Wednesday, 15 May 2002
11:59pm

I

have broken up this week's update into two pages because well, there were just too many pictures to load up all at once! Anyway, check out this fabulous view. Yes, I am happy to be out of the Casino Royale Hotel (the hotel part of which is actually a converted Travelodge) and into a real hotel, that has a real view, and an air conditioner that really works! I've now checked into the Stardust, and I got into one of the same kind of suites I had for the riceboypage meet back in August... nice, spacious, and of course, it has the ///BEST SHOWER EVAR... yes, the shower is so awesome that every time I stay in one of these rooms I end up taking three or four showers a day, not cuz I need them, but because it's such a great experience!
Before checking into the new hotel though, I went back to downtown again where I found this:

...uhhhh... chocolate dipped bananas? I'll show you my chocolate dipped banana! hahahah.
In other news, Jeanette lost her match to Vivian Villareal today, but if all goes well, she'll spend the second half of tomorrow playing to get into the televised semifinal and final matches this weekend... which I unfortunately won't be around for since I'll actually be heading back to San Diego on friday. But I have no doubts she'll play just fine, as I've seen her overcome much worse (take last year at this same tournament for example... she lost in the first or second round and won like who knows how many matches in a row to win the whole tournament!).
In other, other news, I also like the fact that from this room i can plug my computer in right next to the toilet and connect to the internet while taking a dump. Yay. I also like the fact that right where where I type this, I can look out the window and see down the Strip. No, I am not writing this from on the toilet... but a toilet with an internet connection and a view of the strip? Hmmmm....

Thursday, 16 May 2002
11:59pm

W

hat a long day of watching pool! As I mentioned before, Jeanette was in the losers bracket, and ended up having to play four (not three) matches to stay alive, starting at 3pm. She won her first three matches, but lost to Allison Fisher at around midnight. LONG day. Here are some pics from today:

Tomorrow I plan to leave Vegas and head back home. Half of me is sad to be leaving Vegas, as I've had a really great time this week, but part of me also wants to go home. Even though this room is much nicer than my room at home, and this king size bed is way bigger than my real bed, and this bathroom has ///THE SHOWER and is the size of a normal bedroom... I just wanna go home and sleep in my own room in my own bed.

Friday, 17 May 2002
11:59pm

W

ell, I'm back home now, and part of me still wishes I was in Vegas, and really, I almost ended up staying longer, but I'm glad I'm didn't. But I really did have a lot more fun this week in Vegas than I've had there for quite some time, and considering how often I go there, that's really saying a lot! Aside from watching world-class 9-ball, I made some great new friends that I'll be looking forward to seeing again next year.
But I mentioned before... despite the fact that I could roll over in my bed and be staring right at the Venetian and Treasure Island, I'm going to really enjoy going to sleep in my own bed tonight, and rolling over and seeing nothing out my window but that tree that's right there. There really is, no place like home.

Saturday, 18 May 2002
11:45pm

N

ow on to a totally different note: I just went and saw Star Wars: Episode II with the digital projection system, and, well, I just want to say WOW!!! First of all, this movie, is way, way, way, way better than Episode I. Sure, the acting is still cheesy, but hey, what Star Wars movie doesn't have cheesy acting? The action sequences were absolutely stunning! And ///YODA!!! And this movie had a lot more stuff revealing how things happened that led up to the events of the original trilogy.
It would suffice to say that I love it. I think i still like Empire Strikes Back more, but Attack of the Clones definitely comes in at a close second.
And now on to the whole digital film thing. I have to say, there was definitely some noticible pixelation -- perhaps with 4 or 5 times the resolution, it would no longer be noticible. Of course, 4 or 5 times the resolution is quite a bit! But that being said -- the picture is so incredibly clean -- absolutely spotless! I was speechless during some of the shots... it just looked incredibly beautiful. And the COLOR!! WOW. Never can I recall such bold color ever being projected onto the big screen like that. Simply amazing, deep, rich, bold COLOR! WOW! When can I get one of these installed at home? Haha.
I gotta admit, I had my reservations, and the lack of resolution was noticible in many places, but overall... the completely noise free and grainless image with such bold color seemed like a worthy trade-off. I think in a few years digital filmmaking will come into maturity and be able to truly surpass film. Now I kinda wanna see a film print of this movie just to be able to compare it.
I went into this movie with very low expecations for both the movie, and the whole digital system, but it would suffice to say that I was more than impressed with both. Check it out if you have the opportunity!