Let the record show that on this day, the 28th of July, two-thousand and five, I became a new uncle with the birth of Kelli Nicole at around 2:00 pm. Congrats Chris and Susan.
7/28/2005
7/24/2005
The Island
Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor), like the rest of the fellow population, lives life in a utopia where food, shelter, and interaction take place in a controlled environment away from the great devastation that contaminated the earth years ago. Everyone's goal is to gain entry to the island, the only place left in the world that is not contaminated, by winning the lottery. But as time goes on, Lincoln begins to question his surroundings as he interacts with a technician (Steve Buscemi) and begins to have visions in his nightmares. Dr. Merrick (Sean Bean) and his friends try to bring him back to reality, but human curiosity leads him to follow a flying insect and eventually the truth behind the utopia they live in. Soon, he takes his friend, Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson) and breaks out. Dr. Merrick, in an effort to keep things quiet, hires Albert Laurent (Djimon Honsou) and his team to capture them before the truth is spread throughout the world.
As you know, Michael Bay's films are meant to stimulate the visual senses and not the mental ones. The Island continues this streak with the requisite car chase that blows everything up and cool gadgets everyone needs to use. But honestly, if you look past the various plot holes, the questions left unanswered, the ways Lincoln and Jordan get out of various situations and the unintentionally funny ending, this is a film you can certainly enjoy. I was a little bothered by the increasing amount of product placement in the film, something done to blunt the cost overruns. This could have been done a bit more discreetly. Also, the learning curve for Lincoln and Jordan progresses too fast to be plausible since they've learned only simple communication and simple tasks in the compound but by the end, Lincoln has mastered flying, driving, and Scottish slang while Jordan is able to shoot guns with amazing accuracy and leads a rescue of her friends. In the hands of a more serious director, the ethical questions of cloning would have made for a better movie, but in the hands of Bay, you've got to leave some room for the imagination to enjoy the pair's journey to truth, romance, and reality, and back again. 2.5 stars
Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor), like the rest of the fellow population, lives life in a utopia where food, shelter, and interaction take place in a controlled environment away from the great devastation that contaminated the earth years ago. Everyone's goal is to gain entry to the island, the only place left in the world that is not contaminated, by winning the lottery. But as time goes on, Lincoln begins to question his surroundings as he interacts with a technician (Steve Buscemi) and begins to have visions in his nightmares. Dr. Merrick (Sean Bean) and his friends try to bring him back to reality, but human curiosity leads him to follow a flying insect and eventually the truth behind the utopia they live in. Soon, he takes his friend, Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson) and breaks out. Dr. Merrick, in an effort to keep things quiet, hires Albert Laurent (Djimon Honsou) and his team to capture them before the truth is spread throughout the world.
As you know, Michael Bay's films are meant to stimulate the visual senses and not the mental ones. The Island continues this streak with the requisite car chase that blows everything up and cool gadgets everyone needs to use. But honestly, if you look past the various plot holes, the questions left unanswered, the ways Lincoln and Jordan get out of various situations and the unintentionally funny ending, this is a film you can certainly enjoy. I was a little bothered by the increasing amount of product placement in the film, something done to blunt the cost overruns. This could have been done a bit more discreetly. Also, the learning curve for Lincoln and Jordan progresses too fast to be plausible since they've learned only simple communication and simple tasks in the compound but by the end, Lincoln has mastered flying, driving, and Scottish slang while Jordan is able to shoot guns with amazing accuracy and leads a rescue of her friends. In the hands of a more serious director, the ethical questions of cloning would have made for a better movie, but in the hands of Bay, you've got to leave some room for the imagination to enjoy the pair's journey to truth, romance, and reality, and back again. 2.5 stars
7/21/2005
A bill going through Congress would extend daylight savings time by a month so that the time change would be in effect from mid-March to November. Obviously, the energy savings would be extraordinary, but have you realized the other benefits?
Crime would go down because according to Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass), criminals "don't work very well when it's light out and they don't like to wake up early either."
Markey goes on to say that on Halloween, "children trick-or-treating could go door-to-door to collect their candy in the safety of daylight." Yep, nothing expresses the frightening aspects of Halloween than the bright sun melting your candy away.
Crime would go down because according to Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass), criminals "don't work very well when it's light out and they don't like to wake up early either."
Markey goes on to say that on Halloween, "children trick-or-treating could go door-to-door to collect their candy in the safety of daylight." Yep, nothing expresses the frightening aspects of Halloween than the bright sun melting your candy away.
7/17/2005
My brother recently got notification of his 10-year high school reunion from OG.
What would you expect from your high school reunion? Probably a nice nearby hotel with a fancy dinner filled with countless memories of the way things were. For my brother, that could be accomplished minus the nice hotel and fancy dinner. Why?
The good people at OG have decided to take advantage of the poker craze by holding their reunion at the Garden City card club and having a poker tournament as a main event. Yep, nothing like saying hello to your former acquaintances of 10 years past by taking money from them.
What would you expect from your high school reunion? Probably a nice nearby hotel with a fancy dinner filled with countless memories of the way things were. For my brother, that could be accomplished minus the nice hotel and fancy dinner. Why?
The good people at OG have decided to take advantage of the poker craze by holding their reunion at the Garden City card club and having a poker tournament as a main event. Yep, nothing like saying hello to your former acquaintances of 10 years past by taking money from them.
March of the Penguins
Luc Jacquet and his team traveled down to Antarctica to document the journey of emperor penguins on their way to their breeding ground. Seemingly hard-wired, these emperor penguins make this 70+ mile trek every year and meet up with fellow penguins to mate. Once there, it doesn't end. The true test of survival still awaits them as their chick needs nine months to fully mature. As a result, the penguins must endure a harsh winter protecting first an egg, then their small baby as they stand there with only the food they had stored months before.
In the hands of Hollywood, this story may have been more explicit and violent. In the hands of Disney, two penguins may have faced the treachery of hyenas or something and seen visions of a genie before the happy ending of a family reunited. Instead, we have the very simple hand of documenting with the capable, and sometimes witty, commentary from voice-over go-to-guy Morgan Freeman to make the rough tale of these penguins informative and entertaining. One must admire the extraordinary lengths the filmmakers went through to get the footage they did, especially considering how their landscape is pretty much endless ice, not filled with the luscious colors we're so used to seeing when watching this type of documentary. There are some lengthy stretches of silence with footage which seems repetitive that make the film slow down considerably but one look at a chick entering the ocean for the first time will have you applaud its accomplishment and appreciate the dedication of a mother and father who endured the long winter to bring forth life. It is much more than a simple love story. 3.5 stars
Luc Jacquet and his team traveled down to Antarctica to document the journey of emperor penguins on their way to their breeding ground. Seemingly hard-wired, these emperor penguins make this 70+ mile trek every year and meet up with fellow penguins to mate. Once there, it doesn't end. The true test of survival still awaits them as their chick needs nine months to fully mature. As a result, the penguins must endure a harsh winter protecting first an egg, then their small baby as they stand there with only the food they had stored months before.
In the hands of Hollywood, this story may have been more explicit and violent. In the hands of Disney, two penguins may have faced the treachery of hyenas or something and seen visions of a genie before the happy ending of a family reunited. Instead, we have the very simple hand of documenting with the capable, and sometimes witty, commentary from voice-over go-to-guy Morgan Freeman to make the rough tale of these penguins informative and entertaining. One must admire the extraordinary lengths the filmmakers went through to get the footage they did, especially considering how their landscape is pretty much endless ice, not filled with the luscious colors we're so used to seeing when watching this type of documentary. There are some lengthy stretches of silence with footage which seems repetitive that make the film slow down considerably but one look at a chick entering the ocean for the first time will have you applaud its accomplishment and appreciate the dedication of a mother and father who endured the long winter to bring forth life. It is much more than a simple love story. 3.5 stars
7/13/2005
Wedding Crashers
John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Klein (Vince Vaughn) are two average divorce lawyers, best friends, and decent guys. All that ends with the arrival of prime wedding season. Then the two shine as wedding crashers, praying on young ladies who are in the mood for love. However, the best is saved for last with the wedding of the daughter of the Secretary of Treasury. Crashing a wedding this big requires a large amount of planning, something the two handle easily. But what comes next is something that they're unprepared for as both fall for the Secretary's (Christopher Walken) other daughters, Claire (Rachel McAdams) and Gloria (Isla Fisher). While Gloria and Jeremy's relationship is mostly sexual, the evolving one between John and Claire is impeded by the fact that Claire is about to be married. With John quickly falling for her, it's only a matter of time when there will be a confrontation between him and the fiancee (Bradley Cooper).
Wedding Crashers feeds off the energy of both of its stars Wilson and Vaughn. When they're together in the same room, fireworks explode and the moviegoers are rewarded with a great experience, especially with the energetic first 15 minutes. However, when they're apart, as they are in the third act, the laughs trail off and the movie suffers for it. Even the introduction of Chaz, played by a famous comedian and usually very funny, seems out-of-place with the way the movie was going in the first 90 minutes. McAdams certainly looks the part and does her best with what she has, but isn't given anything memorable to say. But hey, what can you say about Walken? One look at his stare looks very creepy and aside from Claire, he's the most normal of the family, which is pretty tough to accomplish in any movie. 2.5 stars
John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Klein (Vince Vaughn) are two average divorce lawyers, best friends, and decent guys. All that ends with the arrival of prime wedding season. Then the two shine as wedding crashers, praying on young ladies who are in the mood for love. However, the best is saved for last with the wedding of the daughter of the Secretary of Treasury. Crashing a wedding this big requires a large amount of planning, something the two handle easily. But what comes next is something that they're unprepared for as both fall for the Secretary's (Christopher Walken) other daughters, Claire (Rachel McAdams) and Gloria (Isla Fisher). While Gloria and Jeremy's relationship is mostly sexual, the evolving one between John and Claire is impeded by the fact that Claire is about to be married. With John quickly falling for her, it's only a matter of time when there will be a confrontation between him and the fiancee (Bradley Cooper).
Wedding Crashers feeds off the energy of both of its stars Wilson and Vaughn. When they're together in the same room, fireworks explode and the moviegoers are rewarded with a great experience, especially with the energetic first 15 minutes. However, when they're apart, as they are in the third act, the laughs trail off and the movie suffers for it. Even the introduction of Chaz, played by a famous comedian and usually very funny, seems out-of-place with the way the movie was going in the first 90 minutes. McAdams certainly looks the part and does her best with what she has, but isn't given anything memorable to say. But hey, what can you say about Walken? One look at his stare looks very creepy and aside from Claire, he's the most normal of the family, which is pretty tough to accomplish in any movie. 2.5 stars
7/09/2005
Honestly, I haven't had time to update my goings on since I got back. It's like I returned from Vegas only to go straight to work but hey, that's the life I lead now.
So yeah, Saturday morning started out early at 6 am. We rented a minivan from Hertz but when my dad showed up at the rental counter, they refused to give us a minivan, pushing us to get the larger, more gas-guzzling SUV. So my dad goes on a mini-tirade, questioning the value of a car reservation. 15 minutes later, they just happen to find a mini-van in the lot to give us. Bad news? It's a Kia, or as my dad referred to it through the entire trip, a K-I-A. I had no problems with it...ran fine. But at 18 mpg and practically no amenities in the car, I wouldn't recommend it.
The true reason we were down there was for my cousin's wedding. At a few places, the thing was headed toward the brink of a disaster, what with the ceremony next to a very loud pool on a fairly warm day and a tilting wedding cake, but as they say, love conquers all and the reception went very well.
The trip around the block continued with the journey to Las Vegas. One thing I wanna mention is that for some reason, people who drove a Lexus always slowed down a lot. Don't have a clue why. The 4-hour trip took a little longer not only by the slow Lexuses (Lexi?) but also by a suicide attempt at the 91-15 interchange, which closed down all 8 lanes of the merge except for one.
So once we got there, I had a list of things to do for my one day there. It was a short list actually, but they were important. Gotta go see Star Trek. Check. They put in a new ride there involving the Borg. Very cool...it has mechanical seats that poke you and sprinklers above that spray water at you. It's a 4-D ride. What is the 4th dimension? I'm really not sure. Is it the live action stuff? The old Klingon ride is still there too but its starting to look a bit dated.
Then there was the WSOP. As anyone who is anyone knows, the World Series of Poker is going on right now as I write this. I got there before the main event started, but it was still exciting nonetheless. It's at the Rio but it's far away from the casino. My brother and I got a little lost and asked a guard where the room was. All he said was "Follow Jesus." I thought he was being philosophical or something but sure enough, when he pointed in the general direction, there was Chris "Jesus" Ferguson walking back from his dinner break. Walking into the poker room was extraordinary. 220 tables jam-packed with lights above each one...it made it very bright. And oh man, the stars in that room...Negreanu, Brunson (both of them), Forrest, Seed, Lindgren, James Woods, and others. It was pretty cool. The ESPN stage though, seems a bit smaller than I thought it would be. Walking out, I gave a hello to Doyle Brunson who was speeding on his scooter on his way toward the door. He gave a smile and hello but promptly kept on going. I would later learn he was just eliminated from the Omaha tournament he was playing in.
While there, I was actually carded. There's a strict policy that everyone in the room has to be at least 21, but while it's no surprise that I would be, they also checked my brother, who's pushing 30.
When I got back, time to eat. Everyone has said wonderful things about the Bellagio buffet so we ate there. Little did we realize they'd jack up the price by $10 for the holiday weekend. Going in, I grumbled that this better be the best $37 meal I'd ever eat. The crab disappointed me but everything else was decadent. They even had venison and lamb. What kind of buffet serves up that? And of course, I'm a sucker for creme brulee.
Finally, there was the gambling. My brother wanted to go to one of the smaller poker rooms to play so we headed to Bally's. I didn't think I was ready for poker rooms yet. I won't be until I can shed this conservative image of mine. I'll have to get by taking money from my friends. (In fact, Hai called on this night to play. Too bad I was a few hundred miles away.) So I hit up the blackjack tables, which managed to increase its minimum bet from $5 to $15 in a couple of hours due to the crowds. I pretty much broke even if by breaking even, you mean losing about $50.
And that's about it. The K-I-A managed to bring us back safely and it only took 9 hours straight with just a couple of bathroom breaks and a half-hour lunch.
The haste to return home was due to the need to get back to work. I still had 30 projects to update costs on not to mention updating financial figures for the company and planning the transition for financial reporting on the new company we just swallowed up. I was going to write this on Thursday but I had that Fantastic Four screening to go to. (Good thing it was free.) I've heard good things about Wedding Crashers and I'll be checking that one out on Tuesday.
As tragic as the bombings in London were, here's something odd. New York, Madrid, Moscow, and now London have had one form of terrorist attack or another recently. Now, what were the cities bidding for the Olympic games? New York, Madrid, Moscow, London, and Paris. So you Parisians should be extra vigilant.
Mitch Hedberg, the guy you see to the left, is featured in this week's EW. What the heck took so long? He's been dead for such a long time now. It's a well-done article for sure, but it should've been done already.
So that's it. I leave you with a valedictorian. Every year, the Mercury News profiles valedictorians from the area giving them the chance to share their favorite memories and thank those who helped them along the way. Being the valedictorians they are, they tend to be long-winded in their sentences of remembrances and thanks. But not this one guy from Silver Creek whose blurb went like this:
Favorite Memory: when we went to Great America.
My friends will remember me as: passionate.
The people who have influence me the most are: my parents, teachers, friends.
My motivation all these years was: my goal.
What's next: college.
Yep, sounds like a valedictorian, doesn't it?
So yeah, Saturday morning started out early at 6 am. We rented a minivan from Hertz but when my dad showed up at the rental counter, they refused to give us a minivan, pushing us to get the larger, more gas-guzzling SUV. So my dad goes on a mini-tirade, questioning the value of a car reservation. 15 minutes later, they just happen to find a mini-van in the lot to give us. Bad news? It's a Kia, or as my dad referred to it through the entire trip, a K-I-A. I had no problems with it...ran fine. But at 18 mpg and practically no amenities in the car, I wouldn't recommend it.
The true reason we were down there was for my cousin's wedding. At a few places, the thing was headed toward the brink of a disaster, what with the ceremony next to a very loud pool on a fairly warm day and a tilting wedding cake, but as they say, love conquers all and the reception went very well.
The trip around the block continued with the journey to Las Vegas. One thing I wanna mention is that for some reason, people who drove a Lexus always slowed down a lot. Don't have a clue why. The 4-hour trip took a little longer not only by the slow Lexuses (Lexi?) but also by a suicide attempt at the 91-15 interchange, which closed down all 8 lanes of the merge except for one.
So once we got there, I had a list of things to do for my one day there. It was a short list actually, but they were important. Gotta go see Star Trek. Check. They put in a new ride there involving the Borg. Very cool...it has mechanical seats that poke you and sprinklers above that spray water at you. It's a 4-D ride. What is the 4th dimension? I'm really not sure. Is it the live action stuff? The old Klingon ride is still there too but its starting to look a bit dated.
Then there was the WSOP. As anyone who is anyone knows, the World Series of Poker is going on right now as I write this. I got there before the main event started, but it was still exciting nonetheless. It's at the Rio but it's far away from the casino. My brother and I got a little lost and asked a guard where the room was. All he said was "Follow Jesus." I thought he was being philosophical or something but sure enough, when he pointed in the general direction, there was Chris "Jesus" Ferguson walking back from his dinner break. Walking into the poker room was extraordinary. 220 tables jam-packed with lights above each one...it made it very bright. And oh man, the stars in that room...Negreanu, Brunson (both of them), Forrest, Seed, Lindgren, James Woods, and others. It was pretty cool. The ESPN stage though, seems a bit smaller than I thought it would be. Walking out, I gave a hello to Doyle Brunson who was speeding on his scooter on his way toward the door. He gave a smile and hello but promptly kept on going. I would later learn he was just eliminated from the Omaha tournament he was playing in.
While there, I was actually carded. There's a strict policy that everyone in the room has to be at least 21, but while it's no surprise that I would be, they also checked my brother, who's pushing 30.
When I got back, time to eat. Everyone has said wonderful things about the Bellagio buffet so we ate there. Little did we realize they'd jack up the price by $10 for the holiday weekend. Going in, I grumbled that this better be the best $37 meal I'd ever eat. The crab disappointed me but everything else was decadent. They even had venison and lamb. What kind of buffet serves up that? And of course, I'm a sucker for creme brulee.
Finally, there was the gambling. My brother wanted to go to one of the smaller poker rooms to play so we headed to Bally's. I didn't think I was ready for poker rooms yet. I won't be until I can shed this conservative image of mine. I'll have to get by taking money from my friends. (In fact, Hai called on this night to play. Too bad I was a few hundred miles away.) So I hit up the blackjack tables, which managed to increase its minimum bet from $5 to $15 in a couple of hours due to the crowds. I pretty much broke even if by breaking even, you mean losing about $50.
And that's about it. The K-I-A managed to bring us back safely and it only took 9 hours straight with just a couple of bathroom breaks and a half-hour lunch.
The haste to return home was due to the need to get back to work. I still had 30 projects to update costs on not to mention updating financial figures for the company and planning the transition for financial reporting on the new company we just swallowed up. I was going to write this on Thursday but I had that Fantastic Four screening to go to. (Good thing it was free.) I've heard good things about Wedding Crashers and I'll be checking that one out on Tuesday.
As tragic as the bombings in London were, here's something odd. New York, Madrid, Moscow, and now London have had one form of terrorist attack or another recently. Now, what were the cities bidding for the Olympic games? New York, Madrid, Moscow, London, and Paris. So you Parisians should be extra vigilant.
Mitch Hedberg, the guy you see to the left, is featured in this week's EW. What the heck took so long? He's been dead for such a long time now. It's a well-done article for sure, but it should've been done already.
So that's it. I leave you with a valedictorian. Every year, the Mercury News profiles valedictorians from the area giving them the chance to share their favorite memories and thank those who helped them along the way. Being the valedictorians they are, they tend to be long-winded in their sentences of remembrances and thanks. But not this one guy from Silver Creek whose blurb went like this:
Favorite Memory: when we went to Great America.
My friends will remember me as: passionate.
The people who have influence me the most are: my parents, teachers, friends.
My motivation all these years was: my goal.
What's next: college.
Yep, sounds like a valedictorian, doesn't it?
7/07/2005
Fantastic Four
Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) believes solar winds are the key to human evolution, but to test his hypothesis, he needs to get up to space to test his theory out. To do that, it means reaching out to one of his adversaries in the research business, Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon), a man with the brains, the wealth, and Reed's former girlfriend, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba). On Victor's term, they agree to a deal and the three of them along with Sue's brother Johnny (Chris Evans) and Reed's partner Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) travel to the space station. However, a miscalculation brings the solar wind much earlier to the station than they thought, flooding all of them with radioactive energy. All seems normal when they return to earth but soon realize each has the ability to do the unthinkable. While some uses it for good and others for fun, one uses it for evil (I bet you can figure out which one.)
I'll admit that I've never read the comic book, but if this story was entirely based on the Marvel comic book, I wouldn't understand how it turned into a movie, but here we are. Everyone likes a little turmoil between friends, but "Fantastic Four" stretches the turmoil to the very end, leaving behind a movie with some virtually unknown characters magically working together against a villain who quite suddenly out of nowhere turns into a metal machine with a sith's lightning powers. Not much character development occurs through the film...things just happen and we're supposed to fill in the pieces. To make matters worse, the whole thing seems childish and the script works to show off this childishness whenever possible, whether it's to have a flaming Johnny skiing down a mountain or to see Sue undress to her underwear only to have her invisibility turned off. Successful comic movies like X-Men and Spider-Man show seriousness and respect to the material they are based on. Fantastic Four tries to, but it comes too little, too late in favor of the cheap laugh. 1 star
Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) believes solar winds are the key to human evolution, but to test his hypothesis, he needs to get up to space to test his theory out. To do that, it means reaching out to one of his adversaries in the research business, Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon), a man with the brains, the wealth, and Reed's former girlfriend, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba). On Victor's term, they agree to a deal and the three of them along with Sue's brother Johnny (Chris Evans) and Reed's partner Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) travel to the space station. However, a miscalculation brings the solar wind much earlier to the station than they thought, flooding all of them with radioactive energy. All seems normal when they return to earth but soon realize each has the ability to do the unthinkable. While some uses it for good and others for fun, one uses it for evil (I bet you can figure out which one.)
I'll admit that I've never read the comic book, but if this story was entirely based on the Marvel comic book, I wouldn't understand how it turned into a movie, but here we are. Everyone likes a little turmoil between friends, but "Fantastic Four" stretches the turmoil to the very end, leaving behind a movie with some virtually unknown characters magically working together against a villain who quite suddenly out of nowhere turns into a metal machine with a sith's lightning powers. Not much character development occurs through the film...things just happen and we're supposed to fill in the pieces. To make matters worse, the whole thing seems childish and the script works to show off this childishness whenever possible, whether it's to have a flaming Johnny skiing down a mountain or to see Sue undress to her underwear only to have her invisibility turned off. Successful comic movies like X-Men and Spider-Man show seriousness and respect to the material they are based on. Fantastic Four tries to, but it comes too little, too late in favor of the cheap laugh. 1 star
7/01/2005
This time tomorrow, I'll be in Los Angeles on the first leg of a two-leg trip. Sunday will be spent in Las Vegas while Monday will be the long trip home so that on Tuesday, I can work on the growing stack of papers on my desk. If you're going to be in these places over the weekend, hey, drop me a line and we'll go do something. Probably won't though...I'm almost booked for the weekend.
Now that I'm firmly planted at my job, some people wanted to know about the search that preceded it. Boy, in the three months of searching, it was filled with frustration, anxiety, and false hopes. Just when you feel desperate enough to go to the temp agency, another company calls for an interview only to reject you later. Officially, these companies gave me interviews for business/finance jobs only to brush me aside: Kaplan, Lockheed Martin (2), Quinstreet (2), some mortgage company I forgot the name of (definitely the worst interview of the bunch), National Semiconductor, the California Department of Labor, the Santa Clara County assessor's office, some car rental place, the Federal Reserve (2 phone interviews), and Payment Processing. And of course, countless more e-mails and phone calls. After all that, I was happy to land anywhere and coincidentally, it's down the street from Lockheed.
I'm still a little steamed that at the War of the Worlds screening, the guy who parked in front of me left it touching my car. The least he could do is back it out just a smidgen and create some space. At least he didn't make any dents. It's bad enough that there are already some chips from rocks on the road.
Haven't talked about the Orioles for a little while. A lot has happened, but most importantly, they've fallen behind the Red Sox for the AL East lead. Injuries have certainly taken their toll and the pitching inexperience is showing. But here comes word though that Jason Schmidt or A.J. Burnett may be coming their way. That will help tremendously on a staff with no true pitching ace. As much as you want Sidney Ponson to be that guy, that will never be the case and Ray Miller can only do so much. But the price for such help is pretty high. Julio should have been on his way out a long time ago so I don't mind losing him, but Cabrera and Penn are possibly on the block, which could be devastating since both have so much potential, especially Cabrera who just needs to develop some consistency.
Truthfully, I was supposed to write reviews for Batman Begins and Madagascar before War of the Worlds, but I've been putting it off. I'll write full-blown reviews after the trip (or possibly on the trip since I'm bringing the laptop) but to sum it up in a sentence, Batman Begins is great once you figure out what the heck is going on, which is about halfway through the film, and Madagascar is solid entertainment, but not destined for greatness the way Disney classics and Pixar animations are.
Now that I'm firmly planted at my job, some people wanted to know about the search that preceded it. Boy, in the three months of searching, it was filled with frustration, anxiety, and false hopes. Just when you feel desperate enough to go to the temp agency, another company calls for an interview only to reject you later. Officially, these companies gave me interviews for business/finance jobs only to brush me aside: Kaplan, Lockheed Martin (2), Quinstreet (2), some mortgage company I forgot the name of (definitely the worst interview of the bunch), National Semiconductor, the California Department of Labor, the Santa Clara County assessor's office, some car rental place, the Federal Reserve (2 phone interviews), and Payment Processing. And of course, countless more e-mails and phone calls. After all that, I was happy to land anywhere and coincidentally, it's down the street from Lockheed.
I'm still a little steamed that at the War of the Worlds screening, the guy who parked in front of me left it touching my car. The least he could do is back it out just a smidgen and create some space. At least he didn't make any dents. It's bad enough that there are already some chips from rocks on the road.
Haven't talked about the Orioles for a little while. A lot has happened, but most importantly, they've fallen behind the Red Sox for the AL East lead. Injuries have certainly taken their toll and the pitching inexperience is showing. But here comes word though that Jason Schmidt or A.J. Burnett may be coming their way. That will help tremendously on a staff with no true pitching ace. As much as you want Sidney Ponson to be that guy, that will never be the case and Ray Miller can only do so much. But the price for such help is pretty high. Julio should have been on his way out a long time ago so I don't mind losing him, but Cabrera and Penn are possibly on the block, which could be devastating since both have so much potential, especially Cabrera who just needs to develop some consistency.
Truthfully, I was supposed to write reviews for Batman Begins and Madagascar before War of the Worlds, but I've been putting it off. I'll write full-blown reviews after the trip (or possibly on the trip since I'm bringing the laptop) but to sum it up in a sentence, Batman Begins is great once you figure out what the heck is going on, which is about halfway through the film, and Madagascar is solid entertainment, but not destined for greatness the way Disney classics and Pixar animations are.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
