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Boris Masis - Older News


This page will house older news from the website. Sometimes it is fun to go back and see where things started and how they got so messed up :). 

11/15/01

- The big story for the past couple of months has been my arrival at WPI. What is WPI and why should you be jealous? It would be nice for it to be at an elitist technical university. In reality WPI is a mix of new and old. The school does not float in wealth, the campus is not newly renovated, and Worcester is not exactly the garden of Eden. But at its core it is the human environment that matters. Students are hard working and interesting people. I think I'll fit in just fine. :) Check out some pics of my beautiful single in the stoddard complex.

First off some things I'm impressed with:

Netops; we have an extremely fast internal multi-gigabit network, 45mbit to the rest of the world, an OC3 155mbit internet 2 hookup, and expanding wireless lan. The bandwidth transfer policies are extremely liberal (basically no policies minus the blocked services). All this translates to an excellent network experience... but its still not a good idea to run IRC dump sites.

DAKA; the food is quite good no matter what you might here from certain peoples. DAKA tends to have good food days here and there, and at other times there is plenty of variety to be creative with. One of these days I'll try the make your own waffle thing and the omelets.

Soccomm; there is no great shortage of things to do thanks to Soccomm. I try to make the coffee houses on Tuesday nights, which have proved exceptional. I will explore more of the fun stuff this bunch organizes. Keep kicking ass guys.

And now some of the things I'd like to see disappear...

TatnuckBookseller; can burn in fiery hell. They charge above suggested retail value, hide ISBN numbers, sell a minimum amount of used books, have no return policy to speak of, and generally display a "we'll screw you at every possible instance" kind of attitude. Don't buy from them!

Teachers who can't speak English; I have nothing against foreigners, I'm a foreigner, but if you're in a position of passing your knowledge to students, you had better know the language. I think this is one of the self-evident truths. I recommend you transfer out of any classes where the teacher is hard to understand. There is no reason to put up with it.

- In light of the September 11th tragedy I made a model of the ill-fated World Trade Center buildings. I took some pictures of my creation. Visit Stoddard 105 to spot them.

8/14/01

- The website for the movie which Mike and I have been working on for quite some time is on the web. The website features the whole movie (35 mins) in high quality streaming video as well as behind scenes information on the film and cast and crew. While you're there make sure to sign the guestbook, and let us know what you think. This has been my largest movie project to date, taking over 5 months to complete. Much more is found on "The Most Dangerous Game" website.

- I'm counting the days to my arrival at WPI. At the final stretch it came down to WPI and Brandeis, and Brandeis simply doesn't do what I'm interested in. On the other hand I loved my visit to WPI, the kids were great, and I got the sense that it was my kind of place. Plus there is a much faster internet connection and 100mb of space on the web server which is now conveniently being used by "The Most Dangerous Game" :) I move in on the 25th. Below is me holding up the acceptance letter, which I have since lost (whoops)

- The Killer Apps section has been updated. It has become slightly more selective. PowerArchiver and StartPro have been removed due to their similarity to many other applications. The Google toolbar has also been replaced by the more flexible Web Accessories for IE. Other new additions include Total Recorder, an excellent sound recording app, as well as two mp3 name management tools. Lastly the free and powerful CDex cd ripper/encoder is a great new addition. 

- The summer kicked off with a trip to visit my sister in Montréal, CA. The pictures from that trip are online. I think I need to get myself a digital camera sometime 'cause I'm too lazy to take real pictures, develop and scan them. I'm wishing I had one for our Pennsylvania trip, which had its moments.

- This page has moved to new servers hosted by WPI. The space allocated at MediaOne has run out. I've setup round-robin DNS between three WPI servers, so hopefully there will not be any downtime problems. Everyone should update their bookmarks; home.borism.net has changed to www2.borism.net. In general, manually bookmark www.borism.net to be a step ahead of any future moves. If you notice any page problems, let me know

- Pictures from the 1st annual Oyster River High School laptop day have been uploaded. As the school year came to a close a bunch of us guys decided to bring our laptops to school and chill together during free period. As always the good quality pics were taken with with Jason's camera.

2/10/01

- Recently I met up with someone who went to RSM math camp with me a couple of summers ago, the nostalgia overflowed yet again. Man.. I had such a good time, check out my memoirs.

- Mike and I got approved for our video production independent study, looks like we'll be working some robotics over at the town hall real soon. Watch out channel 22.

- Jason has posted the hell pictures he recently took. These are going to be great too look back at. I would like to thank Oyster River for ruining my work ethic and introducing me to the wonderful world of procrastination.

- My dad got us a karaoke system recently, complete with two microphones and rowdy Russian music :). We've been getting all our favorites complete with lyrics over @ karaoke.ru the .kar files offered at the site are actually .mid files with text incorporated in. Thus any standard midi player will be able to handle them. I've been using wingroove to output wav's and burn them to cd. Sure beats buying $50 midi cartridges.

2/5/01

- Its snowing frozen cats and dogs outside.. hmmm I'm thinking no school tomorrow. If my theory of "it doest matter what actually happens but rather what the forecast says" stands, then we'll be all set. Hello winter storm warning. 

- I switched around the monitors for my dual monitor setup. Now I have the voodoo3 running my compaq 19" and the ati all in wonder working on the viewsonic 17". This way I can have better 2d acceleration on the 19". Also it has become really easy to switch the voodoo3 to the primary graphics card enabling 3d acceleration. The voodoo3 can also push more resolutions and refresh rates. The 19" is now running at 1152x864. Anyone ever hear of that res? I win! On a related note, I switched to a new dual monitor wallpaper. I was impressed.

- I figured I'd try something new, here is the video clip of the moment, I will update these so often. They are captured with my Intel webcam using AmCap and encoded WM7 Mpeg4, background music for this one is Chayf - Argentina Yamaika.mp3 Let me know if you find it intriguing and I might keep it.


- Its very nice to be done with college apps, albeit except for UConn.. baah have to write another essay there, something about my contribution to the sense of community at the school, c'mon now, community? 

- I posted the pictures taken with Jason's kick ass digital camera. These were taken at Jason's house after we saw Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Staring roles go to Mike, Matt, Jason, and his laptop. In the near future look for more pics of what we lovingly call Hell. They should be posted over @Jason's supa short domain.

- This update is coming in live from the ORHS library.. hopefully the nice librarian won't ban me for using Remote Administrator. Things at school are pretty boring, pretty usual. The report card was a nice surprise actually, and I'm glad that I have write access to the temp user directory in documents and settings.

- I got a nice new poster in the mail recently.. Apparently its an advertisement for a Linux company, but created in a very "communistic" fashion. It reads "Freedom from Chaos" in bright red letters. I put it up on the door to my room. Seeing as how I hardly spend any time in there and keep it nice and neat it is kind of freedom.. just need audio out on the IOpener.

1/17/01

- Lots of new content has been added all over the place! The video production section now has all five of my video production projects online. A brand new section has been launched. killer apps lists the best unknown and useful applications for the windows pc. This is a must read for any power users.

- The friends section has been redesigned with a new page dedicated to rsm camp. (currently working on Microsoft TeenTech Fest 2000 page) Lots of new content has also been added to the about page including new specifications and pictures of my computer setup.

- The newest version of the MacOS8 Winamp skin has been uploaded. The skin now features implementation for all current winamp features.

- A new project has been added to the projects section at left. orstudies.com is a website I developed for a student health study at my high school. The website currently features information on the study. Full results will be posted within three weeks.

- For the future I'm planning on setting up a web cam, creating a new video introduction to the webpage and posting information the new video production projects I will be working on as part of an independent study at school. I might also add a new section to the my work department to cover some of my other recent work in art and graphic design.

1/5/01

- To celebrate the grand opening of borism.net (pronounced bor-ism, as in capitalism :) a new design has been created. The base layout is now designed for resolutions of 800x600 and above. I am pleased with the overall look of the pages, I think that they have become easier to read and more pleasing to the eye. Let me know what you think.

- Coming off Winter Vacation makes school days seem very very long. The good news is that I will have more open minded classes next semester. In particular I look forward to working with Mike on independent video production and continuing webdesign at bluehue

- I had a very nice time skiing in Canada over break. Its great to get together with friends and be lazy... I mean ski. Shouts go out to Lena, Leo and Simon. I'll have to find "Tis" as well as a nice quiet corner in a bookstore sometime. I'll also have some photos of our trip on the page if I ever get around to finishing and developing the film. It will happen... baah need a digital camera, anyone listening? :)

- I finished most of my college applications recently. Its interesting that the #1 rated wired school, Carnegie Mellon, had its web server overloaded and I was forced to submit a paper application. But they were pretty casual about the whole process and claimed they would be accepting applications all through January. We'll see.. I still have to take the Physics SAT IIs. Now if my school did not have the worst possible grading system and GPA scale I might actually get in to some of the below colleges. 

but seriously, wish me luck

- A lot of things have happened in my life since the last update, but since there are too many to list I will only mention them when appropriate. Now doesn't seem like a good time.

film small.gif (20769 bytes)- Lots of things to talk about. First and foremost my video production page is a new addition to this website. Video Tape Production is a new class that I have started taking this semester. I've taken quite a liking to video shooting and editing. My first two projects are available online in high quality mpeg 4 asf format.

 

- Last wednesday the 19th of April I lead a workshop on web page design. At my school we periodically have "arts fair" days where artists come in to show students their craft. I was asked by the school to lead a workshop on webdesign. As a result last wednesday I lead two 1 hour sessions, both full with 18 students per class.

Those who attended learned started from the ground updesignworkshop.gif (1231 bytes) on the basics of HTML and then worked in Homesite to edit a personal page of their own. There is a high interest in technology these days, and most everyone seemed to have enjoyed the workshop. Thanks fly out to the Cooperative School District Technology Integrator, Danielle Bolduc, who worked along side me to organize and present the workshop. You can take a look at some of the content of the workshop at http://designworkshop.cjb.net I will update this page soon to include some on the excellent template sites that I recomend beginners use.

- Lots more to come later, including updates regarding my computer system (weee) my suit-wearing experiences and hot girls in Florida. I have to run, I'm leaving in an hour to go to Eiffman's Ballet in Boston, on Saturday morning after SAT classes I take off for Florida :). Wish I had my I-Opener right about now. They're still on back order at Circuit City, for now I guess I'll have to sharpen up on my soldering skills. Wish me luck

 

crtnrussianmsdos.jpg (47733 bytes)- Happy holidays to all. Where applicable have a great Christmas and New Year. Too bad nothing will happen in terms of the Y2k bug. It would kinda be exciting if my school burned down (again.) I wonder how much of the world still runs MS DOS... Speaking of which I guess I haven't mentioned that we had a fire and a bomb threat recently. You can imagine the student body feels great. Personally I'm impressed with our schools act in collecting $250,000 in insurance for a burnt shed.

 

- I went to visit my sister in Montreal over thanksgiving "vacation." She is doing quite well (right sis?;) Now that we have another holiday break she should be making it over here. I wrote a paper on Montreal for my expository writing class when I got back, if you're planning on visiting the city its worth a read. The paper as well as a bunch of my other random school work can be accessed at ftp://school:school@boris.gt1.net use an ftp client

computerjumping.gif (42874 bytes)I finally got a cd-rw drive! The valueamerica cow needed to be milked once more. It is an iomega zipCD 4x write, 4x rewrite, 24x read drive. I haven't yet burned too much, need to acquire some more blank disks, my luck with burning quake 3 has been rather poor. It is great to see computer potential at work. My dad and I scanned the cover album of his Moldavian folk music cd, burned an exact copy of the disk and printed out a second cover. The entire process took about a half hour and the burned version looks nearly identical. Next I'll backup all sorts of install files and clean out my hard drive.

- My UNH visual basic class ended. It was a worthwhile experience over all and I got to skip out of school an hour early ;) I will probably be taking the advanced class next semester, I miss all my unh privileges ;P All the projects from the class can be found on my ftp If you take issue with some of the code be sure to drop me a line.

- My celeron 400 doesn't seem to want to go to 500 mhz, I've even tried cooling with a large room fan but no cigar. We'll see what happens when I add a bit of thermal grease, for now 450 is quite fast. Also I added a banshee card to my dads 200 cyrix. That is really some cyrix, it plays quake 3 at ~ 20 fps. Pretty impressive for a machine with 32mb edo and its a cyrix! wow. Go id software.

- I've switched over to using AIM from ICQ. The later was getting very annoying, I will wait to update all my pages with the new info down bottom until there is one client that supports both AIM and ICQ now that AOL owns both. If you do want to add me to your list, my screen name is "tomcatru". Good luck catching me use the client. I have a selfish way of being on only when I need something. Your best bet is still to mail me.

 

crtnkeyboard.jpg (11185 bytes)about.htm has been updated, new pics of my system have been posted, also some new commentary and an essay. If you're curious about me and my system setup check it out.

- My parents are back from Spain and France, they brought me back a Patricia Kaas cd and a book about the louvre. Many thanks, look for the Patricia Kaas mp3s on my ftp soon, 70s French music is great.

crtnapu.jpg (7010 bytes)- Mike, the hero of quake 3 on the 300 has miraculously kept the lyrics to the song that we wrote in 8th grade for music class. I think the picture to the left was the exact one that I had when I passed in my paper. And now for your listening pleasure: 

5/18/97
"The Quickie Mart"

Chorus:
Going to the Quickie Mart down the street
gotta get some stuff for me to eat
I'm gonna get me food, munchies to bite
and a little some thing for Saturday night

I love to shop at the Quickie Mart
the joy of pushing around a grocery cart
filln' my list, don't I wish
I knew the meaning of this gibberish

(Chorus)

Checking off the items on my shopping list
can't find the spaghetti Oh I'm really miffed
I'm in the mood for Italian food
so tell me where's the spaghetti dude?

(Chorus)

I put the items on the counter and I turn about
the amount on the bill nearly knocked me out
Leaving the Quickie Mart down the street
Finally got the food that I'm gonna eat
I hope to enjoy this little snack
sooner or later I'll be back

(Chorus)

- Got myself a new wheel mouse by Dexxa (Logitech, see the about page) Its really nice, just have to get my quake game back. Been picking up on some great deals lately, another case fan should come in shortly as well,  then I'll have enough cooling to o/c my 400 to 500mhz. Also bought myself the "writers inc" book, mainly for my US History Class, can't believe I spent any money on behalf of Mrs. Perry.

crtnpleaserewind.jpg (9186 bytes)

- My DVD drive has finally been officially tested as working. Just got the Summer Issue of Inside DVD, no its not a typo, perhaps they put this thing out in Australia, right... It includes among other things the movie "Infinity." My all in wonder video card does a great job of decoding with the help of the excellent Cinemaster 99 dvd player, now available on my ftp.   

- I think I'm giving up with OfficeMax, but I've learned my lesson, next time the FIRST person I call will be the president of the company ;)

10/18/99

- This is really cool, you can get a digital picture of yourself without a camera. Did you ever notice that your monitor looks brighter in a dark room, and hard to read in direct sunlight? This is because the photons hitting the screen from the room "repel" the photons illuminating the pixels on the screen. This has a cascading effect on the electron guns in the monitor, which, in turn, can apparently actually be detected by the video driver.

Some clever engineer has exploited this technology by creating an embedded object on his/her web page to take advantage of this phenomenon which acts as a camera, translating this feedback into an image of what's facing the monitor. It is currently in beta test, so you can check it out.

You will need IE4 or Navigator 4 and java enabled, follow the directions on the page

- Guess who got an e-mail from the creator of Napster? That's right guys the all mighty creator of the best mp3 resource proggie ever wrote this:

"Hey,

I was browsing the internet (did a search for my software on a random search engine) and saw your page.  I'm very glad you like it.  As far as the bugs, they are all being worked out quickly (a new release is coming very soon).

Thanks,
napster
"

He he, I wonder if his name is actually Napster. In any case here are some other "famous" people I've corresponded with

  • Jane Yolen (famous author, I wrote several e-mails to her when I was doing a book review in 8th grade)

  • Walker Johnson, that guy from shop at home who is always pushing those northgate computers, we had a chat regarding the differences between "max" and "sustained" cd-rom transfer rate.

  • Also the dialog box which comes up after a file is download in IE5 and asks if you want to "open the file/open folder/cancel" is due from my input to microsoft techies. 

In case any of you know any visual basic (nina, tanya ;) check out an example of the easy stuff we do in vb class. If the link produces a 404 then I am crazy and my professor knows what he is doing.

10/10/99

- Its a rather large update, read below as well as check out the updated about section (featuring an essay from expo writing), the work section (new vb programs) and the links section (new friends ;)

- Mike, one of my good friends from school just created a site dedicated to movie reviews. I can sense many good things to come, the design and content are great. The first review is of "The Matrix" which Mike, Josh and I saw at the Mub. Hopefully we'll venture out there more often, I get to buy $2 tickets with my UNH id ;) check out his page http://elmatrix.virtualave.net/ 

bendrunk.jpg (11668 bytes)- So I've started school and all that. Its not all that bad this year. I have two free periods and get out at 1:30. While everyone is making their way to class I head across the field. Thats a feeling to experience. Definitely the way to go. Ben (above) and myself are having quite a good time being late to our UNH class each time, its great. At this rate we'll finish watching American Pie by summer ;) (inside joke) On the way to UNH we pick up free surges, slushies, almost got T shirts (Ben you owe me ;) and of course chicks ;

I have added my vb folder to my ftp it is accessible to everyone. Please use and ftp client ftp://school:school@boris.gt1.net folder is "unh vb"

- Way back over Labor Day break (the last great holiday) I was at Cape Cod having a good time with friends. It was lots of fun guys, Dave, where are the damn pictures? (...status level decreasing...) Tanya has a very cool page up. She's doing programming at UMASS, major kudos points, love ya mum ;)

- My parents are currently hanging out in France and Spain, a vacation well deserved. Hmm I'll be in class and they'll be on the Eiffel Tower, very fair. Have fun you guys, dad remember how to check your mail, http://mail.yahoo.com options ---> external mail --> get new messages.

diamondrio.gif (15664 bytes)If there's one thing every techie kid on the internet has heard off that's the Value America deal. In case you missed it, va.com was offering $120 value dollars (basically real dollars) for signing up as a new member. Wow did they make a huge mistake ;) The deals I got were:  

 

 

- a 3dfx voodoo 2 12mb 3d graphics accelerator (bundled with 56k modem which I sold for $20)

- a diamond rio pmp300 portable mp3 player (32mb flash standard)

- 2 ibm worldbook 2000 millenium editions (at $-15 dollars each ;)

After the rebates and value dollars my cost is a grand total of $0. This is definitely the way to buy. The rio is my favorite toy. What a great invention. So small so light, doesn't skip. Everything a music lover could want. The voodoo 2 also does killer quake 3 frame rates. Just try and beat me. I am "Tomcat" color blue, usually play on Yoda's, Cozmo's and Boston's Wicked Awesome servers. You'll see me at the top of the list ;)

crtnofficesux.JPG (7039 bytes)Fueled by my thirst for more good deals I became interested in an OfficeMax USB Zip Drive. It turns out Office Max has a policy which states that if you see an item for a lower price in another store they will match that price, and credit you with 155% of the difference between the two. Sears was selling the drive for $55, OfficeMax for $130. Sounds good to me ;)  So incase you're interested with my fight with the  bureaucratic system here's what happened:

I called the local Sears to make sure the price was correct and the item was in stock. Check. I called the local OfficeMax to make sure the price was correct and the item was in stock. Also I checked that they could do price match by calling Sears. They said they can do this if I came down to the store.

I went down to OfficeMax and said that I wanted to do a price match for the USB Zip Drive. The clerk said that she would not price match Sears, so I asked to talk to her manager.

The manager had no paper documentation on what he could and could not price match. All he had to reefer to was the ad which hung on their wall and in the front window. It read that they will do the price match for "any competing office products superstore"

What is a competing office product superstore? I told him that I knew that friends had gotten the deal at Sears stores that carried computer equipment. He told me that officially he can only match staples, best buy, circuit city and I think office depot. However he had no written proof. So I asked to talk to his manager.

The second manager, after a lot of hesitation said that if I got written proof from Sears that they did have the item in stock at the specified price and I could show him this then I would get the price match. I told him that I had been told by an employee (whom I named) that they could do price match over the phone. He said no. I told him I'd be back in 15 minutes.

At Sears in the computer department I asked the guy to print me out a copy of their price for the usb zip drive item. He asked me which store I was doing a price match for. They know what's going on. I said Office Max, and he said he can't do it. Alright I said, I'll write down the item number and the price and you'll sign it. He said no. Right before I was going to call his manager I got an idea to ask him to show me the copiers. Lets test it on say... this price sticker. He caught on and would not show me how the copiers work. However he realized that I was serious and did in fact write down the price and the item and signed his name on his business card.

Satisfied I left the store and headed back to OfficeMax. The manager now told me that this wasn't good enough. He needed printed advertising. Obviously he was trying to back out of what he said previously. So I told him that he could give the salesperson at Sears a call and the man would verify that what he had written was in deed correct. The manager said no. So I asked to speak to his manager.

Unfortunately the store owner is only in on Friday. Well I had to wait 2 days to call him but what can I do. To my luck by Friday they price on the drives at Sears had changed to $130. Well, no biggie, they'll be able to tell me what the price was 2 days ago. So I give Jim Rogers a buzz and ask him about the situation. He says that they do in fact price match Sears, but he'll need to call and find out if Sears had that price. He'll get back to me in a couple hours he said. right...

crtnnever.gif (12961 bytes)No phone call came (of course) and on Saturday I called him two more times, each time he said that he was busy, and no one was picking up at Sears. right.. Finally on Sunday (today) he calls me and says that the Sears manager told him that they never had that price. Perhaps the manager does not know, speaking to a guy from the computer department would have made things easier.

Either way he says "can I ask you, why didn't you just buy it at Sears?" and I say "because I would get a better deal with your price match policy" he replies "oh no, we don't beat the prices at Sears, only Staples, Office Depot, and Circuit City." This was starting to get funny. Like I said, they don't have that in writing anywhere. I asked to talk to his district manager.

Apparently the district just split, and the manager has not moved into his office yet. right... Jim Rogers said he'd talk to the manager for me and call me back Monday. Thats tomorrow. I'll keep you updated. OfficeMax is messing with the wrong guy ;)

8/31/99

RSM Camp pictures have been updated! Check em all out

film.gif (1267 bytes)- The Camp Location
- The People
- Neptune Holiday (I was not there for it)
- Balloon Shaving  
- Night Performance
- At The Lake
- Last Day
- Random Pictures

- I'm back again, this time from Boston. "Bolshoye Spasibo" to Valick and his family for entertaining me for a week of my life. Again however my false perceptions didn't realize that Lexington is not Boston, and neither is Swampscott, nor Lynn nor Newton. Valick and myself had quite a good time trying to get around. (he he how about that 5 hour metro ride to nowhere? ;)

bostonmetro.gif (30954 bytes)But really I had a good time, got exposed to a lot of things, which is good. I am now more aware to many things. I enjoyed seeing all you guys, Sasha we'll meet up some time, trust me. Lev, please don't kill me, it really wasn't my fault. Max, the metro served as a worthy replacement for the canoe, Ruth, thanks for the Chinese food, iou. And Valick, its all clear, I know what you're thinking... all the time (thanks for your company and taking in russian ;)     

While we were hanging out in Harvard Square one day Valick and I got interviewed by National Public Radio. Of course we forgot to listen to ourselves speak on the air waves, but yes, that Boris you heard talking about how "I am worried about how school is not providing life needed skills" was me. The show should have aired on NPR 90.9 FM 12-1pm last Thursday.

We did some other nifty things, Harvard enjoyed seeing this front page with a big pic of me on their 21" monitor in the information hall. He he Valick saw how I did it ;) What I had to work with was the Harvard website front page and a mouse.

I spent my first day at The University of New Hampshire yesterday, taking "Applications in Visual Basic 6 programming" I can tell this is going to be a funny class. There are no computers in the room. I think we write code on our little yellow notepads and the professor compiles and checks for errors in his head  ;) I hope I end up learning something. For the fist day we went over the highly exciting world of windows buttons. I'll keep you updated. He he, as it turns I went to University earlier than my sister.

Speaking of who, my sister is now hanging out in a really cool apartment in Montreal, going to McGill College. I am really looking forward to visiting her sometime soon, no "hotel" room needed ;) Julie I wish you all the best of luck.

My friend Paul from camp has a new personal page up, you should definitely check it out, http://www.gis.net/~pakman/ Paul has the ability to be funny at times ( I think on purpose ;) from his page I also found http://spacemunkee.penguinpowered.com/ which you should also look at, I recommend the photos. How about that hydrant?

8/18/99

rsmcamplogo.gif (6020 bytes)I'm back from camp and Canada. The Russian School of Math Camp was a blast. To my understanding the camp is called a "math camp" mainly so that parents send their kids there ;)  Really guys, I had an awesome time, Russian kids rule. I sincerely regret only coming for 2 weeks, now I can't wait till the reunion, but until then keep in touch. I have found yet another reason to regret that I live in New Hampshire, perhaps one of these days before school starts up I'll get a lift down to Boston and we'll hang out. 

Shouts and thanks go out to

All the guys from my bunk - for Pink Floyd The Wall Part 2 performance, for the trip to the other beach, and for skinny dipping (you know who you are)  
Lev - for your deodorant, your songs and aura, and for only shooting me once ;)
Alex Kitrik - for your easy going ability and napster
Sasha Letovsky - for keeping us healthy
Mar - for your cute dog (and its head)
Max - for our conversations in the canoe
Nina - for giving me massage practice
Mike - for your magazines, your ultra comfy bed and for giving Lev the gun with which he shot us all
Ilya (Sergei's bunk) - for our beautiful power functions presentation
Alexey - for zaryadka and the private concert in our bunk (mango mango - aqualangisty.mp3 is now available on the ftp)
Valick - for our dare (a big thanks there) and your support
Tanya - for being able to dance and not blink ;)
Eugene - for your maturity
Polina - still more massage practice (I'm getting good)
Bruce - for cynical commentary
Ilya - for not teaching us math
Rita - for supporting Ilya in the love shack
Paul - for sharing my views
Olga, Sveta, Paul, Mike, Alina, Maria - for the best orgies ever at the dances
Leo - and his (now cleared up) you know what
Marina - for not having enough English classes to turn us all into feminists.
Mrs. Rifkin - for not going crazy (too much)
Pasha and Sergei - for smoking, drinking and teaching us to swear in Russian. Thanks a lot guys ;)

rsmcamprukivverh.jpg (12314 bytes)Also many thanks to the people who brought the "Ruki Vverh" tape to camp. They are an excellent Russian pop group and now thoroughly stuck in my head. For more info on Ruki Vverh see www.handsup.ru  I have found 2 CD's of Ruki Vverh and they are now available to listen to from my ftp server in cd-quality mp3 music format.

If you're new to listening to mp3s you have to do the following:

- make sure your computer has sound (does sound play when you load windows, does AOL make sounds?)
- grab an mp3 player from www.winamp.com
- click on the songs you want to hear from the links below
- each song will take about 20 minutes to download with a standard connection. Double click on the files to listen.

Ruki Vverh - Ya Tebya Ukradu
Ruki Vverh - Kroshka Moya
Pesni Nashevo Veka - Vesenia Tango
Pesni Nashevo Veka - Milaya Moya
Mango Mango - Aqulangisty (This one was sung to the oldest boys cabin in the private concert by Alexey. It goes "menia ukusila akula...aqualangisti eto horosho")

Note: If you get all sort of funny characters when you click on a link, hold shift, and then click. These files are located directly on my computer, I try to keep the server running for most of the day, if you have problems please mail me at borisma@mediaone.net

rsmcampfire.jpg (31161 bytes)We sang the last 2 songs around the campfire, Vesenia Tango is the one with "vremya nazivaetsa vesna" and Milaya Moya is the one with "milaya moya solnishko lisnoye, gde v krokih krayah vstretitsa s toboyu"

I have many more songs, ftp://rsm:camp@boris.gt1.net has my Russian and Jewish music collection. I highly recommend the entire "Pesni Nashevo Veka" cd, it is excellent music from my childhood. Also Ruki Vverh - Intro, Ruki Vverh - Budte Zdorovi  and Ruki Vverh - Nu Gde Je Vi Devchonki.Mp3 is great. Fell free to grab anything else you like. Visotsky for example.

At camp I kept a notepad with a lot of song names written down (among other things as the guys know ;) This is what was playing in the boys bunks. To download these songs you will have to request a full account on my ftp.

To request an account on my ftp all you have to do is go to http://privacy.net/anonymizer/ and copy exactly the line that says "Your computer name (if it has one): " e-mail me this information and I will get back to you with full details. On the ftp you will find a folder called /rsm camp 99/

RSM Pictures: These are from the Russian school website

film.gif (1267 bytes)- The Camp Location
- The People
- Neptune Holiday (I was not there for it)
- At The Lake
- Random Pictures

 

rsmcamppic.jpg (103405 bytes)

rsmcampaward.gif (44507 bytes)

 

 

 

 

There I am in the back row of the picture, looking stoned as usual. This is the pic on the front of my award from camp. I am highly proud ;) Next I think I'll order the mp3.com t-shirt ;) Click on the award for the full page scan.

Below is the back of the award. I wonder how long I have to wait.

If anybody has any more pictures please scan them in and e-mail them to me. Or if you want you can send them to me through snail mail (post office) and I will scan them in. I can tell you my address. Damn I really regret not brining a camera, what I have is a lot of really great memories. I'll see you all at the reunion.

- Boris

 

montreal.jpg (54541 bytes)Right after camp I went off to Canada for a week. My family is fond of French Canada. We go there on a fairly regular basis. This trip however I went with family friends and ended up staying a hotel by myself. It was quite an interesting experience. Originally we reserved a room for me at a hostel-like hotel called "hotel de Paris." The hotel is situated in downtown Montreal at 901 Sherbrooke Street East, the same street where our friends were staying. As it turned out the hostel had a resemblance to something of a large jail cell (you don't get all that much for $15 a night - Canadian). I decided to get a separate room instead - with a lock. If you're not familiar with the city, Montreal is an island, the second largest city in Canada. Rue de Sherbrooke just happens to be one of the longest streets in Montreal, it is separated into the East and West ends which link from one end of the island to the other. At night I had a good 20 minute walk to get to my hotel. I have gotten so used to New Hampshire that this was altogether something new. Either way it was good exercise. Except for this minor inconvenience the trip was excellent. I highly recommend the visitor to take a guided tour of the city in one of those English style 2 story busses. The feelings are radically different from the top. Also I highly recommend the "Cosmos" exhibit at the "muse des beaux arts" (fine arts museum). It is an excellent piece about man and space, with some very original art.

While I was walking around I got to check out my sisters apartment where she will be living and attending McGill college. It is right in down town, she should have a good time. Montreal is somewhat of a cross between Europe and the States, I enjoyed the city a lot. The picture above is from a post card I sent home of Montreal's Latin district, famous for its staircases and restaurants.

For the last several days of the week I stayed with more friends at Le Chanteclair resort outside of Montreal. Our time was hindered by bad weather and lack of personality. I did get to practice my French with the local tennis players. I believe I managed "bonjour, merci, and tres bon."

- At camp I got a letter from my parents (the entire camp collectively attempted to read my moms handwriting.) While the focus of the letter geared towards random things (such as my friend Dave's adventures) There was a little side note about how I got into my UNH Visual Basic 6 class. Apparently I fit the description of the program; it is for gifted students (man did I fool them ;) UNH actually has a fairly strong computer science department. Now all I have to do is schedule an appointment with my guidance counselor and throw all my other classes around to make room. I am afraid Visual Basic will come at the expense of French (which was going so well too ;). UNH starts August 30th and school (trying not to think about it) is September 2nd.

napster.GIF (29481 bytes)

-   Many thanks to Alex Kitrik from camp who introduced me to the world of Napster. I will not go into detail about it because the program is very easy to use and everyone should check it out for themselves at www.napster.com Basically Napster provides a very easy and fast way to get mp3 files. The napster program is a cross between ftp/irc and is most closely related to hotline. Everyone who uses the service becomes both a client and a server. Every person who signs on to the network has their mp3 files indexed on the main server and can then download the files of any one else who is connected. For example in this screenshot there were 416gb of mp3s available for download. Also just as important the transfer speed are usually very good. Many servers (like mine) are cable/dsl/T1/T3 Ping times are always below 100.

A word of caution: The program is in early beta stage therefore there are noticeable bugs and the server is overloaded often. Napster provides such an excellent concept, simple yet effective. It is hard to believe it took this long until somebody (notably a North Eastern student) to think of it.

- It was my moms birthday 2 days ago. Lots of people came (even on a Tuesday.) Mom I love you and wish you all the best. Perhaps I'll be good ;)

7/23/99

- My dads homepage has moved to a new address due to our switch to MediaOne. The new URL, and new updates can be found at http://people.ne.mediaone.net/alex-m/ or alternatively http://alexma.cjb.net

- In the lazy days of summer progress is slow. I'm leaving for camp very shortly and would like to finish up a few things first. Those interested can check out "a day in the life"

7/22/99

- This update is coming in live from the UNH Diamond library workstation 19. It is a lot of fun to do it from here, I figured I'd put their burst ATM connection to use (its almost as fast as my cable modem ;) . Many various pages have been updated, so check them out. Also the video introduction has been uploaded. It is encoded in mpeg video and requires a 40/k per second connection for streaming. For those curious on how the update from UNH happened it went like this. UNH computers have restrictions for hard drive and internet use. The computer I'm working from does not allow me to browse the hard drive, install new programs, or use FTP to upload my page. Using some old netscape 1.0 tricks I got a directory listing of the hard-drive by typing c:\ in the address bar (I later found out there were also d:\ and e:\ drives) This allowed me to open wordpad from the hard disk. Next I needed to get the updated index.htm I had been working on at home from my hard drive. In order to this I logged on as root to my ftp server (ftp://boris.gt1.net) which is running 24 hours. This allowed me to transfer files from my home pc to the UNH pc. I used wordpad to edit the raw HTML file and add these comments. Finally I used the built-in netscape FTP client (I would have used MSDOS but this is NT has no command.com ) to access my FTP server at virtualave.net and upload these pages.

- I'm heading off to camp this Sunday for 2 weeks. Yep it's the Russian math camp and I'm not sure I wanna be there. We will see. Page updates will occur once I come back, however I may end up going to my cousins in New York or maybe to Le Chanteclair Hotel in Montreal with some friends. I'm hoping for both. Before I leave I will update my winamp skin to match with the latest winamp and organize my FTP server with the latest music and downloads.

- Amazing what a little photoshop editing will do. For previous visitors of my page you will notice that the "picture" of me has changed. It took a relative amount of work to get the image to be that way. I started out with a photo of myself at a 45 degree angle and there were no curtains or ceiling visible in the picture. Boris loves photoshop 5.

- I was on my usual prowl for information yesterday when I stumbled upon an article reviewing ICQ99b at www.desktopwatch.com This version was only for beta testers so naturally Jason and I messaged the guy who's ICQ number was visible in the screenshots from the review. He turned out to be the editor-in-chief at desktopwatch and an official ICQ beta tester. We talked a little bit, but said he could not send me the ICQ99b.exe install file. I later found the thing in a newsgroup, however as it turns out ICQ is getting smart (apparently they've learned from the ICQ99a beta leak). The new beta version checks your ip to make sure that you are an official ICQ beta tester and refuses to work if the ip's don't match. So the version will not work even if you do get your hands on it. (err.. at least it won't work at first ;) Btw, the guy offered me a position as an official reviewer at dw, however I will not be taking the position. I'm currently occupied by an exciting project with Steve.

7/14/99

- The Quake 3 pics are up. These were grabbed with Josh's Polaroid.

quakeboris.jpg (10603 bytes)Here is the pre-haircut Boris relaxing cause he knows he will whip everyone's butt. err

alias: Tomcat

 

 

quakejosh.jpg (14418 bytes)Josh is pretending that he has a chance *ha ha ha* lol. No really Josh has been doing quite well recently with his new found strafing ability.

(not pictured here is Josh's new found mouse)

Alias: Decoolest

quakemike.jpg (6937 bytes)

 

As usual Mike is playing with his eyes closed .... and on the slower computer ... and only using the double barrel shotgun .... and its 20 to 5 .... damn you Mike!

Alias: Bubba Fett

quakesetup.jpg (13196 bytes)

The computer setup at Josh's house consists of 2 networked 10baseT computers. On the right a 400mhz celeron with an 8mb Intel 740 graphics chipset. On the left a 300mhz Cyrix mII with a 16 mb vodoo banshee chipset. With a few tweaks both play quite well. Mostly we play quake3map2, its a very original level with many non traditional launch pads. 

*Not pictured are the quake 3 bots which vary in name originality and performance. The bots are fun to yell at cause they can't yell back. ;)

7/14/99

- Ha ha average load time 0.00 seconds! MediaOne kick major whoop-ass. Someone up there has been listening to my prayers. Now I am starting to notice bottlenecks at the *servers* end. The architecture supports 1.5mbit downstream and 300kbit upstream. I regularly get the maximum supported speed (180k a second down and 40k up) because 8 bits is 1 byte (like a 28.8 kbits modem transfers at a maximum 3.6k a second)

- With my new found MediaOne freedom I've taken the opportunity to go crazy ;) Many thanks to Victor for allowing me access to his ftp and the 70 beatles mp3s I downloaded. Also I have installed windows 98 service release 1 and am using the built in internet connection sharing which is excellent. No clients or servers to run.

- My FTP server is up! Friends can browse through my collection of mp3s, applications and games. The addresses

ftp://boris.gt1.net or alternatively

ftp://borism.ne.mediaone.net

login and password are anonymous (I recommend the use of LeapFTP client ) Access is regulated by an IP basis. If you want access e-mail me your static IP or dynamic string on IP address (i.e. *.myprovider.com) at my new address borisma@mediaone.net Speaking of which I will need to update all my pages with the new address ;(

- Yesterday my dad and I conducted the first successful video conference with our cable modem. We were talking to my cousin in Boston, who also has MediaOne and a digital camera. Quality was fair. The motion was fluid around 20 frames per second the picture somewhat pixilated. With a quality headset the audio is near flawless. This is all free of course all across the world (with the use of Microsoft NetMeeting which turned out to be a very quality free product) Now that I think about it I should have grabbed some pics.

- Steve recommended an excellent site for nature wallpapers, this is by far one of the best I have seen. Many are true quality shots. If you haven't been inspired in a while take a look.

7/8/99

examschedule.gif (45628 bytes)

- So I've been released from jail... err school. My grades weren't that bad I guess, still got that stupid C in A2/Trig other than my career average is an A-. I applied to take a class in Visual Basic 6 programming next year and The University of New Hampshire. I haven't heard back from them yet, but lets hope. Usually they don't accept juniors but we'll see.

- Apparently I learned something useful in Debate class because I managed to convince my parents into getting a cable modem. That's right MediaOne finally decided to service NH, soon you can expect to see some kind of fun thing I'll do with the connection. For my close friends with cable connections (Dave, Jason, Revsins, Steve, Victor) you can expect an ftp with all my mp3s, applications, games etc. Also I'm thinking to set up a live webcam and to see what is going on at my house from school. That will be sorta fun (I could focus it on the UNH dorms ;) My school will have an ATM internet connection next year, which will make it the fastest connection of any school in New England. Ha ha. Durham.

- Got to party with my cousins (aunts actually as we figured out) in Nova Scotia. It was a blast, I stayed with them for a while last summer. You girls are the best, even though all those Nova Scotian chicks were hitting on me ;) I'll post some pics once I get my hands on some. Nova Scotia is a nice place to go, a little too far though. It was just fun hanging out (and acting stupid)

- My sis is going to McGill next year (Quebec) and so she is starting her independence right now. She's making lots 'o money living and working in Boston. I'll go visit some time it should be fun. Fixed up a computer for her for next year too. Maybe I should consider a job of some sort... - nah

- I have camp for 2 weeks starting with the last week of July. Its a Russian math camp. Yes I know, its my parents idea. It might be alright I know some people going there, anyway its gonna be like basically a normal camp. Only everyone will be Russian and speaking English. Time to make my impression.

- I've been spending way too much time playing quake 3 with my friends over at Josh's house. I'm getting good, but Mike still whips the lama's ass (get winamp if that made no sense) Josh and I rotate one computer and Mike dominates on the other. Thank god for ID Software.

6/16/99

endnear.jpg (12874 bytes)School has been cutting me into little pieces and then grinding them into a fine pulp. I really only have 5 days of school left, look for a re-hall of the page after that. I'll include pics of my new computer, new links, my updated winamp skin and other good stuff. I will also have a cable modem soon, assuming I manage to get a good grade in A2/Trig (which isn't happening)

4/10/99

- My first legacy homepage has been uploaded. Well its really my 2nd or 3rd but, its the one that lasted the most. Hmm I must have been 11 or 12 I think when I made the original page... those were the days. 2mb on geocities was a lot of space ;) .

- My new computer should arrive any day now, will give the full specs and pictures when it does. In particular I'm looking forward to the .26dpi 17 inch view sonic G773 monitor.

- I think I'm going to update the picture up top, people tell me I look to young.. that's true I think, I'm far better looking now ;) (the pic is about 6 months old) 

4/4/99

- I'm 16 for 3 days now, it feels good. I'm getting a new computer as a present from my parents ;)

- I made the school tennis team, its fun but also takes up a lot of time. We practice every day, actually I think its been helping me a lot.

3/27/99

- The macOS8 skin page has been updated, I have completed version 2.0 all of you who use winamp should take a look at my skin ;)

- Got first place in the school ping pong tournament.. he he no problem. Also trying out for the tennis team this week, I think I'm going to make it, my game has improved quite a lot.

- Going to be singing "Yesterday" for my drama and acting class tomorrow. I guess that because singing is out of my comfort zone, its supposed to increase my confidence (and decrease my self esteem? )

crtncrashserver.gif (34664 bytes)The video clips from the new year '99 party have been uploaded and can be found on my dad's page, however the actual files are on xoom.com's servers, which recently started giving out unlimited free space. Well of course the natural reaction everyone (including me) had was to upload video, audio and other very large files to their servers. Since then xoom.com has been a little slow, if you have any problems downloading the video, contact me.

3/19/99

- my sister's birthday today, we got her a computer for collage. Its a nice system k6-2 350, very fast actually.

- for myself we got a new scanner! Its a very cute Umax Astra 1220p, 600x1200 dpi, 36bit. Its very nice, I'll post some scanned stuff here soon. All the current pics were done with my digital camera.

3/15/99

- this website was officially opened for business on the 14th of March, 99. Look for lots of good stuff to come soon, send suggestions.

- I've recently switched over to netzero, a free internet service provider (yes free). The catch is that they stick banners on your screen, but that wasn't too hard to get rid of. Netzero supports full 56k connections and even mulitlink ppp, which my pay provider did not. This means I can link two phonelines and two modems together for my current connection of 80k. Way to go guys.

- my good friend Jason has just updated his webpage to use a new layout, you should check out his page for the coin hockey website, the official pastime of chemistry class.

- I just recently helped my friend to upgrade his system, and can now conclude that most everyone I know has a faster system then myself, so I've set my eye on celeron 400 based system, we'll see how my latest project with Dave turns out.

- sharkyextreme.com is an excellent site for computer and gaming hardware reviews, they are part of a circle of computer hardware sites that I have recently been loitering about. For a starting point see www.betanews.com  

movies recently seen:

Amelie from Montmartre

Format: Theater

Kudos go to Julie for urging my whole family (including Mike) to go see this splendor of a production. Amelie is one of those films that brings out the strong desire to hug various people in the audience.

Amelie is a highly amiable girl living in the Montmartre district of Paris. Your role as the viewer is to follow Amelie on adventures and interactions brought on by her desire to practice random kindness.

The film is beautifully crafted, it is a visual pleasure to travel through Montmartre and to catch Amalie's various states of being. The movie is a character study, and quite a pleasurable one given the characters involved :) The film is a must, a pleasure for the soul.

Spy Game

Format: Theater

All in all Spy Game was well done, its just that this story has been well done many times before. This is a typical action film. If this is what you came to see, Spy Game won't disappoint.

For me on the other hand, the company of ORHS alumni Mike and Jason was far more eventful. It was good to go back like old times.. man I can't believe I'm in college now.

Right, back to the movie review. Spy Game won't bore, but it won't introduce much thought either. Nothing special here.

Osenniy Marafon

Format: DivX
Size: 670mb

Lately I've been having a desire to soak up what I can of Russian Culture. Movies aren't a bad way at all.

Osenniy Marafon reminded me of the true to life and often depressing nature of many Russian films. This is no Hollywood.

These qualities raise both strong feelings of association and sympathy for the film's characters. Ossenniy Marafon didn't resolve its conflict, only promoted pondering the situation. Recommended.

Shaolin Soccer

Format: DivX
Size: 700mb

Once in a while you watch a movie that catches you by surprise. I wasn't expecting anything like Shaolin Soccer to fill a monitor in a crowded WPI dorm room.

This imaginative Hong Kong movie primarily features incredible special effects. Not explosion special effects, not murder special effects, but rather twists inserted into common activities.

It is this quality that makes the movie so entertaining to watch. The flawless execution of unexpected effects triggers automatic enjoyment. Quite a fun flick.

American Pie 2

Format: Theater

Going into the theater, I wasn't expecting much. I went to American Pie 2 for the good company of friends Lena, Leo and Simon.

At first I thought the movie would be one long reminder of the first in the series. And for a while that's what it looked like. The first half an hour can be summarized as "hey wasn't that first American Pie cool? eh? eh?"

It was when AP2 broke away with its own story that the movie got good. At heart it is a warm film, about friendships, and good times, and being a teenager. It is a great comedy, see it with some friends :)

Memento

Format: Theater

Mike was excited by this film, and being the picky critic that he is I knew that Memento would be something special.

From the get-go Memento got my attention. The unique film techniques place the viewer in the role of the main character. You become a detective trying to solve a murder mystery in a modern setting.

The film is beautifully shot and edited. It is a ride that continues well past the end into discussions all the way home from the Theater.

The Killing

Format: DivX
Size: 700mb

Its always good to enjoy a movie with the sister. The Killing is a well-crafted film that hasn't aged in its many years. It was original in 1956 and it still is today.

The movie follows the path of a systematic crime. It examines the rational and irrational thought pattern, the acts of lady luck, and the faults of human nature.

It is interesting to observe alongside as the crime plays out. The Killing is a quality film, and well worth watching.

It Came From Outer Space

Format: Theater

Everyone should go to a 1950's 3d alien film once in their lives. My time was at The Cinema Du Parc In Montréal. Upon arrival I paid an extra Canadian dollar for a pair of blue and red 3d glasses.

It was an amusing show. What was supposed to scare humored the audience. The 3d effects were cheesy but enjoyable.

The story behind the film wasn't that bad, rather it was a good cultural experience. I enjoyed myself.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Format: Theater

Comedies have not been my home court, yet this one can be enjoyed full-heartedly. O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a carefully crafted and played out film.

Mike and Jason made some good company for me, O Brother was a nice change over from our last get together for Crouching Tiger, Horny Dragon (tm

The movie is kind, enjoyable, witty and a pleasure. Kudos go to Mike for explaining the Iliad in depth to us common-folk. O Brother makes clever use of the Iliad story with a modern twist. /me thinks I'll watch some more Clooney films.

The Boondock Saints

Format: DivX
Size: 700mb

Its been a while since we sat down to watch a good old DivX at the Denis household, and this one doesn't make count :) Sorry Mike, by far the best part of this movie was the popcorn. 

I guess I'm not much of a sucker for mindless entertainment. Sorry guys, some parts were fun to watch, but overall there are a lot of other things that beg to be seen, such as the movie below.

Cinema Paradiso

Format: DVD

Cinema Paradiso is the first movie, the first anything, to make me cry in a long, long time. The emotional life story of an Italian boy is beautifully told. 

Cinema Paradiso is a warm, kind movie. It is one that will remind you of your childhood and of the simple things in life. In today's society we desperately need more movies like this one.

Do yourself a favor and rent the film to watch on a quiet evening. Thanks me later. :)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Format: Portsmouth Music Hall

Action film of the year? What was that all about? Crouching Tiger does not come even close to delivering any kind of expectations.

The story was loosely thrown together, the characters came in and out at random times, and the action.. well the movie shifted from one fight to another in a long, ongoing chain.

I'm not really sure why this movie earned high ranks among the critics. The film gets two stars for some interesting shots and angles, but Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is definitely not worth much praise.

Carlito's Way

Format: DivX (2 cds)
Size: 1.1 GB

I guess its a day of 5 star and 2 star movies. Carlito's way is a story intertwined with the mob. It has been my observation that I get particularly emotional when watching films with organized crime. Something hits a nerve, I can understand how it is incredibly appealing, and incredibly wrong.

Carlito's Way is beautifully acted and beautifully shot. The story is very gripping and puts the viewer on an emotional roller coaster. I was thoroughly impressed and thoroughly worried.

The movie is definitely worth watching, particularly if you're scared of tempting yourself to the dark side.

Cast Away 

Format: Theatre

I saw Cast Away with Mike and Becca over at our local entertainment hub, Hoyts 12. Though the screen was large and the sound "surrounding", the film failed to make any sort of impact. 

Having miraculously survived an airplane crash Tom Hanks is stranded on a desert island. The bulk of the film focuses on his story of adaptation and survival.

Although it can not be said that the movie is poorly filmed or acted, it simply does not make a point. It is a story that has been told many times over. Tom Hanks brings little new to an understandable crisis. 

  One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Format: DivX
Size: 691mb

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest placed Jack Nicholson in a mental institution and focused on his interactions with the patients as well as the administration. 

It is a very powerful movie that I enjoyed seeing with friends on new years 2001. Jack Nicholson thoroughly impressed me. I'm thinking I will have to ask Bill for some Nicholson DVD's to rip. 

My regards to Mike for explaining the ending. I highly recomend the film to anyone who has not seen this classic.

  Alien
Format: DivX
Size: 600mb

Four years after the release of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest came Alien. My mom remembers having this movie in Russia. She decided to stop watching after this revelation because she is not one who enjoys scary movies.

It is my opinion that the film was one of first impressions. It was the first "alien" movie and therefore had people stunned. I did not find the acting to be superb or the directing and cinematography above average. 

Therefore I would recomend the film only to those who are curious of sci-fi beginnings or are simply fans of the genre.

 

created by Boris Masis 2001
http://www.borism.net
aim tomcatru