If Looks Could Kill - Graphic Art & Design

I began with an iPhone 3G, which had slowed to a crawl. I figured it was AT&T’s network and decided to abandon ship for Sprint’s larger and faster 4G network. The Samsung Epic really tickled my fancy, because it had a beautiful display and I already <3 their TV’s.

The Sprint Store had *2* employees working on the day of the Epic release. There were others, but they hid in the back, coming out only to leave. No greeter, no sign-in, no semblance of order. Ppl who had been waiting longer were wandering the store, leaving it up to the other customers to keep track of who’s next.

After sitting in the chaotic Sprint store for an hour, I dislike them even more than when I last left them several years ago. After an hour’s wait, shortened by other customers leaving in disgust before they were helped, I get up to the counter to get my reserved Samsung Epic. Everything’s going well until they ask multiple choice questions to verify my identity.

Only 1 of 3 questions had a familiar answer and it was difficult to hear over the in-store chaos. I apparently answered 2 questions wrong and they were unable to verify my identity. Not only that, but that they couldn’t ask any additional questions to further verify because their system locks me out for 60 days, after which I could try again.

Fear not - I don’t want your phone, your so-called service, NO SPRINT, no way, not me! Customer-oriented companies are all I want servicing me. Yeah, that’s right - SERVICE ME, happy endings, and then some! ;)

I investigated the alternatives. Both AT&T and Verizon had were capable of verifying my identity and credit with NO WAIT in their orderly stores. I was greeted immediately and in queue for the next person available, no wait because they have *several* employees, they’re fully staffed to accommodate their customers. Take notes, Sprint!

So, I wound up testing the Motorola Droid 2 with Android 2.2 (Froyo) OS on Verizon, as well as the iPhone 4 on AT&T. :) This was made possible by the 30 day trial period each company offers to entice new customers with no strings, just a restocking fee. 30 days of hands-on was very informative and I now have a phone that I am completely happy with. :)

Stay tuned for a comparison of those smartphones and services to see which phone was victorious. It wasn’t an easy decision.

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Embedded below is the 1st computer animation I’ve seen of a human that is not distracting in its articiality.

Can this be claimed as a victory over the uncanny valley? Mind you, it’s completely built on underlying footage of actors - they can’t create new scenarios from scratch.

It’s essentially tracing - Image Metrics has developed an effective and efficient means of digitizing actors and it is well executed.

( Article )

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This looks so good to me!

( Link to 1st trailer for Repo! The Genetic Opera )

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“If death had a sound, this was it.”

Scientists were fascinated by the ghostly find: a human skeleton buried in an Aztec temple with a clay, skull-shaped whistle in each bony hand.

The audio is unreal.

(Article)

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Repo! The Genetic Opera was supposed to have been released April 25th, containing Bill Moseley and Skinny Puppy’s Ogre.

Now listing a release date of 08/08/08 on IMDB, it annoys me that this wasn’t released.

Is Lion’s Gate scared? It’s rumored that they’re dousing their drawers over the fact that it’s all singing, no dialogue.

C’mon, they unleased that Sweeney Todd turd (which had some redeeming qualities - visually, NOT the singing) and it managed to flourish.

Great synopsis of Repo here.

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Found this analogy interesting: “The meaning of life. A unified field theory. The big reason why.”

The earth, he’d say, is just a big machine. A big processing plant. A factory. That’s your big answer. The big truth.

Think of a rock polisher, one of those drums, goes round and round, rolls twenty-four/seven, full of water and rocks and gravel. Grinding it all up. Round and round. Polishing those ugly rocks into gemstones. That’s the earth. Why it goes around. We’re the rocks. And what happens to us - the drama and pain and joy and war and sickness and victory and abuse - why, that’s just the water and sand to erode us. Grind us down. To polish us up, nice and bright.

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