MacBook Air,Dragonlance and the Millenium Stadium

there was quite a few surprises today(not in chronological order) . the most interesting has to be steve job's announcement of the Macbook Air. Serious,it's freakishly thin(it's at 1.98cm at the thickest part)it just looks so so cool. and with a 13.3inch led display, i reckon the display would be stunning as well. also featured is a 64gb static memory(optional) which is freakingly expensive but it doesn't spoil as easily and it's faster. what i didn't like about it is...

1) no optical drive which is understandable consider how thin it is! and 99 for the superdrive ain't too too expensive.

2)the battery is non-removable. stated usage is for aproximately 5 hours which is normal. i don't mind it that much but the thought of having to send it to appple every 2 years or so(the life of battery is roughly that) can get annoying.. after all, you're paying so much for it.

3)1 usb port!!! this is something i cannot live without. i'm already using at least 4 (mouse,
keyboard,cardreader,hdd)though the keyboard can be omitted but i still need an extension or
even 2!

that said i do really like the design. whether i'm gonna buy one is a totally different matter.i can't be considering a mac at the moment cause my replacement for my mp3 is windows only :( prices start from 1700usd or 220,000yen.this has got to be the most shocking news! a dragonlance film/animation! i know when people think about fantasy novels,they think about lord of the rings or *gasp* harry pothead but this has got to be the defining series for me. what started out as a pet project to create a story from the role playing game,dungeons & dragons has spawned to a roughly 10book main series( with at least 20 more side stories) and why do i like this over the rest? while the animation(more on that in a while) isn't great but it shows the number of dragons and better still, how much magic was just invovled( raistlin used at least 5 spells and all gandalf could do was wave a shining wand)! the characters are definitely more diverse and more complex and when you combine all that, you just get a wonderful storyline.

i've watched the animation and i thought it was so so. they were definitely doing this under a tight budget and the cheap graphics showed. it was also pretty short being only 1.5 hours and feels rushed and somewhat less focus on character development but on the good side, nothing important was missed and the storyline was spot on.after reading the official website, i did find out that they were trying to get it done as a movie but no studio would want to fork out 75m for it( if i had the dough, without thinking twice,i'd fork out 100mil and get walden studios for the graphics)there was a blessing though,margaret and tracy(the 2 authors) had their say in the production and they didn't have to bow down to money making idiots(which could be the reason that they couldnt find a studio...)i do hope hope they make a sequel..actually until summer flame! which would be 10 dvds! haha, i'd collect it! and keifer sutherland(jack bauer from 24) was a catch!
back to my trip! cardiff is almost synonymous with the millennium stadium! after wembley closed back then, the millennium std became the place for major events including the f.a cup final and carling cup final. this was where a young group of arsenal players lost to a one led man team last year.


my replacement mp3 player and earphones will be here tomorrow! i might do a short review of it then. mp3:toshiba t401s or t400 in the states and a pair of denon ah-c551 buds.