I hate GM…

Okay, so I was driving back from class and saw what I thought was a 2006 Chevrolet Impala…but no…it’s a 2006 Monte Carlo. Here are pictures of the two (Impala in black; Monte Carlo in red):

2006 Chevy Impala

2006 Chevy Monte Carlo

Here’s my problem with GM: recycling. I don’t mind a decent product, but when the exact same thing is spread over 6 different brands (Saturn, Buick, GMC, Pontiac, etc.) it gets old. Now, when they use the exact same front half of the vehicle for two different cars, that’s just going too far. Seriously…the front half of the Monte Carlo and Impala are exactly the same. The butt end of the car is different…but for the Monte Carlo, it’s the same as it’s earlier iterations. It’s like they took the back off of the 2005 Monte Carlo and the front off a 2006 Impala and put them together to make a “2006 Monte Carlo”… The only thing truly “different” between the two cars is that one is 4 doors and the other is 2. GM…why don’t you try being innovative and come up with something new?!

The 2005 versions were based on the same platform/power train, but at least they looked different. I mean, I know the Chrysler 300 and the Dodge Charger are on the same platform, but they at least look different…but with GM, their cars look the same with a different insignia (Saturn vs Chevy, Buick vs Pontiac).

Unbelievable…

Mitch Hedberg

So, I was cleaning out some files I have lying around and found this list of Mitch Hedberg quotes that I stole from someone’s blog last year… I’ve posted them in my Articles section, but here are a few for your enjoyment:

“I bought a doughnut and they gave me a receipt for the doughnut. I don’t need a receipt for the doughnut. I give you money and you give me the doughnut, end of transaction. We don’t need to bring ink and paper into this. I can’t imagine a scenario that I would have to prove that I bought a doughnut. To some skeptical friend, Don?t even act like I didn?t buy a doughnut, I’ve got the documentation right here. It’s in my file at home. Under ‘D.'”

“An escalator can never break. It can only become stairs. You would never see an ‘Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order’ sign, just ‘Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.'”

“I think Bigfoot is blurry, that?s the problem. There?s a large out-of-focus monster roaming the countryside.”

Review: Rumor Has It

So, Brooke and I went to see “Rumor Has It” last night… Overall, it was a decent movie, but I’m not really sure if I liked it or not. I mean, it’s kinda hard to classify. It wasn’t a romantic comedy really, since the plot didn’t center on a romantic attraction (it was as much a “romantic comedy” as “The Graduate“…obviously…). It wasn’t a drama, obviously…but it wasn’t really a comedy either, since it didn’t have that many laugh-out-loud moments.

The acting overall was excellent; the casting worked out surprisingly well, especially as in the case of Shirley MacLaine. The story itself was rather intriguing, but I kinda wish I’d seen “The Graduate” a bit more recently…I’d recommend you see it before watching this “sequel.” One key moment toward the end that I didn’t care for was where Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Costner have there “this-is-the-moral-of-the-story” moment and such…felt like a classic ending of “Full House” where the music plays and you say “ooohhhh…that’s the point of the movie” …

Overall, it was a decent movie, but perhaps not worth spending $8 to see in the theater. It has its amusing moments and the acting was good. The story was relatively enticing. And yet…I dunno…something about it…just could have been a bit better…

This semester…

So yeah, Christmas Break wasn’t long enough…I had to go to class last week on Wednesday, so I avoided doing anything else for school besides that…something of a boycott, I guess. But anyway, I’m thinking it’s time I get back into the swing of things and start on some school work.

The next semester will encompass a few new aspects of graduate school for me to deal with. First of all, I have to give a 30-45 min. presentation on February 22nd. Considering that I hate public speaking, this kinda freaks me out…at least I have 1.5 months to prepare, I guess. Secondly, I have one more required rotation through a lab before I need to pick one to do my Ph.D. research in. You can do more rotations if need be, but I’ve got to have something picked by next fall. The three rotations I’ve complete thus far haven’t really stood out as places where I’d be particularly happy, so I’m hoping to pick a good one next. Either way, I’ll need to pick one of those in the next few weeks as well. As far as classes go, I’m doing essentially the same stuff this semester as I did last semester, except that I’m taking an ethics course as well…that, and I’m giving a presentation rather than just watching one.

Otherwise, everything is “same old, same old”… Brooke is doing classes entirely at night now, which allows her to substitute teach every day… She’s also still working at Kenrick 8 Theater, so I’m hoping to score more free movies if at all possible…

Anyway, long story short, I’m expecting a semester very much similar to the last one. Quite different from undergrad, when I’d take some different classes, new teachers, etc. But this one will be much the same as the last. Guess I’m not complaining much…but a little variety would be nice… Let’s just hope I can make it ’til Spring Break…

End-of-the-year Quotes

Here are some good quotes from people who passed away this year, published in TIME Magazine, dated January 2, 2006:

“I wasn’t tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day… No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
— Rosa Parks

“I live in racist America and I’m uneducated, yet a lot of people love me and like what I do, and I can make a living from it. You can’t do much better than that.”
— Richard Pryor

“The theater is so endlessly fascinating because it’s so accidental. It’s so much like life.”
— Arthur Miller

“I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me.”
— Hunter S. Thompson

“If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”
— Johnnie Cochran

“The military don’t start wars. Politicians start wars.”
— Gen. William Westmoreland

“I’m not a slave to objectivity, because I’m never quite sure what it means. It means different things to different people.”
— Peter Jennings

Long week…

So, it’s been a relatively long week. Unfortunately, my grandmother passed away on Dec. 26th in the early morning hours after complications from breaking her hip on Dec. 23rd. While it was unfortunate, it’s best that she wasn’t relegated to a nursing home; it would have taken 6-8 weeks to recover from the hip surgery, and even then, it was likely that a). she would have had to stay in rehab or a nursing home even longer and b). that the other hip joint would have given out within two years. She had a stroke 18 years ago that caused her to spend a lot of time in rehab and she vowed to never do it again. I’m just glad she didn’t have to. It really sucked that it had to happen at Christmas time, let alone that she was to turn 84 on Jan. 3rd. Regardless, it’s likely that she shouldn’t have survived the stroke in the first place; she fought to recover and was able to spend the last 18 years watching her grandkids grow up. And for that, and many other reasons, I’ll never forget her.

Anyway, that ordeal has taken up most of my Christmas break… I start class again on Jan 4th (grrrrrrrrrrrrrr…), so I’m going to spend the next few days being as worthless as possible. We had a few people over last night for a New Year’s shin-dig and I think we all had a good time.

I’ve also been having problems with the web server…I’m trying to get the whole thing fixed up, but I’m afraid it’s a hard drive failure… The system keeps requiring a reboot to fix it and then I have to run the equivalent of a “scandisk” to fix it (“fsck,” for those Linux-users out there). So yeah, I’m trying to fix it, but this site may be up and down from time to time.

One down, nine to go…

Semesters, that is…average… My last exam was today…finally…and I think it went generally alright. That last section hurt quite a bit and dropped me down from #3 to the middle of the class (of 9 people) again, but that’s cool…I’m doing alright overall, and I think I have “A’s” in my other 3 “classes” (only one of which is a real class…). Either way, glad that it’s finally over and now I get a break…until January 4th… Stoopid grad skool…

Anyway, we’re going to Hannibal tomorrow night until Christmas morning, then heading to Columbia for a few days. If you’re in the area, give the cell a buzz or something… We’re going to be here in St. Louis for New Year’s Eve, so lemme know if you’ll be in town for that, too. Otherwise, have a merry Christmas and travel safely…

Review: The Chronicles of Narnia – LWW

Brooke and I got to go see “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” last night (finally). We took it upon ourselves to read the book last week in preparation; it took a good 1.5 hrs to read the entire book by C.S. Lewis. The movie, you may notice, is 2 hrs and 20 min long. Most of that extra time, it seems, come from a). sweeping landscape scenes of Narnia (which, I’m sure, many fans of the book have been waiting to see on the big screen for a long time, much like “LotR”), and b). the climactic battle scene at the end that took up something like 7 pages in the book (i.e. 5 min of reading). Both of these extensions were pretty well-warranted and generally added to the effect of the movie.

The movie was decently acted, although it took me awhile to get used to the kids playing the main characters and, generally, I thought they could have been a bit better…yet weren’t too terrible for no-name actors from Britain (well, “no-name” to us in the U.S.A…). The effects, while impressive, definitely had a few moments where there was some obvious computer animation going on. In “LotR,” we were seeing beasts and creatures that no one had seen before, so you could get away with some obvious computer animation here and there…but in “Narnia,” I know what a lion, cheetah, rhino, etc. looks like…and, for the most part, they were all done really well. There were a few scenes, however, where the children were walking or talking with Aslan (the lion) and, well, it looked like a kid in front of a green screen with a fake-looking lion next to him/her. I mean, granted, making a computer-generated lion look real is hard, and to their credit, the film-makers did a good job, but I think it could have been better…or not placed characters together in certain shots as they did…who knows… And, I dunno, but Liam Neeson’s voice as Aslan somehow didn’t seem to fit…wasn’t quite deep enough…on the other hand, I’ve never heard a lion talk, so what do I know?

Now, I also had some people tell me how accurate the movie was…saying it was really close to the book… Well, to an extent, I guess it is…but Brooke and I, both having read the book last week, noticed more than a few points where the movie diverged from the book. For example, to our knowledge, there’s no Mr. Fox in the book (certainly not an important character, as in the movie). Also, the kids/Beavers weren’t chased like the wolves like that from the Beaver’s house, etc…let alone the whole frozen river shenanigans… I’m just saying that the movie was 2.25 hrs long and had a few things added that weren’t really important to the story (otherwise, C.S. Lewis would have written it that way)…so why add them in there? On the other hand, C.S. Lewis’ purpose for writing the book was quite a bit different than the film company’s purpose for filming it…sadly…

Many people/critics were comparing this movie to “Lord of the Rings” since it contains an element of fantasy, has a huge computer-generated battle scene, etc. In my opinion, “LotR” is still the better movie and is more impressive, but mainly because it’s over 12 hours long and took a lot more to get it done…with crazy effects that paved the way for movies like “Narnia” to be made in the first place. I guess if you want to experience a shorter version of “LotR,” I guess “Narnia” is a good substitute…but the story, acting and effects (overall) are better in “LotR”…

So yeah, overall, it was a great movie and certainly worth seeing. The battle scene at the end was very impressive and fun to watch and the effects, generally, were pretty cool. The movie was a tad long and had some stuff added that really didn’t need to be in there, but they didn’t make sweeping changes to the book (like having Aslan be a genetically-engineered super lion…), so that’s always good. I think that “King Kong” was still a better movie, as far as this season’s blockbusters go, but then again, it’s about 1 hour longer than “Narnia”…so you have to be willing to sit there… In summary, it’s a good movie, even if you’ve read the book, or maybe even if you haven’t.

Faith in Government

My faith in the US Judicial System has been restored…somewhat… According to CNN, the judge overseeing the Intelligent Design case in Dover, PA has ruled the teaching of ID in public school as unconstitutional. To quote the judge:

“It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy.”

He apparently left a 139-page opinion on the subject. Needless to say, I’m glad it turned out this way. At least our classrooms and children are safe from the religious right yet again…

…for the time being…

Reading Rainbow

How many people didn’t watch “Reading Rainbow” back in elementary school? Well, apparently, the show is still on…but maybe not for much longer. It’s been on for 24 years with LeVar Burton hosting and producing and has won 24 Emmys, as well as a Peabody award (among others). Apparently, they’re running low on funds to make new episodes because sponsors aren’t convinced that the viewership exists.

So, as a result, some good folks have started an online petition called SaveReadingRainbow.org to try and save the show. If you have some fond memories of that show and want it to be around for your kids to watch someday, I’d recommend you check it out and sign up.