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!

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!

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.

procrastination what?

well again i have forsaken my blog duties for things that are i suppose technically 'more important at the moment'...having said that i am currently studying for a statistics exam and most of my motor functions and thought processes have ceased to exist for the moment so i've decided to quit procrastinating [don't worry, we'll still unite tomorrow] and type up a quickie blog with the short version movie reviews of the last month and change.

district 9 - 7.5/10 snaps - enjoyable and a different kind of alien film. nice to see something new and innovative. i like the documentary style when it's not all jumpy to where i feel motion sick in the theater [blair witch project/cloverfield style]. not a bad theater flick if it's still available in theaters at the moment which it may or may not be.

9 - 5.5/10 snaps - cool up until the ending which i think they could have done a much better job with but i was pleased enough with the film. wait for video in my honest opinion.

informant! - 1.5/10 snaps - whoever thought up the preview for this should be shot. this movie is a very serious take on price fixing and i was insanely bored. i went into the movie thinking it would be fairly humorous...boy was i wrong. skip it all together.

pandorum - 6/10 snaps - actually more enjoyable than i thought it would be going in. i vote to watch this one on dvd.

extract - 6/10 snaps - pretty humorous, very nice cast. i think i was just in a bad mood this day so this one may be getting a little short changed here.

the final destination - 6.5/10 snaps - well it was just as much fun as the other final destinations BUT IN 3D!!! fun times were had by all yet i was thoroughly disappointed in the ending of the film. it should have been a way cooler death for those remaining...

inglourious basterds - 7/10 snaps - 'he speaks i - talian 3rd best.' 'i don't speak italian at all.' 'that's why you're 3rd best.' interesting film. definitely a watch on dvd, possibly a theater go if you're into alternate history films.

so that's it in the film department. i'm still working, doing biol 102 lab stuffs, planning a wedding, gaming, and trying to learn statistics all at the same time however i read recently that one should try to multitask less. i think that may have been written by someone who did not have a job and/or life.

anywho back to stat for the next 2.5 hours. wish me luck on my exam and as always...

enjoy the silence.

words like violence, break the silence...

i'd like to start by apologizing in that i have fallen down in my blogging duty and have not posted for far too long now. so sorry folks. now on to the movies and rather than review them i think i'll just tweet on them all brieflike.

harry potter and the half-blood prince - 8/10 snaps - if you like the others you'll like this one, pretty true to the book...

year one - 2.5/10 snaps - i was bored to tears, not humorous, huge waste of time...

gi joe: the rise of cobra - 5.5/10 snaps - i'm waiting for a live action my little pony movie, this one's worth at least a rental if you're a child of the 80s.

transformers: revenge of the fallen - 7/10 - uh loads of explosions along with loads of plotholes. let's not talk about the stereotyping...

orphan - 5/10 - i was a bit disappointed. rental worthy at best.

the collector - 6/10 - i think they could've added a tad more plot to this one and it would have risen at least 2 snaps. very gory in saw-like fashion. rent it and watch it at night.

proposal - 6.5/10 - completely transparent but reynolds and bullock make a good pair. rent worthy.

i think that covers all the movies i've seen since posting last.

my grandfather hall passed away somewhat unexpectedly and i know he is missed by many. we now have his amazon parrot which i call velo [short for velociraptor as he'd take your arm off in a heartbeat] whose real name is cocky [which i refuse to recognize for obvious reasons].

i was recently at the parent preview night for gilbert marching band and witnessed michael gilpatrick pass out while playing the trumpet. my prayers and thoughts go out to the band and his family. he is currently in the icu but things are not looking good at the moment. having been invested in marching band for years i know how close those students become to your heart and can only imagine how terrible this must be for everyone involved.

as for me, i'm getting ready to start back into teaching while taking class, researching, and working. life is about to get pretty hectic all over again.

back to sorting through my epitopes so for now enjoy the silence.

wow it's been over a month...

okay so i've been insanely busy. isn't that ridiculous? on top of research, class, working, raiding, the pets, and other gaming life has left me with little to no time. today i had time and i used it to do 4 loads of laundry, the dishes, some vacuuming, and was even able to squeeze in some quality time with rukia and eros. we'll start with movies, move to life in general, and finish up with games i think.

x-men origins: wolverine - 6.5/10 snaps - better than x3, pretty on par with x1, not better than x2. seeing as how gambit is my favorite of favorites comic character i was excited to see him in the film. he didn't have a large enough role and his accent slipped from cajun to southern to non-existent. the fighting scenes he had were nice and he looked hot enough so we'll forgive the accent bit. the other acting was pretty good in the film and i can even overlook some of the inconsistencies with folks' powers but [SPOILERS] the deadpool crap at the end was freaking ridiculous! let's pull off this bullshit move where we combine a whole bunch of mutants' powers through genetic engineering and make deadpool a controllable robot. who writes this crap? there are plenty of evil folks you can combine to have a kickass battle...why not do that? also some mutants had incorrect powers but hell in x3 they just kept adding mutants that to my knowledge don't exist in the x-men universe. eh if you love the x-men i'd say rent it. i don't suggest going to the movies to see it. also there are separate endings post the credits and we happened to get the 'drinking to remember' bs as opposed to the deadpool still being alive ending. at least make the endings comparable if there are going to be multiple ones.

star trek - 9.5/10 - FANTASTIC! i'm not a trekkie [spelling?]. i'm not a real big fan of the series. this movie is one of the best action films i've seen in a long time. it literally felt like i was in the theater for 20 minutes whereas the movie was actually 2 hours or so. i was surprised by a lot of the acting in this particular film as i'm used to silar in heroes and shaun from shaun of the dead and whatnot. a lot of big names. go see it if you haven't. even if you're into the series i think you'll find it enjoyable. i went with 3 trekkies who seemed to really enjoy it as much as i did.

terminator salvation - 5/10 - um...there were a lot of inconsistencies with this baby that really dropped it's score. the ending was another one of those 'you have to be shitting me i can't believe the editor let this go to production' endings. to tell you the truth, the ending of the film dropped it 2 snaps just by itself. i do think sam worthington did a really great job as marcus wright and look forward to seeing him as perseus in the remake of clash of the titans [as the old clash of the titans is one of my favorite films], anton yelchin also put in a good performance [charlie bartlett, also in star trek as chekov], in fact a lot of the actors were above par for this particular film. the screenplay is what gets them all in trouble. i find it hard to believe that christian bale read this and agreed to do it with that ending but as one of our other movie going friends stated it may be the millions of dollars that pushed him to it lol. also who the hell names their child moon bloodgood? seriously? um, i say wait for it to come out on usa...forget even paying to rent it unless you're a huge fan of the series and even then just go watch t2 and some of the sarah connor chronicles...

night at the museum: battle of the smithsonian - 6/10 - i swear to god amy adams is related to nicole kidman. anywho. movie was enjoyable enough. if you loved the first one go see this one. it's not quite as good but pretty close, otherwise rentable. eh you know the premise, stuff in the museum comes to life, there's some kind of evil bad guy they must overcome. would've been a lot more fun i think if jonah hill had more than a walk-on spot. he and ben stiller seem to play off one another really well.

alright done with movies. i think we're going to see up friday or next week. also i really want to see drag me to hell. i may have seen something else these past four weeks but apparently it's not as important as to post. if i remember later i'll stick it here somewhere.

life in general. aurora had her puppies. she had 7 total. 2 were stillborn. of the other 5 only 1 was born inside the placental sac. so i took all 5 to the vet when they were one day old as some of them weren't breathing well and weren't nursing so i was bottle feeding two of them. the vet told me that they all aspirated during birth and gave one of them oxygen and two of them a shot of antibiotics. sean and i took them back home and held 4 of them while they died. it was awful. i feel awful for the puppies, i feel awful for us, i feel awful for aurora but she seems pretty happy with just the one. so sean decided that we have to keep the remaining puppy [SEAN DECIDED, can you believe it wasn't me begging to keep the dog?] anywho so we didn't get her tail docked and her name is kuma [japanese for bear] as she looks like a little bear. i'll post a pic of her soon when she gets a little older. there's a cute photoshopped one of her on old school's myspace page wearing an old school shirt.

went to disney world with the folks, sean, and johnathon last week. we just got back yesterday. it was a fantastic time but man i have to lose some weight and get more fit. my feet were absolutely killing me the entire time after the first day. i'll get some pictures up from that trip as well. this semester went really well. i passed my qualifying exam for my phd. this means i've just got my comprehensive exam and my thesis defense to go. i wonder if i could do it in 3 years like my friend stephanie has done. time will tell i suppose.

on to the games. everquest 2 is my addiction of choice right now of course but i've been playing viva pinata again like a mad fiend as well. i found a pc copy for 7.99 at gamestop last week. i already have it on the 360 but man is it quicker with a mouse. also this week is SIMS 3. i cannot wait! i only have one more day to go huzzah!

eh i'm getting a bit tired so i'm heading off to bed. hopefully i'll be able to keep up a bit better with the blog now that it's summertime.

as for now...enjoy the silence...

fast & furious

so sorry i haven't been keeping up with the blog but the end of the semester is tres horrible...this week is finals week...boo...next week is my qualifying exam for my phd which in all truth i'm more prepared for than the final i have tomorrow at 2pm. granted i've put a lot of time into preparing for the final tomorrow at 2pm but i still don't feel ready yet. hopefully i'll reconcile that tomorrow morning...we shall see..

so on to the review - fast & furious [new model...original parts...] - 5.5/10 - i like the fast and furious series. the southern accent in tokyo drift was a bit much but the movies are just what they promise to be...action packed and full of hot bodies for guys and girls alike. we went to see this a little bit over a week ago because sean enjoys the fast and the furious and i enjoy vin diesel ^..^ my main problem with the film is that i love michelle rodriguez and she's just not in it enough for me personally plus jordana brewster cannot act to save her life in this series...maybe it's a proximity to vin diesel issue, if so, who can blame her right? anywho if you enjoyed the others it's safe to say you'll enjoy these as it's more of the same. if you're on the fence wait for the dvd...

i so cannot wait to see wolverine tomorrow night [midnight showing] even though i'm going to be insanely regretting it friday morning when i go help proctor dr. hughes' exam for his avian class at 8:45am...we have a copy of the movie pre all the finishing production fun but i refused to watch it. sean tells me gambit didn't have a cajun accent in it but i hope that's not how it turns out tomorrow since the copy we've got is missing all sorts of effects and whatnot...somehow i have a feeling they're just going to have him talk normally which doesn't make any sense but i guess they did take a lot of liberties with other aspects [especially age] of a lot of the x-men in the previous films as well so i shouldn't be surprised...

uber props to terence for having this on his blog and now it must go on mine...



enjoy the silence...

i love you man and the last house on the left

happy sunday everyone! i just got back from playing with the ponies [brushed both of them down and lunged petie for a bit] where i had a fantastic time so let's start in on the reviews from the past two weeks.

the last house on the left ~ 6/10 snaps ~ this film runs just as you imagine it to although it's a bit more graphic in nature than i thought it was going to be...spoilers per normal, here they come...so when i say graphic i was pretty sure we were going to see a lot of violence. the rape scene was a bit more than what i expected and you genuinely felt bad for the girls. the whole time i was watching the film i had this recurring memory of eye for an eye...film with kiefer sutherland and sally field in 96 where sutherland rapes and murders sally field's daughter. she proceeds to purchase a gun and finally ends up murdering the son of a bitch. granted i never saw the 1972 original for the last house on the left but i would guess everything would be somewhat similar. i do have to say that after this and the recent friday the 13th remake that apparently the anti-drug commission has their paws in on a lot of teen horror/suspense films. the girls in last house wouldn't have been in trouble if they hadn't traveled to a hotel room in order to smoke up on a really awesome bag of weed and the same for all those teens in friday the 13th who went out camping near camp crystal lake because they had heard of some magical stash of marijuana in the forest...look out kids, apparently murderers and rapists are luring you out into the woods with the promise of great weed...the movie is worth a rent. i'd say wait for rental rather than seeing it in theaters. i plan to get my hands on the original soon to see if it's better/worse...

i love you man ~ 8.5/10 snaps ~ this movie was pretty hilarious. i kinda relate to the main character 'pistol' peter played by paul rudd in that i'm in a similar boat. i'm about to get married [next year, but granted that's kind of soon] and a lot of my good friends from college have moved away. here in columbia, i have new friends, they just aren't nearly as close as those i've had before. don't get me wrong, i knew right off the bat who i was going to ask to be my maid of honor but i definitely identified with the poor guy. if you really liked forgetting sarah marshall, head to the theaters for this one...otherwise definitely worth a rent once it comes out.

in eq2 news, i'm so close to my mythical i can taste it. hopefully we'll get to that mob this week but there's no way to tell until it happens. pyper's got 3 pieces of tier 2 shard armor and is at 170 aa. can't wait to keep leveling her up.

in the world of biology, i went to two most excellent seminars this week by dr. kevin padian from uc berkeley. one on dinosaurs [i bet you're all jealous] and the other on evolution. dr. padian is most famous for being a witness in the kitzmiller vs. dover area school district trial regarding whether intelligent design should be taught in public schools as an alternative to evolution. i got to eat lunch with dr. padian and a good chunk of other grad students. it was extremely enlightening and as always incredibly interesting to hear the questions/thoughts of others on this intense topic and on dinosaurs [just because they're so damned cool]. not only were the seminars informative but also totally enjoyable because dr. padian has a great sense of humor. i suggest checking out some of his work in nature [since you can get it for free] or elsewhere if you've got access.

carpal tunnel wise, i am to wear a brace for two months then if still in pain, i am to return to the doctor for cortisone shots in my wrist [apparently they've lost their minds]. if that doesn't work i'll have to have surgery so if you see me looking like a moron with this thing on my wrist, i'm doing it as a preventative measure. be glad you don't have to wear one all the time. well for now i'm off to work on the laundry and the dishes before gaming at 3pm.

have a great day everyone and make sure to enjoy the silence...

watchmen

welcome again to the weekly edition of my short movie reviews.

watchmen - 8.5/10 - this movie is a lot longer than i thought it would be. not that i didn't check the times before i went to see it but it was about a 3 hour experience. i would like to never again see an electric blue schlong for several years but what can ya do right? lol. anywho i have not read the graphic novels. sean has and says they stick well enough to them to be reputable. i feel the audience could tell right away who the bad guy was going to be and how everything was somewhat going to turn out. i suggest going to see it if you're a comic book/superhero kinda folk. otherwise wait for dvd or ignore it all together.

nurse betty - 8.5/10 - i haven't seen this film in forEVer but i found myself watching it today and i forgot how much i really enjoyed it. huzzah for a lot of actors i don't watch all that often anymore. i vote go buy it today. a little bit of violence. a lot of drama. well worth it.

as for everything else, we're currently on spring break. this would be a happy time if i weren't running a fever and currently doing what i've been told not to do by my physician with my carpal tunnel. turns out i may have to have surgery because well surprise surprise i spend about 18 out of 24 hours a day on the computer. i waited until i couldn't possibly stand it anymore to go to the doctor and now i have this huge bracer that i think i could knock people out with. on top of that i'm meeting with usc orthopedics students on monday to see what they think. i hate that my insurance here at the school only covers these orthopedics students. i'm thoroughly frightened but eh whatever. sure it'll work out somehow and if it doesn't maybe i'll have a lawsuit of some sort worth something lol. so i'm heading back into the other room to put my brace back on and stop typing as it is apparently taking away my movement slowly.

anywho hope everyone else is doing well...enjoy the silence...

slumdog millionaire

well folks - it's the once a week blog for everyone. sorry that it hasn't been more...

slumdog millionaire - 9/10 snaps - normally i'm not a huge fan of the oscars movies and last year i went out and rented there will be blood which by the way does not have nearly enough blood in it to warrant that title but in my opinion nothing in the film was all that fantastic...slumdog however was fantastic. it also makes you really appreciate the fact that you're american. i felt utterly awful about how those indian children were growing up and i have a good many indian friends since they're pretty prevalent in higher education around these parts. spoilers ahead...again consider yourself warned. if you haven't heard about the film besides the oscars, the premise is that an indian boy is trying to find the love of his life [as it has been destined] by becoming a contestant on who wants to be a millionaire in india. i really enjoyed the three musketeers reference throughout the film as my cat is named aremis [although it should be spelled aramis] and so i immediately picked up on it becoming the million dollar question. well written, fantastic acting, captivating...definitely worth a trip to the theater...if not there rent it...you'll enjoy it i promise...

besides that nothing much else going on...research per normal. i've been grouping my sequences and working on getting them into the four different serotypes. shortly i'll be aligning them once i've finished placing them into the correct serotypes.

i've also noticed a huge increase in my interest for music recently. i'll have to delve into that later.

as for now...enjoy the silence...

coraline

coraline - 8/10 snaps - saw it in 3d - one can see the film either way and prolly come out with the same experience. it stuck to the book like glue. very cute. feel free to drag along kids and adults of all ages regardless of whether they are willing. it's a nice lesson movie for kids too about how they should appreciate what they have or maybe more about how the grass isn't greener on the other side...

i have yet to see push but may get a chance to do that today depending on sean's work schedule [spooky that the first time i typed sean's name i listed him as fievall - who's been playing too much everquest? that's me...but i have my cloak of the harvester so :P]

sean's birthday is coming up and we had a small family party at my aunts last sunday. it was a dual birthday party for sean and thomas' new girlfriend laura. i HATE giving out gift cards to people for any special occassion but i don't know laura well enough and that was about all she had on her list so we got her a gift card to barnes & noble. i'd have much rather purchased a book but what can you do? i've started reading a new manga called fairy tail. it's fairly interesting as the characters who are all powerful wizards also seem to have something odd wrong with each of them. ex: one gets carsick all the time, another is perpetually removing his clothes, one chick is an alcoholic. i've read the first two and i'm enjoying it thus far. i really need to catch up on bleach. i've obtained all the episodes, just haven't watched them yet.

also the wonderful card company holiday is looming around the corner. i have no idea what we should do for valentine's day. i have obtained a present so at least i'm that far into the game. last year we ended up eating at a waffle house on singles awareness day as we had to go help tandy [sean's stepdad] because he had blown a tire [or tires...i'm fuzzy on this] on his 18 wheeler on the way back to south carolina from georgia so we drove to georgia and sean helped him do some kinda work on the trailer which ended up pulling it up higher so he could ride back without two tires. by the time we got back to lexington nothing else was open making waffle house our only option. we ended up sitting next to a group of teenagers who all magically had free waffle coupons [appeared as though they had copied them or some such] which caused the manager to call another waffle house that had supposedly issued the coupons and ended with the teenagers all having a free meal. hopefully this year we'll be able to either go somewhere or do something nice at home.

enjoy the silence...

just a scoche of time

well i have just a tiny bit of time to post. only 2 on the movie front until after this weekend [should be adding push and coraline most definitely]. we saw my bloody valentine in 3d with my parents, johnathon, and his girlfriend [quiche - i would put your entire name here but i'm not sure how to spell it and you've listed yourself as quiche on myspace...doh!]. i'll give it 4/10 snaps as i was at the least amused the entire time. per any normal hollywood scary movie [even a remake in this one's case] the characters are just moronic during most of the film but a whole bunch of them get hacked and slashed or i guess more appropriately perforated as the weapon of choice was a pickaxe. the original was just as good and probably just a tiny bit better as at least the story made a bit more sense and if you watch the remake which has a lot of added stuffs you end up with a different retelling. i do NOT suggest going to see this with your parents as there's a scene of complete frontal nudity that lasts for a good 8 to 12 minutes. the chick isn't bad looking so hey added bonus for most gentlemen and some ladies out there, but the experience was most uncomfortable sitting next to my mom.

let the right one in ~ 6.5/10 snaps ~ foreign film regarding a boy who befriends a vampire. the film is very gory in parts and not that adorable 10 year old kirsten dunst vampirism gore, this vampire is a bit frightening regardless of the 12 year old facade. i suggest reading the book BEFORE viewing the film as i spoke with my friend rhiannon who also saw the film and she was able to explain a lot that i could not figure out as i had not read the book. makes a lot more sense and i'm currently on the waiting list for the book at the richland county library. it surprises me that between the richland county and lexington county libraries there is only ONE copy of this book. oh well, i'm sixth in line. not like i have much time to read anyways. anywho back to the film...i enjoyed it. it's currently downloadable and i think still playing at the nickelodeon theater if you live in columbia, sc. it's worth a shot for anyone who is interested in something a bit off from the norm of hollywood.

so i haven't posted about actual life in a while i suppose. i'm currently busy [as always]. my list of priorities are as such: research [dengue virus], class, vista psychiatric, eq2. i'm currently picking up some veterinary transcription which will be fun i think. i'm taking a look at the preparing future faculty program but doubt that i'll step into that until the fall semester of 09 or 10 even.

sean [south] and i have set a date for the wedding. may 8th, 2010. i know that it's over a year away. i was fully aware of that fact when i decided on it and there are multiple reasons behind it. i'm getting on my wiifit almost daily trying to lose pounds so i can get back to a happy weight and i've been sticking to the 1300 calorie per day diet for almost a month now. i'm not losing tons at a time but i'm losing and that's all that matters. the wiifit says i'm doing well even though it makes my little mii fat all the time. in fact i currently have 4 stars in regular hula hoop, super hula hoop, step, and advanced step. i am super proud of the 4 stars in super hula hoop. go play the damn thing and see how long it takes you. back to the wedding i'm trying to save money at every turn. sean and i have designed and created our own invitations that we adore for about a quarter or two per invite. i'm currently looking at online flowers as we're getting married outside at the sc botanical gardens in clemson so i won't need much in the way of flowers besides some corsages and bouquets at the actual ceremony and the reception is going to be at the madren center so i've got to get together some centerpieces there but i don't see needing to hire an actual wedding florist for any of that as their prices are about $1,000 plus compared to me being able to do it myself at around $300. i had a gorgeous dress that i loved but have realized that the $4,000 price tag is just a bit much regardless of the fact that i plan on only getting married once. plus i cannot find a picture of the dress looking very becoming on an actual person. it looks fantastic on a mannequin but the pictures of the dress in ceremonies are somewhat depressing so i guess i'm going to have to go on a hunt for one myself but i don't think i'll start that until may of this year as hopefully by then i'll have lost some weight.

we're going back to disneyworld with my family again in may. we almost decided on universal but i told them i'd rather wait till hogwarts was open to head to universal again. we also thought about a cruise but we have a member who'd be alone in a room yet the cruise still charges as if it were doubly occupied so that ups the price by about $1,500.

the kids [animals] are well. we now have two gerbils and i'll throw some pics up soon.

anywho i've rambled on enough and it's time for evolutionary history. have a fantastic day everyone and a great weekend!

enjoy the silence!

hotel for dogs, gran torino, yes man, bedtime stories, and the house bunny

okay so i'm incredibly sorry that some of these are way after release date and the house bunny i just caught on dvd so i'll throw it in for fun. these will be short and sweet as i have to pick sean up from kung fu in 13 minutes so here goes.

hotel for dogs - 5/10 snaps - really great movie for kids. you can see the ending coming from before you even enter the theater but eh it was entertaining enough. i'm a little disappointed in the lack of corgis and catahoula leopard dogs. i know we own odd breeds but they're just so adorable!

gran torino - 8.5/10 snaps - awesome. lots of racial slurs but it's to be expected when you're watching an old white war veteran in the middle of a neighborhood becoming very ethnic. eh he also makes fun of himself a bit too...people actually walked out of our theater in the middle of the film so don't say i didn't warn ya. really emotional but duh, that's obvious. it's probably what you expect if you're going to see this film.

yes man - 6/10 snaps - it was funny enough. i say wait for dvd but my brother loved it and i think sean enjoyed it more than i did so maybe if you're a guy it's worth a visit to the theater. i really like zooey deschanel, but i like her acting in basically everything.

bedtime stories - 6/10 snaps - cute. another save for dvd. adam sandler is one of my favorite actors and this film was fun but not quite his normal work. most kids would enjoy this one. the guinea pig with the crazy eyes actually didn't look half as bad as i thought when i saw the preview.

the house bunny - 6.5/10 snaps - i really enjoyed this one but again it's another one you've probably figured out the ending to before even seeing the film. it's out on dvd. i vote rent it for a fun time.

in eq2 related news i have recently joined a raid alliance and got the update for the second part of my mythical. only one more part to go - huzzah! i'm having a pretty good time and feel like i'm playing my class as well as possible with the gear that i'm currently using. knights are about to ding level 64 which is pretty impressive for the number of active players in the guild. most of the levelage is due to several crafters who keep cranking out writs for us and i sure do appreciate all of you!

i really enjoy my classes this semester. i've got evolutionary biology, a grant writing course, and unix/linux fundamentals. i've really got to step up my researching soon though as i'd like to get a paper published this semester.

anywho my 13 mins is up and i've got to go grab sean. hope everyone is enjoying getting back into the swing of things after the christmas/new year break.

enjoy the silence.

despereaux, the spirit, and doubt among other things

well i'm still slacking on the blogging even though i've been on christmas break...family and whatnot is obviously my primary concern compared to that of the internet world...just ask pyper...she hasn't really been played for several months now...we're not going to rehash that awful raid before christmas, i just have to let it go...anywho back to what everyone's here for...

tale of despereaux - 8/10 snaps - wonderful. lots of really great actors in this one as well...example: besides mattthew broderick there was christopher lloyd, dustin hoffman, and emma watson [hermione]. i really enjoyed the different art style. i do NOT suggest it for younger children. i'd guess ages 8 and up maybe. there's a bit of a backstabbing story here even though it resolves itself. i intend to eventually read the book although i also intended to do that for the golden compass but i kept falling asleep reading it [not a good thing for a book mind you]....je t'adore regardless...

doubt - 6.5/10 snaps - spoilers ahead...stop reading if you're planning on viewing...you've been warned. eh. the acting was FANTASTIC. i can't make it bigger than caps although it really needs more. however the movie was not so much...i pretty much figured going in that we wouldn't get the answer to whether or not the priest was abusing the boy which is exactly what happens but i did expect a little more insight so here's what we figured went down. apparently the priest was gay and possibly the boy as well. therefore the priest was the only one that understood the boy but they did end up ousting the priest even though he became the head of another school...i enjoyed the film and it was a bit different from what we normally peruse. meryl streep's performance and amy adam's are pretty unforgettable.

the spirit - 9/10 snaps - HILARIOUS!!! again with the caps right? if you're not a sin city fan not to fret. this film is nothing like it whatsoever. there's still a black/white/color bit going on but it really doesn't affect the film at all to tell you the truth. i cannot recall which scenes were in color and which ones weren't. spoilers ahead. consider yourself warned. i do remember the tie being red and the shoes being white but that's seriously it for me on the color front. i LOVED the names of the women as they were all hilarious...silken floss, sand saref, plaster of paris, etc. scarlett johansson was by far my favorite charachter as silken floss. i really suggest going to see this film. you have to have that insatiable comic bookish appetite on top of a great sense of humor but i really enjoyed this one. i laughed an awful lot. good film. definitely worth a rental if not a trip to the theater.

in other news i received way too much for christmas and all the gifts are lovely. i've received many dvds, video games, and a food processor among other things. i appreciate everything given to me and the fantastic people who gave me those gifts. i'll have to post a pic of the pwnies shirt at some point because it is oh so AWESOME. i really enjoy the holidays and had a fantabulous time with my family and sean's family. i'd like to add a little more about sean's family's christmas but i'm not sure who all reads this so if you want to know - send an e-mail and i'll fill you in - otherwise you're in the dark for now.

i'm off today and tomorrow. woot - part of my christmas break - next week is included, thank god! anywho...have a great day and i hope your holidays were as fruitful as mine.

happy new year!

enjoy the silence...

madagascar 2 and more life

sorry it's been a while and as normal i'm behind on posting. i really haven't had much time to see movies lately or do much of anything to tell you the truth what with finals week and lab finals week, things were just piling up left and right.

madagascar 2 - 8/10 snaps - i enjoyed it more than the first one. very humorous. definitely worth a dvd rental if not a trip to the cinema if it's still playing anywhere...

i thought about bolt a bit more and realize that i felt like i watched toy story all over again but with animals. if you've seen it maybe you can let me know if you felt the same, not that it's really a bad thing, just i'm sure they could've made it a bit more original had disney given it a shot. i'm really looking forward to several movies that are coming out such as harry potter, monsters vs. aliens, desperaux, the spirit, marley & me [as long as they don't ruin the book too incredibly much], amusement, the unborn, star trek [even though i'm not an uber fan], x-men origins: wolverine, alice in wonderland [granted it is set to release in 2010] and even bride wars looks like a fun time...we're definitely going to have a hard time finding the actual physical time to go to these films, at least the most recent onces coming out, but i'm sure we'll work it out somehow. where there's a will there's a way right?

in other more exciting news i got my actual diamond engagement ring which is gorgeous...mad props to sean [love you :*]. and somewhere in there i turned 27. sheesh closer and closer to 30. anywho i'm still loving school although the toll school, teaching, and work is taking is a bit stressful. nevertheless hopefully i've got at least a coupla days of vacation squished into christmas break somewhere. i promised dr. presberg i'd babysit her kids sometime during the break and i don't yet have dates plus i'm holding these make-up exams for biol 301: ecology & evolution. i may or may not be teaching next semester. they're just not exactly sure what they want me to do yet. if i teach i think it will either be biol 102: general bio for science majors again or biol 460: physiology which could prove to be interesting but thoroughly time consuming. i'm taking a unix/linus comp sci course, evolutionary biology, and graduate grant writing/intro to being a phd student course.

sean and i took eros and rukia to get their shots yesterday at one of the vet mobile places and that went pretty well considering it was dark and raining at the time. rukia was a bit nervous but eros just wanted to make friends and sniff everyone's butts. fun times were had and they're both completely inoculated for a whole $28.00. i'm trying to convince sean that both i and the cats need a bunny for christmas but i doubt that's really happening as he has some sort of aversion to rabbits. not like i need a rabbit but i think it would be fun to stir up the current mix of 3 dogs versus the 3 cats.

frostfell is in full effect in eq2 which is wonderful. we completed the heroic quest last night with my mom and dad and everyone got their most excellent fighting baby dragon plushie to put in their house. i spent 25 of the frost coins on the sleeping baby dragon plushie as well. it's so freaking cute! OH I ALMOST FORGOT that i FINALLY have my unicorn mount that i worked 25 hours tradeskilling in game to achieve. he is a most fantastic mount and i've only seen one other person riding one around. i was hoping for the discovery but i did get started on the expansion tradeskilling a bit post release as school/work is of more importance. i did get the discovery on the provisioner book however which made me a happy camper. now i can make some awesome berry charms but only god knows where you find the berries to make it with as they're selling on the broker for 20 some odd plat and i'm not paying that price for 3 to make one item only for a possible server-wide disco.

i'll have to post some pics of the dragon plushies and my unicorn mount. i don't have any great ones yet but i'll work on it. anywho i need to get to editing a website that should have been fixed before now but there's been this shortage of time everywhere.

have a fantastic day/week/month and enjoy the silence...

quarantine and other stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with the movies

good afternoon. i'm not going to apologize anymore as i've already explained that i'm so freaking busy i can't see straight so we'll just get started with the review and move on from there.

quarantine - 8/10 snaps - i was thoroughly impressed with the film, i expected a lot less than what i ended up with. i hate the jumpy camera films [blair witch, cloverfield, etc] but this one didn't make me so motion sick so yay! i think i may like this just a tad bit more than others due to my veterinary science background. when you see the movie you'll understand. i just like being able to figure things out and i especially enjoy turning to sean and going oh but this won't work because in real life you can only do it this way THEN having the character on screen say the same thing verbatim. huzzah for knowledge! anywho. also the film has marin hinkle in it who plays judith in two and a half men which is one of my favorite tv shows. all the actors did really well for a horror. like any other suspense/horror film they make lots of dumb mistakes where you sit there going uh maybe we should barricade ourselves in one room and wait this out or maybe we shouldn't go near that person who bit five other people...for this one, go see it if you like horror/suspense. you can wait for the dvd but i think it'll be much more fun on the big screen. i jumped an awful lot.

other stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with the movies...warning: rant to follow...

/rant_on

i saw a billboard this week that was completely in spanish on jarvis klapman boulevard in west columbia, south carolina. first off, i have absolutely no problem with people immigrating to this country. i just expect them to learn the damn language. it really pisses me off that you can move here and speak spanish and never have to learn english. i don't want to have to learn spanish in an english speaking country so that i can understand a billboard. if i moved to mexico, i would expect that i would have to learn spanish. if i moved to france, i would expect that i would have to learn french. i know lots of people from india and china that live here and THEY have to learn the language. why should it be different for mexicans? proximity? what a load of crap...

it also annoys me that our government wastes tax dollars on putting something in another language for people who moved here who should in my opinion have to learn the language. oh wait you say. the government didn't put up the billboard did they? au contraire [my tiny bit of french in my rant heehee]. the billboard is for a type of medicaid [first choice] which is a government funded insurance policy for people that are well below the poverty line [i only know this because i'm in the health insurance field]. so not only was the billboard put up by our government but it's also offering people who immigrated here health care out of tax payer money. i have an issue with this as well. i work hard and have not had insurance for 4 years because i worked. if i had stayed at home and not made money and not paid taxes i would have qualified for medicaid but my measly paycheck was too much for me to qualify for medicaid yet not enough for me to be able to pay the approximately $150/200 per month for private health insurance. my job just didn't offer any plans [they still don't] and i couldn't find another one that paid as well that did offer benefits. i am finally working two jobs and paying for the mandated student health insurance at usc so that i can teach there yet they won't even file it from their health center [which is also a load of crap as the health insurance requires you to use the health center first before they will even pay for any outside appts so the least they could do is file the claims]. so as i'm sure you can see i'm a bit irked. so here's my outlet in my blog as there really isn't much else i can do except try to evade taxes and end up in prison. sounds like fun [heavy sarcasm]...

anywho. /rant_off

back to work.

enjoy the silence.

eagle eye igor

hello everyone. long time no see. i'm loving life right now but it's insanely busy with teaching, my own studies/research, and working at vista so i'm a bit preoccupied lately. i've actually been on eq2 3 days in the past 7 which is pretty impressive considering my current time constraints. i've found that even though my backpack weighs 25lbs with my laptop in it [oh we've weighed it just to see how hefty it is] that i really should haul it to school everyday because if i have extra time and if i'm caught up on grading i can actually get some writs done for the guild while i'm waiting betwixt classes plus then i get a tad bit of my game fix releasing those oh so necessary to function endorphins. let's get on to the movies. they're both receiving the same score this week.

igor - 5.5/10 snaps - it's funny for us older kids/adults but not as laughable as the emperor's new groove. and if you don't find the emperor's new groove the brightest ray of sunshine on any otherwise cloudy day then i'm very very sorry for you. but cute film even though the ending is obvious from the beginning and the town's king is a direct rip off for the mayor from nightmare before christmas. just in case you missed it before this movie is a tad bit above your average kid's head. we'll quote a woman i saw coming out of the movie with her daughter. woman's blonde offspring, "igor was funny." woman, "i'm pretty sure i got a lot more out of it than you did." eh it made me laugh. if i were you i'd wait till it came out on dvd but would definitely check it out once it did.

eagle eye - 5.5/10 snaps - granted i knew going into this movie what was causing jerry shaw and his accomplice and the however many other people in the film involved to do what they were doing and that kinda jaded me so maybe my score is a bit low but it's one of those leave your brain at the door films and you can enjoy it. the action was exciting. i enjoyed shia labeouf [even though every time i hear his name pronounced it's a completely new experience], michelle monaghan, and billy bob thornton's acting jobs. they were pretty flawless. there's just a lot of moments where you go there's no way in hell this would work out that way but i guess a large sum of movies are like this and i shouldn't be giving this one such a hard time. i do love jurassic park but who sees that happening in reality anytime soon right? if you need an action fix go for it in theaters, otherwise wait for the dvd.

speaking of dvds go pick up iron man this week. i mean it. there's no hesitating here. robert downey jr killed this film. it is FANFREAKINGTASTIC! so again go buy it. i think it's available in around 1.2 hours.

anywho life is good. aurora gets her last heartworm treatments this week and hopefully that's cleared out all of the little bloodsucking fiends. you better bet i've shelled out the money to get everyone else tested and all sorts of treatment.

i hope everyone has a great week.

enjoy the silence.

snake porn

well i originally thought about entertaining you with the story regarding the title of today's blog but i've decided it'll prolly just be better for you to make up a more interesting one all on your own. this was all started by sean finding a baby snake outside our house this am and our capturing it in our attempt to identify it to make sure it was safe to leave outside. we're thinking it's an eastern hognose snake but aren't completely positive. i've decided to call him hamlet since he has the word hog in his name and i'm assuming he's a he, i'll prolly never really know. and as i'm sure you all guessed we went to see burn after reading this weekend with my folks.

burn after reading - 9/10 snaps - 3 words. ha ha ha. i've come to the realization that actors WANT to make movies with the coen brothers because it looks like they have a great time doing such. i suggest going to see it if you have that sarcastic sense of humor required for the coen films. actually i suggest going to see it just to see what george clooney creates in the film. oh i'm hardly able to type i'm laughing so hard. i have to finish downloading no country for old men cause i still have yet to see it /gasp!

eh besides that everything seems to be going well. coming down with another throat sickness but maybe i've squished it already by downing half a gallon of oj yesterday. i'm well enough to work so i'm not too worried about it. i'm going to guess i'm getting it from all these students who keep telling me they are ill. then don't come to class! heehee. i'm loving teaching and getting back into the groove of class. just wish i had some more time for gaming. spore has been great fun. i only have one creature that i came up with and made sean design for me that looks like a cross between a squirrel and mr. snuffleupagus [yes i looked it up for correct spelling]. then we played a little bit at my aunt's house and came up with another creature called the johnavore [ha ha aren't we creative - my brother's name {johnathon} mixed with the word carnivore] that looks like some kinda mosquito with two really tall legs. if you need a spore friend send me your name. mine's nightpyper and sean's is gonei95. sean's on the space stage, i'm about to start the civilian stage [i told you i haven't had time for gaming] plus i want to start back up on knocking out the bleach game on the wii. unfortunately i'm at the stage where i have to play as hanataro yamada and i just think that's going to end badly several times over as he's a healer in the anime, not quite that great a fighter. anywho, back to the daily grind!

enjoy the silence.

hamlet 2 and mirrors

i've gotten back into listening to avril lavigne recently. i think it's because i find it really fun to sing along with, 'i can hardly breathe, you make me want to scream.' anywho. i finally got the chance to go see mirrors last sunday. huzzah!

mirrors - 6.5/10 snaps - there's a little bit in mirrors that's your normal 'this would never happen horror movie jazz' but all in all i enjoyed it a LOT. you do have to take into consideration that i already have a somewhat odd fear of mirrors to begin with but i still think keifer knows better than to sign up for crappy movies so i think others will find this a good film as well. sean started bitching near the end of the film about how it had taken a turn where everything was crap but then the movie redeemed itself [surprising sean] and we'll leave it at that so that you have to go see it if you're interested in knowing anything about the ending. however, i will tell you they killed off amy smart insanely early in the film and i was thoroughly excited to not have a main character make it through to the end of the movie. not to mention they did a really good job on the cg of her death.

hamlet 2 - 7/10 snaps - i thought i would hate this movie. it was a lot funnier and a lot more engaging that i had hoped plus it wasn't nearly as sacrilegious as i had pictured. lots of interesting actors in this one as well...

nothing really stellar about either film. go see them if you're thoroughly interested in either, otherwise wait till they're out on dvd. they're definitely both worth a rent.

in other huge news...sean and i got engaged! the excitement! don't ask about the date cause there isn't one and i'm not getting married until i'm 70lbs thinner. if you'd like to support the quick method of april getting lypo then please e-mail me and we'll discuss where you can send the funds. just kidding. i do find it hilarious that we told our raiding crew in eq2 about it last saturday night and two DIAMOND rods dropped in the shard of hate raid that we were in. coincidence? i think not.

well break time's over so back to work.

enjoy the silence.

babylon ad, death race, postal, and the rocker

oh my here we go. these will be brief as, like always, i am pressed for time so here goes.

babylon ad - 4.5/10 snaps - this movie lost 2 snaps just for the ending so this one's going to have some spoilers. you have been forewarned. i enjoy vin diesel films. not only is he good looking but like bruce willis and kurt russell he tends to look fantastic even when mangled up a bit. his job was to put on the normal diesel tough guy and he does it well. melanie tierry, michelle yeoh, and the rest of the cast also put in great performances. the action scenes in this movie are fun. everything keeps you pretty interested until about the last 30 minutes of the film where apparently mathieu kassovitz [director/screenplay writer] lost his mind. i can deal with the fact that the main character aurora is supposedly this cross of genetically modified organism with artificial intelligence [which they elude to quite bluntly with the "extinct in this era" siberian tigers that are 2nd generation clones], i can deal with the post-apocalyptic earth and everyone fending for themselves, i can see how putting everything on an evil religion made sense to help explain away any reasoning, i can even almost put up with the fact that because she's a gmo/ai hybrid she somehow has all these mysterious magical powers such as being psychic, an empath, automatically knowing an infinite bank of knowledge, and the ability to avoid bodily harm BUT when aurora is mystically pregnant with twins [so we've now moved on to asexual gmo/ai hybrid] and ends up killing off vin so that he can handily dandily be resurrected by her father whose also some walking lab experiment in order to rewind his brain back to when he died to figure out where she's gone and then manages to die in childbirth after amazingly avoiding all sorts of other life-threatening damage is just a bit much. the movie is worth watching when it hits dvd and i only say this if there are alternate endings available. let's hope the new fast & furious film blows us all away to redeem vin just a bit. at least that film has michelle rodriguez.

death race - 8/10 snaps - not many spoilers here. i was thoroughly surprised by this film. i expected it to be total crap. figured i was going to see a b movie and ended up happily entertained. definitely worth a dvd rental. go see it at the theaters if you're a jason statham fan. plus it has inspired me to rent death race 2000 because apparently it's even more fun than the remake.

postal - uhhhh i'll say 7/10 snaps - this film is the only film i've seen by uwe boll that's worth a damn. i can see why it didn't have a huge release in the us [especially here in sc] because wow is it offensive. if you're american, jewish, white, black, muslim, a midget, christian, overweight, handicapped, live in a trailer park, work in a coffee shop, are a policeman, are handicapped, are a child molester, well basically if you're living you will be offended. worth a rent if you can handle the offensiveness. it does have a slew of pretty famous actors such as zack ward, verne troyer, chris coppola, and dave foley plus uwe makes fun of himself as well he should since the majority of his other films are utter crap. not to mention if you need a really great stress reliever the video game is most excellent as you can kill whoever you like and then urinate all over them. it's fairly interesting.

the rocker - 8.5/10 - i really didn't know too much about this one going into it. really enjoyed it. i love the music industry and this story takes a big punch at it. my favorite line in the film was mattie saying, "i mean look at him. it's like abercrombie's making people now!" i think i'll start using that more often. don't you always hate when you see someone who looks like they fell out of the pages of the abercrombie magazine? well now it's just plain laughable. worth a trip to the movies and most definitely worth a rent and/or buy.

other than that not much else going on. staying really busy with the phd work and haven't even had all that much time to game. hopefully monday will allow for a bit of r&r. i did get a fantastic new laptop and here's a link to her gorgeous self. that was christmas coming early so i'm very ecstatic about playing on it. anywho i'm working so everyone have a great holiday weekend and enjoy the silence.