End of an Era (and a few movies)

I graduated! No more school posts! I can now say I have a Master of Environmental Science & Management with a specialization in Economics & Politics of the Environment! Now to wait for grades...

It was a good graduation and I really enjoyed it. It hadn't really sunk in that I graduated until last night when I got an e-mail from Dave Parker (director of our career services) giving us a congratulations and I went, "Oh my gosh. This is one of my last e-mails from Bren ever again!" For two years I have received hundreds and hundreds of e-mails from Bren and now I won't be getting that many! Kind of weird. At any rate, it feels nice to be finished, but it's also scary, sad, and just a little weird. This is the first time in 25 years of my life that I have not known what I was going to do next. I know I'll be getting a job, but the questions just compound upon each other. Where will I get a job? What will I be doing? WHEN will I get a job? etc, etc, etc. Looking for grad schools was similar, but did not come with the same feeling and I think it's because I am NOW entering the REAL WORLD! We joke saying school is the "snooze button on life" and has been for me) for the past two decades of my life. Now I don't have school!

A PhD is not out of the question and, if I was honest with myself, I am leaning towards wanting a PhD, but I don't want to go into a PhD program just because "I want to." Honestly, no one would take me on with that kind of answer and I don't have a topic/question I really want to spend 4-5 years of my life on. So maybe with experience I'll find something I want to get my PhD in and I'll go back and do that, but we'll see. Maybe a PhD is also not in the works for me too. Who knows. Time will tell. :) I would like to get a PhD in marine policy (you know, just saying. :P ).

I did get a contractual job with the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It's short term (only 6 weeks), but pays pretty well for only 35-42 hours of work. I'm basically going to be a "beta tester" for their new Seafood Watch Program criteria system so that'll be interesting. It's something I like to do and it will be interesting. It's not a lot of money, but...hey...money is money and it'll be good not to have a "gap" in my resume from the time I graduate to the time I get another job. Plus, this gives me another thing on my resume, another contact, and perhaps a full-time (or even part-time) job down the road. I'm taking it and running with it!

Now, on to movies!

Green Lantern comes out this Friday so we'll see that sometime this weekend or the following week, but this past week was Just Go With It and Super 8!

Just Go With It (Adam Sandler & Jennifer Aniston) - It's not as bad as you think given the two main actors. Chris and I saw a preview for it and instantly went, "We gotta watch it." It didn't let us down. It met expectations, which is "It won't be great, but it won't be horrible." It gave laughs here-and-there and it was an interesting storyline that did set itself up for some funny situations. Basically, Sandler's character has gotten into the habit of lying to chicks saying he's married and his wife beats him up, yaddy, yaddy, and gets pity sex from them. Aniston is his secretary at his plastic surgeon office. Anyway, he finds a girl he really "connects with" (like no other girl) and she finds the wedding ring and he gets tangled up in these lies that he drags Aniston and her kids into. Anyway, it's pretty funny. There are quite a few sexual-ish jokes made throughout the movie (what kind of Sandler film would it be without those?!), but they're not too bad. We enjoyed the movie. It wouldn't be a buyer, but if you want to watch a rom-com that Aniston isn't actually that bad in (it's almost a miracle, I swear!) and Sandler is good in too, I'd recommend it. It's a good rental film. Nicole Kidman is also in it and is pretty funny too. Grade: B

Super 8 (Joel Courtney, Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning, etc) - I won't spoil it for those who are going to watch it (as I try not to do for any of my reviews), but if you've seen the preview even once you know the general gist of it (as far as we can tell at least). So...This movie is like (and you'll understand if you watch the movie) an alien version of The Goonies (if they had cameras). I kid you not. It's a good film and it's not scary. It's more suspenseful than scary. It has its lulls, laughs, touching moments, suspense, slightly scary moments, etc. It's a nice balance of everything and seeing the Super 8 cameras was pretty neat. I enjoyed the movie within the movie too. :P I don't know if I'd say it's my favorite movie of the summer (so far and I know others who say that), but it's a good film and holds up well against PotC 4, X-Men: First Class, and soon-to-come-out Green Lantern. In many ways, it's just nice having a non-superhero-ish, non-comic/action figure, non-sequel, and non-book-related film for once! It kind of makes you go (like Inception did), "Wow, Hollywood CAN make good original screenplays and movies!" At any rate, if you like suspenseful type movies, I'd recommend it. It's a good movie and it's nice having child actors being the main actors. Like I said, it has that The Goonies feeling and it's nice and a change from what is normally in theaters these days where the children are supporting actors or there's only one and not a bunch of them. My only complaint about the movie is the flow seemed a little choppy sometimes and something just doesn't quite jive with me (perhaps it's the quick ending). Other than that, I liked it.  Grade: B+

One of the best things about seeing Super 8 was I got to see the latest Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 trailer on the big screen! It totally rocked and I had to restrain myself from cheering. I'm like a little kid, but it really does look like a fantastic movie and I can't wait!

Now, with that, time to eat, and play Minecraft. :)

Pandas and Mutants

I watched Kung Fu Panda 2 and X-Men: First Class this week. The goal was to watch Fast Five instead of Kung Fu Panda 2, but a mix-up over movie times occurred and so we went to see Kung Fu Panda 2 instead. Fast Five is no longer showing in SB anymore either, but there's always the DVD!

Kung Fu Panda 2 (Jack Black, et al.) - I enjoyed the movie, but a 1.5 hour movie does feel really short these days. At any rate, this movie had the theme of finding "where you belong" and "who you are". In particular, it touches upon adoption (Po (the Panda) has a goose father). It's a cute movie and has some good animation that I enjoyed. It's a definite family film and I enjoyed Kung Fu Panda 1 and I also enjoyed this one just as much. I'd probably say this would be more of a movie rental than an on-screen watch, but that also comes down to preference. Dreamworks does put out good animation films too. I'm looking forward to Puss in Boots in the fall. They do seem able to push out 2 movies a year vs Pixar's 1 and their quality is still pretty good (How to Train Your Dragon is now apart of my "comfort movie" list. I watched it again just this past week and I've watched it more times in the past year than any other film). At any rate, watch it in theaters if you like the franchise, but other than that, I'd wait for DVD. Grade: B/B+

X-Men: First Class (James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon) - I really, really enjoyed this film and it's been the first summer film that I can actually say I really enjoyed. It's also been getting good reviews. I kind of feel like THIS movie is the start of the summer blockbusters than Thor or some other movie. It was excellent. It's a character driven movie rather than action movie like the triology (X-Men, X2, X-Men: Last Stand). I'd even say it's more character driven than X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Wolverine's movie was supposed to be his background and how he came to be. It certainly makes up for X3 and even Wolverine; it basically gives me hope that the franchise isn't going down the tube -- it's that good. McAvoy and Fassbender do a great job in developing a friendship despite their characters' differences and gathering forces to save the world and then the end when they split you feel that they're both sad for the differences they can't agree on. There's a smattering of action here and there, but the end main fighting scene isn't drawn out and long (like sometimes I felt PotC: At World's End sometimes felt like). You feel sympathy for Erik (aka Magneto) in his early years and even in his adult years to avenge the man who killed his mother and turned him into who he is. You respect Charles (aka Professor X) from the get-go for for his knowledge and compassion for mutants. It's just a well done X-Men movie and makes me glad I went to see it in theaters. I could even be talked into seeing it again in theaters if need be. Would I buy the DVD? I'm not sure. I might when it gets cheaper. The movie also reaffirms my appreciation for McAvoy. He's done a lot of different films (Family (Narnia - Mr. Tumnus), Drama x 2 (Becoming Jane, Atonement), Action (Wanted), Animation (Gnomeo & Juliet), and Sci-Fi (Professor X)) and I've enjoyed him in all of them (except Atonement since I have not seen it).  Grade: A

Farewell grad school

I finished my last class today at Bren and turned my final two assignments in tonight. I had another 5 days before my final two assignments were due, but I had already written and edited them. They were just looming over my head the past few days so I decided to just bite the bullet and say farewell to my Master's program all on the same day instead of dragging out the papers when all I could do was quibble over a word here-and-there. It's a little weird and bittersweet. I am FINISHED! No more classes and no more assignments. It's all in and finished. All I have to do is graduate and wait for grades. Weird...

Now if I can only find a job...

With that...I'm off to continue to not do too much besides read, watch TV shows, and job hunt. Graduation is next Friday, though!