Unpopular Opinion: “The Avengers” was meh, at best.

The science in the film made me want to stab my eyes with icepicks. By all rights, Tony Stark should have died about 10 fucking minutes in. I don’t give a rat’s ass if your suit is indestructible: you are a man. You would’ve been hamburger in that thing. 

Also, Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr) “jokes” were forced and not funny. Each one was worse than the last. 

Lastly, the plot was contrived and trite. The relationships between the characters were shallow, 1-dimensional, and childlike. 

Sure, it’s a superhero movie, so it’s meant to be fun. But that doesn’t mean it can’t also be good. I was disappointed.

(I realize this is not a new movie, but I just saw it last week.)

iOS 5

I downloaded and applied the iOS 5 update last night to my iPhone. There are a lot of changes, but I will focus on the ones that change usability the most.

1. Notifications: The new “Notification Center” allows you to use either the old style of notifications (that require you to respond with a tap to either view or dismiss) and the new ones, that pop up and then fade away. When the screen is locked, they show as boxes top to bottom on the screen. When the screen is unlocked, they show as a narrow bar on the top of the screen. It looks like Apple is taking the threat from Android seriously, as this is exactly how notifications work on that platform. The Notification Center that you can access by dragging down from the top of the screen even looks like the Android one. I for one like this change, I’m hoping more apps can use it as right now I only have Weather and stocks (which I obviously don’t give a shit about) displaying along with my notifications.
2. Camera: You can now use the volume up button instead of just the button on the touch screen to activate the shutter. There’s also a camera button on the lock screen. This is good news for me because it’s been difficult for me to take clear (read: not blurred) photos with this phone. Also sometimes when I see something and wish to take a photo right away I have been unable to because I have to unlock the screen, then tap camera, then wait, then can finally snap a photo. Placing a camera button on the lock screen that immediately opens the camera makes this a problem no more. Edit: You need to double-click the menu button while the screen is locked to get the camera button.

Overall I like the update. This iCloud thing on the other hand is next to useless for me, as in order to sync emails, contacts, and calendars using it they require that I use Outlook; which I am not going to do.