I haven't seen the movie The Golden Compass yet but their website has this neat tool that pairs you with some kind of animal spirit called a daemon (pronounced just like demon). In the fantasy world the movie is based on each person is split into a physical form and a spiritual form - their human body is the physical and the animal is their spiritual half. On the website they have a 20 question personality quiz that they use to match you up with a Daemon. My daemon is currently a female lion (daemons are almost always opposite gender to the physical half) named Theonella.

However, it is possible I don't really know myself as well as my friends and family do. So they have this add-on questionaire that you guys can answer to help better identify my daemon. So, if you don't mind please just answer these quick questions and we will see how it ends up. We only have 12 days to further refine my daemon before it is finalized so please just take a moment now to complete it. Thanks

#Movies #FunStuff #General #Geekiness #ThisSite

I just watched a short documentary on Google called "A Girl Like Me" by Kiri Davis that discusses the view Black women, and children, can have of themselves. While it isn't a surprising story it is a sad testimony about the point we are at dealing with race in America.

The saddest part of an entirely sad movie for me was when the little girl was trapped by the series of questions. She was first asked to pick which baby was the "good" one (between a white and black baby doll). She picked the white one. Then she was asked to pick the bad one and she picked the black one. Next she was asked why one was good and the other bad and the young girl (maybe 6) choose their skin color for her determining factor. Finally, the interviewer asked the young girl which one looked like her and, reluctantly, the girl pushed the black one forward. Six is way too young to a self-image that equates to "bad" and it is a shame that is based purely on the fact that she is Black.

#Movies #Commentary

#Movies #MovieReview

You may not know this but back in the early 1970's the entire Marshall University football team died in a horrific plane crash as it approached their plane approached the Huntington WV airport. It is considered the biggest tragedy in US sports history. There have been a few different documentaries that tell the tale of Marshall's rise from "ashes to glory" where they managed to win the NCAA 1-AA championships in the mid 1990's (including a perfect season in 1996). Now there is an actual drama being made that details the crash and the following season where Marshall managed to rebuild a team, and in the process, help bring some healing to a devastated community. The film, We Are Marshall, is scheduled to be released on Dec 22, 2006 - but you can see the trailer right now! The link takes you to the full screen version (it is better that way) and requires the "flash" player. If you would prefer to watch the film in a smaller version (for those with a dialup connection http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/mf/frame?theme=minfo&lid=qtv-56-p.1478547-172059,wmv-56-p.1477979-172...">here is a link for that as well.

#Movies

Instead of a movie review, today I offer you a movie preview. As a preface let me say I am not, in anyway, a NASCAR fan. However, the movie, "Talladega Nights - The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" looks fantastically funny. It stars Will Farrell as a NASCAR driver and the events that occur in his life. Normally I am not that big of a Will Farrell fan but he seems perfectly cast for this movie. True, I have only seen the trailer - but I laughed WAY out loud during the trailer. Look for this movie in August of 2006 - hopefully it will be as funny, if not funnier, than the trailer!

#Movies

The mission, and I chose to accept it, was to endure MI:3 last friday night. I entered the theater with very little hope of being entertained. The first two movies in the series were bad. The second, in fact, was one of the worst movies I have ever watched. Yet, for some strange reason, I was there, in the padded seat, waiting for Tom Cruise to once again make a mockery of the Mission Impossible franchise but then something happened - this movie had a decent story. Sure, there were scenes where I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough but that's ok because over the top events are a core of Mission Impossible; I mean, they are Impossible Missions afterall.

MI:3 started with a hook that pulled me in and, while there were times I rolled my eyes, I stayed and actually enjoyed this movie. In fact, If someone asked me for a action movie recommendation I wouldn't be embarrased to send them to this one. Tom Cruise was alright even if I couldn't help but imagine him jumping up and down on a couch everytime he smiled. His costars were better even if they were just fluff on the sides of a movie that focused almost purely on Cruise's character Ethan Hunt.

In this movie he actually took on 4 impossible missions. The first was a rescue mission for a star pupil. The second was a kidnapping, the third a theft of "the rabbits foot" (the key plot device), and the final was another rescue; this time of his love interest. I don't want to spoil how any of the missions worked out but each had it's ups and downs and even a bit of humor.

In the end, I thought the resolution was pretty predictable and kind of easy - but overall it was still a good movie.

RATING7

#Movies #MovieReview

Hotel Rwanda is a powerful and gripping movie made all the moreso because it is based in a reality so ugly and violent and, worst of all, recent. I very rarely feel any emotional connection with a movie. They are just a series of bits meant to entertain and that is how I like it; an escape. However, at times, a movie will draw me in and actually draw an emotional response from me. Typically, I just find joy in movies. Hotel Rwanda evoked anger and sadness. This movie is more than just a brief history of the struggles of the citizens of Rwanda - it is a commentary on our worlds politics and the nature of man. To tell a long story in one word - ugly.

I mourn for the million Rwandan men, women, and children who died senseless deaths due to bigotry and hatred based on a cultural divide that was forced upon a people by early Dutch settlers and propgated over the centuries. In one scene in the movie, that seemed kind of forced, a news cameraman (played by Jaquin Phoenix) asks to Rwandan ladies if they are Hutu or Tutsi. The first responds Tutsi the second Hutu. Jaquin's character seems baffled because, quite frankly, there is nothing about either that seems to separate them - they are simply two beautiful women sharing time over drinks at a bar before the troubles begin. One day later the Tutsi is in fear for her life simply because that was how her ancestors were categorized.

The movie is full of painful scenes and difficult choices for the main character Paul Rusesabagina, played by Don Cheadle, that force him into even more painful circumstances ranging from seeing his countrymen kill one another to fearing his family has commited suicide and to believing a good friend has been murdered. Paul is a hero for what he does in the face of these incredible horrors. Too often the word hero is thrown around to anyone who survives a horrible encounter. Paul Rusesabagina is a hero not because he survives but because he thrived in the face of adversity and through his own actions helped save the lives of over 1000 people who otherwise would have been senselessly slaughtered.

If you only see one movie this year, and you haven't seen Hotel Rwanda yet, let it be this one. It is a riviting story about an atrocity that happened just in the past decade but whose truths were only recently exposed to most people outside of Rwanda.

RATING10

#Movies #MovieReview

The Day After Tomorrow was much better than I expected it to be. The story, to a meterological ignoramus such as myself made the events seem plausible if not a little preachy. I though the acting was pretty good, the special effects were nearly incredible, and it was easy to feel for the main characters.

I did, however, have a few problems with the movie. First off, if it was so damn cold why did people keep taking off their gloves when going outside? And why didn't they ever stick to any of the metal when they did so? Why did the main character (played by Dennis Quaid) feel the need to walk to Manhattan and on his way from DC why did he have to pass Ellis Island? The escaped wolves seemed forced into the story line just for dramatic effect and at times the city model during the catastrophe seemed out of scale.

Even with these gripes the movie was fun to watch and to anyone looking for a fairly good movie to watch one night I would recommend The Day after Tomorrow.

RATING6

#Movies #MovieReview

The Manchurian Candidate is a movie in the same vein as Jacob's Ladderin that soldiers are unwittingly used in odd psychological ways. However, that is where the similarity between the two movies ends. Where Jacob's Ladder becomes a strange and spooky tale of the effects of the drugs The Manchurian Candidate shows a more nefarious purpose behind the mind control efforts. This 2004 retelling of a 1962 classic movie updates the story a bit by attaching it to the Gulf War of the early 1990's and ties in modern concerns such as terrorism and geopolitics. Denzel Washington, as always, does a fine job and his counterpart in this movie, Liev Schreiber (Sgt Raymond Shaw) is equally well cast.

The movie has various interesting plot twists - some of which are painfully obvious as they approach - and others subtly disturbing. The end is both perfectly fitting and flawed in a weak "cop-out" kind of way (but not so flawed that it hurts the overall movie). I would definitely recommend this movie.

RATING8

#Movies #MovieReview

Lisa and I recently went to the Steve Martin movie "Shopgirl" which, unlike most Steve Martin movies, is a drama. "Shopgirl" was actually written by Steve Martin as well. Overall, the movie was pretty decent. It's hard to have to strong an opinion about a movie in which I only cared about one character - the star, Claire Dannes (playing as Mirabelle).

Mirabelle is a struggling artist who moved to LA from Connecticut to pursue her art career. To make ends meet she works at Saks Fifth Avenue at a special counter that sells fancy gloves. Her life is dark, depressing, boring, and lonely. In general she seems like someone who is missing a lot in life. Then she meets two men. The first is a young guy, Jeremy played by Jason Schwartzman, who is a complete ass. He works as an artist/laborer for an amplifier company (making amps for guitars). He is totally selfish and self-absorbed. He basically just wants to get with Mirabelle for the sex and his attitude generally sucks. Why she pays attention to him at all, even given her crappy life, is a mystery.

The second guy is an older millionaire, Ray Porter played by Steve Martin, who acts sensitive and caring but who is really just looking for some young ass while he is in LA for work. Mirabelle doesn't realize he is just using her though and she slowly falls in love with him while Jeremy is on the road discovering himself with a rock band that whose lead singer is deeply into meditation and "new age" CDs.

The entire movie is filmed with fairly dark lighting and has very clean visuals. The dialog is pretty well written and the acting is good. Steve Martin does a surprisingly strong job considering your natural desire to laugh when he talks. He does serious well. Claire Dannes has grown from the last time I might have seen her in either "Little Women" or "Romeo + Juliet". She lends an awkward beauty to a dark and troubled role. Overall, I enjoyed the movie even though it was a bit dry and moved slowly at times. I'm not sure I can recommend it to everyone as it is a niche film and It's hard to say if you will enjoy it or not.

RATING5

#Movies #MovieReview