Terminator Salvation and Night at the Museum Battle of the Smithsonian

So, I guess I am not as insane as I, and everyone else, would like to think. I did take today off from any sort of athletics. Now I am lying awake thinking about tomorrow and what it may bring. Fortunately, I figured out how to commence the online summer school. All I need to do now is figure out how to customize my own web site with quizzes and worksheets with automatic feedback and data collection.

Alright, enough about me. Here are two more movie reviews:

Terminator Salvation

What to say...special effects were awesome. But, I think that is really all I can say. The story seemed nonexistent, except for the obvious that was given in the trailer: machine thinks it's human; real humans react favorably as well as unfavorably to this new machine; machine has a choice to do as it is programmed (destroy humans) or try and become what it could never be - human. I think the trailer gave away too much. I am also disappointed with John Connor. All the original Terminator movies make John Connor to be some sort of prophet to the "resistance". This movie was the perfect opportunity to display some of this prophetic behavior. Unfortunately, I am not a big fan of Christian Bale. With this in mind, John Connor had no personality, charisma, nor any real character to make him distinct, honorary, and just plain heroic. Any other actor probably could have been sufficient and might have brought a different appeal to the character. Never (that I know of) has John Connor's character been thoroughly been defined, except through word-of-mouth. As a viewer, I have always been expected to accept John's heroism and allow him to make choices that I should believe in. For me, this is not so; Christian Bale's portrayal of John Connor simply lacked...

Besides this major character flaw, I didn't feel the sense of anxiety that I did for the existing Terminator movies. Yes, I was rather young and most likely was easily scared of those things horrific to any seven-year-old; however, those same anxieties still exist when I watch it now despite my age. The difference from 1984 to now is that I have much better control over my emotions than before and life experiences help me to better understand the fiction of it.

Night at the Museum Battle of the Smithsonian

The first Night at the Museum was new, original, and simply refreshing. What a great premise and appeal to the youth of today: Museums can really bring history to life. This second movie lost that initial appeal. This one seemed calculated and redundant. The same sort of jokes were said again and again without enthusiasm or even originality. Now I can't be too mean; I did enjoy the movie. It was funny. However, it seemed as though it was a movie to see how many times they can make children laugh. Now I like a good children's story, but this one seemed too elementary without a real cause. What was the moral? What was the enlightening truths that children everywhere will unknowingly understand through laughter and adventure?

Despite its elementary nature, the lead female was really annoying. She was overbearing, rude, inconsiderate, and "airy" - she liked to hide her intellect. Yet, the lead male was continually polite, courteous, and welcoming. Well that has a nice moral to it, but in the end he never mentions the modifications needed in her behavior. She is allowed to be a "bad" person without any sort of ramifications.

Oh well, for a while all the movies I had been seeing have been really fun. As the saying goes, "all good things must come to an end."

Sunday's Training Update

Despite reason, I ran again anyways, two laps even! Yes, it was a little slower and little more of a struggle (ok, it was a massive struggle!!) but I forgot all sanity and finished the second lap of approximately 6 miles at 01:03:04. What's kind of funny is that I had a 32 split time. I ran the second lap a minute faster than the first! Then, I walked as slow as I could up the hill to loosen up my upper body with a 30 minute bo workout including 50 crunches.

I must have been really tired. I fell once and again, the bo kept jumping out of my possession too many times to count ;P

Alright, time to take a warm shower to keep the muscles nice and loose and then off to do my required time with family =D

Training Update

This week has been a little rough.

Last Thursday: 15 up and down approximately 10 stairs at a pace I should have done slower. Now I am paying for it with very tight, sore calf and shin muscles.

On top of that, today: approximately 6 miles (YAAHOO! more distance in addition to time) at 1:02:18. Split was 00:31 minutes. Then a moderate walk up hill for an approximate 30 minute bo workout. Stupid bo kept jumping out of my hands! I think it knew I was tired and was trying to tell me to rest.

It's rather entertaining to see me "walk" around! Despite the difficulty walking and going up and down stairs, a very good week. I can feel my muscles getting stronger!

Movie Review: Somewhere In Time (1980)

Somewhere In Time (1980)

Richard Matheson is one of my favorite SF writers. Yes, Somewhere In Time is a bit "dated" in its production but its story can be told throughout the ages. I saw this movie when I was very young, probably no more than 3 feet tall. I remember seeing Superman; this became one of those moments where I realized the concept of actors - people pretending to be other people for the entertainment of others. This movie also taught me how to wonder. Of all the movies and television shows and cartoons of my youth, it was this movie that began my sense of wonder. My mom was always bothered with questions like: How did he know her before he met her?, Does time travel really work?, What is hypnotism?, Do you think if I try time travel, it would really work?, Would you miss me as much as he missed her?

Granted, this is a love story and the genre has really never been palatible - until now. I knew the story was about love, but it appeared to be more. Well, maybe not more, but rather different. I had never seen anyone love as much and as passionately as Richard Collier, the main character. Bear in mind, I am not talking about intimate passion; I am referring to the passion one has when there body shakes with emotion, sometimes literally.

Alright ... so why, might you ask, am I writing a review on an almost 30 year old movie that doesn't seem to connect with anything. Simply this, I heard one of my all-time favorite classical pieces and it is played quite often in this movie; so, I watched the movie again after a very long hiatus. The following is a video I made to give you a little insight into the movie:

Audio/Video Test

Counting Down the Days

Summer vacation is banging down my door! I have been ready to let it in at any moment, but others keep getting in my way. Today is usually one of my slower days - meaning, I have fewer classes and am free to literally run throughout the school and complete much of the tasks I was unable to complete from other days. However, today was like any other: class, run an errand, class, run an errand, class, run a bunch of errands, class. The only difference is that I was able to fit in a quick doctor's visit, set up another appointment, then, during a rapid lunch, quietly wallow in self pity because of the prospect of surgery again.

As soon as lunch was over so was the wallowing - back to work. I love getting an assignment that requires the cooperation of twelve teachers and the students just two days in advance.

Which brings me to today's Training Update. I briskly walked approximately 2 miles through the hallways at school. Granted, it helped loosen my legs which were pretty tight from the stretching and the workout from yesterday's "physical therapy". However, I feel tomorrow's forecast might very well be pain, creeping in at every movement and light sprinkles of calf-muscle-cramping to set the atmosphere just right.

Now that I have a moment to relax, I came across the following quote in one of the blogs I follow. It made me think about my marketing techniques I use for myself as well as the techniques I use for others.

From Lewis Hyde’s book, ‘The gift, Imagination and the erotic life of property’:

A work of art is a gift, not a commodity…Every modern artist who has chosen to labor with a gift must sooner or later wonder how he or she is to survive in a society dominated by market exchange .

Decisions, decisions...

Yesterday I received a letter requesting my presence (in Tennessee) to receive an award I had been nominated for and will receive. Supposedly this is a pretty big deal. So instead of simply turnig it down, I feel like I should accept rather than insult those who want to give it to me as well as the person who nominated me. Here's the conflict; I really haven't the funds (but I could probably scrape that up) and, I don't really travel all that well by myself.

Alright, weighing the pros against the cons: 2 against 1 in favor of the cons.... The question remains: is the award, and the people that go along with it, worth the trouble of finacial strains and physical weaknesses? I want to say 'yes," since I have been told this is a once in a lifetime achievement...