grown ups, predators, inception, and the last airbender

let's start off with the worst and work our way up...

the last airbender - 3/10 - eh the acting was just sucky...we've watched a good bit of the cartoon and none of the humor was present. i was let down.

predators - 5/10 - it accomplished what it came to do, keep me preoccupied for an hour and 47 minutes. it had a good bit of action and a small twist that was pretty obvious early on. i suggest renting it for sure. if you're a huge predator fan then head to the theaters, i doubt you'll be disappointed.

grown ups - 5/10 - i laughed a lot more than i thought i would with this film. even though it contains a large number of big names [adam sandler, kevin james, rob schneider, chris rock, and david spade] i still found it to be quite enjoyable. a definite dvd rental.

inception - 7.5/10 - i feel that this movie is getting a lot of crap for being too intelligent. in my opinion they dumbed it down for the masses and anyone with a semi functioning brain should have no problem understanding this film. i'm not a fan of leonardo dicaprio but he and the other actors in the film [joseph gordon-levitt, ellen page, tom hardy, cillian murphy] do a wonderful job with their individual parts. a lot of the scenes are visually stunning as well. i definitely suggest catching this one if you're up for a tiny bit of concentration rather than a summer popcorn flick.

enjoy the silence.

toy story 3, knight and day, the a team, the karate kid

hi folks. really short reviews coming your way this am.

toy story 3 - 7/10 - if you like the others, you're sure to like this one. a little darker than the other two toy stories but a good film nonetheless.

knight and day - 6/10 - definitely a dvd rental if you don't catch it in theaters. an okay amount of action mixed with humor. the plot could have used a little more creativity but eh it works out alright.

the a team - 8/10 - i really thought i was going to be bored during this film and that i'd seen all the funny parts in the previews. action packed, hilarious, extremely enjoyable. i say go see it today if you haven't already.

the karate kid - 5.5/10 - eh, the original was way better. i suggest dvd rental.

so here's to hoping that they really are planning ghostbusters iii for sometime in 2012 as imdb says is rumored. or maybe that beetlejuice sequel that michael keaton and geena davis wanna make...

in other life news, sean and i are expecting to introduce a new gamer into the world around or about january 3rd! excitement, i know. also sean caught a 3 foot eastern king snake in our computer room the other day. how did that sucker manage to get in the house?!?

anywho, have a fantastic week and as always enjoy the silence!

prince of persia: the sands of time, splice, and the sims 3: ambitions

prince of persia: the sands of time - 4.5/10 - i thought this film would blow. i have not played the game so i have no idea how well it portrays the game at all. i'm really not a big fan of jake gyllenhaal either except for his role in donnie darko. we'll just overlook all of gemma arterton's role as she was a bit much. the movie, however, was actually somewhat enjoyable. there was enough action to keep me preoccupied throughout the film and the plot was okay even if it was somewhat predictable. i wouldn't go rushing to theaters to see this one but i think it'd be an okay popcorn flick dvd rental.

splice - 3/10 - bah! this film was so promising. i love horror. i love science. mix the two together and voila; perfect freaking movie...not so much in this case. so the movie starts off well enough in a lab where scientists are mixing animal dna to try and find proteins that will help solve diseases in livestock. so they decide to get carried away and go for a human/animal cross even though they're directly told not to do so. surprise surprise they do it anyway. spoilers ahead: so they create dren (nerd backwards) which is a pretty neat looking critter. here's where the movie becomes idiotic. so the two idiot scientists, clive and elsa, are in a relationship and have sex in front of dren (by accident of course, they just couldn't possibly think that since she was behind that curtain she would hear them). so dren decides this looks like a good idea and starts getting all affectionate with clive. well one day she kisses clive and apparently this is just too much because he drops his pants and they have sex (images i will never be able to get out of my head) but he doesn't finish so she doesn't kill him as they get caught by elsa. fast forward a bit and it looks like dren is dying since her growth rate was so quick. well turns out she was just changing from a female to a male so after being buried dren comes out of the ground to kill any competing males then manages to grunt out "inside you" when elsa asks what he wants as he proceeds to rape her. elsa manages to kill him after he's finished as clive comes in and stabs dren before dren kills clive. the movie ends with elsa pregnant - hello splice 2. i suggest skipping this one altogether. i mean species is a much better representation of what i guess the director was trying to go for here so go watch it instead.

sims 3: ambitions - i really dunno what i think of it at this point. the new occupations are pretty neat. you can be a ghost hunter, a designer, all sorts of nifty new things. there's even a new neighborhood to play in, granted it's a swamp, and i'm not kidding there, but at least it's a new neighborhood. now i find that i cannot for the life of me get past one thing they added that is completely ruining my game in my opinion. for any of you that played the sims2 and got the seasons expansion, weren't you really annoyed when it was fall and the leaves would drop from the trees and your sims would spend hours raking leaves? i know i was. well unlike seasons where you could just delete the trees or get rid of autumn all together, this expansion comes with an even more heinous task: laundry. those freaking sims change clothes all the time and leave little piles of laundry all over the place. they forego urinating to go move the clothes to the dryer. i play the sims for fun. to lord over my minions and have them do my bidding. i thoroughly dislike this humdrum task being placed in the game. oh and think you can get away with not doing laundry by deleting your washer and dryer? hell no! your sims will have to take their clothes to the laundromat, i kid you not. so for now the expansion has left me a bit deflated as my sims are too busy with laundry to do much and i really don't see why adding this feature in brings anything whatsoever to the game.

eh enough of my ranting about splice and the sims 3 expansion. enjoy the silence.

shrek, whip it, and eq2 addition: halas reborn

alrighty so i figured i ought to get back into blogging since i've let it slide a bit but now find myself with a smidgen of time to report on my movie and random video game experiences. the movie reviews are going to be short for now but hopefully in later posts i'll have some more time to elongate later reviews.

shrek forever after - 6/10 snaps - i actually enjoyed this film a lot and think that it's great for families as the humor is somewhat adult but the kiddies seem to enjoy it too so at least rent it. i have to admit i'm not the hugest fan of the shrek series and have yet to see shrek the third. don't get me wrong, they're funny and definitely enjoyable but just not my favorite film series. the only qualm i have with this one is that it had a rather short running time (about an hour and a half). i only wish that donkey/dragon crosses were real...

whip it - 7/10 snaps - roller derby is bitchin! i like ellen page and a ton of the other actors/actresses that were in this film (drew barrymore, alia shawkat [arrested development], kristen wiig, juliette lewis, the list goes on and on). i feel that this was a nice chick coming of age story for our time and find it definitely rent worthy.

eq2: halas reborn - for a free update to the game with a new starting city that i'm just beginning to explore with my new baby wood elf illusionist i have to say that i'm enjoying the questline. my only problem thus far has been lack of mailboxes in various outposts so that i can expand my inventory. my favorite addition has been the new sets of armor. check out my beautiful illu with her kicking threads (it even makes her facial tattoos look good).


granted she's only a level 14 illusionist but i may keep this look for her for awhile. plus it's really chilly in halas with all that ice and snow.

well off to play some more everquest 2 and work on thank you cards. have a fantastic evening and enjoy the silence.

insomnia - the cure for forgotten blogging

okay so obviously i have been away for quite a while. i lead an incredibly busy life ha ha ha. what with teaching, class, research, working, wedding planning, gaming etc i find myself with little time. well since i'm a bit insomniatic this morning i've got a tiny bit of time to actually blog.

teaching front - i'm still in the 102 labs and i really enjoy both classes that i have this semester. i'm currently teaching tuesdays and wednesdays at 8am. it is a bit of a pain to have to get to usc by 7am but i rather enjoy the early classes as opposed to those later in the evening.

class - just research for me this semester...i don't have time for an actual class. next semester i'll have to squeeze one in somewhere.

research - i'm getting places, just slowly. i wish it would go a tad bit faster. i can't wait to have something publishable on the dengue virus.

work - same old same old. insurance work never ends. everyone in the insurance field is trying to go paperless so that's a whole new problem in our office since they love their paper ;)

wedding planning - i'm down to the small things i think. invitations should be going out soon. if you don't get one and you want one bug me about it, i'm sure i didn't remember everyone when making up the invitation list.

gaming - raiding two nights a week right now instead of three. sentinel's fate came out and i have to say i'm enjoying the new expansion but i'd like to get through the quest lines. i keep getting interrupted by random jazz.

if you haven't tried it out yet give pandora radio a go round online. it's a pretty neat little device that allows you to mix up all sorts of genres and plays songs based on previous choices. i thoroughly enjoy it.

as for now, i'm out of time as i need to be at usc by around 7:30 this morning so everyone have a fantastic day and i'll try to spit out some more blogs more often. especially movie-wise since we still tend to go to at least a movie a week. this week's obvious film is tim burton's alice in wonderland. as for now, enjoy the silence.