Month: July 2006

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Review: PotC – Dead Man's Chest

So, picture the end of “The Matrix Reloaded” and you’ve basically seen the whole of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest“…well…not exactly…? (note: let me preface by saying that, unlike many, I thought “Reloaded” had many merits and was overall a decent movie, yet could have been executed a bit better.)

“Dead Man’s Chest” starts off a little while after the original flick and we find Elizabeth and Will Turner about to get married…until they’re both arrested for setting Capt. Jack free in the first movie.? Will, in exchange for Elizabeth’s and his own freedom, is charged with finding Jack and bringing “an item” (that I will not elaborate further upon) to the new baddie in town, Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company (amongst others).? And then we get lots of sea battles, land battles, funny moments, and even a few sad ones…

…but, perhaps, what’s most key is that, in the end (without spoiling much), you’re set up for a third movie.? Sound familiar?? Where “The Matrix” could stand on its own, “Reloaded” and “Revolutions” must be viewed in tandem.? They were even filmed back-to-back, the same with “Dead Man’s Chest” (and the upcoming “At World’s End” next summer).

So, overall, I thought the movie was pretty good with top-notch effects and acting…even a decent (albeit long) plot.? Johnny Depp certainly fit into the role of Capt. Jack Sparrow like a glove fits on a hand, and was certainly a joy to watch, and the screen time was more evenly distributed between Depp, Knightly and Bloom this time around.? My only complaints, really, consist of the aforementioned “Matrix treatment” of the trilogy and the length.? The movie’s 2.5 hrs long.? Remember how long “Reloaded” seemed at points?? Same with this one.? There are plenty of scenes that could have been shortened to half their original length and still get the same effect…that, or cut out one or two digital effect shots to shave a minute or 15…

So yeah, if you liked the first one, you’ll probably need to see this one.? On the other hand, if you’re looking for a movie trilogy that has many of the same characteristics, but is already out on DVD, check out “The Matrix”…

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Les Stroud is my Idol

“Oops…my squirrel is burning…”

— Les Stroud

So, there was a show on Discovery Science Channel in 2004 that’s now being re-run on the regular Discovery Channel called “Survivorman.” We first discovered it as a stripped down, half-hour version of the full-lenth, hour long TV show about Les Stroud (Wikipedia? & Official), a guy who is dropped off in the wilderness with his camera equipment and a pocket knife and then left alone for a week. Recently, the Discovery Channel started showing the full-length versions on Friday nights, so we’re getting to watch a few that we missed, as well as watch the rest of the episodes that we have seen.

It’s just crazy what this guy does… For example, “this week’s” episode, Les is left in Canyonlands, Utah with a mountain bike and his pocket knife. He cannibalizes the bike for parts (uses tubes to drink wanter and stoke fires, uses the inner tube to act as a canteen when he rarely found water, used the frame as part of his shelter, etc.), used ancient techniques to set up traps to catch animals, and built shelters to help withstand the 15 F nights (i.e. cold, if you don’t have a sleeping bag…which he didn’t…).

So yeah, if you can, you should record this show and watch it. Or if you’re at home on a Friday, check out the Discovery Channel. w00t!

P.S. Nathan, next summer, we’re going to get dropped off in Alaska. We’ll have to eat Grizzly Bears to survive. It’ll be stupendous.

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Cousin’s visiting…

Jonathan’s visiting while he does a brief internship here in St. Louis. He and Sam are getting along quite well. …and by “getting along, ” I mean that Sam likes to chew on his hand.

It’s hysterical.

😉

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Cousin's visiting…

Jonathan’s visiting while he does a brief internship here in St. Louis. He and Sam are getting along quite well. …and by “getting along, ” I mean that Sam likes to chew on his hand.

It’s hysterical.

😉

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…and you must know…

We (Brooke, Lisa, Jo and I) played mini golf tonight and I made two holes-in-one…the latter of which brought in Jo’s and Brooke’s balls as well…

I rule…? 😉

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This is my life…

If I ever got lost in the woods, I hope I have a deck of cards on me. I’d play solitaire. Eventually someone will show up and say “Black nine on red ten.”

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And then, an update…

So I’m at the lab, killing time until my 96-well plate is ready to be read… Figured now was as good a time as any to update the world on happenings…

Brooke and I went up to Hannibal for last weekend to visit with family and friends… Saturday was really good in that we got to shoot off fireworks, had an excellent dinner via Brooke’s Mom, and I got a lovely sunburn whilst laying on a raft in their pool. Overall, a successful weekend! My parents came into St. Louis on Monday night for some BBQ and we made some really good ribs. Brooke put them in the crock pot for a good 6 hours along with brown sugar, paprika, and just about everything else on the spice rack. They were some of the best ribs I’ve ever had, honestly…very tender and tasty… It was also good to be my parents for once! We didn’t really do anything for the actual 4th of July holiday, however. The weather wasn’t terribly cooperative in St. Louis…but we didn’t really feel like going anywhere, either. It ended up being a relaxing day, which is all I could really ask for.

Otherwise, my Biostatistics class started on Monday (yes, July 3rd…seriously…who starts a summer class the day before the 4th?!). While I’m telling myself that extended knowledge of statistics is useful for my chosen career path, I just have to wonder if reminders of Confidence Intervals, hypothesis testing, and SPSS are really worth 3.5 hours of class twice a week… Needless to say, I’ll be ranting about this waste of time for the duration of the class (another 5 weeks remain…).

I guess it’s time for the weekend again… I think Brooke is heading up to Louisiana, MO (Ma’s garage sale…) on Friday, so I’ll need entertainment Friday night (’cause Sci-Fi Friday doesn’t start up until next weekend). Keep me posted.