2. I’m going APP crazy. You’ve got APPS for everything. Flashlight. Mirror. Dictionary. Language Translations. Games. Kindle. Currency Converter. Licquor Mixology. Astronomy Guide. Facebook. Twitter. Skype. Battery Doctor… and the list goes on… I’ve a small urge to get the Ipad, though I’m happy with my Iphone at the mo… Folks. Welcome to the future. a bit off tangent, but I think the future according to Microsoft would look like Star Wars. The future according to Apple would look like Star Trek. (don’t know if that makes sense)

3. Uploaded more images to my facebook page, and also perhaps some on my Flickr. I’m utterly annoyed at Facebook picture album though. “Upload Failed” a few times.Not sure how well Flickr integrates with FB or my blog site. Got to research on this. Maybe I’ll check out Picasa.

Also, scanned some of the illustrations I did during my trek and placed them in the Illustration page. Also added a Photography section for my best photos in lieu of my budding prosumer career with my D90… time to buy a drybox!

4. a. Movie watch: Shutter Island 8.5/10: The more I think of it, the more I love the movie. Plus, I am hypnotized by the music at the closing credits, Max Richter’s On the Nature of Daylight mixed with Dinah Washington’s This Bitter Earth.

I’ve heard both versions on their own, though I like Richter’s & Dinah’s music on their own, but gelling these 2 songs was genius and adds an extra emotional layer to this music.

b. How to Train Your Dragon in 3D was awright. Didn’t really justify the super-high rating it got on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB. But thought that it was still way superior to other Dreamworks animations like Shrek, Ice Age & Shark Tales. However, the soundtrack by John Powell was really “Powellful”. hehe… saw what I did there? Powerful, Powellful… nevermind…

c. My most highly anticipated movie of the year: Tron Legacy. My bro had his Clash of the Titans which in the end disappointed… hope it isn’t the same for me and this one.

5. Caught up with my Lost episodes finally. And all I can say… awwwwwsheeeyyyat… things are really heating up now… awwwwwyyyyeaaah! Just downloaded SNL & 30 Rock but haven’t watched them yet. And the new South Park episodes are funny as balls (no pun intended as there are lots of scrotum jokes for some reason this season). The Facebook episode was just as classic as the Warcraft one.

And that’s that for now. Later, peeps.

Anyway, I’m still into it, morning at work, no one in the office yet with Ricky Gervais playing through the speakers. Well, I haven’t felt this obsessed over some new application since bittorrents. Nice. Anyway, some quick thoughts/reviews on the podcasts I’ve listened to:

1. Stephen Fry’s Podgrams: Can come off as hoity toity, snooty and smartypants, but actually, I quite like him even though I don’t follow his obsession of Oscar Wilde, his loathing for dancing and penchant for poetry and wine. But the thing is, he’s pretty open minded enough to not hold that against you.

2. Ricky Gervais: Man, he has a really shrilly laugh. He and Stephen Merchant really go well together with their ridiculous banter. Ironically, even though considered more of an “everyman” and somewhat more accessible than Stephen Fry for example, his podcasts are a little too brief, since basically, they’re considered free samples from his audiobooks. (Half the time filled up with that shrilly laugh)

3. NPR: It’s like a window to different worlds. I’ve always been a fan of NPR since listening to them on radio in the US, and now I can get them here! Wonderful!

4. Stuff You Should Know: Pretty educational podcast, with Josh & Chuck talking about things that you don’t really learn in the classroom but we talk or hear about in everyday life, stuff like whether the world will end in 2012, how face transplants work, how long can you live without food or water, things like that. Really interesting…

5. This American Life: It’s kinda like Reader’s Digest in audio form, with anecdotes and spectacular stories from everyday people. Not as academically educational as it is philosophically insightful and spiritually uplifting.

6. Wizards of the Coast Penny Arcade & PVP: Quite interesting delve into the world of Dungeons and Dragons with a 3 hour recording of one of their role-play gaming sessions, which sadly, even as a self-confessed geek, I’ve never had the chance to do. This one’s “stars” Wil Wheaton from Star Trek fame! Some parts are quite hilarious, really, makes me realise that there are some parts to roleplaying that you can’t replace with computer roleplaying.

7. World Soccer Daily Podcast: A couple of British guys on American soil talking about EPL-centric soccer. Moments on this show can get pretty crass, as with quite a lot of podcasts actually. They can get pretty obnoxious and  opinionated, so I suspect that these guys either get a lot of fans or a lot of hate mail.

8. The Official LOST Podcast: Was a bit afraid to listen to this since I like my viewing experience of LOST to be untarnished by spoilers or obsessed fans’ rumours and speculations about episodes I’ve not seen yet. But in the end, actually quite insightful with retrospective analyses and observations of things you may have not noticed about the show.

9. MTGCast: another geek podcast listen for me. This one’s for the game Magic: The Gathering card game which I admit, I dabble in once in a while. (OK! I HAVE AN EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF CARDS, OK?) Not really interested in talk about tournaments and more competitive aspects to the game, but more towards informal stuff like rumours of new upcoming cards, fun interesting ideas of gameplay, etc.

10. The GeekBox: yet another geekcast, but a little more mainstream, with topics ranging from Watchmen, Streetfighter, computer games, BSG, Lost… rather eclectic mix and I think the most interesting of all the geekcasts.

11. Best of Youtube: Great fun! Basically picks the most interesting uploads on Youtube and highlights them through this podcast channel. Better than sifting through Youtube, checking on the popularity count and clicking on download.

12. Mugglecast: Aforementioned Harry Potter podcast. I thought this was rather blase, or maybe it’s because of the episode I listened to, with rather tepid talk on Harry Potter’s new movie poster release and a dull interview with Patrick Doyle, the composer of the most recent and the upcoming Potter movie.

13. Beautiful Places in HD: Video podcast of beautiful places to visit. So far, it’s still very America centric with vid captures of Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Mt Rainier (which I really love and profess that it’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to so far in my middle-aged life) etc… Still, a very relaxing view and one of my faves.

That’s about it for now… There’s a few more podcasts for me to check out. Tons out there, really. Anyway, back to the grind. I’ve got to start getting my sleep pattern in order! Ben, out.

My evil twin, www.benjaminlong.com!

Damn you evil twin! Even though you’re a more established artist than me, Benjamin Long with your fancy daddy gallery pieces, well at least I have a funkier website background than your dull grey plain one. And what’s with that bluurrrrry name, huh, Benjamin Long? Does that say that you’re blur too? Poor boy… boo hoo, Benjamin Long… I can take you on, name the time and place… and I’ll schedule a flight to Philly and take you on. Yeah, I’m gonna run up the Rocky stairs and practice my fitness and who’s my witness? Yo mamma, that’s who!

Damn you, doppelganger!

You better watch your back, Benjamin Long… >>>>:(