Apparently I am a bad keeper-of-the-fish (i.e., fish tank owner) because I just noticed I'm missing a fish...I'm down to 3 neon tetras (red and blue) and only 2 glowlight tetras (orange). It's my big, fat glowlight tetra that is missing (I assume the oldest since it was always the biggest of them all and the glowlights were the first ones I bought). I'm kind of appalled that I never noticed it died because it would take the snails and shrimp a few days to eat it... : I'm sorry little fishy that I did not save you from being consumed; however, as I have been told by Chris, "It's what happens in the wild." I just hope I don't find some errant body part when I'm cleaning. Ick. I doubt I will since my shrimp are quite the carnivores and they burrow into my gravel. At any rate, I am keeping a close eye on my last shrimp since she's the last one. She has molted twice since the male (and last shrimp) died so that's a good sign, but it seems like the last two kind of died randomly. So...who knows.
On to movies!
Gnomeo and Juliet - I rather enjoyed this. It's a "random" animation company and not one of the major ones, but it was rather cute. They liked to throw in random Shakespeare lines in, but the movie was good. The voice caste is amazing too: Emily Blunt, James McAvoy, Patrick Stewart, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Jason Statham, Julie Walters, Hulk Hogan, Ozzy Osbourne (I know...), etc. It was fun picking out everyone's voice. You know the general premise based on the title, but how they did it and the funny moments were cute. The end, of course, is different than the actual play given it's a family movie. :P The animation was also well done and you never lost sight of the fact that these are ceramic gnomes and not, well, people. I would recommend people to watch it. Families with young kids (around the 6-8 range) would probably enjoy this the most. Grade: A-
I Am Number Four - Definitely has a 2nd movie lined-up, but I don't think it did well in theaters so I don't know if they'll try for a 2nd one; however, it was okay. It wasn't a great sci-fi, action film, but it wasn't a total dud either. Chris and I were trying to guess the entire way what would happen and who this beagle was that showed up (we thought it was a bad guy, then that it was one of the 2 chicks on the cover, and then decided we had no clue till the end of the movie). It was your pretty typical Hero's Journey (mentor and hero, mentor is killed, hero goes on alone, etc) so we knew the mentor (or guardian, in this case) was doomed from the get go, but it was interesting. I don't think I'd readily recommend this for anyone. It's pretty average... Grade: C
We might go see Fast Five later in theaters, but we'll see. Not sure if we'll see X-Men: First Class in theaters (comes out June 3rd). It's an iffy one. Won't see Hangover 2 or Kung Fu Panda 2 in theaters either (will watch it on DVD). After that, it's Super 8, Green Lantern, possibly Cars 2, Transformers, Horrible Bosses (we liked the trailer for it), Harry Potter, Captain America, Cowboys and Aliens, The Change-up (also liked the trailer), and Conan (for Chris).
I think that's all the summer movies. Friends with Benefits and Bad Teacher will probably be movie rentals. I still joke that we saw the entire movie for Conan when we saw the trailer (we've seen it twice in theaters). There's this particularly long one with lots of snapshots of everything and it really felt like you watched the whole movie in 2 minutes! Oh well. Chris has read most of the books in the series and also plays the MMO so we'll go see it (we're struggling through the Schwarzenegger version on Netflix right now, or I'm struggling through it at least).
With that...One week left of classes! I have to edit a paper and write a paper by next Saturday and I'm finished! :) That is both a terrifying and exciting thing...
Friday, May 27, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
PotC and Misc
Went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides today. It was good and it had some funny moments. The battle scenes still sometimes feel a little long, but the story was infinitely better than Dead Man's Chest (#2) and At World's End (#3). I enjoyed Penelope Cruz's character and Jack is just as ever, well, Jack. The movie doesn't QUITE set up for a 5th film, but it doesn't mean a 5th film can't happen. Since this movie was a story that started and ended in the movie (not even a trailer like Jack leaving with the Fountain of Youth Map at the end of #3), it'll have to be something totally new. I'm sure they could accomplish it, though. I do find it a little difficult to pick the "good" guy and the "bad" guy. I guess that's the problem with pirates. :P You end up picking the lesser of two evils, so to speak. The bad guy (Blackbeard) this time was like Davy Jones vs Jack. You always side with Jack, but Blackbeard's crew you felt a little sorry for since they were coerced into service and didn't know they'd be working for Blackbeard. So, it's sometimes a mixed bag. The sideline stories (in particular, the priest and the mermaid) were interesting. It was kind of "out there", but I liked it. I still want to know what happened to the priest, but the story was a little "Beauty & and the Beast" (with the roles reversed). At any rate, I recommend going to see it based on the PotC franchise more than anything and it is a good film. Grade: B/B+
I rewatched Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 the other day. It really is an excellent HP movie. I'm resisting buying it so I can buy the two parts together, but it's hard!
Any any rate, school is almost over!! I've got TWO classes left: tomorrow and next Wednesday. I've already written a rough draft of my final paper and I have my presentation tomorrow. I keep having to alter the paper a little because the shark fin ban, recently, has picked up steam (passed the State Assembly on Monday) so that's a little annoying, but oh well. I just hope it doesn't pass the Senate in 2 weeks or the purpose of my paper is moot (one of my question is "Will it pass?") and then I'm in trouble. I doubt it'll pass the Senate, though. It's still in the Rules Committee for the Senate. At any rate, almost finished!!!
I applied this week to a temp, part-time, contractual job with the Aquarium's Seafood Watch Program. Since it's contractual, it's off-site and I can do it remotely in Santa Barbara. It's basically research and report writing based on literature reviews, but...hey...it's money! It's also only 10-hours a week, which works out nicely in case I DO get hired for a full-time job I can take the job and do the SWP work until it's over (either through Sept or Oct). I've had my resume bounce around a lot recently so I'm hoping networking solves my problem of finding a job, but we'll see. A lady with BLM who works in the CA Coastal Monument department emailed me recently (thanks to our BLM client!) and wants to talk about what I'm interested in. They're short on money (as everyone in the government is), but at least she's willing to talk with me. At least I'm not the only one in the "no job, yet" boat. It seems like a good portion of our class is still struggling to find jobs. Most have applied to things and some have come up with interviews. I've heard of 4 people having jobs so far, which isn't too unusual since I don't really converse or hang out with my class, but still. Usually Bren has about a 60-70% rate of students having jobs by graduation and around 90% by September (even last year's stayed this way). We'll see if our class can keep tradition or not. If anything -- as we're all QUITE aware of -- December is the deadline because loans start to be due January.
Well, with that, time to go play Lego PotC! It's all 4 movies and I'm almost finished with movie 1. I doubt I'll get to 4 (doing a day-by-day rental from Redbox), but we'll see. It's quite fun and it's hilarious because Lego Jack Sparrow runs like movie Jack Sparrow. :P
I rewatched Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 the other day. It really is an excellent HP movie. I'm resisting buying it so I can buy the two parts together, but it's hard!
Any any rate, school is almost over!! I've got TWO classes left: tomorrow and next Wednesday. I've already written a rough draft of my final paper and I have my presentation tomorrow. I keep having to alter the paper a little because the shark fin ban, recently, has picked up steam (passed the State Assembly on Monday) so that's a little annoying, but oh well. I just hope it doesn't pass the Senate in 2 weeks or the purpose of my paper is moot (one of my question is "Will it pass?") and then I'm in trouble. I doubt it'll pass the Senate, though. It's still in the Rules Committee for the Senate. At any rate, almost finished!!!
I applied this week to a temp, part-time, contractual job with the Aquarium's Seafood Watch Program. Since it's contractual, it's off-site and I can do it remotely in Santa Barbara. It's basically research and report writing based on literature reviews, but...hey...it's money! It's also only 10-hours a week, which works out nicely in case I DO get hired for a full-time job I can take the job and do the SWP work until it's over (either through Sept or Oct). I've had my resume bounce around a lot recently so I'm hoping networking solves my problem of finding a job, but we'll see. A lady with BLM who works in the CA Coastal Monument department emailed me recently (thanks to our BLM client!) and wants to talk about what I'm interested in. They're short on money (as everyone in the government is), but at least she's willing to talk with me. At least I'm not the only one in the "no job, yet" boat. It seems like a good portion of our class is still struggling to find jobs. Most have applied to things and some have come up with interviews. I've heard of 4 people having jobs so far, which isn't too unusual since I don't really converse or hang out with my class, but still. Usually Bren has about a 60-70% rate of students having jobs by graduation and around 90% by September (even last year's stayed this way). We'll see if our class can keep tradition or not. If anything -- as we're all QUITE aware of -- December is the deadline because loans start to be due January.
Well, with that, time to go play Lego PotC! It's all 4 movies and I'm almost finished with movie 1. I doubt I'll get to 4 (doing a day-by-day rental from Redbox), but we'll see. It's quite fun and it's hilarious because Lego Jack Sparrow runs like movie Jack Sparrow. :P
Friday, May 20, 2011
Bridesmaids
First off, I forgot to mention that Thor's director Kenneth Branagh did a good job directing his first major movie. Still kind of surprising since he's more known for Shakespeare, but this movie does have a lilt to it that's kind of reminiscent of Shakespeare (in a deep undercurrent kind of way).
At any rate...Chris and I went and saw Bridesmaids today. It's funny, but it's more of a physical/potty type of humor (in some places). Oddly to say, The Hangover has a more wide appeal sense-of-humor than Bridesmaids to most people. The Hangover is more just silly and funny and Bridesmaids definitely is a little more potty humor (there's an instance where they all get food poisoning...it's rather gross and funny in certain spots). There are some rather funny parts that are just funny. For example, the main character (Annie) is trying to get the attention of this cop who she hurt and she does all these silly things in the car (speeding, cruising like a gangster, doughnut, etc) to try and get his attention. Some of the situations between the bridesmaids are also funny (jealousy playing out mostly). I don't know if this movie is for everyone because of its humor, but it's pretty amusing and you laugh throughout it. You just have to get past the couple spots of more potty humor and then it's just like The Hangover and pretty funny. I would say that The Hangover is the better of the two films, though. Grade: B
PotC 4 will be during the week sometime to try and avoid the crowds.
At any rate...Chris and I went and saw Bridesmaids today. It's funny, but it's more of a physical/potty type of humor (in some places). Oddly to say, The Hangover has a more wide appeal sense-of-humor than Bridesmaids to most people. The Hangover is more just silly and funny and Bridesmaids definitely is a little more potty humor (there's an instance where they all get food poisoning...it's rather gross and funny in certain spots). There are some rather funny parts that are just funny. For example, the main character (Annie) is trying to get the attention of this cop who she hurt and she does all these silly things in the car (speeding, cruising like a gangster, doughnut, etc) to try and get his attention. Some of the situations between the bridesmaids are also funny (jealousy playing out mostly). I don't know if this movie is for everyone because of its humor, but it's pretty amusing and you laugh throughout it. You just have to get past the couple spots of more potty humor and then it's just like The Hangover and pretty funny. I would say that The Hangover is the better of the two films, though. Grade: B
PotC 4 will be during the week sometime to try and avoid the crowds.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Movies, Sacramento/Davis, and Misc
I had a crazy 35 hour roundtrip to Sacramento/Davis this week. Left Monday around 2 pm and got back Wednesday at 1am. It was nuts. I got up, went to my morning class, Chris picked me up for lunch at In-N-Out, got back to campus, did my presentation, and left for Sacramento. We took a UCSB vehicle (minivan) up and there was the 4 of us and Melissa's dog. We had to drop Carly off because Melissa didn't have anyone to take care of her here in SB. Stopped at her mom's in Oakland, had dinner her mom nicely made for us, and headed to Sacramento. We got in at the hotel around 10pm. I fell asleep around 12:30am, woke up at 7:15am. Met everyone at 8:20 for breakfast in the restaurant in the hotel. Their CC machine went down, so it made us a little late getting to BLM, but we all ended up paying in cash, and headed straight to the BLM office. We went through security around 9:40, set-up, did our presentation, did some Q&A, packed up, and headed to Davis for our second presentation at around 11:20 (only know times because we had to sign in and out). We arrived at a deli in Davis around 12pm. Ate REALLY quickly and walked the half block to the meeting place. Arrived like 10 minutes before the meeting started at 12:30 and sat through a 4 hour presentations/meeting. Left that at around 5pm, had dinner with the guy who invited us to the Delta Tributaries Mercury Council meeting, and left Davis around 6:30pm, got home at 1am. I figured out we sat for about 25 of the 35 hours. It was ridiculous. My lower back was KILLING me the entire day (I haven't popped so many Tylenol in years) and even today my butt and lower back still hurt. Even though it was a whirl of a trip, it went well (both presentations). One lady wasn't so happy with our presentation at the DTMC meeting, but we already figured that since she sent a critical e-mail during our breakfast in the morning. She was also the one we were most concerned about. Other than that, it went well, and I have a few more contacts for job hunting, which is good. If one of these contacts pans out to help me obtain a job, the trip and all the hassle will be WELL worth it. I'm just glad it went all okay (other than the CC issue at the hotel). Now the next and last thing for the trip is reimbursement forms, which should be fun...I did come down with a small cold this morning. I probably have just been fighting it and the crazy trip just exasperated it. I only have a sore throat and runny/stuffy nose so it's not too bad. I hope I can just rest the week away and it'll go away and not get any worse.
I have 2 weeks of classes left. TWO WEEKS. I only have a total of 4 classes left to attend (3 next week and 1 the following). My last assignment is my policy paper, which I need to work on, and the accompanying presentation. We also supposedly have to critique and rewrite or something a climate change adaptation plan for a city or locale for my marine class, but I think us 2nd years are all going with the "denial" and hope he'll make it extra credit or something. It's all very sketchy since he hasn't sent out anything formal on it. We'll see.
Job hunting has been a little slow. With these new contacts, I need to get back onto it. I look every once in a while, but it's still hard to make it a priority when you're still trying to finish with school. The past week was one of my most stressful weeks for the quarter with a paper and presentation due, traveling to Davis/Sacramento, and the problem with the rabbits (which is still being sorted out...). Hopefully I can get back on track with the job hunting.
Well, other than that...Movie updates! I watched 2 movies today (the first time in weeks I've been able to rent movies). I have a few backlogs, though, with Green Hornet and Thor. It's been a very "Natalie Porman" movies recently...
Green Hornet (Seth Rogen, Jay Chou) - It wasn't as bad as you'd think, but it was also nothing great as expected. So it was entertaining, but not something I'd readily suggest someone to watch unless you were curious about it and wanted to watch it already. The Black Beauty car was interesting and some of the gadgets too. I watched the Mythbusters episode that involved Green Hornet myths before I watched the movie, so it was pretty interesting to get to watch the actual movie and after knowing what was and wasn't actually plausible. Grade: C
Thor (Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman) - It was as good as people were saying it was, but it's definitely no Iron Man (1st film). Hemsworth does a good job, but Portman's role is kind of weird. Paltrow in Iron Man plays a pretty large role in the film and Portman's is more of a side note (almost the Beauty & the Beast thing -- taming the big, bad man to be gentle). The story is more about Thor's family and everything. It was interesting how it tied more into Iron Man 2 also. They are definitely ramping up for The Avengers movie. It'll be interesting to see how Captain America moves that along. At any rate, it's an enjoyable film. Some minor cheesy one-liners and the story is pretty decent. If you're interested, I'd recommend to go see it. Grade: B
The Other Woman (Natalie Portman, Scott Cohen) - It's actually based on a book called "Love and Other Impossible Pursuits" by Ayelet Waldman and it's also an older film (released in 2009). It just showed up on RedBox so I rented it. It's kind of interesting seeing her in so many films in such a short span of time because you can really see she is a versatile actress. This film is a drama and is about Portman's character and the lives she's entered into. Cohen cheated on his wife with Portman and so then Cohen and Portman get married because she finds out she's pregnant. They end up losing the baby at 3 days old. The plot revolves around Portman and Cohen trying to cope with the loss, but the center of the movie is Cohen's son and Portman's stepson (Lisa Kudrow is the mother) and how he centers in all their worlds and helps and unhelps them get through the baby's loss and Kudrow's hatred for Portman and everything. I cried through about half the film as Portman struggles with the loss and guilt and some other issues. She did a great acting job and you could see when she was doing better and when she was struggling. The plot and acting wasn't as fine as Rabbit Hole, but it was a decent enough drama. I like it, but I don't know if I'd really recommend it. Based on the topic, I'd recommend Rabbit Hole much more over The Other Woman (title reference I believe is to the lost baby that was a daughter named Isabel, but it could also be to Kudrow's character, but I kind of doubt it). Grade: B
No Strings Attached (Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher) - It was a cute rom-com that was utterly predictable from start to finish (more predictable than a typical rom-com). It had some funny moments, but (as most rom-coms end up as) it was kind of "heavy" at the end as they go through the denial, apart, etc stages. I wouldn't say it's one of my favorite rom-coms, but it was nice to see Portman in a different role too. Kutcher was okay. I don't particularly like him and he doesn't really "match" Portman well, but the story was okay. I have seen better and worse rom-coms, though, so it's somewhere in "eh" rom-coms where it's not horrible, but not particularly great either (The Proposal, The Holiday, and the Prince & Me rank as some of my top favorite rom-coms). Grade: B-
Next on the agenda is PotC 4 comes out this Saturday, Bridesmaids (which I hear is very funny), True Grit, and Just Go With It (Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler -- the preview actually looked funny). I might watch Blue Valentine, but..I don't know. We'll see.
I have 2 weeks of classes left. TWO WEEKS. I only have a total of 4 classes left to attend (3 next week and 1 the following). My last assignment is my policy paper, which I need to work on, and the accompanying presentation. We also supposedly have to critique and rewrite or something a climate change adaptation plan for a city or locale for my marine class, but I think us 2nd years are all going with the "denial" and hope he'll make it extra credit or something. It's all very sketchy since he hasn't sent out anything formal on it. We'll see.
Job hunting has been a little slow. With these new contacts, I need to get back onto it. I look every once in a while, but it's still hard to make it a priority when you're still trying to finish with school. The past week was one of my most stressful weeks for the quarter with a paper and presentation due, traveling to Davis/Sacramento, and the problem with the rabbits (which is still being sorted out...). Hopefully I can get back on track with the job hunting.
Well, other than that...Movie updates! I watched 2 movies today (the first time in weeks I've been able to rent movies). I have a few backlogs, though, with Green Hornet and Thor. It's been a very "Natalie Porman" movies recently...
Green Hornet (Seth Rogen, Jay Chou) - It wasn't as bad as you'd think, but it was also nothing great as expected. So it was entertaining, but not something I'd readily suggest someone to watch unless you were curious about it and wanted to watch it already. The Black Beauty car was interesting and some of the gadgets too. I watched the Mythbusters episode that involved Green Hornet myths before I watched the movie, so it was pretty interesting to get to watch the actual movie and after knowing what was and wasn't actually plausible. Grade: C
Thor (Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman) - It was as good as people were saying it was, but it's definitely no Iron Man (1st film). Hemsworth does a good job, but Portman's role is kind of weird. Paltrow in Iron Man plays a pretty large role in the film and Portman's is more of a side note (almost the Beauty & the Beast thing -- taming the big, bad man to be gentle). The story is more about Thor's family and everything. It was interesting how it tied more into Iron Man 2 also. They are definitely ramping up for The Avengers movie. It'll be interesting to see how Captain America moves that along. At any rate, it's an enjoyable film. Some minor cheesy one-liners and the story is pretty decent. If you're interested, I'd recommend to go see it. Grade: B
The Other Woman (Natalie Portman, Scott Cohen) - It's actually based on a book called "Love and Other Impossible Pursuits" by Ayelet Waldman and it's also an older film (released in 2009). It just showed up on RedBox so I rented it. It's kind of interesting seeing her in so many films in such a short span of time because you can really see she is a versatile actress. This film is a drama and is about Portman's character and the lives she's entered into. Cohen cheated on his wife with Portman and so then Cohen and Portman get married because she finds out she's pregnant. They end up losing the baby at 3 days old. The plot revolves around Portman and Cohen trying to cope with the loss, but the center of the movie is Cohen's son and Portman's stepson (Lisa Kudrow is the mother) and how he centers in all their worlds and helps and unhelps them get through the baby's loss and Kudrow's hatred for Portman and everything. I cried through about half the film as Portman struggles with the loss and guilt and some other issues. She did a great acting job and you could see when she was doing better and when she was struggling. The plot and acting wasn't as fine as Rabbit Hole, but it was a decent enough drama. I like it, but I don't know if I'd really recommend it. Based on the topic, I'd recommend Rabbit Hole much more over The Other Woman (title reference I believe is to the lost baby that was a daughter named Isabel, but it could also be to Kudrow's character, but I kind of doubt it). Grade: B
No Strings Attached (Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher) - It was a cute rom-com that was utterly predictable from start to finish (more predictable than a typical rom-com). It had some funny moments, but (as most rom-coms end up as) it was kind of "heavy" at the end as they go through the denial, apart, etc stages. I wouldn't say it's one of my favorite rom-coms, but it was nice to see Portman in a different role too. Kutcher was okay. I don't particularly like him and he doesn't really "match" Portman well, but the story was okay. I have seen better and worse rom-coms, though, so it's somewhere in "eh" rom-coms where it's not horrible, but not particularly great either (The Proposal, The Holiday, and the Prince & Me rank as some of my top favorite rom-coms). Grade: B-
Next on the agenda is PotC 4 comes out this Saturday, Bridesmaids (which I hear is very funny), True Grit, and Just Go With It (Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler -- the preview actually looked funny). I might watch Blue Valentine, but..I don't know. We'll see.
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