Raw Consciousness

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT - Effective C++ 3rd edition....

Hey, Effective C++ 3rd edition is out and it has a whole chapter on template meta programming....

If someone knows of a cheaper price than bookpool, let me know!

FILM - Batman Begins

Well I watched the movie last night with an EA-Insomniac couple, and a friend of theirs. Christian Bale looks way hotter than I could have imagined from the trailers, and without giving things away, I think he makes an excellent Bruce Wayne. As Batman... he's allright, but like someone said Michael Keaton may make a better bat.

Anyway, stop reading now if you don't want to potentially charge yourself with some bias....

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The movie special effects seem a bit lower key.  The movie relies it seems more on dialog, psychology, and camera takes more than just special effects- and I love that.  About time.  I definitively enjoy the fact that you get out knowing who Bruce Wayne is.  The concept and operation of one of the villains is something I believe was very well done.

I would classify the monvie as good, there were two things that got in my way a bit:

#1. I thought the camera takes in the fights were just too fast. I realize it is the intent to portray Batman as someone who strikes fast and you don't know what hit you, but doing so and in the dark like that every single time, made me feel the same way "I don't know what hit me."  I wanted to see the performance. I think it's ok to do it once but in all scenes...

#2. Some of the skills of the main character seem a bit pulled "out of nowhere."  Due to the fact that they do show how he acquires most of the skills (good), to have some of these out of the blue doesn't make much sense.

MY LIFE - time to switch...

.. to Gmail. It won't be overnight, but you can write me at [email protected]

About time.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT - C standard book and more...

Just found out through The Inquirer that Derek M. Jones (a C language guru from the UK) published, online, a free 1600+ pages book on the C language standard including tons of information from psychological/human aspects for code organization, to performance of different constructs, to differences in the current standard to C++ C compatability to a lot of other ton of stuff. 

I am particularly most interested in the psychological/mind issues, but there seems to be a lot of everything.

Here's The Inquirer link for perspective.

Here's the PDF downloadable link.

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY - afternoon walk...

So I decided to take a walk this afternoon after eating a late brunch... here's some photos I captured I like, waling underneath the road bridge, on a bike/jogging trail:

This was under the bridge:

Yes, I am experimenting a lot with blur lately....

Nike?

War of the worlds? (update: yes, I cropped it a bit more)

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY - GRRRrrr....

I just went for a walk today after eating brunch at iHop.... and I remember I took a very cool shot at sunset underneath a bridge where a fast food styrofoam cup was being illuminated by the sun, and it casted shadows along with a fence and a road- but the cup seemed self-illuminated like a flash light....

What a friking cool shot... but I accidentally deleted it. GRRRR!!!!!

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY - trees....

Well I still haven't posted the photos from my 2nd time going to do surfers, but I have done twice a tree assignment, which consisted in photographing a tree from three points of view, at five different times during the day.  The goal is to get exposure right.

The first time I just sucked at it. I didn't figure out what to do with the tree (I picked two, since I didn't feel one was enough- quality for quantity eh? Not a good idea).  I actually looked at some trees during the day, and at night, thinking I don't want any street lights to interfere.

I found one I liked quite a bit but when the night came in, there was no way in hell I was going to walk in the bushes and take a photo of it in pitch dark conditions- where you don't know what is waiting to eat you out there.

Anyway, wanted to post what I believe is one of the niciest photos I have ever taken, before posting others:

MY LIFE - Sometimes...

Ok, so it seems that the following are true about myself:

* At times, I really just don't understand the world around me, and I go by my own internal world of ideas which 99% of the time when this happens are flawed (not 100% flawed but flawed enough).

* And at times I just see something, some mechanic, dynamic- something another person is doing or reacting to that is real, is going on, and it doesn't matter how much I can try to explain it to this person, this person may not be just willing to understand it, but also simply completey and utterly incapable of doing so.

Now, some of you reading this may wonder "well what's the big deal, that's life for ya."  Maybe so, but believe it or not I didn't realize this until recent years, nor as vivid as of last months.  Now, the part that is very me is when either happens, I can get severely emotionally affected. But this I am working on with good signs of solid, real, good progress.

TECHNOLOGY - or perhaps psychology & marketing...

If you are curious about how marketing psychology in a presentation can be really important, or have doubts about it- or want to see perhaps a man who can truly turn water in to wine right in front of you, check out Apple's developer keynote where they made official the rumor that they are switching to Intel processors.

I really have to give my hats off to Steve Jobs- he really did an incredible job of presenting the news while keeping some degree of truth, poking fun and an incredible psychological manipulagion for the acceptance of that change.

Fast forward the quicktime to around time 22:00.

FILM - La Mala Educación (Bad Education)

Everyone that knows me well enough, knows I am a HUGE Pedro Almodóvar fan since I watched Mujeres Al Borde De Un Ataque De Nervios ("Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown") back in 1988-1989.  Almodovar's style is simply unique. Surreal, excellent social critique, creative.

I would say his last two movies before this one present a departure from the usual.. more emotionally charged. But this one brings a new interesting mix of elements... but it's still defnitively an Almodovar film.

A writer and director from Spain, that dares to present a certain reality, in a way that apparently no one else seems to dare, or be capable of. And were Antonio Banderas made if I understand correctly, most of his films before being famous in the US.

Bad Education is the title in English... go and watch it. Let me know what you think.  I had to watch it twice to emotionally understand it, but it's really good.