HTC Freestyle

Wednesday, 9 March 2011

It's been 2 years and a few months since i got my last cell phone. I was thinking of joining the rest of society in 2011 and getting a smart phone with GPS, Google, E-mail, apps and everything you can think of. The problem with those phones is that they cost around $200 even with the rebate, plus you have to pay a monthly data fee. For AT&T that meant another $25 per month. It seems like a good idea and i'm sure i would have loved one of those phones but i decided against it.

I waited for a few months and then i found the perfect solution. The HTC Freestyle.

It looks and acts like a smart phone but it isn't. Through Amazon.com it only cost $20 and there's no monthly fee. The reason is that it's sort of a hybrid. All those other phones that i liked REQUIRED you to pay the $25 per month. This one didn't. It can have GPS, Google, E-mail and all that stuff, but it can also be just like another basic phone.

So after using it for a few days i'm not 100% happy. I wish it ran on Android instead of the BREW operating system. All those great Apps that run on Android don't work on this phone. If it did have Android i could download tons of great apps online then transfer them to the phone. But with BREW it seems a little dated. It's kind of like a Ferrari that someone removed the steering wheel and replaced it with some cheese. It has the ability to do all this stuff but it just doesn't work. I guess i can't have it both ways.

In 2 more years i'll most likely be ready for a phone with unlimited everything. But for right now this is just fine for me.

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Truly Boring

Thursday, 6 January 2011

Don't see the new True Grit...it's terrible. Even though it had Matt Damon and The Dude, and even though it was directed by the Cohen brothers, it was boring. The writing stunk, the way they talked stunk and the story stunk.

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Book Review

Wednesday, 15 July 2009

The rating system is out of a total of 10 thumbs up

The Children of Hurin - by J.R.R. Tolkien
Ok so it's probably not the best way to start off reviewing books with a book i didn't even finish. I tried reading this while out of town and just couldn't get through it. Admittedly i had never read the original Lord of the Rings but i'm guessing they were probably similar to this in writing style. This is what i mean, here's the first three sentences of the story:

"Hador Goldenhead was a lord of the Edan and well-beloved by the Eldar. He dwelt while his days lasted under the lordship of Fingofin, who gave to him wide lands in that region of Hithlum which was called Dor-lomin. His daughter Gloredhel wedded Haldir son of Halmir, lord of the Men of Brethil; and ad the same feast his son Galdor the Tall wedded Hareth, the daughter of Halmir"

WHAT ?????

If any of you were able to read and understand that, my hat's off to ya. The problem is that there was 300 more pages just like that. I was immediately lost with all the names. It didn't help the fact that almost every sons named rhymed with the fathers. This book should have come with a giant tree diagram to make sense of every character.

If you are looking for a casual read, this is NOT it. Like i said, i only made it about half way through, but if there had been some sort of comprehension quiz afterwords, i would have failed for sure.

So giving it the benefit of the doubt that it might have gotten a little better, 3 out of 10 thumbs up.






The Lightning Thief - by Rick Riordan
This is book one of a 5 part series called Percy Jackson & The Olympians. It's sort of like a combination between Harry Potter, The X-Men and Clash of the Titans. It actually starts off a lot like Harry Potter in that Percy is a troubled kid who doesn't know his father and soon discovers he has special powers. But it turns out, he doesn't have the powers because his parents are magical, as in Harry's case. It's because his father is one of the 12 Greek Gods. His mother is human, making him a half-blood. He ends up going to a special summer camp for other half-bloods but finds out he's even more special then all of them, goes on a quest with a girl and his best friend ... ya actually, it seem really really similar to Harry Potter now that i think about it.

Having said that, i actually really liked this book. It was fast paced. Very fast paced. The story seemed to really fly by. Even the way that ancient greek stories were mixed in, was quite interesting.

This was the first book in the series and like Harry Potter it did seem to be geared a little to younger kids. But i'm hoping that the remaining 4 books are a little more grown up. Also they are making a movie about this book, supposedly coming out in 2010. The director is Chris Columbus who did the first two Harry Potter movies. The trailer looks really cool, not a kids movie at all.

So having said all that, and with the intention of reading the other 4 books, i give it 8 out of 10 thumbs up.

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