the fixer

my apologies as always for my long break from blogging.  i may start a new blog more aimed at my life nowadays as an 'adult.'  we'll let that word go as far as it should since hopefully i'll never grow up but my aims have changed a lot as to what i would like out of life and what i get to do with the miniscule amount of free time that i do have and maybe that's all worth putting down for now.  it may have been worth putting down before now.  oh well, again, there's that miniscule amount of free time that gets in the way.

so today's post doesn't cover games, movies, music or anything of the sort.  instead it's a realization of a label that i was subconsciously aware of but that has been brought to my attention recently. 

i am the fixer.  if i were a superhero right now, at this moment, that's the codename they would use.

so what has determined that i am the fixer you say?  many things that i'm not going to list.  some evidence that i will put down.  i never get anything done for myself [i think this is reason # 1 that i am still working on my phd].  don't get me wrong, this isn't some self righteous please help me nonsense, it's just an annoying personality trait that i have.  i feel obligated to make sure everyone else's life/job/school/whatever is running appropriately.  i don't know why.  it's quite detrimental to my own life but again, not complaining, just realization.  i draw lines too so it's not that i'm fixing EVERYTHING just more than i should be fixing.  i don't want to fix things for my child because i don't want him to end up just like one of the many college students i see today who don't even know how to open a pdf file or send themselves an email.  as another undergraduate stated, 'we're the technology generation!'  people in general need to be able to do things on their own and to fix their own problems.  i need to stop worrying about everyone else's work and get my own stuff done.

realization over.  fixer out.

enjoy the silence.

the wolverine

7.5/10 snaps - the wolverine [beware mateys, there may be some spoilers ahead]

so the wolverine was significantly better than its previous counterpart where marvel neutered deadpool at the end of the film into some being that none of us cared to see.  hugh jackman completed a wonderful performance and as a hetero woman i totally enjoyed all his half naked scenes.  i am not quite incredibly versed in wolverine's back story so i'm not sure how much of this actually occurred in the comics.  i know at some point he was in japan [where most of the film takes place] but am not sure for how incredibly long.

my main issue with the film was the main villain.  i get it.  i just don't incredibly like it [the premise, how it was done, etc.].  otherwise i say the film was a great one to watch.  i did keep getting this feeling that i was watching push + wolverine added in but i assume that's due to the semi psychic chick [yukio] who can see folks' deaths before they occur.  a tad bit confused as to why logan fell in love with mariko so incredibly quickly but i suppose in all reality that's typically how comics handle the love situation so why not, right?

*after getting annoyed that i didn't completely know for sure that this story was wolverine in nature i finally did a bit of web surfing and found that the majority of the characters [yukio, mariko, etc.] are from the x-men universe but not entirely sure that venom ever had anything to do with wolverine...just precursory searching so it is perfect plausible and possibly even certain that i missed something.

if you are a wolverine fan, go see the film!  you'll probably like it and if you don't, i hold absolutely no responsibility for sending you there ;)  otherwise wait for dvd but i definitely think it is worth a viewing at some point.

for now as always,

enjoy the silence.

pacific rim

pacific rim - so let's cut to the chase - 8.5/10 snaps.  i pretty much think anyone who likes a good action/monster movie will have a fantastic time with this film.  i, like most, did not give it much credit at all when i saw the previews or heard the premise.  i figured it was a huge transformers/power rangers/godzilla rip-off and would be entirely boring and predictable.  then i saw the reviews [not a big fan of most mainstream movie critics but there's one gentleman in particular that i tend to share views with http://www.youtube.com/user/JeremyJahns?feature=watch and that being said here's some props for sean as he introduced me to jeremy's entertaining movie reviews] and jeremy was loving pacific rim!  then i realized the film was directed by guillermo del toro and felt even better.  then i went to see it [with exceedingly great company might i add - sean, margaret, and bert] and absolutely had a fantastic time.  i have to say my favorite character was the biologist played by charlie day.  folks give the movie a tough time as they say his character was too 'wacky' and 'out there'.  since i am a biologist and work in a building(s) full of biologists i can say with certainty that this portrayal was not far from the actual truth.  especially the bit about the tattoos, the wanting to see an extremely dangerous being alive and in person, and the reaction he provides when presented with anatomical specimens of said organisms [my personal favorite part of the film].  we have the exact same reactions here in the biology department about similarly meaningless to the general public items.  for example i'm sure you are nowhere near as excited to dissect rats to find one that has a heterotaxic spleen or a pristine trachea and esophagus.  eh, i digress.  so all in all go see the film unless you detest sci fi and then i assume you're not reading the blog anywho as we probably don't share the same interests.  pacific rim is going to be one that we actually pick up on blu-ray.  oh and bonus in that my husband is in the film [ron perlman reference - sean and now rob tend to take on a ron perlmanesque appearance at times.  it's fleeting but definitely there.  i think it has to do with the shape of their heads]!

enjoy the silence [maybe i'll get back into blogging more and there won't be nearly as much of it to enjoy]!

mama (just so you know i definitely said the title in that eerie whisper voice)

let's jump in head first on this one, shall we?

mama - 4/10 - while i love horror films and thought this movie had extreme potential, i find myself a bit let down.  the majority of the movie was great!  the acting was excellent, especially that of the kids in the film (the really creepy kids, of course one of them previously played the red queen in a resident evil film so instant creep factor!).  there were a couple of new things that other movies in the same genera haven't used before, some really neat scenes.  there's a couple of jumpy moments but not an excess of them.  in fact the film is also not some sappy, heartwarming "please don't kill annabel so she can raise these poor children that were raised in the woods for five years" film either which i also appreciate.

so where does the movie go wrong then eh?  the worst part of the film is the end.  it completely ruined the film.  while i'm all for an unconventional ending, this one was not a winner.  there's a few more staggering issues with the film as well.  you start seeing way too much of "mama."  i'm the kind of person who likes to peer between my fingers at the really scary parts of horror movies but by the 4th time mama showed up, she had lost her scary mojo and i was able to continue staring at her for the remainder of the movie as she just wasn't frightening anymore.  then there was the inconsistency of the ghost - why even let folks take the kids back to the city in the first place if she wants to be the primary caregiver?  why materialize yourself to kill some folks and then completely disregard others that are threatening the children's well-being or making you jealous.  apparently the ghost was a bit indecisive.

rental worthy.  especially so if there are alternate endings available

eh.  enjoy the silence.

hobbitses and holidays

ugh...so obviously i haven't blogged since mid 2011.  i really didn't realize it had been that long to be honest.  that whole pesky life thing keeps getting in the way even though it is quite a fun and interesting ride.  so down to the most recent important stuff - the hobbit of course!  good time to talk about hobbits too considering it is currently right before elevenses (although by the time i get enough spare time to devote to finishing this post we may be at time for tea).

the hobbit:  an unexpected journey - 9.5/10 snaps - i would give this movie 10/10 however some folks are displeased with the addition of content not from the actual book (apparently there's a lot from the extra appendices to the lord of the rings novels as well as a good bit just manufactured from thin air in regard to both radagast the brown and azog).  granted i have not read the book since the year 1996 so i can't remember much of what has been added or removed for the film's sake but man did i enjoy this movie.  the acting, as in all of the lotr films, was impeccable.  my favorite actors in this particular film were ian mckellan (gandalf the grey), martin freeman (bilbo), aidan turner (kili), and richard armitage (thorin oakenshield).  the scenery was gorgeous.  the story was fun and there was no whining frodo that you wanted to kick throughout (yeah yeah the ring made him a pain, blah blah blah).

we actually shelled out the extra cash to go see this in 3d in one of the "regal premium experience" theaters.  the 3d didn't really add all that much to this particular film and i suppose it would be just as beautiful in 2d.  whilest i didn't feel like the movie dragged or lasted three hours, several of my good friends (my brother johnathon, his girlfriend sterling, etc.) did seem to think the movie was a bit long for them.

all in all i think if you're a fantasy fan, you'll certainly enjoy this movie as long as you take the hobbit:  an unexpected journey as it is and don't expect it to be verbatim from the book.

short aside on the regal premium experience - eh...i'm not that impressed.  the seats, while comfier and will lay back a bit more than in the regular theaters, were also packed closer together and even though my seat could lean substantially i kept getting kicked by anyone who had to use the restroom during this three hour movie and was in the row behind me as well as being super close to the young lady next to me who kept playing with my keys.  nice idea but maybe regal should have taken a bit more time to think about the layout of the theater.  i didn't notice any difference with the supposed awesome sound system, new projectors, or larger screen so in my honest opinion, i feel the "premium experience" could have been better.

next up - gaming - i am still playing everquest 2 but am not in norrath as much as i'd like to be as i've got too much else going on.  sean and our friend terry from eq2 have both taken quite a liking to guild wars 2.  i'll probably do a post on gw2 in a few days when i have some more time.  i find that i prefer eq2 just due to the fact that i enjoy being a pure healer class whilest in gw2 that is not really an option.

i'll post about life after the holidays so for now - merry christmas and happy new year!

as always...enjoy the silence...

x-men: first class

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

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

enjoy the silence.

the blog is back!

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

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

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

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

grown ups, predators, inception, and the last airbender

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

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

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

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

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

enjoy the silence.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

shrek, whip it, and eq2 addition: halas reborn

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

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

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

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


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

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

insomnia - the cure for forgotten blogging

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

up, drag me to hell, and the hangover

well good afternoon everyone. i'm keeping them short this week so let's jump right in shall we?

up - 8.5/10 snaps - the movie was very well done. voice acting and animation were both excellent. i cried twice in the film and not about animals. that's always a sign of a good script. i think you should go see this one while it's still in theaters.

the hangover - 4.5/10 snaps - apparently a guy film sean says as he enjoyed it a lot more than i did. i think you saw the best parts in the preview and most of it was fairly predictable. eh it's good for what it was which is a mindless comedy. rental worthy although sean might disagree.

drag me to hell - 3/10 snaps - i really like alison lohman and thought she did a great job in matchstick men, however, this movie was funny as it should be and had several jumpy moments but besides that was pretty much a waste of time. if you like these kind of films then rent it otherwise just ignore it all together.

other than that i'm currently busy researching, just thought i'd stop by for a brief moment with the quick movie reviews. have a great day everyone!

enjoy the silence.

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.