Canon Rebel XSi

I got it.




wildwombat

Comic Con 2009

Comic Con 2009 was quite the adventure. We started by taking the trolley, going about 4 stops then my friend saying "Oh, I forgot to print out the tickets." After some weak laughter, he continued, "No I'm serious."

Luckily our trolley system is pretty efficient and we made it back really easily. I'd never been on the San Diego trolley before today, sad huh? I've been on trolleys in Australia, Hong Kong, Washington DC and New York, but never in San Diego. It was kind of a new perspective, I'm always used to being in a car looking at the train go past, but now it was the opposite.

Anyhow so we got there and realized there weren't any amazing panels happening on Sunday except for Seth Macfarlane, creator of Family Guy and American Dad. We went anyway and it was really cool surprisingly. They actually showed us an entire episode pretty much in the process of which it will be created. By that I mean they started with the people reading straight from the script, then showing it in pre-animation in just black and white, then finally in full animation and color.

We got some pretty awesome SWAG too. Lots and lots of posters including a huge Halo poster that's pretty cool.

I dunno, this years comic con compared to last years wasn't that great, but I still had a ton of fun. Depending on summer school next year that will decide if I get a 4 Day Pass or not, because it's totally worth it. I can't stand missing the chance the see celebrities and footage of awesome movies that haven't been released yet.

My only disappointment was not seeing the giant pikachu.


WHITE RANGER!!!


Cool Mech Walker from James Cameron's "Avatar" (not to be mixed up with Avatar: The Last Airbender)


Ironmen? Actually Ironman Mark I-IV


Most legit Master Chief costume I've ever seen


Seth Macfarlane



wildwombat

Blacks Beach was going off!

So it is summer, so that means I watch the surf reports almost daily. So found out that a pretty huge swell was coming into San Diego predicting 6-7 foot waves. Now that doesn't normally happen during the summer because well there's not very many storms during the summer. Winter storms usually create big waves like those.

So anyhow, I'm not good enough to surf big waves like that, but I sure as hell would not miss a day like that, so I took a couple friends out to go check it out, snap a couple pictures, save a couple (3) people's boards, stand in the super warm water and constantly wish for a better camera.

On that note, I spoke with a friend about the new camera venture. It's been going pretty slow because I have no income...aside from recycling...so the going was getting tough. HOWEVER, I have saved enough for the camera and 1 lens rather than my original plan of getting 2 lenses (regular lens and zoom lens).

It's alright though, when I really think about it, I only need the zoom lens for surfing pictures and I won't be taking those types of pictures while I'm at UCI so don't really need it right now.

In conclusion, the new goal is to have the camera in possession by August! WOO HOO!!





wildwombat

Helena Truism

I heard this song on the radio the other day, surprised to say that I actually liked it? Probably because I wasn't listening to the stations that stick to the Top 40 crap...or more like Top 5 played over and over.

Anyhow it's called "Half-Truism" by The Offspring, I don't really listen to them, I just liked the line: "If we don't make it alive/well it's a hell of a good day to die"

I don't know, things have been happening this summer that have been extremely fun so I guess I wouldn't mind dying now.

Actually that's a lie, I have too many things left to accomplish before kicking the bucket so no, I don't want to die now. Maybe I'll publish a bucket list here so I don't forget. What do you think?

But there was something that struck me as odd about this song because I felt like I heard it before...Helena by My Chemical Romance

I can't believe I just admitted listening to them, but it's a damn good thing I don't now. My friends have introduced me to better quality music. Thank God!

Still you should listen to both of these songs right after each other because they sound almost exactly the same.



Half Truism by The Offspring



Helena by My Chemical Romance



haha.



wildwombat

My Robot Balls

Yeah I just realized that last post about the Great Barrier Reef was my 90th post and I didn't want that to be so depressing, hopefully this makes you laugh.

But thanks for keeping me writing. I actually love when people are like "You need to update your blog more or I'm gonna kill you and your family...seriously." Okay minus that part about my family.




wildwombat

Should We Be Worried?

Digg had an article with the title

"Life at the Edge: Great Barrier Reef Could Be World's 1st Global Ecosystem to Collapse"

The whole article is here


Now don't worry, I'm not about to go environmentalist here, but I care about the environment and this article is pretty scary.

Basically it says that within 20 years the ENTIRE Great Barrier Reef will disappear and all reasons point to climate change and pollution...which seems to be the one of the most popular things to blame things on aside from Ex-President Bush.

I've been lucky enough to visit the Great Barrier Reef and it's a beautiful place. The article is pretty technical about how coral reefs work, but it's still interesting to read, unfortunately it really makes me feel helpless about it.

I guess it's the fact that 20 year is well within my lifetime (I hope). Most articles like this are usually things like "The World's Fish Population Will Disappear in The Next 150 Years!" (actually I think it's more like 50 years or something) or "By the year 2090, There Will Be No More Forests on Earth"

Guess it's another reason to make a trip out to Australia ASAP right?
Seriously I'm trying to make this post light because the article depressed the shit out of me.



wildwombat

Next Time Baby

Note to self: Next time you go surfing, do this no matter what.





or at least take the steps towards doing it at some point in the near future.



wildwombat

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Major apologies guys, I said I would have a full Harry Potter review out and I'm over 2 days late. Better late than never right?

So this could easily become a review that sounds like this "OMG THEY LEFT So0o0o0o0 MUCH OUT OF THE BOOKZ!! THE BOOKZ R WAAAIIIYYYY BETTER THAN THE MOVIEZ!! OMG OMG HERMIONE IS SOO EFFING HAWT!! AND I EFFIN HATE HOW IT ENDED, THEY DID IT COMPLETELY RONG!!!"

Yeah fuck that. I'll try to give you a somewhat intelligent review and I'm going to assume you've read the books.

Overall I really enjoyed this one. The Order of the Phoenix didn't quite do it for me, but this one did it's best. I noticed a lot more character development in this, especially the beginnings of Hermione's attraction to Ron. Also I thought Malfoy's character was very well done. However they decided to do his make up or the way they did his scenes were well thought out. It was easy to see him deteriorating into evil though he didn't really want to. I don't think I saw him smile once during the movie...not even like an evil sneer that he was so good at, most of the time he was scowling or looking paranoid or just in constant pain.

It's been a really long time since I've read the Half-Blood Prince, so as usual I didn't remember much about what happened, but I think the movie did pretty well to remind me. I kind of wish they had focused a little more on Harry trying to figure out who the Half-Blood Prince, it just was casually mentioned like "Do you even know who this Half-Blood Prince is, Harry?" And that was it.

However, that was more like a sub-plot to Dumbledore and Harry diving into Voldemort's past and discovering what Horcruxes were, which they did pretty well.

Now the other sub-plot of the relationship between Harry and Ginny...uh Straight Non-Existent! I was under the impression that they developed an actual relationship during the 6th book, not just kiss, but I could be wrong, plus it's the classic excuse: "They can't fit everything into the movie." Whatever, I didn't think their on screen chemistry was really there to begin with.

Oh yeah and QUIDDICH! Thank God it's back. It was only like 7 minutes maybe, but it was still fun to watch. Really made it look like a rough game.

I really enjoyed when the Death Eaters infiltrated Hogwarts. That whole sequence was very well done, really brought across the message that Hogwarts was not safe anymore.

I must have gotten really into the movie towards the end because I felt something when Snape said Avada Kadabra and killed Dumblebore...I dunno. It's one of those things you know is coming, but you don't actually want to see it happen.

So overall, I still say you go see it in theaters or if you have some extra pennies, see it in IMAX.

Obviously, if you read the books, you won't be satisfied, but seriously...this is the 6th movie...you should be prepared for it by now and if you aren't then you're preaching to the choir about how much they leave out and I won't give you a moment of my time to hear you complain about it.

So yeah, go see it in theaters, it's pretty good. I enjoyed it, but it set the bar pretty high for the last installment, which had better be freakin epic since it's going to be split into two movies.

Oh and Hermione in that dress is a serious thumbs up. You'll know what I mean when you see it.

And to provide you with more entertainment
"5 Ways People Are Taking Harry Potter Waaay Too Seriously"
http://www.cracked.com/article_17510_5-ways-people-are-taking-harry-potter-waaay-too-seriously.html
Two words: Intercollegiate Quiddich
Facepalm.





wildwombat

The Dark Knight Toy Story

Mash up trailer with the animation from Toy Story, but with the audio from The Dark Knight Trailer.

It's very well done, some of the audio actually appears to match the lip movements.


I also just personally love Rex as Alfred, it's nice to see him branching out his roles.

That was surprising

I was under the impression I would only receive rejection letters from colleges...that is until I got one from Nordstrom.

It reads:
"Thank for you for your recent application for employment with Nordstrom Fashion Valley. We sincerely appreciate your interest in joining our team. Unfortunately, we do not have any employment opportunities that meet your qualifications at this time. However, your application will remain active on file with us for 60 days. If you're interested in working for Nordstrom in the future, you're welcome to reapply at anytime. Again, thank you for your application. We wish you the very best in your employment search."

Now I would like to have you read the rejection letter I recieved from UC Santa Barbra

"Thank you for applying to the University of California, Santa Barbra. After careful consideration of your application, I am sorry to say we will be unable to offer you admission as a freshman for the fall 2008 term...Be assured that our admissions officers looked closely at your grades, course work...I am confident that you will have many opportunities to achieve your educational goals, perhaps at another UC campus...Again thank you for your interest in UC Santa Barbra. I wish you every success in achieving your educational goals.

The similarities are so funny.

But the best is this:

Nordstrom: "Again, thank you for your application. We wish you the very best in your employment search."

UCSB: "Again, thank you for your interest in UC Santa Barbra. I wish you every success in achieving your educational goals."

Real original.

At least Nordstrom said I could reapply, UCSB's letter of appeal section basically said, "You can write us a letter of appeal if you'd like, but we won't read it...and even if we did, you still won't get in. :D"




wildwombat

Tourists...

Well after HP6 I slept for about 6 hours and woke up to go surfing. Must be summer huh?
Anyhow we got to the beach and the surf was pretty small so I took my "banana boat" out instead of my short one.

Yeah it's called the Banana Boat because it's bright yellow with super fat rails to it's basically unsinkable and takes a really big effort to flip over. I learned on it so it must be good quality.

First, I didn't realize going from a short board to my "banana boat" was going to be a huge change, like going from a sports car to a hummer. Normally on my short board, I'm basically swimming out to the waves and sitting up to my abs in water because it's so thin and light, HOWEVER the banana boat just rolls over waves and I'm only about waist deep in the water.

Anyhow, the picture above is what happened when I was catching a wave and saw two tourists on those foam boards from costsco or something right in front of me. Since I couldn't turn I had to shoot through them, but my board still kind of hit one of theirs and I had to bail. I just didn't realize how shallow the water was when I dove in and scrapped my face against the ocean floor.

I can't hate on the tourists too much, at least they're out there trying right? We all have to start somewhere. I guess being the more experienced surfer, I should have moved away from them. Plus they kind of apologized. But aside from all that, WHAT THE HECK?! Now I'm the one with the bleeding forehead and possibly long term memory loss!

Not really, it's not big deal. I did it last summer, why not this summer too right?


God damn tourists...



wildwombat

HP6

My initial reaction to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is that it was good. I'm still kind of getting over just all the buzz about it, but I enjoyed it for the most part. Definitely higher quality than Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

I'll have a full review written either later today or tomorrow, but for right now, I liked it.

And I'll leave you with this, some of the lines and situations in this movie could have easily been the beginnings of a porno...seriously. I'll explain in the full review.




wildwombat

Hairy Pawter

I'm writing this because 24 hours from now I will [hopefully] be having my mind blown to pieces by the next Harry Potter movie: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Please allow me to geek out for a bit.

I have high expectations as I was not very impressed by the 5th movie adaptation. It felt too rushed, but I didn't enjoy the 5th book anyway because it was all just leading up to the 6th one which was great.

Plus, Quidditch is back. Fuck yeah! I realize they had quidditch in the 5th movie, but I was absolutely devastated at the sport's treatment in the 4th movie and I'm not forgiving them easily. I mean how can you show them arriving at the Quidditch World Cup, find their seats, introduce the teams, have him announce that it starts...AND NOT SHOW A SECOND OF QUIDDITCH?!?!

Weak. Anyhow, I have a feeling this movie is going to be a winner. Not some stupid summer box office crap that stays at number 1 for a week, no, I expect Harry Potter to dominate for at least 3 weeks.

2000



2009



You know how our parents say they watched certain celebrities grow up on tv? This kind of feels the same way...just that we kind of grew up with them.

Except...I never got my Hogwarts acceptance letter...nor am I able to perform magic...and I'll probably never make as much money as they do in this lifetime.

I wonder if they realize that they will probably never have to work a day in their lives ever again?



wildwombat

Oh Grow Up!

It's been a fact that we've all had to grow up at some point. Some of us do it faster than others, but even if we don't physically feel it, it happens whether we like it or not.

I felt myself grow up today. It's an...interesting feeling to say the least. For a moment I think I experienced everything my mom did when she dropped me off at college.

I remember hearing her say "When I get back from Japan, I'm going to come home to a very empty and very quiet house."

I did the same thing today...or yesterday rather. I dropped my mom off at a hotel in LA before she embarks on a 2 week trip through China. (Don't ask me why I didn't go with her) I made a very lonely drive back down to San Diego and pulled into a very empty and very quiet house.

I can't quite figure out how people live alone. It's almost unsettling knowing full well there isn't another being in close proximity.

But it's a growing experience I'll appreciate in the long run.



wildwombat

District 9

I will be seeing this.




wildwombat

It's still a learning experience

"Old enough to know, but too young to care."
- Anberlin

I think that is one definition of college students.

All I can say is: You think you know someone...







wildwombat

What chu know bout Wombats?

I feel this article is only appropriate due to the name of my blog.

Just So You Know, Wombats Aren’t Badgers
But they used to be confused with them by early settlers. In fact, quite a few places named with the word ‘badger’ were actually supposed to be named for wombats. A few examples include Badger Creek, Victoria and Badger Corner Tasmania.
After a while they did start getting their due credit though. Wombat, New South Wales, asteroid 6827 Wombat and more are named (correctly) after the little marsupials.

They’re Totally Square
Or at least, their poops are. Their 14 day long digestion helps aid their survival in desert conditions by allowing them to digest every nutrient possible. Interestingly, this process allows them to create some of the most uniquely shaped feces in the animal kingdom –a perfect square.

They’re All Backwards
While most marsupials have a pouch that sits upwards, wombat’s pouches face down. The reason for this is the wombat’s need to dig extensive burrows. If they had pouches like kangaroos or koalas, their pouches and babies would be loaded with dirt -that would be a long 6 or 7 months of life for the poor babies living in the pouch.

Your Wombat Friends Are A Little Slow
Wombats aren’t keen on speed. They like to take shortcuts and have been known to bite their way through plants or farmer’s fences rather than walking around them –giving them the name “bulldozers of the bush.” When they need to get out of the way of predators though, it’s a whole different story. Scared wombats can run up to 25 miles per hour for a full minute and a half –about the same top speed of human runners.

Wombats Got Back
No, I’m not talking Sir Mix-a-Lot style, of course, he still might like the furry critters. But wombats really do have a big, strong butt. In fact, it’s their main form of defense. In the wild, both dingoes and Tasmanian devils prey on the creatures. Most of a wombat’s behind is made of cartilage, making it hard for the predator to bite through when attacking from the rear.
Their other main defensive move is made by diving into a tunnel, waiting for the attacker to put their head in the hole and then thrusting up with their massive legs. This smashes the predator’s head on the roof of the tunnel.

They Were Huge Back In The Day
The Giant Wombat was a common species even when the earliest humans began to inhabit Australia. In fact, it’s believed that the aborigines actually helped cause the extinction of these giants through excessive hunting and habitat alteration. These giant wombats were the size of rhinoceroses and were the largest marsupials in the history of the world.

TANGENT!: Can you imagine a wombat the size of a rhino?!


When Wombats Aren’t Cuddly, They’re Terribly Vicious
When held in captivity, the creatures can be made somewhat tame and even may allow park and zoo visitors to pet or hold them. On the downside, this lack of fear makes them more aggressive than their wild counterparts. As a result, a lot of people have been attacked, bit and knocked over by scared or angry wombats. One naturalist, Harry Frauca, was bitten in the leg while wearing rubber boots, trousers and thick wool socks. Despite all this protection, the wombat’s strong jaws and sharp teeth managed to leave him with a wound 2 centimeters deep.

They Adapt Well To Captivity
Other than the whole attacking people for no reason thing, they seem to love being in zoos and parks. In the wild, these guys only have a life expectancy of five years. However, as captive animals, they have been known to live past 25. That’s five times as long of a life! It’s surely partially due to a lack of predators, but they also live a lot more stress-free this way, which seems to have a big effect on the little guys. We should take a tip from them.

Source: http://www.neatorama.com/2009/07/06/what-%E2%80%98chu-know-%E2%80%98bout-wombats/




wildwombat

What comes next

Source: Postsecret.com

I've been saving this for a while once I saw it on post secret, slowly coming up with things to say, but I can't really put it into words.

I want to meet this person.

I could imagine them being really optimistic.

And people who are genuinely optimistic in this world are few and far between.




wildwombat

July 5

Today the world watched as the world's greatest tennis player solidified that title.
15 Grand Slam Titles

I slept 2 hours before watching this 4.5 hour match starting at 6AM live and I don't regret it one bit. One of the best tennis matches I've ever seen.

Roger Federer def. Andy Roddick (5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 3-6, 16-14)

I think it's amazing that these guys basically played 8 or 9 sets rather than the best of 5 sets. I get tired just playing 3 sets for my high school tennis team sometimes.

Roger Federer is the greatest.




wildwombat

July 4

There are lots of significant things about this date:

11 days until Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
22 days until Comic Con
26 days until my birthday
~2 months until Warped Tour
~3 months until Blink 182 w/ Weezer

Oh yeah and I guess our nations independence...that's pretty important.

Happy 4th of July! Enjoy it safely.



wildwombat

Can I get a boom headshot?

Ouch.

A Real Shot in the Dark

Source: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/60-examples-of-beautiful-night-shots/

When I become old and patient, I will take photos like these.






wildwombat