I’m typing this on an iPhone. That means that it’s possible to do such a thing. Will this mean updates? Let’s hope so. Still struggling to find purpose to this site. Some day (hopefully soon).
May
23
So, I’ll be forward: I loved this movie. You can choose to stop reading now, or you can continue and find out why, it’s up to you. But just know that this is going to be a positive review of a movie that’s been getting a fairly even number of reviews from both end of the spectrum.
Keep in mind that this movie follows (quite well) the trend of the first three - that is to say, it is over the top in terms of action, and one is required to suspend one’s disbelief with something tensile and strong. If you have no problem doing this, or more appropriately if you had no problem doing this with the first three, you should be fine. Because I will say it right now - these movies are not meant to be taken seriously. I’ve always felt more like the Indiana Jones movies were like thrill rides. They throw a few twists at you, but you know it’s just a ride, so you smile all the way through.
To its credit, KotCS does not require one to have seen the first three movies. Not in the traditional sense, anyway. It certainly helps - both so that you know what kind of movies the Indiana Jones series is comprised of, and so that you can catch the throwbacks. I was relieved to find that a sizable chunk of the audience was comprised of true Indy fans when they applauded as these throwbacks came on screen. But much like the other three were separate stories with the same hero and a few consistent characters, so is KotCS a movie that is not meant to be a continuation, but rather simply another installment in the series.
This is where I, and many others, were afraid. Harrison Ford is, I believe somewhere around the age of 60. For a whip-cracking hero that spends a lot of his time running, jumping, rolling around, and getting beaten up by men twice his size, 60’s not exactly the ripest age at which to do so. However, with the exception of a few more lines on his face and eyes that one can tell have seen a lot, Ford is in as good a shape as he’s ever been. He’s still got the humor, too, which for me was very important. I can never stop smiling when I’m watching any of the Indy movies, and this was no exception.
The plot is where it falls apart for some people. Without giving too much away, this plot does differ greatly in that not only does it take place in the Cold War era (rather than World War II, so we’re now dealing with KGB instead of Nazis), the ultimate mystery that Indy unravels is a bit more science fiction-y in nature, and less religion-themed. Once again, though, all four of the movies are built on the premise that any of these fabled artifacts that Indy’s after are real, as are the legends behind them. Now, I’m somewhat biased, being interested already in what the plot has to offer, and the crystal skulls themselves have some basis in history (although its been said the real skulls were discredited as being made in the 19th century, rather than much earlier as the legend assumes), but in contrast to the nay-sayers who found the plot too ridiculous, I thought it fit the Indy theme quite well.
Naturally I had a few gripes with the movie, but then again, I don’t recall ever seeing a perfect movie. This is totally off the topic of suspending disbelief, by the way - these gripes are more like “well that was kind of unnecessary,” rather than “well that would never happen.” Shia LeBouf played his role as sort of a wanna-be badass quite well, always either a comb or switchblade in hand even in the face of death. His acting was not an issue. However, his screentime, while plentiful, was in some cases sort of superfluous. There is a scene where he’s swinging through the jungle alongside monkies on vines. Now, this isn’t a totally ridiculous notion: anyone of decent strength, a concept of momentum (or someone who’s seen Tarzan), and some luck could probably pull this off. I mean it happens in real life, monkeys do it, it’s not that outrageous. The fact that it was part of the movie, though, is sort of the main issue. It was clearly intended to add some comic relief, which it did, but mainly because it was just such a silly way out of a situation. Lucas could’ve written that part a little better, I think, or perhaps not written it at all.
The other main gripe is at the end. Again, I won’t spoil the ending, but it’s mostly CGI-related. George Lucas, as most Star Wars fans know, as well as Steven Spielberg, are avid users of CGI in their movies, to the point where it’s almost annoying. I’m eternally grateful that the use of CGI was not obscenely overdone in KotCS - everything seemed to fit pretty well with the other movies in terms of the use of real props and sets and perhaps even on-location shooting rather than green screens. The end, however, is sort of where Lucas and Spielberg decided to pull out all the stops and kind of go nuts. If you see the movie, perhaps you’ll agree that there wasn’t much choice in doing the ending any other way other than CGI, but certainly they could have used less, which would’ve been fine.
There’s also a scene with a refrigerator and a nuke - you’ll know it when you see it - that was a bit hard to take seriously, but I did enjoy the comic value it added and laughed with it, where the monkey scene just kind of had me laughing at it.
Overall, though, I thought it was excellent. The Indy movies were written for the sake of entertainment. There aren’t many heroes like Indiana Jones anymore - these days it’s all about grit and realism, blood and violence and death. I loved this movie for its ability to simply be watched and enjoyed, an ability shared with the other three. The plot works, the acting was great (in my personal opinion), Harrison Ford’s definitely still got it, the music gave it the same feel as the others, and I smiled the whole way through - and for me, that last part was crucial.
In short, if you’re a fan of the Indy series and the style of the movies, you will enjoy Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. If you go in expecting a modernized Indy movie, with more grit and realism and less comedy, I think you will be a bit disappointed. So, my recommendation is to go watch it with purely entertainment in mind, perhaps brush up on the series by watching the other three first (I did; it’s nothing you won’t mind doing), and suspend your disbelief for the sake of fun and excitement, and you will get your money’s worth. Do I understand the negative reviews? Sure. Some people were expecting something a little less “ridiculous,” as it were. But as that’s the way the first three were, that’s exactly how I expected this to be, and my expectations were met. We’re so accustomed to movies that force realism and complex story lines on us that many of us have forgotten what it’s like to go and just have fun at the movies.
I’ll abstain from rating movies, since it’s hard to do that fairly and accurately, so I’ll just say I highly recommend it.
I’m out.
Later.
May
21
Ok, so I sort of screwed up with trying to update the look of my blog and ended up having to upgrade the whole darn thing (which I’m not complaining about, I’m now upgraded, but sometimes things just have to be difficult).
A mere…21 days, if I do my math correctly, including weekends until my last day of finals. Then, the next day it’s home for the summer. A lot to get done these next two weeks, we’ll see how it goes.
For some instant gratification, however, I’m going to see the new Indiana Jones TOMORROW. Yes, TOMORROW. I’ll get to see Harrison Ford light up the screen in perhaps my favorite role of his (surpassing Han Solo? I’m not sure, I’ll have to grapple with this one internally for a while) once more, and I know I’m going to love it. This may sound like I’m getting my hopes up, and it probably is, but I don’t care. It’s going to be great.
My dad made an interesting point. There aren’t many tales of frustration on this site (perhaps remaining untold). I think I’ll change that bit to “previously untold tales of frustration,” as he suggested. Seems more fitting. And then perhaps I’ll add some of those tales. Nothing too frustrating though, want to keep the mood of this blog light.
Nothing else terribly interesting to add at the moment. I suppose I’ll leave it at this, fancy new theme and some plans for the future of this blog and the rest of this school year.
I’m out.
Later.
May
19
Yep, did a count with mum recently, 23 days until I’m home. Hardly three and a half weeks! I can’t wait. Midterms are done, the anxiety I’ve been suffering through all quarter is pretty much gone…man, life is pretty good.
If I had any interest at all in being a movie critic I’d write about my recent viewing of Iron Man. I don’t, however, so I will just leave it at saying the movie is definitely worth seeing. It was funny, had some great action bits (but don’t expect over-the-top action), and had a pretty engaging storyline.
I really should pick a theme one of these days for this site. I don’t think this blog generates a whole heck of a lot of traffic right now because it’s so aimless, nevermind my updating habits.
…Maybe music.
I’m out.
Later.
May
3
The past few weeks haven’t been good to me - please excuse me. Some serious anxiety following my return to school, and more recently a cold of some kind, have provided some rather unusual hurdles for me to overcome. Getting there though.
However, having felt so unmotivated to write anything in those past few weeks, I feel like it’s time to get back into the game. And what better way to kick off my return than with some good old literary controversy:
The above link is a short article written by the famous Orson Scott Card. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, perhaps one of the most famous science fiction/fantasy books ever, Ender’s Game, will. Card starts the article with a laugh about Rowling’s latest move, suing a small publishing company for distributing 10,000 copies of “The Harry Potter Lexicon,” essentially a field guide to the Harry Potter novels. Rowling feels as though the Lexicon is just a rearrangement of her own material.
Card then goes on to point out the massive irony in that last statement - an irony that I, and many others I’m sure, completely missed until Mr. Card spelled it out for us quite clearly. Card presents the following plot synopsis:
“A young kid growing up in an oppressive family situation suddenly learns that he is one of a special class of children with special abilities, who are to be educated in a remote training facility where student life is dominated by an intense game played by teams flying in midair, at which this kid turns out to be exceptionally talented and a natural leader. He trains other kids in unauthorized extra sessions, which enrages his enemies, who attack him with the intention of killing him; but he is protected by his loyal, brilliant friends and gains strength from the love of some of his family members. He is given special guidance by an older man of legendary accomplishments who previously kept the enemy at bay. He goes on to become the crucial figure in a struggle against an unseen enemy who threatens the whole world.”
Does that synopsis apply to Ender’s Game, or Harry Potter?
…Exactly.
In other news, life’s pretty good, despite the anxiety (which I will delve into further detail about at a later date). 5 more weeks until I come home, but I know they’re going to fly by. A quick rundown:
Week 6 (this coming week): Physics midterm Friday. Cue me studying fervently all week.
Week 7-8: Another math midterm somewhere in there. Still haven’t gotten the first one back, I’ll get that this coming Monday - I only hope no matter what I got on it that I can come away with something decent in the class. I’ll simultaneously be searching for storage solutions for the summer, as well as packing things up.
Week 9: Dead week. Study like crazy for finals, although perhaps not since I only have 3 classes this quarter, and German’s easy.
Week 10: Finals week. More like a half week; last finals (Math and Physics in the same day, go figure) are on Wednesday, June 11th. Flying home the following Thursday.
I wonder now if the anxiety I’ve been feeling over these past few weeks has really been caused at least in part by the difficulty of the classes I’m taking. German’s not terribly hard, but I had a dream where I got back a quiz that I failed, and on it was written “C-”, and when I asked what that meant, my TA told me that was the highest grade I could get in the class. I’m not worried though - I’m more or less on par with last quarter’s performance and I came away with an A- last time. Math is pretty hard, but very randomly. I know I didn’t do hot on the first midterm, which I have to get back Monday, but this week’s homework is startlingly easy, so we’ll see how things go. My professor seems fair. Again, though, I had a dream where I got a 0 on the midterm. No Physics-related dreams (yet?), interestingly enough. My professors this quarter all seem very fair, but nevertheless I’m still going to have to work extra hard to get some good grades.
Well, I’ve got my next few weeks’ work cut out for me. Time to get to it.
I’m out.
Later.
Apr
17
Still alive, posts will come, the past few weeks have been rough…
Will update tomorrow.
Later.
Mar
10
I remember the first time I heard this word; my friend Liam threw it out there, nonchalantly, as though it were a word I ought to have heard before. No such luck. It ended up meaning something along the lines of “excess fat,” in the figurative sense; that is, garbage that manifests itself in various ways, from extraneous words or sentences in a paragraph to the dark lining around bread - wait, that’s crust. You get the idea.
The whole Bush Waterboard veto thing has me sort of confused. For those who haven’t heard very much about this: Bush vetoed legislation that would prevent the CIA from using, among other shady techniques, the practice of “waterboarding” on captured terrorists and other high-profile enemy figures. Waterboarding involves strapping someone down, orientating them so they’re flat on their back facing up, and pouring water over their head. This simulates the feeling of drowning, and panic sets in, and so on until the person gives up whatever information they’re withholding.
This sounds like torture to me, I’ll say that much. Official political and military designation notwithstanding, tricking someone’s senses into feeling as though one is dying is a number of rungs down on the humane interrogation ladder. The support for it isn’t convincing - an ex-CIA operative saying the technique “saved lives” would have more impact if it was conclusively shown that any and all of the CIA’s 19 available legal interrogation techniques had virtually no success in extracting information. Simply saying “the United States does not torture” does nothing to change mine (or anyone else’s, hopefully) opinions of this. At least, I certainly hope people aren’t standing there, listening to him say this and then nudging their buddy and going, “Oh, hey, it’s ok, we don’t torture, it’s not torture man.” All in all, this is to me just another bad move by Bush that will forever secure his place in history as an ill-informed, misguided president.
In local news, it’s almost dead week (actually, it is dead week, but I like to think “tomorrow” doesn’t become “today” until I go to sleep and wake up again), which means I’ll be studying until my brain sizzles with the searing-hot ore of knowledge, a wealth of information extracted from those ancient and mystic texts. My venture will not be without its perils - it would be easy to find myself consumed by an excess of worthless words and diagrams, so it’ll be an exercise in revealing the gems of useful information from the rough of the books themselves.
I have officially finished my first week’s schedule at the dining commons. All in all, it’s really not a bad job. I’ve met some extremely nice people, and the actual work isn’t terribly demanding. And the cooks make us food sometimes! That’s a nice perk. Yeah, I think I’ll stay.
I’m out.
Later.
Mar
5
This was my proposal, to which my good friend Ryan responded that he had in fact been president, for about an hour and a half…and he did pretty well. 
Words can’t describe my anticipation of the new Indiana Jones. The anticipation was almost too much; I found myself going back to watch the original three, something which I haven’t quite finished doing, but I’m awfully close. Something about Jones just makes me smile when I watch those movies; perhaps it’s his cock-eyed smile, wry wit, his ability to wriggle out of situations that are almost too hairy for comfort, or something else entirely, but he’s a real hero, the kind I’d follow into a series of dark, bug-ridden tunnels any day.
I got a job at the dining commons, something which I had previously thought to be no longer a real possibility. However, when I discovered that all I had to do was work mornings (I say this now, but I know in the back of my mind that it’s going to be rather…awful sometimes), I jumped at the possibility, and tomorrow is my first day working for $8.00/hour doing next to nothing. Sounds good to me.
I think I need to do some restructuring of this site; new layout, maybe a new direction? I don’t think I’d follow this blog if I were anyone else, I need some recurring content that perhaps my peers can relate to. I’ll see what I can do.
Also, please check out my friend Dan’s blog, located in the links to the right, “Full Combo.” He’s a good friend of mine writing about video games and his thoughts on them, and his stuff is well worth reading.
I’m out.
Later.
Feb
23
It’s not exactly a historical day in the time line of the band Boston, but I’ve listened to them enough lately that I think I should pay tribute to one of the greatest singers I’ve ever heard, Brad Delp. He killed himself a little more than a year ago in Atkinson, NH, and took with him an amazing voice. To quote the rest of Boston, “We just lost one of the nicest guys in Rock and Roll.”
Speaking of music, I thought my collection was big, until I came upon the library of one William Lande, shared over the FT wired connection. 24,000 songs. I kid you not. And then, as luck would have it, I found out that a guy I know in my German class has almost the same amount; looks like I’ll be getting a lot more music pretty soon.
Maybe I should just be a movie critic, I talk about enough movies in these updates. I had to head over to campus on Thursday night to watch a movie for German. It was called “Beyond Silence,” and it was a very interesting and heart-warming movie. In short, a girl named Lara is the daughter of two deaf parents. She herself is not deaf, and her aunt gives her a clarinet for Christmas one year, which Lara invests lots of time into. Her father doesn’t understand the appeal of music, never having heard it himself, so he gets angry that Lara is spending all her time playing the clarinet and not studying. Years pass, and her father still hasn’t come to terms with the direction her life is taking, and the movie turns into a struggle between Lara’s devotion to her father and mother (since they’re both deaf, she is extremely useful to them in translating between spoken word and sign language and so on; she has a younger sister who can eventually take on these tasks, but not right away), and the pursuit of her musical career. I won’t spoil the ending, but it’s heart-warming.
Academically, the next couple weeks are kind of like the eye of the storm, the first part (midterms) having passed, although there’s a Chemistry midterm Monday, and the second part of the storm (finals) approaching steadily. I’m taking this opportunity to recoup and assess which classes I’m going to have to study the most for and which classes I’m pretty much set in. So far Chemistry wins as being the most difficult class, yet again, but at least this quarter I haven’t gotten any awful midterms and I’m doing roughly the same in all of my classes.
That’s about it for today. I missed the lunar eclipse, unfortunately; oh well, I’ll catch it again in 2010. More tomorrow.
I’m out.
Later.
Feb
13
I’m not talking about actors. I’m talking about those dots up in the sky - you know the ones - and how lying on your back looking at them, however cliché it may be, is really a profound experience in the right setting. It’s enough to make me wonder why I didn’t choose astronomy instead of physics (lack of as many job opportunities notwithstanding).
That was the bulk of my night, a random trip to the beach and a bit of late-night stargazing while a couple friends of mine frolicked blindly (although Jordan maintains that his eyesight is just shy of superhuman because of all the carrots he eats) in the chilly Pacific waters. A satisfying end to my last stressful day for…a little while anyway.
Yeah, midterms are over. Imagine me pausing momentarily to do a bit of a jig. Physics was certainly my most stressful midterm. It’s one of those subjects where, no matter how much you think you know, invariably there’s some aspect of it you are just a little shaky on. The saving grace is that physics is mainly the science of relating one thing to another, and so said shaky aspect can usually be figured out by a little handiwork with a pencil and a formula sheet. I think the real skill in physics lies in one’s ability to make those connections and truly understand what you’re doing while you’re doing it. My professor this quarter’s done a wonderful job of explaining this. He’ll do a long proof that takes the entire lecture, or some of it, and end with something as simple as “(torque) = I*(alpha),” and then go, “Look, it’s just like F = m*a.” And then everyone utters a big, collective (if tentative) “…ooooh” and things start to make a little more sense.
In any case, that was that. German was today, which I felt pretty good about, but that class never seems to be too much of a challenge anyway. Languages, or at least German, are so incredibly logical at their core. I mean, so is pretty much everything (excluding quantum physics), but if you can see the likenesses between your standard high school-taught languages (German, French, Spanish, even Latin) and English, you’ll be fine.
Math and Chemistry went fine, I won’t waste space by writing about them here. Everything is pretty good in my little 70-degree bubble land of beach life. Now I finally have some time to devote to drawing. I’m possessed by some incredible urge to draw at all hours of the day, something I won’t ruin by actually following through with it.
This seems to be enough for now.
I’m out.
Later.