the Signpost

i held on to my Macbook Pro for as long as i could (5 months), but after a while i realized i was just delaying the inevitable. with much misgiving, i followed my pragmatic side and sold it so i could move on to solve several problems that have been bothering me in one fell swoop.

i needed a Windows laptop that was portable (thin and lightweight), highly capable and, above all, had a good battery life. that seems easy enough on paper but the reality was i needed a notebook that offered a good balancing act between what i wanted and the amount of money i was willing to part with in order to get it. after a bit of research and checking tons of laptop reviews, i realized that what i needed was a sturdy ultrabook — a class of (Windows) notebooks designed to go toe to toe with Apple’s Macbook Air, with the same performance “kick” plus a few more nifty features. and so i set my sights on Asus Zenbook UX31E-DH72.

to say that i was excited when it finally arrived is basically an understatement. it didn’t take me long to open the package and compare it with my old (14 in.) Dell notebook, and see how they stack up with each other.

it’s not hard to see why the Dell Inspiron weighs a lot more than the Zenbook — it’s roughly 3X as thick and looks bulky and shoddy when placed beside the smaller, sleeker Zenbook with its highly reflective aluminum surface.

but a shiny, impressive exterior isn’t what motivated me to get the Asus UX31E-DH72. these days, i am more concerned with the specs — and here, the Asus Zenbook doesn’t skimp: 1.8 GHz Intel core i7 processor, 4GB DDR3 RAM, a 256 GB SSD, a beautiful 900 X 1600 (13.3 in.) screen, Bluetooth, USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports. it’s fast (boot-up time is roughly 25 sec; wake-up time is 2 sec!), with good battery life (almost 6 hours) and has excellent sound quality (best i’ve heard in a laptop).

and the nice thing about Asus is that it rounded the whole package with several add-on items to make life a bit easier for the average user — a carrying pouch (for the Zenbook), ethernet adapter, cable tie, mini-VGA adapter, screen cleaner.

like most laptops out there, though, the Asus Zenbook isn’t perfect. major concerns include its trackpad (which can occasionally lead to unexpected results) and its quirky keypad. however, as soon as you become familiar with its quirky personality and work out a system to deal with these small (and yes, annoying) issues, it purrs into life and becomes a high-value workmate.

after some tweaking and a great assist from an Asus technician, i was finally ready to do some work. so, step into my office, folks.

my weapon of choice and my poison…

Tags: Asus Zenbook, Dell inspiron, laptops, macbook air, ultrabooks, UX31E-DH72

it looks like Hello Kitty, that eternally cute feline of your childhood days, has her own airline now (or at least, gets the credit for it).

i know… it’s crazy, right?

my first reaction was an incredulous laugh. no way. that’s just freaking hilarious — must be some promotional stunt to pull in the younger crowd. that is, until i did some checking. then my jaw dropped.

apparently, EVA Air, a Taiwan-based airliner has been operating for several decades now and has wholeheartedly embraced this ingeniously cute motif as part of its promotional tie-up with Sanrio (Japan) — right down to the plane’s decor (both exterior and interior), its flight attendants’ uniforms and even the food being served on-board.

brilliant. and cute, of course. i keep expecting Daniel (her equally squeal-worthy consort) to pop up somewhere — umm… in the men’s restroom maybe? and here is Kitty posing in front of one of “her” planes.

okay, you can wipe that smirk off your face now ’cause i’ve got two burning questions:
(1) what about the flight crew’s uniform (pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer) — are they wearing cute flight suits, too? what about their parachutes?
(2) are they offering give-away gifts during these flights? you know stuff like limited edition Hello Kitty dolls, special edition Hello Kitty watches or celphones?

Tags: airlines, EVA Air, Hello Kitty, Sanrio, toys, travel

i just watched this movie, and the critics and other early viewers are right — The Avengers (Marvel) is better than good: it’s a highly enjoyable action movie that fulfills all the hype it has attracted so far and, more importantly for me, it’s funny too.

by now, practically everybody knows who (actors) plays who (superheroes and other cast members) in The Avengers, so i’m not going to waste your time and mine on that. just know that this is directed by joss whedon, so those of you who are familiar with his work should know what this means.

The action sequences are top-notch, the special effects even more so, and the plot isn’t as dumbed-down or as ponderous as i had feared. the film moves along briskly despite its length (142 minutes), and the interconnected story lines will keep you busy to feel any lag. above all, the sparkling repartee between the characters (mostly due to Tony Stark/Iron Man’s blistering and witty zingers, some of which escaped my bemused brain) — as well as the occasional dust-up between the heroes themselves — will keep you smiling long after the slam-bang mayhem has faded off into the distance.

okay, it will probably take me a while to figure out how The Avengers will rank in my Top 10 comic book-based/superhero films but i’m pretty sure that it will be up high in that list. also, the real standouts for me in this film are Iron Man and the Hulk.

all right, before i sign off (i’m so sleepy right now), there are two things i’d like to note about the Hulk:
(1) when the Hulk wants to smash you up, he doesn’t really care if you’re human, alien or a god. just consider yourself smashed.
(2) the reason why the Hulk didn’t get too many fans in the first two Hulk movies was that they made him too angsty and too inwardly focused. this time, they gave him worthier characters to interact with and an element of fun that was largely absent in his earlier screen versions.

Tags: Iron Man, Joss Whedon, marvel, The Avengers, the Hulk

ever wondered how Calvin & Hobbes (C&H; created and illutsrated by Bill Watterson) would be like 20 years down the road? well, get a load of this…

i know. they look, awesome huh?

like C&H most fans, i have long resisted the idea of watching Calvin and Hobbes grow up and change into something else — my brain just doesn’t want to accept the concept of life ironing out their rough edges and easing their fierce unconventional spirits into staid, civilized (read: banal and boring) behavior.

but when i came across this fanart (credit goes to nami68), i sort of softened my stance a bit. well, maybe if they both turned out like this, i wouldn’t mind at all. at the end of the day though, i still would like to see old Calvin and Hobbes.

it sorts of makes me wonder though… if Calvin’s vocabulary and imagination were already at that level (when he was only 6 years old), imagine how phenomenal he’d be at 27! as for his career, i can imagine him as an intrepid adventurer/explorer or maybe a game software developer. either of the two would certainly go well with his adventurous, unbridled spirit and his stupendous imagination. and i’m pretty sure, Hobbes would be a huge part of that decision, too!

i picture Calvin as living in this big house with a humongous yard, where he and Hobbes would play-fight all day long.

Tags: bill watterson, calvin and hobbes, comic strips