your iPod's bottom onto it, but you're also able to put a USB enabled MP3 player, memory card (cannot elaborate), headphone jack, wirelessly through A2DP (Stereo Bluetooth for your cellphone), and get this: a real DVD. Holy shit. All that in a huge (HUGE) speaker, designed in a concealing, sexy, minimalist black, worth P11,800. In Greenhills, it would cost far less.

But all is not well in bargain-land. The interface of the software doesn't complement the stylish exterior, and the navigation is clunky, to say the least. But as far as I can see, its features all work well, and it's most importantly loud.

In a world full of iPod docks that do only that for at least P15,000, this one is a rare gem that's brimming with value for money. If you're looking for an iPod dock that's 'sulit', look for a Next Base dock that has all the features described above as I unfortunately did not get a chance to see the model number and all that jazz.

And while we're on the subject of Trinoma, we ate at this little specialty restaurant called Hossein. Yes, I know, Saddam, but I digress. It's obviously a Persian-Indian-Middle East restaurant that we tried and it's pretty good. Their specialty lies in the various "Kebabs"- basically, grilled meat. Not bad really, but the price tag isn't so pretty to say the least, and the food takes long to prepare since they're grilled, but the waiters are overly nice. Which is probably how they made us order more than we intended, LOL.

Posted with LifeCast

DVD Update: Mo Features, Mo Content, Mo Days to Wait

OK, maybe you've already known about the delayed release date of the DVD (for II-1, not teachers) but here it is again: April 1, 2008 which is the card receiving day. For the teachers, it's still Wednesday and I'm getting ready to burn disc 1 tomorrow (disc 2 after I get Nuevo's footage on Monday).

Teachers' Copies Exclusives
So what's gonna be special about the teachers' copies, you say? Well...

They get a cover for their DVDs. For the students? Well, they can print their own because I'm not gonna print anything for them for economic reasons obviously.

Next, they get a sort of pamphlet, you know, like the ones in original DVDs? (I hope.)

Plus, the DVD case will also have something printed there as well. So no, us II-1 students, even me, won't be getting those as well. (Still, it gives you a chance to personalize and do it yourself. :D)

Actually, economic reasons lang talaga hehehe. Otherwise, the price would be higher.

Final Content
And then, here's the content you'll be getting in Disc 1. (And no, it's no longer widescreen.)


The menus will also be a mix of moving chapter menus and immobile and plain menus. Diba may variation?

And how much content does the disc have?
Well...


And as for Disc 2...
It still looks the same as last time, only with "Last Day" exchanged with "March 5, 2008". Because I feel that the date was not the last day, but a new beginning as cliche as it sounds.


But as for the "Other Stuff" menu... You'll have to wait and see. (Tinatamad lang ako. Hahahaha)
But so far, I haven't put the March 5 videos inside, only the photos because the collection isn't complete yet.

New feature
I mentioned "mo features", right? Well, this dialog box shows that 3.1GB is filled out of the 7.7GB you can put. And this shows that I can actually put more content rather than reduce them, which is the ability to actually access files in your computer. Of course, the pictures only. And note that this only available on Disc 2 especially since Disc 1 is already so jam-packed. OK, wait, don't get it? Here's an explanation.

Though I haven't actually tried it, the application I'm using has the ability to let you put so-called "DVD-ROM Content" which you can access when you put the disc in your computer. In my view, though, the DVD-ROM feature will enable you to directly access the source pictures I used in the slideshows found inside through Windows Explorer without hacking or third-party solutions. (I will update on this when I burn the second disc.)

Hmm... I guess this is the end for this update.

More II-1 DVD announcements

It's not a mandatory purchase, but if you want you can pay me P130 for the thing because I will buy the DVDs using the money you gave me at CD-R King. Yes, it's a bit expensive, but here's a breakdown of why it is in the first place:

Dual Layer DVDs (8.5GB) - These types of DVDs are only one-sided, so that means more content on one disc, however, the price is more than double a mere 5 peso 4.2GB DVD-R. (P50x2)

DVD Case - One DVD case in CD-R King (or according to its website) is 5 pesos. So right now, the subtotal is 105 pesos.

Labor - It's only 5 pesos for my hard work :D (As well as the other providers, namely, Sandra, Yna and Nuevo)

Teachers - Use common sense, people. Wouldn't it be rude to make singil to the teachers? After counting a bit, the sum you have to pay for the teachers is P20, because it's inconvenient to pay P19.25 and give change. Of course, the ones who won't be buying will still have to pay this 20 peso fee. Why? 20 pesos times 40 is 800 which is the sum of the DVDs + cases for the teachers. Now if one of you (who has no intention of buying) is reading this in outrage, why don't you go near every teacher and get him or her to pay that fee? I dare you.

And if that breakdown was too long for you, here's an even shorter version:
100 pesos goes to the purchase of 2 8.5GB DVDs which have double the capacity of ordinary DVDs. 5 pesos goes to the DVD case, and another 5 for the Labor. 20 pesos is mandatory for the payment of teachers' copies, yes, EVERYONE WILL PAY. Including the ones WHO DON'T WANT TO BUY.

Just one thing:
Ahh, looking at all these videos... make me feel warm inside. This hasn't ever happened before, and maybe that's because this is the section I feel most attached to in a surprising way. I was always raving like, grabe parang ayaw ko matapos ang year na to, e ang mga tao rito kasi ang saya, or, Gago, mahal ko kaya ang II-1, when I talk to other people. Now... I feel like shit. But I thought, Little Orphan Annie always raved about tomorrow, and how things are better that way, which is maybe why people who raised their hand when Nuevo asked if tomorrow people will be acting like, wala lang, because maybe they feel that everything will be forgiven and forgotten. But then again, I also have a pessimistic side, which is why I think that this will not happen, and all that hope is futility and vanity. Still, this also made me reflect about why my part in making the class closer was, which was almost near to nothing. Yes, videos, so what? If people feel like going somewhere else, it's like the times we've had with the people who wanted to leave are... you know, parang going with the flow lang sila. And with that in mind, the videos, when I re-watch... feel so fake now. But as I said earlier, we've 2 days left to patch up and clean up our act, and this time, I'll try my best to help. Hopefully, you will too, reader (that is if you're a II-1 classmate as well).

Actually, I've considered cutting off this DVD thing, but still, as someone I was talking to said, this DVD will at some rate prove who are and aren't taking this thing seriously, or if they don't care. But it wouldn't be accurate, I feel, if people are forced to buy this. But as I said earlier, the purchase is not mandatory, only the teachers' fee.

Early "donations" include Michelle, Sandra, and... me. But I wouldn't blame the others, they may not have enough money for pamasahe or something, or maybe they just don't care and are expressing it because they don't want to be plastic (someone else said that to me. And no, I won't name anyone because it will definitely cause more turmoil.).

But then again, I am also to be blamed for the happening on Free Time because I was the one who told Nuevo to announce the DVD thing, and because he had the opportunity to announce something, he put the Last Day thing in too, though I kind of think that it was also a right move to also put the Last Day thing in so we can plan early.

SIGH....

Kinda feel better now though. Oh, and I'm gonna post a flyer pala tomorrow.

The Update
Thanks for bearing with my venting, and you'll be seeing the real deal tomorrow when I actually have time to put the stuff in (My mother's copying Enchanted DVD right now eh, baka bumagal.)

The II-1 DVD: What's up?

I've finished Sides A and B for Disc 1 now (assuming there are those types of CDs being sold...) and luckily, I've managed to put everything I've got in my computers. And you know what, there's more. The last day, L.E. selling, L.E. Interview (assuming people can even retrieve them) as well as a few other projects (remember the trailer?).

But anyway, I'm here to tell you what the heck are actually in the 2 sides, so here I go.

DISC 1: Side A
Though Side B is even more filled to the rim than Side A (I'm considering putting the L.E. Selling vids here since they seem so few, or maybe just the English Cooking slideshow), the side's got a lot of substantial stuff.
For the Teachers' Day menu, the videos are organized by teacher, and numbered (no descriptions... dahil medyo tinatamad ako, hehehe sorry. But maybe I'll change them anyway).

It's a bit scattered with the Mall of Asia part though, but I guess it'll be tolerable.


And there are two pages for the December 20 Party menus:DISC 1: Side B
It's simpler because the version the template came from was pretty primitive. However, the opening's pretty cool. But anyway, it definitely has a lot more content. And no, I won't be showing all menus because they look the same. No moving videos beside it, no nothing (which is probably why a lot more videos could be placed inside).


The following are Christmas, Exchange Gifts (hidden inside Christmas menu) and Primolympcks menus.



For now, this is the end of this update.

BLU-RAY vs HD-DVD: The War Is Finally Over

Yup folks, it's true. Blu-ray has won the High Definition battle and Sony has had its revenge (for the failed Betamax).

How?

Bloggers have been speculating over the weekend about HD-DVD's demise. And it seems to have become official when Toshiba announced its surrender on February 20 (Philippine time). So yeah, they're getting all those cheap 100 dollar players off the shelves and ceasing production of the optical discs and letting Blu-ray fully bask in the limelight. It could have also been affected by several obvious factors such as Warner Bros.' move to exclusively support Blu-ray, as well as the loyalty of the many others before it. From the start I thought Blu-ray would win this, and I was right.

Predictions

It seems that the only future of CD's we'll be going through is blu. PS3's will be flying off the shelves and surpass Wii (it almost did it one time), and price drops are going to be very, very frequent for the players and the discs. So expect to see a 300 dollar PS3 in like, 7 months or so, as well as standalone Blu-ray players that will be dirt-cheap. I just don't know how Filipinos will be able to react to this. I mean, we have no law stating that we should cut out all analog television stations and make the switch to HD or something, and Filipinos don't really care about the HD revolution so... the future is still pretty bleak locally at least. I mean, pirated DVD's are still the rage for Pete's sake!

PREVIEW: II-1- The Ultimate DVD

At the end of the school year, I will definitely be burning all of II-1's videos from as much video providers as possible. Hell, I'm not even sure if that will even happen in just one disc, but I'll try to make put it on only one. This serves a lot of purposes: 1) My computer will be relieved of much space and 2) We'll have a hell of a lot of memories to keep. JUST DON'T LOSE IT THOUGH.

Features:
Organized Interactive Menus

Plenty of Slideshows

Never Before YouTube-d Footage

Unedited, widescreen (as much as possible) videos

Projects and presentations

DVD-ROM Content (Access every picture and if possible, video)

Release date:
March 5. 2007? *I am already doing it now*

Basta kasama na rin to, since practically EVERYBODY thought it was a comedy trailer:

MacWorld '08: There's indeed something in the air... and I want it.

MacWorld has always been an unpredictable event that all techies regardless of operating system, anticipate. Well, it was surely worth the wait, even though the hype the iPhone got will be left unmatched maybe forever. But hey, at least the rumors are mostly true this time around, the company finally gets things right with their flops and well, you're probably gonna be shocked about what Steve Jobs' fourth thing. I was.

The First Thing

Apple's new operating system Leopard has this extraordinarily convenient and user-friendly

automatic backup program called Time Machine. Just connect your hard drive by Firewire and if you've got all the options right, then you'll be ready to ignore your Mac when you're not gonna use it. However, in a wireless world, back-up is also going there right now in the form of Time Capsule. It's an accessory for Leopard and Time Machine, and it uses Wi-Fi 802.11N, the most advanced, so you can hook up and back-up wirelessly to as many Macs possible. Kinda like a server, only significantly less expensive. It will be available in 500 gigabyte and 1 terabyte capacities at just $299 and $499 respectively. If the execution is right because there wasn't a live demo in the keynote, the product will be a hit among Mac users because it will definitely be a life-saver. And a wireless one at that.

The Second Thing

Apple has penetrated 20% of the smartphone market in its first few months after release. Well, it seems that in the 4 million iPhones they have sold in just 200 days, they're making it better for free. They're adding no, not GPS, but something really close, and it's inside a revamped Google Maps. It's called Locations. Well, because of what was an explanation about triangulation mumbo-jumbo and Wi-fi hotspots, Apple together with Google and some Wireless Networking Company, have made a faux GPS possible so you can locate yourself and locate some places near to you and teach you which direction you should go. I don't see myself using this because Google Maps doesn't have a street map of the Philippines unfortunately.

If Leopard gave you the ability to create widgets from web pages, it's here too, and you can resize, zoom in, and save any web page you like so a web page icon can be generated on the home screen. It's a bit like Bookmarks anyway, and I also don't see myself using that one as well.

You still can't put your own backgrounds, but you can drag and drop home screen icons up to 9 pages. Maybe I should add a sarcastic "Weee!" to that, but hey, if you want to have a more convenient way of sorting out apps in the home screen, it's a great feature then. Hell, you can even remove icons from the dock. What used to be 4 icons could also be three icons, or maybe you can put something else there, or something like that.

One very significant upgrade Apple finally made without waiting a new generation (of iPhones) is Multiple SMS sending. Yes, finally, it's there now. You'll know how it works. Only thing missing is 3G... and maybe MMS, too.

The new iPods have this feature and so will the iPhone. It will support video chapters, subtitles and alternate languages. For the music part, Lyrics display for both iPhone and iPod touch. I don't really have much to say about this, but I do prefer watching videos with subtitles. I don't know why...

Plus, people have been nagging about the iPod touch not having e-mail or something. Well, Apple finally delivers along with a few uninteresting widgets like Weather or Stocks. And it even costs $20 for the upgrade... though you can just a buy a Touch from a new shipment to get all these so you can save a few bucks.

The Third Thing

iTunes, Apple's trademark music program, has reached record sales of the 4 Billionth song, 20 million songs sold on Christmas Day and 125 million TV shows and 7 Million movies sold. Now, they have decided to put a largely requested feature called Movie Rentals. You know what it means, you rent a movie, you return it after a few days, you pay less than the DVD, etc. This feature... I STILL don't see myself using. One, we don't have a domestic iTunes store for crying out loud, and two... well, just that reason...

New movies will be released a month after the DVD, and they will cost a dollar more than titles already in the iTunes catalogue a long time ago and you gotta play the rented movie before 30 days and you gotta watch it before the day passes. So if you watch just 30 minutes of a movie a day, then say bye-bye to the rest of the movie because, in my understanding, once you play it, you gotta finish it before the 24 hour mark. And after the first playing, you can still play it again, and again, and again until you get sick of it before the day passes. You can sync it to your iPod to continue watching, though.

This concept then led Jobs to introduce a new Apple TV. They failed the first time, he concedes, but this time, he really wants to sell. Well, the product's actually looking solid and seems like a great companion to iTunes. You can plug it in your widescreen HDTV, you can watch YouTube, you can listen to Music, but you gotta sync your computer via iTunes to the device to actually get going, or buy a song or video in iTunes Store in your computer, then sync it.

Well, this time, those kinks are gone. You can access the whole catalogue of iTunes right in the device so you won't have to turn on the computer, you can view photostreams from Flickr and to a much, much lesser extent, Apple's .Mac service, and you also get HD movie rentals that have surround sound built-in. They cost a dollar higher than the standard rental, but if you have an HDTV, I think it's currently a great way to experience it. And if you have an Apple TV already (which I doubt), you get it all free in an upgrade. Boy does Jobs know how to extend a product's life! And good thing that he doesn't boldly proclaim about Blu-ray this and Blu-ray that just because his company's siding with the camp. It's also a much better thing that he knows that downloadable HD content will rule out in the end...

After that announcement, he invited the 20th Century Fox CEO to the stage. He talked about partnerships, philosophies, the DVD war and lastly, something more interesting- the ability to get a digital version of a movie into your computer, fast and free into iTunes. All you need of course is an original DVD copy of future Fox releases because the first one to employ that is a certain "Family Guy" DVD which spoofs Star Wars, creator Seth McFarlene's favorite saga. Hopefully, it will work on copied original DVD discs (as in yung mga exact copy ng mga orig sa pirated) so that magiging mas sulit ang mga ito :p.

The Fourth Thing: There's something in the air.

Steve's held the cliffhanger long enough, and now it's time to break it. They say that the MacBook, the innovative notebook as cited by reviewers, became the industry standard along with its older more professional brother the MacBook Pro. While they may be speed demons and have great software and hardware out of the box, a few people have actually requested that Apple restore its ultraportable Powerbook line. Well, maybe this new product is closest to that. So yes, the thing that's in the air is a laptop, and that laptop, err, notebook, is aptly named, the MacBook Air: The thinnest laptop in the world.

Apple has pushed portable to the extreme at just a featherweight 3 pounds, an ultra thin LED powered monitor and an almost equally thin system unit. It may sound as if Apple sacrificed the mousepad, the keyboard and the screen. But nope, they're all full-sized and the black keyboard, is also even backlit. The effect after that is pretty cool and hell, is it not something to love? It's also pretty jam-packed with 80GB hard drive standard (the same one used in the iPods), 2GB RAM standard (you can definitely run Vista at lightning speed), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11 N, the trademark MagSafe power adapter, a flip down hatch for 1 USB port, 1 Mini-DVI port and a headphone jack. It's quite surprising to see that there's not even a FireWire in an Apple! And if you don't have wireless Internet at home, then it's gonna cost you a peripheral (so you're better off going MacBook instead if that's the case), plus, there's not even a slot-loading drive! Where can I put my CD's? How do I watch DVD's?! HOW DO I INSTALL DAMN SOFTWARE?! Well, Apple made the case a bit less morbid with "Remote Drive". You install special software compatible for both Macs and Windows and the data is sent via Wi-Fi so that the MacBook Air can read it. If, like the Time Capsule, the process is excruciatingly simple, then it will also be a great idea and addition albeit kinda cumbersome as well. If you're more of a road warrior, then you're better off buying the $99 external SuperDrive. It's USB-powered mind you so if you're gonna install hardware and you need a software disc, patay.

Apple also introduces the technology that powers their beautiful touch screens into the trackpad so that you can control your windows, images, etc. by using one, two, or three fingers! No need for keyboard, nor external mouse. And if you're wondering about battery life, it's 5 hours with Wi-fi connected. Speed is also not compromised, because it also comes with 1.6GhZ Intel Core 2 Duo standard with the option to choose to bump up the speed up a notch to 1.8GhZ. All that in $1800. Talk about value for money.

A Greener Apple

The MacBook Air is also an eco-laptop because it doesn't have mercury, it's the first non-arsenic glass they've used for a screen, it's also made of recycled aluminum and the packaging is 50% smaller and the LED powered backlight is extremely energy-efficient as well. So if you think this isn't a milestone for Apple hardware to come, then what will?

Friday the 13th tomorrow... and I'm getting unlucky already!

This is superstition, I know. I've been believing that it is until now. I have a DVD that I want to burn and IT'S NOT FRIGGIN' BURNING properly but I hate to admit that it's not really something to blame Friday about. Besides, it's Thursday and I love Friday, whether it coincides on the 13th of a month... (what a waste of blog space! Hahaha)

Wuh-oh!
We need to study like dogs everyday starting today about Biology... Ugh. I HATE terms!

Paramore
To cheer me up, I watched a music video of Paramore, a band (indie perhaps?) and they sound great. Hope to see their album in the Philippines.

A vLog
I wonder what would happen if I create... my own vlog! LOL. Gonna try 2morrow.... IF and only if I have the time.... (One of the wonders of iSight on MacBook... lol... I'm suuuch a fanboy)

Drool...
I wanna sleep! But I can't get my daily fix of proper sleep because of this LE task! Crappolicious! (My new word... created out of exasperation and drowsiness... :-D)