cycomer.com

No Spoilers Here

Rio is worth seeing twice if you wanted to do the same kind of experiment. There were two big differences between the separate viewings. First I saw it in 3D then in Portuguese 2D. Rio, a movie about a rare macaw that has to leave Minnesota and return to Rio de Janeiro Brazil. It’s an American movie that takes place mostly in Brazil and I actually got to see it in Brazil which made me curious how they would handle the dub for Portuguese. The director is a native Brazilian so I figure that had to help. First off the movie is good, funny, and great advertising for Brazil. I’d say if you liked Ice Age at all it’s better than that and worth seeing just because computer animation has come so far. It opened in Brazil a week earlier than the States which is weird.

2D or not 2D
That takes me to my first difference, 3D. Subtitles throw 3D off a bit even if you are not reading them and what’s the point of the visuals if you are reading the whole time? I hated Avatar but loved MegaMind in 3D. The first thing I noticed when watching in 2D was everything looked so clear and detailed. Animation has come so far you almost think it’s 3D it looks so good. Which makes me wonder, is the resolution split in two to make both sides of a 3D image? Does that make sense? Someone look into that. You would think flying would be cooler in 3D but no flying looks good in high detail and very clear. I don’t like the glasses but I do like throwing popcorn in my wife’s face and saying “3D! isn’t so cool?” which never gets old. I’m going to skip 3D now unless someone really gives me a good reason. Certainly lame at home if you have to use glasses.

The Language Barrier?
Dubbed movies, especially animated ones,  have come such a long way. I’m sure it’s an almost as large casting and directing procedure on dubs at this point. Tangled was probably the best dub I’ve ever seen. You figure Disney would get that exactly right. Even the songs are completely dubbed now and translated the way it makes just as much sense as the original not a literal translation. Rio was the same. Here’s a good example. The characters come from English speaking USA to Portuguese speaking Brazil. There’s a scene where when Blu, the macaw that’s the main character, arrives and is trying to say hello to new birds from Rio but stumbles over the language barrier. Then the new birds figure it out and start speaking English to Blu. Although in the dubbed version they are already speaking Portuguese in the US so when he gets to Brazil he acts like he’s trying to speak with a Carioca (people from Rio de Janeiro) accient. Which totally works because it’s very diffirent and funny sounding. Many little inside jokes like that. I’d like to be on a team that had to figure that kind of thing out. Oh some movies, Pixar at least, take it another step further and translate written words and signs in the movie. Rio wasn’t like that.

Some of the voice actors in the English version I liked better and some in the Portuguese version I liked better but they were both pretty similar. Not like when you watch Simpsons here and you think, “well that’s just stupid. I can’t watch this cheap knock off of the Simpsons.” Although not hearing Tracy Jordan’s voice of the bulldog was a huge let down and one of the best parts of the English version. Nigel and the tucan Rafael character were better in the Portuguese version. Actually the Rafael, voiced by George Lopez, was just pissing me off with his thick mexican accient. He says “vamanos” in the movie and it comes out like “bamanos” and all his lines are like that. Why would they cast him? The Tulio actor was from Brazil and I wondered if he did the dub also.

Brazil Culture
I don’t think you could say Rio is representative of all Brazil but wow does this movie get so many things right here. Obsession with soccer, beaches, Carnaval, samba, the slums, and even churrascarias are touched on. The people…the animations and details on the people are so good. They don’t just look Brazilian but Cariocas even. You don’t see faces accented or charicatured like this in your normal animated flick. The shots of Rio itself are all of the older parts of the city. It shows all the tourist sites including Lapa and that little tram across the aquaduct. Oh the monkeys on Sugar Loaf play a big part as well they should. Man those things are funny. I just really liked how they naturally included so many things.

Angry Birds
I personally loved Rovio’s tie in from their game to the movie. I just thought I’d throw that in cause it’s just good cross promotions. I wonder who approached whom to make it happen. Looking forward to the next level of Angry Birds Rio being unlocked now since May is almost here.

So it was a cool experiment. I’m not sure how soon I’ll do it again but this seemed like a fun one.

I have been concerned about my hearing ever since in elementary I had so much trouble that I don’t want to get into but it was enough that my teachers noticed after I got it fixed. I noticed too. And I’ve been tested many times to see if I still have reduced hearing and they always came out ok. That’s kind of important in the military. So I purchased (dollar donation) this iPhone app, uHear, to again check my status. I was pleased.

Results from uHear

Looks like some mild loss on the high and low ends and one ear just slightly better than the other. I’m not Beethoven yet or anything. I was off the charts on the understandability and distraction tests. I think I’ve honed that over the years to compensate.

But enough about me…wait this is my blog. Anywho, the point of this post is to determine what bit rate you notice the quality loss in your digital music. There’s not one answer for everyone. It’s up to you what you can hear or put up with not hearing. Back in college, in the days of the glorious Napster, I decided 128Kbps was just fine for everything. Hang on I’m getting ahead of myself. First off since we digitize almost everything now and listen to it from a computer or mp3 player you have to convert that into a file your computer can understand. If you didn’t reduce the quality at all (called “lossless”) the file size is huge. For example my favorite Cake song, Jolene was 55 megabytes. Yowzah. You can compress (like a zip file does) these files to about half the size. One popular format that plays in most mp3 players is FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec). Jolene is now 33 megabytes as flac. So for the purist this is the format to use. But hey my ears don’t even work 100% right? And the way you crank that ranchero music in your car I’m thinking your ears aren’t bat like either.  So lossless formats include all the sounds “the human ear can’t hear” and when you reduce the bit rate you “cut some” (let’s not get too technical) of that out. Nine years ago I thought 128Kbps was fine. This has been the default setting for much ripping software. Was the default for iTunes downloads and I figured good enough for me. When Amazon.com started selling mp3s I finally started buying mp3 downloads. The bit rate was double the iTunes quality (as a selling point I’m sure, 256k) and DRM free (you actually own the music you purchased and can move it anywhere). I have been downloading mp3’s again like crazy. I came across this great article in gizmodo about a guy going through the same reevaluation of quality. So I encourage you to take the same test for your ears. You can listen to the files on that page or download them and open them from your computer.

Here’s my three separate test cases. I wanted to test the quality in the headphones because this is how I listen to my music away from home. The Denon system is probably the lower end of an upscale system. I got this system from my grandmother who I considered to be somewhat of an audiophile and I love it.

1. JVC ear bud headphones I bought from an airport for 9 bucks.
2. Apple in ear dual drive headphones
3. Denon stereo system with Mission speakers

My results were interesting. I could clearly tell a difference going from 128k to 160k in every test case. Less with the headphones but a huge difference on the stereo. To the point sometimes that it sounds like a whole new song. Then after 160 a slight difference in the Apple headphones from 160 to 192 but not on all songs. JVC headphones capped about 160. I would now say 160 is my bare minimum. Anything less I will snobbishly turn my nose up at. Oh and if the music is less than 128kbps…unless it’s just a mono interview between two people throw that out right now. I’m becoming more of a music snob as I type. The real test of hearing is on the stereo system. I have to say that no kidding I could hear the difference in each step up all the way to the lossless wav format. Pay attention to the laugh and bass in Feel Good, the harmony vocals in Woman, and the instrument changes in Carmen. Also just listen for a more soothing less electronic feel as you step up to each bit rate like you are listening to the music live and not through speakers. So there’s something to be said about the lossless format after all but the difference is not huge and you only would notice hearing the songs back to back like this. For me 256k gets the job done more than adequately and for my Jolene example song at 5minutes 19 seconds it’s now down to 10 megabytes. Most 3 minute songs would be about 6 megs.

I just downloaded Sunset Rubdown’s new album and it came in at the decent 192Kbps but you better believe when I get the actual CD I’m going to rip it at 256. That’s a band you really want to hear the attention to detail in. And I think that’s what I decided on, 256Kbps. That should suffice for this system and whenever I do upgrade to the next one. Then after that my hearing will have degraded enough not to notice ;) Let me know what you hear and decide.

That reminds me of one of the first clips I ever saw on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2AWKfMvDtw and a family favorite thing to blurt out because of said clip. Anyway since I seem to always update after I go bowling I thought I’d update again now. Although I had to decline a chance at night skiing I believe I had my best game ever bowling last night. It was certainly one to remember because I got my first Turkey. That’s when you get 3 strikes in a row and it’s just hard/lucky to be that consistent. Hopefully this is the first of many. I’m still doing that throw the ball strait down the lane thing and not doing the cool curve the ball into the center but I’m happy with it. I’m really not that good and I figure you would have to start all over to learn that other method. I don’t go often enough. OK, well that’s it for now. Life is good.

I went to the Hartford Symphony today across the park from me that was almost spur of the moment. “Almost” because when I found out my new neighbor was the conductor there I have wanted to go. Next thing I knew it was a weekend of one of their Beethoven series concerts. So I bought the ticket this morning and went there tonight just by myself since it was such short notice. I don’t know why I hadn’t been earlier.

I’ve been to other symphonies before but the main difference is this was a smaller setting and I was sitting much closer than I normally would have. Still these musicians are amazing and it’s just not the same crap you see in the theatre. That whole, “how did SHE get this role? My sister is better than her.” Actually my sister is probably better than lots of people but maybe I’m biased.

So it starts off with Maestro experimenting with surround sound. He teased this before I went.  By the way he has a podcast but I’m not sure they are updating with the new shows. It was a fairly short piece Giovanni Gabrieli - Canzona X. There were 5 brass instraments in front and then 4 on both sides. I was in the sweet spot but the cool part was when he would turn around to direct one of the sides you got to see the conductor as the musicians see him. So that was cool.

The next piece was more modern and felt like it was pulled out of a famous movie, Ralph Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. All strings. I was blown away. I just couldn’t get over how much I enjoyed it. Questions are starting to build that I want to ask the Maestro later.

Then came a Cello peice Haydn - Concerto in C major for Cello. The soloist, Emily Taubl, was incredible. I don’t want to get into it but I had no idea the cello could be so sexy. She could be as soothing and gentle at times and at other times would wail on that thing like Stevy Ray Vaughn. No kidding those fingers were flying.

Intermission. Then the main event Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in D major. I didn’t know all of this one but I sure want to know it better now. I really love his music and his story. It’s just all good and varied. Anyway the his 2nd is not as popular but just as liked. Maybe it doesn’t have as many memorable hooks but the whole thing just works. This was the longest but just flew by.

Last was a short modern Strauss piece called Emperor Waltzes to ring in the new year. I didn’t know it and found it hard to pay attention because I felt like I was already on sensory overload.

Next month are all the Copland songs I felt like I grew up with, Rodeo, Fanfare for the Common Man, Appalacian Spring. Better believe I’ll be there and bringing a friend this time too.

It’s been a busy few weeks since the last post. Yeah Yosemite Sam didn’t get elected. It was not a good campaign even though I thought after selecting Palin it was a sure thing. So I’m not so big on McCain anymore but I still love Sarah Palin. I went to Connecticut for a week after the election and everyone there seemed high on the pot. Oh wait come to think of it maybe they were. The week back in Connecticut was nice. I needed to take care of some things and it was awesome to be welcomed back to everyone. The last thing I did was go to a friends going away party that will be working in Amsterdam for ING now. Then when I got back to Texas I got to go to the Marine Corps Ball at my brother’s reserve unit. He and a third of his unit are in Iraq and the Birthday Ball is different during wartime. Mom and Dad volunteer at the unit so that’s why they were invited. We all had fun. It was a long night/day/night for me though. I had to stay up after that and do a big installation at work. It was brutal but I did get some sleep thanks to a team member saying they would take over.

After that we started stripping cotton. Stick with me here. That’s like picking cotton but you use a machine. Cotton is probably the most unique thing about the farm. It’s really the only thing Dad grows or raises that you don’t eat. Mom corrected me though that we do make cotton seed oil that you fry food with at fast food places. ANYWAY the process of growing cotton is about as particular as growing grapes for a fine wine. You can’t water it too much but you have to water it some. It needs hot weather to grow best. It has to freeze at a certain time or the bolls won’t open up. And then there’s something else that causes it to just grow tall and wide but not make the cotton bolls. Understanding how it grows and the weather is as much an art form as owning a winery. If everything goes well the payoff is rewarding. It makes me wonder what this cotton will end up being after it’s all done. T-shirts from China, q-tips, or one of those hoods they put over terrorists, I guess it could be anything. It’s fun to speculate. Anyway feels good to do some real work sometimes and be able to look back and see what you’ve accomplished.  OK back out to do some more before Dad gets home.

Big big game tonight, Texas Tech against Oklahoma. This means we go to the BCS National Championship game if we win. Dad and I already have tickets reserved.

Yes it is that quadrannial time again. I have been following both campaigns and primaries of both parties for as long as I can remember now. The primaries were facinating as well since both parties were electing their candidate. We’ve come down to two and then they chose running mates that were polar opposites of each other which was also fun. People are tired of the campaigns now but I feel like I should have helped out more. Maybe one of the local Connecticut campaigns but I couldn’t get into them. I wanted to volunteer at a polling station that uses electronic voting just to help with computer problems and such but when I checked on New Mexico and Colorado you had to be residents to work at those.

Anyway the biggest change for me during this election is how much I’ve come to understand who I am and confirm my beliefs. I am a Texas style Conservative. Here they have this attitude of, “just leave me alone.” It’s the kind of attitude that they just want to be able to work hard but play hard as well and basically let us fix the problems we have ourselves. That is a beautiful attitude to have. I’m glad I will be here for the election. I think I know 3 people in CT that are voting the same as me but I sure don’t know anyone that agrees with me on everything. That being said and realizing I’m 110% Conservative I don’t agree with everything in the Republican party or with John McCain. Although I can’t think of a single issue I agree with Obama on more than McCain.

So it’s no secret I’m voting for McCain and I doubt I will loose any friends over it. I’ll be watching the results come in tonight and will be working with my map on 270towin.com at the same time. It’s fun. We’ll see how it goes but at least I’ll be with family to cheer or sob with.

So it’s been yet again a long time since I updated and I never got my old posts back. I fear I may have lost it the posts forever. A quick update on a status of things if you have a desire to keep up. I had two brothers in Iraq a little while ago which when you tell people they tend to give me this “poor you” look. I could not be more proud of both of them. I do have another brother in Iraq-like weather in Phoenix but I’m sure sure that counts because he has air conditioning. I get to talk to him in some form online almost every day which I feel just lucky to have such cool siblings. This includes my sister that pwnd her Illinois state teacher exams recently. I guess you may be able to tell I’m getting a little home sick. So Monday I will pick up Chase from JFK and we’ll toot around the Big Apple for a bit. Then afterwards we’ll drive to Texas with a couple stops in Pennsylvania and Ohio to visit some of his friends. Also on this trip I will be picking up a canoe Desley bought on eBay and taking it home. Hopefully we will be able to take that baby on a little canoe trip.
Update: I didn’t actually post this till I got home to Silverton. Great to see everyone. Chase was a great road trip companion. Driving with the canoe was fun.