Iphone's 10th Anniversary

          Iphone's 10th Anniversary

    Life was different 10 years ago. Umbrella by Rihanna was the number one song,

  George W. Bush was ending his term as U.S. President and the Spider Man 3 was

  the top grossing movie of the summer.

     It was today, 10 years ago back in 2007 that Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced to

  the world the first Iphone. After releasing the successful Ipod, he decided to combine

  many of the features of the Ipod with a cell phone capabilities and called it the Iphone.

  The Iphone has evolved since that time including the software, its features and even 

  to the size, made Apple one of the most reputable and recognized companies around.

    

     Looking back, the Iphone seemed like revolutionary device that made Steve Jobs 

  a genius and was the culmination of timing that were happening with trends. Many

  people since that time to today have lined up outside of stores just to get their grubby

  hands on one. 

  

    Since then. many companies such as Samsung, Google, Nokia, and Microsoft tried

  copying Apple and released their own smartphone. But due to the marketshare, many

  of them have fallen by the wayside.

     When Apple introduced GPS & mapping capabilities, it not only rendered road atlas

 companies obsolete but made them bankrupt. Now Apple is trying to replace your 

 wallet with a service called Apple Pay. A middleman like service where you use

 money from your debit card to pay for things. 

    With Apple evolving rapidly, it's only a matter of time before they start releasing 

  self aware robots. That's a future I don't wanna be apart of.

    

Eatery 6: Wences

Wences Restaurant

1922 Oak Park Blvd.

Pleasant Hill, CA 

       Being located in a strip mall, Wences can be quite easy to miss on the way over.

   But don't let that stop you from eating at this place. The food is quite delicious and

   worth your time.

        Opened by local award winning chef Gerardo Wence, he brings his 18 years of

  culinary skills to serve the freshest foods possible. This restaurant features a full

  bar, patio seating and a large menu of seafood plates, steaks, burgers and more.

   Pro 

   It's best to come here for breakfast as we were served promptly by our inviting
  waitress. The plate of eggs, toast, home-style potatoes were more than enough

  for me to eat. Eating inside was beneficial for us as it was too hot to eat outside. 

  While the environment is casual, it is a stark contrast to Black Angus darker 

  room environment. The modern decor and furnishings enhanced my dining 

  experience. There is plenty of room to eat in the adjacent room next door.

   Con: 

   Not much to say bad about this place other than it can get quite loud as more 

  people come in especially with small children in tow. But that's to be expected

  at a place like this. The reasonable prices have service and food quality to back

  it up.

  

     If you're looking for a nice restaurant that's not a chain and want freshly made

  dishes, give Wences a try. You might even like it. 

     Rating: 5/5 stars

Transformers: The Last Knight

Transformers : The Last Knight

Dir: Michael Bay

   Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Laura Haddock, Isabela Moner, 

Josh Duhamel

    $260 million dollars is a lot of money to spend on a movie and it's a total disaster. The

  term movie doesn't apply here. Movies have plots and character development, this one

  has neither. 

     It begins in medieval England during the Crusades where a drunken Merlin (mostly

  plays for laughs by Stanley Tucci) asks an ancient Transformer for an alien spear to

  help him defeat the Saxons.

     Fast forward to the present where Autobots are living among humans in peace. 

   The macguffin of the movie is a medallion in which the Autobots & Decepticons

  want to save their home planet of Cybertron from extinction. An evil alien queen

  brainwashes Optimus Prime in destroying Unicron (which lies on Earth) to save it.

     Meanwhile, mechanic and aspiring inventor Cade (Wahlberg) comes across the

  medallion and does what he can to protect it from the wrong hands. Izabela (Moner)

  an orphaned street smart girl, joins Cade in helping the Autobots to defeat the

  Decepticons. The TRF led by Capt. Lennox (Duhamel) and his men hunt down

  Cade.

     While this is happening, historian Sir Edmund (Hopkins) helps a young woman 

  Vivian (Haddock) to find a magical sword that controls the fate of the Transformers.

   The Good: The non stop action scenes along with some funny one liners.

   The Bad: The non stop explosions just for the sake of having them. The many 

  subplots made it difficult to follow. The talents of the famous Anthony Hopkins

  are completely wasted here for nothing. Optimus Prime turning evil only lasted

  for a few minutes unlike what the trailers had you believe otherwise. Even 
  though filmed on IMAX cameras, the aspect ratio kept changing every other 
  minute from full screen to letterbox format.

  Overall: The plots of these movies are getting dumber each time and should be 

  rebooted with better writers. Thankfully the franchise that started with Bay 

  directing is ending with him. If you're a fan of the Transformers franchise like 

  me, skip this one. Don't waste your money or time with this one. In fact, for a 
  much better plot, watch the original 1987 version instead.

Grade: D (5/10)

Summer Time !!!

What Summer Means to Me

   When the weather outside is getting warmer that only means one thing: Summer is 

  finally here. Here is a list of the things of what Summer means to me. 

  1). Longer days of sunlight and more time to be outside

  

  2). Catching a baseball game at the stadium or watching the latest blockbuster
        at your local cineplex

  3). Going to your local park to catch a free concert

  4). Spending the day at the amusement park with your friends

  5). Drinking a Slurpee from 7-11 on a hot Summer night

  6). Most of all what Summer means to me is having some time off from school

  Here is my favorite song that I grew up listening to during the hot weather:

  Summertime- DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince  

The Legend of Tarzan

The Legend of Tarzan

Dir: David Yates

Cast: Alexander Skarsgard, Margot Robbie, Christoph Waltz, Samuel Jackson,
Dijmon Hounsou

       In the hundreds years since Tarzan was written, there have been many portrayals of

    the iconic character. From Johnny Weissmuller to Christopher Lambert and even to 

    a Disney animated film, the character of Tarzan has enjoyed enormous popularity.

    Adapted from the novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Legend of Tarzan stars
    Swedish actor Alex Skarsgard in the title role. 

      The movie opens with a bunch of jungle natives getting slaughtered by Leon 

   Rom's (Waltz) soldiers. He acts an emissary for Belgium's King Leopold whose
   country is on the brink of bankruptcy. Leon is sent to Congo where the tribal 
   chief (Hounsou) wants Tarzan in exchange for the valuable diamonds of Opar.
   Since being raised in the jungle, Tarzan left his homeland and settled down in
   England now known as John Clayton.

      Tarzan and his bestie G.W. Williams (Jackson) along with his animal friends 
   help protect his jungle from the evil Leon. Oh yeah, Tarzan is married to Jane too.
   Playing her is the beautiful Robbie who sets out to prove she's no damsel in distress.

    Good: The cinematography was impressive along with Waltz's portrayal of the 
  villain only like he can. Margot Robbie was easy on the eyes. The action scenes
  were epic on such a grand scale.

   Bad: The dependency on CGI and slow motion fight scenes tried covering up the

  lack of a good, coherent story. Robbie and Skarsgard shared absolutely zero 

  chemistry whatsoever. 

   Overall: The trailers for this film made it look exciting but it turned out to be 

  just average. If you want to shut off your brain for a couple hours, this one should
  be right up your alley.

Final Grade: C (7/10)

Chabot Space & Science Center

 Chabot Space & Science Center

     Every summer, our class would go out to the local park and go see a movie after.

  But now since the theaters are no longer offering discounts for school groups, we

  decided to vote on our next field trip. We chose the Chabot Space & Science Center.

  

    Located up in the hills of Oakland, this science museum has many exhibits that are

 educational as well as interactive. When you first walk in, you'll notice an ancient

 gold seismograph that shines perfectly in the sunlight. On the right is a dark room 

 dedicated to the formation of outer space, the planets and even black holes. Small

 kids will get a kick out of the neon laser dots covering the room, reminiscent of 
 glow sticks at clubs.

   On your way up to the second floor, take note of the old space rocket that extends

 to the ceiling. There are more interactive things for the little ones such as a space 

 capsule console simulator and an exhibit about the moon and lunar eclipses. They 

 have a giant telescope but couldn't see it due to construction going on nearby. 

   Making your way on the overhead bridge are replicas of satellites used during 

 the Cold War. There is even a small capsule for little kids to sit in and pretend

 they're astronauts.

   Moving further along there are more fun stuff to do such as a soundproof booth 

 designed for screaming & shouting as loud as you can. As you walk further in,

 a whole floor dedicated to astronauts including how they sleep, eat and get fit 

 while up in space. This floor was crowded with day camp kids running around

 so be careful coming here.

   After eating in the downstairs cafe, we ended our day by visiting the Planetarium.

 The short titled "Tales of the Mayan Skies" featured Mayan culture and how 
 they perceived the way the world worked according to the stars.

   

   All in all, it was a fun trip learning about outer space & seeing many exhibits

 dedicated to it. I hope to come back sometime in the near future.

New NBA Champs

      I would like to congratulate the Golden State Warriors on a successful playoff run 
  to the NBA Finals. It was no easy series playing against the hated Cleveland Cavaliers.
  Their star forward Kevin Durant won an MVP award along with winning the title. Now
  he can silence the haters that say he just signed with them to win a ring. In fact, Golden
  St. needed him to combat against LeBron & Kyrie Irving. 

     It was a much deserved win for him after playing in Oklahoma City and coming up
  short of a title. After winning the first 3 games, the Warriors lost game 4 due to bad
  officiating and lackluster play and Cleveland took advantage of that. Losing that
  game meant they had to win at home at the Oracle in front of the raucous crowd
  of fans. 

     To paraphrase wrestler Ric Flair, "to be the best, you have to beat the best." Cleveland
 failed to do that, and accept defeat. The Warriors were the better team and they showed
 that. May they win more titles in the near future. As long as they keep their main core
 intact they will be tough to beat.

What Grinds my Gears: Youtube Ads

   Admit it, we've all had little quirks that bother us. Some of them can be big

   while others can be very small. That's why I'll be posting some of the things that

   really grinds my gears (inspired by a Family Guy episode).

Youtube Ads

   One of the things that grinds my gears are ads on YouTube. I understand that the

  video makers have to make money from them but it's getting to the point of utter 

  ridiculousness. Ever since Google bought them out, they've figured out how to 

  make as much ad money from them as possible. YouTube used to be a video site
  where one could upload videos of themselves. Now it's just a money making video
  sharing site to fit in Google's portfolio. 

         It used to be where you could skip an ad after 5 seconds but now they're getting

  away with the ad last just as long. What I really can't stand is the ad is always the 

  same one every single time. 

         Sometimes they'll put them in the middle so it startles you while you're in the
  middle of watching something interesting. These are called mid roll ads and 
   creators have gotten lazy in where to put them.

        I think it's great that programs such as Adblock & UBlock were invented to

   circumvent this. Sometimes the videos won't play unless you turn it off which 

   makes it frustrating. 

       That's why I like watching videos on Vimeo so much. There are no ads to 

  worry about and plus their audience is more niche than YouTube is. It's just a 
  matter of time until YouTube gets too big for themselves and implodes.

Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman

Dir: Patty Jenkins

      Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, Danny Huston,

      David Thewlis

       The DCEU has had a pretty bad track record when it comes to their movies. This 

    breaks that trend and is actually pretty good. The gorgeous Gal Gadot stars as 
    Diana, an Amazonian warrior who believes in the greater good in humanity and
    must fight to protect it. 

       Much like the first Thor, Wonder Woman begins with little Diana looking up to

    her mother while being raised on the remote island of Themyscira. This island is 

    strictly inhabited by strong women who fight like Roman soldiers. As Diana grows
    up, she gets trained to fight just like her fellow sisterhood.

      One day while she is gazing out over the ocean, a spy named Steve Trevor (Pine)

   crash lands on the island and tells her that a war to end all wars is about to happen.
   She makes it her personal mission to save the world before all of humanity is lost. 
   The two team up to take down the Nazis who want to use powerful mustard gas
   to end humanity.

     The Good: 
    The action scenes were phenomenal along with the slow motion shots during the
   fight sequences. The cinematography was excellent, as there was a perfect blend
   of action, comedy and some romance. Her theme played during the action scenes
   was on point. Chris Pine and Gal Gadot shared great on screen chemistry and the
   attractive Israeli is quite easy on the eyes.

   The Bad:
    It was a little long for me but it kept my interest up enough from becoming boring.
   The villain of the film falls into the pit that every Marvel movie did; forgettable.
   He had so much more potential as his convoluted plan didn't work as hoped. 

   Overall:
   Wonder Woman is your typical fish out of water story and it's an excellent movie
   from start to finish. From here on out, it's a step in the right direction for the 
   DCEU. It should light a fire under Marvel to keep them from being complacent.
   The passion project for director Jenkins worked out pretty well for her and it 
   opened the door for future female directors. Little girls should be inspired 
   by Wonder Woman's fearlessness to take charge and kick some serious butt.

 Grade: B+ (8.5/10)