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