The Return of Gideon

So this one time, I made a 101 list.  Most (all?) of you who read this blog know this.  One of the items on said list was to dye my hair.  Item # 29, to be precise.  I didn't have any specific plans of how or when to go about this, but I had been asking some friends what color they thought would look good on me.  I was debating between dark-ish brown and red-ish.

Anyway, a little over a week ago, I was just watching the Jazz game on a Friday night with some friends.  All of a sudden, the girls (Kellie and Alyssa.  You guys rock, by the way.) were like, "We should dye your hair right NOW!"  After some coaxing, I gave in, and we went to the store to get some hair dye.  I mean, let's be honest; when else am I going to be able to be this random and spontaneous?  I let the girls pick which one would work best, which was an awesome idea.

I ended up compromising and doing a dark-ish red-ish.  I really like how it looks.  It's kind of a subtle change, nothing too ridiculous.  Here's a couple pics.  The first one is kind of dark, so it's hard to tell.  The second one you can see the color better.

Also, sorry about how funky my eye looks in the second one...... I don't know what I was doing.

So that's that.  #29 checked off my list.  Until next time!

Thoughts

So, I'm sitting in one of the many Linux labs on the campus of Brigham Young University, realizing that this is pretty much what my life is going to look like for the next two years.

And on that happy note, here goes a post about nothing in particular.  :)

I'm slowly realizing that this semester is probably going to be my hardest yet.  I have two classes in which I have homework assigned every class period.  These aren't just pansy busy-work assignments either.  Heck, I already have a test in my Linear Algebra class.  3 weeks into the semester.  That's ridiculous.

On top of that, I'm in CS 240, which I've heard from everyone who's ever taken it is simply a beast of a class.  The big project that's due near the end of the semester supposedly takes close to 100 hours of coding time.  And all of that in a brand new programming language that I've never used before.  Bleh..... 

On the other hand, I do have some crazy awesome classes this semester as well.  I have gold level social dance, yet again.  I've enjoyed this class every time I take it, and I'm sure this semester will be no exception.  It's definitely a nice break from the daily grind.  Additionally, I'm in a beginning guitar class.  Now, I haven't played guitar since 8th grade, when I took that for my Jr. High music credit.  However, I find that I've really enjoyed it so far, even though my fingers hurt a bunch after I've been playing for a while.  Hopefully I can get some sweet songs learned.  And then play them.  And be awesome.

In other news, I went to a concert a couple nights ago.  Me and a couple friends went up to Salt Lake to see Chris Carrabba in a solo performance of his first Dashboard album, Swiss Army Romance.  It was an awesome show, but probably the coolest part was one of the opening bands called Lady Danville.  I was completely blown away by their performance.  The drummer was using his bare hands for crying out loud!  Also, they had some really sweet vocal harmonies going on.  Because the venue was so small, they actually came out after their set and just chatted with people by their merch table.  I got to shake their hands and talk with them for a bit.  Turns out, they met at UCLA, in the a cappella group there.  That's why they have such sweet vocals!  Anyway, they're a really sweet band.  Check them out.

On that note, I'd better get some programming done tonight, and I think I'll listen to some Lady Danville as I do so.  Until next time!

Many Marvelous Movies

Lots of movies to review this time, probably since I haven't posted a movie review since September. Goodness....  Well, here we go!

Memento - (watched 9.17.10) Totally blew my mind!  I can definitely see the comparisons that people were drawing between this movie and Inception.  Even after the first twist, there were more coming.  The non-linear structure of the movie is key in creating the suspense.  Also, the juxtaposition of the b/w scenes with the color scenes, and then when they change with the picture, etc.  I loved it!  Final rating: 4.5/5

Flyboys - (watched 9.28.10) I enjoyed the fact that this was a movie about WWI instead of WWII.  Nothing wrong with WWII movies, but there's just a ton of them!  Another thing that intrigued me was that this movie is based on the true story of a group of Americans who joined the French in the war before the US officially became involved.  The dogfight scenes are absolutely incredible, and despite a few chronological inaccuracies (according to imdb), I felt like the feeling of the war was very well portrayed.  Also, the music is kind of amazing.  Final rating: 3/5

Juno - (watched 10.20.10) I feel like this movie does a really good job of showing a sequence of events accompanied by some sweet indie music, but it doesn't really tell a story or express a message.  Taking it for what it is, it's quite enjoyable.  The soundtrack is pretty darn awesome, and the characters all feel real.  I guess Hollywood has trained me to think that movies have to have some sense of heightened reality to them; believable, but still fantastic.  This movie feels like it's just everyday life.  I'm leaving my mind open to a change in my opinion, but for now, I'm going to say it was just alright, not amazing, but also not bad.  Final rating: 3/5

Equilibrium - (watched 10.22.10) This is another one of those futuristic dystopian movies that makes you think a lot.  Christian Bale stars as an Enforcer in a society that has outlawed emotion.  He is tasked with tracking down and destroying anything that can cause a person to 'feel' anything.  It's really interesting to see the inner conflict when Bale's character begins feeling things himself, and he has to decide what he really believes in.  Final rating: 4/5

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 - (watched 11.19.10) I was kind of 'meh' about this movie.  The actual experience of going and seeing it at midnight was wonderful!  We had a bunch of friends that all dressed up and went, and we even saw a little tiny girl dressed up as the cutest Dobby you've ever seen.  As a movie though, I wasn't impressed.  I understand that it's kind of necessary to do a bunch of setup for the big finale in Part 2, which is why I'm giving this one a bit of a pass.  Don't get me wrong, it's not a terrible movie, but not the greatest.  Final rating: 3/5

Tangled - (watched 12.7.10) I absolutely loved (!!!) this movie!  I've since seen it a second time with my family.  It really goes back to the good old Disney princess movies of yesteryear, complete with several awesome musical numbers.  I honestly wasn't sure how much story they were going to get from Rapunzel, but it turned out to be a really moving story.  Basically, if you haven't seen this movie yet, go watch it!  Final rating: 4.5/5

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - (watched 12.10.10) I was pretty impressed with this movie, actually.  Now, I haven't ever read the books, (I know, I am ashamed, and they're all on my list, I promise) so I can't compare that, but as a movie, it was pretty good.  I'm really happy that they didn't try to remove the Christianity from the message of the movie.  It's very blatant at the end, and appropriately so, since C.S. Lewis wrote the books as such.  Also, it is a fairly intense PG, younger kids might not be able to handle the ending battle sequence.  It's more intense than the first two, for sure.  Final rating: 3.5/5

Despicable Me - (watched 12.10.10) This movie was hilarious!  When I first saw the trailers, I thought it was going to be pretty good, but kinda shallow.  On the contrary, this movie has an amazing message in addition to all the humor.  Another part of the movie that I really enjoyed was the music.  Normally, I don't notice music in movies unless it's spectacular.  In this case, it was a really unique blend of kinda big band with almost hip hop for the main title.  Anyway....  Good movie, go watch it.  Final rating: 4/5

Tron: Legacy - (watched 12.17.10) I really liked this movie.  I'm not going to say loved yet, although it may grow into that after several viewings.  Part of why I loved it so much is the fact that I got to see it in IMAX 3D.  I absolutely endorse seeing movies in IMAX if at all possible.  It's definitely worth the extra couple of bucks.  Anyway, although the plot wasn't spectacular, the special effects were awesome.  I also really enjoyed Olivia Wilde's character Quorra, and her innocence and naivete when it comes to real world things.  All in all, this movie was a nice popcorn flick.  Although it's not extremely thought provoking, it doesn't pretend to be, so that's ok.  Final rating: 3.5/5

Pick of the post:  (I'm doing two, since I have so many on this post)  Memento and Tangled.  I know, two complete and polar opposites, but both awesome in their own way.

Until next time!


P.S. Happy New Year!  :D