tips for walt disney world

after having returned from our trip to walt disney world [wdw] which i think for me makes trip #6 to the most magical place on earth i have decided to put some well learned tips here for anyone who is planning on going anytime in the future:

1. do NOT attempt to go to wdw in the months of may thru september - it's hot and the rides are a pain to get on because apparently everyone likes going when it's a dutch oven down there in florida.

2. stay in a wdw resort - there's buses that take you to every park that wdw owns and you can affordably stay in one of the three all-star resorts or pop century resort for $82/night. you really can't beat that price.

3. go with the disney dining plan - you would think we would have figured this out before this trip but we finally learned of the disney dining plan. we were on the basic plan that is around $40/$45 per person per day. the food at disney is EXPENSIVE as it is in any other theme park. if you get the dining plan here's what you get per person:
1 snack per day - can include any non-alcoholic bottled drink or ice cream item typically under $4.00
1 quick service meal - entree, dessert, and non-alcoholic drink at any of the burger/pizza/salad/fast food joints in the park - these meals typically run around $15 to $20 per person
1 table service meal - entree, dessert, and non-alocholic drink at any of the very nice sit down restaurants in the park - these meals typically run around $40 to $80 per person
the only problem with the dining plan is if you somehow manage not to use all of your dining plan so make sure you're spending the correct meals and keep track of what you've got left which is pretty simple as it's listed on your receipt after you're done eating.

4. get to the early parks when they open - if you're staying at a wdw resort and you have the parkhopper pass for the four main parks [epcot, mgm now known as hollywood studios, magic kingdom, and animal kingdom] which you should have if you're going then you're allowed to go into a park a day an hour earlier and a park a day will stay open three or more extra hours. the ones that open early that day are the ones that you want to hit. as soon as you get to the early park hit up the most thrilling ride for a fastpass and then go ride the second most thrilling ride. by the time you're done with the second most thrilling ride it will be time to redeem your fastpass and walk straight to the front of the line of the first most thrilling ride. i know that sounded sorta involved but read it through a coupla times and it'll make sense.

5. make your reservations for food 90 days in advance - this is as soon as you can book your reservations and the good ones will be gone if you wait too long. here's a list of where we enjoyed eating the most. every single restaurant is at epcot.

• Yakitori House - Japan - i suggest the ninja alcoholic beverage which is a mix of sake and plum wine along with the teriyaki steak and ice cream - most excellent service i have ever seen
  
• Les Chefs de France - France - even with the disney dining plan you can still do the traditional three course meal here and get an appetizer if you order off their exclusive three course menu - i highly recommend the french onion soup - second most excellent service i have ever seen
• Le Cellier - Canada - steak...eat the steak...
• Coral Reef Restaurant - Living Seas
• The Garden Grill Restaurant - The Land - i always suggest everyone get dirt. what meal is complete without it?

6. get a photo pass - they're free. you can look at all the pics before purchasing them and the disney crew can do some really neat stuff with your pictures. plus all the photo pass folks will take pics of you with your own camera if you let them take a couple with theirs as well. apparently nowadays they'll give you every photo they've taken for a whole $11.95 onto a memory card. i find that a pretty good deal as it can literally contain HUNDREDS of photos. i'll have to make sure that's completely accurate though because we didn't do it, just heard it in passing.

7. if you're at least two days out from departure have whatever you buy in the park shipped to your room - make sure to tell the cashier this in advance otherwise they have to complete your purchase all over again but it's a great way to get the stuff you want and not have to lug it around the park.

for now that's all the tips i can think of but i may remember more later. here's a really specific one - if you end up staying at the sprawling coronado springs resort and wonder where all the wdw buses are, they stop initially at stop 2 and barely ever make it to stops 4 and 1 as they are always full by that point so go to stop 2 first.

anywho 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...

monsters vs aliens, happy 10th anniversary everquest, and the broken warden mythical /cry

happy tuesday! we went to see monsters vs. aliens in 3d at columbiana grande on wednesday of last week. 6.5/10 snaps - the movie was cute. if you've got kids i think this'd be a great one to go see with them. lots of famous actors/actresses - reese witherspoon as susan, hugh laurie as dr. cockroach, seth rogan as bob, kiefer sutherland as general monger, rainn wilson as gallaxhar, will arnett as the missing link, paul rudd as derek, and stephen colbert as the president [anyone think there was a little undertone to that ha ha?]... if you've seen the previews then you've basically got the entire plot. i do NOT recommend going to see this in 3d as there are maybe 4 scenes that actually appear to be in 3d. granted they were 4 great 3d scenes but it's not worth an extra $6 per person to tack onto an already outrageous movie ticket price and it doesn't really add much to the film. after watching it, i find myself with an urge to review all the episodes of invader zim which i am sure to do in the near future.

eq2 news. happy 10th anniversary everquest! sometime recently everquest celebrated its 10th anniversary which is rather exciting. if you play eq or eq2 you could pick up a copy of beckett massive online gamer and there is an in-game item code to celebrate. the eq2 one is pretty bitching in that it's a statue of nagafen [bad ass dragon] that gives you 1,000 rent status reduction on your housing - huzzah! i'd personally like to thank the creators of everquest because i thoroughly enjoy your products and have ever since i started playing everquest online adventures when i was in high school. all four members of my family owned their own ps2 so that we could play together. i also thoroughly enjoyed champions of norrath when it was available on the ps2 and have been playing everquest 2 on the pc almost since it was released [my poor computer at the time couldn't run the darn thing]. no matter what other mmorpgs i have tried [lotro, wow, chronicles of spellborn, d&d, swg, vanguard, etc] i always end up returning back to everquest 2 as it is just the game for me. i personally love being a ratonga and a warden [lotro is about to adopt this class but in researching it further, they don't appear to be making it a healer]. my raid force cleared veeshan's peak for the first time last night and it was an awesome feeling. the raid wasn't even full...it was just excellent. thanks for the many ways in which you manage to keep me amused almost on a daily basis everquest 2 - i look forward to many more years of fun with the many friends i've made and those that i already knew!

on another sad note on eq2 [hopefully getting fixed in the hot fix as i type] my mythical weapon was broken last tuesday when they uploaded the new x2 raid zone and lavastorm content. this was how my badass weapon used to work - it had this neato effect called nature's restoration. here's the quote on what nature's restoration does off the weapon itself 'When target castes a critical healing spell this spell has a 50% chance to cast Nature's Restoration on caster...Increases power of caster by 349-523'...what does this mean? this means that every time i critically heal someone i get a nice chunk of mana back. what is my main job? healing...how often do i currently critically heal? about 80% of the time...so i NEVER run out of power. this comes in handy all the time, for example, in groups, in really long fights where other healers are out of mana, whenever a manadrain occurs i can use my manastone then pop a coupla level 10 heals and be back up to 50% power in no time to save the day...so what happened to my weapon with the update??? well now instead of it giving ME the power after i've been trained since july of 2008 to not have to worry about power it accidentally gives the power to whoever i critically heal. this means that for a week i've been power feeding my group like i'm a troubador, dirge, illusionist, or coercer, yet barely able to keep power to continue healing myself. i actually fed more power to my group than an illusionist i was playing with the other day. this could be great for the group and main tank but it's absolutely awful for me. i didn't roll a power regen class, i rolled a healer. that happens to be the bonus to getting my epic weapon and i want to be able to reap the benefits. hopefully it's getting fixed today ALONG with tortoise shell which was also broken with the new update. i'll save trying to explain tortoise shell for another day.

anywho, i've got work to do.

invaders don't dance! errr, enjoy the silence...

the haunting in connecticut and ghost town all while zack and miri make a porno...

good afternoon over here on the east coast. we'll start with the best ratings on these and work down. obviously ghost town and zack and miri were rentals as i did not get a chance to see them in the theater. i also still have nick and nora's infinite playlist to watch and seven pounds...who knows when there'll be time? plus i plan to go see monsters vs aliens sometime this week as well.

ghost town - 8/10 snaps - hilarious! you have to like the sarcastic smart ass british humor for this one but both sean and i really enjoyed it...ricky gervais was great. i'm not the biggest fan of tea leoni either but she put in a good performance for this as well. spoilers ahead [hell spoilers in all the reviews so :P in advance]...premise of the film is that ricky gervais who is a dentist goes in for a colonoscopy and ends up dying on the table for several minutes which allows him to see ghosts. per the norm of films such as these the ghosts have unfinished business which leaves them lingering about. turns out the unfinished business is actually that of the living and not the dead and it obviously ends up having a gigantic effect on the dentist's life. the film makes for a cute, funny, heartwarming tale. several laugh out loud moments. well worth the rental/download!

zack and miri make a porno - 7/10 snaps - don't go see this with your parents...one of those fantastic kevin smith films. plus you get to see jason mewes [jay from the other kevin smith films] with short hair and naked. huzzahs all around! i surely hope those tattoos are real but why wouldn't they be? plot is about high school buddies zack and miri not being able to pay their bills so they decide to try making a porno when they meet some gay porn stars at their high school reunion. turns out zack and miri have actually been in love this entire time but neither of them realized it so the movie is more about the story of the two of them figuring this out with the porno making as a great background. if you're thinking about not renting/watching it, i have two words for you: star whores...

the haunting in connecticut - 5.5/10 snaps - i decided to go see this yesterday all by my little lonesome. i don't do well in scary movies even when i go with someone else but sean thought the film would be 'dumb' so he didn't want to go. interestingly enough, this was the most random set of previews i have seen in a long time. started out normal with drag me to hell [scary gypsy curse movie with alison lohman from matchstick men], then there was a crank 2 preview which regardless of how completely idiotic the premise is promises to be a fantastic action film, following crank 2 was an extended x-men origins: wolverine preview which i thoroughly appreciated for all the gambit that was added into this particular preview [i still have yet to reach a decision on what a great gambit taylor kitsch'll make until i hear him speak...sorry hun but the cajun accent is at least 60% of the role], so the final preview ended up being hannah montana [wtf you say?!? i know i said the same thing]...why would someone think that the hannah montana movie would be an appropriate preview before the haunting in connecticut?...

now on to discussion of the actual film...i'm going to have to research the true story to see how much the movie stuck to it as it had random moments where you're trying to figure out why the hell they put the father's alcoholism in the movie since it was only a fifteen minute scene that had absolutely nothing to do with the remainder of the film, almost a lack of editing unless it meant a lot to the actual family. so per the film, not sure about the real story, oldest son [matt] has cancer and the family decides to rent a house closer to the hospital where he's receiving treatment. turns out said house used to be a mortuary and that the mortician [aickman] there practiced 'necromancy' on hundreds of corpses and would replace their bodies in coffins with sandbags so that people were unaware of his grave robbing. so matt is plagued by these visions/possessions by the spirit of a boy in the house [jonah] who was apparently the mortician's apprentice. turns out jonah is a medium back in his time and aickman is using him to make money via having all these seances. aickman tries to amplify the seances that his mortuary is now famous for by using these corpses. so matt is supposedly more apt to see all of this as he is dying from cancer...enter a reverend who is also dying from cancer that can see the spirits as well. reverend ends up removing jonah's bones from the house thinking it will help the family when it turns out jonah was the only thing keeping the other spirits from killing the family [surprise, surprise]. so matt finally figures out where all the bodies are hidden in the walls of the house and lights the bitch on fire. according to the end of the film, matt was found to be cured of cancer after that evening and the house has since been rebuilt/renovated. none of the tenants since have complained of anything out of the ordinary. again i'm still going to have to check into the real thing. the acting performances were all worthwhile. i was pleasantly surprised to see that the reverend was played by elias koteas [casey jones from tnmt yo] who does act in a good bit of films nowadays but they aren't movies i've been to see. if you enjoy horror movies it's definitely worth a rental.

enjoy the silence.

huzzah i have my mythical!!!

wow a post within one week of the other. what happened you might ask? i finally got my mythical!!! to those of you not in the everquest 2 world this is the bestest weapon for my class and requires a ton of effort to obtain. i've had my fabled bite of the wolf for a while now, i'm sure i could search for the post to find when i actually obtained it but last night we finally beat all the odds and got my mythical! to make things even sweeter i was able to drag one of my dad's characters along and he got his necromancer mythical as well! what a fantastic time! one of the really neat things about getting your mythical is that it is broadcast across the entire game so everyone who is on knows when you get it. i'll post the pics i've got.

here i am in the moors of ykesha with my badass new weapon...it looks similar to the fabled version but has a lot more bells and whistles. if you look closely you might be able to tell that even my pixie on a string is impressed lol.


so here's the screenshot of my name/guild being sent across the entirety of norrath for everyone to see. there were lots of gratz! to follow but i took the screen shot as soon as i saw it for fear of it disappearing. i didn't realize my quest would update as soon as i used the item so i still had a crap ton of windows up for the screenshot lol. i guess now everyone knows my spell order heehee. the screenshot isn't nearly that grainy either, click on it and you'll see the nice quality one since it's so large.



and finally here's the pic of me in the guild hall as phinneas' [dad] name/guild is also announced across all of norrath. way to go dad! same deal with the graininess. same as before, just click on the image to get the nice quality one!

i have to say that it all feels pretty damn good. special thanks to my family, south, knights of the shadow dragon, order of the golden staff, pheonix, and the crushbone raid alliance brigade 8. i couldn't have done it without any of you. thanks so much!

have a fantastic day! enjoy the silence especially as norrath is still for a moment...

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...

i don't have sharingan...so sue me...

ah well as the title suggests this is mainly regarding naruto...i understand they've made this a kids show over here in the us of a but it just isn't that kind of show...apparently in japan they watch anime as opposed to soap operas. i can't blame them at all. when i was a freshman at clemson my roommates loved to watch soap operas. i did end up attached to passions for a while but thank god now that's over. anywho back to the anime. i've seen lots of it, not a few as some may imagine but when i say lots, i mean lots. i have the entire elfen lied series on dvd AND i didn't get upset at all when lucy offed all those peeps. don't mess with me, my conscience doesn't agree with you. anywhos back to the point...i really enjoy two animes that are both making their way into our mainstream television - bleach and naruto. bleach is by far my favorite. well naruto is enjoyable to say the least but i have yet to figure out how america is going to handle the intense violence that is inevitable in this show. i have also realized that whichever naruto character you find as your favorite will tell a lot about the type of person you are/or intend to be...anyway, i have been catching up on the series today and just found myself adoring the current storyline. i'm past the time skip and i really appreciate how all the characters have grown at this point. i highly suggest the series in japanese...it's odd to watch it in english at least for me...bleach in english isn't so bad...

eh off to do whatever...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...

taken and friday the 13th...

well i should have gotten these up sooner but as always time is a precious commodity around here nowadays.

taken - 8/10 snaps - except for some idiotic moves on the american teenagers' parts [apparently they are that dumb] the film was riveting. lots of action. very worthwhile. liam neeson put in a stellar performance. i also appreciated that they took a good bit of time to set things up rather than just jumping right into the fray. go see it if you get the chance and enjoy a lot of action. a definite rental if it has already left your area.

friday the 13th - 3.5/10 snaps - booooo. i don't even know if this is rent worthy unless you're a huge jason voorhees fan and to tell you the truth i'm not sure that's enough. the film was disappointing to say the least. spoilers ahead, ye have been warned. let me start at the beginning...we see 5 teenagerish scalliwags with camping gear near camp crystal lake. they are there why? any guesses? yeah, to find some supposed stash of marijuana growing in the woods...does this sound completely idiotic to anyone else? i was happy when they died. do they make movies anymore where you're empathetic towards the characters at some point? there's some nudity and i think two sex scenes if i remember correctly. the only saving grace in the film was aaron yoo's role which as normal was pretty freaking hilarious. i was sad to see him and arlen escarpeta bite the dust because they were the only characters worth watching. the preview also shows how many people are murdered so once you hit that quota the mystery is kinda gone as to what's going to happen in the end.

eh enough about the crappy film. in other news i've caught up on naruto. i was thoroughly surprised to see they killed off asuma as he was somewhat a main character and not quite old enough to die yet plus his wife is pregnant. other than that the series has been pretty entertaining as of late. glad to see two more members of akatsuki killed although i think we'll end up seeing the immortal sadist again; hence the word immortal. it was also nice to see another jinchuuriki but she wasn't in the series long enough to get any kind of grip on how powerful other jinchuuriki may be.

i'll post later about research and life in general. i'm running late for my grant writing class!

have a most excellent day!

enjoy the silence...

push

push - 7.5/10 snaps - sean and i both enjoyed the film. i really like dakota fanning so i thought i may be a bit biased. i think there's a comic that the movie is based on but i am not positive. it's your normal superhero film with a tiny twist. i read some critic's review that said this movie had a bit of a memento feel and i have to agree. you've got all sorts of powers: bleeders [although sean and i think they should more aptly be called screamers] who function like banshee, movers - obviously your telekinetic folks, pushers - push whatever thoughts they want into your head, watchers - those that see the ever-changing future, stitches - can manipulate your insides by touching you...ew, shadows - can hide people and apparently locations, wipers - can get rid of certain memories [hello eternal sunshine of the spotless mind], and shifters - can change things appearances. i would definitely want to be a shifter. dude was spending paper as money - so totally super cool! anywho i think if you like such films as jumper and memento then you'll enjoy this one as well.

have a great day - i'm off to school...

enjoy the silence...

oh teh sims...why have ye forsaken me?

so i've been anxiously awaiting the sims 3 which was due to come out at the end of february ever since my sims 2 game decided to ingest a bug and stop working correctly even when reinstalled. on february 3rd the idiots at ea decided that they were going to postpone the title until JUNE. /cry

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...

careless whisper

i know, i know, i already posted today but then i ended up listening to seether's new single careless whisper which is a remake of the 1984 wham! song and i've just got to say i totally love it. way to go guys. yet another thing you've done right.

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...

bolt and all sorts of fun

well let's start out smoothly...

bolt - 8.5/10 snaps - do NOT go see this film in 3d. i did and actually saw maybe two or three bits of the film that were in 3d. a great family film. a definite go see for any pet lover. sean and i both had a fantastic time.

hmm what else. the whole family went to biltmore. search it up if you're not aware of the biltmore phenomenon. biltmore is a castle in nc. it's a castle that's still available for everyone to enjoy. sean and i went on the horseback tour which was so totally excellent! we start out on the ride and the trail guide [ryan] told sean that roman [his horse] was a big fan of chomping grass and if roman decided to graze then sean should yank on the reins and give him a swift kick. well sure enough, 10 mins away from the barn, roman gives grazing a damn good shot. sean yanks up the reins and gives roman a kick to find out that he has magically BROKEN the reins. impressive to say the least. anywho, so then we ride back to the barn where we get a new bridle for sean's horse and begin again on our way. we have a fantastic time and end up in a surrealistic area at some point. we're riding around and there's a small meadow in the middle of these woods. we look at the meadow as we're riding up and notice that there are two deer grazing. how freaking awesome! anywho the deer decide to let us continue on and ignore us as we continue our ride back to the barn.

we've got several pics i'll have to post so that everyone can see what a great time we had!

for now...as always...

enjoy the silence...