(Wow, I fail at this whole 'blogging regularly' thing. Here's a post that's been waiting for a while, I finally got around to finishing and posting it. Enjoy!)
So, this one time, I said I was going to blog about every task completed. I've been doing pretty good at keeping up with reviewing all the movies that I've watched since starting, (at least the ones that I hadn't seen before) but I've been doing terrible at keeping up with the concerts that I've been to. I'm going to try to remedy this now, with short but awesome reviews of several concerts that I've been to over the past few months.
Thrice - (7.13.10) This was quite possibly one of the best concerts I've ever been to. I wasn't a big fan of any of the opening bands, but they weren't terrible. Once Thrice started though, I kicked it into high gear. To be fair, Thrice is definitely NOT a band for everyone. Their style of rock is rather on the heavy side. Especially since we were at a smaller venue, (In the Venue, for those who were wondering) the mosh pit was ridiculous! I came home from this concert voiceless, tired, and sore. And that's how I could tell I had a great time.
Ben Folds - (7.17.10) This was definitely a more chill concert than Thrice. It was held up at Deer Valley, for the summer outdoor concert series with the Utah Symphony. Hearing Ben Folds' songs arranged with a symphony was one of the prettiest things I've ever heard. That didn't stop him from rocking out with some of his classics, but the encore was perfect. He came back out and played an orchestrated arrangement of 'The Luckiest' dedicated specially to his wife.
Candlelight Serenede - (8.28.10) So this concert was way sweet. It was an all day outdoor benefit concert in support of rescuing youth from slavery and the sex industry here in Utah and the US. There were a whole bunch of sweet bands, and I actually found some new ones that I've listened to a lot since, like Steel Train and Making April. My favorite part of this concert though was when Relient K covered Africa by Toto. About 3 notes in I was like, 'Is this what I think it is....?' And then it was. It rocked my socks. Also, Nick Hexum performing with his younger brother both on acoustic guitars was pretty sweet. And then, to top it all off, Chris Carrabba playing a bunch of Dashboard songs. All in all, a rockin' day, despite the wicked sunburn that I had for the next couple of weeks.
Anberlin - (10.5.10) It's thanks to this concert that I know about Crash Kings, which is one of my new favorite bands. So favorite in fact, that I actually purchased their CD off of amazon.com rather than simply listening to them on grooveshark. Crash Kings opened for Anberlin, and they kind of rocked my world. Then Anberlin came on, and they were also way amazing. My only complaint about this concert was the lack of moshing. It was a little bit bigger venue than Thrice, and admittedly, Anberlin is less intense than Thrice, but still, there were several songs that definitely should have had some good pits. There weren't any. That said, still an amazing concert. (side note: I LOVE the shirt that I got at this concert. It might be my favorite concert/band shirt yet.)
Fun. - (10.16.10) Well, this concert is just what it sounds like: a bunch of fun. :) But really, it was a sweet concert. Steel Train (see above, performed at the Candlelight Serenede) opened for fun. which was cool, since the lead singer of Steel Train is also the guitarist for fun. I think my favorite moment of this concert was when Steel Train played a song that they wrote for Yo Gabba Gabba called 'It's Fun to Dance.' Basically, the whole crowd got to be little kids for that song. It was wonderful. Then fun. took the stage, and it was also wonderful. They are a very unique band to watch live, and very entertaining.
And that's that. A summary of the concerts that I've been to recently. There aren't any in the immediate future that I'm planning on, but when Linkin Park comes through next year, I'll for sure be there. Heck, if it comes down to it, I'll road trip to see them. But anyway, until next time!
Saturday, October 30
Tuesday, September 21
3 months
Good thing I posted last Monday. Tuesday marked 3 months that I've had this blog. That's kind of weird to me to see how fast time flies. I mean heck, it's already almost the end of September. That's like a quarter of the way through Fall semester!
Weird.
Weird.
Monday, September 13
Weekend of Awesome
So, this weekend was rather awesome. First off, Friday night we had a Stake opening social, followed by a dance party. Although our ward didn't 'officially' win any awards, we know we're the best, simply because we were like the only ones dancing to start the dance party. Also, our bishop and his wife joined in the dancing. Coolest bishop ever? Perhaps. After the dance was over, (it was held outside, btw) we saw that the sprinklers were on across the field. So some of us ran through them. And it was fun. And then we came back to my place and watched Better Off Dead. Such a great movie!
Saturday was also full of awesome. I got up and played ultimate in the morning, then got ready to host the football watching party at my apartment. I had made bean dip for the occasion, and other people brought cookies and brownies and other snacks. There were lots of good games to watch, which is a good thing, since watching the second half of the BYU game was just painful. Oh well, there's always next week. Except we'll probably get owned by Florida State this Saturday. Oh well, there's always the NEXT week. :)
Then yesterday was a ridiculously long day, but way sweet. We had a regional conference in the Marriot Center, with two Apostles in attendance and speaking. Then later in the evening we had a CES fireside with another Apostle. Add that to the awesomeness of our ward sitting together for both of these events, and then ward prayer and such afterward, and you get a pretty rockin' day. Now it's Monday morning, and back to the grind of work and school and homework. Not much has changed since last week on that front. I'm still getting my trash kicked, with not much time to play, (other than weekends, of course) but it's all good. Well, that's all for now.
P.S. LP's new album is still amazing. Full review forthcoming.
Wednesday, September 8
Waiting For the End
There just aren't enough hours in the day.... So, these first couple weeks of school have kind of been kicking my trash. I don't really have a whole lot of time to play anymore, which is really sad. There are some things that I'm just making time for, like the ward intramural ultimate team that I'm playing on tonight. I hope we do well. Also, watching the football games on Saturdays. That's another priority. Anyway, I've been listening to Linkin Park's newest CD on repeat for all of yesterday and today, and it's kind of blowing my mind. The whole album has a very different feel from their previous records. I won't give a full review yet, but here is just a section of lyrics from one of my favorite songs, 'Waiting For the End.'
waiting for the end to come,
wishing i had strength to stand
this is not what i had planned
it's out of my control
flying at the speed of light
thoughts were spinning in my head
so many things were left unsaid
it's hard to let you go
i know what it takes to move on
i know how it feels to lie
all i wanna do is trade this life for something new
holding on to what i haven't got
................
picking up the pieces now, where to being
the hardest part of ending is starting again
Until next time, may life be as un-busy as possible. :)
waiting for the end to come,
wishing i had strength to stand
this is not what i had planned
it's out of my control
flying at the speed of light
thoughts were spinning in my head
so many things were left unsaid
it's hard to let you go
i know what it takes to move on
i know how it feels to lie
all i wanna do is trade this life for something new
holding on to what i haven't got
................
picking up the pieces now, where to being
the hardest part of ending is starting again
Until next time, may life be as un-busy as possible. :)
Wednesday, September 1
Lagoon!
So last Saturday, I went to Lagoon with a whole bunch of friends. And it was awesome. The end.
Just kidding! We went as kind of a last celebration of a summer full of awesomeness. We left Provo at about 9:30, and stopped at IKEA on the way up for breakfast. They have these way sweet breakfast plates for like 2 bucks and they're actually really filling. After that, we headed up to the park. I'm actually kinda surprised at how much we were able to fit into one day. We started with Wicked and Colossus at the one end of the park, and just rode pretty much every ride on the way over to the other side. We had a couple of food breaks, but other than that, we were just riding awesome rides all day long.
We finished up the day with a ride on the ferris wheel, then one more on the Samurai in the dark. We had about an hour left, and we decided to go ride Colossus and Wicked as many times as we could before the park closed. We ended up going on Colossus like 3 or 4 more times before they closed it. All in all, it was a ridiculously fun day, although also crazy tiring.
So, funny story: at the first food break, I'm waiting in line and I see that they have this deal where you can get a 44 oz. mug and free refills all day long for 12 bucks. I'm debating with myself whether or not it would be worth it. I figure, if I refill it twice, I'll have gotten my money's worth. It turns out that I ended up sharing it with everyone else in the group, so we refilled the mug 10 times! Plus, now I have a mug that I can take to the gas station and refill. I think that was a pretty solid purchase.
And that's the story of the awesomeness of Lagoon.
P.S. I got Metroid: Other M yesterday, but I've only played it for like an hour and a half, due to work and school and other obligations. My early impressions are that it's a way fun game, but with more action and less exploration than other Metroid titles. Full review to come.
P.P.S. I bought a Moleskine notebook at the bookstore today. I don't really know what I want to do with it yet, though, so any ideas/suggestions would be welcome. :)
Just kidding! We went as kind of a last celebration of a summer full of awesomeness. We left Provo at about 9:30, and stopped at IKEA on the way up for breakfast. They have these way sweet breakfast plates for like 2 bucks and they're actually really filling. After that, we headed up to the park. I'm actually kinda surprised at how much we were able to fit into one day. We started with Wicked and Colossus at the one end of the park, and just rode pretty much every ride on the way over to the other side. We had a couple of food breaks, but other than that, we were just riding awesome rides all day long.
We finished up the day with a ride on the ferris wheel, then one more on the Samurai in the dark. We had about an hour left, and we decided to go ride Colossus and Wicked as many times as we could before the park closed. We ended up going on Colossus like 3 or 4 more times before they closed it. All in all, it was a ridiculously fun day, although also crazy tiring.
So, funny story: at the first food break, I'm waiting in line and I see that they have this deal where you can get a 44 oz. mug and free refills all day long for 12 bucks. I'm debating with myself whether or not it would be worth it. I figure, if I refill it twice, I'll have gotten my money's worth. It turns out that I ended up sharing it with everyone else in the group, so we refilled the mug 10 times! Plus, now I have a mug that I can take to the gas station and refill. I think that was a pretty solid purchase.
And that's the story of the awesomeness of Lagoon.
P.S. I got Metroid: Other M yesterday, but I've only played it for like an hour and a half, due to work and school and other obligations. My early impressions are that it's a way fun game, but with more action and less exploration than other Metroid titles. Full review to come.
P.P.S. I bought a Moleskine notebook at the bookstore today. I don't really know what I want to do with it yet, though, so any ideas/suggestions would be welcome. :)
Wednesday, August 25
Six days.......
I'm sure that I'll be writing another post about this topic in a couple weeks, but for now, I'd just like to express my excitement for Metroid: Other M. I've been anticipating this game for a year and a half since it debuted at E3 in 2009. It finally comes out August 31st. I will spend most of the first week of school playing it. For your viewing pleasure, here is one of the many trailers.
For now, I think that is all that can be said. In a couple weeks, once I've played it, I'll let you all know what I think of it. (sneak peek: I'm sure I'm going to love it!)
Until next time!
For now, I think that is all that can be said. In a couple weeks, once I've played it, I'll let you all know what I think of it. (sneak peek: I'm sure I'm going to love it!)
Until next time!
Friday, August 20
I like to watch movies!
Here goes another round of movie reviews. Yay for movies!
The A-Team - (watched 8.6.10) This is another movie that I'm glad I waited to see in the dollar theater. I knew that I was going to at least enjoy it because it has Liam Neeson in it. Other than that, it was a fairly standard action flick. One thing that I did enjoy is the huge amount of humor in the movie. Even though some of the action scenes were ridiculously over the top, the jokes were always funny. Final rating: 3/5
District 9 - (watched 8.7.10) (disclaimer: I watched an edited version, so some comments might be directed at that. (further aside: any time I review an 'R' rated movie, it will be edited, just so I don't have to clarify that every time.)) I was actually quite impressed with this movie. I think that it definitely deserved the Best Picture nomination. The cinematography was awesome, and the story really made me think. Rarely do you have a film that falls so completely in the Sci-Fi category that is also this critically acclaimed and thought-provoking. The editing in the version I watched was very well done, and I could only tell in a couple places. If you're a fan of Sci-Fi in general, or alien movies in particular, I'd recommend giving this one a try. Final rating: 4/5
Primer - (watched 8.14.10) To be honest, when I finished this movie, my brain hurt. The premise goes like this: two engineers accidentally invent a time machine, and paradoxical craziness ensues. I feel like I need to watch it several more times to actually comprehend what's going on, but I was impressed, especially for a movie that was shot on a budget of $7K. Final rating: 4/5
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - (watched 8.14.10) Holy crap this movie was freaking amazing! I've been excited to see this movie since I saw the trailer for the first time back in May. I bought all the comics (from amazon.com, even!) and read them in like a week. The whole movie (and the comic series that it's based on) is basically a love letter to everything video games. And I love video games, therefore, I love this movie! The acting is spot-on, the dialogue is extremely funny, and the fight scenes are very well done. My only minor complaint is some small but fairly significant changes to the comics. I understand that these are necessary to squish 6 books down into two hours, but still.... Final rating: 4.5/5
Seven Pounds - (watched 8.20.10) Honestly, the less said about the plot of this movie the better. Before watching it, I had heard a little bit, but even that was too much. In many ways this is kind of a successor to The Pursuit of Happyness, also starring Will Smith and directed by the same director. Will Smith's performance in this movie is amazing. It's very different from any of his action movies, and in my opinion, even more demanding than his role in Happyness. If you enjoyed that movie, I would recommend this one. Fair warning though, it might make you cry. Just sayin'. Final rating: 3.5/5
Pick of the post (something new I'd like to try): Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
For all the reasons I listed above and more, go see this movie!
The A-Team - (watched 8.6.10) This is another movie that I'm glad I waited to see in the dollar theater. I knew that I was going to at least enjoy it because it has Liam Neeson in it. Other than that, it was a fairly standard action flick. One thing that I did enjoy is the huge amount of humor in the movie. Even though some of the action scenes were ridiculously over the top, the jokes were always funny. Final rating: 3/5
District 9 - (watched 8.7.10) (disclaimer: I watched an edited version, so some comments might be directed at that. (further aside: any time I review an 'R' rated movie, it will be edited, just so I don't have to clarify that every time.)) I was actually quite impressed with this movie. I think that it definitely deserved the Best Picture nomination. The cinematography was awesome, and the story really made me think. Rarely do you have a film that falls so completely in the Sci-Fi category that is also this critically acclaimed and thought-provoking. The editing in the version I watched was very well done, and I could only tell in a couple places. If you're a fan of Sci-Fi in general, or alien movies in particular, I'd recommend giving this one a try. Final rating: 4/5
Primer - (watched 8.14.10) To be honest, when I finished this movie, my brain hurt. The premise goes like this: two engineers accidentally invent a time machine, and paradoxical craziness ensues. I feel like I need to watch it several more times to actually comprehend what's going on, but I was impressed, especially for a movie that was shot on a budget of $7K. Final rating: 4/5
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - (watched 8.14.10) Holy crap this movie was freaking amazing! I've been excited to see this movie since I saw the trailer for the first time back in May. I bought all the comics (from amazon.com, even!) and read them in like a week. The whole movie (and the comic series that it's based on) is basically a love letter to everything video games. And I love video games, therefore, I love this movie! The acting is spot-on, the dialogue is extremely funny, and the fight scenes are very well done. My only minor complaint is some small but fairly significant changes to the comics. I understand that these are necessary to squish 6 books down into two hours, but still.... Final rating: 4.5/5
Seven Pounds - (watched 8.20.10) Honestly, the less said about the plot of this movie the better. Before watching it, I had heard a little bit, but even that was too much. In many ways this is kind of a successor to The Pursuit of Happyness, also starring Will Smith and directed by the same director. Will Smith's performance in this movie is amazing. It's very different from any of his action movies, and in my opinion, even more demanding than his role in Happyness. If you enjoyed that movie, I would recommend this one. Fair warning though, it might make you cry. Just sayin'. Final rating: 3.5/5
Pick of the post (something new I'd like to try): Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
For all the reasons I listed above and more, go see this movie!
Tuesday, August 17
Best movie ever?
So, I just got back from watching Inception for the second time. (I know, it's taken me too long to see it twice, but oh well.) I was just as impressed as the first time. Honestly, I think that this might be my favorite movie. I know, I have lots of favorite movies, and my favorites change from time to time, but this is definitely going to be one of them for a long time. I don't think I can find a single thing to complain about. Also, I absolutely love how the whole thing is pretty much open to interpretation. I haven't talked about a single movie and what it could mean this much in a really long time. The point of this post is basically to convince anyone that hasn't seen this movie yet that it's worth seeing, and to convince anyone that has seen it that it's worth seeing again. It's just that good.
Tuesday, August 10
I'd like to say a few words....
These are some of my favorite words to say, in no particular order.
- Excalibur
- paprika
- kukuruza (Russian for corn)
- moist
- endeavor
- whistle
- ennui
- rather
- pulchritudinous
- kerfuffle
- splendid
Apologies for going over the one week mark by a day. I've been rather busy at work, and all the kerfuffle has left me not a moment to spend on this splendid blog. I shall endeavor to do better in the future. Until next time, may your days of ennui be few and far between.
- Excalibur
- paprika
- kukuruza (Russian for corn)
- moist
- endeavor
- whistle
- ennui
- rather
- pulchritudinous
- kerfuffle
- splendid
Apologies for going over the one week mark by a day. I've been rather busy at work, and all the kerfuffle has left me not a moment to spend on this splendid blog. I shall endeavor to do better in the future. Until next time, may your days of ennui be few and far between.
Monday, August 2
Movie Madness
Rrather than doing a review every time I watch a movie, I've decided to save up a bunch of reviews to do all at once. So, without further ado, here are my reviews for six movies that I've watched over the past month or so.
Terminator Salvation - (watched 6.29.10) Honestly, I wasn't expecting a whole lot from this movie. I had heard that it was kinda lame, and didn't really live up to the hype. Even then, I was a bit underwhelmed. The action was pretty cool, and lots of things blew up, but the plot seemed contrived, and the characters seemed really flat. Even the big 'twist' halfway through was shown in the trailer, and thus wasn't a twist at all. It was a decent movie, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it again. Final rating: 2.5/5
Surrogates - (watched 7.12.10) This movie was actually a lot better than I expected. Of course, some of that is because I wasn't expecting it to be good at all. I was expecting a similar experience to Terminator, with lots of stuff blowing up and no plot. The thing is, there were lots of things blowing up, and lots of action-y scenes. But there was also a plot and a message. Some of the metaphor was a bit heavy-handed, and the plot device at the end was rather too convenient for my tastes, but it was still a good action flick. (As a side note, I haven't read the graphic novel that it's based on, although after watching the movie, I'm intrigued and will look into it.) Final rating: 3.5/5
Harold and Maude - (watched 7.12.10) I watched this movie based solely on the recommendation of a friend, not knowing anything about it beforehand. This was probably a very good thing, since if I had heard what it was about, I might have been to weirded out to actually watch it. I'm definitely glad that I did though. This movie is really weird, but it's a cinematic masterpiece. The humor is really black (Harold fakes his own death several times....) but it's hilarious. And Maude is just about the spunkiest and most off-her-rocker 79 year old you'll ever meet. Definitely recommended for anyone who loves film, and/or is in the mood for a quirky, darkly funny movie. Final rating: 4/5
Inception - (watched 7.16.10) So, I had been excited about this movie ever since before I knew what it was called. Ever since I heard saw The Dark Knight and knew that Christopher Nolan was making another movie, I've been excited for this. I was honestly worried that it couldn't live up to the hype. Thankfully, it did all that and more. I was expecting to have my mind blown by this movie, and it was blown. And then the pieces of my mind that were left were also blown. I won't waste any time/space here trying to summarize or explain the movie. Let me just say that this is the perfect movie for people who love to think about movies. Sure, you could watch this as just another summer action flick, but it's so much more than that! Final rating: 5/5
Corpse Bride - (watched 7.19.10) Watching this movie I was expecting a typical Tim Burton movie with dark humor and highly contrasted environments. And that's exactly what it was. That isn't a bad thing at all; in fact, I thoroughly enjoy Burton's films. One thing that I really enjoyed about this movie is the fact that the 'real world' was the environment that was drab, melancholy, and boring in contrast to the 'underworld' that was highly colored and vibrant. If you enjoy Tim Burton's movies, this will entertain. If his style isn't your thing, skip this one. Final rating: 3/5
GoldenEye - (watched 7.20.10) So, the only James Bond movies I'd ever seen were the two new ones, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Not gonna lie, those two were kind of ridiculously awesome. I had heard that earlier Bond movies were cheesier, but I guess I just didn't expect them to be THIS cheesy! Some of the lines were just so ridiculous that I literally laughed out loud. Despite all that, the action was pretty good, so I've gotta cut it some slack. Plus, it came out like 15 years ago. Final rating: 3/5
Terminator Salvation - (watched 6.29.10) Honestly, I wasn't expecting a whole lot from this movie. I had heard that it was kinda lame, and didn't really live up to the hype. Even then, I was a bit underwhelmed. The action was pretty cool, and lots of things blew up, but the plot seemed contrived, and the characters seemed really flat. Even the big 'twist' halfway through was shown in the trailer, and thus wasn't a twist at all. It was a decent movie, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it again. Final rating: 2.5/5
Surrogates - (watched 7.12.10) This movie was actually a lot better than I expected. Of course, some of that is because I wasn't expecting it to be good at all. I was expecting a similar experience to Terminator, with lots of stuff blowing up and no plot. The thing is, there were lots of things blowing up, and lots of action-y scenes. But there was also a plot and a message. Some of the metaphor was a bit heavy-handed, and the plot device at the end was rather too convenient for my tastes, but it was still a good action flick. (As a side note, I haven't read the graphic novel that it's based on, although after watching the movie, I'm intrigued and will look into it.) Final rating: 3.5/5
Harold and Maude - (watched 7.12.10) I watched this movie based solely on the recommendation of a friend, not knowing anything about it beforehand. This was probably a very good thing, since if I had heard what it was about, I might have been to weirded out to actually watch it. I'm definitely glad that I did though. This movie is really weird, but it's a cinematic masterpiece. The humor is really black (Harold fakes his own death several times....) but it's hilarious. And Maude is just about the spunkiest and most off-her-rocker 79 year old you'll ever meet. Definitely recommended for anyone who loves film, and/or is in the mood for a quirky, darkly funny movie. Final rating: 4/5
Inception - (watched 7.16.10) So, I had been excited about this movie ever since before I knew what it was called. Ever since I heard saw The Dark Knight and knew that Christopher Nolan was making another movie, I've been excited for this. I was honestly worried that it couldn't live up to the hype. Thankfully, it did all that and more. I was expecting to have my mind blown by this movie, and it was blown. And then the pieces of my mind that were left were also blown. I won't waste any time/space here trying to summarize or explain the movie. Let me just say that this is the perfect movie for people who love to think about movies. Sure, you could watch this as just another summer action flick, but it's so much more than that! Final rating: 5/5
Corpse Bride - (watched 7.19.10) Watching this movie I was expecting a typical Tim Burton movie with dark humor and highly contrasted environments. And that's exactly what it was. That isn't a bad thing at all; in fact, I thoroughly enjoy Burton's films. One thing that I really enjoyed about this movie is the fact that the 'real world' was the environment that was drab, melancholy, and boring in contrast to the 'underworld' that was highly colored and vibrant. If you enjoy Tim Burton's movies, this will entertain. If his style isn't your thing, skip this one. Final rating: 3/5
GoldenEye - (watched 7.20.10) So, the only James Bond movies I'd ever seen were the two new ones, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Not gonna lie, those two were kind of ridiculously awesome. I had heard that earlier Bond movies were cheesier, but I guess I just didn't expect them to be THIS cheesy! Some of the lines were just so ridiculous that I literally laughed out loud. Despite all that, the action was pretty good, so I've gotta cut it some slack. Plus, it came out like 15 years ago. Final rating: 3/5
Monday, July 26
Road Trippin' (you know, the Chili Peppers song....)
So, this past weekend, I went on an awesome road trip with some friends in my ward. Here in Utah, we get the 24th of July off of work/school for Pioneer Day, so we decided to celebrate... by leaving Utah and going to the beach!
One of the guys in my ward lives in Covina, CA, which is only a few minutes (ok, more like an hour, but still....) from the beach, so he offered to let us all stay at his house. A group went down Wednesday night, stopping in Vegas along the way. That's the ones who could get Thursday off of work. I was one of the unfortunate half that couldn't get work off on Thursday. Also, I was the one with the car. So, come Thursday night, I gather up my things, and throw it all in my trunk, along with all the rest of the people who are riding down and their things, and we set off at about 9:30. Yes, that's 9:30 in the PM. From Provo it's a 9+ hour drive to Chad's house in Covina. And yes, we drove through the night. That was an adventure in and of itself, tell you what. When we got there, (about 6 in the morning, local time) I shuffled into the house and promptly fell asleep.
A couple hours later I woke up to waffles cooking in the kitchen. Let me just say right now that Chad's family is rockin' awesome. His mom made some of the best homemade food ever, and his dad was just cracking jokes like the whole weekend. Anyway, so we all get up and eat some food, and by then I was about ready for a nap again. (remember, I'm running on like 2 hours of sleep) So I took a nap, and then we all headed out for the beach. We all had a blast at the beach, playing in the sand and the water. Honestly, I don't think I'd ever gone 'swimming' in the ocean before. I mean, I know I've been to the beach and at least waded into the water, but I'd never gotten soaked and ridden waves. Tell you what, it was a rush! I'm not a big fan of the salty water in the mouth thought. We also built an entire city of sand buildings and then knocked them down, Godzilla-style. After that, we played a quick game of ultimate right there on the beach. Running in the sand was really tiring, so that didn't last too long.
After more chilling on the beach, we headed back to Chad's and on the way stopped at In-N-Out for some classic California cuisine. When we got back, we cleaned up from the beach, and then we all sat down to Avatar in Blu-Ray on Chad's awesome HDTV. That is definitely the way to experience that movie. Pretty much everything is better in Blu-Ray, I've decided. I'll admit, I dozed several times during the movie, but hey, I was tired!
Saturday, we got to sleep in (yay!) and then Chad's mom made awesome homemade egg muffin sandwiches. They were pretty much the breakfast version of heaven. After that, we headed out to the LA temple to take some pictures. It's one of the prettier temples that I've seen, and I think Chad said it's also one of the biggest. On the way back from there, we stopped at another burger joint called Tommy's. At this place, everything they serve comes with chili on it. It was way intense! Then we came back and rested, chilled, napped, etc. Honestly, we kind of all turned into little kids again. Chad's nieces and nephews were over, so we got to play with them, and we all just sat in a circle and threw a ball around for like an hour. It was great! Later, we had a barbecue, with amazing burgers, chips, watermelon, the works. After that, we played duck, duck, whatever. How it works, is instead of saying 'goose,' you say another animal, and then the two that are running around the outside have to be that animal as they're running. It was great! We had unicorn, penguin, velociraptor, and my personal favorite, amoeba. Later that night we went to a neighbor's place and swam for a bit before we all decided it was time to call it quits for the evening.
Sunday morning we got up and went to Sacrament meeting early, then after that we headed out about 1. We got back into Provo a bit before 11, so not too ridiculously late. Also, my car hit a milestone of mileage on the way back. My car hit 177777 around Scipio, Utah. I tried to take a picture, but we were on the freeway, and all I had was my phone, and it was dark, so it really didn't work out at all. Oh well, I saw it happen, so that's cool.
This summer I've discovered that I really do like road trips. I figure I've got to enjoy them while I can in college. When you get married, they're not called road trips anymore. You still do them, but then they're called visiting family, or vacation, but with kids, it probably just seems like work. Then again, maybe that's just me being cynical, which has been known to happen from time to time. The moral of the story is, I'm sure this won't be the last road trip I go on with friends. :)
One of the guys in my ward lives in Covina, CA, which is only a few minutes (ok, more like an hour, but still....) from the beach, so he offered to let us all stay at his house. A group went down Wednesday night, stopping in Vegas along the way. That's the ones who could get Thursday off of work. I was one of the unfortunate half that couldn't get work off on Thursday. Also, I was the one with the car. So, come Thursday night, I gather up my things, and throw it all in my trunk, along with all the rest of the people who are riding down and their things, and we set off at about 9:30. Yes, that's 9:30 in the PM. From Provo it's a 9+ hour drive to Chad's house in Covina. And yes, we drove through the night. That was an adventure in and of itself, tell you what. When we got there, (about 6 in the morning, local time) I shuffled into the house and promptly fell asleep.
A couple hours later I woke up to waffles cooking in the kitchen. Let me just say right now that Chad's family is rockin' awesome. His mom made some of the best homemade food ever, and his dad was just cracking jokes like the whole weekend. Anyway, so we all get up and eat some food, and by then I was about ready for a nap again. (remember, I'm running on like 2 hours of sleep) So I took a nap, and then we all headed out for the beach. We all had a blast at the beach, playing in the sand and the water. Honestly, I don't think I'd ever gone 'swimming' in the ocean before. I mean, I know I've been to the beach and at least waded into the water, but I'd never gotten soaked and ridden waves. Tell you what, it was a rush! I'm not a big fan of the salty water in the mouth thought. We also built an entire city of sand buildings and then knocked them down, Godzilla-style. After that, we played a quick game of ultimate right there on the beach. Running in the sand was really tiring, so that didn't last too long.
After more chilling on the beach, we headed back to Chad's and on the way stopped at In-N-Out for some classic California cuisine. When we got back, we cleaned up from the beach, and then we all sat down to Avatar in Blu-Ray on Chad's awesome HDTV. That is definitely the way to experience that movie. Pretty much everything is better in Blu-Ray, I've decided. I'll admit, I dozed several times during the movie, but hey, I was tired!
Saturday, we got to sleep in (yay!) and then Chad's mom made awesome homemade egg muffin sandwiches. They were pretty much the breakfast version of heaven. After that, we headed out to the LA temple to take some pictures. It's one of the prettier temples that I've seen, and I think Chad said it's also one of the biggest. On the way back from there, we stopped at another burger joint called Tommy's. At this place, everything they serve comes with chili on it. It was way intense! Then we came back and rested, chilled, napped, etc. Honestly, we kind of all turned into little kids again. Chad's nieces and nephews were over, so we got to play with them, and we all just sat in a circle and threw a ball around for like an hour. It was great! Later, we had a barbecue, with amazing burgers, chips, watermelon, the works. After that, we played duck, duck, whatever. How it works, is instead of saying 'goose,' you say another animal, and then the two that are running around the outside have to be that animal as they're running. It was great! We had unicorn, penguin, velociraptor, and my personal favorite, amoeba. Later that night we went to a neighbor's place and swam for a bit before we all decided it was time to call it quits for the evening.
Sunday morning we got up and went to Sacrament meeting early, then after that we headed out about 1. We got back into Provo a bit before 11, so not too ridiculously late. Also, my car hit a milestone of mileage on the way back. My car hit 177777 around Scipio, Utah. I tried to take a picture, but we were on the freeway, and all I had was my phone, and it was dark, so it really didn't work out at all. Oh well, I saw it happen, so that's cool.
This summer I've discovered that I really do like road trips. I figure I've got to enjoy them while I can in college. When you get married, they're not called road trips anymore. You still do them, but then they're called visiting family, or vacation, but with kids, it probably just seems like work. Then again, maybe that's just me being cynical, which has been known to happen from time to time. The moral of the story is, I'm sure this won't be the last road trip I go on with friends. :)
Tuesday, July 20
Everything Is Illuminated
So, I had the good intentions to save up a bunch of book reviews to do all at once, like I'm doing with movie reviews, but the book reading is going slower than the movie watching. So it looks like I'll just be doing book reviews as they happen.
I finished 'Everything Is Illuminated' by Jonathan Safran Foer a couple weeks ago. It had been recommended to my by a friend, and I was interested partially because it's set in Ukraine. I served a mission in Russia, so I was interested to see the author's perspective on that part of the world. I had also seen the movie starring Elijah Wood, so I had a basic idea of the plot of the book. However, going back, I'd have read the book first. So, if you haven't seen the movie OR read the book, I would recommend both, but the book first.
The plot revolves mainly around the American Jew by the same name as the author who is researching his ancestors, specifically his grandfather, who came from Ukraine during the second World War. He is especially interested in finding a mysterious woman named Augustine who saved his grandfather during the Nazi occupation of their village. I found the narrative style to be incredibly unique and interesting. Two of the characters, Jonathan and his native Ukrainian translator Alex, are writing novels based on their experiences, and they are presented to the reader as a correspondence between the two. First, we read a section of Jonathan's novel recounting the early days of the village of Trachimbrod, where his grandfather lived. Next is a section of Alex's straightforward narrative of their search for Augustine. This is followed by a letter from Alex to Jonathan regarding the last section of the novel sent to him. The connection between the two narratives is not immediately apparent, but creates some interesting contrasts among the characters.
One of my favorite aspects of the novel is Alex's butchering of the English language. He uses words and phrases that make it seem like he's learned from a dictionary without ever hearing a native speaker. He calls himself a 'premium' person, and rather than saying something is difficult or hard, he calls it 'rigid.' The reason this is so funny to me, is that when I lived in Russia, there were quite a few people who thought that their English was exceptional, but who in reality spoke like a dictionary.
The thing about this book is that it's very powerful. You're dealing with people who lived through the horrors of Nazi occupation, and might not want to relive these experiences. Serious issues are dealt with. This novel evokes intense emotions. This isn't a book you'll read just for fun. Despite all of that, I still recommend it. One of the reviews on the book cover said that this book will change you. I am inclined to agree.
Final Rating: 4/5
I finished 'Everything Is Illuminated' by Jonathan Safran Foer a couple weeks ago. It had been recommended to my by a friend, and I was interested partially because it's set in Ukraine. I served a mission in Russia, so I was interested to see the author's perspective on that part of the world. I had also seen the movie starring Elijah Wood, so I had a basic idea of the plot of the book. However, going back, I'd have read the book first. So, if you haven't seen the movie OR read the book, I would recommend both, but the book first.
The plot revolves mainly around the American Jew by the same name as the author who is researching his ancestors, specifically his grandfather, who came from Ukraine during the second World War. He is especially interested in finding a mysterious woman named Augustine who saved his grandfather during the Nazi occupation of their village. I found the narrative style to be incredibly unique and interesting. Two of the characters, Jonathan and his native Ukrainian translator Alex, are writing novels based on their experiences, and they are presented to the reader as a correspondence between the two. First, we read a section of Jonathan's novel recounting the early days of the village of Trachimbrod, where his grandfather lived. Next is a section of Alex's straightforward narrative of their search for Augustine. This is followed by a letter from Alex to Jonathan regarding the last section of the novel sent to him. The connection between the two narratives is not immediately apparent, but creates some interesting contrasts among the characters.
One of my favorite aspects of the novel is Alex's butchering of the English language. He uses words and phrases that make it seem like he's learned from a dictionary without ever hearing a native speaker. He calls himself a 'premium' person, and rather than saying something is difficult or hard, he calls it 'rigid.' The reason this is so funny to me, is that when I lived in Russia, there were quite a few people who thought that their English was exceptional, but who in reality spoke like a dictionary.
The thing about this book is that it's very powerful. You're dealing with people who lived through the horrors of Nazi occupation, and might not want to relive these experiences. Serious issues are dealt with. This novel evokes intense emotions. This isn't a book you'll read just for fun. Despite all of that, I still recommend it. One of the reviews on the book cover said that this book will change you. I am inclined to agree.
Final Rating: 4/5
Friday, July 16
Lavender 5K Results
Well, so much for finishing this up on Tuesday. Oh well, here's the race recap.
As you probably know, last Saturday morning I ran a 5K as one of the goals on my 101 list. I went with a few friends in my ward. We had to get up way early, since the race started at 7, and it was down in Mona, like 40 minutes south of Provo. We got there a few minutes early, so we just headed to the start and talked for a bit while waiting. The race was delayed for a few minutes due to some technical difficulties with the timing system, so we started about quarter after 7.
Let me back up a bit. Over the past few weeks I'd been training for the race, but in that time, the longest I'd ever run in one go was two miles. A 5K is just over three miles, so I'd never run that distance before.
Ok, back to the race. I started out in the middle of the pack, not too fast, not too slow. Once I got going, most of the people around me were running/jogging slower than I was, so I started to pass people. The first half of the race was mostly at a slight uphill slant. It was a fairly flat course, but over the distance, you can feel even the slight grade. Anyway, we get to the halfway point and I've run the whole distance so far. I start on the downhill from there, and I'm thinking to myself, 'I can do this. I'm going to run the whole race!' I was doing alright until there was one more stretch that was a slight uphill grade. I walked for maybe 2 minutes or so there, just to catch my breath, and then I ran the rest of the way. I even somehow had enough energy there at the end to kick it up a notch and run through the finish. (I don't want to call it a sprint per-say, since I probably still wasn't going that fast, but still....) Also, funny side note, I almost tripped right after crossing the finish line, since there was a bump in the pavement.
At the finish, they had fruit, muffins, and most importantly, water for the runners, so we ate while waiting for the times to be posted. I ended up with a finish time of 29:10, which apparently is pretty darn good for my first 5K ever. I'm planning on running another one in September with the same friends that I ran this one with. Hopefully I can do more training and end up getting a better time.
Anyway, that was the Lavender 5K. It was fun, and I'm glad I did it. I don't think I'm going to start running every day just for the heck of it, but it was definitely a good experience. And, one more thing checked off my 101 list. :)
As you probably know, last Saturday morning I ran a 5K as one of the goals on my 101 list. I went with a few friends in my ward. We had to get up way early, since the race started at 7, and it was down in Mona, like 40 minutes south of Provo. We got there a few minutes early, so we just headed to the start and talked for a bit while waiting. The race was delayed for a few minutes due to some technical difficulties with the timing system, so we started about quarter after 7.
Let me back up a bit. Over the past few weeks I'd been training for the race, but in that time, the longest I'd ever run in one go was two miles. A 5K is just over three miles, so I'd never run that distance before.
Ok, back to the race. I started out in the middle of the pack, not too fast, not too slow. Once I got going, most of the people around me were running/jogging slower than I was, so I started to pass people. The first half of the race was mostly at a slight uphill slant. It was a fairly flat course, but over the distance, you can feel even the slight grade. Anyway, we get to the halfway point and I've run the whole distance so far. I start on the downhill from there, and I'm thinking to myself, 'I can do this. I'm going to run the whole race!' I was doing alright until there was one more stretch that was a slight uphill grade. I walked for maybe 2 minutes or so there, just to catch my breath, and then I ran the rest of the way. I even somehow had enough energy there at the end to kick it up a notch and run through the finish. (I don't want to call it a sprint per-say, since I probably still wasn't going that fast, but still....) Also, funny side note, I almost tripped right after crossing the finish line, since there was a bump in the pavement.
At the finish, they had fruit, muffins, and most importantly, water for the runners, so we ate while waiting for the times to be posted. I ended up with a finish time of 29:10, which apparently is pretty darn good for my first 5K ever. I'm planning on running another one in September with the same friends that I ran this one with. Hopefully I can do more training and end up getting a better time.
Anyway, that was the Lavender 5K. It was fun, and I'm glad I did it. I don't think I'm going to start running every day just for the heck of it, but it was definitely a good experience. And, one more thing checked off my 101 list. :)
Tuesday, July 13
101 List 1 Month Update
Well, it's now been officially one month since I started my 101 list, so I figure it's time for a quick update. I've completed 5 goals already, and there are 3 more that are in progress.
Completed goals:
13 - See a movie I've never heard of without learning anything about it
I completed this goal last night, actually, when I watched a movie called Harold and Maude with some friends. I've been saving up reviews of several movies to post all at once, so this one is forthcoming. The short review is that I liked it, although it's fairly odd in places.
14 - Run a 5K race
I completed this goal last Saturday, the 10th. I finished with a final time of 29:10, which I hear is pretty good for my first 5K. More detailed recap of this race is also forthcoming, possibly later tonight or tomorrow.
63 - Go to the dentist
I went, I promise.
73 - Climb a tree
This one was fun! I went with some friends to Kiwanis park here in Provo, and we climbed nearly to the top of a tree. We were so high that we could see out to Utah Lake.
100 - Get a library card
This is the first goal I completed, and has actually helped a lot with several of my other reading goals. I've definitely enjoyed having a library close to my apartment.
Goals in progress:
3 - Read my height (5'8") in books
I'm sad to say that in a month, I've only read one book. I need to pick up the pace on this one if I want to finish it. I read Everything Is Illuminated (1") by Jonathan Safran Foer, and I was really impressed. Like the movie reviews, I'll be saving several book reviews to post at once.
5 - Watch 26 movies I've never seen starting with each letter of the alphabet
I've watched 5 movies for this list:
B - Behind Enemy Lines
C - Clash of the Titans (2010)
H - How to Train Your Dragon
S - Surrogates
T - Toy Story 3
40 - Eat at 20 new restaurants
I went to eat at a place called Thai Mango with my coworkers last week. It was decent food, but not incredible. I'd probably go again, if the opportunity arose. On the other hand, I probably won't go out of my way to visit again.
Well, that's where I'm at so far. I'll probably give another update in another month, so until then, stay tuned for more reviews and randomness. :)
Completed goals:
13 - See a movie I've never heard of without learning anything about it
I completed this goal last night, actually, when I watched a movie called Harold and Maude with some friends. I've been saving up reviews of several movies to post all at once, so this one is forthcoming. The short review is that I liked it, although it's fairly odd in places.
14 - Run a 5K race
I completed this goal last Saturday, the 10th. I finished with a final time of 29:10, which I hear is pretty good for my first 5K. More detailed recap of this race is also forthcoming, possibly later tonight or tomorrow.
63 - Go to the dentist
I went, I promise.
73 - Climb a tree
This one was fun! I went with some friends to Kiwanis park here in Provo, and we climbed nearly to the top of a tree. We were so high that we could see out to Utah Lake.
100 - Get a library card
This is the first goal I completed, and has actually helped a lot with several of my other reading goals. I've definitely enjoyed having a library close to my apartment.
Goals in progress:
3 - Read my height (5'8") in books
I'm sad to say that in a month, I've only read one book. I need to pick up the pace on this one if I want to finish it. I read Everything Is Illuminated (1") by Jonathan Safran Foer, and I was really impressed. Like the movie reviews, I'll be saving several book reviews to post at once.
5 - Watch 26 movies I've never seen starting with each letter of the alphabet
I've watched 5 movies for this list:
B - Behind Enemy Lines
C - Clash of the Titans (2010)
H - How to Train Your Dragon
S - Surrogates
T - Toy Story 3
40 - Eat at 20 new restaurants
I went to eat at a place called Thai Mango with my coworkers last week. It was decent food, but not incredible. I'd probably go again, if the opportunity arose. On the other hand, I probably won't go out of my way to visit again.
Well, that's where I'm at so far. I'll probably give another update in another month, so until then, stay tuned for more reviews and randomness. :)
Friday, July 9
Multi-sensory Aesthetic Experience
On my way to work this morning, I was listening to an mp3 mix that I made. A song by Mae came on, and yet again I realized what an awesome yet unknown band they are.
I first heard of them in high school, but I never actually listened to them. Then, about a year ago, I got their first two albums from a friend. 'Destination: Beautiful' was alright, but not like crazy good. Then I listened to 'The Everglow' and I was hooked. I loved how the album was laid out like a story, complete with prologue and epilogue tracks. Later, I acquired and listened to 'Singularity,' their third studio album. One of my favorite songs by them (Sic Semper Tyrannis) is on this album, and it happens to be the same song that came on this morning in my car on the way to work.
This isn't meant to be a review of them as a band, or of any of their albums. I'm just trying to spread the word about a band that I enjoy. Here's a link to a grooveshark playlist with these three albums on it in order of release date. There's more than that to hear from them, but this is a good start.
Enjoy!
P.S. Mae is actually an acronym for Multi-sensory Aesthetic Experience. One of their EPs was actually a scratch-and-sniff, right on the disk!
I first heard of them in high school, but I never actually listened to them. Then, about a year ago, I got their first two albums from a friend. 'Destination: Beautiful' was alright, but not like crazy good. Then I listened to 'The Everglow' and I was hooked. I loved how the album was laid out like a story, complete with prologue and epilogue tracks. Later, I acquired and listened to 'Singularity,' their third studio album. One of my favorite songs by them (Sic Semper Tyrannis) is on this album, and it happens to be the same song that came on this morning in my car on the way to work.
This isn't meant to be a review of them as a band, or of any of their albums. I'm just trying to spread the word about a band that I enjoy. Here's a link to a grooveshark playlist with these three albums on it in order of release date. There's more than that to hear from them, but this is a good start.
Enjoy!
P.S. Mae is actually an acronym for Multi-sensory Aesthetic Experience. One of their EPs was actually a scratch-and-sniff, right on the disk!
Tuesday, July 6
Lavender 5K
So, I just registered for my first 5K on Saturday. It's down in Mona, and it actually goes right through fields of lavender. It should be pretty sweet. I've never been much of a runner, so this is kind of a big deal for me. I've been doing some training, although admittedly not as much as I should have. It's ok, though. Since this is the first time I'll be running a 5K, I'm not too worried about running it extremely fast, I'm mostly just concerned with finishing. The only downside to this race is the fact that it starts at 7 AM. On a Saturday morning. I generally don't do mornings. Oh well. It'll be worth it, since it'll be a lot cooler in the morning, and I won't die of heat.
Well, wish me luck, and I'll give a recap of the run this weekend.
Well, wish me luck, and I'll give a recap of the run this weekend.
Thursday, July 1
The Perfect Run
So, yesterday, I got the last star in Super Mario Galaxy 2. Here's a picture to prove it!
It was the most difficult star of the entire game, and way harder than anything in the first game. That is all.
It was the most difficult star of the entire game, and way harder than anything in the first game. That is all.
Sunday, June 27
Can I have one?
A Dragon. I want one.
How to Train Your Dragon - I went to see this movie late Friday night. In short, it blew me away. I had heard good things about it from friends, and I had read a few reviews of it online, all of which were full of praise for it, but I didn't want to get my hopes up to high. I mean, it's from Dreamworks, after all. They make good solid movies, but let's face it, they're no Pixar. Perhaps it was because of my low expectations that I was so thoroughly impressed. Hiccup, a misfit viking in a village full of dragon-killers, finds and befriends one of them, a dragon. All sorts of hijinks ensue, both funny and touching. This is probably the first non-Pixar movie that I would feel perfectly fine putting up on the same level with the rest of Pixar's films. And coming from me, that's high praise indeed. If you have yet to see this movie, go see it. Like, right now. Final rating: 4.5/5
Also, I hear there's a sequel in the works too. :)
Friday, June 25
The Dentist: Why this could be the title of a horror film
I don't much like going to the dentist.
Intellectually, I understand that it's important to get my teeth cleaned regularly. I know that I need to have them checked out by a professional, especially since my teeth are so messed up. But I still don't like it.
This irrational dislike of dentists probably goes back to when I was a kid. You see, I didn't really lose my first tooth. My permanent teeth were coming in weird, so I had to have two teeth pulled. My recollection is that they were the first two teeth that I 'lost,' although that could be inaccurate. One way or another, early on in my life, I had to have teeth pulled. And it wasn't just those two, either. I ended up having to have several teeth pulled. Thus began my turbulent relationship with dentists.
Now, the reason this could be a horror film. My younger brother was also having problems with permanent teeth coming in weird, and he'd been to the orthodontist who said that he had to have two teeth on the bottom pulled. So he goes to the dentist, who proceeds to pull those two teeth, as well as two more on the top. Apparently, this dentist just liked to pull teeth..... Now, imagine if such a dentist were to go clinically insane, and start kidnapping people just so he can pull their teeth out? That's a horror movie that I would never see, if only because dentists are scary enough to me as it is.
The great irony in all of this is that I had a great orthodontist, and I didn't mind going there at all. I still haven't figured that one out.
Anyway, I went to the dentist on Tuesday and I can now check off another task on my 101 list. And, like I said, my mouth is pretty messed up. I'll eventually have to get around to talking about my 10 missing permanent teeth and the surgeries to have them replaced. But that's a story for another day.
Intellectually, I understand that it's important to get my teeth cleaned regularly. I know that I need to have them checked out by a professional, especially since my teeth are so messed up. But I still don't like it.
This irrational dislike of dentists probably goes back to when I was a kid. You see, I didn't really lose my first tooth. My permanent teeth were coming in weird, so I had to have two teeth pulled. My recollection is that they were the first two teeth that I 'lost,' although that could be inaccurate. One way or another, early on in my life, I had to have teeth pulled. And it wasn't just those two, either. I ended up having to have several teeth pulled. Thus began my turbulent relationship with dentists.
Now, the reason this could be a horror film. My younger brother was also having problems with permanent teeth coming in weird, and he'd been to the orthodontist who said that he had to have two teeth on the bottom pulled. So he goes to the dentist, who proceeds to pull those two teeth, as well as two more on the top. Apparently, this dentist just liked to pull teeth..... Now, imagine if such a dentist were to go clinically insane, and start kidnapping people just so he can pull their teeth out? That's a horror movie that I would never see, if only because dentists are scary enough to me as it is.
The great irony in all of this is that I had a great orthodontist, and I didn't mind going there at all. I still haven't figured that one out.
Anyway, I went to the dentist on Tuesday and I can now check off another task on my 101 list. And, like I said, my mouth is pretty messed up. I'll eventually have to get around to talking about my 10 missing permanent teeth and the surgeries to have them replaced. But that's a story for another day.
Monday, June 21
Movie reviews
So, over the weekend, I watched three movies in three days. As part of my goal to blog about all of the tasks on my 101 list, I'll be doing reviews of all the movies that I'm counting towards the list. Below I'll provide some short (mostly) spoiler-free reviews. Enjoy!
Clash of the Titans (2010) - I saw this movie at the dollar theater Friday night. Let me just put it this way: I'm definitely glad that I waited for the dollar theater to see it. It was an enjoyable flick, don't get me wrong, but it wouldn't have been worth paying full price to see. Some movies make you think. Some movies create deep, thought provoking discussion. This is not one of those movies. This is a movie that you simply turn your brain off and enjoy the action. Even taking that into consideration, however, it was still merely mediocre. The acting was fairly shallow and the plot fairly thin. The special effects were pretty awesome, and I can't really complain about any movie with Gemma Arterton in it. Final rating: 2.5/5
Toy Story 3 - I got to watch this movie at a 3D showing on Saturday with my family. In a word, amazing! Honestly, a Pixar movie has yet to disappoint me. I don't think I like it as much as I like the second one, but it was still awesome. The whole film has a bit of a melancholy feel to it, since Andy is moving away to college, and leaving his toys. I'm not going to lie, there was a sequence near the end of the movie that nearly had me in tears. And I don't cry in movies. Trust Pixar to create an awesome movie that also touches people emotionally. One of my criteria for judging movies is how much I can feel for the characters, and believe me, you're feeling everything right along with Woody, Buzz, and the whole gang. Also, as a side note, they got the same voice actor back to play Andy. Just another example of Pixar being amazing, down to the fine details. Final rating: 4.5/5 (Bonus info: go here)
Behind Enemy Lines - Sunday night I watched this movie that I got from Netflix and I've had sitting on my desk for probably a month. I had just never gotten around to watching it. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, so I think I ended up enjoying it more. I had heard that it was cool, but not much more than that. I was impressed with certain action sequences, and the story was pretty gripping and intense. I do have a few complaints, though. Admittedly, I know next to nothing about war and military activities, but it seemed that much of what was going on was somewhat abnormal even to the point of 'that could never happen in real life.' Also, the soundtrack was a bit eclectic and didn't always fit together that well. For example, I don't imagine patriotic marches with snare drums galore next to a bass-heavy, techno-inspired piece underscoring a chase scene. All in all though, a good movie, and one I'd recommend watching at least once. Final rating: 3.5/5
Also, as an aside, I accomplished my goal of climbing a tree this afternoon with two friends. Admittedly, I didn't make it all the way to the top, but that's because someone was already up there, and she had to come down. So I'm now 2/101 on my list, along with progress made towards watching all the movies as well.
Clash of the Titans (2010) - I saw this movie at the dollar theater Friday night. Let me just put it this way: I'm definitely glad that I waited for the dollar theater to see it. It was an enjoyable flick, don't get me wrong, but it wouldn't have been worth paying full price to see. Some movies make you think. Some movies create deep, thought provoking discussion. This is not one of those movies. This is a movie that you simply turn your brain off and enjoy the action. Even taking that into consideration, however, it was still merely mediocre. The acting was fairly shallow and the plot fairly thin. The special effects were pretty awesome, and I can't really complain about any movie with Gemma Arterton in it. Final rating: 2.5/5
Toy Story 3 - I got to watch this movie at a 3D showing on Saturday with my family. In a word, amazing! Honestly, a Pixar movie has yet to disappoint me. I don't think I like it as much as I like the second one, but it was still awesome. The whole film has a bit of a melancholy feel to it, since Andy is moving away to college, and leaving his toys. I'm not going to lie, there was a sequence near the end of the movie that nearly had me in tears. And I don't cry in movies. Trust Pixar to create an awesome movie that also touches people emotionally. One of my criteria for judging movies is how much I can feel for the characters, and believe me, you're feeling everything right along with Woody, Buzz, and the whole gang. Also, as a side note, they got the same voice actor back to play Andy. Just another example of Pixar being amazing, down to the fine details. Final rating: 4.5/5 (Bonus info: go here)
Behind Enemy Lines - Sunday night I watched this movie that I got from Netflix and I've had sitting on my desk for probably a month. I had just never gotten around to watching it. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, so I think I ended up enjoying it more. I had heard that it was cool, but not much more than that. I was impressed with certain action sequences, and the story was pretty gripping and intense. I do have a few complaints, though. Admittedly, I know next to nothing about war and military activities, but it seemed that much of what was going on was somewhat abnormal even to the point of 'that could never happen in real life.' Also, the soundtrack was a bit eclectic and didn't always fit together that well. For example, I don't imagine patriotic marches with snare drums galore next to a bass-heavy, techno-inspired piece underscoring a chase scene. All in all though, a good movie, and one I'd recommend watching at least once. Final rating: 3.5/5
Also, as an aside, I accomplished my goal of climbing a tree this afternoon with two friends. Admittedly, I didn't make it all the way to the top, but that's because someone was already up there, and she had to come down. So I'm now 2/101 on my list, along with progress made towards watching all the movies as well.
Friday, June 18
E3 Recap
So, for the past few days I've been following E3 news online. (For the uninformed, E3 is basically a huge show where video game companies get together and show off all the cool stuff they've got coming up.) I was pretty impressed with E3 this year. All three major companies (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo) had pretty strong showings, though I must admit I'm kind of a Nintendo fanboy. I watched their press conference live Tuesday morning, and I was pretty much blown away. Some of the announcements were expected, but others were a complete surprise. Below I'd like to highlight several of my favorite trailers and upcoming games of E3, first with a couple of non-Nintendo games.
The Old Republic - This trailer is just made of all kinds of awesome. This is for an upcoming MMO by BioWare. I say, why not just let BioWare do the Star Wars movies? They'd do a better job than the prequel trilogy or the animated Clone Wars show. (The E3 2009 trailer is pretty ridiculous as well.)
Portal 2 - Sequel to one of the best games I've played. It looks like the puzzles are going to be even more awesome, and it sounds like the trademark humor is still there.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Now we move into the Nintendo section of my recap. This is the game that we've been waiting for information about since last year at E3 when they showed one piece of artwork. Although Miyamoto's on stage demonstration had a few hiccups, everything I've read from people who played it on the floor said that it works perfectly. This is probably on the top of my must-play list.
Kirby's Epic Yarn - This was one of the big surprises of Nintendo's conference. Kirby hasn't starred in a console title since the days of the N64. This unique art style struck me as charming the first time I watched this trailer, and it just keeps growing on me. I can't wait to play this game when it comes out this fall.
Donkey Kong Country Returns - Yet another huge surprise from the press conference. There had been rumors for a few days before E3 about Retro Studios, the genius behind the Metroid Prime Trilogy, working on a revival of Donkey Kong for the Wii. It turned out that those rumors were completely true. I loved the old DKC games on the SNES and I'm extremely excited to play this one soon.
Kid Icarus Uprising - This is the kicker. Kid Icarus hasn't had a new game in the series since the Game Boy in 1991. He did make an appearance in 2008s Smash Bros. Brawl, but he hasn't starred in his own game in nearly 20 years. Not only do we get a new Kid Icarus game, but it's the headlining title for the new 3DS system, which will display the graphics in full 3D without the need for glasses. Excited? Very yes!
For all kinds of Nintendo E3 goodness, visit e3.nintendo.com.
The Old Republic - This trailer is just made of all kinds of awesome. This is for an upcoming MMO by BioWare. I say, why not just let BioWare do the Star Wars movies? They'd do a better job than the prequel trilogy or the animated Clone Wars show. (The E3 2009 trailer is pretty ridiculous as well.)
Portal 2 - Sequel to one of the best games I've played. It looks like the puzzles are going to be even more awesome, and it sounds like the trademark humor is still there.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Now we move into the Nintendo section of my recap. This is the game that we've been waiting for information about since last year at E3 when they showed one piece of artwork. Although Miyamoto's on stage demonstration had a few hiccups, everything I've read from people who played it on the floor said that it works perfectly. This is probably on the top of my must-play list.
Kirby's Epic Yarn - This was one of the big surprises of Nintendo's conference. Kirby hasn't starred in a console title since the days of the N64. This unique art style struck me as charming the first time I watched this trailer, and it just keeps growing on me. I can't wait to play this game when it comes out this fall.
Donkey Kong Country Returns - Yet another huge surprise from the press conference. There had been rumors for a few days before E3 about Retro Studios, the genius behind the Metroid Prime Trilogy, working on a revival of Donkey Kong for the Wii. It turned out that those rumors were completely true. I loved the old DKC games on the SNES and I'm extremely excited to play this one soon.
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn - This game was first announced at E3 last year. Since then, I've been waiting (mostly impatiently) to hear more about the sequel to my favorite RPGs of all time. The gameplay looks to be pretty much the same as the first two entries in the Golden Sun series, which is by no means a bad thing. Obviously the graphics have gotten a big bump up the the level of the DS, and the summons look like they're going to be pretty epic.
Kid Icarus Uprising - This is the kicker. Kid Icarus hasn't had a new game in the series since the Game Boy in 1991. He did make an appearance in 2008s Smash Bros. Brawl, but he hasn't starred in his own game in nearly 20 years. Not only do we get a new Kid Icarus game, but it's the headlining title for the new 3DS system, which will display the graphics in full 3D without the need for glasses. Excited? Very yes!
For all kinds of Nintendo E3 goodness, visit e3.nintendo.com.
Monday, June 14
101 in 1001
So, I've decided to create a list of goals using the dayzeroproject.com website. The idea here is to make a list of 101 things that you are going to accomplish in the next 1001 days (roughly 2.75 years). One of these things is to create a blog, another is to blog about every task accomplished, so I figured that posting the list itself would be a good way to kick of my blog. Also, comments, suggestions, and encouragement is always welcome. :) Well, here's the list!
1 - Fly a kite on the beach
2 - Reread the Harry Potter series
3 - Read my height (5' 8") in books
4 - Attend the midnight premiere of a movie in costume
5 - Watch 26 movies I've never seen starting with each letter of the Alphabet
6 - Watch the sunrise and sunset in the same day
7 - Don't complain about anything for a week
8 - Complete a coloring book
9 - No fast food for a month
10 - Go on a road trip
11 - Visit the Grand Canyon
12 - Program a video game
13 - See a movie I've never heard of without learning anything about it
14 - Run a 5K race
15 - Beat all the Zelda games
16 - Go to a movie by myself
17 - Visit one new state
18 - Bowl at least 150
19 - Start a blog and write once a week for at least three months
20 - Read the Book of Mormon in Russian
21 - Visit St. Petersburg
22 - Be in a musical
23 - Go for a week without watching any tv/movies
24 - Watch all of Avatar: The Last Airbender (TV show)
25 - Go to every temple in Utah
26 - Pay off my loan
27 - Kiss someone at midnight on New Year's
28 - Go for a week without Facebook
29 - Dye my hair
30 - Go to New York City
31 - Complete Ocarina of Time in one sitting
32 - Give a 100% tip
33 - Collect (and cook) 50 new recipes
34 - Run through the sprinklers
35 - Go barefoot for a day
36 - Sleep under the stars
37 - Buy a MacBook Pro
38 - Tie a note to a balloon and let it go
39 - Eat Dinner by Candlelight
40 - Eat at 20 new restaurants
41 - Don't spend any money for 1 week.
42 - Get a credit card- and pay it off every month
43 - Go to an outdoor concert
44 - Pay for someone else’s food behind me at the drive-thru
45 - Watch the entire series of Lost
46 - Memorize a favorite poem
47 - Vote
48 - Stay up for 24 hours with a good reason
49 - Stay up for 24 hours for no reason at all
50 - Make an iTunes playlist of 101 of my favorite songs
51 - Learn to play drums
52 - Give money to a street musician
53 - Go to 5 concerts
54 - Learn the alphabet in ASL
55 - Buy flowers for someone.
56 - Dress up for Halloween
57 - Journal every day for a month
58 - Make a wish at 11:11 on November 11, 2011
59 - Watch all six Star Wars movies in one day
60 - LOTR marathon
61 - Wear an entire outfit that was purchased at DI
62 - Full Combo 5 songs on Expert on Guitar Hero (any)
63 - Go to the dentist
64 - Attend E3
65 - Read a whole book in one day
66 - Play a full game of monopoly
67 - Have a flour bomb war
68 - No soda for one month
69 - Smile at a stranger
70 - Go to an amusement park
71 - Write a sincere letter
72 - Listen to 26 bands I've never listened to starting with each letter of the alphabet
73 - Climb a tree
74 - Go to Disneyland
75 - Hike Timp
76 - Learn two songs on guitar
77 - Buy a pair of Orange Converse
78 - Learn to knit
79 - Teach someone to drive a stick shift
80 - Make a false book
81 - Learn to play all the hymns in the book
82 - Go geocaching
83 - Write a letter ransom-note style (magazine cut-outs)
84 - Celebrate an obscure holiday
85 - Relearn all of the scripture mastery scriptures
86 - Read the standard works all the way through
87 - Buy a moleskine
88 - Make something out of duct tape
89 - Write a fan letter to someone famous
90 - Buy a Canon Powershot
91 - Do 365 day photo challenge
92 - Go to a national park that I've never been to
93 - Decorate a gingerbread house
94 - Blog about every task completed
95 - Make a video and post it on youtube
96 - Join LPU
97 - Go to Warped Tour
98 - Go a week without texting
99 - Go a week with no video games
100 - Get a library card
101 - Write the next 101 to start when this set is over
Also, as of just now, I went to the Provo City Library and got a library card. (1/101) :D I then proceeded to sing to myself the song from Arthur, "Having fun isn't hard, when you've got a library card!" Now THAT was a quality kids TV show.
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