It's been a while...!

So...Life...Not much has changed since graduating. Finished my contract position and am job searching/applying. Slow going in the market, but I've got a hopeful job that's seasonal I will be applying for this week (app goes in tomorrow) at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It's a seasonal job through 2011, but they want to make it a 3-year stint, so...hopefully I get it! It's pretty similar to the contract jobs and when I told my contract contact I was interested in it, she said she was glad to hear I was interested.  Being jobless and having a friend recently get into it, I have gotten into nail art, which has been interesting and fun. Boy is there are a LOT you can do with nail stuff. :P

I also have started to immerse myself into dressage as my goal is to understand the sport and the key players/favorites for the 2012 Olympics. It's been a little brain numbing because a lot of the names are not easy to remember (German, Danish, etc). And then, just like horse racing, you need to know the horse, but also the rider. At least trainers don't really exist as world top riders tend to also be the horse trainer (with maybe a side trainer there too). Farms/breeders/owners are also good to know, but aren't AS key (same in horse racing). So...yeah. Working on that. It's been interesting. I have learned all the movements and can identify them and learned the basic history of modern and classical dressage.

At any rate...MOVIES! I've seen a few movies since my last update.

Cowboys & Aliens (Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde) - If you go into the movie knowing it is NOT a comedy and understand that the movie IS the title, then you'll get through this okay. For some reason people thought it was a comedy and it's not. You also have to realize what the title is and that it MEANS what it is. It was a good movie if you understand the two aforementioned things. Harrison Ford is certainly looking old, but at least his character was supposed to be his age. Daniel Craig I'm sure has it in his contracts that he's not meant to speak a lot because he does more "looks" than speaking. The looks are good, but it is an odd thing. Olivia Wilde is okay and has her own moment of "weirdness" in a movie that is already somewhat "weird". I enjoyed it, but it's nothing near great movie anything. I might buy it when it comes down in price just for the action (and the horses...hahaha). Grade: B/B-

Source Code (Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farminga) - What a predictable and also mind bending movie. It's an interesting movie and once you understand what is going on, it's pretty easy to predict the end. At the same time, you get to the end and you go, what just happened? Course, movies that play with time always end up in headaches, I think. At any rate, it was an enjoyable film. Interesting concept of the Source Code and pretty good acting. In some ways it reminds me of the Adjustment Bureau, but instead of altering our choices by a spilled coffee, trip, or whatever without us knowing, this one is reevaluating a certain time period as many times as it takes to stop tragedies. Grade: B

Conan the Barbarian (Jason Momoa, Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang) - Does this really need a review? My gosh...I went out of curiosity as I never watched the Schwarzenegger one (I still find it sad I can spell his last name correctly first time around...) and fell asleep through it attempting to watch it. Chris has played the game and read the entire series so he wanted to watch it. It's your typical male movie and it was okay, I suppose. Some of the green screen shots were horrible (could it be more obvious you're in front of a green screen?) and let's not discuss the blood flying everywhere either. Not to mention the sex scene, which goes on just a little too long. So, yes, male movie. Funny enough, almost everyone in the theater seemed like on a "movie date." Males still ruled the theater, but there were more couples than singles. Chris does think Conan is not of our generation, though, as most people in the theater (especially the couples) were all older (40's at least). Anyway, it was okay. Wasn't horrible, but I definitely won't be watching it again. Grade: D

Beastly (Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Hudgens) - Surprisingly, it's really not that bad of a movie. It sticks to the story of Beauty and the Beast, has an even more blatant message of not judging people on their looks (as it's set in modern times of high school), and doesn't have any swearing and/or sex in it! Amazing! At any rate, Mary-Kate Olsen plays the witch. Neil Patrick Harris makes an appearance as a blind tutor and Vanessa Hudgens, of course, is the the love interest with Pettyfer as the "prince" or rich, snobby, good looking guy. Can't say it's the most amazing movie feat or anything. It's "sweet" I suppose is the better way to describe the movie as it's not really riveting and not really boring, so it falls somewhere in between there. So, in ways, I suppose it makes the best type of DVD rental movie because I can't see myself buying this film to watch it again, but it was a decent watch that kept me awake too. Grade: B

Sucker Punch (Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens, etc) - Wow...Somewhere between Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Anime, and a video game for the movie style. The end, I have to say, is highly unsatisfactory and I still don't get the connection to the rest of the film. I think it was trying to have some sort of "meaning" in it and it just gets lost till the end. You get to the end and I went, "WHAT?!" Really unsatisfying for an ending. The middle of the movie is okay...The little side-scenarios as the girls try to collect these objects to escape (put themselves into an "alternate" world to fight to get the object that they get in the "real world") are interesting to watch and are probably the best thing about the movie, but the movie just felt a little disjointed and I'm still a little confused as to what was real and what was not. So there's that too. Perhaps I'm overthinking or something, but it just baffled me at the end. I'm still baffled at the entire thing. Grade: D (almost an F)

Rio (Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway) - This animation was a good one. I think I liked it better than Rango, but Rango will always be tainted because of my first experience too so I may be slightly biased; however, this was a good movie. The voice cast for the minor characters is a little fun (Jamie Foxx, Jane Lynch, Wanda Sykes, etc). The story itself is good and interesting. You don't feel like you're being bashed over the head with an environmental message (Rango, you can't miss the environmental message, unless you slept through the end), but it is subtly there about exotic birds, poachers, and the Rain Forest. It had its sweet, funny, scary, and adventure moments. It's also a little musical. It starts with a singing number and there are a few throughout it too. They're not bad and somehow seem appropriate in the film that is based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (hence the movie name). I enjoyed it a lot and now am kicking myself quite profusely for missing Cars 2 in theaters to compare. However, since Cars 2 comes out November 1, I can see it before the Oscars at least (one good thing about summer movies -- will always be out before the end of the year!). At any rate, it's a good family film and I'd recommend it. Rango is a little on the older end for animations (Rango says words that even make me, as an adult, go, "Whoa...Big word for an animation..."). This will be a movie that I will eventually buy. Grade: B+/A-

Next movies...? Not sure. On the list for high possible theater watching is Three Musketeers, Puss in Boots, Twilight (do I want to? LoL), and Sherlock Holmes. I did want to see Crazy, Stupid, Love in theaters, but just can't find the absolute need to go see it. Almost saw it twice and ended up skipping it. Would eventually like to see The Help (I think...still debating that). I might want to see Contagion and The Debt at some point (DVD probably). There are more than a few upcoming movies movies I might want to see too (most will be DVDs, but some may not): 30 Minutes or Less, Drive, I Don't Know How She Does It, Moneyball, Footloose, In Time (looks interesting...), The Rum Diary, J. Edgar (Eastwood's new one and a friend is an extra in the court scene), Hugo (liked the book), The Muppets (they filmed at Santa Anita for a little AND I saw some of the props for it), Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (will it be as good as the Swedish version?), and The Adventures of TinTin (I'm curious), and maybe War Horse (play is supposed to be good for families and I'm sure Speilberg will do a good job (he wanted to keep it so families could see it together), but...I don't know if I can watch it).

So...yeah...that brings my movies to now and my movie watch list up to the end of the year. Next year is already looking to be an interesting year for super hero/comic movies: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (Feb), The Avengers (movie I'm most excited for, so far - May), GI Joe: Retaliation (June), The Amazing Spider-Man (prequel - July), and The Dark Knight Rises (tied runner-up for most excited - July). I suppose we should be lucky Man of Steal (Superman movie) got pushed, once again, to 2013 (was summer 2012, fall 2012, and now 2013). Not to mention, a totally different Bourne Legacy (different character -- Aug), The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (tied runner-up for most excited - Dec), Brave (Pixar's next one - June), MIB 3 (10 years since MIB 2 - May), Hunger Games (show for most excited for - March), Wrath of the Titans (sequel to Clash of the Titans - March), Battleship (looks lame, but there's your game movie - May), Madagascar 3 (June), Ice Age 4 (July), and Twilight Sage: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (Nov). Phew...And those are just the big named ones!

Anyway, with that, I'm off to water marble my nails (it was that or this cool purple with this cool glitter on top or stamping...so many things!).