Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End

Finally got it successfully embedded. Weird though, I couldn't just simply copy and paste the code; had to type it in manually, anynow, it's okay now.

And of course, definitely looking forward to it.

Edit 1: the width is a bit too much.
Edit 2: darn, the actual screen is tiny regardless.

28 Days Later

This summer has been shaping up to be pretty bunch of nothing. Just studying, thinking about studying, more studying and then slacking off in between; plus the occasional trip to and fro. To say its mundane would be an understatement, but perhaps some time down the road, I can look back and say, “hey, it wasn’t THAT bad”.

As far as stuff beyond econ texts, there are quite a few things the piqued my interest.

E3 did come and go, but the real jostling between the fanboys didn’t reach full force until this summer. From the boards, you could see the Sony diehards defending the PS3, everything from its price point ($599 for all the bells and whistles, and $499 for the tard pack), to the utilization of the Blu-Ray format, and the lack of vibration, but inclusion of tilt function in the controllers.

The Xbots countered with the unveiling of HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 and its killer apps, like Gears of War and Halo 3, (the teaser trailer was all done in-game, very nice). Not to mention its benchmark-setting online service, Xbox Live, which Sony has yet to match.

As for the Wii fans, yeah, nice name, they’re mainly in a niche due to the direction that Nintendo is going. But due to the high price point of the PS3, there have been a lot of “Wii60” fans stating that the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii will be sufficient for them for this current “next-gen”.

As for myself, if all goes well, then I’ll probably be getting the Xbox 360, simply for that one game, Halo 3.

As for summer entertainment, kudos to Disney who already and still is making a booty of profits, courtesy to “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dean Man’s Chest”. So far, it has the best opening, and best 17 day record at the box office.

I saw the film and yes, it was very fun. Some of the parts were a bit “tacked-on”, i.e., unnecessary, like the beginning on the cannibal island, but still, seeing Captain Jack Sparrow do his stuff is highly entertaining. Toward the middle, there was this one character (Tia Dalma) with an accent that made stuff hard to understand, but given my pirate knowledge, I persevered. And yes, the ending is a total cliffhanger, just like Matrix Reloaded; hopefully the last installment of Pirates won’t suck as bad as Revolutions. Scratch that, it won’t!

Next summer is also going to be big for movies; we have Spider-Man 3 and also, Transformers.

I was a bit skeptic when they decided to do a Transformers movie, but with Steven Spielberg as producer and Michael Bay as director, things are great, right? Wrong!

If rumors are to be believed, Optimus Prime is not, repeat, not going to be a red/blue cab-over-engine semi, but a *gasp*, black with flame décor long nose one. And the face plate, no, he’s going to have a “mouth”.

Oh the agony.

Optimus Prime IS a cab-over engine semi, has been for almost all of the twenty odd years the series has been around, and only once, was a long-nose, and boy did that tank. And please, what’s with the color scheme (and flame décor)? Not to mention the mouth/faceplate thing!?

I guess Hollywood nowadays are really shooting for being as bad as possible (and they blame us for not going to theaters), as evident by the OMG WTF is this Dead or Alive movie.

However, there has been encouraging news from the San Diego Comic Con; Peter Cullen, who voiced Optimus is on board to reprise the leader of the Autobots. With still a year prior to release, please do things “right” and if costs are a concern, you should have thought of it before screwing things up.

In other news, it seems that all everybody talks about here in the US is the crisis in the Middle East, specifically, the “skirmishes” between the IDF and Hezbollah. Now Iraq is the “forgotten war” and all other news on the globe are overshadowed by the current situation there. Even Kim Jong Il and his personal secretary Kim Ok “being together” isn’t significant anymore. Come on, this is the guy that shot seven missiles on July 4th to celebrate with the world, USA’s Independence Day.

But despite all the events going on around the world, for me none seem significant compared to the one which will happen on August 21st, 22nd. It’s the Fall Preliminaries for those who didn’t make it the first time. Out of the 31 people who took the first one, 14 major passed, 7 minor passed, and the rest (read, 10) failed. I got a minor pass, as in all B’s across the board. As far as I know, Guo-Jun and Ying-Ying both passed, as well as Nick. As for Randy, I’m not sure. But chances are, I’m the only one in the study group that didn’t pass.

Well, for some other study groups, there are like ones and twos that passed, but the rest were left hanging. So if I pass this one, kudos to our group!

There’s not much time left, 28 days to be precise. Reminds me of the movie “28 Days Later”, but at least this time, there won’t be zombie hordes after my ass, (or would there?) just economics professors armed with grilling questions that tease and exercise the intellect. Some how, I wouldn’t mind taking the Zombie option.

T-minus 35

Yup, only 35 days left until prelim time. Only 5 more weeks of intense economic studying and then, given that I pass the prelims (the first time), a delightful summer shall await.

I have tons of things I want to do this summer.

As for the prelim itself, why it’s such a big thing for me and my peers is that it is the first major hurdle that challenges us in our pursuit of an economics PhD. The preliminary exam consists of three topics and four examinations. The three topics being microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics; there are two micro exams, one macro and one metrics exam.

The grades that one can obtain on the exams, or should I say topics/subject matter are major pass, minor pass and fail. If you get major pass, you’re all good and further into the PhD program you may go. If you get a minor pass, all you get is a Master’s. And last but not least, if you fail, you’re gone.

That and the larger than normal class size of this year sums to a anxiety-filled test-prep season.

I have noticed that other economic programs (PhD level) do not necessarily have such a procedure, or if they do, it may not be in the first year. From what I have discerned, the reasons for the existence of such a “ritual” in our program range from “so that the first years will study hard and then harder”, to “well, because it was always there”. It seems irrelevant to discuss this now, given the current situation; but regardless, it’s something for me to note and reflect in the future.

This evening, prior to entry, I told my mother, who has been graciously encouraging and supporting me throughout, in no certain words, that it is time.

And yes, IT IS TIME.

Migration

Don't know why, but after I changed the template of my other blog, "Core Prime", I no longer have the "title" entry format*, so, as a result, I'm doing migration of sorts.

If I can get the problem fixed, then I'll revert back to Core Prime, instead of Empyreean. However, in the mean time, this will be the home for the foreseeable future.

Edit-

I've been fiddling around with it, adjusting templates and stuff, but to no avail. Short of a technical miracle, I guess this, as in Empyreean, will be my new home.

*as discernible from the archives of Core Prime.