Picking a Jury Never Comes up in Shows

Last week I had Jury duty with the Kirkland City municipal court. It was a good experience. The vast majority of cases which they serve are single day cases. One thing I noticed rather quickly was that there more like half day cases because the first half of the is spent picking the jury.
What happens is that the two sides are looking for fair and impartial jurrors (unless they’re shady and hope to get someone biased towards their side) so there is a set of questions the judge asks, and the attorneys then get some time to ask questions. These questions can actually be rather interesting and are a foreshadow as to how they are going to bold their case. These questions can be objected to, argued over, and rejected. The attorneys and judge can deny a juror without cause or with cause.
Everyone could tell that one defendant had a hopeless case when he tried to dismiss all 40 potential jurors because since we all had drivers licenses, we would be unjustly biased against him.
Given how many crime\trial shows seem repetitive (not that I watch a lot) I would think that the shows would use this time to mix things up.

Exchange Online needs to worry about PC World

One thing I find funny about the PC World magazine is that they feel that Microsoft can do no right. And yet, Microsoft has been a major contributor to the growth of the Personal Computer. Would PC World magazine even exist without Microsoft? For the PC World editors it’s hard for Google to do any wrong, and Apple surely will never do anything which is not perfect. Microsoft, on the other hand, can only do wrong. Now it does make sense that if the magazine wouldn’t ever say anything bad about any Microsoft products that it’d garner no interest, but the vile hatred they have for Microsoft is entertaining. Ever since Vista shipped, they do seem to like XP though, and can only give dire warnings of any new OS that Microsoft may put out. I think the reason why is because they were able to generate interest for themselves by show casing tools which would help consumers manage a Win9x/XP PC. But ever since Vista a lot of those problems have gone away and you don’t really need much beyond what comes with the OS.

One group which needs to keep an eye on PC World is the Microsoft Exchange team. Exchange has been hosting (that’s right the Exchange product team itself, not some dedicated hosting team) mailboxes for customers since shortly after Exchange 2007 shipped. The idea is that they want to get Exchange to have the same OPEX as Hotmail or any other consumer emailing systems. This then makes the Exchange product the premier enterprise emailing solution, which will also have the lowest overhead possible for a 5 9’s system.

But since Exchange Online comes from Microsoft, any hiccup which occurs in the system will get attacked by PC World. Part of the reason is that there won’t by anyone on the PC World staff who’d have their mailboxes on Exchange Online (which is about to be rebranded as part of the Office 365 service), so they can’t see how good it can be. They only hear when some of the customers are having legitimate issues. Part of what makes it possible to hear what the issues are, is that the Exchange team really wants to be connected to their customers and have made forums were customers can report complaints. Having forums for issues, is not a bad thing, but a few years ago that wasn’t realistic, so the press need to learn how to appropriatly use this new source of information. Previously if a service was having a problem, only the service would hear about it, and a lot of times given the deep tiers of support, not even then.

So I certainly do hope that Exchange can continue to offer the great level of support that they do, and I hope that PC World won’t magnify problems with the service more so than they would with Exchange’s competitors. But given that the competitors consist of GMail, that’s not likely going to happen.

China Seas is a really good movie

Last night Amanda and I watched “China Seas” with Clark Gable and Jean Harlow and I really liked it. The story was different, it kept moving, and there were little bits and pieces showing life at the time (I presume) which would never be shown today for being culturally insensitive. China Seas is nowhere near as well-regarded as Casablanca and I think the reason why is because the way the romantic situation ends up. China Seas is too Hollywood-ish in the last few minutes.

In Casablanca we all know that the main character doesn’t end up with the girl. Many have proposed, and I agree, that this is why Casablanca became so legendary. Casablanca was a B-movie, a second rate film, and yet it’s regarded as the greatest of all time. It’s pretty much accepted that if Casablanca had Ilsa run away with Rick that Casablanca probably wouldn’t have achieved legendary status. It still would have made for a good time, but probably wouldn’t have struck with viewers quite as strongly. I wonder if China Seas would be more well-regarded if the romantic interests didn’t end up the way they did. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Go watch China Seas, you won’t regret it.

Shigeru Miyamoto should give Peach and Zelda love interests

In a bunch of fan films (or other fan art) I see online based on either Super Mario Bros. or the Legend of Zelda there’s always a built in assumption that Mario and Princess Peach are a romantic item and Link and Princess Zelda are a romantic item. The source of this assumption is pretty obvious, our hero’s have rescued their respective princesses multiple times. How could girls not help but to fall in love? The ironic thing is, is that never in any of the games have our hero’s shown romantic interest in the damsels they’re saving from distress.

Going strictly by the video games (and ignoring the Legend of Zelda cartoon series) Mario likes Pauline and Link likes either from Saria Ocarina of Time or Ilia from Twilight Princess (but only as an adolescent; Link hasn’t shown any interest in anyone as an adult). So given that our hero’s have romantic interests beyond the princesses it would help if the games creator – Shigeru Miyamoto – would give Peach and Zelda romantic interests. I think it would really make things interesting if Link and Mario had to rescue the princesses and their boyfriends. Or really distress the damsels by having the villains kill off their boyfriends.

So why do Link and Mario rescue the princesses if they don’t have a romantic interest? One reason is that they’re hero’s and that’s what they do. The other reason is that the kidnapped princesses are generally kidnapped because the villains (Bowser and Gannon) are up to something evil and the princesses are a catalyst for some sort of spell or are a political bargaining chip. Our hero’s don’t want to see their home lands destroyed by evilness, so they’re stopping the villains and that just happens to involve rescuing the princesses.

It would rock the video game world if Zelda and Peach had love interests separate from their hero’s, and I really think that the games creators should do it.

Bryant and I must have had Ocarina of Time down

A few weeks ago I was going over one of the announcements about the release titles for the Nintendo 3DS and it mentioned Ocarina of Time (which originally was released for the N64) and it mentioned how the Water Temple was made easier due to customer feedback. Since then I’ve noticed it mentioned in other places how people found the Water Temple to be very difficult. From some of the comments on the internet it seriously sounds like many people have been emotionally damaged by that stage. I find this surprising because I don’t remember it at all.

I remember a lot of Ocarina of Time; Bryant and I played it together when it came out. I remember a bunch of the stages, but I don’t remember getting stuck in the Water Temple. If before reading the announcement and you asked me what I remembered about Ocarina of Time I wouldn’t have mentioned the Water Temple. We didn’t look up cheats and hints online (didn’t have an internet connection at the house that time anyway), we didn’t get a players guide or anything. We just sat down and played the game together, watching what the other did on their file and coming up with ideas together. I remember really enjoying that game.

I know this makes me sound like I’m bragging about being an awesome gamer, but I’m not. I’m not an awesome gamer. I have a feeling that if I were a hardcore gamer, and even if I didn’t have exceptional trouble in the Water Temple, I would have at least heard about it before now. I still haven’t been able to defeat Super Mario Bros. 3, and believe me, I’ve tried. But this little piece of news does make me feel like that in-between Bryant and I, one of us must have some skills.

Female vocalists you can’t help but fall in love with

I’m trying to think of great female vocalists whose voices you can’t help but fall in love with. The only two I can come up with as being the prime examples are Karen Carpenter and Linda Ronstadt. To me, both of their voices have this raw feminine quality that really makes you feel what they’re singing. They both have songs where they hit these long, strong notes that completely engulf the listener which completely overtake their thoughts.

They were both very big in the 1970’s, and I struggle to think of voices which compete with theirs and have also been big on the national stage. I’m not saying that there haven’t been other big, popular female singers; there certainly has been. Ella Fitzgerald comes to mind as a great signer before the 70’s. Her songs are fun and her voice is just right for them, but it doesn’t strike me in the same way. In the 80’s there was Stevie Nicks and Madonna; both big, talented and memorable, but don’t overwhelm with the attractiveness of their voices. Late 80’s/early 90’s I can think of Amy Grant and Mariah Carey as being the strong and on the scene female vocalists, but neither quite as indelible as Karen or Linda. From the late 90’s early 00’s, only Britney Spears comes to mind as being big around that time (maybe Jennifer Lopez).

For the mid 00’s I can think of two female singers who have very strong voices: Haley Westenra and Christine Aguleria. Haley hasn’t been able to achieve national fame the way the others mentioned have, and Christine’s songs do not feel as pure as Karen’s and Linda’s; but Christine can really hit a strong, high note. (I can actually picture one more from two years back, but her name isn’t coming to me at the moment)

Am I forgetting someone? Is there another unforgettable female vocalist that seems to have achieved the peak of singing?

I just thought of one, Whitney Houston. Her voice certainly has been described as the best by more than one critic. I still feel that Linda Ronstadt and Karen Carpenter make me feel more as if I were experiencing the song than with Whitney Houston. Perhaps it’s just the songs they became popular with, it’s hard to say. Is there anyone else?

Humane Hercules Episodes Messages

Season One

Amazon Women	N/A
Lost Kingdom	N/A
Circle of Fire	N/A
Underworld	N/A
Maze of the Minotaur	N/A
The Wrong Path	N/A
Eye of the Beholder	N/A
Road to Calydon	N/A
Festival of Dionysus	N/A
Ares	N/A
As Darkness Falls	No Centaurs were harmed in the production of this motion picture.
Pride Comes Before a Brawl	No Hydras were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
March to Freedom	N/A
Warrior Princess	No Animals were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Gladiator	N/A
Vanishing Dead	No Dogs of War were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Gauntlet	N/A
Unchained Heart	No Vicious Beasts intent on taking over the world were harmed during the production of this motion picture.

Season Two

King of Thieves	No Subterranean Serpents were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
All that Glitters	No Stuffed Elephants were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
What’s in a Name	No Mandrakes were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Siege at Naxos	No Barbarians were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Outcast	No Centaurs were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Under the Broken Sky	N/A
Mother of All Monsters	The Mother of All Monsters was not harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Other Side	Neither Phil or Sal or any of the other Piglet Brethren were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Fire Down Below	No Completely-Engulfed-In-Flames-Evil-Dudes were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Cast a Giant Shadow	Neither Typhon nor Echidna were harmed during the production of this motion picture. They went on to lead long and happy lives with their adopted family. However, attempts to reinflate Pylon were unsuccessful.
Highway to Hades	No Rabbits or Spirits Wandering the Earth were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Sword of Veracity	No Attaching Minotaurs were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Enforcer	N/A
Once a Hero	N/A
Heedless Hearts	N/A
Let the Games Begin	The nuclear blast that destroyed those fiendish Mesomorphs was purely trick photography. The Mesomorphs are alive and well and living in Poughkeepsie.
Apple	No extremely oversize clam shell wind-surfing apparatuses housing goddesses of love were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Promises	No Hairy Sasquatch-Like Mammals were Battered, Bruised, Burned or Beaten during the production of this motion picture.
King for a Day	No slightly soused kings-to-be who finally pull themselves up by their bootstraps and realize the true meaning of leadership were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Protean Challenge	No Slightly Discolored and Impish Gods who vaguely resemble any Candidate in the 1996 presidential elections were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Wedding of Alcmene	N/A
Power	No Manure was harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Centaur Mentor Journey	No Centaurs were harmed or discriminated against during the production of this motion picture.
Cave of Echos	No Vicious Tabby Cats were harmed during the production of this motion picture. However, the Pre-Hellenic Litter Box is in dire need of a change.

Season Three

Mercenary	No Flesh-Eating Sandrays were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Doomsday	No Silly Nutty was harmed during the production of this motion picture. However, quite a few filberts and cashews sacrificed their lives in the name of progress.
Love Takes a Holiday	No Metal Panthere were harmed during the production of this motion picture. When polishing your metal animals remember to use salt and lemon.
Mummy Dearest	Any similarity between our Mummy and the foot dragging classic we all know and love is purely intentional.
Not Fade Away	No Bootie-kicking, Chop-sakiing She-Monsters from Tartarus were harmed during the production of this motion picture. If you can’t stand heat, stay out of the temple!
Monster Child in the Promised Land	Out of respect for Baby Obie, no calamari was served to the cast and crew during the production of this motion picture.
Green-Eyed Monster	No Goats were harmed during the production of this Cheese.
Prince Hercules	Iolaus was not harmed or permanently stained in the production of this motion picture. In fact, thanks to the miracle of sandblasting, his skin was restored to its original color and lustrous sheen.
A Star to Guide Them	No Unnamed Baby of key biblical and mythological importance was harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Lady and the Dragon	No Fire-breathing, Pre-pubescent, Slightly Sinister dragons were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Long Live the King	No Stags were bagged during the production of this motion picture.
Surprise	Hercules’ Party Pants were not harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Encounter	The Golden Hind was not harmed during the production of this motion picture. To order a Hind of your own call 1-800-55-HIND.
When a Man Loves a Woman	Hercules’ strength was not harmed during the production of this motion picture. In fact, Ares is storing it in a cryogenic freezer bag deep in the Olympian Meat Locker.
Judgment Day	No Family Values were harmed during the production of this Blood Lite motion picture.
Lost City	No Hippy-dippy, Substance-abusing, 60’s Reject Love Children were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Les Contemptibles	The French accents depicted in this motion picture are entirely fictitious. Any similarity to actual accents, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Vive La Revolution!
Reign of Terror	The Sheeps’ political and cultural independence was restored after the production of this motion picture. Run Free Ewe Wilde Beasts!
End of the Beginning	Neither the Space Time Continuum nor any previous storylines were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
War Bride	No Leather-clad, Pointy-breasted, Buffont-wearing, Pillow-smother, Two-faced Sisters were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
A Rock and a Hard Place	No Convicts were squished like a bug during the production of this motion picture.
Atlantis	WARNING: Crystal-waves were used during the production of this motion picture. Pregnant women should leave the room immediately.

Season Four

Beanstalks and Bad Eggs	No permanent cases of Harpies were reported during the production of this motion picture.
Hero’s Heart	As Fortune would have it, Iolaus’ memory was not harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Regrets… I’ve had a few	Jaris’ cause of death remained a mystery during the production of this motion picture.
Web of Desire	The original Website was severely harmed during the production of this motion picture. However, through the miracle of modern technology, it was reinvented several centuries later.
Stanger in a Strange World	No Heart-throwing, Love-spewing, Smooth-talking Ares impersonators were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Two Men and a Baby	No fire-belching, levitating, neo-natal sons of a god were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Prodigal Sister	The Amazon Hokey-Pokey was not harmed during the production of this motion picture. In fact, this catchy number is being performed in dance clubs around the country.
…And Fancy Free	The Window Twanky, once again on top of the dance world with the success of the Hercules Hustle, was not harmed during the production of this motion picture.
If I had a Hammer…	Hercules proved once again the true measure of a man is not the size of his grapes but the size of his heart.
Hercules on Trial	Due to extensive DNA testing, Hercules was proven innocent during the production of this motion picture.
Medea Culpa	No two-headed, fire-breathing, regenerating Ghidras were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Men In Pink	Cupcake’s sweet tooth was not harmed during the production of this motion picture. However, her love life experienced a slight setback.
Armageddon Now	Once again, Alcmene’s fence was not finished during the production of this motion picture.
Armageddon Now Part 2	Although Alcmene’s barn was blown to smithereens, remarkably she and Iolaus were not harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Yes Virginia, there is a Hercules	Any resemblance between the Hercules cast and the Renaissance staff is purely intentional.
Porkules	Hermes’s wings were clipped during the production of this motion picture.
One Fowl Day	No giant poultry was tripped, plucked, barbecued, deep-fried or otherwise assaulted during the production of this motion picture. Katherine’s owners are orthodox vegetarians.
My Fair Cupcake	No Bakeries were harmed during the production of this motion picture, although many pastries were burned to a crisp.
War Wounds	Any resemblance between King Iphicles, Hercules’ half-brother, and Area, God of War, Hercules’ other half-brother, is totally unavoidable.
Twilight	Caution: Nafoline Cannons are highly flammable and may be hazardous to your health. Keep away from children.
Top God	No Boogie-Boarding, Beached-Blonde Narcissistic Gods were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
Reunions	Zeus’s Godhood was not harmed during the production of this motion picture, although his short stint as a mortal was somewhat intoxicating.

When Rage isn’t so enraging

For Christmas, Amanda and I received Rage. It’s a card game with Uno like cards and kind of plays like Hearts. The premise is that you win a ‘trick’ by laying down the highest numbered card of either the lead color or the trump color. The game is most likely called rage because you might lay down a card, and feel positive as to your win (or in some cases your loss) of the trick, but someone subsequently lays down a card which upsets your confidence of the outcome.

Should you be really confident, and then all of a sudden your upset, you then feel enraged. Amanda and I have played the game three times. Once with my family (where I think there were seven players), once with Amanda’s family (where I think there were seven players) and once with the Wilsons (where there were four players). I noticed something when playing with the Wilsons though, I wasn’t nearly as enraged. I’m not one to hold grudges or start hating another player because they did whats best for their interest, but I will show outbursts of emotions when things suddenly don’t go my way. These aren’t serious emotions, because being melodramatic about games does make them more entertaining. I think the reason why I wasn’t enraged so much is that with four players there’s a lower probability of someone playing a card which would foil my crafty schemes.

The package does say that it’s a game for 2-8 players (and we did calculate at the Wilsons that it can work with 9). I don’t see how it would be any fun with two players, and since I find emotional swings to be the fun part of the game I suggest playing with as many players as one can find. Because if you don’t become enraged at Rage, what’s the point?

The Dangers of playing Wii with Fire

When the Nintendo Wii was released there were different news stories about how “dangerous” it was. People jumping and waving their arms around might end up hurting themselves, destroying property, or be handicapped with an unrealistic view of their physical prowess. Now that it’s been over four years one doesn’t hear those stories anymore, but perhaps as a society we need to wait for a generation to pass before passing judgment on the unforeseeable consequences of the Wii.

I did find out something interesting the other day, and that is that fire and Wii don’t mix. Sounds like a dangerous combination, doesn’t it? I found this out when playing Metroid: Other M. Amanda decided to light a fire in our fire place. Our couch is situated on the west wall of the condo and the fire place is on the north. Metroid is a game where the Wiimote moves from a classic style D-pad on the left held horizontally position, to standard point at the screen, during the entire game. I was really frustrated when playing and it seemed like the Wii was having trouble making up its mind about the direction the Wiimote was pointed, which really interrupts game play. I changed Wiimotes and the problem persisted. I had a little thought and stopped playing to wait for the fire to die down.

Surely enough, a few hours later, the fire had died down and Metroid was back to being an awesome gaming experience. The morale of the story is that one should not play the Wii with a fire on their left.

Metroid: Other M really is that cool

I haven’t played the other games in the Metroid series because of my experience with Super Metroid. I just didn’t like it. This year Nintendo came out with Other M, and after readying all of the great reviews I decided to give it a try and received it as a gift for Christmas. One of the reasons why I didn’t get it right away is that the controls aren’t a nunchuck connected to the Wii remote ala Twilight Princess, or GoldenEye 007. The controls are just a Wiimote positioned in the classic style, making the game a side scroller. So it didn’t look Wii motion control centric to me.

I’m glad that the reviews one over my reservations. The game is awesome in every way. The graphics are the best I’ve seen on the Wii, the story is really fun and involved, and the controls are great. What’s different about the controls are that it doesn’t follow a normal side scroller. Since the beginning of time, side scrolling computer games follow the pattern of having right and left move the character, down is duck, and up is either look up or jump. That way as bad guys attack from different heights the character either shoots up, at a diagonal, or jumps and shoots horizontal. What Other M does differently is remove the need for accurate shooting from the player. The player just needs to point Samus (the protagonist) roughly in the direction of the target and when you fire the weapon Samus makes up the difference. The result is that up and down on the D-pad are now free for walking away from the screen or toward the screen. Giving the camera a lot of ways to optimally position itself, and the different rooms/hallways can be of a varying depth.

All parts are not left up to the side scrolling controls either. In a way reminiscent of Super Paper Mario, pointing the Wiimote at the screen changes the view. In Other M it takes the camera from a side scroller or third person view, to the first person point of view. You can’t move Samus in this view, but you get to do precise aiming, and make use of different weapons. If the transition between the two views wasn’t seamless this would be annoying, but it is very seamless.

So with great and unique controls, great graphics and a great story, Metroid Other M is a must have single player game for the Wii.

PS. My experience though hasn’t been very single player. Amanda and has enjoyed watching me play, to see the story progress, and she likes pointing out passageways or items I may have missed.