Posts Tagged ‘review’
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
I got a Givi monokey V46N for Christmas, so I thought I should share a few pictures and initial thoughts on this box.
The box itself is great, and much bigger than my older boxes, however my helmet is quite large so there is no way this box would fit 2 of them. But it could probably fit two smaller full face helmets.
To attach the backrest you have to tape on a template, and drill two holes in the box, and the brake lights looked kinda complicated to install (for me at least).
The internal document holder
I’ve seen on forums and stuff that several people have had problems with this, the locking mechanism (see image above) kinda tricks you into believing that you are supposed to squeeze it someway, or even to remove the center pin.
The way you’re supposed to do this by the way is just to pull (using quite a bit of force) on the red plastic around the lock, to open it. Maybe I’ll put up a video when I get my new camera.
Tags: backrest, boxes, christmas, document holder, full face helmets, givi, givi box, helmet, initial thoughts, luggage box, motorcycle, pictures, review
Posted in General, motorcycle | No Comments »
Thursday, November 26th, 2009
I enjoy the occasional editing and creation of videos. Recently I’ve been making a cinema commercial for the WSPA organization here in Trondheim (“Dyrebeskyttelsen”), but choosing the right video editing software is not trivial. For me it needed to have good tools for panning, zooming, cropping, masking and support lots of video tracks. Also the ability to work with HD, color correction, text effects, exporting to a sensible video format is a must. I tried out 4 different video editing software products and wrote a small review of them:
Sony Vegas
I really like Sony Vegas, but it’s limit of 4 video tracks is extremely annoying! I could get an unlimited number of tracks if I could afford 700$ for the Professional edition, however as my video editing is mostly on a hobby basis that’s not an option.
I think the 4 track limit is moronic, you just need to have 2 videos + some text and a picture and you’re maxed out.. There are ways around this by rendering your 4 tracks into a movie, then importing that movie in a new project but then it’s a nightmare to change stuff which you do all the time while editing. Great software, but way to expensive for 4+ tracks.
Pinnacle Studio Ultimate
So I decided to try another piece of software, Pinnacle studio ultimate, a hefty 1.9 gig download for the trial version. This proved to be the biggest disappointment since Star Trek 11. First of all the software is overly simplistic and lacks lots of features found in Vegas, it is cumbersome (does not allow for fast cross-fading video/audio and other neat functions like Vegas does). But the worst part.. It’s limited to 3 (THREE) video tracks? WTF? I could not uninstall it fast enough, and now my computer feels kinda dirty..
Adobe Premiere / Premiere Elements
Wow, it’s even more expensive than Sony Vegas Professional, 800$ And the fact that their webpage is a mess and I have to register for a trial means I won’t even bother testing it. However! at the time of writing this I see there is also a “Premiere Elements” that according to Wikipedia allows for unlimited tracks for 100$ so I had to give it a try.
1.2 gb download, but it went very fast, installing took a while and required a reboot.. The program itself was not very intuitive and the trial made a HUGE ugly watermark on all the videos AND all images in that video. It was also horribly slow, background rendering running for like a minute with just a background image in one track and a moving image on the other track. The program also locked up twice in the hour I was testing it.. Not impressed.
Cyberlink PowerDirector 8
Another more reasonably priced piece of software (70-100$) which is supposed to be able to handle 16 tracks, and I honestly can’t see myself having more than 16 objects visible at the same time any time soon, so I guess I’ll have to try this one as well. The trial version was on a slow server so took a long time to download the software despite it’s small 235 MB size.
I did however not get to try this software for reasons stated below.
Magix Movie Edit Pro
Unlike the other 3 products mentioned, I hadn’t heard of this one until recently. The trial version was only around 200 MB compared to Premiere and Pinnacle which were 1,2 and 1,9 GB. But the websites promise of unlimited tracks and a fairly low price of 90$ made me check this one out. Like powerDirector it was on a slow server, and took a while to download.
Fast simple install, and user interface is nice and simple. Using keyframes to do changes/motion/scaling, etc.. was very nicely done and easy to use, and the program was a pleasure to work with. My only complaint is that the preview of the video has very bad framerate (maybe it’s just because of my semi transparent video over an image), do detecting subtle changes in the video while editing could be extremely hard.
Conclusion
After being forced to abandon Sony Vegas I found that the best program for me (behaved most like Vegas, lots of functions and lots of tracks) was without a doubt Magix Movie Edit Pro, it’s a very nice piece of software which I will be buying before the trial is up. It’s stupid that when you buy the downloaded version you miss out on getting Vasco De Gama bundled with it, but that I can live without.
Tags: adobe premiere, cinema, cyberlink, dyrebeskyttelsen, great software, magix, magix movie edit pro, move editor pro, movie, movie edit pro, movie editing, number of tracks, pinnacle, pinnacle studio, pinnacle studio ultimate, powerdirector 8, Premiere, premiere elements, price, program, review, software, sony, sony vegas, track, trial version, video, video editing, video editing software, video tracks, WSPA
Posted in Computers, General | 4 Comments »
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
I went to the cinema last night and saw 2012, and it was pretty awesome.
The movie itself and the plot was ok, except for some bad physics at moments, but then again I didn’t go to the cinema for a great story.
I just like seeing things being smashed, torn, destroyed, burned, exploded, destroyed and utterly demolished 
This movie got very nice CGI destruction, albeit comically exaggerated at times, and it’s worth watching this one in the cinema just for the awesome destruction
rating: 8 / 10
Tags: 2012, bad physics, CGI, cinema, destruction, end of the world, movie, movie review, review
Posted in General, Movies and TV | No Comments »
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
A couple of days ago a pilot for a proposed tv series called ‘Virtuality’ was aired. The guy behind it is no other than Ronald D. More best known for his work on Star Trek and being the genius behind the new Battlestar Galactica series.
The show is about mankinds first voyage outside the solar system to search for life on a distant planet (a 10 year trip). The ship called the phaeton is equipped with a complex virtual reality system, which should prevent the crew from going insane by being stuck 10 years in a metal tube
The pilot was very good, and I would LOVE to watch more, unfortunately Fox has not ordered any more episodes, but perhaps if enough people get interested, that will change.
If you live in the US you can watch the pilot at Hulu:
http://www.hulu.com/virtuality
otherwise you might want to check out:
http://www.btjunkie.org
fan support page:
http://virtuality-tv.info/Renewal/
facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Virtuality/79071714541
Tags: battlestar galactica, facebook, fan support, fox, phaeton, pilot, review, Ronald D. More, sci-fi, series, ship, star trek, tv, virtual reality system, virtuality
Posted in General, Movies and TV | No Comments »
Saturday, May 9th, 2009
Last night I saw the new Star Trek movie, I’ve seen all the episodes of all the shows between 2-7 times each, so of course I need to watch this movie to..
Remembering how much Nemesis sucked, I was determined to have no expectations to the movie, just in case it turned out to be crap. But around 1 week ago I got to see like 25 minutes of the movie while at Fedcon, and then I got pretty exited, it looked really good and funny.
Unfortunately those 25 minutes contained everything that was good in the movie, and the rest 1.5 hours SUCKED.
I really hate the new Star Trek movie, it is by far the worst Star Trek movie (that includes such travesties as Star Trek 3, 5 and Nemesis).
The movie has NO Star Trek feeling over it what so ever.. The Movie is BORING and the plot is semi-retarded.
The movie is a Bland Cookie cutter action movie dressed up like Trek.
Note (I’m not a grumpy old guy who only likes TOS, and says there can be NO action in Star Trek).. I really LOVE TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT and First contact, Battlestar, Stargate, and those have lots of action (but not mindless action with poor plots)
Why the movie is a piece of shit
- The score/theme song is by far the worst ever, and I felt embarrassed every time it played.
- All the aliens have human personalities, the Vulcans, the Romulans, none of these act any different from humans.
- Bad guys with tribal tattoos on their face is not cool.. Just ask Mike Tyson.
- Even though being packed with action, it still manages to be boring as hell
- Boring CGI, for example the ice planet monster was crappy, but the ships were OK (exterior)
- The pitiful attempt to copy Battlestar Galacticas shaky camera for ship shots was really badly implemented
- Most of the humor did not really seem at home in the movie
- It is not Star Trek, it is just a mindless Hollywood action movie.
- A simple and boring ending
- The actors did NOT do a good job portraying the characters (Except for Mccoy which was excellent, and to some degree Kirk).
- Bad guy with a grudge trying to kill the hero (Does ST:II or Nemesis ring a bell?)
- Going back in time to destroy the federation? *cough* First Contact *cough*
- Why would Nero destroy the federation? He wants the future Romulans to get wiped out by the Borg, the Dominion, Species 8472 or the Sphere builders?
- A supernova that threatens the galaxy? That is like having a exploding car in London threatening people in New York..
- Being that close to a black hole would tear the atoms the ships were made of apart.. Not sending them back trough time in one piece.
- Spock setting Kirk out to probably die on a frozen moon, nice job portraying Spock and the enterprise crew.
- Scotty killing admiral Archers dog? WTF?!
- Scotty working with a Oompa-Loompa in a Ent costume?
- Making Spock and Uhura make out just for no reason what so ever except pleasing the 16 year olds in the audience.
- Why did the Federation suddenly loose sensor technology? They have great sensors in Enterprise/TOS.. In this movie they cant even see a second ahead while at warp (gigantic overpowered Romulan mining ships, allied Starfleet ships, debris or weapons fire)
- Vulcan children making fun of each other and fighting..
- Magical supernova that travels faster than light
- Using a black hole to collapse a supernova makes no sense
- Why is Nero so upset at Spock, it’s not like Spock caused that magical supernova, he just failed to help.
- And since when was it the Federations job to safeguard the Romulan Star Empire from natural disasters anyhow?
- When he got back in time, why not do something worth doing, like save those Romulans from being pwned by the supernova?
- That scene with Simon Pegg in the water tubes was like something out of Spy Kids, totally lame.
- The movie exists in a parallel reality to the established Star Trek universe.. So why would anyone give a rats ass about what happens in it? We all know Spocks mother was not killed, and that Vulcan is doing fine.
- Starfleet ships are ships of exploration.. The new ones are ridiculously over armed compared to all other series.
- Detonating warp cores between the ship would not move the ship since the matter antimatter explosion would produce only energy, no moving mass that could propel the ship.. The best they could hope for was to be fried with EM radiation. The ship also went to warp after ejecting it’s warp cores (Federation ships only have one).
- Building a Starship the size of the Enterprise on Earth’s surface in gravity is just silly.
- Even if you DID build Enterprise on the surface, a constitution class starship can not operate in a class-m planets lower atmosphere. So there would be no way to get the ship into space
PS
There are lots of other good reasons why the movie sucks in the comments to this post. I especially liked Ben’s comparison of the movie to The Wrath Of Khan
Tags: dominion, fail, first contact, kirk, movie, nemesis, new star trek movie, piece of shit, review, sensors, ship, star trek, starship, tos, Trek
Posted in Movies and TV | 107 Comments »
Saturday, March 7th, 2009
Finally saw the Watchmen movie, It’s not quite as good as the comic book, but it’s still:
The endig was also better than the comic book, and I cant wait to get the extended version and the tale of the black freighter on Bluray
Rating: 9.5 / 10
Tags: black freighter, bluray, book, comic book, comics, movie, movie review, review, watchmen, watchmen movie
Posted in General | No Comments »
Monday, January 26th, 2009
I haven’t watched the Simpsons for a long while, because watching The Simpsons after having seen Family Guy is like sticking a big spoonful of dog shit in your mouth after eating cake..
Anyhow, I thought I might give it a go again, and watched the latest episode.
Trough the last half of the episode I kept hoping a blood vessel in my brain would rupture and kill me. I had to watch 2 Family guy episodes to regain my will to live, and after that I still feel dirty! 
Tags: cake, dog shit, episode, family guy, review, the simpsons, tv
Posted in General, Movies and TV | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
Against my better judgment I went with some friends and saw the Norwegian made “nazi-zombie” movie Død Snø (Dead Snow).
The movie is made by talentless writer/director Tommy Wirkola, who just 2 years ago embarrassed the country with a horrible Kill Bill parody (“Kill Buljo”). By looking at the trailer for Død Snø, it actually doesn’t seem so bad, and if the movie was as good as the trailer I would not be bitching and complaining right now.. But the movie itself fails at so many things it’s almost embarrassing.
Story – FAIL
Now I would be the first to acknowledge that a movie with nazi zombies does not need much of a plot. However there at least have to be SOMETHING, even if the plot is so simple as “zombies around, locked up in shopping mall / mountain cabin, try to escape” there still have to be events that pushes the story forward towards something. Watching Død Snø feels like going nowhere really slow, nothing really happens and there is nothing leading up to anything, no sense of progression, no nothing.
Characters – FAIL
The only properly developed character is killed early in the movie. The rest of the characters are uninteresting and with NO back story. The dialogs throughout the movie are lame and if you are going to have someone talk with the ugliest Norwegian dialect ever conceived (Stavanger) for the love of gods, ADD SUBTITLES!
Genre – 3x FAIL
The movie tries at three genres and misses all of them by a furlong.
Horror/zombie, the movie is not scary at all, it has no atmosphere what so ever and there is none of that tight, claustrophobic eerie zombie feeling. Just a few attempts on sudden/cheap scares which FAIL.
Comedy, the only good thing this movie has to show for are a couple of OK jokes. but sadly most of the movie is about as funny as watching Adam Sandler making dinner.
Splatter, this movie does not qualify as a splatter, there are only a few splatter scenes, most of which are pretty dull and unoriginal. Both the quality and quantity of the effects does not stand up well to other splatters.
Quality – FAIL
The sound sucks donkey balls.
The music sucks elephant balls.
The effects are mediocre at their best.
The zombie makeup is almost passable.
60% of the movie is shot in the dark.. by someone who can’t shoot in the dark.
Conclusion
This half ass movie reaches movies like Bad Taste, Braindead, Shaun of the dead, *real zombie movies* up to their ankles. I would rather have watched Braindead once again. No sound, no color, Portuguese subtitles, as a poor VHS rip on a broken LCD monitor, and with one eye shut.. It would still be roughly 3 times better than Død Snø:
“Artist illustration”
rating: 2.5 / 10
Tags: braindead, comedy, dead snow, død snø, fail, horror, kill buljo, movie, movie review, nazi, norwegian, review, splatter, zombie
Posted in General, Movies and TV | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
I started watching a new TV series after christmas, figuring I should watch at least ONE tv series that isn’t science fiction.
Chuck is a action comedy (more comedy than action) series about a computer nerd who gets a big database of government secrets uploaded into his brain. He works at Nerd Herd (the support department) of a local electronics retailer who has lots of interesting and weird characters.
After getting the database put in his head, he invoulentarily becomes a “spy” working with two operatives from the NSA and CIA.
The series is filled with humor, interesting situations and is really fun to watch. The series started in 2007, and season 2 just finished. Have only watched the first season yet.
I love all of the nerd humor in the show
- Chuck speaks klingon
- Chuck has a sandworm costume (from Dune)
- A ninja tries to steal Chuck’s computer
- Chuck needs bandages after playing to much Call of Duty
- Chuck installs Linux
- etc..
And I cant wait for the episode called “Chuck Versus the Delorean” 
Tags: brain, chuck, cia, comedy, computer, humor, klingon, linux, nerd, nerd herd, ninja, nsa, review, series, spy, tv
Posted in General, Movies and TV | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
I saw the latest batman movie last night, and considering all the hype around it, I find myself somewhat disappointed.
The plot is pretty uninteresting for the most part, but not that bad either, it’s like an average action movie.
There where a few things that annoyed me:
- They could have killed the joker at 4-5 times at the movie, saving lots of people.
- Heath Ledger’s acting was OK, nothing more.. If he had not offed himself with a bad drugs combo nobody would give a shit or suggest him getting an oscar.
- Batmans voice sounds like Homer Simpson with a cold.. SERIOUSLY.. it’s off putting!
- Nobody notices 50-100 barrels of explosives being moved into a hospital or a ferry.
And finally.. “Dark knight”?
Batman is not Dark.. He is Emo.. There is a big difference.
Rorschach (Watchmen), V (V for Vendetta), Marv (Sin city), The punisher, Wolverine (X-men) are dark, and they get the job done.
Batman is a black teletubby who like superman is never going to solve the problem by killing his deadly enemy, but instead play a weird form of catch and release, which gets LOTS of people killed, but still batman is sooo guilty when the joker kills a few people demanding that he expose himself.
At least this movie was not as HORRIBLE as Batman Returns. Still.. Batman = Pussy
rating: 5 / 10
Tags: batman, comics, heath ledger, homer simpson, movie, movie review, review, Rorschach, sin city, super hero, teletubby, the dark knight, the joker
Posted in Boating, Ferrets, General, Movies and TV | 1 Comment »
