Sometimes you just need a day away from campus to help you put things in perspective. I actually got a lot of work done today despite feelings of extreme laziness...but I always feel that way, so no real change there. Wrote a paper, read a bunch of stuff, the usual.

The latter half of my day was at the graduate pizza get together. Basically an excuse to drink beer and eat pizza under the pretense of discussing graduate issues. Not that there aren't graduate issues, but they generally aren't addressed or solved when full of beer and pizza.

That's pretty much all I have to report. I figured I should say something since I haven't reported since October. But I figure anyone who's actually reading this has seen me in the last few days and has already heard all of the complaints :-)

For some reason Life has been conspiring against me this week. It just feels like everything is happening all at once. I was planning on writing a short reader response paper for class, but I'm postponing it for another week because the stupid Grading Seminar I had to attend today went until six and then I didn't get home until seven thirty. After that, I was in no mood to write the stupid thing.

Plus, my discussion groups weren't as great this week. The book they had to read jumped around from chapter to chapter as to what the main points of the authors were, so it was hard to focus on what was important for them to know in order to write their papers. So, unfortunately, my first discussion group didn't fair as well as the second. After talking about it with Prof. Neem, we came up with another strategy and it worked to a certain extent. The second group ended up finishing early, so I'm not quite sure if that's good or bad. Overall, I have a feeling there will be a lot of students coming by to get me to tell them what they need to know instead of figuring it out for themselves. I know my motivations for taking he job were money and insurance, but I do want to feel a measure of pride in helping these kids.

I also attended the first meeting of the Society of American Archivists Student Chapter meeting at Prof. Jimerson's house...and Holy Christ!!! There's a woman in the first year class who just doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut. This woman pretty much hijacked the conversation from Jimerson and started asking the second years impossible questions that were based in the recent theory she'd been reading and had nothing to do with the practicality of working in a real archive. She asked me about forgery when I mentioned I worked with blueprints at the Museum of Flight, and when I politely told her hat the situation had nothing to do with forgery, she promptly changed the subject while I was mid-explanation. I didn't say anything because I was at Jimerson's house, but if I have to interact with her anywhere else, she's getting a piece of my mind. I don't care if she is a former Marine with a couple degrees and at least twenty years my senior!!! You don't get to lecture me on being a "Gatekeeper" when you don't know a damn thing about the profession yet.

So that's been life so far. There's been more, but these are the events that stand out.

Ah Graduate School, how I've missed thee...

Once again I've entered the hallowed halls of academia and before I could take a breath of stale air wafting off the library books, I was up and running around campus. The History department s short a graduate student this year due to budget cuts so out of the six of us three have been split between two professors. I happen to be one of those lucky three, but the professors I've been assigned to aren't as bad as others that I've heard horror stories about.

The benefits of being split between these particular professors is they teach the same subject and they're both in the same room, one after the other. So I basically camp out in the same lecture hall for about three hours and call it a day.

The other graduates are all awesome!! Seeing as we've all known each other for about a year, we're all very comfortable with each other. This was especially true after the God-awful sexual harassment training we had to go through. Two hours!! Two hours of my life I can't get back because they think I don't know the difference between good touch, bad touch and how to distinguish inappropriate comments from the normal everyday insults. What made it bearable was being with the other grads and making our little comments through the whole thing. That and Rachel and Chris's desire to get a thick, long foot long hot dog for lunch.

As far as responsibilities go, I only have to run two discussion groups, both for Prof. Neem. The twenty-nine page article he's having them read for Wed. will definitely give them an idea of what historical scholarship is like and what to expect if they pursue a career in history. I'll definitely report back on Wed. if things go well...or disastrous.

I'm thinking of writing a book in the same vein as Sarah Vowell. I wanna write a book about the relationship between fathers and daughters and apply it to historical figures and their relationships with their daughters.

It may not be much of a book, maybe just a bunch of essays that allow me to examine the relationship, or lack thereof, I have with my own father. For some reason it's been weighing on my mind more than usual.

Hey Guys!

Just wondering what your PAX plans are. I'm gonna be busy most of Saturday, but maybe that night or on Sunday we could get together? What time are you guys leaving on Sunday? If you're plan on sticking around a little while longer, you could always come down to Renton and scope out my home town before I make the move fully to B-ham.

Let me know. Give me a call or drop me a line.

Hey All!

Thought I'd do a couple movie reviews since I'm feeling rather critical.

Beware: There Be Spoilers Ahead, Matey!

Up First: District 9.

Honestly, I went into this movie believing it was going to be fantastic. The trailers were compelling, it was clear there was going to be a message involved, and the special effects looked phenomenal. That being said, I came out of the movie disappointed. I didn't necessarily hate the movie, but I didn't like it either, and that bugs me because for all intents and purposes I SHOULD like this movie. Good Sci-Fi, and I mean REALLY good Sci-Fi, not action-adventure Sci-Fi, but use-your-brain Sci-Fi, should challenge your perceptions. It should present a metaphor of reality that inspires emotion and charges the mind to make the appropriate connections of how THAT world is really YOUR world. D9 attempts this, but lacks the subtlety to make effective change. The aliens landed over South Africa 20 years ago and they've been treated like shit ever since...gee, I wonder what they're trying to say? You say the aliens are being pushed out of society, considered lowest of the low? You say they have no rights? No freedom? What could have possibly happened in South Africa that would be comparable to this situation?

Hint: The answer's Apartheid.

Yes, I'm being cynical, but only as cynical as the movie is subtle. You would have gotten the same sarcastic remark if the ship had landed over one of the cities bordering Mexico and suddenly became a metaphor for immigration...because that could have been the same movie. Just replace the South African accents with Texas accents and it's the exact same movie. Maybe if they'd landed over Australia...nope, aborigines. Somewhere in Europe? They're a pretty peaceful people, right? Europeans wouldn't treat a bunch of aliens so poorly, would they? I would've found that story more compelling. Imagine a country like Switzerland treating those aliens like crap. You can't, can you? How upsetting would that be to watch people, the European equivalent of Quakers, torturing seemingly innocent aliens for information on their weapons?

And that's the crux of D9's message: Look at how cruel we are. Look at what we're capable of. We are evil, greedy, awful people who care more about the bottom line than the lives of human beings or aliens. Again, the cynic in me is talking, but...don't we already know that?

Other than the supposed message, I felt the movie lost it's way by trying to be different kinds of movies. The previews and trailers portrayed it as a documentary-style film, chronicling the situation of the aliens and how the government treats them. One of the trailers showed an interrogation scene that isn't in the movie, but should have been. The movie does start off like a documentary, but around the time the movie starts picking up (a good half-hour in more or less), it changes to your typical action movie-style. The film repeatedly shifts perspective from documentary to action movie to buddy movie and back again. If they'd stuck to one premise, the movie would have been better. Especially if they'd stuck with the documentary.

Character wise...I didn't really care about anyone. The main character, Wikas (pronounced VIK-as), is a pencil-pushing potential fall-guy for Multinational United (MNU) who unfortunately gets sprayed in the face with a strange liquid that slowly starts turning him into one of the aliens. Naturally, his bosses capitalize on this and try to use his altering DNA to operate the alien weapons that have a biological component. Wikas escapes to District 9 where he seeks help from one of the aliens, Christopher, who he had, only hours before, tried to evict from his home. Wikas is not a likeable character. He's that guy in the office, you know, THAT guy that tries too hard to be likeable and when they're given a position of some power they try to be too nice when telling you what to do. This is unfortunate because the tragedy of the movie is supposed to be seen through his eyes and experienced through his character. You're supposed to sympathize with this guy who's only real crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time (and getting sprayed by freaky liquid). His anti-hero status goes by the wayside as he repeatedly betrays and befriends his alien cohort. Pick a side already! (Here's where you say, "But, Sam, wouldn't you have done the same thing as Wikas if the opportunity presented itself?" And then I say, "In the likelihood that I have my DNA altered to that of a prawn-like creature whilst being chased by a government organization, rogue military operatives, and a bunch of Nigerian gangsters, then, yes, I would have taken the moral low ground and betrayed the only person who could help me over and over again. Bravo, you caught me!")

Another hint: betrayal only means something if you actually connect with the other person. At no point do Wikas and Christopher share a moment that would make his betrayal seem significant.

The only thing I can really be positive on in this movie are the special effects. The aliens felt real and their interaction with the human characters didn't seem like choreographed scenes set to a green screen. And the weapons, designed by Weta, were amazing. The movie had a very low budget by Hollywood standards, $30 million, but they made it all count in the special effects. The best part of the movie, though it comes too late to really matter, is the ginormous shoot-out between Wikas, in his newly acquired exo-suit, the typically over-amped military villain and a bunch of Nigerians. It's amazing and realistic to the point that one asks why other movies can't utilize special effects this well.

Overall, as you might have guessed, I'm not a fan of this movie. I expected too much and this movie tried too hard.

For my second review: Inglorious Basterds

I LOVED THIS MOVIE!!! From beginning to end, it's perfect! Quentin Tarantino spent about a decade working on the script for this movie, and it shows. Every line is beautifully written and nothing is wasted. The opening scene is literally a conversation between the fantastically portrayed Col. Hans Landa, aka "The Jew Hunter," and the unfortunate farmer torn between keeping the Jewish family hiding under his house safe and protecting his family. Tarantino masterfully builds the tension. You know something's going to happen, it's just a matter of when, but he still manages to keep you engaged in the conversation until the climax.

Hans Landa, portrayed by German actor Christoph Waltz is one of the best Nazi villains ever, exceeding even the Nazis of the Indiana Jones movies. He's likeable, yet cruel and that's the sign of a great villain. You love'/hate him and love to hate him. What makes him so engaging is that he's always smiling and I find that to be more frightening than a villain that wears a frown and a scowl. Smiles betray a person's true feelings and Hans Landa's smiles let you know that he knows something and that knowledge will be your end. It's chilling because Tarantino effectively focuses on the actor's face at key moments, letting you focus on that smile and revel in the thought that he's going to do something atrocious but smile the whole time.

The movie itself is actually two plots that come together around the showing of a film at a small cinema in Paris run by a Jewish woman, Shoshanna, hiding in plain sight of the Nazis. Her plot for revenge against the Nazis for the death of her family coincides with the plans of the Basterds, a squad of Nazi-killing American Jews commanded by Lt. Aldo Raine (played to perfection by Brad Pitt), to kill Hitler who will be attending the film. Surprisingly, despite the title of the movie, The Basterds are not the central focus of the film. Their story simply enhances the tension felt amongst the Germans as they move their way through France, killing Nazis.

The characters are amazing. Brad Pitt is hilarious as Raines, a Tennessee born man who basterdizes the Italian language and finds the brutal beating of a German commander with a baseball bat entertaining. There are lines of his that I can't repeat due to the fact that he says them so quickly and so smoothly that I couldn't do them justice by repeating them. Eli Roth, the director of Hostel, steps in front of the camera as Sgt. Donny Donowitz (the "Bear Jew"), who delights in BEING the guy beating Nazis with a baseball bat. His part is small, but the look in his eyes when he guns down a bunch of Germans in a burning theater is priceless. The only underused character is played by BJ Novak from The Office. His character shows up out of nowhere and delivers a couple lines, but he's just not as interesting. Shoshanna, played by Melanie Laurent, is so compelling without even speaking. You know exactly what she's feeling by looking at her eyes. Even the cameo from Mike Myers was entertaining.

Again this is a Tarantino film and he pulls his Postmodern take on film by including a few non-linear moments, narrated wonderfully by Samuel L. Jackson. When introducing the character of Hugo Stiglitz, his name flashes all punk-like on the screen along with a musical riff to back it up, taking you out of the WWII movie and letting you know that it's Tarantino's version of a WWII movie. That and there's a kick-ass Bowie song right in the middle of the movie. Awesome!

The only thing I will eventually have a problem with is the person somewhere down the line who thinks this is based on a true story. You know they're out there, you probably know one. Hollywood is so bad at portraying history to the masses (I'm looking at you The Patriot and Pearl Harbor) that they threaten to do a disservice to the education of students everywhere. Case in point, when the most recent version of The Alamo came out a few years back, I actually had a girl ask me not to tell her how it ended. (Pause for effect) IT'S THE ALAMO!!! But that's my hang-up. I love "historically-based movies," even some of the bad ones, but I weep for the poor bastards who'll look at this movie and think it's real. Maybe they should put a disclaimer at the beginning: Warning, AU version of history. Do not take seriously. Read a book!!!

Overall...one of the best movies of the summer. Hands down. I was satisfied from beginning to end. And at two and a half hours, I didn't feel it at all. I wanted more.

This concludes my very long review of two very different movies.

Later gators!

Actually, I've been back to my old sarcastic self since about two hours after I wrote the last post...but I'm lazy. Yes, all is calm and good in the world of Sam...at least as calm as it can get. I allowed myself the moment to snap, thought about it, wrote it down, and moved on.

So far, I've read Archive Fever and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead as the beginnings of my research into my thesis on Postmodernism/Deconstruction in the Archive. It's been interesting. Theory makes my head hurt sometimes and Archive Fever is all about Freud, Psychoanalysis and the Archive. At least Ros and Guil are easier to understand and much funnier!

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the packing process! I will sift through all of the crap in my room and sort out what goes, what stays, and what gets destroyed. And only another week and a day left on my internship! Yes, it won't be long until you all will have to deal with my on a full time basis. Mwahahaha!!!!

Later gators!

I can't take it anymore!! So. Much. DRAMA!!! Even when I don't do anything, it somehow makes its way into my life! I can't be everywhere and I have no idea what people say about me when I'm not there, but...for crying out loud! I don't know what to do anymore.

It all seems so petty in the long run...Who's friends with who...Who hangs out with one person more than the other. It shouldn't be about one camp vs. the other, it should be about who you relate to, who you connect with and whether or not that person is worth being friends with despite the maelstrom of whatever else is going on in your life. I wish, God how I wish, things were back to that one sweet moment in time when everyone was together and everyone got along. Unfortunately, Life had other ideas and that moment has gone and passed. As a group, we may not be together, but as individuals, that's another story.

These are the rules that I've just made up, but they apply nonetheless, though not necessarily to everyone:

1. I am not a threat to your relationship!! This isn't directed at anyone in particular, but it has been brought up to me on a few occasions that due to my ability to talk geek to others (usually of the male variety), I am somehow first in line to steal someones significant other because we get along so well. This couldn't be further from the truth! I'm not out to steal anybody's anything. I know the boundaries and I was taught to NEVER be THAT kind of woman. God, this just pisses me off!!!

2. If you can't get a hold of me or we haven't spoken in a while please don't assume that I don't like you or I've given up on the friendship/relationship. I am notoriously bad at returning calls or calling other people. I get caught up in my own life or I completely forget that there are other people walking this planet. It has nothing to do with you. Also, I'm not a great phone conversationalist. I'm much better at one on one conversations in person or talking through Facebook.

3. If you have a problem with me, please for the love of God tell me! I don't play games. I don't like learning about things second hand from third parties. I don't live in a sorority. Tell me the Goddamn problem!

Again, this isn't directed at anybody...I'm just venting. It's all been building for a while and...I'm just tired. And I want all of my friends and family to know that I love them dearly, with all my heart! And anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to the people I love I am fiercely loyal and protective and will fight tooth and nail for them. I just don't want there to be a question of who I care about because even if I haven't spoken to you in a while, even if all the drama that surrounds us continues, I do not care so long as we're friends. And as long as I know that friendship is real, I will always fight to keep it.

So, because I've ranted and poured out my heart, here are some pictures of a much happier sort.



The Blue Angels! Best Internship Ever!! Also note the two 7s. This was either due to the fact that they were having mechanical trouble in Billings, Montana or they had a big-wig from the Navy flying with them. The planes with a 7 are usually two-seaters.



Just before take-off. Smoke screen!



Jess's artwork!



Sheena's artwork!



Me trying on a hat at the Renaissance Fair. I blinked! Must mean the Angels will come after me (Doctor Who reference).



For Jess! One of them is named Chaucer! AWWWW!!!!



Renaissance meets modern age. As it was always intended.



One of the rejects from Cats!



Arthur, King of the Britons! Show some respect, people!



I'm very enthusiastic about religion!



The Captain Morgan pose...classic.

...I exclaimed after the very wonderful employees at JiffyLube got into my car after I'd stupidly left my key in the ignition and locked the door after getting out of the car so they could change my oil. In my defense, it's a habit to open the car door and lock it immediately after the door's been opened and I can get out. Unfortunately, it bit me in the ass! The guys at JiffyLube, however, were more than helpful and I even heard one say, "At JiffyLube, not only do we change your oil, we break into your car!" At the time, hilarious. Any other time, I'd watch what they're doing to the car.

Work wise I finished one collection and moved on to two more. They're small, so they won't take too long. However, if anyone is interested in a giant painting of a pilot heroically staring off into the distance with a plane behind him and his shirt open revealing rippling pectorals, let me know and I'll snag it for ya!

On a side note, the storm that came through Renton last evening was one of my favorite evenings since moving back home. Mom and I were actually cooking dinner (a rare occasion) and it started hailing and pouring down rain. Now, across the street is a park where many children and their families were playing. They'd been screaming and laughing most of the day and as much as I have become a more patient person, it gets a little annoying and grates on the ears after long hours of exposure. But to my delight, when the rain came down almost unexpectedly, those kids and their families were scrambling for shelter, some of them screaming out loud at getting caught in the downpour! Oh, sweet, sweet loveliness that is Karma! How I love thee! I should feel bad...but I don't! Ha!

And I will be up in Bellingahm on Saturday only. I'm bringing my cousin up for a day to show her the Farmer's Market, Downtown, Campus, and Fairhaven. Kinda give her the tour, show her what a campus town looks like and what she has to look forward to! Anyway, I don't know how long we'll be in town, but I'll give you guys a ring if we decide to stick around for any dinner plans and whatnot. But if I don't see you guys, I'll probably make my way up the following weekend for the full visit!

Love and miss you all!

Okay, I am so SICK of all this Michael Jackson crap! Yes, he paved the way for people in the music industry! Yes, he changed the course of pop music, but for cryin' out loud, people, the man wasn't a God or a saint or any other religious figure that wasn't convicted of pedophilia. This morning I had VH1 on as I got ready for work and they decided to re-broadcast "Michael Jackson: A Memorial," which was his funeral service accompanied by a bunch of pandering and convoluted celebrities singing his songs (adding their own little twists and thanking Jesus all the while) and speechifying his praises to a high school gym filled with people.

I especially loved when Queen Latifah took the stage and commented on how Michael Jackson opened up so many doors for minorities...despite his constant need for plastic surgery and bleaching his skin (skin disorder my ass!).

And the thing is, I don't want to sound bitter, despite what's been previously said, because I am (was?) a fan of Michael Jackson. I loved his music when he was a solo artist and was raised with the Jackson 5 as my mom introduced me to more and more Motown and R&B. That being said, the last ten years showed the world that he was a flawed individual who clearly had a nervous breakdown one day and no one noticed. They just chalked it up to being an eccentric celebrity. The fact that people are attempting to deify him in the aftermath when only a few years ago they were accusing him of unspeakable actions against children is just hypocrisy at its highest form.

And the fact that everyone and their mother is trying to cash in on it is equally as disturbing.

On another note, Sci-Fi did the official change over to SyFy and despite how I feel about the change in name (imaginative, isn't it?) I caught the premier of one of their new shows Warehouse 13. Think of it as Bones meets science fiction. It was an entertaining show and it has a few Steampunk qualities you guys up north might enjoy! That being said, other than the return of Eureka, nothing else on that channel seems all that appealing. I'm considering giving Stargate: Universe a shot, but I don't know if I wanna invest any time into a franchise spin-off that's supposed to have more edge to it when I was happy already with Atlantis and their combo of humor/drama/sci-fi. Plus, Dr. Rodney McKay! Can their really be a Stargate without him? I submit that there cannot!

Gearing up to do some writing this weekend if not over the next couple days. In the meantime, post your ideas on the forum. And if you've come up with any villains for STRIKE, please get them to me ASAP.

Have fun at the Celtic Festival!

I suppose I should post something, seeing as I haven't updated in a while except to badger people into making me feel good about myself and my ability to write. :-)

I haven't written anything else for Noise Shark yet, but I'm hoping after we have a group meeting this weekend that I'll have a better idea of where we're going and everyone's involvement. My plan so far is to write an Intro/Interlude, maybe another Prof. Anonymous, at least two Geek Girls and possibly a Christ M.D. On top of that, there are some live action sequences I definitely want to get started on so we at least have some scripts and can plan for filming. That being said, whether or not all this happens depends on if I can get my lazy ass writing.

Been seeing a lot of movies, though. I'm pretty much trying to make up for the last six months of grad school when I barely saw any movies. Even two hours on a Saturday seemed to be cutting into my reading schedule. There's something about going to the theater for a couple hours, kicking back and watching a movie, whether with other people or by yourself, that's just nice and comforting. I saw Year One but wasn't impressed. It's more of the same from Jack Black and Michael Cera. I feel bad for Michael Cera, though. In every movie he's been in, he's essentially playing George Michael over and over again. I have yet to see him play something different. And if this is all he has to offer, I don't see his career lasting very long. The movie was more about looking for all the bit players that tend to show up in Judd Apatow movies. Hank Azaria, Paul Rudd, Bill Hader, David Cross, Oliver Platt, and even the director Harold Ramis were far funnier than the leads.

A couple days before I watched Superbad and found the B-story with McLovin' and the cops to be ten times funnier than the stuff with Michael Cera and Jonah Hill. Mostly because the cops (Bill Hader and Seth Rogan) are hilarious.

Yesterday, I saw The Hangover and laughed my ass off! It's crude, college humor, but it works. It's less observational, "Hey look what's happening and let's comment on it," and more, "Holy shit, what the fuck just happened?!" Yet another "guy movie" that even a girl like me can enjoy.

Also watched Smokin' Aces and American Psycho. And let me tell you, Christian Bale, buck naked with a chainsaw and blood all over him is still the epitome of HOT!

On the job front, I've been steadily working on the grant. Actually had to do budget calculations and have been acting as liaison for the Museum with the state archive. It should all be done and sent off by tomorrow, but who knows if we get the money. Fingers crossed that everything goes well.

And family wise, I have shown a remarkable amount of restraint when dealing with certain members of my family. My Aunt Rhea was in a manic phase and decided to start shooting her mouth off, which normally doesn't bother me, but she was in prime form and decided that everything I said was some kind of attack. Granted, I might have hinted at the fact that she's ballooned quite a bit (a lot, actually) and that myself and my scrawny neck and scrawny body wouldn't hesitate at taking her fat ass down. I didn't say that exactly, but it was implied. I'm a scrappy fighter! Anyway, she seemed abnormally threatened by me and proceeded to try and insult me whenever she could, but I held back, mostly because my mom was there and she'd like me to show more respect towards my aunt since she's, ya know, older than me or something. Besides, it's not like Rhea presents a challenge anymore. She just feeds me lines and it's too easy to insult her. She's been my practice since I was about 14 and it's been nothing but insults and humorous observations from there. Of course, the fact that she felt threatened by me at such a young age speaks volumes about her, especially if she allows a 14yr old to get under her skin so easily that she has to repeatedly flip her off just to get a decent comeback.

But, come on, you guys know me. You've met my mom. How could I not turn out to be a lippy little sarcastic ball of goodness? I questioned a cop at 3yrs old, was bored with people telling me stories at 8, and knew enough to not be scared of priests because of my gender at 10. At 14, when your chief adversary is your then 30yr old bipolar aunt, you've gotta be doing something right...or wrong...I forget which one is the better outcome.

Phew! That was a bigger update than I intended, but hey, I lead and interesting life full of interesting people. That, and my ability to bullshit is just that good!

See everyone soon!

Huzzah!

I've been validated! And not just my parking!!!

And now, off to write more skits...starting tomorrow...or the day after...maybe the weekend....

Guys, what's up? I know you're probably busy, but come on, someone's got to have read Prof. Anon by now. It's been, like, two days. Really? You guys don't love me anymore?

First episode completed, guys! Check it out on the forum!

Been on a interesting creative streak...wish I could say the same for my writing. Weird how the desire to write comes and goes. I have all the time in the world and I cant sit down and write...other than this blog...ah, sweet irony!

See everyone on Fri/Sat!

I've made Prof. Anonymous into a horrible human being.

A lot of stuff's been happening in the last few days, so I'll catch people up.

Firstly, I got the TA Assistantship for the History Dept. My friend Rachel also got one and now we'll be able to hang out, grade papers, and drink together. FUN! I just have to make a call to Financial Aid and see how this would affect my FAFSA, but I don't foresee to big of a problem.

My sister was in town and she came to the Archive and I gave her a tour and also took her over to the museum. He had an interesting conversation with a docent that carried on for too long. Keep in mind that most of the docents are older women and men, but this guy just didn't think that we had a good brain between the two of us. We were in the NASA and space portion of the Museum and there's a walk through of the Space Station. We go in and there's the docent and he just starts in on his little speech. Now, normally, I'm fine with people when they start talking to me about historical stuff. I'm a history grad, I thrive on it, but this guy was just condescending. He seemed to think that two girls didn't know anything about the space program. So, when he asked us (as if we were little kids) what happens when you grow a carrot on Earth (and he made a big deal out of explaining what a carrot is, by the way, because obviously we had NO IDEA what a carrot was) I told him how gravity will dictate the size and shape of an object. And that seemed to stun him for a couple minutes. God forbid I actually have a brain in my head. I guess the only thing that's gotten me through school so far is my rockin' body and promiscuity.

But despite that, it was an enjoyable visit. We later took our parents out to dinner to celebrate their B-days since Angie won't be around for either of them.

And over at the Archive I'm now involved in a grant project. I'm writing the narrative section, which is about twenty pages of information on the Museum of Flight's intentions to use a $350,000 grant over the next three years. We want to use the grant on the Bill Lear Collection (Lear Jet) which desperately needs to be re-housed and we also want to digitize many of the photographs and eventually put some of the items on display. Most of the grant money is for supplies and help.

So that's what's been going on over here. See you guys soon!

The title says it all. The movie was awesome! The soundtrack was epic! This went beyond expectation and I am happy for it!

Haven't posted in a few days, so I thought I'd do some catching up. Nothing really significant has happened since my scathing review of Wolverine, of which my sister has proclaimed I have too much time on my hands if I can write as detailed and nitpicky of a review. I just think I'm a concerned geek who would like someone to make a REALLY good X-Men movie, but has to settle for just okay. Wolverine was good, but it could've been better. But, on the upside, a Deadpool movie has been confirmed so that means I get to stare at Ryan Reynolds for two hours and I have no problems with that.

In other news, my uncle returned from Washington D.C. with presents for me: replicas of the Gettysburg Address, Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They look like real parchment paper, so I'm gonna frame them and hang them on a wall in my new apartment come September.

Oh, Renton will be opening it's own Uwajimaya either in mid or late June. So all you B-hammers out there, here's a really good incentive to drive down and see me in my natural environment.

Got my sister on a plane to Utah for a wedding. It's the first time she's ever flown on her own, so she was nervous. Couple that with the already present fear of flying and she was just a smidge on the scared-out-of-her-mind side of the fence. But I had her text me until she got on the plane and after so someone could keep her occupied. That and a mimosa seemed to do the trick! :-)

Other than that, not a whole lot going on. Got some ideas for Noise Shark that I'm trying to flesh out and get written down, so we'll see what I have when I return to B-ham Memorial Day weekend.

Later

Okay, so I saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine today and was...underwhelmed. It's not a bad movie...but it wasn't good either. It'll definitely survive the summer and make a good deal of money, but it's not a multi-view. Fan-boys will hate it because it doesn't stay true to the actual origin story and some of the character decisions they made make  absolutely no sense. Everyone else will love it because it's a fairly decent action movie.

Plot Summary: Beware of Spoilers!

This is the origin of Wolverine, mostly having to do with his involvement in the Weapon X program. For some reason, they make Logan and Victor Creed brothers, united by the fact that they both have claw-like features and are capable of regenerating, allowing them both to live for a very long time, since the movie starts in 1845 when young Logan (then called James) kills his real father, Thomas Creed, after Creed kills James's adopted father. It is in this moment of rage when young James's bone-like claws emerge. Making Wolverine and Sabertooth brothers was probably the only way they could quickly bring the pair together without spending any amount of time on an actual character driven storyline. In the comics, the two are rivals in the Weapon X program, though it's never really explained fully why they hate each other. In the movie, they fight alongside each other in the Civil War, WW I, WW II, and Vietnam. As the years pass, Victor seemingly enjoys killing while Logan finds it hard to justify. After Victor kills their CO who tried to stop him from raping a girl in 'Nam, the two are placed before the firing squad, which we all know is ineffectual. While in prison, William Stryker, head of the Weapon X program, recruits them.

Fast forward to probably about the mid-to-late eighties and the boys are in a group that includes Wade Wilson, the katana-wielding assassin (Ryan Reynolds), Bradley, who can maniplate elecricity (Dominic Monaghan) and John Wraith, a teleporter (Will. I. Am), they travel to Nigeria in search of a mysterious metal (hint: it's adamantium!) and lay waste to a village, which causes Logan to quit. Cut to: six years later, he's living the sweet life as a lumberjack in Canada with Kayla Silverfox, a school teacher (keep in mind: in the comic, Silver Fox was actually a member of the Weapon X program). Unfortunately, Stryker shows up warning Logan that Victor is out killing old members of their little militia group. Logan brushes him off, yada, yada, yada, and Victor shows up and "kills" Miss Silverfox. Logan freaks out and Stryker shows up to make it all better and offers the Weapon X program as Logan's solution to become strong enough to kill Victor.

Logan obviously agrees and the adamantium is grafted to his skeleton, but his enhanced senses pick up Stryker talking about using him for something other than taking down Victor. Logan escapes and seeks refuge in the barn of an old married couple. After they help him, they're of course killed because God forbid a couple of decent human beings ever live after helping the hunted protagonist! Logan escapes on a sweet motorcycle and goes through a very long chase sequence that does nothing more than to make him all the more pissed off. He finds out from two former members of his group, John Wraith and Blob, that there's an island where Stryker is taking mutants and conducting experiments. The only known mutant to have escaped is none other than Remy LeBeau, a.k.a. Gambit. Wraith and Logan travel to New Orleans to get Gambit to take them to the island.

Upon meeting Gambit, Logan asks to be taken to the island, but makes the fatal mistake of mentioning Victor without claifying that he really wants to kill the guy, like a lot. Gambit takes it the wrong way and blasts Logan through a wall into the alley. This just happens to be the alley where Victors has magically shown up and kills Wraith. Logan sees him, they fight, and just as he's about to deliver the final strike with his new, shiny claws, Gambit interrupts everything and blasts them apart in a move that makes absolutely no sense. Victor runs and Logan fights Gambit for far too long before Gambit agrees to take him to the island.

And by take him to the island, I mean Gambit flies him there in a plane he won in a card game. Logan infiltrates the island and comes upon Stryker and his new Weapon XI, which is an amalgamation of other mutant abilities Stryker has acquired, one of which is a young Scott Summers. He also discovers that Silverfox is in fact not dead and was working with Stryker to keep tabs on Logan in order to save her sister. Logan begins to walk away, but returns to save Silverfox when Victor threatens to kill her. The two go at it for a bit, wtih Logan seeming to come out the winner. With the help of Silverfox, Logan helps free all of the other captured mutants, including her sister. Stryker then releases Weapon XI, who turns out to be Wade Wilson, only silent and disfigured from the genetic manipulation he's undergone.

Wade and Logan fight, but Wade's got a lot of new abilities and Logan seems to be losing. Just when Wade's about to finish him off, who shows up? Victor! Only he's allowed to kill Logan and the three engage in more combat, destroying most of the island. The fight ends when Logan decapitates Wade. He and Victor resolve nothing, and the captive mutants are saved at the last minute by a younger, and creepier, Charles Xavier - who just shows up out of nowhere. Logan finds Silverfox amidst the rubble and she's hurt, but claims she really does love him. A Logan carries her to safety, he's gunned down by Stryker who's using adamantium bullets, the only things that can penetrate Logan's indestructible skeleton. Stryker shoots him in the head a few times and leaves Silverfox for dead. The movie ends with Logan waking up, not knowing who he is except for the names on his dog tags.

Well, that's a lot of plot, but it needs to be done so that I can get into whats good and bad. Let's start with the bad.

Bad:

The contrived story leaves little time for actual character development. One of the problems is that this movie falls into the same vein as the Star Wars prequels. We already know what's happened before, so what's the point? The point should have been the journey Logan took to get where he is when we meet him in the first X-Men movie. Who is this guy? How did he lose his memory? The movie attempts to answer these questions in a less interesting way. Making Logan and Victor brothers is just sloppy story-telling. What would've been more interesting is their rivalry within their little mercenary group. Their powers are similar so it would've been interesting to watch them try to one-up each other, make their "friendly" competition turn deadly. I think the biggest problem I had was in Logan's attitude. Throughout the whole movie people keep talking about Logan embracing his inner animal. The writer of the movie apparently thought that meant Logan was angry all the time. That just degrades the character. Yes, Logan is angry, he has a lot to be angry about, but he's also supposed to be savage-like. In the comics, at least the early years, Wolverine would fly into these rages that resulted in many, many deaths. He's pissed at the world, at himself, at pretty much everything, and whenever he seems to find peace, something comes along to take it all away. Being angry all the time is very different from actual rage. The movie doesn't explore this because the character, as a result of the X-Men movies, is less savage and more anger-management.

There's too much CGI that doesn't make any sense. Maybe I've become spoiled by movies like Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and Watchmen, but if there's going to be special effects, I want them to be good. One of the longer sequences involves Logan being chased on a motorcycle by a helicopter and some government agents in Hummers. This would've been cool had there not been moments when it's very obvious that Hugh Jackman is on a simulated motorcycle with a green screen behind him, pretending to duck into the intense wind as he drives super fast!

And the adamantium claws? Those were probably the worst versions ever! Every time they popped out, it didn't seem real. Or as real as it can be when a guy has claws popping out of his hands.

And what is it with people "climbing" walls as if the laws of physics don't apply? I understand that they have super-human abilities, but that doesn't mean they can practically float up a wall with their arms and feet dangling about the place.

Gambit. I know everyone was happy to see him in an X-Men movie, but...is this really the one we want? I'll admit, when he first appears, it's all good. Remy's gambling, doing card tricks, but that's about the only thing they get right. The actor fails to do even an iota of a convincing Cajun accent. At one point he drops it all together in favor of some light Southern accent that makes no sense. And I know Remy's supposed to be agile, but they have him scaling walls and jumping from building to building like Spider-Man. Remy uses cards and his staff/cane to do the most damage and they grossly under use him in this film.

Okay, on to the good:

The periphery characters are amazing. Ryan Reynold, Dominic Monaghan, and Will. I. Am have small parts in this movie, but they prove at times to be more interesting than the stars. Reynolds, as the wise-cracking soon-to-be Deadpool is hilarious even with a few lines and kicks more ass with his katanas than Wolverine with his claws. After splitting a bullet in two and killing everyone in the room, Wade looks around and beckons the others in by saying, "Okay...everyone's dead!" Rumors are circulating that a Deadpool movie is in the works, so it explains why some versions of the movie feature an end credit sequence in which Deadpool regenerates and breaks the fourth wall with the audience by telling them to "Shhhh." Dominic Monaghan as Bradley Bolt is heart-breakingly good. His role is small, but he makes the most of it. Monaghan should be the lead in a movie or at least have larger roles because he expresses so much emotion with so little dialogue that he could almost tell Bradley's story without saying a word. And surprisingly, Will.I.Am (frontman of the Black Eye Peas) is pretty frickin' good. One of the best sequences in the movie involves Will's John Wraith, Wolverine, and Blob in a boxing ring. The back and forth between Logan and Wraith sounds natural and it makes me wish they'd had more screen time together.

Hugh Jackman is just awesome!!! Granted, the story isn't all that great, but Jackman manages to make lemonade. His comfort with playing Wolverine for so long also allows him to seamlessly take Logan from anger to sorrow to seething rage in no time at all. Having him shirtless for half the movie doesn't hurt either.

So, roughly speaking, the characters are good, apart from some changes, but the story sucks. Movie makers have got to figure out that you can tell a good superhero movie without having to resort to action sequence after action sequence. Some of the best parts of the movie were the down moments when Logan was just interacting with another character. We already know Wolverine can do cool shit and put himself back together, but what if he's just talking to a guy? Yes, Logan's not supposed to be a subtle guy, but you can make him threatening without having him jumping from bikes to helicopters and pulling the claws out like a crutch.

So, that's my review. Hope it was eye-opening, to say the least!