Tangent: A quite humerous and adorable blog post about the rumorative power held by Facebook can be found here.  It may be of interest to frequent readers and those who know me personally.

I went and saw Scott Pilgrim vs the World on Saturday and I love, love, love, LOVED it!  It’s the kind of movie a comic book/video game/hopeless romantic/kinda stupid nerd would love, and I think that description defines me pretty well (except for maybe not the stupid part – you decide!).  If you grew up playing games in the 80′s and 90′s, and you love movies that make you laugh and are insanely different than anything else Hollywood does, do yourself a favor and see Scott Pilgrim.  I promise, you’ll love, love, love, LOVE it!  And if not, lie to me and say you did.

I’m saddened that the film is “failing” in the eyes of the movie industry, and I think there are 2 legitimate reasons why..  Every movie blog within the blogosphere has  come up with their own guesses, but I only really consider a these 2 to be legit:

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is hard to categorize.  This is one of the aspects of the story that I really love, but it has to be a marketer’s worst nightmare!  The posters with Scott rocking out on the guitar have been slammed for making people think the movie was about a rockstar, which is not the case, but they do make sense if you already know the story.  You also can’t sell it as a love story, because that’s only one component of the whole.  And an action movie?  With Michael Cera?  That won’t fly…  So, how do you categorize this film if you’re Blockbuster Video?  It doesn’t even fit in with the goofy punk/skateboarder movies I remember from the 80′s and 90′s (Gleaming the Cube, anyone?)…  Universal Pictures tried, but mixed messages left potential audiences confused, which is a shame.

2.  This movie was made for a small subsection of the population – the comic book/video game/hopeless romantic/kinda stupid (maybe) nerds of this world.  I honestly don’t see this movie having a strong appeal to the masses when you consider the ever rising barrier to entry for this kind of thing (e.g. the $9 movie ticket).  Those who have read the comic, which is supremely delightful and highly recommended, will be immediately drawn to the move.  Those who love Michael Cera (a dwindling fan base) might be drawn.  Those who love Edgar Wright (the director) may have been drawn…  Aside from some of those pretty small fan bases, you’re lucky to pull in the occasional straggler (like my buddy Spencer, who was a rockstar for coming with the lady and I).  Does the movie deserve a wider audience?  YES, but that doesn’t mean it will automatically have one. 

If you’re reading this and find anything I’ve said interesting, go see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and love yourself for it.  It will treat you to something wholly different than anything else Hollywood has produced in a very long time.  I thought the acting was good, the writing was witty, the transition from page to screen was handled marvelously, and I finally got to see a girl kick some butt with a giant hammer (+5 against girls). 

K.O.

I love it!  There is a lot of good we can do in the world, and I am very happy to see some of the wealthiest among us giving what they have to bless the lives of others!  <soapbox> This is how I personally feel it should be done – charitable giving from the heart.  Forget government programs that are wasteful and bureaucratic…  Giving to organizations that are run in the public sector with the intent of doing good is the way to go.  We should be spending more time encouraging people to give of their excess and share of their good fortune.  This is how to fundamentally change the paradigm and get Americans to look beyond themselves; good examples and encouragement to join in! </soapbox>

Here’s the graphic:

Also, for those with interest, you can now find me on Twitter: @jeffrsnbgh.  I encourage you to follow me and to join in on the conversation!

The more time I spend learning about the company and the things we do, the more I respect ExxonMobil for being really financially savvy and conservative.  You also have to remember that the reason we make so much money is because we spend a ridiculous amount of money to do what we do – the profit margin is nowhere as good as that of Apple, Google, or Coca-Cola.  We are, however, incredibly successful and I hope it stays that way!  I’ll do my part by keeping servers online at our US Manufacturing sites…  w00t!

Here is another testimony (on YouTube) that I think is really touching.  If you’re at all curious about the Book of Mormon and what I believe to be true, go check out this video.  It’s only 5 minutes, and maybe you’ll understand me a bit more!

Simply put, this was long overdue. Travis sung the praises of a jailbreak over a year ago, but I hesitated because I viewed it as a hassle when it comes to installing firmware updates and things of that nature (which I still haven’t quite figured out how all that will work, but I will). Since then I have felt the frustration of all that the iPhone doesn’t (thanks Droid ads for pointing this out over and over again), I have gone ahead and done what was necessary. I now introduce you to, Jeff’s iPhone 2.0:

(FYI – I was charging the phone when I took these screenshots)

Kinda neat, yeah?  Nothing mind blowing, but I love that I can run multiple apps (notice the radio icon in the bottom right corner as a “waiting” tab on it, meaning it’s running in the background), have 5 apps in the dock down below, a theme/skin (custom icons, a background other than black, my own name instead of AT&T in the upper corner, etc…), a simplified lock-screen…  Simple stuff that’s apparent right away, and very very nice!

The jailbreak process is incredibly straight forward.  I used the Pwnage Tool (google it and you’ll find a plethora of information), made sure I had current backups in iTunes (which is essential if you wanna keep your Apple App Store applications where you left them), and followed a couple different tutorials (one for when I worked on my phone and a different one for Jason’s – only really because I lost the first link).   This is why I can’t call myself a HaX0r…  The real geeks made it easy for schlubs like me!

Really, a key feature is being able to run multiple apps at once – something the phone SHOULD be able to do but Apple keeps it from happening..  I installed an app called Backgrounder (off of Cydia, the jailbreak app store) to run the multiple apps, and another called ProSwicther which gives me the fun look and feel of a Palm Pre when switching through applications, including the same touch gestures (see below – to close an app you can hit the (x) or slide it off the top of the screen).

While some of that stuff is just aesthetics (btw, did I mention my ring-tone is now the hidden door sound of the original Legend of Zelda? Major shout-out to Derek Christensen for the idea), there are some serious tweaks going on in the background.  To name a few, I’m running open SSH to gain access to my file structure, NetaTalk (uses Apple Protocol) to allow wireless access to my iPhone’s file structure, 3G Unrestrictor which gets past the “You Can Only Use This App on Wireless, not 3G” stuff, and SBSettings (see images below) to have easy access to turning features on and off as well as free up memory or kill applications.

(Note the “Available Memory” in the first image.  I hit “Free Up Memory” and it cleared a considerable amount that was being wasted.  Also note that the SSH toggle on the right only exists because I have Open SSH installed)

Finally the iPhone is what it should have been, arguably, from the beginning!  Does everything work perfectly?  Surprisingly, it’s pretty close!  Apple continually spews lies about how running multiple apps will kill the battery or destroy the memory management, but it seems pretty obvious that the jailbreak community has figure some of this stuff out.  MAYBE my battery dies a bit faster than it would otherwise, but I have to charge it every night anyway…  And with the ability to quickly turn off 3G, location awareness, and wifi in SBSettings, it’s really easy to actually conserve more battery that way.   This is the only reason I have some hope for the iPad – Apple made a fail of a product, but perhaps the jailbreak community can actually make it cool!

Oh, and my favorite jailbreak app?

WHAAA?!  You mean I can haz texts in appz?!  (Sorry I’m using you as an example Aly!) I didn’t take a screen shot of the actual reply function, but essentially I just hit that reply button and an overlay of the texting screen pops up and I can immediately respond without going to the texting application (don’t fool yourself, it’s an app like the others but with a push notification like setup – it is NOT like the phone or email clients that are constantly running).   This is a HUGE plus for me!  HUGE!  I get text messages throughout the day, and I hated having to close whatever I was working on to reply.  Granted, now that I can run multiple apps I could just move from app to app, but this streamlines the process even more!  Why does this not exist in the native iPhone OS?  Ask El Jobso, cause it freakin’ should!

All in all, I’m happy as a clam.  Yes, the novelty of it all has kind of worn off, but that doesn’t mean I’m not super happy about it.  Really, truly, this is the kind of stuff the iPhone should already be able to do.  If Apple adds a majority of these improvements to the standard OS then maybe I’ll switch back at that point, but right now the jailbreak community has figured out how to truly unlock the power of the device.

It’s been a long time since we’ve had an over-the-top action movie with a killer (pun intended) cast and some serious action. Tropic Thunder doesn’t count.

With respect to the awesome action flicks of the 80′s and early 90′s, I present to you Sly Stallone’s latest project: The Expendables

UPDATE: Thanks Jason for pointing out that the older video wasn’t working. Hopefully this embed works for the time being…

UPDATE: Looks like the internets just can’t handle such a sweet movie trailer. Look for it yourself, somewhere else. I don’t know why it keeps getting pulled, but I know I’m not going to repost it every five minutes.  Here’s a picture of a kitty that exemplifies how I feel:

Well, now it looks like some waiting and prayers have paid off! MY DOCUMENTARY IS HAPPENING!!!

More updates to come soon.  I’m feeling a good blog post coming on…

8:30am -wake up and harass Crystal for taking so long to wake up. (btw, my friend Crystal Gerber, from BYU, came out to celebrate and visit!)

9:15am -harass Crystal for STILL not waking up

9:45am -harass Crystal about getting off the couch, getting her swimsuit and such on, and getting in the car

10:00am - leave for Galveston Island! FYI – the drive is longer than I remember… Not a problem normally, but Crystal was STILL sleepy…

11:05am -realize I need money to park at the beach… Or at least that is what the high school age’d youngin’ told me when I got there. I asked if there was a birthday discount and he looked at me like I was speaking french… So, we went to Walgreens and bought suntan lotion (which I didn’t use) and lemonade and got $10 in cash back at the register.

11:15am - park at the beach! Note: swimming at said beach is fun, but realize you will end up a mile down the beach since the current runs diagonally rather than the way you’d expect.

12:30pm -Crystal says, “Ewww!!! I’ve got crabs!”

1:00pm -leave the beach and drive to Saltgrass Steakhouse on Seawall Blvd (still in Galveston). I got the half-rack of ribs off of the lunch menu and just about died… If you haven’t had the ribs at Saltgrass, do yourself a favor!

1:45pm -leave Galveston Island. This is when I realized that I was super sun burned… Actually, I realized when I got inside the 610 loop in Houston and noticed that my left arm was tingly. I was adding to my burn with some trucker tannage on the way home. ick

3:00pm -realize I don’t have a checkerboard cake pan set! Annie and Travis stole mine (though I guess I originally lent it to them for Travis’s birthday last year… Anyway, I love Williams & Sonoma because they had one for $25, thus saving the day.

4:00pm - go to Target to get supplies and argue with Crystal over a “It’s My Birthday” button that she insisted on buying and demanded that I wear the rest of the day.

6:00pm - leave for Buffalo Wild Wings and meet up with about 15+ of my awesome friends! I love BWW, and I was really happy to see everyone there to celebrate with me. I got to catch up with a few people I haven’t seen in a while, and I ate some of the most delicious food…

9:00pm - return to the house for cake & ice cream deliciousness! This is when everyone decided to embarrass me by going around and individually telling me why I am loved… It’s awesome in theory, and I certainly appreciated it, but holy cow was I embarrassed… Yikes!

10:00pm -did NOT get a kiss from Chera. I just want everyone to know – she’s been making a big deal about me “dreaming about a kiss” from her on my birthday, and I didn’t ask for one nor did she offer one. End of story.

11:30pm - got all kinds of phone calls from great friends in Utah, and made a couple call backs as well. I really do have a lot of quality friends in a lot of different places. I’ve seriously been blessed!

12:30am (the 7th) - End the night by watching The Fugitive w/ Crystal while we both fell asleep…

I really feel blessed to have such great friends and people who care about me. I didn’t include info about my family, but my parents and sisters were calling me all day long to share their love for me. I got one of the coolest gifts ever in the form of a Luau Murder Mystery Dinner set! I’m pretty excited to pull that one off someday! haha… Thanks again to everyone!

Here are some attached pictures of the festivities:

RosenBlog for Gamers
So, I don’t officially call my blog the RosenBlog, but I very well might in the near future…  The point, however, is that you can now view my blog in an optimized format on the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, Playstation Portable (PSP), or the Apple iPhone.  Each browser displays a tiny bit differently, and now I’m set to optimize for each of those browser configurations.

(Sorry, I don’t have screenshots…)

Greet Box
The Greet Box is kind of fun and new. Depending on how you get to the blog, you may find a semi-personalized message for you as you access a specific post. For Example, when coming from a Facebook.com link you might see the following:

These messages are pretty discreet and are easily closeable.  I think it’s kind of a fun way to encourage spreading the word…  This also works for those who come in from Digg, Reddit, or all by themselves (displays a recommendation to add an RSS feed).  Nothing too huge, but kind of fun.

Sociable
Sociable is a simple sharing tool that gives a reader quick access to the correct link in order to share a specific post with the rest of the world. You should see the following buttons beneath every post if you visit the actual post page (not just the main page with multiple posts listed).

Facebook Connect
Now my readers can post comments with their Facebook ID which does a couple different things… One, it makes them a “user” more or less that can have their comments tracked on the site (I think – pretty sure). The other is that it allows users to post directly to their Facebook Feed that they have visited my site and commented on one of the posts.

You’ll notice below (if you’re on the single post page, not the main feed homepage) that you now see the Facebook Connect button:

(Note that I hate the way it is currently formatted and I will be modifying it as soon as I can find the right code… The padding and the text above the button are hidden away in some .php file within the plugin, and I’m not finding it.)

Once logged in, you’ll see this fun addition to the corner of your browser window:

Once you’re logged in and setup you just jump down to the comments box, input your text and it will post your information while your credentials come from Facebook.

You’ll have the standard Facebook stuff pop up and ask you a couple questions (like if you want to post a note in your profile feed or not) and then your comment will be up for moderation. Nothing super amazingly spectacular, but I’m all about providing options to people, and I think this one is kind of cool.

Statpress
Ok, so this one isn’t one that the rest of you can see, but I think it’s cool enough to share… I installed Statpress to do some simple analytics work for me. Nothing super spectacular (though I can install a couple other plugins that would work in coordination with this one to provide a LOT of info), but I think it is pretty cool to get some basic information from my users in terms of how they got to the blog and what they’re checking out. I don’t get tons of traffic, nor do I care all that much, but I like to feed my curiosity every once in a while.

(click on the image to embiggen and actually see the text)

That’s about it! Just thought I’d share some things. Nothing huge to update in the personal life other than that I’m enjoying the summer and my friends. Definitely looking forward to Travis and Annie visiting (likely) around Thanksgiving, and I’m pumped for Tony’s wedding in September. Also, I turn OLD on July 6th… Weird…