x-men: first class

x-men: first class - 9.5/10 - fan of the x-men franchise? go see this movie today! this movie is mind blowing! by far the best x-men film that has been released. about time they actually made a great movie with these characters. obviously with the era that the film is set in, a lot of the familiar x-men are not a part of the film (storm, cyclops, gambit, rogue, jean grey, etc.). the only reason this movie doesn't get a 10/10 from me is the way they portrayed emma frost. i don't think it was january jones' fault that this character isn't as bitchy, self-absorbed, and pretty much in charge as emma should have been but more a writing flaw. although as my dad pointed out this is when emma was much younger and maybe i'm being a bit too harsh as i'm used to the emma of generation x who doesn't give a damn about anyone but herself and would have had sebastian shaw working for her...anywho, spoilers ahead, ye have been warned...wolverine makes a small cameo and it was quite appropriate. i really enjoyed that they took a lot of time to work in all the mutants' abilities and show them off whenever there was an applicable moment. rather than just see kitty pryde or colossus for two seconds and not really get much out of their character, this film really brought out a lot of lesser well known mutants and put them in the spotlight. it was also great to see moira mctaggert in a starring role rather than a bit part albeit that her occupation and ancestry was a bit skewed from the comic. i was a little disappointed in the writers' decisions to change a lot of the x-men's origins to suit the film but i guess that's common practice when it comes to movies about comics or books. things that were a bit off were: professor x's initial paralysis incident, i don't think tempest (angel) was ever a member of the hellfire club, the death of darwin (he's pretty much invincible folks), how charles and erik meet, and the death of sebastian shaw. shaw's pretty much a key figure in the sentinel program so either magneto doesn't really kill him in this film at all or they're going to take the films to very different places.

all in all go see the movie, you won't regret having spent the moola as it is incredibly entertaining!

enjoy the silence.

the blog is back!

wow! it has been almost a year since my last post. here's a quick update on me. my entire life has changed drastically with the addition of robert as of january 14th this year. if you read some of the previous posts then you know he was due around january 3rd but apparently decided to wait a while to make his appearance. he's a ball of fun and growing so quickly (they do that or so folks tell me). i'm still working at usc in the biology department trying to obtain the illusive phd while teaching biology 102 labs. in fact i'm working on some research right now. i'm also still part time at vista psychiatric in the billing department. sean's still working at his family's trucking business - choice trucking and things seem to be going pretty smoothly all around.

precious - 9.5/10 - i realize this movie has been out for quite some time and that i should have watched it before now as it has been sitting in our netflix queue for at least two months. anywho the movie was great! the acting and the directing were phenomenal! i actually had some empathy for the characters. for those of you that aren't familiar the film is about a girl, precious, who grows up with an absolutely horrible family life in harlem. her father rapes her, her mother beats her and is emotionally abusive, she's overweight, and illiterate. precious already has one child by her father and the story starts with her pregnant with her second child. i don't want to give too much away for those of you that haven't seen it but i found the movie to be fantastic. it is a hard film to watch but definitely worth it in the end.

in everquest 2 news they are finally recognizing the ultimate race - ratonga of course! they've introduced a new history book detailing some of the ratonga heritage (titled out of necessity) as well as a free ratonga illusion and free seeker of cheese house pet (both for a limited time in the station marketplace), and they have released the ratonga heritage armor! pyper and all her friends are thoroughly ecstatic.

well enough for now. glad to be back and hope to keep myself around. as for now, enjoy the silence!