More movie madness (number of movies in brackets):

Almost Famous (Rainn Wilson and T.B.D.)
Galaxy Quest (Jeremy Howard and Rainn Wilson)
Men in Black II (Brad Abrell and Jeremy Howard)
Men in Black (Will Smith and Brad Abrell)
I, Robot (Simon Baker and Will Smith)
Shanghai Noon (Lucy Liu and Simon Baker) [50]
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (Chia Hui Liu and Lucy Liu)
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (Michael Bowen and Chia Hui Liu)
Jackie Brown (Laura Lovelace and Michael Bowen)
Pulp Fiction (Linda Kaye and Laura Lovelace)
Reservoir Dogs (Steve Buscemi and Linda Kaye)
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (Keith David and Steve Buscemi)
The Replacements (Faizon Love and Keith David)
Blue Crush (Michelle Rodriguez and Faizon Love)
S.W.A.T. (Benjamin King and Michelle Rodriguez)
Lethal Weapon 4 (John Harms and Benjamin King) [40]
Lethal Weapon 3 (Marian Collier and John Harms)
Lethal Weapon 2 (Patrick Cameron and Marian Collier)
Lethal Weapon (Paul Tuerpe and Patrick Cameron)
Maverick (Stephen Liska and Paul Tuerpe)
Conspiracy Theory (Christo Morse and Stephen Liska)
Hackers (Wendell Pierce and Christo Morse)
Ray (Rick Gomez and Wendell Pierce)
Three to Tango (John C. McGinley and Rick Gomez)
Se7en (Lennie Loftin and John C. McGinley)
The Sum of All Fears (Stefan Kalipha and Lennie Loftin) [30]
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Pat Roach and Stefan Kalipha)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Frank Marshall and Pat Roach)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Alfred Molina and Frank Marshall)
Ladyhawke (Ken Hutchison and Alfred Molina)
Straw Dogs (Dustin Hoffman and Ken Hutchison)
Rain Man (Ray Baker and Dustin Hoffman)
Without a Paddle (Bruce Phillips and Ray Baker)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Stephen Ure and Bruce Phillips)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Katie Jackson and Stephen Ure)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Viggo Mortensen and Katie Jackson) [20]
Crimson Tide (Gene Hackman and Viggo Mortensen)
Superman IV (Christopher Reeve and Gene Hackman)
Superman III (Jackie Cooper and Christopher Reeve)
Superman II (Ned Beatty and Jackie Cooper)
Superman (Robert O'Neill and Ned Beatty)
Twelve Monkeys (Bruce Willis and Robert O'Neill)
Mercury Rising (Chi McBride and Bruce Willis)
The Terminal (John Williams and Chi McBride)
Star Wars: Episode VI (Anthony Daniels and John Williams))
Star Wars: Episode V (Peter Mayhew and Anthony Daniels) [10]
Star Wars: Episode IV (James Earl Jones and Peter Mayhew)
The Hunt For Red October (Stellan Skarsgård and James Earl Jones)
Ronin (Jean Reno and Stellan Skarsgård)
Godzilla (1998) (Ben Bode and Jean Reno)
Empire Records (Liv Tyler and Ben Bode)
Armageddon (Owen Wilson and Liv Tyler)
Permanent Midnight (Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson)
Keeping the Faith (Edward Norton and Ben Stiller)
Rounders (Edward Norton - Starting Film)

Updated 6/16 with Almost Famous.

URL: Lucy Liu

What fun. Yesterday, for the third time, I had my eyelid operated on to remove a chalazion. They put me under again which made me groggy for the whole day, but it was nice to watch the Angels game in its entirety and just do nothing for a change. Problem is, today I have testing for the Orange Police Department which includes a written test and, if you pass that, a physical test. They told me not to do any strenuous workouts for a few days, but relented when I told them the physical agility test would only take about five minutes. I think the main reason they don't want me doing strenuous workouts is probably because of sweat and the possibility of reopening the cut on the underside of the eyelid. Luckily today should go by quickly and I can get home, put some ointment on the eyelid and watch the Angels game.

Go Angels! Go CSF!

URL: Styes and Chalazia -- Topic Overview

I've been planning on building a new computer for a while, but recently, I've stepped up my efforts. I'm getting closer to having the funds available for the computer so I've started to seriously look into different stores for buying the parts. Right now, I just have to decide between MonarchComputer.com and ZipZoomFly.com. The positive for Monarch is that they'll put the basic parts together and burn them in so I know I'm getting a good motherboard, CPU, RAM, hard drive, etc. whereas if I order from ZipZoomFly, a single part could be DOA and it'd take time to diagnose and replace. Plus, ZipZoomFly doesn't carry the case I want and I only save $20 by assembling it all myself. Newegg, my usual store of choice is $50 more than Monarch due to that pesky state tax, otherwise, they'd be my store of choice.

For those who are curious, here's my parts list with comparative prices at the three stores. It'll be a very nice computer with a 939 AMD XP64 3700+ processor with the brand new 'San Diego' core sporting an extra 512k of L2 cache along with 2 GB of Corsair XMS RAM and a Western Digital 10k RPM 74 GB Raptor serving up the files. I had considered only getting 1 GB of RAM, but that would only leave me with room to expand to 2 GB, whereas if I start out with 2 GB, I can easily expand to 4 GB at a later time (most likely with an upgrade of the processor to one of the sweet dual-core AMD 64's). The power supply is the Antec Neopower modular power supply which I currently have in this computer and I absolutely love and the case is a sweet Lian-Li PC-V1000B Plus. I love my current case, the Lian-Li PC-6070 Plus and though I like the 1000B with the nice air in-take up front, I am also considering the PC-V1100B Plus - make sure you view the cool flash animation on how the three-tier cooling system works.

I just need to decide on the video card to get now. Basically, I want a budget card and I figure the 6600 GT would be more than powerful enough for the basic games that I play - though the system offers more than enough upgrade potential (e.g. 2 6800 Ultras in SLI mode).

		Monarch	Newegg	ZipZoomFly
CASE	Lian-Li PC-V1000B	189	205	N/A
	Lian-Li PC-V1100B	219	250	N/A
PROC	AMD XP64 3700 "San Diego" Core	315 (oem)	333 (retail)	329 (retail)
RAM	TWINX2048-3200C2PT	265	265	243
	TWINX2048-3200PT	265	267	240
MOBO	ASUS A8N-SLI DELUXE	175	176	170
HD	Raptor 74GB 10000 RPM	189	184 20 MIR thru 6/18	183
POWER	Antec NeoPower 480	114	116	113
GFX	eVGA GeForce 6600 GT 128 MB	173	172	184 30 MIR
	eVGA GeForce 6800 256 MB	300	289	280
	eVGA GeForce 6800 GT 256 MB	359	359	350
	eVGA GeForce 6800 Ultra 256 MB	420	445 30 MIR	450 30 MIR
SUB-TOTAL	BASE PRICES - NO VIDEO (1000B/C2PT)	1247	1259 AR	1227
TAX		0	99.12	95.09
SHIPPING		45.50	34.31	0
BUILD FEE		49	0	0
TOTAL		1341.50	1392.43	1322.09

URL: MonarchComputer.com: All Furia Systems

A couple of weeks ago, I bought The X-Files, Season 4 on DVD. I already had Seasons 1 and 3 and the store was out of Season 2, so I skipped to 4. As I usually do with my TV series on DVD, I began to rip it to my hard drive for three reasons - 1) a backup (albeit compressed), 2) to watch over my "TV Serve" system which is still being developed, and 3) to check the integrity of the discs. Lo and behold, disc 1 had parts that were unreadable even after cleaning (tested with Nero's CD Speed/ScanDisc utility). I still had my receipt though, so I took it back to Best Buy and got a new copy. While there, I picked up Season 2 (couldn't resist the sweet pricing). I began ripping it this weekend and successfully made it through discs 1 & 2, but again, encountered problems with disc 3. According to Nero, 8.50% of the disc is unreadable. Now, that's just downright unacceptable. Looking at it under a light, it looks flawless - it's right out of the box for goodness sake. So, just as a friendly reminder, remember to watch those DVDs when you buy them - or at least test them with a CD Scan Disc utility.

URL: Fox Store