Graduation talk has dominated this blog in recent posts, raising the question, did I actually graduate? Well, yes. The only question was the math class I took and you know what, I believe I actually did fail the final. But my final grade was good enough that I don't have to repeat the course. Plus, it all balanced out by the A in California Politics and the A- in Game Theory (I know that last one by heart because of the constant emails I'm getting about the mistake the GSI made by accidentally putting B+ on the sheet and spending the last week trying to fix it on BearFacts, though as of now, still not fixed). So yes, 146 units later, I've officially graduated in Math and Econ.

So without further ado, things can get back to normal around here, talking about the most obscure of things, and of course, the movies. I've only watched two movies this summer season, so there's some catching up to do. I finally watched Mean Girls and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, both fine films to be reviewed later. The Day After Tomorrow will be screened today. I also got to watch Mindhunters, delayed from the winter. But after I watched it, the studio delayed the film again until next year. It has some of the funniest ways to kill people, each time trying to top the last. This mystery has the potential to confuse everyone who watches it. I think it confused themselves too, since the ending takes about 5 minutes showing step-by-step how the killer did what he did. As a result, thumbs down. An official review comes out when the film does, in early 2005. I'm still waiting to see Super Size Me, the much talked about documentary, and of course, this weekend sees the arrival of Harry Potter 3, which I will see this weekend one way or another.

Finally, with the Spelling Bee going on, I would recommend "Spellbound" a documentary released a couple of years back that followed the fortunes of six spellers in the National Spelling Bee. They range from the prodigies to the lucky ones to the ones where it's more of a parents' dream than a child's dream to win the spelling bee. It's entertaining to watch but fails in the nerve-racking experience of actually competing. The filmmakers probably did this intentionally, leaving the nerves to the actual competition and focusing on the stories instead. Tomorrow morning, watch on ESPN as 50 or so spellers battle it out to become champion. More mind-boggling is the MATHCOUNTS competition that follows. It's basically who can do calculus problems the fastest, it seems. Watch as people with thick glasses wearing provided math clothing scratch equations out on paper and hit the buzzer to announce their answer. Did I mention these are on ESPN??? Yes, very weird.