New Photo Blog

News!!!  I have started a new blog over on Tumblr for my 365 day photo challenge.  I'm still kind of intimidated by this project, but I'm gonna do it.  I'm going to start on the first of July, so soon.  This doesn't mean that this blog will go away.  I'll still do bigger posts here.  Everything over there will be either photos or small random thoughts.  Oh right, I suppose you all want to know what the address for this new blog is.  Well in that case, here you go!  gadogttas.tumblr.com  Enjoy!!!

Yet Another Movie Post

Well, here we go again.  Even more movie reviews.  Let's dive right in.

The Tourist - (watched 4.29.11)  Let's be honest here for a second.  This movie had Johnny Depp in it.  Really, there's not much more that I need in a movie to enjoy it.  This movie had more, is the thing.  The action was pretty good, nothing too spectacular or ridiculous, but it fit the rest of the movie.  I thought parts of it were really hilarious, and there's actually some pretty good twists in the plot.  As an aside, most of the Russian was good.  It seemed like the extras, at least, were probably native speakers.  Final rating: 4/5

Hereafter - (watched 4.30.11)  This movie was pretty unique.  I think I enjoyed it, at least to a point.  It's definitely a 'thinking' movie.  You can't just watch it with your brain turned off and coast through it.  This movie deals with death in a very direct way, which is rather unusual for most of Hollywood.  It addresses head-on the issue of God and an afterlife of some kind.  I thought that it was very bold in the style of storytelling, since it didn't romanticize everything too much.  There was a bit of a hokey ending, but all in all, I enjoyed it.  Final rating: 3/5

Thor - (watched 5.6.11)  Before seeing this movie, I had heard from early reviewers that it was the best superhero movie since The Dark Knight.  I thought that was fairly high praise, so I didn't get my hopes up TOO much.  I was pleasantly surprised by Thor.  It wasn't just a comic book movie with explosions and buff dudes fighting.  There was actually a story and characters that I cared about.  The other awesome thing was that the villain wasn't simply one-note.  He also had some character development that showed why he did what he did.  Final rating: 4/5

Battle: Los Angeles - (watched 5.12.11)  After seeing trailers for this movie and hearing it described as an alien invasion flick meets a war movie, I was pretty sure that it would consist of a truckload of explosions with some action set-pieces to tie it all together, without too much of a plot.  And I got exactly what I was expecting.  Don't get me wrong, this movie does what it wants to very well.  It doesn't really pretend to be much more than an alien/war movie.  And they were pretty explosions....  Final rating: 3.5/5

The King's Speech - (watched 5.13.11)  This movie is a masterpiece.  After winning a ton of awards and hearing that they were releasing an edited version in theaters, I knew that I just had to go see it.  I was not disappointed.  The characters are so real, and you truly feel for them in their struggles and in their triumphs.  Ultimately, this is really a feel-good movie.  I liked it a lot.  Final rating: 4.5/5

Solaris - (watched 6.2.11)  This was one that had been sitting in my Netflix queue for a while, and I don't even remember why I put it in, to be honest.  I wasn't too impressed with it, to be honest.  It was kinda weird, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  However, in this case, it seemed like the weird wasn't doing anything for the plot.  This movie tried too hard to be a commentary on the meaning of life, and it didn't work so well.  Final rating: 2.5/5

Forrest Gump - (watched 6.10.11)  Yes, I know, I'm finally getting around to watching this movie.  I had seen bits and pieces over the past several years, but now I've seen it from start to finish.  Let me just say that I'm not surprised at all that Tom Hanks won Best Actor for this performance. It was amazing.  I was also pretty impressed with how well done the sequences were that included him in the historic events.  In any case, this movie is wonderful.  Final rating: 4.5/5

Wild Wild West - (watched 6.11.11)  Oh Will Smith.... Usually you can make any movie watchable.  Not so much with this one.  If you haven't ever seen it, don't even bother.  Ok, there are a few funny moments, and the giant mechanical spider is pretty sweet, but even that can't make up for the rest of this atrocity of a film.  Spend your two hours watching something worthwhile.  Like Scott Pilgrim!  Final rating: 1.5/5

Super 8 - (watched 6.11.11)  I was super (hehehe...) hyped about this movie going into it.  I mean, sure, the cast was mostly just a bunch of kids that had never been in anything before, but it was from J.J. Abrams!  I've enjoyed pretty much everything he's ever had a hand in.  (side note:  I even liked the end of Lost.  So sue me.)  (side note 2:  Fringe is the greatest show on TV right now.  Look for a post soon on that....)  Anyway, back to Super 8.  I don't think it's quite as much of a classic as E.T., but it's got kind of a similar feel, but with a scary twist to it.  I would highly recommend it.  Final rating: 4/5

X-Men: First Class - (watched 6.17.11)  After X3, which I thought was rather terrible, and Wolverine, which I still haven't finished (I've started it three separate times....), I didn't have super high hopes for First Class.  I'm so glad I was proven wrong.  This is the way X-Men movies should be.  It was super interesting to see a side of Charles Xavier that we didn't see in the earlier movies.  Despite the inconsistencies with X3, I'm way happier with this film because of them.  Final rating: 4/5

Wanted - (watched 6.17.11)  We came back from X-Men at the theater and had a James McAvoy double feature!  This movie was ridiculous.  In a good way.  Crazy-over-the-top action sequences, along with the oh-so-convenient magic water that heals them all up so they can get beat up even more.  I just thought that was kinda cool in a way, but also a bit too convenient.  Of course, in a world where they can bend bullets, I guess I should just roll with it.  Final rating: 3.5/5

Hanna - (watched 6.18.11)  I enjoyed this movie, but not as much as other people that I've talked to about it.  I thought it was a good movie, but I didn't absolutely love it.  It was kind of interesting and a bit unnerving to see a young girl kicking so much trash, but then again, I guess that's kind of the point.  It's an interesting message about how much influence parents have in general on their children.  Anyway, it was an alright movie.  Final rating: 3/5

Black Swan - (watched 6.21.11)  Just as I was expecting from a Darren Aronofsky movie, this one was super trippy, creepy, and weird.  This one has more jumpy moments than The Fountain, but it's really amazing how thoroughly he can get inside your head.  I'm glad I don't live inside of his head, because it's probably a really sick and twisted place....  That said, this movie was pretty awesome.  Final rating: 4/5

Pick of the post:  I'm gonna go with two this time again.  Forrest Gump and The King's Speech.

Also, random comment:  This post had a lot more variety in the ratings I gave each movie.  I kinda like that, even though it means I had to watch a couple of stinkers.  Until next time!

Winter Semester of Movies

Holy heck, it's been a long time since I posted!  Again with a movie review post, this one with a whole semester of movies.  Hopefully I can do these more often over the summer, especially since I'll be watching even more movies!  Enjoy!

Jodhaa Akbar - (watched 1.8.11)  I actually enjoyed this movie a lot more than I thought I was going to.  I had been told by Kellie that it was a Bollywood movie, so I was kind of scared.  However, it was definitely not what I was expecting.  There was a bunch of action, and the story was pretty awesome.  Final rating: 4/5

Unstoppable - (watched 1.28.11)  This movie grabs you about 10 minutes into it and just doesn't let go, right up until the end.  It's an action-packed thrill ride from beginning to end.  Some of the points seemed kind of outlandish, but it does get points for at least being based on a true story.  Plus, Chris Pine and Denzel Washington.  Nuff said.  Final rating: 3.5/5

Step Up 3 - (watched 2.5.11)  The third movie in the 'Step Up' series delivers exactly what I was expecting.  After watching the first two, I knew that the plot wasn't going to be that great, but that the dance scenes were going to be phenomenal.  These dance scenes definitely do not disappoint.  Final rating: 3/5

Red - (watched 2.19.11)  This was a rather awesome movie.  Kind of exactly what I was expecting.  I've found that they key to enjoying most movies is to know what to expect going into it.  Since all I was expecting was just a lot of explosions and cool action sequences, I enjoyed it.  Also, Bruce Willis can make almost any movie more amazing.  Final rating: 3.5/5

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - (watched 2.21.11)  And on the other hand, sometimes not knowing what to expect can make watching a movie even more awesome.  I had heard a little bit about this movie, but honestly, I had no idea....  It's just so wonderfully weird!  It starts with a very unique premise, and the presentation was just as original.  I don't know what it is about me and weird movies, but I just love them.  Final rating: 5/5

Ever After - (watched 2.26.11)  Now, I've seen this movie before, but it has been several years, so I decided to re-review it, from an older perspective.  I don't think I really got how funny this movie is back when I first watched it.  Also, I had totally forgotten that *spoiler alert* she really does get to punch her evil step-sister in the face!  That totally made my day.  Final rating: 4/5

3:10 To Yuma - (watched 3.11.11)  I didn't think I'd like this movie, since it's pretty much super western, but I thought it was really good.  Obviously, it's got Christian Bale in it, so it can't be all bad.  Plus, Alan Tudyk!  I'd probably watch it again, if friends were watching it.  Final rating: 3.5/5

Sucker Punch - (watched 3.26.11)  This movie was ridiculous.  Completely ridiculous.  But in an awesome way.  I don't think there is any way this movie could have been more of a 'man' movie.  Explosions, giant samurai, chicks with swords, and a dragon v. airplane dogfight.  Sure, the plot was rather thin, and most of it didn't make much sense, but who cares?  It was pretty.  Final rating: 4/5

The Green Hornet - (watched 4.1.11)  So, going into this movie, I had heard that it was terrible.  However, I actually enjoyed it.  Although it was completely over the top and ridiculous, at least it knew it was being ridiculous, and milked it for all it was worth.  I thought the Kato vision was a pretty sweet effect, although other people in the theater started laughing.  I enjoyed it though.  Final rating: 3/5

Blade Runner - (watched 4.3.11)  I had heard so many things about this movie.  It's been on pretty much every 'Top 10' sci-fi movies list I've ever seen.  I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this movie.  It was super weird, and I'm pretty sure I need to watch it about 4 more times before I get it all the way.  That being said, I actually want to watch it again, so that's promising.  Final rating: 4/5

Unknown - (watched 4.13.11)  I enjoyed this movie.  I mean, it's basically Liam Neeson kicking trash.  (aside: I've decided they should just make a movie called 'Liam Neeson Kicking Trash.'  It would be wonderful!)  I didn't like this one as much as Taken, but there were definitely some good twists there at the end.  Final rating: 3/5

The Next Three Days - (watched 4.17.11)  This movie was pretty darn awesome.  Perhaps a bit slower paced than I would have liked, at least for the first two-thirds or so.   Also, for a bit in the middle I wasn't sure which kind of ending to root for.  Nonetheless, it was quite an enjoyable movie.  Final rating: 3.5/5

True Grit - (watched 4.17.11)  So, going into this movie, I was expecting just a standard western type movie.  This movie was freaking hilarious!  I didn't expect to be laughing as hard as I was.  Also, the young girl actress was amazing!  I was super impressed with her acting.  Final rating: 4/5

Source Code - (watched 4.20.11)  I really enjoyed this movie.  After seeing the trailers, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but it ended up being somewhere in between an straight-up action movie and a sci-fi thinker.  There were some interesting twists in the storyline, and somewhat different than what I was expecting, but it was way good.  Final rating: 4/5

The Adjustment Bureau - (watched 4.21.11)  This is another movie that I thoroughly enjoyed.  When seeing the trailers, I knew that it was based on a short story by Phillip K. Dick.  That was enough to have me intrigued, since I've enjoyed other movies based on his stories.  I really need to read more of them.  And by that, I mean I need to read them.  At all.  Final rating: 4/5

The Hunt for Red October - (watched 4.26.11)  I had also seen this movie before, but it was before my mission.  Now that I know Russian, it's fun to watch and see how good or bad the actors' Russian is.  For the record, Sean Connery's is absolutely terrible.  Alec Baldwin's isn't too bad; then again, he said like one line....  This movie ages well.  Although it's from 1990, it's still a good, quality movie.  Final rating: 4/5

Pick of the post:  You see, since I have so many movies, I'll probably have to pick two or three.  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Sucker Punch, and Blade Runner.  Again, hopefully I'll be able to post these more often over the summer so that I don't have to have like 20 movies in one post! Until next time!

Manifesto

Today, I write a manifesto.


Today, I put my foot down about this nonsense.


This is completely unnecessary behavior.


It's totally uncalled for.


Why are there so many people that don't know how to keep it to themselves, going around flaunting it; why can't they just


Get.


A.


Room.


But I digress....


In our little bubble of "happy valley",


In our small section of Utah,


In our minuscule speck of the cosmos,


We must put up with them, because one day, heaven forbid, we might become one of them, despite all of our best efforts to avoid it, sometimes it is inevitable.


Eclecticist.


P.S.  I promise I'll have an update on my 101 list soon.  School and work have just been super crazy for the past few weeks.  Until next time!  :)

Thoughts pt. 2

This week has been kind of interesting for me.  I feel like I've learned something.  (which would be great if I wasn't DEAD!)*  Sometimes life throws you a curve ball.  Sometimes life gives you lemons.  Sometimes life even kicks you when you're down.  

But you know what?  Life goes on.  When life gives you lemons, throw them back and then punch life in the face.*  Tell life that you are not going to stand for that business.  Then mom sends you and life into separate corners for a time out.  After that, you're friends again, and you go do epic things.

Speaking of epic things, this weekend will be pretty epic.  Ward activity, party, leadership meeting, basketball game, and Divine Comedy, all in the next 36 hours or so.  Wish me luck!  I hope I survive.

*see me afterward if you don't get the movie references.

In other news, check this out.  I'm kind of excited for this summer.

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

Mmmmmm....... Concerts..........

(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!

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.

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.

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. :)

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.  :)

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!

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!

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.

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.

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

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.  :)

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