How True

This is rather confusing, when you think about it.

This, people, is how you smile.

Just look at the cheek crinkles. Adorable.

2008 Movie Review, pt. 1

Movies I've seen in 2008:

Forgetting Sarah Marshall: While not as good as other movies made by the same people (Knocked Up, etc.) this was a pretty cute movie that doubled as an advertisement for Hawaii. The musical the main character is writing is brilliant, too. It helped that I already really liked all four of the main actors. Jason Segel is great in How I Met Your Mother (even though I haven't seen it in a few years--no cable/antenna for me!) and he's just as good in this movie. I already liked Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis from their respective TV shows too (Veronica Mars, That 70's Show.) However, the biggest draw for me was Russell Brand. The man is fantastically funny. In the movie, he basically plays a slight variation on himself, but it works. Check out this to see Russell Brand in all his hilarious glory. (Side note: British TV interests me so much more than American TV.)

Iron Man: Best superhero movie I can remember seeing, hands down. It was engaging, and, to quote the popular nerd phrase, it really is amazing they got Tony Stark to play himself. I wasn't sure how much I would like the movie, since my biggest exposure to the franchise before this was the Marvel Superheroes board game (which is actually one of my favorite games.) But the movie did a great job introducing the franchise. Also, I need to congratulate the movie on having a cutesy robot with a personality that didn't feel overdone and stupid. Plus, the movie came with The Dude. The movie also had the best ending line and music ever.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: I liked it. A lot. And I think a lot of people who talk about how it was a huge letdown built their expectations up too high and are misremembering the intent of the original trilogy. That's not to say there were no flaws--there were. The cast was overinflated. As much as I like the guy, John Hurt's role could have been cut completely and his plot points given to Marion. The gophers were silly and obviously part of George Lucas' love with all things CGI. And the ending was too long. But, I enjoyed the hell out of the movie. Harrison Ford wasn't too old to be in the movie, and they did a good job letting him be his age without making a huge deal out of it. Karen Allen has held up AMAZINGLY well. Cate Blanchett was a decent villian, not as good as Beloch or Mola Ram, but decent. Shia LaBeouf was good, and had some of the best parts in the movie. It was good 50's pulp.

So, that's it. The only three movies I've seen in theaters this year. Possibilities for part 2: Hellboy II: The Golden Army, The Dark Knight, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, *maybe* Quantam of Solace.

(SIDE NOTE: I JUST SAW THEY ARE RE-RELEASING NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS IN THEATERS!! OMG, I might be able to get it on DVD now!!)

Read this.

It's short and it's cute. Marry Me.

Also, the RIAA is stupid. They want to charge radio stations for playing music. Err... I always thought of the radio as advertising. How else are people going to know when new music is coming out? But then, just as my faith in the music industry had completely gone, I was able to download the entirety of Nine Inch Nails new album from the internet for free. Thank you, Trent Reznor. Your music is angry, but damn if you don't know how to make and distribute music.

My favorite online comic

Everyone with even a little bit of fantasy geek in them should read The Order of the Stick.

This is a filler comic from the series, and one of my very favorite things ever:

Three Things I'm Oddly Obsessive About...

1) Sheep. I love this animal. In the immortal words of Neil Gaiman: "But the Creator like the sheep best, because it was all funny and fluffy and white."

2) Gelatinous Cubes. Best. Monster. Ever. 3) The color green. Pretty much any shade, but I'm partial to lime green and the kiwi green color of my car.

A fun day of classes.

This semester, I was an idiot and scheduled all my classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. It's painful going into classes at 9:30 in the morning and not getting out until 7:10. I only have one hour long break, everything else is back-to-back classes. It sucks.

It was made a little more bearable yesterday by showing 3 out of 5 classes just how big of a nerd I was. Sadly, I could not work nerditry into my grammar or phonology class. I should ponder how I could accomplish that.

But in my Intercultural Communications class I talked about the racial diversity of Star Trek. In my History of American Pop Culture Class, I talked about how Bruce Campbell is the master of camp, and then I got to call Frank Miller a misogynistic dick. And finally, in my Sociolinguistics class, I got to help out with a mini-lecture on leet speak.

I think I've also figured out my fall schedule, though I probably should clear it through my advisers. As I've figured it out though, I'll be taking Japanese (for my major), Art History 482 Japanese Architecture (for my general university requirements), History 402 Modern Korea (for my minor,) Linguistics 464 Word and Sentence Structure and Linguistics 410 Linguistics and Grammar in ESL Education (both for my major.) Most of the classes sound interesting, thank goodness. I'm a bit worried about the Modern Korea one, but we'll see. I'm not even really sure why I'm getting a history minor. I think it was because I had all these extra credits I needed to take.

Also, why am I considered a senior? I've been considered that since I registered for Spring semester. I've only really had two years of college. I'll be graduating a semester ahead of the 4-year plan already. Maybe they're counting the year I spent in a Computer Information Systems program. I think I'll try to finish up that Associates when I move back to the northwest. Degrees like that are useful no matter what your field of work is.

Whew....

Ok, I've made if few the first few weeks of school. 18 credits can be exhausting! The ease back into school has been helped by all the cancellations on campus. Professors have been sick, and all classes today have been canceled because of the storm.

I'm anxious for the rest of the presidential primaries. I desperately want Obama to win the nomination. I came to the realization that there has been either a Bush or Clinton in office as The President since I was 6. I'm ready for a change! Also, the concept of super delegates is stupid.

In nerdier news, evidently I should be hot for Spiderman.



I always pictured myself as more of a Batman girl.