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...

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.

tropic thunder, clone wars, and pineapple express

oy vey! all this graduate school business on top of regular life is taking a large toll on my blogging. i apologize if you ended up stranded with not knowing which movie to go see recently as i haven't posted. i haven't even seen a movie this weekend yet and there were 3 large releases [the house bunny, the rocker, and death race] and a limited one [hamlet 2] that i am somewhat interested in attending on top of still not having seen mirrors [i already have a slight fear of mirrors so i'm sure i'll appreciate this a bit more than the average movie-goer] or henry poole is here [which looks fairly interesting]. time will tell if i end up being able to view any of them at all. i am also going to apologize in advance for the brevity of the reviews. we're working on borrowed time here.

tropic thunder - 8.5/10 snaps - very comical. seeing as how ben stiller was the director and one of the writers i can't see anyone being surprised by this. robert downey jr just seems to always put in a great performance. the rest of the stellar cast did well. i would not take anyone under the age of 17 to this film [eh well maybe 16, depends on the 16 year old i suppose]. a great time for any crude humored fun-loving adult.

pineapple express - 8/10 snaps - also a good humorous film. if you're anti-drugs obviously you should not go see this movie. james franco was by far my favorite character in the film and made for a hilarious stoned weed dealer. again another film i wouldn't take anyone under the age of 17 to see. if you enjoyed superbad and knocked up i think it's safe to say you'll like this one as well but superbad has in my opinion completely surpassed knocked up and pineapple express in its level of comedy and enjoyment value.

i haven't seen many bad movies recently. thank you so much george lucas for creating the load of crap known as star wars: the clone wars which i'll give 1.5/10 snaps. the only reason you're getting over .5 is because i like the clone wars illustration style [apparently most everyone else does not but i am an anime fan so maybe that's why i personally prefer it]. i really enjoyed the shorts that were released on dvd [i think they were originally on cartoon network betwixt other shows] before this film. i fell asleep in this movie at least 5 times, so in a moment where i was actually awake i tried taking a new perspective on it and thinking maybe it's just aimed at kids and i'm not getting it. then i looked around the theater and realized the majority of the kids there were also asleep. it's pretty bad when you put an 8 year old who actually adores characters like jar jar binks to sleep...i don't know if lucas has just gone mad in his old age or what has happened but i think indiana jones and the crystal skull along with this clone wars crud speak for themselves. i'm surprised he actually got actors to voice these parts in all reality. just because someone's made great films in the past doesn't mean they should be allowed to do whatever they want in the future because unfortunately for mr. lucas he's ruining his own brands. i appreciate that the top critics on rotten tomatoes gave the movie 4 out of 100%. i think mr. gleiberman from entertainment weekly says it best, "George Lucas is turning into the enemy of fun." so in my honest opinion i would suggest staying away from this tripe at all costs. do not go see it, do not rent it, do not download it, do not watch it on fox when they air it for the first time for free. you're just better off not having seen it especially if you like the star wars saga [which i do].

in other non-film related news. had a fantabulous time at the baruch marine science laboratory in georgetown with several marine science and biology majors. i drove a boat, i heard about some interesting research projects currently going on, and i climbed to the top of a very scary firetower. there are loads more to be said about the trip but time is not on my side.

graduate school has been very enjoyable thus far. i get to start teaching biology 102 labs next week. i've been to one population genetics course and we didn't really do much besides go over the syllabus but i think it will be a very fun semester. i start my bioinformatics course on monday and cannot wait!

on top of all that had a great set of guild writ raid runs on thursday night with a lot of good friends. wonderful times were had by all even though we were bugged on receiving guild status. i'm still waiting for a reply on the eq2 forums regarding whether or not it was a bug or if the rules have changed somehow.

anywho i'm off to reading, working, and possibly seeing a movie this afternoon. oh and i might be getting my christmas present early as i have need of a laptop.

enjoy the silence!

remy (both of them)

alrighty so i haven't posted in a while. life is just so very busy what with all this exciting grad school business and preparing for that on top of work and obviously my in game eq2/lotro adventures. so i saw the following two movies this week.

the x-files: i want to believe ~ i'll give x-files 5.5/10 snaps. i think the reason it's getting played down as crap by reviewers are that for this film you HAVE to be a fan of the series. there's not really that much to say about the film itself. it was an extended episode of the tv series in all reality. no really alien references. i liked it. it kept me entertained. i enjoyed seeing the characters farther in their lives.

charlie bartlett ~ 8.5/10 for mr. bartlett. first, i in no way see this film as a ferris bueller's day off for this generation. ferris was a free spirit and matthew broderick was all about enjoying life in that film. charlie, played by anton yelchin, is still about enjoying life but unlike ferris doesn't have the at least semi-normal family life at home. his father's in prison though he tends to lie about him a lot and refer to him as being dead in about 65% of the film and his mother is on klonopin and somewhat of an alcoholic who is present in body but absent everywhere else [i really got a royal tenenbaums feel off her from this film]. charlie's story deals more with how screwed up the american family has become and how that effects the kids produced from these families. a lot dealing with mental disease and treatment in a serious manner while still poking a bit of fun. tyler hilton who played murphey bivens put in a fantastic performance as did robert downey jr and hope davis. everyone else in the film was above par as well but how hard is it to play a screwed up teenager in high school when in reality you are or just were a screwed up teenager in high school...food for thought. i really love the tagline for this film too: popularity is a state of mind. so if you don't enjoy teen movies such as 10 things i hate about you, the breakfast club, the new guy, not another teen movie etc, i suggest you stay away because in all probability you won't like this coming of age tale either, but if those are your cup of tea then rent this sucker post haste.

in other news rukia and eros are both negative for heartworms and are now on prevention which is most excellent. aurora had her teeth removed friday and as you saw in the previous post the quote was listed as $200 but we came out at $374 so it's amazing how these prices keep rising from week to week in exponential bounds. i guess at some point i should call the vet out on this bullshit but right now it's just a growing credit card balance that i will resent for years to come but at least my pets will be healthy. aurora now needs to get started on her heartworm treatment which is going to be 12 weeks long and is quoted at about $300 so i'm going to assume $500 to $600 is going to be my upcoming bill.

sean last week was on bower parkway and happened to see a kitten get hit by a car. seeing as how we're alike in a lot of ways, you know...loud, obnoxious, gamer geeks that love animals...he stopped to check on the kitten who is most feral and continues to bite sean on the hand most viciously. so now we have another 10 week kitten [i know, i know...like we need another kitten...] who will at least let you pet her now and pick her up without hissing who lives in a crate in our room until we can get her checked for fiv/felv tomorrow at sunset animal clinic [hmm appears i may be on the verge of not going to grace for much longer, time will tell]. oh and i forgot to mention she's a grey tabby and i have named her remy after some news below that will excite most x-men fans. no pics today, i'd rather wait until she's a bit more calm before shoving a flash in her face. back to remy's rescue story. sean ends up at the emergency room two days later because i get a bit worried this adorable cat may be carrying rabies as she's acting odd and i'm not sure whether it's a) neurological damage from the wreck, b) really scared feral kitten just being a really scared feral kitten, or c) rabid feral kitten. so just to be safe we call doctor's care because well i'd like for sean to keep living at least until i'm the primary beneficiary in the will [just kidding] and doctor's care states to go to the emergency room. so sean heads there and they put him in a room and get all his info and inform dhec that he's been bitten by a wild kitten and then prescribe him some antibiotics for the infection the bite has caused. this is so they can charge him the $500 emergency room fee for a prescription of 10 augmentin. what a rip off. then they inform sean that only dhec has the rabies shots and dhec tells them not to worry if we have the cat because the cat will show signs of rabies before sean dies or we can let them kill the kitten now and dissect her brain to see if she's got rabies. we decide to stay away from the latter option and watch the cat. dhec wants to make sure we have the cat so they make us take her carrier and put it up to a window so they can look in while we're not home. i'm a little confused as to how much you can tell about an animal by looking into a crate from a window but eh whatever. remy appears to be doing better with maybe a broken tail and i'll know more after tomorrow's vet visit.

in other remy news...god bless the brave person who taped the x-men origins: wolverine preview at comic con. if you search for it on google you'll eventually find one that works and you'll know its the one from comic con cause it's all slanted as the brave soul tried to hide whatever recording device they were using. so as the screams from the fans at the con watch wolverine and sabretooth's stories evolve there in all his card throwing, bo staff swinging explosive fury was the man himself...remy lebeau aka gambit. far and away my favorite x-man since i was oh 4 years old and i've been so freaking pissed that he hasn't been included in any of the movies thus far but i'm okay with him not having to share a film with halle berry as storm. while i like halle berry in most roles, i think jada pinkett smith [or is she just jada pinkett now?] would've kicked halle's ass at being storm. but back to gambit the most awesome x-man ever...not only is he hot, he's cajun, he's cool, and he makes being a superhero look fun. okay so my first thoughts were holy hell it's about time, then the logical part of me got to thinking that my favorite pick for the role gambit would've been heath ledger [way before he was ever thought of as the joker, because really...who saw that coming?] who unfortunately is no longer with us. so then i couldn't for the life of me think of another actor who would be HOT enough to pull this off. then i see the man [26 years old] they've picked and i'm a little more at ease. ladies and gentlemen, taylor kitsch. i know nothing about his acting whatsoever so i'm hoping he can also land the hot cajun accent gambit is supposed to bring along with the bad boy attitude. speaking of teen movies from earlier i've been dying to see john tucker must die and he's in the film so away i go to obtain it sometime in the next few weeks. i'll be bubbling over with happiness about this until it finally hits the big screen sometime around may 1st, 2009. and yes i will be at the midnight showing and possibly more showings the following day if he pulls the role off.

we're getting very close to the return of collegiate activity and i am getting more anxious because i just can't wait! i've got 3 quizzes to take and i've taken the first 2 already. you only have to make 80% but i'm getting that ocd vibe that i sometimes get and took them until i made 100. i never made below an 80 but i did get a coupla 86s and 93s. i just feel better seeing the 100. oh well, i learned some interesting things about breeze for powerpoint and am going to try playing with it soon.

well i've gone on for quite awhile but i guess that's what happens when i don't post often. hopefully i'll get some more time to post soon but time apparently is slipping away quicker than it used to so for now...enjoy the silence.

-pyper

field trip!

well as you've prolly gathered by now i'm starting back to school in august for my phd. i'm ecstatic and cannot wait! so i get this e-mail the other day telling me there's a coupla extra spots available for this trip to georgetown to the baruch marine laboratory for those of us who aren't in marine biology and would i like to go...of course i'd love to go! so i hastily send back my reply and i currently feel like an excited 5th grader.

"To this end, we cordially invite you to join us Friday, August 15th for this orientation at the Baruch Field Lab. We will provide the transportation, but you will need to bring food for breakfast and lunch, sleeping bag, old shoes, etc."

so i'm off to find me a sleeping bag as the one i have currently is of the 101 dalmatians variety and is being used by my dogs as a bed. jon tells me i ought to buy a viva pinata sleeping bag. i think i'm going to opt for a solid color.

also i've picked up playing lord of the rings online again recently on top of my normal everquest 2 duties. i'm hanging out on the brandywine server as that's the server i was on in beta. i've got two minstrels [pyper and lealwyn] and a loremaster [rawien]. if ever in game feel free to look me up. i'm actually enjoying the slow solo leveling right now [talk to me next week and see if i still feel the same].

enjoy the silence.

-pyper