Totally Vague Reviews

Movie: Source Code

2011-06-29T10:47:00.001-05:00

By the same guy who made Moon, which was the best movie of the past 5 years, easily. This one is also good. Solid science fiction! Recommend double plus!

Life Fantastic- Man Man

2011-05-05T00:07:00.000-05:00

Thats the title of their fourth studio album which I am eagerly awaiting to come out. This time around the band has brought in a producer by the name of Mike Mogis which has seemed to pay off in spades for the band. They seem more focused but still retain their wacky ideas, just more elegant. Recommend: yes, the fu manchu is there just with a trim and elegance.

Movie: Valhalla Rising

2010-08-04T21:54:00.003-05:00

this movie was really weird. it had a good bit of bloody violence, lots of confusion, and a completely mute main character whose purpose and history are never explained. the characters, a bunch of vikings, get on a boat and get lost in the fog, and wind up somewhere in canada, i guess, where basically they all die. there's some impressionistic artsy editing, and red-tinged flash-forwards, and the music is all ominous and noisy.

i liked it! recommend!

Music: Man Man

2010-05-01T22:42:00.002-05:00

MusicSix Demon Bag album. since the good Mr. Allen dropped this band into my lap i was bitten. the best way i can think of their sound is a well put together lunacy, doo whopish madness, and jazzy as hell.

Recommendations- if you love music that will induce happiness, rump shaking, and spontaneous instrument pick up then give them a listen. Also i got their other albums as well and highly recommend too.

TV Show: Life On Mars

2010-03-22T19:40:00.002-05:00

NOTE: This review is for the BBC show; there was an American version, which flopped after 1 season and is supposed to be fookin' terrible.

Quotes from show:

"You have amnesia, Sam."

"I'm in a coma, Frank."

Recommend?

Yes, I do! Unless I'm in a coma, in which case, my future sensibilities my not recommend this. Unless I'm not in a coma, and it really is 1973...in which case, maybe I recommend it. Unless I have amnesia. But what if I'm a time traveler?

Book: "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

2010-03-11T22:50:00.002-06:00

Ok, when someone describes this book to you, you think, "That's totally a rip-off of Battle Royale with a dash of The Long Walk thrown in." And then you read the book, and it kind of is like Battle Royale with a dash of The Long Walk. But it's totally exciting, is well-written, and has good characters.

Recommend? I just read the sequel and am now eagerly awaiting the final book!

80's flash backs!

2010-03-03T20:08:00.000-06:00

well as much as id like to not admit it our generation is now the target demographic for trendy retro pop culture. i found out a few days ago they are remaking the old excalibur(same director, WTF) movie along with red sonjia(rose mcgowen will be sonjia, sexy machine gun leg and all), nightmare on elmstreet( with the actor who played Rorschach and stared in the bad news bears movie), and i know there's something else that is in the remake but totally forgot. My feelings are not so hot on these, i kinda feel why remake a great or b- movie. if it was a classic don't mess it up and if it was crap the first time just leave it buried. anywho that's my two cents leave a post and let me know your thoughts or if you know of any remakes. throw them out there.
Clash of the titans is the one remake that i know is soon to be released. im a fan of the classic, but i gotta say the monsters i hope they are tied in kinda better to the story cause i watched it recently and they just felt like a final fantasy encounter. like whoa there's a monster lets fight! sorry to ramble.

Book : Bram Stoker's Dracula

2010-02-27T11:57:00.004-06:00

I was supposed to read this book in high school, but I didn't. 15 years later, however, I found the novel to be a total treat. I read it at night, in the dark, on my Kindle, with a spooky blue LED book light as illumination, and the experience was complete.

Recommend? Yeah, after 100 years or so, it's one of the spookier stories I've read in a long time. Plus, everyone in the story is so polite!

Movie : Paul Blart Mall Cop

2010-02-27T11:54:00.001-06:00

Why did I think this was going to be a good movie? I could have sworn someone, or some review, said that this was a good movie? How were my perceptions so off on this one?

Recommend? The best part was that it was barely over 90 minutes, for those of you who will sit through an entire movie just to see if there is at least one good part before the end, like you could have sworn the reviews said there should be.

Movie : There Will Be Blood

2010-01-31T10:26:00.002-06:00

This movie isn't big on conversation, but it's very intriguing. Except, I felt totally unsatisfied at the end.

Addition: having slept on it, I perhaps feel my satisfaction filled.

Recommend? I honestly don't know.

Movie : Drag Me to Hell

2009-12-27T14:07:00.002-06:00

I don't think I've seen more shots of blood, bugs, vomit, embalming fluid, drool, or mucus splashes to the face in my life.

Recommend? Why, of course I do!

Movie : Avatar in IMAX 3D

2009-12-20T18:01:00.002-06:00

While no T2, I am glad James Cameron is back.

Recommend? Yes! Worth the $36 (including $6 Dr. Pepper).

Movie: The Fantastic Mr. Fox

2009-12-07T21:30:00.002-06:00

Wes Anderson directs a stop-motion movie based on the Raold Dahl book. Most of the voices are standard Wes Anderson actors, doing standard low-key, deadpan Wes Anderson acting. Hmmph.

Recommend? It's Fantastic! Best Wes Anderson Movie since Rushmore!

Movie: New Moon (The Tw1l1ght S@g@!!!!!1!)

2009-12-07T21:25:00.002-06:00

Maggie said everyone looked constipated for two hours. And she was the one who wanted to see it.

Recommend? There's a cool Thom Yorke song in the movie, and the actress playing Alice is pretty cute, but I guess you can listen to the song on youtube ("hearing damage") while browsing pictures of cute girls, so, you know...

Video Game: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

2009-11-18T00:35:00.002-06:00

Mario. 2-D. Old School. Up to 4 players at the same time? I can pick up other people and throw them or bounce off their heads? I think I dreamed of this game in 1993!

Recommend? Me and Maggie played through world one as a (slightly combative, bickering) team..."You made me fall in the hole!" "You took my fire flower!" "Wait for me!" Then we beat one of the Koopa Kids. Tomorrow, the desert world!

Opera : Fall of the House of Usher

2009-11-11T22:32:00.003-06:00

This was my very first opera. At first I thought it was going to be pretty neat, since there was a guy acting all agonizing over a letter. And then projectors started up, and all kinds of flashing computer animated pillars and trees and writhing women behind doors showed up on the stage. And then after thirty minutes of this I realized that there wasn't a set built for this opera, and the set was supposed to be in my imagination, and aided by the random flashing images. I think there were about twelve lines of lyrics throughout the whole thing, and mostly a screaming woman and then more flashing images.

Recommend? I left at intermission....

Book: The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown

2009-11-04T16:23:00.004-06:00

Hey Dan Brown, I have some symbol trivia for you. What comes next in this list of symbols:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, ???

Did you guess 'H'?? Did you guess 'H' because, when you go in an order that everyone knows, you can easily predict what comes next? Do you see where I am going Dan Brown?? Can you read between these lines and see where I am going Dan Brown?!?!?

Recommend? No. Decipher this code, Dan Brown: "F.U."

Movie: Paranormal Activities

2009-11-03T22:12:00.002-06:00

It's like the Blair Witch Project! And you think "whoa, I just know this is going to get really creepy" and then you think it does... but then it's over. But you really do think it does!!!

Recommend: I think on dvd when you are all alone and maybe a little drunk....

Movie: District 9

2009-08-21T18:16:00.001-05:00

A bureaucrat is in charge of relocating an alien slum, and gets himself in some trouble. There are crazy gun battles, some vomiting, and a great robot battle suit.

Recommend: Highly!

Movie: Moon

2009-07-19T09:31:00.001-05:00

Guy working on moon has an accident, and wakes up to find he's not the only one of himself!

Recommend: Best movie of 2009, no contest!

Star Trek

2009-05-17T22:25:00.004-05:00

It was loud, and fast, and yet even while watching it I could tell that it didn't make a lot of sense. Afterwords, it makes less sense. The characters were pretty good, but the stuff they did, and especially the stuff they said, was kind of dumb. The alternate universe device was well-applied. Old Spock did alright but pronounced a couple of the stupider plot points. Supernovas destroying galaxies? Black holes sucking up supernovas like vacuum cleaners?

Recommend: I understand why it had to be done. Maybe the next one will have a little bit of "science fiction" worked into it, and a scene or two of characters talking about something other than their feelings. Recommend.

Coffee : Southern Comfort Blend

2009-05-01T09:05:00.002-05:00

This was our first of 16 speciality coffees in a coffee sampler pack. It sounds like a winner, right? It's in a bright red bag and has the Southern Comfort quality logo! The package says it's the perfect coffee to add some Southern Comfort.

Well, let me tell you this, folks: Southern Comfort smells like cat piss, has the sour aftertaste of generic Fruity Pebbles, and just when you think you have forgotten the horrible experience, an hour later when you having your mid-morning tinkle, the generous Southern Comfort aroma comes back to slap you in the face!

Recommend? No. Not for friends, not for enemies. I recommend this to NO ONE.

TV Series : 24 Season 3

2009-04-04T09:44:00.003-05:00

I've never watched a season of 24 until finding this DVD set and watching it over a few days. It was intense, and I have found in just this one season that there are special rules in 24 that don't apply anywhere else.

10.) The President, CTU agents, their friends and families, all look fantastic and alert at the end of a 24 hour day (although maybe a bit more bloody).

9.) If you are a main character, you are likely to die.

8.) If you are about to shoot a main character, you are likely to be shot in the nick of time by someone unexpected.

7.) Civilians and terrorists tend to drive the same make of car.

6.) If you make Jack swear to protect you, you've just entered the last 60 minutes of your life.

5.) If you don't think Jack will do it, he will.

4.) If you look like a good guy, you are probably a bad guy.

3.) If you look like a bad guy, you are probably just a frustrated CTU agent.

2.) Travel between cities and countries takes about 30 minutes, regardless of locations.

1.) If Jack wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead.

Recommend? Yes! Lots of intensity. I suggesting taking a break once in awhile to do some deep breathing exercises and/or yoga.

Movie : My Bloody Valentine

2009-01-17T16:23:00.002-06:00

Just got back from watching My Bloody Valentine. In 3D!!!

Wow, let me just say that film censors are relaxing quite a bit! This movie was a terrific B slasher flick. But instead of slashing, the weapon of choice is a miner's pick axe.

There is a paper-thin plot. There is a fifteen-minute full body nude scene that isn't sexy in the slightest. Lots of corny 3D shots where the pick axe comes right out of the screen.

Recommend? Oh gosh, this was a horrible, horrible movie. Go for it!

Book : Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

2009-01-04T15:00:00.003-06:00

This is the first Vonnegut novel I have read. I enjoyed it very much. It is also my first e-book, read on an Amazon Kindle. It was a very nice experience.

It's a story about World War Two, and time travel, and aliens, and death. So it goes.

Recommend: I do.

Movie : The Notebook

2008-11-10T07:30:00.003-06:00

I thought this was supposed to be this great Award-Winning romance movie. Little did I know the majority of its awards were TEEN CHOICE AWARDS!!!

This movie is painfully obvious in everything it does. Like, it's a romance story because that's what it reads on the back of the box. I like Noah's beard, but that's about it.

Recommend? Only if you are 13 to 19, apparently.

Movie : 1408

2008-10-30T08:57:00.003-05:00

This movie got some good reviews somewhere, but THIS AINT ONE OF THEM!

I just didn't find the scary in this scary movie. I DID like the ending, but what can you say about a movie when the only thing you liked is the ending?

I guess I can try to summarize the movie for everyone. There was this room that made some cracks in the walls, and then the pictures sometimes were crooked, and sometimes I Love Lucy walked through the room and jumped out a window, and then sometimes the room was Freezy, and sometimes the telephone rang... I mean basically it's like any of our old college apartments.

The best thing about this movie, besides I guess an ending I liked, was that Samual L. Jackson was in the movie for five minutes. At the beginning of the movie he's all like "I'm telling you don't go in room 1408?? Don't be a bitch! You gonna get killed!" and then at the end of the movie he smiles and smokes a cigar and says to the camera "You see, Sammy J always knows what he's muthafuckin' talking about."

Recommend? Don't watch this unless it's in the background and you are drinking and playing board games with neighbors.

Movie : Halloween (Rob Zombie's remake)

2008-10-29T14:37:00.002-05:00

I haven't seen the original Halloween, or Halloween II: Escape from Halloween, or Halloween III: Revenge of the Halloweens, or Halloween IV: It's That Time Again, or Halloween V: Halloween Ressurection, or Halloween VI: Freddy vs. Halloween, or Halloween VII: Halloween's in Queens, or Halloween VIII: The Nightmare of Jason, or Halloween IX: Halloween at 30,000 Ft, or even the highly touted Halloween X: Halloween Galaxy..."in space no one can Trick or Treat"... so I was excited to get to finally learn what all this Halloween business was about.

The movie starts with a young Halloween, and the little Halloween kid is spooky! Then it moves to what I believe is the modern-day Halloween, and the big Halloween man is not AS spooky as the kid, but spooky enough. I was very pleased with this film. It had a good amount of gore, a basic but good story, and was lacking the "cheese" that soooo many horror films load up on. Throw in many topless girls getting killed, and I have to say this movie makes a perfect Halloween rental.

Recommend? Yes. Much more enjoyable than I expected.

Movie : Prom Night

2008-10-29T14:32:00.003-05:00

Total snooze fest.

"Here let me stab you. You hear that? That sound like someone is punching a bag of Doritos? That is me stabbing you in the stomach. That crinkling noise like a chips bag and that crunching like breaking potato chips is the sound of your intestines being stabbed. Pretty gruesome, huh?"

"Oh, hey, do you like how I'm going to kill every person in this movie by stabbing them repeatedly in the guts? I am the world's first gut-stab-only killer. Pretty awesome huh? By the way, anyone thinking of a big full bag of potato chips right about now? I am. I get this way everytime I stab prom kids in the guts."

Recommend? A solid No on this one folks. This movie isn't even bad in a GOOD way. Ugh.

Movie : Oldboy

2008-08-07T18:20:00.004-05:00

I was told this was a revenge flick. And I was told it would probably make me uncomfortable.

It was, and it did. But neither in the ways I was expecting. A double-decker awkward surprise!

Recommend: You will regret NOT seeing it, but then maybe regret seeing it. What can I say?

Movie: Oldboy

2008-08-07T18:15:00.003-05:00

When "The Strangers" came out this year, my friend told me that if I like disturbing movies, then I had to rent "Oldboy".

The word "disturbing" doesn't quite cover the scope of what happened in this film. The main character is given 5 days to unravel a 15+ year mystery. (She was feisty, but not even on her best days could Jessica Fletcher meet this deadline!) During his journey, the following words apply: "Disturbing", "Nightmarish", "Depraved", "Freakin' Bizarre", "Who the Heck Wrote This?????".

(Note: Here's your newest poster's first attempt to write a vague review. Allow me to say that I couldn't have picked a better movie to be vague about. To give more info would reveal too much.)

Recommend: Um, no. I would never recommend this to another person. In fact, the "friend" that recommended this is now dead to me. But, if you like watching women on the toilet, you should watch this film. In the privacy of your own home. With the blinds shut.

Movie: From Beijing With Love

2008-08-02T20:20:00.004-05:00

The topic of Steven Chow has come up recently, and less recently. Everyone knows Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer, but Steven Chow has made something like 50 movies! Most of them are Hong Kong pictures, without the big special effects, and more Chinese sensibility, so they haven't caught on in the West.

I will recommend my favorite! "From Beijing With Love" is the title you might be able to find it under. The original title is 国产凌凌漆: "Homemade 007". It's the Steven Chow James Bond movie!

It's pretty funny, and very exciting.

Recommend: Here is a clip. Imagine how funny it is if you can find it with subtitles! I have a copy if anyone wants one...

Magazines : Girls and Corpses

2008-07-31T15:34:00.004-05:00

Please, do not ask me how I came across this. I think it's fake. I'm 99.5% sure that this is fake. I mean, the magazine is real. It's very real. But I think the content is fake. I mean, I think it is fake. I want it to be fake. I want it VERY BADLY to be fake. And I think it's fake.

But... there is 0.5% of me... nah, surely it's fake! Surely?

Recommend? Help me!

Candy : Chocolate Skittles

2008-07-31T15:28:00.002-05:00

More like Barfolate Skittles. Can I get some more chemically chocolate flavor, por favor???

Recommend: Only if you are in a serious candy pinch.

Movie : Dark Knight

2008-07-31T09:17:00.003-05:00

I heard this movie was supposed to be good, but it was better than I even expected. And since they got rid of Mrs. Tom Cruise, EVERY actor... EVERY character was very well done. I've been thinking about the Joker all last night and all day today actually. That guy has gotten to me.

Recommend? Yes. I need to see it again.

Movie : Brokeback Mountain

2008-07-14T14:31:00.002-05:00

This movie will make even the straightest of dudes wish, even for just a moment, that they could wrassle' one of their buddies.

Recommend? Deep down inside don't we all want a strong pair of arms to hold us through the night???

Movie : Wall-E

2008-07-09T09:32:00.002-05:00

How can a movie where 95% of the dialog is:

"Eeeeeee-vah!"

"Eeeeeeeeeeee-vah!"

"Wahhhhhh-LEEE!"

"Eeeeeeee-vah!"

...be so damn good? This is how.

Recommend? YES. The best the best the best the best the best.

Movie: Indiana Jones 4

2008-06-02T21:16:00.004-05:00

The first hour had Indiana Jones in america, fighting russians in a secret warehouse and escaping from an atom bomb test. The very best part of the movie was Indiana Jones climbing a hillside with a towering mushroom cloud burning in the distance. At some point a whole team of characters including Indiana Jones and his stunt double went to south america to search for aliens, and crystal skulls or something.

Recommend: I totally recommend the first hour, the remainder is optional.

TV show: Naruto

2008-04-11T15:02:00.003-05:00

It's a great show! I really like it. Part of the fun is searching for episodes on Youtube. It's full of lots of fighting and backstories and people with different powers and things. I'll bet there are lots of toys and cardgames and things based on it. It is, in my opinion, the best cartoon I've ever watched.

Recommend: Yes! Japanese talking with english subtitles is best, followed by English talking which is usually good. Sometimes you have to settle for japanese talking with portuguese subtitles but I took spanish in high school so it's alright.

Movie : Next

2008-03-31T09:34:00.002-05:00

A Nicholas Cage movie that somehow slipped past me?!? My brother told me this: "You can tell if a Nicholas Cage movie is good or not by the amount of his hair. If he is bald, it's a good movie. If he has long hair, it sucks. But 'Next' breaks that trend."

I agree! Cage has long hair, and this is still a decent movie! But, I also liked Con Air. So...

Recommend? Ha! If you liked Con Air!

Movie : White Noise

2008-03-31T09:30:00.003-05:00

I was told this was a scary movie, but the scariest part was the sounds the opening menu of the DVD made while it was looping around and I was getting my dogs settled for bed. The movie is about ghosts talking through your radio static, or something to that effect... I didn't quite understand the ending. Michael Keyton made that weird smile-face he did in his first Batman movie!

Recommend? Maybe. It was more interesting than a B-grade horror.

TV Show : Battlestar Galactica

2008-03-29T21:13:00.002-05:00

I just thought: "Have I recommended this show to anyone? Do my friends watch this show?" I don't know the answers to these questions. SO...a review: is this the best show ever? I don't know. But it's in the top five, for sure.

Recommend? Hell yes. It rules. Hard. If you haven't watched it, get season one and go to town. Seriously. Better than Star Trek. Better than...well, most things. If you don't watch it, you're oviously a frakkin' Cylon.

Movie: Idiocracy

2008-01-23T17:12:00.000-06:00

I saw the last half of this a couple of months ago, and thought it was pretty funny. Really funny, actually. I wondered, what is this movie, and why have I never heard of it? I thought I had heard of everything. It's a sci-fi movie by Mike Judge!

Anyway, now I find that somebody's got the whole movie up on Youtube, and I watched it for MLK day. My suspicions were confirmed.

Recommend: Best movie of the decade!

Movie : Cloverfield

2008-01-20T15:35:00.000-06:00

I will copy/paste the first line of a junk mail in my spam box today:

"In 2008, make sure as what you have hidden in your pants is the size of monster."

Whoa.

First time I can remember everyone leaving the theater in totally silence when the movie ended.

Whoa.

Recommend: Yeah, it was fun and refreshing and not what I expected.

Game : Super Mario Galaxy.

2007-11-18T11:11:00.000-06:00

I can't think of a reason why you wouldn't buy this game other than if you don't own a Wii. Really, the other Wii games are neat, but this is the game. The graphics are way better than the other Wii games, and the controls are tight as hell. The Wii comes into its own now! Seriously.

Recommend? Hells yes, beats the pants off of Mario Sunshine. Haven't had this much Mario fun since 64!

Movie: Green Snake

2007-10-15T16:28:00.000-05:00

Excellent Hong Kong mystical fairy tale kung fu type movie by someone whose name I have heard but know nothing: Tsui Hark. There are snakes pretending to be people, and a super powered stuck up buddhist monk who flies around defeating monsters and shouting 'Bo Ye Ba La Hung!' or something like that, really fast, exploding his enemies and causing his cloak to grow very large.

Recommend: Yes, yes.

Food: Borscht

2007-09-12T23:37:00.001-05:00

I don't think it was exactly borscht. I think I cut the pieces of beet too big, and was supposed to shred them. Anyway, I wanted to make pickled beets, that's why we bought the beets, but then sort of chickened out what with the complexity. So made borscht, kind of.

Recommend: It has made everything neon purple. Everything. It's been three days.

Food: Borscht

2007-09-12T23:37:00.000-05:00

Movie: Howard the duck

2007-08-03T06:53:00.000-05:00

I recently re watched this glorious cinematic movie remembering the fondness i had for it as a kid. It should have remained buried, there were so many things i could rant on about it but that would give the movie even more time than it deserves. Don't get me wrong it was enjoyable on some level but that escapes me right now.
On some positive note Tim Robbins was in the movie along with Lea Thompson and Jeffrey Jones.
So i say watch it if you are bored and have nothing else to do on a rainy saturday morning and want to turn off the old noodle.

Movie : Harry Potter 5 in IMAX 3D

2007-07-23T11:55:00.000-05:00

I had the fortune to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on an IMAX screen, and the last 20 minutes or so were in 3D. The movie was pretty good, considering they had to cut about 85% of the book out to make it fit. It's a shame that Sirius, Lupin, Ron, Hermione, Snape, Malfoy, etc. didn't have much screen time at all.

Here's my impression of Harry Potter in this movie:

"Grrrr. Grunt." *Kicks Something* "Grrrr."

But I don't think I gave too much away.

Recommend? Yes! Especially in IMAX 3D. It made me smile and bounce my legs.

Movie : Alien

2007-07-18T07:29:00.000-05:00

Gosh, I hadn't seen this movie until last night. Half a century old and still pretty good! There were tense moments. And moments I thought afterwards "I have seen this parodied 100 times over the course of my life and this is where it came from." It was like watching the President Lincoln assassination!

Recommend? Yes, very much! But it was nothing like watching the President Lincoln assassination.

Movie : Transformers

2007-07-09T10:17:00.000-05:00

The pros: cool robots, I liked the kid, Jazz danced like in the cartoons.

The cons: lame political humor, shakey-cam, and what was up with the hacker people in the middle of the film that just disappear from the movie in the end?

And... um, it's silly, but I want a beat-up yellow classic Camaro now.

Recommend? Yeah, it's fun.

Movie : Flightplan

2007-07-06T02:57:00.000-05:00

Whoa, a surprisingly good movie! Jodie Foster's daughter disappears on a big airplane, but maybe she's imaginary! A little bit of corniness, maybe a tad overacting at parts, but I imagined this movie would be a bore, and it wasn't.

Recommend? Yeah, surprisingly I do! Don't let excruciating mommy facial expressions through you off though.

Movie : Lord of War

2007-07-05T09:35:00.001-05:00

A movie about an illegal arms dealer. A GOOD illegal arms dealer. Good as in he's good at it.

Recommend? Well, I'm sure everyone can guess how a movie about an illegal arms dealer will end, but this one kinda tricked me. It's a pretty good movie.

Movie: Transformers

2007-07-04T09:07:00.001-05:00

I went to see the Transformers movie. I went expecting it to be terrible, and so I was actually not too let down when it turned out to be kind of funny and to have robot fights. There were too many silly human plotlines that had no point. The US Army was prominently and beautifully featured even though it did absolutely nothing in the context of the movie. It is very clear to me that I should join the Army and buy a Chevrolet.

Recommend: The robots looked excellent, and so were the transformings. There were almost no Transformer conversations; maybe a total of 45 seconds of Transformers talking to Transformers. This means that there were no arguments between Starscream and Megatron; the Decepticons were pretty scary, but when they all said "Hail Megatron" in unison, it was in some foreign Transformers language, which is too bad.

Movie : The Prestige

2007-06-27T14:14:00.000-05:00

It's a decent movie about dueling magicians. It's funny how they keep thwarting each other, but it may not have meant to be funny. I like how the surprise goons of the movie are Thomas Edison's men. Take that, Tesla!

Recommend? It's a good one to watch at least once.

Movie : An Inconvenient Truth

2007-06-13T03:43:00.001-05:00

The scariest movie I've seen this summer. I'm glad Mr. Al Gore sees an optimistic future, because I sure don't. But I DO recycle pretty hardcore. And this movie made me turn off my air conditioning. Yikes.

Recommend? If there is one movie you watch before global warming ends the world, I guess this is the one that will make you say "doh."

Er, please recycle. And plant a tree.

The Avett Brothers!!!

2007-06-08T06:42:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon i watched one of the most enjoyable concerts that i've been to in a while. i only got to catch the opening act called the mad tea party on their last song which was pretty good. their band consisted of a upright bass player who doubled as a kick drum player a ukulele and guitar player also. when the avett bros came on they opened with a tune off of their new album which was really good. the thing that really amazed me was that the banjo player was using a kick drum an the guitar player was using a cymbal, which was blended very natural into the performance. during the show their were parts where i was feeling like i was attending a wild punk rock show ( the banjo player stood on the kick drum). also there were parts were they used their instruments as percussion in very energetic break downs.
so over all if you like bands that put on one hell of a fun show then remove thy asses from the couch and go watch them if they come around your town.

Movie : Babel

2007-06-05T10:12:00.000-05:00

This is a rough movie and it gave me a stress headache. It is the slightly interlocking story of an American family, a Mexican family, a Moroccan family, and a Japanese family. The Japanese school girl shows all of her naughty parts many times, but in ways that will make you uncomfortable. The Moroccan little boys do naughty things that will make you uncomfortable. The American couple will have a kiss that makes you feel very uncomfortable. And the Mexicans are pretty cool.

Recommend? Yes, but please have some aspirin nearby for when it is over.

TV Show : The Office, Season One (American)

2007-05-30T14:51:00.001-05:00

I bought the first season of The Office, and it was funny. There were many moments that made me cringe and feel uncomfortable, and if a TV show can do that to you, it's got something, right?

Recommend? I do, but at $19 for just six episodes, the pricing is a bit high.

Movie : Night at the Museum

2007-05-29T22:11:00.000-05:00

Arg, I wanted to like this movie, but it was way to predictable. It was like a Ben Stiller movie except Ben Stiller didn't get to write the script, so every line seemed phony, and every joke seemed thin. And the effects didn't even look that great on my little tiny TV.

Recommend? Well, I guess it's a kids movie.

Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean 3

2007-05-28T09:25:00.000-05:00

I saw the first one, and it was pretty entertaining. I didn't even know there was a second one, but I saw the third one. It was pretty confusing, and very long. Some of it just didn't make any sense at all. There was lots of fighting and sailing and mystical stuff.

Recommend: If you have 2.5 hours free and aren't too picky, why not?

Movie : Spiderman 3

2007-05-27T19:08:00.000-05:00

It wasn't a bad summer movie, but it lacked the spark of one and two. I liked sandman though.

Recommend? I think this is the 200th review! Sweet!

TV Show : Battlestar Galactica (the new one)

2007-05-01T21:00:00.000-05:00

This so is so frakkin' sweet I could frak myself. So frak off.

Recommend? If you don't start watching the first DVD like now, you're totally frakked.

Movie : 300

2007-04-27T10:14:00.000-05:00

Does anyone come here anymore?

Recommend: THIS ... IS ... TOTALLY VAGUE REVIEWS!!!!!!

...and yes.

Cookie: Peanut Butter Cookie

2007-02-20T22:36:00.000-06:00

So, over the past year I've gotten to introduce Jingping to the magic of cookie making. We've done chocolate chip, macaroons, oatmeal cookies, all the basics. But we still hadn't made peanut butter cookies! So we made some, Sunday night, as a final New Year's gesture. Man, it was a tiny recipe, only like 18 cookies in the end! I.. um, we, ate almost half of them that night, and we took the rest to our respective labs to... hm... share... with others.

Recommend: Between chewy and crunchy, peanut buttery, not too sweet, a bit salty: an excellent cookie. Good with lukewarm office coffee.

Movie : The DaVinci Code

2007-02-16T16:57:00.000-06:00

This movie stars Tom Hanks, and I had a little bit of trouble identifying him as a professor and not an island outcast with HIV. The beginning of the movie followed the book pretty closely, but right about the time they were going to break out of the art museum, my head started really hurting and so I went to go lie down and I kinda fell asleep during the middle part. But I kinda recall some action noises and maybe a rise in the tempo of the music? And then at the end they strayed from the book and I thought it was a little bit corny, but maybe it fit the middle part of the movie?

Recommend: I got more out of the book.

Movie : Little Miss Sunshine

2007-02-16T16:55:00.000-06:00

The ending definitely wasn't expected. But I liked this movie in the same kind of way I liked Life Aquatic.

Recommend? If you liked Life Aquatic, maybe you'll find similar enjoyment here?

TV show: LEXX

2007-02-16T14:52:00.000-06:00

LEXX is excellent! I've been working in episodes in between... working... here in the lab. Someone at YouTube put all the episodes on in 10 minute chunks. I'm halfway through the second season. It's all very funny and very weird.

Recommend: Of course! I don't know what else to say. Somebody has to review something.

Scientist: Meteorologist

2007-02-08T16:07:00.000-06:00

If a meteorologist, or a team of them, or a TV network full of them, or a government agency staffed with them, tells you that there will be two days with a 90-100% chance of snow with accumulations up to maybe 3 or 4 inches by the end of the second night, what they really mean is that there will be about 45 minutes total of snow with an accumulation of about .35 inches by the end of the first afternoon. This is because they are experts.

Recommend: No! Stop checking the weather reports. You will only be disappointed. It will only be cold outside, and snow will be a mysterious surprise.

Bananas!!!!

2006-12-31T01:40:00.000-06:00

Bananas are good i really like them they are good for a quick breakfast an snack ....um potassium is good me like yes!!! Recommend for many things i do...like splits an what ever...thanks an good night all!!!

Book : The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

2006-12-27T15:04:00.000-06:00

I finally got around to reading this thing. It was pretty good. I would describe the story as a Discovery Channel special on Mary Magdalene wrapped in a cute mystery. It wasn't as action-packed as I was told it might be, and there were plenty of sappy cliche parts, but overall it was a good read.

Recommend? I give this story 9 gold disciples!

Movie : A Scanner Darkly

2006-12-27T10:18:00.000-06:00

I like Keanu Reeves. And this movie is funny. It wasn't how I thought it would be!

Recommend? I do, I do.

Templates : This Template

2006-12-11T20:35:00.000-06:00

Wow, Blogger has offered us new customation in our blogs, and I have totally messed things up here! Check out the horrid color scheme! The unfamiliar placement of links! Even the dropped links I can't remember!

Recommend! You can now add labels for easier searching or something??

Food : Ice Cream

2006-12-06T22:19:00.000-06:00

It is cold, and sweet, and milky. It can have lots of stuff mixed into it, or just a single flavor. It can be in a cup, or a bucket, or an edible cone. You can eat it or wipe it all over your car windshield. My favorite is chocolate with stuff in it, like nuts or marshmallows, or caramel. Plain chocolate is good too. I also like neopolitan ice cream, though I haven't had it in a long time, and I still...

Recommend: When that time, I had something, I think sorbet, not ice cream but still good it was, though sometimes...

Creamer : Coffee-mate Vanilla Chai Spice

2006-11-27T11:39:00.000-06:00

I don't know what Chai Spice is, but office coffee is horrible without something to flavor it, so I picked up a container of Vanilla Chai Spice coffee creamer because the packaging was maroon.

Recommend? My crappy office coffee now tastes like Christmas!!!

Movie : Casino Royale

2006-11-27T11:33:00.000-06:00

The first time I saw this movie in the theater was with Greg. The new Bond sure made the older Bonds seem like sissies. The second time I saw this movie in the theater was with James. After the second viewing, the new Bond was the best Bond. It will be hard to ever watch Roger Moore again. Also, the best Bond line ever exists within this movie.

Recommend? I like a zero-gatchet Bond.

Movie : The new James Bond movie

2006-11-26T13:44:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Jingping and I watched Steven Chow's version of a James Bond movie. It was pretty funny. He used some sort of superpowered butcher knife instead of a gun, and when it got violent, there was blood everywhere. It was excellent. Last night, on the advice of a friend, we went to see the new James Bond movie at the theater. We got there like 20 minutes early, and so we watched the first 20 minutes of Borat before going into the assigned Bond theater.

Recommend: I recommend that last night we stayed in the Borat theater.

Movie : Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny

2006-11-24T18:19:00.000-06:00

JB turns off the lasers with his bone and the D defeat the devil in a rock duel at the end.

Recommend? Well, I just spoiled the movie for you to save you the time watching it. See how I'm your friend?

Quest : Trying to get a Wii in Austin (without camping out.)

2006-11-19T12:27:00.000-06:00

This quest sucks. We were two away from getting a Wii in two different lines. We should have gotten up before six o'clock, or we should have gone to that Best Buy way out in Lakeway. Well, guess there's always later this month when more come in...

Recommend? I recommend you pre-order.

Game : Final Fantasy XII (the first ten hours)

2006-11-06T13:01:00.000-06:00

As far as the first ten hours go, this is the best final fantasy game I have played in many years. I mean, I don't think the real plot has even started yet, people keep entering my party and leaving it, and I have a couple of monsters I need to track down and kill for cash. Sweet.

Recommend? Final Fantasy made by the Final Fantasy Tactics people! Rule!

Weird Al's New Album: Track 4, I'll Sue Ya

2006-10-26T08:58:00.000-05:00

This is the worst song on the album. It's supposed to be a sort of general parody of Rage Against the Machine, which is a band that broke up like 6 years ago. It just doesn't work. Now, Al's standard way to crank out a song is just to sing a list of weird statements about whatever the topic of the song is, then sing a chorus, then sing another list of weird statements. Sometimes this works, like with the White and Nerdy song. In that one, each line is almost completely unrelated to each other line, except for being related to nerdiness in some way. But at least it's funny, and your typical nerd can find a few things to relate to in that list. In this song, he just lists off names of big corporations, like Taco Bell, Dell Computers, and Delta Airlines, and then says he going to sue them for something lame.

Recommend: The whole song isn't really sung, so much as shouted, in a very poor approximation of the Rage Against the Machine guy's much more skilled shouting. "I feel guilty for giving a bad review".

Weird Al's New Album: Track 9, Do I Creep You Out

2006-10-13T14:36:00.000-05:00

At first, I didn't really listen to this song. It's a parody of an American Idol type song, and the subject matter is just another Weird Al psychopathic stalker thing, so I thought it just wouldn't do much for me, you know? Well, the other day I was listening through all the tracks while doing some computer thing here in the lab, and I heard Al sing, "every time I shake your hand now, I wanna put your fingers in my mouth", and I decided that I had been wrong, and this was in fact a great song after all. I have now listened much more closely, and noticed that he tries to imitate all the stupid Christina Aguilera vocal styling that those American Idol types like to do. Wow!

Recommond: "I think so!"

Weird Al's New Album: Track 1, White and Nerdy

2006-10-11T20:25:00.000-05:00

Somebody has to review something. I'm going to review each song on Weird Al's new album, Straight Outta Lynwood, until somebody stops me. Anyway, White and Nerdy is a rap song, about what a cool guy the singer is, bragging about his X-men comics and how he has the Holy Grail memorized, etc. It's based on a song called Ridin', which I've never heard. Actually, I had never heard any of the songs that the parodies are based on, or any of the songs in the new polka medley. This is a sign of how cool I am.

Recommend: "Of course!".

Food: This peanut butter sandwich right here in front of me

2006-10-06T11:06:00.000-05:00

I've already eaten half of it, and I can say that it's pretty good. It's filled with Kroger brand creamy peanut butter, and the bread is rye with little caraway seeds. I really like caraway seeds, anything that tastes a little like licorice, I like it.

Recommend: I eat one every day!

Object: My cell phone

2006-10-02T11:38:00.000-05:00

My cellphone is made by Samsung, which is a Korean company. From what I hear, the Koreans are pretty proud of Samsung, what with it selling so many fancy things everywhere. Mainly I use my phone for talking to people, but I also use the calender to remind myself to do things in the future, and I use the alarm function to help wake myself up in the morning. Though, you would be surprised at how quickly you adapt to the Stars and Stripes Forever going off at 8:05 am every morning. Very quickly! Right!

Recommend: It has not failed me yet, but one of the little silvery stickers under the LCD screen which covered a screw has fallen off and I had to scrape some sticky glue out of the hole, and wipe it on something like it was a booger.

Coffee: Office coffee

2006-09-28T08:53:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, for whatever reason, I don't get to stop by the coffee shop on my way down to school in the morning. Maybe I just don't feel like walking, so I take the bus. Maybe I don't have any cash. At any rate, when this happens, I hope all along that the lady in the department office made coffee, and that if she did, everyone else hasn't already drank it up.

Recommend: It's alright.

Life: Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin

2006-09-05T18:04:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've seen or heard from him, but his loss ruined my Labor Day, and the Labor Days of millions of others around the world. There's not much more to say. He fought bears and gila monsters and sharks and crocodiles, and died by stingray blade.

Recommend: Rest In Peace, Crocodile Hunter.

cd: whiskey on a sunday

2006-08-20T20:02:00.000-05:00

this is a great and intimate view of the most rocking Irish rock band( and no I am not talking about u2) it is an hour an half long I think did not really care about the time. also a good bonus it comes with a cd of old and rare songs.
I recommend watching with a pint or guinness or even whiskey!!!

Book : "V." by Thomas Pynchon

2006-08-10T22:16:00.000-05:00

I did it. I finished this book. It took some work to do. Rereading sentences. Making a list of words to look up, references to research. I still mean to read about the Peking to Paris auto race. But I got through. For at least half of the book, I had no idea what, really, I was supposed to be getting out of this. "What is going on?" I would ask myself. But I made it to the end.

Recommend? Quotes on the back of this book: "This work may well stand as one of the very best works of the century," and "Leaves the imagination spent and the mind reeling." I agree with both. I'd put it in my top five, if I had a top five. Maybe I do...

Movie: Tallasomething Nights

2006-08-07T13:34:00.000-05:00

Well, it was actually pretty funny, downright hysterical at moments, but something about the timing in some scenes was really off and things that should have been funny just weren't quite funny. Dunno.

Recommend: Comedy has been crap lately. This one is actually somewhat amusing, if on an infantile and repetetive level.

Movie: Brick

2006-07-31T09:29:00.000-05:00

Film noir classic style in a high school setting. This movie was totally sweet. A bunch of sixteen year olds talking like tough guys and starring an old and jaded version of the kid from Third Rock From the Sun.

Recommend: yes, and even better, I saw it in the theatre last Thursday and it comes out on DVD tomorrow!

The eraser

2006-07-24T00:52:00.000-05:00

This cd is really cool so stripped down yet so complex!!!

Reccomend if you are in need of a radiohead fix... expect something that explores the same themes of isolation, and lonelieness that york explores but with out the band.

Movie : A Scanner Darkly

2006-07-19T00:39:00.000-05:00

Be warned: Cartoon Keanu walks among us now. Keahnew. Kee-aagnu. Keaunoo. Ki A Nu. Also, in this rotoscoped movie, sometimes furniture and objects hover with no apparent cause, and once or twice people turn into insects.

Recommend? The left hemisphere of my brain does for damn sure. But abuse of Substance D has caused my left and right hemisphere to compete with each other. I'm getting cross feedback, so now I'm not sure. My right hemisphere might recommend it, too, but I have no way of knowing for sure.

Game : Final Fantasy IV Advance

2006-07-10T19:06:00.000-05:00

"You spoony bard!" Tellah shouts.

Recommend? Yes, all the content that was removed when it was II has been restored, and now it's portable. Heck, it's just about reason enough to buy a gameboy if you don't have one.

Movie : Superman Returns

2006-07-05T11:12:00.000-05:00

So, I read the downer reviews, and felt bummed, because I was really hoping for a good new Superman movie. When I purchased my ticket, I was ready for a crappy Lex Luthor, a 2.5 hour slow movie, and too much emotion.

After the movie ended, I could only think one thing about all the reviews I read: WROONNNNG! (as Luthor yells)

First off, I will say that there is NOT a tremendous amount of Superman action in this movie. Actually, there may only be three scenes: airplane, random city-saves after big shockwave, and 'lifting the rock'. That's it. Sooooo, if you were looking for Superman doing lots of crazy antics, you may be disappointed. But I didn't mind, because:

A.) Lex Luthor was great. All his scenes, the way it was filmed, his goonies, all were great. Let's grow a crystal city for real estate money? Of course it's a crazy idea, because Lex Luthor is INSANE! The maps were A+ in my opinion.

B.) All the tributes to the old Superman movies were a nice touch. I thought this movie felt less like a summer blockbuster movie and more like a great movie from the 80s with improved effects. A+ in my book.

C.) The spooky way the new Superman sounded just like the old Superman.

There are many more points, but this is supposed to be a vague review. I will say this as a negative: there seemed to be a bunch of Superman = Jesus similarities in the last 30 minutes... if some of those were nixed, this may have been a perfect film. As it stands though, I rate it very, very highly.

Oh, and maybe the number one reason why this movie is great: it will produce one of the best sequals ever! Take THAT evil-superman vs. robot-woman sequal.

Recommend? Yes. And flying is still the safest way to travel.

Movie: Superman

2006-06-29T09:12:00.000-05:00

Yes, I went to see the Superman movie. I went with my girlfriend and my mother. I was given a choice between going to see Al Gore talk about global warming and going to see Superman.

Recommend: Very similar to the first superman movies. A bit mopey. Good though.

Game: New! Super Mario Bros.

2006-06-28T23:55:00.000-05:00

We've been waiting since 1985 for a mushroom a size or two bigger than the plain old super mushroom. It's here, and you can bust the hell out of pipes when you're on it.

Recommend? Yes. It's like old Super Mario Bros., except it is new. I still lament the lack of Tanuki Mario, but so shall we all, till the end of time.

Movie : Firewall

2006-06-25T00:43:00.000-05:00

This movie had Harrison Ford in it. If I were bitten by a vampiric donkey that ejaculated through its mouth by way of a secondary set of testicles located underneath the tongue, I would think, "This is horrible, but interesting."

Recommend? It wasn't interesting, if that's what you mean. Maggie proposes that most things can be judged against this movie. For instance, this evening she said her dinner (leftover tuna casserole) was worse than Firewall. The gyoza we had late in the evening as a snack, however, was better than Firewall.

Movie : Invisible Child

2006-06-21T23:15:00.000-05:00

This is a Lifetime movie, starring Tom Hanks' wife, the little boy from "The Ring" and the dad from "Alias." In it a mother believes she has an invisible child named Maggie. She has two real children. For some reason, her family has been playing along with this delusion for five years without seeking professional help. The movie does not mention what her extended family thinks of this decision. Things get complicated when they hire a nanny to help take care of their two (three) children.

Recommend? This movie is not a commedy. And yes, I recommend. It's the "Deadly Outbreak" of family dramas.