Category Archives: Movies

Old Man’s War Movie Confirmed

Paramount Buys ‘Old Man’s War’ For Wolfgang Petersen And Scott Stuber – Deadline.com via The Whatever

Paramount Pictures has acquired screen rights to the John Scalzi novel series Old Man’s War, with Wolfgang Petersen attached to direct and David Self adapting the tale into a large-scale science fiction project.

OMG! Yes! This news is way too amazing. John Scalzi is easily my favorite still-writing science fiction author, and Old Man’s War is an amazing book. Maybe our BN will finally carry it if they make it into a movie. Why we carry the sequels, The Ghost Brigade, The Last Colony, and Zoe’s Tale, without carrying the first book in the series boggles me.
Old Man’s War is about mankind’s battle for territory far from its original homeworld, Earth. Unlike most science fiction settings in which Earth is humanity’s capital, the Colonial Union uses planet Phoenix as its capital, getting new people from Earth while keeping the nations of Earth largely in the dark about how technologically advanced it really is. The Colonial Defense Force uses senior citizens for its soldiers, transferring their minds into genetically-engineered super-soldiers.
It’s going to be a sweet movie.

Due Date

I saw Due Date (2010) at the dollar theater tonight. It looked funny in the commercials, although I wasn’t really expecting much. Now, I realize it’s not an amazing movie deserving of gushing, but I found it much, much funnier than I expected. I’ll definitely want to watch it again in the future. Robert Downey Jr. plays a responsible man with an anger problem who winds up in a lot trouble because of Zach Galifianakis’s character. Some people seem to like Zach Galifianakis a lot. I didn’t have a problem with him in the movie, but I didn’t think it was great either. I always like Robert Downey Jr., and he didn’t disappoint.
Well, I didn’t mean to talk so much about this movie. I just enjoyed it, that’s all!

Various Things

Hello world!
Today felt like a good day for the most part! That’s always a plus. The store was super busy for a while, and I spent a while in music. Things went fairly well though, which is always a confidence boost.
I played Agricola a few days ago with some friends. It’s a board game focused on farming with the goal of having a balanced farm. I scored 25 while my friends scored in the 40s. Oh well! Next time I might actually know how to play, because I didn’t grok it until a couple hours into it.
I finished Daredevil Visionaries – Frank Miller Vol. 2, collecting issues #168-182, which was really good. I never realized how totally awesome Daredevil was, and I can thank Kyle at work for getting me interested.
Lately I’ve felt in the mood to watch some movies or television but wasn’t sure what to watch. I prefer funny over serious usually, and the only thing funny I still had was Sex and the City. I watched two episodes and thought it was pretty bad. I think it’s supposed to be empowering towards women, but the show trivializes sex. Then last night I started asking for suggestions for movies and watching more Sex and the City. Three more episodes into the series, and I think I’m liking it, although I dislike how it portrays sex. I know, that’s kind of weird considering that’s what the show is about.
Anyways, recommended movies were But I’m a Cheerleader, Little Miss Sunshine, My Best Friend’s Girl, Couples Retreat, and Private Benjamin. I had seen the first two but not the last three, so I’m going to try to watch those soon. (Side note: After getting the recommendations, I claimed that I thought Little Miss Sunshine was okay. And just now I checked my movie log, and I gave it a 10/10. It doesn’t seem to hold up in my memory, but I must have enjoyed it a lot when I watched it. Odd.) Today when Andy found out that I had watched more Sex and the City, he gave me a stack of DVDs – Social Network, Archer Season One, Community Season One, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season One, and Inception. I’ve already seen Inception, but the rest I want to see. I wasn’t too interested in the Social Network, but everyone keeps raving about it, so I’ll give it a go.
So what did I watch? Well, tonight I actually watched But I’m a Cheerleader. Every other time I’ve watched it, it was on television and I was interrupted, so I wanted to watch it straight through. Evening though I knew where the story was going, I still felt kind of sick about some of the shit in the beginning. But then love blossoms and it’s okay. I like that movie a lot, and it’s also important to me because of the circumstances surrounding it when I first saw it in high school.
And last night I hit level 85 in World of Warcraft. Now to grind dungeons so I can start grinding heroics so I can raid!
Edit: Been using Tumblr even more. Damn it. Also logged into Deviant Art for the first time in years. Over 9000 (*giggle) notifications.

Scott Pilgrim

Wow. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was really amazing! I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It’s almost strange how it so perfectly adapted gaming (not a particular game) to the movie screen. I definitely want to own this movie. You could even say that I’m in lesbians with it.
The soundtrack is pretty amazing too. I’m pretty terrible at trying to talk about music in any meaningful way, so I guess I won’t try much. I will say that I was looking for new music recently. It’s been hard for me to find anything new to listen to ever lately. The Scott Pilgrim soundtrack… well, it rocks! One of the best songs on it, Scott Pilgrim by Plumtree, was the song that inspired the creation of the original Scott Pilgrim graphic novels. I looked into Plumtree and found that they’re an indie rock, punk-pop formed in 1993 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They started playing in junior high! Anyways, I really liked their sound and have been listening to one of their albums, Predicts the Future, quite a bit now. Good stuff!

Iron Man 2

In more comic related “news,” I got to watch Iron Man 2 on Friday thanks to Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honors society of which I’m a member. I really enjoyed the movie. Some of the other people with me said they didn’t think it lived up to the hype. I don’t really know what hype they heard. Maybe I don’t pay attention to movie news enough.
There’s more cool suits more cool fight scenes, and more SHIELD. That’s awesome. The story, however, isn’t as driven as the first one’s story was. There were a few subplots happening, and this hurt the movie. I also would have liked to see more of Whiplash (who was never actually named). SHIELD was pretty cool, but they still held minor roles. I bet we’ll see a lot more of SHIELD in the Avengers, and I can’t wait to do so!

Indiana Jones and the Statutory Rape

Open Thread: George Lucas on Marion Ravenwood | The Hathor Legacy
According to a post by Jennifer Kesler on The Hathor Legacy, a transcript of Lucas, Spielberg, and Kasdan discussing the plot of Indiana Jones when designing the movie has been found. It reveals how they thought it would be “amusing” and “interesting” for Indy to have a sexual relationship with a fifteen year old girl. I have no idea if the transcript is legitimate, and I haven’t seen the movie. If it’s true, it’s interesting.

Science Library Looks Like a Vagina

I heard that the Science Library looks like a vagina.
Anyways, I doubt if WebPageless will really come back anytime soon. I guess this is semi-permanent. Cox blocks all incoming ports entirely. It’s like my computer doesn’t exist on the Internet. In better news, Cox has at least made the speeds go up to normal DSL/cable speeds. I also tried using the AntWeb. To set that up, I had to learn how to VPN into the school. But after setting it up, I found that pages on it are only accessible to people on the UCI network.
I gave up the Start Menu and Explorer a long time ago (about a year now). But I had used Black Box menus or BBIcons. Well, I gave it all up in trade for Google Desktop Search. I works really well. I use it to launch all my applications and everything. Good program. Good organization, that Google. I loves them.
My Palm Tungsten C died completely today. The screen is totally fucked up. Like Chopsticks. That really sucks. I kinda depend on it. I’m gonna sync to my dad’s Palm to at least get my financing info off of it.
I got about a standard deviation above the mean on the CSE 21 midterm. Did well on both projects. My Kalah AI was the best in the class. The average on my CSE 31L midterm was 54%. I got 97%. I’ve aced all my 31L labs, and have done well in Classics. Turned in a concert report on Tuesday. It went well, I think.
Last weekend was cool. On Friday, gem and I went to LNP. I wore a robe for Halloween and got in early. I never had got in early before. Then we rented Chamber of Secrets and bought Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. Saturday we played video games basically. Then gem, Jon, Gabby, Andy and I went to see Nnenna Freelon at the Jazz Bakery in LA. I thought it was a pretty good show. Afterwards we came back to my apartment, drank, and watched the Grudge. Gabby was too scared to watch. She kept hiding. Patrick kept scaring her. It was great. Chris was too talkative during the movie. Andy was a bitch, and we’re never watching a movie that matters with him again. Sunday gem and I worked on our labs. Christine came over, but we didn’t really get to do much. That night, gem, Jon, Gabby, and I went to Knott’s Scary Farm. It was a lot of fun, except Jon and Gabby fought a bit. But Gabby got over her fear of the big rollercoasters – kind of. Anyways, she went on it. And we got on quickly because Jon used a wheelchair.
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life is a really fun game. I thought the chapters would suck, but they don’t really get in the way of playing.
I finished reading Starship Troopers again. It’s so much better now than when I read it in highschool or junior high. I love Heinlein. And I love that book. Totally awesome.
On Tuesday (I think) I hung out with gem, Allison, and Lauren. It was fun. Afterwards Lauren went home, and the three of us went to Denny’s to eat. Great fun! I love friends.
I hadn’t talked to Kalin in a long time, but I’m chatting with him now. Good ol’ AIM.
My mom’s birthday was the 1st, and Pete’s is the 3rd. Happy birthdays! gem and I went out to dinner with them tonight to an Italian restaurant. I had the rigotoni, and it was great.
gem’s making Gryffindor scarves for us for the Goblet of Fire release.
Tomorrow I have a history of jazz midterm at one. I feel so unprepared. It has nothing to do with computers or math. Ah! But I’ll probably do alright.

Fall Recap

  • Life
    • Moved in
    • Found out that Cox blocking everything
    • New phone, Razr
    • Anniversary
    • Family bonfire
    • Nnenna Freelon at the Jazz Bakery
    • Watched The Grudge with gem, Jon, Gabby, Andy, and Chris for Jon’s birthday
    • Went to Knott’s Scary Farm with gem, Jon, and Gabby
    • Tungsten C died
    • Went to see Goblet of Fire with friends, Lauren in great costume
    • Late night Del Taco, drinking, and Next with gem and Allison
    • Nickel Nickel with gem and Allison
    • jello shots!
  • Theater Movies
    • Serenity (2005)
    • Doom (2005)
    • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
    • Saw II (2005)
  • In-Home Movies
    • True Lies (1994)
    • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
    • Thir13en Ghosts (2001)
    • Sleepy Hollow (1999)
    • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
    • The Grudge (2004)
    • Starship Troopers (1997)
    • Ringu (1998)
    • Fargo (1996)
    • Ju-on: The Grudge (2003)
    • White Noise (2005)
  • Novels
    • Serenity
    • Doom: Knee-Deep in the Dead
    • Starship Troopers
  • Graphic Novels
    • Serenity: Those Left Behind
    • Negima! Vol. 1
  • Gaming
    • Finished Doom: Shores of Hell
    • Finished Doom: Inferno
    • Finished Super Mario Bros. in All-Stars without warp pipes, normal and hard
    • Got a gold in Super Mario Kart 150cc Star Cup (used to have nothing)
    • Finished Super Mario Sunshine

Summer Recap

  • Life
    • rode bikes with gem in Shoreline Village twice
    • listened to Squadcast podcast
    • listened to Half Hour Power Hour podcast
    • many lunches with gem
    • hung out with gem at El Camino a lot
    • napping with gem at parks
    • sushi with gem
    • Cuban food with gem
    • watched The Tempest with gem
    • Hung out with Chris, Melissa, and Alyson
    • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Chris, Melissa, Alyson, Herbert, and Herbert’s friend
    • Hung out with Herbert
    • Hung out with Christine and Linh-Nam
    • Santa Monica with gem
    • Weeding at my mom’s
    • War of the Worlds with Mom, Pete, and James
    • Cuban food with Mom and Pete
    • LAN party at William’s with William, Linh-Nam, Chris, Russell, Kamal, Lawrence
    • Disneyland with gem, Mayra, Mayra’s date Dennis
    • Disneyland with Herbert, David, Mike, Genevieve, Chris, Denise, and Denise’s cousin Ryan
    • Saw Elon Gold at the Irvine Improv with gem
    • Hung out at gem’s Irvine house with her
    • Played GunBound with gem
    • Signed James up for gmail and taught him to use it
    • Signed James up for GunBound and taught him to play it
    • Signed James up at MySpace and taught him to use it
    • Read at a park on Santa Fe with gem
    • Read and ate at a park in Signal Hill with gem
    • Went to Boomer’s with Gian, Cheryl, Christine Kang, Allison, William, and Linh-Nam
    • Went to Guppy Tea House with William, Linh-Nam, Cheryl, and Gian and ran into David, VJ, Ronelyn, and Anthony
    • Went to Hollywood with gem
    • Ran into Camille at Taco Bell
    • Lots more shopping and hanging out with gem!
    • Went to Vegas with my aunt, uncle, and cousins to visit my grandparents
    • Took pictures at Signal Hill at night with gem
    • Ate curry that gem made me!
    • Helped gem at her house, had dinner with Russell and Lauren, visited Andy, Vince and Chris, visited Mom, Pete, and Rocky
    • Went to a pet store with gem. Browsed for a while. gem bought dog treats and a pig ear for Nina (she liked them) and a pink collar for the cat (looks cute on her)
    • Got new kitten
    • Made dinner with gem for Andy, Chris, Stef, Alex
  • Gaming
    • played Kingdom Hearts
    • completed Destroy All Humans!
    • completed Final Fantasy II (US)
    • played a lot of the Sims 2
    • completed River City Ransom in normal mode
    • played a lot of GunBound, ranking up three times (single wood hammer -> double metal axe)
    • Started playing MapleStory, getting to level 13 Magician
    • Beat Dark Alliance in Extreme
  • Anime
    • Trigun
    • FF7: Advent Children
    • FF7: Last Order
  • TV
    • Firefly
  • Literature
    • Venus on the Half-Shell
    • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
    • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
    • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
    • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
    • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
    • Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
    • Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Short)
    • The Standard Book of Spells (Short)
    • The Wizard’s Handbook (Short)
    • The Princess Bride
  • Movies
    • H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds (2005/I)
    • Oldboy (2003)
    • White Noise (2005)
    • Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
    • Spider-Man 2 (2004)
    • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
    • The Butterfly Effect (2004)
    • Blue Crush (2002)
    • War of the Worlds (2005)
    • Soldier (1998)
    • Fantasia/2000 (1999)
    • The Animatrix (2003)
    • The Notebook (2004)
    • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
    • The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)
    • Final Fantasy VII Advent Children (2004)
    • American Beauty (1999)