A Blog by Huy Nguyen

Ethan Hunt and the entire IMF organization has been disavowed by their own government after a bomb blows up the Kremlin.  Now Hunt, played by Tom Cruise, and his rogue team must find the culprit that has framed them for the bombing and to prevent an all out nuclear war with Russia.  Ghost Protocol is action packed and the daring stunts will leave you at the edge of your seats.

It’s also nice to know that with a couple of Apple products and some BMW vehicles you can pretty much save the world.  If you enjoyed the last Mission Impossible movies then you will definitely be pleased with this one.

Rating:

UFC is back in Brazil and this time Jose Aldo will be defending his title against rising star, Chad Mendes.  Mendes, undefeated, will try to do something his team mate, Urijah Faber, was unable to do by defeating the champion Jose Aldo. This fight is a classic striker vs wrestler matchup and it’ll be interesting how the fight unfolds. Aldo has been destroying his opponents with his striking and he hasn’t had a chance to use this grappling skills, so Mendes may give him that opportunity.  If the fight goes to the ground Aldo will need more than just a decent ground game as Mendes is a legit collegiate wrestler with a wealth of experience.

As good as Mendes is this will be his toughest fight of his career. Aldo is a dangerous striker with excellent takedown defense. Mendes will need to take a page out of Kenny Florian’s game plan when he fought against Aldo. He’ll need to stuff Aldo against the cage and utilize dirty boxing and take him to the ground when he gets the chance. Giving Aldo any distance will just let him utilize his explosive striking.  I’m rooting for Mendes, but it’s hard to see him pull a win over the Brazilian champion.

My Picks:

Jose Aldo beats Chad Mendes
Vitor Belfort beats Anthony Johnson
Rousimar Palhares beats Mike Messenzio
Edson Barboza beats Terry Etim
Sam Stout beats Thiago Tavares
Ednaldo Oliveira beats Gaberiel Gonzaga
Mike Pyle beats Ricardo Funch
Yuri Alcantara beats Michihiro Omigawa

The Blackberry Bold 9790 is the latest to be released by RIM. The 9790 is an evolution of the popular 9700/9780 model. RIM has taken it’s flagship 9900 and scaled it down to a smaller form factor.  This device is marketed toward the emerging markets and for users who want to use a smaller device such as women and people with smaller hands; at least that’s what RIM is saying.

There are several improvements over it’s predecessor (9780). The device is thinner, faster processor (1 Ghz), more ram (768mb ), OS 7, and it has a touch screen.  Since the phone’s screen is only 2.44 in the touch screen plays less of a role when compared to it’s bigger brother, 9900.  I find myself using the trackpad more often on the 9790. But the touch screen is great for macro movements such as scrolling through a webpage or a lists of media files, and messages.

Even though the 9900 is touted as the flagship Blackberry there are a couple of features that the 9790 has it beat. For some reason RIM decided to not implement the autofocus on the 9900, but has it on the 9790. Autofocus is very important if you want to take closeup shots or take photos of varying depth of a scene.  But for video, the 9900 is able to record at 720p whereas the 9790 can only record at VGA resolution.  The second is battery life.  The battery life on the 9790 is superb, but for the 9900 it struggles to last a whole work day. To be fair the latest OS updates has helped the 9900 in that department.

So if you’re looking to get a new Blackberry 9790 you’ll need to look outside the US as it’s not sold in the states yet.  Be sure to get it unlocked so you can use it on your GSM carrier. If you’re deciding between the 9790 and the 9900 you’ll have to ask yourself the question; is the trade off of the camera and battery life better than the luxurious and spacious keyboard on the 9900? If it is, then go for the 9790.  For those who prefer the classic curve/Bold 9700 size Blackberry the 9790 would be the best Blackberry to date for them.  For me, to get the true Blackberry experience one must try the 9900 keyboard. It’s hands-down the best mobile phone keyboard by a mile. But then again everyone has their own preferences so it’s best to get these phones in your hands and try it out yourself.

Rating:

Pros:
Excellent battery life
Fast and smooth UI
Autofocus camera

Cons:
VGA only video recording
Not available in the US yet
Keys can be stiff at first use

I’m here in Las Vegas and I was able to catch the weigh ins yesterday, but unfortunately I won’t be seeing it live here.

This event is going to be a good one. The Lesnar vs Overeem bout is the fight I can’t wait to see. Finally Overeem is now in the UFC. He’s been destroying all the other heavyweights in other organization over the past two years, so now it’ll be interesting how he does it here in the big leagues.

My Picks:

Allistair Overeem beats Brock Lesnar
Donald Cerrone beats Nate Diaz
Alexander Gustafsson beats Vladimir Matyushenko
Ross Pearson beats Junior Assuncao
Nam Pham beats Jimy Hittes
Diego Nunes beats Manny Gamburyan

Jon ‘Bones’ Jones is one of the busiest UFC Champs this year. This fight will mark his 4th fight in 2011 and it will be is second title defense.  Standing across the cage from him is former champ, Lyoto Machida.  I’m very excited for this fight as they have very contrasting styles.

Jones is very dangerous on his feet as he uses his long limbs to his advantage.  What makes him more dangerous than other strikers is that Jones uses his knees and elbows just as much as his hands and feet. So anyone fighting Jones whether its in close quarters or at a distance they’re bound to be lit up. When it comes to the ground Jones has a solid wrestling background that’ll dictate the fight where ever he wants.

As for Machida he is so elusive. His past opponents often gets frustrated as they try to counter Machida’s strike and flight tactic.  He can close the distance with speed and accuracy and bounce away from danger before his opponents can return fire and that makes Machida so dangerous and frustrating to his opponents. Plus, Machida’s karate style can confuse some fighters. Kicks and punches come from awkward angles that can surprise anyone.

Jon Jones has been on a tear. He captured the UFC title and easily defended it. A match up against Machida looks to be an easy win for the Champ, but Machida does have the tools to win. What Machida needs to do to win is that he needs to stick to his bread and butter. He needs continue to be elusive and to use his feints to force Jones to throw punches and kicks. That’s where it’s primetime for Machida to attack, it’s to counter attack.  One of the disadvantage of having long limbs is that when you throw a punch or kick it takes just a little bit longer to reset leaving you open for just a split second.

My Picks:

Jon Jones beats Lyoto Machida
Frank Mir beats Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira beats Tito Ortiz
Brian Ebersole beats Claude Patrick
Mark Hominick beats Chan Sung Jung
Nick Lentz beats Mark Bocek
Krzysztof Soszynski beats Igor Pokrajac

The Twilight series is a saga for the ages, more so for the teeny boppers and a few of my adult friends.  The overall story of the series is interesting but the bland acting is what sucks the life out of it (Yes, pun intended).  In short,  Breaking Dawn is about Bella and Edward getting married, having sex, and getting knocked up.

This movie is drawn out too long without adding any value to the story.  And what really got me confused is that even though Bella and Edward are married Edward still allows Bella to keep her boy-toy, Jacob, at arms length.  In fact, in one of the scenes from the movie Edward gives Bella a wedding gift. It turns out that the gift is Jacob. Jacob waits for Bella by the woods so he can give her a dance.  How ridiculous is that?  Anyhow, I must say this movie does tone down the corny acting a bit, and it is better than the previous one.

Rating:

For the first time UFC will be bringing their event to my hometown of San Jose, Ca and it’s going to be a crazy weekend. Believe it or not San Jose has a large MMA community. There are martial arts dojos and classes at almost every major plaza or shopping centers here, so I’m planning on a large crowd of MMA fans and Affliction and Tapout shirt wearing ‘wannabes’ flooding downtown this evening.  This event doesn’t have the major star-studded fighters like GSP, Anderson Silva, or Jon ‘Bones’ Jones but there are a few very interesting matches I can’t wait to see.

Wanderlei Silva vs Cung Le

I’ve always been a fan of Wanderlei Silva.  his violent style of fighting makes him so much fun to watch. In his prime, Wanderlei was a ferocious champion.  His ability to dish out damage was unmatched by any of his opponents.  In the last few years age and wear and tear has caught up with him.  Wanderlei hasn’t quite have the same speed, power, and aggression. But his fights are still exciting.  Cung Le’s fighting style is totally opposite from the “Axe Murderer”. Le likes to use angles and lots of movement to set up his strikes. Wanderlei has an in-your-face style that puts a lot of pressure on his opponent. For Wanderlei to win he’ll need to constantly put the pressure on Le. He needs cut off Le’s angles and force him to back pedal throughout the fight.   Le isn’t good at taking damage, so if Wanderlei makes this a close-quarter brawl he’ll get his hand raise at the end of the night.

On the other side of the cage we have Cung Le. He’s a very cerebral fighter. Le has a solid stand up game and wrestling base. Le’s has an arsenal of flashy strikes which are very powerful and can catch his opponents off guard.  Throwing those flashy kicks requires lots of distance from his opponents, but Wanderlei is not going to sit there and let Le throw spinning back kicks all night. Le will need to use lots of lateral movement as Wanderlei will come straight at him and stepping backwards will only put him in the way of a barrage of punches.

Mauricio Rua vs Dan Henderson

Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua is coming off a big win over Forrest Griffin. Shogun hasn’t been consistent with all the injuries and surgeries he’s had in the past few years. But with all that behind him now he’s poised to made another return to get his title back.  And standing in his way tonight is the hard-hitting Dan Henderson.  Shogun is as well-rounded of a fighter one can get.  He can KO or submit anyone so weaknesses for Shogun are very few.  But Henderson doesn’t need to find and exploit a weakness. He just needs to connect once with an over hand right to put Shogun to sleep.  To take out Henderson Shogun will need to avoid those heavy bombs of Henderson and take the fight to the ground. Making it a grappling match will tire Henderson’s arms and will diminish his KO power.  Shogun has great submission skills and Henderson has been submitted before. Taking it to the ground is Shogun’s best route. Keeping the fight on the feet is a little too risky.

Dan Henderson is coming off three big wins and the last one being Fedor Emelianenko is one not many have on their win column. We all know Henderson has crazy KO power and anyone who faces him has a good chance of going to sleep inside the cage. Henderson likes to swing for the fences and this is where he’ll run into trouble some times.  Those big haymakers will tire anyone down. So Henderson will need to approach and set up those big punches with a clean boxing style. He’ll need to use a lot of jabs, straights and hooks. And if Rua is willing to stand toe to toe Henderson can throw that big right hand of his when the time is right.  Henderson is also a great greco-roman wrestler. He can use that experience to pin Rua up against the fence and utilize some dirty boxing. He’ll need to avoid taking the fight completely to the ground.

My Picks:

Dan Henderson beats Mauricio Rua
Wanderlei Silva beats Cung Le
Urijah Faber beats Brian Bowles
Martin Kampmann beats Rick Story
Kyle KingsBury beats Stephan Bonnar
Ryan Bader beats Jason Brilz
Gleison Tibau beats Rafael dos Anjos
Miguel Torres beats Nick Pace
Matt Brown beats Seth Baczynski

So I got the new iPhone 4s. I came from the iPhone 4, so the upgrade isn’t as significant like the previous upgrade. Many of the changes were either internal or software based. The form factor is identical to the iPhone 4 so those looking to get a new design will need to wait another year.  There are quite a few features in the new phone. Hardware-wise the phone is noticeably quicker in video games, browsing websites, and when snapping photos.  The performance improvements won’t be noticed by many, but it’s there.

On the software side the new iOS 5 added many great features. Some of the features that really stood out were the implementations of iCloud. Upgrading from my 4 to 4S was incredibly easy. You just login with your iTunes account and let iCloud do the rest. The whole process will copy all your apps and settings to your new phone.  The other feature that was long over due were the revamped notifications.  Apple clearly ripped it off Android, but I’m not going to complain. It’s a great needed feature and it works well.  The app that many have been talking about is Siri. It’s a voice command assistant app that is built into iOS and is only available for the iPhone 4S.  At first, it was fun to play around with, but I don’t see it as a necessary application for the phone, at least at this time.

Overall, the new iPhone 4S is a great device. Apple has decided to take the conservative update path on this new phone, so if you already have the 4, I don’t believe it’s a worthy upgrade to spend more money on — but if you have any of the previous phones, such as the 3Gs or below, it is a recommended upgrade.

Rating:

Pros:

iCloud will make life easier for future phone upgrades
Amazing camera for video and pictures
Usable Notification features
Speedy performance

Cons:

Short battery life (should be fixed with next software update)
Not a significant update to predecessor