HTC Hero or Motorola Droid? The big dilemma, lend me your thoughts.

By in Dan's Tech Spot

If you haven’t already heard of Google’s mobile OS, Android, you’re in for a treat. It sets itself apart from being the first and only open-source mobile OS on the market. Meaning, programmers world wide can create applications free from regulation and royalities. More and more providers are seeing the potential of the OS and are quickly adopting the new platform. Which bring me to my big dilemma, which phone to choose!!!

sprint_hero

Sprint HTC Hero:

I’ve been researching this phone for months before its late and quiet arrival. Originally it looked far different because it was a Euro GSM version. With the admirable 15 degree chin, Teflon backing, and sharp ridged angles. Almost a year later its American younger brother showed its ugly face as the “Sprint Hero”. The so called, “Face-lift” by the Sprint representatives removed the chin and the sharp features. But along with the new looks came: a bigger battery, better 5mp camera, updated speedy firmware, and the sprint exclusive “Sense UI” feature. In the time Sprint was modifying the Hero, they added a customized feature they call Sense. Its generally designed to help customize the looks and feel of the phone. It is Sprint’s polished version of Android. About a week ago I went to see the phone in person, and as expected it was a nice fit.

500x_DSC_1050htc-hero-review

Pros:
– Good sized phone, very ergonomic
– Cheap after the 2-year blood contract – $180 – before tax $65/mo with Misono’s account
– Android 1.6 with Sense UI – UPDATE via HTC’s Twitter – Android 2.0 Éclair coming soon!
– Simple and straightforward Sprint service plan
– Scrollball

Cons:
– Uglier than its older brother
– LCD could be bigger and higher resolution
– Older hardware – 528 MHZ CPU
– Only comes with a 2GB MicroSD card

Verizon Motorola Droid:

Then there is the Verizon Motorola Droid, a new contender that took me by surprise. Check out this video if you haven’t already. It rocks those redundant Apple hating PC ads. Not to mention it has amazing motion graphics and sound!

I only learned about this phone about 5 days ago and its been a stunner. I’ve been so focused on the HTC Hero that I didn’t see any means to stray elsewhere. Everyday I check up on this phone I find more and more amazing things about it. From the Google Nav system to the huge and sharp LCD. Could this be the best thing to hit Motorola, since God knows when. People online have been raving about this phone being far superior than the Iphone. Steve Jobs made a comment saying all other smart phones are still catching up to the first Iphone, but he conveniently forgot about Android being increasing powerful. Native Flash Support, multitasking, and of course cut & paste (something Blackberries had before iPhones)

All this great stuff, but I hadn’t forgotten to mention the dark side of the Droid. Verizon. To this day I’ve been using Verizon (with a Samsung u-740 aka Alias), and I vowed never to go with Verizon again. They are the Nazi of the mobile industry; charging for every little overage from minutes to the megabyte usage. They throw their weight everywhere on the media claiming to be the best, when you can’t use their CDMA service outside the USA.
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Pros:
– Amazing LCD – 848 x 480 3.7in LCD (iPhone is only – 480 x 320)
– Hard keyboard with D-pad
– ARM 550 Mhz CPU – Top of the line mobile chip
– Android 2.0
– Cheap after rebate – $200, and possibly unlimited data for $69/mo?
– 16GB MicroSD card
– Google Navigation Beta (in all Android 2.0 devices)

Cons:
– SHADY OVERAGES! – I F*CKing hate Verizon for this
– Rumors claim the mail-in rebate is unusual and sketchy
– 2-more years of selling my soul to the devil
– Verizon will most likely charge for every little thing, even if you have a Unlimited Data Plan
– Motorola’s bad rep for making horrid phones
– CDMA network

D-Day is approaching…

Help me decide what android device is probably the best bet for functionality, price, service, and looks. And no, do not mention the iPhone, they are out of the question.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Love and Honor

By in All Things Reviewed, Arts and Culture Tags: , , , , , , ,

Dan and I rented and watched a Japanese movie called Bushi no Ichibun (the American title is Love and Honor) last night. I’d been wanting to watch it since 2007 when it was being aired in the States, but missed it while it was in theaters. We found a video rental place in Berkeley that carries an impressive number of Japanese movies recently and so when I found this movie there, I had to rent it.

Takuya Kimura plays Shinnojo Mimura, a lower-ranked samurai whose duty in his clan is to act as a poison taster to the shogun. He lives a humble but happy life with his wife Kayo and their elderly servant Tokuhei. Life as he knows it changes drastically when one day the meal he taste-tests contains toxic food poisoning which leaves him blind. The movie follows him as he comes to terms with his blindness and the fact that he can no longer serve as a samurai, as well as a shocking secret he discovers about his dutiful wife that he cannot bring himself to forgive.

I thought this was pretty well executed as a period piece film. It differs from the traditional samurai film in that the drama is confined within the domestic space, and the struggles are more internal rather than external — there is only one sword fight throughout the whole film, which just happens during the climatic scene. It’s understated for a samurai movie, but still keeps the viewer engaged and illustrates well the code of honor and rigidness that was so characteristic of Japanese feudal society. As a critic pointed out, it shows that “the deepest wound a samurai may suffer does not come from any blade.”

Although Takuya Kimura (or Kimutaku, as he is popularly known in Japan) is a compelling and talented actor, his own real life persona is so strong and well-known that, from my perspective, he seems to always somehow infuse too much of himself into the character, instead of the other way around where he really morphs into the role that he is playing. Or maybe it’s that he is always given the same type of protagonist-hero roles that it comes across that way. I felt like there was a little less of the overpowering Kimutaku-ness this time, though, with his character being an unusually vulnerable and thus more believable hero.

RENT in San Francisco

By in Arts and Culture, Recreational Fun Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Dan and I went to see RENT: The Broadway Tour at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco on Thursday. It was the first time seeing a musical live for both of us (I was born in New York City but I’ve never been to Broadway!), so I’ve been anticipating this since I bought the tickets last month. The cast features cast members from various periods while RENT was on Broadway, including original cast members Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp! I’d fallen in love with RENT when I first heard the songs growing up and saw the 2005 movie, and was really sad when I’d learned I’d missed the show when RENT came to Virginia Tech back in fall of 2003. Anthony Rapp had also graced Tech with a speaking event for VTU and LGBTA back in October of 2006. I was thrilled that I could watch the performance  with two of the original members who had made the musical so legendary.

The show was nothing short of amazing. Each number was perfectly executed and the cast members had amazing voices. I was surprised at how closely their voices matched those of the original cast. We had front seats in the mezzanine so we had a great view, although I’m sure it would have been even more exciting to be in the orchestra seats. RENT is touring in cities around the country, and they’ve been here for a little under two weeks. Definitely try to catch them while the tour is still going!

Here is an interview with Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp on the local show View from the Bay.

Here’s to Jim and Pam, TV’s Most Adorable Couple

By in Telly Talk Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Last week’s episode of The Office was the one we’ve all been waiting for the past five years. Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly, arguably television’s most adorable couple, finally tied the knot! The much-anticipated wedding celebration was aired as a special hour-long episode, and it wasn’t too over-the-top or outrageous — just the right tone of simplicity that is characteristic of my favorite TV series. Though it was surprisingly low-key for a wedding, it definitely had enough well-scripted lines and mishaps that it could have easily been a season finale, but instead it was a particularly awesome extended episode.

I love Jim and Pam, and have rooted for them since day one, from the very first episode of The Office — remember when Pam was engaged to Roy and Jim secretly loved her from afar? (And by “afar”, it was really just a few feet away, but she was still very much out of his reach.) And just when Pam had broken off the engagement with Roy, Jim had moved to the Stamford branch and had started dating Karen. For years, fans had to deal with the “will-they-or-won’t-they” tension and at times it felt like our favorite couple would never work out. But then everything fell into place, and soon Jim and Pam were engaged and the rest is television history! Jim and Pam are unique in their relationship that, unlike the drama that surrounds a lot of primetime shows, there is the assurance that the two are soulmates and that although there may be the occasional quibble or obstacle (as there is in with any couple), their love is built to last. “There won’t be the spouse who thinks they’re making a mistake, or the ex who comes and tries to break it up,” executive producer Paul Lieberstein says, citing two common examples of TV-wedding drama. Instead, he thinks the show will play as if “you’re going to a friend’s wedding, and they’re a good couple.” The Jim-Pam romance is a healthy one that is a rarity for television these days, and it may be what has carried it through the past five series so successfully. They are simply meant to be together.

This sure fact shone through the wedding episode, despite unforeseen disasters such as Pam’s old-fashioned grandma learning of some unexpected news, and Andy’s ripped scrotum. Jim’s speech during the rehearsal dinner was so touching (before he started the rambling that got him into big trouble), and brought us back to the aforementioned first moments before he and Pam were even together, when he was sure she was the one but all he could do was wait for her. And it was typical sweet Jim behavior when he clipped his tie to cheer Pam up when she was distraught over her ripped veil, and whisked her away to an unknown destination, just minutes before the wedding, leaving the rest of the office and relatives back at the church for an hour or so to wonder what’s going on. The icing on the cake is when Michael gets everyone to re-enact the viral YouTube video of the JK Wedding Entrance Dance (which I mentioned back in July), and hilarity ensues:

It’s during this segment that we see where Jim and Pam had disappeared to during those couple of hours — they’d run off to Niagara Falls to get married on a boat — and it was those little interspersed clips on the boat that made me tear up and cry.

Leave it to The Office to make me double over in laughter and get me choked up with tears, all at the same time.

Another Awesome Surprise Wedding Dance

By in Family and Friends Tags: , , , ,

There’s something about weddings that I just can’t get enough of. Being there to celebrate the love of two people who love each other is always enough to spring tears to my eyes, but what I also love is all the creativity that comes out of the couples. A recent trend that I absolutely love is the surprise wedding dance — where the couple’s slow dance suddenly breaks into a high-energy choreographed dance routine. It seems like it’s only really caught on in the past couple years, but YouTube is already swarming with videos of them!

My childhood friend Marie (or Moe-chan, as I knew her in Japanese Saturday School) was married to her husband Colin on September 26th in Washington, DC. Marie, our friend Erri and I all knew each other since first grade and were inseparable through middle school at nihongo-gakkou. I can’t believe that now the three of us are all married! (Erri, being the first to tie the knot, already has an adorable two-year-old.) I wasn’t at their wedding, but I just discovered through Marie’s Facebook their awesome surprise wedding dance. They got the whole bridal party involved. Here is the video. (The two-minute mark is where you want to be!)

Though it pales in comparison to Marie & co.’s dance, Dan and I broke into our own rendition of Michael Jackson’s The Way You Make Me Feel during our first dance to Endless Love at our wedding, over a year ago. We practiced for more than a month, but they hadn’t been dress rehearsals, so I found it a lot more difficult to move in a wedding dress during the actual performance! A bit embarrassing, but it was still a hit with our guests. (Watch our video here)

For anyone looking for a way to shake up a wedding and stray from the snore-fest that is often the traditional first dance, surprise dances are a fun alternative. There are plenty of ideas on YouTube — ours was inspired by this couple (who are much better than our rhythmically-challenged selves, I might add), with some alterations here and there. It’s sure to invite laughs and tumultuous applause from your guest.

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