Blogs about reviews from Pew Pew Laser Blog

About Twilight.

I read Stephenie Meyer's Twilight a couple of months ago. Twilight has a certain reputation, but so many of my friends had enjoyed it that I felt obligated to give it a try. I didn't like it.

Here's the thing. I like books where stuff happens. The first third of Twilight was moony high school melodrama and wistful thinking. Nothing happened. In the second act, the drama was interspersed with vampire exposition. In the third act, "bad" vampires were murdered, to protect the "good" vampire family unit.

There are also several messages in Twilight that I find quite uncomfortable. For instance, after saving the protagonist from a group of would-be rapist / murders, the love interest announces "You would have devastated their crime rate statistics for a decade." Yup, he blamed the would-be victim for the crime. Classy. Though Meyer uses subtle language in the novel, the vampire "hero" is a Spencer Pratt-class tool. The attraction between the protagonist and the love interest is based solely on physical properties - Edward's very handsome, and Bella smells nice. The protagonist's highest aspiration appears to be to get married, so she can go from taking care of her father to taking care of her husband.

For a similar view of the Twilight movie, check out this hilarious alternate script.

Free File Storage From Dropbox.

I've been using Dropbox, a free online file storage system, for a couple of months now and I'm quite pleased with the service. For me, this service solves the problem of managing files between my laptop and desktop computers. I've ditched my flash drive, and I won't have to email myself updated files anymore.

I have 3 different computers - a home desktop (WinXP), a work desktop (Windows 7), and a personal laptop (MacOSX). I use my Dropbox to keep a variety of files synced between all of the computers - such as .PDFs with bookmarks, web pages I'm coding, half-written blogs, or even web links I want to check out later when I'm home. I don't have to worry about losing any of the Dropbox files; they're stored on 3 different computers, and on the Drobox servers.

Each computer that I've authorized for the Dropbox stores all of the files on its hard drive. When one of the computers is online, it checks for updates to the Drobox files, and if so, updates the local copy. Because the files are stored locally first, I never have to wait to open a really large file, but the Dropbox service keeps all the files nicely synchronized.

Dropbox offers a Pulic folder for file collaboration, and I've used the Dropbox photo album sharing without a hitch. There's even an free iPhone app for Dropbox. The Dropbox iPhone app lets you access your files from your iPhone (or iPod Touch) and can read a sizable number of file types. This could be quite handy for accessing all your recipes while shopping for dinner.

Bear in mind that, even though Drobbox has all kinds of security, there's always the chance they could get hacked. Don't store sensitive financial, legal, or business information in a Dropbox. Also, don't install this sort of thing on a public computer (such as those at the library or a cafe); stick with just accessing your files through the Dropbox web interface in those cases.

If you need more than 3 gigs of space, Dropbox offers 50 or 100 GB for monthly service fees. (Though it can't offer off-site storage unless you keep it in another building, an external hard drive may be cheaper in the long run.)

Dropbox is fast, reliable and works without any effort on my part. If you do sign up, be sure to use my link. Both you and I will get some extra free space.

A Mythbusters Limerick.

Here is second entry in my series of syllabic poetry for television shows. Mythbusters first ensnared me when, during some channel flipping, I and noticed a show entitled "Exploding Pants". It's been well worth every hour since.

A truth leads to a happy dance
Simplicity over extravagance
The scientific method
mixed with so many explosions
Shhhh. You had me at exploding pants.

Groupon - Better Than Woot.

The internet has finally delivered something even better than Woot. Groupon is the new hotness in daily deals. Instead of Woot's electronic-focused deal-iciousness, Groupon offers local services like restaurants and spas if enough people buy. For instance, today's deal $10 for $25 worth of food from a local pub. I am sorry to have missed a recent brewery tour, pint, and pint glass at Fremont Brewing. I hope that deal comes back.

Groupons are available in Seattle, Portland, Los Angels, San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Boston, Baltimore, and more.

Tough Job Interviews.

Shows like The Next Food Network Star, America's Next Top Model and The Apprentice aren't just reality T.V. shows. They're also incredibly long and gruelingly difficult job interviews. Would you put up with a month long interview process where you had to move in with the other dozen candidates for the job?