Unbelievable...Tuesday I came down with a cold. It's nothing too big, but it affected my head the first few days and now it's moved to my nose and sinuses. It's rather annoying because I keep waking up in the middle of the night coughing because a part of my throat dries out (it happens when I'm getting sick or am sick ever since my tonsils came out). My throat also hurt a lot the first few days too (the most in a long while). It's all so annoying, especially since it's so warm here! It was in the low 80's today! What the heck? It's now fall! Where's fall weather?! On the other hand, it's been kind of nice having the sun since Monterey's summer consisted of about 5-7 sunny days the entire time I was there. :) Now I miss the fog...grass is always greener on the other side, right?
The move down went well. My fish all survived and I picked up a new plant and 3 neon tetras! The neon tetras are much more lively than my glowlight tetras so it's kind of amusing. Since the water is also warmer here (easily between 78-82 degrees), my fish and shrimp are much more active in general. One day I caught all 6 fish chasing each other around in a conga line. I'm a little worried for my glowlight tetras because my neon tetras are much more aggressive food wise. I'm not sure if it's because that's thew ay neons are or if they're just smaller so they're more aggressive about it. My glowlights are full size so maybe they don't need as much food? I'm not sure. My glowlights seem to be getting enough, but the neons are FAST and definitely out compete them for food. My sucker fish are actually doing their job too. Not as well as when I first put them into the tank months ago, but they're seen actively eating on the logs. I MIGHT get an algae eating shrimp (they're smaller and look a little different than the ones I have), but we'll see. If my logs start growing hair again, I'll get one. Chris thinks I should get even more fish, but I like my tank balance right now. The problem with more fish is more waste. But...we'll see. I do enjoy my fish tank. :)
Classes started on Thursday and Bren had its reception on Thursday. I went to say hi to people and it was good to see the class again. I actually don't have class till Monday since I only have class on Monday and Wednesday. My classes are lookin' pretty easy at this point. I'm taking 232 - environmental modeling, 245 - cost-benefit analysis, and GP.
I'm pretty excited for cost-benefit analysis. I know a little about cost-benefit analysis and the different methods, but I've never in detail have gone through each of the methods and really tried to learn them. The class looks pretty easy with 50% of our grade based on the final, 40% on our term paper, and 10% for class participation. He lectures and also gives us examples to read (based on the syllabus). The book wasn't required to purchase since it's available to us electronically, but I decided to buy the book. It's $50, but it'll be easier to read (and I actually want to read the book) and it'll be something I can have forever since it goes over the basic CBA methods. It's published by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development), which is an international organization. So it'll be handy.
232's environmental modeling should be interesting too. I have to take a modeling/computer type class for my POS (program of study -- our "schedule" of classes we're taking to complete our specialization requirements to graduate). I was going to take GIS to fulfill the requirement, but I'm technically already certified (I have a certificate and everything) and it's offered only in the spring. I initially thought my spring 2011 quarter was going to be crazy busy, but it turns out I'm only taking 8 units and it'll be a light quarter. So I still might take it, but I'm taking ecological modeling as my requirement. That class looks like it'll be fairly easy too. We have a lab assignment due once a week (9 of them) and then the rest of our points is for participation so...90% labs, 10% participation for a total of 100 points. I have a good friend in that class too so I'm not sweatin' it. I'm hoping this prof is good, though. I'm planning to take conservation planning in the winter with her to make-up for a class I needed in the spring not being offered this year. So...we'll see. She's a visiting professor this year, as is the professor who's teaching CBA. So...interesting year at Bren!
GP is startin' up again. It's time to put back on my mercury remediation and BLM policy cap and start thinking, researching, and planning for the GP. We basically have to do all our research this quarter and have it pretty squared away so we can start writing and finalizing things the beginning of winter quarter. I think our paper is due end of winter quarter-ish and our defense presentation is close to the end of winter quarter (maybe week 8?). They haven't finalized dates yet. Should be intense! Hopefully I won't be cursing GP too much this quarter. :P
Well...with that. I'm off to watch my CSI: NY episode from yesterday. Fall TV shows started this week. :P So this week comprised of CSI, CSI: NY, Project Runway, America's Next Top Model (totally a guilty pleasure...though I never finish the season...), Bones, Glee, and Castle. I don't think I'll watch House or Dexter right now. Dexter is too high intense for me wondering if he'll get caught this season or not. LoL House is about the same thing, though Huddy happened so...maybe I'll tune in for the House-Cuddy drama as they try and work through their relationship while she's his boss. :P I'll do a movie update later. I've watched Date Night, Letters to Juliet, Dear John, The Back-Up Plan, Kick-Ass, Cash, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
My snail's radula: a video
I filmed my snail at the top of my tank last night and uploaded it to YouTube. You can see the radula moving (tongue with teeth -- sort of), which is pretty cool. The snail also eats a piece of fish food a little more than a minute into the video. Unfortunately, YouTube downgraded the quality so it's not as easy to see, but the video is still cool all the same. Or I think so at least. :P No music so excuse my sigh/excess noise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4ICHC6p_Lc
Link to what a radula is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radula
Some snails CAN eat other things that are not plant related, FYI. Apparently my snail is one of those since it likes to each the fish flakes. My mini snails I think only eat algae.
Still need to post about the boat, which I'll do later. If I remember...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4ICHC6p_Lc
Link to what a radula is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radula
Some snails CAN eat other things that are not plant related, FYI. Apparently my snail is one of those since it likes to each the fish flakes. My mini snails I think only eat algae.
Still need to post about the boat, which I'll do later. If I remember...
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Oh work...How you've taught me the craziness of, well, work
I have 2.5 weeks left of my internship (goodness, gracious me. Where did the time go?) and I'm somewhere between keeping up with work well enough that sometimes I have these slight lulls and so bogged down with things to do that I don't know how I'm going to get it finished. It's kind of awkward at times, but I'm enjoying it. I like my co-workers and the rest of the team for the report a lot and this internship is teaching me a lot too. For example, when you're working with 6 others and none of them except yourself are working on the project for more than 20-30% of their time, deadlines tend to slip a lot and nagging will ensue. Also, scheduling meetings is basically impossible. Oh, on the topic of meetings, meetings tend to be more about talking than actually doing; though, on the other hand, the talking is something needed even if it's not exactly productive. It's one thing to hear about this, but to actually witness it? It's quite a different thing. In all seriousness, though, I'm learning a lot about managing my time, refining my internet search capabilities, team work, managing my documents and versions better, and keeping track of what I've done and what still needs to be done. So I feel like I've gotten a lot out of the internship that will be very transferable to a future job. It's also nice because they're skills that work in any job situation. So my internship place is a bonus, but at least I'm not doing some side project that I write a short paper for that some internal people read and never really goes anywhere. I'm working on a full blown Packard Foundation grant report that I'm helping to write and compile (pretty spiffy), with a well known NGO, and learning skills that are transferable to any job. Not to mention my boss will also open doors for me in Santa Barbara and she knows some of my CSUMB and UCSB profs. At the end of the day, I couldn't have asked for a better internship.
Anyway, beyond my glowing remarks, I'm feeling the stress of the ever-growing-closer deadline. I'm basically the person who gets to format everything and keep the master document, which I admit is instilling considerable trust in me from my boss (thank you Judy and your recommendation!). On the other hand, I do have the skills from working with Judy and I am the only person on the team who is 100% working on this report. So, it makes sense. Unfortunately, the report won't be finished by the time I leave (my last day is the 15th). Therefore, making sure this report is in a complete rough draft form before I leave is pretty crucial. However, that means I will be going cross-eyed by the time the 15th rolls around form scrutinizing everyone's pieces to make sure the format is consistent across the board. Should be fun!-ish. Oh well, welcome to the real world?
On the good news side of work, though, I will be heading to Morro Bay next week! Oh yeah! I'm getting a sort-of-vacation in this summer! I'm actually getting paid, but...hey. I get to go out to sea to do some ROV work trawling impacts. It all happened thanks to one of those lovely networking connections of my boss and my former professor at CSUMB (a professor I got grad school recommendation letters from!). She and I got to talking about something, which brought up the project and then the fact my former prof is part of it and then -- voila! -- I was invited to come after she talked with my prof. They're going out the 19th to the 6th so I'm going out mid next week. They will be LONG days since we have to leave the home they rent (some vacation home) at 6am and we don't get back to the docks till 4pm. Hopefully I'm so tired by the time we get back that I roll into bed pretty early because getting up at 5-5:30am is NOT going to be fun. I'm also hoping the seas are good. I've never gotten seasick on all the trips I've been on, but I've also never been on a boat for almost 10 hours straight. It should be fun, though! I love being on boats and it's ROV stuff so it should be cool. Plus, I'm being paid my salary to go and I'm basically extra help. So much fun! I'm hoping there are whale sightings (little late in the season, but you never know).
Man...school is creeping up quickly and I haven't (*cringes*) worked on my GP since the first month of summer. Ugh. I need to step that up quickly. Fall quarter is when all our work is supposed to be in full swing and basically wrapping up. In other news, though, I will be seeing Steve Martin perform October 8th! He's going on tour again with his banjo and some other bluegrass bands, so that should be fun! I'm also seeing Jhumpa Lahiri who is a Pulitzer Prize winning author for Interpreter of Maladies in October.
My fishies are still doing well. My shrimp are still procreating every 6-7 weeks. They are like clockwork I tell you! They're pretty much full grown now. They don't molt as often, but they still manage a molt every 2 months or so. Since the females can't molt while they're carrying eggs, they always do it in between breeding. I ALMOST thought my large female was done having eggs (even though I could see them), but she just decided to wait almost a week. It was kind of bizarre. My suckerfish who decided the bottom of the log was his/her place to be finally decided to come out again. It was actually doing its job! Then it stopped and now hangs out on the plant with the other suckefish. So bizarre.
The rabbit has taken to coming into my room also. She recently learned she can go up and down the stairs and has decided trying to get underneath my bed (and simply going up and down the stairs) is her new job in life. She comes running into my room, goes to my bed, tries to move things out of the way, checks out the rest of the bed, and then decides to run back out of my room. After the first 3 times she ran underneath my bed, I blocked off access to underneath my bed (Autumn is not happy about it, btw), which is why she now tries to move things (it's kind of funny to watch). The only thing is, she's decided she needs a nibble before she leaves and has tried chewing on 2 books and my clipboard! The books are stacked neatly in my bookcase so she has to get up on her hind legs and chew on it. Not cool. I've chased her out so many times now. I can't really close my door because of the cats when I'm in my room. So...it's a little bit of a pickle I'm in.
Well...with that...It's seriously time to hit the sack. I meant to go to bed an hour ago. Whoops.
Anyway, beyond my glowing remarks, I'm feeling the stress of the ever-growing-closer deadline. I'm basically the person who gets to format everything and keep the master document, which I admit is instilling considerable trust in me from my boss (thank you Judy and your recommendation!). On the other hand, I do have the skills from working with Judy and I am the only person on the team who is 100% working on this report. So, it makes sense. Unfortunately, the report won't be finished by the time I leave (my last day is the 15th). Therefore, making sure this report is in a complete rough draft form before I leave is pretty crucial. However, that means I will be going cross-eyed by the time the 15th rolls around form scrutinizing everyone's pieces to make sure the format is consistent across the board. Should be fun!-ish. Oh well, welcome to the real world?
On the good news side of work, though, I will be heading to Morro Bay next week! Oh yeah! I'm getting a sort-of-vacation in this summer! I'm actually getting paid, but...hey. I get to go out to sea to do some ROV work trawling impacts. It all happened thanks to one of those lovely networking connections of my boss and my former professor at CSUMB (a professor I got grad school recommendation letters from!). She and I got to talking about something, which brought up the project and then the fact my former prof is part of it and then -- voila! -- I was invited to come after she talked with my prof. They're going out the 19th to the 6th so I'm going out mid next week. They will be LONG days since we have to leave the home they rent (some vacation home) at 6am and we don't get back to the docks till 4pm. Hopefully I'm so tired by the time we get back that I roll into bed pretty early because getting up at 5-5:30am is NOT going to be fun. I'm also hoping the seas are good. I've never gotten seasick on all the trips I've been on, but I've also never been on a boat for almost 10 hours straight. It should be fun, though! I love being on boats and it's ROV stuff so it should be cool. Plus, I'm being paid my salary to go and I'm basically extra help. So much fun! I'm hoping there are whale sightings (little late in the season, but you never know).
Man...school is creeping up quickly and I haven't (*cringes*) worked on my GP since the first month of summer. Ugh. I need to step that up quickly. Fall quarter is when all our work is supposed to be in full swing and basically wrapping up. In other news, though, I will be seeing Steve Martin perform October 8th! He's going on tour again with his banjo and some other bluegrass bands, so that should be fun! I'm also seeing Jhumpa Lahiri who is a Pulitzer Prize winning author for Interpreter of Maladies in October.
My fishies are still doing well. My shrimp are still procreating every 6-7 weeks. They are like clockwork I tell you! They're pretty much full grown now. They don't molt as often, but they still manage a molt every 2 months or so. Since the females can't molt while they're carrying eggs, they always do it in between breeding. I ALMOST thought my large female was done having eggs (even though I could see them), but she just decided to wait almost a week. It was kind of bizarre. My suckerfish who decided the bottom of the log was his/her place to be finally decided to come out again. It was actually doing its job! Then it stopped and now hangs out on the plant with the other suckefish. So bizarre.
The rabbit has taken to coming into my room also. She recently learned she can go up and down the stairs and has decided trying to get underneath my bed (and simply going up and down the stairs) is her new job in life. She comes running into my room, goes to my bed, tries to move things out of the way, checks out the rest of the bed, and then decides to run back out of my room. After the first 3 times she ran underneath my bed, I blocked off access to underneath my bed (Autumn is not happy about it, btw), which is why she now tries to move things (it's kind of funny to watch). The only thing is, she's decided she needs a nibble before she leaves and has tried chewing on 2 books and my clipboard! The books are stacked neatly in my bookcase so she has to get up on her hind legs and chew on it. Not cool. I've chased her out so many times now. I can't really close my door because of the cats when I'm in my room. So...it's a little bit of a pickle I'm in.
Well...with that...It's seriously time to hit the sack. I meant to go to bed an hour ago. Whoops.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Baby Green Sea Turtles
I volunteered today at the Aquarium and I got to see the baby green sea turtles! There are 10 of them and they're SOOO cute. They're about the size of a dinner plate. They don't look green at all. So I wonder if they were formally black sea turtles. Black sea turtles recently were decided they would not be their own species and they've been lumped in with green sea turtles. Don't ask me how that was decided, but the science community decided it.
Here's a photo: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/maNY14gTKV-ld-yBq8_dg6UVOY2tKEcGomRI704GiNI?feat=directlink
And a short video: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/f5bkhth5842zzGOrBtu8pw?feat=directlink
And another short video: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/RPtvFtRpi3-MnlMTLjGqLw?feat=directlink
You will probably want to mute the video since there's a mother/daughter next to me talking pretty loud. The photo and videos were both taken with my iPhone 4! They turned out pretty good. The video looks better not on Picasa, but it's not too bad. The photo I'm purely amazed about. It didn't come out blurry from the turtle moving.
Here's a photo: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/maNY14gTKV-ld-yBq8_dg6UVOY2tKEcGomRI704GiNI?feat=directlink
And a short video: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/f5bkhth5842zzGOrBtu8pw?feat=directlink
And another short video: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/RPtvFtRpi3-MnlMTLjGqLw?feat=directlink
You will probably want to mute the video since there's a mother/daughter next to me talking pretty loud. The photo and videos were both taken with my iPhone 4! They turned out pretty good. The video looks better not on Picasa, but it's not too bad. The photo I'm purely amazed about. It didn't come out blurry from the turtle moving.
Friday, August 6, 2010
I got my iPhone 4!
Oh yeah...it's charging right now so I can activate it, but I got my iPhone 4!! It's so pretty...I'm going to have troubles wanting to use it because it's all shiny, new, and scratch free. It's heavier then I remembered and I still don't really like the square feeling, but...it's so pretty!!! I love it.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
I forgot Salt...
Goodness...keeping track of all the films I watch gets tricky.
I saw Salt too. It was a good typical action-adventure film. It's pretty amazing the stunts Angelina Jolie does and I do enjoy her action films. The crazy infiltration stuff added an interesting layer to the film you didn't really see coming at you. They kept it pretty well out of the trailers so you didn't exactly know what's going on. I'd see a sequel if they made one and it's set up to have one. It does remind me a little too much of the Bourne movies but with a female, but it was still good. B
I saw Salt too. It was a good typical action-adventure film. It's pretty amazing the stunts Angelina Jolie does and I do enjoy her action films. The crazy infiltration stuff added an interesting layer to the film you didn't really see coming at you. They kept it pretty well out of the trailers so you didn't exactly know what's going on. I'd see a sequel if they made one and it's set up to have one. It does remind me a little too much of the Bourne movies but with a female, but it was still good. B
Movieholic continues...
I totally forgot to write about Extraordinary Measures. In fact, I forgot I watched it till I read the back of the DVD cover earlier this past week. *forehead slap*
Extraordinary Measures (DVD) - I really enjoyed the film. I thought Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser did really good acting jobs. The story itself is amazing and based on a true story about a father who raises money to save his two children who were dying from a rare disease. Harrison Ford is the scientist who ends up helping the cure, but there's a power struggle there too. It was one of those heartwarming, root for the underdog type of stories that's based in truth and has great acting. A-
Repo Men (DVD) - Action movie with a twist at the end. I kind of suspected the twist, but gave up on the idea after a while because it just seemed to not be. Of course, the twist came at the last 5 minutes of the movie. Oh well. Anyway, it's an action film with some blood. I can handle autopsy type of stuff as long as they're dead on film, but this was more like they were either dead or simply unconscious. Repo Men is a futuristic film about these, well, repo men who repo artificial organs when people get behind their payments. The sales people are specifically made to convince people to buy these outrageously expensive organs for their best interest even at almost 20% interest, but the company does this so they can make money and then repo the organs. Anyway, Jude Law's character is a repo man. He goes through some personal stuff about the job he does (you're basically a grim reaper) and then he ends up in a sticky situation where he gets an artificial heart. Suddenly, because of his new view on life, he can't repossess the organs from others and falls behind on his payments (repo men work on commission) and the rest of the story is about him getting away from the repo men, finding this girl, etc. Not a bad film if you can handle the cutting into people. B
The Losers (DVD) - Think the A-Team, but not. A bunch of guys in the military set-up in Bolivia to mark this drug/terrorist type guy. They get the job done, save these 20 kids, put the kids on a helicopter, and the helicopter gets blown up after the guys hear the command for the helicopter to be blown up. In essence, the guys are supposed to be dead now, so they "fake" their death by putting their tags into the fire and bide some time to get back. They end up hooking up with this chick who can fund them and will help them get back at the guy and yaddy, yaddy. There's a traitor and a lot of action. It's basically an action-action film, whereas Repo Men would be more like action-drama (if that makes sense). Anyway, it wasn't horrible, but not great. B-/B
Clash of the Titans (DVD) - I enjoyed the pegasus more than the whole movie! I think I would have enjoyed the film more if they didn't mess with the actual mythology stories. That was disappointing. It's not like mythology stories are even that long! The story of Io was completely changed 100% and the love interest changed for Perseus. The pegasus was REALLY cool though. Sometimes they CG the entire horse, but here they only added the wings so it was a real horse with wings. Pretty neat! I think the beginning of the movie is better than the end. The giant scorpions were pretty neat. The Medusa fight was okay. The final fight was kind of "eh." For me...the pegasus saved the whole film! B-
Brooklyn's Finest (DVD) - Not what I expected at all. It's the story of 3 very different cops in Brooklyn. They're different in their jobs and their personalities. One is undercover and has been for years and wants out, but won't be let out (his wife ends up filing for divorce). One is about to retire, goes to a hooker at night, and is pretty cynical. The other is a drughouse type raider with kids and a wife that is pregnant with twins and her asthma is bad because of the mold in their house walls. They all end up intersecting in a weird way at the end of the movie. It's a semi-sad ending and somewhat...not ironic...but something like that. The acting is really good from Richard Gere, Don Cheadle (who I won't forgive for replacing Terrance Howard in Iron Man 2), and Ethan Hawke. There are definitely more nuances in each character like Cheadle's undercover cop starts to have loyalties to the drug traffickers he's supposed to be reporting on. Ethan Hawke's drug raiding cop is actually corrupt because he steals drug money to try and have enough to buy a new house for his family (especially wife who ends up in the hospital with severe asthma issues from the mold in their current house). Anyway, not what I expected. It's not my normal type of film I'd enjoy, but it wasn't bad either. B
Our Family Wedding (DVD) - A cute rom-com type film. Basically a Mexican female and an African-American male fall in love and have to break the news to their family. Unfortunately for them, their dads have already met and don't like each other due to a towing incident. Her family isn't happy with her man (he's not Catholic, he's not Mexican, etc) and his father doesn't like her father and doesn't really like the idea of him getting married. So it goes through the trials and tribulations of the families trying to meld and the bridge/groom trying to get through it. As the quote in the movie is, "Our marriage, their wedding." Wasn't anything really new, but it was okay and the melding of the two different groups was interesting. B
She's Out of My League (DVD) - Surprisingly better than I thought it would be and I liked it. It's funny and it has the common insecurities that some couples have in their relationship. The main one in this movie is dating someone that's hotter than you and convincing yourself the relationship won't last so in ways you "sabotage" it so it doesn't work out. Or you're simply not surprised when it doesn't last and all that stuff. It's not really a rom-com since it's a male lead, but it's cute and if you've witnessed the "number system" it's kind of entertaining in that way. B+
Sorcerer's Apprentice - Maybe my expectations were really low for this, but it's better than I thought it would be. LoL The movie doesn't flow in some weird way. It's 2 hours long, but feels like it's missing something to connect everything together in a smoother way. It was entertaining and I was worried it'd drag along at 2 hours, but it kept a steady pace. I'm not a huge fan of Nicholas Cage, but I mostly got past him being in the movie. I like Jay Baruchel (stars in She's Out of My League) so that helped even if he's basically pigeonholed into the same role in everything he's in. Anyway, I think the story is what ended up helping this movie along. It had some good points in it and some interesting tidbits, but it is missing something. The change in Jay Baruchel's character Dave was a little too quick without some huge revelation. It was more like a girl said something to him so it boosted his confidence enough to take down an evil sorcerer? I'm not sure, but I enjoyed it more than I thought. B/B-
I saw the Narnia trailer for the first time in front of Sorcerer's Apprentice and that movie looks good! I really liked the BBC version and with the fallout of Disney, I'm hoping Walden Media with Fox can go back to the original story more and do well. There were some scenes in the trailer that looked almost exactly from the BBC version so I'm hopeful. The Secretariat trailer still makes me tear up every time I see it. I'm probably going to be crying through that film when they show Secretariat's Triple Crown races. They're so magnificent to watch. Anyway, I'm excited for that and never get tired of seeing the trailer. I just want to see it!! The Girl Who Played with Fire is out in theaters which I'm totally slow on. It's the sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo so I'd like to see the Fire one eventually. I didn't connect the series to the movie till recently. LoL Since Fire is out, I wonder if they'll make The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (the latest Stiege Larsson book in the series).
Anyway, with that, time for bed. I'm working from home for most of the week and I need to write a 1-page draft of my findings by the end of this week along with my normal research. Some change up will be nice!
Extraordinary Measures (DVD) - I really enjoyed the film. I thought Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser did really good acting jobs. The story itself is amazing and based on a true story about a father who raises money to save his two children who were dying from a rare disease. Harrison Ford is the scientist who ends up helping the cure, but there's a power struggle there too. It was one of those heartwarming, root for the underdog type of stories that's based in truth and has great acting. A-
Repo Men (DVD) - Action movie with a twist at the end. I kind of suspected the twist, but gave up on the idea after a while because it just seemed to not be. Of course, the twist came at the last 5 minutes of the movie. Oh well. Anyway, it's an action film with some blood. I can handle autopsy type of stuff as long as they're dead on film, but this was more like they were either dead or simply unconscious. Repo Men is a futuristic film about these, well, repo men who repo artificial organs when people get behind their payments. The sales people are specifically made to convince people to buy these outrageously expensive organs for their best interest even at almost 20% interest, but the company does this so they can make money and then repo the organs. Anyway, Jude Law's character is a repo man. He goes through some personal stuff about the job he does (you're basically a grim reaper) and then he ends up in a sticky situation where he gets an artificial heart. Suddenly, because of his new view on life, he can't repossess the organs from others and falls behind on his payments (repo men work on commission) and the rest of the story is about him getting away from the repo men, finding this girl, etc. Not a bad film if you can handle the cutting into people. B
The Losers (DVD) - Think the A-Team, but not. A bunch of guys in the military set-up in Bolivia to mark this drug/terrorist type guy. They get the job done, save these 20 kids, put the kids on a helicopter, and the helicopter gets blown up after the guys hear the command for the helicopter to be blown up. In essence, the guys are supposed to be dead now, so they "fake" their death by putting their tags into the fire and bide some time to get back. They end up hooking up with this chick who can fund them and will help them get back at the guy and yaddy, yaddy. There's a traitor and a lot of action. It's basically an action-action film, whereas Repo Men would be more like action-drama (if that makes sense). Anyway, it wasn't horrible, but not great. B-/B
Clash of the Titans (DVD) - I enjoyed the pegasus more than the whole movie! I think I would have enjoyed the film more if they didn't mess with the actual mythology stories. That was disappointing. It's not like mythology stories are even that long! The story of Io was completely changed 100% and the love interest changed for Perseus. The pegasus was REALLY cool though. Sometimes they CG the entire horse, but here they only added the wings so it was a real horse with wings. Pretty neat! I think the beginning of the movie is better than the end. The giant scorpions were pretty neat. The Medusa fight was okay. The final fight was kind of "eh." For me...the pegasus saved the whole film! B-
Brooklyn's Finest (DVD) - Not what I expected at all. It's the story of 3 very different cops in Brooklyn. They're different in their jobs and their personalities. One is undercover and has been for years and wants out, but won't be let out (his wife ends up filing for divorce). One is about to retire, goes to a hooker at night, and is pretty cynical. The other is a drughouse type raider with kids and a wife that is pregnant with twins and her asthma is bad because of the mold in their house walls. They all end up intersecting in a weird way at the end of the movie. It's a semi-sad ending and somewhat...not ironic...but something like that. The acting is really good from Richard Gere, Don Cheadle (who I won't forgive for replacing Terrance Howard in Iron Man 2), and Ethan Hawke. There are definitely more nuances in each character like Cheadle's undercover cop starts to have loyalties to the drug traffickers he's supposed to be reporting on. Ethan Hawke's drug raiding cop is actually corrupt because he steals drug money to try and have enough to buy a new house for his family (especially wife who ends up in the hospital with severe asthma issues from the mold in their current house). Anyway, not what I expected. It's not my normal type of film I'd enjoy, but it wasn't bad either. B
Our Family Wedding (DVD) - A cute rom-com type film. Basically a Mexican female and an African-American male fall in love and have to break the news to their family. Unfortunately for them, their dads have already met and don't like each other due to a towing incident. Her family isn't happy with her man (he's not Catholic, he's not Mexican, etc) and his father doesn't like her father and doesn't really like the idea of him getting married. So it goes through the trials and tribulations of the families trying to meld and the bridge/groom trying to get through it. As the quote in the movie is, "Our marriage, their wedding." Wasn't anything really new, but it was okay and the melding of the two different groups was interesting. B
She's Out of My League (DVD) - Surprisingly better than I thought it would be and I liked it. It's funny and it has the common insecurities that some couples have in their relationship. The main one in this movie is dating someone that's hotter than you and convincing yourself the relationship won't last so in ways you "sabotage" it so it doesn't work out. Or you're simply not surprised when it doesn't last and all that stuff. It's not really a rom-com since it's a male lead, but it's cute and if you've witnessed the "number system" it's kind of entertaining in that way. B+
Sorcerer's Apprentice - Maybe my expectations were really low for this, but it's better than I thought it would be. LoL The movie doesn't flow in some weird way. It's 2 hours long, but feels like it's missing something to connect everything together in a smoother way. It was entertaining and I was worried it'd drag along at 2 hours, but it kept a steady pace. I'm not a huge fan of Nicholas Cage, but I mostly got past him being in the movie. I like Jay Baruchel (stars in She's Out of My League) so that helped even if he's basically pigeonholed into the same role in everything he's in. Anyway, I think the story is what ended up helping this movie along. It had some good points in it and some interesting tidbits, but it is missing something. The change in Jay Baruchel's character Dave was a little too quick without some huge revelation. It was more like a girl said something to him so it boosted his confidence enough to take down an evil sorcerer? I'm not sure, but I enjoyed it more than I thought. B/B-
I saw the Narnia trailer for the first time in front of Sorcerer's Apprentice and that movie looks good! I really liked the BBC version and with the fallout of Disney, I'm hoping Walden Media with Fox can go back to the original story more and do well. There were some scenes in the trailer that looked almost exactly from the BBC version so I'm hopeful. The Secretariat trailer still makes me tear up every time I see it. I'm probably going to be crying through that film when they show Secretariat's Triple Crown races. They're so magnificent to watch. Anyway, I'm excited for that and never get tired of seeing the trailer. I just want to see it!! The Girl Who Played with Fire is out in theaters which I'm totally slow on. It's the sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo so I'd like to see the Fire one eventually. I didn't connect the series to the movie till recently. LoL Since Fire is out, I wonder if they'll make The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (the latest Stiege Larsson book in the series).
Anyway, with that, time for bed. I'm working from home for most of the week and I need to write a 1-page draft of my findings by the end of this week along with my normal research. Some change up will be nice!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)