Who am I? Why am I here?

It's been almost a year since I graduated from Cal and still I'm pretty much moving along with no destination in sight. How long has it been since I talked to you? You're probably in 1 of 3 categories so let's move step-by-step, shall we?

1. You still think I'm at Cal.

If you've talked to my dad, you know I've graduated. Some of you went to graduation, others went to the party. In any case, getting my degree should be common knowledge to most of you.

2. You still think I work at Hitachi.

This too is not true anymore. After graduation, I took up a job at Hitachi as a business analyst for them. I mainly tracked volumes and market share for them, giving them warnings when price levels appeared too low or inventory went to one of the extremes. I enjoyed my time there but some of you may not know that this job was a contract-to-hire position. The to-hire part was pretty much guaranteed until about November of last year, when layoffs hit the company affecting about 400 people. As a result, it was just a contract job and I was wasting my days away until that contract expired. So in the meantime, I got out the old resume and started applying like crazy, getting about 12 interviews at 8 companies within a few months. One of my pet peeves now is the lack of communication after the interview. You'd think the large companies wouldn't want to deal with you when you've been rejected, but they were the only ones to send thank you letters after I was passed over. So I'll still hate National Semi and Lockheed for not giving me a job, but at least they were courteous about it. It doesn't say much for the other six, considerly smaller, companies. My new job starts on Monday, bringing us to category #3.

3. You think I work somewhere else.

And you'd be right. Here, I'll be dealing more with the costs of their projects dealing with signal intelligence for the government. I'm not sure how much more I can say...I still need to go through a security clearance. The feeling I have is that it deals with a lot of accounting even though I've never taken an accounting class in my life. I'll see when the job starts.



So that's the need-to-know about my working life. Little else has changed. I bought a nice Mazda for $200 below invoice recently. I still have a 5-figure savings account, which seems amazing to me even after I bought the car. Hopefully, the loan payments won't eat my account up. I've cut down on my movies: only 7 in the last 4 months. I'll have less time for the movies now, though I'm serious about Star Wars and a midnight showing. And I'm thinking of traveling east this summer, but that has to wait too. I only get 1 vacation day for every month I work.

On a completely unrelated note, I used to live at Capitol and McLaughlin and across the street was the Gould, a great place with Alpha Beta, Payless, and the Cinema where you could watch a double feature for a couple of bucks. All those things are gone but my cousin has opened a new Hawaiian restaurant in that center, her second one to date. It's across from McDonalds and next to Starbucks so it's a great location. Check it out.

Finally, take a little moment to reflect on the past. 30 years ago tomorrow, Saigon fell.

As we hit up May, it's time for that critical 4 month period where studios make most of their money for the year. While a multitude of movies will be shown for all to see, only a handful will be considered must-see. Leading the pack? Star Wars: Episode III of course. Come on, midnight showing! Who's with me?

May 6

Crash - From writer/director Paul Haggis comes a look at the complexities of racial conflict in Los Angeles featuring an all-star cast including Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Ludacris, and Ryan Phillippe.

House of Wax - Teens find a house filled with wax figures and must escape before they become part of the exhibit. Taking away some of the suspense is Paris Hilton, who has already announced she dies in the film.

Kingdom of Heaven - From the director of Gladiator, Ridley Scott, comes another period piece, this time set in 12th century Europe as Christians and Muslims fight over the Holy Land. Orlando Bloom stars.

May 13

Kicking and Screaming - Will Ferrell takes on the task of transforming a youth soccer team into a winner.

Mindhunters - Two and a half years and counting. That's how long this film has been on the shelf waiting to be released. I've watched it and I know why it's been 2 1/2 years. It sucks big time. But seeing as how this is the 4th time I've written about it, just release the thing and make whatever money you can.

Monster-in-Law - Jennifer Lopez just wants to be married to Michael Vartan. Not a simple task with his mother (Jane Fonda) in the way.

Unleashed - Jet Li stars as a fighter who escaped his death-match past and befriended a blind piano teacher (Morgan Freeman). His past comes back to haunt him however when his former master finds him to bring him back.

May 19

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - The eagerly anticipated final piece of the 6-part puzzle that is the Star Wars mythos. The Clone Wars are at an end but a rising empire awaits the Republic.

May 27

The Longest Yard - Adam Sandler tries out football again as he leads his prison football team in a game against the guards.

Madagascar - Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith and Chris Rock are the voices of 4 animals mistakenly shipped off to the island country of Madagascar.

June 3

Cinderella Man - You know what we need? Another movie about boxing. Yes we do. Russell Crowe, an out-of-work former boxer, gets another shot at the ring during the Depression era.

Lords of Dogtown - This '70s skating flick is rated PG-13 for "drugs and alcohol content, sexuality, violence, language and reckless behavior - all involving teens." So R wasn't an option?

The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants - 4 girls decide to keep in touch by exchanging a pair of pants. Make sure you wash them before sending them on.

June 10

The Adventures of Lava Boy and Shark Girl in 3-D - From Robert Rodriguez comes another 3-D adventure (Spy Kids) courtesy of an idea from his son Racer. Stars David Arquette and Kristin Davis.

The Honeymooners - Based on the classic TV show, Mike Epps and Cedric the Entertainer take over the main roles.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith - It's the movie that touched off the whole Jennifer Aniston/Brad Pitt gossip. Married couple Pitt and Angelina Jolie find out they are assassins for competing agencies and discover their next target is each other.

June 15

Batman Begins - In the hopes of shaking off Joel Schumacher's nipple costumes, director Christopher Nolan returns to Batman's roots with Christian Bale in the title role.

June 17

The Perfect Man - Hilary Duff tries to hook her mom up with a man. But when your mom is Heather Locklear, this should be a 10-minute movie, right?

June 24

Bewitched - Based on the classic TV show, a revival is in the works with Nicole Kidman as the bewitching star and Will Ferrell as her husband.

Herbie: Fully Loaded - Remember that Herbie the Love Bug? Well, it gets a CGI-facelift and a very attractive driver with Lindsay Lohan at the wheel.

George A. Romero's Land of the Dead - Even the title gives me the creeps.

June 29

War of the Worlds - Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg are at it again. Based on the movie and the H.G. Wells story, Cruise leads his loved ones to safety as aliens invade Earth. Who wants to bet there's a slow-motion shot of Cruise running? Anyone?

July 1

Rebound - Martin Lawrence is a college basketball coach who must save face by coaching a junior high team to victory.

July 8

Dark Water - A psychological thriller from the creators of The Ring stars Jennifer Connelly as a woman who tries to start fresh at raising her daughter only to find her apartment has taken on a life of its own.

Fantastic Four - Michael Chiklis, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, and Ioan Gruffudd constitute the Fantastic Four based on the comic book.

July 15

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Loved the story. Hated the musical. But this time, all is about to change with Tim Burton at the helm and Johnny Depp as the star.

Happy Endings - Another movie about people's lives intertwining with Lisa Kudrow as the star.

Hustle and Flow - The tale of a Memhis pimp who becomes a rapper won rave reviews at Sundance.

The Wedding Crashers - This adult comedy stars Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn as two guys who crash weddings to hit on the ladies. This time, they meet their match in Rachel McAdams and Isla Fisher.

July 22

Bad News Bears - Billy Bob Thornton takes over Walter Matthau's role as drunk manager of the little league baseball team.

The Island - From Michael Bay comes a futuristic thriller starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson as two clones who try to escape the facility that harvests their body parts when needed.

July 29

The Brothers Grimm - When a movie has the saltry Monica Bellucci, I'll try to watch. In this delayed film, Matt Damon and Heath Ledger promise to exorcize the ghost that exist but eventually get cursed.

Sky High - If you're the son of superheroes, your future inevitably involves being a superhero. But with no powers to your name, what are you going to do? Ummm, get high?

Stealth - Remember when Chris Rock told producers to wait for the right person to star in your movie instead of rushing anyone out there to act? Well, the producers at Steath have a $125 million film on their hands about naval pilots threatened by a computerized jet. Who's starring? Jessica Biel and Josh Lucas. Wow. Sure, Jamie Foxx is in it too, but he's in a supporting role.

August 5

Broken Flowers - In this limited release, Bill Murray discovers he has a 20-year-old son. If only he knew who the mother was.

The Dukes of Hazzard - Revival summer continues as this TV show from the past gets a movie. Seann William Scott, Johnny Knoxville, and Jessica Simpson star.

The Pink Panther - Inspector Clouseau lives on as Steve Martin takes on the role in search of a ring.

August 12

Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo - Title says it all, doesn't it?

Four Brothers - Foster brothers team up to solve the case of their murdered caretaker.

The Skeleton Key - Kate Hudson tries to break her streak of awful films by taking up a horror flick.

August 19

The 40-Year-Old Virgin - Steve Carell plays the title role with the object of his affection being Catherine Keener.

Domino - Keira Knightley is a bounty hunter. Ignoring its Man on Fire look, watching Knightley as a bounty hunter is worth the price of admission.

Red Eye - Rachel McAdams gets kidnapped on a flight by that guy in scrubs from 28 Days Later.

August 26

The Cave - Imagine going into a cave and never coming out. Well, that's the story of The Cave, a place that the advertising says is below Hell. Stars Piper Perabo. Piper Perabo? Really?

The Interpreter
For any other man, dealing with the death of a spouse can take weeks, months, or even years to recover from. Not Tobin Keller (Sean Penn). He's back on the job after only two weeks. In many respects, he has to come back. He's on the Secret Service protecting visiting foreign dignataries. The latest to visit is Edmund Zuwanie, the President of Motobo accused of crimes against humanity who has come to the United Nations in order to defend himself. But days prior to his visit, an interpreter named Sylvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) claims to have overheard a plot to assassinate Zuwanie. But the more Keller delves into her story, the more questions that come up including those about her African past and those having to gain from a possible murder.

The Interpreter is the type of movie everyone should be making. A simple, cliched plotline (an assassination attempt) set against the backdrop of an unknown and complex locale (the United Nations) brings about many creative ideas. Indeed, this is so on the camera side since director Sydney Pollack got permission to shoot at the United Nations, the first time any movie has shot there. New York City also figures prominently and shows itself off well. However, the storytelling could have used some work. If you go in without watching the 2-minute trailer, you might have been fine but the first hour and a half could be neatly summarized in the trailer and you could have gone straight to the ending. It may not be apparent at first, but the whole ending is revealed in the first 20 minutes...just gotta connect the dots. The climax, with a few minor plotholes, is excellent but if I have to watch Penn become teary-eyed and emotional again, I'll hurl. Honest. 3 stars

Stolen laptops seem to be the rage in Berkeley lately (and Cal being named to lead a cybersecurity project was a cruel joke, right?), but the latest laptop to be stolen has produced the most heated reaction.

Biology 1A Professor Jasper Rine had his laptop stolen last week prior to exam time. But not only does it have that information, it also contains classified information that has forced him to notify various government agencies including the FBI and SEC as well as a company he's working for. As a result, he dedicated the last 5 minutes of lecture to the thief, informing him that he was his only hope to getting out of this mess and that he was leaving for vacation in a few short hours.

First off, he probably missed the deadline since the class I understand is at 8 AM and somebody who's stealing laptops is probably watching the webcast over the weekend instead of listening to him live.

Second, yes, this probably gets your computer back while scaring the thief silly, but Professor Rine, you didn't need to make this public. If you can truly track down the thief through transponders and Microsoft Product Keys (can you really do that?), why not get him discreetly instead of basically detailing what you've got on the computer? It's like somebody stealing a briefcase, only to have the owner proclaim "Hey! That briefcase has the nuclear codes for this country, so you better return it!" Now, you're liable for all the data on the computer, possibly getting you into as much trouble as the kid who stole the laptop in the first place.

Watch the video through the Berkeley webcast (man, was this a lifesaver in my 4 years there) and scroll to about 49:00 or go to Boing Boing for his speech alone.

I've been trying to stay off my feet for the last few days. An ankle sprain can be a bitch. Luckily, those fitness foci from middle school came in handy. Remember RICE, people?

So there's a new pope. If I was Catholic, I'd be excited. Instead, it's just noteworthy. You may have heard there's black smoke if there isn't a decision on who the new pope is and white if there is. Guess what color it was today? Grayish. Good thing Pope John Paul II wrote that he wanted the bells to ring when the new pope was chosen. Well, they were 5 minutes late, but hey, nice thought. The new pope, Benedict XVI, is 78, the oldest pope elected in 300 years. I guess some weren't kidding when they commented they wanted a "temporary" pope before the next great revolutionary came along.

At my former employer (I told you I changed jobs, right?), my co-workers and I would always ridicule the marketing department. You never see any newspaper ads, but they've got plenty of posters that make no sense. In the world of hard drives, perpendicular recording will change it drastically, increasing capacity by 10 times what it is now. To explain this technique, marketing has created another in a long line of embarrassing flash animations and video clips. Is this infromative? Sure. Is it cringe-inducing? You bet. See for yourself.

Melinda and Melinda
Two people get into an argument over whether comedies and dramas are preferable. So guy #3 gets involved and presents them with a situation: a woman crashes a dinner party. The two people then create a comedy and drama on that basis in this latest Woody Allen work. The common thread in the two is Melinda (Radha Mitchell). In the drama, Melinda crashes a dinner party of her college friend, who had offered her a place to stay a few months earlier but never showed up. Melinda's husband had just left her after she had an affair and her friends try to hook her up. Instead, she falls for the piano player at another party, which leads into another disaster. In the comedy, Melinda crashes a dinner party held by her neighbors Susan and Hobie (Amanda Peet and Will Ferrell). Susan and Hobie's marriage has been falling apart with their careers going in opposite directions. Hobie begins to get attracted to Melinda but doesn't know how to break it to Susan. However, as one door opens, another closes.

I'd have to go with the comedy on this one. The drama is utterly depressing filled with emotionless characters who couldn't care less about their friends even if they say something different. The comedy though has little more going for it except for the chemistry between Hobie and Melinda, which was limited to a few short minutes. Ferrell is always funny but was surrounded by an unfunny cast and, ultimately, story. But it was entertaining nonetheless. Too bad it was only half the movie. 2 stars

Sin City
From Frank Miller's graphic novels and the direction of Robert Rodriguez comes a slickly created look at Basin City, a place where the people are the true holders of the law. The film is essentially three short stories put together to form one fantastic film. The first introduces us to Marv (Mickey Rourke), a large ugly brute who is caught in bed with a dead prostitute (Jamie King). As his one true love, he vows to find her murderer. The second story involves Dwight (Clive Owen), new love of waitress Shellie (Brittany Murphy), defending her honor against her former boyfriend, Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro). Jackie Boy is eventually lured into the Old Town, controlled by a group led by Rosario Dawson. But the situation gets complicated as it is discovered Jackie Boy is a cop and the mob, led by Michael Clarke Duncan, gets involved. Finally, Bruce Willis is Hartigan, a man who saved a young girl from being raped and killed, getting injured in the process. Fully healed and released from a jail cell after 9 years, he goes in search of the little girl he saved, who had stopped sending him letters. By discovering the little girl all grown up (Jessica Alba), he puts her in danger once again and must save her.

In any other film environment, this movie may have never been shown. There would be too much violence and gore to be seen without a NC-17 rating, something that would scare studios away. Yet the film's visual style tones it down while leaving behind the same effect producing a mind-blowing experience. But while many will focus on the style, there's a lot to be said for the substance. Female prostitutes empowering themselves to take back the streets, an old man risking his life twice for the same person and the perserverence of one man to find the killer of the one he loves make for interesting storylines and things we can admire. Well, not the killing parts. And that violent version of Michael Jackson.

3.5 stars

Game 11: Orioles 7, Yankees 6

Who would have thought games against the Yankees would cure what ails the O's? They've won 4 out of 5 against them this year, the latest being a come-from-behind victory after trailing 6-2 in the 7th after a poor throw in the field by Miggy. Brian Roberts continues his torrid pace by hitting his 5th HR, which is better than the 4 he had last year.

Cabrera is on the mound today against injured old man Kevin Brown. If young Daniel doesn't translate his spring success into quality starts, I'd want to see him outta there.

Game 7: Orioles 7, Devil Rays 6

So...Tropicana Field. Do they vacuum the field to make it look ugly like that?

I'm beginning to lose my patience with Cabrera. Sure, he's a big guy with a strong arm, but two poor outings to start the season doesn't bode well for the rest of it. Luckily, this team is built to overcome lackluster pitching with an explosive offense.

You could almost see the O's braintrust pat themselves on the back with its decision to switch Ryan and Julio in their relief roles. Julio almost gave the game away, giving up a run before leaving for Ryan, who also had a close call but managed to close the game with 3 straight outs after giving up a triple and a walk. Kudos. Even more kudos to Brian Roberts, who already is having an outstanding year.

Sammy Sosa got his first home run of the season. Here's a weird fact I heard: This was Sosa's first home run at Tropicana Field. There are only a few places where he hasn't hit one. One of them is the O's own Camden Yards.

Garbage at the Warfield was a blast last night. Shirley's voice sounded great, even though she was still recovering from a flu that canceled the band's first concert on the tour in Seattle. She was more fun to watch this time than the last time around since she was able to strut around the stage as if she owned the place, something she wasn't able to do when she was playing second fiddle to No Doubt in SJ. 90 minutes of pure enjoyment.

A few things to note:

Michelle from OG was standing right next to me, which was kinda random.

Garbage's new CD, Bleed Like Me, drops Tuesday. They performed 4 songs off it at the concert: Bleed Like Me, Right Between the Eyes, Sex is Not the Enemy, and the first single, Why Do You Love Me. Sounds good but will it reach the heights of Version 2.0? Probably not.

The opening act, The Dead 60s was more like dead on arrival. A rock band with high hopes, big dreams, lots of energy, but are they talented? Let's just say this English band is not my cup of tea. Pretty much the same beat for every song and that cowbell in the middle was a little excessive. It's not the prescription for what ails them. What's with the name anyway? They aren't 60 and it didn't look like they were channeling anything from the '60s. Just happy the '60s are dead?

I was on the floor so when you're about 4 rows away from Shirley, people behind you are bound to try to get closer. But this girl behind me was trying to push me for a good 15 minutes before giving up and heading left. So there's an immovable object for ya. Downside? Her boyfriend, trying to move with the music, got to move up and kept elbowing me in the ribs every few seconds for about a half hour. So not only do my feet hurt this morning, my ribs are feeling it too.

We turn away from the Orioles and movies for a moment so that we can on another favorite of mine, the Masters. I wouldn't usually write about golf, but the notable things happening there this weekend are hard to ignore.

First, there was the rain. Only 4 tournaments this year have not been affected by rain. So, the Masters, of course, was affected. Luckily, no rain this weekend has meant non-stop golf.

Then there was the heartfelt good-bye to Jack Nicklaus, the greatest golfer to ever grace Augusta National. He won there 6 times, including one in 1986 when he was 46. His heart wants him to play every year but his body is forcing him to say no. While breaking 80 is a feat for a 65-year-old, it's something Jack isn't accustomed to and as a result, he says he has played his last tournament there. His son, Jackie, says he'll be back and quite possibly the allure of Augusta will be too strong, but Jack may be good as gone. At least until he visits St. Andrew's for the British Open in July.

Finally, the important news concerning the tourney. Greg Norman was a very dominant player in the late '90s but had never won a major in the United States. In 1996, he led after the first 3 rounds by a dominant 6 shots. But over the course of the final day, he basically choked, giving way to Nick Faldo's 5-shot win. A swing of 11 shots is very hard to do. This morning, Chris DiMarco held a 4-shot lead over Tiger Woods in the middle of the third round.

The only thing worse than trailing a leading Tiger Woods is having Tiger in second while you're in the lead. When the horn sounded to begin play, DiMarco did his best Norman imitation while Woods played like Faldo. DiMarco shot a double bogey on 10 while Woods birdied. On 11, Woods birdied again, leaving them tied in less than a half hour. DiMarco would shoot 3 more bogeys while Woods would shoot 7 consecutive birdies, tying the record, before shooting 2 bogeys to hold a 3-shot lead heading into the final round.

The only majors Tiger has won have been when he has either led or was tied heading into the final round, so things aren't looking good for Chris DiMarco if he wants to save face from this collapse.

(Update: DiMarco managed to make it close thanks to Woods' two bogeys to finish the final round, but Tiger prevails.)

Game 2: Athletics 9, Orioles 0

So Newton (I remember now...3rd law, I got it) talked about how every action produces an equal and opposite reaction. Well, after the O's shutout win over the A's, the A's got to produce a shutout win of their own.

In many ways, this is the O's team everyone expected to see with the exception of the absent offense. You would think with emergency starter Kirk Saarloos going for the A's, the O's would have a field day. Instead, they only got a hit off him in addition to a hit off that time bomb waiting to explode Ricardo Rincon and another off newbie Huston Street. Hey, I was just on Huston Street the other day, but that's another story.

You could tell that it would be a frustrating night for pitcher Daniel Cabrera. Just like Rodrigo Lopez before him, his first batter, Mark Kotsay, fouled off pitch after pitch. After a little talking to from Tejada, Lopez recovered and pitched a masterful game. Tejada also talked to Cabrera and he recovered but pitched an awful second inning. It was pretty surprising Mazzilli left him in til the 4th.

Before Cabrera gave way to the bullpen, commentator Rick Sutcliffe (that was him right?) was saying if the starters can give some good innings, the bullpen will take care of business. Okay, so the starter only gave 3 1/3. Would the bullpen hold up? Absolutely not. The only bright spot was Todd Williams, who was pretty much perfect in the spring and tonite pitched a perfect 8th inning. Parrish was okay but did allow some walks.

And whoa, what was with the attendance? 22,000 it says in the box score. You can bet Angelos will try to squeeze a little more money out of the Nationals now.

I won't be commenting on the O's every game, but this is a special case since they're facing the A's, the favorite team of a few of my friends. So to them, pile it on tonight and we'll see what happens in the rubber game tomorrow.

First in an occasional series

Game 1: Orioles 4, Athletics 0

During the entire winter, Orioles fans chanted for one thing: pitchers. There were plenty of good options out there, highlighted by Tim Hudson. Yet the GM duo chose to upgrade the relieving corps and bring in Sammy Sosa to an already powerful hitting lineup.

You can't judge a season by its first game, but if you could, the Orioles may end up doing okay, possibly ending its consecutive losing season streak at 6. Rodrigo Lopez pitched a strong 6 innings and Manager Lee Mazzilli brought in his closing lineup of Steve Kline, Jorge Julio and B.J. Ryan to close the deal, shutting out the A's on Opening Day. Under pitching coach Ray Miller, the O's did show improvement in the last half of 2004 and we may just be seeing a continuation of that work.

Even without a home run from its power hitters, the O's offense was strong, led by Sosa's 2 hits and a home run by Luis Matos. Something to keep an eye on is Javy Lopez's exit in the 7th inning, giving way to Geronimo Gil. Either Kline prefers Gil, Kline doesn't prefer Javy, or something is amiss. It couldn't be exhaustion...it's opening day! (Update: It was something amiss. The official line is "lower back stiffness". I just hope this doesn't plague him for the rest of the season.)

All in all, a strong start.

Well, let's move on.

Daylight Savings Time begins tonite. Spring up by moving those clocks forward one hour.

Anyone notice the place they're filming in those TIAA-CREF commercials? None other than Pimentel Hall on the Cal campus. One thing wrong about the look though. That auditorium looks mighty full of alert students. Everyone knows a typical lecture will be half full, with half of those people asleep. Oh yeah, it looks a little cleaner on TV too.

I was passing by Hillsdale Park the other day and it was packed on a very nice day. Lots of people were eating and playing basketball. But what was weird was the tennis courts, which were empty. Then I think I saw why. Two Department of Corrections buses were in the parking lot. Guess those tennis players were just a little scared.

AMC = American Movie Classics. Supposedly. You've heard me remark about the kinds of movies AMC shows on their cable network that are obviously not classics. Speed. Crocodile Dundee 2. Not even the original...the sequel. Tonite, it's a Van Damme marathon. Oh my. But recently, I saw a film that you know would be a classic.

Death Wish 3. Man, what a movie. Basically, a gang has taken over a neighborhood in New York City and Charles Bronson comes in with a partner and a few guns and singlehandedly takes the entire gang out. Gratutitous violence at its finest.

The Ring 2
After ridding themselves of the curse of the Ring, Rachel (Naomi Watts) and son Aidan (David Dorfman) move from Washington to Oregon for a fresh start. While at work as a newspaper editor, Rachel gets word of a mysterious death that sounded eerily familiar. Sure enough, the tape has reappeared. While she destroys it, Aidan begins to exhibit odd behavior, becoming hypothermic in the process. It becomes clear to Rachel that Samara has come back to haunt her and it's up to her to investigate how to get rid of her again.

While The Ring was a mildly scary adventure, it certainly didn't need a sequel and yet here we are: an unnecessary sequel that isn't as scary as the first and tough to comprehend. Directed by the original Japanese director, scenery and atmosphere are the main focus of his scare tactics whether it's the dark basement or the deep well and it sure looks nice, but overall it falls short. Besides, it's hard to fathom the tape reaching the exact town where Rachel and Aidan are when Samara apparently didn't need the tape to get to them. So while you sit there quietly taking it all in, you get to an ending that's just as exciting as Ringu's emptying the well ending except this time, it pretty much makes no sense. 1.5 stars