Slowly Learning...

So I've been home for about a day now, and back into the world of tv (cable and everything!) and I've come to a relatively simple conclusion: TV annoys me. Sure there are the random good programs (Gilmore is a must for taping still, despite its downward turn as of late) and it's a lot nicer to get sports highlights with footage of the events, and if it were say football season I'd have something more to watch, but overall it's crap and boring and annoying. Maybe I flipped by MTV too many times, and paused for too long when I did, but I can honestly say that I can do without TV, and I almost feel tied down and contrained by having it there and available. I did perfectly fine without it the whole last 14 months, and I now have absolutely no intention of getting cable when I return to the western hemisphere (but maybe antena for Fox/CBS/ABC during football time).

That having been said, don't think I've turned into one of those hippy Ithacans with the good old "Kill your TV" bumper stickers. Those stickers annoy the hell out of me, as do the fanatical people who rant about how TV is killing our children and destroying the world. I don't want to be associated with those people, but much like agreeing with a Bush stance, it happens sometimes, despite the internal agony and shame it brings. I'm also not trying to convert anyone else out there, and in fact I almost hope that I don't. This is just my own personal revelation that I no longer need or desire cable television. But don't worry, I have no plans to turn my back away from video games, partially because I love them, partially to piss off the idiots who think they are destroying the minds of our children.

Posted by Thom at 2:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So it's just as well that I didn't make it down to NYC this week, because it turns out that I need to get out of my apartment by August 1st. That of course means that the next two days will be packed completely full with packing, loading, cleaning, driving, unloading, unpacking, etc. Of course, right after this move I will soon be heading out to visit Sabra in Vermont, who I have not seen in too long a time. All of this will mean lots of shuffling and momving about for me over the course of the next week to week and a half, so I probably will not be posting anything during that span. However, as soon as I get back I'm sure that I will have plenty of stories, along with plenty of pictures, to share with all of you out there. This move also means that starting July 29th I will be residing officially residing in Rochester. That means that my postings will probably begin to decrease as I prepare for my departure. I apologize for all of this, however I will try to do my best to keep things running while I'm abroad.

In other side notes from the day, with my advanced moving schedule I had my last get together with Bri. It was a fun time, our typical low-key hangout. She stopped over, we chatted and joked around, made fun of each other, debated her religious beliefs, watched a movie. It was a nice going away of sorts, but sad at the same time as I know that I probably won't see her until I get back in January. However, I know that I will definitely see her when I get back (she's holding onto 25 of my DVDs while I'm away). It'll probably be even more sad come the 20th, when we have the send off of sorts in Rochester.

Speaking of the celebration, I will once again remind you that on Aug 20th my mother will be holding a clambake at her house in Rochester. [See the earlier posts for more detailed information] I've already heard back from a bunch of people who are planning to come, and hopefully I shall hear back from more of you soon. We still have plenty of room (or at least we can make plenty of room), and will have plenty of food and entertainment. In any case I hope to at least see all my friends out there before the end of August in order to say goodbye.

So until I get a chance to write again...

Posted by Thom at 2:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I haven't eaten in a while and am very hungry, so let's keep this short. So I'm a decent fan of Ewan McGregor, and I'm a very big fan of Scarlett Johansson (good actress, and very hot), so I went out and saw The Island. I hadn't heard too much about the exact story going in, but I was thinking something sci-fi like Gattaca (or something along those lines). It started off well too. Not fantastic, but good. It was a nice combination of A Brave New World and The Matrix (minus some of the action), but then about an hour in it ran head-on into Bad Boys II (yes, that rediculously over-action packed and poorly done). And after that point there was no real recovering from the train wreck that insued. They made some efforts, and suceeded to some extent, but it still sputtered (especially when it basically turned into a re-enactment of Goldeneye at the end, complete with Sean Bean). Let's just say that in the middle of the Bad Boys II segment we have helicopters and car chases all throughout L.A. And yes, I know it's L.A., but I think the people might still be surprised by all the gunfire and explosions around them. Perhaps a few more cops around a little faster? And Ewan it dumping all the cargo off a flatbed, while getting shot at, and the driver doesn't, I don't know...STOP!? I know that if I saw someone throwing all my cargo off I'd at least stop and ask him what the fuck he thinks he was doing to my truck. But maybe that's just me.

In any case, there are a lot of good parts. The sci-fi aspects of the story were very well done in my opinion, and Ewan does a great job as well. It just gets over shadowed by the idiotic action. Then again what was I expecting from the great mind that brough us Armageddon and Pearl Harbor (Michael Bay you have lost me forever, not that you ever really had me to begin with). Oh, and Scarlett, while not at her best, is still very good, and very hot.

RATING: Worth a rental, so you can skip all the misplaced action sequences and try to focus on the story.

PS - As much as I rag on Nicolas Cage, and as much as I tend to dislike him, he can't help but continue to weasel his way into my heart with movies like Matchstick Men, Adaptation, and the upcoming releases of The Weather Man and Lord of War (both of which I am highly looking forward to). With two good performances in those movies I might just have to forgive him for The Rock, Con Air, Face/Off, City of Angels (yes ladies, I know you guys like this one), Snake Eyes, 8mm, Gone in Sixty Seconds, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, and Windtalkers. Well...now that I think about it he still does have some work to do. Although from what I've heard, after I finally get around to seeing Leaving Las Vegaas and Raising Arizona, I might bump him up a little too. (PPS - Yes, I have seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and I never thought it was all that good. So it's a wash for Cage on that one).

Posted by Thom at 12:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I appologize to anyone out there who checked in and found nothing new posted recently. I've been rather busy this week with meetings and visits. However, it definitely was a good busy with a 3 day visit from Steff. I've also been slack on updating my flickr account, but in that situation I just hadn't taken many pictures recently. I do however have a good number from Steff's visit and my mom's visit which I hope to get up later this evening (or by tomorrow evening at the very latest).

In other news, I am now a proud owner of my very own ipod. I have finally fully come around to this digiatl age (with my recent additions of a digital camera, online picture posting, semi-regular blogging, and my new ipod). In a weird twist though, the ipod was a suggestion of my mother (on of the least technical people, no offense mom). It also turned out to be a perfect suggestion too, as it will save me a lot of packing space when I head off to Beijing. Insted of having to narrow down my cd collection to a handful, and then having to find room for those, I can just throw them all onto the ipod (I do have a 60 gig one, so they should all fit) and carry that around. So good going on that one mom.

I've also slowly begun the packing process, sending the first batch home with my mom last night (although it was only jackets and chairs). Next up, packing all my books and dvds (which shouldn't be too bad, I hope). It is kind of sad to have to box it all up and move, but it's more than time. I've been here over my standard 12 months, and everyone else from the area (except for Bri) has left, making it rather quite (and lonely). However, this does mean that for any of you out there that are still in the Rochester area, and want to get together sometime, I will be all moved back to Greece by the 7th. And there I shall stay until the 27th. So hopefully I should have enough time to see all the people that I've been sadly out of contact with lately.

And as a last, sad note, for all you NYC people, it doesn't look like I'll be able to make it into the city again as I had hoped. Finances and time are just running too short. Sorry if I missed any of you the last time, but I shall do my best to make it up in the spring.

Posted by Thom at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Three entries in one day! Amazing! This almost makes up for my months of non-posting...almost. In any case let's get down to business. As you may have read in my earlier posts, there will be another clambake in Rochester this year, and you've all been unofficially invited. Time for that to change. You are all now officially invited to the clam bake. So here is the official invitation, direct from my mother:

Please Join Us for a Clam Bake

(Overnight accommodations are available)

That having been posted, I doubt that you will be restricted from attending if you don't RSVP in time, and I also highly doubt you'll be punished for RSVP'ing and not showing up, however it would be greatly appreciated so we can get an approximate headcount for the festivities (including an estimate on the number we shall need to house after the night winds down). So feel free to contact me through comments to this (or future) posts, or through other channels you may have to get in touch with either me or my mother to RSVP or with any other questions/comments you may have. I hope you all can and will attend. I'm sure a fun time will be had by all.

Posted by Thom at 5:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So I had one of the strangest of dreams last night. It wasn't very long, or very deep, but it was definitly odd. In my dream it seems that after shunning MTV, NIN had decided to completely sell out...in a very strange way. They decided to play the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. So there they were, up on stage, lights flashing, rocking out to Hand That Feeds, with models in underwear wakling around them, and a gigantic screen behind them flashed images of scantly clad women and images of Bush (a very, very odd combination). As me and my roommates watched on TV (in this dream world I was still living with Cross and Emily), we found nothing at all wrong with the situation. However, upon waking I had a couple of unanswered questions:
1 - Why would NIN play a Victoria's Secret show?
2 - Why would I be watching this on TV?
3 - Why would Cross and Em be watching with me?
4 - Why are MTV such pussies?

If you, or somebody you know had any information regaurding these Unsolved Mysteries call our hotline at 1-800-GO-DREAMS! Thank you for your time.

Posted by Thom at 2:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So it's been a month of poker now, and I've come to a conclusion, it's not the right time. Many peolpe have their "moment of clarity", and mine came last night. After playing solid poker for 4 hours, and working my way up to $375, I made a foolish mistake that made it clear to me that I'm not ready to do this for a living. Insted of just walking away, as I would have normally done, I focused in on my recent loses, and my overall bankroll, and decided to stay. Now to compound this error (which in itself was a big one), I tried to force a marginal hand, misread my opponent, and made a terrible call on the river, resulting in an aproximate $300 loss. The following hand, steaming from the mistake, and hoping to regain some of my losses, I went all-in (once again in another spot I probably should not have) and lost what was left of my stack. So insted of playing it smart, as I intended to do, and walking away +250, I stayed, played a cocky, stupid game and limped away -100.

So where does this leave us? I've decided that the pressures of playing proffessionally are too much for me at this point in my life, and so I've decided on an early retirement. Seeing as how I have only 3 weeks left in Dryden, and I won't be in Rochester long enough to get one there (plus I have a lot of trips planned, which will eat into that time as well) there is no time left to find a new job. Also, I don't plan on giving up playing poker altogether. This may seem to be merely ceremonial then, but much like my relationship changes with Steff, there are deeper changes at work here. With the pressures of making a living from cards gone I will now be able to play much more relaxed, and not feel the need to force hands or situations in order to win. In an odd way, I wouldn't be surprised if I won back most of my loses during the rest of the summer. And who knows, maybe I will later return to a life of cards once I get back to the US (after all, I still do need to hit up Vegas and Foxwoods at some point). But until that happens I will just go back to the role of part-time gambler and full-time student.

Posted by Thom at 1:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So as I continue on in my summer quest to be a respectable gambler, I've come to examine the idea of lucky charms. Normally I would just pass them off as a waste of time, or just plain crazy, but I've also come to realize that there is some real truth to them. Now I'm not saying that my months of gambling have made me crack and become all mystical. I am still the sceptical, analizing, mathematical, ew-engineer that you've all come to know and love. So along those lines, I'm not claiming to believe that there is some underlying "luck" that some people have more of, or that certain charms and talesmens have special powers to increase this luck stat. We all have the same relative amounts of luck in our daily lives and over the long term it tends to even itself out. True there are those that seem to always be lucky, but there are always the statistical anomalies. As low as the probability may be for some event (or string of events), as long as it's not zero there is still a chance that it will happen.

But having said that, I have still found some truth to good luck charms, and it all boils down to a very simple idea: the mind is a very powerful thing. Convince someone that he can do something and he'll stand a much better chance of accomplishing it. He will be more confident, and that confidence will translate into success. And to a certain extent, good luck charms play this role. A man sits down at the poker table with his lucky Spongebob doll (which has "won it for him before" despite the fact that it is a 2" piece of plastic) and he goes on to win $300. While Spongebob probably had no effect on the cards or the other players (other than making them question his mental state), it has made the man calmer and more confident, which translates into better, more solid play.

I've also managed to discover my own good luck charm. However, unfortunatly for me it's Steff, who at the moment is 200 miles away in NYC. She was there for almost all of my big wins in the beginning, and gone for all of my big loses. While she may be a little woo-woo, she doesn't possess any magical powers that I know of. For if she did I'm sure she would have used them to end her earlier losing streak. Instead she acts as my own calming charm. Having her around helps me relax. She sets my mind at ease and lets me concentrate on my playing when I need to, and to be detached enough to not chase stupid pots when I shouldn't. She also is around afterwards to give me a hug and cheer me up if I lose, which ironically takes the pressures of winning off me and makes me less nervous and more confident at the table, leading to wins (and no need for cheering up). It's also a great boost to the ego to have an attractive woman constantly telling you that you're a great player (despite the fact that I know that I'm not great, but merely solid at best). And last but not least it's a nice distraction to have a cute poker playing female (whether or not you're dating) come over to check on you from time to time (it's also tends to throw the other players at the table off as they assume that she is my girlfriend, and therefore become jealous that I have a poker playing girlfriend).

Now I know that once you get higher up in the poker world these things become less important, as you already know that you are a great player, and know that you can and will win, but at my current level of play not having Steff around has proven to leave me sorely lacking in these areas. It's shown up in my play, in my decision making process, and in my poker income sheet. My only two hopes are: 1 - having realized all this I can soemhow incorporate it into my play (thereby calming and settling me down, or through the use of some other lesser charm), or
2 - with the upcoming visit from Steff I can once again get myself back on a more solid track.

So for me, next Tuesday can't come soon enough...

Posted by Thom at 6:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So Lucas has finally done it. He's finished bastardizing the Star Wars Trilogy and completed the Hextology (or whatever it's called). Now it's my time to chime in and shift through the rumble to see what's left and where all these movies rank. Let's start from the bottom...the very very deep bottom...

#6 Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Not only does this installment have the worst title (even Ewan McGregor laughed when he heard the title, thinking it must have been a joke), it is also the worst in the series. Now I know many of you out there will disagree with me, claiming that it was bad, but still better than Episode I. You're wrong though, and here's why... First off, Episode I had a lot of hype, which was impossible to live up to. Episode II, on the other hand, came after that stinker. By then Lucas must have known full well that he had messed up, and needed badly to improve with the second, which he certainly did not. Secondly, and more importantly in my book, Episode II was just a mess. The action was lame, the light-saber duel at the end was dull (these are some of the top Jedi? Ha! Luke did a better job after like a month of training), and the only saving grace was Yoda's nice fight scene (which, by the way, I disapprove of. I mean if the dude can't even walk he can't hop around like a kangaroo, come on). Oh, and let's not forget the best part, that fantastic dialogue. I wrote better text in my 8th grade English class. Not only was the love story poorly written (and acted), not even Ewan or Christopher Lee could save the script most of the time. This movie isn't a fixer-upper, it need to be torn down and completely redone.

#5 Episode I: The Phantom Menace
This film also sucked, hardcore. But it still edges out Ep. II in my book. I've stated some of my reasoning already, but what it comes down to is rather simple. While both I and II sucked, I needs a lot less work to fix. Kill off JarJar, rework some of the Anakin stuff (like the piloting at the end, and maybe some of the pod race) and you have a workable movie. Maybe it still wouldn't be up to par with IV-VI, but it'd've been respectable. It doesn't need the whole rewrite the Ep. II does. Also, there are some saving graces in Ep. I. The light-saber battle is awsome (in my book it was the best one, short of the Clone Wars shorts), it paints a nice back story picture to the whole universe, and has some rather decent acting talent in there too.

#4 Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Some critics argue that this one belongs in the same category as IV-VI (in fact the idiot reviewer from Rochester even went as far to put it ahead of Jedi, moron), but it doesn't belong. It is good, and a gigantic leep up from the first two, but it's not quite there. People who rank it that high are rushing to judgement and forgetting just how good the first three were. They see how much better than I or II it was and think that it must then be up with IV, V, and VI. But look again. There are plenty of holes and problems (some of them minor, some a little deeper). First off, I must applaud them for filling some problem areas and questions I had going into III (like why doesn't 3PO remember any of this?), but they missed some too (Leia remembers her mother who died during childbirth? And Luke doesn't, despite the fact that he was born first?). That's ok though, at least they tried. Let's get into the bigger problems. The dialogue is still horrid at times (at times meaning almost all of the time), even Ewan and Natalie can't save it (although the jury is still out on wether Portman is a real actress in my book). Also the CG was sub-par at times for a Lucas production (that count Doku leap in the beginning reminded me of the terrible fight scene from the Martix 2, ugh) and what's with the whole cartoony emperor? He gets wrinkled and lunny all at the same time, and it's just silly to the point of stupidity. My other glaring question (which isn't so much a production/writing thing as much as it is a story line thing) is about the Jedi themselves. It was nearly impossible to kill a Jedi in Ep. I, in fact it only happened by a Sith after a long hard battle, and they could deflect everything ever shot at them, but Jedi master after Jedi master die at the hands of a dozen clones? Maybe if they caught them by surprise, but that didn't seem to happen all that much in that sequence. Also I know that Anakin is a great fighter, but a squad (although a rather large one) and him alone take out the entire Jedi temple? It must have been pretty empty at that point. Three master Jedi also go down rather fast to Palpatine, but I can forgive this one a little. He is a Sith Lord, catches them half by surprise, and is fighting in close quarters. So I'll give them a pass on that one. Also I'd like to think that Grevious (with a 4:1 light-saber edge and a superior strength and size) could have taken Obi-wan, or at least made it a little closer. I mean he basically got his ass handed to him. In the end though Episode III stands apart from I and II, but it also stands apart (and below) the originals. Good try, but not quite enough.

#1-3 Episodes IV-VI
I can try and rate these and rank them all I want, but it seems to change daily in my mind. It's also a matter of personal taste to some extent. Do you like the originality and newness of IV, the sadness and gloominess of V, or the larger scale (and furriness) of VI? All were, and still are, fantastic movies. The cast was amazing (Ford, Hammel, and the ever hot Fisher), the writing wasn't exactly Shakespearean prose, but it was still solid, the stories were engaging, the environments and characters were beautiful and unique. It is a world that can never really be topped or duplicated. All that being said, let me give a shot at ranking them. Keep in mind that in my mind they are all so close, and it's almost hard to think of them seperately (almost like Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2). But anyway...

1 - New Hope - This one started it all, and even with the limited budget it was amazing. We're introduced to almost all the important characters in the Star Wars trilogy (minus the emperor, yoda, boba fett, and lando of course) and story has a beginning, middle and end.
Negatives: "These blaster marks are too accurate for sand people"...but those imperial troops that can never hit anything could make those shots? Ha! Umm...not too much else I can complain about. Unless of course we want to talk about the physics problems (but it was a galaxy far away and long ago, maybe the rules were different there)
Positives: Great story, movie stands on its own, great action, a classic all around

2 - Return of the Jedi - Some say it's cheesy, some hate the ewoks, but I love it. It has the great Jabba scenes (Rancor!), the fantastically layered ending (3 major plotlines overlapping at once), and the great struggle between Luke and Vader (and Vader and Vader).
Negatives: Ewoks are too cute and cuddly (still better than Jar Jar), Yoda dies, Boba Fett dies.
Positives: Great battle scenes, lots of memorable worlds and returning/new characters, Lando kicks ass.

3 - Empire Strikes Back - Yes, every snob says that this was the best of all. It had drama, sadness, Luke vs. Vader part I, the hand, the father, carbonite, etc. But if we're taking these films seperate this one has the hardest time standing alone I think. Yeah people like the downer ending, but much like the 2nd Matrix film, it not only leaves room for a third, but it makes a third film necessary. There is little if any closure. Also, with all the complaints about muppets and all why does no one ever complain about Yoda? I guess he's just too cool and above all that...
Negatives: No closure or solid end, front heavy action.
Positives: Hoth is one of the most memorable locales (and always the best stage in any Star Wars game), who doesn't love Yoda, Lando and Boba Fett show up and rock the house, dramaic end with Vader's confession, Luke's missing hand, and Han's freezing.

So there's where we are. The simple rating system puts them at IV, VI, V, III, I, II. And if I were a betting man, and I am, I'd wager that many of you out there will disagree with me (I've yet to find anyone who actually agrees with my last three, let alone all six), and you're welcome to voice your digust. I mean if you can't rant like a lunatic on the internet then where can you? Other than a NYC street corner perhaps...

Posted by Thom at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So last weekend I was invited down to New York City to enjoy the fireworks, and of course the hotdog eating contest. Naturally, I accepted the offer and headed on down. I arrived into town and was graciously greeted by my hosts (and blog hoster) Dan and Katie. They wisked me off to a birthday party at one of the nicest Manhatan apartments I have ever seen. Now I'm sure there are nicer ones around, but being a 24yr-old upstate student it was still nicer than anything I could imagine owning/leasing at this point in my life. I also felt like I was back in my old Cornell days as I was surrounded by asians. I believe the exact numbers came to something like 4 white people, 2 black guys, and about 20 asians. So toss in a handful of Indian people and you'd have the typical Cornell demographic. I also felt even more at home when one of the party goers popped in his copy of Episode III (yes, that Episode III). It was a rather good quality copy, although it was a bit difficult to read the openning credits seeing as how they were in Russian (thankfully the dialogue was still in English).

There were other fun NYC activities as well, but the main event of the weekend came on the 4th when we all got up bright and early to trek all the way down to Coney Island to catch the 2005 Nathan's Famous Hotdog Eating Contest. It was everything I could have hoped for and more with over the top theatrics (think pro wrestling event), a live rap perfomance by one of the eaters ("Badlands" Booker, and it lived up to his name, bad), and even a kids event (cute, but kind of lame at the same time). Of course the highlight was watching the 100lb. Sonya Thomas go head to head with the 140lb. Kobeyashi (both of whom destroyed the rest of the field). Sonya managed to keep pace in the early going, but as expected, the Japanese wonder eventually pulled away. You can all check out my pre-contest photos at my flickr account.

But the trip wasn't all about NYC and having fun. I also managed to make my way down to Atlantic City and get in some "work". Having never personally been to Vegas yet (I will get there eventually) I can't say for sure, but AC is still no Vegas. They try, and it's a great place and atmosphere, but it's just not got the same umph to it. However, me and my escort (Steff) managed to make up for that by finding the cheapest, sleaziest hotel room available and exploiting the parking garage at the Sands (honestly, we meant to go into that casino...). We also got to lay out on the beach for about an hour the next morning too, and I got to go out into water that wasn't overly polluted by Kodak! One of the highlights of that day had to be the woman we encountered on the boardwalk on our way back to the car. I had stopped to put on my shoes, and overheard this woman ranting on. Of course, I looked up to see who she was talking to...only to discover that there was nobody within 50ft of her. However, unlike your typical crazy bum on the streets, she spoke so eliquently and clearly and with such passion that I half expected to find a crowd of 50 around here, clamoring to hear more about how her soul-mate had been killed by terrorist in San Francisco. In the end, I felt sad for her and her lost lover. Although I'm not quite sure if the loss of her soul-mate was the cause or product of her insanity. Either way it was rather saddening.

On more of an upper, I also got to spend some time in Redbanks, NJ. We had stopped in on our way down to visit the Kevin Smith area, and stopped in again on our way back up to NY to eat at Steff's favorite place. Normally that would mean that it wouldn't realy be one of my favorites (since my whole love of meat tends to clash with her veganism), but I must say I was very impressed with the place. And although the peanut-butter sandwhich I had sounds very normal and boring, it was by far the greatest one I've ever had. It even had apples and honey in it (supposed to be bananas, but they were out, and I think the apples worked better anyway). Very tasty. And if I could remember the name of the place I'd reccommend it to you all...but I can't. Sorry.

I also got to spend some time in the city with both Steff and her boy Steve, mainly at Steff's cozy basement apartment (nice color scheme to the place Steff). And to fully complete my visit to the big city, I got the pleasure of killing a cockroach that Steff managed to find under her sink (although there are beliefs that it was already dead, but I'm still taking credit for it).

All in all it was a very fun, memorably enjoyable trip, and I hope to make it down to the city again soon to visit the people that I missed this time around (and maybe stop in to see the ones I saw this time as well). But until then I will enjoy my simpler life in Upstate NY (which for the LI and city folk means just about any part of the state above the Bronx).

PS - Congratulations to Neil and Rachel on the engagment. Sorry I didn't get to stop in and say hi while I was down, but it seems like you two had a busy enough weekend as it was. I will definitely stop in to see you the next trip down (assuming you're not out of town).

Posted by Thom at 1:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So I'm delaying the NYC recap for a little later and insted I'm going to share my review of my most recent movie viewing: Fantastic Four. Before going I checked it out on RottenTomatoes.com, as I usually do with most movies, and noticed that it had received only a 25%. Now normally that would turn me off, but I was still in the mood for mindless entertainment. Now I must say that this wasn't the greatest movie I've ever seen, and sure there were problems with it, but it was much better than the 25% it got. So I went back and looked at the complaints, only to find that it was the critics that tanked the rating. The most common claims were as follows:

1 - It doesn't stack up to Spiderman
2 - It doesn't stack up to Batman Begins
3 - Scientists can't be hot (i.e. Invisible Woman)
4 - Too much time on the origins of the characters

So let's approach these in reverse order...

4 - Too much time on the origins of the characters
You cannot possiblly claim this and say that Batman Begins was fantastic. That's as contradictory as it comes. Sure there was a bunch of time spent on the origin part, but you need that. You need some back story. All first run superhero movies have it. Look at Spiderman 1, The Hulk, etc. Hell Batman Begins spent most of the movie on it, and it's basically the 5th Batman movie (3rd good one).

3 - Invisible Woman was too hot
Well duh. I know she's a scientist, and there's the stereotype that scientists can't be hot, but she has to be. It's not believable that two men would be after her love if she was ugly. Plus this is a movie. You need eye candy. And although I didn't read too much of the Fantastic 4 comics, from what I did see I don't remember Mrs. Storm being a dog. Next!

2 - Of course it doesn't stack up to Batman Begins. Batman Begins was a dramatic action movie about a comic book. Fantastic 4 is an comic book action movie. Those are two very different things. As I have learned from Mr. Cross, you should rate movies based on what they are. This isn't an Oscar picture. It's a summertime fun movie. It may be true that even when it is compared to other comic book movies Fantastic 4 may not stand out as one of the tops, but it's not the bottom one either. However, trying to compare it to Batman Begins is as stupid as trying to compare it to Fightclub. I mean both Fantastic 4 and Fightclub were based on books of sorts, so why not! Hey, why not compare it to 12 Monkeys, both of those have numbers in the title!

1 - It's no Spiderman (or Spiderman 2)
Finally a semi-reasonable argument. The problem here is that the Spiderman pictures were (in my opinion at least) the hands down best comic book movies made. And just because a movie doesn't live up to the best movie ever made in that genre that doesn't mean that it's complete shit. Going by that reasoning Episode III deserves to be grouped with Eps. I and II. I have yet to find anyone who would agree with that one (besides the random Starwars hater who thinks that all the movies should be tossed out the window, but they don't count). But alas, the Starwars ratings is a post for another time, so back to the issue at hand.

Where does that leave us? Fantastic 4 may have its problem areas (Human Torch in an X-game type event?), but it's not all bad. True it's not the greatest comic book movie ever made, but it's still watchable. It may not deserve to be a high 80's or 90's movie on Rottentomatoes, but it doesn't deserve a 25% either.

RATING: Worth a cheap ticket (full price if you're in the mood or have a lot of money), worth a rental.

Posted by Thom at 2:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So as many of you may already know I spent the 4th of July weekend in NYC visiting a few of my ever growing number of friends living there. Needless to say it was a great time, with plenty of fine stories, but after the long, construction-filled drive back tonight, and after my unpacking/re-settling in, I don't have the energy to make a full post concerning the trip. That will have to wait until tomorrow when I officially have nothing at all planned (other than catching up on the phone calls I've been meaning to make, the emails I've been meaning to respond to, the pictures I've been meaning to post, the blog entries I've been meaning to make, and the cleaning I've been meaning to do...oh, and I might try to make a trip up to Turning Stone as well at some point in there). But as for some minor highlights:

-I got to see the hot dog eating contest (along with the famous Sonya Thomas).
-I got to hang out with Dan and Katie (thanks again for the hospitality).
-I got to visit NJ (I know, that doesn't sound like fun, but I had a good guide to make it enjoyable).
-I got to hit Atlantic City (winning $50 and crashing at one of the most fantastic crappy hotels ever).
-I got to catch up and hang out with Steff.
-And, I got to take a full memory card of photos along the way (although I did slightly cheat at the end by taking a couple long videos of the home poker game), which I need to sort through and post to my flickr account (which you should all check out, it's liked through my AIM name [thom0419]...I'm too lazy and regressively CS-illiterate to remember the coding for links off the top of my head).

I promise at least two new posts within the next two days filling in all the details of the trip, as well as a few other things, so keep checking in.

Posted by Thom at 12:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So as I was driving back from Rochester this week I began thinking about Startrek. Now I had just watched a great episode (starring Warf, the greatest character of all time), so this wasn't a complete tangent. But then I got thinking about all the different species in the Startrek universe, and how they all seem to interbreed, and how improbable this all is. I mean I'll grant you almost every premise on the show, ranging from the faster than light travel, the insane message speed across space and time, the way that so many groups have come together to work as one (ha! we can't even do that here on Earth), and the lack of money in the Federation, but the cross-breeding? That seems a bit unbelievable.

Now before I continue with this rant I must get a few things clear. I am no biology or genetics nerd. In fact I know very little since most sciences outside of Physics never sat that well with me, especially since all experimental science always seemed to blow up in my face (sometimes literally). So having said that I may be wrong in some of my arguements, and I encourage any of you more educated people out there to set me staight whenever I am off track. That being said, let me continue.

First, the idea that there are like 50 different species that are all very humanoid in appearance seems very unlikely in my book. But add to that the fact that all these species can interbreed and produce fertile cross-species offspring seems unplausable. From my understanding of this, this does not happen here on Earth. If you were to say interbreed a cat and a monkey, you would not get a monkey-cat (although that would be really cool if you could!). So why can you cross-breed a Kligon and a Vulcan? (On a side note that would be one hell of a combination, I doubt that kid would know what to do with himself. Be reserved and passive, or be violent and kill everything?) But maybe, with such closely "related" species you could mix around like this, sort of like mutts. But then we're left at the other big problem, what the hell are the odds that so many species would for independent of each other and then all come into contact with one another? Judging from what we've all been told by conspiracy theorists and drunken red-necks, aliens are actually big-headed, big-eyed, anally obsesed little people, not pointy eared space-elves.

In the end, maybe this is what really makes Star Wars so much better. The aliens in that galaxy are all over the place. And I doubt they have any Wookie-Nautolan cross-breeding (I can't even imagine what would come from that). So in summation, Ep. III may be better than I and II, but it still has too many faults to be placed with Iv, V, or VI. Better luck next time George.

Posted by Thom at 3:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)