MIssion: Impossible III * * *

M:I-III kicks off the summer 2006 blockbuster season in a spectacular way. It exceeded my (low) expectations and is probably better than the first one too. It cost $150million, which is the biggest budget ever for a first-time director, J.J.Abrams. He is the same guy behind the spy series Alias and the lately masterful Lost TV series, so I was expecting a lot from him, and he didn't screw it up at all. The action sequences are very well crafted and up until the 3/4 of the movie you don't realize how the time has gone by. The finale was somewhat dissapointing to me though, as it wasn't very original and everything went according to plan.

There many wow factors, many short laughs and many smart twists in the action; although there isn't much we haven't seen before, the movie is lots of fun and not a waste of money.

J.J. Abrams said in an interview that there is a hidden reference to Lost in the movie; I couldn't find it.

To whom it may concern:

I will give my personal check of one thousand dollars to the person, or persons, who will submit to me the lowest, credible argued, upper limit on the number of excess electrons within our visible universe.

Professor Robert Hellwarth, USC

That means: how many more electrons are there than e.g. protons, if any? The lowest obvious answer would be 0 (in which case the universe is symmetric and neutral), but how can you prove it?

Man and (his) Machines

Ever since I got a personal computer back in 1995, I always had a special connection with it. It's not just a tool for me, but rather an extension of myself. When it runs smoothly, I'm happy. When there are problems, I feel like I am sick until I fix it. I always customize my operating system to my needs and likes. In fact, I don't think you can find any 2 computers in the world with exactly the same in hardware, software and customizations. Hence a computer reflects one's personality.

I use regularly 3 computers: my desktop, my laptop, and the computer in the office. Since I feel so human about these machines, I always used to call the hard drives names of real persons.

My main computer at home is called Timaras. It is a P4@2.8Ghz with a 17" monitor. Inside there are 3 hard drives. They are named Themos, Kallos, and Big Guy. The Big Guy is 250GB big, and hosts about 200GB of data, mostly photos, videos and tv shows. Timaras is also my nickname (Stems from Tim, which comes from Efthymios, the way my first English teacher called me), the name I use almost everywhere online (from yahoo to google and forums). I even use Timaras when I play games, for example in Civilization I am Emperor Timaras, my city is Timaroupolis and my people the Timarioi.

The computer in my office is stronger. It is a P4@3.0GHz with a 23" flat monitor. Hence its name is properly Timararas. It also has an external hard drive attached to it, 300GB big. I named it Huge Guy accordingly.

My laptop is the weakest link: it's a Pentium M at 1.6GHz, with a 15.4" monitor and a 100GB hard drive. I named it Timaroulis since it cannot compete with his big desktop brothers.

Finally I have a 1GB small USB flash drive that is attached to my keychain. I use it to transfer files between the brothers (it's faster than wireless in fact!). I have named it Timaraki, since it's the smallest piece of equipment I have.

Steve Jobs on the Stanford Commencement Ceremony

Last year in Stanford's graduation ceremony Steve Jobs, and founder and CEO of Apple and Pixar gave one of the best talks I have ever listened to. He talks about his own life, his companies, macintosh and windows. He is the best example I think of what a man can do when he pursues something he really likes. If everyone was doing and working on exactly what he or she really loved, the world would be a much better place.

Πάσχα Ελλήνων

Και αυτό το Πάσχα μαζευτήκαμε στο υπέροχο πάρκο του Anaheim, δίπλα στην Disneyland. Ήλιο δεν είχαμε πολύ αλλά είχαμε πολύ καλή παρέα:



Η Ελένη (δεξιά) και η Αλεξάνδρα (αριστερά) ήρθαν από Ελλάδα για 2 εβδομάδες περίπου για διακοπές. Κλέψανε την παρασταση!


Κατά τα άλλα ήταν μια τυπική μάζωξη:

(Ο καημένος ο Γιώργος σηκώνει το χέρι διότι το έχει χτυπήσει άσχημα και έχει κάτι σιδεροκατασκευές πάνω του που πρέπει να μένουν όρθιες συνεχώς).


Artistic φώτο: δείτε τις ανακλάσεις στα γυαλιά της Αλεξάνδρας... Η Ντόρα φαίνεται εις διπλούν καθώς μια θείτσα εξιστορεί παλιές περιπέτειες στους νέους.




Μια χαρούμενη αυθόρμητη φώτο:



Μια ομαδική φώτο:


Και ένα μικρό βίντεο απόσπασμα από το "making off":