End of the Year!

Our holiday hiatus is almost over. I hope everyone is having a good time. Here are some things to look forward to from The Geek Within: * More movie reviews (my husband has a RedBox addiction!) * Jdorama reviews will resume finally! * football trophies (OK, not really....) * TV show reviews (I'm planning on going back to the 'per episode' format instead of the 'overall' format)

With the TV show reviews resuming, I'm planning on changing the look of TGW a bit. Since there will be spoilers, I'm going to try to keep them behind a cut. That way you don't have to read them if you don't want to.

I'll see you again in the new year!!

White Christmas?

Looking at the weather forecast, we may possibly have a white Christmas here. Of course, this is the Philadelphia area. There is about the same chance that it will turn to rain instead. Better have my rain boots ready, just in case. Either way, I hope that the weather stays fairly nice. We have a little bit of driving to do on Christmas Day and I don't want it to be treacherous. The website will probably be going on a bit of a hiatus until the holidays are over. I get too wrapped up in everything to remember to post.

Happy Holidays!

Tron: Legacy 3D

Yesterday, my husband, my daughter and I went to see Tron: Legacy 3D. My daughter doesn't particularly enjoy 3D movies, but we had no choice since it wasn't available in 2D anywhere near us. Twenty years ago, Kevin Flynn disappeared. He left behind a 7-year old son, Sam, and a major computer software/video game company, ENCOM. Today, Sam has grown into a man disappointed by what his father's company has become, yet he is not ready to take the reigns as the major stockholder. When Kevin's friend, Alan, gets a page from this missing man, Sam goes to his father's old arcade to find out what is going on. Little does he know that his father has been trapped inside a computer program, The Grid, this entire time. With help from a program named Quorra, Sam tries to rescue his father from CLU, the program currently running The Grid.

Like many people my age, I have a fondness for the original Tron. When I heard they were making a sequel, I had my doubts. However, I was determined to not make a decision before seeing the movie. Graphically, the movie is beautiful. The reality scenes are in 2D while the scenes inside The Grid are 3D. I think that made the differences between the two worlds easier to understand. Unfortunately, I found most of the movie boring. (I actually almost fell asleep three times.) The Daft Punk soundtrack is awesome, but the storyline is bland. Absolutely everything is spelled out for the viewer. Even the 'twists' were easily predicted. Perhaps it would have been better with a few more fights. Instead, the movie is almost entirely a game of cat-and-mouse. In short, pretty but dull.

New Year = New Stuff

I know this blog has gotten pretty stagnant lately. After the new year, I'm planning on doing a bit of revamping. I'm going to get back to talking about each episode of the television shows I watch. It's been years since I've done that and I think it will help breathe some life back into this place. I'd also like to talk more about 'equipment' like htc desire reviews and such. Though I don't get a lot of electronic toys like that....so I don't know how well that would work out. And, of course, I'm hoping to find the time to throw back some more jdoramas. Unfortunately, the holiday season is extremely busy for me. With any luck, I'll be able to kick out the Rookies movie soon. I just have to plan some time for it.

Goodbye Kitty

This weekend was a bit emotional. One of our cats, Therin (named after Lews Therin Telamon from the Wheel of Time series of books), passed away. While he wasn't ancient for a cat, he was about 13 years old and he had a heart condition. Unfortunately, taking him to the vet would always set his condition off so it was difficult to get any real readings from the ecg machines. Anyway, he had been sick for the past few months. He took a turn for the worse on Thursday. He pretty much stopped eating since nothing would stay down and his breathing was erratic. Of course, we spent a lot of time snuggling with him and trying to feed him via syringe. Sometime Saturday night, he passed into the next world. He will be missed.

RIP Therin.

Almost finished!

My husband and I are almost finished our Christmas shopping. (Granted, I still don't know what to get him. Maybe I'll look at the Brother printers or scanners. More computer crap is a good thing, right?) All that is left is my sister and her boyfriend. We have some ideas but I'm not sure how well either of them will work out. With any luck, I can finish that up tomorrow and I will be done! Well...except for the wrapping. Blah.

Help!

I need suggestions for Christmas presents for my geeky husband. I am so clueless this year that I was even looking at metal detectors on sale. So sad. Here's a bit about him:

He's a gamer. He plays World of Warcraft. (Yes, he already got the new expansion thingy.) We have a Wii, a PS3, and an Xbox 360 with Kinect. Um...he listens to audiobooks on his phone. He likes campy horror movies/shows.

I am so lost! If you have any suggestions, email them to me: thegeekwithin@gmail.com Thank you!

Samsung Epic

For my birthday, my husband upgraded my cell phone (an LG Lotus) to a Samsung Epic. While the phone got rave reviews, I wasn't sure if it was for me. Personally, I prefer flip phones...even though they are a dying breed in the US. Despite my dislike of smart phones, I am finding myself warming up to it. I like being able to watch YouTube videos or play Hangman while my daughter is at swim class. (My husband has an app on his HTC phone for a barcode scanner, which is neat but I don't know that I would ever use it.) The camera/camcorder is also much better than the one on the Lotus. The one downfall is that it just isn't pretty. I'm planning on looking around for a case for it...but out of the box, it's just plain and boring and blah. At least my Lotus was a cute purple with flower designs. I know that comes off as very girly but, in reality, I enjoy having things that look different from everyone else. No one I knew had a purple phone or a Lotus (which also comes in red or black) in general. But that is something that is easily fixable.

Overall, I really do like my Epic. My favorite part is the slide-out Qwerty keyboard. I don't like the touchscreen keyboard so it's nice to have the option to use a "real" keyboard if I want. If it is within your budget (it is a rather expensive phone), I highly recommend it.

Eureka Holiday Special

Eureka is one of the "can't miss" TV shows in our household. Last night, they aired a holiday special! As always, it was smart, funny, and added a little twist to the story. (Though I wonder if Sheriff Carter has gotten any term life insurance quotes recently. He is almost always in some sort of danger!) Sadly, I don't want to talk about it too much in case you haven't seen it. (Much like I haven't seen the Warehouse 13 holiday episode from last night yet. It's on my DVR though!) But if you love Eureka, you'll adore the holiday spin on the show. So awesome!