Posts from — July 2008

I never thought myself much of a baby/little kid person until my nephew was born a bit more than two years ago. I remember being at the hospital, looking at this baby and overwhelmed by the fact that he was my nephew. He fell asleep in my arms the first time I held him. Two years and a few hundred pictures of Raza later, he has grown into quite the cute kid.

And now, we all have to deal with his ‘tude.

Yesterday, I spent more time with Raza than I had in a while and discovered a few things that seemed to have come up just recently: He doesn’t like being called “baby” and he really does not like being laughed at, two things that didn’t seem to be a problem just a few weeks ago for his Bushra Khala (Aunt Bushra) to do.

So yesterday he and my sister were over at our place and I was hanging out with Raza when he picked up something off the floor. Realizing he was going to stick it in his mouth at some point, I asked for it. He gave it to me but then asked for it back soon after. I pretended not to have it and he took my hand and checked it thoroughly. He asked me where it was and I feigned ignorance.

“I don’t know,” I told him, shrugging my shoulders. He then looked at me with a knowing smile, and said, “Bushra Khala use magic?”

I couldn’t help it, I laughed. Then something completely unexpected happened: he took offense. His brow furrowed and he walked away from me towards my sister. He pointed a finger at me and said “baby!” as an insult and proceeded to seek comfort with my sister. I apologized but he continued to ignore me and after following him around for a while I told him that every time he does something and apologizes, I accept the apology right away. And yet, he doesn’t accept my apology? (I had fake tears in my eyes at this point). He looked at me, said “sorry” and gave me a hug.

All was well.

I made a mental note that he can now tell when I’m mocking him.

A while later, my sister said something about bubbles so I chipped in with a “Bubbles is a character in The Wire”. Raza comes up to me and says “Bushra Khala, can you show me the bubbles in the water?” It was obvious he misheard me. So I laughed.

Oops.

It took me a while to get back in his good graces again.

I watched Batman: Gotham Knight last night. This is the third movie in the recent trend of straight-to-DVD animated features from DC Comics and Warner Brothers. This is how I would rate the movies thus far:

-Superman: Doomsday - Only ok. However, it was at least better than Superman Returns (but seriously, what wasn’t?)
-Justice League: New Frontier - Better
-Batman: Gotham Knight - AWESOME

The movie is broken up into 6 stories, each drawn by different animators, which are self contained yet interconnected:

-Have I Got A Story for You
-Crossfire
-Field Test
-In Darkness Dwells
-Working Through Pain
-Deadshot

Timeline wise, the film falls after Batman Begins and before the upcoming The Dark Knight. The 6 stories are in chronological order, as this is not a Tarantino movie, and bring together a film in which Gotham City is still trying to get used to a vigilante in a Bat costume and Bruce Wayne is getting used to being Batman. Therefore these stories represent different aspects of Batman: how Gothamites view him, how the police view him, and how he views himself.

Although it does tie in with the two live action films, don’t look at this animated film as a method the production studios can capitalize on the attention Batman is getting with the upcoming feature film. There is an emphasis on quality storytelling here and combined with the stellar animation that utilizes the Japanese anime style, Batman: Gotham Knight is easily on par with Batman Begins and the upcoming The Dark Knight, which is already drawing raves.

As an aside, I was a bit distracted while watching the first story because its plot was the same as an episode of Batman: The Animated Series in which Gotham City kids talk about their stories of Batman. In the episode, each kid’s account was wildly different and conflicted with each other. Before I could pat myself on the back for making the connection, I found out that this particular episode, Legends of the Dark Knight, is included on the special edition DVD.

Highly Recommended.

By the way, this doesn’t mean that I have lost my love for Superman who still ranks as my favorite superhero. I’m still allowed to appreciate Batman, especially because this character always seems to have the best animated series and movies connected to him. I have to admit though, in my mind Kevin Conroy is Batman so when he doesn’t provide the voice acting, as he doesn’t in WB’s The Batman, I won’t bother watching it. However, everything else has almost consistently been great (ok, maybe not Batman: Sub Zero as much but even that was still pretty good).

Until next time (which I believe is Wonder Woman)…

A few months ago, I bought my first SLR because I really like taking pictures and I wanted to go beyond my point and shoot. So I got an entry level Canon SLR and while I have not spent too much time learning all the functions, I look forward to using my camera when I can - like at weddings I attend, etc - to improve my picture taking skills. I understand that I still have a long ways to go. This point is important because here’s the thing…

I was at Santa Cruz for my sister’s annual 4th of July BBQ and took my camera. One of my brother in law’s friends seemed to have serious issues with the other people who had SLRs. He was walking around, carrying his own camera and feeling threatened by the other people with SLRs. I overheard him saying “…and Bushra has one and [other person] has one.., etc”

I felt like I had to make him feel better about himself by telling him that my SLR is an entry level model and that I’m still figuring it out. He tested out my camera, changing around the settings, and snapped a few pictures. We talked about lenses for a bit and I tried to reassure him that yes, he knows more about cameras than me and that I’m not pretending to be some renowned photographer. I just like taking pictures.

I only took a few shots that night. I ended the night with a few pictures of the beach and sand in my camera. I just like taking pictures folks. I don’t fancy myself as an actual photographer because I’m not. I won’t pretend to be something I’m not. Really, I swear.

David Pogue over at New York Times has questions and answers about the new iPhone. It makes for good reading.

A few highlights:

-People with the first iPhone are in fact eligible for an upgrade to the iPhone 3G and can therefore pay the low price of $200 versus the “I don’t want a 2 year contract” $600

-The unlimited data plan for the iPhone 3G is $30 per month. 200 text messages will cost the user an additional $5 a month. The plan for the previous iPhone is $20 for unlimited data per month, which includes 200 text messages. All of this is in addition to the voice plan, of course.

-You can pass on your old iPhone to a family member.