“Tony Stark makes me feel he’s a cool exec with a heart of steel…”

Boy, that song brings back a sea of nostalgia. No, I was not born in the 1960s, but I did enjoy reruns of the Iron Man cartoon in the 90s. You actually hear the orchestra version of this theme in the movie, much to my glee.

I wasn’t really an Iron Man fan. Back when I collected Marvel comic books, I was more of an Uncanny X-Men addict. I wasn’t too excited by the prospect of an Iron Man movie, which was worsened by the fact that Spider-Man 3 (a.k.a. Emo-Man!) didn’t exactly endear Marvel to me.

Shock upon shock! I actually enjoyed the entire 2 hour 20 minute ride! Not only did Robert Downey Jr. fit the genius/playboy/millionaire role like a glove, he was pretty darned funny about it, too. It was a far cry from how stuffy I remembered Tony Stark was in the 60s. Here he’s like the happier version of DC’s Batman. It helps that Downey is surrounded by a brilliant cast of supporting characters, from Terrence Howard’s Jim Rhodes to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts to Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane. Add Stark’s mechanical assistant Jarvis and you have one heck of a team. I could tell you, there wasn’t a scene where I wasn’t affected, whether it was Tony Stark delivering a half-meant punchline or when terrorists were picking on hapless little village people. My head was screaming for more when I realized that we were nearing the ending.

As for the effects, I have no words. My colleague Haya has them: “Iron Man wasn’t interesting. But with the CG, gosh! He’s so cool!” ‘Nuff said.

It’s also interesting to note that Iron Man’s theme is a song by the same title, performed by Black Sabbath. I’ve been listening to this band’s music before, courtesy of my boyfriend Nicco, and I was amazed at how it upped the film’s kick-ass level.

Fun!

Iron Man: Entertainment at its finest. Just don’t forget to stay until after the credits roll. You know how it is with Marvel movies. They usually leave the good stuff at the end.

Finally! After tinkering with the layout and all other site converstion problems (from static HTML to dynamic PHP), I’ve decided to release Coolay 8.1. Before you argue with me that the masthead still says Coolay 8.0, I’ll just tell you now that the number 8.1 doesn’t look as good on this masthead. Hahahaha!

I had a fun fun fun fun time doing this, mostly because it has been ages since I’ve been “in the zone.” It’s that state where geeks (or hot hot bassists) never get out of their concentration point because they’re doing their thang. In my case, my temperature rises and no buff hottie holding out a plate of my favorite dishes can get me out of the zone.

I have a few misgivings but I guess I’ll have to live with the fact that the 3D scrollbars and javascript of my original layout will never be compatible with PHP and will never ever reappear on this site unless I start coding AJAX. (AJAX here I come).

I’ve already added my recent reviews in here. All I need to do is copy the old reviews into this format. LAUNCH TIME!

Spot the difference:
This version 8.1 –> http://www.coolay.com
The original version 8.0 –> http://www.coolay.com/index_classic.html

 

 

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Obligatory Geek Musings:
The other day, while I was trying to piece things together, I was despairing over how the new version had so much contrast. My eyes were literally hurting from just staring at it, which never happened to me with the original version. I realized later that night, while I contemplated the original on Mi-Chan, that there were so many CSS classes going on. I needed to simplify.

 

Anyhoo, the status:
PHP: 100%
CSS: 100%
Javascript: 95% — need AJAX

Nearly all of the reviews and articles in Coolay! are written by me, Beatrice Margarita V. Lapa, a.k.a. skysenshi. There are times, however, that some writers are interested in sharing some of their views regarding the many things that this site encompasses. If you’re one of them, simply tell me of your desire to participate by commenting on this post. Please tell me a bit about you and what you want to write. You just might become one of my guest writers.

Thank you for wanting to participate in this humble online endeavor. =^.^=

You know the drill. You spend two weeks thinking about a particularly bold concept (challenging yourself to use colors that you practically hated your entire life), and then just when you’ve made Photoshop come up with something new (doncha just hate it when what you’ve imagined to be a great concept turns out ugly upon implementation?), you realize that the worst is yet to come: coding time.

I usually relish coding time over designing time. But not when you’re supposed to work with someone else’s template. I usually prefer coding from scratch. Thing is, with server-installed scripts, you usually have to work with at least three pre-made templates.

This time around, I didn’t have to conceptualize for two weeks. I was determined to re-use Coolay!’s version 8, which I designed in 2003. The challenge was this: convert all static HTML pages to dynamic PHP/MySQL without destroying my original concept. That includes the layout, the CSS and the Javascripts. I’ve had nasty experiences with my old Javascripts not working on newer browsers so I left that task for last. I only had Sunday to start and finish whatever I could.

Start Time: 7AM

Geh. After working on three different built-in templates and not finding anything that worked, I got stumped. Eating breakfast made my brain work again, so I was able to work with the last template.

End Time: 9PM
- CSS 95% done
- PHP 98% done
- Javascript 90% done

Whew. I’m itching to write my first review on the newly fired-up Coolay! website. I’ll just have to test-drive the Javascript in the school PC. While Macs are best for designing interfaces…they’re not exactly that supportive of back-end software. After tweaking what I need, I’m just going to do some minor revisions on the masthead. The look needs to be updated.

EDIT July 2:
Status from 2.30PM - 3.30PM
- CSS 100% done
- PHP 100% done
- Javascript 95% done