Nice weekend

As opposed to Friday, this weekend was delightful! Friday ended well with me picking up one remote to rule them all. I got sick of having four remotes to control the home theater and picked up the Logitech Harmony 880 on a deal. I'm enjoying the great functionality of the remote so far and love the ability to program different modes that allow me to operate different components all at once (i.e. when in DVD mode, I can operate normal DVD functions, change aspect ratio on the TV, and control audio on the receiver). I also like hitting "Watch DVD" and having all my components switch to proper inputs. On the flip side, I'm not as impressed with the remote's web-based interface, especially because you HAVE to use Internet Explorer. I would have prefered a specific application that connects to the net to update its product database.
On Saturday, the Kate and I hopped a train to downtown to take a tour of the newly renovated Boston Opera House. The 2600 seat auditorium is absolutely stunning with a tall ceiling covered in ornate oil paintings and beautifully carved plaster. After the tour we caught a matinee screening of Brokeback Mountain. The movie was much better than the overly self-congratulatory previews made me believe. I seriously haven't seen a Hollywood PR machine suck its own dick so much since Dreamwork's heyday. The movie was slow at the start but really let the characters build on screen. The movie was serious but had some light moments which helped it stay balanced. In the hands of a lesser director than Ang Lee, the film would probably feel write at home on Lifetime. Fortunately, Lee brought out some understated performances in some Hollywood faces (Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams of the Dawson! fame). There was only one shot where Gyllenhaal gave an extended "look at how dopey yet sexy I am as I stare off into the distance with yearning for love I can't have cause I'm so indie." He and Ledger had great chemistry on screen and were able to show complex emotions as their relationship develops. This movie is much more than a gay cowboy porno and it tells a complex story of forbidden love over half a lifetime.

So how do you follow up an afternoon of opera and gay cowboys? By watching a documentary of transvestite hookers in Honolulu of course! We caught this interesting doc on HBO during the short time we were getting the channel for free after upgrading to an HD cable box. A great 70's soulful porn voice narrated while hookers pulled tricks in downtown Honolulu ("everyone knows the guys look better than the girls," one of the hookers says). Each hooker has a story about how they were born a girl trapped in a boy's body and followed varied courses to wind up on the corner. Most of the stories were typical and the doc didn't really shine any new light on hookin'. It was interesting for the cool narrator and the novelty of transvestite hookers in Hawaii. Come on, that's a pretty cool premise.

The east coast got pelted by snow Saturday and Sunday. I heard it qualified for official blizzard status. Woo! The Kate and I stayed cozy most of Sunday watching olympics and "Hustle and Flow" but frolliced in the snow for a bit. It was nice to get off my ass and play in the cold.

The best news happened today – I was notified that I'm getting an interview for the master's program at the MIT Media Lab in the beginning of March! I'm really excited because this is my ideal graduate school – a bunch of crazy engineers and artists developing new technologies. I'm interviewing with the Nomadic Displays group, which is a new group headed by Dr. Mary Lou Jepsen, the former head of Intel's display division and current CTO of the Media Lab's $100 Laptop Project. The group will contribute to current display technologies such as liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) and investigate some crazy ideas like using water vapor as a screen. I'm obviously very excited about this opportunity… now I cant fuck it up!

That's the news for now. Time to go home and eat, drink, and watch TV with the Kate.

-Bob