Its been a really long time since I posted here. This semester was CRAZY. Graduate school is way too much work for a normal human being. But classes are over, and my only obligation before going to visit family is two final exams, and judgement day (meeting before the GPC committee). Hopefully, my name is on the magical list of those who will be staying for the next semester.

Arizona has definitely grown on me over the past few months. If you can make it past the summer and monsoon season, it is awesome. We had a week or so that was bitterly cold (Im talking in the 20s!), but typical december weather is in the 50s in the morning, and 70s by afternoon. The palm trees look much nicer in the summer, though.

I just started watching the Showtime show “Sleeper Cell” on iTunes. It is a great show! It has a bunch of ex “24″ terrorists on it. I’ve read comparisons between the two shows, but I think they’re pretty different. “24″ has a lot more action.

Anyway, I’m going to disappear again. Will probably go see “Nativity Story” and “Dreamgirls” if they’re playing at the same theater.

Movies, movies, everywhere

I’ve seen quite a few independent movies since I’ve been in Cincinnati. There’s a theatre thats about a mile from campus that I walk to either in the evening or on weekends to watch a movie (or three) for a decent price. Here’s what I’ve seen so far:

The Boys and Girl From County Clare is a tale of sibling rivalry among a musical Irish family. Two brothers have separate Ceili bands that are competing for the coveted “Best Ceili Band” prize. This story goes into the roots of their rivalry, and spends much time exploring the life of the women caught in the middle of said rivalry. Interesting movie, with lots fo great traditional Irish music. 4 stars out of 5.

Millions is an excellent family film about a young boy who finds a extraordinarily large amount of money that literally falls from the sky. Convinced that the money is a gift from God, Damien is determined to give as much as possible to the poor, while his older brother Anthony simply wants to splurge. There are several twists and turns that I can’t give away without spoiling the movie, but i can say that the boys both soon discover that wealth and money don’t necessarily go hand in hand. 5 starts out of 5.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room was a documentary about the whole Enron scandal. I feel that it a fairly good job of covering the whole scandal (and I learned quite a bit). This is a very interesting see for anyone who is interested in business or politics. 4 starts out of 5.

Saving Face is about a Chinese-American mother and daughter who’s lifestyles clash with their family’s expectations. The mother is pregnant and unmarried, and the daughter is a lesbian. Both make bad decisions to please their family members, and in the end they realize that they have to follow their hearts. Totally cliche. 2 stars out of 5.

In Apres Vous, after Antoine saves a distraught man from killing himself, he begins to feel strangely responsible for his well-being. In an attempt to play cupid and reunite this man with his former flame, Antoine finds himself falling in love with her. 4 stars out of 5.

Me and You and Everyone Else We Know was by far the strangest film I’ve seen this summer. Its about an artist who falls for a shoe salesman who recently separated from his wife. The film follows several different characters in seemingly different plots: Richard, the shoesalesman, struggles with dealing with the separation and raising his two kids alone. His two children, Robby and Peter (aged 7 and 14) deal with romantic issues, while the artist, Christine, struggles to have her art recognized by a gallery. All of these plots come together in a strangely humorous conclusion. 4.5 stars out of 5.

Off the Map is the story of a young girl, Bo, who, along with her mother, is struggling to deal with her father’s depression. The setting is a isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere New Mexico, with no electricity and no plumbing, no income, and no anti-depressants. The family is visited by an IRS auditor who ends up staying about a decade longer than he anticipated, as he deals with his own depression, embraces his artistic skills, while falling in love with the scenery, lifestyle, and Bo’s mother. 4.5 stars out o f5.

Episode III

Now that everyone has seen it, I will post my thoughts of Revenge of the Sith. My major problems with the movie are as follows:

1) Why can’t Artoo fly anymore?

2) So wait, you’re telling me that Obi-Wan Kenobi was there for the delivery of both Luke and Leia, but he forgot that Leia was Luke’s sister in Episode V? (He clearly knew who Leia was, as she sent him that famous “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope!” message that we all know and love.) There’s senile, and then there’s senile.

3) Jar-Jar Binks lived and Mace Windu died.

4) Gravity? I suppose that’s my problem with Star Wars in general. Light Sabre fights would look much cooler in zero gravity. Then we’d see all of these severed limbs floating throughout the movie.

5) Jar-Jar Binks lived and Padme Amidala died.

6) The “romantic” dialogue. Shakespeare Lucas ain’t, and Romeo and Juliet this wasn’t. The biggest reason this was a problem for me is that Skywalker’s betrayal of the Jedi and turning to the Dark Side is supposed to be driven by his forbidden love for her. An example would be:

Anakin: You’re so beautiful
Padme: It’s only because I’m so in love.
Anakin: No, its because I’m so in love with you.
Padme: So your love blinds you then?
Anakin: That’s not what I meant.
Padme: No, probably not.

So begins the destruction of the Jedi order. And my intelligence.

7) While Mace Windu indeed did not “go out like some punk” as per Mr. Jackson’s request, every other Jedi did. SPOILER: The lightsaber fight put up by the three Jedi with Windu as he tried to arrest Palpatine was pitiful at best, and with the exception of perhaps Master Voss, all of the others were dealt with in a way that is pretty pathetic if you consider that they are supposed to be in tune with the Force so that they can avoid getting shot in the back by a stormtrooper. I can only assume that they got their Jedi skills from the same place that teaches the Imperial forces how to shoot people.

The point at which Obi-Wan declares that “only the Sith deal in absolutes”, [fantasy] at which point the irony police come in and arrest him for denouncing absolute statements using an absolute statement. [/fantasy]

9) Jar-Jar Binks lived and Count Dooku died.

10) That had to have been the most ridiculous opening crawl of all six movies.

There was also some pretty good acting. Ewan McGregor and Ian McDiarmid both did wonderful jobs. If what McGregor did wasn’t Oscar caliber, then it was pretty close to it. I really loved the scene at the end where he laments Vader’s crossing over to the Dark Side. Natalie Portman, sadly, got short changed, since the only lines she got to say, for the most part, were Lucas’ dreadful imaginings of what romantic dialouge is. She did do the best she could with what she had, however, and was rewarded with one of the best lines in the whole movie: “So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.” Any faults in her character development I blame on the script, and not the actor. Hayden Christensen, however, has no such excuse. Let us all be thankful that by the end of it all he was covered from head to toe with Vaderwear, and no longer had any lines of his own (James Earl Jones came back for the voice of Vader.)

When the emperor said to Anakin “Good is a point of view, Anakin. And the Jedi point of view is not the only valid one.” the first thing that came to my mind was Pope Benedict’s line about the “dictatorship of relativism.” That’s probably about as literal an example of that as you are going to get this side of Paradise. Also the follow up line to that:

Obi-Wan: Anakin, Chancellor Palpatine is evil.
Vader: Well from my point of view, the Jedi are evil.
Obi-Wan: Then you’re lost!

Overall, a pretty entertaining flick. About two and a half hours in length, you may want to make a run to the bathroom either before the movie starts, or whenever a scene occurs where Anakin is getting all googley-eyed with Padme.