Donated blood for the first time in years

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Joel

Last week, there was a table set up in the cafeteria with volunteers seeking people to sign up to donate blood the following week. I used to donate somewhat regularly starting when I was a high school senior through college. I still remember the first time in 1994, and my mother (a nurse, mind you) was extremely upset that I planned to donate blood at a blood drive set up in the high school gymnasium.  She went on and on about how it doesn’t help anybody.

I’m sure I said something teenagerish like, “Whatever, Mom!”

I do remember proceeding throughout college giving blood, but once I began traveling outside of the domestic U.S. for audits, I stopped donating.

So, what the hell, I decided to donate blood again. It wasn’t bad –after all the waiting and answering questions, I did my thing on the tablem. It took about 90 mins out of my day, but it was fine. No medal or pat on the back necessary.

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Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Joel

Had some free time Saturday night, so I decided to check out Amazon’s Prime Instant Video library. I saw they had Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, a rather famous film directed by Stanley Kubrick, and starring Peter Sellers. It’s on my unofficial film “To Do” list, so I decided to watch this 94 minute film. This marks my 4th Kubrick film, after 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, and Eyes Wide Shut. Filmed in 1963, the film is a satire about the threat of nuclear war in the 1950s and 1960s between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, M.A.D, and the men in charge of keeping us safe. Besides Peter Sellers playing three different characters (because he could?), the film also stars George C. Scott, Slim Pickens, and a blink-too-many-times-and-you’ll-miss-him James Earl Jones as a B-52 crew member.

An insane U.S. Air Force general decides to go rogue, and unilaterally order a squadron of U.S. B-52s armed with nuclear missiles to bomb the U.S.S.R. Obviously, this is a problem, and more so with the revelation that the Soviets have developed a doomsday weapon that will irradiate the entire planet. Much of the film is spent centered around interactions between the supporting cast and one of Peter Sellers key characters:

  1. Group Captain Lionel Mandrake – a RAF captain who interacts with the aforementioned insane USAF Brig. General Jack Ripper.
  2. President Merkin Muffley – the President of the United States who is trying to manage his options provided by the Soviets and the Pentagon.
  3. Dr. Strangelove – the namesake of the film, an eccentric scientific advisor to the U.S. President. Very eccentric.

I think my favorite part of the entire film was watching Peter Sellers in action. He plays three different characters, and in certain scenes, is playing both Muffley and Strangelove, who are interacting with each other. Genius.

As for the film itself, I think it had its moments, but it’s not my favorite film. It was interesting, and I did like some of the ways Kubrick directed specific shots. For the most part though, I simply enjoyed watching Peter Sellers in action. Oh, and George C. Scott was pretty good too. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention him.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

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Is my first tablet going to be the Nexus 7?

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Joel

Alright, alright, I think we c.an agree that I’ve been waiting to get a tablet for a very long time.

1. I’ve looked at the various iterations of the Apple iPad for years. Heck, I had an iPod Touch (gen 1), then an iPhone 4. The iPad (gens 1 through the latest one with the Retina display) looked so good to me. What stopped me all this time? The cost, of course. They’re freakin’ expensive. I had two options — either the 32 Gb wifi-only or the LTE model. Unfortunately, that would either run me $600 or $750, which is a pretty penny to plunk down for a tablet. With so many other things to worry about, it wasn’t like a tablet for my own personal use wasn’t a priority.

2. In the past three years since the Gen 1 iPad came out, I’ve moved on to Android. I’ve become a bit bored or disillusioned with iOS. For example, we all went to the Menlo Park mall, and while waiting around, the kids and I stopped at the Apple store. For the first time, I was….. underwhelmed? by it. I’ve had my Galaxy S4 for about two months, and I actually prefer Android now. To conceivably go back to iOS now didn’t seem right. I have a lot of movies through the digital copy program, but was this best and only reason to buy an iPad now?

3. I’ve been checking out the Sony Xperia Z tablet, but the screen and wifi reception issues put me off. Also, in person, I didn’t find it all that comfortable to hold — too sharp and angular. Go figure. Finally, while the ability to be dustproof and waterproof are cool in itself, constantly having to open and close those little tabs/covers whenever I wanted to charge the tablet or use my headphones seemed more cumbersome than anything else. So I’m interested in an Android now. Which to get?

The updated Google Nexus 7

The updated Google Nexus 7

4. Last year, I bought my wife the Nexus 7 as a gift, but turned out that she liked the bigger 10″ screen on the Nexus 10 instead. A year later, she still likes the Nexus 10. I wasn’t interested in copying her here. Google announced the much anticipated refresh of the highly popular Nexus 7 this week. It’s got a 1080p screen, and other additional updated internal specifications. I’m a “big screen” kind of guy, but it’s got me thinking. I want a tablet to browse the web and watch Netflix in bed. I also want a tablet that I can use to watch videos while we are on vacation later this summer. I already have a smartphone with a 5″ 1080p HD screen that I use already to do this, but I could use a slightly larger screen, and a better battery capacity. A 10″ screen is better to me, but the low price point is amazing. A $600 iPad is expensive, but a 7″ screen for only $269 is a lower threshold to overcome.

Before I finalize my decision, I want to hold it in my hand. I want to see if the 7″ screen is good enough, or am I going to be yearning for a larger screen in a few months. We visited a local Best Buy which has the new Nexus 7 in stock, but they had no floor model on display. I’ll have to wait a few more days before I know for sure.

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The Five-Year Engagement (2012)

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Joel

Blargh.

Saturday night, we were sitting around chillaxing, and The Five-Year Engagement (2012) had just started. It’s a strange romantic comedy drama starring Jason Segel and Emily Blount, supported by Chris Pratt, and Allison Brie. I say strange because the film is portrayed initially as a romantic comedy, but it veers into slightly darker themes, becomes a drama of sorts, then switches gears back again into a quirky romantic comedy. It was overly long at two hours, and a little drawn out.

The film is about Tom and Violet who,  after a year of dating, get engaged.  They begin planning their wedding and a life in San Francisco. She’s an experimental psychologist, hoping for a postdoctoral degree at Cal Tech. He’s a sous chef who runs the kitchen when the chef is away. When she is rejected by Cal Tech, she receives and accepts a graduate school admission offer from the Univ. of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Tom agrees to support the move to Michigan, turning down a job as chef at a new restaurant. The move requires postponing the wedding. At Michigan, Violet is in her element, but Tom is underemployed and frustrated; he is initially supportive and stoic for a while, but when two years in Michigan become four, the wedding is placed on hold again, and Tom’s frustrations boil over as he slowly lets himself go over time.

Chris Pratt and Allison Brie are Tom and Violet’s screwy friend and sister, respectively. The film uses them for comedic value as two screwballs who eventually get their lives together, contrasting against Tom and Violet, whose lives are in a seeming holding pattern.

I don’t mind, and would rather prefer, a romantic comedy that strives to be more than the usual fluff. I’m pretty sick of those. Directed by Nicholas Stoller, written by Stoller and Segel, this film didn’t know what it wanted to be. It veered uncomfortably from one genre of film to another, took too long to arrive at the end of the story, and you wished it had gotten there sooner. For example, yes, Segel’s character Tom is depressed about his now unfulfilling life in Michigan, but it seems that he ends up depressed for at least 25-50% of the film. I think you can touch upon that, but that will drag down a comedy uncomfortably.

Produced by Judd Apatow, it is similar to his other recent slate of films where it is less a coherent story, and more of a series of sketches. And each sketch consists of talented actors and actresses improvising humorously, but in total makes the film go on for far too long.

The Five-Year Engagement (2012)

The Five-Year Engagement (2012)

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Vacation Bible School 2013

Posted on July 21, 2013 by Joel

Today wraps up another week of Vacation Bible School at our church. For the third year in a row, my wife has put together another successful week-long program. With the help of volunteers, she coordinated a program for 40 children, partnered with two other local churches, that consisted of classes and activities in the morning, and an aftercare program in the afternoon to help out working parents who couldn’t pick up their children by 12 noon. Both of our kids attended this year, and although it was a long day every day, they had a good time. My wife was pretty exhausted this past week, but it was for a good cause.

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Shanta’s birthday dinner

Posted on July 20, 2013 by Joel

It was my mother-in-law’s birthday earlier this week, so we met up Friday night in Edison to celebrate. The venue? Sigiri, a Sri Lankan restaurant located in both Edison NJ and Manhattan. We were here once before back in October 2011 to celebrate birthdays among friends, so it’s been a while. The food wasn’t bad, but the service was awful to me. Constantly having to remind the staff for little things like plates, utensils, things we ordered. Oh well, not every dinner is a hit out of the park.

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Man of Steel (2013)

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Joel
Dinner and a movie (how romantic!) with my friend Sean

Dinner and a movie (how romantic!) with my friend Sean

I recently learned that my buddy Sean has been working off and on out of Pennsylvania, not that far across the NJ/PA border. We made plans to meet up after work. I took the train back to my train station as usual, then drove the hour ride down to Willow Grove, PA. The initial plan was just dinner and drinks. While driving on my way on the PA Turnpike, I contacted him with a crazy idea. “How about we also go see a movie?” He was in, so now the evening got more interesting. I met up with him at this hotel room, changed to shorts and sandals (damn, it has been a hot and humid week), and then we went out for dinner. After much researching, we ended up  at Miller’s Willow Grove Ale House for dinner.

There was a rather long wait, so we hit bar #1 at the restaurant, but it was packed. We walked over to bar #2, and still packed. We ordered, then walked over to a uncrowded corner of the restaurant to stand and drink, and wait for our number to come up on the big board. We ended up standing next to the windows, between two tables of guests. In hindsight, I don’t know if that was weird or not, but no one said anything, and the place was pretty crowded on a Thursday night. We eventually ordered dinner, and chatted for a long while. It’s been a very long time since we saw each other or hung out together, so this was huge.

A little after 9pm, we got the check, and hightailed it for the car, and to the local Regal theater to see the 9;30pm showing of Man of Steel. Let me tell you — it’s a Thursday night in a theater in a suburb of Philadelphia. It’s 9:30pm, and this movie came out more than a month ago, yet there are maybe 15-20 other people here with us. I figured most people had gotten their kicks and seen the film by now. Go figure.

The film was written by David S. Goyer, and directed by Zach Snyder, is a new origin story for Superman. The origin is mostly the same, though some things have been altered or embellished this time around. And I don’t really care too much these days, so carry on, gentlemen. The film stars Henry Cavill as Clark Kent / Kal-El, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, and Michael Shannon as General Zod. They are the primary folks in this film, but Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Christopher Meloni, Diane Lane are also key characters. And yes, Laurence Fishburne plays Perry White. The film follows the general and familiar story line for Kal-El’s arrival to Earth. However, Zack Snyder takes a different approach by mixing up the order of how scenes are played. It starts initially on Krypton, but the film jumps back and forth in time from the present day to scenes where Clark is growing up, and then back to the present. I know some people didn’t like it, but I didn’t mind it. The acting in the film was good, but I wasn’t a big fan of Amy Adams as Lois Lane. Sorry, Amy, but you’re no Margot Kidder.

Besides the plot holes the size of Krypton in this film, the film itself wasn’t very joyful. I also didn’t feel like it had a lot of heart. Do you remember in the 1978 Richard Donner original where Clark discovers his powers, and there was this wonderment about what he could do? In this film, it’s more scary and somber for Clark. Maybe because it’s 2013 and we’re so somber in everything after 9/11, but I always liked that depiction of a young Clark Kent floating for the first time, or outrunning that train.

BTW, does anyone have any idea how Lois Lane gets around the ruins of Metropolis so fast? She gets everywhere pretty quickly, and I couldn’t figure that out.

More importantly, without revealing any spoilers, I’m pretty sure Superman could have resolved the entire film about 20-30 mins earlier without the big climax. However, then you couldn’t have the big climax, I suppose. Ah, you crazy, kooky, Hollywood screenwriters. Always making things happen for no good reason.

 

Man of Steel (2013)

Man of Steel (2013)

 

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Despicable Me 2 (2013)

Posted on July 14, 2013 by Joel

After church today, the four of us had a quick lunch at home, then went to meet up with some friends to see Despicable Me 2. In case you aren’t aware, this is the sequel to the original film, which I only watched recently. The original was a pretty entertaining film, so I hoped this one would be equally as good. An equally good sequel, compared to the source material? Um, not likely, but one has to hope for the best. The film brings back Steve Carell as Gru, Russell Brand as D. Nefario, and the actresses playing the girls. New to the film were Kristen Wiig as Lucy, Gru’s potential love interest (come on, don’t cry spoilers, because really, you didn’t see that coming?), Benjamin Bratt, Ken Jeong, Steve Coogan, Nasim Pedrad, and Kristen Schaal.

The premise of the film is that while Gru, the ex-supervillain, is out of the super villain game, a secret Arctic laboratory is stolen in a grandiose fashion. The Anti-Villain League recruits Gru in the investigation, which primarily occurs at a local mall. Gru and Lucy (Kristen Wiig’s character) go undercover at the local mall to discover which of the proprietors may in fact be a super-villain. Meanwhile, one of the girls starts to get interested boys, Dr. Nefario misses the life of super-villainy, Gru doesn’t have a love interest, and the minions are quietly being kidnapped.

Not a bad film. The first half of the film felt very reminiscent (too reminiscent?) of the original film, almost as if it was a continuation or a copy. Maybe that sounds fine to people, but it seemed almost derivative at the beginning. I didn’t quite laugh much for the first half of the film. The 2nd half felt more different, and the jokes and sight gags were better. I noted a number of sight gags that were homages to prior works and films. So, to summarize, not a bad film. The first half felt derivative, but the 2nd half picked it up.

Despicable Me 2 (2013)

Despicable Me 2 (2013)

 

 

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Pacific Rim (2013)

Posted on July 14, 2013 by Joel

My friend Doug and I went to see Pacific Rim, ‘s first film in 5 years (since Hellboy 2: The Golden Army released in 2008, which I also saw.) Early news about del Toro making a film about giant robots fighting giant monsters hit the radar sometime last year. Many fans on the discussion boards, much like myself, were pretty excited about a film conceptually featuring large robots fighting large monsters. It’s a mash-up of old-school Toho Godzilla films, Voltron, Mazinger Z (Tranzor Z in the US), and BattleTech (Mechwarrior.) Giant robots? That’s a siren call for me.

So what’s this film about exactly? Sometime in the present, an interdimensional fissure opens in the Pacific Ocean, and giant living monsters enter our world, ravaging populated areas, much like Godzilla and the other Toho menagerie of super-sized monsters. The initial kaiju attack is on San Francisco, and conventional armed forces take six days to finally bring it down. Additional kaiju also exit the rift over time, and devastate other coastal cities along the Pacific Ocean. In response, countries work together to begin the Jaeger program to develop and construct large robots or mechs to defend the planet. Initially, the Jaeger program is a success, but successive waves of kaijus get progressively more evolved and more dangerous (Category 1, Category 2, etc.) As a result, countries develop more advanced mechs (Mark 1, Mark 2, etc.) The film is about these battles.

So here’s the deal: this Guillermo del Toro film isn’t his greatest film. The concept is pretty damn cool and original (for Hollywood), but the acting and the speaking parts are cheesy. There are some large plot holes, and I didn’t think those aspects were very realistic. Also, I found Charlie Day’s character to be unbelievably grating. If one were to compare the cheesiness, I’d rank it up there with Armageddon and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. So miserable film? On the contrary, lucky for del Toro, the fun factor of action scenes between the Jaegers and the kaijus made up for everything. Seriously, when I have to sit back in my stadium seat because of the action, I found it to be that much fun. I mean, all that corny acting was annoying, but as I enjoyed the CGI action so much, I could actually blot out the cheese.

God help me, but I liked this better than Star Trek Into Darkness. I was trying to figure out why, and I think I figured it out. I know what Star Trek is about, and how enjoyable it can be. When I watched both the 2009 and 2013 reboot films, I can tell what they gave up to make their tentpole action films. Especially in the 2013 STID, I felt that it was wasted potential. For Pacific Rim, I’m basically there only for the CGI action, as I’m not expecting much from the plot. So when I divest myself from worrying about the plot, I could enjoy the action more.

Pacific Rim (2013)

Pacific Rim (2013)

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Superman vs. The Elite (2012)

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Joel

I watched this film on and off, but finally finished the last half hour of Superman vs. The Elite, a direct to video film adaptation of a 2001 Action Comics story. It was available via Netflix streaming, so it seemed like a good idea to watch this on a rainy Saturday. Not being all that wrapped up into the story itself, I’ve stretched viewing this short direct-to-video release out a few months. Without going into much detail, this storyline is about the introduction of a new group of antiheroes calling themselves “The Elite.” They have various superpowers, but are willing to do what Superman won’t do — kill. The question comes up, because Superman often captures villains and criminals who later escape and reactivate again and again, often at the cost of lives and property. The Elite propose that if you kill these criminals, it breaks the cycle. Of course, that introduces the viewpoint that now these superheroes have elected themselves judge, jury, and executioner. After a particularly violent jailbreak by the Atomic Skull, the public begins to believe in The Elite, while Superman questions whether he has become outdated.

It’s a question that has come up again and again for Superman in the past two decades. Superman has never suffered the pathos that Batman or a Hal Jordan may suffer. He’s the interminable boy scout, so how do you keep the interest of the audience? It’s an interesting question. Regarding the film and the story, however, I guess you can tell that I wasn’t too enamored of the film. Especially, if I dragged out a 76 min film, it couldn’t have captured my interest and attention all that well. I can’t put my finger on what it is exactly. Maybe it was the character design, which I thought was a little cartoony, resulting in the characters looking like caricatures. Also, while Superman was outnumbered, you know, couldn’t he have called in some backup from the Justice League to help out? I know that wouldn’t have served the purpose of the story, but I couldn’t quite get into the story itself. But it was probably due to my dislike of the animation style.

Superman vs. The Elite (2012)

Superman vs. The Elite (2012)

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